Marist College
Literary Arts Society
Presents
The Mosaic
Alphabet Soup
Issue 3&4
Spring Sen1ester
.










Alphabet Soup
Hello
again.
Welcome to the last issue of the Mosaic for the '93-'94 year. Due to time constraints we have
combined our third and fom1h editions into this giant siz.ed issue which contains many works from
the entire campus for you to enjoy. We are pleased with the interest in the Mosaic and we hope to
contiIDJe publishing, but only with your help. So keep writing, keep submitting and have
a
good
summer.
Again
enjoy, thank you for your support!
Brian
J.
Elias
President: Literary
Arts
Society








Presiden~ Brian J. Elias
Vice Presiden~ Norine Mudrick
Secretary,
Amy
Ellenes
Treasurer,
Justin
Seremet
Advisor, Dr. Richard Grinnell
Edi.tors
Jason Crandell
Jen Lee
Jackie Lynch
Mark
Fransico
Biyan M. Walko
Joe Marranaco
Special Thanks
To:
Whiskey Tango
Robert Lynch
Steve Saosola
Dr. Milton Tiechman
The
entire
English
Dept
And all of those who have submited their work.








Our Little
World KAKO
As
we stand at the crossroads of our lives,
I begin to get cold feet
We've been together so long now,
with you I feel safe, secure and comfortable.
I lmow
in
my
heart the time has come to go,
it's time for us to move on and grow.
We have to go out on our own,
and begin living the rest of our lives.
We're starting
fresh
end anew,
leaving behind our safe little world,
which we grew to love and lmow.
It's not that rm afraid to move on,
I lmow the time has come, and cmmot wait
Yet something inside is tugging
~
my heart,
telling me I don't really want to go.
There's something about this place,
that rm going to miss more
than
life itself
That's you, my friends, and all
that
we've come
to, through
the laughter we shared,
the tears we cried,
the memories we made,
but most of all the friendships we discovered
Together we've been through so muc~
through thick end thin,
we did it all, and we did it together.
Yet I know in my heart, the time has come,
we must continue on, our journey's just begun.
Even though we are parting.
we really aren't leaving each other.
We may not be able to see one another,
but there are things stronger
than
sight
Our
love for each other will never die,
if
we
keep it alive in our hearts.
I just
want
you to lmow
rll
always remember
you,
end I hope
that
somewhere in your hearts,
you'll remember me and the time
we
shared,
in our own little world
HARLEM
As
a yoimg man
I
never dreamed
I
would walk your ash-grey
streets.
y
Otmg
in
mind,
Ignorant in action,
It was impossible to aid my people
in
any way except
TilE WRONG WAY.
Expanding my lmowledge
Maturing my mind,
I grew to respect your streets,
Love your streets and revere your streets:
137th and Convent
188th and Lenox
166th and St Nick.
The combinations were endless.
The plights ofmy people were similar.
125th and 7th Ave. always buzzed
Preachers on soapboxes extended for blocks,
Spewing rhetoric to the crowds. And
Sometimes the crowd becomes a voice.
"I
don't need to bear about
fire
and brimstone--
my bell is not being able to provide for my
kids."
"Jesus? Where
was
be when
Mr.
Charlie did
not pay me and dared me to complain?"
When my soapbox called me to speak,
They believed
My people trusted my words.
My people saw hope in my words.
In
my words, self-esteem and the pride of a
RICH HERITAGE
bloomed like an
African violet
For the love of my people
I endured the threats, the criticism.
Who would love my people,
If
not me?
''We love you, Malcolm!"



















And I loved you back, more than you lmew
.
My Harlem, my people--the two
are
interchangeable
.
Harlem bore a Malcolm
I was proud o(
My own people extinguished him.
Poetic Justice?
Is
that the phrase
I
'm searching
for?
rm not
sure.
In the bosom, close to the heart ofHarlem,
My
life was ended.
But
my love did not die with me
.
by
Miriam A
Holt
BURNING
Deception is your favorite game,
You
sure
fooled me.
Or
was
I
the fool for believing even one
word that so smoothly rolled off your tongue.
I
used
to
love the somd of your voice,
I
lived for what has turned venomous.
Now,
I
live struggling to forget
You, the deceiver, blinded me of your many
faults.
Will I
ever
trust
again?
I
was
falling in love, in
a
few brief moments
you stole that energy and into an endless
lightless pit
The screams of
my body and mind were
ignored.
WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS?
Now, your features have faded from
my
mind,
but
I
remember
the pain
every
time
I
here your
name.
I
cringe when touched,
the memory of those scalding hands and lips
that left bums and scars overwhelms me.
Will I
ever love
again?
by
Sarah
French
Indian Spring Chris Ilardi
We've lo1J8ed for this
day
to arrive--haven't
we?
We had plans for hmch and to conquer the
world.
You talked of sitting in
a
parlc
and sbaringjokes with the squirrels.
And
I
promised you the convertible-love
if you'd only take a ride with me
.
But you never 808Wered the door
.
You stayed in bed for hours, dodging the
persistent BIDlligbt.
How could you
ignore a day like this?
Insanity
at the end of the long, narrow hall there
is a
door, huge and massive, lettilJ8 no one pass.
i
nm
to it, throw my entire being at it, beating it
mercilessly.
why
won't it
let
me enter? it
stands
firm
in its place, refusing to be moved i
try
again, and yet again. .
.it's
no use, the lock
is
to strong. i lmow not what lies beyond it, but
somehow i know i
must
find out--i
mwrt
get out
of this dead end hall...
desperately i search for the key;
ftantically
my eyes
scan every inch of the walls
and floor that BIIITOIDld me. i begin to panic.
my
heartbeat grows faster, and
faster
still.
my
pulse quickem, pounding in
my
head like
a
thousand
drums beating rhythmically inside
my
mind. the ionnaculate, white-washed walls
close in
aromd me. the air is poison; i am
BUtfocatiJJ& gasping for bremh; the beat risq in
my
face is mbearable, bumi08
my
throat and
my
eyes.
HELP!!
someone help me ... please help
me!I
OUf!! our!!
i
must. ..
..
find. ... my ... way ..
.
out. ...











a
sharp,
stabbing pain. eve'Yfhing
begins to slow down. the room i'm locked in
stops
spinning. ..
or
was
it really even tmning in
the first place?? i hear voices: soft, languid
voices in the distance. they are muffled; i can't
tmderstand what they say ... they are calling to
me. the voices calm me, soothe me, soothe
my
frenzied he~
my
gasping
breath
i feel myself
falling. .. falling. .. where am
I
going?
coloan ... there are coloan all
arotmd
me. brilliant rainbow hues of red, orange,
yellow and green-- beBUtiful and bright happy
colors
that
lift
my
spirits
and compose
my
shattered nerves. blues ... purples ...
a
soft ligbt
abines down fi-om above me now. muting tbe
vibrant skyscape into pastel shades of pink and
lavender. oh, how i love the cololD' lavender ...
i'm floating now, suspended in mid-air on
a
soft
cushion of clouds. how is this possible? i don't
mderstand, and yet it is so beautiful
that
I
do
not
try
to fight it the light grows brighter-- an
amazing,
blinding white. the door opens, and
for Bil instant i
CBD
see what lies beyond ..
a
vast
void of nothingness ...
but then,
far off in the distance ...
if
i could
jU&t
make out what it
is ...
i strain
my
eyes; searching probing the
damess ...
then it is gone. the light fades. darkness
enfolds me. but this time, it brings me no fear,
no pain, only peace. i feel myselfdrift forward
into the void, propelled by
some unknown
force. where is the image i saw in the distance?
how do i reach it? the door closes behind me,
Bild suddenly i realize
that
the vision
was
only a
mirage,
Bil
illusion, tempting me to
enter
the
void of
my
own fi-ee will. Bild i lmow now
that
once i enter,
i
may
never leave. the lock slies
into place with a th1D1derous clamolD" ... as the
echoes die, i am filled with the horrifying
sensation ofbeing alone ... utterly Bild
completely alone ...
at the end of the long , narrow hall there is a
door,
huge and massive ..
.
waiting its next victim
to find the key ..
.
by
Jackie Lynch
Awakenin2 AliciaDiGennaro
Dawn caresses her silken fingers across the
horizon.
The clock seems to speak slower and
slower--
She
was
up
all night again.
The melting icicles call me
to
get
up
and greet
them,
while the fi-igid wood floor is yelling for me to
stay off
My lover's
arms
give the final decision, never
loosening fi-om arotmd me even for a moment.
The once green grass longs to breathe again,
but
the dirty powder suffocated it, enjoying the
power.
The brown slush-carpeted gromd begs for
a
bath
fi-om the clouds' tears, but they are not say
today.
Spring Smaester
JBDet
C.
Mills
The April
SIDl
has
gone
to
their heads.
Concentration shrivels in the rays,
Melting Inhibitions.
They laugh more now, shed clothes,
Stumble into class like
dnmken sailors
Inebriated by spring.
Blue jeBDB, black leotards are thrown aside,
Replaced by gaudy Hawaiian flowers,
Seductive shorts, and tom everything.
No criteria clutters
up
the imagination of dress.
The pink faces of the girl-women
Bloom like tender tulips in a field of men,
Yesterday's boys.









Newly minted minds glint at the edge of the
forge.
Sheltered
in
shade, I watch the
first
flush oflife
Reflected back
From distant SIDlbmnt sons.
LONELY, OH SO LONELY
Lonely, ob
10
lonely.
I
■it
crouched in the comer begging the wltures
to pick my bones
dry,
but they
just
sit on their perches torturing me
with their lies.
Why
can't you accept me?
Why
are
you leaving my emotions to the
wltures?
Why
do you
drug
me
with yow presence
just
to
make me crave you?
You tease me with my own addiction.
Bmning pain envelopes my existence.
I
just
crouch :further into the comer.
My world is
just
a
mask that I put on
when
I
must
go by the wltures.
They chuckle when they realize how stupid
I
8DL
The comers open
up
exposing me to reality.
I
beg to be taken
away.
The wltures painful laughter B1DT01mds me.
They
fill
my
ears to the breaking point,
but still they won't save me.
I
would cry, but my eyes produce nothing
but
dust
which blows
away.
You
are
the wlture
waiting
for the last break of
my
heart.
Then you will swoop down and
1Iy
to devour
my
heart only
to
realize
·
my
heart
has already
been eaten and
destroyed by all the wltures before you
and all the future wltures yet to come.
The loneliness that
I
feel when
I
am
with you is ultimate grief
By Julie Spm:m
TIie
Last
Exodas
Chantal Pecourt
I
Commander
Kamara
Petenon walked briskly
down the almost deserted corridor. Her boot
heels made a foreboding sound as they clicked
on the tiles. Anyone who was unlucky enough
to get
in
her
way
got out ofit quickly. She
turned the comer and entered the Computech
Center.
''Dave!" she shouted, green eyes blazing.
A
tlnmk
and a muffled curse were all the answer
she got
A
handsome brown-haired teclmician
in
a pristine white lab coat crawled out &om
under a computer console.
''Yes," he replied and then
added,"Commander?"
Dave smiled
as
he rubbed his bruised head,
''YOU
shouldn't
startle people like that."
Kamara
scowled and waved a sheaf of
papen under his
nose. '"This was waiting for me this morning,
and I
want
to lmow
what
the HELL you people
are
doing ! !" she finished with
a
shout
Dave held
up
his hands and backed
away
&omher
onslaught. "Hey, it wasn't
us
.
.I
swear," he took
a
deep






breath," I lmow how much the project meant to
yott We all had stakes in it .
.
"
Kamara interrupted," I spent two whole years
on the Dubian project 1WO WHOLE YEARS
!
And now this, where did the data go? Why
was it destroyed? Who ordered it?"
The Dubian project was
Kamara
Peterson's
brain
child It was designed to help free the
struggling hmnan race from Overlord
domination. After a series of deadly nuclear
and germicidal
wars,
from which the only
Immen
survivors were those people lucky
enoush to be living on the Mars Base, the Earth
was a bBrTen waste land. Only the advanced
computers had survived. They began to
recreate themselves until they had gained total
control of what
was
left of the hmnan race.
They felt
that the humans were unable to live
lDlwatched The humans could not be trusted
not to destroy themselves again.
The population
was
kept to a minimmn, the
populace controlled
by
drugs. Now after two
hundred years of slavery to the machines, this
handful of renegades who had escaped
Overlord control were plarming a secret
exodus. The sole hope of
that exodus
succeeding was the Dubian project, and now it
was destroyed
"I have specialists working on the T-60 now.
The preliminary reports indicate
that we can
recover some of the data. To get any more, we
would need the technology on the Settlement."
''Why was it erased?" Kamara demanded.
''The project was backed up
by
nmnerous
safeguards."
''You won't like that report The Overlords
.lmow what we are trying to do. Have for some
time it seems.
They somehow implanted a virus in our
systems. It is only
a matter of time until it spreads through the rest
of the ship and we have a total systems failure,"
Dave said
dismally.
"Can't it be neutralized?" she asked Dave
shook
his head" Does it pose a threat to the
Settlement?"
''It's only a matter of time lDltil the whole
colony shuts down and we all die." Kamara met
his words
with stunned silence
.
n
''Red Alert, all hands to alert stations," the
calm computer voice repeated again and again
.
The ship lurched sideways, throwing
everyone to the
floor. Kamara picked herself up and was
nearly thrown down again as the ship was
buffeted from side to side. She unsteadily made
her
way
into the corridor and then to an
elevation lift.
"Command Centerf" she ordered as the doors
swooshed closed The lift doors opened out
onto total
chaos. The Command Center was filled with
smoke and noise.
She stopped a white-faced young ensign,
''What happened?"
''Wwwell ... Mmmamm" he began to stutter a
reply.
Lieutenant Bums interrupted, "
Ao
Overlord
ship just jmnped out of hyperspace and opened
fire. We have taken hits in sections C,J and M
with most of the damage centered
aro1D1d
F.ogineering and Computech center
.
The inertia
dampers have been reduced to filly percent"
Her report was stated in a calm voice but the
glimmer of fear in her eyes betrayed her inner
feelings.
Commander Peterson forced a reassuring
smile. Then barked, ''Return firef", to the
weapons officer.
"Can't Weapon controls are not
respondingf"
"Get the shields up! Evasive actioof" she
ordered as she made her way to the command
chaif. The arms lowered over her lap as she sat
down,
giving
her access to the ship's systems as








well as keeping her
in
her seat as the ship
shuddered violently.
''Direct hit! Engineering!" The
lights
flickered
and died The sudden stillness
was a
sharp
contrast to the noise a moment before. The
emergency
lights came to life slowly, bathing
everything in a red glow.
O'Domiel nearly shouted, fighting rising
panic, "Shields
are
not responding! Neither
are
the engine controis! All of the controls are
frozen!"
Commander Peterson hit the intercom,
"Engineering, I need the engines back on line!"
The
reply
was
fuzzy and
faint
'"The Virus .... been activated fully .... infecting
systems. Auxiliary .......
fimctional .... can't ..... "
The rest of the reply
was
lost in
static.
"&gage
auxiliary controls. Go to
manual
override
if
the controls don't respond We'll
make the jump to hyperspace manually
if
need
be. Now get
us
out ofhere !"
The image ofthe Overlord ship veered off of
the screen
88
the ship banked right
"Auxiliary controls responding. We have
ligbtspeed-one
.
"
"Good"
Kamara
responded, allowing
herselfto breath
a
brief sigh ofrelief:
''Begin
hyperspace couotdown. .. NOW!"
"Ma'am!
The Overlord ship is in pursuit!"
Commander Peterson thought quickly.
Whatever happened, the Overlords
must
not
find the Settlement,"Oo to heading
2310
on grid
500-1,
increase power!"
''Hyperapace .. Now!" The acreen dissolved
into
a
rainbow of colon
88
the minuscule particles of
space wbiaked by at incredible speeds, colored
by the rip in the space/time fabric. The
■hip
began to shudder violently. The strain causing
the cnmrmmication's console to erupt into
sparks.
"Oet that :fire out !"
Kamara
shouted and
gritted
her teeth as the shuddering grew worse.
Hyperspace travel was risky enough when yotD"
ship
was
1D1damaged but a badly
damaged ship in hyperspace ... they would
probably leave
a
trail of pieces from here to the
Settlement, she thought
Suddenly, the screen filled with white light
"Jump to real space completed We lost the
Overlord ship in hyperspace," came the
relieved report
''Damage reports from all sectors coming in
now."
"ETA
to the Settlement?"
Kamara
demanded
''In
o\D" present condition, approximately two
days."
came the reply.
''Maintain the
maximum speed she can give.
rll be in F.ogineering and Computech center
assessing the damage."
m
Kamara
rose and swiftly made her
way
to
F.ogineering. The corridors were
hazy
with
amoke from mnnerOUI electrical :fires.
As
she
entered F.ogineering, she stifled a groan. The
place
was
in shambles; computer parts
acattered a.cross the room; medics were
removing the wo1D1ded and the engine cob.mm
flickered dimly.
The engineer in charge saw her and limped
over. ''We took
a
direct hit The
way
things
ltand now, we can maintain light speed
1.5
for
a
little while," he p8U8ed,
reading
her unasked
question. "She is very badly damaged I don't
lmow if she'll fly again
1000.
I will
be able to
make
a
better assesament once we reach the
Settlement."
"Start any repairs that you
can,
end see to
yolD'
leg." She turned and walked to Computech
Center. This room was relatively in one piece.
Dave
was
nmning arotmd,
shouting orders. His pristine lab coat nnnpled
and tom There
was
a DBBty
gash
on the side of
bis
head






''We can salvage most ofthe
data."
he shot
over his shoulder
BS
he bent over
a
computer
pad Kamara sighed in relief
''We will be getting to the Settlement in
approximately two days. Have all computer
data compiled and ready for transport to the
Settlement
I think that the Overlords
may
lmow
where the Settlement is, we'll have to convince
them to begin the exodus early." Her last
statement
was
met with disbelief Dave started
to protest but
was
cut
abort
by
the look in her
eyes.
''Everything will be ready on this end."
"Good." She turned and walked briskly back
to the
Command center.
It
took the damaged ship two and a half days
to reach the Settlement Commander Peterson
was
skimming
through one of
many
damage
reports
BS
the Settlement came into view. She
snapped off the computer and gave the orders
for docking. She rose and stretched.
It
felt like
she
had
not left that chair for two days, and
upon thinking about it she probably hadn't
In less than twenty minutes the crew began to
disembark. Commander Peterson and U Dave
Britefield walked down the softly lighted halls
of the
hwnan
settlement
It
was early morning
and only those who bad business to do were
walking aro1D1d.
They passed through the observation deck
Bild paused to regard the view. The muted
colors of dawn softened the harsh rocky
lBDdscape. The red cliffs off
in
the distance
looked like rolling hills, not a death
trap
for
hover craft.
As
the sun rose quickly, the rays
glinted and sparkled as they hit the red aystals
that were so prized for their power.
''It's beautiful"
Kamara
exclaimed.
''It is the one redeeming quality
that
this place
bas. I thought you
had
been here before." Dave
said.
''No, rve never been to the Settlement before,
too busy smuggling supplies off of Earth and
dodging Overlord ships. Speaking of ships, we
will need to get new aystals for the engine
core."
Dave &owned and mused out loud, " Crystal
miniog
is down to less thBD
5
%
.
The supply will be
exhausted in
less than a year."
''What about all of the aystals on the
surface?"
Kamara asked as they began walking again.
"As
the
aystals are
exposed to the
ultra-violet
rays
of the planet's sun, they lose their energy
capability. Only those crystals that are
m1dergroW1d are usable. The others are good
for no more thBD ornamentation." He
ran
his
fingers over the crystal inlay on one of the
walls.
They entered the Director's office at the end
of the hall. The Director, a short, plmnp,
middle-aged balding man, sat behind his desk,
reading a report. He stood
BS
they entered.
''Welcome Commander, it's a pleasure to
finally meet the womBD behind the legends." he
said wannly, reaching to shake her hand.
Kamara smiled,
''It
is a beautiful place you
have here Director. Director," she began as
they took their seats,
·
''My ship
was
attacked by an Overlord cruiser
less than 1000 parsecs :from the Settlement," she
paused. The Director had turned three different
shades of grey. Dave gave her a concerned
look.
''Is
your planetary shield
in
working
order?" she finished.
The Director stammered something and
pushed an intercom button. "Get me a
teclmician right away!" He looked up. ''We have
been having problems with our shield.
It
is the
only thing
that
keeps our existence a secret :from
the Overlords, you lmow."
Kamara
nodded. The planetary shield
was
the greatest technological accomplishment since
the last great war. She was brought out of her
thoughts when the Director continued.
"Our
crystal production is down and we have
had





to reduce power to all systems."
'"That is no longer your only wony."
Kamara
outlined the details of the virus and then the
attack to the ship.
''Director, we have to begin the exodus
early," she continued quickly before be could
protest," Have you made
any
progress on the
secondary project?" Before be could answer a
systems expert entered the office.
''Is
the
planetmy shield holding?" both the
Director and Dave asked
in
unison.
"Yes. for now," the man replied "We will
have
to shut it down sooner than we thought. In ten
months, the
crystal
supply will be exhausted"
"Frank, will you show the Commander and
the Lieutenant to our coonnunications lab?" then
to Kamara,"
Our
communications specialist
will update you on the progress of our
secondary project
If
you will excuse me,
I
must
bring this news to the Co1Dl8el." He
hmried
out
IV
They left the Director's office and made their
way
to the other end of the Settlement
After
a
briak walk through the soft pastel corridors,
they entered a room that was
in
stark contrast to
the silent halls. The white lights glared off
white computer consoles and mechanical noise
reverberated between machines. Sitting among
this machine chaos was a young woman, calmly
sipping coffee and reeding reports.
Frank cleared his throat twice before she
looked up.
"Oh !" she exclaimed, SUIJ)rised and stood
hastily up, ''You'll have to excuse me and the
mess." Her hand swept the entire room. ''We
have been
pretty
busy!"
''Barbara, this is Commander Peterson and
her aide. They've come .. " Frank began but was
cut
of[
"Oh, Commander Peterson, we all have heard
so much about you!" Barbara pmnped Kamara's
hand vigorously,
a wide smile lighting up he face.
''Why theok you very much." Kamara replied,
flattered, "And you
are?"
''Barbara Vernose, Conununication's expert
I
developed the basis for our present project,"
she replied proudly.
''Yes, rve read your papers." Kamara
replied. smiling, ''But I'm afraid we can't
discuss this further." She then described the
events
that
bad forced them to come to the
Settlement
early. When she finished, Barbara
rustled through
a
stack of printouts and soon
found what she wanted She handed it to
Kamara.
Conunander Peterson :&owned as she
read it and then handed it to Dave. She noticed
that Frank had sneaked back to his duties while
they had been
talking.
Frowning, Barbara said, ''It's not going as
successful as we hoped.
rm
afraid"
Worried. Dave asked, ''Do you
think
that the
Overlords have intercepted your transmission
bursts and used them to
zero in on the Settlement?"
''That was
our greatest concern :&om the
onset, we have tried to vmy our transmissions
but the latest attack on your ship confirms that
they have intercepted our
transmissions." Barbara tmned to Kamara,"
Are
you familiar with what
we
are trying to do,
Commander Peterson?''
"Somewhat yes, I have read the reports. You
are trying to contact aliens."
''Yes and no," Barbara walked over to a
large screen. ''We have built an advanced
conm111oieation station on the far side of the
planet" A picture of the Settlement came on the
screen then moved off to the side as the picture
slowly zeroed
in
on a small communication
station.
"This is the most technologically advanced
piece of equipment ever created Totally
automated, it can send short bursts ofbinmy
coded messages
at
speeds reaching
Lightspeed-One."
Kamara
exclaimed, "But that's not supposed
to be possible!"









"And the Earth is flat!" Dave stated
sarcastically.
Kamara gave him a chilling smile.
Barbara interjected, hoping to stave off an
argmnent.
'"The red crystals we have mined on
this
planet for power, have also proven useful in
achieving these remarkable speeds.
Il
would
take weeks to explain how it works and we
don't
have
that time." Barbara paused and
called
up
a
star chart, '"Ibis is a view of the
edge of om- galaxy. Some fom- centuries ago,
88
the enviromnental problems on Earth reached
their peak, ships of people left the dying planet
They were all hoping to find suitable worlds for
colonization.
Earth
never heard fi-om them
again.
Il
has been asemned
that these ships
were
all destroyed We
are
working on the
aseumption
that
a
least
one
of these ships
survived and found a new world"
Barbara called another image onto the
screen, ''We've been 1ransmitting towards 1his
sector because some months ago, we received
ao
UDUSUal
radio disturbance fi-om that
direction.
Il
could be no more than solar noise
but. .. this is the message. We hope that they
will receive it and help us."
On
the screen was printed a simple message
pleading for aid
Dave said softly, '"There's been no reply?"
''None."
Il
was
said with finality, like the
closing of the ccypt door.
Commander Peterson let out a slow breafh,
awed
by
what
she
had
heard ''We have another
problem." She pulled three computer cards
fi-om
a
pocket '"Ibis is
a
copy of the
information
in
om- ship's computers
.
" She
looked
at
Dave and motioned for
him
to take
tNt't.
"Our
systems were attacked
by
a computer
virus
.
Il
wiped out the specs on the Dubian
project," Dave finished with a grimace.
''lfwe put it into the 5760, we should be able
to recall half." Barbara replied. She and Dave
hmriedly began to work.
'Tll leave you two to yom- work. U
Britefield, report to me when you get
anything."
She smiled as she walked out It was like
talking
to air when two technicians got together.
V
She made her
way
through labyrinth of
.
hallways and corridors, making only two
wrong
turns
as
she made her
way
to her room The
door opened to her voice
print
onto a small,
dark cubicle.
''Lights," she commanded The bright lights
came on, revealing a bed, dining area and small
lavatoiy.
She winced in the brightness.
''Dim,"
she
ordered and the lights softened to
a
dusk-like
brightness. She stepped through the small door
and into the shower. The water felt
wmm
and
refi-eshing, it
was a
novelty to
have
real water
for
a
shower after years of sonic showers.
After her shower, she dressed
in
a loose robe
and got a cup of tea fi-om the dining service.
She activated her view-portal and looked out
onto the harsh Settlement landscape. Constant
storms raced across the horizon, throwing dust
and crystal
particles into the air, giving
everything
a
shimmering glow. The planet was
88
beautiful as it was lethal to humans Many
had
died when the
first
protection domes had
ruptm-ed The
hmnan race
has
come so far,
struggled so much, she thought.
"We can't be the only ones, we can't!" she
finished out loud, pounding her fist on the wall.
With
a
sigh, she closed the port and turned off
the lights, tiying to regain needed sleep.
Fom- hours later the door buzzer sotmded
insistently
.
''What?" she mmnbled groggily and fumbled
her way to the door, not
fully awake. Dave
stood there with
a
big
grin on his face.
"Oh sorry, sleeping?" he said without the
least bit of remorse on his voice when he saw
her sleepy blink and rumpled red hair escaping
fi-om the barrette at the back of her head.
''I





wouldn't have awakened you
if
it wasn't
important.. We got it back!" he exclaimed.
His smile fell when he didn't get a reaction.
'Tm not fully awake yet Got what back?"
Kamara
began, then. realizing what he wu talking
about, gave a whoop of joy. ''Dave!" She gave
him ahug. "That's great!"
She danced arolllld the room ''Let me get
dressed and rll meet you in the coonnunication's
Jab."
She quickly got dressed and hmried to the
Jab
.
As
she entered.
Barbara
led her to a seat.
''We got ninety percent of the Dubian project
data
back,"
Barbara
said with a smile. ''I've
never seen this type of virus before. We can't
seem to neutralize it rm afraid it
might have
infected the Settlement's systems." She frowned
and began to pace.
Dave annollllced. ''We'll have to inform the
ColDlciJ right away.
If
the virus takes hold here,
it could alert the Overlords to OID" exact
location."
''Maybe that's
what
they wanted all along!
They
infected
my
ship and lmew we would come
here. 'That's why we got away from them so
easily!"
Kamara
said with growing
horror. ''Where are the ColDlcil chambers?"
'Tll take you there."
Barbara
replied leading
them out into the hall and to the ColDlcil
chambers.
VI
Kamara
Peterson waited impatiently in the
reception room off the Collilcil chambers. The
room
was
a cheerful color with soft chairs and
paintings of earth-like landscapes along the
walls
.
Kamara
only saw
what
a fool she
had
been.
It was
useless to berate herself now,
now
that
it
was
too late. Her ship
had
gotten
away too easily from the Overlord cruiser. She
had
played into their hands,
had
led the
Overlords to the last stronghold of the human
race. As she paced, she could feel the walls of
the
trap
tighten arolllld her.
"Damn!" she exclaimed out loud
.
''It's not yolD" fault, I should have picked
up
on the fact that it would be OID" systems that
would infect the Settlement once we landed"
Dave began.
''No,
I
was in charge, it was
my
responsibility and now it's
my
fault"
Kamara
wanted to weep with fury, how could she have
been so stupid? So blind?
The door of the Co1D1ci1 chamber opened and
a yotmg attendant stepped out '"The Co1D1cil
will see you now," she said politely and led
them into the room
The Co1D1ci1 chamber was
a
large room, the
largest
Kamara
had seen so far.
A
large table
sat in the middle with fifteen chairs SID"fOIDlding
it
In
those chairs, sat the ruling government of
the Settlement. The men and women ranged
from middle age to elderly.
Head Cotmcilor Matthews stood as the three
entered. ''Welcome Conunander Peterson, we
are all glad
that
you have come."
"Co1D1cilor, I don't
think
you will be glad to
see me after I tell you this,"
Kamara
began,
choosing her words carefully. Dave and
Barbara had
been given seats o:ffto the side of
the room
Barbara
gave her a smile of
encouragement.
Kamara began
by
outlining the events of the
attack and the discovery of the computer virus
and the thought
that
the base was already
infected. She then told them how it was her
ship who
had
infected the Settlement, sealing
their fate
.
''I see now
that the virus was planted
in
my
ship so
that
it would be spread to the
Settlement. We suspected
that the Overlords
lmew about the exodus and were
trying
to find
the Settlement. We
had
no idea
that
they could
use the virus to trace
my
ship to you"
'"The virus can become active
et
any time and
eventually shut down all of the Settlement's
systems. Once the virus is activated. the
Overlords will lmow yolD" exact location and
lmmch an attack force, if one hasn't been



lmmched already. You must act now and begin
evacuating the people." She finished
emphatically.
''How do we lmow that the virus will become
activated at all? It might be a trick to lure
us
off
the planet and into an Overlord trap. Perhaps
the incident on your ship was an isolated one."
one cotmcil member asked quietly. The rest
munnured their agreement.
Dave jumped up and demanded, ''How can
you sit by and wait for the last
renmants
of the
hmnan
race to be slaughtered? The Overlords
have no use for
hmnan slaves anymore. We
will
be annihilated!" He finished heatedly,
''Listen to Commander Peterson before it is too
late !"
''Do you have 1.Dldeniable proof
that supports
what you say?" Matthews asked
Kamara
motioned for
Barl>ara
to give the computer
cards to
him.
'"Ibis is what we have discovered, along
with a tentative timetable of events."
Barbara
said as she handed them to
him.
''Thank you, we will discuss this with all due
haste and infonn you of our decision." With,
that they were dismissed to the reception room.
''Damn bureaucrats," Dave mumbled as he sat
down.
VII
Two hours later the door to the Co1.D1Sel
chambers finally opened The same young
attendant motioned them into the room.
Kamara
stood stiffly, waiting for their decision. The
fifteen co1.D1cilors looked tired and pale.
''We have decided to act on your infonnation,"
Col.Dlcilor Matthews stated ''The evacuation
process will begin immediately. The Director
assures me that we will be ready to leave in
three days time. The Exodus
has
begun," he
finished resolutely but there
was
a catch in his
voice.
Later,
as
Commander Peterson and U
Britefield walked down one of the fonnerly
deserted hallways
in
the Settlement, people
hurried about
preparing
to leave.
''The ships will be ready to lift off thirteen
hours before scheduled," Dave said softly.
"Good," Kamara replied
"I
hope it is soon
enough." The lights
in
the corridor flickered
and died
''The virus has been activated!" Dave
exclaimed as they broke into a
run
for the
comml.Dlication's lab
.
In the comnnmication's lab,
Barbara
and a
score of technicians were frantically at work,
tJying to neutraliz.e the virus.
Barbara
looked up
as
they entered "It's no
use, the
virus has
infected over
half
of our
systems.
We are
hying
to keep it from shutting
down the planetary shield" She angrily plDlched
some buttons.
VII
The four large ships from the Settlement
lifted off behind schedule.
Last
minute delays
had
cost them valuable time. Commander
Peterson
sat at
the helm of her ship. Hasty
repairs
had
patched up the major damage but
maDY
of the ship's secondary
systems
were out.
"Scanner report" She ordered
''There
are no signs of Overlord cruisers in
this sector."
"C3ood
Maintain course and speed C3et me
the Captains of the other ships on the screen."
Four faces popped onto the screen, ''Ladies and
Gentlemen, our present course will take us
within close range of the
sun.
Stay in formation
and keep your ship's shields raised and there
should be no danger." Kamara finished and the
screen went blank.
''We have a minor systems failure on the Star
CJaz.er."
Kamara
responded, ''Tell them to compensate
and infonn me
if
it
gets
any
worse."
The red alert claxon sol.Dlded
U Burns annol.Dlced, "Overlord ship sighted
on an intercept course."
''Plot an intercept course, shield the other
ships."
Kamara
ordered Then to the
cnrm:mmieation's






officer, "Inform the other ships to increase
speed Tell them to ..
.
"
'"lln-ee other cruisers have now appeared and
are
firing
on the last two ships. The Farragut
and the Whirlwind have sustained direct hits in
their engines and guidance control sections."
Kamara ordered, "Get us over there! Return
fire!"
''Damage reports coming in from the other
ships.
•
The Whirlwind
bu
loat all guidance control.
The
F&mlgllt
bu
sustained damage in the
aft
sections..
.
Ma'am! The Morushi
bu
reported
a
total
systems
failure due to the activation of the
.
'"
Vll11S.
The situation looked hopeless as more and
more Overlord ships appeared and began
firing
on the convoy
.
The ship was blasted from
behind
"Shields holding, down
by
forty five
percent!"
"Continue firing! Maneuver between the
Whirlwind and the Overlord cruiser." Before
she could
finish,
the
screen erupted into a
glaring
white fireball.
The crew gm,d in stunned silence as the
light
receded Someone whispered hoBl"Bely, ''That
was
the Whirlwind"
Damn, Kamara thought '"There are too many
of them. Get us out ofhere! Have the other
ships follow. Plot a parabolic course arotDld
the
Bllll.
Use it to shield us from the Overlord
cruisers."
The remaining three ships limped off towards
the
SUD.
It's fireball brightness blinding the
screen sensors. The protective shield lowered
slowly over the view screen; and a computer
generated
image of their course appeared
''Hull temperature, I 198 degrees and rising."
Utter silence engulfed the command center.
Kamara could almost see the tension
in
the air
before her. One false move and they would be
sent crashing into the
SUD.
''Hull temperature, 2050 degrees."
Kamara wiped the beads of sweat from her
forehead.
"Commander! The Overlord cruisers are in
pursuit!"
"On screen!"
The Overlord cruisers were gaining on them;
as she watched, one fired on the Morushi,
pushing it violently off course. They watched in
horror as it careened into the Farragut,
exploding. Large pieces of debris flew in every
direction. The skeletal frames of the two ships
went phmuneting into the
BUD.
A
cry
ofhorror escaped everyone's lips.
"No .. oh no!" Kamara whispered hoBl"Bely.
In the silence
that followed, soft weeping and
moans of despair could be heard Everyone
began
talking
at
once.
"QUIET!" Kamara ordered with some
difficulty
.
''We
must
go on." Clenching her
fists, she said,
''If
the rest of the hmnan race is
destroyed, then the others will have died
in
vain. We can't let
that happen!" She p8U8ed and
took a deep breath to steady herself "Give me
full power. Take evasive action. Increase
speed!"
''Ligbtspeed-3 ... Lightspeed-4.5
... Lightspeed-5."
The ship steadily increased its speed but it
wasn't
enough. The Overlord cruisers began to close
the gap
.
"Overlord ships are closingP'
"Fire all
aft
weapons. Full charge."
The ship gave a small shudder as the batteries
were emptied
An
Overlord ship exploded
"Direct hit"
Someone cheered The feeling of triumph
was
cut
short as the ship lurched violently
.
''Direct hit in the engine core! Guidance
controls are frozen!".
Kamara atood With the engine core
destroyed, they were dead in space. The ship
hurled helplessly towards the burning fireball
of the
Bllll.
''Warning! Impact in sixty seconds.
Warning!!" the computer buz.zed loudly.
Kamara
blinked back tears as the ship sped
towards their doom. They were going to die




and with their deaths so died the hope of the
hmnan race. As the computer c01mted down the
final seconds for impact, she cried for herself:
for her crew, and most of all for the future man
would never have.
Epilogue.
From millions of miles away, the message
sped across space. The comrmmications station
at the Settlement, whirred as the message
rapidly flashed on the screen. .....
Transmission received Will send help.
<Untitled>
Chris
Ilardi
I
crawled on
my hands and lmees
through the debauched landscape to reach you.
I
left a trail ofbloody siclmess on the snow.
I
experienced lost-love
paranoia
for
days on end
How can I concentrate with lmives in
my back?
Te Psychotic Lover
KAKO
Sometimes
I
feel like rm deranged,
or perhaps rm just trapped in
a
cage.
Either way,
I
feel
my time has come,
it's time for me to go insane.
My how lovely your milk-white neck is,
but wouldn't it be prettier snapped?
Oh look at those gorgeous long legs,
a
nice clean break in the right
would be really fine.
What
a
pretty smile you have,
wouldn't it be nicer with a
fat
lip,
no actually it would be quite appealing,
with a few broken teeth.
I
see
that you ere growing tense,
why
are
you afraid ofme?
I'm perfectly harmless,
I couldn't hmt
a
fly.
But then
again,
you're not a fly, ere you?
So
I
guess
I
could consider it,
if
you insist on
my going through with it
What? You'd like to leave,
now really, that isn't very nice.
How would you feel
ifl
took you by the hand,
and led you down to
my :fimeral pyre?
Now you're calling the cops,
oh no, not that again.
I
can feel it coming on again,
it's much stronger this time.
But don't be frightened,
I can control it,
once
my desires ere fulfilled
My feelings towards you ere growing by the
minute,
and
my love for you is IDldying.
However
if
you speak harshly to me once more,
I feel
my hate will grow stronger,
and we will have to part.
For
I
am
not yet ready to go
to the place where dead people be.
That's much better,
a pleasant smile is nice,
perhaps a good fuck would help.
What? You're denying me your passion,
then I will simply deny you your life.
The Mills Mansion
by Joe
Durham
The Mills Mansion
Purposely
resting
on a hill
Overlooking the Hudson
river,





Is a 19th centmy
Image of Greek Revival
And
railroad wealth.
This estate is sacred,
Not for its historic value
Or
architectural integrity,
But
for the long, gently sloping
Hill,
which in Winter, is
A mecca for the
•
Sledding culture
.
Alison,
Jimmy
and
I belong.
Today, with our five dollar
Plastic sled,
We have come to celebrate
The rites of the
first
snow
Of
the year
.
Alison and
I take
turns
Sliding with
Jimmy
Down the hill, while
Navigating the
Maze of the
Faithful.
We take
turns
Getting
snow
In our filces and
Down our necks.
Our
son's energy flows
Like the Hudson river and
His
face
Radiates with innocent joy.
The
air
is filled with
Addicting lengbter,
Which we inhale
Deep
Into our souls.
Dawn
ht
Massachusetts
(Birth)
by
Dave Tenyck
..
.
darkness descended toward the empty
street, falling faintly through the
sky,
and
settling in formless pools in the gutters of the
quiet town. Mounted on the
crests
of advancing
waves of night, it drifted slowly between rows
of sleeping houses, interrupted
by
the glow of
streetlight and relaxed
by
~
moonbeams, but
never diminished or obscured Above the
veiled street, in an open window near the maple
trees he stood, the thick Spring mist descending
all about
him,
moistening the
thin
black
shirt
be
wore, and
gathering
in
a
transparent
film upon
his face. Wreaths of smoke spiraled starward
from the cigarette which be held limply in the
loose fingers ofhis band, and as they climbed,
sustained
by
the cool Spring air, they
thrust
their
insubstantial fingers into the heavy mist and
played amongst the scattering ofWinters paling
shades. The moistm-e drifted in rolling
currents
towards the gro1D1d, and tom
renmants
of the
past be perceived faintly, shadows only, falling
with it noisily into the
night
A wall of formless
faces, they held in a lingering embrace, and




whispered scattered lines of tales thrice told
into the moon
grey
mist
In
changing choruses
they spoke,
muttering
in the voice of the parents
and the children and of the ever living,
repeating words which passed him mutely in the
cool night
air
and reached his ears as echo only.
Beyond, the darlcness settled on the time womO
surfaces of the rocks and rivers of the earth, and
dripping from the dense sky he felt himself
descending as it tell, a
thin thread in a soulless
·
abroud which slowly wrapped its broad black
arms aro1D1d the world
Drawing
back from the
window he released the
damp
night
air
from his
body with a hollow sigh and let his eyes slid
slowly
shut
He
was
all the time
submitting to
the tnmkless thoughts which advanced upon
him
endlessly, and standing blindly with his head
inclined standing blindly with his head inclined
toward the
dusty
floor he felt the
waning
images
pass silently into the pervasive IDliverse of
nisbt A bird called once from the trees outside
the window and his eyes reopened to gaze at the
direction of the 101D1d
In
the sky above, the
darlcest hour of the morning was beginning, the
stone
gray
street below
hung
dimly in the mist, a
soft breeze swept between the swaying
branches of the trees, and he was there. Alone.
Advancing, he leaned outside the window
and sucked the night
air
through the hot filter of
bis cigarette. His stale hands came to rest upon
the window ledge, and he looked down upon
the street, silver and black beneath
him
in the
half
light, as he released the smoke from his
lungs and let the withered butt fall :from his
fingers
to
the gro1D1d below. His pale brown
eyes groped outward restlessly, sovereigns of
the still world which lay sprawled in sleep
beneath them. In the shadows the tulips and the
roses were slowly being born, and the
air
which swirled about
him
softly was heavy with
the fi'agrances of Spring. The lmotted branches
of the trees which reached toward
him
had been
bathed
dark
brown by the wet kisses of the
night, the windows of the houses which peered
at
him through the shadows were black, and
ovemead the
fading
stars
were clustered
silently together. He straightened slowly,
leaning
against
the paneled wall to support his
back, and as he stood the wood felt coarse
against his skin--stiff and awkward like the
body of a stranger. He looked once more
toward the street, then leaned lazily against the
wall and turned to heed the calling of the world
inside.
Behind
him
in the bosom of the deeply
shadowed room she lay, stretched upon the bed,
her chest rising and falling gently beneath a
thin
blanket, swelling and subsiding like the smface
of the sea in the Smnmer. From the :front wall
where he stood he could hear the soft sigh of
her breath mingling with the sighing of the
breezes in the trees, and he could smell the
faint
smell ofher body and her cloths as it blended
with the heavier odor of the thick Spring
air.
He raised his dry hand to the narrow base of his
nose, inhaling the smell of stale tobacco deeply,
and
thinking
of the years that had passed without
her. The waning night
hung
lazily in the room
about them, sleeping there as she had said once,
long ago, sleeping in the cluttered room, and
slmnbering in the folds of time which lay
between them. The early morning mist had
clouded the memories of all he had once been.
His tongue
was
now tucked deeply in his mouth,
the
air
he breath
was
like liquid in his lungs, his
soar stomach churned, and beneath them all his
heart
was
beating, slowly beating, slowly
pushing the thick red blood :from vein to vein.
He gazed into the shadowy void, peering over
the soulless shapes which filled the
empty
hours
between
dusk
and dawn, and fearing
that his
heart would not beat on without her. The thick
air
had been softened and sprinkled lightly by
the morning mist, and saw her through the
shadows vaguely, a distant shape, soulless like
the rest, apart from
him
forever.
But was it not she who had entered his life
after he'd lost the best of it? And wasn't it she
who'd embrace
him
when he thought none
would ever take
him in their anns again? Those
days were still the dear ones, and
at
times they
seem not fer ago. And all that stood between




them still were two short steps to take--one into
the shadows end one onto the dark bed where
she lay, waiting admist distant dreams for him
to come. Beside her the wrinkled sheets were
warm and the partial disarray was pleasantly
familiar. Her soft
arms
were the ones which
had held him when he was
a
bold young man,
and hers were the eyes which beheld him once
in
glory. And yet how often
had
he strayed end
wandered from them aimlessly? Away only to
·
come again-- over the sweat stained shirt which
lay discarded on the floor, past the wooden
chair where her stockings and her pants were
thrown, over the dangling alarm clock cord, and
a
careful skip onto the lwnpy mattress where
she lay.
It
was four cigarettes past four
in
the
morning, and the east
rim
of the night sky
was
begirming to lose its grip upon the world He
closed the window quietly, and
in
a step a
shuffle and
a
jmnp he
had
landed on the bed
beside her. Reclining back upon the mattress
cautiously he lifted his hands to twine her soft
brown hair his fingers. Her sleeping face
was
turned toward
him
on the pillow, and he laid
beside her sleepily, gazing distantly into the
blindness of
its
ignorant eyes.
Alone. Yes.
It
seemed so different from the
word he had used once when all he'd loved left
him.
And now, with the pale white light of the
morning spilling into the somber sky, it seemed
much more alive,
and a
thousand times more
terrible. The dawn
was
advancing slowly from
the east, pulling the dreary day westward on its
shoulders, and forcing
him
free of the night's
dark embrace. From the black branches in the
shadows, behind the wooden walls end sealed
windows, the birds began to sing their morning
songs in choruses, and the waking world began
to
stir
in its collective sleep
.
He rolled onto his
side and pulled the
thin
green blanket over his
shoulder. His callused band
was
resting lightly
on her chest, and
in
the shadows he could feel
her heart beat steadily, beckoning
him
onward
into morning.
It
was
a soft and reassuring call
and he could feel his body, tamely obeying,
dragging
him
slowly downward into sleep. He
gave her his last waking glance with di1IUI1ing
eyes, and thought he saw in the shadows of her
sleeping face the thousand paths on which his
soul had wandered. It was all tmchangi11g like
the changing days and nights which wandered
by, and it was still she who lay beside him in
the half life, and when he closed his eye
s
and
listened her voice was still the one which
reached his ears most often.
INSIDE
In
my mind I can be anything.
I
am
the wind softly whispering words to the
one I love
.
I
am
the
stars
keeping the hopes and secrets of
my friends.
The Earth I am, revolving arotmd everything
and everyone.
Every emotion I feel.
Every thought I
think
.
Mention the impossible
succeed
and make
it conquerable.
Wandering lonely through this life
I
realize what pain is.
I lmow how to feel
hurt
and confused
Pondering what happiness is look deep in to
me.
You will feel the power of
my
irmer beauty.
By Julie Spann
NOTHING IN YOUR HEART
My feelings mean nothing in your heart
My heart potmds for you and it doesn't matter
I kiss you and you don't notice
I blow smoke in your face and you yell
The tears fall and you feel no pity





















~
r~1:./
.
Whiskey Tango
~
~
-
:...'11111'
r
,
....
..
•.
-
~
4
•
.'!!
-~
,
:





You don't love me and you never will
The closest rll be to you is in my dreams
Touching you is
a
sensation
that
would :fulfill
my
life
To see your face helps me live
To have my eyes blurred is
a
pain
I
deal with
Being alone,
I
survive by mere will
You make this impossible
by
telling me
NO
Our
lives parallel in
a
way
that
frightens you
with
a
sledgehammer you crack our unity
Mutilating
my
mind, while I do my body
rm alive, because death is too easy ..... .
By Derek Jolmson
MY
POWERLESS
PARALVZED
HEART
Gazm&
Grasping,
Groping-
I
am
not alone
.
My
companions
reflect
my thoughts -
mymood
Secrets -
they
share,
protect,
reveal.
The
sky,
cloudless,
and empty,
momns
my
heart.
The willow,
dripping,
dew,
joins
my
tears.
The brook,
bollllcy
and boisterous
,
softens my sobs.
The road,
country-fresh,
massages
my feet
But
naught
massages
my heart.
My
powerless,
paralyzed,
heart,
weighted
by
worlds of
pam.
tattered
by
toJTeDtial
ram-
I
breathe
the&enzy
of
whirlwind,
while seeking
the harps
of
angels.
I
storm
beyond









winter
reality,
winds,
as!
while searching
saturate
for gardens
galaxies
of
of solitude.
smnmer.
I lead
I blaze
the
with
innmnerable
volcanic
lonely.
fury,
as
I
while thirsting
echo the
for one
haunts of
cool
the lost
drink-
Drenched-
I breathe
with disdain,
the fi-enzy
IresolUld
of
with silence -
whirlwind.
I breathe
But
the frenzy
naught
of
massages
whirlwind.
my
heart
But
My
naught
power\ess
,
muY.~eY.
paralyzed
my
heart
heart-
My
I flicker
powerless,
with the
paralyzed
twinkle
heart,
of stars,
mourned
asl
by
only
trail
the
the tip
sky,
of creation.
the
I harbor
cloudless,
hmnanity,
empty
abort
sky.



- Patricia
Smith-Pomales
Downtown Poughkeepsie
Chris Ilardi
I gaze out my window
at
the
white covered city below and am
content to lmow
that
the ice will
melt mder an orange IIID--slowly
revealing its naked
truth
Telephone lines hung heavy
with snow and conversation
as they stretch from pole to pole.
The benches in the park where
we
sat
in the IUIDlller month&
are
now smothered amder a blanket of powder
Crack-pipe chapped lips
Froz.en prostitutes--How's business?
The homeless need
a
hand out in the
worst
way.
Jehovah's Witness goes door to door-
you
must
really love Jesus.
rn
celebrate myself once
spring
arrives.
The Amber Shades of Twilight
Stotyl
The birds of prey, the children
at
play
Were all heading for home
The streets became clear, 'cause B1D1down is
near,
And the streetlights
will let it be lmown.
And over the hills, as he toils over bills,
He watches the last of the
light
As
the
BIDl
goes away,
he
dismisses the day
Through the amber shades of
twilight
Story Il
In
her small barn-house loft, her yoamgest son
coughed
And tears swelled
in
her eyes as she wept
For with each passing breath, he grew closer to
death
As
over the earth, the night crept
How long 'til the srowth, would take over his
youth?
She hoped he
had
enough courage to fight,
For she hadn't the dough to ensure
that
he'd
srow,
Through the amber shades of
twilight
Storvm
As
she pressed with her thighs, she beard her
newborn's cries,
A
new hmnan
had
entered the world
Oh,
the yoq infant's tears were heaven to their
ears
As
their patience and wonder unfurled.
For the child, they cared, as the
BIDl
disappeared,
And they swaddled the
baby
in white.
The nurse watched the sleeper yawn next to her
keeper,
In
the
amber shades of
twilight.
Story IV
As
the world falls to black, know the light will
be back
In
the morning right before the dawn.
But for now I
em
captured,
by
the sky's lovely
rapture
In
the period after the 1UD's gone.
Life and death have been done, with or without
the sun,
And
'twill
happen again every night
And though life's sometimes tragic, we
must
look to the magic,
Like the amber shades of
twilight.
- Mike Pappagallo



Wmdows
to my mind, windows from my heart,
co1D1ecting to each other and clinging to the
screens of consciousness and waiting for the
truth. Trying to find reality in the eyes of the
absurd
And
Grasping. ..
Grasping
and Gripping
and Grabbing
and Groping for the necks of the
1D1aware,
warranting the ability to
drag
them
into the threshold and devour them. Thus
ending the
dual perception of their existence,
and opening my window that much wider.
- Mike Pappagallo
Trestle
"'The trestle upstream is gone, but the
river is still aro1D1d. So am
l" •
Charlie is gone. I can still remember
his Casanova smile and slicked back hair as he
would roll down the hood ofhis convertible
and drive as fast as he could down Snider
Street
He's gone now, and so is his
convertible, which went with him over the side
of the trestle in a twisted, mangled, end.
I still remember the old ''Barlick Store,"
on the east side of the trestle.
Why it was
Mr.
Barlick himself: who cut the ribbon on the
newly built trestle
.
Mr.
Barlick was always
smiling as he would sell his goods to the
neighbors, always on credit I remember how
be always had two extra quarters aroWld for
Sammy and
I,
and he would always offer them
with a wink and a smile.
Mr. Barlick is gone now. Time had its
way with
him,
and disposed of
him
uselessly.
Mrs.
Barlick had to sell the shop, she couldn't
keep up with the payments. She's gone too.
Sammy is gone. Moved on "to a better
place," as the minister put it I can still
remember sitting on the trestle, fishing pole in
hand, listening to Sammy map out his whole
futm-e. He wanted to discover a cure for
cancer. Only thing is, be couldn't come up with
a cure fast enough, and it consmned his body
end ended his life.
Amelia is gone too. She, who
was
to be
my
wife, is gone. I loved her. I will always
remember sitting at the river's edge, watching
the
SWl
set beyond the trestle, singing her
favorite song to her. I still sing that song, only
now I sing it to a plot of
dirt
and a headstone.
From the cemetecy I can still see the
SWl
set
beyond the trestle. The trestle which she ended
her life
by
jumping o:ff 0£
But now ..
.
''the trestle upstream is gone,
but the river is still aro1D1d. So am l" •
• Line taken from ''The Body,"
by
Stephen
King.
- Mike Pappagallo





ON THE WHEREABOUTS OF THE
MUPPETSTODAY
by
Joe Mammca
Spring,
1994
Warning: The following update may be
disturbing to some readers.
n
has
recently been called to
my attention
that
the Moppets, the group of characters so popular
way
back
in
the seventies, have experienced
a
slight, but nevertheless apparent, fallout
in
the
attention of most Americans. This piece of
writing, therefore, will serve to update the
general
public on the present whereabouts end
circumstances involving the Moppets.
Kermit the Frog. after being fired from
a
Hollywood McDonald's (where be had been
employed for
a
period of five months),
eventually fo1D1d his
way
to the Okefenoke
Swamps, where be built himself
a
hovel beside
a
slimy bog. Unfortunately, be was soon trapped
by
a Dutch/Eskimo
fishermen named Ed,
·
shipped to France, and served--for Queen
Elizabeth--beside lentils and on
a bed
of rice in
a
cafe
just
outside ofNice.
After the last Muppet movie, Miss Piggy
began
to
pass through an entire
string
of jobs.
That
spring,
she had been employed
by
a
truck-driving service located near Annapolis
.
This occupation, however, 1100n ended when
she broadsided a Wendy'11 in Tucson. After
legal proceeding concluded, Piggy was hired
by
a 24-holD" diner in Denver, but was soon fired
when she cast an entire saucepan ofbot
sauerkraut
at
a lingering derelict (who turned
out to be Dan Rather). She is presently the night
manager at a
Jimmy
Dean sausage factory in
Spokane, WashingtQD.
Fozzie the
Bear
was
hired to replace Smokey
(his second cousin, twice removed), but was
rapidly dismissed after having been fo1Dld
puffing a reefer in a leaf pile in Yellowstone
National Park.
Gonzo suffered
a
nervous breakdown after
Clerice, his favorite hen,
was
kidnapped
by
Frank Perdue and Perdue's distant cousin, Ross
Perot. Nevertheless, Gonzo quickly recovered
and got a job as a coat valet at a hotel in New
York City. Eventually, he 1D1derwent plastic
surgery and moved back to Hollywood, where
be is cmTently involved in both
a
photography
shoot for L'Oreal and modeling for
Maybeline.
Beaker was quickly hired
by
Pyrex,
but was
laid off when he subsequently cracked. His
bosses claimed
that he couldn't take the heat.
Chuck, or whatever the name of
that
lab
guy
who was always with Beaker is (in actuality,
Dr
.
BlDlBen Honeydew), got married,
contracted syphilis, moved to
Duluth
Minnesota, and now chemically prepares new
and mmsual varieties of fat-free semi-finn
cheeses for
a
subsidiary of the
Kraft
company.
The
rats,
those best known from The Moppets
Take
Manhattan for their fiying pan rendition of
The Ice Cape.des, spent
a
period of folD" years in
a
state of relative 1D1employment Upon their
locating
a
gig in the suburbs of Chicago, they
were subsequently poisoned
by
an
Italian,
French-Canadian innnigraot
by
the name of
Bjom
Animal was incarcerated and treated for
rabies in early
1991.
Eventually, he was
discovered
by
the Ouns
&
Roses drummer
Axl
Rose, who built a pen for
him
and decided to
breed
him
with a neighbor's collie.
The Swedish Chef: after failing out of the
Culinary Institute of America, hitchhiked to
Maine, where be rented an apartment in
Portland. He resides there still, paying for his
rent
with the money he earns
as a dishwasher in
a cheap, suburban Chinese restaurant.
Ralph the Dog was involved in a biking
accident in late
1990.
Apparently, in an effort to
avoid a wandering poodle, be had swerved
sharply across three lanes of1raflic. His barley



was
struck by an oncoming Ford Festiva, and he
was propelled
65 feet backward to a
ravine. [The Festiva must obviously have been
traveling at more
than 100 miles per hour to
provide such inertia].
It
was
at
this point,
witnesses said, that he began to become
unstuffed.
After the filming of the last Muppet movie,
all the rest of the Moppets ( except for a mnall,
rogue group ofband members who eloped to
soufhem Armenia) were riding from the studio
when, in
a
biz.arre twist of fate, their
bus happened to collide with the sedentmy gate
of
a
Los Angeles nudist colony. Apparently,
they liked
it
so much that the entire group
decided to
remain,
and, as of the last notice,
they were still there.
A Dance
with
Temptation
The soul strolled
in
innocence, basking
in
purity and pride. Flawless, it ambled in
a
willowy whisper toward the heavens. For an
eternal moment, however, it feathered
a
fraction
beyond bliss.
The
thrill
of
a
tinsilled trail eclipsed the
soul's destination. Although once 1mblemished,
the soul soon needed cleansing, as it
was
soiled
by
a
walk
along
a
muddied path. Instead of
dooning boots to shield itself from earthly
pleasures, the soul was lured into false steps to
warmth and protection.
Upon reaching the cmved kingdom, the
soul pondered the wet ear1h. It teasingly toed
the ointment before succumbing to the glistening
ooze. Fragile footprints soon confinned the
soul's chosen course. But with each step, it
became burdened, and wallowed with the
weight of its walk.
The titillating trail turned treacherous.
The soul stumbled into temptation, and
cnnnpled upon contact with its tempter. The
soul discovered that the
shiny
substance had
tarnishe~ the alluring ooze and shine were only
smut and grime.
The soul quaked in its squalor; it sought
refuge from remorse. Tired with struggle, it
yawned. Yielding to sorrow, it yelled.
The soul tasted tears, paled with pain,
and felt fear. It sunnised
that with misguided
merit, the soul became disjointed from spirit
The lumbering soul wavered between
now and remembrance. The wet earth
that
covered it eventually crusted, then dusted away.
The cleansing calmed the soul.
Renewed, the soul emerged and sought the
sky.
It
befriended
brilliant
colors.
No longer jaded, but shaded
in
a
spectrum ofhues, the soul spiraled heavenward.
- Patricia Smith-Pomales
JUST DO IT
Just do it
Just give up.
You
already
have and you lmow it
You can't fight anymore.
What
are
you fighting for
anyway?
To survive maybe.
The struggle is endless.
The drug use is killing you.
So just do it
Do you really want to live in a world like this?
Fix up, you lmow deep down it's helping you.
It lets you observe what no else could possibly
see.
The loss of control, the loss of reality, and the
loss ofa
life, your life.
But, is it really a loss?
So just do it



Suicide is an easy answer, the solution to your
problems.
The problems are more complicated than the
solution.
Help
has
been offered, but you won't accept
A
lost cause,
a
waste of time.
The
truth
is so real, but don't accept it
Just do it
By Derek Johnson
Poetry
Poetry is
anything
with
a
meaning,
with
a
reason,
with
a
little
rhythm
or
a little rhyme.
It could be
a
single word
with
a
meaning
in
itsel(
or just
a
thought
that
comes to mind
A
thought,
a
mind,
a
word,
a
rhyme
that's all you really need ..
that
and something to write it
down with.
-a poet at heart-
CRONICLES OF SATil.E: Part 1
by
Jason Crandall
The road and the trees that lined it were
week images that he was barely aware o(
things
that
he could neither focus on nor entirely
dismiss either. He felt as though he was not
there, not anywhere really,just floating
in
a
bhwk abyss that he was just emerging :from He
knew he was moving, the ghostly images of
trees
that
went
by him
told
him
that. But he
couldn't tell where he
was
apart
from being in a
wood somewhere on a dirt path that lead into a
black nothingness.
Lights! Lights in
the nothingness, but they were above
him,
beyond the trees growing bright then dim with
an impossible irregularity. Another sign of the
delirious state he was in, but also another string
to grasp onto reality with. It was night, and
those were stars.
It
was hard to think,
a
thick
haze had settled over him while he had been in
the darkness and his head felt as though it were
filled with cotton. Despite this he would break
free of it,
that
he assured himself ofl
He was walking! He was
sure
of it! He
could feel the steady, but
staggering
movement
of his legs. Another victory! He
was
starting
to
become
aware
of great fatigue, he
must
have
been walking for quite some time. He could
feel the rest ofhis body, too. His
mus
listless
at his sides, occasionally coming up to
grab
the
support of
a
passing tree. No. His right
mm
came up to support
him,
the other never moved
He did not think it could, something was wrong
with it Maybe it was broken, no
matter
he
would deal with it when the time came. The
haze
was
definitely lifting, he no longer felt as
though he was traveling through the thickest of
mud, he could think more clearly although not
by
much. His
SUITOIDldings
revealed their
secrets to
him
as though he
had
just looked He
was stmnbling along
a
narrow
dirt
path
in
the
middle of some temperate forest The wood
was
not particularly thick. but he was amazed
that he
had
not come to find himself totally lost
in
the middle of no where.
A
light breeze swept
past
him
from his left, 'that would be the east' he
thought, placing it's direction
by
the
stars. So
he was traveling south.
if only he knew where
he was that
might
mean something.
n
was
warm,
the breeze a light caress to his
exhaustion. Smmner, he judged, or late spring.
Then noticed the flowers and shrubbery for the
first time and chided himself for a fool.
Obviously he was not fully out of his state yet
Delirious or not though, he
had
enough
control to finally stop his mindless trudging.
When he did, however, he fo1D1d he did not have




the strength to stand He fell into a tree next to
him and slwnped to the grotmd He clawed
at
the tree tcying to get back on his feet, now was
definitely not the time for a rest! But it was no
use with one hand and legs that could barely
move, perhaps using his other
8JlD
would give
him enough
strength.
So he moved to see
what
he could do about his left arm, but when he
looked he fotmd nothing! His left arm
was
not
there! He clenched his fist tightly, digging his
nails into his palm, and willed himself
to
remain calm.
·
What ever had happened to his
arm
had
happened a long time ago, the wotmd
was well healed over about halfway down :from
the shoulder to the elbow. Obviously since he
could do nothing about it he dismissed his lost
mm and looked over the rest of person, hoping
not to find anything else missing. He was
dressed solely in
rags
that
might have been
something else et some time, but he could not
tell whet.
Apart
from his attire he seemed to be
canyiog no other possessions, including no coin
but
that
was
a problem for some other time. He
was covered in old scars and wotmds, some of
which ached badly. 'So many' he thought. No
wonder he
was
missing en arm, he
was
lucky it
wasn't more. There
was
no doubt in his mind
he
had
been some kind of warrior, his large
build end the
fact
that
he
had
walked all this
way
in the state he was in without collapsing
only added confirmation. He only hoped that
whatever enemies had done this to him were
dead
DOW
for he
was
in no shape to defend
himself
Other then being very
dirty
end having
cut
up
feet from
walking
bare foot the whole
way
he seemed to be all right The haze had
almost completely lifted, end sitting for the
short time he
had
replenished some of his
strength. With great effort he raised himself
up
onto his feet, ignoring the sharp pain of
nmnerous
cuts
being grotmd in with
dirt.
He
stood there holding the tree he
had
lain
against.
In the distance he could hear
many
night time
creatm-es
that
were still out looking for food
and decided
that
it would be safest to
start
moving once more. Walking was hard at first
but once the rbythm took him be was well on his
way.
Before traveling for ten minutes a
flickering halo of
fire
light outlined the
silhouette of a high wall to the south, directly in
front of the path. 'A city' he thought
'towns
never have walls that high end fortresses have
them much higher'.
As
he slowly made his way
onto a small plain SUJTotmding the
structure,
he
was
1111187.ed to discover it was indeed a town!
The whole thing was much to small to be a city,
but the walls were so high?! With battlements
end towers. Whet would constitute such things
here? A war.
It
had to be. But who were they
fighting. end why? Questions
that
would
assuredly be answered inside.
From where be stood be could see a
well traveled road running to the east from the
town end a heavy gate meeting it He worlced
his
way
arotmd to the gates, which were closed
for the night. They were massive oak doors,
bended with thick iron end no doubt a foot thick
themselves. They stood et least ten feet tall,
curving inward at the top end the wall
was
maybe ten feet taller then that
At
either side of
the gate two burning torches hanging in sconces
nearly blinded his night vision.
''Ho, there!" a voice called from atop
the
wall.
''What be ye doing out so late friend,
end traveling by yerself Mighty risky, that".
'Tve lost
my
way." He responded in a
throughly voice. 'Tm quite tired and hungry.
ff
I might be allowed to enter yotu" cit-, town I
would be very grateful.".
''Who's
that
et the gate Mike, it's awfully
late for more arrivals." another man appeared at
the wall canying a small lantern. He could see
them now
that
his eyes had adjusted to the light.
They were men of middle age wearing full
cbainmail
garb
with a symbol
OD
their blue
surcoats that he did not recognize. Which
was
no large surprise since he remembered little of
anything.
"Say. What's wrong with ye friend?
You sotmd as
if
the angel of death himselfhas





caught
up
with ye. Dmmil go open the gates
.
"
Mike turned back to the men in the road with
concern on his face. The poor fellow looked as
though he had been to helJ end back, pale as
anyone he had ever seen, only ripped rags for
clothing, haggard as a skeleton, end just as
lively looking. Yet his eyes were filled with
a
fire
that spoke of a will that had overcome
much. Imagining what this man
must
have gone
through before
·
be bad gotten here made Mike
ahiver, he did not
want
to
think
about it
He never answered Mike, be just stood
there and waited for Dmmil to open the gates.
Once that was done Mike climbed down the
ladder from the battlements and joined Dmmil at
the gates to greet their visitor. Bent over
slightly from exhaustion, be slowly limped
through the gates and over to where Mike end
Dmmil both stood Once he entered the light of
Dannil's lantern Mike and Dmmil both saw
that
bis left
arm
was missing. Danni) let out a small
gasp,
Mike only stared
"May I ask what town
I
am
in?" he
stopped,
glaring
at the two of them. "And
where
I
might
stay
for the night, mind
I
have
little coin.".
Mike collected his thoughts, ''Yer in
Camor, Sir. And I believe
that the Bear's Cave
is still open, it's just down the road on yer right
Ye should be able to
stay
there for only three
copper.". Dmmil seemed to have recovered as
well.
''Yep
.
The Bear's Cave is a good tavern
with better ale. The regulars
ere sure
to be
there, but if they give you any trouble Tess'll
whip'em into shape. She'll be easy on you for
sure,
like
a
mother to everybody aromd here
.
"
.
He just nodded, end started to limp down the
dirt
street
'"lbank you." be said briefly as he
passed
"Say fiiend, what's yer name?" Mike
asked the man's back. He stopped end was
silent, not turning or moving whatsoever. What
was
his name? Suddenly it all hit him He
didn't lmow who be was! He couldn't
remember
anything about his past, or who he
might've been. All that lied in his head was
general information,
things that anyone might
lmow. Desperately be tried to find something in
bis mind,
anything that might tell
him
who be
was. But it was useless, who ever he bad once
been was totally gone
.
He nearly shook with
grief: they
had even taken his identity from
him.
Who ever
was
responsible would pay! But first
he
had to get rid of these two idiots. He chose a
1imple name, one he did not intend to keep.
Mike, the guard,
had stepped
up
behind
him.
Probably to see ifbe
was
all right, be had
been standing there for a good minute or two.
He merely spoke
a
single word back to the two
ofthem
"Forliath.". He said, no more. Then
began walking
on
toward the inn/tavern he
had
been directed to. Mike and Danni) stood there
for a time watching him go then went back to
their posts on the battlements.
'Gawking fools!' be thought to himself:
looking back. They didn't even ask what had
happened to him, or bow be bad come here.
Answers be did not have, yes, but still no true
guards were they. He bad considered the
possibility
that
be bad been one of their scouts
·
who
had
encountered trouble on a
r1Dl,
but it
was equally possible
that
be was part of the
enemy here end so did not mention it at all.
Interesting. however,
that
at
a
time of war such
a
small end inexperienced guard should be
used Perhaps they were mdermmmed, or
maybe the war
had
just begun. He thought the
second more likely, for all aromd the road be
walked down there were carts end horses end
wagons, too
many for a town this
small.
The
place
must
be filled with refugees from the
boarder
towns of the country he
was
in,
a
logical first step in
warfare
to allow more room
for troops and equipment This place
was
probably not even near the conflict, end thus the
low defense.
The town was dead, in a sense. All the
lights were out in the various houses and small
shops that lined the road with the shutters














































































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closed as well, it appeared that even being this
far :&om what was happening inspired some
fear.
As
he weaved in and out of the many
wagons and carts cluttering the road he noticed
a low din oftalkingjust up ahead and soon saw
the lights marking the Bear's Cave corning up on
his right
It
wasn't much to look at, the porch
was riddled with holes and rotten patches, the
roof drooped and had almost no shingles left.
It
was
squeezed between two large houses with
the front consisting of one open door and two
windows both broken at some earlier time. Any
sign that had once
hung there
was
now gone, but
any fool could tell it
was
a tavern.
Two voices came :&om inside, one a
husky female's, the other a young slurred male's.
They were arguing about something. He
stepped
up
the porch and entered the tavern.
It
was a
quaint little room, no more then a dozen
yards square. Placed aro1D1d the room were
small ro1D1d wooden tables, polished and well
kept Along the walls were several pictures
and wall hangings depicting average people
dancing arolDld, ~inging, drinking, and laughing.
The floor was mopped and sturdy.
It
appeared
to be an entirely different place. Sitting at a
table in one comer at the back was
a
stocky
fellow dressed as a farmer would be
.
He had
red hair, a bllDlt face, and blue eyes.
Apart
:&om that he was very large and very dnmk. He
clutched a large glass tankard in his hand,
swirling the ale as he stared on at the scene
taking place at the bar.
At
the back of the room a long polished,
oak
bar ran
along the right side of the back
wall, on the left was a door leading back into
the building. The bar seemed well stocked with
rows, upon rows of ale and herder drinks lined
up behind the bar along a miiTor that covered
the wall. A large portly woman in an old dress
and apron stood behind the bar cleaning it with
a small cloth. She looked very much like a
dwarf
with her brown hair and eyes and plmnp,
rolDld features. But her height made her a
lnnnan She was speaking to a young man in
worn, but fancy clothes, with short blonde hair
and a weak body that didn't look like it had seen
much work.
"-not going to find any answers in a
tankard, you lmow." she was saying as he
entered. ''lfl were you rd just start all over
again. There's plenty to have out there, says 1
And
if
you
try hard enough you'll be even better
off
than you were before." she fmished with a
distinct nod of her head
"Oooohhh! You don't 1D1dersshhtand I
lossht everything. I don't ev-even have a horse
an-any mooore." the young man moaned as he
clutched at his face as
if
to hide it :&om the
world
''I
think that idea before about killing yer
shelf was pertty good Why not
try that." the
large dnmk spoke for the
first
time and laughed
when the bar keep stared down her nose at
him
with murderous eyes. The young man only
crawled deeper into himself with
faint
noises of
crying coming :&om beneath his arms. They then
became aware of him. The large dnmk only
eyed
him
warily while sipping at his tankard
Tess, he
had
assumed that she
must
be, came
arolDld the bar and helped the young man get up.
"Corne now. Time to catch some sleep,
tomorrow is another day." the two of them
disappeared into the back dooi- with Tess softly
comforting him about what
had
happened He
stepped
up
to the bar and took a seat, aware all
the time of the dnmk's eyes on
him.
He was
about to
start
a conversation with the man,
hoping to get some information out ofhim. But
he stopped dead when he saw his reflection in
the miiTor. The
first
time he had seen himsel(
as far as he knew, and he looked terrible. His
face was so pale
that
had
he not been himself he
would have believed
that he was dead
if
not
close to it The rest ofhis body was pale as
well but the
dirt
had
concealed it He
had
dark
brown hair that hung
to
his shoulders, and
piercing
gray
eyes. His features might have
been handsome at one point, but now his face
was
riddled with scars and cuts. His right ear
was almost totally gone! What else would
surprise him this night!





"Hey! rm talking toooo you!
Are
you
deefflf or ssshhomething! Answer me!" the
drunk had gotten
up
and was right next to him
now screaming at
him
and potu1diog the bar.
''I'm sony." he said while
tmning to face
the man. 'Tm afraid rm out of sorts tonight,
could you repeat what you asked?"
''Humph! I asked what your name
was
you. you
dammm
fool! Now you gorma
Bll8shwer me or what?" the
st:nmger
certainly
didn't
want
to start a
fight with the dnmk, who
looked
right
on the virge of doing so. So tried
to look docile and BDSWered the
man.
''My name's Fortieth. rve com-" he
was
stopped in mid-sentence
by
the drunk's laughing.
'"lbat's a name?!" he choked out. ''Why
not-" he stopped to contain himsel( ''Why not
just
call yer shelfForlimb!! Ha, Ha, Ha, Haf!"
the man yelled as he pointed
at
the stranger's
missing
mm.
The stranger clenched his fist and
grotu1d his teeth, 1Jying to control himself The
drunk
was
lost in laughter, hanging over the bar
and practically
crying.
''I
do not care for yolD" sense of humor."
he said quietly, ''I would appreciate it
if
you
would apologize." his cold
stare
got the
attention of the dnmk almost immediately. Too
late did he realiz.e his mistake.
"Oh rll apologize.
As
soon as you lick
my boot Forlimb!" the dnmk demanded as he
stood tall in front ofhim, glowered menacingly.
He stood
up as well, pushing his stool
back. He would not submit to such filth, never
would he give in!
''I wouldn't even touch you! You slimy,
drunken toad You smell of ch.mg and rot
Rats
have more decency!" the red of the drunk's face
grew even more crimson with
fury,
but a smile
broke through it all. The dnmk had wanted a
fight He had seen that he
was
weak and knew
he would be easily beaten.
The dnmk's right hand came down, he
tried to counter but was too slow. He went
.
flying back onto a table and fell off onto the
floor. Every pert ofhim hurt, every old wound,
every scar, every mUGcle. His head felt as if
was going to come off Before he could even
get
up he was pulled to his feet by strong hands.
He saw the
drunk for an instant then was
ptu1ched in the stomach, the air rUGhed out of his
lungs as his head was brought down into the
dnmk's knee. Pain.
Anger.
He saw nothing but
a blinding haze, his head was about to explode,
he couldn't
breath.
Pain lanced at him &om his
side, his head , his chest Somewhere in the far
distance he heard someone scream 'Stop it
Sedric! YolD" going to kill him! Stop it!'. He
could vaguely see the dnmk, Sedric, leering
over him, beating
him
He could not stand it,
such filth making a mockery of him and that
same filth would kill
him
as well.
Anger
welled
up inside of him, his pain fueled it A
mix
of emotions, so
many
different feelings
came
up to strengthen
him,
to focUG
him.
He leapt
up &om the floor, leaping with
all ofhis strength and emotion and putting it into
one p1D1ch, one deadly p1D1ch. Which
was
more
so than he realiz.ed, for when he leapt at Sedric
and his fist came
up to meet his attacker. It was
not fist that met flesh, but
fire.
Out
of his hand
shot a blazing torrent of
fire
which hit and
engulfed the man who
was
Sedric. He watched
amazed as the body slumped to the gro1D1d and
burned to ash. He was only barely aware of the
woman Tess screaming in the back doorway
and the two guards yelling out in the street,
running to see what had happened
His enemy was dead That
was
all
that
mattered And as he watched the burning
embers start to spread fire to the floor of the inn
he became
aware
of a new so1D1d, a sound that
seemed so familiar here and now. The so1D1d of
him laughing.
•
•
•
Hawkens winced again as the wagon
jumped over another clump of stones in the road
and he landed hard on the back railing of the
wagon. Olmar, sitting beside him, grlDlted as
the same
thing
happened to him and cursed
when he fotmd that his large bulk had almost




broken off the railing they were both leaning
against. Hovering over them was Malcomm
with more bandages and poultices for their
wounds, the
skill
and swiftness with which he
had helped Lyle was both welcome and
surprising. Neither him nor the others had
thought Malcomm more than a vagabond
storyteller who spent most ofhis time in a
tankard of ale, but now he was turning out to be
much more.
''Kem! Billi,
if
vou nm over anv more
boulders your going to kill them!" Mal~omm
yelled over the din of crying children and
galloping hooves, as he attempted for the
second time to
wrap
a third gash on Hawkens'
side
.
In the face of death Malcomm
had
taken
charge and seemed more capable
than
him
or
any of the others.
Of
colD"Se he
was
only half
conscious and wouldn't make much of a leader
now, but that was no excuse. These people
were his responsibility, not Malcomm's! He
had made a mistake, he
had
failed them, and
some of his mends
had
died for it He would
make
up
for it, not Malcomm!
''What do you expect! I can't see a damn
thing
up
here!" Billi replied 'Tll slow down."
''NOi!" Malcomm screamed as he leapt
past Gerald and Coro tiying to comfort the
children, and themselves as well. Past Lyle, the
only BlD"Viving father, clutching his son and
daughter tight to
him
as
if
something were about
to take them away. And
up
to the driver's bench
where Billi sat, leaning over the front railing
and clutching at Billi as
if
to keep him from
slowing the two horses that pulled their wagon.
"Don't slow down!" He commanded,
while fighting to keep his balance in the
crowded wagon. ''You mustn't! Go faster
if
you can!".
"Malcomm, the road wasn't meant for
this and neither was the wagon. She's going to
break up!" Billi yelled as the wagon jumped
another jmnble of rocks.
''He's right Malcomm. And who the hell
put you in charge anyway, not Hawkens."
Wrapped in balling children, a young, wide
eyed Coro spoke up to Malcomm from where
he sat with
e.
menacing tone
.
"Yea! And why can't we slow down,
we've been going like this for more than ten
minutes
.
Don't you think it's gone by now!"
Gerald's voice was hardly audible under the
many
children that were clinging to him. The
narrow features of his face topped by a crop of
wild red hair fought to be seen above the
writhing bodies of the
distraught
children. His
expression
was
that of anger, as it usually was,
but directed at Malcomm not the children.
''Be silent! Both of you! You whelps
lmow nothing of what goes on here. You
contribute nothing by arguing with me. I-"
''Hold on!" Billi screamed Suddenly
the wagon hit another jumble of rocks, much
larger than the others. The whole thing leapt
into the
air.
Gerald and Coro tried desperately
to keep the children from falling out of the
wagon, Lyle helped as best he could
Malcomm nearly lost his balance end fell out,
but Billi caught
him
at the last second, catching
the bench with his other hand to see
that they
both didn't fall. The jump
had
taken Hawkens
by complete smprise, he had been
hying
to
listen to what was being said up front When
Billi yelled his waming he could do little more
than watch. Olmar beside
him
grabbed his
shoulder with a powerful hand end kept them
from falling out of the wagon by holding onto
the side railing.
The wagon came down with a loud
crash,
the be.ck end collapsing end dragging in
the rocks and dirt Billi and Malcomm were
thrown into the be.ck on top of Gerald, Coro and
the children who were able to keep themselves
in the wagon. Lyle had been hit
by the Barrel of
ale as it was tumbling out the back and was
mocked clear of the wagon. He lost his grip on
his children when he was hit and fell apart from
where they landed Hawkens end Olmar hit the
back board of the wagon and tmnbled out when
it broke underneath
them. They both tossed and
tinned in the rock filled road for a dozen feet
before coming to a stop.





Hawkens, all cut up from the fall,
looked up from where he
was
.
Not five feet to
his right Olmer was doing the same
.
Up the
road the wagon had stopped, maybe thirty or so
feet ahead. The back axle was broken, whether
it could be fixed or not he couldn't see
.
Malcomm, Billi, Gerald, Coro, and most of the
children seemed to be alright lying in the back
of the wagon.
Having
fallen out the back, the
barrel of ale
that
Mal comm had insisted on
bringing,
lay intact close to where the others
were.
'Funny
that
it should survive what we
may
not' Hawkens mused A few feet off to the
right of the road Lyle
was
getting
up shakily, his
head was bleeding and his left arm was twisted
wmaturally. A hmmted look dominated his face
as he staggered over to where a small, still form
lay.
A
few feet away from that another small
form stirred slightly and moaned
Hawkens forced himself to his feet, the
pain from his wotmds lancing at
him
with a
maddening consistency
.
''Hawkens." Olmer gripped his arm and
tried to help
him
stand,
but Hawkens just
pushed hitn away. All he could see
was
Lyle,
his head bent over the body of a little girl he
clutched to
him
tightly
.
The girl's face bent
back, staring peacefully at the night sky
.
Olmer
stood there at his side watching him silently.
''I
will check on the others." He said
Then went over to the wagon where Malcomm
was
tJying to calm the kids down, while Gerald
and Coro were looking tmder the wagon and
suffering
tmder Billi's yelling. Olmer joined
them and
was
immediately attacked
by
more of
Billi's raving, something about a debt and who
was
going to pay. But Hawkens wasn't
listening. He staggered slowly over to where
Lyle was now covering the face of the girl he
had held with a blanket from his pack.
Kneeling
at
his right
was
a little boy of maybe
five, his son Kirim. Bruised, but otherwise
alright. The girl's name had been Sersa. Both
father and son were quiet as he approached
''Lyle, 1-" Hawkens started, but he
could not finish. He had lmown this girl since
her birth, lmown Lyle even longer. The pain he
felt now was worse than any that his wollllds
had given him. Lyle laid the
girl
to the ground
and took the boy's hand
in
his. His face
remained down, looking
at
the form of his
daughter beneath the blanket as if for the last
time.
Kirim
merely looked questionly at his
father, he did not llllderstand
.
Then Lyle looked
up and stared with dead eyes right at Hawkens
.
''1
lmow what your going to say
Hawkens, don't There
was
nothing you or I or
aoyone could have done.
It
happened Let it
be." And without another word Lyle took his
son over to the wagon and the rest of the group
.
'Let it be' Lyle's words echoed through
Hawken's head over and over again. Yes.
Thoughts and deeds ere to be spent on the
living, not those who have passed
on.
He
would
bring
the others to safety. He would!
"Sleep, child Sleep." He said simply,
then started over to the wagon. He saw that
they had gotten all the children out of it and had
placed the back up on a makeshift pile of rocks,
Gerald and Coro were tmdemeath the wagon
inspecting the axle. Olmer and Billi were
looking over the horses. And Malcomm had
actually gotten the children to quiet down a
little
by
the side of the wagon,but calls for their
mothers and fathers still rose above their
crying. Some of those calls would never be
answered
A loud screeching howl echoed from
back where they had come, the sotmd lingering
over them, paralyzing them. All eyes turned
fearfully down the road to the east, tJying to see
past the darkness and to what lay beyond But
they didn't need to see to lmow what bore down
on them at
that very moment The children
clutched each other in teITor. All the others
merely stood where they were in shock and
fear
.
All except Malcomm. He stood tall
above the children, all expression gone from his
face as he looked past the light of the wagon's
torches into the darkness.
''It's fotmd us
.
" he
said, his face growing herd and his eyes
tightening as ifhe was grappling with some




indecision. Hawkens darted a look at
Malcomm. He knew something. Somehow the
old man knew what
was
going on. He was
definitely not the old, worthless dnmk that
everyone had thought when he had come to their
town but
a
week ago. There was no time to
discuss it now though, whatever had taken the
lives ofhis :friends was now coming for them.
And it would not have them!
"Coro!" he yelled, '"The axle, how bad
is
it?"
''It-it's a clean
br-break,
Hawkens."
Coro managed
to
answer, brushing nervous
fmgers through his short blonde
hair.
Gerald
stood
up
fi-om beside Coro, his face twisted into
a sneer, and began to kick the wagon while
cursing of it's frailty.
"Olmar! Billi! We need a brace for the
axle, go now! Oerald! ! Stop that and get the
rope from Billi's pack in the front of the wagon,
cut it into three pieces about three feet long
each. Malcomm get the children to the side of
the road and ready to get on the wagon when
we're done. Lyle! Lyle!! Get over here and
help me and Coro with the axle!
Hurry,
all of
you! It's not that
far
offl". With
that
everyone
jmnped into action. Olmar grabbed his
woodsman's axe from his pack and leapt into
the trees to the side of the road, Billi just behind
him yelling where suitable trees would be.
Gerald cursed, as he dumped everything out of
Billi's packs in his search for the rope. Lyle,
after some hesitation, left his son with
Malcomm and went over to where Hawkens
and Coro were forcing the two jammed ends of
the axle free from their bent positions.
Malcomm turned from where he had been
staring
dovm the road and looked at the fenners,
'farmers!' he pondered with amazement Not
many
would have had the strength to press on
like this nor the courage to face that beast for
that matter, but these simple folk were doing
just
that
and perhaps more! His gaze drifted to
Hawkens. That one was exceptionally strong
willed, and seemed to handle leadership quite
well. Perhaps he
would leave this to them. All
the better for himself
"Come, children. Soon we'll be on our
way again and there with your families before
sunrise." Once they were at the side of the road
and out of the way, Malcomm did his best to
comfort the children. The sounds of chopping
from among the trees had not lasted long when
Billi came nnming out with
a
roughly cut branch
maybe four or five feet long, a few inches thick,
and sturdy looking. Not long after
that
the
chopping stopped altogether and Olmar came
out next with a nearly identical branch. Gerald
had
finally folUld the rope 1U1demeath the
driver's bench and was trying to cut it so fast
that he
had
sliced himself with his knife several
times already. Coro was holding Lyle who had
collapsed from the effort of dislodging the split
axle, trying desperately to stop the gash on his
bead from bleeding. So Hawkens alone held
the axle
in
place when Olmar and Billi came
over to the back of the wagon with the branches
they had gotten.
''Look after the children." Mal comm
commanded as he took Lyle from Coro and
began to
wrap
his head
in
bandages. Coro,
white faced, shook his head as he went to the
frightened children.
B


Another screech shot
up from down the
road, much closer this time. The frenzied men
were not even slowed, but moved to work
faster. Olmar stood
up and apart from Hawkens
and Billi as Gerald handed them the rope and
they three began to tie the branches as braces to
the broken axle.
"Coro! Malcomm! Get Lyle and the
kids into the wagon, now!" Hawkens
conunanded from tmder the wagon. Then
noticed Olmar untying
his bow and quiver from
his pack
"Olmar, what are you doing? Get the
horses ready! It's almost here!" He screamed
as he finished his double knot and started out
from tmder the wagon. Gerald and Billi had
fmished their knots as well and were checking
to see
if it would hold
up.
''Billi
can do that." he said simply,
kneeling a few dozen feet off down the road
''It's too close. Get on the wagon, quickly.". He
nocked an arrow, drew, and fired just as
something huge lmnbered out of the darlcness not
fifty
feet from Olmar. The giant wolf-like
creature paid the arrow no mind as it
Stmk into
it's shoulder, but then he had come to expect as
much.
The
thing
looked larger somehow,
waving it's massive maw wide to show
many
rowed teeth. A red halo of light from it's eyes
made it seem like a demon of hell, which wasn't
altogether tmlikely.
''Vena save us! It's here!" Coro
screamed, bringing Hawkens back to his senses.
He quickly turned away from where Olmar was
shooting arrow after arrow, each hitting it's
mark but doing little that he saw, and ran over
to where Gerald and Coro were tcying
desperately to get the children into the wagon.
''Huny
damn you! Faster, or we'll never
make it!" Billi waited impatiently in the
driver's seat, looking much more sober
than
UBUal
and with good reason. Lyle lay on the
floor of the wagon, unconscious, with
Malcomm looking over
him.
Nearly all the
children were in the wagon, only three
remained
Hawkens quickly took a look back
at
Olmar. The beast bore down on him with all
it's speed. Huge, powerful limbs talcing it faster
than any animal he had ever seen. Giant claws
ripping
up the rocks as well as the dirt of the
road with every bolllld. Body riddled with
arrows, some in it's legs and head, and yet it
still came! The thing
was a
nightmare on all
co1mts. Olmar leapt to his feet, dropping his
bow, and began nmning back to the wagon with
the thing only several feet behind
"Get in! Move!!" Hawkens yelled at
Coro who had been
lifting children into the
wagon. Coro complied immediately talcing one
of the kids in with
him.
Hawkens quickly
handed another child to Gerald then grabbed the
last and heaved them both into the back space,
instantly looking back for Olmar. He saw his
old mentor nmning to them in the silhouette of
the horrid beast just behind
him,
it's eyes
glowing brightly in expectation. For an instant,
student and teacher locked eyes. There was no
fear in those eyes, Hawkens noted, only calm
acceptance. And a firm command
''Billi!
Go!"
It
only took a moment's
hesitation to make the decision. Even going
now the thing might be too close to get away.
Hawkens prayed he had not failed his friends
once more.
The Wagon pulled free of the pile of
rocks it had been set on and began to race away
from the scene. Olmar ran over to the side of
where the wagon had once been, out of
Hawkens's sight For the beast was no longer
chasing him, having seen that it's prey was
getting away, it was now bounding straight from
the wagon!
It
was too close. The wagon hadn't
been able to build
any speed The beast took
one powerful leap and Hawkens watched it
coming down, right into the back of the wagon.
Before it landed however, Malcomm's
barrel of ale came hurtling out of nowhere and
smashed directly into it's chest Throwing it off
to the side. Covered in the barrel's contents, the
thing twisted around in the air to land
by
the
side of the road on it's feet As the wagon raced
away Hawkens watched Olmar nm
up to it and





toss a lit torch into it's bulk. The resulting blaze
was blinding. It screamed in rage, but still it
stood consumed in yellow tongues of flames,
seemingly tmharmed! It's eyes darted from
Olmar to the disappearing wagon, deciding
which prey it would take for it's own. Olmar
had gone back to where he had dropped his
bow, his motion a blur as he tried to get it's
attention with a hail of arrows. The beast
merely shrugged.the shafts off and stared at the
wago~
preparing
to
start
after it Olmar fired
his last
BITOW
then got out his axe
running
at
the
thing,
screaming, doing
anything
to pull it's
away from the wagon. The fire that had
consumed it before
was
starting
to
dim, when
suddenly it flared with new life. Burning a hot
reddish color. Hawkens gasped in surprise as
the thing screamed in pain. Seconds later it
lurched over a foot or two as Olmar's axe
buried itself in it's side. Lightning fast the
creature oriented itself on Olmar
standing
several feet o:ffto the side of the road and
darted after
him
when he dodged into the trees,
leaving a burning swath where it entered
Hawk:ens slowly set himself down on
the floor of the wago~ watching the trees
burning out the back of wagon ID'ltil they
disappeared behind a curve in the road He
looked
up
to the sky and whispered a silent
prayer for his fiiend. Gerald and Coro stared
back at where the curve in the road hid the spot
where they
had
just been. They looked at each
other then collapsed on the floor of the wagon.
Malcomm had huddled the children
around
him
and had Lyle lying by his side, but he
was
oblivious to them as he stared back down the
road
''Brave bastard, that Olmer! Eh,
Malcomm? You'd never catch ol'Billi doing
something like
that.
Not that I couldn't. ... "
Billi had slowed the horses down to keep the
wagon from pulling itself apart again, but even
so the jolting of rough ground was very
noticeable.
"Damn these rocks! I hate Stony Vale!
The closer we get the worse it becomes
.
Why
don't they ever clear the road?" Billi waited for
en answer, then looked back at Malcomm to see
him
staring back where they had come. He
tmned back around
.
''Too bad about that ale barrel, eh? I
mean sure it was for a good cause, but to bum it
up like that-" Billi paused for a moment
''Hey. How the hell did
that
ale spark
back
up
like
that
anyway?" He asked himself
''I
think
your eyes are playing tricks on
you again, Billi. It didn't flare, just changed
color. I had some herbs mixed in with the ale
that
could've done
that."
Billi almost jmnped
when Malcomm BDBWered him. He tmned
again
to ask
him
what
the hell he
was
talking
about, but stopped when he found
him
quietly
speaking to the children once more. Billi let out
a curse under his breath and tmned back to the
front of the wagon once more.
What
the hell
was Malcomm talking about. Hawkens hadn't
let
him
bring
any
ale on the trip, because he was
to drive the wagon. But he had tapped a little
from Malcomm's barrel when no one was
looking. Billi knew his liquor, and
that
had
been
straight
ale. He was sure there had been
no herbs in it And by hell ifhe hadn't seen
that
fire flare up
again. What
was Malcomm
hying
to
hide
.
YOUR SHADOW, YOUR SOUL
by
nicole sileozi
Only when you are strong enou~
Want to see it bad enough,
Will the
S1Dl
shine down upon you
To show you your shadow,
YOID"'IOUI,
Your true self
It is something you have to look
Within end arotuld yourself to see.
Your shadow is pure.
It should be trusted
And followed












If
you give up on yourself:
You are giving up on your shadow
And all that it promises.
Do not let the world stop you
.
Stop only briefly to look at your shadow-
Look deeply, follow where it leads.
Let it guide you into
the
world of innocence,
A
world oftrimnph and joy.
Your shadow is your
future.
It leads you to your hopes, goals and dreams.
Follow it until you
are
satisfied-
Follow it for the rest of your life.
Your soul is all that it should be:
Uninhibited,
Unprejudiced,
Unstoppable.
It
is only when you want to see your soul
And have it lead you
That the
SWl
will shine down upon your body
And show it to you.
CYCLES
by Patricia Smith-Pomales
I was a thought
but
at
the time
lmewnot
as I was of another's making.
I'm not sure if
as
a
thought
I was trapped,
or only confined.
But,
at
some point
I was released
through expression
and I was a whisper.
The whisper made sotmd
and the sotmd
was spoken
and I was a word
.
The word was appealing
sweet
as amelody
and
I was
a
song.
And the song was meny
so
I
became
laughter
and the laughter
was
joyful.
So festive was the
laughter
that soon
I
was a dance
.
And the dance became
touch, the touch
an embrace
and
I was love
.
The love conceived life
and
I
was
life in
awomb
but
at
the time knew not,
as
I
was the making
of others.
Wallpaper
Dancing wallpaper,
only preliminary entertaimnent
to the
kissing
of Casanova
by
faceless hair.
The animals all nm
away,
only some reappear on polished floors
and others aro1D1d pearled necks;
the rest hold
up
the flood gates
IDltil the tecbnopop smiles
flash behind a camera
shooting the wall papered room.




Mr. Cosmo doesn't lmow it,
but it is the animals
that are being
shot
Joe Durham
I
cry
out at night
in
agony,
but the world has turned
a
cold shoulder to me.
I
have lost all sense of feeling,
but
my
heart goes through emotions
.
I
feel nothing and then
I
feel everything.
I
long for something wild and crazy,
but
I
don't lmow what
I
long for.
I
want a
sense of freedom.
I
want to become one with myself
I
reach out for that father figure
who was so quickly rubbed out of my life.
I
scream and sob for his return.
No body listens.
I
beg and plead to his memory to let me be,
yet he still keeps coming back
Asking the fatal question
Julie, why didn't you say you loved me?
He was the one and only of my time
who understood me or even tried
How quickly his fire
was
extinguished
Are
you watching over me?
Do you feel shame?
Is
it pride?
Or
do you even care?
Is
there any thoughts of me in your mind
or do you not exist any more.
Will
I
ever see you again?
If
so will you tell me you love me?
Now
I
am
ready to tell you
I
do.
By Julie Spmm
Untitled
Today, nailed to the grief
ofa life, which will
always come back
to haunt me
.
Wish, not being
a
question
is only an escape
from what it
can not cover
.
Future actions are
stirred by memories,
which remind me
every day.
Joe Durham
WHAT?!
The window closed in the night
the
BlDl
arose in
a
purple lift
hanging over the world we see
showing all unhappy glee
Why?
People
in
the high mo1mtains 11111d
low valleys couldn't find it
What?
Purple IUlderwear hanging
in
the trees.
-lacy
A
Man's a Man
white or black it matters not
your flesh is
just
a :frame
there's bate and love and freer my friends
so no ones left to blame
people judge by shades of skin
that's BUch
a
Ood Daum shame
cause when you reverse the
way
we
think
inside we're all the same
b/w








Star Trek: The Next
Generation
"H ampster Dreams and S trenger
Things ... " Part
II
A Parody
by
Bryan Walko
Original Star Trek concept by Gene
Roddenberry
•
[SCENE 3]
[In outer space, emerging from the glare
of the sun, there is a large tin of Spam
traveling at Warp
9]
[The entire bridge crew is at their
stations, sans Dianna)
·
T roi: [Over intercom] Captain, I am
done with tube five sir.
I am now
starting tube six.
the word ''unidentified'' to
all the ships I see
.
describe
Picard:
With a mind like that
Ensign,
you'd
be lucky to make it to the
end of this page!
[The bridge rocks and sways with a hit
from the Spam warship
.
J
Riker: Captain! The ship is rocking and
swaying from a hit from the Spam
warship!
Picard:
Brilliant Number One! Next
thing you'll be telling me that it is
because they are firing on us! You
shouldn't be on this ship! You should be
on Jeopardy! [Changing his voice] Very
good William
A
iker.
you
swept this
category, "The fucking obvious"!
Riker: Why thank
you
sir!
Picard:
it so.
[The ship shakes with another hit.
A
[To T roi] Very good ... make close-up of the bridge shuffleboard rack
reveals that a stick has fallen over.)
Ensign:
Captain, there
is an
unidentified Spam on the scanners.
Riker: [Puzzled, a concept not new to
Riker] Unidentified Spam?
Picard:
Ensign, if it is a Spam ship,
how could it be
unidentified?
Ensign
:
Captain?
Picard:
A Spam ship is an identity.
How can
you
have an unidentified
identified object?
Riker
:
It
looks like Spam sir.
Ensign:
I meant that it was a weird
looking intergalactic Spam tin. I iust use
Worf: I think we should return fire sir!
[A Spam warrior,
i.e
.
a pale-faced guy
with armor made entirely from old Spam
tins, beams onto the bridge next to the
Ensign.)
Spam
:
We are Spam. You will be
heat-pasteurized. But first...
[The Spam warrior extends his arm. A
box-shaped device pops out of the
back of his hand. The top half of the
box separates and elevates on a piston
.
The top half of the box swivels 180
degrees and two small barrels thrust out
towards the Ensign
.
A
small antennae flips out and scans the
Ensign. A few seconds after, the barrels
glow. as if they were charging. The
device is about to fire when it sparks






and fizzles out.
It
does nothing to the
Ensign, who is relieved.]
Ensign:
Guess I beat the odds
Captain!
[The Spam soldier takes out a large
machete and
hacks the Ensign's
head
off.]
I
Ensign:
AA.A.A.LIU U U UGH H HHH!
Riker: [Talking into space] Crusher to
bridge immediately!
[The Spam warrior beams back to the
large Spam vessel after killing the
Ensign.]
Riker: [To Picard] I think he's
dead
Captain.
Picard:
Thank
you
Number One.
[To \.v' orf] Fire photon torpedoes!
\.v' orf: Firing now Captain
.
[From the bridge, there is the sound of
the torpedoes launching. On the siMth
shot, there is an audible "Aaaiiieeee! "]
\.v' orf: Whoops.
[Doctor Crusher enters from the turbolift
and walks over to the decapitated
Ensign]
Riker: [To Crusher] The Ensign's
head
fell off.
Data: Captain, the damage to the Spam
vessel is concentrated in one area. \.v' e
have scratched the paint in the upper
left corner of the "S ". 0 f the crew,
there are no casualties
~
but one soldier
has a slight limp.
Picard:
Get us out of
here
now!
\.v' arp nine!
Data: Aye Captain.
[The
Enterprise swings around
away
from
the Spam
ship. At this point, a
large electric charge is fired from the
Spam vessel. The charge passes
effortlessly through the Enterprise's
shields. The electric charge surrounds
the Enterprise and disappears.
The \.v' arp engines are about to kick in
when there is a pathetic farting sound.]
Geordie: [Over intercom] Captain, the
shear-plane joints of the power transfer
conduits have blown! It is impossible to
reconnect them ... there is no power to
the \.v' arp nacelles.
Picard:
[To Geordie] I have no
idea
what you're talking about.
Geordie: Over intercom] To put it
simply, the fuel lines have been cut.
Picard:
[To Geordie] You couldn't
make it any simpler could you?
Geordie: [Over intercom] \.v'ell, the food
can't get to the Enterprise's mouth so it's
big engines can't go "chuf chuf chuf"
and we can't get away from the bad old
bear
.
A
iker: [To Picard] Thank you sir. [To
Geordie] So you're saying we can't
move?
Geordie: [Over intercom] Not unless
we can find an alternative source of
power
.
\.v'e won't be able to use the
matter
I
antimatter reaction chamber for
power
.
[SCENE 4]
[Inside the conference room everybody
is sitting at the table.]




Geordie: So unless we can find a
power source
,
we're stuck.
[The ship shakes with yet another hit
from Spam warship.]
Crusher:
Captain, how can we
afford to be in conference when we are
being attacked by the Spam?
Picard:
Doctor Crusher, the
conference room is a symbol of
S tarfleet.
·
The room is designed for the
democratic use on which the United
Federation of Planets was founded!
[His words command awe and respect
from those in the room.]
Picard:
Anyway, this is the only
replicator on the Enterprise capable of
synthesizing good beernuts. [Pulls a
rather enormous bowl of beernuts from
under the table.] 'Who
wants
beernuts?
Riker: Thank you Captain. [Takes a
small handful of nuts.
A round from
the Spam ship causes the room to
violently shudder. Data takes one nut
and studies it while 'Worf takes the
entire bowl and stuffs his face into it.]
Picard:
[To replicator] More
beernuts!
[It
does so, and he takes the
second large container
.
]
Crusher: Sir, I hardly think this is ..
.
[A Spam warrior beams over to the
Enterprise's conference room
.
'Worf
jumps up at the table and fires a phaser
at the Spam.
It
does absolutely nothing,
which is what Riker did, as he sat and
ate beernuts. Picard gestured for
everybody to back off which was
unnecessary since they were all very
busy, eating beernuts.]
Picard:
[Talking quite loudly and
slowly to the Spam] I .
.
am .. Captain
Jean-Luc Picard .. of the starship ..
En .
.
ter
.
. prise.
Riker: [To Picard] I know that Captain
.
[Picard hits Riker on the head.]
Spam:
Taste is irrelevant. You will
be heat-pasteurized
.
[The Spam takes a shot at the replicator
at destroys it in a very nice and
considerably expensive light show
.
He
glides over to the Captain and relieves
him of the bowl. Worf and Riker have
already eaten their share. The Spam
turns and walks away to its beam-up
site.]
Picard:
This ...
[The Spam turns around and Picard
shuts up instantaneously. The Spam
stares into space, looking much like
someone who was trying
to guess the size of your shoes without
looking. It stops and walks over to Data
and takes the beernut that he was
examining.]
Picard
:
This
.
.
.
[The Spam turns again in Picard's
direction
.
Again Picard shuts up.]
Riker: [Breaking the inquisitive silence]
think ...
Picard:
[Smacks Riker upside the
head] Shhh!
[The Spam beams back to his ship with
all the beernuts.]
Picard:
This is an act of war!
Since when have we allowed our nuts
to be taken?!





Data: I believe _your last time was in the
bathroom, with Dianna, when ...
Picard:
[Completely embarrassed]
Enough! [To Geordie] Mr. La Forge,
what are our options?
Geordie: What we need is an
alternative power source.
.
[Everybody looks at Geordie when they
realize that they are supposed to be
thinking. Suddenly, everyone looks
thoughtful, except
A
iker, who is so
ridiculously over acting, he appears
constipated.]
A
iker: What if we took all the solar
calculators
...
Picard:
Oh please.
Geordie: I think this is a iob for
...
[The entire table looks at Geordie.]
Riker: [Breaking the silence]
Super·puppy?
[Picard smacks Riker again.]
Geordie: Tippy the Wonder Hamster!
Picard:
Did I miss something?
What are you?!? 8 lind?!
Data: No Captain, I believe he is
correct. If T ipp_y could generate enough
speed, the mechanism could generate
power
adequate
to fuel the Warp
nacelles.
Picard:
Exactly what speed would
it need to achieve?
Data: I calculate
...
[Pauses]
approximately Mach
2.
Picard:
That's the dumbest thing I
ever heard! You can't get a hamster to
run Mach 2, I don't care if it is a god
damn 'Wonder Hamster!''
Crusher:
No, he's right! VJith the
right amount of narcotics, we could get
it to break the sound-barrier .
..
Picard:
Oh, this is wonderful!
Before this I would only use the
expression "Hamster on crack" to
describe the intellect of my First Officer!
A
iker: Wh_y thank _you sir.
Worf: Sir, permission to kill the hamster.
Picard:
What? No! Why the hell
would
you
ask such a stupid request?
Worf: I was just getting bored. And the
beernuts gave me gas.
[SCENE 5)
[A majestic version of the overture is
heard, reminiscent of a version
performed by a hamster on crack.
Geordie and Data are staring at the
'v./ arp engines. They are doing
absolutely nothing.
There is a cage resting on the Warp
consoles in the middle of the room
.
The
cage has a multitude of black wires and
cables hooked into it. There is
a
hamster in the cage, sitting next to the
exercise wheel, cleaning itself.] Geordie:
Now Data, Tippy has been given a
large dose of narcotics
...
[A close-up of
Tippy: He is wearing a little S tarfleet
Admiral's
uniform. He is cleaning his face at five
times the speed of a normal hamster.
He is clearly wired.]
Geordie: ... just how long do you think he
can perform at optimum levels?







Data
:
My
research on chemically
enhanced badgers would suggest a
timespan of about ninety minutes.
[Geordie moves to a wall console,
opposite the center table
.
]
Geordie: 0 K Data, start her up!
Data: Do you have a french poodle?
Geordie
:
Data .
.
.
Data:
Do you
have a
volcano?
Geordie: DAT A!
Data: Do you have a dung beetle?
[There is a long silence. Data is looking
intently at Tippy
.
Tippy is licking himself, Geordie
:
Yes!
very fast.]
Geordie: Data? Start the hamster!
[Geordie thinks about his last statement.
He realizes that it is the second dumbest
statement he ever said. Of course, the
dumbest thing he had ever said was
"H mmmm... I
see
.
.. "
He
stops to collect his wits.]
Geordie:
Data
.
.
.
Data: [Interrupting] I am attempting to
make sense of your
last sentence.
[Pauses] Geordie, I consider that to be
the second dumbest thing you have
ever
said.
Geordie:
I think I
have
it
Data!
Data: The pronoun "it" can refer to over
287 trillion
different nouns
.
Since 75 percent of
these are from
obscure alien dialects and another 1
trillion are words
used by Commander Riker to describe
urination, the
chances of me guessing the correct
noun would be
70
trillion to 1
.
Since
guessing all the possibilities
will take well after the end of the
universe, I will
start now. Do you have an aardvark?
Geordie: No, I ...
Data:
Why would you wish to tell me
that you think you
·
have a dung beetle?
Geordie
:
Data, I think I have an
answer!
Data: A correction Geordie, you said
that you had a dung beetle.
Geordie: [Dejected] Forget it.
Data: Erasing the pronoun "it" from my
memory. Speech will be inordinately
difficult without that pronoun.
[Geordie ignores Data and his
vocabulary augmentation. He moves
to the wall and removes a phaser. He
then strolls to the cage
as inconspicuously as possible
.
]
Geordie: [At a blinding speed, he points
the phaser at the cage.] RUN YOU
STINKING HAMSTER!!!
[Quite surprisingly, the hamster responds
to the threat.
It
waddles over to the
eMercise wheel and climbs onto it.]
Geordie: MOVE, TIPPY!
[Geordie watches as Admiral Tippy
lurches at an amazing speed, spinning
the wheel. Geordie moves closer in an
attempt to follow the wonder rodent's
feet, which are merely a blur. Data
approaches behind him looks closely at
the cage.]







Data: The hamster has achieved Mach
3.
Geordie: [Stands up straight and looks
to his left] Damn ...
[The 'Warp engine
is
not only glowing in
its familiar blue, the light is moving
incredibly
fast.]
Geordie: [Taps
his
insignia] Captain,
we have more than enough power
for
'Warp speed. In fact, we probably have
enough to power Los Angeles for a
year. 'We might even have enough
power to give the New York Mets a
feared
lineup
.
Picard:
(0 ver intercom] Just one
miracle will be sufficient.
Geordie
:
[To Picard] Did you notice
that the Spam has not fired on us for
almost four
pages?
Picard:
funny.
[Over intercom] Yes, that is
Data: [Clearly trying to laugh] He
.
He.
Haha.
Riker: [Over intercom] Data, he didn't
mean "funny, ha ha,"
the Captain
meant ''funny, petunia.''
Picard:
[Smacks Riker so hard, it is
heard over the intercom.]
Peculiar! Peculiar,
you
idiot! [Clears
throat.] 'Warp Nine, get us out of here!
[Little did the crew know about why the
Spam had not fired
.
'When the Captain
had created the beernuts in the
replicator, the Spam sensors had
picked it up as being very similar to the
way that they create crew members
.
Convinced that the beernuts were
alive, they kidnapped them and
attempted to interrogate them. The
Spam had wanted to learn the usual
things, crew size, number
of battleships in the Feder at ion fleet,
Dianna's
chest
measurements, and, of course, the
secrets of the mysterious R omulan
prototype lawnmower. The beernuts
actually said very little aside from their
name,
rank, and
serial
number.
Infuriated, the Spam threatened to boil
them in oil, and did so.
Later, however, they discovered they
taste much better with salt.]
[SCENE 6)
[On the Spam ship, one Spam is eating
beernuts. This scene deals mostly with
shots of Spam
eating
beernuts and,
consequentially, has very little to do
with the story. Suffice to say, they look
very devious eating the beernuts, with
salt or oil. Actually, they look about as
devious
as a
totally expressionless
person can look.]
TO BE CONTINUED
RAT AND SINISTER
by Marie Francisco
A burned-out husk was the best way to
describe the factory
.
Girders spanned the
ceiling like the spine of some long dead beast
end the walls end roof encased the structure in a
hardened chitinous exoskeleton.
It
was a
factory that once teemed with activity end
importance. Now, it just laid dead end
forgotten to all, save the bums who occasionally
slept there. The machinecy was tom away as
was all
that
could be salvaged end sold
by
a
business seeking to suck all the profits possible
:from a doomed enterprise
.
Busy worlanen end
deafening machines gave way
to
tattered walls






25 years after Speed Racer ...
Japanese Animation reaches the United States again!
LUM
.




and dusty floors and silence. This night in the
w~ry
WQQ
much
li~ any
othef)
iO.Ve
fur the
dying wretch propped up along one wall. The
man was old and had seen better days. Maybe
he was even one of those who worlced in this
very factory so
many
years ago. Now, he
WWI
CW"Bed to wander the streets alone and
defenseless. The wretch coughed again and
more blood dribbled from his mouth. There
was
quite a pool of the
stuff:
soaking his shirt
:front and wetting the cold concrete floor.
Against his will the man let out another cough
and still more blood spat forth. With every
breath
someone seemed to drive a steel spike
through his luogs. With each flash of pain came
a bright white flash
in
his eyes
and a
dull
throbbing
in
his ears. Slowly, the man's pain
lessened until he felt nothing, He
was
dead.
No one
was
aro1D1d to gaz.e upon the poor man's
death. A
tiny
pair of red eyes were the only
exception. Rat looked down upon the wretch
with a great sadness
in
his heart His
tiny
claws
quickly brought him scampering across the
girder beam and down the wall to crouch
beside the corpse. ''This is the fifteenth and
still I have done nothing," thought Rat
WI
he
pondered the lifeless :&om before him. Rat
lmew exactly what has cB11Sed the man's death
but he lifted his pointed
~
snout to the air to
confirm his suspicions anyway. Instantly, his
sensitive nose grasped the scent he sought
It
was a scent that be had never known until two
weeks ago. The smell
was
foul and corrupt,
full of sorrow and pain. A scent that
WWI
innnersed
in
misery until it was no longer
separate :&om its source.
It
was the smell of
Sinister. Rat didn't know what Sinister was or
where it had come from. He only knew that it
had moved into his home and preyed upon the
wanderers like the one that now lay dead before
him.
Sinister could not be seen, could not be
heard, and his touched cB11Sed agony and death.
Rat arched his back and stuck his nose higher
into the air. Sinister's scent-trail led into a
small storeroom at the back of the factory. The
storeroom
was
not remarkable
in
all aspects,
save that it was the lair of Sinister
.
Ever since
Sinister appeared
in
the factory Rat and his
fellows could never work up enough COUTaBe to
enter the storeroom Sinister's unholy stench
was too effective in displaying the spirit's
evilness.
On
feet designed for stealth and with
a body designed for creeping,
Rat
slowly
worked his
way
across the debris ridden floor
.
Under planks and over rubble Rat crept lDltil he
reached the open doorway.
It
took all the
bravery
Rat
could muster to slip a bodylength
into the oppressive room. He smelled it there,
in the comer. Sinister stank with grim
satisfaction and a cruel glee. The corpse's
withered essence seemed superimposed upon
the scent of the evil one.
An
essence that grew
less with each passing moment. Then, without
fanfare or ceremony, it
was
snuffed out and
Sinister gave a contented groan. ''Fifteen souls
destroyed,"
Rat
thought to himself: "I have done
nothing." The
rats
ran in fear :from Sinister and
the men did to. Everyone knew where it
WWI
and what it was doing, but they did nothing
about it They took no action
against
Sinister.
He
was
just too powerful and their fear stopped
them all cold ''But what can I do? rm
just
a
rat.
We are not the warriors of the animal
world We are the scavengers, the rodents, the
undesirables. I can do nothing,"
Rat
mmmured
Rat
looked again to where Sinister
was
an
knew it would only be a short time until he
siphoned all the life,
rat
and btunan, from the
area. "I have to try," said
Rat
as he scmried
back into the darlmess.
The following night a steady rain washed
quietly over the shell of the factory and
collected in pools below the open boles. The
corpse
was
still nestled up
against
a
grimy
wall
as it had remain UJU1oticed over the last day.
Sinister
WWI
out plaguing the bmns around the
neighborhood He had been gone for some time
and
was
bolDld to return soon.
Rat
and his
horde of
tiny
:friends were ready.
It
took them
well quite a while to push a rotted old bmrel
across
the feeble second-story loft of the
factory. Now, they waited huddled aromd it









with their noses stuck in the air and their hearts
potmding with fear end determination. Their
prey would not escape. Suddenly, that unholy
stench overcame Rat's nostrils and he knew
that
Sinister had retmned with a freshly captured
essence. The thing made its way slowly
throushout the factory and then came to rest in
its comer lair in the storeroom. Writhing in
satisfaction and with essence dripping down its
chin like the poor wretch's blood, Sinister was
·
oblivious to the
danger hovering above
him
like
dar:k
dnmder clouds. All across the ceiling
rats
swarmed, pushed on
by
their leader. With
a great ferocity they attacked the ceiling. Their
razor shmp teeth ripped chunks &om the
decaying wooden floors and the rat's claws
scratched :furiously. The floor creaked and
gave
way
spilling the
rats
and the barrel into the
chamber below. The barrel pl1DD1Deted
downward and neatly encircled Sinister's
resting body. Rat felt himself fall into the pit of
darkness below
him
and the tmholy stench of
Sinister seemed to catch
him.
At
this distance
the odor of suffering and corruption almost
overpowered
him
but it only served to increase
his
fury. Rat saw the open barrel hit the floor
below
him
and a
cry
rang
throughout the factory.
A
cry
that echoed a hiss end a growl and a
hmnan
scream all in en instant His fall
was
stopped short &om the grotmd as he landed on
something invisible to his own small eyes
.
Without waiting, even an instant, to recover
&om his fall
Rat
was clawing his way upward
on Sinister'& body
.
Sinister seemed to have a
humanoid body,
Rat
deduced, and
that
he had
landed on the thing's upper
arm.
His claws
gripped something other than flesh, though.
n
seemed to be cloth.
An
impossible
garment
made &om ash and threads of bone. A cloth
imbued with despair and the remnants of
long-forgotten meals. Squirming beneath the
swarm
of
rats,
Sinister rocked beck and forth,
trying to maneuver in the claustrophobic
confines of the barrel.
Rat
scrambled up onto
Sinister's shoulder and lunged et its neck He
was having trouble holding onto something he
couldn't see but he managed somehow. His
snout whiskers brushed against Sinister's neck
end he bit deep with his teeth. The putrid odor
assaulted
him
et
an
intensity over a thousand
times of that he
had smelled before. Rat tasted
dry flesh and forced himself forward The
swarm
of
rats
came et Sinister
again
end
again
.
Eyes,
wrists,
ankles, and other bodyparts were
tom and ripped
by
the
rats'
fury. Sinister
screamed and cried and howled but could not
maneuver out of the
rats'
trap. The barrel stood
strong and easily botmd Sinister to his
destruction. Rats were crushed to death and
rats
were drained of their souls, but they still
came.
Rat
btDTowed deeper into Sinister'&
neck and tasted blood Blood that seemed like
acid and filled Rat's snout with
fire.
Still, be
pressed on. Soon, the pain and stench became
to great and darlmess rushed over
him.
The last
thing he heard
that
night
was
Sinister's death
cry.








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