========================================================================= Date: Wed, 20 Sep 1994 22:53:00 Reply-To: UCF SUPERGUY List Sender: UCF SUPERGUY List From: Robotech_Master Subject: Trade Ether-Back Introduction This story is copyright 1994 by Chris Meadows. Permission is granted for electronic distribution and archival as long as all text (including this notice) remains unaltered. Permission is granted to make one (1) hard copy of this story for personal use. Team M.E.C.H.A., Mike, Summer, Sarah Conner, Adam Douglas, Lincoln Douglas, Dr. Odd Science, Dr. Sebastian Zwarghoff, Colonel Felder, Lieutenant McCafferty, Team M.E.C.H.A. Headquarters (TMHQ), and Team M.E.C.H.A. Transport Jet are copyright 1994, Chris Meadows. ----- Hello, and welcome to my third Team M.E.C.H.A. trade ether-back, "She Blinded Me With Science." I realize that this may be a bit large for your text editor of choice, so rather than you having to waste paper printing it out, I'd advise acquiring a program called READMAIL. It's available from the SimTel sites--an Archie or Veronica search should be able to find it. It can be easily set up to read both this TEB and the prior one. Simply copy the Unix mail format, rename the copy "CMSMAIL", alter the beginning message format to "===\*" (without the "s, of course), and load this file. You'll get a list of all the different Superguy posts that make up this file, and will be able to move down it to read individual posts quite easily. Alternatively, if your computer runs CMS, you can use the mail program to access this as just another mail notebook. Once again, it's time for me to put out a Team M.E.C.H.A. trade ether-back. I hope you've been enjoying the previous ones. This TEB is noteworthy for being one of only two storylines in Team M.E.C.H.A.'s 50-episode run that was written without any crossovers whatsoever taking place. I wrote it over the 1993 Christmas holiday, when I was out of touch with Superguy for several weeks. Writing this helped me keep my sanity. It was originally intended as simply a 3 or 4 part mini to fill the gap between the Springfield crossover and whatever the team did next. However, it soon evolved into a bit more than that, as an old nemesis returned and Summer began to learn how to use her uncanny new powers. One point of interest about this particular story is that it is one of only two plotlines in Team M.E.C.H.A.'s 50-episode run that was written entirely by me. The other plotline was, of course, the 11-episode opening miniseries. I hope you enjoy the story, and I love getting feedback. Email me what you think! Now, without further ado, here is Team M.E.C.H.A.: She Blinded Me With Science. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 10 Jan 1994 14:24:48 -0600 Reply-To: UCF SUPERGUY List Sender: UCF SUPERGUY List From: Meadows Christopher Subject: SG: Team M.E.C.H.A. #23; SBMWS part 1 of 8 TEAM M.E.C.H.A. SERIES: Part 23 (She Blinded Me With Science, Part The First) By Robotech_Master, alias Chris Meadows Guest-Starring Ray Sterling Only A Story of High Technology, and a Self-Contained Eight-Part Mini-Series (I thought you'd originally intended to do a "3 or 4 part" miniseries. Why am I not surprised?) The team stood there in shock at Dr. Odd Science's revelation. "Why didn't you TELL us?" Mike asked at last. "There wasn't time," Dr. Science said. "We were caught up in a battle before I could say anything." "Then I suppose that nanotechnology experiment wasn't yours after all?" Summer asked, disappointed. This had been the only man who might be able to tell her about this strange condition she found herself afflicted with, but if he wasn't who he said he was at all... "No, no, it WAS my experiment. Just not my true name." Dr. Science smiled. "I've been working on nanotechnology ever since I got my doctorate." He smirked. "Neither of the OTHER so-called 'Dr.' Sciences have doctorates. It's something I'm very proud of." "That's very nice, Doctor," Lincoln Douglas said. "But what did those Invid want with you?" Dr. Odd Science smiled. "They were ignorant of my true identity, and my true worth. Apparently all they were interested in is you, Team M.E.C.H.A. And Spectrum. They also asked about that explosion over Springfield, and the hyperspatial energies released, but I was able to stall them with a lot of techno-gibberish." "Kinda like a Star Trek NexGen episode of your choice," Adam volunteered. "Exactly." Dr. Science nodded, and continued. "If they'd known who I REALLY was, it might have been a lot harder to rescue me." He smiled. "What I could do for those Invid--or for YOU, for that matter." "What COULD you do for us, Doctor?" Sarah Conner asked, sipping the Cafe Mocha Latte she'd ordered on Mike's recommendation. "All the wonders of nanotechnology, my dear. If I combined my nanites with your mecha suits...well, imagine playing on the battlefield with self-repairing mecha." "Ooooh!" Sarah grinned. "This could be a very profitable friendship!" "Wait a minute," Mike said. "How do we know your nanites won't start doing weird things? Like with Summer, for example--we STILL don't know what's happened with her and her suit." "I think I'd be a bit cautious, too," Ray Sterling said. "After all, it was science that hurled me out of my own world and into this one." "It was not!" Dr. Science protested. "I didn't have anything to do with it!" "No, I didn't mean you, I meant science in general," Ray Sterling clarified. "I think I would just tend to be a little cautious, that's all." Mike nodded. "My sentiments, exactly. But I would like Dr. Science to work up a prototype all the same. I really would like to see what his self-repairing nanites can do." Summer cleared her throat. "AHEM." "But first there's the matter of Summer, and why she's suddenly able to summon her hardsuit like that," Mike amended. "We'd like you to take a look at her and see what you think might have happened." Dr. Science nodded. "Of course. I feel somewhat responsible, in any event, since it was my nanites that must have helped to bring on the change. And, like I told those Invid goons, I DO have some theories. Do you have a science lab convenient?" "Straight through that door, down the hall, and the third door on the left, Doctor," Mike said, pointing. "Excellent," Dr. Science declared. He stood, and offered Summer his hand. "If you will come with me, I believe we can get started." "Great! Let's do it!" Summer leaped to her feet, took the doctor's hand, and together they walked off down the hall. "I hope he finds out what's with her," Mike said. "If she's going to be able to...do that, she at least deserves to know why." "Yeah," Adam said. "Whatever it is, sure is cool, though." "Right. Hey, guys, I'm going up to the flight deck," Ray said. "Anyone else wanna come?" "I will," Mike said. "You said you'd start teaching me how to fly this thing, remember?" "Ah, yes. Better finish your drinks quickly, everyone. This could get rough." Ray winked, and left the room. Mike followed. Sarah groaned. "Time to break out the Dramamine..." At this point, we alter our point of view radically to encompass a small cell in the Really-Really-Hard-to-Get-Out-of Place. This cell was formerly occupied by the Brothers Science, but it now served to hold a rather annoyed Dr. Sebastian Zwarghoff. Zwarghoff, if you will recall or even if you won't, had taken over the small town of Garrett Falls, Nevada, home of Sarah Conner and the Douglases, in order to test his ultimate weapon, the Zwarghoff Gun. The gun had been destroyed and he had been captured due largely to Team M.E.C.H.A.'s intervention. Zwarghoff sat on the bunk in his cell with pen and paper, drawing a plan for a new type of printed circuit he'd just come up with. If he could just get out, he could create this and use it to take over all the computers in the world! Either that, or finally make a toaster that wouldn't burn the toast, he forgot which. As he doodled, Zwarghoff became aware of a small scratching noise. "What?" Zwarghoff put the pad and pen down on the bunk beside him and listened. It seemed to be coming from the drainage grate in the middle of his cell. Zwarghoff knelt down by the grate and peered into it. Through the slats, he could barely make out two pinpoints of glowing red. Then there was a faint humming noise, which Zwarghoff's knowledge of mecha weapon systems informed him fairly rapidly was a capacitor laser charging. It also informed him that leaning over it was probably not the best place to be at the time. Zwarghoff jumped back just as a millimeters-thick beam of ruby light began cutting through the metal grate. The beam made a small circle, and the metal it enclosed dropped away. And something scurried up into the light. It looked something like a large rat--except it was metallic, robotic. With his advanced knowledge of robotic theory (and his subscription to Robotics Quarterly), he instantly recognized this as a Zoomer robotic rodent infiltrator. Naturally, his keenly-honed mind soon made the connection. "The Brothers Science used to be in this cell...and they were the ones manufacturing the Zoomers...of course! This unit was meant to aid in their escape! I wonder if it will aid in mine..." As Zwarghoff was soon to find out, it would. The metallic rat scurried over to the cell door, squirmed between the bars, and scurried up the wall to the control keypad. It short-circuited the controls with its tail, and the doors slid open. "Yes!" Zwarghoff crowed, striding out of the cell. He picked up the rat from where it was on the control panel, for he knew that if manipulated in a certain way... "There!" The tail and paws of the rodent retracted, and a handle extended from the rat's underside, so that it took the form of a pistol. Zwarghoff gripped it and looked around. There! A guard was running up the way, pistol half-drawn. Zwarghoff aimed and pulled the trigger, and twin laser beams blasted out from the rat's eyes. The guard went down. Zwarghoff took his gun and his cardkey override. "Now...I just have to find the Thug wing, and release Felder's soldiers, and we can get out of here." It wasn't long before Zwarghoff was in that wing of the prison. Three more guards had fallen to his laser gun, and he blasted every security camera he could find. He'd had to rely upon his skills for rapid improvisation to defeat some of the high-tech-anti-prisoner-escape devices built into the facility, but he'd done a lengthy study on them before his incarceration, so he was well aware of what had to be done. Releasing the troops was easy, and they agreed to follow him, at least until they made good their escape. As Zwarghoff was about to turn to go, a thought struck him. "Ouch!" Why just release HIS men when he could release ALL of them? They would provide enough of a distraction to cover his escape... And so ten minutes later, the guards at the Really-Really-Hard-to-Get-Out-of Place had a major situation on their hands. WILL ZWARGHOFF MAKE GOOD HIS ESCAPE? WILL THE OTHER SUPERHEROES HAVE TO DEAL WITH ALL THE ESCAPEES? WILL THE OTHER AUTHORS BE MAD AT ME FOR THIS? FIND OUT, SOON, ONLY ON... S U P E R G U Y ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 10 Jan 1994 14:37:19 -0600 Reply-To: UCF SUPERGUY List Sender: UCF SUPERGUY List From: Meadows Christopher Subject: SG: Team M.E.C.H.A. #24, SBMWS Part 2 of 8 TEAM M.E.C.H.A. SERIES: Part 24 (She Blinded Me With Science, Part The Second) By Robotech_Master, alias Chris Meadows Guest-Starring Ray Sterling and a Whole Lot of Escaped Villains A Story of High Technology, and an Unplanned Jail Break (I think it's your PLOTLINE that's broken.) "And when you press the stick this way, the plane will bank this way." "Uh...I see," Mike said. "But what about--" BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! "What's that?" Mike asked. "The emergency frequency. Hang on, I'll switch it on." Ray punched some keys. "--any law-enforcement within range. This is the Really-Really-Hard-To-Get-Out-Of Place calling any law-enforcement within range. This is an emergency! All of the prisoners are escaping! Repeat, *ALL* of the prisoners are escaping! Request assistance! Urgent! Urgent! Ur--FZTSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH..." Static. Ray and Mike looked at each other. As much as Ray hated to admit it, they both knew what was called for. "Ray, set course for the Really-Really-Hard-To-Get-Out-Of Place, immediately, all possible speed! I'm going to go suit up!" Mike slid the seat back, got up, and ran to the rear, slamming the Red Alert key by the door as he passed. In the lab, Dr. Odd Science had just finished fitting Summer up with a variety of monitoring gadgets and sensors, which would transmit data to the computer system for interpolation. "Now...if you would...?" "All right..." Summer took a deep breath, closed her eyes, shimmered, and was replaced by her gleaming black hardsuit, with most of the wires still attached. "Okay, now what?" Dr. Science keyed in some commands. "As I thought...hmmm. If you would just step under that scanner, please..." "All right..." The hardsuit stepped up under an array of sensors hanging from the ceiling, and readings started to appear on the screen. And then the red alert klaxon reverberated throughout the plane. "What?! What is it?" "The red alert," Summer said. "Sorry, Doctor, but I have to go." She detached the electrodes, then stepped out and ran for the door, still in her hardsuit form. Dr. Science watched her go, shaking his head. "If I'm right, that girl could have more power than any of us know." In bare moments, the M.E.C.H.A. jet hovered over the sprawling prison complex that housed most of the world's supercriminals after their capture. There was much fighting going on around this facility, with explosions and various weapons discharges all around. It was into this maelstrom that Team M.E.C.H.A. was about to launch, weapons ready to defeat the foes of law and order. They were currently assembled in the mecha launch bay. "All ready?" Mike asked from the cockpit of his Bahamode. "Suited up!" Sarah Conner replied. "Check," Adam said. "Affirmative," said Lincoln. "Ready to go!" Summer's voice issued from the speakers on her hardsuit--her SELF--as it fell in behind them. Mike nodded and hit the transmit button on the Bahamode's control panel. "Ray, begin the barrage." "Roger." On the flight deck, Ray Sterling keyed the weapon systems. Laser beams lanced out from various points on the jet's hull, striking the ground. They weren't really hitting anyone, but served the purpose of attention-getters rather well, allowing the beleaguered prison guards to clock a couple of would-be escapees while they were looking up to see what all the lasers were coming from. "All right, team, let's go get 'em!" The mecha ejected through the drop chutes and formed up a few hundred feet above the ground. "What's the agenda?" Summer radioed to Mike. "Split up, find a criminal you think you can take, and bust him. Link, you go check on the state of the facilities. After we hit these guys, we'll need a place to put 'em." "Right." Lincoln's Cyc-bike's thrusters flared, and he rocketed off toward the prison facilities proper. The rest of them streaked apart and down into the crowd. A security guard was firing his Uzi and frantically looking for a way out. Several of these former-inmates really had it in for him! Suddenly his Uzi vanished as a beam of light struck it, accompanied by a sound of a cash register ringing a NO-SALE. It had been priced out of existance! And that could only mean-- "Glad to see you remember me!" the Discount Store Cowboy remarked, firing his price gun again. The guard's uniform evaporated. "Even though I can't mark up human beings, I can still mark up their clothes!" he crowed, having a good laugh before moving on. "You're going nowhere," Summer remarked, touching down behind him. "Drop the gun or eat laser." The Discount Store Cowboy sneered. "No way!" He levelled the gun right at Summer and fired. The beam struck her armor, but nothing happened. "What? That's impossible!" He shook the gun. "Does this thing need new batteries already?!" "This armor was FOUND, not bought!" Summer yelled. "I didn't pay a thing for it! That makes it invunerable to your gun!" And the fact that it seemed to be merged with her might also have something to do with it, she thought but didn't say. "Give it up!" "No way!" He turned and ran. Summer rocketed after him and snatched him up. Grabbing the ticket gun from his hand, she swooped him over toward the prison building, where Lincoln was standing. "They've got cells ready for whoever we can bring back!" Link called over the radio. "We've just got to catch 'em!" "I've got one already!" Summer replied, flying the still-struggling Discount Store Cowboy over to him. "Thanks. I'll take it from here." "I want my lawyer!" the Cowboy yelled. "Oh, shut up," Lincoln replied. Elsewhere, Sarah Conner faced off against Montgomery Ward, aka Scotchguard, the Man with the Unbreakable Grip. She was firing blasts from her Gallant at him, the missile gun being deemed too powerful for use against a human target. He was dodging them. Then, at the right moment, strips of adhesive tape shot forth from launchers in his suit's arms. They entangled Sarah, pinning her arms helplessly to her sides, and not even the Cyclone's enhanced strength could break them. "Och!" her adhesive adversary exclaimed. "Gotcha, lassie!" "Not quite!" Adam Douglas swooped in, setting down on twin flames from his Saber Cyclone's thrust pack. He popped the CADS blades. "These things are great for cutting through red tape. And a lot of other kinds of tape as well." He slashed the bindings around Sarah Conner's suit, then aimed his EP-37 beam cannon rifle at Scotchguard. "Now, now, laddie, I canna let'cha do that." A streak of adhesive tape shot out, wrapped around the cannon, and yanked it from Adam's hands. "And I canna let you stop me!" Adam yelled back, lunging at him, blades extended. "Och!" Scotchguard didn't like the look of those blades, so he dodged aside. And Sarah, who'd gotten behind him, hit him over the head with the barrel of her RL-6. "You're not going anywhere!" Link called out. The figure turned. "And you're going to stop me? Ha. I think not." Link stopped. "You could be right. I may--Hey, wait a minute! You can't do that to me!" "You really think so?" the figure, who was actually Ralph Nader, aka the Skeptic, asked. "Yes, I do. I deal in the scientific, which means I have to keep an open mind. I can't let skepticism get in my way!" Link kept his EP-40 pulse cannon firmly trained on the Skeptic. "As I said before, you're not going anywhere." Mike found himself engaged in a dogfight with someone who appeared to be Wilford Brimley, only older, and someone else who kept laughing in an exceedingly Murrayish fashion. Of course he knew who they were. The Quaker Oatmeal Guy and the Wind, first seen back in the early episodes of Rad. And they were doing their darnedest to knock him down, obscuring his optic sensors with oatmeal and buffeting the craft with winds to knock it off course. "Grrr..." Mike growled, wrestling with the controls. "Just give me one good shot at 'em...just ONE..." "Had enough?" the Wind asked, cackling, and hitting the Bahamode with another blast of wind. Mike hit the booster pack and stabilized the mecha. The optic wipers were rapidly dissolving and flushing away the oatmeal. Mike turned in time to take another glop of apple-cinnamon on the shoulder instead of in the eyeplate. "If you think you can beat me, you're wrong!" Mike yelled, releasing a magnesium flare. It burst into brilliant bright light. "Aaah!" the Wind yelled. "I can't see!" The Quaker Oatmeal Guy shielded his eyes. "I'm going to knock you out of the sky, because it's the right thing to do, and a tasty way to do it!" He fired his largest glop yet, and it spattered all over the Bahamode. Red lights flashed on the console as the intakes were clogged by gooey oatmeal. "No!" Mike yelled, as the bike began to fall toward the ground. And then it was supported. "What?" Mike asked. It was Summer. "Hurry up and do something! I--urgh--can't hold this thing for long!" Her thrusters were on full overload, and she was straining to support the mecha. "I--right." Mike was surprised she was able to support the heavy mecha at all. He quickly punched keys and shoved the throttle up to reverse thrust. The oatmeal blasted out through the intakes with a loud BLAT! It went all over the Wind and Quaker Oatmeal Guy. Mike fired his thrusters once more, and Summer rocketed away. "Thanks for the assist!" "Least I could do!" Summer replied, swooping in to grab a generic thug who was attempting to make his getaway. Mike turned his attention back to the matter at hand. Quaker Oatmeal Guy and the Wind, blinded by the potent combination of magnesium flares and flying oatmeal, were hovering there, unsure of where to aim, especially since there was oatmeal in their eyes. "It's over!" Mike yelled, firing the net cylinder attached to his machine rifle. The net wrapped around the two superthugs, and Mike grabbed it, carrying them back to the correctional facility. Just after dropping them off, a rocket passed rather close to the oatmeal-streaked Bahamode. Turning, Mike noticed several members of the Dead Poet Society pointing bazookas (where'd they gotten THOSE?) his way. Several more warheads rocketed toward him. BA-WHOOSH! Mike fired back with his machine rifle, trying to kick up dirt around them so they wouldn't be able to see. He was beginning to realize that mecha was more of a handicap than a help if you weren't supposed to kill your opponents. As more rockets flew his way, he dodged frantically, but knew that it would take a miracle to stop them from hitting him. And then the laser beams lanced down and intercepted all of the warheads before they could make impact. It was Ray Sterling in the M.E.C.H.A. jet! "Get those guys for me, will ya?" Mike's Bahamode reached down to its waist and pulled out another net canister. Sliding it into place, he announced, "Will do." He fired, but it was a misfire! The net tangled up, all over his gun! "Great! Now what am I supposed to do?!" The Dead Poets raised their bazookas again... ...and then Mike had an idea. He opened an exterior mike and quoted: "There was a pert lass from Madras Who had a remarkable ass. 'Twas not rounded and pink As you'd probably think, But was grey, had long ears, and ate grass!" "Aaaaaaargh!!!" one of the Dead Poets yelled. "A limerick! A *BAD* limerick!" one of the others cried. "With a PUN!!! Aaaaaargh!" They fell to the ground, covering their ears and whimpering. "Okay, they're immobilized...what next?" Mike began to untangle the net from his gun and looked around for more likely targets. A few minutes later, many of the criminals had been rounded up once more, and several other heroes had arrived to take care of the rest of them. Rather than hanging around, Mike decided to continue on toward Bob City. Summer did want to stay and meet some of the others, but even she agreed (somewhat reluctantly) that helping Spectrum came first. There would be plenty of opportunites later. So they returned to the M.E.C.H.A. jet and continued on course. As Summer touched down on the mecha launch deck, she shoved up her visor, as she usually did when she wanted to get the superimposed HUD readouts out of the way. Strangely enough, though, this time they didn't disappear. "That's odd." Mike had just climbed out of his Bahamode motorcycle/power armor and turned to Summer. His jaw dropped. "Summer..." he began. "What is it?" Summer asked, noticing the way Mike was staring. "There's...nothing inside your helmet." "Huh? What do you mean?" Summer reached up to her helmet and felt around where her face should be. There was nothing there. "You're right...there IS nothing there!" She undid the clamps around her neck and lifted the helmet off. Her point of view veered crazily as the camera on the helmet looked around. "It's the headless Knight Saber, bwahahahahahahaha!!!" Mike looked like he was about to be ill. "But Summer...if there's nothing inside your hardsuit...where ARE you?" The suit shimmered and returned to being Summer. "I'd say that's rather obvious, wouldn't you, brother?" She headed for the door. "I'm going to go see what Dr. Science has to say about this." As they made one last pass over the Really-Really-Hard-To-Get-Out-Of Place, a thought struck Mike. "Ouch!" Among all those supercriminals, he hadn't seen Dr. Zwarghoff once. Now, with all of them that there were, this wasn't too surprising, but still... Dr. Zwarghoff shaded his eyes and looked at the Team M.E.C.H.A. transport jet as it passed overhead. Team M.E.C.H.A. They had foiled him once, and had nearly done it again. He and his men had barely managed to get under cover in time to avoid being spotted. Now they were hiding in a nearby alley, waiting, while some of the men commandeered transportation. The first thing they would do would be to get far, far away. Then Zwarghoff would find Col. Felder, wherever he was, and they would begin to work on Zwarghoff's next scheme. And that scheme would be to get even with Team M.E.C.H.A. WILL ZWARGHOFF SUCCEED IN GETTING EVEN WITH TEAM M.E.C.H.A.? WILL HE THANK THE SCIENCE BROTHERS FOR THEIR HELP? WILL HE TRY TO REBUILD THE ZWARGHOFF GUN, OR WILL HE DO SOMETHING ELSE? WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH SUMMER? IF BULLETPROOF AND THE NUN ON THE ROAD HAD A HEAD-ON COLLISION, WHICH ONE WOULD SURVIVE? SOME OF THIS AND MORE IN FUTURE TEAM M.E.C.H.A. STORIES, APPEARING ONLY ON S * U * P * E * R * G * U * Y ! ! ! ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 15:17:59 -0600 Reply-To: UCF SUPERGUY List Sender: UCF SUPERGUY List From: Meadows Christopher Subject: SG: Team M.E.C.H.A. #25: SBMWS Part 3 of 8 TEAM M.E.C.H.A. SERIES: Part 25 (She Blinded Me With Science, Part The Third) By Robotech_Master, alias Chris Meadows Guest-Starring Just Ray Sterling Again A Story of High Technology, and Summer's Highly Perplexing Condition (Even *I'm* curious about this one.) "As far as I can tell, Summer has somehow become melded with her hardsuit, through the intervention of the nanites and that burst of hyperspatial energy." Dr. Science explained an hour or so later. "They are now one and the same entity." He, Mike, and Summer were in the plane's training room/firing range. Odd Science was telling Mike what he had found, while Summer was suiting up in a Battler Cyclone. She planned to get some target practice, to take her mind off of her distressing problem. "What does that mean?" Mike asked. "For her, that is. What will this DO to her?" Dr. Science shrugged. "It's just too soon to say. She seems to be perfectly normal so far..." There was a clanking sound as Summer walked over between them. "I wish you wouldn't talk about me like I wasn't here. I hate that." "I'm, uh, sorry, Summer," Mike said. "We--" "Yeah, I know. Talking about scientific stuff I wouldn't be expected to understand. Well, I want to know what's happening to me, and there's no reason to leave me out of the discussion!" Dr. Science nodded. "Of course. There's absolutely no reason to leave you out of this. I was just telling Mike--" He quickly reiterated what he'd already said. "Why don't we go to the lounge to talk?" "All right," Summer said. "Just let me change out of this..." The Cyclone began going through the process of reconfiguration to motorcycle mode--and then abruptly disappeared. It simply melted away. Summer blinked. "Well, would you look at that?" "Amazing!" Dr. Science gasped, peering over his glasses at her. "Can it be...?" "What happened?" Mike asked. "Where did the Cyclone go?" Dr. Science continued to gape. "She just...absorbed it!" "Absorbed?" Summer asked. "What am I, some kind of amoeba?" "In the literal sense, of course not. But technically...maybe something similar. Come on, to the lab, both of you! I have to run some more tests!" Mike and Summer looked at each other, and Summer rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say. The more I can find out about what's happening to me, the better I feel, right?" Mike sat in a chair to one side as Dr. Science manipulated sensor controls and typed instructions. Gripping a joystick with his left hand and moving a mouse with his right, he moved scanner modules into place all around Summer, and hit the trigger to activate them. Data began coming up on screens all over the lab, most of which Mike couldn't make much sense out of. But Dr. Science seemed to understand most of it perfectly. "Ah...yes! This would seem to explain...no. Maybe if I...hmm. I guess that's the best I can get..." "What IS it?" Mike asked. "Huh? Oh, hold on a minute." Dr. Science keyed some more commands and retracted the sensory equipment. Summer stepped down and peered at one of the screens. "What is all this?" she asked. "Hold on, I'll try to explain it," Dr. Science said. Clearing his throat dramatically, he began to speak. "Hey, but he was speaking already," Mike protested. Oh, shut up. You know what I mean. "I am confident that I have found the reason why Summer has gained these uncanny abilities," Dr. Science began. "It has to do with the nanites that were on and inside the hyperspace engine when it exploded. Through some strange metamorphosis, they combined with Summer and her hardsuit by using the immense and strangely-structured hyperspatial energies released in the explosion. Now, scanning her body, I found extremely high concentrations of these nanites..." "Wait a minute," Summer said. "Are you telling me that I'm not human any more? I'm, like, made up of these little nanite thingies, like Terminator II?" "No, no...you're as human as Mike or myself is. MORE human than most politicians, in fact." "Does that include Bill Clinton?" Mike asked. "ESPECIALLY Bill Clinton," Dr. Science affirmed. "The cellular structure of your body remains intact. You still need to breathe, eat, sleep, et cetera, in this form, and are entirely capable of all other human functions...or, at least, you will be when you get older. Ahem. "But what HAS changed is that there are now nanites present in your bloodstream and internal organs. Perhaps as much as 7% of your entire body structure is now made up of these nanites. Possibly more or less at times, as the nanites are capable of reproduction and self-obsoletion." "You mean that they get born and die just like the rest of us," Summer said. "Yes, that's what I said. Regardless, they seem to have developed some sort of ability to transform Summer's body into her power armor hardsuit. And, it would seem, to assimilate other matter. Summer, are you able to transmute yourself into the Battler Cyclone you absorbed earlier?" "I don't know, I haven't tried." Summer thought about it for a moment, and her body spontaneously shifted into a power armor-mode VR-052 Battler Cyclone, through the computerized special effect known as "morphing" to those in the film trade. "Hey, yeah, I can do it!" The Cyclone grew slimmer and darker, shifting to Summer's black hardsuit, then it lightened and shrank back to Summer's human form. "I think I'm getting better at this. After the first time, it was easy. I guess I just had to overcome the strain just once, and then it would happen automatically." "But where does all the extra mass go?" Mike asked. "Ah. I have a theory about that," Dr. Odd Science continued. "I believe that it is transported to some kind of hyperspace when not in use. The nanites might somehow have adapted the hyperspatial energies, incorporating them in an easily-used form." "Ah! Like in TRANSFORMERS!" Mike realized. "Eh?" Dr. Science was at a bit of a loss. "The TV show, TRANSFORMERS," Mike explained. "Optimus Prime's trailer and various other parts of the Transformers disappeared when they turned into robots. It has been suggested that they were temporarily stored in a kind of a private hyperspace." "Hey, my own private hyperspace, neat!" Summer announced. "I'm glad someone thinks so," Mike remarked. "Even though I wouldn't use precisely the same term, I share Summer's feelings to some extent," Dr. Science said. "Summer shows great potential for fighting evil. And besides, there could be a paper in this!" Many miles away, to borrow a phrase from Sting, another scientist was conducting research of his own. "Can we please get going, sir?" Lieutenant McCafferty, the highest-ranking of Colonel Felder's men to have been imprisoned in the Really-Really-Hard-to-Get-Out-of Place, asked Dr. Zwarghoff. "We really should make contact with Colonel Felder." "Not yet," Zwarghoff said. He was sitting at the InfoTrac magazine-search terminal in a local library, drawing a lot of attention by having two or three paramilitary guards standing around him. "I'm searching for information which I can use against Team M.E.C.H.A." He let the keyword searcher do its thing, then printed up the article citations it found for him. "Come, let us find out more about these Team M.E.C.H.A. meddlers." Zwarghoff ripped off the printout and headed for the periodicals section of the library. WHAT WILL DR. ZWARGHOFF FIND? WHAT WILL HE DO WHEN HE FINDS IT? WILL WHAT HE FINDS TURN OUT TO BE A THREAT TO TEAM M.E.C.H.A.? WHERE WILL HE FIND IT? WHY WAS THIS A 90% EXPOSITION EPISODE? WHY HAVE MOST OF MY QUESTIONS BEEN ABOUT THE PART WITH DR. ZWARGHOFF IN IT WHEN MOST OF THE EPISODE WAS ABOUT DR. SCIENCE, MIKE, AND SUMMER? WHAT ABOUT SUMMER? WILL HER AMAZING POWER TURN OUT TO HAVE OTHER, EQUALLY-AMAZING FACETS? WHY DOES THIS AUTHOR CENTER HIS PREVIEW QUESTIONS INSTEAD OF LEAVING THEM LEFT-JUSTIFIED LIKE ALL THE OTHER AUTHORS? ARE ALL THE OTHER AUTHORS REALLY LEFT-JUSTIFIED? SOME OF THIS AND LESS (NO, *NOT* RICHARD LESS), COMING UP ONLY ON S/U/P/E/R/G/U/Y -- Chris Meadows | Pardon my mess; signature still under construction CHM173S@NIC.SMSU.EDU | What should I say here...hmm...how about... CMEADOWS@NYX.CS.DU.EDU | CMEADOWS@NOX.CS.DU.EDU | IT'S GREAT TO BE BACK!!! ROBOTECH@SKYNET.DIALUP.ACCESS.NET | Hmm, this line doesn't really fit. | Heck with it. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 15:30:00 -0600 Reply-To: UCF SUPERGUY List Sender: UCF SUPERGUY List From: Meadows Christopher Subject: SG: Team M.E.C.H.A. #26: SBMWS Part 4 of 8 TEAM M.E.C.H.A. SERIES: Part 26 (She Blinded Me With Science, Part The Fourth) By Robotech_Master, alias Chris Meadows Guest-Starring Just Ray Sterling Again A Story of High Technology, and an Extremely Long Journey to Bob City (What, you aren't there YET???) Mike punched some keys on his personal computer a bit harder than he should have. But he could hardly be blamed. His sister's strange condition was perplexing him mightily. Why was he the only one who seemed to be feeling upset by it? Even Summer herself didn't seem to mind, and Dr. Science was more enthusiastic about the possibility for scientific research than anything else. Everyone else was largely ambivalent about Summer's new abilities. "I don't get it. Not even Summer herself seems upset. Why is she acting so cheerful?" Mike typed into his diary. "If that happened to me, I would be setting down some serious angst here. To be partly human and partly a machine, and not even to know what's going on...?" He paused. "Could that be all it IS, an act? Hmmm. Well, Summer's in her room with the do not disturb light on, so I guess I can't ask her now. Oh, well. I'd better head on up to the flight deck and see why we haven't reached Bob yet." Summer was, in fact, feeling somewhat less cheerful than she'd been letting on. She was currently sitting in front of a mirror, looking at herself. There she sat, an average-looking 14-year-old girl, with green eyes, red hair, and a few freckles. Nothing to indicate that she was anything other than a high school student currently out of school on vacation. But she WAS something else, and that was the problem. She was partially made up of microscopic machines, circulating in her blood and through her cells, DOING things to her. They were manipulating her body, and even though she could cause the changes, she couldn't understand them. And how did she know that her body would stay the way it was? What was to stop them from simply taking her apart and not putting her back together? Summer felt more than a little scared, but it was not something she would even think of admitting to anybody else. "All I can do is try to learn all I can about this," Summer told herself. "With knowledge comes power." She sighed. Other girls her age worried about freckles and acne; she was afflicted with something far, far worse. "Why haven't we reached Bob City yet?" Mike wondered, sliding into the co-pilot's seat. "It's a long way from Springfield to Bob," Ray Sterling replied. "And we did have to detour to the Hard-to-Get-Out-of Place to intervene in that escape...it's going to take a while." Mike checked the instrumentation and noticed that the jet was barely ticking over at 600 miles per hour. "Why haven't we been going at max speed?" "I wanted to give the engines a chance to cool down," Ray said. "Besides, I'm not really comfortable taking something this large to supersonic velocities. Makes me nervous." Mike nodded. "Mm-hmm. Well, how far out are we now?" "At current speed, I make it an hour or so," Ray replied. "No worries. I'm sure that whatever's going on in Bob doesn't need us that urgently. After all, they have the Extreme Team, plus Spectrum and company. To tell the truth, I think that Team M.E.C.H.A. might just get in the way." Mike shrugged. "That may be so, but we have to go and find out. And last I'd heard, Extreme Team was missing its two most powerful members. Besides, there isn't really all that much else to do right now..." "Cassville? The majority of Team M.E.C.H.A. sightings up until very recently were around Cassville? Now why does that name ring a bell...?" Dr. Zwarghoff was wondering, sitting in front of the microfiche reader stroking his beard. "Sir?" Lt. McCafferty said. "Can we..." "No, not yet. I'm almost finished here..." Zwarghoff felt around in his pocket. "Drat. I need to make a copy of this. Do you have a dime?" McCafferty sighed, and forked over. Zwarghoff cackled evilly as his finger stabbed the green "print" key. "Soon I shall have all the information I need, and Team M.E.C.H.A. will be in my grasp." "This is the Bob City Metropolitan Airport control tower. I'm afraid that all our flight controllers are busy right now," the voice said. "In addition, ever since the Boomer Brothers came through, half of the runways haven't been in anything approximating working order, and due to recent embezzlements by a former mayor, the city hasn't been able to spare the money to get them repaired. But anyway, if you'll leave your flight number and your altitude, we'll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you for your cooperation. BEEEEEEEP." Ray Sterling sighed. "I guess that things just haven't been the same around here since that air traffic controller strike a decade or so ago..." "What are we going to do now?" Mike asked. "Just keep circling?" Ray pointed to the radar monitor. "From the number of backed-up flights, I think this could take a while." Down and to starboard, a 767 ran out of fuel and had to make an emergency landing on one of the highways. Several cars blew up most picturesquely. "Hmm, there's one fewer." For a moment, Mike considered launching the mecha and letting the jet continue to circle in a test pattern. But as Ray had said, there really was no evidence that they were needed here, and it would interrupt Dr. Science's tests on Summer... "Have you been able to reach Spectrum?" Mike asked. Ray shook his head. "No, I've been trying for several hours, but all I got was his machine." "Take us back to Cassville," Mike decided. "We'll try to contact Spectrum from the base, and Dr. Science can use the facilities there to find out whatever he needs to know about Summer." "Roger. Setting course now." Ray punched some keys. "Autopilot on-line, navigational systems engaged, set, and locked. We're on our way." "Cassville. The Ozarks. That's it!" Zwarghoff snapped his fingers. "The top-secret military base where I worked for all those years on the mecha project!" He sat back in the passenger seat of the car and closed his eyes. "Those despicable brats must have somehow found the base, and claimed it as their own. They used my own technology against me!" He set his jaw. "Well, no more. Once I get in touch with Colonel Felder, we will just have to see about getting that base back! "McCafferty, how close are we to that safehouse?" "Pulling in the drive now, sir." Lieutenant McCafferty really wasn't sure about exposing one of Felder's safehouses to this no-account scientist, but he HAD gotten them out of prison...and also, he wasn't sure, but the contract with Felder might not have expired yet. Thus Zwarghoff was still their boss, for the time being. "From here we can contact Colonel Felder." "Ah, excellent." Zwarghoff steepled his fingers. "My, won't the good Colonel be surprised?" Colonel Richard Felder was at the moment relaxing on a deck chair next to the pool of his Malibu mansion. He didn't get to relax very often, and didn't allow himself large doses of these luxuries, lest he get soft. But this time, he felt he'd earned it--no, he DESERVED it. He had managed to avoid capture, even though many of his men had been taken. He would have to train some new ones. Already he had his eye on several potential recruits from the Special Forces branches of the world's armies. And then one of the staff informed him that there was someone on the vidphone. So Felder sighed, got up, and walked inside to pull on his uniform. "Ah, Colonel Felder. So good to see you again." It was Dr. Zwarghoff. Felder groaned inwardly. Of all the people to escape from the Really-Really-Hard-to-Get-Out-of Place, it had to be Zwarghoff. Felder had sworn never to work for that fool again. But Felder had to look on the bright side. "McCafferty! Good to see you again. How many others made it out?" "Most of us, sir," Lieutenant McCafferty replied. "We--" "Excuse me," Dr. Zwarghoff said, "but I believe that *I* was talking to the Colonel. Colonel Felder, I need you and your men out here immediately. How soon can you be ready?" Felder grinned. He was going to enjoy this. "For you, never," Felder replied. "I thank you for freeing my men, but as you are the one who got them imprisoned in the first place, I see that as just compensation. You are a moron and an imbecile, and I no longer care to work for you. Good day." He reached out to break the connection, but Dr. Zwarghoff said, "Wait!" "Yes?" Felder asked, hand hovering over the switch. "You HAVE to continue working for me," Zwarghoff replied. "Your contract has not expired yet!" "What?!" Zwarghoff signalled to one of his aides, off-camera. Said aide ran off to get a copy of said document. "The contract was to last another month," Zwarghoff continued. "You break it and I'll have AEHLAMBPU [the Alliance of Evil Henchmen, Lackeys, and Assorted Minor Bad Persons United --author] down on you so fast your head will spin." The aide returned with the contract. "Wait a minute," Felder protested. "You were arrested, jailed. That severs all contractual ties you might have!" "But our contract was drawn up under the new, post-strike agreement," Zwarghoff replied. "If you'll check Section III, Clause B, Paragraph 7C..." Felder snatched the paper from his aide's hand and flipped through it to the appropriate page. He gritted his teeth. Zwarghoff was right--and there wasn't a damned thing he could do about it. "All right, Zwarghoff, you win. My men and I will be at your location in two hours." "Make it one and one half. Zwarghoff out." The picture derezzed. Felder just sat there, smouldering, for a minute, then said to his aide, "Get in touch with my AEHLAMBPU lawyer, and see what can be done about this. I'm going to ready my men." "Yessir." The aide saluted and rushed off. Felder got up and walked out of the room. He tried to be philosophical about it--after all, many of his men were now free once more. You had to take the bad along with the good. But it GRATED so...For a moment, he considered calling the police and letting them know where Zwarghoff was, but he couldn't do that--it would be breaking his contract. And Felder always abided by the letter of his contracts. Damn that Dr. Zwarghoff, anyway... WILL DR. ZWARGHOFF BE ABLE TO FIND THE M.E.C.H.A. HQ? WHAT WILL HE DO IF HE FINDS IT? WHAT ABOUT SUMMER? WILL SHE BE ABLE TO HANDLE THIS? WILL DR. SCIENCE FIND OUT ANYTHING ELSE? DOES SPECTRUM REALLY NEED TEAM M.E.C.H.A. IN BOB CITY? IS THE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL AND MESSED-UP RUNWAY THING READILY RECOGNIZEABLE AS A GIMMICK TO GET TEAM M.E.C.H.A. AWAY FROM BOB CITY SO THE AUTHOR DOESN'T HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE OTHER AUTHORS IN THE CROSSOVER TO CATCH UP? SOME OF THIS, SOME OTHER STUFF, AND SOME STUFF BESIDES THAT, COMING UP ONLY ON . . . . . . . . S.U.P.E.R.G.U.Y. . . . . . . . . He's ALIVE!!! -- Chris Meadows | Pardon my mess; signature still under construction CHM173S@NIC.SMSU.EDU | What should I say here...hmm...how about... CMEADOWS@NYX.CS.DU.EDU | CMEADOWS@NOX.CS.DU.EDU | IT'S GREAT TO BE BACK!!! ROBOTECH@SKYNET.DIALUP.ACCESS.NET | Hmm, this line doesn't really fit. | Heck with it. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 12 Jan 1994 09:45:22 -0600 Reply-To: UCF SUPERGUY List Sender: UCF SUPERGUY List From: Robotech_Master Subject: SG: Team M.E.C.H.A. #27: SBMWS Part 5 of 8 TEAM M.E.C.H.A. SERIES: Part 27 (She Blinded Me With Science, Part The Fifth) By Robotech_Master, alias Chris Meadows Guest-Starring Just Ray Sterling Again A Story of High Technology, and Highly Frustrated Ex-Special Forces Colonels (Colonel Felder's had it up to HERE with Zwarghoff, eh? Too bad about that contract...) The M.E.C.H.A. jet slowed to subsonic velocities and changed course toward the M.E.C.H.A. headquarters. The return journey had only taken a matter of minutes, as Ray had pushed the jet to its fastest atmospheric speed. They were now almost ready to touch down at headquarters. "Good to be back," Mike decided. "I'm going to go to the control center and check on the repairs to the other M.E.C.H.A. jet modules. I'll look in on Summer in the lab later on." Ray nodded. "I'll tell her. I'm going to spend a little time exploring your base." "See you later, then." Summer and Dr. Science relocated to one of the better-equipped science labs of the Team M.E.C.H.A. base, and Dr. Science downloaded the data from the jet and continued his research. Summer was somewhat impatient. "Is there anything more you can possibly learn from all this?" she wondered. Dr. Science looked up from the console he was working at. "To tell you the truth, in actuality, not a great deal. I'm essentially groping in the dark." He punched a key. "What I have now is going to take days, maybe weeks, to go over and study. All I can suggest to you is that you make use of your powers, try to discover more about them. Only through experimentation can you hope to find out just what works and what doesn't. And with everything new you discover, you might just find a key to learning what makes you what you are." Summer nodded. "What you're saying is that I should practice." "Precisely. I'm afraid that's all I can tell you." "Okay. I guess I'll go tell Mike." The helicoptor touched down next to the safehouse, and Colonel Felder jumped out. Hunched against the downdraft from the rotor blades, he ran into the safehouse, where Dr. Zwarghoff awaited him. Felder was not in a good mood. The AEHLAMBPU lawyer had not been very helpful. The only suggestion he had been able to offer was, "You could try changing your name..." "Ah, Colonel Felder. You've come. Good. We are ready to move. Our destination: Cassville, Missouri." Felder looked puzzled. "Cassville? Where the hell (TM) is that?" "Way out in the dead center of nowhere. I'll explain on the way." Zwarghoff gestured, and the rest of Felder's men grabbed their equipment. "For now, we have to go. I am going to find that mecha base, and make use of it!" And so the helicoptor took off, joined en route by two more. On the way, Dr. Zwarghoff worked at a laptop computer he'd found somewhere, fingers clattering on othe keyboard without ceasing. "What are you doing?" Lieutenant McCafferty, curious, asked Dr. Zwarghoff. From what he could see, the screen was changing rapidly as Zwarghoff typed. He seemed to be designing something. "I am putting down what I can remember about the power and processing systems of the mecha that the base was programmed to build. Which is no small amount, due to my eiditic memory. If I can isolate the key factors in the power plant, I can design a sensor to home in on those factors. It will also help me in my next project: the S.P.A.R.R.O.W." "Sparrow?" McCafferty asked. "S.P.A.R.R.O.W. Self-Programming Automated Robot, Replete with Ordnance and Weapons. What I shall use after your contract runs out," Zwarghoff replied smugly. Another one of the soldiers spoke up. "Aren't you worried about SAPOSA learning about this?" "SAPOSA?" asked Dr. Zwarghoff, confused. "The Society Against the Proliferation Of Stupid Acronyms," the soldier replied. "Come to think of it, I wonder why the Adjusted League Unimpeachable hasn't had trouble with them already--their A.L.U.C.H.Q.M.O.U.S.E. seems like as good a target as any for their wrath..." "Shut up," Dr. Zwarghoff replied eloquently. "The important thing is that once I complete my army of S.P.A.R.R.O.W.s, my dependance on human militia shall be over." "Which will undoubtedly make us both glad," Colonel Felder said, walking back to where Zwarghoff was working. "We will reach your destination in approximately three hours." "Excellent." Zwarghoff punched some more keys. "And I believe that I have finished my power source and processing system diagrams. Now I simply have to design a sensory apparatus geared toward detecting its emanations, and I will have them." He laughed an evil, villainish laugh. Mike stood in the control center for the repair bay, looking out over the machinery busily doing its work. He didn't actually understand what half of it was doing, but that was actually an improvement. When they'd first found the base, Mike had barely been able to understand ANYTHING about it. Mike barely looked up when a Cyclone armor unit clanked into the room. Then he looked up again, noticing there was no face behind the helmet's facebowl. "Summer?" The Cyclone shrank and morphed into Summer's lithe form. "In the flesh. Now that I've changed back to flesh, at least." "I thought you were with Dr. Science." "I got tired of him groping me in the dark, so I left," Summer said. "What?!" Summer giggled. "I asked him what he was finding out, and he said he was groping in the dark." Mike let out his breath. "That's not funny, Summer." "Sorry." She sighed. "What about me, Mike? What am I becoming?" Mike had been about to reply with a crack when he noticed the tear in Summer's eye and dropped the humor. "It's hard, isn't it?" "Oh, Mike..." She ran to him and embraced him, placing her head on his shoulder, tears streaming down her face. Mike tried to comfort her, but inwardly sighed. Things had been so much simpler before they'd become superheroes... "Hey, Mike, I think you'd better get up here..." The voice over the intercom belonged to Adam Douglas. "We're in central command." Still holding his sister, Mike reached over to the console and tabbed the talk key. "What is it?" "Radar contacts. Three. Coming into range of our scopes." "Size? Speed? Heading?" Mike queried. "Hmm...hard to say. Link's working on it now." Mike gently disengaged himself from his sister. "We're on our way." "You go on ahead," Summer sniffled. "I've just got to make a restroom stop and I'll be right with you." Mike stepped out of the elevator into the control room to find most of the rest of Team M.E.C.H.A. already there. Lincoln was keying data into the sensory computer, Adam was sitting on top of one of the consoles and gazing at the huge wall strategy screen that was displaying the current positions of the blips, and Sarah Conner was sitting at one of the unused terminals, filing her nails. Only Summer and Dr. Science were absent; Summer was on her way and Dr. Science was still pottering around in his lab, analyzing the sensor data. "Got anything more on those blips?" Mike asked. "Given their altitude, size, speed, and density, I would make them out to be transport helicoptors of some type," Lincoln remarked, adjusting a knob. "They seem to be making sweeps of the area. They may be looking for something." "Hmm. Check the government computers and see if any marijuana-search overflights were scheduled for today." "I already have," Link replied. "Nothing showed up." "Right." Mike crossed the room to a locker and began pulling on a flight suit. "I'm going up there to check it out." "Be careful," Adam said, hopping down from his seat. "We don't know who they might be." "Don't worry; I'm going to use that new sensory reduction system I engineered for the Bahamode. They shouldn't be able to get a handle on me." Dr. Zwarghoff sat just behind the transport chopper's pilot and gazed down at the displays on the sensory unit on his lap. So far there had been nothing...wait. For just a moment, there'd been a blip on the screen. Zwarghoff punched a series of keys to recall the position. There. "Eureka!" Zwarghoff proclaimed. "I have their location." "Excellent," Colonel Felder nodded, by now having resigned himself to working for this incompetent fool. "Let's do it." The sooner we finish, he reasoned, the sooner we can get out of that damnable contract. Mike streaked through the sky toward the three helicoptors. So far sensory reduction was working perfectly. It sure was draining the power, though. The Bahamode was limited to 75% of its speed and maneuverability. Definitely not something to go into combat with. Various flashing dots and lines and circles and squares and numbers and things indicated the Bahamode's increasing proximity to the helicoptors. Mike flicked on a tight-beam back to M.E.C.H.A. HQ and reported, "I'm getting targeting data now. As you reported, they're transports all right. Engaging full passive sensors." The Bahamode rocketed up behind the choppers. "Nothing unusual so far...I'm going to go active." "Wait--you don't know what--" Adam began, but Mike cut him off. "Passive sensors aren't showing anything out of the ordinary. I want a closer look. Dropping sensor reduction, engaging active radar imaging systems." Zwarghoff gasped. A blip had just appeared on radar, dead rear of the helicoptors! Not only that, but it was emitting the wave patterns of a Zwarghoff mecha unit (it was thus that Zwarghoff thought of them, conveniently forgetting the contributions of all the other scientists on the Grunion Buster mecha team)! Keying the sensor array to visual, Zwarghoff noted that it was the Garland battlebike operated by Mike, the Team M.E.C.H.A. commander. "Pilot! We have a visitor!" "I see him." The pilot keyed some controls on the dash of the helicoptor. "And I've got him cold." "Be careful. That mecha has some powerful weapons," Zwarghoff warned. "Oh, don't you worry, sir," the pilot grinned. "We have a few tricks up our own sleeves, we do..." Meanwhile, six stealth gliders angled through the air toward the site indicated by Zwarghoff's scope. Two of these aircraft had been attached to the underside of each transport chopper, and they were often used by Felder for rapid troop deployment. They had been engineered to be undetectible by any means except optic, and even the chances of that were substantially reduced by their camouflage colors. In the lead glider, Colonel Felder glanced at the map, then at his watch. Seven minutes. Only seven minutes to the landing point. What then? he wondered. What then nothing, part of him replied. You get the job done, as you always have in the past. Then you can kiss this Dr. Zwarghoff goodbye. "I still can't make out very much...I'm moving in closer--WHOA!" Static. "Mike? Mike, are you there? Do you read me?" Link fiddled with the radio dial settings. "Look!" Summer said in a choked voice. The blip that was Mike's Bahamode had just vanished from the scope. "Shit! He's been shot down!" Sarah Conner exclaimed, dropping her nail file. "I'm going out there!" Summer ran for the elevator, morphing into her black hardsuit as she ran. "Summer, wait!" Adam yelled, running after her. But she was already in the elevator, and the light glinting off of the hardsuit's faceplate was the last thing they saw before it closed. "What now?" Link asked. Adam shrugged. "Let's wait a few minutes. He might have just had engine trouble or something. He'll call if he can." Zwarghoff cackled evilly. "You didn't tell me your choppers carried lasers in the tail." "You never asked." Then both pilot and Zwarghoff shared an evil laugh over it. A thousand or so feet below, Mike's Bahamode had splashed down in an irrigation lake. It had a rather large hole shot through the middle of it, narrowly missing the pilot's compartment. The surprise shot from the cannon mounted in the chopper's tail had knocked out over half of the retrothrusters, and almost all of the control systems. Mike had narrowly managed to punch out in time, and had drifted to a soft landing to one side of the lake. "Hey!" Mike looked up from packing his parachute. "Huh?" "Hey! You! What are you doing?!" It was a farmer. With a shotgun of some sort, it looked like. And he was waving it around. And pointing it. Keeping his hands well away from his Gallant, Mike said, "My plane had an accident. I had to parachute out." "Oh. Well, that's all right, then. Need a ride into town?" "If I could just use your phone..." Mike said, relaxing. "Oh, sure. I'll take you back to the house." He gestured toward his tractor. "Uh...it is a local call, isn't it?" "Yeah." "Good." IS IT A LOCAL CALL? WHAT WILL SUMMER FIND WHEN SHE REACHES THE CRASH SITE? WILL COLONEL FELDER BE ABLE TO KISS DR. ZWARGHOFF GOODBYE AFTER THIS JOB? WHY WOULD COLONEL FELDER *WANT* TO KISS DR. ZWARGHOFF, ANYWAY? WILL DR. ZWARGHOFF SUCCEED IN HIS PLANS TO TAKE OVER TEAM M.E.C.H.A. HEADQUARTERS? TUNE IN SAME TIME, SAME E-MAIL, FOR THE NEXT EXCITING EPISODE, ONLY AVAILABLE HERE, ON S U P E R G U Y -- Chris Meadows | Pardon my mess; signature still under construction CHM173S@NIC.SMSU.EDU | What should I say here...hmm...how about... CMEADOWS@NYX.CS.DU.EDU | CMEADOWS@NOX.CS.DU.EDU | IT'S GREAT TO BE BACK!!! ROBOTECH@SKYNET.DIALUP.ACCESS.NET | Hmm, this line doesn't really fit. | Heck with it. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 12 Jan 1994 09:52:36 -0600 Reply-To: UCF SUPERGUY List Sender: UCF SUPERGUY List From: Robotech_Master Subject: SG: Team M.E.C.H.A. #28: SBMWS Part 6 of 8 TEAM M.E.C.H.A. SERIES: Part 28 (She Blinded Me With Science, Part The Sixth) By Robotech_Master, alias Chris Meadows Guest-Starring Just Ray Sterling Again A Story of High Technology, and Highly-Proficient Paramilitary Commandos (Does this story actually have ANYTHING AT ALL to do with science?) "Huh? What? Why didn't anyone tell me?!" Ray Sterling asked. "If I'd known, I would have accompanied him in my Alpha." "We think it's because the Author forgot about you," Adam explained. "Anyway, Summer went out after him just a few minutes ago, and we'd like you to head over there now and check it out." "All right, I'll--" BRREEEET! BRREEEET! BRREEEET! "What the hell (TM)?!" "It's the intruder alert!" Adam punched some keys. "I think. Or is it?" Link logged onto the computer. "Yes, it definitely is. We're being invaded!" "We've got to get to our Cyclones!" Sarah gasped. "You're going nowhere." The steady, even voice that said this belonged to the man behind the rather large really neat-looking blaster rifle (TM), standing in the door. "Colonel Felder!" Adam gasped. "Indeed," the man said, as five of his paramilitary troopers rushed in to secure the control room. "How gratifying to see that I have everyone here, right where I want them." Sarah Conner slowly reversed the nail file she held in her hand. "You may think so, but..." She threw it. Fwip! It whistled through the air and slammed into the door control panel, which blew out. The soldiers by the door yelled and scattered, and Sarah dived through, just as the door slid shut. "You don't have me." "Find her! Stop her!" Felder barked. "She won't get far," one of the soldiers swore, dashing out another exit. Mike picked up the telephone and dialed frantically. "Eight, four, seven..." he muttered with each pass of the rotary dial. After entering the seventh digit, the phone rang. "Hello. You have reached Team M.E.C.H.A.'s secret headquarters. If you are calling to request help, please press one, now. If you are calling to ask to join Team M.E.C.H.A., please press two, now. If you are calling from a rotary phone, please press three, now." "Hello? Is anyone there?" Mike said. There was no answer. "Come on, guys, I know my voice must be coming through. Someone pick up the phone, eh?" Still no answer. Mike was just about to give up and hang up when there was a click. "Mike! Don't come back here!" "What? Sarah?" Mike asked, confused. "Colonel Felder's taken the base! We--oh-oh. Here they come. Gotta go, bye!" CLICK. "Huh? Sarah, wait! What???" But there was no answer. She'd hung up. Mike also hung up, in something of a state of shock. Colonel Felder had taken over Team M.E.C.H.A. headquarters? He staggered outside. "We're dead." "Huh?" It was the farmer. "Oh, uh, nothing. I just learned that my ride may not be here for a while." "Too bad. Why don't you come inside and sit down? The missus can fix you a cup of coffee or something while you wait..." "No, I--" Then Mike looked up to see a black hardsuit flying overhead. His jaw dropped, and he cupped his hands to his mouth. "Hey! Hey, Summer!" The hardsuit paused in midflight, then lowered itself to the ground on trails of thruster flame. The farmer's mouth fell wide open. It opened farther still when the gleaming black metallic suit of armor shimmered and faded into a preadolescent girl. "Mike! There you are! What happened to you?" "My Bahamode got shot down," Mike explained. "I think we'd probably better walk down the road a ways." He pointed to the farmer. "Oh, right." Summer waved to the astonished farmer, took her brother by the hand, and together they started walking down the county highway that ran in front of the farmer's small house. Dr. Science sat in his semi-darkened laboratory, behind a huge console of computer equipment. He was entering commands into various keyboards and punching various switches and things and doing other scientist-type stuff. He wasn't any closer to finding a solution, but he was at least having fun trying. Then the door flew open. "Dr. Science! We have to get out of here, now!" "What? Huh?" Dr. Science looked up, confused. Then energy bolts hit the door, and Sarah dived inside. "It's Colonel Felder! He's taken over the base, and is searching for me! I'm the only one who was able to get away!" Sarah slammed the door shut and pulled her Gallant pistol. "Crud." Science logged out of the terminal and grabbed his lab coat from the swivel seat on which he was sitting. "We'll simply have to see about that, will we not?" He reached into one of the pockets on his coat just as the door burst open. "You! Both of you! Stop where you are!" the soldier yelled, waving his really neat-looking blaster rifle (TM) back and forth. With a smooth casting motion, Dr. Odd Science threw something toward him. A lot of little round objects the size of ball bearings clattered onto the floor, then exploded in brilliant flashes of light. BAP-BAP-BAP-BAP-BAP-BAP-BAP!!! "Whaa!" the dazed soldier gasped. Sarah Conner downed him with a blast from her Gallant. "Now what?" Sarah asked. "Now we make a hasty exit." Dr. Science grabbed the blaster rifle. "This might come in handy." Slinging the gun, he peered carefully out the door, then gestured to Sarah to follow him. They were off. "What?!" Summer gasped. "That's what she said," Mike said. "She got cut off, so she couldn't say too much." "This is horrible!" Summer breathed. "Wherever Felder is, Zwarghoff can't be too far behind." "But Zwarghoff is in the Really-Really-Hard-To-Get-Out-Of Place!" Mike protested. "We put him there--" Then Mike broke off as he remembered the massive breakout. "Oh, NO..." "We have to get back there," Summer announced, setting her jaw. "How? YOU can fly, sure, but what about me?" Summer thought for a moment. "Hmm. Say, maybe I could carry you!" "Oh, yeah, and if someone attacks, then what, you drop me?" Mike remarked. "Besides, it would cut your speed and maneuverability way down." "No, wait..." Summer stepped out into the road, closed her eyes, and morphed into Cyclone power armor. "I've never tried this before, but it SHOULD work..." "What? What are you going to do?" Mike wondered. "Let me think this through a moment..." Summer concentrated. What she was about to try would be hard. She'd never tried it before, never even PRACTICED it before. Frankly, the concept of doing what she was about to do scared her just a little. But she fought down her fear, because this was an absolute emergency and her friends were in danger. Besides, what was this compared to what she'd felt when she'd realized that she had to take the hyperdrive engine away, perhaps losing her life in the process, lest dozens die? And she had done THAT anyway... So, Summer concentrated. How was she going to do this? The concept was rather foreign to humans, because humans weren't mecha. Maybe if she just pictured it in her mind...yes. She felt her body responding to what she wanted to do to it, and before she knew it, the Cyclone armor that was her physical form unlatched, rotated, and reformed itself into a motorcycle. The CVR-3 armor disappeared, but Summer knew that it had not really vanished but had simply faded into that part of her that was not in this reality. She didn't know how she knew, but somehow she felt it. Summer spoke, and her voice emanated from an internal speaker somewhere. Mike stepped out onto the road a bit hesitantly. "Summer? Are you sure about this?" Summer snorted derisively. "Of course I am, what are you talking about?" This was more scary than anything Summer had ever done in her entire life. She didn't feel...human. She felt like...a motorcycle. She could feel the surface of the road under her tires with a sensation that was half touch and half taste. The nuclear power that came from her power plant felt like a humming in her ears that she could also taste. The emissions sensors in her exhaust pipes were relaying a sweet, warm smell to her brain (or central processor), and the highway ahead was looking like an awesome ride. Mike was still reluctant. "I...can we discuss this?" "No! There's nothing TO discuss." If he tries to talk me out of this, I might just knuckle under, Summer thought. It's got to be now. I have to know how this feels! "Get on my back and let's go!" Mike opened his mouth, looked like he was about to make some other protest, then closed it again and shrugged. He straddled the Cyclone motorcycle. "I don't know...it just doesn't seem...proper, somehow." "That tickles!" Summer giggled. Mike started, and nearly got back off again. "I still don't know about this, Summer..." Summer's panel gauges brightened momentarily in what would have been a smile had she been in her human shape. "Geez, I was just kidding. Now, hold on tight!" Summer imaged moving, exerting power and gaining speed. Smoke shot from her exhaust pipes as she revved her engine, reveling in the sensation of the power flowing through her. Then, as though it were the most natural thing in the world, she reared back in a wheelie before shooting ahead, accelerating rapidly. The helicoptor touched down triumphantly in the landing bay of the Team M.E.C.H.A. headquarters. "Bwahahahahahahahaha!!!" Zwarghoff laughed evilly, rubbing his hands together. "I shall now proceed to create my army of S.P.A.R.R.O.W.s using the automated assembly lines of this mecha factory, and then to rule the world!!! And to think they voted me least likely to succeed at the supervillain academy!" Colonel Felder met Dr. Zwarghoff as he climbed out of the chopper. Zwarghoff returned his salute, somewhat sloppily, and asked, "Is the base secure?" "Almost," Colonel Felder replied. "But we expect our dominance to become complete at any moment." "Excellent. You have done well." Zwarghoff grinned evilly, looking around. "Oh, the sights, the sounds--even the SMELLS all evoke the most pleasant memories for me..." He sighed. "Until the government, may-they-be-eternally-damned--" "Most of them already are," Colonel Felder supplied. "Indeed. Ahem. Until the government shut it down." Zwarghoff rubbed his hands together. "But now I shall have my revenge! Once my army of S.P.A.R.R.O.W.s is completed, I shall first destroy Washington, and then RULE THE WORLD!!!" "Uh, excuse me," one of Felder's soldiers said. "Haven't you about exhausted the budget quota for supervillain rants and raves in this episode?" "Why, so I have!" Dr. Zwarghoff declared magnanimously. "That means it's time to end this episode!" IS IT TIME TO END THIS EPISODE? "Oh, come on, what kind of a preview question is THAT? Duuuuh..." SORRY. WILL MIKE AND SUMMER BE ABLE TO RESCUE TEAM M.E.C.H.A. HEADQUARTERS FROM THE VILE, VILLAINOUS CLUTCHES OF DR. ZWARGHOFF? WHAT ABOUT DR. SCIENCE AND SARAH CONNER? IS THERE, IN FACT, ANYTHING IMPROPER ABOUT MIKE RIDING HIS YOUNGER SISTER, OTHER THAN THE WAY IT SOUNDS? DOES THE TITLE OF THIS MINISERIES HAVE ANY MEANING, OR IS IT JUST SOMETHING THAT SOUNDED COOL? DO MIKE AND SUMMER HAVE A LAST NAME? WHEN (IF EVER) WILL WE FIND OUT WHAT IT IS? YOU KNOW WHERE TO LOOK FOR THE ANSWER. ONLY ONE PLACE. IT'S ALMOST REDUNDANT JUST TO SAY IT, BUT IT'S S U P E R G U Y -- Chris Meadows | Pardon my mess; signature still under construction CHM173S@NIC.SMSU.EDU | What should I say here...hmm...how about... CMEADOWS@NYX.CS.DU.EDU | CMEADOWS@NOX.CS.DU.EDU | IT'S GREAT TO BE BACK!!! ROBOTECH@SKYNET.DIALUP.ACCESS.NET | Hmm, this line doesn't really fit. | Heck with it. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 13 Jan 1994 18:18:46 -0600 Reply-To: UCF SUPERGUY List Sender: UCF SUPERGUY List From: Robotech_Master Subject: SG: Team M.E.C.H.A. #29: SBMWS Part 7 of 8 TEAM M.E.C.H.A. SERIES: Part 29 (She Blinded Me With Science, Part The Seventh) By Robotech_Master, alias Chris Meadows Guest-Starring Just Ray Sterling Again A Story of High Technology, and a Highly Inappropriate Use of Government Equipment (But isn't that what government equipment is MEANT for?) Colonel Felder stood slightly behind Dr. Zwarghoff as said worthy seated himself at the central control console. "Now, to refamiliarize myself with the controls," he remarked, cracking his knuckles. "Ah yes...let me see..." His fingers clattered over the keyboard, calling up system displays, status indicators, and a really nifty screen saver. "Hmm, someone's installed Dos 5.0. Thank goodness they didn't install version 6. Ah, well, this can only make my work easier." "Sir, there is the little matter of our contract..." It really grated on Felder, having to call this incompetent fool of an alleged scientist "sir," and he wanted out of it as soon as possible. "Ah, yes, that." Zwarghoff looked up from his work for just a moment. "Naturally, I would not want anyone working for me who was not fully committed to serving myself and my ideals...so I am letting you out of your contract." As Felder opened his mouth to speak, Zwarghoff continued: "AFTER I have my army of S.P.A.R.R.O.W.s completed." "How soon will that be?" Felder asked. "The sooner you cease pestering me about minutia, the sooner I will be finished. Now, if you WOULD...please make sure this base is secure. I will be wanting to see all of Team M.E.C.H.A. when I finish, ESPECIALLY those annoying Douglas brats." "As you command," Felder replied. He didn't say that none of his men had so far been able to capture Sarah Conner, or the yet-to-be-identified man who was accompanying her. But he'd spread out his men, and they were bound to turn up sooner or later. He hoped. Mike and Summer raced flat-out toward the Team M.E.C.H.A. headquarters. Or rather, Summer raced flat-out and Mike held on for dear life. "You sure you know how to do this?" he asked worriedly. "I mean, if you've never done this before..." "It's as easy as walking!" Summer replied. "It's like I've been doing this all my life." And to Summer's surprise, it actually was! It was almost like flying, in a way, except it involved all of her senses. She could feel the way her tires gripped the road, "taste" its surface composition, and adjust suspension and tread for optimum traction under all circumstances. She could see the trees whipping by, feel the slipstream as it rushed past her, smell the air and the exact composition of her exhaust fumes. She heard all the sounds around her, and yet was also exquisitely aware of each vibration of the engine inside of her. There was only one thing that wasn't right...her sense of balance was a bit off. But that could be corrected... "Mike, would you mind leaning WITH me instead of just sitting there? Stop just holding on and RIDE me!" Mike bit back the retort that sprang to his mind. "Dammit, Summer, I'm just having a really hard time getting used to all this. Things in my life are changing extremely rapidly!" "How d'you think *I* feel? This stuff that's happening to me is as weird as you can hope to get without having High-Jinx show up, but I'm dealing with it. The least you can do is help me by cooperating. Come on, now, we're losing time. Just ride me like you would any other motorcycle. I can go faster if we're balanced in synch!" "But I usually CRASH most other motorcycles..." "MIKE!" Mike sighed, gritted his teeth, and tried. And was somewhat amazed at the results. He'd never--he inwardly chuckled at the double entendre--he'd never had this smooth a ride before. Not even on any of the other Cyclone bikes he'd had the base put together. This was like riding--well, how else could he put it? It was like riding a living thing, that could sense his every shift in balance and adjust to it. And, of course, that was exactly what it WAS. Mike found himself almost wishing the ride could never end. And then another part of him started feeling guilty again for what he had done, or imagined he had done, to his sister. Damn, there goes the automatic guilt trip, regular as clockwork. Summer felt him tensing up. "Mike, what's with you? I've told you time and again not to feel guilty about this, it's just something that...well, HAPPENED." "Summer, you know and I know that the human psyche just doesn't work that way." He leaned hard into a curve that was marked as 45 mph but they took at 150. "How can I not feel guilty? Look at this situation from an outsider's point of view. Here is a 20-year-old kid riding a motorcycle--through some particularly dangerous driving, I might add--that happens also to be his 14-year-old sister. Anybody else would probably say something extremely lewd about this situation." Summer made a derisive sound. "I haven't seen this much angst coming from any one person since UNDOCUMENTED FEATURES. Grow up, will ya? I've told you time and again this wasn't your fault, and even if it was, I think I'm beginning to enjoy it." Well, actually, she KNEW she was beginning to enjoy it...the way it felt right now, at least. Mike sighed, and didn't say any more about it. He guessed he should try not to think about it...but given the current situation, that was rather hard. Summer actually WAS enjoying the experience. She wasn't sure how to explain it, even to herself, but being ridden was much better than just driving alone. You see, unlike cars, motorcycles NEED a rider; it's just the way they're designed. The rider provides stabilization and balance for the motorcycle; the motorcycle provides the power and speed. A normal, two-wheeled motorcycle couldn't possibly drive by itself, not even a Cyclone cycle. And while Summer had no doubts that she could probably manage the feat, simply by shifting densities and points of balance, it was ever so much more fun to do it this way. It was a form of symbiosis, a balancing act much more satisfying than simply riding a motorcycle could ever be. They rounded the final curve, and Summer slowed to a stop, somewhat reluctantly. The ride was over. Too bad. Ah, well, she would just have to adapt to being human once more... Mike dismounted, and the Cyclone motorcycle shimmered and shifted back into Summer's natural shape. "Let's go," Mike said, pulling his Gallant. "But carefully." Summer nodded. She took a deep breath, and was surprised to rediscover that there were just as many good sensations that came from being human as there were from being a motorcycle. The way the woods smelled, the touch of the breeze on her skin and hair, being able to stand up and stretch wearied muscles...But what was that? "Look!" Summer pointed. Peeking out from behind some trees was a dark shape. Altering her eyes to zoom in, Summer recognized it as some sort of glider. "I bet that's how Felder's men got here." "But how did they find the location?" Mike wondered. "I don't know, but I think we'd better get in there, fast!" Summer started to run off, but Mike grabbed her arm. "Wait. Felder might have left some of his men out, as sentries. We'll have to be careful." "All right, brother. Just tell me what to do." Several levels down in the M.E.C.H.A. HQ, a ventilation grille flew out of the wall, impelled by a female leg that slid out of the ventilator duct. It was soon followed by the rest of a female body. Sarah Conner turned and helped Dr. Science down. "Where are we?" she asked. "Factory level," Dr. Odd Science replied, checking his pocket computer. "Where the mecha get put together. It's right next to the storage rooms, and it might be possible to get to your mecha and--" A loud noise began emanating from all the assembly line machines, drowning out whatever Dr. Science was saying. Sarah gawked. "What the HELL (TM)?!" Dr. Science keyed his pocket computer. "This shouldn't be!" he yelled, to be heard above the machinery. "I'm locked out of the manufacturing code area!" "What?!" Sarah was having difficulty hearing. Dr. Science gestured to her, then took her by the arm and led her through a soundproof bulkhead door, which dramatically cut the noise level when it sealed behind them. "I said that I've been locked out of the manufacturing code. Whatever's being built out there, I can't access it." Sarah checked her Gallant. "I have a feeling this could be very, very bad..." Mike and Summer crept forward, carefully. So far, so good...no signs of paramilitary troopers waiting in ambush... "Come on, down the ravine," Mike decided, Gallant pistol in hand. "Cover me." "Right." Summer's arm bulged slightly as the hardsuit laser gun morphed out of it and tracked to cover Mike. She ran down the hillside after him, dodging between trees, careful not to slip on the blanket of dead leaves and humus that covered the ground. She followed closely, knowing that the bulkhead door was not far away. If they could get to it and get in, without being noticed... "Mike, wait!" Mike stopped. "What is it, Summer?" "If we go in that way, they'll know we're here! The control room panel will indicate a door opening. C'mon, I've got a better idea." If I can force myself to pull it off, she didn't add. "At last..." Dr. Zwarghoff gloated, striding back and forth in the detention block of the M.E.C.H.A. headquarters. "I have my revenge! You're confined in the cell of your very own base--MY very own base now--and I am using your production machinery to create my S.P.A.R.R.O.W.s with which to take over the world!" "Sparrows? You're gonna conquer the world with BIRDS?!" Adam said incredulously. "Who're you supposed to be, the Bird Man of Alcatraz or something?" "No, no, no, not sparrows, S.P.A.R.R.O.W.s! It's an acronym." "What does it stand for?" Ray Sterling asked. "It stands for Self-Programming Automated Robot Replete with Ordnance and Weapons." Dr. Zwarghoff declared proudly. "Huh, that's certainly a mouthful," Adam remarked. "You think that up all by yourself?" Zwarghoff made no reply, and Adam continued. "So, you're gonna take over the world with robots, eh? Well, better men than you have tried." "That may be, but--what?! Why are there only three people in this cell!?" Dr. Zwarghoff only just now noticed this, so absorbed had he been in ranting and raving. "Uh, sir, the others are, ahem, not available right now," one of the soldiers standing guard remarked. "What do you mean?!" Zwarghoff yelled, enraged. "Well, uh, sir, um, one of them was off-base and was shot down--" "I KNOW that, you fool! What about the others?!" "The one called Summer ran off to find the one who got shot down, and the other one, along with some man who we have not yet been able to identify, are still at large in the base. However, we've posted guards over all the mecha storage facilities. There's no way they could get to their mecha, and it's only a matter of time until we have them all." "You had better capture them forthwith," Dr. Zwarghoff announced. "If anything goes wrong with my scheme because of your incompetence, you--ALL of you--will pay the price!" Continuing to rant, Dr. Zwarghoff stormed out of the room. "Now?" "Not yet, girl, wait until he's out of the room." "All right..." "NOW!" The ventilator grille in the detention block flew outward, and even as it hit the ground, two silvery cylinders followed it. They exploded in clouds of gas, and the two guards stationed in the room bit the dust. Seconds later, the gas dissipated, and Sarah Conner and Dr. Science dropped into the room. "You guys all right?" Sarah asked. "Just fine," Ray Sterling replied. "Can you open the lock?" "No problemo," Sarah Conner replied, grabbing a cardkey from one of the comatose guards and swiping it through the readers on the cell doors. "Hey, Dr. Science, those gas bombs you cooked up sure worked great." "Just one of the many uses to which science may be put," Dr. Science said modestly. "I believe it would behoove us to attain armaments." He meaningfully slapped the stock of the really neat-looking blaster rifle (TM) he'd taken from another soldier earlier. "Right," Adam Douglas said. "We don't have Gallants, so I guess these'll do us just fine 'til we can get our Cyc-bikes back." Sarah nodded. "Let's move out, then." They left through the bulkhead door, after securing the unconscious guards in one of the cells. Sarah was the last to leave. "We'll be back," she said, closing the door. "What are you doing?" Mike asked, following Summer up to the top of the hill. "Here." Summer pointed, clearing away some bushes. "The concealed ventilator shaft." "Excellent!" Mike said, aiming his Gallant. "No, don't!" Summer said. "This one is alarmed, too, remember?" Mike lowered the gun. "That's right...and the alarm box is under the grille." Summer nodded. "Yeah, it's out of reach...but I think I can disarm it all the same. Hold on." Summer walked over to the shaft. This was going to be difficult, Summer thought, but according to what Dr. Science had told her, theoretically possible, at least. It would be her first attempt to alter her shape to a form that had not been "pre-programmed" by absorbtion and imprinting of another object. What she had to do was...dissolve. Just like in the movies... "Okay...if T2 can do it, so can I..." She closed her eyes and concentrated. She wasn't exactly sure just how to trigger the change, or even that she wanted to--what if she couldn't get back again?!--but it was necessary to get through. Besides, what about Rainy Day Woman? She'd faced rather a similar problem, hadn't she, when she was first learning to use her powers? And hadn't SHE overcome it? Ignoring the fact that Nora's and her powers came from totally different sources, Summer held onto this one source of optimism in her mind, imaged the change, and before Mike's horrified eyes melted away into a silvery goop that flowed into and through the grating. The sensations Summer felt were...utterly weird, almost indescribable. She could somehow see in any direction she chose to, but was also dimly aware, "out of the corner of her eye," so to speak, of what was going on everywhere around her, 360 degrees by 360 degrees. She could hear, and she could feel/taste/smell everything around her. It was kind of neat, but definitely not a shape she hoped to stay in for long. In this form, Summer oozed over to the grating, and let herself slip through it. The bars divided her, but she remerged on the other side. However, she somehow partly solidified part of herself to stick to, to catch one of the crossbars. Now, she told herself, I just have to image all this...slime that I am, and tell it to shift back. Imagine myself as a PERSON, with my fist clenched around the bar. She hurried, as she felt herself S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G out under the influence of gravity, rather like toothpaste. She frankly found that to be a revolting image. Concentration...concentration...the silvery goo resolved into Summer, her left hand clutching at the crossbar, her body dangling from it. "Eeeuugh! That felt WEIRD." Pausing just a moment to regain her orientation, she reached out with her other arm to the alarm box, removed the cover. "Okay...which of these wires would it be...?" Mike thought for a moment, trying to be undistracted by all this strangeness that he had been living through lately. "Uh, let me see...I studied the schematics...um...rip out the green and yellow ones, but not the red and blue ones." He would put all this weirdness out of his mind for now, and only bring it up later, he decided. Once the base was out of danger. He only wished that actually DOING it was as easy as THINKING it... "There, that did it. The alarm's disarmed." Summer let go and dropped three or four feet to the bottom of the shaft. "Come on!" Mike removed the grill and climbed in. "Let's go, then." Dr. Zwarghoff stood before the control banks, monitoring the progress on the assembly lines. His S.P.A.R.R.O.W. project was coming along perfectly. Over 100 of the heavily-armed robots had been manufactured so far, with more on the way. And each of them had been equipped with the special sensor systems that would detect and lock onto mecha produced at this base (he'd altered the power systems on the S.P.A.R.R.O.W.s so they wouldn't commit the embarrassing error of locking onto each other). Thus even if those annoying M.E.C.H.A. punks got to their mecha, they would be easy to take down. That was odd...for just a second, something had shown up on the alarm panel, but it had vanished before Zwarghoff could see what it was. Ah, well, he thought. It's probably nothing. IS IT REALLY NOTHING? IF IT ISN'T NOTHING, IS IT SOMETHING? IF IT ISN'T SOMETHING, WHAT IS IT? WILL TEAM M.E.C.H.A. BE ABLE TO GET TO THEIR MECHA? WILL THEY RETAKE THEIR BASE? WILL COLONEL FELDER FINALLY GET FED UP AND BREAK THE CONTRACT? WHAT ARE ALL THESE STRANGE NEW ABILITIES SUMMER SEEMS TO BE DEVELOPING? WILL SHE BE ABLE TO USE THEM TO THEIR FULLEST WITHOUT SPECIAL TRAINING? WHERE COULD SHE GO TO GET SUCH TRAINING? WILL DR. ZWARGHOFF AND HIS S.P.A.R.R.O.W.S SUCCEED IN TAKING OVER THE WORLD? WHAT ABOUT MOCKINGBIRDS? CARDINALS? SOME OF THIS AND LESS, AND THE MINISERIES FINALE, COMING UP ONLY ON S U P E R G U Y -- Chris Meadows | SUPERGUY TRIVIA: Who was the first to defeat CHM173S@NIC.SMSU.EDU | the Awesome Force? Hint...it was a supergroup, CMEADOWS@NYX.CS.DU.EDU | sort of... CMEADOWS@NOX.CS.DU.EDU | ROBOTECH@SKYNET.DIALUP.ACCESS.NET ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 13 Jan 1994 23:13:44 -0600 Reply-To: UCF SUPERGUY List Sender: UCF SUPERGUY List From: Robotech_Master Subject: SG: Team M.E.C.H.A. #30: SBMWS Grand Finale (8/8) TEAM M.E.C.H.A. SERIES: Part 30 (She Blinded Me With Science, Part The Eighth) By Robotech_Master, alias Chris Meadows Guest-Starring Just Ray Sterling Again A Story of High Technology, and High Time I Wrapped Up This Miniseries (Gee, but what will you do after it's in the can? You've still got a week to go before you get back to school.) "It's no good," Sarah Conner reported, slipping back from around the corner. "There's half a dozen armed guards at THAT mecha storage site, too." "Damn," Adam swore. "That was the last one. NOW what do we do?" "Wait!" Lincoln said. "I just remembered something. Follow me." In moments, they were slipping through a small door into a larger room. It was the hangar bay, Sarah realized. They were barely a hundred feet away from the M.E.C.H.A. jet! Also in the bay, however, were three transport choppers, presumably Zwarghoff's. Ray Sterling's Alpha fighter was still in the onboard bay of the M.E.C.H.A. jet, not having been offloaded before the takeover. "What now?" Ray wondered. "We slip over to the jet, retrieve our mechs, and wreak some medium-scale havoc," Adam decided. "Good thinking, Link. They might be guarding the storage sites in the base, but I doubt they know about our mecha on board the jet!" "That's what I'm here for." "What we need now is a distraction..." Adam thought aloud, looking at the two guard stationed across the hangar bay. "Say no more, I have the perfect thing." Dr. Science pulled something out of his lab coat and set it on the floor. It appeared to be a small remote-controlled car. Dr. Science switched it on, and sent it off across the floor. "Gimme a break..." Ray Sterling muttered. "Hey, it worked in 'Rascals,'" Dr. Science retorted defensively. And it actually did work now, to their surprise. While the guards were preoccupied with chasing the car down, the five from Team M.E.C.H.A. were able to dash across to the M.E.C.H.A. jet and climb aboard. "Now!" Adam decided. "Let's rock and roll!" Colonel Felder was sitting in the small lounge not far from the control room of M.E.C.H.A. HQ, sipping cafe mocha latte and thinking about how nice Juneau was this time of year. If only he could go there... Then a klaxon alarm sounded, and Felder's drink flew up in the air. It then splattered all over his pants, causing him to dance up and down in pain. "Yowwwwaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!!!! What the hell (TM) is going on!!!" Then one of his underlings dashed into the room. "Sir, it's Team M.E.C.H.A.! Apparently they've been able to get to their power armor and are now fighting their way through the base to get to Zwarghoff--and US!" "Hold them off as best you can!" Felder ordered. "I'm going to see Zwarghoff!" "What do you mean?!" Dr. Zwarghoff yelled. "How could you let them get away?!" "That is not your concern right now," Colonel Felder replied. "What IS your concern is Team M.E.C.H.A. If you have any of your chickens or mockingbirds or whatever--" "S.P.A.R.R.O.W.s!" Zwarghoff yelled. "Whatever. If you have any of those ready to go, this might provide an excellent field-test opportunity..." Zwarghoff stopped, and considered. "Hmm...you could be right. Yes! I'll do it. If you'll pardon me..." He turned to the control panel and began punching keys. In one of the storage rooms, several levels below, one of the two hundred or so S.P.A.R.R.O.W. robots stored here looked up, and its eyes glowed red. It would do as its master had commanded: it would seek and destroy Team M.E.C.H.A. And its brethren's eyes began to light up as well, as they came to similar conclusions. Summer and Mike crawled through the ventilation ducts. Summer's eyes glowed red, for she was using the optical enhancements from her hardsuit in place of her normal vision. "We're almost there...this panel should lead right into the control room." "All right..." Mike pulled his Gallant as Summer morphed into her hardsuit form. "Let's do it." He kicked out the panel and dropped through, followed by Summer. "Hold it right there, Dr. Zwarghoff! Your villainous days are over, at least until the next time you break out of prison." Dr. Zwarghoff sneered. "Oh? And you really think you can take me? Think again!" The door to the outer corridor slid open, and four robots entered. These were big robots, about eight feet tall, perhaps, and bristling with weapons. Their faces were little more than redly glowing eyes, and they had jump-thrust packs on their backs. "you.will.come.along.quietly," one of them said. "Like hell (TM)!" Summer replied, firing blasts from her hardsuit lasers that punched right through one of them. The other one fired back, narrowly missing Mike and knocking Summer against the wall. "Ow!" Summer gasped as the beams caused some big gouges in the hardsuit. "Summer!" Mike yelled. But he needn't have worried; the gouges were already healing up. "How--?!" "No time for talk, come on!" She grabbed Mike by the hand and dragged him out the other door. She exhilarated in the sensation of running as the hardsuit. It was funny--before, she'd simply thought of herself as a human in a hardsuit, even though she now knew she actually WAS the hardsuit, and had been subconsciously blocking off the input from other senses. But now that she'd experimented with her motorcycle shape, she knew how to feel them. It was amazing. She could sense the hollowness inside her suit-self--this was what she'd thought felt "weird" when she'd first pushed the transformation all the way. She could see farther down the corridor simply by focussing, and she could "feel" where the walls and floor were by their reflections on her radar. She had the full powers, the full abilities of a mecha unit, and the mind of a human being somewhere within it all. It was intense. Together they ran down the corridor and around a corner--and came face to face with ten more of the robots. The robots opened fire. "Gah!" Mike yelled, dodging, trying to return fire with his Gallant but not having much effect. Trapped in the open, laser blasts ricocheting around him, Mike realized that his number might conceivably be up. Summer was coming to the same conclusion. About Mike, that is. He was unarmored, unprotected--what could she do? But then inspiration struck. Mike had no armor...but she WAS armor. It should be possible to...but that might give Mike an even bigger guilt trip, mightn't it? No matter, he'd still be alive. She gathered her concentration together. This might be hard, but... "You're not getting my brother!" Summer announced, touching down in front of him to shield him from the blasts. Then she took a step back, so she was standing barely in front of him. Then she took another step back, and Mike felt something oozing over his body. Then he was inside a suit of Cyclone power armor! "Su-Summer?" Mike gasped. "The same," a voice said from the helmet speakers. "What say we blow this joint, eh?" While Mike was still trying to adjust to this new development, his arms raised of their own volition (or, rather, the suit's own volition) and fired off all four of the plasma minimissiles. The resulting explosion took out a lot of the robots and also knocked Summer and Mike back a good ten feet. The sensation was strange, even stranger than Summer had thought it would be. Imagine, for a moment, what it would feel like if all the space inside your body were hollow, and there were someone else inside it, who could override your own movements if you let him. You can't, can you? Let's just say it's pretty darned weird and leave it at that. "Whoa..." Mike muttered, getting up. Summer, of course, got up with him. "Um, Summer?" "Yes?" "What am I doing...er...INSIDE you?" "Staying alive, that's what. Comfy in there?" "I--uh--er--that is--" Mike lapsed into an embarrassed silence. What did one say in situations like this? There was a giggle. "It was the only thing I could do. You were unprotected--a single laser blast could have par-boiled you. But what are we sitting around here talking for, anyway? We've got a base to free!" "Er, um, right." Mike ran forward, looking around. Summer, as the Cyclone power armor suit, ran with him (of course). As they came around another corner, they ran into more robots. As Mike dodged laser blasts, he marvelled at Summer's responsiveness as a Cyclone. There was again no other way to describe it--it was like having power armor that was ALIVE (because that's exactly what it WAS). More responsive than any other armor he'd ever worn. "Fun, eh?" Summer asked, aiming her/his arm just perfectly and launching another plasma minimissile. "Hey, I thought you fired all those already," Mike protested. "I don't know how, but my weapons reload themselves," Summer replied. Actually, she could feel the slight discharge of hyperspatial energy refilling the missile tube as soon as she'd fired, but that was too complicated to go into right now. She whooped happily, after knocking down more of the robots. "Limitless ammo!" One of the strange things about being a Cyclone, Summer found, was that because her weapons were a part of her, there was actually a feeling of RELEASE, like sneezing or going to the bathroom, that she felt whenever she fired a rocket. It was a physical sensation, and it felt GOOD. She fired some more missiles off, reducing the rest of the S.P.A.R.R.O.W. attack force to piles of scrap metal. "I think we'd best find the others, don't you?" Mike asked. "You got it. Let's move out!" Summer launched into the air, and they rocketed off down the corridor. As Colonel Felder and Dr. Zwarghoff stood there in the control center, Felder remarked, "So, you have your army of S.P.A.R.R.O.W.s now." "Yes..." Dr. Zwarghoff said, watching the mayhem on the security camera monitors. "So I suppose that means you do not need us any more, then..." "Yes, that's right," Zwarghoff said, not really paying all that much attention. "Then if you would sign here, please..." Felder produced a document and a pen. Zwarghoff took it and signed it. "Thank you." Felder tore off a yellow carbon copy form and handed it to Zwarghoff, then dashed out the door, radioing to his remaining men to regroup and meet him at the hangar bay. Unmindful of all this, Zwarghoff continued to watch the monitor. "Go, S.P.A.R.R.O.W.s! Go!!!" Meanwhile, the rest of Team M.E.C.H.A. had run into problems. Namely, the S.P.A.R.R.O.W. robots. Up to now, their only opposition had been from Colonel Felder's soldiers, who really weren't much of a bother to their armor suit. But now, these robots were tracking onto them, and their aim was rather good. "Fall back!" Adam commanded, firing his EP-37 into one of the fifty or so S.P.A.R.R.O.W.s in front of them. "We can't take these guys directly. Through that door!" He pointed to a side door in the hallway, and all four of the Cyclones (Dr. Science had stayed behind aboard the jet) dashed through it. They ran up the other corridor, and were most surprised when lasers blasted through the walls directly beside them. "They're tracking us somehow!" Sarah realized. "Damn!" Adam swore. "All we can do is keep fighting!" As Summer and Mike dashed through the corridors together, the radio crackled suddenly. "Mike, this is Dr. Science. Do you read me?" "This is Mike. I...er...we read you." "Good. I am in the M.E.C.H.A. jet, monitoring the battle. The others are under heavy fire and are pinned down. I believe that you may be able to provide assistance, but I need you to follow my plan." "Where do you want us to go, doc?" Summer asked. "Rendezvous with me at the jet, in the hangar bay. Odd Science out." "You heard the man, Summer--let's go!" They arrived at the hangar bay just in time to see the last of three transport helicoptors taking off. Given the exactitude with which the S.P.A.R.R.O.W.s had been able to lock onto the Cyclones, it had been a simple matter for Dr. Science to conclude that their sensor systems must be specially keyed to the Cyclones' power plant emanations. However, while this enabled the robots to locate their targets, it also provided a significant weakness, which he believed he could exploit. Even now, he was in one of the electronics labs on board the transport jet, hurriedly putting together a device which he believed might do the trick. It was made from components from a Cyclone power plant generator, some assorted spare parts, and a transistor radio someone had thrown away near the Odd Science Convention back in Springfield (he'd saved it, knowing firsthand how remarkably convenient transistor radio parts could be). All that had to be done was to attach it to the base's main generators, or some other significant source of power. It would create emanations specifically keyed to overload the sensory apparatus of those robots alone. They would then be sitting ducks, helpless against Team M.E.C.H.A.'s Cyclone weaponry. Mike dashed into the lab, clad in Cyclone armor. "Ah, there you are, Doctor. Now, what's this you mentioned about a plan?" Dr. Science looked up. "I have this device which should interrupt the S.P.A.R.R.O.W.s' sensory systems--" "The what?" Mike asked. "S.P.A.R.R.O.W.s--those annoying robots whose acronym the author is getting tired of having to type." "Why doesn't he just set a macro?" Summer wondered. "That's probably what he should do, but--" Then Dr. Science did a double-take. "Summer? Where is she?" "Right here, doc." Once more gathering her concentration, the Cyclone armor stepped forward, and there was a sensation of something oozing over Mike's body once again, and the Cyclone armor stood whole in front of him, before shimmering and morphing back into Summer. "Amazing!" Dr. Science gasped. "I had no idea you could--There's DEFINITELY a paper in this!" Then explosions rocked the room, and Dr. Science grabbed for his device before it could go sliding off the table. "What in Author's name was THAT?!" Summer gasped. "I don't know!" Mike stepped to a viewport and raised the shade. "Damn! They've found us!" "Who?" Summer stepped up beside him. "S.P.A.R.R.O.W.s! They're firing on the plane!" It shook again. "Do something!" Summer yelled. "I--uh--right!" Spying a computer console to one side of the lab, Mike dashed over and tapped into the defense computer. "Gun turrets on, and open fire!" Lasers began pulsing out from the microturrets mounted all over the transport jet's hull, finding and frying S.P.A.R.R.O.W. robots. But still more kept coming! "Doc, I don't know if we'll be ABLE to get to the generators to install that thing," Summer said. "Couldn't you use the jet's fusion reactors?" "No...the reason is extremely technical, but that wouldn't be possible." "Law of Plot Convenience, eh?" Summer asked. "Exactly. What could I--ha!" He looked at Summer, and his eyes lit up. "I think YOU could power it!" "Me?!" Summer asked doubtfully. "Yes! You have access to an area of subspace which you use to contain excess mass. It might be possible to tap into the subspatial energies, alter them, and retransmit them through this device! All I need is to alter the wiring slightly. Um...let me see...would either of you happen to have a transistor radio?" "Uh, no," Mike said. "I do have this pocket calculator, though..." "It will have to do. Give me that." Dr. Science put it on the table, smashed it open with a hammer, and removed some components from the pile. Working rapidly, he soldered wires into place. "There. It's ready." He handed it to Summer. "What now?" Summer asked, looking down at it. It was small but somewhat awkward, and heavy, too. "This way! Hurry!" Dr. Science led them to one of the elevators to the outer hull, and they soon stood atop the ship. "Now, Summer, you have to concentrate!" Dr. Science said. "I can't tell you what to think, or even how--" "That's what the educational system is here for," Mike interjected. "--but you have to try to feel the energy of subspace, tap into it...as if you were going to shift form, but instead of making the change, send the energy outward, through your hands. Do you understand me?" "I--think so. Hold on!" Summer felt somewhere deep inside and called upon the strength of her dual nature. She hefted the device above her head. Then, closing her eyes, she tried to do as Dr. Science had instructed. It wasn't easy--it was like trying to see one of those three-d pictures that looks like a whole bunch of squiggly lines until you get the hang of it--but suddenly something clicked inside her, and the energy began to flow freely. "Look!" Dr. Odd Science pointed to the interference generator Summer held above her head. Something was happening--it was lighting up, glowing brighter and brighter, then emitting beams of light all around it! Mike gasped, shielding his eyes. Grabbing a remote control unit off his belt, he cued up a song on the external jet sound system. As the beams of light scintillated throughout the entire room, the opening strains of Stan Bush's "You Got the Touch" (from the Transformers: The Movie soundtrack) were heard. The robots slowed their attack, then ceased entirely, becoming easy prey for the M.E.C.H.A. jet's laser turrets. "Did I do that?" Summer asked, lowering the device and ceasing the energy flow. "Awesome!" "Do you realize what she just did?" Mike gasped. "She blinded them--with Science!" There was a dramatic moment of silence, then: "So THAT'S where the title for this miniseries comes from!" Summer said. "It's not over yet," Dr. Science reminded them. "The rest of the team is still pinned down. It's up to you to save them." Summer nodded. "Right." Shimmering, she changed to her Battler Cyclone power armor form, still holding the device above her head. Then the panels on her chest, which Kevin Siembieda had incorrectly called missile launcher covers but were really sensor arrays, flipped open, allowing her to place the device within. "There," she said, closing them. "I can power it more directly that way. Now, let's go!" "Right." Mike nodded. "I'm going to get a Cyclone from mecha storage--" "No time for that!" Once again concentrating, Summer grabbed Mike by the shoulders and drew him toward her. He passed right through her chest, which then solidified in front of him, and he was inside her Cyclone armor form once more. "Summer, I don't think that--" "Shut up and let's go!" Summer jumped off the transport jet, and rocketed toward one of the corridors. "Amazing!" Dr. Science breathed. The four Cyclone warriors fired back at the oncoming hordes of robots. Everyone was just about out of energy and ammo. Things looked grim. The S.P.A.R.R.O.W.s surged forward... Then a Cyclone-suited figure blasted through the wall, accompanied by Stan Bush's "Dare" from its external speakers. "You guys suck. Die!!!" It reached down to its chest and panels flipped open. A brilliantly scintillating beam of light swept out, playing over the robots and freezing them in their tracks. "Huh?!" Adam gasped. "Don't just stand there, SHOOT THEM!" Summer yelled, setting an example by firing off all four arm-mounted minimissiles. It didn't take much more encouragement on her part before the remaining S.P.A.R.R.O.W.s were smoking piles of rubble. "No! NO!!! My creations--destroyed! Ruined!" Zwarghoff cried, pounding his fists on the control panel. "It cannot be!!!" "It IS!" a voice called out from the door. Zwarghoff turned to see all of Team M.E.C.H.A. standing there, weapons primed and ready. "And I think you know what happens next," the voice, Mike's, continued. "No! Felder! FELDER!!! Where are you?!!!" Zwarghoff looked around wildly for some avenue of escape. "Felder's taken a powder, I'm afraid," Adam Douglas said coolly. "Perhaps that yellow piece of paper on the floor there might have something to do with it?" "What?! Impossible! He's still under contract!" But Zwarghoff DID seem to recall SOMETHING...He bent down to pick up the sheet of paper. "'Release from contract form,'" he read aloud. "'I, Dr. Sebastian Zwarghoff, do hereby release Colonel Felder from all contractual obligations,' etc., etc., signed...Dr. Zwarghoff!?" Zwarghoff wadded the paper up and threw it angrily to the floor, vehemently swearing revenge. "Come on, Doc," Adam said. "Let's us escort you down to a nice, comfy cell in our detention block. We'll even be kind enough not to gloat about defeating you. Well, not TOO much, anyway..." "You guys go on," Mike said. "I'm going to notify the authorities and arrange for his transfer to the RRHtGOoP." "Right. Be right back." Adam and the others trooped out of the control room, Dr. Zwarghoff marching in the middle. Once they were gone, Summer and Mike separated, and Summer resumed her human appearance. "How do you DO that?" Mike wondered. "It's easy enough, with practice," Summer replied, sitting down. "So, what do we do now?" "Transfer the good doctor back to prison and get on with our lives," Mike replied. "Wait for a call from Spectrum, or anybody else, and maybe get in touch with some other superhero teams, like the Adjusted League Unimpeachable or something. The usual stuff, you know." Summer sighed tiredly. "Whew. I'm just glad it's over." Mike looked around the control room at all the holes that had been burned in the wall, and at the ventilation grille that lay bent on the floor. "Yeah, me too. Though I don't think the repair droids are going to share your sentiment." "I wonder what the future holds," Summer mused. "What will I find out about myself? I know that I have some astonishing powers, but I just feel like I've barely touched the surface of them." "If that's just the surface, then it's going to be amazing when you get to the depths," Mike remarked. "I wonder if I should come up with some kind of superheroinish name..." Summer remarked. "How about 'Terminatrix?'" Mike suggested. Summer whapped him with a seat cushion. "Anyway, I might as well see to the retrieval and salvage of my Bahamode," Mike decided, punching keys. "And make sure that every S.P.A.R.R.O.W. is dismantled." "You get the feeling the author is drawing this episode out as long as he possibly can?" Summer wondered. "Yeah...I get that feeling." Mike punched some keys. "This is very anticlimactic, y'know. Let's end it now." All right. But he wants to add an epilogue. Okay with you guys? "Oh, I guess," Summer said, rolling her eyes and looking bored. "Go for it," said Mike. EPILOGUE (By Kind Permission of Mike and Summer) So, the authorities shortly arrived to take Dr. Zwarghoff back to the Really-Really-Hard-to-Get-Out-of Place, and repairs commenced to Bahamode and base. Dr. Odd Science analyzed the S.P.A.R.R.O.W. sensor systems and instituted a minor change to the power plants of all the mecha on the base, rendering the sensors useless and actually increasing the plant efficiency by some 4%. Mike and Summer finally got around to checking the comm terminal and noticed some messages waiting for them. Included was one from CalForce which prompted Mike to remark, "Hel-LOOO, Nurse!" and Summer to add, "Boys. Go fig," and also one from JOEL, the AI for the Adjusted League Unimpeachable, that said hi, nice to meet you, and stuff like that. The voice was so laid-back that it was kind of hard to tell exactly what he'd said after he'd said it. "Hey, ALU is the team with the Xolchaportation system!" Summer (the resident superhero expert) said. "You mean that thing that sounds like the buzzsaws cutting into bells and stuff?" Mike asked. "Yeah! And also Spandex Babe, and the Dash, and Unorthadox Lass--" "I thought it was Girl," Mike said. "It is," Summer said. "But you just said it was Lass." "It is," Summer said, keeping a straight face. Mike gave up. "Whatever. Okay, now that all that business with Akane is out of the way, why don't we get in touch and set up a meeting? Have our author call their author and all that." "Sounds good to me," Summer said. Ray Sterling lounged around the base repairing his Alpha, examining the technology of Team M.E.C.H.A., and waiting for his current author to get back from Christmas break and contact his regular author to see what happened to him next. Dr. Science shut himself in his lab, taking new readings from Summer every so often and trying to find out exactly what had happened to her. Life went on. And so another miniseries draws to a close. Team M.E.C.H.A. has survived another catastrophe, and Dr. Zwarghoff is back in prison. Colonel Felder is free from his contractual obligations, and plans to stay that way for a while. All is Right With the World. But it can only remain that way for a short time, can't it? Just until the NEXT Team M.E.C.H.A. WHEW! NOW THAT WE HAVE *THAT* OUT OF THE WAY, WHAT NEXT? WILL DR. ZWARGHOFF REMAIN IN THE RRHTGOOP FOR VERY LONG? WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THAT ZOOMER RAT? WILL SUMMER EVER DISCOVER THE TRUE EXTENT OF HER POWERS? WILL TEAM M.E.C.H.A. COME UP AGAINST THE MIGHTY MUDDY POWER GRANGERS? WHO WILL WIN IF THEY DO? (OH, DUH, LIKE THERE'S ANY CONTEST...) WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE, THE UNIVERSE, AND EVERYTHING? "Uh, 42?" GEE, THANKS. ANYWAY, JUST KEEP WATCHING THE SKIES, CIRCULATING THE TAPES, SCANNING THE WEEKLY WORLD SCHMOOZE, AND READING ! ! ! S * U * P * E * R * G * U * Y ! ! ! -- Chris Meadows | SUPERGUY TRIVIA: Who was the first to defeat CHM173S@NIC.SMSU.EDU | the Awesome Force? Hint...it was a supergroup, CMEADOWS@NYX.CS.DU.EDU | sort of... CMEADOWS@NOX.CS.DU.EDU | ROBOTECH@SKYNET.DIALUP.ACCESS.NET ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 20 Sep 1994 22:53:00 Reply-To: UCF SUPERGUY List Sender: UCF SUPERGUY List From: Robotech_Master Subject: Coming Soon...Team M.E.C.H.A. TEB #4: Bob City MegaCrossover! Team M.E.C.H.A. goes to Bob City to help Spectrum and Space Moose battle the evil Mighty Muddy Power Grangers, and Bob City will never be the same! (At least, not until Intercontinental Salvage gets finished with it...) Coming soon (as I get permission from the other Authors to include their contributions in this TEB)!!!