Charles Duncan presents:
ANOTHER INCORPORATEDS STORY
    Makes you think
        Makes you laugh
            Makes You sick.
                Hopes it makes you do at least two out of three
                    Or I ain't done my job as a writer.

E-Mail: Arden   on Voyager, Doom & Acid-Pit BBS's
More stories coming: Send $5 to support my fine work, or buy the rights to
produce cartoons and toys (Nothing but Kennedy cartoons to do the Anime, though)
for a mere $1,000,000. Either way, you'll have my gratitude.

Charles Duncan, 74 Sunburst, Brownsville, TX 78520

Episodes 11 & 12

Dusk Hunters Unplugged, Part 1

A Dramedy
A Drama about the exploitation of innocent animals
    AND a comedy about those caught up in it
        concerning those who catch them
            And those who stop them
                And if your parents won't let you read this,
                    They've been living with closed minds for far too long
                        And I hope you don't end up living with one, too.
                            Celebrate Diversity!
                                (And celebrating Animal rights don't hurt, too!)

Written By Charles Duncan

Prologue:Vacations.

Most people, when they go on vacation, always seem to make new friends in the
world they visit. They bring back memories and souvenirs, too, and have a good
time. But rarely do most of the businesses or fate decree they actually work
while making friends and memories and souvenirs. At least, those not involved in
traipsing independently of any army into enemy territory to help haul in those
stupid or misguided enough to be an enemy instead of a friend. But with the
cargo-transport financed Incorporateds, vacations rarely were fun even though
they were intended to be as far from the violence and action they had to go
through to be sucessful.
Speedster himself was not entirely free from the fated work he seemed to keep
being thrown into, starting on this one particular vacation he started out
having at the Megacommisary, the biggest evolutionary descendant of a mall.
Having Ann close by on this one wasn't making this any easier despite the
martial artistry skills force-fed to her earlier in the standard year.
It was a good day to shop there at the commisary, but Speedster, having to
readjust to the pre-programmed daytime on the station, mostly slept through most
of the day, trying to rest and not to have his constant and growing dreams of
Law Render affect his sleep.
In the next room, Ann was busy communing on the hotel room's Ethinet terminal
contacting her mom and reassuring her Ann would be alright not just yet
returning home since nothing on either the diplomatic or SCE fronts was
happening that day. At least as far as she knew.
But once Ann got off line from her mom, she began to scan the Commisary's floor
plans for someplace for Speedster and Ann to try to go near without causing too
much of a autograph-seeking scene with those actually sensing the Incorporateds
were popular. There were at least a hundred (from which two actually enamated
sports coverage networks) of the restaurants but only ten or so were far from
the vaulted space windows looking out on the miniscopic horizon the asteroid
had. Hopefully, Ann's and Speedster's attempts to have a meal incognito (harder
by the fact both never went out in skin-tight faceless bodysuits in their jobs)
would be satisfied by this quaint little Caffatreean place which sold Terran
foods for those who's ancestors were lifted to Cafatree because the doctors of
the time mistook them for being dead when they were merely comatose.
Speedster awoke pleasantly for a change, wearing nothing but swim trunks to bed
and it was obvious he was a poodle, his hairy chest and arms were a dead
giveaway. He was feeling a lot better now the events that brought Ann fully into
the Incorporateds fold were becoming more and more history nowadays. His
stomach, however, was not so pleasant due to Speedster's high-speed metabolism
that required him to eat double the food of mortal evolved primates. So he asked
Ann where they could consider eating this very day.
"Chichen Itza?", Speedster was amazed.
"Yes, Chichen Itza. Why, afraid to eat Mayan these days? Too spicy, Speedster?"
"No, just suprised it was open this far off from Catica. I thought those places
were only on Catica."
"Well, even out in the boondocks beyond my homeworld they franchise here. Why
else would they call this a Megacommisary?"
"Because 'Megapolitan-mall' was already overused to death?", Speedster said.
"Anyway, If you wish to invite me to go, I will gladly go. Just don't ask me to
eat anything with the Tabasco-deviant Phoenix Sauce on it. I have been Reptilian
but I'm not too crazy to be a fire-breathing Dragon just yet."
"Sounds good. I'll tell them to expect us at about 7 tonight." And she went to
the home page and made the reservations and payment maximum levels known, but
didn't leave the Ethinet's local server system just yet.
"Um... Ann?", said Speedster as he dressed in a new Catican Style that had just
come out just as Halifax, now seeing a old love at the time and also seeing the
world end around him, had gotten used to the NEW style he'd been presented with
just as he'd awoke into the new era Speedster and his friends lived in. Ann, of
course, was dressed in a Caffatree/Andean-inspired clothing style with a
moderately sized sombrero that was the height of fashion among Catican's
middle-class. And for quite a while after she made the reservations, She was
still on the net.
"Um, Ann, I believe if we are to make it to the restaurant for some good buffet
food, We ought to leave now. It's already FIVE O' Clock."
"Just taking a look for where the darn place is.", Ann said as she began to sift
through HTML (Hyper-Text Meta-Linked for you people still stuck in the 70's
lingua of computers) after HTML spread out on the very fabric UNDER the fabric
of reality itself. And sounding more and more annoyed through all this.
Speedster was busy putting his regular earth T-shirt and Swim-trunk stuff under
lock and key in the drawer to keep any SCE's sneaking through the security of
the Megacommisary from swiping them and giving Cornball should he ever come back
one less opportunity to have a dozen clones of Speedster made to get in
Speedster's way. This sounded corny, but since Speedster knew just how obsessed
with Corniness Cornball was when he wasn't obsessed with killing and mayhem, he
didn't want to take any chances.
Ann was still on the net.
"Um, Ann....Is there a problem with the reservations...."
"NO.", Ann said. "In fact, I lost my appetite."
"Is there any reason why? Most of this Ethinet stuff sent through these servers
seems pre-censored. That's DISGUSTING and slightly dishonest that the true
feelings and intentions of those on the Net never get heard."
"No, it's not that. I went to see the Blueprints of this place to find the
locaton of the restauraunt and found underneath that a flea-market. And
underneath THAT, some sort of rare goods stuff the maintainer of the homepage's
warned cops and police to GO NEAR and look into. Mostly stuff smuggled in and
run by outside interests broken up by Justiceers every vacation."
"Nuts". Speedster said. "Um, what kind of Vile Market stuff is there, anyway?",
said Speedster, almost going to the toilet to retrive the de-clogging device and
light it up.... after buying it from the hotel as a souvenir on the Net, of
course. Speedster liked getting souvenirs from hotels, but was too stupid to
think taking towels was a good thing. Speedster was just too moral to do that
sort of thing when the Hotels in the Megacommisary were willing to sell the very
towels used by its guests to keep costs of rooms lower than overly profitable.
"Would you like me to just say what's the most VILE thing I've found there?"
"Not really."
"Someone has been selling female bodycoats down there made of ANIMAL PELTS!",
Ann said annoyedly.
Speedster's mouth dropped. "They still sell coats in this day and era?",
Speedster whispered.
"Yes, sadly, people are selling coats down there of poor, innocent
undomesticated primate animals not killed for their meat content but for
their skins when people REALIZE fabric doesn't have to be made of some
animal's misery anymore. I don't believe a place like that has been ignored
by the cops like that for so long."
"Must be the Frontier's Flimsiest out there looking the other way. Don't people
who sell these things realize that these animals have some rights to not be
mishandled by people who know better?"
"Not all people. Apparently someone in this place don't realize just how the
exploitation of animals unnecessarily is a out-of-date thing. But they will."
"Um, Ann, you have that look in your eyes."
Ann stormed out of the room after shutting the monitor down.
Speedster turned it on, quickly purchased the plunger-esque THING in his hand,
and rushed off after Ann.
"Um, Ann, does this mean we aren't eating tonight after ALL?"

The monitor shut down automatically when noone else was using the monitor, just
like the sun set on a distant world inbetween the SCE and Frontier influences.
Every time it was turned on and ROSE. But this sun had, when it passed by a
unnamed mountain range on the way to pass over a brief plain to set on yet
another more mysterious bunch of mountains, to shine light on something rather
incongruous and anarchistic and evil it shouldn't have, even at the cost of
disobedience of solar-system level physics. A single, british manor was at
the edge of the plains and the mountain range not so high or mysterious. And on
a world where no setinents ever settled ON THE SURFACE, this would have been
incongruous alone already if it were not for the SCE vulture ship parked in the
cobblestone driveway and the SCE local chopcopter parked on its roof,
gratelessly light enough not to crush the manor from its vantage point.
A strange sight to see, but the mentality of the manor's
owners demanded things to be this way. They were trained in British things and
being as far from britain one could get away from in 27,000 light-years of
travel didn't mean the evil owners had to "rough it" in their most heinous
enterprise. Especially considering how REALLY hideous their craft was when they
realized just what they were REALLY going after, you would come to be disgusted
at what they did to keep that manor THERE and in REPAIR....

CHapter 1: Speedster and Ann are outraged at the fur industry run secretly by
the SCE and bust up an operation at the Megacommisary's darker trading levels.

"Um, Ann, don't you think it is a little wierd we take a vacation only to do
work? Isn't the point of a vacation to not DO WORK?", Speedster said as he
walked down with Ann to the sub-level of cheesy stalls and stores. "After all,
too much work and no play and an interrupted dinner can make one upset and
unnerved and...."
"Quiet", Ann said. "We have to do something the cops seem to be bribed to not
do. I can't see why animals must suffer for the creation of clothing in this era
of fabric synthesis. They don't even live to see their lives end naturally or by
others who need to eat to survive. It's just cruel."
"And this can't wait until after dinner, Ann?"
"No.", Ann said. "Not hardly. Dinner can wait until we get evidence of their
selling illegal furs. Mostly nametags and reciepts."
"And I suppose the furs themselves being examined for being organic."
"Sounds like a plan.", Ann said as a few people also selling other illegal goods
packed and began to leave. Noone wanted to mess with her in the mood she was in.
At last, the store presented itself as 'Furrlies stuff' and in the window were
gazelle skins worn by solid white mannequins, moving a little too freely to be
considered automatons. Speedster was busy looking for its owners who weren't to
be seen around in the shop and opened the door after staring from within for a
couple of minutes.
"Um, is anyone here?", Speedster said as he saw from outside Ann removing from
her fannypak a spray can, colored red. He notioned to Ann to forget spraying the
furs to represent the terror the animals went through to become clothing as he
saw the coats on a few racks in the front... and many more in the back.
Nobody was answering him, though, save mumbling from the back. So Speedster had
to look around the cashier's counter to check for people hiding there and there
was none. None at all. Then he heard something turn behind him and Speedster
looked back at the window as the two Mannequins seemed almost ready to pick up a
club also in the display window as Ann stood guard outside. And then resumed
their random posing.
Speedster then walked through the aisles of clothes to smell for the things that
made animals unsynthetic like remnants of B.O. And kept looking back at the
Mannequins who seemed to disappear. And heard a little more mumbling from the
back room where the new stuff was supposed to be. Speedster wasn't really
feeling well being here, he was starting to worry about this place because it
was creeping him out. Not as bad as a certain pug had bugged him, but it was bad
enough.
Speedster then saw by a glass mirror two mannequins identical to the ones in the
Window, too identical and these had a club, too. And there was no club now in
the window and Ann was looking in to see the mannequins there gone. Speedster
was getting suspicious of the two and got to the very back of the store's
display area, seeing a bunch of disks thrown about into a trash can. Most of
them with the words "Macaqa el fuego" and "Marmosetalade" written on them, in
Terran of all things.
Apparently not having the cops be here made these people who ran the place a
little careless as not only was some evidence in plain sight, not only could
Speedster smell the decayed animal skin, but also the place was not even cleaned
regularly for dust as he tracked some. And saw two more mannequins right behind
him jerking around randomly as if they were not supposed to go anyway. But in
the concrete floor behind them Speedster could see footprints. And Ann was
coming in to the stoor sneaking behind the mannequins.
Speedster went and began using his near-acetate plunger to sort through the
garbage pail. And he could almost hear a club sent down to brain him but
unfortunately, Ann got to the 'mannequins' first. For the Mannequins.
Speedster's mouth dropped as he saw both of the mannequins, jerking around, and
seized by the shoulders by Ann in a strong grip. "Um, Ann, Is it my imagination
or did those Mannequins pursue me when I got too curious?"
"It isn't your imagination," Ann said, "And these aren't what you call
Mannequins. Not the stuff humans make to display clothes out of plastic or wood
like they do on earth, anyway."
"But then what are they made of?", Speedster said a little curious.
Ann grabbed behind the heads of the 'mannequins' and Speedster could clearly
hear a zipper being pulled down.
"Oh, Nuts", Speedster said as the micro-porous plastic that covered the
mannequins totally was pulled from their heads. "They're NOT Robots."
And Speedster still heard the muffled mumblings from the back room. Perhaps it
was time to call the cops.

When the Justiceers came walking into the store, they found a lot of evidence,
four human beings (two held still and wearing all-concealing bodysuits not quite
concealing their purple-haired heads, two grateful from being freed from not
only captivity but from a demeaning job wearing things they found vile) and
Speedster and Ann doing the holding of the illegal shops.
"About time you came, friends", Speedster said. "I otherwise don't have the
authority to make citizen's arrests."
The Justiceer that led them all saw this and made the conclusion that shocked
nobody.
"Oh, good Lamar, you got them!", the Justiceer said excitedly.
"Got who?", Ann said.
"Those are the most notorious, sneaky Illegal Fur sellers in the UNIVERSE you
have! How come they ended up here? They've been accessories to the extinction of
too many primate animal species to COUNT!", said the Justiceer. "Alright, you
justice-seekers, If you ain't going in here and reading these red-handed
hooligan's rights in 10 seconds, I'll seize your doughnut rights for all time!",
the Justiceer yelled outside as Dogelian cops swarmed the place.
Ann was rather relieved to let the two humans go.
"Today even nature thanks you, too!", said the Justiceer. "And Hausdogg said I'd
get nobody running illegal activity here on the Megacommisary on my vacation.
Anything else these two done?"
"Assault and Battery, Attempted", Ann said. "They attempted to assault my friend
Speedster here and they also posed as their employees in an attempt to throw us
off. It was the Ethinet home pages that tipped us off here, though I don't know
exactly who could have known about this, I'm glad this part of the illegal fur
trade is over."
"And you self-defended yourselves, hmmm? Sounds good to me, you Incorporateds.
I'm glad your friend Wilson decided to get your new group helpful to us cops. We
can't cure all of society's ills without some civilian help now and then."
"Just get them out of here.", Speedster said. "And see to it their employees
testify well against these traders. I'm shocked, however. Why would anyone wear
identity-concealing bodysuits to sell clothes in Catican Society?", Speedster
then said to the cop who oversaw the arrest.
"Sounds like tradition", said the cop as a new disturbance erupted from the
crowds of cops bringing in boxes to cart the illicit goods off.
It was not a very pleasant thing to see, especially for Speedster.
It was the Commander.

"You're late to make any arrests, you Moron", said Speedster as the Commander
simply walked in to the shop like he owned it. "And don't even think of
arresting US. It's the purple-haired human's fault."
"Shut up. I wish to get my own evidence. I heard of this and rushed over."
"What, to actually dispense some JUSTICE?", Ann said incredulously.
"No, to take advantage of this place's going out of business sale.", said the
Commander. "Beat your brains in lately, you idiot cops?"
"If we ever leave your darned Frontier, you're going to find yourself in
pursuit, you MORON", said the arresting officer as the Commander pushed him
aside. "You may have to be above the law to go after the SCE by law, but we're
getting close to jumping on you but hard for your misuse of your power! And if
you don't stop taking evidence for yourself, you'll be shot even if our weapons
would be ineffective against you. Out of SPITE!"
"Evidence?", said the Commander. "Ha, I'm SHOPPING for the wife I plan to have
by next YEAR!"
It was a pretty tense moment as Ann, the Cops, and Speedster kept eyes on the
Commander, wishing him to leave without him punching a hole in the mall's hull
and sucking all to the vacumn of space.

Chapter 2: Commander visits justice-happening scene and warns Speedster to stay
out of this and not bring back anything from world to contaminate his butt with
horn stabbers  but ignored.

"Oh, look at all this good, warm, DEAD ANIMAL STUFF!", said the Commander. "Bet
a judge... um... my future WIFE will like this stuff."
"You plan on having a WIFE?", Ann said. "You forget having ME, you piece of..."
"Oh, shut up", the Commander said as he looked through the aisles, with two
cops carrying off the data diskettes barely sneaking past his powerful armor
with their lives. "Hmmm... Interesting. I know where these furs come from! This
is quality Britanean Gazelle. Those Hunters got some good stuff for me this
time", the Commander said as he began stuffing things from the shelves under
his armored arms. "I got to hand it to the Hunters. They know quality."
"And I suppose they know animal MISERY", Ann said as the cops began to aim their
weapons to shoot the Commander in the back, but Speedster told them to let them
go... Speedster could handle that idiot LATER.
"Yes, they do. Cage the beasts and cut the horns off for trophies and stitch the
skins into coats. And on the world they call Britanean because the SCE owns that
world. Sad, though, this travesty will continue. You know because I DON'T want
you going near that world", said Commander Dranwell as he dropped the furs
and stuffed them in the ample space between the Darqarmor's collar
and his neck's skin, while the cops got more AND MORE annoyed that the Commander
was trying to disrupt their arrest. This was just one of the things making it
more likely the Dogelians would seperate from the Frontier one fine day....
"You crazy, ABUSIVE, STUPID idiot...", Speedster said.... "Of course WE are
going. We can't let this needless abuse of nature continue."
"But I must warn you, dog, and yes, my rebuilt armor is less capable of being
torn apart by your SPEED, I do not want you to interrupt my supply of furs to my
personal VAULTS of furs. You go there and remove the hunters and keep these furs
on the animals and the animals alive, I'll go after your ship and kill
everything. Got it?"
"NO", Ann said. "I personally do not. Just leave or I'll tell my mom where you
got all those illegal goods from and she'll have you out of your office FAST."
"You that foolish to die", the Commander said as he left the shop and walked
out. The cops then shooting at the back of the Commander out in the hall,
causing some of the other stallowners to surrender their ill-gotten goods. But
nothing seemed to bother the Commander with his Darqarmor on as he left,
laughing like a moron.
"He is going to get his comeuppance", Ann swore. "Someday, he'll be sorry he's
ever messed with either you cops or the Incorporateds."
The justiceer agreed. "Let's see him try to fly over next time over our
continent without being shot down."
"Don't be that mean. Just wing that dictatorial, almost godlike cuss. ", said
Ann. "You'd be doing us a favor for having those Commanders try to rule the
world."
"So, you plan to go after the dealers", said the main Justiceer there, "despite
what that Commander buffoon has said? You ARE brave."
"We kinda became that way. Nothing else matters when either Justice or Nature
are abused.", said Ann. "Anyhow, I personally am leaving this night with
Speedster here to go get the evidence of these Hunter's foul activities then
subdue them and let you guys handle the rest, as usual."
"Good Idea, Incorporateds. By the way, have any of you heard how Hausdogg's
vacation on Summerien is going? We lost contact with them a day ago."
"Must have fallen in love or something", Speedster cryptically said.
"Oh, nuts", said the head cop. "Excuse us, but we'd better go after our new
bosses once we clean this place out of illegal activity. You'll keep in
touch?"
"We get the evidence and the perpetrators, you'll hear", Ann said as she walked
off. "Thanks for coming on such short notice, I wish that Commander HADN'T...."
"I know", the cop said, with frustration on his brow. Apparently the Caticans
weren't alone in hating their oppressive leader of their armies.
Ann walked out of there to the lift that the Commander just got on.
"Um, Ann, aren't we going to dinner just now...", Speedster said worriedly.
Ann was too busy punching the exposed part of the Commander, still on the lift,
in his only vulnerable spot... the head.... to respond. As hard as it was
metaphorically. "Well, maybe we'll eat something on the way there", Speedster
said as he began to prove the Commander wrong once more about his claims of
his armor's speed-Invulnerability.

Surrounded by Dogelians laughing their heads off, the
only-clothed-in-his-trunks-Commander, holding a pile of broken metal, left
without dignity but vowing to carry out his threat to destroy all of those
denying him his need for illegal furs. Ann, to cheers from the crowd very
briefly interrupting the laughing cops, threw the metal shorts part of the armor
at the aching head of the Commander in an act of defiance. The Commander was not
planning on remembering this day of intrusion on Justice with pleasantness and
with his stolen furs home with them, all of them being taken to the evidence
boxes with the rest of the stuff from that fur shop.
Of course, the two humans who sold the furs didn't cheer for their biggest buyer
being humiliated if not actually seized out of protest. Small confort to the
Commander, who vowed less to the Incorporateds if they actually took those SCE
hunter friends of his on.....

The Hunters were in their trophy room with their collections of their conquests,
on their world. It was bizarre enough to see this manor here, but to see the
SCE's with their own unique language acting... well, like this...
"Damn bloody mess today, Lord Riverswell", said one of the old sangurians in the
room, clearly drinking tea when the clock was set to 4:00 Terran time.
"Yes, I heard. That was a bloody bad thing to happen to our wholesaler. Sloppy
job those people got into, thinking leaving it that way would allow them to
sneak up on investigators and brain them senseless."
"I mean our BUYER, Lord Riverswell. Embarrasing that Catican and that Yankee dog
messing his fine EVIL armor up like that. I had to shut his CBR Ethatelly signal
off to save my ears."
"Well, no bloody mess for us, we are set. I hope this hunt will fill our
coffers good enough to impress the Emperor and keep us from actually demanding
the INCORPORATEDS do something about our bloody enterprise."
"Yes, it will be. What do those gazelle animals have against our guns and
Tormented Techno-hounds and Air Carriages? We are the main BEASTS here."
"Yes, indeed. Our dusktime hunt will begin soon. You wish to call the trumpet
this time for the hunting to commence?"
"I shall play a most bountiful tune to ensure the hounds suceed, Lord
Riverswell."
"Vulture save the Emperor, Lord Damburste."
Hopefully, something would prefer to save the gazelles, with many of their
antlers sticking out of the walls to past triumphs...

Chapter 3: Speedster travels to world where Hunters work as he diverts group so
Ann can free the running, streaking Gazelles. They land in a chartered skycraft.

"I still think we should have cancelled", Speedster said. "It's unlikely we will
be able to come back after we left those restauraunt guys waiting for noone.
After all, those fast food places are almost impossible to book nowadays as far
in advance as you have."
"What they don't actually have to prepare food for when paid for a dinner, it
probably will profit them more. I'm more of a burger lady myself."
"Hmmmph. This had better be worth renting this skycraft out on such short
notice. The peanut butter this ships' food constituter wasn't bad, though. I
just hope that Commander tries to go after us. He needs humiliation as the only
way he'll ever realize his insensitivity isn't making people very fond of him."
"We save a species from needless torture and extinction, this will be worth it."
"I can't imagine why the cops were hesitant to put away this Commander.
Especially since I seem capable of taking the armor apart so they can get to
Them."
"Give them time. Going after the commander might mean their whole country'd have
to drop membership and the frontier and with both the Frontier and the SCE
hating them for the Justiceer's ways, it'd be hard to find allies to protect
them from a 2 on 1 fight."
"I could find a lot of allies who'd side with the Dogelians. Believe me, It
wouldn't be hard for me. I have my ways and reasons."
"I hope you do", Ann said as she saw the planet come up close. "Let's stop this
hunting madness once and for all."

At the world's dusk, where light made it hard to get particular details, the
hunters set out the robo-dogs to their hunt. From careful observation,
Riverswell had noted the Gazelles had come out at this time of night to frolic,
emerging out of the ground like rabbits. It may have been too dark to really
see what they looked like, but since most of the processes AFTER their capture
were automated, the sangurians-turned-englishmandrills didn't need to care. Or
so they thought, when later that week came and hit them hard.
They got out their nets and stun dart guns in their misappropriated 2-man
chopcopter flying just a story above the crowds. The dogs were whistled to
gather the heards for capture and takeback to the manor for eventual shearing to
the muscle of the valued beasts, so they could grow it back eventually if doing
that horrid thing didn't kill them somehow. They had been just shooting the
beasts outright but with this idea Obs gave to the emperor (along with the ones
that somehow dealing in drugs was something too evil for even the Emperor to
pursue) they had to consider making these beasts a replenishable resource. But
that was still a horrid thing to do to remove skin from something for trophies.
Underneath the barking of the hounds, the creatures were being chased into the
boxed end of this local canyon and the netting began. However, this process was
being watched by someone this time. Two someones, in fact.

At the top of the canyon wall, the shadowy figures watched the shadowy figures
below. Looking over the cliff wall was something Speedster was not very likely
to think about much in his life save falling. But Ann wasn't perturbed.
"That is the most insentinent, animalistic thing I've ever seen. Who would think
of torturing animals this way?", said Ann quietly.
"I would NOT. Not after what the Commander put me through. These idiots are
going to be extricated from this place."
"Well, those Sangurians below are thinking so. I know most Sangurians are
basically misguided, but these seem to be the evil variety in this activity."
"Well, who's going down there first to retrieve the primate gazelles below?"
"We could both go down there and free them.", said Speedster as the last of the
beasts ran off when the chopcopter was filled.
"And you provide the distraction while I go and let them out of their cages?"
"Well, I'm not chilvarous at this time of night. Of course. But you take care.
No doubt what defenses those.... oh, cow..."
"What is it?"
"Those in the chopcopter", Speedster said as the copter lifted off the ground.
"They seem Sangurian and... British, too!"
"Just keep quiet so they don't come up here", Ann said as the chopcopter flew
off to the now invisible-by-darkness horizon. The robot dogs left, too, barking
all the way.

"British. They're british. Of all the alien ways those SCE's could have acted
like other than good and kind, they have to act like BRITISH LORDS!", Speedster
muttered.
"Take it easy. We don't want an avalanche HERE", Ann said.
"It's just not making sense", Speedster said. "None at all. But then, Cornball
acts like a psycho 50's toon villian and Law Rend can act like he's a mad
scientist. Of course, it would after ALL."
"The universe isn't always sane", Ann muttered. "But we are put here to make it
so somehow. Let's go back to the ship, pinpoint their location and let those
animals be free once more." Ann then made the motion the ship would detect as
the way-out signal as it watched them from afar with her hands and a Celluar
phone, this one emmitting not Cancer- but Hair-stimulating waves of energy,
something a lot nicer and going to the hair salon certainly was cheaper than to
the hospital... but not much THOSE days.
"Yeah", said Speedster. "If I was so sure those Gazelles were animals."
The two megaported away from that cliff, which crumbled from underneath them in
the darkness just as they materialized on the ship.

Chapter 4: While Speedster escapes, Ann encounters a Gazelle and frees it only to
dash off before Ann can get a good look.

"What a bunch of bloody idiotic beasts to fall so easily into our trap", said
Riverswell, "as usual. Perhaps it is their fate to give themselves to us to
capture. After all, what possible proof in the dark do we have to confirm these
beasts as anything but?"
"Yes, indeed. These machines for shearing skin off do their work in total
darkness so we can get our rest after our hard day's work. And we have skins of
animals processed already and tanned for a new market we'll connive in the
morrow."
"I hope the humans we entrusted to sell the last batch still consider a life of
crime after those aborigional Yankee Dogs stop incarcerating them. Though they
may be old before that happens."
Standing in front of their chopcopter, the robot dogs began shoving the
creatures in the darkness, lit like shadows in the dim light. Some of them could
almost seem to be grabbing for something, but nothing conclusive filtered
through the Sangurians' minds that they were doing something really sick.
Then something jumped on top of the chute where the gazelles were being herded
through in the dark. The only thing giving illumination in the darkened area
behind the manor.
"It's YOU who will be OLD before YOU get out!", said Speedster as he'd just
materialized there not too long ago.
"Oh, look. A bloody Yankee dog. Just what we ordered. LEAVE OUR OPERATION
ALONE!", said Riverswell as he barely recognized the being standing on the
semitransparent chute.
"I come from TEJAS, not New Yankee State. Get it right, you brain-damaged
fools! Exploiting everything you touch, aren't you?"
"If it makes money. Get off before we tranquilize you to COMATOSITY, you bloody
fool."
"Go ahead and shoot. It's your INCARCERATION!", said Speedster as he jumped off
and dashed away.
For a minute the two shot all their tranquilizer darts into an empty space as
Speedster stood right behind them, rubbed his knuckles on his lit plunger,
blowed on the knuckles and waited patiently while they kept shooting.
They both turned around and growled as they saw Speedster beneath them.
"Miss me a LOT, don't you?", Speedster said.
Both of them jumped on where Speedster was, as he ran off to the darkness.
"The bloody fool!", Riverswill said as he realized he was insulted at this
impudence. "We shall pursue him now! His fur must be worth whatever it takes to
stop him from stopping US!"
"Bloody good idea. Robot Dogs, come help us pursue", Damburst said as they began
running, joined quickly by their mechanical helpers.

Meanwhile, in the back of the pen, Ann was sneaking about in the darkness,
looking for a opening that she felt there had to be. And there was.
But somehow, in the darkness, she saw all those eyes glowing in the darkness
looking back at her, as if they were looking into her soul.
She stood there for a while and saw something in them she saw in herself for a
moment, but it passed. "Couldn't be", she thought.
Then she slid the door latches open one by one.
"I hope you poor animals know you're now free. I wish you could realize what
trouble you fell in and who saved you."
She then came away from the door as the gazelles pushed it aside, all jumping
out in a rush. Like madness had seized them, they ran off in a single direction
herd-like and determined. As Ann watched them go, one was left within, patiently
waiting and still staring.
"Well? Aren't you going? You're free now, you know", said Ann to the final
gazelle within.
Still, the remaining gazelle waited patiently. Staring into Ann's eyes and soul.
As if trying to understand very hard what Ann was saying.
"Do you want those beasts out there who captured you to skin you ALIVE?", Ann
said once more.
One more second and the gazelle then jumped out as Ann got in front of the door
and got knocked over. Ann yelped as she fell to the ground, and then looked back
at the gazelle in the darkness, only as visible as shadows.
"Wait! Aren't you even gonna apologize for THAT?", Ann said as she got up and
chased off. "Inconsiderate, aren't you?"

Ann kept on running, following the group as best as she could. She felt somehow
curious as to what wierdness was making the gazelle's eyes glow like that in the
dark when she came close. Perhaps it was something mystic within the small group
that compelled them to do this. But Ann just had to know why they acted that
way. Especially why that one waited so long to acknoledge it was free. Perhaps
the animal was skittish. Boy, if Ann thought that then she was really wrong.

Then Ann saw the last of them crawl into a cavern after a couple of miles of
chasing. Ann was utterly exhausted trying to keep up, but she felt compelled
still and only going through it seemed to be the cure. She decided to not risk
it just then for she swore, something was following her anyway. She laid by a
tree to catch her breath.

She then called for the ship to come but unfortunately, she saw something jumped
past her and bite the phone in two, dragging it off to munch on it totally. She
saw it was one of the Robot dogs who probably had its own agenda and was not
quite into being smashed over and over in the apparent missing of Speedster's
rear.
"Oh, darn it. Bad dog."
The dog began whining a LOT, with something Ann began to sense as sarcasm while
like a hyena it began laughing.
"I suppose you ENJOYED that!"
And it laughed a lot more, then began howling at the moon, still hyena-laughing.
"Great. A comedian. Oh well, I suppose I must WALK now.", she said as she walked
off and then slipped on what was something she did NOT expect. She then got off
and found something yellow and leathery and peellike the dog'd just thrown. And
it had another in its claw it'd pulled from a chamber within the dog's body to
throw another one. "Um... you don't want me to walk, do you?" The dog shook its
head, and began pelting her with lots of banana peels still with banana in them,
and she was in a mess with the laughing one until something threw this
stick-like thing from out of nowhere to distract the dog. Ann barely ducked to
avoid it and she had her chance to run while the dog sniffed the stick out of
instinct. It made a mock heaving noise as it realized that was a HORN, not a
stick that was thrown. Then it ate the horn ANYWAY, burped, and began pursuit.
She began to run to the cave, still being chased, and with her curiosity, fell
into the mouth of it, completely ignoring the ladders put on the sides of the
cavern and fell 2 stories to her concussion, her arm injury, her foot twisting
and her unconscious romp into dreamtime, fortunately all because she insisted on
landing on her feet and bounced once from the impact. The dog was still laughing
as it gave itself a self-high-five and began climbing down the stairs, not
completely trusting his rocketing power because it was programmed with the
knowledge into its organic mind-chip It hadn't all the bugs taken out of it yet.

Then, in the darkness, the robot dog used its Flashlight Eyebeam mode to look
around, only to see some seemingly
humanoid-yet-having-hooves-at-the-end-of-the-fingers-instead-of-fingernails
hands drag the dazed and injured Ann muttering... "watch... last.... step.....
quickly drag her off. It looked down at the ground, quickly gazed back and saw
nothing as its Eyebeams seemed to grow big as its remorpherizing mode could hack
where Ann was. It began to grumble under its synthesized doggie breath and then
snorted Hmph! as it climbed back to inform its fellows of what happened.

Chapter 5: Both end up separated as Ann falls into a hole and Speedster finds
himself surrounded by creatures in the darkness. And then he meets one of them
in light.. wearing clothes and being quite setinent and female... and calling
herself Gazlennia.

Speedster was definently proving to those hunters just how fast he was as he
raced off towards anywhere but where Ann was. He was more than determined to
provide a distraction for Ann to free those poor animals as his enhanced speed
topped more than 200 earth-measurement miles a hour. He could clearly see behind
him, losing a lot of ground, the chopcopter and the dogs chasing him through
darkened plains away from the manor and the place where Ann saw the gazelles
chased into. For two minutes, Speedster tore up the ground while his pursuers
followed and suddenly the robodogs left the hunt. Speedster thought they had
tired but then realized the dogs must have sensed their origonal prey was loose
and turned back. So did Speedster, who in the darkness didn't want Ann to be
found out just yet. And, as the chopcopter finally dove in for the kill,
Speedster began chasing after the robodogs and dodged the chopcopter which
crashed into the ground leaving such a mark.
The two hunters looked on as Speedster ran back to divert the robodogs again
from their assigned quarry. And commented with disgust.
"Was it your bloody idea to have us kiss the dirt while that french-ancestry
poodle starts chasing down our DOGS?", Said Riverswell.
"It was your bloody idea.", said Damburst. "And I believe the DOGS will chase
the POODLE."
"No, I believe it was not. Don't be so STUPID! But do get this bird off the
ground or, I say, you'll be sucking tea through a STRAW!"
"We may need to have a mechanic look at this."
"We don't have A MECHANIC!"
"We ought to bloody hire one."
"WE OUGHT TO SEE YOU GIVE IT A TRY BEFORE I ASK THE EMPEROR TO RUN YOU IN TO THE
BOBBIES AND I DON'T MEAN THE FRONTIER ONES!!!!"
"We have not the best destiny of all the servants of the Emperor's mad whims."

Speedster watched as the manor once again appeared within range as the dogs
began to sniff for escaped antelopes. Ann, thankfully, seemed to hightail it out
of there. But the dogs, denied their prey, went to their second program options
quick. Chase down the intruders. Speedster looked around as a group of
robodogs surrounded Speedster rapidly.
"Um, nice dogs. Real nice dogs. Nice PRIMATE dogs. Want some Lactose Bones or
something."
All of them growled. Apparently Setinence was in their programming.
"No. You want MY BONES.", Speedster said as each powered up their personal
rocketry that approached Speedster at supersonic Speed, something that wasn't
really a capacity Speedster was quite capable of. And they launched at him,
forcing Speedster to duck as the robotdogs flew overhead, trying to home in on
the poodle. Speedster then turned back to try to elude them as they crashed only
briefly, shook their heads without exploding in the 10-dog pile they found
themselves in and took off howling.
Speedster would ordinarly have bashed the robots but Speedster was sensing
something unique about these mutts. Something Organic and Spiritual in their
CPUS he'd felt in them, and Speedster was not about to smash that with his
plunger due to the fact he was once a unsetinent dog himself. So Speedster,
while trying to figure out how THEN to stop his pursuers, took off towards the
open fields once more.
It was worse than dealing with writer's block, Speedster's situation as his
Speed was apparently not keeping him safe, as one-robot dog siezed him by his
Reptilian tail (Speedster's return to Mammalian ways was effective in making
Speedster a poodle again, but the tail just didn't take for very long and
reverted). Speedster began going "Ow ow ow ow!" as the dog slowed down Speedster
to barely a mile every 3 minutes, as the other dogs jumped on him. Thankfully,
it seemed to break off and the Robot dog began chewing it like rawhide just to
see its companions jump on top of it and put it into another broken pile of
robot metal. Briefly, as its head with the organic CPU part bounced off, the
other robot dogs heard as they began auto-reassembling their inorganic pieces
together the worst scolding and sarcasm any Insentinent animal ever produced.
Speedster catched his breath as he looked behind, and was not only relieved not
to see any blood for the censors to edit but his tail quickly grew back thanks
to the combined effort of high-speed healing and the natural regeneration he'd
inherited from his time as a raptor. "Hey, it grows back. Ahhhh", Speedster
said, as it regenerated right back as a reptiles, ableit a little scarred at the
place where it was bit. ".... NUTS!", Speedster said as he realized not only was
his tail not likely to be mammalian again (But then, neither was his tounge or
his NEW pair of under-eyelids), but said ".... And here comes the Acorns!
Darn!", when he realized the robot dogs healed quickly from being totalled too.
The chase began anew, with the other robot dogs keeping their distance from the
one they'd smushed. Speedster was running again against the hordes as he ran
back to where the chopcopter had crashed. At least if those dogs were
relentless, they could keep the two English Mandrills from doing any more harm
for a while by slowing them up.

"I say,", said Riverswell to his companion as they climbed out of the wreck,
"This operation is going to that bloody french poodle."
Damburst corrected his colleague. "Actually, it seems he is of that Yankee breed
known as Tejan. I swore I smelled tortillas on his breath. Or was it your GAS
you get from drinking that rare mushroom tea I smelled."
As Damburst suddenly looked on, Riverswell continued, "I never get GAS from that
elixir, you bloody fool! I drink that for the caffeine rush and my good HEALTH!
You must think I drink it to get INSANE from adding Toadstool extract, TOO! You
insult me, Sir. Do you think I can stand for such insults with my proper british
training?"
"Ummm....", said Damburst as Speedster led the pursuing dogs to the wreck of the
Chopcopter.
"Oh, do not SHUSH me! I expect from you either an APOLOGY this instance or a
DUEL at DAWN. Do you hear...", said Riverswell as Speedster only briefly made
his stand just on top of the chopcopter and ALL the pack made their way in for
the capture.
"But I do believe something ironic about 'going to dogs' is going to..." WHAM!
WHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAM....WHAM!
In the interest of self-censorship this writer takes, you've been spared a
verbose description of the pile of junked Robo-dogs all grumbling at their
continued stupidity of their pursuit program while they repaired themselves and
their masters buried under a flood of robotic dog parts only temporarily
scrambled as Speedster dodged at the last second and spared himself being
dragged in at least SEVEN directions towards a horrible fate of being skinned
alive himself. If you want VERBOSE, I'd give it to you but no Internet in this
reality could possibly hold even a THOUSANDTH of it......

Speedster had some room to run and he began to look for Ann to see if she made
it back okay as the pile of reorganizing dogs was disturbed by the two lords
digging their way out.
"This is one of the times I wish I could heal as well as we installed these
faithful HOUNDS to.", said Riverswell quite incertainly.
"I'll take the center square to block", Damburst moaned before going to
dreamland.
The dogs fixed themselves up and carried their masters to the Manor for
immediate recuperation from this SETBACK.

Meanwhile, Speedster caught and followed Ann's scent, unaware in the darkness
something with a Jocular sense was there and waiting. Just before Speedster saw
in the darkness the Cave where Ann fell in, the Robo dog with the twisted sense
of Canine humor rocketed in pursuit in a most clever way. Backwards and with a
left foot projecting out mechanically two feet out to...
Speedster almost got to the cave's mouth when the Robo dog made its attempt and
tripped Speedster. Flailing at 200 miles per hour, Speedster bounced into the
cave's mouth and bounced off the walls as the Robo dog quickly pulled over to
the side to laugh as Speedster's plight. Eventually, scraped and bruised,
Speedster stopped only to hear the robo-dog's laughter from beyond as he walked
off into the cave, still dizzy and uncertain where he was even with his
plunger mystically lighting his way. "Oh great, that one must have been built by
CORNBALL!", Speedster said. "Hold on, Ann, I'll find you somehow!", he then
called out as he stumbled off smelling Ann's particular scent... and the scents
of a lot of gazelles....

Several miles later at walking speed into the cave as Speedster's scrapes
vanished, Speedster could hear the noises of a generator humming constantly
from somewhere distant and lights suddenly came on in the cave, blaring
brightly into Speedster's eyes. His second pair of clear amphibian eyelids
came into effect to dim it some but Speedster still had to squint to try to
see things. "Do you know you could put someone's SIGHT out like that", he
complained in Catican. (If you plan to make a Cartoon of this episode, a good
gag would have him saying it in English but subtitles in Catican. That'd be
SILLY!) Suddenly, the light returned to normal and Speedster was left with a
gaping jaw as he realized someone COULD understand him down there.
And then these humanoids surrounded him looking suspiciously gazelle-like,
wearing clothing made from cotton-producing mold and primitively hand-stitched
with walking sticks made of thin horns tied together.
"Um, do you know the way to San Hose?", said Speedster as he looked on the
crowds gathering about him, seeming intent to probe him for any metal content as
the lights seemed to mercifully darken as the generator went offline again....

Episode 12 ... Begins HERE!

Chapter 6: Ann and Speedster are reunited as the world of the Gazelles are found
out to be just like human civilization, only mostly underground, all setinent
gazelles and all names starting with the prefix "Gaz-"

Speedster was quite annoyed as the Gazelles who were obviously humanoid were
busily surrounding him deep in the Cave. Not just with the private horrors of
what those hunters were doing to these Gazelles considering they were setinent
creatures. But with the fact it was getting likely Ann had a run in with the
Gazelles and his turn was coming up.
"Um.... Have I caught you people at a bad time? I was looking for a friend of
mine.", said Speedster as the lights came back on.
Then, for the first time in history, someone other than the Gazelles heard one
of them Speak. And it was an annoyed voice that somehow was Catican.
"Oh, then look in another CAVE!", said one of the male Gazelles. "We don't have
any Ann's as your Language claims to pronounce! Go away!"
"But I swear I smelled Ann down here!", Speedster said. "And I just came for
you, NOT your skins as sick as I know that SOUNDS!"
"Smell some defeat then, mechanical pursuer! Those vile skinners won't have no
more of us stripped of our most precious organ and leaving us to be scarred if
we manage to grow it back in time! Go ahead and SNIFF ELSEWHERE!"
"YOU AREN'T IN YOUR GOURD!", said a distant female voice from beyond.
The gazelles surrounding Speedster parted and a female Gazelle, unique in which
she seemed to have a small lock of hair on her head unlike even the female
gazelles also surrounding Speedster with the male ones. "Has your experiences
with this new 'machinery' we discovered in the distant Above made you so
frustrated you cannot tell it apart from the very flesh surrounding us?"
"Gazlennia, We apparenly have, made, a.. snap judgement. ", said the accuser,
who was definently lacking in such words as "Um, er, Ehh". "We sensed him coming
down here intruding on the upmost reaches of the Allrealm".
The female Gazelle spoke again. "Well, don't you think if you could have sensed
him coming you might have realized he wasn't made of UNSENSABLE METAL ORES? AND
HE WASN'T  A MACHINE EVEN WITH THE MYSTICAL UPWOOD STAFF IN HIS HAND?"
The male one said nothing. He would have loved to have heard the words "Um, er,
Ehh" and others like to get out of this situation.
"I thought so. Leave the stranger alone, fellow ones. I sense no evil, only
questions and a attitude a mile wide and goodness fortuitously in him. And touch
him at YOUR peril from ME. I think I know where the one he's looking for is and
I think he's going to help save us from the perils above that is destroying our
ones. So give him some AIR, why don't you all. You never seen a ALIEN like him
before?"
"My apologies and all ours."
"Bite me.", said let's-just-call-her-Gazlennia-for-always. "Come..."
"The name is Speedster."
"Speedster, then. Come with me and let me explain why the evil Aliens from above
are coming forth to ruin our most misguided youth's exploits into
the world above running on fours like mad in the dark..."
"Um... Yeah. Do I have a choice."
"Yes, you'll never know why even you could have believed we ones have been
confused for our more primitive, animalistic ancestors."
"Aren't you explaining that now?", said Speedster as he was led off to this
primitive-looking elevator in the distance as the gazelles began sheepishly to
scatter.

As they rode down shakily in the elevator made of something like bamboo, but
probably grown underground due to the light color, Gazlennia was not so silent.
"You seem to be keeping down what you've eaten when you've realized the
sickening reality of what those evil Aliens are plotting for the Nudists living
down here. Are you being polite."
"My stomach's fine. My... righteous outrage's NOT. Um, are you so psychic you
learned my language?"
"No, our own form of machinery usually does that now for all of us. It is a
network machinery designed to make sure we all share in the knowledge one
of us discovers, whether mentally or through the regular senses."
"Your civilization, such as it is, has a Ethinet or Internet or something like
in which a computer made of Ether or Silicon stores knowledge in
.HyperTextTypePrograms?"
"Something similar but we don't use the so-called 'Fabric of the Universe' some
of ones (perhaps you'd call us people but...) keep saying's out there to put it
on. I find it hard to believe our civilization has NOT even found out
whether the Oxygen keeping us alive actually might STOP once we
climb beyond the MOUNTAINS this world's been confirmed to have and some of us
have fantasized you could use the 'Fabric' to put WORDS on. Of course, what
passed for Fantasy years ago passes for Science now, so why complain to those
ones?"
"Wait until you discover graphics", Speedster thought. "You people never have
really lived ABOVE ground?"
"Those ones who desire above-ground living, until the evil Aliens came with
their machines, keep finding skeletons of primate Gazelles on the surface, so
perhaps the primates lived up there until a great catyclysm came above and they
fled to the only place with light, here in the caves. And those gazelles gave
birth to us down here, with our entire Technologic and Spiritual and Vocal
beliefs and actions from then happening entirely down here in these ALgae-lit
caverns. We only discovered the surface one generation ago. Do you live on the
surface?"
"No."
"In the Sky?"
"No."
"Beyond the mountains where ones claim is no air?"
"Close."
"To the brightnesses weak and strong?"
"NO. I'd burn to death."
"On another place like this world on ITS surface?"
"yes, but it's FAR away."
"Um, would this be farther than light travels in a single heartbeat?"
"In a thousand lifetimes of Light traveling is my world."
Gazlennia looked stunned.
"I hope you can take me with you. I do exploring for my people and would like to
go as FAR as you've come and not grown VERY OLD coming here to save us all."
"Someone wants to kill me if I do. A very evil man who treated me ugly."
"So I'll tell the town elders I wish to be the 1st ambassador to the world of
you, good alien Speedster."
"Actually, I don't live on that particular world anymore, and this may come to
you as a real shock as if you ain't been shocked already..."

Eventually, Speedster was not only getting used to the fact that the Gazelle
people had various levels of technological prowess (No sewing machines, yet
computers sans graphics; Primitive Elevators yet at least a 1970-esque ability
to light things;) but was being shown the way to where Ann was being HEALED as
Gazelle said.
"Essentially, we learned your language from a mental reader we used to sense
what is wrong, and we had to learn it to figure out what the female alien called
her organs and bones so we could diagnose a cure. The doctor posted it about a
hour ago and we all learned it in 30 minutes. Most of the kids kept talking in
this 'Catican' to annoy the Parents and the Parents, using the Mental uploads we
have on the machines for REALLY LONG new text files, had to go on just to
understand. I learned it myself when looking for new information on the Surface
when I brought Ann back here after that machine made her fall off the ladder to
the Outside. And I have a distinct feeling this new language is going to be a
part of us for a while as I saw over 163,000,000 requests for the file of her
language mental-uploaded by the time I got a hold of it."
"I hope someday my surface of my world gets something like yours I've seen put
on this Fabric-of-the-Universe. It'd be a lot cooler than just using the phone."
"I know the word phone but I've never really seen something like that down
here."
And then Speedster got to the Medical Facility. It was impressive even though
its outside was much like Adobe.
"Inside is your Ann. Promise me you will respect the noise levels in here and
not shout out in glee to the level you break the glass. That's hardest to find
down here and we must travel far to find the shores to make it what with the
network popularity we have nowadays and my father, the twice-elected Chieftain
of my people, is not going to be ejected in office for allowing someone to sing
Opera in such a place."
"Wow. It's... big. Um, your dad is the president? Funny you should ask, but..."
"We have hundreds down here in the cave system we have, stretching for THOUSANDS
of your miles and accessible by railcart. It's not THAT big. The one carved out
of a buried meteor for treating what those evil aliens have done, now THAT'S
Big. Come, let me register you as a guest and push back those from the MEDIA
who'll crowd you to death. Our people just discovered moving pictures of what we
also see with our eyes could be put on NON-DEDICATED Network Machines and
they've been raving for the first VisionTellie's Scandal sheet show to be put in
the VT's first printed guide and to show a few scandalous stories to boot once
their lie-filled garbage hits the air."
"One step forward and two steps...", Speedster thought as he was led in....

Ann looked stunned. "Oh, NO!", said Ann. "I don't believe they captured you and
held you for MEDICAL EXPERIMENTATION!." Ann looked most discomforted and
bandaged and wearing the primitive-stitched clothes of the Gazellian people,
but fortunately they had gotten over putting embarrasing gowns on people.
Emphasis on the first part of "Embarrasing."
"Would that your head would heal from the sick humor that wierd
Machine-that-looks-like-your-friend-here you've been put through? You've just
had your life saved by strangers and you can't SEE that? I hope all of the good
aliens don't sometimes lose their common sense."
"Why do I understand her and WILL YOU GET ME OUT OF HERE, SPEEDSTER, SO WE CAN
SAVE THEM?"
"Um, Ann, they're just trying to help and you've had a brain injury recently."
"Hmph. Like I need anything ELSE to happen to my brain after that drug lord did
that to me, hypnotizing me to think I was a murderous ninja to skills to boot. I
see anyone like that down here and I'll hurt him.... OW! I'm still dizzy!"
"She is against drug abuse as well?", Gazlennia said surprisedly. "A positive
from her ones. Even I believe so. Listen... Ann.... I and my people have not
hurt your Speedster. We have just brought him here to see you."
"And to not turn him into shreds like his ATF kept promising to do?", Ann
replied.
"No, this is not an abduction. It is merely a quest of help to help the curious
such as yourself understand what those evil aliens are doing is SICK."
"Sicker than I thought. Um, you're not going to hold it against me I've
apparently been misinformed?"
"No, I don't do such cruel things. Speedster, talk to Ann some more about what
you've seen. And since you two are going to help us save ourselves from the
threat above, I'll give those cruel News creatures something to put on their
souls. I suspect they're arriving HERE right about now for some sort of
statement. You two talk things over." And with that, Gazlennia went out of the
room with the curtains and the bed and the four walls like hospitals elsewhere
but with a flickering ceiling light and much better food on a tray next to Ann's
given bed.
"She talks a LOT", Ann said. "How I kept from throwing up when I heard the
disgusting things those Monkeys above are doing I don't know. Oh, yeah. I was in
a coma."
"And we aren't really in some magic dream reality where Cornball or Renegade
warps us into to trap us from the Real world. We really are in a cave,
surrounded by civilized Aliens, personally outraged by what our fine SCE friends
in BRITISHLAND are doing UPSTAIRS, and we are among more potential friends we
can't even count!"
"Nuts. I thought it'd be the SIMPLE thing of being in a dream. Just don't
mention dreaming to those OTHER SCE CREEPS so they think of something like
that! Oh, no. They'd render that out of our minds or something!..."
"Easy, Ann. Please rest now. You've been put through a lot of practical jokery
some savage cyborg dog QUICKLY put me through, too. We'll give them their
comeuppance somehow. Rest now, it's okay."
"As strange as this sounds, it still beats having dinner at that Chichen Itza we
could have had if I hadn't found that Ethinet HTML on the skinning practices
those British creeps snuck into the Megacommisary.", Ann said tiredly as she did
rest."
"Yeah. This crazy adventure called fate.", Speedster said as Ann dozed off. "I,
of course, could have had worse. I could have gone with Casey instead. I may not
know what Casey's getting into at this time, but I have a feeling it's a LOT
better than what I'm going through now."
Speedster laid back on the chair for guests to see. It was a wooden rocker that
promoted sleep through rocking but not so big at the feet Cat's tails were at
risk.
"Yeah... Right. ", Speedster said as he got some rest just as the sun, far above
and away now, rose on the recuperating Hunters....

Chapter 7: Gazelle admits that her life and Ann's may have parallels and
the Hunters make the discovery of the cavern, unaware what fate awaits them.

Within the Consolatorium part of the Manor, both of the Lords slept as their
Robo Dogs performed a sloppy bandage job on their heinous masters. These dogs
didn't just perform the purpose of chasing down innocent bystanders for their
outer layer of skin, they also cleaned the place as best as possible, given the
tools to do so. At about 4esque in the afternoon, Riverswill stirred to find
himself a cream pie had been laid aside his bedside table.
"Bloody fool X-Ate! Come here and apologize before I run you into the sawmill",
he shouted. "You NEVER serve me PIES. You serve me TEA and CRUMPETS at this
time, EVERY DAY. Is your fleshy MIND rotting within all that metal?"
The appropriate X-Ate model of Robot Dog came in with the proper food. "Bloody
hell. You really know how to annoy me. Those rumors Renegade gave me that
Cornball personally must have designed you must be coming true! Any way, you
find those monstrous Incorporateds morons who tried to set our creatures free?"
An attenna came out of the dog's head and displayed a cave. A cave opening
drenched in sunlight, and revealing the tracks of many gazelles coming in and
out. And then, the image morphed to two stick drawings of Ann and Speedster
falling down the hole, bouncing off the walls of the uncharted cave until both
hit the bottom and stars floated around their heads.
"Barely satisfactory. Is this where ALL the gazelles are coming from?",
Riverswell said. The X-Ate shook its head and laughed hyena until Riverswell
struggled out of bed and threw the pie into its face.

Riverswell got up and woke up Damburst.
"You bloody fool! I believe we have found a way to get ALL of the skins off the
gazelles we pursue!", said Riverswell.
"That's right, mum, we beat up that Giggin boy with a two-handed bazooka. No
Telly this night?"
"RECOVER FROM YOUR ACCIDENTAL BLOODY BRAIN DAMAGE AND LISTEN! We have another
of the great opportunities to corner the market in Gazelle skins this very day!
We must bloody leave at once while the Gazelles are resting in their lair. "
"Oh, I forgot meself just now. It cannot wait until Tea?"
"Our greed may just for once outweigh our tradition. Come, let us be off."
The two lords staggered out of their beds through the window and fell to the
ground running. Two of the Robot dogs tending to the SCE's quickly picked them
off the ground and tried to drag them back to their beds but both Insisted, "No
more sloppy bandages. To the hunt!". Then both were dropped again and staggered
off once more as both Robot-Dogs shrugged their mechanical arms and X-Ate began
laughing again while it crunched up the broken glass for recycling into
replacement planes of glass to fix the mess those two were causing.
"We must remember", said Riverswell as his head cleared," To sue Cornball for
letting X-Ate be so buggy. Call the hounds to fix the chopter if they haven't
done already, we have some spelunking to do!"
The X-Ate continued to hyena-laugh as if it WAS funny.

Gazlennia sat next to Ann as she slept quietly and peacefully, her mind slowly
recovering from the damage the X-Ate caused to her. She was not really shocked
at what she'd found on the FTP: page she'd scanned on her cavern's variation of
the Ethinet concerning what was found about Ann. Of course, it was a little
shocking so much was revealed to the world about this stranger, but once
Gazlennia had read it, she found some parallels in her own life she couldn't
ignore. Once she sent a nasty N-Mail to the .MEDs and the .EDU's responsible for
blabbing that to the newly born VT media, of course, to keep stuff like Ann's
life confidential. Ann might be a little upset a few evil Gazelles amongst the
population would make it hard for Ann and Gazlennia to possibly hit it off in a
friendship against the Evil Aliens Ann kept referring to as the eSCapEes,
because both seemed to fight against the same evils, thought Gazlennia.
Like Ann, Gazlennia liked surfing the net, fighting for what was right, ruining
personally drug lords and was the daughter of their country's president. Both of
them seemed to give a damn about so many things in their worlds and loved
exploring. Gazlennia, in fact, wasn't so unsure Ann was a soulmate or something.
Ann then woke up.
"Well, are you finally up? It's likely the Dusk Hunters will once again go
against the Nudist Colony followers who keep going up there despite the dangers
to them. You ready to help us stop them and their machines?"
"You know, I WOULD. I can't bear to see any more suffering those 2 SCE's put you
through. Um, you were that Gazelle I freed from the pen?"
"Yes, I was."
"And were you naked, too?"
"No, just wore pelt-colored tights when I went to see where the colony was
losing most of their members to those vile you-call-'em eSCapEes. You think I
don't have any dignity?"
"No. I suppose you are grateful NOW you know I was trying to help."
"Been since you freed me. Um, where is your friend the Speedster?"
"I... don't know. Do you wish to check the Cafeteria?"
"I would hope he didn't eat any of the airRodent burgers with the HotMoss sauce.
Hear it takes 2 bottles full of carbonated Stream to wash that stuff down."
"Funny you should mention Hot sauce.....", Ann said as they began to talk about
something accidentally about their lives....

A hour later, they found Speedster at the very room where Ann had someone
download all of her language and some hack Ann was allowed to punch in the
stomach 10 times was now grumbling as the guard-police of the Gazelle Realm
Cavern United took him off for violating, no matter how important the
information might be, the Privacy act pertaining to getting anything more than
Language and Personality profiles from their patients. The guy'd had Ann's
memories of her high school days put on a FTP page and got insulted by everyone
who didn't care in the whole known cave (Now having as much surface floor as the
entire United States and less prone to caveins than ANY part of the US could
be). Ann felt a lot better but saw Speedster prone in the chair Ann was put in
when semiconscious.
"And I suppose you couldn't keep him away from THAT.", Ann said. "I don't think
his mind was ready for all your cavern's soap operas to be put in his little
mind."
"Oh, no. That terminal is Download only. Apparently Speedster was curious to see
how the Mental machine works and gave it a try. He looks stunned. Must have had
more to download than we can possibly imagine on the Language networks."
"It might have been more than he could have bore and remained awake.", Ann said.
"And more than you can imagine. Speedster also had a lot of memories of Soap
Operas in his mind and self-written stories and history of Earth and Sanguria
and Catica and a whole lot of worlds he had in his head. His mind's kinda more
advanced as Wilson once told me he'd found out (You'll meet him soon enough
should you decide to come with us) than ordinary minds. All that constant
evolution. "
"Let me check something", Gazlennia said as she went to a terminal to check the
state of the computer network.
Gazlennia was shocked. "I'd never thought in the entire history of using the
Mental Machines someone could EVER OCTUPLE the Network's file size in a single
download."
"Um, how many etabytes of data did he have in his head of his life's
experiences."
"About 2 Million of at least those. He's got credit to download all our network
files now SIXTEEN times over for as long as it takes and the next Million years
of network time for what he has given. I doubt Speedster hasn't made an
impression but a peaceful CRATER in the history of our Civilization with his
selfless act of ... let's say like you sometimes run words together,
'Don't-care-if-it-hurts-I'll-do-it-and-I-ended-up-being-helpful'. Your Speedster
has given us information about the Universe we never imagined existed beyond our
Cavern."
"Um, And I barely got a hour as courtesy?"
"Actually, you got a generation for you giving us the Language in the first
place, however necessary it was to help us heal you in the first place. I hope
you didn't mind."
"Not really. Actually, I feel a lot clearer about things now."
"Good, your mind has recovered fully from the shock of that head trauma. Come,
Let's rouse him as a first act of alliance against our common enemy." Then
Gazlennia whispered how. Ann, then and there, realized just how close the
Gazelles and the Caticans were to each other.
Both of them stood on the sides of Speedster's ears.
They had one thing to Shout.
It was "WAKE UP! WE hAVE WORK TO DO!"
Speedster quickly roused.
"Do you know the way to San Jose?", Speedster mumbled still wearily.
Ann then said, "Speedster, we don't have time for catch phrases. We're getting
help to counter the evil of the Hunters above, And Gazlennia promised her
people's help in this!"
"Oh, that's nice. When do we go to Chichen Itza and have dinner?"
Ann looked concerned to a sarcastic degree.
"He's probably faking it.", Gazlennia said. "I hope NOT!", Ann said as they
helped Speedster to his feet and out of the hospital.

Chapter 8: Speedster leads with Ann's help a revolt against the hunters and
forces them out of the house to free the remaining captives, as the hunters
Manage to sneak within when lured to a cave of angry Gazelles by their jocular
robo-dog that they almost try to make capable of Speech.

The Media, Gazlennia's parents and most of the population crowded outside,
leaving a clear path for Speedster and Ann to come out. There were cries of
honest media networksgazelles crying out, "Let's drown those new TalkShows with
Gazamba" (as important as Nielsen is to the invention of VT in Gazelle society)
"Ratings so close to 99% it HELPS!" and cheers of happiness for the Speedster's
act of info-sharing so massive it'd make Speedster's name household forever in
Gazellian history. But Gazlennia's dad hushed the crowd down and told them to
keep caution, Speedster had yet to save the Gazelles from the hunters. Speedster
walked with Ann and Gazlennia across to the elevator to the mouth of the cave
where Ann had tumbled the other day into a world beyond imagining....
"I hope you realize popularity is sometimes fleeting", Speedster said. "I've
seen sitcoms come on and burn out in the same year."
Gazlennia said, "You are a kind, caring being and NOT A SITCOM. And I hope your
plan isn't for them to come to us, that sounds simplest of all. I looked on the
Network for what potential plans are most popular and that seems to be the most
popular one although that means a lot of fighting. Your most likely plan will be
to, since these machine servants of them have living minds and spirits, is to
not take them apart since they are alive and can rebuild themselves to boot but
to convince them through frustration the hunter's cause is not so fufilling. "
"And you give the network's cpu a scolding when it gets too psychic."
"And we put it in a corner. No Cavern domination for it. It is bordering on
being a psychic entity at times and We already have a God enough of the
imagination, thank you."
"Well, glad you aren't complete slaves to technology."
"At least until we invent a machine for sewing and the machines to fly in the
world we are now discovering. Then naturally we'll probably revolt against the
sewing machines."
"Well.", Speedster said.
Then, a disturbance came from up, way up, easily heard in the quiet cavern.
It sounded like barking and englishmen giving themselves near-concussions and
hyenas laughing.
"Well, you people haven't planned on the element of surprise for these vile
monkeys, have you?", Speedster replied. "You know they always do."
A lot of muttering about at least one thing being a surprise was heard as the
crowd scattered quickly and quietly, with Gazlennia's father holding her horns
for a moment for good luck and encouragement with his hoof-ended fingers on his
otherwise opposable-thumbed hand. Then he walked off, leaving the cavern quiet
within a minute as the mutterings got louder. Even the guards took notice as
they got down off the elevator and looked for a place to hide. Within two only
Ann and Gazlennia and Speedster were alone as many thousands of eyes looked on
for the signal to defend their people, even if those they were defending WERE
nudists.......
The cavern dimmed just then. Even apparently the Network was expecting this. In
the dimmed light, it was getting harder for anyone to see Gazelle as humanoid
especially when she stood on her hands and feet just then, thinking basically
"Tackle".
And then the Robot dogs peeked out from the elevator shaft into a quiet, dark
world, with X-ate still laughing at the bananas he'd threw at his own masters
twice in the shaft. Apparently, it was having second thoughts about being nice
to its horrid masters. Getting the hundreds rocketing for position to break the
bamboo elevator in twelve to be so convinced would be a fight to remember as
Speedster heard a lot of rockets firing on and off in hover mode in
anpicitation.
"So", said Riverswill from high up, "This is where all those Gazelles came from.
Nice, BIG PLACE!".
"You have no Idea!", said Gazlennia.
"What? Who said that? Was it one of the two who tried to save those poor
Gazelles? You bloody Animal Rights Activist! We will find the rest of these
Gazelles and take their skins."
"You may have a problem with that, These Gazelles you speak of DO!"
"Who cares? They're stupid, insentinent animals! They Have NO feelings, but
their skins are valuable to us!"
"Don't you think they might have, whether or not setinence is a ISSUE to you?"
"We only care about pounds. Where's the POODLE who moves so fast? We want his
skin, too! The damn bloody DOG!"
Suddenly, X-Ate seemed to charge forth, but before anyone had time to react,
X-Ate rocketed forth, laughing all the way, hovered for a minute then
sat down beside the threesome and used its searchlight to see for the
first time clearly its own quarry. It then shone its light back at the Hunters
who looked down at the floor of the cavern. Then it shone around the light at
buildings, railways and everything those crazed hunters weren't looking too
clearly at right then. Then it growled at the hunters who noticed THAT and
decided to sit down and sit a spell or something.
"I knew that X-Ate was bloody defective", said Damburst."I know the rest of the
Robo-Dogs aren't. A-starting through Z-starting models, -Unn through Fiveen ID'd
models, bring me those skins of ALL those down there, setinent or not."
Speedster then said, "I think you may have a problem. Tell me, do you know the
way to San Jose?"
The lights came on all over the cavern.
The Gazelles began rushing out of their hiding places.
The Noise level got a lot higher as the Robo-Dogs circled, ready to swoop like
the Vultures, good or evil, the Sangurians cherished as their spirit animals of
choice, and the Gazelles came out armed with their own old shed horns tied
together much like the Bo's Ann wielded into a large stick-like formation.
And clearly now the Hunters saw one thing, over and over.
They were using SETINENT beings to craft their skin-garmets OUT OF!
Even they felt like throwing up as they looked down at what they tried to
destroy!
"I believe our Ignorance has cost us plenty. Luckily, our fine meal will not be
bloody regurgitated in this most PUBLIC PLACE! Great VULTURE! WHAT HAVE WE
DONE?", Damburst moaned.
Sarcastically.
"HA!", both lords said. "LIKE WE'D CARE ANYWAY, ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!! HA HA HA HA
HA...."
Their laughter was broken by the tossing of the horns into the Elevator, forcing
the Lords to back off a little sheepishly.
The crowd shouted as a whole, "AND WE DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU!!!!!!!!"
The Dogs not YET on X-ate's new side and change of heart began diving. Those
that were just landed next to X-Ate to protect the one who had the clearest
point of view, no matter how psychotically jocular that was. Then, when the
Lords realized the battle had begun, started down the tall elevator to join the
battle, as infinently lopsided as it was becoming now that it was slowly
registering, as the dogs kept being pushed back despite their snare weapons into
the crowd that was ready for such things as Gazlennia had informed on a Text
Page she'd started while she was on line. They learned information FAST when it
became available. And X-Ate only needed one look back at Gazlennia to decide it
should maybe fire a few pies into those still loyal to the Hunters.
For a few minutes, the battle was raging between the Robo-dogs and the Gazelles,
with the Gazelles winning. Then the battle was finally joined by the true cause
of the dismay: the Hunters. They stepped out into a hostile crowd who pushed
them back against the wall and tried a couple of swipes before the Lords were
totally immobilized from the weight of all those justice-minded Gazelles.
"Um, did we say we DIDN'T CARE?", said Riverswell.
Damburst had this to say as now all the Robo-dogs had their nets now aimed at
the Hunters and everyone was against the two. "Next time we exploit some living,
natural resource to death.... We leave the lights on them to see them better."
"If we get out of this Alive."
"These Gazelles believe in justice. You mean Still youngish and not SENILE for
the crimes we've commited."
"BUT I WANT THE DEATH PENALTY TO GET OUT OF IT NOW!"
"Shut your bloody jaw. We don't want to ask anyone for that now, DO WE?"
Then they were led off when the Gazlennia cops came to drag them off.
"No, not really. YOU BLOODY FOOLS WILL NOT BE SORRY SOMEDAY AND WE WILL NOT
REVENGE AGAINST YOU, BUT SOMEONE ELSE WILL FEEL OUR WRATH!!!!!"
Eventually, the X-Ate who first defected was met by the Hunters.
"Well, what do you have to say for yourself, bloody semi-cyber-mongrel who did
what Benjamin Arnolls did for US, only for THEM?"
The following images presented themselves in stick figure format..
The Hunters ripping skins off innocent animals.
The innocent animals complaining.
The Dogs seeing all this.
The Dogs putting the Hunters in jail.
The Dogs freeing the animals to heal them.
The Dogs having a clear conscience.
Then this most surprising text message, as close to speaking the Robo-Dog could
get....
"This message brought to you as a public message from X-Ate, the DOG of comedy!"
And then there was a sarcastic laugh from the X-Ate.
"I knew our association with Renegade would get us in dutch with Cornball. I
knew it all bloody ALONG!", moaned Damburst. "Um... how many of you Gazelles are
there", said Damburst to Gazlennia who now stood on her feet only and was
quickly joined with her dad.
"Pick a number between 100,000,000 and a billion. That's probably how many
SECONDS you'll be staying if we don't have you on your BEST BEHAVIOR in our
maximum security prisons.", said Gazlennia's dad.
"My Father GazLandio, I personally was hoping for that much if they're NOT."
"Who am I not to respect the requests of a wise and noble child? Okay, let's
have it her way."
Then the cheering began in earnest as Speedster, Ann and Gazlennia were held up
high and had a short tour of the world of the Gazelle as heroes THEN and THERE.
And the Lords were escorted to their future prison homes for trial and
incarceration.
"YOU BLOODY FOOLS ARE GOING TO MAKE US MISS OUR TEATIMES! YOU DON'T LIKE US WHEN
WE MISS THAT......", ranted Damburst on and on as the Robo-dogs followed on to
make sure their former masters got what they deserved... within livable
boundaries, of course... Barely so, though.

Chapter 9: Before Speedster can leave the tribal leader, father of Gazelle, asks
Gazelle to join Speedster to be an ambassador for those good souls beyond the
sky themselves. Gazlennia keeps being amazed at just how far she is going and Ann
accepts as a fellow former ambassador Gazelle' existence in the Incorporateds.

It was three days later when Gazlennia and her dad made it back to the surface
after Ann and Speedster posted enough HTMLS (Now that the Network knew of
Graphics and Sound that was transmittable via data lines) of their interviews
with proper news agencies to keep the populace data-filled for a long time. And
a link between the Ethinet and the Network was forged strong so the Network
could post all it'd learned from Speedster and relieve itself of a lot of
slowdown headaches now its data could indeed be posted in 'the fabric BEHIND the
UNIVERSE' As Speedster better described the Ethinet's almost mystical storage
methods.
"So much has been done for us this day against the forces that was cutting down
our more anarchistic youth. The ones thank you for all time, um... (WOW, what a
concept that simple word is to us).... Incorporateds.", said Gazlandio,
benefitting now from the recent invention of the Sewing Machine, finally.
"My thanks to you for accepting us when you got such a bad impression of the
SCE. I hope someday even they, like the Robo Dogs, see the truth and join the
side of good.", said Speedster as he saw for miles around the Gazelles walking
across the surface of their world gazing up at the sky. "You're okay on this
surface-dwelling thing? Might be things like Weather and Ozone depletion you
might have to eventually deal with."
"Oh, we don't fear what is new to us, wrong or right. We can face it as best as
we can. We always have. May my daughter have a word with me?"
"Sure. You want to talk her out of leaving, I don't mind.", said Speedster who
sarcastically noted, "Just wait until they see a Hurricane like I once had been
through..."
Gazelle rejoined her dad.
"Are you sure my leaving will not make you too upset? I will do a great purpose
being both a defender of our rights beyond Even Higher Than The Mountains Where
there Is No Air."
"I believe 'SPACE' might be a better description. I don't know what my wife
might do, probably run against me for not telling her you'd keep on touch via
this new and infinite Ethinet we can 'surf' on when I told all your plans and
they cheered first and foremost, but I will be just well knowing your path of
exploration will be for us the greatest of them all."
"Make sure my brother Gazoko don't take my room while I'm gone. That room we
know's for Mom's little 'Visitor' coming to us. Send me pics of whatever the pup
is when it's weaned, hmm?"
"You got it, daughter. Good luck to you in your adventures. And send me a
postcard .gif file when you find this SCE headed towards peace like your new
friends. Now, I must go meet these Dogelians and Caticans and the rest of the
Ambassadors Coming to talk network time sharing and immigration. I think they'll
find something good in all of us so we get to prosperous trading, though this
'money' and 'land' things they talk about might have a little trouble filtering
through our data-craving brains."
"See ya, dad. 'Oposie Soki Liracc AoGaz.' <Kick those SCE crooks in the courts
for me.>" And then, Gazlennia walked to the waiting conveyance as ships began
landing on Gazell, the new name of the world these Gazelles now inherited with
wisdom and peace, more than could be said of the two mandrill-lords deep within
the Caverns in a jail, looking at a lot of retribution they'd have to give just
to get out without possibly dying.. but only of natural causes, say, EXTREME OLD
AGE.
Speedster said to Gazlennia as she boarded (looking back one last time and
being the first ever Gazelle to give the thumbs-up signal in her life), "Oh, by
the way, I contacted this 'Wilson' about the whole affair in a massive Ethimail
sending. He skimmed over most of it and he's more than happy to give you a part
of this Incorporateds enterprise."
Ann joined in by saying, "And my mom would be more than glad to see you in any
diplomatic affair or function. Believe me, the more the merrier in the cause of
Good."
"Well, this makes things a little easier. I'll go make my new clothes with the
sewing machine and catch you later. Chow!"
"Is it me or is she mixing some Terran English with her Catican speech?", Ann
said.
"Get used to it. She knows basically as much essential stuff as I do now."
"Oh, great", said Ann both sarcastically and cheerfully. "I can't decide whether
I can BEAR someone who's either another one of ME or YOU."
"You did so far, Ann. You must care about something in me."
"Yeah, I do care about something in you. Your humor."
They began laughing for a moment then. But then they got a surprise...
Hyena Laughter.

They looked down at the X-Ate who stowed away while the rest of his friends were
going through obedience school to better mend their misguided ways.
"You had better have a good explanation for this."
The X-Ate posted one message on its view-screen. "MY PENANCE FOR MY
MISGUIDANCE and A WITNESS PROTECTION PROGRAM YOU COULD PROVIDE?"
"Um...", Speedster whispered to ANN..."
"AFTER ALL, IS IT NOT ANN WHO ALLIES HERSELF WITH THE INCOOPERATEDS FOR HER OWN
PENACE FOR THE STUPIDITY SHE WAS FORCED INTO?", posted back X-Ate in pictures
and words.
"He has a point.", Ann said. "Just be nice to Wilson and don't bite him in the
butt ANYTIME or we'll send you packing to Cornball."
"I'LL BITE CORNBALL ANYWAYS BUT OK. I'LL SLEEP IN THE TUB."
X-Ate went back, wagging his tail and displaying backwards 'yesyesyesyesyes' in
his viewscreen.
"Crazy dog.", Speedster said. "But any allies you can walk away with are good
ones."
Ann then had a shocking thought. "Oh, I remember now. That Commander wasn't too
pleased we might bring back something from Gazell."
Speedster calmly replied. "I told Gazelle yesterday. She had a plan for THAT
contigency."
"What plan's gonna possibly convince the Commander to leave Gazelle Alone? Not
that the pressure of the remaining Goodness in the Frontier might have an
effect."
"You'd be REALLY surprised. It came off the top of her head."
"Oh, by the way, if the Commander does decide to board us Illegally, do you
think we should tell him about how disgusting are the furs he has", Ann said.
"Yes, especially on a HTML page of our own, Ann. On the radio, the TV, the
stereo, through smoke signals, from a messenger whom interrupts him in a
shower..."
Ann quietly thought on the events of the past few days.
"You think we'll surprise Casey with what we've did?"
"Probably won't top what Casey or Halifax, I feel, has done. They probably had a
boring vacation and didn't even save the world."
Both of them looked meaningly at each other.
"YEAH, RIGHT."

Epilogue

Chapter 10: Commander tries to board and discover whether Speedster followed
threat or not and finds Gazelle.. only without her horns. She later admits the
horns were prosthetic due to an early molting crisis and Speedster can relate as
he tells Ann about toupees on his world, leaving Ann just a little dumbfounded
to this concept of Hair Pieces when tophead baldness was so natural in her
people.

Halfway to Catica, The Commander boarded the ship as promised, not really aware
on the fantastic discovery Speedster and Ann had discovered but really
embarrased once his search turned strangely VOID and EMPTY of genuine sucess.
He broke in Speedster's door with his great strength.
"DON'T YOU KNOCK, YOU JERK? OR SHALL I CALL THE JUSTICEERS ONCE THEY LEAVE
SUMMERIEN TO DRAG YOU OUT?"
"How Dare you..."
"Bring an Alien so You'd come here for a De-Armoring and embarassment ALL OVER
AGAIN, YOU TAIL-FEEDIN' MORON?"
"Somehow, I sense not as much anger and you dumb animal, you might have
something on your sleeve and in that highly-folded mind of yours. I saw no
aliens, but this awfully thin Catican I'd never seen before, The Ambassador of
Catica.... And THIS thing Cornball let go into your recognizance as its
personal parole officer, you LITTLE FOOL!"
He turned and Speedster saw X-Ate chomping down hard into the butt of that metal
armor.
"Good... um... AxeEater. THAT kind of misfortune one can clear-consciously
laugh at since he's an EVIL, INSANE god-wannabe. Good boy. Drink an
extra Kilovolt of power at supper tonight."
"I feel so embarrased. I thought I was going to kill someone this day. But that
Catican chick with the thinness problem... when I tried to give her a fur I'd
stolen, She whacked me in the face with these sticks until I begged for mercy.
She also scraped my armor with them. I will leave now with egg on my face."
"Here come the EGGS", said Speedster as AxeEater-As-X-ATE-Was-Now-Called
provided.
"Hell. Cholesterol!", The Commander said as he left to his own ship and
devices.... and to a mysterious guest which was going to annoy him A TON once
the Commander boarded. "I think I made ANOTHER ENEMY this day! Curse you,
Speedster, I hope you actually get PREGNANT and BARF a lot for what you've done
this day!", shouted The Commander before he had to do something even he thought
he'd NEVER had to do before this week. You'd be surprised how good curses are
even from evil creeps...
To remove AxeEater, The Commander was forced to tear off HIS OWN DARQARMOR
to get AxeEater to disengage. Much to a lot kinder kind of laughter coming from
the rapidly-reforming AxeEater. The Commander just kept swearing he heard
AxeEater still laughing happily as he carried his junked armor within mutterings
of 'sorry' to the cursed, broken pieces through the Etaporter to his own ship,
where as-far-as-I-am-concerned-Death-Incarnate-is-waiting WAS.
Gazlennia then entered with AxeEater sleeping beside Speedster's bed for a
mid-day brain recharge of good rem-doggie sleep.

"Um, That really WAS a close one. I was shocked myself when I realized sometimes
your people have female-and-male-pattern Early Horn shedding. I'm surprised how
easily you were able to fool the Commander."
"By the time he even looks at one of the HTMLS on the net being posted, He'll
know for sure. Also, wearing gloves at the time might have helped, but If he
finds out and comes back here, I'll remove the armor and save you the trouble
with these prosthetic Horns I'm used to wearing."
"Much like toupees of our Earth."
"I hope you can talk to Ann before she returns to the company of her Mom about
what 'toupees' are. Ann kept scratching her low-fur head every time I tried to
explain, maybe since you seem to be soulmates from this experience you could
explain."
"If only my heart was not heavy with the one who first shown me kindness that
Commander took from me. Have a good night's sleep and I KNOW the Commander ain't
coming back. He knows the way to San Jose now."
"Good night, miracle worker Speedster.", said Gazelle as Speedster picked up a
good terminal and started surfing some classic literature. Somehow, surfing for
words and intellectual thought on the Net had a little more charm than
senseless, violent and SILLY TV soaps right then as Axe-Eater slept at peace
with itself, finally.....

The Commander saw his miserable fate of meeting this SCE making Coffee in the
Commander's own private Hellhole Kitchen within his ship named exactly the
Hellhole.
"So you're the SCE who ratted on the Hunters and RUINED my dead-skins FIX!
Especially when you posted that they came from SETINENT beings? I was TORN
between the needs of my greed and my own BARF-INDUCING OUTRAGE from my
microscopic CONSCIENCE! Shame on YOU! You and your Damn Anonymous Postings on
the Ethinet! Curse you to drink coffee... Oh, damn, you already DO."
The SCE spoke like someone from the 60's coffee shops.
"Hey, pal. I just decided maybe these Incorporateds had gotten the point of what
existence is about, fighting all evil that denigrates it. And It wouldn't hurt
if I vented my own outrage at your heinousness of innocent lives. Thought I
might just start a trend these Incorporateds are having: to see us Redeem our
souls and be freed from the misguidedness we've been living in for too long."
"YOU SUCK!", the Commander said. "WHY I'D BET THE INCORPORATEDS THROW THEIR LOT
IN WITH YOU IF THEY HAD THE CHANCE!"
"When most of us follow the good and wise path I'd think YOU OUGHT to follow,
MAYBE THEY WILL! Better than defending YOUR UNWISE, UNCOOL WAYS. Dig that, Cat
Hater and Gazelle-Hater. You're the past. Move over or be run down by stupidity.
"Megaport back to your ship and leave me BE!"
"I think you won't be so forever, Commander. I know we kindhearted SCE's not
fooled by the Emperor's wicked ways are few, but we will be growing greatly in
the years to come. For now, know this.. For giving the Gazelles the freedom from
your sick ways and friendship to break the loneliness and isolation from the
rest of the Universe, you can thank that cool cat... Akeon Java."
"MAKE COFFEE FROM YOUR SOCKS!", the Commander said as he threw the only thing
handy as his armor dropped to the ground with barely inaudible protest, making
the Commander fear someday even his ARMOR was gonna be his enemy.
His surly, awful Toupee.
Which the Commander stared at for a minute or two...
And left this story screaming with realization of how'd he'd been fooled
while we leave cheering the Hunter's plot has been foiled and peace is getting
stronger in the reality of those we call... The Incorporateds.

I hope you got the point about animal abuse being wrong. I don't want to tell
Gazlennia or Axe-Eater you've been exploiting animals to extinction for you
to wear what you want to... now do I.

THE END
AS ALWAYS, ... FOR NOW.