Author's Note: Stuff appearing in brackets [ ] is notes 
on whatever, most often relating to the background music. 
Otherwise, however, this will be entirely in prose.

             DISTANT STAR PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS

[BGM: Offspring, I Choose (Ixnay on the Hombre, Track 8)]

	Gruntarg hated these backwater worlds. The natives 
always stared at him. Granted, apart from the Ixans, there 
weren't any races that looked like multi-colored vaguely 
humanoid blobs, but that was no reason to be so rude about 
it. Especially when they were the ones who were 
technologically inferior. He'd really like to see one of 
these "Terrans" try to duplicate much of anything from Ixa.
	With a sigh, he walked up the steps to the residence of 
the recipient, the Second Crown Princess of the Nwei Empire, 
who for some reason or other was marrying a Terran guy. At 
least their morphology was similar, even if their 
psychologies were, from what he'd seen, wildly different.

                     In Association With
                   Knightblade Productions

	It was an average day. Well, that wasn't entirely true. 
Average becomes a relative term when one's fiancee is an 
alien, one's sisters are superheroines, and so forth. Today 
was quiet and therefore, as far as Jeff Foster was 
concerned, not average. Pao-Gui had gone back to China, 
though he said he would see if he might be able to return 
next year. Ada had gone out with Amy and Anne, curious to 
see why they so enjoyed shopping, and despite Ada's pleas, 
he had decided to stay home, read a few comics, and 
generally relax. Of course, he'd had a hard time relaxing in 
the past few months. At least once a week something odd 
would happen to him.
	Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Jeff stood up, 
carefully putting his copy of Psychomancer vs Violet 
Nightmare back in its plastic cover and setting it down on 
the coffee table. He turned off the stereo [BGM stops] and 
went to the door. When he opened it, a bluish bloblike 
creature loomed before him. Jeff took a moment to catch his 
breath. The alien seemed impassive, even bored.

[BGM: Ryoko's Theme (Tenchi Muyo! Ongakuhen Vol. 1, Track 
3)]

                       INTERESTING TIMES

	"Galactic Parcel Service. Package from Nwei Prime. Is 
there a 'Princess Ada' here?"

MOVIE 1

	"Um, she went out for a while." Jeff managed.
	"Well, I got a package for her. Imprint here with 
your... hand." The creature proffered a computer pad, and 
Jeff pressed his palm against it, hoping that was indeed 
what the creature was referring to. It then stepped aside, 
allowing Jeff to catch a glimpse of the delivery, a metallic 
tube some six feet tall. He tapped a button on its side, and 
it rose a few inches off the ground. After that, the alien 
pushed it into the living room, turned off whatever held it 
aloft, and strode out. "Have fun with it." it muttered as it 
left.

              Written by EWEN "BLACKBIRD" CLUNEY

	Jeff sighed. Somehow, he suspected that this could only 
bring trouble. He looked at the tube. It had a small keypad 
on one side, and what appeared to be a manual was taped to 
it. The manual was, interestingly enough, in English. He 
pulled it off, and looked at the cover. [BGM slowly fades 
out]
	"Mark III Bioroid, Personal Assistant Type F..." he 
muttered, reading the cover. "Owners Manual." He opened it 
to the first page. On the inside cover it read, "Dear Ada. I 
know you've been wanting one for a long time, and as nice as 
he is, that backworlder boy can't be much of a sparring 
partner, so here it is, a bioroid of your very own. Emperor 
Atak." Jeff looked at the tube, still not sure of what to 
make of it. "What the hell is a bioroid?"
	He turned to the next page, and was assaulted by a 
stream of technobabble that would've made Einstein want to 
retire. Finally, his curiosity got the better of him, and he 
pressed the button marked "OPEN," hoping that it wasn't a 
Pandora's box.
	The front panel parted in the middle. He looked inside, 
peering through the thick mists that were inside the 
container. As they cleared, he saw what was inside; a 
person. A girl, actually. She wore what amounted to a 
swimsuit, with a loose jacket over that. Her hair was 
colored with streaks of blue and green, and there was a 
character unknown to him printed on her forehead.
	Her eyes opened.
	Jeff jumped back out of sheer reflex.
	The girl slowly stepped out of the container, and took 
stock of her surroundings. When she saw Jeff, the faced him 
and smiled. "Hello, master. I am Felna."
	"M-Master?" he stammered.
	She gave him a worried look. "You are my owner, right?"
	Jeff shook his head. "That'd be Ada. She's not here 
right now."
	She looked at him carefully. "Understood. What species 
are you?"
	"Uh... human. Well, most aliens call us Terran."
	"And what is your designation?"
	"Just call me Jeff." he managed.
	"Are there any tasks you wish me to perform?" she 
asked, surveying the room.
	He couldn't really think of anything, but then he 
didn't know what this "bioroid" could do. Or even what the 
heck she was. "Um... well... First off you can tell me what 
exactly you are?"
	She smiled and bowed, Japanese-style. "I am a bioroid, 
an artificial being integrating artificially grown 
biological components. I am programmed to perform a number 
of tasks, ranging from simple household and ... 'personal' 
tasks, to repairs and combat."
	He had to figure out what to do with her, but the fact 
of the matter was that her body was getting to him. It 
seemed that the perversion of designers was universal... 
"What do you mean... 'personal tasks?'"
	She rested her hands on his shoulders, leaning close to 
him. "A very personal service for which biological 
components are necessary. I can demonstrate if you wish...?"
	Jeff shook his head. He had enough problems already. "I 
don't think that will be... necessary?" he managed. He 
didn't want to even contemplate what Ada's reaction might 
be. "Do me a favor and put your... packaging into the 
garage--" he pointed to the door that led there, "--
somewhere inconspicuous, and--" He stopped short as she 
easily picked up the capsule, despite its being the size of 
a refrigerator.
	She stopped where she was, waiting for further 
instructions. "Yes, Jeff?"
	"Um... Well, once you're done with that, I guess you 
should, like, get to know your way around the house."
	She nodded, and continued into the garage. A short 
while later, she emerged again, and began examining the 
various things around the house. Jeff tried to relax of the 
couch, but somehow he couldn't help but watch her, and 
wonder what was going through her artificially created mind 
as she looked at Dad's fishing magazines, Amy's weird little 
backpack thing that was barely able to hold a paperback, 
and, among countless other things, the family's video 
collection, which was a distinct reflection of the tastes of 
its members; Jeff's were all sci-fi and horror with some 
Japanese animation thrown in, Amy and Mom's were mostly 
romantic stuff, Anne's was odd angst-filled teenage stuff, 
and Dad's favorite movies tended towards the bizarre, 
including a lot of the stuff Jeff liked, but with a better 
appreciation for older movies, especially Frankenstein and 
the original Island of Dr. Moreau.
	"What is this?" asked Felna, reaching for the comic 
book on the coffee table. Jeff moved with speed that 
surprised even himself to stop her. "Have I done something 
wrong?"
	"Um, sorry. It's a comic book. I'm kind of protective 
of mine. Very protective, actually."
	She looked at the cover of the comic. "Why is that?"
	He sighed, and willed his arm to retreat, though his 
reflexes refused to calm down completely. These he had 
developed when he was younger and the twins would tease him 
even more severely than they used to. It had taken them a 
little while to figure out that to him, comics were sacred 
things, and anyone who dared to defile them would be in big 
trouble. "Well, two things. First of all, they do have 
actual monetary value, especially to collectors. Second, it 
has a sort of ... personal importance."
	She looked at him, confused. "Personal?"
	"Anyone who damages his comics dies a slow and painful 
death." said Mittens, striding into the room. Felna looked 
at the cat in shock. "Mind you," Mittens appended, "that's 
something of an exaggeration. Do I know you?"
	Felna shook her head. "Who are you?"
	Jeff sighed. He could remember when the family cat had 
revealed his ability to speak to Jeff. It was really more 
annoying than anything else, since Mittens was still 
basically a cat, even if he had human intelligence, so when 
he talked it was more often than not to complain about 
wanting to be fed, or about the quality of the food, or any 
number of other things. "That's Mittens, our pet cat. Most 
of them aren't that intelligent, but there was this accident 
-- two actually -- so now he can speak and has humanlike 
intelligence."
	"Really?"
	Mittens nodded. "Yo."
	Fenla's expression was one of mild confusion and mild 
fear. "This is so unusual."
	Jeff shrugged. "You'll get used to this sort of thing 
if you stay around here. This family's just a magnet for 
weird stuff."
	Mittens shook his head. "Nah. Just you."

	Ada wasn't entirely sure of what to make of the mall. 
For one thing, she'd had her needs provided to her 
automatically throughout most of her life. Of course, that 
was on the condition that she performed her duties and was 
met with success in battle and so forth, but all in all, 
this whole shopping concept was completely alien to her. For 
one, it seemed to be focused on purchasing entirely 
unnecessary things, like clothes and shoes and stuff -- Ada 
had a few jumpsuits with gloves and boots to wear, and a 
couple pairs of pajamas, and that was considered downright 
indulgent by Nwei standards. And besides, there were no 
weapon stores there, not that she really wanted to bother 
with such primitive weapons anyway -- though on the other 
hand there was a certain beauty to Earth's swords and other 
close-in weapons.
	"Ada? Come on, we're going to the -- what's it called?"
	Anne frowned. "Final Fashion! How can you forget the 
name? I come here *every* time!"
	Ada stepped inside -- this place seemed to be all 
vaguely creepy stuff, much of which, Anne explained, was 
related to various bands. Then she saw it, on the wall.
	"Hey, I thought you said there were no weapons around 
here!" She pointed to an ornate sword mounted in a glass 
case on the wall, the hilt of which was shaped into a 
dragon. She turned to the clerk. "Can I try it?"
	He looked at her strangely. "'Try it'? You want to 'try 
out' the Excalibur Sword?"
	Ada nodded -- her people's capacity for and 
understanding of the concept of audacity is somewhat 
limited, after all. "Yes."
	"You realize it costs two thousand dollars?"
	Ada shrugged, pulling out her energy sword. "So?" she 
activated it. "I can give you this as collateral while I'm 
using it."
[BGM: Fast-paced electric guitar chords]
	A short while later, she held the sword in her hands, 
whirling it about with incredible speed and skill. After a 
short while, a small crowd gathered, albeit on the other 
side of the mall, to watch her. Finally, she got bored of 
it, and handed it back to the clerk, picking up her energy 
sword again.
	"I don't really like the balance." she said in a 
businesslike manner. "Do you have any others?"
	The clerk shook his head.
	"Oh well." She shrugged and went to look at something 
else.
[BGM: Ominous flourish of violins]
	Meanwhile, a man clothed in a black suit with a black 
tie, black trenchcoat, and black fedora, and black glasses, 
watched her. No one looked at him as he watched her. No one 
questioned his presence. He was as natural to the place as 
the pillars that held its roof up.

	When Amy, Anne, and Ada returned home, they found a 
surprise waiting. The strange girl who stood before them 
handed a book to Ada. Anne looked at its cover, trying to 
figure out what the heck was going on.
	"Mark III Bioroid Personal Assistant Type F Owner's 
Manual." she read aloud.
	Ada read the note from her father. "Yay! My dad finally 
sent me the bioroid I've been wanting!" She turned to the 
newcomer. "What's your name?"
	"I am Felna; you are Ada, correct?"
	Ada nodded excitedly, glancing over the manual. "What's 
your combat rating?"
	"I am programmed to vary my combat rating as need be, 
from zero to sixty, and can integrate new techniques to 
increase that later on."
	"Cool!"
	Amy looked at the newcomer, not sure of what to think. 
"But what is a Bioroid?"
	Ada grinned. "It's an android that incorporates living 
components! They're the latest thing on Ixa!"
	"Ixa?"
	Ada nodded. "It's... Well, you know how all the high-
tech stuff says it's from Japan or China? Well, Ixa's like 
that for the whole galaxy."
	Felna nodded in agreement. "I was created by the 
TransNetics Corporation, located on Ixa IV."
	"Well, come on Felna, let's go train!"
	With that, the two of them went into the backyard, and 
began a dizzying combat training routine that made Jackie 
Chan look like Al Bundy.
	Jeff walked into the room, looked at the scene outside, 
and sighed. "They're having fun." he said flatly.
	"Yeah," said Amy, "Ada got a 'bioroid' from her 
father."
	Jeff nodded. "Yeah, I know. I was here when the package 
arrived."
	"You didn't do anything... untoward with her, did you 
Jeff?" asked Anne.
	Jeff stopped short. "WHAT? No! Of course not!" He let 
out a long sigh. "You have a sick mind, you know that?"
	Anne frowned. "Whatever."

	Bob poked his head through the siding glass door that 
led to the back yard. "Pardon me, ladies, but it's time for 
dinner, if you'd care to join us."
	Ada and Felna stopped -- they'd been going at it all 
day with the training, not having taken a single break in 
the past four hours. Ada seemed a little tired, though Felna 
showed no signs of fatigue whatsoever. When they came into 
the dining room, the rest of the family was already seated. 
Ada took her usual seat next to Jeff, while Felna stood 
there expectantly, smiling faintly, until she realized that 
everyone was looking at her (except Jeff, who was polite 
enough not to stare, and Mittens, who was distracted by a 
rather interesting shiny object in the corner of the room).
	"Did I do something wrong?"
	"No! Of course not!" said Bob in his most neighborly 
voice, "Why don't you have a seat?" he added, motioning to a 
chair.
	Felna paused, apprehensively. Jeff glanced at her, and 
could see a mix of emotions play across her face. Tears 
welled up in her eyes, and Jeff sighed quietly. Without any 
warning, Felna ran out of the room.
	Everyone but Jeff (and Mittens) looked on, confused. 
"What was that all about?" asked Amy. Jeff stood up, and 
walked after her.
	He found Felna in the garage, sitting in the bottom of 
her container, tears slowly flowing down her cheeks. She 
looked up at him, and then covered her face.
	"What's the matter?" he asked, trying to sound 
consoling.
	"I--I don't understand this..." she replied, wiping 
away tears. "He asked me to join you at the table..."
	He sat down on the hood of the car, and took a deep 
breath. "I know how you feel." he said at last. It was one 
of those things he never talked about.
	"W-what do you mean?"
	"The-- the first time someone said they wanted to be my 
friend... Well..." He paused, taking another deep breath. 
"It can be hard to accept at first."
	She nodded.
	"But you have to understand that in our family we treat 
everyone fairly and with... love, no matter who they are."
	"But... but... I'm a _bioroid_!"
	He shrugged. "So? Does that mean we have to care about 
you any less? I don't think so..."
	She looked up at him, managing a faint smile, stood up, 
and threw her arms around him. "Thank you." she whispered.
	Awkwardly, he hugged her in return. After several 
seconds, she let go. "I..." She paused, seemingly trying to 
gather her feelings together. "I'll join you some other 
time."
	Jeff nodded. "If that's what you want." He stepped up 
to the door. "If you change your mind..."

	When Jeff sat down at the table again, everyone seemed 
to be looking at him. He frowned. "What is it? Just tell me 
already and knock it off."
	"Well," said Amy, "are you gonna' tell us what 
happened?"
	"No." he said flatly. "Pass the corn."
	Ada picked up the ceramic casserole dish and passed it 
to him. "Will she be all right?"
	He put some of it on his plate, and set down the dish. 
"I think so."
	Anne picked up a piece of chicken with her fork. "Jeff, 
how can you be so blasé about all this?"
	He looked up at her. "I guess I just got used to the 
lesser strange stuff happening. Today's been _REALLY_ tame, 
especially compared to last week when the pan-dimensional 
mutant squids came to town."
	"Too bad they were mercury-based life forms." said 
Mittens. "We could've had calamari." The cat finally 
dislodged the shiny object, a pair of nail clippers, from 
where they were stuck by the fridge, and proceeded to cutely 
bat it around with his paw. "But he has a point. When the 
fantastic happens every day, it sort of loses its edge."
	"Anyway," said Diane, " what do you all plan to do once 
school's out -- it's only a couple of weeks."
	"I'm gonna' have to go to summer school..." said Anne.
	Amy looked at her twin and sighed. "Me too."
	"I think I'll try to spend more time sleeping." said 
Mittens.
	Diane nodded to each reply, and then turned to her son. 
"What about you, Jeff?"
	"I guess I'll get a job this summer." he said flatly. 
"I need to save up some money."
	"Good for you, son!" said Bob, his offbeat conversation 
continuing through the rest of the night.

	Jeff woke up very early the next day -- a Sunday -- to 
the sound of the doorbell ringing and someone knocking at 
the door at the same time. He stumbled out of bed, past 
Ada's futon, and to the door. The knocking and ringing 
continued insistently, stopping the instant he opened the 
door. Before him were three men. Each was exactly the same 
height, and wore a black suit with a black tie, dark 
glasses, and a black fedora. "What can I ..." he paused and 
yawned, "do for you?"
	One of them started to yawn, but another elbowed him 
sharply in the ribs. The third looked at him and said, "We 
have a message for Princess Ada." He handed an iridescent 
crystal to Jeff. "She'll know what to do with it. Good day, 
Jeff Foster." And with that, the three of them left. He 
watched as they got into a black car with black windows and 
chrome hubcaps, and finally closed the door as they drove 
off.
	He looked at the crystal; it was an odd shape, flat on 
one end, and sparkled with incredible radiance and color. He 
staggered back to his bedroom, and found Felna standing 
there, waiting patiently.
	"Good morning." she said pleasantly. "Are there any 
tasks you wish me to perform?"
	He held up the crystal so she could see it clearly. "Do 
you know what this is?"
	Her smile faded slightly. "That is a data crystal. They 
are used to store information by encoding the crystalline 
structure on a molecular level." She took a step closer. 
"May I inquire as to where you obtained it?"
	"Some men came, they said it was for Ada."
	Felna nodded. "Please allow me to begin reading it. It 
may be encrypted, so I would like to have it ready by the 
time she is awake."
	Jeff shrugged and handed it to her. Felna took off her 
jacket, and then began pulling down the top of the swimsuit 
type thing, providing a view of her ample cleavage. "W-what 
are you doing?!"
	She looked up at him. "I am accessing my crystal 
reader. Do you wish me to stop?"
	Jeff faced a different direction. "Um, no... Go on."
	From what he could see out of the corner of his eye, it 
looked like a compartment had opened up in Felna's chest. It 
seemed that perversion was something truly universal, if the 
designer had deliberately made it so that a bioroid would 
have to show off her breasts to use an important I/O device. 
She inserted the crystal into a slot, and it glowed. After 
several seconds, she took out the crystal, the compartment 
closed up again, leaving no apparent seam where it would 
have opened, and she put her clothes back on. "Oh my." she 
said, a touch of fear on the edges of her voice.
	"What is it?" he asked.
	"This could be a very dangerous situation. I must 
inform Ada." Felna knelt down beside her owner, and gently 
nudged her. The Princess stirred a little bit, muttering 
something about anti-matter grenades, and opened her eyes.
	"Oh, good morning." She stood up and stretched, 
yawning. Jeff watched her. Especially in those pajamas -- 
even if they did have little handguns on them -- he had to 
admit she looked rather cute. "What's up?"
	Felna held the crystal up in both hands. "We might have 
a problem."
	Ada blinked. "Where'd that come from?"
	"Some Men In Black came by to drop it off." said Jeff. 
"Would you mind telling us what's on it?"
	The bioroid nodded, and turned to face away from them. 
A glow shot forth from her eyes, coalescing into an image of 
a Man In Black, and a deep, ominous voice sounded to 
accompany it.
	"Your presence on this Class L world will not be 
tolerated." it said, "Leave as soon as possible or be 
destroyed. That is all." The image faded.
	Ada looked at the spot where the image had been for 
several seconds. "How? They got here before us?"
	Jeff looked at her quizzically. "What? Who?"
	Ada turned to face him. "I have to go."
	"Wait a minute, tell me what the heck is going on?"
	She took a deep breath. "We don't know what they're 
called, but these aliens have shown up on a dozen worlds. 
Every time anyone's tried to fight them, they were totally 
destroyed."
	He'd never even considered the possibility of her 
having to leave, and he was quickly realizing that he would 
miss her. "So you're going to have to go home?"
	Ada nodded gravely. "Yes. I'd better get my ship 
ready."
	She walked to the back yard, and to the shed. When she 
opened it, there was a small ship behind the door.
	"When did you put this in here?"
	She paused in reaching for the door's control panel 
"Huh? When I first came here; I had to have a way to get 
home, just in case." She looked at the shuttle sadly. "Guess 
I will be needing it. "After taking a deep breath, Ada 
pressed the command to open the door.
	A fantastic explosion rang out, plastering Ada, Jeff, 
and Felna against the side of the house and obliterating the 
shed.

	Jeff and Ada came to a while later, having been cared 
for by Felna. Ada rubbed her eyes and sat up from the living 
room floor. "What a weird dream..." she muttered.
	"Are you perhaps referring to the data crystal ordering 
you to vacate the planet?" asked Felna.
	"Um, yeah." Ada looked up at the bioroid, slightly 
confused. "How did you know?"
	Felna held up the crystal. "I... um... played it for 
you."
	"Well, I'd better get my shuttle ready..." She paused, 
not sure of what to make of Felna's worried expression. 
"What?"
	Felna gulped, and pointed at the back yard, and 
specifically the large area of singed ground where the shed 
(with the shuttle inside) used to be. "It... blew up."
	"Uh oh."
	"So... what the hell do we do now?" asked Jeff.
	Ada let out a long sigh. Since the day they'd met, 
she'd never failed to be optimistic and cheerful, but now 
there was no sign of her bright smile. "I don't know." She 
turned to face him. "I... I'm scared."
	He paused, not sure of what to say. It was galling, 
that some nutsoid aliens could just come along and demand 
that she leave. It wasn't as though Ada had done anything 
wrong. He made his hands into fists, and considered the 
options.
	"Jeff?"
	"I say we fight back." he said at last. "Whoever these 
guys are, I'm not about to let them mess with our lives. We-
-"
	He was interrupted by a knock at the door. After 
several seconds, the doorbell rang, followed by another 
knock.
	Mittens, resting on the TV as usual, lifted his head. 
"Will you guys just get the door already?"
	Jeff nodded, mentally preparing himself for whatever 
might be waiting behind the inch and a half of plywood. He 
reached for the knob, stopped for a moment when the doorbell 
rang again, and finally opened the door.
	The man who stood there was dressed in a dark suit.
	He frowned. "What the hell do you want?"
	The Man In Black regarded him with a mix of annoyance 
and boredom. "I could care less, sir. I'm simply here to 
deliver a message."
	"Another one?"
	The MiB stopped short. "Anoth--" He paused a moment, 
unsure of what to say. Finally he pulled out a cellular 
phone, pressed an autodial, and put it to his ear. "Jay? 
This is Al. I'm there, but there's a problem. Them are 
active."
	"Doesn't he mean 'they are active'?" Jeff muttered.
	After a few second, the MiB turned to face them, 
putting away his cell phone. "For your own safety, I'm going 
to have to ask you to come with me."
	"What?" Jeff was incredulous. "Why the hell should we 
trust you? How do we know you're not going to take us to 
Area 51 and do experiments or something?!"
	He stopped short. "Um..."
	"Or just kill me or something!" Ada added.
	"Look," he said, "The Men In Black you saw before were 
the _other_ ones. They're the aliens trying to take over the 
world. WE'RE the secret government consp-- agency."
	Jeff raised an eyebrow. "How many kinds of Men In Black 
are there?"
	He paused again, seemingly counting in his head. 
Finally, he shrugged. "Lots. And that's not even counting 
the Black Helicopters... Agh! I've said WAY too much 
already. Come on, we'd better get a move on before Them show 
up again."
	"Don't you mean 'they'?"
	He shook his head. "No. Them. That's the only name we 
know them by. Now come on, there isn't much time."
	Jeff rolled his eyes. "You really think we're going to 
trust you?"
	The MiB shrugged. "You don't have much of a choice." He 
pulled out a device of some sort, and there was a flash.

	Agent J watched as his secretary put the file down on 
his desk and left the room. Only then did he open it, 
breaking the seal labeled "TOP SECRET." He was still unsure 
of just why anyone would put a big garish seal on something 
that was supposed to be a secret, proclaiming it to be such. 
Inside was all the information that had been collected on 
the Nwei Empire. There wasn't a whole lot, and most of it 
was second-hand. But what there was proved to be somewhat 
illuminating.
	The Nwei were a race of conquerors. They followed a 
sort of ethics in this, and, truth be told, by and large 
didn't care too much for actual bloodshed, leading to their 
long-standing tradition of making highly elaborate treaties 
intended to allow martial skill to prevail with a minimum of 
actual combat, as was the case with their long-time rivals, 
the Kaio. And now they had staked claim to Earth, and by the 
terms of their treaty, the Kaio Empire would back them up if 
need be. Moreover, Ada, Second Crown Princess of the Empire, 
was living on Earth.
	She seemed to have been oblivious to the effect her 
presence had had on the world at large. For some reason, the 
city she lived in remained relatively quiet, while many 
major cities experienced riots. Indeed, a theological debate 
of a magnitude not seen in centuries had been sparked by the 
"invasion," and none were quite sure what to make of Ada.
	Her profile was perhaps the oddest part of it all. She 
was trained as a Nwei warrior, and indeed had been somewhat 
successful at that, but was unfailingly good-natured, and 
had decided to live with the teenage earther who, because of 
the Nwei-Kaio treaty and the circumstances of the battle for 
Earth, had become her fiancee.
	As always, Earth was walking a thin line, and Ada might 
just be responsible for upsetting the carefully maintained 
balance that kept the populace ignorant and the world safe 
from one day to the next. But L would bring her here soon.
	"Soon, my dear Ada, we will have you." he muttered. 
Then they could, perhaps, avert the coming disaster. They 
might have to destroy her, but, truth be told, he hoped not; 
given what they'd heard about the Emperor that could very 
well be trading one disaster for another.
	But whatever happened, they would have to take action 
before Them caught on.

	When Jeff came to, he quickly realized that he was in a 
stopped car, with Felna and Ada next to him. In the middle 
of a desert. He had a bad feeling about the whole thing.
	The MiB turned around. "We're here... or nowhere, 
depending on how you look at it. You can get out now." The 
locks on the doors opened.
	Jeff pushed open the door and stretched his legs -- he 
felt like he'd been sitting down for _way_ too long. "Where 
the hell are we?"
	Felna came back on-line, and she and Ada stepped out of 
the car, still wearing her pajamas.
	"Well... I hate to say it, but... Area 51."
	Jeff was incredulous. "You're kidding."
	He shook his head. "Of course not. Come on." A stairway 
opened up, leading into the ground, and he began to descend. 
"Or die in the desert if you prefer. Either way."
	Jeff shrugged. "As long as we don't have to meet Brent 
Spinner or Jeff Goldblum."
	After a short walk down the stairs, the four of them 
were in what looked like some sort of high-tech facility, 
all too much like in a movie. There was protective glass, 
fluorescent lights, metal walls and floors, lots of computer 
monitors, and so forth. They were led right through the 
middle of this.
	At the various workstations, which apparently comprised 
a massive lab or sorts, were all manner of scientists, most 
in white lab coats, and an occasional Man In Black helping 
out, watching, or standing there looking official.
	"What is this place?" asked Ada.
	The MiB smiled. "This is Area 51, where we keep most of 
the aliens that crash land here, as well as the 
administrative authority that deals with new ones that 
arrive."
	Jeff looked at him suspiciously. "And why are you being 
so free with information anyway?"
	He shrugged. "We can erase your memories later if need 
be."
	They stepped through an automatic door, and into yet 
another area of scientists, though many of these were not 
human.
	Ada looked around, not sure of what to say. "Ixans?"
	One of them, light-green and bloblike, yet still 
humanoid in a vague manner, waved.
	"Right first try. They crashed in Florida a while back, 
and decided to stay here, so we made them a part of the 
scientific staff."
	The green one came closer. "Well I'll be! A Mark III 
Type F! I was on the design team for those, you know."
	Felna blinked. "Really?"
	"Look, you can catch up on old times later if we have 
time," said the MiB, "but we have more pressing matters to 
attend to."
	They pressed onwards, through two more labs, until 
finally they came to a spiral staircase, at the top of which 
was an office. The MiB ushered them in, himself waiting at 
the door.
	The office was rather traditional, save for the 
computer on the desk. There was a painting of a lake with 
pine trees on one wall, a number of books arranged on a 
bookcase that covered the back wall, and an assortment of 
other items, not the least of which was a pair of picture 
frames, their contents not visible to anyone's vantage point 
but that of the occupant.
	He was an older man, probably in his fifties or 
sixties. He wore the same black suit with a black tie, but 
omitted the fedora and sunglasses, in favor of a penetrating 
stare that was at least as cold as the mirrorshades sported 
by his minions.
	There were three chairs before his desk, so Jeff sat 
down, and Ada and Felna followed suit.
	"You have no idea how much trouble you've brought us." 
he said flatly.
	Ada looked at him blankly, not sure of what to say. "M-
me?"
	He nodded. "Not directly, but your very presence may 
well be a problem soon. Them are on the move."
	Jeff raised an eyebrow. "Them? Are you sure you don't 
mean 'they'?"
	The old man shook his head. "Them, with a capital T. We 
don't know much about Them, but they're probably the 
greatest threat we've known. We'd been slowly maneuvering 
Them into a checkmate for the past fifty years, and just as 
the trap was about to be sprung, the Nwei and Kaio arrived. 
Since then, everything's fallen apart. Them want you off the 
planet, because as far as they're concerned, it was already 
theirs."
	"But my shuttle--"
	"Was destroyed. Our satellites registered the blast. We 
believe that the *other* other Men In Black, the ones who 
are actually insectoids who feed off of humans, did that."
	Jeff leaned back in the chair. "How many kinds are 
there?"
	"Lots."
	"That's descriptive."
	The old man in black frowned. "The fact of the matter 
is that we don't know. We've identified at least twenty 
different factions using the costume, ranging from aliens to 
government agencies like us, to Chinese immortals, and so 
forth, and we don't know how many of them are still active. 
But to the matter at hand, the Them will come for Ada, 
sooner or later."
	"Well, what can we do?" demanded Ada. "There has to be 
something!"
	"We do not have the means to take you off the planet, 
but we're looking into it, as we might be able to manage 
something from one of our allies. Until then, you're staying 
here."

	Bob opened the door to see a man wearing a dark suit, 
black fedora, black tie, and mirrorshades standing before 
him. Bob smiled as he usually did given the opportunity to 
be neighborly. "Howdy! What can I do for you?"
	The man kept a straight face. "I've come for Ada. Where 
is she?"
	Bob wrapped his hands around his suspenders. "Well, I'm 
afraid I don't really know. The kids went off somewhere this 
morning. Haven't heard from 'em since."
	The visitor's blank expression deepened into a frown. 
"Damn... they've gotten to her already..."
	"Come again?"
	"No, I think not." He pulled out a small box, about the 
size of a walkman, with a red section in its front. There 
was a flash, and the world dissolved into an angry, intense 
red color.

	The three of them were given a living space with three 
beds, an entertainment center built into the wall, and not 
much else. Felna looked around, taking in every detail, 
cataloguing every detail for later reference it seemed. Jeff 
stretched out on one of the beds, while Ada sat down on the 
one next to it. "At least I'm dressed right for here." she 
said half-heartedly.
	Felna spotted something, and pulled down the top of her 
swimsuit-thing, as she'd done before to read the crystal, 
and then pulled a cable out of that same compartment, 
attaching it to a plug next to the video screen.
	"What are you doing, Felna?" asked Ada.
	"I am accessing the mainframe... Its security protocols 
are extensive, and show elements of Ixan design techniques. 
To gain access would require at least five hours."
	Jeff shrugged. "We aren't going anywhere anytime soon. 
Go ahead."
	Felna nodded, and closed her eyes. "I will attempt to 
reduce the time required by devoting as much runtime as 
possible. Press my forehead if you need to reach me."
	Silence followed.

[Note: This scene is done entirely in computer animation.]
	The system was indeed built with an Ixan cyberspatial 
architecture, and thus was compatible with Felna's systems. 
She moved through the digital pathways, not sure of what she 
was looking for. Towers of information loomed everywhere, 
the virtual architecture being highly utilitarian.
	Finally, she chose one which led to satellite 
information. The access codes were complex and encrypted 
many times over, and Felna was glad to find that the 
Emperor, the one who'd purchased her, had opted for the 
additional espionage and hacking skill software. It took an 
apparent eternity to wade through the crystalline data 
structures that obstructed her way, and new ones would 
spring up with each error she made.
	At long last, she came to the command system. The 
interface was simple in design, but the sheer number of 
access points made it a gargantuan data structure, a sphere 
in which, from the center where she floated, the individual 
conduits blurred into a general pattern. Each one led to a 
satellite or other spatial subsystem in orbit. She pulled up 
a search engine, and looked for a surveillance satellite, 
one pointed at their present real-world location -- Arizona.
	It came up with two satellites. She chose one whose 
designation type was unknown, and entered its data conduit.
	The new construct around her was a long, gray corridor. 
Here the virtual architecture, even her own persona, was 
devoid of color. She looked around, searching for an 
observation subroutine. [BGM: Megadeth, "Disintigrators", 
Cryptic Writings track 5] Suddenly, a security program came 
around the corner. Its icon was black and metallic, a 
terrible mechanical beast bristling with geometry cannons. A 
pair of blazing yellow lights came to life, and a prompt 
came up. "INTRUDER -- TERMINATE."
	She stopped, and turned around, but the program 
pursued. It made simulated clanking noises with each step, 
and even though it kept up a steady pace, it somehow raced 
towards her, faster and faster. Polyhedrons flew around her, 
trying to trap her icon in place, probably to perform some 
terrible black IC program on her. The threw what subroutines 
she had available behind her, anything that could slow it 
down, but its pursuit was relentless. She winded through 
corridor after corridor, searching for the conduit that had 
brought her here, but when she at last located it, she found 
that it had been covered by a crystalline mesh of encryption 
protocols. Cornered, there was nothing she could do except 
to log off. But even that was denied to her.

	Felna's body was wracked by electricity and a cry of 
pain rang out. Jeff and Ada sprang towards her. Ada pressed 
on her forehead, but there was no reaction. "I-- it's not 
working!"
	Jeff took a deep breath, and forcibly pulled the cable 
out from the wall.
	Felna went limp. Jeff tried in vain to catch her, but 
she fell to the ground, unmoving.
	Ada looked down and gasped. Jeff regarded the socket 
with a look that conveyed a mix of anger and regret, then 
turned his attention to Felna.
	He wasn't sure just what to do -- this was, after all, 
an artificial life form created on some planet which might 
not even be in the same galaxy -- but checked her vital 
signs anyway. There was a faint pulse, and he realized that 
she was, in fact, breathing, but the breaths were shallow 
and strained, nearly silent. He tried to think of something 
reassuring to say to Ada, but failed miserably, finally 
simply letting out a pained sigh.
	"Will she be all right?"
	Jeff looked into the compartment in her chest -- the 
cable had emerged from it, and he could see the data crystal 
reader, and other parts whose functions he could only guess 
at, and then it wouldn't be a very good guess in that he had 
nothing to base such ponderings on, but for Ada's sake he 
tried to look like he knew what he was doing, if only to 
reassure her. "We probably just need to wait for her systems 
to come back on-line is all." he said, knowing perfectly 
well he was more or less throwing out little more than 
vaguely technical sounding gibberish.
	A light came on in Felna's eyes. It was red, and 
flashed against her pupil. He squinted at it, and made out 
the words, "SYSTEM STARTUP", printed in a serious, blocky 
font, obviously intended to be impassive and technical. This 
was followed shortly by "DIAGNOSTIC SEQUENCE INITIATED." 
Jeff decided not to even contemplate whatever implications 
this might have, since anytime he thought about the 
implications of anything, he invariably disliked the 
conclusions he reached, the most common one being that 
whatever force was supreme in the universe simply liked to 
mess with his mind.
	A brighter light shone in Felna's eyes, forming a 
rectangular hologram that hovered in mid-air. Looking at it, 
they could see a diagnostic display. It showed vital 
functions, power supply, structural integrity, and a host of 
other items obscure to Jeff, but seemingly of great 
importance. Finally, after flashing through a few screens of 
technical information, the thing said: "SYSTEMS AT 72% OF 
NORMAL OPERATIONAL LEVELS. CONDITION AQUAMARINE. UNIT 
FUNCTIONAL - SERVICING RECOMMENDED."
	"Looks like she'll be all right." he said, not daring 
to question fate under the circumstances.
	The hologramatic screen continued. "LOADING DRIVERS." 
it flashed, showing a bar with a percentage above it, 
flashing a thousand filenames in a few seconds. Then it 
said, "DRIVER LOAD 92% SUCCESSFUL. RESTORING CORRUPTED 
DRIVERS FROM BACKUP UNIT... DRIVER LOAD 97% SUCCESSFUL. 
WARNING - UNKNOWN TOXINS PRESENT IN ATMOSPHERE."
	But it was too late. Jeff could feel his head spinning, 
and could see the floor rising up to meet him. And it meant 
business.

	In a distant orbit around Earth, something was immersed 
in its own cyberspace world. The contact had been fairly 
brief, only a few seconds of real-time, but it was a snap to 
determine where it had come from. Somewhere they'd been 
looking for for a long time. And now they had the 
coordinates.

	When Jeff came to, he was in a room similar to, but 
smaller than, the one they'd been in previously. It had two 
beds rather than three, and only he and Ada were in the 
room. She was now wearing a jumpsuit, one typical of her 
usual preferences, rather than her pajamas, and he wasn't 
entirely sure what to make of that, or whether to be upset 
at whoever was responsible.
	For some reason he found himself thinking about Nwei 
fashion. There wasn't much of it. As a race, they wore 
mainly jumpsuits, albeit sometimes with interesting and 
vaguely geometric patterns of various colors on them 
(reminiscent of Star Trek, in some ways) and armor. He 
supposed they had a good sense of aesthetics and such, but 
applied it in a utilitarian -- no, military -- manner. It 
was the power suits and spaceship and guns that had to look 
good, not the clothes themselves in any particular manner. 
Ada had mentioned in passing that her wardrobe, a full six 
jumpsuits and some pajamas, was considered by some to be 
downright indulgent. Her armory, on the other hand, which 
included far more different types of guns than he could hope 
to count, was merely average. He still wasn't clear on the 
difference between a photon gun and a laser, or what a 
tachyon cannon was supposed to do, or, for that matter, she 
had a set of six laser pistols, each of a different color 
and light frequency.
	Ada stirred and sat up, taking stock of their 
surroundings. "Where's Felna?"
	He'd known there was _something_ missing. Only his head 
hadn't quite cleared just yet. Ada, however, was more alert 
-- if Jeff had been at full efficiency for thinking he 
would've reflected that it must have something to do with 
her having two hearts. "Dunno." he managed. "Where're we?"
	The video screen before them came to life, showing yet 
another Man In Black. "We didn't appreciate that, but we'll 
be repairing your bioroid anyway. In the meantime get some 
rest, and she didn't compromise our location. That is all." 
It went blank.
	Jeff decided to lie back down and try to rest. His head 
was still spinning from whatever gas it was that they'd used 
on them, and at that point it seemed best not to resist.
	"What do you think will happen to us?" asked Ada.
	He rubbed at his eyes, which stung a little in that 
certain way they did when he'd awakened a bit too early. "I 
dunno." he replied. "Not much we can do."
	She looked at him in a way that seemed to convey a mix 
of disapproval and disappointment. "You're saying we should 
just sit here?"
	"It's... what's it called... that one philosophy..." 
His thoughts refused to reach full resolution, instead 
remaining grainy and difficulty to read. "Acting in harmony 
with stuff. When the opposition is hard be soft, and vice 
versa."
	Ada blinked, considering the meaning of his 
(incoherent) words.
	"Water flowing and all that." he said, pulling the 
covers over himself.

	When Jeff was again conscious, he was tired, but at 
least the fog that had enshrouded his mind had cleared away, 
replaced instead with a dull throbbing pain of a headache. 
He rubbed at his temples, and looked around, half-expecting 
to see his own room, but he quickly realized that he and Ada 
were in the same room as before he'd gone to sleep. But now 
Ada was asleep. The silence that hung over the room was the 
silence of an empty hospital room, a sterile place made 
devoid of life save for the two of them. It smelled faintly 
of antiseptic.
	He sat there, unsure of what, if anything, he could do.
	In the distance, there was a faint noise. He remained 
still, and just listened. It was like some kind of machinery 
moving, grinding away in the distance. He wasn't sure if it 
had been present before. If not, that left the question of 
why -- what had only now been begun?
	For a long time he sat there, fearful of what might be 
coming. If anything were to happen, he had very little to 
use to his benefit. He'd only barely gotten up when all this 
began, and thus had little more than his clothes on his 
person. That and some pocket lint. So unless he was dealing 
with an adversary to whom pocket lint was lethal, he 
probably was in pretty big trouble.
	It was hard to tell how long he waited, but rather 
abruptly, he heard footsteps. Heavy footsteps, the Robocop 
sort of footsteps that you really don't want to hear coming 
from anything unless it's very much on your side, and even 
then you wouldn't want to be around when it's in action.
	Ada shot to her feet, her combat reflexes apparently 
extending beyond consciousness. "What's that?" she asked no 
one in particular.
	Jeff shrugged nervously, trying unsuccessfully not to 
let his imagination come up with an image to match the 
footsteps. [BGM: Metallica, "For Whom the Bell Tolls" - Ride 
the Lightning Track 3]
	A chorus of guttural noises rang out, like the chirping 
of crickets deepened a hundred times over. After more 
footsteps, there was a metallic clank. Ada listened for a 
moment, then shouted, "GET DOWN!"
	The two of them dove for cover even as the door 
exploded inwards, casting metal and ceramic shrapnel 
everywhere. When it ended, Jeff, his ears ringing terribly, 
peeked up from behind the bed to see that what he had 
imagined was all too close to what stood before them. It was 
a massive insectoid creature, some eight feet tall. An armor 
plated killing machine, two of its limbs had evolved into 
legs, while the other four were powerful arms. On its back 
were massive wings, which rubbed together in intricate and 
thunderous patterns. It insectoid head had powerful, jagged 
mandibles, which seemed to have been carefully designed to 
give the impression that they could easily crush a human.
	Before Jeff or the creature knew what was going on, Ada 
had thrown herself at it, unleashing a barrage of punches 
and kicks before taking its rifle, which looked to be 
entirely too big for her to even lift, and fired off a shot 
at the thing. The rifle -- more like a cannon, really -- 
erupted with a stream of bluish-green energy, which went 
straight through the creature, leaving a gaping hole in its 
thorax. It fell to the floor, greenish fluid spilling all 
over the place.
	"Get the rest of his weapons!" Ada shouted to Jeff.
	It took a moment for him to overcome his abject horror. 
Finally, seeing no other alternative, he told himself that 
it was just a very realistic first person videogame. He 
walked up to the creature and collected ten grenades, a 
pistol, and a beam sword. He found Ada handing him the 
massive rifle and taking half of the grenades, the pistol, 
and the beam sword, and, seeing nothing else to do, he 
followed her.
	They proceeded down the corridor (Level 1). When it 
branched to the side, Jeff looked down the side corridor. He 
saw another of the creatures, and fired off the rifle at it.
	He missed wildly, putting a hole in the wall, and fired 
again, this time hitting the thing in the leg. It fell down, 
crawling towards him, and Jeff fired once more, killing it 
(1000 points). When he turned to see what Ada was doing, he 
found that she was gone. Panicked, he told himself that he 
still had some weapons, and if he was attacked, he could 
just get a medkit later to restore his health to 100%.
	With that delusion firmly planted in his mind, he set 
off down the corridor, presumably in the direction that Ada 
had headed. It certainly seemed that way, since there were 
plenty of dead aliens lying around. Anxious as hell, he 
finally broke into a run, turning down this corridor and 
that, skidding to a halt when he reached a laboratory.
	Here there were a number of Men In Black and scientists 
taking up defensive positions. When they saw him, they 
motioned him over, then hesitated, then motioned him over 
again. An Ixan pulled his eyelid open, and nodded 
approvingly. "What's... happening?" Jeff said breathlessly.
	"Damn Bugs invaded." said one of the MiBs.
	Another added, "Your stupid bioroid accessed one of 
their observation satellites, and it led them right to us. 
Now all we need's for the Them to show up and this day'll be 
complete."
	The thunderous clicking of the Bugs rang out again. One 
of the MiBs threw a grenade. Jeff covered his ears as the 
ear-splitting explosion rang out, instantly killing the 
thing.
	His mind wasn't working at full efficiency, due to all 
the fear and adrenaline and everything going through his 
mind and body, but he immediately thought of Felna. "Where 
is she?!" he demanded, "Where's Felna?"
	The Ixan hesitated. "Lab 5. The repairs are done, she 
just needs to be booted up -- touch her forehead sigil and 
all that. But..."
	"WHAT?"
	"You'll have to go through Section 5, which had been 
completely overrun by Bugs."
	"Which way?!"
	The Ixan pointed to a corridor.
	Before they could say or do anything, Jeff stood up and 
ran down the corridor. After a series of twists and turns, 
he was confronted by one of the Bugs, blocking off the 
entire corridor. He raised the rifle to fire, but it grabbed 
the barrel, easily wrenching the thing out of his grip. Jeff 
pulled a grenade out, and pulled the pin, dropping in on the 
floor.
	It took a moment for both he and the alien to realized 
the significance of what he'd just done, and when they did, 
both tried to run. Jeff was considerably faster, though, and 
dove down a side corridor less than a second before the 
explosion. He could feel a wave of heat pass over him, but 
that was all.
	When he looked again, there wasn't much left of the 
alien (Score: 2000), or his gun. There was, however, a beam 
sword. He picked it up, and flipped it on. A blade of 
crackling orange energy formed. He turned it off, and 
continued.
	After dodging a barrage of fire from those rifles (some 
kind of energy weapon, though he had no idea what sort), he 
dove into yet another lab. [BGM fades] There, on what looked 
entirely too much like a high tech version of a Dr. 
Frankenstein Monster Slab (tm) was Felna. She lay perfectly 
still.
	He came closer, until finally he was standing over her. 
He pressed on the character on her forehead. The same bootup 
sequence he'd seen before began, only this time everything 
was at 100% functioning.
	She opened her eyes. "Jeff? What happened?"
	"You... The terminal was electrocuting you or 
something, so I pulled the plug."
	She nodded. "My systems sustained damage -- due to an 
Intrusion Countermeasures program present in the host I was 
accessing -- but I have been fully repaired now?"
	He nodded nervously. "By the scientists... But we have 
trouble; these insectoid aliens guys found out where this 
place is when you accessed their satellite, and they're 
kinda' attacking this place."
	She looked him over. "I was not aware that you had any 
weapons training?"
	"I don't, but I sorta' got forced into this. I never 
really liked being in mortal danger, you know."
	"Where is Ada?"
	"I don't know. We got separated."
	Ada looked around them. "This sector is not safe."
	"I'm open to suggestions." he said nervously. 
	The paused for a moment. "Follow me."
	She led him down a side corridor, at an uncomfortably 
rapid walking pace. "Where are we going?"
	"There is an armory 200 meters from here. This seems 
the most likely place to find Ada, and even if it is not, we 
will need the supplies."
	In short order they found themselves before a door 
labeled "ARMORY." Felna stood before it. She made her hand 
into a fist, and punched. The door fell inward. Jeff made a 
mental note never to arm-wrestle with her.
	Inside was a plethora of assorted weapons. Felna picked 
up a rifle and grenades for herself, and handed Jeff a 
pistol.
	"Are you sure there isn't something more... 
substantial?" he asked, looking at the puny gun.
	"No. There is far more to that gun than its size."
	Not too far away there was an explosion. Felna, her 
expression growing colder with each passing second, set off 
in the direction of its source. Jeff hurried to keep up, but 
stopped short when he saw her standing before one of the 
Bugs, firing away.
	The creature fell limply to the ground, and she 
continued in a businesslike manner.

	Time had turned into a blur of combat and dead Bugs. 
Felna's effectiveness was downright astonishing. Finally, 
they came to a massive, dark room. Where they entered there 
was a massive metal bridge, over whatever might lie below 
that dizzying height.
	It was quiet, save for the circulation of air. Cold 
drafts of air whispered around the room.
	"Jeff! Felna!" They whirled around to see Ada at the 
far end of the corridor. She started to run towards them, 
but stopped sort when she heard the noise.
	It was thunderous, like a jet engine, yet the pitch 
seemed to vary more. Jeff tried to place the sound, and 
didn't like what it was reminding him of. It was like a 
swarm of bees. *Big* bees. They were the one life form on 
the planet he really couldn't bear to be around. Well, them 
and certain members of the human race...
	[BGM: Alice In Chains, "Them Bones", Dirt - Track 1] 
What landed on the bridge were not bees, but were definitely 
insectoid. Bugs. Six of them landed there, and three headed 
in each direction, half for Ada, half for Jeff and Felna.
	Jeff raised the pistol, hoping it would do _something_, 
and fired.
	It did.
	A wave of blue-white energy formed, rapidly expanding 
from the barrel of the gun. Two of the Bugs simply ceased to 
be. The third one looked at the smudges where his comrades 
had been, then at Jeff. Its wings clicked nervously. At 
least Jeff thought it seemed nervous. Somehow he suspected 
that what was being communicated was along the lines of "Uh, 
guys? I could really use some help here!"
	Jeff trained the pistol on the creature, whose antennae 
started to twitch. ("There's a maniac with a mutual 
annihilation pistol! Help me!")
	There was a long pause. In the distance they could hear 
the sound of Ada kicking abdomen.
	The Bug twittered to no one in particular. ("Excrement. 
I knew this whole thing was a bad idea! 'Oh, let's invade 
Area 51! It'll be fun, and we'll crush our enemies 
completely!' Antlion feces!")
	"I think he's calling for reinforcements." said Felna. 
"Zap him."
	Jeff nodded and pulled the trigger. Or tried to. He was 
struck in the back by something heavy and blunt, easily 
knocking him and Felna off their feet. He was painfully 
slammed up against the railing, as was Felna. He could now 
see what had hit him -- another squad of Bugs had stepped 
out and had whacked him. The apparent leader of the 
newcomers chirped at the one Jeff had been planning on 
zapping. ("Good thing we showed up! You Standard Issue guys 
are useless!")
	The first Bug made a gesture that, to a Bug, expressed 
indignation, though to a human it was more like the antennae 
being crossed to make an "X." ("And you Special Forces are 
always late! It's easier to be useful when you're always 
handling the leftovers!")
	"Okay, who's next!?"
	The Bugs whirled around to see Ada standing there. She 
held one of their tachyon rifles. She brought it on-line, a 
process that looks rather menacing in that it involves a lot 
of lights coming on and a steadily rising electronic sound, 
deliberately designed to be intimidating.
	("A Nwei does not qualify as leftovers.")
	Ada pointed the cannon at them, and smiled the maniacal 
grin of a Nwei warrior (this is, in fact, something they try 
to cultivate, the idea being that, whatever your job is, you 
should enjoy it). "Eat particles!" A stream of blue shot 
outwards from the rifle. The Bugs scattered, though at least 
three of them were struck and killed instantly by the blast.
	Felna grabbed the pistol from Jeff's hand, and leapt 
into the air, firing off two quick shots at some of the Bugs 
who'd taken flight. Ada fired away with the tachyon cannon, 
only rarely missing.
	Jeff watched all this, still a little dazed, and hoping 
none of them had noticed him. [BGM fades, being overcome by 
the Babylon 5 Main Title 3rd Season - Babylon 5 Soundtrack 
Vol. 2, Track 5] Suddenly, he saw one of the flying Bugs 
advancing on Felna from behind. He took a deep breath and 
shouted as loudly as he could. "FELNA WATCH OUT!"
	The bioroid turned around in mid air only to be struck 
with a double-fisted overhead smash from the Bug. She flew 
downwards and, Jeff realized, was falling past the edge of 
the bridge. He staggered along the handrail, holding his arm 
out in the feeble hope that he might be able to catch her.
	It seemed to take an eternity for her to fall. But 
somehow he caught her hand. He held on with every ounce of 
his strength. Below them were whirring turbines, probably 
some kind of generators, which would likely obliterate 
anyone unfortunate enough to fall. A moment of unimaginable 
pain, then oblivion.
	Felna, her cold expression of battle fading, replaced 
by one of fear, looked back up at him. "Jeff!"
	"I'm not letting you fall." he told her, a statement of 
fact, rather than a fragile hope.
	"Forget me... Save yourself!" She glanced down at the 
certain death that lay below, and smiled feebly. "It was a 
short life, but not a bad one."
	"Don't talk like that!" He strained with all his might. 
"You're going to make it!"
	She looked back up at him longingly. "I want to thank 
you for your kindness... I-- I lo--"
	Something heavy struck Jeff in the back of the head. In 
the swirling haze of pain, he could see Felna plummeting to 
the depths below. He lay there. There was nothing he could 
do anymore. The pain welled up inside, searching for some 
outlet. Fate had brought him so many things, but why this? 
If there was a higher power in the universe, how could it be 
so cruel to destroy Felna?!
	All was silent for several seconds.
	Jeff became aware of the sound of the air rushing about 
in the cavernous chamber. Its whirling intensified more and 
more with each passing second, until the roar of the wind 
was deafening. He turned around to get his bearings, to see 
what was going on. An intense white glow had overcome the 
room. Through the blinding haze, he could see, shilouetted 
in the doorway, three spindly figures, their heads 
disproportionately large.
	One word came into his mind. "Them." This was the Them, 
the ones who had brought all of this upon him. He picked 
himself up, and pulled out a grenade, holding it aloft. The 
back of his head throbbed with a dull pain, and his muscles 
ached terribly, but at this point he wasn't about to give 
up. He pulled the pin, and tried to throw the grenade at 
them. At that moment the world was filled completely with 
white radiance, blocking out all sensation, bringing his own 
thoughts to a standstill.

	[BGM: "Achika's Theme", Tenchi Muyo! In Love Soundtrack 
- Track 19]
	It was a bright, sunny day. Jeff got out of bed, 
carefully stepping over Ada, asleep on her futon. He went to 
the window, looking out at the blue sky, touched with 
ribbons of white clouds. In the distance he could hear the 
birds -- sparrows -- singing.
	He walked out into the hallway, and to the kitchen. 
Felna stood there, preparing breakfast. She looked up at him 
and smiled. "I am Felna, a Mark III Bioroid, Type F created 
by the TransNetics Corporation. What is your designation?"
	He paused, trying to assemble his thoughts. "You... 
don't remember me?"
	"2304 Memory Error." she said flatly, then returned to 
her normal self. "I believe my memory core had been 
corrupted. I do not remember you."
	He tried to remember what had happened, what could've 
caused something like that to happen, but could not. "How 
did that happen?"
	She thought about it for a moment. "I believe that 
information was also lost in the event that damaged by 
memory core."
	He looked at the calendar. "Monday?"
	Felna nodded. "Yes?"
	He frowned. Had something odd happened again? "What 
happened to Sunday? You arrived on Saturday, and I remember 
going to sleep after dinner that night..."
	"I do not know. Can you tell me your designation?"
	"I just wish I knew what had happened..."
	Felna stirred whatever she was cooking -- which smelled 
quite good. "I'm afraid I cannot assist you with that. But 
if you are hungry, I can be of help." She set a plate down 
on the table, which had scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, and 
bacon.
	"Um..." He wasn't sure he liked the idea of a servant, 
but then it was nothing he hadn't asked him mother to do in 
the past. Finally, he relented and sat down. It would be 
nice to have a hot breakfast before school for once. 
"Thanks."
	"You're welcome, Jeff."

	Agent L looked out at the Foster residence from his 
black car, and smiled. It looked like things would work out 
all right after all. He pulled out his cell phone, and 
pressed the autodial. "Memory erasure 95% successful. I 
recommend monitoring the household periodically, but that's 
all."

[Fade out. The credits roll to the tune of "Little Light of 
Love" The Fifth Element Soundtrack - Track 1]

ENDNOTES
	Wow! After the almost comic-strip length of the normal 
series (and, as Jeff noted in #14, I've got to start doing 
longer episodes) I finally got the first "movie" done 
(which, for me, is of typical short story length). If you're 
wondering why there's no subtitle to the movie, it's 
basically because I couldn't think of one (partly because my 
initial outline of the plot was so vague), and finally 
decided that it would be just fine if there weren't one.
	In case you couldn't tell, music is important to me. A 
good battle just isn't the same without some pulse-pounding 
music to back it up. Of course, if you know me, you'll 
quickly realize that the selections are reflective of my 
tastes in music (heavy metal/hard rock with a bit of 
instrumental on the side, usually from movie soundtracks). 
And, for that matter, my CD collection. Obviously, you can 
enjoy this without the music, but it wouldn't be quite as 
good. Of course, that's 8 CDs, one of which is a Japanese 
one.
	Anyway, now I can finally move on to the Part Three, 
which will deal with the events of the summer and, 
hopefully, develop Felna more as a character, to be followed 
by Movie 2, to be followed by... well, I don't want to give 
away too much.

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Ewen "Blackbird" Cluney                     blackbird@blackbird.nu
Blackbird's Domain                        http://www.blackbird.nu/
The Official Thrash Home Page          http://thrash.blackbird.nu/
Knight Kevlar of the Immortal Frog        Silver Knight of Mihoshi
              "Be nice to me; I might just develop 
             psychokinetic powers and destroy Tokyo!"
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