From: elf@halcyon.com (Elf Sternberg)
Newsgroups: alt.sex,alt.sex.stories,alt.sex.furry
Subject: Journal Entry 184 / 0916  [ Travellogue, Day 2 ]
Date: 22 Apr 1996 14:07:06 GMT
Organization: Pendor, UnLtd.
Lines: 448
Message-ID: <4lg3qa$jjl@news.halcyon.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: coho.halcyon.com

Seren, Urim 13, 0916

    "Morning!"  The word made him jump.  He turned to find Jofuran 
standing behind him in a blue denim jumpsuit, the kind with the 
zipper that ran all the way down.

    "Hi," he said.

    "Hey, don't act so down," she said.  "We'll kill these guys."

    "Think so?"

    "We're the good guys, remember?  Pure of heart and intention, 
ready to knock down the bad guys as they come up.  Maybe we should 
go to the clothier and get some white hats."

    Nickolai smiled; she seemed to have this talent for making 
people feel better.  Or did it just work on him?

    "Got your card?" he asked.

    "Right here," she said, handing him her character card for this 
session.  Printed on it were her present combat qualifiers, and 
from the looks of things she was pretty good.  He handed her his 
card.

    She whistled.  "Lioness S1-A?" she said.  "You like the 
expensive ones, don't you?"

    "It's only play money."

    "But how long did you have to sit in a simulator to get that 
much play money?"

    Nickolai nodded and said, "A long time.  Your mech's not so 
cheap either, y'know.  SDC Ogre?"

    She smiled and said, "I've never piloted anything except a 
KenWood Suicide Death Commando since I found the SDC Special, and 
I'm not likely to change now."

    "But they're so expensive to repair!"

    "That's what makes them fun.  I once had an SDC Whizzer."

    "You mean the 25 ton Mech with a 20ton Autocannon and the 
ammunition in the head?" She nodded.  "Now that's a crazy mech."

    "Not really.  It's a great arena mech.  Think about it.  I 
mean, nothing in the 20 to 35 ton weight class can survive more 
than one or two AC20 rounds, and the head is so hard to hit I never 
had to worry about ammo explosions.  It cleans up in the arena."

    Nickolai nodded and climbed into his simulator.  It was a long 
day.

              -               -              -

    "Furry?" he asked.

    She looked up from the gargantuan antipasto she had ordered.  
"Hmm?"

    "Were you making a pass at me last night?"

    Jofuran's ears lay back along her head and her nose grew a 
little darker; a blush.  "Uh-huh," she acknowledged.

    He thought back to the article that claimed Pendorians were 
"indiscriminate."  "How come?"

    She shrugged.  "I like you.  Do I need another reason?"

    "Well, why?" he asked.

    "What do you mean, 'Why'?"

    "I don't understand."

    She shrugged and said, "Cruises are supposed to be romantic.  I 
used to read romance novels a lot when I was on Earth; I really 
like the ones that were set on far-off worlds and things like that.  
And the historical ones are great, too.  But I guess when I got on 
board I was looking for someone to spend some time with, and an 
excuse to get away from my parents.  When I was in Israel I didn't 
have much fun; Homo Sapiens still views furries, even their own, 
with a little suspicion." She paused.  "I really like the digs, 
y'know?  The archeological sites where I get to see things that are 
actually older than Shardik Castle, or D'Tangent Arcology.  
Traveling over to Cairo or seeing the pyramids, thinking about the 
thousands of people it took to build all that stuff by hand.  But I 
didn't have many friends."

    "So, why me?" he asked.

    "It's almost annoying that you're as famous as you are, Kolya, 
'cause I like you just the way you are.  You handle a mean mech.  
And you're the first human to act like I'm not weird."

    Nickolai smiled, but inside he was both thrilled and frightened 
by what she was saying.  "Well, maybe that's because I'm weird," he 
said.

    "Having a mother doesn't make you weird, Kolya," she said.  "I 
guess it's because you don't know me."

    "Why would that change anything?"

    "Oh, I don't know.  I guess..." she let it trail off.  "Look, 
let's just be friends, okay?  Let's mechslaughter those bastards 
tonight and then we'll see."

    "Okay," he said.  He dug into his meal, hoping that she 
wouldn't notice the slight disappointment on his face.

              -               -              -

    Nickolai slid into the cockpit and closed the door, strapping 
himself in.  He pushed the 'NETWORK' button and specified who his 
teammate was and who his opponents were.  After a few seconds of 
waiting, the words "ALL AGREED" appeared on his screen.  The 
mission status board came up next, and he read it to make sure it 
was at the agreed setting.

              -               -              -

    Environmental Difficulty: 5

    Random Terrain, Random Weather.  Full Weather Degrade for 
Terrain Effects.  No Satellite Coverage.  Line of Sight Combat 
Only.  No Modifications to Combat Effectiveness.

    Mission Objectives: Destroy All Enemies.

    Mission Objectives of Enemy: Known: Destroy All Enemies.

              -               -              -

    The worst kind of battle.  He smiled; it was also his favorite 
kind of battle.  The words "Dropping" came on his screen, and there 
was a sudden perceived lurch; the gravitics in the simulator kicked 
him around in his chair a bit.  The screen cleared, and he swore 
violently.  "Snow!" he said into his mic, cueing the green button.

    "I see it," Jofuran said.

    "And that's about all you'll see, slime," the voice of their 
opponent said.  "Wait until you die.  And that's all the talking 
you two get to do, either."

    Nickolai smiled.  It was an old trick to tape down the red 
button on the mic, thus jamming the enemy's radio communications.  
The trouble with this technique was that the person doing the 
jamming couldn't hear his own people, either.  Both he and Jofuran 
had been playing this game enough to know ways around it.

    I:tell:you:he:do:that:he Jofuran signed to him, her mech's 
fingers dancing over the faceplate.

    Not:surprise Nickolai agreed.  
We:talk:when:we:see:we::but:he:deaf:he.

    Jofuran's mech nodded.  They headed out across the snow 
carefully, taking their time in case a patch of ice presented 
itself to the mechs' ponderous feet.  

    A bolt of light from his left side caught his attention as 
Jofuran signaled him with a laser.  He turned to see her point the 
left arm of her SDC Ogre and release an AC10 shell downrange.  Her 
other hand signalled 10:10:H.X.  The last two letters were a 
recognizable snap of the mech's wrist.  He took the cue and 
programmed in the coordinates she indicated, releasing a full salvo 
of LRM20's to the hex she had indicated.  The scream that came over 
the radio was gratifying.

    "Hey, you two shouldn't be able to talk to each other!  How'd 
he know where to hit?"

    Jofuran dropped into a full run, and Nickolai joined her, 
making for a ridge of hills that might well give them a full view 
of the range on the other side.  As they ran, the other enemy mech, 
an older-model Lion, appeared in the sky, opening fire as it did 
so.  Missiles snaked toward Jofuran, and Nickolai cursed.  "Eat 
this!" he said, firing the LRM20's without bothering to recalibrate 
for flying targets.  His missiles snaked passed the flying mech 
without much effect, and he swore again.  He rethought his attack 
and began bringing up the Particle Cannon when the mech he was 
targeting on flared and dropped from the sky.  He laughed aloud.

    They made it to the backside of the ridge.  What:? Jofuran 
signaled.

    He:... Nickolai cursed.  Sign was an inaccurate language 
compared to Anglic.  
D.E.V.I.A.T.E.D.F.R.O.M.C.O.N.T.R.O.L.L.E.D.F.L.I.G.H.T, he 
signaled.  You:O.K.?.

    She nodded, running the second and third finger over the front 
of the faceplate.  I'm laughing, she was saying.  He:stupid:he.

    Nickolai agreed, bringing up a fist and rocking it.  Yes:. You: 
ready:you?

    Yes:.  They assaulted the hill together, climbing it as fast as 
they could.  When they reached the summit, Nickolai heard another 
curse over the radio.  

    "I don't know how you two are talking to each other, and it 
doesn't matter.  You're still dead."  Nickolai looked down to see 
the Lion that had fallen out of the sky still crawling to it's 
feet, and the other mech, which he now identified as a Slice'N'Dice 
100, heading towards them at full run.  The Slice opened up with 
it's lasers.  Nickolai brought up his AC20 and fired, hitting the 
target.  A leg hit!

    Indicators on his tactical showed that the Slice was going 
mostly after Jofuran; he couldn't understand why, he was the better 
target.  Jofuran replied by popping the weather covers off her 
Short Range Missile Rack Sixes and sending four fast waves 
downhill.  It took Nickolai less than a second to realize that they 
had just barely holed his left leg, but none of the missiles had 
done any critical internal damage yet.

    The cannon was reloading; he racked the LRM20 and sent them 
downstream as well.  Sixteen struck home!  There was an incoherent 
scream of range as the Slice was staggered.

    A rain of LRM20's struck Nickolai's mech in response.  The Lion 
had its chest weapons active.  He cursed again, but was thankful 
the Lion hadn't fired anything really major.

    A blue bolt of light struck him square in the chest, and his 
cockpit lights blinked in response.  "Homygod," he said.  That was 
no standard Lion to be packing a Particle Cannon.  He brought up 
his own PPC and fired back; it was a painful thing to do; the heat 
was extravagant.  But it was also dramatic, and it took none of his 
precious ammunition.  Missing, he cursed and kicked at the command 
console.

    "Gotcha, pet," he heard over the radio.

    The Lion lurched back into the sky, flying toward him at high 
speed.  He brought the AC20 to it, calibrated, and issued the fire 
command.  The Lion struck his Lioness almost simultaneously with 
the cannon fire, and the gravitics went wild, dizzying him as the 
display spun about.  The Lion was so close he couldn't fire the 
critseekers he would have used after a PPC/AC20 combo.

    He punched at the enemy mech, and his own mech came back "WRIST 
ACTUATOR DAMAGED, RIGHT HAND."

    "Damn!" he swore again.  Now he might not be able to use some 
of the signals he and Jofuran had agreed on.  He opened up with the 
chain guns; they were cheap, fast on the recycle, and they worked 
only at point blank range.  But work they did.  And since they 
filled all seven remaining hardpoints, they were almost as 
effective as an LRM10.

    The Lion rolled away, trying to get out of the hail of depleted 
nuclear core that streamed past it.  Nickolai rose and kicked at 
it, and it went over the edge of the hill, rolling.  There was an 
indignant grunt.

    Nickolai looked up to see Jofuran's mech down on one knee, a 
hole visibly rent in the right leg.  Nickolai found her target, the 
Slice'N'Dice, and fired the LRM20 rack, hoping to even the odds.  
He succeeded.  A series of small explosions went off in the Slice's 
legs as a missile found its way in to an ammunition hold.  The leg 
was critical; the Slice wouldn't stand up much longer.  The PPC was 
recycled; he could risk a heat of 2200.  He fired.

    The shot went wide, and Nickolai ducked back out of sight to 
avoid any return fire, circling the far side of the hill to come up 
on Jofuran from that side.  His heat display was screaming in 
blinking red lights, and the fusion plant suddenly read "OFF LINE."

    "NO!" He screamed as his mech went into a barely controlled 
fall.  He argued with the controls, and brought it into a crouch; 
it wasn't a complete fall, and it wouldn't take a complete action 
to come back online, either.

    His Lioness-S1a had eighteen heat sinks.  Almost as soon as he 
had the mech in a controlled crouch the fusion plant read 
"FUNCTIONAL."  But what kind of fire was Jofuran taking in the 
meantime?

    He ran around the hill to find Jofuran still kneeling, plugging 
away at the Lion with the AC20.  The Slice was nowhere to be found.  
The heat of the run was minimal; he released another salvo of 
LRM20's.  The Lion's arm exploded.  The explosion traveled to the 
shoulder, which promptly exploded on its own.  The torso followed 
suit, a blinding white-hot light that Nickolai instinctively 
shielded his eyes from.

    "Furry!" he shouted, running towards her mech.  She'd been 
close; close enough to take heat effects from the enemy mech's 
engine popping it's bottle.

    He waved his hand in front of her faceplate.  You:O.K.?

    Warm:me:inside:, she signed.  But:O.K.

    He smiled.  Where:S.N.D.:where? he asked.

    Know:not:, she replied.

    Can:you:walk:you?

    Not:want:, she replied.

    He nodded.  We:wait:we:here.

    Yes:.  Nickolai could almost hear her say "Uh-huh!"

    The end of the battle was anticlimatic.  They waited, and 
finally the computer ruled "Enemy Mech One had retreated.  Mission 
50% successful."

    "He ran away," he said into the microphone, now that the 
jamming effect was gone.

    "Did you really think he was going to stay and fight?  You're 
almost untouched," she said.

    "That's because you took all the heat."

    "Yeah, the SDC's aren't known for their armor.  Come on, let's 
do maintenance."

    Nickolai dropped his electronic persona off at the electronic 
factory and crawled out of the simulator.  Jofuran was standing 
next to it, waiting for him, a huge smile on her face.  "We did 
it!" she said, hugging him.

    "Where'd they go?"

    "They weren't here when I got out.  I guess they didn't even 
bother to do maintenance.  Just took their cards and left."

    "They'll be back, y'know."

    "Aw, I know.  They're part of the tour, and they'll probably 
show up somewhere," she said.  "But they've got bloody noses now.  
They'll just be a nuisance from now on."

    He smiled and looked down at her.  Her big black eyes were wide 
and happy, and he hugged her close.  "I hope so."

    "Kolya!" he heard a voice in front of him.  He looked up; his 
mother was standing in the door of the arcade.  He started grinding 
his teeth again.  "Kolya, come here, now!"

    "Just a second," he said to Jofuran.  He turned and walked to 
where his mother stood.  She stepped back into the hallway.  He 
followed; she pushed the door to the arcade shut.

    "Kolya, I came down looking for you because you missed lunch 
and I wanted to make sure you were eating, and I find you in the 
arms of that, that creature."

    "She's called a Markal, Mother, and she's a friend."

    "Friends don't touch each other like that, Kolya.  What have 
you been doing with her?"

    "Nothing, Mother."

    "Don't tell me that, Kolya.  Stay away from her; you never know 
what she could do to you.  She could be a telepath, Kolya.  She 
could have SANS."

    "Mother, SANS is curable now.  Besides, Pendorians don't get 
SANS."

    "Do you know that for certain, Nickolai?"

    "Mother..."

    "No, Nickolai.  You will listen to me.  You will stay away from 
that... I can't even call her a girl.  That creature."

    "Try calling her Jofuran, Mother.  And I'm not going to stop 
seeing her just because you tell me so.  She's the only person on 
this entire ship I can talk to."

    "I just saw four boys your age leaving the arcade."

    "Those assholes?"

    "Kolya!  Watch your language."

    "Mom, those kids were threatening to beat Furry up.  They're 
not the kind of people I want to call friends."

    "Kolya.  I'm telling you for your own good.  Stay away from 
her."

    "Or what?  You'll lock me in my room?  Spank me?  C'mon, Mom, 
I'm older than that.  I think I can make my own decisions on who I 
talk to."

    "Kolya, things are only now coming out about the kind of 
perversions Pendorians do.  I don't want you getting caught up in 
that."

    Nickolai sighed and said, "Look, Mother, I'm stuck on this trip 
for the next sixteen days.  Don't try to separate me from the one 
person I've found this whole trip to talk to."

    "Kolya, listen..."

    "No, Mother, you listen to me," he snapped, starting to get 
angry.  He decided to play his last card.  "I'm old enough to make 
my own decisions.  But until I'm eighteen, I have to put up with 
you.  Just remember that when you try and advise me."  It was a 
rehearsed speech, and it sounded like it.

    "Kolya!"

    "Mother, I don't like saying that.  But I like Furry, and I'm 
not going to tell her that I can't see her."

    "Kolya, I have done my best to raise you as a moral, 
responsible adult.  I don't want you getting into trouble."

    "And I'm not going to, Mom.  I'm just trying to enjoy my 
vacation."

    "Okay, Kolya, have it your way.  I'll be here when you come to 
your senses."  She turned and swished out of the room, her long 
cape trailing behind her.

    "Hopefully, that will be never," he muttered under his breath.   
He turned to enter the arcade, searching for Jofuran through the 
glass as he opened the door.  She was nowhere to be found.

--
"Journal Entry 184 / 0916  [ Travellogue, Day 2 ]"
The Journal Entries of Kennet R'yal Shardik, et. al., and Related Tales
are copyright (C) 1989-1995 Elf Mathieu Sternberg.  Redistribution of
this work for profit is reserved to the author.  Redistribution by
portable media (CD-ROM, floppy, paper, etc.) is expressly forbidden.
Any redistribution must include this copyright notice intact.
--
Elf Sternberg            FUCK THE CDA!       (Cohen vs. California, 1971)
elf@halcyon.com          Nos numerus sumus et fruges consumere nati.
Public key available     http://www.halcyon.com/elf/index.html