<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Was looking through RACC archives for something to</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">read (or reread) and stumbled upon that RAC Challenge</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">folder and then thought to myself that I should really</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">repost these to RACC so those people who weren't around</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">in 1995 can gasp in wonderment over this completely insane</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">series.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">There was some really fun stuff here by various RACC writers</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">like Marc Singer and Rob Rogers. My favorite probably being</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">the issue that Matt "Badger" Rossi wrote.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">So, I'll repost an issue every week or so (unless someone objects).</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">If you can't wait a week for the next issue here's where they</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">are in the archive.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><a href="http://archives.eyrie.org/racc/challenge/Challenge.01/">http://archives.eyrie.org/racc/challenge/Challenge.01/</a></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Here's the first issue by Henry Broaddus -- Enjoy!</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">From: <a href="mailto:franke@ucs.indiana.edu">franke@ucs.indiana.edu</a> (Jerry L Franke)</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.creative</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Subject: REPOST: RAC Challenge! Ch. 1</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Date: 1 Nov 1995 20:52:46 GMT</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">We are counting down to the big *Special Event* wrap-up to the</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">rec.arts.comics Challenge! That was held over the spring and summer. I</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">will be posting (er, reposting) the Challenge! in its entirety at a rate of</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">one chapter per day. The big wrap-up special, authored by many of the</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Challenge! authors, will be posted Dec. 6th (mark your calendars!).</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Henry Broaddus is posting an informational message seperately explaining the</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Challenge! and its history. Look for it at a rec.arts.comics.creative</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">newsgroup near you!</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">And on with the show...</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">==============================================================================</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">RAC Challenge</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Chapter 1: A Fistful of Spandex</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">by Henry R. Broaddus</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">title by Daniel J. Sikorski</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">-------------------------------------------------------------------------------</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">People have often said that the waiting is the hardest part. Dirk Darringer</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">agreed with them at the moment. He agreed in part simply because the confined</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">quarters of a five foot square crate didn't exactly facilitate comfort. He also</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">agreed in part because this abandoned warehouse featured no temperature</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">control--and Dirk wasn't wearing his thermal costume. In truth, however,</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">neither of these were the main reason Dirk hated the waiting. The real problem</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">was that Dirk Darringer was a man of action, and right now he was bored.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">He occupied himself by reconstructing the events which had led him to this</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">crate inside of this warehouse. It had all started with a kid toting a ray gun.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Punks in this city didn't normally mess with anything more sophisticated than</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">switchblades, so the sudden emergence of hi-tech weaponry naturally disturbed</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Dirk. After all, the well-being of the city was Dirk's business. He was its</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">self-appointed protector: Paragon, the Ultimate Man!</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Fortunately that kid had been easy enough to stop. Despite his formidable</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">firepower, he was still relatively unskilled. The five shots he squeezed off</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">before Paragon punched his lights out did little more than to rearrange the</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">garbage cans of an alley. Nonetheless, the thought of such awesome weaponry in</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">the wrong hands sent a chill down Paragon's spine. He had no desire to test his</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">near invulnerability against lasers.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Fortunately for Dirk, the kid scared easily. Paragon offered the boy two</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">alternatives. The first option involved telling Dirk where one obtained an</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">oversized pop gun like that. Paragon promised that the source of the tip would</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">remain anonymous. The boy's other option involved being dragged along for a few</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">of Paragon's missions until the criminal hierarchy of the city began to</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">question the punk's loyalty. It boiled down to a question of whether the kid</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">preferred being a traitor perceived as a loyalist or being a loyalist perceived</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">as a traitor. Like so many of his kind, he chose image over substance. Of</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">course, this pleased Paragon because he knew damn well that the second</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">alternative wasn't really feasible anyway.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Apparently the boy hadn't lied either. Dirk noticed more gadgetry in and around</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">this supposedly abandoned warehouse than one was likely to encounter at a</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">science fair. Although Paragon could not discern the function of the devices,</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">they appeared particularly ominous. Furthermore, the walls of the building</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">consisted of reinforced concrete, an unlikely material for the housing of</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">innocuous freight.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Several days of surveillance indicated a clear pattern of activity at the</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">warehouse. Clients such as the youth he interrogated made nightly visits to the</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">place at 3am. Dirk seriously doubted that they arranged such a time in order</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">not to miss their cartoons. No, there were definitely some shady dealings</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">taking place in the warehouse, and someone was taking measures to prevent</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">anyone from noticing. After all, only two types of people were still awake at</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">three in the morning: thugs and the vigilantes who pursued them.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Still crouched in the crate, Dirk pulled his arm up in front of his face. The</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">light on his watch showed him that it was 2:54am; only six minutes until show</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">time. Paragon adjusted his mask as he began to wonder about a final puzzling</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">detail. Although he had seen young toughs entering and leaving the warehouse,</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">he never saw another party come or go. Who was supplying the criminals, and how</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">did they remain undetected? There was only one way for Paragon to find out.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">That's how he ended up in the crate. As Dirk had suspected, the warehouse saw</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">little to no activity during the day. Breaking in this afternoon had proved to</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">be a relatively easy task. Next Paragon required a central hiding place to</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">eavesdrop from. What could be more convenient than one of the many crates</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">stacked inside? From here Dirk would be able to establish the identity of the</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">second party to the transactions. Paragon had little time to continue reveling</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">in his cleverness, however, before he began to hear voices.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"It time yet?" asked a young voice.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"Couple more minutes," replied a husky monotone.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"It kinda freaks me out the way he handles this. Why don't he just face us in</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">person?" inquired the first.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"For the kinda deal he's givin' us, he can handle this however he wants,"</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">responded the second.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"Yeah, but that's the thing," said the first. "Don't you ever wonder if we're</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">gettin' too good a deal?"</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">At that moment Paragon heard a new sound. The creaking of cables and the</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">straining of pulleys preceded a booming loudspeaker which spoke in a tone</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">familiar to Paragon.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"Good evening, gentlemen," roared the loudspeaker. "Welcome back."</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"What kinda deal you got for us tonight?" asked the husky voice.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"Ah...Tonight is when you finally pay me for what I have given you." observed</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">the loudspeaker.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"But, we already paid you." declared the monotone.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"If you refer to the paltry sum of money I received, I hope that you jest. That</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">was merely a formality. Your true payment comes in the form of a service" said</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">the loudspeaker in a matter-of-fact way.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"What are you asking us to do?" asked the monotone, audibly disturbed by this</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">turn of events.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"Why nothing. You have already performed the service to my satisfaction. You</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">see, you pawns were little more than bait. I knew it was only a matter of time</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">before you brought my quarry to me as you have tonight."</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"I don't think I understand."</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"Of course you don't. It's not your role to understand. The point is that</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Paragon is here now, as I expected him to be. My cameras indicate that he</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">infiltrated this building earlier this afternoon."</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"Paragon!" exclaimed the monotone, even more shaken than before. "As in, the</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Ultimate Man?!"</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Before the conversation could proceed, Paragon burst from the crate, his cover</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">blown. As soon as he arose he saw the source of the creaking cables and</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">straining pulleys--a large screen had been lowered at the front of the</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">warehouse. Projected onto the screen was the source of the voice being</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">transmitted through the loudspeaker...the nefarious Doctor Malevo!</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"Nice to see you again, Doc," shouted Paragon. "I'm honored to see the trouble</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">you took to get me here. You could have just thrown a Tupperware party."</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"And so the Fates once more pit the ultimate man against the ultimate mind!"</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">exclaimed Doctor Malevo. "This will be the endgame, Paragon, for with you out</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">of my way, no obstacles remain to hinder my master plan."</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"Looks like you better check your dictionary, Doctor. The ultimate man includes</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">the ultimate mind! And if you hoped to stop me with these two bozos, I'm</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">surprised you made it past Kindergarten."</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"No, Paragon. I've made special preparations for your demise..."</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">At that point a towering crate near Dirk literally splintered before his eyes.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Where the crate once was stood an impressive robot. It did not look friendly.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"Meet my Malevo-bot, fool! Right now there is only one thing on his mind...a</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">fistful of spandex! Bwahahahahahaha!"</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Dirk wanted to retort. If there was one situation that really angered him it</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">was when maniacal geniuses laughed at him like that. Paragon wanted desperately</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">to say something which illustrated his coolness under fire, but somehow the</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">only word which came to mind didn't really fit the bill. "Uh-oh" was definitely</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">not a remark which demonstrated any level of confidence.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Fortunately he didn't have time to say anything at all, because the giant robot</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">immediately lunged toward him. For a machine so large, it certainly moved fast.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Paragon's heightened reflexes barely enabled him to dodge in time. Dirk issued</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">a swift kick to the back of the android, denting its armor. In response the</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">robot swiveled at the waist and immediately grabbed Dirk around his neck. Like</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">a vice grip the metal hand began to contract.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Paragon dropped to a sitting position, throwing the machine off balance. Then</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">using his momentum to propel his body into the motion for a backwards roll, he</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">brought his legs up into the falling robot's chest plate. With a powerful mule</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">kick Paragon launched the robot into the air, breaking its asphyxiating grip.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">The android impacted against the concrete wall with a loud crash. Nuts and</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">bolts scattered across the room as scraps of metal flew in all directions.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"Looks like I broke your toy," said Paragon defiantly.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"Not a toy, my self-righteous friend," corrected Doctor Malevo. "A diversion!</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">If you look around you will observe that all of the exits from have been</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">sealed. I needed to occupy you during the interval necessary to make this</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">building inescapable. You see, Paragon, this is not a warehouse. It's a tomb.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">The vast majority of devices you saw on both the outside and inside are little</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">more than dressed up explosives.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"Now, my old enemy, as I watch from the safe distance of my broadcasting</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">location, I will detonate those explosives. I will end your meddlesome</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">existence once and for all!"</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">"He's not kidding!" cried the younger of the two toughs as he vainly struggled</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">with a now vault-like door. "We're doomed!"</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Dirk scanned the room. Even in this moment of desperation he had to admire</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Doctor Malevo's thoroughness. Trap doors had concealed vault encasements which</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">now blocked every exit. Dirk supposed that these encasements were made of the</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">same reinforced concrete as the walls. He knew that not even his super-human</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">strength would enable him to force an opening. Dirk saw no windows or vents</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">either.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Doctor Malevo must have perceived Dirk's alarm, because once again he began to</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">laugh. "God, I hate that laugh," said Dirk quietly to himself. Yet at the</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">moment it looked like the sinister cackle would be the last thing that Paragon</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">ever heard.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">-------------------------------------------------------------------------------</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"> * Next issue: Chapter 2: Gunshots and Grapefruits by Daniel Warren</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">-------------------------------------------------------------------------------</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">I admit it--I am truly a bastard. Not only did I not have a cliffhanger to</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">resolve, but Daniel was relatively kind to me with his title. How did I repay</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">such kindness? I did my best to screw over the next author, WarDan. Not only</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">did I leave him with a problematic ending, but I also gave him one very crazy</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">title! Before you heave a sigh of relief because you're not WarDan, just</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">remember that once he resolves this mess in his chapter, he's probably going to</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">be feeling rather vindictive. I hope writer number three is up to the</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">challenge!</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">HB</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">=============================================================================</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">--</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Jerry L. Franke <a href="mailto:franke@cs.indiana.edu">franke@cs.indiana.edu</a></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">Computer Science Dept. Indiana University</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Courier New'">formerly from Florida State University <a href="http://www.cs.fsu.edu/~franke">http://www.cs.fsu.edu/~franke</a></font></div><div><br></div></body></html>