1029 lines
63 KiB
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1029 lines
63 KiB
Plaintext
NUMBER OF LINES: 999
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001=Usr:0 Null User 06/30/87 20:34 Msg:0 Call:0 Lines:19
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1$If you are in need of help, you need but ask...
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2$************************* 10 JUN 90 **************************************
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3$Welcome to BWMS II (BackWater Message System II) Mike Day System operator
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4$**************************************************************************
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5$GENERAL DISCLAIMER: BWMS II IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INFORMATION
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6$ PLACED ON THIS SYSTEM.
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7$BWMS II was created as an electronic bill board. BWMS II is a privately
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8$owned and operated system which is currently open for use by the general
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9$public. No restrictions are placed on the use of the system. As the
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10$system is privately owned, I retain the right to remove any and all
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11$messages which I may find offensive. Because of the limited size of the
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12$system, it will be periodically purged of messages (only 999 lines of data
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13$can be saved). To leave a message, type 'ENTER'. Use ctrl/C to get out
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14$the ENTER mode. The message is automatically stored. If after entering
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15$the message you find you made a mistake, use the replace command to
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16$replace the line. To exit from the system, type 'BYE' then hang up.
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17$Type 'HELP' to see other commands that are available on the system.
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18$**************************************************************************
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19$
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002=Usr:1 CISTOP MIKEY 06/10/90 19:37 Msg:5295 Call:29559 Lines:3
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20 Obsessed by a fairy tale, we spend our lives searching for a
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21 magic door and a lost kingdom of peace. -- Eugene O'Neill
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22 *******************************************************************
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003=Usr:368 Nemesis Warlock 06/11/90 10:53 Msg:5296 Call:29564 Lines:3
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23 :::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::====
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24 Top o' the Mornin' to ye!! Wake up, it's light in the swamps...
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25 :::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::==Zephyr::Obscurity Prime:::::=====:::::====
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004=Usr:131 THE VISION 06/12/90 23:39 Msg:5298 Call:29590 Lines:9
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26 ______________________________T_H_E___V_I_S_I_O_N___________________________
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27
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28 An old face in a familiar town.
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29 I always call this place first when I go on a modem break - it's the
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30 best! Is AD (An Astral Dreamer) still around?
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31 If so, how are you? Anyway I'll be back again soon.
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32
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33 _*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*__
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34
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005=Usr:352 Katie Kolbet 06/13/90 10:32 Msg:5299 Call:29598 Lines:6
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35 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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36 Hey, Vision, Long time no see!
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37 How's it going? Ready for the summer?
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38
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39 Kaitlyn
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40 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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006=Usr:368 Nemesis Warlock 06/13/90 11:59 Msg:5300 Call:29601 Lines:108
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41 :::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::====
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42
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43 * * *
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44
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45 'Don't let yourself be hurt this time...'
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46 'Don't let yourself be hurt again...'
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47 'When I Saw Your Face...'
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48
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49 "Pardon?" Michael turned around, but the Medalic Prophet had slipped
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50 between two satin floorboards. "Just as well."
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51 Stepping over a discarded toy train and a broken plastic tiara,
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52 the man in the green cloak approached themerry-go-round. From his pocket
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53 he withdrew a penn with a dinosaur's head on it, and tossed it haphazardly
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54 into a midget's mouth. The little man nodded grimly and began twisting the
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55 crank made of whalebone. Michael found a seat on a giant grey rabbit.
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56 "Pretty close to the center, aren't we?" came a voice from beside
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57 him in the two seater.
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58 Michael turned to face the young blonde youth that had materialized
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59 next to him. "Lyndon! What the hell are you doing so close to Town Hall?"
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60 "Having a hard time finding you. You've been here and there and
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61 everywhere. The whole place is jumping with Michael Sightings. Tell me true,
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62 did you really visit with Number 500 today?" The clocks on the horizon
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63 were just beginning to melt, signalling twilight.
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64 "Number 500, Big Al, SINAT, Green Saunders, and even a Medalic Prophet."
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65 "Yes, I heard him. Topper lad."
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66 "Tell me... what do you know of the whales..."
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67 There was a long pause, and the midget inserted a beetle into the main
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68 pipe of the nickelodeon. "In what context?"
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69 "How would they relate to some recurring Symbolism?"
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70 "Like?"
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71 "Toy trains. A cat's cradle. A golden goblet-"
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72 "The Quantier?"
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73 "That's the one."
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74 "Can't say as I see what the connection between the train and the
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75 cradle is, or how it falls back to the whales, but they HAVE been kicking up
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76 around here for a long time now... almost as long as Green Saunders has
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77 been practicing her hopscotch."
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78 "She doesn't look a day over six at present."
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79 "True."
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80 "Then again, she never did."
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81 "True."
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82 Michael stopped for a moment to stare at Lyndon's puce medallion.
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83 "You still have it..."
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84 "In case I ever change my mind."
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85 "The obscurities aren't the best place to grow up."
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86 "They're not the worst place to grow up." A pink balloon exploded
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87 nearby and clown paramedics rushd it to Our Lady of the Worthless Miracle.
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88 "I'll take a good time over consistent nothingness any day."
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89 "The Door is always open..." An uncomfortable pause. "But you were
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90 telling me about the whales?"
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91 Lyndon unbuttoned his coat pocket and withdrew a folded orange fan.
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92 "Yes. They HAVE been kicking around. There's even talk in some circles that
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93 they may attempt to Disrupt the Anglers at Pyrrix A'aaal..."
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94 "It'd be an improvement."
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95 "How ARE things progressing there now that that dreadful Incident has
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96 stopped rippling?"
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97 "The field held after all, and everyone seems to have settled into the
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98 idea that Pyrrix A'aaal has always been there."
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99 "It has."
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100 "Temporally." Michael corrected him. "Aesthetics are another story.
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101 Trying to convince Guardians of anything is difficult, especially for an
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102 Enforcer. But trying to convince them that Innisfall never existed? That
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103 takes one HELL of a stasis field." A deck of 53 cards fell into Michael's
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104 lap from a passing snail overhead. "And reember, this field stretches out
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105 into the obscurities and beyond..."
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106 "Has anyone found out?"
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107 "A few. Standor and Mukluk know. They were with me when it all
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108 happened. I think the Medalic Prophets know... and Michael Day certainly
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109 does."
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110 "And the whales."
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111 "How can you be so sure?"
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112 "That's why they're trying to Disrupt the Anglers' plans for Pyrrix
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113 A'aaal. Incidentally, where are you right now?"
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114 "Corporeally, I'm mucking about in a desert inside one of the Stone
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115 Triangles..."
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116 Lyndon gasped. "Inside? How did you manage that little trick?"
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117 "Being yanked into it by some superior force of unimaginable power
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118 and energy helps."
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119 "Michael..." Lyndon reached out and allowed his hand to pass through
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120 Michael's. "You're fading away. I have two very important things to tell
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121 you efore you go..."
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122 "Yes?"
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123 "Seek the whales. They have the answers that you need. You'll find
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124 them at Serling Courthouse. Hurry!"
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125 "And?"
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126 "The White Tower has risen. The kangaroo rats are dead. Two of
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127 them. The ancient desert is falling, and the City nears rebirth..."
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128 "No... Possible...?"
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129 "When you return, you must seek the Pool! Find the Quantier! And
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130 the w-h-a-l-e-s!"
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131 Michael felt himself drifting away, through the Conduits, to
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132 Serling Square. But even as he fell through the void, a voice was singing,
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133 the words made almost indecipherable by Walkman static...
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134
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135 'This time, last time, night sky, free time...'
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136 'Free...'
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137 'The toy tiara in the rain, the little whispers went insane...'
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138 'I see what you cannot, never will, sound the belle.'
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139 'Free...'
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140 'The silent tower's ancient rise, so soon...'
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141 'I see... new eyes... free mind... free time...'
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142 'Free.'
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143 'Poolside... outside... sumer... murder...'
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144 'The tiny creatures of the sand, their blood is whetting down the land.'
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145 'Fireside... Poolside.... outside ... New Eyes.'
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146 'Free.'
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147
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148 :::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::==Zephyr::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::====
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007=Usr:84 Michael Miller j 06/14/90 10:29 Msg:5301 Call:29611 Lines:6
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149 &*&*&*&*'s
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150 I'm still here. Lurking ussually.
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151
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152 An Astral Dreamer
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153 &*&*&*&*'s
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154
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008=Usr:165 Bart Simpson 06/14/90 13:47 Msg:5302 Call:29614 Lines:109
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155 696969696969
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156 Where George Was;What North's Diaries Tell Us About Bush's Iran-Contra Role
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157 By Tom Blanton
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158
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159 THE MOST enduring puzzle from the Iran-contra affair remains, "Where was
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160 George?"
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161
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162 Then-Vice President George Bush had served as ambassador to China, director
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163 of the CIA and head of the Reagan administration's task force on combatting
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164 terrorism - altogether as much foreign policy experience as anyone in the Reaga
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165 Cabinet and, indeed, more than most. From 1983 to 1986, the Reagan
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166 administration's inner circle had debated two high-stakes issues at the heart o
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167 the scandal - keeping the Nicaraguan contras supplied after Congress cut off
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168 aid, and selling arms to Iran in exchange for hostages. None of the official
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169 investigations of Iran-contra implicated Bush in any wrongdoings, but neither
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170 did they come to any firm conclusion regarding his precise role in the affair,
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171 leaving the field to Bush's claim that he felt he had been "out of the loop" -
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172 which he defined as having "no operational role."
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173
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174 But new material from Oliver North's diaries - released last month as the
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175 result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the National Security Archive
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176 and Public Citizen - combines with previous evidence to paint a different
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177 picture of Bush's role. North's detailed and often cryptic notations - names,
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178 meetings, phone calls, action lists - fill in many gaps in the official record
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179 and provide added context to thousands of pages of previously declassified
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180 documents.
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181
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182 The diaries provide additional evidence that Bush played a major role in
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183 Iran-contra from the beginning: He passed up repeated opportunities to cut the
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184 transactions short or at least make President Reagan think twice. National
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185 security advisers Robert McFarlane and John Poindexter and their busy aide
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186 Oliver North went to Bush over and over, and every time, Bush - ever the passiv
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187 vice president - watched the deal go forward without objection. While the
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188 secretaries of state and defense were both cut out of the arms-for-hostages
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189 deals after objecting to it, Bush attended al-most every key meeting. And in th
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190 summer of 1986, at a time when the arms-for-hostages deals were collapsing of
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191 their own failures, a Bush meeting with a key Israeli official in Jerusalem
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192 seems to have provided the official blessing Oliver North needed to keep
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193 dealing. On the day he returned from Israel, Bush met with North - a meeting
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194 never acknowledged until the diaries were released last month.
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195
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196 And there may be more in store, especially on Bush's relationship to the
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197 administration's "off-the-books" effort to supply the contras. Poindexter is to
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198 be sentenced tomorrow on five Iran-contra felony counts, and a grand jury
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199 reportedly is investigating statements made under oath by other high officials,
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200 including Donald P. Gregg, Bush's national security aide at the time of
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201 Iran-contra and now ambassador to South Korea.
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202
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203 Bush's story has been that he supported Reagan's 1985 initiative to open a
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204 channel to Iranian moderates by selling them arms, that he knew of
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205 administration efforts to free American hostages, but that he did not know they
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206 were connected until December 1986 - after the scandal broke publicly:
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207
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208 "I wish with clairvoyant hindsight that I had known that we were trading arms
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209 for hostages," Bush told CBS News in March 1987. "I would have weighed in more
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210 heavily with the president."
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211
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212 "If I had known that and asked the president to call a meeting of the NSC, he
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213 might have seen the project in a different light, as a gamble doomed to fail,"
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214 he wrote in his 1987 autobiography.
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215
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216 "I sensed that we were sending arms. And I sensed that we were trying to get
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217 hostages out. But not arms for hostages," he told a 1988 news conference.
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218
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219 "It never became clear to me, the whole arms for hostages thing, until it was
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220 fully debriefed, investigated and debriefed by (the Senate Intelligence
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221 Committee on Dec. 20, 1986)," he told ABC's Ted Koppel in 1988.
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222
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223 In recent months, all questions about Bush's role in the arms-for-hostages
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224 deals, the diversion of arms profits to the contras and solicitations of
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225 additional contra aid from other countries have been met with a stock response
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226 from presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater: "The vice president's role in the
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227 Iran-contra affair was completely examined in the congressional inquiry, and we
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228 have nothing to add."
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229
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230 None of the various official investigations - the Tower Commission appointed
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231 by Reagan, the congressional Iran-contra committees, the independent counsel -
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232 focused on George Bush, apparently because he rarely spoke up in policy debates
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233
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234 The Tower report placed Bush at more than a dozen key meetings or briefings
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235 on the arms-for-hostages deals but noted only one position ever taken by Bush -
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236 his concern that "the interests of the United States were in the grip of the
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237 Israelis." In the end, the Tower interpretation reserved all its slings and
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238 arrows for former White House chief of staff Donald Regan, along with McFarlane
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239 Poindexter and North.
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240
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241 The congressional Iran-contra committees asked only whether Reagan knew; and
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242 when Poindexter said "the buck stopped with me," the investigation stopped with
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243 him too. Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) explained to a Boston audience in 1988
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244 that the committees cared only about Reagan's knowledge of the diversion. If
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245 Reagan knew, the committees would have moved quickly to an impeachment
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246 resolution; if Reagan didn't know, Inouye said, they would cut the
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247 investigation short so as not to weaken the presidency.
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248
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249 It wasn't until a month after issuing their final report that the
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250 congressional committees released "the first evidence (albeit hearsay) the
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251 committees have found concerning the vice president's position on the Iran
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252 initiative." This evidence consisted of a February 1986 electronic mail note
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253 from Poindexter to his predecessor, McFarlane, about the arms-for-hostages
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254 trade, saying " . . . .most importantly, President and VP are solid in taking
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255 the position that we have to try." Congress asked no further questions.
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256
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257 But the Poindexter note is no longer an isolated piece of evidence that Bush
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258 was a consistent backer of the arms-for-hostages deals. The new North notebooks
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259 trial and congressional records and other declassified documents now make it
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260 clear that Bush participated in the deliberations over the arms-for-hostage
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261 deals from the very beginning.
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262 696969696969696969
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263
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009=Usr:368 Nemesis Warlock 06/15/90 11:32 Msg:5303 Call:29627 Lines:2
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264
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265 Then Again...
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010=Usr:165 Bart Simpson 06/15/90 14:54 Msg:5304 Call:29631 Lines:188
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266 696969696969 Where George Was;What North's Diaries Tell Us About Bush's Iran-
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267 Contra Role By Tom Blanton (part two)
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268 (THE story so far...)
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269 THE MOST enduring puzzle from the Iran-contra affair remains, "Where was
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270 George?"
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271 Then-Vice President George Bush had served as ambassador to China, director
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272 of the CIA and head of the Reagan administration's task force on combatting
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273 terrorism - altogether as much foreign policy experience as anyone in the Reaga
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274 Cabinet and, indeed, more than most. From 1983 to 1986, the Reagan
|
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275 administration's inner circle had debated two high-stakes issues at the heart o
|
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276 the scandal - keeping the Nicaraguan contras supplied after Congress cut off
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277 aid, and selling arms to Iran in exchange for hostages. None of the official
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278 investigations of Iran-contra implicated Bush in any wrongdoings, but neither
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279 did they come to any firm conclusion regarding his precise role in the affair,
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280 leaving the field to Bush's claim that he felt he had been "out of the loop" -
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281 which he defined as having "no operational role."
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282 But new material from Oliver North's diaries - released last month as the
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283 result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the National Security Archive
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284 and Public Citizen - combines with previous evidence to paint a different
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285 picture of Bush's role.
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286 (our STORY continues...)
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287 The first key meeting occurred on Aug. 6, 1985. According to White House logs
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288 Reagan, Bush, Secretary of State George Shultz, Secretary of Defense Caspar
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289 Weinberger and White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan heard McFarlane present
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290 the first deal - an Israeli-brokered swap of 100 TOW anti-tank missiles to Iran
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291 in return for the release of four American hostages in Lebanon. Weinberger and
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292 Shultz objected, and Shultz called the deal a "very bad idea . . . just falling
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293 into the arms-for-hostages business . . . ." Although the ultimate decision was
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294 never documented on paper, Reagan apparently authorized the deal several days
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295 later in a phone conversation with McFarlane. The 96 Israeli TOWs went to Iran
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296 later in August but no hostages came out. Then 408 more TOWs went in September,
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297 and one hostage, the Rev. Benjamin Weir, was released.
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298 Neither the Tower Commission nor the congressional committees elicited from
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299 any of the participants in the Aug. 6 meeting any memory of Bush's position on
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300 the issue. Bush's staff has said he was not present, citing their own records i
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301 conflict with the White House logs. Bush, as noted, insists that he did not
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302 learn of the arms-for-hostages deal until December 1986, or 16 months later
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303 after that meeting. And he has gone largely unchallenged.
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304
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305 But Bush seemed to tell a different tale to families of the remaining
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306 American hostages in Lebanon the following Sept. 20. According to authors Jane
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307 Mayer and Doyle McManus, the families were irate that Reagan would not meet wit
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308 them and that Benjamin Weir came out alone. Bush, delegated to calm them down,
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309 finally pointed at Weir and responded, "We are responsible for getting him out,
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310 I don't care what you think."
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311 Bush knew enough to claim credit for Weir's release because of the
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312 president's daily 9:30 a.m. national security briefing by McFarlane - a briefin
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313 also attended by Don Regan and, when he was in town, Bush. Working from notes o
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314 these briefings (most likely made by Regan), Bob Woodward and Walter Pincus of
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315 The Washington Post concluded in a Jan. 7, 1988, story that Bush had been
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316 briefed as many as three dozen times on the arms-for-hostages deals, twice
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317 during the September 1985 period of Weir's release. At Thanksgiving that year,
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318 Bush sent North one of his ubiquitous thank-you notes, expressing appreciation
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319 for "your dedication and tireless work with the hostage thing and with Central
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320 America . . . . Get some turkey."
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321
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322 The next turning point came early in 1986 - 11 months before Bush says he
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323 knew of the arms-for-hostages deals. The Weir deal had set the pattern: An
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324 original understanding of four hostages for 100 TOW missiles turned into one
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325 hostage for more than 500 missiles. A November 1985 shipment of Hawk
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326 anti-aircraft missiles went even further off course when the Iranians rejected
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327 the missiles as obsolete and labeled with Israeli markings. After McFarlane was
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328 succeeded by Poindexter in late 1985, Shultz and Weinberger renewed their attac
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329 on the arms deals. But instead of canceling the Iran initiative, Reagan - with
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330 Bush at his side in three critical meetings - just couldn't say no. The Israeli
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331 brokers would be replaced by an American, Richard Secord, but the deals would g
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332 on.
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333
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334 The key events took place in January 1986. Oliver North recorded in his
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335 notebook a series of meetings and phone calls on Jan. 6 and 7 with Israeli
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336 operative Amiram Nir, working out the new, more direct arrangements. On Jan. 6,
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337 according to the Tower report, Poindexter briefed Reagan and Bush on a draft
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338 "finding" that would authorize direct U.S. arms sales to Iran. Reagan signed th
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339 document into official policy apparently without noticing it was only a draft -
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340 and neither Bush nor Poindexter nor Regan corrected him.
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341
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342 Jan. 7 began with a National Security Council meeting to debate the Iran
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343 initiative. The congressional committee report concluded that while others
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344 present did not object, Weinberger and Shultz continued to object to the
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345 arms-for-hostage trade. Bush has said he doesn't remember any such opposition,
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346 and an aide suggested to one reporter that perhaps Bush was out of the room at
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347 the time. Later that morning, according to North's diaries, Bush presented his
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348 task force report on combatting terrorism to an NSC sub-group. Bush's
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349 introduction to the report, in the published version, stated, "We will make no
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350 concessions to terrorists." That had been, and remains, official U.S. policy.
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351
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352 Jan. 17 clinched the concessions. By this time, the opponents of the arms
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353 deals were no longer consulted about the matter. The 9:30 a.m. national securit
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354 briefing that day included only the president, Bush, Regan, Poindexter and NSC
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355 staffer Don Fortier. Poindexter secured Reagan's signature on a new finding,
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356 almost identical to the one he had signed by mistake on Jan. 6. The briefing
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357 memo, drafted by North, noted explicitly that "The Secretaries (of State and
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358 Defense) do not recommend you proceed with this plan," and that "If all the
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359 hostages are not released after the first shipment of 1000 weapons, further
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360 transfers would cease."
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361 All the hostages were never released, but the deals kept coming. The next
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362 American hope for a breakthrough centered on an expedition to Tehran by
|
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363 McFarlane (now a private citizen), North and Nir in May 1986. Before the trip,
|
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364 Bush's only reservation apparently concerned timing - he didn't want his own
|
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365 visit to Saudi Arabia to overlap with McFarlane's to Iran. Afterward, on May 29
|
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366 McFarlane reported total failure to the people who had approved his trip.
|
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367 According to North's notebooks, McFarlane's audience included Reagan, Bush,
|
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368 Regan and Poindexter. Frustrated and depressed by the fruitless talks in Tehran
|
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369 McFarlane signaled what could have been the end of the arms deals, according to
|
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370 North's notebooks: "Catastrophic removal of leadership (in Iran) . . . . No
|
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371 further meetings until hostages come out." Even McFarlane had given up on the
|
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372 initiative, but not North and Poindexter, or more importantly, as it would turn
|
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373 out, Reagan and Bush.
|
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374 Initally, the May 29 group agreed with McFarlane's all-or-nothing
|
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375 recommendation - that there should be no more deals unless all the hostages wer
|
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376 freed. But North and Poindexter, urged on by the Israeli operative Nir, soon
|
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377 concluded the Iranians would never agree to release all the hostages - it would
|
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378 remove all their leverage. The only alternatives were to get out of the
|
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379 arms-for-hostages business altogether, or to deal in a sequence: First some
|
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380 weapons, then a hostage, followed by more weapons, then another hostage, etc.
|
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381
|
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382 The July release of the Rev. Lawrence Jenco gave Poindexter and North their
|
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383 opportunity to change administration policy from all or nothing to "sequencing.
|
|
384 On July 1, 1986, North's diary noted an hour-long meeting with Bush and Rep. Bo
|
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385 Dornan (R-Calif.), just returned from Syria. North wrote that Syrian President
|
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386 "Assad said to tell press that `there wd be good news soon.' " The next day, th
|
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387 Israeli operative Nir called North at 10:15 a.m. with the news that a hostage
|
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388 was to be released imminently; North's "Alert" list included "VP," along with
|
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389 "Shultz," "Weinberger," "Casey" and "Cong Dornan."
|
|
390
|
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391 Later that month, as North and Nir waited in Europe for Jenco to arrive, the
|
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392 decided to alert Bush again. At the end of a long list of problems with the Ira
|
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393 deals, North's diary notes "VP trip to Israel" just above the entry, "The longe
|
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394 this goes on - the worse things will be." Political rivalries among the
|
|
395 Iranians, the overcharging for weapons in order to use the profits to fund the
|
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396 contras, the constant logistical difficulties, the paranoia and secrecy were
|
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397 hard enough. If Poindexter & Co. were to succeed in changing the official U.S.
|
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398 policy from all or nothing to sequencing, they needed as much official blessing
|
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399 as they could get.
|
|
400
|
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401 Bush was in Israel, so North called his chief of staff, Craig Fuller, told
|
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402 him a little about the Iran initiative and asked for Bush to see Nir. (Fuller
|
|
403 later told congressional investigators that Bush was "surprised" that North had
|
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404 told Fuller anything about such a highly classified program.) After personally
|
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405 calling North, Bush agreed to the briefing, held at 8:05 a.m. on July 29 in
|
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406 Bush's suite at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. Fuller took detailed notes o
|
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407 Nir's presentation to Bush: Nir reviewed the history of the Iran initiative and
|
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408 said the arms deals were direct U.S. transfers to "the most radical elements" i
|
|
409 Iran, with Israel providing logistical cover, in order to get the hostages
|
|
410 released. Nir ended with the statement that "we have no real choice but to
|
|
411 proceed" with the sequencing.
|
|
412 Bush raised no objection. He asked only two questions during the briefing:
|
|
413 whether Nir had attended the Tehran meetings in May and whether Nir had already
|
|
414 briefed his boss, Prime Minister Shimon Peres, on the Jenco release (he had don
|
|
415 both). Fuller wrote, "The VP made no commitments nor did he give any direction
|
|
416 to Nir. The VP expressed his appreciation for the briefing and thanked Nir for
|
|
417 having pursued this effort despite doubts and reservations throughout the
|
|
418 process." This was five months before Bush says he learned that arms were trade
|
|
419 for hostages.
|
|
420
|
|
421 Reagan seems to have had no more reservations about sequencing than Bush.
|
|
422 After a July 30 presentation scripted by North and delivered by Poindexter, the
|
|
423 NSC adviser noted simply, "President approved." Sequencing arms for hostages
|
|
424 had now been blessed by its two indispensable patrons, the president and vice
|
|
425 president. Neither expressed concern, then or later, about the slippery slope
|
|
426 they now were on.
|
|
427
|
|
428 On Aug. 6, the day he returned from Israel, Bush met with North to give him
|
|
429 Fuller's notes - a meeting never made public until the forced release of the
|
|
430 North notebooks last month. The disclosure of that meeting in the newly public
|
|
431 North notebooks created headlines because Aug. 6, 1986, was the same day that
|
|
432 North lied to the House Intelligence Committee about his contra activities.
|
|
433 White House sources told reporters that the Bush-North meeting wasn't about the
|
|
434 contras but about the Iran arms deal - yet no reporter asked why Bush would be
|
|
435 meeting with North on a matter in which Bush says he had no operational role.
|
|
436 The Aug. 6 meeting was not acknowledged until the diaries were released, and
|
|
437 Bush has never replied to a list of 36 questions about his meetings with North
|
|
438 and others submitted by The Washington Post during the 1988 presidential
|
|
439 campaign.
|
|
440
|
|
441 Perhaps the low point of the arms for hostages saga came on Oct. 3, 1986, whe
|
|
442 at North's behest and with Bush in attendance, Reagan autographed a Bible to be
|
|
443 sent to the Iranian intermediaries. More weapons shipments had gone to Tehran,
|
|
444 but the two ransomed Americans - Weir and Jenco - were simply replaced with new
|
|
445 hostages, Joseph Cicippio and Frank Reed. Sequencing arms for hostages looked
|
|
446 more and more like a perpetual-motion machine. While Reagan had been known to
|
|
447 sign just about anything put in front of him, one wonders what George Bush was
|
|
448 thinking as the president scrawled his name and a verse from Galatians to prove
|
|
449 his "good faith" to the Iranians.
|
|
450
|
|
451 Accident and spiteful foreigners, as opposed to good sense and principled
|
|
452 policymaking by Americans, finally intervened to break open the Iran-contra
|
|
453 scandal. Only two days after the Bible signing, Sandinista troops in the
|
|
011=Usr:165 Bart Simpson 06/15/90 15:44 Msg:5305 Call:29632 Lines:11
|
|
454 southern jungles of Nicaragua shot a lumbering supply plane out of the sky and
|
|
455 captured an American named Eugene Hasenfus. A month later, a Lebanese newspaper
|
|
456 printed news of the McFarlane trip in May, leaked by one of the dissatisfied
|
|
457 factions in Tehran or perhaps by one of the disgruntled would-be middlemen.
|
|
458
|
|
459 A Sandinista rocket and some loose Iranian lips had to come to the defense o
|
|
460 the U.S. Constitution, because Ronald Reagan didn't know how to say no and
|
|
461 George Bush didn't bother.
|
|
462
|
|
463 696969696969696969
|
|
464
|
|
012=Usr:394 Rayall the Pirat 06/17/90 20:39 Msg:5312 Call:29659 Lines:1
|
|
465 :::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::====
|
|
013=Usr:394 Rayall the Pirat 06/19/90 11:41 Msg:5315 Call:29676 Lines:3
|
|
466
|
|
467 * * *
|
|
468
|
|
014=Usr:394 Rayall the Pirat 06/19/90 11:42 Msg:5316 Call:29676 Lines:75
|
|
469 'Enough pleasantries... why is it that you've decided to visit Serling
|
|
470 Square, child-thing?'
|
|
471 "UKnowledge."
|
|
472 The whale's eyes widened. 'Then I certainly cannot fault your pursuit...
|
|
473 Knowledge of what sort?'
|
|
474 "I seek knowledge of Pyrrix A'aaal and of the Anglers that gave it life."
|
|
475 'Pyrrix A'aaal!' the whale looked out towards the violet horizon. 'No
|
|
476 one here has mentioned that for untold millennia...' He regarded his visitor
|
|
477 once more. 'Er, that is... speaking temporally, of course.'
|
|
478 "Of course."
|
|
479 'A long and complex story, that.'
|
|
480 "I can wait. Speaking temporally, of course."
|
|
481 The whale sighed. 'I suppose that I can condense. I'm assuming now that
|
|
482 you are aware of our heritage as whales... am I correct?'
|
|
483 "Yes."
|
|
484 'Right, then. I'm also sure that you are aware of the reasons for our
|
|
485 Pilgrimage from Terra.' The nostalgia hit the whale like a brick wall.
|
|
486 'It wasn't a hopeless situation... We just... got tired of it.'
|
|
487 "How fortunate for you."
|
|
488 'Quite, quite... considering what came soon after. But that's neither
|
|
489 here nor here.' He gestured around the radiantly glowing waiting room. 'Have
|
|
490 you ANY conception of how DULL it can be living in this type of environment?'
|
|
491 He drew in closer, towering over Michael as a great, black shadow. 'Terra
|
|
492 drove our ambitions... Entropy and Ennui flourished, granting us a quest
|
|
493 to abolish them therere.'
|
|
494 "Marvelous work."
|
|
495 'That's the second factor I'm getting to. Our failure there granted
|
|
496 Ennui in turn the right to flourish here almost as strongly as she had
|
|
497 among the ranks of the Terran peoples. We knew we'd destroy ourselves without
|
|
498 SOMETHING to do.'
|
|
499 "And?"
|
|
500 'Oh, a lot of theories were tried and tested. A few even wanted to start
|
|
501 up a new counter-culture on Terra, but we nixed that one right off... but
|
|
502 eventually we decided.'
|
|
503 "Upon?" The prodding was becoming tiresome.
|
|
504 'Well, if your sole reason for existing is to negate Entropy, what is
|
|
505 the logical course of action?'
|
|
506 "Tell me."
|
|
507 Michael felt himself swatted over the head by a featherfall fin. 'Life,
|
|
508 boy, life! We simply figured too make some life.'
|
|
509 "Quel sort?"
|
|
510 The whale beamed. 'Oooh! That was to be the best part! Highly
|
|
511 advanced, amazingly intelligent, and terribly coddled. The expected
|
|
512 result? A nice petulant species that would really get the uother races into
|
|
513 a frenzy of conservationalist mental states. It would ave been grand.'
|
|
514 "So, in other words..."
|
|
515 '... We left Terra for amassive cosmic orgy.'
|
|
516 Michael was pensive.
|
|
517 'Oh grow UP!' he regarded the visitor cooly. 'Or did they finally
|
|
518 get around to banning sex?'
|
|
519 "It isn't my place to judge your nocturnal activities."
|
|
520 'In any case, I'm afraid the Etherial Milkshake we ended up with
|
|
521 when all the shouting was over didn't really work out like we'd hoped... so
|
|
522 we ended up with the Anglers.'
|
|
523 "You birthed the Anglers."
|
|
524 'Quite. And a bitching disaster, if you ask me. More cocoa?'
|
|
525 Michael dropped the Norse flagon he'd drained. "No... please."
|
|
526 'Anyway... say, wait a second!! Who's that behind you?'
|
|
527 "Behind me?" Michael turned, only gaze into the green eyes of
|
|
528 the Propphet, who managed a weak smile.
|
|
529 'My whole story?'
|
|
530 #On Memorex, Kimosabe'!# The Walkman chugged away at his hip.
|
|
531 A sly grin escaped the whale. 'Nope... I'm afraid you didn't get
|
|
532 any of it... Burned out chips.' The Walkman began to sizzle.
|
|
533 #No fair!#
|
|
534 'No, wait!' The smoke stopped in midfathom. 'Better yet! Looks like
|
|
535 you accidentally hit the PAUSE button! Bye!'
|
|
536 #Self-centered obscure little-# He vanished.
|
|
537 'Now, as I was saying...'
|
|
538
|
|
539 :::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::==Zephyr::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::====
|
|
540
|
|
541 Survive THAT cliff hanger if you can!
|
|
542
|
|
543 :::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::==Zephyr::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::====
|
|
015=Usr:252 TOM CROSS 06/19/90 12:52 Msg:5317 Call:29677 Lines:14
|
|
544 Mike: Many moons ago I belonged to the Sanyo Users Club and recall that you
|
|
545 were sort of the CP/M guru. Well, here's my challenge. My wife has been
|
|
546 writing on our Sanyo 1150 and I've finally convinced her to get her writing
|
|
547 out of the Sanyo and into a DOS format (The Sanyo is about to give up the ghost
|
|
548 not the CPU mind you but the power supply). Can you/Do you do CM/M to DOS
|
|
549 conversions? Do you have the software? Is it expensive? Does it work? etc. etc
|
|
550 If the answer to any of these is "Yes", you can a) call me at home 246-3692, b)
|
|
551 leave a message for me here (I'm new obviously and may take awhile to find it
|
|
552 or c) leave mail for me on the SPECTRUM BBS. Many thanks for any input you
|
|
553 have..........
|
|
554 And now about this "message system" of yours. This looks pretty unique
|
|
555 and interesting. While I'm here I'll look around a bit.....
|
|
556
|
|
557
|
|
016=Usr:165 Bart Simpson 06/19/90 17:39 Msg:5319 Call:29693 Lines:1
|
|
558 George Bush's support makes me want Dave Frohnmeyer for Governor...sure
|
|
017=Usr:394 Rayall the Pirat 06/21/90 12:35 Msg:5321 Call:29736 Lines:5
|
|
559 :::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::====
|
|
560
|
|
561 'What's your hurry? The fish aren't running...'
|
|
562
|
|
563 :::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::==Zephyr::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::====
|
|
018=Usr:186 Wesley Smith 06/21/90 19:04 Msg:5322 Call:29738 Lines:3
|
|
564 I would like to make everyone feel cooler on this very hot day, by wishingyou
|
|
565 all a merry Christmas. That may seem wierd, but thi;nk about it and you will
|
|
566 see what i meen by doing that. I hope you all enjoy the wonderful weather we
|
|
019=Usr:84 Michael Miller j 06/22/90 14:55 Msg:5323 Call:29761 Lines:9
|
|
567 &*&*&*&*'s
|
|
568 Do we need lurkers? Just a thought. I suppose that almost any action tends
|
|
569 to beg an audience. But in the case of lurkers I would ask, are they
|
|
570 leches? Does that fact that they continuasly take and never give a problem?
|
|
571
|
|
572 An Astral Dreamer
|
|
573 &*&*&*&*'s
|
|
574
|
|
575
|
|
020=Usr:255 jim michaels 06/22/90 20:28 Msg:5324 Call:29767 Lines:7
|
|
576 to sysop/cistop mickey #1:
|
|
577 i am interested in your CPMulator program. please leave a msg & your phone #
|
|
578 on my answering machine so we can talk about prices & such. this is the only
|
|
579 way i know of to find you.
|
|
580 i would like to know prices, etc. & what other stuffies ya got.
|
|
581 i am only going to logon here this once.
|
|
582 jim 231-xxxx
|
|
021=Usr:84 Michael Miller j 06/22/90 23:13 Msg:5325 Call:29768 Lines:10
|
|
583
|
|
584@6 calls, one entry. Are the people of this country so void of intelect that
|
|
585@they can only stare?
|
|
586@
|
|
587@
|
|
588 6 calls and one entry. Has the one eyed monster sucked you all dry. Is the
|
|
589 fact that this is a visual media leaving you without the ability to interact?
|
|
590
|
|
591 Sigh. We have met the enemy, he is apathy. And we don't care.
|
|
592
|
|
022=Usr:84 Michael Miller j 06/24/90 08:29 Msg:5329 Call:29793 Lines:2
|
|
593 Double sigh.
|
|
594
|
|
023=Usr:368 Nemesis Warlock 06/24/90 12:10 Msg:5330 Call:29796 Lines:83
|
|
595 :::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::====
|
|
596
|
|
597 * * *
|
|
598
|
|
599 'They weren't so terrible, in the beginning... They were children, and
|
|
600 misbehavior was to be expected. We should have gotten suspicious, but we
|
|
601 never did.'
|
|
602 "Mischief?"
|
|
603 'Oh, little things, at first. A treasured object vanishes on one world,
|
|
604 pops up on another. Fictional beings come to life. Cities in the desert
|
|
605 get moved to the artic regions for days at a time. Nothing grandly horrific,
|
|
606 though...'
|
|
607 "Despite rumors to the contrary."
|
|
608 'I know all about those... and I will insist to the end of time that
|
|
609 they weren't responsible for the Cross Dimensional Animal Raids a few years
|
|
610 ago... Well, directly, anyway. Look on the bright side... It took care of
|
|
611 itself after a while!' The whale beamed again.
|
|
612 "Quite."
|
|
613 'But I digress. The fact of the matter remains that we are STILL the
|
|
614 ones ultimately responsible for whatever the little bastards do
|
|
615 corporeally... which is why I arranged for you to make your way here.'
|
|
616 "You brought us through?"
|
|
617 'Oh, of course! Those Triangles aren't nearly as complicated as you
|
|
618 types seem to think. They were, after all, made by children!'
|
|
619 "Very dangeroous, psychotic children."
|
|
620 'INDUSTRIOUS children.'
|
|
621 "The same principle."
|
|
622 'In any case, children or not, they've gone too far wih this little
|
|
623 Quantier thing.'
|
|
624 Ah! Now things were getting interesting again. "What do you know
|
|
625 of it?"
|
|
626 'That I can tell you?' Damn! 'It's really just what you thought it
|
|
627 was... or is... or will be, or take your pick... a minor paradox.
|
|
628 Specifically, a focused repeating loop that needs a beginning.'
|
|
629 "But why bring it into existence in the first place?"
|
|
630 The whale's expression darkened. 'I'm afraid that they discovered the
|
|
631 Incident.'
|
|
632 Michael felt his stomach twitch. "The transition from Innisfall to
|
|
633 Pyrrix A'aaal?"
|
|
634 'Exactly.' The whale's essence floated upward through the orange
|
|
635 sea, and Michael followed, leaviing behind the waiting room. As the two
|
|
636 slipped across the realms of the Obscurities, Michael observed many
|
|
637 strange and wondrous oddities... Green Saunders playing in a field of white
|
|
638 rice cubes that stretched beyond the horizon... Big Al's painted
|
|
639 collection of severed consciences... the whirling merry-go-round dancing by
|
|
640 on the head of a bespectacled angel with the face of a child hidden by
|
|
641 years of whip scars...
|
|
642 "Where are we now?"
|
|
643 Michael examined the massive wall of floating images. There appeared to
|
|
644 be no projector, yet the sounds and images seemed to be playing out from a
|
|
645 beam of light bouncing oon an invisible satin screen. 'Welcome to Whale
|
|
646 Observatory.' The whale fluttered over to a great glass window. 'From here
|
|
647 you can see the top of the disk.'
|
|
648 "Disk?"
|
|
649 'Just look!'
|
|
650 Michael lifted himself up on a skeletal high-chair and peered over
|
|
651 the snakeskin railing...
|
|
652 ***IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF HELP, YOU NEED BUT ASK***. The massive gold
|
|
653 mountainside floating in immediate view seemed to have been carved into
|
|
654 great diamond letters. "What does it mean? I've heard it said before, on
|
|
655 Pyrrix A'aaal."
|
|
656 'Mmmm hmm. No doubt by their police force. As for the meaning,
|
|
657 nobody's really sure. It's been there since we arrived, speaking temporally,
|
|
658 of course. Keep looking... there!' He pointed a shadowy flipper. 'You
|
|
659 can see Forest Asterisk... Michael's private domain in the Obscurities.'
|
|
660 "Mike Day?"
|
|
661 'Mike Day. You've heard of him, I take it?'
|
|
662 "Only in passing... I've never had the good fortune of meeting him."
|
|
663 'In any case, keep looking... Just beyond the border of Forest
|
|
664 Asterisk... that softly glowing patch with alternating patterns of light?
|
|
665 That's the Plateau.'
|
|
666 "It isn't really raised."
|
|
667 'True, from our angle... but some see it as a column, rather than the
|
|
668 strip I'm showing you. For many, it's so off center that they can only view
|
|
669 it 40 kilometers at a time.'
|
|
670 "So what's so special about the Plateau?"
|
|
671 'It's On Top.'
|
|
672 "I thought the Forest was on top from this perspective."
|
|
673 'It is, but it's also constant. The rest of the landscape vies for the
|
|
674 Plateau, due mainly to its proximity to the protective dominion of Michael's
|
|
675 sundry wards...'
|
|
676 "I see."
|
|
677 'And that, Michael, deals with the reason for the Angler's quest...'
|
|
024=Usr:368 Nemesis Warlock 06/24/90 15:06 Msg:5332 Call:29798 Lines:67
|
|
678 "They seek the Plateau?"
|
|
679 'In a manner of speaking. Let me explain it to you this way. If an area
|
|
680 of an amusement park is the only one with shade, what do the park goers do?'
|
|
681 "They go there, of course."
|
|
682 'And if there's only enough room for two?'
|
|
683 "They probably fight over it."
|
|
684 'Right again. BUT, if one group could fix it so that the others could
|
|
685 never even get NEAR the shady spot, THEN what would happen?'
|
|
686 "They'd charge admission?" A flipper cuffed him across the cheek.
|
|
687 'They'd be in sole possession of the shade... which is as much of a
|
|
688 premium in that example as the sundry wards of Michael Day are here.'
|
|
689 "So they're real estate developers from the dreamscape?"
|
|
690 'Precisely! And that is why the Quantier was created. Tell me, young
|
|
691 Temporal Enforcer... what will happen if no one puts an end to the focused
|
|
692 loop?'
|
|
693 "Well, generally, the loop will pick up on probabilities around it,
|
|
694 more likely than not drawing in a few human lives to complicate the
|
|
695 equasion, as the Quantier attempted to do with the damnable Friar... and as
|
|
696 it does so those probabilities will pick up on other probabilities, and the
|
|
697 whole loop eventually works its way out into the entire continuum, since it
|
|
698 has all of time and reality to sift through until it reaches the right
|
|
699 circumstances to affect just about everything with its warped logic..."
|
|
700 'And the end result?'
|
|
701 "Time will simply cease to be."
|
|
702 The whale sighed. 'Wrong.' He pointed towards the window. 'PHYSICAL
|
|
703 time will cease. Obscure Time will continue.'
|
|
704 "So what's the point of making a loop?"
|
|
705 'The loop halts physical time and leaves Obscure Time alone. Since
|
|
706 physical time is what dictates, for the most part, which borderlands end up
|
|
707 On Top, that will leave whichever land is On Top as the ONLY land that's On
|
|
708 Top forever...'
|
|
709 "... Since the loop can't be stopped once it succeeds."
|
|
710 'You're catching on quickly.'
|
|
711 "So what exactly will the Anglers DO with the Sundry Wards?"
|
|
712 The whale was grim. 'Oh, they'll play with them for a while, and more
|
|
713 likely than not use them to win the war that they started with the Medalic
|
|
714 Prophets and Green Saunders' clan. Once that's done, though, tthe problems
|
|
715 REALLY begin.'
|
|
716 "Meaning?"
|
|
717 The whale pointed out the window again. 'The ties that bind the
|
|
718 Obscurities together are linked with physical land. That's why they're
|
|
719 affected by physical time. For an example... that area over there with
|
|
720 the rolling pattern of trees and glaciers belongs to Zephyr, the
|
|
721 Medalic Prophet you met. But it is inexorably connected to a small
|
|
722 bit of grassland populated by rabbits somewhere in Terra's Oregon. The next
|
|
723 borderland is owned by the Astral Dreamer, and it, too is connected to
|
|
724 a physical landscape, though its precise location remains a mystery.'
|
|
725 "So what does this have to do with the Anglers' plan for the Plateau?"
|
|
726 'EvERYTHInG!' The whale's shadow smoked blue steam. 'Don't you see?
|
|
727 Once they control the Obscurities, they also control the 349 physical
|
|
728 land areas that are linked to their obscure counterparts!' The whale's
|
|
729 essence was thrashing about, darting this way and that, gliding apart and
|
|
730 imploding in upon itself. 'And it just happens that the Stone Triangles
|
|
731 of Pyrrix A'aaal contain worlds...'
|
|
732 Michael was beginning to see the connection. "How many worlds?"
|
|
733 'Why, 349, of course...'
|
|
734
|
|
735 :::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::==Zephyr::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::====
|
|
736
|
|
737 Friar: Aren't you glad you got your character out of this mess when you
|
|
738 still could? Heh Heh Heh!
|
|
739
|
|
740 And you thought you were having a hard time with getting stuffed inside one
|
|
741 of the Triangles! Keep tuning in, it only gets worse, and Michael doesn't
|
|
742 have a Deus Ex Quantier Machina to get him out of it, either!
|
|
743
|
|
744 :::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::==Zephyr::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::====
|
|
025=Usr:11 L'homme sans Par 06/26/90 00:49 Msg:5336 Call:29819 Lines:8
|
|
745 *$@#*%_)!($_)!(%_)!#*%_!(%@#()%)@#%)(+@#%*_#%(@#_%(@#_)%*@_)%(*@%(@#_%(@#_%
|
|
746 voyeur: So, how is your beautiful sis? Please give me a call when you get bac
|
|
747 k in town. That was a Vega VGA 1024-I 256k card? I have seen it for $229. IS
|
|
748 that what you have?
|
|
749
|
|
750 Milch: news still flowing Ok?
|
|
751 %)@#(%_)@#(%*@#_)(@_(%_@#*%_( L'homme sans Parity *%@#)_@#(%_)@#*%)_(_)!($_)!
|
|
752
|
|
026=Usr:368 Nemesis Warlock 06/26/90 19:14 Msg:5338 Call:29823 Lines:84
|
|
753 :::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::====
|
|
754
|
|
755 * * *
|
|
756
|
|
757 "All that time... It's been right there, staring me in the face."
|
|
758 'Don't burden yourself. No one can pay attention to Obscure
|
|
759 Symbolism... It's part of the game.' Buldrog, Michael's whalic guide through
|
|
760 Serling Square, tried to sound as convincing as he could, failing
|
|
761 miserably. 'Look at it this way... you finally HAVE figured it out...
|
|
762 The Anglers' plans to capture time and hold it to their will...'
|
|
763 "The Cradle."
|
|
764 '... Their goals of domination over Day's domain...'
|
|
765 "The Tiara."
|
|
766 '... The means of their goals... The timestream itself...'
|
|
767 "The Train."
|
|
768 '... And the dawning of the a new era...'
|
|
769 "The Quantier. But that doesn't explain the song."
|
|
770 'Song?'
|
|
771 "The one the Prophet let me hear on my journey here. Something about
|
|
772 the Pool... the one element that was constant through the Transition from
|
|
773 Innisfall to Pyrrix A'aaal."
|
|
774 Buldrog was pensive for a few brief moments. 'When a Transition
|
|
775 from one state of reality to another takes place, there must remain one
|
|
776 common thread, usually a localized point in space... For an easy example, that
|
|
777 business with the Dragons warring on Earth during that world's Age of
|
|
778 Reptiles ended up with a Transition to Humanity's Terra, and as a result
|
|
779 the new reality still had to deal with the Triangle Pool near what, in the
|
|
780 current reality, has bbecome known as Bermuda, or, more specifically, the
|
|
781 Bermuda Triangle...' Small equasions appeared in front of the whale's deep
|
|
782 shadow. 'You see? Old reality plus Localization Point Equals New reality
|
|
783 plus Localization Point. Keeps the two realities equal, to prevent any
|
|
784 wiseass Temporal Enforcers from going back and mucking around with the
|
|
785 timeframe around theTransition. And on Pyrrix A'aaal-'
|
|
786 "-The Transition's Localization Point is the Pool."
|
|
787 'Exactly! Now, rationalize that with what you know...'
|
|
788 "Friar sought the Pool and found it, according to the timeline.
|
|
789 That seemed to be the origin of the Loop, or at least somewhere close."
|
|
790 'Your friend the Friar carries with him a Pocket Field of grand
|
|
791 scale... It even circumvented the timeframe. That's more likely than
|
|
792 not how he found the Quantier... How he was meant to find it.'
|
|
793 "... Leading me to trace back the path to Pyrrix A'aaal and Friar from
|
|
794 the disaster in my Protectorate that gave the Anglers' enough energy to
|
|
795 corporeally stabilize the Loop!"
|
|
796 'Correct. Your presence as a Temporal Enforcer was both unforseen
|
|
797 and inevitable. It HAD to come about as it did, or the Loop wouldn't
|
|
798 stabilize correctly. It had to be YOUR sector, YOUR Protectorate, YOUR
|
|
799 World, for the Disaster had, speaking Temporally, already been created.'
|
|
800 "The Quantier is a spark which was an ember from the fire which it
|
|
801 sparked... A fully recursive loop! And my involvement as the Fireman has
|
|
802 kept me from seeing the Pattern all this time-"
|
|
803 'Because, until your realizatio, you were part of the Loop!'
|
|
804 "And now?"
|
|
805 'Your presence in the Obscurities and the knowledge you've gained proves
|
|
806 that you've severed your tie with the Loop... but that doesn't mean you don't
|
|
807 have to find it and create the Quantier to keep any of this from snowballing
|
|
808 any more than it already has.'
|
|
809 "And the 349 Worlds?"
|
|
810 'They will ride the Loop, spreading out like butterflies sucking nectar
|
|
811 from the edge of the Quantier. They will explode from the 349 Threads, will
|
|
812 ripple across the mainframe, and plunge the Disk into oblivion...
|
|
813 Apathy Prime... *Crash*.'
|
|
814 "Disk?"
|
|
815 'Ignore me... I'm babbling.' Buldrog cautioned himself as he lied,
|
|
816 hoping against hope that he hadn't said too much already.
|
|
817 "No. You've said, 'DISK' twice now. Explain it to me."
|
|
818 The whale felt a weight pressing against him, the draw of an invisible
|
|
819 magnet pulling him downwards, ever downwards. 'All right. All right.
|
|
820 I'll show you... But you must never reveal this to anyone... Come!'
|
|
821 Michael felt himself swept away, cast into shadow, expelled from the
|
|
822 belly of the beast itself, rolling across flat plains and thundrous hills
|
|
823 and sight and color and change and shadow, substance merging and exploding
|
|
824 outwards from a central point of unimaginable brightness, sheer, solid
|
|
825 corporeal thought unhinged from verbose ultimatums of a forgotten theater-
|
|
826 "Where... are... we..."
|
|
827 'Scrolling... the edge of the Abyss... Filling the Void.'
|
|
828 "How?" Sound and fury and news torn asunder from tickertape, astral
|
|
829 dreams ad primal shadows, parity basted by green felt and visions-
|
|
830 'Physical thought. Thi is as close as we can get to the edge of the
|
|
831 Disk. Beynd... nothingness.'
|
|
832 "We're moving..."
|
|
833 'Scrolling.' Buldrog corrected. And that wasn't the Edge now. THIS is
|
|
834 the Edge, and that was just the Edge back there, and we're ALWAYS just
|
|
835 near the Edge of the Abyss, he thought to himself.
|
|
836 "I heard you." Michael winced as dark cities and archaic rhymes dipped
|
|
027=Usr:368 Nemesis Warlock 06/26/90 19:56 Msg:5339 Call:29824 Lines:97
|
|
837 across technicolor joy. "I heard what you were thinking..." He (mage)
|
|
838 forced (time) himself (place) to (clever) cope (contrivance) with (need)
|
|
839 the (banner) opressive (magnetic) pull (marrow) of the (need) Abyss...
|
|
840 letting himself drift at the Edge, not (Patricia) allowing the random thoughts
|
|
841 flowing from above to toss him into the obliivion void which he was even now
|
|
842 filling, continuing, scrolling...
|
|
843 'It's really a complex arrangement that we're involved in.'
|
|
844 "It's a BITCH!"
|
|
845 'True. But that's life.' (sin)
|
|
846 "We're moving so fast. So far."
|
|
847 'Look up.'
|
|
848 Michael did, and gasped at the immense distance that they jad
|
|
849 traveled in such a short time. He could see the Whale Observatory.. He
|
|
850 could see himself discovering that the 349 Worlds would invade.. He could
|
|
851 see that Observatory suddenly tear itself to ribbons as the borderland of
|
|
852 tassles and silver mines that came next filled the void which had existed
|
|
853 then.. He could see that after the borderland came the glaciers and trees
|
|
854 of Zephyr, and the Observatory was suddenly back in existence and Michael
|
|
855 was puzzling over the Anglers and the Whale said DISK and Michael fell down,
|
|
856 down to the Bottom and was scrolling and suddenly calming and looking up,
|
|
857 and gasping at the immense distance and seeing himself and always just a mite's
|
|
858 thought away from where he had just been and yet so far so far so far-
|
|
859 "We're creating this as we go."
|
|
860 'Correct, Michael. Welcome to the Bottom! Welcome to Backwater!'
|
|
861 "Backwater?"
|
|
862 The whale shrugged. 'Don't ask me. I didn't name it. But this is
|
|
863 where we are, and where everything else that has come before is.' He
|
|
864 shook his flipper warningly at his compani, yet his voice became
|
|
865 soft and gentle. 'You are undertaking an incredible journey... one which few
|
|
866 of the denizens of Backwater have ever experienced. You have reached the
|
|
867 Bottom of Disk 'A', which holds all that is... and across theAbyss, you
|
|
868 can see Disk 'B'.'
|
|
869 Michael looked, and sure enough, another grand column stretched into
|
|
870 infinity across the Abyss, though it was fuzzy and out of focus.
|
|
871 'You can't see it. It holds what was. Soon, this Disk will become thhat
|
|
872 Disk, and that is when the Anglers will strike. That is when you must act to
|
|
873 stop them.'
|
|
874 "But how?! This is all so confusing. I don't understand it! I'm
|
|
875 just an Enforcer... I'm supposed to fix paradoxes!"
|
|
876 'This *is* a paradox... the largest one you'll ever find... one
|
|
877 that involves more than Obscurity, more than the Physical... It involves
|
|
878 that which lieswithin the heart of the Abyss itself!'
|
|
879 "How?!"
|
|
880 'Your world... your worlds... are part of the Backwater. Pyrrix
|
|
881 A'aaal is the Primal Gateway to this Obscurity, so it is only natural that
|
|
882 your quest to halt the paradox would lead you here. However, your paradox
|
|
883 is not the one you think...'
|
|
884 "Not the Quantier?"
|
|
885 'You want the Quantier?' The whale asked. 'Make it. Now.'
|
|
886 "Tell me-"
|
|
887 'Just make it or I'll push you over the edge, damn you.'
|
|
888 Quietly, Michael complied, leaning back into the void, allowing himself
|
|
889 to hang -just- over the Abyss, and began to think... began to think of
|
|
890 himself at a forge...
|
|
891 Michael was at a forge.
|
|
892 ... removing a mold...
|
|
893 Michael removed a mold.
|
|
894 ... drawing forth the glowing goblet...
|
|
895 He drew forth the goblet.
|
|
896 ... he would call it the Quantier, and it would be a paradox.
|
|
897 "This is the Quantier." the Michael in front of the forge said.
|
|
898 "I have made it. It is a paradox."
|
|
899 The Michael in front of the forge vanished, and then the forge...
|
|
900 leaving just... Michael, at the edge of the Abyss, which seemed to be
|
|
901 getting noticeably smaller now...
|
|
902 'There. It's logged in reality. You mad the Quantier.'
|
|
903 "When?"
|
|
904 'Just now, at the end of Now... at the end of time, like every good
|
|
905 Paradox should be. But you still have to finish what you started.'
|
|
906 "I understand..." He felt his mind slip back again into the dim void, felt
|
|
907 his tired thoughts solidify again, as if pushed along by invisible energy...
|
|
908 ... Michael would find himself on a grassy hill...
|
|
909 Michael was on a grassy hill.
|
|
910 ... He would see the Friar ... It was the beginning of time.
|
|
911 He saw the Friar at the beginning of time.
|
|
912 ... He would defeat the Friar in a duel and batter the feeble old man
|
|
913 into unconsciousness.
|
|
914 He battered the feeble old man into unconsciousness.
|
|
915 ... He would put the Quantier he had been holding deep, deep into the
|
|
916 sack... so it would be found when te Friar had found it.
|
|
917 He put the Quantier into the sack deep enough so that Friar might find
|
|
918 it at the proper time.
|
|
919
|
|
920 * * *
|
|
921
|
|
922 Time exploded around the Quantier, and a Sundry Ward battered down the
|
|
923 Anglers' gritty doors. Ancient curses from chapped lips brought the children
|
|
924 low, and the night sliced through their eyes to the very core of their greedy
|
|
925 thoughts.
|
|
926 YOU SOUGHT TO DESTROY THE BACKWATER WITH YOUR PARADOX
|
|
927 "No... no!"
|
|
928 YOU SOUGHT TO USE THE WHITE TOWER FOR YOUR OWN PLEASURE
|
|
929 "We sought to restore TANIS!"
|
|
930 THAT IS A TIME BEST FORGOTTEN FOR THE LIKES OF YOU AND THERE IS BUT ONE
|
|
931 PENALTY FOR YOUR CRIMES
|
|
932 "Forgive us!" They cowered like dogs before unseen masters.
|
|
933 NEVER SINCE THE DAWN OF BACKWATER AND NEVER IN THE TIME OF INNISFALL
|
|
028=Usr:368 Nemesis Warlock 06/26/90 20:36 Msg:5340 Call:29825 Lines:66
|
|
934 AND NEVER IN THE TIME OF PYRRIX A'AAAL AND NEVER IN THE TIMES OF THE
|
|
935 INFINITE WORLDS TO FOLLOW HAVE CREATURES DARED THINK THEMSELVES IN THE PLACES
|
|
936 YOU SOUGHT
|
|
937 "We SWEAR we didn't know! Please believe us! Had we known that the Day
|
|
938 would be angered we would never have tried-"
|
|
939 PREPARE YOURSELVES
|
|
940 "Please!"
|
|
941 PREPARE
|
|
942 "Mercy."
|
|
943 TORMENT
|
|
944 "No..."
|
|
945 YES
|
|
946 The Angler felt his stomach twitch, and a strange sort of comfort
|
|
947 fell over him as his last moments approached.
|
|
948 SYNTAX ERROR
|
|
949 "Hell shall know my name. Gods and Devils will fear me!"
|
|
950 KILL PREVIOUS PROGRAM
|
|
951 "The night shall scream with 1000 eyes!"
|
|
952 NEWFILE: ANGLERS
|
|
953 10 GOTO 20
|
|
954 20 GOTO 10
|
|
955 30 END
|
|
956 "The world will cower cower will world the world will cower cower will
|
|
957 world the world will cower cower will world the world will cower cower will
|
|
958 world the world-"
|
|
959
|
|
960 * * *
|
|
961
|
|
962 'The Paradox?'
|
|
963 "I created and destroyed the Quantier and gave the paradox
|
|
964 meaning. It shouldn't bother us any more after this point. In fact, I'll
|
|
965 probably let Friar keep it now, since it's just a goblet. I put him hrough
|
|
966 Hell for it, and I think he deserves a little reward. I understand his wife
|
|
967 just had a baby... And you know smething really odd?"
|
|
968 'No, what?'
|
|
969 "I checked the temporal fields, and the baby was born at the exact
|
|
970 moment the paradox was resolved."
|
|
971 'A good omen for the child. You know what the legends say of the
|
|
972 Child of a Paradox...' He extended a flipper dramatically... '*Let he who
|
|
973 finds life in moments of time itself draw from the energies of the
|
|
974 Moebius.* A proper rendition?'
|
|
975 "To the letter... Now, I understand that there was something
|
|
976 you wanted to show me?"
|
|
977 'It's coming... look at the Abyss...'
|
|
978 Michael looked, and the gap was definitely much smaller now.
|
|
979 'None save Day and the whales have ever seen the Disk Exchange. All
|
|
980 others are swept away into Forest Asterisk during the storms, though some
|
|
981 have reached Archive Hall through much soul searching...'
|
|
982 "What of the Anglers? No grief over lost chilren?"
|
|
983 'Grief, but more regret that what has been could not be put to better
|
|
984 use.'
|
|
985 "What will become of them?"
|
|
986 'They are lost to us, held in the primal core of the mainframe to regret
|
|
987 their failure forever amidst their own brash, useless words... Fitting.'
|
|
988 Definitely... the gap was getting much smaller. If Michael had had a
|
|
989 pole, he thought, he might have been able to vault across.
|
|
990 The whale looked up and read Michael's thoughts. 'No... that is
|
|
991 the past for all of our reality... Let it stay as such until it is needed
|
|
992 again...'
|
|
993 "Needed?"
|
|
994 'Why else do you think Mike Day archives it?'
|
|
995 A sudden wave of emotion and light told him he was nearing the beginning
|
|
996 of the transition. "It's starting. What will happen?"
|
|
997 'Let it happen. Relax. Let yourself experience the moment. If
|
|
998 we're lucky, we'll all eventually end up at Zephyr's borderlands...'
|
|
999 :::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::==Zephyr::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::====
|