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NUMBER OF LINES: 999 001=Usr:0 Null User 06/30/87 20:34 Msg:0 Call:0 Lines:19 1$If you are in need of help, you need but ask... 2$************************* 10 JUN 90 ************************************** 3$Welcome to BWMS II (BackWater Message System II) Mike Day System operator 4$************************************************************************** 5$GENERAL DISCLAIMER: BWMS II IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INFORMATION 6$ PLACED ON THIS SYSTEM. 7$BWMS II was created as an electronic bill board. BWMS II is a privately 8$owned and operated system which is currently open for use by the general 9$public. No restrictions are placed on the use of the system. As the 10$system is privately owned, I retain the right to remove any and all 11$messages which I may find offensive. Because of the limited size of the 12$system, it will be periodically purged of messages (only 999 lines of data 13$can be saved). To leave a message, type 'ENTER'. Use ctrl/C to get out 14$the ENTER mode. The message is automatically stored. If after entering 15$the message you find you made a mistake, use the replace command to 16$replace the line. To exit from the system, type 'BYE' then hang up. 17$Type 'HELP' to see other commands that are available on the system. 18$************************************************************************** 19$ 002=Usr:1 CISTOP MIKEY 06/10/90 19:37 Msg:5295 Call:29559 Lines:3 20 Obsessed by a fairy tale, we spend our lives searching for a 21 magic door and a lost kingdom of peace. -- Eugene O'Neill 22 ******************************************************************* 003=Usr:368 Nemesis Warlock 06/11/90 10:53 Msg:5296 Call:29564 Lines:3 23 :::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::==== 24 Top o' the Mornin' to ye!! Wake up, it's light in the swamps... 25 :::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::==Zephyr::Obscurity Prime:::::=====:::::==== 004=Usr:131 THE VISION 06/12/90 23:39 Msg:5298 Call:29590 Lines:9 26 ______________________________T_H_E___V_I_S_I_O_N___________________________ 27 28 An old face in a familiar town. 29 I always call this place first when I go on a modem break - it's the 30 best! Is AD (An Astral Dreamer) still around? 31 If so, how are you? Anyway I'll be back again soon. 32 33 _*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*__ 34 005=Usr:352 Katie Kolbet 06/13/90 10:32 Msg:5299 Call:29598 Lines:6 35 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 36 Hey, Vision, Long time no see! 37 How's it going? Ready for the summer? 38 39 Kaitlyn 40 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 006=Usr:368 Nemesis Warlock 06/13/90 11:59 Msg:5300 Call:29601 Lines:108 41 :::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::==== 42 43 * * * 44 45 'Don't let yourself be hurt this time...' 46 'Don't let yourself be hurt again...' 47 'When I Saw Your Face...' 48 49 "Pardon?" Michael turned around, but the Medalic Prophet had slipped 50 between two satin floorboards. "Just as well." 51 Stepping over a discarded toy train and a broken plastic tiara, 52 the man in the green cloak approached themerry-go-round. From his pocket 53 he withdrew a penn with a dinosaur's head on it, and tossed it haphazardly 54 into a midget's mouth. The little man nodded grimly and began twisting the 55 crank made of whalebone. Michael found a seat on a giant grey rabbit. 56 "Pretty close to the center, aren't we?" came a voice from beside 57 him in the two seater. 58 Michael turned to face the young blonde youth that had materialized 59 next to him. "Lyndon! What the hell are you doing so close to Town Hall?" 60 "Having a hard time finding you. You've been here and there and 61 everywhere. The whole place is jumping with Michael Sightings. Tell me true, 62 did you really visit with Number 500 today?" The clocks on the horizon 63 were just beginning to melt, signalling twilight. 64 "Number 500, Big Al, SINAT, Green Saunders, and even a Medalic Prophet." 65 "Yes, I heard him. Topper lad." 66 "Tell me... what do you know of the whales..." 67 There was a long pause, and the midget inserted a beetle into the main 68 pipe of the nickelodeon. "In what context?" 69 "How would they relate to some recurring Symbolism?" 70 "Like?" 71 "Toy trains. A cat's cradle. A golden goblet-" 72 "The Quantier?" 73 "That's the one." 74 "Can't say as I see what the connection between the train and the 75 cradle is, or how it falls back to the whales, but they HAVE been kicking up 76 around here for a long time now... almost as long as Green Saunders has 77 been practicing her hopscotch." 78 "She doesn't look a day over six at present." 79 "True." 80 "Then again, she never did." 81 "True." 82 Michael stopped for a moment to stare at Lyndon's puce medallion. 83 "You still have it..." 84 "In case I ever change my mind." 85 "The obscurities aren't the best place to grow up." 86 "They're not the worst place to grow up." A pink balloon exploded 87 nearby and clown paramedics rushd it to Our Lady of the Worthless Miracle. 88 "I'll take a good time over consistent nothingness any day." 89 "The Door is always open..." An uncomfortable pause. "But you were 90 telling me about the whales?" 91 Lyndon unbuttoned his coat pocket and withdrew a folded orange fan. 92 "Yes. They HAVE been kicking around. There's even talk in some circles that 93 they may attempt to Disrupt the Anglers at Pyrrix A'aaal..." 94 "It'd be an improvement." 95 "How ARE things progressing there now that that dreadful Incident has 96 stopped rippling?" 97 "The field held after all, and everyone seems to have settled into the 98 idea that Pyrrix A'aaal has always been there." 99 "It has." 100 "Temporally." Michael corrected him. "Aesthetics are another story. 101 Trying to convince Guardians of anything is difficult, especially for an 102 Enforcer. But trying to convince them that Innisfall never existed? That 103 takes one HELL of a stasis field." A deck of 53 cards fell into Michael's 104 lap from a passing snail overhead. "And reember, this field stretches out 105 into the obscurities and beyond..." 106 "Has anyone found out?" 107 "A few. Standor and Mukluk know. They were with me when it all 108 happened. I think the Medalic Prophets know... and Michael Day certainly 109 does." 110 "And the whales." 111 "How can you be so sure?" 112 "That's why they're trying to Disrupt the Anglers' plans for Pyrrix 113 A'aaal. Incidentally, where are you right now?" 114 "Corporeally, I'm mucking about in a desert inside one of the Stone 115 Triangles..." 116 Lyndon gasped. "Inside? How did you manage that little trick?" 117 "Being yanked into it by some superior force of unimaginable power 118 and energy helps." 119 "Michael..." Lyndon reached out and allowed his hand to pass through 120 Michael's. "You're fading away. I have two very important things to tell 121 you efore you go..." 122 "Yes?" 123 "Seek the whales. They have the answers that you need. You'll find 124 them at Serling Courthouse. Hurry!" 125 "And?" 126 "The White Tower has risen. The kangaroo rats are dead. Two of 127 them. The ancient desert is falling, and the City nears rebirth..." 128 "No... Possible...?" 129 "When you return, you must seek the Pool! Find the Quantier! And 130 the w-h-a-l-e-s!" 131 Michael felt himself drifting away, through the Conduits, to 132 Serling Square. But even as he fell through the void, a voice was singing, 133 the words made almost indecipherable by Walkman static... 134 135 'This time, last time, night sky, free time...' 136 'Free...' 137 'The toy tiara in the rain, the little whispers went insane...' 138 'I see what you cannot, never will, sound the belle.' 139 'Free...' 140 'The silent tower's ancient rise, so soon...' 141 'I see... new eyes... free mind... free time...' 142 'Free.' 143 'Poolside... outside... sumer... murder...' 144 'The tiny creatures of the sand, their blood is whetting down the land.' 145 'Fireside... Poolside.... outside ... New Eyes.' 146 'Free.' 147 148 :::::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::==Zephyr::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::==== 007=Usr:84 Michael Miller j 06/14/90 10:29 Msg:5301 Call:29611 Lines:6 149 &*&*&*&*'s 150 I'm still here. Lurking ussually. 151 152 An Astral Dreamer 153 &*&*&*&*'s 154 008=Usr:165 Bart Simpson 06/14/90 13:47 Msg:5302 Call:29614 Lines:109 155 696969696969 156 Where George Was;What North's Diaries Tell Us About Bush's Iran-Contra Role 157 By Tom Blanton 158 159 THE MOST enduring puzzle from the Iran-contra affair remains, "Where was 160 George?" 161 162 Then-Vice President George Bush had served as ambassador to China, director 163 of the CIA and head of the Reagan administration's task force on combatting 164 terrorism - altogether as much foreign policy experience as anyone in the Reaga 165 Cabinet and, indeed, more than most. From 1983 to 1986, the Reagan 166 administration's inner circle had debated two high-stakes issues at the heart o 167 the scandal - keeping the Nicaraguan contras supplied after Congress cut off 168 aid, and selling arms to Iran in exchange for hostages. None of the official 169 investigations of Iran-contra implicated Bush in any wrongdoings, but neither 170 did they come to any firm conclusion regarding his precise role in the affair, 171 leaving the field to Bush's claim that he felt he had been "out of the loop" - 172 which he defined as having "no operational role." 173 174 But new material from Oliver North's diaries - released last month as the 175 result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the National Security Archive 176 and Public Citizen - combines with previous evidence to paint a different 177 picture of Bush's role. North's detailed and often cryptic notations - names, 178 meetings, phone calls, action lists - fill in many gaps in the official record 179 and provide added context to thousands of pages of previously declassified 180 documents. 181 182 The diaries provide additional evidence that Bush played a major role in 183 Iran-contra from the beginning: He passed up repeated opportunities to cut the 184 transactions short or at least make President Reagan think twice. National 185 security advisers Robert McFarlane and John Poindexter and their busy aide 186 Oliver North went to Bush over and over, and every time, Bush - ever the passiv 187 vice president - watched the deal go forward without objection. While the 188 secretaries of state and defense were both cut out of the arms-for-hostages 189 deals after objecting to it, Bush attended al-most every key meeting. And in th 190 summer of 1986, at a time when the arms-for-hostages deals were collapsing of 191 their own failures, a Bush meeting with a key Israeli official in Jerusalem 192 seems to have provided the official blessing Oliver North needed to keep 193 dealing. On the day he returned from Israel, Bush met with North - a meeting 194 never acknowledged until the diaries were released last month. 195 196 And there may be more in store, especially on Bush's relationship to the 197 administration's "off-the-books" effort to supply the contras. Poindexter is to 198 be sentenced tomorrow on five Iran-contra felony counts, and a grand jury 199 reportedly is investigating statements made under oath by other high officials, 200 including Donald P. Gregg, Bush's national security aide at the time of 201 Iran-contra and now ambassador to South Korea. 202 203 Bush's story has been that he supported Reagan's 1985 initiative to open a 204 channel to Iranian moderates by selling them arms, that he knew of 205 administration efforts to free American hostages, but that he did not know they 206 were connected until December 1986 - after the scandal broke publicly: 207 208 "I wish with clairvoyant hindsight that I had known that we were trading arms 209 for hostages," Bush told CBS News in March 1987. "I would have weighed in more 210 heavily with the president." 211 212 "If I had known that and asked the president to call a meeting of the NSC, he 213 might have seen the project in a different light, as a gamble doomed to fail," 214 he wrote in his 1987 autobiography. 215 216 "I sensed that we were sending arms. And I sensed that we were trying to get 217 hostages out. But not arms for hostages," he told a 1988 news conference. 218 219 "It never became clear to me, the whole arms for hostages thing, until it was 220 fully debriefed, investigated and debriefed by (the Senate Intelligence 221 Committee on Dec. 20, 1986)," he told ABC's Ted Koppel in 1988. 222 223 In recent months, all questions about Bush's role in the arms-for-hostages 224 deals, the diversion of arms profits to the contras and solicitations of 225 additional contra aid from other countries have been met with a stock response 226 from presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater: "The vice president's role in the 227 Iran-contra affair was completely examined in the congressional inquiry, and we 228 have nothing to add." 229 230 None of the various official investigations - the Tower Commission appointed 231 by Reagan, the congressional Iran-contra committees, the independent counsel - 232 focused on George Bush, apparently because he rarely spoke up in policy debates 233 234 The Tower report placed Bush at more than a dozen key meetings or briefings 235 on the arms-for-hostages deals but noted only one position ever taken by Bush - 236 his concern that "the interests of the United States were in the grip of the 237 Israelis." In the end, the Tower interpretation reserved all its slings and 238 arrows for former White House chief of staff Donald Regan, along with McFarlane 239 Poindexter and North. 240 241 The congressional Iran-contra committees asked only whether Reagan knew; and 242 when Poindexter said "the buck stopped with me," the investigation stopped with 243 him too. Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) explained to a Boston audience in 1988 244 that the committees cared only about Reagan's knowledge of the diversion. If 245 Reagan knew, the committees would have moved quickly to an impeachment 246 resolution; if Reagan didn't know, Inouye said, they would cut the 247 investigation short so as not to weaken the presidency. 248 249 It wasn't until a month after issuing their final report that the 250 congressional committees released "the first evidence (albeit hearsay) the 251 committees have found concerning the vice president's position on the Iran 252 initiative." This evidence consisted of a February 1986 electronic mail note 253 from Poindexter to his predecessor, McFarlane, about the arms-for-hostages 254 trade, saying " . . . .most importantly, President and VP are solid in taking 255 the position that we have to try." Congress asked no further questions. 256 257 But the Poindexter note is no longer an isolated piece of evidence that Bush 258 was a consistent backer of the arms-for-hostages deals. The new North notebooks 259 trial and congressional records and other declassified documents now make it 260 clear that Bush participated in the deliberations over the arms-for-hostage 261 deals from the very beginning. 262 696969696969696969 263 009=Usr:368 Nemesis Warlock 06/15/90 11:32 Msg:5303 Call:29627 Lines:2 264 265 Then Again... 010=Usr:165 Bart Simpson 06/15/90 14:54 Msg:5304 Call:29631 Lines:188 266 696969696969 Where George Was;What North's Diaries Tell Us About Bush's Iran- 267 Contra Role By Tom Blanton (part two) 268 (THE story so far...) 269 THE MOST enduring puzzle from the Iran-contra affair remains, "Where was 270 George?" 271 Then-Vice President George Bush had served as ambassador to China, director 272 of the CIA and head of the Reagan administration's task force on combatting 273 terrorism - altogether as much foreign policy experience as anyone in the Reaga 274 Cabinet and, indeed, more than most. From 1983 to 1986, the Reagan 275 administration's inner circle had debated two high-stakes issues at the heart o 276 the scandal - keeping the Nicaraguan contras supplied after Congress cut off 277 aid, and selling arms to Iran in exchange for hostages. None of the official 278 investigations of Iran-contra implicated Bush in any wrongdoings, but neither 279 did they come to any firm conclusion regarding his precise role in the affair, 280 leaving the field to Bush's claim that he felt he had been "out of the loop" - 281 which he defined as having "no operational role." 282 But new material from Oliver North's diaries - released last month as the 283 result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the National Security Archive 284 and Public Citizen - combines with previous evidence to paint a different 285 picture of Bush's role. 286 (our STORY continues...) 287 The first key meeting occurred on Aug. 6, 1985. According to White House logs 288 Reagan, Bush, Secretary of State George Shultz, Secretary of Defense Caspar 289 Weinberger and White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan heard McFarlane present 290 the first deal - an Israeli-brokered swap of 100 TOW anti-tank missiles to Iran 291 in return for the release of four American hostages in Lebanon. Weinberger and 292 Shultz objected, and Shultz called the deal a "very bad idea . . . just falling 293 into the arms-for-hostages business . . . ." Although the ultimate decision was 294 never documented on paper, Reagan apparently authorized the deal several days 295 later in a phone conversation with McFarlane. The 96 Israeli TOWs went to Iran 296 later in August but no hostages came out. Then 408 more TOWs went in September, 297 and one hostage, the Rev. Benjamin Weir, was released. 298 Neither the Tower Commission nor the congressional committees elicited from 299 any of the participants in the Aug. 6 meeting any memory of Bush's position on 300 the issue. Bush's staff has said he was not present, citing their own records i 301 conflict with the White House logs. Bush, as noted, insists that he did not 302 learn of the arms-for-hostages deal until December 1986, or 16 months later 303 after that meeting. And he has gone largely unchallenged. 304 305 But Bush seemed to tell a different tale to families of the remaining 306 American hostages in Lebanon the following Sept. 20. According to authors Jane 307 Mayer and Doyle McManus, the families were irate that Reagan would not meet wit 308 them and that Benjamin Weir came out alone. Bush, delegated to calm them down, 309 finally pointed at Weir and responded, "We are responsible for getting him out, 310 I don't care what you think." 311 Bush knew enough to claim credit for Weir's release because of the 312 president's daily 9:30 a.m. national security briefing by McFarlane - a briefin 313 also attended by Don Regan and, when he was in town, Bush. Working from notes o 314 these briefings (most likely made by Regan), Bob Woodward and Walter Pincus of 315 The Washington Post concluded in a Jan. 7, 1988, story that Bush had been 316 briefed as many as three dozen times on the arms-for-hostages deals, twice 317 during the September 1985 period of Weir's release. At Thanksgiving that year, 318 Bush sent North one of his ubiquitous thank-you notes, expressing appreciation 319 for "your dedication and tireless work with the hostage thing and with Central 320 America . . . . Get some turkey." 321 322 The next turning point came early in 1986 - 11 months before Bush says he 323 knew of the arms-for-hostages deals. The Weir deal had set the pattern: An 324 original understanding of four hostages for 100 TOW missiles turned into one 325 hostage for more than 500 missiles. A November 1985 shipment of Hawk 326 anti-aircraft missiles went even further off course when the Iranians rejected 327 the missiles as obsolete and labeled with Israeli markings. After McFarlane was 328 succeeded by Poindexter in late 1985, Shultz and Weinberger renewed their attac 329 on the arms deals. But instead of canceling the Iran initiative, Reagan - with 330 Bush at his side in three critical meetings - just couldn't say no. The Israeli 331 brokers would be replaced by an American, Richard Secord, but the deals would g 332 on. 333 334 The key events took place in January 1986. Oliver North recorded in his 335 notebook a series of meetings and phone calls on Jan. 6 and 7 with Israeli 336 operative Amiram Nir, working out the new, more direct arrangements. On Jan. 6, 337 according to the Tower report, Poindexter briefed Reagan and Bush on a draft 338 "finding" that would authorize direct U.S. arms sales to Iran. Reagan signed th 339 document into official policy apparently without noticing it was only a draft - 340 and neither Bush nor Poindexter nor Regan corrected him. 341 342 Jan. 7 began with a National Security Council meeting to debate the Iran 343 initiative. The congressional committee report concluded that while others 344 present did not object, Weinberger and Shultz continued to object to the 345 arms-for-hostage trade. Bush has said he doesn't remember any such opposition, 346 and an aide suggested to one reporter that perhaps Bush was out of the room at 347 the time. Later that morning, according to North's diaries, Bush presented his 348 task force report on combatting terrorism to an NSC sub-group. Bush's 349 introduction to the report, in the published version, stated, "We will make no 350 concessions to terrorists." That had been, and remains, official U.S. policy. 351 352 Jan. 17 clinched the concessions. By this time, the opponents of the arms 353 deals were no longer consulted about the matter. The 9:30 a.m. national securit 354 briefing that day included only the president, Bush, Regan, Poindexter and NSC 355 staffer Don Fortier. Poindexter secured Reagan's signature on a new finding, 356 almost identical to the one he had signed by mistake on Jan. 6. The briefing 357 memo, drafted by North, noted explicitly that "The Secretaries (of State and 358 Defense) do not recommend you proceed with this plan," and that "If all the 359 hostages are not released after the first shipment of 1000 weapons, further 360 transfers would cease." 361 All the hostages were never released, but the deals kept coming. The next 362 American hope for a breakthrough centered on an expedition to Tehran by 363 McFarlane (now a private citizen), North and Nir in May 1986. Before the trip, 364 Bush's only reservation apparently concerned timing - he didn't want his own 365 visit to Saudi Arabia to overlap with McFarlane's to Iran. Afterward, on May 29 366 McFarlane reported total failure to the people who had approved his trip. 367 According to North's notebooks, McFarlane's audience included Reagan, Bush, 368 Regan and Poindexter. Frustrated and depressed by the fruitless talks in Tehran 369 McFarlane signaled what could have been the end of the arms deals, according to 370 North's notebooks: "Catastrophic removal of leadership (in Iran) . . . . No 371 further meetings until hostages come out." Even McFarlane had given up on the 372 initiative, but not North and Poindexter, or more importantly, as it would turn 373 out, Reagan and Bush. 374 Initally, the May 29 group agreed with McFarlane's all-or-nothing 375 recommendation - that there should be no more deals unless all the hostages wer 376 freed. But North and Poindexter, urged on by the Israeli operative Nir, soon 377 concluded the Iranians would never agree to release all the hostages - it would 378 remove all their leverage. The only alternatives were to get out of the 379 arms-for-hostages business altogether, or to deal in a sequence: First some 380 weapons, then a hostage, followed by more weapons, then another hostage, etc. 381 382 The July release of the Rev. Lawrence Jenco gave Poindexter and North their 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 385 Dornan (R-Calif.), just returned from Syria. North wrote that Syrian President 386 "Assad said to tell press that `there wd be good news soon.' " The next day, th 387 Israeli operative Nir called North at 10:15 a.m. with the news that a hostage 388 was to be released imminently; North's "Alert" list included "VP," along with 389 "Shultz," "Weinberger," "Casey" and "Cong Dornan." 390 391 Later that month, as North and Nir waited in Europe for Jenco to arrive, the 392 decided to alert Bush again. At the end of a long list of problems with the Ira 393 deals, North's diary notes "VP trip to Israel" just above the entry, "The longe 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 396 contras, the constant logistical difficulties, the paranoia and secrecy were 397 hard enough. If Poindexter & Co. were to succeed in changing the official U.S. 398 policy from all or nothing to sequencing, they needed as much official blessing 399 as they could get. 400 401 Bush was in Israel, so North called his chief of staff, Craig Fuller, told 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 404 told Fuller anything about such a highly classified program.) After personally 405 calling North, Bush agreed to the briefing, held at 8:05 a.m. on July 29 in 406 Bush's suite at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. Fuller took detailed notes o 407 Nir's presentation to Bush: Nir reviewed the history of the Iran initiative and 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::=====:::::=====:::::=====:::::====