From: ratner@owlnet.rice.edu (Logan Joshua Ratner)
Subject: Joy to the World
Date: 21 Jun 93 22:07:22 GMT

Ok, this is little more than a joke.  The idea came to me, and so
I put it in print.  It gave me a smile, so maybe some of you will
enjoy it.

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The street was a mess.  That's the only wortd for it, a mess.  He
looked for a harsher word, but none seemed to fit.  Mess...

Anything that looked like it might have sheltered a man was shot-up,
torn down, or ripped open.  He'd never seen a trash dumpster ripped
open before.  In other circumstances he'd be impressed.

Then there were the bodies.  Two of those cultists, and his drummer looked
dead.  "Damn," he thought to himself, "where will I get another real
drummer in this day and age."

The remaining cultists were huddled near the alley.  Already the loose
alliance between them and the band was desolving.  With their 'common
enemy' in about twelve pieces, there was no reason for them to work
together anymore.

Damn that borg had been big, too.  Where it got some of that shit,  he
figured he'd never know.  That kind of cyber was supposed to be a
myth.

Not that it mattered, anyway.  Damn little of it was even salvagable,
now.  Not that he really wanted any of it, anyway.

The appearant leader of the warrior-messiahs holstered the gun he'd
been using so effectively, and walked over to the band.

"I know we don't see eye to eye, but we worked well together, today.
Will ye join us in a song before we part ways?"

He gave a pained smile, and answered, "Sure."  As he started to
unstrap the 60cal from his electric guitar, he asked, "what song?"

"Well," the lay-priest answered, "we were thinking 'Joy to the World.'
If that's alright with you?"

"Sure he answered, we know that one."  Turning to his band he called,
"In b-flat, guys.  And lets try to sound like we're still a group."

With a slighty mischevious grin, he started into the song.

"Jeramiah was a Bullfrog..."

--ratner