From: martin8@mdx.ac.uk (Martin C. Pause)
Subject: STORY : Revenge
Date: Tue May 30 13:09:04 MET DST 1995


A stranger walks into the Chat. Tall, well build. No
visible weapons, but since when did that mean anything. Walks to
the bar, doesn't pay any attention to who's already there.
"Guten Tag Ratz" he says to the bartender. "Long time no see
Herr Pause. Where have you been?" he replies. "Ahh well you
know... work to finish.. places to go... things to do. Its
always the same. Whats happened here though? It always used to
be crowded, and now...". "I just don't think people have the
time no more, but It's good to see you again. I hope you'll be
around for a bit longer this time", Ratz grins. "I hope so, I
really do"...


Revenge
*******

Blackness.

Empty.

Nothing.

Lights... stars?

A long tunnel reaching out to infinity in front of me. Death?

Pain... black...

Nothing...

Lights... the sun?, daylight?

Faces... Faces without form... Haziness...

Definition, faces becoming clear. Who are they? Memories?

Who am I? More faces. Voices... shouting. Darkness...

Nothing...

Faces... Clear... Voices... Someone is speaking to me,
	"Can you hear me?",

I can, but cannot answer. Why cant  I answer?
	"Whats wrong?, why isn't he answering?"

More voices, whispering. More faces.
	
Stab of pain...

A scream... My own.

	"Shit, what did you do to him?",
	"Tris, can you hear me, its Ben. How do you feel?"
	
A voice... My own.
	"I'm fine... I think... not sure though... Where am I? What
happened?",
I answer now, but talking is painful... Why?

	"I'll explain later Tris. First thing is to get you back to the
Company. The doc said you can leave in the morning, I've
arranged transport. I'll be back tomorrow."

A smile... I try to smile...

I'm brought some food. They give me some pills, what are they?,
no idea. I eat the food, cant remember last time I had food.
Tastes good, reminds me of something, cant remember.

Nothing...

I wake to hear Ben's voice. He's stood next to me.
	"Feeling better?"
	"Yeah right.."

He smiles again.
	
He passes me some clothes and waits for me to dress. Rough denim
jeans, leather boots, T-shirt and coat. All new? What's
going on? I feel strange walking to the entrance of the
hospital. My legs feel weak... really weak, like I haven't
walked for so long... I look at my hands... white... really
white... like someone who never goes in the sun... someone who
only goes out at night? I get to the entrance, check myself out
and walk into the street. Where am I? I don't recognise
anything...

Wherever we're going, the journey doesn't take long. Maybe an
hour? We stop outside a large building with a glass front. Once
inside Ben gives me a security badge and we walk deeper into the
building. Where am I? I still have no idea...

More faces... smiling... More voices...
	"Welcome back Tris."

Hands press on my shoulders in greeting. Who are these people?
We get into an elevator and go down five floors. Down? We're
greeted by two large men in combat gear.
	"He ok now Ben?"
	"Yeah, just going for some tests"

One of them takes us to a room. All the walls are covered in
computer equipment. There's a table in the middle of the room,
well not so much a table as a raised platform.
	"Ok... Tris, just go lie on the table, I'll explain later."
	"Sure Ben, whatever"

On the table I feel helpless, like a piece of meat ready to be
cut up and sold. 15 minutes later someone tells me to get up and
I'm lead to another room. Ben's there with some other people.
They're watching a large computer screen. Images on the screen.
I recognise... It's me, but when? Noise... I duck, but it comes
from the screen. I look back... I see myself again... lots of
blood? My arm... where is it?

Horror. Panic. I turn to run butsome one stops me.
	"Dont worry, your ok now. You told us to show you what happened
to you, after you got out of rehab."
	"This was taken by a security camera at a mall. We had a call
to go in and you went in first. When we found you..."

More noise from the screen... Gunfire... I don't want to look,
but something inside me tells me that I need to see what
happened. I look, afraid of what I will see.

On the screen in a body, not much of a body though. Take a
clothes dummy and rip its left arm off, then rip both its legs
of about 2 inches above the knees. Thats all there was. The
image fades...
	"Who did it?", I ask.
	"We're not quite sure, but we have a few ideas."
	"So why haven't you done anything about it?"
	"We thought... We knew that you'd want to take care of it
personally."
	
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Martin C. Pause   | "It's not like I'm using,"
martin8@mdx.ac.uk | "It's like my body's developed a massive drug
deficiency."
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