Somewhere out in the countryside east of Generica, a hole opened
in midair.  It was the usual kind of hole: no obvious diameter, no
visible edges, but you could tell it was there because inside it
looked like a spiralling sort of twist of bright citrine color
hanging right there where nothing but very low-flying clouds, or
maybe birds, should be.  It might have been missed, in daylight,
but in the late night/early morning, it stood out.

After a while it closed up again.  Before it did, it spat out a
man-sized object.  Fortunately for the object, there weren't any
farmers out in the fields at the time, and the cows were all used
to this kind of thing.  One large heifer nosed the object, and it
sat up, and barked, and the heifer shied away.

It was something like a human, but more like a fox.  It was a bit
scruffy looking, with head-fur all straggled and pointing in all
directions, mostly red but with a few streaks of grey in places.
Its eyes were blue, an unusual color for a fox, with a faint sparkle
of violet.  It stood up, a strikingly average five foot seven, not
particularly muscular.  If anything it would come off a bit pudgy.
It wore a black shirt and blue jeans, with a hole designed for its
tail to stick thru.  The long sharp black triangle-point of its
left ear was pierced with a silver fox-head earring.  One red-furred
arm held tightly to a leather-bound book.

If you were another fox, you'd forget its face fairly easily, but
the area around Generica has relatively few humanoid foxes, and so
this one was rather memorable.

The sun slowly rose over the distant mountains, and the fox found
its way to the nearby road.  It, or more precisely, he (as evidenced
when he stopped to relieve himself on a fence-post), looked around,
and seeing the smoke of a city he headed towards it, muttering
under his breath about 'lousy shots'.

The city was approximately downhill.  He crested one hill, and saw
below the walls around the city.  A broad greenway surrounded the
walls, with sheep and cattle grazing around.  A river ran into the
city, very broad but amazingly straight banks leading down into
it.

A half-hour's trudge brought him past a quaint town filled with
caravans.  A few minutes of bargaining with an old woman got him
a cloak from her laundry line, freshly aired, if a little damp from
the morning dew.  He put it on, pulling the hood over his head.
It did a fairly good job of making his unusual species less obvious.
He passed without trouble thru the caravanserie, then to the eastern
gate of the city.

A guard stood at the gate.

The fox pulled his cloak tight around him, making sure the hood
was up, holding the book close to his body.  People were being
admitted, one at a time, thru the gate, with but most were being
simply passed thru.  The guard took a look at him, shrugged, and
waved him thru.

He walked thru the dark tunnel of the gate, thru the thick city
wall, and came out in a brightly sunlit square.  There was another
guard, alike enough to the one outside to be a twin.  He, apparently,
was checking people going out, but at this hour of the morning,
nobody seemed to be leaving the city.

The guard stood there, bored, in the mid-morning sun.

The fox walked over to the guard.  "Excuse me."

The guard yawned, then quickly covered it up.  "Yes?"

The fox quietly yipped, "I don't supose you can point me to the
inn?"

"Which one?  There's dozens."

"With the story buyer."

"Oh, that one.  The Dragon's Inn.  Just go west until you reach
the Plaza of Glittering Steel.  You can't miss it."

The fox nodded. "Thank you sir, you've been most helpfull."

The guard held out a hand, but the fox had already left.

"Damn tourists," he muttered.  "Nobody tips anymore."

Below his feet, the fox felt the unusual clang of polished stainless
steel instead of the cobble or brick or even gravel and mud that
he had seen on his trek into the city.  That, as much as the faint
tingle of the Unnatural, was a clue that sometime in the forgotten
past, someone did something magical, probably by accident.  This
must then be the Plaza of Glittering Steel the guard had mentioned.

The fox looked around.  To the south, a broad street was paved with
hard flat cobbles, and punctuated by statues on pedestals.  There,
on the very corner, on his left, was a well-maintained building.
On a placard by the door a red dragon was painted, with bright
yellow eyes and claws, on a black background.  Warm-looking windows
with translucent, rather than completely transparent, glass, leaded
in hand-sized pieces, provided a way for light from outside to
enter, but didn't reveal much about the interior.  Clearly they
could be thrown open, like the upstairs rooms, or shuttered against
storms.

To the south, a stable was situated -- apparently a part of the
Inn.

The fox crossed his arms.  "Nice place."

He walked inside.

The door opened on a sort of foyer, not really divided from the
great common room here has open-beam ceilings about 16 feet off
the ground.  The floors were wood, and well-polished, and clean.

The fox tried to make an impressive entrance, sweeping with his
cloak, but nobody seemed to notice.  He sighed, and looked around.

A stairway to the left and ahead led upstairs.  To the right, the
common room held three fireplaces, and lining the walls between
them, somehow, at least nineteen dark corners were installed.

The bar was short, only about seven feet long, but shining and
clean, and the walls were lined with sparkling glasses, four big
barrels, and a number of bottles.  There was no barkeep at the bar,
but there was a waitress bringing food to a few late diners, eating
breakfast or early lunch.

At one of the tables, not eating, but instead watching the people
coming in, a man of indeterminate age sat, with a small sign in
front of him.

The fox glaced at the sign.  

"A'arden, Story Buyer, Silver for Stories."

The fox headed for the man's table, pulled out the chair, and sat
down, keeping his head down, so the hood obscured his face.

The man looked uncuriously at the stranger.

"I buy stories, if they're your own to sell."

The fox looked up, grinning a bit.  "Yes, this is bit of history
is definity mine."

A'arden glanced at the cloaked figure.  "Are you thirsty or hungry?
If you are, then I can include food and drink in the payment."

The fox shrugged. "A little wine would be nice, but beer will do
in a pinch, as for food, cooked chicken would be prefect."

A'arden waved for the barmaid.  A friendly blonde, she took the
order for wine and chicken and returned in a moment with a glass
of a fairly good white wine and a quarter of a roasted chicken.
There was bread on the plate, a heavy black bread.

The fox sipped at the wine a bit, grumbling as the hood fell down
over his eyes, comically.

The story buyer prepared his scroll and pen.  "So, what is your
story?"

The fox smiled, and threw back the hood. "Sorry about that, hate
this cloak and dagger stuff. As for my story..."

He reached into the cloak, then pulled out a journal that A'arden
knew well.

A'arden stared at the stranger, taken aback.  "You're Foxeris. You
look older than your teacher."

The story buyer fidgeted, and said, "You have grey on your muzzle.
He has none."

Foxeris shrugged. "He's better at magic, and as more experance. As
well as a few other changes if you would care to remeber. When I
get good enough, I'll stop at what ever age i'm at."

A'arden blinked.  "Oh."  He scratched a note on the scroll.  "Well,
I'm honored to finally meet you.  Have you marked the section in
the journal that you wish to sell me??"

Foxeris smiled, and pushed the journal over the table to A'arden.
"I've been told a lot about you. And yes it is marked for you."

"Thank you.  That makes it ever much more convenient."

Foxeris shrugged. "We am to surve" he said, almost an immediate
reaction.

A'arden took the journal, and almost started reading.   He looked
up, startled.

Foxeris nibbled on some chicken. "Yes?"

"You've been told a lot about me?"  A'arden fidgeted.  "I'm not
... worthy material for a story."

Foxeris shook his head. "Not bad. My associate has talked a lot
about you."

A'arden muttered, "Oh.  Well.  I suppose it was inevitable."

Foxeris leaned forward. "everyone is, most of the time.  Some more
then others.  He shrugged.  "You are you, and that's what makes it
a good story."

A'arden squirmed even more.  "I ... should get to work." He began
copying the section out.

Foxeris sat back, drinking his wine.



                      Apprentice Inept
                     Changing Vestments

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter
                      Steve Hutchison

Foxeris Journal

'95 June 23rd

It started as a wet morning, a VERY wet morning. After a
nice warm DRY day, it had started back raining again. As it
had mostly been sense the middle of the 19th, after I woke
up from being knocked in the river, separated from the Boss,
and Jinx.

So I found myself waking up, rain pouring down on my face
and body soaking my fur. Once again I was glad the journal
was water proof.

I also had the annoying problem of not having any food with
me. I had been able to eat a few things I found on my way
down the river, but as I had never bother to learn what
plants and such where safe and I was rather hungry.

But I put that all behind me, I was still days away from
Dales, and Frinklan's friend, who's name I can't remember
right now. So I stared to trudge down the river, in hopes
of... well of anything! At the time I just wanted to get out
of the accursed rain!

Around about noon or so, I came upon a small brick building
built on the riverbank. It was old and had burn marks all
over. Whoever had built it hadn't been back to it for years.

I was personally glad, as I was finally able to get in out
of the rain, which had gotten worse of the past few hours.

I forced my way through the rotted door, inside the small
burt out single room. The roof had stayed intact from the
fire, so it was happily dry, except for what was blowing in
though the doorway.

That was when I made my first, slightly disturbing,
discovery. I had the full intention of spending the night in
the shelter, and drying my clothing off. So after gather a
bit of dry wood from the corners of the room, I piled them
up on the dirt floor, and turned on the FoxFire spell.

Nothing happened.

I tried again, and again. I spent about an hour trying to
get the bloody spell to work, and not a thing I tried had
ANY effect. Finally I sat back against the wall, tired from
the exertion. Some how, along this misadventure, I had
forgotten some key part to the spell.

Annoying as it was, I had no choice but to live with it,
until I could get back with the Boss, or his friend (Alex!
that's his name Alex!). Thus I went back to the old standby.

I rubbed to sticks together.

Happily enough, it worked. After only a few minutes of
trying, I got a fire going that was nice and warm. And with
how small my shelter was, it heated up nicely very quickly.

So, using a few bits of nails that where hammered into the
wall, hung up my clothing so it could dry out. As well as
letting my fur dry out.

Thus you could image my surprise when someone tapped my on
the shoulder.

Actually, I wasn't all that surprised, I figured it was the
Boss. So I looked over my shoulder, smiling, expecting to
see him.

That was when I was surprised!

I saw, standing behind me, a male human. He was almost six
and half feet tall I would say. What got to me was his
clothing. He had on a multi-colored shirt, under a long
black leather coat, that reached to his ankles. A lose pair
of bluish looking pants, and the most interesting pair of
shoes I ever seen.

He smiled at me, flicking a bit of blond hair out of his
eyes. "Hello." He said.

I gave a half chuckle. "Hi." I said, reaching over, and
grabbing my pants from where they where drying. Quickly
pulling them on.

"That will probably be a good idea, as I'm going to need you
to come with me."

I grimaced, pulling on my shirt. "I don't think I can. You
see, I'm sort of looking for a friend of mine. We got
separated a few days back, and I really should get back with
him."

The man winched a bit. "I'm sorry to say this, but the
chances of you ever seen him again are very low."

I stood, picking up the journal. "What makes you think that?
Did you find a body or something?"

He licked his lips. "I'll explain on the way. But please,
for right now, come with me."

I sighed. I didn't like this, but I got the feeling this guy
was going to force me if I didn't do what he asked. It
wasn't something I want to try, as I'm not the best of
people to deal with force. So I did what I felt my only
option and stomped out the small fire.

He nodded, then flipping up the massive collar on his coat,
he headed out into the rain. I followed him, winching as my
fur started to get soaked again. He gave me a wave of his
hand, and started up the river bank.

I followed, pulling myself up, having a harder time then he
did with my smaller feet of my animal style legs. So by the
time I had pulled myself up to the top, he was already up
there.

As I reached the top of the bank, I found myself shocked.
Sitting a few feet away was a massive machine of some kind.
It was, on the face of it, ugly. It had a large sitting area
perched on top of two long metal parts that run along it's
underside. Attached to the back of it was a long  thick tub,
which was slitted near the end. On top of the thing was a
set of four spinning blades that was slowly starting to
move.

The whole thing was done in all black, except for a window
at what I assumed was the front, and some kind of helix
designed in white on the side.

The human apparently though this was perfectly normal, as he
was standing next to it, holding open a large siding door.
"If you would please step inside."

I ran a paw though my wet head-fur, twitching my ears. I
didn't like this at all, but I really felt I didn't have a
choice. So, as calm as I could be, I walked over, and pulled
myself inside.

The inside of the beast was bare and simple, there was two
seats in the front of it. The one on the left side had
numerous controls in front of it, and someone was sitting in
front of them. The second of the pair, the human who had
found me climbed into, shutting the door as he did so.

In the back was one large couch that definitely was NOT
designed for anyone with a tail, so I had to sit on it sort
of sideways.

The human reached back, and held what looked like a wire
contraption of some kind. "Put it on." He said. I noticed
both him, and the other human were both wearing one, but of
different design.

I grabbed the thing, and put it onto my head. Giving it a
quick twist, I felt it slip into both of my ears. Letting
out a yip, I started to pull it off.

"No, it's support to go on like that, trust me."

I stop, and let my paw drop. Wondering if I should to try
and make a run for it.

Before I could decided on what to do, a loud wine started
from the ceiling, it grew louder until it nearly drowned out
the sound of my heart.

"Hang on." I heard a female voice say in my ears. I let out
another yip, as suddenly there was a lurch, and the entire
thing started to raise from the ground.

I wanted to kick, I wanted to scream, I wanted to get the
hell out of there, but all I did was stay on the couch, my
mouth hanging open. I'm sure I looked like an idiot.

"Don't worry." The first human said. "You're OK."

"What is this?" I asked.

The human shook his head. "I can't hear you. Pull down the
mic."

"What?" I said.

I smiled, I wiggled a small bar that was in front of his
mouth. "This."

Reaching up, I ran my finger over the wire frame. It didn't
take long for me to find the same bar on mine, as he had on
his. I pulled it down so it was in front of my face.

"What is going on?" I asked.

He smiled. "It's hard to explain." He said. "I think first
introductions are in order. My name is Paul Harris, the
pilot here is my wife, Elisha."

"Hi." I heard the female voice say again, as she waved back
at me, busy doing what ever it was she was doing.

He leaned forward. "Who are you?"

I paused. "Foxeris."

He nodded. "Nice to meet you. Welcome to Earth."

I laughed. "Oh, I hate to be insulting, but where do you
think I'm from?"

"Earth." He smiled. "To be acute, a different Earth."

This caused a very deep reaction on my. My ears tried to go
flat, but with whatever it was in them, it hurt to try that.

"How did you I get hear?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Who knows, we've been trying to figure that
out for the last fifty years. All we know is that you are
here, and we have no idea how you can get back."

I sank back into the couch. "Oh my." I whispered.

Paul didn't seem to notice. "Listen, we're taking you to a
place where you will be safe. This world isn't ready to find
out about this."

I looked at him. "Wait... are you saying there are more
people here?"

He nodded. "Yep, about fifteen total have come through.
Though most have died from natural causes, and a few have
suicided. In fact, most don't stay alive for longer then a
few years. We figure it's something to do with the air."

I shook my head. This was all a bit overwhelming. I just
held the journal close to my body, suddenly very very
frightened.

He sighed. "Look, I'm sorry to have to tell you all this,
but it's the truth. Though you won't be alone. Another
showed up the same way you did a couple months back."

I felt a low growl escape my lips. "And that's suppose to
make it ALL better, right?"

He shook his head. "No, not all at. But it is suppose to
comfort you when I tell you the most shocking bit of history
here."

"What?"

He leaned forward a bit, though I noticed he stayed out of
arms length. "This is a world of humans."

I paused, then ever so slowly curled up a bit on my side.
The idea of being the only one like this in the whole world
scared me, scared me more then anything else in my life.

I wanted to go home.

* * *

I stayed that way for most of the trip, until we had finally
stopped moving and the noise had died down to nothing. I
slowly uncurled, pulling the wire thing out of my ears.

Stepping out of the machine, I found myself on a large green
lawn, light by the reflect of the sun on the clouds, as it
dipped below the horizon.

"Welcome to the Hamer institute for Genetic Research." Paul
announced.

I gulped. "What are you going to do to me?" I asked.

"Not much actually, a few tests, but that's about it.
There's not much we can learn from you. As far as anyone can
tell, you ARE human, at least genetically."

I shook my head. Not understanding.

He put his hand on my shoulder. "Come on, lets get you
inside." He then gave me a slight push, as he lead me
towards one of the buildings.

I sighed, walking forward. My eyes drifting over the stone
structure. I couldn't believe what was happening, but I had
no choice. Slowly I went up a set of stone steps, and into
the building.

The first thing I noticed was the door. A very LARGE steal
door. Paul punched something into a control panel next to
it, causing it to slide open.

Slumping my shoulders, I walked in. Paul patted my on the
back, as he lead me through the hallways. "I know it's not
the best of places, but it's what we can do." He stopped in
front of a door. "You'll find clothing, food, everything
you'll need in here. If you have any question, you can ask
your room mate."

I slowly nodded. Going into the room, after he opened the
door for me. I did noticed that when the door closed, there
was a click and a thump. I didn't have to try the door to
guess that it was locked.

Where they had stuck me was small. One main room that had a
couple desks, and a bunk-bed. A kitchen off to the side, and
a bathroom type area to another. The bathroom was a room all
to it's self, with a sink, toilet, and a shower, which was
currently in use.

Through the blurred glass of the shower door, I guess that
who ever it was in there was female, and clearly the other
person Paul as mentioned, as I could see the outlines of a
tail.

Closing the door, so she would have some privacy when she
got out, I went and sat down in front of the desk. Setting
my journal down on top of it. Lined up on top of the desk
was a set of four fur combs, going from wide bristled, to
very fine. The back of each was made of silver, that looked
well taken care of.

Running a paw though the mostly dry, and matted fur of my
arm, I let out a groan of disgust. Hopping that the combs
owner wouldn't be to mad, I plucked up the coarsest one, and
started to work it through my fur.

After about an hour of pulling and tugging, and more a few
yips from knotted fur, I had my shirt off and most of my
upper body done, as well as my arms, face, and I was just
finishing on my tail.

I personally though I looked rather good compared to how I
had looked before. Though the huge wad of fur that had come
off in the brush wasn't very pretty.

In fact, I had gotten so immersed in the brushing, I missed
hearing the shower stop, or any kind of fur-dryer being
used. So I was once again surprised when I heard a soft
voice behind me ask. "You need some help with that?"

I turned, and found myself looking at what had to be the
loveliest tigress I had ever seen in my life. She stood
about my height, and her fur was mostly pure white, with
stripes of black here and there.

She was dressed in a lose shirt and a pair of lose pants
that where tied up along the side. It was clearly clothing
from back home, as it looked nothing like what Paul had been
wearing. She had the human-norm style legs, but her face
looked very tiger like, down to the whiskers.

The most interesting thing about her that I first saw were
her eyes. They where the same blue-violet as the bosses, but
seamed to give off a different sense then his did. Where as
Frinklan's eyes seemed to look at everything as something to
eat, hers gave of the feeling that she knew mountains more
then I did, _and_ was willing to share.

Her ears twitched a bit, as I watcher he eyes drift over my
slightly overweight form. I let out a small cough, "Um...
Actually that would be great."

She nodded, taking the brush from my paws. "Turn around."

I did, as she pulled over a chair. I felt her up close to my
back, as she started to work on the fur of my neck. "It's
nice to finally see someone else like me around here. I was
told that it's rare to have two of us around at any time."

I shrugged a bit. "Guess a twist of fate. It seams to happen
around my boss a lot."

"Oh?" she said, her voice making it sound like a loaded
question.

"Uh-ha. He said he was a Karma Wizard."

I heard her snicker. "Ah, yes, that would account for it. I
take it he didn't come through."

I sighed a bit. "I don't know. Last thing I saw of him, he
was yelling to me, then I was knocked into the river. I woke
up on the bank of it, and started walking. A couple days
later is today."

"Hum." she said. And I stared wondering exactly why I was
telling her all of this. "Basically that's what happened to
me as well. A small raft I had flipped in the Columby, and
when I woke up, I was on shore, and Paul was forcing the
water from my lungs."

I winched as she got to an especially big knot. "By the way.
My name is Foxeris."

"Well chosen name. I'm Lerinth."

I nodded a bit. "You have a very interesting accent to your
voice. What is it?"

She chucked a bit. "It's from not being able to talk for
thirty years."

I swiveled my head around as much as I could to look at her.
"Oh really?"

She nodded, lowering the bush to her lap. "I am, or I guess
I should now say WAS a Magus back home. A damn good one too.
Spoken magic, and I was one of the best, but about thirty
years ago I was trying to reshape a staff to help in my
magic when the spell backfired. I've been cursed with
stuttering ever sense. It was so bad I could barely say
anything at all, and in fact I had to learn sign language."

I nodded, finally noticed the mage's ring on her right paw,
the same as I was wearing, but as the stone on mine was
black, signaling an apprentice, hers was clear, showing she
was a master.

I turned, so I was facing her, and not putting a crick in my
neck. "So, what happened, how did it stop?"

She sighed herself. "Magic is so very weak hear, not even
then simplest spell will work." Which explained why my
FoxFire spell was a dud. "So when I came through, the spell
shut down."

Instantly I felt a kind of ringing in my ears. "But... our
forms, as they are... The linking of the spirits... the
ritual..." I trailed off.

Lerinth slowly nodded. "It will fade in time. Two to four
years I would guess, depending on how strong the link is.
When it is broken..." She paused, I'm not sure if it was for
effect, or to find the right works.

"When it is broken, your body will try to become human.  You
will start to change, but without magic to buffer and heal
you, the transformation is incomplete and random.  After a
few days or perhaps weeks of agony and sickness, before any
changes even become visible, you will die.  We will both
die."

I gulped. "Oh my."

She nodded.

I rubbed my head a bit. "I think... I think I need a bit of
sleep."

She nodded again. "You can take the bottom bunk, I have the
top. There nice enough to have come up with beds we can
sleep in and not hurt are tails."

I smiled, standing up, and going over to the bed. "That's
good." I said, laying down on it. I was asleep as soon as my
head hit the pillow.

* * *

I whimpered, as I felt someone shake my gently in my bed.
"Let me sleep." I grumbled.

"Come on Foxeris, wake up." I heard a familiar voice say.
Slowly opening my eyes, I suddenly felt that I must have
been dreamed.

Standing for me, silhouetted in the small light from the
window, was someone who could only have been Frinklan.
"Boss." I whispered.

He nodded. "Come on, get up. We have to get going now."

I shook my head. "I must be dreaming."

I felt a sharp nip on my paw. Looking down I saw Jinx
sitting on the floor, smiling. "Your not dreaming." she
said.

"Oh boy." I muttered.

Then from above me I heard Lerinth shift, then say.
"Foxeris, are you talking in your sleep?"

I paused, making ready a response to her question. But I was
stopped by the sound of a massive explosion, and the flying
of glass as the window shattered from the force of it.

Flying out of bed, I ran to the window, and looked out.
About four hundred feet away a building stood, burning in
bright orange and blue flames that licked the night sky.

"Oh dear." I heard someone behind me mutter. I didn't know
who.

----


Foxeris finished off the last bit of the bread, the rest of the
meal already done and cleared away.

A'arden prostested, "But, wait, it just ... stops!"

Foxeris grins. "Well, all the more to make you wanting of more."

"More.  Just, could you and your friend please be a little faster
about it?"

Foxeris smiled. "Sure, if that's what you want." He gave a VERY
wicked grin full of teeth.  "We'll do are best for you."

A'arden placed a pouch on the table between himself and Foxeris.
It clinked with the promising clink of pure silver.

A'arden coughed. "Remarkable.  I'd thought that he was exaggerating,
but you truly do speak that way."

Foxeris picked up the bag, secreting it into his cloak. "What way?"

"Your words have the right sound, but the wrong spelling.  It's...
quite disturbing."

Foxeris raised an eyebrow. "Really, i though I've gotten over that
by now, must be in the translation spell." Foxeris blushed a bit.
"I cast it myself..."

A'arden nodded. "That must be it."  He paused.  "Did you ever
discover the nature of your wizard-talent?"

Foxeris nodded. "Oh yes, it's very very intereting to say the least.
You'll find out about it soon."

Foxeris leaned forward a bit. "And... A relation of mind will bring
you a third journal soon."

The story buyer smiled greedily. "Good.  It would make for bad
story if we were left dangling."

Foxeris smiled in agreement, sitting back a bit.

A'arden smiled.  "Thank you."

Foxeris stood. "It's been a pleashur."

"Indeed."

Foxeris gave a little bow, then pulled the hood back up, flashing
a small golden ring on his finger.

A'arden sanded the ink on his scroll to dry it, and resumed his
placid, waiting expression.

Foxeris walked out the door.

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This story is posted to rec.arts.comics.creative,
alt.fan.furry, alt.pub.dragons-inn, spk.literary and the
Furry Literature mailing list.  It is copyrighted 1997 by
Stephen Hutchison and Fox Cutter. Permission is granted for
archive with rec.arts.comics.creative and alt.pub.dragons-inn,
and spk.literary.  All other rights, including repost, are
reserved to the authors.  This story may not be distributed
for a fee except by permission of the authors, and this
copyright notice may not be removed.

For the entire series to this point, point your web browser
to http://www.rdrop.com/~hutch/Stories/AI/ai.html