From: aa811@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Terri M. Librande) Newsgroups: alt.ql.creative Subject: As It Fell Upon A Day Part 3 Date: 17 Jan 1993 16:18:01 GMT Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA) Lines: 189 Message-ID: <1jc0rpINNqh1@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: slc5.ins.cwru.edu As it Came Upon A Day--Terri Librande Part 3 Her fear abated somewhat, Mrs. Gray headed for her bedroom, and Sam went to his temporary home. It was a nice enough apartment--very roomy and comfortable. The doctor obviously appreciated things that were old and valuable. Most of the furniture was antique or good reproductions, all in dark, shining wood. There was even a fireplace in the living room. Sam slumped on an overstuffed chair and gazed up at Al. "So, what's next?" "Well, tomorrow will be a pretty calm day compared to tonight." Al lit a cigar and continued. "The Guard comes in and restores a semblance of order. A curfew will be imposed and the kids try to break it. There'll be another mild skirmish, and some of them get bayonetted by some overzealous Guardsmen. Violent, but controlled." "The lull before the storm." Sam cocked his head to one side, gazing at his friend. The usual question was coming up and he was eager to hear the answer and leap out of this mess. "When do I do what I'm supposed to do?" "Ziggy says there is a sixty percent chance that you change something Monday afternoon. The aftermath of the shootings wasn't violent--everyone was in shock. The Guard cleared the campus and closed the school. Kids were angry and frustrated, but didn't get a chance to do much about it. There are going to be a lot of rumors, Sam, and a lot of emotion to deal with. Apparently, the kids look up to Dr. Barry and know he won't con them. You could be here to help some of them. Maybe one of them cracked afterwards without your current persona being around to help them through it!" "For one of the most opinionated men I know, you're being pretty close- mouthed. How do you feel about all this, Al?" Sam's eyes searched his friend for any reaction to the question. He watched as his friend stiffened and stalked through the furniture to gaze out the open window. "What am I supposed to feel?" Al's voice was frighteningly calm. "I didn't come home for a while after this. When I did, I stayed in the military. The guys that didn't, ended up babysitting a bunch of yuppies-to-be. I was pretty lucky, I guess." "Your political views have always been fairly liberal." "Yeah, I guess so." His back stiffened. "If I had stayed home and not reupped maybe I would've been involved in a few protest marches. I don't know. No one told me when I went in that it was losing battle. It wouldn't have mattered, though. It was my duty to go, Sam." "Tom thought it was his duty." Sam forced memories to the surface. It seemed easier with each Leap to remember little details of his past. "he wasn't into being a hero. Tom wanted to serve his country in the best way possible, like Dad did>' "There are times..." Al began, then bit off the words. "What, Al?" It was a thought he had never intended to say aloud. And he wasn't gong to do that now. "I'm sorry, Sam." "For what?" The younger man leaned forward in the chair, hands clenched together. Al looked back at his friend. He looked so concerned and sympathetic-- truly worried and loving. "I sort of wish I'd been there for you. When I...I had no one. We were liberated..." His eyes shut hard, remembering the time. "I had nothing. Most of the guys could go home. Until I met you and we started working on StarBright..." "I won't buy that, Al." Sam shook his head. "You had your degrees, you made Admiral the hard way. Five marriages, nothing to brag about there, but you did it. You WERE StarBright. And without your influence, your connections, we would've had no Project, period." The younger man's gaze was warm. "You went out in every direction imaginable." Al lit a cigar, but only held it, letting the cloud of smoke waft around his head. "I could never figure out what motivated me to get a physics degree, except I always felt more at home in institutions than houses with a wife and kids. Beth used to complain that I spent more time in class than in bed. Well...in her case..." "If I could've been there, Al, I would've." "I know, kid." Al shrugged. "Don't worry about it. I don't talk about it much." "What do we do about Monday, Al?" Sighing, Al touched the buttons on the link, still holding the lit cigar. "Ziggy says bone up on your philosophy text and study Dr. Barry's lesson plans. Apparently, you still have a class to teach in the morning. There's a fifty percent chance that..." There was a knock at the door. Frowning, Sam went to answer it. "I'm glad you're here." A boy walked in as if he felt at home, followed by three ragged-looking students. One of them was sandwiched between the others, his leg badly cut and bleeding. Sam immediately knelt to check the wound. It was a deep slice, not bleeding quite as badly as he had first thought. "Grab my first aid kit." "Have them check the bathroom, Sam." He shrugged at the look his partner gave him. "Well, that's where I keep mine." "Check the bathroom or the kitchen--I'm not really sure." One of the students, a girl with braided red hair, took off to find the kit. "What happened?' "They had bayonets, man, the wounded boy gasped. "I got stuck by one of them and the guys knew to bring me here." Sam smiled at the girl as she handed him the kit. He upended a bottle of peroxide on some gauze and bathed the wound with it. The boy winced, but didn't cry out. "You should go to the hospital." "And get arrested? No way. Artie said you'd fix things up, that you'd understand." The hologram's eyes widened. "These kids trust you, Sam. No way would they come here with an injured student unless he's one of the guys they can look up to. He must be encouraging all of this." The boy that had first spoken knelt by his professor. "Right on, Dr. Barry. You were the one taht said we should fight against the police state. Did you see us burn down the ROTC building? It was a protest against the fascist government pigs. They were taking over the campus." "I'll try to get a last name on this one, Sam," Al said, indicating Artie. "He might be the one we're here to help." "They're all over the place!" The girl slumped on the couch. "You should see these guys! They were marching up Water Street like they owned the place. Someone said they were staying on the campus in the gym or something." "The city is frightened," Sam stated, dressing the wound. His expression was tight as he looked up at the young people around him. A professor encouraging this? But then, who would have expected the outcome... He had to play along. Al was back at the window again. "There was some damage done last night, too," Sam said. "Aw, it was just a street dance." The other boy looked like a Gilligan clone in his blue jeans and dirty red t-shirt. "We were liberating the businesses, Doctor, not stealing or anything." "There's a difference between liberating and vandalizing." Sam bit his lip, trying to think like a philosophy professor. "What did you think, Artie when you saw the kids tearing stuff apart? How did it affect you?" "I wanted to be in on the scene, Doctor." Artie leaned against a chair, nonchalant. "It was a good scene. We were angry about what that pig, Nixon, announced the other night." "I see." Sam leaned back from his patient, deciding it was a job well done. "We all have different ways to express our anger." "Hey," the girl said, her eyes wide. "There were more students headed downtown tonight. Maybe they..." "Oh yeah, Sam. Al touched the link and shook his head. "There's a bunch of arrests, but tensions are eased before the night is out." "Why don't you all go home and we can maybe meet tomorrow and discuss this." He winced at the groan that came from the students. "Things might wind down for Sunday, anyway, and I think we all need a good night's sleep." He turned to the wounded boy. "You should still go to the hospital." At the look he received he shrugged. "Just a suggestion." The kids left reluctantly. Sam watched them go, wondering if any of them would be dead on Monday. "They'll be fine, Sam." Al hit a few buttons on the link. "Ziggy says that none of these students match up with the physical descriptions of the dead, wounded, or arrested." More to come... Terri Librande Comments welcome--email author at address below. -- "Unscrupulous--but effective!" Al in "Starcrossed" Terri Librande aa811@cleveland.Freenet.edu Assistant Sysop The Science Fiction and Fantasy Sig--Go SCIFI