lr.1
MEGAZONE 23
GRM Reaper Productions, Uninc.
in association with
British-AnimeTech Limited
presents
A PsychoMental Production
A Virtual Non-Film
Benjamin D. Hutchins Brian D. Bikowicz
Rob Mandeville, Contributing Editor
The Long Road
Book Two of Undocumented Features
THE CAST
Benjamin D. Hutchins Gryphon/Ben
Brian D. Bikowicz MegaZone
Rob Mandeville ReRob
Kei Morgan Kei
Yuri Daniels Yuri
Rob Crocker Crocker
John Todd Macquivr/q
Adam Johnson Pfloyd/Adam
Andrew Petrarca Android
Kevin Tefft Kevin
Largo Largo
Jennifer Steen Jenna
Matt Jaffe Matt
John Trussell John/Truss
David Ritchie Daver
Helene Andersson Helene
Christopher Noel Smith Chris/Logan/Xmas
Gary Whitten Grendel
Vaughn Gross Vaughn/Paladin/Reality
Erik Swimm Erik/easwimm
Fritz Koopman Fritz
Mark Luchini Mark/Haywire
Mike Callaghan Mike/Archon
Chris Sprague Chris/Phantom
Paul Ard Paul
Lord Fahrvergnugen Wolfgang
Decker Decker
Iczer-1 Iczer-1
Iczer-2 Iczer-2
The Wedge Rats The Wedge Defense Force
Special Visual Effects by Your Brain On Drugs, Inc.
Destruction by Joe Martin Destruction Systems International
Cooler Neo-TechTronic Things by British-AnimeTech, Limited
with the exception of
The Mann Systems Series 101-E Bio-SculptTM Tank by Larry Mann
Background Music Performed by the Macross City Philharmonic
From an Original Story by Benjamin D. Hutchins, Brian D.
Bikowicz, and Rob Mandeville
Kei and Yuri Created by Haruka Takachiho
Additional Editing by Vaughn Gross, Erik Swimm, and Daver
"Shoot that ship! Blow that up! KIIIIILLLL THEEEMMMMMMM!!!!!"
Stolen From a Story by Christopher Noel Smith
Counselor for Zoner, Jenna
Counselors for Gryphon, Vaughn and Kei
Dialogue for SDF-17's AI Stolen from Mrs. Hutchins' Buick
Catering by Denny's
Inspiration by C-Term, NineInchNails, and Pink Floyd
Plenty of Hassle by PFS: Professional Write
Extra Special Thanks to PepsiCo, Makers of Mountain Dew and
Smartfood Inc., Makers of, Well, You Know, Smartfood.
Extra Special Letter Bomb to Whomever Invented Dawn
"AAUUGGHH!! Photons!! The Sun is Way too Loud Today."
Mr. Bikowicz's Wardrobe by Blackbird Intl.
Mr. Hutchins' Wardrobe by "Where Did You Get That?" GmbH.
Entertainment by the Disney Afternoon
Role Model Provided by Darkwing Duck
Publishing by Eyrie Publishing Co., NotEvenCloseToInc.
Copyright (c) 1992 Benjamin D. Hutchins, Brian D. Bikowicz,
and Rob Mandeville
This one is again for all the people out there who love SF,
anime, and the marvelous concept known as "write yer own".
But more than that:
For Kei and Yuri
Ben:
For Zoner, who didn't let me down when my darkest hour came.
For Vaughn, who helped me deal.
For Geoff Depew, who liked the first one so much he came to
Worcester and hung out for a week. I hereby proclaim him a
Wedge Rat.
For Angus the Wonder Truck. 'Nuff said.
For Daver, Helene, and Erik, who drove to my house and back
for no apparent reason one weekend. The most fun I had all
term. We gotta do it again.
For the Net! You love our work. We love you. :-)
For Randy, who is still comfortably numb.
For Eve, the best singer around.
For R.E.M.
For E7, for making me welcome.
For all the other people I don't have room for...
Zoner:
For Ben, sorry for all of the shit that went down this term
For Jenna, who once again managed to keep me from doing
something incredibly irrevocable.
For the entire Howe St. apt., who helped get me through the
tough times.
For the Internet, for keeping me in touch with the world and
providing plenty of entertainment.
For the Disney Afternoon, I Am Darkwing Duck! :-D
For Helene, for making life odd. Ice Cream Truck!
For Geoff, aka Mephron, you memorized it? Scary, man, scary.
For Pink Floyd, especially The Wall, how did they know?
----------------------------------------------------------ONE
"Captain! Ye only left a moment ago!"
--Commander Montgomery Scott
SOMEWHERE IN THE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM
THURSDAY 2 JANUARY 1992
"Yo, we're back!" Zoner shouted as he and Yuri dropped
through the hatch in the Wedge ceiling. "The Daytona from
Hell handles great in a vacuum, but I think we need to do
some serious modifications if it's going to be out here for
long. It just won't do for long trips."
"So...where'd you guys take off to anyway?" Gryphon
inquired from a Wedgebooth/control station.
"We just zipped around the quadrant a little. Yuri and
I wanted to spend some time alone. The stars are really
beautiful without the atmospheric interference."
"Yeah, and the planets look so pristine from up here,"
Yuri joined in. "Pluto looks really neat."
"So, have we figured out where the hell we're headed?"
Zoner asked. "Or why the Wedge jumped into warp like that?
We were barely able to get it back to sublight. GweepCo was
working overtime to get the computer to respond to the conn."
"Okay. One: we still don't know where the Wedge wants
to go. Two: I turned the autonav on when I activated
starship configuration under emergency mode, and the computer
was kind enough to warp us out of the fireball. And three:
GweepCo worked overtime, but they couldn't shut down the warp
drive until q unplugged it by accident. We do seem to have
control of the conn, though," Gryphon answered. "We do,
however, have a couple of rather more immediate problems."
"Like?"
"Like we took a head count and Vaughn's missing."
"Oh, no," said Yuri.
"Shit," Zoner added. "You sure?"
"Yep, I'm sure."
SKWEEEEEKrrkkkweequeRUNK--FOOOOMM!!!--wheeet!whio thud
hissssssss... "WARNING! WARNING! HULL BREACH! HULL
BREACH! HULL--NEVER MIND." the computer blared over the PA
system.
"What the fuck was that?!" Zoner inquired, rather
enthusiastically.
"Morning," Vaughn said in greeting.
"Vaughn!" Zoner screamed.
"Vaughn!" Gryphon screamed.
"Vaughn!" everyone else screamed.
"Well, happy to see you too. What's all the excitement
about?"
"Vaughn, did you just come in through the Morgan doors?"
asked Zoner.
"Yeah, why?"
"Ooooookaaaaaay... Vaughn, do you realize where we
are?"
"Not really, where are we?"
"WE'RE IN SPACE!"
"Oh."
"Vaughn, you just walked in from HARD VACUUM!"
"Thought it was a bit chilly."
"Nevermind, I just don't want to deal with it. I'll just
accept it."
"Whatever, well I'm going to go take my eyes out and
become unconscious."
"G'night."
"Night," Vaughn replied as he walked away.
"There is definitely something strange about him,"
Gryphon commented.
"You haven't lived with him for the past two years. You
sorta get used to it," Zoner answered.
"You know, this housing thing is going to be a real
problem in another couple of weeks," MegaZone remarked later
on, indicating the large number of Wedge Rats who were
camping it in corners and booths and on the floor of what had
become the bridge of the starship Wedge. "I mean, we've got
seven people in E7's living room, another twenty or so up
here, a bunch in the hallway, Android lives in the gweepery,
we've even got some people camped in the engine room. There
are nearly a hundred of us living in an area that wasn't
designed for people to live in at all--something's gotta
give."
"Yeah...and add to that the fact that the only shower
around is E7's...makes for quite the line," added Gryphon.
"And the mecha storage; we've got Cyclones stacked all over
hell. And that Garland of yours--that thing takes up more
space than three people could live in." Gryphon stretched
and yawned. "And it's boring."
"Speaking of showers, where the hell is the water supply
coming from?"
"You know, I never thought of that. It must be recycled
somehow, or we would have run out by now. Another mystery to
figure out."
"Well, it would help if we knew where we were going."
"I told you; the navigational system's locked onto some
kind of automatic course. Whoever built this thing designed
it to go to one specific place upon launch, and we can't
figure out exactly where. If we turn on the warp drive
again, my guess is, it'll just resume program and off we'll
go toward Destination X again."
"Well, since I seem to be captain of this thing, since
no one else wanted the blame, ahem, responsibility, I guess I
better make a decision."
"What do you want to do?"
"I say we reengage the warp drive and find out where
we're supposed to go."
"You sure you want to take the chance?"
"What the hell else are we going to do? Bop around the
cosmos sightseeing?"
"Well, ok, I just hope there's something waiting for us
when we get there..."
"I hope if there is, it's friendly..."