Ahh, great to have you back with us Alex. I think we can excuse you if you've not been feeling well, but yes, I think we'll introduce a response time limit of 14 days from now on, just so we can keep the story fresh in our minds as it develops. :) Over to you, pstekky.

Do you think 14 days is too much? I was only 15 days and that must have seemed a long time to you folks. If everyone is happy with 14 though that is cool.

I think two weeks is fair. Some of us need some extra thinking time. :) Thus speaks the person who hopes the story ends before her time comes up because she hasn't a clue what she would write next.

I agree that two weeks seems a bit much, but it's not like we're all suddenly going to take those two weeks to respond each time. (pauses and squints dubiously at everyone). -Are- we? :) Hehehe... It's only for extreme circumstances.

I'm hoping to have time tonight after I get done with a project. I was kinda thinking about a one week time limit myself, but 2 is fair. :) ~ Rich

2 weeks guarantees you'll more than one weekend in there. I get stuck traveling a lot, sometimes with limited internet access, but weekends I am usually home.

Sorry pstekky, looks like your time is up! Hmmm... I think this 2 week response time has become a bit too luxurious, so I'm going to do something quite drastic and slice it in half. From now on, the new response time is only ONE WEEK. Sorry all, but this story needs a stick of dynamite underneath it to quicken the pace. By the way, if it's ever your turn and you're strapped for time, there's no obligation to submit a chapter length segment of the story - there never was. One single sentence can give the story that much needed twist. Anything to move the story forward. So now there's no excuse! :) On that note, it looks to be my turn again. Will submit tomorrow. I promise. :)

Hooray! I am bitting my nail to the quick with expectation

Message edited on: 07/03/2004 16:38

Well, so much for my 'one single sentence will do' idea. I think I may have overdone it slightly quantity-wise this time round, but hey, it's been so long since I last submitted that I thought I'd make up for it. :) Sorry in advance if I cause your eyes to bleed by having to read so much. :) STORY---------- Sandra plonked herself down in front of the computer and switched it on. Easing back in her chair, she embraced the cup of tea in both hands, feeling renewed with every sip. She turned and smiled at the familiar sound of her cat, Charlene, meowing quietly as it entered the room.    'Good morning Princess. Did I wake you huh?' asked Sandra playfully, stroking Charlene with her fingers.    Charlene stared up at Sandra with her big, green eyes and meowed again, but this time in a more sympathetic tone.    'Ohh, I see. You want me to feed you, is that it?' confirmed Sandra, grinning. 'Well, you're gonna have to wait a while, precious. I've got a lot of work to do here.'    Sandra turned back to the computer and placed the cup of tea down next to the keyboard. She loaded up the 3D program, and immediately performed a search for duplicate characters within the virtual world. Moments later, a long list of matches blinked onto the screen. There they were, the dozen or so Lydia files that Sandra had generated for debugging routines. Some were purely experimental attempts at creating a new and diverse Mayata character, while others were just direct copies of the original for testing various elements within each environment. Although functional, the files no longer served any purpose and could now be removed. The current Lydia file, she decided, should be kept for further analysis. Sandra picked up the cup of tea and took a sip.    'Meeoow,' cried Charlene, snaking herself in between Sandra's legs and rubbing up against them affectionately.    'Later Charlene, honey. I'm busy,' responded Sandra, returning the cup to the desktop.    Sandra selected all the duplicate files and promptly hit the delete key. As she watched each one disappear, she realised that one file in particular had not been included in the search results. A file she had worked on from the very beginning. She performed another search, but this time using 'Mayata' as the key word. Two matches appeared. Sure enough, the original Mayata beta version was still in operation - a decent stab at what the final version was to be, but lacking those important attributes which the real life Lydia possessed.    Charlene began clawing the back of Sandra's chair. 'Meeoow.'    'Charlene, no!' barked Sandra, shooing Charlene away with a flick of her hand. 'Later!'    Sandra wondered if deleting the Mayata beta file would cause unforeseen problems.    'Hmm, probably not,' Sandra thought, 'but since she seems to have developed quite a strong relationship with that Arathorn character I might just make some modifications and form a whole new identity.' Sandra nodded approvingly as she tweaked the profile settings here and there until she was satisfied. Finally, she typed in the character's new name, 'Yolanda'.    'There. Done,' Sandra said aloud. 'Now onto the fun stuff.'    She located the main Mayata file and loaded it up. All manner of complex information filled the screen, from 3D mesh models to numerical statistics. Sandra clicked on a button labelled 'Current Coordinates' and watched as an impressively detailed map spun into view, displaying Mayata's present location.    'What the hell?' exclaimed Sandra, as she watched both Mayata and Lydia entering Snaketooth's Fortress. 'How could they have met? Those two files were completely separate!' Sandra sat perplexed, questions racing through her mind. To calm herself down a little she reached out for the cup of tea, but at that same moment Charlene suddenly pounced upon the desk, knocking the cup from Sandra's hand, spilling hot tea all over the keyboard and down inside the computer.    'God damn it, Charlene!!' screamed Sandra, chasing Charlene around the room in a fit of rage.    Charlene meowed loudly in panic and scurried out the door. Sandra slammed it shut. 'You stupid furball!'    Sandra's expression changed from anger to concern as sparks began flying from the computer and the lights in the room began to flicker on and off. The computer screen display was all garbled and behaving erratically, but worst of all was the fact that the main Mayata file had been open, and would be affected in ways Sandra dreaded to imagine. Lydia began squeezing herself through the secret, narrow opening at the base of the fortress.    'Come on! We're almost there!' yelled Mayata from a distance inside.    Lydia groaned with exhaustion, but was grateful to emerge with all four limbs still intact. She sighed deeply and followed Mayata into a large chamber. It was sparsely furnished and tattered banners hung crookedly upon the surrounding walls.    Mayata suddenly stopped still. 'This is it. We're here.' she announced.    'This is what?' replied Lydia, unimpressed. 'An empty room? Yes, you're right.'    'Just wait.'    Lydia checked her watch. Almost 10 minutes from when Mayata said they had to be there had passed.    All of a sudden a strong wind picked up inside the room, howling and whirling. Several of the banners were ripped from their fixtures and flew frantically around the chamber.    Lydia ducked just in time as a small table shot over her head. She crouched on the floor, terrified, covering her face. A deep tearing sound made her look up. Before her, a jagged mass of iridescent light appeared.    'What is it?!' shouted Lydia over the wind to Mayata.    'It's a tear in the time mesh. It only appears at set intervals, at exactly this location, at exactly this time,' Mayata shouted back.    'What does it do?'    'You'll see,' replied Mayata, approaching it with caution. She turned around to face Lydia, who hadn't moved an inch. 'I'll go through first, then you follow. Ok?'    Lydia stared back with mouth agape.    Mayata proceeded towards the light and was about to step inside, when suddenly her body jolted violently. She began thrashing around from side to side as if in a convulsive fit, all the while wailing and screaming in pain. Managing to turn again to Lydia, her eyes wide with fright, she struggled to speak. 'S-something's wr-wr-wrong,' she uttered.    Lydia was panic-stricken, not knowing what to do. She stood bewildered as Mayata began to distort and flicker. All of a sudden the time mesh tear expanded in size, pulling all objects nearby inside it.    Mayata let out a final shriek as she was sucked into the unknown. The time mesh tear then quickly shrunk to the size of a pin point and then vanished. The light diminished, the winds died down and Lydia was left standing there, completely gobsmacked. Mayata woke, as if from a bad dream. She clutched at her aching body, not knowing where she had ended up. 'What had happened?' she wondered. Looking around with bleary eyes she discovered she was lying face down in a pile of rotting fish heads and vegetable peelings. 'Gross!' she exclaimed, pinching her nostrils. She got up and climbed out of what appeared to be a large, metal, garbage container. She stood at the end of a narrow passageway enclosed by tall, brick walls on either side. At the far end she could see movement. Mayata took a deep breath to calm herself, then proceeded down the passage. As she drew closer she began hearing strange new sounds, mainly hooting noises, but also loud thumping, rhythmic noises.    Mayata froze when she reached the end of the passage, her eyes darting around frantically. Before her lay a whole new world. Stretched from left to right as far as the eye could see were endless lines of peculiar metal carriages, most of them small and yellow, but some larger, and much longer, packed full of important looking people. Towering over her on all sides were the tallest structures she had ever seen, and enormous, motionless birds glided effortlessly through the sky. But what held her most spellbound were the vast amounts of people everywhere. Thousands crammed the sidewalks, rudely pushing their way past her. 'Nice costume,' some would say with a snigger. A man driving by in a metal carriage wolf whistled at her and yelled: 'Yo baby! You get lost on the way to my house?'    Mayata scowled, and reached for the handle of her sword. The man's face dropped and he quickly sped off.    Mayata stood lost in wonder at this strange, new world. 'What is this place?' ----------STORY It was inevitable. ;) Ok dialyn. Time to work your magic. :)

LOL...nice...I think we may soon have to do an inventory to recall who is who and who is where....one of those Batman recaps "the story so far"

Just to clear up who 'Yolanda' is, she's the original Mayata who was snatched by the dragon at the beginning of the story, and who Lydia met in Snaketooth's prison cell. But since Sandra tweaked her personal profile she now has a whole new personality and physical appearance. It's up to one of us to decide who she has become. dialyn, it seems Maddox has suddenly been sleeping around! What with his new pregnant wife 'Sharon', and his bedtime fantasy 'Shannon'. Where does he find the time? Hehe.. we're all hoping you made a couple of typo's and meant to type 'Sandra'. Perhaps you should get into the habit of proof-reading your story before you submit. ;) Oh, by the way all, I've been compiling the entire story into a nicely formatted Word document, so if anyone would like a copy just let me know.

guess that means it is back to me>>AND SOMETHING is definately wrong with my compy> sheesh> i am traveling>>>again>>>so i"ll not have time until probably monday> yikes>>>need to figure out where the period went>>>

Yes, you're right. I had a brain blip. I'll revise tonight and delete my error. Take a look at my attachment in message 62. It's a start toward formatting the story and may save you some time.

STORY================ My lord, your forgiveness, please, said a warrior, holding what looked like a nest of bloody towels in his outreached hands. Lord Snaketooth hissed as he reached in and pulled out what seemed to be a large broken shell. The young one is dead. Again." The mother died too, the warrior said softly. What matters that to me? The women all die. I am the only one left of my breed. For my legacy to endure, I must have an heir. I need a stronger womanone who can bring forth my young. My destiny must be fulfilled. Maddox tried to conceal his distaste. Lord Snaketooth waved the warrior away. Where is that woman..that Mayata? Where did she go when she vanished from the screen? Im going to look for her in the other time, Maddox said. I will go with you. I want to find herthat powerful female. I so admire her. No. The time is not right, my lord. I have to prepare the other world for your entry. Trust me, my lord. You will soon have this world and that one. And any female you want. Maddox tried to interpret Lord Snaketooths expression but could not. He slipped into the portal just as the time warp was starting to close upon itself. ******************************* Arathorn followed the womens trail toward the fortress. Why were they were returning there? He had become separated from them in the darkness and it was only now, as the sun rose, that he could trace their steps. Despite his fear, he moved toward the fortress and cautiously approached. The trail led him to an entrance beyond the sight of the guards. He slipped inside. He could no longer read a physical trail but he could smell a trace of the females. He was cautious but determined, finally finding Lydia standing inside one of the rooms. She turned a tear stained face toward him. This sucks. Why did you come back here? Where is Mayata? Lydia shook her head. I dont know. She brought us here and then the airvibrated somehow and she was gone. She moved her hands in a circle. I dont understand. You big idiot. Lydia stepped forward and hit his chest with her fist. Shes gone. And left me here. And I dont know where here is. She hit him again. I want to go home. He was no more hurt by her fists than a tree would be by a butterfly fluttering against its trunk, but he felt her rage and confusion and fear, and shared it. He enveloped her within his arms and held her until her trembling subsided and she became still against him. Damn, she whispered. Suddenly he felt the air start moving around them. Oh, not again. He held her close. A wind was whirling outward, then suddenly there was a burst of light, and there was a third person in the room. Lydia pulled out of Arathrons hold. Mayata? No, said the shimmering figure before them. I am not Mayata. Not quite. I am, I believe, Yolanda. ******************* When Maddox entered their bedroom, he found that Sandra was lying on their bed. Charlene was curled on a pillow nearby. He could hear the cat purring with contentment. Sandra smiled at him. Hello, stranger. She rubbed her swollen belly and smiled. Hello, daddy. Then hger expression changed. Whos your friend? ================STORY

Just a quick note... I'm back, and gone again. Dallas next week. My deepest apologies for missing my turn without notice. It won't happen again. Back in a week, and ready for a twist or two. :) ~ Rich

STORY------ Mayata had just sheathed her sword when she heard a voice approaching her from off to her right. "There you are, FINALLY." She turned to see a fussy looking litle man approaching her, obviously speaking to her. He was dressed something like the stranger Lydia had been. Mayata frowned as the animated little man looked her over. "You DO look precisely the part but this is no excuse for cutting the time so thinly. Come, come we must get inside. We need to have you in place before people start to gather." The strange man took Mayata by the upper her arm and began bussling her towards an awning covered doorway. Mayata had yet to speak, her mind was reeling, trying to make sense out of where she was. It was obvious to her that Lydia was from a different place...orrrrr....time? Either way Mayata seemed to have landed in that place now. How it had happened she could not quite guess. She couldn't seem to remember anything before steeping into the bright light, not even WHY she had stepped into it. There had been someone else there, a stranger called Lydia. Beyond that her thoughts were clouded, perhaps a combination of shock and an after effect of the light. But, for the moment at least, it seemed to make sense to go along with the self-important little man. AT least he seemed to have been expecting her. He led her into a large room that appeared to have been organized like a complicated maze. The walls of the maze corridors where formed by massive shelves filled with what looked to Mayata like tablets of some kind. The man led her quickly through the maze, obviously he knew its secrets, to an amazing stack of tablets that nearly reached the ceiling. Mayata froze, pulling back against the mans grip on her arm. There on the face every single one of the tablets was a picture....of her. The small man lost his grip on her arm and looked back at her sharply, then paused, grinning. "Yes, impressive isn't it. It's every book in the series, 100 copies each. Somewhere in there is a single autographed copy. Whoever find, and buys, THAT one gets the whole series, in hardback, for free. Your job is to entertain the crowd while making sure they don't search through the books. The one they touch first is the one they buy. Make sense?" Mayata didn't respond. The small man shook his head impatiently, "Listen, pose for pictures, play the part all you like, but make sure they only look at one volume each or the contest won't work." With that the man scurried off into the maze Leaving Mayata staring at the shrine...to her. ------STORY Not as well written as I would have liked by internet access is limited this trip. The idea came to me as soon as she stepped out of the alley. I hope it works with the multiple Mayatas. I think I lost track of them in there somewhere. :)

You're not the only one who got baffled by multiple Mayatas. :D Better turn in the story than mine!

Dang, here it goes...

STORY----------

Yolanda? Lydia moved further from Arathorns grasp, you look she stared into Yolandas eyes and took another step closer sofamiliar.

Arathorn glared warily at this woman before him, What have you done with Mayata!? he demanded, not failing to notice this person who had appeared out of nowhere shared her attire.

Mayata? I know of no such person. But you Arathorn, and Lydia here

Arathorn firmly positioned his hand on the grip of his tightly clad sword. Lydia, unaware of his stance naively raised a welcoming smile to Yolanda. She had admired Mayata, but this woman stood above her at this first instance. Lydia had immediately sensed a great deal of pain, physical and psychological, on meeting Mayata; but this Yolandashe was akin to Mayata, Lydia could see she was rough and battletorn, but was also beautiful and so strong, with an immediate sensitivity in her eyes.

Can you help us? Lydia questioned positively. We lost our friend; she disappeared just minutes before you appeared, how did you get here? There were winds and she was gone, Arathorn appeared, there were winds again and now you are here. You must have seen her? Lydia continued with her swift succession of words, you are wearing similar clothes to her.

Ah yes, Yolanda interrupted, I know of her, were from the same army.

Lydias legs buckled beneath her as her tiredness finally became too much. She fell forwards and lucky for Yolandas immediate action fell into her outstretched arms.

I can see your concern Arathorn, Yolanda spoke, lifting and supporting Lydia across her arms, dont worry, I am here to help you. I dont know why, or how, I just feel it. Ive never met you two before, yet I know you.

Arathorn, not entirely relying on his good judgement of character released the grip on his sword.

Tell me of your travels, I can see there have been many recently. Yolanda gestured with her eyes to the table just behind Arathorn, go and rest, be seated.

Arathorn turned his back to her and went to sit at the table. When he turned around to be seated, Yolanda and Lydia were vanished.

-----------STORY

How about adding the running (or writing) order to the text file Dialyn?

I would have liked to have expanded on the other areas of the story, especially Mayata's situation with the books and customers, but I too am on my travels and time is limited! Scotland this time, see you soon...

Message edited on: 07/22/2004 17:03

I really hate saying this, but to be fair to yall, I need to back out of this until further notice. I was really looking forward to joing in, but business is picking up, and I won't have time to even think about writing for a few weeks more. I will be back, I love this idea and thread, but I don't want to keep holding ya back. See ya soon, Rich

Guess that's back to Drekinn then...

That's ok pstekky. We know work can be a hindrance. Hope to see you back here soon. STORYTELLER ORDER LIST ====================== 1. Drekinn 2. dialyn 3. Claymor 4. TheAlex ====================== Hey wow, just noticed a plug for this story is on display beneath the main Writers' Forum banner. Neat. :) Ok, looks like it's my turn. Will submit shortly.

I put in a plug on the Renderosity Interactive Magazine too...we actually have people waiting for the next installment! We're famous. :)

Really? Woohoo! :) I didn't know about the RIM. Looks intense. Could you direct me to the plug? I searched around, but got lost. :)

Attached Link: http://www.renderositymagazine.com/news.ez?viewLink2=24

Great to hear, dialyn. Thanks for the link. :) Sorry for the delay everyone. Finding a spare moment or two over the past few days was somewhat a challenge. Ok, prepare yourselves. :) STORY---------- 'Friend?' questioned Maddox, as he turned to look behind him. Thwack! A sharp blow to the head knocked him to the floor. Sandra began to scream. A dark and menacing figure loomed over Maddox as he fumbled around on all fours in a daze.    'You have kept me waiting far too long,' came a deep, hissing voice. 'Now you will suffer as I have been.' Thwack! A second blow knocked Maddox unconscious, sprawling him out face down on the carpet. The last thing he heard before the darkness overcame him was the sound of Sandra's muffled screams as she struggled for her life.    Hours later, Maddox's eyes blinked slowly open, his mind spinning as he tried to recall what had happened. Then it struck him. In a panic he staggered to his feet, his eyes darting around the room frantically; it was empty. On the bed lay a note:          'If you want her back alive, bring me Mayata. Crow's Tower Bridge. Tuesday 3am.' Mayata approached the collection of books and picked one from the shelf. She slid her fingers along the edges, marvelling at its elegant design and light weight. The front cover pictured Mayata engulfed in swirls of cloud, with a title below: 'Issue 27: Mayata - Lost In Time'. She dropped the book in shock. Upon hitting the ground it flipped open, revealing many hidden pages of hand-drawn artwork, together with scatterings of text. Mayata snatched up the book and stared at it in disbelief. She flicked to a random page and began to read: Mayata jumped onto a nearby table and unsheathed her sword, ready for battle. From her high vantage point she could see book shelves wavering to and fro as hundreds of people charged their way noisily towards her. As the first wave rounded the corner Mayata sprang forth into the air, performing an impressive triple somersault and vocalising her Xena-style war cry as she went: 'Aiyayayayayaiii!!'    Upon landing she growled angrily, ready to face the onslaught head on. She was surprised then to find that the hordes of people had stopped and were gathered around her with dumbfounded looks on their faces. Suddenly there was thunderous applause and cheering.    'Woohoo! Yeah!' came shouts of approval from the crowd. 'You rock Mayata!'    Mayata blushed a little, but kept her wits about her. An excited, little girl ran up and hugged her leg. She beamed with happiness as her mother took a photo.    'When I'm grown up, I wanna be just like you!' she said with a big smile, and ran back to join her family.    'Like me?' thought Mayata.    By this time the rest of the crowd had turned their attention to the books on display and were rummaging through them in a wild frenzy. Remembering what the small man from earlier had said about the books, Mayata sheathed her sword and stormed towards the rabble. Spotting an adolescent male holding several copies in his arms, she issued another war cry and pounced into action. To the male's alarm she performed a spinning roundhouse kick to his side, sending the books flying, and him through a nearby bestseller's book stand. Onlookers gasped. Mayata then proceeded to attack anyone she saw breaking the rules: grabbing people by the heads and smacking them together, twirling them through the air by their ankles, punching, kicking, headbutting, until all that remained was a pile of bodies and books. Mayata looked around in satisfaction, dusting off her hands.    At that moment the small man appeared. 'Oh my God! What have you done?!' he exclaimed, horrified. 'Security!'    Two burly security guards came trudging up behind him. 'Seize that woman!' commanded the little man.    Thinking quickly, Mayata kicked over one of the tall book shelves, causing it to fall into an adjacent shelf, then another one, and another, setting off a domino-style effect in the direction of the guards. The guards yelped as a ton of books fell upon them. 'Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!!'    The small man shrieked. 'My books! My beautiful books!' he cried, whimpering. 'They're all ruined!'    Mayata used this opportunity to make her escape, but not without taking one of the Mayata books first. She grabbed the only one remaining on the book display, clambered across the room over the debris of literature and dove into an open book chute. Startled by the sudden roar of a stampede, Mayata quickly averted her gaze from the book and turned it in the direction of the calamity. Approaching from the front of the room came the sound of a disgruntled mob of people, storming their way through the maze. They would be upon her at any moment.    Placing the book to one side, Mayata jumped onto a nearby table and unsheathed her sword, ready for battle. ----------STORY Hey, why not just throw logic entirely out the window? I'm still trying to get my head around it. :) Over to you dialyn.

LOL...nice. Leave dialyn with the choice of letting her learn from the text or repeat it, I love it. I must confess I will need to go back and read through most of this in order before my next turn. I think I am confused on a couple points.

I'm thinking. I'm thinking.

Could the next person take a turn so I don't hold the story up any further. Sorry.

That's ok dialyn. Thanks for the notice. Claymor, looks like the spotlight's now on you.

Yup, I am working my way through the story to get a grip on some of the more , to me at least, confusing bits.

STORY------

From her vatange point atop the table Mayata could see the crowd wroking its way towards her position. Her mind was working in battle mode now. The brief glimpse she had had of the book had prepared her but it had also sent her mind spinning. What mistake had the printed Mayata made?
Suddenly it hit her. The Mayata in the book not managed to create any semblance of a defensive perimeter.
She scanned the shelf tops looking for the two security guards who had appeared in the book. She found them...sampling the free donuts that had been brought in for the crowds...too far away to be of much good.
Shaking her head in digust she kicked over the table she was standing on landing it on its side creating a barrier to one side of the stacked Mayata books.
Running quickly across the aisle Mayata swept aside a table full of "special of the week" selections that dealt with healing crystals and the power of positive channeling only just manaing to kick the second table into place as the crowd surged into view.
As the first wave rounded the corner Mayata sprang forth into the air, performing an impressive triple somersault and vocalising her Xena-style war cry as she went: 'Aiyayayayayaiii!!'
At the same time, somewhere across town, Maddox sat on his haunches rocking back and forth, head shaking from side to side, eyes darting.
Somehow that reptilian scum had followed him HERE, into the "real" world. Through the haze of confusion, anger, disgust and disbelief something in Maddox brain started to click.
"The other side of the portal works much like this world but....but....are the physics really the same?"
Maddox stopped rocking.
"Shouldn't it be possible to model a weapon, something that worked entirely ...entirely differently...and have it work here?"
He shook his head. Sandra maybe could model a light sabre or something similar, even make it look really cool in that program of hers, but there was no guarantee it would work here.
Almost as if moving by remote control Maddox made his way to Sandra's computer and started to boot it up.

-----------STORY

Sorry it took so long. Been traveling like mad again.
But as no one else had done anything I thought I'd get us moving again. Trying to leave some open ends to play with as usual. :)

Hello all, travelling like mad myself - just to let you know my piece should be here soon. I've also received the news that I'm going to be published (for the first time) in two separate books to be printed later this year. :oD

Hey, congratualations on being published! Don't be shy...tell us where and, be sure to tell us when they are pritned. Happy dance for TheAlex!

Attached Link: http://www.holeinmyhead.co.uk

STORY---------------------

The familiar whir of the fan and beep signalled the computer was booting as Maddox sat, eyes transfixed to a ream of white text blurring over a black background. From amongst a ball of white fluff, vivid green eyes stared directly at him - he barely blinked. The eyes were Charlene as a kitten, a photo Maddox had taken was loaded as Sandra's desktop background. Still like clockwork, Maddox opened up the graphics program, 3D Studio, via the computer's Start menu. If he did happen to be a clockwork toy, this was the point where he needed winding up again. He sat without a thought for minutes, perhaps paralysed at the myriad of menus, tabs and various other options that now faced him.

He felt a sudden, sharp pang in his lap and once again saw a pair, or was it two pairs, of glowing green eyes staring at him. "Charlene!" he brushed the cat away and cursed her for clawing his legs. Regaining his vision, and his sense of where he was, what had happened, and more importantly for the moment, what he was doing here at his wife's computer, he scanned the bookshelf to the left of the computer... Your Pregnancy Bible, Trace by Patricia Cornwell, Quickstart Guide to 3D Studio: "Ah yes!" he exclaimed, In 24 Hours... he read on; "Damn!" once again exclaiming, this time in a down-hearted rather than excitable tone. He looked at the pregnancy book again, "how many weeks to go now?" he thought. Perhaps it was about time he started to get that room together for the impending arrival of his and Sandra's first child...he reached to the bookcase and grabbed the 3D Studio book, opened to page one and looked at the daunting program onscreen and back again.

Sandra approached the front-door to see it slightly ajar, "Maddox?" shouting warily as she pushed the door open.

--------------STORY

Apologies for hardly taking the story anywhere, but it's about time I had some sleep!

Oh, and that publishing - one will be a poem contained in a book called Still Life published by United Press, the other is two or three short stories along with a few poems in an anthology of writers from Staffordshire. I have an invite to the book launch in the Autumn and that's almost all I know about that one at the moment. Some of the poems are on my (new-ish) website, the link to which I have attached.

I have to bow out of the story completely. But I am enchanted by your imagination and endeavor. Sorry.

Umm.. am I the only one with functional eyeballs in this group? The last I knew was that Sandra's computer had been destroyed, but is now by some miracle booting up and operating without a problem. Also, regarding Sandra, did it escape everyone's attention that she has in fact been kidnapped?? Before you submit, please READ and RE-READ the previous segments very closely. This will keep the story on track and avoid confusion, allowing the story to flow more smoothly. Sorry Alex, but it looks like you're going to have to delete your last contribution and resubmit with the above two facts in mind. dialyn, sorry to hear you're dropping out. Your creative input will be truly missed. Thanks for participating and I hope you'll stop by again some time in the future. STORYTELLER ORDER LIST ====================== 1. Drekinn 2. Claymor 3. TheAlex ====================== Then there were three. Looks like we have a couple of empty positions to fill, so if there's anyone out there who would like to participate in writing this story then just let me know. Back to you Alex.

Well, I must admit to a fair bit of suprise that Maddox not only succeeded when he went to try the compy(I was hoping for more sparks or an insane green glow or something)...and that Sandra was at a front door...but I also confess I will have to re-read the entire thing before my next go.

I recall there were sparks from Sandra's computer, but I don't think it was completely destroyed. As for Sandra being kidnapped, I did read through and I must admit that one was a bit of an oversight (now I've read through again), though after what has happened so far, it could be Sandra, it could be "another" Sandra. and the story only implies it was Sandra who was kidnapped, it may not have been... I have a complete mindblank at the moment as to where I should take the story, but if you wish will make another attempt on Sunday. In good news, now Anchor Books have requested to publish a poem of mine in one of their anthologies. It's getting to the stage where I'll have to turn these down...

You're pulling out too Alex? That's unfortunate. Before you leave us though, could you first resubmit your last story entry, sort of like a final farewell. Congratulations on your published poem. ATTENTION: If anyone who's been reading this story feels they would like to take a stab at contributing please drop a message into this thread and join in with the fun. Don't be shy now! Let's try and increase the group number back to 5. :)

Hi, sorry for not posting earlier in the week...I'm not pulling out but am unable to resubmit my last entry at the moment. -Alex.