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**** COMMODORE 64 BASIC V2 **** 64K RAM SYSTEM 38911 BASIC BYTES FREE READY. LOAD: SEARCHING - - OFTWARE - ABBEHKNQTWZ] #&),/ - SHE WOKE UP ABRUPTLY AS THE POD MADE A JOLT FROM COMING OUT OF WARP. AT LEAST THAT'S WHAT THE INSTRUMENTS TOLD HER. YAWNING, STRETCHING, SLOWLY SHE CAME UP TO THE SURFACE ONLY TO REALIZE SHE HAD NO IDEA OF WHY SHE WAS THERE - IN THE ESCAPE POD, IN SPACE, ANYWHERE REALLY. A CLOSER LOOK ON THE DATA SHOWED THAT SHE HAD NO IDEA OF WHERE IN SPACE SHE WAS. DATA SAID THE OUTER RIM OF THE 6TH QUADRANT, BUT THAT WOULD BE WAY OVER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE NEBULAE AND AS FAR AS SHE KNEW, MAN HAD NEVER GONE THIS FAR. PONDERING ABOUT THINGS, SHE FELT AS IF A BAND OF IRON WAS TIGHTENED AROUND HER CHEST, SQUEEZING IT TIGHTER AND TIGHTER TIL SHE WOULD IMPLODE. SHE HAD REALIZED SHE HERSELF WAS UNCHARTERED TERRITORY. SHE HAD NO IDEA OF WHO THE HELL SHE WAS, WHERE SHE CAME FROM AND WHY, NOT PERSONALLY. SHE KNEW SHE LIVED IN THE SILVER SYSTEM, IN THE FIRST QUADRANT OF COURSE, AND THAT SHE WAS BORN ON ZONDA. THE INSTRUMENTS WERE FAMILIAR TO HER AND SHE AUTOMATICALLY KNEW HOW TO DO THINGS IN THE POD, BUT SHE HAD NO IDEA OF HER NAME AND WHO SHE WAS. STARING ON THE INSTRUMENTS SHE SLOWLY STARTED EXAMINING THE LOG ONLY TO FIND THAT IT WAS ENCRYPTED. OBVIOUSLY SOMEONE HAD MEANT HER JOURNEY TO BE SECRET, SECRET EVEN TO HER. STARING AT THE SCREEN SHE REALIZED THAT IT SHOWED HER THAT SHE HAD COME OUT IN A SYSTEM AND THAT SHE WAS CLOSING IN ON A PLANET THAT WOULD PLACE HER ORBITING IT. THERE SEEMED TO BE NO TRANSFERSTATION OR ANY OTHER SORT OF GUARDING SYSTEM SHE COULD DETECT. WEIRD! IT COULD OF COURSE BE PLACED ON THAT ODD LOOKING NATURAL MOON. IF IT IS NATURAL. COULD THIS BE AN UNINHABITED WORLD? SCANNING BY THE NORMAL ROUTINES BROUGHT NOTHING UNTIL SHE CAME DOWN TO CRUDE RADIOSIGNALS. THE TRANSLOR CAME UP WITH NOTHING AT FIRST, BUT THEN NOTED THAT IT SEEMED TO GET DIFFERENT LANGUAGES AT ONCE. CONCENTRATING ON ONE, THE TRANSLOR EVENTUALLY GOT A CRUDE IDEA OF A VERY PRIMITIVE LANGUAGE. AND THEN IT FOUND RADIO WITH ATTACHED PICTURES AND THAT OF COURSE HELPED A LOT TO DECIPHER THIS TOTALLY UNKNOWN LANGUAGE. WHEN SHE LOOKED AT THE PICTURES THAT THE TRANSLOR CAPTURED SHE WAS STUNNED TO FIND THAT THIS INDEED WAS A PLANET INHABITED AND WITH CREATURES JUST LIKE HERSELF, HUMANOIDS TO BOOT. SHE LOCKED ON TO A CHANNEL THAT SEEMED TO SHOW SOME SORT OF FAMILY AND EVERYDAY LIFE. IT COULD JUST AS WELL HAVE BEEN A SCENE FROM ZONDA DEPICTING ANY SORT OF STANDARD FAMILY. THEN WHAT HAPPENED HAD HER CONFUSED. SOME SORT OF REFEREE HAD THEM PAIR UP TWO AND TWO. HOWEVER, SINCE THEY WERE NOT AN EVEN NUMBER OF MEMBERS, THERE WAS ONE GROUP OF THREE. AND THEN SHE WAS EVEN MORE CONFUSED. ONE PERSON WAS ORDERED TO LEAVE THE THREESOME, LEAVING A PAIR. ON TOP OF THAT, THE LEFT OVER BEING WAS PUNISHED BY BEING SENT AWAY. AT LEAST THE TRANSLOR DETECTED IT TO BE A PUNISHMENT, BUT COULDN'T IT HAVE BEEN SOME SORT OF REWARD INSTEAD? SHE STARED AT THE SCREEN WONDERING WHAT WEIRD PLANET THIS WAS AND WHY IN THE WORLD SHE WAS DOING HERE AND WHO HAD SENT HER HERE AND WHY. SHE DECIDED TO FOLLOW THAT PARTICULAR SIGNAL DOWN SINCE IT HAD SEEMED SO FAMILIAR IN SOME WEIRD WAY. AND THE POD ENTERED THE ATMOSPHERE AS SHE KEPT STARING AT THE SCREEN. -