Subject: Re: It's time again for....
From: "Yung (William) Wong" <gon@tsar.poly.edu>
Date: 12/8/1995, 1:02 PM
To: fanfic@andrew.cais.com


Another BGZone #9 Update!!

Gotcha!

As always, fire away with the comments and suggestions!

Ready!  

Aim!  

*blam*blam*zing*  

Arggh!  I .. I can see the light! \(O.O)/

=====

    14  you interested in giving ironclad security to your nation's
    15  defense?  If you fit any of these categories, then the A-12
							       ^^^^
The A-12, as I remember, was a cancelled US Navy project calling for a 
flying wing along the lines of the USAF's B-2 bomber.  I think the project 
was nicknamed the "Invader".

    16  `Tankbuster' Heavy Combat Boomer is for you!  Designed for
    17  the discriminating arms-buyer, the A-12 sports an impressive
    18  array of offensive power.  From the 1000-terawatt particle
    19  beams to the compact, but deadly, Vulcan autocannons, it's
    20  all you'll ever need from a front-line combat boomer!  As an
    21  added bonus, the A-12 can be configured to meet specific

OK, The first sentence says, "all you'll ever need", while the next line 
says, "an added bonus ... can be configured...".  I think this is a 
inconsistent description.  It should either be "well configured out of the 
factory", or be "easily modified after you rip off the bubble-wrap".

As an aside, have you asked any advertising majors about compositon?

    22  mission profiles!  Just pull out the unnecessary components,
    23  and insert the new ones!"  The monologue paused briefly, and
	    ^^^^^^
I still liked my "swap out - swap in" idea. B-)

    24  the boomer finished off its last opponent in an impressive
    25  blast of pyrotechnics.
	^^^^^
"show"?

    26       "For those of you who can't afford that unbeatable army
    27  you've always wanted right away, no problem!!  Just talk to
    28  your local GENOM representative, and a deferred-payment plan
    29  can be negotiated for a minimal charge.  Some dealers may
						      ^^^^^^^
Hmm, is this how Genom gets back out of the sales doldrums?  Making it easier 
for the little guys to buy combat boomers?

I'm imagining that these dealers are used to selling regular, everyday servant 
boomers.  Maybe you can fit something in about this?

    30  sell for less; `Plug'N'Play' options extra.  Buy now!  This
    31  is a limited time offer!  GENOM Armaments:  Tomorrow's
	     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What offer?  I didn't see any offer.

    32  firepower, Today!!"

///

    98       "Have you seen Nene yet?" he asked a nearby secretary.
    99  The harried, brown-haired young woman looked up from the
					      ^^^^^^^^^
Can she be busy enough to _not_ look up from her terminal?

   100  report she was rapidly pounding into the computer in front
   101  of her.

///

   154       Now, those suspicions surged back to the forefront,
   155  clamouring for attention.  Who exactly was he?  He vaguely
   156  remembered Nene calling him `Bert', but that was it.
				    ^^^^^^
How about giving Leon a slightly fuzzy memory: "Ben? Boris? Benson? 
 Bert? Bert, that's it!"

   157  Apparently, he had an engineering job somewhere, but where
   158  exactly?  No matter how hard he thought about it, he

///

   167  He dismissed that though a moment later as unlikely; Nene
   168  didn't have any of the signs of someone abusing her.  Given
   169  the way he'd seen the two of them look at each other on the
   170  very rare occasions when he did see them together, it was
   171  unlikely that there was that kind of a problem:  the red-
   172  haired couple were obviously madly in love with each other.

But does being madly in love equal no abuse, ever?  Can anyone come up 
with a better argument for Leon to give up this line of thought?

   173  Okay, fine; leaving that aside, just who the hell was he,
   174  what did he do, and what was Nene getting involved in?

///

   183  herself as Hollister's hands started to come up.  She'd done
   184  it!  She'd managed to get the bastard who'd hurt Bert and
                                                         ^^^^^^^^
   185  Sylvie, and now she was going to...
	^^^^^^
Hey, did she forget about Anri?

   186       Her heart leaped into her throat as Hollister suddenly
   187  dodged sideways, leveling a large gun of some kind at her.

///

   196                              ****
   197       "NOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Was her scream this coherent during the actual attack?  Repeating exactly 
what she screamed at the time would seem to make more sense, unless she was 
being an observer (and a participant) in her own dream, and she was trying 
to prevent what had happened.

   198       Bert jerked upright in his recliner at the terrified
   199  scream that suddenly blasted from his bedroom.  Pitching the

///

   219       "Another nightmare?" he asked quietly, running a hand
   220  tenderly through her tangled hair.  She nodded wordlessly,
						^^^^^^
Can the nodding be more slight?  It may be more of an emotional impact if it 
was "hard to tell her nodding from her shuddering".

   221  her face still pressed against him.  He squeezed her gently

///

   232  impression that had been irrevocably shattered by
   233  Hollister's bullet.  He hoped the shock would not be an
					  ^^^^^
"experience"?

   234  insurmountable obstacle for her.

///

   253        He hugged Nene again, wishing her peace of mind with
			     ^^^^^^
Would Nene be in pain if he hugged her too hard?  If so, how about changing 
it to "lightly again"?

   254  more intensity than he'd ever wished for anything before,
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
... and would be a good contrast to this.


///

   282  any longer, there was sure to be a semi-official probe into
   283  her illness, and they couldn't risk that.  At the mention of
   284  sleep, however, the fear in Nene's eyes intensified a bit.
			    ^^^^                ^^^^^^^^^^^
One thing I remembered from watching all that anime is that when a young 
lady becomes more scared, her eyes are to water up slightly, almost 
like priming the reserves to cry some more.

   285       "Will....will you stay with me for the rest of the
   286  night?" she asked him in a small, quavering voice.  She was
   287  still trembling, and her pulse was still pounding like
   288  runaway trip-hammers; he could feel it as he held her.
		^^^^^^^^^^^^
Nani kore?

   289  "Please?  I....I  don't want to be alone...I..."  Her voice

///

   332       "Think you'll be okay?" he asked quietly, sitting on
   333  the edge of the desk.  She looked back at him, biting her
   334  lip in uncertainty, and nodded, once.  Bert very carefully
   335  kept any more unease about her from leaking through to his
   336  face; Nene wasn't talking much, which was not a good sign.

What are her hands doing at this point?  Can you add something about Nene 
clasping her hands together on her lap?

///

   367  over the fact that he couldn't help her in any other way
   368  other than being there for her; he wanted to do more,
   369  damnit.
	^^^^^^
Is it "dammit", or damn it"?

   370       He strode rapidly through the halls, avoiding

///

   528  with short, dark brown hair and a slender, well-rounded
   529  figure, wearing shorts and a dark T-shirt was muffling her
		^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Have you put any seasonal changes into your stories, or has it just been 
three years worth of summer?

   530  laughter behind a hand.  Sitting quietly next to her, not

///

   615       Wiping the back of his hand across his mouth, he
   616  slammed the mug back down onto the counter, slopping a few
   617  drips over the side onto the counter top,  and turned away
	^^^^^
"drops"?

   618  to the worktable sitting in the center of the room.  On it

///

   626  computer beeped; it had finished analyzing his calculations.
   627       Dropping the scanner, he strode quickly over to the
	     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What did it fall onto?  The workbench, a toolbox, or what?

   628  computer, snatching the printout from the print roller as it

///

   705  a hotplate, off to the side of the worktable.  He refilled
   706  the mug, adding his usual dosages of cream and sugar.  As
				  ^^^^^^^
"Heapings"?

   707  Sylia watched, he drank the mugful in a steady, continuous

///

   796  corridor, a faintly exasperated expression on her face.  "I
   797  told you to get some rest," she informed him.  His shoulders

"...  "I thought I told you ..."

///

   910  kind of personality change, Leon was willing to bet his
   911  badge that the guy wasn't a criminal...well, not a mobster,
							   ^^^^^^^
"Mobster" sounds so ... uncouth.  Is it just how Leon speaks?  What about 
something involving the phrase, "organized crime", or the like?

///

  1021  hand onto the backrest of a nearby Nautilus machine.  Her
  1022  leg snarled at her, sending pains shooting along the nerves
	^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^2
1. How have her injuries been explained to her band?

2. "pain signals up and down her nerves"?

  1023  at the sudden movement, reminding her again of why she was

///

  1315  great extent.  On a large, central viewscreen, the computer
  1316  displayed a rendered image of what was actually happening
		    ^^^^^^^^
Would this actually be useful?  I always thought the USAF used wireframe 
models in their Top Gun training academy for clarity.  The information 
provided by actually rendering a scene may not be as useful as a more 
spartan, statistical display.  But this assumes that Sylia spent all her 
money on the sim's rendering computers.

  1317  from the computer's viewpoint:  A silver-and-blue hardsuit

///

  1333       "Full assault," she replied flatly.  Behind her, Priss
  1334  sucked in a sharp breath, and her fingers dug into the back
  1335  of Sylia's chair as her hands clenched in worry.  The three
		   ^^^^^
I remember seeing Sylia's testing lab not having any sit-down chairs, but 
looked like it needed some tall stools or the like.

  1336  women watched the viewscreen as a sudden horde of blue C-55
  1337  combat boomers charged towards the lone silver suit.

///

  1348  feet again as a scorching volley of spitting, blue-white
  1349  plasma bolts carved divots from the asphalt where he'd been
	^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Shouldn't these holes be smoking by now?

  1350  standing a scant second before.

///

  1427  as he stiffly rolled over on the ground, just barely
  1428  avoiding another round of cannon fire into the pavement
				  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Wouldn't there be pavement chips flying about?

  1429  where he'd been laying.  The two B-12s that had caught him

///

  1753  can, and proceeded to throw up violently in it.  The racking
  |                           ^^^^^^^^
  |
  1760       The hot shower helped to revive his flagging energy
  1761  just a bit, and he felt almost normal again once he'd dried
  1762  himself  off and thrown on a clean tracksuit.  He still felt
  1763  a little out of it, however, so he splashed some cold water
  1764  on his face.  It helped a little, but he realized he was

Uh, wouldn't he try to rinse out his mouth?  And stomach acid does tend to 
make the teeth "tingle". (>_<)

///

  1853       "Okay, fine," he nodded.  "It's a deal."  There was a
  1854  sudden ringing in his ears, and he blinked, looking around
  |
  |
  1861       "What's wrong?!" Priss asked worriedly.  "What the hell
						       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Agitated, sure, but wouldn't, "What is it?  What is it?!" be more PG-13?

  1862  is it?!"  She and Sylvie were holding him upright by main
  1863  strength; Bert's legs wouldn't support him any longer.
  |
  |
  1867       There was a loud, rolling, rumble, almost like an ocean
  1868  was crashing down on him; black waves of unconsciousness
  1869  washed over his sight, and the room vanished.

I've had this happen to me a few times, didn't faint, but the ringing is 
right on, changing to a roar also seems to be right.  But there was also 
this feeling of being disconnected from one's body, and doing things by 
observing the results of your movement commands from a distance, and seeing 
things in something like tunnel-vision.

///

  1876  the stopping car had raised.  A pair of booted feet swung
  1877  out of the car to the ground, being followed a moment later
  1878  by a tall, blue-clad, brown-haired man with an ADP badge
  1879  hanging on his jacket.

Hey, what's been happening with Daley?  Where is he?

///

  1923  widened a bit at that; that suit was a fairly impressive
  1924  piece of work, and was probably worth several thousand yen.
					      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Several thousand yen, even now - before inflation due to time, is worth at 
most US$100.

///

  2021  workouts.  His mouth tasted foul, and he desperately needed
		   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Well, since he didn't even try to rinse out his mouth from thowing up, I'm 
surprised that it doesn't taste ... _really_ bad. (o.O)

  2022  a drink of water on top of that.  There was a dull, gritty

///

  2069  very polite, you know."  Bert flushed guiltily as he sat
  |                                   ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^
  |
  2081  Bert flushed again guiltily, and he didn't reply for a few
	     ^^^^^^^       ^^^^^^^^
And here I was, thinking you didn't like to use the same words again within 
a short distance from each other.

///

  2108       "And you felt guilty for running me through the
  2109  wringer," Bert quietly added, "and you felt you had to
  2110  apologize or make up for it somehow."  Sylia flushed a
					       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Wow, quite a lot of blushing and flushing in this scene, eh?

  2111  bright red, and looked horribly embarrassed for a moment.

///

  2321       Picking up the water bottle from the table, she took a
  2322  long draught, enjoying the feeling of delicious coolness as
  2323  it spread through her parched tissues.  She took another
			      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Um, "parched tissues"?  That somehow makes me think of a box of Kleenex 
in the desert. (O_o)

  2324  drink after the first one had been given time to settle,

///

  2461  thoughts.  She stopped, and waited; several minutes passed,
  2462  and there was still no movement from the prone, red-haired
  2463  individual.

Several _minutes_?!  Ouch! (X_X)

///

  2585  off her knees to sit cross-legged next to him on the floor.
  2586  He seemed to be completely in control of himself; she wasn't
  2587  getting any hostile or tense feelings from him anymore.
	^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
So Linna is part Betazed now, is she? ^_-  Or is she just "reading his 
aura"? ^_^;;

///

  2624  didn't help that impression."  A long interval of silence
			 ^^^^^^^^^^^
You used "impression" in a phrase at line 2577.

///

  2664  tension flash through him, and then disappear.  After a
  2665  period of strangled noises, and subdued, under-his-breath
  2666  swearing, Bert made it to a fully upright position again.
				    ^^^^^
"mostly"?

///

  2687  be a better combatant was a good idea, especially since he
  2688  seemed to have developed a certain amount of natural attack
  2689  aptitude since his kidnapping.  She wrestled with her own
	^^^^^^^^
Where did she get this impression, unless she'd been in contact with Sylia 
about the latest test?

  2690  inner fears for a few moments, and made her choice.

///

  2702  as they herded her towards to front entrance to the non-
  2703  descript brown brick building where the exercise facilities
  2704  and archery ranges were located.  "I can't take it anymore!!
	    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Ah, so that's where all the above was happening.  Does Linna have her own 
key to the place?

  2705  Just shoot me now, goddamnit!!"

///

  2734  Sylvie's pull on her, and they trooped through the doors,
  2735  and over to the stairs.  Why the hell didn't he put in an
  2736  elevator system?, Priss snarled to herself as she climbed
	^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Aren't these required by building codes?  One possible explanation for a 
current lack of elevators could be that they're "still being installed".

  2737  the stairs, leg cheerily protesting all the way.  At least

///

  2801       "Holy shit!!  What the hell happened to you?!" Priss
			   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  2802  burst out.  "What the hell did you do now?!"  Out of the
		     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Alright already, we know she isn't the most eloquent of the bunch, but do 
try to cut back, please!

  2803  corner of her eye, Sylvie saw Linna twitch, and started to
  2804  look at her questioningly, but Bert's voice replying

///

  2923       "It's just that Leon's been checking him out,
  2924  apparently," Naoko shrugged.  "A friend of mine down in the
	^^^^^^^^^^
This sentence sounds like the dreaded, "Dangling Participle".

  2925  Records division told me that Leon had a background check

///

  3093  brown eyes unrevealing.  Bert briefly envied her as he paced
  3094  the length of the room, back and forth, several times.  Nene
	    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
In the same place Priss was pacing when Bert conked out after the shower?

  3095  sat on the couch next to Sylia's chair, holding her own

///

  3185  together after what Hollister did to me, and having
  3186  something else ruin my life right now...would be more than I
  3187  can handle."  He went over and sat next to Nene on the
			      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"... over and finally sat down next ...", since he was pacing around for 
so long.

  3188  couch, reaching out and taking his now-cold mug of tea,

///

  3240  away; we won't need the plane for that short a distance."
  3241  She didn't bother mentioning that they really needed someone
  3242  to fly it anyway; leaving the KnightWing unattended was not
  3243  a good idea.

What happened to Mackie again?  I'm just lost in the multiple universes of 
fanfics.

///

  3316  softsuit interface worked, but as long as they worked, he
  3317  wasn't going to knock himself out over details; the control
  3318  systems were the one thing on the hardsuits he didn't fool
  3319  with.

This reminds me of the way Microsoft writes up API's, and all the little 
programmers write apps to that standard, and everything works fine. B-)

///

  3340  latched them into their respective shoulder mounts.  Their
  3341  muzzles briefly tracked around the lab as his suit
  3342  battlecomputer tested them out before adding their command
							   ^^^^^^^
  3343  paths to the main suit control programs.  He was ready, he
	^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I'm thinking that the control programs are either based on some form of 
Unix (now owned by SCO B-), or some OO (Object Oriented) technology.

A Unix based OS would need initialization of the hardware-recognizing 
and initialization drivers, but that can be activated by the physical 
connection.  This would be like the "command paths" that you wrote of.

An OOOS (tongue twister, eh? B-) would not need a "program" to run, as any 
added component would be recognized instantly.  The closest parallel to 
everyday language would be: the system becomes "concious" of the additional 
hardware, and will query the peripheral about how it should be used, and 
what it can do for the system, making a seamless integration into the 
Hardsuit as a whole.  The one limit on this "simulated conciousness" (not 
even close to AI), is that you need a great amount of parallel hardware and 
the communications network between components to make things run at an 
acceptable speed.

Golly, maybe I _should_ subscribe to BYTE magazine. >B-}

///

  3451  had been a shortage of qualified suit pilots around when the
  3452  current disaster had developed.  Topping that off, the K-17s
  3453  hadn't been overhauled in so long, that some of them had
		    ^^^^^^^^^^
"maintained", "had a tune-up"?

  3454  developed mechanical quirks ranging from poor control of the
  3455  suit, to involuntary shutdowns.  He mentally promised
		 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Following from the above OS spiel, I suggest something about system crashes, 
and a comparison to a certain currently popular OS. ^_^;

  3456  himself that he was going to correct the negligence of the
  3457  mechanics when....if he made it back to the station in one
	^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"... mechanics when he .... if he made ..."

  3458  piece.

///

  3467  pilots, elsewhere in the city, from just a meagre handful of
						   ^^^^^^
"meager", unless you're using a spell checker from the UK. ^_^;;

///

  3480  hull breach on the right shoulder of his suit.  Luckily, no
							^^^^^^^^^^^
  3481  systems had been damaged.  He was still in the fight.
	^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Luckily, no major systems had been damaged, just some backup power 
supplies."   >B-]

///

  3515       "Awwwwwwww  SHIT!" Leon swore, feeling panic claw at
  3516  him; he was a sitting duck now.  It would be several minutes
  3517  before the backup systems came on-line enough to allow him
		   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If you followed the last suggestion, this could change into a 
"reconfiguration", or "reinitialization" of the backup power supplies.

  3518  to move.  In the meantime, the boomers could pick him off

///

  3528  The strike never connected, as the killer machine was driven
  3529  off of its feet by a pile-driving, roundhouse punch from the
			     ^^^^^^^^^^^^
Pile drivers usually are used in a downward direction, and the punch ins't.

  3530  silver-and-blue clad armour suit that suddenly materialized
  3531  in front of it.  The boomer hit the pavement headfirst
  3532  almost twenty feet away, and rolled over swiftly, roaring
	^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
With twenty feet of fly time, why wouldn't it try to right itself during the 
fall, instead of taking the hit, and then straightening up afterwards?  

Current autonomous robot control systems have "behaviors" that duke it out 
in the OS for control of the 'bot.  If you run the same trials over and over 
again, the system learns the best, most efficient way to deal with it.

If this attack is not far enough into the boomer's test cycle, then just 
ignore the above. B-)

  3533  defiantly.

///

  3650  He wasn't quite fast enough; there was a high-pitched
  3651  screech, and a ripping sound, and a wave of angrily burning
					    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  3652  pain spread out from where the boomer's claws had sliced his
	^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Have you ever gotten what you thought was a paper cut from some metal 
contraption, looked at it one second later, and noticed a little too 
much blood for a paper cut was coming out?  You first notice it as little 
more than a quick, cold streak running along the actual cut, like a scratch, 
but deeper under your skin, then the all little pain receptors decide that 
you shouldn't ignore this intrusion, and finally, you howl in pain.  B-]

  3653  side.  Slapping a gauntleted hand to the gash, SkyKnight

///

  3661  out around the edges of the gash.  Unfortunately, the sides
  3662  of the suits, under the arms, was where the armouring was
					  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  3663  the thinnest.  It had to be, in order to allow the wearer
	^^^^^^^^^^^^
Since the boomers seem to know this weakness, couldn't the boomers be 
basing their knowledge of weak points on their own weaknesses?  In other 
words, do the boomers themselves, have the least armor at the joints too?

///

  3912  effect that more K-17s were being sent to his area.  He
  3913  ponderously stomped over to the area where the police suits
		    ^^^^^^^
"clanked", "shuddered", "sproinged"? ^_^;;

  3914  apparently had SkyKnight surrounded.

///

  3945  her mind, uneasy fear had begun to crawl around, and she
  3946  thought that she felt a twinge from her stomach muscles.
						^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"stomach area"?

  3947       She tried to ignore the feelings, chiding herself for

///

  3983  racing heart.  She was about to call Sylia when a cold,
  3984  mechanical voice from the boomer paralyzed her with icy
  3985  fear.
  3986       "Identity confirmed," the biomechanoid stated
  3987  laconically.  "Red Knight Saber.  Procedure:  Exterminate."
  3988  The boomer seemed to suddenly smile malevolently.  "Threat
  3989  Level Estimate:  Inconsequential."
  3990                              ****

Uh, isn't this a little cliche?  I think you should just describe what 
the boomer is seeing in its field of view, a la the first Robocop movie.

But if you want the impact of a mechanical voice ... I have no idea how 
else to do it.

///

  4025       "BERT!!!  SYLIA!!!  SOMEBODY HELP MEEE!!! PLEASE!!!!"
  4026  Nene's voice shrieked, sobbing at the same time.  There was
  4027  the sound of a loud impact of some kind over the channel,
  4028  and the line went dead.
  4029       Everything seemed to start moving very slowly, as
  4030  SkyKnight spun sharply, ears ringing from the force Nene had

Could he just jerk slightly from the shock of such a loud intrusion?  Then 
the K-17's can get confused about why he looked like he was in pain, and 
SkyKnight could then start running off.

Maybe even have him look in the general direction of where the scream may 
have come from .... come to think of it, can't the comm systems play with 
the phases of the sound coming out of each earpiece to make a 3D imaged 
sound source, so as to give aural cues to where the speaker was in 
relation to the pilot?  This would make the pilot's situational awareness 
much more in tune with the action.

And since he was about to speak, wouldn't the volume of Nene’'s scream 
leak over into the external speaker pickups and give the ADP a clue to 
why SkyKnight was running away?

I just want ADP to be more involved, and giving them clues like this may 
make them slow down a bit more in the short term, and make the "grunts" 
more passionate about not trying to stop the KS.  That is, unless Hollister 
and his group have already infiltrated the ADP brass.

///

  4122  shots she'd hit it with.  Topping that off, her sensors
						    ^^^^^^^^^^^
  4123  couldn't find a weak point on the boomer's armour to
	^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  4124  exploit.  Calling for help hadn't produced any responses,

Do these boomers have ECM capability now?

///

  4134       "No," she whimpered again, trying to huddle back into
  4135  the wall.  Everything she could see turned blurry with tears
  4136  as her eyes brimmed again.  "No, please, no..."  She stared
  4137  at her imminent demise, a sick feeling settling over her,
  4138  unable to look away as the glow in the boomer's weapon

Is she asking the boomer to stop?  Is she seeing Hollister in the place 
of the boomer like in a flashback?  Or is she reliving her dream again, 
where she was trying to change what happened in the past?

///

  4148  wall.  She couldn't see what was going on, however, since
  4149  the earlier explosions had blinded her temporarily.

Could she not also have clenched her eyes from all the knocking around she 
was recieving?

  4150       She heard metal plating scrape and grind against her
  4151  hardsuit as whatever it was that was laying on top of her
  4152  shifted, and started to move.  She felt the heavy weight on
					   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  4153  her ease as whoever was on top of her started to get up, and
	^^^^^^^^
Woah, isn't feeling weight in a hardsuit _bad_?  Sorta meaning that you 
are currently being crushed in your personal tin can.

I mean, sure, being immobilized, that can give you a clue that there'’s 
something heavy, but I did'n’t think the hardsuits themselves could transfer 
surface pressure detected, into something you can feel inside the suit.

  4154  she heard some pained, under-the-breath swearing.  A faint
  4155  hope blossomed.

///

  4404  weren't supposed to be.  He sighed, deciding that
  4405  complaining about his treatment wouldn't really get him
  4406  anywhere.

But wasn't the boomer tracking his plasma saber to begin with?

///

  4440  eyes were whirling with a complex multitude of concerns.
  4441  She was wearing a form-fitting white, red, and blue bodysuit
  4442  of some description, covered by a white lab coat.

Are you forgetting about the ear clips?  If so, look at BGC ep8.

///

  4460  fondly as he hugged her, then allowed her to step back.
  4461       "Would you want me to?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow
	      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Why?  Would you want me to?"

  4462  at her, hiding a smirk.
  4463       "It'd be a hopeless wish," she said dryly.  "You've

///

  4473  He'll probably gripe about stiffness for a couple of days,
  4474  but nothing you can't live with."
  4475       "Easy for you to say," she retorted, smiling.  "You
							    ^^^^
  4476  don't see him nearly every day.  I do."
	^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"You're not the one that's going to be listening to him gripe "for a couple 
of days"."

  4477       "The burdens of command," her uncle replied blandly.

///

  4547  haired young woman was clad, as usual, in her snugly-fitting
  4548  blue-white bike suit, and her helmet lay upended in a nearby
  4549  chair, with her gloves crammed inside of it.  Her golden-
			^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Wait, are her gloves that big, or is her head that small? ^_^;

  4550  brown eyes kept shifting from Bert to Priss.  Linna was

///

  4663  leaned back into the couch looking resentful for a moment.
  4664  She didn't say anything else, but Bert noticed she was
					  ^^^^^^^^^^^^
Even though he's still pacing around like a thundercloud?

  4665  unconsciously rubbing her injured leg.    Sylia's remarks

///

  4705       "Thank you," Sylvie said, eyes suddenly brimming with
  4706  tears of happiness.  "I can't tell you how much  this
  4707  means....I..."  She quit speaking as Priss carefully stood
  4708  and walked over to where she was sitting and gave her a
	    ^^^^^^
"walked", or "hobbled"?

  4709  quick hug.  Sylvie hugged her friend back, and took a couple

///

  4749       "He...can't...do....the.." Priss gasped, then collapsed
  4750  laughing again, tears squeezing out of her eyes.
  4751       "Ergonomics of my suit," Sylvie finished for Sylia,
				      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Sylia or Priss (who is hysterical right now)?

  4752  puzzled.  "What's so funny about that?"  Sylia developed a

///

  4762  control systems to work properly."
  4763       "Well what's so hard about taking my measurements?"
		   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  4764  Sylvie asked, still puzzled.  "That shouldn't be
					    ^^^^^^^^^^^^
  4765  too....hard."  She looked at Bert, abruptly remembering just
	^^^^^^^^^^^
You're repeating a phrase needlessly.

  4766  who she was dealing with.  She grinned suddenly, impish

///

  4797  table; it was slightly awkward, handling things while his
  4798  hand was bandaged up.  It felt like he was wearing gloves.
						   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"mittens"?

  4799  With a sigh, he flopped back into his recliner, and tossed

///

  4812  NOTE:  Okay folks, Idea time.
  4813        I'm open to suggestions as to what colour to make
  4814  Sylvie's hardsuit.

Red with white accents, to match the DD.

///

  4815        Sayonara!

Ja ne!

///

----------
 Yung "William/The Forgotten One/Who?" Wong
(^_^) <gon@tsar.poly.edu> -=-<>--<>-=- <ywong01@barney.poly.edu> (;_;)
}-==================================================================-{
"By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote.  In fact,
 it is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others as it is to
 invent. (R. Emerson)"
                -- Quoted from a fortune cookie program
Gon%