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\title{``So Who Is This Killroy Guy Anyway?"}
\author{\copyright1990 Brian Myers}
\date{}
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{\noindent \it {\Large
F}or those who've had the distinction of asking, here's a week in the life of Killroy.
Enjoy!}\\


{\noindent
\large K}illroy was sitting on the couch before his video center.  He had finished his
sweep of the area around the blimp hangers with the close circuit system and had just 
switched to television when Dale came in the doorway behind.

	``Whatcha watchin Killroy?" he asked in his usual bubbly manner.  The little
chipmunk jumped over the back of the couch and sat down next to his great black friend.
Ever since the incident at the ``Overlook Inn" Killroy had developed a very close
friendship
with Dale.  Closer than any of the other Rangers with the exception of Gadget, of course.
It had been the only truly distasteful moment in his relationship with the Rangers.
Fortunately, however, Chip knew it was mostly his fault and didn't begrudge Killroy his
closeness with Dale.  Anyway Chip had his hands full with Tammy.

``You're sitting on my tail again," he said without looking away from the TV-Guide.

	``Woops" Dale replied and picked himself up so Killroy could retrieve his
his long feline tail.  Dale looked expectantly up at his friend who was at least twice
as tall as any of the others, even after Killroy had expanded them to near human size.
{\em If he really wanted humans to like him better, he shouldn't have chosen a form that
was eight feet tall.} Dale thought to himself.

``Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh" Killroy said in disgust carelessly tossing the TV-Guide away.
``There ain't shit on tonight.  Well Dale old buddy, old friend, old pal, let's
have a look
at what's going on in the other realms."

``Okeee Doke."  Dale jumped up and got the Special Remote from its place below the
TV screen and brought it to Killroy.  It was a small metallic box in the general shape of
a remote control but had no buttons or LEDs on it.  It was operated by Killroy's 
thoughts and controlled the device that allowed them to view happenings in other
time/space
continuums right on their TV screen.  Killroy had invested quite a bit of time and
effort in
its construction, and though it seemed a rather innocuous device, it was really one of
his most sophisticated inventions.

	Killroy closed his eyes for a moment and his body visibly relaxed.  Dale knew the
signs that indicated exercising of the great power his friend was infamous for in 
dimension after dimension.  What he was seeing here was, though quite complicated in
operation, a parlor trick.  Dale had seen many parlor tricks before he truly saw his
friend in action.  Even after all this time he still shuddered at the memory and,
unconsciously, slid over next to the great, black furred, jaguar like creature that
was his
friend.
	Killroy scooched down in the chair and crossed his feet on the end table in front
of the couch.  Seemingly on a second thought, he lifted his feet and kicked off his
tennis shoes; the only articles of clothing he ever wore besides the Jacket.  His
empathic abilities kept him attuned to what his friends were feeling, and he thoughtfully
put his arm around Dale's shoulder.

	Dale could imagine Killroy's consciousness reaching out from the confines of
his body and drawing close to the empathic receptor of the viewing system.  Killroy had
made sure each of the Rangers had experienced the Astral plane so they would all have a
better understanding of him.  The empathic receptor allowed the user to feel the currents
of emotion and temporal energy of a scene to augment the picture on the screen.  In this
manner Killroy could ascertain almost instantly the importance of a situation.  It also
allowed him to center on the particular events in a realm that he was interested in,
rather than having to look at years of scenes to find one important event.

	The scenes flew by on the screen faster than Dale could keep track of.  They
were just blurs to him, but he knew it wouldn't be long before his friend latched onto
some important event.  A moment later, Killroy's eyes snapped full open and his back
straightened slightly.  Dale had seen this look before too and turned to the screen to
see that it had stopped on a scene of a locker room full of very young, very beautiful,
very naked women.

``Wo-ho!" Dale exclaimed leaning forward and wagging his tail.  {\em Killroy sure
knows how to use that viewer.  But wait a minute,} he thought {\em he's two
thousand years
old.  He's probably seen gobs of naked women.  I wonder why he stopped here?}
But then he
thought of Killroy and Gadget.  {\em Then again, maybe he hasn't seen all that many naked
women}.

	``I'm ashamed of you guys!"  Gadget came in from the kitchen.
``You're just a pair
of peeping Tom's."  She moved around to the side of the couch where Killroy was sitting.
She crossed her arms and looked sternly at him.  He ignored her, intently gazing at the
screen.  She seemed slightly more than annoyed.  Her action seemed a bit out of
character,
but Dale knew why.  Then they both realized how intensely serious Killroy was.

	The inter-dimensional camera panned across the locker room showing a variety of
young, vibrant bodies returning from their showers, but seemed to fixate on none of them.
A very attractive, young girl bat stepped over the back of the couch as Dale had done and
sat down next to the smiling chipmunk.  Dale turned to see that all the other Rangers had
come through the door into Killroy's communication center.

	``What are you gawking at sweetie, you know all about females' bodies,"
she smilingly
chided in a deep, sexy voice.

	``Sure, Foxie, but I've never seen naked female humans before.  I thought they
didn't have any body fur at all, but they do.  Between their legs.  But each one is sort
of -- different.  The patterns I mean.  And some have more than others."

	This was enough to catch Killroy's attention.  He sent a brief smirking glance at
his little friend and chuckled to himself.  But almost as quickly,
his serious stare returned.
Foxglove and Tammy giggled too and Gadget
put a thoughtful finger to her mouth and smiled.
Foxglove snuggled up with Dale to watch the rest of the scene unfold.

The locker room continued to scroll by until the actual showers could be seen in
the background.  Killroy's chin popped up.  ``There..." he said as the picture zoomed in
on the last remaining girl in the showers.  She was pretty, but not beautiful.  She
appeared slightly less mature in a physical sense than the others.  She was washing very
slowly with her eyes half closed.  ``That girl, she has psi talents."
He paused squinting
a little.  ``Telekinesis I think."

	Her expression contained a note of fear, or perhaps nervousness.  Suddenly, the 
water going down the drain at her feet was tainted with blood.  They could all see that
it came from her vagina.  The males in the room creased their eyebrows.  The three
females
took on sympathetic looks.  All these concerned looks vanished, however, when they saw
the girl's reaction to discovering the menstral blood: utter horror.

	She screamed a long, lingering, blood-curdling scream and scurried away from the
shower, squeezing her legs together, holding out her blood covered hand imploringly to
her classmates.  The boys in the room, except for Killroy, drew back in shock and
displayed expressions of open mouthed horror and sympathy.  The girls however, appeared
shocked, but surprised.  As if they were concerned for her but didn't understand why she
was quite so upset.  Killroy, however, creased his eyebrows even more.  His lips parted
slightly and his gaze grew even more intense.  It seemed he was peering right into the
girl's soul, and, of course, that's what he was attempting.

	Then all their faces, except Killroy's again, showed disbelief when they saw her
classmate's reactions.  They were all yelling and taunting her; throwing tampons at her.
Killroy's lips closed again and his face became hard as a stone.  Now Gadget understood.
Of all the Rangers only she had experienced total psychic merging with Killroy.  They
knew the very depths of each other's souls.  It had happened when she was despondent
because she thought she had lost her talent at inventing.  He had wrapped
his consciousness
about hers and lifted it competely from her body into the Astral plane.  She had seen
what talent truly was and where it fit into the great system of temporal energy that was
existence.  Her troubles had seemed so unimportant after that.  She had seen the whole of
his being too.  She knew of his past and what had caused him to become what he was.  She
knew he empathized with this girl they were seeing now.  She knew this girl was going to
receive their aid, and she was glad for that; however, she also knew what was likely to
happen to all the other girls taunting her.

	``Gosh, why are they being so mean to her Killroy?" Dale asked.

``Because they're all stuck up, cunt eating, shit sucking, asshole bitches, that's
why" he replied not smiling, still watching the screen.

	``Oh" Dale said.

	A look of mild annoyance crossed his face, and he shot a quick glance in Dale's
direction.  ``She's different from them, Dale.  So they reject her.  They get
their jollies
from trampling on her.  It makes them feel powerful.  If they're not careful,
they're going
to find out just how powerful they are compared to her."

	``What's wrong with her?  I don't see what's so different about her." Dale asked.
	Killroy, squinted a little harder.  ``Well she's certainly not well adjusted
socially,
but I don't know why yet.  All I sense from her is panic.  If she doesn't even
know what her
period is, it's probably related to her home life.  We'll find out if we keep watching."
They did indeed.

	The girls' gym teacher had come in and broken up the disturbance.  She was now
sitting outside the locker room with the girl talking to her about women's periods,
trying to cheer her up.  Obviously she hadn't know that girls had periods and was feeling
mortified at her display.  But being very socially inept, she didn't know what to do but
sit there and stare at the ground.  ``God damn, do I know how that feels,"
Killroy muttered
under his breath.  Only Dale heard it.  He too understood what it was to have very little
self-esteem, but could hardly believe Killroy could relate to it.

	It seemed the girl's name was Carrie.  Carrie White.

	The picture was speeding by again as Killroy rolled through the rest of the her
school day which contained no important events.  They resumed their normal speed as she
approached her house.  Gadget had slipped up and sat down next to Killroy and put one
hand on his left thigh and the other on his right shoulder.  He noticed this of course,
but was too intent on the situation at hand to do anything but accept it.  Carrie was
now talking to her mother it seemed.  The first few words out of the mother's mouth gave
Killroy had all he needed.

	``Mamma, you should have told me."

	``The blood is from the sin.  The sin is desire."

	``No Mamma, it's not from sin; it happens to all girls.  I made a fool out of
myself in front of all the other girls, Mamma.  You should have told me."

	``It's the lust girl!  If you didn't have the lust, the blood wouldn't
come."  She
stared at her daughter so intently she quivered.

	All the Rangers realized why the girl acted so strange now.  They saw the damage
the blind zealous religion had done to the poor Carrie's personality.  And they all knew
what was coming next.  All of them, including Gadget, cringed, covered their ears, and
leaned away from Killroy.

	Killroy's face had gone bleak, no, baleful.  The finely tuned, super powerful
jaguar's muscles rippled under his skin.  His fists clenched.  His lips peeled back
revealing long lines of huge needle sharp teeth that were visibly elongating.  A sound
emerged.  It was like super fast flying shards of glass ripping through flesh.  It was
the voice of Satan himself.  ``I...HATE...FUCKING...ZEALOTS!!" the demonic voice grated.
All the Rangers' fur stood on end.  When it had passed, they uncovered their ears and
turned to look at him again.  Dale was shivering.  Tammy was clinging tightly to Chip.

	``Crikey, thet made maw teeth hurt." Monty said.

	``Why does he insist on these little demonstrations?  We're all friends.  He
doesn't have to impress us." Chip said to Tammy and Monty.

	``Golly Chip, he just does it to keep in practice.  It's part of his image.  Besides,
he never lets anything hurt us.  Even in his more violent displays." Gadget wondered for an
instant if Killroy had ever met the Prince of Darkness.  {\em That's silly,} she said to herself {\em of
course he has.}  The others knew Killroy had a real hard spot for overly religious people,
but only Gadget really knew why.  And now she knew he empathized with this girl more than ever.

	Killroy teetered back and forth on his heels.  The great, lush main of pure white
hair that flowed from the maiden's peak on his fore head, across the cranium and between his
ears, then down his back, stopping just above his tail, which was his best known 
trademark no matter what form he chose to live in, was standing up at the roots and almost steaming with rage.  He gestured with the Special Remote and the TV went dead.  He did
a smart about face and reguarded the Rangers, his face now set in grim determination, but
the baleful look still in his eyes.  ``Lock 'n load, Rangers, we're rollin."  He swept out
the doorway.

	They all gathered in the bay of the blimp hanger.  The two giant, tunnel shaped, sheet
metal buildings were Killroy's home in this realm.  Formerly owned by the questionable
Canadian Stock Exchange, they stood about two miles east of the city of Tillamook Oregon.
Mookieville, as it was known to the locals, was Killroy's first choice for two reasons.
First, the blimp hangers themselves.  They provided plenty of room for some of his larger
inventions, like the radar invisible 747, and were well isolated.  Tillamook, despite a
world famous dairy, had a population of just under 1000 people.  Second, Killroy had always
wanted to live on the coast.  He had grown up in the Roseburg area in Oregon's
``banana belt" and so had a love for small towns and nature.  The Oregon coast filled this
bill to a tea.  Not to mention the fact that the Tillamook river provided one lucky angler
with a 50+ pound Chinook salmon about once a week during the spring run.  During this time
of year, Killroy could always be found either pulling sand shrimp from the estuary or drift
fishing those shrimp for big springers.

	Toward the north end of the fenced off hanger, the one Killroy actually lived in,
stood a large brass colored sphere.  There were many other interesting structures and
gizmos in the hanger bay, but now the team stood before this large sphere.  Killroy carried
a large, many buttoned, remote control, and he was punching a series of the buttons in
sequence.  Suddenly, the side of the brass sphere slid outward and rolled to the side.

	``Everyone ready?" Killroy asked.  Exuberant chatter indicated an affirmative.
They all piled into the sphere which was hollow inside and the door rolled shut like the
side door of a van.  ``O.K.  Here we go," Killroy said.  Every one unconsciously drew in
and held their breath.  A brilliant field of white light suddenly flared up around them.
Space began to fold in on itself.  For an instant everyone's consciousness was scrambled.
Then, as suddenly as it began, it was over.  The whole experience took about two seconds.

	The room was different now.  They stood on a platform surrounded by a ring of
smaller platforms, each with its own strange looking pedestal.  The room they were in was
circular like a disk, not like a sphere.  Then the wall slid out and rolled back, just
like the one on the sphere, revealing a passage way.  They all filed out this door and
turned left.  Proceeding down the hallway, they passed many other rooms and finally came
to a large metal door that marked the end of the hallway.  It automatically rolled aside
to allow Killroy, who was in the lead, to enter, and the others followed on his heels.

	This room was impressive.  In the forward center was what appeared to be a control
console.  A large, black leather, strongly built chair stood before three panels full of
lights and indicators.  Similar control panels lined the wall on either side of the room,
and there were chairs spaced evenly along them, but they weren't as big as the one in the
center and they lacked the strange gadgetry that was on their backs.  On the forward wall
was a huge visual screen with an image of the earth from an orbital position.

	Killroy sat down at the big chair and began touching controls.  One by one, the
power systems in the ship came on.  Lights came up and low mechanical hums began.  All the
Rangers placed themselves in the seats along the walls.  Then the planet outside the view
port began to fall away as the ship turned away from earth.  The ship continued to swing
around until it finally stopped facing the Swan constellation: Cygnus.  Cygnus X-1 to be
exact.

	``Hey Killroy, once we clear the solar system, why don't we try the warp drive?  I've
been working on it non-stop for the last week.  I finished it last night, and it should work
with no problems" Gadget said.  The other ranger did a double take and groaned.

	``Zipper, me little pal, she didn't say it, did she?  Tell me she didn't say 'no
problems'."  Monty pleaded with his little friend.  Zipper returned a disparaging squeek.

	``Great!  Didn't have too much trouble with the installation?" Killroy smiled his
approving-anxious smile at Gadget who was sitting directly to his left.

	``Golly, no.  Those technical specifications from the Enterprise were real easy to
read.  Well, once you have a little advanced engineering under your belt that is." She
returned his smile warmly.

	If it were not for Killroy's ability to generate tremendous amounts of telekinetic
energy quickly, they all would have died in seconds.  Killroy had engaged the impulse
engines of his ``Bird of Prey" style cruiser.  The ship's responsive engines fired
immediately and brought them to 1/3 light speed in about five seconds.  The force of such
acceleration would have quickly squeezed the life out of all of them, but Killroy's psychic
reflexes were faster.  He extended powerful fields of force around the bodies of himself
and his friends, cushioning them from the force.  When they had achieved their speed and
the acceleration relented, he released the force fields and gasped a sigh of relief.  He
had exerted enough psychic power to feel the draining effect left by such power.

	``Aw knew it; aw knew it.  The minute she said 'no problems'..."  Monty panted.

	``Gadget!  What did you do!?" Chip almost yelled from the seat behind Gadget.

	``Golly guys, it couldn't have been me.  I was working on the warp engines." Gadget
said innocently.

	Killroy had risen from his chair and came over and put a hand across Gadget's
shoulder.  ``Yes Gadget dear, but to install them you had to disconnect the inertia
dampeners for a while didn't you?"

	``Ooops!  I can fix that!" She replied with an index finger in the air.

	He leaned down and gave her a big one armed bear hug, puckered up his mouth and
said, ``Yezz, we know you can." in a condescending but good natured manner.  He was immensely
proud of his pupil.  Gadget returned the hug and rubbed her cheek on his shoulder.  She then
looked up at him with her big eyes and put on the sweetest smile she could manage.   After a
second of this she batted her eyelashes.

	{\em Jesus fucking Christ!}  Killroy simply could not understand Gadget's affection for
him.  He recalled again the time they had joined minds in that dark, drizzly alley.  Their
minds mingled and flowed like currents in a whirlpool to the music of ``Silent Lucidity" which
he had chosen for that particular moment long ago.  He had been taken up in the revery
of it; more so than he had intended.  She had seen him entirely.  Everything that was Robin
Killroy was known to her.  Even everything that was the young abused teenager whose name he
had purged from his memory after finding his power, she had seen and felt.  All his life's
experiences, though not in fine detail, she had shared.  She even knew why he had chosen the
name ``Robin Killroy".

	He was so taken with the experience that he had forgotten to shield her from the great
loneliness.  That terrible gap that he had not the skill to close or even patch.  The gap that
had resulted, in large part, from his 2082 years of refusing female companionship.  The gap
that drove him to seek out special friends and friendships like the one he had with the Rangers.
He kept licking at it like an open wound, hoping it wouldn't open any farther but knowing it
would.  He had suddenly realized it was no longer there, and not grasping what had happened,
suddenly turned his attention to it and found Gadget there.  She had quietly and willingly
drifted into it, filling it.  The reason he hadn't noticed it before was because she had not
deliberated.  Not even for an instant.  She had seen his pain and automatically done whatever
she could to sooth it, totally without thought for herself.  So shocked was he at this open
gesture of love for him that he jerked back out of the mind meld and tore the mental wound
open again, worse than before.  He almost shrieked with agony.

	``God, that must have hurt.  Why did you do that?" she had said.  But the question was
rhetorical.  She knew perfectly well why.  She knew that kind of love was something he had
never experienced before and was frightened of it, despite how much he wanted it.  In this
particular area of his life, Killroy knew only pain.  Pleasure was a stranger to him.  But
there was more that even fear of the unknown.  There was the original reason he shunned female
companionship.  Since that time she had made no secret of her feelings; that would be pointless
and ridiculous.  Even the other Rangers knew and were happy for the both of them.  Gadget knew
he was terrified of these feelings, but she also knew if she just held her ground, no matter
what, sooner or later he would respond.  No one can ignore unconditional love for long.

	Killroy had gone back to the pilot's chair while Gadget reactivated the inertia
dampeners.  Once she gave him the thumbs up and had returned to her seat, he began setting
coordinates for the hyperbolic jump.  A smile touched the corner of his mouth when he
recalled Gadget's reaction to the jump controls the first time she had seen them.  ``Golly
Killroy, if the ship jumps straight through space, why do you use hyperbolic equations to
set the coordinates?"

	``Because space isn't a cube, Gadget, it's a hyperbolic parabaloid." he had smiled.

	``Oh."

	Once he had the coordinates set for Cygnus X-1 and everyone was ready, he threw the
switch.  Again space folded around them and their brains were scrambled with disorientation.
When it was over, the Earth was gone, along with the Sun and Moon.  Now they were in deep
space.  The constellations no longer looked familiar.  Before them was a great mass of
darkness.

	``All right, Gadget, here's our chance to test the warp drive." he said.

	``Crikey, Aw think aw'd rather do the testing before we went into the black hole."
Monty said a little nervously.

	``Relax, it'll be fine."  Monty might have worried a little more, but when Killroy
said things would work out, they usually did.  Often because if they didn't he would
simply fix it so it didn't really matter if they did or not.

	He hit a control and the ship smoothly went into warp drive.  He had deliberately
set the coordinates so they didn't come out as close to the black hole as they usually did.
Nevertheless, the gravity well was racing up on them at an alarming speed.  The others
gripped their seats, and Killroy reached out and put his hand over a plain metal bar that
stood out on the control panel.  There was no indication as to its function, but it appeared
to be made of the same metal as the Special Remote.  The ship streaked toward the black
hole even faster, aided by the tremendous gravity field.  Killroy engaged the gravity
bending envelope that would keep the ship from being reduced to sub-atomic particles and
X-rays when they crossed the event horizon.  Then they were inside.  For one maddening
second everything, including themselves, both existed and didn't exist.  They existed
everywhere and nowhere at the same time.  It was worse than the previous jumps.  There
they were jumping through worm holes in there own time/space continuum.  Now they were
leaping across an infinite boundary to another in an infinite continuum of infinite
continuums.

	When their minds returned to normal, Cygnus X-1 was far behind them and they were
streaking back the way they had come at a speed faster than was possible in normal space.
They left a disrupted wake in the fabric of space behind them the way a super sonic jet
does when traveling faster than sound.  Killroy applied reverse thrust and the ship slowed
to warp eight.  ``That was great," he said ``I didn't have to push the ship beyond the warp
barrier at all.  All I did was set the trajectory and do The Trick"

	Carrie White sat on the bed in her room, fraught with worry.  Her mother was not
going to be happy with her.  That crazy boy.  That crazy Tom Ross.  He just wouldn't
leave her alone.  He had just kept on pestering her until she finally agreed to go to the
prom with him just to get rid of him.  Why?  What was he doing?  Maybe someone put him
up to it.  Maybe he's just desperate because he can't find a date?  But no one could be
that desperate.  Oh mamma's not going to like this one bit.

	She wrung her hands.  She thought she would probably die of worry in a minute or
so.  It was so subtle she almost didn't notice it.  It was a touch of cool water to
a traveler in the desert.  A feeling of calm seeping into her consciousness.  A comforting
whisper starting in the distant reaches of her mind but coming closer every second.  If
her mother had allowed her to listen to music she might have known it was ``Your Time is
Gonna Come".  But as it was, it was just a musical message playing through her mind.  She
would have been terrified of not knowing the source if it weren't for that great feeling of
calm and knowing.  The source was not something cold or alien.  It felt understanding and
friendly and supportive.  It felt as though it had the power to support her, no matter
what.

	Then, when the song ended, it was gone.  Carrie didn't know what to think.  She had
never experienced anything like it before.  Now that the {\em other's} waves of calm were over,
she began to fear it a little.  But then she rejected the fear.  This, whatever it was, had
come from that special part of her mind.  The one her mother said was controlled by Satan
himself.  Carrie had long ago, however, decided that it wasn't Satan's will.  It was something
that was uniquely hers.  And whatever this was, it wasn't evil.  She thought about it for some
time and finally decided that it had meant for her to go to the prom with Tommy.  It was time
for her to start breaking from her mothers death grip.  It was time to start living.  She
couldn't have guessed the rest, but guessing that much was more that Killroy had expected.

	He had left the others on the ship, but they were watching what he did on the ships
monitor.  And he was watching Carrie.  With his mind that is.  She was not attuned to psychic
sensations so she didn't notice his consciousness hovering on the very outer boundaries of
hers.  Nevertheless, the subconscious part of her mind sensed his presence.  There was
a strange comforting feeling that was too small to notice, but she responded to it just the
same.

	Carrie began donning the dress she would wear to the prom that night.  It was the
best one she had.  It was the only nice one she had.  She took great care in making herself
up.  She didn't have much experience with that, since wearing make-up was shameless and
sinful.  She did the best she could and thought the result wasn't too bad.  But as she was
finishing, her mother finally approached.  She had been dreading this moment.  She knew
her mother would try to stop her.  She knew exactly what arguments she would try.  She
knew she would finally resort to force.  But she also knew nothing was going to stop her
from going to this prom.  Her mother began by speaking softly and tenderly.  But she quickly
became more and more insistent.  Carrie didn't even hear what she was saying; she didn't need
to.  It was all the same old same old.  It had been pounded into her head since
childhood.  It held almost no sway any more.  Carrie had rejected it secretly long ago
when she felt the first stirrings of that special part of her mind.  She made the token
efforts of reasoning with her mother, but she knew that was useless.  Her mother was getting
even more excited and insistent in her righteous fervor.  She finally started grabbing at
her; trying to hold her back.  Now Carrie did what she knew all along she would have to.

	She threw her hands to her forehead and reached out with her mind, grabbing her
mother by the shoulders and forcing her back onto the bed firmly but not harshly.  ``Now,
Mamma, you know if I just concentrate on it, I can hold you right there as long as I want."
She relaxed her hold and her mother rose from the bed again.  She only half heard the
references to Satan and the Devil's child.  Soon her mother was grabbing at her again.
Again she forced her down onto the bed with her mind.  Now she became angry.  ``The Devil's
child, Mamma?  Think about it!  That means either you're the Devil or you fucked him!"  She
straightened in surprise.  {\em Where had that come from?!}  She and her mother stared at each
other for a moment, neither believing what Carrie had said.

	The doorbell rang.  {\em Tommy's here,} Carrie thought excitedly.  She quickly forgot
her mother and what had happened and hurried down the stairs toward the door.  So excited
was she that she released the restraints on her mother, but she didn't follow.  She opened
the front door to find Tommy in a tux waiting for her with an armful of flowers.  She
smiled shyly and was thrilled at his reaction.  He obviously found her more attractive than
he had expected.  She stepped out the door and took his arm wordlessly.

	If she had thought of her mother she might have discovered why she hadn't been
pursued.  She might have seen her mother there in her room hovering two feet off the floor;
an invisible force wrapped around her like a giant hand crushing her.  She couldn't move
in any way and couldn't breath.  She knew it wasn't Carrie who was doing this directly to
her.  She knew it was Satan himself, operating through her daughter without her knowledge.

	{\em How right you are.}  Killroy sneered to himself.  {\em Zealot crunching: more fun
than spring Chinook!}  He laughed to himself.

	Carrie couldn't believe the magic of the evening.  It was everything anyone could
every want in a prom.  The girls were so beautiful in their prom dresses, the boys were
such gentlemen on the dance floor (a most heinous sin: dancing).  And Tommy was so sweet.
He talked with her for a long time.  He wanted to know about her.  He told her about himself.
When her shyness would make her withdraw, he coaxed her out with friendly, good natured
insistence.  They danced.  She didn't know how (of course), but he showed her, and she did
a fair job.  Then came time to vote for prom king and queen.  Carrie was reluctant, but
again Tommy convinced her to live dangerously.  They marked the last box on the ballot: the
one that said ``Tommy Ross \& Carrie White".

	They sat and watched the dance floor for a while.  It was so wonderful.  The lights
flashed and the music played.  Carrie couldn't believe what a wonderful evening she was
having.  She hoped it would never end.  Then it was time to announce the new prom king and
queen.  Carrie was tickled by the fantasy of her and Tommy winning.  She knew it was a
ridiculous thought, but the evening had been so perfect so far.  Why not indulge herself in
one more little fantasy.  Her thoughts were turned so far inwards that she almost didn't 
notice when the announcer did in fact say their names.  Unbelievingly, she rose and
accompanied Tommy to the stage.  She walked in a daze.  She could hardly accept that this
was happening.  It was so dream like.  Someone put a bundle of roses in her arm and she
turned with Tommy to walk down the thrust stage.  At the end they stopped and stood for
pictures.  Flash bulbs snapped all around.  It was so perfect.  The perfect end to a
perfect evening.  And of course that was where it ended.

	There was a cacophonous shout and another sound she couldn't identify.  Her mind
had just begun to descend from its dreamy state when she was struck from above by something
wet.  Bewilderment brought her mind to a neutral state.  She didn't know what had happened,
and her mind searched for an answer.  When she found it, she vanished.  She realized that she
was covered from head to foot in blood.  When understanding struck, everything that Carrie
White was before melted away.  Even as the blood washed away what she looked like, the upsurge
of betrayal, abuse at the hands of her mother and classmates, and the shear hatred locked
away for so long, washed away everything Carrie had been before.  Even after this incident
passed, she would never be the same again.  But this incident hadn't passed.  The new
Carrie White understood something very simple that the former wouldn't have: all these
monsters before her, who had tortured her for more than a decade must die.

	Now that special part of her mind took over.  It wasn't really in her control.  She
had informed it of what needed to be done and it now set about doing it.  The doors and 
windows to the gym slammed shut, preventing any of her victim's escape.  A high wind rose
flinging various items, including broken glass, around the room.  The deaths began.  Broken
necks, burned bodies, crushed skeletons, and various other forms of death took student after
student.  They screamed and scurried, trying to escape, but none could.

	Then Carrie's telekinetic ability brought itself to bear on the gym teacher who had
told her about her period and had, unbeknownst to Carrie, tried to protect her from the
very horror that had happened tonight.  But before any damage could be inflicted, her target
vanished through a hole that appeared in thin air.  Carrie was just conscious enough to
temporarily halt her killing spree.  When she did, a tiny edge of sanity returned.  Just
enough for her to realize something.  The comforting presence was still there.  At first
she had thought it had betrayed her like all the others.  But no, it was still there.
Stronger than ever in fact.  This was enough to allow her to make the super human effort
to stop her run-away telekinesis.  She had only killed about 1/3 of the students and had
stopped herself from killing the rest.  She then realized just how close the presence was.
She looked over her left shoulder where Tommy had been (she hadn't seen him fall, struck by
the bucket which contained the blood) and found herself staring into the stomach of an eight
foot tall creature that looked to be half jaguar, half human.  She looked up and saw the
streaming length of pure white hair.  Of course, it all made sense now.  Robin Killroy,
the legendary wizard of time and space.  He must have noticed her special abilities and come
for, ... she didn't know what.

	Killroy stared down at with a cynical look and said, ``Whimp.  Let me show you the
proper way to exterminate vermin."  He went down to the end of the stage, spread his hands
and gave a big, evil smile.  ``It's time to party, kids!  How about some music?"  There were
certainly no musical instruments in working order around, but music started never the less.
Only it wasn't prom music.  It carried feelings of power and dread.  It gripped the listener's
mind like a bear trap and tore at it.  It caused more panic and terror than anything Carrie
had done.  It was ``Thunderstruck".  Carrie watched as heads exploded, bones powdered, and
liquified brains poured out ears.  She  watched as Killroy performed one of his favorite ``crunch"
songs.  He was really quite a good dancer.  It was an unrivaled heavy metal performance,
but of course no one rating performance quality here.  Though Carrie couldn't have known
it, Bonn Scott was never like this.

	When the powerful guitar solo started, Killroy's finger nails extended into razor
sharp cycles, and he jumped down into the audience and began a hand-to-hand massacre.  She
watched no more.  She stumbled out the exit behind the stage.  Just before she left the
stage, that familiar presence came over her again for an instant.  She could tell he had
other things occupying his mind at the moment, but wanted to tell her something.

	``Beware, Carrie.  It's not over yet."  The presence was gone now.  She stumbled
away from the building as it began to collapse.  She realized Killroy had started a minor
earthquake.  She headed down the road towards her house, trudging along still in a daze.
She could have been thinking about what had happened.  She could have been thinking about
what her mother would do when she got home.  But she didn't think about anything; her mind
was paralyzed.  She just trudged.

	Then something alerted her.  Some part of her mind was still looking out for her and
sent up a warning: {\em look out behind you!} it said.  She turned to see the headlights of a
car coming straight for her.  Her mind reacted automatically, and the car flipped onto its
side.  It crashed off the side of the road and burst into flames.  That is, the front and
back parts burned.  The flames stayed back from the passengers though.  Now Carrie knew
what had happened.  The ones in the car were the four assholes who had taken special pleasure
in torturing her all through her school years.  They were the ones who had set up the cruel
trick for her.

	``Don't you just hate it when that happens?"  She whirled around to see Killroy
standing behind her with his hands on his hips.  ``You go and fucking waste a whole gym full
of people and the real perps get away.  Well not this time."  She turned back to the car,
mouth agape, to see that the flames where slowly creeping towards the passengers.  They were
frantically trying to escape their fate, but that's a contradiction in terms.  The fire
took them slowly.  The screams lasted until their vocal cords had been burned out.  The
last Carrie ever saw of them was their grossly misshapen hands clawing at the windows,
leaving little chunks of charred flesh which burned away shortly thereafter.

	She turned around again to find she was alone.

	``You see, she thought she must be the most ghastly being in the universe.  I know.  I
felt the same way the first time.  This way she realizes that there are worse things around
than herself.  Basically it saves on the psychological repair we have to do."  Gadget knew
this was going to happen all along, but it still horrified her.  All those kids dead.  She
knew it was part of Killroy's role in nature, the steward's steward and all.  To keep the
human population juggernaut from destroying other populations, like espers, but it still
chilled her to the bone.  She was, after all, a very caring person.  Oh, well, she'd get
over it.  And everything would probably work out for the best.

	They watched as Carrie made her way home and upstairs towards the bathroom.  She'd
be all right.  Tammy and Foxglove were waiting to help her clean up.  Killroy thought she
might be overly surprised at the discovery of two strange non-human beings in her bathroom,
so he kept a close eye on her emotions.  She was indeed surprised, but quickly became obvious
to the still stricken girl that these two creatures were here to help.  After all, she had
already seen an eight foot tall jaguar, that walked on two legs, slaughter everyone who had
survived her senior prom.  A human size squirrel and bat weren't so amazing.

	But even Tammy and Foxglove couldn't seem to break Carrie out of her emotionless
state.  She needed one like herself for that.  So, when they had finished cleaning her and had
her dressed in a comfortable nightgown and robe (she would need sleep soon), Killroy
performed yet one more song for her: ``Ramble On".  That did it.  The poignant music gave her
a shot of just the type of emotion she needed to melt down the hard shell her mind had created.
She ended up crying on his Jacket.  This annoyed Killroy a little because tears were salt
water which was very corrosive to steel, and, despite its soft suppleness, that's what the
Jacket was made of.  Another of his best inventions.

	Her first words were, ``Where's Mamma?"

	``I...took care of her," Killroy said, hoping she wouldn't react badly.  ``She...was
going to kill you when you got home, Carrie."

	``Yeah, I guess she would."  She started crying again.

	``What are we going to do with her Killroy?" Gadget asked.

	A smile crept across Killroy's mouth.  ``Well, I think she needs time to recover
first in a friendly environment, maybe one of the 'toon worlds.  Yeah, maybe we'll all
go see the Animalympics.  That was the first other world I traveled to you know."  They
did.  ``But then we'll go to a place where everyone has talents like her."  He addressed
her directly, ``In that world you're what they call a Tragamore.  There are lots of other
talents as well: Seers; Sorcerers; Armigers.  There you'll learn how to use your talent.
The whole point of going through the prom was to teach you something very important, Carrie.
And that is that, in this world, if you have a talent like this, you must use it to survive.
No matter what you do, you'll always be forced to use it sometime or other.  In that other world,
you'll learn how and when to use it.  Then you'll be ready to come back here.  This world
needs its espers.  They're a rare breed."

	She stopped crying to listen to him.  She finally realized she was in good hands
that intended to care for her.  Now the exertions of the day took over and she nearly
collapsed.  Killroy picked her up and started down the stairs.  She gazed up at him.
He was really a very attractive looking creature.  His body fur was soft, and she felt
protected in his big strong arms.  She didn't really know this person all that well, but
she knew one thing: she could stay in those arms forever.

	Killroy looked down at her.  She smiled warmly up at him and pillowed her cheek
on his right pectoral.  Killroy forced a SMILE Again.  {\em JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!!!!!}

\vspace{1.5in}

\begin{center}
{\Large In This Land}

{\large \copyright1990 Garry L. Faulwel}

{\large United States Air Force}
\end{center}

In this land, touched by an ancient god's

\ \ \ benevolent hand:

Butterflies flutter and glide;

Little people ride on rainbow coloured moths,

and fairies chase dragonflies;

Gnomes ride squirrels,

and miniature dragons chomp apples as they

\ \ \ hang on the limb;

Satyrs and centaurs play,

and nymphs frolic near waterfalls all day;

Trolls and ogres sleep away the years,

and women shed no tears ---

Cause men wage wage war no more.\\

\newpage
\ \\
\vspace{6in}


\begin{quote}
``One should forgive one's enemies, but not before they are hanged.''\\

\ \ \ --- Heinrich Heine
\end{quote}

\end{document}

