FORKNI-L
Logfile LOG9605B Part 8
May 10, 1996
File: "FORKNI-L LOG9605B" Part 8
TOPICS (Continuing List Wars--FK War II post from parts 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7):
Sharon's diary
FKWARII--They're EVERYWHERE!
FK Wars 2: Utilizing Utilities
FK Wars2
FK Wars 2: Bank job
FK Wars: The Unconfinement
FKWars2: Net Lag
FKWars2: Impatience Strikes
FK Wars2: Betsy's Transforamtion: The Expurgated Version
FKWARSII: Oh No You Don't
FK War II: It begins!
FK Wars II: The plea is answered
FK Wars II: Oh, yeah ...
FKWars2: Net Lag
FKWars2: Going Undercover
FKWars@: Inconvenient Escalation
An idea!!!
FKW2 What To Do?
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Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 09:32:48 EDT
From: Pamela Rush
Subject: Re: Sharon's diary
FAX MEMO
TO: Sharon S. Scott
FROM: Pamela K. Rush
DATE: July 7, 1994
SUBJ: Diary
Sharon--
Hate to tell you I found your diary on an ftp site; I browsed it
just to be certain you would not be too embarrassed.
You wrote
The FoDs probably won't do anything unless their
souvlaki supply is threatened.
Thought I'd let you know that we are making every effort to
maintain a goodly supply of all ethnic viands AND to keep a supply
line open to Toronto to support the efforts of the front lines. If
he isn't *stopped* now, the delusional madman LaCroix will have
everyone in North America on a *liquid* diet!
FoDly, Pam Rush
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Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 16:19:54 EDT
From: SusanG2522@a.......
Subject: FKWARII--They're EVERYWHERE!
They're EVERYWHERE!
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-
Work had been hell. Susan was dead tired--which was odd
because she'd supposedly fallen asleep and dreamed last night--and
spent most her of day keying purchase orders and fending off phone
calls from the police department (they were screwing around with
the colors on Windows again and you could only tell them so many
times that white type on a white background was NOT a good thing).
Just before lunch, she managed to download most of the day's war
mail. Well, she could always read it when she returned from lunch.
Which she did. And she was more than a little astounded to
find that all references to the kidnapped Hazel had been replaced
by references to a kidnapped bird named Buster.
Buster was the name of Maggie's bird. Maggie was Susan's
boss.
Susan glanced over her shoulder, but Maggie was bent over
the AS/400, working on the tax billing. She knew Maggie seldom
watched anything other than her soap and Dennis Miller, so she'd
never seen . Maggie wasn't a member of
the list.
Stymied, Susan turned back to her PC and continued to read
the war messages. Her face grew very warm and she gulped, as some
very descriptive adult material seemed to have been included. Had
someone really posted such a thing on the list? Was it possible?
Or had the Cousins found a way to tamper with her mail?
Not that it was bad stuff, mind you. She'd seen bad--quite
recently, in fact--and this wasn't it. But it somewhat
disconcerting to find soft porn incorporated into the theft of a
rabbit/bird.
Susan looked over her should again, this time catching
Maggie looking up at her. before Maggie could dive back down
behind the AS/400, Susan stalked over. "Okay, what happened to my
mail?"
"What mail?" Maggie smiled broadly. At least until Susan
glared (the pout doesn't work on Maggie). At which time Maggie
admitted that while she was working on something on Susan's
computer, she found the mail, got interested in it and decided to
help. She also admitted that Rose helped too, although Rose said
she'd only added one line (and such a line it !).
So Susan spent twenty minutes doing search and replace on
her War mail and deleting some rather . . . uh . . . purple
passages (which were cut and pasted into an empty file--we NEVER
waste anything at MIS), before she could get back to work.
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-
SusanG2522@a.......
(This really happened. And, yes, Maggie is naturally a
Cousin by proxy--she's just that kind of gal.)
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Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 19:16:55 -0400
From: Ivy Reisner
Subject: FK Wars 2: Utilizing Utilities
*Computers do make things convenient don't they?* Ivy
logged through her account onto the credit bureau computer and from
there to the electric and phone companies. *This won't be nearly
as expensive but much more inconvenient.* She unposed the last ten
payments on each and cut off both services. Let LaCroix contact
his people with no phone line in the middle of the day. Let's see
how long his blood lasts with no refrigeration. Let's see how long
he lasts with no air conditioning. Well, it's canada after all.
She looked over her cubicle wall at her bosses door. It
was still closed. The meeting was still in progress and she had
time to get out a few messages.
Nick,
I pledge to you this day my sword and life to command as
you will. Not my will but thine doth command me.
-- Ivy
That will probably get me nowhere but I want him to know I'm with
him.
Sharon,
Been striking hit and runs via computer (try LaCroix phone
number today) tee hee. Trying something more this afternoon (his
address is on his credit card statement after all). I would like
to ally with the other knighties in whatever strategy may be afoot.
contact me.
-- Ivy
That should do considerably better. Now for the last step. She
checked her bag. The bottle of holy water had not yet broken.
That was good.
"Taking lunch" she told Tom in the next cube and headed
out. Who would be about in the middle of the afternoon. And
please let it be LaCroix who opens the front door tonight. She
placed the beaker full of holy water on the door ledge than
connected it to the door with a piece of tape that would pull it
when to door opened, dumping it on whoever opened the door. Heart
thumping in her chest she took off. No turning back now, she was
in.
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Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 11:29:23 -0500
From: Betsy Vera
Subject: FK Wars2
Poor Betsy didn't know what to think.
The war had started, and her mercenary little soul longed to join
in the fun, but, so far, only the FODs, the Cousins, and the
Ravenettes had tried to recruit her to their side. She still
hadn't heard from the two groups she was most interested in: the
Knighties and the Nat-Pack. She was feeling slighted by her
heroes, especially by the Nat-Pack. *sniff*
Finally, she made a decision. A mercenary's got to do what a
mercenary's got to do. And this mercenary doesn't wear chokers and
slinky dresses, and she's never had souvlaki. That only leaves the
Cousins. On Monday morning, she would join the band of LaCroix,
unless someone did something to change her mind.
*S*I*G*H*
Another soul lost.
Betsy
betsy.vera@m.......
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Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 20:18:21 -0400
From: Ivy Reisner
Subject: FK Wars 2: Bank job
Ivy came back from lunch to find her boss had already gone
to lunch. She grinned madly. *There's one last bit of meanness I
can visit on LaCroix.* She logged onto the commercial banking
account, she didn't think her password expired yet, she'd only
transferred to credit two weeks ago. It gave her the standard
please log off if this is illegal message and she ignored it like
anyone else would. LaCroix. Sure enough she was able to find his
accounts, down to his checking account in good time. Let's bring
all the balances down to 2 cents each. She grinned and keyed the
transaction. Poor LaCroix, in big debt and only the money he
carried to spend, plus whatever investments she couldn't get to.
My this was shaping up to be a nice job.
She sent a message before logging off:
Sharon,
Do you know who can get to the stocks, bonds, etc held by
LaCroix? I'm trying to drive him to bankruptcy. Also if we can
lets fake his tax records, see if we can't get him in trouble for
"back taxes". It's a mortal world but it'll come crashing around
his ears. This should handicap his war effort severely, I hope.
-- Ivy
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Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 20:34:53 EDT
From: SelmaMc@a.......
Subject: FK Wars: The Unconfinement
From: selmamc@a.......
Subj: People
Do you know any non-cousins in the Bay Area who would be willing to
pretend to throw a party so that I can get out of here? Sacramento
is making me feel itchy. I want to _help_ and there's still Brian.
I feel like a party anyway after liberating Hazel...
Selma
-------------
Selma smiled as she typed in the note. She couldn't convince her
mom that going out and rescuing strange rabbits in New Mexico was
worth it. And, after all, she did not go out while she was supposed
to be working on finding a job. But her mother had stopped
objecting to fan gatherings after Selma had gone to that first
Starman one way back when. So she could still get in her activities
without alerting her mother.
Just as long as it didn't hurt her job hunt, and she did not intend
for it to. But she wished she could get to Toronto to talk to Larry
and help with the disks.
Maybe there _was_ something that she could do in the meantime from
home.
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Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 16:11:49 18000
From: Valerie Meachum
Subject: FKWars2: Net Lag
"Damn, damn, damn, damn!" Valerie declaimed in her best
Henry-Higginsesque manner, which wasn't very good because normally
Henry Higgins wasn't exactly someone she wanted to -esque. It was
also a challenge when one was a soprano.
But dammit, the moment called for it! Her efforts to keep up with
the new war were thwarted by the vagaries of the Tallahassee
Free-Net, which for reasons of its own had decided to hold all of
Wednesday's mail until it could dump 70 messages in her box on
Thursday. Of course, she'd had a nice block of time on Wednesday
to play with; now that she was no longer cut off from word of what
was happening, she had ballet class until 9 pm tonight. Still, the
off-season lull in the offices worked to her advantage--catching up
simply made her look busy, something several of her co-workers were
struggling with, and from 5:00 to 7:30 she would be all alone and
able to go at it full-tilt.
Meanwhile, though, Tanaquil and Sharon H must have been
frantic--and poor Betsy Vera, whose plea for guidance on forkni-l
had gone shamefully unanswered, was on the brink of going over to
the Cousins. Sharon was doing her belated best to rescue that
situation, but Valerie felt the failure keenly--for hadn't she, the
original Orphan, made the same foolish mistake so many months
before? Her "adoption" by the Cousins had been fun at first, but
the doubts had begun cropping up even before the first war. Thus
she had, abruptly and without invitation, cast her lot with the
NatPack and never looked back. Fervently she hoped Betsy would
have the strength to turn down the Cousins' attractive offer and go
where she truly felt she belonged.
This was where standing back and playing support was getting them:
creamed by the more aggressive groups. Well, not this time. "All
right," she snapped, consciously echoing the good Dr. Lambert,
"that is *enough*!"
----
pinax5@g.......
From: vmeachum@f.......
Subj: Snapping Back
I don't know what the rest of you think, but it looks to me like
the support corps idea isn't cutting it. We need action, and we
need it now! I suggest the following:
-We need eyes and ears at the Raven, badly. I still have ties to
the Wicked Warren, and I'm sure Janette knows it but I'm not sure
where she stands on all that. I'd say Tanaquil is the best choice
since she's new, but we don't need any parental executions on top
of everything else so we'll have to keep her on correspondent
status (BTW, Tanaquil, are you *absolutely* limited to Sacto?
You're it on the left coast right now, and there are lots of folks
out there. Maybe if we can get you allied transportation?) I can
haul out the ol' Band that Wasn't wardrobe and fit in with the
crowd with no difficulty; it's just the lady in charge I'm worried
about. And I want to know what her stake (no pun intended) in all
this is; she's been a bit too uncharacteristically active for my
taste.
-We need to establish good relations with the Die-Hards, and take
extra care that nobody steps on their constitution or whatever that
was. We need better PR in general--we don't want the loss of
another Betsy on our heads. (BTW, Sharon, any indication there?
Any hope? I feel *awful*!)
-Has anyone else noticed the whole mail/database thing has dropped
out of sight? There's no indication "Uncle" and his gang have
actually done anything with it, apart from John's little
overexcited virus-breeding (he really should learn to do things
that affect machines without the capability to animate Barney if
he's going to do stuff like that! ;-) ). That leaves a big hole
where our knowledge of his true objective should be.
-I've been in cautious communication with former Cousin Laurie, who
represents herself as no less concerned about the rather opaque
state of things than we are--it seems the Ravenettes are as in the
dark about Janette's agenda as the rest of us. Still, it seems to
me some cooperation on that front just might be mutually
beneficial. (Don't make that face, Natalie, you make compromises
sometimes too! :-) ) I'm willing to negotiate an agreement if you
guys want to go ahead with it...which would give me an excuse to be
at the Raven, actually, and get a taste of what's in the air there.
Remind me to take my earplugs...
-Nat: what's the word on the backup database? Have you guys been
able to reconstruct anything useful? And a bigger concern that
just hit me: did *you* have anything saved on that machine? We
have a lot to lose if the Cousins' (professed) aim of converting
everyone succeeds, and *he* knows it.
-Along those lines, how's Nick holding up? I need to check in with
Sharon S, but I don't think they've heard a peep from him in a
while, and I'm afraid of him spiraling into one of those epic guilt
trips of his...
Everyone, please get back to me with what you think. I feel like
I've gotten way behind, and I'm just beginning to figure out what
scrambling needs to be done to catch up. The Betsy thing has
really shaken me--we need to be ready to listen and help, or why do
we bother? We need to get focussed again...
Later!
------
Valerie heaved a sigh, reading over the last few doubtful lines.
Hopefully the meager precautions she knew and the fact that it was
a lone message among so many would keep the missive from being
intercepted by hostile eyes...the last thing she needed was her
uncertainty about her and the rest of the NatPack's effectiveness
being too-common knowledge. "Here goes nothing, Lemon-Bunny," she
told the little yellow stuffed animal who had perched on her
computer since Easter, and hit "send."
--
The Bad Penny * Valerie Lynn Meachum
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Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 16:23:34 18000
From: Valerie Meachum
Subject: FKWars2: Impatience Strikes
"Not good enough, Lemon-Bunny," Valerie muttered as soon as the
prior message was off and away. "We need a broader range of
contact."
----
From: vmeachum@f.......
Sharon and Selma:
How are you guys doing? The communication lines have been kinda
broken...
I have a strong feeling there's going to be some escalation that
affects us all pretty soon, and I'm all for moving out of the
defensive posture before we have no one left to defend! I'm
waiting for word back from Nat and the rest of the pack, but in the
meantime I need to know from you:
-Have you heard from Nick? If he goes spiraling into one of his
epic guilt trips it's going to put a serious drain on all our
resources. We need to know *now* and head it off--that's one of
our groups raisons d'etre! Please make sure he's okay...
-How are your own troops holding up? Any spot morale boosters
required? We need to be more aggressive, but still take care of
our own...
-Do you have any intelligence in place at the Raven? Any
whisperings of Janette's intentions? That's the biggest, most
worrisome cipher right now, I think.
Please get back to me soon because if nobody comes up with a plan
I'm about ready to do something without one...
Later!
------
Valerie looked from Lemon Bunny on her CPU to Mint Bunny on the
corner of her desk and back again. "There's too much to lose,
guys. Prudence is quickly becoming a commodity I can't afford."
--
The Bad Penny * Valerie Lynn Meachum
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Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 12:50:13 -0500
From: Cousin Dennis
Subject: FK Wars2: Betsy's Transforamtion: The Expurgated Version
Betsy's Transforamtion: The Expurgated Version
One by one they decided to join the happy band of realists
called the Cousins. The latest addition was Betsy. Though her
yearnings would have been to follow Nick or Nat, their total lack
of interest in anything but themselves had left poor Betsy stranded
out in the cold, dark night. But Betsy was brave. She knew in her
heart of hearts she really was a Cousin. Dennis smiled quietly,
knowingly, happily. One more cherry crowning Uncle's sundae. This
was going to be a good day.
Dennis, as directed by LaCroix, sent off a note of welcome to
the latest initiate.
------------------------
TO: Betsy.Vera@m.......
FROM: Cousin Dennis
SUBJECT: Welcome to the machine
Dear Cousin Betsy,
Uncle asked me to send his convivial regards. Your obviously
intelligent choice to join the winning side will no doubt ensure
your place in history. You will find a first class ticket to State
College, PA will have been delivered to you by the time you get
this message. Make haste. The game's afoot.
Cousin Dennis
------------------------------
Now the plan was set. Uncle wanted everyone together for one
more strategy session. Everyone had to know which part to play in
this, the ultimate contest. Dennis pushed the send button and
stretched back lazily in the chair.
"Mock us if you will, foolish peasants. When the final
curtain falls, it shall be the Cousins who stand victorious."
Dennis knew there was hard work ahead, but didn't Uncle always
reward hard work? The Fax mission had left Dennis with more than
mere appreciation. Uncle begifted Dennis with trust...and wasn't
that the greatest gift of all?
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Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 13:38:50 EDT
From: Sharon Himmanen
Subject: FKWARSII: Oh No You Don't
Nat wasn't usually so cryptic, but message had said get to Michigan
as soon as possible. Sharon walked down the street, glancing at
the address she'd scribbled on the little pink post-it.
There it was. As she approached the door a woman carrying a
suitcase stepped out. She seemed in a dreadful hurry. Well, so
was Sharon.
"Betsy?"
The woman looked up quickly at the stranger standing before her.
"Yes," she said, hesitantly. "Who are you?"
"Sharon Himmanen. Listen, we haven't much time. Nat sent me, and
it looks like I got here in the . . . nick of time!" She smiled
while Betsy winced at the bad pun.
"It's too late," Betsy said, holding up the plane ticket.
"It's *never* too late," Sharon said, snatching the ticket from her
hand and tearing it up into little pieces before Betsy could say a
word. She put the pieces in her pocket (no litterbugs here). "You
can't join *them*!"
"But--I have to. They sent a ticket."
"What ticket?" Sharon asked innocently. "Don't worry. Valerie,
Tanaquil and I are making plans. I have a place where you'll be
safe. Or join us and help put a stop to it all. It's up to you
now."
Sharon stepped back and waited for Betsy's answer.
To be continued . . .
| Sharon Himmanen | shihc@c....... * romana@a.......
|
| Nat Pack | s.himmanen@g.......
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Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 00:21:55 -0500
From: "Sharon S. Scott"
Subject: FK War II: It begins!
July 7, 1994
Dear Diary,
It works! I didn't really believe Tim could do it, but he did! The
new virus is spreading like wildfire across the Net--only to
fkfic-lers who just happen to be Cousins, of course. But he sent me
a sample, so I could see what's happening! It's a riot!
First your messages become garbled. Then there's an insistent
little sound that gets louder and louder and LOUDER ...
ribbit
*ribbit*
--ribbit--
---ribbit---
RIBBIT
And then the screen turns green. Even monochrome screens. (I *knew*
Tim could work wonders!)
Your file transfers begin to slow down. Your downloads have ...
mutated. Every email message is full of funny-looking letters. And
then you notice that every ascii character has changed into a weird
shape, one that is constantly moving. And then you look at the
screen more closely, and realize why--all the ascii that the
characters have changed into tiny little frogs, hopping here and
there, chomping on bugs, slurping down mosquitoes, crunching away
on grasshoppers. It's worse than Pac Man. It's horrendous. It's
revolting. It's grotesque. It's ... it's ... magnificent.
It's ...
CURMIT.
The puppet virus.
Specially written for the puppets of LaCroix.
And the beauty of the thing is that it's been written so that no
known virus protection program will *ever* be able to eradicate it
completely. *EVER*. A wispy, fleeting image of CURMIT's little
green face will appear on Cousins' screens for years to come. And
every once in a while, when they least expect it, a ghostly shape
will hop across their monitors.
------------------------------------------------------
Sharon S.
scotts@b.......
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Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 16:29:10 -0500
From: "Sharon S. Scott"
Subject: FK Wars II: The plea is answered
From: scotts@b.......
Re: Valerie's plea
They haven't gotten me yet. I've learned a few things since the
last war.
Last I heard from Nick, he and Nat were still trying to reconstruct
the database from his 2-week-old backup. And I weaseled out of him
some information you need to know. The "sensitivity" of some of the
data on the disk is giving him nightmares. I'm a relatively
clueless newbie about computers, but even I know better than to
keep sensitive data on a laptop's memory, with only one backup.
You aren't going to believe this, but part of the data was a record
of Nick's centuries-long attempt to ferret out LaCroix's origins.
He's been stymied every step of the way--LaCroix's covered his
tracks very well indeed. Nick hasn't been able to find out much
more than LaCroix's first name, which is, of all things, Frank.
Which must be a shortened form of a longer name, since "Frank" and
"LaCroix" just don't compute semantically. Some of his hypotheses
include: Francis, Franciscus, Franco, Francois, Frankincense, and
Frankenstein (nah, couldn't be, could it? It could explain a
lot--apparently LaCroix's created a few "monsters" in his time)
Sorry, stuck way down here on the third coast, I haven't been able
to insert anyone into the Raven for intelligence-gathering
purposes. Nick contacted Spike, but quickly gave up any hopes on
that front. What about Schanke? Has anyone heard from him? Could
Alma be turned to our purposes?
Please keep me informed of anything you find out. My resources,
meager though they are, are at your disposal.
Sharon S.
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Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 16:32:49 -0500
From: "Sharon S. Scott"
Subject: FK Wars II: Oh, yeah ...
From: scotts@b.......
Re: Oh, yeah ... I forgot
Another tidbit: Nick's files also included Janette's dress, shoe,
ring, & lingerie sizes. Nat was *not* amused.
Sharon S.
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Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 17:09:07 EDT
From: Sharon Himmanen
Subject: Re: FKWars2: Net Lag
Finally! Sharon breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the message
from Valerie in her box. She was still in Michigan negotiating
with Betsy but they were taking a short breather so Sharon had
logged in on her handy dandy Apple Powerbook 180c (hey, it's
fiction! I can give myself a really spiffy powerbook if I want!)
and responded to Valerie's message, including Nat's and Tanaquil's
addresses in the reply.
>-We need eyes and ears at the Raven, badly. I still have ties to the
>Wicked Warren, and I'm sure Janette knows it but I'm not sure where
>she stands on all that. I'd say Tanaquil is the best choice since
I have only slight ties to the Warren--in fact, I'm sure they've
forgotten that I'm even a member by now. However, I doubt very
much that I could pull off surveillance at the Raven.
I think we're going to have to go w/ Tanaquil on this one. Is
there a chance you can play Ravenette, Tanaquil? You never
formally declared one way or the other so you might get away w/ it.
>-We need to establish good relations with the Die-Hards, and take
>extra care that nobody steps on their constitution or whatever that
>was. We need better PR in general--we don't want the loss of another
>Betsy on our heads. (BTW, Sharon, any indication there? Any hope? I
>feel *awful*!)
I'm still trying to salvage the situation. Can't say more than
that because I don't want to jinx it. Once I know what her
leanings are, you guys will be the first to know.
Here's something, though. I pulled out that plane ticket of
Betsy's that I tore up and pieced it back together. It was a first
class ticket to State College in Pennsylvania. It sounds to me
like LaCroix is gathering his minions together. For what, I don't
know. But . . . hmmmm . . . I've just had the gleam of a
scathingly brilliant idea. Hmmm. . .
>-Has anyone else noticed the whole mail/database thing has dropped out
>of sight? There's no indication "Uncle" and his gang have actually
>done anything with it, apart from John's little overexcited
>virus-breeding (he really should learn to do things that affect
>machines without the capability to animate Barney if he's going to do
>stuff like that! ;-) ). That leaves a big hole where our knowledge
>of his true objective should be.
You and I are thinking along the same lines here. I was telling
Tanaquil last night that I'm beginning to think the database and
mail theft was a big red herring. There's something else afoot
here, but damned if I can figure it out.
The cousins have been far too quiet during this war, if you ask me.
Aside from a few skirmishes involving that group at PSU and Susan
Garrett the only cousin who seems to be overtly on the prowl is
John Dencoff. Now, is he acting under Uncle's orders, or is he
behaving like his usual semi-free agent self? Was that designed to
keep us all busy with him, giving the other cousins time to plan or
are the cousins *not* the major players here? And if *they*
aren't, then that means that Janette most likely *is*. And *that*
is both totally uncharacteristic and frightening at the same time.
Sharon
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Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 16:44:57 -0800
From: "S. Tanaquil Johnson"
Subject: FKWars2: Going Undercover
"AAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"
Birds fell from the trees and neighbors two blocks away jumped out
of their skin. The UCB seismic hotline was puzzled by a sudden
rash of phone calls from North Berkeley, wanting to know what that
was on the Richter scale.
"There are HOW many messages on the server?"
Tanaquil tried to stare the screen out of countenance, but failed.
Eudora continued to chirpily inform her that it was downloading
message X of 57; the beach-ball pointer spun merrily. Sometimes,
Tanaquil reflected grumpily, the cuteness of Mac applications could
be *really* annoying.
"But all I did was go out for coffee!" she wailed. This war was
definitely getting out of hand. What was happening to her allies
and compatriots? At least her hard drive hadn't yet been infected
by any Barney viruses. Well, there was no time to be lost. She
had to get caught up with events and decide what to do next.
When she finally finished skimming through the last of the
messages, she immediately hit the key to start a new message.
nlambert@t.......
From: pinax5@g.......
Subject: Our Next Move
I definitely need to come up with an alias for you guys.
Do any of you have the slightest idea what's going on? Nothing
makes any sense to me. Laurie is a Ravenette now? Susan Garrett
has been composing torments in her sleep? The Ravenettes seem to
be in an utter state of chaos. And I don't like the vibes I'm
getting from that malevolence of cousins at all. John hasn't even
*tried* to corrupt my system or deliver anything unpleasant to my
door. I find this very worrying.
Valerie, I'm with you. We need to go onto the offensive at the
earliest possible moment. Surveillance at the Raven sounds like a
definite priority; I'm game, if you think we can pull it off.
Cousin John certainly knows my affiliation now, but no one on this
list knows what I look like, so I could try a spot of undercover
work. Or, I could pretend to have had a sudden change of heart.
What do you all think?
Perhaps more important, are there any Ravenettes we can really
trust? I'm going to need all the help I can get!
There's nothing to keep me here in Berkeley. I think Valerie has
me confused with Selma. My parents have no idea what I'm involved
in, for which I think we can all be profoundly grateful. My poor,
deluded dissertation chair thinks I'm working away in the library,
and anyway he's about to leave for New Zealand. He won't even
notice I've gone. Thank the goddess I've just paid off all of my
credit cards; I'll book a seat on the first available flight to
Toronto.
I'll take my Powerbook 520c with the internal modem so I can keep
in touch. (Sharon, you aren't the only one who can play
wish-fulfillment! :) I'll keep switching accounts to confuse our
enemies, I have access to half a dozen. I'll keep an eye on all of
them, so you should be able to reach me easily. I only hope the
Cousins try to sabotage pinax5. It's now being used to receive the
department's subscription to CLASSICS-L, and to my certain
knowledge nobody has logged onto it since mid-April. You can't
imagine how dull it is to read a mailing list devoted entirely to
things like arguments about the use of signal fires in antiquity
and techniques for improving beginning Greek enrollment. A
computer virus or two would really liven things up.
Hope to hear from you soon. Good luck on your end!
Tanaquil
p.s. Betsy, don't succumb to the Dark Side! We need your help!!!
She hit "send", and sat back apprehensively. Just exactly what was
she getting herself into?
S. Tanaquil Johnson
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-----------
Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 22:39:40 18000
From: Valerie Meachum
Subject: FKWars@: Inconvenient Escalation
Valerie slogged in from the Ballet Class From Hell, plunking her
dance bag in the middle of the floor and calling out a ragged
"hello" to Jack.
"You okay?"
"Yeah. Tim completely discombobulated the entire class, even the
whizzes--of which I am not one--but I'm recovering nicely."
"Glad to hear it. Want an ice-cream sandwich?"
"In a few minutes. I need to check my mail." She gave him a wan
smile. "The war, y'know."
"Yeah. The war." Shaking his head, Jack stood aside to let her go
upstairs, where she quickly reminded herself that her keyboard had
gone fritzy again this morning and then convinced Jack to let her
use his machine for a few minutes.
All hell had broken loose, but they would be a productive few
minutes. Her body was informing her in no uncertain terms that it
had never before been called upon to perform those particular steps
in that particular sequence and saw no reason why it should start
now, but she ignored it and plunged back in...
---
are out of reach ;-) ], nlambert@t.......
From: vmeachum@f.......
Re: So my timing bites
Sue me. No backing down, right?
Tanaquil, use your judgment on the undercover thing. If you think
you can get away with pretending to change allegiances, go for it.
If you think that's too much of a risk, stick with the anonymous
Raven patron bit.
Sharon, good work with Betsy. Keep an eye on her; sounds like she
needs it. Anybody got a useful job for her that won't get her into
too much trouble until she really knows the stakes?
Nat, when you're through fuming about finding Janette's sizes on
the database, *please* get back to me about what other "sensitive"
information was on there. I think I'm starting to smell what
"Uncle" is after, but I can't form a really solid concept until I
know what was there. I know Nick won't be real big on the idea,
but remember, I used to be a Cousin and I have some concept of the
thought processes. *You* know discretion isn't an issue with me;
put in a good word to Nick, okay?
Finally, I think you guys heard from Laurie too. Do you have any
notion what she was talking about? She was a Cousin too recently,
and plays her hand a little too close. She needs to explic!
More soon. Brain bubbles are forming...
---
A few more pieces, she hoped, and the puzzle might start to look
like a picture...
--
The Bad Penny * Valerie Lynn Meachum
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-----------
Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 21:33:50 EDT
From: "Betsy Vera"
Subject: Re: An idea!!!
"A place where I'll be safe?" Betsy stared at Sharon. "Who cares
about 'safe'? I joined this war to have fun!"
Sharon noticed an insane gleam in Betsy's eyes. More like a Cousin
than a Nat-Packer, she thought, but she put it down to beginner's
eagerness. "You're in, then?"
"Yeah, I'm in. Can I bring Ace along?"
"Ace?"
"My dog. She's a border collie mix. Biggest coward in Ann Arbor,
but that makes her a great watchdog. She'll warn you if anybody
even *thinks* about coming near the house."
"But she didn't bark when I came up."
"She's eating dinner."
"Oh." So, these were her new recruits: an apparently unstable
newbie and a dog more interested in dinner than defense. Betsy was
still talking: "I'd better leave her behind, though. She doesn't
like loud noises, and I bet this war is going to be loud, right?"
Not only unstable, but wishy-washy as well.
"So, when do we leave?" Betsy was almost bouncing with excitement.
Something about Betsy made Sharon suspicious. Maybe it was the way
she was *so* eager to join the Nat-Pack, practically throwing
herself at them and making a big show of not wanting to join the
Cousins. How could Sharon be sure she wasn't really a spy sent by
LaCroix to infiltrate Nat's ranks? Or was she really just the
eager beaver she appeared to be?
Sharon thought twice before answering Betsy.
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-----------
Date: Sun, 10 Jul 1994 03:46:00 EDT
From: DionneEN@a.......
Subject: FKW2 What To Do?
Friday Evening
Dionne sat down at her Mac to log on, and hopefully hear that the
war was almost over. Of course she knew better,Lacroix and
Nicholas were involved and they had already been fighting for 800
years.
As Dionne read the digest her black cat Goblin curled up on her
lap and stared at the screen with great interest. The human didn't
notice the cat's intellectual curiosity because she was busy.
Should she join one of the main factions? She thought she was
supposed to, but which one?
Sometimes she wanted to join one side, but then something would
make her stop and think about the others. It was safer (and much
less hypocritical) to remain a Die-Hard. Of course the FOSsiLs had
a definite point, why be a vampire or human when you could be a
cat?
Goblin thought all that was well and good,, but she wanted to be
a cat with some really cool playmates. So she read all the
posting, she normally only read the short ones about her idol, but
this was important.
When Dionne got up to get a coke Goblin grabbed a packet of Tender
Vittles and hid it by the door.
10 Minutes Later
*Are you done yet? I want to go out and play* Goblin said,
winding sinuously about Dionne's feet.
"Oh, all right. Go outside, but don't complain to me when there
are still too many cars"
Dionne opened the door but didn't see Goblin grab the Tender
Vittles on her way out.
DionneEN@a.......
Dionne Die-Hard/FOSsil
Goblin Cat, Ravenette
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