CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

rthr rode his mount to a spot just outside The Dark Ride Underground. A chilly rain was
falling from an unseasonably cheerless April sky. A mean sky filled with unusually low,
depressingly dark banks of brooding clouds. Menacing herds of clouds stampeded by a bitter, icy
wind. An icy wind that blew chilling brooding darkness, rthr felt to his bones. For some reason,
rthr was more worried about the horse than himself. Gently, he stroked the nervous horse to calm
him. The horse responded with a happy neigh.
rthr knew he was expected, and he knew what might be waiting. He was cold - but he was not
afraid. Thoughts of what might happen to ktty and Marian gave him courage. He shifted in the
saddle and delighted in the feeling of strength

being astride a good horse gave him. He looked at the huge foreboding doors of the main
entrance to The Dark Ride Underground. It did not surprise him when they opened wide.
rthr moved inside the dark halls, nudging his steed to a slow gallop. He looked at a sign on a
far wall. It read; “No guts! No glory!” He thought he liked that better than New Hedonia’s
motto: “If it feels good. Do it!”
Suddenly, on a high hill, just inside the Dark Ride Complex, rthr saw mounds on the earth with
name-bearing stones atop them. rthr remembered these things from war programs. He recalled
the old texts called them “graves”.
He watched as a bright light focused on a grave with a headstone bearing his name. Low
moaning sounds wafted out of the darkness. Frightening apparitions danced a pallid dance,
mocking rthr’s movements. Loud,
shrieking sounds filled his ears as he moved further down a dark endless hallway. The icy
fingers of fear eased their way up and down his spine. He was torn between retreat and
advancement. He gritted his teeth and made himself advance. He strained to see in the darkness
as strange smells- smells much worse than the rotting garbage of The World Outside - made his
nose itch.
He was too scared to scratch it.
He stopped when he came to a doorway he was drawn to. He read the electronic
message board: “FLYING CIRCUS: RED BARON GAME 81 — TEMPORARILY OUT
OF ORDER“.
rthr smiled.
The Captain and The Red Baron had temporarily put The Demon Brothers out of
business. rthr hoped to make it permanent.
As he expected, the door strained and creaked, then opened.
rthr was about to enter when his horse whinnied and bucked. rthr looked down to see a
giant rattlesnake. The snake had five tails, all rattling huge loud rattles. rthr tried to calm the
horse but could not. The horse bucked rthr to the ground and galloped off into the darkness.
rthr struggled to his feet.
The giant snake drew itself into a tight coil. Its huge fangs glistened with deadly venom.
Its eyes burned with evil as it prepared to strike. rthr drew the heavy sword from its scabbard. He
stepped aside as the snake hissed, then stuck at him. rthr closed his eyes and swung the sword
down hard. Just as the sword was about to strike the giant snake’s neck, the snake disappeared.
rthr looked around and saw nothing but darkness. Then he heard the raucous laughter of The
Demon Brothers.
“rthr? Was that snake real or unreal?” ztz’s voice boomed out of the darkness.
rthr took a deep breath and let it out hard.
“Come on out and fight. I’m not scared of you anymore!” rthr challenged. “A real knight
in shining armor. My goodness. You have taken this contest seriously,” ztz said.
“I want you to let my friends go or ... or it will go terrible for you!” “Oh! I’m so
scared!” ptz laughed.

“Is this rthr the cyber wimp we all knew and despised little? My, how just a touch of real
courage has changed him,” ztz stopped. “Do you have the Captain with you, rthr? Is that it?”
“No!“
“You are doing this on your own? My, that is slightly impressive.” “Just come on
out and let’s finish this!”
ztz’s answer was to conjure a high wind that blew rthr off his feet. “You come
here to my house and threaten me?” ztz roared.
The heavy armor made it a struggle for rthr to get to his feet. Finally, he was up and
stood tall. “Yes! Where are my friends?”
“You know that when you have earned the right to know it!” ztz snarled.
“This is true,” ptz agreed.
“You’re a coward! Quit hiding in cyberspace and let’s settle this!” “Oh! Do you know
the difference between reality and virtual reality, rthr?” “Yes, I do!”
ztz nor ptz did not reply for a long moment.
rthr watched as it seemed to get darker and the wind became colder. Finally, ztz showed
himself in a hologram. “Would you bet your life ... and the young woman’s on it?” ztz changed
from a hologram to his real self. “You impudent child! You wish to challenge me?”
“You got it!”
“Such a challenge from the likes of you is laughable. Just give me the Red Baron and
The Captain ... and I might let you live.”
“No! Just give me a fair chance.”
“Fair? I don’t understand.” ztz was truly puzzled. ptz appeared and whispered in his
ear.
ztz looked amused. “Interesting. A novel concept.”
“Good. Let’s get it on!” rthr insisted.
ztz chuckled. “Fair? Honorable. Is that it?”
“As The Red Baron would have it,” rthr paused and looked serious. “You guys could
be just like him!”
ztz and ptz looked at each other and nodded in agreement.
 “For this honor thing? “It would be yours to keep,“ rthr had a hard time keeping a
straight face.
“I would be as strong as The Red Baron. Yes!“ ztz glowed.
ptz looked at ztz with angry eyes. “No! I will be like him. You wanted to be the Captain.”
“I changed minds this morning.”
“Then change them back!”
ztz and ptz glared at each other.
rthr watched with interest as he saw their most glaring weakness - they despised each
other. “I think ptz would make the best Red baron. After all, he’s almost as handsome as the
Baron.” rthr baited.
ptz glowed with pride. “You have gained much good input, rthr!”
“Shut up, you idiot! Can’t you see what he’s doing?” ztz smoldered. “I see with
all eyes he is standing there!”
“No! I mean ... forget it!” ztz glowered at rthr. “You will not segment our integrated
circuit with such trickery, rthr. You will only make it worse for yourself.”
“All I want is for my friends to go free.”
ztz and ptz stopped glaring at each other.
Ztz turned his angry eyes on rthr. “No!”
“No? Can we not contest for them?”
“You will first surrender my entertainment!”
“I told you I don’t have them!”
“Then what would we contest for?” ztz probed.
rthr had to think that over. ztz had hit him with a zinger for which he had no reply. “I ... I
might know where they are.”
“Might?”
“Okay, I know where they are!” rthr fibbed.
“I see. If we contest for them, you will show us this if we win?” ztz smirked. rthr
shrugged. “Sure.”
“No!”
“No?”
ztz glared until his eyeballs rotated in his head and green steam whistled from his deformed ears.
“I dislike this fair concept. I think we will just skin you alive and see where you have hidden my
property. That’s much more orderly, don’t you think?” ztz growled as he zapped rthr into a circle
of living barbed wire.
rthr watched in horror as his armor, and sword disappeared. The living barbed wire
writhed around him like a thousand boa constrictors with sharp, thorny skin. The thorns were
razor sharp, teeth oozing a foul-smelling liquid that burned like iodine. rthr wondered if it was
real - until the thorns tore into his skin and he felt the burning pain of the “iodine.”
Only a few feet away, still trapped in the “guillotine“ ktty watched rthr’s plight with
anger and despair. ktty’s systems were almost fifty percent, but still too weak to help. He looked
at scks, holding the rope and at the enormous blade above his head, then looked over at Marian.
He saw the terror in her eyes as the fire-breathing dragon came ever closer. ktty had never
experienced such a helpless feeling. Not only was he weak, but his whole insides were changing
from orderly, sensible circuits, to irrational human emoting. Emotions were crowding out with
rational thought. For a brief instant, he thought it might be pleasurable to sacrifice himself for
the others.
ktty was a mess. But he knew he had to do something. He re-ran every diagnostic
program, though he knew it was dangerous to do so. If he discovered something, his “data
retrieval” light would come on.
If The Demon Brothers were observant, they would see it. ktty knew he had no choice.
He reached deep inside and scanned through the book, “The Return of The Red Baron.”
He stopped when he read a passage that froze his lubricant. He
scanned it three or four times before the meaning sunk in.
In the epilogue to the book, ktty read: “Captain Arthur Roy Brown, shot The Red Baron
down over Southern France on April 22, 1918.” “Captain Arthur Roy Brown?” ktty repeated. He
reran the name along with rthr’s through a deep memory analysis and his ancient history files.
ktty had always felt there was something about the relationship of the Captain to rthr he had not
yet calculated. In the deepest recess of his archives, he found it.
What he found made his circuits run cold, his micro-chips almost freeze over, and his
evolving heart heavy with sadness.
rthr was a direct descendant of Captain Brown. Unless The Captain returned to his time
and everything restored exactly as it was - rthr would cease to exist. If anything happened to rthr
- reverberations throughout the continuum would destroy the past. All that had been since then
would vanish and ktty, himself, would pass into computer oblivion. ktty did a quick analysis of
all the options and determined what, at one time, would have been obvious to him.
ktty knew that if it harmed anyone this day, it must be him. It was an idea that brought
delight to some evolving part of his being.
It also brought a strange sensation of fear.
Fear that came in waves as ktty’s analysis revealed the time/space continuum window
would close completely in less than five ticks.
“Holy Moly Modem!” ktty exclaimed.
ptz turned and looked at him. ptz saw the data retrieval light “on.” “Look! ktty has
retrieved some new data!” ptz exclaimed with delight. ktty could not turn the light off in time.
He realized the information he now knew would soon be known by The Demon Brothers.
“What? What did you say?” ztz turned and looked at ptz, then at ktty. “Nothing!
He said nothing!” ktty tried to shut down.
“Release him and bring him to me! He’s trying to shut down. He knows something.
Get him! Bring him now!” ztz ordered two “Watchdog” Creatures. Creatures that were a
cross between a pit bull and a Drill Sergeant. The Creatures brought ktty to ztz.
Quickly, ztz hooked ktty to an “Extractor.”
ktty strained hard to get his electronic parts and his new human parts to shut down. He
thought he had made it until he saw the projections on the monitor. “I’m sorry, rthr. I’m so
sorry!” ktty warbled just before ztz shut him down completely.
Seconds after ktty was shut down, The Captain’s Ghost appeared. ztz howled like a
Plutonian Vampire Werewolf, so great was his joy. “So that’s where he was. Why didn’t you
know that, stupid?” ztz growled at ptz. “This can be true?” ptz wondered as he read the
information on the monitor. “ktty? What have you done to ktty, you creep!” rthr tried in vain to
break from his prison. He stopped when he also reads what was on the monitor. “Oh, this is
delightful. What a delicious diversion!“ ztz exclaimed with joy. “What? What’s going on,
Robin?” Marian pleaded.
“Robin?” ztz chuckled. “No. This is the direct descendant of The Captain. Think of the
entertainment possibilities,“ ztz motioned to The Creatures. “Quick,
take down the closed signs and open the ticket booths! Hurry!” ztz danced a perverted jig.
“What kind of lie is this? That kid is no relation of mine!” The Captain insisted. His
image faded in and out, as the escape window was almost closed. “What meaning?” ptz
wondered.
 “What meaning? If we hurry, we can have the show of shows! Quick! Send out a , “Z“
mail notice to all subscribers,” ztz croaked.
ptz looked confused.
ztz shook his head in disgust. He ignored ptz as the dragon vanished - then Marian
vanished. Seconds later, ztz released rthr and zapped him into a Sopwith Camel. He zapped The
Captain back into his body, then
zapped the body into a Sopwith Camel.
ztz stopped a moment to adore himself, then looked at ptz who looked puzzled.
“I do not understand?” ptz wondered.
“Just send out the notices now, you idiot!” ztz snapped at ptz.
“I’m tired of telling you, stop calling me , “idiot!”
“You want to be obscenely rich or not?” ztz chided.
ptz thought it over. He punched into the “Z” mail modem. “The notice is to say?”
ztz zapped Marian back. He transformed her into seven holographic images. He conjured
a castle and placed each image on an identical but separate parapet. He encased the parapets
inside a deadly force field.
“Z” mail is ready. I am to say? ptz repeated.
ztz grinned from mouth to ear. Come see the greatest show in New Hedonia. Ten
Thousand credits to see the end of Three Worlds - the past, the present and the future.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

rthr found himself stuck in the cockpit of a Sopwith Camel dressed in the uniform of a captain in
the Royal Canadian Air Corps. Twenty yards to his right, Captain Brown sat in the cockpit of an
identical Sopwith Camel. The engines on both airplanes were at full idle and both rthr and
Captain Brown were, literally,

glued in their seats.

rthr could not touch the invisible glue, but his lack of mobility told him it was there. rthr
grimaced as he looked over at The Captain. It was like looking into a mirror that told you what
you would look like when you were older. In the brief instant their eyes met, a look of quiet
understanding passed between them. They each gave the other a salute of respect.
rthr looked around for ktty. A few yards away stuffed in a trash can, he saw ktty’s
motionless form. Huge tears of anger formed in the corners of his eyes. He fought them back.
rthr turned his head so The Captain would not see his eyes mist. “A noble machine. It
seems he has sacrificed himself for us ... alas, it appears, to no avail,” The Captain sighed. “I
understand, young man. I had such a fondness for my first airplane. It was much more than a
machine to me.” rthr took a deep breath and blew it out hard. “ktty wasn’t a machine ... anymore
... Not to me!” rthr insisted. “... and what he did was not in vain!“ rthr glared at ztz in anger.
“You can cancel your notice! We aren’t circus freaks. We won’t do anything for you!”
“Oh? Now, rthr. You haven’t heard my pitch!” ztz glowed with delicious resentment as he
changed into a Circus Ringmaster’s uniform. “Ladies, Gentlemen, roundheads, squareheads, no-
heads, and other mutants. Welcome to the greatest show - like ever!” ztz pointed toward the
seven holograms of Marian. “Over here we have a fair Maiden.” Seven of them, to be exact.
Even I am not sure which one is real - and which one isn’t! What a thrilling tease. “No? Ah! But
that is not all or even half-all.” ztz stopped. He waited until ptz turned up the canned “applause”
ztz delighted in the phony applause. He turned and pointed to rthr and the Captain.
“Over here we have an ancient hero and his modern descendant. They are about to
entertain you with a real bloodletting. Not just a bloodletting, but one with delicious irony.” ztz
waited for more applause.
“What is this crazy being up to?” Captain Brown wondered aloud. rthr looked
at the images of Marian and worried.
“I’m ... not sure. But we won’t help him!”
ztz let ptz play the applause even louder. He listened for a long moment before he
continued.
“rthr, the boy from this time would like to save the girl. The Captain, a genuine hero
from the past, just wants to go home. Now we know every being simply can not have what they
want.” ztz paused for effect. “However, I think I can arrange it.” ztz zapped himself beside The
Captain. “Give us a good show, then kill the boy, and you can go home.”
“Begone, you hideous apparition!“ The Captain growled in ztz’s face. ztz did not even
notice. He zapped himself beside rthr. He drew his foul mouth close to rthr’s face. “In three
ticks, the girl would vaporize. Kill the Captain and maybe I’ll let you have her,” ztz chortled.
“You’re a coward, ztz!”
“Yes. Thank you, rthr.”
“You killed ktty! I’m not doing anything for you!”
ztz leaped into rthr’s cockpit and growled into his face. “Argh! What do I have to do,
cut the girl into small pieces? Or, perhaps ... show you what’s behind door number three?”
“I don’t care. It’s a lie, anyway. All of this is one big cyberspace lie!! Now let us go! The
circus is over.”
“No! Not, Okay!“ ztz spewed. “I will obliterate everyone!”
“Really? Go ahead,” rthr dared.
“ktty, the girl, all you know!”
“I don’t care!” rthr bluffed.
“Argh! There is something you care about enough!” ztz thundered. He looked deep into
rthr’s eyes. He smiled and pointed to door number three. He zapped it open.
Behind the door was rthr’s mother. She was standing in the middle of a bright
spotlight, dressed in her wedding dress, still holding a bridal bouquet. She looked lost.
“rthr? rthr? Are you here somewhere?” she asked with a mixture of fear and anger.
rthr shook his head in disbelief and turned away.
“Is that your mother?” Captain Brown wondered.
“I doubt it. I believe nothing they do! It’s all a cyberspace game,” rthr hoped.
“rthr, please talk to me? ... I’m scared, son. Please show yourself and tell me what’s
going on. Please?” mmy drst shivered a little.
Captain Brown shook his head in disdain. “Don’t you care about your mother?“
“Why should I? ... she doesn’t care about me.”
 “You know, just when I like you, you do something totally despicable,“ Captain
Brown said.
“You don’t understand, Captain. She’s not real. None of this is real. The Demon
Brothers are just trying to scare us.”
“Are you sure of that?”
“... yea …”
“Well, I’ll admit all these electric images can confuse,“ The Captain paused.” ... but a
boy should know his mother ... no matter what kind of black magic these jokers are using.”
rthr studied the image of his mother. She seemed lost and afraid. He had never seen her
like that before. She had always been so self-confident. The little time he had spent with her, she
had seemed to need nothing or no one. As he watched her discomfort, rthr felt bad. “If it was
your mother, how would you recognize her?” rthr wondered aloud.
Captain Brown thought it over. “Well, just go over there and give her a hug. You’ll
know.”
“A hug?”
“Yea! A hug and maybe a kiss. ... no, I suppose you’re too old for a kiss. Just make it a
hug.”

“Oh, you mean a kiss! kiss!” rthr mocked his mother’s air kisses. “Is that how
they do it at this time?”
rthr nodded “Yes.”
“Brother! Do I have got to get home?” Captain Brown sighed.
“rthr! If this is one of your games, you stop it and send me back now. How dare you
interrupt my wedding! I mean it, rthr!” mmy drst insisted. “Wedding?” The Captain mused.
“Does your father know about this?” “Father?” rthr was truly puzzled.
“Don’t tell me. You have no father?”
... my donor was anonymous ... rthr said sadly.
Captain Brown thought it over. He did not understand any of it and didn’t care to understand it.
He, like rthr, suspected much of what they were being shown was unreal. But he trusted ktty. If
what ktty had projected was true, this confused young man was his great-grandson, three times
removed.
That was hard for Captain Brown to accept. He liked nothing about this time and place.
Also, he had deep reservations about how he felt about rthr. He looked deep into rthr’s
eyes. He studied them for a long moment. He looked past the hardened glaze the endless hours in
cyberspace had given them. He looked past the cynicism and the futuristic coldness.
Captain Brown saw a softness there and sensed that maybe there was a small spark of
himself to be found somewhere inside this alien descendant. He was lost in that thought until he
watched his hands almost fade away in front of his eyes. He knew he had to get back to his time
- soonest. “We need to end this thing, rthr,“he turned and glared at ztz. “Clear the runway.!”
“Yes! Good, Captain. Enough! Enough dilly dallying! It must begin now! Now let the
games begin!“ ztz roared.
“rthr? rthr what is going on? Please tell me?” mmy drst cried out - then checked her
make-up in a mirror.
“I ... think ... it is ... her,” rthr hesitated as ztz revved their engines and they both taxied.
“rthr? rthr I don’t like this silly game. It’s not funny! I mean it. You interrupted my wedding at
the worst possible time. Now you stop this and send me back right now!” she yelled at him as his
plane moved down the runway.
rthr stared back at her. He looked over at Captain Brown. “It’s her! I know that for sure
now!”
The engines were so loud Captain Brown did not hear him.
Instead, Captain Brown took one last look at rthr with eyes that reflected the sadness he
felt in his heart. In order to get back to his time, he would have to kill his future grandson. Or
failing that, die himself and, perhaps, cause all he had known to vanish forever.
It was a contest devoid of honor or ready solutions - yet it had to proceed. “What a
strange madness,” Captain Brown thought. “If only The Red baron were here. Maybe he could
make some sense of it.”
rthr took one last look back at his mother. Now she was frightened. He had

never seen the color drain from her face and not be quickly replaced. He had never seen her
recoil in shock or her eyes mist with fear. He could not bear to watch and turned his face away.
“Mom! Mom?” he whispered under his breath.
“Oh, Mommy! Sweet Mommy o’ mine! How sweet! Now just go along with us and I’ll
send her back and things will be hunky dory!” ztz insisted as he floated alongside rthr’s airplane
with ptz at his side.
“Don’t hurt her anymore! I mean it!”
rthr threatened.
“You will give us a good show?” ztz demanded.
rthr took one more glance at the pain on his mother’s face. “Yes!” he said with angry
eyes.
ztz hesitated a long moment. He revved the engines of the aircraft. He stopped
smiling when rthr flipped a switch that killed the engine. “No! No, not yet!” rthr insisted.
“Arghh! What is it with you, boy?”
rthr looked over at the lifeless ktty. “You really want me to play this stupid game?“
“I already announced it.”
“I want ktty back.”
“Oh? I don’t have to do that, rthr.”
“You do if you want a good show!”
ztz thought it over. He nodded in agreement. “Once you are in the air,” he agreed.
“No! Now!”
ptz moved beside Captain Brown, who was almost a ghost of an image. “No refunds are
possible. We are not prepared for a crowd confusion.” “Shut-up, Idiot!” ztz grumbled.
“You mean a riot don’t you, ptz?” rthr grinned.
“Riot? There are seventy million mutants in the bleachers. A nation of Roundheads in
the Luxury Boxes. No! This can not be allowed. Give him ktty!” ptz insisted.
ztz glared at ptz a moment. He looked at the restless Roundheads in the stands. “Okay,
rthr! Okay! But no more tricks!”
rthr shrugged.
ztz gathered some equipment and, reluctantly, went to work on ktty. For the longest time,
it seemed his efforts were futile. Electronic CPR did not provoke any movement. He motioned
backstage for the best of his Hex Hackers to come help. Their efforts also appeared to be futile.
“This animal ... or machine or whatever, is hopeless. His circuitry is beyond my
instruments. I cannot revive him!” ztz shivered in frustration. “I agree,“ ptz said.
“Release me and let me try,” rthr insisted.
ztz refused.
ptz glared at ztz, waved his hand, and rthr found himself on the ground beside ktty.
 rthr took the instruments from ztz. He knelt down and worked feverishly at trying to
revive his friend. “Come on, Ktty. I’m sorry about the nasty things I said. I’m really sorry. Come
on, you can do it!” rthr pleaded.
There was no response.
rthr wanted to scream in frustration.
Instead, he knelt and drew his mouth close to ktty’s. He took a deep breath and blew
into ktty’s mouth.
“This human is an idiot. Such methods are not for such machines,” ztz chuckled.
“Agreed,” ptz nodded.
rthr gave them both a hard look. “ktty is not a machine!” rthr insisted as he took another
deep breath. He leaned even closer and blew even harder. Still, there was no response.
“See, you were wrong, human. It is a machine and not a very good one at that!” ztz
sneered.
“Just back off, you wretched perversion!” rthr insisted.
ztz looked at ptz. They savored the insult.
rthr took another breath. He stopped, as he still saw no movement. He sighed hard as he
stroked ktty’s soft fur and got to his feet. “Humans! One could admire their tenacity if it was not
fraught with such futility,” ztz chuckled.
rthr glared at ztz. He looked over at Captain Brown, who was fading fast. He took a
really deep breath, pressed ever closer to ktty’s mouth, and blew as hard as he could.
There was no movement from ktty. rthr turned and glared at ztz. “He was the
best. This is all your fault! I won’t fly for you!” ztz bared his claws and
spewed hot sulphur gas.
“No, it’s not ... rthr ... it’s really mine,” ktty coughed back into life. “ktty! ktty!
You’re alive. Alright!” rthr tossed ktty’s fur playfully. ktty blinked, weakly, in
return.
“Excellent!” Captain Brown agreed.
“Now! And I mean, now. We proceed with the show!” ztz stepped in. “We have
recorded your word of ... honor?” ptz said.
“My word of honor. Yes. It is time. Come, ktty,“ rthr agreed moments before he
was zapped back into his Sopwith Camel.
Once inside the cockpit, ktty looked up at rthr with eyes that were still weak. “No!
No, you must not, rthr,” ktty sighed, weakly.
“We have to, ktty.”
ktty’s eyes grew stronger for a moment. “Yes. It computes out that way.” He looked over
at Captain Brown’s fading image. “But how can it finish with any good end?”
Captain Brown looked at the Time Window. It was almost closed. He yelled
something at rthr that could not be heard over the roar of the engines.
“What?” rthr wondered.

ktty’s scanners had picked up Captain Brown’s words. He was not sure they computed
accurately.
“What is he saying, ktty?”
ktty looked at rthr with a mixture of admiration and fear. “He can not stay here any
longer. Whatever happens, we must do it now,” ktty paused and looked deep into rthr’s eyes.
He admonished you it must be done “our way, beloved grandson of mine.” ktty repeated with
a sad sigh.
rthr was stunned by the words. They were beautiful words.
 Words that struck a long untouched chord deep in the dustiest corner of his being.
“Grandson? He called me grandson?” rthr repeated. “Wow! Beloved grandson. I ... am ... his
grandson ... I am a grandson, ktty!”
“Yes!” ktty replied. “But for how long?” he thought to himself. Before they could
say more, they made the airplanes to roar down the runways and begin their liftoff. Just
before they left the ground, ktty mumbled something.
“What? I couldn’t hear you, ktty?”
ktty waited a long moment before replying.
“He also said something else that was not clear. There are still some things I am
computing.”
“Sure! Take your time. No problem!” rthr replied, still aglow with the feeling of
belonging.
“rthr. Please, proceed slowly,” ktty whispered. “There is a paradigm here that I must
decipher. It is critical we must make the right move ... for all our sakes.” “Oh, chill out, ktty!”
rthr chided, as his hands closed around the airplanes’ controls. They were identical to the ones in
his “VrV” games and more responsive than a virtual facsimile.
ptz looked puzzled as he watched the airplanes lift into the air. “We have told the
customers a non-truth?” ptz wondered.
ztz looked at him with contempt. “What are you mumbling about now, stupid?”
“I told you. I mean it. Don’t call me that!”
“Fine! You just let me handle this.”
“I dislike cheating the customers.”
“I told you to let me handle it!”
ptz thought it over. He did not like it. “No! This is not a show, unlike many others. There
is a danger to all. I will turn it off.”
“Danger? You cyberspace wimp! Danger is the essence of drama. We will have them
coming back time after time for more!” ztz thundered with anger. ptz was knocked off his seven
feet. He looked up at the foreboding scarlet sky. “... not if there is no more time …” ptz
mumbled.
“The ultimate danger! The ultimate drama! Thrills until it hurts in megahertz!”
ztz paused and growled at ptz.,“You would turn off the most fascinating event of all time
and space, stupid?”
“No! you are stupid! It is wrong to consider the end of all things for temporary entertainment!”
ptz got up, slowly. “This can not be such a show. I will
not allow it!”
ztz zapped ptz, but cooled off and thought better of it. “I was wrong to call you,“stupid“
my brother,” ztz smiled a benevolent smile. “Your chips are as jaded as mine. Can you not see
the beauty in this program? It is an opportunity we will not have again - ever!” ztz almost cried.
“There is the risk of oblivion for all things.”
“Granted. But have we not done all things that are doable? Are not your files as full as mine?
We have processed all input but remain empty. Is it too much to let me have this one thing so
that I might be all that I can be?”
“You have been watching old commercial reels again,” ptz chided. “But I agree, it is a
fascinating program. It would be most watchable.” “Yes! Yes! Just see this my way and I’ll do
whatever you want next time?” “Next time?” ptz pondered the possibilities. “There will be a
next time?” “Sure! Sure there will. The boy is not the equal of The Captain. The Captain will
dispatch him and we will find other boys - dblgly and his roundheads, so that the show will go
on - forever!”
 “Forever? This is much money. This can be done?”
“The boy is a direct descendant of the Captain. Is this not so?” ztz challenged.
“rthr’s mouse has revealed this!“ It did not impress ptz.
“You know of the laws of the time/space continuum?”
ptz was not so sure.
“You know of the irrevocable interlocks?”
ptz nodded “affirmative.”
“I do not think you know, but it is an amusing ponder,” ztz was delighted with
himself.
“You will explain this? Please download!” ptz demanded.
ztz moved away from him. He looked at the Sopwith Camels climbing skyward. He
looked at the holograms of Marian, hopelessly, straining against her bonds and the fear in rthr’s
mother’s eyes.
ztz looked at ptz with disdain before he replied.
“Notify the customers of the game parameters. Then double the admission fee!” ztz sighed with
joy.
“I must understand or it will not continue!” ptz shot back, then paused, “What are
the game parameters?”
ztz sighed hard, then grinned. “In order to return home, The Captain must kill his future. In order
to live ... to save the girl, the boy must kill his past. Ah! But if he does so ... well, to explain it is
to render it tasteless. It is the most juicy paradox.” “We, in this time, are not at risk?” ptz
wondered aloud.
“No! Because the boy is basically a coward,” ztz yelped with delight. “And what of
the Red Baron?”
ztz almost fainted with delight before he replied. “When the boy senses danger, he will run and
The Red Baron will reveal himself as he did at the Poison River. He will delight our most
insulated remotes before he kills all in the skies!” ptz was still not sure. He wanted to stop it. He
wanted to see it unfold. He
gave his brother a look of admiration and doubt.
High above them in rthr’s airplane cockpit, ktty deciphered the secret of the Red Baron
Paradox and shuddered with fear.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The cola-dark electric sky was filled with the crackle of microchip discharges and
magnetic lightning, followed by pulses of soundblaster thunder. There was a steady clicking
of circuits opening and closing and a lubricant of rain filled the sparking air.
rthr looked a hundred yards to his right. The Captain was close enough for rthr to see his
face. No longer a ghost, The Captain was a fearsome opponent. There was a look of
determination in The Captain’s eye and a scowl on his face. rthr gave him a high sign. The
Captain ignored it as he turned his airplane and climbed toward the synthetic sun in the
simulated sky.
rthr was not sure what was going to happen. He was so intent on enjoying the moment;
he didn’t want to think about it. He realized he was all alone, and this was not cyberspace - but
ktty had said Captain Brown liked him. rthr figured the Captain would give the Demon
Brothers a good show then fly off home.
ktty now knew that was not true. His analysis had revealed that there was only one
scenario that could be played out in which the world would not end.
Desperately, ktty tried to get rthr’s attention.
rthr ignored him.
rthr felt a delicious fever in his blood, that he knew was his own. He was becoming stronger and
stronger with no help from anyone - and his senses vibrated with life. Once numbed senses that
now tickled his backbone and sent a wonderful tingling electric surge through his being. A surge
that lit a fire in his gut. rthr glowed with purpose. A long darkened room inside his being was
filling with light and he would let no one put that light out - ever again.
rthr looked at the sky directly in front of his airplane. Captain Brown was heading
directly for him with a grim look on his face. rthr figured The Captain’s mean look was part of
the show.
“rthr! There is a problem. I have computed the solution. ... I..” Not now, ktty! rthr fired a
burst to check his machine guns. They worked fine. As he watched the shells eject and smelled
the acrid gunpowder, he marveled at the mixture of actual fear and bravado he was experiencing.
For a moment, he pondered the idea of going down in a blaze of glory. He had seen
ktty’s sacrifice, and he admired ktty’s courage. He also knew how he had felt inside at seeing
ktty die.
It was a terrible feeling of loss.
A feeling he wished to his soul he makes his mother feel.
rthr did not have an urge to die, but if he died in actual combat, it would be a noble thing.
It would be an admirable thing. Even his mother would have to stop and notice. It would be
something so big, even she could not ignore it.
rthr knew ktty would never let his mother forget him - and she might even cry.
For a moment, he felt sad he would not be there to see it.
rthr checked the controls.
The Learning Infuser had done a good job. rthr felt as if he had flown the Sopwith many
times before. He sat back and enjoyed the arrhythmic sound of the old piston engine and the
feel of flight. The wind playfully tossed his hair, and made his cheeks flap happily, his eyes
tear, joyfully. He was awash with feelings he had hungered for all his life.
rthr looked up to see The Captain’s plane move behind a cloud and the sky darken.
rthr wasn’t worried until he saw the look on ktty’s face. “Are you trying to spoil this for
me, ktty?” rthr chided.
ktty held back his anger and tried to look calm. His smoking diodes gave him away.
“What? What have you so bugged?” rthr demanded.
ktty could not reply as bullets from Captain Brown’s airplane peppered their cockpit. The
bullets knocked the tips off ktty’s whiskers - they made rthr sit up and wonder.
“Bloody Browser! That was close! ... he knows how to put on a good show.” “It’s not a
show! Land this airplane now, rthr!” ktty demanded. “If you don’t stop butting in, I’m
going to shut you down. Understand, ktty?” “No! I will print it out for you …”
“Oh! Here he comes again. This time let’s shake him up!“ rthr eased his hand on his
machine gun trigger.
ktty bit it.
rthr pulled his hand back and looked more surprised than angry. “Holy Moly
Modems! Have you gone circuit silly, ktty?”
 Ktty spoke, but Captain Brown opened up with a long burst of machine-gun fire.
Hot lead tore half-the fabric off one wing of rthr’s airplane. One bullet glanced off
ktty’s skull, rendering him off-line.
“Did you see that ktty?” rthr flew his airplane into the cover of a nearby cloud bank. He
looked at ktty and was not unhappy to see he was not responding. “I had the drop on him, but
you spoiled it. That’s okay. I’ll swing around and blast him from behind.”
rthr scanned the darkness of Captain Brown’s airplane. He was not surprised by
what he finally saw.
Captain Brown’s airplane came out of nowhere, machine guns blazing. Bits of white-hot
metal cut into rthr’s face. Warm blood oozed from the cuts. As he
looked at it glisten in his fingers. He knew it was real and swallowed hard. He felt his hands
tremble.
He could almost hear his own heartbeat. His mouth was dry, and his knees wobbly. Actual fear
vibrated the length of his body.
It was wonderful.
Captain Brown took a position directly on rthr’s tail. He fixed him in his sights.
rthr braced for the hot lead to come his way.
It never did.
Either the Captain’s guns had jammed, or he was waiting on rthr to get in on the show.
rthr looked back and watched as Captain Brown frantically tried to make his machine
guns work. The look in the Captain’s eyes told rthr it was no longer a game.
rthr shook off resentment and fear as he fought back - and if need be, shoot his
grandfather out of the sky.
rthr tried to push his joystick to start a wide turn. The joystick would not move. It was
no “VrV” game stick, and it seemed frozen. rthr gritted his teeth. He reached inside for strength.
He took a deep breath and called on every fiber of his being.
He forced his thoughts inward.
He made himself touch deep recesses of his being he had long ignored. rthr screamed a
primeval scream as his waking spirit rose. There was a marvelous transitory pain that sent
shivers up his spine as his flesh melded with the incoming spiritual strength.
His eyes bristled with vivacity. His fingers tingled with awareness. His backbone fused
into an iron rod. The muscles in his arms seemed made of tungsten. Now he wanted to live.
To live at whatever cost. Not to give his life to others, but to make others give their lives
so that he might live.
rthr was, really, alive for the first time in his life and life was too precious to give up,
easily even to close and beloved relatives.
rthr looked into his own eyes in the back-view mirror. There was, suddenly, no electronic
glaze covering them. Instead. they were passionate about life - and strong with purpose.
rthr let himself relax and enjoy the wonder of life. His breath came deliciously
easy. His ears heard every delightful sound.
His eyes could see forever.
Suddenly, his whole being resonated with rythmn of spiritual delights he had never
known. rthr wanted to touch everything he had never touched. He wanted to taste everything he
had never tasted. He wanted to hold Maid Marian in his arms. But that would wait.
Now he was going to teach his Great, great, great grandfather a lesson. Now he was a
little mad and more than ready to have it end - in his favor. rthr had almost let The Demon
Brothers get away with it. He knew they
suspected he would wimp out. He looked down at the thousands of Roundheads looking up at
the sky. They thought he was a wimp as well.
That thought gave him all the strength he needed.
Then the joystick moved.
This time it was no ghost inside but, at long last, the strength of his own spirit that made
it move. rthr held the stick back and did a complete loop. The loop moved him into the position
of Captain Brown. Once he was in position behind the Captain, rthr fixed the airplane in his
sights.
Captain Brown looked back with a sad look in his eyes. He said something rthr could not
hear or lip-read. rthr looked ahead of them and saw the time/space window closing.
There was not much time.
rthr pulled the trigger and watched as his bullets tore at Captain Brown’s airplane. Smoke
trailed from a hit on the engine and the airplane flew erratically.
rthr saw The Captain duck down in his cockpit.
rthr did not see him come up.
“Hot Diggety Diodes! Did you see that? Did you see that, ztz? ptz! All you dweeb
Roundheads! Ha! Did you see that?“ rthr paused. He closed his finger around the gun trigger
and fire a fatal round.
ktty came back online just in time to stop him. “No, rthr!”
“No? Hey! I’m winning here! Stay out of this!”
“No!”
“No?”
“I computed what Captain Brown said just before take-off. It confirms my analysis.”
“Who cares? He’s about to lose.”
“No! If you pull that trigger, we all lose.”
“Aw, ktty! Not this time. Don’t spoil the fun this time.”
“We are almost out of time, rthr.”
“I don’t care. Everyone is watching. Even Marian ... and mother. Look at me! I’ve got
it all together, man! Now you shut-up and watch.” rthr squeezed the trigger.
Once more ktty bit his hand.
“Galloping Gigabytes, ktty! Stop that.”
“No! Not until you listen.”
rthr grimaced and rubbed his sore hand. “Okay! Okay! What are so bummed out about?”
ktty gathered his charges. “I told you Captain Brown said something just before we took
off.”
“So?”
“So? So he said ... it must not me, but the one as yet undreamed who must die this
day.”
“That makes little sense.”
“It does if you know this is April the 22nd, one hundred years to the day.”
“To what day?”
ktty paused and looked deadly serious.
“To the day your grandfather shot down The Red Baron.”
rthr felt a chill go up and down his spine. He took his hand off the trigger and looked
hard at ktty. “This is a space/time continuum thing?” “The biggest and most bad!” ktty sighed
hard.
As rthr pondered ktty’s words, Captain Brown looped his airplane and took a position
behind rthr.
 “Oh, no!“ rthr looked back. “Now look what you’ve done, ktty!” ktty looked at rthr
with sad eyes. “Now you know what you must do?” “What now?”
ktty waited to see if rthr would realize what had to be done. The look of terror in
rthr’s eyes said that he did.
“Oh, no! You don’t mean …”
“Yes, rthr! You are the one as yet undreamed.”
“But ... I …”
“The past must be fulfilled exactly as was ordained. File allocation must be in proper
sequence. The past can not die if the future is to live. It is not a temporal necessity that we
survive.”
“Holey Moley Modems! You mean it!”
ktty’s sad eyes were his answer.
“But I have just lived! No! No!”
rthr clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.
Captain Brown fired a burst, telling rthr his guns were now unjammed. rthr took
evasive action.
ktty pointed to the space/time window. “He has mere moments. We must let him finish
us so that The Demon Brothers will let him pass through the window.” As rthr thought it over,
he felt a strange feeling of melancholy. He took a deep breath and blew it out hard, savoring the
feel. His ears picked up the sound of his grandfather shifting the bolt to load his machine guns.
rthr knew that in a moment he would be no more.
Slowly, rthr removed his hand from his airplane controls. He looked at ktty with mixed
emotions. Emotions that ranged from sadness to bravery - but devoid of fear.
ktty looked at him with respect.
They both flinched as they heard the chatter of Captain Brown’s machine guns.
“No! No! You forgot about The Red Baron! Your FAT is fouled ktty!” rthr said as he
pushed his joystick forward and climbed toward the sun. “What?“ ktty wondered.
“You said it yourself.”
“What? I have given you the read-out!”

“What time was it?”

“What time? Local, international, or interplanetary?”
“No! What time was The Red Baron shot down?”
ktty’s MPU almost frosted over as he realized he had made an error. He blamed his
RAM, which was now as faulty as a human’s memory. “Yes, rthr! It would be four O’clock our
time,” ktty paused. “Oh, my! That is three clicks away!”
Before rthr could reply, The Red Baron’s airplane appeared out of nowhere, his guns
blazing. The bullets tore into Captain Brown’s Sopwith as The Red Baron took a position behind
him.
rthr looked over at The Red Baron. The Red Baron scowled, fired a burst at rthr then took
off in pursuit of The Captain. Seconds later, The Red Baron had Captain Brown square in his
sights. In another moment, he would blow The Captain out of the sky.
Captain Brown looked back and, bravely, acknowledged he was beaten. He braced
himself for the end.
The Red Baron squeezed the trigger. His machine guns chattered. He felt a little sad to
vanquish such a brave opponent. He watched in disbelief as rthr’s airplane pulled in a fount of
his, absorbing all the bullets.
“Vas? Vas is dis? Ah! Yes …” The Red Baron smiled as Captain Brown looped and
got in behind him.
Both he and Captain Brown looked at rthr, and their eyes shared some private
understanding. They gave rthr a high sign.
rthr pointed to the window closing. “Goodbye, Grandfather. Goodbye, Red Baron!” rthr
said he watched them fly through the time/space window - moments before The Demon Brothers
could close it.
Seconds later, both ktty and rthr froze as hot oil spewed in their faces. Debris from
bullet holes flew in every direction as rthr’s engine spit, jerked then stopped completely.
rthr and ktty looked on in horror as their airplane began a twisting, turning, fast fall
toward the earth.