Zette's Storybook

From: Alan Orion, Head of FUTURE

July 1, 1996

Report # 221,515

Message Begins:



Yes, I've made mistakes. I admit it. I was the one who hooked the power cable up backwards at the Artrian Embassy and blew the hell out of the lavatories. I was really sorry about the ambassador, too, but he... ummm... she has really made the adjustment well. And I was the one who forgot to put the parking brake on at the inner-system pax Galactic picnic and destroyed four cruisers and started that unfortunate running war with the Zalikins.

I can admit all these mistakes now because they are nothing compared to the mistake I made when I came to Earth.

I like to think that anyone would have made the same mistakes. After all, we knew nothing about the damned Earthers. Hell, I've been here for years, and I still don't know much about them! So it isn't surprising that I had trouble choosing agents.

The Sangre sisters have driven me mad. I never know what to expect from them. The fiasco earlier this year should have been enough for anyone. If I'd been smart, I would have just taken them out and shot them myself. Or maybe just put the laser to my head. I don't know why I'm suffering through more of this madness. I mean the crash in Africa and the lost Celtic civilization -- but better not to bring that one up. We don't need lost civilizations in this damn world. They have enough of them already.

But there are the Sangres. They survive everything. And now... well now they know they're working for aliens. They know we have the ability to use time travel. They know secrets Earthers were never meant to know.

I've asked for a transfer. I've asked for one repeatedly. Now all I can say is that whatever happens is the fault of my supervisors. I tried to warn them. I tried to get out of here, and let someone new step in and take over this mess.

However, since it's still in my hands...

Well, you see I've gone quite totally mad. I like the Sangre sisters, even if they have driven me crazy. They have added a layer of insanity to my life that takes it far beyond the mundane world of Vanadanian attacks and infestations of micmics -- though I think those two might have been related. But never mind. This is about the Sangre sisters.

I decided that the only hope was not to send the two of them on the same assignment. I sent Apache -- Morningstar Sangre -- to guard an important earther scientist we think is about to make a major breakthrough.

But it's gone bad, of course. And I can't reach Apache. No one can. Except, maybe her sister.

I am going to try to persuade Baby to track her down.

The Earthers have a special term for insanity on their world. They believed that their single moon influences it, and they called it lunacy.

I've been spending a lot of late nights staring at the sky.