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From: lai@shadow.Berkeley.EDU (Nick Lai)
Newsgroups: talk.bizarre
Subject: Mr. Mechanical Pencil to the Rescue
Message-ID: <15631@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Wed, 10-Sep-86 23:56:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.15631
Posted: Wed Sep 10 23:56:24 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 13-Sep-86 07:03:18 EDT
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: lai@shadow.Berkeley.EDU (Nick Lai)
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 48
Keywords: Fiction
Summary: ASCII characters arrange themselves into interesting patterns

/*
 * Slow pan shot of the mist rising off of the bog, the tall weeds
 * nestled along the banks of the fetid water - a sullen moon pouts
 * behind fast-moving clouds and all around the crushing silence
 * lies.  As the frame moves to the left we make out the image of
 * a run-down shack, its aging roof-tiles curled up and cracked, its
 * tired boards brittle from years of abuse, from the elements, from
 * the passage of savage time.  A glow is perceivable in the
 * gaping hole that might be a window, and our field of vision focuses
 * and we approach that portal, past wispy mist, past wiry weeds ...
 * Dark forms!  Something is *alive* in there, and long shadows are
 * cast upon mouldy walls by a furtive flame that lies trapped within
 * the damp twigs upon the floor.  The pulse quickens and our
 * surrogate eye slowly peers over the sill.  Around us the smell of
 * dark deeds and foul hearts circles and penetrates, a shudder
 * must surely be dancing upon our spines.  A man - a man, yet less,
 * and more.  He cups a cigarette in his hand, and after exhaling the
 * hot vapour, he gives the other man a dark, piercing look.
 */
man 1:	"That is the *last* time you screw up, Frederick.  If you
	 EVER fail me again, I'll cut your heart out."
/*
 * At this point, man 1 tosses his cigarette out of our window.
 * Fortunately, he does not follow the arc with his eyes, else
 * we would now be reeling back from that decrepit building,
 * clutching the bursting wounds that would have been inflicted
 * upon us.
 */
man 2:	"I ... I, Mr. Bersker, I, I swear to GOD
	 I couldnt do anything about it!  They .. they made
	 me talk!"
man 1:	"Dont grovel, Freddy.  I dont like it.  Now here, take this
	 heater and go finish the job."
/*
 * Suddenly there is a rustling in the corner, a loud scratching
 * sound, and finally the sound of a wall being rent apart.
 * Blinding light fills the room, sirens wail, the walls shake
 * and disassociate themselves from the ceiling, which then
 * explodes into a billion shards of light.  Standing there in
 * all of its glory, dominating the desolate bog, is
 * Mr. Mechanical Pencil, hero of the weak, enemy of the enemy,
 * doer of good deeds and ass-kicker extraordinaire.
 */
Mr. MP:	"Freeze, dirt-bags!"

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| Nick Lai | ARPAnet: lai@shadow.berkeley.edu | USEnet: ..!ucbvax!shadow!lai |
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