
From: Mark Stroud

        The recruit sat down by the fire, enjoying the warmth it 
gave off.  It was a comfortable feeling and the recruit slowly 
started to relax.  A rumble in his stomach reminded him that he 
hadn't eaten all day.  Pulling out the flask of rations he was 
given when he joined the HX Force, he removed the cover and 
swallowed the disgusting liquid-substance, replacing the remaining 
ration in his pack.  Looking up from his pack, he noticed the 
stranger looking at him. "I'll give you 200 crystals for your last 
ration," the stranger said. 
     The recruit, without even a second thought, reached into his 
pack and pulled out the ration, and tossed it across the fire 
towards the stranger. The stranger caught it deftly, quickly 
removing the cap and swallowing the contents.  "Keep your 
crystals," the recruit said.  "It will be a sad day, when I do not 
repay a favor. Perhaps I might answer  a question?" The stranger 
said.
     "This you could do. Your name?"
     "Hah!  That is no question, but I am known as Hawk. And Yours?"
     "I am known as the Mad Hacker."
     "Now ask me a real question, Hacker."
     Mad Hacker taking his pack turn it upside down emptying the 
contents on the ground.  "What is all this stuff used for?"
     Hawk, got up and walked around the fire to get a better view 
of the items that were on the ground.  There were several items 
there;  a rusty wire, a thumper, a floppy disk, a remote control, 
med kit, and a hemp rope. Picking up the rusty wire, Hawk said 
"Junk, sell it."  Then he picked up the Thumper, laughing to 
himself and then replying, "This will take some explanation, so I 
will tell you about it later."  Still smiling he picked up the 
floppy disk which looked like it had seen some use.  Hawk's smile 
quickly left him, when he read what was written on it.  
     "LOD!" he screamed.  Hawk's Herculean was out in a flash, it 
was pointed at Hacker's head. "Boy, you better have a damn good 
reason for having this!" Mad Hacker was startled at the sudden rage 
that came from Hawk.  "Uh, um, uh, um," was all that would come out 
of his mouth. "Talk boy or you are going to die!"  "I found it!" 
shot out of Mad Hacker's mouth.  He was visibly trembling with fear 
now.  "You found it!  Boy you better do better than that.  This 
floppy has seen some use and your time is running short!"  Hawk's 
finger was slowly tightening on the trigger of his Herculean. "Ok! 
Ok! I played it a couple of times! But just a couple of times!"
     "You played it!  Now you are really going to die!"
     "Wait!  Wait!  I only played it a couple of times like I 
said!  But I wanted to see what all the fuss was about!  Haven't 
you played it?"
     Hawk was suddenly caught off guard by the question and 
realized that he did play it once and remembered that he thought 
the game was very similar to Overkill and was appalled at the 
audacity of the author's of LOD.  While he played LOD, he thought 
how death was to good for them, better that they be slowly 
tortured, dipped in hot tar and rolled in feathers, to be ridiculed 
the rest of there live's for taking someone else's ideas and 
passing them off as their own.  "Are you going to play it again?" 
he asked.
     "No way!  I thought it was trash, I think Overkill is the BEST!"
     "Me too."  Hawk said with a smile on his face.  "So what are 
you planning on doing with the floppy?"
     Mad Hacker took the floppy, which was still in Hawk's hand and 
threw it into the fire.  Hawk looked on approvingly and walked over 
to his pack and took out a floppy with his own personal copy of 
OOII998.Zip and handed it to Mad Hacker.  "This is a game for a
TRUE WARRIOR!"
  
The Saga continues.....
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