Copywrite 1999 Robert Baer Jr Editor's note: The Renegade Files "leaves off" where the last episode of the Dinosaur Journals (The Wedding) ended. PROLOGUE This is the story of a superhero, the Computer Renegade, as told through the eyes of his faithful bionic dog, Otto. Disguised as Accountant Nathan Lovejoy, the Renegade and his good friends wage a never-ending war against crime, injustice and danger. This is one entry from Otto's electronic log book. The Renegade Files: In the beginning..... It was 3:46 in the afternoon and I was conducting an experiment of sorts in the backyard of our large country estate. Samantha Maddog, the lovely collie that I married a short time ago, was watching me race Starlight, the horse. Like me, Starlight was an electronically enhanced creation of Uncle Buford. She thought that all horses can run faster than dogs, and she was very determined to prove her theory. "I beat you that time!" Starlight neighed,"my digital stopwatch tells me I won that race by a whole 2 milliseconds! "I must disagree," I said firmly,"by my internal indicators, I won by a single millisecond, right honey?" "I don't know, dear," Samantha answered,"both of you ran so fast that I couldn't tell who was first." "Well, then we'll do it again!" Starlight insisted. "We have raced twenty seven times already!" I yelled,"each time with the same results, let's just give it up, OK?" "Besides," Samantha added,"Mrs. Lovejoy will be home from work soon." "I want to race again!" Starlight shouted,"I am the fastest animal alive! I am a better equiped model than you, Otto." "I beg to differ, Starlight, dogs have always been swift runners...." "Horses are faster, who runs in the Kentucky Debry, dogs or horses?" "There are dog racing tracks all over the country too, you know!" "You're just afraid that I'll show you up again, canine!" "Oh yeah! We'll see about that! Let's do it one more time!" "You're on, and this time I will prove to you than horses are faster than dogs" "Honey, will you start us?" "Ok," Samantha said reluctantly,"on your mark ..... get set ....... GO!!!" In a blink of an eye, Starlight and I had raced from the edge of the split-rail fence and back. It was at that time that there was the sound of a loud BOOM! coming from the house. "Wanna's home!" Samantha said happily as she ran to greet her. "Hey, wait a minute Samantha," Starlight called out,"which one of us won the race?" Mrs Lovejoy a.k.a. Wanna Talk-Lovejoy emerged from the house shouting joyfully waving a legal sized piece of paper in her hand. "IT DONE, IT'S OFFICIAL!!!" Wanna screamed as she ran toward us, Samantha following close behind her. "What's official?" I asked. "My adoption!" Wanna said excitedly,"this is the official adoption certificate! Now I finally have legal parents!" Wanna had been an orphan for most of her life, her natural parents died when she was very young. She had been very close to Prairie Mason and Prairie Rose, even to point of calling them "Mom" and "Dad" at her wedding. Now the official court papers were finalized, and Wanna felt so wonderful! "I'm going to invite mom and dad here later this evening!" Wanna said with a smile,"what do you guys think?" "That's a marvelous idea!" Samantha answered,"I can help you fix some snacks for everyone!" "I'm so happy for you, Wanna!" Starlight said. "This is an unusual twist, isn't it?" I said insightfully,"most of the time, people adopt dogs, but in your case, dogs have adopted a human!" "Don't be so philisophical, Otto!" Starlight scolded,"This is very important to Wanna, don't trying to phycho-analyze everything!" "I can't help it," I said defensively,"I have a computer enhanced mind, remember?" "So do I, but I have emotions, too!" Starlight agrued. "Will you two please stop bickering?" Samantha pleaded,"come, let's help Wanna get ready for her parent's visit!" As they all were walking toward the house, they heard another loud BOOM! Appearing behind them, dressed in his Zorro-like costume was the Computer Renegade. "Hi honey!" Wanna shouted with joy,"I have some great news for you ......" "I'm sorry, dear," the Renegade said,"but duty calls. Otto, there's a hostage situation downtown, we must go there NOW!" "Ok," I answered,"I'm receiving police band radio messages on the matter, we have no time to lose!" "Goodbye Nathan!" Wanna called out,"hurry back, we're having guests later tonight!" As she was still speaking, there was a loud BOOM! Instantly, we were standing beside a police cruiser parked a block from Zilco's Jewelry Store, which was surrounded by uniformed police officers. "Computer Renegade, I'm so glad you're here!" Lt. Sandy Pearson said,"this was a botched robbery attempt, and now...." "And now they're holding everyone in the building at gunpoint!" the Renegade interrupted. "We think that there's three suspects inside ...." "My inferred detectors indicate that there are four humans inside the store holding metal objects resembling handguns," I added. "Otto," the Renegade said as he produced a black box from his pocket,"let's use our transporters to first disarm the suspects and then get them out here to us!" "Sounds like a good plan," I said,"you lock your black box on their guns, I'll lock on the people themselves, you disarm them first, then I'll pop them out in front of us!" "Ok, ready Otto?" "Ready, Renegade!" "NOW!" At that time the Renegade pressed the red button on his black box, and after a loud BOOM! four handguns appeared a few feet from where Lt. Pearson was standing. Then I activated my internal transporter circuitry, but to our surprise only three people appeared before us, one suspect was still in the building. "He's making a run for it!" I said upon further examination,"I'll stop him!" With that, I used my super speed to run toward the back entrance where my motion detectors had indicated the last suspect's location. The masked jewel thief appeared stunned when I arrived, growling and barking in true guard dog fashion! "Nice mutt!" the man kept saying as he slowly attempted to leave. "Forget it, felon, you're coming with me!' I shouted as I used my transporter circuitry again and brought us both to the front of the building with the other suspects. "Freeze!" Lt Pearson yelled to the would-be jewel theives. The confused and disoriented suspects complied with the officer's requests. The hostage crisis was over. After the police had handcuffed the suspects and officers went inside to store to tell everyone it was safe, the Renegade and I were soon surrounded by people! The gratiful hostages and the police officers wanted to thank us while news reporters and cameramen tried to crowd in to get us on their evening news shows. That was when the Renegade looked down at me and whispered softly,"let's go home, my friend!" That said, I activated my circuitry once more, and BOOM! we arrived just in time to see that our visitors had already arrived! Prairie Mason, Prairie Rose and their "children" were waiting for us in the living room! The Renegade apologized for our tardiness, but when we told them the entire story, they understood. The rest of the evening proceeded without any further disruptiions. Leading the "double life" that I and my master lead hasn't been easy at times, but I feel in my heart that this was our destiny. Although I haven't been "self aware" for very long, I must admit, I do enjoy my life very much! ----------- End of file ---------------