Copywrite 1999 - Robert Baer Jr. 

PROLOGUE
>
>
>This is the story of a superhero, The Computer Renegade, as told through
>the eyes of his faithful bionic German Shepard Otto.  Disguised as
>Accountant Nathan Lovejoy, the Renegade and his friends fight a never
>ending battle against crime, injustice and danger.   This is yet another
>entry from Otto's 'personal' log.
>
The Renegade Files - "A Hot Time in London"

It was a sunny Friday afternoon, my master and his wife had returned home
from a hard day's work.  My lovely wife Samantha had arrived earlier,
having completed her college coursework for the week.  All of us were
looking forward to a nice, relaxing weekend.

"What do we have planned for tonight?" Wanna asked my master.

"How about we all go out for dinner?" Nathan suggested.

"That's a fine idea, Nathan, sir!" Samantha said with excitement.

"We could go to the Cafe Liberty!"  I said,"they always have fine food and
......  wait a minute everyone, I'm receiving a distress call from
London.."

"London?" Wanna asked,"as in Ontario or Ohio?"

"London as in England!" I answered,"there's a fire burning out of control
in a high rise building just five blocks from Buckingham Palace!   The
local fire crews are having trouble, and they need our help!"

"So much for Cafe Liberty.." Wanna muttered in disappointment.

"C'mon, darling!"  Nathan said,"we are needed!  While we change, Otto, you
and Samantha go get Starlight, OK?"

"Will do!" I answered,"we'll all meet outfront and then go to London
together!"

Wanna and Nathan got dressed into their costumes, then the five of us
arrived in the city, one block away from the burning building.  We all ran
to where the Fire Warden was standing, and he certainly was happy to see
us.

"Oh jolly good for you chaps to show up here!' the Fire Warden
yelled,"here's our situation.   As you can see, the fire somehow started
in or around the fifteenth story.  We believe that the floor was
completely evacuted, but we're not sure.  None of our bloomin' ladder
trucks or hoists can reach up that high, can you Yanks help us?"

"We'll certainly try, sir!" Samantha answered.

"Renegade," Starlight said sadly,"I can't get a lock on any people on that
floor, something is interfering with my scanning sensors."

"Mine also!"  I added.

"I can't pick anything up on my black box, honey!" Melitta said with
sadness.

"Me either," the Renegade said as he continued to push buttons on his
black box,"so we can't zap anyone out of there, we can't even tell who,
where and how many people are still trapped up there."

"Can we zap some firefighters up there to combat the blaze?" Samantha
asked.

"No, dear," I answered,"without being able to scan the area, we'd have no
way of knowing where to zap them to or be able to get them back out again!"

"We have patched together a set of long water hoses that can reach the
area," the Fire Warden,"if there was some way to get us up there."

"How about using our anti-gravity rays?" Starlight suggested.

"No, they won't work," I said sadly,"our anti-gravs have no control
setting, we could hit these fire fighters with it and they may just float
away!"

"We have to do something!" Melitta shouted,"can't we quickly build a
ladder long enough?"

"There isn't time for that!" the Renegade shouted back,"if we only had
something handy that was tall and ....."

I think that the Renegade, Starlight and me came up with the same great
idea at the same time.  

"Clear out this area!" I barked to the Fire Warden and his crew.   Soon,
there was enough room for us to invite two of our good friends here to
assist us in this mission.  Starlight and I set our black box circuitry
and within seconds there was a loud BOOM!  and a surprised look on all of
the gathering crowds' faces.   

"Blimey!" the Fire Warden screamed,"what in the bloomin' world are those
two creatures?"

"Relax Warden," the Renegade said calmly,"meet my two good friends, the
Computer Dinosaur and Dree-'el!"

"Please to meet y'all!" the Dinosaur said with a grin.

"Likewise, sir!" Dree-'el added.

"It's a good thing you two are wearing those big straw hats!" I yelled up
to them,"we need to get these firefighters into that burning building and
..."

"I understand!" Dree-'el shouted,"let's do it, CD!"

The two huge Baerasauruses lowered their heads to the street, and the
firefighters climbed on top of the brims of their hats with the water
hoses. Dree-'el and CD raised their heads carefully in the air towards the
burning fifteeneth floor.  As water squirted out directly into the fire,
brave firefighters began carefully searching the area for survivors.  Many
were rescued from the inferio.  As the fire began to lose it's intensity,
our scanners started to work again!

"I can detect twenty people and one dog still on that floor!" Starlight
shouted to the chief.

"My scanners confirm it!" I added,"I'll radio your firecrew on the scene
and guide them to all of them!"

"We still can't get a lock of them for teleportation," the Renegade said
as he turned to the Fire Chief,"it's up to your people now!"

Between the two of them, Dree-'el and the Computer Dinosaur had plenty of
room on their huge straw hats for everyone to 'ride" safely back down to
the ground, where many ambulances and medical teams were standing by. 

"This is positively smashing!" the Fire Warden happily shouted,"we got all
of people rescued, and the fire is out!   Thanks to your two dinosaur
friends!"

"My friend, it's your brave and fearless firefighting team who are the
real heroes today!' the Renegade said with a smile.

"This is very true, Mister Fire Warden, sir!" Samantha added.

"It is they who are deserving of medals for bravery!" Starlight neighed.  

"Yes, tis true, I am indeed proud of my squad!" the Fire Warden said with
a smile,"but it's these two huge reptiles who made the rescue possible! 
Our entire city is gratiful to you all!"

"Gee Whiz!" the Computer Dinosaur said shyly,"thank y'all for saying that!"

"I think what my boyfriend is trying to say is that we were both glad we
could help!" Dree-'el added.

"Well, we need to be leaving now," the Dinosaur said to Dree-'el,"you have
to finish teaching me how to tap dance for my next Colonel Krispies TV
commercial on Monday!"

"That's why we were wearing these straw hats!"  Dree-'el explained.

"It's a good thing you had those on today!' Melitta said with a smile.

"Will y'all please send us back now?" the Dinosaur asked.

"You bloaks gotta leave so soon?" the Fire Warden asked,"why won't you
stay for breakfast?   I'll take you all out for kippers!  What do you say?"

"That's sounds delicious, doesn't it honey?" Melitta asked her husband.

"Yes," he replied,"but what about our animal friends?   CD and Dree-'el
won't eat meat, and Starlight needs oats or hay to eat!"

"You Yanks don't understand!' the Fire Warden explained,"I live on a big
farm in the country, I have plenty of hay for your horse and lots of trees
for our huge dinosaurs to munch on!   I'll telephone the little miss'es,
will you please be my guests?"

"Certainly!" I said with enthusiam,"I haven't had kippers before, they
sound wonderful!"

"Well, let me get cleaned up and I'll join you bloaks there, OK?" the Fire
Warden asked.

The Fire Warden gave us directions to his farm, and in a half hour, he was
there to join us for breakfast!   I must admit that the man's wife was a
very understanding person, it's not just anyone who'd invite dogs to their
table to eat or wouldn't scream and run away in fear upon seeing two
long-necked Baerasauruses in their front yard!  We had a wonderful,
relaxing time in the English countryside.  After our meal, our English
hosts gave us a guilded tour of their fine country estate.  Their children
really fell in love with all of us animals, especially CD and Dree-'el!

This wasn't exactly part of our weekend plans, but I must admit, this
certainly was one "mission" we'll all remember for a long time to come!

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