Copyright 2000 --- Robert Baer Jr. The Renegade Files: "For the Love of Elian... " All characters in the "Renegade Files" story series are the sole property of Robert Baer Jr, copyright 1998. All rights reserved. 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. This particular entry was security passworded, but Otto is permitting us all to read it. The Renegade Files: "For the Love of Elian....." ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Editor's Note: Remember folks, this is FICTION. I dedicate this story to Elian Gonzales, this is what I wish I could do for him if I had to ability to do it. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// It's was the morning of April 22nd, 2000. My lovely collie wife Samantha was already up, watching television, when she gently nudged me awake. "Honey," she said in a distressed voice,"you have to see this! The feds came in and took Elian!" I quickly arose and turned towards the TV. Immediately, I activated all of my internal communications circuitry and wireless internet ports. When they showed the still photo of Elian, held by the man who rescued him being confronted at rifle point by an ATF officer, my wife broke down into tears. "That poor child!" Samantha cried,"he must be terrified! First he loses his mother, and now this! It reminds me of how I felt when I lost my mom..." "I know darling," I said sadly,"all of the news organizations are covering this story. The internet is really busy with messages concerning the situation." Hearing our conversation, our masters, Nathan and Wanna Lovejoy, rush into the living room. "What's going on?" Nathan asked. "They raided Elian's house, didn't they?" Wanna asked as she points to the television set. "Yes they did, Wanna, ma'am!" Samantha said through her tears,"it's just horrible! Taken out of his house almost at gunpoint!" "Samantha," Nathan answered calmly,"the Federal authorities did what they had to do. Elian's relatives had the chance to surrender the boy, but they refused, and ..." "But Nathan, sir!" Samantha protested,"did they have to do it like this?" "Samantha," Wanna said as she sat down on the sofa,"I know it looks bad, but we have to respect the decisions made by our leaders..." "Mrs Lovejoy, ma'am," Samantha interrupted,"may I be excused? I can't stand to watch any more of this!" Samantha ran outside in tears, I followed her all the way to Starlight's stable. The mighty white horse was already awake, pacing back and forth in her stall. "Starlight, ma'am," Samantha timidly states,"have you heard about what happened in Miami this morning?" "Yes, I was afraid of this," Starlight said sadly,"somehow, I had a bad feeling all along that confrontation was coming." "I know!" Samantha said sadly,"I feel so sad for Elian!" "It is rather shocking!" Starlight added,"I know what it's like to have a gun pointed at me!" "I concur, my friend!" I said with a nod,"I too was almost killed by my former owner with a firearm." As I was speaking, a loud BOOM!!!!!!! shook the area as the Gila Monster instantly appeared. He looked very upset as he stood there almost bending his 2 x 4 in his hands. "DID YOU SEE WHAT THEY DID TO THAT POOR KID ON TV?" the Gila shouted in rage,"C'mon gang, we gotta do something about it!" "That would not be wise, my reptile friend," I said calmly,"I've already analyzed several possible courses of action in my computer banks." "As have I, Otto," Starlight admitted,"taking the boy back to his relatives in Miami would only cause another Federal raid, and THIS time someone could get killed." "I agree!" I said,"and trying to hide the boy wouldn't be a viable solution, either. Returning him and his father to Cuba might cause an international incident." "And what about Elian's dad?" Samantha said sadly,"I know he must truly love his son, but they're both caught up in this politcal crossfire. Both governments are using him like a rope in a huge 'tug of war' and it really makes me sad." "SO?" the Gila Monster asked,"what are WE going to do about it? There has to be a way to fix this thing, ain't they?" "I have one idea," I told the others,"but it's dangerous, and it may not work." "What about telling our masters about it?" Samantha asked,"they may want to help us!" "Based on their attitudes, I believe they would not approve of my proposal," I answered sadly,"they would probably attempt to stop us!" "Are we all agreed that we should help Elian?" Starlight asked. All of us nodded in agreement. I explained my plan to the others, and we decided to act quickly. With a loud BOOM!!!!!! we had left the stable area. At a marina in Miami, a huge man with a 2 x 4 in his hand and dressed in a full length trenchcoat approached the worf area and walks over to a boat rental shack. "Yes, may I help you?" the clerk behind the counter asked. The huge man hands the clerk a credit card. "Oh, I see!" the clerk says as she reaches for her log book,"I have your boat waiting for you, Mr. Mon-stere! You called here eariler for your reservation and you've been assigned the 'Carribean Queen.' Hmmmmmmmmmm. 'Mon-stere'....That's a French name, right?" The huge man nods as he signs the credit card slip. "Thank you, enjoy your outing, sir!" the clerk says with a smile,"be sure to return the boat by three o'clock, or we'll have to charge you extra!" The huge man walks over to the 'Carribean Queen.' He starts the engine and 'casts off' from the dock. When the boat is away from the warf, the huge man removes his trenchcoat and hat. He smiles as his 'friends' make themselves visible on the deck. "Are we all here?" Samantha asked as she looked around. "I'm here, Sam!" Starlight said as she made herself visible. "So am I, dear!" I shouted as I also turned off my invisibility shield. The Gila Monster, minus his trenchcoat, is now steering the boat and heading out to sea. "Gila, remember, we have to be at the exact coordinates for this to work!" I shouted to him as he put on a white Captain's hat. "ARRRRR! Ye mateys!" the Gila Monster spoke like a pirate,"shiver me timbers and batten down the hatches!" "Mr Glia Monster, sir," Samantha said timidly,"please don't clown around like this, we have a job to do, remember?" "Ok," the Gila Monster said with a smile,"for you, Sam, I'll behave myself!" "We're almost there!" Starlight said with a loud neigh,"according to my sensors, we are nearing the target area." I suddenly felt a slight sensation running through my circuitry. "We've been detected!" I shouted to the others,"someone has accessed my systems for a brief moment. I don't know who or what but ..." As I was speaking, a loud BOOM!!!! shook the deck, and appearing before us were our masters in their 'superhero' costumes. "Uh oh! We're BUSTED!" the Gila Monster grunted. "Otto, Samantha, Starlight!" the Computer Renegade shouted,"what is the meaning of this?" "What are you guys trying to do?" the Masked Melitta shouted. "Well," I began to explain,"we chartered this boat to return to the exact place where Elian Gonzales's boat was when it ...... well....." "You're trying to change history!" the Renegade yelled,"we have no right to do this! We are law abiding citizens, we cannot interfere with the natural course of history." "If we can save his boat and his mother's life, then there will no longer BE a problem," Starlight added. "But you can't do that, time travel is dangerous!" Melitta answered back. "All we have to do is open a small time portal," I said,"then Starlight and I can use our teleportation circuitry to keep the boat that Elian and his mother was riding from sinking!" "It doesn't seem right to change history," Melitta said sadly,"I won't permit this to happen!" Samantha and Starlight sadly lower their heads. I stepped forward to speak. "Melitta, Renegade," I said sternly,"all four of us are in agreement, we going to attempt to save their boat. I understand, Renegade, that you are my master. But even if you disapprove, I will proceed anyway!" "I love you, Melitta!" Starlight neighed,"but although you are my owner, I will assist Otto irregardless of your feelings on the matter!" "Mrs Melitta, ma'am," Samantha said timidly,"I've never disobeyed you before, I've always been a good and loyal dog. However, I must agree with Otto and Starlight this time..." "Look youse two," the Gila Monster said as he turned to the Renegade and Melitta,"we've been friends for a long time and have gone through a lot together. Please don't try to stop us, I'll willing to fight youse both if you do." As the Gila Monster stared at the Renegade and Melitta, I received some disturbing data from my radar sensors. "Everyone, listen to me!" I barked as I jumped between the Gila and our two human masters,"the Coast Guard is heading this way as well as several Air Force recon planes. If we're going to do this, we'd better act fast!" The angry expressions on our master's faces quickly changed to looks of compassion. "If this really means that much to you four," the Renegade said with a smile,"then we'll help you set up the time portal!" "Yes," Melitta said with a nod,"we'll have a better chance of success if we all work together!" "Thank you!" I said with a sigh of relief,"we must act quickly, there isn't much time!" Starlight and I set our internal circuitry for opening the time portal. The Gila, Renegade and Melitta set their 'black boxes' to assist in making the portal wider. "Samantha," I said to my wife,"the rest of us will focus on the portal, it's going to be up to you to use your collar's black box circuitry to save their boat." "Me?" Samantha said nervously,"what if I fail? What if I ..." "There's no time to second guess yourself," I said sternly,"for this to work, you have to concentrate. The slightest miscalculation will spell disaster. You can do this!" "This is it, guys, get ready!" Starlight said as she activated her circuitry. I activated mine and the Gila, Renegade and Melitta pointed their black boxes towards the slowly forming time portal ahead of them. "Samantha!" I shouted,"get ready for a quick scan and teleportation!" Within a matter of seconds, the portal was large enough to see through to the other side. "Our time coordinates were correct!" Starlight shouted,"we are now looking at the events of November 22nd, 2000. My sensor readings confirm this!" All of us could clearly see the small, rickety boat beginning to toss and turn in the waves. "NOW SAM!!!" I shouted,"DO IT!!!" My collie bride closed her eyes to concentrate, focusing on the small boat. With a loud BOOM!!! the boat instantly vanished. The sudden energy surge threw all of us reeling and falling to the deck of our vessel. Even Starlight and I briefly lost conscienceness. When we all awoke, a Coast Guard helicopter was hovering overhead and calling out to us. "THIS IS THE U S COAST GUARD!" a voice over a loudspeaker said,"DO YOU NEED ASSISTANCE?" The Computer Renegade was the first one of us to get to his feet. "NO!" he shouted up to the chopper,"WE'RE ALL FINE!" "BETTER TURN BACK TO SHORE!" the voice on the loudspeaker urged,"YOU'RE VERY CLOSE TO CUBAN WATERS!" "YES SIR!" the Renegade shouted up to the chopper,"WE"LL TURN AROUND IMMEDIATELY!" By now, the rest of us were standing, the Gila went to the 'wheel' and steered our ship back towards Miami. It was very strange, but only Starlight and I could remember all of the events of a few minutes ago. Nathan, Wanna, the Gila Monster and even my own wife had no idea why we were all out in a pleasure boat in the Carribean Sea. I concluded that since we had altered history, the others had no memory of Elian Gonzales at all. Since our internal log files were intact, Starlight and I were able to retain our memories of all we had done. "Do you think Elian made it to America?" Starlight whispered to me. "I don't know," I whispered back,"one thing's for certain, history has changed." The Gila Monster successfully brought our ship to port. The look on the salesclerk's face was priceless when the Gila came to return the keys to the rental place. Maybe he should've put his trenchcoat back on. The six of us walked on the worf when all of a sudden, a young boy ran by in front of us. His mother called out "Elian, come back here, wait for your mother!" That's when Starlight and I turned our heads and recognized him. "Elian and his mother made it!" I shouted in delight. "We did it!" Starlight shouted with glee. "Elian?" Samantha asked me with a puzzled look on her face,"Did what? Do you know that boy?" "Well," I said with a big smile,"in a way, I think all of us know him!" Only Starlight and I know the full story of what transpired that day. We have absolutely no regrets because we did it all, for the love of Elian. --------------------------------------------------------------------------