Playing For Keeps
By Paul Calhoun
A medieval scallywag gets locked up in a courtesans' boudoir that had been renovated as a temporary jail. The only way out is in the wardrobe!

note: This is an unfinished story I have hung on to for two years.

Mind, Body and Spirit

by

Paula Dillon

Fifteen year old Charlie walked into Kim Young-Soo’s Karate Dojang, carrying his forty five pound gear bag. The gear bag, which had seemed so heavy years ago, he gave no notice to these days. Charlie was five foot seven feet tall and one hundred and forty pounds of muscle and bones, with less than five percent body fat.

“Good Morning My Queen.” A musical voice piped, far too cheerily for any morning much less this one. This weekend was supposed to be magical, the fulfillment of all of his dreams, but he'd only found bitter disappointment, again.

Synopsis: A bitter but brilliant and attractive woman who feels her career has been sidetracked by men finds an MAU. She figures out a clever way to use the device to get back at some of the men who she feels wronged - or will wrong - her.

[email protected]

**********************************************************************
Author's notes:
I've watched the evolution of MAU with mixed emotions. On the one hand, it's been quite popular for authors, which is rewarding to watch. On the other, well, one thing I really didn't want to create was a universe based on fantasy, and I hoped the rules would help contain that. Unfortunately, my fears have been realized as stories have strayed into the fantastic and beyond. I could be like Bill with SRU and consider anything not by me to be non-canon. I could close the universe. Both of those seemed inadequate, or unfair to those who chose to play by my rules. The final straw was the theory that the agency had become a dark X-files-like conspiratorial evil group, as opposed to the light-hearted MIB spoof, powerless to do much beyond simple investigation and offering some help to victims.

Consider this a creator's slap at the big red RESET button. Please, authors, respect the rules of the universe I created, or create your own. There has to be some scientific rationale behind a change, not some weird fantasy. The agency is not some conspiratorial evil group. Thank you.

*****************************************************************

Ethan finally starts going through puberty, but not quite as he expected. This story was originally written and posted in 2001.