December 16.

            "Thunder Kittens?" said Tygra with a certain impatience.  "About your. . ."

            "All right, Tygra!" interrupted Wilykit.  "We're going!  C'mon, Wilykat."  They left to a place where they could take off their Cat Suits.

            "Kits," remarked Tygra.  "Sometimes, they can just be trouble."

            Kevin said, "Please don't be too hard on the Thunder Kittens, Tygra.  They got to the Tower of Omens, they got a report, they delivered it to you Thunder Cats, and, most importantly of all, they're safe.  At least they didn't get caught by Mumm-ra, the Luna-tacks, or the Mutants on the way."

            "You've got a point," Tygra admitted reluctantly.  Kevin, the Silver Hawks, and the other three Thunder Cats could not resist smiling.

            Kevin took his warp formula out of his pocket.  "Lion-O, where is this place most easily entered?"

            "In the room where the front door is," said Lion-O.  "Why?"

            Kevin explained, "I have a chemical formula which will create a door and extremely short passageway between to very distant places.  This is that formula.  When one spills it on the floor, a door is made.  When one enters that door, one decides where one wants to go, and the formula puts the other door at that other place."  Kevin went to the room entered by way of the outer door.  He went to a hard wall and spilt the warp formula in front of the wall.  A door was created in front of the wall.  "One of you Silver Hawks enter this door and decide where the other door should be."

            All the Silver Hawks thought for a moment or two, then Steelheart said, "Aha!  I know just the place."  She entered the door, then came back after a couple of seconds.  "Got it!  I told it to take us to the Command Centre."

            "Let's go, then," said Kevin.  "We haven't a moment to lose."  They all entered the warp door and find themselves in the Command Centre of Hawkhaven.

            "That's all well and good, lady," said Bluegrass, "but how are we going to get the Mirage back?"

            "Well, we,. . . um, well, yes," said Steelheart.  "Do you have another warp formula with you, Kevin?"

            Kevin searched himself, then said, "No, ma'am."

            "Oh, great!" said Steelheart.

            "However, I know the chemical formula," said Kevin.  "When I give it to you, you will be able to make a warp zone anywhere."

            "Very good!" said Steelheart.  "Give it to me, please."

            "Okay," said Kevin.  He took a notepad from his pocket, pulled off a sheet of paper, and requested, "Give me a pen or pencil, please."  Steelheart took a pen off a table and handed it to Kevin.  Kevin wrote the chemical formula on the piece of paper and handed the sheet to Steelheart.

            "Thank you, Kevin," said Steelheart.

            Kevin took out the vial in which he had the formula and said further, "There are probably minute traces on the liquid on the bottle.  That may show you what to look for."

            "Thank you very much," Steelheart replied.  She took the vial.  "Tygra and Will, come with me to the lab.  I suspect that we haven't a moment to lose."  Steelheart, Steelwill, and Tygra ran into the elevator.  They went down to the lab, entered the chemical formula in a computer, and set it to work in creating warp formulas.  When the first two were created, Steelheart said, "Tygra, could you please spill these on the floor in the hangar downstairs and tell one of them to take you to one Cat's Paw and the other to the other Cat's Paw?"

            Tygra took them and said, "Certainly, Steelheart."  He ran downstairs to the hangar, spilt both warp formulas onto the floor in front of a wall, went into the left warp, ended up in the left Cat's Paw of Cat's Lair, re-entered the warp in the left Cat's Paw, re-entered the hangar of Hawkhaven, entered the right warp, ended up in the right Cat's Paw of Cat's Lair, re-entered that warp, and wound up back at the hangar of Hawkhaven.  He went upstairs to the lab and reported, "I did it, Steelheart.  Now what?"

            "Now," said Steelheart, "someone will have to go out there and recover our vehicles."

            "I think that I have rainproof Cat-Suits that will fit Kevin and Copper-Kidd," said Tygra.

            "That is good," said Steelheart.  "Kidd can fly the Mirage with someone guiding him on where to go."  She pressed a button on an intercom and said, "Kevin and Copper-Kidd, come down to the lab at once, please."  Within a minute or two, Kevin and Kidd were in the lab.  "Kevin, did you memorise the way between here and third-Earth?"

            "Yeah," said Kevin.  "There wasn't really very much to memorise.  Why?"

            Steelheart said, "I've noticed that your automobile accelerates quickly.  I want you to get your car and Kidd to get the Mirage."

            "Yeah," said Kevin.  "Hm.  How will we do that, though?  The rain nearly neutralised my Power Pad.  I'll have to recharge it before it'll work again."

            "Then follow me, please," said Tygra.  Kevin and Kidd followed Tygra downstairs to the two warp zones.  Tygra went into the warp to the left Cat's Paw of Cat's Lair.  He then went out of the Cat's Paw and brought back two Cat Suits, one sized right for Kevin and the other sized right for Kidd.

            "I assume," said Kevin, "that Steelheart wants me to drive my car to Hawkhaven with Copper-Kidd following in the Mirage."

            "True," said Tygra.

            Kevin said, "Okay.  Let's. . ."  The Kittens came in.

            "Something is going on around here," said Wilykit.  Kevin, Tygra, and Kidd were lightly amused.  She was not, and her challenging tone made this clear.  "What the devil's so funny, Father?"  Uh, oh.  She was serious about this.  Tygra knew he had to tell her what was going on, or she would explode.  She only called him that when she was quite serious, indeed.

            Tygra said, "I'll explain.  Kevin and Kidd, you two beat it.  Please."  Kevin and Kidd nodded.

            "Let's go, Kidd," Kevin said.  Kevin and Kidd put on their Cat Suits, went out the Cat's Paw, ran across the bridge to Kevin's car and the Mirage, and entered their vehicles (Kevin in his car, Kidd in the Mirage).  Kevin shut his door, locked it, strapped on his lap belt, slammed in the clutch with his left foot, shifted to NEUTRAL, put his key in the ignition, and turned it to ON.  He turned it to START.  The engine cranked, then started after about nine seconds, at which time Kevin released the key and put electricity into the engine by pushing in the accelerator pedal with his right foot.  He then put his right foot on the foot-brake pedal, shifted the car into 2, put down the parking brake lever, and gave a signal to Kidd by pulling back and releasing the signal/light switch twice.  He turned on his wipers to high-speed.  Kidd activated the Mirage by pressing some buttons on the control panel.  After activating the Mirage, Kidd sent a signal back to Kevin by pressing two buttons.  Seeing the signal made by this, Kevin turned on the lights in his car by turning a switch on the signal lever.  He then released the brake, started the car moving, made a sharp and precise U-turn to the left (instead of to the right), and straightened out the car after completing the U-turn.  He then accelerated quickly to 65 km/h, shifted into 4, sped up to 90 km/h, and pulled up into the air.  Afterwards, he reached with his right hand to the air-stabiliser controls, turned on the air-equaliser, shifted into 6, glanced into his rear-view mirror, and found that Kidd was close behind in the Mirage.  He then shifted into 7 at 160 km/h, sped up to 410 km/h, shifted to 8, and sped up to 1 610 300 km/h.  When he reached outer space, he shifted into 9, sped up to 1 610 306 000 km/h, shifted into 10, sped up to 96 British trillion 618 British billion 360 British milliard km/h, and shifted into 11.  At this time, he activated the speed control for this speed, released the accelerator, and noticed that the electricity gauge was dropping with ever-slightness, moving about half as fast as a year-hand might on a clock.  He glanced back into his rear-view mirror, seeing that Kidd was right behind him.  He took his left hand off the steering wheel and rested it on the automatic transmission selector lever.

            Kevin suddenly thought of something.  He reached into his left pocket and retrieved his second key to the car.  He then inserted it into the keyhole on the opening door of the glove box and turned it so as to unlock the door.  Afterwards, he placed the key back in his pocket, opened the glove box, and retrieved the package in which the user's manual was kept; all this he performed with his left hand.  He opened the package, took out the user's manual, flipped through it until he saw something about the transmissions, and read something.  He found out that the automatic transmission could be in a selection corresponding with the gear in which the manual transmission was.  He pulled the automatic selector lever toward him, pushed it up six positions to HYPERDRIVE (the automatic selection which makes use of all eleven forward gears), put in the clutch, switched the switch on the steering wheel to automatic transmission, pushed the manual gearshift down, pulled it to the extreme left, and pulled it down to AUTOMATIC (the manual selection shifting all use to the automatic transmission).  He released the clutch and pressed RESUME on the speed-control switch.  The car resumed the speed of 96 British trillion 618 British billion 360 British milliard kilometres per hour.  He then put in the clutch, moved the manual gearshift up out of AUTOMATIC, pulled it over to the right, and put it into 11.  He then hit RESUME again, and the speed of 96 British trillion 618 British billion 360 British milliard kilometres per hour was resumed.  He then popped a CD with the most bombastic classical music into his CD player.  He really enjoyed listening to that while driving, and now he could do it whenever he wanted.

            He now thought about his feelings, which were now completely jumbled.  When he saw the fiery determination in Wilykit's eyes, something strange happened to him.  He felt strongly attracted to her.  The thought both intrigued and terrified him.  Intrigued him because he did not know he could feel that way toward anyone, not even Lana.  Though Lana had strong determination, hers could never compare to the determination Kevin saw in Wilykit.  Terrified him because he knew he loved Lana enough to marry her.  That he could have such strong feelings for Wilykit made him scared of losing his love for Lana.  Of course, this would never happen; but he saw a real part of himself in Wilykit, a part of himself that he only now recognised as being of himself.  Only because he had seen it in Wilykit.  He did see all of it in Wilykat, but that was after he had seen it in Wilykit.  This would not interfere destructively with his relationship with Princess Lana, though.

            Kevin also sensed that another person was quite attracted to Wilykit.  Copper-Kidd's look was all that gave it away.  Kevin could tell Kidd really liked her.  However, Kidd probably would not express it; he had most likely not faced love before, and he seemed a bit shy to start in on it yet.

            * * *

            Within a few minutes, the communications-radio in Kevin's car beeped.  Kevin activated it.  "Kevin here," said he.

            "You're nearing the solar system limits," said Steelheart over the radio.  "Please slow down.  You are permitted to go only at or below light speed in the solar system."

            "Got it!" said Kevin.  He turned off the speed-control by pressing the OFF switch, put in the clutch, waited until the car slowed to about 161 km/h (by the time it got there, he was near Hawkhaven), then downshifted into 5.  When he released the clutch, the engine sped up and the speedometer dropped a little bit more rapidly.  He waited until the speedometer shows about 72 km/h, then he put in the clutch and downshifted to 3.  The engine once again sped up and the speedometer still lowered.  Finally, at about 32 km/h, he shifted into 2.  At about this time, he had passed the side of Hawkhaven.  He accelerated to 40 km/h, swung in a wide loop, and entered the smack-centre of the door to Hawkhaven.  With great accuracy, he landed the wheels on the surface and steered left to the visitors' parking.  He picked out a slot, turned so that the rear of the car was right in front of it, shifted both the automatic transmission and manual transmission into REVERSE, backed up into the space, and stopped just before the rear would hit the wall.  He then turned his key to the ACC position, shifted the automatic selector lever to MANUAL, and shifted the manual gearshift to 1.  He pressed the switch on the steering wheel to the MANUAL position.  He turned the key to LOCK and removed his key.  He then turned the steering wheel so that it locked.  He unlocked his door, removed his seat belt, pulled up the parking brake, released the foot-brake, opened his door, got out, locked his door, and closed the door, making sure that he had put everything away and had his keys before he shut the door.

            After following this procedure, Kevin then went to the hangar and saw that Kidd had safely landed the Mirage.  Mason, Burger, Seymour, Tragg, Anderson, Drumm, Brice, Steelheart, and Steelwill appeared in the hangar via the stairs.  All the other Silver Hawks and all the Thunder Cats whom he had met were already in the hangar.  Lana, MegaMan, Drake, and Della Street were already in the hangar, too.  "So," asked Kevin, "how are the goings-on?"

            "Not too good," said Mason.  "It appears that Liquidator and Bushroot have beaten us to the punch."

            "It was a good thing that I sent that fake Tally-Hawk up there to Brim*Star," said Steelheart.  "Mon*Star thinks he has the real Tally-Hawk.  Well!  He sure will be surprised when he learns otherwise!"

            "Yes," said Mason.  "I'm going to appear as the assistant attorney to Burger in the case of Limbo versus Mo-Lec-U-Lar, Melodia, Windhammer, and Hardware.  Will you be there, Paul?"

            "No," said Drake.  "I'm going to help open a warp zone to Saint Canard.  If this is as serious as it appears, we haven't a damn second to lose."

            "Please!" said Tygra.  "No bad words around the Thunder Kittens!"

            The Kittens snapped, "Tygra!"  Neither Wilykit nor Wilykat appreciated being patronised in this manner.

            "I don't think," said Lion-O, "that you have to worry about it.  They know much better than to use that kind of language."

            "All right," said Tygra.  "Just as long as they don't start using it."

            Wilykat said, "Tygra, you know that we are the last two people in the galaxy. . ."

            ". . .who would even think of using such language," finished Wilykit.

            Burger said, "Hm.  Well, I'll call a roll of those in here who are under subpoena by Perry and me:  Steelheart, Seymour, Kevin, Lt. Arthur Tragg, and Lt. Steve Drumm.  They are those whom I have subpoenaed."

            "Okay," said Mason.  "Then, tomorrow, we'd better get over to that preliminary hearing and kick those four evildoers into the slammer for good so they won't be able to commit any more injustices."  He turned to Kevin.  "Kev, could you give us a lift down to Bedlama Jail?  Burger and I have an appointment to question the defendants."

            "Well, I kinda don't know where that is," Kevin replied.

            "That's why I'm here," Steelheart interjected.  "I'll be your navigator."

            "All right," Kevin said.

            "Wait," said Moonstriker.  He had been working at a computer station.  Now, he handed a sticker to Kevin.  "Kevin, place this on the rear bumper of your car, and you can park up here."

            Kevin took it and grinned.  "Thank you, Moonstriker."  He, Steelheart, Burger, and Mason entered the turbo-elevator that took them to the guest parking area.  He went around to the rear bumper of his car, peeled off the blue sticker, and neatly placed it on the left side of the bumper.  Then, he went around to the right front door and unlocked it.  All four got in and fastened their seatbelts.  Kevin closed his door and locked it once the others had closed theirs.  He inserted the key into the ignition, pushed in the clutch pedal, shifted the gearshift stick to NEUTRAL, and started the motor.

            Steelheart warned, "Now, when we reach the landing pad on Bedlama, go on the right side, Kevin.  Traffic goes on the opposite-of-left on Bedlama."

            "All right," Kevin said.

            "Also, the warning signs are triangular with a red fringe and a white background."

            "Okay."  Kevin shifted into gear 1, let down the parking brake, and started forward.  He turned towards the exit and accelerated.  At the exit he paused.  This was the first time he had the opportunity to savour the moment. . . before he lanced out.  He accelerated very quickly and shifted gears appropriately.  When flying outside in open space, he curved down towards Bedlama.

            "You're going in just the right direction," Steelheart said.  "I'll have to program your navigational computer later."

            Kevin nodded.  He sped down towards the large continent and entered the atmosphere properly.  As they penetrated the light cloud cover, they began to be able to discern lakes and towns around a large city:  Bedlama City.  Upon his approach, Kevin saw the entry ramp below them.  A blue arrow pointed upwards, and on the left side of the ramp, an arrow pointed to the down-right, indicating that he had to keep to the right.  To the left of this ramp was the exit ramp, which had do-not-enter signs on either side.  He knew very well what this meant, and he positioned the car so that the wheels would touch the ramp gently.  As this happened, the ramp levelled out slowly.  Signs were posted on either side to tell drivers to lower speeds, and Kevin complied.  By the time the ramp became completely level, the speed limit was 90 km/h, the standard surface highway speed.  Kevin kept in the centre lane for a ways.

            Steelheart said, "Good, Kevin.  Now, get in the right-hand lane, and take the exit to the centre of Bedlama City."

            "Got it."  He followed her instructions and travelled down a ramp that looped around and led to an underpass.  Then, he had to merge into the right-hand lane of a congested city road.  Just as he had merged in, a traffic light just in front of him turned yellow, then red an instant later.  Fortunately, he was going quite slowly, so he had the opportunity to stop.  "What?  One-second warning light?"

            "Around here, yep," Steelheart said.  "Just take it easy, and you'll do just fine."

            "Regulations in VideoLand force all amber lights to be at least three seconds long," Mason said.  "The standard is six seconds."

            "Around here, the standard is four seconds, but the traffic department can make red light traps if they want to.  It's really out of hand, but. . . oh, well."

            Kevin watched traffic light for the traffic crossing from his right-hand side.  It turned amber, but red one second later.  He then looked above at the signals governing his direction.  The left-turn signal gave a green arrow without any signal between red and green.  "No red flashing amber here," he noted.

            "Nope," said Steelheart.  "This lane is for those going straight ahead and for those turning right.  You want to go straight ahead."

            "Right."

            As the left-turners stopped coming, the left-turn signals from both directions gave a one-second amber before turning red.  Then, the normal signals turned green.  Kevin was ready, and he started off immediately, as no left-turners were crossing his path.  He glanced to the left at the line dividing the two ways of traffic.  "Oh, God; a white line?"

            "Yes.  Driving here isn't exactly ideal, Kevin.  America on my world has better driving conditions.  Note that here, you have right-turn-on-red, and drivers here expect you to take advantage of it, especially if you're just in front of them, you're turning right, and the joker behind you is turning right.  Also, there's parallel-parking here."

            "-Sigh.-  Oh, well."

            "By the way, turn right at the next traffic light."

            "Sure."  As they continued, they neared another traffic signal.  Kevin activated his right blinker to indicate his intention to turn right, and the traffic light turned red just as he was approaching.  He stopped and gave way to the cross-traffic coming.  At the first break in cross-traffic from his left, he turned right onto the crossing street.

            "Now, turn left at the next signal."  Kevin nodded.  He made his way into the left-turn lane before any cars could come behind and get in his way.  The left-turn signal was already red, so he stopped and waited.  The cross-traffic was sparse, though, so he quickly got a leading green and turned left.  He turned into the proper lane.  "Good.  Now, keep going straight until I say otherwise."

            "Yup."  Unfortunately, the traffic quickly became much denser, and they soon got backed up in a traffic jam.  "L.A. traffic," he griped.  "This is what my parents have to go through every Thursday when they go to the central office building in Los Angeles."

            "This place can get worse than L.A.," Steelheart replied.  "Rush hour traffic is terrible in this section of the city, the downtown section.  And we're right in the middle of rush hour."

            Kevin checked his watch.  Yup; it was 17.30.  Horns were blaring, and cars were going at a sickeningly slow pace.  "How far is it?"

            "Oh, not far.  If they would synchronise these blasted traffic lights, though, things would go more smoothly."

            "These lights aren't synchronised!?  Man.  The traffic in downtown Monsteropolis, MegaLand, at rush hour isn't nearly as bad as this!"  He turned back to Mason.  "This is what my dad put me through every other Thursday during the summer of 1989, Mr. Mason."

            "I believe it," Perry said.  "Just be patient, Kevin.  The traffic will move.  When it moves, don't gun it."

            Kevin nodded.  The traffic started moving slowly.  Soon, he saw the source of the bottleneck. . . unmarked road construction.  The forward lanes on either side of the centre lane were barricaded by traffic barrels.  "Hm.  Road construction."

            "Why does that not surprise me?" Steelheart asked.

            After they passed into the construction area, the traffic started flowing more smoothly.  Ahead of them, another set of traffic signals turned red abruptly, but Kevin had just enough time to stop.  "This traffic is nuts," he laughed.  "In VideoLand, road construction has to be marked for at least half a kilometre."

            "The tight marking regulations there help keep the traffic moving quite smoothly," Mason said.

            "Of course, they came about after a millennium of trial and error in MegaLand," Kevin added.

            "I see," said Steelheart.  "But that's not the worst traffic that was ever here, not by a long shot."

            "Ah."  The signal became green, and Kevin continued forward.  The traffic was heavy but flowed smoothly on down the road, as they left the main downtown area.  Kevin was duly cautious with the traffic signals, and he narrowly avoided running the several reds that popped up instantly.  "And, ah, where do they have four-second yellows?" Kevin asked when they had stopped at one intersection about two kilometres away.

            "You have to get further out to encounter them," Steelheart said.

            "Hm."

            "Move to the right and make a right turn at the next signal after this one."

            "All right."  He obeyed her instructions when he got the green light.  When they got to it, the light was actually green, so he got to turn right immediately.  And to the left, he saw it:  Bedlama City Jail.

            "We're there," Steelheart said.  "There will be a parking lot to our left after we've passed by the jail."

            Kevin nodded.  He flipped on his left blinker and got in the leftmost lane.  He turned left into the parking lot and selected a parking place, into which he manoeuvred the car.  After switching off the motor, he leaned back and sighed.  "I just love these traffic conditions," he said sarcastically.  He lifted the parking brake and unlocked the doors.

            "You handled it well, though," Steelheart said.

            "Yes," Mason agreed.  "I wouldn't have brought you here if I knew the traffic would be like this."

            "It's okay," Kevin said with a grin.  "I can handle it."  Once everyone had disembarked and closed their doors, Kevin locked his door, causing all doors to be locked, and closed his door while lifting the handle.  Then, he and the other three walked over to the jail.

            * * *

            A-Tom-U-Lar's replica of the defence attorney was waiting at the door to greet them.  "Good day," Steelheart said.

            "Good day, Commander," he said.

            "These are Perry Mason and Hamilton Burger, the attorneys for prosecution."  After shaking hands, they went into the jail.  Steelheart went over to Brigadier Brightlight, who was at a desk in the entryhall.  He was tall and human-shaped, but he belonged to a species with yellowish skin and a beak-like mouth.  He was in charge of defence on Bedlama.  "Brigadier," she said, "I'm here with the prosecution and the defence to interview Melodia, Hardware, Windhammer, and Mo-Lec-U-Lar."

            "Very well," the brigadier replied.  He called a deputy to take his place, then led the others back to the interrogation room.  "I trust the traffic wasn't too onerous?"

            "Not as bad as it can be," Steelheart replied.

            "Unfortunately, I'm not in charge of anything related to posting signals and signs.  If I were, I know several things I'd change.  In fact, I hear Governor Zander's working with the transportation department to try to improve things."  He opened the door to the interrogation room, which had a long table and several chairs.  The defendants were there already.

            "Well, if it isn't Commander Steelheart and the prosecutors," said Windhammer.

            "You've got that right," Steelheart replied.  The three attorneys sat at the table, while Steelheart, Kevin, and Brightlight remained standing.  "These are Perry Mason and Hamilton Burger, the prosecuting attorneys.  I believe you know your defender."

            The 'defender' turned to the Mobsters and said, "You don't have to answer anything they ask.  I'll tell you first whether you should answer it or not."  He turned to Mason and Burger.  "We will be pleading not guilty."

            Make things difficult, eh? thought Steelheart.  Well, you want to play hardball, we'll play hardball!  That did not surprise her; this guy had a good reputation for representing his clients' interests, even when he was merely appointed to do so.

            Burger replied, "That may be just as well, since we're not offering any plea bargain.  Tell me, why did you use a cab to do this?  Until now, the cops of VideoLand wouldn't have known that your limos were a threat.  And I understand that Seymour's cab is somewhat rickety."

            "Don't answer that," the defender advised.  "Mr. Burger, you seem to be assuming that my clients did it."

            "Well, I have all the evidence I need to determine that.  Maybe the judge will show some mercy if your clients confess."

            "No.  You still have to prove in court that they did it, Mr. Prosecutor.  Without their help, I might add, since you cannot call them and I refuse to do so."

            "I don't need their help to establish my case.  I was just thinking that the judge might make their sentence a little lighter if they would tell the truth about what they did."

            "I sincerely doubt that Her Honour will do so.  And I'm glad to hear that you don't need their help, for if they follow my advice, they will provide none.  You see, they do not have to incriminate themselves."

            "I know that.  That's been the case everywhere I've prosecuted.  So, you people work for Mon*Star, correct?"

            "Don't answer.  Mr. Burger, allow me to define the term 'self-incrimination' for you as it is defined here."

            "You don't need to," Burger replied.  "I know its meaning quite well."

            "Oh?  You don't seem to be talking like you do.  You see, I know better than to let my clients answer questions such as this."

            "All right."

            Steelheart said, "I'd like to ask something.  Guys, did you call Seymour to take you somewhere, and, if so, where did you tell him to take you?"

            "You can answer that," the defender said.

            "Yes, and we told him to take us to third-Earth," reported Hardware.  "He commented that it would earn him a substantial fare, which we would gladly pay."

            "Did you have any reason to go?" Steelheart asked.

            When the defender did not object, Hardware said, "Oh, we would've visited our pals, the Luna-tacks, the Mutants, and Mumm-ra.  Just to visit, I assure you.  We haven't seen them in a while."

            "Well, that sounds thoughtful.  Well.  Does anyone have any further questions to which the defence attorney will not object?"

            "I don't think so," Burger said.

            "No," said Mason.

            "Kevin?" the Silver Hawk asked.

            "I doubt it," replied Kevin.

            "All right, then.  Well.  I suppose that we can conclude this little get-together."

            "Well.  We appreciate your common sense, Commander," the defender replied.

            "Yeah, well, I wouldn't want to waste our time needlessly.  This enquiry is now officially concluded."

            * * *

            Outside, Kevin said, "I have one question, Steelheart.  Why?"

            "Because the defender wasn't going to let us get in any good questions," she replied.

            "I see."

            "Sounds like as good a reason as any," Mason said.

            Brigadier Brightlight came out.  "One moment, please," he said.  "May I inquire about the vehicle you used?"

            "Sure," Steelheart said.  The five went over to Kevin's car.

            "What type of fuel does it use?"

            "It uses electricity," Kevin said.  "As do all vehicles made in MegaLand."

            "That's good, then.  What about the licence plates?"

            "They're standard VideoLand licence plates," Mason replied.

            Steelheart said, "These vehicles exceed the quality standards for Limbo vehicles, Brigadier."

            "Very well, then.  I shall consult the department of transportation about permitting these universally.  One other matter.  Why is the steering wheel on the right-hand side of the vehicle?"

            "Throughout VideoLand, people drive on the left-hand side of the road," Mason replied.

            "I see.  Very well, then.  Thank you.  I shall put this information into our computer network so that people with VideoLand cars will not have to be questioned in the future."

            "Thank you, Brigadier," replied Steelheart.  "See you later."

            "See you later, Commander," Brightlight said.  He returned inside.

            "Well, now, shall we go?"

            "Yup," Kevin said.  He went to the driver's side and unlocked the doors.  Steelheart got in the front passenger side, Mason behind her, and Burger behind Kevin.  Everyone closed the door and fastened the seatbelt.  Kevin locked the doors.  He put in the clutch, shifted the car to NEUTRAL, and started the car.  Then, he shifted into REVERSE, backed out, shifted into gear 1, and went to the exit.  He turned right onto the road running by the police department.  He quickly but safely manoeuvred into the left-turn lane and waited for the traffic signal to turn green.

            "I notice they use American-style turn arrows here," Kevin said.  "In VideoLand, they use more solid arrows."

            "I see," Steelheart said.

            "By the way, I assume I am right in going the way we came."

            "Pretty much.  Keep going.  I'll tell you where we deviate."

            "Yes."  The lights for the crossing traffic turned red, and the left-turn lanes got a leading green.  Kevin made the turn and went down the busy road he had come up before.  Though there was construction on this side, too, the traffic had thinned out a bit, and they did not get stuck in a jam again.  He turned right back onto the road from which they had exited.

            "Go on past this intersection, and then get into the left-turn lane."

            "Yes, ma'am."  He did so.  There was yet another traffic signal at the end of this left-turn lane, and they waited behind a short line of cars.  When the light turned green, the cars turned and began going up the ramp.  The ramp was two lanes, so Kevin got in the lane to the left and accelerated past the slowpoke in front of him, who was not accelerating.  He watched for people in the right-hand lane to make sure they would not jump in front of him.  They did not, and he had accelerated to merging speed by the time he reached the merging region.  He turned on his left blinker and merged immediately into the right-hand lane of the freeway, as no one was close behind him.  He continued accelerating to freeway speed.  "Now, this isn't like L.A. freeway traffic at rush hour," Kevin said.

            "No, it isn't," Steelheart said.  "The freeways here are at least constructed for a lot of traffic."

            Kevin noted a green sign ahead of them.  "Interstellar launch ramp," he said.  "The exit is two kilometres ahead.  That the one we want?"

            "Yup," Steelheart said.

            "Kevin, make sure the switch is set to speed up the ramp rather than lift into the air," Mason said.

            Kevin made the settings.  "Got it," he said.  A couple of kilometres ahead, they zoomed towards three signs that were one hundred metres apart. . . one with three marks, one with two, and one with one.  "Let me guess. . . countdown markers!"  And the exit sign with an up-right pointing arrow was past the last marker.  "All right!"  He switched on the right blinker and slid into the exit lane.

            "Do not slow down," Steelheart said.  "Note that blue circular sign."

            "Mm-hm.  Minimum speed:  100 kilometres per hour."  Since he was going to keep on going fast, he got in the left-hand lane when the road split into two lanes.

            Steelheart kept her eyes open.  "Notice these darkened signs on either side.  They are electronic.  If they suddenly begin to flash red, slow down and stop."

            "Got it," Kevin said.

            "They are for emergency situations, like if a truck is coming down and loses control."

            "I see."  He continued going 125 kilometres per hour.  Then, he passed a red-rimmed circular sign increasing the maximum speed to 150.  "One hundred fifty?"

            "Yes.  Notice the blue signs."

            "The minimum speed increased, too, to 120.  "Wow.  I guess this means speed up."

            "Yes."

            Kevin sped up.  As he passed 145, he shifted to gear 6.  The maximum and minimum speed limits kept increasing until the max reached 2 000 kilometres per hour.  As this happened, the ramp kept curving upwards, becoming gradually more vertical.  Then, a red-rimmed circular sign said, '1/2 ly/h.'  "What's that mean?"

            "Half of a light-year per hour.  In other words, we're about to run out of platform."

            Kevin grinned.  He sped up even more, kicking in the faster engines.  When they ran out of platform, the car kept accelerating into the sky.  "Yeah!" he exclaimed happily.  Now he was happy with this thing that he was driving!  And the electricity gauge still looked full!

            Mason grinned.  "Glad you enjoy it."

            "What an understatement," Kevin replied.  He drove the car up to Hawkhaven.  He slowed down and carefully entered the doorway, driving straight to the Hawks' hangar.  "Man, this is more convenient."  He told all four power windows to roll down, as he had slowed down substantially.

            Steelheart pointed to the right.  "Park over there, Kevin."

            "Got it."  Not seeing a specifically marked spot, he just stopped the car in a position where he could swing around easily towards the exit.

            "Hey, guys," Bluegrass greeted.

            "Hello, cowboy," said Steelheart.  "Well, we now know the lawyer is doing his job."

            "Hm."

            "Oh, well.  We'll get him in court tomorrow, though.  Isn't that right, Mr. Burger?"

            "I believe that we certainly shall, Commander," Burger replied.