K A T A N A W O U T S U



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                                    P R O L O G
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	"I do not understand, Father," faltered the boy. 
	The man shook his black mane.  "You will in time, Conan.  Before a man is worthy to 
bear a sword of steel in battle -- a weapon such as the gods once bore against the giants -- 
he must learn its riddle.  He must understand the ways of steel.  Know that in all the world 
you can trust no one, neither man nor woman nor beast, neither spirit nor demon nor god.  But 
you can trust a blade of well-forged steel." 
	The man cupped his son's small hands within his own and, curling the boy's fingers 
about the hilt of the great sword, said; "The heart of a man is like a piece of unworked 
iron.  It must be hammered by adversity and forged by suffering and the challenges flung by 
the thoughtless gods, nigh unto the point of breaking.  It must be purged and hardened in the 
fires of conflict.  It must be purified and shaped on the anvil of despair and loss. 
	"Only when your heart has become as steel will you be worthy to wield a keen-edged 
sword in battle and win against your enemies, as did the gods when they conquered the giants. 
When you have mastered the mysteries of steel, my son, your sword will be your very soul." 

		"Conan the Barbarian" 
		-- L. Sprague De Camp and Lin Carter
		Based on a screenplay by John Milius and Oliver Stone

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	It was just a dream.  
	She knew it was just a dream.  
	But it wasn't an ordinary dream.  
	It was a precognitive dream.  
	By now, Sasami knew the difference by the way it felt.
	She was floating high above Jurai, it's oceans and continents peeping out from 
beneath the cloud formations.  She could see the moons drifting nearby.  And everywhere there 
were ships.  Metal skins reflected sunlight as harsh pinpoints; organic skins scattered the 
glare with their rough textures.  Further out, she sensed even more ships, but these were 
ugly things, abrasive to the eyes and sensibilities.  And all the ships were shooting at one 
another.  Startica fireworks raised above the stratosphere....
	Then the two most important men her life were floating before her.  Her father, 
Azusa, and her betrothed, Tenchi.  The former was a blue-haired bear of a man, large-boned, 
heavily-muscled, gregarious and moody.  The latter was a slender athlete, serious and shy, 
immensely powerful.  Both men were surrounded in flames.
	Were they fighting each other?  The thought alarmed her, and she cried out to them 
both.  They couldn't -- or wouldn't -- answer.  She tried again, and again.  And still they 
struggled.  But with who?  Spaceships swirled about the heavens and died, fiery fragments 
vanishing into the darkness.  And then a ball of fire erupted out beyond the moons, swelling 
and billowing until it consumed everyone and everything.
	Sasami woke, gasping and shivering.