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If anyone had been watching they would have thought the shuttle was lifting off Flareat spacecraft, expanding as the explosions le massive blast

Nick was blown off his feet, and sent soaring through the air Shrapnel tore through hie Swiss-cheese holes all over his body-- and still the explosions grew louder behind hi world so deep that he alround, it took all his will to push himself out of the earth Had he been in any deeper, it would have been hopeless, and all his thrashing about would have done nothing but take him farther down But bit by bit he hauled his shrapnel-blasted body upward Perhaps the holes helped Perhaps they hter

The explosions had stopped by the tiround, and he looked at his own dae As always the wounds were painless, but that didn't mean the sensation was pleasant He watched as the wounds healed theone, they left a haunting htmares

Nick turned back to the spacecraft to see as left of it--and of Johnnie-O To his surprise, the shuttle, the fuel tank, and boosters were all still there suspended in ned to withstand such explosions or perhaps its memory was too proud and permanent to ever be troubled by an attempt to take it dohether intentional or accidental Of course the same could not be said for the Ripper's rickety scaffold It was co would have fallen if someone had blown on it too hard

Up in the now-e to the inside of the hold, the structure of the shuttle having shielded him from the worst of the blast Unable to hold on any all the way down He hit the lip of the cargo hold, and bounced off it, tuines, until landing face-first on the all-too-solid deadspot tarmac, a hundred and fifty feet below the spaceship

"Johnnie!" yelled Nick, racing to him

Johnnie-O sat up, dazed "Am I blown up?"

"No," said Nick, "you're okay"

He looked no worse off than the shuttle itself, except for one thing--the cigarette that had perpetually hung froone--the only part of him incinerated by the explosion Nick helped him to his feet and decided it was best not to point that out; best to let him discover it for himself once he was in a state of mind to notice

Then from behind them came a wail of absolute and utter despair

"My collection!" screamed the Ripper "Look whatcha done to un barrels and unrecognizable pieces of tortured metal littered the deadspot-- and beyond the deadspot even round of the living world

"Look whatcha done! Look whatcha done! It's all gone!"

Nick had no sympathy, and stormed up to him "What kind of idiot keeps a collection of live ammunition and armed bombs?"

"I ain't no idjit," screaot nuthin' now, thanks to you!"

And that's when Nick realized so

In truth he had realized it before, only it hadn't fully registered It was there in the Ripper's eyes, in the shape of the face, and in the lilt of the voice Nick reached for the Ripper's Confederate cap, trying to pull it off, but of course it didn't come Just like Nick's own tie, it was a permanent part of the Ripper

"Get yer hands off!" Zach the Ripper said, slapping Nick's hand away

But Nick knew this was no "Zach" at all

"You're a girl!"

The Ripper's eyes narrowed, boldly staring right at hiot a problem with that?"

Chapter 7 A Fistful of Forever

It was not uncommon once as declared between the North and South for boys to lie about their age so they could serve Nor was it uncoirls to cut their hair and lie about their gender Few got aith it, though

Fourteen year-old Zinnia Kitner was one of those few

Named after her mother's favorite flower, she had always hated her nairls of their day were nanolia She shortened it to Zin, and allowed only her father to call her Zinnia

She was not a girl of privilege--no Southern belle She knew little of fancy things and delicate education In fact, she had no schooling, and hated the prissy girls of the South's high society She had no love of slavery, either, but she did love her father and brothers who all hated the North

Then the South seceded fro dead, she knew she would be the only Kitner left at hohbor wo their hands raw in vain attempts to worry their men home

Zinnia would have none of that So she cut her hair, and practiced jutting her jaw and shifting her stance so she would look more like her brothers and less like herself She becah a cohtedness of her recruit officers, she somehow passed for male

Little did she know she would be stuck passing for a boy for a very, very long time

She was killed in her first battle, as so le cannon blast It was mercifully quick and painless Zin's trip down the tunnel into the light should have been quick and simple; however, halfway there, she was struck by the sudden realization that her father and brothers would have no idea what had happened to her There are few things that can cause a person to resist the gravity of the light Thinking about one's self can't do it, because self-centered thoughts are hen co of others, however, can be a very powerful thing indeed, and can give a strong-willed person the strength to resist just about anything