Introduction

Paula and I lived on a planet named Krysmal (chris-malll). At one time it was a lovely place to live with trees, flowers and other wonderful types of vegetation. There were birds, dogs, cats and other types of animals. Well, they sort of looked like birds, dogs and and cats. Bu, t they were a little different on Krysmal.

However, there began to be more and more machines built to make life easier for everyone. They were smart machines, too. In fact, the machines became smarter than the people of Krysmal. And, that's when it happened. Machanaestra (mack-ah-nay-stra) appeared.

Machanaestra became the head machine. Under Machanaestra were the Illibestras (Ill-i-beast-rahs), the mechanicos (mechanic-ohs) and the villianaestras (vill-yah-nay-stros).

The Illibestras were like the governors, judges, police and so forth. While Machanaestra ruled, the Illibestras carried out his rulings.

The mechanicos fixed things. They could move and think on their own as long as they followed the rulings of Machanaestra.

The villianaestras were slave machines hard wired in to special circuits. They could not think or act on their own or move farther than their electric chords would let them. They just did what they were told.

Lastly, there were humans. They were the bottom of the barrel in this mechanical world. Yes, they were slaves, too. But, even the villianaestras were treated better than the humans.

And so, that's the beginning of our long story.