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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Sandra <sandral@****.CO.NZ>
Subject: Elemental
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1998 09:18:43 -0800
*****PRIVATE: ThunderStone
>>>>>[So what's so special about this Elemental?]<<<<<
-- Faerie <18:41:27/12-10-59>

*****PRIVATE: Faerie
>>>>>[Couldn't be bothered looking up those sites, huh? I guess I can give
you a precis. There are no crew on board, everything's either automated, or done by drones
or bound spirits. It's also got some kick-ass gunship type drones in case of feisty
wildlife or piracy. The passengers tend to be reasonably high in the corporate or
government elite (plus, of course, assorted flunkies, relatives, and miscellaneous other
hangers-on) - I'm quite surprised Kirk could get on board, she must have more jam than we
thought. Other than that, it's just the standard luxury cruise liner type
vessel.]<<<<<
-- ThunderStone <20:51:26/12-10-59>
Message no. 2
From: Sandra <sandral@****.CO.NZ>
Subject: Elemental
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1998 10:52:32 -0800
>>>>>[The Elemental, the most elitist fraggin' piece of crap on the water,
sails tomorrow... I'm going to bomb the fragger!]<<<<<
-- Random <19:25:03/12-17-59>

>>>>>[That's a damn shame, I was just getting interested in the thing. Oh
well, easy come, easy go.]
-- Mirabilis <22:11:19/12-17-59>
Message no. 3
From: Sandra <sandral@****.CO.NZ>
Subject: Elemental
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1998 15:12:03 -0800
>>>>>[The Elemental set sail early today, and I want to start a pool on
when/if Random bombs it. My guess is not at all. Anyone else care to join
in?]<<<<<
-- Statolith <18:05:37/12-18-59>
Message no. 4
From: Sandra <sandral@****.CO.NZ>
Subject: Elemental
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1998 08:06:16 -0800
*****INTERNAL: Lightning's SES ("Ship's Email" System)
>>>>>[To: Lightning
From: Lightning

Yeah, loud and CLEAR!

Now who's a crappy decker? Not my area of expertise be damned, I'm
finally useful!

Anyway, what I mean to say is TEST MESSAGE.

+++++Include file damnit.ftg
[Being footage of Lightning hitting his thumb with a hammer, and yelling
"Damn it!"
at the top of his voice.]

+++++Include file comman.txt
[Being a copy of the communist manifesto.]

'Til they log on...]<<<<<
-- Lightning's SES <22:40:21/12-19-59>

*****INTERNAL: Lightning's SES
>>>>>[To: Mr Gone
From: Faerie

I don't know who else I can talk to about this, except maybe Bill... I
sure as hell can't tell Kyle and Mikey, they'd split like

+++++Humourous finger-snapping noise

Don't know what Lorax and Bill would think of it.

Anyway, here it is: The shifters are being kept around not just for ops
that Kirk wants done, but because of an order from high enough that it
could be Lofwyr himself. Someone up there in SK wants to tie up as many
magical groups as s/he can get, whether it's by direct ownership, vague
influence, paying expenses, whatever. I don't know why we've been
collected, but we're on a List somewhere. Whoever calls the tune doesn't
use us nearly as much as s/he could... possibly because s/he's getting
ready for something, and s/he's not ready yet? Or because we're an
emergency measure? Either way, we might get called up some day, maybe
soon. I don't know about you, but it scares me.]<<<<<
-- Lightning's SES <08:32:51/12-20-59>

*****INTERNAL: Lightning's SES
>>>>>[To: Lightning
From: Faerie

That last one... don't lert anything slip to anyone, okay? Has to be
kept quiet, I don't want to go through another round of almost splitting
up.]<<<<<
-- Lightning's SES <08:34:46/12-20-59>
Message no. 5
From: Sandra <sandral@****.CO.NZ>
Subject: Re: Elemental
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 07:57:35 -0800
*****INTERNAL: Lightning's SES
>>>>>[To: Thirstein
From: Chas

Meet me at the top rail tonight, okay?]<<<<<
-- Lightning's SES <12:27:54/12-21-59>
Message no. 6
From: Sandra <sandral@****.CO.NZ>
Subject: Re: Elemental
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1998 05:57:35 -0800
*****INTERNAL: Lightning's SES
>>>>>[To: Ice, Lightning
From: Lena

What the frag do you think is going on with Faerie and Kirk today?
They've been just a touch too correct, maybe a bit of strain showing
every so often... I figure you guys know Kirk and Faerie, whereas I know
neither, so maybe you can tell me a thing or two... just gossiping, I
suppose, but what else can I do all day...]<<<<<
-- Lightning's SES </12-22-59>

*****INTERNAL: Lightning's SES
>>>>>[To: Lena
From: Ice

Why ask Lightning? You know he hasn't said a civil word to you since you
met.]<<<<<
-- Lightning's SES </12-22-59>

*****INTERNAL: Lightning's SES
>>>>>[To: Ice
From: Lena

Come on hon, you know as well as I do that he's reading this. And now he
knows we know, and all that. Might as well call it a draw and
acknowledge it.]<<<<<
-- Lightning's SES </12-22-59>

*****INTERNAL: Lightning's SES
>>>>>[To: Lena, Ice
From: Lightning

Touche. You win, even. Yes, something's up, but she won't tell me
what... of course, if she'd told me, and then asked me not to tell
anyone, you'd get the same answer. Sorry to not be of any further
assistance ;b ]<<<<<
-- Lightning's SES </12-22-59>
Message no. 7
From: Sandra <sandral@****.CO.NZ>
Subject: Re: Elemental
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1998 16:35:05 -0800
*****INTERNAL: Lightning's SES
To: Lightning
From: Ice

Any ideas? If it's going to affect the shifters, then I need to know. If
not, then don't worry about it. Anyway, I have to go make sure Lena
didn't choke to death on her own vomit last night, so I'll see you
later.]<<<<<
-- Lightning's SES <08:41:04/12-23-59>

*****INTERNAL: Lightning's SES
>>>>>[To: Ice
From: Lightning

It is something to do with the shifters, I know that much... beyond
that, you'll have to talk to her.]<<<<<
-- Lightning's SES <10:09:38/12-23-59>

*****INTERNAL: Lightning's SES
>>>>>[To: Lightning
From: Faerie

You let something slip to Ice. Don't even try to deny it. When I find
you, there'll be trouble.]<<<<<
-- Lightning's SES <16:51:05/12-23-59>

*****INTERNAL: Lightning's SES
>>>>>[To: Faerie
From: Lightning

For you.]<<<<<
-- Lightning's SES <17:24:59/12-23-59>
Message no. 8
From: Sandra <sandral@****.CO.NZ>
Subject: Re: Elemental
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1998 10:38:33 -0800
*****INTERNAL: Lightning's SES
>>>>>[To: Ice
From: Thirstein

I need to talk to you... can you meet me at Kirk's door 10 minutes after
I start watch tonight?]<<<<<
-- Lightning's SES <12:14:00/12-24-59>
Message no. 9
From: Sandra <sandral@****.CO.NZ>
Subject: Elemental
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1998 10:40:20 -0800
>>>>>[Well, I'll be damned. He bombed the fraggin' boat. Didn't sink it
though.]<<<<<
-- Statolith <13:41:38/12-25-59>

>>>>>[Happy fuckin' christmas you obscenely rich bastards! But it wasn't
me.]<<<<<
-- Random <18:35:54/12-25-59>
Message no. 10
From: Sandra <sandral@****.CO.NZ>
Subject: Elemental
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1999 09:16:08 -0800
*****PRIVATE: Ronin
>>>>>[Yeah, okay, I'll do it. Have your backup team from SIGA make contact,
I'll have to talk to them too. You're just lucky that coast guard guy found us in
time.]<<<<<
-- Ice <14:32:56/01-05-60>

*****PRIVATE: emoss@****.co.nz
>>>>>[What a trip! Take a look.

+++++Begin footage

Ice seems to be in tiger form, loping down a corridor. This must be the
Elemental -
the most luxurious vessel on the water, or so they say. It's not that
much better than
the average palace, really. Wood panels, gold trimming everywhere -
probably all
plastic of course, but one can dream of better times. Paintings of
sober-faced people
stare down at passers by, including a few notable corporates and
politicians, and
some, like Dunkelzahn, who were both.

+++++Splice footage

The camera is pointing behind the ship, looking over the back rail at
the vast wake
churned up by the Elemental's powerful engines. On the horizon some
large flying
animal can be seen, possibly a dragon or wyvern. The Carribean sun beats
down,
reflecting off the water like a million sparkling cliches.

Ice turns, looking around the decks. Most of the decks are covered with
sunchairs,
many of them occupied by the corporate elite and the beautiful people.
Close to Ice,
Faerie and Twotongue share a chair, talking quietly. Thirstein is
stretched out on the
floor, shirt off, ridiculously vast muscles relaxed, a hat over his face
to keep the sun
off. Chastity is sneaking up on him, presumably about to soak him with
the glass of
water she is carrying. Mr Gone is sitting under a parasol, eyes closed
against the light,
the only one fully clothed. Lena is standing beside Ice, sipping a
cocktail and looking
around. Kirk is half hidden behind Faerie and Lightning's chair, her
eyes rolled back
in her head, a simdeck plugged in to her head.

+++++Splice footage

"How about _this_ then?" Thirstein says, holding up a brief case and
sliding back a
hidden catch somewhere. The case pops open, the lid and base falling to
the sides.
Attached to the spine of the case is a six barelled rotary machine gun,
the barrels
having been folded back. Thirstein swings them around on a well oiled
hinge
mechanism, and locks them into place.

"What is it, exactly?" Ice asks.

Ice moves towards Thirstein, examining the weapon. It looks like it may
have borrowed some of it's desgin from the Vindicator, but the barrels
have a larger calibre and are much closer together. The case seems to
hold the
ammuniton supply, though after providing room for the weapon itself, the
case cannot
hold more than a hundred or so belted rounds.

"HKHVMG, D-class" Thirstein replies, "ROF in the 'super machine gun'
category,
no idea what that is in RPM... _lots_, I imagine. 'D-class' refers to
this nifty
concealment thing... D stands for diplomatic or discrete or something,
Kirk didn't
know which."

"Where'd you get it?"

"Kirk brought it on board," Thirstein answers, powering up the barrels,
"Well, I
imagine she had someone else carry it for her, but you get my drift."

"Smartlink?"

"All the toys. Here, feel the weight."

Ice takes the weapon as the barrels cycle down again, grunting and
almost dropping it.

"Very nice..." he says, "Not my cup of tea though. How'd Kirk get it on
here anyway?"

"It could have been pickep up if anyone cared enough to check, but the
thing is no-
one cares. There's probably enough ordinance on board for a day or two
of desert
wars. Nothing we can do with it except attack each other, and everyone's
got about
the same level of protection. Perfect environment for extractions and so
on, now that I
come to think of it... though someone else already has, almost
certainly."

"Yeah," Ice replies, "I think I saw one on the second day, when we
stopped at that
floating town. This suit's sitting at a table by the rail, some
bodyguards around him...
someone takes the bodyguards down soft, the suit jumps over the side,
then some
guys in black arrive in a jet boat, scoop up the suit, and take off."

"Takes the bodyguards down soft?" Thirstein asks, "What the hell is
that?"

"A bit of jargon... why, did I say it wrong? You know, non-fatally..."

+++++Splice footage

Ice is on the blacony outside a luxurious room on the Elemental, a room
that is
currently occupied by examples of most forms of drug abuse known to
mankind of
the 2050's. Mr Gone is curled up in a soft armchair with a bottle of
Stolichnaya, either
sleeping or just lying still. Faerie is seated on a couch, Twotongue
snuggling up
against her, both of them plugged into the same sim-deck. Lena, sitting
in a half-lotus,
is plugged into it as well. Kirk is leaning against a table near the
window, a dreamy
smile on her face, a smouldering joint hanging out of her mouth.
Thirstein, his eyes
fully dilated, his breathing heavy, is standing on his head, leaning
against the window
to keep his balance. Why he is doing this is not clear, but judging by
the rest of those
in the room, it's probably because he's wasted. Chastity passes the
camera in a
surprisingly fast cartwheel, and Ice turns to track further acrobatics
as she progresses
along the balcony.

+++++End footage

That's enough touristy stuff. Now for the main attraction... I can't go
anywhere
without this sort of thing happening to me. I couldn't believe it, I
mean, it started out
like the Titanic, but then all hell broke loose.

+++++Begin footage

Thirstein is standing outside a door in the luxurious corridors of the
Elemental. Ice
approaches him, checking the area as he arrives.

"What's up?" Ice asks the troll.

"Some stuff I don't understand. What do you know about shapeshifters?"

"Just what I've seen on the trid... I never talked to much to Wolfen,
ROP and..."

He is interrupted by Mr Gone, who comes around the nearest corner at
speed, a look
of agitation on his usually impassive face.

"Trouble!" he calls.

"What?" Ice replies, "The chickens tell you something's wrong?"

"Very humourous. But yes, they did."

"Anything specific?" Thirstein asks, opening the brief case holding his
D-class
HKHVMG and powering up the barrels.

"No, just the sense of trouble..." Mr Gone answers, "Kirk in there?"

"Hang on," interupts Ice, "I'm getting something... five guys, two rooms
over, coming
fast."

Thirstein hammers on Kirk's door, then the entire boat shakes and the
sound of a
fairly large explosion reaches them.

"What..." Kirk yells, opening the door.

Faerie appears behind her, pulling her back into the room. Somewhere
klaxons start
hooting.

"Inside," Ice calls, following his own order at speed.

Twotongue and Faerie are at the windows, Lena and Kirk are on a couch.
Lena is
plugged into a simdeck, eyes jerking and rolling randomly. As Ice heads
for the
windows, Kirk pulls the plug on Lena and starts talking urgently in a
low voice.

"Ice," Thirstein yells, "Talk to me!"

"Two on the balcony, they're yours Faerie," Ice calls, then points at a
wall, "Three
next door, damn if I know what they're up to... four or five astral
presences, some of
Them might be spirits... at least I hope some of them are spirits!"

Faerie pulls up an invisibility spell and disappears, as Lena and Kirk
get down, hiding
behind the couch. Twotongue joins them, pulling a pistol out and
checking the load.
Thirstein looks towards the wall Ice pointed at, then lets the HKHVMG
fall on it's
sling, and starts calling up a spirit. A swirl of mist coagulates into a
gray bearded man
with a hook for a left hand, an eyepatch, and a parrot on his shoulder.
Ice looks
incredulously at the spirit, then the deep roar of Faerie's HKHVAS
brings everyone's
attention to the windows. Seconds later the wall Ice pointed at earlier
ruptures and
blows out into the room in fragments. There is no sign of whatever
explosion knocked
it out, but that's not what occupies the minds of the room's occupants.
Three black
clad men leap through the gap, targeting Ice with tri-barrel rotary
SMGs. The bullets
bounce off a barrier and Ice answers them with a blast of fire, turning
one of the
attackers into a human torch. A fire elemental manifests above Mr Gone,
who is still
standing by the door into the corridor. As Thirstein opens up with his
HKHVMG, the
spirit drops onto Mr Gone, engulfing him. Thirstein's long burst sends
the second of
the black-clad attackers tumbling back through the gap, blood spraying
from multiple
wounds. The piratical spirit starts to beat the last attacker over the
head with a brass
telescope, as Mr Gone ducks and rolls, trying to get free of the fire
spirit. Kirk runs
past Ice, heading for Mr Gone, as the elf calls up a water elemental.
Twotongue pops
up from behind the couch, hitting the last of the black-clad attackers
with a double tap
to the chest.

"Who's got the astral?" Thirsteins shouts, hosing down the last attacker
as he falls
back under the piratical spirit's assault and Twotongue's two shots.

"I'm there!" Ice replies, calling up another spirit, this one an earth
elemental.

With a kiai-style shout, Kirk plunges her open hands into the fire
elemental on Mr
Gone, and it shakes, losing presence under her magical assault.
Thirstein turns,
notices that Mr Gone is being burnt to death before his eyes, and drops
his HKHVMG
on its sling again, preparing to cast a spell. Two more fire elementals
manifest,
dropping to the ground, and setting the carpet alight. Ice calls up
another water spirit,
and orders the three spirits he now has present to attack the fire
elementals. Thirstein
grins, revealing three or four rows of sharp teeth, and his eyes go cold
and black, then
he blasts the spirit on Mr Gone into flaming fragments with a single
shouted word.
Ice's spirits start to fight the two fire elementals, the two water
spirits meeting the fire
spirits with clouds of steam and loud bubbling and hissing. The steam
obscures Ice's
camera, and he falls back, covering his eyes for a moment. When he drops
his arm, he
can see Kirk attempting to heal Mr Gone. Thirstein is somewhere in the
steam,
shouting a battle cry. Ice casts a spell at something that can't be
seen, then ducks from
an unseen attack. Presumably he's astrally perceiving and fighting a
projecting mage.
After a few more ducks he catches an invisible limb, twists it and
applies a lock, and
throws the invisble assailant onto the wooden deck. Releasing the limb
he casts a
spell that never becomes visible, and then backs away. Presumably having
defeated
the opposing mage, he heads towards Mr Gone.

The steam clears, and two of Ice's elementals remain - the earth spirit
and one of the
water spirits, both looking as if they've been thoroughly pounded. Ice
dismisses them,
then turns to look at Mr Gone. Kirk's attempts at healing seem to have
done little
good, the skin of Mr Gone's face is cracked and blackened, as is the
skin on his hands
and the visible portions of his neck. Most of his clothing has been
burnt away or
melted into his flesh. He's still alive, but seems unable to breathe.
After a moment, he
becomes still, his eyes fixed on something in the distance, a look of
horror on what
remains of his face.

"Faerie, report!" Thirstein yells, his voice easily overpowering the
klaxons in the
background.

Ice checks Mr Gone's pulse, though it's obviously futile.

"Damn it!" he shouts, "Another one."

"No-one else out there," Faerie calls, appearing beside Lena, who is
under the couch.

Thirstein steps back inside, loading another belt into his HKHVMG, and
Twotongue
flicks on the safety on his pistol. Ice picks up one of the rotary SMGs,
checking a
round counter on the side, then hands it to Kirk, and grabs a second for
Lena.

"What now?" Kirk asks.

"There'll be other teams on the boat," Thirstein says, "Let's grab a
lifeboat and get the
hell out of here."

"Sitting ducks..." Ice murmurs, "But we're just as shagged waiting
here..."

"There's one just outside," Twotongue says, "Auto-deployment system...
unless it took
a round earlier."

"Chastity?" Thirstein asks, "She's in our room."

"Leave her," Faerie answers, "She'll be fine here, she's not a
target."

"Yeah," Thirstein replies, "But we could use her help maybe..."

"No time," Ice says, "let's move. By the way, what the hell is
_that_?"
Ice indicates the
piratical spirit.

"Hearth spirit," Thirstein answers, moving outside to the lifeboat, "I
didn't know if it'd
look like that, but I figured it might. Yo ho!"

"Aye, maties," Twotongue throws in.

"Avast, lubbers!" Kirk yells, "Let's be gettin' out of here."

Twotongue and Thirstein jump over the rail and into the lifeboat, a
large and
unwieldy looking rubber monster. Ice tosses in the rotary SMG, then
joins them,
dropping into the boat and shifting to tiger form as he hits the rubber
deck. The spirit
remains behind... choosing to go down with the ship perhaps. Lena and
Kirk also
jump aboard, then someone triggers the automated casting off system, and
the lifeboat
drops into the sea at an alarming rate. Ice keeps his feet, but
Thirstein and Twotongue
end up falling over, and Kirk nearly gets the barrel end of Thirstein's
HKHVMG in
the face. The life boat wallows briefly, then starts moving, heading
away from the
Elemental.

"Where the hell is this boat taking us?" Ice asks, apparently talking
through an
electronic unit on his collar, "Is anyone steering? Autopilot?"

"Full of fraggin' questions, aren't you?" Twotongue mutters, "How the
hell should any
of us know? No-one's steering, it must be an autopilot."

"Okay..."

Ice scans the area, looking first at the Elemental. It is magnificent,
outlined against
the setting sun, pulling away from the life boat at a reasonable rate.
Halfway along the
third deck there's a fire raging, but the automated systems are already
taking care of it.
As Ice watches, a swarm of water elementals manifest and cover the
blaze, gradually
quenching it.

The life boat stops about half a kilometre from the Elemental, and Ice
starts looking
around. A low, fast vessel, nothing like the walrus of a life boat, is
moving out from
behind the Elemental, pointing lights around the area. Thirstein flicks
the switch on
his HKHVMG, and the barrels start to spin up. The other boat approaches,
the light
finding Ice first, giving him a brief blinding before his past SOTA
flare compensation
kicks in. As the glare dies off, the light paints Lena and Kirk, Kirk
standing in the
bow, Lena sitting just behind her. Muzzle flashes from the low boats gun
ports are the
next sign of trouble, followed almost instantaneously by the rattle of
bullets bouncing
off barriers.

"Here we go again," Twotongue mutters, then Thirstein's HKHVMG blots out
all
other noise.

Ice throws a spell at the rival boat, a burst of icy shards aimed at
where the outboard
motors would be. Unfortunately, this boat does not appear to use
outboards.
Thirstein's rounds are able to burst through the barriers around the
lifeboat, but by the
time they've done so, they're too slow to penetrate the other boat's
armour. Faerie
steps past Ice, lifting off into the air from the stern of the life
boat. Thirstein also
moves to the stern, stepping around Ice and laying a thick sheet of
bullets over the
advancing attacker. The low boat crashes into the outermost barrier,
breaking it with
some difficulty, then Thirstein's rounds find it at the same time as the
boat's weapons
target the troll. With the outer barrier moved from between them, there
is nothing to
stop either burst of fire. Ice must have seen it coming, he's already
hit the deck, as he
looks up at Thirstein he sees a momentary realisation, then the troll's
head snaps back
as three or four rounds hit it. Thirstein falls back, his body still
jerking under more
impacts. Faerie's HKHVAS is heard somewhere above the other boat, which
starts
shooting up into the air seemingly at random.

Ice rolls over the side, shapeshifting into a dolphin as he sinks. The
camera stills
functions, though there is less to see down there. The attacking boat is
bubbling from
several holes in the front. Ice approaches, then swims under the boat
and leaps into
the air on the opposite side. His leap takes him onto the deck of the
attacking boat,
and by the time he hits it, he's in tiger form. The attacking boat's
weapons have
stopped firing, though Ice cannot see any immediately obvious reason
why. The
attacking boat's cockpit is covered, but there's a breach in the side
closest to the life
boat. Stuck in the breach is a medium sized water elemental, apparently
fighting with
another spirit inside. Several fire elementals appear to Ice's left,
dropping from a
couple of metres onto the deck, and starting to melt their way inside.
Ice roars, letting
off a burst of icy shards from his open mouth, freezing the water
elemental solid.
Water expands when it freezes, so does the water elemental, and the
crack is forced
even wider open, almost breaking the boat in half. The roof of the
attacking boat falls
out from under Ice's feet, dropping him onto the top of a rigger cocoon.
A surprised
rigger stares at Ice from inside the transparent cover as the
tiger-formed mage twists
in midair, landing, as always, on his feet. Then Ice rears up and falls
back down
again, smashing the plastic cover with both plunging feet. The rigger
struggles to free
himself from his harness, but before he can, Ice clamps his jaws on the
rigger's neck
and pulls backwards, tearing his head half off.

Ice resumes human form, looking for an easy way out of the boat. Before
he can find
one, the frozen elemental thaws, shaking itself like a dog and emitting
a fairly
humourous noise as it does so. The elemental must have been the only
thing holding
the boat together, since it breaks into two pieces, both of which start
to sink. Ice and
the rigger's corpse fall into the dark water.

There is a moment of disorientation, tumbling over and over, then Ice
kicks away
from the rigger, and strikes his head on something. Bubbles burst from
his mouth - he
seems to have yelled an expletive under the water. Then Faerie is there,
grabbing him
by the neck and pulling him to the surface.

+++++End footage

We eventually fetched up on an island, waited there for a week and a
half, and got
rescued a couple of days ago. So, that was my holiday. Two friends
killed, drugs,
BTLs, all the fun I could take. I need a vacation to recover from my
holiday.]<<<<<
-- Ice <14:35:41/01-05-60>

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Elemental, you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.