She cried piteously, remembering the days when all was well. She, her parents, and Sully lived happily in the carrot garden, never a care. Little Sully was content to watch Cloud Butterflies, or the green toy top spin, ah those days were grand.

One day however, tradgedy struck, oh Roma recalled it well. Her cousin, Birch, was near the lemon vines, and he let out a hacking cough. The Hand quickly herded all the young norns into the computer room, far as possible from the sick Birch. However, Roma's parents were too near to Birch and caught the sickness. The Hand saw a norn baby he had forgotten, little Sully, crawling on his hands and feet, torwards his parents. The Hand panicked and using Borg killed Birch and Roma's parents, right in front of baby Sully. Sully was frightened, and ran from the hand, crying for days.

Time passed, and Sully became very nervous and mean. His speech didn't improve beyond the basic verbs, and he slapped other norns for no reason. He then retreated to the cellars. For a while he simply sat in the shower, refusing to eat even the tasty roaches and grubs that crawled. Then, he decided to try some hootch, and that was the start. It made him feel better, so he kept drinking it.

One day he came up from the cellars and as Roma approached him, he tried to kisspop her, staggering forward. She screamed and ran, this wasn't the brother she remembered. This was a depressed monster that depended on alcohol.

That night, as Roma sat crying, she looked to the sky and prayed for a miracle, that her brother would be happy again, without alcohol. She fell asleep crying by the computer, to the sound of poor Sully banging into walls.

That night, the hand heard her prayer, and briefly left Albia to another universe called "The Internet" to find a way to help poor Sully...

Sully growled and got to his feet as sunlight stabbed at his eyes. He felt horrible, and sick, and only thought of one thing: returning to the dank of the cellars, and taking a hot shower. Thats when a brown foot stepped on his nose.

"OW!" came the traditional song.

"Sorry" said a sweet voice. Looking up, Sully saw the furry foot, and the voice belonged to a blond haired female, the most lovely he'd seen.

"Push norn" he said.

"Pardon me? Oh! You only know the verbs huh?" she said "Thats OK, I'll help you!"

Sully felt so smitten by this norn, he gladly followed her to a Super Duper Speech Toy (A COB not yet available) and learned how to talk complete sentences. He learned the female's name was Jade.

Sully was too busy learning things from Jade to even wish he had a glass of beer, she taught him about coffee, and pink lemonade. Jade introduced him to new things, like the tranquility of the sea and the adventure of out runnning grendels. he also watched Cloud Butterflies again for the first time in ages. The best part was when they returned to the Incubator and he saw Roma again, except this time she had a mate, and two children. The Hand was pleased and named Jade and Sully's first child "Hope". He always regretted his hastiness in killing Roma and Sully's parents and cousin, so he held a special party in their honor. No alcohol of course.

THE END

**This is for alcohol addicted norns everywhere, especially the late Margo, may you dance among the stars**