Welcome to Gaia! ::

I think these last couple of sections are rather inelegant...I guess I had semi-writer's block. I knew where I wanted the story to go, but not exactly how it was supposed to get there, so I just wanted to keep it moving anyway. If anything doesn't make sense, I'll try to clarify.

Thanks for the continued comments Jasper. It makes this project feel slightly less futile. I'm going to add some info on characters in the first post. I might do some other background info, but I haven't decided how much might play into the story later, and don't want to give all of it away.

There followed a long, bad period worse than any of my previous hospital stays. I was delirious. I remembered faces coming and going, feeling fevered and chilled, and had visions of tent castles in the wilderness. There was also a woman’s face, and her tender voice in my ear. Just a soldier’s fantasy, right?

When I finally woke up in a lucid state, I felt pretty lousy. I was weak and achy. But I really was in a tent...if not a castle. Then I heard a woman’s voice, and remembered Maria. Hey, part of my fantasy was real.

“About time you’re awake. How do you feel?” So much for the “tender” part.

“I’ve been better,” I said hoarsely. Maria got my some water, which tasted great. I noticed she was wearing an odd filmy dress. Almost sheer, and rather short. Not that I was complaining, but it didn’t fit the image I’d had of her. I had a feeling I’d better not comment. At least not until I was a little stronger.

“How long have I been out of it?” I asked.

“A couple of weeks. You got a bad infection, and these people don’t have much in the way of medicine.”

“These people...” I looked around. The tent style was familiar. It was the type used by the nomadic clans. “The landing. What happened?”

“Oh, it went as well as can be expected,” Maria said. “Merely a minor disaster, with wreckage scattered over a few miles worth of desert, but the nose section remained intact. Of course, I almost had a heart attack when you passed out. I thought you were dead.” She said it reproachfully, but her hand stroked my shoulder. “Anyway, I dragged you out and put up a shelter from the emergency kit. I stopped the bleeding, but there wasn’t much else to do. Luckily these nomads were passing nearby and game to investigate.” She cleared her throat and looked embarrassed.

“I told them we were married. I wasn’t sure what their culture thinks of unmarried women. In any case, they were generous about giving us this tent.” I knew I should keep my mouth shut, but I couldn’t resist...

“How about a kiss, if we’re supposed to be married?” Fortunately, Maria just laughed.

“With that breath? Dream on. Here.” She put a sonic oral-cleanser into my hand and helped me up. The Nomads might live in tents, but that’s just for mobility. They do use some modern technology, including top of the line water recyclers. The bathroom was small, and it felt odd to have a throw-rug underfoot, but everything worked nicely. I took care of my bad breath and everything else. Interestingly my face was smooth...someone had been shaving me.

Even taking a shower tired me out. When I emerged, I sat back against the stack of cushions. No normal chairs, of course. I remembered that from my visits to various chieftains, but I didn’t have to like it. I remember being hunkered down for an hour in that cross-legged position once during negotiations. When I finally got up the pain was such I thought I’d fall over.
Maria was still wearing the filmy slip-like thing, but then put on a robe over top of it...a garment I recognized as being worn by most of the nomadic women. Was the gauzy garment just underwear? I myself was wearing plain white shirt and trousers favored by the nomadic men. After nearly fourteen years of fatigues of black, white was disturbing. How did you keep it clean? I already saw a smudge on one sleeve, picked up from who knows where. I supposed my uniform had been long discarded.

“The Chieftain wanted to see you when you were awake,” Maria said. “I’ll just get him.” She stepped outside. In the quiet, I was already feeling sleepy, and hated myself for it. I’d gone for days at a time without sleep in the midst of battle. Now I could hardly manage half an hour.

Fortunately, these nomads drink coffee. Strong coffee. A sip of that had me feeling better. They also brought in trays of food, so we could eat while we talked. I didn’t have a big appetite, but what I had tasted wonderful.

I didn’t know the Chieftain, of course, this being halfway across the planet from where I had been active previously. The customs, however, were pretty much the same with all the nomads.

The nomads spoke Anglic Standard, but I was surprised to hear Maria exchange a few words with the leaders in their dialect. How did she come to learn a language as obscure as this one must be?

“Just a formal greeting,” she muttered to me. She pointed out the Chieftain, and an old graybeard who she said was the “healer.” I knew from experience that these people might be at a nurse’s level, but you weren’t likely to find high tech medical gear. The nomads were curious. In some respects, they were advanced - as with their plumbing, since that was connected to water recycling. In other areas, their desire to remain isolated was taken to the extreme. The reason there were no doctors was because they would have to leave the clan to attend medical school. There was likewise no communication gear, and no transportation other than camels. A Chieftain had once explained to me that a camel could not run short of fuel. True, but it was more than that. They didn’t want to have faster transportation, because it meant connection to the outside.

But who am I to judge? They might not have loved visitors, but they did trade at various outposts, and were generally polite, bound by their code of conduct. There was the old crone who’d laid a hex on my air car, but that was a one time event.

Not that I believe in hexes, but it was a funny coincidence that the air car was shot down on the return trip. The ninth of my eleven Wounded Lion medals.

“Colonel Stuart,” the Chieftain said finally (he had to wait until we’d eaten and drank a little, just to be polite). “We have heard of you from other clans. It is strange to see you here after the rest of your companions have left. And married as well.” He gave an admiring nod to my “wife.” The Chieftain obviously wanted a story. I told him I’d been on Nueva Espana, and did not know why the army had vacated. If he assumed my reason for being on Nueva Espana was to tie the knot, fine. I did say we’d been out of touch with Brittania, which wouldn’t have been a secret if we’d been in one of the cities anyway. Maria had told him about the Cultists already, so I was glad to be spared the telling of that part of the story.

“Is there any way you can aid us in getting to...” I tried to remember the nearest city with a space port. “...Santiago? I will arrange to have you compensated as soon as I can get in touch with...with someone from my holdings.” I had been about to say “get in touch with Rodrick,” but who knew how long that would take. I should at least be able to get an advance from the bank in Santiago. Too bad my credit card hadn’t made it through unscathed. I had an “unlimited” version. I asked Rodrick what that meant once. he said I had spent less than half of one percent of the limit in the last ten years combined, but to call him if I needed more. Funny.

“We sent a rider out this morning when Mrs. Stuart said you were awake.” I had a brief flash of my mother’s face before I remembered I was supposed to be married. “He should arrive at the nearest trading outpost tomorrow, and return with transport for you. We did not think it wise to risk sending someone out too soon.” Yeah, no point wasting a trip if I was going to kick the bucket anyway.

It was a pretty lame meeting of the minds, really. These guys were holed up in the middle of the desert (OK, maybe “holed up” is the wrong term) and had no idea what was going on. I still had lots to figure out. What had occurred to cut us off from Brittania? What had happened to Dr. Perez? How had the Cultists managed to stop and board our ship in the middle of deep space, then transport us here to Atacama at such speed? Too many questions. I had no answers.

One bit of good news, though. The Cultists did seem to have stopped operation. The Chieftain didn’t know if it was just a lull, or if they had all left. Either way he was pleased. Well, presumably Maria had blown the leader to smithereens, so with any luck the Brotherhood would stay dead.

I made noises that I was tired, and the Chieftain and his entourage left.

I am really not happy with this section. I feel like I need to draw out more about the nomads, or at least make it cleaner. I may rewrite this entire section, but for now it's at least a placeholder while I move on

We got our miracle that night.

Maria and I had spent much of the day talking. Some sleeping, but mostly talking. Our throats were dry and parched, but we both knew there wasn’t much to save them for.

When the sun sank, we did pick our weak and battered selves up, though. We agreed to head west. There was no way to know exactly where we were, but we still had to be within air car range...namely, on the central continent. West was our best bet either way. If we were on the west part of the continent, we’d eventually hit the planet’s one ocean. If it was the east side, we’d find the Tigris River.

Of course, I expected we were more than a thousand miles from either, but it was a direction to move in. I was still weak from my illness, and without water, I knew I wasn’t going far.

I was laboring along beside Maria, when the sky seemed to split open. There was a blinding flash of light, and an enormous rumble that caused the earth itself to shake. I think I was too tired, dehydrated, and stupefied to understand what I was seeing at first.

A space ship landed in the sand, not a thousand yards away. Even from that distance, I could feel the re-entry head being bled off by the exchangers. Maria and I looked at each other. Was this rescue, or some other nightmare? In unspoken agreement, we went toward the ship.

It was huge. The battle cruiser we’d crashed had been enormous. The automated systems could be run by a very few people, as with our skeleton crew on the expedition to Brittania, but it was too large for most space ports, and usually docked in space.

This strange ship made it look like a life pod. I had never seen anything like it’s rounded design (my first thought was of a root-plant eaten on some colony worlds. A turnip). We’d covered less than half the distance when an aperture opened the hull of the ship, close to the ground. A ramp extended, and a quite ordinary man walked out onto the sand. It was dark, and still too far for me to make out his features, but Maria was apparently more familiar with them.

“Daddy!” She ran to him, and they embraced in tearful reunion, while I walked more slowly. Therefore, I saw the furry little beings first. They were fairly humanoid. Bipedal and with two arms, eyes, ears...the usual. They were perhaps four feet tall. They were covered with grayish fur, and didn’t wear normal clothing. belts and bandoliers, more like, to hold equipment.

Several were carrying guns, and I realized with a shock they were the design that the Cultists had even carrying when they boarded our battle cruiser. Could these be the “friends” Raymond white had spoken of?

If so, they were a whole lot friendlier. Maria and I were taken for medical treatment. It was all so fast and confused I almost forgot what this meant: First Contact. Well, not exactly first, since Dr. Perez seemed to have beaten us, but still. We’d been all over this arm of the Milky Way, and never found anything even resembling sentient life. No ruined cities, no artifacts, and certainly not any little green men.

This was big, and on some level, terrifying.

I tried to speak with the fuzzy little doctor who treated me, but she didn’t seem to understand. I assumed it was a “she” anyway, because there were breasts under the fur. Which got me thinking I couldn’t make too many assumptions. Who knew what the rules were? There could be eight sexes for all I knew.

Besides fluid replenishment, and treatment for exposure, plus a burn around my wrist where the cuffs had gotten warm, I was OK. Maria, not having just been ill for two weeks, recovered even faster, and was already in what looked like an ordinary lounge when I was brought in.

I have to say, I was the tiniest bit disappointed at how normal everything looked. Sure, stuff was smallish, but not outrageously so. Not any more inconvenient for us than for a large human on Brittania. They used tables and chairs the same way we did, and the sanitary facilities were easy enough to work. For that matter, easier than many human devices I’d seen. The shower was “on” and “off” with two dials: one for the rate of water flow, and another for temperature.

“Ah, Colonel...” Dr. Perez rose to greet me, but seemed unsure how.

“Just Greg, sir. You can save the fancy titles for our next banquet.” He smiled, and seemed relieved, though still somewhat nervous. Maria made a little gesture, and I went to sit next to her on the couch. It was probably meant for three of the aliens, but just the pair of us was a snug fit.

“As I was saying,” Dr. Perez continued, looking at the floor. “I believe I owe you some explaining.” He didn’t want to meet my eye. In fact, he looked truly ashamed of something. I glanced at Maria, who shrugged. She was just as lost as I was.

“I did not invent the Terraformer.” He paused and let that bombshell sink in. Maria stiffed and sat straighter. For my part I was surprised, but was too slow to see were the conversation was going.

“The Grays created it. Over a thousand years ago.”

“Grays?” I asked.

“These beings,” Dr. Perez gestured, indicating the ship at large. “Their own name for themselves is tonal, with a whistle I can’t reproduce. I called them the grays, because of their fur, and they seem fine with that.” I shook my head.

“So...you have been deceiving us for all these years.” Maria sounded devastated.

“I am sorry, Maria. The Grays government extracted the promise from me. Even before you were born.”

“Did Mama know?” She asked in a small voice.

“I told her...I told her just before she died,” he said. I felt like I wanted to disappear from this scene, and just kept my mouth shut.

“The Grays have known about us for a long time,” Dr. Perez said, changing the subject smoothly. “When I was a young scientist, they contacted me. Gave me access to the terraformer, and helped me cover myself enough to make it look like it was own invention. They wanted to help us, you see. Or I should say one faction of the Grays did. The minority was opposed, and they are why I was made to keep their existence secret. Now, though, the Grays are in the midst of their own civil war.” The words hung unpleasantly.

“It was the former minority faction, the group that hates and mistrusts humans, that kidnapped me in Madrid. They are not such a minority now.” So, Valera was innocent? I was almost surprised there was a crime she hadn’t masterminded. “Fortunately I was rescued by the friendly faction before I could be executed,” Dr. Perez said.

“The jump points,” I said making a mental leap. “Are they...?” Dr. Perez was already nodding.

“An invention of the grays. A sort of artificial wormhole. They surveyed this section of the galaxy centuries ago. Well before our race developed space flight. They laid the jump points in every star system for possible future exploitation, but their center is too far away for them to have returned until recently. When we discovered the points, and found there was one linked to each star...well, our scientists assumed they were a natural phenomena.” I nodded. More pieces of the puzzle were being laid.

“What happened on Brittania?” Dr. Perez sighed.

“The anti-human faction attacked. The planet’s infrastructures have taken serious damage, though not as bad as it could have been. I believe the Emperor is still alive.”

“What of his sister. Princess Valera.” Dr. Perez looked surprised.

“I don’t know.”

“What about the Cultists?” Maria asked. “How do they figure in to this?” She took the question out of my mouth. Dr. Perez looked disgusted.

“They are seen as an enemy of their own race by the grays - and I agree - so the anti-humans enlisted Raymond White and his remaining people to do what damage they could. I understand they intercepted your vessel?”

“Yes,” I said. “I still don’t understand how.”

“Quite simple...we think of the jump points as linked to star systems, but there’s no reason they need to be. One can be created anywhere. In this case, one was inserted along your route.”

“But how did you find us?” Maria asked. Dr. Perez looked embarrassed again.

“I was able to track you, Maria. It’s another piece of the gray’s technology. I recorded your body’s electrical signature - everyone’s is different, like fingerprints - when you were a child. It can be traced anywhere in the galaxy.” Well that was handy. And disturbing. Dr. Perez cleared his throat.

“There’s more to discuss, I know, but I wanted to say you two have my blessing.”

“What?” I asked, confused. Maria had turned bright red.

“Daddy, I haven’t even asked him yet!”

“Wait...what!”

[Maria got my some water] Me.
[and game to investigate] Came.

The chapter was decent--it works as a placeholder.

How the hell did the cultists find them? That was rather abrupt.
[While I'm at t] It.
He's still afraid of spiders. xd
[stopgap] I'm not sure if this is a term I don't know or if you messed up or something.
[anything like it’s rounded design ] Its, I think.
[ belts and] Cappy that B.
[Maria stiffed ] Stiffened.
[too slow to see were] Where.
[What of his sister. Princess Valera.] Comma, questionmark?

Well, that was a fast romance. As for the cultists...did you even need to have them pop up so suddenly like that? It's like, hey--they're rescued! No they're not! Yes they are! Didn't feel like they were ever even in real danger in that desert. But that's just about my only beef with this--well, that and the Grays seem a bit of a deus ex machina. Maybe you could have someone ask the guy about the Terraformer in an earlier chapter and have him get uncomfortable and change the subject--I dunno, just some foreshadowing?

All in all, though, not shabby.

It turns out that Nueva Espana’s customs are quite a bit different from what I was used to on Brittania. As was explained to me later, when Nueva Espana had been a colony of the first Terran Empire, it had been a rough place. For the first century, men had greatly outnumbered women, thus women were valued and protected. They also got their pick of men, as you might imagine. The custom of women proposing marriage came from this, and “Ladies' Choice” remained to this day.

Sure, I was startled by the proposal, but I wasn’t going to refuse. We hadn't known each other very long, but I guess stressful situations help people get to know each other. There was no doubt in my mind now that I loved Maria, and if she felt the same about me...way to turn a hard-nosed soldier into a grinning idiot! I had never thought I would have the chance to marry for love. I suspected it would be one of the vacant palace airheads whose lives were consumed by what to wear to that evening’s entertainment, alternating with cruel gossip.

It occurred to me that Valera was not likely to be pleased with this union. So much the better, as far as I was concerned. I took a certain evil pleasure in foiling my cousin’s plans. If Brittania was hurting, and Dr. Perez indicated it was, she needed me. OK, more likely she needed Rodrick and his financial acumen, but for political purposes, she needed me.

It was decided that we would return to Nueva Espana for the wedding, as well as for Dr. Perez’s planned public announcement about the grays. It would be a short trip, but we had a meeing between the three of us and several of the grays.

It was curious to hear them speak Anglic Standard, but their vocal apparatus was much more flexible than ours. Being a linguist, Maria of course tried to learn some words in their tonal language. Her first attempt at “hello” had her coughing, and necessitated a drink of water.

The male grays tended to be named for objects, and the females for adjectives. Both were paired with a number for clarity. Maria told me the ancient Terran Mayans had done something like this, which didn’t make it any less strange to me. The captain was named “Six-Moonrock,” or so Dr. Perez said.

“The word means a pumice-like stone common on their first moon,” he clarified. If he said so, fine. The doctor who’d treated me was his mate, it turned out. She was Eleven-Faithful. Nearly all the crew of the ship was mated. I supposed that made things more enjoyable. I wondered if our army could work on a similar basis. With the rise of the Brittanic Empire came a reversion to ancient patriarchal ways, so there were no women in our military. But it was an interesting idea.

Then I had the image of Maria being blown apart with a rocket, and shoved the idea out of my mind.

The arrival in Madrid caused a tremendous stir. Reporters everywhere. Politicians flitting around, wanting a piece of the limelight. Most surprising, there was a contingent from the Imperial Army, who asked to meet with me right away. I agreed to a brief meeting while the press conference was being set up. I emerged barely a minute before the conference started, badly shaken. I was once again in my familiar black dress uniform (which my fellow soldiers had thoughtfully provided) but I wasn’t happy. I took my seat on the stage next to Maria.

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

“I’ll tell you later.” The conference started. It was basically the same stuff Dr. Perez had told us earlier, but in a more concise fashion. Then several of the grays were brought out. The ones who could speak Anglic Standard gave a simple greeting, and hope for peace, as well as regret for the actions of the anti-human faction. I was a little worried that some deranged fool in the crowd would attempt an assassination, but all was quiet. There was a flurry of questions, and then the newly minted Governor tried to insert himself into the proceedings. He certainly was an irritating bugger. He acted as though there was a sincere alliance between the races, and that he himself was the author. Some people caught on, and there were murmurs of annoyance through the crowd. Shut your mouth now, I thought. You’re shooting yourself in the political foot, fella. But he didn’t shut up, until one of the grays (Four-Beetle, I think...a sort of gray politician) cut him off.

“Our dealings are with Dr. Perez,” he said. “We do not know you.” That was the end of that. The Governor and the Council went into a closed session with several of the grays. Maria and I took the time to talk.

“What happened earlier? You seemed upset.” No sense hiding it from her.

“I think I told you before. Most of the Imperial Army is made of colonials.” She nodded. “Well, most of the grunts are there from poor families. They just want three square meals a day, and some of the benefits to help their families on their home worlds later. Few have any personal loyalty to the throne. Some of the upper brass does, but it seems things have shifted since my uncle died. The military is not happy with Agamemnon. They are prepared to stage a coup.” Maria looked worried.

“What would happen then?” I cleared my throat and examined the lighting fixtures.

“They want to install me as the Emperor.”

[had a meeing] meeting

I like the mention of customs and stuff--very cool.
And ohhhboy, a good old fashioned coup. Things are getting interesting again.

That spellchecker seems to be doing the trick--that or I'm getting caught up enough in the story that I'm not catching spelling errors.
I don't think leaving that scene out will hurt the story that much either.
Not bad--keep it up.

Sorry it took a while. Sometimes I seriously lose motivation to read and review.

[cut an dried] and
[spend les than] less
[No nice of you] So or not?
[ Valera's look had softened a bit. She had white-blonde hair and slender frame. I suppose some would call her beautiful, but to me she was just plain evil.] This came out of nowhere--the entire thing. How has she softened--gotten plumper, more adult, less lines on her face?
[For now, was left unsaid.] Read this three times before it made sense.

Not bad, keep it up. I'll try to be more prompt with my reviewing in the future. There were some bits here and there where things seemed a little run-on, but I'm sure that refining will catch those just fine.