|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 9:41 am
Howdy smile
Well I thought it's about time I shove up all of my Quest for the 5 Amulet Story up somewhere, sicne I've not done it before (people keep on telling horror stories about it being stolen 0o) but heck, it's only the first(ish) draft anyway, and I trust you guys ^_~
Plus i'd love to see yoru comments when you read it like any reader would. (as a story, rather than loads of random disconnected chunks of writing)
So, for anyone who's intersted, here it is. It's a sci-fi/fantasy adventure story, incase you dont' already know. I hope you enjoy it! i'd love to hear whatever comments or crit you have smile
p.s - the chapters are usually quite short, so never fear! lol
p.p.s - there's a lot of characters/viewpoints, so i'm intrigued as to whetehr you find it confusing or not
~~
Characters
Prepare yourself, there's quite a few XD
    
Kaisa Smith~ At 13 years old, Kaisa's life changed when the Cargo Ship she caleld her home was attacked by pirates and her best friend lost in the escape. Determined, headstrong, adventurous, mischevious and loyal to the end, this orphan won't stop until she finds her friend.
Kero Parker~ A 14 year old 1/2 human and 1/2 Carluxian, still leanring hwo to use his 'chi-magic'. He's Kaisa's best friend. Often the quieter of the two who follows Kaisa in her mischief, he is nevertheless resourceful on hsi own, and seems to have a large well of potential power inhim. he is orphaned whe his motehr is killed in the ship attack.
Zambia~ Near-obsessed with finding aliens, and a technological genius, Zambia never anticipated that aliens would attack her planet - but come they did. With her whole world destroyed and the vast unknown of the universe ahead of her, she was certainly i trouble. However she soon foudn Kaisa and, taking the young teen under her wing, joined her quest to find Kero. Intelligent, curios, maternal and caring - Zambia would do anything to help her new 'cub' Kaisa.
Tyran Suao~ After leavng hsi planet as a teenager, Tyran has mad ehis living as a successful mercenary. Nowadays he works for Xenon, but when relations turn bad between him and the obsessive captain, and Tyran witnesses a horrifying prophecy, is Tyran in danger? And why does 'Death' now stalk him...?
'Death'~ This demon is a mysterious one - summoned by XCenon, he has sinc etaken to stalking tyran. He is rumored to be anything between 65million to 4 billion years old. Naturally quiet, often sad, yet almost stubborn in nature - it is hard to tell whetehr he acts for good or evil....howeve rhis sens eof humor and his seemingly kindly nature seem to be optimistic.
Xenon~
Veretrix~
~~~
Quote: Prologue Pt 1 - The Beginning~Where am I?~
There was nothing, yet there was everything – a blind whiteness, stretching out from him in all directions, further than he could see, purer than the black he could half recall from what he could only assume were dreams – distant memories entwined in heavy uncertainty. It seemed to both surround him and moved through him, and he struggled to define himself from it, hopelessly swimming under senses that had suddenly come to life.
Somewhere he thought he sensed something move; a dull pull, a twitching sensation of a gravity out of his reach. He groped out at the whiteness and found a flat surface of resistance. It was more of a feeling then a substance – a sense that beyond it, pressing invisibly against its surface and sometimes almost in view, as if through frosted glass, there was a consciousness. A something that existed outside this empty -yet so full - space of light.
All He knows is that somehow She was aware, and around him. It had been Her, but the mechanics of it boggled even his mind.
A feeling of warmth seemed to radiate, and he could peek through the divide as it gradually developed. Beyond the tiny film that divided him from this other place where She moved, he could see blackness- like his distant dreams - then specks of light glittering from what he supposed what must have been the aftermath of some sort of energy- an explosion. The universe – that was it’s name. The word found him as if from nowhere.
~I don’t understand…~
He paused, moving back from the blackness and into the white again. Slowly, as if warmed by an inner hearth, knowledge began to greet him.
As mysterious of the origins of the universe was that of his ‘birth’. He could not recall it, but now…here…he was. He was a being within this strange endless plain and he knew at once, written deep into his consciousness, it was his. The white light gradually had a homely feel despite its utter blankness. It felt good…comforting. It was a haven.
~Heaven.~
He smiled to himself and raised himself up moving to the edge of Heaven, where the universe rolled above and down from the light .He pressed his hand against the thin film of matter dividing them once more. Gradually as he stared out at the rubble and glowing embers left form the explosion, the gates of Heaven rose up in great sheets of rock and molten fire, surrounding the place. He smiled and unconsciously as he created the gates and shifted his form to mimic the rolling ‘fire;’ of the big bang. Now he was no longer formless, he could define himself from the white light, taking a quiet pride in the licking flames of his body.
~ Who am I? ~
He looked about the walls of the potential prison of Heaven, its comforting feel gradually becoming claustrophobic as the panic of the mystery of his existence crept through him. He was lost.
Suddenly the universe jumped into life with greater vigour. Asteroids gathered into planets and collected into solar systems, stars were born and collected into separate clumps and formed galaxies, all rocketing off into the distance. He was dimly aware of the titanic passage of time and watched closely. A sense of being utterly lost filled him as the galaxies separated and moved away.
None of this was his. It frightened him to think of how much of this there was. He stared as something pressed what might have been a finger across the film of existence between heaven and the universe, as if beckoning him. It was gone.
He walked forwards again and could feel other consciousnesses take control of these alien galaxies. Tentatively, he reached out, gently pushing his hand out through the film and into the window of space, concentrating…searching until…there!
A new galaxy His galaxy, span around beneath his fingers and he watched it in wonder. The colours- so vivid – rolling purples, blues and reds, speckled with light. He felt He was touching a part of His soul.
~ This…this is who I am. ~
He felt a great relief and studied it closer, then willed it to become nearer.
There were thousands of new stars and a jumble of asteroids everywhere, silently turning. It was a blank canvas, and yet there was so much to grasp.
He turned from it and felt himself swell. He looked lovingly over the plains of Heaven. Pure white light…and the wall.
~There is much to be done~
He thought, smiling. He rose himself into the air, amazed at his own power – he could feel it coursing through him, beating and swelling.
Inspiration suddenly came as a torrent and he felt its warmth and grinned. He could do so much with this. He loved it!
From nowhere a voice came out of the light and whispered.
Jahovah; take care of this. You are its God, and you alone can help me. Keep it safe.
He looked around for the voice and closed his eyes. Instantly knowing who it was. It was Her.
~Fate. I am your servant. ~
There was a beautiful feeling, then it was gone and he was left alone once more.
~Jahovah. That’s my name. ~
He glowed with light and promise and rose to start his masterpiece within heaven, dreaming up the components he would use upon the real galaxy later to come. It was hard work, with every detail taking His attention as he dreamt of what could be possible, if the tiny atoms were able to turn the right way…if, with a little luck, things could evolve like this or that on their own. From nothing, the ideas where everywhere – countless visions and revisions presented themselves to him. He was in control, yet they took such a hold on him he could do little but laugh.
He set to work on Heaven.
On occasion, he was lost as to what to make next. A grass or tree would begin, and yet not end and he wished he too had the freedom of evolution in Heaven to choose for him where his inspiration would wane and he would remain stuck. The concept of evolution and real life was known to him, yet it had not started yet. In fact, he could feel the tiny spider webs of promise and potential stretching out into the future. He turned back to the newborn galaxy as the asteroids chose their stars. He couldn’t just paint a picture of a galaxy, he had to have meaning behind it. It had to have life, like his life.
How could this be achieved? He wanted to share this Galaxy. What could keep it as His stewards?
Concentrating deeply his form shifted. Two legs, two arms, head, torso… suddenly an image leapt out form the future to him and was gone nearly before He could catch it. But He had a glimpse.
Smiling again He realised He had to start here. The job was too big for him alone. He needed help. He looked out to the new lush land he had created in Heaven and brought out a hand, closing his eyes to concentrate.
“Gabriel.”
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 9:42 am
Quote: Chapter 1 – The Present: 2,452AD
KaisaKaisa Smith wandered down the wide, airy corridors of the vast NASA space station, her hands stuffed in her baggy jean pockets, and a tangle of messy straight black hair obscuring half of her face. Judging by the events of the last few weeks, Kaisa had better things to do than brush her hair. Now everything was calm she had neither the willpower nor the pain threshold to brave trying to unknot the terrible lugs and had settled on the hopes that if she left it alone it may take pity on her and return to normal. If this didn’t work, she clung to a hope that dreadlocks may spontaneously sprout from the mess so she could at least attribute it to a personal choice on her part. The corridor led to the main hall of the space station, and in the walls of it were huge windows that let the pale morning light filter in, although the corridors were still artificially lighted. Unlike most corridors, this was not surrounded by rooms but instead its sides opened out into artificial gardens that were roofless and open to the elements; be them kind or cruel. Because of the scorching American sun the gardens were packed with thirty or so people, all savouring the last of Earth’s beauty before the coming launch, stretching out like cats on the grass banks. This was the crew for the cargo ship that was to be launched this afternoon. It would be fat with building material and fuel for the ships constructing another space station some 12 million miles West of Pluto, and from there they would move on to ferry goods between the numerous space stations that littered the nearer reaches of the galaxy. Cargo ships were extremely common place, and practically the galactic equivalent of the mail service. The crew usually travelled around in a rusty 23rd century space ship, barely capable of maintaining the Slingshot Drive that would power the ship beyond light speed without dissolving them into oblivion. They had grinned past the criticisms, but after problems they had to crash-land on Mars and be rescued by the solar division of the Federation. Kaisa could still remember being tossed about within the ship as the gravity and engines failed, and the horrific sound it made scraping the rocky ridges as they dived into the red planet. Though she already missed the old ship, she was glad for the idea that this one wouldn’t spontaneously smoke when you pressed more than 15 buttons within a minute, or spark like a blacksmith’s anvil at every re-entry. This new model was a top 25th century vehicle. The crew was more of a family then anything, like a circus or a band on tour. They were all Kaisa had known, and she had become a shared child between the entire crew. Though she loved them all, she never felt like she belonged with anyone, yet would fight with tooth and claw for each without question. Cargo ship crews, they say, were as loyal as a pack of dogs. They were also the most mixed crew. There were all types of aliens, only about 17 humans were in the thirty. The ships were slow, only usually travelling at 24 times light speed, sluggish for a modern space ship, but it suited the means of the cargo ships. The months or years at a time in space meant that it wasn't surprising for children to be born on board. Therefore it wasn't unusual to find a few half aliens on board, much to the disapproval of the Terrestrialists – an extremist band against alien influence in Humanity. They said it was against nature, and even many of the NASA eggheads were reluctant towards cross-breeding. Kaisa had been born on board, but was fully human. Cargo ships were all she knew, and the crew were the only friends she had. She was 13 years old, nearing 14, with dark brown eyes and a determined look constantly showing in them, as if she had something to prove, or something to do, constantly. She had a figure that would look good when she grew up, but right now was not lacking in puppy fat that she couldn't get rid of. She was wearing a brown T-shirt with black, tatty jeans with a chain dangling from the side, and a too-large green jacket with the federation logo on the front and the NASA sign on the back. She wore black trainers that were unlaced. In general this was her default outfit – Kero had only seen her in anything else once in a blue moon. He had decided to stop questioning whether it was because she never changed or whether she had hundreds of copies of the same outfit. The soot and dirt on her clothes generally suggested the former. Kaisa tugged at her hair again, wincing. “Hey Kaisa!” She turned on her heel and smiled. She waved and he waved back. “Hiya Kero!” A boy, ran out of one of the garden’s doors and down the corridor towards her. He was about her age with dark brown skin, thick - curled to the point of dreadlocks -black hair at near-shoulder length and a nose piercing. He was dressed in a tough-wearing brown religious habit, which tugged at the top part of his legs, and he tripped over twice before finally getting to her. She laughed and he grabbed her elbows for support when he almost tripped again, and grinned. Canine fangs caught the light and pointed ears were visible briefly under his hair. Kero was one of the half- human half-alien breeds on the ship: His father was human, but his mother was a Carluxin. The race was humanoid, and was well known for their psychic abilities and skills in magic (or rather what Kero’s mother insisted as ‘chi manipulation’). “Hi, hi….whew!” he bent an arm around Kaisa’s neck for support and panted and she lightly punched him in the side. “Your mum doesn’t make you do enough laps, ey?” “Shut up.” He straightened up, but kept his arm in place. “You know we’ve gotta be on the space ship soon?” Kaisa nodded. “Uh huh. You got all your stuff?” “I didn’t unpack!” he laughed, grinning again and skipping two and fro on his heels. Kaisa raised a brow at him and stepped back. “What’s up with you? Y’ look like a squirrel!” Kero stopped skipping and frowned at her. “Peh. Nice. Compare me to a rodent!” he feigned offence and folded his arms, sticking his nose in the air. "If you must know I only happened to appear excited because of a new trick I learnt, and wanted to show you..." Kaisa smiled and stood up straighter. She giggled, "Now you look like a peacock!" "Shut up you!" he said smirking, and put his arm around her again. He held out his hand as if he was cupping some water in it. “What if I don’t show you this little trick, ey? I don’t think you’re worthy of my magic perfomanancery skills.” “’ Perfomanancery’ isn’t a word.” “A master sorcerer like me can make up whatever words I want.” “Come off it.” She flicked his nose, making his piercing wiggle uncomfortably. He clapped his free hand to it. “Look, are you going to show me or not, Kero?” she raised a brow at him and he winked. “Ok, ok, just give me some time. Watch the birdie.” Kero directed his attention to his hand and he closed his eyes and moved his mouth silently to some words. His hand quivered slightly and Kaisa stared at it in anticipation. Suddenly an eruption of sparks flew from his hand, spraying from it like a fountain. "GAH!!!!" they both cried and fell over. "I OVERDID IT!" Kero shouted over the deafening fizzing sound that had come with the sparks. "YA THINK?!" Kero's eyes darted around, trying to remember what the words were that would stop the things. Suddenly it flashed into his head. "KAIYO ANI MARGARIJAI" he screamed and the fountain of sparks ceased. Kaisa picked herself up from the floor and after a seconds stunned silence they both broke out into a fit of laughter. A few people in the garden stared through the windows at them and then rolled their eyes, returning themselves to absorbing what natural sunlight they could before the months of darkness in space. Kaisa laughed and pulled Kero up, dusting him off. "Look at that, such a skilled mongrel!" Kero frowned and kicked the back of her legs so she plummeted to the ground again. "OW! You'll pay for that!" she yelled, pushing him over and pinning him down before he rolled on top of her and grabbed her nose. She stuffed her fingers in his armpits and he fell back, laughing, then kicked him in the shins before he could get up, standing up herself. Kero shuffled backwards then rugby tackled her to the ground again, both yelling and laughing and kicking at each other. “What are you doing?!” Kero looked up from the headlock Kaisa had him in to find his mother’s glare fixed on them as she stood towering 6’3’’ above. Jerrianai. A Carluxian, with black hair at least as long as her height, in a single plait. Her skin was blacker than ebony, and piercing purple eyes scowled at them. She was also wearing a habit, and a necklace made out of beads of amethyst that her late husband had given her on their honeymoon. Kero and Kaisa looked up sheepishly at her and both gave a weak smile. "What's happened, why are you fighting?" she demanded, showing her fangs – longer than Kero’s. They both looked at each other and shrugged. They'd forgotten. Jerrianai sighed and pulled Kero up. Kaisa quickly let go of him, putting her hands behind her back sheepishly. “Come on. Ship, now.” She said, leading him down the corridor by his shoulder. Kero sighed and looked around him, holding up a hand in a vague wave to his friend. “See ya later.” “No Kero. See you later.” His mother corrected, giving an agitated glance back at Kaisa. “Yeah?” “Yes!” “I know mom!” Kaisa snickered and waved them off. As they disappeared around the corner she let her arm slowly drop and sighed, putting her hands in her pockets again and turning to return back in the opposite direction. She glanced to the gardens where the crewmembers began to get up and move out. Blinking in surprise at how much sooner the launch must be than she thought, she picked up speed to a run. She headed up some stairs into the reception – now buzzing with activity as the last stragglers and visitors hurried where she had come to prepare for the launch – and she rushed into a small lounge, finding her rucksack on a chair. She breathed a sigh of a relief and a middle aged caretaker looked up from the TV at her and smiled. “I kept your bag safe lil’ lady; you aught not to leave it about on its own y’know.” Kaisa bustled up her bag onto her shoulder and smiled. “Thanks a lot, dude.” “Dude?” the man chuckled and watched her head out the door. “You on the cargo ship, then?” Kaisa looked back and nodded, smiling, although a flicker of a guarded expression crossed her features as if anticipating criticism. The man nodded to himself and placed his hands in his lap. “Well you better head off then. It wouldn’t do for you to be late after all. Tell ‘em thanks from me – as I recall once when my cousin was out on a space station your lot helped him out with getting that space pod to them. Couldn’t have been home for Christmas without it.” Kaisa smiled and nodded again. “Will do, sir.” The man nodded again, pleased at the compliment of a proper title, and waved to her as she charged out of the door and down the stairs. She headed back through the corridor, hoping to catch up with Kero and his mum. When she couldn’t find them she caught her breath and sighed, frowning again. She stuffed her hands in her pockets and walked briskly forwards. She watched as the crew and their tiny families walked ahead of her as they entered the huge main hall and sighed, thinking of her own. She wondered what it would have been like, if her parents were alive. If the explosion had never happened, and they had decided that day not to volunteer to repair the outside of the ship. She couldn’t help but feel like she had been robbed of a true closeness, and that she would never find it. She scuffed the ground with her shoe and looked up as an announcement blared out of one of the speakers. "# All members of the cargo ship X4412 please report to the launching bay for boarding. Repeat: all members of the cargo ship X4412 please report to the launch bay for boarding, thank you. #" There was a moment of no recognition before something clicked. The serial code for the old ship was different, and burned into her memory, but the new one had not settled in yet. When it dawned on her she smiled with the usual rush of excitement passing through her as she awaited her next new 'adventure' in space. She put her hands on the straps of her bag and ran down the hall towards the launch bay.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 9:45 am
Quote: Prologue Pt2Contrary to popular belief, the world did not come into play within a week, or even a year. Time didn’t exist within heaven, although over a while of studying Jahovah had learnt to interpret the ever moving patterns of the asteroids. Occasionally he would stretch out a hand to move things in a certain direction, create stars and sit enchanted by their light, but despite all the creativity that had been bestowed on heaven, he still felt inept to begin work on his galaxy. That is where Gabriel came in.
Once heaven was almost completed, Jehovah had a near-perfect but fleeting flash of inspiration as to what he wanted to create in the stewards. He knew he had to give life to the empty but infinite beauty of space. Of course, as he later found out even more, everything starts in Heaven.
He had surprised himself as how easy Gabriel was to create; he sat transfixed with his hand out concentrating and watched the form rise up out of the light. Eventually this new being - the first life - stood in front of him. It was naked, though asexual in a humanoid form, with delicate beautiful features and a lithe body. Long ringletted golden hair fell about its shoulders lightly, a golden ring of light hovered above his head, six feathery white wings spread out and tested themselves tentatively and large deep blue eyes shone with an internal light as it observed Jahovah with a mix of wonder and surprise, before condensing into a sudden knowledge. Jahovah smiled and withdrew his hand, moving to embrace Gabriel.
“Father?” Gabriel said quietly, moving his hands over Jahovah’s shoulders firmly, as if testing their reality.
“That’s right. I created you Gabriel.”
Gabriel withdrew and looked at him, taking in his every feature. Jahovah was lost in his eyes. They filled with such a being, such a consciousness that it frightened him slightly, but in a good way- SUCH a good way. It was unpredictable, it had free will. He knew it had to have free will in his galaxy. Everything had to. And yet despite this, the angel instantly felt love for him.
Gabriel stretched his wings again and looked at Jahovah, moving to a knee before Jahovah caught him and pulled him back to his feet. He blinked and smiled before moving backwards and folding his long fingers delicately at his lap and looking at him.
“What do you wish me to do, Lord?”
From that statement it all came together. The two spent as much time as they could in the galaxy, (which Gabriel playfully named the Milky Way), turning the rocks together into solar systems and finding which ones they could create life on. Life was what Jahovah strived for and Gabriel marvelled at its prospect. One day when the two had chosen a particular planet to work on, and Gabriel had created volcanoes to start the whole process, Jahovah realised that this job was too big for even the two of them. He looked over at Gabriel as ‘he’ swooped down dodging the magma, moved to the ground to observe the rocks, took a seat and watched them carefully. He was so obedient even despite his free will, but Jahovah got some sort of pulling sense with him. He didn’t think it very fair that Gabriel should only ever be a servant to him. Jahovah moved away and thought. Over the past few heaven-days the image he had briefly got in the creation of Gabriel had come again, clearer now. He knew what the stewards should be eventually, and he knew that life had to exist, but he also knew he couldn’t just create it like that. He wanted to see what the Earth could create by itself, but how could anything evolve into what he wanted? Gabriel was life, but he was wrong in a way.
There was something they lacked.
That image had brought across a flurry of new ideas and finally Jahovah had a solution to the problem. Genders. If it takes two life forms to make another then evolution HAD to happen evolution meant they became a little out of Jahovah’s control and this meant that they had more free will.. However the exact mechanics of this confused him somewhat. It was far off. Gabriel suddenly looked up as it began to rain and laughed, dancing in it.
“Male and female.” Jahovah muttered and Gabriel stopped, looking at him.
“Hm?”
“That’s the answer.”
“To what?”
“Here… let me show you.”
He reached out a rock and something began to swell in it, and then rise up until it changed substances. Suddenly, another angel rose up and looked around stunned. Gabriel stared at it and then moved over.
“Sir?”
“That, Gabriel, is a male.”
A tall man looked around him, long straight black hair falling over a bare tanned back. His eyes were a dark green set in a beautiful but more masculine face holding a thin moustache. He was athletically built and dressed in archer arm and leg bands and a long loin cloth. He only had two powerful white wings and a golden halo also. Gabriel walked up to him to touch his arm and he flinched before blinking again.
“But what IS it?”
Jahovah laughed and moved over, placing his hands on the man’s shoulders. He looked at Jahovah and smiled.
“Well, his name is Lucifer. A male is one half of the life forms I will make; full of testosterone and intelligence, free will...he’s magnificent isn’t he?”
Jahovah grinned and Gabriel looked Lucifer over. Lucifer stared back.
“And he’s like me?”
“Sort of. He’s an angel like you. I thought you needed a companion.”
Gabriel nodded. “Thank you.”
Finally Lucifer spoke in a relatively deep voice, looking out over the volcanoes. “So what now?” Quote: Prologue - pt3
The thunder rolled as Gabriel and Lucifer soared over the clashing clouds, weaving through the lightning to barrel roll down again and observe the seas swell up. Gabriel laughed and span away again, moving back up into the crimson sky as the sun rolled above and Lucifer remained at the water. He curled around as a gizer broke from the surface to find Jahovah sat by the water and flew in to greet him, landing gracefully.
“We have made sure the weather’s constant, the seas are filling up nicely.” He said smiling in achievement, then blinked as Jahovah remained staring the water.
“Master?”
Jahovah looked up. “Oh Lucifer! I’m sorry, I was thinking. What was it you said?”
“The seas are filling up, sir.” He repeated with a small edge of irritation.
“Ah! There’s my lad. That’s perfect.”
He patted Lucifer on the back and turned to trailing his hand in the water. He frowned. Lucifer sat down next to him, folding his wings at his back and looked at his reflection in the water. He enjoyed looking at himself, it seemed that every time he did he found another detail he had not noticed before. He looked at Jahovah’s reflection, which wasn’t there in the form he took, but instead appeared like a bright glow of light from beneath the surface of the water –a part of it. Lucifer wondered why he glowed like that- he supposed it was something to do with being a god, although he had never seen another to compare. He knew that they had vast power as a god. The creator. It made him shiver sometimes when he looked at Jahovah’s reflection. A pure light and control. The angel was never happier than when he was creating things for his master. He knew he was damn good at it too. He smiled with pride at this thought, pulled his hair behind his ear and looked at Jahovah’s face again.
“What is it that troubles you, father?”
Jahovah turned to Lucifer, but both were struck for words as they marvelled at a particularly sudden and great flash of lightning as it forked its way to the ground to be chased by a titanic roar of thunder. Lucifer felt the hairs on his neck stick up and he laughed.
“Everything here is perfect, what can worry you?”
Jahovah smiled as the lightning disappeared and he heard Gabriel’s thrilled laughter from above.
“It’s not worry, but a puzzle, My Light. Look.”
He pointed up to Gabriel as the archangel zipped into another clump of clouds.
“You know that you are different to him. You’re a male, and a good one at that. Now I need to make a female, but it’s complicated.”
“How so?”
Lucifer moved to recline on his back to watch the storm better.
“There are many issues. The female will harbour the life I create- she is key to the evolution that is so important. I need something that can hold a child. Now, the animals I have more or less sorted, but, for my stewards to be just right I need to give them values and a tie to their children. I need the child inside the mother – she has to be a mammal. The sanctity of life can’t be kept unless there is that initial bond you see?”
Lucifer frowned. “What is an animal? What’s a mammal?”
“I know I haven’t told you everything, for there is an infinite amount of things to tell.” He put a hand on Lucifer’s face. “But you miss the point my boy. I need the mother. I think I have it right, but it’s so complicated, the womb and such. Of course your design wasn’t easy, but she as the second piece needs to fit well with you, else it’s hopeless.”
Lucifer nodded and looked up as the rain finally stopped. Gabriel swooped down. Jahovah stood up and stretched.
“I believe evolution should work itself out for me… I will probably get a premonition soon to help me. I feel the full answer is close.”
Lucifer stood up also and Jahovah turned back to the sea.
“Now. Let’s begin.”
He moved to his knees and bent towards the water. Suddenly there was a blinding flash of white light emitted from his hand, and then everything was normal again. Jahovah rocked back and smiled broadly at the seemingly empty water.
“Come, come. Look.”
He pointed again and Lucifer and Gabriel leant in to see. A tiny cell-like organism hung stationary in the water and then suddenly began to divide. Gabriel and Lucifer gasped, leaning in closer so that their faces almost touched the water.
“What is it?” Gabriel breathed as the pairs divided again and wiggled through the water a few millimetres.
Jahovah stood up again and smiled. “Beautiful isn’t it? That, my children, is life. Real life. Now let us leave them to their own devices for a while. I will populate the other planets also in a few days. Back to Heaven.”
Gabriel tore himself away and nodded, following Jahovah back through the thin film between their world and ours. Lucifer continued to look at the creatures, now in their hundreds, writhing about in the water. There was no white glow from them, but he had a deep feeling of an ominous power in them he and Gabriel didn’t have, which collected in his chest and gut. He didn’t know why, but these were special. He looked back to where Jahovah and Gabriel had disappeared and frowned, returning his gaze back to the water. He didn’t even get that feeling so strongly around Jahovah. There was a dormant power in them, and it made his heart beat that little bit faster. It frightened him a little.
“Why are you so special?” he whispered to the ever increasing organisms.
Lucifer! Come on.
He shook himself and turned away, disappearing through the film and back into heaven.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 9:52 am
Quote: Chapter 2 – The ship with no nameA few hours later the ship was well on its way to Pluto, gliding through the vacuum of space and out of Earth’s Federation Sensors with a good natured farewell. The captain was proudly sitting at the helm and the cooks were busy cooking and organising in the kitchen, merrily preparing for the celebratory first lunch. Everyone was in their place, doing their jobs as instructed. Everyone, of course, but Kero and Kaisa. "Klingons to your left captain Kaisa!!" Kero yelled across the holding bay. "BBBBUSSSSIIHHHHHHH!!! GOT'EM Henson Kero!" Kaisa hollered back, leaning forwards in the space pod and holding onto the controls, pressing with wild enthusiasm on the dimmed buttons. Somewhere on the screen ‘Control Lock’ flashed silently, prompting ‘Disengage Key Lock?’ before fading after being ignored. The Cargo bay was a large empty metal room, stocked full with crates. The one Person Transport Space Pods, used for individual trips and as life rafts, were stacked on a pile of heavy crates rocking precariously as Kero and Kaisa fired imaginary guns at imaginary enemies energetically from either side of the Cargo bay; the cylindrical shape of the pods hindered by stout legs. "DIE YOU ALIEN SCUM!" Kaisa screamed 'killing' another part of the wall. Kero grinned happily and leant out of his ship, pointing his hand like a gun and firing at the wall. The only problem was that Kero’s hands were actually armed. Huge bolts of energy suddenly erupted out of his hand and exploded onto the wall, fanning out and corroding the metal until it dispelled, leaving a sooty dent the size of a land rover. Both shut up with shock and stared at it, then slid slowly out of their vessels, "Umm…" Kaisa said, trembling, "Wanna do something else now?" Kero stared at his hands and gulped. "Yeah…" For some moments they were silent, walking out of the heavy metal sliding doors that were the entrance to one of the many cargo holds. Kaisa stuck her head out first, and checked around to make sure that no one was looking when they slunk out. Kero followed, gingerly avoiding touching Kaisa as he brushed past her. She stared at him levelly, then broke out into a smirk. “What?” Kero said, irritably, hooking his thumbs into the belt of his habit so as to keep his hands close to his body. “Nice shootin’ partner.” Kaisa laughed. “God, what’re you? You’re as bad as that asteroid!” Kero frowned. “Asteroid? What?” Kaisa sighed, rolling her eyes. “I mean, you’re just as dangerous. You could’ve just blown up the entire ship just then!” Kero bristled. “Shut up. That was… it was fine.” “Yeah, fine and dandy, I’m sure.” Kero snorted. “Shut up, it was your idea anyway.” “I didn’t expect you to be using real ammo.” Kero looked coolly at her. “Ok, ok. Fine I’m sorry, don’t get mardy.” She put a hand on his shoulder and wiggled it, smiling sweetly. There was a pause and she started laughing again. “You better not destroy this ship. That’s all. It’s all new an’ shiny.” Kero shoved her off, half smiling. “Hey, you say I’m as powerful as an asteroid field? I’m touched. No, really. I’m sure I’ll take it as a compliment. Yep. That’s what I’ll do.” Kaisa clicked her fingers in mock defeat. “Darn, you’ve outfoxed me mister skilled magician, sir.” “Damn straight.” “Seriously though…don’t blow up the ship. I kinda like this one. It doesn’t smell.” Kero shoved her again, sending her smacking into a wall. “’course not.” She pulled herself up, rubbed her face, but grinned. “Argh you little- ok! You’re in for it now!” She dived after him, but Kero was already off running. Meanwhile, the vacuum of space cocooned the cargo ship, blanketing it yet at the same time isolating it. In an age of travel, where species skipped from one planet to the next, space was the shipping currents. It was as large and mysterious as the ocean had been to our ancestors – huge, powerful and cold. As terrifying as the vast unknown of the sea had been, at least the ocean had been something. It was the nothingness of space that many hardened traveller felt trickling into the cracks of their minds. The ocean was a beast; a creature of it’s own that -true enough- seemed to want to kill you at times and swallow you whole and drag you into the crushing weight of it’s core; but Space was passive and empty, sucking out the existence of everything. This apathy often tormented those who swam in the black nothingness for too long. For Xenon, the emptiness excited him. The more time he spent in space, the clearer his thoughts felt. It was sterile and absent from corruption and idiocy. Space was the mistress that held all the answers…and the power. Miles upon miles above the cargo ship, (a mere hair’s breadth in the view of Space), Xenon’s ship hung in the blackness. It was far larger than the cargo ship, and covered in a reflective black exoskeleton, built in panelled layers like a scorpion’s armour. It was as deadly as the scorpion in arsenal also, and not much more subtly, with the hanging machines of weapons under its belly. Lucidly streamline, it was the height of alien technology for those who could afford it (and very little could). If the sinister cloaking could not tell you clearly enough who the occupants were, the price could: Space Pirates. These morally deficit individuals were often the richest; after all who could fail to be rich in a no-cost-all-profit job? From cargo, to ships, to slavery to small moons - the pirates had grips on it all. However this particular ship was not nearly as commonplace as those ‘thugs’. The ship was strictly ‘off the radar’ of the Federation for the simple reason that it left no survivors. As a considerably older pirate adage told: ‘Dead men tell no tales’. Xenon, however, having never heard of these old Earth pirates, nor listened intently to any stories about Long John Silver as a child, made do with common sense and bloodlust in these matters. He sat inside this ship in the captain’s seat – a metallic throne like chair – and tapped his clawed fingers impatiently, his short tail flicking two and fro in anticipation as he watched the Cargo ship on the huge observation screen. Xenon was an Animagnan - more specifically the sub species Hynan. Like the rest of his home planet’s species he was an anthropomorphic beast, his species resembling a hyena. Course, short brown spotted fur covered his entire body, and wiry shoulder length straight hair was swept back from his muzzled face, settling mane-like between two long tufted ears on top of his head. His face was powerfully set, with a square, thick muzzle filled with carnivorous teeth, and topped with a large wet nose. Despite his dog like quality, his eyes were bright, not with a dopey loyalty, but with a sharp human intelligence and cunning. Though dark and fixed on the observation screen, they occasionally flickered about the room wildly before returning. Twitches in his face occasionally appeared and the eyes would flare with insanity. Hynans had no concept of melodrama, but they achieved it effortlessly just by existing. “What’s the population?” he asked in a rasped voice that none the less held the intonation of education buried deep within it. One of the various crewmembers on the helm controls looked at his equipment and smiled, "Only 36 crew members sir; no-one will know they disappeared." "Good." The captain smiled, drawing a tongue over the backs of his teeth slowly. “Weapons?” Another responded with a smug smirk. "Low base lasers captain Xenon. They wouldn't even singe us, nor do they look much worth robbing if you don’t mind me saying so, sir. Our nuclear weapons will take care of them. " "No." Xenon said holding out his hand and clicking his fingers as he thought, "They will be perfect…" "For what sir?" "None of your business!" he barked suddenly, breaking his calm appearance and making the crewmembers flinch, "Just keep them alive! I want them captured, NOW!" "Yes sir." They said nervously, reminding themselves to be more on guard for his outbursts next time. "Good…" he purred, and sat back gently again, folding his fingers under his chin. “Bring her down.” Silently the ship turned, and went for a dive; its sensors guiding it to the exact location of the cargo ship X4412. With a subtle green flash, their weapons powered up. Not the nuclear ones, but the more docile lasers. The captain of the cargo ship stood up in surprise. The Henson had just reported a ship that had come, as it seemed, out of nowhere on the sensors and even revealed that its weapons were locked on the engines. Xenon allowed them this information. The ship could easily cover up and confuse their sensors no sooner than he could blink, but panic was what he wanted. Yes, the captain would keep any danger discreet from most of his crew. Xenon would have to choose where to shoot carefully, in order to get the common crew worried. "What should we do captain?" The advisor queried, after being given a vague description of the size of Xenon's ship. "Hail them." The captain ordered, "Let's see what they want." The communicator opened a channel to Xenon's ship. A little light flashed out of the corner of the Cytan pilot’s eye. "Do you wish to speak to them sir, they are requesting attention." The Cytan – Veretrix - said carefully, wary of Xenon's irrational mood swings. "Hmmm…." Xenon wondered, his tail flicking two and fro and his ear twitching. He stood up. "Yes… let us see this captain…let him know who I am when my face is the last one he sees." He grinned and looked down at Veretrix. He hastily pressed a button, avoiding Xenon’s stare. The screen at the front of the ship flashed into life, with the same initial green glow as the power was triggered as the weapons as they had charged. The captains frowning face appeared on the screen, dominating the room. "I am Captain P. V. Maneley, of the cargo ship X4412, from planet Earth. Who may I ask are you?" Xenon smirked, "Wouldn't you like to know." The captain made a sound of irritation and gritted his teeth. The encounter already was pouring ice down his spine, and he couldn’t understand why he had grown so afraid so quickly. It was unnatural; after all he had been trained, and knew how to deal with pirates. Nevertheless, his heartbeat increased to a stressed hammer. "Ok little monkey, I’ll play your game." Xenon said smiling wider, revealing his powerful, yellow fangs. "I am Xenon. This," he said waving a hand absently at the ship, "Is my ship. It has no name because it needs no name; it is simply the instrument of your destruction." He laughed, placing his hands on his hips, his tail wagging quickly. The captain struggled to remain composed. He was embarrassed, but most of all afraid. He personally had dealt with small pirates in the past, though most knew cargo ships were peaceful and ones the size of his rarely carried anything of substantial value – at least not valuable enough for space pirates. He sensed quickly that xenon was something else. It was something in Xenon’s eyes that caused his heart to pierce with fear, and caused his voice to quaver as he replied. "What do you plan to do? WHY?" The captain said quietly, his voice erupting on the last word to a yell of desperation, taking himself by surprise. He was no longer restraining this fear. "Are you pirates?" the captain added weakly. Xenon laughed the devilish cackle that reminded the captain far too much of the hyenas back home calling each other for a fresh carcass. The captain was terrified of what would happen to his crew, his…family. Xenon sensed it. He could taste every atom of the head crew's fear. He lived for that taste. "No, no…we're not pirates." Xenon said quietly, just loud enough for the captain to hear, leaning forward so his face was just in front of the screen. "Why would we want any of your cargo?" he asked mockingly, "We want something more…" "What?" "Your li-ives…" Xenon said I a sing-song voice, swirling around and cackling again. He suddenly threw himself violently onto the bar protecting the communication screen from any falling bodies, stopping himself with his hands, his claws extending. He looked up with his demented eyes and bared his teeth. The captain stared in dread at this crazed creature. His training hadn’t prepared him for this mad…thing. The Henson looked around into the advisor's eyes as she nodded. Then Veretrix called, "Xenon, their engines are powering up for light speed!" Xenon suddenly snapped out of his psychotic state and turned around, suddenly calm and smiled, turning to the screen again. "Oh-ho captain…" He chuckled, "We can go three times as fast as you." With one swoop of his arm their lasers fired and maimed the cargo ship's engines, sending the ship shaking. "LALALA! You've got no pow-er!" Xenon sang again, breaking into a fit of devilish laughter and dancing in a circle. "Damn you!" The captain shouted. “Why don't you surrender captain, make it all, a little quicker." Xenon said. "GO TO HELL! Hannah, turn the b*****d off!" "Ok." Xenon said, smirking, "But I'm not going to hell alone." The communication channel was severed by Xenon first and the captain's face paled with worry disappeared in a flash of green light. Veretrix looked up nervously at Xenon, who was grinning maliciously and scratching his furred chin. His crew waited and watched him silently. The silence was broken by the sound of the electronic sliding doors. Xenon's eyes darted to the door back to see a medium height human-like alien called a Mon’tan standing in the doorway. "Ah, Tyran, my boy," Xenon said in a cheerful, paternal manner, “decided to join us?" Tyran grunted and moved over beside Xenon, absently running a hand through some fur-like spiky black hair, then tugging on one of the red chunks of hair that fell over his shoulders free of lugs. “Are you going to destroy them or what?" Veretrix flinched in anticipation of Xenon suddenly lashing out at the blunt statement, but it never came. Tyran seemed to be the only one who escaped xenon’s temper. "No…" Xenon said, like you would say 'silly boy' to a child who swore there were monsters under their bed, "We're going to capture them." Tyran nodded curtly and started to walk to the door, "I'll get the soldiers then." He said simply, as he usually did, and disappeared through them, his black monkey tail, neatly wrapped around his waist, being the last thing they saw. Veretrix wrinkled his nose slightly, glanced at xenon and steered the ship down to board the Cargo ship. The ship X4412 was in red alert. The captain paced, deciding what to do, speaking hurriedly to his helm crew as in the belly of the ship the few security officers collected and armed themselves, ready for the imminent boarding the sensors promised. A shaking throughout the ship that nearly knocked the inhabitants off their feet proved that the eagle had landed. The more common remainders of the crew were panicking, only increased by the booming voice of the captain over the tannoys that they were going to evacuate. "What's happening?" Kero called to Kaisa, who was just beside him, but couldn't hear anything over the commotion. "A Ship attacked us!" Kaisa yelled back, her eyes darting around, watching everyone's distress. "Is it serious?" "I don't know!" They took each other by the hand so as not to get separated and started running down the corridors, just two more people in the stampede. "It looks like their trying to evacuate!" Kero said, pointing to a frantic woman trying to help an elderly man in an escape pod. "Why?" Kaisa asked being pushed aside by a burly alien, "We've only been hit…" Suddenly there was a yell. As if from no where thirty or so armed aliens boarded the ship, jogging down to where all the people were, then going to the main deck. The others fanned out, grabbing for those trying to evacuate. Like a tide the crew turned, trying to get away from them. Kaisa and Kero were stuck and ran to the nearest wall, covered partially by a metal outcrop and hid, looking frantically around and gripping each other so hard their knuckles turned white. Kaisa pressed herself and Kero further to the wall when a straggler exited from where the soldiers had boarded a few seconds later. He was a man with wild black and red hair. Kaisa shut her eyes and Kero looked at him, praying that he wouldn’t notice them. He paused in the middle of the floor, watching the soldiers exit, and turned to them. He fixed his sharp amethyst coloured eyes on Kero and kept them there, watching him. Kero cursed and Kaisa clung onto him tighter, her eyes still stubbornly shutting out what terrified her. The man’s black tail flicked out from around his waist, wagged lazily and he gave a thin smirk. Raising an eyebrow at Kero, he turned and walked away from him, exiting through the doors to the main helm. From behind the doors they could faintly hear him shout. “Xenon said alive you idiots!” Kero breathed a sigh of relief and released his grip on Kaisa a little, but the message written on the man’s face was clear. I don’t have to capture you personally – there’s no escape. Looking about them, they started as more soldiers filtered back into the room, preceded by a few more fleeing people. Kero forced any creeping grief for the helm-crew’s fate down and shook Kaisa, running to a jog to get away too. “Kaisa! Kaisa are you ok?” Her usually rock hard resilience was faltering and she nodded, forcing a firm look on herself. “yeah sure. We-“ “KERO! KAISA!” Kero's mother was running down in front of them, crying out. In one scoop she picked Kero up, grabbed Kaisa by the hand as she was running; pushing the crowd away to get to the escape pods. A soldier dived in front of her and she turned on her heels, dragging Kaisa behind her, running in the direction she'd just come from, diving through the doors. "Mom!" Kero yelled over the noise, “What’re you doing?! The escape pods are back there!" "NO!" Jerrianai snapped, pulling him closer to her, "We're getting to the cargo!" She belted down the hall like a black mare in a thunderstorm, knocking her friends and enemies out of the way – Maternal instincts on fire. She tripped over, letting go of Kero and Kaisa and sending them flying. She tried to get back up and cried out in pain, clutching her ankle. Looking back at the chaos she forced herself to her knees. "Children, go to the cargo bay! I'll be there!" She yelled to him. He nodded and got up, dodging the soldiers to get to his goal, Kaisa running right behind him. They pushed back the broken sliding metal doors with difficulty, and ran into the cargo bay. "There!" Kaisa said, pointing to the space ships they had played in and gasping for air, even at the short run. Both the hammering of his heart and the adrenaline set his lungs on fire. "It can only fit one person in it!" Kero said desperately, watching five soldiers pursuing them, "Get one each then!" Kaisa cried, pushing him into one and getting into the other. "What about mom?" "She'll be behind us – she said. We have to go!" Kero looked around the room helplessly looking for his mother. Kaisa gripped onto the controls of the ship, looking desperately at the controls, then to her companion as the soldiers charged in and climbed the crates to get to them. “Kero, we have to go NOW!” she shrieked. He gulped, strapped himself in and get ready for take off. "The red button!" Kaisa called to him. He nodded, struck momentarily by the irony that there was actually a ‘big red button’ and pressed it. The whole ship appeared to shake, and in one surge of energy and power his ship took off, the superior new metal blasting through the roof and into space. As it managed to pierce the metal roof all the air was sucked out, sucking Kaisa's ship with it, sending it spinning out of control and into the depths of space. Kaisa gripped for life on the controls and watched Kero’s ship catapulting away from her. She groped hopelessly at the viewing glass. "KERO!" "KAISA!" Back in the corridor Jerrianai had managed to stand up and was looking around desperately, making sure her son was safe. People were being beaten, captured and shot into submission all around her, the more capable ones being killed if they resisted. It was all or nothing. Taking a deep breath, she focused all her energy onto getting to the next cargo bay, one of the series that had not been destroyed by the vacuum of space. Her muscles tensed, and in a burst of speed she headed off down the corridor, her long legs taking her faster then most. The rest of the soldiers hadn't noticed the children get away; the soldiers that followed them were killed when all the air escaped out of the cargo bay and the pressure changed so dramatically. Everyone expected the kids to have died with them. A scaly one of Xenon's soldiers saw Jerrianai belting down the corridor and pursued her, gathering energy between his hands, ready to shoot a Chi blast when he got the chance. (Chi being a life-force that many aliens had learnt to manipulate for deadly use.) When she reached it she almost crashed into the cargo bay door and struggled to get it open. She heard panting and turned around. The alien was trying to catch his breath, his hands glowing with Chi energy, and pointed at her chest. She looked up slowly, and he scowled. "Heh…Heh" He tried to laugh, wheezing,” Cornered…. A-eh…are we?" She stared at him, thinking. Her face was as blank as blank as a statue’s, but her eyes darted around trying to think how to get out of this. Her attacker stood and watched, his hands glowing, though gradually fading with the length of time of gathering. Jerrianai practically snorted aloud. He was obviously as killed with chi as he was fit, although she would not be able to hold him off long enough for his chi attack to fade completely. Praying that he had less energy than she thought even then, she made her decision- the only choice. Fight or flight. "MAJERTAHA NAEIFH!" She screamed, sending a ball of magic energy at him. He let his chi energy erupt. The two special attacks fought against each other, moving closer and closer to Jerrianai. His attack, though unskilled was far stronger than she had anticipated. Brute power with little control. But enough… the surging weight of the attack against hers was superior, but she battled on with her magic.She panted with exhaustion, and stared at his grinning face, like a hunter's with a tiger skin. She wouldn’t be able to beat that attack. She knew there was little chance she could get off the ship either. A wave of hopelessness reached her. Was Kero safe? If he was she had to reach him… there was only one way she could do this now. Desperately, as the attack neared, sending waves of fatigue down her arm muscles, she looked for another way. She could hear the cries of those who had been captured, and knew that with this enemy she had no way of escaping. Even if she managed to fend off his attack first time around. By the time she had turned and forced the cargo bay doors open she would be shot in the back. He was substantially huge enough to block off her exit and grab her if she tried to snake around him. Hopeless. ~Kero, my darling…forgive me.~ She sighed and parted her hands, letting the magic cease. She was vulnerable and unguarded. It was all in slow motion. Jerrianai saw the attack coming towards her, his face grinning at her, her heartbeat in her ears slower then usual, thud-thud, thud-thud, in her ears, her breathing like a storm's gale swirling around her head, the backing for the pulsating thud of her heart. Her eyes were opened wide in wonder, a strange light filtering all around her, and her murderer to be, the light watching, and waiting - twinkling reassuringly. She turned to face the attack again, it almost hitting her…and she knew what she must do. All Carluxians were taught this. A last hope, to ensure your spirit will be with your loved ones…last contact. She took a breath, like the tide's breath, closed her eyes, and whispered to the light; "Kaio conor meisai naftertai, kai nedai iabe…." The light turned brighter, and warmed her face; she opened her eyes, smiling a little. Time was restored. The attack, like a speeding train charged to her, going right through her body. She gasped in pain and collapsed, lying like a fallen silk cloth on the floor. She gasped her last breath; saw her last sight, the silhouette of her murderer, a shadow against the blinding, beautiful light… Her body gave up, her heartbeat stopped, everything stationary. Rising up from her body, like a phoenix from the flames, her spirit rose, dragon formed, a smoky mist with piercing purple eyes. It was invisible to the murderer. It rose up, accompanied by the light and with one smoky wing beat, disappeared through the space ship walls into the darkness of space. It searched, and found him. Kero's space ship. He was sitting inside, shivering. It went through the spacecraft's walls and rested in his lap. He looked down slowly and met her amethyst gaze. "No." he said weakly, picking it up in his hands, "No." It circled his head and as he breathed in followed the air, circulating around his body and touching his soul. As he breathed out, it followed, back outside him again. "No." He said again, grasping out for her spirit, "No…mother!" Her spirit brushed past his face, and smiled, travelling out of the spacecraft and into the darkness of space, before fading to join the life and disappearing. Kero smiled weakly, knowing that she got what she wanted, but he couldn’t stop the hot tears spilling from his eyes and a choked wail escaping his mouth. Floating in solidity in space, he wished he had died with her. In the confinement of his spaceship, he mourned…. Kaisa looked around her again, but Kero's space ship was gone. Maybe gone forever, she thought, but forced the thought from her mind. She looked around her again, the blackness of space haunting, mocking.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 9:54 am
Quote: Prolouge ~ Pt 4Later, Jahova was sitting in one of the many gardens, thinking over the problem of the female again. Around him the foliage changed with each tiny premonition and thought - first purple, then green then with large blooms or small, patterning or none, endless shapes and combinations, until it settled again on a luscious green grass and brown-barked trees. Gabriel was sat on one of the large branches of an apple tree happily eating. Though none of the angels nor Jahova actually needed to eat, they had found to their surprise that eating was one of the great pleasures in life, along with breathing, a heartbeat and sleep. Lucifer was eating one of the apples also, though was also doing pull-ups upside-down from another branch. Gabriel had no idea why he did so much running around and training. The man had even challenged him to a wrestle once. When he asked Jahova he had just chuckled and said that they were on ‘different wavelengths’ to each other. He automatically assumed it was a male thing and wondered how a world that included males could function if all they wanted to do was sport.
Suddenly Jahova jumped up and grinned.
“Finally!”
Lucifer back flipped off his branch and picked off another apple and Gabriel hopped off his.
“What, Father?”
“The female! I have her design complete now.”
Lucifer looked excited and threw the apple cores away. Jahova noticed this and held up a hand.
“I know ideally she should be your soul mate Lucifer, but I need to think fairly on her. The whole point of evolution is through choice. She must choose who her mate is.”
Lucifer folded his arms.
“What? Between me and Gabriel?” he smirked.
“Of course not. Rise Adam and Eve.”
Gabriel took to the air and smiled as two figures rose from the grass and took shape simultaneously.
Eve was the female – a naturally thin but by no means skeletal woman with large hips, a medium-bust and a toned stomach that still held some essential body fat around the base of the stomach and hips. Long but relatively curvy legs were partially covered by a similar loin cloth to Lucifer’s, coupled with cloth straps to cover her breasts. Her skin was light and sun kissed glowing with health. Her features were delicate and beautiful with dark lashed brown eyes under defined eyebrows. She had back-length thick wavy brown hair complete with a small plait down the side behind large pointed ears. A golden halo crowned her above her head and two white feathery wings stretched. In short, she had the outstanding natural beauty, not of a half-starved make up clad model, but of a natural, healthy, perfect-for-child-bearing beauty you could perhaps see walking down any street.
Adam was the male – he was tall and athletic, with paler skin and a lighter frame than Lucifer. Blue eyes sat it a relatively artistic looking face, frames by pointed ears and long hair. His hair was pure white and seemed to take on a floaty quality, some swept up over the front of his head and falling down into long bangs at his forehead. The rest fell down his back and lower-back level. He was dressed in the archer bands and loin cloth also, with two large white wings and the same golden halo as the rest of the angels.
The two looked around, at each other, at the other angels and then at Jahova. Suddenly as if waking from a dream they seemed to realise where they were.
“Welcome my dears.” Jahova smiled and embraced them both. Lucifer stared at Eve.
“That’s a female?”
“Exactly right. Now we have more life to make. We need to show them the galaxy…”
From that moment time seemed to pass faster in the galaxy as if a great ball had been set rolling. Life had well and truly taken route, and it fascinated the new angels as much as it had the older ones. As amoebas and bacteria mutated and evolved, Jahova and the angels were there. When they turned into more complex organisms Jahova realised more were needed to help manage these lives as they inevitably died and bred and evolved and prospered. The little fates of each needed tweaking in order to move in the right direction, and Jahova created a world without evil, naturally with some suffering as no death or illness was without it, but not malicious intent. From the four archangels, Jahova created hundreds of sub angels, which turned into thousands. Heaven became a veritable sub world, and the main city was established as its core – Eden. Heaven and the galaxy was thriving, and by the time the first animals as a moving more complicated life with a soul and all had come to live, Jahova was vastly pleased with the variety of his work and the movement it was taking. The stewards, the intelligent free thought he hoped to create were growing closer gradually. Everything seemed perfect.
And, so often when things appear this way, there is something brewing to potentially tear it apart.
It all started with Eve. Despite having full choice of all the males she wanted, she fell deep in love with Adam, and the two were rarely ever separated. When the archangels accompanied Jahova, Lucifer would watch them hungrily from the sidelines, and his insides twisted around in jealousy.
He couldn’t have what he wanted, what he deserved. He was the first male, so in his mind he deserved the first female. He felt cheated. However this was not the only problem.
He sat on a slab of rock and tried to ignore Eve and Adam as they flew overhead, hand in hand, and focused his attention on a primitive lizard like creature as it skirted by. He snorted. Jahovah had appeared to have taken a back seat recently. He remembered the time when they had ascended to the sky to create storms. When Jahova had created this life. Now he just sat back and watched it. He didn’t do anything with such great potential anymore. Just a nudge here and there, just the carrying of a particularly intelligent soul somewhere in heaven. Or so it seemed to him. At least everything was so good. Reincarnation here and there but nothing of purpose. He was a God! He might as well have been one of the animals himself. Growling as Eve laughed, the angel shot out a hand and snatched one of the creatures, holding it in front of him as it struggled against his grip.
“What’re you, a steward one day? Something to keep the galaxy for its own, to look after it? Shape your own destiny and have us running about after you? That’s what he wants, isn’t it?”
He tightened his grip and the creature made a high pitched squealing sound. He saw another larger creature creep through a bush. A predator having heard the squeal and come to investigate.
“I’m going to be a servant to you? I’m a servant to Jahova, to bloody Eve and her b*****d boyfriend! Gabriel just flitters around like a fool to them, he can’t see what’s right in front of his nose. You think you’re in control don’t you? I felt it when you were first created.”
The thing finally stopped squealing and hung limp. The predator sniffed and lay down in the bush.
“God- peh! I could do a better job. Then you little f***ers would answer to me. I would be the god and you would be the servants, not the other way around. I could have the power, not Jahova, I could be in control…”
He stopped as if the weight of what exactly he was saying had suddenly struck him.
“None of this p***y footed good-for-good’s-sake everywhere. I’d make you work, no benevolent handshakes to your kind. You’re not that special, you don’t deserve it! You should worship me! You’d – “
“What’re you doing?”
Lucifer snapped his head up and frowned. One of the lower angels- Mestopheles, a red haired muscled masculine yet gentle male- had circled and came in to land next to him. He pointed to the lizard in Lucifer’s hand.
“It’s dead.” Lucifer said shortly, dropping it. “What do you want?”
“I wondered what you were yelling about.” He said apologetically, picking up the lizard. He stared at the red finger marks across its torso and looked in horror at Lucifer.
“Y-you killed it?”
Lucifer looked at him and folded his arms.
“What? Plenty of things kill other things.”
“To eat. To defend themselves. You didn’t need to do either…oh my god, you killed it! On purpose! It’s…it’s murder…”
Lucifer moved forward and snatched the lizard from the young angel’s hands, throwing it out towards the bush. The predator sniffed again and moved out to grab it, but Lucifer had already seized it by its neck as quick as lightning and dragged it to Mestopheles. The creature kicked and yelped and writhed to try and bite him, but he grabbed its hind legs and pulled it straight. Mestopheles withdrew in horror.
“Lucifer, put it down, what are you doing?!”
“Murder? You call killing this murder?”
He pulled on its front and hind legs fiercely and it screeched kicking and wiggling as best it could when it was pulled into a straight line.
“These aren’t worth sh*t.”
“Stop it!”
Mestopheles moved forward to try and help it but Lucifer pulled violently on its legs. Something snapped inside and it stopped moving, but continued screaming.
“For the love of god Lucifer leave it alone!”
Lucifer laughed and stepped backwards.
“’The love of God’? Jahova doesn’t give a flying f*** about us, we’re just his servants! I curse the day I ever called him father.”
Mestopheles stared at him.
“W-what are you saying?”
Lucifer let go of the creature’s front legs and held it dangling from its hind ones limply as it changed to whimpering.
“I’m saying we don’t need him. He’s got it all wrong.”
He shook the animal and its eyes rolled back into its head as blood trailed from its mouth with a cry. Mestopheles stared at it tearfully and glared at Lucifer.
“Please just let it die Lucif-“
He muttered before he was cut of by Lucifer throwing it at him. He caught it and cradled it in his arms.
“That is not a beautiful thing Mestopheles. We’re beautiful. Us. These…I felt it all those millions of years ago I felt it …they were like Jahova, like they were special, more special than him, than us. These pathetic ground crawlers don’t deserve a damn thing! Jahova’s just letting them do what they want. He’s not even ruling heaven like a king, yet we are still his servants. We serve him, we serve THEM.”
He pointed at the dying animal and Mestopheles looked at it as it wheezed its last breath.
“These damn mortals.”
Mestopheles, stroked the dead animal before letting go of it.
“How can you say we’re beautiful when you just tortured this innocent thing?”
Lucifer snorted.
“What right does it have to just exist with no evil or emotional pain in its life. I know about pain you know!”
He looked up to the sky where he had seen Eve.
“It’s not fair. Heaven’s a lie; it’s all just His kingdom. I’m sick of being a servant; I deserve to be a god, all this is going to waste under that old fool.”
He gestured around him and Mestopheles stared at him again.
“Don’t tell me you just…I’m out of here.” He spread his wings to fly and Lucifer grabbed one.
“Stop. Shut up. We are given free will, yet we unconditionally serve him to cater for these dumb animals that are ‘so much holier than us’ - apparently. Doesn’t that seem wrong to you?”
Mestopheles looked deep into his eyes and then slowly, reluctantly nodded.
“It…does seem a little wrong somehow.”
Lucifer smirked.
“Exactly” he hissed. “Now, it would be too easy for us to take control wouldn’t it? We were made in his image with powers, were we not? There is many more of us than him, is there not? We could take over, and then the galaxy would be our utopia with those animals for slaves.”
“I don’t know...”
“You do. Then it would be our galaxy, not theirs, and we would control it and they would serve us…its perfect.”
Mestopheles looked at the animals discarded bodies.
“But the killing...”
“If they obeyed us none of this need ever happen again. You could make sure of that…as my viceroy. Now what do you think?”
“But to kill Jahova…”
Mestopheles put a hand over his mouth and looked around apprehensively. Lucifer grinned.
“You don’t need to worry about that. Now, in secret, I need you to gather whatever angels you can…all of them. We will hold a meeting within the Earth month, alright?”
“That soon? I-I’m not sure… How do we know anyone will want to support you-us?”
“You’ll be surprised, I’m sure.”
He let go of Mestopheles’ wing.
“Well…I guess I could get Beelio, he knows how to convince people, he knows near everyone. I-I think he’ll go for it.”
Lucifer nodded and Mestopheles took to the air.
“Oh, and Mestopheles?”
“Yes?”
Satan picked up the predator again.
“If you betray me, it won’t just be a broken spine you have to worry about.”
Mestopheles looked alarmed and nodded quickly, flying away. Lucifer smiled, nodding to himself and picked up the lizard also, throwing both animals into the bush.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 9:59 am
Quote: Chapter 3- ZambiaThe galaxy held million upon millions of planets, but few solar systems held two suns. Kaira and Thillis were small red stars that cast a continual blush over the skies of Animagna, which now, as the Kaira set to meet Tillis on the other half of the planet for 9 hours of night, the blush turned to crimson and crowned the grasslands in orange that leaked dozily up the scattered stone buildings of the largest city. Zambia ignored all of this beauty that unfolded over the balcony her dark study opened out to. She sat at her computer tirelessly typing out her report. Around her the dingy room was littered with hi-tech equipment. Currently, she was tracking the progress of her telescope a few hundred miles away and had opened another screen to view the current satellite data. Zambia checked a satellite, and read the readings, growling in annoyance when there was no U.F.O information. With a flourish of complicated finger movements over the keys and a swish of her long spotted tail, the computer made a small box appear, tuning into a television channel. She was in luck, her favourite channel, Sci-Fact, was currently on news, and some slack jaw Dingoes were giving their accounts of recent abductions they claimed to have happened on them or friends. # "Dere was a blinding light!" One of the older Dingoes said, chewing tree sap and scratching his grubby dungarees, “It went all 'round me, and took me up… I tought I was go'in to heaven! But den I sawed some strange aliens, look'in at me and acting all strange like, they tried to shoot me with dere laser guns!" "Dey captured and probed him dey did!" Another chirped in, enjoying the attention, "He was a wreck when we got 'im, yes he was! We dourt 'e was drunk or summat!" "I swear…" The first dingo added enthusiastically, waving his arms about, "Dat was da scaredest ting I ever did see!" # Zambia rolled her eyes and returned to her work as it continued to play. She would have to be stupid to believe what Dingoes said, but there must be some truth behind their stories, mustn't there? That was why she did this research, looking for the truth. She could never have guessed how close she would get to it. Sighing in annoyance, she stood up, looking back to the reporter on the monitor as he discussed the recent ‘alien abductions’. Stretching out a clawed finger lazily, she flicked the little bobblehead figure on the shelf above her computer. A handsome male, his fur the brightest yellow, spots too logically patterned for reality, and tear stripes in the shape of arrowheads. More unusually, he had bright flowing red hair, and two magnificent red wings. Balthazar, her childhood cartoon hero and space adventurer. She smiled gently to herself. That was where it had all began. She remembered how her father had chuckled when she said she wanted to meet an alien, and shakes hands with it. ‘If it has paws of course daddy. They might not; they might have, like, tentacles n stuff!’ He had never stopped her though; he had always funded her eccentric desire, providing the telescopes, satellites, weathervanes, travels to interview people. All of it. Sometime later she had asked him, why he did it. Did he believe in them? ‘Of course not my dear, but it’s not for want of wishful thinking. No, I think I did it because I was hardly going to get you to do maths any other way, was I? You’re such a clever girl, and if these aliens can help you along, then why stop them? Plus, honey, I believe you can find some answers, if you look hard enough, my princess. Be the truth be alien or otherwise.’ She walked to the balcony and leant on it, the breeze stirring her fur gently, and the smell of night settling in. The damp, clear smell of greenery and atmosphere. She yawned, the customised tool belt at her waist heavy and sleep settling in her green eyes, rimmed with black ‘tearstained’ markings that brought a look of innocence. She was her father’s daughter- intelligent to the point of genius, yet still carried such heavy innocence. She wondered what her father was doing now. He was close, only in the next kingdom – the kingdoms of Animanga were the size of large cities – and she could see the Lionans’ palace spire form the balcony, but she still missed him. He was off to discuss an advance in technology in the computer research section. He was due to come back tonight, but phoned Zambia up telling her gossip on the social issues between a flock of Flamigas, how his robes were chafing him again, and that he may be late. Shivering as the wind picked up, she retreated back into her room. Sniffing, she watched as the TV station commentator continued his ramble: ‘Now, through these astounding abduction stories, the theory that we are in many ways descended and connected to these possible aliens holds all too true. The amoeba species on the near moons of Zaptoc prove that life is closer than we think, and if we can evolve as we have done, who is to say that our neighbours from across the stars cannot exactly the same? Are they so very different? Perhaps the answer is not out there, but within ourselves. It is this, ladies and gentlemen, to which we also must note that in our quest for truth, there is the line. We all remember Dr.Mufsabar and his terrible experiments…’ Zambia frowned slightly. Dr. Xenon Mufsabar. She was just a cub when he was around, his life now reduced to almost an urban legend. Xenon had believed. He had dedicated his whole life to proving aliens’ existence. His contribution to the scientific community advancing space travel by countless decades in his quest to allow animagnans to explore outside of the solar system. The creation and fusion of antimatter into antimatter reactors for what had in experiments proved to become light speed. Now they had the technology, but not the bravery within the astronoughts. Xenon was brilliant – a genius. But he had taken it too far. Looking within his own species, obsessed with their link to the aliens outside and those on the moons he turned his experiments inwards, moving from unintelligent animal species like fish and primates to the animagnans themselves, taking vagrants from the streets, corpses from the morgues…abandoned babies… It was a horror story. They say genius breeds madness, especially in a species like the Hynans… Of course, the police eventually caught him, and provided the harshest punishment available – exile. Exile to the closest planet, Left to die on the one most suitable to support life. Zambia shuddered and turned off the TV station on her monitor, still checking her satellite readings. Hideous, but she admired him. He was amazing, but so very, very flawed. 10 years and Zambia had found nothing, but for what Xenon stood for before his madness, for her little cartoon bobble-head, and for her father’s endless optimism and love, she was determined to find life in the stars. Suddenly, piercing through the evening, the alarms roared. Zambia started, whirling on her heel to stare at the computer. Countless flashing red screens blared their warnings. [Unidentified object in atmosphere.] “Wha-?“ She pushed the chair away and frantically typed and clicked, bringing up all the satellites. Simultaneously they read of a huge object hurtling towards the planet, substance an unknown metal alloy. Desperately she pulled up the camera feeds form the satellites, and pieced together the visuals. Flashes of a black object then- there! Zambia’s heart leapt as her stomach sank and she half choked with laugher. "I can't believe it!" Zambia squealed in excitement, "I can't believe it! First contact! A real live space-" The alarms heightened in volume, picking up a nuclear signal. In horror she desperately collected further visuals, Satellite 6.7 getting a good close up of the magnificent black ship…and the ghostly green glow it emanated as it charged its weapons. “Please…please gods no...” She watched in desperate slow motion as the city of Wolvens evaporated into a mushroom cloud below the satanic ship. Quote: Chapter 4 The engines hummed like echoed reverberations of the horror that had gone before. Space enveloped the tiny pod as it hurtled its way forwards, its sensors seeking out the closest star. The light speed quietly switched off and it was left to move under its own momentum through the vacuum. Kaisa found herself lolling to the side of her seat, staring blankly past the flickering dials as the constellations dragged by bit by bit. She could feel nothing but the need to keep very still, as if to do so would erase her from the universe. The clinical oxygen weighed down on her lungs and she eventually breathed out, a chocking sob expelled with it. One gave way to another until she was caught in a fit of silent sobs – mouth gaping like a struck animal. Suddenly the ship lurched as it expelled the energy it had been collecting to boost its speed again – adding to it at least half its light speed again. Kaisa was jarred backwards with a yelp. All became still again. Gripping the armrests she whined pitifully before breaking into a another convulsion of sobs. She couldn’t find any tears on her cheeks or any real feeling to express; just a hollowness that strangled her. She wanted to scream, she needed to – but nothing in her could grasp a thought or feeling long enough to express the emotion. There was none, yet the strength of this nothingness threatened to rip her in two. Eventually, she curled her legs up, held in the chair, with all expression dispelled; looking with numb acceptance out to space. She pushed her head back into the upholstery, longing for contact. Cocooned yet isolated by the ship, she slowly drifted to sleep.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 10:01 am
Quote: Chapter 5 - touchdown1Veretrix crouched low over the flashing buttons of his post as Henson and tried to shut his ears out to Xenon’s voracious laughing. The beast leapt about the room manically basking in the visuals of the crater he had just scorched into his very own planet. Veretrix tried to avoid the screen, focusing on his buttons instead, and placing his long, light green fingers gently on them, their cool resistance almost therapeutic. “FIRE!” Xenon ordered, throwing a hand out. Veretrix heard a surprised yelp as it hit a young crewmember that had dared to come within an arm’s length of him, and sent him flying. Another charge and fire of the weapons. Another mushroom cloud enveloping the viewscreen. How could Xenon do such a thing? It was Xenon’s home and he was destroying it piece by piece. He forced his eyes open and glanced back, to see the young crewmember sprawled on the floor and Xenon in gleeful hysterics. “One more, chaps, and we’ll land in the capital, and give those Lionans a welcome parade.” Veretrix, gritted his teeth, disgusted at the cheery tone in his voice; more like a man rounding up his friends after a night in a pub. Another flash and Xenon was off dancing about the room cackling again. Veretrix looked steadily around the helm, at the blank faces of the crew. No one seemed to hold even the faintest hint of remorse. While he was haggard- the pink that dusted his antenna and large fanned ears pale- the crew were bright, alert and intrigued. He watched Tyran with hate as the Mont’an stood perfectly still, hands clasped behind his back, looking over the shoulder of the man operating the weapons. His face as unmoving and as emotionless as his body. “Oy! Greeny!” Veretrix’s ears twitched and he looked up as Xenon addressed him with a smirk. “Get this thing landed, will you?” Veretrix turned and mumbled a ‘yes sir’, pressing his fingers out across the buttons again. He opened his lungs gently to take a deep breath, and straightened up. Come on now… His fingers spread with a liquid elegance over the controls, pushing here and there as he piloted the ship towards Animanga. This was his element. Piloting was why he had joined Xenon’s ship, a young and bright eyed novice to the world of space that was still amazed by the rolling forms of planets below him. Xenon had seemed a respectable and profitable organisation, the perfect place for a young pilot to prove himself. Prove himself he had, but leaving had never been an option. For all the disrespect he received, Xenon viewed him as a valuable commodity. He didn’t even need to ask to leave for this to be apparent. Now, he was trapped, but with the doors wide open. As he glided the ship across the rolling grasslands he forced the visions of the mushroom clouds from his head. To choke it down with the rest. 2The undulating smoke moved from the distance, carried on the mockingly pleasant breeze to infect her nostrils with sulphur. Zambia was on the balcony, crouched low to look through the bars, claws fully extended and dug into them. She watched as the demonic ship curved through as it slowed from the atmosphere, turning to hover above the Lionan city, practically touching the spire. She tensed, slowing her breathing, keeping perfectly still. The great ship landed, sending another cloud of dirt up into the sky. She was in no doubt that the military of the city would be on red alert, but after watching it destroy the Wolven city so easily…there wasn’t a chance. “What can I do?” she asked with desperation, shaking the bars of the balcony and baring her canines. “What can I do damn it!” A mix of dread and excitement coursed through her veins and she almost screamed with indecision. The tall buildings barred all view of what was happening. For a moment she couldn’t think, but then one great realisation hit her. “Dad. Daddy…oh gods…” She forced herself to try and stand, but her legs failed her. She growled in frustration. “Come on, stop it! Get up!” She forced herself up again, and this time her legs held, the adrenaline beginning to compel courage into her muscles, her resolve strengthening with every breath. Looking around urgently for a last time she gripped the top of the balcony and gracefully leapt over it, landing 3 floors below- her long legs absorbing the shock with ease. The air was alive with the distant sounds of explosions and gunfire. The city seemed to mock her with its distance, and she toyed with the idea of reaching full speed, but to do so would leave her practically incapacitated for over 15 minutes – a risk she didn’t dare take. Snarling in frustration again, she broke into the fastest run she could manage without it, forcing herself to ignore its sluggishness. Be smart was all she could tell herself, repeating it over and over again in her mind, her eyes darting about, attempting to work out what she could possibly do once she reached the city. For once her mind drew a blank, and she was suddenly struck by how truly vulnerable she, and her assaulted planet was. Eventually she reached the city to a tumult of gunfire and screams. Crowds forced their way through the narrow streets yelling and grasping out to one another. She pushed her way through, impaled by clutching hands and kicking claws, snarling against the smell of blood and fear. She looked up at the signs, all directing towards the central square of the city. This way for the apocalypse she thought, suddenly disgusted by this burst of gallows humour. She ran, blindly following the signs. A man dived out of a house, barrelling her out of the way. She cried out and fell, her head smashing on the cobblestones with a sickening crunch. Dazed, she squinted against the pain at the monsoon of people. A set of creatures pursued them, though she could only make out their purple uniforms, joined to create the appearance of a silhouette. They ignored her, diving after the people. One grabbed a Lionan and fought with him as he tried to escape, and with a crack of its weapon blood rained from the sky. The creature moved on with a spat out sound and the body of Lionan fell. Zambia stared into his lifeless eyes and her body was overcome with the primal urge to keep still again. Play dead. She tried to force the scent of blood from her nostrils and gagged. She remembered childhood nights in her bed, rolled up in the covers, holding her breath. If you are perfectly still than the worm-man can’t see you. Play dead. She scrunched back tears. If you play dead you’ll be dead. With shaking arms she forced herself up, and kicked off the ground back to a run. ‘Run, run, that’s all you Cheetans are good for.’ Go! Snarling she reached the square. Around her dead bodies littered the floor like discarded confetti; the great black float of a ship stood motionless a few streets away. She shrank back to the central fountain as more of the creatures in uniform passed, some grabbing stragglers from the crowd and dragging them back to the ship. When they had passed she raised to search through the bodies, so many Lionans, even –she moaned- cubs, stretched out like dolls. Padding through the bodies carefully, her tail wrapped around one leg, she searched for what she dreaded. She stopped in dismay as, left in the sea of bodies, was the familiar silver-gold fur, the dusty spots and the coarse blue-purple robes. “Daddy!” She started forward, stumbling over the bodies to her father’s side. His eyes were open, staring up into the sky. As she sat they turned to her and she cried in thanks. She propped his head up onto her lap and frowned as she placed her hand in a pool of blood that crawled from under his back. “Oh gods…dad- daddy?” she mewed weakly, stroking his hair, “Please, Daddy can you hear me? Daddy please, you’re all I have. Dad?” He chuckled softly, coughing up blood as she went to press his wound. He raised up a paw and brushed her away, watching her fondly. “What?” “Hello Zambia.” He said in a light tone, voice weak. He smiled. “Dad, your wound, let me-“ He waved her off again. “No, no my dear. It won’t do any good, don’t waste your time. Now listen to me darling.” He paused and smiled again, bringing a hand up to her cheek. Zambia was struck with how peaceful he seemed. She wanted to shake him, and force him to be more serious. Force him to cry. “What’s wrong with you?” He chuckled again, raising a brow. “Well my dear, I would have thought it was evident.” She frowned. “That’s not what I meant.” He sighed, stroking the tears back. A look of great sadness passed through his eyes and he sniffed, looking back to the sky for a moment. Wincing in pain. She dropped the subject and turned his face back to hers. “Daddy, what happened?” He waved an arm around him and the other casualties, and out towards the ship. He stretched out to stroke her fur again, but finally gravity won against him and it fell to the ground. He grunted in annoyance, then shrugged gently. “Aliens. You were right, my dear. Of course you were…of course you were.” A look of wonder crossed his face and he turned his head to the bodies, his tail thumping on the ground. “Such a pity though…” Zambia scoffed humourlessly. “They’re killing everyone. Everything.” Her voice quavered and she took her father’s hand, gripping it hard. She followed her father to look all around her. Mixed in with the causalities were a couple of the aliens. As she looked harder she saw that they were different, but not as much as she had imagined. Two arms, a head, two legs. They wore clothes. They had weapons. One was lizard like, similar to the primitive beasts of her planet, but as if it had evolved. She found that she wasn’t horrified by its appearance. She examined the uniform. Purple, a two piece but relatively figure hugging, like a shadow. There was a strange letter on it from an alphabet she didn’t understand. Two diagonal lines in opposite directions crossing each other. She looked back down to her father. He was humming a little tune; his voice cracking every now and again as his body let another burst of paint erupt through his nerves, as if to remind him that something was seriously wrong. Zambia finally understood why he was being so foolishly optimistic while he was dying. It wasn’t like him to be stupid to disregard help. That was ridiculous. He was afraid. His eyes flicked between her and the sky. Her heart ached as she realised that he was only trying to reassure himself that death was not something to be afraid of. It was inevitable. He rubbed her fingers as she held his hand and sank his head further back into her lap. She saw that with death being inevitable, optimism was the best way. If you could keep your hopes up, then your happiness at the end would soften the blow death would cause to your loved ones. She gave a loud sob and brought her head down to his, rubbing against it in desperation. “Please…” “Come now.” He nuzzled her and laid back, keeping eye contact. “The aliens have been taking a few –argh!” He grimaced and hissed as his body made a desperate attempt to kick start him into recovery, dosing out a strip of agony. He took short gasping breaths and looked up at Zambia with new urgency. “T-the rest are killed. This planet…I don’t think we will survive it. I… I heard one of the aliens…they said Xenon. Y-yes maybe it’s their l-language but…I think…it’s him...revenge.” “Daddy please, conserve your strength.” He dug into his robes and grasped out to her. “Here. I was tal-ngh-talking to the king about the spaceships. All g-geared and ready. We were launching this week. A young astronaught...brave, brave young man…darling go.” “What?” “Go. Others have – I’ve seen the lights in the other kingdoms. They’re escaping. This… pass to get in. The code... on the back.” “The spaceship?” He nodded. “No, I can’t. I don’t know how!” “You can sweetie…they say even monkeys can do it.” He laughed, spluttering. And looked up at her lovingly. “It’s terrifying I know…but we have taken a step now. All there is to do is...to go with what… you have dreamed about…all your life. It’s horrible but…but so wonderful in a way…isn’t it? Isn’t…it…beautiful? Just…please…b-be careful.” He sighed, closing his eyes. “Daddy…I can’t leave you.” “My beautiful girl…you have…no choice. Be brave.” She let his head rest to the floor. “I love you.” “I love you too…my daughter. Remember us…” His body seemed to heave and then sag, expelling his last breath and slowing to a gentle halt. Zambia stroked his hair for a moment longer, tears drenching her fur. Eventually she stood up and gritted her teeth. She forced herself to turn away from his body and took a deep breath. Se wanted revenge, but her body was weak and her mind dulled. Not now. She examined the horizon, horribly aware of her father’s empty shell behind her. She wanted to scoop him up like a child and take him with her, but she knew she must leave him in this massacre of strangers. She could see the space station on the horizon, and knew that between it and the city must be miles of grassland. It felt impossibly far. Somewhere someone screamed and she jumped. RUN. Her muscles tensed and she let them uncoil like a spring. She burst into her full speed, thundering down the alleyways, her hair billowing, her tail straightened out, swishing like a oar to keep her balanced as she made the sharp turns of the alleyways. Ahead of her a small group of aliens were collecting prisoners. Ears flat she ducked her head down and dived into them, slamming through them with a flurry of claws and teeth to leave them stunned on the ground. She panted, mouth gaping, reaching her threshold of 60 mph. Her leg muscles burned, her ribcage heaved, yet she continued to jump over obstacles to land running. Don’t’ stop .Don’t ever stop. Her lungs rose and fell violently and sweat clung to her fur to mix with the tears. Her head started to swim but she pressed on. She hit the grasslands as she exited the city, glad of the softer ground. The muscles in her arms and legs began tightening into cramps. Crawling over the horizon was the spaceship, pointed to the sky like a great beacon. She looked up and smiled – her mouth wide open in an attempt to get more air. An icy dagger of cold air ripped through her lungs and she gasped, putting an arm around her mouth in an attempt to warm the air that she was breathing, but suffocating off the air she needed to maintain the speed. Removing it she gasped again and cried out as the cold knife stabbed her lungs once more. The spaceship reluctantly dragged itself further into view, and Zambia let her speed drop to 30 miles an hour. Her head was swimming. She had never run so long, so fast. Cheetans could only maintain this speed for five minutes, yet she had been running for over ten. Five minutes extra may seem a very small time, but whole universes can die in five minutes. The space port finally seemed to co-operate, pulling itself so it was towering above her. She slammed into the door and clung to the card her father had given her, fumbling in the code. It opened with a cheery beep and she collapsed into the room. She laid, panting, her legs convulsing in spasms. All was empty. There was a suffocating smell of fuel and she realised that another ship must have bee taken. She had the prototype. She shook and her body attempted to drag her into sleep. Hibernation sounds like a good idea. She smirked and rolled onto her side. She forced herself back to her feet. She walked forwards, her paws like lead. She half expected them to make a metal on metal sounds on the floor, but instead they padded with weary reluctance. Silent. She found the spaceship and managed to board it, bullying what knowledge she had to trickle back into her brain. She sat at the controls. “Even monkeys can do it.” She said, smiling with sad fondness at her father’s words. Fear suddenly griped her, twisting her stomach into a cat’s cradle. Every part of her body protested as she fiddled with the controls and commenced lift off. With a press of a button, she strapped herself in, closed her eyes and blasted off; the programmes set to land her on the nearest planet that contained oxygen. Light speed. Her planet drifted away from her, beautiful, an orb of darkness, half lit in the setting suns. She had fallen asleep as soon as she closed her eyes, her home disappearing into space, without her even seeing it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 10:03 am
Quote: Chapter 6 – Daran MilleSleep was dreamless and black, shifting like an inky sea to half consciousness only to drown back into pictureless emotions. Kaisa shifted in her chair, stretching out an arm into the cool clinical air. The ship had slowed once more, making a steady pace as its sensors searched for the nearest Federation signal omitting from a planet, having already passed two foreign stars. The sensors locked on and a shrill tone sounded. Kaisa started, slipping, and looked about her in confusion. She rubbed her eyes and tried to make sense of the expanse of space before her and the too-bright lights glaring down from all directions. “mfh?” she sank back into the chair and shook her head. Gradually it returned to her. The cargo ship, the attack…Kero. Emotions weighed down on her and she held her head in her arms, breathing slowly and carefully, pushing it down. The shrill tone sounded again and she looked up, sighing in a shuddering breath. “A planet?” The sound of her own voice cut through the air. Too loud, too invading, but in a way a comfort. She forced herself to her feet, bending against the low curved ceiling and pressing her palms against the thick transparent wall. Below her hung the milky form of a planet, curving out of view. She was aware that the planet’s gravity was dragging her in, and checked the display. “Gravity…neutral, atmosphere…oxygen based. Breathable.” Her own voice provided more comfort as she read out the display. She was surprised how normal it sounded. Uncorrupted. “Civilisation?” she typed in for more information, her hands easily finding their way through the familiar buttons. She remembered how Alan had shown her how the Federation issued computers worked. All helpful suggestions and QWERTY keyboards. “Just like that sad excuse for a laptop you have.” He had smirked, and pointed out the federation serial numbers. “Over 3,000 federation policed planets out there.” he had said proudly. “Humans are hardly those from ‘War of the Worlds’ or ‘Mars Attacks’ eh? We have a real purpose and place.” She remembered the look he had given her when she said she didn’t know what ‘War of the Worlds’ or ‘Mars Attacks’ was. “You kids don’t know your culture. It’s vintage!” She smiled bitterly, wiping her face. “Ok…Federation based. Capital city? Daran Mille? Ok…” She felt the G forces kick in as they ducked through into the atmosphere and groped for the chair forcing herself into it. She had never felt the violence of space pods before – unable to regulate the G forces due to their tiny mass. She belted in and clung on as she watched the computer desperately begin searching for a landing pad – spongy substances to cushion the immense blow of re-entry. The alarms sounded as it came up with nothing, seas miles out of reach. “Shi-“ With a bone shaking blast the ship impacted. -- “Argh. What stupid planet doesn’t have landing pads?” Kaisa rubbed her neck and looked around her. All was a dark brown but for a shard of light in the sky, and she realised that the ship must have landed ‘face’ down. Below her, the transparent wall held a long thin crack. “Ugh. Dandy - just dandy. Now what am I supposed to do?” She unbuckled herself, falling out of the seat with a grunt and rolled onto her knees to trace a finger down the crack. There was no hope of exiting the planet with the bodywork destroyed. The forces alone would fracture the whole thing, not to mention the heat or inevitable vacuum. She brushed her hair out of her eyes and crouched, attempting to pull of more information about where she was. The computer limped back into life and begrudgingly displayed that it was somewhere within the small rocky ridges that surrounded the city of Daran Mille. “Well done Sherlock. A whole planet to choose from and we end up crashing on rocks. How much were they selling you for?” She thumped the controls and the lights flickered. Sighing she rose herself up and groped about on the ceiling for an escape hatch. Her fingers found an edge and she pulled it open; a blast of stale oxygen caught her as the airlock failed. “This really is a bargain bucket thing, eh?” she snorted, pulling herself up to open the second part of the hatch. Moonlight shone and cool wind blew in. She dragged herself up, sitting on the edge and looked about her. Around her, there was a rusty brown desert surrounded by the ridges she had landed on the edge of. She was relived to find a drop of only a few feet below and turned to find the rest of the ridges stretching above her in clawed fingers. The sky was black and clear enough for clusters of stars to crown it. To her left, the moon hung like a huge marble. She wondered if her star clung in one of the scattered constellations. She remembered the official name for it – Sol. So heartless and empty. It wasn’t a sun, it was the Sun. Her sun. Safety. The safest place next to her cargo ship. At least it had been. Grief weighed down on her again and she shook it off. No. Not now. She had to carry on. She turned to the city - its entrance only a couple of miles away. For a moment she dared to hope that Kero had settled there, his sensors guiding him just the same. She hopped down back into her ship and opened the built in compartments, searching for food. Mainly dried food packets, but she found a small store of federation money. She returned to the computer, attempting to ask it to find another space pod like hers. Kero’s. However it flashed pathetically then gave up the ghost. She moaned in frustration, kicked it, then heaved herself back up and out of the hatch. “Looks like I’ll have to do this myself then, ey Sherlock?” she tapped its outer casing, waving the gentle heat off her hand. She winced as her stomach knotted and grumbled and sighed. “God I’m hungry…maybe Kero is too. I mean…” She glanced at the city again. “That’s the best place to start.” The image of the vast planet and expanse of space was scratched into her mind. Space was…huge. Vast. Kero was tiny. So was she. Tiny and so very alone. She rubbed her eyes again, allowing them to adjust to the darkness. “Come on, don’t think like that.” She told herself – her voice a beacon in the dark, chill wind. “Well feet, let’s get walking.” -- Daran Mille, like many cities, had a reputation. Any traders knew that here was where to flock, and they would collect, barter, haggle, buy and argue, then leave. It was pretty simple. Despite the reputation for a bargain, and the beautiful scenery around it, the giant city was also reputable for other reasons. Poets had tried to describe Daran Mille and failed. Maybe the city was too rugged for many poets, who would rather compose odes to flowers and birds; maybe they just couldn’t find the right words to describe a city with a growing population of 11 million with hardly any sewers. Possibly, their words did not serve to describe the people there – people who would wander the streets offering you ‘a good time’ or suggestively shaped vegetables. Perhaps the Poets did not even survive the visit; after all, one found little of these ‘arty types’ flourished among the peeling and bloodstained plaster of the inns that were the city’s beating heart. Some wonder if the most primitive of sounds that based the human language and indeed many other languages, hold a universal truth that the more complicated vowels and consonants can never imitate. This seemed true, as Kaisa seemed to sum up all that the poets had failed to in one primal sound. “Ewww.” The buildings seemed to hunch over Kaisa like wizened hags, trapping the bustling crowds beneath to guide them through the narrow, dark labyrinth of alleyways. Torches that were positioned high between the upper windows, laying the lower reaches of the streets into shadow, gently lighted the streets. She recoiled as she was elbowed, trodden on and nudged out of the way, into the filthy edges of the dusty pavement. Although the city itself held precious little industrial pollution, she couldn’t escape the stench of smoke and oil from the torches, and decomposition from the street. She dragged her sleeve up to her mouth and soldiered on, ducking back into the crowd. The main alleyways widened, allowing space for countless market stalls covered by sagging leather awnings, displaying their varied wares for the squint eyed merchants that collected below like ants to sugar. There were warriors hauling elaborate swords and guns, criminals slipping between the crowds with snatching fingers, merchants measuring up grain, more criminals and even the occasional wizard gathering up his robes against the sewage. Men of religious importance marched through with pomposity, turning their noses up to the withering beggars collapsed like discarded newspapers on the ground, only to gather up their crutches and snake off with miraculous health when the eyes turned away. Kaisa yawned, amazed that everything was so busy so late into the night. Yellowing clock faces displayed the time – 11.30. Her stomach groaned again and she turned her face up to the hanging wooden signs, looking for an Inn. Soon, the crowd peeled away towards the nearest Casino and she took the opportunity to slip into a crooked building displaying a grimy, but energetically frothy picture of beer bearing the name ‘The Legless Horseman’. She was first hit by the wall of warmth and smell of stale ale. Drunken men sang slurred songs and talked of better times – smiles crooked from the ends of cigarettes held between yellowed teeth and fangs. Women flitted from table to table to place themselves on laps and steal swigs of ale. Sheepishly she ducked her head and slunk into an empty table, climbing onto a large moth eaten leather chair. She kicked as her legs didn’t touch the floor. “What can I get you, love?” A tall woman stood over her, strangely intimidating despite her best efforts. Her skin was tainted blue, covered in tiny scales that ran down form her sloping shoulders, wide hips to snakeish lower half. She slithered to flick some crumbs off the table and examined Kaisa with benign yellow, slitted eyes. She took a pencil out of the thick dark blue hair that was bunched at the back of her head and flicked a notepad. “What can I get you?” She repeated, tilting her head to the side and smiling. Kaisa shifted and looked about helplessly. She smiled weakly. “Uh, what kind of stuff do you have –“ she glanced over the woman “miss?” Taking a deep breath, the snake woman began to read off from memory a long list of beers, wines, puddings, savouries, sweets, and other combinations of dishes that Kaisa either didn’t understand or hardly seemed edible. Kaisa listened intently to the first 15 dishes and sighed, looking out to the grimy window. She couldn’t imagine Kero in one of these places, bunching up his habit against the rising smell of vomit. Were are you? She asked the air, feeling that creeping sense of hopelessness begin to infect her. Are you ok? The snake woman had finished her list and waited patiently. Two tables down a group of men waved and whistled for her attention. “So love: what would you like?” “Huh?” Kaisa blinked, lost. “Erm…is chicken cheap?” The woman’s tail made an impatient rattle and she smiled. “We don’t have ‘chicken’ love; just habeyfowl.” “Could I please have that then?” The woman nodded, turning away. “’Course love.” She slithered off, turning to the table with the whistling men. She smiled sweetly as they slapped her side and hooted. She picked up an apple from their table and took a bite out of it. Smiling again, she winked at them, leaning across the table to place the apple in front of one. Nodding she slithered away. Kaisa watched the men stare at the fruit and one push it away with the back of his hand. The half eaten apple began to wither and grow black at an incredible rate, until all that was left was its black and decayed core.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 10:04 am
Quote: Chapter 7 1 Zambia dragged open her heavy eyelids, rubbing her salt encrusted eyes. Everything seemed to be a blur – at once everything was gone forever. The truth of it seemed alien to her, floating just out of reach beyond her consciousness. More like a film than reality. She curled her tail around her leg and looked out of the porthole to a sea of stars, a huge planet rising out of the blackness. She was gradually aware that her ship was circling the planet below her – caught in its gravitational field. She turned to the ships computer. Blind and confused, it covered up for its ignorance with unnecessary bleeps. She knew that it was programmed to find the first planet suitable to support life, yet she was impossibly uninformed as to where this might be. “Where am I?” She looked at the controls for some time then with a flurry of keys brought up the information from the known exploration satellites and scanners. The great orb beneath her was what the Animagnans had named Kimball. Just a bleary star in the telescopes, now a beautiful field of smoky clouds and shifting greens and coppers. She remembered some years ago when it had been discovered. Fourth planet from the star – rocky, with an atmosphere. However that was where their knowledge ended. She recalled that light speed’s first set of missions would involve exploring this enigmatic planet. How for months she had watched the ‘Sci-Fact’ channel with an eagerness that was thwarted as it became clear that the risk of no return that came with light speed was too great for most of the home-bird astronaughts. She marvelled at how far away she must be. Now she asked the ship’s sensors to turn on the planet’s face. Suddenly, information leapt out at her – magnetic fields, radio signals, oxygen, a thick atmosphere, water. A part of her ached to swipe away those obscuring clouds and gaze upon the planet’s surface. To land and walk on it. “Kimball.” She was struck by a thought. Quite apart from whether she needed a spacesuit, whether she could breathe, whether the ship would be able to handle landing when it was not designed for continual landing and take off – only two; she wondered about what life there might be there. If it was indeed intelligent, how could she even communicate? She frowned, a wave of panic seizing her. Even on her planet the dialects varied from city to city, subspecies to subspecies – what about the dialects and language of a whole different world? And then the communication itself: what if they didn’t even hold the communication of speech, sound and body language? What if they were so subtle that her attempts to show greeting would be abhorred, shocking, offensive and incomprehensible? What if their communication was so subtle or horrific that Zambia had no chance of making sense to them? Her mind scanned through the countless memories of the TV nature episodes – how the sounds each animal made were different- how all the forms of animals were so varied and often shocking. That was within one planet – a family tree. If a deep water fish and a Cheetan could be so different within one biosphere, she dreaded to think what form those outside of that, not constrained by the elements of Earth, could take. Then culture; if they were intelligent who was to say that they would be friendly? Why wouldn’t they just kill her on the spot, like many of the primate species back home did to intruders on their territory? How far could the morality of the gods she had been coaxed into believing in possibly reach? Then; was there even life? Would her ship break leaving her like a castaway to scratch out food on an uninhabitable wasteland? To die of unknown and withering diseases? Maybe the radio signals were simply a strange form of planetary radiation and not life? How long could she possibly stay here? Could the ship take off again, and then where could she possibly go anyway? Space was huge, vast, cold, dark, alien and she was tiny, insignificant alone and afraid… She felt her chest tighten and she groped out at the wall as everything swam, tilting about her. Her instincts cried out for water, help, comfort and she gasped, pulling out at the buttons, desperately trying to find help amongst the cold metal. She sank to the floor and lay down, dragging her legs into a foetal position and wheezed, shaking. She scrunched her eyes shut and swallowed. Daddy She mewed and sobbed, rubbing at her arms. Why did you have to leave me? 2Three courses and five unnaturally sugary drinks later, Kaisa stretched, stood up and moved to the bar. Above it, there was a selection of sooty faced clocks ticking the various times that existed within the known galaxy. “What you staring at, love?” The snake women leant over the bar at her, head supported on her elbows. “Oh – erm you’ve got a lot of clocks.” The woman smiled and pointed a thin finger up at them. “We get many travellers wanting to know whether it’s dark at home. They figure once it’s night there they can start drinking again guilt free. Two sessions of drinking hours for the price of one.” “That doesn’t make sense.” She shrugged. “Not supposed to. If they had any proper sense they wouldn’t be in here days at a time, would they, love?” “’Guess not.” Kaisa sighed, scanning the faces again. “Did you need something?” Kaisa fumbled in her pockets and withdrew the money from the ship. “How much was it?” The woman took a third of the money and shoved it in the till. “That’ll do.” She smiled and yawned. “Anything else?” “Yeah, can I get a room?” She nodded and rummaged under the bar, withdrawing a battered handheld computer. “Jus’ you?” Kaisa nodded slowly, looking at her hand as it rested on the bar. The snake woman tilted her head and scribbled down on the touch screen. “Room for one. Right.” She paused and studied Kaisa. After a while she sighed and ducked back down under the bar to replace the pad. “Don’t worry, love, I’ll take care of you wile you’re here. Jus’ ask for Chimera.” She said, then resurfaced. Kaisa looked up at her and she waved a hand as if to bat off the gesture. “Thank you.” Kaisa said. Chimera shrugged. “Hey, do you think the shops are still open?” “Most will be ‘til dawn.” Kaisa nodded. “Thanks.” She waved and went to the doors. As she opened them a chill wind blew in and she pulled up her collar to move out. Even under the brutal desert cool of the night the streets were still full. She was hit by the same smell of the spluttering oil lamps and moved under one to hog its warmth. The food settled in her stomach and she sighed, refreshed. She decided that while there were still hours left when trade would be functioning, she should try to find a ship’s mechanic. If she could get her space pod up and running she may be able to leave for the nearest federation station, or backtrack to see any possible planets near the cargo ship’s route. She figured it would be there that Kero would end up. She looked down the street sighing, leaning on the pole of the torch. It’s so big, this place – the whole planet. But…Kero can’t be here she thought, I’d know. Wouldn’t I know? She turned to look up at the flickering torch flame. I’d have seen him or…felt him or something. I dunno. She pushed herself off the pole, arms folded, and marched off down the street. 3 The computers’ monotonous blips sounded out like a metallic heartbeat, and gradually Zambia found herself breathing normally again. She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling, the blips reminding her that she was still alive. I wish you were here. Just tell me what I should do. She wiped a shaking hand across her face and sighed again, before pushing herself up and back onto her feet. Below her the planet still span – not changed one iota. What would you do, dad? She touched the computer keys gently. “We have taken a step now…” she repeated his words gently – a comfort- and smiled. “Go with what you have dreamed about…” She licked her lips then pressed her fingers down, moving to type the code for entry down into the planet. The computer complied easily and she smiled. “Even monkeys can do it.” She laughed softly. “Ok dad I’ll go with you on this one. I hope you’re right. There’s no going back now.” The ship lurched and plummeted and she stumbled into her seat, strapping in. Within moments it had crashed onto the planet’s surface, and there was silence. Zambia rubbed her neck and she squinted about her. The lights flickered but remained, and after a few moments the computer blipped. “Alright…” She unbuckled and stood, flicking her tail as she sought to regain balance. “Rough, but alright…” She checked around the ship then moved straight for the computer, keying in for more information. “Come on- where are we, what are we?” she swished her tail rhythmically as the computer gathered its information. “Well?” The display repeated the atmosphere information, suggested that they had landed in a sort of sand, and pointed out that a great source of radio signals and heat was straight ahead. “Good, good; visuals?” She commanded more information, but the computer remained silent. “Oh come on!” The computer blipped in impotence. “Alright, fine. It’s the old fashioned way then.” She strode off towards the hatch then stopped. The excitement of the moment peeled away, and her mind wandered back to the countless images of dead bodies –alien and Animagnan. She turned and paced back, thumping her tail up against the computer. It blipped. Then blipped again. “Well you’re useless!” She snapped at it, then sighed, sitting on the arm of the chair. “I’m useless…” she rubbed her face then stood up again. “Get a move on Zambia! No. going. back.” she shook herself, returned to the hatch, and opened it. Before her, there stretched a great rust-coloured desert, lit by a huge moon. She shivered and took a breath of the cold air, exhaling slowly. Nothing. No racing pains, no choking gas, no emaciating diseases. She moved slightly further out of the ship, keeping a hand on the hatch’s edge. Before her a sight wrenched at her insides – dripping ice into her bones, yet at the same time electrifying them with a giddy lightness. Silhouetted against the star-speckled sky, perhaps a mile or so away, was the entrance to what could only be described as man-made. Twisted towers clustered together like strange insects, stippled with hundreds of tiny, glowing lights. Zambia was struck with the sensation that at any time the whole thing could uproot and scuttle over the horizon and out of reach – like a dream. Stranded in the chill wind, alone with only the cold metal of her ship and this ominous city before her, she felt like she was in a nightmare – the sort where once awoken, you groped back for it, forcing it back into your sleep so that you could confront it completely and view all it’s macabre glory, to defeat it finally in the daylight. Her ears flattened and she shivered again, taking a step backwards into the ship, body tense with indecision. She was dimly aware of her claws, scraping against the metal and released them. After a few agonising minutes, her tail gave a definite thump, and she withdrew back into the womb of the ship.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 10:05 am
Quote: Chapter 8
1The streets of Daran mille seemed to evolve and change, as much like a living being as anything could be. Where there had been bustling streets and the bright lights of the bars and casinos, now – a mere few blocks away from the ‘Legless Horseman’ - Kaisa found that the grime had spread, so that even the torchlights were choked down to little more than a simmer. Around her, the market stalls were all but abandoned, with their timber bones covered by tattered and fluttering canvasses that reminded her of some sun-scorched victim of the desert, settled to be picked clean in the darkness. She shivered again, and squinted past the stalls through to the alleyways. The houses here seemed even more crooked than before, with only the dim orange glow emitting from the upper windows. She watched them for a little while, caught between the feeling of warmth they gave, and yet the more grisly appearance the buildings took on now they had eyes. She snorted, turned from them and with a jerky confidence carried on to walk, faster than before, with her back turned to the buildings. A few blocks later, she was greeted with the same silhouetted houses, the same market stalls, just –it seemed- in a slightly different order. She grunted in annoyance and pulled her collar further up, squinting against their encroaching shadows. Again, she marched off, her thumping footsteps reminding her of the progress she made, even if the scenery stayed eerily constant. Every now and again she caught sight of her shadow as it quivered against the walls – stretched and deformed. “What’ll it take to find a city map around here?” She laughed, aloud and cheery through her gnawed lips. Behind her, something scuffled, and she span to confront the gloom. What little sounds there had been – the bubbling hiss of the lamps, the underlying murmurs from the rooms, the lowered twitching of the rodents, the creaking of the woodwork as it adjusted to the cool – all at once seemed to stop, as if to listen, before resuming again. She let her breath out slowly, levelly and after some time she turned back, feeling the ground beneath her sneakers. Kero… She walked ahead, searching the gloom for shop windows, neon signs, anything. Something seemed vaguely familiar about the scenery and she frowned. A can clattered and there was a hissed curse. She jumped – to her right a man was sprawled on the floor, snarling. To her left two other figures had emerged out of the shadows and stood together. The first man straightened up, feet spread and arms tense at his sides, his attention focused on Kaisa. She glanced between the three and backed off slightly. The figures to her left took a step forwards and the one to her right remained, a smile playing across his lips. Kaisa felt the tension in her limbs increase and she half-smiled through gritted teeth. “Hi?” There was a small pause, then all of a sudden the three burst straight for her. Kaisa staggered backwards, turned and dived forwards, sprinting ahead as fast as her legs could carry her. Her pursuers followed, darting from side to side in ease, cutting off all exists into the alleyways so that she was funnelled into the main street. She caught glimpses of various hand signals before each swift move – some darting ahead and the other flanking her – easily faster. One leapt at her from the side and she swerved and jumped over a fallen dustbin, ducked under a canopy and slipped between two market stalls. She was aware of one of her pursuers falling again with a cry, tripping to crunch into a wall in front of her. The others seemed to slow slightly in response and she took the opportunity, forcing her limbs to pump faster and widen the distance between them. Within moments two were at her heels again with no sign of the third, fingers grasping out to snatch at her shirt. Kaisa leapt over part of an open sewer and jerked off to the side as the other two followed. One landed and caught hold of her hair and she screamed, smacking an elbow out behind her and catching him in the ribs, sending him snarling backwards to stumble into a market stall. The third ran on with a yell back at the second and Kaisa took the opportunity to dodge down into an alleyway. Around her, the scenery seemed more and more familiar, and with a mix of relief and horror she realised that this was the street that marked the entrance to Daran Mille. A labyrinth of a city behind her, and only open desert ahead of her. Sure enough, in front of her the gates of the city rose into view. She chanced a look backwards. Behind her, the third figure had jumped forwards again. In horror she watched it take to the side of the buildings, running on all fours vertically, thereby dodging the debris of the ground, and gaining height for a jump. She looked back and with a yelp of pain smashed into the wooden gates. She shook herself, forcing herself to ignore the burning each breath brought to her lungs, and looked desperately for a guard. The alcoves they had occupied were empty. She turned back as the figure galloped after her, and then returned to the gate, slipping through the gap. Again the outside was abandoned by all guards and she half-whined. She grasped the thick iron handle and dragged against it, pulling it closed. She spotted the third figure leap for the gates and with a painful slam she made out his hands scrabbling at the top of the closed gates. With a laugh she turned again and willed her legs back into strength, breaking out into another sprint, this time across the sands that surrounded the outside of the city. Through her daze she remembered how far away her ship was, nestled in the rocks that surrounded it – miles away. She ran, panted, glanced back, Her foot caught on some of the loose rocks that littered the sands. She skidded, landing hard and scraping across the ground. Her eyes blurred with tears and she clasped a hand to her grazed face, looking back to her pursuer with a sick mix of exhaustion and terror. He was now clear enough to view – dark red skin speckled with rough scales, leathery hair bunched into several short bobbles littered with string and feathers. His waist was clasped in a heavy belt full of packs and strings of jewels. He leapt again – impossibly far – and as she scrabbled to get back onto her feet he landed, forcing her back onto the ground. She screamed and kicked at him, her legs feeling flimsy and weak. He laughed and snatched out at her bag. She struggled against him and yelled again, thrashing from side to side to try and loosen his grip. She dug her fingers into the sand and grabbed a handful of it, shoving it into his face. With a snarl he withdrew, rubbing at his eyes, and she dragged the bag out of his hands. She forced her limbs to react and kicked out against the ground, scrabbling to her feet again, praying that whatever adrenaline she had left could serve her. He was close at her heels, snatching out for her again, and she strained on. Her legs began to buckle and with a roar of frustration she stopped abrupt and turned to face him. Caught off guard, he tried to stop too, losing his balance. With all the force she could muster, Kaisa kicked out at him, hitting him square in the head as he plummeted to the ground. Once he fell he didn’t move. Kaisa paused, heart racing. Unconscious. She blinked in surprise. She half laughed-half cried in victory, and returned back to an exhausted jog, attempting to place as much distance as she could between him and her. She looked back up to the scenery. The rocks sill mocked her in their distance, but nestled in a mound of sand she could just make out another spaceship – its tip jutted out into view. She gasped at this potential sanctuary and willed her body to hurry, grasping out to it. 2The heating of the ship had switched on with a jolly hum, lulling Zambia into a state of half-sleep and half waking. Somewhere the details of the ship drifted between memories and reality, until there was nothing but her thoughts and a niggling feeling. It seemed to throb at her temples – a sensation of something being wrong. Zambia was surprised that it had not kicked in earlier – she had felt it as the spaceship had loomed over her planet and the cities were destroyed, it had been acute and disabling. Now, after all she had seen in its absence – all the horror, she wondered why this feeling appeared all at once. She couldn’t find any immediate danger – any real fear for the present. Of course, she herself had been afraid; it was why she had slunk back into the womb of the ship, why she sat now with her back to the controls and door so that she faced the chair. But the instinct of ‘wrong’ she felt, and had grown used to feeling over the years, was never for her own safety. She remembered the biology classes she had taken as a cub where her teachers would attempt to explain this sixth sense only to fail miserably and leave them more confused than they had been at the start. Something about pack mentality – instinct. Some remnant of more primal days. Still, whatever it had been or now was, it tormented her, pulling her feelings into the sense of anxiety and foreboding she now felt. She frowned and looked back and upwards to the edge of the controls. All seemed well here, or as well as it could be considering the circumstances. She closed her eyes, trying to catch hold of it, but the feeling was suddenly gone. She sighed and stood, ears pricked, and surveyed the space of the ship further. Nothing. She looked at the door for some time, and then moved over to the porthole, peering out. The desert night had truly set in, and she scrubbed away with the heel of her hand to try to see out of it clearer. Out of the darkness, she saw a figure jogging towards the spaceship and drew back slightly. The creature bore a resemblance to the things that had attacked her planet, but was in many ways different. She couldn’t see much clearly – but the movement of its running was enough to tell her it was alien. Instead of the almost springy motion of her own running, this creature seemed to have an awkward thumping run. While Zambia ran and walked on her toes, this creature ran on the soles and ankles of short stumpy feet, using its knees as the greatest propeller. Zambia’s ears flattened again - caught between fear and curiosity. She gathered her courage about her and stretched a hand out, opening the hatch door carefully. She brought her head out to take a better look, glad of the cold night air to clarify her senses. As the figure neared, Zambia was struck with how much stranger it was in the flesh. She saw that the figure was bald but for hair on its head – black and straight. Like Zambia, it had five fingered hands- splayed as it ran for balance. It was tailless but wore clothes not too dissimilar to what she had seen on her own planet – so she assumed it must be intelligent. Its face was the most drastically different. Zambia noted that it had no snout or muzzle, or even beak – but was instead essentially flat, sweeping back from a singular thin, pointed bit of cartilage in the centre of the face. The mouth was also flat with plumper pink lips, open to gasp the air through blunt teeth. Truly alien. She withdrew slightly, but it seemed to run straight for her. It waved its arms and half stumbled – calling out. She forced herself to take a step outside of the ship, though her claws remained extended. The creature skidded to a stop in front of her and for a moment there was silence as it looked up at her, it’s alarm momentarily dispelled. Zambia with struck with its eyes – large and brown, but most of all expressive and intelligent. Beautiful. She could recognise in them a mix of curiosity and slight apprehension, but at the same time a sort of warmth. She was dumbstruck. It panted, then cocked its head slightly to the side and Zambia was overcome with questions, so many that she had trouble to even separate them from one another. The creature glanced quickly backwards and seemed to relax a little, gazing up at her. After a few more seconds, she sighed and opened her mouth. “Hello?” she looked down at the creature, a twitching sense of embarrassment under the words she knew it would not understand. “Erm… my name is Zambia. What is your name? Do you...have one?” The creature showed its teeth and Zambia jumped and glared at it. The creature suddenly stopped and looked confused. Zambia frowned, puzzled. Teeth- a clear sign of aggression, but this creature didn’t look angry – just startled. Zambia relaxed a little and it made a few sounds she couldn’t understand. She sighed – things would be harder than she could have hoped for. The creature looked agitated again and rounded to her side, towards the spaceship. “I’m sorry, you startled me.” Zambia apologised and knelt down a little so that she was at face level with the creature. It made a sequence of sounds, waving an arm out to the desert and then rolled its eyes up slightly as if to think. It spoke another string of sounds then clearly said ‘Zambia.’ Zambia blinked in surprise, leaning forwards. “What?” It showed its teeth again, nodding vigorously and Zambia forced herself to go against her initial reaction to it. She studied the creature’s eyes instead – bright, happy. A smile? “Zambia.” It repeated with a grin and pointed energetically at her. “Oh!” Zambia laughed. “Yes, Zambia! I’m Zambia! You can understand me, can’t you?” The creature clearly nodded. Zambia half leapt in excitement. “Amazing- absolutely amazing! How? I mean -oh, what is your name?” The creature spoke again and jabbed a finger towards its own chest. Zambia strained to catch some sort of meaning out of it. It said it again. Zambia slowly repeated. “C- eye…K-eye-sah?” It said it again. Two syllables close together. “Kaisa?” It nodded. Zambia laughed. “Well hello there Kaisa- it’s great to meet you. Wow, this is amazing I mean-” She stopped as her companion stiffened and looked back. Zambia followed its gaze. “What is it?” Kaisa suddenly gripped onto one of her arms, pulling itself close to her side and stared ahead. In front of them another alien advanced. This one was a little more similar to what Zambia had seen before, what with its scales, but again its face was without muzzle and it walked on its feet flat. This one brandished a knife, and the grin that played across its features was far closer to the snarl Zambia was more accustomed to. This too spoke an odd language – but one completely different to Kaisa’s – but Kaisa seemed to understand, and her grip tightened on Zambia’s arm. “What do you want?” Zambia instantly growled, and Kaisa snapped some words at the creature, pulling Zambia back towards the ship. It advanced and twirled the knife. Behind it, a few metres away, she could see two others of the same species, spreading out so that they were in a rough triangle. “Kaisa, who are they?!” The first looked back to the second and third then all dived forwards. “Zambia!” Kaisa screamed and turned, pulling her back into the ship. They jumped inside and Zambia turned to close the door hard, locking it. There were faint thumps as the creatures hit it and scrabbled for entrance, and Kaisa went for the controls, looking over the buttons for some sort of defence. “Kaisa, I don’t understand, why are those creatures after you? What do they want?” Kaisa talked quickly, then thumped on the edges of the controls in frustration, moving to a porthole to look out. Zambia joined it. Outside she could see the three aliens had stepped back, arms wide, mocking them. “They might give up in an hour or so.” Zambia suggested, and Kaisa gave a wavering sigh, the strength in its body sagging all of a sudden. Zambia’s ear pricked and she bent down to Kaisa, taking a gentle hold of its shoulders. It shook its head and turned away, looking back at the door. Zambia leant in a little. “Kaisa?” It looked at her and sniffed, and all at once Zambia realised. It was only a child. It was a child and it was alone in the dark and pursued by those murderous creatures for heaven knows what reason. There were thumps outside as the creatures started to throw rocks. Kaisa bowed her head a little and Zambia paused, then stroked its cheek. “Are you alright?” Kaisa nodded with a half-shrug of its shoulders, and Zambia smiled and squeezed its shoulder. “Alright. I’m here for you now, ok? Did you do anything to these people?” Kaisa shook its head with a frown. “They just chased you?” Kaisa nodded, then held out its bag making a jerking motion with it. “They tried to take it from you. Thieves?” Kaisa nodded and rubbed its nose on its sleeve. “Alright. Well then.” She stood back up again, listening with hesitation as the rocks clipped off the outside of the ship. “We can hardly just sit here and let them try and put holes in this ship.” Kaisa opened its mouth, “I know what I said, but can’t let these people wave those knives around like savages threatening cubs. There’s been too much of that today. Far too much.” She fought against the recurring strands of grief and fear before they could take a hold of her once more and swished her tail in defiance. “Plus I’d like to try and get this ship airborne again at some point, and it can’t do having them try to break it.” Kaisa smiled and Zambia nodded. “Ok. Well Kaisa, you stay here please. You understand?” -Kaisa frowned as if to protest– “No; I mean it. Stay here where it’s safe please.” She took Kaisa’s bag. “Trust me- I’ll keep this safe for you. Now stay inside.” She placed a hand on the hatch and paused, taking a deep breath, and then opened it. The aliens all stepped back and smirked. “So you gentlemen are looking for this?” Zambia held Kaisa’s bag high in one arm, and they laughed, the leader snorting something. He gestured towards the ship and all three laughed again. Zambia tensed, then advanced, her claws slowly extracting. “You know, so far my view of you extra-terrestrials is pretty low.” She dropped the bag at her feet and one of the trio glanced at it, checking with the others. “For all your posing you’re nothing but petty criminals. What sort of lowlifes would gang up on a cub? And now you have the gall to even think about taking my ship off me?” The three advanced and Zambia’s ears flattened. She forced herself to go on, looking for some sort of opening. “So… that’s it. Leave us alone. Crawl back to whatever sewer you rose up from.” The three dived suddenly forward and she leapt for them. As one moved to punch at her she rolled to the side, slashing out with her claws and catching him in the side and jerked a leg out to trip him. One climbed up to the ship’s hatch and she ran for him, but was cut off by another. He stabbed out with his knife and she jerked back, swishing her tail out for balance as she fell. She caught her balance and kicked out a leg into his gut - he reeled and dropped back winded. She picked up his knife and ran for the one at the hatch as the first thief pursued her. He struggled against the door, and she managed to find the strength to dig her claws deep into his arms and wrench him off. She then took her position, her back to the hatch door and snarled, jutting the knife out in warning. She could feel the thief’s sweat on the handle, and it seemed to sit awkwardly in her fingers – lame; laughable. The alien she had winded tried to sit up, and barked something at the other two. There was a ripple of complaint but they backed off a little and Zambia half smirked. She advanced with a growl and kicked the bag out of their reach, claws and blade primed. The two then zipped back to help up their fallen comrade, one of the two doubled over from the injury she had managed to inflict. They spat some curses, and turned tail, limping away at lumbering speed. Zambia stared in disbelief as they made their way across the desert and back to the town, and let the knife drop from her hand, her entire body sinking in relief. My god girl, what were you thinking ? She laughed and held her head in her hands, dropping to sit on the steps. “Zambia?” She turned and Kaisa was at the door, its brow furrowed in concern. “Oh, Kaisa. Here-“ She bent, picked up the bag and handed it to it, their hands touching. She laughed again at the look of relief on its face and ruffled Kaisa’s hair. “See? I told you I would sort this out. I’m full of surprises.” Kaisa grinned and leapt forward, hugging her. Zambia smiled and returned the embrace. “We make quite a pair, don’t we? Here, we’ll be alright. I just wish I knew where you came from.” She looked out across the desert for a last time and rose, returning into the ship. Kaisa paused. “It’s late. Would you like to sleep here tonight?” Kaisa glanced back at the city then to her. “I’d – I wouldn’t mind, you know.” Kaisa nodded and smiled, slipping back through the door and closing it against the cold night air.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 10:06 am
Quote: Chapter 9“You know, when I was running it wasn’t this far.” Kaisa huffed and tied her shirt around her waist. “It’s got longer overnight, I bet.” The sun had rolled overhead, massive against the clear sky, and its heat had chocked whatever water there had been out of the air. Zambia brought a hand up to shade her eyes and looked ahead to the city. “The thieves came from there, why are we following them? Surely it would be safer just to stay at my ship.” Zambia asked. Kaisa sighed and yanked at the straps of her t-shirt against the heat, jabbing forwards with her finger to the city. Zambia half frowned and Kaisa winked at her. “I suppose you’re in charge, cub.” Kaisa nodded. “Just trust me, ok? It’ll be safer there, Zambia.” Zambia bent down a little in an effort to understand and Kaisa thought of how to sign out what she’d just said. “Erm…” she sighed and just patted Zambia’s arm. “I can’t wait until I get you to the Federation and I can stop playing charades.” She laughed and Zambia smiled. “Not far now.” Soon Kaisa had led them into the city, and within a few wrong turns had retraced her steps back to the bustling alleyways that held ‘the Legless Horseman’. The market stalls were alive with activity, and all the torches extinguished so that the air was full of the smells of spices and sweat rather than the oils. Kaisa spotted out the pub sign and took Zambia’s hand, leading her in. What hit her first was a wave of sound. The pub was packed to the rafters with a plethora of aliens, all competing for seats and calling to each other from between tables. The air was thick with smoke and heavy with heat despite all the best attempts of the occasional fans positioned around the bars. Kaisa gripped Zambia’s hand and forced her way forward, with her companion dragging along behind and talking with excited speed– although Kaisa couldn’t make out a word in the din. “Chimera?!” Zambia stopped and Kaisa pulled at her arm to bring her forwards; ducking to elbow her way to the bar. “Chimera!” “I’m comin’ I’m comin’” Kaisa strained to look through the crowd at the bar. Chimera was yanking out pints while four other barmaids dodged around her to serve the drinks. Kaisa caught her snap something at one of the staff as he went out with food, then duck back under the bar to drag out the ingredients for a cocktail. Once she was finished she turned around and went to Kaisa’s side of the bar. “What?- oh, it’s you, love; I’ve got a bone to pick with you. I’d wondered where you got to when-“ A man waved his hand at her and she frowned. “Alright, come round into the storeroom where we can talk.” She pointed to the back corner of the pub and Kaisa headed that way. She soon joined them and opened the door, slinking in with them. The room was substantially cooler and filled with barrels and various tinned goods. She sighed, massaging the back of her neck and looked between Kaisa and Zambia. “Well that’s better. Where were you? You were nowhere to be seen even when I turned in. When I asked about your room this morning and they said it hadn’t been slept in.” “Oh, sorry about that. There was kinda a change of plan.” Chimera snorted. “Well it’s not wise to be paying for a room you’re not going to use; we’re not that cheap.” “Well, it was sort of not expected.” Chimera folded her arms. “Not expected? What happened?” “It’s ok.” “Hmn. If you say so. When I said I’d check up on you I didn’t mean that I’d go trawling out at night to find you. It’s not safe out there at the best of times – not for kids anyway.” “You went out looking for me?” “Not likely with the hours I work! But I took a quick stroll ‘round before I went to sleep- catch some night air. Nothing that I don’t always do...” “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to –“ “Hey, you’re not my kid.” She shrugged and looked at Zambia. “Who’s your friend?” Kaisa smiled. “This is Zambia. I met her last night, She sort of looked after me.” “So you did need looking after then.” Chimera clicked her tongue against her teeth in satisfaction, but decided to let it drop. “And have you told your friend that it’s rude to stare?” She smirked and the two looked at Zambia. Zambia stared back, then frowned in puzzlement. “She can’t understand us.” “Yes, I gathered that. So she’s not from around here then?” “I don’t think she’s from anywhere – not that I know of. I mean, if she was she’d have had the injection, wouldn’t she?” “Of course. So her planet’s not in the Federation then. That’s got to be annoying.” “It’s not easy” Kaisa laughed and looked up to smile at Zambia. “Do you think we could both get a room Chimera? Her ship’s sort of basic, and it’s all the way out in the desert.” “You’d be better here.” Chimera paused and stretched out a hand over Kaisa’s head to re arrange some tins. “You don’t have to pay for the room you had last night – nothing was lost with you not there – but if what I saw is all your money, you’re going to run into problems soon, love.” “Yeah, I guess so.” Chimera leant against the door of the storeroom, her tail snaking around herself and flicking in thought. “Well, of course if you have anything to sell you are in the right city. After all, they say if you can’t get it sold off in Daran Mille it’s not worth selling. How did you come down here?” “A ship – like, a space pod. A one man one, but it’s broken.” “Well if anything it can be sold for scrap. Was it modern?” “It was new, so I guess so.” “Well then; that should fetch you a half-decent price if you get the right people. What about your friend?” “Zambia had a ship, but I don’t know if she’s still using it.” “What’s it like?” Kaisa shrugged. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s like a firework with a seatbelt.” She laughed. “Basic?” “Weird. It doesn’t look like a smooth ride either way.” “Perhaps she’d be willing to sell it too, or trade it in for a better one in that case. I tell you what, love; I know a few traders down the edges of town. I’m sure they’d be prepared to take your ship for its scrap value, and if I put a good word in they might squeeze you above the waiting lists and update your friend’s ship if nothing else.” “Really? That’d be great.” “I’m assuming your not here for the long run. You’ll be heading back into space?” “I have to.” Kaisa shoved her hands in her pockets and Chimera nodded, studying her face for a moment. “You got family there?” Kaisa didn’t answer and turned to Zambia. Her companion was studying the tins, squinting at a spidery insect that crawled across them. “I’ll give you the address.” Chimera glanced around for a pen and paper and then opened the door, letting the din of the bar back in. She moved out and shoved her way to the bar, dragging out a small pad and a pencil. She scribbled down the address and tore off the paper, handing it to Kaisa. “Here. In the meantime I’ll make a call and get some of the boys to drag the ships to those mechanics. They’d be better off there than left out in the desert where anyone can take them. Why don’t you go and take your friend to the Federation building and get her that injection; then we can see if the cat’s got a tongue.” “Cool. Erm…where-“ “Here.” Chimera clipped the paper back and added to it. “That’s the directions. It’s right in the centre – a big place, very pretentious- ornamental gardens and all that sort of rubbish. Sticks out like a sore thumb.” Kaisa smiled. “Thanks; really thanks.” “Don’t mention it. Now some of us have got to work – make sure you come back this time, you hear?” Kaisa nodded and nudged at Zambia’s hand again, leading her back out of the bar and back onto the streets.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 10:07 am
Quote: Chapter 10“Xenon must be desperate if he’s coming down to this.” Tyran grunted and ducked to avoid a low hanging rock on the roughly cut ceiling as the pocket of soldiers navigated through the tunnel. Ahead of them, a bent-backed guard fiddled with the heavy lamp he was carrying and eyed him. “There’s a good batch of crooks down here, Sergeant. S’ not all that many of the rouges of this town end up on death row. S’ privilege.” He gave a toothless grin and Tyran snorted, turning to look as the tunnel widened ahead. Built into the walls were lines upon lines of barred cells, the inmate’s arms reaching out into the narrow corridor between. Tyran estimated that there must have been at least eight in each tiny hole. Although he had a naturally sharp sense of smell, down here everything was concentrated. The stench of sweat and faeces infected the space, choking out the air and burning his nose. Under it, the scent of blood and congealing wounds, no doubt –he thought- inflicted by the fraying leather whip the guard held close at his side. Tyran sniffed and stretched his shoulders, turning from it. Deeper, under the countless surface smells, was fear; but not the intense living fear that was so similar in smell and taste of the air before the storm- not the fear of the battlefield. Instead, this was the smell of continual dread and apprehension; the smell that came once the lightning and thunder had ceased and the rain had eased. When the world had settled into itself again, and life below the scarred sky grew wary of the consequences of what had raged above them. “Really.” A hand grasped out for him and he struck it hard across the knuckles with the butt of his gun. “Don’t mind ‘im, Sergeant. He’s always a bit spirited this time of the morning.” The guard paused to jab the end of his whip through the bars at them. “This un’ was good – caught with his hand in the jam jar, sotospeak.” Tyran raised a brow and carried on walking ahead of the guard. “Robbed a big ol’ merchant’s store. ‘Course there were alarms: they found ‘im with ‘is hand in the jewellery cabinet and all the staff dead at ‘is feet. I ‘ear they still can’t get the blood off them diamonds.” He glanced back at Tyran and then shuffled after him. “So I ‘ear you’ll be wanting some of these for your own. How much you offering?” “How long until they’re executed?” The guard paused to scratch his chin. “That depends. Usually the executions ‘appen on Sunday. The crowd go wild for it.” “I’m sure Daran Mille must be compensated for the loss of the enjoyment of seeing these on the chopping block.” Tyran’s voice was flat and the guard slowed a little to eye him, attempting to work out whether he was being sarcastic or not. He took it at face value and grinned. Tyran folded his arms “Well, it does provide a good bit of entertainment – just what you need after a nice pint at lunch. We’ll be sorry to see ‘em go.” “I’m sure.” “But enough about Daran Mille - what about me? I’m the one’s gonna be missin’ ‘em after all.” “Grown attached, have you?” Tyran could only keep a thin veil on the scorn of his voice now. He squinted through the bars at more of the prisoners and motioned to the other soldiers to start gathering them up. “’ow many you wanting?” “How much you asking?” “Well you couldn’t fit all of ‘em in your ship.” The guard snorted. “I would hate to rob the towns’ people of their Sunday entertainment. And it would be cruel of me to cause you so much distress at their loss. We’ll take half.” The guard’s face split into a grin. “Right. That’ll be-“ “1,500 Marks each.” “Get lost – they’re worth at least 5,000!” “Not for something you were about to kill. They’re like cattle now.” “They’re still people.” “So now you’re a humanitarian.” “What I means is I want slave prices.” Tyran smirked. “Not even a slave owner would take these. Take it or leave it.” The soldiers started to drag the inmates out of their cells and shackle them. The guard squinted at him. “3000.” “1,600 or we take them for free.” The guard glanced back at the soldiers, than spat on the ground. “You drive an ‘ard bargain Sergeant.” He wiped a hand across his trousers and handed it out to Tyran. Tyran looked at it. “Any favourites you’d like to keep hold of?” The guard withdrew his hand and wiped his brow with it. “I keep the good ‘uns in cell 15.” “Alright.” He turned and the soldiers dragged out more convicts, marching them back through the tunnel and up to the surface.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 10:08 am
Quote: Chapter 12 – The Ship’s Mechanics
1Xena yawned as she twirled the screwdriver around in her hands, relieved that the wrenching and groaning sounds of the cranes moving steel had finally stopped. The day was going to be busy, with two new arrivals of spaceships to work from, accompanied with frustratingly vague directions with what she was going to do with them. Now, the two crafts (one of which was thankfully small) were crammed into the snug semi-covered workshop building, blocking out what little space there had been before their arrival. Already the morning had been full of numerous routine repairs that had thrown up difficulties, in the addition of an irritatingly awkward patch up of a space pod that had taken hours for it even to be fit for flight. That, coupled with a particularly impatient customer, had done all it could to grate at her mood, now worsened by a grumbling stomach. She glanced up at the clock: lunch hour had passed by unnoticed over two hours ago, and she had no time to stop now. Sometimes she wondered if a good reputation was as much of a commodity as people made it out to be. The limited increase in money seemed hardly worth the hassle of such a numerous throng of customers if they could not even afford to expand – and in Daran Mille land was often expensive. Above her, the cranes that had wheeled in the latest ships turned around the edge of the building and back into parking. The new crafts were a space pod – hopelessly battered – and an odd looking transportation rocket. Xena resisted the impulse to go check it out and returned to her present work on the ship. When she opened up a hatch the ship greeted her with a face full of oil. She spluttered and fell backwards with a cry, crawling under the spray of black liquid to kick at the belly of the ship. With a groan the fountain of oil stopped. “Great!” She grabbed a wrench, digging around inside with a snarl and dragged out the culprit – a fat rat. With a shriek, it leapt out of her hands and dropped to the ground, scrabbling away and under one of the workhouse cupboards. She grumbled to herself and returned to the ship, thumping the ball of her palm against the side when she saw all the damage the rodent had caused to the wiring. Suddenly, a hand grabbed her shoulder and she jumped, spinning around with her teeth bared. She relaxed with a sigh when she saw who it was. “Good afternoon sir.” She said, flatly. The man in front of her gave an impatient flick of his long tail and folded his arms, looking over her head to the rest of the workshop. “Where is it?” he demanded, looking down at her, “Is it done yet?” Tyran snapped the last word and Xena took a rag, doing her best to clean the oil stains off her crimson clothes; the act itself was a form of meditation against his mood. She forced a polite tone and nodded to him. “Yes, sir, I’m sorry for the delay, but your engine was quite badly damaged.” “Some of us have places to be, you know.” Xena sighed again and went to cleaning her wrench. “Sergeant Suao, pardon the question, but couldn’t you have left on the same ship as the rest of your crew? It would have given us more time to repair your pod.” “And I would love returning to this hole of a planet so much.” Tyran snorted. “Not an option; my boss wants me to collect some creep’s side of a trade with him, and I can hardly take that rabble along with me.” He shrugged. “How’s it any of your business?” Xena turned her back on him and retreated to the frayed wires of the control panel. She began to piece them back together, hoping against hope that he would get bored and leave. “Well?” Xena turned around rubbing the sweat off her forehead. “Sir?” “The ship.” Tyran glared at her and she blinked. “Oh. I’ve sent it to the nearest launch pad. I’m afraid that it won’t be fit for any exploration though. I could only patch up the engine and supply it with new energy crystals in that time, sir. I’m afraid at best it can only limp back to the mother ship.” Tyran gave a frustrated sigh, looking to the sky as if for someone to either help him or strike Xena down with a bolt of lightning. She watched him and returned to wiping the oil from her clothes as he leant on the ship she was preparing. He remained there, running a hand over his eyes and then looked at her again. “You got a computer then?” “A computer? What for?” She instantly regretted asking. “Unless you want me to send smoke signals to my boss instead, I’m gonna need it.” She mumbled a vague apology and led him to it. She made herself scarce and watched him as he typed up a hasty message to his boss. The leader’s impatient reply took up the screen, ordering him to hurry up and get back. At it, he turned off the screen with a grumble under his breath. He headed towards the exit, throwing a small bag of money at her as he left. He rounded the corner and was gone. Xena gave a sigh of relief and relaxed, sitting down into a tatty deckchair. She picked up the money, placing it to her side and set about polishing some of the tools she had finished using. Off to her right there was a small puff of soot and sand and a spluttering sound. Xena turned in her chair and smiled as her friend climbed out of a storage cellar. “Tiri! I thought I’d lost you there!” she joked, laughing. Tiri beamed and closed the trapdoor, waddling over to pass her some energy crystals. Her short plump body was covered in soot and she brushed it off, flapping the stumpy wings on her back to dislodge the worst part of the dust and sand. As she did so, her blue scales gained their original shimmer, and she scratched her belly with a giggle. “Almost!” She fluttered her wings as she jumped, hovering to plop herself on top of the ship beside Xena. She sneezed when she flapped her ears and wafted away the dust. “Gosh, it is messy down there – I told you we should have a cleanout.” “I’d like to know when we can get the time.” Xena sighed, holding up a wrench to the light and smiling when it gave a satisfying shimmer. Tiri shrugged and wiggled her fat toes, shifting her weight. It was unusual for this dwarf Dragonlet to ever sit still, and even her sleep she was active – talking or snoring. It had used to drive Xena next to insane, but years in her company had softened her and now she could hardly sleep without Tiri’s little burbles or fidgeting. “Who was your friend?” Tiri asked, blinking and tapping out a tune on the surface of the ship. “He’s not my friend.” Xena snorted. “No?” Tiri tilted her head so that it swivelled at an unnatural angle. “A Mont’an.” Xena frowned a little, polishing with new vigour at the tools. “I thought they’d killed each other of in those wars of theirs.” Tiri commented, blinking back at the entrance to the building. “Apparently not. I don’t think that they’re extinct like some say. He obviously isn’t.” “So they’re just not very social?” Tiri asked, as if the political allies of the Federation were reduced to a tea party club. “They’re brutes.” Xena snorted. “Now come on Xena, that guy’s the first one you’ve seen!” Tiri protested, rolling onto her stomach. “Just look at that man for one.” Xena sniffed, “They took all the Federation’s technology they could get their paws on when they were offered it, and then thanked them by blowing each other up to try and take control of it, and chased those who gave it to them off the planet as ‘aliens’! They had the cheek to blame those stupid wars they started having on the Federation! That’s what happens when you drop down and give space age technology to savages.” Tiri gave her a disapproving look. “Don’t look at me like that! The fact is that some Federation peacemakers came down to try and mend relations with them, and the Federation never saw them again. The wars might’ve started decades ago, but they’re still at it. You can’t deny that. And did you see the weapons on that ship of his? If that guy’s anything to go by, they’re all murders.” She sniffed and packed the clean tools away. They were quiet for a while and Tiri smacked her lips. “Well, at least he paid you well.” Xena sighed. “Yeah that’s true.” Tiri stretched down the ship so that she was dangling upside-down by her tail. “Fancy some lunch?” She asked, grinning. Xena smiled. “I thought you’d never ask.” 2“Is this it?” Zambia took a step into the Ship’s mechanics store and Kaisa consulted the note. “Yeah, I think so.” She looked over the place. It was huge and all but open to the elements, with three walls surrounding it, leaving the back open for the insertion of ships. Two of the walls had wide roofs stretching over them, shading the tools and various oil drums of materials from the searing sun. The floor was sand, like most of this edge of the city, but in places, where the ships rested, the sand seemed stuck together, as if someone had poured concrete directly onto the ground to mix in with the natural flooring. Ships were everywhere, crammed in like buildings themselves, creating narrow alleyways of shadow. The larger numbers were towards the back and one cruiser was easily three times the height of the building itself. Kaisa found herself having to step sideways between the ships and bend under the curve of their hulls in order to navigate farther into the place. “It’s a bit of a dump isn’t it?” When there was no answer she looked around for her friend, and found Zambia snaking her way further towards the end of the building. “Kaisa- look, it’s my ship! What it doing here?” Zambia’s ship was half out of the structure, laid on its side on the ground. Zambia circled it in surprise and looked back at her. “Oh- I’m sorry, we were thinking we should upgrade it or trade it in.” Kaisa apologised. “Trade it in? Why? I need it.” Zambia was struck with the thought that actually, no, she didn’t need it anymore. She had had a notion of searching for survivors from her planet, but realistically it would be wiser to stay here and try to make some sort of life. The ship itself was next to useless in this big and bustling world that she had been dragged into, and with the universe stretching out around her, how could she possibly begin a search for a few people she didn’t even know? It had been risky enough as it was to land on this planet in the first place - she had stricken lucky that it was inhabitable. Why tale the risk again and again? She rubbed at its surface, seeing her reflection dulled on its coating. “What did you want to do with it?” She asked. “Well we thought about updating it or swapping it or something. I mean, you can’t lift off in that without some major scaffolding.” Kaisa shrugged. “What about your ship? Did you come down in one?” Kaisa squinted around and pointed at hers, precariously balanced on jacks more towards the centre of the building. “Yep- but it’s broken. I kinda crash landed. Maybe we can get some money or something from it. I hope so anyway, I don’t know about you but I’m starving.” Zambia laughed in agreement and moved to look at Kaisa’s ship. “Amazing.” “You’re easily impressed.” “Still... So we need to find the mechanics to start selling off these ships.” Kaisa blinked. “You mean you’re happy to get rid of yours? You just-” “Of course. Like you said; it isn’t much use is it? We might as well get some money for it.” “Great- we’ll buy a nice spaceship with it – maybe some second hand thing and we can be off.” Kaisa smiled. “Off? Are you planning on going back into space?” “Well, yeah. Aren’t you?” Zambia paused, looking up into the blue sky as if trying to see beyond it. While space was a fascinating adventure – a place she had always dreamt of exploring – the concept of returning to that vast blackness grew less and less appealing. She didn’t know if she was prepared to face the emptiness of it all again, where creatures like those that had destroyed her home would lurk. Where her father had been convinced that Xenon had touched down to wreak his revenge upon the planet that had exiled him, and where space was his domain. She had been stupid to presume that she alone to help anyone in that place, or any place for that matter. And while the selfishness of thinking of staying put already began to eat away at her, her mind reasoned that there was no other conceivable path to take. The probability of finding anyone was next to nothing. She couldn’t go back; not if she wanted to stay alive, or at the very least if she wanted to be happy to some degree. She closed her eyes and sighed. “I don’t know. No. Why do you want to go? It’s safe here.” Kaisa’s face fell. She gave her a long look and then turned, heading back to the entrance of the mechanics.
3“How can you eat that stuff?” Xena eyed Tiri’s sandwich when she took a bite from it and it leaked purple sauce. “Mpfh oo een?” Tiri attempted to speak though a mouthful of the stuff and Xena rolled her eyes. “I mean, if it crawls and oozes, why in the world would you put it in a sandwich?” The two stretched like cats out on the roof of the building that adjoined the workshop and Tiri swallowed. “It wasn’t crawling when I put it in the sandwich.” “I should very well hope not!” the two laughed and Xena raised up on her arms to look into the workshop. Two figures had made their way in and were poking about I the ships. She stood up and cupped her hands to her mouth. “Hey!” 4Kaisa and Zambia turned as they heard someone yell and searched around. When they called again they spotted a woman stood on the roof of the building high above them. “Hello?” Kaisa called back up, suddenly feeling very guilty having been caught out amongst the ships, although she couldn’t really understand why. “What are you doing?” the woman’s tone was accusing. “Erm, do you know where the mechanics are?” The woman on the roof looked at her companion next to her, and then crouched, edging down the tiles, to dangle off the edge. When she let go, she landed and walked over. Behind her, the other figure took to the air with a frantic flapping of wings and made a clumsy glide to land. “Chimera sent us.” Kasia offered when the woman looked over them. Her face lightened. “Oh, you’re the new ship owners? We hardly had room for you, you’re lucky we owed her a favour.” She held out a hand. “My name’s Xena and this is my partner Tiri, I’m sorry about yelling at you, but we’ve had a fair few robberies over the years.” “No biggie; I’m Kasia, this is Zambia.” The couple shook both their hands and Xena headed over to their ships. “So what would you like us to do with them?” Xena asked, ducking to let Tiri fly over her head and perch on Kaisa’s pod. “It’s a bit dented isn’t it?” Tiri clung to the side and peeked through the hatch. “Yeah, I couldn’t find a landing pad.” “Couldn’t you just land on the desert’s sands?” “Missed it.” Kaisa gave an embarrassed laugh and shrugged. “Can you do anything with it?” Xena shook her head as she climbed around to inspect the back. “Not really – this is scrap now. I can give you a price for the parts if you’d like.” “You’d buy it?” “Sure, it’s a new make; pretty common if you like pods cheap – I’m sure I’d need it. Now: your friend’s ship.” Zambia had hung back around her spaceship and the group joined her. Tiri again flew over to it, but misjudged her landing and only clung onto the edge by a claw. Xena rolled her eyes and opened the hatch, bending low to crawl through it. Kaisa followed behind her. “Now this is interesting.” Xena had rolled onto her side to inspect the ships controls. “Again a little battered but...” She drifted off, and rummaged around inside it a little more. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.” There was a scrabbling behind Kaisa and Tiri clambered onto her back to get a view over her head. “It’s archaic yet...” She leant under the computer and brought out a tool to examine the hard-drive. “Its technology has some brilliant aspects in it.” She drifted off again and shuffled into the next room. A few minutes later Kaisa cleared her throat and she re-emerged. “Of course it won’t take to the air again without a scaffold so it’s not all that useful. But to the right buyer I imagine it could be valuable, even if it’s for a collector. What were you thinking of doing with it?” Kaisa shrugged. “Well I need a spaceship that’ll work, that’s the main thing. We were thinking of doing up this ship so that it can be used again, but I think it’s a bit too big.” “Just you two?” Tiri asked. “What you need is one of our Bugs.” “Bugs?” “That’s what she calls our smaller ships. Little transport buggies made for two to four people.” Xena answered. “That sounds great. How much would it cost?” Xena motioned for them to exit the ship and they shuffled awkwardly backwards and half stumbled out, Tiri knocking into Zambia at the entrance. Xena followed and stood up, smoothing down her hair. “I can see a collector paying a couple of million for this at the very least for novelty value. So that’d free you up for a good spec Bug.” She dusted off her hands. “Of course Zambia would have to sign the contracts.” Kaisa looked back at Zambia and she nodded. “Cool- so what we signing for again?” “A straight out trade of Zambia’s ship for a clean little Bug we’ve got and we’ll pay you the scrap value for your pod.” “But you said Zambia’s ship was even more valuable.” Kaisa added. “It is. But then again, if I don’t find a buyer it’s worth nothing and I’m out of pocket. I’m taking a risk here. Are you in or out?” Kaisa looked at Zambia and they shrugged. “That sounds fair enough.” Zambia held out a hand and they shook on it. 5By the end of the day Zambia and Kaisa were headed back to the ‘Legless Horseman’, a ship on delivery and 40,000 marks in pocket. The sun began to dip beyond the horizon and thankfully the air cooled. The two didn’t talk for a while, and focused on the sun until Kaisa broke the silence, shoving her hands into her pockets and looking up at the sky. “Did you mean it when you said that you weren’t going back into space?” Zambia sighed, and was quiet for a while. “Kaisa...do you think it’s a good idea to go back?” “What do you mean?” Kaisa stopped to face her and Zambia paused, clearly uneasy. “I mean, what’s wrong with staying here in Daran Mille? We have enough money now. It’s safe here.” Kaisa snorted. “Safer than out there, I mean.” She folded her arms against the new chill of the air and of Kaisa’s look. “I could make a life here...we could make a life here, don’t you think?” “You still want me around?” Kaisa asked quietly. Zambia was struck by the odd question and the surprise in Kaisa’s voice and the younger girl turned her attention to the ground. Zambia took a step forwards. “Of course. We’re friends, aren’t we? We look out for each other. I want to stay with you and I want to look after you. But I won’t-” “I don’t need looking after, Zambia.” Kaisa snapped, suddenly defensive. “You don’t know anything about me – not really. If you want to stay here, then stay here; but I’m going back.” She shrugged her shoulders and carried on walking. “So that’s it, is it?” Zambia followed after her. “I don’t know what you expect me to do here. I don’t know anything about you? You haven’t told me anything Kaisa. But you can’t expect me to uproot everything here just for you.” “You’ve been on this for planet two minutes! What’s to uproot?” Kaisa shot back. “This is the only home I have!” Zambia cried. “I can’t go anywhere else – I won’t. I just want to be safe. And I saw how you were when I saved you from those thieves – you needed me. You needed to be safe too. And those men in uniforms at the Federation, they were there because something happened to you, weren’t they? I’m not stupid. You don’t have anywhere to go either, do you? So why don’t you just stay here with me? What’s so hard about that?” Kaisa frowned and eventually shook her head. The two stood facing each other for some time before Kaisa spoke. “So what happened?” Kaisa’s voice had some give in it, but was still closed off, as if to defend against Zambia’s answer changing her mind. “You’ve got nowhere else?” Zambia sank to the ground to sit and Kaisa remained standing. Zambia sighed, pulling her knees up to her chest. “My planet...someone attacked it. He started wiping us out. I managed to escape, but I don’t think many others did. We didn’t even know that aliens existed. When I first saw the ship I was so happy, and then the weapons started firing. Everyone was dying...” Kaisa relented and sank to sit opposite her. “Oh God, Zambia: I’m sorry I didn’t-“ She waved it off and sniffed. “How were you supposed to know? I’m a coward, I know I am. I should be out there, looking for the other people who managed to escape. They’re probably afraid too; but...I can’t.” She rubbed a hand over her eyes and choked back a sob. “What can I do? I – I just want to be safe, that’s all. And I know he’s out there, somewhere. Up there.” Kaisa had edged forwards and tentatively placed a hand on hers. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I just thought you – I’m sorry.” “It’s my fault, Kaisa, I’m letting them down. But it’s impossible – I can’t find them out there. I just don’t understand why you want to go back into space so badly. What did those men at the Federation say to you – what happened? Kaisa felt guilt eat at her. Compared to the magnitude of what Zambia had been through, her tragedy seemed almost insignificant. Both had lost people dear to them, but Zambia had been forced into a universe she knew nothing about. Kaisa clung to the hope that Kero was still alive, but one look into Zambia’s eyes showed that she really had no-one, only a duty to strangers she was too afraid to implement. While the cargo ship had been Kaisa’s whole world, she had people that were beginning to help her. What touched her the most was that even in recounting her tale, Zambia was still concerned for her, and yet she’d snapped at Zambia like she didn’t give a damn. “They’re going to help me find my friend.” Kaisa replied, emotion and shame quietening her to little more than a mumble. “Your friend?” “Kero. We were separated and he’s up there somewhere in space.” Zambia nodded solemnly and Kaisa carried on. “When I found you, I was alone because I’d crash landed here. We’d escaped –me and Kero- because our cargo ship was attacked by pirates; that’s what I was telling those security officers at the Federation building. They’re going to help me find Kero and that ‘Xenon’ man who did it.” Zambia’s eyes widened at the name and her fur bristled. Xenon Mufsabar. “Xenon?” She asked, her instincts fighting against the logic that it had to be another Xenon, a pure co-incidence. “That’s what we heard one of the soldiers say.” Kaisa sighed, unaware of Zambia’s alarm. “We think he did it. I hope that maybe if the police can find him, they’ll find our crew.” She sniffed and looked up at her companion. She was stiff, looking off out to the desert, her forehead knitted in thought. “Zambia?” Zambia visibly shook herself and looked down at her. “Are you alright?” Kaisa pressed. “I’m sorry, it’s been a long day.” Zambia laughed again- a hollow half bark - and Kaisa looked down at her hands. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think.” “It’s not your fault, cub. It seems that we’ve both been in the wars, sotospeak.” She wrapped an arm around Kaisa’s shoulders and pulled her into a close hug. “I was selfish, I never thought that you had someone up there waiting for you. And that you’d been through so much. For heaven’s sake, you’re only a child!” “But what about you?” Zambia smiled, wiping the tears from her face. “You’re who I care about now.” “You know I have to go back up there, don’t you? I can’t leave him alone. But you don’t have to come if you don’t want to.” Zambia nodded. “Then we’ll go.” Kaisa looked up at her and Zambia held her close. “Together. We’ll go.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 10:39 am
This could very well be an award winning book. It dwarfs my work, or any I've read from another. Keep going with it, and try to get it published! biggrin
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:26 pm
thanks so much biggrin
more coming :3
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
