Month: September 2025

Avalon 1.4 Sticks and Stones part 6 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Alexis had her wand out by then and barely responded in time before the Balok tried the other weapon. Alexis put up a magical shield and while it deflected the heat ray, the ray was powerful enough to knock her back on her rump. She screamed again while Mingus searched frantically for a weapon that might be effective. He found a big stone.

The Balok pulled in its legs and began to slither forward. It moved fast, but Doctor Procter reacted faster. He had his wand out and managed a magical freeze ray of his own. The Balok shrieked in pain and fell to the ground where it began to whip about. Mingus struggled, mumbled something about the beast keeping still, but finally managed to bring his rock down on the Balok head. He managed a glancing blow at first, but the second and third strikes were more accurate. The Balok head became mush from blow after blow as Mingus pounded it into the dirt. Alexis looked away.

Only moments later, Saphira and Katie ran up. The marine went immediately to make sure the Balok was dead while Saphira put her hands on her knees and caught her breath.

“I’m older than I look,” Saphira said.

Alexis looked. Alexis counted her age as twenty-five, or so, and Katie Harper could not have been that much older; certainly under thirty. Saphira was what? “Maybe thirty-five?” Alexis said.

“In my day, thirty-five is old. I should be fat with a dozen kids to do the running for me.”

“Do you have any children?” Alexis asked, the subject being on her mind.

Saphira nodded but said nothing as they saw Captain Decker in the distance. He walked leaning on Coramel’s sons, and Roland walked quietly beside him. Decker had some frostbite, but nothing serious. Lincoln, Lockhart, and Coramel came last, carrying Boston on a stretcher made from two tree branches and fairy weave. Boston complained even as she giggled.

“Ouch. Stop wiggling. Lockhart, I’m supposed to be pushing you around in a wheelchair, you old man. Ouch, it hurts when I laugh. This is embarrassing.”

Alexis immediately went to her, and they put her down on the edge of the camp where Alexis could spend considerable time healing and knitting Boston’s bones.

~~~*~~~

It turned high noon when they all stopped to eat and rest. Alexis and Boston needed the rest. Doctor Procter said he felt better, but he did not look too well, and he kept his distance with the excuse that he did not want them to catch whatever he had. Lockhart stayed beside Boston the whole time. Her bones were completely restored, but her muscles were sore. She would need some recovery time. Alexis stayed beside Lincoln and hooked her arm through his but said nothing. She just smiled. Mingus watched them and frowned. Roland had his eyes on Lockhart and Boston who were laughing and having a good time.

“Wonders,” Coramel said. “This cooking, this bread, things flying through the sky, serpent people and stick people. The things I have seen.”

“The things you felt.” Saphira spoke in a voice of great concern. She sat down beside the hunter and pressed her hip to his. She took both of his once frostbitten hands in hers and drew them to her chest. She sat in leather armor, but it was the thought that counted. “Are you feeling warm now?”

Coramel slowly grinned. How should he answer that question?

“You have no idea how grateful I am for your help.”

“I am glad,” Coramel said, as he took back his hands. His toes were still itching their way back to life.

“Boys.” Saphira turned on them. “How old are you, anyway?”

“Eighteen summers,” one answered brightly. The other sounded glum.

“Just sixteen.”

Saphira thought for a minute before she decided. “This could work.” Everyone knew what she was thinking, but they all had the good sense not to say anything.

“Lieutenant.” Captain Decker pulled her aside to where they could speak in private. “Are you getting all this?”

“The recorder is working. My pin camera is working. I am sure it will all be there when we get back.”

Captain Decker gritted his teeth. “Any ideas how we can transmit the data we have already collected? There has to be some way out of this zoo.”

Lieutenant Harper just shook her head. His mind simply would not accept the truth. “I’ll keep working on it,” she promised. “Meanwhile, relax. We just saved the human race.”

“Just this time zone full of flakes,” he said.

“Yes sir,” Lieutenant Harper agreed and quickly stepped back to the others. Katie was not sure where she fit in with this group of travelers, misfits, explorers, adventurers, and miracle workers, but she knew the marines were not it. She would never be the same, even if Captain Decker never changed.

Alexis looked again at the stick people. She saw such innocence and goodness in them. Not one of them had a hidden agenda. She was not sure if they knew how to lie. She wanted to be reconciled to them, to say we humans are not so bad. She wanted to wish them luck and say good-bye to the children, only she could not imagine a way to do that. They were withdrawn from the travelers, and Alexis could not blame them.

Alexis stared when the woman appeared. She had to be seven or eight feet tall and she stood between her and the stick people to block her vision. Tiamut, the goddess, growled and she did not look happy.

“You!” She pointed at the humans in the camp. Everyone stood and grabbed their weapons, not that they would have been effective against the goddess. “I could have made good use of those creatures, but you destroyed them all like you destroyed my servants.” She pointed her finger at Saphira but took them all in her gaze.

Tiamut paused. They watched her facial expression turn from anger to clever, and that felt worse. “Come,” she said. Mingus, Roland, Doctor Procter, and Alexis disappeared and reappeared a few feet from the goddess. Alexis was right in front of her, looking up into that terrible face and she felt the shiver travel all the way down her spine to her soul.

Tiamut walked once around Alexis to examine her like a person might examine a prize animal. The others either could not move or did not dare. “You did not begin as a human. How is it you came into this state?”

Alexis felt compelled to answer. “My god changed me so I could be with my husband.”

Tiamut glanced briefly at Doctor Procter. “Better than making more half-breeds,” she said. “But I have a job for you spirits of the trees. I would have you back.” She waved her hand and Alexis transformed back into the elf she had been at birth.

“No.” Saphira heard the word escape her lips and felt something surge out from her deepest insides. A force, linked to the very forces by which all things were made, covered Alexis. Alexis immediately changed back to a human woman, and Tiamut’s anger returned.

“How did you do that?” she yelled. She did not really ask. She waved her hand again, but Alexis stubbornly refused to become an elf. “How are you doing that?” Tiamut’s words became mingled with astonishment.

The goddess Astarte chose that moment to appear at Saphira’s back. She also stood inhumanly tall, more than tall enough to look over Saphira’s head. She placed both of her hands on Saphira’s shoulders in a sign of assurance. Two young men also appeared with Astarte, one on each side. They were twins, though the one to Astarte’s left squinted, like he might need glasses.

Tiamut paused. Her face became so distorted it became hard to make out her facial features. Her mouth opened wide, and the travelers saw pin pricks of light in that deep darkness, like people might see stars in the night sky. A roar of frustration came from that maw, loud enough to make everyone throw their hands to their ears. With a wave of Tiamut’s hand, the ship behind her, all the stick people and their children turned instantly to dust. And Tiamut disappeared.

Astarte leaned forward and whispered in Saphira’s ear. “I’m sorry.” Then she and the twins vanished. Everyone could breathe again, but Alexis was the first to go to tears.

It took some time before they were ready to go. Saphira, Coramel and his sons stayed to help clean up, and Coramel had the lone comment that whole time.

“It is like they never were.”

At last, Saphira turned to Doctor Procter. “What is your direction?”

Doctor Procter’s hands shook, and he kept shaking his head now and then like a man trying to throw off the rain, but he managed to get out the amulet and point. Saphira nodded. She would head the other way.

“I’m sorry you won’t get a chance to see the future Sodom,” she said. “We are headed in the other direction.”

“Eh?” Lockhart wanted to know what she might be thinking.

“We have to check the crash site to be sure there were no survivors.”

“I can’t imagine anything survived that crash,” Captain Decker offered, and Saphira nodded.

“Still—” She started to speak but Boston interrupted.

Boston had gotten to her feet and stared at the big pile of dust that the wind had not yet taken. “All that work for nothing,” she said.

“Not for nothing,” Lockhart assured her.

“Besides, you work for me, remember?” Saphira said.

“Yes, lady.” Boston turned and practiced the curtsey the way she had seen Mirowen the elf curtsey in her overalls. Boston knew she was not as graceful, but Roland at least smiled for her. It would be a while yet before anyone else could smile.

“So, that’s it?” Katie Harper looked to Lockhart who caught her eyes and nodded. Saphira started to already move off into the tall grass, flanked by her men. Katie yelled. “Who was that woman?”

Saphira turned to walk backwards and shouted. “Astarte.”

“And the young twins?”

“Enlil and Enki. Enki needs glasses.” Saphira smiled before she added a last thought. “At least I should sleep well tonight.” Then Saphira and her three men got swallowed up by the grasslands.

************************

Monday

Episode 1.5 Little Packages will be posted in one week but in 4 (four) parts which means there will be a Thursday post! Don’t miss it.  Until next week, Happy Reading.

*

Avalon 1.4 Sticks and Stones part 5 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“Boston?” That left the three fighters.

“Ready!” The word echoed in the stick ship.

“Zero in on a fighter,” Saphira said, but Katie had already done that.

“Now.” Katie spoke into her wrist communicator, and Boston sent out a plasma pulse. The Balok fighter disintegrated in a crimson ball of fire. Immediately, the two remaining Balok fighters began to move around to avoid being targeted, but Katie and Boston got a second one before the last one dipped below the radar.

Saphira grabbed Katie’s hand and spoke into the wrist communicator. “Lockhart. One fighter landed. Meet us at the front door.”

“Already there,” Lockhart responded. They vacated the stick ship for the firm ground, and a few of the stick people followed them.

The stick leader looked sick. He bobbed up and down a couple of times before he spoke. “You are mad, like the Balok. We did our very best to escape them, but since they found us, it would have been better if we had died than participate in their madness.”

No one knew what to say until Alexis stepped up. “You have the right to live in peace.”

“We have no right to take life,” the leader said, and with that he moved his people away from the travelers.

“I guess we screwed up,” Lincoln said, even as Saphira, Katie and Boston came huffing and puffing down the ramp.

“All right,” Saphira said. “We need to find that ship.”

“They would rather die than be part of the killing.” Alexis summed things up and pointed to the stick people who were keeping their distance. Saphira looked, but she had an alternative view and said so in her own tongue.

“We are protecting my people. We are protecting the human race, even if I am sorry the stick people got in the middle of it. We won’t survive if the Balok come here.” That seemed to satisfy the group. “Now, I want to split us up. Despite the F-whatever-number, single man fighters that are current with your military; most space fighters have two or three occupants. There are too many systems to keep track of. Decker and Roland, you take Coramel’s sons and circle around quietly to approach the fighter on the flank. The rest—where is Mingus?”

“Doctor Procter has taken a fever,” Roland said, and Boston looked at Alexis.

“I do wounds, occasionally help avoid surgery. I don’t do sickness.”

“All right.” Saphira adjusted her thinking. “But still, Alexis, would you stay with your father and Doctor Procter? We should probably leave someone here to watch over the stick people, even if they don’t want our help. Katie and Boston, Coramel, Lincoln and Lockhart. We go straight for the ship.”

“Works for me.” Captain Decker checked his rifle.

“A last thought,” Saphira stopped them all. “We need to kill them. No, there is no alternative, and do not hesitate or they will certainly kill you.”

Roland nodded and led the way into the open fields. They stayed in sight for a time before they dipped down into a gully.

“We go.” Lockhart had judged the time and distance, and they started into the tall grass. There were stubby, non-descript bushes here and there and the occasional tree, but the land held mostly grass to the knees, and sometimes to the waist. They had no way to move quietly, but they spread out and kept their eyes and ears as open as they could. A slim trail of engine smoke still rose into the air in the distance. They headed straight for it.

When they topped a rise, they saw the ship down below, and it looked much larger than they imagined. The grass looked much taller there too, being on the side of a hill where most animals would not bother to graze. All things considered, it should not have come as a surprise when the serpent rose-up and wrapped itself twice around Boston.

Boston screamed and struggled, and that made it hard for the others. They dared not fire at the creature for fear of hitting Boston. The snake kept trying to bite her, but it could not get its head at a good angle. Saphira dropped her bow and waited three seconds for an opening before she brought the butt end of her spear down on the snake’s head. The snake nipped at her, but by then the others were moving.

Lockhart pulled the same stunt with the stock of his shotgun, and the hit appeared to hurt the serpent. Lincoln and Lieutenant Harper still tried to get off a shot, but Coramel came up with a stone between his hands. The snake responded by showing a hand of its own. The hand pealed out from the side of the creature, and it held something. They heard no sound, saw no light, or anything, but Coramel dropped to the ground, stunned and maybe dead.

Then the snake took Boston to the ground while Boston screamed the words, “I can’t breathe.”

Lincoln went to Coramel while Saphira’s next shot with her spear hit the snake in the hand. It dropped the weapon but began to roll down the hill with its captive. Lockhart, Saphira and Lieutenant Harper followed, and when Boston and the creature slowed, Lockhart managed another whack at the creature’s head.

The snake roared from pain and appeared to speak, though no one knew what it said except Saphira. Then it suddenly let go of Boston to slither away in the grass. Saphira, with the snake’s weapon in her hand, went to her knees beside Boston.

When the serpent reached what it no doubt imagined as a safe distance from the primitives, it put its rear legs down and reared up eight feet in the air. It spoke again, more clearly as another hand made itself known, and whether they retained some vestige of the primal tongue of Shinar, or the magic of the Kairos worked overtime, they all managed to catch one distinct word. “Die.”

“Balok!” Lockhart shouted to distract the snake, and Lieutenant Harper’s rifle went off. The creature looked stunned as the bullet tore through its neck. Then Lockhart fired the shotgun and the snakehead shredded. The body fell after a moment.

~~~*~~~

Captain Decker, Roland, and the boys got surprised when the Balok reared-up in front of them. The boys got excited and rushed forward to throw their spears. The Balok easily avoided the stone tips and pulled out a hand and a weapon. To be sure, the hand looked more like seven skinny tentacles than a human hand, and the weapon looked like a small disc but Captain Decker and Roland both saw it.

Roland had his bow out, but he could not get off a shot because of the boys. The Balok clearly recognized the bow as a danger and shot Roland first. Roland froze in place even as Decker yelled.

“Boys! Lie down on the ground. Now!”

One went straight to the dirt. The other knelt and bent down but looked at the captain with questions on his face. It was enough. Captain Decker peeled off three bullets before the Balok shot him and Decker fell. It is likely the Balok would have died shortly. It may have already been dead, but to be sure, Roland shook himself free of his frozen state. He pulled his sword and beheaded the serpent before he turned to see to Decker.

~~~*~~~

Lockhart stepped over to where Boston lay on the ground. She sat up and breathed better, but Saphira thought her ribs were cracked, if a couple were not broken.

“Coramel is fine, but frozen,” Lincoln reported. “His fingers and toes look frostbitten.”

“Frozen?” Lieutenant Harper asked.

“Think like a reptile or amphibian,” Saphira answered. “A heat ray would not be as effective.”

“Lincoln. We need a stretcher,” Lockhart shouted.

“Coramel will be fine in a moment,” Lincoln said. “Oh, you mean—” He patted a groaning, shivering Coramel on the shoulder and got up to search a small stand of nearby trees.

Saphira headed straight for the Balok ship, Katie Harper on her heels.

“Don’t wander off,” Lockhart shouted. Saphira waved, but they ended up closer to the ship than she imagined they would. It would have been too much to ask her not to take a look. When they arrived at the door to the ship, they heard three shots fired not too far away.

“Decker,” Katie said.

“Let’s hope that’s it,” Saphira responded while she examined the outside of the door. It took three hands with pinky fingers and three little sticks to press on the six holes that would have fit a Balok hand very well. The door opened and they could look in if they held their breath. The whole thing smelled like rotten cabbage and decayed meat. Saphira did not have to look for more than a moment before she let out a stream of invectives for the third time. She spun and ran, Katie beside her.

“What?”

“Three,” Saphira said.

~~~*~~~

Alexis spent her time cleaning up the camp and getting things ready to move out. She confessed to herself that being twenty-five again did not necessarily change things. She might be Boston’s age, but she was not wild and free like that girl. She had been a mom too long, and now she had become a grandmother. She liked being a mother and grandmother, and she was good at it, and maybe there was nothing wrong with that. At the same time, though, maybe she did need to let Benjamin get adjusted. She smiled. Poor little Billy, her grandson. He would always be older than his uncle, or maybe his aunt. She had two boys. She decided this time she wanted a girl.

“Daughter.” Mingus startled Alexis.

“Father? How is Doctor Procter?”

“Shivering from fever,” Mingus said. “But he won’t let me so much as touch him. He growls at me every time I try.”

“Growls?”

“He is an old man, far older than his human half should be. Old men growl, haven’t you noticed?”

Alexis looked up into her father’s face. She looked serious at first, but quickly smiled. She reached for his hand. “You don’t growl; you just get grumpy now and then.”

Mingus returned her smile. “I am sorry about the stick people.”

Alexis shifted her gaze to where the stick people were gathering, still repairing their ship, and keeping their distance from the mad humans. “They would rather die than take life,” she said. “What can the human race offer to compare with that?”

Mingus took back his hand and began to take down a tent. “The Kairos was wise all these millennia to keep us from interacting with the human race. Look at me. I have studied human history for centuries and have been corrupted. I sometimes think I must be more human now than elf.”

Alexis said nothing. She screamed. The Balok lifted-up from the grass, only a dozen yards away. It splayed both hands and each held an instrument of some kind. The first, a freeze ray, shot at Mingus, but Mingus easily shrugged it off because of the fires inside of him. He shot back with a ball of flame, and while the Balok backed away from the actual fire, the heat and warmth of the flames appeared to strengthen it.

Avalon 1.4 Sticks and Stones part 4 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Alexis woke in the wee hours just before dawn. She found Saphira and her brother Roland awake. She watched without a word as Captain Decker came to join them. “Not one shot!” She heard the stern command in Saphira’s whisper and Alexis sat up, worried. They looked at her, so she spoke what came to her mind in the night.

“Do you think the stick people might have repaired the damage you did to their systems in the night?”

“We didn’t damage any of their systems,” Saphira responded.

“But you rewired things and changed things. Did they really understand what you were doing and why or did they just watch so they could put it all back after you were gone? I doubt they understand weapons and probably imagine the Balok were mistaken and certainly would not follow them here.”

Saphira finished her thought. “They fled their home world to escape the Balok, but—” Saphira nudged Boston and Katie and instructed them quietly to return to the stick ship and check on their work to make sure it had not been tampered with. Then she hushed Alexis and took Roland and Captain Decker into the dark. Alexis only heard Saphira’s strong whisper once more. “No shooting.”

Boston and Katie stayed visible longer beside the embers of the bonfire, but soon they also disappeared into the dark. Alexis looked to the sky. She knew the sun would be up soon enough, but it was hard to tell how soon. She felt a touch on her shoulder.

“What is going on?” Lincoln asked as he touched and then held her arm. He propped himself up on one elbow.

“I don’t know,” Alexis answered. “Boston and Katie wandered off that way to check on their work and Saphira, Roland and Captain Decker went off that way like they were leaving the camp.”

Lincoln tried to smile. “Don’t worry. I am sure we will find out what is going on soon enough.”

“Why are you awake?” Alexis wondered.

Lincoln’s smile fell away and he let go of her but stayed propped up next to her when he answered. “I guess I don’t need as much sleep as I did when I was old.”

“Is being young again that hard for you?” This came out as a serious question, and Lincoln knew it. He made his serious face before he shook his head. Then he would not look at her.

“I’ll adjust. It is just seeing you young. You are so…” he softened his voice to barely a whisper. “…beautiful.” He paused to cough and clear his throat. “We don’t have to still be married if you don’t want. This is like a new life.”

“Why would I not want to be married?”

“It’s just.” Lincoln had a hard time framing the words. “You could have anyone. Why would you want me?”

“Benjamin!”

“I mean; I know you were not exactly happy those last years.”

“I was happy.”

Lincoln frowned at her. “I got old, complacent, grumpy.”

“You’re not old now.”

Lincoln smiled, but just a little. “Neither are you.” She hugged him. “To be honest, I woke up because you weren’t beside me. I don’t think I could sleep if you were not beside me.”

Alexis tackled him, landed on top of him and grinned mightily. “Even if I don’t have the blood or form anymore, I am still an elf at heart.”

“I remember.” Lincoln got out that much before they kissed.

The sun had started to break the darkness, but they did not care. They also did not hear Mingus mumble, “I think I am going to be sick.”

~~~*~~~

Saphira and Captain Decker came up from one side. The captain no doubt imagined he was protecting the woman, but Saphira wanted to keep an eye on the man to make sure he did not shoot anyone, needlessly. Roland came up from the other side, and she knew whoever it was would not hear the elf, as long as Roland did not have some noisy human by his side.

Captain Decker stopped her with a hand on Saphira’s shoulder. She had already seen the men, or three of them, but she thought to grab Decker’s hand and turn her head to look into his eyes. She paused before she dropped the man’s hand and showed great restraint. “Not a good idea,” she whispered, but now she had her pent-up energy to release.

Saphira stood, her spear ready, and she reverted to her native tongue. “All right you men. Get up and show yourselves.” Saphira spoke loud enough for her voice to carry. Some nearby stick people woke up and looked. “You’re surrounded, so there is no point in trying anything. No one needs to get hurt.”

The men stood, though they held tight to their own spears. Those stick people who noticed got up and scurried away with a sound of alarm and a clapping of hands. The men had been camouflaged, having branches and such attached to their clothing. No telling how long it took them to inch up close to the camp. Decker stood ready, just in case, and in the rising light, Roland showed himself. Roland looked just as ready, but he relaxed a little when the elder of the three men spoke.

“Saphira. What are you doing here?”

“Right now? Hunting fools, Coramel. And who are these two idiots with you?”

“These are my sons,” Coramel said, proudly.

“Are you lacking any brains like your father?” Saphira asked.

“Yes, er, no.”

“We wanted to see the strange creatures.”

Captain Decker tapped Saphira on the shoulder this time. “I take it you know these particular idiots.”

~~~*~~~

Boston and Katie used their lanterns to get back into the ship and found that indeed, the stick people had begun to “fix” things back to the way they had been. They had some work to do. They returned and reported to Lockhart even as the light began to glimmer across the horizon. They took a bit of bread for breakfast and then figured they had better get started rather than wait for Saphira.

Boston felt pretty sure she could redo what the stick people had messed up before the night made the sticks stop working. She did not feel worried, since Martok calculated at their present rate of speed, the Balok would not arrive until mid-afternoon.

“Plasma cannon looks untouched,” Katie said.

“Looks can be deceiving,” Boston countered, as she began to examine the jury-rigged work.

“Well, at least the screen enhancements are still in place,” Katie said, and Boston nodded with a grunt as she followed a circuit line.

“I don’t imagine the stick people are stupid,” Katie continued. “Anything that might help them ward off the stray asteroid or radiation in space would be appreciated.

“I’m sure,” Boston mumbled, but she was not really listening.

Katie nodded. “I guess I’ll have a look at the radar array. Hopefully they left it alone.” She wandered off slowly, but it was not long before Boston heard the words. “What the hell were they thinking?”

~~~*~~~

Saphira brought Coramel and his sons to the others and made them sit and keep still. Alexis got out the bread, so they were content. “And if you so much as touch one of these stick people, I’ll have to kill you,” Saphira said.

“Yes, ma’am.” Coramel grinned.

“Father?” One of his sons questioned what their father meant.

“Son. You must always do what the golden lady says if you expect to be rewarded.”

“Her?” The other son was not shy to point.

“Golden lady?” Lockhart asked.

“I’m expensive,” Saphira said. “Only the best.” Then she thought she had better go check on the work inside the ship.

“Damn!” The word echoed out of everyone’s wrist communicators. “The Balok must have overdrive. They just entered the atmosphere.”

Saphira said something, too, and it came out a bit stronger than “damn.” She grabbed Lincoln and marched to the stick ship.

Once inside, Saphira set Lincoln by the screen array. “If they come in firing, as I expect, you just keep your finger on this button. She checked the damage to the plasma cannon she had built.

“I can fix it,” Boston insisted. “I just need some time. You need to check the microwave chamber.”

Saphira went to do that very thing and did not swear too much. She had it rigged to send out a microwave pulse, but the stick people had started to dismantle it. Besides, by then she started swearing at herself for not anticipating this.

“Bring everyone inside.” The call went out over the wrist communicators. When the Balok ship appeared as a dot in the sky, the stick people did not have to be encouraged. Apparently, they had very good eyes. They scurried toward the ship, clapping and howling. They hardly knew what else to do. Coramel and his sons were reluctant to enter that strange place, but they were given no choice. They stood with the travelers by the open door and watched.

“Strafing run.” Lieutenant Harper recognized the move on her radar.

“Lincoln finger.” That was all Saphira had time to say. She got too busy.

Lincoln pressed his finger as hard as he could against the button, and when the Balok ship came low and let out a blast of its main gun, that energy pulse got repelled. The Balok ship rose-up to what they had to believe was out of range and paused. The Balok Captain, no doubt, had to consider his options.

“It’s overloading,” Lincoln shouted.

“Finger off the button.” Everyone yelled at him, but Lieutenant Harper had to step up and help put out the small electrical fires.

“What are they waiting for?” Lockhart’s words came into the ship over his wrist communicator.

“We are working as fast as we can,” Boston yelled back, having misunderstood the question. “Almost there.” But their homemade weapons were still offline. The Balok had them, only the Balok did not know it.

Saphira connected the last wire as the Balok ship moved. It dropped down in the sky, but not far, and began to disgorge small ships, probably fighters from an open bay. Saphira spoke when the first got launched.

“Set the radar on the mother ship. The pulse is tied to the radar.”

Katie knew that, but this reminded her not to be distracted by the fighters.

When the second fighter got successfully launched, Saphira spoke again. “Ready. Boston?” She had to shout, but Boston answered.

“Almost. Just a minute.”

A third fighter got launched and away before Saphira said, “Go.” To be sure, her fingers were crossed in one hand, while she threw the switch with the other. Theoretically, the microwave pulse should burn out every electrical system on the Balok ship, provided they used electrical systems and provided the Balok screens were not strong enough to ward off Saphira’s strike. Even Martok could ultimately only use what was available to him.

The pulse went out, and for a second, nothing seemed to happen. Saphira had to take her finger off her switch lest she burn out the Stick systems. The Balok ship began to wobble. By the time Saphira joined Katie at the radarscope, the Balok ship started to plummet to the ground. It fell at last like a stone and exploded on impact. Fortunately, not an atomic explosion as Saphira feared it might be, but the explosion looked big enough to assume there were no survivors.

Avalon 1.4 Sticks and Stones part 3 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Outside the ship, Saphira turned to the group following her. She looked around and there were other stick people inching close. She decided curiosity was a powerful motivator, whatever the species. She spoke. “Boston and Lieutenant Harper. I could use your help.”

“Katie,” Lieutenant Harper said.

Saphira nodded. “I knew that.” She turned to the sticks. “Leader, bring two of your people to show us the way but everyone else please stay outside. We are going to have to concentrate to get any work done.”

The Leader appeared to understand, at least that they wished to see the inside of the ship. Two stick people followed them, but if the leader made a signal to designate who, none of the humans caught it. They followed the sticks into the heart of the ship and Boston’s first words were telling.

“I saw more sophisticated stuff at M. I. T.”

When they got to the scanner, Katie added her voice to the chorus. “This looks like plain ordinary radar.”

“Probably is,” Saphira responded. “Is there a way to push our sight beyond the atmosphere?” Katie shook her head. The stick leader had a question.

“Why do you wish to see beyond the atmosphere?”

“Balok,” she frowned before she explained. “They believe they should be unique in the universe, that everything exists for them alone.”

“But don’t humans have a similar view of creation?” Boston asked.

Saphira nodded. “But the Balok want to make their belief real by exterminating all other forms of intelligent life.  Given the Earth, they would probably try to kill everything down to the intelligence level of a dog, just to be safe.”

“I assume there is no talking to them.”

Saphira just shook her head. “I have to go. Martok is the one who needs to get a look at this. One of you, lend me a piece of fairy weave.” Boston separated a piece of her long pants and thought she might live in her shorts in that climate. Saphira formed the fairy weave into shorts herself. She stood, turned her back and left that time and place while Martok came from the far future to fill her space. He dressed with his back turned to Lieutenant Harper and she did not realize Martok was not human until he turned around.

Katie drew her breath in. The excessive hair on Martok’s arms, legs and chest caused her to look close at the hair on his head. It looked more like fur, but it was the eyes that gave Martok away. They looked yellow, like cat’s eyes, or maybe like the eyes of the snake-people they were expecting.

“Hello Boston, dear.” Martok spoke in a deep voice that sounded human enough but seemed odd given his height of barely five feet. Of course, Boston had met Martok before. She simply waved as she wandered off to look around.

“Wait.” One of the stick people spoke to Boston and everyone looked. “That is a microwave chamber, part of the propulsion system and very dangerous.”

“Microwaves? Oh good!” Martok raised his voice and both Katie and Boston caught a better glimpse of the fact that Martok was not human. “Now, the visuals. Leader, where did you lose the Balok?”

“Out where the rocks circle around the star.”

“The Asteroid Belt.” Martok nodded and tore the back off the radar equipment while the leader watched and clapped his hands in dismay.

~~~*~~~

Outside, Alexis turned to the stick person beside her. “Do you have a name?”

“Thet.”

“I’m Alexis.” She smiled and turned to the other one. “And what is your name?”

“Thet.”

Alexis wrinkled her brow. “Your name is Thet and your name is Thet?”

“No, my name is Thet.”

“My name is Thet.”

Alexis looked around, but all Lincoln, Lockhart and Captain Decker could do was shrug. Mingus stepped up.

“That’s what you get, daughter, for having human ears,” Mingus said.

“I like her ears,” Lincoln objected. Alexis looked at Lincoln and the look on her face said, “Do you really?”

“Watch.” Roland stepped up and had his bow in his hands with an arrow on the string. When he let it go, the arrow stayed in his hand while a glowing ball shot up into the sky. When it reached some height, the ball exploded into gold and silver sparkles in a perfect imitation of fireworks. His next shot exploded red and green, and all the little sticks came running, squealing in delight.

Several adult stick people chased the little ones, and the two still with the group moved quickly to intercept them. “No, no.” The stick people shouted. “Do not touch them. Sit. Do not touch.”

One of the Thets returned with a clap of his hands and a word. “Please take no offense. We do not know if the children may have a sickness to which you have no defense.”

“Quite alright,” Alexis responded. “We may have some sickness your people can’t handle as well.” The stick person bowed even as the ship groaned and made a noise much like a bad set of truck brakes. Alexis quickly turned to her wrist communicator, which she had hardly ever used. “Everything all right?”

The word came back, a deep male voice, which they did not expect. “Fine. Boston just got an instant suntan is all.”

“I’m as red as my hair!” Boston complained. The others did not know what to say, so they turned to watch Mingus who presently entertained the kids by juggling balls of fire.

~~~*~~~

Boston had a good sunburn, but Alexis found some aloe in the medical kit and managed to keep her from blistering. Boston explained. “I got too close to the plasma engines, but I think we cooked up some good surprises if the Balok come around here.”

Saphira looked up from where she rested on the ground. “You mean when they come.”

“I think that Martok is brilliant,” Katie said.

Saphira smiled. “Martok says thanks and you’re not so bad yourself.” Lieutenant Harper found her own cheeks redden a bit. She forgot the Kairos remained in close contact with other lifetimes, especially ones recently accessed. She looked to Lockhart for support, but he just smiled like Saphira. Alexis saw something in the way Katie Harper and Robert Lockhart looked at each other and she looked at Lincoln, but he simply looked away.

“Stay out of the sun,” Alexis sniffed and stood to walk off by herself for a time.

That evening, the stick people built a great bonfire, not much different than the one built by Ranear’s Neolithic tribe. Mingus lit this one to their delight. They did not cook their food and only ate what looked like water with some dirt in it. They also hardly needed the warmth in that climate, but they seemed to like the light.

One of the Thets came up to be friendly. At least Alexis thought it was a Thet. It was hard to tell. She also had no idea how to distinguish males from females, and was working on that problem, when Saphira suggested they might be uni sexual. Of course, Saphira went on to explain, in more detail than necessary, how glad she was that humanity had two sexes, and Alexis had to remind herself that in this lifetime the Kairos was a protitute.

“You have a beautiful planet,” Thet began. Alexis looked over and saw the one she thought was the leader sitting between Lockhart and Captain Decker while Lincoln scribbled notes on his pad. “You have many children and much variety.”

“I’m sorry?” Alexis tried to focus in.

“When we first came to the ground, there were many of your children who moved away to make room for us.” Thet sat on the ground. The trunk kept the stick person straight up and down while the legs bent, and the feet set some distance from the body. It gave the stick person the appearance of a three-legged stool, very hard to knock over. Alexis later learned that the stick people slept in this position as well.

“Animals.” Alexis grasped what the stick person said.

“Yes, and such a rich variety. You must be very proud of them.”

“Yes.” Alexis said. She could not bring herself to say, we eat our children. Somehow, she knew that would not be taken well. Fortunately, they shortly heard the sound of drums. They beat out a steady beat. Then something of a cross between an oboe and bagpipes began to play. It sounded dominant and tonic followed by tonic and dominant. As it played on, Alexis wondered if the stick people ever discovered any other notes.

“What the heck is that?” Captain Decker held his ears.

“I think it is music, sir,” Lieutenant Harper responded.

“Catchy tune,” Lockhart quipped.

“I like it,” Boston interrupted.

“Yeah, good luck getting that melody out of your head,” Lincoln added.

The stick people shrieked in delight and sounded much like the children. Soon they had a line of stick people around the bonfire. They moved in a circle, bent near ninety degrees forward and then bent near ninety degrees backward as they moved. It looked like their legs were attached to their trunks by ball joints.  All the while, the people waved their bent hands and shouted in delight.

“Now what are they doing?” Decker asked.

“I think it’s dancing, sir.”

Alexis imagined Boston might have liked to join them in the dance, but she had gotten so burnt, she dared not get too close to the fire. She saw the children off to the side. Some of the bigger ones were imitating the adults, like they were practicing. All was well, she thought. These good people were well worth saving. She held on to that thought when she lay down that night and slept in her own space without touching Lincoln at all.

************************

Monday

The travelers prepare for the arrival of the Balok, and try to prevent the stick people from undoing the improvements the travelers made to the stick ship. Until Monday, Happy Reading.

*

Avalon 1.4 Sticks and Stones part 2 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“Those men that we killed.” Alexis shook her head and folded her hands as she walked. Saphira noted the stress and turned to walk backwards so she could address everyone.

“Those weren’t men. The last vestige of independent thought had long since vanished, or else they would have turned around and fled the minute they saw they were way outgunned.” Boston and Lincoln both looked at her, Boston with eyebrows raised and Lincoln with eyebrows knitted. Both knew their bullets had taken down some of the attackers. “Tiamut can do that,” Saphira finished and saw both faces relax ever so slightly.

“You are a hard woman,” Alexis said, and Saphira just gave her a sideways glance without denying it. “I get the impression you don’t like people very much.”

“It has been a hard life,” Saphira admitted, and then she held her tongue for a second as they stepped out from the forest and on to the grasslands. “To be honest, my last two lives were male and three out of the last four. And Iris did not live very long so she hardly counts.”

“She counts,” Boston insisted.

Saphira frowned. “The truth is I don’t think I know how to be soft. The Baldies killed my family. I married, but they killed my husband, too. I have had to support myself and my children by selling my services.” She flashed a brief grin. “That’s not always so bad.”

“As a warrior? Huntress, I mean.”

“No. As a woman.”

Alexis looked up at her with an expression that clearly said, “I don’t understand.” So Saphira stopped and turned to face everyone. Half were already listening in, so she figured, what the heck. “I’m a hooker. I’m a prostitute. I make my living inviting men to spend the night. Okay?” She lowered her voice as she turned and started walking again. “It was either that or marry a Sodomite.”

“Sodomite?” Alexis asked. Saphira did not answer right away. She looked behind and saw that Boston and Katie Harper had moved up close while the men kept their distance and pretended they had not heard. She shook her head and then she spoke.

“Sure. With most of the men in the settlement killed off, Tiamut encouraged others to take advantage of that. There are Jokantites, Amelikites, Hamerites, but mostly Sodomites.”

“You live in Sodom?” Boston asked.

“Not this early,” Saphira answered. “But I have no doubt it will be called that one day.”

They walked in silence for another hour before Captain Decker reported smoke in the distance. By then the sun had started to set and they thought to camp in the wilderness. Mingus and Roland picked out a spot behind a secluded hill and they set up their tents and invited Saphira to sleep in the tent with Katie and Boston.

“No need to cramp people,” Lincoln spoke up. “It is plenty warm out here. You can stay in the tent with Alexis and I’ll stay by the fire. I am not sure after last night I will get much sleep, anyway.”  Saphira looked at Alexis who kept looking at her, but neither spoke at that point. In the end, most of them slept out under the stars.

Alexis did not sleep well at first. Lincoln turned his back on her and she could not get comfortable. She did not mind at all when Saphira spoke.

“Still thinking about those men?” Alexis shook her head. “Lincoln?” Saphira tried again and saw a few tears fall. “You know he loves you, right?”

“I’m not so sure anymore.”

“Please!” Saphira scoffed. “I like to think I know something about love, given my profession.” Saphira shifted to her stomach and propped up her head to face the woman. “No, actually it is probably because of the time I spent with Astarte.”

“The goddess?” Lieutenant Harper sat straight up. Obviously, she was not asleep, either. Saphira nodded and the Lieutenant had to ask, “What’s she like?”

“Oh, very good,” Saphira said. “As good as Tiamut isn’t.”

“Tiamut?” Boston opened her eyes as well. Saphira placed a hand over Boston’s mouth.

“Hush. It isn’t good to talk about them. You never know when they might be listening in.” But then Alexis started to cry, and the women did their best to comfort her. Not much helped. Alexis wanted to cry and was not in the mood to be comforted just yet. Saphira finished the conversation with, “Maybe all he needs is a little time. He is a good man. My husband was a good man and I lost him all too soon. You hang on to Lincoln. There aren’t many good men out there.”

With that, Lincoln rolled over to his back. Alexis took hold of him, like a child might hold a teddy bear. She curled up and snuggled into his shoulder. Of course, he began to snore, but that only made Alexis smile. She soon fell asleep. Boston had already gone to sleep, and Katie was not far behind. Saphira sighed and wondered if she should count sheep.

In the small hours of the night, while Mingus went on guard at one end of the camp and Lockhart watched the other end, Saphira walked up to Lockhart and plopped down on the grass.

“Can’t sleep?”

Saphira shook her head. “I need some hot sex to sleep well.”

“I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

“I wasn’t suggesting—” Saphira looked up at Lockhart. “Not seriously anyway.”

“So what then?”

Saphira shrugged. “Alexis and Lincoln are having problems.”

“I noticed.”

“I just spent the last hour with Alexis. They love each other so much but being young again is proving a hard adjustment.” Saphira stopped speaking and Lockhart simply nodded. They watched the stars for a while before Lockhart spoke again.

“What do you think we will find tomorrow?”

Saphira shrugged. “Hopefully, people who have fixed their problem and left in the night. If not, maybe some stick people. I ran into them years earlier.” She shrugged again.

“Stick people?”

Saphira stood and shrugged a third time. “I better go before my suggestions become serious.” She walked back to the fire aware and pleased that his eyes followed her the whole way. She had to lie down and stare into space to settle her thoughts. “Gods, I want to go there,” she said to herself, before she closed her eyes. She was speaking of the stars.

~~~*~~~

“Let me see,” Saphira insisted and reached out for the binoculars.

“Hold on,” Lieutenant Harper groused. “You’re as bad as Boston.” She slipped them from her neck and handed them over.

“Which is why I get them next,” Boston said.

“There are children down there,” Saphira confirmed. “This is much bigger than the stick ship I ran into before. I think that might have been a scout ship.” She handed the binoculars to Boston though Alexis wanted a look as well.

“We’ve been spotted,” Roland said and pointed.

“Where?’ Captain Decker turned his own binoculars to get a look.

“Come on,” Saphira stood.

“Is it safe?” Lincoln asked.

Saphira nodded. “Last time I got the impression that they had no weapons. I’m not even sure they know what weapons are.”

Alexis skipped her turn with the binoculars and joined Saphira in the march down that little hill. She wondered what grace the Kairos might show to what appeared to be refugees. Saphira spoke in an alien tongue, but the travelers understood full well what she said.

“Hey! You can’t park here. I told your people last time. This world is off limits.”

Alexis rolled her eyes but smiled.

Several stick people came up to meet the travelers. They clapped their hands in a kind of nervous twitch. They did look like logs and had no shoulders or neck between the trunk and head and no hips at all. They were skinny as well, anorexic maybe, and their eyes were so close together it was a wonder they could manage stereoscopic vision. They were brown, like the color of wood except their arms and legs, which were gray. Those two arms and two legs looked human shaped with elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles but they were truly thin as sticks. The six toes on each foot and four fingers on each hand, one being a thumb, looked like twigs. It was a wonder they could hold themselves up with those spindly appendages.

Lockhart extended his hand, but Saphira interrupted, speaking in her own tongue. “No, no. Don’t do that. They are like petrified wood—like steel. They might lose at arm wrestling, but in a handshake, they would crush your flesh without realizing what they are doing.”

Alexis wondered again. She now had three languages in her head. The English never went away, only now she had an overlay of Saphira’s tongue and the sounds of the stick people. She had to think about that last one, though, to frame her question. “What happened?”

The stick people looked at each other before one of them answered. “We were attacked.”

“Who is the leader of this ship?” Lockhart asked his question.

“I am.” One of the stick people answered and he let out a wail and began to bob up and down. The sound and action got picked up by others until it had spread its way all around the refugee camp.

“Who attacked you?” Lockhart continued when he could.

After a while, the leader settled down and answered. “They call themselves Balok.”

Saphira suddenly interrupted with a string of words, or actually only one word in many languages: the primal language of Shinar, Pan’s, Iris’, Keng’s and Ranear’s languages. She spouted in her own language, and in English, and not a nice word. “Let me see,” she insisted and began to walk straight for the ship. The others followed including the Stick leader and his people.

“Balok?” Alexis caught up.

“Think of the serpent in the Garden of Eden.”

Avalon 1.4 Sticks and Stones part 1 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 4400 BC, the Dead Sea wilderness. Kairos 11: Saphira the Huntress

Recording …

The travelers walked in silence in the early hours. They moved through rugged, tree filled country of the sort that Mingus called bokarus friendly. Alexis could not worry about that. She tried to draw close to Lincoln several times while they walked, but he turned away from her. He remained pleasant, but not the husband she knew and needed.

At ten, Lieutenant Harper pointed to the sky. Something spewed smoke and moved rapidly overhead. They all saw it, and after a breath, they all heard it as well. It did not move low enough in the sky to vanish quickly, but it appeared low enough to see it was a ship of some kind and not a natural phenomenon.

“Man-made?” Captain Decker asked.

“No. No way.” Lincoln, Boston, and Alexis all responded together. They had some experience with such things.

“Not in this day and age,” Lieutenant Harper added. She looked at the captain and wondered if the man would ever admit the truth. He still occasionally tinkered with the transmitter as if the area 51 receivers were just around the corner.

Lockhart looked torn for a minute. This was the province of his men in black, only not this time, he decided. “Not our concern,” he said. “Keep walking.”

An hour later, they heard the distant howl of the bokarus behind them. They knew they were not forgotten. Scant minutes after that, Boston pulled up short and let out a little shriek.

A person in leather armor blocked their way. That person had the expected stone-tipped spear, but along with the leather armor, the person also had the first bow and arrows they had seen. Most surprising, the knife on the hip looked made of copper, not simply stone.

“You’re going the wrong way.” The warrior spoke, and at once, they knew this was a woman. She took off her leather helmet and shook out her long dark brown hair that carried hints of gray, and she stared at them through dark brown eyes. “The action is all that way.” She pointed behind them and off to their right. Most looked, of course, but saw nothing among the trees.

“Lower your guns,” Lockhart decided, though even Captain Decker’s gun had already been lowered. “We don’t appear to be on the hit list.”

“You are a warrior?” Alexis asked.

“A huntress,” the woman answered, and motioned them to follow.

Doctor Procter pointed in the direction from which the huntress came. The travelers felt inclined to continue their journey before Boston had a thought.

“Saphira?” she asked.

“Yes, Boston,” Saphira answered, and the travelers turned to follow in her wake.

They moved silently while Boston moved up front for a change. She had another question. “What are we hunting?”

“Baldies.”

“What kind of animals are they? Are they in the database? I never heard of them.”

“Shh!” Saphira responded with a grin and pointed at Captain Decker. It took a minute for Boston to figure out Saphira meant bald men. The captain shaved his head.

When the group stopped, Saphira signaled for everyone to get down as she stuffed her hair back into her helmet. “Listen close,” she said. “The men across the clearing are no longer human. They are mindless robots designed for one purpose: to kill. The last bit of humanity was taken from them a long time ago, so don’t worry, whatever you do.”

“Some disease?” Alexis asked.

“Like mad cow? No. Worse.” By then Saphira was ready. Without further explanation, she stepped to the edge of the clearing in the woods.

Captain Decker got out his binoculars and pointed across the clearing. “Baldies straight ahead.” He caught the reference.

“Spread out,” Lockhart responded. “Prepare for a firefight.”

Lincoln and Boston got out their pistols. Captain Decker and Lieutenant Harper took the flanks with their superior firepower. Lockhart pulled his pistol and imagined the shotgun would be back-up in case they got close. He stayed in the center of the group where Alexis pulled her wood and bone wands and considered them. The bone had dried and become workable, but still crude. The wood aged fast. She felt a bit surprised when her father reached over and took the wooden one. Her father rarely used a wand and never carried one. Mingus then nudged Doctor Procter and he got out his wand as well, but he looked like he had no intention of using it. Roland, of course, had his bow.

Saphira spoke loudly so her words would carry to the other end of the field. “Here I am. Your three friends are dead. You could be next.” It did not take much coaxing. Apparently, they were waiting for her and thought they had her in a trap. Twenty bald headed, wild-eyed men, naked and sweating broke from the trees. If they had any self-will at all, the baldies might have wondered why their prey did not run away. Instead, Saphira fell to the ground and lay out as flat as she could to get out of the way.

No one needed to say fire. The guns blared from cover until the people came out from behind their trees and bushes. Roland got an arrow in one of the last and Lockhart swung around his shotgun for the very last. That one fell ten feet from Saphira who spun around, propped herself up on her elbows.

“Thank you,” she said.

No one else felt like speaking. Twenty men lay dead on the field. Alexis put her wand away. She had not used it. She felt like crying, but instead she gave Lockhart a long, hard, accusing look for cursing them with this eventuality.

Even as Saphira stood and brushed herself off, a very tall and lean woman appeared on the field in the midst of the dead. She appeared out of thin air, so the travelers knew she was a goddess. And she did not look happy.

“Tiamut.” Saphira named the goddess who looked briefly at Saphira before she finished her examination of the bodies. Some of the men were only wounded, but they were made useless for the goddess’ purposes.

“I see you found some friends.” Tiamut finally spoke. It came out, a chilling voice. “Friends from the future. A future that feels wrong to me.” She stretched out her hand and Lockhart’s shotgun appeared in the goddess’ hands. “Some interesting accessories, though.” The goddess lifted the gun to her shoulder and pointed it at Saphira. Saphira flinched before the goddess pointed down and shot the head off one of the wounded men.

“I had in mind to send these men back to your settlement,” Tiamut said. “Now that will not be.” She shrugged and tossed away the shotgun like it hardly mattered. The gun thumped against the earth. “I must think on this future and these guns and such things. There may be something workable there after all.” She smiled and added a last thought before she vanished. “You have a traitor among you.” Everyone breathed when the goddess disappeared, but they looked carefully at each other while Lockhart retrieved the shotgun and checked it to be sure it had not been damaged.

“Tiamut.” Boston spoke before she reached for her database. Saphira nodded so Boston finished her question. “Goddess of what?”

“Chaos,” Saphira answered. “Not a good enemy. These men were hers. And for the record, she might claim there is a traitor even if there isn’t, just to get you suspecting and not trusting each other.”

“But I thought Marduk or Assur or someone like that killed Tiamut.” Lieutenant Harper spoke up.

“Shh!” Saphira turned on the Lieutenant and her words were sharp. “They haven’t even been born yet. You need to watch what you say as much as what you do.” Lieutenant Harper looked appropriately humbled and felt grateful when Lockhart stepped up and changed the subject.

“So, we saw a ship of some kind fly overhead a few hours ago. It looked to be in distress.”

Saphira nodded to indicate she saw it too, and she turned to lead the way.