Last Week: Our travelers found themselves in the Andes where they saved an alien Agdaline from the serpentine alien Balok whose purpose is to wipe out all intelligent life but its own.  They arrive in Qito’s native village to find Agdaline all around and the word that the Balok have sent out a ground force to attack the village, and it will be there soon…

            They did not have long to wait, but it did not take long for Captain Decker to get a real surprise.  He was scanning the skies, looking for another Balok aircraft, thinking if it was his operation he would send in two or three to soften up the opposition before sending in the ground troops.  What he saw was an eagle, a real American bald eagle, and it was headed toward them with some speed.  He watched it dance on the wind, and swallowed once when he imagined how high it was in the sky and how little he liked heights.  Still, he could not look away as it came closer and closer.

            When the eagle was overhead, Captain Decker paused to look at the others.  They were dutifully staring out over the ridge, waiting for the Balok.  He had gotten behind them all to where he could get up on a rocky hump in the ridge and fire down on the Balok without fear of hitting his own.  When he looked again for the eagle, he jumped.  The bird had landed a few feet away and was preening its wings, waiting to get his attention.  Decker had to stifle his shock to avoid making a sound as the bird turned one great eye to stare at him and spoke.

            “Warrior.  Why do you fear the heights?”

            A hundred things passed through the mind of the marine, all of the excuses and denial, but in the end there was only one thing to say.  “I deal with it when I have to.”  Captain Decker thought the eagle smiled at him, which was very odd.  He felt sure he must have fallen asleep and this must be a dream, but he paid close attention when the eagle spoke again.

            “You should see it through my eyes.  It is glorious.”  Captain Decker did not move, but found himself leave the ground and felt the wind lift him quickly until he was high in the air.  The air alone kept him up and he smelled things on the wind he never imagined.  One thing was the serpents, and he saw them slithering along down below.  Even from that great height he looked and was not afraid.  Captain Decker heard the cry of the Balok and saw them spread out to cover the ridge.  He estimated forty and wheeled around twice to be sure. 

            Back on the ridge, he saw Qito with her arm sticking straight up in the air like a school girl waiting for the teacher to call on her.  She was exposed in that position but he saw she was wearing some kind of armor and had blades at her back which he was sure were not typically Neolithic.  It was amazing what he could see from that height, and the clarity of detail he could pick out even at a great distance.

            He wheeled around again and realized he could look straight ahead or up or down without turning his head.  What is more, he could look to both sides at once, though those images were hard for his mind to process and he soon quit for fear that it would make him dizzy.

            On the center of the ridge, he saw his party of travelers, ready and waiting.  To either side of them there were Qito’s North African looking people.  The ridge itself was littered with worked stones, some of which had to weigh several tons.  Captain Decker was not sure what Qito’s people meant to do with those stones, but he imagined he would see soon enough as the Balok reached the half-way point and all of them appeared to be committed.

            Captain Decker did not think much of the Balok tactics.  They sent out no scouts.  It seemed they did not care what opposition they might face.  He chalked it up to egotism, the kind of overconfidence that tended to get men killed on the battlefield.  Then he imagined it was inexperience, like these Balok were not used to ground operations.

            “Perhaps they are not used to any reasonable opposition,” the eagle said, and Captain Decker drew in his breath.  He might have panicked if Qito did not drop that hand to start the action.  At once, the Agdaline on the flanks began to fire.  It was withering energy beams and the grass on the ridge was quickly aflame.  Captain Decker was not sure they hit any Balok, though he supposed they could not help but hit a couple, but it did have the effect of driving the Balok toward the center of the ridge.

            Then he saw what Qito’s Shemsu people intended with those stones, and he gasped again.  One man stood over the stone and it lifted off the ground.  It did not seem to matter if the stone was one or several tons.  Two other men stood behind the stone, one to each side of the stone lifter, and in a coordinated effort, they shoved.  None of the men appeared to actually touch the stone, but the stone jolted forward and then gravity took over.  With Balok being crushed under these rolling wonders they moved even more to the center.

            Captain Decker quickly calculated.  From his vantage point and with those eagle eyes he could see all of the action perfectly.  The Balok bunched up in a couple of groups like green troops gathering around their sergeant, wondering what to do.

            “I believe these are yours,” the eagle spoke again, and Captain Decker found a grenade in each hand. 

            “I was saving these for an emergency,” he said.  The eagle said nothing, he just wheeled them around for another pass.  Captain Decker shrugged, and with the eagle’s eyes and swooping down he had no trouble dropping the grenades directly on the two largest groups of Balok.  With that, he cut their numbers by a third.

            Then the fifteen or so uninjured Balok began to return fire.  It was belated, but Captain Decker soon saw why.  In order to free their hands to grasp their weapons and fire, the Balok had to rise up and become targets.  When his group opened fire at the Balok who were now directly below them, it looked a little like a whack-a-mole game.

            The Captain saw two things then that did not make him happy.  First, the Teschkul warriors could not contain themselves at the back and went charging over the top of the ridge.  He saw Qito yell at her young man and saw the young man respond with a shrug.  Then he saw two of the Balok back off and slip into a pit area full of bushes, brambles and trees.  One of the Balok looked injured, but the other looked untouched.

            “Put me down,” the Captain complained.  “I have to go back down.”  The eagle did not argue and at once the Captain opened his eyes.

            “Lockhart.  Roland.”  Captain Decker could be heard because the group had ceased firing.  They were pulling out their pistols and preparing to follow the Teschkul warriors down the hill.  Qito had already run after Tec’huanu.  The man and the elf looked back and the Captain spoke again.  “There are two that will escape unless we go after them.”

            “How do you know this?”  Roland wondered.

            Captain Decker frowned at his thoughts.  “You are just going to have to trust me on this.”

            The trip down the ridge was not easy.  There were several Balok unaffected by the defenders of the ridge and a number of wounded serpents that still posed a threat.  Since the Teschkul were in the first line of attack, they bore the brunt of the Balok fire and lost six warriors, but they also put most of the Balok out of business.  Boston shot one, Lincoln two and Katie got four, but the rest were among the dead and dying when they arrived.

            Captain Decker, Roland and Lockhart cut through the action slowly and carefully, though Captain Decker said later he doubted the Balok knew how to play possum.  When they got to the dip in the land, the Captain stopped and pointed.

            “They came down here,” he whispered.  “One looked wounded but the other looked whole.”  He had Roland move along the edge of the pit while he and Lockhart headed toward the middle.  He remarked to himself that the pit looked smaller from above.

            Twenty feet in and the wounded Balok made a lunge for Lockhart.  His pistol and Roland’s arrow ended the threat, but Captain Decker watched before he realized how stupid that was.  Sure enough, he turned just in time to see the other Balok rear up and pull its weapon.  He was going to be toast, but there was a loud “Scree!” and the eagle grazed the Balok’s face.  That gave Captain Decker time to bring his rifle to bear and a quick burst of three followed by three more bullets finished the job.

            The Captain looked where Lockhart and Roland were looking, but the eagle was already high in the sky and headed for the distant mountain.

            “Fortuitous,” Roland said.

            “My totem,” Captain Decker responded.

 

            The village was nestled in a hollow over a ridge and below a hill.  The travelers got more than a few stares, but only because no one had ever seen horses before.  People were just people, no matter how strange the dress, and the Agdaline was apparently known.  Indeed, there were signs of more Agdaline about.

            When Lockhart halted the column, one local man ran off to fetch whoever needed to be fetched.  The travelers were getting used to that, and took the time to make sure their equipment was in good order and helped the Agdalline dismount.  Though only four feet tall, he was heavier than he looked.  They were not at all surprised when moments later they heard a woman’s voice cry out.

            “Lockhart!  You couldn’t have timed it better, or worse depending.”  The woman who ran up looked like a dark skinned North African, not what they expected in the ancient Andes.  The man beside her, though, fit the bill being dressed in leather and feathers.  He looked like he had Hollywood written all over him, and so did the elders who followed more slowly.

            “Qito?”  Lincoln wanted to be sure.

            Qito nodded and introduced her young man.  “This is Tec’huanu.”  Then she was distracted by the Agdaline.  “Gogo.  What did you find out?”

            “Three glick,” the Agdaline pointed back with a worried look on his face.  “Forty or fifty with weapons.”  The travelers nodded, again not really surprised.  They had been speaking Agdaline without realizing it.  Now they had Qito’s language as well, but they were getting used to such language transitions.  They did not think about it often since to them it all sounded like English.

            “Wait a minute.”  Qito looked up and appeared to count her friends.  “Where is Alexis?  And where is her father?”

            “Mingus has stolen her again,” Lincoln said.

            “They have moved through the time gates and are somewhere ahead of us,” Roland added.

            Qito said nothing.  She simply put her head in her hand and looked like she had a headache.

            “Woman!”  The elders arrived.  One of them looked dark and North African like Qito, but most favored Tec’huanu.  “What bad news have you brought us this time?”  The man looked angry.

            “Good news.  Help for us,” Qito came straight out of her sour look and responded in a most humble voice.  “And just in time because friend has told me the serpents will be here in force by the time the sun tips overhead and begins to fall toward the sea.”  Clearly the Agdaline was known to the natives as “friend,” a safe name.

            “What?  That does not give us much time?  What are we going to do?”  The elders began to spout, but silenced when the Chief in front raised his hand. 

            “And how do you propose we defend ourselves?”  The man spoke smugly to Qito, but Qito was not put off.

            “The ruins,” Qito pointed back to the ridge the travelers just came over.  “The Balok will have to climb the ridge to get to the village.  We will have the high ground.  Put our Agdaline friends and their weapons at each end to get the enemy in a crossfire.  Put my people on the stones to roll them down on our enemies.  Put my friends in the center to give strength to the middle.  Put your warriors behind with spears to catch any Balok that break through, only do not let them charge or they will put themselves at risk of Agdaline fire.”

            “That is good,” one of the elders spoke and looked up at the sun.  “We might at least hold them off until we evacuate the village.”

            The front man turned with some anger in his eyes and looked at the elder who spoke out of turn, but quickly decided on another tactic.  “And how do you suppose these new friends of yours will hold the center?”

            “Roland.”  Qito called and the elf stepped forward.  Three of the six elders present took a good look and two steps back.

            “One spirit man?”  The chief was skeptical and implied that would stop nothing.

            “Decker.”  Qito pointed at a bird perched in a nearby tree.  Decker still had the scope on his rifle in case he had to take another hot shot at a Balok aircraft.  To be sure, the bird was too easy.  One shot and it fell like a proverbial rock.

            The elders were startled by the sound and amazed by the dead bird, but they hardly had time to breathe as Boston leapt up on the back of her horse. 

            “Eee-Ya!”  She wheeled out of line with the other horses and galloped toward the village, imitating Silenus the whole way, “Yip, yip-yip!”  she pulled her horse up short, and without completely stopping, reached down and pulled up a spear that was leaning against the side of a house.  She wheeled, cocked the spear under her arm and charged the elders like a knight in armor.  The elders shrieked and screamed, and Boston almost did not stop soon enough.

            “Honey needed to stretch his legs.”  Boston reached forward and patted her horse’s neck.  “Didn’t you Honey?”  The horse nodded.  “Did I ever mention I used to ride rodeo?”

            “And a woman, no less.”  The man who looked North African like Qito spoke at last while the chief stomped off followed by the other elders.  “Nice to meet you all,” the man finished with a smile and wave before he hustled to catch up with the others.

            “That was amazing!” Tec’huanu spouted, but it was clear he was mostly fascinated by the horse.  “Can I,” he paused before he finished his thought.  “Can I touch the beast?”  Of course he could.

            Lockhart turned to Qito.  “Forty or fifty armed Balok?”

            Qito shuffled her feet.  “Yes, well.”  She looked at Gogo and brightened a little.  “The Agdaline have good high radiation weapons.  And there are plenty of them.  I think the Balok made a mistake coming on foot, or belly as the case may be.”

            “Can the Agdaline shoot?”  Captain Decker asked.

            Qito shook her head ever so slightly.  “Not well.”  She looked up at Tec’huanu who tore himself away from the horse long enough to say something.

            “I told her she should teach us to use those weapons.”

            Qito shook her head more vigorously.  “You can’t have the weapons.  And you can’t have a horse, either.”

            “I have learned she can be very stubborn at times.”

            “We have all learned that,” Lincoln spoke up.  Qito and Tec’huanu stared at each other like two people locked in a battle of wills.  Boston, Lockhart and Katie Harper all smiled, and Katie spoke up.

            “They make a nice couple –“

            “No!”  Qito interrupted with a shout before she faced Tec’huanu directly.  “I am Shemsu.  You are Teschkul, a bottom dweller.  No one asked you to come up from the ocean waving your spears and forcing my people to…  Oh.”  She turned away.  Tec’huanu pretended innocence.  He shrugged, but smiled.

            “A nice couple,” Lockhart agreed with Katie, and Qito darkened just a little and walked off rapidly.

 

After 3969 BC in the Andes of modern Colombia/Peru.  Kairos life 20:  Qito.

Recording…

            “Quiet!”  Roland’s word was sharp.  Boston stopped where she was like a stone statue in the saddle.  Lincoln looked up toward the treetops.  Lockhart looked back at the marines and Captain Decker motioned for them to step off the grass and in among the trees.  When they dismounted, Roland took Boston by the elbow and guided her in the same direction.

            “What is it?”  Boston whispered once they and the horses were hidden behind the stunted growth that sufficed for trees at that elevation.  She looked up at Roland, but he simply put a finger to her lips.  Then they all heard it.  It sounded like a repeating, whirling whistle.  It was not loud, but the sound carried even in the thin air on the mountain. 

            Another few seconds and they saw it top the ridge they had just crawled over.  It was a scooter of some kind that hardly moved faster than about ten miles per hour, but it floated a few feet off the ground and carried a creature they had never seen before.  It was headed in the same direction they were headed.  It also left a trail of smoke in a way that suggested it was damaged.

            Roland held tight to Boston’s arm to be sure she did not run out to say hello.  Katie Harper lowered her rifle to suggest she did not believe the creature posed a threat.  She glanced at Lockhart who nodded in agreement with her assessment.  She glanced at Captain Decker, but he was busy snapping the scope to his rifle.  She sighed.

            There was another sound.  This sounded more like an engine – like a jet engine and not far away.  It topped the same ridge closer to fifty feet in the air and while it looked like a one person aircraft, the travelers had been fooled before.  They once found three passengers in a ship where they thought there were only two.

            The scooter began to weave in and out of the brush and among the stubby trees to try and make a hard target.  The aircraft rose higher and hovered for a moment like a Helicopter.  Then it came in for a strafing run.  The weapon was a heat ray of some kind.  The shrubs caught fire.  The scooter appeared to be hit, though not destroyed.  It was hard to tell from their angle among the trees.  Then the aircraft began to pull up, but it did not get very far.  Captain Decker fired a six shot burst and hit something.  The aircraft sputtered, smoked, broke out in flames and plummeted to crash in a ball of fire.

            Lockhart was the first to step out from the trees.  “Spread out,” he said as he got up on his horse’s back, better than he did the first time.  “But stay aware.  No telling what we may find.”  He waited for the others to mount and had a thought.  “Boston, you better be prepared to hold the horses if we have to go on foot.

            “No way, Jose,” Boston responded as she checked her Beretta to be sure she was ready.  She glanced briefly at Roland and was glad to see him smile.

            They tied the horses off before they got too close to the fires.  The horses were obedient, each being tuned to his master, but they were horses and not inclined to mix well with fire.

            “Stay close, but don’t bunch up,” Lockhart commanded as they began to walk.  As the Associate Director of the Men in Black back in the twenty-first century, he had confronted plenty of aliens and their strangely capable weapons.  He did not expect great capabilities this far in the past, even from aliens.  But then he did not know exactly what to expect.

            They found the creature first when they paused at the edge of a clearing.  It was holding its head and the scooter it was riding appeared to be so much scrap.  When it looked up, they saw the fear in its eyes.  Despite that, Boston and Captain Decker might be excused for laughing.  The thing looked like a four foot version of a statue right off of Easter Island, including the lipless mouth and the funky hat.

            “Humannss,” it said, drawing out the final letters in the word.  “Help me.  They are commming.  The others must be warrrned.”

            “Agdaline.”  Lincoln identified the creature without referencing his database.  He only got the handheld out to verify.

            “Yes, yes.”  The Agdaline nodded in a very human looking way.  “I am Agdaline, but they are coming.  Please help.”

            “Who is coming?”  Boston asked, and as she did, she saw.  It looked burnt and beat up, but whole.

            “Balok,” Lockhart growled softly as the serpent slithered up to the other side of the clearing and rose to stand on its legs.  It held one of those heat-ray discs in the multiple fingers of its right hand.

            The Agdaline shrieked and hid its face in its hands.  It looked incapable of running.  The Balok’s sole attention was on the poor creature and the snake appeared to smile.

            “Balok!”  Captain Decker did not use his soft voice.  The Balok turned its head to take in the travelers.

            “Primitives, die,” it said just before the Captain’s bullet tore through its middle.  It looked down and Boston swore it looked surprised, though how anyone could tell on that serpent face was beyond the rest.  The Balok looked up again in time to have its head blown off by Lockhart’s shotgun.  The body fell.

            “Roland,” Captain Decker waved to the elf and they trotted off to check on the crashed Balok ship.  They did not want any more surprises.

            “Katie,” Boston waved for the Lieutenant to follow her to the Agdaline, but both women kept back a little, torn between wanting to help and being afraid to touch.

            “Their home world is a bit smaller than Earth.”  Lincoln was back in the database.    “Apparently, it doesn’t have the muscle strength to do much more than waddle, and that not for long distances.”

            “Pleasssee,” the Agdaline said.  “Thank you.”  It reached out a hand and after a moment of hesitation, Boston took it.

            “It feels like flesh,” she reported.

            “But they are coming.”  The Agdaline was clearly concerned.  “Many of them.  We must warn the others.”

            Lockhart kept one eye on the area for more Balok, but he got the message.  “How far behind?”

            “Not more than three glick,” the Agdaline answered, and Lockhart looked at Lincoln who could only shrug.

            Roland and Captain Decker returned and gave the all clear.  Apparently it had been a one serpent craft.  Lockhart turned immediately to the women and the Agdaline.  “Can he ride?”  Lockhart decided the Agdaline was male, though he honestly had no reason to think that.

            “Whhatt is ride?”  The Agdaline asked.

            They showed him, and he rode behind Boston out front, but he spent most of the way looking back to be sure they were not being followed by another one of those Balok aircraft.

 

            Avalon is the story of people trapped in the past and trying to get home.  They move from time zone to time zone, from one lifetime of the Kairos to the next, only hoping to have the courage to face whatever trouble they confront and only worried about what may be following them.  From the beginning of history to the present, they have no one but each other to depend on – that is, for as long as they are able to trust and depend on each other.

            Avalon the series, Season 2 will begin “airing” Monday, October 22nd on this blog.  Written in story form, the episodes will post as a Monday/Friday regular right through season 2.  Share this, call a friend, don’t miss out.

From the Pilot Episode:

            It was Doctor Procter who explained.

            “I spent the last three hundred years studying the lives of the Kairos.  Now that we have the opportunity to walk through those lifetimes, one by one, and in order I might add, I am not going to miss that opportunity.  Isn’t that right, Mingus?”

            Mingus shook his head and sighed, and in that moment everyone got a good look at the difference between Mingus, a full blood elf and the Doctor who was half-human.  The contrast was not startling but obvious.  No plain human could have eyes as big, features as sharp or fingers as thin and long.  “If you say,” Mingus muttered as he took the amulet and shook it once himself.

            “What says the Navy?”  Lockhart turned to look at the two who were armed and bringing up the rear.

            “I’m to follow orders,” Captain Decker frowned.

            Lieutenant Harper smiled.  “I would not mind exploring a little while we have the chance.”

            “Besides,” Roland spoke up while Lockhart faced front again and encouraged everyone to resume walking.  “I have a feeling the Kairos would not mind if we rooted out some of the unsavory characters that wandered into the time zones without permission.”

            “Oh, that would be very dangerous.”  Alexis said it before Lincoln could, and she grinned for her husband.

            “All the same—“  Roland did not finish his sentence.  He fell back to walk beside Lockhart to underline his sentiments to the man.

            “Hey.”  Boston came up.  She had been straggling near the back. 

            “Boston, dear.”  Lockhart backed away from the elf and slipped his arm around the young woman.  “So what do you think?  Do we run as fast as we can or explore a bit and maybe confront some unsavories along the way?”

            “Explore and help the Kairos clean out the time zones.  I thought that was obvious.”

            “Well for the record,” Mingus said as he turned and walked backwards.  “Though it may kill me to say it, I agree with that Lincoln fellow.”

            “I haven’t offered an opinion,” Lincoln said.

            “No, but I can read the mind of a frightened rabbit well enough.”

            “Father!”  Alexis jumped and there was some scolding in her voice.  “I vote we explore and help.”  She looked at Lockhart, and so did everyone else except the Doctor who was still playing with his amulet.

            Lockhart nodded.  “Okay,” he said.  “But the number one priority is to get everyone home alive and in one piece, so when it is time to move on, we all move, no arguments.”

            “You got that right,” Captain Decker mumbled.

            Everyone seemed fine with that except Mingus who screwed up his face and asked, “And who decides when it is time to move on?”

            “I do.”  Lockhart spoke without flinching.  The two stared at each other until Doctor Procter interrupted.

            “Anyway,” he spoke as if in the middle of a sentence.  “I would not worry about hunting unsavories.  I don’t imagine it will take long before they start hunting us.”

CAST

Robert Lockhart  is a former policeman, now assistant director of the Men in Black.  He is charged with leading this expedition through time though he has no idea how he is going to get everyone home — alive.

Boston (Mary Riley) is a Massachusetts redneck, rodeo rider and technological genius who finished her PhD at age 23.  She loves all of the adventure, and all the spiritual creatures they encounter, which suggests she may be a little strange.  She carries the amulet, a sophisticated electronic GPS and magical device that leads the way from one time gate to the next.

Benjamin Lincoln is a former C. I. A. office geek and now a man in black who keeps the database and a record of their journey.  He tends to worry and is not the bravest soul, but sometimes that is an asset. 

Alexis Lincoln is an elf who became human to marry Benjamin.  She retained her magic when she became human, but magic has its limits.  For example, it can’t make her father happy with her choices.

Mingus, father of Alexis and Roland, is the elder elf who ran the history department in Avalon for over 300 years.  He knows the time zones and the lives of the Kairos but tends to keep his opinions to himself.  And he believes his children are being ruined by so much human interaction.

Roland, Alexis’ younger brother is a full blood elf and gifted hunter.  He came to keep his father Mingus under control and out of his sister’s face.  He discovers there is something in humanity worth saving and protecting.  He knows many of the creatures in the spirit world that they face, including the nasty ones inclined to rise up out of the dark.

Lieutenant Katie Harper, a marine whose specialty is ancient and medieval cultures and technologies.  She is torn between her duty to the marines and her desire to be part of this larger universe she is discovering.

Captain Decker, navy seal and special operations officer who will do all he can to keep everyone alive, even if it means shooting his way back to the twenty-first century.  He is a skeptic who does not believe half of what they experience – even if he does not know what else to believe.

The Kairos  But that is a different person in each time zone.

 

Who is the Kairos?

            The Kairos, the Traveler in Time, the Watcher over History, the god of the littlest spirits of the earth, was designed to inhabit two bodies with one consciousness – one male and one female.  This proved too difficult for a single consciousness at the beginning, so it was determined the Kairos would take turns as a man or a woman.  First born in 4500 BC, Glen in our time is life number 121 in an unbroken string of lifetimes. 

            The Kairos is sometimes called the Traveler (in time) because early on it was discovered that he or she could reach through time from one life to another and actually, physically trade places, at least temporarily with another lifetime. 

            The Kairos is sometimes called the Watcher (over History) because he or she also has the ability to “remember” the future, and knowing the way history turns out has driven the Watcher to insure it is not changed.  That has not always been easy.    

 

The Time Gates

            The time gates of Avalon center around the lives of the Kairos.  The travelers of Avalon must enter each time zone through a gate, travel to the center to find the Kairos and then move on to the next gate.  But since the gates are centered on the Kairos and they move as the Kairos moves, the Kairos cannot help them in any struggles outside of the center of the time zone.  They are on their own as they travel from time zone to time zone in order to get back to the twenty-first century, hopefully alive.

 

The Series

            Avalon, the series, is a story about ordinary people thrown back to the beginning of history whose only way home is through time gates and across the time zones which are mysteriously tied to life after life of the Kairos.  Unfortunately, the Kairos cannot simply send them home, nor prepare them for what they might face when they step into the future, nor really protect them from what may be following them.  Apparently, they are not the only ones traveling through the time gates.

            Roland was happy to help Boston into the woods.  Lockhart Captain Decker and Lieutenant Harper kept their eyes open in case any people escaped the trouble on the plains by wandering in among the trees.  Lincoln kept thinking of things to jot down in his notebook and his wife made sure he did not walk into any trees.  Mingus appeared to be thinking hard about something else and stayed quiet.  Doctor Procter walked out front with his eyes glued to the amulet.  He did walk into a couple of trees.

            After a stop for a snack and a chance for Boston to rest, they entered a section of the forest that somehow felt darker and more oppressive than before.

            “A bit like walking into a goblin’s lair,” Mingus suggested.  That did not help.

            Lockhart figured they were far enough into the trees by then so it was safe to shoulder the shotgun.  He offered to take a turn helping Boston.  Roland was reluctant to let go of her and Boston hesitated.  But after only a moment’s hesitation Boston was glad to let Lockhart help her, though she was pretty sure she could have handled it on her own by then.  She was thinking she liked the idea of having Lockhart’s big arms wrapped around her, but then she did not mind Roland’s arms, either.  It was confusing.  Lockhart did not help when he reminded her of his previous life.

            “I was married once, you know, and I have a granddaughter that is not much younger than you.”

            The forest continued to darken until there was a legitimate reason for the darkness.  The sun was ready to set.  Lockhart called a halt, and though he was certain the elves and probably Doctor Procter could have continued without trouble in the dark, it was best to let everyone get some rest.  Alexis was showing she was tired, drained from the healing magic she used on Boston, and Boston was not fully healed despite her playful attitude.

            “So, what’s for supper?”  Lincoln was the first to ask.

            “Bread-crackers and bread-crackers,” Alexis answered.

            “Father, make a fire and give me an hour,” Roland said. 

            Mingus nodded.  “My son has some talents, too.”

            “A hunter?”  Boston asked as Roland disappeared into the dusk of the forest.  Mingus nodded.

            “Are you offended?”  Alexis wondered.

            “Not at all.  I grew up with hunters.  I love a good hunt.  I can skin and cut up a deer and everything.”

            “Redneck daughter,” Lockhart smiled.  “Matches her red hair.”

            “Good of you to notice.”  Boston smiled right back at him.

            When the tents were up, the cut-up deer was roasting away and people wandered off for firewood and personal reasons and perhaps to spend some time alone with their thoughts, Boston sat beside Doctor Procter and stared at the fire.  She felt the man had been unreasonably quiet so far.  Her handheld database was full of information about the various lives of the Kairos, but she imagined Doctor Procter was a wealth of more intimate information if she could just learn how to tap into it.

            “So how far do we have to go?”  She asked, casually.

            The doctor took out the amulet and answered with a look.  “We should easily be there by noon.”  He shook the amulet and then repeated himself.  “Yes, by noon.”

            “May I see?”  She asked, but when he held the amulet out for her, the first thing she saw was a blackening of his pointer finger.  It was black all the way to the palm.  “What is that?  It looks blood black.  How did it happen?”

            Doctor Procter pulled his hand back, quickly.  “It’s just a bruise.  It will be fine.  It must have happened when we were escaping the fight back on the plains of Shinar.  I think someone jammed it.”

            “Shouldn’t you let Alexis look at it?  Maybe she can heal it.”  Boston was amazed at how Alexis had healed her.

            “No, it’s fine.  Look.”  He wiggled it.  “It is not swollen or anything.  I am sure it will clear up in a day or two.  Besides, healing magic takes a great deal out of a person.  We can’t expect her to heal every cut or scrape or bruised finger.”

            “But it looks so dark.  Is that blood?”

            “No.  It is fine, really.  Now if you will excuse me, I have some personal business to attend to.”  He got up, smiled and waddled off.  His old legs were stiff.

            Boston could hardly follow him, but she made a point later of mentioning it to Lockhart, privately.  He also said to do nothing and not tell the others just yet.  He said she should keep an eye on it, but when Doctor Procter came back to the fire, she noticed he made some fairy weave gloves that fit right up beneath his long sleeves.

            “I thought I better protect it for a couple of days, just to give it a chance to heal,” he said.

            That made sense.  It was probably nothing so Boston decided not to worry about it.

            It was nearly four, a good hour before dawn, when Boston heard the crack of a great tree.    Someone yelled.  “Everyone out of the tents, now.  Hurry!”  Boston jumped because the crack sounded very close.  Lieutenant Harper who shared her tent helped her and they ran.  The tree came down on their tent, and while Boston and the Lieutenant got brushed back by some branches, it was only scrapes and cuts like Doctor Procter talked about.

            “Boston?”  Lockhart was the first one there.

            “You shouted?”  The Lieutenant asked.

            “I woke up early, uncomfortable.  I felt someone needed to be on watch and found Captain Decker had the same feelings.”

            “Boston.”  Alexis came running up.  “What is it with you?”  She began to tend their cuts.

            “This is not accidental.”  Mingus’ voice came from the far end of the tree.  “The tree is old, but not dead, though what could have ripped it up, roots and all is beyond me.”

            “Is everyone alright?”  Doctor Procter came up last of all.  “What happened here?”  No one answered him. 

            “Roland, Captain Decker, can you watch the perimeter while we break camp?”  Lockhart asked and the elf nodded and stepped out among the trees.  The Captain simply checked his weapon first.  “Lincoln, can you get Boston’s tent out from under the trunk?”

            “I’ll do it,” Mingus said.  “It is fairy weave, but it will take some finesse in its present position.”

            Lockhart nodded.  “Lincoln, you get scullery.  See what there is for breakfast and be sure the fire is out.  Are you able to travel?”  That last question was directed to the women.  The Lieutenant, Boston and Alexis all nodded.

            “What about me?”  Doctor Procter asked. 

            “Just get us to the gate before the tower falls and this whole time zone resets, whatever that means.”  Doctor Procter nodded like the women and went to help take down the other tents.

            It was two hours after sunrise when Alexis screamed.  “A face.”  She pointed.  “There was a face, there, among the leaves.”  Everyone looked, Lockhart and Roland extra close, but they saw no one.

            “A face?”  Mingus wondered what his daughter saw.

            Alexis took a deep breath.  “It startled me.  A man’s face, I think.”

            “Well whoever he was, he is gone now.”  Captain Decker came in from behind the bushes.

            “No, wait.  I don’t mean a face like on a person.  I mean the leaves shaped themselves into a face, and – and I sensed a presence of something alive.”

            “I don’t see it.”  Lincoln squinted.

            “No, it is gone now.”

            “A face in the leaves.”  Mingus rubbed his chin.  “A green man, do you think?”

            Doctor Procter looked up.  “It seems a good explanation, this far back.”

            Mingus spoke to the others.  “A Bokarus, a spirit of what you humans call the pristine wilderness.  They resent intrusion, particularly human intrusion and fight against any environmental changes.  That would explain the old tree torn up by the roots.  The tree probably did not have long to live and it was a worthy sacrifice to kill us, or two of us anyway.”

            “I read they are especially dangerous around water.”  Doctor Procter said in his way without explaining why.

            “They like to drown people and feed off their souls – the life force.”  Mingus did the explaining.  “It is neat, clean, does no damage to the environment and the dead body feeds those things that live in the river.  But Bokarus can be dangerous on any ground.”

            “I understand.”  Boston touched the cut on her cheek.  “But will it follow us through the gate?”

            “Not likely.”  Lockhart said and looked at Mingus who nodded to confirm that idea.  “Probably native to this land.”

            “Probably the reason these woods were considered sacred and off limits to the people back on the plains,” Lieutenant Harper suggested.

            “No doubt,” Lockhart got everyone moving again, though it was not very far to the gate.  When they arrived, Doctor Procter held up the amulet which glowed slightly green, but he could not seem to locate the source.

            “It is here, I tell you.”  Doctor Procter insisted, but no one could see the shimmering air.  “But it must be here.”  He stepped forward and disappeared.

            “I guess he was right.”  Lockhart said, and after only a second, Doctor Procter reappeared.

            “Good to know the gates are two-way.”

            “Good to know,” Lockhart agreed and he encouraged the doctor to go back through once more and everyone else to follow.  They started to move when they heard a rumbling sound like thunder in the distance.

            “The tower,” Lincoln said as they all stepped through the gate and into the next time zone.

            “Children?  Child?”  Doctor Procter tried to get the children’s attention.

            “Kairos?”  Doctor Mingus tried, and the children stopped crying.

            “Glen?”  Boston spoke and the children looked up.  Both sets of eyes got big and both mouths spoke in perfect unison. 

            “Boston!”  Then both mouths closed and there appeared to be some internal struggle before the boy spoke first and then the girl.

            “I am Zadok, a word for rock.”

            “I am Amri, a word for love.”

            “Glen is here but not,” Zadok continued.  “I don’t know if I can reach him, exactly.”

            “Or Alice,” Amri said.  “And I know where she is.

            “I am confused…”

            “…and I don’t know why.”

            “I cannot send you home, either.”

            “I don’t even know if the gods can.”

            “Hold it.”  Lockhart interrupted.  “Could just one of you speak.  I’m getting dizzy.”

            The children looked at each other before they nodded.  “I will talk,” Amri said.

            “I will listen,” Zadok finished the thought.

            “Wait a minute,” Lincoln stepped forward.  “You are like the Princess and he is like the Storyteller, or –“

            “No, dear,” Alexis explained.  “They are one and the same person only they are in two bodies.”

            “Actually,” Amri looked briefly at Zadok.  “I am one being, like one consciousness in two persons.”

            “But that doesn’t make sense,” Lincoln said.  “How can you be one being in two persons?”

            Amri and Zadok looked briefly at each other once more.

            “Amri likes to talk,” Zadok said.

            “Zadok likes to listen so it works out well.”

            Boston inched up close and squatted.  “What are you, six?”  Both heads nodded before Amri spoke again and it was a hurried speech.

            “You have guns that will never run out of bullets and vitamins that will never run out no matter how many people start taking them.  But that is all I can do for your health and safety.  That and remind you that when the demon Ashteroth was here she wanted to change time.  She thought she could do that through the heart of time.  It doesn’t work that way, but in the meantime she let all sorts of horrid creatures into time.”  Amri paused.  Someone had come up to the top of the hill.  It was the old man, Nimrod, and he was bruised and bleeding in any number of places including the beginning of a terrific black eye.

            “You!”  Nimrod pointed at Lockhart.  “You caused all this.”  Boston moved slightly and that attracted Nimrod’s attention.  The man shouted on sight of the children and raised his spear.  He threw it at Zadok, but Boston jumped.  The spear grazed her side and caused a great gash and a great deal of blood, but its trajectory was changed so Zadok was spared.

            Roland’s arrow arrived first in Nimrod’s chest.  That was clear from the look of utter surprise that crossed the old man’s face before Lockhart’s slug from his shotgun and corresponding fire from Captain Decker knocked the man completely off his feet to roll back down the hill, dead.

            “Boston!”  Zadok reacted first.

            “Alexis!”  Amri seconded the sound of concern but called for help.  Alexis was already on the way over and the medical kit was open.

            “Daughter?”  No one was sure what was going through Mingus’ mind, but Alexis waved him off, locked her thumbs and placed her hands an inch away from the gash in Boston’s side.  A blue-white glow of magic formed around Alexis’ hands, and then it touched Boston.  Boston grimaced for a moment, but soon relaxed.  Lincoln, Lockhart and the others all watched while the bleeding stopped and the wound slowly closed up.  It was not as fast or as complete a healing as Lockhart’s hand, but clearly Boston would be fine.  All the same, Alexis wrapped Boston in some gauze and helped her stand, and then helped her lengthen her fairy weave clothes to cover her mid section.

            “I’ll be fine,” Boston said. And she felt two arms encircle her and two heads press up against her with tears welled up in Amri’s eyes.  “Oh,” Boston returned the hug.  She wanted to squat again and hug the Kairos properly, but she was not sure if she could squat.  “You are cute when you are young.”  She said instead.

            “Of course.”  Zadok looked up with a smile and Boston saw the same smile spread across Armi’s face.  “I’m always cute.”  The twins backed up and looked once around at everyone.  Then Amri spoke again.

            “You must go.  Nimrod was to die alone, the tower fallen and ever so slightly afraid that something of him might survive death after all.  You may have done him a mercy, but now you must go.  Godfather Chronos must come to see me and the tower must be shattered.”

            Lieutenant Harper who was craning her neck to see the top, nodded.  “Bad bricks.  Straw would have helped.”

            “Ahem!”  Captain Decker coughed to get her quiet.

            “You better hurry,” Amri said.  “I feel Chronos may come tomorrow afternoon, and shortly after he arrives, the tower will fall and I will cease.  Then I don’t know.   This time zone might start again at the beginning — at the moment of my conception.  It would be better if you were not here when it reset.”

            “So we have until tomorrow afternoon to get to the next gate,”  the Doctor summarized and got out his amulet.  He turned to face the woods, then turned back to say farewell.

            “Will you be alright?”  Lockhart asked.

            “Of course,” Amri responded.  “I live here.  But you must hurry.”

            “And Lockhart,” Zadok interrupted.  “I am sorry to burden you with having to get everyone back home the hard way, but I believe in you.”  Amri nodded her head in agreement, quite independently of what Zadok was doing.

            Lockhart said nothing.  He just turned and followed the others back down the hill, toward the sacred woods.

            The travelers and twelve men with great spears like their leader gathered on the mound.  The men were all big and strong, and Boston noticed they all looked mean and cruel besides.  The travelers got to walk in between the two lines, which may not have been military lines but certainly spoke of men who knew how to retain prisoners.  Doctor Procter got to walk up front next to the big old man.

            “It’s alright,” Lockhart suggested.  “The amulet is programmed correctly.  You just take us in the direction we need to go.”

            Doctor Procter still did not understand, but he made no objection.  They started off the mound, and the people parted before them like the Red Sea parted for Moses.  Lincoln looked around and he did not like what he saw.

            “The People.”  He spoke quietly to Alexis, but Lockhart and Boston in front of him and Mingus and Roland with their good elf ears heard.  “They look like people past the tipping point.  The looks they are giving the old man as soon as his back is turned are frightening.  I sense trouble.  I don’t think we will get all the way to the tower.”

            “Humans,” Mingus scoffed.

            “They look to be cooperating,” Roland pointed out.

            “Are you sure?”  Lockhart asked Lincoln even as he took the shotgun from his back and cradled it with one eye to be sure the marines were ready.

            “Oh, yes,” Alexis whispered.  “I trust Benjamin’s nose for trouble.  His senses are excellent. 

            Lockhart nudged Boston to encourage her to get ready to run, but she had her eyes on a man who was paralleling them in the crowd and did not appear to have evil intentions toward them.  It was an unusual sight in a crowd of people who looked like they would just as soon eat the strangers as look at them.

            Then it happened, just below the tower hill and just before they broke free of the crowd.  A big, burly man full of soot from the fires who looked something like a blacksmith stepped forward, supported by three others, and they blocked the way.

            “What is this?”  The old man looked up from the amulet and stared hard at the blacksmith who responded with what sounded to Lockhart like, “Gubba-dubba-mubba.”

            “Gibberish,” the old man spat.  “Remove him.”  He turned to the man with the spear beside him but that man also said something odd.

            “Bullaka Meeko?”

            “I think he said, who died and made you god?”  Roland whispered

            Still, the intent of the big old man was clear so the spearman lowered his spear and stepped forward.  The blacksmith stepped inside the stone point of the spear and landed a left hook on the spearman’s jaw.  That one act set everyone free.  Suddenly fists were being thrown everywhere and the scene dissolved into mayhem.

            “Gibberish.  Why can’t you speak sense?”  They heard the old man shout even as Boston shouted louder.

            “This way.  Hurry.”

            The travelers followed Boston, and she followed the man who had signaled to her.  She had no idea what that man wanted, but he was leading them away from the ever widening circle of violence. 

            The last they heard from the big old man was, “You must do what I say.  I am god!”  Then a fist went into the old man’s mouth while the travelers, with no real injuries, managed to break free.  The man they followed lead them quickly up the tower hill until they were above the mayhem.

            “I am Peleg,” the man said once they could slow to speak.  “My family is safe.  Come.”  He lead them around the base of the hill to where the forest grew up to the back of the rise.

            “Peleg?”  Lockhart looked at Doctor Procter and then back at Mingus.

            “One of the good guys,” Mingus assured him.

            “So why are you helping us?”  Lockhart finished his question for the man.

            “Because you don’t belong to Nimrod.  You are strangers and deserve no part in the madness that is breaking out everywhere.”

            “But what is going on?” Alexis was the one who asked.

            They came to the trees and Peleg whistled before he turned to answer.  “Nimrod has told us there is no God.  He has taken the place of God and played on the fears of the people.  He says this monstrous tower of his will be our lasting memorial in case the flood comes again and we are all swept away.”

            “But you don’t believe that.”

            “No.  Some few of us have not forgotten.”  As he spoke, young men, women and children came out from among the trees to stand beside him.  “We remember the source of all and the rainbow pledge.  Many people have already escaped, but sadly they have taken to the worship of the powers in this earth.”

            “But that was madness back there,” Boston took up the cause.  “I can still hear the screaming and fighting and dying.  Why?”

            “Because the people finally realized if Nimrod can be a god, so can they.  They are all being their own god.”

            Lieutenant Harper got it.  “And when everyone is their own god, everything becomes relative.  Then even the words you speak mean whatever you want them to mean, whether anyone else understands them or not, it doesn’t matter.”

            “So the gibberish.”  Alexis stepped up and took her husband’s arm.

            “What a nimrod.  What a maroon.  Yuck, yuck.”  Lockhart smiled.  To Boston’s curious look he simply added, “Just something from my youth.”  Oh.  She curved her lips but made no sound.

            “Our way lies along the edge of the trees.  My family is reluctant to venture into the forest.”

            “Our way?”  Lincoln asked, and Doctor Procter pointed into the deep woods.

            “Thank you.”  Lockhart thought to say it.

            “Go with God,” Peleg responded and he and his family began to move off the plains.

            “Humans.”  Mingus shook his head.  “It is all gibberish if you ask me.”  He started off into the woods, and everyone was obliged to follow.  They did not get far, though, before Doctor Procter shouted.

            “No.”  He spun around, ran toward the hill and began to climb.  He was elf fast, or half-elf fast, but because of his age, it was not long before the others caught up.

            “What is it?”  Captain Decker asked.

            “He will not leave until he sees the Kairos,” Mingus answered for the half-elf.  “And on second thought, I suppose I agree with him.”  They did not have to look far.  There was a child, two children joined not along one whole side as in the drawing on the Ark, but only at the wrists.  He had no left hand and she had no right.  They were sitting in the dirt beneath the tower, turned away from the madness that was going on across the plains below.  They could not have been older than five or six, and they were crying.

            In the morning, the armed and ready group walked slowly toward the mass of people and paused only briefly when they were seen.  They started to walk again when it appeared they were seen and ignored.

            “I was going to mention this gathering of humans,” Mingus said quietly to Lockhart.  “I guess it slipped my mind.”

            Oddly enough, Lockhart was not angry.  He fully expected the elder elf to lie or withhold information, if for no other reason than because he was an elf.  But he had been taught by the Kairos in years past that once a Little One gave friendship, it was solid.  He could only hope.

            As they neared, they began to see the gaunt faces of the people.  Ragged, well-worn animal skins barely clung to some of the people.  Others were simply naked and on many of them the ribs showed to indicate their hunger.  The eyes of many were empty, like they had lost all sense of what it meant to be human – what it meant to have hope.  Still, they labored.  Lockhart noticed the men dragged trees from further and further afield, and he noticed the great pit that had to be a quarter mile wide from which they dug clay with tools of stone and bone.

            “Oh, the children.”  Alexis spoke with concern.  A pack of them gathered to see these strange new people.  “Boston, give me some of the bread-crackers you have in your pack.”  She reached one hand back but her focus was all on a grubby little girl in the front of the pack.  Boston would have given them to her if Lockhart did not speak up.

            “Don’t do that,” he commanded.  “You will start a food riot.”

            “Best to keep things hidden for now,” Mingus agreed.

            “Absolutely,” Captain Decker seconded that agreement.

            Alexis looked disappointed.  She turned to Lincoln, her hand still out in search of bread.  “Dear?”

            Lincoln shook his head and gave a very practical answer.  “We may need that food down the road.  It isn’t for these people.”  He held his breath as they walked straight into that mass of humanity.  “I still say we should have gone around,” he mumbled, but one way was the clay pit, and the other offered no place to hide.  Truth be told, they were all curious about what they might find.

            They walked around most people who hardly gave them a glance.  Some people stepped aside for them to pass and mumbled unintelligible words in their direction.  Sometimes they had to walk a good bit to the side because there were fire pits everywhere, where men and women baked the clay into bricks, adding only a bit of grass or crumbled bark dragged in on the trees in order to hold the clay together.

            “Straw would work better,” Lieutenant Harper spoke quietly, but as they looked around, there was only mud beneath their feet and it looked that way for miles.  The earth had been stripped clean of every living thing and trampled under two million feet

            They were near the mound in the center of it all.  It had a tent on top, and was about half-way to the hill with the growing tower.  That was when several men finally and deliberately blocked their way.  They stopped.  One man with skin the color of red clay and with big eyes, big hands and a big nose took a long whiff of air.  He smiled after, showed all three of his teeth and said, “Mangot.”  The man beside him said, “Golendiko.”  The third man, one almost as big as Lockhart shouted “Clidirunna!”

            Mingus tried to clean out his ears.  Elves were gifted with the ability to hear and respond no matter what language was spoken, but he was getting none of it.

            “I think they are trying to say food,” Roland said and he put his hand to his sword hilt but made no hostile move.  The shouting was enough to attract a crowd, but the crowd still looked reluctant to touch the strangers.

            “Keep moving.”  Captain Decker urged them forward and at first the crowd parted, but before they could reach the actual mound the crowd closed in again.  Lockhart could see over the heads of nearly everyone, and he saw the commotion had not drawn in more than fifty or so people.

            “Make for the mound,” Lockhart said softly for fear the people would understand.  They moved, but the crowd moved with them to block the way.

            “Food!”  Everyone spun around.  Boston was at the back as usual and she threw a half-dozen bread-crackers over her shoulder, away from the mound.  People shrieked and raced to fight over the morsels.  Everyone got jostled.  Lincoln got knocked to the ground, and Lockhart yelled.

            “Everyone circle around Boston,” 

            “Lieutenant, opposite sides,” Captain Decker shouted.  They circled up even as more people arrived to block their way.  Eyes looked at Boston and wondered if there was more food where that came from.

            “Serious damage going on here,” Lincoln pointed at the fight over Boston’s generosity.

            “You mean you?  You big baby.”  Alexis was on the opposite side of the circle from her husband.  She was next to her brother and faced the mound.

            “Let us move together, as one body,” Mingus suggested.  They did and the crowd backed up slowly.  They got within ten yards of the mound before the crowd froze and would not budge.

            Roland reached for his sword.  “No, no.”  Doctor Procter stayed the elf’s hand.  “One act of violence on our part and we will be dog feed.”

            “So we are in the red zone,” Lockhart said.  “Any ideas as to how we score?”

            “A quick shot over their heads?”   Captain Decker suggested.

            “Sudden moves and frightening sounds would not be a good idea,”  Lieutenant Harper said.  “Besides, they would not understand it.”

            Alexis grabbed her brother’s hand.  He looked at her with a curious expression as she spoke.  “Split the herd.”  And he nodded.  They swung their hands, once, twice, three times and a brilliant flash of light poured from their fists.  It shot straight to the mound and shoved everyone in that line back ten feet on either side to make a clean path.  They ran.  No one had to say it, and they reached the mound before the crowd could stop them.

            “To the high ground and prepare to defend yourselves,” Lockhart shouted and the marines moved before they noticed what the others saw right away.  The people were not following them.  None of the people so much as stepped on the mound.  They looked like they did not dare touch it, and after only a moment they began to wander back to whatever they had been doing as if the travelers were never there.

            “Very primitive construction.”  Doctor Procter was already examining the crude tent.  It was really just a number of overlapping animal skins held up by some precious lumber.  It was larger than Lincoln thought when he saw it from a distance and might easily hold a dozen or more people.  He sketched furiously, but at the same time he imagined a good gust of wind might blow it apart.

            “Wow.”  Boston stared at Alexis and Roland.

            Alexis smiled.  “On my bad days, Benjamin calls me a witch.”  She looked at her father.  “But he says it with love,” she added.

            Boston got herself spun around to face a pair of angry eyes.  Lockhart was not happy.  “You nearly got us all killed.  I said leave the food alone.”

            Boston dropped her eyes.  “I know.  I’m sorry.”

            “You’re lucky they didn’t mob you and tear you to pieces looking for more food.”

            “Don’t be too hard on her,” Roland came to her defense.  “She was thinking and just trying to help.”  Boston heard, but she was busy.  She looked up into Lockhart’s eyes.  She saw that he loved her and the scolding was out of love, and that made her happy.

            “I won’t do it again,” she said.

            “Yes you will.”  Lockhart softened a little as the relief he felt washed over him.  He hugged her.  “You just need to remember I’m the Director here in Bobbi’s absence.  Maybe I can’t tell these elves what to do, but I’m still your boss.”  He looked up.  “And that goes for you, too. ”

            “Yes boss.”  Lincoln spoke absentmindedly since he was busy.  Alexis grimaced and gave a sloppy little salute. 

            “Oh!”  Doctor Procter was about to open the front flap of the tent when he was surprised.  A woman came out and held the flap open.  She opened her hand to invite them in.

            “It appears we are wanted,” Mingus said.

            “Careful,” Lincoln said as they walked into the dark tent one by one.

            “Come in, come in.”  They heard the man’s words before their eyes adjusted to the dim light.  It was not much of a tent.  There was no furniture, just some straw in the corner to sleep on and a big stump to sit on.  The man, himself was very old, but when he stood up from the stump he also proved to be a very big man.  “We do not often have strangers here.”  He examined them as closely as they examined him.

            “Where are we, exactly?”  Lincoln asked.

            “In my world.  And my people, as you have seen are hungry.”  He took a step and paused in front of Mingus.  “I do not traffic much with elves.”  He stepped over to examine Doctor Procter.  “And there is something different about you.  Something odd.”

            “He is a half-elf,” Boston offered.

            The man shivered a little, reacting the way Lockhart reacted when he first thought about it.  “But you others,”  He paused to point at Alexis.  “Six, I think.  You six are my people.  You should be helping with the tower.  You should be building the monument to my eternity.”  There was a compulsion in his words.  For a moment, Lockhart felt very much like that was what he wanted to do; but then Alexis touched him.  He watched Roland touch the two marines while Alexis touched Boston and took her husband’s arm.  The feeling of compulsion faded.

            “So that is how it is.”  The old man stared at them for another moment before he noticed the Doctor’s amulet.  Of all the sophisticated things they had, the big old man went for something he might call familiar.  “And what is this?”

            “It is just a bit of sentimental wood.”  Doctor Procter practiced that lie.

            “No, wait.  Don’t tell me.  It is, how should I call it, a locator.”  The big old man smiled at himself.  He obviously had special powers of discernment as well as compulsion.  “I should have this, but then you know how to use it.”  Doctor Procter could do little but nod.  “I need you to locate something for me.”  He turned his back on them to walk again to the stump and bed where he lifted a spear as tall as the tent top.  “Please.”  He said that last word without facing any of them and it sounded like it was forced through gritted teeth.

            “Well, I don’t know.  It isn’t—“  The Doctor started to speak but stopped when Mingus bumped him.  Mingus was a full-blood elf and knew the sound of a bargain when he heard one.

            “What would you have us find?”  He asked.

            The big man stood with his spear.  “There is a creature,” he said, and then he thought to explain.  “My people are hungry because the powers in my world have rebelled against me.  They have made this unnatural abomination and kept the food to feed it and help it grow.  This travesty must stop.  You must help me find it so I can end it.”

            “And what is in it for us?”  Mingus responded.

            The big old man turned and eyed the elf with big, sad eyes.  “My people are hungry,” he repeated.

            “A true manipulator.”  Mingus spoke with a bit of admiration.  He would have said something else, but Lockhart interrupted.

            “We will do it.”  Several eyes shot to him in wonder.  “Doctor, we can follow the direction on your amulet and I am sure this fine man will help us with the crowd.”

            “But—“

            “Yes, of course.”  Alexis stepped up and took the Doctor’s hand.  “We will follow the direction pointed out on the amulet and this man will help us through the masses of people.”  She turned to the big man.  “We will help you because the people need food.  People should not starve.  That isn’t right.”

            The big man smiled weakly but called with some strength.  “Moragga!”  The woman poked her head into the tent.  “Gather the men.  We are going on a hunt.”

            It took all day to climb and scramble down the mountain and cross the hills that quickly petered out as they approached the plains.  In the first valley, Alexis found a section overgrown with vines.  She picked grapes and everyone had some and enjoyed them even though they had seeds.  The travelers were no longer used to eating grapes with seeds.

            “The Kairos said the food here would nourish only we might not find everything we need,”  Lincoln made a note in his book.

            Boston spoke up.  “I have the daily vitamins we need to start taking in the morning.”  In fact, she had three bottles in her medical pack.  One was marked human, one elf, and one marked especially for Doctor Procter.  She wondered what made them all different.  “Hey, wait a minute.”  Boston took the medical kit out of the top of her pack.  It was in its own carry pack, like a purse that could be worn over a shoulder.  She handed it to Alexis.  “You have to be better at this than I am.”

            Alexis took it and by what she called a simple bit of magic she made the strap longer so she could slip her head and one arm through and carry it on her hip.  “I was thinking of asking for this, but I thought maybe you wanted it.”

            “No, mam,” Boston said.  She was used to thinking of Alexis as a much older woman and decided it might take some time to make friends.  “I cry too much and I don’t like to see people bleed.”

            “I thought so.  Emotional, like a little one.”

            “Really?”

            “Flighty as a fairy, they say.”

            Boston frowned.  She was not sure that was a compliment, but she did not say anything for the sake of a possible future friendship.

            “I hope you keep a good eye on your father,” Lockhart told Roland as they walked.  He looked at the elf and tried hard not to show anything on his face before he turned his eyes again to the trail.  “To be honest, I was not made for elves and fairies and such, though I have known a few in my time.  Still, and I mean no offense, but I find being so close to elves—“ he paused.  A bit creepy?  “Let’s just say it is going to take me some time to get used to it.”

            Roland was not offended.  In fact he answered in innocent honesty.  “I know exactly what you mean.  I have spent time on earth, but working and observing.  I am not used to being around mortals, er, humans like this.  I think what makes it hard for me is the fact that we are more similar than most think.”

            “Similar?”  Lockhart could see very little in the way of similarities.  Creepy was not a bad word.

            “We both fall in love and elves and humans can even have babies together.”

            Lockhart could not keep his lip from curling ever so slightly at the idea of making love to an elf.  He looked back at Alexis and Boston, and gave Roland the point.  Not every human had his problem.

            “Do not worry, Lockhart.  I will keep father ever in sight.”  Lockhart merely nodded.

            “Aha!”  Doctor Procter shouted from the front of the line.  Lincoln was beside the doctor and Mingus was right behind.  In fact, Mingus nearly bumped into the two when the doctor came to a sudden halt.  “It’s working.”  The doctor held up the amulet.

            “Let me see.”  Lincoln wanted a look and Boston ran right between Lockhart and Roland.

            “That girl has too much energy,” Lockhart said softly

            “Yes she does,” Roland agreed, but it was impossible to tell what he thought about that matter.

            “You see?”  The Doctor explained.  “It is linked to the Castle all the way in the future.  It points the way we need to go, like a compass, and that will take us to the next gate.  It gives an approximate distance to travel, here, about twenty miles, and it should give off a dim green light when we get near the gate.  I don’t know if that part works yet.”

            “But that is wonderful,” Lincoln shouted.  “However does it work?”

            Doctor Procter looked up at the man and Mingus said what was expected from an elf.  “Magic.”

            “You lie like and elf.” 

            Mingus and Roland spun around to see who insulted them, but it was Alexis who said it.  Mingus stared at her for a second before he conceded the point.  “I never could lie to your mother, either.”  Roland wisely said nothing.

            “Let’s have it.”  Alexis reached out and the Doctor handed over the amulet as Lieutenant Harper came up to have a look.  Alexis twirled it twice in her hands before she handed it to Lockhart.  Lockhart immediately handed it to Boston and Boston spoke up.

            “The latch,” and she opened it and stared at the sophisticated electronics inside for a few seconds before she made her pronouncement.  “It is a homing device.  On earth I would call it a geo-positioning device, but here I suspect it works in some strange way because of the space and time distortions we are traveling through.”  She closed the amulet and looked up.  “So how close was I?”

            “Judging from the looks, I would say you nailed it,” Lieutenant Harper said.  “And that was very good.” 

            “She is a natural born geek,” Lockhart added before Roland burst out with his thought.

            “Why, that was brilliant.”  Boston turned a red, as was her way, and she pointed up the hill.  She handed the amulet back to Doctor Procter and walked out front until her embarrassed feelings subsided.

            From there, it did not take long to get to the top of the last hill before the plains.  When they arrived, about an hour before sunset, they were astounded at what they saw.  There had to be a hundred thousand campfires and a million people packed into a treeless, grassless valley that butted up to a hill at least two miles away.  On top of that distant hill, there was an Empire State Building high tower.  Captain Decker got out the binoculars.

            “It can’t be.”  This time Lincoln said it first.

            “Shinar,” Doctor Procter announced.

            “We went under glamour here,” Mingus said.

            “I remember,” Alexis spoke up, and this time she took a moment to explain what a glamour was.  “That means we made an illusion so we would look like the normal people and not stand out in the crowd.”  Alexis shook her head.  “But it is not easy to do, and it works best when applied to oneself.”

            “That is something Roland and Mingus may have to consider in the future.”  Lockhart looked at the sky.  “For now it is nearly dark and I think we should camp on this side of the hill, out of sight.”

            “It is hot enough,” Captain Decker agreed.  “I suggest we skip the fire to not draw attention to ourselves.”

            Lieutenant Harper had her own binoculars out and she responded only to Doctor Procter’s statement.  “Shinar.  The Tower of Babel,” she said.  Then she paused.   She caught the glint of sunlight off something shiny on that distant hill.  When she squinted, it looked to her like a man on horseback.  It looked like a knight in armor.  She blinked and it was gone and she shook her head.  She knew horses were not domesticated yet and surely these were not a metal working people to produce such armor.  She decided it must have been an illusion or her imagination and put it out of her mind.