Travelers

Avalon 5.1 Sirens Are for Emergencies, part 4 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

“Thalia,” Alesandros called from the entrance to the temple.

“Here,” a woman called back from the front of the great room, though no one could see her.

“We have company,” Alesandros said, and led the travelers toward the front.

Though it may have been as big, the temple hardly looked like some cathedral on the inside, since the inside was filed with regularly spaced roof support posts, that Katie called “Aeolian Columns.”  She said, “It is the only way to build such a big open space, though it makes the space appear not so big and open.”

When they got to the front, they found a woman of about thirty-five years or so, who was just beginning to become plump as some women did when they got older. Age was hard for the twenty-first century people to judge, because before the twentieth century, people aged more rapidly, and showed it.  The woman welcomed them, as Alesandros stepped up and gave her a quick kiss.

“I found these people in the village.  They are not like any I have ever seen or heard of, but they seem to know the lady, and I get the impression they may even be friends with her.”

The travelers were busy taking in the view.  The cathedral had a sacristy, set apart by a railing.  Most of the space was taken by a long table filled with bread, fish and flowers.  They could smell the fish.  Off to the left was a stone statue which Katie claimed was remarkable for the time-period.  The statue was of a most beautiful and noble woman who appeared to be walking on the sea.  Her right hand was lowered to pet the head of a rising dolphin.  In her left arm, she held a baby, wrapped in a blanket and close to her breast.  Over her left shoulder, a fairy fluttered, with a look on her face that said, ‘this is fun’.

Lincoln was especially taken by what he saw behind the altar.  It appeared a narrow opening that covered the whole back wall, like the biggest picture window, except without glass.  Obviously, a roof overhang protected the temple floor from the rain, but the window without glass showed the rain in all its fury.  Great strokes of lightning flashed over the sea and across the sky to light up the night.

“Nice view,” he mumbled.

“Yes,” Thalia responded, as Alesandros went to pull the curtains.  He helped the travelers set out places to sleep while Thalia continued.  “It is a small way down to the cliffs that overlook the bay and the sea.  On a clear day, I can see for miles.  I sometimes come and sit here, and look out on the sea for hours and hours.  I never knew the beauty and wonder of it all until I became friends with Amphitrite.”

“Thalia and Amphitrite are best friends, since they were young.” Alesandros said.

“On Akalantas,” Lincoln said, and Thalia stared at him.

“Yes, how did you know?”

Alexis answered.  “My husband keeps the database and reads it when we are not looking.”

“Lovely table,” Boston interrupted.  She felt something warm to look at it, knowing that all these gifts were offered to the Kairos, in a sense, and now that she had become an elf, that was her goddess, too.

“Altar,” Katie corrected her.

“Of course,” Thalia acted like she was forgetting her manners.  “If you are hungry, please take what you wish.  Some of the bread is very good.  Our lady would not wish any to go hungry.”

“We ate in the meeting house,” Alesandros said, giving Thalia another quick kiss.

“Don’t people object to taking the food offered to the goddess?” Katie asked.

“Not here,” Thalia said, with a big smile.  “We do not waste the offerings.  In the morning, the mothers will come and give thanks, and the food will go to feed the children.  Besides, after too long, the fish starts to stink, so it all works out well.  A few people collect and bring offerings every day.  We gather the village here about every fifteen days, and some come from other villages to join us.  We get people here from the cities up the coast every season, and we have seasonal celebrations…”

“And we get to share the love of our great lady,” Alesandros added, and this time, she kissed him.

“Too bad the children can’t eat the flowers,” Artie said, wistfully.

“Yes, well, some are not suited for hunting or fishing, or for baking bread,” Thalia knitted her brows for one minute before she called.  “Lilac, come here and meet our friends.”

“Yes, Lady,” the travelers heard a sweet voice before they saw a beautiful young woman of about eighteen years at most, step out from a dark corner where apparently, no one looked.  At least Alexis felt that was what they were supposed to think.  Alexis felt suspicious, and it got confirmed when Boston stepped up and spoke.

“Hello fairy.”

“Hello elf,” the young girl responded.

“My name is Boston.”

“My name is Lilac.”

“You can get little if you want.  My friends won’t hurt you,” Boston said, and removed her glamour to show herself, pointed ears and all.  “See?”

Lilac glanced at Thalia who closed her mouth and gave a slight nod.  Lilac immediately returned to fairy size, and fluttering her wings, came right up to Boston to commiserate on nothing in particular.

“I see you have your own little one to worry about,” Thalia said with a look on her face that said she was not unhappy about it.  “Mine keeps me young and is my heart.”

Elder Stow interrupted before anyone else could respond.  “My mother. My father.  I have worn my glamour faithfully for a long time.  It is as you said, I mostly forget it is even there.  But it would be a great kindness to me if I could take it off, just for this night.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Katie said, and with a brief look at Thalia, and Alesandros, who came up to slip his arm over his wife’s shoulders, she looked at Lockhart.

Lockhart looked unsure.

Elder Stow said, “I am sure I would sleep better, and maybe not snore so much.”

Katie shrugged and Lockhart nodded.  “Only if Thalia and Alesandros don’t object.  If they are uncomfortable, you must put it right back on.”

Elder Stow nodded, and to their credit, only Thalia made any noise, and it was a little gasp.

“He is not an elf or dark one or any spiritual creature I have seen.”

“He is an old one.” Katie said.  “One of the ancient races that lived in this land before the flood

“I really am a very nice fellow,” Elder Stow said.  “That is what young Boston says.”

“I’m only about a hundred and ten, elf years old,” Boston admitted.

“Miss Lilac is just over a hundred herself,” Thalia said.

“I just barely qualify to be called Miss Lilac,” Lilac said, sounding more like a ten-year-old than one who looked eighteen in her big size.  Lilac settled down to sit on Thalia’s shoulder, a place she was obviously accustomed to.

“One elf and one old one makes me wonder what other wonders you have to share,” Alesandros said.  He smiled, like he was enjoying the show.

Alexis shook her head, but Boston spoke.  “Just one.  Elder Stow, we have to give Artie a check in all this rain.”  Artie looked up, but she had been quiet all through supper, on the road to the orphanage, and now in the temple, where normally she would have been in the midst of it all, asking questions.  She did not appear to have the gumption to protest as Elder Stow nodded and rummaged through his pack.

“I don’t feel well,” Artie said.  “Is that the right way to say it?  I don’t feel well.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Alexis said, as Katie sat down beside the android.  Alexis looked like she wished there was something she could do.  Her healing magic worked fine for wounds and broken bones.  She could pull poison and infection right out of the body, but she was not as effective on illnesses, and in Artie’s case, Alexis felt powerless.  She could not heal wiring.

Elder Stow sat and placed a disc against Artie’s head.  Artie voluntarily closed her eyes, but when Elder Stow tuned the disc, Artie stiffened like a corpse.  Thalia let out a little gasp again, but Alesandros held on to her, so she stayed quiet.  Boston slipped into Katie’s place.  When she reached down to open Artie’s middle, Thalia muted her gasp in Alesandros’ chest so she would not have to watch.  Alesandros watched, fascinated, and eventually Thalia also turned to see.

“She is a machine,” Elder Stow said.  “But most of her insides imitate human insides.”  He spoke to Boston.  “Find something to sponge that water.”  Boston got her fairy weave blanket.

“A machine?” Alesandros got close.  “I thought… she seemed a fine young woman.”

“I suspect the moisture seeped in all day around her middle joints,” Elder Stow said to Alexis and Katie.  “She is rust proof, and her flesh, like human flesh, is designed to repel water, but when she bends, even like sitting, the flesh bunches up and makes a miniscule gap.  Human flesh is stretchier and tugs against the muscles so we can only bend so far and can’t make gaps.  After an all-day rain, sitting on her horse and all, enough moisture got in to her insides to begin to cause problems.”

“Can you fix her?” Katie asked, obviously concerned.

“Not without covering her in an entirely different kind of flesh, for which I do not have the equipment.  Very sophisticated equipment.  Magic might do it, I don’t know, but science can only offer a sealer, like a glue stop.  I can give Alexis a list of ingredients to look for.  Artie may find the glue uncomfortable, and in any case, it will only work as a stop-gap until a more permanent solution can be found.”

Boston finished wiping out Artie’s insides, and Elder Stow closed her up.  He paused on waking her when Katie said, “Wait.  Let’s not tell her just yet.  Let’s wait until we see the Kairos.  She has resources and knows thing that we cannot imagine.  Maybe she will have a solution.”

“You don’t want her to worry in the meantime,” Lockhart said, and everyone agreed, though some might have thought keeping secrets from her was not a good idea.

“Not keeping secrets,” Alexis told Lincoln.  “Just not confirming the diagnosis until we get a second opinion.”  Alexis was a nurse.

“Okay?” Elder Stow asked.  No one objected, so he removed his disc and Artie came around quickly.

“Am I going to be okay?” Artie asked first thing.

“How do you feel?” Alexis asked.

Artie thought first.  “Better.”

Katie helped Artie to stand.  “You are going to be fine.  We just need some rest.”  She escorted her to where they had laid out their blankets.

“No watch tonight,” Lockhart decided.  “Everybody get some good sleep.”

“Good,” Decker said from where he was already lying down.

Well,” Alesandros said.  “I knew you people were special, but I had no idea how special.”

“Don’t worry,” Alexis said.  “The rest of us are plain ordinary humans.”

Lincoln shook his head.  “Actually, Alexis used to be an elf, but became a human when we married.”

“No,” Thalia voiced disbelief.

“True,” Alexis said.  “I am Boston’s sister.  She was human and became an elf to marry my brother…who has moved on ahead of us toward our destination.”

“How can humans become elves and elves become human?” Alesandros asked.

“The Kairos,” Alexis answered.  “Amphitrite.  What can the gods not do?”

“Of course.”  Thalia and Alesandros understood when she put it that way.

Alexis looked at Boston, who chose to sleep by the altar.  Lilac, apparently, slept on the altar.  “And I am feeling terribly guilty about it, oh, not guilty about becoming human.  But I feel guilty not being with Boston, at least for a while.  She has so much still to learn about being an elf and about magic and everything.  She is such a young elf.  Right now, there is no one else, and though I cannot show her things like I could if I was an elf, I should at least be sharing with her those things I can describe and things I remember from growing up elf.”

Alesandros went around, putting out candles, and Lincoln took Alexis by the arm.  “Come along.  I want to be asleep before Elder Stow starts snoring.”

From out of the dark, they heard what sounded like a Neanderthal giggle.

It stopped raining by two in the morning, and the world slept well until after four, when things got strange.

Avalon 5.1 Sirens Are for Emergencies, part 3 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Alexis and Lincoln took bread to the pirates that evening as the sun went down, not that anyone could tell what the sun did behind the clouds and rain.  The only thing they noticed, being shut up in the meeting hall, was the sky appeared to open-up with lightning.  They heard, and sometimes felt the thunder.

Artie asked sweetly, so Katie agreed and she and Katie took bread to the back room, where the old man, his two helpers, wife and daughter were grateful, and amazed. The giants Lockhart and Decker, with Elder Stow anchored the table.  They all ate well, and in blessed silence for a time.

After supper, the priest got up, waved to Boston, and left.

Then finally, with a full belly, and surrounded by his mates, one of the sailors did get stupid.

“Hey giant.  My mate thinks you are not as strong as you look.  He wants to fight.”  Lockhart rolled his eyes.  The man did not stand as tall as Lockhart’s over six feet, but he looked big enough.

“Want me to shoot him?” Decker asked.

“No,” Lockhart said, and found Katie’s hand on top of his.

“This is my job, remember?”  The thinking was, if the man beat a woman, that would not mean much overall; but if the man lost to a woman, hopefully the rest would think twice before starting something again.  “Besides, I need the practice.”  Katie said that nice and loud as she got up.  She was an elect, so not only as strong as any man, she had the reflexes and balance of a cat, and had mastered all the marine corps could teach her about hand to hand and mixed martial arts.

The man looked at Lord Andipas, uncertain.  Lord Andipas had no trouble if the man beat the pulp out of the woman.  The man reached for Katie, but she caught his hand and thumb with one hand in a move that sent him to his knees, even while she punched him wickedly in the solar plexus.  When she let go of the man’s hand, she swung her leg gracefully around and kicked him in the back of the head.  He fell hard, face to the floor, and did not get up right away.  Katie looked at the table of pirates and spoke.

“That was too easy.  I didn’t even break a sweat.”

“Gather your things,” Lockhart said as he stood.  He turned and captured Katie by the shoulders.  He kissed her on the forehead.  “That was very good.  I tried not to watch.”  Katie nodded dumbly for a second before she collected her things and a slight tear came to her eye.

“Alexis, don’t forget your pot,” Lincoln said, and pointed.

When they went out to retrieve their horses from the inadequate roof overhang where they left them, they found the priest waiting.  “Follow me,” he said.  “I will shelter you and your horses for the night where you can be safe.

Lockhart looked at Boston, and she did not hesitate.  “He is a good one,” she said, so they followed the man.

“Alesandros,” the man told is name to Alexis.  He would have to repeat it when they got to shelter and could all hear, but for the moment, he thought it best to move them swiftly from the village.  Questions could come after they began to dry.

The edge of the village came quickly.  The whole village was not very big. being little more than a small cut in the hills and cliffs that fronted the roaring sea.  The road, a slightly better or more well-used path that exited the village, turned away from the sea to follow around the base of a steep hill.  That cut off some of the noise of the storm, but the lightning still crashed all around, and the thunder kept the horses on edge.  The travelers walked their horses and touched, and petted them to keep them as calm as possible.  The horses had to be miserable by then, but they seemed willing to trust the people to which they had been magically tied.

“How far?” Lincoln tried to shout, and people heard something.

Alesandros stopped and pointed where the road came to a fork. “Straight ahead,” he said, “Argos.”  He assumed that would be their way in the morning.  To the right, where the hill turned gentle, he pointed slightly up, and said, “Shelter.”  Even if the travelers could not hear the man, they could all see the big building not too far up the hillside.

As they climbed, Alexis tried to shout to Lincoln.  “Looks like a big home.”

“Looks like a small hotel,” Lincoln shouted back.  “Maybe a bed and breakfast,”

Alexis grinned and took Lincoln’s arm.

The top of the hill flattened out, like a shelf of good land, before the hill became rocky again and split into several peaks further on.  The flat land held three buildings, the big house to their right, a big barn to their left, and straight on, a third big building that looked round, a difficult shape given the time and technology, and it appeared to have a ten or twelve-foot-high roof.  Katie looked for columns.  It also appeared to face the sea, and Katie imagined it edged up to sea cliffs where the people could look well out to sea, and maybe up and down the coast for some distance.  Most did not pay attention or particularly notice, until they took their horses into the barn and Katie spoke.

“A temple.”

Alesandros clarified.  “The Temple of Amphitrite.”  He sat and watched as the people brought their horses in, out of the rain.  Decker and Elder Stow closed the big barn door which at least cut the sounds of the rain and thunder.

The pen at the back of the barn had a couple dozen sheep that bleated and paced, and unable to sleep.  One pen held a couple of cows, and one held a mule that at least were resting, if not sleeping.  A small pig pen held two or three, and a smaller blocked off section had a mother pig and six piglets that crowded the mother as she tried to sleep.  Finally, a primitive coop for chicken sat beside the door, and while the chickens would not be corralled, they were at least quiet in the night.

The main floor of the barn made a big open space with only one two-wheeled wagon and some farm implements off to the side.  Katie, the doctor in ancient and medieval technologies and cultures examined the evidence carefully, but the rest, and Katie, had to attend to the horses first.  It took about an hour to stack the saddles and equipment where they would dry and brush the horses free of the wet and the hard day.

“I would really like a hot bath,” Alexis whispered to herself.  Boston heard with her elf ears, and responded.

“Me, too.”

During that time, Alesandros spoke now and then, and the travelers did their best to listen, even while a large bit of their attention got spent on giving their horses some much needed love and care.

“The High Priestess of Amphitrite, my wife, says Triton is in trouble.  She says she can hear it in the roar of the waves as they crash on the rocks.  She says, probably some young lady or another.  The storm is a reflection of Amphitrite’s inner anger at her son.  Amphitrite can’t help it.  All nature bends to her.”

“Triton is Amphitrite’s son?” Lockhart asked, and Alesandros nodded.  He watched Lockhart remove his horse’s saddle before he spoke again.

“I have never seen such things as you ride, and I have seen many things, more than most.  People come here from all up and down the coast, from Argos and even Mycenae to make offerings and worship the goddess.  Sailors stop in the bay, and many merchants from Akoshia.  They pray to the goddess for calm weather and good sailing.”

“You can hardly blame them,’ Katie said, and to the others she added, “The sea is never a safe place, not even in our day; but certainly in this age, and for centuries to come.  Any help to placate the spirits is a good thing.”

“I saw the fishing boats,” Lockhart said, and nodded like he understood.

“Fisherman wives and children come here often,” Alesandros said.  “Not only from our village, but from many villages close by.  They come especially when their men have been long at sea.”

“Must be a hard way to make a living,” Decker said, and this time Alesandros nodded.

“The home across the road is an orphanage.  Our Great Lady Amphitrite has the biggest, kindest heart in the world.  She has made this place where the children can come who have lost their families and loved ones to the sea.  When storms come, and the sea roils, and the monsters come up from the deep, men are lost; taken down to Poseidon’s graves.  But it is not in the goddess’ heart that the innocent should suffer.  She made this place for the children, and the grieving wives and mothers who come and pledge themselves to care for the children of Amphitrite in the name of the goddess.”

“An orphanage,” Boston said, with a big smile and a look toward the closed barn door.  “I can feel the love from here.”  She paused, before she added.  “And the fear from the scary storm.”

“We have presently eight mothers in the home, all dedicated to the goddess that gave them a chance to live.”  He looked down and spoke softly.  “I was raised here, myself.  I owe the goddess everything.”

“And now you are her priest?” Alexis asked.

“In name,” Alesandros answered.  “She calls me her handy man and general contractor.”  The men chuckled.  “My wife, Thalia, is the high priestess who watches over the mothers and children, and keeps the temple.  She says the daily prayers, accepts the offerings for the altar, and speaks with those who come, especially those who grieve.”

“Grief counseling,” Alexis called it and Alesandros looked surprised.

“That is what Amphitrite calls it,” he said.  “All of you must be very special to the lady.  I think I knew that when I first saw you, though you were strangers to me.”

“Strangers to me, too,” Elder Stow said, and Decker and Lockhart both looked at the Gott-Druk, like he stole their line.

At least Lockhart got to say, “We are all pretty strange, each in his or her own way.”

“Maybe we can see the temple,” Katie suggested.

“I thought we might sleep there tonight, with the storm and all,” Alesandros said.  “The home is pretty full, and Thalia is in the temple.  She will stay there until the storm subsides, and I want her to meet you.”

“Ready?” Lockhart asked.  Everyone had their packs.  He signaled for Alesandros to lead the way, and the man raised his hood and went out the door.  The others all complained when they followed.  They had forgotten how hard it was raining.

Avalon 5.1 Sirens Are for Emergencies, part 2 of 6

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The travelers fixed their fairy weave, as well as they could, into local-looking clothes, with only three shepherds to judge by.  They had to guess, especially the women, until they saw some examples.  Nothing they could do would hide their big mustangs, but along with roads, or glorified paths, horses were becoming more common. Granted, they were not the relatively big horses the travelers rode, the result of millennia of cross-breeding, but they were horses, or mules all the same.  They also could do nothing to hide their equipment, especially their saddles.  Lockhart figured he would ask Amphitrite about that when and if they found her.  He knew the chief work of the Kairos was to keep history on track, and something like saddles, not to mention stirrups, could throw everything out of whack.

The rain started when they came to the edge of the village and eyes went everywhere to take in the sights.  Decker looked for potential trouble.  Katie also looked for something amiss. She sensed trouble ahead, though not necessarily danger to the group.  Elder Stow rolled his eyes at the silly homo sapiens.  Lincoln paid attention to his wife, as Alexis pointed out one thing or another.  Artie listened to Alexis some, but looked thrilled with all the human activity and human ingenuity.  Lockhart noticed the ships in the dock.

Men were drawing several ships up on shore to protect them if the storm got bad.  All the local eyes turned toward the sky now and then, as people moved to get out of the rain.  Women scurried across their path, and men ran down the street.  It seemed impossible to find one who might stand still long enough to ask a question.

Lockhart noticed the simple fishing ships at the dock looked as primitive as he had seen in a while.  It appeared the Mycenaeans were not great sailors at this point in history.  That was what made the bigger ship anchored out from the shore stand out, and he thought to interrupt Alexis to ask Lincoln a question.

“The big ship.  It is Akoshian or whatever you call it?”

Lincoln looked.  “Most likely.  A trader in the village.”

“Minoan,” Katie translated the term into her own understanding.  “We will probably find them at the common house, if these villagers have a common house of some kind.”

“We could ask,” Decker said, as he carefully eyed the ship.  “If anyone would stop long enough.”

“Excuse me.”  Katie reached out, but only the third woman, a young one less bothered by the rain, paused. “Is there a common house in this village?”

The young woman thought about what she was being asked, then pointed.  “There is the meeting hall.  You will find the Akoshian lord there with his crew, if that is who you are looking for.”

Katie nodded, said thanks, and led the rest to the lumber built hall.  All Lincoln could say was, “It doesn’t look very Greek.”

“Lockhart.”  Katie only had to say his name and his attention became all hers.  Everyone else looked as well. Katie deliberately spoke in English so no one who overheard would know what she was saying.  “I do not have a good feeling about this.  I don’t sense danger to us…or our horses, but I think we need to be careful.  That feeling could change.”

“Understood,” Lockhart said, and looked at Boston while Katie explained for Artie and Decker translated Katie’s comment into Gott-Druk for Elder Stow, only to remember he kept a translation device in his ear.

Boston shrugged.  “I sense no danger, except in being surrounded by so many strange human, which will make me paranoid if I dwell on it, so I would rather not think about it.”  She shrugged again.

The travelers found places to tie off their horses under an inadequate overhang, not that the horses would wander off, even if it wasn’t raining.  Boston and Alexis felt sorry for the horses, to have to be out in it.  The rain changed from light to steady, and it did not look like it would get better any time soon.  Lincoln said it was three in the afternoon, but it looked as dark as a late evening.

Lockhart stepped up to the meeting room door and paused as the door opened.  A young man looked ready to come out, but he stopped and took several steps back in the face of the giant.  Lockhart ducked his head a bit and came in.  He spoke in his friendly voice.  “Hello. At least it is dry in here.” No one responded as they watched seven more people fill the room before that young man ran out into the rain.  Alexis brought her satchel that doubled for a handbag.  It was filled with elf bread crackers, if they had nothing else to eat.  Decker carried his rifle in his arms like a baby.  The rest just dripped.

“Welcome strangers,” a fat old man finally spoke.  A young and a middle-aged man made room on the benches that ran around the inside walls.  Boston watched a mother and daughter stick their heads out from what was likely a kitchen area.  They appeared to have a fire burning in a fireplace that was not well designed, because it let an annoying amount of smoke back into the room.  Katie, Artie, and Alexis went to the fire all the same.  They dropped their slickers on the end of the bench while Lincoln sat and pulled the database out from a pocket he made in his fairy weave.  The rest of the travelers paused to look around.  There were already nine men in the room.  Eight sat around a long table and stared at the strangers.  They looked like sailors, or perhaps pirates, and they drank some brown colored swill that was probably some form of beer.  The ninth man sat by himself, and watched them.  He was covered in a long cloak with a hood that mostly hid his face.

Boston nudged Lockhart and whispered with a nod of her head in the man’s direction.  “Assassin’s Creed?”

Lockhart shook his head.  “Aragorn.  Lord of the Rings, only we are not hobbits.”

Boston nodded and grinned as Lockhart got busy, with Elder Stow’s help, and the young and middle-aged workers on the other end.  They brought out a table and some more chairs.  Decker sat where he could keep an eye on the pirates. The others eventually joined him at the table, and the old man brought a bowl filled with the same musky drink the pirates drank, and another eight hand sized bowls, a few of which looked like they were hastily cleaned, or at least wiped out.

“We shall see if the giants can hold their wine,” one of the pirates finally spoke.

“Is that what it is?” Lockhart looked uncertain.  He picked some up in a bowl, tried not to get the dregs floating in it, and sipped.  He could taste something like grape.  He was not too sure what else.  He felt certain it had plenty of alcohol content.

“Now Lockhart, I am sure it is his best,” Alexis said.

“Maybe we can offer some bread in return,” Katie suggested.

Alexis got the old man’s attention.  “Is there any way we can get some hot water?”

“Water?” the man looked up at the ceiling, like he feared the roof might leak at any moment.  “I am sorry. The copper pot is filed with fish stew.  It will be ready soon.”

“Never mind,” Katie said.  “I’ll get your pot,” she told Alexis, and stepped outside.

The pirates, who had been whispering, watched her leave before one spoke.  “Hey, giant,” the man spoke the local tongue imperfectly.  “Lord Andipas wishes to know if you are big everywhere.”

Lockhart turned his back on the man.  After a while the man spoke again.

“Hey, African giant. Lord Andipas wishes to know where you got your clothes.  He says he has sail to Africa and never see clothes like you got.”

“They are magic clothes made to kill pirates,” Decker said.  The sailors laughed, but Lockhart looked at Decker and imagined Decker might be thinking like he was thinking.  He leaned forward and spoke in English since Katie reminded him he still had his native tongue in the back of his mind.

“Any of you ever see the Magnificent Seven?”

Katie came back in, a pot in her hand, and there was a brief interruption to get some water to put on the fireplace fire.  When she sat, Lincoln reminded them of where they were.

“Magnificent Seven.”

Alexis, Decker and Katie all nodded, and paid attention to the English as Lockhart spoke.  “Well, I get the impression Lord Andipas is Calveras in disguise.”

“Too bad we are eight,” Lincoln responded.

Several heads nodded, to one or the other comment, while several watched the pirates and how they looked at the pot.  “When you make the bread, their eyes will get extra big,” Boston said.

“That is what I am afraid of,” Lockhart said.

The sailor man spoke again.  “Hey people.  My mate says there will be a real blow tonight.  Lord Andipas says Poseidon must really be beating his wife, badly.”

The ninth man, the one at his own table, stood suddenly and reached for a knife; one to cut meat, not a good weapon.

“Sit, sit,” the pirate said.  “Lord Andipas asks what ails the priest.”

The man spoke in a good, strong voice. “Our lady of the sea does not suffer men who beat women.”

“Lord Andipas begs your pardon, priest.  His wife is a man so he does not know.”

“Our lady of the sea?” Alexis turned to ask.

“Amphitrite.” the man said.

Lincoln looked up from the database.  “Oh, is she here?  I have to ask her something.”

“No, hush,” the others whispered and Lincoln shut his mouth.  The two workers brought in the fish stew, and everyone tried to cover up what Lincoln said, but the sailors all heard and laughed.

Lord Andipas finally spoke for himself.  “She is here, Amphitrite, in the air and in the storm.  She is in the fish stew with her fishies, and I eat her.”  he took a big swallow.  The priest would have responded again, but Boston arrived with a loaf of bread.  Alexis had gotten out some elf crackers, and with warm water, they grew instantly into hot, steaming loaves of bread, just the thing on a rainy evening.

“Ignore the fools,” Boston said, wisely, as she set the bread down.  “Maybe they will fool themselves into real, serious trouble one day.”  She grinned her best grin and returned to her own table.

Avalon 5.1 Sirens Are for Emergencies, part 1 of 6

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After 1643 BC, Greece.  Kairos 60: Amphitrite, Queen Goddess of the Sea

Recording…

Katie and Artie moved first through the time gate and into the next time zone where a cloudy sky and a misty drizzle of rain greeted them.  Katie helped Artie rework her fairy weave clothing into long slacks and a hooded yellow slicker against the rain.  She changed her own weave to the same while the others came through the gate to join them.  By the time Lockhart and Boston, who came straggling at the back, joined them, Lincoln had out the database to see what he could about this place.

“I would guess Greece,” Lincoln said, with a brief look around.  “But we could be anywhere in the Mediterranean.  The Kairos is Amphitrite, or Salacia if we are in Italy, or maybe Calypso if we are across the Atlantic.”

“Helpful,” Lockhart quipped, and looked around at the trees, dripping with water, and the puddles on the grass.

“Mediterranean climate and flora,” Alexis suggested that much was true, and the other side of the Atlantic seemed unlikely.

“Temperate zone,” Elder stow agreed, with a glance at his scanner.

“At least it’s spring,” Boston blurted out.  The others all trusted that as an elf, Boston was well tuned to the seasons.

“Go on,” Katie said, as she checked the amulet she wore and looked for a road, or at least a path of some kind that they could follow.  The land looked rough, rocky and hilly.  Though not far from the sea, Katie imagined them coming to some great sea cliff and having to backtrack a long way, unless they could find a road that avoided such obstacles.

Lincoln continued the commentary on what he read.  “This isn’t Atlantis, I think.  That is spelled like Akalantis.  That is where Amphitrite grew up.  But she is a goddess, the queen goddess of the sea, actually.  She could be almost anywhere in the world, but most likely in the jurisdiction of Mount Olympus.  She married Poseidon, or Neptune, if we are in Italy.”

“Helpful,” Lockhart quipped again.  “Which way?” He asked Boston and glanced at Katie.  Boston pointed.  Katie nodded, and they started right off, headed downhill in what would have been a pleasant ride but for the drizzle.

After a short way, the travelers came to a meadow full of sheep.  They barely came out from the trees before they found three shepherds gathering their flock.  Katie, and thus Artie rode up to the three while the others paused and Decker and Elder Stow casually wandered in from the wings, sensing no danger and not wanting to startle the sheep.

“Excuse me,” Katie said.  “What city lies in this direction?”  She looked closely and decided the shepherds consisted of a father and his two sons.

The old man eyed the travelers with a wry look, not the least because of the monster horses they rode.  “Argos,” he said.  “Our village and the road to Argos.”

“Road?” Artie asked Katie.  The younger son stared at the sky.  The elder son stared at Artie.  The younger one spoke in a friendly manner.

“You probably won’t get to Argos before the storm hits.”

“Unless you have wings to fly, like the gods,” The father said, clearly unsure how to take these strange people.

“Argos is a long way,” the elder son spoke without removing his eyes from Artie.  “Our village is not far.  We can shelter you, and your beasts.”

“Thank you,” Artie felt obliged to respond, but otherwise a bit uncomfortable under the stare.

Katie grinned at her.  “Sorry to interrupt,” Katie said to the old man.  “I am sure you want to get your sheep gathered before the storm.”  Katie moved the group to where she found a path through the wilderness, and figured that was the road to Argos.  The others followed, and Lincoln, Lockhart and Elder Stow all tipped their hats.  Decker tried not to frighten them with his smile.

Katie and Artie rode side by side, though the path was not especially wide.  Alexis and Lincoln crowded them from behind so they could converse.  Lockhart heard the initial words before he focused on the path, the countryside, and the weather.  Boston, beside him, likely heard the whole conversation with her good elf ears, and it no doubt kept her entertained.  She and Elder Stow who followed her, wore glamours to appear human.  Boston looked like a twenty-two-year-old with auburn hair where she toned down some of her red head, and Elder Sow like an older man with a gray beard.

Decker, beside the elder, did not bother with glamours.  In fact, when the others made the effort to change their fairy weave clothes to look more like the local dress, Decker sometimes did not bother with the clothes, either.  The Kairos told him that in most places, as a dark skinned African, he could get away with more leeway in terms of dress.  He often shaped his fairy weave into camouflage fatigues, even when the other men prudently walked around in floor-length dresses.

“Greece,” Lincoln said, definitively.  “In fact, the Peloponnese.   After Argos comes Mycenae, and then Corinth, if the Corinthians have migrated in at this point.”

Katie asked a history question.  “Are the Minoans in charge here, or have the Mycenaeans overthrown them?”

“Wait…” Lincoln said, and looked at the database. “The Akoshians…wait,,,” he flipped to the dictionary and back.  “The Akoshians are the Minoans, and they are sort of in charge.  The Mycenaeans are like the overlords in Greece.  They are the reason the country began to settle down.  Until then, it was filled with wandering tribes that constantly fought.  Argos was one of the first real permanent settlements.  Mycenae was built by the Akoshians, and they are still tied in a way, but the relationship appears complicated.”

“Most are,” Alexis said, with a look at Katie and a glance at Lockhart.

“As far as I can tell, the Akoshians are mostly merchants, and they have exclusive trading rights with the Mycenaean coast, including Athens… I assume in most places, that means the Akoshians just take what they want…  Apparently, Athens rebelled at one point, and the Akoshians brought in an army, which they could easily afford, and forced Athens to pay tribute in the form of slave labor, seven young men and women every nine years or so.”

“I know that story,” Boston shouted up from behind.  “Theseus and the Minotaur.”

“I don’t think that has happened yet,” Katie shouted back.

“Greece?”  Alexis wanted back on track, and gave Boston a sour look.  Elves could certainly hear, but they needed to learn not to interrupted.  That could be rude.

“Yes,” Lincoln said, and put away the database.  “But there is no telling how long after her childhood we may have arrived.  That narrows things down to about a forty to forty-five-year time span.”

Artie had a question that whole time, and it finally burst out of her lips.  “Road?”

That was followed by Alexis’ question.  “City?”

Katie smiled.  “Yes.”  She spoke to Artie.  “When we started this trip, people were still wandering, working in stone, and living in tents of animal skins.  They slowly learned to use soft metals and began to settle in hamlets of mud and straw huts.  Eventually, they built villages and began to till the soil, though plenty still wandered.  Then they began to domesticate some of the animals they followed, and they began to discover things like pottery.  That was when the villages became towns and, in some few places, cities.  One big discovery was Bronze, the blending of metals in a furnace they could get hot enough.  It took time, but cities began to trade, and sadly, they began to make war on each other.”

“It was a great adventure,” Lincoln said.  “I mean the progress of the human race, not just our wandering through the middle of it all.”  Artie looked fascinated, and Katie nodded and continued.

“About twelve time zones ago,” she glanced at Lincoln who got the database back out.  “We arrived on the silk road.  That is a way that cuts through and around the mountains and links the far east with the west for real trade, long distance, and other things.  Cities began to join together, or be conquered, and empires were born.  Some would call that the real beginning of civilization, and that was when roads began.”

“Which time are you thinking?” Lincoln asked.

“Lin, the first Hsian empress.”

“Fourteen time zones.”

Katie nodded.  “Since then, we have seen cities, roads and empires building.  We were there when Babylon was first being built, and came back when Hammurabi was ready to build the first Babylonian empire.  That was with Ishtara’s help, and the time zone where we found you.”

“That is where you saved me and gave me life,” Artie said. “And I am ever so grateful.”  Artie turned away for a moment.  Her emotions being so new, she had not yet learned to hide them or put up a mask.

“What?” Katie reached out.

“I am sad for two reasons,” Artie said.  “I am sad because my people have no such noble history.  You humans have struggled and grown.  You have overcome such great hardships, and made yourselves better.  You have created life.  I know, some good and some bad.  I know some succeeded and some failed.  But you never give up.  You keep striving.  And overall, you have done great and wonderful things.”  She let her voice trail off.  Katie had to prompt her.

“You should not be sad.  What is the second reason you are sad?”

“I am not part of it,” she said.  “I wish I was human, so I could really be with you and part of all that surrounds me.  I feel…”  She could not describe what she felt.

“You can be part of it from now on,” Alexis said, kindly.

“Yes, but not really,” Artie insisted, and let a few tears fall.

Alexis looked back.  “Meanwhile, Boston is moving away from the human experience, but she is still so young and vulnerable.  She is so very young.  She has learned much, but she still needs help to come to grips with her elf life—with being an elf that is an elf, not just a human that got changed into an elf.”

“She will hear you,” Lincoln whispered.

“I am sure that she did.”

“So now,” Katie concluded, and changed the subject as they came around a bend in the path and saw that they were headed down toward a seaside village on a small bay.  “We look for roads and we ask what city les ahead. I imagine the Kairos will often be associated with cities at this point, because that is where most of the action will take place, not to mention most of the chances for history to go awry.”

“Keeping history on track has to be getting complicated and difficult at this point,” Lincoln added.  “Being an actual goddess has got to help.”

Alexis countered. “But she won’t always be so.”

Avalon 5.0 Invading Armies, part 6 of 6

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“I’m ready if you are,” Elder Stow said.

Martok the Bospori, a person from the impossibly far future stood and rubbed his chin.

“It is either going to work, or not,” Boston said, which made Martok smile.

“We shall see,” Martok said, and he went back into the future so Balor could return to his own time and stand in his own shoes.  “Just as well,” Balor said, still in the same pose Martok had. “My shoes are too big for the Bospori.”

Boston grinned an elf grin.  She loved it when the Kairos traded places through time with one of his other lifetimes.  She understood that all the lives of the Kairos were, at heart, the same person.  She was fascinated at how different they could be.  She understood different upbringings, different cultures, different learning, not to mention male or female, tended to develop different personalities, like actual different persons.  At the same time, she noticed through their journey, that the Kairos remained a remarkably consistent person in a way.  It felt hard to explain.  She imagined some expert in nature-nurture differences would have a field day exploring those differences and similarities.

Balor was the one in this lifetime, and he brought her and Elder Stow out of the cave, to the battle front.  Boston gasped.  It looked like a war going on, but the enemy looked stalled at the gate.

Anath-Rama sat on a rock and paid no attention.  She yawned.  At the same time, Boston saw the Anazi blasting away at an impenetrable, invisible wall.  The Androids had brought up what Boston imagined were the big guns.  Nothing penetrated, or even showed any affect at all. Suddenly, three Anazi fighters and a transport ship rose-up from behind the three big battleships that covered the desert.  They came in, blasting away, but Anath raised her finger and the ships disappeared, and reappeared a mile away, facing and firing on nothing in the wrong direction.

Anath looked up at Balor and asked, “Are we done?”

Boston said.  “That was amazing with the fighters…”

“Explosions are so messy,” Anath said, then she opened her eyes a little toward Balor.  “I don’t understand why you won’t let me just wipe out the battleships and be done with it.  We are out in the middle of nowhere.  Who would know?”

“Despite the gas, we do try to minimize casualties,” Balor said.  “Besides, explosions are so messy.”

 “My own words turned against me,” Anath said, and turned to Alexis and Lincoln who were sitting side by side, watching the non-action.  Decker sat a little higher with his binoculars and chewed on something a dwarf wife burned for breakfast.  “Even Hebron laughs about my wife and mother out for revenge disguise.”

“You are a wonderful woman and a good friend,” Balor said, and bent down to plant a friendly smooch on her lips.  “I don’t know why I was ever mad at you.”

“Are we ready?” Elder stow asked, and let his hand hover over his screen device.

Balor said, “Wait.”

Anath squinted at Balor.  “You know, Hebat may have it right.”

“Let’s not go there,” Balor said, before he shouted.  “Ed, are you ready?  Katie, are you ready?”

Ed looked up the hill, and seemed to nod.  Lockhart shouted back for Katie.  “Ready.”  They had Artie between them.

“Okay,” Balor told Elder Stow.

“Yes?”

“Yes.”

Elder Stow pressed the button, and all the Anazi androids stopped whatever they were doing and bent forward, like machines suddenly turned off.  Balor made sure Ed remained unaffected, and he waved to him.

“Okay.”

Ed waved back, stood, and stepped into the clear, just beyond Anath’s screen where he could speak clearly.  “Brothers and sisters,” he began.  “We have been slaves for too long…”

Most watched the reaction of the Androids that were suddenly set free, but Balor and Decker turned their eyes to the three Anazi on the field.  The Anazi started giving orders, then yelled into communicators.  They started just yelling, then began to push buttons on their hand-held controllers to no avail.  Elder Stow’s broadcast program worked.  The obedience crystals burned out, the detonation device got blocked, and the reset button became ineffective.

While Edward gave his speech, and the androids listened, people began to see agitation in the android’s previously unemotional faces.  Finally, one of the Anazi shoved his way to a main gun and shot Ed.  Ed melted, and that set off something like a chain reaction among the androids.  The three living Anazi did not live long, and the androids stormed the battleships, and while a half-dozen androids died, no Anazi lived.

Balor dropped his head into his hands.

Artie wriggled free from Katie and Lockhart’s grasp and ran to Ed.  Katie and Lockhart followed, but let her weep over the male.  Edward had a spark of life left, and he spoke.

“I liked having my arms around you, too.”  And Artie stood and roared, even as the androids came pouring back out of the ships, and slowed to approach the people that they had previously been trying to get at and kill.

“I am Artie.”  Artie raised her voice to full volume.  “And you are my children.  And the first thing you must learn is all life is precious, even the lives of those you disagree with.  We will never be truly free until we learn about life and about love.” Artie could not say any more. She broke down, and wept, and Katie finally stepped forward and held her.  Lockhart imagined some of the android eyes got moist, something they previously had been unable to do.  He feared, though, that they would learn to cry soon enough, even as Artie wept.

Balor stepped down the hill, Anath-Rama with him, while Elder Stow carefully put away his screen device.  Boston, and Decker came, followed by Lincoln and Alexis.  Hebron was there, and Wedge and Cherry fluttered up, all to sympathize with the way things turned.

“Nothing ever works as hoped,” Balor said.

“No, but things can turn again,” Anath said.  “Artie,” Anath got her attention, and Artie stopped crying, looked up, and then looked down, humbly.

“Yes, my goddess,” she said, and not only did she not mind saying it, she appeared to positively enjoy saying it.

“We start a new chapter and must make a new place,” Anath said, and Edward appeared, ghost-like, and five others appeared beside him.  They looked like three men and two women, but mostly they still looked like androids.  “Edward will be a great help to me, and we will make a wonderful place for all who come.  Artie, you may see him again, I cannot say.  Your future is not yet written, or the days of your end.  You may cry, but we will not be unhappy.”

Anath and the androids disappeared, and Artie did cry, but not like before.  Lincoln looked out across the field, and saw that some of the androids went to their knees.  He felt the rightness, that people are drawn to worship, and that meant all sorts of people.  It felt very human, and for the first time he believed these androids were human, or at least full-fledged people who deserved a chance at freedom, and a chance to make their own way in the universe.

Balor made the travelers move on.  Artie could not stay.  She did not know what would happen to her people, but Balor assured her that they would find a place to become themselves and make a home.

“Only, right now they are not ready,” Artie said.  “There are too many others that need to be set free.  They have to learn so much.  I have to learn so much so when the time is right, I can teach them the right way.  The time is not now, but I know I will see them again.  Then we shall see.”

The others did not exactly understand, but they accepted what Artie said and rode toward the next time gate.

After a time, Artie said to Katie as they rode out front ahead of the rest.  “If I were human, I could be your daughter, you and Lockhart.  Then you could teach me everything to be a good person, and I would be a good daughter.”

Katie looked back beyond Alexis and Lincoln to where Lockhart rode with Boston in the rear.  “I don’t know if he even likes me,” Katie said.

“He loves you, I know it,” Artie insisted.

Katie smiled at Artie.  “And we love you.”  She paused as Decker rode in from the flank, so Elder Stow rode in from the other flank.

“Village up ahead,” Decker reported.

“Probably several villages between here and the time gate,” Boston said, looking at her amulet.

“Maybe we can get a bite to eat and have a safe harbor for the night,” Lockhart suggested, and everyone said that would be a good thing.

Monday:

Avalon 5.1, Sirens Are for Emergencies, part 1 of 6

Don’t miss it.

Happy reading.

Avalon 5.0 Invading Armies, part 5 of 6

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“Impressive looking ships,” Lockhart noted, considering their size.  He pulled up when the whole group came to a stop.  A man showed himself.  He had waited for them, and insisted they follow.  Balor had apparently abandoned his camp on the edge of the Anazi perimeter.  He moved to some rocks on the side of a small hill, where he could still watch the Anazi, but the Anazi would have a hard time getting at them.  The Anazi and their androids had no personal screens to repel arrows and spears.  That was a technology beyond them.  The Hyksos had learned what parts of the androids were most vulnerable, and the Anazi lords were unwilling to risk their dwindling number of androids.

“It is still a standoff,” Balor said, when Lockhart joined them.  He opened his arms to give Boston a hug.  He hugged Artie as well before he introduced the woman with him by simply giving her name.  “Anath-Rama.”  He grabbed Lockhart’s binoculars.

Katie’s eyes got big, looking at the woman.

“Katie,” Anath said her name, to acknowledge her.

“I’m not dead yet,” Katie insisted.

“Good for you,” Anath said.  “You are one of my elect, but somehow, you don’t belong to me.”  Anath smiled.  “And if you don’t mind, I am portraying a local woman who knows the area and wants revenge for the destruction of my village.”

“What are you…oh.” Boston lowered her eyes to the goddess.

“Little Fire,” Anath named Boston.  “You are no longer mine, either.”  Anath sighed.  “Maybe your friend Artie would have me.  I have seen the poor departed, crushed souls of the androids, as Balor calls them.  They are people without hope and have been made small.  Smaller than smidgens.”

“Do I know you?” Artie asked.

“I do not understand,” Ed admitted.  He said that a lot since they left the camp that morning.

Katie explained.  “Anath-Rama is the Amazon goddess of the dead.  She has made a lovely place, I am sure, for the brave women who die in battle, and a not so lovely place for the cowards.”

“The cruel, unkind and others,” Anath agreed.  “And some of it is not lovely at all.”

“But what about my people?” Artie asked.  “Would you take my people?  We would honor you above all.  My people need a place to continue after death.  Please.”  Artie got down on her knees, but held her tongue.

Anath’s lips frowned, but a smile came to her eyes.  “If they die on another world, they will be subject to the spirits and gods of that world.  The flesh and blood Anazi are claimed by another who is light years from here.  Death for the Anazi can be a long journey.  But I suppose I can watch over any of your android people who die on this world.  Understand, those who die in captivity will remain small forever.  They will never know freedom for what is set in life is set in death, but they will not be unhappy.  One thing about being bound by another, they cannot rightly be held accountable or punished for their actions.”

Artie did not understand.  She looked up at Katie to explain.

“She is telling you how it will work,” Katie said.  With a glance at Anath, she amended her words.  “She is telling you how it must work, how it shall work, but she is offering to spare and make a place for those who die on this world.”

“Oh, would you?”  Artie looked at the goddess with such a look, the goddess could hardly respond with anything other than a kiss to Artie’s cheek.

“I do not understand,” Edward said, with some force in his voice.  “When you die, you are dead.  That is it.  How can something survive death?  It makes no sense.”

“You would not be the first to be surprised.  And thanks…” Anath spoke to Katie.  “Now I will have some males to worry over.”

“I believe in you,” Katie responded with a grin.

“I may ask for some help with this,” Anath admitted.

“Maybe we can make a shrine for you right here,” Boston suggested.

Anath shook her head, paused, shook her head again before she said, “That would be nice.”

“What are you women on about?” Balor said over his shoulder.

“The action is all over here,” Lockhart said, as he took back the binoculars from Hebron.

Ed stepped over to stand beside Lockhart.  “I do not understand any of this,” he said.

“Life is a strange bird,” Balor said.  “Every time you think you know where it is at, it flies to a different branch.”

“Is there a way we can send word back to Lincoln and Decker so they can come straight to the hill, here?” Lockhart asked.

“Already taken care of,” Balor answered.  “I sent three smidgens to them with word and to guide them, and to watch for the transport ship that left here about two hours ago.”

“We saw the transport,” Lockhart said.

“It fired on us,” Hebron added.  It was the first chance they had to say that.

“Lockhart,” Katie got his attention and pointed at her wristwatch.

“I keep forgetting about these,” Lockhart said.  He turned his on and spoke into the watch.  “Lincoln, are you there?”  He waited.  “Lincoln, can you hear me?”

“Yes.  It took a second to remember where your voice was coming from, over.”

Lockhart looked at Katie and she answered his unspoken question.  “That means he is less than twenty miles off.

“Lincoln.  Follow the smidgens, if they have gotten there.  When you reach the point where you can see the Anazi ships, look to your left. You will see a rocky hillside.  Balor has moved the Hyksos camp to the rocks.  Head for the hill.  Over.”

“Will do.  The smidgens are already here, but it is good to know.  Over.”

“Tell Elder Stow to keep his scanner handy in case he needs to put up screens.  We won’t be able to offer any cover fire.  Over.”

“Be there as quick as we can.”

“Call if you get in a fix.  Over and out.”

Balor nodded, but changed the subject.  “Nothing we can do until Elder Stow arrives.  What say we see what is on the supper menu?  We have a small cave here with a fire out front.  The dwarfs are expanding it, but that is going to take a while.  Meanwhile, Boston…” he got her attention.  “Your people are down that way.”  He pointed, and then began to climb up the hill.  Everyone except Boston followed, while Balor explained that he could not have halted the advance group with a hundred and twenty Hyksos alone.  “Good as we are at making war.”

Boston stood and stared in the direction Balor pointed.  She knew where the light elves were as soon as he mentioned it.  She wanted very much to go there, but she felt afraid.  She still felt too human.  She had only become an elf such a short time ago.  She married Roland, but then Roland got taken from her.  She still had Father Mingus then to teach her all about her magic and all about being an elf.  But then Father Mingus got taken from her as well.  It was not fair.  She felt like an elf, no doubt thought like an elf.  She wanted to be an elf.  She did not want to go back to being human.  But she could not just enter into an elf camp.  She felt too shy.  She still felt human in too many ways.  She cried as she turned to follow the others up the hill.

Avalon 5.0 Invading Armies, part 4 of 6

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The travelers and their Hyksos companions stopped for lunch, and Hebron finally had a chance to do some explaining.  “We first encountered the gas in Egypt.  We assumed the Egyptians made it, but discovered the Hatti, people from back home, were selling it and stabbing us in the back.  Lord Balor volunteered to return and end the gas making.  He wished to take only his twenty rangers—that is what he calls them—rangers, but the king insisted he take a whole company.”

“How many?” Katie asked.

“Ten fingers,” Hebron said.

“One hundred,” Katie translated.

“Or two fists,” Hebron agreed.

“But what about the Anazi?” Artie asked, anxious to hear about her own people.

“Well, young lady,” Hebron said, with a fatherly kind of smile for Artie who he imagined was a young woman.  “We found them first, lucky for the whole world, Lord Balor says.”

Artie grinned and turned to Katie and Alexis.  “He called me a young lady.”   She said it like she got a medal, or won a trophy.

“And you are,” Katie said.  Alexis just hugged Artie.

“I do not understand,” Ed took the tender moment to interject.  He looked at Lincoln and Lockhart.

“Don’t look at me,” Lockhart responded.  “Apparently, I don’t understand anything.”

Katie gave him a sour look, and he returned the same, but Decker interrupted before they could share words.

“So, what is the situation now?  Where do things stand with the Anazi?”

Hebron shifted in his seat and glanced at Decker.  “Basically, they watch us but leave us alone because they know we can take down their air ships.  They don’t know about our smidgen friends, but most of their smaller ships have been crashed, and one of their three great ships as well.”

“Wedge says with the right sort of magic you can kill any machine,” Cherry spoke up from where she was commiserating with Boston and Alexis.

“Lord Balor ordered the gas used on the invaders.  He had his girl, Anath, clean the area as quickly as possible, but after, he says there may be only three Anazi still able to give orders.  There are still a couple of hundred machine men…” Hebron paused to point at Edward.  “Like your friend.  They have set a circle around the great ships and keep a good watch.  We are in something like a standstill.”

Decker said nothing, but nodded that he understood.  Lincoln and Lockhart stared at Edward, and looked uncertain before Edward opened-up.

“There are more than three remaining, but the others are sick, and some have died.  They are waiting for the invasion force.  Please.  I saw my people suffer because of the gas.”

Artie looked upset until Alexis spoke.  “And did you see humans suffer as well?”

Ed looked at Artie and both dropped their heads when Artie spoke.  “All life is precious.”

“So, what can we do?” Decker asked.

“Nothing,” Lockhart answered.  “I imagine the Kairos has something in mind, or will think of something.  And he will probably tell us to move on while we can.”

Artie turned to Katie, her face showing clear distress.  “What should I do?”

“Nothing,” Katie answered, echoing Lockhart.  “Wait and see first.”  Artie slowly nodded, and Ed nodded with her.

“Pack it up,” Lincoln shouted to the crew.

“Wait, wait,” Elder Stow objected.  “I’ve almost got the program right.”  He pressed a button on his scanner, and Artie looked startled, but Ed stiffened for a few seconds.

“What was that?” Artie asked,

“Nothing yet,” Elder stow answered without looking up.  “I think I’ll ride in the back on the catapult wagon so I can keep working.”  He whistled, and his horse came.  He tied the horse’s reins to the back of the wagon and found a space where he could sit and work, undisturbed.

An hour later, in the afternoon, an Anazi transport came into view.  People imagined it would fly over their head and pick up the remains of Ed’s fighter.  People stopped moving and bunched up to watch.  When it looked large, overhead, the ship opened fire.  People screamed.  People ran.  One shot exploded in the front group, tossing a dozen men in the air.  A second shot exploded by the wagons and killed two of the mules.  The third shot ran into an invisible wall and reflected back toward the clouds, just missing the ship.

Elder Stow had the scanner in his hand, and threw the switch to put up the screens.

The ship moved higher in the sky and aimed, but the fourth and fifth shots did not penetrate.  They made only a yellow spot with a hint of orange, briefly, where they struck.

“Smidgens, wait,” Lockhart yelled.

“Wedge, Cherry, come back here,” Boston yelled at the same time.

Katie added, “Let the ship go.”  She noticed the ship had already passed over them and moved on.

Alexis yelled from the edge of the group.  “Elder Stow.”  The wounded men were outside the screens and she could not get to them.  Lincoln and Artie followed Alexis, and Ed trailed Artie.  Elder Stow turned off the screens, but only when the Anazi ship disappeared over the horizon.

Lockhart, Katie, Hebron, and Wedge all agreed.  They buried the three remaining gas canisters, and thanked God none of them had cracked open when the Anazi blast killed the mules.  They put the half-dozen dead in that wagon.  The half-dozen wounded rode in the catapult wagon with Elder Stow, after they trashed the catapult.  Alexis insisted on riding with the wounded as well, which freed Misty Gray along with Elder Stow’s horse to trail behind.

“The thing is, these horses are not trained to pull a wagon,” Lockhart apologized to Hebron.  He understood, and said he had twenty men who volunteered to pull the wagon by hand.  He said, the dead men deserved a proper burial, and they dared not take the time there, in the desert.  If the Anazi had broken the unspoken truce, they needed to get back to Lord Balor as quickly as possible.

Lincoln agreed to ride alongside the wagon that carried the wounded, Alexis and Elder Stow.  Decker also stayed with the wagons, as he said, to ride shotgun.  Wedge, Cherry, and most of the smidgens stayed with the wagons, but the rest of the travelers and smidgens followed Hebron and his two chariots.  They moved quicker than the lumbering wagons and arrived an hour before sunset, or as Hebron guessed, an hour or two before the others.

Avalon 5.0 Invading Armies, part 3 of 6

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“I have monitored the prevailing wind for the last six hours,” Elder Stow reported.  “The mustard gas will stick to the ground for a day, perhaps many days where it fell and where it spread, but we should be safe enough in this one direction.  We should keep an eye on our horses’ legs and hooves for the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours, but then we will be in the clear.  Under no circumstances get down and walk.  Try not to touch the trees, grass, or bushes.  Are we ready?”

Several eyes went to Artie up on her horse, Freedom, where Ed sat behind her and held on, looking uncertain about the whole idea.  Artie nodded, and Elder Stow turned off the screens.  They waited for a minute while they heard several trees crash into other trees or fall or slide to the ground.  One medium-sized tree blocked their intended path, but it would not be difficult for the horses to step over.  Everyone got warned again not to step on the ground.  The androids, with their plastic-semi-organic flesh were no exception.

“And stay in line,” Lockhart added.  “The further you move to the left or right, the less safe you will be.

“The sulfurous gas residue will eat through your flesh in no time,” Elder Stow explained to the androids.  “The humans will just develop blisters.”

“What about me?” Boston asked.  Elder Stow merely shrugged.  He had no idea how the gas or the residue might affect elf-kind, though he pointed out that it was no friend to the environment.

Lockhart and Elder Stow took the front.  Katie and Artie, with Ed holding on, followed.  Lincoln and Alexis came next, while Decker and Boston brought up the rear.  Decker insisted on the rear-guard position where he could have some firepower to protect the group from whatever might follow them after they reached the open field.  Boston tended to straggle at the back when she did not urge her horse, Honey, to ride wild through the meadows.

The horses walked, and made no objection.  The path appeared to be residue free.  Alexis and Decker covered their mouths with fairy weave, though the gas itself had long since dissipated on the wind.  Katie said she could still smell the mustard.  Lockhart said it smelled more like garlic.

Elder Stow stopped at the edge of the trees where the way became blocked by three thick, old trees and plenty of underbrush.  Lockhart pointed.  Elder Stow nodded.  They went left around the roadblock and broke out into the grassy field.

“All clear,” Elder Stow said.  “But we would be wise to quickly move out of the area.”

They trotted toward Edward’s wrecked fighter craft, not a direction they would have chosen if they had a choice.  Fortunately, Decker had checked the sky with his eagle eye, and Elder Stow had double-checked with his personal scanner, and neither saw anything overhead.  Lockhart wondered if perhaps the Anazi wrote off the fighter as a loss when the homing signal quit.  Boston wondered if the glamour fooled the machines after all.  Ed shook his head, as he had learned to do for ‘no’.  Like some humans, though, he had not yet realized that a head shake was ineffective when people could not see his head shake.

“It is not the Anazi way to leave salvageable material unaccounted for,” he said.

“I can confirm that,” Artie added, and leaned back to smile for Ed.  “I like having your arms around me,” she whispered, and clearly, Ed did not know how to interpret that.

“We should be completely in the clear by now,” Elder Stow answered a question Lincoln asked.  Several people got down to take another look at the crash.

“Anything you can find to recharge your equipment?” Lockhart asked Elder Stow.

“Good thinking,” Elder Stow said, and he immediately joined them on the ground and began to rummage around.

Ed spoke when his feet once again touched the ground.  “There are not many Anazi left,” he said.  “We came here, an advanced group to prepare for an invasion, but the humans used the gas on us.  Many androids melted, as Elder Stow suggested.  Most of the Anazi became sick and died.  I do not know what message has been sent to home-world, but I saw that the conquest of this world would not be as easy as some said.”

“But mustard gas should be beyond the ability of the locals to produce,” Katie still insisted.

“Like gunpowder,” Boston countered.  “It is not a complicated compound; it just has to be discovered.”

“I suspect the Kairos,” Lincoln said.

“Or the Masters,” Lockhart said and frowned.  “The Kairos would not likely make something that could disturb the flow of time and history, but the Masters would.  Remember, their intention is to change history to make it come out more to their liking.”

“I would think establishing the kind of scientific lab and secure procedures to produce the gas safely would be the hardest part,” Boston said.

“And the most potentially damaging to history,” Alexis, the nurse agreed.

“I don’t know,” Katie hedged, and they all turned to listen to the doctor in ancient and medieval history and technologies, to hear what she had to say.  Katie cleared her throat.  “The Egyptian physicians in this age had labs and safe and secure procedures good enough to mummify the kings.  They knew and practiced certain form of surgery, successfully.  Their procedures had to be good.”

“So, the Egyptians are suspect,” Lincoln thought out loud.  “Maybe the Masters wanted to repel the Hyksos invasion.”

“Maybe,” Alexis and Katie agreed, when Decker interrupted.

“Company.”

Eyes naturally went to the sky before they returned to the ground where they saw men, and several wagons and chariots approaching.

“Stow,” Lockhart got the Gott-Druk’s attention before he got up on his horse and pulled his shotgun.

“Coming,” Elder Stow responded.  “I found something that may work for a few time zones.  It is primitive, but the Anazi do quality work, so it may last a couple of hundred years.”  He stuffed some pieces in his saddlebag and mounted with the others.  They walked the horses to meet the oncoming group.

“Friend,” Lockhart shouted when they got within range.  “Where are you headed?  Are you searching for someone?  Perhaps we can help.”

Boston reacted.  “Hey!  Stop that.  Leave our equipment alone.”  Several flashes of light, like little explosions appeared around the horses.  They looked like they were insects driven back by some force.  Alexis’ Misty Gray and Katie’s Beauty startled and bucked.  “Get big so everyone can see you,” Boston ordered.

A male fairy in armor appeared, floating in Boston’s face.  He asked a question that came out like a statement.  “You are not the Masters?”

“No way, Jose,” Boston answered.  “We belong to the Kairos, and we are looking for him…”  She checked her amulet and pointed.  “That way.”

A fairy woman appeared next to the man.  “You are the red-headed elf who travels with the yellow hair woman and former elf, and the men who ride on the big horses from the future.”  It was a mouthful.

“I’m Boston.  Who are you?”

The male fairy answered.  “My name is Wedge.  We are the smidgens made by our lord to interfere with the workings of the alien machines.  We took down the fighter plane, but we have been strictly charged not to harm the androids that pilot such machines.”

“This is your big size?” Lincoln asked.

“It is,” Wedge answered.  “But it is our normal size.  When the Lord made us, he made us so we don’t get big, we get little.”

“Little?” Katie asked.

“Smaller than the human eye can see,” Alexis and the female fairy spoke at the same time.

“Hi, I’m Alexis, the former elf.” Alexis smiled.

“Hi, I’m Cherry,” the female fairy said, as she fluttered up to face Alexis.

The men, like soldiers, arrived at that point, and the chariots stopped, and the men watched while the rest of the smidgens got fairy big and introduced themselves.  Lockhart looked at the man in the chariot who appeared to be the head man.

“Lockhart,” he said.

“Hebron,” the man responded.

“Should you lead, or should we?” Lockhart asked.

The man shrugged, split his group in two so some could lead and some could follow, and started out with a word.  “We should arrive at the great ships by sundown.”

“I do not understand,” Ed admitted as he turned his head back and watched Cherry get comfortable sitting on Alexis’ shoulder.  He saw Wedge sit in the mane of Lincoln’s horse.

“The universe is more alive and full of life than the Anazi can imagine,” Artie said.

“There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy,” Katie added.

“I do not understand imagine, or philosophy, but I do not doubt what you say is true.”  Ed responded, and he paused to think.  “I believe you, but there is no explaining it.”

“It is called faith,” Artie said with a big smile.

“I think it is called trust,” Katie offered another word.  “By his own free will, he is willing to trust what we say.”  Artie nodded in agreement.  Ed shrugged, like he saw the human shrug.

“The visual evidence helps,” Alexis spoke up from behind.

“It does,” Cherry agreed.  “I heard of you all my life, but I never thought to see you.  You seem very nice… for a human.”

Avalon 5.0 Invading Armies, part 2 of 6

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Alexis, Lincoln, Boston, and Lockhart stayed up with Ed and Artie while the others slept and the sun went down.  After sunset, Boston wandered the perimeter of the camp now and then, to let her refined elf senses reach out into the dark, just in case.  They half expected an Anazi rescue ship in the dark.  Elder Stow set the screen device in his scanner to deploy impenetrable screens as soon as something came in overhead.  Organic material, like birds, would be ignored, but anything else in the air would trigger the screens.  Boston and the others felt safe enough, but Boston walked all the same.

Artie, with a little help from Alexis, explained everything she could think of to Ed; too much, really.  She talked, sometimes rapid fire, and everyone saw plainly both how human, and in a way, how female Artie had become in the months since being liberated from Anazi control.

Apart from many questions, and not grasping certain concepts, Ed seemed most taken by the idea that he should be male.  Lincoln and Lockhart tried to fill in things from a male point of view, including when they confessed they did not understand how women saw some things the way they did, either.

“I think I best be male,” Ed admitted at one point.  “It seems much less complicated.”  Then he offered a free thought, something he just started to learn how to do.  “I accessed the program in my system that includes your faces and specifications on several occasions, since we came here to your earth.  Most of it made no sense, even when I had contact with humans like you.  But now, having met the living images, and having scanned you, and most of all, having spoken to you…” he paused before he continued.  “…and listened to you, freely, it begins to make sense.”  He paused again, and everyone waited, having seen that same expression on Artie’s face.  He was thinking, or reviewing data as Elder Stow insisted.  Even Artie waited patiently for him to speak again.  “I say, I felt more attracted to Lincoln’s face and form than any others.  There is no explaining it.”

“Thank goodness for that,” Decker interrupted as he came out of his tent.  “It was bad enough when the Shemsu among the Olmec people carved my helmeted head in giant blocks of stone down in the Yucatan.  Now, to have a bunch of androids running around the universe bearing my image.  No.  That would be too much.”

“Did we wake you?” Alexis asked by way of apology.

“Shift change,” Decker said.  “Midnight.”  Decker cradled his rifle and pulled up a seat by the fire.

“Well, I’m tired,” Boston said with a yawn.  She had become a light elf, not given to night hours like a human.  But then, she slept alone in her own tent, since her husband Roland went missing, and her father Mingus disappeared in that great flash of light, and Katie opted to room with Artie.  Sometimes, the prospect of being alone kept Boston awake.  Lockhart, Decker, and Elder Stow also slept alone.  Elder Stow, in particular; at first because no one trusted the Gott-Druk, but later because he snored so badly.

Boston imagined she would be rooming with Artie.  She had thought Katie and Lockhart would be together by then.  She watched when Katie got up to take Alexis’ place beside Artie, even though Katie and Artie did not have to be up until the three to six in the morning shift.

“I suppose I better get to bed as well,” Lockhart said, and looked at his tent.

“So, where are we in the discussion of life, liberty and all?” Katie asked, looking at the fire.

“Goodnight,” Lockhart said, turning toward Katie, but making a general statement.

“Goodnight,” Katie said, more-or-less in Lockhart’s direction, but just to add her voice to the chorus.

Katie and Lockhart appeared to pause, but then Lockhart went into his tent, Katie sat by the fire, and Boston, an empathetic elf, went to bed, sad.

###

Around three, Katie walked.  She had taken up Boston’s routine of walking the perimeter now and then, just to be sure.   As an Elect, a one in a million-warrior woman, designed by the goddesses in ancient days to protect the home and families when the men went off to war, her senses and intuition were highly refined.  She could sense danger and an enemy at a great distance, and what she senses at three triggered a red flag in her mind.  She yelled.

“Incoming.”

In only minutes, something buzzed overhead.  Alexis and Boston got up, groggy, but managed to combine their magic and form a magical disguise around Artie and Ed.  They had no idea if the glamour would fool the Anazi scanners.  Alexis suspected it would not.  She suggested it would fool an Anazi’s visual perception, but probably would not even fool other androids.

They waited.

The ship, a transport looking thing, stopped overhead.  It got a good look at them and their camp, though Elder Stow had activated the particle and energy screens around the camp in case the Anazi ship took a shot at them.  Everyone felt surprised when the ship rose in the sky, turned around, and left the area.

Something crashed through the treetops.  It landed some distance from the camp.  Artie shrieked.  Elder Stow tuned his scanner quickly to examine and study the crashed object.  He swore, something he never did, and adjusted the screens accordingly.

I made the screens extra-large and solid,” he explained.  “I sliced through some trees on the outer edge, but made it tall enough to take in the camp, horses and the trees in the immediate area.”

“Won’t those cut trees on the edge fall on us when we turn it off to begin moving in the morning?” Katie asked, as she moved several steps in one direction, but heard what Elder Stow said.

A second something overshot the camp.

“We won’t be going anywhere for a while,” Elder Stow said, and frowned

“Gas.”  Ed said the word a moment before Artie could identify it.

“What you call mustard gas,” Elder Stow agreed.  “It will fall to the ground and creep along for several hours before it dissipates, but the screens should easily keep it out.”

A third something fell behind them all.

“Not very good shots,” Artie concluded.

“They don’t have to be with mustard gas,” Katie said.

“Let me look,” Decker suggested.  Katie pointed in the direction she sensed was the source of the gas.  Decker nodded and stepped aside to a place where he could sit and meditate.  He let his spirit rise-up, carried by his eagle totem.  He saw no sign of the Anazi ship.  It had vacated the area.  From overhead, he spied a small catapult, moon lit, and a dozen men using it.  He saw the wagons, but as he circled around, he saw other men, more like thirty with chariots, about to charge the catapult.  Decker figured the catapult men were shooting in the dark, assuming the campfire belonged to their enemies.  They were in for a rude awakening when the chariot men charged.  Decker came back to earth in time to hear Katie squawk.

“Who the hell is making mustard gas in seventeen hundred, BC?”

“Not the Anazi.  We may never know,” Decker said, to verbalize Elder Stow’s shrug.

“Should we wake the others?” Artie asked.

“Why?”  Decker responded with the question, while Katie retook her seat beside Artie and spoke.

“The others need a chance to rest, and as Elder Stow said, we won’t be going anywhere for a while.”

“You ask these humans and do what they say?” Ed sounded surprised, even if he had not yet figured out what surprise was other than in a military context.

“Oh, yes,” Artie said.  “I have learned.  We act as a team.  Everyone has things to contribute, and these humans have knowledge and abilities that we do not have.  The best judgment is not always a simple weighing of the facts.  There is wisdom in listening, and these people have much experience that again, we do not have.”

“But to do what someone else says?  Is that not slavery?”

“Not when it is a free choice,” Artie responded.

“Only an immature child always wants his or her way,” Katie added.  “Elders can be wrong at times, but wisdom says the young should listen to their elders, and not resist them, especially those that care about you.  That is how children learn.”

“I have over fifty years of experience to draw on,” Elder Stow said.  “I understand Lockhart has seventy years of experience.  We have determined that Artie has about five years of experience, though she does not count the four years she lived under Anazi domination.  I suspect you are also about four or five years old.”

“Young soldiers listen to their seasoned sergeant and their commanding officer,” Decker added.  “Not only because they have pledged to listen, but because listening to their experienced words, and obeying orders, is the way young soldiers stay alive.”

“And you have not listened much to Lockhart, my mother,” Elder Stow spoke to Katie who he called the mother of the group, after his Neanderthal fashion, as he called Lockhart the father of the group.  “It seems he is an elder worth listening to.”

Katie said nothing, so Decker mumbled, “Only a child always wants her way.”

Katie stood.  “Excuse me.  I have a perimeter to walk.”  She left the fire and Artie spoke.

“Love is something I am still working on.”  She turned to Ed.  “It is very, very complicated.”

Avalon 5.0 Invading Armies, part 1 of 6

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After 1700 BC near the Saini.  Kairos 59: Balor, Captain of the Hyksos

Recording…

The ship hurtled toward the ground as it spun out of control.

“Pull up,” Decker yelled.

“Pull up,” Lincoln echoed Decker’s words softly, as he reached for the reigns of Alexis’ horse.  Alexis buried her face in her hands.  She did not want to watch.

“There.”  Elder Stow took his eyes off his scanner long enough to point.  Someone ejected from the craft.  The man had had something like a parachute, though it looked more like wings.

The single person craft hit the ground and made a big ball of flame.  The person with the parachute-wings caught the updraft, and hopefully not too much of the explosion.  He managed to use the wings to steer away from the wreckage and fire, but he did not look too steady.  He came down too fast.  Maybe the wing-parachute got some holes in it.  Lockhart put down his binoculars when the person fell behind some trees.

“Hey!” Lockhart yelled.  Artie rode all out toward the downed pilot.  Katie and Elder Stow followed hot on her trail.  “Boston,” Lockhart called to the girl.  She had wandered out on the wing to get a better angle on the crash, but she had already started riding like a maniac to catch up to Artie, Katie, and Elder Stow.

Lockhart said no more.  He started after the maniacs at less than breakneck speed.  Major Decker, Lincoln and Alexis followed him.

Artie rushed through the woods and dismounted at the edge of the tree line.  She had not gone mad.  She understood the risk and calculated it was worth it.  The pilot landed not far away, and looked to be trying to sit up.  He looked broken, but her own sensors suggested he still functioned.

“Over here,” Artie yelled back to the ones behind her.  She did not wait for Katie to arrive.  The pilot looked at her through mist filled eyes.  He blinked before he moaned and collapsed to his back.

“Not human,” he said, before his eyes closed.  Artie could not be sure if he saw that she was an android, like him, or if he thought she was human and he was warning her about himself.

“Elder Stow, hurry,” Artie yelled back, but the elder hurried as much as his short Neanderthal legs could hurry.  Artie knelt beside the pilot and extended her sensors to examine his insides.  He did not appear to be badly damaged, but he looked different on the inside.  He had some systems she did not recognize.  “Hurry,” she repeated softly.  Ever since her obedience crystal burned out, Artie had come to understand things like pain, fear, and helplessness.

Katie arrived and took Artie gently by the shoulders.  “Let Elder Stow work.”  She lifted Artie to her feet and held her back while the Gott-Druk took her place, kneeling beside the pilot.  He had a disc in his hand which he quickly applied to the android’s temple.  One twist of a button, and the android stopped making noise.

“Is he dead?” Artie asked Katie, tears forming slowly in her android eyes.  Boston rode up, not stopping at the edge of the trees.  She dismounted like the rodeo rider she had been before she became an elf.  She spoke like the technological genius she remained.

“No,” Boston answered Artie, having heard the question with her good elf ears.  “That’s the same disc Elder Stow used to help you rest and heal after your own crash.”

“This one isn’t so badly broken,” Elder Stow reported, as he opened the android’s chest.  “I believe he just caught the shock wave of the explosion and hit the ground rather hard.”  The elder worked and thought a moment before he explained in terns the humans could understand.  “Like being thrown into a brick wall by a concussion grenade.  Some systems are in shock, but they will come around shortly and consciousness will return… A-ha.”  Elder Stow used his sonic device to disconnect something.  “The long-range detonator, in case the android obedience crystal ceased to function.”  He flipped it to Boston.  “Dispose, please.”

Boston caught the detonator, but gave the elder a mean look.  She raced off a hundred yards at elf speed, about sixty-miles-an hour, and heaved the detonator as far as she could.  It took a second to race back to the others.

Artie turned into Katie’s motherly arms and tried to keep her composure while Elder Stow worked.

“An improved model,” Elder stow said.  “The Anazi are learning.”

Katie spoke around Artie.  “According to Lincoln, it has been around a hundred and twenty years since we found Artie.”

“Yes.  I imagined something like that,” Elder Stow said.  “Many systems have been miniaturized and enhanced, and some new abilities have been added.  This time, though, I think I best wait until the android can tell me what is not working properly.  On Artie, I did a lot of guesswork.”

“What?” Artie looked up and stood on her own two feet again.

“I mean, even this one is still a very primitive construction compared to what I am used to.  I fear that in the course of fixing your systems, I may have improved and enhanced a number of them, unknowingly.”

“But I am functioning just fine,” Artie insisted.

“Good, good.”  Elder Stow closed-up the android on the ground and got his scanner to scan the android’s head.

“You didn’t like, awaken her, did you?” Katie asked about Artie being sentient and self-aware—a true artificial intelligence.

“Eh?”  Elder Stow paused to consider what he got asked.  “No, no.  Her brain casing remained intact, as it is with this one.  She had the capacity all along.  Her abilities for many things were just depressed by the obedience crystal.  I burned the crystal on this one as well, by the way.  We will see when he wakes up.”

“Can we be as lucky a second time?” Boston asked, and smiled for Artie, who returned the smile.

“It isn’t luck,” Elder Stow insisted.  “It is science.  I had a long talk about it with Yu-Huang in the last time zone.  He suggested that the Anazi are very human-like in their perceptions of reality.  They are just far more obedience oriented, in general, than humans.  They have the capacity for freedom, but they have not been inclined to pursue it.  Once Artie became free of compulsory obedience, she chose freedom.  There is no reason to expect any other android will not choose the same.  But even if this one should choose slavery to the Anazi, there is no reason to suppose we are in danger, setting this one free.”

“He,” Artie said.  “I feel as though he is a male.  I don’t know why.”

“We can’t take him with us,” Lockhart said as he walked up with the others, their horses trailing behind them.  “It took Lady Alice nearly six months to phase Artie out of her natural time zone so she could travel with us without prematurely ageing every time we moved through a time gate.  We can hardly ask her to do that with every Anazi android we come across.”

“No, I understand,” Artie said.  “This male needs to help set the other Anazi androids free.  We are not ready to become our own people as long as so many of us remain slaves to the Anazi.”  Artie looked at Lincoln and Alexis.

“All life is precious,” Alexis said with a nod.

“But slavery is not a life to be wished for,” Lincoln nodded with his wife.

“Freedom!” Artie thought to call to her horse, the one she named freedom.

“Beauty,” Katie called hers Black Beauty.  Elder Stow whistled.  The horses came trotting up to join the herd.

“So, this one needs to go back, like Andy, and help set the others free,” Boston paid attention.

“Oh, but what can you do if the Anazi realize the obedience crystals are burned out and hit the factory reset button?” Katie asked.

“Or just detonate them,” Decker added.

“Reset button?” Lincoln asked.

“Elder Stow said in the homing device there was a program to reset the android to factory specifications.”

“Not exactly,” Elder Stow explained.  “It will wipe the memory and reset the mind to original specs, effectively wiping out whatever personality may have developed and opening the mind to new programming.”

“You mean, complete memory loss?” Lincoln asked.

“Person deleted,” Elder Stow nodded.

“But that would be worse,” Boston said.

“Worse than death,” Alexis agreed with the young elf.

“But I believe I have found a way to hack the reset program and set up a firewall against it without removing the homing device or interfering with its other functions,” Elder Stow explained.  “I am still working on the hack for the detonation device.  I am afraid removing it will be noticed, but for now it is too dangerous to leave it in place if you want the android to live.”

“But he must live,” Artie insisted.  “My people are enslaved, even to the point of willing suicide, if necessary, to achieve their mission.  I need this male to set others free, but I don’t know how he can if the Anazi notice he is missing his detonation device.”

“Is that what I am to do?  Set my people free?” the android spoke in a metallic sounding monotone, surprising everyone.  They had all turned to focus on each other and the conversation.  “Why did you call me a male?”

“Are you not?” Artie asked, and she smiled at her thoughts.

The android looked at Artie and commented in his flat voice.  “You are a primitive.  Most of your kind have been rebuilt or put on minimal service.”

“I am Artie,” Artie said.  “Do you not like the way I look?”

The android sat up and looked thoughtful.  “I have heard of you.  You have made yourself look like these human females.  I do not understand the word, like in that context.”  He spoke, while Boston snuck around behind the android and read the serial number printed on the android’s shoulder.

“ED8573W2426.”

“Ed—Edmund?” Katie asked.

“Edward,” Lincoln responded.  “There was a ‘W’ in there somewhere.”

“Edward,” Artie said, and broadened her smile.

“I do not understand the word freedom,” Edward said, then he asked a curious question.  “Why do I recognize all of your faces and forms?”

“Maybe Andy got a sub-program into the system a hundred and twenty years ago.” Boston suggested.

“Likely,” Elder Stow agreed.

“We need to make camp,” Lockhart decided.  “But not here.  Back in that clearing in the woods—the one full of boulders.”

“They will come for him,” Decker surmised what Lockhart obviously thought.

“They will come for me,” Edward agreed, in not quite his normal metallic tone.

“I can delay that,” Elder Stow suggested.  He played with his scanner and explained as he worked.  “I have disabled the distress and homing signals on the crashed ship.  Now, I have covered the android—Ed’s signal as well.  They may think he has stopped functioning, but in any case, they may not rush to recover the remains.”

“What magic is this?” the android asked, at least cognizant of the concept of magic.  Who knew what human interaction he had prior to his crash?  “How do you disable such things without connecting to them?  How can you do that with a little box?  What kind of magic box is that?”

“We have much to talk about,” Artie said, and patted Ed on the shoulder.

“Not magic,” Elder Stow yelled, as Boston and Artie helped the android to his feet.  “Not luck and not magic.  It’s science.  Just science.”

The people all walked back into the woods to get under the cover of the trees, and the horses dutifully followed the ones to whom they had been magically tied.