Finish the Science Fiction Story

[ivylass]

“Do we have time for a quick lesson?” M’Kayla asked Tront. He looked at Victor Sr, who shrugged.

“I don’t think it’s a matter of time,” Victor said. “Kathy needs to learn about crystalore. The sooner the better.”

Kathy swallowed. M’Kayla had modified her crystal frequency so it didn’t hurt, but she had a roiling nausea that wasn’t much better.

“When will I stop feeling like I’m going to vomit?” she asked, thinking with regret her rather large lunch.

M’Kayla smiled sympathetically. “Once you learn how to block rogue crystals, then the nausea will pass. It will make it easier for Vorpal to find us, so we best hurry.”

“Wait, modifying my frequency makes it easier for this Vorpal person to locate us?”

“It was a toss-up. Either we leave you sedated so you wouldn’t feel the agony, or modify it slightly so you can awaken.”

“What happens if you modify the frequency so it doesn’t hurt at all?”

Tobe’s head whipped around, and Vicki and her brother looked at each other with a dawning realization.

“Vorpal will know exactly where you are,” M’Kayla said slowly. “He will come for you.”

Kathy smiled coldly. “Then after our lesson, that’s what you’re going to do. And I don’t want to learn how to block his frequency. I want to learn how to use my frequency.”

Tobe shivered.

[Jack_Ketch]

“Round me up some kids, Verless!”

The Jewel of Novon had arrived at Ceres and landing shuttles were being deployed. President Astrid Vorpal stood on the bridge beside the command chair of Captain Verless glaring at the planet’s image on the main view screen.

“And don’t worry about roughing them up,” added Vorpal. At this he turned to leave the bridge for his meditation chamber. “Do this quickly. I will find our next destination soon. Your informant identified Valis 5 as a possibility. I’ll know exactly.” With this he left.

Captain Verless flipped the com switch to the shuttles. “Commander, retrieve at least 2 specimens from the coordinates you were given. I’ll hold you responsible for any injuries to the children. Bring them back intact.”

Verless always followed his orders. He kept reminding himself; respect the office not the man. But, children? How could he live with himself?

[Skywatcher]

As Granthiaxav welcomed his guest aboard, Elia smiled and took his right hand in hers. She raised it to her lips then gave the back of his hand a slow lick. Granthiaxav was slightly taken aback at this, he certainly wasn’t prepared for the standard greeting befit his social stature. He slowly reversed Elia’s hand and put it to his own lips, returning the greeting. Still holding her hand, he said, “'Tis a pleasure to have a guest who is not only fluent in our language but knows the culture as well.”

“'Tis a pleasure to be a guest of one who knows how to be a genial host.”

Granthiaxav released Elia’s hand. “Tell me, how did you learn of our language and tradition?”

Naturally, Elia was evasive. “It seems I have a gift for languages.” She smiled again. “I have gifts for other things as well.”

[Jack_Ketch]

Granthiaxav found Elia M’haal to be extraordinarily beautiful in person. Her skin was luminously white and her short cropped, slightly blue hair was elegantly functional. Elia was humanoid in shape and femininely shapely. She wore a tight blue jumpsuit under a gauzy white, free-flowing robe. Granthiaxav could see vague hints of muscle under the cloth. That and the effortless and athletic way Elia carried herself left no doubt of her physical prowess. Oooo, what a woman. Granthiaxav thought he was in love.

The ship would arrive at Laxis Prime soon and Granthiaxav was digging through a trunk of sashes in his quarters. “Pussy!” he yelled. “Pussyquathiaxav, get to my quarters at once!” A female aide appeared through the hallway door.

“Pussy, were the hell is my red official-escort sash?!” Granthiaxav was in a tizzy. “I’ve got my blue sanctuary sash and my orange diplomatic sash. I even found that old purple, green and gold one from Cat Tuesday three cycles ago. What kind of aide are you, anyway? Shouldn’t you keep these things in better order?”

“Yes, sir, of course,” said Pussy. “May I check your bedside storage compartment?” But, she didn’t really wait for the answer; sliding around Granthiaxav to the drawer. She pulled out the red sash that was neatly folded there and handed it to her captain.

“Faboulous! Now go tell the sub-commander to notify me of our arrival at Laxis Prime. I will be with our guest,” said Granthiaxav. “I must keep her company. We wouldn’t want to be rude, you know.”

[AncientHumanoid]

As Martel and Robert scrolled through the file tKani’sav had pointed out to them, Martel noticed another file marked crydef. Wondering if it was what he thought it was, he opened it.

"What are you doing? hissed Robert, low enough that no one else in the room noticed.

“I just want to see something,” answered Martel.

Opening the file revealed a menu titled Defense Tools and Strategies For Use Against Crystal Courriers

“That’s what I thought it might be!” Martel whispered excitedly.“See? The Professor wasn’t just speaking in hypotheticals to us. This is real. Crystals can be fought, not just by other crystals.”

Robert glanced at tKani’sav, who was still busy coordinating through the command center at his desk. He seemed to be talking to at least three different people on audio and who knows how many through the console interface. tKani’sav had no extra attention to pay to them.

Licking his lips, Robert tells Martel, “Split screen and start scrolling. We’ll each read one half and get it back by the Prof’s recall technique once we aren’t under their noses any more. You never know when this info could be useful to us. Especially after all that’s happened recently.”

“Yes,” answered Martel, “I don’t entirely trust these guys either. Maybe I’m paranoid, but these cats don’t have soft paws themselves, if you know what I mean.”

Robert growled at him and Martel remembered that Tobermory had been disguised as an Earth feline.

“Sorry, Robert. An easy speech pattern to fall into around here…”

“Yeah,” said Robert, “Humans have some odd ways about them. Enough about that already, Read!”

tKani’sav notices the accessed files through his still active link to the Notebook and smiles. “the bait is taken” he thinks to himself, careful not to show any outward reaction.

[Baker]

Rowr! That Elia is something isn’t she? As a straight female myself I think I’m just going to lean back and get some pointers. Wouldn’t have thought Granthiaxav could be bowled over like that, and what do you think will happen when she meets Martel, since he’s a Xavvian too? Maybe she just sets all the guys off like that.

---

The school Kathy Swanson had been a teacher at was for elementary through pre-university students, and a large percentage of the students boarded there. Ceres being agriculturally oriented, it was rather spread out. The campus still bore the marks left by the Xavvians who had been pursuing Tobermory and Kathy, but most buildings had had their damage repaired. The rebel Xavvians were long gone.

Two shuttles from The Jewel of Novon landed on a large lawn near what appeared to be student dormitories. Armed guards quickly hopped out and formed a perimeter around the craft, and were followed by their commanding lieutenant, Nick Stavropoulos. He wanted to get this snatch and grab over quickly, so his eyes darted around, searching for candidates. Very few people were actually in sight, and those few running away. The shuttles arrival had been noisy and many had been able to hide, or try to at least. Lt. Stavropoulos thought he saw small faces in the second floor window of a nearby building, so he pointed and barked an order. He and a small squad trotted over quickly and entered, climbing a stairway, and taking a turn down a hall that seemed to lead towards where the faces had been sighted. A door there was locked and they pounded on it, and had little trouble breaking it down. About a dozen small children were huddled in the corner. Two somewhat older students, a boy and a girl who appeared to be about twelve standard years old, face the intruders with large sticks, that seemed to be sporting equipment of some kind. They were trying to protect the younger ones it seemed, and their pitiable defiance amused the lieutenant. He gave a small signal and the defenders were quickly and relatively painlessly disarmed and secured. They struggled and cursed, but Lt. Stavropoulos paid them no mind as he faced the younger ones.

“Alright, listen up you frelling little varmints. Any of you used to have a teacher name of Swanson, Kathy Swanson?” The children looked at each other with wide eyes. Slowly and timidly three raised their hands. These were immediately taken in hand by part of the lieutenants’ squad. He looked at the older ones.
“What about you two?” The response from the girl was a glob of spit in his face. The boy answered in a surly tone “She came after we were in the lower levels.”

The officer whirled around to leave. “Squad, let’s go! And bring those two as well. I doubt Capt. Verless wants to delegate any military personnel for babysitting. They can keep the three brats quiet and out of our hair.”

Soldiers hustled the captives quickly back towards the shuttles. As they went one adult emerged from a small outbuilding and tried to shoot at the lieutenant. He was cut down at once, and as the shuttles took off there was only the echos of screams and tears to mark his passing.

[ivylass]

M’Kayla and Kathy sat cross-legged on the floor in Vicki’s living room, their knees touching. The sound system had been tuned to play Xavvian dance music with a heavy beat and M’Kayla began the lesson.

“Close your eyes. Feel the beat and the tones of the music. Let that guide you to your crystal.”

Vicki shooed everyone out of the room and shut the door behind them. “They’re going to be in there for a while. We need to plan what we’re going to do next.”

Victor Sr cleared his throat. “Vicki, you’re going to help me get caught up on some accounting work. I think Kal and Tobe should visit our local chapel,” he said, with an arched eyebrow to his daughter. She smiled back at him.

“Vic, can you take them?” Her brother grinned knowingly.

“What’s going on?” Tobe asked. “Why are we going to a chapel?”

“Why, to talk to the Mystic Masters, of course,” Vic said.

“Ahh, the Mystic Masters,” Tront said. “Yes. They may be very helpful.”

The three males left Vicki’s apartment, as her father began handing over computer disks to her, which she shuffled through expertly.

“We’ll be back by dinner time,” Vic called, closing the door behind them.

[Skywatcher]

Elia had been directed to the ship’s recreation hall. The decorator did a fine job with the lounge area, there was no sign at all of the cargo bay that it had originally been. When Granthiaxav rejoined her there, his pupils dilated as he took in the hint of the curvaceous body that existed under her robes. No, no, business before pleasure, he told himself. “We haven’t been properly introduced, have we?” He bowed. “Granthiaxav, first heir of the House of Xandel, Territory of Xancour.” He sighed. “If it still exists.”

“Elia M’haal.” Elia produced a card seemingly out of nowhere and handed it to Granthiaxav, who examined it. It was the size of a standard business card, manufactured of a translucent synthetic substance similar to plastic. Some words were written in a reflective ink but they weren’t readable to him at first, then the letters rearranged themselves into Xavvian. Translated into English, the card said

                                                           Elia M’haal
                                                      Senior Troubleshooter
                                                             Box 007
                                                            Amaryllis
                                                           Deca Taegan

and it vanished just as soon as Granthiaxav finished reading it.

“Neat trick, that.” He cocked an eyebrow at Elia. “What other talents do you have?”

[Jack_Ketch]

Jimmy Beck would never describe himself as brave - geeky, shy and, maybe smart but never brave. Julie Stewart saw things differently; huddling close to him as he comforted little Nadia, Nikita and Jude in the cargo bay of a Novon shuttle. Julie wouldn’t admit to herself she was courageous too. They had both tried to protect the smaller children against much bigger and armed adult invaders. It took all her resolve not to break into sobs of fear. She couldn’t show her terror in front of the little ones.

The ship jolted the children in their seats as it docked with the Jewel of Novon. Lt. Stavropoulos entered the room and with the assistance of two soldiers herded them to the airlock.

“Where are you taking us you scum?” demanded Jimmy defiantly in front of the door as it opened.

“Shut-up, kid!” commanded Lt. Stavropoulos. With that the Lt. back-handed Jimmy and shoved him through the door. Jimmy tripped and fell on the floor of the docking chamber; his lip bloody and swelling. He glared back over his shoulder at the Lt.

A rough hand grabbed Jimmy’s arm and pulled him to his feet. He looked up into the eyes of an angry man. “Lt. Stavropoulos! I said no damage.”

“Yes, Sir,” Lt. Stavropoulos snapped to attention. “I’m sorry, Captain Verless.”

“Take them to the detention center, Lieutenant,” said the Captain. Verless raised his wrist-com to his mouth. “President Vorpal, we have the cargo.”

“Gooood, Captain,” replied a voice on the com’s speaker. “I have our destination – Valis 5.”

[Baker]

Astrid Vorpal leaned back in his comfortable reclining chair, and for some time allowed his mind to roam over all the ways in which his hostages could be used. With five instead of just two he had plenty of opportunity to let his sadistic fantasies out, to experiment while persuading Kathy to cooperate with him. If simple torture didn’t do the trick, maybe something that would prey on her mind. Perhaps he could give the littlest girl into the care of Dr. Hennings. The good doctor likes little girls, really likes them, Vorpal recalled. Astrid liked having subordinates that he had something on, it helped to keep them in line. Capt. Verless was a notable exception, and he wondered to himself, now, why the man stuck with him. Ahhh, no matter. Vorpal reached for his earphones, plugged in one of his favorite old-time Earth rap tapes, and slid, smiling, into a self-satisfied sleep.

Mean while, in the detention center, Jimmie and Julie had got the little ones settled down. Julie, wrinkling her nose, had rinsed out, in their cell’s tiny sink, the underwear of Nikita and Nadia, who had been so frightened they lost control of themselves. The children were all cried out, tired and in shock, but now whimpering about being hungry. Julie stepped over to Jimmie, who had his arm around a sleeping Jude, and whispered, “What are we supposed to do about food do you think?”

Jimmie frowned, “I don’t know about that. Do you think they might try to drug us, for control?”

“Oh stars, Jimmie! I wouldn’t have thought of that. Maybe one of us should eat before the other? For observation you know?”

Their heads whipped around as the door on the other side of the cell’s bars hissed open. Capt. Verless stepped through, holding a notewriter, and said in a cold voice, “Speaking of observation, you frooling young jerks, did you know there is a wire in every cell? You should have more respect for your betters!”

Julie and Jimmie looked at each other, puzzled, for his tone and words did not match, the single broad wink he gave them.

[ivylass]

Verless laid the notewriter on the floor, holding a finger to lips. He continued to snarl at Julie while Jimmie quickly accessed the 'writer.

“You kids keep quiet and we’ll feed you in about an hour,” Verless snapped, while Jimmie looked at him, smiling. He nodded back at him, then with an arch look at Julie he said, “One hour. You understand?”

Julie replied with a realistic sob, “Yes, please, don’t hurt us,”

Verless left the cell. The children had understood. Now he had to ready the escape pod without attracting any notice.

Next stop, Kenezr’s cell.

[Baker]

Yay, ivylass! I like it!

[ivylass]

Well, we have to get them all to Valis 5, one way or the other. Now, if Jeff can help us with Elia and Grav…I also need to figure out how the Mystic Masters figure into this. Plus Kathy’s lesson should be coming to a close…

The Pressure!!

[Fibber_McGee]

Hey all, those of you who’ve been contributing to and/or following this thread might be wondering what happened to me, considering how much I contributed to the story in its early stages. I have not lost interest in the story, but I’ve been very busy lately and in the meanwhile, the story has sort have lost me. I’m not really sure where to jump back in at this point and I may contribute again, but most likely I’ll just sit back and see what happens until the story reaches its conclusion.

On a somewhat related note, I have an idea for a new finish the story thread I’d like to start, but I think I’ll hold off on that until this one’s done.

[Baker]

I really would like to have you back though! You have written such good stuff. Did you read between the first and second recap, and then check the recap itself?

[Shane voice on]

Fibber, come back!

[/Shane voice off]

I’m currently working on my next post, but any of us, feel free to make me rewrite!

[Baker]

tKani’sav had known what he was doing when he left the crydef file open and available to Robert and Martel. As an intelligence officer he had automatically kept tabs on Prof. Kenezr, and thorugh him, his closest associates. It was in this way the two student couriers had come to his notice, and they would be surprised if they found out just how much information about them tKani’sav had in his files.

Information gathering and transmission, fictional spies to the contrary, was for the most part drudgery, and agents caught in the act were usually just booted back to where they came from, maybe a little worse for the wear. Most governments played by an unspoken set of rules.

But some groups recognized no rules, and the cult of Wayre, almost forgotten by outsiders, was one. Working against them could be dangerous, witness the assault on Robert and Martel, with the loss of Alkani. If the latter could not be recovered(assuming he really was alive), he would need to be replaced, and to tKani’sav Robert and Martel looked like good candidates. So he had decided to see if they had the nerve to sieze an opportunity when it presented itself, and just how they would handle it. If they retrieved the entire file and “carried” it away they would have passed one test. Then there would be others. But for now, tKani’sav decided, the focus would be on aiding Prof. Kenezr.

Martel’s felinoid eyes slid sideways to Robert’s side of the screen.
“Are you finished yet?” he hissed softly.

“Got it!” came the low reply. “Now what do we do?”

"We go along with this bunch for a while at least. We may be able to retrieve more stuff like this. I’m glad now I took that elective class “Total Recall For Couriers” last year.

tKani’sav “coughed” slightly and pushed back from his console, allowing time for Martel and Robert to conceal their activity.

“That about does it I think. Granthiaxav is on his way to Deca Taegan to pick up Elia M’hall. It shouldn’t take long for him to get there and back if I know that haughty Xavvian. Although he might not want to turn her over when he returns.”

The two students wondered what that last sentence might mean.

[Skywatcher]

“I’ll show you,” Elia said, patting the seat next to her. Grav obliginly sat down. Elia put her hands to his temples, gently turned his face toward hers then just stared into his felinoid eyes. This was an almost an entirely new experience for Grav, the only thing he could compare it with was having his mind probed by a courier. But, as far as he knew, Elia wasn’t one of those. Elia only stared for a couple of minutes but for Grav it seemed like an eternity. “My, you’ve had an interesting week, haven’t you? Two escort duties, one of which was interrupted by sabotage.”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to do better than that. You could have heard that from the Laxon.”

[Baker]

As Capt. Verless made his way to Kenezr’s cell he wondered at what he had gotten himself into. But he decided that his resolution to abandon Vorpal, and help the children and the professor, was, while sudden in itself, not so strange. He’d been getting more and more disgusted with his so-called President, and the use of innocents was the final straw.

He knew an escape would be risky. Assuming he did get the escape pod primed and ready, they could not leave the Jewel of Novon until it re-entered normal space, in about a standard day, as a pod did not have hyperdrive capabilities. When he had used the notewriter, the “one hour” had been a code, and he had let them know it meant one day. The kids would be fed in an hour, but he would see to their meal himself, and have extra information, and vitatabs included, as the next meal might be a long while coming. Based on Julie and Jimmie’s reaction, he trusted them to be able to play along.

When Verless reached Kenezr’s cell, Dr. Hennings was just leaving.

“How is he now, doctor?” Verless inquired.

“Weak, but he will live. He’s under mild sedation of course, for control, but if you need to speak to him you should be able to.”

“Very well, Dr. Hennings. I do need to question the prisoner.”

“Speaking of prisoners,” the doctor went on “perhaps I had better go look in on our newest guests.”

“That won’t be necessary doctor, I have just come from their cell myself and they are as well as can be expected.” Capt Verless, like Vorpal, knew that Dr. Hennings had a penchant for young kids, and he wanted to keep them seperate if at all possible.

“But the health of all on board is my respon…”

“Dr. Hennings, are you questioning my evaluation?”

“Oh no no no” was the stuttered reply, and Hennings scuttled off.

Verless entered Kenezr’s cell, which unlike the detention center was merely a small, barren room. The man on the bed looked dreadful, having numerous bandages, a patch over his left eye, and bruises to many to count. But he was awake and turned his head towards the door.

“I heard what you said to him” slurred Kenezr. “You can tell?”

“Yes, Hennings is a nasty one” Capt Verless replied loudly(for the sake of the wire) Now you will have your turn to listen, like those brats did. Do you understand?"

Kenezr peered blearily at the notewriter with his one good eye, scanned the short note on it, and nodded to show his agreement.

[ivylass]

Verless left Kenezr’s cell and made his way to his quarters. What he was planning was dangerous, but no more risky than the rest of his escape plan. But he had to make sure there would be someone to help him once he left the ship with the prisoners.

Sitting at his desk, he accessed his comm. He sent a quick message to Trontiann’s ship using Captain’s Code. To make sure the message was indeed secure, he encoded it again with a passkey created from a Xavvian lullaby.

He erased all record of his transmission, then sat back, trying to calm his racing heart. The next step would be tricky, but if he succeeded, no one would know they were gone until it was too late to do anything about it.

He opened a drawer in his desk, pulling out a bit of cloth. He unwrapped the fabric, revealing a small seed pod, about three inches around, a dusky green in color.

Verless carefully extracted three of the seeds from the pod, each seed no bigger than the head of a pin. He rewrapped the cloth and put it away.

Concealing the seeds in his hand, he left his quarters, headed for Vorpal’s suite.

The hard part would be slipping the seeds in President’s nightcap without his notice. The drowser seeds were very effective, but they could change the flavor of the drink, depending on the beverage.

He would have to hope the President was not sipping Cerean grass wine.

[Baker]

Kathy did as M’Kayla directed and let the pulse of the music take her. She found to her surprise that it was not a distraction, but an aid to learning, much like the metrics or rhyme of a poem or a song are an aid to memorization.

What passed between the two was not exactly telepathy. M’Kayla was not imparting word for word instruction as a textbook would. Rather, she was creating a fantasia of images that Kathy’s mind interpreted in it’s own way into directions on crystal use. This had long been found to be more effective than verbal instruction especially between those of different species, as these two women were. This way there was littli if any chance of misunderstanding.

When they “arrived” at using crystals and frequencies in a covert or offensive manner(subjects some couriers chose to avoid all together, preferring simpler duties), M’Kayla sensed that Kathy was using the color red in her mental images. She wondered if that meant she was thinking about red crystals. Just before the Xavvian sensed she had given Kathy all she could for the time being, M’Kayla remembered that humans have red blood. Shiver

As the connection was broken Kathy spoke and said “I think I’m ready now. The pain is gone too. But I tried tracing the syncing back and we need more than crystals here I think. This Astrid Vorpal *does know where I am, and he is on his way!”

M’Kayla and Kathy called Vicki in again, and together they all began making plans for the coming battle.