Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old June 21, 1999, 09:52   #1
Velociryx
staff
PtWDG Gathering StormApolytoners Hall of FameC4DG Gathering StormThe Courts of Candle'Bre
Moderator
 
Velociryx's Avatar
 
Local Time: 05:25
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Apr 1999
Location: of Candle'Bre
Posts: 8,664
Episode Eleven
Episode XI: Pets....
The Apartment of Lady Deidre Skye

The scream that erupted in his head was sharp enough to break Deidre’s communal channel, and as the ghastly images began fading from his mind, Velociryx had never felt such a sense of relief in his entire life.

It was short-lived.

The terror that flooded all through his body was nearly enough to send him into a convulsive fit.

“Velociryx....what is it? What’s wrong?” Deidre’s hands had slipped from his temples, and now framed his face. Concern evident in her eyes.

He tried to speak, but the terror paralyzed him.

***Danger....We have need of you, Son of Chiron*** That calming voice again.

***Planet?***

***The same, child....you must return to your home.***

“I must return to my home.” He repeated, his voice thick and heavy.

He stood.

Deidre had thought to ask why, but when she heard that sound in his voice, she understood. He was communing. A brief stab of envy assaulted her. But why not? He was clearly a part of the intricate, delicate system, and now, with her experiences as his own, that was even more pronounced.

The envy faded, and was replaced with a smile. “Walk the Planet, Velociryx.” She whispered as he moved slowly towards her door.

He did not answer back.
***

Psi-energy. That was what he had detected. In town? That was impossible. He was the only Human capable of such a thing, and of course there couldn’t be any MindWorms in town. At least not without starting a general panic.

Still, it was coming from somewhere.

He turned a part of his cybernetic awareness loose to begin tracking it. Felt the computer in his head leaping into action, powering up. He closed his eyes as he walked. Senses keyed up to the point now where he did not even need his sight. It felt great. Better than great.

He added to that feeling by building up an answering call of Psi-energy, to let whatever it was that was crying out to him know that he was coming. The cry was tiny, and he Like a mother hen clucking to her chicks.

The terror in the Psi-scream abated somewhat.

***I’m coming, little one.*** He telepathed.

Calming. Calming. He could feel it.

And suddenly the location floated up to him from his cybernetic awareness.

He nearly stopped walking.

His apartment.

But how?

It did not matter.

He ran.
***

“Get it off!” Kennerly screamed as the tiny Locusts launched themselves toward him, bee-lining toward his left ear. It was quick and its movements erratic, and Sergeant Detrick couldn’t quite get his hands around the mass of wriggling larvae.

As Detrick struggled with it, something tickled the back of Lieutenant Wilkes’ neck. Maybe it was too many years as a policeman, or maybe just blind luck, but something made him go to the window.

He peered down the quiet street.

It took him a moment, but he made out a shadow. Man sized. Running.

Almost no doubting who it was.

“Damn!” He muttered, turning back to his men.

Detrick had finally grabbed ahold of the writhing larvae and was trying to decide what to do with it next.

“We’ve got to go....just....throw it to the corner or something!” Wilkes told him more loudly than he would have liked.

Detrick drew back and released with all his strength.

The tiny locusts, their wings under developed, attempted to brake, but they were not fast or strong enough. They smacked loudly into the wall, and several of their number died on impact, streaking the wall with their russet colored blood, and the whole mass landing on the floor near the corner. Flopping. Writhing. Trying to get back in the air.

Detrick took two steps toward it, intent on stomping it out, but Wilkes grabbed his arm. “No time.” He muttered and hauled his men out the door just ahead of him. Left the door standing wide open, and went out the back way, not two minutes before Velociryx came pounding up the stairs to his home.

Once they were well clear of the place, they paused to catch their breaths.

“How bad, Kennerly?” Wilkes asked him breathlessly.

Kennerly shook his head. “Hurts some, but....I’ll be okay.” He wiped his hand across the side of his head, and came away with a small amount of blood.

He nodded, and they were quiet for a long moment.

“Hadn’t been expecting that....keepin’ worms in his house! In town, no less!” Detrick muttered blackly. “Worm lovin’ bastard!”

“One more bit of proof that he’s dangerous.”

“Yeah....damned thing attacked me!” Kennerly said glumly.

“Well....it’s not like we can report the incident.”

And that was true. They fell silent again.

“So I guess I’ll be needing to get ahold of my buddy on Former Duty.”

Wilkes nodded.

“I’ll call him tomorrow....see what he can put together for us.”

“It’s more important than ever, in light of finding the worms.” Wilkes told them. “He may be breeding them....we don’t know.”

Frightening thought indeed. Breeding mindworms in a residential section of the colony.

“We should have killed the one we found.” Kennerly said.

“No....that’ll slow Velociryx down. He’ll see the door open. Find the worm. It’ll be on him to make sure none of them get loose, and that will keep him busy.”

“I don’t like playing Russian Roulette with innocent lives though.”

“I’m not fond of it either, but somebody’s got to do something.” Wilkes said tiredly. “Here we’ve got a guy....this worm-loving, Psi-weilding freak of nature living right in our midst....he’s breeding worms in his apartment and carrying around the only shredder pistol in the whole colony....if we’re going to do something about it, then there are going to be risks....I don’t like it, but it’s what we’re facing.”

The silence returned yet again.

“If we’re gonna do it then....why stop at one gun? I say we get at least three....one for each of us, and maybe a few more besides.”

Wilkes shook his head. “I can agree to three, Sergeant, but no more than that. That’ll give us each a weapon, and that’s enough. We don’t want to turn this place into an armed camp, so before we get any more guns than these first three, we’ve all got to agree, yes?”

They nodded their assent.

“Okay....call your friend, Detrick. The sooner the better....no telling how many more worms he’s got up there.”

“Tomorrow.” Detrick replied.

And the conspiracy deepened.
***

He closed the door to his apartment, and relocked it. Now anyone who might still be inside was trapped. The would-be theives would have to come through him to escape, unless they wanted to try their luck with the window and the thorny but beautiful bushes that lined the building.

Considering the mood he was in, the thorn bushes would probably be the safer of the two ideas.

He stood still for a moment to control his breathing, stretching out his awareness and feeling for the neural connections of Planet.

At about the same time he latched onto one, he saw the blood stains on the wall.

As if responding to his connection to the planetary consciousness, the tiny larval mass flopped weakly and as a single body on the floor. So many of its tiny wings had been damaged that it could not even hope to lift itself.

Velociryx went to the tiny mass of creatures, so interwoven that they became a single unit, a single being. He could feel the fear growing in the little creature as he drew nearer, and sent out peaceful, soothing thoughts to it.

In a moment, he felt the fear subsiding.

He knelt beside it.

Held out a hand slowly.

The creature quivered.

He gently stroked and petted. “There now, little brother....it’s okay....everything will be okay now....”

Images flooded into his head. Big, faceless Humans....three of them, maybe more, it was difficult to tell....a constricting feeling as a massive hand clamped down on the tiny larval mass, and the force of impact with the wall. It was a lucky thing that the impact didn’t kill it.

Gently, he lifted the creature and held it to his chest. “I have no idea how you came to be here, little brother....or why, but I know what to do now that you are here....”

The would be thieves be damned! Anything they wanted from his apartment, they could have. He had a higher mission at the moment.

Planetsong whispering in his ears, Velociryx left his apartment door standing wide open, just as the thieves had done, and went out into the night.

It would be a long walk.



[This message has been edited by Velociryx (edited June 22, 1999).]
Velociryx is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 01:25.


Design by Vjacheslav Trushkin, color scheme by ColorizeIt!.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2010, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Apolyton Civilization Site | Copyright © The Apolyton Team