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WARBIRDS |
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When you are seriously assessing the
benefits of suicide over listening to that same damned Merry-Go-Round tune
for the next four years, you were in trouble. Dane lay on
her side on a camping cot they’d assembled for her. One hand barely clutched
a pen hovering over a checklist, the other dangled over the side into a
cardboard box she dragged over. Even though the
whole park had shut down two hours ago the
obsessively repetitive jingle jingled obsessively in her head. Perhaps if someone had a fed a
children’s choir Estasy before singing Humpty
Dumpty in an endless round the same effect on mental continuity could be reproduced. The air was stagnant with the
gathering of a summer storm and it seemed to hum in anticipation. Lights
flickered in the sky and the ominous rumble of thunder approached swiftly.
Catheters. What idiot decided to pack the
old catheters and ship them across the ocean? She checked the them off
anyway. It was probably Rosalie trying to squeeze new equipment out of the
managers by giving them all the old stuff. She lifted it up into the horridly
yellow fluorescent lighting and could see the soft spots in the translucent
tube. Really, it needed to be tossed out but it was neither
in her authority or personality to make the decision herself. Yawning widely, she flipped over and
stretched her back. With her body still in a flexible arch, she opened one
eye. While she knew Tribe wasn’t being over cautious by having a spotter observe the
Colony in their first night in their new home, it was still a pain. As soon
as each individual was established in a fork they
began munching. Matilda, the elderly matriarch had
patrolled the edge of the cage but quickly established her roost. Dane froze in midarch.
Lawson, the elder of the two males was
climbing down. He was a rumpy old man, brought
because of his docile nature for photographing. His idea of athleticism was
reaching for the branch on the far side but now he was almost falling down
his branch in an effort to reach the bottom, snorting and sneezing. She dropped back onto the cot and
propped herself onto her elbows and watched as he prowled along the chain
wire and to her amazement began to climb it! It was strong enough to keep the
koala in but sagged against his hefty weight. “Aw, now now
big fuhla, where do you think you’re going,” she
said in comforting tones as she swung her feet to the floor. He tugged at a
paw persistently as a duclaw stuck. Equally,
something was tugging at Dane, slight unease. She unhooked it and tried to
coerce him back onto the cement floor. It shouldn’t
be misunderstood, Dane’s unease came not from some deep spiritual understand.
If it had, life there on would have been a good deal easier but Dane had the
sensitivity of a frostbitten limb. No, her unease came from reading her
charge. His large downy ears flicked back and forth anxiously and he paced,
well, waddled the length of the cage again. She stood back her head on her
shoulder, following him intently. On the other side, the other male, Perhaps she could call Tribe, ask him
what to do and maybe even administer a mild sedative but she could already
hear his answer. He would be sarcastic. She’d
rather tangle with a bear then talk to the man when he was sarcastic.
Besides, it wasn’t as if he was hurting himself, he was
just a little bit overwhelmed about his new surroundings. Dane could
sympathise. Stifling another yawn, she dropped
heavily back onto the cot and reached underneath it for the little container
of rice they’d given her. As a uni student paying
her own way and accommodation she well knew the benefits of rice and whatever
condiments were left gathering dust at the back of
the cupboard, but the fair people of The last though trailed off, flying in
the face of all evidence. Lawson uttered a guttural growl like a
rusting muffler. “Nah mate, no girls for you around
here,” she said mildly but he was now turning circles around his stump. He
blinked myopically up at her as she approached the cage again. He still
growled, louder and more urgent. His ears were flicking as if aspiring after Dumbo. BAM! The keeper jerked away with a terrified
squawk, looking up to the roof for the source of the gunshot like clatter and
saw a considerable dent in corrugated iron. It was followed
by long scratching and then by three lighter bang! Bang! Bangs!
For the absurdist of moments Dane tried to calm her racing
heart by telling herself it was just possums getting frisky but suddenly
another loud bang and a blast of air rushed over the building rattling the
roof like storm winds, but the air still had the sticky stagnant feel as it
prepared for what would probably be an aerial warzone
later that night. She
stood up slowly, because with second explosion she dropped to the floor, and
looked over the Colony. Lawson sat facing the base of his stump, Matilda had
opened a single sleepy eye and the others were
sitting up alert, possibly. You could never really tell. After a moment
nosing the air they took the opportunity for a midnight snack. Raking her hair back, even though more
firecracker explosions boomed above she was getting a grip. She was told to
not let the little furballs get hurt, so that’s what she’d do. If she didn’t
know what danger they were in she couldn’t do that so logically she should go
outside and figure out what all the fuss was about. As she thought this over more
firecrackers were zooming around outside. Shriekers
by the sound of them, with one so big she almost imagined the building
shaking. “Okay, you guys stay there, don’t
worry I’ll be right back.” Matilda yawned then went back to browsing even as
she heard glass shatter outside. “No. Really. No protests please, I’ll be perfectly safe, no
need to get worked up about it.” They could’ve
been robbers hoping to burgle sideshow alley so it made sense not to go out
unarmed. There was a good deal of medication and darts for the kangaroos, but
she wasn’t licensed so she left them alone. Pole dart. She may not be able to give them actual
medication, but she could fill it with water and some of the curry packet
that came with her rice and they wouldn’t know any
better. Good idea, Dane, let’s
go. She filled the empty rice container
with water and dumped the curry in stirring it thoroughly then picking
through a tackle box even as light as bright as a lightning flash flared
beneath the door. She loaded the dart, clearing it of air with a measured tap
then strapped it to what was for lack of a technical term, a pole. My, how the world of science advances. Sharp things on sticks. Still, she felt suitably dangerous and
reasonably grumpy, a combination that would see any attackers running from
the hills. On a three count she opened the door and
in the stuttering lamp light she saw nothing out of the ordinary. The broad
boardwalk opened into a pebbled crossroads where food vendors set up during
the day. There was one corner of the macropod fence, but directly across from
Aussieland was sideshow alley. Now it was quiet and empty now but still well
lit. City life and lights took some getting used to. With a firm grip on the pole dart, she
stepped out into the open and closed the door behind her. Lawson was still
grunting but everything seemed silent once more. Further down the bulbs in
some of the lampposts had blown. There. A perfectly
reasonable explanation. No drama. Thin glazes of light reflecting off the shards scattering the
pathway. And that blast of wind? The air
rustled restlessly with the smell of ozone and the moon
darted from behind heavy cloud cover lit from within with sudden lightning
bursts and another sudden bark of thunder Dane cringed away from. However the post being bent clean in
half was a new one on her, as well as a pothole where one was completely
missing. Suddenly the air whistled overhead and
from the corner of her eye she saw something
careening over the macropod fence like a javelin. At first
she thought it was a javelin but as it screamed on high she saw it was no
trick of perspective and it really was as tall as… Well… A lamp post.
She darted for cover, scrambling into
a rose hedge. The crossroads exploded in powder and
rubble. The gouged cement fountained into the air
before it came to a halt, buried to its waist and inches from a vendor’s cart
humming like a tuning fork. Dane waved the air away, coughing and
rubbing her eyes, waiting for the coast to be clear before climbing from her
nest of thorns. She wondered if freak rains of lampposts were common in “Um, hey. I’m new around here so I
don’t know if I’m intruding or anything,” she said with her best attempt at a
cheery smile. “But d’ya reckon you could take it down the road or something. Oh,
and if you could mash the merry-go-round you’d make a lil’
fella very happy.” She approached slowly with her hand
extended. On closer inspection it wasn’t very ogre-ish at all but more like those scary women on steroids in
bodybuilding competitions. It, er, she had bright
red skin and her hands morphing like playdough into
dumbbells. The handshake was out of the question. “Ha, the lecturers weren’t
kidding when they said you guys put hormones in the water supply. Note to
self…” As she spoke, he- she- it, ignored her
hand after a quizzical expression, probably didn’t speak English, and ambled
around the earthed post in an assessing way before tearing it back out. It
groaned like heavy machinery. More rubble scattered across what was left of
the crossroads and as she (it was probably a she, it was wearing a metal bra
of sorts) advanced grinning. Finally Dane felt slight unease
dawning. It was her firm belief that bad things only happened to stupid
people, but she was beginning to see flaws in the hypothesis. It was
happening to her for a start. She bumped against the off-limit’s door, the
handle bulging in her back she could hear Lawson still grumbling. Right, the koalas. Keep them from getting into
trouble, or keep trouble from getting to them as the
case seemed to be. Dane cast around for her pointy stick, which poked out
from under the bush. Edging sideways and still maintaining a placating smile she pulled it out and held it in front of her like a
fencing sword. “Mate, mate just chill. We’re all good
aren’t we?” The she-hulk swung the lamp post like a
batter coming to the plate, taking out the small You-Are-Here map with
prominent splintering. “No? Well, this is-” She held up syringe up into the
bluish fluorescent light with her brain digging furiously, “This is Pee Gee
Eff Two Alpha, so unless you wanna nasty phantom
pregnancy…” She trailed off again realising how stupid it sounded. Her
shoulders slumped, letting out an exaggerated sigh, and jabbed the stick
again. It laughed,
that same sound of grinding machinery. It flexed a bulging bicep and Dane let
out an astonished yelp as red lightning crackled around its closed fist. That’s it! Everybody
out of the pool! Another stroke of lightning pounded
the earth in the distance and she could swear the offlimits
shed shook. Her hand had been fumbling for the
handle behind her back but before she could twist it
she was struck. At first she didn’t know what by except it felt like the
static jolt equivalent of a road train. The pain!
She still reeled from the first blast, clawing mindlessly against the door
like a rat in a corner, and she barely recognized the second strike. The
second was slimy and insidious, something, something intangible, something… Like
a leech? Or a.. or… Something occurred to her
in a flash- -An image. During an assignment on ocean
trench life there had been a picture of a dead whale, its pallid carcass
stripped of skin and chunks being pried lose by a
blind, deep dwelling shark. What was more it was blanketed worms… only they weren’t worms, and they weren’t fish because they had no
jaws. They were proto-fish, lampreys that could only eat by burying their
entire head up to their pharyngeal slits, gorging themselves on the decaying
blubber and wriggling, working spiny rasps deeper and deeper into- -My soul? As pain
wracked her physically and something worse assaulted that which she had
always scoffed at. Her soul, her being, her whatever, and conscious
thought regrouped. She braced herself against the cement wall and squinted
through the crackling red light that enveloped her. Hot tears that hadn’t been there scant seconds before ran down her face.
The creature paused to take a breath and she gasped, scuffing her cheek with
the back of her hand and staring at it blankly. What was happening? What was that
viscerally invasive feeling continued to worm deeper and deeper? A third spasm hit as she looked up
into the leering face of the she-man. All of a sudden
that soul-worm sprouted its own rasps, stabbing and leaching, prying and
tearing- Again her vocabulary struggled. Her energy?
Her soul? Something was squeezing her like a lemon
and whatever it was, it was being
sucked away in pulsating surges which it gulped at greedily. The more it left her, the more
she struggled to stay conscious. Her eyelids sagged and she couldn’t even hold a thought for more than a moment.
Everything was fading to black. Was this dying? What was everybody whinging
about? It was actually quite pleasant once you got past the agony. She let
out a small sigh, and let oblivion take her. Flash! Light invaded her dark vision. “Mwahahahaa!”
She-man
crowed! Even though she was curled in a ball
struggling to breath, the seed of a smirk arose on her smothered face because
she recognised the tone instantly. It was the triumph of one who’s
unexpectedly found a fifty dollar note in the pocket
of an old pair of jeans. He-she squealed and the spines dug deeper. But even though the sickening draining
sensation remained, it was as if someone had stuck the straw in an
ocean instead of a milk glass. Suck all it wanted there was no end.
Behind closed eyelids
she saw the spokes of lightning branching through the clouds leaching colour
from the world. As the thunder unrolled after it deep and menacing, Dane
surged to her feet more charged then an eight year old on red cordial. She
flung out her arm and She-Man recoiled as if physically struck. In its moment of weakness
something flitted down from the trees like jungle darts, pink, red, lavender
blurs of motion. They touched ground and launched themselves at the beast but
the junior keeper couldn’t track the movement. She
stood up leaning against the door and regaining her breath watching the comet
tails of movement dance around the She-Man attentively even though moments
before she’d stood on the edge of oblivion. The red comet flickered, and She-Man’s reeled backwards. The speeding blur had slowed down
just enough for Dane to glimpse the woman inside it. A heavy heeled boot had
put a dent in He-She’s overdeveloped pectorals and Red had used it to flip
backwards, landing on all fours like a squashed spider. And
to her further fascination the cracked pavement seemed to liquefy. Small
concentric ripples in the dirt pushed out from beneath Red’s palms gaining
momentum into cresting waves of fractured earth. A blast of light erupted
overhead emanating from the pink blur which again paused long enough to
attack, pale blonde hair being yanked by the budding storm winds. Dane shielded her
eyes against the glare and when her vision returned the purple blur was gone.
No… wait. She was leaning against the building watching
with the harassed expression of someone with something better to do then wait
to clean up someone else’s mess. What was more now that she could see the
third girl, they were all wearing the same
conspicuous school girl collar of the sushi, er, senshi. And since Dane was feeling
unusually curious and she was out of the line of fire, she ambled over. “G’day.” Even though she’d come from the
shadows with an appropriate malevolent thunderclap, Purple only grunted in
acknowledgement and didn’t take her impatient gaze from the trio who’d turned
the crossroads into a mud puddle. She-man swung his lamp
post at Pink but she leapt over it and sent another beam of light to
blind it, opening it to a blizzard of red crystals. Dane slumped beside purple, and also watched the show. “Yeah, anyhow, I was s'ink’n I was one of you blokes. See I have all these
annoying dreams, and I don’t act like myself any
more and, well, that’s the gist of it? What should I do?” “Stop taking drugs.” It surprised the keeper. Clearly it had been spoken aloud in a foreign language,
but what was more it spoke directly to her brain and still had the bored
tones of a popular author replying to the question, “Where do you get your
ideas?” “I don’t do drugs.” At this point
Purple finally dragged her attention away from her charges and gave Dane a
pretentious up-down glance. “Then start taking drugs, I don’t
care. Just go inside so I don’t have to protect your sorry butt.” Purple
sighed heavily. There had only ever been two answers to this demand, and
neither had ever resulted in the demandee doing
what the demander demanded, namely getting their sorry butt out of harms way.
The first was a firm declaration that they’ll never
leave her side, meaning the amethyst warrior would have to stand ground and
defend, or the nimrod would throw themselves in front of an easily dodged
beam with a heartfelt but redundant “Noooooo!” She did not expect her to take the
third option. “Thanks, cheers,” Dane said with
disturbing enthusiasm that it earned a second glance from Purple. So Dane had been
deranged from the start. It was nice to have the weight of not knowing
off her shoulders and was tempted to whistle as she slipped the door ignoring
the rumbling thunder and escalating lightshow. When the door clicked behind her she
looked up, paused thoughtfully for a moment before sticking her head back out
into the open. “Hey! Hey ol’mate.
Mate in the purple!” Purple froze where she stood, which so
happened to be on top of He-She’s head ready to plunge a spear of some sort
between its vertebras. Pinky balanced on its back
siphoning off energy and managing to keep the creature still while Red had
her hands on the ground and manipulated the saturated earth into swallowing
its arms and legs to restrict movement further still. Purple stood with mouth
open in scandalized shock at the very thought of being referred to as
anyone's ‘mate’ while the other two smirked with eyes twinkling. Clearly this was going to be used for later merriment
despite the Purple’s threats of disembowelment. “Yeah, mate. Is there a Mardi Gra on at the moment?” “No!” Purple spluttered angrily. “Cheers, s'anks.” Dane ducked her head back in. “G’day. U’fortunetly the
photo-ops start in two weeks time, and are between ‘leven
and twelve each day. So you know, if you could come
back then we’ll be good to go, eh?” Standing in the middle of the off limits area cradling Lawson stood a figure, and it didn’t
take a genius to realise with the fruity dress and shepherds crook he was a
part of the circus outside. The difference was he was inside, and he had
Lawson. The figure strolled leisurely into the
light, bouncing Lawson like a baby who was beginning to get agitated. He was well trained however and only making vague scratching
motions instead of doing the man’s flesh like a cheese grater as he was
capable of. It was a man, a very ambiguous man but
a man nether the less. He was tall, rail thin with shaggy olive coloured hair
on top of which was balanced a tall bucket hat
similar to the ancient Egyptian priests. Come to the thought, everything
about him was reminiscent of ancient When he wasn’t
responding she stepped further into the light. So far
he didn’t look or feel violent, more serene as he hummed tunelessly and
bobbed Lawson, but Dane wasn’t prone to sudden fits of stupid. She wanted to
try and pry Lawson away from him but she still felt
the sickly effects of He-She’s leach and palm lightning combo. She also didn’t want to approach him from behind in case he became
unpredictable. Chewing the inside of her mouth she came to a decision. She walked up to him and
stuck her hand out. “G’day, I’m Dane. Can I have
Lawson back?” “No,” the man answered, still
smiling and staring intently at the skylights. The first fat raindrop hit it
noiselessly, followed by another spoke of lightning and resounding thunder
that vibrated against her spine. “We’re Sothis.” “He’s Lawson,” she corrected with her
hand still out awkwardly. “We’re Sothis,”
Fruity repeated. A long silence followed and Dane felt she was out of
options, or more precisely there were many options on the table but she didn’t want to risk any of them. Suddenly a
wave of light rolled over the top of the skylight, bright violet blinding out
the lightning and pouring over the two of them. She hid her eyes and very
briefly considered snatching Lawson and running, but suddenly Sothis heaved a contented sigh. “Ahh,” he
exhaled long and breathily, a light of recognition finally coming into his
eyes and a devious smirk spread over his full lips. There was something
entirely rodent-like about the expression. Dane went to step back but when
she glanced at her feet to keep herself from tripping a strange mist sifted
around her ankles, twisting with colours of pink, red, purple, blue but
predominantly a cool satiny grey. What was more she had the distinct
impression she didn’t want to step on it. The self proclaimed
Sothis chortled again, and if Dane’s eyebrow had
anywhere left to go it would have been hefted further up her forehead. Never
in her life had she actually heard someone chortle. Sure she’d
read it in literature which thought the more obscure the word the more
sophisticated it sounded, or even rendered onomatopoeically as “Teeheehaha,” but she’d never considered anyone would
chortle in real life. Ignoring her staring, Sothis curled his finger beckoningly and the grey mist
uncoiled itself from the rest and snaked around the finger. “It seems,” Sothis
said silkily, catching her eye and holding it. “That the senshi
have destroyed my minion but I still have the energy it collection.” He
appeared to count the colours inside. “Four senshi,
not bad if Sothis does say so himself. We only saw
three. How many did you count?” “The chicks in skirts?” “Sometimes skirts,” he conceded. “But
not always. I like skirts, they show off my legs
nicely.” “I’ll bet. You’ve got better legs then
I have,” she said, feeling slightly embarrassed as she stuck out her own
stumpy leg for inspection. “Quite, have you considered
moisturisers? This planet has some wonderful cosmetics.” “Nah, I hate the slimy feel.” Dane
hesitate, feeling distracted. “I only saw three too.” “Five? But there’s only four senshi aura’s here.” Sothis
stepped prissily into the midst of the mist and shuffled around looking for
an extra colour. “Uh, I meant I saw three as well. What’s the grey bits?” “That’s the ordinary people’s energy. Oooh, a dozen,
maybe more tonight. They don’t have much to
give, not as much as senshi but why look a gift
horse in the mouth. What a funny aphorism. Why would you look a horse in the
mouth?” “To check how old it is. Dental care. You can tell a lot about how an owner looks
after its animal by its teeth. It’s to make sure you don’t get swindled.” Again they exchanged glances that they were being
sidetracked. “I like that! But
I’m only looking for senshi. They have something I
need.” Pursing his lips, he sucked at the pastel mists, sipping it like a
wine snob. “Hmm, quite the cheeky red!” “Have you considered asking?” “You know, I never have, but taking is
more fun. More of a challenge. When you’re immortal
you’ve got to find ways to keep yourself busy, hobbies and such thing?” “Oh yeah, definitely.
Well, I guess you’ve got what you want. I’ll take
Lawson and you can be on your way, huh?” Sothis appeared to check his wrist which was sans watch. “Well, there’s
still a lot of night time left and I don’t want to slack off. You seem to
understand, nothing personal but these spells take such a lot of energy to
conjure. If it’s any consolation I have a much more
gentle touch then the summons. It’s about being professional, I always say.”
He sighed wistfully. “Sothis enjoyed talking to
you, didn’t we? Yes we did, it’s so hard to find someone to chat to, to
really get things off your chest.” “Well, you don’t have to suck me dry
you know. Maybe you could pop round regularly, ya’know? A weekly
session?” Sothis shrugged helplessly with grimy
bangs falling across his eyes. He flipped them back with a gesture of my
hands are tied, “Like we said, it’s about being professional and if work
got out people would think Sothis was sloppy. I
regret this, I really do.” “Not as much as me I’ll bet.” “Haha,
that’s cute. Bye!” Sothis smiled gently and Dane
looked away cringing, waiting for the blow. Everything had gone quiet except
for her own slightly ragged breathing, the tapping of his high
heeled sandals and the grim mutterings of the storm that was almost on
top of them. She could try to make a run for it, but the chances were slim
and it would make him angry. Same with a sudden attack.
She had arms like a girl but a kick like a mule. She really wished she knew
more about what this was all about, perhaps if she had actually read those
articles Tribe gave her rather then just pretending to read… When the tapping of his heels stopped,
she opened one eye and in that instant the black red and gold crook swiped
above her head and she felt a tug, like a balloon caught in a breeze. Sothis made the sipping sound again and suddenly stopped,
stepping back and using the crook to tilt Dane’s chin to look him in the eye
that were hard as chips of topaz. They glinted ratlike
again. “Oh…oh this is an unexpected but welcome surprise. We may not have
found the mouse but we have at least found the cheese.” His eyes became soft
and milky again. “I’m sorry.” “Oh boy,” Dane whispered to herself.
“You poor schizo-bastard. I guess immortality does increase your chances of
Alzheimer’s.” “Admittedly yes, but I set myself a
goal, and setting a goal is the first step towards success,” Sothis beamed, the hat tilting rakishly to the side as he
shuffled Lawson into a more comfortable position. Difficult as he was trying
to bury himself in the man’s armpit. He did notice however
Dane watched the grey bear rather then himself. “Unfortunately using you is a
step towards that goal.” He emphasized this with another sweeping step
forward. “Now if you’ll just be accommodating, I’ll put you through unbearable
agony and we can both be on our merry way, capish?” “Everything except capish.”
Dane said swallowing hard and stepping backwards again. “What happened to
professionalism?” The face
jerked a bit in indecision settling on silent remorse. He jabbed the crook at
her chest and she collapsed on the floor gasping. Gazing down to her
amazement, smoky blue light was coaxed from her
chest like a charmed snake. Dane screamed again, feeling the rasps dig
deeper. “You do have a vivid, if slightly morbid imagination. Lampreys are they? Because I like you I’ll
dedicate them to you, my lampraiths. It has a
sinister ring to them with all the awfulness of a flesh eating
scavenger!” The crook swooshed
again above her head and two incandescent lampreys sat on her chest. Dane
screamed in horror and nearly blacked out at the sight of them. She scrambled
away but they only gouged at the soul. They sucked and sucked but she still didn’t feel welcomed blackness the He-She Summon had
brought, they just kept ripping and tearing at the shredded mat of her khaki
uniform bleeding her dry. She tried to pry them off but her fingers brushed
through their ghostly forms. “Oh come
on Aello! Do I need to kick you?” “Make it stop!” she whimpered, curling
into a ball and pawing at her chest. She was practically choking as her own
hair muffled her words. She forced herself to her knees panting. “Please Sothis! Don’t!” “Hey sirrah sirrah!” he sang to drown out her voice. “What’s the next
line?” “Help!” “No that’s not it.” Sothis
was beginning to get impatient. He stared down at the girl huddled against
the wall, frantically groping at the summons. More and more of her energy
flowed out but it felt never ending. That was because he was no longer
tapping the pleasantly conversational girl but her glittering starseed which
acted as a conduit for her planet many lightyears
away. His own fuzzy thought, the voices, the many voices all
screaming at him. Do it! Do it! The fat grey bear in his arms jockied for a better hold, tangling in the long belled
sleeves of his robe, grunting and growling like a chainsaw. Do it! He did. His crook lashed out
connecting with her jaw with a loud crack. The girl's howls of pain severed
violently as her mouth hung loosely. Tears wept down her cheeks and her eyes
flickered on the brink of consciousness, but something also flickered with
vague annoyance between a brown box filled with medical nicknacks
and the bear. Aha. “Well!” Sothis
suddenly exclaimed brightly with all the wooden talent of an Australian soap
actor. He waved away the lampraiths dispersing into
hoary wisps. “It seems I did have wrong person. Sorry for the inconvenience,
perhaps I will drop round for another session next week. They think I have
unresolved issues with my mother. Ciao! Oh by the way.
I’ve always wanted a pet so I think I will take your
bear. He’s cute, in an ugly kind of way.” Dane uttered a weak articulation of
‘No’ but couldn’t as another jag of pain surged
through her dislocated jaw. She inched forward, free
of the lampraiths but the paralysing pain of her
jaw had replaced it. Damn it she had to go after Lawson! As she lay, trying to control her
haggard breathing a thread of helpless frustration. She had to go after him!
She had to! The litany repeated in her head and each time it was reinforced by burst of energy. She was
so focused on going after him she never noticed the energy suffusing
her, limbering her cramped and tense muscles. Electricity branched overhead and the
first fat raindrop went phlut against
the corrugated metal. The sick yellow lamps of the off limits area flickered
and died, but a soft glow still pooled around Dane’s body. She felt a tickle. She squashed the
need immediately as another jag of pain hit her hard. But
again, an itch, itchee, itchee.
She turned her head and held her breath. Tickle, tickle… “Whaa! Ahhh- Ahhh-chooo!” A bold and blinding flash of light, stilled the air and cut the night. Vivid lightning,
cascading cloud as an insignia blazed across her brow. Enveloped in a liquid
glow, her clothes dissolved and a power flowed over her arms, across her
breast. She felt a silky fabric caress her throat, her chest, her arms and
thighs, while a raindrops pattered from a violent
sky. It lifted her willingly to her feet as her heart thudded a staccato
beat. Tempest winds tossed a hair and feathers alike and as newly sandaled
feet touched down, she was spoiling for a fight. |
Dane
was oblivious as she mustered every screed of energy to keep her eyes
open. She stuck her hand blindly into the box and pulled something
out. Identifying the rectal thermometer, she flicked through the pages
and ticked it off before putting it into the pile. She slumped back
down, building her strength to make another soul-sapping effort.
