Jet Dixon
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Dawn Revere |
Chapter 18 –The Birds' Nest
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Jet Dixon
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Dawn Revere |
Chapter 18 –The Birds' Nest
"What are they going to do with us?" Dawn asked as she pointed towards the approaching winged shapes. Their escape from the Kallusian fleet had nearly led them to ruin. Running out of fuel within the treacherous mountain range, even Jet's prodigious skills could not save them. Something from the fantastic city perched atop a mountain peak had. It had brought their rocket to a halt and lifted them towards the city.
Jet peered at them. The wings were unmistakable, but the figures did not exactly look like birds. Then again, this was the strange world of Atla. Birds might look a great deal different. "I don't know." He turned to Dr. Harkov. "Doc, now that they're getting closer, I'd like to say that those are men with wings."
"What's that, Jet?" Harkov replied. His view was fixed upon the city built upon the mountain peak. To his eyes, it looked like something out of Metropolis or out of Amazing Stories. He wondered how the super-scientific city was supported by the thin rock. "Anti-gravity perhaps?" he mused.
"Not men," Dawn cried. "Those are women, winged women!" Dawn's words were clearly true. A regiment of winged females were flying towards their floating rocketship. The women's wings extended under their arms. They were a biological part of them, not artificial extensions. They all wore leather strapped outfits and carried long grey metallic rods in their hands.
"They're armed," Jet noted, "but I don't know with what. Look like clubs to me."
"I'd wager those rods are a lot more than that. That city of theirs is a technological marvel. I would think their warriors would be equipped with more than simple clubs."
"I was just being hopeful. That's all the Redpeople had," Jet replied. He was glad to be away from those red-skinned barbarians.
"Should we defend ourselves?" Dawn asked anxiously.
After looking at the control panel, Jet shook his head. "No power to do it with. Unless they've got some kind of weapons locker in here. Doc?"
Dr. Harkov started rifling through some of the cabinets within the ship. They were filled with a wide variety of equipment, but nothing looked like a weapon of any sort. There was one cabinet that Harkov could not open. He figured that there might be weapons inside, but there was no time to pry it open. The winged warriors had arrived.
The pounding upon the hatch reverberated throughout the rocketship. The warriors were driving their weapons into the closed portal. To the surprise of the occupants, the metal began to buckle against the assault.
"Hey out there!" Jet shouted. "We come in peace." He reached over and pushed the button that controlled the hatch. The pneumatic door started to slide away. However, the dents that had been inflicted kept the door from completely retracting. A few more strikes bent the door completely back, allowing the winged women clear access to the interior of the rocketship.
One by one, the warriors boarded the craft. Soon the entire regiment was inside. They held their weapons in a menacing manner at the explorers. The wingwomen had features that certainly appeared avian. The apparent leader of the women, her rank signified by the feathered helmet she wore, stepped forward and addressed them. "You have invaded Archaepolitan air space without transmitting the necessary clearance codes. While Archaepolis pledges its fealty to your dreaded High King, our Queen will not stand for our airspace to be so broken, Kallusians!"
"Kallusians?" Jet chuckled. "You got it all wrong. We're not Kallusians."
The bird-women looked warily at the trio. They had to admit that while the strangers' skintone was that of Kallusia, their features were actually different, the most noticeable being their rounded ears.
"It's true, Captain," one of the warriors declared. "They're not Kallusians."
"Perhaps they're the ones the High King is seeking," said another.
"This might be true," the captain muttered. "Still, this is Archaepolis. Our treaty allows our people to operate as our Queen sees fits. Even the High King knows better than to antagonize the Shyar of Archaepolis."
"Hmm," Jet thought. "Sounds like these birdies have something over the Kallusians. Everybody else we've met feared them.
"Umm, not to interrupt your discussions," Jet spoke, "but we are the ones High King Kallos is looking for, though we haven't done anything wrong."
"That remains to be seen," the captain replied. She motioned with her rod, and each of the explorers were grabbed by two of the warriors. They dragged Jet, Dawn, and Harkov out of the floating ship and flew into the air.
Harkov looked back towards the hovering rocketship. Now from the outside, he could see that the ship was bathed a faint red light, emanating from a turret in the city. "What sort of ray is that?" he asked, hoping that one of the winged women might answer and not just drop him for exercising his scientific curiosity.
"It's a magnetronic ray," a wingwoman replied. "It's one of the many defenses of Archaeopolis. We must defend our city, for our good and for that of all Atla."
"So what are you going to do with us, captain?" Jet asked. He had tested the strength of his captors. They were strong, but he figured he could beat them. He did not want to try it now, untold thousands of feet in the air.
"We'll take you to Her Royal Highness, Queen Jara the Fifth," the captain replied. "She will decide whether you are to be conveyed to the Kallusians or to be laborers in the energy plants."
"Some choice," Jet sighed.
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The Shyar of Atla are, of course, are Shi'Ar, although they have maintained their wings.
Bob Gansler
23-Aug-00