Rumors of Reincarnation (CC, Khivar/Mature) Pt.92 12/22[WIP]

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Welcome readers.

Hi Paper, OMG well you certainly carried out your promise to make it even more difficult for him. Oh mother nature is definately against him .. but then it kind of serves him right. I am very interested in what he is going to do next to get out of the terrible state of affairs he's in now. My god can this get any better? LOVE IT JAN

Thanks Jan, you sweet thing! I’m afraid it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

I’m sorely behind on my writing. I’ve got family in the hospital, so I didn’t get one thing done this weekend! Good thing I had this part sketched out already!
Bye, Bye Blackbird by Fletcher Henderson and Dixon 1926



81 - Exodus

Pack up all my cares and woes
Here I go, singing low
Bye, bye Blackbird

Where somebody waits for me
Sugar’s sweet
So is she
Blackbird, bye-bye

No one here can love and understand me
Oh, what hard-luck stories they all hand me
Make my bed and light the light
I’ll arrive late tonight
Blackbird, bye-bye

Khivar has been informed that ships left Cerule this week. A mass exodus. With no word of where they are going or when they will be back.

It was reported that ships also secretly left Antar under cloak of darkness and joined the skulking flotilla to who-knows-where.

‘Good riddance! If they think they can beat me to Terran, they have another thing coming!’

He does have the wormhole, after all. If Serena could just get it right!

She has been able to move some of the black ice to Terran, and she is increasing the size of the loads. But the bigger they get, the more power it takes, and the system quickly becomes overloaded and abruptly shuts down amid grinding and acrid smoke.

It wouldn’t do to be half-way there and find yourself suddenly deposited in the cold far-reaches of space.

With no life support.

The womyn better get her act together!

+ + + + +


Grumpy Serena is still doing everything in her power to reconfigure the wormhole to allow for the increased loads. She’d like to kick the thing. She’d like to shoot it with a lazer blaster. But she knows it wouldn’t do any good. She’s transferred a number batches to Terran but has no way to verify its condition once it arrives.

The rebels have not been able to contact their counterparts on Terran for months due to a growing quasar in the Zahlagee Galaxy which is emitting electromagnetic energy and disrupting communications. Her calculations all seem to be “off” and she can’t figure out what is wrong. Maybe it’s just impossible to carry such a large payload.

The larger loads also take a lot more black ice to run the darn contraption in the first place and her supply is dwindling fast. With the massive snow falls, there is no way to gather more until the spring thaw. So she’s stopped sending it through and she spends her time going over the equipment looking for a solution to her quandary. She’s rerun the calculations in the quantputer again and again but the equations just do not compute. Serena can’t send people through without the assurance that they will arrive safely. Kavar has been on her ass for weeks about this.

She’s had just about enough of his stern looks of reproof. She’d like to kick HIM too!

At least the transport ships are almost ready for departure. Scout ships had left long ago, in an effort to find closer inhabitable planets but no success has been reported. It’s like looking for a lazer thread in a starburst array! The prospects of finding another inhabitable planet within their time frame are slim to none.

Serena has heard through Joovee that many people have taken a chance on the Cerulean ships that packed up everything they could carry and headed out for the fabled planet “Atlanteez” in the Tomah Galaxy. The rebel underground is abuzz with the news. Queen Kathana insisted she had reputable directions in their sacred scrolls on how to find the elusive dream world that populates their children’s bedtime stories.

Serena can only hope she is right or it means the loss of many more lives. They’ve lost too many already.

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Welcome to the deep dark winter’s nightmare.
Sorry to miss yesterday’s post. My computer went wonky and wouldn’t let me post. After my internet locked up 3 times I just gave up and went to bed!
Hope this isn’t TOO depressing.

Hi Paper Poor Serena under all that pressure from her brother. I like the way Khivar thinks that she should be able to pull a rabbit out of the hat so to speak. Can't wait for the next update. JAN

Hi Jan! Things are always darkest before the dawn. Things won’t be good for Serena here either!
Thanks for your feedback!

When you try to do thing under pressure they are just harder. ken r

Don’t I know it, Ken! Thanks for your feedback.



82 - Avalanche

It’ll be a day like this one
When the world caves in


Khivar is numb.

When the world caves in


‘How do these things keep happening? Why am I being punished this way? Haven’t I endured enough?’

When the world caves in


There was a terrible rumbling roar which woke up everyone in the palace in the wee hours of the morning. Crystal Palace shook for endless seconds, rousing Khivar from a sound sleep from the vibrations. His bed shimmies across the floor and he has to hang on for dear life. As attempts to sit up, the roaring noise comes to an abrupt halt and he is suddenly and unceremoniously dumped off the side of the bed and comes crashing to the floor from the final jolt.

‘It must be another ground quake! The entire mountain is shaking!’

Clutching his sore shoulder, he gingerly attempts to get up off the floor and hobbles over to the window to look out. As his confused mind tries to lock out the dire reality below, what he sees makes his stomach churn as he falls to his knees. He can’t believe his eyes. The barely lit twilight sky offers just enough luminosity to see the odious fluffy pink blanket of snow that covers everything below.

‘Where are the city lights?’

‘Where is Capital City?’

Yes. They’d had mountains of snow this winter but it was being cleared away and hauled out of the city. Serena’s work crews labored day and night to move the massive pink mantle of snow that has tried to smother everyone all winter long.

‘Why can’t I see anything down there? No roofs. No towers. No trees?’

Alarms are sounding somewhere in the palace. He supposes he should move but he just can’t tear his eyes away from the window and the dimly lit view of the soft pink blanket of snow where all those buildings should be. His eyes refocus to the translucent pane and it’s then that he notices the rain drops hitting it in rapid succession.

“It’s raining? Why is it raining? It’s not supposed to be raining.”

It doesn’t help to say it out loud. Khivar shakes his head to clear the confusion and sleep and to regain his focus as he tries to make sense of an insane world. He feels as if he’s in a dream. A nightmare. But the clanging is enough to wake the dead. Then he notices transports dispatching rapidly from the docking stations, one after another. He jumps to his feet to get a better view.

You’re pushing till you’re shoving
You bend until you break
Till you stand on the broken fields where our fathers lay

Rescue crews.

They will work long and hard throughout the day, looking for survivors. Few would be found.

Most of the victims were crushed to death in their sleep when tons of slushy snow carrying large boulders let loose from the mountain and hurdled down upon the unsuspecting Capital City residents below. The crushing weight collapsed the buildings it fell upon as if they were mere toys. Others, who found pockets of protected space that held up under the strain, were slowly smothered by lack of air in their unlucky havens. Precious few were able to use their powers to clear a path in the snow to safety.

“MY CHILDREN!” He sinks to his knees once more in horrified dismay.

It’ll be a day like this one
When the world caves in

His anguished wail is added to the throng as other horrified palace dwellers realize what Khivar just did.

Their relatives in the city below are probably gone. Family, friends and strangers alike.

Crushed under the massive avalanche of snow and rock debris that surprised them amid their slumber.

When the world caves in

Many of Khivar’s concubines live in the palace harem, but most of his wives lived down below in a secondary royal residence in Capital City. The wives liked to be in the thick of things with shopping and schools and friends. And he liked them kept at some distance from him. But it was comforting to be able to look down upon the city and know they were there. Know that his children lived there and he could see them any time he wanted.

Although he never did. And now it’s too late. He will never really KNOW them.

When the world caves in


It’s still a massive shock to know that they are probably gone.

When the world caves in


Lost forever.

When the world caves in


This event has hit him like a ton of bricks. He is so shocked he can’t even remember any of their names right now.

Or even how many he has.

When the world caves in


‘Did any of them live somewhere else?’ He doesn’t think so. His mind feels so muddled. He can’t think.

The weight on his chest is painful. His breathing is suddenly labored. His skin goes pale.

As Khivar tries to throw off his rampant disbelief and overcome the shock, he gets up off his knees and rushes out to the communications room. The bustle of activity he finds there is more than welcome.

But the news isn’t good.

After the tremendous amounts of snow that fell, there had been warnings issued around the Empire that this sort of thing could happen. Antar has many mountainous regions. People know better than to build where an avalanche could be a problem.

But nothing like this ever occurred here before! To most, it was unthinkable. This side of the mountain ascends sharply upwards over the city and that means that there aren’t many places directly above the city for snow to accumulate. The area was always considered safe! He has Military barracks in the city below.

‘Why didn’t I listen to Serena when she told me to reinforce the buildings with her new dragonz-kin? We are going to have a long talk after this mess is straightened out! I’m just glad that the Royal Guards are stationed at the palace.’

Unfortunately, a high section of the mountain that did have snow accumulations gave way and fell, blocking the regular channel that funneled the melting snows away from the city below. When the rain started, it saturated the already burgeoning snow cover and as it fell, the newly blocked path caused the flow to divert in a new direction.

A deadly direction.

There’s nothing here worth saving
Is no one here at all?
Is there any net left that could break our fall?


He will later learn that 14 other cities suffered the same fate that night. What caused all of the concurrent disasters has not been determined. Was it the heavy rain added to the already burgeoning snow cover? Or was there a ground quake?

It’ll be a day like this one
When the sky falls down and the hungry and poor and desperate are found
Are you discontented? Have you been pushing hard?
Have yo been through and down this broken house of cards?


Whatever the cause, the death toll is staggering.

It’ll be a day like this one

When the world caves in . . . when the world caves in . . . when the world caves in



Partial lyrics from “The Blues” by Switchfoot

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Sorry. No post Friday night. Gotta go out & shake off this bad mood!


83 - Mourning After

Serena is beyond despair.

She still can’t stop crying. She can’t work. She can’t eat. She can’t sleep. She can’t think.

She’s wearing the same drab olive green mourning clothes she’s worn to the funerals and then everyday for the last three weeks. Her clothes are the color of blood. Dried blood. They are a reminder of her loss. She takes them off and refreshes them with her powers, hangs them up and slips into bed. In the morning, they are the first thing she reaches for. She doesn’t want to forget. As if she could. She clings to these clothes as an extension of what she has lost.

Serena tried to talk with Kavar about their loss. She tried to be close to him so they could comfort one another. He acted like a cold uffish. He turned his back on her and walked away.

She wanted to be mad at him but she was too heartsick to muster up the emotion for anything else.

She knows he is grieving too. But the pain is SO great. She needed him. He goes about his business as if nothing has happened. She knows in the back of her mind that it is just his way of coping. But the anger and resentment she feels at his cold treatment are eating away at her.

She’s staying with Joovee in the palace now. Her friend has been a goddess-send. Without her, Serena probably would not have left her bed. Joovee makes sure she gets up at a reasonable hour and takes her to the palace dining room for meals. And to the group counseling sessions provided by the Order of Zofya. Khivar has consented to the use of one of his meeting rooms for this purpose.

And Joovee gives Serena space when she needs it. To meditate. To Scream. And to grieve.

Jabber’s Science Complex is . . . was . . . some distance from Capital City. It was out of harm’s way. Sometimes she wishes it wasn’t. Then she wouldn’t have to deal with this terrible loss. She wouldn’t have to wake up every day and remember.

The mornings are the worst.

Because sleep brings welcome relief.

But then you wake up.

And the pain comes back with a vengeance and tears a hole in your heart as big as a ten-gigaton lazer blast that rips it to shreds as the realization hits you that YOU are still here. And THEY are GONE.

What happened to Capital City was a horrible tragedy. A needless tragedy. If only she’d convinced Kavar that it was worth the expense to coat the buildings below the mountain in her new dragonz-kin protection. She’s angry.

But he was so arrogant. He didn’t feel that anyone would dare attack HIM. And he had enough faith in her that he felt the palace would never fall from its perch. Now look what’s happened!

So many people have lost their lives. Relatives. Friends. People she worked with every day.

Most of her family lived in Capital City.

She didn’t consider ALL of Kavar’s wives to be family. Not close family. She didn’t even KNOW most of them.

But she did get to know the ones with children. Serena loves the children.

Her nieces and nephews are precious, not only because it’s so difficult to conceive a child since the war damaged their chromosomes, but because of the joy each one has brought to her life. She’d get away from work whenever she could and bring them treats and small gifts. She’d read them stories or take them to the park. She tried to share her love of learning and wonder of nature with each one of them.

And they shared their innocence and their love with her.

Little Kahran, and Amzaald and Verde and Gadanzk. They always wanted to play their games with her or practice their latest interest in sport. They wore her out with each visit from their exuberance.

And Jaazon, who thought himself full grown. He wanted to study under his aunt at Jabbers next year.

And baby Maya. She was barely walking and she waved her hands above her head and gurgled to let you know she was glad to see you.

And the twins, Ztefan and Delphi, who were so wise.

And Belize, the oldest girl. She used to come to the Wabe on weekend outings with Serena, but she was always more interested in what was going on with the boys hanging around them than she was in the genus and species categories catalogued before her on the garden markers.

She’d often told them stories about their daddy. About when he and Serena were young, She wanted them to think of him as a real live person instead of some one-dimensional icon who sits on a throne in the picture on the Vid-Screen and barely knows they exist.

She’ll never understand why Kavar didn’t try to get to know any of them.

Now it’s too late.

Each was special in his or her own way. Each was unique. And she loved them all.

She’ll never have the pleasure of interacting with them again. She can barely believe it. ‘They are gone.’

‘Gone.’

Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she realizes that even with the protective covering, the victims would have still smothered to death before they could be dug out. The mountain covered over its dastardly deed with a soft fluffy pink blanket that snuffed the life out of all of them. But she has no will to listen to reason right now. No one seems to notice that she has turned into a zombie. They’re all lost in their own grief.

This senseless tragedy has broken them all.

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Welcome Readers! Yes. This is still the same story. Just a little detour into 2009.
This chapter is longer than usual and took a little more research than most. I hope that excuses my tardiness just a little bit.
I know everyone is missing Khivar but I’m sorry to report that the dragon is mostly missing from today’s post. Although he does get a few small “mentions”. I hope that is enough to tide you over until I can find some more time to type. My posting will probably become erratic this week. It depends on how much I can get done today and whether or not I can get this terrible procrastination streak under control!

Hi Paper, I am so sorry I missed your update again but I'm all caught up now. Wow poor Serena is going through a really hard time at the moment. She got to know the children so she feels the pain more.

Khivar ... well what can I say about him ... I think the people, if there are any left, are going to think he needs to go. I can't believe even he had some sort of grief in him for his children who is never seen. I still don't think he will learn from his mistake though. Amazing chapters Paper. JAN

Thanks Jan! I hope you enjoy today’s sojourn into the lives of the pod wives. We will return to Antar with the following posts. Khivar is changing from all his grief, but maybe not in a good way.


Some names and dialog comes from various Roswell episodes.

Credits for end-of-the-world scenarios go to the History Channel as shown in March 2009:
- Decoding the Past, Doomsday 2012
- Nostradamus 2012

Credit for prophesy quotes goes to:
- Crystalinks.com/shipton.html (Emphasis is mine)
-The New International version of The Bible courtesy of biblegateway.com



84 - Girl Talk

Parts of prose as prophesied by Mother Shipton, who is said to have lived 1488 – 1561:

And now a word, in uncouth rhyme
Of what shall be in future time

. . . A carriage without horse will go
Disaster fill the world with woe.
In London, Primrose Hill shall be
In centre hold a Bishop's See

Around the world men's thoughts will fly
Quick as the twinkling of an eye.
And water shall great wonders do
How strange. And yet it shall come true.

Through towering hills proud men shall ride
No horse or ass move by his side.
Beneath the water, men shall walk
Shall ride, shall sleep, shall even talk.
And in the air men shall be seen
In white and black and even green

A great man then, shall come and go
For prophecy declares it so.

In water, iron, then shall float
As easy as a wooden boat
Gold shall be seen in stream and stone
In land that is yet unknown.

. . . For in those wondrous far off days
The women shall adopt a craze
To dress like men, and trousers wear
And to cut off their locks of hair
They'll ride astride with brazen brow
As witches do on broomstick now.

And roaring monsters with man atop
Does seem to eat the verdant crop
And men shall fly as birds do now
And give away the horse and plough.

There'll be a sign for all to see
Be sure that it will certain be.
Then love shall die and marriage cease
And nations wane as babes decrease

. . . When pictures seem alive with movements free
When boats like fishes swim beneath the sea,
When men like birds shall scour the sky
Then half the world, deep drenched in blood shall die.

. . . A fiery dragon will cross the sky
Six times before this earth shall die
Mankind will tremble and frightened be
for the sixth heralds in this prophecy.

For seven days and seven nights
Man will watch this awesome sight.
The tides will rise beyond their ken
To bite away the shores and then
The mountains will begin to roar
And earthquakes split the plain to shore.

. . . His masked smile - his false grandeur,
Will serve the Gods their anger stir.
And they will send the Dragon back
To light the sky - his tail will crack
Upon the earth and rend the earth
And man shall flee, King, Lord, and serf.

… And those that live will ever fear
The dragons tail for many year
But time erases memory
You think it strange. But it will be.

And before the race is built anew
A silver serpent comes to view
And spew out men of like unknown
To mingle with the earth now grown
Cold from its heat and these men can
Enlighten the minds of future man.

To intermingle and show them how
To live and love and thus endow
The children with the second sight.

A natural thing so that they might
Grow graceful, humble and when they do
The Golden Age will start anew.

The dragon's tail is but a sign
For mankind's fall and man's decline.
And before this prophecy is done
I shall be burned at the stake, at one
My body singed and my soul set free
You think I utter blasphemy
You're wrong. These things have come to me
This prophecy will come to be.


March 2009

“Hello?”

“Hey babe! What’s shakin’?”

“Maria? Hey! Long time no see. How are you?”

“We’re all good here. Same old same old, you know?”

“It’s so good to hear your voice! I just got off work from my receptionist job and Max won’t be home for another hour and a half. Plenty of time to talk.”

“Good. Get out the ice cream!”

“Way ahead of you! I was hungry and reached for the french vanilla as soon as I got in the door. I’ll make something healthy when Max gets home.”

“Cool. I got mine. Rocky Road, baby! Just like my life!”

“Where are the kids?”

“Spaceman took our three hellions out to the park.”

“Maria! Stop calling them that! Your kids are so sweet. They are practically angels.”

“Yeah? You should have seen them last weekend. I was supposed to go into the city to do some shopping with Patti and Judy. I dropped Michael and the kids off at his studio. I even went inside with them to help get them set up. Michael was going to spend the day letting them make their own “mess-ter pieces” while he worked on pieces for his latest showing. When we got them all ready to start painting I kissed them all goodbye and left.

I got all the way down to the parking lot downstairs before I realized I’d forgotten my keys. So I ambled back up the four flights of stairs and let myself in with my key. There was so much laughter coming from the work room that a herd of elephants could have rampaged in and they wouldn’t have heard them.

When I opened the door, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Everything was covered in paint. Everything and everyone. I’m sure my mouth must have been hanging open in horror.”

“Oh, my god!”

“The three kids started jumping up and down and shouting “Mommy’s here! Mommy’s here!” while Michael just stood there looking sheepish. You wouldn’t have believed it Liz. My sweet angels were covered from head to toe in 30 different color splotches of paint.”

“Oh, noooo!”

“Yes! It looked like the hooligans had been whipping it around the room and at each other. They may have spilled a little on their canvases by mistake but I think they were just aiming for each other. It was like a scene out of some horror movie. Then Beth says ‘Uh, ooooh. Mommy’s mad.’”

“Hah, hah” Liz gasped. “Was it the steam coming out of your ears that gave it away?”

“Probably. I WAS pretty angry. The paint was dripping down from their hair into their faces. It was all over their clothes. Their shoes. The walls. The room looked like a paint tornado had gone through. Then Spaceman sweeps his hand over everyone and voila! The paint mess is gone and the only evidence left is the pretty pictures they made for me.”

“I know Michael’s a lot better with his powers than we ever thought he’d be in High School. I bet you got over it pretty quick.”

“How could I not. Four sweet angelic faces all focused upon me with their hopeful eyes shining with love. That’s when the yelling started up again.”

“The yelling?”

“Come and see what I made you Mommy. No. Come and see mine. I asked first. I’m the oldest. I’m the littlest! I was done first!”

“Awww, Maria. You’re so lucky.”

“Lucky? Lucky? . . . You know it, girl! Instead of going shopping I spent the rest of the day making my own ‘mess-ter piece’. We all had a great day together.”

“I miss you all so much.”

“We miss you too, Liz. You should move up to the New York area. Haven’t you and do-gooder Max had enough of the Chicago area yet?”

“Maria! You know how he is. He’s found this cancer cluster and he’s not going to move again until he figures out what is causing it.”

“I swear. That guy thinks he has to fix the whole world. When is it going to be time for just the two of you?”

“Max always makes time for me, Maria. You know that.”

“I know, Chica. But you said the two of you were going to find a place where you could settle and finally start a family. You’ve never left the Good Samaritan lifestyle yet. It’s been almost 10 years Liz. How much longer can you wait, girl? I know you’ve always wanted kids of your own.”

“Maria, you know I don’t want to talk about this. Did you see that show on the History Channel last night? They’re having Armageddon Week and it was really interesting.”

“You mean the one about Nostradamus 2012 predicting that the world would end on December 21, 2012? Yeah! It was really cool. Have you ever gotten any visions about, you know, the end of the world? I know you’re still getting premonitions about people in trouble to feed Max’s ‘Savior Complex’.”

“No, Maria. I haven’t gotten any Earth shattering revelations. Just stop picking on Max or I’m going to hang up.”

“OK. OK. Message received. Don’t get your panties in a twist. How is my intergalactic girlfriend?”

“He’s OK. He’s working as a Nursing Assistant in the clinic near our apartment. It’s really heartbreaking for him to see all those kids come in with their myriad of problems. When he isn’t working, he’s been using his powers to check out the town water supply and the kids play areas. He just can’t find anything unusual. It’s really wearing on him, Maria. We came to this town because of my premonitions and now I wish I’d never gotten them.”

“Don’t beat yourself down, Liz. You’ve helped a lot of people over the years. You can’t win them all. You tell Max to call me and I’ll give him ‘what-for’. We’ll all be dead in 2012 anyway. Tell him not to work so hard.”

“Maria! Don’t be so flip! Did you see the one where they discussed the Mayan calendar? It predicted the arrival of Cortez in South America. It forecast eclipses thousands of years into the future and it’s known to be incredibly precise. But it ends suddenly on the Winter Solstice on December 21, 2012! The Jewish Calendar also ends in the year 2000.”

“I saw that part! Scary! Wasn’t that in that show about Decoding the Past. Did you see the part about the Sybil Oracle in Greece or wherever? She predicted that there would be 9 periods of 800 years and then the anger of the Gods would destroy the world with shaking and fire from the heavens after 2000 AD. Looks like we are already living on borrowed time.”

“And don’t forget about the Oracle of Dephi! And that I Ching guy from China. His timeline also ended on 12/21/12. And then there is Mother Shipton in England. Some guy claimed he made her up, but she also forecasted quite accurately and gave all those warnings about the coming of the dragon.”

“Oh, yeah. Remember that dragon sticker you always had on your bedroom window? Are you still into dragons? ‘Cause, I mean, Max? He’s not very dragon-like.”

“Maria! I’m not kidding. Quit raggin’ on Max! And maybe I am waiting for the dragon to show up. You never know, kiddo.”

“You skank! I’m telling el Presidente! You know, they also mentioned that the solar cycle will peak in 2012, causing massive cyclones and heat waves. Isn’t that also when the galaxy is supposed to complete its 25,000 year cycle? That’s when the magnetic poles will reverse. Didn’t they say the North Pole used to be in the middle of the ocean?”

“Ugh! Yeah. Makes your head spin, doesn’t it? And don’t forget the Hopi Indians. They believe that a great blue star will herald the appearance of cataclysm. Some new god will come and dance with them in their pueblos.”

“What about future Max? He said that Khivar guy came in 2014, remember. Future Max said that he brought about the end of the world. Maybe the blue star brings Khivar.”

“Don’t even! . . . How could I forget, Maria? The Hopi predicted 3 great shakings of the Earth. The show said they were world wars 1 & 2 and the 3rd will come from above. But what possible reason could Khivar have to come back here? Isabel already rejected him. If he wanted to kill Max, he could have done that easily when he was here. Let’s not ever assume that any of those predictions are about HIM! That ship has sailed.”

“I’m just sayin’. Those shows all predicted horrible ends that they insinuated are just around the corner. You and Max are still carrying the torch for good but we’ve been relatively free for years now. I’ve got my song writing. Spaceman has his art. Isabel and Jesse are living the good life in Boston with their two perfect specimens of impeccable good taste. Our kids feel safe. I’d hate to think we could lose that.”

“But . . . we changed all that. Didn’t we? Max and I almost lost each other in that whole destiny mess. Then Khivar rejected their son as being too human. I don’t want to believe in any of that stuff.”

“Well . . . you did say that you haven’t gotten any premonitions about it right? And Tess is dead . . . good riddance . . . but we know where to find Ava in San Francisco and she’s promised to help save the world if it came down to that. Are Ava and Kyle still together?”

“No. They broke up. Again.”

“Well, I think we’re all still gonna be OK.”

“Thanks, Maria.”

“At least until December of 2012 when the sun rises in the middle of the Milky Way’s cosmic rift and there is mass extinction as the Earth splits in two.”

“Hanging up now, Maria! Bye!”

“Bye Liz. I’ll call ya again next week.”

As the women hang up the phones, Liz mumbles softly to herself “Yeah, if the world doesn’t end before that.”


Revelations 12: 1-4
1A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. 4His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born.

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Just a quick mention that I inserted a couple lines in my last post:

“Well . . . you did say that you haven’t gotten any premonitions about it right? And Tess is dead . . . good riddance . . . but we know where to find Ava in San Francisco and she’s promised to help save the world if it came down to that. Are Ava and Kyle still together?”
“No. They broke up. Again.”
“Well, I think we’re all still gonna be OK.”
“Thanks, Maria.”
“At least until December of 2012 when the sun rises in the middle of the Milky Way’s cosmic rift and there is mass extinction as the Earth splits in two.”

How could I have forgotten on of my most favorite characters? I claim temporary insanity as my only defense.

Hi Paper, Well aren't they in for a surprise when Khivar shows up on earth because his galaxy is screwed. We are now getting out of the CC section because the show ended before all of this sooooooo I'm very interested in finding out where the story goes next. See what you mean about the extra research. Another amazing chapter paper!!!! LOVE IT. JAN

Whodathunkit? The baddie NEVER comes back after he is dispatched by the fair maiden, right?
Thanks for your feedback, Jan! Enough of Earth! Let’s see what Khivar has been doing while the snow falls.



85 – More Bad News

Winter refuses to loosen its grip on the suffering people of Antar. Things are bleak, indeed.

Not only have there been record snow falls all over the planet, but the season arrived early and it is months past its end, but no one seems to have told old man Winter that his time-counter is broken. And he is working overtime to make things harsh on the dwindling populations of Antar.

First he slams them with snow and ice, then he sends the fierce winds to chill their bones and howl down the frigid night. Food shortages abound and everyone is in terrible spirits. The loss of Capital City and its inhabitants hit everyone very hard. The cold isolating storms have cut off many of the smaller towns and villages. Something has caused the oceans to swell abnormally and horrendous waves washed away everything in their path for miles inland from the normal tide lines. There have been more avalanches and ground tremors. The ice storms keep all traffic at a standstill except the transports carrying Serena’s new shell-heaters. And even they cannot stand against the ghale-force winds Antar is facing this season.

Khivar tried to speak with his sister about the extension of the ice season and all he could get out of her was something about “orbit irregularities”. The womyn doesn’t make sense half the time anyway, but since the funerals for the people of Capital City, she’s been a weeping, mumbling incoherent simpleton. She hasn’t done a lick of work for months! And she is hoarding one of his favorite concubines, Joovee, who feels she must play nursemaid to the wretch.

He lost people too. And he’s not going around as if the world is ending. Well, maybe that’s a bad example. But he picked himself up off the floor and he took control. He authorized his troops to search for victims and he released funds for the recovery effort. And for medical intervention.

‘I suppose it is my fault that a lot of the healers were targeted for removal. But most of them had royal lineage and I couldn’t have a bunch of wannabe-kings eyeing everything I did.’

He is supremely irritated with his sister. ‘She acts like it was HER children that were lost. And she wasn’t related to any of those co-workers who died!’

‘It was MY CHILDREN. My wives. Now I will have to rebuild my family from scratch! Should I marry some of my concubines? There’s been so many deaths. Where will I find more eligible wymyn that would be acceptable? I’m not taking any more of those ugly “favor-ites” like in the past. From now on, I marry only the best!’

‘Maybe I should wait till I get to Terran. SHE is waiting there for me.’

He still has dreams of her. Eyes in a beautiful face, but the features are fuzzy. And her hair is covered by a veil so he can’t see what color it is.

‘On Terran, some have many wives, but most have only one. What if she is the kind to want exclusivity? Maybe this was fortuitous? Instead of punishment, maybe the goddess did me a favor. She got rid of my excess baggage. The fates may be working in my favor. Maybe it is my destiny to go to Terran. To conquer new worlds. To rule . . . the universe!’

He’s not wasting any time. He and Tove have their heads together every night, planning, reviewing armaments, fuel supplies. Deciding which Bhrillig, Changzling, and Zapien warriors to bring in the initial attack force. Checking out everything on the seven transport ships that will shuttle some of the planet’s civilians to Terran along with his military reserve.

They have also been going over the latest intel on enemy territory on the target planet.

The internet files that Serena supplied months ago are coming in very handy now. They are studying the Terran governments and power epicenters. He’s even put together a team of financial experts to study the Terran markets.

He doesn’t want to topple them. Only to own them.

Japan. United States. Europe. The Middle-East. China.

The stock markets. Bonds and futures. The oil-rich kingdoms.
The drug trade. The weapons cartels. The gambling dens.

Khivar intends to overpower them all.

Boys will be boys.

And these boys intend to play dirty.

[paper]

Welcome Readers! Posting will be irregular because the story has caught up to me & I don’t have time to write.
But good news! The parts are longer! Maybe we can move things along more quickly that way.

Hi Paper, I love it when you make things impossibly hard for Khivar. Erm ... but he has some great ideas for world domination!! I can't wait to see what you throw at him next. LOVE IT. JAN

Thanks Jan! Now that Spring has finally arrived on Antar, maybe I’ll give him some good news for a change. Writing a lot of catastrophe’s can become very depressing!

Thanks to the following National Geographic Web sites for info on magnetic fields on Earth/Terran. Parts in italics are direct quotes except for the name change:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... -core.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... eld-1.html



86 - A Breath of Spring

It’s been a long hard road. The endlessly cruel winter is losing its hold over the reawakening landscape. Eager buds break through the tough outer layers of their dark sheltered nurseries to greet the warmth of the ancient red sun.

New life.

New hope.

A new beginning.

Everyone struggles to recover some semblance of normalcy. They try to smile. They go about their business as if there was some purpose to their lives.

But underneath, the wounds fester.

The scars are barely congealed.

The struggle to survive continues.

There are a lot of struggles going on in Crystal Palace, too.

+ + + + +

“When will you continue your duties at the Science Complex?”

“Jabbers is running just fine without me. I’m done.”

“You can’t quit! I rejected your resignation! The wormhole has not been repaired! The planet is falling apart! Millions of people will die if we don’t finish the details for the evacuation!”

“Millions have already died! Whose fault is that?”

“You are treading on dangerous ground, sister!”

“I can’t go back! I don’t want to. Get someone else.”

“I know what this is really about. You can’t do it and you know it. You don’t want to go back because . . . YOU CAN’T HANDLE IT! ! !”

“What?” She’s even more upset now that he is shouting at her. ‘Why is he acting like a crazed lunatic?’

“You heard me. You’ve failed. You’re AFRAID to go back. You just don’t want to admit that you are inadequate to solve the problems of the wormhole, so you ignore them. You hide here at the palace and you let your friend baby you. You are not up to the task and you just don’t want to admit it!”

Kavar stomps off in a flurry of pomposity while Serena simply stands and glares at the empty space he recently occupied. When she finally realizes that her mouth is hanging open, she closes it and wonders why she is so affected by what he said.

‘Is he right?’

Everybody says don’t
Everybody says don’t
Everybody says don’t. It isn’t right.
Don’t. It isn’t nice.

Everybody says don’t walk on the grass
Don’t disturb the peace
Don’t skate on the ice


His constant haranguing isn’t helping her resolve to give it all up. And the way he’s been looking at her! As if she’s this huge disappointment.

Well, he’s SOL if she doesn’t decide to go back to work and fix the problems with the wormhole, so maybe he has a point.

Serena hasn’t touched the wormhole since before the funerals of her beloved nieces and nephews. It’s been a week since their argument and she hasn’t seen Kavar since then. But lately, she’s been feeling different.

She’s been feeling a need. A need to be productive. A need to shake off the problems of the past. A need to make things new.

A need to feel alive again.

A need to prove to her pompous wrong-headed brother that she IS up to the task before her. She’s a ‘Khivar’.

She is NOT a quitter.

Well I say do.
I say walk on the grass. It was meant to feel
I say sail. Tilt at the windmill
And if you fail, you fail

Everybody says don’t
Everybody says don’t
Everybody says don’t get out of line
When they say that then, lady, that’s a sign
Nine times out of ten, lady, you are doing just fine


Officially, she’s been on vacation. She’s certainly accumulated enough credits over the years to take a few months off if she wanted. Unofficially, she had decided never to set foot there again.

But Kavar refused her resignation. He all but ordered her to forget that crazy idea and get over herself.

‘The jerk! How dare he say all those things to me?’

‘Could I? Can I go back? Can I finish what I started so long ago?’

Maybe she’s finally ready to do that now. She decides to leave the safety of her little cocoon in Joovee’s quarters at Crystal Palace and go to see what is new at her old haunt.

Make just a ripple, come on . . . be brave
This time a ripple, next time a wave
Sometimes you have to start small
Climbing the tiniest wall
Maybe you’re going to fall
But it’s better than not starting at all


It’s a lovely Spring day and she catches a ride to Jabbers. When she gets to her office, there are a million things to do. Clean off her desk. Brush out the cobwebs. Review her files. Hire new crews. Meet new colleagues. Teach new students.

It all feels so cold at first, but life goes on.

She’s not looking forward to breaking in a new staff. And breaking in new committee members is always a pain. They always think they know more than she does and they hoard every kavarage they can to impress the Emperor. And many of her colleagues already feel that nepotism got her to her lofty position and they can be difficult.

Everybody says NO. Stop
Mustn’t rock the boat. Mustn’t touch a thing

Everybody says don’t
Everybody says wait
Everybody says Can’t fight city hall
Can’t upset the cart
Can’t laugh at the king!


That alone makes her want to run for cover. There will always be those who think they could do a better job than she. She knows how it looks to have the Emperor’s sister in a position of power and she has always worried that her connection will mean that she is taken less seriously and credibly by her peers. Even after everything they’ve been through this last year.

Some don’t want to follow orders given by a woman.

Some don’t like her brother.

Some just plain don’t like HER.

But from the looks of things, no one else has deemed to step in and take charge. She shakes it off and decides to ‘live in the moment’. No more worrying about the past or what will be. Everything is a mess. But it’s HER mess. Serena spends the entire week catching up on her latest projects and making a list of everything that needs doing.

Gotta have a plan. And you gotta have funds.

She has bull-dozed the appropriations committee so many times now that they are all starting to run the other way when they see her coming! Her small stature doesn’t help in trying to get people to listen to her either. Kavar is at the top of that list!

It is an uphill battle all the way.

The only true allies she has right now seem to be those in the rebel community. Joovee is helping run interference with the staff and bureaucrats at the palace and is a goddess-send in organizing the ongoing recovery efforts. Things are slowly beginning to show progress. Finally, Serena is ready to tackle the one major hurdle she has been avoiding for months.

Well I say try,
I say laugh at the King or he’ll make you cry
Lose your poise
Fall if you have to, but lady make a noise . . . Yes!


As she looks at the same tired old figures, she decides to give her new students a crack at the problems in her formula. They have all kinds of ideas.

There are a few interesting theories on how to use Terran’s magnetic vortex’s to strengthen the wave resonance. The swirling flow of molten iron and nickel around Terran’s solid center triggers an electrical current, which generates the planet's magnetic field. The magnetic field protects Terran from cosmic radiation. In its absence, Terran would be subjected to more electrical storms that disrupt power grids and satellite communications.

There are a number of places on Terran with high magnetism that could be targeted. The humans have all kinds of names for them. The North and South Poles. The Devil’s Triangle in the Sea of Japan. The Bermuda Triangle in the Caribbean. Stonehenge in England. The red rocks of Sedona, Arizona. There are also very strong vortexes which are marked by pyramids at Giza in Egypt and at Cholula in Mexico. They all look promising.

A fresh perspective may be just the thing that was needed.

Everybody says don’t
Everybody says can’t
Everybody says Wait around for miracles
That’s the way the world is made
I insist on miracles, if you do then. . .
Miracles might come true, then . . .
I say don’t . . .
Don’t be afraid!




Everybody Says Don’t as sung by Barbara Steisand

[paper]

Welcome!

Historically purges remove those who do not favor the present government. even in our own system the great change is slowly removing those of ability and replacing them with those of political correctness. powerful men want to be surrounded by those who adore them. great men never want the truth. they only want ass kissers. In history there have been so few men in power who want the truth and are able to handle truth, but there have been so few great men of power who were truly great! ken r

You are so right, Ken! And Khivar is just as quick to get rid of those who do his bidding if he thinks they have served their purpose. He just never thinks that he will run out of talent to exploit. And they weren’t very loyal to their previous regime, so why should HE trust them? (Thanks for the reminder that he should bring some PR people with him when he comes to Earth!)

Hi Paper,

It’s been a long hard road. The endlessly cruel winter is losing its hold over the reawakening landscape. Eager buds break through the tough outer layers of their dark sheltered nurseries to greet the warmth of the ancient red sun.
New life.
New hope.
A new beginning.

WOW is all I've got to say about that!!!!!! Another fantastically written chapter!!! I'm glad to see Serena getting back on her feet and I love all of the research that you've done. I'm looking forward to seeing what torture or pleasentries you are going to put hime thorugh next. Another freakin' awesome chapter Paper.
JAN

Jan, you are too kind! I’m really glad you like my prose. I’ll let you have a peek at his plans, just because you are so nice!

Credits: Parts in italics are generated directly from this web site on vertices. I am not affiliated with the vortexmaps.com web site but if you click these links you will be able to figure out just what the heck I am describing in this part! Just hit your back button to return.
12 Devil’s Triangles
star tetrahedra within a sphere


87 – The Road to Success

Her students are geniuses!

As she discusses her “top-secret” research with her “new” team of scientists, Serena absorbs some of the enthusiasm of her fledgling class of students and she is buoyed by the verve and passion that the young freshmyn bring to the task. When she finally opened up to them and they discussed her problems with the wormhole and weight load issues, her new class of bright young trainees really came through for her. They had all kinds of impressive ideas.

Naj had wondered if the natural electro-magnetic forces of the new planet could be harnessed to improve the process. Kneeth suggested that the tetrahedron vertices that occur naturally within every rotating sphere could be harnessed in some way to gather the alien electro-magnetic energy from Terran. A tetrahedron is a 3-dimensional pyramid shape composed of four equilateral triangular sides. The vertex or apex is the point where 3 planes or sides of the triangles meet.

The number 19.5 is called t, the 'tetrahedral constant', because of its significance in tetrahedral geometry. When placed within a circumscribing sphere with one of the tetrahedron's apexes touching the North Pole, three apexes of a tetrahedron touch the surface of the sphere at 19.5 degrees south latitude. A second tetrahedron placed upside down in the same space would have its three apexes touch the surface of the sphere at 19.5 degrees north latitude. These vertices funnel the magnetic fields out around the sphere. If some way could be found to gather and focus the alien energy flowing out at these points, they could use it to strengthen the wave at the receiving end, thus eliminating some of the power drain on the sending side on Antar.

Another student, Zarath, suggested that the Terrans may have already identified these focal points on their home planet. An immediate search of the internet files Serena had gathered produced just such a map of coordinates. Many of the “Devil’s Triangle” references she’d found previously corresponded almost exactly with the new grid map information. It’s kind of ironic that iron, the very thing that makes the Terran blood glow red instead of green, will now help them in their quest by creating the very thing that should strengthen the wormhole.

Now all she has to do is find a way to harness the electro-magnetic energy and use it to reinforce her carrier wave. The idea of using Terran’s magnetic field originated in the classroom so she lets some of the best students help with the initial tests.

There are a few small problems but nothing that she can’t overcome with a few more adjustments. The formerly transparent wave now has a red hue and Serena hopes it will not be too noticeable and attract the attention of the Terrans. The dark energy which propels the wormhole reacts strongly to the welcoming magnetic pull which acts like a cushion, eliminating the normal recurrent backlash when aimed directly above one of the vortices. The load capacity increases proportionately to the magnetic pull at the tetrahedral apex as the wave is then able to transport mass more efficiently.

Tove has made sure she has a fresh supply of black ice to work with, which his men collected after the snow finally melted enough to again retrieve the cargo. He is being very accommodating and Serena is glad to have his ear.

Things go well, so she continues to increase the load and adjusts her variances with the insight she’s gained from feedback and new ideas discussed with her students. As the wormhole manages to hold up under the strain of a few massive cargo dumps, Serena decides to use it to scoop up some living items on Terran as a test.

She snags some birds in flight and some insects (as if they don’t already have enough of those with all the flooding they’ve experienced last spring!) and they seem to be ok.

So she decides to test it on an Antarian once more. One of the rebels volunteers and he makes the trip there and back safely. Serena manufactured a protective travel outfit out which incorporates her dragonz kin material to protect his body from the endless spinning and body slams travelers experience in the wormhole. He even produced some digital representations of the way the black ice blended into the landscape during the brief moments he was there, to reassure her.

Serena is buoyed by the successful test and she decides that THIS is the perfect opportunity to slip through some of the rebels to safety with the energy transports. A little cargo. A few residents.

‘It’s now or never.’

It’s a risky venture, to use the wormhole to send rebels to safety right under Kavar’s nose, but they could never build enough ships to send everyone and this approach will save lives.

But she has to be very careful in this venture. Her deep cover better hold or her own life will be a casualty of this galactic emergency.

+ + + + +

Kavar is so busy with his takeover plans, he doesn’t know if he is coming or going!

The ships are nearing completion. His worthless sister has finally gotten off her butt and has almost completed repairs on the fracking wormhole and he and Tove have been planning a coup that will awe the goddess! Those worthless humans won’t know what hit them!

He’s been in meetings with his Generals all week. There has still been no contact with General Nicholas for months due to the quasar in the Zahlagee Galaxy, which continues to disrupt the communication waves. He can’t worry about what that failure is up to. He could be dead by now for all Khivar knows.

The first order of business when they arrive will be the financial takeovers. They’ve identified the 12 richest Terrans on the planet and his Changzlings will penetrate their inner circles to learn their habits and mannerisms. When they feel they have gleaned enough information, they will incapacitate the target and take his place. It seems to be the easiest way to gain hold of the financial markets. They will keep the originals drugged and comatose in case they need to revive them for information. He will then use the Terran wealth to manipulate their financial markets and bring them down. His Changzlings are tightly controlled and always answer directly to HIM. Their cunning is legend!

They originally lived on the planet Twilo which was much closer to the sun, but as the red giant expanded to eventually engulf the first two spheres, they migrated to Antar which they felt had a more stable political structure to accommodate a large number of refugees. Some of the population wasn’t so welcoming as they feared the newcomers and their shape-shifting abilities. Many were killed off in long-ago wars. The ones that were left became mercenaries who would work for the highest bidder.

Nowadays, they all fall under the dominion of the current Emperor and have genetic encoding that ensures their loyalty to him. Khivar has marked them all with his initials in the corresponding form of a number. Since “k” is the 9th letter of the Antarian alphabet, he has marked all the Changzlings with the number “999” on the forehead or right wrist of their base form as a visual reminder of their Liege. The mark is also encoded in their genes along with the absolute compulsion to obey the Emperor.

Khivar wasn’t the one who came up with this idea. It’s been used for eons, ever since their planet was first destroyed and they were allowed refuge on Antar. They used to be encoded to the King but those days are long past. Khivar made friends with the man in charge of the encoding and he was a greedy bastard. After he altered the process to switch their loyalties, he met with a sudden untimely accident. ‘It must be the will of the Goddess or these things wouldn’t keep happening, right?’

While the Changzlings are cementing their positions in the financial world, his staff will be busy setting up his new headquarters and getting the lay of the land. He wants everyone in top mental and physical condition when the battle starts. His public relations staff will be interacting with the Terrans and starting their whisper campaigns to get things moving in the right direction.

Meanwhile, he will be searching for . . . her.

When his new Empress is safely under his control, he will begin phase two of the operation.

His experiences with the various planetary natural disasters on Antar have given him an idea of how to create chaos and confusion and to divert the Military resources of the targeted countries to civilian concerns. A few well-placed incidents will give him the opportunity to step in and “save” the situation. The frightened overwhelmed humans will be so grateful that they will fall at his feet to worship him.

If that doesn’t work, a little violence goes a long way.

No worries.

[paper]

My family member is out of the hospital for the third time & seems to be ok. But my muse for this story has fled to parts unknown. I haven’t written anything since I posted my last part since all my inspiration had vanished. So I hired another muse & decided to write about someone else, to see if I could catch the writing bug again. This one-parter is a background piece of the original story but it is kind of a stand-alone Nicholas POV chronicle.
WARNING: Nicholas takes his revenge on the city he hates. And as the author, I decided to follow cannon & play fast & loose with the dates of events, just like on Roswell. Four years, to be exact.

Parts of the main story will be longer from now on, but will be posted infrequently because it’s Spring & I have other things to tend. I hope this part gives my writing a . . .




88 - New Lease on Life



Nicholas is in his element. He’s having a blast. Doing what he was born to do.

Killing people.

Killing. Maiming. Annihilating people.

Many, many people.

Destroyer of Nations.

Demon of the Middle East.

He’s even heard some people calling him the Anti-Christ. He revels in the acclaim.

It all started just a few short years ago. Nicholas is a Bhrillig and his race cannot tolerate Earth’s toxic atmosphere so his kind has to wear an environmental suit called a husk to survive on Earth. His ravaged “skin” husk was just about irreparable. He’d spent his strength every day just trying to keep it functioning. But it was a losing battle. He’d lost his friends, his family and his entire garrison, as one by one they succumbed to the eroding effects of this toxic environment as their husks gave out. Soon Nicholas and a few male troops were all that were left. They strained every day to hang on until their mighty leader, Emperor Kavar Khivar of the Whirligig Galaxy, returned to retrieve them or until they finally found the Granolith to repair their failing skins and return them to their homes on Antar. Khivar, also known affectionately as the Red Dragon to Nicholas and his troops who love and worship the ground he treads upon, has been mute since his one and only visit to Earth in November of 2001. Communications have always been few and far between but they had never gone this long without contact before. They are left to carry on here without much support. It’s been that way since they first arrived here on Earth in February of 1950 to carry out Khivar’s orders to find and destroy the abomination that threatened his mighty reign. What’s new?

Nicholas and those who survived had just been traveling around the country trying to get a lead on the ever elusive Max Evans. King Zan. The man he’d helped his Emperor murder back on Antar.

+ + + + +

So lately, I've been wonderin
Who will be there to take my place
When I'm gone, you'll need love
To light the shadows on your face
If a great wave should fall
It would fall upon us all
And between the sand and stone
Could you make it on your own


If I could, then I would
I'll go wherever you will go
Way up high or down low
I'll go wherever you will go


+ + + + +

‘Zan got his revenge by returning to life as a clone and then he came back to kill us all. What a laugh! We were here on Earth to find HIM and kill HIM again and he ended up doing all of us in. He showed up at just the right moment and destroyed our harvest. He and his cronies blew up all the husks we needed to survive for the next 50 years. Then he went back home & forgot about us as if we didn’t pose any threat to him at all. The arrogant fool!

When we went after them in Roswell, I ended up making a deal with the devil instead of finishing Evans off. The devil? Her name was Tess. She wanted to be Queen of the Universe and didn’t care who made it happen. She was working on Max Evans, but couldn’t seem to get past his current paramour, Elizabeth Parker. So she offered to obtain the Granolith for me in exchange for certain assurances. It seemed like a good deal at the time so I jumped at it. Hind-site is 20/20.

Tess seemed more interested in getting in Evan’s pants than in learning where the Granolith was stashed. I provided her with drugs to mess the guy’s head up, but she still couldn’t get him to disclose the pertinent information we needed so badly to repair our husks and please the boss, Khivar. Then she got the great idea that if she pretended to be pregnant, then Evans would use the Granolith to bring her back to Antar along with their “ailing” child. Unfortunately for Tess, the Parker girl and her cohorts showed up at the last minute to put the kibosh on Tess’s grand scheme. They revealed that Tess had killed their best friend with her unrelenting mind-warps and Evans almost killed the vixen right then and there. Instead, the fool let her live and sent her off “in the Granolith to Antar” alone. At least he thought he did. Tess mind-warped them all to see it happen. Then she snuck out after they left and made her way to me. Hah, hah! They never caught on! They never wondered why the mountain repaired itself after the ship blasted off. Tess & I had a good laugh about it. Unbelievable!

Unfortunately, I also fell for her tricks. She was good in bed and she had all kinds of plans to take down Evans, so I agreed to continue to work with her. She took us to the location of the Granolith, but it was long gone. Evans had moved it. Or so she said. With Tess, you could never confirm anything. I don’t know why I just didn’t mind-rape her to get the information. I think she may have a little of Khivar’s power of mind control that she used to influence my decisions. Maybe it was just her feminine wiles. She knew how to play me and get me aroused. She lived like a Princess while she stayed at our rebuilt headquarters at Copper Summit. I finally got irritated enough with her antics to tell her to go back to Roswell and get me the goods.

Tess kidnapped a baby that she could pass off as Evan’s and went back into the Roswell fray to reclaim her place at the former King’s side. It looked like it would work. We gave her one of the runners from the ship that originally brought us here in 1950 and she told them she’d stolen it from Khivar and had to escape because “their” child was too human and it was rejected by Khivar as an heir to the throne. Why Khivar would want any child of Zan’s was never fully explained, but he seemed to fall for the ruse. The guy is as conceited as all get-out. He was a King, after all. Unfortunately for Tess, the Military tracked her in flight and brought down the ship. She had to kill a lot of them to escape and they were hot on her trail when she made it to Evan’s. It put a crimp in her plans to woo him with the child. And the Parker girl was still a thorn in her side. She ended up leaving the kid with him & returning to me. She hitched a ride with Parker and returned to the Military base and blew it to smithereens. Tess is from Zinder, the closest planet to our red sun in the Whirligig Galaxy. She wields fire like a fireman uses a water hose. She mindwarped the Parker girl to believe that she saw Tess get killed in the fire.

Then she came back here and expected me to take her in again! I sent her on a search for her dupe, Ava, who had escaped her when she did in the other two dupes in New York. It got her out of my hair and she was conveniently out of town when Khivar showed up to retrieve Vilandra. Everybody knows how that turned out. Vilandra married a human and pushed Khivar back into his wormhole telling him she’d kill him herself if he ever came back. I had operatives on the scene who reported everything back to me. We’ve never heard from Khivar since. I don’t even know if he is still alive. He never did contact me very often because of some time-distortion between here and Antar, but I almost believe that if he did make it back, he’s written us off for good. He knows that we didn’t have much time left in these husks. I know he wanted the Granolith bad, but we never got a substantial lead on where it was, even with Tess’s help.’

And maybe, I'll find out
The way to make it back someday
To watch you, to guide you
Through the darkest of your days
If a great wave should fall
It would fall upon us all
Well I hope there's someone out there
Who can bring me back to you

Runaway with my heart
Runaway with my hope
Runaway with my love


‘My troops trailed Evans back to Roswell and kept an eye on the entire group, but we didn’t have the resources to mount another offensive. So we waited and watched. The Roswellians just seemed to resume their mundane lives and forgot all about Khivar, Antar and especially us.

Just like they forgot we existed back in the Fall of 2000 after they blew up our husks and left us all there to die a slow painful agonizing death. We went after them in Roswell and that’s when we made the deal with Tess. She pretended to emolliate the lot of us with her fiery tricks and mind-warped them all to think we were dead while we slipped out the back way. It was supposed to give her time to work on Evans and get me the Granolith. I skated right past him on a wheeled board and he never recognized me! I left Tess to do her job but we all know how that turned out.

We tried to grow new husks but it never worked. Then the troops started to defect en mass. They figured that Evans would no longer come after them and they wanted to live out the rest of their lives doing whatever they saw fit, instead of living the Military life. I only had a skeleton crew left. I continued to wait for Khivar to contact me with further orders. The call never came. My men continued to spy on the Royal Four and their entourage, and we even tipped off the FBI that there were aliens living in Roswell. We gave them irrefutable proof. Agents set up a perimeter at their graduation ceremony and trained their weapons upon Max Evans who took the podium and diverted attention from the others while they made their escape. The order to drop him was given, but it never got carried out. Michael arrived on a motorcycle and got him out just in time to save his unworthy butt.

After that, we lost track of Evans and never saw him again. He’s been running from the FBI since that fateful day, but every time we get a lead on him, he disappears before we arrive. The guy apparently goes around the country doing good deeds then moves on before he’s identified. If he thinks that will curry favor from the humans, he if greatly mistaken. They will NEVER accept the fact that they are not the superior race here on Earth.

Tess also disappeared. Good riddance! If I never see HER again, it will be too soon!

Kal Langley also disappeared a few years ago. He’d given all his money to various charitable foundations and then staged his death. He’s probably hiding behind one of them and living the good life still. But he’s too good at deception to ever be found.

I haven’t heard from Khivar in years and we all felt abandoned here. Has Khivar simply given up on killing Evans and retrieving the granolith? Until I hear different, I’m going to make this measly existence pay off for ME!

I decided if I couldn’t find Evans I would lure the former King to me and I went on a killing spree in New York City, home of the former Royal Four rejects. I’d lost my last soldier and I looked like a scary zombie with my peeling decaying husk. I wore a Halloween mask during the day so I could move about without everyone screaming and at night I took my revenge on the city that never sleeps.

My life sucked and I wanted everyone else to suffer with me. My deteriorating shell was gross and sometimes my victims would smell me before they saw me. I enjoyed seeing the fear in their eyes. It made me feel like a big man. No small feat in this 4-foot 2-inch munchkin costume that Khivar saddled me with here. I raped all the pretty ladies unlucky enough to be out alone where they could be taken easily by my waning powers. I didn’t have to worry about them making too much noise because I always severed their voice boxes before I did anything else. I really liked it when they struggled. What a power trip!

Any rich-looking guy who looked like easy prey usually bought the farm as soon as I gleaned everything of worth from their feeble brains. A lot of the old geezers simply died from the sheer terror of looking at my hideous face, but some I actually had to burn out. Then I usually took over their digs, if I could get in without the hassle of a doorman. It wasn’t the best life and I never did find Evans, but I was finally having some fun.

Then one day in 2005, I was mind-raping my latest victim & I got an amazing lucky break. I’d seen the broad-shouldered, well-muscled hunk skulking around and followed him for awhile. The tall good-looking dark-skinned man was extremely striking with his thick black hair & large dark eyes. He was everything I coveted in the “looks” arena. Here in New York, I had always been treated with disrespect. I looked like a 14-year-old kid my entire life on Earth and people treated me that way. Especially here. I couldn’t even get a cab! I HATE New York City!

When I cornered my quarry in a vacant alley, I thought I would have some real fun with him. I just love to torture people and I severed the guy’s voice box immediately, so he couldn’t cry out for help. Then I began my mind-rape. I always liked to gather information as my first step, in case the victim died suddenly. I didn’t want to lose valuable Intel, such as the location of any savings accounts and other valuables. As I meandered through the grey matter, I stumbled upon all kinds of interesting revelations. What I discovered was a gold mine! The handsome stranger was up to no good. His plans sounded very exciting. They were fraught with danger at every turn and they were down-right evil. Now I was REALLY jealous of this guy. I wanted to make him pay for living the life that I wanted for myself. This man was going for the big strike and then his name would be revered forever even though he didn’t intend to be around to bask in the glory.

As I gleaned every last bit of information from the terrorist, the man’s mind simply gave out and he died from the strain. Suddenly I was hit with a flash of inspiration. A real epiphany! This was a perfectly good body. The heart was still beating. The blood was still circulating through these strong healthy veins. His mind was tattered but not torn. I could easily fix the damage and even alter the frontal lobe to accommodate the powers that I always wielded so well. So I did. Then I tried to imagine hurling myself into the cavity vacated before me. I pushed with everything I had left until my very being, the very essence of my existence slid forward into the void. I took it on faith and “willed” myself into the empty husk. It was unbelievable!

It worked!

My own pitiful shell fell to the alley dirt below. I saw it fall. I actually SAW my former body crumple to the ground before me. As I looked about with new eyes, I quickly adjusted to the new sensations coursing through me. It kind of reminded me of when we first arrived on Earth but way cooler! And I felt incredibly strong once more.

No wonder those Changzlings covet these human bodies so much! I could FEEL everything to the “nth” degree. Every sensation was heightened. My sense of smell. My vision. I became giddy with the expectation of what my life would now become.

Screw Max Evans!

I no longer cared where the fool was hiding. I could access every memory of this new husk and I spent a little time reviewing everything in my new brain while I learned to navigate with these wobbly new limbs. It was like learning to walk all over again. I breathed deeply and coughed on the dank smelly air. For the first time, I noticed we were next to a big garbage bin bulging with restaurant waste. Yuck! It stank to high Hadeez! I thought about stuffing my former dilapidated husk into the bin, but decided to make sure I still had my powerful energy ray instead. I held out my arm and disintegrated the revolting decaying mess.

“Akmid Rajid Mohammed Danaj”.

That is my new name. I liked it. ARMD. Armed and dangerous. My powers were still in full force, thanks to the work I quickly performed on this new haven before I initiated habitation. I also strengthened the heart and healed any minor imperfections. I had a new lease on life and I intended to live it to the fullest. I mind-raped a few more New Yorkers to make sure everything was in working order and found a luxury hotel room in which to spend the night in reward.’

I know now, just quite how
My life and love might still go on
In your heart and your mind
I'll stay with you for all of time


If I could turn back time
I'll go wherever you will go
If I could make you mine
I'll go wherever you will go


‘I decided to keep the appointment with fate that Akmid had with his buddies the next day. I had no trouble taking over the top spot when I used the holy book I’d picked up on the way there. I held it over the previous leader’s heart and said a few lines from the book, then burned the guy right through the book with my powers. Just enough to leave a handprint on the guy’s chest. Everyone was real impressed. They even bowed to me with awe in their eyes. Then, I told them how things were going to go. The previous leader was given the honor of flying the last plane that would take down the prime target. It was the least I could do, since the man was taking my place at death’s door. These guys live to be martyrs. It’s ingrained into them from age 5 on up. And since they saw me as almost a god now, they listened to the changes willingly and carried out my specifications to the letter.

They took down some important towers in New York and even took a chunk out of the mighty Pentagon. Four planes. One plane for each of the Royal Four, who were such a thorn in my side. But the fourth part of the plan went awry. We tried to take down the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth. But it seems that even the timid humans can show a smidgen of courage when it means enough to them. The passengers of the fourth plane sacrificed their lives to prevent the plane from reaching its destination.

As it was, I was hailed as a hero anyway, when I’d finally made it back to the guy’s base in Afghanistan. I took the time on the plane to read their holy book. In Arabic, no less! I had to pick up a new one since the first one was burnt beyond repair.

This husk retains all its memories and it was smooth sailing for me when I stepped in and resumed Akmid’s place in the hierarchy. With my skills, I quickly made it to the top. And now my life is sweet! I fought alongside my new human buddies in Afghanistan & quickly made an impression, not only as a great strategist, but also as a great warrior. My meteoric rise through the ranks was legendary. We hid out in the base camp located on tribal lands in the mountains between the two countries. By the time we moved the conflict into Pakistan, I was well on my way to fame and glory. Even the hot dusty desert didn’t deter me in this virile new husk. But I did have to watch my back. I only had a smidgeon of healing power and this new human skin was much more vulnerable in strange new ways. It was also much more pleasurable. And I had my choice of the honeys here. Of course, I couldn’t call them that. They have more laws and rules here than you could shake a stick at! They were the wives and daughters of my men. The females couldn’t say anything when I took their favors because they would be stoned in the street if they did. So basically, I could do anything I wanted with them, as long as I was discreet. Some of the men got wise though. I knew they suspected something when many of the men started calling for a new law that said that women were not allowed outside the house. Not even with a male escort. It curtailed my sexual activities for awhile, but I quickly found a way to continue my escapades with the ladies. I always had to clean them up first. They smelled! They are usually covered from head to toe in hot cloth and they sweat horribly. At least in America, the people bathed regularly! Nowadays I’m too busy to worry about sex anyway. There is always a new target to destroy. They have a lot of cool weapons to play with.

After a few years, I acquired the nickname Abaddon (Angel of the Abyss) as the rumors of my great deeds took on mythical proportions. My notoriety grew as my militant forces began attacking many more of the Christian strongholds throughout the world. Now my name is feared and revered throughout the land as my power and authority grows beyond belief. No one can stop me!

I’m working on getting my hands on some fission material as my next priority. That’s when the real fun will begin. For now, there is still a lot to keep me busy. We constantly have to move our base of operations to keep 3 steps ahead of all the Soldiers of Fortune that are out for my head, due to the huge reward the Western Nations had placed on me and my top echelon soldiers. With my skills, it isn’t too much of a problem to evade them.

Now I’m living the good life. I’m having the time of my life! If the Red Dragon ever does come back, he’ll have a ready-made human army to do his bidding. I’m not holding my breath. I’m taking life one day at a time. I’m doing what I love. And having a ball. My great feats are legend!

Yes, life is sweet!’

+ + + + +

The Bible - New International Version
Revelations 13:1-4

And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?”

Revelations 13:7
He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.

Revelations 13:11
Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men. Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.

This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.


Wherever You Will Go - Lyrics by The Calling

[paper]

I finally found some time to write, but my new muse likes to go off on strange tangents of her own.


89 The Legend of the Granolith

Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown
And things seem hard or tough
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft
And you feel that you’ve had quite enough

Just remember that you’re standing on a planet that’s evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour
That’s orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it’s reckoned
A sun that is the source of all our power

The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour
Of the galaxy we call the ‘milky way’

Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars
It’s a hundred thousand light years side to side
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick
But out by us, it’s just three thousand light years wide

We’re thirty thousand light years from galactic central point
We go ‘round every two hundred million years
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go, the speed of light, you know
Twelve million miles a minute and that’s the fastest speed there is

So remember, when you’re feeling very small and insecure
How amazingly unlikely is your birth
And pray that there’s intelligent life somewhere up in space
‘Cause there’s bugger all down here on Earth

Monty Python Galaxy Song written by Eric Idle & Trevor Jones

* * * * *

In the beginning there was no sound. No light. No smell.

Blackness reigned over nothingness. Endless night was the only truth.

A rush of wind announced the coming of a great force. Zofya emerged out of the great nothingness and she created a space in which to dwell. Her tremyndous lifeforce shone with the brightness of a zyllion suns as she scattered her will in every direction. Her far-flung energies coalesced into gaseous balls as stars and galaxies were born.

Over many eons some cooled into solid matter and she saw that change was good. But Zofya was not content. She wanted to share this newly created beauty with others. So, she created a canopy of life as she spread her children throughout her new home.

Zofya was pleased by the new life she created and she allowed it to develop. As her children grew in intelligence, they clamored for a way to communicate with their Mother, the Goddess. In her wisdom, Zofya created a tool so she could interact with her progeny. She named it the Granolith.

She chose one kind honorable daughter, Zanara, to become its holder & protector. This child’s line would have great power and prestige, but the Granolith can never be used for personal gain. Wickedness, Avarice and Conceit will fail. Throughout the ages, the Granolith has been used to protect Zofya’s progeny, as it will ever be so.
* * * * *

Serena put the ancient scroll back into its canister and returned it to its proper place. She bowed low and backed away from the Alter. She’d come here for inspiration and perhaps even absolution. With all the chaos outside, it was hard to think, let alone solve all the major problems she was dealing with now. She thought about Zanara, the original keeper of the Granolith. When Khivar killed Zan and Vilandra, he killed the last living direct descendants of Zanara. It was the single defining reason she went along with the cloning in the first place. The Granolith couldn’t be controlled properly by any, but a direct descendant.

Now that Zan and Vilandra live again, will they be able to converse with the Goddess again?

Will her people survive?

Soon. Soon, she would know the answer for herself.

[paper]

Thanks so much for your feedback, PML & belated thanks to Janetfl who has been my rock! Here is a nice long chapter to make up for my lack of posts of late. Serena is trying to speed things along.

90 Tours of Galumph

There's a brand new day on the horizon
Everything's gonna be just fine
There's a brand new day on the horizon
And the whole world's gonna be mine

I'm gonna tell old trouble, he'd better be moving on
Happiness is going to take his place around here from now on
The old dark clouds are gonna roll away
The sun is gonna shine
And the whole world's gonna be mine

There's A Brand New Day On The Horizon by Joy Byers



Serena has to run to answer her comlink and almost falls flat on her back as she slips on the wet floor. Her irritation turns to glee, however, as soon as she sees who it is. “Hey, Joovee. I’m so happy to hear from you. What’s up?”

“Serena! Have you heard anything from Terran, yet? Everyone is getting nervous. I must get final instructions to Cera.”

“The quasar in the Zahlagee Galaxy is still blocking all communications. It hasn’t hurt the transport beam, though. We can bend it far enough out of range of the quasar to counteract any ill effects. And its pulsing energy beam is pointed away from our arc of travel so as long as we continue to give it a wide berth, everything is a “go” to send our precious cargo with my brother’s next shipment.”

“Thank Goddess! Things are getting weirder here by the light cycle. Kavar is acting all strange and preoccupied. It’s like he’s turned into a zombie or something. He’s practically hacked off all of his beautiful blonde hair! He hasn’t been sleeping with any of his concubines. I don’t know if he even sleeps at all anymore! He walks through the halls with this glazed look in his eyes, nodding and mumbling to himself about the eyes of Venus or deceiving the local cretins! Ugh! Whatever those are. He walked right past me in the dining hall just now & didn’t even see me there!”

“I know, Joovee. He’s so focused on the takeover that he can’t think of anything else. Which has turned out to be a major blessing for us! Our plans to smuggle people out are working better than I could have ever imagined.”

* * * * *

If it wasn’t for her connections, Serena fears they would lose a lot more people than she estimates now. Millions of lives have already been snuffed out as the planet has been rocked from one mind-bending disaster to the next horrific calamity. Groundquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, and drought rocked the planet after the destruction of Fubar. Then they all suffered through the deadly ice storms and avalanches. As if the Ice Season wasn’t bad enough, when everything melted, they had all that overwhelming flooding to contend with. Serena’s students really rose to the cause and organized volunteers to erect energy force-fields to hold back the water long enough for others to reinforce make-shift barriers. She is really proud of this new generation of bright young minds. Oftentimes, really bad circumstances can cause the best to rise to the occasion.

The seasonal rains are thankfully winding down and things are finally looking more optimistic for Serena. At least as far as the current weather situation goes. But she is still worried about the effects of the irregular orbit that Antar is locked into. The gravitational pull from Cerule, Zinder and the giant red sun can still cause more unanticipated havoc when they draw nearer to these celestial bodies as Antar circumnavigates the galaxy in its orbit. And things always speed up as they approach the sun. She’s run the variables through her quantputer, but it’s all still speculation at this point. They can only hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

And Serena is using her wits to get as many people off of this dying planet as she possibly can. Kavar would lop off her head and hang it in the courtyard if he knew!

+ + + + +

Galumph Travel Center is a busy place nowadays. Serena has convinced her brother that the people need a diversion from all their problems to help maintain some semblance of normalcy and she has arranged tours of the wormhole facilities to aid in this respect.

The crowds flock daily to the technological wonder. Buses bring their students and throngs of visitors come from across the globe to see the black ice disappear into the carrier wave. The tourists pay their Kavarage at the door and then they are ushered into another chamber to see a short informative film on the concept of dark energy and wormhole formation. When they have completed the educational segment of the tour and are enlightened as to the general workings of this modern marvel, they are ready to see the real thing. Armed with their basic knowledge, Naj then disperses them in small numbered groups which Zarath escorts to the transport chamber. When they are situated just a few feet from the staging area, Serena turns on the carrier wave and they see the load of black ice disappear before their very eyes. Then they are redirected to a second viewing room to see a showcase of peculiar Terran artifacts before they are on their way once again. Large groups filter through all day long. This keeps Serena stuck in the control room for the better part of the day but she is more than happy to accommodate them.

After the almost magical disappearance of the cargo, the tour guide, Kneeth, begins to tout the fascinating objects still to be seen on the next stop on their tour. As he continues his oration, he then diverts everyone’s attention to the rear and leads them all out of the doors to the rear of the chamber. When the crowd turns their backs to exit, Serena quickly adjusts the wormhole controls. Six to ten dark figures silently slip out of the back of the group and quickly disappear into the beam, just before it shuts down.

+ + + + +

She’s been sending stores of black ice through the wormhole for lunar cycles now. She’s found several places on Terran where its past volcanic activity has developed substances eerily similar to their new fuel source and she merely deposits the vital material in amongst the Terran look-alike to camouflage it. Because of the time dilation, a massive increase over a short period doesn’t seem to be a problem. No one will notice the extra material there, unless they have the special instruments to distinguish it from its surrounding cover-field. As soon as the material has been transferred, she always sneaks a pre-selected group of people through single-file before she shuts down the wormhole to give it time to regenerate for the next conveyance.

Although most of these hearty travelers don’t have the benefit of her special dragon’s kin suit to ease the rough journey, one of the older cloaked figures was wearing the special material under her opaque covering to protect the royal personage. The others must endure the rough and tumble of the carrier wave, but Serena is able to adjust the trajectory just enough to make sure they have a relatively safe landing and don’t end up on top of the black ice! One of the rebel contacts always carries information on the location of her next dump so they can have people waiting to welcome the new arrivals.

The rebels and those now considered natives are filtering the Antarian refugees into various cities and towns across the globe and teaching them how to blend into their new environments. The Bhrillig are required to wear the special “skins” which allow them to appear human while protecting them from Terran’s harsh environment. They have been vastly improved since the time of the original departure of the reincarnated King’s flight to safety and General Nicholas’s recovery mission. The Zapiens look enough like humans to pass for locals.

This last transport has removed a great weight from Serena’s shoulders. As she sighs deeply and takes a deep breath which relaxes all her muscles, she wonders what her brother would think if he had any idea that she has been following a directive handed down by the granolith at the Womban Monastery years ago when she was but a teenager visiting the Order of Zofya for the very first time.