"So who or what are you, besides very talented
and nimble in bed?" Maltin asked as he traced a circle around the
delicate woman's left breast. He had his head propped up on one
hand to look at her. She was facing him in the same way, almost
like a mirror. She started to extend her finger to his chest,
but he grabbed the delicate hand and shook his head.
"I am a construct based on one of the original
inhabitants of this city. Apparently I... she died 1,653 years
ago."
"But you're not human?" he marveled at her
perfect, delicate features, slightly pointed ears, and ivory
white skin. It certainly looked real.
"No, I was artificially created with living
tissue in the underground complex. I am a facsimile."
"You sure are," Maltin said in admiration. She
looked stunned and uncertain for a moment, then continued.
"The creators of this city were the Adorachur.
Their only purpose was to create harmony and beauty through
art."
"Like this city," Maltin waved around him.
"Yes, it is functional as well as beautiful.
The structures are designed to collect energy from the sun. That
energy is directly translated into multi-phasic and electrical
energy in underground collection stations beneath the surface.
The stored energy, in turn, can be reformed into matter."
"All this happens under our feet, inside the
mountain?"
"The complex IS the mountain."
"So can we use this energy to fight the
trolls?" Maltin asked hopefully.
"That must be determined on a case-by-case
basis. Mass annihilation is not permitted."
"We're going around in circles here, I think,"
he said uncertainly. "Let me ask you this. Do you have some
type of powerful weapon that I can take with me outside the city
to fight the trolls?"
"Yes."
Maltin waited, then growled in frustration.
"So what and where is this weapon?"
"Here. I am the weapon."
"You," Maltin snorted, "what will you do, dance
them to death."
"I don't think that would be feasible."
"Oh man, I wish you would speak English,"
Maltin said in frustration and rolled out of bed. He washed up
and came out to redress. She was already fully dressed, sitting
on the edge of the bed in a composed manner. She handed him his
uniform shirt, and turned on the instantaneous fake smile.
"Don't do that, it makes you look like a
moron," he growled. She lost the smile, and a hurt look crossed
her face.
"I'm sorry, but if you don't know how to smile,
don't pretend. It makes you look stupid, and a woman as pretty
as you should never look stupid."
"I'm sorry, I'm doing my best to adapt," she
said, obviously hurt.
"Your people never smiled?"
"No, that practice originates from a primitive
species who evolved into humanoids. The smile was originally a
show of teeth for the purpose of aggression, also accompanied by
a growl. My people evolved from energy, not primitive life
forms."
"Sure they did," Maltin said skeptically.
"They did?" she blinked in surprise.
"Keep on telling yourself that, lady. Hey,
what is your name anyway?" he asked as he wrapped his belt around
his waist and picked up his rifle.
"Amaniacasoralonis."
"What?"
"Amania..."
"Never mind, I'll just call you Amanda."
"Noted," she blinked, not sure she liked such a
short name.
"And you need to work on that English too.
Instead of saying noted, like some kind of a robot, try out
something new like ok, sure, fine, good, gotcha, or if you're
Australian you can try good on ya."
"Godonya?"
"Close enough. Let's go find Mili and get out
of this pleasure palace."
"Gotcha," she said, flowing to her feet.
"Hey, don't you have some kind of a
weapon?"
"No."
"Just thought I'd ask," he said with a hopeless
shrug.
"Well, you two look chipper," Mili growled.
She had been waiting in the hallway.
"I should, this lady knows... sorry, you should
have ordered a male doll."
"Huh."
"I can fulfill the needs of both, If required,"
Amanda said brightly.
"What's that mean?" Mili made it sound like a
threat.
"Don't ask, she's kind of strange," Maltin
whispered and touched his head. "Amanda, is there an easy way
off this rock?"
"You mean a path to the lower mainland?"
"Yeah, I guess. Our destination is a human
settlement known as Alpha, about fifty miles north of here."
"Then we must walk, of course," she said with a
nearly genuine smile and started walking.
"Don't you people have cars, ships, planes,
even a few rusty bicycles?"
"No, my people did not believe in inventing
machines to do what the body was meant to do."
"Wonderful," Maltin said, rolling his eyes.
"Then how do you explain the 9-16's?" he asked while handing
Amanda some of the packs to carry.
"Those came from the northern city, as I
explained," she said in a condescending manner.
"The northern city believed in aircraft?" he
asked sarcastically.
"Gotcha," she said, pointing a delicate finger
at his chest and winking.
"What is she talking about?" Mili nearly
screamed as she watched the annoying exchange of words. They
were standing outside the building now. A light rain had
recently fallen, washing the glass city clean.
"The machines, Mil E, come from the northern
city," Amanda said slowly, as if speaking to a child. She led
them off to the north.
"I heard all that, where is the northern city
and who's running it?"
"The northern city is... in the north. The
city runs itself," Amanda said with a vague look on her face.
"You don't know a damned thing about this
northern city, do you?" Mili demanded.
"Well no, we have been out of touch with that
city for over a century."
"So why don't you get back into touch and tell
them to stop killing us?" Mili demanded.
"I would... I can't, something is wrong."
"With them or with you?"
"The northern city will not respond to our
hail."
"The trolls," Maltin said with a snap of his
fingers. "The damned trolls took over the city. That's why they
have unlimited resources. Anything they want, that damned city
gives them."
"That's possible," Amanda said
uncomfortably.
"Hey, where are we going?" Maltin suddenly
looked around. They were in a strange part of the city, far from
the center.
"The underground passage to the mainland."
"Great, we don't have to ride that damned chair
down," Mili breathed a sigh of relief. "Did the northern city
have aircraft?"
"Yes, the 9-16's were just one type of craft.
They had ground transport, spacecraft, and many other
variations."
"Great. We get stuck with the hippie city and
they get New York," Maltin growled.
"Your aggressive undertones are very counter-
productive," Amanda chastised him. "They can serve no purpose
other than irritating others. It's not good to irritate those
who you depend on for your survival."
"There, she told you," Mili said chuckling.
"Listen, lady, the day you protect me, is the
day I kiss your butt. In fact I'll kiss both your butts."
"Noted," Amanda said with a blink.
"Noted," Mili said and blinked too.
"I'll note you," he whispered as he hurried to
catch up.
"The entrance is here. It may be obstructed
from the exterior," Amanda said, pointing at a normal looking
door with a wheel in the center of it.
"Finally, a real door. Let me at it," Maltin
said, grabbing the wheel. He had trouble breaking the rusty
gears free, but after a moment the squeaky wheel began turning.
He thrust his shoulder against the door several times until it
stood open a crack. Normal yellow sunlight filtered through.
With the help of the women, they forced it open enough to pass
outside. From the outside, the door looked like the rest of the
rock face. Maltin kicked it several times until it closed again
and became invisible.
"That was the original entrance to the city,
constructed over 1,700 years ago," Amanda said proudly.
"It works better than our stuff," Mili
said.
"It needs a little oil," Maltin said in an
offhanded manner and led the way north.
The main control ship saw the movement it had
been searching for. Since the destruction of Dardess 6, one of
the armies most elite squads of troops, the trolls had made an
all-out effort to track down the humans responsible for their
destruction. When the three walking humans suddenly appeared on
their scanners three large ships dropped out of orbit and homed
in on the humans. These ships did not carry a squad, they
carried a full company of 300 trolls each. Main command was not
taking any chances with these humans. The war had gone well
until the annihilation of Dardess 6. The moral of the army
depended on the torture of those responsible.
"Maltin," Amanda suddenly called. She and Mili
had been following him for some time, talking and keeping each
other company.
"Yeah?"
"How is your kisser working?"
"Fine, I guess. How's yours?" he asked with a
laugh.
"The services of mine will not be required.
Yours, however, will be."
"What's that mean?" he asked in annoyance.
"Three large ships are descending on us from
above. Can you handle three LARGE ships, Maltin?"
"Ships! You mean troll ships!" Mili
screamed.
"Yes," Amanda seemed unconcerned.
"Shit, shit, shit!" Maltin yelled and looked
for cover. He ran for a collection of boulders, just off the
path. It wasn't much, but it was better than being caught out in
the open.
"Get your butts in here," Maltin yelled, waving
them forward.
"Giving in already?" Amanda asked.
"Oh, very funny, lady. We're about to get
ourselves killed and your making butt kissing jokes."
"Calm yourself, Maltin, I will not let them
harm you."
"Like hell, lady. Nobody protects me, but
me."
"Godonya," Amanda pointed and winked.
"Oh, why me?" Maltin asked as he searched for
grenades. He found three old white phosphorous grenades and
several screamers. He set them up in a row to his right. He
fished around in his pocket until he found spare power crystals.
These he sat to the left of the grenades. Mili was doing much
the same thing behind her boulder. Amanda was just standing
there, calmly waiting.
"Oh, why me?" Maltin asked again and pulled
Amanda down behind the rock with him.
"It's dirty down here?" she objected. "And
there are little crawling things all around us," she pointed in
disgust.
"Welcome to the real world, lady, it's dirty.
Those crawly things are called bugs."
"Well I don't like them," she said with
certainty.
"Oh Lord, here they come," Mili shouted,
whirling and slamming her back against the protective rock. She
held her rifle at the ready position. Maltin took one last look
at her, then noticed the way the end of her barrel shook.
"Life's a bunch of shit, and we're knee deep in
it, Mili," Maltin said with a half-smile, turning the barrel
towards her. Her eyes widened momentarily, then she nodded her
thanks. She closed her eyes and began whispering a prayer. She
held her right hand ready to cross herself. Maltin tightened his
finger on the trigger, waiting for her to finish.
The next chapters will be uploaded in about 2 weeks. Thanks
for all the kind emails I have received. Feel free to visit site
II for additional stories, including The Stranger, my newest
Published work appearing in Boundless Realm on September
1st.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: If you have followed... YOU'RE NOT BUYING ANY
OF THIS STUFF ARE YOU? YOU'VE SAT HERE THROUGH THE ENTIRE FIRST HALF
OF A NOVEL AND HAVEN'T EVEN CONSIDERED CLICKING ON THE BANNER BELOW.
Why not? I'm doing you a favor and me, both at the same time. For you,
you will get access to almost 18,000 free sites, neatly listed in separate
categories. You don't have to pay for adult sites again, ever. And
what's in it for me? Simple, they pay me so I can afford to sit here
on this computer for 18 hours at a time, doing what I like best. Creating
worlds. So do us a favor and really look at the banner below. The chances
are that access to the internet costs a lot more than access to what 50%
of the men out the are really looking for, adult sites. Do us both a favor,
put that little pointer thingey on the banner below and press the left
button on your mouse. Your money won't be wasted. Thanks, for your time.