SHORT STORY: Part VI In The Beginning...

In The Beginning...

PART VI

©Mimi Wolske, March-April 2014

All Rights Reserved

"They told me your real name," Renardo Gumbo shouts from about twenty paces behind me.

Unable to think of anything else to say and not yet ready to admit who I am, I shout over my shoulder, "You need a shave." I lead them away from the bright lights and forward to some nameless city filled with a race of souls that have quit their bodies; away from the Reptilians and Greys and everything they represent.

Before us lies a painted scene, not picturesque but a growing ruin by destructive artists in the sky that are preparing for the artistic climax. No living human will paint this historic scene shown by soft moonlight with vaporous nimbus clouds hovering over fallen cities. I wonder if they'll record the decadence and the ferocity of this day that is driven by reptiles and beings with large, intense, black eyes. Or will the new artists show the ruins in a murky moonlight with emaciated priest-like beings and reptiles in their ornate armor in the cursed upper air with a primitive-like human standing in the pillars with members of the elder Whites race.

"Gunn," he hollers, and runs to catch up with me.

I ignore the name. I refused to return with the other Whites to Sirona, but she knows this is where I belong. I once was called Gunn, or War, and I was always the first on any battlefield.

He passes and then turns to face me, and walks backwards with ease. He doesn't even bother to turn and check if there's anything on the ground that will trip him...like a couple of dead bodies a few feet away. I guess he trusts me to warn him. "Is it true? You're a valkyrie?"

"You're a valkyrie? " Kaarat asks. "Wow. I mean holy dying soldier wow! Imagine me traveling with a goddess. Hey, why aren't you up in some sort of special kingdom?"

I roll my eyes.

"Can you really transfer to other dimensions?" Ren asks.

Suddenly he appears. I know him and why he has come. Ragnarok is the White chosen by my mother, Sirona, to be my mate.

  

I should have known you would be here, on this final battlefield," Ragnarok thinks, and he glides toward us. Of course, everyone stops and stares. Ren swings around to face to face him.

I relinquish the deceased warrior I collected since I came to the top. They will prepare to become fighters with Ragnarok when he advances in the immense battle. Ragnarok, I turn my warrior collection over to you for you to escort yourself to Hall of Slain.

I'm not here to collect warrior souls, Gunn. I am here to escort you back to your mother and our people. We will be mated before I go to fight this final battle.

Ren steps between me and Ragnarok and says, "What's going on? Who is that, Morgan?"

"He has come to unify those warriors of earth with those from the sky," I say, unable to tell him that he is to be my mate. Schizbo! I think I'm going to have to tell Ren that he is the one I love and not this god.

In a voice filled with awe, Kaarat says, "That's Ragnarok, isn't it."

My head offers a quick, responsive jerk to confirm what I know she is thinking. "Look, there is a way to beat these aliens and survive. One of you must gain all the knowledge you can."

"I can do it," Ren offers without a thought.

"You don't know what you're saying," Kaarat complains. "You only want to impress Mor-Gunn."

She looks up at me, concern written in every line on her face. "Tell us the Catch 22."

I hesitate, but her question is fair...and wise. It's good to know the probable outcome before you go into any battle. "I can't linger here much longer. The battle has accelerated and already Loki, Freyr, and Odin have died."

Ragnarok nods. He's sensed the same deaths. Will you tell them what will happen to whomever acquires such knowledge?

I give him an affirmative nod and turn to Ren and Kaarat. "Any human gaining specific knowledge will go insane before they are able to document what they learn."

The Whites are on this planet to help the human beings survive, I want to add. Being half human, I certainly have a large stake in their survival. We came thousands of years ago to help this planet and any intelligent life that was found. I have been the first on the battlefields and among the first to collect the deceased since my existence.

"Is this the end? The doom of the gods?" Kaarat is more knowledgeable than Ren. She might just survive.

Tell them about the Reptilians who came to this planet shortly after we arrived. Ragnarok thinks.

What? And let them know that the Morning Star, the Great Deceiver, is real? Don't you think that would scare them?

It will make them stronger to know how we made them bipedal snakes when we learned they were using the human beings as a source of their needed nutrients.

Ragnarok, I can't tell them. I won't.

Shall I give you a reason? he threatened.

Instantly, he makes Cap appear. Ren, stunned, can't move.

Kaarat says, "What? Another human to protect or will he fight the Greys and the Reptilians with us?"

Why, Ragnarok?

Tell them and I will go back to Sirona and explain you are needed on the battlefield. I won't force you to marry me. I understand your thoughts, Gunn. But, don't tell them and I will take you without concern for your affection for that human man. You know I can."

"What's going on Morgan?" Cap asks.

Ren runs to him and forgets he's a man and hugs Cap. It's sort of like watching him hold that alien baby all over again.

"Cap!" he says and it almost sounds like adoration, like love, as if Cap is his father.

Again, I feel my love for Ren being tested. How much do I have to give so this human man can live? How much for all three of my friends to survive this battle? I let Ragarok know I agree. He leaves and I tell these three everything...well, everything about the Reptilians and the Greys that I think they should know.

Were all sitting around with only a small light Cap brought with him to give us any light. I say, "The rest of what there is to know, one of you has to learn yourself."

Cap looks solemn. "It's just what people have been quoting for centuries."

"What?" Ren asks.

"About the heavens being on fire and dissolving and the elements melting." He looks at each one of us. "God help us if the fate of this planet is in our hands."

"Mor-Gunn," Kaarat says, "Could this learning task be divided? I mean, what if each one of us learns about a third or what is needed to know? Couldn't we then put it into a computer and share it with the heads of military for this planet so we could fight and destroy these aliens?"

"That's a clever idea," Cap says, and compliments Kaarat before I can respond.

"I cannot stay with you much longer. Humans all over this planet are dying and so are the gods. It is past time that I must go and collect the ones who will join Ragnarok. I can only say Kaarat's idea is worth trying because what I failed to tell you all is that you all might die whether you have all the knowledge or not. I have no way of knowing or of protecting you. But, if you call me...if you would even just think my name, I promise to be with you instantly until the end."

Kaarat comes to me and hugs me. It's the only time she has been able to do this as I am sitting as she stands. Her mouth is close to my ear and she whispers for my ears only, "I just wanted to let you know you didn't kill my boyfriend. I think it was a Grey who murdered him."

I place my hand on her head and take her into my confidence and let my knowledge of life and history become hers. Why? Because I find her to be the most esoteric and advanced of all humans.

To Be Continued

Intellectual Property Rights: © 1999 – 2014 Mimi Wolske/Mona Arizona™. All rights reserved.

You may contact me concerning permissions via email. This copyright notice overrides, negates, and renders void any alleged copyright or license claimed by any pers on or entity, specifically including but not limited to any claim of right or license by any individual, group of individuals, companies and corporations, or web hosting service, except when I have transferred such rights with a signed writing that complies with the requirements for transferring the entire copyright as specified in Title 17 of the United States Code. This includes, but is not limited to, translation or other creation of derivative works, use in advertising or other publicity materials without prior authorization in writing, or any other non-private use that falls outside the fair use exception specified in Title 17 of the United States Code.

If you have any question about whether commercial use, publicity or advertising use, or republication in any form satisfies this notice, it probably does not. Violations of intellectual property rights will be dealt with swiftly using appropriate process of law, probably including a note to your mother telling her that you’re a thief.

SHORT STORY: Part IV of IN THE BEGINNING...

In The Beginning...

Part IV

©Mimi Wolske, March-April 2014

All Rights Reserved

Help me. The Reptilians have me in a food bank somewhere and I can't find my way out. I send my plea telepathically to every White, but mostly I want my mother to hear it.

I don't believe it's my destiny or that of my peoples, both the Whites and the humans, to be enslaved by the Reptilians or the Greys. Or to be used as their cattle, especially when the real cattle are awake and walking around and living and aware of the Reps and the Greys around them. My people, the Whites, are not aggressive as a race of beings, but I know they will not let members be held without putting up a fight to save them.

My mother, Sirona—this is the closest name in earth languages for the meaning of who she is—sends an army of Whites to rescue me. I despise the Reptilians and it's not because they captured me or because I'm a White.

Reptilians are base creatures who could care less what others beings think or feel. Reps are proportional in size to the humans on this planet. They have snake- and lizard-like skin and eyes. Linda Applestone was half human and she is lucky to have the thin skin of humans to disguise what she is...a Reptoid. All Reptoids, no matter what beings in the universe they are bred from, are highly advanced entities, but they are hostile and dangerous since they regard any other beings as totally inferior.

There's a battle between the Whites rescuing me and the Reptilians stationed at the food bank where I have been stored. I see the entire battle and sense the agony as some of my people are killed. The brutality the Reptilians serve is countered, but not without injuries and deaths. In the end, it's the Reptilians that are extinguished.

Whites don't hug, but hell, I'm half human. I throw my arms around the first of my rescuers and embrace his stiff body; stiff because he senses what I intend and isn't sure how to respond. It's a human way to say "thanks", and more, but the emotion is lost on the White. Sirona's voice telepathically reminds all of us there is still Ren to rescue. I don't need reminding. I haven't forgotten him.

Sirona sees where he is, but only because she can connect to him from my personal attachment to this human. Two rescuer Whites stay behind with me, I have no weapons to defend myself, while the others head for their next battle to save Ren. Above us, the battle between the Reptilians and the Greys continues; all around is the destruction caused by their battle ships being shot down and crashing into the buildings and homes on this planet.

Humans scream in terror and run without purpose or direction. There's no order here; only chaos. Many are injured and dying and no one is willing to stop and help those who need assistance. When we stop to offer assistance, they see only my two rescuers and refuse help; they point fingers and shout insults blaming us and calling us names.

Something about us never before revealed is that we don't need vehicles to travel. We just think about where we want to be and like a beam of light, we are there. More Whites are killed and more are injured in the battle to free Ren. I know before they reach us that the news is not good.

I'm crying. Well, I am half human and it's my prerogative to cry for the loss of a human who loved me but whom I never returned the words.

"He's dead, isn't he?" I think, when they bring in his lifeless body on a cot. It's obvious where the Reps put in a tube to keep him fresh until he became a snack or part of a larger meal. There's blood on that side of his neck that flowed like a river until it dried. I shed some tears, but I can hear my voice and it sounds emotionless, like he dies every day.

Their thoughts meld with my own: "You are safe but do you have injuries?"

"I am fine. How can I repay you for finding him?"

They ignore my question. "We need to return to Sirona and rid this planet of these thoughtless Greys and uncaring Reptilians," one of them says, using telepathy. Everyone's agreement is a pretty watershed moment for what will become history for Earth and its human inhabitants.

"I have a question." Those who are here with me and able to give me a look that says "anything is possible." I know the same from all who are not here with me or even here on this planet.

"Has it ever been done before? Bringing a human back to life?" I think, and they answer affirmatively and in unison.

Sirona adds, "If you had ever bothered to take time to read any of this planet's history from their religious manuals, Morgan, you would know it has been accomplished many times...but not for thousands of years."

"Why is the human so important?" one of the Whites thinks, and I know she does it for all to hear, not me alone.

"Yes, why? There are humans dying all over this planet and no one is asking for them to be brought back to life."

"He is important to Morgan, that's all any of us need know," Sirona thinks and we all hear the decision in her thought. "Morgan, let them handle bringing this Ren to us. You must fly home now. I do not want you injured or captured...again. No; no arguments, Morgan. I mean what I say."

It takes a moment of thought this time, but I think of Sirona and where she is, I become a tiny light, and in seconds I am with her.

Her kingdom is hidden somewhere north of seventy-two degrees north, forty degrees west. Humans have inhabited this area for thousands of years, but beneath the body of water around this land is where she and the Whites of this planet hide and live.

Sirona and I do not embrace. I know I am her daughter; she knows that I know she is my mother. What remains is elemental and sentimentality is unneeded.

"There is a price you must pay to save this human being."

"Why?"

"It is the way. It has always been the way since these beings came to life. There was, there is, and there always will be a price for one of us to pay when a life-saving pleas is made for them. Certainly you do not expect me to hold you higher and beyond our law."

Actually, I never knew about this law. My thoughts spin wildly and I wonder for a second time in the long days of war that have passed if I am willing to give my life to save Ren. "What kind of price?"

"No. Not a life for a life."

Even if I had not been in the same room, I would know that look of victory in her expression.

"You will marry the male I choose."

"What? What kind of law is that? Is it even a law? I think you made it up! If I knew that—"

There may as well have been a victory celebration where everyone could dance...telepathically. My mother is happy to see me dissatisfied. She knows I am trapped. There is no right response for me to offer.

She thinks, "You would still ask for this Ren's life to be returned. Think Morgan. If he remains dead, you will marry who I choose, and if we give him back his life, you will be obligated to marry who I choose."

"So, I lose no matter what I choose, right?"

She turns her back and glides away from me and into a thin forest of trees that have been growing in the underwater colony longer than humans have inhabited the land above.

"If we give him life, you win, daughter. You get what you want. And, our colony on this planet wins because we all get what we want."

"What are you telling me? That everyone wants me to marry a White? Why? I am half human. Why is it you were able to be with the human you wanted and I must mate for life with a White...of your choosing?"

"There will be no more discussion, Morgan. We off you a choice."

I let my unhappiness and anger spill over into my thoughts so every living White will know and feel it. "Some choice! Give up Ren and be unhappy, or give up Ren and we both can be unhappy."

To Be Continued

Intellectual Property Rights: © 1999 – 2014 Mimi Wolske/Mona Arizona™. All rights reserved.

You may contact me concerning permissions via email. This copyright notice overrides, negates, and renders void any alleged copyright or license claimed by any pers on or entity, specifically including but not limited to any claim of right or license by any individual, group of individuals, companies and corporations, or web hosting service, except when I have transferred such rights with a signed writing that complies with the requirements for transferring the entire copyright as specified in Title 17 of the United States Code. This includes, but is not limited to, translation or other creation of derivative works, use in advertising or other publicity materials without prior authorization in writing, or any other non-private use that falls outside the fair use exception specified in Title 17 of the United States Code.

If you have any question about whether commercial use, publicity or advertising use, or republication in any form satisfies this notice, it probably does not. Violations of intellectual property rights will be dealt with swiftly using appropriate process of law, probably including a note to your mother telling her that you’re a thief.

SHORT - Micro Flash Fiction: In the Beginning... Part I

In The Beginning...

©Mimi Wolske, March-April 2014

All Rights Reserved

The report sent to me stated on line 49:

It was created from some sort of organic life substance, but there was intelligence behind its creation.

Good God! It was everything that was against nature as humans know it and I wonder what the hell I'm going to do if this one evolves into something else on my watch.

It can only be referred to as the Big Bang of the Brain.

Those words pop out on line 129 because I never subscribed to the Big Bang theory. I know; that puts me with all those religious fanatics of past centuries just before the war. But, I mean, chimps have problems with the abstract—even when they are taught our language, so how could I believe? Okay, I'll give you Dali. That man was surreal enough to have gone through some sort of mythological bang or intervention by ETs.

"You have to be kidding!" I throw the report on the ground. In all probability, this thing in my partner's arms is going to have the same DNA as humans. Seriously. These theorists and scientists want me to believe some alien genes were grafted into humans by the very beings this thing was spawned from?

"I did not come from that!" I grumble, and I spin to face Ren and the dead monster lying behind him. I point a nervous finger at thing on the ground.

Renardo Gumbo is the name Ren gave me when we first met, but we both know I don't believe him. He says, "How can you say that? Just look at this baby. It looks every bit as human as you."

For a single guy, he's holding that thing pretty confidently. But, Ren isn't one of those pre-twenty-fourth century macho types...at least not when it's just the two of us.

"I need proof, not theory," I complain, and reach into my bag. I need my drugs; I'm getting what the medical authority can only call something close to a migraine. Pointing at the dead thing that had given birth to the surviving thing in Ren's arms, I say, "It's going to grow up and look like that!"

I pop two Topamax tabs and swallow. It's an antiseizure med, but they'd prescribed all the Triptans before any medical authority would admit nothing seemed to work. Damn! I kept telling them that. I'll never understand why doctors don't listen.

My names Morgan, I'm thirty-two, still single—by choice, thank you very much—and work for INALSEAD. That's the acronym for International Alien Search and Detain. It's sort of like the bounty hunters of twentieth and twenty-first centuries, only we go after beings who mate with humans.

Some human guys get high and they'll screw anything. Even an ugly alien.

It's the male aliens that scare me. Well, I've seen the length of their reproductive organ. Good Lord! It must be two feet long.

Blaahhhhh. That kind of crap gives me the shivers and makes me want to puke.

Well, in the final analysis, it doesn't matter what I think. Alien sex is against international law.

"Man! I never knew you were prejudice!" He shakes his head and exhales a heavy sigh of disbelief. "Man!"

His laser gun slings low on his hip, he draws that little being closer to his chest, turns his back to me, and walks away. He couldn't look further from some modern-day cowboy rounding up aliens.

"Where you going? Get back here!"

"I'm taking this baby to the ship where it's warm and where I can find something to wrap it in."

We round up law-breaking aliens, not alien orphans. I can see Ren getting too attached and I have to figure out a way to get rid of that thing without seeming I have any animosity towards its.

Its kind. Ha! Blasted aliens went from simple bacteria-like organisms to beings far more complex than humans. They brought their diseases to this planet and killed off about a third of the world's population, and not even the strongest anti-alien-biotic works on them. After two centuries, we're still trying to coexist. They're just existing.

Enough postulating. I take off in a walk-run over the large rocks so I can catch up with them.

"You know that thing has a dad that's probably still living—if its mother didn't eat him."

Ren ignores me and keeps walking. We're close to the ship when he rounds on me. His head cocks to one side and by the look in his eyes, I know I'd give into any request from him.

"What?"

"They don't eat us and you know that. Your prejudice is still showing. Or, should I say your ignorance?"

"Fine! Sorry. You just don't understand what it's like trying to find your place in this world when you're half alien, half human."

I think the Topamax is beginning to kick in. I have that distinctive ear ringing and it's becoming difficult to concentrate and keep focused. God, I love drugs that work.

"If you really mean that, you'll marry me and then we can adopt this cutie."

I make a dead stop in my tracks.

Marriage?

To Ren, who's one of the few men on this planet who's a one-hundred-percent-certified-card-carrying human being? Is he serious?

"Are you serious?"

To Be Continued