.007.01
The Krackow moved in on Olympus. They
did some major damage before the Galactic Officials found out. Personally, I
thought the Galactic Team kept better track of Olympus. It was my understanding
that it was patrolled regularly. Guess not regularly enough.
Anyway, the Galactic Office has called
in anyone who wants to make deliveries of equipment or help repair the damage.
I’ve always wanted to see Olympus. There are so many fantastic stories of it. I
threw my hat into the ring. I managed to pass their background check. I will be
picking up prefabs and supplies for the village they will have to build for the
workmen onsite.
I can’t wait to meet a God.
*****
.007.02
Carrie has been cruisin’ the NET for
all the information she can find on the planet. She seems fascinated and I
can’t blame her. The story of Olympus goes back centuries. When earthlings
first found out about the planet and its inhabitants there were many who
believed that the home of the ancient God’s had been found. Later it was proved
that this was an evolution that paralleled our earthling myths. How it
happened, who was responsible for our planet acquiring a mythology so similar
to a planet’s so far from earth, was unknown.
I was looking forward to seeing
centaurs, Pegasus, nymphs, mermaids, cupids and satyrs. A storybook come to
life. A myth made of flesh and blood.
*****
.007.03
I have arrived at Olympus. It is
atrocious what the Krackow did to this area of the planet.
If you are not familiar with the
Krackow let me enlighten you. They are a race of ‘Stripers.’ It is their
cultural policy to move in on planets stripe them of all their resources and
then move on. They destroyed their own planet and because they had space travel
technology they just got in their ships and went to find another world to
butcher. They are, in the true sense, barbarians.
Their activities mutilated a stretch of
the planet’s surface hundreds of miles long and thousands of miles wide. It
spans a whole continent. The Krackow must have come in force and been here a
while before the Galactic Official discovered them.
They have been evicted now, but the
damage they did is going to take months to correct even with terra forming
equipment.
I’m in hopes of catching a glimpse of
my first unicorn or centaur soon. However, I have been told by my fellow
transporters that they have run away and hidden. It is horrible. The Officials
on site confiscated hides, feathers and skins from the Krackow. They don’t know
how many have been killed.
It is just so pathetic.
*****
.007.04
I stood stark still in the mud on our
side of the Multi-function Device (MFD). The Centaur was right in front of me,
within arm’s length, on the other side. The MFD barrier gave me a perfect view
of him. Up close and personal. From his side, he would be looking at his own
reflection. The barrier was above and surrounded the chewed-up area the Krackow
had left behind. It ran between us and the inhabitants of the planet and was
meant to keep them calm and uninfluenced by our technology. The most they would
notice of our presence would be the mirror on their side. Even the entry for
our ships was planned not to interfere with the Pegasus who might fly over or
around our installation.
The centaur was magnificent. His body
was a sleek chestnut brown – his tail a flowing mass of coal black hair so long
it almost touched the ground behind him. His muscular human shaped torso was
golden brown – his hair as black as his tail ran in a thick braid down the
middle of his back. He pranced side to side studying his reflection, his hoofs
striking up the grass in clumps on his side. Unlike a bird, you could tell he
had no illusions that his reflection was another centaur. He knew it was him
and he was admiring himself. He was worth admiring.
He turned to leave and I wished I could
call him back. I couldn’t get enough of him – the soft wispy hair that fell
over his hoofs, the faint running of short hair down his back which must have
evolved from the presence of a main. He only walked about five lengths of his
body away and turned. He stood motionless for a moment except for his front
right hoof pawing at the ground. Then all of a sudden, he charged at the
barrier directly in front of me. Even though I knew he could not penetrate it I
involuntarily jumped back. He slid to a halt just before contacting the MFD and
reared up on his hind legs. He was enormous – at least twice my height. When
his front feet came down to the ground once more he was smiling. He liked what
he saw. You could tell he thought himself as magnificent as I did.
He leaned forward and placed his hand
on the barrier. As though he could see me, I snuck slowly up and pressed my
hand against the barrier and his on the other side. He tilted his head and
stared directly at me. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought he was
staring at me. His eyes were mesmerizing – almost a lime green with flecks of
forest green and brown in them. I leaned forward to study him closer. So much
was said in those eyes.
All at once something caught his
attention to his right and his hand fell away. The moment was over. I exhaled,
just realizing I had been holding my breath. When I followed his gaze, I could
see another centaur in the distance – a female. Her lower half was a lovely
buckskin color and the skin of her torso the shade of a smooth latte. Her hair
and tail were blond.
She must have called to him, though I
could not hear it. He turned and with the flick of his tail galloped off to
meet her. They greeted each other on the rise with a nod and moved out of sight
over the grassy hilltop.
My knees felt weak. I sat down on a
stone by the barrier and kept gazing out at the landscape on the other side. It
was nothing short of an Eden. Velvet smooth grass covered rolling hills,
flowering shrubs, crystal clear streams that ran into china blue pools, trees
whose limbs swept down over the stream banks into the water and a sky so many shades
of blue you almost felt it should have a color name all its own.
This was my second delivery to Olympus.
Sam would be finished unloading soon and we would be off for another. I hoped
the centaur would come back for another look at himself, but with miles of MFD
to choose from he probably wouldn’t. But, I had seen him. My first centaur.
I love my job.
*****
.007.05
“What did you do?” I asked Bronwyn as I
raised my cup for another drink.
We were setting in the commissary
provided for the transporters and workers while they were on Olympus. I ran
into Bronwyn in the hot food line. He asked how the delivery of the Golden
Screamers to Andrew Daily, which he pawned off on me, had gone. I made a few
choice remarks to the effect that I would never accept another ‘shift’ from him
no matter what it paid. We fell into seats at the same table and started
trading stories. He was making deliveries as I was. He had made six trips to my
three – smaller, faster ship.
He was telling me about an encounter
with a Pegasus above the MFD barrier in flight. While approaching for a landing
he met one coming straight at his side. He could not maneuver out if its way
fast enough.
“Well, I couldn’t let it just hit me.
It would have broken its neck, so I opened my side bay door and let it fly in.”
He took a bite of his malic root chewing happily on the crunchy plant. “When
its hooves hit the metal of the deck, it just came to a stop.”
“It landed in your ship?” I asked in
disbelief. I had totally forgotten about eating.
“Sure did. Big as life. She was snow
white and had the most beautiful blue eyes.” You would have thought he was
describing a lover, but I knew how he felt having had the encounter with the
centaur just a few days ago. “She didn’t seem frightened at all - maybe a
little leery.” He pointed his malic root at me for emphasis, “Her wings were
probably twenty feet across. She spread them when I came toward her.”
“Did you get to touch her?” I was
breathless. To see one of the Olympians without a barrier between you and them
was unheard of.
“I tried, but like I said, she was
leery. When I approached, she shied away. I thought she might fall out the bay
door, so I backed off. She stamped her feet a few times at me. Then turned and
took off back through the door.”
“Incredible,” I said.
“Really incredible,” he said with a
glow in his eyes.
*****
.007.06
“How was the trip?” Bronwyn asked as he
sat down with his tray across from me in the commissary.
“Not bad,” I said around a mouthful of
scrambled eggs. “We made good time.” This was the second time running into
Bronwyn in the mess hall. “And yours?”
“No snags. I sometimes wish I had a
larger ship. If I had one like yours I would have made this set up in a couple
of trips. As it is I will end up doing more than a dozen.” Bronwyn’s assignment
along with others was to help transport the medical supplies to establish a
hospital for the crew that would be working on the terra firma project.
“But, a job this size doesn’t come
along often,” I said. “And usually you need the speed of your smaller ship to
make those deliveries a larger one like Ma-rye-a can’t.”
“Ya, you’re right.” He took a sip of
his pitch and made a face. “They sure feed you good here, but their pitch could
use some work. You could float a spoon in it.” He set the mug down and took a
bite of his malfit bits instead.
“That’s the reason I drink tea. You can
make it any strength you want. You can even carry your own blend.” I pulled my
flat tin of loose tea from my pocket which I always carried to the mess. “Want
to try some?”
“Sure.” Bronwyn took his mug of pitch
and poured it down the drain at the end of the clean-up bar. He stepped to the
drink station and filled up with hot water.
I emptied my filter bag of my used tea
on the edge of my tray, then refilled it with fresh leaves. “Let it seep for 2
minutes, any longer and this one gets a bit of a bite.
He popped the bag in the mug. “Smells
good,” he said in satisfaction as he took a whiff over the rim of his mug.
“What kind is it?”
“This one is from my last trip to
Valaria. I bought it from a street merchant. It was his own personal blend. I
am going to have to look him up again. I really like it. Has a nice fruity
flavor without being an herbal. I don’t care for herbals. I prefer black blend
teas.”
Bronwyn took the bag out and raised the
mug.
“Wait,” I cautioned. “Put a pinch of
this in it.” I handed over my pouch of Flolate.
“More tea?” Bronwyn asked as he peered
into the bag.
“Nope, a sweetener from a plant on
Rigil Three, and its properties not only sweeten, but also make the tea leaves
sink to the bottom,” I explained
“So I won’t go around smiling at ladies
with specks between my teeth.” Bronwyn smiled as he dropped a pinch in his tea.
He did have a nice smile. He stirred. The Flolate dissolved and the errant tea
leaves that escaped from the filter bag sank to the bottom of his mug. He took
a sip. His eyes closed in contentment and he said, “I am going to sit with your
every day from now on.”
“I’ll remember to bring more tea,” I
said with my own smile. I have indoctrinated another into the world of tea.
*****
.007.07
I had my ‘Ear’ on and was talking to
Sam aboard as he belched out our latest delivery from the ship. “Watch the
load, Sam. The ground is really soft on this side of Ma-rye-a,” I warned. The
landing site for this shipment was a mire of mud. It had been stripped by the
Krackow of any vegetation it once had and mined of any precious metals. It was
just a massive pit of ooze.
“Right, Captain,” Sam acknowledged. The
small transport he was guiding came to rest a few feet away alongside the ship.
“This is going to take a few hours, boss. Why don’t you get some rest? I can
call you when I’m finished.”
I rubbed my face for the umpteenth
time. This job was getting old. If it hadn’t been for the encounter with the
centaur and the occasional run in with Bronwyn it would be such a bore. I had
hoped that I would get to see more of Olympus, but air space was restricted and
the glimpse of the centaur turned out to be a really rare event.
Only two more runs for the Galactic
Officials and I could take off. I already had my name up on the NET and
Ma-rye-a scouting for the next job.
“3su?” Ma-rye said in my ear. “I have a
call coming in from Timothy.”
“Put him through,” I instructed. I
heard the line open and chatter along with music on the other end. “Tim? 3su
here.”
“3su, how ya doin’?” he asked in his
full bass.
“Fine. Just finishing up a job on
Olympus.”
“You got in on the terra firma job?” I
heard a woman giggle in the background on the other end.
“Ya, at least the transport part.”
“How much longer are you tied up with
that?”
“Hold on a sec, Tim” I said. “Sam, you
got a pallet out here that is sinking,” I said. “You need to get some ground
wire under it.”
“Got it, Captain,” Sam answered. A
moment later the claws were maneuvering into place to reset the pallet on
ground wire spread beside it.
“Sorry, Tim. We have a bit of a mud
problem at this site.” A big bit of a mud problem.
“Bummer.” Tim was the only human being
I knew of who still said bummer. I heard the woman giggle again. This time she
was pretty close to whatever Tim was transmitting over.
“Ya, bummer. Back to your question, I
have two more runs and I’m finished. Why, what’s up?”
“You know Jake’s ship the Calpernia?”
“Sure.”
“Well, it’s thrown a stabilizer and
it’s tied up at Refitting Station Terrell. She’s kind of an old model and they
have to fabricate the pieces. He and Arr need a lift to their next job. I told
Jake I’d ask you.” I could hear glasses clinking and someone turned up the
music. He was in a bar somewhere. Wish I was there instead of in all this gunk.
“If you can get them there, I can pick them up when they’re finished. I’m tired
up right now myself and will be for the next month or so.”
“When do they need the pick up?”
“As soon as you can get there. Their
job is open ended as to time. They can wait for you if it’s not too long.”
“Tell them I’ll be there by the end of
the week.”
“Will do. Thanks.” Tim chuckled at
something someone else said on his end. “See you on the next fly-by.”
“See ya.”
I clicked off the Ear and did a little
happy dance in the mud. I could hardly wait for the change of scenery.
*****
.007.08
Ma-rye-a and I did a Kishrid spiral in
space. We were finally free and clear of Olympus. What I had hoped to be an
adventure had turned out to be drudgery except for a few random incidents. The
encounter with the centaur would have made it all worth wild if we had only
made a couple of trips, but a month and over two dozen trips later and the
event paled.
I am anxious to see civilization again.
I am a city girl at heart and love the crowds rather than open muddy spaces.
Olympus has the perfect amount of rainfall, all in the evening hours, for
maximum foliage growth, but if there is no greenery and the top soil has been
removed it just crates a giant quagmire. I hate the Krackow.
No comments:
Post a Comment