MUSINGS, MEMOS AND MELANCHOLY

Visit My New Blog!

2012-01-06T23:29:00.000-08:00

Hello! I'm glad you took the time to visit my blog. I want to invite you to visit my new blog that has started with the new year. In it I'll be sharing what it's like to be an emerging writer in the fast paced industry of today's literary market. Stay with me as I deal with the frustration of rejection and the excitement of breaking out in the world of e-books. Could it get any better? Only when we hear those wonderful words: yes, we'd like to publish your story!
Join me at karenelizabethbrown.com and share with the everyday struggles and joys of a new writer.
See you there!

Doppelganger - Part Three

2011-12-08T16:11:00.000-08:00

Part Three - (Please refer to sidebar for complete Index)

Julian had to leave Virginia for the weekend. She had promised her father she would spend some time at the main house. After leaving strict instructions for Virginia to not leave the beach house, she drove up the coast highway and over to Beverly Hills. Their residence lay behind a protective, electric fence that opened at the road with the proper password. Then, the U-shaped drive, that was shaded by towering elm trees, led to an enormous house that stood majestically at the top of a hill. As Julian approached the grand mansion, with it’s California style motif, she smiled at the gardener who was trimming the bushes into animal shapes. Putting the car in park, she jumped out and ran up the steps to an already open door. Her father, Richard T. Meyers, was waiting for her. He was dressed in a casual, but classy outfit that spoke of the kind of man he was…smart and authoritative. He gave a cheerful greeting to Julian as she came through the doorway.

“Julian, it’s good to see you. We haven’t been spending enough quality time together recently. Tell me… how’s that young man of yours?”

“I don’t have a young man, father, except for the ones that you keep sending around.”

“What’s wrong with wanting to see my only daughter make a good marriage with someone that is financially secure?”

“What’s wrong with falling in love?”

“That’s totally impractical. Besides, that Milner lad seems to be quite a looker. What’s wrong with him?”

“All he talks about is the pharmaceutical business. I had one date with him, just like I promised you. He bored me to tears and I never found out anything about him.”

“Those kinds of extraneous things will come with time.”

“Extraneous? I think those are the most important things that there are. I don’t want to marry a pharmaceutical company, I want to marry someone who has a personality that I can mesh with!”

“I’m sure you’ll get to see more of his personality Sunday night at dinner.”

“What are you talking about?”

“He and his father will be here for dinner. Afterwards, his father and I will retire to the library for brandy and a discussion about business. I expect you to entertain the son.”

“The son? You’re trying to set me up with someone and you don’t even know his name?”

“Of course I do. It’s… ah… Terr…”

“Terrance.”

“Whatever. Just remember that this young man is heir to a fortune. And he is interested in you.” Mr. Meyers turned to go to his study and stopped suddenly. “By the way… I understand you’ve been spending a lot of time at the beach. You’re not seeing someone there are you?”

“Of course not, father. Those beach bums are not my type.” Julian averted her eyes, hoping her father wouldn’t see through her charade before it even got off the ground.

“Good. Because if I have to, I’ll sell the beach house and insist that you move home.”

“Ida keeps an eye on me, you know that. You send her down from the house two or three times a week just so she can tell you what I’m doing.”

Mr. Meyers acted shocked. “You know it’s not like that, my pet. Ida takes care of both houses and does a good job at it.”

Julian spent all weekend bantering back and forth with her father, but every so often she’d disappear to her bedroom and use her cell phone to call Virginia. It was difficult trying to be in two places at once and she had often wished she could clone herself. Now that she actually had someone to be her double, it was becoming more of a headache than she had imagined. Virginia was impetuous and brash. She would fly off the handle and act without thinking, which was opposite of Julian’s cold, calculating attitude. It was these differences that could give away the whole plan. One of them would have to change, and it wouldn’t be Julian. She was already the identified subject and if she changed, there would be some serious questions raised. Her father had a sharp eye and he would know if Julian was trying to pull something over on him. But he was the one she wanted to sting. So everything had to be perfect. She listened as the phone rang and composed herself to get that point across to Virginia.

“How are things going there?” Julian asked.

“I’m bored. Can’t I at least go to the beach and get some rays?”

“As long as you aren’t going to see that lifeguard. If you’re going to go, you have to go as me. And I wouldn’t be going to see him.”

“I’m not. I’ll wear dark sunglasses and that big, straw hat. I’ll stay off by myself.”

“Fine. Just be inconspicuous.” Julian was insistent with her rules, but her reasons were important. If Virginia could keep to herself, she’d make a perfect picture of Julian at the beach.

But Virginia went straight to the lifeguard tower when she saw Ron’s rig parked on the beach. She had to admit to herself that she was attracted to Ron. But not as Julian, as Virginia. She knew she would have to tell him the truth about herself, but she wasn’t sure what truth she wanted to tell. So, she waited all day Saturday before broaching the subject.

“I’m confused about something,” Virginia finally said as Ron watched the shoreline. The beach was only slightly crowded for a late Saturday afternoon, since people had already started going home.

“What are you confused about?” He set his binoculars on the railing of the tower and looked at Virginia.

“Why you keep calling me Julian when my name is Virginia.” She almost allowed her southern accent to creep in, but figured that was too much at one time. As it was, Ron stared at Virginia, shaking his head slightly.

“What are you talking about? If you aren’t Julian, then why do you look exactly like her? Are you twins? And if so, how come I’ve never seen you two together?”

“I’ve been back east.” She tried not to lie by omitting details.

“Ah… away at school. What have you been studying?”

“Life.”

“Maybe that’s why you’re more friendly than your sister. Once you get a dose of reality it tends to soften the attitude.” Ron smiled and accepted the explanation. It had been easy to weave this web of deceit for him, but Virginia wondered how she would explain it to Julian. She would be furious. Just then, her cell phone rang. It was Julian calling and she had to get to a much quieter location before answering it. She grabbed her bag and shot up the beach, indicating to Ron she wanted some privacy. On the fourth ring she dug her feet in the sand and stopped running.

“Hello? Hi Julian!” she answered breathlessly.

“Virginia, it looks like I won’t get back tonight. Are you going to be alright? I could send Ida over to spend the night with you…”

“No! Please don’t do anything out of the ordinary. I’ll be fine.”

Virginia was elated that Julian agreed to let her have the beach house to herself. She marched back over to Ron and smiled serenely.

“How would you like to spend the evening in a hot tub?” she asked.

“After spending all day on the beach, that sounds pretty good. Is Julian going to be there, too?” Ron asked casually.

“No, she’s spending the weekend at the main house in Beverly Hills.”

Ron smiled, saying, “I’ll be there!”

Virginia hurried home to explore the kitchen and find out what she could make as a surprise for Ron. She decided on broiling some steaks and cutting up some fruit.

Next, she stood in front of the closet and tried to decide what to wear. Looking at all the expensive choices suddenly made her feel extremely inadequate. She peeled off her bathing suit and hopped in the shower so she could wash away not only the dirt from the day, but her defective feelings as well.

The shower was refreshing and she ready to tackle the evening. She found a sparkly red dress that fitted over her bathing suit and a pair of sandals that matched. Virginia felt like she belonged in this place and was ready for her date with Ron. She knew that eventually she would have to tell him who she really was, but not tonight. She wanted this evening to be perfect so she could remember him this way.

The doorbell rang.

Virginia ran to the door and happily swung it wide open. But standing there was a man that she hadn’t expected to see. He had large, broad shoulders and was wearing cowboy boots.

“Gerry!” She exhaled his name as if she had been punched in the stomach.

“Howdy, missy! It’s taken me a while to track you down.” His southern accent was thick with menace. “I want the money you owe me…now!”

“I can’t give it to you until the end of the week.” Virginia was terrified of this man and had hoped he wouldn’t find her here in Newport Beach.

“I ain’t waiting for a week.” He grabbed hold of Virginia’s forearm and squeezed. “You have three days! You hear me? And you better be here when I come back!” He released her arm, spun on his heel and disappeared around the corner of the house.

Shaking, Virginia leaned against the door while she attempted to compose herself. She closed her eyes, but could still see his threatening look and hear the voice that promised to ruin her chance at happiness.

To be continued...

An original story by
Karen Elizabeth Brown
copyright 2011

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to person, place or thing is completely unintentional.

Doppelganger - Part Two

2011-12-05T13:46:00.000-08:00

Part Two (Please refer to sidebar for complete Index.)

The beach and sand looked different to Virginia since she’d been staying at Julian’s beach house. She felt like she belonged here instead of being an intruder who scraped out a living off of other people’s relics and throw away items. She no longer had to take a quick shower at the beach, but could stand luxuriously under the hot water, washing herself with creamy soaps and shampoos until her skin glistened in the sun.

She held her head up high and wondered if people really saw the super rich Julian Meyers walking across the sand, or if they wondered where this person had appeared from? It was no accident that Julian found Virginia scavenging through her trash cans that day. Virginia had spotted Julian on the beach over a week before they met and had been trying to get up the courage to walk up to her and say: we look alike! Have you noticed? But, as providence would have it, she was walking through the alley the day Julian decided to empty her trash. She was discovered immediately by a shocked Julian, whose own ideas were apparent from the beginning. Did she like being used like this? It was hard to swallow the possibility that if their situations were reversed, she might act exactly like Julian. No…she didn’t like being Julian’s double. But she needed the money. Badly. She owed a very unsavory character the money it took for her to get from Arkansas to California. She wasn’t ready to face the miser until she had his money in hand, so she had been making herself invisible by staying away from the usual haunts of the homeless and destitute. Besides, she made a passable wage on the things that the rich threw away. But now, she had a new job. And Virginia thought she played the part with dignified excellence. Such becoming words for a girl from the streets of Arkansas. But Virginia was determined to make this work.

Julian waited for nearly two hours. But Virginia never called her because she was too busy talking to the lifeguard at the beach.

“I have a beach house on the strip over there.” She smiled and pointed towards the house. “So tell me…what’s your name?”

“Ron Wheaton. I’ve been trying to get your attention all summer. What changed?”

“The tide? I don’t know, it seemed like you needed someone to talk to.”

“I do! Especially someone who wants to talk about more than suntans and the latest movie. So tell me, am I going to be seeing very much of you?” Ron scanned the beach while he was talking to her, but when he finished making his sweep, his eyes rested on the black haired, blue eyed vision standing in front of him.

Virginia had to be careful in what she said. She had convinced him she was Julian and was elated that he returned her advances, but how would Julian react? She decided she didn’t care. There was some chemistry happening with Ron that Virginia hadn’t experienced before and she wanted to play it out.

They spent two glorious hours getting to know each other and Virginia almost told him who she really was. Then she realized that if she did that, he would probably not give her a second look. She was just a destitute beggar who lived in a cardboard box or slept on the beach. But now she had won the lottery. By trading places with Julian, she could go anywhere or do anything she wanted. The power in that frightened Virginia to the point that she cut her visit short with Ron and headed back to the beach house. Julian was waiting right inside the door.

“Well?” Julian asked impatiently.

Virginia looked at her quizzically. “What?”

“What have you been doing? I was expecting a call from you.” she spit out angrily.

Virginia recoiled at her anger. “Whoa… you said to call if I needed to. I didn’t need to.”

“Where did you go? Who did you see? What did you talk about?” Julian rapidly shot out questions to find out how the experience went.

“I went to the beach and talked with a lifeguard named Ron.”

“Oh no! Not Ron! He’s been trying to hook up with me ever since I moved here.”

“I like him. He’s nice.” Virginia was feeling defensive now.

“It’s not about what you like. It’s about who you are. And when you are me… Julian Meyers… you are a billionaire’s daughter and you don't fraternize with lifeguards. If you tell him who you are and he sees you instead of me, he’ll know something is up. Then it’s over. Do you understand?” Julian waited, hands on hips, for Virginia to respond.

“I understand.” she said slowly. “You want me to be a snob.”

“Excuse me? Just what is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that the only reason you invited me in your house was for your own self-serving idea. To you, I’m just a piece of trash you plucked out of the garbage to play with. You’d better be careful, Julian, you might get your hands dirty!” Virginia started peeling off the coverlet and bathing suit she was wearing.

“What are you doing?” demanded Julian.

“I’m getting out of here and I’m leaving all this clothing you bought me, too!” She yanked off the sandals she had on her feet and ran into the bedroom to find the clothes she came here with. Through her tears, she searched through all the drawers but couldn’t find her blue jeans and tee shirt.

“Where are my clothes?” she sobbed angrily.

Julian quietly followed her in the bedroom and softly said, “I think Ida threw them out. Please feel free to take what ever you want. Virginia, I didn’t mean to imply that you were any less of a person than I am. I’m sorry if that’s how it came out. Maybe I do need a reality check. I’ve lived in an atmosphere of abundance for so long that I forget how normal people think. I wish you would reconsider your decision to leave.”

“Why should I stay?” she sniffed, “So you can have a laugh at my expense?” Virginia searched through the drawers again to find something simple to wear. Something that would last on the street. She whipped around to Julian and sputtered, “Don’t you have a pair of blue jeans and a tee shirt anywhere?”

“I have a pair hanging in the closet. Take them. The tee shirts are in there also.”

“Who ever heard of hanging up a pair of blue jeans? You really are on a different level. Probably outer space, if you ask me!”

“Tell you what. I’ll be glad to learn how to be down to earth, if you’ll teach me.” Julian waited for her response.

Virginia gave a half smile. “As long as I can wear blue jeans when I’m just hanging around the house. They’re comfortable.”

“And so will I.” Julian added.

To be continued...

An original story by
Karen Elizabeth Brown
copyright 2011

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to person, place or thing is completely unintentional.

Doppelganger - Part One

2011-10-15T12:32:00.000-07:00

Part One-

Julian stared at her doppelganger in amazement! Standing face to face, she still couldn’t believe what she was seeing. This poor, destitute beggar had the same high cheek bones, petite nose and heart shaped face, framed by thick, black hair. She could have passed for Julian anywhere… until she opened her mouth.

“Jeez! You look like me!” Virginia’s thick southern accent penetrated the walls of Julian’s bedroom.

Julian smiled as a plan begin to take shape in her mind. She was being smothered by her father’s protective dominion and after discovering his plan to have her wed the billionaire son of Milner Pharmaceuticals, she decided turn-about was fair play. He needed to learn that Julian was capable of having a life aside from his sphere of influence. What she didn’t know, however, was how far his world extended into everything imaginable and who she was about to come up against in her fight for freedom.

“Come over here and stand by me.” Julian motioned to Virginia as she opened up a floor length, three way mirror. “Take off your clothes.”

Virginia hesitated only briefly, then shed her second hand tee shirt and worn blue jeans when she saw Julian stepping out of her linen slacks and unbuttoning her silk shirt. They stood shoulder to shoulder, each examining the other. Julian looked carefully for flaws, but aside from Virginia being a few pounds lighter and having one foot aimed slightly inward, she was perfect!

“Do you have any family?” Julian asked innocently.

“Naw. I grew up in an orphanage in Arkansas.”

“What brings you to Newport Beach?”

Virginia’s face flushed bright red. “I… uh… was looking for things,” she answered cryptically, while hastily donning her jeans and tee shirt.

Julian’s housekeeper appeared around the edge of the mirror with a tray of food. “She was scavenging in the trash cans!” she snapped disapprovingly. “I should have called the police. But no, you had to bring her inside!” Ida stared at Virginia with distain. She slammed the tray of food down on the table and stood poised, ready to speak. “If you ask me…”

“Thank you, Ida, that will be all.” Julian waited until the housekeeper returned to the kitchen and she closed the door. “I’m sorry. Please excuse her.”

“No, I’m sorry.” Virginia said, eyes averted, “I should go.” She headed to the door of the expansive bedroom.

“No! Please don’t go.” That would ruin everything, thought Julian. “Tell you what… let’s eat and get to know one another.” She smiled hopefully at Virginia and pointed at the tray of food on the small table, silently offering it to her. Virginia paused for a moment, while contemplating the food so available to her. She shrugged her shoulders and plopped down in a chair. As Julian considered her idea, she knew she had a lot of work ahead of her.

At lunch, Julian watched Virginia unceremoniously wolf down her turkey croissant sandwich. After she had devoured everything on her plate, Julian took her untouched plate of food and pushed it across the table.

“Would you like to have mine? I’m not very hungry.”

Virginia carefully wrapped the second croissant in a napkin, saying, “Maybe for later. I never know when my next meal is going to be.”

“How would you like to change that?” Julian’s eyes sparkled with mischief.

“Of course! But…what would I have to do?” Virginia scrutinized Julian carefully.

“Trade places with me for one month!” There! She said it! Now to see if Virginia would go for it.

“What?!” Virginia looked horrified. “I couldn’t do that! I don’t even know you!”

“I know, but that’s temporary. You could stay here at the beach house while we learn about each other. I’d pay you to do it…”

Virginia’s eyes flashed and she licked her lips. “How much?”

“Ten thousand dollars.”

Silence.

“Are you joshing with me?”

“No, I’m serious. I’ll keep you here until we’re ready to switch. You’ll learn about my family and my friends and I’ll even help you talk without your southern accent. Well…?”

Virginia walked over to the mirror and examined herself, then looked at Julian in her smart looking clothes and smiled. “When do I start?”

The hardest part of having a doppelganger was hiding it from everyone else. Julian swore the housekeeper to secrecy… unless she preferred unemployment. But they could not be in public together in Newport Beach unless they wanted it reported to her father. There were too many prying eyes. So Julian drove Virginia up Pacific Coast Highway every day, wearing dark sunglasses and a large, floppy hat. They would sit at the marina or walk around Sunset Beach, discussing Julian’s family or her likes and dislikes. The whole time, Virginia was receiving instructions on how to walk and talk like a billionaire’s daughter. Julian was amazed at how fast Virginia’s southern accent disappeared. It would creep back in, however, if Virginia got upset or surprised, so Julian planned a continual onslaught of surprises to help break her of it.

“Stop! Please stop! This is too much!” begged Virginia in perfect California style prose after opening the seventh gift box. “I promise to watch myself and be on guard. But you didn’t have to buy me all these beautiful clothes.”

“I wanted to.” admitted Julian. “I always dreamed of having a sister, especially one who looked like me. So you’re fulfilling one of my vain, narcissistic fantasies.”

Virginia held up the silk shirt that she had just received and asked, “Can I put it on now?”

“Of course! Wear whatever you’d like.”

Virginia pawed through the pile of clothing: dresses; shirts and pants; and even a bathing suit that had an eyelet cover up. “This is like Christmas! Thank you so much!” She slipped into the silver, silk shirt and a pair of black slacks and turned around in front of the mirror. Then she combed her black hair into Julian’s cosmopolitan style and asked,

“Well, what do you think?”

“Wait!” Julian jumped up and ran to the closet to return with a pair of black, crepe shoes and a handbag. She handed them to Virginia, and nodded her head with approval after they were on. “The finishing touch!”

Julian held her hands up in the air and cried, “Voila! The new me!”

She pulled one more small box from her handbag and handed it to Virginia. “Here… now we’ll get the ball rolling.”

Virginia opened the small box to find a cell phone in a black, leather case. “Oh… this is nice, but I don’t have anyone to call.” She started to hand it back to Julian, but all she received was a shake of her head.

“Don’t you realize that you may need to call me sometime? My number is on speed dial. You just push this here…” she pointed to the numbers and they spent the next twenty minutes playing with the phone and the text messaging. When Virginia had mastered the cell phone, Julian made the first move in her game of trading places.

“Now it’s time for you to go out on your own, here in Newport Beach. Why don’t you walk down to the market and then go lay on the beach for a while. Call me if you need to. I’ll be waiting here.”

To be continued...

An original story by
Karen Elizabeth Brown
Copyright 2011

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to person, place or thing is completely unintentional.

The MacKenzie Chronicles: Final Chapter - Part 13

2011-09-16T19:54:00.000-07:00

The MacKenzie Chronicles - Book Five (please refer to sidebar for complete Index)
Final Chapter
Part 13

“Alright, Finnegan, let’s talk turkey. How do I know that as soon as I cure you, you won’t go after John again. Or me, for that matter?”

“Aw, come on now Ryder…”

“What kind of assurances can you give me?”

“I…don’t know exactly what you want from me.” Finnegan looked like he was starting to panic at the thought of not being treated for the virus that he may or may not have.

“I’ll tell you what I want.” he pointed to Finnegan’s shuttle craft. “I want you to get in your ship and go back to the Beta quadrant and never come back!”

Finnegan eyes narrowed and a grin came over his face. “So how are you gonna keep me there? Be my jailer or something?”

Ryder looked around the desert, trying to think of a good answer. Then, the solution came to him. “I will give you a cure for the virus that will also be a mix of chemicals that will respond to the atmosphere here in the Alpha quadrant. If you don’t stay in the Beta quadrant, where it will be safe for you, the chemicals will bond together in your bloodstream and turn to paste. In other words, it will kill you faster than any worm!”

Finnegan stood with his mouth hanging open in astonishment. “And you expect me to take that voluntarily? You got to be crazy, Ryder!”

“You don’t have to take it. The other option is death from the virus.” Ryder’s left eyebrow raised up in an arch as he waited for Finnegan’s decision. He knew this was a gamble, but this old pirate just might be loony enough to believe this fabrication long enough to save their lives.

Finnegan kicked the sand with his webbed foot and sighed. “Okay, Ryder, I know when I’ve been beat. I’ll take the concoction you make up. But believe me, if I die from it, every pirate in the galaxy will be looking for you!”

“Don’t threaten me, Finnegan, it could cause me to get nervous and make my hand shake. I might accidentally put in the wrong amounts of the solutions. And that would be bad for you. Very bad!”

Finnegan clamped his mouth shut and turned to shuffle off to his shuttle craft, totally defeated. Ryder’s eyes were bright with silent merriment at the con he had pulled off on one of the most famous pirates in the galaxy. He couldn’t wait to get back to the ship to tell Carredyn about the run in with her old master. So, after checking Finnegan’s blood for the virus, and of course finding what he expected, nothing, Ryder vaccinated him with a solution of saline. After all, he hadn’t expected anything, no matter how virulent, to grow in Finnegan’s green blood. It seemed to have it’s own antigens that protected Finnegan from just about anything! But he already knew this, after studying a sample he took from Finnegan when he did the repair on his foot.

Back at the ship, there was excitement from everyone at the same time. Ryder held his arms up in surrender and asked for silence.

“OK… one at a time. You all know why I’m so late, so I can fill in the details later. Francios… you go next…” he pulled Francios to the center of the group and gave him the floor.

“Yes. My news is twofold. First, I have found a small community of Patchoulians here on Earth. They have acknowledged Pali for who he is and want to welcome his highness into their society. They are very interested in how he has evolved to become what they are… equal partners in their own small community. So, Pali gets his wish of going home and his freedom! Second, I…”

Carredyn interrupted him. “Oh let me tell it! Please!”

All heads whipped around to stare at her excited face. Her green eyes were opened wide and she was beaming.

“Well…?” asked Ryder as she paused dramatically.

“My parents. I found my parents!” She was jumping up and down and she grabbed hold of Ryder to hug him. She kissed him on the cheek and noticed his flat affect.

“Ryder, what’s wrong?”

He pulled away and tried to put a smile on his face. “I’m happy for you, really. It’s just that I’ve been on an emotional seesaw all day long and now there’s more.”

As the group broke up to go to the dining hall, Ryder pulled Carredyn to the side.

“Where are your parents? When can you see them?”

“They’re not here on Earth. They are stationed on a satellite doing research. They will meet us on our way out.” Carredyn watched Ryder carefully as they walked through the halls of the ship. Something was wrong.

“Carredyn, do you want to settle down some where?” Ryder asked as he looked straight ahead at the ship that had been his home all of his life.

“Is that’s what’s bothering you? Whether we have a real home or not?” she waited to see his reaction to her question. “This is a real home because you are here. Our home is what we make it to be, not a particular place. I prefer a mobile home that I can travel through space with, anyway.” She smiled at Ryder and slipped her hand in his as they walked along.

“So… Pali can find a mate… your parents are safe… we are safe from danger. What more can happen in one day?” Ryder asked as he breathed out a relaxed sigh.

Carredyn glowed as she said, “Um… honey… I’m carrying your child.”

The End

An original story by
Karen Elizabeth Brown
copyright 2011

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to person, place or thing is completely unintentional.

The MacKenzie Chronicles: Final Chapter - Part 12

2011-09-12T11:28:00.000-07:00

The MacKenzie Chronicles - Book Five (please refer to sidebar for complete Index)
Final Chapter
Part 12

“Now would be a good time to remember to shake his hand.” Francios advised Ryder as he got in the shuttle to head to the meeting place.

Ryder smiled. “If you insist. I still think it’s barbaric, but if it will help ease the tension, I’ll try it.”

When Ryder reached the rendezvous point, it was in an open field, with hot, desert flatlands all around. It look safe enough. You could see for miles in any direction, with only cactus and bramble bushes in sight. John was standing next to his shuttle craft waiting for Ryder. When they stood face to face, Ryder held out his hand in a typical greeting. John did not immediately grasp his hand and Ryder wondered if he was doing something wrong. Finally, John clasp hands with him and they shook. It was a strong handshake, one that spoke of leadership and not timidity. Then, as Ryder reached inside his bag, John pulled his hand back quickly to respond to this new threat.

“I brought the diary.” Ryder said quickly, before John could react. He finished pulling the large book from his shoulder bag and handed it to John. “Our father kept this diary after the sun went supernova on our home planet. It tells about you, and me and Pellenor, our grandfather.”

John cradled the diary for a long moment and then opened it to the first page. He was silent as he read, turning page after page, absorbing the thoughts of his father who had been lost to him when he was a baby.

John spent the whole afternoon in the clearing, reading the diary and learning about his family. Finally, he stopped and asked,

“When did Pellenor die?”

“About a month ago. Hestia kept your whereabouts a secret until his death, just like she promised.”

“So what do you want from me now? We are strangers and every tie that would bind us together is gone.” John seemed distant and aloof.

“I only want you to know that you have a brother. I thought about you a lot since I found out about you. I guess to you, this is all still pretty new.”

“Yes, it is. I live in a family of scientists. My father and mother both are scientists. I was educated in the best universities and am working with them on wormhole travel. I can’t just turn off what I am suddenly and fit into this other world.”

“I don’t expect you to, John. When I found out you were my brother, I was all alone floating through space. I had time to imagine what our meeting would be like and the things we’d talk about… and what you looked like. So far, the only thing I got right was what you looked like. You have such a striking resemblance to Dreama, especially in your eyes.”

“How long were you in space?” John seemed to perk up when Ryder mentioned space.

“I’ve lived on a ship traveling around, all my life. And I’ve even traveled through those wormholes.”

John’s eyes sparkled and he began asking questions. Soon they were in a lively discussion and time flew by. As the sun set, the timer on John’s watch went off and he knew he had to go back to his family. But before he could say anything to Ryder, the roar of a sudden incoming shuttle startled them both. John threw the diary in the sand and shouted at Ryder.

“You lied to me! Is this one of Pellenor’s tricks to get me alone?” He ran for his shuttle.

Ryder scooped up the diary and chased after John. “I didn’t lie to you! I don’t know who this is or why they are here! I’m telling you… Pellenor IS dead!”

Before John could enter his shuttle craft, a familiar voice rang out over a loud speaker. “All right laddies, just stay where you are and I won’t have to open fire on you. Yet.”

Ryder flushed red with anger. “Captain Sacheverell Finnegan!” he muttered loud enough for John to hear.

“Who is he? One of your hit men?” John asked bitterly.

“He’s no friend of mine! He’s a pirate from the Beta quadrant. He must have followed me here when Pellenor was with him.”

“That’s right, friend,” Captain Finnegan replied happily as he stepped out of his shuttle, “I was pleased to get the message from that wench I sent you. She did a good job. I’ll have to remember to reward her for that little piece of information. Just where is she anyway? I’m in need of some good help.”

“You can’t have her, Finnegan, she belongs to me now. You paid for your services with her fair and square.”

“Ah… that little medical mishap? I don’t think so.”

“What’s the matter? Did that worm finally break off and go to your head?”

Finnegan paled slightly at the mention of the worm. “You told me you took it out, so don’t try to fool me, doc!”

“I don’t know… you’re acting awfully violent. Maybe I missed a piece?”

Finnegan growled, “It ain’t even funny, so don’t kid around any more if you want to keep your head.”

John had listened to this exchange and finally interrupted Ryder. “You’d better stop kidding him, Ryder, he doesn’t think it’s funny.”

“Who says I’m kidding? I mean, after all. Who, in their right mind, follows someone all the way from the Beta quadrant just to get a slave back?” Ryder wasn’t looking at Finnegan any longer, but he kept him in his peripheral vision while he explained the story to John.

“Just give him the slave!” John whispered back anxiously.

“I can’t. I married her.” Ryder said proudly as John let out a groan.

Finnegan started getting agitated that Ryder was taking away his audience, so he cleared his throat and lifted the laser rifle he had been carrying behind his back and pointed it at the two men.

“Ahem… gentlemen, if I could please have your attention?”

Ryder slowly turned around and asked in a bored tone, “If you aren’t here about the wench, then why did you come?”

“I’m doin’ one last favor for a dear old friend. After I heard of his passin’, I took it upon myself to keep a promise I made to him. You see, he did me a big favor and in exchange, I promised to make sure that you two didn’t make it to your next birthdays.”

There was a heavy silence in the desert and all that could be heard was the wind blowing the bramble bushes across the sand.

“Finnegan, when did you make this promise to Pellenor? Before or after you left the Beta quadrant?”

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.” Finnegan looked for a place to get out of the sun as he talked to Ryder.

“It’s very important, because Pellenor was infected by his own virus. It was a virulent, mutated form that killed a lot of people on Vega Orion.”

“I heard about that!” Finnegan was getting irritated as the discussion got back to medical issues. “It was all over the galaxy!”

“So you could have it too, if you were exposed by being around Pellenor. The entire crew of his last ship all died. You remember Anson Hardings? He died along with his crew.”

“Now you’re just trying to scare me!” Finnegan shouted.

“You’ve got me scared.” John added as he stepped back away from Finnegan.

“I’m just trying to warn you, that’s all.” Ryder spoke with a note of finality and stood staring at Finnegan, who was trying not to shake the rifle as he held it up at the two men.

“Well, hell! It ain’t worth dyin’ over!” Finnegan shouted and dropped the barrel of the laser rifle. “How do I know if I’m infected?”

Ryder gave a sideways glance at John and said, “First, we need to isolate you. That means, John, you need to leave us so I can get a blood test cooking to see what kind of bugs are in it.”

John started to protest, but Ryder shook his head. “No time for arguments. Leave.”

John grasp Ryder’s hand and squeezed it firmly. This time, Ryder was glad to be able to shake hands with him.

“We will meet again, Ryder, and I want to discuss your travels more. Maybe wormhole travel is a viable option. A shortcut through space.”

“It’s too unreliable in reality. You scientists make it look good on paper, but once the ship gets in the singularity, anything can happen.”

They shook hands again as they said their goodbyes. Ryder felt that somehow, this would be his only meeting with his brother. They were worlds apart in so many ways. He watched John’s shuttle fly into the desert sun and as he turned to take care of Finnegan, he felt as if another piece of him had just been ripped away.

To be continued...

An original story by
Karen Elizabeth Brown
copyright 2011

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to person, place or thing is unintentional.

The MacKenzie Chronicles: Final Chapter - Part 11

2011-08-25T14:48:00.000-07:00

The MacKenzie Chronicles - Book Five (Please refer to sidebar for complete Index)
Final Chapter
Part 11

It was morning and they were underway to Earth. Ryder was studying the map of Earth and discussing the first place they should go with Francios.

“We should find your brother first.” Francios suggested, “We have already combed the cities of Earth, hoping to find Carredyn’s parents.”

“I agree. There’s no point in covering the same ground.” Ryder punched in the coordinates for their first stop on Earth.

“Oh… and Ryder… I think I should warn you, they have an unusual custom on this planet. When you meet someone, they will want to grasp your hand and shake it.” Francios grinned as he watched Ryder’s expression change to one of disgust.

“Physical contact with a perfect stranger? Why?”

“It’s a form of greeting that comes from their ancient Grecian culture. It shows a gesture of peace by demonstrating that the hand holds no weapon. It’s considered very civilized.”

“I consider it very strange and definitely not healthy. I suppose I could wear a glove.”

“That’s considered bad manners. You’re supposed to remove your glove and shake bare handed.”

Pali had been listening to their conversation and couldn’t resist some good humored bantering to Ryder. “What’s the matter MacKenzie, afraid of a little handshake?”

Ryder whipped around and stared at Pali as if he could kill him. Since Pali was so much shorter than the rest of the crew, Ryder had to look down at him. Pali’s grin was infuriating!

“I’m NOT afraid of a handshake. It’s just not a medically sound idea.”

Pali shook his head. “On my planet, the females never touch, but the males are required to greet a female by kissing the back of her hand. I’d take this handshake over kissing a hand any time.”

Francios looked carefully at Pali. He was always interested in unusual species and he’d never seen a Patchoulian before. “Pali, were the women always dominant on your planet?”

“For as far back as our written history goes, the women ruled the planet. But the oral history tells of a time when the men were the rulers, but they were lazy and expected the women to do everything. Because of this, the women rebelled and changed our society. At first, the men were forced to work. But then the women learned how to convince the men without violence. They withheld any kind of sexual favors. The men went crazy and decided it was worth a little work to get what they really wanted.”

“Why didn’t the men wait out the freeze?” Francios asked.

“Ah… on our planet the male requires female attention during certain cycles he goes through. Without it, he goes into a madness that is so painful, some do not survive.” Pali averted his eyes.

Ryder suddenly realized what they had done by taking Pali from his planet. “Pali, what about you? You have no mate and you have those cycles, don’t you?”

“Yes, I have the cycles, but because there are no females of my race in close proximity, it doesn’t seem to bother me as much. I may need to make a pilgrimage back to my planet someday, if I can find the way there. Until then, I will be quite content to be a singular entity.”

Francios gazed at Pali for a moment and then said, “You may be a singular entity, but on Earth the people are a melding pot of cultures from all over the universe. You may be surprised to find a Patchoulian somewhere on this planet.”

Pali nodded. “That is a possibility, but I can’t imagine one of our females giving up her dominant role to live in this backward society.”

Ryder, Carredyn, Francios and Nana all burst out laughing at Pali’s comment.

“What? What’s so funny?” Pali felt bewildered.

Ryder was the one to speak up, however. “From what I’ve read, Earth was once very male dominated and now, they have become equal in their tasks.”

“Equal?” Pali was amazed.

Francios continued, “Yes… they recognize that both sexes have equal amounts to offer society and that it’s not the sex that determines leadership, it’s the ability of the individual. You will find Earth a very tolerant society and there are also place for each culture to thrive on it’s own. If you want, we can find if there are any Patchoulians here…”

“Perhaps… but I want to go slowly with that.” Pali looked nervous and slightly pale blue.

“He’s just getting used to his freedom!” Ryder interjected.

A light on the console indicated an incoming message.

“Computer: Onscreen.” Ryder commanded.

There was the image of a young man approximately ten years older than Ryder on the screen. He looked very much like Ryder with medium length brown hair and eyes that looked like Dreama’s. Instantly, Ryder knew who this man was.

“John? Are you John Meeks?” Ryder asked, unable to conceal the excitement in his voice.

“Yes… I was told you wanted to see me. Is this about my work?”

“John… I’m Ryder MacKenzie. I’m your brother.”

The placid look on John’s face turned to terror and then anger. He gritted his teeth and spoke evenly,

“I don’t have a brother. My parents are dead. Whoever you are, you can go back where you came from and don’t try this trick on me again!”

Just as John was going to end their communication, Ryder said,

“I have a diary from your parents that you need to read. Would you let me bring it to you? I’ll come alone. No tricks.”

John hesitated.

“Please… I’ve come from the Beta quadrant to see you. There’s no danger, Pellenor is dead. I watched him die myself.”

At the mention of Pellenor’s name, John’s eyes squinted tight and he stared at Ryder cautiously. He let out the breath he was holding with a sigh and nodded. “I’m sending you the coordinates now.”

“Received.”

“Come alone… no weapons.”

To be continued...

An original story by
Karen Elizabeth Brown
copyright 2011

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to person, place or thing is completely unintentional.

The MacKenzie Chronicles: Final Chapter - Part 10

2011-08-17T11:41:00.000-07:00

The MacKenzie Chronicles - Book Five (Please refer to sidebar for complete Index)
Final Chapter
Part 10

All was readied for this call from Pellenor. Ryder sat in his captain’s chair and Pali and Carredyn stood behind him.

“Computer, on screen.” Ryder commanded.

“Well… are you prepared to administer an antidote?” Pellenor looked very sick. He didn’t have his usual stoic grin and his hands were shaking.

“Yes. I’m prepared. But it’s not actually an antidote, it’s more like something to help your body fight off this virus.”

“I don’t care what you call it, is it going to work?”

“It worked on the blood sample you sent over to me. As long as that was your blood, you should recover from the virus.”

“No tricks, Ryder. You know what I’ll do if you try to fool me.”

“No tricks, Pellenor. I have what you asked for. If you don’t trust me enough to take it, then I can’t help you.”

Pellenor waited a long moment and finally acquiesced. “Bring it over yourself. I don’t want a slave administering your medicine.” He briefly glanced at Carredyn and Pali, but disregarded them because of their appearance.

“Very well, prepare to be boarded.”

It was just a few minutes later when Ryder was walking into the airlock of Anson Hardings ship. There were no signs of life anywhere else on the ship except on the bridge. Pellenor sat slumped over in the captain’s chair and when he heard the doors open he tried to straighten himself.

“Relax, Pellenor, it’s only me and I’m a doctor, remember?”

“You’re still trying to be the bigshot, aren’t you!” Pellenor was hallucinating. “If you hadn’t taken my daughter away from me we might have been friends!”

“Okay Pellenor, I need to give you a shot. Will you sit still?” Ryder struggled with Pellenor. He was flailing his arms and trying to get up out of his chair. But Ryder held him with one arm, grabbed his shirt and pulled it down to expose his deltoid muscle. With one swift move he injected him with the medicine and stepped back. Pellenor was burning up with fever and didn’t notice the injection. All he kept saying was,

“I want my baby back! Where is my baby? Where is Dreama?”

Ryder sat down and waited. He listened to Pellenor’s ranting about how his only reason for living has been taken away. He began to see the anguish and self-hatred this man carried around with him. All he could do, however, was feel sorry for this man who was his grandfather. Pellenor had taken away Ryder’s family in his effort’s to ease his own pain. And all he had succeeded in doing was making it worse by killing his own daughter accidentally. Apparently he never meant for Dreama to get sick at all. The virus was meant for Cade, his father. Then, when it all back-fired, he began this long tirade of revenge. He blamed Cade for his failure, but would never be free of the guilt he could not pass off for Dreama‘s death.

Three days had passed since Ryder came on board and finally Pellenor‘s fever broke. As he roused from his chair, the one he wouldn’t let Ryder move him from, he groaned and put a hand to his face.

“What’s wrong with me? Why do I feel so weak and shaky?”

“You’ve been very sick, Pellenor.”

“No! You did something to me! I should be well by now! That medicine has affected me!”

“That’s right, it made you well. I told you, you would recover from the virus. But to make you well, I had to reverse the anti-aging potion that was in your serum hemoglobin. That’s what was keeping the virus alive and why it continued to mutate every time your immune system started to conquer it.”

“No. NO! That can’t be!” Pellenor became white with rage as he realized the ramifications of this and tried to get up to attack Ryder. But his legs wouldn’t hold him and he fell on the floor. “Agh! My legs! What’s wrong with them?”

“They are the legs of a very old man. You are rapidly aging as your body catches up with itself.” Ryder was almost sad to see Pellenor age so rapidly. He wanted him to live with his deeds for a good long time so he could have time to think about what he had done to their family and to the people of the planets he’d infected.

Ryder stayed with Pellenor for the rest of the week. He watched as his grandfather aged into a very old man, with brittle bones, forgetfulness and dimming eyesight. In the end, Pellenor went the way of all strangers to the universe. He died with a broken back, heavy from the weights of his own doing. Sad and alone, his last words were,

“So beats the heart

Of a man undone.

A life spent trying,

But never, ever won.”

Ryder and Carredyn were bonded by Hestia on the first day of the new moon. A festival was held in their honor that spread not only to all of P’latio, but Eldebraun and Kryolos as well. The couple enjoyed all the celebrating, but each one had misgivings that certain people weren’t there to celebrate the nuptials with them.

“Ryder, I know you wanted to find your brother.” Carredyn whispered to him at a quiet moment in the day, “Are you sorry we didn’t wait?”

“Never. But we’re leaving for Earth at dawn.”

Carredyn stared at Ryder for a moment, then threw her arms around his neck and hugged him close.

“Oh, how wonderful! And even if we don’t find anyone, the trip will be so exciting!”

Carredyn knew that her parents could be anywhere in the quadrant, if they were still alive. But she wanted to try to find them, even though it had been thirteen years since she’d last seen them. As they sat at a table resting between dances and ceremonial toasts, a strange older couple walked up to Carredyn and stared at her for a full minute without saying anything. Finally, Carredyn cleared her throat and asked,

“Can I help you?”

“Excuse me for staring…” began the old man tentatively, “… but we heard about your bonding ceremony today and wanted to come and wish you well.”

“Thank you…” Carredyn waited, expecting the old man to say something more, but he turned to go. “Wait! Do I know you?” she asked the old couple, thinking that somewhere in the back of her mind they looked familiar.

The old man hesitated, “It’s possible… but then, you were so young then.”

It was then that the old woman spoke up, “She does still have that bright red hair and her eyes are emerald green. Just like Carrie’s.”

“What did you say?” Carredyn was stunned that the old woman knew her nickname, only used by immediate members of her family.

“I said your hair…”

“No-after that… you said Carrie. What do you know about my nickname?”

The old woman grabbed her chest and gasped loudly. “Could it be her?”

“Who are you?” Carredyn was still bewildered by this old couple. They didn’t look like her parents, so who could they be?

“I’m your Nana. Do you remember me?”

The fuzzy memory of a nursemaid came back to her. The one who used to take care of her when her parents were off on their missions in space. Carredyn’s face paled and she stood up suddenly, grabbing towards the older woman.

“My Nana! What… How did you find me here? Do you know where my parents are? I have a million questions!”

Ryder stood up saying, “Let’s go somewhere private and talk.”

“We thought you might know where your parents are.” stated the old man, Francios. “When you were all declared lost in space, we thought there was no hope of ever finding any of you again. Although we were told you were probably dead, we just couldn’t believe it. We’ve never stopped looking for you or your parents for the entire thirteen years. Then, we were visiting this sector and happen to hear about your bonding ceremony and how Ryder saved the whole Merridian sector from a deadly virus. We had to come and see if it was the same girl that we remembered.”

Nana wiped the tears from her eyes and hugged Carredyn again. “I knew you were alive!” She held her arm gently, not wanting to let go of her.

“Nana…” Carredyn began, “I remember an explosion from the spaceship after my parents threw me in the escape pod. Is it possible that they didn’t make it?”

“My dear, anything is possible. Anything. You are here, after thirteen years. What if we didn’t believe that you were alive?”

“Then you would have had a very big surprise right now!” They all laughed and talked long into the night. Ryder’s plans to leave for Earth now included Francios and Nana. They would travel with Ryder, Carredyn and Pali and help them hunt for clues to Carredyn’s missing parents.

“I hope my brother is this easy to find.” Ryder mused as they left to go back to the ship for the night. As they walked toward the landing craft, Hestia approached them and waved for their attention.

“I see you are preparing to leave, Ryder.” she observed.

“Yes, it’s time to head out for Earth.”

“Before you go, I will speak with you alone.”

Ryder excused himself from the group and walked off with Hestia.

“I want to tell you about your brother. He was on Earth and has traveled to Darius at times. You will find him, no doubt, but be prepared for a cool welcome from him.”

“Why? I haven’t done anything to warrant that.”

“In order to protect him and his son, he was told not to believe anyone who came to him and said they were part of his family.”

“But Pellenor is dead! I won’t harm him… I want to know my family and share what I know about our parents.”

“That’s all good and well, but John Meeks was brought up by a scientist in a very rigid atmosphere.”

“So you are saying that my brother may not recognize me for what I am?”

“Correct.”

“I’ll take my chances, Hestia.”

“May you find your brother and find peace, young Ryder.” Hestia held her hand up and waved goodbye in the gesture of a seer. Then she bowed slightly to Ryder, turned and walked away.

To be continued...

An original story by
Karen Elizabeth Brown
copyright 2011

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to person, place or thing is completely unintentional.

The MacKenzie Chronicles: Final Chapter - Part 9

2011-08-13T19:07:00.000-07:00

The MacKenzie Chronicles - Book Five (Please see sidebar for complete Index)
Final Chapter
Part 9

Three days later, Ryder awoke slumped over in his chair on the bridge. A communication light was flashing on the console. He had been working late that night on the new virus and watching the bridge at the same time while the other two slept. He scanned the ship that was hailing him and discovered it was Captain Anson Hardings’ ship. He answered the hail with,

“I thought you’d be in the next quadrant by now, Captain Hardings!”

But the answer he received was not what he expected.

“Unfortunately, Captain Hardings has succumbed to a nasty virus. Therefore, I am captain of this vessel now.”

It was Pellenor! How did he get Anson Hardings to rescue him after Hardings was so cautious before? It was that incredible pull that Pellenor had over people. He was able to get people to do things that was contrary to their own nature. He was always proud of that ability.

“Pellenor… you might as well make your own antidote because I don’t have one for you.” Ryder growled out his response and waited warily.

“Calm down, Ryder. I’m not here to make trouble for anyone. And I would take an antidote if I had one. But this virus has mutated twice since I got infected and you are the only one who seems able to get close to the proper solution. I know you have the DNA samples from Vega Orion… I was monitoring your messages. I’m sorry to be so forward, but I need your help. Please.” Pellenor coughed as he wiped his forehead with a cloth. If his aim was to look pitiful, he was doing a good job of it.

Ryder winced as he listened to Pellenor coughing. It was time to decide what he should do. As he silently thought about his decision, Pellenor added,

“If you are not able to help me, I suppose I could ask Hestia to help… she is known for her great abilities…” he let the sentence trail off.

“Don’t use her to get to me, Pellenor. I know what you want.” Ryder said through his teeth. The trouble was, he knew Pellenor had no regard for life and he would go to Hestia if he had to, regardless of how it affected the people on her planet. Pellenor started to end their connection, but Ryder spoke up quickly.

“Wait Pellenor… you don’t need to do that. Send over a sample of your blood. I’ll test it with the serum I’ve already been working on. If it doesn’t work, then you may have to wait a few days. What about the rest of Hardings’ crew? Are they alright?”

“I’m afraid I’m the only one who has survived. A pity, I’m sure.” There was a stone cold edge in Pellenor’s voice. “I’ll send a sample over in a few moments. And I will wait for your answer today. I will not wait too long, however, before I choose to go to Hestia.” He snapped off their connection and the screen went blank.

The doors to the bridge slid open and Pali ran through as he saw the scarred man’s face disappear from the screen.

“Who was that?” he asked in a shaky voice that showed his upset and concern.

“That was Pellenor. He’s here.”

“What are you going to do?”

“For now, wait. And pray I can find an antidote before he decides to go to the planet’s surface.”

“An antidote? For him?” Pali turned a darker shade of blue and sputtered, “Better you should give him some acid or something!”

“Pali…” Ryder stared, “I think you’ve hit on something there…”

“No! I didn’t mean it, really!” Pali held up his hands to stop Ryder’s thought process.

“It’s okay, Pali. I’m not going to give him acid. But there is something else I can give him. Watch the bridge while I get to work.”

Ryder strode off with a defined purpose as Pali stared after him. He had an idea that couldn’t wait and he needed to work on the blood sample while it was still fresh. He disappeared into the lab and fell into his work.

A few minutes later, the sound of the bridge doors swishing open caused Pali to turn around and find Carredyn standing sheepishly in the hallway.

“May I come in?” she asked timidly.

Pali smiled widely. “You don’t need to ask. You live here too. Tell me… what’s wrong with you?”

Carredyn eyes filled with tears and she stared at the floor, trying not to reveal her feelings. “Nothing.”

“Oh, come on now. We Patchoulians are extremely sensitive to moods. Especially the males. That’s how we are always able to serve the females so well. Something is bothering you. Please tell me, maybe I can be of some assistance.”

“Well… OK. But if you breath a word of this to Ryder I’ll break every bone in your blue little body!”

Pali laughed as he bowed to her as a sign of respect and acceptance. “Your secret is safe with me.”

“It’s not exactly a secret, it’s just that I love Ryder so much that it hurts. But I can’t let him know that because then he’ll stop doing what he needs to do. Which is to get this Pellenor madman.”

Pali nodded his head in confusion. “I don’t understand. You love him, but you can’t tell him.”

“Yes. You see… he asked me to bond with him and I said no because he was going to face off with this guy and I don’t know who is going to win. So far, everyone who has come in contact with Pellenor has either died or been maimed or something. I couldn’t bond with Ryder, knowing that he might be changed. Or dead.”

Pali looked deep into her tortured eyes. “So you think by staying away it will protect your feelings?”

“Of course!”

“And has it?”

“Yes! Well… no. It hasn’t. I’m still hurting just as much while I worry about him.”

“And now you can’t even tell him how you feel, so it makes it twice as hard. Right?”

“Pali, how did you know?”

“Because my wife and daughter were taken from me and it hurt so much. But at least I was able to say goodbye to them. You haven’t said goodbye to Ryder. You haven’t said you love him. If something should happen to him you’ll hurt even worse. If that’s possible.”

Carredyn let the tears run down across her cheeks as she shook from the pain and fear she felt.

“Go to him. Go to him right now and tell him how much you care. He needs that right now to help center him. To bring his world in order so he can fight the best battle he can.”

Carredyn wiped her eyes and smiled to Pali. “Thank you, Pali. I’m on my way!” She spun around and headed for the bridge doors, which barely had time to open as she approached them. As they closed behind her, Pali wiped a single blue tear from his eye as he thought about his wife and daughter. His reverie was cut short, however, when the console lit up with an incoming call from the planet’s surface. Immediately Pali called for Ryder. He had never answered a message himself. In fact, he’d succeeded in becoming invisible to anyone outside the ship. He preferred to keep it that way.

“What’s up, Pali?”

“You need to come to the bridge right now. There’s a hail from the planet’s surface that you need to answer.”

“On my way.”

When Ryder arrived, Pali was busy mapping an area of the quadrant around Earth, which was supposed to be their next destination.

“Why didn’t you answer it?” Ryder asked as he ran his fingers through his hair and pulled on his jacket.

“Not me. I’m not here to anyone else.”

Ryder grinned. “An interesting tactical maneuver.” Then he turned to the screen and answered the hail.

“This is Ryder MacKenzie.” He didn’t have to ask who he was speaking to, it was Hestia. Behind her were two of her associates and they all wore grave looks on their faces.

“Ryder… I will skip with the formalities. We have been made aware of the fact that Pellenor is in a ship that is orbiting the planet and he is infected with a deadly virus.”

“How did you…” But Ryder stopped and didn’t ask the obvious. They were seers. They would already know these things by virtue of their special gifts. “Yes, that’s true. He is expecting me to cure him.”

Hestia waited a long while than asked, “Are you planning on doing so?”

“Hestia… he killed my parents! He infected an entire planet just to get my attention! Who knows what else he’s done to those that have gotten in his way! And you ask me if I’m going to cure him?”

“Yes. Because you must. It may not be the right thing to do because of who he is, but it’s the right thing to do because of who you are. Please consider that.”

“Then what will happen? He will seek out my brother and try to destroy him also!” Ryder was almost livid and wanted Hestia to understand his feelings. He gripped the edge of the console and glanced over at Pali. Pali was looking directly at Ryder and they held their gaze for an extra second. In that second, Ryder knew what he had to do.

“Thank you Hestia. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“Yes. After you’ve finished with this predicament, I’d like to invite you and your crew to the surface to dine with us.”

Arrangements were made tentatively and the screen was dark and silent. Ryder looked around at Pali and then discovered that Carredyn had been standing silently just inside the bridge doors. He caught her expression and wondered what else could go wrong.

“Ryder…” Carredyn began, “I want to talk with you privately.”

“Can it wait?”

“No.” She walked over to Ryder and put her arms around him. “I love you, Ryder MacKenzie, and nothing can come between that love. Not even Pellenor. Go do what you have to do, but remember that I’m here waiting to be bonded with you as soon as you get back. Sooner if possible.”

Ryder was stunned. All of his torment washed away by these words from Carredyn. He felt as light as a feather and strong as a Darian ox. He pulled her close to him and kissed her passionately until a slight ‘ahem’ reminded him that they were not alone.

“Excuse me, boss, I’ll be going now.” Pali whispered as he started to leave.

“No. It’s okay for you to stay. I need you to watch the bridge while I finish up the antidote for Pellenor.” Ryder smiled at them both, but instantly became businesslike.

“You’re actually going to save that man’s life?” Carredyn asked incredulously.

“I’m doing exactly what I have to do.” Ryder answered. “Trust me. It’s going to be alright.”

“How can it be? That madman is manipulating you so he can kill your brother and you too, if he can!”

“Please… trust me.” Ryder begged. “It’s going to turn out just the way it needs to be.”

“I don’t understand that, but I’ll trust you.” Carredyn slowly shook her head and held her hands up in the air. She turned to leave when Ryder stopped her.

“Wait, please. I need you to do me a favor. Do you have any of the clothes you wore as a slave?”

“A slave? You want me to wear those gaudy things?” She grimaced and put her hands on her hips.

“Sure… they match your wild red hair!” Ryder laughed, but then explained. “Pellenor needs to think that you mean nothing to me, otherwise he will try to get to me by hurting you. So, from now on… both you and Pali,” he pointed to their Patchoulian friend, “will be my slaves.”

“I knew it! I knew you’d find a way to get me to work for you!” Carredyn watched as a look of horror fell on Ryder face when he thought she had misunderstood him. Then she burst out laughing and gave him a hug. “I will work for you any time, my love.”

The look of relief on Ryder’s face caused Pali to laugh so hard he forgot to inhale. He turned a dark shade of blue and both Carredyn and Ryder rushed over to him shouting,

“Breath! Pali, calm down!” Ryder pounded him on the back.

“Take deep breaths… that’s it.” instructed Carredyn.

Finally Pali could breath and he looked at them both and said, “I wish you two would hurry up and get bonded or whatever it is you do on your planet. I can’t take too much more of this!”

They all stood laughing until the console buzzed indicating an incoming message from Pellenor.

To be continued...

An original story by
Karen Elizabeth Brown
Copyright 2011

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to person, place or thing is completely unintentional.

The MacKenzie Chronicles: Final Chapter - Part 8

2011-08-01T18:59:00.000-07:00

The MacKenzie Chronicles - Book Five (Please see sidebar for complete Index)
Final Chapter
Part 8

“Ryder, we’ve just received the news that Pellenor escaped! You need to get back to the ship as soon as possible!”

“I’ll be there, but I’ve got to see Hestia one more time. I forgot to ask her something important.”

Ryder had this exchange with Carredyn as he rushed back to the temple on P’latio where Hestia had met with him. The large stone columns that held up the structure also blocked his view to find where she had gone to so quickly. When he finally saw her, it looked as if she was waiting for him. As if she was expecting him to return.

“Greetings again, young Ryder. How can I help you?”

“If you are a seer, then you know already.”

“I don’t know all things. The will of man changes things.”

“But you knew that Pellenor escaped. I checked with my crew and it was true. But it had just happened. So how did you know about it?”

Hestia smiled and held up her hands. “That is why I am a seer. I have learned to pick out the truths from the universe and discern them. But that is not what you came back here to talk with me about…”

Ryder’s mouth opened in an O as he was called on his purpose. “That’s right. I didn’t come to talk about the secrets of the universe. I want to know where my brother is. He is in grave danger.”

“And if you go to him, you will lead Pellenor right to him. His danger is minimal right now. But if you were to see him, he is a dead man. Is that what you want?”

“You’re wrong, Hestia! I can protect him from Pellenor. Please tell me where he is!”

“I can not do that. When I sent him away from his home, it was to protect him from Pellenor and his mercenaries. I will not open up that door as long as there is risk to his life.”

“Hestia, you have to tell me! Do you know about the diary my father kept?”

Hestia shook her head and waited.

“In it, it named you as the one I should come to in order to find my brother. I have no other hope of finding him. I don’t even know where to start looking!” Ryder threw his arms up in the air in exasperation.

“Perhaps if you look at the obstacles that prevent me from telling you, it will become clear. Maybe that is where you should start.”

Hestia locked her gaze on Ryder and they stared into each others’ eyes. She willed him to hear what she was saying. At that moment, he turned on his heel and without another word, left the temple and headed back to his ship.

Carredyn threw out her arms and ran to Ryder as he walked through the doors to the bridge. Pali was up from the engine room and he grinned at their greeting to each other. Ryder noticed his smile and asked,

“Is something funny, Pali?”

“Not funny, but in your language, sweet. It is good to see your expression of love towards one another.”

It was then that Ryder began to understand what Hestia was trying to tell him. How much he depended on Carredyn’s attention. He needed to tell her about Hestia’s observations and how much he desired to have her with him always.

“Pali, could you excuse us for a few minutes?”

“Certainly. I will be in the engine room checking the coil and making ready to get underway.” Pali nodded and walked through the bridge doors with a wide grin on his face.

“Carredyn… let me tell you about Hestia.” He continued on to tell her about what had transpired, except for the details of his inner feelings. As he talked on, he started stumbling for the right words.

“It was like she could see into my head and know what I was thinking and feeling for you. I…I love you.”

“Ryder, I know that. You’ve told me that before. And I love you.”

“But I need you to be with me. Always.”

“Always?”

“Yes… will you bond with me?”

Carredyn screwed up her face, trying to understand. “When I was small and with my parents, they used to call it getting married. And being man and wife. Those are Earth expressions, if I remember right. I’ve been with so many cultures, that for the most part, it all means the same thing. We are joined together as one and never parted.”

“Yes, that’s right. That’s exactly what I mean.” Ryder took Carredyn’s hands in his and pulled her close to him. “We could go back to Hestia at daybreak.”

“We should go now. We need to get out of here before Pellenor finds us and tries to do something to us. That man is crazy!”

“That’s the other thing I needed to talk to you about. If we leave, he will infect all of the Merridian system with his virus, hoping that my brother is here. I can’t leave. I must face him.”

Carredyn pulled away from Ryder and glared at him. “No! That’s not fair! You ask to marry me and then say you’re going to face a madman on our first days together? Tell you what… you take care of unfinished business first and then I’ll bond with you. I can’t face having you kill yourself any time, but especially not after you’ve asked me to be your mate.”

Carredyn kissed him softly on the cheek and turned to leave the bridge. Ryder watched as she walked over to the sliding doors.

Quietly she said, “I’ll be in my quarters for a while.” The doors hissed closed behind her and there was an echo around the room that seemed to awaken the dumbfounded Ryder.

“What just happened?” was all he could say.

A signal from the computer indicating an incoming message pulled Ryder from his reverie. He put the caller onscreen when he saw it was from Vega Orion.

“Greetings Ryder MacKenzie, this is Dr. Zazlow. Vega Orion was improving until a mutated form of the virus started infiltrating the community. As you know, Pellenor escaped. But he took the mutated virus with him.”

“How did he do that? Did he have medical equipment available to him?”

“Oh no, it’s nothing like that. He took the virus with him because he became infected and is now highly contagious. Whoever he comes in contact with will surely be exposed. We’re working on a new immunization, but we haven’t reached a viable result yet.”

Ryder bowed his head in thought. “So, wherever he goes, he will be infecting the people with a mutated virus that has no cure. And he is looking for me and for my brother. Could you send me some DNA samples of the infected cells as soon as possible?”

“I already have them prepared to send to you. Downloading now.” The computer indicated the message was received and Ryder punched in the appropriate codes to receive them into his computer.

“Thanks, Doctor Zazlow. Just as soon as I have a new compound made up, I’ll let you know.”

The screen went blank and Ryder went to work. He had only a few days to prepare the antidote to the mutated virus before Pellenor would find him. He had no doubt that Pellenor knew where he went. Should he administer the antidote to Pellenor? If he does give it to him, is he aiding and abetting a madman so he can continue his war? And if he doesn’t, is he committing murder? And, if he refuses to help him, how many people will Pellenor kill before he succumbs to the virus? Ryder stopped and smashed his fist down onto the counter-top in anger.

“Damn you, Pellenor! You’ve taken everything from me! Even Carredyn won’t bond with me because of you! But I refuse to let you take anymore! I won’t let you! I dare you to try!”

To be continued...

An original story by
Karen Elizabeth Brown
Copyright 2011

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of person, place of thing is completely unintentional.

The MacKenzie Chronicles: Final Chapter - Part 7

2011-07-19T20:17:00.000-07:00

The MacKenzie Chronicles - Book Five (Please refer to sidebar for complete Index)
Final Chapter
Part 7

“We’re not leaving?” Pali asked in astonishment after hearing the news from a disturbed Carredyn.

“That’s right! Ryder wants to face Pellenor here so another planet won’t be endangered.” Carredyn sighed and shook her head. Then she decided to go down to the lab and try to convince Ryder to leave, one more time.

“Ryder, please! Pellenor wants you dead! He’s not going to sit down and discuss this with you.”

“Carredyn, I grew up with the man. I know what he’s like. I also know what he’s afraid of. You’re going to have to trust me. And when he gets here, do as I say. Alright?”

Carredyn let out a deep breath. “Oh, alright. But you’d better be right about this!”

“I am. Besides, we’re all immune to his virus. And it’s latest strain, according to what I’ve seen on the planet below.”

“Just be ready for the unexpected. Pellenor is likely to do that.”

“He won’t have a chance once the security team from Vega Orion gets hold of him.”

Pali interrupted them from the bridge. “You’d better get up here! Pellenor’s ship is on screen and coming in quickly.”

Ryder and Carredyn hurried to the bridge in time to see Pellenor’s scarred face appear on the forward viewing screen.

“Well, I’ve been tracking you for a long time. I’m glad I was able to catch up with you before you did something foolish.” Pellenor sneered at Ryder.

“Me do something foolish? You infected the whole of Vega Orion! Why?” Ryder had pushed the record button on the computer console. He wanted a copy of this admission of guilt.

“Why, I only did that because I needed you to see what you were causing all across the galaxy.” He said it placidly and without remorse.

“Me? I didn’t cause this! You did this, not me!”

“I did it because you wouldn’t allow me access to your brother.”

“I didn’t even know I had a brother until just recently!”

“Lies. All lies to deceive me.”

Pellenor suddenly turned away from the screen and shouted, “Who’s boarding my ship? Ryder, if you are responsible for this, I will make you pay!”

Ryder watched as the Vega Orion security team took Pellenor into custody and the screen flashed off. He smiled as Carredyn clapped her hands together and Pali said something in his own Patchoulian language and laughed happily.

The console lit up with a message from the surface. It was Dr. Zazlow.

“Thank you for the formula to the antidote to this virus. You are free to go any time you wish. Things are looking like they will be much better now.”

With that, and the knowledge that Pellenor was finally in custody, Ryder entered a selection into the computer mapping system.

“Off to the Merridian sector to see if I can find out what happened to my brother. I need to find someone named Hestia.” For the first time in weeks, there was a light in Ryder’s eyes that had been missing, even when he was looking at his beloved Carredyn.

Using light speed, it wouldn’t be a long trip to the Merridian sector and the three habitable planets; P’latio, Eldebraun and Kryolos. The colonists had settled on Eldebraun and made their seat of government in the main city of Merridian. But Hestia chose to take the mystics and seers away from the bustle of the busy city and settle them on P’latio, the desert planet that was closest to the sun. Here, the cities were built up where the natural oases occurred, giving fertile soil and cool shade trees to the hot, dry climate. A place of solitude and reflection. So it was here that Ryder set a course, and landed early as the sun rose five days later. After making contact with the appropriate officials, he was on his way to see Hestia. The person mentioned in the diary as the one who had knowledge about his family.

Ryder instinctively bowed to Hestia when he first saw her. She was wearing long, flowing robes with colorful designs on it that shimmered in the sunlight. He wasn’t sure how to act in her presence, but when she returned his bow he decided to forge ahead.

“I am Ryder MacKenzie, son of Cade and Dreama MacKenzie. I was told that you would know where my brother, John, is.”

Hestia was very rarely surprised, but she stood speechless for a moment as she followed the lines of his face and looked deep into his eyes.

“I am Hestia.” She spoke slowly, taking in this moment of discovery. She examined this young man, who had a rugged exterior, but seemed to be holding something back. “Tell me… where are Cade and Dreama?”

Ryder let his hard exterior break and tears welled in his eyes. “They are dead. Killed by a virus that was designed by Pellenor.

Hestia closed her eyes and refused to see what was in this lad’s future. He was back from the outer quadrants and there was much to be told of his future here, but Hestia only wanted to see the good.

“You have a mate, young Ryder?”

“Well… not exactly. I mean, we are good friends.”

“But you wish it to be so?”

Ryder paused and answered softly, “Yes.”

“And this woman… does she want it also?”

“I think so… but I haven’t exactly asked her…” Ryder’s voice trailed off into his thoughts.

“And why not?”

“Why not? Because between being chased by a madman, being lost for over twenty years away from a home I’ve never seen, and then shooting through wormholes to places unknown, I thought it wasn’t the right time!” Ryder’s neck and cheeks blushed red with emotion as he spoke.

“Please do not take offense at my questions. I see a part of you waiting for your other half and being helpless without her.”

Hestia listened to his words and felt his world that was shrouded in loss and anger. Was he afraid of losing her too? Perhaps it was too soon to ask him, but she might not have another chance as he became more agitated at their meeting.

“Tell me, Ryder, are you afraid you will lose her also, to Pellenor’s acts of insanity?”

There was silence for a full moment.

“Lose her to Pellenor? Never! Pellenor is in a prison on Vega Orion and will be judged for his deeds.”

Hestia shook her head. “Pellenor is not in prison. I see him free. Perhaps he has escaped?”

At this suggestion, Ryder bowed again to Hestia and said, “Excuse me, but I need to check on my ship. If this is at all true, I may have caused a calamity by being here in the Merridian system. I’ve got to find out the truth.”

As he rushed away to talk to Carredyn via his commlink, Hestia nodded her head as she whispered, “It is true… he is coming.”

To be continued...

An original story by
Karen Elizabeth Brown
copyright 2011

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to person, place or thing is completely unintentional.

The MacKenzie Chronicles: Final Chapter - Part 6

2011-07-14T08:48:00.000-07:00

The MacKenzie Chronicles - Book Five (Please see sidebar for complete Index)
Final Chapter
Part 6

Carredyn came up to the bridge from the laboratory just before the noon meal.

“Time to stop and take some nourishment. We’ve been at this all morning.” she said insistently.

“I’m almost done here.” Ryder muttered, not looking up from the computer array.

“What are you doing?”

“Planning an escape route if we need one.”

“Can I change the subject?”

“Sure. What’s up?”

“Why didn’t you get sick with the virus when your parents did?”

Ryder shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. Some kind of natural immunity, I suppose.”

“So…wouldn’t that natural immunity serve to protect other people from the virus somehow?”

Ryder jerked up and stared at Carredyn. “What do you mean?”

“Couldn’t you immunize people with whatever it is that keeps you from not getting sick?”

Ryder was silent as he thought for a moment. “I never thought of that. But it would means immunizing billions of people! And we don’t even know where Pellenor is going to strike!”

“You could immunize us, at least, so we’d be protected if he found you.” Carredyn blushed slightly and averted her eyes.

Ryder stepped towards her and gently put his hands on her upper arms. “Of course. How thoughtless of me. I will start working on that right now. I’m sure I can separate out the DNA that’s responsible quickly enough.”

They stood staring into each other’s eyes. Then, just as Ryder started to lean in towards her, the elevator door swished open and in walked Pali carrying a translator box. Carredyn broke away from Ryder and turned away to hide her glowing face.

“Hey! Have I got news for you!” Pali plunked the box down on the console, apparently unaware of interrupting anything.

Ryder sighed. “What’s up, Pali?”

Carredyn headed for the elevator. “I’m going down for some lunch.”

“It’s about Vega Orion. A ship containing infected citizens escaped today. One of them was called Anson Hardings.” Pali continued.

“So!” Ryder shook his head. “No wonder he was in such a hurry to get away.” He glanced up at the overhead screen. “Computer… display all ships in the area.”

There were three spacecraft approaching, all grouped in a small formation.

“Pali, plug the translation device into the computer so we can feed it the information.”

After Pali was done, he turned to Ryder, “Can I go back down to the galley now?”

“Sure… enjoy your lunch!”

Ryder knew that Pali was shy when it came to meeting other people of any world. He preferred to stay in the background and let Ryder and Carredyn deal with them. Ryder thought it was good to have him unseen, but able to protect the ship as well. And Pali was loyal to Ryder and would always do just that. While Ryder was lost in his thoughts, the computer signaled and the overhead screen magnified the three ships.

“Computer… open hailing frequencies.”

“Hailing frequencies open.” the computer answered.

“This is Captain Ryder MacKenzie…to whom should I address myself?”

On the screen, an aging male sat ramrod straight with two guards by his sides. “This is Captain Horatio Sexton of Vega Orion’s security team. Prepare to be boarded!”

“Wait a minute! Your planet is under quarantine. If you come aboard, then we will be obliged to be under quarantine also. I choose not to risk myself and my crew at this time. Is there something else we can help you with?”

“If you are refusing an order of the security team to be boarded, then we will have no alternative except to fire upon you!”

“We’ve done nothing to warrant that kind of action. I take it you are willing to risk an intergalactic incident by attempting this. And I say attempt, because if I am fired upon, I will be forced to protect myself! Computer, shields up!” Ryder pressed a silent red light alarm to warn the other two of danger.

Captain Sexton’s mouth was set in a hard line, but he relaxed it a bit and sighed. “Captain MacKenzie, we are not interested in intergalactic war. However, we have information that you are harboring a fugitive from our planet and we want him back!”

“And this information was given to you by whom? Let me wager a guess - Captain Anson Hardings! Also a fugitive from your planet. I’ll bet he gave you this information to throw you off course, after he came across us and found our engines had stalled.”

“Well, yes… it was him.”

“Did he also tell you where he was going?”

“Of course not!

“But I happen to know! Because I gave him the coordinates for his destination!”

“That still doesn’t tell me who is on your ship and where you are going!” Captain Sexton harrumphed.

“Why didn’t you just ask?”

“Well?”

“My two associates and I were going to your planet to see if I could offer you my assistance. I am a scientist and medical physician. But first I needed to know if the virus you are fighting has been identified.”

Captain Sexton immediately changed his tone. “I thank you for your kind offer. Perhaps you need to speak to our chief medical officer.”

The screen switched off and there was a moments silence. Carredyn and Pali had returned from the galley when they saw the flashing red light and had been listening to the exchange.

“What’s going to happen?” Carredyn whispered, visibly shaken.

“Nothing. Until I can get you immunized.”

The screen flashed back on with a younger man sitting in the same place as Captain Sexton. “Greetings. I am Dr. Zazlow. I understand you are asking questions about the virus we are dealing with?”

“Yes. I am Captain Ryder MacKenzie aka Dr. MacKenzie. Have you identified the virus?”

“You get right to the point. I like that. We have identified it as a triple stranded amorphous DNA piece that is…”

Ryder finished the doctor’s sentence, “That is encapsulated with protein particles.”

“How did you know that? Have you been to our planet?”

“No. But I think we have a mutual acquaintance who has.” Ryder looked grim and set out explaining what he knew about Pellenor’s virus from the other quadrant. When they finished, he had agreed to finish working on a hunch he had and to return to Vega Orion with them.

This meant one thing. Pellenor was already in the Alpha quadrant.

The entire time Ryder worked on his immunization project, Carredyn was unusually quiet. She saw uplinks from the planet surface and how the people had suffered from the virus. Ryder silently watched her, but waited until he was almost finished to address it. He came up beside her while she was looking at the pictures of devastation and said,

“Pretty grim, huh?”

Silence.

“Why don’t you tell me what your thinking, Carredyn.”

She shook her head silently as tears rolled down her cheeks.

“It’s alright to cry. It’s tragic to see a whole planet being decimated because of one man’s madness.” Ryder put his arm around her shoulders and attempted to comfort her. But she shook him off.

“No! Please don’t!” Carredyn stepped away from him. “This is all my fault!” She sobbed harder and sat down next to the counter with his DNA samples on it.

“I contacted Sache Finnegan and told him about the wormhole just before we went through it. This Pellenor fellow was waiting with him to hear the coordinates.”

“I know.” Ryder knelt down in front of her and smiled as her eyes got wide.

“You knew? I wanted to tell you about him. I started to. But I was afraid Pellenor would kill me.” Carredyn averted her eyes but didn’t pull away from his hands stroking her arms this time.

“I know how threatening Pellenor can be. It’s easy to fall under his spell and do what he wants you to. I know I did for years when I was young.”

“Ryder, he’s an evil man. And he’s determined to wipe out you and your family. But I don’t understand why. Now that I know you, you’re nothing like he made you out to be. He called you a ruthless pirate. He said that you would kill people at the drop of a hat. So I agreed to come with you as a slave and to report your movements to him. And… I was supposed to sabotage any scientific experiments you were doing. But you weren’t anything like what he said. When you wouldn’t take me as a slave I knew then that you were different. Oh, Ryder… I’m so sorry! I brought him to this quadrant and now he’s going to kill you!” She continued sobbing as she fell into Ryder’s arms.

“Whoa…what makes you think he’s going to kill me? Have you been in contact with him recently?”

Carredyn didn’t speak but shook her head up and down to indicate that she had. Ryder froze.

“How long ago, Carredyn?”

“While I was in the engine room and you were talking to that pirate Anson Hardings. I was worried that he got through, so I sent out a search for his ship’s identification signal and found him. I didn’t know that he could tell where you were and that your engine was disabled. I got scared and didn’t want him to hurt you. I… I like you. A lot, I guess. No one has ever been as kind to me like you have.”

Ryder pulled her face up towards his. “I love you, Carredyn. I have since I first saw you.” He pulled her close to him and kissed her softly. She kissed him back and they hugged for a long time.

Finally, Ryder broke their embrace and stood up. “Now, tell me where he is.”

“He was headed for the Merridian system when I found him, but I think he might have changed his course.”

“OK. So we’ll finish what we’re doing here and get out of here fast!”

“Why finish? He wants to kill you!”

“Because I can save these people. I have an antidote now. It was in my blood! I never thought to look there until you suggested it. All I have to do is synthesize the formula and give it to the planetary disease control so they can administer it to their people. And here, look…” He pointed to a small vial sitting on the countertop next to a rack of test tubes. “… this is the immunization to protect anyone from getting the virus. I’ll send this formula down too, to protect the rest of the people in case Pellenor ever comes back. The only thing is, it‘s only been tested on the lab animals.”

Carredyn picked up the vial and examined it carefully. “Ryder, let me be the first one to try it.”

“Are you sure about that?” He suddenly had a twinge of self-doubt and didn’t want to use the immunization.

“If you made it from what you found in your blood, then it has to be the right thing. Yes, I’m sure.”

“How much do you weigh?”

Carredyn blushed slightly. “I don’t see as that’s any of your business. Why ask me that?”

“In order to give the exact amount you need, I need to know your exact size. You aren’t the same weight as a Morovian mudrat, you know.”

“Oh.” She whispered her weight in his ear and Ryder did the calculation twice to make sure there were no mistakes. Then he measured out the serum with a small dropper and said, “OK, open your mouth. This won’t taste very good…”

“Wait! Why can’t you put some flavoring in it? With all the stuff in the galley, there must be something to make it taste decent.”

After retrieving some flavoring from the galley, the serum was finally ready to everyone’s satisfaction. Carredyn opened her mouth and allowed Ryder to drop it onto her tongue.

“Swallow it all.” Ryder said.

“I did. Now what?”

“You shouldn’t feel anything. This isn’t like I’m giving you the disease in a small quantity and you develop an immunity. I gave you a replica of the DNA strands I found in my blood that resist against the virus. Your body will react to those and start making more. I want to check your blood tomorrow to see the results.”

Carredyn smiled and said, “Let’s get to work and give Pali some, then we can finish up on this planet and get out of here! By the way, where are we going to go?”

“We’re going to stay here and wait for Pellenor.”

To be continued...

An original story by
Karen Elizabeth Brown
copyright 2011

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to person place or thing is completely unintentional.

Where Are My Followers?

2011-07-09T15:41:00.000-07:00

Due to some nefarious glitch in the system, all of my followers have disappeared! If you have the time, could you please re-up and follow me again? Also, drop me a note, if you have time, because I'm beginning to think I'm out here alone in cyberspace!

Thanks alot!

Karen

The MacKenzie Chronicles: Final Chapter - Part 5

2011-07-09T15:16:00.000-07:00

The MacKenzie Chronicles - Book Five (please refer to sidebar for complete index)
Final Chapter
Part 5

The ride through the wormhole was the worse one yet. Ryder could tell by all the lights going off there was quite a bit of damage to the ship. But before he attended to that, he looked at two expectant faces, waiting to hear the news.

“Well…” Carredyn finally asked, “…where are we?”

Ryder kept a casual expression as he glanced from Pali to Carredyn. “Oh! By the way, we’re in the ALPHA QUADRANT!” he ended in a shout.

Pali grinned because he knew that he was finally away from the Patchoulian grasp. Carredyn laughed and did a little dance in the middle of the floor. “If you ever say I did that, I’ll deny it!” She wagged her finger at Ryder as if to say: no.

“What’s so bad about being happy?” he asked innocently, hoping to draw her into a conversation. But she only wanted information about the Alpha quadrant.

“So where are we? How far away is Earth? Can we go there now?”

“Hold on… one question at a time. First, we seem to be out as far as you can get in the charted part of this quadrant, so it’ll be a while before we see a livable planet. That also answers your second question about Earth. It’s way on the other side of the quadrant. And third, no, we can’t go there now because there is some ship damage I have to go investigate. Also, the engines are offline. I’m going to need your help, so grab those tools and come with me, please.”

Ryder pointed to a small box sitting besides the main console and started walking through the bridge doors.

“Hey” Carredyn shouted after him, “I’m not your slave! Why do you have me carrying your tools?” she demanded.

But the answer was clear when they rounded a hallway and saw the broken wall with the wires hanging down. Ryder found the nearest control panel and powered down the section so it was safe to work.

“How do you know what to do?” Carredyn asked while handing him a tool.

“You learn a lot living on a ship your whole life.” Ryder answered casually.

“You haven’t ever lived on a planet?” Carredyn’s eyes spoke the amazement she tried to hide in her voice.

“Nope.”

“Is that why you’re not mated?” she asked making conversation while he continued to work.

“I’m not mated because I haven’t found anyone I want to spend the rest of my life with.” Ryder was starting to get uncomfortable with the conversation. He finished his work there and headed for the engine room.

When they arrived at the engine room, Ryder turned to Carredyn and asked,

“Do you know what skills Pali has? Maybe we should have him down here and teach him about the engine. Just in case something happens to us, I mean.”

Carredyn nodded in agreement, so Ryder called up to the bridge to have Pali come down to the engine room.

“OK, but it looks like there’s a ship of some kind on the screen. They haven’t tried to make contact yet, but I think you should get up here to greet them. They might not be familiar with Patchoulians here.”

Ryder raced to the bridge while Carredyn worked fervently to get the engines repaired. When he arrived, Pali was standing next to the computer screen, visibly shaken.

“Thanks for watching out for us, Pali. Now let’s find out who our neighbor is…”

While he was talking, his fingers were swiping the touchpad on the computer to enhance the image on the screen.

“Computer… identify the craft onscreen.” Ryder waited while the computer scanned the craft and he automatically put his shields up. Then, a few seconds later, the computer responded.

“The craft is a refurbished Darian vessel with sixteen life forms present; no apparent hostile intentions noted.”

As soon as the computer finished reporting, a signal rang out announcing the craft was hailing Ryder’s ship. He sat down in the captains chair, dusted himself off and tried to look presentable after working on his ship. He let out a breath and pressed the communication link to accept the hail.

“This is Captain Anson Hardings. We saw you come through the wormhole and our scan shows you have engine difficulties. Do you need assistance?”

“This is Ryder MacKenzie. Thank you for the offer, but we haven’t finished assessing the damage yet. I would appreciate it if you would remain in the area until our engines are back online. I’m not prepared to meet up with pirates just yet.”

“Pirates? In this part of space?”

Ryder paused, thoughtfully. He had inadvertently revealed his disabilities to a complete stranger. That was extremely dangerous and very stupid. Especially since he had never been to the Alpha quadrant and didn’t know the territory. He glanced at Captain Hardings and gave a slight grin. He could be talking to a pirate right now!

“So where do you come from, Captain Hardings?”

“Please… call me Anson. I’m from Darius, originally, but I struck out with my friends to find better times. We’ve been looking for wormholes to get out of the Alpha quadrant.”

Ryder felt a tingling down his spine. He didn’t like the sound of Anson’s tale. To him, this explanation was a cover for a band of pirates. Slowly he glanced down to see the strength of his shields, only to see that they were off line! Had Carredyn accidentally turned them off while she was working on the engines? Did Anson know? Ryder tried to distract Anson.

“Wormholes aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. You never know where you’re going to end up and what shape your craft will be in when you get there.”

“Yes… I see that.” Anson smirked as he glanced down to look at his console. “Your ship, for instance, has no shields, so you can’t withstand an attack. And you can’t flee because your engines are offline. That’s a very vulnerable position to be in. Especially if you have no firepower.”

Ryder grinned. What Anson didn’t know about was the modifications that were made to this vessel after years of wandering and meeting up with pirates.

“Well, Anson, this old lady may be limping along, but she still has a surprise or two left.”

The two men stared at one another, each waiting for the other to reveal something. Finally, it was Ryder who broke the silence. “Have there been any unusual deaths here in this quadrant lately?”

Anson blinked, stunned at the subject Ryder had introduced. “Unusual deaths? I don’t know what you mean.” He looked so taken aback by the question, Ryder knew he would hold off firing on him to find out what he had to say.

“Yes… I’m chasing down a madman who is carrying a deadly virus that killed my parents and he was headed toward the Alpha quadrant the last time I heard of him.”

Anson grew pale and leaned back away from the screen. “Listen, I haven’t run into any madmen lately, believe me! Especially one that’s carrying a deadly virus.” Anson stopped to think for a minute, then added, “Wait… there’s a planet near the edge of the quadrant that is quarantined. Something about a sickness… let me look it up… here it is: in the Ursa Minor sector. The planet Vega Orion. I’m sending you the coordinates, now.”

“Received. Thanks for the information.”

At that moment the shields returned to full strength and the engines came online. Ryder was about to give Anson the last coordinates of the wormhole they had just traveled through, but when Anson saw their ship at full power he said,

“I’ll be saying goodbye and good luck, Ryder. Be careful with that virus. It’ll wipe out every planet in the sector before long if it isn’t stopped. But I’m not staying around to get too near.” Anson clicked off his screen and his ship quickly disappeared from view.

“Who was he?” Carredyn asked.

“A pirate.” Ryder sighed and set the coordinates into the computer. A star map of the sector came on screen to show their position in relationship to Vega Orion. It wasn’t the nearest planet, but they were closer to it than the Merridian sector which was supposed to be Ryder’s first stop.

Carredyn looked at the screen and her eyes got wide. “We aren’t going there, are we?”

“I have to find out what the virus is and to find out if Pellenor is there.”

Pali, who had been listening quietly all this time, stepped up next to Carredyn. He hadn’t been using the translator so had questions.

“Who is Pellenor and what is this word quarantined?”

Ryder turned to him and said, “Pellenor is a very evil man and quarantined means that people or goods are restricted to leave the planet for fear of spreading the disease.”

“If we go there, will they make us stay?” Pali asked with a look of deep concern. “Fear can do strange things to people.”

Ryder shook his head. “I don’t know if they would make me stay if I go to speak to their medical advisors. I might not even need to go to the surface, but I do need to see a sample of the virus that’s causing their disease. And yes, fear will change people. They will do things they never thought they would do to their own friends and neighbors.”

Ryder had a far off look on his face but then smiled at Pali and Carredyn.

“Don’t worry… I would never endanger either one of you. You will be staying here on the ship.”

“Ryder…” Carredyn looked at the map, “If we need to go, then let’s get going and stop wasting time. Tell me what I can do.”

“Yes,” Pali added, “…tell me how I can help, also.”

Ryder hit ‘enter’ on the control panel and the engines roared to life. He set Carredyn and Pali at different tasks, preparing for their arrival at Vega Orion. He wanted the lab prepared so he could do his work quickly when they reached the planet, so he had Carredyn busy setting up slides and agar discs. Pali settled in at the computer with a long range sensor gathering information about the planet’s language. He was fast at learning languages, so Ryder had him learning the language and entering data samples in the computer to find matches for the translating device.

After they were busy, Ryder searched the area for other stray ships that might be in the sector. He didn’t want to be surprised by Pellenor if he was here. He was a ruthless man and as far as Ryder knew, his only vulnerability was one that might not be too helpful. Ryder had read in the diary about how Pellenor had survived a supernova blast in a tiny escape pod and it had left him with a fear of small, enclosed spaces. He didn’t even know anymore what Pellenor looked like. He had been known to alter his appearance to fit the circumstances. Red hair, blue hair. He’d even had his face surgically altered. He mused to himself for a while on ways to identify him: If all else fails, I could always throw him in an escape pod!

To be continued...

An original story by
Karen Elizabeth Brown
copyright 2011

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to person, place or thing is completely unintentional.

The MacKenzie Chronicles: Final Chapter - Part 4

2011-06-29T21:40:00.000-07:00

The MacKenzie Chronicles - Book Five (see sidebar for complete Index)
Final Chapter
Part 4

Carredyn buzzed the visitor through and the outer door opened and closed. She ushered the individual onto the bridge where Ryder stood silent. He wasn’t sure what this person wanted, but Ryder decided to let Carredyn ask the questions. He nodded to her.

“How can we help you?” she asked into the translator.

“Are we being monitored?” the male Patchoulian asked.

“Not that we are aware of.” Carredyn answered. She glanced over to Ryder with a look of confusion on her face.

“Will you take me with you to whatever place you are going to? I am willing to be one of your betas. I have to get away from this planet!”

Ryder could not contain himself. “Why?”

The Patchoulian was so startled to hear him speak that he stepped backward and cringed, as if waiting for a blow. When none came, he said, “Because I was in the shop when you…” he pointed to Ryder, “… came in and did business with the owner’s mate. I want that freedom. And we are losing what freedom’s we have. My mate and child were taken away, leaving me with nowhere to live and no work possibilities. I am destitute and starving.” He stared at the floor and if someone who had blue skin could blush, his cheeks became a darker blue to prove it.

“Let’s take him.” Ryder said.

The Patchoulian looked up, startled again that he would suggest it to a female.

“I agree.” Carredyn said.

“What’s your name?” Ryder asked.

“Pali.” he said with a wide grin on his face. He started to go over to Carredyn to thank her for allowing him aboard, but she stopped him.

“Don’t thank me, Pali, this is Ryder’s ship.”

Pali was in awe of Ryder. “I’ve heard of such things. Beta’s owing property. How wonderful!”

Ryder grimaced at Pali’s description of him. “Let’s get one thing straight. I am not a beta and neither are you, on this ship. Follow me.” He decided to take care of some mundane things, like quarters for Pali and chores. “Around here we share the chores.” he began. “Now, let me show you your sleeping quarters. Also, some places are off limits without permission.” He went on to give him a tour of the ship. Soon they ended in the dining room, where they met up with Carredyn.

“Perfect timing!” she said, as she pushed a card into the computer. In a few seconds a perfect roast chicken meal appeared, hot and ready. Pali was delighted at the meal and proceeded to imitate Carredyn and receive his own meal. Soon all three were sitting around the table eating and talking about the planet below. They learned a lot about the planet, from Pali, that they wouldn’t be able to find in their broadcasts. How dangerous and powerful the government had become. The more they talked, the more concerned Ryder became about being in space dock above the planet. Someone might come looking for Pali.

“I think we should get out of here right now.” Ryder suddenly announced.

Both Carredyn and Pali turned silently to Ryder and waited.

“We need to go. Now.” he reiterated.

“OK, let’s do it.” Carredyn said. She stood up and started walking to the door. As it slid open, Pali and Ryder jumped up and followed her. As they prepared to leave space dock, the urgency inside Ryder got stronger. He knew about the mystics in his family, according to his father’s diary, but could it be he had a little of that foreknowledge himself?

As they pulled away from the docking ring, a message was being received and being translated. Please return to the docking ring and prepare to be boarded!

“Full speed ahead!” Ryder shouted. Their ship lurched forward, aimed towards deep space. “Next stop… Alpha quadrant!”

But they didn’t get very far when their ship was grasped by a tractor beam and suddenly came to a jerking halt. Ryder was thrown from his chair and Carredyn was tossed across the floor. There was whimpering heard under a table where Pali had landed.

“Everyone in one piece?” Ryder asked, rubbing his shoulder.

“I’m OK.” Carredyn answered through gritted teeth.

When Pali did no more than continue to whimper, Carredyn bent down and looked under the table. “What’s wrong?” she asked patiently.

“We are doomed!” he cried, “They will lock us in prison and we will never get away!”

Ryder thought fast. “Put Pali in the lab and come back up here. Hurry!” He rushed around the bridge and prepared it for their unusual visitors. Just as Carredyn returned, he was putting the final touches on the bridge. There were candles everywhere and he had stripped his shirt off and oiled his skin. Carredyn almost burst out laughing, but Ryder stopped her by shoving a silk, filmy dress at her.

“Put this on!” he hissed and turned his back.

Carredyn glanced at the daring dress and objected. “I will not!”

“Look… it’s the only way. Trust me!”

Her hot eyes glared at him as she slipped out of her shirt and pants and into the revealing floor length gown. Ryder waited until she said she was finished and turned around. Carredyn looked ravishing in the white, see through piece. Her red hair looked even redder, if possible, and Ryder stared at her emerald green eyes and took in his breath.

“You look fantastic.” he said, embarrassed because he couldn’t stop staring.

“I look ridiculous!” Carredyn insisted.

There was a pounding as the ship was pulled into another ship and they tried to open the door.

“Now…” Ryder said, “We are in the middle of a mating ritual that cannot be disturbed. You must tell them that!”

“What?!” Carredyn shook her held in defiance.

“Do it!” he insisted.

“I will not!”

“If you don’t we’ll end up in a prison somewhere!”

Ryder opened the outside door and then the bridge door. In marched part of an army onto the dimly lit bridge. Immediately, Carredyn picked up in her act.

“I demand to know why you are interrupting my mating ritual?”

The Patchoulian army stood quietly as a slightly taller female entered the bridge.

“I am Tatani and I am looking for an escaped male subject. Do you have him on board?”

“I am in the middle of a very sacred ritual and you are disturbing it.” Carredyn repeated.

“I am sorry. But your ship was the last one to leave and his life signature disappeared about the same time.”

Carredyn bristled. “If I am not able to mate because of this interruption it will cost your government many, many orches or, on our planet we deal in gold! Are you willing to pay for my inconvenience?”

“No! I do not have the authority to authorize that.”

“Then you’d better let me get back to what I was doing.” Carredyn turned and motioned for Ryder to come over to him. She grabbed him and lifted her leg up and curled it around his thigh as she caressed his pectoral muscle. He took in a sharp breath and closed his eyes at the sensation he felt. Something new and exciting that he had never experienced before, except in a dream. Just then Tatani interrupted his excitement by saying,

“Excuse me… we will be leaving now.”

Carredyn ignored her and continued to caress Ryder until all the soldiers were gone and the door was closed. Then she stopped suddenly and stared at a frozen Ryder.

“Did I do OK?” she asked innocently.

“Do OK?” repeated a dazed Ryder.

“Yeah… you know, do you think they believed it?”

“I did.” Ryder looked at her with burning gold eyes. He took a step closer to her, but she backed away.

“We’d better be ready to get out of here just as soon as they release that tractor beam.”

As she finished speaking, the ship moved with a jerk and they were set free of the tractor beam. Ryder begrudgingly left her side and went to the control panel and pressed the button to resume their voyage.

“I’d better go down and get Pali.” he said, a little dejected. He took one last look at Carredyn in the beautiful, white gown. He could see the outline of her breasts and the soft shape of her hips through the gauzy material. “You really do look amazing.” he offered one last time.

She picked up the nearest object and threw it at him as he disappeared through the doors of the elevator. Now that he was gone, she rubbed her hands against the soft material of the gown and sighed. Ryder’s words reverberated in her head. But she had heard so many men tell her such things… was he really different? Was there such a thing as true love, or was it just a child’s fairy tale?

By the time Ryder returned with Pali, Carredyn was out of the filmy gown and back into her shirt and pants. Ryder had taken a sonic shower to remove the oil from his body and was back in the jumpsuit he was accustomed to. He gave Carredyn a businesslike nod and listened as Pali babbled on about not believing he had really escaped.

Suddenly Ryder made a sign to indicate he wanted silence. Both Carredyn and Pali stared at him as he wandered around the room examining the walls where the Patchoulian soldier Tatani had been standing. Finally, he reached behind a console and pulled out a tiny, thumbnail sized listening device. He put a finger to his lips as he walked over to the main computer and pushed the button for light speed. The engines roared to life and the three braced themselves as the ship sped forward in response to the command.

Ryder motioned for the other two to follow him and they left the bridge, winding through the ship to the engine room. Under the noise of the engines, Ryder spoke.

“So… they must know by now that Pali is on board. The question is, how far will they chase us? How important is one single citizen?”

Pali glanced at the floor. “Unfortunately, I’m not just one single citizen. I am the first son of the ruling monarch. Her son’s are very valuable for mating within the royal family.”

Carredyn glared. “I thought you had a wife and daughter.”

“I do! Or did, until they were taken away, just like I told you. Now they want me to mate with another woman. But I love my wife and daughter and I refused to mate with another woman. That’s when I was exiled from the family. But now, I don’t know what they want to do to me, except put me in prison until I say I will mate.”

“So now we are in the middle of… stealing a royal family member!” Ryder was livid. Then he turned to Carredyn. “We should take him back.”

“And end up in prison ourselves?” She shook her head back and forth. “I don’t think that’s the best idea. Maybe we could find the nearest planet and leave him there?”

Pali visibly paled to a light blue. “Our nearest neighbors are our worst enemies. They would love to have Patchoulian royalty in their grasp for bargaining purposes.”

“But I thought your family didn’t care about what happens to you. I mean, they were going to put you in prison.” Carredyn said.

“Oh, they were! But it’s a matter of keeping up appearances with our enemies. The royal family would pay dearly to get me back and then turn around and put me in prison if I refuse to mate again.”

Ryder rubbed his jaw and paced around the engine room. He happened to glance at the computer console and stopped up short.

“We have to get back to the bridge. Nobody say anything until I destroy that bug!”

After they returned to the bridge and the bug was destroyed, Ryder made the announcement,

“There’s a wormhole close. We have to make a decision before it closes back up.”

Carredyn and Ryder both stared at Pali. They explained that they were going through the wormhole, but he didn’t have to go if he didn’t want to.

“I want to go as far away from here as possible.” was Pali’s answer. He nodded his head in agreement. Then he spoke to them without the translator in their own Earth dialect. “I…will…go!”

To be continued...

An original story by
Karen Elizabeth Brown
copyright 2011

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to person, place or thing is completely coincidental.

The MacKenzie Chronicles: Final Chapter - Part 3

2011-06-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

The MacKenzie Chronicles: Book Five (see sidebar for complete index)
Final Chapter
Part 3

There was a wormhole in the singularity, was just like Ryder had read in the diary. It was a bumpy ride through the singularity with streaks of colors in the middle. After they hit the wormhole it was like they were rushing forward through a long tube, pushed suddenly out into another part of space. Secretly, Ryder prayed they would end up in the Alpha quadrant and not in some strange part of uncharted space at the end of the universe. While he was searching the new stars and comparing them with known star charts he happened to see the sent message folder had been opened recently. Curious, he opened it to find Carredyn’s message. It had been sent to Captain Sacheverell Finnegan! Just as he was about to confront her, he stopped. Wormholes were totally unreliable and didn’t always send two ships to the same place. Even if the old pirate did follow him, he might not catch up with him for months. Ryder decided to keep quiet, to wait and watch. He knew Carredyn was holding something back from him by the way she avoided certain conversations, but he wanted to be sure of his suspicions before he acted.

“We didn’t make it to the Alpha quadrant.” Ryder sadly announced, “The star charts are still searching for an identification of this area.”

Carredyn stood still and Ryder could see the shine in her eyes as tears formed behind her lids.

“So we keep trying, right?” she asked huskily.

“Yep… as long as we need to. But right now we have to find a place to get some provisions.” He noticed a red light flashing on the console for the engine and added, “I need to go to the engine room. Watch the monitor for other ships.”

Carredyn nodded and walked to the screen. She knew they could be in trouble if a strange craft came upon them when they didn’t even know where they were and who the good guys were. She saw a tiny blue planet on the screen and wondered if they were going to go there. Just then Ryder returned looking grim.

“We have big trouble. The engine was damaged in the singularity. We need to find a planet that can help repair a crack in the casing.”

“Don’t you have a welder?”

“I don’t know. I never did any of the repairs like that.”

“I did. Let me look at it.”

While Carredyn was welding the crack, she decided to ask Ryder about the blue planet.

“What does the computer say about it?”

“It says it’s populated, but the computer hasn’t established it’s level of technology. They might be a space faring people. If so, we could get provisions there, if we could get in and out discreetly.”

“Why can’t we just introduce ourselves and ask for what we need?” Carredyn was excited about being able to see this new planet.

“I don’t like the idea of just appearing from out of no where and asking for provisions. We don’t know anything about this culture or what their currency exchange is.”

Ryder set the universal translator to learn the language of the blue planet. As they approached, they saw other spacecraft flying in and out of a space port. But Ryder wanted to study the planet covertly before they approached them openly. As he listened to their transmissions and had them translated, he discovered some serious developments in their social structure. The entire planet was in a state of civil unrest. The current government was trying to maintain control by clamping down on the private citizens.

“There’s going to be trouble if we approach the government about getting supplies.” Ryder was rubbing his chin and turning the translator to their language so it could play back the last part.

If you chose to do business with our planet, we will require trade in orches. If you don’t have that currency, we will sell you some for your off-world gems or spices.

Ryder shook his head. “I don’t know what an orche is equivalent to, but we carry enough gems that maybe we could make a trade with those.”

Carredyn look horrified. “Are you kidding? They didn’t say trade, they said sell! They want to make a profit with the orches and the supplies! Why don’t we cut out the middleman and go straight to the people? They would probably like that too.”

“Always thinking like a pirate, aren’t you! What if we get caught? And how do we find these people?” Ryder wasn’t so sure about this plan.

“That part is easy. The hard part will be getting permission to land on the planet.”

“That’s not hard, you just steal the codes they are sending to one of these other ships!”

Ryder and Carredyn gave each other a conspiratorial grin and shook hands together. They each had a part that they were good at, so their plot was as good as done!

Just as Ryder had promised, the code was uplinked to the ship’s computer and he announced,

“We have half an hour to get through to the docking ring. One we’ve docked, then you have to come up with the coordinates for our visit.”

Carredyn smiled wickedly, “Already done! Just tell me when you want them!”

Ryder excused himself and when to the ships storehouse. He had a list of things he needed, but he also wanted to get some of their precious gems without revealing their place to Carredyn. Although she was with him for the journey, he had learned from his family’s own strife that you be very careful who you trust your secrets to. Just as he was about to open the safe to the precious spices, Carredyn appeared in the doorway.

“Excuse me, I didn’t mean to interrupt…” she said haltingly.

Ryder spun around, startled by her presence. “What?” he took in a sharp breath. “Why aren’t you on the bridge?”

“I…um… have something you might be able to use in trade. That is… if you think it’s worth enough…?” Carredyn blushed and pulled a golden statue out of a leather bag. It gleamed in the soft light of the storage room.

Ryder walked slowly over to Carredyn and carefully took the statue.

“Where did you get this?” he whispered reverently.

“It was payment for a job well done from a very drunk pirate on Vega-4 in the Beta quadrant.” She gave a sheepish grin. “Is it worth anything?”

“Are you really that ignorant, or do you want to see if I know my golden idols?”

“Let’s just say, I hope they like amorphous gold?”

“Right… along with the gems in the face and hands. But I hate to see such a beautiful object get melted down…” Ryder was thinking.

“Oh no!” objected Carredyn, “You can’t just melt this down. It’s amorphous gold. It has to be re-processed to it’s real weight. Which, in this case, is fifteen times it’s actual structural weight.”

“Very good. So you carry your bank around with you. Look I can’t let you give me this. It’s worth a lot and you may need it when we get back to the Alpha quadrant.” Ryder handed the statue back to Carredyn.

“So!” she huffed. “You can’t use my gold, just your own! I’m not a guest here, I pay my way! Either take this as part of the trade, or I refuse to make the trade with these people!”

“Fine! Be hard-headed! What do I care? I was trying to save you your gold! Take it to the bridge and I’ll be there in a minute!”

Ryder stomped around for another few minutes gathering up things for the trade. As he was finishing up, he wondered why they always had to end things in an argument. He wasn’t used to living with a fiery personality, but something in this relationship intoxicated him.

When he arrived on the bridge, he had a variety of items ready for trading with different merchants. When they were ready, they docked their ship and prepared to venture to the surface. Ryder held his breath, hoping her coordinates were accurate. He hated not knowing where he was going!

The shuttlecraft they used to go to the surface with was extremely easy to pilot, especially because of the translation device Ryder plugged into the ship’s computer. After that, he felt right at home with a global map of the surface.

They went to the small, out of the way suppliers and were greeted by friendly, but cautious people. They acted stunned that Ryder would be doing business with them and they all stared at Carredyn when she didn’t speak. They were an interesting people, with blue tinged skin and white hair. They were much shorter than Ryder… the largest being four feet five inches. And they wore bright colors; oranges, yellows, reds and purples. But everywhere, the colors were contrasted with blue. Even the liquid that flowed in their rivers and streams was an unusual blue color, that matched the billowy, blue clouds in the sky. This blue planet was called (loosely): Patchouli, which was appropriate because the planet gave off the scent of fragrant mint. Even the drinking water had that the same scent.

Ryder and Carredyn were happy with their days work and when they were ready to head back to space dock, a small Patchoulian in a military uniform of some kind approached Carredyn.

“May I speak with you?” the Patchoulian was heard to say through the translator.

“Can I help you?” Ryder asked.

“I will speak with the woman, she is alpha.”

Ryder was stunned! A culture that recognized the woman as the alpha! Or the leader of the two genders!

Carredyn caught the comment and while Ryder stood amazed, she answered,

“How can I help you?”

“Why are you here in this sector?”

“Exploring the beautiful countryside. You see… we are artists and like to paint impressionistic pieces.”

“I see. You must leave the private sector unless you have special papers.”

“We were just doing that.”

“Very well. And remember to put your beta in his place. He shouldn’t be addressing me in public. Goodbye.”

It was all Ryder could do to keep quiet as he listened to the translator throw insults to him. After the officer left, Ryder grumbled,

“I’ll say whatever I want and whenever I want!”

But Carredyn snapped, “Right! And get us landed into some military prison because you violated their customs and I couldn’t keep you in your place!”

“I won’t be insulted like that!”

“Now you know how a woman feels in many cultures! They are treated as second class citizens, groomed for childbearing and waiting on the men! Fortunately, Earth has progressed, but where I have been, it hasn‘t been so pretty.”

All the way back to the ship they talked about a reverse culture. How Carredyn thought it was exhilarating, but Ryder thought it would be better if there was no alpha-beta scenario at all.

“Why not equals?” he suggested. “Or one being who does it all!”

Carredyn reached over to whack Ryder on the shoulder. They’d had a good day and had their provisions re-fueled. Now to get off the planet and out of the area without any further incident. The day had gone easily. Almost too easily. It left a worry in the back of Ryder’s brain. He saw a sword hanging over them, ready to drop at any moment.

Just as they were getting ready to leave space dock, a buzzer sounded on their console. Someone was asking to come aboard. Ryder and Carredyn froze for an instant. Then Ryder turned to Carredyn,

“You answer it.”

To be continued...

An original story by
Karen Elizabeth Brown
copyright 2011

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to person, place or thing is completely unintentional.

The MacKenzie Chronicles: Final Chapter - Part 2

2011-06-13T13:32:00.000-07:00

The MacKenzie Chronicles: Book Five (see sidebar for complete index)
Final Chapter
Part 2

The guest facilities were roomy for the size ship Ryder was on, with a bed that came out of the wall and closets, dressers and washbasin that all did the same. Ryder enjoyed that neatness, keeping everything in it’s place so he wasn’t faced with mounds of housework. His red headed guest examined every aspect of the quarters and then turned to him.

“So these are mine?”

“Yes…”

“And I can stay in here whenever I want?”

“Yes… but…”

“But nothing. Leave so I can be alone in my new quarters!” she dropped her belongings and almost pushed Ryder to the door. He stopped before she could close the door on him, however, and got out one question.

“What’s your name?”

“My name? YOU want to know my name? No one has ever asked me that before.” Some of the hardness in her voice seemed to melt slightly. “I’ve been called wench, you-there, slave, but never my name. I’d almost forgotten it.”

Ryder felt angry at all the pigs who had passed her around to the point that she was ready to jump out an air lock instead of come with him. “I’m sorry you’ve had such a bad time of it…” he waited for her to tell him her name.

“My mother named me Carredyn, but then everyone ended up calling me Carrie. I didn‘t like it.” she blushed as she said her name out loud for the first time in many years. Then she took a strong hand and pushed Ryder back out the door. It slid closed and locked in Ryder’s face as he was about to protest, but he clamped his mouth shut and turned to leave. He would make dinner and talk to her later, he decided. She had a temper on her that he didn’t want to rile up any more right now. They could cross swords later while they ate and then he would find out more about her.

But Carredyn never showed up at the dinner bell. He waited for an entire hour and then ate a little of his own dinner. He was too mystified and angry as to why she didn’t show up to eat everything, so he wandered around the ship mumbling to himself.

“What’s so special about this particular woman, anyway!” he declared suddenly, as he almost walked into a wall because of his musings.

He waited all evening and until the lights dimmed, signaling the natural night hours before he marched down to her quarters. Starting to pound on her door, he paused and thought it over. Maybe she was asleep? Maybe she wanted to be alone? He walked through the dim light of the corridor and decided to wait until morning to find out what motivated this free spirit.

But he didn’t sleep. He thought about the beautiful red hair and sultry green eyes that flashed at him when she spoke. When he did sleep, he dreamed of her pale skin through the sheer pleats of a dressing gown that wickedly fell off her body just as he woke up, breathing hard and sweating. Throwing the coverlet off, he pulled on his one piece jumpsuit and began doing pushups in the middle of the floor. Just as he reached thirty, the morning lights popped on, signaling daylight hours. He would go up to the bridge and see if she was there.

But when he found himself alone on the bridge, he burned with anger.

“What is going on with her?” he said aloud to the walls. “Is she playing some kind of game?”

He was confused and feeling angrily put out that she would not have the courtesy to appear for meals when she was considered a guest!

Along about noontime, while Ryder was working on the grid to find the worm hole, the door to the bridge slid open and Carredyn walked in, serene and happy as a lark!

“Good day, Ryder!” she purred as if nothing had happened.

“Good day?” he repeated, bewildered by her attitude.

“Isn’t it?” she asked innocently.

“Where have you been? Oh… let me guess… you’ve been sleeping this whole time! Catching up on your beauty sleep!”

Carredyn bristled. “I thought you said I wasn’t your slave! Now your angry because I didn’t show up to entertain you?”

“No! That’s not it! That’s not it at all! It’s just that I waited for you to show up at dinner for over an hour. You didn’t even let me know you wouldn’t be there!” Ryder realized suddenly that he was expecting something from Carredyn. He had been expecting her to fill the hole that was there after his parents died and left him completely alone on this spacecraft.

Carredyn blinked at his accusations and expectations and suddenly put her hands up in the air in front of her. “Wait a minute! Am I supposed to be appearing for meals and the like? Just what do you expect from me? I thought I was a guest on this ship and could keep my own hours.”

Ryder sighed. “There are only two of us on this ship, Carredyn and I think we need to work together if we want to survive each other and get to the Alpha quadrant any time soon.”

“Agreed.”

“So, where do you want to start?” Ryder looked around the bridge at the projects he had laid out. Since he had been the only one there, he had things spread out all over the place.

Carredyn followed his eyes to all the projects. “Why don’t you keep working and I’ll pick up the mess.”

“What mess?” Ryder looked from Carrie to his projects with horror in his eyes.

“Those!” she pointed to the cages with the little animals in them. “If those are experiments or something, don’t you have a science lab you can take them to?”

“Well… yes… they were in the lab. But since I was by myself…”

“You are not by your self any longer and I can’t live in this ’laboratory’ of a ship. I’m taking them to the lab!”

“OK… OK! Just be careful. I have months invested in some of those creatures.”

After Carredyn was finished bringing all the animals to the lab, she came back up and asked, “What are you doing with all those animals, anyway?”

“I’m looking for an antidote to a particular virus.” was all he would tell her. He wasn’t ready to share his secret about Pellenor with her. He had learned a harsh lesson with Pellenor and it would take time before he would trust a strange Earthling, who appeared in the Beta quadrant as a wench from a pirate ship.

“So how did you get here from the Alpha quadrant?” Ryder asked his guest casually.

“I don’t know.” Carredyn answered as she continued to clean up the bridge.

“You don’t know?”

“That’s right…one minute I’m with my parents on our craft and then we got lost in a singularity. The ship started breaking up and my father locked me in an escape pod and fired it. The next thing I knew, there were flashes of light, colors and distortions and then nothing. The ship was gone… the singularity was gone… I was somewhere else. Then a pirate ship found me. I thought getting lost in an escape pod was bad, but this was worse. I learned to fight for any scrap of food and how to please the pirates so they would protect me from beatings. And, if I was extra nice, they gave me meat and extra food or clothes. I got passed around a lot. The pirates get bored very quickly and like new faces. I was lucky because most of them hadn’t seen a red-headed Earthling before. I was in demand for a while. But then, even red hair gets old, I guess. Sachie was the last pirate to want me and then they were going to dump me on a planet. Until you came along. But I’d had enough. That’s why I tried to jump out the air lock.”

“Carredyn… how old were you when you got separated from your parents?”

“Eleven. And then I had to grow up… fast.”

Ryder could hear the pain and desperation in her voice and he also recognized the loneliness that was akin to his own. He stopped what he was doing and said softly, “I think I understand why you locked yourself in your quarters last night. If you need to do that again, feel free. Just tell me, OK? And don’t feel you need to jump out the airlock because no one is going to hurt you on this ship. No one.” Ryder wanted to put his arms around her and hold her protectively, but he knew it was too soon. She had grown up in the wild and was used to fighting for everything. He wanted to show her that it wasn’t necessary. He wanted to try and tame her.

They talked long into the night, telling stories to each other about people and planets they’d been to and things they’d seen. Then Carredyn said something very curious.

“I saw another older man who looked a lot like you once. He was talking to Sachie about finding a shortcut to the Alpha quadrant.”

“It seems like there are a lot of people that want to go there. I wonder what the draw is?” Ryder was making conversation with Carredyn, but inside he thought he’d heard his first clue as to what happened to Pellenor. But Carredyn continued talking.

“Don’t ask me what his name was, because when they saw me they got very quiet and Sachie hurried me out of the room.”

“It doesn’t matter right now. Someday if you see him again, just tell me, OK?”

“OK… fine.”

Ryder smiled at Carredyn during the lull in the conversation and she stiffened suddenly. He was alerted to her emotional upheaval when she said very sourly, “Just because I shared all this stuff with you tonight, don’t think this changes anything between us! I’m still not doing your laundry or cleaning your animals’ cages!”

Ryder’s eyes got wide and his mouth fell open. “What? What did I do or say to make you think that?” he demanded.

“I saw that smile. I’ve learned that behind every smile there’s a manipulation waiting to happen!”

“That’s not so! I wasn’t smiling to make you do something for me, I was smiling because I like you!” He blushed after he suddenly spit out this bit of truth. He’d never said that to a woman before. In fact, he’d never had anyone to say that to before, male or female, except his parents. He was embarrassed. To change the subject he jumped up and grabbed a notepad.

“Do you like to write? It would make my work go faster if you followed along and wrote my notes down for me. Of course… you don’t have to do it.” He stood holding the notepad.

Carredyn’s face turned crimson red. She started to say something gruff, then she bit her lip and stared at the floor. “I’ve never used a computerized notepad. The pirates would only let me use the computer in the kitchen.”

“It’s not hard. Here look…” Ryder handed her the notepad and began instructing her on how to use it. When she realized she could write anything she wanted, she smiled.

“Can I borrow this when we’re done here? I’d like to write some things down.”

After the documenting of the animals was done, Carredyn found a comfortable place to curl up on the floor of the bridge. She was totally absorbed in the notepad while Ryder worked on plotting the next grid point for their travels. It was then that the lights on the console started flashing and beeping.

“What’s wrong?” Carredyn looked up from the notepad.

“I think we may have found a wormhole!” Ryder said distractedly, as he pulled up the telescope on the screen. “There! Look at that!” he sounded excited, but Carredyn wasn’t sure what she was looking at.

“Is that it?” she pointed to the black singularity after she got up and stood next to Ryder.

“Yes. Buckle down anything that needs to be secured. I’m going down to the lab and check all the animals.” Ryder turned and ran from the bridge as Carrie stared after him. While she waited for him to return, she punched in a link on the computer’s message system. After she had it pulled up, she wrote a short message: “Singularity found at these coordinates.” She pushed send and cleared the computer.

To be continued...

An original story by
Karen Elizabeth Brown
copyright 2011

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to person, place or thing is completely unintentional.

The MacKenzie Chronicles: Final Chapter - Part 1

2011-06-10T13:03:00.000-07:00

The Mackenzie Chronicles: Book Five
Final Chapter
Part 1

Ryder MacKenzie passed his hand over the sensor that would send his father’s body off into space, on it’s long journey into the next realm. They had lived a good life together; he, his father Cade and his mother Dreama. Until Dreama had unexpectedly passed away six months ago from an unknown virus. Since they lived on their ship and wandered from place to place, Ryder thought she could have picked up a foreign substance anywhere.

Ryder had studied medical science, but even with his training, the virus was too aggressive and within weeks of the first signs of illness, she was gone. Cade was devastated and he lost all resolve to live. With that kind of attitude, he was a prime target for the virulent foreign substance to come in and wreak havoc over him. But before he died, he told Ryder about the diary.

“Read my diary, son, it’s very important for your survival.” Cade spoke with passion and urgency. It was more than Ryder had heard from him in weeks. “And don’t let anyone tell you where you should go. You’ll know after you finish reading the diary. Continue to follow the grid that’s mapped out.”

So it was, within months of Dreama‘s passing, Cade was gone also. This left Ryder alone, drifting through space, angry at the universe and not knowing what to do. So, he sat down and for two days he poured through the pages of the diary, reading it cover to cover, astonished at what he found!

“We haven’t been just drifting through space all these years!” Ryder exclaimed, “We’ve been looking for a wormhole back through to the Alpha quadrant and to my home!”

My home, Ryder thought, I actually belong somewhere. He was born and had lived his whole life on a space ship. And I have a brother, he thought curiously. Family besides the wicked Pellenor, his grandfather who had escaped off their ship and was still alive somewhere after drinking a life extending potion. According to the diary, Pellenor traded his own blood for the potion and had somehow infected Cade and Dreama with a virus. But for some reason, Ryder was immune to this virus that had no cure.

Pellenor was also looking for a way to the Alpha quadrant. He swore he would find Ryder’s brother, who went by the name of John Meeks, because he wanted to infect him with the same virus. He wanted to kill him! Fortunately, Pellenor only knew his brother by the name John MacKenzie. But to take this rare virus into the Alpha quadrant would do more than kill it’s intended victim… it could potentially kill millions of people before it ran it course. It would be like the plagues or pox that wiped out so many people on Earth. Or the Darian mung virus that caused madness to so many.

Ryder still had samples of his parents’ blood locked in the lab and knew he had to find an antidote for this virus if he couldn’t stop Pellenor. He wasn’t sure where to start yet, but first, he had to find a way back to the place that had been his parents‘ home. He examined the grid that his father had been working from and set a course for the next point on the map. Then he set the ship on autopilot and moved to the science station. From now on he would work between the science station, where he would try to find the antidote and the pilot’s chair where he would continue to study the stars for a short cut to the Alpha quadrant.

At the science station, while he was setting a slide under the microscope, a beeper went off on the piloting console.

“Did I not set something right?” he murmured.

But it was a computerized notification that there was a ship coming into the area. As he had learned from his father, he put up the shields.

Ryder hadn’t seen another ship in months in this area. This was so far out that when ever they needed provisions, they had to abandon their search and head for the more populated regions. He was suspicious of any ship out here, because it usually meant pirates or other unsavory characters. His father, Cade, had made some offensive modifications to the ship so he could protect himself quite well, but it took a lot of his engine’s energy to do it. So, he sat down in the captain’s chair, put on a jacket and ran his fingers through his hair in case he had to go on screen. And as expected, the hailing bell went off:

“Greetings from Captain Sacheverell Finnegan!”

Ryder flipped on the viewer to find a rotund, balding old man, as it was, staring back at him. “Greetings Captain Finnegan! This is Ryder MacKenzie at your service.”

“Ah… the MacKenzie clan!” He was jovial for a swarthy looking pirate. “What are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere, laddie? And where is Cade? It’s him I want to talk to! I’ve been on the lookout for you for a while now.”

“Unfortunately, my father isn’t here right now and I’m taking care of business. What can I help you with?” Ryder knew he shouldn’t admit that the common bond between them no longer existed, if he wanted to get out of this without a fight.

Captain Finnegan hesitated and expelled a breath. “Hmm… let me see… Ryder… you should be trustworthy enough, if you’re anything like your father.”

“I take that as a compliment.” Ryder waited for the Captain to decide whether to speak to him or not. Finally, he spoke.

“I got this thing on my foot that hurts like the frost from Minerva‘s moon! I think I need something for it. In repayment, I’ve got this wench I’m tired of, that you can have in payment.”

Ryder had learned a long time ago that to refuse a “wench or woman” in payment was an insult, but to keep her was against his own principles. It would mean days of taking her to the nearest planet and days coming back. But if he refused, it meant war.

“Very well… let me get my gear together and in the meantime, prepare to come aboard.”

Captain Finnegan had webbed feet. And the sore on his foot was actually a tiny worm that had dug it’s way into his tough skin and burrowed there.

“Well Captain Finnegan…”

“Call me Sachie, since you are working on my feet. Ha!” He sounded slightly nervous.

“OK, Sachie… you need a little minor surgery.” Ryder looked carefully at his screwed up face and then realized that he might not understand the word surgery. “I need to cut it out.”

“Ho! No! No cutting!” he yelled at Ryder, waving his hands and starting to get up to leave.

“Fine. It will continue to hurt, then it will get worse until a part breaks off and burrows in your brain to grow there, where it will feed off your brain until you go crazy and die! See you later!” Ryder turned his back and waited. He had given the worse case scenario so he could get the slave girl away from him and to safety.

Sachie halted. “My brain? In my head?”

“Unless your brain is somewhere else.”

“Alright… do it. But you better get it all, or I’ll come and find you and kill you before I go crazy and die!”

Ryder poured him a drink and handed it to him. “Here, drink this. You need to calm down a bit.”

Sachie took the drink, sniffed it, glanced at Ryder who scowled at him and then swallowed it in one gulp. Soon he was glassy eyed and just where Ryder wanted him to be. Intoxicated and feeling no pain. He sat him down and had the worm cut out before Sachie realized there was a cut. He was cleaning up the green blood when it suddenly occurred to him to take a sample of his blood. He grabbed a petri dish and let his sticky blood run into the dish until the agar gelatin was completely covered.

“Waasha doin’?” Sachie murmured from his half awake state.

“Just taking a sample.”

“Oh… thass good.”

“Yep. OK… all done. Keep that foot clean and dry for a good week. Then you can change the bandage.” Ryder instructed.

“OK… I’ll send the girl over now. Bye Captain Ryder.” He stumbled into the airlock and Ryder figured the bandage would make it a few days, but that’s all he hoped for. He just covered himself by saying a week in case it got dirty.

After Captain Finnegan left there was some pounding on the other side of the airlock and finally the light went green again. But no one opened the door. Ryder waited and when nothing happened, he figured she didn’t go in the lock. Walking over to the airlock, he heard someone attempting to blow the emergency hatch. Before they could blow themselves out into space he reached up and cancelled the emergency lever. He yanked the door open and shouted,

“What are trying to do? Kill yourself?”

“It’d be better than having to serve the likes of you!” a flaming red head shouted right back at him.

Ryder couldn’t believe what he was seeing. She was a green eyed, fair skinned Earthling with the reddest hair he’d ever seen. Of course, he hadn’t seen many woman, so he was limited to the many pictures he’d seen in the databanks. He continued to stare at her during the disembarking maneuvers from Captain Finnegan’s ship and while he walked back to the table to plot a course to the nearest planet.

“What are you staring at?” she finally demanded.

“I’m sorry… I mean, it’s just that I’ve… never seen…”

“What? Oh no! Please don’t tell me you’ve never seen a woman before!” she begged.

“Of course I’ve seen a woman! I’ve just never seen one so… beautiful before.” Ryder was mesmerized by her beauty.

“Oh sure… I bet you say that to all your slaves. Is that how you get them to work for you?” she huffed.

“I don’t have any slaves.” Ryder spoke sincerely and very low toned.

“You’re joking, right?” she dropped her voice slightly and started looking around. “Where is everyone?”

“It’s just you and me right now, until I take you to the nearest planet and drop you off. If that’s what you want.” Ryder was stumbling over his words.

“Just… you and me?” she looked incredulously at Ryder. “I don’t want to go to the nearest planet, I want to go back to Earth!”

“We’re not in the right quadrant for that. But I’m trying to find a way back there myself, so if you want to stay with me, we could look together. If you choose to. Otherwise, you can go somewhere else.”

“No… that‘s OK. Um… I’m not a slave?”

“No.”

“I don’t have to clean up after you?”

“No.”

“Do I have a place to sleep?”

“Sure. Let me show you.” Ryder checked the autopilot and left the bridge to give her a quick tour of the ship. Interesting, thought Ryder as he watched her walk ahead of him through the corridor, How did this beautiful Earthling get all the way out here?

To be continued...

An original story by
Karen Elizabeth Brown
copyright 2011

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to person, place or thing is completely unintentional.

"Pattiochawak"

2011-05-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

Erin had never traveled this far into the Elfin forest before. She was frightened of the dim shadows that seemed to be watching just beyond her line of sight. Pressing deeper into the woods, the light faded and she shivered as she brushed a spider web from the path. Something moved in the shadowy darkness behind the trees and she froze.

“Who’s there?” Erin whispered, scarcely able to make a sound.

“Who dares to enter my forest?” demanded a hoarse, raspy voice.

“Erin…” the Elfin answered, trembling in fear.

“And what are you doing here?” the voice asked, now razor sharp.

“I’m seeking the one who holds the dark magic.” Erin shuddered as she spoke, feeling the thick fog rise around her legs as she took another step forward.

“Why do you want the dark magic? You look like an innocent child to me.” The shadowy figure scrutinized Erin’s lithe body and golden hair. The cloaked figure moved closer to listen as Erin spoke.

“I want to become human…” Erin was suddenly very afraid of this dark creature edging towards her. But a ray of sunlight poked through the forest trees and flashed down on the creature, revealing an old forest gnome. He jumped back atop a large tree stump and yelled, “Do not approach me! I will destroy you!”

“I am Elfin and I assure you, I mean you no harm.”

“Ha! You could not harm me, Elfin child. It is I who could harm you, if I so desired.” He waved his arms over his head and pointed his fingers at Erin. “Tell me your story before I tire of this discourse and leave you standing here alone in the forest.” the gnome growled in a menacing voice, but he waited for her to begin.

“More than anything else, I want to be human. I’ve watched the humans since I was very young. I would steal into the city of Riverdale, by the edge of the forest and follow the young ones who went to school. Then, I met a human boy who was so kind and he asked me to stay and talk with him. But he thinks I am human. And I want to be that for him.” Erin spoke with desperation as she described how she would sneak into the city to see him.

The forest gnome grumbled, “But you know of course it’s against Elfin law to consort with humans.”

“Yes… I know. And I know I can be banished.” Erin sounded dejected as she explained her predicament. She wanted to see her parents and this human boy also.

“Does this boy like you the way you are?”

“He doesn’t know what I am.”

The gnome sighed with frustration. “Does he like you the way he sees you right now? Or does he want to change you?”

“No. He doesn’t want to change me. He said he loves me.” Erin smiled as she thought of Jesse’s kind voice whispering his love for her.

“Then why do you want to change yourself? You say he loves you, then go away and be with this boy and be content that you have found happiness!” The aged gnome pulled his cloak around himself and jumped down off the stump. As he turned to walk away, Erin shot forward in the dewy moss and dropped to her knees at his feet.

“Oh please don’t leave! Please tell me how I can become human. I need this more than anything else in the world!”

The old gnome stopped and peered down at Erin. “Anything? You want this more than anything?”

“Yes… oh yes!” Erin was crying and her tears dropped down to mix with the dew on the moss between them. Elfin tears had special qualities that made flowers grow and where her tears landed in the moss, tiny yellow flowers sprouted up. The gnome watched these flowers then bent down and picked one to taste it’s nectar.

“I will grant your wish if you agree to come whenever I call you.” the gnome said looking into the small flower.

“I agree, but how will I hear you once I’ve become human?”

“You will hear. And if you refuse to come I will take from you that which you love the most.”

“Oh thank you! May I ask when you will make me human?” Erin was so excited it didn’t register to her that the old gnome was gathering up all the flowers that grew from her tears. When he was finished, he stuffed them in a pocket on the inside of his cloak.

“Come back tomorrow. Meet me here and I will grant your wish.” The gnome was gone into the darkness of the forest and Erin looked around wondering how she would find this same spot again. She memorized all the details of the forest. The old, gnarly oak tree with it’s low braches hanging out over the large, flat stump that the gnome had been standing on. Then she turned full circle and saw she was in a tiny meadow carpeted with green moss. It was dim from the thickness of the surrounding trees, but she could still see the honeysuckle growing around the base of the stump. She closed her eyes, popped away from the dark forest and re-appeared near her family’s cottage in the west end of the forest.

It was hard to wait for the whole day to pass by. She hadn’t told her parents about the old gnome, in fact, she hadn’t told anyone! She wanted to tell her father that she was leaving, but didn’t want to hear a lecture about being too young. How could she tell her father she was going to be human? Would he disown her? She would wait until it was done and then show him how happy she was.

The next day, Erin made her way back through the dark forest to the place where the trees hung over and formed a canopy. The old stump was there waiting for her return and the moss was rich with dew.

“May I sit here?” she asked the stump politely. She sat on the stump and waited for the old gnome.

The time passed and Erin grew sleepy from sitting in the dim light with only the sounds of the forest to listen to. Her eyes closed and she began dreaming. It was the strangest dream, because she wasn’t asleep anymore. Suddenly she was wide awake again and the old gnome was there by the shadows of the old oak tree, while she was sitting on the old stump.

“You have come.”

“Yes…” answered Erin, “I heard you call.”

“Tell me a story.” grumbled the old gnome. “I want to be entertained.”

“I can’t. I don’t know any stories. Besides, you said you‘d make me human today.” Erin sounded impatient and dismissed the old gnome’s request.

But the gnome was enraged that Erin had refused to tell him a story. He chanted the spell over her, then disappeared from the forest glen.

Although she didn’t have a mirror, she gazed into a small pool of water to admire her reflection. She had always been beautiful and now she wanted to see how much more beautiful she had become. Erin was shocked! She was ugly! Not in a homely sort of way, but in stark, horrific repulsiveness. She had been changed into an grotesque, pock-marked hag. She wasn’t beautiful anymore and her golden hair was dull brown, streaked with gray. The gnome had kept his word - she was human, but so ugly she could never leave the forest. And she realized that her deception and lying to Jesse had been just as ugly. She had doomed herself by trying to be something she wasn’t. She found an old cottage near the meadow in the forest and stayed inside with the shutters closed, waiting to die.

Erin awoke with a start. There were tears in her eyes and fear in her belly. She ran her hands over her face and felt the smooth skin underneath. A lock of golden hair fell down over her eyes as she bent down to look at her body.

“I’m Elfin again!” she cried. She smiled wide, grateful for being herself again.

“Of course you’re Elfin! But I thought you wanted to be human!” the old gnome complained from the edge of the clearing. He looked irritated at Erin’s attitude. “Well…” The ancient hands of the gnome were raised, ready to perform the incantation.

“Wait!”

“What now? I don’t have all day! I have other matters to attend to!” sputtered the gnome.

“I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to be human.”

“Why not? What changed your mind?”

“Let’s just say I’ve come to my senses. Thank you, sir, for coming today. By the way… what is this place called?”

“Pattiochawak.”

“I don’t know what that means in Elfin tongue.”

“The place of dreams.”

“Why did you gather the yellow flowers that grew here when I cried?”

“They make a good potion for finding the truth.”

“And did you find the truth?”

“You did.”

“But I didn’t drink the potion.”

“I never said it was for drinking!” The old gnome gave a rare grin and disappeared into the darkness of the forest.

Erin stared at the stump, feeling elated. Glancing at the base of the stump she thought she recognized tiny yellow flowers starting to sprout up and bloom.

The End

A short story created by
Karen Elizabeth Brown
copyright 2011

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to person, place or thing is completely coincidental.

Friends For The Journey

2011-03-15T14:40:00.000-07:00

I would like to thank M Pax at: Wistful Nebulae for sharing this award with me. Her encouragement and faithful friendship has shown me an example of how friends online continue to flourish. She is a talented writer with an outstanding blog.

And now it is my turn to name seven people to share this award with. Since I am still new at blogging and learning how to have friends, I only have six people to share this with. The first is:

Loretta

at: Loretta's Journey

Since she just recently received this award I'm sure you might think I'm repeating it. Well, she deserves it from me as well. Almost all the beautiful artwork on my blog was created by her, including my title page. She has an incredible eye for design and color.

K.M. Weiland

at: Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors

Kim is a published author who has devoted her blog to sharing with aspiring writers who want to learn. I have gained valuable insights and information from her.

Shallee McArthur

at: Life, the Universe and Writing

She has a great blog and I was impressed by her caring of others, not only here, but around the world. And after all, the internet is world wide!

Lola Sharp

at: Sharp Pen/Dull Sword

Lola is a forward thinking writer, full of wit and whimsy. I enjoy reading her blog and glad she is my friend.

Francine Howarth

at: Romancing the Blog

Francine is everything about romance. She is my softer side. I enjoy checking out the latest on the romance scene and she has it!

Rebecca

at: Judebugs Journey

She keeps me posted with the lastest picture of my granddaughter. I appreciate having those pictures to look at and oogle over.

I hope we all have a wonderful time learning what friendship is as we share ourselves with each other. Each one of these people has touched my life in some way. Even if it was by commenting on my blog, or by a timely post that happen to help along on my individual journey. Feel free to visit these wonderful people and get to know them. Each one has something special to offer.

Enjoy!

The MacKenzie Chronicles: Supernova - The Prequel - Part 10

2011-03-11T17:38:00.000-08:00

Book One: Two Moons Over Darius (See sidebar for complete Index)
Book Two: The Darian Conflict
Book Three: Merridian

Book Four: Supernova: The Prequel
Part 10

The following day, Chance and Absalom flew to the frozen planet of Kryolos to survey a newly discovered mine. It had been dug out years before by old miners and was abandoned now. They had found a dozen of these mines and discovered that with the right mining equipment, they could extract the ore. It could become a fabulous find, bringing wealth to their small colony of refugees.

While Absalom was outside mapping the coordinates for their main map, Chance ventured inside to see what condition the mine was in. After a few feet inside, he could see that the girders holding the ceiling up were not sturdy so he decided to get out. But before he had walked the ten feet to the opening, a rumbling sounded above his head. Rocks and debris rained down on his head. He collapsed as a large boulder glanced off his temple and pushed him down into a pile of rocks. Chance blacked out and for the second time awoke with a dazed feeling. This time, however, a myraid of memories flooded him. He remembered! Not just of this time, but of his life on Samaria and of his blond haired, green eyed daughter. He remembered his name and who he was. His name was Pellenor and he was Dreama‘s father!

Absalom came running into the mine when he heard the cave-in.

“Chance! Where are you? Are you all right?”

Pellenor also remembered that Absalom had taken his daughter away. He and his son had left with Dreama without even giving him the time of day! He remembered how much he hated Absalom for letting his wife die. How Absalom had been the only one available when his wife got the rare virus and Absalom had left and returned with that strange little mystic Hestia instead of a real medical doctor. And the revenge he had exacted on him later, by killing Absalom’s wife. Now, however, was the chance he had been waiting for all his life! Revenge on Absalom! He heard Absalom calling him.

“I’m here, old man!” Pellenor answered.

“Chance! Let me help you up and let’s get out of here before the entire roof caves in.”

Pellenor picked up a rock as he stood up and slammed it down on the back of Absalom’s head. Absalom went down with the first blow and Pellenor laughed wickedly. At last! He would cover the mouth of the cave and leave him here to die on this wilderness planet. Pellenor picked up his things and headed back to the shuttle. He had to think of a way to get Dreama into the shuttle. Then it came to him!

Pellenor landed back at the colony at Merridian city completely distraught. He found Dreama and took her aside.

“Has Cade come back from his day of work yet?”

“No, Chance, I don’t believe so.”

“We need to find him. There’s been a terrible accident back on Kryolos. Absalom is trapped in a mine after the tunnel caved in.”

“No! We‘ve got to hurry… let’s go! I think I can show you where Cade is.” Dreama gathered up John MacKenzie and started to come with him when Hestia rounded the corner of the building.

“Where are you going, Dreama?” she asked, concern written on her face.

“There’s been an accident on Kryolos. Absalom was caught in a cave-in.”

“Let me stay with John and you go with Chance.” she suggested. Hestia had come to Dreama because of a vision she had a few moments ago. It was about the cave-in. And it was about John. She knew she had to protect him. As she took him from Dreama’s arms she could feel anger emanating from Chance. Something had changed in him. Something very drastic and only Hestia seemed to notice.

Chance looked at John and Hestia and suggested, “Why don’t we take John along for the ride, Dreama. I don’t think he’ll be in the way.”

Hestia was shocked and terrified by this suggestion. Was this what it sounded like to her? Why did he need John along at a rescue? “Dreama, I don’t think it would be very safe to let John around those caves.” Hestia warned. Fortunately Dreama listened to her.

“Alright, he stays with you.”

Hestia added, “Cade is in the well house right now, if you need him.”

Dreama was off running like a gazelle to get to Cade.

Chance shouted after her. “I’ll meet you at the ship!” He avoided Hestia’s eyes as he turned to go. Dreama nodded as she got farther and farther away. Cade and Dreama would both be on the ship with Pellenor. It was time to alter his plan again.

Hestia gathered a crew together and headed for Kryolos to rescue Absalom. The other mystics had not questioned her when she told them where they were going. One asked, “Will we be helping Chance and Cade with the rescue?”

Hestia answered, “I don’t believe we’ll see them there. If not, we will go after them later. Keep a lock on their position so we can find them after we rescue Absalom.”

“Done.”

Hestia found Absalom’s surveying equipment with ease and it led them to the mine. Chance had carelessly thrown the equipment around making it easy for Absalom to be found. It would have been next to impossible to find him otherwise. When they got inside the mine, Absalom was laying face down in the rocks and debris, still unconscious from the blow to his head.

“Absalom!” Hestia shook him to wake him. “Absalom, wake up!”

“Uhhh…. What? Where’s Chance?” Absalom tried to get up, but Hestia held on to him.

“Easy does it, friend. You’ve had quite a knock on your head.” Hestia was examining his head.”

“Yes! Chance put it there!” Absalom whispered angrily. “But let’s get out of here before this place really caves in.” he added quietly.

They carefully helped Absalom up and out of the mine. Just as they reached the entrance to the mine they heard a rumbling sound from inside the mine. The girders creaked and groaned and split in two. The entire roof exploded from behind the rafters and came tumbling down. The dust from the cave-in blew up around them as they ran away from the opening. Coughing and choking, they ran until they could breath fresh air again. It was then that Absalom had questions to be answered.

“Hestia, how did you know to come for me? I probably would have died laying there freezing in the cold!”

“A vision.” she remarked casually. “And the fact that Chance’s identity was revealed to me in the vision. Absalom… take off the scars, smooth out his face and who do you see behind them?”

Absalom thought for a moment and slowly growled, “No… it can’t be… Pellenor! He left me for dead!”

They reached the ship and Absalom saw that John was with them. “Why did you bring the baby out here, Hestia?” he said with concern. “What happened!” he shouted, a sudden realization hitting him. “Where’s Dreama?”

“She and Cade are both with Pellenor on your spacecraft. We’ve been tracking him and he’s headed into a singularity that has a black hole in the middle of it. If he doesn’t alter his course he could be thrown into another part of space.” Hestia was standing at the console looking at the computer screen.

“Do you think it’s an accident or on purpose?” Absalom asked.

“He may be trying to get away from us by going through the black hole, or, he may be testing us. If we stop following he might change course.” Hestia waited for Absalom’s decision.

“Wait here. Don’t do anything that would push them into the black hole.” Absalom said, stepping up to the communications console. “I want to hail him and see if I can talk to him.”

“Absalom, perhaps it would be better if I tried to talk to him.” Hestia suggested softly.

Absalom looked down at the tiny woman doubtfully, but he knew she was right. Absalom would only yell in his anger, and that would push Pellenor right over the edge. Besides, he didn’t know what condition Pellenor was in mentally. He listened while Hestia hailed the ship.

“Greetings Pellenor. I’m so glad you are willing to talk to me.” she said in a kind voice. Absalom wondered how she could find the kindness inside to be able to greet him so calmly.

“Hello, Hestia. I’m so sorry about your friend Absalom. I couldn’t have him following me, you know.” Pellenor’s voice had that grating edge to it that he remembered. Where had it gone during the time he was on Eldebraun as Chance? Was that just an act?

“Pellenor, do you know you are heading directly for a black hole? You seem to be dangerously close.” Hestia was trying to keep Pellenor talking.

“Oh yes, I know… and if you try to come any closer, I will go through it without a blink of an eye.”

“What about Dream and Cade? Shouldn’t they have a choice if they want to go to another part of the galaxy or wherever?” Hestia was trying to get him to see how far away he could be thrown, but he wasn’t thinking rationally. He was using the couple as bait to get the others in line with the black hole. He wanted to lure them in so he could go back to Merridian and claim leadership.

“Pellenor, you can’t go through a black hole and know where you will come out. You also don’t know if you can get back. You may get thrown light years away!” Hestia was done reasoning with the man. He had gone mad and had lost his sense of reasoning. She turned to Absalom and waved her hand to the headset. “You try.” she said.

“Pellenor… this is Absalom.”

Pellenor was silently stunned. “Absalom? Why aren’t you on Kryolos?”

“Hestia had a vision that told her where I was.” he answered.

“Too bad… but no matter… now I have your son instead of you having my daughter. How does it feel, old man? To have your life ripped away from you! It’s your turn to follow me to the ends of the galaxy to find him!” He laughed cruelly and there were the sudden sounds of a body smashing against the console. On the screen Absalom could see Cade attacking Pellenor. They were fighting and Cade was pushing Pellenor over the console buttons.

“I hope they don’t press the wrong buttons.” Hestia worried.

“They are right near the light speed lever. If they accidently press that they’ll be shot into the black hole.” Absalom could see Pellenor’s right shoulder flailing over the lever as they fought. Suddenly Cade pushed him into the lever and it was pressed all the way down.

“No!” Absalom shouted into the headset. But as he shouted, the screen turned to static as their signal was lost. They had disappeared off the screen.

Absalom was stricken. His face whitened as he grabbed his chest and slumped into the nearest chair.

“No… my children… oh no…no. How did this happen?” The tears streamed down his face as he grieved for his son and daughter-in-law.

“Absalom, there’s something else we must think about.” Hestia gently interjected.

“What could possibly be as important as this?” he asked.

“John MacKenzie. He’s with us. And what Pellenor told me before you got the headset was… he contacted every mercenary in this quadrant to come and destroy him. We must put him in hiding. Wherever you are or I am, they will be looking for him there also.”

“Please, no. I can’t let you suggest such a thing. He’s all I have left of my children.” Absalom was doubly grieved all over again. “There must be another way! I’ll go into hiding with him!”

Hestia shook her head. “You heard me… wherever you are, they will be looking for him.”

Absalom took a deep breath and shook off the despair that left him immovable. He was left with sadness, but at least he could be useful. “Alright, what are our possibilities?” He asked.

“There is a couple headed for Earth from our colony. They are leaving on tomorrow’s transport. Mr. and Mrs. Meeks are Darian. I’m sure they would be willing to take him as one of their own. He would grow up between Darius and Earth and be educated in the finest schools.” Hestia assured him.

“What trade does Mr. Meeks have?” Absalom asked.

“He’s a scientist and he’s going to work for the government on Earth.” she answered.

“So the baby’s name would be John… Meeks?” Absalom tried it tentatively.

“Yes. Believe me, this is for the best. And John will be the father of a very special boy. He will grow up to save our new world from certain war and destruction.” Hestia added.

“And you’ve seen all this, have you?” Absalom asked. He had never doubted Hestia before, because her visions had always turned out to be true. Sometimes it was hard to hear the truth however, and he wondered how Hestia could deal with the hard facts that often came to her.

Hestia looked directly at Absalom and nodded her head one time. She never explained herself, she just gave the gems of truth to people the way she saw them. But sometimes she wished that some things would be left to chance.

“There’s one more thing, Absalom, since you are the father of our colony and our people, there is one more obligation you need to be aware of…”

“What is it now, Hestia?” Absalom knew she was giving him more to deal with.

“I want you to mentor the next sovereign ruler, since it won’t be your son.” Hestia waited for Absalom’s response, which would be a turning point in their civilization.

“Then so be it.” Absalom said sadly, “In the morning, John Meeks will travel with his family to Earth and I will mentor a new sovereign ruler. Set a course for home, Hestia, there’s nothing else we can do here.”

In aother part of space, far away, two men continued to struggle for control of a ship. The younger man was stronger, but he was fighting a maniac whose strength seemed to have tripled. They continued to fight, now equally paired, until the screams of the young mother were heard over the fighting. She finally convinced them to stop and realize that they were lost, probably for a very long time, in a strange part of space. No star charts, no friendly ports, no help. If they couldn’t work together, they would never get back… from wherever they were…

The End.

An original story by
Karen Elizabeth Brown
copyright 2011

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to person, place or thing is completely unintentional.

Frank Ray Brown

2011-03-07T15:27:00.000-08:00

Frank Ray Brown

1921-2011

"He was a tough ol' bird"
Is what his grandson said
He was crusty on the edges
But sharp in the head

He was an industrious man
Full of hard work and daring
He was tough, but thoughtful
And he was always caring

His humor was wry
And he lived with passion
He looked in your eye
And that fire would flash on

He could shoot out with prose
As straight as a shot
Delivered directly
Always with thought

He was a smart man
In more ways than one
He always asked questions
'Til the why's were all done

He always came when I called
I was never a bother
He loved me so much
Because he was my father

The MacKenzie Chronicles: Supernova - The Prequel - Part 9

2011-03-05T16:44:00.000-08:00

Book One: Two Moons Over Darius (See sidebar for complete Index)
Book Two: The Darian Conflict
Book Three: Merridian

Book Four: Supernova - The Prequel
Part 9

Tri-Planets of the Merridian Sector

Absalom sent some of the spacecraft in their convoy ahead to Eldebraun to prepare the colony for their arrival. When the day came for them to actually arrive, Hestia announced that Dreama was in labor and her child would be the first delivery on Eldebraun. There was double rejoicing that day. Once for the establishment of the colony and second for the birth of Cade and Dreama’s new born son.

At the small ceremony where they were to name the child, Hestia turned to Cade and asked, “What is your son’s name?”

“John MacKenzie.” Cade answered.

Hestia spoke over the child: “John MacKenzie, you are of the line of MacKenzie, from Absalom to Cade to John. I so name you for all to know… and also the first born child on the planet Eldebraun in the Merridian sector.” Hestia lit a cone of special incense and one white candle. “Let this day be remembered for all time. It is a day of rejoicing that this colony has survived the supernova of the Samarian sun. Each year we will set aside this day to remember the establishment of this colony and it’s significance.” Hestia raised her hands over the gathered people and then announced, “Let us also recognize this day for the crowning of our leader.”

Absalom was stunned by what he was hearing! He hadn’t discussed any ‘crowning’ with Hestia.

But Hestia continued, “I call Absalom to stand before us now and accept the role of Sovereign for the people!”

Before Absalom could object, there was cheering and clapping as the people accepted their new leader. He was to govern the people in an official way!

When Absalom saw the people’s reaction to this coronation, he realized they needed an official head to lead them. To solve their problems and help guide them through the establishment of a new colony and, as it grew, the problems of a new civilization. He stood before the people and said, “I accept the role as Sovereign.” And under his breath he said, “Hestia I will deal with you later!”

But she just laughed because she had seen that this was the way it had to be. She had also seen other things that were to come, but could not reveal them yet. She watched young John MacKenzie in Dreama’s arms and a knife went through her heart. All was not as wonderful as it seemed right now, but how do you tell that to a brand new mother?

Pellenor awoke gasping for air and realized he was trapped in a tiny pod, swirling through space. How did I get here? he thought, confused. He couldn’t remember what had happened or why he was in what appeared to be an escape pod from some kind of ship. Had something happened? He realized not only did he not have a recollection of the circumstances that brought him floating through space aimlessly, but when he picked up the comm link to call for help, he did not even know his own name! Who am I? And why am I not on a planet somewhere, perhaps with my family? But he did not recollect who his family was!
The tiny pod jerked from the force of a tractor beam. A ship? Was it friend or foe? Who was my friend, or my enemy? He did not know who to trust, but an inner voice told him to keep quiet and let the other person give him as much information as possible. As the tractor beam pulled him into the cargo bay of a ship, he recognized the writing on the wall of the bay doors. It was Darian, if he was correct. How did he know that? The door depressurized and hands reached in to help him out of the tiny pod. As he reached for his belongings, a wave of dizziness overcame him and he passed out.

He woke again in sick bay. This time, there were bandages on his face and the monitors at the head of his bed chirped at a steady rate along with his heartbeat. He looked down to find a tall, black man dressed in a white uniform standing at the foot of his bed.

“I see you’re awake again. Can you tell me your name?”

“No… I can’t remember.” he croaked, “Can I get some water?”

The man handed him a cup which he gulped down quickly and handed back to him. “More?”

“Maybe you’d better take it easy. A little at a time.” answered the man in white. “So… you can’t remember your name? Can you tell me what happened to you? I’m told you were found in an escape pod.” He handed Pellenor the cup filled with water.

After gulping down the water, Pellenor answered, “I don’t remember anything before waking up in the escape pod. My mind is blank!” He was feeling panicky. No history to hang on to, no family, not even a clue. Then he remembered the sack of things in the escape pod.

“Where are my belongings? I need to see them!” he barked anxiously.

The man in the uniform shook his head. “If you mean the bag with the Samarian credits in it? I have some bad news for you. We didn’t find anything to give us a clue about you except for the credits. We can assume you came from Samaria. But, since the Samarian sun went supernova, the credits are worthless. Your bag isn‘t of much help to you, except for the clothes and a few trinkets.”

"The sun exploded?" Pellenor put his hands to his head. “What am I going to do? I don’t even know my name or where I should go.”

“There are new Samarian colonies in the Merridian sector, if you’d like to go with your own people. We’ll be meeting up with a transport in a couple of days if you’d like to hitch a ride.”

Pellenor felt empty inside. He was from a world that no longer existed, he was broke and he had no name or memory of anyone or anything. Perhaps he should start with what he knew. If he went to the Samarian colony, maybe someone would recognize him and fill in the blanks. He shared these thoughts with the man in white only to find out something else horrible.

The man in white shook his head and removed the bandages from Pellenor's face. Then he handed him a mirror. “Unfortunately, it looks like something hit your face and burned you extensively. We had to do some reconstructive surgery. It’s changed your looks quite a bit, I think, and you have scars on both sides of your face. People who knew you might not recognize you. So, until your memory returns, you’ll have to hope that chance brings you to those that knew you before your accident. But for now… what should we call you?”

Pellenor stared at himself in the mirror, shocked at his appearance. Of course, he wasn’t sure what he looked like before, so it was a little easier accepting his looks. Then he thought for a moment. “I think you’ve already suggested the best name for me… Chance. I’ll call myself Chance and hope that I find my destiny among the Samarians. I don’t even know what trade I work in.”

The man in white laughed. “Well, Chance, I’m sure the ship that you’ll be traveling on can find something for you to do on a new and struggling colony!”

For the first time since Chance had been awake, he smiled. It was a crooked smile, skewed to one side from the scars, but inside, underneath the grotesque outer layer, there was finally some hope that he might find some answers.

The man in white turned to go when Chance called to him, “Hey! You never told me your name!”

“I’m Doc Avers, the ship’s surgeon. You’ll see me around… I’m headed for the new colony myself.” And he slipped out the door so Chance could get some much needed rest. But Chance wasn’t sleepy. He needed information. He slipped over to the computer console and punched in S for Samaria. He needed to know what happened when the sun went supernova. He needed to catch up with time. He sat at the console and watched the computer flash information on the screen until he finally fell asleep. He dreamed about a blonde headed girl with emerald green eyes. It was such a vivid dream that he was sure it was real. When he woke up all he could think about was the blonde headed girl.

Dreama was excited about all the new people who were coming into the colony every week. New ships would arrive with more supplies and materials and before long the beginnings of the city were well on their way to being built. The biggest discussion was, what should they call this first new city on Eldebraun? Then, by word of mouth and everyone calling the city Merridian, it had become named as naturally as if it was planned. Merridian city was growing by leaps and bounds, almost as fast as John MacKenzie was growing. Still, in the back of her mind, Dreama worried about Pellenor’s search for her. She couldn’t completely forget about it with each new stranger that came to Merridian. She would carefully examine all the new comers to see if they were any of Pellenor’s relatives or the men that had worked for him. It was strange, then, when she met Chance. He was a mangled new-comer who had experienced the terror of an exploding spacecraft and having his face severely disfigured in the process. He was a quiet man. Little John MacKenzie took to his docile ways immediately. Chance had learned the trade of a surveyor quickly and was hired by Absalom to work with him as they mapped out the planet. In the evenings Chance would sit with the men and puff on his pipe quietly and listen to them tell stories of their days on Samaria. When Chance was asked to tell a story, he would shrug his shoulders and calmly say, “I can’t remember any. I guess my memory blew up with the supernova.” Everyone would laugh, except when Dreama heard about it she said how sad it sounded. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to not be able to remember her family and friends.

Dreama would invite Chance to have meals with her family and they would all enjoy John’s childish antics. He was growing fast and loved to snuggle on Chance’s lap after dinner. Chance would hold him until he fell asleep and then he would carry him to his bed where John would turn over and fall back asleep for the night.

“That’s one fine lad you have there.” Chance observed one night after he had put John to bed.

“Yes… and I think you are spoiling him.” Dreama said jokingly.

“Ah… babies need love and touching. They are tactile from birth. If you notice, the first thing they do is reach out and try to touch everything.” Chance answered.

“I know. But that’s not always safe, either.” Dreama said with concern.

“That’s why you teach them. But if you teach them that nothing is safe, they grow up afraid of the world. There is balance in everything.” Chance assured her.

Cade had been listening all this time and he decided to join the conversation. “Tell me… where do you think you learned all this wisdom? Can you remember anything at all?”

Chance thought for a moment. “No… it’s all a blank. I just feel that I’ve experienced it with someone.”

“It’ll come to you. All you need is time.”

To be continued...

An original story by
Karen Elizabeth Brown
copyright 2011

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to person, place or thing is completely unintentional.

A Quote From Walt Whitman

2011-03-04T16:14:00.000-08:00

"O me, O life of the questions of these recurring.
Of endless trains of the faithless.
Of cities filled with the foolish.
What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer: That you are here.
Life exists and identity.
That the powerful play goes on,
And you may contribute a verse."

~Walt Whitman~

Today I felt like a microscopic flea biting at the dog of life when I came across this powerful poem. It was tucked away among some leftover papers that I had been writing ideas on for a new book. Having rejected the ideas, the papers were unceremoniously relegated to the back of my desk to be used as scratch paper. In a fit of anguish at not being able to come up with a good enough idea, I started throwing out the papers to relieve my frustration. I stopped when this particular paper fell onto the desk. I read the poem and then what was wriiten underneath it:

Carpe Diem. Seize The Day.

The MacKenzie Chronicles: Supernova - The Prequel - Part 8

2011-03-02T11:53:00.000-08:00

Book One: Two Moons Over Darius (See sidebar for complete Index)
Book Two: The Darian Conflict
Book Three: Merridian

Book Four: Supernova - The Prequel
Part 8

While Pellenor was in his private study, he received a strange message in. It was from an old acquaintance who now lived on his own spacecraft. He had become a pirate after citizens of two planets had discovered his black market activities and had driven him from the quadrant. Since then, he dealt in black market trade only when the consumer would come to him. Being word of mouth only, his name was never mentioned out loud, but Pellenor would always remember him as Sam. Sam had recently been out of the quadrant, but had heard the news that Pellenor was looking for his daughter and was willing to pay handsomely for news of her whereabouts. It was because of this query that Sam was now contacting him. Pellenor put on a headset and switched off the audio so he could have a completely private conversation.

“Greetings Sam, it’s good to hear from you. It’s been quite a long time. How can I help you?” He would let Sam bring up the subject and the terms of the impending bargain. He knew a bargain was involved because he had never talked to Sam without either goods or services exchanging hands.

“Ah… good fortune to you Pellenor. Have you found your pretty daughter yet?”

“I have sources that are following up leads at the moment.” Pellenor was careful not to give away anything that would put him in a vulnerable position.

“Hmm… what if I were to tell you I know where she is, my dear friend?”

Pellenor could almost hear his lips smacking at the prospect of being the first one to report her whereabouts. Sam knew that would be valuable, but Pellenor played it cool.

“If you are my friend, then why haven’t you told me already?” Pellenor was impatient with pirates and slave traders alike.

“Ah… patience, please! Is my information worth anything to you, then?”

“That depends on whether it is accurate or not. How old is the information?” Pellenor was tired of month old reports when by now, she could be light years away.

“Just a trip that’s four days out of Darius. I disabled their ship to keep them there as long as possible for you. But the exact coordinates are a little more costly, my friend. Even pirates must eat, ha ha ha!” His laugh was evil, almost more so than Pellenor’s, on the rare occasion of his laughter.

“I see. And how costly are they?” Pellenor asked, quickly tiring of this conversation.

“Just a measly million credits between friends.” He was getting excited because Pellenor hadn’t hung up on him yet. But Pellenor was silent which worried Sam. “Perhaps that’s a little too steep for you after the long chase to get her?”

Silence.

“Perhaps I was hasty. How about half a million?”

Silence would only work for so long on an old, impatient trader like Sam so Pellenor finally suggested, “How about I let you live and give you nothing for your information. And, if the information is incorrect, I will hunt you down throughout the galaxy and feed you through a black hole.” Pellenor stayed calm and it was effective. He heard Sam gasp and start to choke. Finally, Sam said, “I’m sending the coordinates now.”

“Received, old friend.”

Click. Sam was gone, probably off to some unknown galaxy to stay away from Pellenor in case Dreama wasn’t there by the time he got to Darius.

Pellenor didn’t waste any time. He wanted to fly off to the planet Darius, but before he could go he had a few loose ends to take care of. The planet Samaria was becoming deserted as people continued to flock to new destinations, afraid to stay in the quadrant for fear of being hit by the shock wave after the sun went supernova. Pellenor wasn’t one to panic and had been waiting for people to leave to clean up on the spoils. He’d had his own crew going around buying up everything that wasn’t taken that was able to be transported to another planet. According to the records in the warehouse, they had shipments full of goods that would be ready for sale when they arrived at new colonies that needed food, clothing and shelter. Pellenor looked forward to the profit he’d be making off those that rushed off and didn’t wait to take care of things. Fools, he thought. Just then, a bright flash in the sky announced a large solar flare from the sun. The heat was intense already and the radiation dangerous in daytime, but Pellenor wasn’t going until he had everything he could pack in all his spacecraft. Even at that, he thought, perhaps it would be wise to leave the rest to the last greedy animals and get off the planet to go after his daughter.

As he was pulling out of orbit, a large solar flare flashed across his view screen and he could feel a rumble in his engines as the pull from the sun increased.

“Time to fly!” Pellenor shouted as the engines roared to life. He switched into light speed. But the engines weren’t reacting properly. He didn’t know why, but they weren’t moving him as fast as he needed to go to get away from the solar system should the sun go supernova now. And it was acting like it might do just that. Another solar flare erupted on the view screen, bigger than the last one. The craft jerked and plunged forward as if it has been let go from a rubber band.
Finally, he knew he’d made it past the solar system and was about to relax when the whole area was filled with bright light. There was a massive explosion from the sun and it shook his spacecraft like a tiny boat caught in an ocean storm. Where the stars were supposed to be, were bits and pieces of material like small chunks of stars and debris rushing by. Pellenor knew it was time to panic because he could not outrun the solar storm or the shock wave that would be coming soon. He put the shields up. Quickly gathering up things he might need, he threw them into an escape pod. The ship started shaking with one large vibration after another, that moved closer together until finally it was one continuous tremor. The ship was breaking apart piece by piece. He heard creaks and groans and cracks in the hull. Then it happened. The shock wave hit the ship. It suddenly pushed him forward so hard that the G’s snapped his head back and held his arms against his chair. He wanted to get to the escape pod as ceiling structures fell to the ground and walls twisted with a torturous sound. The computer was ringing alerts, but Pellenor could only listen. He was stuck to his seat. A beam above him snapped and struck him in the temple. Blood spurted and ran across his cheek, leaving a red trail running over his shoulder.
After riding the shock wave for what seemed like an eternity, the force lessened and he slipped from his chair, making a run for the escape pod before the ship completely broke up around him. Suddenly, a wall exploded in on him. He was blinded by debris striking his face. The hot metal burned his flesh, but he dropped to his knees and forced himself to continue to the escape pod. He crawled in and slammed the door. Still blind, he found the eject lever. Pellenor felt himself being shot away from the exploding ship like he was a laser cannon firing it's single round. A piece of the ship's hull hit the escape pod and his head collided with an overhead railing, knocking him out. Injured and unconscious, he stayed that way for countless hours as the pod went spinning off into space.

Hestia felt the supernova happen in her psyche and gasp as her knees buckled. She was meeting with Dreama to examine the baby, but had to stop and center herself as all eyes were on her.

“The Samarian sun has exploded.” she said very sadly.

Absalom’s eyes filled with tears as he slumped forward. “A world scattered to the wind.” he intoned, as everyone remained silent, remembering their world that was no longer in existence.

“We are now a new people and we will be what we make ourselves to be.” Absalom said in all reverence, “and for any that were lost to us, may they find a good home on a world wherever they end up.”

Heads nodded around the room and the mystics lit small candles for a remembrance of this very sad occasion.

“Absalom, we’ll be arriving at the Darian space station in about an hour.” Cade had just come down from the bridge before the supernova happened. “I need to remind everyone to keep yourselves covered with your robes. That means leave your hoods up. We still don’t know where Pellenor is or who is looking for us.”

“Won’t that seem a little suspicious?” Dreama asked. She was worried about looking too much out of place.

Hestia put her at ease, however. “Many different cultures travel with their faces covered… especially the women.”

Cade looked at the wall monitor and turned to head back to the bridge. “The Darian space station is hailing us. I need to go answer it.”

Absalom fell in step with him. “I’ll come with you, since I am acting as the leader of this group.”

Getting into space dock was not difficult, except that the Darian culture was very closed to outsiders and they reminded Absalom to keep his people in the public areas of the city. The private areas, where their people had their dwellings, was strictly off-limits to anyone un-invited. Absalom agreed with the message and added that his group were very close knit also, and would appreciate their own privacy from the Darians. It was agreed on and docking was completed. The repairs would take at least several hours, which thoroughly delighted Absalom, who expected a much longer layover. When they were done they would be free to head directly for the Merridian sector and find the best place to establish themselves. First, however, they needed to check with Hestia on how Dreama was doing and if she would make it to the new planet. If she could, their first priority would be to prepare for the birth of the baby. And according to Hestia, it would coincide very closely with their arrival date that was plotted by the computer. Would she make it to the new planet? Hestia was seeing the birth on Eldebraun, in the Merridian sector. A very good sign!

To be continued...

An original story by
Karen Elizabeth Brown
copyright 2011

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to person, place or thing is completely unintentional.

The MacKenzie Chronicles: Supernova - The Prequel - Part 7

2011-02-28T14:21:00.000-08:00

Book One: Two Moons Over Darius (See sidebar for complete Index)
Book Two: The Darian Conflict
Book Three: Merridian

Book Four: Supernova - The Prequel
Part 7

They were a few days away from Darius when Absalom looked up from the ship’s viewer and said, “We’re being followed.”

“Maybe it’s another ship on it’s way to Darius.” Cade suggested.

“It’s been there for quite some time. Why haven’t they hailed us if they are friendly. You don’t just sneak up on someone unless you have unfriendly intentions.”

“Could it be pirates? You scan the ship and I’ll call Hestia’s craft and ask if they have been hailed from the ship.” Cade immediately put on a headset and signaled Hestia’s craft. But as they were waiting to hear from her, the spacecraft started advancing at a faster rate. An alarm went off on the panel.

“We are being scanned! By them!” Absalom shouted to Cade. “Put the shields up, now!”

“Shields are up!” Cade knew as well as Absalom that they were a peaceful ship with very little capability of winning a fight in space. They had few offensive weapons and basic, minimal defensive ones.

“Hestia says they were just scanned also.” Cade sounded worried and looked around for Dreama. She was not on the bridge and he wanted to go find her. “Father, I have to go find Dreama. I have the ship on autopilot, but I’ll be right back in case you need me.”

Absalom nodded and took over the piloting position. They could not afford to be caught without someone at the helm in case they had to make a quick get away. He continued to monitor the in-coming ship. It’s speed steadily closed the gap between them. A choice needed to be made. Did they stay and see if the ship was hostile or friendly or did they make a run for Darius and use up all their energy on light speed? He called Hestia and spoke in Earth English to her. Fortunately, Hestia spoke several languages and one of them was English. Absalom was a little rusty, but he got his point across. “Hestia, what have you decided to do?”

“They are pirates, Absalom. We need to either fight or run.” Hestia spoke in a casual tone, without urgency to try and fool the pirates who were probably trying to understand the language.”

But before they could punch in their light speed a message appeared on the forward screen: “DO NOT TRY TO EVADE US. IF YOU DO, WE WILL FIRE ON YOU!” It was in Earth English. Apparently they had a universal translator on board and had been monitoring the messages. They also thought Absalom and Hestia’s ships were from Earth.

Another message appeared on screen: “PREPARE TO BE BOARDED!”

Absalom decided to do what he could to fool them. He ran to a supply locker and pulled out the long robes that Hestia had given them. Then he called Cade and Dreama to the bridge and had everyone put them on. If they could pass for pirates one time, perhaps being mystics would deter the pirates from an assault.
Just then a thump against the ship told him the pirate ship was along side. An airlock hissed open and there was pounding on the outer hull. Absalom pressed the button to release the lock and the pirates pushed the door open.

Three tall, green skinned pirates clomped across the bridge in their heavy jackboots. They held their weapons pointed at Absalom, Cade and Dreama. One of them held a black box, which he spoke his strange language into. Then he pressed a button and the demand was repeated in English from the box: “Who is your leader?”

Immediately Absalom spoke up. “I am.” Absalom knew that some pirates were in the habit of killing the leaders of other ships to frighten the crew into obeying. But they did not shoot. The leader of the pirates walked over to Absalom and the black box asked, “What powers this craft?”

“Neutron particles.” Absalom answered.

“Give us your power pack and we will let you live!” the leader demanded in perfect Earth English.

“But if I do that we will be stranded in space!” Absalom countered directly to the leader. “At least leave us enough to reach Darius!” He spoke roughly, trying to haggle with the pirate. It was a gamble, but if they were stranded in space they might as well be dead. He could hear Cade groaning at his approach to this situation.

The leader burst out laughing and showed his pale green teeth before speaking again, “You have guts, old man, I think I will let you live!” The pirate reached out and swatted Absalom on the shoulder, nearly knocking him over. Then he turned to Cade and Dreama and eyed them carefully. Looking back to Absalom, he asked, “Are these yours?”

“Yes, they serve me well.” Absalom answered through the hot stares from Cade and Dreama.

“I will buy them from you. One quarter of the neutrinos for both of them.”

“They are not for sale. I need them.” Absalom continued to be gruff and stubborn.

“Very well then, have it your way old man.” The pirate spoke to another of his men in the strange language and the lizard-skinned subordinate took off through the ship to the engine room. There was a powering down of the ship as he bled off the neutrinos. The lights went dim, but not completely off. The pirate had left them a small amount of power.

When they were all through, the leader turned to Absalom and asked again about Cade and Dreama. With one last rejection, he turned and left through the hatch. After it slammed shut, everyone slumped in a chair and let out deep breaths.

Cade was still glaring at Absalom. “What?” asked Absalom innocently.

“Why did you act like we were your slaves?” Cade asked hotly.

“Because that’s all these pirates understand. If I had said you were a free man, he might have just taken you. They respect other people’s slaves, but not freedom.”

Dreama asked softly. “Will they come back?”

“I hope not.” Cade answered.

“I doubt it.” added Absalom, “They have what they came for… a supply of neutrinos. Let’s see how much damage is done to our engines.”

Absalom and Cade went to the engine room to find that the pirate had thrown off the casing to the engine and it had cracks in it where he had forced it off.

“So we are crippled anyway!” Cade sputtered angrily.

“We will make it to Darius, but no further until we can make repairs.” Absalom sighed thankfully. “Let’s just hope Pellenor doesn’t find us before we get there to make our repairs.”

“How would he find us out here… in the middle of nowhere?” Cade asked, his brow knitted in concern.

“Pirates will sell information to anyone for the right price. And we are being diligently hunted by him. I didn’t tell you before, because I didn’t want to upset Dreama, but Pellenor has offered a very large reward for her capture.” Absalom whispered as he picked up the broken casing and handed it to Cade. “I’m surprised the pirates didn’t recognize her. Maybe we should keep the robes on and the hoods up while we are on Darius to protect her identity.”

Cade nodded in agreement as he put the casing on the engine and bolted it down. “This should work for now, if we’re careful to not push the engine too hard.”

“We won’t have light speed, either.” added Absalom, “so we’ll make a straight shot to Darius. We can make it in about a week as long as nothing happens.”

Dreama walked in the engine room just then and Cade noticed how much larger her belly appeared when she pulled her robe back. “Can I take this off now? It’s so hot under here!”

“Dreama…” Cade begin, “…we need to leave them on until we leave Darius. We have engine trouble and it’s a precaution.”

“So no one will recognize me?” she asked.

“That’s right.” Cade smiled at her. “You know, you're really starting to look big!”

“I am and I don’t want to have this child on a ship. Can we go faster?” Dreama answered, distressed at her condition.

“I’m afraid not.” Absalom interjected, “It would use up all the energy that’s left and it can’t renew itself fast enough when the neutrinos are so low.”

“Then we’d better plan on having this child right here.” Dreama sighed anxiously.

“What are you talking about? We have plenty of time.” Absalom started counting and adding the days and months they’d been in space. Samarian women were known for their short gestation periods, but still, this was too soon. “I think we need to have Hestia and one of her mystics take a look at you. I’d feel safer about this.” he added.

“I agree.” Cade said, his mind boggled that the child would soon be here. He wasn’t ready for this. They hadn’t been able to get out of Pellenor’s clutches and when he finds out there is an offspring, he thought, it will be marked for destruction along with it’s parents!

To be continued...

An original story by
Karen Elizabeth Brown
copyright 2011

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to person, place or thing is completely unintentional.