The Secret of Excalibur

by Sahara Foley

  The two medics who tried to resuscitate Dobie stopped walking, watching, wondering what the only survivors of this holocaust were doing with the body of their former Commander. Ruth and Arthur begin to wail. Grief they understand. It's still strange to see so much grief for an old warhorse like Dobie. Hell, they heard he didn't have a friend in the whole world. Wonder whether he knew how much these two felt about him?

  They start feeling uncomfortable, watching two people grieve. It's not polite. Besides, they've already seen too much death today. As they turn away, they notice Dobie's body twitch, cough, jerk, then lie still. Muscle spasms. One arm shoots up, making a fist, wavering around, followed by a powerful psionic blast.

  Each medic drops to their knees, one crossing himself repeatedly, the other one drooling. Ruth falls backwards, clutching her head. Dobie, in Arthur's body, falls the other way, also gripping his head. The blast of psionic power almost split their brains apart. Unfortunately, the blast did for one of the medics. The other one's discovering his long, lost religion.

  Far down the beach, by the still rotating choppers, Major Paber feels the blast. Out in the woods, the Captain removing Colonel Ferguson's dog tag feels it. Out in the ocean, the men recovering the floating bodies feel it. Everyone freezes in place.

  * * *

  Cold, so damn cold. As cold as Hell would feel, if it ever froze over. Dark and cold. A soul numbing darkness that's sucking away at my essence, slowly drawing me into nothingness. My mind, inside Dobie's body, recoils in abject terror. Why did I do this? I realize I'm suffocating, no air, lungs burning. Terrifying cold, soul numbing darkness, and burning lungs.

  I have to pull myself together, remember who I am. Have to concentrate. Push. Focus and Push! Have to move. Move something. The Hell-frozen coldness creeps up at me again. Focus, damn you, focus. Now PUSH. A blast of searing, white-hot pain. Then, back to numbing darkness and frozen Hell.

  Again, PUSH. PAIN. HOT PAIN. Racing through my limbs. Something moves. Was that my arm? What's going on? No air. Have to breathe. My lungs are burning with fire while my body is being assaulted with frozen Hell. PAIN. Have to breathe, don't smother, make myself breathe, damnit. Lungs suddenly expand, gulping n air. Coughing. Choking. Air gulped again.

  No heartbeat. BEAT, DAMN YOU HEART. Kaboompa boompa boomp. Don't stop, damn you. I'm not ready to die. BEAT. PUSH. Kaboompaboompaboompaboompaboompa. A machine gun in my chest. Can't hear it, but feel it, and with it comes the hot searing pain. Boompaboompaboompa. Too fast. Way too fast, can't separate the beats. AHH. Pain, hot, liquid pain flowing all over my body.

  What the hell am I doing? I don't need this body. Just let go, go on, let it go. I feel a blast like hot wind, then I'm soaring way up over the beach. I'm alive with breathless joy. I don't need the body. Hey. There's Ruth, and Dobie, and, and ME. I remember now. I'm in Dobie's body. He's in mine. I'm free now. No feelings or pain. Free. Why is Ruth crying?

  AHA. Now I see you. Alive, Metal, Not moving. Yes, I see you clearly now. How beautiful you are. Yes. Yes. I must go back. I need my body. Yes, go back.

  Pain. Hot searing pain. Heart still beating, slower now. Lungs inhaling, exhaling, sporadically. Why did I come back to this? I was free. Why? Pain. Inhale damn you, now exhale, inhale, exhale, cough, choke, cough, gulp. Move blood. MOVE. Pain. Something else, down low, throbs, lower stomach? Never mind, let it go for now. Did I wet myself, or shit? Damn. Maybe both.

  C'mon, we got it now. Steady, smooth breaths, heart beating on its own, ahh, good. Hot searing pain shooting from my left side. The heart attack is trying to restart. No. It can't happen if I don't let it, and I won't let it. AHH. PAIN. Ahh. Better. Like a muscle cramp, all over my chest. I think I'm going to laugh. Damn. Charley horse of the chest. Hahaha. Cough.

  Pounding all over, pain, hot, flowing in my head. I feel something down lower again, hot and throbbing. I can feel. ohh, leg cramp, no, foot. Foot cramp, left foot. Ahh. Can't do anything about it, shoes are too tight. Stop damn you. NO, NOT YOU HEART. Move legs. Get the shoe off. Ahh, better, now blood, flow. Pain. In my head. Air. I can feel the humidity on my cold skin, taste the saltiness on my dry tongue. Hot throbbing down low. What the hell is that?

  Blood flowing, steady breathing, hot pain in my head and behind my eyes. Focus. Yes, there. Broken blood vessels. Focus. One at a time, you know how. Do it! There, yes. One broken vessel in the brain, one on the optic nerve. Brain first. Too much pain there. Focus. Mend, c'mon, damn you. That's it, slowly, round and round, yes, like that. Ahh. Now the eyes. C'mon, it's smaller. Should be easy. Yes, yes, there, yes. Ahh, uh, what is that? Hot throbbing spasms in the lower stomach. Ulcers?

  Heart, lungs, blood, all working together. Good. Almost no pain. Now, flex muscles. Move. Move something. Breathing faster. That's okay I think I'm exerting myself.

  Light behind my eyes. What is that, daylight? I'm okay now. Gonna be okay. Have to tell Ruth I'm okay. Have to get my eyes open and tell her. Yes. Blurry. C'mon, focus, damn you. There, I can see her. Why, she's crying. Have to tell her I'm okay. Reach out, there, now pat her. Yes, there, pat her hand. Yes. She sees me. She's smiling. She looks terrible. Who's that with her? Uh, it looks like ME. Of course, Dobie in me.

  Involuntarily, my mind reaches out in revulsion and throws Dobie out of my body, pulling me back in. Suddenly, I'm kneeling, watching Ruth hold Dobie's hand. Dobie blinks a few times, a flash of pain crossing his face, then he glares up at me with clenched jaws. If looks could kill, he would've killed me fifteen times over in those few seconds.

  I plop my arm on Ruth's shoulder, barely able to raise it that high. Damn, I'm weak. Ruth stares at me, then Dobie, then me again. She leans over, hugging me so tightly she almost breaks ribs. Dobie wearily raises his hands to our shoulders, weakly squeezing.

  Ruth sits back on her heels, and taps. –Arthur? Is that you?-

  I smile, happy to be back. *Of course, kid, who you expecting?*

  TAP –Oh God, I thought I lost you, your eyes were staring, unseeing. Dobie's body kept flapping around, then jumped and jerked several times. I was so afraid.-

  I smile again. *Relax, kid. I'm okay, you're okay, and he's okay. Although, I'm not sure about you sometimes.*

  She smiles, patting my arm. TAP –Should the medics check him out?-

  *Sure, kid, if you want, but he's fine. In fact, he just had another heart attack, and beat it. He's tough.*

  Dobie places his hand on my arm, so I carefully focus on him. I've already spent too much time in his mind, and don't really want back in. His lips move, and there are tears in his eyes. -Arthur, I hate you.-

  I know what he means. He's not a martyr, not wanting to go through the process of dying again.

  -I was almost there, in the hands of my maker. You jerked me back, and stuck me in that disgusting thing you call a body. Then, you proceeded to do the most revolting things with my body. You've given me the most humiliation I've ever suffered. I hate you. I'll pay you back, Arthur. I swear I will.-

  I focus on him. *Sleep, Cecil.* I gently push, and he begins to softly snore.

  Ruth taps. –Is he alright? Was he thanking you?-

  I think to her, *Yes, he's fine, just sleeping. And in his own way, I guess he was thanking me, kid.*

  I glance around. The two medics are still kneeling where they fell, one crossing himself repeatedly, the other one drooling away. He's mentally gone. Down the beach, everyone else is standing, staring at me, not moving, looking shell-shocked.

  Ruth explains to me about the blast of psionic power I unleashed. I assure her everyone should recover, except the two medics, and especially not the drooling medic. His brain is as fried as the terrorist Reshan. I feel ashamed and guilty. I wasn't aware of what I was doing and didn't intend to hurt anyone, but I had been fighting for my life. It sounds like a lame excuse, as I apologize to Ruth, but I really mean it.

  I focus on the Major down the beach. *Major Paber, I'm sorry for the mental blast I sent out before. Please, come get the Commander rea
dy to travel. He's asleep, but doing fine. Let's get him moving.*

  Paber clutches his head, falling to his knees.

  Ruth taps. –God, Arthur. Take it easy. Remember whatever was affecting your powers before is gone now. You could do permanent damage to someone.- She's staring pointedly at the drooling medic.

  The Major's kneeling, shaking his head in pain. I concentrate. His ears are loudly ringing, as if in shock. As he stands, obviously in severe pain, he begins stumbling slowly towards us. I concentrate on soothing his ears, and push. Paber's eyes pop open wider as he grabs his groin, doubling up, then falling on the sand.

  Now what? God damn, I accidentally pushed his pleasure center. The man's having a staggering orgasm. What the fuck? Can't I do anything right anymore? Ruth is right, whatever was bothering me before is now gone. In fact, I feel more powerful than before. I'll have to be very careful.

  With a coy smirk, Ruth taps. –Did you just do to him what I think you did?-

  *Uh, yes, kid. Accidentally.* She falls over laughing. Damn, and I'm so exhausted, too.

  Jumping up, the Major heads for the trees at a dead run. I go over and sit in a chair, fuming. I'm too upset to even notice when the Major shows back up with two men carrying a stretcher. The men are moving around like robots, stiff-limbed. After Dobie is loaded and checked, the stretcher-bearers take him back down the beach. The Major stays and sits on the edge of the fire-pit, his medical bag in his lap to cover the spreading wet stain. Ruth glances at him and cracks up again. He's totally embarrassed, with a beet-red face.

  *I'm sorry, Major. I was trying to soothe your ears.* I stare down sheepishly at the glass of beer in my hand.

  TAP –Uh, well, sir, you certainly did that. My ears are fine now. - He leans forward like he's whispering, nervously glancing over at Ruth. –Uh, and to be honest, I've never experienced an orgasm like that in my life.- He straightens up. - Sir, I was informed Commander Dobie died from a heart attack, but he looks fine and alive. We'll be transporting the Commander back to the Lodge, as soon as our pilots can remember how to fly. Everyone's disoriented right now. As for those two medics, well, we'll take care of them. I don't know what happened with you and Dobie, and I don't exactly know what you are, Merlin, but I felt some of your power, and I fancy I saw you leave Dobie's body and fly around. I've never believed in such stuff, but now I'm not so sure.- A red flush spreading across his checks again, he asks, -Uh, Mr. Merlin, uh, is there a way what you did to me could be put into a pill? I mean, uh, I'd like to give one to my wife. Just once, sir?-

  Maybe because I'm still partly focused on Ruth or due to bleed over, I suddenly realize she's been overhearing our conversation. She's sitting on the other side of the fire-pit, but when she hears that last request, she falls on the sand, holding her knees, laughing like hell. Of course, the Major can hear her laughing, and he jumps up all upset, quickly salutes, and stomps off fast.

  As the choppers lift off one-by-one, Ruth stops laughing, wipes her eyes, and tries to become serious again. But that's difficult to do with a fading grin and tears streaking down your face from laughing so much. We watch the last choppers rise and turn, then fly off. I could swear I faintly heard rotor blades.

  Ruth taps. –I heard the helicopters, barely, but I heard them. Did you?-

  I nod yes with a relieved smile, and she hugs me.

  That's when I notice the three burned-out hulks being towed into the small bay. They're scorched pieces of twisted metal. All three of them are leaning at extreme angles, and they look like they're going to sink any minute. Ruth watches as a smaller boat motors back and forth from one to the other, dropping anchors, then the small boat turns and heads back up the river to the sea.

  I stare at the orange and green life jackets piled up around the decks, dead men. I feel as though we're the only two living people in the whole fucking area. I guess right then, we are.

  More than three hundred dead sailors on three ships, Ferguson back in the trees with a hundred more dead. How many sailors went down with the two Corvettes? I only found thirty-nine bodies.

  What a slaughter, all because we saw a UFO.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  No, that's not right. We saw one, but Relman said he saw three streaks flying up from different angles. Three UFOs? That would explain what happened to the ships seaside. Two UFOs blasted over the top of them, like what happened with the Corvettes, and look at the slaughter. Yet, what killed Ferguson and his squad? They weren't hurt. The bass fiddle noise we heard over the radio? Some sort of ultrasonic death vibration maybe? Shit. We'll most likely never know. God, what a mess, and I'm so tired. So damn tired.

  Ruth is sitting at my feet, her head resting back against my knees. I lightly stroke her hair, matted, singed, with dirt, mud, sand and some blood. She's been through so much in the last few days. As have I. A grown-up adventure, I think with a snort, if only I'd known.

  Once Dr. Tober arrives with the other Marines, we'll go investigate the cavern. I doubt we'll find much. They wouldn't have left anything behind for us bumbling human beings to discover. Not if they could've helped it and they'd had plenty of time to clean up, pack, and get ready to leave. And that had been a spectacular exit. When Major Paber scoffed all this carnage was like a bad movie, he didn't know how right he was.

  Ruth is quietly crying again. She looks up at me as I tenderly caress her check. *You sure cry a lot, lady.*

  –Do you have any idea what's happened to me and my life since I met you six days ago? Here we are alone; the only two alive on this whole damn beach, with hundreds of dead people around us, and you think I cry too much. Fuck you, sir!-

  *And you, ma'am.* I give her a weak smile.

  –Can you focus and find Dr. Tober?-

  *Uh, yes. They're ready to takeoff from the Lodge. Should be here in about thirty minutes.*

  Jumping up, she grabs my arm, dragging me with her towards what was once our tent. She crawls inside and begins throwing suitcases and clothes out of our partially flattened tent, then ducks out with a sleeping bag. She spreads the sleeping bag then lies down, squirming out of her shorts and panties.

  *You want to have sex right now? That's crazy, Ruth.*

  -No, it's not. It's the most natural thing in the world. We're suffering from shock. Now, get your pants off and get down here, we don't have all damn day.-

  As I unzip, I'm already half-hard from watching her strip. Natural or not, it feels right. When we're spent, she's lying there tightly holding me, softly crying again.

  Very faintly, I hear the whomping of choppers flying in. Turning over, I see them landing, sand whipping around in little cyclones, eight of them settling along the same area the other choppers had recently vacated. I jump up as fast as I can, pulling my pants on. Ruth does too, then hugs and kisses me, half leaning, half sinking against me.

  –I'm so damn tired. What time do you think it is?-

  *Oh, I'd say after seven, kid. Be dark soon.*

  Dr. Tober jumps clumsily from the first chopper. Behind him is a man I recognize. Men are pouring out all over the beach.

  “Mr. Merlin, Dr. Burns, I think you know each other.” Dr. Tober has his handkerchief, mopping his sweaty forehead.

  Telepathically, I gently say, *Major Breckenridge, good to see you and Alpha Team again.* With a grim expression, he salutes, then we shake hands.

  Ruth's knees give out, nearly fainting, and I scramble to hold her steady. Dr. Tober takes one of her arms, trying to help me support her. I explain to Tober we're exhausted and in desperate need of sleep. Smiling, he points as he pats my arm. There, next to what's left of our tent, the men of Alpha have already erected a new, green one.

  Dazed, I glance around. There's a whole long row of tents, looks as if Alpha is here to stay. Tober takes over helping Ruth to the tent. Breckenridge strides next to me, not quite touching, but there if I need assistance. We crawl inside, into the new sleeping bags, and in minutes, we're zonked out.

  UMM. Now that feels fantasti
c. It's still dark, and I feel Ruth's soft lips and tongue sucking on me. I hear her slurping. Hey. I can hear her. Uh, oh, ah, hell with it. With a deep thrust and low groan, I climax into her throat. When she crawls up beside me, I can barely see her sassy smile.

  “Good?” She asks with a throaty purr.

  “Awesome,” I answer with a sign of contentment. “Hey. I heard you.”

  Her smile grows wider. “And I you. That's what woke me. You were screaming in your sleep.”

  “Oh, I'm sorry, kid.” I tenderly kiss her soft lips.

  “Umm, I'm not,” she says as she curls up around me.

  Funny how sometimes women don't seem to have any bones, just soft and cuddly. Then, at other times, they're all bones, bones and thorns. We fall sleep again. I awake to her softly fondling me, and my hormones standing at attention again.

  “Umm. I must still be in shock.” I stretch, then lean over and kiss her.

  “Maybe you're dreaming,” she says teasingly, then pulls me over on top of her.

  We slowly make love. As the pace of our rhythm of love increases, I start feeling a warm, tingly, energy creeping up our bodies, enveloping us, encasing us in a cocoon of love. I feel as though our spirits have bonded and we're now one entity. I'm not only making love to Ruth, but myself at the same time. It's the most sexually exhilarating and intoxicating feeling. Am I causing this effect? I'm too enthralled in the sensations to care. As one entity, we cry out, climaxing together, feeling each other's orgasm. As we lie there, panting, catching our breaths, the warm energy field splits like an amoeba, leaving us as two separate bodies again. Whoa. What just happened? Before I can pursue that question, I fall deeply asleep on top of Ruth.

  “Oooh, Arthur, please rollover. Oooh,” Ruth moans.

  “How long have we been asleep, kid?” I ask while crawling towards the tent door.

  More moans, then, “Uh, it must've been for hours. You almost crushed me.”