by Jay Cannon
Uan reached Dominique and urged her to go for the car when he heard someone screaming at him.
“You don’t take what’s mine and get away with it,” Boudreau screamed. “I’m going to hunt you down like a dog and tear you limb from limb.”
Uan turned towards Boudreau and snarled, “she is my woman you bastard.” He pointed his rifle at Boudreau and vaporized him leaving nothing but his shoes.
They all ran down the road, hopped into Dominique’s car and headed towards Many.
“How did you do that do that invisible man thing?” Asked Betty shocked.
“I am an alien and it is one of my abilities,” replied Uan.
“I am an alien,” laughed Dominique. “Really? I thought you were a ninja.”
At that moment a large truck came out of the trees and rammed their car shoving it to the side of the road. The truck backed up and Uan picked up his rifle and pointed it at the truck, but the truck rammed the car again knocking it into the bayou before he could get a shot off.
The car flipped over and started to quickly sink towards the bottom. With the windows all broken the water rushed pinning them inside. Uan grabbed his universal connection device and started tapping away at it. At that moment an alligator reached into the car with its snout and dragged Dominique out of the car by her arm. Uan grabbed his spear, swam out of the car and stabbed the alligator in the eye. The alligator loosened his grip on Dominique, but two more came after Uan and pulled him towards the bottom of the water.
Betty, in the back of the car, was gasping for breath from an air pocket in the car. She started shivering with fear as an alligator came into the car at her, opening its mouth around her head.
Chapter 9
Freeing Dissidents
Li Xiao did not know where Yao Ming was being held, but she was aware of eight Red Wall dissidents, three women and five men, that were being held captive in Qincheng Prison outside of Beijing. She used the transport device that Cobalt gave her to explore the prison and locate the group of dissidents. The three women were in a comfortable cell much like a college dorm room drinking tea. The five men were in a typical prison cell with six small bunk beds. They used the extra bed to sit and play cards. Li Xiao noticed that one of men was missing on the day she decided to free them. She concluded that he must be in the infirmary or maybe even dead.
Li Xiao donned her warrior princess outfit to protect her identity and then transported herself to an isolated area of Xiao Tangshan Park near the prison. She reexamined the park ensuring that the area was free of people and cameras. She set her device to auto return in three seconds, placed it in her vest pocket and pressed the transport button.
Li Xiao appeared in the women’s cell next to two of the women.
“Stay calm. I’m here to free you,” she said putting her arms around two of the women. “I’ll be back for you momentarily,” she stated looking at the third woman. At that she disappeared and reappeared in the park.
“Please stay here and wait for me to return,” stated Li Xiao to the two women. She pressed the transmit button on her device and reappeared in the prison as the cell door was opening. Le Xiao tossed a concussion grenade from her vest at the guards and grabbed the remaining woman as the grenade exploded stunning the guards into inaction. The two women rolled across the bed and then into the grass in the park knocking over one of the previous women she had freed.
“Hello everyone, I am Guan Yin. I have come to free you and the other dissidents. There are five men that I still need to free. Once I have freed you all I will take you wherever you would like to go.”
Li Xiao set the coordinates to the men’s cell, placed the device in her vest and pushed the transmit button. She arrived by two of the male prisoners.
“Remain calm,” stated Li Xiao. “I am here to free you.”
She embraced the two men next to her and then transported out.
“Security,” a hurried voice came over the intercom in the security office. “The Red Wall women have been freed by the Goddess Guan Yin. We are checking the status of the Red Wall men.”
Three guards entered the cell where the male dissidents were being held just in time to see Li Xiao disappear with two of them. The sight of her dressed as the ancient goddess made them pause.
“Security, two of the male Red Wall prisoners have been taken by the goddess.”
“There is no goddess you idiots!” Yelled the director pushing the security operator away from the microphone. “Get in there and guard the other two. I will send reinforcements.”
The guards placed the two prisoners on a cot with their backs to each other and pointed their guns around the room waiting for Li Xiao’s return. This time Li Xiao dropped down from the ceiling on top of one of the guards knocking him to the ground while kicking another one in the head on the way down. The third guard spun around to face Li Xiao but she had already propelled a steel ball at his head. He fell backwards dropping his gun. Li Xiao jumped up, grabbing the guard by his arm, spun him around hard against the metal door frame rendering him unconscious. She could hear running footsteps from approaching guards. She grabbed one of the prisoners from the cot where he sat throwing him atop of the prisoner she pushed the transport button on her device sending them all from the cell and into the park.
“Director, they’re gone, they’re all gone,” stated a guard into his radio. “The guards are all lying on the floor unconscious.”
“Get down to the interrogation cell now. I want Lee Ho Jong chained to his chair and surrounded on all sides. Do not let him get away. I don’t want to have to send condolence letters to your families!” Shouted the director.
Li Xiao appeared at the park with the last of the prisoners. They all stood around her in amazement.
“Are you truly the goddess Guan Yin?” Asked one of the female prisoners.
“No, but I represent her. Is everyone safe? There seems to be one person missing.”
“Lee Ho Jong was taken out of the cell this morning to be interrogated. He is probably being tortured in the interrogation cell on the top floor, at the north side of the building. They typically only keep us for about two hours.”
“I understand. I will try to get him later. Right now I want to get all of you to safety. Let me know where you would like to be taken and I will take you right away.”
The six prisoners spoke amongst themselves for a few minutes then responded to Li Xiao.
“We all would like to go to the offices of the Free China Organization in New York please,” said one of the prisoners.
“I know the place quite well,” said Li Xiao. “Give me a moment and I will take you all there.”
Li Xiao went off to the side and setup her device to transport the six dissidents to the Free China offices in Manhattan. She found an empty storeroom in the basement of the building that had light coming into it from a window near the ceiling. She set her transport device to send them to the storeroom. She placed her device in her vest and returned.
“Are you all ready to go?”
“Yes, we are ready priestess. First we would like to honor you and the work you do. They all cao taoed in front of Li Xiao and stated, “xiexie nǚshén.”
Li Xiao bowed to them and replied, “bu ku qi. Now we must go. I need three of you on each side of me and one person holding me around my waste from behind. Those on the left grab my left arm with your left hand and use your right arm to hold on to each other. Those on the right grab my right arm with your right hand and use your left arm to hold on to each other. Great now squeeze tight.”
Li Xiao placed her hand in her vest and pressed the transport button. Before she could blink they were all inside the storage room in the basement of the Free China offices.
“Is everyone okay?” Li Xiao asked.
They all felt each other in disbelief. From jail to park to Manhattan within minutes. It must be a dream they thought.
“I am fine,” they all finally responded one at a time.
“Great. I wish you well on your journey. I will go and attempt to free your colleague if he is still alive. Peace be with you,” Li Xiao stated and then vanished. They all bowed and said a prayer for Guan Yin.
Li Xiao returned to her home to find Lee Ho Jong and free him from the prison. She used her device to determine his location and saw that a series of guards had completely surrounded Lee Ho Jong. He was chained to a chair and a guard was sitting on his lap with his arms around his waist. Getting Lee Ho Jong out is going to be extremely challenging, but not impossible, she thought.
Li Xiao setup several coordinates in her transport device, grabbed some infrared goggles, along with some other equipment and transported herself to the crawl space above the interrogation room. She placed a concussion grenade on the light box and set it to go off in four seconds before transporting herself to an adjoining empty interrogation room. She set the transport timer for two seconds and then transported herself to the corner of the room where Lee Ho Jong was being held.
“Wei!” She screamed as she entered the interrogation room and ran across the wall towards the other corner, disappearing the grenade went off extinguishing the lights in the interrogation room. The guards started firing at the wall where they last saw Li Xiao.
Li Xiao lowered the infrared goggles over her eyes and transported herself to the other side of the interrogation room. The guards were still facing the other wall staring into the darkness. She pulled out her tranquilizer gun and one by one started taking the guards out. The last guard, sitting on Lee Ho Jong, hearing the other guards fall, pulled out his gun and pointed it at his prisoner.
“If I feel as much as a pin prick I will shoot this man dead,” stated the guard.
Li Xiao decided to take the guard at his word and placed her gun back into its holster. She quietly walked up and grabbed Lee Ho Jong by his right ankle and pressed the transport button on her device. Suddenly the three of them were falling through the air. The guard dropped his gun and held on to Lee Ho Jong screaming. Li Xiao climbed up the guard’s back, reached around and pried his right arm away from Lee Ho Jong. She forced her way between the two men and shoved the guard away from them. Li Xiao pressed the button on her transport device transporting her and Lee Ho Jong away just as the three entered the lake at Beijing’s Summer Palace.
Tourists at the Summer Palace took pictures of the drenched guard as he swam to the edge of the lake and attempted to pull himself out. He was met by palace guards who were more than pleased to help pull him out and arrest him.
Li Xiao and Lee Ho Jong appeared at the Free China offices in New York alongside his colleagues who were discovered by an employee of the organization. They all cheered as the two appeared.
“Lee Ho Jong, please forgive me for getting you all wet. I have brought you here to join your colleagues. I’m sure they will take good care of you.”
“Thank you Guan Yin,” Lee Ho Jong stated bowing.
Li Xiao bowed in return and disappeared back to her apartment.
Chapter 10
The Gorman
The average life span of Ossie males was typically forty-five years. The females typically lived beyond sixty years. Most men died in battle warring with other tribes. Some died hunting. Dying of old age was not a death of honor for Ossie men. Dying in battle, war games or hunting was the preferred means of death.
Ossies enjoyed the challenge of hunting animals. Of all the animals they hunted the gorman were the most feared. They were ferocious fighters with sharp claws and teeth. The Ossies tended to attack them in groups in order to assuredly defeat them. Using their stealth abilities an Ossie could defeat a gorman, but the Ossie had to be quick, strong and above all extremely quiet. The gorman’s sense of hearing and smell made it difficult to sneak up on one. Attacking one head on single-handed was just suicide. On occasion an elderly or sickly Ossie might attempt it to keep from dying a dishonorable death from natural causes.
Within their den the gorman were basically undefeatable and their den were all but impenetrable. Ossuary has tiny rainbow-colored slime beetles that live off of the secretions from the gorman. Their sweat, tears, urine, ear wax and feces were the nourishment for these beetles. Gorman tears were their delicacy, but were only shed when the gorman mated. At those times the gormans’ eyes were covered with beetles, which caused mating to be agonizing. Only the Gorman who could withstand the pain were able to have offspring making them the toughest of the tough.
Because the gorman were basically cleaned by the slime beetle, their dens were free from smell except for the beetles’ slime trails which were aromatic and phosphorescent. These secretions would make the entire cave glow. This prevented predators from using the cover of darkness to sneak in and attacking their young. This didn’t stop the Ossies though who enjoyed the gorman as a delicacy. Because, as dangerous as they were, their flesh was comparably more delectable.
The slime beetle had another practice, which made it dangerous for the Ossies to venture inside the gorman’s lair. Since the slime beetle cannot see very well they rely on heat to find their host animals. The beetles can’t tell the difference between a gorman and an Ossie, so they would often land on Ossies attempting to sneak in to a cave to kill a gorman. Even if the Ossie brushed them away, the beetles left a tell-tale phosphorescent secretion behind on the Ossie’s body making them visible to the gorman.
On rare occasion an Ossie would be valiant enough to defeat a gorman in its den. When this happened the other gorman would give the Ossie safe passage to drag the dead carcass home as a prize to be eaten by him and his chosen few.
Because of the difficulty in killing a gorman in its cave a special tattoo was given to any Ossie who was ever successful in the defeat of a gorman. Only two living Ossies carried the crescent moon tattoo, Uan and Malcolm. No Ossie ever attacked another Ossie wearing such a tattoo out of respect and fear.
When the Ossuary system was discovered by extraterrestrials the fighting between tribes ended. They felt it more rewarding and practical to kill the outsiders.
The Ossies ignored all attempts to communicate with them. The Ossies saw no benefit in befriending outsiders. They felt that would just lead to misplaced trust and betrayal.
Several alien species attempted to tame the primitive Ossies. However, their ability to cloak and relentless fighting style became too much for any species. There was no surrender, bartering or threatening the Ossies into submission. Sneaking aboard an alien spaceship and killing the entire crew once it was in the air was a badge of honor.
Transporting an entire fort to the planet was only a temporary solution. The invading army eventually had to leave the base to visit the planet or the Ossies eventually found a weakness in the fort’s perimeter and would throw bodies at it until the weakness was exploited and every inhabitant of the fort was killed. Any equipment or structures that were left behind were destroyed using weapons or fire.
The Euclidians were the only ones that were able to form a relationship with the Ossies. They used there monitoring devices to listen in on the Ossies and learn their language.
They studied what motivated them and when they thought they had a plan in place they sent a Majorellen down as a hologram to present an offer to the Ossie people.
“Hello, Chocto, chief of the eastern village. I come in peace to make an offer to your people from the Euclidian,” stated Lanpilk.
Chocto swung at the image with his spear with no effect. “What manner of being are you and how do you know our tongue?”
“I am a projection of myself and I learned your language from afar.”
“Speak your peace and then go.”
“We respect your fighting culture and would like to give you the ability to fight many species of creatures on planets far from here. We will even setup the ability for your villages to view the conquests of your people doing battle.”
“And what is it you want in return?”
“We would like to place a base here in order to ensure that no un
wanted species pass over your planet and cause harm to it. We do not desire to walk about your planet uninvited.”
“That’s it.”
“For your tattooed warriors we would like to use them as special assassins and bodyguards for our people. They will be given special assignments that will take full advantage of their unique abilities.”
“This offer sounds intriguing, but how can I trust your people?”
“To show our good faith we will prepare a feast of gorman and local food and drink. As entertainment for the feast one of our people will challenge Malcolm to a fight using wooden staffs. The winner will wear this glowing, golden crescent moon,” Lanpilk stated holding it up so the chief could see it.
“I like the idea, but wooden staffs are not much of a weapon. Can I see this fighter of yours?”
“I apologize for the crude weapons, but the fight is not meant to be to the death. And I assure you our champion will be more than a match for Malcolm.”
“Okay, we I will agree to a three month trial after the ceremony and we will see how it goes.”
“Agreed. We will build a base seven kilometers south of here. Once the base is completed we will invite you over for the christening ceremony naming the base after the winner of the challenge.”
“So be it,” acknowledged Chief Chocto.
Three weeks later Lanpilk appeared before Chief Chocto in person to invite him to a feast on the following night. The chief accepted and the next evening a large contention of Euclidians and Ossies showed up at the new base to indulge in the feast, but most were more interested in the battle that would follow.
Two hours into the feast Lanpilk signaled the chief and he indicated that Malcolm was ready. The tables were cleared from the center of the camp and people gathered around to get a good spot for viewing the fight. Malcolm came to the middle of the area carrying his staff. He growled and went in and out of view to taunt the crowd.
“Where is your champion?” Screamed Malcolm.
“Ossies, Euclidians and other visiting species. I present our challenger Phoebe from Delta.”