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"Hey! You're stepping on my tulips!"
"Oh! I'm sorry. I was looking at--"
"Whoa! Are you all right?"
"I really doubt it. Can you understand me?"
"That's a very strange question. Of course I can. Look you'd better sit down. Here. Lawn chair. Would a glass of water help?"
"Thank you, Mistress."
"You sit right there and I'll go in and get you one."
Julie sighed as she walked into the house. An angel had just tromped her tulips, swayed dizzily when she spoke to him, then been totally amazed when she offered him a chair and a glass of water. Typical Saturday in LA. Too bad he was on something. When she carried the water out, he was staring down at the city from the middle of her tulip bed again.
"You're in my tulips."
"I've been very careful not to step on them. It's murky. Smells awful."
"The air or the water?"
"The air, but I think the water may qualify as well."
"Out of towner. Tourist?"
"Definitely."
"Yeah, the LA smog is pretty intense the first time. You get used to it. Today's not bad. Pretty good onshore flow."
"You've got to be joking! The hydrocarbon by-products are absolutely noxious! Fossil fuel?"
"You're beginning to make me nervous."
"Probably not half as nervous as I am. I'm sorry. I'll leave. Your tulips attracted me, then I saw the view... Yes, I should definitely leave. Would you answer one more very strange question? What's the name of this world?"
"You're the most gorgeous man I've ever seen and you're crazy. Just my luck. The world is Earth. Now go before your keepers tromp my tulips trying to catch you."
"Yes, I should get back to my ship. She'll have most of the information I need by now. Thank you for your kindness, Lady."
"Hold it. You're bleeding."
"Yes, but it's minor. One of the dark brothers found me too far from my ship. It's the first time I ever made that mistake. I shall not make it again."
"Sit down. I'll clean it up. Who'd you run into? One of the Bloods? I've seen them in the neighborhood."
"Bloods?"
"Gangs. Where are you from, anyway?"
"Somehow, I doubt you'd believe me."
"Try me."
"Well, I'm eight galaxies and several hundred years from my home world."
"You're right. I don't believe you. That knock on the head shook something loose. I'll probably be sorry I did this, but come inside and I'll get you... What are you doing?"
"Listening. RUN! Don't argue!"
He grabbed her hand, then scooped her up and carried her. They'd found him already. Somehow, they were tracking him. He dodged the beam fire and ran for his ship. The Earth girl was hardly a hindrance. She was very light. He thanked the Powers he hadn't locked his ship. He ran through the door, slammed it and dematerialized. Since they were tracking him, it made no sense to leave.
"LOOK OUT!"
He spun and saw the girl on the back of the hooded figure of a dark brother. She'd saved his life. Now he needed to save hers. She'd kept the brother from using his weapon, but she was merely a temporary hindrance. He ran to aid her. When the dark one struck her, something happened inside him. He screamed in rage and killed it. He began to shake in reaction and shock.
Julie was kind of surprised she woke up. The guy in the hood didn't look like he was going to. Necks didn't bend like that. She realized she was hearing whimpering. Soft, terrified, crying. It was her angel. He was curled in a corner.
"Shh. It's all right. You got him. He can't hurt us now."
"I... I killed him. I didn't intend it, but he hit you. I lost control. He really didn't have a chance. He was helpless and I killed him."
"Helpless?! He was trying very hard to fry you with that gun! If I hadn't yelled, he'd have succeeded! You saved your life and probably mine! You've... never killed anything before, have you? Nothing."
"I've never seen anything die."
"I hope I wake up and find out this is all pepperoni pizza. Look, I'm Julie. What's your name."
"I haven't got one. They took it."
She decided to call it pepperoni pizza and get on with it. It was either that or have screaming meemies.
"Who took it?"
"The Lord Master's servants. He never allowed me to have one. It pleased him to use me nameless."
"All right. From the top. Where are we?"
"My ship."
"And where did you get the ship?"
"I built it. I built all the ships."
"Who did you build the ships for?"
"My master. It was my labor of twelve years."
"And who was this master?"
"Lord Hensk."
"The one who took your name? So, why'd you work for him?"
"The question is meaningless to me?"
"Why'd you work for some creep that... took your name?"
"I was too young to wish to die. Nameless ones were only fed if the master remembered to order it. My master usually remembered."
"Wait a minute. Are you talking about... slavery?"
"Yes, but I ended it. I burned out the power satellites. I fed the power of the star I harnessed through them. Without power, weapons would not work and locks would open. The servants of the Dark One could not have stopped my people leaving."
"So you started a slave revolt and your people got rid of these servant guys."
"No. They would have just left. Although, some of the other imprisoned species may have destroyed them. My trainer wanted to kill his master. Perhaps I am guilty of two deaths. I told him thank you, instead of no."
"If you freed them, why didn't you stay?"
"I had set twelve servants of the Dark One loose in the universe. I decided, if they were chasing me, they'd be too busy to destroy unsuspecting worlds. I must find his ship and destroy it."
"I was right the first time. You're an angel. A complete innocent. Well, LA can change that in a hurry. Why am I doing this? Come on. Let's get you some survival skills. Wait a minute. I'm not thinking straight. Where are his friends?"
"Friends?"
"Yeah. You know. The ones that took potshots at us on the hill."
"Oh, that was him. He just kept landing a few seconds further in the future and trying again, then he went back to the past and laid an ambush in here."
"I see. He had a time machine."
"That's what the ships are. It's why I have to keep the dark brothers busy."
She giggled. She just couldn't help it. She was sitting on the floor of a good-size room, that couldn't be in her yard, talking in calm tones about a dead man that hopped around in a time machine, built by an angel, who... Too much.
"All right. Are any more likely to show up?"
"No. I don't know how he followed me. When I locate his ship, I hope to learn."
"OK, let's find his ship. What do you want to do with him?"
"Leave him. My ship will dispose of him. He is a... contaminant. She'll feel the evil and rid herself of it."
"She didn't before."
"But he was alive then. He isn't now."
"Now stop that. No more crying. Ship, get that thing out of here. WOW! Did I do that?"
"I think she agreed with you."
"I feel like Alice in Wonderland. Come on, little white wabbit. Let's find a ship and then you'll only have eleven chasing you."
"I hadn't thought of that. What's a wabbit?"
She had pepperoni pizza delivered. It just seemed appropriate. He loved it.
Choice of the Gallant - Paradox Equation I Page 10