"It's gone"
The other three giants walked up all of them staring at the ground around for a few seconds more and then they all went back to their guard posts around the main building as if nothing had happened. Hennings immediately dispatched search teams to see if the creature could be located. They were given strict orders not to engage the creature, just to report its location. Security and Med teams went into the building to check on the women and the injured soldiers that were still inside. Looking over to the Ladies I could see that even they were somewhat surprised as to the power of the giants. Walking over to them I asked
"It looks as if all of you are as surprised as the rest of us as to what the giants were able to do.
"Giants?" asked Doeeal
"It's what the soldiers has started calling them" I said as I pointed over to them.
"We have heard about their battle powers but we personally have never seen them in real battle"
"Doeeal, Go to Muraii and inform them of the creature's attack and it's outcome. instructed Sessa
Nodding, Doeeal took off towards Matriarch Hall. I gather they didn't want the locals seeing how they traveled.
"Any word from Tessia and Serona" I asked
"Not yet"
"You seemed worried"
"Concerned that the creature may attack again"
"I think not. Not after the ass whipping it just received" stated Hennings as he walked up.
"It hasn't been spotted anywhere, but considering what just happened it could be anywhere"
"Well we just saw a new previously unknown ability it has. It just melted into the ground and did so quickly. That is why your men were unable to track or catch it. It probably just melted into the ground and escaped that way"
"Yes. And that would explain how it got into the village pass my men and was able to attack the women"
Looking over to Sessa and the other two Ladies I asked
"Is anything about what has just happened familiar to any of you?"
Sessa and Yessal both shook their heads no. Fee on the other hand I noticed looked pissed. I mean really pissed. She just looked at me turned and walked away.
"Something I said?"
"No. Fee is a warrior born. More so than any of the rest of us. My order to not engage the creature did not sit well with her"
About that time Danvers commed Hennings with a status report. Excusing himself he left. Sessa signaled me to follow her. We walked off a ways.
"Fee's powers and abilities is not like the rest of us. As I explained to you before, Muraiin babies are born with little to no ability to harness their power. Only as they age do they slowly learn to do so. That was not the case with Fee. At birth, she had the power level of a young child and even though she didn't know how to harness it, it manifested itself in unusual, sometimes dangerous ways. From the time she was a year old to age four she had two powerful Sakquain trainers with her at all times trying to teach her how to control her powers. At age five she had more power than a teen Sakquain and her power level was a six . Her power level was astounding. By the time she was nine years old she had control over her powers to a degree only reached by much older experienced Sakquain warriors and her power level was a seven. To date no healer has ever been able to explain how or why she was gifted with so much power. She was assigned to our family clan for training at the age of eleven because we were the strongest more highly skilled trainees at that time and we were also rated levels six to seven although we were at least six years older. We were considered exceptional trainees at that time and having Fee train with us it was felt would benefit us all. We have all been together since. Right now Yessal and I are rated level eights, Doeeal a level seven. For our ages this is exceptional. Fee's at this time has no power level. She has surpassed all of us including the Elders. She has temporarily been assigned a power rating of eleven to twelve but this is speculative. At this time her power level is almost as much as Doeeal, Yessal and myself put together"
This was a surprising amount of information.
"Would her power have been enough to kill the creature?"
"Probably, but we do not know. We suspect that the creature would regenerate after her attack. Now you know why she is so upset. She wants to go up against this creature. Our fear is the unleashing of her powers to destroy the creature would cause serious collateral damage around her."
"Is that why she never smiles?'
"That is why she never does or engage into anything not combat related. All Muraiins love to engage in sex, music and the arts, especially those associated with nature. We all have interest in other things or activities. Fee has none of these interests or desires. She is twenty nine years old and has never had a sexual partner"
Okay that explained her sour mood and looks. Just then Yessal approaches us.
"Sessa you are needed back at Matriach's Hall"
"Has Tessia and Serona returned? I asked
"No, not yet"
"Is everything alright"
"Yes, everything is fine. I will see you later" answered Sessa before Yessal could answer.
I watched quietly as they both walked towards the Hall. About this time it was early evening, and I was surprised to realized I was tired. Remembering Carol, I decided I did not need the drama and for some reason did not want to upset Sessa, although I could not believe having dinner with Carol would do so. Yet the back of my mind was screaming I was missing something important. I think meeting these unusual women was upsetting my equilibrium and affecting my ability to think clearly. I have been around many beautiful and exciting woman in my life. In fact while in college, there was a standing joke on campus to the female students to avoid me at all costs. It was rumored I would break their hearts, and would not commit to anyone. That didn't stop the ladies though. It only increased their trips to my dorm room. I admit it. In college I was a cad. I am sure there were other more descriptive names I was called, but that was college. Part of getting a good education was enjoying life along the way, and believe me I did. Am I still like that today? No. Since I have been in the manhunter business I have settled down quite a lot because those distractions could get you killed, but there were on ocassions some distractions. I would have to do something about my situation now if I wanted to survive this particular mess. The monster that is, not the women. My mood was such I would make a poor dinner partner tonight. It was time to comm Carol.
"Hello honey. I was expecting your call right about now"
"How did you know I was going to call.
"I knew"
"Did you hear about the attack at the main hall?"
"Yes. The soldiers have rounded us all up and put us up in the main hall and the adjacent buildings while they try to speed up the evacuations. I don't suppose we can still have dinner"
"I'm afraid not. I have to be ready in case the creature returns"
"No problem. Promise me when this is all over we will have our dinner"
"It's a date"
"Fine then. Go attend to your duties. I will think of you. In my own way"
She disconnected and I regretted not being able to have dinner with her. In fact I found that I missed her company. Yet it was time to get back to business. I went to find Hennings.
Chapter Nine: New Plan Of Action
The woman, sheriff, his deputy and the soldiers who were all injured in the attack were going to be alright. Bruised and battered, the soldiers took the worse of the attack but all would make a full recovery. The female deputy however had some serious injuries. She was the first to try and stop the creature and had took a massive blow to her neck and shoulders. I had briefly met her during one of Hennings briefings and found out she was Sheriff Connelly's last surviving deputy. The other four had been killed in previous hunting trips after the creature. The rest of the day passed with no further incidents. The next day we were all busy getting the women on land transports which was taking them around sixty miles south to a very large clearing where the Verti-Max trans
ports were landing and taking one hundred or more woman at a time to Pacifica. It took the USOA Police HQ almost a full day to get enough of the Verti-Max and Land Buses together to get all of the woman loaded up and flown to safety. Already a good size group of the women were already safely at Pacifica, and the loading would continue nonstop. After the last attack we weren't taking any more chances with the women lives. Throughout the day I saw very little of the Ladies, but didn't think much on it because we were also busy with the extra preparations we were setting up in case the creature decided to try it's luck again. We did not know if it was aware that we were evacuating all of the woman and might decide to make a desperation move. Hennings had a full company of soldiers flown in to reinforce his men. The new plan was simple. Since no equipment we had could detect the creature, soldiers was flooded among the woman in the buildings and the woman was instructed that if the creature appeared from anywhere, they were all to drop to the floor. The soldiers would create a killing field and hit the creature with everything they had. We were able to communicate with the giants and they could not confirm if they would be able to detect the creature’s presence if it tried to sneak in again. We got them to agree to not charge in if the soldiers had the creature in a killing field. Only if it managed to escape the killing field would they attack. It wasn't much, but considering how difficult this creature was proving to be to kill, we were frankly out of options. Options that is that didn't harm the village and woods around it. Hennings had told me that the brass higher up was considering sterilization of the area. The ladies hadn't been told of this yet, and we both knew they would not take such action lightly. It was almost evening and I still had not seen the Ladies. I went over to Matriarch Hall to see Sessa and get an update on Tessia or Serona. Only Doeeal came to the door and said there had been no word yet from them and that Sessa and the other Ladies were engaged in a research project sent to them from The Elders, but would not elaborate further. I got the distinct impression my visit was a disruption to whatever they were doing. I told her to ask Sessa when she could, to come and see me. It was late evening and I was taking a break sitting out in front of my cottage when I saw her approaching the central building. Spotting me she detoured in my direction. As she came up to me she looked worried.
"Is everything okay?"
"Yes. Tessia has sent word she and Serona will be back sometime late tonight"
"Did they find out anything that would tell us how to kill this creature?"
"I don't know. Her message was short and brief"
"Are you okay?"
My question startled her.
"Why do you ask that?
"You look worried"
"It is nothing. Do not concern yourself"
"But I am concerned. I care about you and want to make sure you are okay"
My statement had an unexpected effect. Her face lit up like a Christmas tree.
"You care about me. Why?"
"Because I do that's why. Surely by now you must know I care about you"
"And Carol?"
Oh oh, here it comes. This was the last thing I expected to come out of this conversation, although I should have seen it coming.
"What about Carol?"
"You did meet her at the History Center did you not?
"Yes I did. She helped me with my research, which proved fruitless, but that was it"
She gave me the most intense and penetrating stare I had ever been subjected to.
"Did you not find her extremely attractive. Did you not want to make love to her.
Did she not invite you to be with her"
Talk about blunt questions and to the point. I figured it would be best to be completely honest with her on this matter.
"Yes I did find her to be extremely attractive, and yes she did ask me to have dinner with her, but that was all. And I declined"
"Why?"
She asked that question with an intensity that surprised me. So much so, it suddenly became clear to me why I was hesitant on going to dinner with Carol.
"Because the only woman I am really interested in having dinner with is you"
Her face lit up again. If she kept this up I was going to need some sunshades and sunscreen. Watching her reaction was like watching a child opening its gifts at Christmas.
"So you are not interested in her? You only want me?"
They were simple questions, but they pointed to what I now realized was the truth.
"Yes I only want you"
She actually squealed before jumping into my arms. The chair I was sitting in tipped over and we both fell to the porch. Laughing, she breathed in my ear,
"Let's go inside"
"Sessa I can't. I am still helping out with the watch"
She surprised me by pulling out a comm unit. Up until now I had never seen any of the Ladies use any tech equipment. She commed Hennings.
"Major, do you need Conrad for anything right now?'
I could hear the bastard snickering in the background.
"No. Everything is still quiet, and I have more then enough men on watch at this time. He is all yours"
I was glad he didn't need me, but he would pay for giving me up so easily.
"Thank you major" and then she disconnected and looked at me like a cat looks at a mouse it has cornered. Damn this woman could be predatory as hell when she wanted to. Getting up off the porch she led me back into my cottage, where everything and anything that went on outside no longer mattered.
It was around four am and Sessa had finally decided she had consumed as much of me as she could and we had been sleeping for a little over an hour when there was a knock at my door. Easing out of the bed quietly so not to wake her I went to the door and saw out the window that it was Fee. Not having a good feeling about her showing up I opened the door.
"What's wrong?"
"Tessia and Serona have returned. She want to see you, Hennings and his staff at noon over at Matriarch Hall"
She didn't say anything about Sessa, so neither did I. She bid me goodnight and left. I closed the door and turned towards the bed to see Sessa sitting up. There was a slight frown on her face.
"It was Fee. Sessa and Serona have returned. We all have to meet at the Hall at noon.
"Yes I know. I just received her message"
There is was again. The Ladies did have a method of communications unique to themselves.
"You did. How, when?"
She just tapped her head.
"Come on back to bed. We still have a few hours to rest before the meeting"
As I climbed back into bed I said, "Rest, huh?"
She just smiled.
Fee’s conveyed message to meet at the Matriarch Hall did not have a happy tone to it.
The tone of her message had an urgency to it that did not inspire good news. Sessa had left an hour before the meeting. Major Hennings and I arrived together. When we entered, Serona, Tessia and the four Ladies were already there. The looks on their faces justified my earlier assumption that the news was bad. As we entered Serona said,
"Gentlemen, please have a seat"
As we sat, Forne, Danvers, Stallings and Williams entered and heard the request for all of us to have a seat. With a look of great dismay Tessia stood and addressed us.
"We now know what we are up against and to be honest we do not know if it can be stopped."
Major Hennings, his men and I all looked at each other, did not say a word. We then looked back at her.
"You all have been briefed to some degree on Muraii and the fact we live in another dimension. For over thousand of years, we were convinced that the barrier between the other dimensions of reality was unbreachable, except the one between earth and Muraii, and we suspect that barrier is breachable by us due to some intangible link between the two. All other dimensions have been unreachable. That is until now or basically some time in the past."
We all except the Ladies had looks of confusion on our faces. We had learned from experience though to list
en up and all will be made clear.
"Centuries ago when our dimension was discovered, and Muraii was still located on earth, the first mages to go through did so only after having some other mages on the earth side establish a link to pull them back. We did not know if the Power existed in that dimension, and if not the mages would not have been able to transit themselves back to Muraii. To our surprise, not only did the Power exist in that dimension, it was actually stronger. Further investigations over the centuries have convinced us that the Power exist in all dimensions although in varying degrees. We are now afraid that the creature we have been battling is from another dimension. Even though we had always thought that was impossible somehow it has happened. Furthermore the creature did not come over to this dimension alone"
Manhunter Revelations Page 18