by J. D. Oliver
“Aren’t you guys going to go back to being animals?”
“If the need arises, that served it’s purpose. We were only animals to disguise our being on earth.” Gabe said.
“Then I take it that Clancy was one of you. He told me he had a family, were they Coyotes in disguise also?”
“Sure, but now all of them are back to normal. He is at the foundation in the Judith Basin, along with his family.”
“Do you two have families?” I asked.
“No, we’re single. Maybe some day, we’ve been looking forward to the possibility.”
“Let me ask you this; these ones who are laying siege to the Ranch, are you both okay with killing them, if we have to?”
“No, we can’t, but you can. The prime directive says that we can’t physically interfere. We can advise you though. This prime directive only applies here on earth. If we’re in space, we can.” Gabe said.
“That’s pretty convenient, how many of the Devil’s advocates are there in space, none?” Faith said.
Gabe and Tas looked at each other. “Uh, more than you would think. But that’s another story. One you will be told about later. First we need to concentrate on this mission.”
I had a thought, which I do at times. But anyway, I asked them: “Since you guys are so advanced, you must have some kind of weapon that will just disable and not kill?”
“Sure we do. But it was pretty hard to carry them with us, when we didn’t have any pockets. Or opposable thumbs to use them with.” Gabe said.
“So, I guess we’re stuck with these primitive weapons that we have.” I had to shut up, cause we were coming up on their camp. We stopped our horses in the trees.
Their campfires were nothing but coals. They were laying all about, in different stages of sleep, caused by their excesses, with drink or drugs, it didn’t matter much. They made it pretty easy for us.
I got off of my horse and picked up a tree limb. I motioned for the women to follow me. I whispered to them: “I will knock them over the head, you guys tie them up, use whatever is handy to do that.”
I simply tapped them over the head. A few had started to wake up, before I put them back to sleep. I sort of felt sorry for them, but not too much. There must have been at least fifty of them, I didn’t count. We did pick up their weapons and tossed them in the river. It was sad that they had sunk so far down in their depravity, that they no longer functioned as a fighting force. It would of probably been more humane to just kill them all. But my Mother always taught me to be kind to dumb animals. Except one, Dipper Tick, I was going to cut his throat, but I just kicked him in the head. I guess I was going soft.
We reached the ranch house just as the sun was coming over the nearby hill. They weren’t sleeping. As soon as we rode into the yard, out they came. The first thing Felicia said was: “Where is Alita?”
Alita got off of Matthew, her horse, who used to be a Mule and said, “Here I am Grandma, don’t you recognize me?”
“What? It is you, what in the world, how did you get so big?” Felicia said as she hugged her.
“It’s a long story Grandma, we don’t have time to tell you right now. You’re all supposed to get what you can and come with us.” Alita said, looking around at the rest of our loved ones.
Dad, Jake and Alona, pressed in close. Dad said, “What happened to your hair, you look like some kind of Mountain Lion or something?”
“Just battle scars, I guess you could say. We don’t have too much time Dad, Alita is right, we need to get away from here.”
“We’re ready, we were told that you were coming. The horses are already saddled in the barn. It’ll just be a few minutes. Gail has to get her medicines out of the cooler. It’s in the creek, we haven’t had electricity for over a year.”
It only took them about fifteen minutes. Twenty of them altogether. We went back the way we came. All of the mob were still knocked out. Jake looked at them and said, “I hate to think this bunch will take over our ranch, what scum they are.”
“They won’t have it long, the end is coming fast. We have to leave before it does.” I said.
“The end? What do you mean?” Jake asked.
“The end of this system of things. We have to leave, or we will be caught up in it.” Faith told him.
“How do we leave if the whole world is involved. Where do we go?” Jake said.
“That we don’t know for sure, perhaps you should ask Tas or Gabe, they’re up ahead, go ask them.” Faith told Jake, he kicked his horse up and caught up with them. He talked awhile with them and then fell back beside me. He didn’t say anything, I didn’t press him.
Alona fell back beside him, they talked. Alona’s expression became worried. I knew when we got back to camp, I would have to explain things to the whole bunch of them. But explain what? I didn’t know the whole story myself.
Gabe and Tas fell back beside me. I guess they knew I wanted to talk. “So, you guys haven’t told me everything, have you?”
“What do you mean?” Tas said.
“About why we have to leave earth. Now it seems to me there are only two sides to this good and evil thing. And that you’re either on one side or the other. So using that as a paradigm, if we ain’t part of that meek bunch, then we are part of the other.”
Gabe moved uncomfortably in his saddle, “Alright, we might as well tell him. That reasoning would hold true, if you, the bunch of you, were all earthlings. But what we haven’t told you is: You’re not!”
“What the hell, you trying to tell me that we’re not human?” I spat back at him.
“Oh no, you’re all human alright, just not one hundred percent humans from earth.” Gabe said.
“What do you mean, we’re not a hundred percent human, or not a hundred percent humans from earth?”
“The latter. You see you were told before that we have been on earth for thousands of years. Well, humans being humans, no matter where they’re from, we, uh, sort of had relations with humans from earth. That being the case there were progeny from these unions. I know, I know, we weren’t supposed to. So the crux of the matter being, the intermixed ones do not fall on the good side or the bad side. Hence we have to leave earth, us and all of our progeny, no matter how slight the connection.” Gabe said.
“And what if we don’t want to leave earth?” I said, a bit truculently .
“Well, since you’re not part of the meek, then you would be on the side that is to be wiped clean from the earth, I guess you know what that means?”
“Yeah, I know.” I said, meekly. “What about those that are gathered in the Carmel Foundation compounds?” I asked, as an afterthought.
“Yes, they have to leave also. Sounds rather simple, doesn’t it? But it’s not, you see, you earthlings and terrain breeds are deemed too violent to be allowed to settle on Terra. You just wouldn’t fit in. And the truth be told, we’re no longer welcome, either.” Gabe said, looking at Tas.
“What are they going to do, just dump us in space somewhere?”
“No, no they can’t do that. It would be inhumane.” Gabe said.
“Hey, I know. What about Viking Valley?” I said.
“Well, you see, it doesn’t really exist, well it does, but then again it doesn’t. It exists in conjunction with time and space. It’s there sometimes and sometimes it’s not.” Tas said.
“Maybe we don’t exist, maybe we just think we do?” I said.
“You exist alright, we all do. But we just don’t know where we will exist. We haven’t been told.” Tas said.
“Who is supposed to tell you?” Faith said.
“The authorities on Terra. We hope to hear in the next couple of days. In the mean time, I guess we just wait.” Gabe said.
We had reached camp while we were jawboning. Everyone pitched in to make supper. The sun was going down earlier and earlier, now it was setting around six. One thing I had learned, was not to stare into the fire at night. It made you night blind. I asked our mentor’s, �
�Should we set the guard tonight?”
“Of course, the Devil would like nothing better than to have his disciples do away with us. He’s been mad that Jehovah didn’t let him corrupt the Terrain’s, like he did to Adam and Eve. And he’s really pissed that he has been confined to earth since 1914. He’s been after us Terrain’s for a very long time. You see, like we told you, we’re not supposed to be here. Jehovah God is going to protect the meek, we are on our own.” Gabe said.
“Alright, I think we can depend on our hy-bred Horses to warn us if anybody comes around. Their almost human anyway. Now that their genes are mixed with the Mules, their smarter than ever. I’ll tell them, they can set the guard.” I said, as I left the ring of light that the campfire was throwing at the dark.
Brutus was taking the lead with the rest of them. He allowed as it was no problem. They slept on their feet most of the time anyway. They didn’t talk, well not yet anyway. But we could communicate. I guess some of those Terrain traits were coming to the surface on us breeds. One thing, I was used to being a breed, half white and Indian. But now I was a earth-terrain breed. I wonder what kind of breed I would become next?
Before I got back to the fire, Gabe and Tas stopped me. “We are going to shape-shift, and check out our surroundings.” Tas said.
“Yeah, Okay. Say how long have you guys been able to do that?” I asked.
“Oh, for quite awhile. That trait was one way we escaped the Devils wrath, for so long. I, for one, will be glad to get off of earth. The tribulation is about to start, I don’t want to see it.” Gabe said, as they walked into the dark. I heard the sound of a big bird taking off and the rustle of the brush as some kind of animal ran through it.
It took us till late in the night to explain to the rest of our family what had been going on in our lives. And also vice-versa. Dad and Felicia couldn’t get over how Rosie and Alita had changed. I was having a hard time getting used to my little girl, being a big girl, in every way….
She wasn’t getting used to it very fast. Faith had to keep reminding her to keep her clothes on. When she was small it didn’t’ matter too much. Of course Rosie was pretty much grown anyway. So it wasn’t too much of a change for her.
We spread our bedrolls under the trees. Faith, myself, Alita, Lacy, Rosie, Mary Jane and Iris, we were all close together. Dad, Felicia, Jake, Alona and the rest of their bunch were gathered under a tree close by…
I woke up an hour after we all fell asleep. I set up and looked around. The fire was burnt down to glowing coils. The stars were extra bright this night. Or was it because they were somehow more important now? The moon hung low and bright, almost like day. I looked around at everybody, everything looked right, but was it?
Some of the stars didn’t look quite right, one of them was moving, when it shouldn’t of been. It was curious, I should have been alarmed, but I wasn’t. I always slept naked. I stood up and found my knife and ammo belt. My 30-30 was leaning against the tree trunk by my head, I picked it up.
There was a clearing about 500 yards from our camp. I headed over there. Somehow I knew it would land in that clearing. I stayed in the trees, waiting. I heard a rustle behind me, I turned with my rifle up.
Faith, Alita, Rosie, Lacy, Mary Jane and Iris stood there. “Well, at least you remembered your weapons, if not your clothes,” I said to them.
“What about you, where are your clothes?” Rosie said. I looked down, then I pulled my ammo belt around a little bit, that put my knife scabbard in front of me.
Faith said, “Oh yeah, like that helps.”
“Well, at least I tried, you guys aren’t even trying to cover up.”
“Why should we, everyone here has seen all of us naked. What’s the big deal?” Alita said. I looked at her. She was standing there with one hand on her hip. Yep, I think she was getting used to her new body.
I looked up, the star was getting closer. I looked down, Gabe and Tas just appeared. “Were you going to tell us about this?” I said to them.
“Looks like we don’t have to. They should be here in about fifteen minutes.” Gabe said, he looked around at us. He added, “at least you’re dressed right. How did you know?”
“Know what?” Faith said.
“That they would be sans clothes.” Tas said.
“What do you mean, they don’t wear clothes?” Rosie said.
“That’s right, Terrains have never wore clothes. They were created naked just like Adam and Eve. The only thing is, they never sinned. To them wearing clothes is more of a sin than being naked.” Gabe said.
“How come you guys wear clothes?” Alita asked.
“We sort of got in the habit here on earth, people would of done us harm if we wouldn’t of.” Tas said. Then he chuckled, “but it was nice when we changed to animals, it felt pretty good not to have to wear these rags.”
“Now that, this changing thing, do they all do that?” I asked.
“No they don’t. Only a few of us, so we could protect our people. You see, like we said before, the Devil really hates us. God gave us this ability to thwart the Devil. I suppose when we leave earth, we won’t have this ability anymore.” Gabe said.
Tas cleared his throat, “Uh, one more thing, Terrain men don’t go to space, as a rule. A few of us did. Most men think it’s a woman’s job.”
“Do you mean to say that the crew members of that approaching ship are all women?” Mary Jane said.
“Mostly, I would bet. There might be one or two men that were brave enough to make the trip.”
“Do you mean to say that the men are scared to go into space?” Faith said.
“Heavens no, their scared at what the other men on Terra would think of them. It’s not manly, they think.”
“What about the three of you, that includes Clancy?”
“We were children, we came here with our mothers.” Gabe said.
“Where are your Mothers?” Alita asked.
“They are at the various Carmel Foundations. We’ll all be together pretty soon.”
“Oh? Have they told you where we are going?” I asked.
“No, not exactly. We do know there is an ‘M’ class planet where they might send us. It’s uninhabited. We don’t know for sure.” Gabe said….
I was watching the approaching star (space craft), it winked out. “Hey where did they go?” I said, pointing to the sky.
“They just cloaked themselves. No sense drawing attention to themselves or us. We should be sure and stay in the trees and stay off of the meadow. The ship is a big one, wouldn’t want anyone to get crushed when they land.” Tas said.
“Have you ever seen any of these ships from Terra?” Rosie asked. Leave it up to her to get down to brass tacks.
“Uh, well yes and no. Our mothers told us about them. We generally use the Wormholes to travel around. But like we already said, the draw back with wormholes is that they go from point A to point B. No stops or detours. The ships are a lot handier.” Gabe said.
“Oh yeah, one more thing,” added Tas, “the rest of your family and friends from here have to go by Wormhole. They need to be cleansed like you guys were.”
“Go? Go where?” I asked sharply.
“We thought we would send them to the Foundation Compound in the Judith Basin in Montana. The ship isn’t due for another fifteen minutes, so we have time.” Tas said, as he went over to where Dad and them were standing. They had brought a few head of horses and mules with them from the Rancho de Chama. So I guess they would go with them, like our animals came with us.
I walked over, well all of us did, to say goodbye. Gabe said as we approached, “Don’t worry, we are going there too, it’s just that they have to be run through the biological filter. The children will be grown when they come out, just as Alita and Iris were. Plus your Dad and Felicia will be younger, just as you guys are.”
Miguel and Ester’s children and grandchildren were a little leery about entering the wormhole, but when the horses and mules entered without any fus
s, they followed along.
The last one to enter was Gail Pretty Otter, before she entered she looked back at me. I went over to her. She said, “I’m a little bit leery about this, do you think it’s safe?”
“Sure, we went through it, believe me you’re going to feel a lot better, physically and mentally.” She laid her hand on my arm, looking down, she smiled, “You know that knife is not hiding anything, you wife is one fortunate woman.” Then she stepped in….
She was right, why should I hide it? I pulled the scabbard back to my hip, as I walked back to my family I could feel it flopping back and forth.
As we stood on the edge of the meadow, we felt a great displacement of air. Then the grass became flat all across the meadow. Tas and Gabe were taking off their clothes. They seen me looking, Gabe said, “It would be disrespectful of us to leave our clothes on, in fact a sin to the women on board the ship.”
Do you remember that I told you that Gabe had an aquiline nose? You know from his time as an Eagle. But now it was straight, both Tas and Gabe were perfect specimens of the human form. The female members of my family were giving them the once over. I said, “Girls stop your drooling, it’s not seemly.”
Faith was standing beside me, “I wasn’t.” she said. “I know you weren’t.” I said, as I pulled her around in front of me. Rosie, Alita and Iris’s cheeks had turned a bright red, but Mary Jane was still gawking at them.
Iris whispered at Mary Jane, “Mom, for heavens sake, haven’t you ever seen a naked man before?”
Mary Jane came out of her trance, “Yes, of course. But those two are single, their fair game.”
Faith said, “Yeah, but by the looks of it, you’re going to have plenty of competition.” As we were talking a hatch had opened and standing in it were a bunch of naked beautiful women, as we watched a gangway came out and down to the ground.
The ship itself was still cloaked, it looked weird, a hole in the sky with these women standing in it. They came down the ramp. Gabe and Tas walked forward to meet them. Mary Jane stepped out right behind them. Just as they stopped, Mary Jane pinched Tas on the butt. He jumped. Mary Jane stood there smiling.