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Day Five ~ Fresh Morning, New Day





“Fella… Alpha, easy…” Alpha heard from a distance, as the big man picked up in his arms, quite effortlessly: “And these are my people. Now maybe I do owe you; but you’re a stranger to the toplands…”



Alpha was dimly aware of being carried outside and, of the fresh night air, as he was carried a distance, being lain down on a single bed.



“We don’t get strangers here and, we’ve never seen a killerman, till you….”



A blanket was pulled over him.



“But, you saved my grandson, so I’m indebted to you…”



Then a wet rag on his forehead and, a woman’s gentle voice gave him momentary reassurance, until the blackness took him once again.



And, in his back-brain, Alpha heard another voice quite distinctly; a voice that he somehow realized was not human.



“You are confused Alpha Man, killer of colonists…” the voice intoned and, Alpha winced within the darkness, aware the statement was correct. He was a killer.



“You have a chance for redemption, killerman. The children I have nurtured since the pogrom…



This was sensory overload; and to avoid hearing anything more, Alpha’s mind seemed to shutdown, further still.



Then as awareness slowly returned yet again, Alpha’s head tossed to and fro. And, Mandy McCreavey still sat by his bedside, speaking to him in a hushed voice, “C’mon mister,” she told him, padding his forehead with a cold damp compress, “after saving Mikey, you have to get better… you have to!”



Leaning forward, Mandy pressed soft lips to his right cheek; “You hear that mister? You saved him. You saved him…”



Mandy McCreavey was oh-so-frustrated; she wanted Alpha to know, to understand, just what he’d done for her. Yet, to all appearance ‘that was impossible,’ she considered impossible. She was not to know though, Alpha had heard her voice, her words; and he stirred, a little.



‘The nightguard was the lat of its kind…’ the booming voice, of indeterminate sex, informed Alpha, filling his skull with its presence…



And, Alpha felt the need to scream at this invasion. But, he didn’t…

Instead of doing so, Alpha cried out, “But, I saved the boy, I saved the boy!”



And, at his side Mandy McCreavey’s brow furrowed. She wanted to do something, anything, for her boy’s saviour: “But, what can I do?” She murmured, dabbing at his sweat-sheened forehead again.



All the while, the voice spoke, filling Alpha’s mind, with its words: ‘I regret the harm that came to the little person. But, the guardian kept the peoples of the toplands safe at night, from those who took from them and, from this one and, protected from those outside…’



“I’d had to kill it!” Alpha moaned.



And, as another cold compress was applied, Mandy assured him that he’d ‘done the right thing’ by squeezing his right-hand between hers, as she murmured, “Hush, hush… it’ll be alright. Calm down….” She was concerned for the powerfully built man, who appeared quite delirious.



‘The killermen in their big ships return…’



‘How do you know that?’ Alpha asked the voice, calmer and very curious; speaking to the voice in the same manner it did, inside his mind.



And, Mandy McCreavey continued to stroke Alpha’s fevered brow, grateful he seemed calmer now.



She was obviously quite unaware of Alpha’s conversation with the voice, speaking to him still.



‘How do you know they’re returning?” Alpha asked.



‘An other… like this one… in the outerland… they have told me, of their presence…’ Then there was silence a moment, then the voice returned: ‘After… that one was changed…’



In a moment of clarity, Alpha understood.



The lowlands, or the downloand, were Ground level… the toplands, the plateau. And, the outerland was… space. The other was… ‘It was just too incredible…’



The other was a planet, a sentient planet, like the one he spoke with now….



‘It was alive! And furthermore, it had been protecting the plateau’s inhabitants as if they were its to care for…’



And, as if to prove the strength of the connection between Alpha and it, the voice told him as in response, ‘They need protection… from the changing,’



‘The changing?’ Alpha queried. ‘The changing…?’ Again he found clarity, albeit slowly, “You mean terraforming!”



‘I know not of this word… but after they returned, the other was not the same…’ he heard the voice tell him, each word halting, as if drawn from great depths.



‘They make a place a blank slate to work from, then change that planet, to suit corporate need…’ Alpha explained, idly wondering if the worm that the boys’ father had hunted had been brought here, to produce ‘spice’, for The Federation.



There was a long moment of silence; then the voice spoke once more, sounding almost bright in tone, ‘Ahhhh… like this one did with a dead killerman.’



‘If a planet could laugh, I’m sure it would,’ Alpha mused, moments before he began to awaken fully, the seeds of new growth taking place within.



But as yet, Alpha was unaware of this… He was aware though of Mandy McCreavey’s arms being thrown round his neck, her kisses on his cheek and, the cool breeze of a new morning blowing through the open window, onto his cheek.



“Now that sort of greeting could make someone want to fall unconscious more often,” he muttered, face pressed against her breast, as Mandy continued to hug him.



“Fool,” Mandy exclaimed with a smile, the flat of her left hand on his chest, as she sat back onto her haunches.



Alpha rubbed at his eyes, as he accepted the glass of water she offered.



“I recall you, Mikes mother. How is he?” Alpha asked.



“He’s doing well Mister….”



“Alpha…”



“He’s doing well Alpha,” Mandy told him, standing; “I’ll go tell the Mayor you’re awake and…”



“He has a new nightguard… be sure to tell him that…” Alpha told her, with a smile.

COMMENTS

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NoctusAngelusProcella
02:34 Jan 29 2012

great write. I envy your ability!

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POST COMMENT

Day Four ~ Sanctuary Clarified



Alfred McCeavey, the Mayor and the boy’s grandfather, was a big man, with chiselled features; his dark hair worn short was greying at the temples. He appeared to be in his late fifties.



McCreavey passed Alpha a hand-held torch and, in the flickering light he slowly passed one table after another, peering closely at each exhibit, laid carefully on tissue paper with the tray.



A glint caught his eyes and, he looked down to find glasses similar to those he had worn beneath his helmet sitting on a woven platter before him, still intact.



“Yes, we have many exhibits that demonstrate that your kind were here,” the boys Grandfather told Alpha, as a group of men huddled together at the back of the big room, each of them looking over I turn toward Alpha, as they talked together.



Alpha looked around. The exhibits were few, in their trays, on rude tables, but presented on display as they were, the man was right: they illustrated that ‘his kind’ had been on the planet, with their weapons loosing death upon the towns people and earning them the sobriquet, ‘the killermen.’





He reached down and without asking permission, Alpha picked up the mirrored ‘shades’, which he slipped on, setting them in place and, adjusting them to suit.



Suddenly light flared in his brain and he closed his eyes as images flowed…



It was as if a bright white light went off inside Alpha’s skull, beginning just behind his eyes.



And, McCreavey continued talking: “…grateful, of course. But, we recall your kind and, teach our children of how the colnee was all but wiped-out by the killermen, as The Corporations sought to take New Earths bounty.”.



As he spoke, Alpha saw his squad decimate a town and its people. And, as events unfolded before his eyes, Alpha learnt of the soldier head had been; before he arose again.



And, if he’d had belief, Alpha would have said that his visions were from God, so he could learn of what had been.



To Alpha the soldier, this was to be accepted. Yet to Alpha now, non-dependant on stims and born again; what he saw was a revelation from the divine.



But, in this instance, ‘the Divine’ was a bio-chip in the right arm of the glasse, which amplified the Alpha’s group mind, so that information gleamed by each, could be fed back to the whole, or to back to Command; via the chop in the left arm.



They had been responsible for a great many deaths, as he had fought for Tellux Corp.; the largest of the corporations looking for minerals, out on the Outer Fringe of Foundation Space.



Alpha removed the shades, aware that his dna had activated them. That was all. But, what he’d seen had shown his so much that he felt somewhat confused and, very shaky indeed. He blinked several times, and then looked to Alfred, ‘Ted’.



“Are you alright Alpha?” The big man asked, his right hand on Alpha’s shoulder steadying him.



“I’m fine,” Alpha replied. There was a tear trickling down his left cheek.



Alpha felt shamed, yet seeing the glances cast his way by the men at the end of the room he was glad of the pulse weapon at his side.



“I can’t say I blame you,” Alpha muttered.







Having placed the glasses back in the exhibition tray, Alpha turned and looked toward McCreavey . Although the glasses weren’t in place, they had brought a few useful memories to the forefront of his mind.



“The nightguard are part of the security system here, aren’t they?” Alpha asked unnecessarily, He had seen them before, sometimes used as warders of penal planets.



Yet, this wasn’t a penal planet, ‘was it?’



Whether these men and women were the descendents of oldstyle colonists, or former colonists, it was apparent they’d treated the nightguard as their protectors.



The nightgard were more than that; Alpha knew that.



“We know not fellow,” the big man replied thoughtfully, “we are taught from an early age not to leave the toplands. Yet Mikey did that, like his Father. And, look what happened to him?”



“You can’t blame the boy, for what happened,” Alpha told McCreavey, thoughtfully mulling over the nights event. What he had seen had been a revelation; yet they had been nothing, in comparison to the memories that the images had reawakened.



This planet had been assigned a number by Tellux Corp. and, for the Corporation, that all the colony was, a number on a mission folder, from which he had read out his orders, for his men.



That much he recalled, yet he still could not recall were the nightguard came from.

“Who placed them there?” He mused aloud.



Alfred McCreavey looked on, at the seeming madman, muttering away.



“And, why haven’t I spoken with anyone else, other than you?” Alpha questioned, of himself and, the room, moments before he crumpled to the floor, unconscious.

Alpha From The Ashes



Day Four ~ Return to Sanctuary





Alpha walked slowly and steadily, following a pathway through the low-lying branches that the lad had left the day prior; thankful the boy had made no effort to cover his trail.



“Gotta get you back to…” he muttered, a moment or so before walking out of the woodland and onto the edge of a clearing and, a small town.



Looking to the left then right and, aware that he was being watched, Alpha strode forward and, as townspeople gathered round him, he continued to walk on, toward the biggest building in the small town, lit by several stands of flaming torches.



From somewhere he heard a man’s voice call out, “That’s Mandy Mcreavey’s lad in that killerman’s arms… someone stop him…” Someone tried. A fellow with bare arms and an old leather apron tied round his corpulent belly stood before Alpha.



“Killerman, give me the boy…” he ordered, a look of menace to his face.

Alpha retained his usual stoic countenance, as he looked to the man, then told him softly, “Get Mandy McCreavey for me… and, get of my way…”



There was no ‘please’, but there was serious intent in the glare that he gave the burly man before him and, the fellow saw it and paled.



Crowds parted for the soldier, holding the boy, so very carefully in his arms. And, by the time he reached the step leading up the meeting house a woman ran toward them calling out, “My boy! My boy!”



Gingerly Alpha lay the lad down on the lowest step, then stood erect, as the wailing woman knelt at her son’s side.



“What did you do to my boy?” the woman snarled, as she looked to the blood seeping through the field-dressings covering his shoulders.



She turned her head to look at Alpha, as a crowd gathered round him in a semi-circle, a mask of sheer hatred on her face; and the townspeople kept a distance from the soldier, as they muttered amongst themselves.



“I made sure he got here Mrs McCreavey, that’s all I did…” he told the woman, adding quite unnecessarily, “The boy needs a doctor.”



Stemming the tears that flowed with the backs of her hands, the woman’s face lost the scowl and somewhere in the crowd, a woman’s voice called out, “Get Doctor Jack!”



Yet, it wasn’t the doctor who the crowd parted for, it was a big man, with a powerful looking frame, sporting a shock of white hair.



The fellow walked forward slowly ignoring Alpha, then made his way toward the steps, where Mandy McCreavey sat, her sons head in her lap.



The big man knelt onto his right knee, as he looked down, at his grandson. Then the fellow looked to the crowd, many of who had flickering lanterns iin their hands and he called out, “Where the hell is that doctor? I want him here, NOW!”



Again the crowd of people broke, to allow a slightly built fellow to walk through, his black holdall in his left hand, a lantern in his hand.



The young man looked to Alpha briefly, as he approached his patient, wary of the stranger, yet intent on doing his duty.



“Get to it doctor,” the big man instructed, standing away from the mother and child and turning to face Alpha: “You and I have to talk, Mister?…”



“Alpha…” Alpha muttered.



“That it?” The big man asked, draping his left arm over Alpha’s, as he guided him up the steps, through double doors and, into a long room, lit by a series of flaming torches, on top of long poles.



“Could say Alpha Prime,” he was told, “but I wouldn’t. Its just Alpha.”



“Well just Alpha…” the big man muttered, as he released his hold on the smaller man, “I’m Alfred McCreavey, the boy’s grandfather…”



“I guessed…” Alpha muttered, so quietly that the man could hardly catch his words.



“But fella, you can call me Ted, alright?”



“Ted?” Alpha queried, “Where are we?”



“We’re in the longhouse, the towns meeting house…” He was informed.



Alpha stared around, at the stacked chairs at one end of the room, near a raised stage; then he looked to the sides, where tables stood, with several item on each.



“And this?” He asked, pointing to a tray nearby.



“Memories of a time when you’re kind arrived here the first-time…” the big man drawled, his words taking his memories back then.



“My kind?” Alpha mused aloud, as several men entered the long room, to stand near the open doors, as he spoke with their Mayor, Alfred McCreavey.



‘Soldiers falling from the skies, landing in our sanctuary, weapons firing death…” he intoned, ‘talking like the boy, as if by learnt rote’, Alpha mused.

Alpha From The Ashes



Day Four ~ Terror In The Sky





‘Soon blood loss will take it’s toll,’ thought Alpha calmly, as above his head, Mike screamed with pain.



“Quick Mike,” Alpha called to the boy, “throw me the clip!” Then with added urgency, he shouted, “Now!”



Although he was panicking, Mike did as instructed and threw the clip in a light arc downward and Alpha made to catch it.



And, falling to the ground, he caught the clip, in both hands, his arms outstretched: “Now, come to Papa!” He told the clip, as he slammed it home and, into the body of the pulse weapon.



He had to fire. But…



Alpha didn’t want to hit the boy, as the slow-flapping illustrated that they were rising slowly, so he called out: “Mikey! Mikey!”



“Alpha… It hurts… it hurts…” he heard the boys voice faintly over the sound of flapping wings…



“Keep calling out!” Alpha called back, as he lay on his back, directing the barrel of the weapon upward and, pressed the trigger on instinct alone.



A shriek of pain emitted from the creature carrying the boy, who screamed himself, as the talons holding his shoulders released and, he fell.



Alpha cast his weapon to the side and stood, arms ready…. Then, a mere second later, Mike fell straight into them, eyes closed and, unconscious.



Alpha went down on one knee, looking down at the lad, as somewhere further on in the forest, a nightguard crashed to the earth.



The soldier was unaware of this though; he was too busy standing slowly with the boy in his arms. He walked toward a tree and placed the boy down gently, his back against it’s trunk. Then Alpha pulled his vest off and used his knife to tear it into strips, which he used as bandages, to care for the boy’s wounds.



“You alright little man?” He murmured finally, caressing an errant lank of hair from the boy’s eyes. There were tears in his own, which were unexpected and new to him.



‘A soldier doesn’t feel; a soldier did his duty’… he heard distantly, the words coming from a memory, tied to an experience many, many years back.



Yet, as Alpha continued to caress the lad’s forehead he felt sadness filling him. The boy seemed quite ill, his breathing shallow and, the white of the bandages were already darkening with the blood soaking through.



Alpha had to act, or the boy would die and, ‘that can’t happen’, he mused.



He picked up the weapon and draped the strapping over his head, then he knelt at Mike’s side: “C’mon little man,” He murmured, as he stood again, with the boy in his arms; “time to go looking for your grandfather…”

Day Three ~ Nightime Terror



His grip on Alpha’s hand, Mike led them deeper into the forest, eyes glanced anxiously side-to-side, as they did so.



Finally Alpha asked, “Are you as nervous as you look?”



Turning to look at Alpha, the boy scowled, “The nightguard are to be feared and revered, as our protectors…”



Realizing the lad was speaking from learnt rote, Alpha decided not to pursue the matter any further, until a thought suddenly occurred to him: “What do they look like?” He asked, in a gentle voice, in a manner he hoped seemed conversational.



“They are both terrifying and yet, to be relied upon. Such are those we call the nightguard…” the lad droned.



They were getting deeper into the darkness, where the boughs of tees grew near to one another and, their overhanging branches netted together.



“And you made your way from the village and through this forest, to get to the path and the downlands?…” Alpha queried softly: “Well, you sure came a long way…” Alpha mused, “for a bite of my snake…”



There was squad humour mixed with observation, as Alpha spoke, his words acting to highlight a seriousness of intent.



“Well, I got dared by classmates,” the boy explained defensively, as if it explained everything and somehow, for Alpha, it did.



Abruptly, a keen shrill shriek broke the quiet of the night, a long shrill shriek that was repeated time and again, accompanied by the sound of heavy wings beating together.



Mike gave a start, looking bug-eyed toward Alpha, who had ceased walking at the sound. Then, with one finger to his lips he looked at the boy as, Alpha glared into the blackness all around, staring as if by sheer will alone he’d be able to see into the dark, to see what he needed.



He couldn’t of course, not even his augmented vision could see in pitch black. But, he did note a whirring above him.



Then he saw the green eyes on yellow, set within two within two flattened ellipse; and they were nearing fast, as the sound became a distinct flapping, close-to.



And all-of-a-sudden, twin sets of talons tore into the boy’s shoulders,



Then Alpha watched, as Mike found himself left, blood trailing downward…

Day Three ~ Eveningtime





Finally, they made into to where the pathway left the fissure and, Alpha walked forward a little then turned back to walk toward the cliff edge. He and looked into the clouds, knowing that once more he found himself walking into an unknown, without his men at his aside.



For Alpha, that was almost as bad as being with a working weapon.



Almost, but not quite…



“Alpha…” they boy called and, he turned back, a smile on his face.



“Yes Mike… I’m sorry. Which way?” He responded.



The boy stepped forward and took his hand, leading Alpha forward, into dense woods.

“This way Alpha… it’ll…” He looked around, momentarily fearful himself.



“It’ll be about ten minutes… alright?”



Alpha felt the lad squeeze his hand and, he wondered at this reassurance, one found from the contact of another… it was similar to that connection he had known with his men, yet… somehow different.

“Yes Mike, alright…” He told the boy, a concern, and a minor one; well more of an irritant, floating there… caught his attention, once more.



“You didn’t answer my question…” Alpha recalled.



“What?” Mike quizzed of him, looking momentarily flustered by the statement.



Unlike the downlands, the woodland on the topland was cooler and darker, .



“Earlier I asked about the nightguard, what is it?” Alpha asked, beginning to feel wary once more…



“The nightguard are our protector and, have been since…” the boy paused, recalling his history lessons, “Well, since the first day.”



Musing on this, Alpha sighed; ‘So much to learn, in a short space of time.’

Day Three ~ Early eveningtime





Alpha looked up and where the cliff-face disappeared into the clouds, “Exactly where is Toplands Mikey?”



There was another memory, of a time passed.



He had been with many others, repelling down ropes their weapons ready, toward…?

It was hazy, the memory so distant. But there it was.



“Behind the rock Alpha. There’s a path up to the topland, where it’s green and we have the colnee…” the boy explained, as patiently as possible; he’d been away quite awhile now and, Mike knew Granfather would be worried about him.



“Alright Mikey,” Alpha retorted as he stood, “I’ll find another rock to pee behind.”

And, that is what he did, as Mike stood himself and bean to make his way toward the rock face and, the way back home.



He had left the village on a dare from one of his classmates; having made the mistake of telling them he’d made several expeditions to the downland, where his Father had gone and been killed, as seen by two other hunters.



And, he had told them the truth. He just hadn’t told them he had only ever been as far as that first rock at the base of the crack in the escarpment.



And now here he was, taking a stranger to his home: Mike was wary about that. But he seemed alright and, he did remind him of…. his Father.



“You set to go them?” Alpha asked quietly, approaching the boy slowly.



“Yeah… I guess,” Mike answered, biting his upper lip.



“Go on, what’s the matter?” Alpha queried, again puzzled by these new emotions he felt: after all; here he was feeling empathy and, compassion for an onlie.



‘Where did it come from?’



“Well, I jus…” the boy looked to Alpha, deep in thought.



“I jus don’t want grandfather, or Mummy to be in danger…” He finally answered.



And somewhere in Alpha’s gut, a spring sprung tighter



He had not known his family, having been taken from them at school-age, to begin having the modifications needed, to make him into who and what they had: a super-soldier, connected by a commonality, to his comrades in battle: restructured DNA which had made them the perfect fighting unit. ‘Until…?’



He had been with many others, repelling down ropes, toward a rebel colony?

‘Was that it?’ he wondered, shaking his head, to thrust the recollections back where they belonged, for now.



“Believe me Mikey, I meant… erm, I mean… I mean your family no harm. I just…” Again Alpha was lost, for words.



“Is alright Alpha… I think I can trust you…” The boy told him, feeling somehow reassured, by the soldier’s apparent doubts. He did seem ‘safe’.



“C’mon,” he began, taking Alpha’s left hand in his right, the clip now in his left hand: “If we start, we can maybe make it there before the nightguards come out…”



“Who are they?” Alpha asked, allowing the boy to lead them, toward the rock, the gap behind it and, the dark.



Suddenly Alpha realized something else about himself, he didn’t like the dark.



Mike felt his hand get clammy and, felt him pull a little, “You alright?”



Alpha was sweating and, his heartrate had increased. He knew he was not ’alright’.

Yet, this emotion had to be controlled, so that is what Alpha did.



Finding resources from within, power filled his muscles and mind clearing of fear, Alpha looked to the boy and replied, “I’m fine my young friend. Lead on…”



Mike did as bid, leading them passed the large rock and, onto the pathway cut into the rock, which led upward, in steps.



“They were built when the colnee landed. The oldie’s they used the ship parts to make our homes back then,” he told Alpha proudly, as he looked over his shoulder.



He had learnt well at school, paying special attention when he heard mention of the downland, where his Father went, with a hunting party, looking for one of the worms, rations being so scare.



Yet, his father had not returned and, the men who had come back had told of how the wom had risen up from the sand, beeping and roaring, as it rose, maw open to take his father, deep into his belly.



And, Mike stopped for a moment, as tears fell.



In the dark, Alpha walked into his back, hearing the boy sniff hard, trying hard to keep any more tears from falling; ‘You’re the man of the house’ grandfather would remind him at times. And, he was right.



“Yes, I’m alright…” Mike told Alpha; then took his hand again, as they progressed upward, on the well-worn path.

Day Three ~ Late afternoon





Pondering on all he had heard and learnt, Alpha ruffled the boy’s hair, as he asked, “Do you think your Grandfather would talk to me?”



Mike looked at the powerful looking man and then his weapon: “He won’t like that.”



Alpha looked to where he stared and smiled lightly, “From what you said I don’t blame him or you. But, you can carry it, if you feel safer. I’ll approach with my hands up… I’ll…” he wanted to say something else, but words eluded him.



Mike looked to him and smiled.



“It’s all right Sir, from the little I know of you… you’re alright… but….” He was doubtful. He knew his grandfather and, how he recalled the old times. ‘Heck,’ he considered, ‘he was about my age, back then…’



Frowning, Alpha stood. He unclipped the weapons charge-pack, which he handed to the boy telling him, “Without that, I can’t use this. Alright?”



The boy nodded. “I understand…” He replied.



“Good,” Alpha assured him, grinning; albeit feeling apprehensive now. After all with the weapon he knew no-one, or little else, could be a threat to him. Without it, he was just a well-trained soldier, his DNA restructured for harsh environments; his physical skills honed to the zenith of what was possible, for a super-soldier, like him.



Yet the weapon gave him that edge, he needed.



And yet, he needed some thing more: Alpha needed knowledge, knowledge of who he was and where he came from.



‘The boy’s grandfather might just have that information…’ he mused; wanting to know more, to… understand.



“Now without that clip, this is useless,” He began, indicating the weapon, “So, do you feel alright taking me to visit grandfather?”



The boy nodded and Alpha grinned toward him,



“And you’ll hold that in plain sight will you?” He requested.



“Uhuh mister, I will… but why?” He asked curiously.



Alpha turned to look at the terrain he had crossed, musing and, although he heard the question, there was another on his mind: ‘If there was something dangerous out there, then why hadn’t it attack him?’



“Mister?” The boy requested, tugged on Alpha’s belt, “you alright mister?”



‘Mister… Mister…? Mister Cage?’ There it was: a memory, from his DNA; an Echo from his past…. f past wars…and, something else, someone else.



The boy continued to tug on his belt, “Alpha! Can you… can you hear me?”



‘Hear me… hear me…’ The words swept through a confused mind, until finally they reached where intended, drawing Alpha from his reverie.



“Yes Mike?” He responded.



“Are you alright mister?” The boy asked, concern evident on his face and, on his face,



Shaking himself from his reverie, Alpha focussed on his now; and the boy’s voice, then his face…



And, his mind found clarity once more…



“Yes Mikey,” He answered, ruffling the lad’s hair again; “I’m alright.”



The lad liked what he did: it reminded him of… his father.



Grinning sheepishly up at Alpha he asked, “You seemed so distant. Where were you Mister?”



“Alpha…” He was reminded.



“It’s Alpha not mister. Alright Mikey?” Alpha requested, running his left hand over his brow, to keep the sweat of the day at bay and, found that his hair was no longer cut extremely short and, now it was a good half-inch long, all over.



The boy nodded.



“I guess… I’m more complicated than I thought I was…”



And grinning at the boy he said, “The sun’s getting hot again, very hot. We should get moving, if you’re going to take me to meet your grandfather…”



Again the boy nodded, hardly taking his eyes from Alpha, the weapons clip gripped tight in his hand.



“Thank you Mikey,” Alpha said with a smile, “Now give me five minutes eh?”



The boy looked to Alpha puzzled.



And, shyly Alpha responded, “I’m just going over there,” he indicated the rock, covering the base of the fissure in the rock face.



“Why Alpha?” The lad asked.



“I… I need to void my bladder,” he explained, feel quite embarrassed, to be explaining himself, especially to a boy. ‘Now, why was that?’ He mused.



For a second the boy looked confused and, then finally he looked up and grinned widely, comprehension dawning on him.



“You want a piss!” He bellowed, laughing.



And once more, Alpha found himself embarrassed.



‘Why is this?’ He mused. ‘Why emotions, now? Why…? Why is my hair growing?”

There were questions, too many questions and, Alpha had to focus.



“Yes…” He answered flatly.



“Well not there,” the lad answered, suppressing further hilarity, with difficulty.



“Why?” Alpha asked.



“Coz the path up to the topland is behind that rock,” the boy answered and, finally unable to keep his mirth at bay any longer, he burst out laughing again.



Alpha squatted down and, placing his right hand on the lad’s left shoulder, he asked, “The toplands? What are they?”



Mike ceased laughing and, with as serious a face as he could muster, responded simply, “It’s where granfather lives. It’s where we live…”

Day Three ~ Noontime



Sitting looking to his young companion, Alpha’s mouth opened and shut wordlessly, as he contemplated all he had learnt in the last few hours.



The youngster was dressed in homespun clothing that fitted his skinny frame well. It was that quality of the clothing that impressed the man, especially in lieu of all he had learnt in the last few hours.



And with a brief grin, he recalled the youth’s cautious approach to the heated rock where he’d sat eating cross-legged.



When he’d heard him approach, Alpha had considered bringing his weapon to bear, yet had held back, quickly realizing that the frightened looking boy had been no threat, to him.



The lad had been watching him for hours, from the safety of a boulder, which obscured the entrance to a fissure at the base of the rock face; Alpha had learnt and, was starving he had been informed.



And, as wide-eyes had stared at the cooked food, Alpha had been touched by an emotion that had been written out of his gene-pool, compassion.



In a gentle voice, he had told the lad, “Take some…”



“Reallies?” The boy had quizzed, amazement evident in his voice. And, though obviously scared, he had stepped forward.



‘Guess hunger outweighs fear?’ Alpha had mused, with wry amusement.



“You’re not like the ancestors wrote of…” he had been told between large mouthfuls of cooked snake, “you’re not…”



“Not what?” Alpha had asked, having knelt down, so that he and the boy were at the same height.



And, for a moment the boy had stopped eating long enough to mutter words he had heard many times, “’Murderin bastards’ Grandfather says…”



“And what makes you think I’m one of them?” Alpha queried in a gentle voice.



“I see the pictures on the picture machine. We only use it when we got lectricity. But Granfather showed me the pictures of the killermen. And, they looked like you and…” He pointed to Alpha’s pulse weapon, “and, they carried those thingies… the fire guns… that…” And, the boy had paused a moment, seeking the right words, “kill lots and lots of our people…”



He had thought about what he’d heard, feeling saddened by the lad’s words.

“And, when did all this happen?” Alpha had asked, curiosity filling him.



And, the boy had frowned long and hard, as he considered the question. Finally he had looked to Alpha, with the trace of a smile on his mouth, “Granfather was my age, back when the killermen arrived in the fiery ships in the sky…”



“Well… My name’s Alpha…” Alpha pronounced, offering his hand to the lad, as he attempted to smile.



And, his effort had not been wasted, as the boy looked to him and grinned and taken his hand, “I’m Mike, or Michael Granfather calls me…” And, he’d continued to shake Alpha’s hand, as he had added, “an Daddy called me Mkey, before…”



“Before what Mike?” Alpha had prompted, sitting back and crossing his legs.



“Before a worm got him…” the boy had informed him, with his eyes with tears.



Alpha had leant forward and filled with a warmth toward the boy that he found unexpected, he had ruffled the lads hair.



“Death comes to us all…” And though he said it, Alpha wondered about what he’d told Mike: after all, ‘I’m not dead and, I should have died a long while ago.”



He had noticed the lad shiver and, though he did not feel temperature as the onlies did, this sense of compassion had led to a degree of empathy he had been unused to.



Alpha had stood and, swinging his weapon into his hands he fired a beam of energy toward the cooling rock, which quickly reddened once more.



Mike had watched in amazement, as the rock heated.



“Get yourself warm Mike… and, perhaps you’ll tell me about the worms?” He had asked the boy, in a gentle voice.



The boy had sat near him, reaching out to warm his hands, as he began speaking: “They live in the sand and, for years they do what they do… eat us. Then Granfather’s daddy and his friends found the home in the sky and…we found a safe place to live.”

Day Three ~ Morning time



A myriad of images flowed inside Alpha’s brain as he slept fitfully. And then, abruptly he was awake and cold.



Without sitting, or showing any signs of life, he listened to the night, conscious of something. It was just that he was now an ‘onlie’, dependant on just five senses and, ‘sometimes,’ he mused, ‘that isn’t enough.’



A skittering caught his attention and, before he opened his eyes, thought turned into action, as he rolled onto his back, eyes open the pulse weapon in his hands, muzzle pointed toward the ground before him, in the dark.



He fired a short burst and heard the skittering no more.



Standing slowly, Alpha took a few steps and, then knelt. The shot had made a clean kill and the large snake that had caught his attention was alive no more.



“Well,” he muttered, as he held the frazzled and headless snake, “I know they can do a lot nowadays, but they still haven’t learnt to do a head transplant…”



For a moment, Alpha had forgotten that he didn’t know when or where he was… and, with recall he sighed and sank to his knees, his grief from the loss of all he’d known threatening to overwhelm him. Until… he realized that he was as hungry as he was.



“And snakes makes good eating…” he muttered, wiping away a trickling tear with his free hand.



Alpha stood again and, walking across to the base of the sheer rocky face, he stared around himself, looking for suitable kindling amongst the rocks. And, finding little that would be suitable within easy reach



Thankful to have the pulse weapon with him, Alpha turned and directed it toward a large rock nearby of about his waist-height: and levelling his weapon, he directed a long blast of energy toward it, heating it till it glowed red.



Alpha slung the weapon over his shoulder and knelt, placing the snake on the ground before him. And, in the dim light produced from the heated rock, he skinned then gutted it, stripping the good meat from it, which he placed on the rock.



And, he sat before the rock cross-legged warming his hands, as the snake cooked, letting his mind wander, much as he had of late.



There was much he missed, yet the memories were mixed, like a jumbled jigsaw waiting to be put together.



There were people, faces, places he had known and, connections he had lost.



“But, I have something to eat, right now,” he said aloud, finding it interesting that he had grown used to hearing himself, finally. Up till that first day of his reawakening, little of his communication had been non-verbal. With his squad, speech hadn’t been needed. They had operated as one. And, now he was one.



Snarling at his sadness, he swept aside the past and lifted a portion of the meat from the rock with the tip of his knife and laid it on another just to his right.



Cutting a portion off the meat he bit into it and began to chew. This was a novelty in itself, his memory brought into forethought, with the taste and texture of the meat, as he continued to slowly chew.



There had been many ration packs in his past and, he recalled them well, recalling the slush, the mush and the sliding down his throat.



Swallowing, he turned to the test of the meat still cooking, satisfied it was done to his liking, so he removed the rest and placed it with the first piece, which he continued to cut at, every now and then.



And, all the while, Alpha was unaware of the young blue-eyes, watching his every move, or the mouth filling with saliva, as they watched him eat…