The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Chapter Four





Looking wistful a moment, James looked to his son, playing in the water, naked and quite carefree.



Finally he answered Tobias, “Guess you can call me an Earther as well. But in my day we weren’t fitted with a port.” He grinned a moment, “Oh there had been a port involved; a spaceport, if you were ‘lucky’ enough to have a certain genetic marker that allowed you to withstand early deepsleep methods, so you could be a drone for the Milieu Corporation…”

“The Millieu Corporation?” Tobias repeated, drawing on oxygen through his mask again: “I recall they were taken over, after The Corporation Wars ended,” he mused.



James blanched. Suddenly the past had come to the fore and with memories of the coercion employed, to get him and others, to prepare the ground for the colonists that would follow; and, use the flatpack city built for them.



Yet, as James learned, a war had followed and lives lost as corporations fought for supremacy of the stars. Then in the aftermath, many smaller corporations either fell to the wayside, or were amalgamated. In the process, many projects had initially been set to one side… ‘and that was why we’d been forgotten?’ James considered.



The two men talked for hours, sharing from the food and drink brought Tobias, who finally sighed and said, “Suns setting and, the first moon’ll soon rise. How’s about we go back to my home and well continue talking awhile. Frell, it’ll be good to have some company… and, the young-uns seem to enjoy each others company…”



“Frag!” James exclaimed as he stood, “Jason!”



“Oh don’t worry ‘bout your son,” he began, standing himself and beginning to stow away his belongings, “It’s getting cool, so Maribel will have taken your boy back already, no doubt…”



James looked at the older man curiously and opened his mouth, as if to say ‘how?’



And, as if anticipating the question Tobias explained, “The whole area is a honeycomb of waterways for her, leading everywhere she might want to go…”



“The planet? The waterways, it all must have all been very expensive Tobias?” James asked, beginning to scramble from one rock to another, as the older man led the way.



“Ah well, that’s another story my friend…’ Tobias had laughed, clambering up the embankment; “Come with me and, I’ll tell you more…”

Chapter Three



“Down there, in the water… that is…” Both Father and son had started to ask the same question, at the same moment, then turned to one another and, grinned.



They were too alike, at times…



To the right of the falls a man sat on a large boulder, his knees drawn up toward his chest, a sketch pad and pen in hand,



In the water a nymph splashed, using a sponge to caress her skin.



The Father and son stood watching, as the lithe dark-haired teen revelled in the water, delighting in its feel on her flesh, as it dripped from open hand to her flat abdomen, the droplets sparkling in the sunlight.



“Honey, make a splash!” They heard the man call down to the girl, eagerly.



He was older than James, that was apparent; bearded and wearing smart, yet casual clothing, his eyes twinkling with delight, as his request was fulfilled.



And, James and Jason watched, as she lifted her scaled tailed high in the air, to bring the double-fin at the end down hard, the flat causing water to splash up and outward, all about her.



As the water began to settle, the nymph laughed and turned and twisted her body, in and out of the water; and then, she brought down the flat-end of her tail, once more.



As white droplets rained down on the pools surface Jason looked up, to his Father with a look of utter bemusement on his face.



“I’m going up here, to have a word; you’ll be alright?” James asked his son, who gaze was fixed on the laughing nymph, with a tail of iridescent green and a hint of purple. Jason nodded, wordlessly.



“Guess you’ll be alright,” James said to himself,as he began to scramble up the left side of the falls, using any handhold possible, to make it to the top, where he’d seen the man sitting.



Eventually where he wanted to be, James stood atop a large rock, to look across the churning water, to the man sitting drawing.



“Hi!” James called out, surprised to see the bearded fellow lift his head and scowl.



“You know this planet’s off-limits don’t you?” The fellow shouted back in response, over the noise of the falls.



“No I didn’t,” James acknowledged, as he stepped down; “Just stopped by for food and water, truth be told…” He began to walk toward the streams edge, then into the water.



“My name’s James and, you’re?” He asked, with his right arm extended.



“Name’s Tobias and you’re nut’s,” the older man pronounced, as James continued walking forward, his arm still extended



Then Tobias indicated Jason with a theatrical wave in the air, before reaching for the mask, for much needed oxygen.



“And, the boy watching my Maribel?” Tobias queried.



Then as he took several deep breaths, Jason replied, “My son, Jason.”



“Ah,” the man sighed, as if that explained everything, while still keeping a very cautious eye on his ward and young Jason.



“So, come sit with me,” he told James, indicating the rock next to where he sat. “And please, do tell me how you got passed our A.S.S.?”



“What’s the acronym mean?” James asked, right eyebrow raised.



The bearded fellow stared at the manner of the strangers’ attire, while knowing the meaning of the word ‘acronym.’



Tobias Willington was intrigued – and for a man of his experience and stature, that happened rarely. Yet, here and now he was intrigued and was delighted to be so.



“The Automated Security System,” Tobias explained, frowning: “It’s designed to monitor all planetary activity. And, if unwanted citizens are found… Well, I live alone, except for my young Maribel…” He gestured down to where Jason stood, watching the nymph in the water, taking pleasure in her being.



He continued, “So we rely on the A.S.S. That’s why the fact that it didn’t pick up you or your son…”



The sound of laughter distracted both men, who looked to its source, to see Maribel and Jason playing tag, in the water together. Jason was skinny dipping and laughing hard as he was showered with water, brought down in an arc, as Maribel splashed downward with her tail.



Jason took the opportunity to interject, as je was interested to hear the answer to his next question, “So tell me Tobias, how does the system identify citizens?”



For a moment the older man seemed to drift away and he began to mumble to himself,

“Bought and transformed this place as a home for Maribel and myself, as the airs so bad on Earth now and, they’d hardly understand how I feel for her… Yet even with the cleaner air here, I still need this…” As he finished speaking, Tobias gestured toward to large cylinders that sat near the boulder on which he had made himself quite comfortable, with a blanket and a sealed box of eatables.



“So how does it identify them?” James prompted again, now infinitely more curious than he had been moments earlier.



“By their chips?” Tobias answered, suddenly noticing that the fellow before him had no port in his neck, just below his left ear



“Yer what?” James retorted, already surmising the answer.



“Everyone has a port and a chip. All Earthers have them fitted shortly after birth and, you don’t have one, do you?” The older man queried, setting his mask aside and standing.



He approached James slowly then reached out with his left hand cautiously, to feel where he knew everyone from Earth had a port and chip.



“You don’t mind?” he asked, softly.



“No, I guess not,” James answered bemused.



“Wow,” Tobias muttered, “In all my years, I’ve never seen the like.” Then he turned to look at Jason standing at the waters edge and asked: “Is he like you?”



“Uh-huh,” James muttered, as Tobias sat back down, stunned by what he had seen.



“Well, now I feel like I’ve seen it all. Human’s… without ports!” It was unknown for anyone to be without such a thing, yet here he was and, still Tobias found it hard to believe what he saw.



“I haven’t asked where you’re from, have I?” Tobias queried, brow furrowed.



“No you haven’t,” James replied laughing, “I’m sure I’d know.



Sitting back Tobias laughed long and hard, before a coughing fit began. Then, reaching of his mask, he spluttered, “So tell me, where are you from?”

Chapter Two



As they walked, James trailed his fingers across the leaves of the bushes they passed.

‘Everything is so perfect, so cultivated…” he mused.



Then the sound of gurgling water reached his ears, carried by a soft warm breeze.



Aware of a need for water, as well as food that provided the direction he chose.



“Okay son, keep close by,” he hissed, aware that without telemetry for his small ship, he’d no idea what possible threat could lurk round the next tree, or bush.



“Yes Father,” the youth answered, looking anxiously about, glad that his Father was at his side. That gave him the assurance he needed to press on.



Then as one moon sank into the horizon, a second rose, as a counterpoint to the orange sun that had reached its peak in the sky, above.



The pair came to dense woodland, they welcomed the cooling shade. It was as they left and came to a green meadow, with wildflowers growing tall.



“Beautiful place, isn’t it?” James muttered, to himself: his son answered.



Jason had been following close behind his Father, looking all around himself.



“Sure is Father, but it all looks almost… tidy…” Jason observed.



James stopped walking, to appreciate what had been said to him.



Really, it had been no more than he had been thinking himself.



“You know,” he opined, “I can see what you mean.” The area around them had grasses that reached toward bushes and a few trees, with a form of symmetry that did not belong in nature – not without assistance, of some kind.



“We’re walking on, aren’t we?” Jason queried of his Father, puzzled by the look on his face; a look that generally connoted his Father in strategic-mode.



He had heard something, from ahead…



“Yes, of course we are,” James told his son, as he began to stride toward the sound of tinkling water, “After all, I’m sick of the taste of recycled pee.”



Jason giggled to himself, as he continued to follow, his Father; watching as the man eased a space for himself in some dense bushes, to ease his passage through them.



Then as the branches closed in after him, Jason heard his Father exclaim loudly, in a manner most unlike him, “Jason, you gotta see this!”



The young teen has crouched low, covering his head with his lower arm, as he pushed through the dense branches, a small stream leading him to where the foliage thinned.



He emerged to see himself facing a waterfall, leading into a small lagoon, surrounded by large rocks and greenery and, his Father just to his right staring bug-eyed.



“Tell me I don’t see what I can see,” James muttered, to himself.



Jason could see exactly what he saw and, he could not…

The Young Pioneers – Part 3





Chapter One





Having left Amanda, their homeworld, Father and son had travelled at speed and reached a terraformed world, within two days.



In orbit, James turned his seat to face his son: “Frag knows what we’ll find down there Jason, but we need supplies and intelligence…”



“So we’re going to go down there, now?” Jason asked bug-eyed: the planet looked so big, while they were so small in comparison.



His Father nodded, smiling gently…



“Okay then,” James responded, turning his seat to face forward once more, “I’m logging-in our approach vector. Now all I have to do is keep an eye on a few dials, pull a lever or so and, we’ll begin a controlled descent.’



Jason knew there was more to it than that. Yet, his Father was the only pilot this time that he knew of and, to his knowledge, the man had only landed a spacecraft once before.



And, on that occasion, it had been the colony ship he’d arrived on with two others, wit the aim of preparing a small town in prefabricated parts, ready for the miners and colonists to follow; on a government initiative, to find youths like him, with the right genetic markers, to allow new hibernation techniques to be used for Deep-Space travel. His Father had possessed the much needed markers; and all that he had endured since then, had led him here.



Jason looked to is Father proudly. During his growing years he had seen the last of the large ships arrive. But no-one had seen, or been aware of the town’s secret: a small space-craft, built from parts salvaged from all the colony ships to arrive.



It had a short tubular body, two short wings near the rear, above which stood a sloped tail; at the rear was the cone-like main-engine, with secondary small thrusters inset what seemed like a shield standing up from the wing-tip.



His Father the pilot, sat in a comfortable swivel chair, inside a half-dome cockpit, with lattice-like black reinforcement.



Either side of the cockpit were curved fins, which coupled with the wings and tail fin, provided some limited aerodynamics, for flight inside a planet’s atmosphere.



Furthermore, somehow his Father managed to charge the ships fuel cells and locate enough propellant, for its initial launch.



‘Yet, throughout all he’s achieved,’ Jason mused, ‘my Father’s greatest had been the starcrafts shield’s,’ designed to compensate for any contingency he could think of.



‘Yes,’ he concluded, ‘the shields are this ships best feature.’



And, Jason watched quietly, as his Father took the small ship into a steep descent towards the planets surface: the forward shields absorbing much of the heat and buffeting.



‘Without the shields, a small craft like this wouldn’t last too long, facing the rigours of deep space,’ Jason concluded, knuckles white as he held his seats arm rests tighter and tighter, ‘And, a craft like this might be destroyed without them,’ he concluded, closing his eyes. The youth was terrified.



Much as he had confidence in his Father, on that previous occasion he’d landed a spacecraft there’d been computer assist, to aid in the landing and, this time there would be none...



*





Jason eventually opened his eyes, after the three large shock absorbers for the crafts landing skids told him it might be safe to do so as their distinct down then up motion suggested.



“Unfasten your seatbelt son,” his Father told him, “I’m sliding the canopy back.”



And, as the clear plasteel canopy above them slid back into the ship fuselage they were assailed by something unknown to the pair since they had begun travelling, clean fresh air.



Taking several deep breaths James decided there and then that his initial assessment of the world was correct, it had been terraformed. By whom he did not know.



“The last time I tasted air that clean was in an office back on Earth, shortly my Life changed so dramatically…” To him, that meant that corporation machinery was at hand and, that meant staff to encounter, probably.



James put his hand to his hip, to check that his pistol was already in place.



He was confident that he could talk his way out of many situations; yet figured that a sidearm could help act as an incentive towards negotiations, if needed.