《Lexia Chronicles》


 Chapter 1 - Welcome to Space

    A small spaceship was currently flying over western Euro toward northern Norte¡¯am. No straight lines adorned the tiny ship. It¡¯s bulbous cockpit sat atop a cabin that had two sleek curved engines on each side.


    Chen Deau, the pilot, had discovered early on that these ships had a tactical advantage to them; they could get in and out of an area nearly undetected -- perfect for reconnaissance missions such as this one.


    He had taken off about an hour and a half ago -- an approximate distance of 4000 miles from where they currently were. The ship had flown into the exosphere and was just starting to bounce back down in an arc like telemetry and would land in about 20 minutes.


    A small Golden Age aerospace facility was rediscovered about 30 years ago. A lot of effort was put into repairing it and now a mercantile fleet of craft were being constructed by the Consensus who had big plans for the lost knowledge.


    Two existing ¡°Silhouette¡± models, like the one Chen was in now, called the "Verdant" and the "Mercury" were only produced as prototypes -- testing out the 3d printer capabilities. It also helped that the sleek ships did a good job conveying the might and power which sure beat the typical horse and carriage, hover carts, or occasional and rare ¡°Skip¡±  ''copter transports.


    Chen was a well stocked man with dark healthy skin, good teeth, and a penetrating stare. His hazel brown eyes glimmered in the starlight as he fiddled with some controls on the left side of his console. The 6''2" tall 180 pound man looked like he was a 32 year old in the prime of his life, although he was considerably older. He brushed his fingers against the tightly cut brown hair at his scalp as he listened to a device at his ear and focused on the monitoring display.


    Today he looked very pedestrian in his seemingly simple black outfit, sitting comfortably in his seat ¡ª he could easily be a town innkeeper as far as any one knew ¡ª he definitely did not look like a top ranking officer. Right now he would have been looking at the beautiful pale blue planet outside his window, if he were not talking to his wife Leah whom looked as beautiful at 35 as she had when he met her at 17.


    Leah had just asked Chen if he would be home in time for his youngest daughter Andrea''s 9th naming day in three weeks. She knew from experience that Chen''s missions could take some time to plan, prepare, and execute. In the past there had been entire months that Chen was away.


    "I should be back by then. I''m just following up on a lead; get in look around and get back." His 217 years of being a Herald had thought him that nothing was for certain, plans always had a way of changing on the field, but he wasn''t going to mention that -- timing was another thing he had learnt over time.


    Leah had just started on a long diatribe, one Chen had heard a many times before. "Well than I''ll let her know that you will be here. You missed her celebration last year and she was so..."


    "So when we get to the ground¡±, Kildra interrupted, ¡°I think maybe we should just send out the drones to home in on any heat signatures and attack on sight. That would make short work of any sizable force. Afterward a thorough search of... Chen, are you listening?"


    Kildra was a Wisp, but not any Wisp; she was Chen''s Wisp. It''s said "Every Herald has their Wisp", but if you asked a Wisp, they would correct it into, "Every Wisp has a Herald". It was a small difference that made a big difference.


    The Wisp were non-corporeal beings gifted to Humanity as stewards by the Ilexia during the Golden Age, over 500 years ago. They were meant to guide us in the usage of the new knowledge that the Ilexia had given us. Over time Wisp became more of an icon to the masses. This particular Wisp, really liked to ¡®guide¡¯ him Chen thought to himself.


    "Hold on a moment dear, Kildra is in my ear." Chen said in his most polite way. Leah tried to be nice to Kildra, but it was always a challenge. He sometimes would feel a pang of pity for Leah for having knowingly married a Herald; having to live with a Wisp in her life. He¡¯d often ask himself, if maybe his wife was a sadist?


    At his urging Kildra was in her shell, a small metallic hummingbird, and flew around Chen¡¯s head as she was speaking to him. The wings made a silver blur as they raced up and down at hundreds of rotations per minute. The buzz of the wings almost drowned out the hum of the small turbo fan located under the birds body which is what actually kept the shell afloat.


    Kildra was hard look at since she kept darting from side to side, so Chen grasp a hand toward her in an attempt to corral the fast bird into one spot.


    "Don''t grab at me!" she yelled at him. Her high pitched voice echoing deep into his ear. Chen flinched at the unexpected volume in the quiet cabin.


    "Kildra, would you please give me a moment. I''m on the communicator with my wife. Thank you." Chen said while moving back to the communication device that was to the left of his cockpit controls.


    "Why do you think you can talk to me like that! I''m not a pet that you can simply swat away when you feel like it."


    Chen gave her a frustrated side glance and went back to his conversation with Leah.


    Leah having been used to 18 years of overhearing his one sided conversations, laughed as she told him she thought Kildra would be sour for a while after his last comment.


    "Yea, maybe. Better to get on with this and give her time to vent it off. You know, I look forward to seeing you soon, right?" He asked as his voice lowered on the last part. With Kildra always around, since Wisp and Herald are bonded for life, the couple had gotten very good at communicating between the lines. Sometimes just a look could speak volumes between the two.


    Chen spoke to his daughters before he went back to finish his preparations. His oldest daughter, Cindra, was already a fountain of knowledge at the ripe age of 12, and had told him -- matter of factly -- that if he were further out in space he would be able to see the Golden Age era floating colonies of Venus and since he was still so close, he should be able to see the Moon colony of Lunas. He simply agreed -- not wanting to go into the specifics of the Chakalexy invasion and their aftermath. Giving her his blessings he asked to speak to his youngest daughter Andrea.


    Andrea was the shyer of the two. And although she wasn''t one to state fiction for fact, she had already mastered the ways of subterfuge in her own lovely way.


    "Daddy, Miss Boren told us that in the Golden Age, every girl had a doll made of glass. Do you think there are still some dolls made of glass daddy? Do you think they are hard to find?" Andrea said with a sparkle of hope in her eye and a grin of expectation on her face that he knew was there even though the communication array was voice only.


    "Well I''m not sure. Glass breaks pretty easy and the Golden Age was some 500 years ago. Maybe they''ve all broken now?" Chen said playfully to his daughter.


    "No Daddy! Things made in the Golden age don''t just break daddy! They were made of gold and that''s hard as steel daddy! Even the glass daddy! They don''t just break!" Andrea said with a gusto and fire in her belly that always made Chen laugh.


    "Good point. How about I keep an eye out for one of those shatter-proof dolls? Sound good?" Chen asked in his most diplomatic voice.


    "Yes daddy, that would be very a good thing to keep a look out for. Who knows, right daddy?" Andrea responded with the joy that only an 8 year old could have over a receiving her Daddy''s promise.


    "Right, now, I love you darling, but put your mother back on, I''ve got to get going."


    Chen said his goodbyes to Leah and made a mental note to ask Kildra to create him an unbreakable glass doll for Andrea''s naming day gift. The gods alone knew what heartache that favor that would cost him. On second thought, he decided he would ask Divan instead.


    Directly behind him a second chair stood and was swiveled to face the instrumentation desk on the port side of the ship. On the front starboard side was a seat for a copilot, and another seat behind the copilot. That seat had the same redundant instrumentation as its port side neighbor. The overall cockpit was no more than 2 square meters wide.


    A small hallway opened up after the chairs, marking the middle of the ship. It stretched on to the back of the ship for about 6 meters but the hallway itself was all but 1 meter wide. At the end of the ship a single exit stood. In the back on either side of the exit were closet sized enclaves which held the lavatory on port and a kitchen on starboard.


    The walls of the hallway were made for easy storage access. The entire wall unit could be lifted, with a complicated set of twisting of gears and pulling of levers, to access the even more complicated ship systems. At the top most half of the port side wall was Chen''s armory shelves where his field gear was stowed.


    Most days Chen would wear a more presentable dark grey shirt and slacks made of a cotton and linen blend that made it light and airy, and a smart pair of light tactical boots, the default Rear Guard Scout uniform. The cut of the shirt went to the top of his neck and had a short collar which left his Adams apple exposed. His clothes were made of a rare Golden Age technology that would fasten the garment together, like buttons would, but leave no sign of the seam, making the shirt or pants appear to be one whole piece -- in fact Kildra said it was a lot like sewing it in place unto his body.


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    On the right lapel of the shirt collar a small red circle with a golden outline would signify his command of the Read Guard Scout Division. His left collar would display the symbol of the Heraldry ¡ª- a golden oak leaf. Both emblems looked like they were grown onto the shirts rather than sewn on.


    Today, however, he was scouting, investigating actually but the two had parallels. As such he wore his hunting apparel. A black tightly fit full length turtleneck shirt tucked into black cargo pants. The material was also a gift of the Golden Age that Chen cherished the moment Kildra made him his first set. The fabric itself was as soft as silk on the inside, but the outside felt as if it were made of thick sturdy material and had the benefit of being bullet and puncture resistant to small caliber rounds and common melee weapons. Chen was sure the material could be used in other ways but whenever he asked Kildra about it she would simply tell him "Our role is not that of those research and development monkeys in tower 6. Go ask them if you''re so interested." To which he had in fact done numerous times to little affect.


    A light grey overcoat with a large hood would go over his plain hunter garb. The overcoat would provide an optic camouflage vastly superior to multi dyed jackets that most people still wore. As an added benefit it also provided thermodynamic control for a broad range of environments. He often wondered, if these were the scraps of the Golden Age, what the actual Golden Age had been like.


    From the shelf he pulled out a set of 3 black sheaths which held three perfectly weighted throwing knives sharpened to an atoms width of sharpness. Attached to the sheaths ran three stretchable belts and buckles. Chen proceeded to strap the knives to his left thigh.


    From the same shelf he pulled a sheathed dagger about the length of his forearm down. Pulling the dagger from its sheath he inspected it. The black dagger was light to the touch, but not too light. Its razor edges were serrated on one side and straight bladed on the other side. An indent at the base told the wielder where pommel and blade connected. He inspected it to his satisfaction and then put it back into its sheath and placing it on his right hip where it clicked into place on his kit.


    A dual mode automatic pistol came next off the shelf. The iridium depleted bullet shells could cut a hole into most ships and armor. The gun was a good and stable sidearm, but depleted too fast. At 600 rounds per minute the 30 round magazine was empty in about 3 seconds if he allowed it to stay in automatic  -- as such setting it to a 3 bullet semi-auto burst mode was a necessity. He placed the gun into its holster and like the dagger it clicked into place on his left hip.


    On the top two shelves, a shimmer of yellow light cast a hazy opaqueness to everything inside the cabinet, as if you were looking through a dirty glass. It was in fact a barrier field that ensured no undo access to the contents. Scanning his palm to the wall, the yellow light dissipated from the shelves allowing them to look normal again.


    From the middle shelf Chen pulled a box down which had a word embossed on it reading "KOBE". Opening another knife was there that looked a lot like the other with two exceptions; first, both sides of the dagger were straight bladed and second, this dagger had what looked like a small switch which had to be purposefully pushed in to activate it, which is what Chen did. A slight hum filled the room and a blue sheen covered the blade from right to left, followed by a yellow sheen from left to right. Ensuring that the dual frequency Kobe dagger was working as desired he turned it off and put it on his hip just opposite his regular dagger.


    ''Kobe'' weapons were named after Kobe Self Defense, a Golden Age foundry. Emergence age explorers first found these plasma based weapons and quickly referred to them all as Kobe class weapons -- regardless of foundry. Today a few smith''s can create a Kobe weapon, but most warriors still covet the rare originals.


    Chen continued to provision himself with the necessity''s of the hunt such as canteen, salt pills, rations, etc. Finally from the long shelf at the top of the wall he pulled down his Kobe polearm.


    It was a long dagger-axe pole weapon called a Ji. A 1 meter long blade extended at the top of the pole. At the blades base another blade extended out a little less than half a meter. Together they formed one whole blade in an L shape.


    The shaft itself was a composite material from the Golden Age that stood 2 meters in height. It too had a carefully crafted button on its stem which Chen tested out. Instead of an audible hum like the daggers, you could feel an atmospheric pressure emit from the weapon. Unlike his dagger, which when activated basically got covered in plasma allowing then to cut through practically anything, the polearm was used to basically blow things up.


    Of course to literally blow something up, that ''thing'' had to be within 160 degrees and 6 feet in front of where the polearm hit, making it an excellent mid-range melee weapon. The emitting blast would disable electronics with a strong electromagnetic field. It would also dismember things with its strong kinetic blast well past the suggested 6 feet kill zone. Conveniently, the wielder was protected from the blast itself using a blast shield that would pop out just before the blast.


    Chen had found the pole-arm about 27 years ago in a small unknown foundry located in the south western section of the Oceania continent. Since then he''s lost count of the times he''s been offered riches for it; but he would never let it go, not even when a request to borrow it for private study came from the Lucio himself.


    "Oh for the love of Wisp, you''re not taking that are you!?" Kildra said coming around his left shoulder, the hum of her wings annoying his ear with the flutter of an unexpected air. He severely disliked her bird avatars.


    He was actually debating whether to take it or leave it here, safe in the barrier field.


    There were actually many reasons to leave it and as such he delved through his brain to think of any reason to take it.


    They were visiting the secluded Forest of Gru, which was supposedly notorious for its moist coverage; he would need a walking stick wouldn''t he? Also, if there were hostiles in the forest he''d need to blow them up right?


    Unlike the ridiculous rumors of mutated animals and thinking plants, the forest had in fact been suggested as a possible origin point for a band of thieves that were stealing consensus material quite regularly now. The tip came from a very dead thief, so he wasn''t really expecting to find anything here. As outlandish as an intercontinental smuggling cartel sounded the fact was that rediscovered Golden Age tech was found all the time. The ship he was on was a prime example of that, he decided to check it out.


    Not many people live on the Norte¡¯Am continent in large masses but many Golden Age technologies could still be hidden under centuries of debris here and there.


    In truth he knew that as a reconnaissance mission, this shouldn''t require a Kobe polearm in his arsenal, but he finally decided to take it anyway solely because he knew how much the thing bothered Kildra. Being a high energy weapon it was one of the only things that could actually harm her.


    Being a Wisp, Kildra rarely showed fear to anything or anyone; to the chagrin of everyone. So knowing she actually respected, or feared the polearm, made Chen feel a little warm inside. Although in reality, Chen knew that he couldn''t, physically, ever do any harm to Kildra. His life was bonded to hers as surely as the stars we planted in the heavens.


    Heralds without a Wisp would die a quick and painful death. Nobody understood why, but de-bonding with a Wisp would wreak havoc on the Herald''s organs causing an agonizing, but quick, death. The Wisp however would be fine, maybe sad if anything.


    Other Heralds would usually brush it off and say that was a small payment for eternal life, youth and access to the Wisp''s knowledge of the Golden Age. Chen was slowly starting to rethink that. Soon his wife would grow old and die followed by his children and his children''s children, all the while he would stay healthy and physically appear as his 32 years old self. Chen was one of the oldest Heralds, and didn''t even remember a time before being a Herald.


    Most other Heralds were devoted to their Wisp and considered having a family as a blasphemy to the Heraldry itself, as Kildra was keen to remind him whenever the chance presented itself. This was a view he himself shared until he met Leah in a small village off the cost of the continent of Africa 19 years ago. A conflicted Chen went to the Lucio, the leader of the Consensus and an Herald of an earlier model Wisp, and asked his advice expecting him to follow the typical thinking of most Heralds.


    "Our life is long Chen. We do many things that most don''t. So why would we not do things many do. Enjoy your life with this woman, while you can. Just remember that time will take her from you faster than you would have a mind for, and you can do nothing about it."


    Chen married Leah that very year, taking her with him to live in Schronienie, or what came to be called the "The Last City", where he bought a manor house for them in the upscale Outer Tower grounds. As a bride price to her father he gave a large herd of wild goats and a roost full of chickens; a very extravagant and noble gift to the coastal village folk.


    As Chen was lost in these thoughts, he swatted his ear as exhaust air tickled his ear canal. "Kildra please, a little space" he mumbled turning the polearm off and put the sheath back on the blade. Even when turned off the polearm blade was atomically sharp.


    "Oh, are you upset at me? Did I interrupt your conversation with your wife? I''m so sorry, I thought we were working on a mission, or did you forget that part Chen? Seriously you forget your place at times. That is why Heralds don''t get married. You''ll see. She''s going to get old and pass away like all humans do -- and no there is no way I can resurrect her with out killing her or you in the process -- and than you will see WHY Heralds don''t get married or start families. Mark my words Chen." she said while flying about Chen''s head as if he were the flower the hummingbird draws from. "I swear, Darin¡¯s right, we should make Heralds pledge their allegiance before we raise them -- if only we could." she whispered more to herself than Chen as she floated away.


    The small bird perched on the copilot seat and yelled from across the room, "And if my Shell''s form irritates you so much remember it''s your own damn fault for insisting I not inhabit your body when we are not in the field. The indignity of having my host, MY OWN HOST, not allow me to enter him except when he says. The indignity of it all!" and with a final humph she flew off to rear of the ship.


    Leaving his pack and his polearm at the rear of the ship Chen walked to his pilot''s chair and announced, "Seems we''ve re-entered the atmosphere, prepare for landing in 5 minutes, let the Tower know we''ve arrived and are about to embark on the mission."


    "Oh and Kildra, use the bathroom now before we leave the ship if you must. There will be no stopping when we get to the woods" Chen said with a slight chuckle.


    To this, an annoyed Kildra revved her engines in a loud drone and replied "Only disgusting bioforms as yourself need to relieve themselves of their own waste instead of recycling them!"

 Ch. 2 - Enter the Gru

    The ship landed at the edge of the Forest of Gru. It''s landing pads deployed with one leg under each of the wings and the third underneath the bulbous head of the ships cabin as it hovered for a few seconds smoothly descending on top of its desired landing area. The ship was a thing of beauty as its curved silver body contrasted with the plain grass covered knoll they had landed on.


    They exited the back of the ship through the hatch door that opened up and out. Kildra had already turned into her mist form and infiltrated Chen¡¯s mouth and nose with a small sigh of content only she could hear. Of course as she always did lately, she waited until Chen started to say something to move in, and of course like clockwork he started to cough, gag and swat his arms around. It was a small contentment, but it was hers. Chen gave a swear in the Tekniak language. Kildra still did not understand where he knew it from and had to assume it was from his past life before she raised him. A ramp could be extended, but Chen simply jumped off the stoop landing with a small bounce from the meter high fall.


    Punching on the data pad built into his jacket sleeve he put the ship into autopilot mode; the ship waited until the two of them were clear of the launch area than spun up its turbo engines, hovered in the air for a moment to align itself to its new heading and engaged it''s turbo jet nozzles located in it''s small compact wings. This started its forward motion.The turbo blades continued to pull it up into the atmosphere. Yaw, or the side to side movement of the ship, was controlled as well by these movable nozzles.


    The ship would than fly into the stratosphere breaking the sound barrier a few times over, eventually climbing into the exosphere, where our atmosphere meets space, than reposition itself with its ion thrusters to angle in toward an open landing port on tower 4 in the 7 Towers section of The Last City. If all went to plan, in the next two hours it would reach Schronienie, as it was properly called and refuel to wait on standby for the signal to return for them.


    "This place seems so familiar to me. Like from a dream." Chen said as he looked around the knoll they were walking up.


    "Yea, we haven''t been here for so long; look the actual terrain has changed, so much more moisture than I last recorded. The Ph levels are so high now too. I bet those natives have a really bad case of athlete''s foot right now" Kildra chatted into Chen''s ear.


    "We''ve been here before?" Chen asked, "I don''t remember ever being here, let alone in the last 50 years."


    Kildra gave it a moment before she said "Yes, I raised you from your grave somewhere around these parts."


    Chen had never heard anything about where Kildra found him and reanimated him from. In the 217 years they had been together not once had she mentioned the location or the circumstances that surrounded that fateful day, nor had he ever really thought about it. He had died and been brought back many times over the decades. It was as natural to him now as breathing. But, now that he was in the actual area, he yearned to know more, so much more.


    Kildra sensing the settling awkwardness tried to kill the topic by saying "But that¡¯s a conversation for another time Chen. Let''s move on."


    "Wait" Chen said as he stopped on the knoll they were climbing. "Well, was it a family grave? Were there other plots around? Did you catch my surname by chance? Kildra?" Chen urged her to answer but she said nothing.


    They were now moving in silence through the opening where the knoll met the outer forest. The Forest was hot and extremely moist, the humidity was making Chen break a sweat. He walked further in and could smell the ozone emanating from the trees, with a bit of an iron smell to round out the scent -- how familiar yet alien it was to him. Clouds of mist seemed to roll from one bank of trees to the next. The foliage on the ground was wet as if after a rain, and the trees seemed to be covered in sap. Vines littered many of the floors open ways. Chen put his hood on over his head.


    A Remembrance


    Kildra was quiet as she recalled everything in digital clarity. She recalled the prior events that unfolded which brought her to a clearing in that forest almost 264 years ago with Gilda, her "Charge" as they called Heralds back then. Gilda had named Kildra as a joke during the war with the Chakalexy. "My little killing robot is a miniature me in every way, so I henceforth name her Kildra!" Gilda had said to the cheers of her long dead soldiers. That was long ago but the name stuck.


    The villages along the main road had all mentioned strange happenings were amiss in the western forest, yet to be named the Gru. ¡®A road appeared out of thin air¡¯ they had said. As such, travel itself wasn''t safe with evil bewitching and treacherous sprites about. Gilda made her living as a merchant guard protecting merchant trains going from village to village. A hard but well paid life. And in her own self interest, and due to a willingness to break up the monotony of her now mundane existence, she decided they would go and see this magic clearing.


    Kildra was inside her Charge, as she was most of the time, helping Gilda see in the dark by tuning her pupils to the ambient light of the half moon in the sky. The clearing itself opened up with the light of thousands of fireflies dancing in the night before the dead man on the pyre. After fighting against the Chaka for years on end, Gilda did not like insects and enjoyed squashing them as much as possible. The thought of so many insects flying in such a small space made Gilda sick.


    The pyre sat in the middle of the perfectly round clearing of trees about three miles in diameter. The two and a half kilometer walk took them thirty minutes to get to the pyre itself. Strange black flowers had their petals open and seemed to be floating in the air gust that Gilda occasionally felt. Pilgrims camped out all along the circumference and parts of the middle of the clearing in the hundreds, always staying away from the forest itself.The pyre looked like a large tree trunk, or more like that of many thick vines or roots encircling themselves into an oval shape until the pyre was formed.


    The man that lay on the pyre was ancient, at least 280 years old, with dark black skin, that was offset with snow white hair that ended in short curls on his brow. His long corse white beard sprouted at his face almost covering his mouth, which seemed to be smiling a smile of peaceful rest. This was definitely a man of the Golden Age.


    Back then living to 300 was considered a full life. Of course that¡¯s thanks to easily accessible advanced medicines and gene therapies that everyone was treated with in their embryonic life.  A drastically stark comparison to Dark Ages that had followed where a realistic goal was that of reaching 50 years, if you made it past your 12th naming day that is.


    Gilda stood staring at the man and smiled at her fellow "World Union''r", as she called them. The woman, was petite at just shy of 1.6 meters tall and, for one who usually could never stand in one place for long, stood perfectly still in contemplation.


    ¡°Did you know him?¡±, Kildra asked her from inside her ear. Gilda nodded a curt no, as she whispered ¡°He was from our generation, something we can''t say much of anymore. I mean, if I had a normal life span, then I should be on this pyre by now too.¡± A sadness filled Gilda as she stared at the man.


    Gilda tried to hold herself up confidently and with purpose, besides her feelings. Her hair was worn in a bun, and as usual her bangs just touched the top of her eye brows. Her eyes naturally squinted, ending in sharp points on either side. Her mouth had a slight pout with a small compact chin with wide cheekbones. Men admired her light tan complexion from a far because she was beautiful and exotic.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    If she weren¡¯t fully armed with a short sword on her right hip, body armor and shoulder holstered sidearms under that long leather jacket, she could have actually been approachable.


    She looked around and saw the unnaturalness of it all. The clearing, the pyre, the vines. People in small camps celebrating with libation and food. Effigies of the man had been set up and burnt within some of the camps as people danced about them. In some camps nudity was the call of the night, and others solemn hymns could be heard. Gilda was not sure what could bring all these various people to one place for one mans death. Even more important to her was what greatness could get the forest itself to open a clearing to send the man off.


    She told Kildra to come out and scan the body, who with no surprise objected to the idea. Kildra grew her personality organically through experiences and that personality was no less that of a shut-in due to the war -- something that she never managed to get rid of even after all theses centuries. She simply hated exiting her Charge into the outside world as her true form. "C''mon Kildy. Just a quick scan and then back you go. OK?" Gilda said as gently as she could but gentle was not Gildas style.


    "It''s not really necessary I can scan him from in here" Kildra demurely insisted. "Yea and give me radiation poisoning while you¡¯re at it right? Why do I need to override you every time I need you to get out and do something!?" Gilda barked back.


    "No, please. I can heal you after! Please!" Kildra said in a weak voice.


    Ever the officer, Gilda did not like her orders disobeyed. Gilda stated her override code and clearance id, and then finally the commands she wanted her Wisp to perform.


    "Withdraw. Lazarus protocol. Profile. Archive on complete."


    Gilda had long ago memorized a majority of the commands, even some of the technical ones meant for diagnosing the unit. In fact all members of her ¡°Charge Brigade¡± were required to know a set of basic commands in order to handle any malfunctioning Wisp they may encounter on the battlefield.


    A fine mist started to come out of Gildas mouth as she closed her eyes and tilted her head down toward the dead man as if nothing were occurring. Kildra stayed in the mist form as she crept over the man and engulfed him in her essence. Full body scans from the outside were being performed. Mist flowed into his nostrils and continued DNA scanning from the inside out. Sampling, analysis and test were conducted on him in accordance with the Lazarus protocol. They still didn''t know his name so Kildra filed it under Chen, Gilda''s brothers first name. She added the surname Deau, a take on a name historically used to represent an unknown person. DNA mapping of all 7 types was completed within minutes. Now that Kildra had a grafting profile of the man, she hurried back into Gildas body the same way she had left it. If anyone saw the Wisp show up, scan the man, and then retreat back into the beautiful small Asian woman -- no one made a show of it.


    This was Kildra¡¯s first profile of someone other than a Charge soldier, and she was now capable of resurrecting him any time she chose. Well, maybe not "resurrect" him; rebuild is a more accurate word. Sap from the trees had already kept him well preserved for what she had guessed 3 to 4 weeks by the time they got to him, so there was no revitalizing those tissues. No she would need to rebuild him from scratch. A task that would never happen, because Gilda was her Charge, and a Wisp could only be bonded to one person at a time, and only the bonded could be resurrected.


    They made camp by the trees. The horse, named Samson, was battle trained and stayed by his owner. Kildra gave her summary of the man to Gilda in the quiet of their shared mind.


    Gilda, tired from the profiling and the long day proceeding it, laid down on her bedroll and closed her eyes as her partner gave her report "Brain topography is in line with general specifications except a small anomaly indicating he had brain surgery as a young child due to blunt force trauma, maybe an accident. He had a weird radioactive isotope in his bloodstream, but that could have been from the sap that was used to mummify him since the same isotope seems to be radiating from the forest too." Half asleep at this point Gilda agreed with a humming of her voice. Forest radiation she thought, how far back did this go for the dead man? "Interesting, can you see if you can back date him. See if you can see if his DNA had that at, say age 32. I''m going to sleep, wake me at dawn ok?" Gilda said as she drifted off to sleep.


    Well before dawn, a large fire ignited where the pyre was, waking the entire clearing. People had later said the fire started by itself, but Gilda wasn''t so sure that it wasn''t a wayward flame from someones campfire. In the air, pollen from the vines exploded in a display of beautiful multicolored cotton like swirls that floated and burned up as they made contact with the pyre. Kildra was afraid that the forest would soon burn, but was happily proven wrong.


    After the initial shock of the fire, a celebratory mood had enraptured the people as a minstrel began to chant an impromptu song accompanied by his small guitar.


    Old Gru Noblemind


    Could hear these trees,


    Whispers carried on the breeze.


    Speaking to him through the night,


    In rustling leaves and firelight.


    How thoughtful could a forest be?


    Old Gru''s tale is there to see.


    The forest watches him depart,


    Sees the fire, feels his heart.


    In the flicker of the flame,


    Old Gru and forest are the same.


    A Sonnet of Another Sort


    "Now you''re atypically quiet." Chen finally said after about a minute of silence.


    "So, these thieves we''re after. They must have a Skip ship or something to make it over to Euro and back. That¡¯s got to be a long ride too at least 8 hours each way. We definitely need to see if we can at least locate that ship. Even better, if we can disable it before we leave it would put them out of business altogether." Kildra continued as if their awkward silence had never happened.


    "Reconnaissance Kildra, remember? We go in, reconnoiter and then get out." Chen said in a whisper that only Kildra could hear. Wisp couldn''t read minds nor could they read the electrical pulses in the Heralds brain because it would result in a painful feedback loop to both the Herald and Wisp due to their bonding. It was better to just speak aloud to the Wisp.


    "I''m just saying that we could destroy them Chen! We can get our stuff back; you can even keep anything that''s interesting. It''s not like I wouldn''t resurrect you if you died, that¡¯s what makes you a super soldier Chen -- you can''t die. Not with me around!"


    "No man''s an island Kildra. We may have our gifts but the Consensus has grown, and we need to follow protocol to allow it to prosper and function properly. Let''s not have any incidents like... like before, with the wilding family." His tone grew hard and distant.


    "They attacked me Chen! We told them to stop; we told them to Chen and they attacked me. You''ll remember that the next time you try to make me look like the villain here!" Kildra said with a whine of innocence.


    "They threw rocks are you while you were mist, just after they caught you going through their things in that cabin of theirs. You had no right to do what you did to them. I had already calmed things down. Seeing them like that... I never wish to see a thing like that again Kildra."


    "Chen, they attacked me. And it was arrows not rocks, and they didn''t know those arrows would pass right through me unharmed. I defended myself. " whispering she continued "I am a Wisp, you don''t attack a Wisp..."


    "Gods Kildra! You''re practically invulnerable" Chen said with a hard whisper "you defend nothing but your pride! Now shh, we''re getting closer to the tracking beacon."


    It was good that the receiver vibrated in response to the close proximity to the beacon because recalling the sight of that massacred family, and his later burial of them was starting to make him nauseous. His anger was starting to rise over. His concentration wavered just for second as a vine on the right of him moved ever so slightly.


    They moved forward ducking behind a large tree for cover. Ahead of them they could see a small natural shelter about 200 meters away where two people were huddling next to what looked like a dark object next to them.


    Taking out a pair of miniature binoculars from his jacket he could see that the smaller of the two, a blonde woman was tending to the other, a not-too-injured man, trying to apply an ice pack to his forehead.


    "The data suggest that is our signal over there on what seems to be a camouflaged cart. I sent some probes out and besides the forest''s weird radiation signature they seem to be the only other radiation signatures around for a kilo, except for you of course." Kildra said in a chirpy upbeat tone. "Lets get them Chen!" which explained why.


    "No. We''ll need to track back to where they came from. Looks like they are going west from the way the cart is positioned and those broken branches behind them" he said as he pointed east.


    Vines lay on both side of Chen, and as he looked down he saw movement.