MARSA1-Part A Mar-Sa The Ultra-Girl Book One/Part One The Girl of Tungsten Steel by Jim Robert Bader August 21, 1997 (First Copyrights Only) 00000000 000 000 000 vvvvvv 000 000 VVVVVVVVVVVV 000 000 VVVVVVVVV 000 000 VVVVVVV 000 000 VVVVV 000 000 VVV 000 000 V 000 000000000 MAR-SA, The Ultra-Girl by Jim Robert Bader (First Copyrights Only) Book One/Part One. The Girl of Tungsten Steel Chapter Four. Fugitives They made their way back towards the main road, which Mar-Sa was able to perceive more readily with her greatly heightened senses. Mar-Sa was finding it easier to understand the Earth girl's words as if she could perceive their meaning by her very proximity, and it almost seemed as though she knew that this strange woman could be trusted, that she harbored no unkind thoughts towards Mar-Sa and was sincere in her offer to assist. It felt natural to trust her, as though this stranger was akin to her in more ways than could be perceived upon the surface. It was a strange for her to experience, this proximity to someone so alien, yet so very much like the people of Wolframa. The unbelievably pale skin and hair coloring notwithstanding, this Phoebe Winters seemed as capable and resourceful as anyone that Mar-Sa had known in her own young life, and while she did seem small and lightly constructed, she moved with considerable agility in spite of the burden of the pack that she insisted on carrying. The light gravity of this world was not the only factor that helped quicken the girl's step, and the way that she conducted herself spoke of a confidence and freedom unknown to Mar-Sa until that very moment. Freedom, a concept that as yet had not fully taken root with her, was embodied in this stranger. Phoebe lived under an open sky, breathed natural air that did not come from a recycling facility and appeared to regard it as normal that she not have to account for her movements or actions to any authority figure, so long as she remained within the boundaries of the laws of her country. She insisted that the men following Mar-Sa were not operating within those laws, answering to a higher authority outside normal jurisdiction, and that the only grounds that they would have for detaining Mar-Sa would be the concerns for national security that leaders in authority always cited for doing whatever they wanted. The evident dislike for such authority implied in the tone Phoebe had employed seemed to be a part of the reason that she was so willing to help Mar- Sa avoid such detainment. Another reason seemed more impulsive, less clearly defined but felt oddly intimate, an emotion of warmth and familiarity as spontaneous as it was difficult to clarify, but seemed to further confirm that Phoebe Winters intended to see to her best welfare. Mar-Sa was more concerned about the way that she had acted around the soldiers when they had appeared to threaten Phoebe and herself. At first she had mistaken their intentions with those of security men from Ninjarma, the same men who had brutally murdered her mentor. Attacking one had been a mistake, and in retrospect it could have proven fatal but for the strange thing that had happened when they had discharged their weapons upon her with results that were anything but what either side had expected. The force within her had somehow defected their projectiles, as it had when she had crashed onto the planet, erecting some manner of personal shield that protected her from their projectile weapons. She had felt the impact of hard metal against her skin, but with the kinetic force greatly spent so that only a stinging sensation remained as these projectiles bounced off of her without causing any damage. The pain that she had felt was a small, annoying thing, but it awoke in her the fires of pent-up rage that she had not been aware of until that moment, and suddenly that fire erupted in her mind and struck the weapon in the hands of one of the soldiers, causing it to explode in his hands, which hurt him far worse than any suffering she might ever have intended. The implication was that her powers extended in nearly all mental ranges, from enhanced perceptual acuity and strength of body to actual mind over matter that extended even to affecting molecular bonds of attraction. The energy was surrounding her and saturating every cell membrane to render her near invulnerable, with the power to project that energy as kinetic force with enormous destructive potential. She was beginning to be more than a little bit frightened of her newfound might, for such enormous potential might prove difficult to control if she did not soon discover her limits. She could levitate to fly, but not very well, or accelerate her body to speeds that were incredible, but her strength had become so vast that merely to touch an ordinary human could potentially endanger him or her, which made her a greater danger to others than anything they might pose against her. It was all so overwhelming! "So," Phoebe was saying to her, "This guy, Carter, hired you to be his assistant because he was friends with your folks and all he wanted to do was help your people?" "Yes," Mar-Sa responded, "Our society is dying. Our world is polluted with many resources exhausted, and there are no natural places such as this forest left standing, except in a Preservation Dome for Biological studies." "But you're advanced enough to send people to another world by teleportation," Phoebe noted, "Why don't you use it to fix things?" "It is not that simple," Mar-Sa replied, "Energy is finite, and without new resources to replenish our stocks we will eventually use up all of our remaining capacitors. It takes energy to convert the atomic structure of elemental matter, let alone create complex molecular chains that are needed in our Processing and Conversion centers. We may last a few more lifetimes before our reserves are exhausted, but eventually we will use up the remaining stores of our Biodomes as we have reached the limit of our current technology, and when our supplies are gone the Domes will gradually lose the capability of sustaining any life. Kar-Tor was searching for a means of revitalizing our world, and that was partly the reason that he sought the knowledge of the ancients in order to recreate their technology of matter transportation." "So he was looking at Earth as a means to that end?" Phoebe asked, "He wanted to come here and maybe borrow a cup of air or something?" "Something like that," Mar-Sa replied, "I was to initiate contact with your leaders to establish communication so that we might arrange a transfer of technology for some of your resources. We were not planning to invade you or take what we needed by force, but your world has so much that is needed by my people while we have the benefit of hundreds of years of scientific advancement that we could offer to you so that you could avoid making the mistakes that has nearly destroyed us." "But then your boss got himself wasted by your government people?" Phoebe noted, "That sucks! So, what are you going to do now?" "I have no idea," Mar-Sa admitted, "Without Kar-Tor I have no one to contact in order to arrange a transfer. I have no authority with which to represent my world, and in fact I am now a fugitive who will be hunted down for termination." "Termination?" Phoebe stammered, "Why?" "I have violated the law prohibiting Citizens from traveling off-world," Mar-Sa replied, "As the Apprentice of one whom the Security Forces have deemed a threat to the security of Ninjarma I can expect no mercy and will, in fact, be branded a traitor to our society. I have defied the will of the supreme High Council, and I am the daughter of two executed traitors. Any one of these reasons would be more than sufficient for them to recycle me for my constituent atoms." "Ow!" Phoebe winced, "Yuck! You mean they'd melt you down for scrap? That's Gross!" "I suppose that it is," Mar-Sa remarked, "Resources are scarce, as I have told you, and we can afford to let nothing go to waste. The robes we wear are daily reconstituted, while our undergarments are made from more durable material that is meant to last through continuous usage. What you perceive as a costume is composed of chain molecules that are extremely resilient and could last many lifetimes. It does not tear or stain but moves easily over skin to trap the normal excretions of oil, feces and moisture..." "Kinda puts a new meaning to the term Wash and Wear," Phoebe sniffed, "Are all your people like you back home? I mean, not to get personal or anything, but you're awfully tall, and nicely put together." "Thank you," Mar-Sa replied, feeling her cheeks flush at the unexpected compliment, "Actually, I am not very exceptional. Ninjarmans are naturally taller than your people, and I am somewhat below the average..." "Are you serious?" Phoebe's strange pale blue eyes got very round as she looked up at Mar-Sa. "Yes," Mar-Sa replied, "And my appearance is also considered normal. We of the Northern Hemisphere are called Argorites, and we are taught that we are superior to the other, lesser races of the Middle and Southern Hemispheres. Actually I do not believe so myself, and Kar-Tor taught me to respect the other cultures of our world so as to be less...provincial." "A good thing," Phoebe snorted, "No offense, Marsha, but your people sound a lot like Nazis." "Nazi?" Mar-Sa frowned, images flowing into her mind unbidden, "A form of Nationalist-Socialist Government that practices Fascism, the rule of an elite people over..." "Can the history lesson," Phoebe hissed, ducking low, "We found the main road, now all we have to do is follow it back to civilization." "Road?" Mar-Sa, staring past the foliage to spy a different kind of trail from the one that they had been following. For one thing it was dark gray and was clearly artificial in origin. "Yeah," Phoebe said as she cautiously eased out into the open, glancing both ways before appearing to relax, "It's called asphalt, and it looks like nobody's using it at the moment. You've got Roads back on your world, right?" "Something like that," Mar-Sa replied, "They are no longer of use to us, but a few remain from the time before the Cataclysm." She knelt down to touch the hard, smooth surface, finding it coarse and broken up in places, clearly a compound formed by loose gravel imbedded in a tar-like substance. She straightened up and said, "Your people use wheeled transportation powered by internal combustion. You have yet to learn to use Magnetic Induction to create low-cost aerial transportation. You use Hydrocarbons distilled from fossilized petroleum instead of more efficient means, such as Hydrogen-Lithium based Fuel Cells, or even Solar Converters." "Yeah, we're primitive all right," Phoebe replied, "Most of us still think digital watches are a pretty neat invention." "I'm sorry," Mar-Sa replied, "I didn't mean to continually compare your world with mine..." "Hey, it's all right," Phoebe assured, "Truth is we knock ourselves for being primitive all of the time. It's something of a tradition." "Tradition," Mar-Sa repeated, then she made a connection and said, "Oh, you mean that as irony, humor." "Yeah," Phoebe replied, "They got humor where you come from?" "Somewhat," Mar-Sa replied, "Actually, there is not that much to joke about on my world." "I'll bet," Phoebe replied, turning to follow the road as it wound through the forest towards more mountainous country, Mar-Sa matching her longer stride to that of the smaller Earth woman, "Change of subject, "Tell me a little more about you personally. You've got anybody back home who'll miss you, any family, maybe a boy friend?" "Boy-friend?" Mar-Sa asked in puzzlement, an image forming in her mind that caused her to react with surprise, "You mean...it is permitted for men and women on your world to socialize together?" Phoebe blinked her eyes, then said, "It's been known to happen, but most of the time sex gets in the way..." "Sex?" Mar-Sa asked with an even more quizzical expression. "Yeah, boys and girls doing it together..." Phoebe's tone trailed off as she turned to face her new companion, "You know what Sex is, don't you?" "Of course," Mar-Sa replied, "For procreation, a duty performed for the state to maintain population levels. When a woman comes of age she is given a designation as a Breeder and entered into the selection registry, which pairs her up with a male who has the closest genetic compatibility factor. Her fertility cycle is closely observed to mark the time of maximum ovulation..." "Whoah!" Phoebe said, "That sure takes all the fun out of everything! You mean you don't have sex for other reasons besides procreation?" "Other reasons?" Mar-Sa asked with a blank expression, then her mind began to fill with new imagery and her eyes got-if anything-even larger and rounder than before, "Oh...you mean...?" "You've never done it at all, have you, Marsha?" Phoebe asked, subtly altering Mar-Sa's name to the nearest equivalent in her language. "No," Mar-Sa shook her head, "I was not selected as yet, and since my parents were both executed as traitors, I am not considered prime breeding material..." "In other words," Phoebe said slowly, "You're still a virgin." "Virgin," Mar-Sa blinked, "An unmated girl. Yes...I am a virgin. Why is that important?" Phoebe shook her blonde hair and said, "Never mind, I'll explain later. God, you really are from another planet! Not that it's a bad thing, mind you, it's just...kind of weird." "Why is it so strange?" Mar-Sa asked, then paused before saying, "You mean it is not so common for a woman to be unmated? I sense...that you believe it is unusual for me to be...alone?" "Marsha..." Phoebe started to say, then sighed, "Look, it's complicated, but if you were in my place you wouldn't have any trouble understanding where I'm coming from on this. On this world guys would hit on a good-looking woman like you in a second. Next to you I'm nothing much to look at..." "That is not true," Mar-Sa protested, "You are very special, Phe-Be. You are small and pale, but I feel that you are a very good person, and you have shown me great kindness, a stranger...not even of your people. You are...very special to me." "Really?" Phoebe asked, staring up at Mar-Sa in a way that was very strange, yet in a positive sort of way with blue eyes that seemed to share a warmth unlike any that Mar-Sa had known in her brief existence. All of a sudden Mar-Sa became aware of a sound that had been building gradually up in the background. The land was uneven here, and they were standing to one side where the road narrowed and turned sharply around a bend that partially obscured their vision by a natural land formation. This had also baffled her hearing for several crucial seconds, and when she recovered her bearings she discovered that it was being caused by a large greenish-brown object bearing down on them at a velocity that did not allowed them to avoid an immanent collision. Without pausing to think she thrust Phoebe out of danger with one hand, then bent her legs in an attempt to leap clear. The driver saw her but was too slow to react before the front grill of his truck struck Mar-Sa head-on, partially driving her heals into the asphalt. For a moment she felt metal bend against the shape of her body, then she was airborne as the kinetic force of five million pounds of energy knocked her head-over-heals to tumble into a roll that took some time from which to recover. As bad as this was it proved to be as nothing compared to what happened to the truck as the force of the collision drove in the front end and forced it onto its side of the road amid the sound of twisting metal and rubber. It skidded on its side for some distance before coming to rest some sixty meters distance, crashing through the guard rail over a steep shoulder in the road and coming to a halt mere meters away from going over the edge to a fifty meter drop into a looming chasm. Phoebe groaned, feeling as though she had just been punched in the chest by a heavy mallet, the wind having been partially driven from her lungs. She had landed heavily but was again spared the worst of it by absorbing the impact onto her backpack. She felt battered and bruised, but was coherent enough to shrug off her partial daze as the realization of what had just happened dawned on her with an even greater impact. She got her feet back under her, shrugging out of the straps to her pack as she saw where her new friend lay upon the road, and at first she thought the worst had occurred...until she noticed that Mar-Sa was still moving. "Marsha!" she cried, hurrying to her side as fast as she could manage. To her relief, surprise and considerable amazement, Mar-Sa not only was moving but she got back on her feet, slowly rising as she quite audibly said, "That...hurt!" "Are you all right?" Phoebe gasped, unable to believe that there did not seem to be a mark on the golden woman's body, or at least those parts that she could see exposed by her costume. "I will live," Mar-Sa replied, brushing back her disheveled hair, "I survived reentry, this was just...annoying." "That's...incredible," Phoebe marveled, looking her up and down, "You really are a superhero." "A what?" Mar-Sa said, brushing more of her wiry gold hair with a gloved hand and wondering why it was that Kar-Tor had insisted on having her to grow it so long in the first place. "I just mean that if you're tough enough to bounce a truck off your..." Phoebe faltered as the realization hit her, "The truck!" They both turned to see the truck, which lay on its side so near to falling into the nearby chasm. They could see from where they stood that entire front end was pushed in, as though it had struck a concrete pylon. They could also hear groans and screams from within the canopied rear, and two men tumbled out the back end, one of them clutching his rifle as he staggered to relative safety. "My...God?" Mar-Sa said, wondering as she said those words what had caused her to do so, "I did that?" "We've got to help those guys," Phoebe said urgently, "You've got to do something!" "Me?" Mar-Sa responded, realizing as she did so that she was responsible for the wreck and that there were injured and dying men and women who needed immediate medical attention, and that she was the only one who had the means to offer them any assistance. It proved to be worse as they approached the wreckage. Mar-Sa had never before been so close to an accident, nor was she prepared for the sight of blood where the driver had put his head through the front windshield. She faltered for an instant and murmured aloud, "Red...your blood is red?" "Why?" Phoebe asked, "What color were you expecting, orange? No wait...don't tell me..." Mar-Sa steeled her nerves as she approached the front end, which was perched precariously over the delve but still accessible for close examination. She forced herself to focus her senses upon the driver, knowing before she did so that he was beyond medical attention. The passenger next to him, however, had worn a crude restraining belt that had kept him firmly in his seat, so that the worst that he appeared to have suffered was the shock itself, which might have induced a whiplash, judging by his profuse groaning. She needed to get him out of that cabin, but how to do so when it was positioned out over a steep drop into the chasm? It was obvious that she needed a way to reach the injured man, and climbing onto the vehicle would likely overbalance it, so that left only one other route, to get beneath the side window. Leaving Phoebe's side, she walked over the edge several meters until she was directly beneath the cabin, then reached up to break the glass between her and the injured man, after which it was a simple enough matter of pulling his straps loose rather than fumble with the locking mechanism. Freed of restraint, he tumbled into her embrace, and thus she carried him back onto the road as Phoebe came trotting up with her retrieved backpack from which she produced a bedroll, which she spread out so that Mar-Sa could lay the injured man upon it,. He was in very bad shape and Mar-Sa was able to sense from the contact that he had internal injuries to his kidneys and along the vertebrae of the neck. She cradled his head as Phoebe took a pillow from her pack then laid her blanket over him while Mar-Sa turned her attention to the rest of the victims. That was when she took notice of the one soldier still on his feet and pointing his weapon directly at Mar-Sa. "Get your hands into the air where I can see them!" the soldier barked, looking and sounding as if he were no older than she. "No wait!" Phoebe protested. Mar-Sa extended her hands in a non-threatening manner and said, "Do not shoot, I mean you no harm! I only want to help you..." "That may be so, Ma'am," the man said as he approached her with his weapon, "But I need you to keep your hands where I can..." "Corporal," a man who had climbed out the rear of the truck and who was now sitting on the ground with his back propped up against a wheel barked, "Lower your weapon, that's an order." "But sir..." the soldier protested. "You heard me," the other man said, hand pressed to his side, "The lady wants to help. You saw what she just did for Perkins?" "But..." the soldier hesitated, then lowered his rifle, turning to the other man, who seemed close to fainting. "Please," Mar-Sa said, moving past the soldier to kneel before the prone man, who was clearly of higher rank, "How can I help you?" "I'm Captain Michael Gravis...United States Armed Forces," the officer gasped, "You know...anything about first aid?" "I will do what I can," Mar-Sa said as she stared at the man, her heightened senses perceiving the sound of blood bubbling inside his lungs, the irregular sound his heart made as he labored to remain conscious. Pain radiated from his body like a palpable force, causing her to share his agony the closer she came to him, but rather than draw away she bent nearer until she was able to touch him. If only she had the facilities to tend to his injuries. She knew basic physiology, of course but that hardly qualified her for an Exobiology rating! He might die and it would be all her fault, and as she thought this she felt something well up from deep within her, the warm glow that had been burning brightly in her center was responding to her need with energy that flowed down along her arms, into her hands and, through physical contact, into the man's body, bathing him momentarily in a radiant glow that surrounded him with a golden radiance, which same faded after only a few moments. The pain subsided at once, to be replaced by a soothing calm as his breath ceased to be labored and his heart began to beat with a steady rhythm. She withdrew her hand, almost beyond amazement as she sensed the tissue fibers knitting together, his bones flexing to rejoin what had broken as the swelling of his organs reversed themselves and all damage, internal or external, was repaired in a matter of seconds. She stared down at her blue-gloved hands, still able to perceive the golden corona that had surrounded them, feeling slightly drained yet altogether elated. She had discovered yet another facet to her new abilities, that the power that could heal her own body could be extended to others. She looked up in wonder at Phoebe and saw her own expression reflected in her companions eyes, along with a look of utter amazement. "Jesus," the Corporal murmured from just behind her shoulder, "What did she...?" "I'm all right," the officer said, no less amazed as he stared down at himself, then up at Mar-Sa, "How did you do that?" "Good Question," murmured Phoebe, "That was really...something..." "I am as surprised as the rest of you," Mar-Sa assured them, feeling an odd thrill as she felt the life-giving energy of the sun gradually restore her to full potential. The Captain glanced at the overturned truck and said, "My boys...can you help them?" "I believe that I can," Mar-Sa said with growing confidence, getting back onto her feet as she stared at the canopied rear to the truck, sensing several other men and women who were injured, some trapped under heavy boxes of ordinance. To get them out of there would require that she pull the truck back onto the road and turn it upright, a feat that she once would have thought impossible, but now knew to be childsplay. "Stand back," she murmured as she went around behind the undercarriage, examining the vehicle from the perspective of a trained engineer, examining the problem as she would from the mindset of her training. She mathematically calculated its physical dimensions and triangulated its probable center of gravity, yet it was pure instinct that motivated her next move, which was to bend down and find a solid part of the chassis which could be grasped firmly. Once contact was established she could sense the strength and balance of the entire unwieldy object, which was more than twenty times as massive as herself. Planting her feet squarely on the asphalt road and bracing for the stress, she eased the thing back over the edge then bent down to attempt to heave it off of the ground with a massive exertion of more mind than muscle, feeling her power flow from her hands to fortify the molecular structure of the chassis. Slowly it budged, then suddenly her strength began to surge, and with a sudden heave she lifted the truck up off the ground as though it were made of Styrofoam, then positioned it at shoulder level before tipping it onto its side before hefting the truck up to it to shoulder level. "Jesus!" exclaimed the Corporal again as Mar-Sa gradually eased the truck down as gently as she was able. "Not quite," Phoebe murmured numbly, "But you're close." Mar-Sa took a deep breath before moving around to the side of the vehicle, then she began unloading cargo until she was able to reach each one of the trapped soldiers. One-by-one she worked carefully to extract them from the cabin while Phoebe assisted as best as she was able, and so did the soldier once he overcame his bewilderment. Soon they had a half dozen more men and women stretched out on the ground, and thankfully no one was as badly hurt as the officer. The driver had been the only fatality, for which Mar-Sa was keenly grateful. It was only then---when she moved to examine the front half of the vehicle--- that was she able to fully appreciate first hand what the force of the impact had yielded: a deep impression of her body had been driven into the front end of the crumpled radiator, which in turn had been driven back into the engine, which now was a twisted heap of bent and broken metal. It was amazing to her that nothing had caught fire or exploded, but that small caveat might have been the thing that truly saved the soldiers in the end, giving Mar-Sa the chance to partially redeem herself for her actions. It further astounded her to think that a force that could wreck so much devastation had barely raised much more than a bruise to her own body, and aside from being knocked for a loop she felt perfectly fine, no worse than before impact. She then recalled the sensation of the golden glow reaching out from her hands to that of the Captain and decided to test out her new limits in a far more constructive manner. She knelt over each of the fallen soldiers and shared a portion of this healing energy and soon had treated them all for hurts both major and major. Each time the glow flowed into their bodies she felt just a little weaker, but continued to give until she had helped them all, including the front passenger, whose neck was last to be healed. Unfortunately her power did not work on the driver, proving that there were after all limits to her abilities, however vast they might seem from a casual standpoint. She sighed at the last, feeling tired for the first time since arriving upon this planet. What she found instead were looks of awe and gratitude on the people she had just helped, while Phoebe was looking at her with an almost worshipful expression. It belatedly occurred to her that it would be a very good idea to move on as the entire affair had taken close to half an hour, which was critical time when being pursued by the colleagues of these soldiers. For some reason the men and women she had helped did not seem pressed to deter her, and the one who had been threatening with his weapon before now saluted her as she passed him by, urging Phoebe to follow. "Just a moment, Ma'am," Captain Gravis said, sounding stronger than before as he now stood under his own power, looking tired by very alertly in her direction, "From what I've just seen, I don't think I can prevent your leaving, but who are you and where did you come from?" "I am...a friend," Mar-Sa replied, "I never meant you any harm, but I cannot stay or allow you to detain me." "She's from out of town," Phoebe said, "A long way out of town." "No fooling," said the Corporal, who still chose not level his weapon in any threatening manner. "And your connection?" the Captain asked Phoebe directly. "I'm...sort of a tour guide," Phoebe replied, moving up alongside her golden skinned companion, "No one special, I just thought she needed someone to show her the sights." "We must go," Mar-Sa urged, pausing to listen to the sound of another vehicle further down the road, "Help will arrive soon. You should rest until they are here." "Anything you say, Ma'am," the Corporal replied, turning to the officer, who nodded affirmative. He then made a curious salute to Mar-Sa. "Go help the others," Captain Gravis ordered with a mild sniff before returning his focus to the strange golden woman before him, "It may not be worth much, lady, but...good luck to you both." "Thank you," Mar-Sa replied, turning back to a new trail leading down the slope and back into the forest, Phoebe hurrying to match the pace she set as she could hear the other vehicle rapidly approaching. "They're never going to believe this at debriefing," Captain Gravis sighed, then tried to get to his feet, finding his strength was gradually returning A moment later a Humvee came rolling up the pass, stopping as one of the recovered troops flagged it down. The Lieutenant and his two passengers all stared through the windshield at the truck and its soldiers, then the driver said, "Wait here, and don't let him out of your sight." "What the hell happened here?" the unnamed private beside him murmured. "That's what I'm going to find out," the Lieutenant replied as he got out of his vehicle and sought out the Captain, who was limping towards them. Rick Shepherd stared from his back seat vantagepoint at both the truck and other soldiers, noticing details with a practiced eye honed by many a difficult field assignment. He immediately noted the tire tracks skidding off from the road, then saw something else that fixed his attention and he said, "What is that?" "What's what, sir?" the soldier beside him responded. "In the middle of the road," Rick said, pointing, "You see what I see? Looks like some kind of pot-hole, surrounded by a spray of glass and metal." "A spray?" the soldier frowned, then started as Rick opened the side door and stepped through it before he could prevent it. The officer at once cocked his rifle and said, "Sir, get back inside the vehicle, now!" "Easy," Rick replied, "I'm just going to have a closer look." "I cannot allow that, sir!" the soldier replied, pressing the business end of his weapon up against the back of Shepherd's neck. "Are you going to shoot me in cold blood, Private?" Rick asked tensely, "Are those the kind of orders you're expected to follow?" The tension in the other man's voice was more noticeable as the soldier replied, "Do not provoke me, sir. I have my orders, you are not to step beyond this vehicle..." "Private," the officer with the Captain's bars said, limping forward with some assistance from one of his soldiers, "Stand down, that's an order." "Sir?" the private said hesitantly, glancing to the Lieutenant for confirmation. "You heard the man, private," the lieutenant nodded, "Put it up. It's all right, Mister Shepherd. You're in no immediate danger." "That's reassuring," Rick said, glancing back at the man in the vehicle before approaching the others with caution, "For the moment there I was starting to wonder what country I'd stumbled into. You guys always this tense around a simple accident? You'll notice I'm not carrying a camera, and I'm definitely not wired." "We know that, Mister Shepherd," the Captain said, "And until I receive orders to the contrary, I don't see any reason to treat you like the enemy, outside of your profession." "Sir," the lieutenant said, "With all due respect, we have orders to keep a strict..." "I am aware of that, lieutenant," the Captain assured him, "I'm also a bit more in the know about what's happening here, and why higher ups want to contain it. You might have noticed, we've just had a little bit of car trouble." "No fooling," Rick looked down, having purposefully edged to where he had intended to go in the first place, "What did you guys run into here, Big Foot?" The other two men looked down with astonished expressions, for there in the asphalt was the clear impression of a pair of large foot-prints gouged several inches into the surface, which was cracked and splintered all around as though the whole area had been under considerable stress for one brief moment. The bits of glass, plastic and metal that littered the ground was scattered out in a radiating pattern that had the crash site as its central focus. Rick glanced back to the vehicle and noticed that the overturned truck was not where the skid marks led, then softly whistled as he sensed the makings of one terrific story. "I'm afraid I can't answer that," the Captain said evasively, turning to the Lieutenant and saying, "Call in a medical unit. Tell them we have one fatality and several soldiers in need of medical attention..." "This thing killed somebody?" Rick asked sharply. "That's not what..." one of the other men started to say, but the Captain quickly snapped him to attention. "That will be all, private," he said, then smiled and added, "And that will be all for you, Mister Shepherd. Lieutenant, escort our reporter friend here to mobile base camp and see that he is well treated." "Yes sir," the Lieutenant, eyes never leaving Rick, "This way back to the Humvee, Mister Shepherd. Your full cooperation in this matter is expected." "Yessir, GI Joe," Rick said a she mock-saluted, then halted as he stared back at the truck, his attention focused to the front-end grill of the vehicle, which he had not noticed before bore a surprising impression. "I said to move," the Lieutenant pointedly imposed his body physically between Rick and the truck, "Now." "Okay, okay," Rick replied as he headed back into the Humvee, adding softly, "But I'm damned if any meteor made that kind of impression..." The Captain waited until the Humvee was underway before turning back to study the human outline pressed forcibly into the metal, then softly murmured, "Mister, you don't know the half of it." He could not help glancing back towards the trail, then notably skyward... (First Copyrights Only) (First Eleven Chapters) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: http://s11.sexshare.com/~jbader/jimbader.html All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works.