Mar-Sa The Ultra-Girl Book One/Part Three The Girl of Tungsten Steel A HEROINE IS MADE, NOT BORN by Jim Robert Bader September 4, 2001 (First Copyrights Only) 00000000 000 000 000 vvvvvv 000 000VVVVVVVVVVVV000 000 VVVVVVVVV 000 000 VVVVVVV 000 000 VVVVV 000 000 VVV 000 00000000 Mar-Sa The Ultra-Girl by Jim Robert Bader Book One/Part Two The Girl of Tungsten Steel Chapter Twenty-Four. Mar-Sa and the Preacher "Can you believe this crap?" Turlough swore as he slammed down the newspaper on his desk, "A known killer and vigilante, and they wanna throw a party in her honor in the middle of town? That's whack!" "That's show business," Sarah retorted on her side of the opposing desk, "With all the positive publicity that she's been getting lately is it any wonder that people are curious and want to come see for themselves a real-life super lady?" "People'll line up to see anything these days," Turlough snorted tacitly, "What I don't understand is why the city is being called on to foot the bill for security. An entire city block is being cordoned off for this, and you know what kind of a nightmare it's gonna be with the Mayor and City Council on hand wanting to give the gold lady the freaking keys to the city!" "What are you worried about?" Sarah asked, "It's not even happening in our district. Let the tenth precinct handle it...way I hear it, they've already got some freaky new monster squad, or something like that, to handle these kinds of cases." "It just doesn't sit right with me," Turlough scowled, "First she splatters that trucker dude, then she splattered that creep in the bank, and both times it happened on our watch with plenty of witnesses who saw her do it. She's interfered in police business all the way up and down the state, and that's not even counting the times she's butted in with firefighters, rescue people, the goddamned coast guard..." "So?" Sarah countered, "I pretty much doubt any one of those guys resents her for wanting to help out." "Fine, make jokes," Turlough sniffed, "Way I see it, there's just something not natural about that lady. I don't trust people who come out of no where and do stuff like that, then go prancing around in the buff in a nudie magazine. Like...what kind of example is that gonna set for the kids...?" "Well gee, Kemo Sabe," Sarah retorted, "You sound just like those pale-faced Bible-thumpers, always going on the warpath about her flying around and performing miracles without their divine permission..." "Just great," Turlough got up from his chair and snarled, "Play stand up comedienne all you like, Rookie, but I'm gonna go down there and get to the bottom of this mess, and I don't care if you are Geronimo's granddaughter or the Queen of Siam..." "And what are you gonna do, Chief?" Sarah asked as she reached for her coat and got to her feet, "Arrest her? You heard the Lieutenant..." "Not arrest her, at least not yet," Turlough called back over his shoulder, "But I'm within my rights to ask her to come down to the station to answer a few questions!" "There go our pensions," Sarah murmured under her breath as she followed her senior partner out of the station, murmuring under her breath, "I got a bad feeling about this..." "Oh my, I am so excited about this!" Phoebe grinned as she studied herself in the mirror, "My first debut, and with Marsha as the guest of honor! I can't wait to get started, Katie, this is gonna be such a hoot!" "It certainly will be something," Katie agreed, studying her blonde roommate's profile as Phoebe tried out the expensive dress that Katie had bought for her, along with the ribbon that set her shoulder-length blond hair into an elegant coiffure. "I'll bet Marsha's just as excited to get started on this as we are," Phoebe mused before turning a sidelong glance and saying, "Um...by the way, where is Marsha?" "Oh, keeping busy," Katie said, "I didn't want her fretting around while we were making ourselves up and..." "Keeping busy?" Phoebe rounded on her Sensei, "Katie...you didn't!" Then she glanced off into space and winced, "You did! Katie...why are you having her perform katas right now? We've gotta get her ready! The debut is in another hour!" "Calm down, Phoebe-chan," Katie urged, "She's in water, she'll be clean enough. All she has to do is put on her costume and dry her hair out and..." "I don't believe you some days," Phoebe fumed as she stormed right past her best friend and mentor, heading out to the poolside area whereupon she found Mar-Sa doing exactly what she had sensed that she was doing, working out with weights and performing martial arts katas on the bottom of the pool, breathing through an air hose with her arms and legs strapped to wooden paddles that deliberately impeded her movements, forcing her to use more energy when performing punches, kicks and blocks. "Marsha!" Phoebe cupped her hands around her mouth and called out, "Are you still doing that now? C'mon, we gotta get ready!" "She won't stop until I tell her to," Katie remarked as she joined Phoebe out on the patio, staring into the water and seeing the refracted image of their golden-skinned alien lover as Mar-Sa punched, stepped forward, blocked and kicked with as much ease as a normal person would do in air, the wooden paddles strapped to her shins and fore-arms causing waves of water to slosh around violently with her motions, to which Katie added, "And I'm not satisfied yet. She should be able to do that by now without creating so much friction." Phoebe made a noise and said, "Would you give her a break for once? She's doing the thirteenth kata already, and you know how much trouble I have with that one." "You know the drill around here, young lady," Katie replied, "If you can't do it correctly, then you keep practicing it until you can do it right." "Katie..." Phoebe growled in exasperation. "Oh, all right," Katie turned and said, "That is enough for today, Student. You may come out of there and get ready for your party." At once Mar-Sa broke off on performing the fourteenth kata and made a double- saluting motion before falling into a respectful stance then bowing towards her Sensei, at which point she breathed a sigh into her aqualung mask and caused a foam of bubbles to float up and around her billowing hair. She then bunched her legs and gathered herself up before leaping straight up out of the water and performing a graceful mid-air tumble, landing at the side of the pool in a one- point landing. "Showoff," Katie snorted as she moved to dodge the spray of the water. Mar-Sa removed her breathing mask and grinned, "Well, you said that we shouldn't waste any energy, Sensei, and when it comes to getting out of a pool there's no reason not to be stylish about it." "How you feeling, Partner?" Phoebe asked as she admired the way that Mar-Sa filled out a string bikini. "Like I'm ready to take on the world," Mar-Sa replied, "Which, in a sense, is what I'm doing, isn't it? I'm not sure if I can really just appear before a large crowd of total strangers, but..." "Are you kidding me?" Katie asked, "You do that every time you pop up someplace wearing that lingerie you call a costume! Don't tell us you're getting cold feet now of all times..." "Um, no," Mar-Sa said sheepishly, "It's just...I've never done anything quite like this before. I do hope that I make a good show of it because if I screw up and make a fool of myself..." "Hey, just be yourself, Marsha," Phoebe urged with here usual cocky grin, "That's all anybody asks! And Heather will be there to cover for you, so it won't be as if you're doing the whole thing solo." "Yes, well...all right," Mar-Sa sighed, "I might as well make myself ready. If my costume is clean and dried by now..." "It's hanging on the clothes stand waiting for you put it on," Katie replied, "But...before we go, there is one thing we need to do here. Phoebe-chan, would you mind taking off your wrist and ankle weights?" "Huh?" Phoebe blinked, glancing down, "Now? I thought you were treating them as fashion accessories..." "Not this time around," Katie remarked, "Now if you will please remove them?" "Okay," Phoebe undid the straps on her two-pound wrist-weights then massaged the bruised skin there and checked to see that they had full circulation. Then she bent down and undid the straps around her ankles before straightening up and saying, "But I don't see---WHOAH!" she gasped as she overcompensated, then righted herself automatically with greater ease than she would have imagined. "You see?" Katie grinned, "Bet you feel at least ten pounds lighter." "Ten pounds?" Phoebe flexed her arms and then gave an experimental leap into the air, "WHOOHOO! Are you kidding? I feel lighter than air! Wow, what a difference!" "Phoebe?" Mar-Sa asked with a much-surprised expression, seeing her blonde friend leaping higher than she ever did in practice. "Huh?" Phoebe came back down to earth in more than one sense of the word then said, "Did I just do that?" "Do what?" Katie asked coyly. "You know what I mean," Phoebe experimented by leaping again, then giving out a startled, "OY VEY!" as she found herself hovering ten feet in the air and directly over the swimming pool, "Yikes!" Mar-Sa instinctively reached out with a hand to project her Telekinetic curtain, but Katie stopped her with an upraised gesture, her eyes never leaving Phoebe, who turned an expectant look towards the pool and automatically willed herself not to fall in and risk spoiling her new dress. To their mutual astonishment she ceased falling and started floating over the water. "What the hey...?" Phoebe gasped. "Phoebe?" Mar-Sa blinked in amazement, sensing the flow of energy in her blonde lover as Phoebe somehow resisted the pull of gravity and achieved full levitation. "I thought as much," Katie nodded in satisfaction, "Come over here, little girl, and try not to get that dress wet or it's coming out of your allowance." Phoebe managed to control her power just long enough to float over to the side of the pool, then she staggered as she set foot on the edge once again, wavering a bit before resting her full weight on her toes and ankles. Only then did she let out a breath once again and ask, "What the heck just happened?" "It's simple," Katie replied, "You've been tapping into Marsha's energy for so long now that you've started to develop an affinity for her power of levitation. Those weights that you've been wearing weren't just there to condition your muscles, they were intended to compel you to draw more of her energy into yourself until the act became entirely second nature. Now you'll find you're a lot stronger, faster, healthier and even more resilient than you used to be, and that will continue to improve for as long as you and Marsha continue to train together." "You mean...I'm gonna become more like Marsha?" Phoebe gasped. "Well, there are limits," Katie conceded, "You're not as dense as she is, and you only get a trickle of her excess energy, but...yeah, you're going to be a lot tougher than a normal California blonde, Phoebe-chan, and that makes you an even better partner for Marsha." "Phoebe..." Mar-Sa said slowly, then shared an astonished link as she felt the strength of their union flow even stronger without the interference. It was as though a glance or a thought was all it took now to establish an instant link between them, and this close to her beloved she was sensitive to every emotion and whim that floated through the kinky mind of her perky earthly companion. "Now, Marsha-chan," Katie smiled, "Try removing the weights around your wrists and ankles." Mar-Sa did as directed and then made much the same discovery as Phoebe. Although she was used to removing the weights any time that she went out on an emergency she was now very much aware of the considerable ease that normal movement afforded. Even though the weights were no more than a mere forty pounds over her normal body weight, the placement on her wrists and ankles meant that she had to exercise greater effort and control while making even ordinary movements, and that meant learning to draw upon her power almost constantly at a level far above what she employed when in a normal state of rest. She moved her arms and performed the very same katas that she had been practicing underwater and found her speed and coordination had improved tenfold, which greatly impressed even Katie, who smiled and nodded before saying, "You see? Not so hard now that you aren't facing as much resistance." "Incredible," Mar-Sa said as she lowered her arms and smiled at her mentor, "I understand fully now. On Wolframa I would be fighting the pull of gravity but my arms would still move the same laterally because their mass would be a constant..." "But by making your arms twice as heavy you've have to push all of your muscles in spite of our lower gravity," Katie continued for her, "So...it wasn't such a crazy maneuver after all, was it?" "Not hardly," Phoebe grinned as she flexed a muscle, "I feel like I could take on a whole army!" "We'll see what your new limits really are, young lady," Katie gave her blonde friend an indulgent look before adding, "And then we'll continue your training, only this time you'll be wearing five pound weights while Mar-Sa wears twenty." "Twenty?" Phoebe blinked then added, "Five pounds? My arms are gonna fall off with that!" "Not before I get you used to wearing ten on each wrist," Katie assured her, "Now, that's enough fooling around. We've got a date in 'Frisco and Heather's sending her personal copter around to pick us up, so Marsha...get yourself ready." "I take it that I'll be providing my own transportation?" Mar-Sa quipped. "Are you kidding?" Katie sniffed, "With that quarter-ton bod of yours? We'd never even get the bird off the ground." "No problem, then," Phoebe quipped, "Marsha can carry us there. For her it'd be easy." "Yeah, but I think Heather's pilot would complain about not having anything to do on the way," Mar-Sa remarked, "So, if it's all the same to you two, I think I'll go solo." "Suit yourself," Katie replied, "But I think you just trying to welsh out on paying the air cargo rates..." Sometime later as Mar-Sa was winging her way over the great city by the bay itself, confidently enjoying the feeling of the sun warming her inside and out, and once again reveling in the freedom of it all. Life had been very good for her since arriving upon planet Earth, and now was her first public debut where she got the chance to explain to everyone how wonderful they had it growing up with things her people could not even dream of possessing. In truth it was half the reason that she was looking forward to taking the stage and speaking directly with the public at large, the other part being her desire to give thanks for the great blessing of being welcomed among such a marvelously diverse and interesting people. As she flew towards the main heart of the city itself she wondered what she would say first and how she would begin her introductions. Merely saying, "Hello, my name is Mar-Sa of Ninjarma," sounded a bit too lame in her own mind, yet to say anything else seemed to her a bit pretentious. After all, it was not exactly as if she had done anything special to deserve the gift of her superpowers, so how did one take credit for a natural gift that was the birthright of her own people? But as she approached Hyde Park she started to have qualms about her making a public showing, because while she had been warned to expect a "crowd" of people, in no way, shape or form was she prepared for the sight that greeted her with a virtual sea of people swarming all around the stage set up at one corner of a wide, grassy area. In fact Mar-Sa estimated that there were close to a hundred thousand people in all, a staggering total considering that a gathering of this sort would have been impossible in her homeland, even if the people of Wolframa could have survived a gathering taking place upon the surface of their planet. She had never seen this many human beings before, and while they were only tiny forms when viewed from her current altitude, the sheer volume of people was astonishing to witness. She could feel the force of a hundred thousand minds and the emotions of elation that went up when the first few spotted her arrival. As she approached closer to the stage the sense of enthusiasm was heightened to a near fever-pitch with people crying out in awe and amazement, emotions that Mar-Sa could all too readily identify as they roughly matched her own amazement, never before having experienced such a rich sea of psychic ebullience, so strong that she felt it hit her like a warm updraft. Below her, on the stage, her friends were gathering about the podium in preparation for her arrival, the helicopter having arrived some time before Mar- Sa had even left the farmhouse. Heather was quick to greet then seat both Katie and Phoebe after making hasty introductions to the other celebrities who had taken time out to attend this massive rally. The Mayor was expected by them, of course, but they were both surprised to discover that the Governor of California was also on hand, and this being an off-election year that turned out to be not so very surprising. But then yet another figure made her presence known, and to this one both Katie and Phoebe turned curious looks of apprehension, for the woman Heather introduced as "Astarte Jones" was none other than the embodiment of that strange disembodied presence whom they had spoken with only a few weeks previous to this event. "Good day to you both," said a well-dressed redheaded business woman wearing a hat and dark sunglasses in the middle of full daylight, her voice purring and sensual with an oddly melodious thrum to highlight her curious accent, "We meet at last, and well met indeed." "You're Jones?" Katie asked, then gawked as the other woman stood to her full six-foot height and bowed respectfully in her direction. "Astarte Amanda Jones, at your service," the mysterious woman nodded, cocking her head at a slight angle as she studied the pair back through her sunglasses, "You both have very strong life auras. I can tell that there is much more about you than meets with appearance..." "You don't say?" Katie stared back, "Mind if I ask...what's with the hat and the shades?" "I have a rather...unique condition," the redhead purred softly, "My eyes are very sensitive to the light, and I tend to burn easily in full sunlight. I am very glad to have the opportunity to meet with you both, there is much that we need to discuss, but, alas, much of it will necessarily have to wait until we are...private." "Yeah?" Katie said, "What about?" "Business," Astarte's smile became sensual, "And pleasure. I suspect that there is a great deal that we could discuss on our own, but what I have to say will have a direct bearing upon Mar-Sa. You see...there is...something that the two of us share in common, and I hope that it will be to our mutual advantage..." "Later people," Cathy urged, waving them to their respective chairs with the unctuousness of a nervous hen attempting to play den mother, "We have a show to run, and you're holding up the stage here." "Come on, Katie," Phoebe said, giving Astarte a curious look while she and Katie sat down in chairs very near to the elegantly dressed redhead. As everyone took their seats Cathy sidled up alongside Heather and said, "The pressure is on, Boss Lady...hope we don't choke..." "Have some faith, Cathy," Heather urged softly, "We've gone to a lot of time, trouble and expense to set this up, but I think you'll agree that the results are more than worth it." "That's if the guest of honor puts in a timely appearance, of course," Cathy glanced around, "This is quite a crowd you put together, and it's gonna take a lot to live up to their expectations." "You mean that you put together," Heather smiled, "Take a little credit for doing a great job with our promotional staff. I know that you've been going pleasantly mad getting the sound system and the camera positions just right, and considering that you've done all this while helping me to arrange and publish both magazines and specials, I would say that you have more than earned a bow for the minor miracle that you have brought here." "Indeed," noted Astarte, calling their attention while pointing a finger skyward, "I should think you both deserve congratulations, but the real miracle is only now arriving." Heads turned in time to see the approaching form that was drifting their way with red cape flapping in the wind, the gleam of sunlight against hair and skin attracting the eyes of the crowd as the form drew closer, sending a rumble up of gasps in awe the nearer that she came into view. "Magnificent," they heard Astarte murmur, "Like heaven descending to Earth..." "Yeah," Phoebe said with a soft smile, "She has that effect on, HUH?" she blinked as something caught her attention, forcing her to turn her gaze towards the crowd with a start of recognition, "What's he doing here?" "Huh?" Katie tore her own gaze away from Mar-Sa's descent to attempt to fathom what her blonde companion was going on about now, "Who are you talking about? Who's here?" "I believe that she means the gentleman wearing the leather jacket near the front row with the rest of the fourth establishment," Astarte replied, surprising both Katie and Phoebe. "Yeah...the black guy with the short hair," Phoebe spared a glance towards the redhead, "How did you know?" "I am psychic," Astarte replied, her smile even more sensual and enigmatic than the lilt in her unearthly voice, "You had a strong reaction to seeing him...do I take that to mean that you have had a prior past association?" "Uh...kinda," Phoebe admitted, "But we've never actually met. I remember him, though...sorta..." "Oho?" Katie arched and eyebrow, "You've been entertaining more male guests on the sly?" "C'mon, Katie, get real," Phoebe snorted, "Besides, he's not really my type...and he's much too grungy..." "Comes with the profession," Astarte replied, "And I know the gentleman in question. Used to be a reporter for a tabloid paper but he has recently gone legitimate due to a certain close encounter with an alien who purloined his automobile...you would not happen to know anything about that, would you Miss Winters?" "Ah, who, me?" Phoebe asked innocently, "Haven't a clue, why do you ask...?" Rick was not privy to any of this, his mind being directed skyward with the rest of the astonished masses. He did feel a slight burning around his earlobes but passed this off as inconsequential when compared with the sight of his long- coveted "golden girl" finally manifesting outside of his dreams and appearing as large as life with the grace of a descending eagle. The sight of her alone was enough to take his breath away, and that even taking into account the effect that could be had by a flying golden woman in an oddly multi-colored costume. It had been worth it worming his way into the front row of the press corps just to get a close view of his enigmatic angel. In the flesh she was even more astonishingly real than he would have imagined her to be, and the ease with which she set down on the stage made it seem almost as though she were floating on invisible wires. He had to pinch himself to be certain that she was actually real and not a fathom, but there was nothing artificial about her smile, or the genuinely friendly way in which she turned to view the crowd, staring right past him as she attempted to take in the enormity of so many people gathered around to pay their respects to her newly gained celebrity status. A smile like that could light an entire city and make the entire world seem bright and special. To see her now was to appreciate her beauty in ways that no mere photograph could convey, and for all that he had been chasing a dream of getting close enough to her to see that smile in person, the actual realization of his ambition was an event for which he felt inadequately prepared. True she seemed more than human, more than mere flesh and blood, more than anything earthly, and yet there was something basic and down-to-earth about her manner as she scanned the cheering throngs with guiless innocence as if amazed that all that attention could be paid her way. It was quite exceptional to be in the presence of such a gleaming, glistening heavenly vision, and yet the blonde named Heather Holberg seemed other than intimidated as she took her place on the stage, microphone in hand, and held up a hand for the living goddess in their midst while rather grandly declaring, "Ladies and Gentlemen...may I present to you Mar-Sa of Ninjarma, a visitor to our world from a planet called Wolframa!" There was cheering and applause from all quarters at this announcement, and Rick found himself applauding no less enthusiastically than the least of the huge audience. The doubts of the claims of her identity and origins were forgotten by even the most cynical among them, and everyone got into the spirit of the affair by offering their tribute to a celebrity whose very existence was already a thing of living legend. "Though some of you may know her by the name the papers have given her as Ultra Girl," Heather resumed, "To those of us who have had the privilege of knowing her in person she is something more than just an extraordinarily talented and gifted young lady. Mar-Sa is a refugee from a world without hope for a future, and she has made her home among us, hoping to live as a citizen of this world if the INS ever get around to accepting her application for political asylum...and I must say for their sake that I hope they never try to deport her." General laughter followed that comment, and Rick had to silently judge that Heather Holberg was a natural at the role of playing the hostess, not that she had to work the crowd too hard in order to get a reaction. Rick found himself staring at the blonde publisher, who had placed a friendly hand on the arm of the statuesque Mar-Sa, and suddenly he felt a surge of jealousy take hold of him as though he wanted to be the one on the stage sharing space with his golden goddess... "Mar-Sa," Heather turned and waved her arm at the skyline saying, "May I present to you the fair city of San Francisco!" More cheering and applause, and then Heather extended the microphone to her "special guest," compelling Mar-Sa to lean forward and say the words, "Wow...ah...Hi..." Somehow this sublimely inane statement only added to the appeal that this goddess was projecting to the worshipful throngs. Rick felt his heart lurch in his chest as he stared up at her beautiful heart-shaped face and make the stunning realization that she was very young and sheltered, not at all the worldly, savvy creature that he had been unconsciously expecting. "There you have it, people, a woman of few words!" Heather spoke into her wireless microphone, "Let's show her how much we appreciate her for coming here this bright and sunny morning!" More applause, and much of it warm-hearted. Rick had to give Holberg credit for ad-libbing as it was a perfect way of getting the crowd firmly on her side. This was obviously an awkward moment for the towering golden woman and it took someone of strong character and charm to play intermediary for the shy giantess so she would seem more human and appealing. As it was a warm and caring human being was showing forth from behind the identity of the superhero, and that was exactly the right tone to strike in order to bring across the implicit message that, alien or not, this visitor from a foreign world was friendly and in no way hostile. Again the microphone was presented to her, and with a bit more confidence than before the golden beauty said, "Thank you...you honor me more than you could ever know. I am Mar-Sa of Ninjarma, dubbed the Ultra-Girl in your press. I am here as a friend...I came to your world a few months ago seeking refuge among you, and it seems that, by a strange quirk of fate, I have been gifted with unusual abilities by contact with your world's sun. You see...my world's sun is a red dwarf star, about one thousand times less bright than your own Sol, and my people have been genetically adapted to absorb the life-giving energy of what we call Biosolar radiance, and that is what has gifted me with these abilities that have made me superhuman..." As she was saying this Rick suddenly became aware of two people pressing through the edge of the crowd, by-passing the ring of burly security guards with a wave of a badge, which immediately set off Rick's well-honed instincts as he knew what cops were like and how some bulls of the breed tended to throw their weight around from an exaggerated sense of duty. This pair startled him for the sheer incongruity they presented. One was a middle-aged man with a bristly iron-grey mustache and a receding hairline, overweight by a good fifty pounds and not particularly imposing, yet having that determined glare in his eyes that as much as said that he set his own rules more often than followed department policy. His partner was the one who stood out even more than the old guy, her being a babe and a looker with dark hair flowing freely about her shoulders. She wore jeans and a corduroy vest and had a feather dangling from one side of her hair, giving her an oddly western look that was matched by her well-tanned complexion. She wore boots just as much as the older man wore loafers and just by looking at the two of them you could tell that they were here on a matter of business. "...Wolframa is in a star system approximately five hundred and ninety-seven light-years from your own system," Mar-Sa was just then explaining, "It has about twice the mass of Earth and roughly double your gravity and it once supported a thriving biosphere up until around four hundred solar cycles ago, when the environment of our world collapsed and forced our ancestors to create environmental domes in order to preserve our population. The events that caused this collapse are similar to what you call the Greenhouse Effect..." Rick saw the pair reach the edge of the stage and it seemed likely that they were about to make their presence known directly. In fact the older cop held his badge at the ready and seemed about to raise his voice to bring a halt to these proceedings, but before he got the chance someone else beat him to the punch and in an astonishingly graphic manner. All at once a man further back in the crowd lifted a bull-horn and cried out, "GET BEHIND ME, SATAN!!!" Mar-Sa blinked and halted in the delivery of her speech, turning and looked at the man heckling her, even as other heads swerved around and stared his way in annoyance. "BASE HARLOT!" the man declared, "FOUL TEMPTRESS RAISED BY THE FALLEN ONE TO MOCK THE LORD, THEY GOD! DO NOT BE DECEIVED BY HER LIES, MY CHILDREN, FOR SHE IS THE ENEMY OF CHRIST, OUR LORD! THIS WHORE OF BABYLON IS SATAN'S OWN MISTRESS! DO NOT PERMIT HER TO MISLEAD YOU INTO BLASPHEMY AND FORNICATION!" "Um...I beg your pardon?" Mar-Sa asked. "Security!" Heather called out, waving at the heckler with the bullhorn. Rick noted the burly men in security uniforms were already converging on the silver-haired gentleman so obnoxiously wielding the bull horn, but before they could accost the troublemaker a number of people surrounding the heckler suddenly linked arms and formed a protective ring around him, stopping the guards in their tracks with their defiance. The man himself had hardly dropped a beat as he continued his harangue, "FOUL ASHTORETH! BASE TEMPTRESS! THY CHARMS MAY MOCK AND DECEIVE THESE INNOCENTS BUT THIS SERVANT OF THE LORD IS NOT BLINDED BY THY WICKED FALSE CHARMS AND SECULAR HUMANISM!!!" "Uh...what are you talking about?" Mar-Sa asked, clearly bewildered by the man's accusing tone and general spiel of disconnected invectives. "Ashtoreth," the mysterious redhead named Astarte murmured in a sulky tone, "I like that..." "Is he for real?" Phoebe asked, leaning forward in her chair. "Unfortunately," Katie snorted, "A Bible bashing Fundie...that's just terrific..." "YOUR LIES BETRAY YOU, HARLOT!" the man loudly declared, "YOU CLAIM TO BE FROM ANOTHER WORLD, BUT IT IS WRITTEN THAT HIS APOSTLES PREACHED TO ALL THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH, AND THERE CAN BE NO LIFE BUT THAT WHICH WAS BORN UPON THIS WORLD WHERE CHRIST SACRIFICED HIMSELF UPON THE CROSS SO THAT HIS CHILDREN WOULD BE SAVED BY HIS MESSAGE...!" "I have no idea what you are talking about," Mar-Sa said before surrendering the microphone to Heather Holberg. "Cathy," she hissed sidelong to her assistant, "Get that clown out of here now before he starts a riot." "Already on it," Cathy spoke into her own mike and said, "I don't care if you have to use tear gas, get that creep and his buddies off the lawn and into the booby hatch or you're out of a job, boys!" Rick privately doubted that restraining methods would be at all effective with this lot because his sense of the matter told him that the loud-mouthed haranguer was only just getting wound up for a spiel that could go on for hours. He had known Bible thumpers who took pride in their ability to thunder out line and verse until they had either beaten you into submission or had driven you into a coma, the latter being a kind of mercy as you would no longer be able to hear their ranting, and this guy clearly was no exception. "I HAVE COME TO DRIVE THEE BACK TO HELL LEST THEE TURN THE MINDS OF THE YOUNG, GULLIBLE AND IMPRESSIONABLE YOUTH WHO MIGHT FOLLOW THEE DOWN THE FETID PATH OF ETERNAL DAMNATION!" "Why are you saying these awful things about me?" Mar-Sa asked, "What have I ever done to you to deserve this?" "You've done nothing, Mar-Sa," Heather said crossly, "This fool is a religious fanatic named Reverend Schiller. I've dealt with him before, he's a certifiable nut-case." "That's giving him way too much credit," Cathy snorted. "Religion?" Mar-Sa blinked, "What he is saying is a part of someone's religion?" "THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD AND I SHALL NOT WANT, SO SAITH THE LORD!" the white haired man with the bullhorn declared loudly, "IN CHRIST THERE IS SALVATION, BUT IN SATAN THERE IS ONLY DEATH AND DAMNATION ETERNAL! THE SERVANT OF THE ANTI- CHRIST SHALL NEVER PREVAIL AGAINST THE RIGHTEOUS!" "That's not religion!" Katie cried as she leaped to her feet, "He's a fraud pretending to be a holy man, and this cheap stunt is just for publicity for his idiot cause!" "Yeah!" Phoebe declared hotly, "How dare you disrupt Mar-Sa's debut, you creep! Try coming over here and saying that and I'll kick your butt from here to New Jersey!" Mar-Sa was bewildered by the whole affair as she looked from her friends to the white haired man heckling her with his bullhorn. The words he hurled at her made little or no sense and sounded like a mish mash of erroneous accusations laced with primitive, superstitious mumbo-jumbo bearing only a superficial resemblance to anything religious. She could not understand why he was targeting her with such contempt and disdain, and she could not get a lock on his thoughts as they seemed to be awash in a jumble of confused imagery, much of it quite frightening and repulsive. But the man hardly seemed the least bit phased when police officers converged on the scene to try and pull his followers away in order to get at him. The people forming the protective circle had locked arms together and were forcefully resisting any and all persuasions, singing instead a chant that sounded like, "We are One in the arms of the Lord, Jesus is our Shepherd..." and similar such nonsense. And still the so-called "Reverend" Schiller continued to harangue her with such hateful words as, "REPENT, YE SINNERS! LET THE BOSOM OF CHRIST WASH AWAY YOUR SINS! LET NOT THE LEGIONS OF CAESAR DEFILE YOU WITH THEIR PAGAN FORCE OF ARMS, FOR WE DO NOT FEAR THE BEAST AND HIS ALLIES AS THEY SEEK TO NUMBER US! THE LORD PROTECTS US WITH HIS RIGHTEOUS ANGER AND WOE BE TO HE WHO DARES RAISE A HAND AGAINST THE LORD'S SERVANTS...!" Rick was about ready to raise more than a hand at this asshole, but he was a little more concerned about the way the mob was milling around in response to these theatrics. Many seemed ready to pelt the reverend and his flock with stones while others were nodding their heads with agreement. More than a few were just pleasantly confused about the whole affair as if uncertain which side to take, or just looking to see if there were any entertainment value to be obtained by standing around waiting for the next shoe to drop. Rick knew from experience that such mobs were dangerous when restless, and it would take very little to set them off into a riot, a fact that made him feel the strong urge to go looking for the exits before the ignition point was reached in this budding crisis. Hiram Turlough was just as much alarmed at the very same thing, and though he had come to the park for very different reasons than to give praise to the golden skinned woman, the cop within him had his hackles out with all the mental alarm bells ringing. The formula for a major riot had all the key ingredients in place and all that was needed now was for some hothead to throw a match into the inferno. "I don't like this," Sarah murmured at his side, glancing around in nervous apprehension. "THOU SHALT NOT TEMPT THE LORD, THY GOD---!" "Would you shut up already?" Cathy snapped, "Security...!" "No, wait!" Heather declared, speaking into her mike and signaling for the sound men to raise the volume a bit so that she could drown out the rabble, pitching her voice just right as she declared, "BE SILENT, OLD MAN! NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR YOU LIE ABOUT MY GOOD FRIEND WHILE PRETENDING TO BE A MAN OF GOD, YOU IMPOSTER!" That brought a moment of silence to the man with the bullhorn, but then he rallied himself and started to say, "SHAMELESS SLUT! HOW DARE YOU---!" "HOW DARE YOU, SIR, PRETEND TO COME HERE IN THE NAME OF A GOD TO WHOM YOU BLASPHEME?" Heather's voice lacked the stridency of Schiller, but there was no mistaking the power that she could protect through her controlled and even temper, "YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A FALSE PROPHET HERE TO PROMOTE YOURSELF BY HURLING UNJUST ACCUSATIONS AT A PERSON WHO HAS DONE NOTHING TO DESERVE YOUR CONTEMPT..." "SHE HAS DONE EVERYTHING TO DESERVE IT!" Schiller insisted, "AND WHO ARE YOU TO ACCUSE ME OF SELF-PROMOTION? YOU WHO PUBLISH THAT ICON TO FORNICATION THAT YOU CALL A MAGAZINE! PORNOGRAPHER! SLUT! HARLOT---!" "GUILTY AS CHARGED," Heather replied, "AND MAY I RETURN THE COMPLIMENT? YOU CLAIM TO BE A MAN OF GOD, BUT THE ONLY GODS YOU WORSHIP ARE HATE AND GREED, SIR! YOU ARE A MONEYCHANGER PRETENDING TO BE A HIGH PRIEST, A MAN WHO TAKES MONEY FROM WIDOWS AND ORPHANS CLAIMING THAT IT IS FOR CHARITY WHILE YOU SPEND LAVISHLY ON YOURSELF TO SUPPORT AN OPULENT LIFESTYLE WORTHY OF A PRINCE OF EGYPT! AND HOW MANY WIVES HAVE YOU HAD, BY THE WAY? I BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE ON YOUR THIRD, OR HAS YOUR CHURCH REVERSED ITS POSITION ON DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE?" "FOUL JEZEBEL!" Schiller cried in righteous outrage, "HERE IN THE CITY OF NEW SODOM YOU DARE PROMOTE YOUR FOUL PRETENSE THAT THIS...SUCCUBUS FROM HELL AND FALSE MIRACLE WORKER IS THE REPRESENTATIVE OF ALIEN LIFE FROM BEYOND THIS WORLD? WE ALL KNOW THAT SUCH THINGS ARE A BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE NAME OF THE LORD..." "I KNOW OF NO SUCH BLASPHEMY," Heather denied, "THE ONE WHO BLASPHEMES HERE IS YOU, SCHILLER. I ONLY VOUCH FOR THE CLAIMS OF MY GOOD FRIEND, WHO CAME HERE AS A FAVOR TO ME AND THE GOOD PEOPLE OF SAN FRANCISCO THINKING THAT SHE WOULD BE RECIEVED BY CIVILIZED HUMAN BEINGS AND NOT PRETENDERS TO A FALSE CLAIM ON RELIGION..." "BE SILENT, WOMAN!" Schiller's tone became even more righteous, "BE YOU SCOIN OF EVE OR LILITH, NO WOMAN CAN DARE MOCK THE NAME OF THE LORD---!" "ARE YOU CLAIMING TO BE GOD NOW?" Heather wondered, "HAVE YOU THAT MUCH CONCEIT AND ARROGANCE THAT YOU PRESUME TO SPEAK TO ME ABOUT GOD? WHERE IS THE HUMILITY OF THE SHEPHERD, THE HUMBLE MAN OF FAITH WHO TURNS THE OTHER CHEEK AND REFUSES TO RETURN EVIL FOR EVIL?" "Wait!" Mar-Sa moved closer to Heather, "I'm afraid I don't understand any of this. Just why exactly is it you are saying these hurtful things about me? What have I ever done that was so evil?" "YOU MISLEAD AND DECEIVE THESE PEOPLE BY PRETENDING TO BE THAT WHICH IS AGAINST THE WORD OF GOD, TEMPTRESS!" Schiller declared haughtily, "DID GOD GRANT YOU THE ABILITY TO FLY? HAS HE GIVEN YOU THE MIRACULOUS GIFT OF HEALING THE SICK AND THE AFFLICTED? HAS HE RAISED A WOMAN TO HAVE THE MIGHT OF SAMPSON AND THE SWIFTNESS OF A DOVE, OR DID YOU GAIN YOUR POWERS FROM SATAN SO THAT HE COULD SOW CONFUSION AMONG THE PEOPLE AND LEAD THEM AWAY FROM THE TRUE FAITH TO A BELIEF IN ALIENS AND UFOS..." "And do you claim that I cannot be from another world?" Mar-Sa asked, "I'm not making up any story, I am from another world. And...as for my abilities...I cannot account for them myself sometimes, but..." "BUT DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND HIS MIRACLES?" Schiller thundered. "I...I don't know anything about that sort of thing," Mar-Sa replied, "On my world they don't even talk about religion..." "YOU SEE?" Schiller declared triumphantly, "SHE ADMITS THAT SHE IS A GODLESS ATHEIST COME AMONG US TO SPREAD HER LIES IN THE NAME OF THE ANTI-CHRIST...!" "What?" Mar-Sa blinked, "But I said no such thing!" "Excuse me!" a voice suddenly spoke up from very close to Reverend Schiller, "Reverend? Can I have a moment of your time here?" Even Schiller seemed taken aback at finding Rick Shepherd standing right beside him, having managed to crawl between the legs of the followers when they were too busy resisting the passive restraint tactics of the police and security guards, and now he had his trusty note-pad and pen in hand and was much too close to Schiller for the reverend to easily ignore him. "Eh?" the reverend asked, momentarily off-balance. "Rick Shepherd of the San Francisco Times Chronicle," Rick said by way of introduction, "Reverend...is it true that you're being audited by the IRS for possible tax evasion charges and the illegal use of church funds to finance candidates for the City Council and Board of Education?" "What?" Schiller stammered, "But..." "What about reports that you've been encouraging your followers to commit random acts of violence against public schools, libraries, book stores and abortion clinics? Is it true that you're either directly or indirectly responsible for property damage totaling in the hundreds of thousands of dollars?" "I...I have no knowledge about such things!" Schiller stammered. "Are you sure?" Rick asked, holding up his portable tape recorder, "In that case, perhaps you'd like to issue a statement on why the Council of Churches is considering revoking your membership over a recent televised broadcast of your Club 600 show...and did you really call the new Pope an Oxford Moron?" "Lies, blasphemy!" Schiller angrily declared, "You Godless Liberals of the press distort everything, slanting the news to confuse the faithful!" "Maybe so," yet another voice said stiffly as Turlough held up his badge and waved it under the noses of the nearest members of the "human shield" surrounding Schiller for added effect, "But you're inciting a riot with your presence, Reverend, so if you don't pull back now you and these sheep of yours are gonna be seriously arrested." "You can't intimidate me!" Schiller cried, "I answer only to a higher power...!" "Yeah, and I answer to the Mayor, who's sitting right over there if you want to dispute me on this, and the Governor's with him," Turlough snorted, "Clear out now or we'll drag you out of here in cuffs. This freak show act of yours ends now or you'll all be looking at jail time." "I shall not relinquish the field while that Whore of Babylon is...!" Schiller started to proclaim, but Sarah saw an opening and promptly threw her own pitch into the fray. "Careful," she said with a dangerous smile on her lips, "You don't want to say anything that could get you hauled into court on a libel suit. They could take you to the cleaners right now for all of the name calling you've been hurling about, Preacher-man." "Hey," Turlough said gruffly, "You'd better listen. You don't want to tick off my partner or she could pull out her tomahawk and scalp you." He winked at the nearest of the human shields, who blinked in response and started to look nervous. Sarah decided to add a little something to the effect by growling softly while fingering the handle to the Bowie knife that she routinely carried (against department policy, but her superiors had long since given up making an issue on that subject). The combined effect had its desired result as Schiller glared at the both of them, then at Shepherd, and lastly up at Mar-Sa before uttering a contemptful snort and turning about saying, "We are leaving, but this is a long way from over, Fornicators!" "Don't go away mad, Reverend," Rick smiled, "Just go away." "And do so in an orderly manner," Heather declared with a sweet-but-firm smile of grim satisfaction. She waited until Schiller and his group were fully gone before saying, "Good riddance to that lot. I am very terribly sorry for the interruption, people. That should never have been allowed to happen." "You're telling me?" Cathy stage-whispered with a sour look of her own, "How did those bozos sneak up so close in the crowd? Somebody's gonna have some questions to answer at our next security briefing..." "I'm not blaming you for that, Darling," Heather replied as she turned around and said, "Mister Mayor, Governor, I am so terribly sorry about all this..." "No need," the Mayor said. "We've all been there and done that," the Governor agreed with completely honest candor. "Still and all," Astarte mused, "You people did an excellent job of defusing the crisis...a pity that it came a bit too late for our guest of honor." "Huh?" Katie said, turning around and saying, "Hey, where's Marsha?" "Up there!" Phoebe pointed, and they turned in time to see the golden skinned alien girl drifting off into the sky and gaining altitude by the second, "Marsha!" "She's running away?" Cathy asked, "No way! She can't do that!" "She just did," Heather sighed with a look of resignation, "I fear that the party is over before it even begins, and I, for one, cannot blame her for being this upset..." "I can!" Katie fumed, "I thought I taught her better than this! Running away won't solve anything here, it just gives that creep a victory!" "Maybe so," Astarte rumbled in reply, "But in the face of great evil it is sometimes best to retreat to regather your resources. Your friend has much thinking to do it would seem, and as someone who has been there and done that I can only pray that she finds herself, and quickly." Rick also watched his golden goddess drifting off to become a mere speck in the distance before murmuring under his own breath, "Dear Lord above...forgive us because we knew not what we were doing..." For comments and criticisms contact me at: shadowmane@ridgenet.net X Page 138 of 138 Mar-Sa, the Ultra Girl Book One/Part Three By Jim Robert Bader Chapters 20-27 First Copyrights Only -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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.