Government Men by Gary J. Davies
CHAPTER 51
DANNOS
O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon,
Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse
Without all hope of day!
- John Milton
The tumbling, irregular shape of deadly Dannos was by now a familiar sight to most of humanity. As the asteroid sped towards the hapless inhabitants of Earth with a closing speed of approximately a hundred thousand miles per hour, it became increasingly easy to see with the naked eye, though it appeared tiny and insignificant. Several astronomical observatories had been providing daily reports and smallish, indistinct photos of Dannos for more than a week. Currently several VISICOM channels carried continuous feed from orbital and Earth-bound observatories that provided stunning, full screen views of the careening iron behemoth. With only half an hour to go, Dannos, which was only one-fifth as far away from Earth as the Moon, was already by far the brightest object in the night sky over Guatemala. The light from Dannos was nothing like the familiar, reassuring, steady glow of the Moon, it was more like the menacing, flashing, chilling glint of a thrown knife or a spinning metallic hammer.
In the jungle encampment, all was in readiness. The B-Team, ten thousand talented, psy-capable humans, and three hundred psy-experienced inhabitants from The Land gathered in groups centered around the huge jumbled mound of stone blocks that marked the former resting place of Quetzal. Several hundred reporters were also scattered throughout the camp, still transmitting live VISICOM feeds to every part of the world.
At the very top of the jumbled mound of stone blocks Pru stood, surveying the scene with her black, pitted eyes. Pru's magnificent white body glowed only slightly, but her horn flashed brighter than a lighthouse, a beacon of hope for the camp and the world. Most of the light for the camp however, was provided by landing lights of the Bus and the several VTOL aircraft that remained, and by lanterns and flashlights. A few meters down and away from Pru stood her mate Baldor and the two other unicorns that had come to the site, along with Bates, Mel, and a camera crew.
Around the world, billions of people gathered around VISICOMs and prepared to engage in the psy exercise that would attempt to save Earth, but support was by no means universal. Many people still didn't believe that the recently reported events were real. Others thought that Dannos was God's retribution, and that opposition was at best futile, or at worst blasphemy. Still, support was growing. The widespread fact of human psy-powers led credence to the whole business. But there was no way to tell in advance if support would be great enough.
At Camp Bates, as the media had dubbed it, darkness finally came. The last day was over and the last evening began. Soon Dannos would strike!
"Go through it one more time, Mel," requested Bates. The unicorns were the central elements of the plan, and they had the approach down cold; the repeated 'dry runs' were mostly for the benefit of the camp members and anxious viewing participants world-wide. Bates wanted everyone to be totally familiar and comfortable with the plan. So cameras and microphones were once again thrust in front of the small slim physicist.
"Very well," said Mel. "As you all know, from here on in, Dannos will rapidly appear ever bigger and brighter. Soon we'll be turning the camp lights down, and we'll all see it even better. We lucked-out on the weather; it's expected to stay clear.” Actually, Mel strongly suspected that the unicorns had arranged that to be the case. "Three and a half minutes before impact, Dannos' diameter will appear to be a third that of our moon's. But at that time it will move into the Earth's shadow. It will be eclipsed and disappear from our view almost completely. There will still be a small amount of light from the Earth's illuminated edges and so-forth, but that won't be enough. Light from the Moon will also be completely shadowed by the Earth at that time. Fortunately, Baldor and his two unicorn friends will be on hand to get Dannos to glow just slightly, so that Pru can more easily acquire focus on it. They will also help Pru control the psychic power, if she needs help."
"Our image of Dannos will continue to grow in size rapidly, dully glowing against a backdrop of dark sky and stars. One minute from impact, we will signal the people of the world to focus their powers on Pru, who will begin the job of asteroid dematerialization. A minute later, at 1:15:20, Dannos will strike. It will pass through us here in the camp in a third of a second; a dully glowing shadow. But concentration must be maintained for five more minutes. After only four and a half of those minutes, Dannos will exit the Earth, but we want the dematerialization to continue an extra half-minute more as a safety margin."
Bates and the others stood quietly and listened to Mel, as did billions of other people around the world. Hopefully like him they were excited but at the same time a little bored; this scenario had been reviewed dozens of times. In addition, many 'practice runs' had been carried out, in which groups at the site and around the world had focused their power to Pru. In some of the bigger dry runs Pru had glowed brightly, while Bates and others watched nervously.
Despite the success of trial runs that involved millions of people, there were still grave concerns about Pru's ability to handle the power of billions, and equal concerns that even the full power of billions wouldn't prove to be adequate to dematerialize Dannos. But at least at this point, everything that could be done was being done. Around the camp, lanterns and other light sources were being turned down or off, so that Dannos could be seen clearly. There was nothing left to do but sit quietly and wait.
Suddenly, a murmur arose in the crowd below. "What the hell is that?” Bates heard someone shout. "Look up in the sky!” someone pathed, in response to hundreds of inquiries verbal and sub-verbal.
When he looked up, Bates at first saw nothing. Then he realized that he should be seeing stars, not to mention Dannos. Something huge, a cloud perhaps, was blocking the view. Hadn't Pru promised clear skies?
"Quetzal!” pathed Pru, before Bates could make sense of what he was seeing. "The Great One comes!”
Sure enough, when it at last came into range of the few lights that still remained on, the great creature was seen circling over the camp on gigantic wings, which churned the still night jungle air to swelling, gale force gusts. Tents and a variety of lose objects were suddenly whipping through the camp, while frightened campers ducked and screamed.
"Fudge Winkies! I think your old boyfriend's coming in for a landing, Pru!” shouted Bates. "Everyone off this rock mound!” Bates started climbing down over the jumble of stone blocks with the camera crew and Mel , which would have been slow and dangerous, especially in darkness and buffeting winds, until he remembered that now there were faster ways. With the speed of thought, he, Mel , and the three camera crew were flying through the air towards the base of the mound far below, protected from the wind and objects in it by the will of Guardian Bates. The four unicorns must have had faster means of travel still, for they were already standing at the base of the mound when the five humans landed next to them.
Moments later thousands of tons of titanic dragon settled down softly on top of the rock pile. The dragon covered the entire mound. One immense portion of the creature, presumably a foot, ended up only a few meters from Bates.
"UNICORNS! YOU GOTTA BLOW THIS JOINT PRONTO!” roared Quetzal in a voice that this time sounded much less like Winnebago, despite the choice of words. The dragon’s huge fanged head hovered over the group. "THAT ASTEROID WILL BE HERE IN A FEW MINUTES!”
"We remain to help the humans and the other life of this planet," replied Pru.
"WHY? YOUR TRICK TO GET ME TO SET YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS FREE HAS FAILED. WHEN YOU RAN OUT ON BEING A DRAGON LONG AGO, YOU SHOWED THAT YOU CAN LEAVE EVEN YOUR OWN KIND. YOU ABANDONED ME! WHAT CAN THESE LITTLE APES MEAN TO YOU?"
"They mean life! Still after all these years you don't comprehend, for in your undying anger you refuse to listen and spurn the understanding that I have tried to bring to you. Self is not enough; existence must be more than that! The dragon approach of isolation was wrong, the solitude of The One, or even of the
few, will never again be tolerated by us. These humans and those we have gathered about us in our banishment by you from open existence on this world are truly vital life, and worth saving. We unicorns would preserve such life for its own sake. And what of your dreams of these humans? Are not their destinies now tied with yours?"
Fire snorted from the dragon’s nostrils. "TO HELL WITH DREAMS, I DON'T NEED HUMANS, AND YOU DON'T EITHER! NOW YOU DARE SAY THAT SOLITUDE IS WRONG? YOU WEREN'T ALONE WHEN YOU WERE WITH ME! WE HAD EACH OTHER!”
"No! You had me. You were the strong one, far too strong, oh mightiest of dragons, for you used your love and power to constrain me to your solitude. Your possession was destroying me. You would have made me one with you, destroying me in the process! This I foresaw, in my own dragon dreams."
"LIES! I NEVER WANTED TO DESTROY YOU! I STILL WANT TO SAVE YOU!”
"By destroying what I want and need and am! By destroying me! What you seek is not even possible, for I am no longer what I was. The sum of the parts would not make the same whole. The parts have become wholes unto themselves, and those parts are unicorn, not dragon."
"YOU'RE LYING TO YOURSELF, UNICORN! AMONG YOU THERE IS AT LEAST ONE THAT REMEMBERS BEING A DRAGON. AND SOME OF YOU UNICORNS STILL WANT TO BE A DRAGON! SOME OF YOU THAT I HOLD TOLD ME THAT! ADMIT IT!”
Pru's voice hardened. "We decided to be unicorn!”
Bates, like everyone else, had been quietly listening to the exchange. He looked at his watch every few seconds with growing alarm. Just a few minutes ago, everything had been ready. The folks here were becoming more and more confident, as were people around the world. Now most of the humans in the camp were cowering in fear around collapsed tents. He glanced around and saw that the news cameras were still broadcasting. He shuttered to think what the public at large was making of this dragon/unicorn soap opera. He had to DO something!
"OK, knock it off!” he interjected, with such forcefulness that the attention of both dragon and unicorns was drawn to him. "We just don't have time for this now. Three hundred million years wasn't enough for you to straighten this out. Dannos is due in about fifteen minutes! Why don't you two just agree to pick this up again, in say twenty-five minutes or so?"
"He is right," said Pru. "Stay and help us, or leave now."
"COME WITH ME!”
"We stay, Great One. You have granted me my freedom.”
The dragon unfurled its great wings, again blotting out the stars. "YOUR FREEDOM ONLY. NOT YOUR FRIENDS.” With that, all three of Pru's unicorn companions including Baldor suddenly were pulled up off the ground. In moments, as everyone stared in horror, they disappeared down the huge open mouth of the great dragon, screaming as they went!
"YOUR LAST CHANCE. COME WITH ME!” demanded the dragon.
"No Quaxantos. I stay! Even though you would abandon me and your future. I decided to be unicorn when I was dragon. I decided to embrace the life of many. I loved you then and even love you now, but I have not changed my mind, and never will."
At those words the dragon seemed shaken. Dragon and unicorn stared at each other for a few seconds frozen in time, and then the dragon raised its head into the sky and roared long a sound so deep, thunderous, and mournful that the camp inhabitants were thrown to the ground. Worked up more than ever, he looked at Pru one last time, as flame shot from his nostrils, and his great eyes glowed blood red. "GOOD-BYE PRUECENCE," he said, almost softly. Then the great unfurled wings stroked downwards a single time, and the dragon shot rapidly up into the air, leaving whirlwinds to buffet the camp.
Looking up, Bates thought that he saw a great dark shape moving off to the south with incredible speed. Around the camp, more lights came on and there was a great commotion as everyone tried to sort things out. Pru stood alone, quietly staring up into the night.
"Pru, I'm so sorry about Baldor and the others," Bates said. "But why did you call each other Pruecence and Quaxantos? Something about what you said seemed to really shake him up!”
The unicorn turned to face Bates. Her horn and skin had lost their glow, her normally proud bearing had wilted, and the look of her eyes didn’t seem as sharp and piercing. She looked almost mortal as she spoke softly. "Those were our old dragon names from long ago, Narbando Bates. This is the first time those names have been spoken in three hundred million years. Yes, it did appear to startle him. For at that moment he knew that among thousands of unicorns I am she whom he truly seeks, and that he has lost me forever."
"What do you mean?" asked Bates.
"When an elemental divides into multiple individuals, only one of the resulting entities retains most of the memories and personality of the original being. I am the unicorn that was in fact once the dragon Pruecence. His Pruecence. When we exchanged true names a minute ago, he realized that."
Bates looked at his companion with renewed awe. Pru had been a dragon, and was countless ages older than even her three hundred million year old unicorn companions. "So that means that the one unicorn that he wanted the most, he has pledged to leave free. And now he's left you in harm's way!”
"Correct. I had hoped that this might yet persuade him to help with Dannos."
"Nice try, but it didn't work. He seemed really pissed."
The unicorn shook herself in resignation, and began to glow once again. "The mighty are not easily manipulated. But now I suggest that we prepare for Dannos. Your plan is now truly our only hope."
By the light of Pru's horn, Bates looked at his watch. It was seven minutes after one. Only eight minutes to Dannos! He looked up in the sky. There was Dannos, about one-sixth moon size, coming at them from slightly west of vertical. He looked around at the camp. People and non-people were walking about fussing with equipment and talking in worried tones. Milo, also shaken by the Dragon's visit, put his front paws up on Bates, seeking reassurance from his master. Bates talked to him and petted him, then looked at his watch again. Seven minutes to Dannos! All that he had accomplished in one of Earth's last eight remaining minutes was to comfort his dog! It was worth it though, he decided. Nobody could ever have a better friend than Milo.
"Pru! Can we still do it without Baldor and the others?"
"We can but try, Narbando Bates. But without the others to illuminate Dannos, I should establish a link with it even before it enters Earth's shadow. And to do that I will need the power of hundreds, if not thousands, within three minutes!”
Bates looked around desperately. The camera crew that was with him on the mound had disappeared. "I need media people at the mound with Pru and me NOW! And loudspeakers! And Gor!” he pathed, so loudly that a few close by folks grabbed at their heads in pain! For the longest time, there seemed to be no response, but then Bates heard a commotion from the direction of the Bus and was relieved to see in the dim light of the camp the ten-meter tall form of Gor walking towards them, stepping over tents and people that were in his path. As the giant rapidly drew closer, Bates saw that he carried in his arms and atop his huge shoulders at least a dozen people, some carrying cameras!” GOR COMES, HUMAN!” thundered the Giant, in a deep voice easily heard above the noise of the camp.
"Get back to your position on the mound, Pru; I'll get you the power you need!” said Bates, but when he turned around towards the unicorn, she was already gone. A moment later he saw her glowing form high on the mound, her horn pointed defiantly towards glowing Dannos.
Gor suddenly stood next to Bates, lowering his passengers to the ground. Bates grabbed a live mike and megaphone and flew himself up atop the towering giant's shoulders. He could have hovered on his own power, but he knew that Gor was an even better attention-getter. "Are the cameras rolling? Good! Gor, get the attention of the camp!”
Gor clapped his great hands together, stamped his feet and shouted, which did indeed capture the attention of many, as evidenced by the light from dozens of flashlights that now were shining on the giant and Bates.
"NOW HEAR THIS EVERYONE!” announced Bates with the megaphone. "DON'T LOSE HEART, EVE
RYTHING IS UNDER CONTROL AGAIN, AND WE'RE STILL GOING TO PULL THIS OFF! BUT THE PLAN HAS CHANGED JUST A LITTLE BIT. THOSE OF US IN THE CAMP NEED TO START PROVIDING PRU WITH POWER RIGHT AWAY. SHE NEEDS TO LINK UP WITH DANNOS WHILE SHE CAN STILL SEE IT. NOTHING ELSE HAS CHANGED. SHE'LL NEED FULL POWER FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD AT FOURTEEN AFTER, JUST AS WE PLANNED IT BEFORE! WE HAVE TO STICK TO THE PLAN!”
The people of the camp, or at least those that he could see in the immediate vicinity, were quieting down and re-forming their focus groups. As the groups came 'on line', they began to send Pru power, power that made up for loss of the other unicorns. Bates looked up at Dannos. It was a third the moon's apparent diameter, but already beginning to disappear in shadow along one edge. In a short time it would vanish completely. Pru was glowing a little brighter, but was obviously still not getting the power she needed. Only the groups in the immediate range of his voice were responding; the rest hadn't heard him! What happened to the camp COM links?
Johnny run through the camp to Bates. "Bates! The COM network is down! You can't be seen or heard by most of the camp, or by the world! Nobody knows what the hell is going on!”
Bates focused his thoughts. "THIS IS BATES! EVERYONE IN CAMP MUST START GIVING POWER TO PRU NOW! TELEPATHS SPREAD THE WORD, AND GET YOUR FOCUS GROUPS ON LINE A-S-A-P!” he pathed. He looked up at Dannos. It was mostly gone, but Pru was finally starting to glow brightly. Bates added his own considerable power, and felt Johnny and Gor do the same. Pru's horn suddenly blazed blue-white, and a like-colored beam of light shot out from the horn, straight at Dannos.
Powered by thousands of hand-picked People trained humans and their teachers, the beam shot up with the speed of thought until it disappeared from view high in the sky, but evidence of its success appeared a moment later, as Dannos, which had just disappeared behind Earth's shadow, reappeared as a dully glowing pebble of the same color as Pru's horn and beam.
Pru had established her link with Dannos! She nearly lost it moments later when a cheer went up around the camp and concentration was lost, but everyone saw Dannos flicker and realized their error, and soon re-established full power.
Bates looked at his watch. Three minutes to impact! The world was to power up in two minutes, and the COM has been knocked out for the last ten, at least! He had to get on VISICOM, and he had to get Pru on VISICOM!
He wasn't the only one with those thoughts. The media people that he had with him were going nuts with frustration. The two commentators were screaming at their technicians, who were dutifully ignoring them as they went about trying to get their cable link with their Boeing 888 running again. "It’s no go!” one of them told Bates. "If we had a radio transmission link-up we could be on the air in a minute or two; but we stopped using them hours ago when the cable network went on line. The equipment we need is back at the 888!”
"I've got one! I've got one" shouted a familiar voice from overhead. Bates and company looked up to see Mel Guthery flying towards them in the arms of shapely Thela! With them flew the little girl Sara, Sister Marie, and an older gentleman. All carried electronic equipment in their arms. Mel proceeded to introduce the gentleman as soon as Thela set Mel down gently in front of Bates. The action resulted in Thela being fully frontally visible to the little group of mostly male humans, which slowed useful thought processes considerably.
"This is Mark Curtis, Bates. Among other things he's an electrician and he'll have me and Pru on the air here in a minute. But he examined the damage to the COM net and has something else to tell you!”
Curtis and the two COM technicians had grabbed the equipment that was just flown in and started fussing with wires and knobs. "It was sabotage Dr. Bates, that's for certain!” said Curtis. “Someone got to your COM equipment and demolished it good! It was fused together like it was in a fire!”
"Holy shits! The Ra!” exclaimed Bates.
"Probably," said Mel. "But we don't have time to think about it. Curtis and I will take care of things here, Bates, and give you an image of Pru on the COM. In the meantime you get back to the Bus. Latanna's broadcasting world-wide via Flood's link with the White House. You've got to help reassure the public and get them to send power to Pru!"
Bates was looking at his watch. Two and a quarter minutes to impact!” Right! I better fly then!” said Bates. No sooner were the words out of his mouth when he was airborne and flying rapidly through the camp. For just a moment he thought that he was doing all the flying himself, but he quickly noticed that he was being held by someone whose soft warm body was pressed tightly against his.
"Try to relax, handsome," pathed Thela."You're in the hands of a professional."
There wasn't a chance in hell to relax. Bates twisted and looked up into the sky. Dannos was more than half moon-size now, and closing fast. In the meantime, he was being flown through the night in the arms of a beautiful naked woman, whose hands seemed to wonder about his own body much more than was necessary just to carry him. By the time they reached the Bus, Bates was still anything but relaxed. Thela dropped Bates off next to the Bus, where Johnny, Janet, Oscar, Latanna, and others waited with a camera crew.
Janet read his mind or body language. "You needed her to fly you here?" she asked.
"She's a professional," explained Bates. He turned to the media people. "Cameras on? We're live? Good.” He stared into the camera. "As has probably been explained, we've had some minor difficulties here, but now we're ready to execute our plan. Our unicorn friend Pru has already established a link with Dannos and is causing it to glow so that it can be seen.” He looked at his watch. One minute to impact! He glanced up at Dannos. It was less than two thousand miles away now, and approximately moon-size. He could actually see it tumbling as it came!
"The time has come, ladies and gentlemen of Earth, when we need your help to save Earth. You've been training since this afternoon, and know what to do. Now you must all join together in your groups and focus on Pru. Search her out with your powers, and you'll sense her! She's already blasting away at Dannos with lots of power. We need six full minutes of concentration from everyone starting now! Mel? Are you ready? Take over!”
"Just came on line, Bates," came the voice of Mel over the COM. "Here's Pru folks! Focus on her! NOW!”
On nearly all VISICOM channels on nearly all screens over all the Earth, a sharp image of Pru appeared, thanks to telephoto lens. She was glowing brighter than ever as she stood tall and proud, high atop the mound of ancient stone blocks, with her horn directing a solid beam of psy energy up at Dannos! A few channels carried Dannos itself. Though it had been very visible to the naked eye all over the world over the last hours and nights, now it filled wall size VISICOMs with its sharp and terrifying image! It was about ten miles across, but not really spherical. It looked more like rounded potato, with pits and bumps that covered it all over. It glowed a bit blue from the unicorn directed psy, but there could be no doubt that it was indeed iron, as a dark metallic luster could easily be detected. It could have perhaps been called beautiful, but for its terrible destructive power.
world-wide, in homes, in schools, in shopping malls, in churches, in football stadiums, sports-bars, and everywhere else where mankind dwelled and gathered, images of Pru and Dannos now dominated the thoughts of humanity. This was the big test for human-kind! Would their psy powers be enough? Could humanity maintain the required concentration on Pru for six minutes? Or, would human thoughts wonder too much about death, or regret, or fear, or anything else? If they did, Earth was doomed!
At the base of the mound, a worried Nobel Prize winning physicist watched a being whose structure and powers he could only speculate about, apply forces that had never been identified by science, to accomplish a mysterious phenomenon known only as 'the soap trick', to a tremendous chunk of iron that was still over a thousand miles away. So far, she seemed to be doing all right. He put on thick sunglasses, and looked at her through binoculars. She hadn't budged an inch, though she was glowing brighter and brighter! Was it w
orking? There was simply no way for Mel to tell.
At the Bus Bates, Janet, the twins, and most of the rest of the Team stood huddled together, holding on to each other tightly and focusing on Pru. They would weather this together. Bates spoke into the microphone again. "That's it! Everyone focus on Pru. Everyone! Each person counts. Young and old, rich and poor, black, or white, or red, or yellow, or giant, or unicorn, or whatever. And don't stop for at least five and a half minutes more, no matter what happens! Even if we lose our transmission again, just keep it up! Don't stop for anything!”
As Bates talked, he watched Dannos appear to grow ever more rapidly, its size appearing to double with each halving of the distance from impact. Soon it was the size of two moons. Ten seconds from impact, it was the size of four moons. He pathed a quick 'I love you' to Janet and the kids, and 'heard' many similar messages bouncing around the group. Then he held his breath and focused on Pru.
Dannos grew more and more rapidly, until it filled the whole sky. Then there was a brief moment when everything around them was dark, blue, cold, and silent as death, but just as suddenly it was gone. It worked! Dannos had passed through them! But instead of cheering, the Team struggled to maintain concentration. It wasn't over yet!
At the mound, Mel hardly even noticed the passage of Dannos. He did notice that the beam emanating from Pru's horn pointed down instead of up; he didn't recall seeing the change, however. The unicorn still stood tall, but her image was shimmering, and actually blinking in and out of view rapidly, as though she was vibrating between this universe and somewhere else. And didn't she seem to be just a bit less tall? How much energy, psy or not, did it take to alter the quantum probabilities associated with a ten-mile across iron and nickel asteroid? How did the thing hold itself together if it was dematerialized? How did the Dannos iron atoms know the difference between its own atoms and the iron atoms of Earth that they passed through? But of course these were the same sort of questions that arose when the unicorn took the Team through solid rock to reach their hidden Land, so Pru was performing a familiar activity. It was indeed the 'soap trick' again, but on an enormous scale!
If iron caused problems for psy-energy, how much harder was it to dematerialize Dannos? Not only was Dannos iron, so was most of Earth, through which Pru was now directing the psy energy to get to Dannos. Mel didn't know the answer to such questions. He could only watch the unicorn in amazement, and hope that things worked out.
Relief was soon replaced by worry. The sabotage incident meant that the Ra were still around! Bates looked at his watch. Three and a half minutes to go! He half ran, half flew to the Bus to see Flood. It was reassuring just to see the Commander at the Bus COM controls. At times like this, he wished that he had more steely-eyed ex-military folks around. "How's it going, Flood?" he asked.
"Good, Bates. We have solid COM link with humanity. But I'm really worried about the Ra!”
"Are you still scanning for Ra saucers?"
"Damn right, I never stopped! Not that it will help much."
"What do you mean?"
"All the psy energy is driving the radar nuts! I won't detect a Ra saucer unless the bastards pass close enough to my window to wave!”
"Shit! You figure they know that?"
"You better believe they do! And they could mount a ground attack too."
Bates sent several of the People to search the camp, but most he directed to guard Pru. Pru couldn't be disturbed. He remembered what Mel told him. Major Earthquakes would still result if Dannos materialized deep in the Earth, and a total disaster would result if Dannos materialized just before leaving Earth! He glanced at a VISION screen. It showed Pru still standing at the top of the mound, glowing like blazes. So far so good! Good old Pru! At least something was working! He had to keep things in perspective. As long as Pru and the people of Earth kept it up, they would be OK!
Then he got a call from Mel. Bates put it on intercom for the others of the Team that were there. "Bates! I think that Pru's tiring! I can't explain it, but I think something's very wrong. Maybe it was the iron of Dannos. Remember, Pru mentioned a few times that iron bothered unicorns? Maybe that's why the iron weapon we call Dannos was directed at the dragon! Now we know that dragons and unicorns are made of the same stuff! We've got to figure out now if we should pull the plug right away to avoid the worst case scenario, or take a chance with her to last through the whole thing!”
Bates put on a 3-D COM helmet with digital zoom and looked more closely at Pru's blazing, blinking form. Mel was right; she did seem to be sagging a bit. He zoomed in further. She was also perfectly motionless. Was she supposed to be? His fingers flew across the controls. Fortunately, the Bus computers were equipped with some of the same standard analysis tools that he had worked with for many years.
In seconds, Bates had the answer that he didn't want. He zoomed on her eyes, and then her white coat, and tail just to be sure. She just didn't look right, and a cold fear suddenly gripped him. "Oh no!” he sobbed, and ran out of the Bus, startling his companions.
He flew to the top of the mound faster than Thela could have; how, he couldn't have explained. How he looked at Pru so closely without burning out his own eyes, he couldn't have explained either. As he was stumbling back down the mound on foot a worried Mel finally caught up with him.
"Bates! You've been with Pru? Can she make it? What did she say? Is she all right? It's only a minute and a half to the exit of Dannos! If were doing to pull the plug while Dannos is still deep in the Earth to avoid the worst-case scenario it has to be done now! What should we do?"
Bates sighed. "Nothing. We're too late Mel. If I'm right, Pru can't turn off the dematerialization."
"Sure she can! She's the focus point!”
"I don't think she can change what she's doing. I did a quick motion analysis on the COM disks, Mel. She hasn't moved since a few seconds after Dannos struck. Not a twitch on a strand of hair. And look at her eyes."
Mel looked. "They aren't black anymore! They're white like the rest of her! That's what was different! I couldn't place it!”
"She looks like a hollowed out statue, Mel, just a frozen in place shell! Nothing is left but some sort of energy conduit!”
"You think she's dead?" asked Mel, shaken.
Bates could only nod his head as he fought back tears. Mel had finally said the thing that he couldn't bring himself to say. It was somewhat of a relief to him that someone else knew, but it was a massive blow to hear those words.
"It's probably too late to COM the world population to stop the psy power anyway, Bates. It's too close to break-out time. I guess we just hope that whatever's left of Pru will hold up long enough.” He looked at his watch. "Forty seconds Bates! I think we're going to make it! Actually, it's those last five seconds or so that we really have to worry about."
"Ra!” came a voice shouting from somewhere in the darkness. Bates and Mel turned around, and there, hovering above and next to the mound was a glowing Ra Warren Ship, just hovering there, waiting.
"It’s going to blast Pru to get the worst case scenario!” shouted Mel.
Though most of the camp was concentrating so strongly on Dannos that they didn't even notice the silently hovering Ra ship, several People providing guard over Pru now attacked the space ship. Huge stone blocks were flung up at the saucer by Gor and two huge ogres, and some sort of energy beam shot out from the eyes of several griffins that circled the saucer, but everything just bounced harmlessly off an invisible Ra force field. Worse, the ship began blasting away at People, humans, and everything else in the vicinity with powerful bolts of plasma. This time there were no unicorns or One Trees to project protective force fields, and the carnage was immediate and horrible.
To Bates, it was a situation not unlike his earlier battle with the Ra, in which powers suddenly came forth from himself that he didn't really even expect understand. Suddenly there was a protective field around Gor that shielded the giant from what would have surely been a killing blow. <
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"Ten seconds Bates!” came a faint voice. It was Mel, who was hidden behind a nearby smoldering tree-trunk. "Seven!”
A saucer blast shot out at Bates, nearly catching him off guard, but it passed through him harmlessly.
"Six!” cried Mel!
A huge beam shot out of the saucer and struck Pru full force.
Of course, thought Bates, that's where he should have had his protective shield all along! He reached out mentally to put one around the top of the mound, but it wasn't holding; the saucer must have been saving its most potent blasts for Pru. Terra watts of plasma state elementary particles streamed over the unicorn!
"Four!” shouted Mel!
Shit! What happened to five? And where is zero already, thought Bates!
Pru's body suddenly seemed riddled with dozens of cracks and holes that multiplied as he watched, from which streamed thin streamers of blue psy-energy! Most still emanated from her horn, but more and more was 'leaking' from the holes. She was being blasted to bits!
"Three!”
Suddenly, the saucer's beam was cut short, and Bates heard a terrible crunching, like dozens of auto crashes at once!
"Zero!” shouted Mel, ‘two’ and 'one' having been drowned out by the crunching noise!
Bates looked around to see the crushed saucer in the massive jaws of hovering Quetzal, like a dog with a little squeeze toy! With a jerk of his head, the dragon flipped what was left of the saucer high up into the air. Then he exhaled, with the sound of a tornado, blasting a massive column of brilliant blue-green flame at the Ra space ship. Except for a few shed chunks of it that flew off into the darkness, he saucer seemed to simply disappear. If it did explode, the explosion was so insignificant compared to the dragon flame that it wasn't noticeable to the onlookers.
Meanwhile, a second conflagration was occurring on the mound, as what was left of Pru shattered to bits, and the enormous psychic energy that had been concentrated and directed to and by her shot outwards in a brilliant silent flash!
Mel emerged from his hiding place and ran to Bates, his COM phone pressed against his ear. "Reports from Australia and Indonesia, Bates. We did it! Dannos passed all the way through the Earth without even noticing it! The Dannos threat is over!”
Bates nodded in acknowledgment, but his thoughts were elsewhere. He flew up to the top of the mound. Several of the People were already there, with mournful heads hung low, tears, and sobs.
There was nothing left of Pru but a section of horn and scattered charred bits of white fur. The horn and fur were dull and dirty, without a hint of life or magic. Johnny, Dooley, and Fen were already there, openly crying. Moments later, the onlookers on the mound scattered, as two titanic feet settled down at the base of the mound. The huge multi-colored dragon head lowered, and stared with enormous eyes for long moments at the charred unicorn remains.
Bates held his breath. What would the dragon's reaction be? Quetzal could be more dangerous than Dannos and the Ra put together!
The dragon raised its head to point straight up, and a tremendous column of multicolored flame shot out of its mouth for at least three full minutes, miles into the dark night, towards the distant stars, as a mournful roaring cry shook the Earth! At the same time, an empathic feeling of pain and despair was unleashed that echoed through minds and souls around the globe. To billions of COM viewers, what had happened was as clear as it was to the survivors in the Guatemalan camp. This was the end of a love story hundreds of millions of years old; it was a despairing mate saying good-by forever to his lost love. Mel, who had climbed the mound to join his friend, stood arm in arm with Bates and they cried like babies, and they weren't the only ones. The loss of Pru was devastating.
Quetzal stood silently when his despairing roar at last ended, his unimaginably huge body towering high over the scene. Suddenly from the huge, multicolored belly of the dragon a mass of white erupted! Bates had trouble comprehending what was happening until the distant struggling white forms resolved into individuals, which came gracefully floating down towards the peak of the mound. It was then that Bates saw that the white objects were unicorns! Hundreds, no, thousands of white unicorns!
It was Pru's long-lost brothers and sisters, released at last from the massive body of their grief stricken dragon captor. They landed and in a seemingly unending stream, then filed slowly past Pru's remains, each pausing reverently with proud head dipped low, to peer briefly at the broken, lifeless horn. One particularly large and stately stallion dropped down to that hallowed ground and lay down by the horn. It was Baldor! He lowered his horn to the ground and it glowed brightly, as if he was somehow desperately trying to bring back his mate. But there was no miracle; Unicorns are immensely powerful, but not gods.
Bates looked up and saw that the massive dragon was watching everything with its huge, infinitely deep, all-seeing red eyes. Suddenly, as if this was all simply too much for him to bear, Quetzal looked away, shook himself, unfurled his gigantic wings, and with a single graceful sweep that barely caused a breeze, his impossibly huge form lifted into the air and flew gracefully up and away slowly in an ever widening spiral.
Meanwhile, as the last unicorns filed past, Baldor looked up at them with his black pit eyes. Some sort of communication seemed to occur among the circling unicorns then, though even the telepathically gifted humans and People 'heard' nothing. The gathered unicorns suddenly were milling about among themselves, shifting and re-shifting in position. Bates noticed that they were forming into groups, until at last each unicorn had joined one of two groups. The slightly larger group encircled Baldor and the remains of Pru, covering the top of the mound, while the other group converged at the base of the mound.
Within the second group two unicorns suddenly charged violently into each other, merging with a flash of light into a single larger unicorn that reared up on its hind legs and cried out shrilly. A third unicorn charged and merged with that one, and the other unicorns quickly followed suit by the hundreds and thousands, until at last one gigantic unicorn more than a hundred meters tall was formed!
It turned one huge dark eye-pit towards a small, goat- legged being among the thousands of astonished onlookers. "WATCH, FRIEND FEN, AND LEARN!” said the mega-unicorn, before it voiced an ear-splitting whinny-laugh.
The form of the unicorn was suddenly indistinct and wavering, until it resolved itself into its new form. It was a blazing white dragon perhaps a third the size of Quetzal, with black-pit eyes, and with silver spines along its neck, back, and tail that blazed with energy!
High above them, still circling slowly, and suddenly glowing dull green in the darkness, Quetzal roared thunderously in approval. Its wings suddenly beat faster and with greater force, as the gigantic dragon circled more rapidly above the mound.
The white dragon roared in answer, unfurled its own huge wings, and soared effortlessly into the air, its graceful motions followed by a half-dozen flood lights from the camp below, though the creature was glowing on its own anyway. When the luminous leviathans met, they butted heads and entwined necks and limbs in what was obviously a warm greeting, and glowed brighter white and green, as lightning danced over and between them. Then both dragons, flying side by side, swept majestically still higher and faded out of sight into the darkness of night.
Meanwhile, the remaining thousands of unicorns were suddenly everywhere in the camp, administering aid to casualties of the final battle with the Ra. Bates looked towards Baldor and the remains of Pru, to see if there was anything further to be done. But both Baldor and the broken horn of Pru had vanished.
It suddenly struck Bates that they were finished. It was finally all over! He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Well, Bates," said Mel, patting his friend on the back. "I'd say it has been a hell of a day! Hell of a week and a half, actually. Hopefully we'll get overtime and hazardous duty pay for all of this. What do you say to us all heading home, before those Guatemalan Civil Servants deport us?"
&n
bsp; "Rowel, Rowel!” seconded a waggedy-tailed Milo, who had finally located his master again among the thousands of folks in the camp, and reared up to push doggie nose and muddy front paws against his legs.
A relieved Bates picked up Milo and gave him a big hug. As much as anyone else, the little dog had definitely helped to save the Earth. In the end it was love and teamwork between folks that triumphed over the Ra and Dannos, including dog love. "Sounds good to me, Mel. Of course, I'll have to work out where home is with Janet."
"Then of course there's the press, your kids, the President, the Galactic League, the unicorns, and so forth to deal with," Mel added. "Oh, and I almost forgot. Merry Christmas!”
"Merry Christmas to you, Mel," said Bates, as he gave his friend a hug. Christmas? He hadn’t even had time to think of it until now, though here and there he had found time for quite a bit of hasty prayer. Maybe if there were more Christmas trees to be found in Central American jungles, he would have been reminded sooner. What was it that Pru had said about meeting Jesus? Something about the goodness of Jesus persuading some of the People to interact with humans? Pru must have been talking about herself, obviously, and without Pru helping the humans, Dannos would have demolished Earth.
But that meant that Jesus had been in some measure responsible once again for saving mankind, as well as the dragon, snakes, and everything else living on Earth! Of course he wasn't forgetting the contributions of Twinkies or hemorrhoid cream either, and the many that had died, including Pru, Gus, the Falcon crew, and a bunch of folks here at the impact point. Death was a terrible thing, and ultimately it seemed to be inescapable, but there was also wondrous life in the world! Life that in this instance had collectively triumphed over death!
In the last few days Bates had discovered unicorns and ghosts and space aliens and powers within himself that so far defied scientific explanation. There was certainly a lot more to existence than he had ever imagined, but maybe there was even more. Maybe it wasn’t Jigs or blind fate pulling the strings. Maybe he was still just seeing the edges. Maybe there were patterns and meanings that even with his increased IQ he would never be able to pluck from the blurry chaotic complexity that was existence.
"Fudge Winkies!” he remarked, as he held Mel and Milo and flew the three of them over a wildly cheering crowd towards the Bus where Janet and his kids waited for him, along with most of the rest of the Team. Flashlights and floodlights followed the progress of the trio, and several more flying friends escorted them, screeching, roaring or shouting in excitement. "I was hoping we'd just stop someplace for burgers or pizza and quietly go home. Life has certainly gotten complicated in the last couple of weeks."
****
DANNOS
O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon,
Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse
Without all hope of day!
- John Milton
The tumbling, irregular shape of deadly Dannos was by now a familiar sight to most of humanity. As the asteroid sped towards the hapless inhabitants of Earth with a closing speed of approximately a hundred thousand miles per hour, it became increasingly easy to see with the naked eye, though it appeared tiny and insignificant. Several astronomical observatories had been providing daily reports and smallish, indistinct photos of Dannos for more than a week. Currently several VISICOM channels carried continuous feed from orbital and Earth-bound observatories that provided stunning, full screen views of the careening iron behemoth. With only half an hour to go, Dannos, which was only one-fifth as far away from Earth as the Moon, was already by far the brightest object in the night sky over Guatemala. The light from Dannos was nothing like the familiar, reassuring, steady glow of the Moon, it was more like the menacing, flashing, chilling glint of a thrown knife or a spinning metallic hammer.
In the jungle encampment, all was in readiness. The B-Team, ten thousand talented, psy-capable humans, and three hundred psy-experienced inhabitants from The Land gathered in groups centered around the huge jumbled mound of stone blocks that marked the former resting place of Quetzal. Several hundred reporters were also scattered throughout the camp, still transmitting live VISICOM feeds to every part of the world.
At the very top of the jumbled mound of stone blocks Pru stood, surveying the scene with her black, pitted eyes. Pru's magnificent white body glowed only slightly, but her horn flashed brighter than a lighthouse, a beacon of hope for the camp and the world. Most of the light for the camp however, was provided by landing lights of the Bus and the several VTOL aircraft that remained, and by lanterns and flashlights. A few meters down and away from Pru stood her mate Baldor and the two other unicorns that had come to the site, along with Bates, Mel, and a camera crew.
Around the world, billions of people gathered around VISICOMs and prepared to engage in the psy exercise that would attempt to save Earth, but support was by no means universal. Many people still didn't believe that the recently reported events were real. Others thought that Dannos was God's retribution, and that opposition was at best futile, or at worst blasphemy. Still, support was growing. The widespread fact of human psy-powers led credence to the whole business. But there was no way to tell in advance if support would be great enough.
At Camp Bates, as the media had dubbed it, darkness finally came. The last day was over and the last evening began. Soon Dannos would strike!
"Go through it one more time, Mel," requested Bates. The unicorns were the central elements of the plan, and they had the approach down cold; the repeated 'dry runs' were mostly for the benefit of the camp members and anxious viewing participants world-wide. Bates wanted everyone to be totally familiar and comfortable with the plan. So cameras and microphones were once again thrust in front of the small slim physicist.
"Very well," said Mel. "As you all know, from here on in, Dannos will rapidly appear ever bigger and brighter. Soon we'll be turning the camp lights down, and we'll all see it even better. We lucked-out on the weather; it's expected to stay clear.” Actually, Mel strongly suspected that the unicorns had arranged that to be the case. "Three and a half minutes before impact, Dannos' diameter will appear to be a third that of our moon's. But at that time it will move into the Earth's shadow. It will be eclipsed and disappear from our view almost completely. There will still be a small amount of light from the Earth's illuminated edges and so-forth, but that won't be enough. Light from the Moon will also be completely shadowed by the Earth at that time. Fortunately, Baldor and his two unicorn friends will be on hand to get Dannos to glow just slightly, so that Pru can more easily acquire focus on it. They will also help Pru control the psychic power, if she needs help."
"Our image of Dannos will continue to grow in size rapidly, dully glowing against a backdrop of dark sky and stars. One minute from impact, we will signal the people of the world to focus their powers on Pru, who will begin the job of asteroid dematerialization. A minute later, at 1:15:20, Dannos will strike. It will pass through us here in the camp in a third of a second; a dully glowing shadow. But concentration must be maintained for five more minutes. After only four and a half of those minutes, Dannos will exit the Earth, but we want the dematerialization to continue an extra half-minute more as a safety margin."
Bates and the others stood quietly and listened to Mel, as did billions of other people around the world. Hopefully like him they were excited but at the same time a little bored; this scenario had been reviewed dozens of times. In addition, many 'practice runs' had been carried out, in which groups at the site and around the world had focused their power to Pru. In some of the bigger dry runs Pru had glowed brightly, while Bates and others watched nervously.
Despite the success of trial runs that involved millions of people, there were still grave concerns about Pru's ability to handle the power of billions, and equal concerns that even the full power of billions wouldn't prove to be adequate to dematerialize Dannos. But at least at this point, everything that could be done was being done. Around the camp, lanterns and other light sources were being turned down or off, so that Dannos could be seen clearly. There was nothing left to do but sit quietly and wait.
Suddenly, a murmur arose in the crowd below. "What the hell is that?” Bates heard someone shout. "Look up in the sky!” someone pathed, in response to hundreds of inquiries verbal and sub-verbal.
When he looked up, Bates at first saw nothing. Then he realized that he should be seeing stars, not to mention Dannos. Something huge, a cloud perhaps, was blocking the view. Hadn't Pru promised clear skies?
"Quetzal!” pathed Pru, before Bates could make sense of what he was seeing. "The Great One comes!”
Sure enough, when it at last came into range of the few lights that still remained on, the great creature was seen circling over the camp on gigantic wings, which churned the still night jungle air to swelling, gale force gusts. Tents and a variety of lose objects were suddenly whipping through the camp, while frightened campers ducked and screamed.
"Fudge Winkies! I think your old boyfriend's coming in for a landing, Pru!” shouted Bates. "Everyone off this rock mound!” Bates started climbing down over the jumble of stone blocks with the camera crew and Mel , which would have been slow and dangerous, especially in darkness and buffeting winds, until he remembered that now there were faster ways. With the speed of thought, he, Mel , and the three camera crew were flying through the air towards the base of the mound far below, protected from the wind and objects in it by the will of Guardian Bates. The four unicorns must have had faster means of travel still, for they were already standing at the base of the mound when the five humans landed next to them.
Moments later thousands of tons of titanic dragon settled down softly on top of the rock pile. The dragon covered the entire mound. One immense portion of the creature, presumably a foot, ended up only a few meters from Bates.
"UNICORNS! YOU GOTTA BLOW THIS JOINT PRONTO!” roared Quetzal in a voice that this time sounded much less like Winnebago, despite the choice of words. The dragon’s huge fanged head hovered over the group. "THAT ASTEROID WILL BE HERE IN A FEW MINUTES!”
"We remain to help the humans and the other life of this planet," replied Pru.
"WHY? YOUR TRICK TO GET ME TO SET YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS FREE HAS FAILED. WHEN YOU RAN OUT ON BEING A DRAGON LONG AGO, YOU SHOWED THAT YOU CAN LEAVE EVEN YOUR OWN KIND. YOU ABANDONED ME! WHAT CAN THESE LITTLE APES MEAN TO YOU?"
"They mean life! Still after all these years you don't comprehend, for in your undying anger you refuse to listen and spurn the understanding that I have tried to bring to you. Self is not enough; existence must be more than that! The dragon approach of isolation was wrong, the solitude of The One, or even of the
Fire snorted from the dragon’s nostrils. "TO HELL WITH DREAMS, I DON'T NEED HUMANS, AND YOU DON'T EITHER! NOW YOU DARE SAY THAT SOLITUDE IS WRONG? YOU WEREN'T ALONE WHEN YOU WERE WITH ME! WE HAD EACH OTHER!”
"No! You had me. You were the strong one, far too strong, oh mightiest of dragons, for you used your love and power to constrain me to your solitude. Your possession was destroying me. You would have made me one with you, destroying me in the process! This I foresaw, in my own dragon dreams."
"LIES! I NEVER WANTED TO DESTROY YOU! I STILL WANT TO SAVE YOU!”
"By destroying what I want and need and am! By destroying me! What you seek is not even possible, for I am no longer what I was. The sum of the parts would not make the same whole. The parts have become wholes unto themselves, and those parts are unicorn, not dragon."
"YOU'RE LYING TO YOURSELF, UNICORN! AMONG YOU THERE IS AT LEAST ONE THAT REMEMBERS BEING A DRAGON. AND SOME OF YOU UNICORNS STILL WANT TO BE A DRAGON! SOME OF YOU THAT I HOLD TOLD ME THAT! ADMIT IT!”
Pru's voice hardened. "We decided to be unicorn!”
Bates, like everyone else, had been quietly listening to the exchange. He looked at his watch every few seconds with growing alarm. Just a few minutes ago, everything had been ready. The folks here were becoming more and more confident, as were people around the world. Now most of the humans in the camp were cowering in fear around collapsed tents. He glanced around and saw that the news cameras were still broadcasting. He shuttered to think what the public at large was making of this dragon/unicorn soap opera. He had to DO something!
"OK, knock it off!” he interjected, with such forcefulness that the attention of both dragon and unicorns was drawn to him. "We just don't have time for this now. Three hundred million years wasn't enough for you to straighten this out. Dannos is due in about fifteen minutes! Why don't you two just agree to pick this up again, in say twenty-five minutes or so?"
"He is right," said Pru. "Stay and help us, or leave now."
"COME WITH ME!”
"We stay, Great One. You have granted me my freedom.”
The dragon unfurled its great wings, again blotting out the stars. "YOUR FREEDOM ONLY. NOT YOUR FRIENDS.” With that, all three of Pru's unicorn companions including Baldor suddenly were pulled up off the ground. In moments, as everyone stared in horror, they disappeared down the huge open mouth of the great dragon, screaming as they went!
"YOUR LAST CHANCE. COME WITH ME!” demanded the dragon.
"No Quaxantos. I stay! Even though you would abandon me and your future. I decided to be unicorn when I was dragon. I decided to embrace the life of many. I loved you then and even love you now, but I have not changed my mind, and never will."
At those words the dragon seemed shaken. Dragon and unicorn stared at each other for a few seconds frozen in time, and then the dragon raised its head into the sky and roared long a sound so deep, thunderous, and mournful that the camp inhabitants were thrown to the ground. Worked up more than ever, he looked at Pru one last time, as flame shot from his nostrils, and his great eyes glowed blood red. "GOOD-BYE PRUECENCE," he said, almost softly. Then the great unfurled wings stroked downwards a single time, and the dragon shot rapidly up into the air, leaving whirlwinds to buffet the camp.
Looking up, Bates thought that he saw a great dark shape moving off to the south with incredible speed. Around the camp, more lights came on and there was a great commotion as everyone tried to sort things out. Pru stood alone, quietly staring up into the night.
"Pru, I'm so sorry about Baldor and the others," Bates said. "But why did you call each other Pruecence and Quaxantos? Something about what you said seemed to really shake him up!”
The unicorn turned to face Bates. Her horn and skin had lost their glow, her normally proud bearing had wilted, and the look of her eyes didn’t seem as sharp and piercing. She looked almost mortal as she spoke softly. "Those were our old dragon names from long ago, Narbando Bates. This is the first time those names have been spoken in three hundred million years. Yes, it did appear to startle him. For at that moment he knew that among thousands of unicorns I am she whom he truly seeks, and that he has lost me forever."
"What do you mean?" asked Bates.
"When an elemental divides into multiple individuals, only one of the resulting entities retains most of the memories and personality of the original being. I am the unicorn that was in fact once the dragon Pruecence. His Pruecence. When we exchanged true names a minute ago, he realized that."
Bates looked at his companion with renewed awe. Pru had been a dragon, and was countless ages older than even her three hundred million year old unicorn companions. "So that means that the one unicorn that he wanted the most, he has pledged to leave free. And now he's left you in harm's way!”
"Correct. I had hoped that this might yet persuade him to help with Dannos."
"Nice try, but it didn't work. He seemed really pissed."
The unicorn shook herself in resignation, and began to glow once again. "The mighty are not easily manipulated. But now I suggest that we prepare for Dannos. Your plan is now truly our only hope."
By the light of Pru's horn, Bates looked at his watch. It was seven minutes after one. Only eight minutes to Dannos! He looked up in the sky. There was Dannos, about one-sixth moon size, coming at them from slightly west of vertical. He looked around at the camp. People and non-people were walking about fussing with equipment and talking in worried tones. Milo, also shaken by the Dragon's visit, put his front paws up on Bates, seeking reassurance from his master. Bates talked to him and petted him, then looked at his watch again. Seven minutes to Dannos! All that he had accomplished in one of Earth's last eight remaining minutes was to comfort his dog! It was worth it though, he decided. Nobody could ever have a better friend than Milo.
"Pru! Can we still do it without Baldor and the others?"
"We can but try, Narbando Bates. But without the others to illuminate Dannos, I should establish a link with it even before it enters Earth's shadow. And to do that I will need the power of hundreds, if not thousands, within three minutes!”
Bates looked around desperately. The camera crew that was with him on the mound had disappeared. "I need media people at the mound with Pru and me NOW! And loudspeakers! And Gor!” he pathed, so loudly that a few close by folks grabbed at their heads in pain! For the longest time, there seemed to be no response, but then Bates heard a commotion from the direction of the Bus and was relieved to see in the dim light of the camp the ten-meter tall form of Gor walking towards them, stepping over tents and people that were in his path. As the giant rapidly drew closer, Bates saw that he carried in his arms and atop his huge shoulders at least a dozen people, some carrying cameras!” GOR COMES, HUMAN!” thundered the Giant, in a deep voice easily heard above the noise of the camp.
"Get back to your position on the mound, Pru; I'll get you the power you need!” said Bates, but when he turned around towards the unicorn, she was already gone. A moment later he saw her glowing form high on the mound, her horn pointed defiantly towards glowing Dannos.
Gor suddenly stood next to Bates, lowering his passengers to the ground. Bates grabbed a live mike and megaphone and flew himself up atop the towering giant's shoulders. He could have hovered on his own power, but he knew that Gor was an even better attention-getter. "Are the cameras rolling? Good! Gor, get the attention of the camp!”
Gor clapped his great hands together, stamped his feet and shouted, which did indeed capture the attention of many, as evidenced by the light from dozens of flashlights that now were shining on the giant and Bates.
"NOW HEAR THIS EVERYONE!” announced Bates with the megaphone. "DON'T LOSE HEART, EVE
The people of the camp, or at least those that he could see in the immediate vicinity, were quieting down and re-forming their focus groups. As the groups came 'on line', they began to send Pru power, power that made up for loss of the other unicorns. Bates looked up at Dannos. It was a third the moon's apparent diameter, but already beginning to disappear in shadow along one edge. In a short time it would vanish completely. Pru was glowing a little brighter, but was obviously still not getting the power she needed. Only the groups in the immediate range of his voice were responding; the rest hadn't heard him! What happened to the camp COM links?
Johnny run through the camp to Bates. "Bates! The COM network is down! You can't be seen or heard by most of the camp, or by the world! Nobody knows what the hell is going on!”
Bates focused his thoughts. "THIS IS BATES! EVERYONE IN CAMP MUST START GIVING POWER TO PRU NOW! TELEPATHS SPREAD THE WORD, AND GET YOUR FOCUS GROUPS ON LINE A-S-A-P!” he pathed. He looked up at Dannos. It was mostly gone, but Pru was finally starting to glow brightly. Bates added his own considerable power, and felt Johnny and Gor do the same. Pru's horn suddenly blazed blue-white, and a like-colored beam of light shot out from the horn, straight at Dannos.
Powered by thousands of hand-picked People trained humans and their teachers, the beam shot up with the speed of thought until it disappeared from view high in the sky, but evidence of its success appeared a moment later, as Dannos, which had just disappeared behind Earth's shadow, reappeared as a dully glowing pebble of the same color as Pru's horn and beam.
Pru had established her link with Dannos! She nearly lost it moments later when a cheer went up around the camp and concentration was lost, but everyone saw Dannos flicker and realized their error, and soon re-established full power.
Bates looked at his watch. Three minutes to impact! The world was to power up in two minutes, and the COM has been knocked out for the last ten, at least! He had to get on VISICOM, and he had to get Pru on VISICOM!
He wasn't the only one with those thoughts. The media people that he had with him were going nuts with frustration. The two commentators were screaming at their technicians, who were dutifully ignoring them as they went about trying to get their cable link with their Boeing 888 running again. "It’s no go!” one of them told Bates. "If we had a radio transmission link-up we could be on the air in a minute or two; but we stopped using them hours ago when the cable network went on line. The equipment we need is back at the 888!”
"I've got one! I've got one" shouted a familiar voice from overhead. Bates and company looked up to see Mel Guthery flying towards them in the arms of shapely Thela! With them flew the little girl Sara, Sister Marie, and an older gentleman. All carried electronic equipment in their arms. Mel proceeded to introduce the gentleman as soon as Thela set Mel down gently in front of Bates. The action resulted in Thela being fully frontally visible to the little group of mostly male humans, which slowed useful thought processes considerably.
"This is Mark Curtis, Bates. Among other things he's an electrician and he'll have me and Pru on the air here in a minute. But he examined the damage to the COM net and has something else to tell you!”
Curtis and the two COM technicians had grabbed the equipment that was just flown in and started fussing with wires and knobs. "It was sabotage Dr. Bates, that's for certain!” said Curtis. “Someone got to your COM equipment and demolished it good! It was fused together like it was in a fire!”
"Holy shits! The Ra!” exclaimed Bates.
"Probably," said Mel. "But we don't have time to think about it. Curtis and I will take care of things here, Bates, and give you an image of Pru on the COM. In the meantime you get back to the Bus. Latanna's broadcasting world-wide via Flood's link with the White House. You've got to help reassure the public and get them to send power to Pru!"
Bates was looking at his watch. Two and a quarter minutes to impact!” Right! I better fly then!” said Bates. No sooner were the words out of his mouth when he was airborne and flying rapidly through the camp. For just a moment he thought that he was doing all the flying himself, but he quickly noticed that he was being held by someone whose soft warm body was pressed tightly against his.
"Try to relax, handsome," pathed Thela."You're in the hands of a professional."
There wasn't a chance in hell to relax. Bates twisted and looked up into the sky. Dannos was more than half moon-size now, and closing fast. In the meantime, he was being flown through the night in the arms of a beautiful naked woman, whose hands seemed to wonder about his own body much more than was necessary just to carry him. By the time they reached the Bus, Bates was still anything but relaxed. Thela dropped Bates off next to the Bus, where Johnny, Janet, Oscar, Latanna, and others waited with a camera crew.
Janet read his mind or body language. "You needed her to fly you here?" she asked.
"She's a professional," explained Bates. He turned to the media people. "Cameras on? We're live? Good.” He stared into the camera. "As has probably been explained, we've had some minor difficulties here, but now we're ready to execute our plan. Our unicorn friend Pru has already established a link with Dannos and is causing it to glow so that it can be seen.” He looked at his watch. One minute to impact! He glanced up at Dannos. It was less than two thousand miles away now, and approximately moon-size. He could actually see it tumbling as it came!
"The time has come, ladies and gentlemen of Earth, when we need your help to save Earth. You've been training since this afternoon, and know what to do. Now you must all join together in your groups and focus on Pru. Search her out with your powers, and you'll sense her! She's already blasting away at Dannos with lots of power. We need six full minutes of concentration from everyone starting now! Mel? Are you ready? Take over!”
"Just came on line, Bates," came the voice of Mel over the COM. "Here's Pru folks! Focus on her! NOW!”
On nearly all VISICOM channels on nearly all screens over all the Earth, a sharp image of Pru appeared, thanks to telephoto lens. She was glowing brighter than ever as she stood tall and proud, high atop the mound of ancient stone blocks, with her horn directing a solid beam of psy energy up at Dannos! A few channels carried Dannos itself. Though it had been very visible to the naked eye all over the world over the last hours and nights, now it filled wall size VISICOMs with its sharp and terrifying image! It was about ten miles across, but not really spherical. It looked more like rounded potato, with pits and bumps that covered it all over. It glowed a bit blue from the unicorn directed psy, but there could be no doubt that it was indeed iron, as a dark metallic luster could easily be detected. It could have perhaps been called beautiful, but for its terrible destructive power.
world-wide, in homes, in schools, in shopping malls, in churches, in football stadiums, sports-bars, and everywhere else where mankind dwelled and gathered, images of Pru and Dannos now dominated the thoughts of humanity. This was the big test for human-kind! Would their psy powers be enough? Could humanity maintain the required concentration on Pru for six minutes? Or, would human thoughts wonder too much about death, or regret, or fear, or anything else? If they did, Earth was doomed!
At the base of the mound, a worried Nobel Prize winning physicist watched a being whose structure and powers he could only speculate about, apply forces that had never been identified by science, to accomplish a mysterious phenomenon known only as 'the soap trick', to a tremendous chunk of iron that was still over a thousand miles away. So far, she seemed to be doing all right. He put on thick sunglasses, and looked at her through binoculars. She hadn't budged an inch, though she was glowing brighter and brighter! Was it w
At the Bus Bates, Janet, the twins, and most of the rest of the Team stood huddled together, holding on to each other tightly and focusing on Pru. They would weather this together. Bates spoke into the microphone again. "That's it! Everyone focus on Pru. Everyone! Each person counts. Young and old, rich and poor, black, or white, or red, or yellow, or giant, or unicorn, or whatever. And don't stop for at least five and a half minutes more, no matter what happens! Even if we lose our transmission again, just keep it up! Don't stop for anything!”
As Bates talked, he watched Dannos appear to grow ever more rapidly, its size appearing to double with each halving of the distance from impact. Soon it was the size of two moons. Ten seconds from impact, it was the size of four moons. He pathed a quick 'I love you' to Janet and the kids, and 'heard' many similar messages bouncing around the group. Then he held his breath and focused on Pru.
Dannos grew more and more rapidly, until it filled the whole sky. Then there was a brief moment when everything around them was dark, blue, cold, and silent as death, but just as suddenly it was gone. It worked! Dannos had passed through them! But instead of cheering, the Team struggled to maintain concentration. It wasn't over yet!
At the mound, Mel hardly even noticed the passage of Dannos. He did notice that the beam emanating from Pru's horn pointed down instead of up; he didn't recall seeing the change, however. The unicorn still stood tall, but her image was shimmering, and actually blinking in and out of view rapidly, as though she was vibrating between this universe and somewhere else. And didn't she seem to be just a bit less tall? How much energy, psy or not, did it take to alter the quantum probabilities associated with a ten-mile across iron and nickel asteroid? How did the thing hold itself together if it was dematerialized? How did the Dannos iron atoms know the difference between its own atoms and the iron atoms of Earth that they passed through? But of course these were the same sort of questions that arose when the unicorn took the Team through solid rock to reach their hidden Land, so Pru was performing a familiar activity. It was indeed the 'soap trick' again, but on an enormous scale!
If iron caused problems for psy-energy, how much harder was it to dematerialize Dannos? Not only was Dannos iron, so was most of Earth, through which Pru was now directing the psy energy to get to Dannos. Mel didn't know the answer to such questions. He could only watch the unicorn in amazement, and hope that things worked out.
Relief was soon replaced by worry. The sabotage incident meant that the Ra were still around! Bates looked at his watch. Three and a half minutes to go! He half ran, half flew to the Bus to see Flood. It was reassuring just to see the Commander at the Bus COM controls. At times like this, he wished that he had more steely-eyed ex-military folks around. "How's it going, Flood?" he asked.
"Good, Bates. We have solid COM link with humanity. But I'm really worried about the Ra!”
"Are you still scanning for Ra saucers?"
"Damn right, I never stopped! Not that it will help much."
"What do you mean?"
"All the psy energy is driving the radar nuts! I won't detect a Ra saucer unless the bastards pass close enough to my window to wave!”
"Shit! You figure they know that?"
"You better believe they do! And they could mount a ground attack too."
Bates sent several of the People to search the camp, but most he directed to guard Pru. Pru couldn't be disturbed. He remembered what Mel told him. Major Earthquakes would still result if Dannos materialized deep in the Earth, and a total disaster would result if Dannos materialized just before leaving Earth! He glanced at a VISION screen. It showed Pru still standing at the top of the mound, glowing like blazes. So far so good! Good old Pru! At least something was working! He had to keep things in perspective. As long as Pru and the people of Earth kept it up, they would be OK!
Then he got a call from Mel. Bates put it on intercom for the others of the Team that were there. "Bates! I think that Pru's tiring! I can't explain it, but I think something's very wrong. Maybe it was the iron of Dannos. Remember, Pru mentioned a few times that iron bothered unicorns? Maybe that's why the iron weapon we call Dannos was directed at the dragon! Now we know that dragons and unicorns are made of the same stuff! We've got to figure out now if we should pull the plug right away to avoid the worst case scenario, or take a chance with her to last through the whole thing!”
Bates put on a 3-D COM helmet with digital zoom and looked more closely at Pru's blazing, blinking form. Mel was right; she did seem to be sagging a bit. He zoomed in further. She was also perfectly motionless. Was she supposed to be? His fingers flew across the controls. Fortunately, the Bus computers were equipped with some of the same standard analysis tools that he had worked with for many years.
In seconds, Bates had the answer that he didn't want. He zoomed on her eyes, and then her white coat, and tail just to be sure. She just didn't look right, and a cold fear suddenly gripped him. "Oh no!” he sobbed, and ran out of the Bus, startling his companions.
He flew to the top of the mound faster than Thela could have; how, he couldn't have explained. How he looked at Pru so closely without burning out his own eyes, he couldn't have explained either. As he was stumbling back down the mound on foot a worried Mel finally caught up with him.
"Bates! You've been with Pru? Can she make it? What did she say? Is she all right? It's only a minute and a half to the exit of Dannos! If were doing to pull the plug while Dannos is still deep in the Earth to avoid the worst-case scenario it has to be done now! What should we do?"
Bates sighed. "Nothing. We're too late Mel. If I'm right, Pru can't turn off the dematerialization."
"Sure she can! She's the focus point!”
"I don't think she can change what she's doing. I did a quick motion analysis on the COM disks, Mel. She hasn't moved since a few seconds after Dannos struck. Not a twitch on a strand of hair. And look at her eyes."
Mel looked. "They aren't black anymore! They're white like the rest of her! That's what was different! I couldn't place it!”
"She looks like a hollowed out statue, Mel, just a frozen in place shell! Nothing is left but some sort of energy conduit!”
"You think she's dead?" asked Mel, shaken.
Bates could only nod his head as he fought back tears. Mel had finally said the thing that he couldn't bring himself to say. It was somewhat of a relief to him that someone else knew, but it was a massive blow to hear those words.
"It's probably too late to COM the world population to stop the psy power anyway, Bates. It's too close to break-out time. I guess we just hope that whatever's left of Pru will hold up long enough.” He looked at his watch. "Forty seconds Bates! I think we're going to make it! Actually, it's those last five seconds or so that we really have to worry about."
"Ra!” came a voice shouting from somewhere in the darkness. Bates and Mel turned around, and there, hovering above and next to the mound was a glowing Ra Warren Ship, just hovering there, waiting.
"It’s going to blast Pru to get the worst case scenario!” shouted Mel.
Though most of the camp was concentrating so strongly on Dannos that they didn't even notice the silently hovering Ra ship, several People providing guard over Pru now attacked the space ship. Huge stone blocks were flung up at the saucer by Gor and two huge ogres, and some sort of energy beam shot out from the eyes of several griffins that circled the saucer, but everything just bounced harmlessly off an invisible Ra force field. Worse, the ship began blasting away at People, humans, and everything else in the vicinity with powerful bolts of plasma. This time there were no unicorns or One Trees to project protective force fields, and the carnage was immediate and horrible.
To Bates, it was a situation not unlike his earlier battle with the Ra, in which powers suddenly came forth from himself that he didn't really even expect understand. Suddenly there was a protective field around Gor that shielded the giant from what would have surely been a killing blow. <
"Ten seconds Bates!” came a faint voice. It was Mel, who was hidden behind a nearby smoldering tree-trunk. "Seven!”
A saucer blast shot out at Bates, nearly catching him off guard, but it passed through him harmlessly.
"Six!” cried Mel!
A huge beam shot out of the saucer and struck Pru full force.
Of course, thought Bates, that's where he should have had his protective shield all along! He reached out mentally to put one around the top of the mound, but it wasn't holding; the saucer must have been saving its most potent blasts for Pru. Terra watts of plasma state elementary particles streamed over the unicorn!
"Four!” shouted Mel!
Shit! What happened to five? And where is zero already, thought Bates!
Pru's body suddenly seemed riddled with dozens of cracks and holes that multiplied as he watched, from which streamed thin streamers of blue psy-energy! Most still emanated from her horn, but more and more was 'leaking' from the holes. She was being blasted to bits!
"Three!”
Suddenly, the saucer's beam was cut short, and Bates heard a terrible crunching, like dozens of auto crashes at once!
"Zero!” shouted Mel, ‘two’ and 'one' having been drowned out by the crunching noise!
Bates looked around to see the crushed saucer in the massive jaws of hovering Quetzal, like a dog with a little squeeze toy! With a jerk of his head, the dragon flipped what was left of the saucer high up into the air. Then he exhaled, with the sound of a tornado, blasting a massive column of brilliant blue-green flame at the Ra space ship. Except for a few shed chunks of it that flew off into the darkness, he saucer seemed to simply disappear. If it did explode, the explosion was so insignificant compared to the dragon flame that it wasn't noticeable to the onlookers.
Meanwhile, a second conflagration was occurring on the mound, as what was left of Pru shattered to bits, and the enormous psychic energy that had been concentrated and directed to and by her shot outwards in a brilliant silent flash!
Mel emerged from his hiding place and ran to Bates, his COM phone pressed against his ear. "Reports from Australia and Indonesia, Bates. We did it! Dannos passed all the way through the Earth without even noticing it! The Dannos threat is over!”
Bates nodded in acknowledgment, but his thoughts were elsewhere. He flew up to the top of the mound. Several of the People were already there, with mournful heads hung low, tears, and sobs.
There was nothing left of Pru but a section of horn and scattered charred bits of white fur. The horn and fur were dull and dirty, without a hint of life or magic. Johnny, Dooley, and Fen were already there, openly crying. Moments later, the onlookers on the mound scattered, as two titanic feet settled down at the base of the mound. The huge multi-colored dragon head lowered, and stared with enormous eyes for long moments at the charred unicorn remains.
Bates held his breath. What would the dragon's reaction be? Quetzal could be more dangerous than Dannos and the Ra put together!
The dragon raised its head to point straight up, and a tremendous column of multicolored flame shot out of its mouth for at least three full minutes, miles into the dark night, towards the distant stars, as a mournful roaring cry shook the Earth! At the same time, an empathic feeling of pain and despair was unleashed that echoed through minds and souls around the globe. To billions of COM viewers, what had happened was as clear as it was to the survivors in the Guatemalan camp. This was the end of a love story hundreds of millions of years old; it was a despairing mate saying good-by forever to his lost love. Mel, who had climbed the mound to join his friend, stood arm in arm with Bates and they cried like babies, and they weren't the only ones. The loss of Pru was devastating.
Quetzal stood silently when his despairing roar at last ended, his unimaginably huge body towering high over the scene. Suddenly from the huge, multicolored belly of the dragon a mass of white erupted! Bates had trouble comprehending what was happening until the distant struggling white forms resolved into individuals, which came gracefully floating down towards the peak of the mound. It was then that Bates saw that the white objects were unicorns! Hundreds, no, thousands of white unicorns!
It was Pru's long-lost brothers and sisters, released at last from the massive body of their grief stricken dragon captor. They landed and in a seemingly unending stream, then filed slowly past Pru's remains, each pausing reverently with proud head dipped low, to peer briefly at the broken, lifeless horn. One particularly large and stately stallion dropped down to that hallowed ground and lay down by the horn. It was Baldor! He lowered his horn to the ground and it glowed brightly, as if he was somehow desperately trying to bring back his mate. But there was no miracle; Unicorns are immensely powerful, but not gods.
Bates looked up and saw that the massive dragon was watching everything with its huge, infinitely deep, all-seeing red eyes. Suddenly, as if this was all simply too much for him to bear, Quetzal looked away, shook himself, unfurled his gigantic wings, and with a single graceful sweep that barely caused a breeze, his impossibly huge form lifted into the air and flew gracefully up and away slowly in an ever widening spiral.
Meanwhile, as the last unicorns filed past, Baldor looked up at them with his black pit eyes. Some sort of communication seemed to occur among the circling unicorns then, though even the telepathically gifted humans and People 'heard' nothing. The gathered unicorns suddenly were milling about among themselves, shifting and re-shifting in position. Bates noticed that they were forming into groups, until at last each unicorn had joined one of two groups. The slightly larger group encircled Baldor and the remains of Pru, covering the top of the mound, while the other group converged at the base of the mound.
Within the second group two unicorns suddenly charged violently into each other, merging with a flash of light into a single larger unicorn that reared up on its hind legs and cried out shrilly. A third unicorn charged and merged with that one, and the other unicorns quickly followed suit by the hundreds and thousands, until at last one gigantic unicorn more than a hundred meters tall was formed!
It turned one huge dark eye-pit towards a small, goat- legged being among the thousands of astonished onlookers. "WATCH, FRIEND FEN, AND LEARN!” said the mega-unicorn, before it voiced an ear-splitting whinny-laugh.
The form of the unicorn was suddenly indistinct and wavering, until it resolved itself into its new form. It was a blazing white dragon perhaps a third the size of Quetzal, with black-pit eyes, and with silver spines along its neck, back, and tail that blazed with energy!
High above them, still circling slowly, and suddenly glowing dull green in the darkness, Quetzal roared thunderously in approval. Its wings suddenly beat faster and with greater force, as the gigantic dragon circled more rapidly above the mound.
The white dragon roared in answer, unfurled its own huge wings, and soared effortlessly into the air, its graceful motions followed by a half-dozen flood lights from the camp below, though the creature was glowing on its own anyway. When the luminous leviathans met, they butted heads and entwined necks and limbs in what was obviously a warm greeting, and glowed brighter white and green, as lightning danced over and between them. Then both dragons, flying side by side, swept majestically still higher and faded out of sight into the darkness of night.
Meanwhile, the remaining thousands of unicorns were suddenly everywhere in the camp, administering aid to casualties of the final battle with the Ra. Bates looked towards Baldor and the remains of Pru, to see if there was anything further to be done. But both Baldor and the broken horn of Pru had vanished.
It suddenly struck Bates that they were finished. It was finally all over! He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Well, Bates," said Mel, patting his friend on the back. "I'd say it has been a hell of a day! Hell of a week and a half, actually. Hopefully we'll get overtime and hazardous duty pay for all of this. What do you say to us all heading home, before those Guatemalan Civil Servants deport us?"
&n
A relieved Bates picked up Milo and gave him a big hug. As much as anyone else, the little dog had definitely helped to save the Earth. In the end it was love and teamwork between folks that triumphed over the Ra and Dannos, including dog love. "Sounds good to me, Mel. Of course, I'll have to work out where home is with Janet."
"Then of course there's the press, your kids, the President, the Galactic League, the unicorns, and so forth to deal with," Mel added. "Oh, and I almost forgot. Merry Christmas!”
"Merry Christmas to you, Mel," said Bates, as he gave his friend a hug. Christmas? He hadn’t even had time to think of it until now, though here and there he had found time for quite a bit of hasty prayer. Maybe if there were more Christmas trees to be found in Central American jungles, he would have been reminded sooner. What was it that Pru had said about meeting Jesus? Something about the goodness of Jesus persuading some of the People to interact with humans? Pru must have been talking about herself, obviously, and without Pru helping the humans, Dannos would have demolished Earth.
But that meant that Jesus had been in some measure responsible once again for saving mankind, as well as the dragon, snakes, and everything else living on Earth! Of course he wasn't forgetting the contributions of Twinkies or hemorrhoid cream either, and the many that had died, including Pru, Gus, the Falcon crew, and a bunch of folks here at the impact point. Death was a terrible thing, and ultimately it seemed to be inescapable, but there was also wondrous life in the world! Life that in this instance had collectively triumphed over death!
In the last few days Bates had discovered unicorns and ghosts and space aliens and powers within himself that so far defied scientific explanation. There was certainly a lot more to existence than he had ever imagined, but maybe there was even more. Maybe it wasn’t Jigs or blind fate pulling the strings. Maybe he was still just seeing the edges. Maybe there were patterns and meanings that even with his increased IQ he would never be able to pluck from the blurry chaotic complexity that was existence.
"Fudge Winkies!” he remarked, as he held Mel and Milo and flew the three of them over a wildly cheering crowd towards the Bus where Janet and his kids waited for him, along with most of the rest of the Team. Flashlights and floodlights followed the progress of the trio, and several more flying friends escorted them, screeching, roaring or shouting in excitement. "I was hoping we'd just stop someplace for burgers or pizza and quietly go home. Life has certainly gotten complicated in the last couple of weeks."
****