What if a prince fell in love with a rebel?
In the Mean Time
We count for nothing
We are prone to anyone’s impulse to violence
Whether they wear a badge or watch the community….
In the Mean Time
We are hated for things that have nothing to do with
who
we are (not just a skin color)
In the Mean Time
We are shot like rabid dogs
regardless of guilt or innocence
In the Mean Time
Are our prayers even heard?
Is our suffering even
moving the hearts
of
anyone,
anywhere?
In the Mean Time,
we must go on
and strive to exist,
and fight to survive
and struggle to live
in hostile territory
surrounded by
enemies
shouting
curses and untruths
behind their walls
of
hate and fear.
In the Mean Time
We must continue to
Love
one another
and
our enemy,
even as we
contend with his ignorance.
In the Mean Time
Life for us here is hard,
but it can and will
get worse
if we
give up
in the
Mean Time.
© Alfred W. Smith Jr.
2015
Misty
now the memories
Snatches of bright, clear light and holiday colors
lost in the fog
The promises sound evil and hollow, the songs like moans of pain
Open mouthed laughter is replaced by tremulous smiles
Hands, once pressed hard together, and locked with interlaced fingers,
unravel
as the rope uncoils,
and our ships sail out across the
stormy waters
of a last and longing look at fading love,
at the flickering mirage
of you and me,
battered
by the blizzard of
indifference
that arrived so suddenly.
Whether or not we’d weather it was the question.
And in the calming wake of
absence
lies the answer,
in the depths and
unsalvageable wreckage
of our
separate selves.
© Alfred W. Smith Jr.
I was down on the waterfront, looking out at the waves, watching the boats and jet-skis, looking over at the private beaches, where the sun shone more brightly, and the illusion of a better life beckoned like a whore in a neon lit window.
One last time, I wanted that illusion.
One last time, to try to make it real for me.
That’s why I was down here, burning up in the high humidity of a day in July, waiting for the contact to give me the latest information on my final assignment:
Who do I kill next?
I’m called Nomad. My real name was erased years ago; I didn’t like it anyway.
No family to speak of, no wife, and no candidates for that position on the horizon, I was free to travel and murder at will.
It was a dangerous life, and so far, I’d come out on top; that wouldn’t always be the case, I knew, and there were times it got close, but not close enough.
I lived with it; death was the dance partner who every now and then stepped on your toes and kneed you in the balls just to let you know she was not enjoying your company.
The contact waddled up, all sweaty and wheezing, trying to light a cigarette with the lighter in his right hand while he fished around in his pocket for the chip with his left.
“Here.” He held it out in his sweaty palm.
I took a napkin out of my pocket and took it from him; he narrowed his eyes at me, and I smiled, and he looked away.
I put the chip into the port they inserted behind my ear, and heard the locking click.
The file took shape: holograms, maps, pictures, names, dates, locations, and finally the target.
“Who is he?”
“Your counterpart in that country.”
“And we want him, why?”
“You don’t get paid to ask questions; with him removed, you actually make more money.”
“He looks like he’s twelve.”
“It’s not like you wouldn’t do it if he was.”
That was probably truer than I cared to think about at the moment. I let it pass.
“You gonna confirm, Nomad? It’s bitchin hot out here.”
I confirmed.
“You leave in two hours.”
I nodded.
He walked away, gave a lazy wave, and the bullet burst his skull like an overripe melon.
Gonna be late for my flight…
© Alfred W. Smith Jr.
2:
She was very much aware of his presence, though her body had been sleeping.
He did not realize that there was nothing he could do to her that she did not allow, for as he smeared her blood across his fingertips and tasted her, a thread of his dead spirit filtered in through her, and initially corrupted, then enhanced her nature.
Enduring the sickness, she did not let him see her tremble, and through some miracle, managed to hold her gorge.
He was not merely old, but ancient, and smelled of the dust and bones of ancient catacombs long buried and forgotten.
She also felt the essence of his lust, a thin, light band of energy over the corruption; she saw the faces of women, lovely and in their physical prime, saw the bodies writhing beneath him, grinding over him, and what he did with them when it was over.
Multiple abattoirs dotted the landscape where he’d been at work.
She made a silent vow to avenge them all.
************
“Janyris,” said her father, “this dabbling in things mortal is not for you; it will come to no good end. You must be ready to ascend your station when your mother passes.”
For awhile, she complied, and played the dutiful daughter until her mother actually passed, not in the traditional sense; she merely went to the underworld and never returned.
Her father was suspect that she had gone voluntarily, to be with the gods that dwelt there, but he dared not go after her, for fear of finding out if that were true.
He’d been a good father, but as to husband, Janyris couldn’t say.
She left too, unannounced, unsuspected, and left her father to fend for himself, and find succor where he would.
She observed the mortals for awhile, creatures of habit, and routine, much like ants and migratory birds, scattering in panics when crisis came, then banding together to rally and rebuild, if they could.
They were boring, but she admired their tenacity to survive and keep their mundane species in existence.
In time, they came to amuse her, and she was content to meddle in minor ways, until one day, she saw something that piqued her interest, and went into a deeper world.
A small boy was sleeping, the moonlight soft on his innocent face, and she saw a shadow in his room detach itself, and come to stand by his bed.
Its eyes were open, and a pale violet shade.
She grew intrigued, and looked closer.
The shadow reeked of death and evil; she dared draw no closer, lest it sense her presence; indeed, it had already looked up at the ceiling twice, sensing something, and she wasn’t sure she’d hidden in time, but as it didn’t pursue her, she knew she wasn’t seen.
This was the sort of being that killed when discovered.
He took the boy’s hand, and pricked the skin of his index finger with a long nail of his own.
The child thrashed under his covers, then grew still, and the shadow retreated.
As the sun rose, the boy’s body simply dissipated, skin melting into bone melting into the dust motes in the light of the morning sun, and his body simply drifted apart, his soul taken and his flesh removed.
The parents were in agony, and did not last long together, and in their isolation, grew despondent, and died not long thereafter.
She wanted to go to them, but she dared not.
Then came the fateful night they met, and she made her vow in front of him.
He saw the glimmer of something in her, and showed his true face, and she knew in that moment she had him.
And now he was a part of her, and she of him.
It was going to be glorious fight.
Ah, my dear Rillion, you don’t know what you’ve done. Taking your soul will redeem my own, and the damnation that awaits you is beyond description.
© Alfred W. Smith Jr. 2015
“Dr.Chen?
She was startled out of her reverie.
I have to stay focused. Caroline is the mission now.
She did, however, have some questions for the General.
“Yes, Lieutenant.”
“I just heard that…”
“Yes, it’s true.”
“Do you–?”
“No, no. There was nothing to be done for it.”
She looked around, then back at Harris. “For any of it, really.”
He nodded. “Are you all packed?”
“I’m ready to go, yes.”
“Follow me, please. I know you know the way, but there are clearances that you don’t have. They seem pointless, now, I know, but everyone seems determined to embrace the comfortable until the end.”
“I understand.”
She followed him.
************************
General Williams was waiting at the dock.
“Teri, I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you, General.” She straightened her shoulders. “I do have a question: if I’d requested my family be evacuated and brought here, was there anything that could have been done?”
Williams didn’t hesitate, and his own eyes clouded a bit as he shook his head.
“Nothing is going to be done for any of us. I won’t see my family again. My grandkids…”
“Oh.” She looked down, and her voice sounded small and far away. Of course others have family that are not going to see them before they go; at least you got to see yours, and you know what happened, and when, and why. There are so many others who will never have those questions answered.
He continued. “And to what end, doctor? You said it yourself, destruction is imminent. Make peace with it, Teri. With yourself, too. We’re going to need you now more than ever.
She lifted her eyes to his. “I will complete the mission, sir.”
Williams smiled. “Unfortunately, we’ll never see the outcome, but I have every faith in you.”
A faint tremor vibrated the floor beneath them.
Voices were raised, and the mood instantly grew more somber and intense, and not a little fearful.
“Time to launch, sir.” said Harris.
“Thank you, captain obvious.”
They all laughed.
“Teri?” Williams extended his arm expansively, inviting her to go aboard, as if he were the captain of a cruise ship, and not the doomed general of yet another science facility that wandered too far from its walls.
“Kyro’s already strapped in,” Harris said, extending his hand. “It’s been an honor, Teri.”
She watched him closely, but his face betrayed nothing but fondness, and a trace of sadness they would no longer be working together. Beyond that, there was nothing she could decipher. Either Kyro really wasn’t his son, or he was gifted at deceiving.
She took the proffered hand. “Same here, Ken.”
She released his hand, and turned to board. Glancing over at Kyro, his head had lolled to the side, so he was already asleep. Good, she didn’t feel like engaging an assassin. She looked out at the black, weightless expanse of dotted with white fire.
*****************************
No family. No longer a wife. No longer a mother. Just these children now. And Caroline, who will cause no end of grief on the new colony.
If it weren’t for her, I would’ve been able to join them, see them, hold them…but she has given me a life devoid of meaning. With no one to share with, to spend time off with, to do anything with; I’m going alone.
Her evil intentions mean nothing to me, but because of her, I’m forced to go on, when all I want to do is die.
So I will stop her. I will make her pay for what she’s done to me; every day I stay alive, I will make her pay. Every memory, she will pay.
The stars blurred, and she realized she was crying. This time, she didn’t bother fighting it.
“….three….two….one….we are launched. All automated systems are functioning normally.”
“Safe journey, Dr. Chen.”
“Goodbye.”
Her voice came out more than a whisper, less than a sob; it was not just meant for her colleagues. It was to everything that had made her up to this moment. She wasn’t just on her way to a new colony, but on her way to becoming something else.
Chapter 3:
The tremors were becoming more violent. Williams and Harris could’ve enlisted the help of others, but they’d either left or were trying to find a place to exit, though where they’d go if the ground was crumbling, Harris had no idea.
“The Naissance is ready, General.”
“Thanks, Harris. Caroline?”
“She’s in her pod.”
“Is there any way to extract her covertly?”
Harris gave him a grim smile. “She changed all the protocols, sir. You said it yourself, she’s ten steps ahead of us.”
“What I want to know is when did she have time to do all this, and if someone helped her. Have security run video from the last thirty days on all the bay doors.”
“Yes, sir.”
“If Teri can’t get to her, maybe one of the others will do us all a favor and stab her in the back.”
Harris looked away.
“I’m sorry, Harris. That was out of line.”
“What was, sir?”
Williams smiled.
Another tremor boomed, and the building swayed like an empty swing in a storm wind.
Both men lost their footing, and when the tremor subsided, they pushed themselves up along the walls behind them, the portion that remained intact. As they were in the northernmost station, it could only mean that now the entire planet was all but consumed from within.
No one knew if it would be another hour, or another day, but they all knew they were living on borrowed time now.
“General?”
Williams had gained his feet, and helped Harris up the rest of the way.
“I’m listening.”
“We still control the launch, sir. We don’t have to send them.”
“I’ve thought of that, but to kill all for the sake of one…as I said, they may do it for us, and we’ve already programmed them as well.”
“Just an option, sir. Still on the table as long as we don’t–”
An alarm blared through the station, but there was no tremor.
“What in the hell–?” WIlliams blustered.
“Naissance has pre-launched. Repeat, repeat, Naissance has pre-launched!”
Williams and Harris found the nearest com station; the young attendant was punching keys but coming up empty.
“Onscreen, young lady!”
“Trying, sir! Please give me a minute…”
Harris put up a restraining hand, and Williams backed away.
The screen flickered, went out, flickered again, and flared to life, stabilizing.
The ship came into view, and the shot of its interior showed the floor was empty.
They watched as the ship sailed over the station below, the shadow blocking out the starlight glittering like strewn gems spilled in ink.across the top,
“Retractors?”
“Offline, sir. Damaged.”
“We’re going to lose it.” The ship was past the station, clearing the harbor.
A hologram of Caroline sitting in the captain’s chair filled the screen.
“Hello, General Williams. I managed to gain access to the ship’s computers days ago, when the tremors first started.
“I programmed the ship to override the safety protocols and release the locks if the magnitude went above four-point-five. If you’re seeing this, then the ship is already loose and on its way.”
All three of them shook their heads in wonder; they’d badly underestimated her intelligence; in no way they measured it was she able to pull this off.
“I had no idea, of course, if it would actually work, but I guess I’ll know if I wake up dead,” she smiled at the weak joke, “or if we’re still in that hellhole you call a station. And if the magnitude of the tremors is beyond that, then the creature is about to tear the place apart.
“I hope it doesn’t come after us, General, but so be it if it does. Either way, I won’t be able to send those reports I promised you.
“Farewell, sir. I’ll never forgive you for what you did to my father.”
She leaned forward, and the camera zoomed in on those dark, glittery eyes.
“Never.”
The com went blank again.
“Shoot it down, sir?”
Williams said nothing.
“Sir?”
“Check the weapons.”
The young attendant pushed more buttons.
“Nothing, sir. Offline.”
Williams felt his shoulders slumping yet again.
Outwitted by a thirteen year old girl…
Not for the first time, he wondered if he’d been wrong to sign up all those years ago.
A loud rumbling filled the hall, and things began to sway and rattle and fall and slide.
The floor bucked beneath him, and he flipped over backward, catching the corner of a moving desk, the corner cracking a hole in his skull; he could see the blood running from under his head as his vision began to fade.
I thought it was the right thing to do. ran through his mind as he passed into oblivion.
© Alfred W. Smith Jr. 2015
4)
Amia was in the garden when I walked up.
“What are you doing back here, Haskell?” She hadn’t turned around.
“Using your witchy skills, huh?”
She turned to face me then, smiling a little.
“Never you mind.”
“We need to talk. I need you to change my face, and I need to hire Alazne.”
“Yes to the first, no to the second.”
Amia stood, smoothed the dirt off her apron. She’d tied her hair back, and looked like a perfect housewife. The last thing I’d expect her to do was blow me apart with a bolt of light from her hands, but she could.
I would’ve smiled in amusement if she couldn’t.
“Alazne? She’s vulnerable, and that makes her volatile. I’m just getting her to where I can trust her. Leaving her alone in my house was the turning point. I half expected to return to find her gone and my place looted, if not a pile of ashes.”
“Maybe she is, but she has advanced stalking skills for her age, and she looks like a beggar child. I could use both to help me further your efforts in stopping the council.”
She paused to consider it.
“Come on, then. Tell me what you’re thinking, while I work on making your face be what I’ve always wanted.”
I felt my face do something between blush and blanch, which set her chiming laughter pealing.
***************
“How would you like to look?”
I told her.
“Close your eyes,” she said. I did.
The blackness that my lids created began to lighten to a deep blue, the color of the sky when a full moon shines, and I felt the light scrape of her nails and the pads of her fingertips begin to caress my face.
My skin tightened, and there was some pain, but it was bearable; caught off guard by its suddenness though, I gasped.
“It’s all right,” she whispered, sending a relaxing wave across my body. “Trust me, Haskell.”
“I do.”
The light began to darken, and I was once more in natural darkness, but then I felt a slight change taking place through my body as well. I had what I would call an average build, but it seemed to be getting thicker.
She was making me more muscular, a bit wider, but not preposterously so.
“Is this all right with you?”
My laugh was sardonic.
“Did you leave me a choice?”
“No.” I could hear the smile in her voice.
Oh, Amia. What might have been…
A few moments of silence passed, and then:
“I’m done. Rest a moment. I’ll find a glass for you to see.”
I took a few deep breaths, feeling the increase of the expanse of my chest; it felt good, solid.
She’d gotten a lot stronger; her powers had increased. I should’ve been concerned then, but I wasn’t.
“You can get up now.”
I took my time, getting used to maneuvering with the larger frame.
She left me nude, and the glass showed everything.
“Madam, please,” I said with false modesty, covering myself with my hands.
She laughed again.
“What do you think?”
I took my hands away.
“This isn’t what I told you, but I’m not sure.” I looked like a pirate: curly black ringlets of hair down to my neck, swarthier than I was, and for added effect, a pale scar along the right cheek.
“How am I supposed to fit in with a face like this?”
“You don’t like it?”
“I said I wasn’t sure…”
“Close your eyes, and picture the face you want.”
“What? Amia…” my voice took a warning note, but she just gave me her ‘innocent’ look.
I closed my eyes, pictured the face I wanted, and felt the slight pull on my skin and the elongation and shortening of bones. It was a creepy feeling.
The sensations stopped, and I opened my eyes again.
More average features looked back at me, with no scar. I could be a servant or a merchant.
Just for kicks, I closed my eyes again, pictured the face of a nobleman I met once, and once again the magic crackled across my face.
Bearded, regal, with piercing eyes that struck fear in the hearts of men and made women weak in the knees, or so I hoped.
I looked back at Amia and smiled. She returned it, pleased.
“I didn’t know you could do that, Amia. You’ve gotten stronger.”
“A woman shouldn’t be defenseless, Haskell. You know that as well as anyone.”
I did, and I was glad she was among those who could do it.
She came up behind me, and put her hands where I had mine moments ago, and put her lips by my ear.
“Let’s try this new body out, and see how it works for you.”
“Shall I keep this face?”
“No, Haskell. I like you for you.”
Changing my face back, I turned toward her, kissed her long and deep, my own hands busy before I picked her up and carried her to her bed, the place she’d denied me the night before, a deed which I promised her she was going to pay for, and she rose to the challenge..
As it turned out, the new body worked just fine.
5)
It was evening when we were done with each other.
“Where’s Alazne?”
“Out, hunting dinner.”
“She’s a scary girl.”
“I agree. One step up from feral, really. Even I haven’t gotten all of her story from her yet.”
“Do you want it?”
She laughed. “Not sure.”
We finished dressing in silence, and Amia poured some of that wine from Inkara.
The clothes were a bit tighter, but would cover me enough for now.
“I need her, Amia.”
“Why? After the power I gave you, you can fit in anywhere.”
“I need a scout though, a spy, if you will. She’d be able to get into places unnoticed.”
“I don’t know, Haskell. Ragamuffins aren’t welcome in most places; they’re the kids who get watched in the marketplaces, the ones cast out into the street. People do see them.”
“They do,” I agreed, “but only when they get careless. Alazne doesn’t strike me as careless, and she’s got a whole host of skills we don’t know.”
“How do you know?”
“She gave me the lantern, and found her way back to you in a dark forest.”
“By now she’s familiar with the path, the direction; it’s no great feat, Haskell.”
“I’m telling you, even with all that, for one of her age to go skulking about as she does, it is. I need her eyes, and I need her to gain access to places where I won’t fit in.”
“I’ll do it,” said a voice from the doorway.
“How long have you been standing there?” said Amia.
“For most of it.”
I turned to Amia, grinning, and just managed to dodge the empty wine cup she threw at my head.
***************
As I told Alazne of my plan, and she cooked a late night rabbit, we spent another couple of hours ironing out the details.
She helped with the logistics of where she’d be able to go, and we both agreed that Jonas provided the only real threat.
“Kill him first, or last?” I asked her.
“Let me think about it.”
“All right.”
“Haskell?”
I turned to see Amia in the doorway of her room.
“Are you spending the night?”
Alazne rolled her eyes.
“Actually, no. I need to get back to the inn, make sure everything’s intact, and where I left it.”
The door slammed so fast and hard that Alazne and I both jumped.
Alazne looked up at me.
“You’re a stupid man, aren’t you Haskell?”
I sighed, looking at the door where just seconds ago, I’d seen a vision of erotic loveliness.
“Yes, Alazne. Yes I am.”
Beyond Panic 