AURIGA

 

For the Auriga constellation

Look up into the northern sky

You will find the charioteer

Between Perseus and Gemini

The Tornado Sojourns (4) – Chapter 05 – Sisters of St Agatha

 

Merionwen Strong, Parse Sacrod, Terrel Vorton, Shiyne, and Asti Alegionaris, were sitting in a café across the plaza from where the Sisters of St Agnes were performing the healing, when Visitor Parham (Bagg) walked in and sat down with them.

He had just returned from the enclave where he had left Trebreh, Xandra, Ale and Wisma in safety, he didn’t want them to get mixed up in one of their adventures.

 

“We need an old crock” Merionwen said

“What?” Bagg retorted

“We need an old crock” Merri repeated and Bagg looked at her blankly while everyone else looked grave, with the exception of Shiyne, who knew exactly what Merri was doing, and struggled to suppress a laugh.

“Well we can’t queue up to see the healing Sisters if you haven’t got an ailment, and the more obvious the better” she explained

“Damn” exclaimed Lyris

“There’s one” said Asti excitedly

“Hold on Princess” Parse said “We can’t just grab one at random and kidnap them”

“Trust me” she said and leapt up “We’re not going to use her exactly”

“Oh God we’ll all get done by the prefects for kidnapping” Bagg said and put his head in his hands.

About ten minutes later Asti returned with an old woman and Zerrad Skeet walked in behind them.

“Asti you can’t...” Bagg began

“Don’t worry Bagg its Malena” Asti said and laughed “Merri sent Lyris to get her”

“So, who is manning the Tornado?” he asked

“Pulsat and Vanzyl” she replied

 

Malena Endia was from Obgaron Prime in the Alandis system, which was now deep in the heart of the Mehreen Empire, though she, like many of her species fled into Legion territory after their world was invaded, but many of her kind died after the invasion and she wasn’t sure exactly how many were left because they weren’t easily recognized as they were a race of shape shifters.

She could change shape at will, but she could only transform into a being she had touched, only the briefest moment of contact was required and then it was in her memory banks and could be recalled whenever required.

She could also manipulate that memory and add or subtract from it for example in her everyday life she chose to take the form of a 27 year old human whom she met on a remote mining colony when she first entered Legion space, but she chose to be the human girl and wear clothes on that form but it wasn’t necessary and that afternoon for the mission she chose to simulate the old ladies clothes, partly in case she needed to shift, it would have looked very odd indeed if she needed to shapeshift into a man and he was then wearing girls clothes.

The second reason was that she wanted it to appear that she was adorned with jewelry but when the thief tried to steal it she would know instantly and be able to react.

 

The Sisters of St Agatha were not an ancient order but her life predated Christianity.

Agatha was born on Earth, on the Island of Sicily, in 231 BC and belonged to a rich, important family but she dedicated her life to God as a young person, and resisted both marriage and sex, making a vow of virginity.

Young, beautiful and rich she rejected the amorous advances of the low-born Roman prefect, Quintianus, who thought he could force her to turn away from her vow and force her to marry him, but his persistent proposals were consistently spurned by Agatha who lived a life dedicated to God, so Quintianus, knowing she was a Christian during the persecution of her faith by Emperor Decius, had her arrested and brought before him, where he tried to profit by Agatha's sanctity.

He expected her to give in to his demands when she was faced with torture and possible death, but she simply reaffirmed her belief in God by praying:

“Jesus Christ, Lord of all, you see my heart, you know my desires. Possess all that I am. I am your sheep: make me worthy to overcome the devil”

She prayed for courage with tears falling from her eyes but to force her to change her mind, Quintianus sent Agatha to Aphrodisia, the keeper of a brothel, and had her imprisoned there, but Agatha never lost her confidence in God, even though she suffered a month of rape, assault, and efforts to get her to abandon her vow to God and go against her virtue.

Quintianus sent for her again, argued, and threatened, but once again Agatha refused his advances, so he had her imprisoned and had her tortured

She was stretched on a rack, torn with iron hooks, burned with torches, and whipped and she even had her breasts cut off, then after further dramatic confrontations with Quintianus, Agatha was then sentenced to be burnt at the stake, but an earthquake saved her from that fate; instead, she was sent to prison where St. Peter the Apostle appeared to her and healed her wounds, but later she died in prison aged just twenty and following her martyrdom she was venerated as a Saint.

The Sisters adopted Agatha as their patron Saint as they were already healers, though more akin to nurses, but then like the Visitors they took to the stars and thrived.

 

Terrell Vorton described them as “charlatans”, but they didn’t do what they did for financial gain, they were essentially good, and they accepted no payment for their healing, other than faith.

 

Which was why they were so popular with the pilgrims and why there was a long queue to get in to see them, and in the queue were Malena, disguised as an old frail woman and she was flanked by Bagg and Terrell Vorton.

The former was a tall and disproportionately thin figure, wearing his Visitor regalia, of a full length pale blue robe tied at the waist with a royal blue cord and a full length dark blue leather jerkin over the top, and he carried a simple rough-hewn staff which was undecorated but for a carved cruciform relief a few inches from the top, and the latter was a small stout Sciberran Healer, standing 5 foot 5, though still striking in appearance with chalk white skin, short hair of midnight blue and violet eyes.

 

If they were right about the healers, and it was by no means certain that they were, they had no idea how many of the Sisters were involved in the thefts, which was why Malena had two escorts, Bagg had proved himself to be very handy in a scrap, and Terrell had about his person an assortment of pharmaceutical weapons.

One of the concerns however was communication, as the healing chamber was a huge faraday cage preventing any radio waves entering or leaving.

But the crew of the Tornado didn’t need communicators as they had Shiyne and she was a telepath.

All of the Vann were telepaths, by varying degrees, and many of them left their home world at some point to use their gifts to earn a wage.

Those at the zenith of their talents work as corporate negotiators or in the justice systems of the Legion. 

Shiyne was a Vann with mid-range capabilities and she could read most species to some extent, her skills were limited with the more sophisticated or complex brains, lesser minds were easier for her to explore, but she was more than a match for a faraday cage, so she positioned herself on the plaza with a good view of the edifice.

There was only one way in and one way out, so the rest of the crew took up station, far enough away to be able to see someone fleeing but close enough to charge the entrance if necessary.    

 

When Malena and escorts reached the front, they waited patiently until the curtain opened and a Sister stepped through.

And after a traditional Christian greeting they were ushered inside St Agatha’s chamber and amazingly the three of them felt immediately at peace, after a few paces Terrell and Bagg were told to stay and one of the Sisters took Malena by the hands and led her further and began chanting, but she could still hear Shiyne’s reassuring voice in her head and then Mal was surrounded by another five sisters who were feverish praying, and then all of a sudden she felt a hand grasping at what the thief believed was a bracelet.

Shiyne was instantly aware and signaled the rest of the crew to be on their guard.

The moment that Malena felt the thief’s touch she grabbed the arm and dragged the errant Sister from the pack towards Terrell who had already reacted and had an injector in his hand and took two steps forward and dispatched her with a jab to the neck and she crumpled to the floor.

Now if what occurred had surprised the Sister then what happened next surprised everyone else because the Sister dressed in traditional white habit with the face of a human, shimmered and faded to be replaced by a very different Mercurial form of liquid silver glass.

“My God she’s Obgaron” Malena said and sunk to her knees, as did the other sisters, and then rest of the Tornado crew appeared.

“I’ll get the Prefects” Parse said

“No, please, not yet” Malena pleaded “I need to talk to her first”

 

WHITE AS LUNAR LIGHT

 

White as Lunar light

Moonshine birds fly lonely skies

Where echoes can’t be heard

The Tornado Sojourns (4) – Chapter 04 – Crime Wave

 

While Bagg, Wisma, Parse and Merri went to the Prefects office to report the loss of her bracelet the remainder of the group were sitting at a table in a restaurant called the Golgothan Orchid and had finished eating by the time they returned.

“You’ve been a long time” Trebreh said to his brother

“It was very busy” he replied

“Were they any help?” Xandra asked

“None whatsoever” Merri retorted curtly

“Other than pointing out that it was more likely to have been stolen than lost because there have been numerous thefts and robberies” Parse explained “But without knowing where it was taken there isn’t much, they can do about it”

 

Pulsat Rad sat very quietly while the others spoke as he had an idea as to where the bracelet may have been stolen, this was unusual as it was normally his friend Vanzyl who had the ideas and Pulsat who relayed them to the others, because he could understand every tone and toot that Vanzyl uttered, as if it were in his own tongue, whereas no one else could.

But he was Prinsloovian and it was common place for his species, and there were very few races he had met on his travels that he couldn’t understand, although he couldn’t speak back to most of them in their language, but he nonetheless understood every word that they spoke, and when he was in crowded places all he could hear was other people’s small talk, which he found quite annoying after a while, but while he had been on Marikya he had noticed a theme and actually tuned in to the chatter when he heard similar tales, and they were all in regard to thefts, but now Wisma had been robbed his eavesdropping had taken on a new significance.

 

Pulsat turned to his friend and spoke quietly to him of what he suspected and Vanzyl responded noisily in clicks, whirls and whistles, and everyone turned towards the engineers in response and fell silent, and Pulsat looked at the expectant faces, and then clicks and whirls began to emanate from Vanzyl which were clearly directed at Pulsat.

“Ok I say it” he said, and more clicks and whirls followed

“I say, I say” Pulsat retorted and to the assemble group he said

“I know where”

“Vanzyl knows where the robbery happened?” Merri asked and more clicks.

“He not know” Pulsat replied and her shoulders slumped then he added

“I know where”

Merri straightened up in response and Pulsat explained, in his stuttering style, and in detail, what he had heard,

 

The Prefects had confirmed that a large number of people had had either their pockets picked, or had valuables stolen while visiting the Holy Town.

But with the snippets of conversation that Pulsat had overheard, he had internally collated certain information, such as the location the theft was discovered, places visited prior to the discovery and the place where they were 100 percent sure they still had the stolen item, and with that information he had managed to isolate the crime to a certain area of the town, and the fact that they had all visited the Sisters of Saint Agatha, who were faith healers.

“That can’t be” Bagg said “it can be nothing more than an anomaly”

“I agree” his brother Trebreh added

“That’s where the evidence points” Merri pointed out

“Well, I’ve always thought them to be charlatans” Terrel said “but not thieves”

While they were deliberating the likelihood of their involvement an elderly man and woman entered the restaurant and the latter was in tears.

“Is everything alright?” Xandra asked in a comforting tone as she took hold of the woman’s hand who then stopped crying and then a moment later she smiled.

 

The woman was completely relaxed by Xandra’s empathetic persona and was soon relating the cause of her former distress.

She had decided to visit the Sisters of St Agatha as she had been suffering of late with a touch of arthritis in her wrists.

She had paid her money and taken her turn in the queue and when she entered St Agatha’s chamber she felt immediately at peace.

Then one of the Sisters took her by the hands and began chanting and then she was surrounded by another five who were feverishly praying, and then all of a sudden, she was pain free and she was led out where she was met by her husband and within minutes of leaving the Sisters she noticed her bag was missing.

 

“So, if she wasn’t lying….”  Parse began after the couple had left

“She definitely wasn’t lying” Shiyne said

“Did you scan her then?” Lyris asked

“I did and every word she said was true” she replied “Apart from the arthritis, her aliment is much more severe than that and she hasn’t told her husband”

Bagg was cross with himself for dismissing the Sisters, Pulsat’s analysis had indicated St Agatha’s chamber was significant, but he had hoped it was just an anomaly, but he was wrong.

When he was a boy back on Mars his grandfather used to read old classic stories to him and one of his favourite’s was Conan Doyle, and as he sat in the restaurant, he recalled there was an old Sherlock Holmes axiom which went

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth”

But he had allowed himself to be blinded by his inherent faith in human nature. 

“So, it must be one or more of the Sisters” Bagg surmised, and everyone agreed.

“Well, it looks like you were right Pulsat” Merri said, and everyone congratulated him.

“Well done, Pulsat” Bagg said and Vanzyl uttered a soft whistle like a plaintive flute and patted his friend on the back proudly.

 

“So, what do we do now?” Bagg asked

“We should tell the Prefects all we know” Xandra suggested

“They won’t act on it” Parse Sacrod pointed out “they’re stretched too thin”

“So, it’s down to us then” Asti mused “but what do we do?”

“Planning is Merri’s thing” Lyris said

“Ok then let’s put our heads together and plan another adventurous little diversion” she said

 

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – STARMAN (1984)

 

“Starman” is a Sci-Fi Romance, written by Bruce A. Evans, and Raynold Gideon and Directed by John Carpenter.

 

After learning about humanity from the space probe Voyager 2 an Alien race send a ship to investigate but he crash lands on Earth and the Starman (Jeff Bridges) assumes the identity of the dead husband of Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen).

Having never really come to terms with his death Jenny freaks out when she wakes up and sees him but is confused by his calm and emotionless behaviour and reluctantly goes with him and he makes her drive him across the country because he has a deadline to meet while the government tries to stop them in the form of Mark Shermin (Charles Martin Smith).

 

The Tornado Sojourns (4) – Chapter 03 – Among the Pilgrims

 

The Eastertide festival on Marikya lasted for five days with the greatest emphasise on the Holy Days but there were also a variety of entertainments to distract the pilgrims, and merchants aplenty hoping to profit from the pilgrims by tempting them to part with some of their money in exchange for some memento of their trip.

The other group that turned a healthy profit at Festival times were the Inn Keepers, Lodge Owners and Hoteliers who charged premium rates, but despite the profiteering on accommodation there was never anywhere to stay, unless you were a Visitor of high esteem such as Bagg’s brother Trebreh and then you were invited to stay at the Visitor’s Presbytery Enclave, where the clergy could stay along with “suitable” guests, and there was always space.

When not housing Pilgrims for the Festival it was a retreat for weary, ailing or retired Clergy.

So Trebreh, his wife Xandra and her brother Ale, Bagg and Wisma along with Duff Tarver and his wife Chani would be staying in the enclave, while the rest of the Tornado crew would return to the Tornado each night, as they were all taking it in turns to man the ship anyway, which was only fair.

 

Merionwen took the first watch, though she was more intent on watching her Gouveian lover Parse Sacrod, who she called Beefy, as he was huge in stature, standing 6 foot 8 high, broad and powerfully built, with short curly hair the colour of burnished steel, ivory skin and mercury coloured eyes, he was a former Legionnaire of the Royal Guard of Gouveia and she loved every inch of him.

For her part she was in her early thirties and best described as statuesque, tall, straight backed, proud and was blessed with an abundance of red hair that trailed behind her like a mane and penetrating green eyes to stare you down with, and overall she cut a striking figure and along with her appearance went her forthright, volatile and feisty personality.

She was owner and Captain of the Tornado, which technically belonged to the Garangon mining company, but as they went out of business when they inadvertently destroyed the moon they were mining, Merionwen’s father Ben kept the Tornado in lieu of payment and it passed to her on his death.

 

Merri and Parse had become inseparable, and always spent the long watches on the flight deck together, but that was normally about as close as they got to be alone, so to have the ship all to themselves was something of a novelty, so they made sure that they made the best use of their “alone time”.

But alas all good thing must come to an end, and in their case, it was when Lyris Skeet’s voice came over the comms to say that the Spider Hawk was preparing to dock.

 

There were two docking rings on the Tornado to facilitate transfers to and from the freighter while in space, one in the belly below the loading bay and the other was amidships above the cargo bays which was also the mooring point for shuttles or ancillary craft.

Merri had the Tornado holding in a stationary orbit so Lyris used his thrusters to steady the Spider Hawk as he maneuvered into position and locked on to the upper docking ring.

“There goes our “Alone time”” Merri said and gave Parse one last lingering kiss.

 

Apart from Merri, the only other survivors from her father’s crew were her co-pilot and navigator, Malena Endia and Shiyne, the latter being that rare commodity in any crew, someone who could and would perform any task required of them without question, but her real strength was in the role of negotiator and as an eternal optimist.

 

The next day it was the turn of Malena Endia and Zerrad Skeet to crew the Tornado, so they could have some private time which they had been looking forward to.

Similarly, the diminutive Princess Asti with her short platinum hair, ivory skin and silver eyes, would have preferred to keep her six-foot-tall, broad and muscular, black haired, dark eyed boyfriend, Lyris Skeet, all to herself, but it wasn’t their turn.

 

The following day would be Shiyne and Terrell Vorton, but they just wanted to be wherever the other was, such was the depth of their love, though they were an odd couple.

They were both the same height but that was the only thing they had in common, he was older than her by 6 years and was stoutly built, while she was slim, his skin was of chalk white and hers was cerise, his eyes were violet, Shiyne’s were purple and Terrell’s hair was midnight blue and she was bald, the other difference was that he was very quiet and she would often chatter incessantly.

 

Day four would be Pulsat Rad and Vanzyl, but they would spend their time doing routine maintenance and happily play with their engines and day 5 would be when Asti got to do some far from routine manoeuvres while she put Lyris through his paces.

 

So, Malena watched as the Spider Hawk headed towards the surface and then she kissed Zerrad passionately.

Physically he and his brother were very similar and only blonde hair and grey eyes differed from his older dark-haired brother, and his lover Malena was a tall slim brunette, with olive skin and hazel eyes, at least that was how she appeared, her true form was more mercurial, but Zerrad loved her in any form.

 

By day five everything was going well, on board the Tornado as Asti had finally got Lyris alone, and on the surface, everyone was enjoying the Festival and its associated entertainments but were nonetheless conscious that their holiday was almost over but were determined to enjoy it to the last minute.

But just as they were going to find somewhere to eat Wisma made a discovery that made her dissolve into tears.

It was not normal behaviour for her as she was made of harder stuff than that but reduced to tears she was, and it took Bagg a full ten minutes to calm her down and find out what had upset her so much.

When she had calmed down to such an extent that she could speak she told Bagg that her bracelet was gone and then she cried again.

 

The bracelet was made of Androsin Gold with an intricate design inlaid with platinum and was a gift from Bagg to mark their first year together as a couple, and losing it was devastating for her.     

“When do you remember having it last?” Bagg asked and she furrowed her brow as she thought about it and finally said

“No more than an hour ago”

So, they retraced their steps in the hope of finding it, but to no avail.

“I think we should report it to the Prefects” Parse said “In case it’s been handed in”

So Bagg, Wisma, Parse and Merri went to the Prefects office and the others went into the restaurant and secured a table.

 

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – ALIEN (1979)

 

“Alien” is a Sci-Fi Drama, Screenplay Written by Dan O'Bannon, from a story by Ronald Shusett and Dan O'Bannon and Directed by Ridley Scott

 

The commercial spaceship Nostromo is on the way home and the crew, Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), Brett (Harry Dean Stanton), Kane (John Hurt), Ash (Ian Holm) and Parker (Yaphet Kotto), are in stasis when they pick up a distress call from a distant moon.

So, the ships computer, Mother (Helen Horton), wakes them early as they are under an obligation to investigate the source of the signal so a ship descends to the surface, where one of them is attacked by a strange creature which emerged from what appeared to be an egg.

 

Meanwhile the ship's computer deciphered the message to be a warning and not a call for help, but by the time the crew realizes that they are not alone on the spaceship they can only try to deal with the consequences.