The Enemy  Part 5
By valerafon
An earth man and an alien woman battle on a distant planet.

This work of fiction should not be read by anyone under the age of 
18. Please do not read further if you are offended by graphic 
violence and sexual content.


Chapter Five      A Dead Man's Eyes


Tiani was beside herself as she made her way to the queen's 
chambers. The last couple of hours had completely unnerved her. The 
queen seemed like her only option as she remembered Glaxxana's 
words, "If you have a problem, see the queen. Remember, you can 
trust the queen."

Glaxxana's words still echoed in Tiani's ears as she gently knocked 
on the queens door.

"Enter," a voice from beyond pronounced in a regal manor, but Tiani 
thought she detected some strain in that voice.

Tiani entered the queen's chamber and immediately saw the old woman 
quietly rocking in her favorite chair. To Tiani, she looked more 
like a maternal grand mother then the most powerful woman in the 
Gamulan Empire. The young warrior wanted to make a favorable 
impression, and she tried to keep her composure, but as soon as she 
saw the old queen quietly rocking, she dropped her warriors mantle, 
shouted out, "My Queen!" and ran to her like a daughter might. Tiani 
quickly dropped to her knees and laid her head in the queens lap and 
started sobbing uncontrollably.

In response the queen started to run her fingers through the young 
warriors hair, and in her best consoling voice said, "Now, it can't 
be all that bad? Why don't you tell Nianna all about it, my 
daughter.

The old queen had taken to calling Tiani, my daughter, just as she 
did with Glaxxana. It did not startle her in that realization for 
she saw many of the same qualities in this young woman as she saw in 
her protege. Yes, she was beginning to think of this one as her 
daughter too. 

Nianna had been hardened by many years of carrying the mantle of 
leadership for her people. There was nothing that this young one 
could say or do that she wasn't completely ready for. She would take 
the time to console this young one, and then send her on her way. 
Then she could get back to the more pressing matters at hand. To the 
concerns and worries about her other daughter. For it was the other 
daughter that was in mortal danger and that everything now hinged.

Tiani stopped sobbing, picked her head up, and pronounced in a 
strange voice, "I have seen through a dead man's eyes!"

For a moment, even the queen had no answer. She stared at the young 
woman in bewilderment, but just for a moment. Then her finely tuned 
mind began to find answers where there appeared to be none. It was 
why she was so supremely suited for the role destiny had bestowed 
upon her.

In a somewhat sterner voice she questioned the young warrior before 
her, "You went to the Vestal Virgins, didn't you?"

Tiani looked down, but she did answer her queen in a very meek 
voice, "Yes."

"And you took the focusing potion, didn't you?"

Again Tiani answered meekly, "Yes."

"And you performed the Entwining?"

This time, Tiani didn't answer yes. Instead, she broke out into 
tears again and started talking very fast.

"I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to know Glaxxana was all 
right. I wanted to see through her eyes, to feel what she was 
feeling, to know that she will comeback to us."

The queen grabbed the young girl's face with her old hands, held her 
firmly so that she could look directly into her eyes, and scolded, 
"You know the Entwining takes months to prepare for!....A Gamulan 
Warrior MUST show control." 

"I know my queen, and I will perform any punishment you decree," the 
young warrior said resolutely. But just as confused and afraid as 
before, she asked again, "But how could I have seen through a dead 
man's eyes?" 

The queen laid Tiani's head back down on her lap and started 
stroking her head once again as she said in a more controlled 
manner, "What's done is done! Now tell me everything, and we will 
find an answer together.

------------------------------------------

Glaxxana had dismounted from the unicorn sometime ago. The terrain 
was just too uneven and rocky to encumber the poor beasts progress 
any further with the added burden of her weight. Soon she would have 
to leave her new friend and ally behind and carry on without him. 
That realization saddened her for she felt a real bond with this 
strange and wondrous creature. 

As Glaxxana and her ally navigated the rocky terrain together with 
the distant rumblings of the volcano filling their ears, her senses 
began to tingle. It was that old feeling, call it a warrior's 
psychic sense. She instinctively knew she was closing the gap 
between her and her quarry. Even as she felt her pulse quicken, the 
blood rush in her veins, and her senses heighten and prickle in 
anticipation of the coming battle, she still could ask herself an 
intriguing question.  Would she again be fighting in a time and a 
place of his choosing? But that concern lasted but a brief second. 
No matter, she said to herself resolutely, it will avail him not. 
And her pride in her abilities was not arrogance, for she was a 
Gamulan warrior.

In response to her last thoughts she yelled out to the rocks around 
her and to the distant volcano, "Man, I bare you no grudge! Someday, 
I will sing your praises to my sisters for you have proven to be 
more than a worthy opponent. But today, I must kill you!"

As if he understood her words, the unicorn started to nay and paw at 
the ground. Glaxxana ignored her friend for just a moment more as 
she looked to the rocks above her trying to find a path among them. 
And when she finally turned to her friend, their was sadness in her 
heart, for the time of parting had arrived. Without saying another 
word, she started to stroke his fine golden mane, and that 
immediately quieted the creature. As she continued to stroke his 
mane, he bent his head slightly and looked into her eyes, and 
Glaxxana returned his gaze.

As she continued to stroke his fine golden mane, she asked in a 
soothing voice, "I wonder what you are thinking, my friend?....Are 
you worried for me?" 

Still petting her friend, her other hand went to that magnificent 
twisting protuberance on his forehead, and she felt its velvety 
surface once more. Its touch always startled her for she wondered 
how such an awesome looking weapon could feel so fine to the touch.  

The animal made an almost imperceptible purring sound in response. 
Only Glaxxana's heightened senses and abilities could detect such a 
low pitched sound. And that sound of pure satisfaction had a calming 
effect on Glaxxana, and even as she continued to stroke the animal 
she again looked deeply into the creatures eyes. 

Strangely,  she thought his eyes looked almost Gamulan. Could he 
truly understand her? No matter, she would answer her previous 
question anyway.
 
"A warriors greatest wish is to die gloriously in battle!" And then 
she laughed and added, "But don't worry old friend, "I'm going to 
bestow that gift on my adversary." She continued to stroke his mane 
as her words became more serious again, "But what I must do now, I 
must do alone!"  

After her statement she shooed her friend away. He responded to her 
actions by bolting directly away from her. The unicorn ran a short 
distance, slowed, and then turned to face her once more. He reared 
up on his great hind legs and pawed at the air as if in defiance to 
her actions, and then he took off again in the opposite direction, 
leaving her far behind.

Glaxxana followed him, with her eyes, for a few moments, wondering 
if she would ever see that glorious creature again. Slowly, her 
smile faded as she refocused herself on the task at hand. Turning 
back to the rocks before her, she spoke to them once more as she 
started to climb. In a sad voice she said, "Be patient, human, I'm 
coming for you!"

------------------------------------

With her head still resting in the queens lap, Tiani began her 
story. 

"Since Glaxxana has been on that moon, I have not been able to get 
her out of my thoughts."

Interrupting the young warrior, the queen told her truthfully, "Nor 
have I."

"I don't know when the idea came to me, but "The Entwining" seemed 
like a solution to all this waiting..." And Tiani paused a moment 
waiting for the queen to respond.

"Go on," the queen responded, "what's done is done."

"Well, as soon as morning came, I went to the great temple of Heim, 
and into its bowls where the virgins reside."

"And the guards did not stop you?" the queen asked more curious than 
annoyed.

"I told them I was on the queens business," Tiani said rather 
apprehensively.

"I see," the queen responded in a non emotional voice. "Go on," she 
commanded.

"Once I came to the Hall of Virgins, I waited near the statue of 
Heim. The one where she is depicted as the virgin's guardian. The 
one where she is carrying the great sword of chastity."

"Yes. I'm familiar with it..go on."

"In a few moments, an attendant appeared and I gave her my offering. 
Afterwards, she led me to the Altar of Cleansing where they disrobed 
me and bathed me in the Waters of Purity, and then helped me into 
the ceremonial robes. I was then led past the Well of Souls to the 
Camber of a Thousand Candles. Once there, I drank the focusing 
potion, and then the attendant left me to the Goddess Heim and my 
entwining dream."

Tiani paused as if she was focusing completely on what happened 
next. 

After a few moments of silence, the queen asked in a calm voice, 
"And then what happened?"

"Nothing!" Tiani responded. "At least at first. I tried to focus on 
Glaxxana and the world she was on, but I got nothing. Then I tried 
focusing on the candles and got nothing again. I even tried chanting 
Glaxxana's name...still nothing. 

I must have been there over an hour and still I got nothing. I was 
about to summon the attendant virgin when I felt a tremendous pull. 
It was like my consciousness was yanked from one plane of existence 
to another one altogether. And then I was back in the Arena...But my 
perspective was totally different, like I was seeing the battle from 
somebody else's eyes. Still, it was so vivid, so real..Like I was 
there reliving it all over again."

"Your entwining took place in the Arena?" the queen asked somewhat 
startled.

"Yes!" Tiani answered. " At least a part of it took place in the 
Arena. But my Entwining was not focusing through Glaxxana, but 
rather through him."

The queen found herself drawn in immediately. "Through who?" she 
asked anxiously.

"Him!.....The man I killed!"

The queen sighed. She was asking too many questions. She must let 
the child tell her story. In a soft soothing voice she asked, "Tell 
me everything from the first moment you saw him." 

Tiani closed her eyes and remembered and slowly she began to tell 
the old queen exactly what she needed to hear.

---------------------------------------

Bannon scanned the area once more. An obvious place for a trap he 
thought. She'll know that too, but sometimes, he realized, the most 
obvious can also be the most dangerous. I'll just have to be 
ingenious in its construction.

As he continued to look around the site of his next trap, he thought 
of the tool. If she took the tool as part of her inventory then this 
trap was useless. Normally Bannon couldn't remember what he did ten 
minutes before, but put him in a life and death situation and his 
mind slowed and it became tremendously focused. It was his most 
important survival trait. Closing his eyes, his mind went back 
aboard the Meridian ship. There they had shown him the equipment his 
adversary had chosen. It was laid out on a table next to his own 
equipment. He only had a few short seconds to look over her gear, 
but back then, he knew instinctively it would be enough.  

Now, his mind went back to that moment, and he scanned to see if she 
had chosen wisely. The tool was not there among her equipment. His 
trap could succeed. Then his mind sought another answer. She 
probably thought the tool was unnecessary. She would trust in her 
strength and her own agility above all. Besides, I'm sure she 
thought the battle would be over in a matter of hours. Another 
mistake he thought triumphantly, she has finally made another 
mistake.

When he reopened his eyes, he was already planning his most daring 
trap. To the right of the lava pit he noticed the way was blocked by 
a rounded rocky expanse. That is the way she'll have to go he told 
himself, and that is where I'll lay my main trap.

Then his gaze moved to the left. The rocks on that side where much 
more vertical and impassable. Slowly he walked a few meters till the 
path ended behind the rocks in a sheer rock overhang which dropped 
off down to a river many thousands of feet below. It was the first 
view that he had seen that reminded him he was climbing a volcano 
and he was at elevation.

As his eyes scanned the sheer rock face of the overhang, he realized 
no one in their right mind would attempt to pass in this direction.  
The proper rock climbing gear would be needed, and neither had that 
type of equipment with them. It was perfect for his needs for Bannon 
was fond of doing the impossible. Then he saw exactly what he was 
looking for. A small rock outcropping protruding out less than half 
a meter. Nothing could hide behind that he thought, and then he 
smiled.

After getting that part of his plan right in his mind, he retraced 
his steps to the lava pit and pulled the tool out of his utility 
pocket. He attached the little line to his utility belt and drew out 
the cord so he could attach the small grappling hook to his blaster. 
When he was prepared, he switched his blaster from beam to particle 
projection and then he aimed high up on the rock face across from 
the lava pit and fired. The hook imbedded firmly into the rock face 
almost directly opposite his position..

As he drew the line taught and prepared to swing across the pit, he 
thought to himself, I bet even Tarzan could have used one of these.

------------------------------------

Back in the queens chamber, Tiani was continuing on with her story.

"The battle was progressing better than expected. Almost three 
quarters of the humans were killed in the first hour. That's when I 
saw him. He was slowly and skillfully making his way toward our 
command and control area, towards Glaxxana."

"Then he was a very skilled soldier?" the queen asked.

"Yes, Tiani admitted grudgingly. "Somehow, he had correctly 
interpreted where our command post would be and then he skillfully 
moved on it. I tried to get in position to take him out, but I never 
could get a clear shot at him. He even avoided giving his position 
away by not coming to the aid of his fellow soldiers in the battle. 
He clearly was on a mission to take out our leader."

Then Tiani paused again collecting her thoughts, and then added more 
of her own interpretation.

"Afterwards, Glaxxana and I agreed that he had been the best of 
them. She took this necklace off of him, and later gave it to me as 
a trophy."

Tiani was holding something up for the queens inspection. It must 
have been in Tiani's hand the whole time, but the queen was noticing 
it now for the first time.

The old queen took it from Tiani and inspected it. It consisted of 
two thin metal plates with some writing on them. They were fastened 
together with a chain that could be worn around the neck.

It took the queen only a few moments of inspection to fathom its 
function even though she had no idea what the writing said.

"This is not a necklace, my daughter," the old queen informed the 
young warrior.

Tiani looked perplexed and she asked, "Then what purpose?"

"It is like our rings, we wear in battle, with their DNA sequencing 
and holographic projection. It is for later identification, if need 
be."

"But it's so primitive."

The queen laughed because she knew the real answer to that question 
too.

"We have many traditions that would seem strange to them. I am sure 
this is one of the earther's more unusual traditions."

Tiani took back the dog tags and looked at them a second, and then 
she said sadly, "Then we should not have removed them."

Again the queen had an answer that soothed.

"He was a good soldier. I am sure he would not have begrudged you 
your spoil in victory, and I am sure he was later identified....Now 
tell me the rest."

"My story or what I saw through his eyes." Tiani asked somewhat 
dazed and confused by the ordeal."

 "Your story first the queen commanded.

Tiani sighed deeply and got back to her story, "As he navigated the 
obstacles and got closer, I could finally make out his face....He 
was very handsome."

The queens eyebrows raised as she heard that remark, but she kept 
quiet.

"Along the way, he killed two of our sisters in battle." Then Tiani 
paused a moment and added, "I could not stop him, I did not have a 
clear shot and I could not give my position away."

After Tiani's remark, without saying a word, the queen bent down and 
kissed Tiani's forehead.

Tiani paused a moment and a thin smile appeared on her face, then 
she continued, "Finally, he worked his way to where he was going to 
have a shot at Glaxxana. She was too busy with command and control 
to be aware of anything around her. Besides, we were supposed to 
protect her, and she had complete confidence in us, in me."

"And you justified that confidence," the queen responded.

Tiani's smile disappeared and she said sadly, "It wasn't exactly 
like that.....He was about to shoot when he hesitated."

"Why did he not fire immediately," the queen asked curiously.

"Glaxxana had removed her head piece to reattach her communicator. 
When he saw her, he hesitated. That gave me the time I needed. I 
finally got a clear shot and killed him."

The queen gave a knowing smile and answered, "Men have many 
weaknesses, my daughter....Call it providence."

But then Tiani added in a more desperate voice, "I can remember 
seeing through his eyes after the moment of my shot. I can remember 
he had no pain as he turned and watched Glaxxana and me approach, 
but there was no anger or fear in me...or I mean in him either. Just 
a feeling of having done the best he could." 

The queen was curiously silent as she considered Tiani's last words.

Then Tiani added earnestly, "I felt his mind....There was no evil 
there.... What does it all mean?"

After Tiani's question, the queen sighed deeply and closed her eyes 
to focus on an answer. Before revealing what she thought about the 
experience, the queen asked, "Is that all my child?"

"No, my queen. Immediately after I killed him again, I felt that 
same yanking sensation, and I was in a different place. And I could 
sense that I was still seeing through his eyes. I was looking at an 
old man who was seated behind a desk, and behind him out the window 
hung a beautiful blue planet suspended in space." Then Tiani asked 
again even more incredulously, "How could I still be seeing through 
a dead man's eyes?"

As soon as the old queen heard Tiani mention the beautiful blue 
planet, the queen noticeably stiffened.

Momentarily ignoring Tiani's last question, the old queen asked 
somewhat excitedly, "Tell me of the old man." 

Tiani closed her eyes to focus better as the queen continued to 
stroke her hair calming the young warrior.

"He is maybe, as old as you are, my queen. And his hair is pure 
white, and he is talking to me...I mean to the dead man. And I know, 
I mean I can feel he is extremely wise."

"My counterpart, no doubt the queen said to no one in particular. 
Then her voice got deadly serious and she spoke very slowly to 
Tiani, "Now Tiani, I want you to focus once more and look beyond the 
window and describe, to me, the planet you see."

Tiani was quiet for a moment as her minds perspective changed and 
she beheld the planet once again, and when she started to speak, the 
queen could detect the awe in Tiani's voice.

"It's so beautiful, my queen! Like a shining blue gem hanging 
suspended in space. And there's so much water...Not like our 
planet...And the fleecy white clouds swirling in the atmosphere, 
they add such depth to the picture...It's like..." And Tiani 
hesitated trying to find the right words to describe her emotions. 
"It's like I've been there before and I'm yearning to go back!"

Then Tiani lifted her head and asked, "Is that the doorway to Shang-
La, our heaven?"

"No, my daughter. It is a real world. It is earth, their homeworld."

In a confused state Tiani responded, "But I am..I mean, he is 
dead....How?"

The queen slowly rose from her chair and started to pace. Tiani 
didn't rise but she lifted her gaze to follow the old queen as she 
moved about the room.

As the queen paced, she began to explain, "There was a bit of news 
from the last arena encounter we did not publicize. It hardly seemed 
to matter."

The queen stopped pacing and looked directly at Tiani as she 
prepared to drop her bombshell.

"Both sensors on one of the humans failed. It was a freak 
occurrence. When the Meridians contacted us with the news, they 
informed us that an earth soldier was still alive. He was, as far as 
the Meridians could tell, not expected to live and that he still 
technically belonged to us."

The queen paused a moment, in disbelief at the turn of events, 
before she continued to speak.

"He mattered not! His life or death would mean nothing to us. The 
outcome of the battle had already been determined. So we let the 
Meridians return him and when he died he could be buried with the 
others of his kind....And if he lived, he could spread the word of 
our invincibility to the others and it would sew fear in their 
ranks....A cunning plan, no?"

Tiani had not heard the queens last few words and the question she 
posed. She was already too deeply engrossed in thoughts of her own 
and which she was now trying to vocalize.

As she stared at the man's dog tags, she said breathlessly, "I 
am...I mean he is that man!....He's not dead!.....HE IS ALIVE!"

"Yes, the queen answered...And from your waking dream, We can see 
that he is very important...He may be a fulcrum on which much of our 
future history could hinge."

The queen could immediately see the irony of ironies in her last 
words, and with a bit of laughter in her voice she added, "And we 
had him and let him slip through our fingers."

But the queen did not dwell on that irony for long. Instead, she 
barked out a question.

"Do you understand the significance of the blue planet?"

Tiani looked at the queen and hesitated for just a moment before she 
answered, "No, my queen."

"Good!" the queen shot back.

As Tiani rose, the queen was already barking out some orders.

"I am granting you a commission and a task...Prepare Glaxxana's star 
cruiser, The Goddess Triumphant, for immediate departure....And I'm 
putting you in command."

"Thank you, your Majesty...But where am I going?"

The queen ignored her question and answered back, "A soldier's duty 
is to obey, not to ask questions....Be prepared to leave at a 
moment's notice...You'll get your orders at that time."

Tiani bowed, turned and walked to the door. But before she left, she 
turned her head and asked the queen, in a strangely sad voice, one 
final question.

"Will I have to kill him again?"

The queen contemplated her words for a second before she answered, 
"If the white-haired man is as wise as you seem to think he is, 
quite probably."

Tiani nodded sadly and walked out the door. 

But before she got too far, the old queen yelled after her, "And see 
to it that you do a better job of it this time."

After the girl was gone, the queen stared after her for few moments, 
then she said to herself, that should keep Tiani's mind occupied and 
keep her out of trouble for a while. 

For the first time in her life, the queen felt events spinning out 
of control. Was she still the master of the situation or blindly 
following a series of events that she had absolutely no control 
over? In any case, she felt the whirlwind around her and Glaxxana 
and her human adversary, whoever he may be, were clearly at the 
center.

Then she turned and slowly made her way to the alcove where a copy 
of the sacred text was kept right beside the small statue of her 
goddess the all powerful Heim. She hesitated a moment before opening 
the book. For the first time in her life she was afraid of what she 
would find in its sacred contents. 

But she did not make queen being a coward or being indecisive. She 
took a deep breath and opened the book near the back to the chapters 
dealing with apocalyptic prophesy. There, in these chapters the blue 
planet was mentioned.

She read through a few passages looking for that one enigmatic 
passage that she needed to read again. She quickly found the passage 
that she was looking for and read it out loud.

"AND IT SHALL BE REVEALED TO THE DAUGHTERS OF  THE LIGHT BY THE SONS 
OF THE BLUE PLANET...TO THE LIVING DAUGHTER OF THE GODDESS, BY A 
DEAD SON."

Sacred text scholars had debated those words for a millennium trying 
to give the words clarity, now only Nianna new their true meaning.

She looked up from the sacred text, and in a very old and exhausted 
voice spoke to her walls, "IT HAS BEGUN!"

Nianna felt exhaustion grab hold of her, but she had one more place 
to look. She bent her head down and leafed to the front of the great 
book. To the part of the great book dealing before the founding of 
Gamula. To the very enigmatic passages dealing with the Daughters of 
the Light and the before time. To where Nianna would find reference 
to the blue planet once more.

-----------------------------

Glaxxana stumbled over a small rise and beheld the devil's 
playground. As her eyes darted from one part of the small gorge to 
the other looking for signs of her adversary, her instincts were 
telling her that this would be the place of their next encounter. 
Quite probably their final encounter.

As her keen and experienced eyes continued to survey the lay of the 
land below her, Glaxxana with a pride and conviction only a Gamulan 
warrior could feel muttered to the rocks around her, "I have come 
for you!...Soon, you will be mine!" 
And it was not arrogance.

The volcano choose this moment to rumble a fiery warning. The vents 
of toxic gas and smoke came to life below her. Making the setting 
appear to be a scene pulled right out of a story  from her 
childhood. 

This place did resemble Horna. An unholy place where the cowardly in 
battle lived out eternal agony. She remembered leafing through a 
book, in her childhood, looking at the scenes of the damned souls in 
Horna. One scene from the book stuck in her mind through all the 
years and now as she looked below her, she saw that place once more. 
This small gorge on a an asteroid who's name she didn't even know a 
few months before was an eerie duplicate of that hellish place 
embedded in a child's memory.

But she fought back the emotion she was feeling. And she knew, with 
pride, that neither her or her adversary would be a coward on this 
day. And with that realization, the battlefield changed character 
below her. Now, it reminded her more of the arena she had fought in 
months before. The final battle would be fought once again in a very 
familiar place. And she remembered with pride that the arena was a 
very special place. A place where the Gamulans were invincible.

"I have you now!" she proudly stated to the rocks as she cautiously 
started to move forward and down into hell's kitchen. Her keen 
senses and unequaled abilities prepared for anything and anyone. 
"This is my trap, not yours!" she added with proud conviction and it 
wasn't arrogance for she was something the galaxy had never seen 
before. For she was a Gamulan warrior.

At almost the same instant, Bannon's eyes popped open. An 
imperceptible amount of dust and dirt trailed down his camouflaged 
body and made its way down the sheer rock face of the side of the 
escarpment, all the way down to river far below. 

He heard nothing, could see nothing, and felt nothing, but yet he 
knew instinctively she was nearby. With great effort and years of 
martial arts training behind him, he began to slow his breathing. He 
focused his mind on the wall of rock around him. Now, he needed to 
be that rock, to resemble it, to be inert, to be dead. In effect, to 
become that rock around him. Slowly, his body responded and he 
entered a catatonic state.

At the same time, his mind began to slow down and to become 
tremendously focused, and strangely calm. It was his greatest 
attribute in times of crises and probably why he had survived so 
many life and death situations in the past. Just before he let go 
and became the rock around him, he felt regret. I'm sorry I must 
kill you. You are a truly magnificent creature. And then he ceased 
being human and became the rock.

Glaxxana cautiously moved into the center of the ravine just a few 
meters from the magma pit. The volcano again choose this moment to 
rumble out another warning. Her eyes still darting from rock-to-
rock. Her Gamulan senses and finely tuned body ready to react with 
inhuman speed, but there was no sign of her quarry.

Her eyes scanned the scene beyond the pit. Among the rocks, there 
were two places of concealment from which her adversary could 
strike. Strangely, she hoped he would not be there. It was unworthy 
of him she thought. For if he was there, he would soon be dead.

Slowly, she walked up to the magma pit and looked down. Her eyes 
beheld the swirling magma below and even her Gamulan body wanted to 
retreat from the heat and fumes, but first she had to make certain 
he was not there lurking in some place of concealment below ready to 
strike. 

Even as she looked, she did not think her magnificent body could 
survive the heat and fumes for long. If that was so, then how could 
the human be there? That is precisely why she continued to look all 
around the pit. This would be a trap far more worthy of him.

When she was certain he was not there, she turned her concentration 
over to the rocks on the right. She scanned the rocky expanse and 
knew immediately that this was the way she had to go, but he would 
know that too she thought.

After she had surveyed the huge rounded rock she had to traverse, 
she turned her attention to the left. The rocks there were totally 
impassable and a path led a few meters beyond the rocks to what 
appeared to be open air.

She had to take that path, but before she moved, her mind presented 
her with a question. How had he made it across the lava pit? The 
obvious answer was that he hadn't. She quickly turned and looked in 
the direction she had just come. Had he backtracked somehow? That 
would also be a trap worthy of him.

No, she thought with complete conviction. No one could have gotten 
behind me. I would have known. And her answer was not arrogance.

Closing her eyes, she focused her mind. And when she opened them a 
moment later, she may have come up with the answer to how he had 
traversed the pit. But yet, her reconnaissance of the area was 
incomplete. So she set those thoughts aside for the moment. She had 
to take that path and face the dangers it posed.

Slowly, she started to move along the path. Quietly, she said a 
silent prayer to her goddess. But this time, there was no warning 
from her goddess, like in the previous battle. She proceeded with 
caution just the same.

When the path ended, she leaned against the rock with her blaster at 
the ready. She focused herself and then with inhuman speed she 
popped her head and body out, into the open air, ready for any 
eventuality. Her eyes darting along the sheer rock face for any sign 
of a trap. There was nothing, no disturbed rock, no sign that the 
human had been there. She felt her body easy down a notch, but still 
her eyes kept darting over the sheer rock face, and then her eyes 
fixed on the rock outcropping a few meters directly ahead of her. 
She brought her keen eye sight and other considerable senses to bare 
on that protrusion of rock. Instantly, her warriors instinct cried 
out a warning.

Still, she could detect nothing unusual about it or the rock beyond. 
Then why did she feel so ill at ease? Decisive action was needed, 
and she positioned her blaster and prepared to pepper the rock and 
the area beyond, but she caught herself and hesitated at the last 
moment. The human had to be nearby and could she afford give away 
her position when in moments she would be exposed and traversing a 
large rock?

Reluctantly, she lowered her blaster, but before she left, she found 
a small rock and with great accuracy threw it at the outcropping. It 
careened off the protrusion and then as gravity took over made its 
way down the side of escarpment to the river below.

With her senses at full alert she surveyed the area for any tell 
tale sign of life, but there was none. She shook her head in 
approval, gave the rock wall one more complete inspection, and then 
turned her attention back to the lava pit.

For one brief moment, the rock sparked with life, became aware, and 
then went back to being a rock.

A few moments later, Glaxxana stood before the pit, and she prepared 
to move decisively. What had to be done in the next few minutes had 
to be done quickly and with no mistakes on her part for the price of 
failure could cost Glaxxana her life.

With her plan crystal clear in her mind, she set her blaster to fire 
projectiles and then she deftly aimed at the two places of 
concealment directly across from the lava pit. The air was pierced 
with several loud explosions as the projectiles found the rock above 
the possible places of concealment, and then began to ricochet 
downward inside the little alcoves of rock.

A few moments later, to her complete satisfaction, all was quiet. 
The enemy had not concealed himself there because if he had been so 
foolish, he would now be dead, and Glaxxana had envisioned a far 
more grander end to her adversary. One in which she could be singing 
his praises for years to come.

But she could not dwell on those thoughts for long because she had 
just given away her position. Quickly, she turned to her right, 
changed her blaster back to beam use and started to fire at the 
rounded outcropping of rock to the right of the pit.

Back on the escarpment wall, the rock stirred and came back to life, 
and for the second time, Bannon's eyes popped open.

It only took a minute or so, but when Glaxxana was done firing, a 
number of gouges had been prepared in the rock. They had been made 
with complete accuracy, with a precision only a Gamulan warrior 
possessed. But she did not have time to admire her handiwork, she 
had to traverse the hand holds and footholds she had gouged out of 
the rock quickly for she would be vulnerable while she was on the 
rock.

At that moment, if someone would have been staring at the exact part 
of the rock that Bannon had concealed himself in. It would have 
looked as if the rock had come to life. For the loose rock dissolved 
around him as he came back to the realm of the living, and the rock 
became a mass, and the mass became a form, and the form became a 
human being. 

He was already counting. He knew as soon as he heard the shots that 
she would be on the rock in an instant, in another instant she would 
be across, then it would be too late, and it would be him that would 
be dieing, not her.

As he counted, he pulled the cord taught above him, and it too 
seemed to spring out of nowhere from the rock. As his count neared 
ten, he prepared to push out with his legs and swing around the rock 
overhang, his blaster at the ready, catching his adversary at her 
most vulnerable moment. Then mercifully he thought it would be over.

As the count hit ten, he thought sadly to himself. I'm sorry, and 
then he gave a tremendous push with his legs and he was swinging out 
and around the rock right towards the enemy.

As Glaxxana traversed the hand holds and footholds in the rock with 
a nimbleness and a dexterity a human could only dream about, she 
caught a glimpse of a disturbance in the rock across from the pit. 
It was as if something had disturbed some loose soil along a thin 
narrow band. Only her keen eyesight could have detected it but it 
was enough to put her supremely gifted mind and body on full alert.

It was the cord which was strung across the rock before her and 
cleverly concealed. As it was pulled taught, it had disturbed the 
soil as Bannon prepared for his final desperate assault. Only 
Glaxxona's keen eyes sight could have detected such a slight 
movement and from such a great distance, but it was part of the 
advantage every Gamulan warrior carried into battle and part of the 
reason why they were always victorious.

Instantly, her mind went into overdrive as it yelled out its 
warning. She paused momentarily on the rock and glanced from-side-
to-side looking for him.

I should have expected this she thought. I have never been more 
vulnerable. Of course, this is precisely the moment I should have 
expected him to attack.

She barely got the thought clear in her mind when her eyes detected 
a form and the form was flying at her.

Instinctively, she reached for her blaster strung across her back, 
but she could not give up any of her handholds. So she did the next 
best thing, she deftly moved as he fired, but he was not firing at 
her. What was he firing at?

Even as Glaxxana started to scramble frantically across the rock, 
she knew the answer and it terrified her. He was firing at the loose 
rocks above her. She might have avoided his shots even as she 
scrambled across the rock, but she knew in her heart, she did not 
have the time to avoid an avalanche of rocks from above.

In an instant, she did the only thing that her mind told her might 
prolong her life. With a quiet desperation, she sang out her war 
cry, and leapt out at her adversary as he swung by her position.

It was the only thing that Bannon was not prepared for. As he  
positioned his blaster to fire at her, he saw her somersaulting 
through the air. It caught him completely off guard because the 
distance between them was so impossibly great. No human could hope 
to transverse that distance. As his thoughts clarified, he 
immediately saw his error. His adversary was not human. As he felt 
her grab on to his lower body, he thought almost fatalistically, she 
is not human. I have made a mistake.

Glaxxana's heart was pounding in her chest as she leapt and caught 
the humans lower torso with her hands. The added weight, pulled the 
cord taught around his wrist which held Bannon's left hand securely 
and painfully in a death grip. Gamely, he fought through the pain 
and tried to aim the blaster, with his other hand, down at his foe.

In response, she let go of one of his legs, freeing up a hand, and 
fended off the gun as Bannon aimed and shot at her. She managed to 
reroute several of his shots deflecting them harmlessly out of the 
way.

As they struggled with the gun, Bannon yelled, "Damn it! Hold still 
so I can shoot you!"

Glaxxana looking up and still fending off his gun, yelled something 
of her own back up at him, but he had no idea what she said, and he 
could tell it wasn't cordial. In response, Glaxxana tightened her 
death grip, with her other arm, on his leg.

Her added weight caused another problem that Bannon was unprepared 
for. The cord which ran along the top of the rock and wound down 
past the escarpment wall was pulled off its secure hold along the 
top of the rocks and fell till it logged behind a huge boulder. 

As this happened, both free fell several meters till the cord once 
more caught securely behind the boulder. Bannon and Glaxxana thought 
they were both about to come to a fiery end in the lava pit as they 
fell, and then their downward flight was abruptly halted and 
rerouted upward hurtling them back up by the whiplash motion of the 
cord.

Both were momentarily stunned, but Glaxxana did not relax her grip 
on Bannon's leg and Bannon gamely fought through the pain in his 
wrist. As he looked up and saw the big red welts from the cord on 
his wrist he also thought that his shoulder was probably dislocated.

As they both regained their senses, the cord continued to swing 
across the pit till it cleared the molten magma below. Finally, its 
progress was  impeded by the boulder high up on the other side of 
the ridge and as it hit the highest point of its arch, it then 
slowly started its decent swinging back down across the pit.

Both held on tenaciously as the cord made several arcs across the 
lava pit. Bannon was busy finding the irony in his situation. I can 
let go and both of us will die he thought. But then they'd probably 
send two others to this hell hole to play out this stupid drama once 
more. No, that wasn't an option. Suicide just wasn't in his makeup.

Glaxxana's mind was busy as well, but in more practical pursuits. 
She was gauging if it was feasible to climb up her adversaries body. 
Once she was on top, she knew the outcome would be certain and 
deadly, and then she could easily swing across the pit to the other 
side.

Slowly, the cord kept swinging back and forth, losing momentum to 
gravity as it moved across the pit. In just a few minutes, both 
protagonists knew that they would be hanging from a motionless chord 
right smack dab in the middle of the lava pit.

It was Glaxxana who made the first move. Her only safe option was to 
grab at his gun. She was just too far down Bannon's body to hope to 
climb up and not get shot. She grabbed at his gun and tried to yank 
it away from the man. Without his gun in its superior position, she 
knew he would be defenseless. But the strap of Bannon's gun was 
rapped securely across his shoulder. Her only hope was, with one 
great push, to break it free of its confining strap.

Even with her superior strength the strap did not give. Her position 
was just too awkward to apply enough force in an opposing direction, 
and by this time Bannon was countering her move. Both bodies danced 
in mid air, from the struggle, like two puppets on a string high 
above the lava pit.

Finally, Bannon yelled at the top of his lungs, "ENOUGH!"

Both he and Glaxxana ceased their struggles and looked at one 
another, both cautious and wary of the other. He from his perch 
above and she from her equally precarious position below. He could 
see the blood lust on her face. Her chest was heaving mightily and 
if looks could kill, he would already be dead. Even in this absurd 
position he found himself awestruck. God! she was fabulous. She was 
the ultimate fighting machine and at the moment she was extremely 
pissed off at him.

From below, Glaxxana battled to control her anger. This man was 
still extremely dangerous, and she now found herself in an awkward 
position too say the very least. Even as she looked up at him trying 
to comprehend what he was saying, she was still going through her 
options which at the moment did not look good, but at least her 
adversary was no better off.

In a calm voice, Bannon asked her, "Well, should I just let go."

He looked up to his wrist and moved the chord ever so slightly. She 
responded by trying to grab at his gun again which he quickly 
countered. Again, both dangled in a death dance high above the lava 
pit till both wisely ceased their actions.

"No, I guess that's not an option?" he said earnestly.

She gritted her teeth and spit out a couple of curse words in her 
own peculiar language, "Sheem-Dack!"  

He looked at her and responded, "Well, I don't think that's an 
invitation to dinner."

Both pondered the other for a few silent moments, and then it was 
Bannon who offered a solution.

"Well, we can hang around here forever, getting to know one another, 
or we can call a truce."

Glaxxana gave him a curious look. 

Could she understand any of this he wondered?

Finally, her face softened somewhat and she spoke the word, "Tooce!"

Bannon wasn't sure she understood, He wasn't sure of anything, but 
he plowed on.

"Truce, that's right truce...We can swing the rope back and 
forth...." As he was talking, he started to move the cord a bit by 
swinging them.

Glaxxana responded nervously by grasping his leg tighter and by 
grabbing at the gun again.

"Easy!....Easy!.." he said, but he did respond to her actions by 
easing up on the movement of the rope.

"Truce!...Remember!....Truce!" he added carefully.

Glaxxana relaxed a bit herself and again said the word, "Tooce!"

Did she understand? Bannon then tried a different approach.

"Truce!....That's it!...Truce!.....We start the rope moving and when 
it clears the pit on that side, you jump off!"

As he spoke, Bannon tried to gesture to her as best he could so she 
could grasp his plan, instead of swinging the rope.

Glaxxana seemed very alert and was following very carefully what he 
was saying. She even looked to the proper side of the pit when he 
gestured there. But he just couldn't be sure if she was grasping 
anything he was saying. What he was sure of, though, was that she 
was incredibly intelligent to go along with all the other attributes 
she possessed.

"Then the ropes swings back to the other side, and I jump off....But 
you no shoot, TRUCE!....FIVE MINUTES!....TRUCE!" 

He wondered why he was almost speaking in baby talk...Did that 
really help when you weren't sure the other person understood?

Glaxxana followed everything very carefully and even looked to the 
other side of the pit. Then she said, "TOOCE!....FIVE MINOATES!"

He repeated her words excitedly, "Yes, Truce, five minutes!" And 
then he started to cautiously swing the rope. This time, Glaxxana 
was helping him.

With their combined efforts, it took them only a half minute or so 
to get the rope swinging back-and-forth across the pit. Soon the 
rope was clearing the pit.

This time it was Glaxxana who yelled, "TOOCE!" And then she jumped.

Bannon fought back the urge to fire as he watched her land and do an 
extremely graceful somersault and come right up in firing position.

As the rope started back across the pit he yelled, "TRUCE!"

The next few moments lasted an eternity as the rope swung back 
across the pit. He could see her aim her blaster, but she did not 
fire.

Finally, the rope made the other side of the pit and Bannon jumped. 
He felt extreme pain in is right shoulder as soon as he landed, and 
as he tried to gather himself, he  squeezed off a couple of shots 
and started to run towards the rocks.

Glaxxana responded to the energy blasts by somersaulting once again, 
and as she came back up into position, she reached for and found his 
knife, sheathed over her shoulder for easy use. Instinctively, in 
one fluid motion, she threw the knife across the pit at her 
adversary, but not at where he was,  but rather at where she gauged 
he'd be in a few moments.

Even as she threw the knife, her keen mind was analyzing his firing 
pattern. She immediately realized that the blasts were directed high 
above her head and not at her.

A moment later, she heard him scream, "Aghhh!" The knife had found 
its mark.

In the twilight, as she watched him stagger towards the rocks, she 
carefully aimed her blaster and then put it down. 

"No!....Truce!" she said out loud in her own language. He was only 
trying to give himself covering fire she thought sadly.

As she watched the injured man make the safety of the rocks, she 
added even more sadly, "I broke the Truce!"

Bannon didn't even stop running long enough to pull the knife out of 
his right shoulder. He didn't think it a mortal wound, but did it 
matter? He envisioned her scrambling over the rocks after him ready 
to finish the job. For the first time in his life, he had a 
fatalistic thought. I'm going to die on this asteroid, hundreds of 
light years from home, and she'll probably kill me with my own 
knife. Was my dream about to come true?

Back at the hellhole, Glaxxana hesitated. She had him now, but did 
she want to win this way? I will keep the truce she said to herself, 
and you may have this night as well. But tomorrow, I will end it!

Bannon spent the next few minutes using all his considerable skill 
in hiding his trail and trying to put as much distance as he could 
between him and the enemy. He may have been wounded, but like a wild 
animal, that made him even more dangerous. And he had something the 
animals didn't have, a keen mind which had gotten him out of life 
and death situations before. But had he ever been this bad off 
before? And up against such a formidable foe too?

Finally, he had to stop. He had chosen his resting place well. 
Nearby, was a small lava flow making its way slowly down the 
mountain. He got as close as possible to the flow and then pulled 
the knife from his shoulder. It hurt like hell, but it wasn't 
nothing compared to what he knew would follow. 

He had to stop the bleeding or the final battle would just be a 
formality. He placed the blade on hot rock that had been cooling for 
some time, and he held it there for a minute and then turned the 
blade over and repeated the action. In the evening twilight, he 
could see it glow when he held it up and inspected it. He didn't 
hesitate for he wasn't sure about his courage at the moment, and he 
quickly moved it towards his shoulder and the wound.

"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

Glaxxana had made her way out of the canyon and was camping in a 
more defensible position. She looked up from her campfire when she 
heard a loud cry echo through the canyon walls and she immediately 
knew the source of that inhuman wail and what was happening.

At that moment a great sadness filled her entire being. She listened 
to the wail and thought, you are brave. I will regret killing you. 
Then she said a silent prayer to her Goddess the all powerful Heim. 
Please Goddess, give him restful sleep tonight and courage tomorrow 
so when we meet, he will die with dignity and honor, and I can give 
him life by singing his praises to my sisters.

After her prayer, Glaxxana heard a noise and turned with her Blaster 
at the ready. Pawing at the ground a few meters from her was the 
unicorn. How had he gotten this close without me hearing him she 
wondered?

As soon as she lowered her blaster, he came running over and she 
greeted him by running her hands through his mane and then stroking 
him gently. Glaxxana's was happy to see her friend, but her mood 
still remained sad. 

She spoke out loud as if he could understand her, "Soon, I will be 
leaving, old friend, and I must leave you behind." And in an even 
sadder voice she said very softly, "And I will be losing another."

When Bannon opened his eyes, he found himself laying on the ground. 
He had mercifully lost consciousness. Once awake, the pain in his 
shoulder quickly returned and he winced noticeably. With effort, he 
picked up the knife lying next to him, wiped it off,  and put it 
back in its sheath on his leg. An ironic thought occurred to him 
just then. Well, at least I have my knife back.

After his little joke, he tried to stand, but found it difficult. 
Then another more important thought occurred to him. Why was he 
still alive? She had to have heard the scream, and she should have 
found him by now, and finished it.

Whatever the reason, he was still alive, but for how long? 
He knew he couldn't continue tonight. He propped himself up on a 
rock and listened to the night. All he could hear was the gentle 
rumbling of the volcano. Then he did something completely out of 
character, he thought of his magnificent adversary for a moment and 
said a silent prayer. 

To whatever God you pray too, I offer this prayer. Let me die 
honorably, and let the killing stop with me!"

After his benediction, Bannon felt strangely at peace and sleep 
overtook him almost immediately.

In his sleep, Bannon felt his body being transported to somewhere 
else. His body felt like it was moving in both time and space and 
when he finally stopped moving, there was no recognizable form about 
him, just a white nothingness, but yet he could stand and see.

Then a cloud appeared, and the cloud became a form, and the form 
became an image of a woman, and the woman smiled at him, and she was 
the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

"Who are you?" he asked.

Her voice echoed in the nothingness, "Some of the people of the 
positive realm call me Heim."

"Are you a Goddess?" he asked.

She smiled at him before she answered gently, "No, I am a being of 
the negative realm."

"I don't understand," Bannon said sincerely.

"But you must!" she said more forcefully. "Your life force is 
entwined with the other and through you will come order."

Bannon didn't understand at all and he shook his head in confusion. 

In a calmer almost melodic voice, the being answered him, "Listen, 
for you must understand...All beings of the positive realm are 
forged in the fires of stars. In essence, you are star stuff ....The 
universe come to rational thought...Beings of the negative realm are 
forged in the fantastic gravity's of black holes..Apart from the 
positive realm, but still a part of the universe. In essence, we are 
the counterbalance of creation."

Still confused Bannon asked, "To what purpose?"

"Out of chaos comes order. It is the one great truth of the 
universe. We are the guardians of order. We nurture it and help it 
along."

"And I will bring order? I don't understand."

"You understand enough!" And as she started to dissolve away she 
warned, "Remember, when the time is right, you must follow the 
unicorn."

Bannon asked incredulously, "Follow the unicorn? How will I know 
when the time is right?"

As she continued to dissolve away,  she said with great assurance in 
her voice, "You will know!....Follow the unicorn!......Follow the 
unicorn!..Follow the unicorn...."

And as she disappeared her voice trailed off repeating that strange 
phrase.

As soon as she disappeared, Bannon woke up. It was daylight and he 
did feel much better. As he worked his shoulder, he wondered why he 
was still alive. What had happened to his adversary? Then he 
remembered the dream. It was so real. As if in answer to his own 
thoughts he said to himself, Boy! Did I get some bad water.

Not dwelling on it further, he downed a nutrient packet and started 
off to who knows where. He had not yet formulated a plan in his 
mind. He did not think his adversary would allow him the time. 

"Follow the unicorn!" he said out loud. And as he trudged off, he 
added, "Ya! Right!"


To be continued....


In the next chapter we have the climactic battle! Who will win? And 
to what purpose and to where is the queen sending Tiani?