Chaos (5 page)

She was wearing Wayk's tunic and working on the scans she had taken on the trip out when they took the laser cutters and went outside.

Carser stuck his head back in the shuttle and said, "You have got to see this, Zora."

Curious, she left the confines of the shuttle and stopped in shock. "She said she would work on the foundation, not the whole thing."

Stone and vines had twisted together to form a cathedral in the forest. Windows were transparent quartz and as she got closer, the vines turned out to be marble in a variety of colours.

Shisala, you did all this?

My avatar deserves a nice home. You are giving me a chance to re-join the universe at large. For that, I will give you what I can. My wealth is at your disposal, as is my surface and my atmosphere. I know you will not make choices to hurt me.

Your faith humbles me.

I do not take an avatar lightly. Your voice on my behalf is something I will treasure. The agents of chaos never understood that.

Zora and her consorts explored the building as she continued her internal conversation.
Chaos?

The ones who came before. They tried to force me to take a male avatar and when I would not, they killed their own women to keep them from me. That act was so heinous, I destroyed their towns and villages and shifted the surface until they were all dead or gone.

I am sorry that you had to witness that.

It was ten thousand years ago. For your kind, many generations, for my kind a short nap. It is still with me every moment of every day.

Why do you call them chaos?

An image filled her mind of energy that was a riot of violence and hunger. That race would never blend with nature. It could not. There was no empathy in that species, only desperation for more.

Zora felt queasy. That kind of energy was an anathema to her. The Oefric were one with nature, this other race defied and defiled it at every turn.

Thank you for this home. It is wonderful.

Pleasure spread through the planet and warmth ran through the flooring.
You are welcome. Thank you for agreeing to give me a voice.

Zora laughed.
You left me little choice, but thank you for giving me a home.

The planet did not answer. It understood that what she was referring to went far beyond a simple house. She had a place to belong and a new home in the stars. Both were priceless gifts. The men with her wanting her for herself were also beginning to sink in to her brain. Her life was turning around.

If she wasn't careful, she just might be happy.

Chapter Eight

Zora finished cooking in the pot that Wayk scavenged from one of the empty oxygen tanks on the shuttle. "I think it is ready to eat."

Carser and Wayk looked dubious. They had been using the fallen lumber to make serviceable furniture, starting with a bed.

Forest creatures were donating the bedding. Each morning, a pile of fluff was found in the doorway and it went into the collection that would eventually form their pillows.

"How soon until the first of the colony ships arrive?" She scooped the stew out with a wooden ladle with a plate made of the same.

"Over a week. Why?" Wayk was pushing the vegetables around suspiciously.

"It will be the end of naked day." She snorted and they rolled their eyes. "Eat. Everything is completely edible, even if the food tastes strange. I am just delighted that Shisala didn't make a fuss when you took out the bunny things."

If she didn't need to go out of the house, she didn't bother getting dressed and that proved very convenient for her consorts. She had a feeling that Shisala was manipulating her normally shy tendencies to accelerate the intimacy between them, but aside from cooking, Zora found it fairly comfortable to run around without a stitch on.

One day of fat splatters healed quickly, but it was a lesson learned.

She dug in to her stew and raised her eyebrows. It wasn't half-bad. "Well, this isn't horrible."

They had been waiting for her to have the first bite. With enthusiasm and comments of surprise, Carser and Wayk dug in to their meals. They cleaned the pot out with seconds and looked disappointed when it was gone.

"I told you I knew how to cook." She crossed her arms under her breasts and made faces at them both.

"Yes, and Wayk will be able to do some kitchen plumbing as soon as the colony ships get here."

"And what will you be doing when they get here?" She raised one eyebrow at Carser's smug face.

"Running the colony, pet." He stuck out his chest proudly and she laughed. "I was voted to be in charge."

"If they could see you now, they might reconsider." She sprinted from the table and out the door.

She used her lead to grab some of the dwindling snow, but was too late. A panther with its claws in tackled her and rolled her into the meadow. "Cheater!"

A bear behind him roared and swatted him away and then two huge cats were wrestling in the snow while Zora got to her feet. She brushed the snow off and smiled at the emerging grasses. Spring was coming to Pakrik and it was coming fast. Shisala wanted to put a good face on for when the colonists arrived.

The panthers were just one example of the forms that she had seen from her companions. The tricks that they did in bed were something else entirely. Being a shapeshifter meant that they could shift anything to any size. They had even confessed their copying of certain traits of various races. The Wyoran prehensile penis was her favourite, like having a hot warm sex toy working for her satisfaction and she didn't have to do anything.

She was wistful as she watched them shift from form to form, wrestling in the snow. When the colonists arrived, this kind of frivolity would be few and far between. Carser's appointment would make him a serious asset to the colony and that meant he would not be as available as he was right now.

Wayk would be able to stay with her, but he would have his own assignments as well. Life would change and nights in the big bed might be all they had for the first few months.

A noise in the sky and she looked up, a shuttle was approaching at top speed and the sonic boom shook the atmosphere.

"Carser, I thought they wouldn't be here for a week." She felt Shisala take over her body and she could see the golden glow coming from her own eyes.
"Chaos has returned. Run!"

The newcomers tumbled out of the shuttle with heavy weapons and a strange gleam in their eyes. Through her talent and Shisala's eyes, Zora saw the same jagged energy that the planet had shown her earlier.

Despite their objections, Zora convinced her consorts to take their shuttle and hide it in the trees. The low altitude was more than she could manage with the planet popping in and out of control.

As avatar, she was in her home and ready to face whatever came.
You should have run.

I never run from a fight. Hiding will only make this worse.

Fine, but I am calling help for you. They will join your consorts to help you, but there is little I can do against their energy.

I know. You will be with me, but this is mine now. My home, my world and my duty to protect it. Just one request, can you bring spring faster?

I will do what I can.

Zora waited. She pulled her chair to face the double doors and waited.

When the creatures burst into her home, their
wrongness
made her gag. They skidded to a halt at her calm demeanour. "Avatar, you are coming with us."

She stood and walked toward them. "What is your kind called?"

The leader blinked and shifted, his tusks jutting out over his upper lip in a particularly unappealing manner. "Queirk. We are Queirk."

Calmly, she walked in the circle of creatures pieced together from her nightmares. She could feel Carser and Wayk in the trees.

The huge shuttle was squatting next to the cliff face that protected her home. The snow was melting rapidly and Zora fought a smile. Whether this worked out or not, it was a good plan.

Her steps were steady and the tunic she wore fluttered in the warm breeze. The scent coming from the males around her was overpowering, so she welcomed each fresh breath she could gather.

Technology was welded to their flesh in strange and unusual places. The faintest odour of rot wafted with every step. "What do you want here?"

They didn't answer her, merely kept marching along to their shuttle. Outside, a fat, bloated, wheezing male sat recumbent in a chair. "You are the avatar?"

"I am. Who are you?" She stood with her arms loosely at her sides, her feet dug into the loam of the landing site.

"Urugar, King of the Queirk. We have come to reclaim our planet before the Alliance can lay their greedy palms on it. With you under our control, there won't be a problem."

She chuckled. "You have never met a Terran woman before, have you?"

Chapter Nine

The dozen males around her bristled with hostility. Urugar frowned in confusion. "I don't understand. What does your origin have to do with it?"

Zora looked up and saw the water beginning to run down the cliff face. She stifled a smile as Shisala started to generate heat on the rock beneath. A small cloud of mist was forming and with every trickle of water, it grew.

Shisala, can you get the men to wait until the fog is thick enough before they attack?

You are a devious avatar. Yes, I can. The entire area will be shrouded in five minutes. Keep them talking.

Hold the fog into a bank and when I say go, let it go.

"Well, when I was nagged into applying to the Volunteer project, I simply had a job rearranging furniture. It was very trendy and paid well, but it wasn't a true talent." She smiled and looked at the men who had holstered their weapons under her passive actions.

"So, I went and answered their questions, filled out the forms, rearranged the orders in the manner that would make finishing them easiest and handed it in. Before I had gotten halfway down the block, one of the representatives was out of the centre and chasing me down the street. It was amazing. Many had never seen an alien anywhere in person, let alone a Tival sprinting down the road after a woman.

"Representative Kelmin was friendly and he explained what I was and how I could best use my talent by joining the Alliance."

Urugar scowled. "What does this have to do with you being the avatar?"

"I am getting to that. Don't rush the story." She scowled at him.

"Where was I? Right, so I went through all of the medicals and was given a clean bill of health and then I left my home for the stars. I was trained at the Citadel to gauge a planet's health and the usefulness of creatures simply by looking at them.

"When I arrived here on Pakrik, I was able to see that everything that was on the surface was essential with a few minor exceptions. I was also able to determine that the Oefric would not cause a huge disruption in the ecosystem with their hunting and subsistence farming lifestyle."

He snarled and fought his way to his feet. "What does that mean?"

Now, let the fog go now.

"It means that I know you have no place here. The ground will not yield to you, the crops will not grow for you and minerals will shatter at your touch. The Queirk have no place here and it is time that you finally get the ass kicking you deserve."

The roiling fog bank was approaching silently and covering their shuttle. "I am the avatar of Shisala and I tell you to
get off my world!
"

She went silent and stepped to one side as the world turned grey and white. The shouting was tremendous and she used her ability to see their chaotic representations to dodge the hands of her would-be attackers.

She eased herself out of the circle of flailing males and made a run for the energy signatures of her consorts and the animals of Pakrik.

They charged past her and the confusion of the Queirk turned to cries of pain. Snarls and roars marked the spot of the melee and as she watched through her talent, she saw the flickers of chaotic energy go out. One dim flare was all that was left and Zora could feel Shisala start the wind to clear the smog.

Huge cats were next to bears and wolves. Bloody fangs were everywhere and a few animals had smoking wounds, but all were on their feet.

Zora turned and headed back toward the carnage. "Stuff them in the ship and send it into space on automatic. Alert the Alliance warship and get inside. It is going to rain to wash the traces of these…beasts away."

The animals of Shisala came and nuzzled her with their bloody heads and the energy of the planet came through, healed their pain and the wounds left by the blasters. Carser and Wayk were last in line. She stroked their flesh and it knit under her touch.

I told you there were benefits of being my avatar. Well done by the way. I did not think you would be able to get away.

She smiled.
Never underestimate the power of a Terran. Mind you, I am still a restricted species so I could have just clubbed them with that. If they killed me, the wrath of the Alliance and some Nyal territories would have rained down on them.

Really? That's wonderful.

Zora smiled at the delight in the planet's thoughts. Shisala thought it was nice that if anyone injured or killed her that they would be punished by the outlying civilizations. Shaking her head, she continued to pour energy into Carser and Wayk.

Their injuries faded to nothing and she swayed a little. The smell of death was around her, the final invader died just as her two started to heave the bodies into the ship. She didn't want those bodies on her soil.

Wayk slipped inside and programmed the shuttle. By the time he leapt from the doorway, Carser had loaded every body and weapons into the compartment.

Wayk sealed the door and they backed away as the shuttle rose with a wobble.

"Come along, lads. We now have an outdoor shower." Zora led the way to the water splashing down the cliff face and she stripped off her bloodstained tunic to stand under the pounding, icy water.