Don't Call Me Kitten! (22 page)

An eerie calm
settled over the crowd. A wash of boundless love and light and
power connecting them. They were doing it. This had to work. He
joined his mind with theirs. One mind, a mind without limit, space
or time.

In the centre
of the circle Ma shed her clothes and kissed Meta, wonder warming
her core. “I’ve been wanting you for so long.”

Meta swept a
stray hair from her brow. “Shush, later...” He kissed her brow,
then the place on the breast bone above her heart, her solar plexus
and her womb and then prostrated himself, reverently kissing her
feet.

Ma lifted his
head in her hands staring with awe at the ritual homage he was
paying her but she wasn’t having any of it. This was her chosen
mate. A man she’d craved since time immemorial. “No Meta. I will
have you as my equal, not my servant.” She found a patch of softer
ground and lay down on the gentle earth, scented eucalyptus leaves
tangling with her hair making her look like some primal beauty born
of the very soil. “Come take me Meta. In our union let us become as
one.”

High overhead
a large burning object broke through the atmosphere

Sakla looked
up from reading the morning stock market reports and pressed the
red button to release the locks on his office door. “Enter. It
better be good news.”

Smith paused
on the threshold. It was good news but he was fearful anyway. A
crawling sensation ran down his neck as he entered the room. “It is
Sir. The asteroid hit its target just as you ordered.”

Sakla leaned
back in his green leather chair. A slow smile forcing his resolute
mouth into muscular territory it was entirely unfamiliar with. “Did
it now? Well that is good.”

Smith wasn’t
sure what was so good about wiping out an obscure rural Australian
town. “There’s something strange though Sir.”

Sakla frowned.
“And what would that be Smith?”

Smith took a
deep breath and steeled himself. “We can’t find the remains of the
town on any of our satellite photos this morning. There’s just a
grey splodge. We’ve had agents go out there, to the rim of the
crater where it landed but you can’t see past the edge. There’s
just this thick mist. And there’s something else Sir.”

Sakla felt an
edge of discomfort creep over him and take hold. “What?”

“Well we were
about to evict some indigenous folks down in South America. The
geologists found a large vein of indium beneath some out of the way
jungle there. We’d just moved the bulldozers in ready to clear it
today but...um...it’s gone Sir.”

“What the
hell’s gone Smith? You’re not making much sense.”

Smith paled,
sweat beaded on his brow as he anticipated his probable doom. “The
town Sir. And all the jungle around it. Even stranger is what shows
up on the satellite photos Sir. Another indistinct grey
splodge.”

“What about
the people we had on the ground there? We must have had guards
stationed there.”

“They were
found wandering around in a daze, just outside the affected area.
They’ve been taken back for debriefing but so far we haven’t been
able to extract anything useful out of them. Just something about a
great surge of love swamping them, the jungle erupted into a
crescendo of bird calls and then the thick mist came. We’ve tried
sending people into the mist but they just become disorientated and
walk out again a few minutes later.”

Sakla drummed
his fingers on the table. It could just be coincidence but
something told him it wasn’t. Those damned Malakim had done
something, he just didn’t know what. “Run more scans. Ground
penetrating radio, infrared, whatever the scientists can throw at
it. I want to know what’s in that fog.”

“Very good
Sir.” Smith saluted. Relieved it looked like he’d live another day.
He slowly backed out of the room. You never turned your back on
Sakla.

Removing her
helmet Phoenix shook her flame red hair free. She switched off the
engine of her 1200cc factory black Ducati Diavel. As a
graduate-entry base grade journalist she didn’t earn a lot. She
shared a rented Federation house in the city with a few of her
colleagues. She might live in heritage listed dump but what cash
she did have she prefered spending on this beauty. The payments
were costing her a mint but she didn’t care. Every time she stroked
its carbon fibre body, admired its Marchesini forged wheels or took
it for a burn she felt alive. The life of a junior journalist was a
lot of kowtowing to editors and seniors, dodging flak from the
public and staying alert for that one story that might give her a
break. Out here on the road she was free of all that, unchained,
unbound, totally unstifled... She could breathe.

She’d come out
here looking for that news break. The authorities were saying it
was just a fluke event that an uncataloged meteorite had decided to
plonk itself down on the town that should have been in front of
her. But her gut was telling her something different. There had
been something special about that new mayor and her controversial
entourage of males. Tyra had been rattling cages and kicking dust
which truth be known hadn’t ever been kicked before. No there was
something here that wasn’t coincidence and she meant to get to the
bottom of it. At the very least she needed to get past the road
block some dick head had put up on the road to the town.

Ironically
history had it that this area had been hit by another, smaller
asteroid in the distant past. Somewhere in the bush had been the
remains of that 100,000 year old crater. No one could tell her much
about it. Until a couple of years back some old crackpot had owned
the site and lived out there seeing off all comers. That was until
he’d gotten carved up by some animal no one had ever been able to
identify. More recently a private security agency had sprung up in
the nearby town of Boswell and set up the old crater site as a
survival training camp. Maybe they’d been hoping to broaden their
revenue base. She couldn’t see much call for security out here
accept for patrolling a few fishing shacks that got abandoned each
winter.

Then there was
the reputation the town had of being home to some long established
house of ill repute. Her research had uncovered records of a
business called ‘Left Hand Adventures’, whatever that was. It was
rumoured that a chauffeur driven Bentley had delivered clients to
its door until oddly about the time the security agency had
started. A security agency that just happened to be named after the
crackpot, Jack Goodwin, who’d died out at the crater.

Now all that
and the fishing lake the tourists had come to was gone. Nothing but
a dusty, rocky, very large hole in the ground.

Musing as she
was she nearly didn’t hear the slow grind of the rubbish truck
grinding along the road behind her. It was making no sign of
slowing down. The damned thing was headed straight for the
roadblock, her and her bike. Frantically she started waving to get
its drivers attention.

Almost
grudgingly the truck slowed to a stop and a not insubstantial woman
with well muscled arms the sizes of small tree trunks dismounted to
accost her. “Look lady this is a main road. Would you kindly get
your bike and yourself off of it before you get run down? What the
hell do you think you’re doing?”

Taken aback
Phoenix glared at the woman. “Only trying to save your neck. Can’t
you see the damned road block?”

The woman
looked around and then looked back at her. You got rocks in your
head or something? There’s no roadblock there.”

Phoenix walked
over to the roadblock and tapped the top of it meaningfully.
“This.”

“And I’m
telling you there’s nothing there. Why would there be a roadblock
anyway? The bridge over the creek down or something?”

“No just a
friggin meteorite that’s wiped out the whole town and surrounding
area. Don’t you listen to the news?”

“No time for
it. I’ve been up since four this morning doing these bins. And
anyway if what you say is true wouldn’t there be like a hole or
something?”

“Well duh,
yeah. In front of you.” She pointed meaningfully at the drop
off.

“There’s just
a pleasant tree lined road in front of me and over the rise will be
the lake. After that Boswell before the road heads back up into the
highlands. I really think I should take you to Doc in Boswell. He
can check out that head of yours.”

It was on the
tip of Phoenix’s tongue to argue further but then she had another
idea. “Okay you’re on. You give me a lift into Boswell to the Doc
and then I’ll believe you.” There was no way she’d consider trying
to nurse her beloved bike down that crater’s slope. She’d leave it
hidden in the scrub and chain it to a tree.

The driver
shook her head in amazement, hardly concealing that she thought
Phoenix was quite mad. “Okay, hop on board.”

“Just give me
a moment to get my bike off the road.”

“Yeah, damned
good idea that. Wouldn’t want some half asleep truck driver ramming
into it.”

Once on board,
the driver started the truck back up. Phoenix braced for the drop
off down into the crater, causing the driver no end of mirth.
“What’s your name anyway?”

“Angela de
Silva but you can call me Ang. You can stop panicking you know.
This section of road’s relatively flat.”

“So you say.
It’s not what I’m seeing.” It was even worse than that. As she
looked out the passenger window now they appeared to be in midair
but by no means falling. “Okay so this is a flying garbage
truck?”

“So you’re a
fan of the Red Dwarf TV series.”

“Not exactly.”
They seemed to be driving ... um flying ... through clouds now. She
was glad she’d inherited her journalist mother and photojournalist
father’s nerve. She’d lost them a few years back when they’d been
off covering some conflict in the Yemen while she was at university
finishing her degree. They’d had guts. She needed some of that now.
She wiped the sweat from her brow and forced herself to take a deep
breath. Might be a good time to change the subject and distract her
mind from the terrifying illusion out the window. “By the way, My
name’s Phoenix, Phoenix O’Halloran. You been doing this rubbish run
long.”

“A couple of
years. I used to drive buses but the pay was crap, the clients
variable and the schedules unrelenting. This job isn’t exactly
glamorous but it pays more and is much more relaxed. I’ve never
been happier. Out here I can think.”

“About what,
what interests you?” Phoenix couldn’t resist going into interviewer
mode, it was in her blood.

“Oh, just this
and that. Why life in the cities has to be so cut throat and
competitive. Why people can’t see the beauty in places like out
here. Why they have to chase the dollar and status. They fritter
their lives away chasing after goals. Don’t you think everything is
so goal driven now? You can’t even have a job like this in the city
now without having to deal with performance measures, bonuses and
project plans. Then there’s all the rules and regs now. Licences,
audits, legislation and insurances where there never were any
before.”

“Yeah it’s a
bit of a bureaucratic mess isn’t it. That’s why I rather liked the
way the new Mayor who lived out here was taking it on. Although it
seems to be a worldwide problem. It’s like we’re being throttled to
get the very last drop of blood out of us.”

“Still with
the past tense I see. Mayor Goodwin’s very much alive I assure you.
Can you really not see the trees out the window that I’m
seeing?”

“Actually...”
Fuck!
Oops she almost apologised to herself for her mental
swearing. There was no getting over the fact though. They were out
of the clouds and seemingly back on a road. She pinched herself.
Yep I’m really awake
.

As condor and
eagle Zex and Helena flew over where the town should have been but
there was nothing.
It’s gone Zex. What the hell could have
happened?
Helena mentally broadcast her panic to Zex.

Zex took a
moment to read the akashic record. The record seemed to bifurcate
into two totally disparate scenarios. Well that was unheard of.
I’m not sure Lena. I’m getting mixed information. It seems a
well aimed meteorite wiped out the town but I’m seeing an alternate
scenario as well. One where nothing happened. No wait, there was a
sudden vibrational upshift right at the start of the second
scenario. What’s your fairy vision telling you?”

Trying to calm
herself and her worry for her sister she used the relaxation
techniques the Feya had taught her. The same vision that had shut
down with her panic, when they’d first seen the scene of desolation
on the horizon, now reactivated. A sudden surge of hope had her
picking up speed in her flight.
There seems to be a blanket of
cloud I wasn’t seeing before. Let’s go and investigate
.

They sought
out a downdraft and began the spiral downwards. Helena held a
tenuous grasp on her hope as they descended through the clouds.
Suddenly they were through and a welcoming panorama opened up
before here. A lake, a forest and a town, very much in tact.
Nothing seemed to have changed from since she left except now it
seemed...something...perhaps brighter was the word.
I’m not sure
Zex but if I had to guess the whole town is now at the same
vibrational frequency as the faeries. Everything I’m seeing is
saturated with color and life. It’s utterly, breathtakingly
fabulous.
She let tears of relief fall from her eagle eyes.

Morphing as
they landed amongst a copse of trees they realised they were rather
a bit too naked to go waltzing into the middle of the town. Even if
Helena had seen some rather strange sights in the town since she’d
come to know it and it’s people she still didn’t want to turn up au
naturelle. Zex read her discomfort “How about we teleport to
Simon’s place? He’s pretty broad minded and he might have some
clothes we can borrow.”