This story was written using Australian spelling, so for any Americans reading this, the words are spelt correctly.
Disclaimer and other legal stuff: I do not own the characters of Xena, Gabrielle, Autolycus, Argo, Kingdom of Chin or Hera, I do not reserve any rights to them other than my right to use these characters in stories of my own invention. I do not own the Xena universe or claim any rights to it other than my right to set stories in it. I also do not own any rights to the song Khe Sanh or the band Cold Chisel, they are registered trademarks. I do own all other characters and locations used in this story and reserve all rights to them.
It was a cold starry night. Gabrielle pulled the blanket around her for extra warmth. Looking at the stars, she wondered what else was out there. On a clear night like this she could see the pantheon of stars that looked down upon her world. Gabrielle stretched, it was getting late but she wasn't ready to call it a night, not just yet. She just sat there wondering what the stars were and what they meant.
"Xena?" Xena looked up from sharpening her sword.
"Yes Gabrielle?"
"Do you ever wonder what the stars are, why they're there?" Xena returned her attention to her sword, relieved and annoyed that it was something trivial.
"Not really, as long as they provide some light at night so we can move around, I'm not too concerned."
"But haven't you ever wondered what they're there for? What they mean?"
"No."
"Maybe its the gods looking down on us, to make sure we don't do the wrong things" Xena looked up at the stars
"There's too many stars for them to be gods, and besides I don't really want Ares to be watching me at all times." she returned her sword to its scabbard after giving it a final inspection and lay down to go to sleep. "Its getting late Gabrielle, go to sleep." With that Xena closed her eyes and settled down for the comfort of sleep to wash over her.
Gabrielle just returned to watching the stars and trying to discern their true nature. As she watched, they twinkled back at her as if winking that they held the secrets to all life.
The stars did not twinkle for him however. High above the atmosphere that caused the twinkling effect on light from the stars, two small spacecraft passed high over the distant Kingdom of Chin in a low orbit, various high powered sensors sweeping the land far below.
"There's nothing here mate. Abundant life forms, no signs of technology or artificial power generation. It's yet another primitive planet." Lt. Michael Parks whined over his intercom.
"Well what the fuck is so important about this shit hole then?" Lt. Chris Hamilton responded back through the intercom in Parks's helmet. Parks looked out the cockpit of his starfighter at Chris's fighter, barely ten meters away from his. Only the computer aided imagery in his helmet display enabled him to see the pitch black craft. The camouflage scheme was a huge tactical advantage in combat, but made flying in formation dangerous if the computers in their fighters lost their link with each other and stopped receiving vital information on the other's location.
"Well something's peaked Star Force's interest here, otherwise they wouldn't have sent an entire task force. And I don't think it's the terrain."
"Yeah, just cause the place looks like Earth doesn't mean you pull the big guns off the front line."
Parks was about to reply when his attention was drawn to the sensor readings of the planet. " Hang on a sec. I'm reading a sudden energy discharge at bearing three three two, range seven zero zero zero clicks, on the surface." Parks was suddenly hurled against his restraints as something powerful impacted towards the rear of his fighter. Alarms started blaring as Parks's training took over. He scanned his instruments and displays quickly to give himself an idea of what was happening. Whatever had impacted on his fighter had caused massive structural damage and destroyed enough of his engines that the computer had to automatically shut them down to avoid an implosion. Without any source of propulsion, the planets gravity had started pulling him down towards it. This coupled with the inertia from whatever had caused this sent his fighter into dangerous spin.
"Mick, what the fuck are you doing?" Chris yelled.
"I don't fucking know. I've lost control. I can't control her." Parks screamed back, fighting the
g-forces that resulted from the failure of the inertial controls. Gripping the flight controls, a throttle by his left leg and a control stick by his right, he attempted to right his craft but the control failed to respond. "I've lost flight control and propulsion, my sensors are down and my reactors about to go into friggin' meltdown."
"Eject. You have to eject. You ain't gonna survive an entry burn in your condition."
"Right, eject." Parks reached down and pulled the ejection release handle whilst he drew his legs back so they would be cut off by the console when he was blasted from the cockpit.
"Say good-bye, asshole."
"Good-bye asshole." Parks slammed his body against the back of his seat and yelled the final step at the computer "EJECT EJECT EJECT!" On hearing its last command, the computer blew the canopy off the cockpit and fired the rockets in the base of the ejection seat, launching Parks away from his fighter so fast, he was sure he'd left his stomach behind. Once clear, his seat deployed the protective blast shields around Parks and activated its emergency beacon. The fighter had been situated upside down, the top facing the planet, when Parks ejected and launched him towards the planet. Small attitude control rockets fired and maneuvered the ejection pod into the right orientation for atmospheric entry.
Inside Parks was having the worst ride of his life. He'd done his ejection training at flight school, but he'd never had to do it for real before. It was worst than the simulations, and the simulations were designed to be worse than 90% of all ejection's so the pilots would know what to expect. The inertial control managed to soften most of the blows, but not enough. Parks only had a narrow transparent slit in the shielding right in front of him to see out off, but all he saw at the moment were the flames that surrounded the pod as it raced through the planets atmosphere.
Gabrielle was taking a last gaze at the stars before she lay down to sleep when it caught her eye. A new star appeared and disappeared in a less than a second, followed by a fireball that raced across the sky. The new star had appeared near the horizon and the fireball was now racing up across the sky, over her head. Gabrielle nudged Xena awake and pointed to the fireball.
"What do you suppose that is?"
"Just a shooting star Gabrielle. Go to bed."
"It doesn't look like a normal shooting star and its coming this way"
"Unless its going to hit us, forget it."
Gabrielle watched as the fireball raced over her head, getting closer to the ground. Gabrielle thought she could actually feel the heat from it on her face. But then the fire died and it seemed to disappear. No that's not right she thought, there was something still moving, a dark shape that shrunk as it got further away.
"Its going that way, I think we should go investigate."
"We'll do it tomorrow Gabrielle, I want to go to sleep now." Xena rolled over, facing away from her. Gabrielle sighed and also lay down to go to sleep, her mind still racing about the fireball.
From his tower, King Typhus saw the fireball fly through the sky and then extinguish. Frowning he could just make out a dark shape hover above the trees and then gently lower down into them. Calling the captain of his guards, he showed him where the object had landed and sent him and a group of other guards out to find it. Typhus watched them leave his castle and run into the forest in the dark. Unlike Xena, Typhus was puzzled by this ball of fire from the sky.
Hidden in a small patch of bushes, Autolycus, the self-proclaimed King of Thieves, heard the passage of the fireball pass over head. Looking up he saw nothing and so returned to his meal and planning his next job.
Finally the flames had subsided, but from his orientation, Parks could only see the night sky he just left. The stars were twinkling, a sight he rarely saw anymore because of his life aboard starships. He was slowly descending now, he saw tree tops appear and then the rest of the trees as his escape pod came to rest in a small clearing. After breathing a sigh of relief, Parks began to assess his situation.
"Computer, environmental conditions?"
"Habitable, atmospheric gases and other conditions within acceptable limits."
"Life form scan?"
"No intelligent life detected within a 5 kilometre radius of this position."
"Okay, Computer open the blast shields." The shields retracted back into the seat and the restraints holding Parks in the seat released him. Parks stood up and stretched before removing his helmet and cumbersome flight suit. Opening up the equipment compartment in the back of the pod, he pulled out his emergency field pack and the small Pilots Field Combat Weapon, a small rifle that was designed to give pilots in Parks's case an extra means to defend themselves in addition to the field pistol and combat knife he carried. Whilst he was inspecting the contents of his pack to make sure nothing was damaged, the pod computer started beeping to attract his attention.
The sun was high in the sky when Xena and Gabrielle wandered by the crash site. It was well into the woods and neither knew exactly where, so they decided not to pursue it. Xena was listening to Gabrielle retell one of her stories when she heard something. Barking. Dogs barking. Far off, in the woods. And it was getting closer. Gabrielle heard it now too.
"What do you suppose it is?" asked Gabrielle, bringing her staff up to the ready as Xena drew her sword. There was another sound now, fast falling footsteps and bushes rustling. Someone was running towards them. Glancing up, Xena began to formulate a plan. Bending her legs, she made a giant leap up into the trees overhead to wait for who ever it was approaching.
Parks was running for his life. He'd had to abandon his pod when the party of men had drawn close. After powering down the pod, pulling his field webbing over his drab green duty uniform and grabbing his pack and rifle, he had turned tail and fled. They evidently had an animal very similar to a dog on this world, as they had picked up his scent and were running after him, barking like a dog. It wasn't unheard of for two species that had evolved independently of each other on different worlds to appear similar, though it was rare. Right now Parks didn't have time to contemplate the probability of it. His training told him to slow down and move stealthily, using his antidetection gear. But his training was designed to prevent capture from a technologically advanced enemy using sensors, not primitives with animals that could smell you. So he ran, crashing, through the bushes and making one hell of a noise. The trees looked to be thinning up ahead, maybe it was a clearing where he could -.
Something fell on him, hard. The force of the impact sent him crashing to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Dazed, he recovered his senses in time to see the business end of an old fashioned sword pointing right between his eyes, held by a dark haired human woman clad in leather armour. She spoke in a language Parks didn't understand, but his WristComp apparently did.
"Who are you?" the WristComp chirped after the woman had spoken. She looked at it with a curious glance.
"Lieutenant Michael Parks. United Terran Nations Star Force." Parks answered with what he hoped would be interpreted as a friendly tone. The WristComp translated what he said into the woman's language. Parks could see another figure move into his peripheral vision, and heard her speak.
"What is that?" came the translation.
"Its a device that can translate your language into mine." Parks offered a simple explanation which they should understand, if nothing was lost in the translation. He kept his eyes on the swordwoman and her weapon.
"Who's chasing you and why?" the swordwoman spoke again. The WristComp, after getting enough samples of her voice changed from its computerized voice to hers.
"I don't know. All I can say is that I can't be caught by them."
"Why not?" the sword moved closer to him, almost touching his skin.
"Cause they have something of mine which only I can work and can be used as a terrible weapon here. Do you mind if I stand up? This is a little uncomfortable." The woman considered it for a moment and then withdrew her sword, but didn't put it away. Parks got to his feet and quickly brushed himself off. He could see now the other woman was also human, shorter than the first, with blonde hair and wearing a green cloth top and peach coloured skirt. She also carried a long wooden staff.
Xena turned to talk to Gabrielle, keeping an eye on the stranger.
"Gabrielle, take Argo and him and ride back to where we camped last night, I'll join you later."
"Okay." Gabrielle took the stranger by the arm and led him over to Xena's horse.
Parks decided the best thing was to go along with them. On a horse like animal those 'dogs' would lose his trail and he could move much faster. Hopping up behind the second woman, he locked his arms around her waist and held on. The woman spurned the horse onwards and it took off at a gallop. Parks had only been on a horse twice in his life, and never at this speed. Soon he was bouncing up and down with only the woman to hold onto. Once he had found his balance, he began to ask questions.
"Gabrielle? Is that your name?" Again the WristComp provided translation.
"Yes. What did you say your name was?"
"Michael Parks, just call me Mike."
"Howcome you have two names?"
"Where I'm from we all have at least two names."
"Why's that?"
"It's been that way for hundreds of years, I don't know why."
"Where are you from?"
"Somewhere very far away. That's all I can tell you. Who's the other one, with the sword?"
"That's Xena, she's probably sorting out the people who were chasing you." They're conversation continued in such for the rest of the ride.
Xena stood ready with her sword when the first dogs broke through the trees, followed by their owners, soldiers armed with swords and bows who stopped their conversation when they saw Xena, but not before she heard some remarkable things.
"Out of our way woman." one of them, obviously the leader from the way he carried himself, spoke gruffly.
"Oh no. You've got to go through me if you want to get any where." she said with a gleeful smile.
"Run her through." the leader ordered his men. They drew their swords and charged.
"Aiyiyiyiyiyiy!" Xena leaped into the air and somersaulted over their heads, landing behind them. Her leg flashed out and connected with a soldiers stomach. He doubled over, the wind knocked out of him. Next Xena let her fist fly , smacking another soldier on the side of the face. He toppled over onto the ground. A soldier came at Xena with his sword ready to strike. Xena raised hers to block him. Clang, the two swords rang out as they met and sparks flew. Xena kicked him in the groin, then kneed him in the face as he fell. Two more guards charged at Xena from either side, intending to tackle her and take her down that way. She jumped and kicked out with both her legs, striking both men in the face. Another soldier charged Xena from behind as she came back down. Xena twirled her sword and stuck it under her arm, the sharp end pointing backwards towards the soldier, who impaled himself on it. Xena drew her sword out of him, letting his body fall to the ground. Those that remained ran off, dragging their dogs after them. After making sure no one was left waiting, she strode off down the road to where Gabrielle and the stranger where waiting.
Gabrielle slowed Argo down as they came to a lake. The remains of a campfire and campsite were littered around the ground and Parks guessed this was were Gabrielle and Xena had stayed. They dismounted and Gabrielle tied Argo's rains to a tree whilst Parks sat down on a rock and began going through his pack.
"What are you doing?" Gabrielle said sitting down next to him.
"Just checking to see if Xena broke anything when she jumped me." He pulled out his medical field kit and opened it up, checking to make sure nothing was broken. Gabrielle peeked inside and was amazed by what she saw, but Parks closed it before she could question him about it. Next he reached in and brought out a rectangular shaped object, about the length of her forearm, a third as wide and about two of her fingers high. It was made from some material Gabrielle had never seen before. One side was smashed in and when Parks saw it, he swore in that strange language of his. He threw it roughly back in his pack, then thumped his fist on the rock in frustration.
"Was that something important?" Gabrielle inquired
"Oh no. Just the only thing that can get me out of here." Gabrielle could here the sarcasm without the translation.
"Are you lost?"
"No, I know exactly where I am. It's my crewmates who don't know where to find me." A lightbulb turned on in Gabrielle's subconscious.
"How did you get here? Did you come from the sky?" Parks head snapped around as alarm bells rang in his head.
"I don't know what your talking about." he snapped. That came too fast for it to be the truth, Gabrielle thought.
"I saw that fireball in the sky last night, it hit the ground in those woods you came out of. Those things in your pack, and that thing on your wrist that talks. Your clothes, and your language, I've never seen or heard anything like it before. You have something to do with that fireball last night, I know it." Gabrielle crossed her arms over her chest and sat back. Parks was rubbing the side of his forehead and staring at the ground with a grim look on his face. "Tell me." she demanded.
"Your not going to leave me alone until I do, right?"
"Right."
"Look, the deal is I can't tell you. If I did, my superiors would have my ass. Your far too primitive to understand."
"Primitive! What is that supposed to mean?"
"Exactly what it does it mean. Your culture is not advanced enough for you to know the truth."
"Look, I don't know where you came from or how, but I do know that something is happening and your a part of it. Fireballs like last night don't just fall to the ground everyday. The people chasing you for that weapon you were talking about is not a normal occurrence. Now either you tell me what is going on, or Xena and I can't help you."
"Help! Who said anything about me needing your help. My problem is not one that you can even come close to understanding."
"What is it with you? Why do you keep saying I'm dumb?"
"I'm not saying your dumb, I'm saying that you don't have the knowledge to understand what's going on." Gabrielle could see she was not getting anywhere. She stood and stomped over to Argo. Parks went back to checking his equipment. Stroking Argo, Gabrielle tried to calm her anger. She was supposed to be the calm one, Xena was the fiery one.
Parks and Gabrielle kept separated for the next few hours, Gabrielle feeding and stroking Argo, Parks was in deep thought. His portable beacon was damaged beyond repair, and the one in his pod was turned off. Somehow he had to get back to his pod to reactivate it. The search and rescue party that would be dispatched to find him knew what planet to look on, but not where. And since this planet was populated by humans, they couldn't track him down from orbit with life form scanners. What are humans doing on this planet in the first place. Are they human? Parks took out his portable sensor and scanned Gabrielle and the horse. Nope, totally human and horse There's no record of any colonies in this region that Parks knew of. Maybe they were part of colonization expedition that crashed on the planet and some people survived, as well as dogs and horses, and lost all useful technology and knowledge. But from what his sensors had told him from orbit, there was an extremely large population spread across the planet, and mankind hadn't been colonizing space long enough for that kind of population to build up from a starship crash. Could they have been humans who were transplanted by aliens for whatever reason, and took some Earth animals with them. It's possible, he concluded. But why? And does that fact nullify the regulations covering primitive races. After all, they're human. Parks raised his arm to speak to his WristComp.
"Computer, what are the regulations covering contact with primitive human cultures?"
"There are no regulations. There are no known primitive human cultures."
"Are there any regulations covering the situation I'm in now?"
"There are no regulations for your current situation. You are on a human colonized planet."
"Computer, what are the possible responses from Star Force if I tell the inhabitants about me."
"Unknown, there is no precedence to base any speculation on."
"Computer, what language have you been translating?"
"Ancient Greek."
"Ancient Greek! Computer nobody has spoken ancient Greek in thousands of years. Are you sure?"
"Affirmative. The local language is Ancient Greek." I guess that adds weight to my hypothesis thought Parks.
"Computer, your programmed with Ancient Greek?!"
Xena returned during the early evening. Gabrielle had a fire going and had caught a few fish for dinner. Parks, she saw, was working on a rectangular shaped object with some strange tools, but was evidently getting nowhere from the look of frustration on his face. Gabrielle took Xena aside and told her about what had happened earlier. Xena was even more curious about the stranger now.
"We need to talk." she said walking over to Parks, the thing on his wrist still translating everything. Parks put what he was working on down and motioned for Xena to take a seat. She did.
"Gabrielle told me about this afternoon -"
"Look, I didn't mean to insult her. She was just getting too nosy and I can't tell you everything for; one; I'm not allowed to, and two; you wouldn't understand."
"Try me."
"What?"
"I want you to tell me about why those men were chasing you and why I had to knock them around a bit."
"Look, I'm not here to cause trouble. I came here by accident, I don't even know why, and now all I want to do is get back. And the only way I'm going to do that now is if I can get to the rest of my equipment, which those men took, thanks to you." he said motioning to his destroyed beacon.
"Did that happen when I dropped on you?"
"Well it didn't just decide to smash itself. Yeah, I'd say it happened when you jumped on me." he snapped., Xena let it slide.
"What is it?"
"It's a homing beacon. It allows a search and rescue party to home in on anyone who's lost and rescue them. Right now I need it cause there's a search and rescue party on their way here and without it, they're going to have to search this whole planet to find me."
"This whole planet? Where did you come from?" Parks sighed.
"You want to know? You really want to know? Okay I'll tell you, but if you don't understand, don't blame me." Xena nodded her agreement. "Okay, originally I'm from a planet called Earth, the place where everyone one of you on this planet are from. Sometime in the distant past, about two and a half thousand years ago I'd say, your people were transported from Earth to this planet. For what reason I don't know. Apparently your culture stagnated or regressed and has only now caught up with what it used to be, but my people have advanced well beyond anything you could imagine. We can travel amongst the stars, and have colonized countless other planets like this and Earth. I joined my peoples military and fight to protect my people from aliens, other races from other worlds. Last night I was performing an advance reconnaissance flight over your planet when something happened and I had to eject and land on your planet. Apparently more than you two saw where I landed and one of them sent a search party out to investigate. I have orders to avoid all contact with primitive races if possible, so I deactivated my escape pod which had a more powerful version of my rescue beacon. That was turned off when I turned the pod off. I was relying on this smaller beacon for the rescue party to find me and then locate my escape pod, but that's not possible now. For them to find me I have to get my pod back and reactivate the rescue beacon in it. But first I need to find it." It took a while for the WristComp to translate this but when it did, the expression on Xena's face went from amazement and shock to a look of puzzlement. She clearly was not expecting anything like what Parks had just told her. Even Gabrielle was surprised. Parks continued, "Gabrielle, the reason I couldn't say anything earlier was because we have rules about contact with primitive cultures. Often if these cultures learn too much before their culture is ready to accept it, the results can be disastrous. Whole religions based on superstitions and nonsense but which hold a society together can be overturned in a day resulting in anarchy. Tyrannical rulers will often try to use this knowledge for their own purposes, often to maintain their rule of terror, etc. etc. You get the idea. Often these cultures end up worshipping us as gods, and that totally goes against everything my culture stands for."
"Well I'm not sure about getting you back to your people, but I can tell you where this pod of yours is. A local king called Typhus has it. He had it brought back to his castle this morning and his best advisors are trying to figure it out."
"They wont be able to do much, the pod wont work until I restore it's power, and it's designed so that only I can do that." Parks stood up "How far to his castle?"
"It's over a days travel, we'll set out in morning. And you can come as well Autolycus." To Parks's and Gabrielle's surprise a man stepped out of the bushes confidently, stroking his mustache.
"Amazing Xena, you never cease to amaze me. Only you could catch the King of Thieves." Autolycus strode towards the group. Xena stood to block his path.
"How much did you hear, Autolycus?"
"Well, not much. Little bits here and there really, but enough to know what stakes are involved. And I figure that you could use the King of Thieves on your side if your to get this pod or whatever back from King Typhus."
"And what's in it for you?"
"Xena, you judge me so harshly. I only want what's best for all of us and if it's getting this pod back from Typhus, then I'm your man." Autolycus act of shock and hurt didn't fool anyone.
"Autolycus I know you, you only offer your services like this if its worthwhile. Now what's in it for you?" Autolycus knew he was defeated.
"Well, only the Stone of Gull. It's a pretty little rock and will fetch quite a price. Of cause Typhus keeps it quite well guarded. It would be quite a worthy feat to steal it"
"A feat worthy of the King of Thieves. I'm sure you'll just tag along anyway if I turn you down. And we could use your skills. Okay, you got in." The WristComp translated all of this for Parks.
"Xena could I talk with you for a moment." Xena and Parks moved into the shadows. "Xena, who the hell is this guy? Can you trust him?"
"I trust Autolycus with my life. In fact I have, several times. And he is an expert at sneaking into guarded buildings, we can use him."
"Okay, but just keep in mind what I said."
"Don't worry, I will."
King Typhus was an elderly man in his late fifties. He had ruled the Kingdom of Eupharius since his 26th birthday. He considered himself a just king who ruled with discipline. His subjects had a different opinion of him. They saw him as a ruthless tyrant who leeched them with his crippling taxes, which Typhus used to shower his advisors and fund his little pet projects. Typhus had heard stories of the people of the lost city of Atlantis, and of their miraculous devices and discoveries. He saw these things as the way forward, that man would not be stuck in the dark ages of ignorance and superstition. He revered the Atlantisians and their bold march forth into progress. He regretted not knowing about them until after their destruction, when Hercules had rescued a shipwrecked crew from slavery on that island. The Atlantisians only failing, Typhus saw, was that they had forsaken the Gods and offended them, and that was why they were destroyed. Typhus would not make that mistake. He was an avid devotee of Hera, and worshipped her with zeal. And now Hera was repaying him. She had sent a miraculous gift from the heavens. Something that would lead Typhus and the Kingdom of Eupharius out of the darkness of ignorance and into the light of knowledge. Oh, of the wonders that chair could tell him, of what it could do for him. But that would have to wait. Typhus's problem now was to get the damn thing to talk first. The search party he had sent out to investigate the fireball had found the clearing it landed in. They had heard the chair talk with knowledge and wisdom. Had seen the stranger run into the forest and pursued him, until they came upon that accursed warrior woman, Xena. If Xena was in the area, she undoubtedly saw the fireball and was most probably helping the stranger. Typhus knew the stranger wanted to keep him from the chair and the knowledge it possessed, but Typhus didn't see it as an obstacle. He believed that it was a test from Hera, to see if Typhus was up to the task of bringing this knowledge and wisdom into the world. The stranger was powerful, the guards reported he had powers like that of the Gods, and if Xena was helping him, he was undoubtedly almost invincible. Typhus would enjoy this test of his leadership. He had rounded up every man in his kingdom that was able to wield a sword, and had sent them out into the countryside to search for the stranger. They would find him and capture him, then Typhus would present him before Hera for a sacrifice. This would please Hera, Typhus knew, and confirm his position as her number one worshipper.
Typhus was now on his way to the tower were the chair was being studied by his advisors and wisemen. Entering the room, he saw a gaggle of elderly men adorned in fine robes that signified their wealth and influence in the kingdom.
"Have you made any progress?" Everybody turned away from what they were doing to devote their full attention to the king. Typhus's chief advisor spoke for them.
"Not yet, Your Highness. All we know is that this chair is made from a metal no blacksmith in the land has ever seen. It is remarkably strong and resistant to heat, yet also very light for a metal. The chair is heavier than one would expect from a metal, so we believe that there is something inside it. We have also noted these holes in the chair which have an unusual odour. It is not very strong, but it is detectable. And you see this," the Chief Advisor said, pointing to grooves around the front of the pod which, unbeknown to them was where the blast shield retracted to, "we know that there are sheets of more metal in there and that they fold out of the grooves somehow. For what purpose, we do not know. Maybe they are to protect the person who sits in the chair." The Chief Advisor was hypothesizing and Typhus knew, but did not mind. Hypothesizing and testing were the keys to progress, and Typhus encouraged it, even though he demanded results as well.
"Can you get it to talk yet?"
"No Your Highness, we have tried talking to it like the stranger did, but it ignores us."
"Well keep working at it. Hera has sent us this gift, and we must solve the riddle of it to please her."
"Yes Your Majesty." the Chief Advisor said with a respectful bow.
"It's too quiet." Parks declared taking a small device out of pocket, "We need some music."
"Do you play an instrument?" inquired Gabrielle, they were starting to get along after their little confrontation earlier.
"No, but this does." he said holding up the device, then speaking to it "Khe Sanh, original version." Immediately the portable stereo strummed up Khe Sanh by Cold Chisel. They had to speak over Jimmy Barnes's singing to be heard. Autolycus spoke first.
"What in Zeus's name is that?"
"Its a portable stereo, it's programmed with over ten thousand different songs."
"You call that a song?" that was Gabrielle
"Yeah. Khe Sanh by Cold Chisel. They were a popular band on the Australian continent on Earth in the 1970's, about 300 years ago."
"What's it about?"
"It's about this guy who returned from a war, called the Vietnam War, and was unable to settle down so ends up traveling all over Australia and back to Vietnam to try to find a place where he can. At least that's what I think it means."
"Sounds like a familiar story." Xena spoke for the first time that night. "A lot of soldiers I've known have come back from war and are unable to settle back down."
"It's a familiar story all over the galaxy. We fight to protect our homes and what we believe in, but it changes us so much that all those things are alien to us afterwards. This fish is good. Much better than the field rations I have." Parks said digging in to his dinner. "You could probably make a fortune selling this stuff or charging people to come and fish for it themselves." the mention of money got Autolycus's attention.
"People would pay to fish for themselves?"
"Yeah. Back home food is processed and preserved and sold at stores, and our agricultural methods are so advanced that a small number of farmers can support a very large population. People enjoy the opportunity to get outdoors and catch their own food. It's part of the primitive hunter in all of us."
"What do people normally do?"
"Work, rest, play. People are so busy that -" Parks handscanner started beeping. He picked it up and read the display.
"A group of twenty men are coming down the road, about 500 metre's away in that direction." he said pointing up the road. Xena didn't waste any time, gathering up her sword and starting off down the road. Parks couldn't help but show his surprise. "Your going to take them all on yourself?"
"Only twenty, it's a walk in the woods."
"Hang on. I've got a better idea than beating the shit of them."
"Okay, what is it?" Parks grabbed his rifle and stood.
"There's a bit of rock wall along the road isn't there?
"Yeah, just around that corner." Autolycus spoke up.
"C'mon on then."
A few minutes later Parks was standing in the middle of the road just in front of the rock face. Xena, Gabrielle and Autolycus were hidden in some bushes off to the side. Parks could hear the men approaching. They were talking loudly, not making any effort to conceal their approach. The men rounded the corner and stopped when they saw Parks standing there. He raised his rifle and aimed it at the rock face.
"Behold my power. Turn around and leave me alone." he shouted, trying to scare these primitives into leaving. Squeezing the trigger, a bright flash of light burst from the barrel as it discharged at the rock face. Instantly another flash of light as the rock face vaporized and the remaining rocks, having lost their support, collapsed onto the road between Parks and the men. The others had to cover their eyes, so bright was the flash. They were awestruck at what had jut happened.
Typhus's men on the other hand weren't. They had been told to expect such things, and to ignore them. Their only objective was to capture the stranger and bring him back to Typhus, and no rock fall was going to stand in their way. They began to climb over the rocks, but the going was tough as the rocks were very hot.
Parks could hear from the sounds that the rock fall hadn't stopped them. They were climbing over the rocks and were still coming. Parks had no wish to kill them, but still needed to get rid of them. He placed his rifle down and drew his field pistol. Unlike his rifle, the pistol was designed to stun someone, not vaporize them. When the first man appeared over the rocks, Parks aimed and fired. A bright blue bolt of energy leaped from his pistol and struck the man. He spasmed and fell backwards onto the guy behind him, knocking them both to the ground. When the men saw this, they apparently had second thoughts and beat a hasty retreat. Xena, Gabrielle and Autolycus emerged from the bushes.
"He's not dead is he?" a concerned Gabrielle asked
"No, he'll just sleep for a while. But when he wakes up, he's going to have one hell of a headache."
"How did you cause the rocks to fall?"
"Molecular destabilization. See, everything is made up of clumps of atoms called molecules. What Molecular Destabilization Projectors do" he picked up his rifle "is fire an energy that unbinds the molecules and, in a nutshell, turns a solid object or liquid to gas in less than a microsecond."
"I have no idea what you just said, but apparently it appears to work." Autolycus spoke for all of their confusion.
"I did tell you there were things you wouldn't understand." Parks defended
"Well whatever you did, they're not going to return for a while. But when they do we had better be long gone. I suggest we all get some sleep, we've got a long journey tomorrow." Xena said, getting everyone's attention.
"He did what?" Typhus was both angry at his men for failing to bring the stranger back, and intrigued as to what the stranger was capable of.
"He created a rock fall, and then when we tried to climb over it, he struck down Jovus from where he stood." the guard said, shivering in his boots as to what Typhus would do to him for failing.
"And your sure he's dead?"
"We assume so. There was a bright blue light, he fell and did not get up."
"Very well. For failing, your life is forfeit. Take him away." Two more guards dragged the first away to be executed. Typhus called another guard over to him. "Recall all the search parties and then take every last man and bring me back this stranger. I don't care what the cost. And don't fail me or you will end up like him."
"Yes my Lord."
Xena, Gabrielle, Autolycus and Parks had journeyed all day through the woods, keeping away from the road and any patrols Typhus had out looking for them. Parks hand scanner came in very handing as it mapped the terrain to give them the easiest route and spotted anything that moved, out to a range of two kilometres. By nightfall they had reached a hill over looking Typhus's castle. Parks was inspecting it through a pair of vision enhancement binoculars.
"There's about eight guards patrolling the walls and another four at the gate." He picked up his handscanner and scanned the castle, "There's a hundred and sixty three people inside, about half of them are armed."
"Right. Autolycus, can you sneak into the castle and locate the pod for us." Xena queried.
"Piece of cake."
"Just locate the pod. You can go after the Stone of Gull when we have the pod."
"Xena, you know me, I have priorities."
"And one of them isn't locating the Stone of Gull."
"Your no fun, you know that."
"Just do it."
"All right, all right. I'm going." Autolycus began working his way down the hill towards the castle.
"We'll hold up here until he gets back." said Xena.
Autolycus circled around the base of the castle looking for an easy route to get in through. Around the back of the castle he found a spot where he could easily scale the walls. Now he had to time it so that the guards would be else where when he climbed up. The guards passed three times before Autolycus felt confident enough to time them. When the guards passed next he threw his grappling hook up and hooked it over the walls, then began scaling it. Up and over and he was in. Hugging the walls and keeping to the shadows, he wandered through the castle. First he checked the rooms on the upper levels and worked his way down before moving to the towers. Continuously having to stop and hide from guards and other palace residents, it took him a good portion of the night. Finally he came to the tower were Park's escape pod was being kept. Creeping up to the door, he peered round the corner and saw several old men chattering over a metal chair that matched Park's description of his pod. Autolycus made a mental note of which room it was in before retracing his steps to the walls. He was almost to the spot he had scaled when he stopped. The guards had found his grappling rope which he had left to provide an easy escape. He thought he had hidden it well, but the guards had apparently been smarter than Autolycus thought. He had to act fast before they reported it. Quietly he walked over to the guards until he was right behind them.
"Excuse me, but did you know there's something on your feet." and Autolycus jumped on both the guards feet. The guards howled in pain and grabbed their feet, whilst Autolycus grabbed their heads and banged them together, knocking them both out cold. "My feet were." he told the unconscious guards as he swung himself over the parapet. Autolycus climbed back down the wall and shook his grappling hook loose before running back to where the others were hiding.
Parks noted someone was approaching their position, probably Autolycus but better safe than sorry. He brought his pistol up and readied himself in case it wasn't Autolycus as a figure stepped out of the shadows. Parks breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was Autolycus and put his pistol back in it's holster.
"I found your pod, it's in a room in that tower." he said pointing to one of the towers.
"Good work Autolycus." Xena said standing up.
"Now how do we get in?"
The guards on duty at the castle gate were bored. It was night and no one was going in or out of the castle. Until now. A cart loaded with hay creaked to a stop in front of the gate. Two figures sat on it, a farmer and his wife from the looks of it.
"What business do you have in the castle at this time of night?" one of the guards questioned the farmer.
"We have an urgent delivery of hay for King Typhus's horses. We were due earlier in the day but a rock slide on the road forced us to take a detour." The bearded farmer said. The guard considered the farmers story for a moment.
"Search the hay." he ordered. The three other guards surrounded the cart, drew their swords and began stabbing at the hay. None of them noticed a faint humming sound, but they did notice when one the guards let out a cry, spasmed and fell to the ground, then another one and then the third, leaving only the captain. He drew his sword and stood ready for an attack. Only then did he see a shape underneath the cart point something at him. A blue flash and then nothing.
Xena and Parks lowered themselves to the ground from where they had been hiding underneath the cart. Parks holstered his pistol and retrieved the rest of his stuff from beneath the hay. Autolycus pulled of the fake beard he was wearing and put it back into his jacket.
"That was easy. I was afraid that humming from your thingy was going to give us away."
"Unless you know what to listen for, that humming is virtually undetectable." Parks said pushing open the gate and peering round the corner.
"What do we do with them?" Gabrielle asked
"Leave them there. They'll wake up in a few hours, and we should be long gone by then." Xena said joining Parks.
"All clear." Parks moved through the gate slowly, keeping his rifle up and pointed at any threats. "Which way to the tower?" Autolycus moved out in front to show them.
"This way." All four of them moved quickly through the courtyard and paused before entering the castle. Luckily this late at night most people were in bed asleep, but that didn't stop the guards from patrolling the castle. Parks dropped the first three patrols they came across with his pistol, making sure not to make too much noise. Autolycus lead them towards a flight of stairs going up into the tower where the pod was being examined, not knowing a group of guards were coming down that same flight of stairs. Autolycus froze when he saw the first guard round the curve in the steps. Parks acted on instinct and fired his rifle into the guards chest. A flash of light and the guard vaporized to the astonishment of the other four guards. So surprised were they, they were slow to react when Xena came charging up the stairs at them.
"Aiyiyiyiyiy" Her fist went flying into the face of the first guard, then a knee to the stomach and back hand to the side of the head and the guard was sent crashing down the stairs. Xena kicked her leg out tripped the second guard who stumbled down the stairs, heading straight for Parks. Parks expertly stepped aside and then used the guards momentum to flip him in the air so he landed on the first guard at the bottom of the stairs, who was trying to stand up until his comrade came flying down on top off him.
Autolycus saw this and asked "Where'd you learn to do that?"
"Basic Training."
By this time the remaining two guards had recovered, drawn their swords and came at Xena together. Metal clanged and sparks flew. Suddenly Xena disarmed one of the guards by sending his sword flying, then sent her fist flying right into his face, knocking him cold. Autolycus attacked the last guard whilst he was occupied with Xena. A right and left to the stomach and then an uppercut to the guards jaw and he went down for the count. The two guards at the bottom of the stairs had managed to extricate themselves and find their feet. Gabrielle was closest and brought her staff around in a low, wide sweep, knocking both the guards off their feet. Then she swung her pole again and it connected with one of the guards heads. Swinging her staff like an axe, she brought it down on the other one.
Once all guards were finished, the four raced up the stairs. They had a clear path to the room where the pod was being kept. Taking the guard at the door down with one shot from Parks pistol, they burst through the door, surprising the group of old men inside. Most of them cowered into the corners when faced with a fight. Those few who did stand their ground were knocked down by Xena, whilst Gabrielle and Autolycus held the others at bay. Parks raced over to his pod, gave it a quick inspection to make sure it wasn't damaged and tapped in a numerical code on a pad on the arm rest. The pod hummed back into life.
"Computer, status?"
"All systems functioning, emergency beacon is active." The advisors were surprised at what Parks had just done. Was it really that simple? they wondered.
"Call me a pessimist, but how are we going to get that out of here, it must weigh a ton?" Autolycus said eyeing the pod.
"Not know it doesn't. Computer activate GM drive, set to hover." To the surprise of everyone else, the pod rose off the floor and hovered in the air. Parks gave it a little push and the pod swayed slightly, before he started pushing it towards the door. Gabrielle and Autolycus followed, with Xena bringing up the rear. They made it down the stairs and into the courtyard, but stopped there. Standing between them and the gate was Typhus, backed up with twenty archers.
"Give me back my chair." Typhus demanded.
"Who the fuck are you?" Parks shot at him angrily.
"I am Typhus, King of Eupharius. And you are my prisoners."
"Look mate, I need this back. Now tell your men to get out of the way and nobody gets hurt. Okay?"
"You order me around? I am Typhus, King of Eupharius. Nobody tells me what to do. Archers, fire." As the archers pulled back their strings ready to fire, Xena grabbed her Chakrum and threw it. It bounced off a wall, then another, before flying past the line of archers and slicing their bows in half, before finding Xena's hand again. Typhus was fuming. "Attack! Attack I say." From all around the courtyard soldiers leapt out of their hiding places, swinging their swords and axes.
"Quickly, in here" Xena said bustling them all into a side door. Slamming the door behind her, she brought the heavy bracing beam down to lock it.
"Where are we?" Parks asked
"Hera's shrine."
"Who's Hera?"
"One of the Gods, and she has a pretty short temper." Autolycus filled him in. Outside, Typhus's soldiers were banging on the door, trying to break it down. Inside, the four were searching for a way out.
"There's no other doors. What are we going to do?" Gabrielle whined. Parks grabbed his rifle.
"Get back, I'll make my own door." Xena grabbed Gabrielle and Autolycus and pulled them away from the wall Parks was aiming at. Putting the rifle to his shoulder, he pointed it at the wall and squeezed the trigger. A flash of light from the barrel, another flash on the wall. But nothing happened. Parks, confused, examined the rifle and shot again. Still nothing happened. He scanned the wall, it was just a normal stone wall and should have been vaporized on the first shot. He tried again and still the wall just stood there. Autolycus stepped forward and stood beside him.
"Sure it ain't busted?" he asked about the rifle.
"It's working fine. That wall should be vapors by now. I don't understand it.". As he said it, Xena heard the answer in a wicked evil laughter that filled the room.
"Hera." Xena sneered, "What do you want Hera?"
"Foolish mortals. Did you think I would let you leave so easily?" A pair of eyes, much like the markings on a peacocks tail, Parks thought, appeared and hovered over the alter.
"Who the hell is that? What the hell is that?" Parks leaned over to whisper to Autolycus.
"That's Hera, queen of the Gods." Autolycus whispered back. Hera heard but ignored their whispering.
"What I want is the stranger whom you are helping to escape."
"We're helping him to return home." Xena said defiantly. Parks quietly pulled out his handscanner and aimed it at the eyes.
"He can not be allowed to leave this planet. Thousands of years ago we left his planet because his people refused to worship us anymore. We took a number of still faithful followers with us to this new planet so they could continue to worship us without any outside interference such as him or his religion. It is his kind and their disturbances that we are trying to prevent." Parks examined the sensor readings. There was a definite life form reading there, but no traces of DNA. Energy readings were going off the scale. The only thing Parks's could think of to explain the readings, was that this Hera was a non-corporeal entity.
"Nevertheless Hera, he's going home. The search party is already on their way here to rescue him."
"And I will destroy them just as easily as I destroyed his craft." Parks head snapped up from reading his scanner.
"What the -. That was your fault? I almost got killed, you fucking bitch!" Hera threw Parks across the room as if he were a piece of rubbish, slamming him into the back wall and knocking him unconscious. Gabrielle rushed over and kneeled down to check on him.
"Hera, stop it. If you allow him to go home, he can make sure his people will not bother you." she shouted.
"Unacceptable. He has already interfered by making contact with you. To prevent any further pollution, all those who came into contact with him must be eradicated." Autolycus fumbled and audibly gulped at that revelation.
"There must be another way. Allow him to return to his home...........and we'll go with him, to ensure there is no pollution." Xena said trying to bargain for all their lives. Hera seemed to consider it for a while, before speaking.
"Very well, because you are under the protection of other gods, you shall not be eradicated. All others who have encountered him, however, will be." And with that screams started up outside. Xena smelt a familiar stench and the crackle of flames from the other side of the door.
Autolycus pinched his nostrils, "Awwww. What is that smell?".
"Burning flesh. Hera is roasting Typhus and his men alive." Xena saw Gabrielle was visibly shaken by the screams and her explanation. Soon the screams and flames died down, but the smell remained.
"It is done. The strangers rescuers will be here in moments. You will go with them, or I will destroy you just as easily as I did that fool, Typhus." and with that the eyes disappeared. Parks stirred and woke up.
"Owww. What hit me?" he said touching his head.
"You were lucky Hera didn't kill you where you stood for insulting her like that." Gabrielle comforted him.
"Well she deserved it." Parks stopped. He didn't need to wait for the translation, he understood what Gabrielle said without it. "Wait a minute, how come your speaking English all of a sudden?"
"English?" Gabrielle looked puzzled.
"Yeah, the language I speak which I thought you couldn't."
"Hera!" Xena realized. "She must have changed us so that we could understand your language."
"Hang on a minute. Understand my language? What for? In a few minutes I'll be out of here and you wont hear from me again."
"One of the conditions that Hera agreed to, to let you go, was that we go with you so we don't spread your influence around the land." Xena explained.
"So your being exiled?" Parks tried to stand on wobbly legs. Gabrielle had to grabbed his arm to support him.
"Looks like it." With that, Parks WristComp chirped and a new voice spoke.
"Zulu one, Zulu one, this is Romeo Alpha. Come in, over." A smile spread on Parks's face as he responded.
"Romeo Alpha, Zulu one. You guys took your time."
"Zulu one, Romeo Alpha. We had a little trouble locating your beacon. Ready for pickup? Over."
"Ready as I'll ever be Romeo Alpha. Just let me get outside, over."
"Roger. We'll be within visual range of your position in two mikes. Better gather your stuff and make sure you don't leave anything behind."
"Roger Romeo Alpha. Say, got any room up there for passengers?"
"Say again Zulu one? Passengers?"
"Yeah you heard me, passengers, got any room?"
"Zulu one, this is a S.A.R. flight, not a moon shuttle. We've orders only to locate and retrieve you sir."
"Well, change in plans. We've got three asylum seekers down here, do you have room?"
"Yes sir, we have room for three more people. They're human sized aren't they?"
"Yes they most definitely are." Parks said with knowing smile.
"Wait, what about Argo?" Gabrielle interrupted.
"Belay that. Got room for a horse as well?"
"A horse? Yes we can just squeeze a horse in as well. We'll have to sedate it for the flight but it shouldn't be a hassle. Got anything else that needs a lift, an elephant maybe Zulu one?"
"No, but I'm sure I could find you one. Home in on my signal Romeo Alpha, and I'll see you in a couple of minutes. Zulu one out."
"Roger Zulu one. Romeo Alpha out." The connection was broken.
"Right, lets all get outside and somewhere open." Parks was still a little wobbly, so Gabrielle supported him on one side, whilst Autolycus took the other. Xena ran back to the hill where they had been hiding to fetch Argo. She returned riding on Argo in time to see some lights in the sky descend towards the field were Parks, Gabrielle and Autolycus now waited for it. The lights turned into the shape of a flying craft, the likes of which she had never dreamed of before. The craft landed and a door on its side slide open, revealing a well lit interior. A figure jumped out and almost had to carry Parks into the craft. Another figure led Gabrielle and Autolycus into the craft, then came back out and jogged over to Xena.
"This the horse that's coming with us?" he asked.
"Yes she is." Xena said, jumping down from the saddle. The man placed a device alongside the horses neck. Xena heard a faint hiss before he took it away. "What was that?"
"Just something to calm her down for the flight." The man led both Xena and Argo back into the craft. Inside he told Xena to sit on a cushioned couch that ran along the side of the craft, next to Gabrielle and Autolycus. He led Argo aft, before coming back and strapping Xena into her couch, like Gabrielle and Autolycus where, before going back outside. Xena looked around, wanting to question Parks, but he wasn't in with them.
"Where's Mike?"
"They took him down the back." Gabrielle answered. The man came back inside and the door slid closed behind him. He spoke into a small device sticking out of his helmet then stopped and listened to something before strapping himself into a couch opposite the three of them. There was a small window in the door which Gabrielle could see out of. A slight shudder and the craft began to rise. Gabrielle could see the landscape fall away as they rose above the treetops. Faster and faster the craft climbed. All three of them sat in silence watching the window. Gabrielle could see the stars. And this time, they did not twinkle.