Message 5852 of 6535

From: luxilluminata@yahoo.com

Date: Sat Jul 21, 2001 5:24 pm

Subject: entry

Request entry into communications concerning Kai, an admirable character. Am so new to email business,I consider this a gift from the goddess. My discovery of this address was completely unanticipated. Have been stumbling around in cyberspace with no mentor for so long that I can no longer think clearly. But this site has given me a modicum of sanity again, if only it exixts in the Dark Universe.

I have so many questions regarding this communication mode.

I would also like to share a parable concerning Kai where he faces an opportunity to be alive again. Would anyone be interested in reading then discussing the consequences and/or complications of his decision?I would like comments on believability and if events in story are true to character.

I hope I can find my way back here and maintain a dialog. Though I am an old soul I am constently amazed at all the wonderful different types of people are out there. I find the new technology confusing to use even though I have lived with in my heart and head since starting to read Science Fiction in the fifties. I have seen it evolve into a great medium for entertainment, phylosophy, and message delivery. It certainly is more accepted as main stream now.

Having once been dead myself I sympathize with the possible struggle that Kai may face in being dead. How empty is he really? Sometimes it seems that he has a secret motivation and that he is not entirely of "the dead". They say that if you remember someone and keep them in your heart, then they are not entirely dead. If Kai has the memories of all his victims, himself, and His Divine Shadow does he keep them alive because of his remembering while he is physically dead?

I off to get some shut eye. Good night everyone.

Oh, and thanks for the wonderful experience in the cryopod. I must learn how to do that.

lux

*****************

I just borrowed these characters to use for a parable. They belong to somebody else (salter street). Thank you for letting me use them as a guide for what I hope will entertain friends. The names have not been changed because then nobody would know who they are.

If the text does not appear in proper prose it is not my fault.

Kai Alive (Page 1, the pages are really long.)

OVERVIEW

Sometime after the adventures of the Lexx at the "little blue planet" we find our heroes, robot head, and heroine dealing, again, with the Lexx's insatiable hunger. Stan and Xev have had a typical confrontation as to their course of action to obtain food for the Lexx so they will not be stranded in space. During the course of the argument, Kai responds to a vague memory stimulated while staring at the Lexx's lens, and informs the didactic duo of a planet abundant in organic life forms with no documented sentient life forms.

Stan directs the Lexx to travel to the planet. Xev resumes her grooming. Kai returns to his cryopod. 790 Continues to compose love poems to his darling dead man. All is well. Until...

Upon arrival at the planet, Stan discovers that over the eons, sentient life has developed. The civilization demonstrates a similar level of political, social, economic, technological, military, and psychotic accomplishments as the League of 20,000 Planets. 790 conveys this information to the crew just as ships from the planet converge on the Lexx.

Despite Xev'z objection to the Lex devouring the humanoid-s just for the sake of devouring them, (and her interest in any possible adventures and satisfaction that she might find on the planet), Stan is forced to destroy the ships in self defense after they attack the Lexx in a wild display of Xenophobia.

With planetary defenses directed at the Lexx, Stan commands the Lexx to eat and run! Mmmmm! Yum! Yum! Yum!

Lexx is obviously digestion nicely when he complains to Stanley about "a little scratchy thing on my ocular parabola". Xev and Stan, through a long frustrating question and answer period with the Lexx, determine that there is some type of explosive device attached to the Lexx. Although it would not destroy him, its position, if detonated, would affect the full output of the ocular parabola. The Lexx would be crippled and no longer "the most powerful weapon in the two universes".

Kai is awakened and briefed on the situation. Motivated by Xev'z concern for the Lexx, Kai takes a moth outside to dislodge the device. He is successful. 790 informs his "man-mass of non-pulsating sexuality" that removal of the device has activated the trigger mechanism. Kai must return to the Lexx as soon as possible or he will be vaporized. Kai uses the moth to move the device away from the Lexx and releases it.

As he begins his return to the Lexx, the device detonates sending the moth and Kai several parsecs away from the Lexx. 790 is inconsolable and refuses to co-operate with the Lexx, Stan and Xev. He proceeds to compose hysterical poems and odes to his sexy lump of the now "dead" dead man.

Stan and Xev begin their quest to locate and rescue Kai before his protoblood completely runs out.

Kai Alive (Page 2)

..And now the story...

The damaged moth drifted with its dead payload. Kai was at the mercy of a sporadic flow of protoblood. Between the waking of the dead and oblivion he was trapped. He was not aware when the moth, caught in the gravitational field of a planet, crashed.

The weather had changed, as it does this time of year. Aera stepped out into the soft mist and cool air. Everyday she made the trip to the lower meadow to harvest the produce so necessary to her survival. When she made her way around the last out-cropping of rock on the path, the wreckage came into view.

A surprised gasp broke from her lips. She tried to swallow; caught in her throat, a breath. Aera ran through the scattered wreckage. Sobbing and searching for any sign of a life, she stumbled on a huge chunk of charred debris. Collapsing to her knees, in exasperation, she slammed it with her fist. It did not ring like metal or crackle like composite. It gave a soft thud. Surprised, Aera looked more closely as she brushed away the black ash. She saw the face of a lovely young man, apparently asleep.

 "Damn, dead," she cursed. Her body became rigid.

Spine arched down; head thrown back: a low wail began deep in her throat, rose up to a shriek, and pierced the calm morning air with its grief. Grief for her loneliness, grief for a lost life. Aera laid across the body, shuddering.

How long dead?, she thought. If not long, salvage can be done. If salvage be done, how much time left to her? If salvage successful, she may leave this planet.

But only if companions were searching. How to tell? How to decide?

Sitting up, she began to examine the body. Starting at the head her hands caressed the hair and face, glided gently to the throat, to the chest, to the midsection, down through the groin, across the hips, and across the legs, stopping to grasp the ankles and wait.

Wait.

Wait.

Wait.

Her ears rang, straining for the peep. Her closed eyes burned, searching for the spark. Her nostril's quivered, waiting for the whiff. Her hands tightened, aching for that peculiar touch of life. Her tongue burned, tasting for the essence. Nothing. Nothing.

Nothing.

Dead too long. Clear to her now, she knew that it had been dead before the crash. One last look through the state of dead. Then back away. Back away.

There! Yes, she could see it. Feel it. A lumen. One lumen. Incalculable millennia ago there was death. But such a death that the only thing to survive was defiance. One defiant lumen. A defiant chance for life. The remnants of the last defiant act.

Her soul reached through the void, grasping toward the spark. And finally touching it, cradling it, comforting it, she said, "Come my child, I shall bring you forth. I shall birth you and protect you. Come greet your mother, your life-giver."

She felt the touch of that ancient essence and drew it toward her. But too much time had passed and her strength failed. She lost consciousness and fell back into the void.

Kai Alive (Page 3) (Disclaimer goes here)

Kai opened his eyes. They adjusted to the light. He tried to rise, felt the weight of something heavy across his midsection. Kai reached out, grabbed the thing, stopped short of tossing it several feet away.

He held a humanoid female and sensed that it was still alive. He drew up the body to get a better look. He peered into the face, deciding if this life was fading or returning.

Not knowing why, he had expected to see the face of Stan or Xev. He did not, therefore he was not on the Lexx. He turned his face from side to side, dispassionately observing the surrounding landscape. Turning back to the body he held above him, he could see that she was quite un-Xev-like. A small head topped with fine silvery brown hair. A pentagonal shaped face with large eyes, unremarkable nose, and a small soft mouth. He placed the body on the ground next to him. Kai rolled up into a sitting position.

Kai was unaware that the morning mists had been ushered away by the sun to make room for a clear sweet smelling breezy day. He surveyed the surrounding landscape and wreckage. He concluded that the moth had been thoroughly destroyed and there was little technology of the kind he needed in sight. Kai heard movement at his side. The woman was regaining consciousness. He watched as she opened her eyes.

Not knowing why it mattered (these things had never mattered before) he noticed her eye color: celadon. He helped her to sit up.

Aera shaded her eyes from the sun. To her his features appeared sharp, as if chiseled in stone. Stone held a more lively color than his pallor. She stared intently at him, eyes darting over his face and body. He looked back, without emotion. Her eyes narrowed. She dropped her hand and pushed hard against his left shoulder.

"What sort of creature are you? How it that you appear animate, yet have no evidence of natural life? When you became this so long ago what was the purpose of your transformation?"

"I an Kai, last of the Brunnen-G. Former assassin to His Divine Shadow. Participant in the destruction of the Light Universe. Protector of my shipmates. My animated appearance is the effect of the protoblood that was transfused into my body when it was needed to serve His Divine Shadow. Can you provide assistance to me to return to my ship, the Lexx?"

Aera avoided his stare. She looked around instead at the wreckage, the mountains in the far haze, the green plateau below, the rock cliffs near to them. She turned her face skyward, eyes closed, felt the warmth of the sun caress her lips. The morning's tingling dew had gone. The wind now held that cool moisture; to tease the hot skin with a promise of relief. She sighed and sorrow gripped her. Sorrow for herself, for her dead shipmates, for this undead, now defunct man.

She dropped her head and shook it as she spoke,"No, I am stranded here just as you are. My ship is useless for flight." Kai made no response.

She looked at the wreckage, hot tears distorted her sight. She blinked. A thought. A solution. A rescue.

"My ship still has a power source. It has not been used in some time. We could try to transmit a message. We should return immediately to my encampment."

She rose and motioned for Kai to follow her. Obeying Kai stood, than walked after her down the path. But he did not stay with her for long. Turning back she saw Kai shake, then slump toward the ground. In a blur of movement she was on him. Slapping him and shaking his shoulders.

"Pay attention", she yelled. "I'm not about to loose the only visitor I have had in over twelve seasons. You must send your voice on the beacon or they will not come. GET UP." She shook him until she was gasping. Damn, why is it never easy?

Grunting and cursing Aera dragged Kai's mass the last five meters to her gate. She leaned against it to catch her breath and noticed the sun just about to run away into the night. Soon the stars would arrive to laugh at her. Sweating and aching she opened the gate to the enclosure that kept out the night beasts. Once she had him inside, she dropped him, closed the gated, and turned to run to her wrecked ship. She tripped over Kai and went sprawling to the ground. Getting back up she walked over to Kai and gave him a good kick for all the trouble he had caused her. Then Aera ran to the ship.

"Augh!", she yelled in frustration. Twisting and pulling him in, she fell back on the floor as she dislodged him with one final lunge. She dragged him to the far wall and propped him up. Relieved that the task was done, she squeezed through another crevice into another cave in which a hot spring was bubbling.

Stripping off her clothes she sunk into the hot water. Every muscle ached and she hoped passionately that this had been all worth the effort.

Aera climbed out of the hot spring and dried off. She stepped out of the inner cave naked and was met by Kai's unwavering stare.

"Shouldn't you be resting or something?" She strode over to a small table and grabbed a bottle from it.

"You seem disturbed."

"You would be disturbed to if you had been alone for so long and the only humanoid that remotely
resembles your species shows up dead."

Pouring the orange liquid into a glass her mind raged. Dead. Useless. Tormented. Tormented? She whirled around to stare at Kai. If dead, then not tormented. If tormented, then not dead. Not useless. She
remembered the spark she had sensed earlier that day. But he must want. Must need. The want and need must be true for her to do anything about it. She could not do it alone this time. The tiny lumen had fallen to far into the death well. Too much risk. Life was risk. If no risk than no life. But he had risked; why did he claim to be dead? Could he want life?

She took a long slow sip. Stepping over to her sleep platform, she lifted a robe, that had once been a
thermal suit, and slipped it around her shoulders. She picked up the vessel to drink more all the while
watching Kai. All the while Kai stared back at her.

"You have a question?", she asked.

"What motivates you to help me return to the Lexx?"

"For a dead man you are certainly curious. Do you have friends on the ship?", She strained her eyes in the gloom to see any reaction. She turned on a small lamp and carried it over to the sitting Kai.

"They call me their friend. Stan has said we are a type of a family".

"My motivation is the hope that if I help you, your friends will look gratefully and kindly on me and
remove me from this planet." She sat down next to him and folded her legs under her. She reached across him to set the lamp down. She took another sip as she watched his eyes.

"Do you want to be alive?", she whispered as she leaned closer to him, never taking her eye off of
his face.

"The dead do no want". His matter of fact response.

She dismissed it with a wave of her hand.

"Yes, and the dead do not fart either but that has got nothing to do with answering my question. Do you want to be alive?", she asked again sitting back.

Kai remained silent.

Do I tell? If I tell will he believe? Does belief matter? I do not believe he is dead. His claim cannot
be validated as long as the spark remains. I must reach it.

"Is one of your friends female?"

"Yes, she is Xev. A love slave from B3K."

"Why do you associate with her if you can not use the services of a love slave?"

"I am helping her to find a good planet with men that will meet her needs."

"Would you like to be alive for her? Then you could meet her needs. I can make that happen."

"I do not know that to be the truth."

"Any other crew members that you call 'friend'?"

"There is Stan. Sometimes I protect him. The rest of the time he searches for sexual encounters with
women. I do not understand his motivation. He has said that we are a family."

"You could understand Stan's motivation if you were alive. You could even enjoy women and being part of a family. I can make that possible."

"That is not possible."

"I can make it possible. Consider this, Kai, last of the Brunnen-G, I am of the Ya Race. You know of
their skills and powers. I have detected a spark of life. A miniscule lumen of defiance. I almost brought it
out. But your belief that you were dead for so long prevented that. I almost lost myself retrieving it."

"The Ya were an ancient race that appeared in many folk tales and legends. Usually portrayed as gods,
their memory disappeared from lore long ago. No one knows if they actually existed."

"No one knows that the Brunnen-G ever existed", she retorted. "But I know your home world was in the
Dark Zone. I have been to your home world in my travels. How is it that you remember anything of the Ya?"

"When I killed the Divine Shadow I received all his memories. They awakened me to who I had been. I know what I am now. If you are a member of the Ya, how can you be stranded on this planet? The Ya could travel through space without the use of a vessel." Kai stated.

Aera burst out laughing, She patted Kai's hand. "Do not try to asses this situation. When it amuses
me, I will tell you how. That does not change anything concerning you. It is enough to say that I
experienced a symbiotic existence with many humanoids. The last one found herself in circumstances that angered the regime in power. She and others escaped. Enforcement forces pursued them, forcing them to flee. They crashed here."

"Then in sending the signal to the Lexx you may have exposed yourself to discovery by your enemies."

"Listen to me Kai, last of the Brunnen-G. Think carefully on what I tell you. Your protoblood is almost gone. There is no certainty the the Lexx will receive the signal. If they do they will bring protoblood. You will be rescued. I may even get off the planet and back to some kind of comfortable civilization. But then they may not find you. I have the knowledge and ability to make you alive. You are no good to me dead. You are no good to your friends if you are not in a cryochamber, or functioning with protoblood. Alive you will not need a cryochamber. Alive you will not be trapped in oblivion. Choose Kai. Nonexistence or life. If you are gone, will your friends have a protector? Will your friends experience the pain of your loss? Will Xev find a suitable man? Why don't YOU be that man? Will Stan share his friendship with you? Choose now Kai. I can let you slip into to oblivion or I can give a gift that the Divine Shadow took away. This would be the ultimate victory over what he has made you." As she spoke her voice became more excited and faster. Kai tried to comprehend the motivation behind her offer. She grabbed his shoulders and stared intently into his face. "Choose Kai, now , while you are able."

Kai Alive (page 5) (Disclaimer here)

Kai did consider her emotional words. They somehow made sense. Since he had opened his eyes on this planet he was different. He FELT different. Could this be because she had touched something in him? He felt the weakness that came before the loss of a protoblood burst.

"Will you make this body alive?", he asked laboriously.

Victory! Area put her hands around Kai's neck. "I can fashion you a body with my remaining skills. If you like, we can carry the carbonized body to a higher elevation. There is a ice cave there. If you do not enjoy being alive, I can undo this and put everything as it was."

She brought her forehead to touch Kai's. "You will be as alive as you can be. You will experience pain. You will experience sensation. You will feel emotions again. You will have your memories, and only yours. All others will be silenced. I will guide you and teach you. You will be alive as long as I remain alive."

"I have not experienced pain in six thousand years."

"Pain and pleasure are part of living. You cannot escape either." She sat back and reached for the glass she had set down next to Kai. Looking over the rim at Kai as she drank she hoped he could choose.

Kai's speech came haltingly. Each word was a strain punctuated with coughs and groans. "You... will... make... me... alive".

Aera could not tell if this was a question or command.

Aera took Kai's hands in hers. It had been a long time since she had brought life into this universe. She knew that this would be her last. The memory of the earlier search made her hesitate. Caution. Fear. Resolve. Calm breath. Then--no breath. The knowledge of the old ways came back to her with comfortable familiarity. She slipped free of the body: dissolved into the conscious eddies of the universe. Safe, she felt. Then she dove fast and unthinking, as a hunting bird would dive for prey. Dove to the quiet, defiant lumen where life could be found. Make the making for the physical. Make the making for the spirit.

"Come tiny baby, we will journey on an adventure such that you have never witnessed before". Aera reached for the lumen. Ignite! Burn! Fuse! She guided it toward something new. Time to cross the barrier with the fresh light. Just one more push. Grunt. Strain. Shove. Then--OUT.

In the snap of an instant she was back in her body. Not time to rest. Shaking and weak she looked around for the new thing. There, to her right. She rose and began to drag the body to the hot spring. More shoving, pushing, cursing. Finally at the edge of the spring she rolled the body in. Down it went into the warm water. Entering the spring herself, her mind reached into the new thing. Time to wake up.

"Wake up Baby".

A convulsion racked the body. Kai knew that something was wrong. Kai had taken a breath but no air came into his lungs. Something warm and heavy and wet was smothering him. He jabbed out. Something warm filled him. Up. Go up. He was not sure of the direction. Trying to breath again, he could not. Panic took hold. He flayed his arms, kicked his legs, tried to shout. Then he felt a push. A presence. His body was being moved. He saw light.

Aera had pushed Kai up to the surface. She surfaced and waited. With a last terrified lunge Kai broke the surface of the water. Suck in a raw breath. Gulped water. Spit. Gasp. Gulp. He drew in a long raspy breath. His hand caught the side of the spring. He held on panting ferociously. Aera moved toward him.

Water streaming from his nose and ears Kai tried to peer at her with eyes that would not focus. He felt her touch and recoiled. Realizing that the sensation was not painful he relaxed a little. Aera came close to him and put her arms around his neck. He felt her flesh against his in the warm water. He blew out a strong gasp. Then a sigh. He swallowed. He was dizzy and overwhelmed. He fell back into the spring but Aera was there to guide him. She reached for his face and held it still as she stared into his eyes, now full of the light he had carried hidden for so long. Hidden so deep.

 "Happy Birthday", she said and laughed.

 --- lux delen <luxilluminata@yahoo.comwrote:

Kai Alive (Page 6) (Disclaimer here)

 Page 6 can be continued by anyone. That is the fun.

My outline to continue the story:

1. Kai encounters strange sensations adjusting to life. Aera amused, guides him. i.e.: first food, sensation (slightly drunk) on Aera's orange liquor, first trip to the bathroom, first cut while assisting Aera do something, first realization of mortality.

2. Kai falls into daily routine with Aera. He has been there almost two weeks. He wakes in the middle of the night with a strange pain. Like a hunger. He goes to Aera's bed to wake her. He is puzzled. She says he is just horny. They have sex.

3. The Lexx receives the message. They begin back to the planet.

4. Enforcers for the planetary government that Aera annoyed also pick up the signal. Recognize it as coming from one of their transmitters. They go to find it.

5. Xev and Stan finally arrive. In a jealous rage Xev tries to kill Aera. Kai cannot stop her because he is only flesh and blood and is no match for a cluster lizard hybrid.

6. Kai stops Xev by telling her that he cannot exist if Area is dead. His "life" and "body" are maintained by her life energy. Kai convinces her that he loves her. They skip off to get to know each other.

7. Aera tells Stan that she could love him. She asks that she be taken off the planet. She has sex with Stan.

8. Kai and Xev have sex.

9. Time to depart planet for the Lexx. Kai retrieves carbonized body, has Xev fly it to the Lexx, put it in cryopod, then comeback.

10. While Xev is gone evil enforcers arrive. Take Aera and Stan captive. Kai arrives to help but has no assassin tools. He almost gets shot in cross fire. Aera pushes him out of the line of fire and is shot.

11. Xev returns. Makes mush out of evil enforcers. Stan and Kai grieve over Dead Aera. (Yes, Jim, she really is dead)

12. Xev, Kai, and Stan return to Lexx. Joyous reunion for 790. Kai sits on bridge somewhat pensive. Muses on what being alive has given him and cost him. (time for philosophy)

13. Xev gives her sympathy (time for more philosophy)

14. 790 recites all the poems he composed while Kai was lost. (no philosophy here but lots of vulgar and perverted verses)

15. Kai realizes he must return what is left of the life force from Aera to his carbonized body. He could only be alive as long as she was because she sustained him through her life force. He makes it back to cryopod just in time to dissolve into a pretty fireworks display that gets into the carbonized body.

16. Xev finds out she is PREGNANT!!!

17. Stan gives his philosophy to Kai, "You should have quit while you were the dead".

Happy travels,

Lux