She heard Dave grumble at Ellyan, "You'll always be an exy, no matter what you carve yourself up to look like. There used to be six billion of us, but thanks to your kind we're almost extinct!"
"And you'll always be a freak, even with your fellow humans," Ellyan responded. "You know I never supported the genocide, and you'd better get used to my company because I'm the only one that'll know how to use the key... if your overgrown kitty can find it."
Suddenly, Sasha feared she could not find it. She stopped and sniffed the ground where she thought she had seen it left, but it was gone. Did she remember wrong? Was there a short in her brain-implants? Her whiskers twitched as she smelled the dirt again, scratching at random areas with her large, furry paw. Her uncomfortable artifial voice-box rattled as she said, "I don't understand. I know this is where it was. You have to believe me."
Dave ran his hand down Sasha's muscular, striped back. "I believe you. The flaggers probably found it. They have a band hiding out in Old Las Vegas." In the dim light of the early morning Sasha looked out across the desert at the large abandoned buildings that, it was said, used to be hotels and casinos. Her grandfather once performed there in wild animal shows. There was no movement right now.
Ellyan stepped between them and said, "We better get back underground. It'll be light soon." Now that Ellyan's scars were healed she could almost pass for a human, although Sasha wasn't sure that was a good thing.
The extraterrestrial, the mutant, and the tiger walked quickly back to the dugout, looking every direction for flaggers. Those pirates roamed the great basin on motorcycles and dune buggies, looking for lone travelers to loot so that their valuables could be sold to survivors in Old Los Angeles and the mountains.
In the dugout, someone unexpected waited for them.
--Argus Skyhawk
"I've been waiting for you," a light airy voice greeted them. Ellyan, Dave, and Sasha moved slowly into their home. A slight figure stood before them. The girl stood up from where she had been sitting. Her sliver eyes seemed to glow with an inner light. Her golden hair hung to her shoulders and seemed to have its own mind. A black suit coverd her frame.
"Who are you?" Dave questioned.
The girl smiled. "I can help you," she answered.
--Coco
The girl approached the doorway, coming into brighter light. Sasha could see her clearly now. The girl's pupils were slitted rather than round, and she had long, clawlike fingernails. The girl opened her mouth to speak, showing a set of sharp cuspids. This girl was a felinoid mutant, like Dave.
"I have some information you need." said the girl. "Something concerning the whereabouts of a key."
"Where is it?" asked Ellyan anxiously.
The girl laughed mischeviously. "Nothing's free." she said. "I'll make you a deal. I'll tell you where to find it for a mere ten gold chips."
"How about we make you a deal?" barked Dave, extending his claws. "You show us where the key is and maybe we'll let you live."
"That was a mistake." snarled the girl. "Vrok!"
Sasha suddenly heard thunderous footsteps approaching from behind them.
--Bearcat
"Who's Vrok?", Dave asked. at that momment Sasha turned around to face her enemy.
--Wraith1982@aol.com
"Vrok is my dear brother and protector. You'd better call your kitty off. Our negotiations will go so much better if Vrok doesn't have to kill anyone," the girl advised.
"Tia, what want?" Vrok asked. His huge body blocked the feeble light as he strode into the small dugout. His brutish face shone with adoration for his sister.
"I need you here. I want you to convince them that bargaining would be a good idea," Tia smiled and patted his arm. Vrok turned to look at Sasha, who was circling him.
"Here kitty kitty. Vrok wants to play," Vrok crooked a finger at Sasha. She lunged at him, he sent her flying away with one sweep of an enormously strong hand. Sasha hit the wall and fell to the floor, stunned. Dave rushed over to her.
"Are you ready to deal with us? Or do you need another demonstration of the fact that I have the advantage?" Tia asked.
"We'll deal," Ellyan stepped between Tia and a furious Dave.
--Coco
"So what is it that you want?" Ellyan asked.
--Wraith1982@aol.com
Tia cracked a mischievous grin, staring coldly at Ellyan. "I would have settled for the ten chips, however, due to the entirely uncalled-for antics of your overeager colleagues, my price has risen somewhat."
Dave and Sasha snarled in unison.
"How much do you want?" asked Ellyan, calmly.
"How much you got?" grunted Vrok, his naively toned cliché confirming Sasha's suspicion that his IQ contained less than two digits.
Tia raised a firm hand, and Vrok silenced, hanging his head slightly. Tia turned back to Ellyan and spoke again. "I'm afraid money won't be enough. You see, I know the great potential the key has, and I want a share in it."
"What can you know of the key?" asked Ellyan. "My people have never allowed outsiders that information."
Tia laughed. "We 'outsiders' aren't as stupid as you might assume. I know that . . ."
"Wait, listen . . ." said Ellyan, cutting Tia off. She leaned cautiously through the doorway, as though trying to hear some faint sound more clearly. Her alien ears were superior to those of earthlings, human, mutant, or beast. "It's the hunters!"
Sasha's powerful muscles tensed with alertness. Ellyan's people, the Dratham, sent out hunting parties from time to time to eliminate any survivors of the genocide. They were crack troops, well trained in guerilla warfare, and armed to the teeth with high-tech instruments of havoc wreaking.
Dave stood up, claws still bared. "Can you see their ship yet?"
Ellyan peered off into the distance. "Yes, it looks like it's headed for Old Las Vegas."
"I know a place to hide, the hunters have never found us there." said Tia.
Dave sneered. "Why should we trust you? Besides, we've always managed to evade the hunters, we don't need your help."
"Yes we do, Dave." replied Ellyan. "Unless you want to give up all hope of ever being rid of the Dratham Empire." Ellyan turned and faced Tia again. "Take us there . . . but this had better not be a trick."
"I don't think you're in any place to make threats." replied Tia, patting Vrok's muscle-bound arm. "But you need not worry, I would not pass up such a mutually profitable opportunity for the morbid pleasure of killing the three of you." Tia and Vrok quietly exited the dugout, motioning for the others to follow them.
Sasha rose quickly to her feet, trotting after the humanoids into the desert. They moved quickly, trudging over several large dunes before Tia and Vrok finally stopped.
Sasha watched as Vrok stepped carefully onto a certain spot and disappeared, suddenly sinking into the sand. Tia looked back at Ellyan, Dave, and Sasha, then followed her brother. Ellyan cautiously followed their example, as did Dave, though seeming a little reluctant. Last in line, Sasha stepped onto the spot.
Suddenly, she was sliding down a dark, spiraling tunnel. Deeper,
deeper, and deeper still she slid, finally landing on a soft pad of
sand. Sasha looked up, seeing Dave, Ellyan, Tia, Vrok, and beyond them,
a huge, dimly lit cavern. She stood, fully alert and ready to defend
herself and her friends when she saw a crowd of hundreds of felinoids
coming toward them.
--Bald Locust ( kunra@usa.net )
Ellyan, Dave, and Sasha stared in wonder at the crowd. Dave had never dreamed that so many felinoids like himself existed. "What is this place? Who are you people?" he whispered to Tia.
"We are the Tribe of Iris, and we've come to the outskirts of Old Las Vegas to claim our destiny." She turned to her brother. "Vrok, show our guests to the empty quarters at the other side of the main hall. They can sleep there tonight if the Hunters are still around then. I doubt they brought their gold with them so they will have to pay us tomorrow."
The threesome followed Vrok through the crowd. Many smiled at the sight of Dave, and some whispered exitedly, "It's another one of us!"
Small tunnel openings filled the wall of the far end of the cavern, and Vrok gestured for them to enter one. They stepped through into a small room with several cots and shabby blankets. "You sleep here tonight," Vrok grunted.
In the meantime, Dave left to wander around the cavern, hoping to learn more about their hosts. Sasha and Ellyan, feeling quite out of place among the felinoids, waited in the room and quietly discussed what Tia may have meant by the words "claim our destiny." They concluded that they simply did not know.
Before long, they heard a loud voice echoing through the main cavern. On a balcony, an elderly male felinoid stood between Tia and Vrok, speaking to the crowd below. "My people! I am delighted to announce that my son and daughter have returned successful. They have found those who will exchange gold for an item we have. This exchange will bring us closer to our goals."
Cheers echoed through the cavern.
"My people!" he continued. "For years, the humans and the Dratham have fought for control of the Earth. Nevertheless, they will both fail. The future leaders of our world will be us: The People of Iris!"
--Argus Skyhawk
Dave took a seat on a small boulder and watched the young cat people at play. The image seemed to blur into an abstract as his mind began to wander reflectively through his memories. Prior to that day, he had no recollection of any contact with another of his species. He had always thought of himself as a rarity, a "freak," as Ellyan so tactfully put it. Now things appeared to be changing, almost too suddenly to seem real. Dave felt a strange combination of joy, amazement, and shock at the day's discovery.
"Excuse me, sir." said a soft, timid voice from behind Dave. He turned to see a young female felinoid, close to his own age, he supposed. Her friendly, sparkling eyes looked shyly at him. Dave had little experience in rating the appearances of his own people, but he thought the girl to be quite lovely.
"Hello." replied Dave, unsure of what else to say.
"Salutations, sir!" said the girl, cheerfully. "If I may inquire, sir, are you not the newcomer from outside?"
Dave hesitated a moment. "Well, yes I suppose that would be me. News travels fast around here."
The girl smiled, showing her ivory-white teeth. "We are a small Tribe, sir."
Dave nodded. "I see. What might your name be?"
The girl blushed slightly. "I am Chenoa, sir. Daughter of Verano and Trellya."
"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is David, but my friends call me Dave. By the way, you don't have to call me 'sir,' just Dave will do fine."
"I may call you Dave?"
"Sure, why not?"
"I do not know why not. Why?"
"Forget it."
"Very well, Dave. I wish to ask you, might you perhaps come from one of the other Tribes?"
Dave's eyes widened suddenly. He stared at the girl. "Other Tribes?"
--BaldLocust ( kunra@usa.net )
"Chenoa!" Tia's voice interrupted, "What are you doing?"
"I'm just talking to Dave, ma'am," Chenoa whispered.
"About what?" Tia demanded.
"Nothing."
"Then you won't mind going and finishing your assignment will you?" Tia's eyes glowed with suppressed anger.
"Right away ma'am." Chenoa slipped quietly away. Tia watched her with slitted eyes.
"What is your problem?" Dave asked.
"You," Tia hotly replied.
"Tia, behave," a male voice commanded. Dave and Tia turned to see the elderly male that had spoken earlier.
"Yes father," Tia meekly replied.
"Please come with me, I need to talk to you," the elderly man asked
Dave.
--Coco Bohemienne
The old man took a seat and Dave was offered some cushions in front of him. The old one's eyes studied him intensely as drinks were passed around and servants waved off. They drank for several rounds with no conversation, then seeming to finally come to a decision, the old one spoke.
"I am Toldar, Leader of the Tribe of Iris."
Dave could still feel the weight of the old one's stare. He could smell the caution on him, but not fear. Not from one such as him.
"My daughter informs me that you know the location of the key we seek." Dave smiled.
"I was under the impression that SHE knew where the key was sir." Toldar nodded, a humous glint in his eyes.
"A minor subterfuge on our part. Forgive me, never the less we have great need of the device you seek.:
Dave tasted the drink. Fermented applejuice, he believed it was called hard cider. I was warm and quite relaxing going down.
"My friends and I have our own need for the key. We might be able to correct all that's wrong here and send the Dratham back to their sector of space." Toldar smiled, as if placating a small child.
"It is a noble thing you seek, this righting of wrongs as you see it, such is the curse of youth. Allow me to offer you another choice." Dave was curious.
"You've looked around. There are a hundred of us here, Thousands more out in the desert, all fighting. Humans, Dratham, each other, the key in my possesion could correct this. With it I can unite the tribes, save our people, your people."
He had to admit he was intrigued with the idea. He did not sense evil, or even ego in the old man. He sincerely wanted to help his people. The problem was he and his friends had searched long and hard all these years for the key for their own reasons.
"I will discuss your offer with my friends and inform you of our decision in the morning." Teldar bowed.
"I can ask no more." he said.
Ellyan sat on the floor of the cave. She had extended herself, hundreds of tiny roots were seeking nourishment in the dark wet soil. The rush of energy told her she'd been successful. The cat people passed the chamber casting the occasional glance in her direction. They'd been suspicious since the group arrived. She couldn't blame them. After all, her people had laid waste to their planet. She fought back the memories of an earlier time, prior to her meeting the companions. It was shortly after being cast out for helping the human family. They were starving and she couldn't help herself.
She remembered the shame of being cast out like a sore that refused to heal, the terror of being persued by both humans and Dratham. She remembered her first meeting with Dave an Sasha. She had given up, was suffering from pesticide poisoning layed by humans in an effort to stop her people's advance. She was lying, weakened in a cornfield when Dave and Sasha found her.
--Delano Lomas
Sasha did not enjoy the night they spent in the felinoids' cave. Tigers were instinctively solitary creatures; being near hundreds of people made her terribly ill at ease. During the night she started nervously awake a dozen times.
Early the following morning Tia called into the room. "Rise and shine my friends! The hunters are gone and the key awaits! You need to hurry back to your dugout to pack."
"Pack?" growled Sasha. "What for?"
"It will take at least two days to reach the key. Bring your guns; if we don't run into flaggers on the way there, we will when we arrive."
Sasha did not like the sound of that. "Do you mean the flaggers have the key?"
"Tsk tsk tsk. I'm not answering that question until I see at least twenty gold chips. Payment, remember?"
"We can only give you fifteen," said Dave. "You saw our dugout. You could see we're not rich."
"If your Exy friend can..."
"We are called Dratham," Ellyan angrily interjected.
"If your Dratham friend can really operate the key when we find it, we will settle for fifteen. If not, twenty. Have your clothes, weapons, and gold pieces back here by noon. Vrok and I will take you to our destination in an old truck that the tribe has kept in good repair."
Tia showed them to the cave's exit. As they walked back to the dugout, Sasha grumbled, "I'll bet she saw the flaggers steal the key. I wonder if she followed them to a hideout. Perhaps it's the one in the Rocky Mountains where I used to live."
A kind man, the last surviving descendant of a Las Vegas animal trainer, raised a tiger cub, the last surviving descendant of the trainer's creatures, amid the ruins of Las Vegas until the flaggers invaded. The flaggers were human survivors, pirates that roamed the continent.
They killed the man, looted the casinos, and carried the tigress away to a hideout in the former Colorado wilderness. There they performed their cultish rituals involving bats and human sacrifices. They considerred the tiger a mascot of sorts but, unsure of how to handle her, they kept her chained in a basement for several years straight. Eventually a leader, drunk and high, stumbled out of one of the flaggers' orgiastic parties and unlocked the animal.
She fled into the forest until she was caught by the hunters and taken to the Dratham community on the west coast. Dratham researchers performed countless painful experiments on her and other earth animals. Finally curious about her ability to cope with increased intelligence, they equipped her with brain implants and a speech-empowering voice box.
They had not expected how effective the implants would be. With her now genius-level mental capacities, she escaped from the Dratham scientists. Traveling eastward, she joined another homeless wanderer, Dave. Eventually she adopted the name Sasha; she just liked the sound of it.
--Argus Skyhawk
What happens next? You decide. Write a sentence, write a paragraph then send it to me and I will add it to the story.
The picture above was obtained with permission from The Tiger Archives.
