"2568-23" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jerome Bigge - Warlady 6 - In Harms Way)"IN HARM'S WAY" AN ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Robert J. Simmons Chapter Twenty Three "You sent for me?" I said, seeing Tais nod and smile in re- turn. The "attire" of the First Priestess utterly different than usual! The sky was cloudy, the drum roll of the thunder audible. No doubt the good people of Arsana were cursing this change in the weather, although its "cause" was the woman there before me, a sort of strange looking device like a door frame behind her. I recalled the descriptions I'd read of the mysterious "Portal" used by the Women of Mars to travel between the Moon and their own world. I recalled what Lorraine had said of the device, what Aurora had hoped to be able to "do" with it before the Priestess- es suddenly decided to take matters into their own hands back in 2566 A.D. Aurora having told Lorraine that there was another al- ien race in the solar system, beings who she had dubbed the "Oth- ers", these beings being the ones who had invented The Portal. I wondered if there was any "truth" to these claims. Tais didn't think so, saying that the Priestesses weren't "aware" of anyone.* * I believe from what has occurred that the Priestesses of Lys of a future era are themselves the "Others". I now believe that in a future era they will refine the "Gateways" to the point that they can travel back and forth in time to earlier eras with a "means" of traveling about, perhaps using much modified Lorr sau- cers. It is noteworthy that the Lorr themselves observed "flying saucers" from time to time that they couldn't "explain" either... Aurora's own "comments" to Darlanis do indicate something else! There are no doubt "paradoxes" in "time travel", I believe now... "I have received permission to establish a permanent `Gate- way' in time between `here' and your own era," Tais smiled back. That explained her clothing, the short leather skirt and attrac- tive matching leather jacket. I suspected she was a decade "ear- ly" in her choice of styles, but it didn't matter all that much. "This will allow us to carry out certain `studies' that would be otherwise impossible given the nature of time travel as it is..." "I didn't think there could be such a thing as a `permanent Gateway' in time," I said looking at the device, recalling what she'd told me earlier when we'd spent a week back in 1991 waiting for her books to come in at the public library there in Seaside. "We have made a `technological break-through'," she smiled. I supposed that was possible. The Priestesses are "scientific" in their thinking. They take very little on "faith" as such. I suppose too the fact that they knew not "love" had its effects... "Isn't there a danger of `effecting things'?" I asked Tais. "A certain degree of `caution' will be in order of course," Tais smiled back, the crash of the thunder audible now even here in the great Temple of Lys. "That is why I wish to use your home as our base in your time," the First Priestess said to me then... "Getting `used' to this now," I said to Tais, the First Priestess giving me a smile as I slid open the glass patio door. There in the clearing behind us the pile of equipment that had been sent through time with us to be set up in our utility room. Part of the equipment was a transformer that Tais would hook up to the house's power supply, although the main source of "power" would be still six centuries in the future! The Priestess in her stylish leather attire looking little different than any woman of this era, Tais being a striking blonde any man would "notice"... She does remind me considerably of Shannon Tweed in her "looks". "Shouldn't take more than a couple hours to hook things up," Tais smiled back. She had the "idioms" of the Twentieth Century down pretty good now, having spent a week with Carol and me here in this time the last time we'd been here. I considered her "competent" at what she did, although the Priestesses' "reaction" to the EVIL ONE hadn't indicated that they were "infallible"... "Two hundred and forty volts is nothing to play with," I said, Tais nodding, giving me a smile as we walked towards the utility room there at the end of the mostly underground house. I supposed she knew what she was doing. Neither of us had given any thought to the "fact" that Man is not "alone" in the solar system. Tais had said that there was no way that anyone of this time could detect the operation of a "Portal", or of a "Gateway" for that matter. On the other hand neither of us had thought of the Lorr there on Mars, or of their lovely feminine Servitors. Or of the "fact" that we could be very "altering things" here... "It will `do'," Tais said, giving me a smile as she looked about. I nodded, hoping she "knew" what she was doing here now. "Be careful," I said, holding the flashlight, Tais nodding. I was careful not to touch her, her own leather soled boots per- haps giving her some protection should she short out the circuit. It had been hard work setting up the Portal, and I was well aware of the "fact" that Tais didn't smell all that "holy" right now... She had wisely followed my "suggestion" to wear Carol's clothing. She didn't look bad either in a pair of cut offs and a pull over. "I don't want to stand before Lys quite yet," she breathed. "Do you actually believe in all that stuff?" I asked her. "The `reality of Lys' is without `doubt'," Tais answered. "Is that `you' or a `Priestess' talking," I challenged her. "Me," she replied, twisting the "hot" wire around the screw. "Probably be pretty `hard' being the First Priestess if you didn't." Tais now tightening the connection down as I spoke. I wondered if the Pope believed in all the bullshit he talked here. Tais says that Christianity was "founded" by men with sexual hang ups. By men who "lacked" something "vital". I think it is true. On the other hand the Priestesses themselves shouldn't talk here! "I would think after your `experiences' that you'd believe," Tais smiled, closing the panel box. I knew that there was an "EVIL ONE", having met "Him" myself, but all the rest of the mum- bo jumbo that the Priestesses "preached" there in their Temples?? "I believe in you," I said, taking her by the arms, looking into those beautiful azure eyes. "I trust what you say is true." "There's a certain amount of `illusion' in what we `do', but the major tenets of what we teach is the Truth," she answered me. "The very history of our organization is proof of `what' we are." "It works," Tais said, a shimmering glow forming between the frame. She stepped forward, poked a stick into the warp field, the stick itself suddenly "cut off" as part of it now appeared six centuries and fifteen hundred miles away from here! I won- dered how much "power" the device was drawing to work. The light had "dimmed" noticeably when the Portal was turned on, I'd seen. "You're pulling a lot of power," I pointed out to her then. "About a hundred amps," the First Priestess smiled in reply. "We're going to have to have the power company put in anoth- er line then," I said, well aware that Tais was drawing electric power to the point that we might soon be in trouble otherwise... "We should be all right for the time being," she smiled. "It wouldn't `be' what you expect," Tais smiled, her azure eyes glowing into mine as she stood there dripping wet before me. The black string bikini didn't really "conceal" that much either. I had no doubts either that she had "read" my thoughts just then. "You're still a beautiful woman even if you aren't," I said. "There are certain `advantages' in being as I am," she said, sitting down on the beach blanket beside me, the gentle breeze now rippling the still waters of the little lake there before us. "I'm sure Carol would `agree' with that," I laughed in turn. "Tais," I said, looking over at her as she laid there beside me, her golden hair drying in the sunlight that peeked through the leaves overhead. Her beautiful azure eyes turning to me... "Yes!" she said, her eyes suddenly glowing hot! I knew she had read the thoughts in my mind. Understood what I understood!! The "Others" had existed, and we both knew just "who" they were!! "We have to turn the Portal off!" she cried, springing to her feet! I remembered what Lorraine had said to me. What Auro- ra had told her! That the "Others" had "left" a Portal on Earth! That over a period of centuries they had finally made it "work"!! Tais was far ahead of me before we reached the house, the First Priestess moving in great bounds that carried her a dozen feet at a time. I knew that the Priestesses, at least some of them possessed superhuman physical powers, but this was the first time I'd seen such powers in operation! The silvery disc there in the clearing on its three landing struts left no doubts now!!! "They are inside," Tais hissed as I came gasping up, Tais herself panting for breath from her own two hundred yard sprint. "Can you `locate' them?" I asked, well aware that Tais' did have the power to detect the thoughts of others, hopefully even those of the Lorr and their lovely feminine Servitors, who were the Women of Mars back in the 26th Century now. I was also aware of the "fact" that we dared not use lethal force for fear of al- tering the future, although there was much less likelihood of any danger here due to the fact these people were not of the Earth... "They are in the utility room," Tais answered me back. "We need to take them by surprise," I said to her. "That should not be too difficult," Tais smiled back. "Just `hold' it right there, `ladies'," I said, holding my .30-30 at my hip. I didn't dare "use" it, but they wouldn't of course know that. Tais had my .38 Smith & Wesson on the Lorr, as "ugly" a thing as you'd ever want to look at. They do look like a carpenter ant "scaled" up about a hundred and fifty times. The three women in their silvery jumpsuits standing there, each glancing at each other. All three were light haired, white skinned. Their attire well displaying their figures beneath it. Tais says that they probably were from Leith, which lies hidden in the Sierras somewhere to the south of the "site" of Shalimar. "Step to one side," Tais snapped, a firm tone of "authority" in her voice despite the fact that she was still nearly naked... "We wish you no harm, but we will kill if forced to do so," she added, edging around towards the still operating Portal, I fol- lowing her, keeping the Winchester aimed towards the three women. "You are `not' of this world?" the Lorr asked, the speaker mounted between its antennae repeating its radio speech in words. Its compound eyes like multifaceted jewels in that awful head as it turned its head, the light bulb above it well illuminating it. It stood between our washer and driver, some ten feet in length, perhaps a third of that in height. I can understand why people "freaked out" when they encountered the Lorr. They are "ALIEN"!! "We are `visitors'," Tais answered, beckoning to me now. I thought of the "mysteries" of time travel, of the "fact" that the Women would eventually figure out how to "work" this "Portal" in centuries to come. I wondered if one of these women here was the distant ancestor of Aurora, who was the true mother of Darlanis!! "The man is `human', you are `not'," the Lorr replied then. I recalled that these creatures had a "radar" sense along with the normal five senses that human beings had. I suspected that the Lorr had detected something about Tais that wasn't "human"... "You go first, I'll follow," Tais ordered, standing there. I did as she ordered, the .30-30 still clutched in my hand, my only "attire" the swim briefs I'd worn here in the 20th Century. "IN HARM'S WAY" AN ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Robert J. Simmons Chapter Twenty Three "You sent for me?" I said, seeing Tais nod and smile in re- turn. The "attire" of the First Priestess utterly different than usual! The sky was cloudy, the drum roll of the thunder audible. No doubt the good people of Arsana were cursing this change in the weather, although its "cause" was the woman there before me, a sort of strange looking device like a door frame behind her. I recalled the descriptions I'd read of the mysterious "Portal" used by the Women of Mars to travel between the Moon and their own world. I recalled what Lorraine had said of the device, what Aurora had hoped to be able to "do" with it before the Priestess- es suddenly decided to take matters into their own hands back in 2566 A.D. Aurora having told Lorraine that there was another al- ien race in the solar system, beings who she had dubbed the "Oth- ers", these beings being the ones who had invented The Portal. I wondered if there was any "truth" to these claims. Tais didn't think so, saying that the Priestesses weren't "aware" of anyone.* * I believe from what has occurred that the Priestesses of Lys of a future era are themselves the "Others". I now believe that in a future era they will refine the "Gateways" to the point that they can travel back and forth in time to earlier eras with a "means" of traveling about, perhaps using much modified Lorr sau- cers. It is noteworthy that the Lorr themselves observed "flying saucers" from time to time that they couldn't "explain" either... Aurora's own "comments" to Darlanis do indicate something else! There are no doubt "paradoxes" in "time travel", I believe now... "I have received permission to establish a permanent `Gate- way' in time between `here' and your own era," Tais smiled back. That explained her clothing, the short leather skirt and attrac- tive matching leather jacket. I suspected she was a decade "ear- ly" in her choice of styles, but it didn't matter all that much. "This will allow us to carry out certain `studies' that would be otherwise impossible given the nature of time travel as it is..." "I didn't think there could be such a thing as a `permanent Gateway' in time," I said looking at the device, recalling what she'd told me earlier when we'd spent a week back in 1991 waiting for her books to come in at the public library there in Seaside. "We have made a `technological break-through'," she smiled. I supposed that was possible. The Priestesses are "scientific" in their thinking. They take very little on "faith" as such. I suppose too the fact that they knew not "love" had its effects... "Isn't there a danger of `effecting things'?" I asked Tais. "A certain degree of `caution' will be in order of course," Tais smiled back, the crash of the thunder audible now even here in the great Temple of Lys. "That is why I wish to use your home as our base in your time," the First Priestess said to me then... "Getting `used' to this now," I said to Tais, the First Priestess giving me a smile as I slid open the glass patio door. There in the clearing behind us the pile of equipment that had been sent through time with us to be set up in our utility room. Part of the equipment was a transformer that Tais would hook up to the house's power supply, although the main source of "power" would be still six centuries in the future! The Priestess in her stylish leather attire looking little different than any woman of this era, Tais being a striking blonde any man would "notice"... She does remind me considerably of Shannon Tweed in her "looks". "Shouldn't take more than a couple hours to hook things up," Tais smiled back. She had the "idioms" of the Twentieth Century down pretty good now, having spent a week with Carol and me here in this time the last time we'd been here. I considered her "competent" at what she did, although the Priestesses' "reaction" to the EVIL ONE hadn't indicated that they were "infallible"... "Two hundred and forty volts is nothing to play with," I said, Tais nodding, giving me a smile as we walked towards the utility room there at the end of the mostly underground house. I supposed she knew what she was doing. Neither of us had given any thought to the "fact" that Man is not "alone" in the solar system. Tais had said that there was no way that anyone of this time could detect the operation of a "Portal", or of a "Gateway" for that matter. On the other hand neither of us had thought of the Lorr there on Mars, or of their lovely feminine Servitors. Or of the "fact" that we could be very "altering things" here... "It will `do'," Tais said, giving me a smile as she looked about. I nodded, hoping she "knew" what she was doing here now. "Be careful," I said, holding the flashlight, Tais nodding. I was careful not to touch her, her own leather soled boots per- haps giving her some protection should she short out the circuit. It had been hard work setting up the Portal, and I was well aware of the "fact" that Tais didn't smell all that "holy" right now... She had wisely followed my "suggestion" to wear Carol's clothing. She didn't look bad either in a pair of cut offs and a pull over. "I don't want to stand before Lys quite yet," she breathed. "Do you actually believe in all that stuff?" I asked her. "The `reality of Lys' is without `doubt'," Tais answered. "Is that `you' or a `Priestess' talking," I challenged her. "Me," she replied, twisting the "hot" wire around the screw. "Probably be pretty `hard' being the First Priestess if you didn't." Tais now tightening the connection down as I spoke. I wondered if the Pope believed in all the bullshit he talked here. Tais says that Christianity was "founded" by men with sexual hang ups. By men who "lacked" something "vital". I think it is true. On the other hand the Priestesses themselves shouldn't talk here! "I would think after your `experiences' that you'd believe," Tais smiled, closing the panel box. I knew that there was an "EVIL ONE", having met "Him" myself, but all the rest of the mum- bo jumbo that the Priestesses "preached" there in their Temples?? "I believe in you," I said, taking her by the arms, looking into those beautiful azure eyes. "I trust what you say is true." "There's a certain amount of `illusion' in what we `do', but the major tenets of what we teach is the Truth," she answered me. "The very history of our organization is proof of `what' we are." "It works," Tais said, a shimmering glow forming between the frame. She stepped forward, poked a stick into the warp field, the stick itself suddenly "cut off" as part of it now appeared six centuries and fifteen hundred miles away from here! I won- dered how much "power" the device was drawing to work. The light had "dimmed" noticeably when the Portal was turned on, I'd seen. "You're pulling a lot of power," I pointed out to her then. "About a hundred amps," the First Priestess smiled in reply. "We're going to have to have the power company put in anoth- er line then," I said, well aware that Tais was drawing electric power to the point that we might soon be in trouble otherwise... "We should be all right for the time being," she smiled. "It wouldn't `be' what you expect," Tais smiled, her azure eyes glowing into mine as she stood there dripping wet before me. The black string bikini didn't really "conceal" that much either. I had no doubts either that she had "read" my thoughts just then. "You're still a beautiful woman even if you aren't," I said. "There are certain `advantages' in being as I am," she said, sitting down on the beach blanket beside me, the gentle breeze now rippling the still waters of the little lake there before us. "I'm sure Carol would `agree' with that," I laughed in turn. "Tais," I said, looking over at her as she laid there beside me, her golden hair drying in the sunlight that peeked through the leaves overhead. Her beautiful azure eyes turning to me... "Yes!" she said, her eyes suddenly glowing hot! I knew she had read the thoughts in my mind. Understood what I understood!! The "Others" had existed, and we both knew just "who" they were!! "We have to turn the Portal off!" she cried, springing to her feet! I remembered what Lorraine had said to me. What Auro- ra had told her! That the "Others" had "left" a Portal on Earth! That over a period of centuries they had finally made it "work"!! Tais was far ahead of me before we reached the house, the First Priestess moving in great bounds that carried her a dozen feet at a time. I knew that the Priestesses, at least some of them possessed superhuman physical powers, but this was the first time I'd seen such powers in operation! The silvery disc there in the clearing on its three landing struts left no doubts now!!! "They are inside," Tais hissed as I came gasping up, Tais herself panting for breath from her own two hundred yard sprint. "Can you `locate' them?" I asked, well aware that Tais' did have the power to detect the thoughts of others, hopefully even those of the Lorr and their lovely feminine Servitors, who were the Women of Mars back in the 26th Century now. I was also aware of the "fact" that we dared not use lethal force for fear of al- tering the future, although there was much less likelihood of any danger here due to the fact these people were not of the Earth... "They are in the utility room," Tais answered me back. "We need to take them by surprise," I said to her. "That should not be too difficult," Tais smiled back. "Just `hold' it right there, `ladies'," I said, holding my .30-30 at my hip. I didn't dare "use" it, but they wouldn't of course know that. Tais had my .38 Smith & Wesson on the Lorr, as "ugly" a thing as you'd ever want to look at. They do look like a carpenter ant "scaled" up about a hundred and fifty times. The three women in their silvery jumpsuits standing there, each glancing at each other. All three were light haired, white skinned. Their attire well displaying their figures beneath it. Tais says that they probably were from Leith, which lies hidden in the Sierras somewhere to the south of the "site" of Shalimar. "Step to one side," Tais snapped, a firm tone of "authority" in her voice despite the fact that she was still nearly naked... "We wish you no harm, but we will kill if forced to do so," she added, edging around towards the still operating Portal, I fol- lowing her, keeping the Winchester aimed towards the three women. "You are `not' of this world?" the Lorr asked, the speaker mounted between its antennae repeating its radio speech in words. Its compound eyes like multifaceted jewels in that awful head as it turned its head, the light bulb above it well illuminating it. It stood between our washer and driver, some ten feet in length, perhaps a third of that in height. I can understand why people "freaked out" when they encountered the Lorr. They are "ALIEN"!! "We are `visitors'," Tais answered, beckoning to me now. I thought of the "mysteries" of time travel, of the "fact" that the Women would eventually figure out how to "work" this "Portal" in centuries to come. I wondered if one of these women here was the distant ancestor of Aurora, who was the true mother of Darlanis!! "The man is `human', you are `not'," the Lorr replied then. I recalled that these creatures had a "radar" sense along with the normal five senses that human beings had. I suspected that the Lorr had detected something about Tais that wasn't "human"... "You go first, I'll follow," Tais ordered, standing there. I did as she ordered, the .30-30 still clutched in my hand, my only "attire" the swim briefs I'd worn here in the 20th Century. |
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