Interlude Sixteen point One, Ka-Sador Seeks Krai
Ka-Sador swooped over the woods, searching for signs of the Krai.
A faint scream carried on the wind to his ears. He turned and
saw on a rock face two young Earthlings clinging to the rock.
Below them was another Earthling, a female, in a park ranger's
uniform. She was shouting into a radio as she stared upwards.
Ka-Sador saw what she was looking at, one of the younglings
had lost its grip and was dangling precariously.
It struck Ka-sador as odd behavior by the adult, but then he remembered
that these earthers didn't have wings! 'They were so helpless', he thought
to himself. With a single beat of his wings he hurtled toward the child,
hoping that he would arrive before it's hold failed.
He arrived before the child lost its grip. Child was not quite corect,
though, on closer contact it was a boy of late teenage years. His
near-adulthood did not prevent him from clinging to Ka-Sador like
a frightened child when the alien plucked him from the cliff-face.
[REELACKS, KA-SADOR HAS YOO] the alien said as soothing as his strange
voice would allow. With a swoop Ka-sador snatched up the second youngster
and gently delivered them to the female ranger.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," burbled the hysterical boy.
The ranger was less wild, "Thanks very much, there's no way we could
have gotten to them in time." As she covered them with a blanket and
convinced them to lie down, she commented, "I haven't seen you around
before. I'm Liz Steadman."
[HELLOOO FEEMAIL LIZ, ME KA-SADOR] the alien bellowed with an outstretched
hand like he saw humans greet each other on TV.
She shook his hand, "Lucky for this pair you happened to be around. Mind my
asking why? I mean, I love this place but there's not a lot going on
to attract a superhero." She squinted at him, "You are a superhero, right?
I probably should have heard of you, but I don't get out of the park much."
Ka-sador was amazed at this woman's cool demeanor. After all, he was much
different from anything else on this planet but she was very calm.
[SOOPERHEERO? KA-SADOR IS JUST KA-SADOR. FRENDT DEFENDER IS SOOPERHERO]
"Defender? Hmm, nope. Never heard of him either. Well, you qualify
as a superhero in my book. Ah, here's the emergency crew," she said
as a couple of rescue vehicles pulled up. "Excuse me. No need for
a chopper guys, Ka-Sador here got 'em down. Mostly just scared at
this point," she shouted to the folks piling out of the vehicles.
Ka-sador felt like leaving, but comfort in the presence of Liz granted him
assurance. So he stayed, [LIZZ, HAVE YOO SEEN ANY KRAI?]
"I don't know, what do they look like?" she asked.
The medical personnel swarmed around the kids and started to bundle them
out, just before they left, the girl leaned out of the car and shouted
to Ka-Sador, "Thank you!"
A few other people stuck around to gawk.
Ka-sador gave a wave to the young girl with a [YOOR WELCOME LITTLE
EARTHER!] and looked uneasily at the people staring. He turned to Liz,
[KRAI LYKE BEARS, LYKE SMOKEY BUT EVIL]
"Like bears? There's been a lot of bear reports this year. More than
usual. Maybe that's your, umm, Krai?" she said.
[WHERE KRAI? WHERE BEARZ SEEN?] he asked.
She led Ka-Sador to her jeep and chatted amiably about the various sites
in the park as they bounced over rough access roads. She took him
to various places where bear sightings had been reported. The first
few were just that -- bears. The fourth, however, had krai smell all
over it. It was not too far from where Ka-Sador himself had abandoned
the krai drones after their ship was destroyed.
Ka-sador paced around the site trying to determine if there was a trail and
get some idea of numbers. Was there death mixed within? was there any
unknown Krai? How long ago? anything that would assist him. Liz waited
patiently, being familiar with animals, and looked on at this strange
visitor.
Eventually, Ka-Sador and Liz moved on. The next spotting was further away
from the crash site and again Ka-Sador gave it a thorough examination.
This, too, seemed to be a camp of sorts. But there were also new smells,
krai not part of the group of drones they had left behind. Also blood,
Krai blood, and near that smell a scorch mark on a rock such as might
be caused by a krai blaster.
Ka-sador delighted in the smell of Krai death but realized that their
demise was by warriors and not natural causes. This meant the Krai knew he
and M'Krell were on earth and attempts to retrieve them would be
forthcoming. [ANY MORE? YOO ARE IN DANGER IF KRAI AYROUNDE]
"Just one," said Liz. She took him to see it, but it was a bust,
normal bears and no sign of Krai.
Ka-sador rode along the bumpy trail as Liz drove him back to the ranger
station. [THANK FOR HELP, IF ANEE TROOBLE KA-SADOR HELP YOO]
"I appreciate that," she said. "Do you mind telling me what it's all
about? It might help me know what to keep an eye open for."
[BEARS LYKE MEN, WITH BLASTERZ...VEREE DANGURUS] said the alien. He leapt
up into the inky blackness and his voice came out of the darkness [SEE YOO
SOON, FRENDT LIZ]
"Drop by anytime," he heard as he took wing.
Last Updated 11 October 2001
