Ummm....

 Those three pictures below were meant to go into the Picture of the Day Blog.  I'll just leave them here for now as well.

Coral Fossil (Devonian/ -350 Million Years)

 

A touch of Egypt

 

Reading glasses and notes

 

Flash Fiction #473 -- Monty

Mary cornered Sandy on the playground at recess.  It wasn't as though Sandy didn't like Mary, but her friend had a habit of saying all the wrong things. Today she looked frazzled, and Sandy dreaded to hear about magic and strange creatures.  She didn't need Mary's imagination to feed her problems sleeping.

"Do you still have nightmares?" Mary demanded.

"Of course not.  I'm ten now, not a baby."

Mary stared at her.

"Well, just sometimes," Sandy admitted.

Mary gave a strange and decisive nod.  "I thought so.  We've been tracking things.  I'm going to send you some help tonight.  About ten minutes after you go to bed, your closet will open a bit.  Don't be afraid.  Monty is there to keep watch, and you'll sleep better."

Before Sandy could ask anything, the bell rang, and they went back to class.  She didn't see Mary for the rest of the day.

By the time her mother tucked her in with the inevitable 'sweet dreams,' Sandy had forgotten the strange conversation.

But staying there in the near dark brought it back.  Sandy chided herself for being so gullible, but she turned to watch the closet anyway.

A few minutes later, as her eyes had started to flutter shut, she heard an odd thump and whispered, 'ouch.'  A soft green glow came from under the door, and it began to open.

"Eeek!"

What came out of her closet was a little green guy with a long flat snout, four fingers, two toes, and big blue eyes.

"Oh, I beg your pardon!" the two-foot-tall creature said. Tiny wings fluttered with agitation at his back.  "I thought Mary told you I was going to arrive."

"She ... she did," Sandy replied and pulled her blanket up almost over her head. Her parents had the TV on, so they wouldn't hear. "But Mary says a lot of things.  Most of the time, I just nod.  I don't always believe her."

"Well, yes, I can see where that might happen.  Mary can be so serious, even about the silliest things.  Just yesterday, she told me the lights in the night sky are far away stars, not little pixies watching over the world.  I don't know where she gets these ideas."

"School, I suppose," Sandy offered.

"I'm Monty," he said as he came to the edge of the bed.  "And I do hope you are Sandy, or I've made a horrible mistake."

"I'm Sandy," she said with a bit of a laugh.  She liked Monty.

"Nothing under the bed," he said as he looked there, and for a moment, he sounded like dad.  "Nothing in the closet, either.  I can vouch for that.  It appears the teddy bears are doing an excellent job on the interior of the room."

"They guard here?" she said, looking at the half dozen bears sitting on shelves and the rocking chair.

"Oh yes, very good at the work.  I'd say whatever is giving you nightmares is coming from outside, and my guess would be the window," Monty said.  He climbed up on her desk and stared out.  It had curtains, but she pulled them open at night.  When they were closed, she would hear things and have worse nightmares.  "I'll take up the watch here, and we'll see what happens.  Go to sleep if you can."

And she did, which was unusual enough just on its own.

She woke up later at the familiar sound of something scratching at the window.  The nightmare was back, and she couldn't sit up and protect herself.  She flailed at the blankets --

"There they are," Monty said.  "Stupid Wigglies."

She turned to see Monty on the desk.  He reached out and touched the window.  A glow of green spread over it, and some worm-like things retreated in haste.

"There.  That's better!" Monty said with apparent satisfaction.

"Are they gone?  Will you leave now?  Please, don't go!"

Monty jumped from the desk to the rocking chair and from there to the edge of the bed.  He glowed with just enough green light for Sandy to see him.

"I am not done here," he said with a solemn nod of his head.  "They'll be back, and sometimes they bring other things.  Nothing that I can't handle.  I'll be here as long as you need me."

She reached out and pulled him into a tight hug.  "Thank you."

"My pleasure," he said and sounded genuinely delighted.  He went back to the desk.

Sandy slept through the rest of the night.  In fact, she was still asleep when her mother came in to wake her.  They were both surprised.

Sandy got up and pulled on her robe to go have breakfast.  She crossed to the desk, giving Monty a pat on the head as a thank you.

"Where in the world did that come from?" her mother asked.

"Oh," she said and came up with a quick answer.  She couldn't tell the entire truth.  Sandy had already had to answer too many questions by nice doctors to go through that again.  "Mary gave him to me.  I -- I had him in my backpack and forgot until I did my homework."

"Well, he's an odd little thing."

"He's wonderful," she protested.  "And cute.  I like him."

"Nice that she gave him to you," she said absently.  "Did you sleep well?"

"Better than ever."

So they went to the kitchen, both of them in a good mood.  Once she was at school, Sandy hunted down Mary and quietly thanked her for Monty, who was doing an excellent job already.

Mary smiled, and after that, they were best friends -- even if Mary sometimes said strange things, like stars being pixies.

Sandy sometimes wondered if Mary and Monty might be right.

Sandy slept well after Monty arrived.

And he stayed for a long, long time...

Flash Fiction # 472 -- Partners

 "Detective Fisher."

Fisher knew several things before she ever looked up.  First, although she didn't recognize the voice, this person recognized her.  Second, the accent was not from Terra Nova.  Gender she couldn't guess and didn't care.

She looked up.  What she hadn't expected was a Port Guard's tan uniform or the slight curiosity in the person's face.

"Yes?" she finally said.

The guard handed over a chit, official seal from the Port Guards, and one her desk comp accepted.

She read quickly and hoped she hid her own surprise.  Rune Samson, provisional partner assignment.

"Ah," she said and looked up.  "We're the test, I see."

Rune nodded.  She waved him to a chair (the chit report did say gender preference as male) and looked him over.   Hard to guess age in the era of regen -- and it was something no one bothered with for the reports.  She thought he might be a little younger than her, though.  He had that sort of uncertainty about him.

Though he seemed to be looking her over with the same care.

"From Tempest?" she asked, knowing the answer from the chit.  It was only an opening.

"Yes," he said and looked into her face for the first time.  He had lovely brown eyes.  "What the chit doesn't say is I was born a Port Rat and a distant cousin of the De Veleras."

Even she knew that name.

"You haven't asked about me," she offered.

"I've been on Terra Nova for a year.  You've been involved in two high-profile cases, and that has made it impossible for you to do undercover work at this time."

"Huh.  So we get to be the poster children for cooperation between the Militia and the Port Guards," Fisher answered.  " What do they expect us to do?"

"Walk around, look friendly, and act competent."

"I can manage the first."

"I can do the second," Rune offered.  Then he smiled.  "I think we're both going to have a problem with the third."  

Fisher stood and brushed down the blue jacket of her Militia uniform.  "Let's give it a try."

They drew attention all through the building and out into the street.  Fisher imagined a nice, quiet walk through the downtown area.

It didn't go that way.

After a few hours, they stopped for a quick lunch at a nicely shaded cafe.  Fisher suggested the soups, and he accepted her recommendation.  So far, she'd found nothing objectionable about walking around town with him, but she was not trained to do PR work. Neither, she realized, was Rune.

It was almost a relief when people started yelling down the street.

"That sounds like trouble," Rune said with a bright smile.

"And our food isn't here yet.  Doesn't sound too serious.  Shall we?"

"We can at least make a showing," Rune agreed as he stood.

The trouble seemed to be heading their way anyway, so it was just as well to get out ahead of it.  A dozen people were coming at a run --

And then the rest of the crowd surged around the corner, a couple hundred or more yelling --

Fisher had grabbed her communit.  So had Rune.

"Riot in midtown," she warned.  "North of the Liberty Plaza.  Several hundred.  I have no idea what set them off!"

She had heard much the same conversation on Rune's side.  Then they were yelling for people to get off the street and for shops to lock up.

The first dozen people neared.  Port Rats.  Panicked Port Rats and two of them carrying children.  That made her think the Rats had not done anything to warrant the hostility of those behind them.  Rune must have felt the same thing, but maybe he just naturally took the side of Port Rats.  Didn't matter.

"In here and out the back door.  Get to the Maze as quick as you can!" Fisher ordered.  

The cafe owner almost protested, but he let them through, and now it was up to Fisher and Rune to keep the others from following.  They took up a spot outside the now closed and locked door and drew their laser pistols.

The crowd slowed.  It did not stop.  However, the area in front of the cafe gave the rioters little room to move in on them.

By the time both the Militia and the Port Guards arrived, Rune was down but still fighting, and Fisher had just kicked another man in the knee with enough power to hear it pop and watch him go down.

But the fight ended in the next couple of minutes.  Dozens went off to jail.  Some went off for medical treatment, including Rune.  Fisher got a ride back to HQ, made her reports, and checked on Rune.  He'd been sent home.

No one knew how the riot had started. Some thought a crazy woman had been yelling something and others took it to mean the Rats had killed someone.  The Port Rats had gotten away and weren't likely to come out of the Maze to make a report.  Several people had been injured, and some businesses were damaged, but no one had died.  Many were going to be in jail for some time.

Two days later, a woman in the tan uniform of the Port Guards showed up and handed over her orders.  Fisher read them, made a few notes, and politely sent the woman back to the Port Tower.

Two hours later, Rune limped in.

She looked up at him.  "Any complaints?" she asked.

"Yeah."  He settled in the chair by her desk.  "I never got my soup."

So they went out for lunch.  The soup was excellent.

They caught a pick-pocket.  

Maybe PR work wouldn't be so bad after all.

Flash Fiction # 471 -- Welcome to Smallville

 I found myself standing in front of the largest squirrel I had ever seen.   The monster towered over me and looked down with an obvious smirk.  "My, you really pissed off someone didn't you?" the creature asked.

"What the hell is going on!" I roared.

Actually,  I squeaked.   A little tiny squeak.  The sound panicked me, and I began running in circles until the squirrel grabbed me up by the scruff of the neck and shook me a couple of times.

This was it. I was about to become squirrel kibble.

"Calm down, guy.  Why is it  you dragons fall apart so easily?" He shook me again and then put me down in the very tall grass.  "It's not the end of the world.   What is the last thing you recall before you showed up here?"

I tried to stop hyperventilating because that made me squeak more.  The squirrel waited.

"I flew over the village and headed to take my choice of the sheep.  Nothing different from any other Saturday.   Well, except someone had moved into the old tower.  I swept around it, and a man appeared at the window.  Impolite guy.  He started yelling and said, if I didn't go away, I'd be sorry."

"And?"

"And I'm a dragon," I said and spread my wings.  Yeah, that was impressive.  "I flew around it two more times.  The old guy leaned out the window waving his stick and yelling at me."

"Old guy.  Stick.  Did he, by chance, wear a long blue robe with symbols embroidered on it?"

I thought back.  "Yes, he did."

"What color was his hair?"

"Long and gray," I said.

"Good."

"Or maybe silver."

"Bad."

"Why?"

The squirrel's tail twitched as something huge with wings swept overhead.  I had the odd feeling I knew how sheep felt.  It was not pleasant.

"Watch out for the ravens," he warned.  "But about the guy -- he must have been a mage.  If he was gray-haired, he was human.  If he was silver-haired, he was fae."

"And that makes a difference?  I thought they were all about the same."

"Not so much.  Human mages grow old, sometimes lose the threads of their old spells -- and suddenly you're released from the magic.  Fae, though, never forget, and they are immortal."

"Ack."

"Best not to dwell on it.  I'm Graytail, by the way.  I'm one of the guardians -- placed here by mages as well.  What should I call you?"

I almost began the recitation of my 123 names, one for each year of my life -- but that was a bit pretentious for something that had to stand on his back legs to see over the grass.

"Einian," I said with a nod, giving my last year name.  I suspected this year's name was going to be 'Tiny.'

"Come on.  I'll show you around Smallville.  Just a warning, though.  Some of those who show up here are bad-tempered and rude.  You aren't the first dragon to arrive, and the others haven't always done well.  Don't pick fights.  Don't get belligerent at all.  The bunnies don't like it.  You don't want to make the bunnies mad."

I thought about cute little bunnies -- and then realized they'd be closer to Graytail's size than mine.  Yeah, don't annoy the bunnies.

I also thought about revenge.  I could maybe bite the mage's nose while he slept.  There we go. That would make me feel better.

"Why am I here?" I asked as we passed through an opening carved in some rocks.  "Why do we arrive at this place?"

"Some kind-hearted mage set up a portal to grab those hit by a shrink spell and drop them here so they can be safe.  So here we are."  He ducked his head as we passed through the rocks.  I didn't need to.

We came out of the opening into a massive town of stone and adobe buildings and filled with all manner of magical creatures.  I couldn't see the far side of the settlement.  I must have been ... hundreds of yards across.
A set of trolls stomped by and scowled.  They were barely four inches high.  Local tough guys, I guessed from the way Graytail sighed.  I had the feeling he was tired of people causing trouble.

The squirrel gave me a tour of the upper town, found me a place to stay on a roof, and explained the rules -- most of which were variations on don't cause trouble.

"Food shows up for free at the cafes.  We appreciate it if some of you help out with building and maintenance, but mostly you are free to do anything but cause trouble.  I'll tell you more about the history of the place later.  Right now -- trouble."

I was not surprised the problem was the two trolls.  They had cornered a young pixie about a quarter of their size and were yelling at her.  Everyone knew pixies were easy to intimidate, and it just annoyed me to see them frighten her.

"Hey," I said and pushed my way in between the two trolls.  "Stop it."

"Ha!" the slightly larger one to the right laughed.  "What are you going to do?  You aren't such a big guy now, dragon."

"Guess what?  Neither are you."

I whipped my tail around, caught him in the chest, and sent him flying a few feet.  Well, maybe inches -- but it was far for him.  He landed in a bush.

I looked at his partner.

"Right," Troll Two said.  "Later."

He hurried away.

Graytail had calmed the pixie.  I wondered what she could have done to get sent here.  Probably a prank.  Pixies loved pranks, and they didn't know when to quit.  She gave me a quick nod and fluttered off.

"You know, I think you are going to do alright here, Einian.  Let's go have a bite to eat and discuss a proposition I have for you."

And that's how I became the Sheriff of Smallville.  I have a few tales to tell, too.  Later.

Flash Fiction # 470 -- Raiders/20

 "Damn!" I shouted and toggled us out of the way of incoming shots.  "What the hell do they think they're doing!"

"They think they're firing at a were craft that escaped the bay just before -- watch out!"

We ducked a shot from one of our own, and then I took out a hunk of debris that sent pieces scratching over our shell.  More human fighters headed our way, as well as were ships who realized we were not one of them.  Great.

"Take out every were craft you two can target."  Like I had to tell them to do that part.  "I'll do my best to keep us from any fatal impacts.  Sure wish I could see better, though."

"You give us such hope," Lisel said with a sigh.

I didn't have time to answer him.  We plowed our way through pieces of the ship, and I realized that the larger were craft still moved outward, trying to escape.  Limping, at least.  I could see the surge and ebb of power on the screen as the engines labored.  I wanted to go back and take one more swing at it, but I wasn't that crazy.

Yeah, that would have surprised Lisel and Krisin.  It surprised me.  I thought about heading home -- heading toward the Belgium -- but then I decided the station was less likely to shoot at us.

Our own people finally stopped firing at us, but we'd taken a couple hits.  The craft had been hard enough to handle before half the controls died.  Now even the toggle didn't want to work.  I snarled and pounded it with both hands.

Our stolen craft made some sudden odd moves, and I barely stayed in my seat.

"Well done," Lisel praised.  I looked up to see a piece of debris our own size slip past, barely yards away.

I didn't tell him I'd never noticed it.

The humans had stopped firing at us, at least.  The enemy still tried, but the fighters from the Belgium held them off, and except for the stopping part, we didn't have much trouble making it back to the bay on the station.

At least we didn't do much damage.

We climbed out amid shouts of joy.  Brick raced up and hugged me.  He almost hugged Lisel, too -- but came to his senses in time.  He did slap Krisin on the shoulder.  I couldn't clearly hear what he was saying above the other shouts.

Befly had a screen up showing the battle still being fought beyond the station.  There wasn't much to it once the Belgium turned on the were's mother ship.  The final explosion of that larger ship filled the screen with light, and I held my breath -- but the Belgium had come through fine.

There was a lot more cheering.

I just found a quiet corner to sit down and rest for a few minutes...

"There you are," Lisel said.

I sat up, reaching for the controls. "Just shoot the bastards down!  Do I have to do everything?"

Not on a ship.  Oh.

"We've been looking all over for you," Krisin said.  He pulled me to my feet.  "Captain Dundas was starting to get worried."

"I just sat down a few minutes ago."

"We've been back on the station for six hours.  The Captain is here.  Come on."

I wanted to deny the timeline, but just glancing around, I could tell things had changed.  Besides, I looked a lot more alert than Krisin and Lisel.  I almost felt guilty.  Almost.

We passed something odd in an open area just beyond the bay.  Children playing -- Catchin, station, and even some from the Sailfour.  They laughed and chased each other.  I couldn't remember the last time I'd heard any children laughing.  A Catchin woman sat close by and gave us a nod of thanks.

"I am one of ten scouts sent to find us a new world of our own," Lisel said suddenly.  "That's why they know me -- and the two of you.  The catchin on the Belgium are, in essence, my personal crew and staff, who will take up the work of making certain a world is viable.  I have not given up the search, but I realized that the Catchin would not be safe with the enemy still attacking worlds.  Once the war is over, I will go back to the search."

I nodded, feeling a distant hole in my life.  I'd gotten used to my crew.

"I would be honored if the two of you would help in the search."

Krisin and I both grinned with delight.

The station looked well on the way to recovery already.  I hadn't thought they'd be this resilient, but it reminded me of the children.  They wanted their lives back.

Belgium crew guarded the door where Krisin led us.  I ran a hand through my hair, but that was the best I could do.  I feared I smelled like were ship still.

Captain Dundas had taken over a large office near the bay.  The three of us were ushered into a room filled with ship captains, station people, and Belgium crew.  They all looked up and stopped talking when we came into the room.

"We came back sooner than expected, and I think that a good thing on many levels," Captain Dundas said with a wave of her pocket comp, as though we could read the screen from across the room.  "We picked up a message about the Sailfor and her involvement with the enemy.  It had been punched through to the relay at our first jump point.  Before we had turned around to come back, we caught an echo of the Mother Ship.  We returned as quickly as we could manage.  Tana, we were gone for hours, not days --  and we came back to find this chaos and madness." She stopped and took a deep breath, putting the pocketcomp on the table in front of her.  She looked up at us.  "Well done."

The End