The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Chapter Six



Gazing out the window Elizabeth Tolliver saw the first of the approaching scout ships at the same time as her husband.



One craft broke away from the other two and, then it swept down the centre of the valley, towards their homestead.



James gulped deeply, disbelief at what he’d seen quite apparent, as he pulled his eye from the ‘scope.



“What’s the matter Father?” He heard his son ask, as he tried to clear the image from his mind, of the starfighter running low to the ground, as it strafed his home and wife.



He had seen her putting the washing out, on a fine day, one moment; then fall to the floor clutching at a massive wound in her chest, that erupted red, that covered her and the white washing.



And his face white, James ran his hands through his son’s hair.



“Time to put some of those lessons I taught you to use…” he told the boy, enthusiasm sounding in his voice, that betrayed the empty maw inside that had formed with the death of Elizabeth.



“Now?” The young teen asked, suddenly feeling the need for contact. And, as if reading his thoughts, his Father took him into a warm embrace and he held him close, whispering to Jason: “Yes my son, this is our time, to shine!”

Chapter Five



Jason looked around and, he couldn’t help but grin: ‘Eccentric me Dad is; he likes his little luxuries…’



The cave was quite deep and, almost head high throughout: there were the needed bedding and, limited washing facilities; but there was a chemical toilet.



The youth turned blue-eyes to his Father in amusement. He could just imagine his Father waiting twenty-odd years to warn the town of invaders and, then the day they arrive he is sitting on the toilet, reading.



With a grin he asked his Father, “You been to the toilet today?”



In response, James turned his head away from the rifles gunsight and answered, “You know it son, regular as clockwork.”



Looking to his Father’s left wrist, Jason Tolliver smiled, as he imagined Miss Deakin reading out the morning register.



A few of the older kids and their parents knew where he’d be. After all, he was the son of the town kook: their resident weird eccentric, warning them of a day yet to be, as he sat in a cave, he’d made.



He’d heard the stories many times as he grew up…



His Father and two others had been part of a small group that met the governments need and sent to prepare the way for later starships, that would carry the Corporations first pioneering colonists. That had before the war. But after it, it had been as though the Earth had forgotten them.



“In all likelihood they have forgotten us,” he had told the town assembly, “But, let me assure you, the Earthers will remember we’re here…”



Silence had followed his words, silence and the occasional titter of suppressed laughter.



“After all,” he had reasoned, “they’re hardly likely to invest so much in the tech needed to get us here, there’s noway the corpies will let this investment be lost.”



James still groaned at the stories told of the ridicule his Father had received…



“But then…” his Father had explained to him, “what more can you expect from a town of people qualified to put up flatpacks?”



It wasn’t wholly right; but there was some truth to the argument: they had been sent to prepare the way for later colonists, to follow. But that had been the war that they had learned of, through those on the last ship to land.



That had been way back then. Now his Father was who he was and, that was enough for his son…



Jason liked spending time with his wild-eyed Father. He was loving, attentive and, highly imaginative. Yet, it had not been till his mid-teens that he had realized that the many games he had played with his Father taught him much-needed survival skills.



Jason couldn’t help but smile at the image of his teacher’s face, if she saw him pulling rabbits fur, from its carcass, all in one motion.



“Your mother know where you are?” James asked his boy, after a long silence.



Jason chose not to answer – he didn’t want to lie, not to his Father: and, he could imagine her waiting for him, at that moment, scowling and anxious; her arms always ready to hold him.

Chapter Four



Both dedicated and a ‘stress-case’ Janice Deakin was one of three teachers, in the growing town of Freedom.



Blonde and slim, Janice wore heavy-frame glasses and a ponytail, so taut that it drew her hair back straight. Her manner of dress suited the hairstyle: severe.



Yet, het attire and attitude were no more than a front…



Janice Deakin was frightened of children and, what was worse for her, was that that the children she taught seemed to sense this fear, as if it were palpable. And so, the intimidation of the woman had begun.



Now Janice was already nearing the point of the day when she felt the need to lock herself away, to scream away her frustrations.



Yet, as Janice stared around her class of thirty-two, her frustration grew at the cacophony they created. Tutting, the teacher sat on the chair behind her sparse desk and steepled her finger together, as she stared at her pupils over the top of her glasses.



Then she reached into her brown leather case, full of slots to fill with copious amounts of books, paperwork and loose paperwork.



Withdrawing a battered tall narrow blue book from the case, Janice stood both hands splayed on the desk, as she informed her class, “If you’re not quiet now, for class registration, then each and every one of you will have to explain to your parents why you were so disruptive…”



Janice then stood quietly herself, allowing the youngsters to digest what she’d said to them… To use the children’s parents as a threat was the ultimate sanction, available to the teachers in the Freedom, who valued the real educators highly.



With just three teachers, little equipment and classes that were too large too easily manage, those few teachers were revered by most townspeople. And so, if the threat to inform parents of bad behaviour were used, it had to be with the knowledge that the ultimate sanction might have to be utilised, as threatened.



Yet, with every man or woman of age working, to draw them away from the place of employ was a distinct inconvenience, to both the parents and the parents.



‘After all,’ Janice mused, as she waited for a modicum of silence, ‘who likes conflict?’



Janice Deakin abhorred conflict herself. But, ‘her children’ were here to learn; while she was here to teach them.



‘Or, at least that’s the idea,’ Janice thought ruefully, as she watched a girl of thirteen at the window seat near the back continue to talk animatedly.



“Leanne Parks,” she barked, “your mother is the town Marshall, do you think she’d appreciate a letter from me?” Her words were not lost on the young teen.



Leanne closed her mouth mid-sentence and, then turned from her friends, to glower at her teacher, arms crossed tightly.



Silence followed…



“Alright class, thank you. Now…” Janice opened the blue-book, “Let’s get registration underway…”

Chapter Three



Inside a dome, one of several on a small base, on a small moon acquired by the MultiCorp Telos, when the Corporations had amalgamated; a series of dimly-lit corridors led to a small room wherein an audit technician ran the numbers, yet again.



‘There it is,’ the scribe intoned to himself, as he stared at the numbers that moved beneath his fingers, a short distance from his gaze.



The timorous technician wore spectacles; his hair greased back and, according to many of his former colleagues on Earth ‘stank to high hell’. Yet, it was hardly his fault that that his gut roiled and broiled, throughout much of the day.



Mitchell Towers had been good at his job though, very good at it. In fact, it had been recognized with the organization, how good he was, at what he did. That had been why his contract had not been terminated. Rather, he had been promoted, to be the Head of Audit Services, on Neelix Prime. The fact that he was also the sole inhabitant of the moon was neither here nor there to Mitchell though, as he felt valued: no-one, bar him, could find that which could not been seen plainly, in a stack of numbers.



And, this skill of his had earned the little man much within the Telos MultiCorp, yet he was lonely… so through himself into his work.



And now, he had reason to call Sharon, his liaison at Headquarters, to tell her of his findings… And, as he slick back his hair some more, he thought of the blue-eyed blonde, with a severe yet alluring manner… Mitchell liked her very much and, looked forward to these holocalls… a lot more than she did though…



“Ma’am, call from Neelix Prime, you ready to take it?” Her security guard and lover asked of Commissioner Sharon Teal.



She looked to the burly man, his naked body shorn of body hair, to please her. After a moments thought, she replied: “Yes I’ll take the call, but leave first.”



She knew that Mitchell would not approve of her having a lover: ‘But a woman has her needs,’ she thought, as she slipped on a lilac diaphanous robe, which revealed as much of her boyish figure than it his.



And although it was not protocol, to take a business call in such a state of undress, Ms Teal knew that her employers considered her role as Mitchells keeper to be important and, that meant she’d do almost anything, to keep ‘the odious little creep’ sweet.



“Computer, I’ll take that call now,” she pronounced and turned, toward where Mitchell would appear, seconds before he did.



And, there Sharon stood amidst flickering candlelight, blonde tresses loosed from their usual severe bun, her shoulders bare, as she smiled the warmest of smiles, at Mitchell, as he took form before her…



“I’m so pleased you condescended to my call Ms Teal,” the little man began, making every effort not to stammer, “But I’ve found something of interest, as I was going through the Milieu Corp records and…”



Mitchell has lost his voice, he was rapt by the vision before him.



“Do go on,” the seductress encouraged and, he did so.



“I think that Telos acquired a planet, when they acquired Milieu, a planet never been terraformed, for use… a planet left over from the first colony attempts…”



“Is this true? Are you sure?” She questioned Mitchell, walking around the man, so that he could enjoy looking, at her: as they wanted.



“Oh yes Ms Teal,” he gushed, his gaze fixed to the blonde’s deep cleavage, now somehow revealed to his lecherous gaze.



“And you’ll send me the planets coorinates?” She asked of Mitchell, wishing that she did not need to debase herself, as she did. ‘Yet the salaries very good,’ she reminded herself’ and continued to smile, at the fellow she despised so.



He nodded, still staring…



“That’s good Mitchell, you’ve pleased me…” she told him, speaking as if she were to a speaking to a pet.



Then, waving her right hand theatrically in the air, she told him: “Then go, get back to work. I’ll be needing those coordinates, for them upstairs, soon…”



“Yes Ma’am,” Mitchell told her, nodding.



“And?” Sharon queried, noticing that he was still there and, thankful she could not smell him, to see if the rumours were true.



“Oh er, sorry” Mitchell muttered, panicking: He was still standing before Ms Teal.



Then he was gone and Sharon Teal smiled, allowing her body to relax its normally rigid stance, until she called; “Traynor!”



She was determined that before she made her report, Traynor would finish what he had started, before Mitchell’s call…

Chapter Two



When the fighting had reached its peak, the talking began: it had to, as too much profit was being lost. Then, as the losses were counted, corporations amalgamated. And, so were borne the vast Multi-Corporations; few in number and, rich enough to buy and sell planets.



Yet, there were still ‘the bean counters;’ individuals in Audit, who took pride in locating things on and off the books, ‘stuff’ that others may have missed.



It was such a bean counter who found the purchase order, for the reclamation of a starship, used as part of a government initiative, to get the long-term unemployed to prepare a town for early colonists.



But, there’s been a mishap…



The public had lost faith in the costly initiative and, that had also been the time at which the last of the corporation wars had begun.



James Tulliver often thought back to his days spent at school: history had been one of his favourite subjects.



Yet, it had been at school and the auspice of one dedicated teacher Mister Morris, that he had learnt of the history revisionists; those who had seemingly rewritten social history, to accommodate state dictate.



But at fourteen he had become aware of the reality of what had been, through the stories his Great Nin had told him, on a visit of an indeterminate length of time.



She had illustrated with her stories, how Empire building had led to the subjugation of the workers, through the dawn of time. And yet, all the history he had been taught had been of the benevolence that can follow expansionism, with no mention of slavery, or persecution of the workforce.



James recalled how his wrinkled Great Nin had wagged a bony finger at him, as she had reminded, “While the South had grows even richer, those North of The Great Wall grew weaker…”



And, then with a grin and a twinkle in her eyes, she had told him, “But you have a time and a place to be. You will find it,” she had assured him; “Don’t worry.”



Back then, he had not worried; but if he had known about the journey he’d take, he might have…

The Young Pioneers





Part Two





Chapter One



Having climbed up the shale rise, he bellied down on the grassy flat at the top, to peer over the edge, to the small community on the valley floor.



He watched the river meander its course around the small town.



‘Town,’ he thought and smiled; he liked being able to use the word.



Middle-aged and wearing clothes made from hide, The Captain’s smile emphasised every crag in his face.



His blue-eyes twinkled, as he recalled their landing on this world – now called simply Amanda, after the first of the initial three colonists to pass…



There was much that he remembered still, about the Earth Mother, who had been their companion, for nearly ten years. She had been very much there, at the beginning…



His starship had been called The Vasa, he had learned in the years after planetfall.



Growling inwardly, he recalled signing the papers that had led to ten years asleep amongst the stars; as the ship disengaged its liquid propellant, in favour of the stellar drive, intended for Deep Space travel.



Rolling a smoke from the last harvest, James grinned mirthlessly at the idea of being fortunate enough to have the necessary DNA to enable them to use you as a kind of guinea-pig, for a new stasis chamber.



Lighting the roll-up, James continued to dwell for awhile, on what had been and, led to this now, his now and his peoples ‘time to shine.’



He had been genetically compatible with the cryosleep units, they had used back then.

“Ah, wasn’t I lucky…” he sighed.



Three craft had followed theirs, each carrying more personnel then his own.



The problem had never been the propulsion system needed for Deep Space travel; it had been the systems needed to maintain life, on such voyages.



‘But on the way, there were failures,’ James mused, pushing the brim of his low-crown hat back, a little.



Inhaling sweet, blue-grey smoke, he recalled one of those failures, ‘not that many years ago’…



Fifty two people had been on the starship he had watched explode on re-entry, yet three people had managed to escape in escape pods: ‘Three, out of fifty-two!”



They had been intended as cheap labour, for the miners who would follow them, producing shelter and, a makeshift town, so there was a base to work from.



But, after the last of the colony ships arrived, there were no more.



A second corporate war had begun, that took resources from across the galaxy, leaving projects that had started unfinished and, a workforce stranded, many millions of light years from their Mother Earth…



Looking down to the valley below, James Tulliver frowned: he knew they would be back eventually, when the warring was over and, someone at the corporation took it into their head to remember there was a world ‘out there’, they had laid out capital funding on. And, he knew they’d want a return on their investment. He knew it...