Chapter 6 – "A Bullet In The Sky"

Arzela Starr’s speed was incredible. The Earth forest she was running through was slashing past her, the sunlight from above poking holes in the canopy of trees. Arzela could not stop smiling. The feel of her speed was intoxicating and she was hardly out of breath. In fact, her breathing was completely unlabored as she rocketed through the earth terrain.

“Computer,” Arzela said into her shiny bracelet, “what is my current speed?”

The computer said, “Arzela Starr, your current speed is fifty three earth miles per hour.”

“Is that very fast?” Arzela asked.

The computer said, “You are running as fast as a car.”

Up ahead the forest cleared and there was a wide-open path aiming straight into the distance.

Arzela said, “How about now…”

She pumped harder and harder, her legs opening to even larger strides, her boots smashing down on the ground below. The sound of rushing air in her ears grew louder and louder. She leaned forward, head down, racing strides with her hands cutting the air like sharp blades! Faster and faster, the shine of her tight suit gleaming in the sun like a lightning bolt!

“Sixty-five… seventy… seventy-three,” the computer said, calling out her incredible speed.

Arzela was at her maximum, expending everything she could summon for the sprint.

“This is incredible,” Arzela shouted over the rushing wind in her ears.

But around a corner came a large, moving earth vehicle. And she was about to collide with it! Arzela leaped on instinct into the air, and she quickly flew over the machine as it passed safely beneath her. Arzela was high above the ground, her legs pinwheeling with her arms for balance. She dropped back to the ground and managed to land with only a few extra steps to stop her incredible momentum!

She spun to look back, noticing that the earth vehicle had stopped suddenly. Its door opened and someone climbed out rapidly.

Had they seen her?

Arzela leaped away into the cover of a few trees, quickly vanishing into the deep shadows of them.

“Arzela Starr, what happened,” the computer asked.

“Shhh…,” Arzela whispered. “Be quiet.”

She watched carefully as two people exited the vehicle. They stood out in the middle of the dirt road, pointing up and then back toward her direction.

“Earth people,” Arzela said softly. “I think they saw me….”

For another full minute the two people stood on the road scratching their heads. Finally, they got back into the vehicle and started the engine. The big machine lumbered slowly away down another dirt road and out of sight.

Arzela said, “They’re gone.”

The computer said, “You must be more careful, Arzela Starr.”

Arzela said, “Yes, you’re right. I got carried away with my speed. I’ll be more careful.”

The computer said, “I know it is difficult to exercise self control when one possesses such incredible might on a strange planet. But using restraint will serve you well in accomplishing your mission Arzela Starr.”

Arzela said, “I understand. Now, how much further must I go to reach Darala’s last known location?”

The computer said, “I cannot be specific, but the probability will be high if you continue on the direction you were headed.”

Arzela said, “Very well. I’ll continue on.

Carefully, Arzela stepped out from the cover of the trees, looking all around to make sure she was alone. It seemed she was. She started off and broke into a run, but not nearly as fast as before. She would keep her eyes open at all times to avoid any unnecessary contact with earth humans.

MEANWHILE:

At the airport thirty miles away, the pilot and copilot of flight one-twenty-one coming in from Los Angeles wrung their hands nervously in a private back room. Sitting at a small table across from a serious looking man in a dark suit with what appeared to be FBI credentials. He never smiled as he asked them a series of questions.

“This craft you saw…, what did it look like?” he asked.

Nervously, the pilot said, “It’s hard to describe. It happened so fast. It came out of the clouds, shot underneath us and then it was gone.”

“Shot?” the serious man asked.

The co-pilot said, “It was like a bullet in the sky.”

The man said, “How big was it? This bullet thing?”

The pilot said, “I don’t know, as big as a house… maybe bigger.”

“Was it another plane?” the man asked.

The pilot shook his head.

The man said, “Did it look something like this?”

He held up a faded color photograph of what appeared to be a flying saucer. The photo was blurry, but the shape of the object in the sky was clear.

The pilot swallowed a lump in his throat and looked at the co-pilot. They exchanged a nervous glance.

“Uh… maybe,” the pilot said. “It just…,”

“I know,” the man said, “It happened fast.”

They both nodded. The man took the photograph away and stood up from the table. He seemed annoyed as he left the room and shut the door on them.

The co-pilot said, “What do you think is going on here?”

The pilot said, “I don’t know. But I think it would be better for both of us to keep our mouths shut about this.”

The co-pilot nodded.

LATER THAT EVENING:

The small and slender woman had glowing, electric green eyes that seemed to shimmer when she blinked. She was driving the van to the agreed upon meeting place and hoped that her put-together device would cause the gullible men here to give her what she wanted: money and information. The information would be the most important key to finding what she was looking for, or rather who she was looking for. Because this was a large county and finding people was difficult on this planet to begin with.

She made another left turn into a dark, industrial park. Off on her right was the location. A warehouse of odds and ends and the last place anyone looking for valuables would go. She swung up to the gate and stopped. She exited the van and performed a quick check of her attire. She’d decided that by playing up her feminine features, despite her less-than-average height and size, the chances for manipulation would be much better. What she lacked in physical brawn, she more than made up for with intelligence. The black suit she’d made was tight fitting and had a nice shine to it. After checking herself in the mirror, she’d decided the outfit was perfect. It was a blend of comfortable, flexible and for some purposes, stealthy. At night she could prowl and remain virtually invisible. She also had a custom belt to carry or attach certain items, depending on what the situation called for.

Attached to her belt this night was a large ring of keys. After thumbing through a dozen of them, she finally found the one she was looking for.

She approached the gate and unlocked the giant padlock and slipped it from its chain that kept the gate secure. She carefully swung one side open and drove through, stopping just shorts of a sliding metal door at the side of the big warehouse. She grinned and got out of the van. With perfect timing two more vehicles pulled in behind her. They came neatly to a stop and four people existed from each, eight total.

She smiled at them and blinked, her green eyes flickering like small light bulbs.

“Nice to see you. Come inside and we’ll get to business.”

-----

Chapter 7 – "I Won't Need This"

The warehouse was big and cavernous. There were lots of piles of old machinery and some stacked sheets of plywood. Elsewhere in stacks were large iron bars and other scrap metal was lying about. The lights were old fluorescent bulbs that had a greenish tint. Despite its deficiencies, the junky place would serve its purpose.

“So, what’s your name,” the large man with a beard asked. The others in his gang of ten circled around a long worktable where the woman in a tight, shiny black suit stood on the other side. She placed a long, metal case on the table and was preparing to open it.

“I want to know who I’m doing business with,” the leader of the ten said.

The woman in shiny black smiled and said, “You can call me Cora. I’m new in town, but have a long history of technology development, especially with weapons.”

The gang of ten stared at her intently, not quite sure what to make of her. She couldn’t have been more than five and a half feet tall and weighed perhaps scarcely one hundred pounds. She was lean, slightly athletic, and her tight, shiny black suit showed off her form. Attractive, confident and smart, but not in the least bit imposing.

Cora said, “Now, what I have here is a prototype of a laser weapon. Very powerful and dangerous.”

Cora found the right key on her keyring and carefully, slowly opened the metal case. She swung the lid open and inside was a long, slender, silver gun, but not like a normal gun.

The bearded leader of the gang of ten was pleasantly surprised at the appearance of the weapon.

“Wow,” he remarked. “Let’s give it a try….”

He reached for the gun, but Cora snapped the lid shut and pulled the case back toward herself.

“Not so fast,” she said. “We had an arrangement.”

The man with the beard frowned and his jaw tightened. His gang also tensed but Cora remained cool and calm. A little too calm.

“Arrangements change, little woman,” the man growled.

Cora sneered, her green eyes lighting like fire.

“Not with me, they don’t” Cora said. “In case you have any funny ideas, I should let you know I’ve engineered an insurance police.”

Cora reached slowly into her belt and pulled out a small device with a blinking green light. She hovered her thumb above the button and then pushed it. Suddenly the light turned orange, still flashing, but much faster now.

“Planted around us are micro thermal explosives that will tear us all apart as well as the building,” Cora said.

The man with the beard snarled, “You’re bluffing!”

“I never bluff,” Cora said.

She pushed the button and suddenly there was a rising noise in the building that sounded like an electric charge gaining strength. The whole gang looked nervously around, their eyes huge with fear.

“One more tap on this button and its all over,” Cora said, her green eyes unblinking. “I’ve got nothing to lose.”

Her thumb began to descend toward the button until she was about to flatten it.

“Okay! Okay! Stop! Please,” the bearded man shouted.

Cora waited another few moments and then the sounds slowly died away and the little light turned green once more. Cora slid the device back in her belt.

“I’m glad we have an understanding,” she said with a half smile. “Now… information please. Who is Julia Warren and where can I find her?”

The bearded man said, “The woman with red hair. She’s… she’s very strange. Like she has some kind of magic power.”

“Yes,” Cora said. “That’s the one.”

“She’s hard to find, but when she needs things done, she finds us.”

Cora cocked her hips to one side.

“And she’s the one that wants this weapon. You’re just here to get it for her.”

The bearded man nodded slowly. “Yes.”

“She is very smart,” Cora said. “Sending a team of servants to do her business for her.”

It was about this time that Arzela Starr reached the edge of town. She’d run with her super speed the whole distance and made it easily without losing a breath. Since the sun had gone down, she was able to stay in the shadows out of sight. She was performing a recon of sorts, attempting to get a general layout of this place called Pleasant Valley.

Overall, it seemed a quiet, modest place. So where and how could she find her sister, Darala in such a place?

Arzela wandered further in the dark, keeping herself out of sight as much as possible, wondering if she should go back to the ship until daylight returned.

But something caught her eye. A large building with fences all around it. There were several large earth vehicles outside and from inside, through the dusted windows, there was light. And as Arzela got closer, she heard voices and then nervous shouts.

I wonder what’s happening here, she thought.

Arzela tapped on her wrist communicator and in a hushed voice said, “Computer, I’m hearing distressed voices in a large building. Some kind of danger.”

The computer said, “Arzela Starr, please keep a safe distance and do not interfere. Remember your mission.”

Arzela said, “I’m well aware of my mission, but if there is an Earth person who might be in danger, I should use my power to help them. Shouldn’t I?”

The computer said, “This is one of the challenges you will face here, Arzela Starr. I cannot order you to do anything, but I recommend you do not interfere.”

Arzela thought hard, and then made a decision. She glanced up at the fence, which was more than twice as tall as she. Arzela squatted down, feeling her Lycra suit grip her legs and hips tightly. She leaped into the air and was instantly sailing over the top of the huge structure. She felt a rush of wind past her hair as she dropped on the other side, landing perfectly in a squat, the feel of her suit gripping between her legs. Arzela felt a sudden tingling of warm arousal, feeling her suit flex with her leg muscles as she straightened up.

“Wow,” Arzela said, taking a deep breath. “I will never get tired of feeling that.”

Quickly then she moved to the side of the building, arriving at an old metal door. She pressed herself against it and listened to the voices that were coming from inside.

Responding to what Cora said, the bearded leader said, “We’re not servants. We’re just in it for the business.”

Cory grinned, “Yes, of course. So, you’ll arrange a meeting for me?”

The man nodded.

“Good,” Cora said, “Because if you don’t, I’ll make sure you go out with a ‘bang.’” Cora pulled the small device out once more to make her point.

The man growled, “You’ll get your meeting. And now, give us a demonstration of the weapon. So we know it’s for real.”

Cora said, “Of course. But one last piece of information.”

The man with the beard grunted. “Okay, last one. But then it’s shooting time!”

Cora said, “There’s another person I’m looking for. He used to be the locksmith here in town before I, uh… took over the business. I heard from a source that he was last seen with a woman. A woman so strong she could literally bend steel with her bare hands. A superwoman from another world.”

The man with the beard chuckled. “A woman that strong? Are you serious?”

Cora said, “Yes, I am serious. I need to know what happened to them.”

Outside the door of the warehouse, Arzela heard those words and she froze momentarily, feeling her heart beat faster.

They’re talking about Darala, she thought. I can’t keep my presence here a secret any longer.

Arzela placed her hands in the middle of the door and pushed against it.

On the inside of the building, they all heard a deep creaking moan, and turned toward the metal door. A moment later the center of it seemed to bulge. The old metal seams in the wall squealed as the door broke free and tumbled into the warehouse, the center of it deformed in a bowl shape.

Cora and the entire gang were astonished at the site of Arzela leaping into the building. She stood tall and pushed out her powerful chest and planted fists on her shiny Lycra hips, just below her gleaming silver belt.

“Who the heck are you?” the large bearded man shouted.

Arzela said, “I’m going to ask you all to leave right now. I need to talk with the woman alone.”

The man glanced down at the case with the gun inside. With a knowing smile he said, “So you thought you’d come here and take our deal away from us?” Then a thought occurred to him and he turned and glared at Cora.

“Or is this some kind of double-cross, Cora,” the man said.

Cora glared at Arzela angrily and said, “I don’t know who this woman is! I don’t have any deals with her.”

Arzela said, “I’m not here for a deal, or whatever it is you’re doing. We just need to talk.”

The leader of the gang said, “Okay, boys. Go get her!”

A moment later nine of them ran at Arzela, ready to pounce on her. But with incredible speed, Arzela dodged all their attacks. Several of them grabbed her arms, but with ease she lifted and threw them through the air, sending them crashing into a little of old cardboard boxes. Several of them were momentarily stunned, but tried to take her down. Arzela quickly outmaneuvered them, throwing the rest of them around like weightless dolls. They all crashed into each other in a tangled pile!

The leader ran to the pile of scrap metal and pulled free the largest steel bar he could find. Three feet long and almost two inches thick. It was very heavy, but he swung it with all his might at her. Cora was planning to grab the gun case and run, but she couldn’t look away. And what happened next shocked her.

Arzela caught the big steel bar in one hand as the man swung it down on her. With her other hand she grabbed his wrist and squeezed, and a moment later he let out a painful cry. Arzela ripped the bar from his grip.

The man with the beard backed away, stumbling while the rest of his gang got slowly to their feet, disoriented.

“Okay,” the man said, out of breath. “You’re very fast and strong. But there are ten of us. You can’t possibly beat us all with just one weapon”

Arzela turned her gaze on the big bar in her hand and twirled it expertly a few times in a blur. Then she swung the bar in front of her chest and grabbed each end tightly in her grip.

Arzela said, “You mean this? Oh, I won’t need this.”

Arzela tightened her grip and unleashed her strength, and a moment later they all heard a sound come from the center of the very dense metal; a terrible, creak which grew rapidly into a horrifying screech as the thick bar of solid steel began to bend slowly in Arzela’s bare hands!

None of them could believe their eyes and they all took a step back. Cora’s green eyes were ablaze with wonder and shock.

The steel was crying loudly in the large warehouse space as Arzela stared at it, fully focused and intense as she brought the ends of the bar toward each other, the middle of the thick steel deforming and even starting to wrinkle on its inner edge, screeching and howling in agony at the pressure of her strength!

Arzela felt the awesome surge of her might, the sensation of the dense metal surrendering its normally strong shape to the will of her strength! And immediately she felt the warm pulsing of arousal between her legs beneath the front of her shiny lycra suit.

At the sight of her overpowering the massive steel bar, half the gang ran madly away, scurrying out of the building. The remaining ones were in shock, unable to move!

Screeeeech! The bar unleashed a horrified cry.

With a final burst of strength, Arzela brought the ends of the massive bar together, the whole thing now a tightly folded, doubled mass of steel.

Arzela breathed deeply, examining the result of her strength. To finalize her point, she threw the bar down on the concrete floor so it clanged loudly in front of them all. The leader stared down at the mangled metal and then back at Arzela who placed fists on her shiny silver belt and said “Got any more toys for me to play with,” she said, a knowing grin in her face.

“Who are you,” the leader asked, his voice shaking nervously. “Or what are you?”

Arzela folded her arms tightly across her chest, making sure they saw the rippling of her Tau Ceti muscles.

“That doesn’t concern you,” she said. Then she looked directly at Cora.

“And now, Cora, you and I need to have a little chat,” Arzela said.

A moment later the bearded man and the rest of his gang ran wildly from the building.