Mana Pool Snippets - Keystone

Part 4

“Ah huh,” Andrea said. “And I want to come home.”

“You can’t come home, you’re dangerous,” Beth said.

“Oh boy, here we go,” Jaruka said. “Before we have a huge fight over this stupid idea, take a look at this.”

The act of pulling something from the cargo vest alerted the parents and terran, and Jaruka expected that fear tactic. Humans are so gullible.

Instead of a weapon, it was a color page printout. He spent the whole day looking for a functional printer in town, use human technology to transfer the picture, print it, then start creating enough plasma bullets for anything. Wearing the DNA mask was a embarrassment all together. He placed the picture on the table.

What Jaruka showed would be considered a cultural element for the Halcunac people and the greatest human find of alien existence. Except, Jaruka rarely shows this picture to anyone, not even Scott and Katie.

In the picture showed three green skin Halcunacs; a young girl and boy, and an old male. 

The man towered the children and dressed surprisingly almost like a modern Italian gentleman; clothes were made of leather in shades of red, blue and purple. A two-buttoned jacket covering a low-neck white tunic along with bottoms crossed between dress pants and a skirt covering the back only. Gems of similar color were embedded in the leather; not sure if gems signified royalty or common use like a human male’s tie. His dreads were a third free to move, another third bound behind him, and the last third were wrapped around a much longer dread down to his double knees, all colored bone white, either age or cosmetic. The end of the longer dread was a loop and inside was weave work similar to Native American dreamcatchers.

The female stood the same height as the young male. Her skindreads were also tied and free, but the top was wrapped in a black headband with a green gem in the center. Her clothes were also leather and styled like a dress and free-flowing yoga clothes; skirt over tight pants, constrictor shirt under short sleeve form fitting blouse, and long brown leather straps from her shoulders down the front. She had breasts indicating Halcunacs are mammals. Her gaze showed no emotion as did the older gentleman, but she appeared to have the same nose and dread structure as him, including her longer dread.

For the little boy, he was dressed the same as the gentleman, except his dreads were unshaven, all bound behind him, his longer dread much the same but without trinkets or strings, and he was smirking. He stood the same height as the girl and didn’t resemble the man much at all. 

The backdrop was the most interesting. A coastline. A village scape resembling New England fishing towns. Some farming plots. Flowers in brown bushes; unsure what season it was taken. A blue sky with two moons too close to the planet.

As the Livingstons looked, Jaruka explained. “This is my family. Yes you selfish twits, I do have one. Two counting Nova Company. This girl here.” He pointed at her. “Her name’s Shaotzi, my big twin sister. And this big guy. He’s my father, the most hard working son of a bitch you’ll ever see.

“These two protected me since I was born,” Jaruka said. “I had a rough childhood. Very rough, and these two did everything for me. I respect them. Now, when I heard about you two, I felt disgusted, even though you are humans. You kicked a new magical person out, especially your daughter. Maybe this is not my place, but its most certainly can’t kick out your new protection.”

Andrea wanted to see them so Jaruka passed the picture to her.

“We can choose not to embrace it,” Morgan said. “We believe in God and God will protect is.”

“Right, I almost forgot about that. You’d think that peashooter of yours could protect you? Crog no. Will your… whatever you believe in, will come and protect you? I highly doubt it from what I’ve seen.”

“Yes,” Beth said. “He makes miracles.”

“Yeah, I have a problem with that,” Jaruka said. “Where I come from, gods and goddesses are a living, breathing entity. I spoke to two of them over the course of my life. It’s not surprising you ignorant freaks aren’t listening to your planet.”

Jaurka took up his revolver, but did not point it at them. “Now, if you so choose to believe your god will protect you and banish your daughter, by all means, be the biggest unprotected assholes in the city. But breaking up a family over ridiculous notions, where I see that as a reflection of the crap I went through, I can’t allow that.”

“But…” Morgan started.

“No excuses, no pointless reasons without merit. None of that. I want you two to take her back to learn and understand magic. You know what happens when you don’t learn about the basics of magic? You die, slowly, and painfully. Bullets and missiles are a tool, but nothing compares to a citywide curse, or a ritual going after a demographic. You learn it, you build from it, and you protect yourself as long as you can. The same goes for you, kid.” He nudged at Andrea.”

“Also you hurt my host’s feelings, which for their sake I’m doing them a big favor to get Jonathan and Brenda off my back,” Jaruka said. “And I can’t stand kids.”

“H-Hey,” Andrea said from the remark.

“What? It’s the truth.”

When Jaruka turned back to the parents, a horrible sound came from them

The parents twisted their necks and their torsos skewed from another. The sound of bone snapping made Jaruka and Andrea to yell. Jaruka aimed his pistol at them out of reaction. The parents slouched over their laps.

“What the crog was that!?” Jaruka asked.

“Mom! Dad!” Andrea screamed.

But Jaruka realized why. He placed his hand on Andrea’s chest before she got any closer to the parent’s bodies.

“What happened to them?” Andrea protested.

“Shut up. Look.” Jaruka pointed.

He saw blood coming from the bodies’ faces. Blood so potent Jaruka could smell the iron. Each drip stained the beige carpet and the clothes.

“Oh no,” Jaruka said with wide eyes. “Kid. Let’s… back up… to the door… and make a run for it.”

“I don’t understand. Are they dead?” She was pushed by him, and she tried pushing his arm away.

“Don’t ask, kid, just get out of here.”

The mother and father took huge breaths with a decent load of mucus in the throat, followed by a low, unmistakable growl Jaruka remembered well. “Dammit, it started.”

The alien pulled the pistol’s firing hammer and the lights grew brighter.  His pace to the door increased.

“You dare leave this house without a formal chat?” The mother’s voice was not hers.

“You are far from safe, dreadhead.” The father’s voice wasn’t his either.

Both of them lifted their torsos and disjointed heads. Andrea looked away seeing the blood gushing out her parent’s eyes, even the predatory smiles.

“Like I said,” the two spoke in unison. “The girl is dangerous, and we want her gone.”

“Ah, crog me,” Jaruka said and raised his pistol at the enthralled zombies.