Ghost With Cats ~ Book of Eloh #1.Draft

Annie smiled as they entered to primitive looking house, it was warm and inside were many modern conveniences. “I had my neighbor stop in, start the fire, turn on the water, and flip the breakers this morning. They take care of the cabin when I’m not here, it rents out in the summer to tourist. They weren’t expecting me for a few more days, but it wasn’t a problem. Jorge checked my Rover already. Tomorrow he’ll pick up the Jeep and get fixed up and new tires so we will have a second vehicle if we need it.”

The Eloh all turned in a circle taking in the majestic scenery.

“How did your family come to dwell in such a remote place?” Vorn asked. He was always so curious and Annie wondered if he wasn’t as much a scholar as seneschal.

She told them that her great-grandfather had run mule freight wagon-trains from a place called Kansas, across the plains to the town below called Trinidad. He had built the original cabin on this site as a hunting and fishing retreat and would haul barrels of live trout back east to the dry prairie. She laughed that he would rather spend time looking at the back end of a dozen pairs of mules than listen to his wife yelling at their dozen rambunctious children. The family had a story that one month when he had come down with an injury called a hernia. While he convalesced, her great-grandmother had made twice the number of haul-trips. But her great-grandfather had hired a maid and a nanny to help him after only a week at home alone with his children. Servants they kept after the children had all left home until his death. She laughed about a mother's working being harder than any career as she and Vorn put away the groceries.

Upstairs, there were three bedrooms, two of the rooms had two beds, and the last was a tiny loft with one bed. Tal laid their backpacks down on the beds Annie had assigned them. He carried Annie’s up to the loft. That was when Tal noticed the glass figure of a feline on the dresser. There were cat decorations in every room of the house. There was also a life-like one sitting on the balcony rail outside. It blinked at him and he realized it was a living feline like Gregory but colored very differently.

On Eloh, living felines never came close to the people, but on Earth, humans and felines lived together. He wondered if it was hers or a wild feline. Everywhere Annie went, there were cats, like the one she wore around her neck.

“Okay, which of y’all is bleedin’?” Annie drawled in a grumpy voice from downstairs.

Tal looked down at her, surprised. She must be angry her accent was back. Vorn was carrying in more bags, he shook his head. Bries had an armful of firewood, he looked down. She began using those words the translator implants did not know. She made Bries set the wood down and follow her into the bathroom.

“Take off your sweatshirt, Bries,” she ordered firmly.

He obeyed meekly. She almost vomited, but she forced herself to look at the wound. A bullet had passed through his side under the skin and was still lodged there. She was amazed that it had started healing already, but near the metal, the wound was bleeding and raw. Vorn and Tal watched curiously to see how she would handle the situation. She was a very emotional person, but she was surprisingly calm as she worked. Carefully, she numbed the wound and cleaned it, removing the metal fragments and stitching it.

She said "I’m sorry" every time Bries inhaled sharply and she looked like she might get sick or faint at any moment, but she seemed more angry about her struggle than Bries’ wound until she spoke.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” She demanded.

Bries looked down. Annie grabbed his face and made him look at her, “Bries, why did you not tell me you were wounded at the bus station? Explain yourself.”

“Pet Bries is sorry, Lady Annie. The bullet that injured technician Matt was meant for Pet Bries. If technician Matt died, it is Pet Bries failure to be alive.” The large bodyguard said, looking sideways at the blood stained gauze in the sink. His voice was very, very deep. It was the most he had ever spoken to her at once.

“Look at me, Bries, in the eyes. It is not your failure to be alive. You did not hurt Matt. Those who pulled the trigger did. And it was my fault they followed us there,” Annie declared softly patting the side of his face. A tear leaks out of his almost black eyes, she noticed the dark pupils were slit vertically like a cats. “I know he was your friend. But it is wrong to blame yourself, you must turn your pain into strength, and your sorrow into determination. Those who might have killed Matt, also seek to kill Admant Tal and Cypher Vorn. We must not let that happen. Will you help me stop it? Help me keep them safe?” She asked.

He looked up at her as if she was his new best friend. His slate gray eyes shining as he answered. “Yes, my Lady, Bries will help you protect the Master and Cypher Vorn.”

“Okay, you and I shall protect him and Vorn until we can get all of you home,” she promised and she hugged his large head.

He really is a tank, she thought absently.

He kept sighing heavily as he grieved his friend. She stroked the side of his smooth head as he leaned against her.

“Bries has never lost a friend,” he said softly, “Bries has never had one before to lose.”

“I have lost many, I also lost my mother and father,” she revealed sadly. “Pain doesn’t go away, it just becomes something to make you stronger or weaker depending on what you choose. What do you choose, Bries?” She swallowed, trying to be strong for him, knowing her pain made her weaker.

“Bries did not have a mother or a father. But Bries chooses stronger to honor Matt who made Bries laugh with puns and gave Bries chocolate,” he answered.

“Very well, tomorrow when you have had a day to recover, I will show you the egress points and how to shoot our weapons, and we will honor Matt by being stronger. I am sorry you did not grow up with a mother or a father, did you have brothers or sisters?” She wondered aloud.

“Bries is alone, Lady Annie, Bries is made,” he rumbled.

She gasped as she realized what that meant. “Oh Bries, then I’ll be your friend always. You will never be alone again.”

She felt so bad for him that he had no one. She studied his features, they were not like Tal’s or Vorn’s, they were broader, thicker, and now she understood why. Bries was a clone.

Later, after she made Bries rest, she cornered Vorn in the kitchen, “You are not a clone like Bries is?” She needed to confirm a few things.

“No, Lady Annie, I am a born one. Only those below 51st tier are made ones.”

“Why?”

“Perhaps, the Admant should answer these questions.”

“I am not asking him, I am asking you. He is already upset that I met his brother before his death while he was looking for something called the light. An object that is supposed to be here on Earth, but Tal has no idea what it is,” she explained.

“Yes, I am aware... My Lady, on Eloh, all females are tier 10 or higher. The reason is because there are so few of them. Less than 1 in 300 births is a female, and the recent generations of females refuse to be joined or act as mothers. And if a child is conceived and is not a female child, then the child’s father risked being ended. Males risk injury and even life to create a child, it has become such a risk that it is now mandatory among males to participate in what you would call a lottery. Joinings are arranged, but almost never permanent as they once were. There is no longer any affection between the genders of our race, only animosity. Our children are raised without warmth, except from a father if he survives, or their surviving brothers, uncles, and cousins. Therefore to maintain the numbers needed for our war force and work force, they are made, such as Bries, and are forever alone,” Vorn explained.

Annie stared at him almost horrified. She shook her head, blinking back tears, then asked, “Well, then do your, umm, males and females, find companionship with each other, I mean males and males, and females and females.”

It was his turn to stare at her, “Such a thing is not done among our people as it is among your people. We are not inclined in such a way. Affection between males is loyalty or friendship driven, or by brotherly and family bonds, but even that is being lost because it is not in the male nature to be openly affectionate and nurturing.”

She looked so sad for a moment, then she hugged him. At first, he isn’t sure how to react, so he hugged her back. His elderly grandmother had hugged him, his brothers and cousins often before her death when he was nine.

“Thank you, my lady,” Vorn responded softly after she released him.

“I am so sad for your people, Vorn.”

Vorn nodded sadly, “It grieves my master’s heart that he can not find the answers his brother sought to help our people.”

By the second day, there were a half dozen cats, at the cabin. All were friendly. Most seemed very fond of Annie. She revealed she had never owned a cat, and these were her neighbors’ cats. This always happened and she didn’t know why.

"Cats just love her, oh yes they do," was something her father had always teased.

Bries seemed to attract the furry creatures as well, they followed him around, whether he was inside doing small things or outside making firewood.

Vorn took to reading the many printed books Annie owned while Annie spent most of her time tapping on what she called a laptop, working for her friend Pops.

On the third day, Tal stood at the window, watching Annie and Bries on the balcony. He did not understand what they were doing. Giant snowflakes were falling gently and Annie was having Bries catch them on a piece of black paper. Sometimes she would take an image of one or two with her camera. Vorn was sitting in a chair reading.

Without being asked, Vorn answered, “Lady Annie is endeavoring to show Bries the many shapes of snowflakes so she can teach him how to make them.”

Tal tipped his head, “Make them? Are they not formed from frozen water vapor?”

He felt Vorn’s smile without seeing it, “I believe she is going to teach him to make them using a cutting utensil and paper. For ornamentation, Master.”

Tal simply nodded, thinking perhaps he would go for a run. Annie had given him a map of all the local hiking trails. He did not think he could ever tire of running through this majestic wilderness. Going to his room, Tal changed and went out the opposite door. Today, he would go to the top of one of the peaks. He wondered if his host realized how quickly his people could traverse distances.

A while later, Tal returned to find Annie and Bries cutting geometric forms out of folded paper. They are quite beautiful and actually did look like abstract snowflakes. Bries seemed so happy to work on them. Annie also taught him how to draw the complicated form on paper. The sword pet seemed very content to spend hours on his new creative endeavors with his Lady Annie sitting in her overstuffed chair, typing.

Tal was very bored by the end of five days. He ran around both of the small lakes every day, or split wood with Bries. He missed his sanctum room and swords, the food was terrible, never fresh, and it would be at least five more days before the rescue ship was close enough to hail them. He had already read the only books their host had on war craft and war history. Those books belonged to her late father. At dinner, he pushed his steak away half eaten and stomped into his room, slamming the door.

“What is wrong with him?” Annie asked, pushing the plate over to Bries who devoured the extra meat.

“The Master normally eats fresh killed meats with the blood not drained. He understands this is what we have on this world, but he is accustomed to his routine and this is stressing to him,” Vorn explained.

She eyed the closed door, frowning, “Well, why didn’t he just ask?”

“The Master does not feel it is proper to question a host who has risked so much to help us.”

Annie sighed, she was practically a vegan, eating mostly grains and vegetables with the occasional eggs, cheese, or fish. Serving red meat, pork, and poultry three meals a day for her guests' dietary requirements was getting to her, but, as far as she knew, that is what they ate; high protein equaling twice as much meat as humans.

“Vorn, I need you to tell me exactly what Tal is used to eating and I will see what we can do. I also need to know his habits so he doesn’t drive me nuts with his cabin fever, I have a book to finish.”

“The master is not ill with a fever,” Vorn declared

Annie laughed until she snorted as Vorn and Bries looked at her concerned. “It isn’t an illness, it is when ya get all jumpy inside from being holed up in a small place with nothing to do. You have your books. I have my work. Bries has his new feline friends, Origami paper art, and the firewood. Tal just wanders around Blue Lake or over to Bear Lake, and stares at the twin sisters. Tomorrow morning early, Bries and I will see if we can get a deer for a few days fresh meat. Then I’m heading down to Trinidad in the Land Rover. The town is small and I can handle it for a little while, I need to go Christmas shopping. It might be fun for him to get out if he wants to go with me.” She said as she stretched in her chair.

"Your solution should prove satisfactory, my lady," Vorn nodded, thinking Lady Annie was very perceptive. She would find a way to improve the Master’s mood.

Later that evening, Tal silently walked through the cabin, up in the loft he could see the glow of Annie’s laptop and hear her talking to someone.

“I hope you like the ending, Pops. It should read just like you thought it would.” She was saying.

“I am sure I will love it. I got your postcard. See any wolves?” An elderly human male by the sound of his voice.

Annie answered, “None yet. Hear any good spook stories?”

“Just one about a girl whose name wasn’t Alice. She crawled down a Rabbit Hole and saved the world from terrorists. Then that same not Alice, just last week, caused the Aurora Borealis to be seen as far south as Arizona while blowing a new rabbit hole in the Utah desert. Now, everyone is looking for her and three little green men. So much trouble from a ghost,” the elderly man’s voice was amused.

She laughed too. “You writers have the craziest imaginations, Pops. Ghosts and aliens, really? I am so glad I just have to fill in the words in between the ideas. And by the by, shiny things just seem to happen around people whose names start with A.”

“Sharon is worried,” the man announced in a serious tone, “She said to tell you ‘the old man says don’t come home.’”

“I wish I could go, but we both know you can’t take little green men home for the holidays, that movie already failed at the box offices.” She was trying to sound amused, but there was no mirth in it, then she revealed seriously, “I have to find someone named Bents, I think he is the one who wants me dead.” A few moments of silence followed.

“Dr. Dale Bents, government contractor, bought a bunch of unclassified scientific research when the transparency policy made everything public and slapped corporate R&D protection on it. All the really dangerous stuff. He’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He is on practically every watch list in the world, as well as every governments’ payroll. I’ll send you what our friends sent me, in case I heard from you. Be careful Annie. If this man wants you and your friends, he will find you.” The old writer’s eyes had a hard shine to them. If their old contacts feared this man, Annie knew she was in trouble. She really wanted to go throw up again.

“Don’t worry Pops, a few more days, and ET is going home. After that, I am a Christmas ghost.” Annie declared and Tal wondered what she meant, she talked in such a strange way but the human male seemed to understand her.

“Past, present, or future?"

She laughed instead of answering.

"You know where I’ll be, and Sharon said she’s traveling. The wolves are sniffing around the big apple,” he continued.

Annie shook her head, “Well, we’ll all get extra presents this Hanukkah, she loves to shop on the road. I wonder if it’s vineyards or distilleries this year.”

The elderly writer laughed, “I still haven’t drank all of last year’s stock.”

“Me either, or the year before’s. I could make a fortune hocking it all on Ebay.” She giggled, “Merry Christmas, Pops.”

“Merry Christmas, honey,” He said and the skype ended.

Tal started to move back to his room when he heard the connection reopen, and Annie started speaking a language remarkably similar to his own. The translator implant in his head immediate changed languages. The one day, they spent in orbit had allowed them to gain some knowledge of the vast number of languages on this world.

“Little brother, how is grandfather?” Annie asked.

“Sister! You are alive! The whole world is looking for you! They want to kill you. Grandfather is not well. The cancer is back again, he will not see another birthday. You must not come, they are waiting for you," A young man’s voice warned.

“I know. Can I talk to him?” She pleaded.

“Give me five minutes, his nurse should be starting his chemo and I will say I have come to play a game with him. I love you, sister, Allah be praised. I am so happy you are not dead. I will call you right back,” He promised.

There was a chime and the call ended. Up in the loft, Tal could hear Annie crying. He stepped into the shadows of the living room as she ran downstairs to the bathroom and washed her face, then sprinted back upstairs, the whole time muttering, “Pull it together girl, you can’t be sad, be shiny.”

Seven minutes later the laptop chimed, and she answered it, “Opir?”

“My Angel? Is it truly you?” A weak elderly male voice came.

“Grandfather, I miss you so much,” Annie gushed in the other language, “I promised I would come for your birthday and I can’t. I am so sorry.”

“You must not come, my angel. Evil men have come looking for you. Hadif’s former associates, his enemies, and even your government. They all want to know where you are hiding. Aji says you are routing all over the world as he is, that is my smart girl. You are to be like the desert cat, sleek and invisible. My heart beats stronger knowing you are safe,” The elderly voice assured her.

“Grandfather Opir, do you remember your old friend Truh with his beautiful dark eyes?”

“Yes, my angel, why would you ask about someone so long gone from this world?”

“Because I have met his younger brother. He is asleep downstairs with his servants, it is why everyone is looking for me,” she confessed.

There was a long pause before the elderly man spoke again, “What do you require, Anneliese?”

“Only a little seashell and a lone star to wish upon, Grandfather, and for your forgiveness that I am breaking my promise for your 100th birthday with my two left feet.”

He laughed and coughed, then the young man spoke swiftly, “My brother comes, we love you.”

There was a chime and the call is ended as she exclaims, “No wait!” After a moment, she whispered “I love you both too," then she wept again.

Tal had stood below, listening and wondering. He had heard the humans use this word ‘love’ often in the media they broadcasted, but he did not quite understand it. It seemed to mean from mild to great affection, but it also seemed to mean something greater than affection when placed on some people. Whomever the boy and elderly man where, Annie had a great deal of love for them. Tal wondered what it felt like to love and be loved. Humans were strange, he thought about their behavior as he stared out at the stars.

During the night she had one of her bad dreams again, upstairs he heard her cry out in her sleep then she gasped herself awake. He wondered what happened to cause her such terror that she could not even rest. He also wondered if the source of the dreams were the reason she was made ill by blood and suffered anxiety. She had never figured out that he only slept 3 or 4 hours, and was always witness to her nightly horror. He was always back in bed before she got up at dawn, out of respect for her home, but it pained his soul in an odd way to know she suffered.

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Thank you, Mama Magie