Yoriths And Harold
Chapter 54
LIV
Jim pulled back on the reins, bringing his yorith to a stop at the edge of the Starkeen River. As the yorith bent its neck over to drink from the pure waters of the river, Jim slid off and patted his steed on the side. It was a beautiful animal… very much like a horse in many ways. Clearly, it was a "horse" of a type… but the "type" was like none Jim had ever seen on Earth. This yorith had large, vivid emerald-colored eyes. The sides and head were pure white with light traces of zebra-like stripes, though these were not as prominent as those of a zebra. The tail and mane were jet black and shone with a deep, rich luster. On top of the head, there was a pointed, knob-like protrusion that made the animal look somewhat like a unicorn. Jim was uncertain what the knob actually was. In structure, it was unlike any horn he had ever seen, yet there was nothing else to compare it to. Jim suspected that it served an active function for the animal in some way. He theorized that it could contain a guidance system like dolphins are known to possess in their heads… or that it could serve some other totally unknown purpose. He was certain that it served some functional purpose, though.
Dan and Diane slid off their yoriths and walked them over to the edge of the river, and their guest followed suit. Diane's yorith was a light lime green color, and the mane and tail were deep forest green. The large eyes were a brilliant blue-green. This animal had no trace of the stripes that Jim's yorith had, but it did have the same horn-like knob on top of the head.
Dan's yorith was a light but vivid translucent blue color with light golden flecks all over the body. The mane and tail were rich golden-colored, as were the eyes.
The yorith that their guest rode was jet black. It's tail and mane, however, were a lustrous ruby red with golden highlights. Its large eyes were golden. And like all the other yoriths, it had a small unicorn-like protrusion on top of its head.
The guest slid off his yorith and patted it on the side, smiling appreciatively.
"I really wish I could take some of these beautiful animals back to my ranch. I've never seen anything like them! You don't think you could spare a few do you, Jim?"
Dan grinned. "That would be a bit hard to explain, sir. PETA would accuse you of spray painting your horses and putting eye makeup on them."
The guest nodded… "and gluing a horn on their heads… Yeah, I know. They would be pretty hard to explain… but damn, these are some mighty fine-looking horses, Dan!"
"I can't disagree with you there, sir," Dan said.
"They're strong and sure-footed, too," the guest noted.
Jim nodded appreciatively. "I've taken these guys into the hilliest, roughest areas, and they've never missed a beat. They almost seem to walk on air. Sometimes I think they do," he added with a laugh.
"Well, if you ever want to send a few of them back to Earth, Jim," the guest said, "let me have first dibs. I'll tell PETA I rescued them from a circus or something. I'll think of something."
Dan laughed. "Yeah! Until the press figures out that the paint and makeup aren't wearing off!"
The guest smiled. "You're right, Dan. I guess I've got enough things on my plate right now without havin' to explain to the press how I happen to have some alien horses runnin' around on my ranch. My rivals would have me pegged as an alien. I can see it now… some old guy in a condo down in Palm Beach sayin,' "Well, Lucille, that explains it! 'e was a damned alien!"
Dan and Jim both laughed. Diane grinned and made an effort to refrain from laughing, but the more she thought about it, the more she grinned. Then she started to laugh, too.
"Let's mount up and head back to the ranch," Jim said. "We're meeting the king and queen, Max and Liz, and his General, Michael Guerin and his wife, Maria, for dinner at the palace."
"King," the guest said to himself, nodding. "Has a nice ring to it!"
"It won't fly, sir," Dan said. "Earth isn't ready for… that." The guest grinned and mounted his yorith.
"He was kidding," Diane said to Dan, shaking her head with a smile.
"Are you sure," Dan asked with a totally straight face. Diane looked at Dan momentarily, as her smile wavered, then Dan grinned and winked at her.
**********
The guests were led into the large front reception area of the palace, where Liz and Max met them with Michael and Maria, who had arrived ten minutes before. Liz and Maria gave Diane and Dan a quick hug, as Max and Michael welcomed Dan's "boss." Then Liz and Maria welcomed the guest and Max and Michael welcomed Dan and Diane back again. Dan and Diane's returning to Antar was not at all an unusual occurrence. They came and went with some regularity, since Liz gave Diane the use of the sphere of the portal before she and Dan were married. It was the sphere that resulted in Dan's "boss" learning about Antar. When Diane was planning their wedding, she used the sphere to pop into Dan's D.C. office from Antar. Dan almost never had visitors, and it simply did not occur to Diane to check this time to see if he was alone or not before she popped in. It was an eye-opener for Dan's "boss," who happened to be there, and it took a lot of explaining by Dan, but the secret was kept.
Max motioned to the three oversized Antarian easy chairs and two oversized Antarian sofas.
"Have a seat wherever you'd like. Dinner will be ready in about half an hour."
Dan and Diane sat down on one of the sofas, and their guest chose one of the large easy chairs. Max and Liz sat together on the other sofa with Michael and Maria. A maid brought before-dinner drinks and a tray of light jaht-roo cookies and placed the cookies on a table between the seats then poured each person a small glass of jubish.
"Nice place," the guest said, admiring the architecture and spaciousness of the palace. "It looks old."
"It is," Max said. "The palace was built 1,687 years ago during the reign of King Starma, my great, great, great… well, you get the idea." Max smiled slightly.
"Amazing!"
"After Kivar killed me," Max continued… "I mean, after he killed my ancestor, he took over the palace and changed some things, but we were able to return it to its former appearance after I returned and took back the throne."
"So you had to fight for your throne," the guest said.
Max nodded.
"Max and Liz and Michael and Maria, grew up on Earth," Dan said. "Max and Michael returned here and retook the throne from Kivar, who was a despot. Max's real name is Zan, and Michael's is Rath, but among us, they're Max and Michael."
"Yeah, I think you told me something about them being from Earth before," the guest said. "I think it was when you and Diane were planning your wedding… or was it at the wedding? No matter, I remember you mentioning something about it."
Dan smiled and nodded.
Maya, JoLeesa, Andya, and Alyyx walked into the room together at that moment and sat down politely on a smaller sofa beside their parents. Liz introduced them, and the guest shook their hands. As he did, he noticed Harold peeking around the corner. Dan noticed the look on his guest's face, and apparently, Michael noticed it, too, because Michael immediately said,
"Oh, it's not a rat. I thought that, myself, when I saw it."
"Oh, thanks a lot for explaining that," Liz said. Then turning to the guest, she added, "There aren't any rats in the palace. I don't think there are even any on Antar. Michael just meant that he thought it looked like… well… it was little and fuzzy…" Liz started to turn red.
"Harold, come here," Max called. "We'll give you a cookie. Harold loves cookies."
Dan, Diane, and the guest watched as Harold made his way shyly across the room and took the cookie from Max's hand. It was impossible to tell how he took it. He had no arms, and his face was covered with hair. But the cookie did disappear somewhere underneath all the hair.
"What is it," Dan asked.
The guest looked at Dan as though he had asked a dumb question.
"It's a tribble, Dan. Haven't you ever seen a tribble?"
Dan shook his head. "What's a tribble?"
"I've heard of tribbles," Diane said. "But I don't remember where."
"Star Trek," the guest said. "Kirk had to get rid of them after they made so many babies that they filled up the Enterprise."
"You know what scares me, sir?" Dan said.
His guest shook his head.
"That you actually know that."
"Well, I had a past life, Dan. I didn't develop amnesia when I moved in at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue! You should watch a little TV sometime. There's more to life than just files and briefs."
"Yeah," Dan said. "There's tribbles."
Diane picked Harold up and stroked him on the back and tummy, and Harold began to make a purring sound.
"He's cute," Diane said.
"How can you tell," Dan asked. "All I see is a hank of hair!"
"Don't listen to him," Diane whispered to Harold. "He's just jealous 'cause you've got more hair than he does."
Michael snorted quietly and smiled.
"I like my hair short," Dan said. "I've got all the hair I need. You don't see any bald spots!"
Diane grinned. "I know. But Harold does have beautiful hair, don't you Harold?"
Dan looked at his guest, and both of them smiled.
"Max, where in the world did you get this thing," Dan asked.
Max pointed at Andya. "You want to tell him, Andya?"
"I made him for Jeffy. Harold was my present to Jeffy."
Diane looked lost. "Jeffy?"
"Oh! Diane, you have been away haven't you!"
"Well, for a few weeks… Who's Jeffy?"
"Maya, would you?" Liz asked. Maya smiled and ran from the room. She returned with Jeffy cradled in her arms. Diane gasped.
"Omigod! Liz! Omigod, he's beautiful! But… how? Liz, We were only away a few weeks. Even Antarians don't work that fast, and you're not Antarian."
"Well, actually, she is," Max corrected. "Partly."
"Yeah, but still… a few weeks? Come on, Liz! What is going on?"
Liz smiled. "It's a long story, Diane. The short answer is that time got thrown off, and Max and I had a baby…" She looked at Jeffy. "…in another timeline. When the timeline got fixed, here he was. Well, not really. Actually, Kryys had to go find him for us and get him into this timeline. It's all pretty complicated."
"And I want to hear it all," Diane said. "Don't leave out a thing! Not one word! When you have time."
Liz nodded and looked at their guest, who had taken Harold and was petting him.
"He likes you," Diane said. "He's purring."
"Well, I like him."
Dan shook his head.
"You know what we need, Dan? We need a tribble in the White House. Uh, it is neutered, isn't it?"
"It's neither a girl nor a boy," Max said. "Andya reproduced it as neither one."
"Sir," Dan said. "What do you think the press would do with that story if they got a hold of it?"
"I know, Dan! Just imagine for a moment, will you! Suspend that reality-locked mind of yours for a moment and just imagine what could be… He's the perfect pet! All he does is scoot around and polish the floor all day long… and eat cookies."
"Yeah… I see your point."
"Too bad, little fellow, Earth isn't ready for you yet," the guest said, as he set Harold down on the floor and handed him another cookie.
"Oh, now you've made a life-long friend," Liz laughed.
"There you go, Dan! See how simple life can be? A cookie and someone to rub your tummy and you purr all day long."
"Oh, sir, don't get me started."
"I like to annoy Dan," the guest said to Liz and Max with a wink. "He doesn't know how to see things with a different perspective… separate himself from the cold realities sometimes. But he's a good Head of Alien Affairs. He's a hard worker, and he's perfect for the job I placed him in. I couldn't have asked for a better man!"
Max and Liz both nodded. "We think so, too."
"I owe Dan a lot," the guest added. "He's brought that agency and our country into a new era… a new era of awareness. Unfortunately, he's right about one thing, though. The country… the world for that matter… isn't ready yet for everything. They wouldn't be able to handle things they don't understand. We have to take one step at a time. Abolishing the Special Unit and cleaning out the secret, deeply-buried agencies that lived and breathed paranoia about everything alien, though, has been a good start. If Dan never does anything else but that, he will have already done the world a great service."
"Amen to that," Liz said. Max, Michael, and Maria all nodded enthusiastically.
Maria was the first to notice Maya. Maya had been seated, but she was standing now, with a far-away look in her eyes and tears streaming down her face.
"Maya?" Maria said, jumping up to put her arm around her. Liz immediately ran to Maya's side and put her arm around her, too. "What's the matter, Maya? What is it?"
"Somebody still wants to hurt you, Mommy… and Daddy, too. Somebody on Earth. I saw Daddy in a box, and he looked hurt."
The guest looked at Dan questioningly.
"Maya has the ability to communicate with some people and see some things in other places," Dan said. "It's possible she's seeing something happening on Earth."
Daddy was in a box that was in the air, and Uncle Kyle pulled the ropes loose and the box fell. Then Daddy fell out, and… and he was hurt… or dead. And Daddy and Uncle Kyle were very young… like teenagers."
Liz looked at Max. "Maya's seeing something, Max."
Max shook his head. "I know. But this is something that never happened before. How could it have happened if we were young but it never happened to us then?"
"You know, Max," Dan said. "I probably am pretty reality-based, but I've seen a lot of things since I met Diane that I never would have thought possible before I met her. Logically, if Maya sees something happening to you when you're young, and it never happened to you, she must be seeing it happen in some other time or… or dimension or something."
Max thought about this for a few moments. "Okay, I'll buy that, but where? How? What does it have to do with us here? Why is she seeing it?"
"She saw me in a wheelchair a few nights ago," Liz said, "and she said that I was in danger. Now she sees you in a box… a coffin?"
"It sounds to me," Maria said, "like someone, somewhere, needs help, and they are tied to you… or tied to all of us… in some way… maybe because they are us… in a different time or dimension or something. If the girl in the wheelchair is you, and she has your powers, she might be able to communicate with Maya… without even knowing she's doing it. And if the guy in the box is Max, then Maya might be able to see that, too."
"But where are they," Liz said. "How would we ever find them to help them. And should we even help them? We've already seen what can happen when time is messed with."
"Maybe it's not time," Michael said. "Maybe it's like a different dimension. There are others, you know. If it is, then what happens to them could have consequences for us here. We don't know what the consequences might be. But if we died there, we might even cease to exist in our dimension here."
"I didn't know dimensions were inter-connected," Liz said. "I didn't even know they were real."
"I'm not sure that they are," Michael said, "It just makes sense to me that if any of us is killed in another dimension, if that's what it is, that can't be a good thing. It would almost have to have some kind of consequence for us."
"And that would be why Maya sees it," Liz said. "If it poses a danger to us here in some way… that would make sense."
"So what can we do about it," Maria asked.
"We need to make an effort to find out where this is happening and keep an eye on the situation," Michael said. As a military man and the number one "Defender of the Realm," Michael tended to take a preemptive view of most situations involving danger.
Max nodded his agreement. "Alright. As of now, we are going to see if we can find the source of these visions Maya is having. When we do, we'll monitor the situation, and if it seems to require our intervention, we will decide how best to react."
Everybody nodded.
tbc
Coming: Jungle Jim returns, and Max and the others zero in on the source of Maya's visions.