Chapter 2 - Stith

A loud crack rang out over the billowing fields of New Earth. It echoed clear and long like a thunderclap. The sky was serene and thick; a heavy, grayish mist hovered over the long stalks of grass that had grown in the past decade.

A lone Mantrin woman stood in the field holding a long rifle. It had a slender, wooden stock and a black muzzle; so black that no light reflected off of it. She focused through a holographic scope that was displayed from the top of the rifle. One couldn't see it from the side, but from behind it showed wind resistance, distance, and the composition of the space between the gun and the target.

The Mantrin was still; so still a bird or a squirrel could have sat on her and they would have never noticed the alien woman steadily aiming her rifle. Her breathing was extremely controlled, her muscles all poised, ready for the strike. She was hunting her prey: a small rock, no bigger than an eyeball, sitting on a fencepost two hundred yards away. Finally, when all her calculations were made and all of her estimates weighed the fulfillment came.

She pulled the trigger.

A thin, green blast ripped over the field and zinged by the rock in less than half a second. "Oh, great!" Stith exclaimed as she threw her plasma sniper rifle to the ground. She stammered with her massive feet and struck an invisible object with her fists. "I miss. I can't believe it: I miss!" Her raspy voice called over the hills. She then collected the rifle off of the ground carefully like one might pick up a child and dusted it off.

The rock sat quite peacefully on the fencepost. Out of the mist, Stith came walking up to it and scoffed at the thing which had managed to dodge her shot, or so she was convinced. She picked up the rock and studied it intently. A thin, black dash on one side of the rock was enough for her ego to not sink. She hadn't quite hit the stone, but had rather knicked it. She tossed it up once and caught it before the Mantrin threw it like a baseball off into the distance. Better for it to lie out in the fields where it couldn't mock her aim to her face.

Stith flung the door to her house open and it hit the inside wall. The room was dark and empty. She walked in and set her rifle on a table. There were streams of silver light streaming in from one side of the room where there was a large window separated by frames that went around the wall in a semicircular fashion. It featured an area where the floor was lowered and steps led down to it. In front of the window, down in this area, were several chairs with tables that had been put in afterward. Stith liked to entertain guests in this area since it had a clear view of the ocean from the large window. It used to be the bridge of a massive starcruiser that was cut up and divvyed amongst the people in Houston. She often had her friend, Akima, and Akima's husband and children over. The adults sat and talked while the children ran around. They often talked of their experiences growing up in space and reminiscing of their exodus to the Titan and the New Earth.

She lumbered over to a chest and pulled out an odd instrument. Stith picked up the rifle and applied the instrument to it which produced a line that was only slightly crooked. "A Ha!" she exclaimed, "I knew it! There was no way I would have missed it!" The calibration on the holo-scope needed to be realigned, but she had neither the time nor the patience to recalibrate it. She set both down and lumbered around her house. Stith walked down a corridor where she had several pictures of friends; mainly of Akima. There was one picture of Akima wearing a chef's hat and apron. She had a frying pan which she held up triumphantly as she stood behind a stove. There were all sorts of dead, alien food hanging on racks behind her. Akima was 18 in the photograph.

Stith scuffled about in her room which was an old captain's quarters. It still had a finely crafted, cherry-colored desk with a holographic map of several galaxies that didn't work any more. Stith went around near her bed and found a large, brown coat which she put on one arm swung the other sleeve around as well. She straightened the coat, brushed her nose, and was out the door.

Outside Stith slung a backpack on and walked toward a hovercraft which looked like a tractor, but was only the size of a pick up truck. Loads of weapons were stacked in barrels according to their sizes in the flatbed of the hovercraft. She had handguns, machineguns, rifles, and shotguns, all plasma of course, which she would sell to anyone who needed them. Stith wasn't necessarily an arms dealer. The colony's laws still forbade murder, and nobody dared to even try since everyone had a gun. If a person were to fire on another person, the common townsfolk would have vaporized them in nothing flat, literally. These weapons were meant for hunting and self protection. There was a makeshift government in place, but people still followed common law. They also kept their weapons close by in case any more aliens with a genocidal agenda showed up. Stith started the ignition and the craft made a low humming noise until it began to lift off of the ground. The surrounding grass blew in all directions like a helicopter was taking off. With a step of the pedal, the craft flew away in to town.

"Well, that should do it," Cale said as he slammed the hood of a hovercraft shut, "You can go around to the clerk to pay. Take this." He said as he ripped an invoice sheet off of a clipboard and handed it to the man. He gave a polite 'Thank you' and headed up to the clerk like Cale had told him. Cale had started an automotive repair shop which had become immensely popular. He used to come home late on nights with all of the repairs he had to make until Akima convinced him to hire more help. Cale's publicity was the main reason for the business' success. People would travel from all around the world just to have a vehicle repaired by him. Cale used the address of his business to allow people to find him. Otherwise, they would always be knocking on the door to his home, the Phoenix. Some just came to meet 'the savior of humanity' as they called him. Cale would always respond that "Even the savior of humanity needs to make a living." He ran the business out of the cargo hold of an old spacecraft that had been cut up to be used as a building.

Cale was tired from the day of work. There was a light fog that blotted out the sun, but all of the grease and heavy machinery is enough to wipe a person out. His tattoo seemed larger on his arm since the skin had stretched to allow the new muscle to form underneath it. His lower back ached from the entire day's work. He was ready to go home. Cale had been doing this since shortly after he arrived back from his battle with the Drej. A bartering system was used before, but since the new currency had taken effect, it caused everyone to have to work. Not that he minded it much since it kept him busy. He had to have something to preoccupy himself after all of his adventures. He was also making such a killing with his new business that he didn't really have to work, but he didn't want to sit behind a desk all day. He could hire someone to do that.

Cale threw down an old rag to a bench as he walked in to the main offices of the building. He joked with employees and greeted some customers as he walked by the front counter where he had three secretaries and two people to handle files. Eventually, Cale made his way into his office which was made from the landing tower of the hangar. It still had some of the docking controls in it, but none of them worked. He sat at his desk and gave a long sigh. It was just another day at the office. He looked up to see that the clock on his desk read 4:55pm. It was five minutes to closing time, but he thought it was close enough. Cale shuffled some papers around and ordered everything he wanted it to be for Monday. He snuck out and made his way out the front door. Plenty of people had seen him, but he pretended that he was invisible anyway. He walked away from the old hangar bay and strode down a dusty path that led into the heart of Houston.

The walk wasn't very far at all. It was only a mile or so, but Cale like to walk it nevertheless. He liked to go through town and see everything there was to see. The town was a hodge-podge, circuitous group of parked spacecrafts. Some were large, but most were small, personal craft. They still used bits and pieces of these ships because the trees hadn't grown to a size where they were ready to be cut down for housing. He went by the city hall which was little more than a galley that was converted into a meeting space. All of the pieces of spaceships created a low and very jagged skyline that stretched along the hills like a set of teeth. The air was low and foggy. If it wasn't foggy it was typically rainy since more and more condensation had been flowing in to the deep canyons and crevices that would hopefully become oceans. The fog created a milky aura as lights pierced through it and made the lights look as though they were far off distant stars. He approached an area which was unofficially designated as the market. There were booths for anything you could think of. There were always men shouting out their most recent catches from the lakes and women who quietly worked on their sewing, all of which they could sell. It was a type of bazaar where anybody could set up their own area whenever they wanted however they wanted; just so long as you didn't block someone else out. The streets were littered with people who were just milling around. Many were on their way home from work and swung through the market only to pick up a few things on their way home. Children skipped alongside parents and grandparents. Fathers had their young ones riding piggy-back. Their clothes all an assortment of brown jackets and khaki pants; straw hats and leather shoes.

He saw a Mantrin woman sitting behind a table at her booth. She was large, maybe eight or nine feet tall with huge legs that looked very similar to those of a kangaroo only she had two sets of knees. Her face was like a cross between a horse and a bird and she had a long, sturdy tail. She sat in a brown cloak that draped over her sides and made her look all the more large. Her booth had strings of Christmas lights hanging from a ceiling which was a tent that came from her hovercraft which was behind her. She had all assortments of weapons stacked out in front on racks and sitting on display. A man was walking away with a rifle after having paid the Mantrin.

"Hey, Stith!" Cale said as he approached her weapons booth, "How's things goin' with my favorite Mantrin?" He propped himself up on her desk by his elbows.

"Not much," she replied

"Yeah, me neither," Cale replied, as if he got exactly what he was searching for out of Stith.

"Say, Cale, you want to come over later and watch the game?" the Mantrin asked.

"Sounds like a plan," Akima interjected. She had snuck up on the two and was kind of surprised that it worked with Joey and Ruth in tow. "Hey, Stith," she said. Akima had a basket hooked on her left arm.

"Akima, dear, how are you?" Cale said before he gave her a light kiss on the cheek.

"I got kind of tired sitting around at home so I took the kids to the market." Joey and Ruth each hugged one of Cale's legs like they were some sort of parasite. Cale looked away from Akima and gave fun roar as he swooped down to his children.

"Look at these two bad kids!" he said as he picked them both up and threw them over each of his shoulders like they were a sack of potatoes. Their legs dangled on his chest and he kept a firm grasp over each of their backs.

"Let me go!" Joey said as he lightly pounded his fist on Cale's hard back. Ruth only giggled like she was on some carousel.

"What's in the bag?" Cale asked Akima after he stood up.

"Dinner," she replied.

"What kind?"

"Food," she taunted.

"Okay. What kind of food?" Cale continued.

"Fish,"

"Salmon?"

Akima nodded.

"You guys can go ahead and come over after dinner," Stith interjected, "I plan on staying here a little while longer."

"How are you, Stith?" Akima asked.

"Just fine. You?"

"Not bad. I went down to the beach today and let Joey and Ruth look for seashells."

"I found a pink one!" Ruth exclaimed from Cale's back as she triumphantly held up a pinkish conch shell.

"Are there already sea shells?" Stith asked, surprised.

"They've been washing up recently. The oceans must be thriving with life by now," Akima told.

"I bet there'll be birds all over the sky before you know it," Cale said.

"I know. It's exciting isn't it?" Akima asked, her eyes filled with wonder.

They continued on like that for another few minutes, but felt it was best to save all of the topics for later that evening.

"See you around, Stith," Cale said.

"Later," Akima added.

They both walked away. Joey and Ruth were still over Cale's shoulders. "Bye," they said in unison as they waved. Stith waved back. She envied Akima greatly, but then felt guilty for it. She had wanted a family herself, but there were too few Mantrins on New Earth.

Cale set his children down and they all walked together back toward their home. When the Phoenix came into view over the hill, Joey and Ruth took off running. "Here I come," Cale said as he shot from Akima's side and raced after the two children. Akima smiled to herself as she watched her goon of a husband chase the runts down the hill and then back up the hill that the Phoenix rested on. She calmly walked the distance, taking in the view of the newly developing ocean to the west of her home. The water was a clear, unpolluted gray, just like the sky. Off in the distance, the ocean turned into a ribbon of black at the horizon. She carried the fish in her basket up the hill and greeted her family on the steps of the Phoenix.

Stith finally made her way home at the end of a long day. She was weary from the passage of time and tearing down her shop. She tiredly flung the door open and let a large backpack full of weapons drop down to the floor. She made her way to a kitchen she'd set up opposite from the observation deck in her house. Stith opened a can of beef stew, poured it in a pot and turned on the stove. She set the pot on the stove and the rest was automatic; all she had to do was to wait. This is the 31st century, she thought, why does it take so long to make a pot of stew? The Mantrin made her way over to her couch and slumped down, sending dust flying everywhere. Suddenly, she had this strange feeling. One like she was being watched. She told herself it was nothing; just one of the side effects from living alone, but the feeling was still there.

A black shadow hushed behind her. She sat up. Quiet. Stillness. There was nothing. She looked around behind her only to realize that she had been sitting by herself imagining shapes that just skirted her vision. A little unsettled, she managed to turn around and rest her head on the couch. She kept a firearm on her belt and now she was glad that she had. Nothing could hurt her with a plasma gun and her bull's eye shooting on her side.

"Stith," a quiet, deep voice called from somewhere in the room. Her eyes widened. She jumped up again, this time flinging her gun out and pointed it blindly around the room.

"Okay, who is it, scumbag?"she asked, annoyed now that she knew her mind wasn't playing tricks. At least she hoped it wasn't. She stood up and hunted the room with her eyes, searching for some sort of infiltrator, but no one was there. After there was no sound, no answer, she felt safe again except for the fact that she was going insane. She lowered her weapon and breathed a sigh of relief. Her heart was still quickly clawing its way through her chest. Its beat became deafening; she could hear it in her ears. A low swishing was all that it was. She lumbered back over to her couch, eagerly awaiting the stew to be done when she saw another shape fly across the room and hit her against the wall. There was no sound except the loud thud of the Mantrin hitting the wall. Stith was in severe pain, but she didn't know why. Her legs fell limp, but she was still held in the air. She grabbed at her midsection and realized that it was warm and wet. There was another thing though. Something long and thick like a tent pole coming from her. She felt it and realized that she had been impaled by a spear which had stuck her to the wall. No screams came from her though. She just tried to pull it out.

A black mass suddenly manifested itself in the room. It was large and square; large enough to see eye to eye with a Mantrin. Stith panicked as she saw a silvery blade emerge from the mass which was sliding toward her. Her heart was in her throat now like it was trying to escape out of her neck. She desperately reached for her gun and pointed it in the shadow's direction. A gleam of silver, a swish, and the gun was gone. Another gleam, another swish, and the room went black.