Jeff watched Don sprint down the hallway to Kameryn's room. He could hear her screams of panic and calls for help pounding through the house. Sparks were flying everywhere. Betsy (Don's wife) yelled from their bedroom, "Don, what going on? Is Kameryn okay? Are you alright?"
And then it was there, it appeared out nothing. One second empty hallway and the next second it was there. He'd never seen anything like it. The creature was mottled green and though there was no clothing to speak of, there was a collar around its neck and what looked to be shackles on its arms. It seemed to be clutching something to its chest. Don froze in his tracks. The Creature and Don looked at each other and Jeff could see a type of recognition.

Then outside Kameryn's door, a ball of electric fire appeared. A man in a Grey Suit carrying briefcase walked out and into Kameryn's Room. A few seconds later Kameryn came out holding the Man's hand. The two of them walked back into the ball of green fire, and were gone.

Jeff tried to yell down to Don, But they could not hear him. Jeff watched in horror as the creature began to raise the arms at its side's. Don's eyes went from Recognition to terror and he tried to leap forward. A soft green glow ran out from the creature's arms to Don. He was suffused with green light and lifted off the ground. His hair crackling and standing on end. A second later Don's smoking body crumpled to the floor. The creature screamed out in pain, clutching at its head and torso. It dropped something and howled as its body was racked with another wave of torment. The eyes darted around and it shook its head uttering low growls and cries.

Then Jeff heard Betsy, "Don, are you okay? Don, are you there hon? What's going on? Is Kameryn alright?" The grunts and growls from the creatue grew. It mumbled and mewled and then let out a long drawn out wail of agony. Jeff saw there was another limb, a 3rd one growing out of it's midsection. The creature turned and went to retrieve what it had dropped; Jeff saw it was some kind of weapon. It picked the weapon up with the 3rd arm. Jeff screamed for Betsy to run, that it was coming for her; but he was not heard. The creature shuffled toward the bedroom door. Jeff was howling, "Run Betsy, Its coming, Go, now Run! It moved thru the bedroom door and Betsy screamed. Jeff saw a flash, like a photobulb and Betsy stopped screaming. The creature came out of the bedroom and moved down the hallway to where it had teleported into their home. Bolts of electricity leaped out of the floor as the portal was created. The creature moved to enter the portal and the portal dissappeared. Its head tilted in a quizzacle gesture. Then the creature twisted and shreaked. It buried it's head in its arms whimpering. It was shaking and squirming, fluids began running from it's eyes and mouth, The creature rocked and squealed in agony, then collapsed.

Inside Jeff's skull, he heard a satisfied laugh.

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It was getting harder and harder for Jeff to differenciate between what was real and what was not. None of the stretchers they had built to carry him had lasted over an hour. So finally they decided that pulling him on a litter worked the best. His wounds burned with infection. They were hot and painful if touched. Every muscle in his body throbbed with pain and his head pounded. Each time he was jarred, each time the litter hit a bumb it was like a hammer-blow to his skull. He knew he was slowing them down. That he was dying was obvious. He kept telling them to just leave him.

He would slip in and out of consciusness all day. At night they would all sleep like logs, but he would be awake. He couldn't believe how soundly they would sleep, while he would toss and turn all night. Each night after they would fall asleep the creatures would come out of the woods and into the camp. He was so so weak in his current state he could do nothing to help them. So every night, they would fall asleep and he would watch them die.

The G-man would wait till the others slept, and then come walking out of the dark. They would talk but Jeff could never remeber what they had talked about. He had a lot of questions for the G-man. He wanted to know why the G-man had taken Kameryn, and when she could come home? He had wanted to tell Don she was okay, but was so tired.

Rauc-Nor wanted Don to know how sorry he was... Rauc-Nor had seen the Free-Man and knew the prophesy was true. That night in Don's home he had recognized something in the human. Rauc-Nor had seen in his minds eye... he'd seen the respect and love the human had shown to the Earth beast... and knew it to be a nobel race. Rauc-Nor had spared the human... but the Nihilanth had known, Rauc-Nor had wanted to spare the woman... he had openly defied the Nihilanth, but in the end the Nihilanth had used Rauc-Nor to slay her. For his insolance Rauc-Nor had been struck down.

There would be atonement for the shameful acts of that night

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It had been the last night on the plains. Jeff had been close to death... his life force very thin... He'd made the decision... He'd no longer burden his friends... That last night he'd gone over. Dreamwalking had come easy for Jeff. The ability to watch another's dreams... for most that is enough... sounds pretty enticing, but mostly its a bore... dreams are random... stray thoughts drawn together and acted out. Most dreams are mundane... many times we go to work or walk the dog. The chance of having or finding a really good dream... go buy a dvd it's so much easier. Dreams are like everything else, how good they are depends on how much you put into them, emotion and life force. The more emotion, the richer the experience, the more life force, the more real.

Most dreams are hazy and not much happens. But every once in awhile we will have a real knockout; we will feel true love, exert real power, acquire our ultimate desire. They are visually cleaner and better looking, the experiences are richer, more powerful, the dream will feel real, we will be genuinely surprised when we wake up. Those dreams had a ton of emotion and life force. The problem is that our dreams are built by the subconscious, and we have no control over the subconscious. The subconscious is is what runs everything, it runs the heart, the lungs, everything... It never huts down, doesn't speed up and doesn't slow down. The subconscious is a perpetual motion machine, it's kinda like a diesel motor and you can't get much more exciting than a diesel.

For dreamwalkers, the everyday mundane ones are the safest, you can get in and get out, but rent a dvd they are a lot more fun. Dreamwalk a good dream... you may not get out till the next morning when the person wakes up. The stong feelings and the power of our life force make them feel real, like life. You just dont up and walk out of life

The Vortiguants hold and participation in the essence of life is different than human. Much of the Vortigaunts life force is communal; part of their structure, their being and maybe their soul is also a part of every other Vortigaunt. So in one respect, their race has achieved some measure of immortality. Our human cultures are more centralizied around the core of self and the preservation of individuality; and indeed this preoccupation may be our ultimate barrier in understanding this segment of their makeup rather than the lack of cumulative data.

Don threw out his blanket, and laid down. He'd pulled Jeff's litter on the last little stretch they'd come, he had a feeling he wasn't gonna last long tonight. Chiyo knelt and sadly wiped the sweat off Jeff's forehead. They had to find something really quick, Jeff's time was running out. She looked out over the plains in all directions. It looked just like it had last night. Absolutely nothing in every direction as far as she could see. Jack was picking up rocks and then hitting them with his aluminum bat. "Hey Jeff listen to this" he threw up a rock and hit it, there was a resounding crack and then a long pause. "Not bad, about 120 yds I'd say. Now listen to the this, Jack threw up another rock and swung the bat, this time when bat hit the rock, it was like the peeling of a bell. " Going, Going, Going, Gone! Now that my son was about 165 yds that's close to 500ft. Am I the man or what. You can always tell a really good hit cause it makes that gong sound. It reminds me of that miniature golf course we went to. You were so plotzed!" Jack just went on talking and laughing, carrying on a conversation with Jeff. It really didn't matter that Jeff never answered him. Jack could talk for the both of them. Jack kept talking and story-telling for over an hour. Finally he said, "see ya in the morning Putz" He said it like nothing was out of the ordinary, and his friend wasn't dying.

These were really good friends. The things they had done for him this week, The sacrifices they had made. There was a good chance they would all die, because they refused to leave him. They deserved better. He wasn't going to let them waste time on him anymore. It was time for him to go.

He did not antisipate having any problems leaving the lifeplane. He imagined it to be like taking a walk. A long walk away from everything. But it was proving to more difficult than he had thought. And he found the reasons for it rather ironic. Jeff was extremely weak, and knew his time was very close. He was using a form of meditation. He drew his thoughts inward and became perfectly still. Then he shut down all his thinking and began again with a blank slate. He visualized his body, it's muscles and it's organs. Starting with his feet he let go of all tension, all negative thought, and relaxed each muscle and shut down each organ.

Jeff visualized his life source energy coursing through his body and pushed it out so it could disperse through out the universe. And here was the irony. Because he was so close to death and his life source so thin, he was like a piece of flotsam in the tide. Rather than disperse, the life source energy would be redirected and drawn in. He was being drawn in by his companions, and each time there was a sense of Deja Vu, that he had been there before.

99% of all dreaming is undirected; however dreamwalkers direct themselves into someone elses dream. The dream itself is still undirected, because it is created and directed by the subconscious of the dreamer. Once he has entered the dreamwalker can either watch or take an active role. Jeff was trying to let himself slip away, and each time he tried he was swept up by one of his friends and taken somewhere, and each time it felt like he'd had been there before. But he couldn't have been there, because he had never dreamwalked his friends. Nor did Jeff recognize the places where he was being swept off to. Something here was amiss.

Earlier he'd had this calm resignation about what was happening to his life force. But this had caught his interest, and a reversal was taking place. He'd swear it was. His life force was expanding. If he was going to get to the bottom of it he had to do it now. It had to be done when he was on death's door with his life force at a level where it would be swept away. Something told him that he would not be able to do that much longer. And with that thought Jeff died. Only not in the way most of us probably think of death.

Jeff went through the meditation to disperse his life energies again. And they did. His life source was no longer a part of the body. Jeff did not know what he was right them. Nothing corporeal that was for sure. And then he stopped examining. Something told not to go there rather "go with the flow" Let whatever this was guide him. He felt presence... actually two. He thought about direction and as soon as he did, he knew it didn't matter, but also sensed that they were almost within him. And knew that was because his life force was dispersed over a great area and they were within that area. And then "we serve the same mystery" it wasn't a voice, it wasn't a thought. it just was, and whatever it was, it was not him. Jeff sensed that what ever it was, it was very similar to what he was right then.

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Jeff watched Don sprint down the hallway to Kameryn's room. He could hear her screams of panic and calls for help pounding through the house. Sparks were flying everywhere. Betsy yelled from their bedroom, "Don, what is going on? Is Kameryn okay? Are you alright?" And then Rauc-Nor was there, he appeared out of nothing. One second empty hallway and the next second the Vortigaunt was there. Rauc-Nor brandished a weapon at his chest. Don froze in his tracks.

Down through millennia have been meetings such as this, antagonists locked in their roles, results vary but are similar as few are able to perceive anything but the shadow of themselves: a gunfight, a massacre, some butchery, hunter taking prey, soldier taking soldier, man taking beast, culprit taking victim.

Rauc-Nor and Don looked up and met gazes. The world moved... the doors of perception opened and the gift was passed. There was a moment of recognition, in their minds eye they didn't see each other as monsters from another dimension but sentient beings, they felt the bonds of energy to matter and recognized the bond of life to life.

Dimensions shuffled... glimpses of anothers memories, memories of love and respect, of sadness and joy, of duty and honor, of bravery and sacrifice, hard decisions for the right reasons. Outside Kameryn's room the G-man steps out of a portal; she is collected and they step back through.

Jeff tried to yell down to Don. Rauc-Nor's race (the Vortigaunts) had been enslaved by the Nihilanth for centuries. The Nihilanth had fitted them with collars that tapped into the pain and pleasure centers of their brains. After centuries of subjugation their once noble race lived only for the Nihilanth's approval. Their will seduced and blinded. The Vortiguants, slaves themselves were now tools for the enslavement of others.

Dimensions shuffled, Rauc-Nor is shown glimpses of the Freeman. Rauc-nor knows... it ends today. The human must be spared. Rauc-Nor raises his arms to spread the human's system with enough energy to incapacitate him. Don's eyes went from Recognition to terror and he tried to leap forward. A soft green glow ran out from the creature's arms to Don. He was suffused with green light and lifted off the ground. His hair crackling and standing on end. A second later Don's smoking body crumpled to the floor.

Rauc-Nor screams in pain as the Nihilanth stimulated his pain receptors. "You dare to disobey... I am the Master of Worlds... You are nothing... Kill all Humans... Their subjugation is my will..." Rauc-Nor had seen... the Vortigaunts, a once beneficient race had degenerated into henchmen for the tyrant... It ended today... "Your will is my own... You have no will... You, who are nothing... You have nothing but agony..." Rauc-Nor wails as he feels his body being burned away by corrosive acids... "Your kind is meant to serve only my will..." Rauc-Nor wimpers as his body is torn away in chunks by feeding vermin... It sways as the control of its body is taken...

Jeff heard Betsy, "Don, are you okay. What's going on? Is Kameryn all right?" The vortigaunts possessed 2 arms on either side of their torso and a 3rd limb that protruded from their mid-section. The Nihilanth forced Rauc-Nor to pick up its weapon with it's 3rd limb. It was very quiet inside the house now. Rauc-Nor had been waving his head from side to side, reeling from the waves of pain the Nihilanth had been bombarding him with. He now it let out a long agonized wail. The wail subsided, the arms at his sides fell limp, he no longer had the strength or will to raise them. He shuffled down the hallway to the master bedroom holding the weapon in front of his body.

Jeff screamed out a warning to her. He screamed for Betsy to run, but she didn't hear him. Rauc-Nor went thru the bedroom door and Betsy screamed. Jeff saw a flash, like it photobulb, and Betsy stopped screaming. Waves of Shame, Remorse and Despair flowed over Rauc-Nor. He had wanted to be the difference and in the end had failed. He shuffled back down the hallway to where the portal should open. Bolts of electricity sprang from the floor as the portal was created; but when Rauc-Nor tried to enter the portal, the portal disappeared. He tilted its head in a quizzacal gesture... What now...

The Nihilanth began laughing inside Rauc-Nor's mind, "Our play is not over yet Maggot" Pain like never before flooded the Vortigaunts mind. Boiling Freezing Burning Pain... Rauc-Nor writhed and screamed in anguish, the arms at its side clutched its head. He swayed,screaming and mewling, fluids began running from his eyes and mouth. Rauc-Nor convulsed and twitched and finally collapsed.

Rauc-Nor looked at Jeff. Please tell him I'm sorry... I wish I could have done more... Alas, the flesh is weak...Tell him I am eternally grateful... I would not have wanted my time to have ended the way it would have. He gave me the chance.

Jeff felt as if his head was a drain and water was rushing into it. He opened his eyes to see his friends lying around him asleep. He was proud to know these people and glad his time with them was not over.

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end Chapter 7

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