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The landing party on Genesis walked along an animal trail that took them around the massive hill, behind which they had landed, and into the woodland beyond it, Appolon`s eyes and ears taking in every sound, every movement, as he moved silently along a narrow animal trail that led them ever closer to the ruined city. Over his shoulder, he carried a very silent and very lethal weapon, his longbow, and in his belt, he carried his sharp knife made by the artisans of Orion of that magical metal from Earth called steel. He was, and would always be a warrior chieftain of Orion, and no one who knew him doubted his skill as a fighter of the first rank. Unfortunately, to Appolon`s ears the main party crashed along like a troop of elephants with only a few exceptions, Charles Bragg was happy though, for to him the noise was at an acceptable level. Tryon at the rear was similarly armed, as was Caroline, and both of them moved along as silently as Appolon. Unlike the other members of the party, the three warriors were not armed today with a Phaser weapon. On Orion, they had seen the terrible power of the Phaser, when the Heliot army had been massacred in one bloody moment. They had decided to reject these terrible weapons and use their traditional weapons. That is unless they were certain that their opponents were armed with Phasers, and then it would be necessary to carry the powerful Heliot Phaser weapons. Here on Genesis they didn`t expect to encounter anything more lethal than the local wildlife, they had agreed with their friends that the ruined city was dead, and that their enemy must be a machine of great power, hand Phasers were not necessary on this mission, and if they were then there were enough of them amongst their companions.
Charles Bragg stopped as he saw Appolon come to a standstill some thirty yards ahead of the main party and signal back for silence. Then Appolon walked slowly back, he gave the impression that he was not concerned about anything, but to those who had fought many wars his returning so easily told them, and Charles Bragg in particular, that all was not well. Tyler and Caroline both stopped in their tracks and threw a hasty glance in the others direction before concentrating on Appolon.
"We have company Charles Bragg, ahead of us there are about fifty men, they seek to take us unawares, I believe them to be armed only with bows, but bows can kill just as easily as Phasers, only much more silently." Appolon said.
"They are warriors then if they are armed only with bows, will they let us through without a fight?" Bragg asked Appolon, for no other man knew more about fighting warriors than he did.
"If they had thought that we were kouvelia they would have attacked us by now, our formation tells them that we are also warriors, they may listen to reason, if you want me to talk with them I should take Caroline and Tryon with me?" Kouvelia were an animal very similar to the rabbit back on Earth.
Charles Bragg turned to the local men clustered around him. "Do any of you know anything about the natives that live around here?"
The local men who comprised the local defence force did not need to think about their response.
"Sorry Colonel, but the energy weapon always fired upon us as soon as we got near to the site of the mine, we have never been this far to the east of the continent before, and we have never encountered a native population."
Bragg now called back along the line to his friend.
"Colin, relieve Tryon and tell him to get his ass up here." Looking back at the local men, Bragg ordered them all to get off the track and to spread out in readiness for any attempt to attack them.
"Tyler I think that we should do as Appolon advises, we should allow him to approach the natives along with Tryon and Caroline, and they should attempt to parley with the natives, to see if we can get by them without having to resort to using our weapons on them." Charles Bragg said. "While we could certainly shoot enough of them quickly enough to scare them off, I am thinking about the future relationship between the colonists and the natives, for it would not be desirable from either groups view to start a war." Charles Bragg said.
"It sounds extremely risky to me, our small party must look easy pickings from where they stand, and I would rather stun a lot of them now and worry about politics later." Tyler said to Charles Bragg and Appolon, who had joined them.
"No Tyler." Appolon said. "These people should be treated with the same respect that the native people on Orion demand, we will try it my way first, if it fails then you can come in with the cavalry." Appolon insisted, using another of Tyler`s phrases, which were rapidly coming back into favour, at least amongst the native people of Orion that is. Tyler did not like his wife and two friends going into the lion`s den and said so but Caroline backed Appolon on this subject, and joined in the discussion.
"Tyler we went into your lion`s den on Orion and were able to leave safely, we shall do so again here on Genesis, especially as we have the rest of the team to back us up." It was settled as far as Caroline was concerned.
Appolon led Tryon and Caroline forward; Appolon now carried a small microphone, it was clipped to the neck of his shirt, into which he would speak. On his belt, he carried a transmitter that sent both what he said and what the natives said back to the lightweight translator carried upon one of the local defence forces back. It had been quickly programmed by Colin Ryan so that it knew that this was a first contact situation with an aboriginal people. It would search for something to recognise in the natives words regarding this subject and then relay it back to the earpieces that each of them wore, an earpiece that would hopefully receive a translation of whatever the natives of Genesis said. They hoped that the natives would hear their own language from a small speaker that was incorporated into the transmitter.
Tyler watched as the proceedings unravelled, he too wore an earpiece so he could listen into the hoped for conversation, his hand was on his Phaser, and his heart was anxious for his wife and his friends.
Appolon brought the three of them to a halt some twenty yards short of where the natives were concealed and called to them in the language of the natives of Orion; it was some twenty seconds before the natives moved out of the undergrowth and edged forward. At first, there was a disjointed conversation where no one amongst the two groups could make the other understand what was being said, then the translator finally locked onto something, and slowly Appolon could begin to talk to the warriors confronting him and his friends, and slowly they began to understand what was being said. The translator was finally almost word perfect as the warriors reached a decision on how to treat the strangers to their land.
"You are trespassers on the land given to our people by the gods, and you must pay for your crime." This sentence preceded a rush by the natives who grabbed their arms and led them away, laughing and jeering at the newcomers foolishness at handing them an easy victory. The native warriors slowly retreated away from Tyler and the main part of the landing party clashing their spears against the shields that each warrior carried, as they sang out a song of victory, each horrific word coming to Tyler through his earpiece told of what they intended to do with their captives.
"Caroline, Tryon, I am sorry for leading you both into this, but don`t worry we will get safely through." Appolon said as he was led away with the terrible words of their captor`s song ringing in his ears.
"Appolon, I am not worried about the situation, it is Tyler that I am worried about, he will be very angry with me, how many times has he had to save our lives now?" Caroline wailed.
"It must be quite a number of times now." Tryon answered.
"Don`t worry Caroline; I will take the blame for all of this." Appolon said as he tried to comfort Caroline.
"I am his wife, I should have done as he asked, and not followed the lead of my brother, who was obviously having a brain storm." Caroline said looking contemptuously upon her brother.
"Caroline you are quite correct; you should have stood by your man." Tryon agreed, although whether he was being serious or not Caroline was not sure, he had successfully kept his smile from appearing on his face.
"I just hope that he isn`t too hard on the natives
." Caroline said, ignoring Tryon`s facetious remark. The three Orionists were in fact making light of their situation to keep their spirits up, and anyway they knew that Tyler would save them from the clutches of these very savage natives.
Tyler did not waste a moment, for even a second could see his wife and friends killed by the native warriors, but he need not have worried, for the natives were saving them for their celebrations of the coming week, where the captives would be the main course in the feast that was planned. He immediately resumed command of the landing team without any complaints from a worried Charles Bragg.
Tyler and the rest of the landing party slowly advanced along the animal track, keeping a careful watch for another trap. Their three key players in this sort of country were prisoners of a savage tribe of natives, and they now had to rely on their own limited senses, Tyler`s mind, and the fates that had brought Tyler to this far off world. Soon a native village came into view some half a mile ahead, it was surrounded by a stout stockade and filled with shouting natives, who must have realised that the landing party had followed their warriors to their village. Tyler stopped within sight of the large open entrance to the village.
"Come into my den said the lion." Tyler whispered to himself. Behind him there was a large hill overlooking the village. This would give a good vantage point. In front of him and waiting for her man to come and rescue her once again was Caroline Burrows, or Caroline of the red plains, as she was formally known to the native people of Orion. The natives had dragged their struggling captives to a dark and dirty hut, and thrown them inside.
"You shall all pay for this insult. My man will come and turn your village into a burning ruin, your women will lose their menfolk, and your children will be without their fathers." Caroline screamed out at the villagers who simply laughed at her words, clashed their spears once more against their shields, and jeered at her.
"There must be at least a hundred warriors in the village; Tyler will have his work cut out to get our foolish hides out of this one." Appolon lamented.
"Tyler defeated one thousand Heliot troopers and a space cruiser back on Orion, what trouble will he have with these savages." Tryon said, for his faith in his friend knew no boundaries. Caroline looked over at Tryon and smiled at him.
"You are correct Tryon, and as I said often before, I just hope that he is not too rough on them, or on me." She added for she knew that Tyler must be very worried by now.
Outside of the native village, Tyler had decided on a plan of action, and he explained it to the landing party. Charles Bragg said it was audacious, but it might give them the chance to win through, and without too much violence on their part.
"Charles take Colin and a couple of the local defence force, and carry the heavy Phaser cannon up to the top of that hill and wait for my orders over the radio, as I said I will be asking you to destroy the odd hut, hopefully that should do it." The heavy Phaser cannon resembled an extra-large machine gun and was quite heavy and rather bulky. The weapon had been carried by two members of the local defence force, just in case they had to use it against their unknown foe.
"Charles, signal me when you are ready, and then I will enter the village."
With that Charles, Colin and the two locals manhandled the heavy Phaser across the rough ground and then up the steep incline that overlooked the village. At the bottom of the hill one of the local men stepped forward; he was the leader of the small local force, Peter Collinson.
"I just hope our real enemy doesn`t begin firing on our men when they start using the Phaser." He said. Collinson was twenty-five years in age and stood five feet nine inches tall with brown hair and bright alert brown eyes to match.
"Yes their Phaser fire may well give away their position; we will just have to distract him if it looks like he is about to fire on them." Tyler decided to put a call into his friends aboard the Defender.
"Colin we have run into a little trouble down here and are about to fire our heavy Phaser cannon, it might just bring us to the attention of whatever fired upon us yesterday. Please keep a close eye on that energy weapon, if it powers up when things start to happen down here, remind him that you are there also, but keep cloaked as much as possible and move your position frequently." Tyler said.
"We will be careful Tyler."
After what seemed like a lifetime to Tyler, Charles radioed in at last to say that they were ready. Tyler looked at the eight men from the local defence forces that were still with him.
"Ok men I may need you to provide back up if things don`t go according to the script, so be ready to lay down covering fire, set your weapons on stun only, and be ready to protect the rest of the landing party that went and got themselves captured. Hopefully we will all re-join you here soon."
Tyler then moved off towards the village speaking into a microphone clipped to his shirt, he now also wore a transmitter on his belt. Tyler turned up the speakers to full volume so that he would sound much angrier and more powerful to the native villagers awaiting him.
"You people in the village, you have made your god very angry with you for stealing from his son. You took the woman that keeps his son warm at night and the men that stand watch over his hut." Tyler`s voice boomed across the village as he entered through the stockade and walked confidently towards the astounded natives.
"I asked my father not to kill you all, but he demands that you are reminded of his power. He demands the burning sacrifice of that hut over there." Tyler pointed to an exceptionally large hut near to the edge of the stockade; its occupants screamed and ran hastily from it in case this stranger really was the son of their god.
"That hut now belongs to my father, so he will take it up to his realm so that his women can live in it." A bolt of energy whistled down from the hill behind Tyler to turn the large rectangular hut into a flaming pyre. A groan went up from the natives in front of Tyler and they moved back a couple of paces, scared as much by the high pitched whistling noise of the energy bolt as it tore through the air, as of what it accomplished when it hit the hut, even so they also began to raise their spears and threaten him.
"You insult my father by threatening his son, father please destroy that hut over there to teach your people some manners." This hut looked very much like the hut of the local witch doctor, for it had shrunken heads fixed to it along with various pieces of greenery and various bodies of dead birds, and that is why Tyler chose this as his next target. Again, a bolt of pure energy whistled down from the hill to ignite the straw that made up the roof of the hut. The owner of the hut screamed in rage and rushed into the hut to gather up his most prized possessions.
"You will give up my woman and my two men now, or else the whole village will burn, with your corpses on the pyre as sacrifices to my father." Tyler`s voice boomed out across the village, and moments later, he saw his own prized possession being hustled forward along with two very sorry but relieved men.
"Remember this day people of the one and only true god, and offer a sacrifice of an animal up to my father each year on this day, or you will have to enjoy another of my father`s thunderbolts."
Tyler then bravely walked towards his woman, who playing her part cowered away and ran from the village with two very relieved warriors. To show his contempt for them Tyler then turned his back on the natives and walked calmly from the village to return to his waiting friends.
"Once again we are in your debt my friend." Appolon said. Caroline approached Tyler with her head bowed.
"I am sorry for not listening to your advice my husband." Caroline said softly.
"You did what you thought was best Caroline, it is one of the reasons why I love you so much, so please don`t change, always do so or I would be very disappointed my darling wife." Tyler said as he took her in his arms and kissed her. He then spoke in a whisper so that only she could hear.
"Tonight you can make up for your bad ways woman." As Caroline looked up at him she saw the smile that covered his face and replied in a whisper.
&nbs
p; "Tonight I will make up for my bad ways my husband." Caroline said softly to him. Tyler then looked over at the landing party who had watched the events with grins on their faces.
"Come on let`s find Charles and the others. Tryon, watch our rear, Appolon you had better take point again."
In five minutes, they came across their four missing members, they had kept watch on the village for a few extra minutes in case more of their persuasion was needed, but the natives were too busy putting out the fires to think of chasing after the son of their god. It was now that the crew of the Defender called the landing party.
"Tyler, we have been scanning the ruined city to try and find out some more about it, we have discovered what may well be tunnels that run from outside of the force field which surrounds the city, to inside of the city itself. We cannot tell if the tunnels are still in use but one starts in what seems to be a large cave near to a very tall tree, you cannot miss it for you are walking straight towards it." Colin Freeman said.
"Thanks Colin that should save us the job of looking for the back door. Is everything all right up there?" Tyler asked.
"We have moved off to the far side of the old ruined city, we are almost on the horizon to keep out of the way for the moment because the light show up here was a little too bright at times for comfort. I am afraid that our scanning of the city brought us to the attention of our enemy of yesterday. One thing though, the power behind the last of the energy bolts were not as powerful as the first. How is everything down there, is everyone all right?"
"Yes, thanks to some good marksmanship from Charles and Colin. It is interesting about the power drop that you recorded, maybe who or whatever is firing at you is running low on fuel, now could be the best time to try and get into the city." Tyler answered.
"Good luck to you all, we will wait to hear from you when you want another diversion."
Appolon came over to Tyler so that he could talk over what had happened regarding the savages.
"Tyler, I misjudged those native people, never did I ever imagine that people could be so savage, apart from our own Troglodytes never have I seen such a barbaric people, how on earth did you know them for what they were?" Appolon asked.
"No Appolon, it was you who did the correct thing, you ensured that the native people were treated with respect, and that their rights were not ridden over by a more advanced civilisation. I may have been correct about their intentions this time but it was sheer luck. Next time we will discuss the matter more fully to strike a balance between our opposing views. Your people are too civilised to ever to be able to imagine a people who have sunk so low, and so this time you were wrong. Back in my own time, there were many such people, some religious, some just hungry for power. If anything, the people of my time were even worse than these people here, for my people had so much, but some amongst them were filled with hate, others with greed or envy. I am a product of my time so I am less inclined to trust strangers, which is probably why I didn`t trust the colonists on Genesis immediately." Then Tyler turned to the others. "Come on everyone it`s time to head for the ruined city, and that tunnel that our friends on the Defender found."