Emergance of the Path

Elstaba sat and thought on the strange events, and the even stranger people that she had met over the last couple of weeks. She thought of Jacob, and the two glowing figures that had been training both of them over the last three days. She had learned how to use a spear, powder rifle, and even how to brake down and repair a laser rifle and disk shooter, from Gammon. From Athena she had started learning philosophy and physics though she didn’t know how well that information was sticking into her mind. She had always been a quick learner and she had always loved to do sports and athletics, and so the training from Gammon came as almost second nature, while the education that Athena was attempting to give her was just as foreign to her as the professors from her own world had seemed. She thought also about the strange mathematician that had appeared right before they had taken off from world with grass, the thought of which still marveled her. REAL grass, not fake plastic or synthetic carpeting that covered most of her chromed world, but real living and growing grass! The type that ate dirt drank water and created more of its self.

She understood why her people had gotten rid of all wild plant life on her world, they needed the water and minerals in the soil to help provide for such a large population that they had and they needed the space. She also knew that all of the plants in her whole world had been cataloged before they had all been burned, and a few specimens of each still kept in a vault called the library far beneath the master laboratory’s that served as her peoples place of government, but she knew that it was not natural. Her people praised intellect above all else, cold hearted pragmatic science was the order of every day, and the solution to every answer. So to her people it was only logical that the brightest minds and the most intelligent scientists be the leaders of the world. Now that she had some understanding of what religions where, rather then the biased definitions that her professors used describing them as dogmas that people who where ignorant held to, to explain the universe, she rather thought that science was her people’s religion. She now knew that chrome, and plastic and steal where not what men were meant to feel beneath their feet their whole lives, they were meant to feel wood, dirt, rock and grass because it brought about natural feeling of rightness and centered people. it was something that connected them with the world around them. She wanted so badly to take her people back some grass, or bring her family, her mom, sisters and brother to the world that was now nothing but an empty husk, devoured for sure by the demon that had taken everything that alsifer had to hold it off while they fled the planet in his ship. The thought made her sad at the beauty and wonder that was lost.

She heard foot steps coming down the hall, and she looked up. Jacob, flanked by both of the ethereal god like figures that where Athena and gammon, the teacher and the warrior as they called them selves. "Hello there!" came his voice from down the hall, crisp and clear threw the fog of her thoughts that weighed heavily. "Did you get the message two?" he asked as he finally entered the room.

"what message...?" she was interrupted by the loud voice of Amorok as he burst into the room from behind elstaba, his path intersecting with that of Jacobs(elsteba had chosen this spot because it had three hall ways leading to it, and was the most open place besides the training room in the whole ship). "Who does he think he is! Summoning us like we are his royal subjects! What does he think because we are all on his ship that we will come at his beck and call like trained dogs!? HOW DARE HE...!" but she would never know what who ever it was might dare, because just as Amorok was yelling, a loud Crack! came from the other side of the third door to the intersection, the way to all of their personal quarters. There appeared a large crack in the iron door that ran from the top to the bottom, and then the door simply fell into to pieces, one half falling backwards leading to a loud yip from some one in the hall, and the other half falling forward creating such a loud sound and echo in the chamber that elsteba had to cover her ears to the sound. It was Jestor, and from the look he had on his face, and the vile he had in his hand, elstaba guessed that he had had problems opening the keypad door, and simply resorted to using one of his "Magic potions" merely a chemical compound that caused the part of the metal it touched to shrink, leaving the rest of the metal around it to stay the same, causing a brake in the metal due to the force that the small vacuums that held the door in place exerted. Or so elstaba hoped. She needed one of these strange peoples skills to be knowable to her.

with a sheepish smile, and a look of wonder and awe on his face Jestor walked into the room. And with that they were all once again together. Elsteba sighed looking out the window which was actually a force field, into space. She saw the stars, millions even billions of them, all little lights in the sky, trillions of years via light speed away from her that very moment. this was the other reason she had chosen this spot, it provided for a beautiful sight that she had never seen before. A glimpse at the night sky that no one on her world had ever seen due to the large dycen sphere that her people had erected to protect against the suns harmful radiation. it truly awed and moved her in ways that only a musical symphony that would take hundreds of people to produce could.

and there, with all of there party invading her little quite and peaceful moment, they waited for the one that had brought them all together. the one who knew their mission, and for what purpose even she was meant for.

and they waited. eventually all sitting down, Amoroks anger simmered, Athena and Jestor talked about chemical or "hex-liquid" processes where required to produce what he did, Athena all the while trying to patiently explain that the use of such chemicals in a enclosed space could be deadly to all of their health, and all the time jestor completely uncomprehending, simply stared at her.

Elsteba and Roland played a game of “chess” or what Jacob called chess. To him it was a four dimensional game, with not just pawn, rook, knight bishop king and queens champion, but there where other peaces to. Ones that could only move if they where taking another peace called “Thunderbirds” the physical peace of which looked exactly like a human half bird called a harpy from her peoples ancient religions and art work depicting hadies or hell. Another peace was called a “bastion tower” which looked to Elstaba like a giant iron tower rounded at the top to look like a torpedo from old submarine movies that she had studied in her history courses, which could not move, but could take any piece that was with in two squares of it and switch it with that of another peace with in two squares of it in any three dimensional direction.
And this is the way that they waited. And finally, in the waiting, Elsteba no longer felt lonely or afraid, she grew to like Amorok who eventually joined to help her defeat Jacob in this new version of chess. Though she had felt uncomfortable with jestor, thinking him dangerous yet brilliant like many of the nearly mage like scientists that rules and where feared on her own world, she found he was merely an inquisitive spirit who could laugh and cry at the happy and the tragic just like any other human being. Gammon, she already likes tremendously though he was a little stand offish, he was comforting to have around always watchful for danger and always willing to give out personal advice when he could, more likely then not in some home grown philosopher way handing out platatudes when asked like candy sweets and a world fair. She already was good friends with Jacob, him having helped her learn the use of a spear, along with many other both modern and ancient weapons in the last three days. But Athena was a little different, she had learned much of how the universe worked from Athena, but she didn’t know anything about her other then that she knew a lot. Sure Athena had always been there to help if she needed something, but always in that cold calculated way that seemed almost robotic, but then again was that not what she was?

She forced away the troubling thought for the moment, preferring to live in the moment and laugh while in the presence of good company and friends.

And still they waited.