[Sticks]

Episode VIII – Family Ties

Sometimes in life we have to make hard choices, between two unpalatable options. The Americans have an expression “Between a rock and a hard place” So what do you do?

According to Game Theory, also known as The Prisoner’s Dilema you should take the choice that limits the severity of the worse possible outcome.

This is what Colonel Samuel Peters now faces at the hands of the tycoon Sir Sidney Gerald, who is now immortal and has control of the shears of Atropos. Either be an inside man for him in the Inter Dimensional Entity Control or see him remotely kill the former Spirit of Kindness, Rebecca Sands and her adopted family by cutting the threads of their lives…

+ + +

Sir Sidney Gerald’s office
Over Looking the River Thames
London

“I’m waiting Colonel” Sir Sidney repeated, “I wipe out this family or you become my man in the IDEC”

Colonel Samuel Peters looked at the four threads floating in mid air and the old fashioned looking shears poised to cut them

“What do you want me to do?” Colonel asked
“What?” Clotho remarked, “You’re giving in?”
“It does not look like I have much of a choice Sir Sidney” Samuel said to Sir Sidney ignoring Clotho’s sudden objection
“No it doesn’t” Sir Sidney replied and withdrew the shears. The threads then vanished into thin air, “And remember colonel I can cut them anytime and anywhere”
“I kind of figured that out Sir Sidney”
“Oh Good” Sir Sidney grinned, “I will be sending you back with a good friend of mine, you know him as Mr Vee”
“Oh yes” Samuel commented, “I suppose you threatened to kill his daughter”
“Something like that Colonel” Sir Sidney said with a matter of fact manner “You are to convince certain people that I am for real, just to avoid some needles death on my part. And also you are to replace as chairman of the IDEC the delightful Kathryn Cooper”
“She’s not going to like that” Samuel replied

“She won’t have any option” Sir Sidney replied and then gave a brief enchantment and then another thread appeared in mid air, “I can deal with her my way” Sir Sidney threatened, “or you can persuade her to go and do other things with her time. It’s no problem to me either way, after all I did arrange for the death of her predecessor”
“I thought that was natural causes?” Samuel queried
“It was made to look that way” Sir Sidney replied, “He had discovered along with the troublesome Spirit of Friendship my dealings with private individuals in the Mystical Realms and had to be removed. I convinced Celeste that by exposing me they were threats to my life and my plans to make the world a better place and predictably off her own bat she went to deal with them”
“Except like her and her father, the fates she can’t actually kill?” Samuel ventured

“Precisely” Sir Sidney grinned, “With Mr Sanderson it was a rare but deadly but untraceable poison of Earthly origin that induced a fatal stroke administered by an assassin before Celeste got there and in the case of the spirit of Friendship a doppelganger assassin with a small dart tipped with hinds blood supplied by me from one of my deer up in Leicestershire. The really clever bit was mimicking a cage of holding when Celeste got on the scene to deal with Mr Sanderson, so she did not see the thread of his life breaking free all by itself”

Samuel turned to Clotho, “Can that happen?”
“Yes Colonel” Clotho confirmed, “Even with the Spirit of Death we are few so some do eventually break of their own accord before Atropos or the Spirit of Death can reach them in time.”
“Then why are you guys needed anyway?” Samuel pressed
“Sir” Clotho replied, “if a thread does not break right away at death the person suffers greatly, you mortals fear us because we appear to severe the threads of your lives and call us evil, but the truth is they do it to relieve suffering”

“But” interrupted Sir Sidney, “As you can see the Shears of Atropos can and do kill. Now Colonel, shall I dispatch Miss Cooper or will you persuade her to step down”
“I would have to do that in person” Samuel replied

“As you wish” Sir Sidney and withdrew the shears yet again, “Adrian will accompany you and my friend James back to the Washington while Janine will drop you off at Heathrow. Remember I not only have human means of surveillance but means taken from the Mystical Realms”

Sir Sidney then looked up at Adrian, “Did Mr Adair managed to catch his flight ok”
“Yes Sir” Adrian replied, “Janine reported that he just managed to get the first flight back to Belfast and should be landing quite soon”
“Very good Adrian” Sir Sidney replied and then told Adrian he could escort Clotho and Samuel out and instructed him to place Clotho and Atropos, still in the imprisoning crystal with their other sister. Adrian hesitated for a moment and asked Sir Sidney if he could not just use the shears on Johnny Adair if he had not wanted to see Storemont destroyed

“It did cross my mind Adrian” Sir Sidney replied, “But sometimes you do have to let the minions play and after all it will be redundant anyway”
“You’re going to destroy Storemont” Samuel asked with alarm

“Not that it is any concern of yours” Sir Sidney began, “but actually it will be a former UFF man by the name of Johnny Adair who will actually destroy it an all in it, I merely gave him the means to do that if he so wished”

Adrian waved his gun at the colonel and Samuel, “I believe we have a flight to catch sir and a nice holding facility for you miss”

+ + +

A dark plane in an unknown artificial universe

Jenny Green and Commander Mark Johnston stood and looked on as Timothy sitting with his back against the glass front of Fidelity and Caer’s prison cell, worked away on his PDA

“I thought you had said you had found a backdoor in” Mark retorted
“Patience commander” Timothy replied, “If your desperate find a bush” he added
“Mind as filthy as ever” Jenny commented

Timothy stood up and looked daggers at Jenny and Mark, “I’m not sure you appreciate the situation, I have to hack into a live system with who knows what fire walls and defences while we are in it. One false move and we all die Comprende?

Just then Jenny had a thought and tapped on the glass to attract the twin’s attention. Then she asked them the date and they replied.

Jenny was astonished

“Mark” Jenny spoke up, “According to them we have been gone for well over a month and a half”
“But it was like yesterday we were fighting the Magnus Timor” replied
“That’s because there seems to be a mismatch between Earth IDW01 and IDW02 regarding the flow of time” Timothy explained, “But I suspect” he went on, “We are back on Earth time now if this artificial universe has been set up by Sir Sidney Gerald”

Suddenly in the sky a red dot appeared in the artificial sky and grew bigger, into the swirling red vortex, this time it headed for an empty patch of ground, next to the cell of the Spirit of Death

Just then a cage started to form and Timothy without thinking rushed across grabbing readings from his Iphone and his PDA. He managed just to dive in before the cage solidified with the red vortex still swirling just above.

“I’ve got the code” Timothy yelled from inside the cell.

Suddenly on the floor behind him the body of a teenager appeared. Jenny, Mark and the Spirit of Lust ran across to the new cell block to see who it was.

Just then the Spirit of Lust noticed that Timothy was becoming transparent, “Why are you vanishing” she asked him with a hint of concern in her voice.

Timothy looked down at his hands and had a cold realisation, “Oh s**t! Timothy exclaimed, “It looks like I have alerted the system defences to my presence” he said with cold realisation he was dying, and then he put his IPhone and PDA on the floor, with the PDA right up against the glass. Immediately the devices returned to being solid. Timothy banged on the glass as he was fading away and asked, “Commander, Can you work these”
“I guess” Mark replied
“I’ve put the co-ordinates out of here into them, they just plug into the wormhole generator” Timothy shouted, “The PDA now has the code to create a door in all the cells just export it to each cell via its Bluetooth”
“How do we get them out of there?” Mark asked
“I was getting to that. If I can’t do it get who ever is in here behind me to press the blue send button” Timothy replied and then he bend down and pushed the blue button on the PDA, “I’ve done it” he shouted “I’ve managed to” he started but he never finished the sentence as Timothy finally vanished

The Spirit of Lust stumbled for a moment and had to lean on the new prison cell to catch her breath.

A door was now appeared in the cell so Jenny rushed in to check on the teenage girl lying on the floor. She was very woozy and kept repeating “Please boss no”, then Jenny noticed that the cell insides were starting turn into blue line drawings, and so did she and the teenage girl
“Help me get her out” Jenny screamed
Mark rushed in and immediately he started turning into a blue line drawing. He reached the teenager and with Jenny’s help pulled her out of the new door. Immediately they left the cell, all three of them became solid again. Mark then shouted “The equipment” and rushed back in and retrieved the Iphone and PDA which were also becoming blue line drawings, the moment he entered the cell he too became a blue line drawing. Mark felt feint, but was just able to get back out through the door and leave as the cell faded to nothing.

“That was close” Mark said with relief as he recovered

The Spirit of Lust recovered and then asked, “What happened to master Zachary?”
“It looks like when he entered cell while it was forming he must have disrupted something and it deleted him” Mark surmised
“Is he dead?” Jenny asked

“Yes” Shouted Lachesis from her cell
“Look up there” Yelled the Spirit of Death from his cell

The three of them looked up and saw what looked like a silver rope flapping and whipping around in the sky and then it vanished.

“His thread is cut” Lachesis said quietly, “Timothy is gone”

“Who is this?” Jenny asked turning her attention to the teenager they had rescued. She was wearing black jeans with nothing on her feet; she had on an open black jacket and a black tee shirt. From what Jenny could make out, this teenager had nothing on underneath the tee-shirt. The Teenager had jet black hair. She was slowly coming around so Jenny sat down and gently cradled her head as the teenager recovered and stroked the teenager’s jet black hair.

The Spirit of Death looked at the group as best he could from his cell, “Celeste?” he called out

“You know her?” Mark queried going over to the Spirit of Death’s cell
“That is Celeste, she is my daughter” The Spirit of Death replied

“And mine” Lachesis called out

The teenager’s eyes flicked open and she said “What?” in a confused manner and tried to get up. Jenny held onto her. “Whoa there honey” She told the teenager, “You need to rest”
“I’m fine miss” the Teenager replied with a tone of impatience
“If you’re sure?” Jenny asked in a concerned tone

The teenager nodded and slowly got up and also helped Jenny to her feet and then wandered over to Lachesis cell and put her hands on the glass
“Mum?” The teenager called out with tears in her eyes,
Lachesis nodded, “Yes Celeste, I am your mother”
Celeste shook her head as tears flowed down her face, “Daddy said you had died, that’s why I’ve always been so angry with him because he said he had let you die.”
“We had to make everybody believe that including you Celeste” Lachesis wept,”
“But Why? I missed you so much mum” Celeste said with tears running down her face, “I would cry myself to sleep every night when I was a child” Celeste went on, “Why did you leave us? What did I do wrong?”
“Nothing dear” Lachesis replied “The Lord Low Troll would have killed you if he knew you had both a living father and mother. He wanted the numbers of Major spirits of Vice Virtue and Necessity constant or falling. He banned the birth of new spirits, but we only found out about the ban when I was pregnant with you”
“Then I am a Spirit of Necessity?” Celeste asked

“No you are not” The Spirit of Death said coldly, “You are a new Major Spirit of Virtue, for as the humans say virtues come out of necessity”

“Another one?” The Spirit of Lust replied and instinctively produced a fireball in her right hand

Celeste looked up at the Spirit of Lust and recognised her, “Lust?” she cried, “I promise I won’t intrude on your domain. I don’t even know what I am a Spirit of” she whined
“You are the Major Spirit of Second Chances” Lachesis called out, then she pleaded with the Spirit of Lust, “Please Lust spare my daughter, she will not interfere with the lusts of men”

Immediately The Spirit of Lust dissipated the fire ball harmlessly, “I apologise Lachesis” She said, “Instinctive reaction”
“Can I just be called Celeste?” Celeste asked the Spirit of Death.
“Of course my darling daughter”
“I’m sorry daddy” Celeste wept, “I so wanted to show that was not the waster you said I was that I never saw my boss for what he was”
“I am sorry I told you that were a waster” The Spirit of Death replied, “I just wish I could have told you of your true heritage before”
“But I have taken life daddy” Celeste wept as she slid down the glass case onto the floor, and into a ball, “I thought I was doing the right thing, but I still took life. I don’t want to do that any more”

The Spirit of Death knelt down to be at eyelevel with the now sobbing Celeste, “My daughter, you can not kill. It is not in your nature no matter how much you would have tried”
“I know daddy, there was this child that was supposed to die and I” her voice trailed off
“Found you could not cut it’s astral chord” The Spirit of Death ventured

Celeste nodded

“So what did you do Celeste?” The Spirit of Death gently asked
“I healed him Daddy” Celeste wept, “I healed him and gave him back to his mother and sister, because they loved him”
“That was your true nature my darling daughter” The Spirit of Death replied “You gave him second chance of life”
“Does that mean I would never be allowed to save him again?” Celeste asked tearfully
“You can give as many second chances as you like” The Spirit of Death replied, “Sometimes I wish I could have your ability to save life like you have” he added with a sigh

Jenny came and kneeled down and put an arm around Celeste

“But those people I killed” Celeste protested
The Spirit of Death went on, “I am not sure who you thought you may have killed Celeste, but it was not you who killed them. Were any of these at the behest of Sir Sidney Gerald?”

Celeste nodded and then said “Three” and quickly added “But the third one survived”
“Then it was other agents of Sir Sidney who killed and you were sent there to take the blame so he could use you and make you believe you were his hired killer”

Just then Mark interrupted, “Who were these people you were sent to kill”

Celeste tearfully looked up at the stern looking Mark, “A Gregory Sanderson in America, The Spirit of Friendship on my world and a Colonel Samuel Peters over in England”
“Well I know the Spirit of Friendship is dead” Mark began, “And we all thought our previous chairman of the IDEC Gregory Sanderson died of a stroke, so it was Sam who escaped your attempt to kill him wasn’t it” Mark added angrily
“He’s your friend” Celeste whimpered and put her hand to her mouth, “I’m so sorry” she squeaked out

“Do not blame my daughter” The Spirit of Death said to Mark, “I am as much to blame for all of this”
“And so am I” Lachesis called out, “We were so afraid of the Lord Low Troll that we lied to our own daughter”
“I was going to ask my boss not kill him” Celeste said quietly, “But he tricked me and sent me down here before I could get to ask him. I’m so sorry”

Suddenly they were all interrupted by another red vortex coming down out of the sky,
“Everyone get clear” Yelled Mark as it came down.

Jenny pulled Celeste to her feet and pulled her away as the seemingly deadly red vortex came down near the cell of the Spirit of Death and then finally latched onto the cell of Lachesis.

Mark looked at the readings coming off of it on Timothy’s Iphone, and then sent details to the PDA as he had seen Timothy do. This wormhole was definitely coming form Earth.

Suddenly it evaporated and two more figures appeared in the cell with Lachesis. Lachesis looked down at them “Clotho? Atropos” she shouted with dismay.

The two figures, one resembling a young woman and one an elderly lady helped each other to stand up
“They stole Atropos’s shears” the young woman told Lachesis

“So that was his plan” The Spirit of Death muttered

+ + +

Belfast City Airport

It was getting dark as Johnny Adair processed through immigration, which because he was from Northern Ireland was routine. He was still alive which meant that as far as he was concerned, Sir Sidney Gerald had kept his part of the bargain and had not cut his thread. All he wanted to do now was visit the Stormont building. According to the internet there would be a late sitting that night due to an extended debate, so he could kill as many politicians as possible.

They all deserved to die in his book for selling the Northern Irish people to Dublin and the IRA. Power sharing was an anathema and soon the little clay talisman he wore around his neck would wipe it out once and for all, and all he had to do was enter a public area where security was light, trigger the talisman and then leave the building and then everyone and everything, including the building would be vapourised..

Even if they did search him at the entrance, the clay talisman he wore would seem to them to be harmless.

Johnny walked through the arrivals hall and then on to the train service

And nobody challenged him

+ + +

A dark plane in an unknown artificial universe

Mark looked at the PDA, there was the programme to create the door to the cell, but would it be a death trap for the occupant?

“You look worried” The Spirit of Death called out to Mark
“Yeah, if Timothy made an error I could end up deleting you instead of releasing you”
“You must try at least one of these prisons” The Spirit of Death pointed out
“Yes”
“Then use mine as the test” the Spirit of Death instructed

Celeste heard this and instinctively ran to the glass wall where her father was standing, bashed on it with both hands “Daddy no!” she screamed, “I’m sorry Daddy, I love you, I don’t want to lose you”

The Spirit of Death looked at his daughter through the glass, “It has to be my darling daughter” he told her, “The Commander here has three choices. Risk the existence of two mortal children, one Spirit of Necessity who should have known better or three entities one of which includes your mother”

#

“Mother?” Clotho said with astonishment and then turned to Lachesis, “So that’s why you never fought our exile order” she accused
“I’m sorry Clotho” Lachesis replied, “I could not risk him finding out I was Celeste’s mother”
“And I agreed with her” Atropos chipped in
“You knew as well?” Clotho said half accusing and half in shock, “Were you ever going to tell me that I was an aunt” Then Clotho walked away from both of them with in their cell, “So that is why I could always sense her presence” she shouted
“I’m sorry Clotho, she’s my daughter and I had to protect her”
“When we got here you still could have told me” Clotho protested, “Did you think I was going to inform on you to the Lord Low Troll?”

#

Jenny came over and gently led Celeste way, “I’m so sorry” Celeste kept saying
“We all get taken in by men sometimes” Jenny replied, “I knew this guy, who ended up marrying my former boss. He never let on that he had been to the Mystical Realms”
“Did you get him for that?” Celeste asked
“No Celeste” Jenny answered, “Because unlike this Sir Sidney character, he is a decent man and I think I agree with what he did”
“So what are you saying miss” Celeste asked
“Sometimes men lie” Jenny told her
“He told me he had a plan to make the world a better place” Celeste sniffed
“They all do, it’s just another lie” Jenny said before giving Celeste a big hug.

#

Mark pressed the PDA to the glass of the Spirit of Death’s cell and initiated the programme.

At first nothing seemed to happen, but then a blue line appeared at the ground to Mark’s left and started to propagate upwards. As soon as it reached a foot from the ceiling it turned right for three feet and then headed down. As soon as it hit the floor, the glass encircled by it vanished. Just then the rest of the cell started to turn into a blue line drawing, including the Spirit of Death.
“What are you waiting for” Mark yelled and The Spirit of Death stepped out and returned to being solid. As he did so, the cell winked out of existence
“There was no need to shout” The Spirit of Death chided, “I heard you perfectly”

“Do us next” Lachesis ordered
“Ok Mark replied, “but as soon as the door forms get the hell out of there fast”

Mark pressed the PDA to the glass of their cell and re-ran the program. Again a blue line started up, turned, went along and dived to the ground. As soon as it hit the ground the prison cell started to destabilise and Lachesis and Atropos got out immediately.

Lachesis turned around and saw Clotho still in the cell now a line drawing, “Get out it’s collapsing” she yelled at Clotho
“Why, so you can still lie to me” Clotho protested

Just then Celeste broke free from Jenny’s grip and teleported into the collapsing prison, she immediately appeared as a line drawing as soon as she re-materialised. Celeste grabbed Clotho, “Come with me aunt” she yelled at Clotho and tried to teleport out, but it was not working, the prison was still damping that ability, So Celeste started trying to man handle Clotho towards he exit
“My baby” Lachesis Screamed and had to be restrained from going back in
“I’m not going to allow you to die with me” Clotho shouted at Celeste and with uncharacteristic strength found only in times of extreme stress, pulled Celeste out through the door and collapsed onto the floor outside just as the cell winked out of existence. Immediately Celeste and Clotho returned to being solid

Lachesis ran up to Celeste and pulled her to her feet, “What were you thinking?” she asked her daughter, “You could have been killed”
“But Mum” Celeste protested with tears in her eyes “I couldn’t let her die”
“I know” Lachesis whispered and then hugged her daughter, “I missed you so much as well Celeste”

“OK one more” Mark cut in and walked to the front of the Cell door of the twins prison, but only Caer was there
“Where’s your sister?” Mark asked
Caer nodded towards a door in the back, “Bathroom”

After about a minute Fidelity re-emerged with the sound of a flushing chain and so Mark gave them the instructions to leave as soon as the door appeared.
“May I use the bathroom first?” Caer asked

Mark shook his head in disbelief, “Be quick” he said
“Go easy on them love” Jenny gently chided Mark, “They are human now after all”

After about five minutes waiting, while Celeste hugged and sobbed into the Spirit of Death and Lachesis arms, Caer re-emerged from the bathroom and Mark began work on their prison cell. Just like the other two as soon as the door was made, the cell started to collapse, and the twins leapt to safety hand in hand.

Immediately Celeste ran to Fidelity and Caer, “I’m sorry if I seemed mean to you Fidelity on that road, but I had to put on a front” she said to Fidelity and gave her a hug, “But even though I can not kill I do wish I could have done something aboout that Yagel” Then Celeste hugged Caer, “You look after my friend” she told Caer, “We grew up together on the Mystical Realms”
“I always try Celeste” Caer replied
“Can we be friends too” Celeste asked
“Since you save my life Celeste, I don’t see why not” Caer answered

“Ok guys” Mark called out, “Timothy’s not here to work this generator”
“But he showed me all about it” chipped in the Spirit of Lust
“I don’t trust her” Jenny whispered, “She’s a killer”
“Maybe Miss Green” The Spirit of Lust cut in, “But I have no desire either to remain in this place; it brings back bad memories of when that mortal dared to trap me in the world of War Craft when he shut it down”

With that the Spirit of Lust knelt down and switched on the wormhole generator, “Give me the Iphone device” she demanded.

Mark handed it to her, and deftly she pressed a few buttons on it next to the generator, and soon the familiar green dot started to appear.

+ + +

An electrical science laboratory
Sir Sidney Gerald’s office building
London

“I thought we had a flight to catch” Samuel said as he waited in a laboratory where Adrian had imprisoned Clotho and Atropos in some kind of artificially generated universe
“I have to wait for Janine” Adrian replied, “She is bringing Sir Sidney’s acquaintance across and our flight does not leave until tonight”

After about ten minutes Mr Vee was shoved into the room by Janine as she pointed her nine millimetre automatic handgun at him
“I never knew secretaries used that kind of equipment over here in England” Samuel remarked
“We do if you work for Sir Sidney” she replied

“I see they got you too Colonel” Mr Vee said to Samuel
“I thought you were in Washington” Samuel replied as he eyed Mr Vee with suspicion
“I was” Mr Vee responded abruptly

Samuel looked at the nine millimetre automatic that Adrian was pointing at him, “So how are you going to get them to let you take that on board the plane”
“Janine is coming with us to the airport” Adrian explained, “She takes back the car with the side arms and I wear the latest state of the art wire, undetectable to airport sensors. Any funny stuff and Sir Sidney will find out”
“I must really congratulate you on your ruthlessness” Mr Vee said sarcastically and then continued, “But pray tell me, how do you know Sidney won’t cut your threads to keep you quiet”
“Because he needs us” Janine answered with an air of annoyance at the question
“And besides we are his little fixers and we know how to hack into classified computer systems” Adrian added
“Especially as most of the agencies in NATO use equipment supplied by his companies” Janine chipped in

Just then there was a rush of wind and a green dot started to form in the laboratory.

“What the hell is that?” Adrian asked, and then turned to Janine, “We‘ve still got our wormhole generator, haven’t we?”
Janine nodded and pointed to it

Adrian pointed his gun at the swirling green dot and let of a round

+ + +

A dark plane in an unknown artificial universe

As the group of eight waited around the wormhole generator, suddenly Caer screamed out and clutched her stomach and collapsed on the ground. Then another bullet whizzed past them into the ground and ricocheting off into the distance.

Mark left the generator and pulled Caer out of the firing line. It seemed they had wandered into a trap and someone was firing at them through the growing wormhole

“Oh no you don’t” Celeste yelled, “not to my friend£ she added and dodging the bullets ran to Caer’s side. Celeste quickly laid her hands on Caer’s shoulders while Fidelity was frantic to get to her sister and had to be held back by Lachesis and Atropos.

Once again Celeste’s eyes glowed with a bright green light, and Caer was healed of the gunshot wound. Celeste then turned to Mark and opened her left hand. In it was a nine millimetre bullet. “This is what hit her sir” she told him.

“I’m an idiot” Jenny shouted as she remembered the short bow she had been carrying, grabbed it and then fired an arrow into the wormhole”

+ + +

An electrical science laboratory
Sir Sidney Gerald’s office building
London

Just as Adrian was firing, Janine suddenly cried out as an arrow sunk into her chest and she dropped her weapon and fell to the floor. Mr Vee quickly put his foot on the handgun and then kicked it out of the way and did a karate style chop on Adrian sending him flying.

Suddenly Samuel was aware of a teenager dressed in black appearing to his side, “Don’t you know it’s not nice to shoot my friends” the teenager told the colonel
“It was that dirtbag on the floor” Samuel shouted at Celeste as he pointed to Adrian who was being held on the floor with a half nelson arm lock by Mr Vee.

Then to Samuel’s surprise, the one man he thought had been atomised back on the Mystical realms jumped through the wormhole along with the woman he had given a eulogy for. Commander Mark Johnston and Jenny Green.

“I thought you were dead!” Samuel exclaimed, “I saw that S.O.B atomise you”
“It’s a long story Sam” Mark replied, “Right now we have others coming through”

Then through the wormhole came the twins, the three fates followed by the Sprit of Death and lastly the Spirit of Lust carrying the artificial wormhole generator. She then pressed a switch and the green vortex vanished.

The teenager who had appeared out of nowhere then went to where the secretary was lying on the floor. “I know you probably deserve this” Samuel heard her say, “But because you got me nice threads yesterday” the teenager then put one hand on the arrow and it dissolved into nothing, while she put her the other hand was on Janine’s shoulder and the teenager’s eyes burned a brilliant green.

Samuel saw the arrow wound disappear, and then Janine was healed, however the teenager used some kind of force field to hold her down on the ground

“Mark! Get their guns” Samuel ordered
Mark headed for Janine’s gun, and Mr Vee retrieved Adrian’s gun, stood up and pointed it at him and took off the safety catch.

The teenager heard the click and cried out, “Please don’t kill him James”

“James?” The colonel asked Mr Vee
“An old cover name from my time working alongside British intelligence” Mr Vee replied
“Can you give me the gun sir?” Samuel then asked
Mr Vee put the safety back on and handed the gun to Samuel.

Jenny strung an arrow to her short bow and pointed it at Adrian, “Where is Sir Sidney’s office” she demanded
“As soon has he sees you coming little lady” Adrian sneered, “He will cut the thread of you or your family. You can’t even kill him as he is immortal now”

Suddenly a blast of fire engulfed Adrian, and he was incinerated. Jenny swung the arrow around and pointed it at The Spirit of Lust who was still pointing at where Adrian had lain
“What was that for” she shouted
“Disrespect and he was smarmy to boot”

Just then the fire detectors triggered the building wide fire alarm.
“This is not good” Samuel shouted, then he looked at the wormhole generator in the laboratory and went over to where the teenager was holding Janine, “Is that set to go to IDW01”
Janine nodded.
“Ok Mark, Jenny” Samuel instructed, “Take the other’s to IDW01 and I will see if I can deal with Sir Sidney”
“Sure Sam” Mark responded, but The Spirit of Lust objected
“I will not run away like a coward” The Spirit of Lust argued
“None of us are allowed there” Lachesis then told the Colonel, “we are not permitted to leave Earth”
“I was there when the Spirit of Cruelty murdered a court official there” Fidelity piped up, “They might arrest me there for being an accomplice”
“I’m not going anywhere without Fid” Caer objected
Samuel shook his head, “Jenny, Mark stay here in this laboratory and protect the others then”

Just then Mr Vee pulled a small automatic from his coat pocket, “I will help stand guard Colonel”

Samuel pulled Jenny aside, “Stay here and guard the others”
“But Sir” Jenny protested
“I don’t entirely trust Mr Vee” Samuel whispered and then shouted, “Mark with me”
“And I am going too” The Spirit of Lust then stated, “I can hold my own against that nasty little man, plus if he is immortal now, I am the only one who can stop him”
“Fine!” Samuel said in exasperation, “Just don’t get in the way” and left the Laboratory.

Samuel led the way with his gun hidden away as he back tracked to where Sir Sidney’s office was. A number of people were evacuating due to the fire alarm and he did not want them to alert Sir Sidney something was wrong
In the back of Samuel’s mind was what Adrian had said, this man could just kill them at a distance or anyone they cared about from a distance, so how he was to take him on he had no clue, but he had to do something. He just hoped the Spirit of Lust was telling the truth and that she would not as a spirit of vice swap sides.

Finally they made it to the door of Sir Sidney’s office, but he was not there. He must have left the building with the others

Then they turned around and he was in the door way.
“I thought you were on your way to the airport” Sir Sidney said with surprise, then he looked at Mark and The Spirit of Lust. “Who are you?” he demanded then he said, “No matter” and pulled out the Shears of Atropos, muttered an incantation. Instantly two groups of threads appeared. One group of four and one group of three.

“Ok Colonel” Sir Sidney said to them, “Which family do you want me to spare, the Sands or the O’Docherty’s. If you don’t choose I will kill both, and you will be to blame for their deaths with your little rebellion”

Suddenly the teenager materialised behind Sir Sidney and grabbed the arm he held the Shears of Atropos with and pulled it away from the threads, which promptly vanished from sight. She tried to grab the shears from his hand, but Sir Sidney with his other hand violently shoved the teenager away and she landed on the floor of his office.

Mark fired a round at Sir Sidney and hit him, but it was to no effect. Sir Sidney only seemed slightly surprised, but then grinned, “I own my own thread” he sneered, “I am immortal now not even death can touch me, let alone your side arms.
The teenager from the floor where she landed shouted, “Hey boss I quit” and then fired an energy blast at him, but he deflected it away into the secretary’s desk with the shears.

“What about your lusts” The Spirit of Lust shouted
“What do you mean” Sir Sidney shouted back, momentarily distracted
“Your lust for power” The Spirit of Lust shouted, “That makes you mine” and she advanced on him with a firevall growing in each hand.
Instinctively Sir Sidney thrust the Shears of Atropos into The Spirit of Lust. She screamed from the shock of the pain and the fire balls just vanished. Then to Sir Sidney’s surprise, she laughed as she pulled the shears from her body and tossed them on the floor and grabbed Sir Sidney and held him in her arms. “You fool” She shouted, “By stabbing me with a magical item, you have just started to spread my essence of lust through out this universe and as I have you, you will be spread through out the cosmos with me and fully aware”
Sir Sidney tried to push the Spirit of lust away, but she held on with a vice like grip as the two of them started to glow with white light

“Take cover you fools” Yelled the Spirit of Lust to Samuel and Mark, so Samuel and Mark dived behind the desk in the office. The teenager scrambled round to be right next to him behind the desk.
“I’m Celeste” She told him, “I’m sorry I was involved in the bosses plot to kill you sir, I was wrong”
“I’m glad you failed” Samuel replied
“So am I sir” Celeste told him

Just then there was a massive flash of light and a violent wind emanating from where the Spirit of Lust had been, shattering the thick glass windows and setting alight some of the furniture.

Celeste stood up and saw that the Spirit of Lust and Sir Sidney were gone, but there had been a lot of damage and some items were on fire. Mark got up and picked up the Shears from the floor and then raced for a fire extinguisher to try and put out as much as he could before Samuel, dragging Celeste by the hand, ordered him to get the others to safety. This fire was taking hold.

“Is it over Sir” Celeste yelled above the noise of the flames and the fire alarm
Samuel thought for a moment and then remembered what Sir Sidney had said about a UFF guy out to destroy Stormont.
“No” he shouted, “I’ve got to get word to G2 and the RUC, there’s going to be an attack on the Stormont building”

Celeste stopped and pulled on Samuel’s hand. “I can take you there sir. I can teleport myself and one other” she pleaded, “I was on the wrong side and I need to make amends sir”

“You go Sam” Mark interrupted, “I’ll get the other’s out and liaise with the LEOS”

“Ok you’re on” Samuel said to Celeste, “Can you take me to him”
“I’ll try sir” Celeste replied and then the two vanished into thin air

Mark raced back to the laboratory and ordered the others to join the other people who had evacuated the building.
“Where’s the colonel and Celeste” Jenny asked
“Gone to save Stormont” Mark replied, “But we have to leave now, this building is on fire for real”
“What about Sir Sidney” Janine asked
“He tried to take on the spirit of Lust and she took him down with him” Mark answered and then added “NOW GO!”
“I will vanish back to my world” The Spirit of Death told Mark, “The other’s have a more human appearance than I” and with that the Spirit of death melted away.

It took about three minutes for the group to reach the outside and the feel the cool wind coming off of the River Thames.

“I never thought I would see this sky again” Jenny whispered to Mark and clasped his hand
“Me too” Mark replied

COUGH

It was Clotho
“Yes” Mark replied.
“I’m sorry about earlier” Clotho apologised
“We all throw paddies occasionally” Jenny told her
“I know Miss Green” Clotho answered, “But I was stupid and selfish to risk the life of another”
“Speaking of which” Mark then said as he presented the Shears of Atropos to clotho, “Tell your sister to look after these”
“I will sir” Clotho replied taking them, “We three have agreed to appeal against having these threads of life and death governing people’s fates, now we have seen the potential for abuse”
“That would help” Mark replied
“There is one thread though you may be interested in”
“Which one would that be?” Jenny asked
“The one that I was required to start, the one coming from here” Clotho replied and touched Jenny’s abdomen, “I believe he also came from” and went to touch Mark in the groin, but Mark grabbed her hand gently
“I get the message” Mark told the young fate
Clotho’s face went red and apologised and went back to her sisters
“I’m pregnant?” Jenny said in disbelief
“With my son” Mark beamed
“It must have been that night before we left Earth” Jenny suggested
“Or that night in the lava tube” Mark replied.

Jenny looked down at the ground, then up at the sky and then at Mark with a pleading expression, “I realise you might think it’s my fault and” she began quietly
“You want to keep this baby?” Mark interrupted
Jenny nodded, “But if you don’t want me to”
Mark gave Jenny a big hug, “Please keep him Jenny” he said, “I want this child as much as you do” Then he asked “I want us to be a family, Jenny Green, will you marry me”
Jenny nodded, and deep down she knew her dead fiancé would have approved, after all before the mission that was to be his last he had told her to move on should something happen to him. Mark was her man, and she wanted him and now she was having his baby as well.

+ + +

Northern Ireland Assembly Building
Stormont, Belfast

Johnny Adair got out of the taxi and paid the driver. He had driven him down the famous “Mile” up to the parliament buildings. For all intents and purposes he was visiting Stormont to see his elected representative as is his democratic right.

Security at the Northern Ireland assembly building was tight especially since the Michael Stone incident, as he headed up to the front of the building. Johnny was not worried about being discovered as no security on Earth would recognise that his clay talisman was a threat.

Johnny had made sure he was not carrying a handgun, just so they would let him through; this was going to be a piece of cake.

He had just got to the front door when he heard an unfamiliar American voice
“That’s far enough Mr Adair” it said

Johnny turned round. There was a man in his fifties in a grey trench coat pointing a gun at him, next to him on the man’s right was Celeste
“It’s over Mr Adair” the American said, “Your paymaster’s gone, hand over the talisman”
“So Mr Swales was right” Johnny said to Celeste, “You entities are just like the British government, always selling us out”
Celeste shook her head, “You hurt my friends Caer and Fidelity” she retorted.

Johnny shook his head, and then shouted “Terrorist Terrorist, He’s got a gun, He’s got a gun” pointing at the American

Almost immediately armed guards started to draw their weapons and pointed them at the colonel, while Johnny mad a break for the front door.

Samuel held his hands up as the guards approached, “I’m with your homeland security, let me get my ID” he tried to tell them, but they wrestled him to the ground. One guard tried to take Celeste, but she teleported away and into the building to confront Johnny Adair

“I have ID” Samuel kept saying but the guards were not listening and held him on the ground yelling

#

Celeste appeared in front of Johnny, “Why do you want to kill these people” she asked him
“What’s it to you” Johnny replied, “I thought you were used to lots of death, being like the daughter of death or something like that”
“I don’t like taking lives” Celeste replied, “Now hand that talisman over”
“You could have fooled me Celeste. Do you not care that our British government handed our country over to the IRA and to a foreign power. This place represents the greatest betrayal perpetrated on the people of Northern Ireland” Johnny went on
“They’re trying to work for peace” Celeste insisted, “If that stops the bloodshed what’s the problem. Now hand that talisman over”

#

While the guards we holding Samuel to the ground an RUC land rover with it’s sirens sounding screeched to a halt and a man with dwarfism jumped out the passenger door, waving an id badge “Let him go, Let him go” he shouted at the guards
“He had a gun” one of the guards objected
Samuel recognised him as Shamus McTuckle a leprechaun of the Irish Republic’s special diplomatic service, but to everyone else he was this man who had dwarfism

The police driver got out of the car and ran up to them, “its ok he’s part of a special anti-terror taskforce”
“He’s trying to stop an attack on Stormont you fools” Shamus shouted

The guards then moved away from Samuel as the police officer helped him to his feet.
“Evacuate the building now” Yelled Samuel
“How?” one of the guards asked
“Just do it” Shamus shouted
“The man who told you I had a gun” Samuel shouted, “Where is he?”
The guard just shook his head, so another said, “I think he went inside, but he did not seem to have anything”

Samuel shook his head, “The b*****d’s got inside and headed to front entrance

#

“I said hand over the talisman” Celeste insisted, “You know I can take it from you”

“Ok you win” Johnny replied and slowly removed the talisman from his neck. Suddenly he shouted, “annullo” and went to throw the talisman at the stairs.

Just then one of the armed guards coming through the door with the Colonel thought Johnny was throwing a grenade and instantly fired several shots at him, hitting him in the back fatally.

Celeste ran to where the talisman had fallen and picked it up, but it was glowing red. Celeste ran up to the colonel
“It’s too late” She told him “it’s started
“Take it out side” Samuel instructed

Shamus interrupted, “That won’t work Colonel” he said, “It is designed to wipe out entire buildings, if you took it outside, it could wipe out the whole of the province or possibly worse, that was why they were outlawed on you-know-where”

Celeste looked up through the open doors at the night sky, “There’s only one place I can think of” she said, and before anyone could do anything she vanished

“What was that?” one of the guards asked as he saw Celeste vanish before his eyes
“Classified” Samuel told him, “And something you had better forget you saw”

About a minute later Celeste suddenly appeared in front of them on her knees gasping for air and shivering. Celeste then collapsed on the floor and. Samuel knelt down and took off his coat as Celeste seemed to be going into shock and laid it on her. He noticed that her eyes were bloodshot and blood seemed to be coming from her ears.

“What’s happened to the Moon” a voice came from behind, Samuel glanced up in to the night sky at the Moon. To his surprise there appeared to be a brighter light covering what appeared to be a quarter of the Moon than it’s normal. It was there for what seemed like two minutes before it vanished.

“That must be some meteor strike” someone yelled
“I thought it was some kind of nuke” yelled another
“A nuke on the moon would not look like that” yelled the first voice, “It had to be a meteor or a comet.

Samuel returned his attention to Celeste, she was still shivering, gasping for breath and almost incoherent. “Get an ambulance” he yelled, and then he took Celeste’s left hand, “Hang in their kid you saved us, I’m proud of you”

The man with dwarfism came across. “It looks like she came through after all”
“Can you do anything for her Shamus” Samuel asked, “It looks like she teleported to the Moon and back”
“That would certainly take a lot out of her, and I bet she had to wait a bit there before she could teleport back” Shamus replied
“Without an EVA suit” Samuel interjected, “She’s lucky to be alive”
“I’ll put an emergency call to G2, and get them to get some of that troll healing potion” Shamus then told Samuel and pulled out a mobile phone
“Do it” Samuel ordered, “She’s a real hero, I’m just so glad she realised which side she was really on”

Shamus left to make his telephone call and while the guards kept people away, Samuel stayed, sitting on the ground and holding Celeste in his arms, telling her to stay with him and that she would be all right and occasionally kissing her on the top of her head. For some reason she reminded him of his daughter Andrea, who had been killed many years earlier.

It was about twenty long minutes before the ambulance arrived and Celeste was collected by the paramedics and given an oxygen mask. Samuel offered to go with her, but Shamus said he would go, especially as the ambulance was being instructed to take her to an Irish Garda helicopter that would take her south of the border and to Dublin, where G2 were going to take over her treatment.

Samuel sighed and walked in the grounds and looked up into the sky at the Moon, now returned to its normal illumination. Even though Celeste originally had been part of a plot to kill him she had helped save the day in the end. Samuel could not help thinking that if his daughter had not been killed, she would be about Celeste’s age.

“We meet again” a voice came from behind
Samuel turned around; it was the Spirit of Death. “Is it my time then?” he asked
The Spirit of Death shook his head, “I came to thank you”
“It’s my job” Samuel replied
“I know” The Spirit of Death answered, “I saw how you looked after my daughter just now so now I have someone to visit you for a brief moment as a reward. I am sorry I could only bring one”
Samuel shook his head in confusion, “Who could that be?”
Just then a child’s voice piped up from behind the Spirit of Death, “Daddy I missed you”

It was Andrea, or at least her ghost
Samuel knelt down to be at her height as Andrea walked up to him
“I miss you every day sweetheart” Samuel replied with tears forming in his eyes
“Daddy it really hurt when I died” Andrea complained
“I know sweetheart” Samuel continued, “It hurts me every single day when I think of what happened, but they got the man who killed you”
“He was a really bad man daddy” Andrea said with sadness in her voice, “I didn’t want to die”
“What’s it like where you are” Samuel asked
“It’s lovely Daddy, they say we are in the Elysium Fields”
“I have to go now Daddy” Andrea then said looking back at the Spirit of Death
“I wish I could stay daddy” Andrea then told her father, “And that Mummy could come too”
“I do too” Samuel answered, “I love you Andrea, and tell your mummy I love her too. I never stopped loving the pair of you”
“Yes Daddy” Andrea replied, “She says she loves you and misses you as well”
Samuel nodded; unable to speak as he watched Andrea’s form and that of the Spirit of Death vanish into the night
Samuel then stood up and took a deep breath and wiped his eyes with his sleeve

A police officer came over and tapped Samuel on the shoulder
“I understand you need a ride back into town sir”
“Yeah” Was all Samuel could say at that time
“Are you ok sir?” the police officer asked
“Yeah, something blew in my eye, that all” Samuel replied as he turned and followed the officer back to the Stormont building

+ + +

Continued in next posting