Kael Oran woke to the throbbing in his right forearm, where he had been stabbed. He was laying down, and looking at the nearly naked body of the glass-green body of the Cyclops woman as she pulled up the one-piece suit and said to the bald, human man,"Thanks for bringing me some clothes. I thought the natives were going to riot." "No problem. This has become a diplomatic incidence! Pazu's death REALLY messes us up. I don't know what to do with HIM." The bald man jerked a thumb at large, yellowish figure of the man who stabbed him. Benniah whimpered from the growls of the dragonic creature, ready to tear into him. The creature growled,"ANGERZ! I haz them!Move and die!" The bald man and Snowflake, the Cyclops girl, looked at the creature and said,"Wow. He's speaking now?" She looked back at Kael, and blinked. "My 'hero' is awake. Let me give you a hand." She was frighteningly strong as she almost threw him into the air. She looked surprised as he cried out. She tenderly held his stabbed arm and said, "I'm SO sorry! You...you are SO light!" The bald man said,"Snowflake, we don't have much time! The locals want you handed over to them." He said to Kael,"I'm Captain Dokka Tkarro, of...off of...We're from outer space! Explanations of THAT later! That is a ...SECURITY crewman from my ship. We need to know what's going on here." Kael broke away from looking into the huge eye of the beautiful Cyclops girl. His heart was pounding in his chest. He never saw anything...anyone so NON-HUMAN. He had read about mythological Cyclops being huge one-eyed monsters. Snowflake seemed small and very womanly. Kael looked up at Dokka and said,"Hunh? What? Who?" Dokka rolled his eyes and pointed at him and asked heatedly,"You are native here! WHY do we have to hand Snowflake over to ANYONE here?" Fear seized him. He swallowed and said shakily,"Jost died. He was Benniah's father and something of a priest." "She killed him with some kind of magic! They need to determine if she is a witch or demon or something",Kael finished weakly, his knees feeling weak. Dokka looked shocked, and exclaimed,"You have GOT to be kidding me! Witches and Demons? Two hundred years of isolation after a nuclear war and this planet has retrogressed to the age of spirits and superstition?" Snowflake shook her head and smiled uncertainly at Kael,"I'm none of the above, including human." Over her shoulder, she asked Dokka,"Think I could plead,I'm a 'Goddess'? People have said that Toxic is a goddess or some such! I can freeze people solid, instead of standing in vacuum and setting people on fire." Dokka looked grim. "We need this like another Asuran Battleship. I'll inform Captain Rose. We are NOT going to let the locals harm ANY member of the crew. We need to come to some understanding with the locals." To Kael, he said,"Boy, what will they do with her right off?" "My name is KAEL, not boy! To answer ...we ...they'll hold her for a day. There's some confusion here. Most people here can't read and fear the old machines like computers and robots. My mom taught me to read, which gave me a different point of view." Kael paused. "Eventually...they'll kill her. They're STUPID, and don't know anything, and they fear everything outside of here. She doesn't belong here." He looked at her. Her eye was bright and shiny with fear. He wanted to touch her hair and hold her. Instead he muttered,"You have to escape here. GO!" Dokka said,"We need to follow the laws of the land where there are laws. We have a day or so? That ought to be enough time for the dropship to return to the ship and come back with reinforcements, if needed. The locals won't allow us any weapons. Think they'll try anything against us,Kael?" Kael shook his head. "Let Benniah go, and don't kill anyone, they'll let you hang around if you promise trade goods. Beyond that...I don't know." Dokka almost groaned. --TO BE CONTINUED!--