"More importantly, how did you get on this ship?”, Captain Remarkable stepped forward, addressing the newcomer directly.

"I took the sleigh.”

“You took the what?” Harley perked up.

“That doesn’t answer my question, we are in the Cloud for cripes sake."

“Think of me as a hitchhiker Captain.”

“Funny, I don’t remember pulling over.” Phineas asked, walking into the room,  “What I miss?”

“I don’t have time to go into details at the moment.  Suffice to say I work for the Santas.  We can find anyone anywhere, I was sent to seek you out and ask for your help., he smiled, “To answer your question Harley, my name is Faulkner.”

“Why are you here?

"Someone stole the Santa Mantle and kidnapped Santa Prime.

"Someone stole the what and kidnapped the who?”

Faulkner sighed heavily and wearily.  This was the conversation he really wasn't  looking forward to having for many reasons.  Not the least of which being time. Or the lack of it.

It was always the way in situations like this.  The people involved need to know what has happening and why and how they were supposed to help, but the was always a time limit.  

"There isn't time to explain everything really, but I suppose I have no choice.  I'll compress it as much as I can for now and will be glad to answer any questions you may have when possible. I suggest we all take a seat."

Once they were all seated Faulkner paced around the room.  Everyone twisted or swiveled in their respective chairs to follow him as he told a tale that kept each of them enraptured.  Everyone except the Captain.  He assumed this was all an elaborate scheme to take over his ship.

“Let me start by saying that everything you know about the person called Santa Claus isn’t exactly true.”

Harleys ears drooped.

“Easy Harl.  Let me explain.  As I said, what you know isn’t exactly true.  Or at rather it’s not the entire truth.  The reality has become corrupted over the years, but since it actually serves to help hide the truth of who Santa really is, we began to encourage the tales and stories.

The one you call ‘Santa’ we call ‘Santa Prime’.  He is in charge of the other Santas and manages the production and distribution of the toys and gifts.”

“Wait, so Santa is a CEO?”

“Technically speaking, yes.  However he is also much more that that.  He’s also the guardian of the ‘Spirit of Christmas’”

“What’s christmas?”  

“Christmas, Harley, is what you call Yule Night.  It’s known as different things in different places.  It’s original name in fact isn’t Christmas but something lost to time.  

Anyway, getting back to my story.  The ‘Spirit of Christmas’ that Prime guards is what we call the Santa Mantle.  It’s what lets him distribute joy and cheer throughout the year and what allows the other Santas to travel and deliver so many gifts. “

“I told you he had cool technology!” exclaimed Harley.

“Stop interrupting Harley,” Faulkner smiled, “It’s not technology. It’s magic. A very old, very special kind of magic.  

The Mantle was stolen yesterday, presumably when Santa Prime was kidnapped.  We must find it and get it back and the Prime back before Christmas Night… I mean Yule Night.

Right now Maxamillian, Santa Paws is tracking the ones that took the Mantle.  Horus, also know as Santa Claws, that’s C L A W S, is following up on a lead to locate Prime.  

We need your help Harley.”

“My help?  Why me?”

“The short answer is, there is a provision that should something happen to the Santas we were to contact you.  There were some that argued it was too early, that you weren't ready but I won the debate.  Or rather I ignored them and came after you anyway.  I can’t really say more than that right now.”

“You’re asking us to take a lot on faith Faulkner” the Captain said as he stood up.

“Yes I know.  And I’m sorry.  I’ve told you all I can for now and we are short of time.  Yule night is in 2 days.”

“How many Santas are there?” asked Harley cheerfully.

“Quite a few.  In addition to the ones I already mentioned there is Cynderklas, Father Yule, and Saint Kristopher to name a few.

"So where do you come into all this?" asked Phineas

"I'm a Commander in the E.L.F., and was assigned to protection of the Prime.  I'm responsible for him and it's my job to get him back."

"Wait, “said Harley, "You're an elf?"

"No, I'm a member of the E.L.F., that stands for Extremeis Liberitus Forte.  It's essentially a police force assigned to guard and protect the Santas."

"I don't understand.  You're wearing green, but aren't you suppose to be short, and have pointy ears?"

“I’m not an elf Harley.”

“Denial is the first sign."

Faulkner sighed, “I assume you've heard of the MCU?”

Everyone nodded

"We are the MCU for the North Pole.”

“North pole?  We don't have a north pole. We don’t even have a north”

"Every planet has a north Phineas.  Besides, it's not a place per se, that's actually the code name of the Candy Cane Factory, the place where all the gifts are manufactured.  It's a heavily guarded secret and no, I won't take you to visit Harley.”

“Won’t you get in trouble?”, Harley asked in earnest.

“Probably.  I intend to resign once this is over anyway.  In all the time since the ELF has been established no one has ever lost a Santa.  I'm the first. “

“What can we do to help”, volunteered Harley to the unsmiling faces of Phineas and the Captain.

"I honestly don't know.  I was hoping you knew of a way to find a rescue the Prime.  If you don't I …”

Harley grinned.

“Harley,” began the Captain, “Am I correct in assuming that the words "I have a plan" are heading with unwarrented enthusiasm in the direction of this conversation?

“Yes sir, however, I don't think anyone’s going to like it.”

“When do we ever?”, Phineas smiled.

© 2011, anthony. All rights reserved.

This weeks prompt:

Remote control of insects by neural implants

© 2011, anthony. All rights reserved.

He shoved his hands deep in his pockets, it was after all fairly cold, and stamped his feet to make sure he stayed warm. In all honesty he wasn't really expecting the skies to fall. That would have meant something went right, and based on the fact this was the fourth time in as many months that the end of the world had been predicted, yet had failed to happen (after all, if it had he wouldn't be here waiting). The doom sayers were starting to get as bad as the weather men.

He shook his head remembering the global pandemic that almost was, but wasn't. Supposedly Mad Cow disease had become so pervasive and stubborn this past winter that it was going to hit everycow all at once, then mutate into a new strain. Some CDC researchers predicted it would re-animate the cows after killing them creating what amounted to zombie cows. It didn't sound so bad considering that people had gotten really good at killing cows over the last few hundred years until he realized that it meant no more steaks or hamburgers. He still wasn't sure how that was going to 'end the world' (and yes, he used air quotes every time he mentioned it) but it definitely would have meant dinners would be a tad less interesting. Although on the whole, it was better than zombie squirrels. At least regular squirrels stopped chattering long enough to sleep.

Then there was the comet that was going to pass extremely close to the moon, shifting it out of it's orbit and, at the very least causing all kinds of destruction as the gravitational forces worked to balance themselves. Worst case scenarios had it crashing into the Earth itself. All the scientists were in agreement that everything would work itself out and harmony would once again reign, but there was a very likely chance humanity would not survive.

Then of course the comet missed. Later it was discovered that there was a rounding error and that it had missed the moon by several million miles instead of the predicted few hundred feet. Morton always shook his head at that one. Being an accountant for the Fifth National Bank of Wellington he always had a profound respect for number and tended to guffaw at the mistake whenever it came up in conversation. Which it did. A lot.

And who could forget the alien invasion. Millions upon millions of alien ships had suddenly appeared in orbit just above the planet. It was certain doom or so the pundits had proclaimed on every talk show they could squeeze themselves onto. No chance of humanity surviving this, it was most certainly an invasion, then had pictures of the ships and everything.

Until one researcher had discovered that the alien ships were in fact nothing more than space fleas and that the original discoverer had simply mis-focused his telescope. Then every one that went to verify it and discovered the mistake decided that since the gentleman who had made the discovery was so well respected and so very popular that it must have been they that had made the mistake and so proliferated the false claims for several days.

So it was with a shake of the head that Morton turned around and shuffled back into his house when the PA system started to chirp to life and the announcer came on and stated that the launch of the nuclear missile aimed at the enemy had been cancelled due to a mechanical failure. He had hoped all along there wasn't going to be yet another postponement but had put a pie in the oven, just in case.

© 2011, anthony. All rights reserved.

I'm 17, from Boston, MA and I'm a Zombie Hunter.

Trust me, it's not as glamorous as it sounds.  In fact it's kind of messy, but I do get to travel to remote and exotic places and met exciting people.  Not.

I've learned a few things about Zombies over the years.

1.They maintain full function of anything not destroyed when they die.  That includes the brain.  For example, if your brain is damaged but your arms are fine you could hit a baseball.  Assuming you know what a baseball is. Or what a bat is even for.

1. They can speak.  Sorry to say it but George Romero got it wrong.  Maybe he knew and left that part out in his movies because it's too terrifying.  It may not seem like much, but trust me, when a horribly disfigured creature shambling about is calling your name, it's not pleasant.  Especially when said person is your mother.  Of course you're probably use to her shambling about calling your name or maybe that's just me.

2. They have an hierarchy of sorts.  There is a master zombie all the way down to slaves and drones.  Drones are usually the ones that have had a significant portion of their head (and subsequently their brain) damaged and are basically stupid.  Masters are strong physically, very strong.  They have to be to make it up the food chain.

3. They aren't all that common.  There is probably 1 zombie for every 100,000 people on the planet, give or take.  They tend to gather in groups (clans, covens, flocks, gaggles???) and hold up somewhere away from people.

4. They don't actually 'hunt' people.  True, they love the taste of human flesh (eww!) but they are actually attracted to movement. Stands to reason when your eyes are glazed over that you can't see very well.  So if you were to stand stock still they'd walk right by you.  Not that many people will stand still while a pack of flesh eating monsters are strolling by.

5. There are actually 2 types of zombies: Dead and Infected.  The names are misleading, but then again they didn't ask me my opinion when they named them.  Dead zombies are people that died and then contracted the virus and were reanimated.  These are usually the ones you see bumbling around.  Infected contracted the virus and died as a result (meaning they are un-injured) or were bitten.  Kind of like Werewolves.

6. There is a cure.  If you can get to it within the first 12 hours after infection it can stop the virus. And yes, I realize how much that sounds like vampirism.

I've also learned that none of these rules mean a damn thing when your stuck on the roof of a parking garage in the middle of the night, your only weapon being a sand pail of not-quite-ripe peaches that you just (illegally) picked and your best friend, Sixx,  is standing next to you in a fuzzy pink hospital gown with rabbits on it, all the while surrounded by a band of reasonably intelligent zombies who were actually out looking for you specifically.

Trust me, pink is not his color.

Oh, and Sixx is a zombie as well.

"Explain to me again how you ended up wearing a ping hospital gown."

"Really?  You think now is the best time to bring that up again?"

"Well yea.  It gets funnier every time you tell it."

"Oh hardy-de-har-har.  What are we going to do Z?"

"I called Stephanie, she and Mike are on their way over now. They only live a few blocks from her."

Stephanie and Mike are the other half of our team.  Steph is actually my ex but we've remained friends.  She's 5' 7", very much a tomboy and can kick the ass of just about anyone I know, including me.  I've seen her take on 3 strong Infected at once and not even break a sweat.

Mike, her partner, puts Steph to shame.  She is very feminine but is a better fighter than any of us.  The belts in Judo, Aikido and Capoeira help. Don't let the blond hair fool you though, she doesn't take crap from anyone and doesn't suffer fools period.  Imagine Charlize Theron with a ninja sword and an attitude.  And the fact that Mike and I get along better than Steph and I has nothing at all to do with my praise.  Honestly.

"Getting into trouble again I see?" Steph says through a giant grin on her face.

"You know me," I reply as Mike tosses me my sword.

We wade through the first wave of grunts, slicing and hacking and the occasional thwack when I heave a peach at a zombie.  I take the heads of a couple of twins, Mike takes out three local business men.  Severing the head is the only sure way to guarantee that a zombie is dead.  Romero got that much right.  Then again it works for just about every other creature on the planet as well.  There are a couple exceptions but that's another story.

I glance over and see Sixx beating another zombie into submission with their own arms, hooping and hollering the entire time.  At least he enjoys his work.

He takes a break from the beating to look up at me just as I cut off the left arm of a zombie still holding a broom.

"Any one else notice they aren't really putting up a fight?" he asks.

It's then that I notice the leader standing off in the distance.  He realizes I've seen him and steps forward.

"I come with a message."

"And what might that be?"

"The Matriarch would like to speak with you."

With that the remaining zombies turn and leave.  Something I've never seen happen before.  Not exactly a good sign to be honest.

We all stand and stare at each other for a few minutes, Steph is the one to finally break the silence.

"What do we do Zed?"

I pause for dramatic effect, "Let's go find out what my mother wants."

© 2010, anthony. All rights reserved.

As his eyes adjusted he could see shadows moving around behind the lights in all directions, their purpose and goals unknown to him.  Across the room was a beautiful girl standing just inside the doorway.  He knew her, or felt he should.  At the very least he wanted to. Occasionally sounds came drifting in, soft enough and low enough that he couldn't quite understand the words.

His first instinct was to wonder if they were talking about him, looking across the now lit room he could see the girl standing by the door, maybe the voices were talking about her

He chose his spot beside the couch and looked carefully around the room.  It was an average sized room with average furniture.  It was mostly in line with his tastes, enough so he wasn't repulsed by it, but he knew it was all fake.  Nothing he could see was real, nothing belonged to him.  Looking around again he couldn't remember what his own furniture, or even his room actually looked like.

He licked his lips as his gaze passed over the shadows moving around behind the lights.  The whispers again passing by him, not quite understandable.

How long would they stay away, how long would the light keep them out.

He glanced over to the girl again and noticed that she seemed more confident, more sure of herself than he felt.  He wondered if she was even real and fought the urge to walk over to her to touch her, knowing it would provoke the Director in the shadows and cause himself anguish.

Instead he sat on the arm of the couch, sensing his time was coming.  Instinctively know that soon the lights would begin and everything would change.

He was supposed to do something, or say something… if only he could remember.

He started¬†fidgeting, shaking his hands and feet. He closed his eyes trying desperately to remember what it was he was supposed to do. ¬†It was something important, that much he remembered. ¬†Something about…

Suddenly his head rose up, everything came flooding back to him in a frantic rush.

He sorted it out in his head, took  a deep breath and felt his confidence grow.

He was set.

He was ready.

Ready to play his part. Ready to tackle the role before him in this grand drama.

He smiled briefly at the girl across the room, and she smiled back.  His confidence rose again.

Another deep breath.

He faced the light, ready.

The shuffling in the background quieted, the lights began to dim. The shadows stilled.

Now.

Now was the time for him to do what he had come to do, to stand on his own and face all his fears and demons.  To give the performance of his life.

Suddenly a face appeared across the room, distorted by the lights and shadows into a mockery of a man.  The face seemed to take a deep breath and shouted:

"ACTION!"

© 2010, anthony. All rights reserved.

He smiled, which considering he was a large Golden Retriever made a fairly expressive grin.


"Sam. You have some nerve coming here. Especially with out your little white bodyguard."


"I figured she might upset you a little after the incident last month, and I wanted to talk to you peacefully."


"Talk? Why should I talk to you? You and your little 'pets' mean nothing to me."
Gustav tried to put every ounce of disgust he had into pets. It was a lot.


"Maybe, but the subject matter of our conversation will interest you a great deal. "


"Really. And what could you possibly want to talk about that I would be interested enough in to prevent me from siccing Thunder after your scrawny butt?"


"I'm helping a cat try to find his friend…"


"A cat!", if possible Gustav managed to put even more disgust into cat than he had into pets, "Why on earth would I care about helping some flea bitten little furball?!"


"Because he might be a victim of a catnapping and animal trafficking." 
 Gustav froze with his mouth partially open. He close his mouth, licked his lips and looked around at the others surrounding him. They were all looking back at him with a mixture of anxiety and sadness.


Finally he lowered his body to the ground, stretched his paws out in front of him and held his head up.


"Let's talk"


**********


Watson was on his hind feet with his front paws on the side of the house trying to push his nose as close to the open window as possible.


"Interesting."


"Whats interesting?" asked Harley, trotting over to see what Watson had discovered.


"Sniff and tell me what you smell."


Harley put his nose to the ground and sniffed everything he could find. He circled under the window several times, occasionally looking around as if he expected to something to suddenly appear.
"Fear."


"And why is that odd?"


Harley sniffed.


He continued to sniff and began to work his way away from the house towards the yard.


"Oh, because if he was running away he wouldn't give off fear, but would be anxious or nervous."


"Right."


"So he was stolen!"


"Slow down, all it tells us is that he didn't runaway.


Harley sniffed again.


"There's else some interesting here."


He began weaving back and forth across the yard, trying to pick up the scent again. Occasionally he would look around as if expecting something to suddenly appear.
 Suddenly he froze and looked up at Watson.


"Dog!"
 


**********


"Is there any kind of pattern?"


"Not really. They are taking all types of dogs from pure breed to mutt, cats, rabbits, hamsters and even a parrot. The only anomaly seems to be age. Older animals aren't being taken."
 "So all young animals."


"Yep." replied Zena. She sat on the floor and looked around at everyone. The only missing members of the group were Timothy and Maggie who were assisting Malcom with the search for Peri.


Everyone had returned home and gathered to share what information they had gathered. No one looked particularly happy.


Sam paced around in circles. He went over to the water bowl, got a drink and water, and with his beard still wet sat down and looked at Watson.


"What did you guys learn at Peri and Chester's house?"


"There was a lot of fear scent all over the place under the window and even some up the wall. Almost like he was trying to climb back in."


"Fear scent would be expected in a kidnapping" replied Zena, "Even up the wall. He was probably trying to get away."


"That was my original theory, but he wasn't kidnapped. We followed the fear scent away from the window and across the yard to a tall oak tree. He apparently climbed the tree to escape a dog."


"Wait," interrupted Sam, "What do you mean escape a dog?"


"There was a dog scent that overlapped the trail we followed out to the woods, but it doesn't look like the dog was actually chasing him."


"Wouldn't the dog cause the fear even if he ran away?", Sam asked.


"The dog scent seemed to weave back and forth across Peri's. It appears the dog followed the scent to the tree, circled a few times and finally gave up."


"Did you find any place where Peri came down?" Zena asked.


Watson waited and after a few seconds nudged Harley gently with his nose.


"Oh right! Yea!" Harley exclaimed realizing it was his turn to share information, "This was my idea! The branches in the trees are thick and look fairly sturdy. There are a lot of them close together and I think Peri, realizing there was a dog below, must have used the branches to travel without coming out of the tree."


Tim suddenly appeared in the window out of breath, "Malcom's patrols found Peri!", he shouted, "He's about 2 miles away in a little culvert. They said he looks okay but appears to be scared out of his mind. Not that I blame his with all those birds circling overhead."


"It's farther than I thought he would be but if he used the branches like Harley suggested it would be possible." replied Sam as he stood up and began pacing in circles.


"Farther than you thought? You know something we don't?" Timothy asked as he leapt down from the window and sat facing Sam.


"I think have a fairly good idea of what happened, and I believe I know how."
 
 


© 2010 - 2011, anthony. All rights reserved.

_TarryAna stood staring through the window. The most adorable little puppy stared back at her.  He had jumped up and placed his front paws on the glass and gazed at her with his floppy pink tongue hanging out the side of his mouth.

She grabbed the strap of her shoulder bag, yanked it farther up her shoulder and marched into the store.  She asked a few simple questions about the dog, basic things like what does he eat, how old he was, when his last airplane checkup had been performed.

Once satisfied, she handed over the 2 sacks of gold and Spear of Asagoul as payment, grabbed the bag of squeaky toys, took the leash from the cashier and strolled happily out the door with a shaggy, bouncy brown and white dog in tow.

_TarryAna stared through the car windshield at the dark ominous clouds that were forming ahead. She had known it was going to rain and yet had stubbornly left her umbrella at home, determined not to be a slave to the weather.

"How's that working for you?", she muttered to herself.

She glanced quickly into the back seat at the paper grocery bags, hoping she could make it home before it started to pour.

Maybe she would call John and have him meet her at a restaurant where they could pass away the time while the storm passed.

_TarryAna stood and stared out the window, refusing to look at the mound of groceries piled on the table. As of yet she hadn't decided what exactly she was going to do about the fact that her roommate John has just spent their entire budget on milk, eggs and bread.

She could see the bags reflected in the glass. They hadn't managed to disappear despite her fevered attempts to wish them away.

"Seriously? You bought 5 gallons of milk and 3 loaves of bread and how many dozen eggs?"

"6."

"6! What were you thinking?"

"Well," replied John as he whimpered, "It's what you do when there is a snow storm"

"It makes no sense. What are we going to do with all that food."

"But," John whimpered again (why did she find that cute?), "It's what people do!"

Despite her best efforts to stay mad she smiled and walked over to the distraught John, wrapping him with her arms and planing a giant kiss on his cheek.

"We'll just eat lots of french toast," she said smiling as she leaned back and looked into his eyes.

"Forgive me?"

"Of course! Help me crack the eggs?"

Wally returned to his chair, feeling much relieved from his trip to the bathroom, wondering if he would ever get used to not leaving the computer for hours at a time.

As he glanced at his screen he noticed that the tavern was empty save his avatar _TarryAna who was sitting partly slumped in a chair as if sleeping.

"Bastards left without me!"

Quickly grabbing his mouse he tapped the spacebar to unpause the game, causing _TarryAna to quickly jump up and draw her sword on the screen. The fact that she had been sitting when he arrived but standing when he had paused the game registered for a split second before he issued a quick flurry of commands on the keyboard, causing the elfin avatar to charge out the tavern door uttering a gutteral battle cry.

He suddenly had an odd craving for french toast.

© 2010 - 2011, anthony. All rights reserved.

Wife edited and approved. Hope you have as much fun reading as I did writing. Comments (even critical) encouraged!

Timothy lay curled up in the big bay window, his orange and white tail hanging casually off the edge, swishing lazily back and forth while he ignored the seagull circling overhead.

When the gull landed on the railing outside the window he gave a big sigh but refused to otherwise move.

"Hey youse guys," shouted the gull.

'Seriously? A Boston accent?" replied Tim lifting his head.

"Hey, I'm a gull from Bawston, whadda want?"

"Charlie, you live down the street, eat out of our trash and have visited Boston once."

Tim put his head back down, hoping the gull would take the hint.

He didn't.

"Believes what youse want cat. Anyways, I gotta case for youse guys."

Tim heaved another sigh, gave up on napping, stood up and stretched.

"Okay fine. Whats the case?"

"This mook down the street was telling me his roommate got cat snatched yesterday. He's afraid it might be part of that there theft ring that's going around. He asked me for help and of course I suggest he hire the Pack."

Tim sat and started at the gull. He squinted his eyes. He swished his tail.

"Theft ring?"

"Yea, there's been a bunch of these animal thefts in da neighborhood lately. Dogs, cats, even a couple rabbits."

Tim swished his tail some more.

"I assume you mentioned our rates?"

"Forgetaboutit. He can't cover, I will. You know I'm good forit."

"Right, " Tim stared some more, "Bring your mook by this afternoon, I'll let Sam know to expect you."

"Fantastic."

"And Charlie? Lose the accent."

**********

Sam sat on the blanket on the floor facing the others with a small grey cat sitting nervously beside him. In front sat 3 other dogs and 3 cats including Tim. Sam had his black and grey tail curled up against his back while he waited for the others to settle down.

"Let me introduce everyone. The black and white cat is Maggie, the two orange tabbies are Timothy and Sebastian, the white Schnoodle dog is Zena, the black and tan Terrier that can't stay still is Harley, and the black and grey Schnoodle is Watson. Everyone, this is Chester. He was brought to us by Charlie."

The little grey cat nodded to each animal as they were introduce. Each dog bowed their head when their name was called, the cats merely swished their tail.

"According to Chester here, there have been several cats and dogs taken from their homes in the area over the last few days. Yesterday his housemate Peri, who is a small grey Burmese like himself disappeared. Chester is afraid Peri was taken by the thieves. All he knows is that Peri jumped into a window late in the afternoon, a window with a locked screen, and when Chester return from the litter box Peri was gone and the screen was missing."

"Any information on this supposed rash of thefts?" asked Watson.

"It's not 'supposed' replied Chester, I heard from Lula next door that the dog across the street was taken!"

"Relax Chester, I'm not doubting you. We take everything as conditional until proven. " Watson shifted slightly on the floor, "It helps if we don't go into things with our minds already set on catnapping. Might miss something."

Chester nodded. He was still nervous being surrounded by so many dogs. Charlie hadn't mentioned there would be so many. He licked his paw to help calm himself and tried to relax a bit. It didn't work.

"Bastion, can you escort Chester and make sure he gets home safely?"

"Certaintly." Sebastian replied as he stood up and stretched, "Come on kid."

Sam nuzzled Chester with his nose gently to encourage him along.

"You'll be safe with Sebastian, he might not look like much but he can be tough when he needs to."

Sebastian glanced at Sam, flicked his tail twice and headed out the door, Chester followed gingerly behind. After they had left the room Sam stood up and began to pace.

"Something bothering you?" asked Zena

"Yes. I've heard rumors about the rash of kidnappings recently, but this doesn't feel like one and it's bugging me as to why."

Zena stretched out on the floor as Harley twitched around in a circle.

"You thinking this wasn't a catnapping but a run away?" asked Harley

"It had occurred to me, but there is still too much we don't know. You and Watson investigate Chesters house, focus on the outside for now. See if you can find any evidence or clues that will give us a direction. Zena, you canvas the neighborhood. Talk to any dogs or cats or anything else that will talk to you about the thefts and see what you can find."

"What shall Timothy and I do?" asked Maggie.

"I need you two to go talk to Malcom. See if he can arrange some aerial surveillance of the area. Maybe they can spot Peri or some kind of trail"

"And what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to try to talk to Gustav. If there is kind of animal trafficking going on he will at least have heard about it."

© 2010 - 2011, anthony. All rights reserved.

Southern Nardinia (formerly the British Isles):

Commander Julien wasn't happy. He stomped around the room changing the scenes on the monitor wall seemingly at random, throwing switches and jabbing buttons like he was mad at them. Only it wasn't the buttons he was mad at. And at nearly 2 meters tall, he was not an elf you wanted mad at you. Trust me, I'd been here before.

"Are you completely insane? This room monitors every square kilometer of Nardinia and there is nothing on the long range sensors to even remotely indicating that that the humans are mobilizing after 30 years, and I trust these systems far, far more that I trust you or your brother."

"Sir, I realize that what Nash is saying sounds outrageous, but I've known him all his life and I've found him to be right time and time again."

"Regardless Tamarind -"

"Tanaka sir" I muttered meekly.

"Tanaka. Regardless Tanaka, it will take much more than the 'feelings' of your nephew-"

"Brother."

"- brother. Please don't interrupt me again. I need actual evidence if I am to go to the council and suggest we evacuate based on the 'feelings' of your brother."

Suddenly a scream came from the corner of the room. I glanced over at Nash, my baby brother, just as his eyes rolled up into his head as he collapsed.

"No! Must leave now! Must leave now! All Die! ALL DIE!" screamed Nash as he began writhing in what looked like pain, "MUST LEAVE! ALL DIE!"

"Get him out of here! Now!" the Commander shouted, turning his face turned an interested shade of purple

"Yes sir. Sorry sir. He just gets like that sometimes."

How embarrassing.

"You might want to consider having him committed. Also consider what might happen if either of you go spreading these rumors around. Last thing we need is to have everyone panicing over the ravings of -"

"Yes sir, I understand. Thank you for seeing us Commander. Come on Nash!"

I heaved him off the floor and walked out of the room, carrying him as best I could.

"We tried Nash. That's the best we could have hoped for."

"Tanaka? It is Tanaka right?"

There was a rather large elf standing before us. It didn't bode well after the events in the Commanders office.

"Yes, " I replied, "and you're Vegas if I remember correctly. You're part of the FSDF."

"Yeah, Special Ops," replied Vegas somewhat absently, "Listen, did he really mean what he said about the humans destroying everything?"

"You really shouldn't get involved sir. It will just cause you trouble."

"Yes, I can imagine that it would. Truth be told however I think I actually believe him."

You could have knocked me over with a feather. Here was a high ranking officer in the Security Defense Force telling me he believed my brother's ramblings. I'll admit, I was more than a little skeptical. I figured he was trying to get us to say something that could be considered treasonous so he could arrest us. Needless to say what came out of his mouth was something I was not ready for.

" To tell you the truth, I'm not the only one. See some of us on the Long Range Patrols have been seeing evidence that the humans are trying to retake Nardinia. We report it and it gets buried so no one else hears of it. "

I simply stared.

"Wha… what kind of evidence?"

"Small stuff, like things disappearing, noises and sightings."

"You've seen humans in Nardinia!"

"Not humans but… things. Things that weren't there that day or the night before. Look, I can get you in to see the council and give you some evidence of human trespassing for you to use, but you have to keep my name out of it."

"No problem there," i managed to mutter.

"And if you decide to leave, I can just about promise I can get 10 - 15 others to join us."

Us? Did he really just say us?

"Others?" I asked, totally confused now.

"Others in Ops that are disgruntled. Elves that have been given the rough and dangerous jobs and positions constantly over time and passed over for promotions. These are all good elves, they just don't like to play the political game other do and as a result aren't considered for decent positions."

I had no idea what to say.

"Thanks for the help. I will try not to let you down."

The council members sit high above the chambers floor. Each has their own seat on a tower that is probably 50 feet tall. I guess it gives them a feeling of superiority. There are supposed to be 4 council members, each an elected representative of each district, however the representative of my home district of Carta died a couple weeks ago and they haven't filled the position yet. Figures.

The inquiry, as they called it, had been going on for 2 days. We had said everything we knew twice and even brought some of the evidence Vegas had collected over the past few months. Of course his name was never mentioned.

"Tanaka. Step forward."

I did, staring up at the current Council President, convinced that he was going to simply exile Nash and myself from Nardinia. A prospect Nash relished, and one I didn't.

"This is a very serious situation before us. You and your brother are claiming that the humans are coming back to Nardinia after being forced out by us over 30 years ago. After reviewing the supposed evidence and listening to the testimony of you and your brother we have decided not to pursue the matter any further. And further more, you and your brother are never to speak of it. You will have noticed that there is no one in the Council Room, no witnesses and no spectators. No one who can substantiate what occured here. No one who will be whispering in the streets and refreshment houses about the 'Human Invasion'. When we leave this room, this matter will disappear. Any further discussion or rumor be grounds for immediate trial."

He banged the gavel, then they all got up and left.

Silence.

I should point out he actually used air quotes around human invasion.

I walked out of the Council chambers with my eyes glazed over. Stunned was the only word for it. Not only were they going to ignore everything we has said but they were going to pretend it never happened and we were to never mention anything that had happened.

I glanced over to Vegas, waited for him to see me and held his gaze.

"Gather your people, " I said quietly when I walked up to him, "We leave tonight."

© 2010 - 2011, anthony. All rights reserved.

Yea, right.

This is also an experiment.  I'm decent at description but wanted to try doing something in pure dialog to see if I could carry a story that way.

Anyway here is my September 18th #fridayflash. Please comment below!

"If you'll step this way please I'd like to show you our latest product innovations.

This is the latest in the Gilboa line of housing units.  It features a separate sleeping hut and designated toilet areas.  It also has an insert for when you have to add or remove items from the unit.  You can isolate even the most aggressive pet without harming them. It's made of 20 gauge Stelanium and comes in a variety of sizes, ranging from the standard 2 metes tall by 3 metes wide  and 2 metes deep to the luxury size of 2 by 6 by 4 and the brand new family size of 2 by 10 by 10.  And best of all it has a new external access feeding facility so that you never have to open the cage!

Over here we have the newest Gath unit that comes completely covered in a TransparaStelanium dome.  It also comes in the Standard, Luxury and Family sizes with diameters of  3, 8 and 12 metes respectively.  The Luxury and Family sizes also come with a second access port that can be connected, via tubing, to additional units providing unlimited mix and match possibilities!

On those occasions when you have to dispose of a body because it has died or you accidentally allowed them to breed and now have too many, we now carry an extensive line of trap and removal devices designed specifically for that purpose."

"What about instead of treating them like animals we treat them like living beings and let them alone?  Let them live in the wild rather than capture and cage the for our amusement?"

"Is that you Eliana?  Must you bring this up yet again?  We've gone over this a hundred times, they aren't like us, they ARE animals.  Keeping them like this is probably better for them than if they were in the wild."

"They are living creatures capable of intelligence and love and compassion.  They have a soul and we have no right to treat them like this!"

"Come now Eliana. There is no evidence of that.  There is no proof what-so-ever that they have a soul of any kind.  They don't even feel pain!

After all, they are only Human."

© 2009, anthony. All rights reserved.