"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.

“What were you trying to do?”

“I was trying to capture Santa!”

Phineas did a double take at Harley. Being fourteen inches tall and twenty seven inches long might be average for a Dawg of his breed but it didn't’ allow much room for a grin the size of the one he was currently wearing.

“Why.”

“Because I want my pressies.”

“What does that have to do with capturing Santa,” asked Phineas as he sat on a stool and looked around for the plate of cookies he had brought down.

“You have to capture Santa so he will give you presents. That’s how it works.” Harley, realizing something wasn’t right cocked his head and looked at Phineas who was eating a cookie, “Isn’t it?”

“Um, no. You don’t have to capture Santa for him to give you presents. He brings them to all the good little boys and girls."

"And dawgs," Phineas quickly added, "He leaves them for you under the tree. No capturing involved.”

“Are you sure?” Harley asked narrowing his eyes and staring at the metal construct designed to hold Santa.

“Yes I’m sure you nut job.”

Harley looked crestfallen.

“Well he must have some really cool technology,” he announced cheering up and dancing around the room.

“I’m sorry?”

“How else would he be able to travel around the entire planet in a single night delivering toys to all the good little dawgs everywhere?”

Harley babbled as he dashed around the room twisting dials and flipping switches. The Santa Trap was fairly new and had never been tested until today, but it was based on a previous design so he was confident this would work.

Granted the previous design had blown up rather fantastically. He cast glances over at the large metal object sitting in the middle of the room. It easily stood six feet tall, was shaped vaguely like a bullet and had any number of wires and hoses coming out and going in.

To this day Phineas was unable to figure out how a Dawg as small as Harley was able to build something so large. It didn’t seem physically possible since he was only twice his current height even when he stood on his hind legs.

Apparently Harley ignored the laws of physical possibilities. At least it the the only explanation he could come up with.

“He must to have a quantum deluxe time dilator or flux capacitor.”

“A what or a what?”

“Or maybe he’s dimensionally transcendental.”

“What the heck does that mean?”

Harley stopped fiddling with the screen he was adjusting and looked over at Phineas, “No idea but it sounds cool,” He said as he smiled.

They both jumped when the banging started. It had been a quiet knocking at first, and thinking back Phineas realized it had been there a while, he had assumed it was simply part of the machinery. The sudden increase in volume and intensity dispelled that illusion.

“When you guys are done chatting would someone please let me out of here?"

Harley flinched.

Phineas simply stared.

“Who exactly did you catch?”

“I… I’m not sure.”

“You said this was designed to catch Santa.”

“Well yes, but that doesn’t mean someone else can’t accidentally get caught.”

“Someone else did get caught,” came the voice from the metal container.

Phineas crept over to where Harley sat on the desk, “Dude, you caught the captain.”

Harley’s eyes widened. He stood, jumped off the desk and began to trot quickly towards the door.

“Where are you going, are you actually running away?”

“I prefer to call it a strategic retreat.”

Phineas walked over the the capsule and began trying to pry open the capsule doors, “Get over here and help me get the captain out of here.”

“Are you insane? He’s going to kill you if you let him out.”

“No he won’t, he knows who is responsible for this. You’re the one he’s going to kill.”

“Me?!”

“Who else on this ship comes up with these kinds of schemes.”

“Seriously, you’re just going to throw me under the bus like that?”

“You two are aware of the fact I can hear you right?” came the muffled voice again.

Harley blanched. Which for a black and brown haired Dawg was an impressive feat.

Harley trotted back over this his chair and worked his way back onto the table. After a moments hesitation he flipped a switch and pressed a couple buttons causing the metal monstrosity to shiver. As it the door opened as the ships captain slowly stepped out.

“Heh. Sorry captain.”

“Harley, what. Are. You. Doing?” asked the rather annoyed Captain Remarkable.

Harley froze, his ears erect and swiveling back and form, searching, “I hear something!”

Phineas and the Captain turned to look towards the door.

Outside there was a sound. A faint, quiet little sound that echoed through out the entire ship. A sound that slowly grew slightly louder. It sound, at first, like a hard rain when it fell against the hull of the ship. As it grew it changed. Now it began to sound like bells. Hundreds of small metal bells. The kind one might find on a sleigh.

Phineas turned to look at the captain, a look of disbelief on his face,”Santa?”

Harley grinned, “Santa!”

© 2011, anthony. All rights reserved.

We lost 8 of our own and only managed, through shear luck, to capture 1 of them. None of the Asgard fell. From the tiny bits of information we were able to extract from our prisoner they not only have the forcefield that I encountered, they have also developed a device that allows them to teleport as well as anti-matter bombs. The latter we think was used in the North End.

It means they can strike anywhere at will and completely devastate everything.

It also means they can kill hundreds, maybe even thousands of people in the blink of an eye. Initial estimates put the loses in North End around 900. We will never know for sure because there are no bodies to count.

Some of the analysts now believe that the bank heists and other robberies were designed to acquire funds to develop this technology. Someone on their side has to have an extremely high IQ. This is tech that's been dreamed of for years but no one else has been able to even come close to these kind of devices. They managed to do it in a little under two years.

The other thing we've learned is that their headquarters is located in Quebec. They are using one of the older northern castles as a base of operations.

I have no idea why Quebec would aid and abet these people but ever since they gained their sovereignty the government up there has gone out of it's way to piss off Canada and the US. What better way to do that then to provide asylum to our biggest threat.

After the debriefing we met with the leaders of the military arm of the project to discuss the next move. After some debate it's been decided that we will take the fight to them, we are to air drop into their home base and let the government deal with the consequences of what will be consider an invasion into Quebec territory.

Drop from twenty thousand feet without a parachute isn't for the weak of heart. It took me several months to get up the nerve. And like the joke says, it's not the fall that kills you but the sudden stop at the end. 3 of us have telekinetic abilities and we use them at the last second to slow everyone’s decent at the last second. We agreed earlier not to bring us to a complete stop but to land heavily in the stone courtyard of the castle. A bit reminiscent of the scene in SuckerPunch and maybe a little cliche but it was cool. Considering the castle looks a bit like the one in the movie it was all the more surreal.

I sent one group to work their way around the right side of the castle and another to the left. Myself and the rest walked straight through the front door like we owned the place.

We searched for hours. Not that the castle was very large, but we looked for hidden doorways, secret passages, or hidden rooms. Anything to explain why the building was completely deserted. Sad to think our show in the courtyard went unseen.

Everyone finally mets together in what appears to be the throne room. Along one wall, opposite where I imagine the throne would be, but where now sits a large orange sectional sofa, are four large televisions mounted on the wall.

We are all milling around the room trying to decide what to do next, the military attachment is actually looking a bit relieved, when the hissing starts. Our first reaction is panic, that we walked into a trap and that an anti-matter bomb is about to go off. Funny how we didn't think of that before hand. Only when the tv's flash to life and we are all staring at the face of what has to be the ugliest man alive do we realize that it was indeed a trap but that we aren't going to die just yet.

"Interesting. More of you survived then I expected" says the voice from the televisions, "I'm slightly impressed. Not that it matters."

I step forward and address the screens.

"You are the one they call Exodus I presume?"

"You presume correctly. And you are the son. Father would be proud."

"You do not get to call him 'father'."

Exodus laughs and waves his hand, dismissing my comment.

"Spare me the theatrics. He was the creator of all of us. He created the serum and the process that gave us our powers, that made us more than human. He was our Genesis and I carry on fulfilling my interpretation of his vision, which is why I call myself 'Exodus'. But I don't want to upset you little one, so I shall refrain from using the term again."

"What do you want? I presume there is a reason we are here and you are talking to us?"

"Yes, there is a reason. I want you to run home and tell your president and military leaders I have a proposal for them."

"And what might that proposal be?"

"That is for them to know little one."

"You can't really expect me to tell them you want to talk and not give them a reason why?"

"Tell them I wish to make a deal."

I almost fall over laughing. After all this he really thinks they are going to negotiate with a terrorist.

"What deal?" I ask when I finally catch my breath.

"We want immunity and governmental support to sell the Ichabod drug to anyone that can afford it. Tell them that if they don't agree we will destroy a city every hour until they do and the clock starts in five hours.", Exodus leaned forward into the screen, "And you know we have the ability to do just that. Now run along."

© 2011, anthony. All rights reserved.

It's amazing what passes through your mind sometimes. As I sit on my knees feeling the pain of my dislocated right shoulder and broken forearm I remember the last time I felt pain like this. The day I went through the transformation process.

It hurts. They didn't know that at first, though in hindsight it should have been obvious. The first test subject died from the pain before they figured it out. The second went mad before they were able to get the pain and anesthesia levels right. Even then you feel it and it's still the worse pain you've ever felt in your life. The process causes your bones to re-knit themselves so that they become stronger. Your muscles are restructured as millions of new fibers are created and your skin is reworked so that it's denser and virtually impenetrable. In essence every cell in your body is transformed. In minutes.

All this passes through my mind in an instant. Even now the memory is still enough to make me catch my breath. Which the titan of a man in front of me apparently took as a sign of pain or weakness because he started laughing. Frankly it's rather annoying.

I raise my head and look at titan boy. He's at least 8 feet tall and built like a young Arnold Schwarzenegger. I have no way of knowing if was like that before or if the process did this to him. Either way, he's big. The process is also what gives us our powers. Every person is different so we never know what we will end up with. Some powers are, for lack of a better way of saying it, useless. Having the ability to grow plants well doesn't really help. Powers can range anywhere from telekinesis to super speed, although not on the level of the Flash, to a super genius. And everything in between. I was gifted with telekinesis. A rather strong form of it too. Where as most have trouble moving anything larger than a mid-sized SUV, I can bring down buildings. I've mentioned that the process reengineers every cell and makes us stronger and our skin denser. Anything short of an armor piercing shell will basically bounce off. It hurts like hell, but only for a second. It's the equivalent of being smacked with a ruler for normals.

With that said, physics is still physics. If I hit him with something big enough, and with enough momentum, it won't stop him, but might put him down long enough to get away. Instinctively I reach out and grab whats left of the side of a 7 story building behind me. He sees the wall start to shake, places his hands on his hips and starts laughing even louder. Not exactly the response I expected but he's starting to piss me off so I don't bother restraining myself and fling it at him with everything I've got.

The impact is tremendous, I feel it from where I'm sitting several hundred yards away. It's enough that a couple unstable structures near us start to collapse and fall into themselves in response. I head the crackling and tinkling of small stones falling back to earth after the impact sent them skyward. I struggle to stand, when a tremor shakes the area and knocks me back on my ass. Trouble is it doesn't feel like a normal tremor, nor does it come at the right time. There was too much time after the impact for the two to be related.

That's when I realize the cracking sounds I heard earlier weren't stones. Now that the dust has settled I see him kneeling on the ground with his left fist on the ground. He has caused the tremor by pounding the earth. And he has a forcefield surrounding him. That's new.

He grins and picks up the burnt out remains of a car next to him and heaves it at me. Can't dodge with my arm and shoulder so I push myself up and over using my gift, somersaulting badly over the car. I land wrong causing pain to flair in my shoulder and wrench my ankle. No damage is done but it puts me off balance long enough for him to uproot a light pole and swing at me. I can't recover in time and the impact throws me across the street. When I land the impact shatters my headset, however my only thoughts are that I'm glad he doesn't play for the Yankees and that he's left handed.

He launches himself into the air directly at me. It's one hell of a leap, but based on the display so far nothing for someone with his strength. As he's in the air I realize where we are and using my power grab him in mid air and slam him into a concrete building in the center of the street. It's the building where the Red Line goes back underground so I put everything I have into forcing him as far down as I can and piling debris on top.

It won't hold him forever but should long enough for me to get away.

I go north, planning to cross over the Charles at the museum heading for the Garden where our HQ is set up. They need to know that the game has changed.

© 2011, anthony. All rights reserved.

We buried my father today. A man considered by many as the brightest mind that ever lived. Others called him the harbinger of doom. Apparently that's the way it works with men who are super geniuses. If his death had been natural I might not hate the sunshine and cool breezes blowing around me as I stand here on the balcony overlooking the graveyard where his body now lies.

My girlfriend is with me and has been trying to console me all afternoon. Unfortunately this is one of those situations where unless you've experienced it, you can't even begin to understand what it's like. She kept reminding me that her father was killed when she was 12, and while that is true, her father wasn't killed by a terrorist organization that was created specifically to destroy his work. She can't understand that because of his work in genetics and biology, and because of the powers he gave me and others like me, he was targeted from the beginning.

I don't blame her. I can't. Of the 10 billion people living on this planet and the moon only 15, the ones dad chose for the Ichabod project, would even begin to have an idea of what it felt like. Of those, only five had a parent in the project. Then of course only I was lucky enough to have the man that started it all, the man that discovered how to give ordinary people what amounted to super powers, as a father.

Right now she is in the other room trying to absorb everything I told her. In this case I can imagine what she is going through. I went through something similar 5 years ago when dad told me all about the Ichabod idea. He told me about how he had worked out how to alter a persons physiology and biochemistry to give them super human abilities.

He had gotten FDA approval to begin testing on humans, and wanted to know if I would be willing to be part of the trials.

That's when everything went to hell. A group calling themselves 'The Asgard' broke into the lab in Boston, stole all the serum and notes and research and blew up the lab. Injuring my dad in the process. They began to experiment on themselves. No one is sure where their scientist came from, or if they even had one, but suddenly they began to acquire abilities that were unstable and dangerous. Well, more dangerous. Especially in their hands.

Dad went into self-imposed exile to recover from his injuries. The worst of which was a shattered spine which left him unable to walk. 'Very Professor X' I always said, teasing him about it. At least it made him smile.

When he recovered to the point he could work again he dedicated himself to developing a serum that would counter the original drug, holding himself responsible for all the death and damaged caused by Asgard.

Then a year ago they changed course. Some said that the leadership within Asgard changed, that there had been a coup of some kind and that was why the change of philosophy. Others said it was because they had found out about dad's little fail safe. That those given the treatment became sterile and could not produce offspring. He had said it was to prevent the powers from getting out of control and evolving into god knew what.

Either way they went from committing crimes like theft and extortion to terrorizing the general population. I'm convinced that they did it intentionally, knowing dad would do something and it would bring him out of exile.

And they were right. He came out of seclusion and, with the help of the government, formed the super-human group he dubbed 'League'. He kind of named it after the 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen', but also, as a private joke, because the training part of the program would be called 'The Minors'. He did love his baseball.

Because I was his son I was recruited to join. Training was brutal. Not only did we get training in using our powers but we went through the standard Marine basic training. Only it was accelerated because no one felt we had a lot of time to figure it out.

We held our own the first time we face Asgard. No one died and no one got seriously injured. However in retaliation they attacked and leveled Atlanta. Sherman would have been proud, and probably a little embarrassed. That was six months ago. They are still searching for missing people. They announced a couple weeks ago that they were targeting Boston next since that was where it all began and where League had setup it's headquarters.

When the announcement hit the news dad jumped on a plane from LA, where he had been working to setup a west coast division, and headed back to Boston. They attacked his plane somewhere over Kansas and brought it down. They pulled my father from the plane, tortured him for fun then finished the job they started back when they first attacked the lab. I'm told he died quickly once they decided to kill him. Small consultation.

Steph came out after a couple hours and is standing next to me. We stay like that, neither of us talking for several minutes until the sirens starting going off, announcing Asgards arrival in Boston, and my signal that it was time to met the rest of the team.

I really wish it wasn't such a nice day.

© 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.

David sat on the couch. The television was on but he was reading the funnies from the newspaper while scratching behind Zena’s ears while she struggled to occupy as much of his lap a possible.

The noise served to distract him, as did reading the comics. His girlfriend has left him recently so he was trying to avoid thinking about anything as much as possible. She hadn’t broken up, just left. Moved to a different state.

She had come by, told him of her plans, hugged him, kissed him, said see you later and drove away. She didn’t ask him to come, and she didn’t tell him where she was going other than another state. It wasn’t that she avoided telling him, it just had somehow never come up.

As a result of his efforts everything was serving it’s purpose. The TV, AC, comics and Zena’s wiggling had kept him distracted for the better part of 10 minutes.

The piercing beep that started coming in from outside also distracted him. But it mostly distracted him from his distractions. Annoyed he grabbed the remote and punched the button to increase the volume.

In defiance the beeping increased it’s volume as well.

Grumpily David forced himself off the couch and went over to the window and closed it. The AC had been on for the noise, and he casually reached over and turn the fan up louder.

He stood there staring out the window in utter disbelief. In front of him was a truck. A big red rig with a flatbed. The truck itself wasn’t unusual, but the fact that it was in his driveway and backing up was.

He made his way down the hall to the back door trying to figure out what could possibly be happening.  He quickly thought of everything he might have ordered over the last couple of months, none of which seemed to require a truck this size to be delivered. He hadn’t ordered a hot tub or swimming pool or a new anything really.

David walked out the door with his head down deep in thought and barely saw Zena dash past him and leap down the porch steps, missing them all. At the bottom of the stairs he turned left to look at the truck, raised his head and stopped dead in his tracks.

There, in the reflection of the side mirror he saw the driver. Or what should have been the driver. Instead a gold face with two black spots in the area where the eyes should be, and a black strip running down the center of the face stared back. Carefully he turned his head and, for the first time, saw the figure on the back of the flatbed standing near what appeared to be a giant gold and black rectangle.

The figure had the same black and gold face, as well as a golden body with black accents in various places. The thing that most drew his attention was the what the figure was wearing: golden bandages wrapped around his body like a mummy.

David continued turning his head and saw yet another figure. This one was practically identical to the second except he was standing in Davids vegetable garden. Or more correctly it was straddling the fence that cordoned off the garden from the rest of the yard.

“Excuse me,” said David finally, “what exactly is going on?”

“Gnuh.” replied the figure straddling the garden fence.

“What? What did you say?”

“Gnuuh!”

“Look, I can’t understand a word you are saying but could you please get out of my garden?”

“Gar. Den.”

“Yes, garden. The thing your almost standing in. What are you? You look kind of like a mummy but your not human. Robot maybe?”

“Gnuh.” replied the garden mummy as he pointed to the box on the trailer.

“Gnuh,” he said again as he pointed to the garden.

“You want to put that thing in my garden?”

The garden mummy nodded.

“No chance! Thats’ my vegetable garden!”

“FFFoooood.” replied the garden mummy.

“Food. Yes, that is food.”

Suddenly the mummy on the trailer leaped to the ground which a huge thud. David jumped and stepped back as it walked over to the garden mummy and stood in front of it. It began emitting beeps and whistles and flashed some kind of light for a few seconds then turned to David.

“We are Cybex.”

“Cybex? What is that, some kind of nationality?”

“We are Cybex. We are not from this planet.“

‚ÄúWait… what? Aliens? From another planet?‚Äù

The second mummy nodded.

‚ÄúAliens from another world that look like robot mummies? Aliens from another world that look like robot mummies standing in my vegetable garden? Aliens from another world that look like robot mummies standing in my vegetable garden trying to bury a giant box? Wait, wait wait…‚Äù

“Sarcophagus.”

“What?”

“Sarcophagus.”

“What?”

“Aliens from another world that look like robot mummies standing in your vegetable garden trying to bury a sarcophagus.”

‚ÄúThat‚Äôs a… your trying to bury a sarcophagus? In my garden? Why?‚Äù

“Food.”

“Food? That’s your food? Your storing your food in a sarcophagus?”

David put his hands to his head and covered his eyes and shook his head and sat down. Meeting aliens would have been bad enough on it’s own, but meeting aliens named Cybex who were trying to bury a sarcophagus in his garden was a bit much. He had just had breakfast, it was too early for complicated thoughts.

Slowly he stood, took a deep breath, wasn’t too sure he enjoyed it and let it back out rapidly through his mouth. He glanced at each of the three mummies in turnt.

Okay. First things first, how can you speak english?”

“Assimilated from listening to you speak”

“Okay. Second question, why are you trying to bury a sarcophagus in my garden filled with your food?”

“Not our food.”

“Huh? You said it was food.”

“Yes, food for the plants.”

‚ÄúFor the… you mean like fertilizer?‚Äù

“Fertilizer. Yes, it is fertilizer.”

“Okay, fertilizer. But why my garden?”

“It was there.”

David stared with his mouth slightly open. Shocked. Or surprised. Either worked.

“Let me get the straight. You, a bunch of aliens from another planet, want to bury a sarcophagus full of plant fertilizer in my vegetable garden, just because it’s there?”

“Yes.”

David stared again. He thought about all the possible options. One, let them. Two, don’t let them. That pretty much exhausted all the options he could think of at the moment.

He glanced between the mummies in the garden and the sarcophagus on the trailer and back again.

Then repeated it several times while rubbing his chin with his right hand.

Then repeated it several more times without rubbing his chin.

He stopped glancing and looked straight at the second mummy he had seen, the one that had done most of the talking and said:

“Okay”.

© 2009, anthony. All rights reserved.