The two scavengers were dressed in rag type clothing. Bits and pieces of shirts, pants and coats were sewn together with hemp string. Both had scraggly red beards and long black hair. They were armed but the weapons were single shot Thermofire antiques.
Crude weapons but powerful and very deadly hand guns. The guns were tucked in vest holsters made of Roian scalps. Tokey walked out about 15 yards to meet them. Tokey introduced himself and said,"We are not of Cain City or the Roians...we are here only to rest and leave....we hate the Roians as you do....we wish peace with you.
The scavengers introduced themselves, as Goath and Vikan. Goath pointed at the Starbird and asked."What is this ship....never have I seen such a thing?" Tokey explained about the Starbird as best as he could and invited Goath and Vikan to have some black leaf wine with them. Tokey introduced the crew and asked the scavengers if they knew why Seloria thought the land was sacred?
Vikan spoke,"This is the sign land....signs written in the fields of grass....they are north of this place." Goath added,"The Roians battled with us a time ago and destroyed a sign....our council sent a message to the city of Londes...those of the city informed one called Jevis...this Jevis had the Roian soldiers who battled with us, executed over the charred land of the sign.
Maren asked,"What do the signs mean...what do they say?" Vikan answered,"The signs appear over night...we copy them to a sacred book...the signs only stay for a day or so....the one called Jevis has made peace with us as long as we protect the signs." Deece asked,"Why didn't the Roians just destroy you and protect the signs themselves?"
Goath and Vikan both laughed as Goath said,"They could not destroy us...we hid in the ground holes and attacked them with sacrifice and trap!" T Bar asked,"What the hell is sacrifice and trap?" Vikan grinned and said," We get them to follow a Wheel Worm and when they hover to kill....we stab the belly of their craft with Fire Knives, it aways kills the driver but the drivers are given great honor in the circle of warriors.
Goath had to explain that a Wheel Worm was a man driven low ground vehicle. It could only hover about three feet from the ground. It was 12 feet in diameter and the outer part looked like a snake biting it's tail. The inner part was seven spokes that centered to the cockpit which is similar to an air boat.
It was hydron steam driven and could travel at about 300 mph. The Worm Wheel is armed with 4 Fire Knife missiles that penetrate anything. T Bar asked if he could look at one of their personal weapons. Vikan handed T Bar his and said,"Be very careful with it...it fires by simply squeezing the handle very hard." T Bar looked it over and asked if he could shoot a distant boulder?"
Vikan said,"Yes and he along with Goath grinned." T Bar aimed and fired, it knocked him back about three steps as everyone laughed." T Bar shouted, "That was cool!" There was a 12 inch wide hole all the way through the boulder and rock was still melting around the hole.
T Bar noticed an inscription on the gun that read,"Eastwood 99" and asked about it." Goath explained that the creator of the weapon got the name from an old Cowboy poster he had and that the gun was a 99 caliber. T Bar had to have the gun and bartered with Vikan to get it. T Bar traded his side arm and an ivory handled hunting knife for the Eastwood 99 and 47 rounds.
Tokey spoke,"Could we see the sacred book...does anyone know what the missing sign was? Goath took his top clothing off, turned and told Tokey to behold the book. Goath had the signs tattooed on his back...there must have been a hundred. Most of the signs had spirals and triangles, a few had circles and wavy lines.
The missing sign was a blank spot at the bottom center of Goath's back. Tokey looked closely and said,"I am lost...I have no idea what these could be saying." Vikan spoke out,"One does not read the signs...one must feel the signs in the soul." Tokey got a quill pen from his pack and Maren volunteered to have them copied on her back. Tony stated that the signs looked familiar.
Tokey then told Goath and Vikan that it was time to leave. They said their goodbyes and the crew boarded the Starbird. Deece had just lifted up about a half mile when Dara shouted,"What the hell is that?" A contraption was rising from the floor. It was making a rattling noise and two reels were spinning. It looked like an old 8 mm projector.
The light in the lens began to flicker as everyone focused on the wall. Lakrin's face appeared, he grinned and said," Hello, I forgot to tell you that I have the remote for the Starbird." The ship began bobbing up and down while spinning as everyone yelled,"Stop it, stop dammit!" Lakrin stilled the ship, laughing he said," I just had to do that."
Lakrin went on saying,"I see that you have found the sign lands, good, the signs will lead you now." Tokey angrily shouted,"We don't have time for this damn game Lakrin...why can't you just tell us what we need to know."
Lakrin smiled and said,"I did...all you had to do was listen....I can not give you the key....you have the key already....you have the missing sign Tokey...you have always had the missing sign." Tokey with a frustrating moan said,"I am just tired Lakrin....this wears me so....my people have suffered so long and I want the truth known." Maren hugged Tokey with tears in her eyes.
Lakrin said,"I know Tokey...believe me, I know.....it is not a game....it is a gauntlet for the heart and you along with the others have been chosen to re-unite the earth as it was...the Grandfather makes no mistake in his choice of warriors....free will is your greatest advantage....free will is what Seloria most fears.....your task is war...your reward is freedom."
Deece spoke out,"We just want to get to it!" Lakrin said," I know you do....the time will come soon and in the midst of battle you shall all see the power of the Grandfather prevail through the least of you." Lakrin held up the remote, shook the Starbird up and down once....grinned and said,"Goodbye for now....I shall walk with you again soon Tokey."
As Lakrin's face faded from the wall and the strange projector sank into the floor, Tokey said,"This shit is driving me nuts...we have to decide what to do and where to go." Maren spoke up,"Maybe we should just fly a while and talk it over."
Tony looked at Maren's back and said,"Hey Toke, I just remembered where I've seen those type of markings before...they are on the walls of the temple ruins in the ancient sector 3135....they are near the city of Arriksa....a Roian legion is stationed there and the main dome is near the temple....I went there with my navigation class about three years ago...the markings had something to do with the dead."
Tokey spoke,"Well all, we have to go somewhere and it might as well be Arriksa.....kick it in the ass Deece....let's fly!" Tony keyed in the coordinates to head south.
T Bar asked,"What if we run into Roians?" Tokey grinned and said,"Then we blast though them." T Bar chuckled saying,"Ok dad." Maren brought everyone some buffalo jerky that Cristis had sent along....Dara poured wine for each. It seemed as if the crew's spirits were lifted by simply having somewhere to go.
