Author's notes: I had to use some unusual punctuation due to the
special communication heirin.  For clarity, {this} is thought,
specific to a certain character I won't spoil for you.  "{this}"
is thought spoken aloud while, {"this"} or {'this'} is thought
quotes.

   I haven't made up the story codes for most of what goes on
here, so for fair warning, this story contains explicit
posession, mind control, bestiality, and implicit homosexual
acts, rape, and "furry." Regardless, this is not a stroke story,
so it's not overflowing with blow by blow sexual action.  It is a
work in progress, so there will be many edits.  I'll take it out
of /New when it's finished to my satisfaction, and finalized.

   J\bok's Story

   I was flying one evening, looking for food, when the clear
sky split with thunder, and something flew over, too fast to make
out.  It arched down, and pulled up to hover on a tripod of fire.
 I brought up my binoculars, and spotted something like a tower,
or obelesk sinking down to the ground, and extinguishing.

   I hung my rifle by the strap, and came around cross wind.  The
canopy rippled above me in the changing current of air, and I
kept an eye on the telltales.  The balloon took in air, dipping
heavier, but pulling harder, so I pulled down to bring the
parafoil back into the wake.

   Several minutes away, I couldn't quite make it, and came down
short.  I took the time to roll up my canopies, whatever it was
wouldn't leave without me seeing it.

   I figured it was one of the artificial comets that where seen
to fly over, always far too high, and fast to make out.  Not
airplanes, but missiles, and
black arrow heads streaking for the stars.

   Clear blue overhead, I stashed my packs under the roots of
nearby baynyan, and walked toward where I figured the thing came
down. I left my rifle, but carried my knife.  I certainly
wouldn't be stopping to hunt, and my rifle was useless against
anything larger than a meal, or two.

   The sun set before I got there.  As I got close, it felt
warmer, and a breeze wafted at my back.  My hair straightened as
I realised that it was blowing me to it, and even circling around
didn't change that.  I could not
approach from downwind, as if by magic.  It towered unnaturaly
above the scrub, black, tapered, and upright.

   It seemed to shine darkness, or inhale the light from around
it.  I could barely make out that it was triangular, tapering up
to a pyramid on top, and standing on three bulbs on the sides.

   The air stilled, and I crept on hands, and knees, stalked it
like a leopard. There was someone around it, facing me, and
speaking.  "Kumonawt" he gabbled incomprehensibly "Iseu".

   I stood up, tried a greeting in Swahili, and he returned in
kind.  "Who are you?"

   "J\bok," I answered,

   He came around the other side, "Jkt'buk." Tall, and powerful,
he looked down the wall of his chest, which looked armored.  His
skin was extremely dark, and there where no whites to his eyes.
"What is that, Klingon?"

   His arms snapped to fast to see like pythons restraining me,
crushing out my breath, "I'm Kane." His hand forced my head back,
pinched open my jaw, and I felt his lips over mine.  I gasped,
even before realising he'd relaxed slightly.

   His breath was sharp, metalic, before my tongue went numb.  It
tingled all the way down my throat.  He released me, but my
muscles spasmed uncontrolably.  Stars burst in my clenched shut
eyes, and the numbness prickled down my back.  Blackness sank
over me.

   Out of it, Kane appeared, black in darkness, not seen, but
felt.  {No,} it didn't speak, {I am Basiatis.}

   What are you? I wondered fearfully.

   {Beyond your comprehension, pygmy} I could feel his
condescention, {What is important is that you are Mine.}

   Demon! I disbelieved, or tried to.

   {I've been called worse,} curses rang out around us in
countless voices from the past, {But that's close enough.} Some
of the voices you could hear, and others where like his,
thoughts.

   {What do you want?} I tried to flee somehow, but he surrounded
me, constantly, I began to suspect he was the world around me.

   {Not quite,} he laughed, I think.  Again, not a sound, it felt
like ice, or snow melting as it poured down from my scalp.  I
realised my eyes where closed, and tried to open them.  {I am in
you,} it explained, {Cutting off your senses, and overriding
commands.} he smiled, I think.

   {I am looking for something.} What?  {These,} I saw a tribe in
my mind's eye.  At first, I couldn't tell if they where people,
apes, or cats.  Then I realised they where some sort of hybrids,
or changelings.  I'd heard of them, "M'raui," legends anyway.
{Where?}

   I don't know, they're mythical.  It's said anyone who sees
them dies, but villiages are found, as if marauded by prides of
lions, or gorillas, all people, and livestock gone except the
bloodstains, and unnatural tracks. I'd found a camp once, far
north, but long ago.

   {Show me,} I'd need my body back, {NO.} my head rang with the
order, {Navigate, I'll drive.}

   "{Kane}", my mouth said, "{Stay with the ship, and fuel her
up.}"

   "Master," he bowed, and turned to his duty.  He spoke their
language, but I understood it perfectly.

   I turned away, {Where to?} The night brightened, adapting
instantly, and even seeming to magnify.  I remembered my craft,
and noted surprise from it. {That Was you,} it remembered.  I
could see myself from above, streaking by, but somehow in great
detail.  The parafoil chute obscured most of me, but it focused
in on the balloon engine. {Interesting.}

   I mostly fly between villiages, trading news for hospitality,
and hunting/camping in between.  We reached the spot where I'd
hidden it, and my remarcable new night vision picked it out in
increadible detail.  How do you do that?

   It laughed, {How much do you know about the eye?} I thought
about it, a ball, with a hole in one side, not much else.
{Inexplicable, I dilate the pupils, intesify the signal, and
filter out some of the noise.} Like a computing machine.  {I am a
computor, microscopic, and riding in parallel to your nerves.} I
could feel/see it in my minds eye, but not conceive of it.
{Now,} it turned my eyes back to the bundle, {Show me this
contraption.}

   I tried to shake my head.  Let me do it, you know I can't run.

   {Alright, but don't try anything suicidal.} The paralysis
lifted, instantly.  I shook myself, and stretched a little.  {Get
on with it.} I unrolled the balloon, set it up on it's tripod,
and began searching for fuel.  {Don't bother, the ship's got it.}
I got an image of hydrogen pouring out of this ball of metal deep
inside it.  {Pack it back up,} I obayed.

   It took back over, and headed back to it's ship.  I realised
it knew whatever I thought, but I had no idea what it was
thinking. {That's right,} I'd have to be careful what I thought.
{Watch this.} It slowed down to a brisk walk, but so completely
silent I couldn't believe it was my feet.  My hips rolled,
counter to my legs making my feet glide just over the powdery
dirt before touching down with barely any disturbance.  I
wondered if we were leaving prints?  {Yes.} My pack slipped
equaly silent from my back, to the ground.

   The tower was gone, but there was now a low blended ridge. All
neutral colors blended without pattern, it looked like something
a cheetah would sit on to look for prey.  Kane wasn't visible,
even to Basiatis. Terror gripped my mind as we stalked closer,
lower, and more slowly.  We circled around behind the hilloc,
which I saw was just the rocket layed down with some sort of tent 
over it.  It was blurry, or translucent, with no sharp outline.

   {Great camoflage, eh?} my hand lifted the side, and pulled it
over my body.  Underneath, my eyes adjusted unnaturally fast, and
I couldn't even guess how dark it really was underneath.  My
fingers tingled, and something slipped between them, {Can't let
him forget who the master is.} I couldn't look down to see what
it was.

   I barely saw the back of Kane's head before I was moving too
fast to feel.  My arms tightened, twisted, and I focused on a
thick chord around his neck.  I was on his back, legs around his
waist, crushing the breath out of him.  Powerfull fingers locked
down on my legs, and pulled with unbeleivable force, but weakened
untill the giant slumped limp under me.

   The demon released him, and pulled a small tank off the large
man's back. It pulled the hose from around his neck, and crawled
back to the end of the craft we came under, I noticed two curved
cones, rocket nozzles, and Basiatis unscrewed a threaded cylinder
from the center of the one on this side.  He plugged the hose
into this, the bottle into the other end, and there was a hiss
all the way from the engine to the tank.

   It tapered off, so it detached the hose from the ship, and
screwed the little peice into it.  {plasma-jet,} my fingers
tingled again, and a flame shot from the end.  {Set up the
balloon.}

   Happy to have some control back, I crawled out to go get it. I
couldn't help shaking, while I rolled it out, set up the tripod,
and draped the balloon over it.  {Like a tepee} "Tepee?" I rolled
the strange word around in my head.  {A sort of tent,} the image
came to mind.  It did resemble the tripod holding the deflated
balloon.  {Now, how's this work?}

   I let the images come to mind from experience, normaly, I just
build a small fire in it to heat the air, filling the balloon,
and eventually lifting it.  (Is that a #10 can?) it looked at the
flame holder, a coffee can on the outside, with others vented to
baffle the flow of smoke, and burn it.

   {Like a gasification stove?}  It was a stove, the design passed 
down through the generations, but I didn'trecognise the type he was 
talking about.  The can filled my vision, with the flow of smoke 
and fire inside it.  As the wood heated, it released gasses which 
expanded to fill the outer can.

   They cooled, sank to burn under the inner can.  Rising again, 
the flames licked up the inner chimney.  Except it was upside down, 
in mine, the the rising balloon caused the smoke to flow down before 
igniting, and heating the fuel.  {Downdraft type,} it adjusted the 
flow until it matched.  I marveled that it got the interior 
configuration right, though you can't see it.

   {It's here, in your memory for me to see.}  then it recalled
me building it, long ago enough that I practicly forgot about it.
 It's an old design, adapted to the balloons for limited flight.

   My hands dropped the can, then it reached under, and my
fingers tingled again.  Flame whoofed under the canopy, filling
the balloon to float up on it's tethers.  I played these out in
my hands, letting cool air sink into the intake flap.  This
heated, expanded and forced itself outward by convection.

  I realized the strange breeze earlier might have been a similar
effect in reverse, the hot air rising around the tower, pulling
in cool air from around it like the flow in the balloon, but
inverted.  {They're both toriodal} the thing in me agreed.

   It cut the flame, {How much can it lift?}

   Not much more than me, I thought, my parafoil, rifle, and
minimal survival tools.  Even then, the conditions had to be just
right. "{Hmmm,}" It walked me back to the nose of his craft, and
under the shroud.  The large curved window was slid back to
reveal a cockpit with padding, controls, a dark screen, and
compartments.  From one of these he got some sort of stiff wire,
and crawled back out under the sky.

   The balloon was still floating, it's tethers nearly taut, and
holding the tank upright by it's hose.  Pulling it back down, I
dumped the intake flap to let it deflate, and draped it back over
the tripod.  We worked together, securing the balloon to the
tripod, and wiring the plasma jet to this for heat.

   "{Hold this}" it handed the tank end to Kane, and strapped
into the parafoil harness. Checking it skillfully, it ajusted for
comfort, and stable support as if it'd done this before.  The
shroud lines, anchored to the feet of the tripod, tethered us at
the front center of ballance.

   "{Stick around,}" Basiatis said through me, "{I'll be back.}"

   Kane bowed, "Master."

   There was a slight breeze, blowing the balloon off to one
side, threatening to capsize it.  The intake flap acts like a
check valve, preventing air from flowing up, and out, trapping it
for lift. With a headwind, or rising, it could open to allow more
air in, and through it (Like a pulse-jet.}

   I ran after it, quickly overtaking the wind, and felt a jerk
as the balloon thrusted.  I jumped with it, launching into the
air, and pulling the release on my harness.  The parafoil opened
above, and behind me, braking us before we hit the ground, and
catching the warm air reflecting up from it.

   {How do you steer this thing?} With the shroud lines, and the
parafoil {Show me,} it gave me complete control, so I pulled one
of the lines to tip the balloon toward the breeze.  I picked up
some more airspeed climbing foreward, careful not to capsize it.

   {Where did you get this?}

   I'd peiced it together, from an old stove design passed down
for generations, my old backpack engine parafoil, and one of the
balloons that randomly littered the continent. {Booster for orbit
interdiction missiles} it told me, then the image washed over my
sight.  I paniced, {Don't worry, I can fly now.}

   I imagined, unbidden, the balloon wrapped around a small
rocket, which it carried up to high altitude, and velocity.  It
fired, discarding the canopy to fly out of the air, and into a
strange haze of particles almost too small to see.  Vertigo
overtook me, as my point of view expanded to encompass the whole
cloud, circling the world.  The missile exploded filling it with
more schrapnel moving so fast that it didn't fall back to Earth.

   The vision cleared from my eyes, and I saw the moon rising in
front of us.  We were flying east.  {These where designed not to
be able to lift a human being, but they didn't count on Pygmies.}
I'm more !Kai, what the Africaans call "Bosejesman", or
"Hottentotts" trying to mimic our languages. I was used to most
people being up to twice my size, but in my experience, it is
more of an advantage.

   Not only am I lighter, but I don't need to eat, or drink as
much, nor as much shelter.  I make less noise, and am less
noticable, nor do any people feel threatened by me.  I can
usually talk my way into an invitation to stay for a night, and
exchange stories for hospitality.  My mobility, and the
impression of seeing me in the air allows me to be a nomad of the
sky.

   The women of the villiages love me, especially the mothers who
think I'm "Cute".  I realised the forgotten thing was directing
my thoughts when it bade me to recall my last sex, so I stopped
thinking about it.

   {You're quite intelligent,} it admitted, {and resourcefull.}
I'm not sure whether that pleased it, or not.  {You're also
getting tired,} I'd been up since before dawn, {Sleep.} I didn't
even get a chance to think about it before I passed out, and
didn't dream.
_________________________________________________________________

   It was dark when I awoke, hungry.  {Time to use that rifle,}
my eyes sharpened, and concentrated to adjust for the night.  The
moon had set, and there where only the stars, and the stationary
ones behind them.

   He already had my rifle out at the ready, and was scanning the
ground with my eyes enhanced like a hawk's.  I could see farther,
and better than with a telescope, a blur of motion snapped into a
running gazelle.  It looked impossibly far, but the master raised
the rifle to my eye anyway.

   {What's the range on this?}

   {Not nearly that far,} as we got closer, more gazelle stood up
from the grass, scrub brush, and bushes.  Beyond my control, it
selected a large nursing mother, and fired long before I would
have trusted the shot.  It struck a rock, meters to one side, and
it rapidly panned back over to the mother, and pulled the trigger
again.  "Click."

   {Single shot,} I smiled, and pulled out another five, and a
half millimeter pellet.  {Minie Ball}  Breaking the barrel, I
compressed the spring, and exposed the breach to load it.

   {An air rifle?}  Doesn't need powder, ignition, or casings, and I can remold recovered pellets.

   {Interesting,} it mused, {But not very lethal.}

   {It keeps me fed.} "POP!" the mother gazelle died.  The others
scattered, and the area was pretty clear when we came in to land.
 I pulled the vent to capsize the balloon, and glided in softly
within steps of the kill.

   The eland was undisturbed, where it fell with a pellet wound
in the side of the head.  "Lucky kill," the eyes hadn't even
clouded yet. {Just a good shot} No, an Eland, almost holy to my
ancesters for it's rich meat.  I thanked her for dying that we
may live, and mourned her orphaned young. {She bred before she
died} the demon reassured me.

   I couldn't help thinking it was evil.  {By your morality,} it
returned, {but, I'm not human.} You don't think much of us, do
you?  {All the time, but having transcended you, I'm farther
advanced than you are from the animal I just killed.} So we are
your prey?  {Yes, and like any predator, I depend on you for
survival.}

   I couldn't argue, it wins despite it's undefendable position.
{Because of it, actually.} Looking down, I noticed that the
animal was skinned, and a peice of it was in my mouth.  Raw,
blood warm, and disgusting. I couldn't gag, but felt the reflex
supressed before it could happen.

   {Don't worry, I won't let you get sick.} How?  {I am physicly
a molecular substrate,} the image of thousands of starlike points
between each nerve sprang back to mind, {I can sense every cell
in your body, even ones not of it.} I became aware of my mouth
now, my teeth chewing the food, and the saliva to rapidly
shrinking scale until I too could see the cells, and tiny germs
dying.

   {You see?  My hosts get something in return.  My associate,
Kane is descended from a line geneticly engineered for warfare,
has the muscle density of a gorilla, and reflexes to dodge
gunshots, yet I was able to subdue him with your body at less
than half the mass, and approximately an eleventh the strength.
I can sustain a host far beyond the natural lifespan, and heal
damage that would kill them several times over.}

   With this came flood of unfamiliar memory with the super
resolution of his enhanced senses.  Kane punching someone in the
chest through a masonry wall, a bullet flashing past, but with
visible rifling, and bow shock as he dodged it.

   {Evil is subjective,} and rationalizes itself {I am merely
doing what's neccisary to survive} Immortal {and help the people
that sustain me} by making them into a master race of killing
machines.  {But right now I need to get to orbit.} What?

   {Orbit,} I fought vertigo again as my awarness expanded to
view the world surrounded by it's artificial ring of fast moving
particles.  {They are at high enough velocity to ballance the
gravity of Earth, so they fall around it indefinitely.} I could
only stare, half comprehending, then wonder why it wanted to go
there.

   {No, here} it expanded slightly to make me aware of brighter
points spinning outside the ring in ever slower, and wider
circles.  What where they?

   {Later,} it stood up my body, and turned away from the
stripped carcass I vaguely remember consuming.  I dug a hole,
undid my coverall, and traditional underskin to squat over it.  I
had to make room for the meal, and lessen the weight gain. I
couldn't micturate, was I  dehydrating?  {No} Pulling up my 
clothes, I reached to pull in the carcass.

   {Don't cover it, so it will get back to the food chain
faster.}?{The dung scarabs, and other scavengers would have to
dig it out, wasting energy in the process.  Otherwize, it'd have
to wait until a plant randomly seeded it to reaquire the
nutrients.} It was custom, to avoid being tracked. {We're flying
out of here, Now.}

   We're not camping?  {I'm in a hurry,} What about the meat?
{Can we carry it?} no, {It'll get eaten.} And sleep?  {You slept,
I don't, and you should be ready to get me out of your mind as
soon as possible, if you hate me so much.} Good point.  {The
bottle's empty, so you'll have to show me how to do it with a
fire.}

   It'd take forever this way, a fire is good for less than a
mile's flight, and takes a while to build.  {Anyplace like a town
around?} I don't have any money, or goods, and hospitality goes
only so far.  {Let me handle that} by lies, theft and probably
murder?  {I don't default to such techniques, and usually leave
them for last.}

   I just didn't want to debate any more, {There's a small
militia base to the north-east,} I pointed to a distinctive rise.
 It seemed unfair to unleash the demon on tribesmen, or a
civilian town.  {Faster though}, and less likely to have high
grade fuel.  {True}

   I whittled the wood down to small enough size, and piled it
into the inner can.  It took over again, and scooped up some dry
grass from the tinder pile. It used my hands to take out the 
plasma jet, and seal it in my lips.  

   My mouth tingled, then tasted like the air after a lightning 
strike as it rolled the tinder in my hand into a dry powdery ball.  
It began to smoke, and with some more blows the smoke curled up 
faster until a small flame crept up a split leaf's edge.  It didn't 
burst into flames, but it was just short of miraculus.

   {Ionization,} he tucked it onto the top of the fueled
canister, {Accellerated by ozone, it eventually reaches the flash 
point.  There's nothing "Magical" about it.} Adding more sticks, it 
built up a double cone of wood in the flame holder, and stepped back 
to let the balloon fill.  

   It lifted off almost immediately, and he let me handle the tethers 
to steer it over the rising hot air. Why couldn't it just blow into it, "ionize" the air, and heat it that way?

   {For one thing, it's on a 27' tether?} "Foot?" {About a 27'th
the lenth of your tether.} That's to keep the exhaust away from
me.  {And makes blowing into it almost impossible.} It let me
drive, no doubt monitoring my thoughts for deceit.  {Of course}
Evil almost has to be paranoid, to be successfull.

   {Remarkable insite,}

   I'd seen evil before, just not close enough to feel it.  At
least it wasn't trying to deny it any more, {Or just stopped
trying to convince you.) I pumped the balloon up, and down,
forcing air through it. Soon enough, it was thrusting hard enough
to take off.

  We could see the site, a loose collection of packed soil walls
enclosing tents, vehicles, and marauders.  Like many, they
survive mostly by raiding, spoils of war.  Eventually, they
spotted us, or at least me, and sent out a 4x4 to intercept.

   {Damn it, do you have any decent weapons?} don't worry, they
know me. They where freindly, even waved as they followed us, and
kept the doppelgewehr pointed down.  Basiatis unnaturally focused
on it, two Kalashnikoffs mounted so that the recoil of one
triggered the other to alternately fire in semi-automatic.  Not
the most efficient machinegun, but easily capable of shooting us
down.

   The balloon had long run out of energy, so we released it to
float gently down, and be able to glide farther.  We almost made
it, but got picked up by the GeeP as I was rolling up the
parafoil.  "Hey, skyman!" it was nice to be actually be talked
to.

   "Hey..." I only recognized one of them, who was saying "this
is the guy I told you about."

   "{Tonga}" Basiatis helped me recall.  I pronounced it
following a pallate click, like three quarters of the words in 
the !Kai language. {At least you can count, most bushmen only 
know "One, Two," and "More."} or "oaya." That's not a valid 
portrayal, any more, we hadn't hunter-gathered for generations, 
and could barely remember what it was like.

   "Any news?" !onga looked back expectantly.

   "Not much," I admitted.  Noone would believe any of the
latest, of course.  "Maybe some for the chief, Laku still leading
you?"

   "Fuck no," he laughed loud, and hard, "He got shit done, but
pissed to many people off." Traditionally, they got voted out
with a panga, in their sleep.  {Chuckle} There are no ex-chiefs.

   "Who we got now?" I wondered.  {We?} Helps him trust me, {I
know, but didn't know you knew.}

   "M'bue" he laughed.

   "The driver?" I couldn't beleive it.

   "And trader, he's actually turning us a profit with all his
contacts."

   We rolled into the camp, and !onga turned around to look
professional. A cammo net hung over something low, and wide on
one side, and Basiatis "said", {Stridsvagn} and even provided a
mental image of a low turretless tank.

   "You got a tank?" I was amazed.

   "Most of it," !onga didn't turn back around, "Still looking
for ammo, and it's impossible to get parts for."

   "How?" this made them potentially very dangerous.

   He laughed, "M'bue."

   I still hoped I could do this diplomaticly, or that Basiatis
wouldn't get me killed if I couldn't.  {I'll try,} that chill
again, {I like you.} Great.  {You don't mind using evil against
evil, then?} Necessity, and it's better than loosing it on the
innocent.  {Very pragmatic, if hypocritical.} how so?  {Using
people to do the dirty work so you don't have to is part of what
you call "evil", along with sacrificing people for your own
survival, and siding with me, the greater of two evils.}

   I'm not siding with you, I'm captive, and I have no doubt that
you can kill me with a thought.  {Yes.} As far as I can see, I'm
also helping you get off this world, which will almost certainly
make it a better place. What, no comment?  {We're here.}

   I guess I looked pretty stupid sitting it the truck after
everybody had gotten out, and started to stare.  "Sorry" I
climbed out, "Long night."

   M'bue was on top of the hill, a sandy rise anchored with grass
that was probably a dune once.  Unchanged as long as I'd known
it, it was a nice vantage over the savanah.  He was sitting on a
rich carpet, under a pavilion with screen sides to keep out
insects, and blowing dust.

   There where lighter men with strange features.  Not white, but
a deep tan, that never goes away, they had prominant noses which
almost came to a sharp angle in front.

   "Skyman!" he rose in a gracefull motion, his legs concealed
under skirt like robes, "I saw you where comming."

   "M'bue" I clasped hands with him, and looked to see if he was
standing higher than me, but the rug was flat, and level.  He
seemed taller {Probably has lifted shoes}.  "I like what you've
done around here!"

   He spread his hands, "It's a business now," his teeth where
extremely white, "Not a rogue army."

   "{It will only last untill the profit stops flowing.}"
Basiatis put in.

   "And don't I know it." he turned and stretched his hand toward
the carpet, "Would you like some tea?" Outside a circle of armed
guards stood with Avtomats, and binoculars.

   "I found something," I told him, then leaned in quietly,
"Important."

   {Watch it,} fire raced up my back.

   M'bue made an order in some code language, and everyone moved
away, the guards lighting cigarettes, or pipes.  He barked
something else, and they made busy, but kept smoking, I noticed
they all had plastic lighters.  "Me too."

   "I need something else," I kept my voice low, lips almost
together in case someone was watching, and clicking low in my
throat.  Unlike most, he spoke !Kung, another bushman language,
but I'd taught him the numbers of my people, beyond "Oaya".

   "There's an abandoned base, a few dozen dozen 'clicks' W/NW of
here." {Kilometers?} the word is literally a click, equivalent to
a day's walk for !Kai back when Kalahari was desert.  The rains
had come for generations, and I'd never met anyone who remembers
that long ago.  {I do.}

   "What do you want?" he smiled, and leaned back onto his elbow.

   "Fuel, propane if you have it." I saw tanks, hidden only from
the sun on the way in.

   "How much?" his smile faded.

   I shrugged innocently, "You know I don't need much."

   "Where is it?"

   I squatted down on my ankles, like a balloon to draw in the
packed dirt. !Kung isn't a language for such distances, and
landmarks, but I could draw, this hill, and a path toward the
abandoned base.

   M'bue erased it with his hand, then waved someone over, and
said "Propane, as much as he wants," in Arambic, "and any other
hospitality you can offer."

   "Yes M'bue," he backed away, bending at the waist as he went.

   He called everyone back in the carpet, and waved me on.
{Nicely done,} the base was already raided, months ago.  {I know,
you remembered.} It fed back my own memory of the place, enhanced
with things I hadn't noticed before, {Nice place, defensible,
expandable, and extremely low profile.} and all the people I'd
sold it to, with the profits.  It just chuckled.

   Down in the base, there where bandits working around the tank,
but it was still covered.  They'd backed an old artillery howitzer
by it, and mechanics where turning wrenches around the base where
it was mounted to the trailer.  {They've got ammo for that!} A
large pyramid pavilion held most of the fuels, including several
cylinders of liquid pressurised propane in a few sizes.

   The man M'bue ordered was with us, {Probably making sure we
don't steal anything} without a doubt.  I found a very small
cylinder, slightly smaller than the oxygen tank from Kane, and
thicker walled.  It also had a small heater screwed into the top,
but it was empty.

   'Tonga came in with the balloon, and tripod recovered from
wherever it landed.  He waved us over, and we met him outside,
but our shadow followed. {M'bue's man was codeworded, watchdog.}
My personal demon informed me. Fortunately, men can be bought.

   I waved them both together, and looked at the damage to the
balloon. The material was tough {Aluminised graphite mesh}, but
this was old.  "You have any more of these?" 'Tonga nodded, and
pointed at another tent.  "{You guys want something good?}"
Basiatis whispered into the balloon. They grinned, and leaned in
with me.  "{There's a man, with a missile not twenty miles from
here.  One man!}"

   They looked at each other, then back to me greedily.  "{Now,
if M'bue hears about this, he'll send the whole army, and
probably get us all blown up.}" it turned my eyes side to side,
"{but a couple guys could sneak up} on Kane?  {and live the rest
of their lives on the profit.}" Their smiles where wide as they
ran off to take care of something.  {Now let's see what we can
get.}

   "Hey," I waved over a woman I remember, "Laka." {"Knew"}
Basiatis chuckled, "You guys pick up any more of these?" I lifted
the slack balloon. She smiled, and backed toward one of the other
tents, blushing. Not pink, nor brown, she had a deep dusty color
all over, lighter than my burnt gold skin.

  {Even where the sun doesn't shine} I felt myself stiffen where
noone could see, and followed her.  She let me go in first, and
waved, or something out of the flap before pulling it over, and
tying it down.

   Sure enough, it seemed there where three of the balloon
canopies, one in near perfect condition.  I felt slight gentle
arms slip around me just before soft breasts pressed into my
back.  She undid the buttons on my jumpsuit, reached into the
overflap to rub my chest.

   I turned to her, felt her through the thin, but rough cloth,
her nipples under it.  She tried to kiss me, but I wouldn't.  {I
don't want her,} she looked down as if she heard it, but kept
undoing my coverall.  A little taller than me, I just had to pull
up her skirts and mate standing.

   I kissed her neck, and my mouth tingled.  Her breath was loud
in my ear, and humid.  Her chest dragged up mine, then back down
again, the rough fabric sliding over my few short curls.  I
usually climaxed about then, if not sooner {Wait,} the world went
away, {I want to show you something.} I was looking down, from
above at the ground.  You...

   {This was the Kalahari.} I stopped, and gazed in wonder.  My
homeland was now a small forest, even swampy during the rainy
season.  It was also home to leopards, and mythical black ones
that could change into people. {About two dozen dozen, seven
and two thirds years ago when I saw it last.} He used \Kai
numbers, one for each moon in the cycle of the seasons.

   The resolution was stunning, I need only look at a tree to see
the leaves, and the bush worms eating them.  Siafu ants climbed
over the roots, foraging, and a squad of them traversed the low
hollow of a footprint. Small, and bare, it was the print of an
ancestor.  {Now, back to reality,}

   I could see Laka's back, flexed to bring out the thin tight
muscles in briliant detail for the dim tent.  My root tingled
electricly, and I could feel it, Basiatis in my stones.  She
gasped, and rippled around me as I sank in to feel the end of her
kiss the tip of me.  I felt the seed spring from me like tiny
shocks when you touch metal sometimes.

   A drop rolled down my nose to fall on her back.  I realised it
was a tear, and not sweat.  I wiped my eyes before she stood up,
and turned around.  Her small, almost pointed breasts lifted
right in front of my face as she pulled her clothes over her
head.

   I stood up, "{Thank you.}" never thought I'd have to say that
to it.

   {My pleasure,} Laka smiled, untied the flap, and left.  Her
face was very red in the bright light, and I could feel my pupils
squeeze tight just before it shone in.  I grabbed the nicest
balloon, which they never use, except for trade.

   The black fabric outside was pristine, the tough oily looking
fibers undamaged.  Inside, the foil showed no wrinkles, or tears,
a fluid mirror to my eyes.  {There's also a sandwiched polymer
substrate to hold them together, and allow more flexibility} You
seem to know a lot about these, {Of course, I introduced the
technology to this continent.}  Why?  {Almost impossible to
explain, humanity was getting out of hand, so I had to dial them
back a bit.}

   Refreshed, I carried my ballon out to attach it to the tripod,
still standing in front of the fuel pavilion.

   {I lived around, and in the 'Xan about three years,} the voice
in my head didn't quite get the tribal name right.  Like most
outsiders we call giants, they could make the click, but not
follow through to a consonant. {!San.}

   It remembered a woman's face, smiling to show the lines around
her nose, and mouth while sweat flies buzzed around the knots of
her closely curled hair. {This was your thrice great grandmother, 
Judging by your genes. You have one completely unchanged chromosome, 
the X, which means all the interveining generations were male.}

   My father's father's father's father's mother {One too few}
came in close, her mouth opened wide, and gaze locked.  I could
feel her lips, and the numbing taste of Basiatis.  Then had that
strange double vision of seeing through two different eyes.  I
could feel both of them, becoming one through their loins, and
their lungs.  Basiatis streamed between them, connecting them at
the minds to feel each other's pleasure.

   They fed back into each other, a double spiral of joy spinning
higher like a dust devil until it overpowered all other senses.
{This is what you missed with Laka} it said, {sharing each other
on a level humans cannot alone.} I'd heard of it, the love of the
prime ancestors that transcended their individuality, and made
the two halves into an ultimate whole.

   {Where do you think that myth came from?}

   My vision cleared, and I saw that the balloon was done, the
heater already hanging in the center like a lightbulb in a
lampshade, or lantern chimney.  A fourth line hung from it to the
shrouds, where it had a little wheel {throttle valve}, and
pressure gauge.  It was meticulously done, I noticed the old
balloon was gone, and we'd moved to the center of the open area.
It was also getting dark.

   M'bue was nearby, directing men around the tank.  The ghille
netting was pulled back, and the long barrel removed with the
replacement being hoisted up by a large tackle tripod.  It was
much shorter, and didn't even overhang the front of the low
sloping armor.  Laka showed up, and kissed me, not nearly as shy
as usual, in front of everybody, open mouthed.

   I tasted Basiatis on her breath, chilling down my throat. What
did you do?

   {She will have a very special child,} a monster.  {No, a very
intelligent daughter, small, and light, and nimble.} It imagined
her for me, beautiful as a baby, growing before my eyes into a
petite young woman, blooming, touching herself obscenely.

   It laughed long and hard at me.  {Don't forget who I am,} I
realised I had started to, but wondered at it's motives for
pointing it out.  I could never fully understand the way it
thought, not in thousands of years.

   Ready, I pulled on my repacked parafoil, and cranked the
propane heater. {Catylitic, there's no flame because the
hydrocarbon reacts with the platinum plated screen to make heat.
It should be much more efficient, and propane is still common on
this continent?}

   It's sometimes available, but nothing is reliable.  {Except
wood,} right, but I think I can navigate for it.  Thinking of
that I turned to face the hammer, and hatchet before we lifted
from the ground. Everyone was too busy to say goodby, but M'bue
had to shout to some gawkers to get back to work.

   {Tired?} I felt heavier than usual.

   "Basiatis," I said to the wind, "Could I dream of my
ancestors?"

   {Of course.}
_________________________________________________________________

   {Dark, warm, dry night.  The breezes died down to the
stillness of thermohomogyny.  Scents clung close to where they
where transferred, and I found a disturbed hole with the distinct
odor of buried feces, and urine. People, or a person, he walked
off that way.  A little farther down, there was blood, an
impression of a short arrow, and a sticky flavor around
the sharpened end.

   A natural neuro-inhibiter in a resin substrate, poison, or a
parylitic. Scorpion, or some sort of insect, I neutralised it
before it numbed my tongue, and compromised my olfactory sense.
Taste, and smell, they're combined into a chemical sampler better
 than nature intended.  Not stopping to clean it, his knees sank 
in here where he lifted the buk.

   His footprints are deeper, easier to follow, and less stale.
Unbaked by the sun, it must have been setting when he got the
meat.  They're also straiter, more purposeful.  I sped up, kept
on the easy road of scent markings, then slowed as I noticed
warmth.  Soon I could see it, a cooling pile that was a fire, and
a huddled form next to it.

   Stalking forward, I suppressed a slight growl, and circled
around behind the dead buk.  I could smell the blood now, and let
saliva coat the tounge. Looking over the corpse, I smiled at the
small man, hardly clothed in a pair of nylon shorts, and canvas
shoes.  His cute spear, and toylike bow next to him, he let out a
breath, and I could smell it.  I raced about half of my substrate
through the blood to my lungs, and slowly filled them with air.

   The bushman started, rolled, and cried out before I was on
him.  I kept my claws back, and pressed my mouth over his to
muffle him.  He struggled under me, but couldn't keep me from
forcing my teeth between his, and sealing my lips.

   I diffused the neuronano in the spine into the trachea, and
sealed the epiglottis.  His struggles subsided, and I bore down
with both paws to completely compress his ribs.  Carefully
sealing over his mouth, and nose, I exhaled, and felt
disconnection from the host, and it's possession.

   I rebooted, my personality by default.  It had been been a
while since I had been in a person, and the spacious cortex was
wonderfull.  I couldn't even fill it, but I found a configuration
that encompassed the medulla, collossum shunt, and sensory lobes.
 He was limp, unconcious from the seizure, and drained.

   I searched short term memory, whatever he'd been dreaming was
dumped, and I felt the inhale on his arm.}

   "Ah!" I jumped up away from the monster next to me, much
warmer than the dead bok, and breathing.  It was starting to get
light, but my kill was gone.  Why didn't it kill me?  It purred,
rolled over, and lapped a paw.  I looked up, and my gazelle was
in a nearby tree, the one I was heading for last night when I
practicly collapsed, and passed out.  I couldn't even make a
decent fire.

   I felt my neck, was it even bruised?  I breathed deep, didn't
feel, or taste anything but morning air, then shook my head.
Maybe part of it was a dream, but why was the panther still here?
 I was just being superstitious, mistaking a common melanistic
leopard for something from the late fire stories, after the
littlest had fallen asleep.  {Don't be childish, they where just
stories, told by men.  You've never seen an ancestor, have you?}

   It's like the panther said that, the way it looked at me with
it's almost black eyes.  Then it yawned, stretched, and went up
the tree for some breakfast.  It said something like "Yiphi",
like leopards don't, nor have they been known to purr.  I hear
cheetah do, but I've never seen a cheetah, just the small
bushcats that purr, and leopards, that growl.

   It dangled a paw down, with a peice of flesh hanging from
oaya claws. I walked up, a nice large portion neatly seperated
from the skin, and bone without any bite marks.  I looked back,
and the cat was lapping back the hide, and I swear on my
grandfather's belt that it was caping it away with sweeps of it's
claws.  Ever since the wars around us, and the Gods started
shooting arrows into the skies, the cats have been acting very
strangely.

   I squatted like a baboon over the firehole, and blew out an
ember.  A handfull of cropstraw lit up, and I looked around for
some kindling.  The cat was behind me, silent as a shadow with a
limb in it's mouth. Deadfall, it was too thick, but had some
twigs on the end.  I built it up.

   "Thank you," it needed a name.  I looked underneath to see she
was a leopardess, "{Negra}" I've never heard that word before,
but it felt like shadow, or shade.  A nice cool place out of the
sun, a silent companion, and protective cover from sight.

   She had spots, rings of deeper black ,but shinier than the
coat.  There where strange markings on the muzzle, like black
tears almost to the nose. The eyes where brown, but deep, and
dark, the vertical pupils barely distinguishable.  The ears were
also different, rounder, and more tucked in.

   Maybe it wasn't really a leopard, or not completely.  I'd
never heard of a black cheetah, Can cats interbreed?  {Yes}, I
guess they must, or it wouldn't be here.  That doesn't explain
why it seems almost intelligent.

   So they wheren't just stories, there are spirit animals to
hold our ancestors.  I wondered which one of mine this could be,
they only come to their descendants.  I felt excited, this hadn't
happened in generations, but I felt a little fear of the spirit
quest.  I hoped she wouldn't take me to the place of the dead.

   The meat cooked nicely, and I felt much better.  Negra jumped
down, as I shouldered my quiver, and spear, and wandered off,
away from home.  "I'm going home," she growled, definitely not a
purr.  "I have to..."

   "HRAH!" it roared, and I decided not to argue.  {I don't want
to be dragged kicking, and screaming to my Spirit Quest.}

   I followed, throught the morning, and it got hot.  Negra
"Yiffed" again, and I saw she was pulling back a needlebush.
Inside was a small nest in the dirt, covered with the deadfall
eggs the size of the tip of my thumb in a cool bowl under the
shade.  I gathered one, peeled it open, reptilian, probably
ridged iguana.  She lapped up a few, left me half, a nice snack
to munch while we walked.

   We might need water, so I sucked them out, and kept the
leathery skins to carry it.  Nearby, she sniffed out a
barrelroot.  I dug in with the flat end of my spear, and she with
claws.  The rains wouldn't come for a few more full moons, and
only a few days through two cycles if they were any like last
year's.

   Unscrewing the spearhead, I scraped away the dirt until there
was only pale tuber.  I scooped it into my mouth, sucked down the
juice, then scraped more into my hand.  I squeezed it, letting
the juice dribble down my thumb into the shells.  They'd hardened
some but soaked up a little water to soften again.  Negra rasped
at it with her tounge, "Herf," Negra grunted, and moved her head
up and down as if nodding.  {Rest.}

   Looking across the land, the low trees, and bushes seemed to
dwindle, and I could see out to a plane of grass, and far apart
trees floating like green clouds over it.  My eyes blurred, then
focussed, and it was like I'd moved, standing in it days walk
from here.  One of the trees was close enough to see the trunk,
and a familly of stiltwalkers browsing from the branches.

   The ground flashed by in a blur, to a small copse of three
trunks, a large canopy, and several bushes around them.  There
where deep shadows, and one of them moved {again.} The shadows
seemed to lighten, and I saw a small pride, or tribe of shapes
shifting around in there.  Solid shapes with sharp outlines
showed up in the branches against a backdrop of leaves, and dots
of blue.

   "Vash," Negra said, and my eyes flashed across the featureless
blue to long flat shapes wheeling around.  Jackalbirds {Buzzards}
interested in something.  I looked below, but whatever it is was
obscurred.  I looked down at Negra, who got up, and walked toward
the plain.

   Noone I knew had gone far that way, there's no place to hide,
and dangerous predators, like lions, and apparently Negra's
familly. {I'm not afraid of them} though, if they're anything
like her.  My eyes blurred again, and stung a little, like my
toes when they fall asleep.

   The sensation crept back into my skull, and I hoped I wasn't
getting a headache.  I never looked at anything like that before
{But then, I never tried.} The headache never came in spite of
the heat, and having little to drink.
_________________________________________________________________

   I woke to the strangest feeling, {deja' vu.} Strange word,
{Strange language, but it hasn't been spoken on this continent
for centuries.} It was a clear night, and the ground below was
changed to rolling waves of green that I could somehow see in the
dark.  {Artificial color, I know it's green, so I filled it in.}

   My eyes tingled, and the "deja' Vu" intensified, then the
night slammed down, and I went blind.  {This is what you should
see,} then the light came back, and I could see more, much more
than I could imagine.  I could see the air, warming, expanding,
rising, and swirling around me.  The balloon glowed like a
lantern, and heat flowed around it like a wet sheen to ripple
behind in the dim exhaust.

   {Infrared Doppler Interferometry,} or something like that,
then I understood it, breifly.  The light from my eyes was ever
so slightly seperated, and somehow, the difference in signal had
something to do with shifts relative to it's motion from their
positions.  Symbols appeared, numbers, triangles, lenths,
and angles that interacted {in realtime} to produce solutions,
quantative representations of the position, speed, and direction
of the fluid air.

   I dissassociated, saw myself, or a mental representation of
the balloon, and parafoil.  The lines where arrows {vectors,}
that showed the forces as they interacted, lift, thrust, drag,
and weight.  I was a mass at the nexus, the point of all angles
where it cancled out everything but lift, and airspeed.

   No solid shape was superficially visible, but looking closer,
I could make out the disruption of wind.  I stretched out a hand,
cupped it, and saw the turbulence ripple like tiny curls around
the tips of the parasail's wing.  {This is what I see.}

   The real world came back, and I sat back watching the air in
the balloon. Pointed straight back at me, it was black outside,
but dimly glowing redder than red.  Inside, I could see the heat
bounce around as the air expanded, and flowed.  From the nozzle,
it cooled in a steep cone and my body flew through this as the
parafoil caught the upper curve of it.

   {Fuck} Basiatis distracted me, {RADAR.} You can see that too?
{Feel it, your magnetised spine is like an antenna.} It spread my
arms, and felt around, but I couldn't feel it.  He shifted us
into a bank {They see us, but don't seem to care,} I'm not a very
intimidating target, {enough to waste a missile.)

  {Kiliminjaro must have expanded, I was trying to avoid them.}
I heard something about that, a schism where part of their forces
succeded, and moved to the rift valley.  (We're past the
perimiter layer,} it relaxed, {Now let's see what we can get!}

   My eyes focused on a far object, or two, vehicles not far
apart.  A manshape came around the other side of one, an armored
truck, footprints fading behind him.  Exposed flesh was a
particular color, mentaly marked blood temperature.

   He buttoned his pants, and walked toward what turned out to be
a trailer. The frame was extended into a low tripod, lifting it's
wheels off the
ground, and on top was a block of six long boxes stacked
together.

   {Blackeye missiles, or a similar design.} he identified them.

   A light flared up between them, then flew off and died.  The
view shifted to unbeleivably close to his face, lit by the
burning end of a cigarette.  Smoke sank from his flared nostrils.
 He shifted and shrank to show him bending to pick up his rifle,
and sling it over his shoulder.

   My hand cut the propane without my direction, and I could see
again. {Try to glide in on thermals, I'll keep an eye on them.} I
could use both, so I guess he monitored differently, but I
enjoyed the ability to see what the air was actually doing.

   There wasn't much to work with, except residual heat from the
tow balloon.  I shifted ballance, slipped sideways, and back to
catch the wake in the center of my chute.  I pulled in the
tethers, winding them around my arm until I could grab the
tripod.  Capsizing the valve flap, I folded the frame, and
wrapped the balloon in the chords.

   Gliding, we lost altitude, but consequently started gained
speed.  I pulled the steering handles, comming close enough to
stall speed, then leveled out a couple heights (About 8'6"} off
the ground.

   The soldier was gone, out of sight, and we flew over the
missile trailer right over him.  My hands released the chute, and
I stomped straight down on both his shoulders.  Looking up, he
fell backwards, and his head came down hard enough to dent the
hardpacked soil.

   My knees, and hips bent, and both hands came down, wrists
together on his chest.  I could feel ribs snap against my
fingers.  The truck lit up, and faces apeared in the window.
Kicking diagonal to the ground, I launched sideways out of the
sudden light.

   A door opened on the other side, and my rifle came up in my
hands.  It "snap"ed about hip height, and caught one in the eye.
I hit the ground with a twist, rolling to the still red lit
rifle.  A spark struck from my finger tip, and it flashed off.

   Fire flashed, and I was moving again, the shockwave of the
bullets snapped my suit against my skin, and I could see the path
they took. Landing right in front of him, both my legs kicked up
between the last soldier's lifting him off the ground, then
wrapped around to pull me upright as he fell.

   "{Hello,}" I couldn't think, only watch as my head bent to
kiss him. The numbing metallic taste crawled up my throat as it
breathed into him, {What do you know?}

   Basiatis didn't leave me, just bridged between us, and didn't
share what it learned.  Both of us where parylized, locked into a
death grip, and I could feel his pulse spike out of control.
Breathing in, my hand struck him, just under the ribs, and
Basiatis sucked himself back in. The body made this horrible
sound, like water gurgling up a deep pipe.

   {Hungry?} I recoiled, {They had food, I'm not a cannibal.}
You're not human, {True, nor do I "eat",} it smiled, {but I won't
force it on you.} It walked me around to the open door, climbed
in, and went straight back to a small cabinet in the side.

  It was cold, refrigerated, and filled with food. I tore into a
plasic package, and found some meat, grain, and rice.  It was
spicy, but I could still taste everything.

   {We'll drive from here,} I turned, and sat down.  It was like
a tiny house, kind of cramped for three full sized men, but I
could probably fold up this bed, and the one across from it.
They where still warm.

   {Grow some balls,} murderer, {They would have killed you,
after some "fun" to judge from what happened in here last night.}
I caught a disgusting flash of the two of them, very much alive,
and enjoying each other in here.  It looked familiar.  {Must be
the Genopath genes.}

   Here?  {Of course, we're not far from the Djibouti war, where
the Xenotype was dispersed.} by mass rape, {They naturally made
the offspring better suited, and predisposed to combat, and the
military sustained them.} Yes, I know how nature works.  {Some of
it, but "Rape" is a part of it's order, not much different from
the mating practices of thousands of species.}

   Spiders, mantids, {And all felines, even chimpanzee which are
within a one-in-fifty human.} But not Bonobo, {Which are extinct.
 Mass rape is practiced by more pre-agricultural tribes as spoils
of war than not.} Which never makes it right.  {For me, it is a
tool, like a knife, spear, bow, rifle, or airlaunched orbit
intercept missile.}

   What?  {Those, aside from the launch trailer.} I caught a
vision of it. You're taking it with us?  I somehow sensed.  {Yes,
most of it. I might be able to use the fuel, and engines so we
don't have to go all the way back to Kane.} which I had no
problem with.  {It's getting light, do you need rest?}

   No, I just wanted to get this done with all of a sudden. {Then
let's get to work.} He got me up, and walked me to the foreward
chair. {They where to launch this morning, so we should get
moving before someone notices.}

   Feeling around for the ignition lock, my fingers tingled, and
I felt energy flow through them into it.  The motor started.
{let's see what they left us,} it got me out, and walked me
around to the bodies.

   The one next to the door we came in looked almost undisturbed,
could've been alive {If I hadn't stopped the heart, he was the
RADAR/Navigator.}  I dodged bullets, {Just about anyone is
physicly able in some circumstances, you just lack the
microsecond reaction times.}

   All three rifles where heavy, but I managed to load them into
the cab, and stow them in racks behind the folded up bed panels
where the fourth was already mounted.  I unloaded them for
safety, and grabbed a flexible jar of water from the refridge.
It tasted purified, but delicious. Then it tasted like sourfruit,
then something I'd never had before. {Sorry, just trying to cheer
you up.}

   Thanks, I was getting a little depressed.  {Lets go get your
parafoil before it blows away, then take a break.} I dragged
myself off to it, found it snarled around a rooibush, and
patiently untangled it.  I just wrapped it up, and carried it
back, then sat back down.  {Would you like to dream?}

   Yes.

   The Kalahari was behind us, and I followed Negra out over the
savannah. It didn't always come this far south, from the stories,
but the world changed as wars raged around us.  Noone wanted the
Kalahari, but us, and she kept us safe.

   We walked through the day, and I never needed my sunglasses. I
never became tired until long after dark.  I could see as if
there was a full moon, which never rose that night.  I could see
animals, glowing like an aura around them.  Negra didn't glow any
different, like I would expect a magical animal to.

   "Herf," Negra told me to wait, and stalked off.  I could see
her move to the distance, close on something else, which ran a
short way before dying. She came back, the glow fading in her
jaws until I could make out a small musk boar.  I watched her
butcher it with her claws, peeling back the skin with her teeth.

   She had hands, or paws with short fingers, it was hard to make
out
in the dark. Definitely claws, and not nails, they don't retract,
but fold back out of the way to grip with the pads, or take a
step foreward.  I noticed as she walked that they automaticly
sank in, for traction.

   She handed me a chunk, and I saw that it was starting to get
light.  I set the meat down on a flap of skin, and set about
making a fire.  I went through the motions without thinking, and
meditated on my situation.

   I was following Negra somewhere, but I'd have to learn her
language for her to tell me.  How long do these journeys last?
{Lifetimes} maybe those that dissapear never finish their
journeys, or die on them.

   {I'll protect you,} Negra didn't even look away from her work,
or acknowlege the contact.  I still felt safe, and I had my spear
if I needed it.  A spark caught, so I dropped my flint and
spearpoint to blow it to life.  The cat finaly got up, and walked
over to where I was. The boar was a lot smaller, and neatly
wrapped in it's hide.

   I stood up, so she stopped right in front, and stood as well.
Shocked, I looked down, and saw she was on her heels, long feet
against the ground, but spread out in a wide angle.  Her
underside was lighter, almost golden in the new daylight.  The
markings where black, though, large spots made up of three, or
four dots.

   She had six breasts running up her sides under the short fur,
slightly pointed, but obscured.  Above this was the ribs, flatter
than any cat I'd seen with shoulders almost masculinely broad,
especially with the catlike hips.

   Standing like that, she looked more like an ape, or giant
monkey with her tail.  Her mouth opened, and I frose, parylized.
She didn't need me to support her weight, but I felt her hands on
my shoulders, claws folded back.

   Her breath tasted of fresh blood, but her smell overpowered
it.  Strong, feline, and wonderful, I gasped in her breath, and
felt it tingle in side of me.  {That's right,} her voice in my
head sounded almost natural, then I could feel her, holding me,
pushing, slowly letting me down to the ground.

   She felt hot between the legs, almost burning and muggy.  The
scent was overwelming, I couldn't even think, just feel her
hands, claws catching in my shorts, the mesh lining catching on
me.  Her around me, shutting everything else out.  Me inside her,
forcing deeper, in/exhailing, both bodies, and us spiraling
between them.
_________________________________________________________________

   I awoke in the bouncing seat, and tried to shake my head. {Not
while I'm driving.} The ground was getting rough, and uneven.
Trees where much closer together, leaving little room to maneuver
between.

   {This makes good speed,} he glanced over at a screen, {Nothing
on RADAR for hours, and we're well clear of the the military that
probably wants their weapon system back.}

   I sat back bored, and the mimicats came to mind.  It didn't
put the thought there, I don't think, and now I could actually
use my mind instead of remembering him, that ancestor.

   {Kt'o} the old word for the Kalahari Baboon, his first kill.
{And he's not directly related to you.}

   {Hang on,} he focused on distant motion in the sky, carrion
birds. {Lammergyre, European bloodhawks, we must be north of the
equator.}?{The median lattitude, where the sun is at the zenith
at noon on the equinox.} I zoomed out to see the whole world
again, and a line across between the frozen extremes.

   What about the M'raui?  {Right, I came over here after the
Atrocity wars for a bit of a safari, and actually got my body
killed, so I took the Leopard.  Extremely limited animals,
mentaly, but enough of a cerebrum to support my personality.  I
started liking it, and found a mate. They don't usually mate for
long term, but I had enough neuronano to run my personality in
both of them simultaneously.}

   The memories appeared to me, from both points of view, which
is strange. They had sex more like humans than the quick
opportunistic mating they usually keep.  The male actually rolled
over for the female to mount him. My awareness concentrated on
the leopardess, through her accellerated pregnancy down to little
wiggling X, or + shaped bundles in the child's cells.  {These are
chromosomes, the code that produces the enzymes which dictate how
we grow, and live.}

   I'd heard of them, or something like that that I don't
remember to well. Every memory from that time of posession is
clear, accurate, and unforgetible as if permanently etched into
my mind.  Especially the visions, like the little Xs stretching
out straight, and breaking apart to join back together in pairs.
{Mitosis, with recombination produces several different genomes
across the tissues which can be culled} by little sparks {to
destroy unwanted growth, and encourage beneficial traits.}

   It looked like controlled cancer as I understood the
condition.  {Very similar, in rate, but this is to promote
mutation rather than resulting from it.} Genetic engineering,
{without equipment,} like magic. {Like "evil," "magic", is
subjective.  I understand it, so it isn't magical to me.}

   You did the same to Laka?  {No, that takes the whole pregnancy
and preferrably childhood.  I just made sure that the
fertilization occured, and the right chromosomes where passed
on.} What did you select for? {Intelligence, mostly, the genes I
implanted in your great grand father.} That's how you knew that
"all the interviening ancestors where male"? Somehow I remember
it perfectly.

   {You have the X I remember, males also have a Y.} My vision
switched to another genome.  {This is you, at the most basic
level.} One of the chromosomes was so tiny that he had to zoom in
on it.  It was also shaped different, with short legs like it was
stunted.  {This Y can't recombine with the X, so each XY
generation preserves it without alteration.}

   I saw the inside of the truck again, {We're here,} and got
out.  The Lammergyres looked like large raptors partially evolved
into vultures. There where no bodies, just patches of blood, and
guns left on the ground. I crouched to examine a footprint near
drag marks.  It was feline, but the shape was different, wider
almost like the toes where seperated. They ended in claw marks,
dug in for traction.

   {They took the ammo, but not the rifles} Basiatis turned my
head to one of the guns.  The magazine well was empty.  {That
means they already had rifles, but not pistols} it looked at a
handgun with the grip still filled. {Now they're armed.}

   I saw a patch of color, a distinctive red, dark like dried
blood.  It twitched in a gust of breeze, and a shiver ran up my
back as I realised it was cloth, Massai red.

   {I thought I wiped them out.} The Massai?  My mind boggled,
they where notorious hunters, and arguably the best spearmen in
the world. They've been said to take on full armies, as well as
Elephant, Rhino, and Lions by the pride.

   The M'raui did this?  {That's why I tried to genocide the
Massai, they where the most major threat against my children.}
Not anymore, there where about two dozen bodies, dead, all
dragged away.

   They can use guns?  {Not the cats, but there is a humanoid
tribe with them now.} Humanoid?  {Well, that depends on what you
call human.  You, and your kind aren't even Homo Sapiens Sapiens,
but an older specie that could be called Australopithecus
Modernis, or Homo Sapiens Primita}

   I saw a line of men, walking, but the ones behind where more
primative than the ones ahead.  One looked just like me, only
naked, right down to the face.  {You are only technicly "human"
because of the ability to interbreed.}

   In front of me was a larger apelike man with a massive jaw,
and sunken eyes mentaly maked H.  Erectus.  In front of him was
two, marked Cro Magnan, and H.  Neanderthalus {Parallel species.}
They interbred to produce H.  Paleolithus which had no picture {A
missing link} there where several. At the end was a crowd of H.
Arayanus, H.  Caucasus, H. Asiatus, H. Americus, and H.  Americus
Pueblos.  Just before that was three races of H. Melanus:
Africanus, Archepelagos, and Micronesius which where similar to
my kind.

   {This is my list, there's more humanity doesn't know
about itself that it does.} We went past that to the H.
Artificialis, synthetic man including H.  Cyberserker, and H.
Genopath, with a picture of Kane. Beyond them was a strange
creature, small, hairless with four hands, and no feet.

Then, there was another set, the M'raui, marked Felis Yipheth.
{My name for the M'raui, adapted from a subculture that called
themselves "Furrys"}?  Several images came to mind, most of them
hand drawn, of
cartoonish anthropomorphic animals like the gods of Egypt.  Most
of them where nude, with fur, but bare over the genitals, and
breasts if they had them.  Some where strange genders, males with
breasts, and impossible erections, hermaphrodites, and females
with multiple pairs of breasts, or one pair, and more nipples
down the abdomen.  There where cats, canines, a Zebra, Giraffe,
and hybrid monsters like a Gryphon with breasts, and manlike eyes
in the avian face.  They where having sex, including obscene acts
with their mouths.  Males mounted males, and there where bestial
orgies of several species.

   I boggled, and the images went away to return me to the truck.
 The sun was low behind us, and Basiatis cut the motor with a zap
to the ignition. {They went east, toward the rift valleys of what
used to be Ethiopia. Smart, good place to hide, and make raids
into civilization.} Ahaid, the plain was giving way to forest,
and my vision focused on a group of moving shadows.  We'd found
the M'raui, or {and} Yipheth.

   {Please understand that I tried to prepare you for this.} It
took over, opened the door, and stepped out.  My awareness
expanded to everything I could sense, every leaf stirred by a
breeze, shadow, and the slightest sound got incredable scrutiny.
{I'm going to need everything.} I could feel him in my mind,
washing over and through it until there wasn't enough room for
me.  Time slowed down, untill it stopped, and I couldn't think, I
no longer was.

   {They saw me before I saw them, my children.  Good, I counted
about 25, optimal for survival.  I jumped, onto the bumper, and
kicked higher to catch the roof.  Grabbing this, I cheetahed it
from hands to feet, and bounced up to an overhead banyan branch.
I'd left behind the rifles, and even the knife, hoping I wouldn't
have to hurt one of them.

   I pulled out my garotte, and gripped the ring handles in
between his first
fingers. Jumping across to an ajacent tree, I threw the left hand
end over a branch, caught it, and swung to the trunk.  This guy
is light, an advantage up here, where maybe they can't come at me
more than two at once.

   One was at the base of the trunk now, with others climbing
around. Females, they made good, and sure they couldn't be seen.
The one on my tree was around the other side, so I let go, and
dropped to catch a branch to the side.  I ran the chord through
the crotch of my big toe, and slipped the play through the other
ring with my hand.

   She came around the other side, forcing me to flip the loop
around, and lariat it to her paw with his foot.  Letting go, she
caught, and
supported my weight, but could do little else.  A nice
cheetah/leopardess hybrid, designed for stealth, climbing, and
strangling.

   "Jipe!", she called for help.

   "{Whore Jipe}" help yourself.

   "BASIATIS!" she shifted, released, half kicked, and flipped to
within the leash's lenth of where I came down on three paws.  I
slipped it from her wrist, noted the derived design of her hand,
and lifted her to stand.

   Her scent was overpowering, not even in estrius, but blotting
out any others.  I noted some newer nuances, a bit of Serval, and
Caracal added to the original Cheetah/Leopard/Lion hybrid.  I
filtered though it, caught the scent of her breath as it spread
over my face.

   Her mouth tasted of blood, fresh, and my symbiote rushed up
his spine to fill the trachea, bronchi, and lower larynx.  She
took my breath, and I gave the bushman a fleeting glimpse of what
she felt like before severing with the extension.  She closed her
eyes, and slowly slipped to the ground as her kin approached, on
two levels.

   I fled the Pygmy's brain through the bloodstream to the heart,
then lungs...}

   {Deja Vu} I became concious, then realised it was just me.
Pains I'd forgotten came back, like the stiff knee I'd gotten in
a bad landing less than a week ago.  All of my senses seemed
duller, blunted without posession. I could smell something,
overpowering and unfamiliar. I opened my eyes.

   "{Hello}" an emmense ape said exactly the way Basiatis did.
"{You can leave, or stay if you want.}" A gorilla, she had
strangely human features, and extremely human breasts.  Despite
myself, I felt an involutary stiffening.  Nudity doesn't usually
affect me like that way, I was born to a culture which modesty
was an alien concept, and lived with many others. The perversity
of it should have put me off, I always felt sex should be
beautiful, and natural unlike many men I've talked to.

   I felt something in front of me, and looked down.  A cat,
larger than me, but long and lean.  She looked up, and rolled her
tail aside, then nuzzled between my legs again.  I was certain
what that ment, and finally my instincts returned with a natural
response.

   I ran, screaming.

   I made it back to the truck, very nearby, and jumped into the
cab.  Was it really gone?  Slamming the door, I dropped one of
the beds, and grabbed a rifle.  I'd left them unloaded, but
pulling back the cocking handle, I saw a partially chambered
round, and let it slide back.  The magazine ejected, full, so I
snapped it back in.

   I grabbed my parafoil, and turning it over read DEJA VU drawn
on the back.  My eyes slowly closed until I could see nothing.
{Hello, sorry about the lack of images, but I couldn't spare the
memory.}

   "Basiatis." I realised I still had control of my body, set
down my pack, and rifle, and layed down.  {I decided to answer
some questions you have. First, if you are experiencing this, you
are free.  I will tell you that you can go, and mean it.  This is
a delayed experience I can't explain, again for reasons of
memory.  I hope you a long life to fill it. If you ever wonder,
and I anticipated it, you will know.}

   I opened my eyes, and decided to retreive my balloon to fly
out.  {Rear compartment, drivers side of the trailer.} They where
there, a dozen still in their packing, and the old one along with
the propane heater, full by the pressure gauge, and my knife
wrapped in it's hose.  I took two new balloon canopies, somehow
knowing I could carry one as a spare along with the heavier
rifle.  {You're welcome.}

   I carried them out of the forest, and set up for launch.  I
stood there, holding the throttle valve, and looked back.  {I
knew you would,} I shook my head, and played out the tethers.
Clamping them onto my harness, I secured the bottle, and slowly
fed the catalytic heater.

   I slung the rifle horizontal across my back as the balloon
filled with hot air.  It rose, and hung above me, light enough to
keep the tethers taut, but not enough to lift me.  I could feel
the downward thrust, warmer than the late day air, but not
burning.  I'd cool off in the sky.

   I folded up the tripod, tucked it away, and and turned south.
Looking along the forest line toward the equator.  {About 17d33m
Lattitude North} Dead calm, everything was hot down here, and
there was no convection, natural anyway.  This made it slow to
get the air in the balloon much hotter, or lighter.

   I eventually felt it's lift was enough, so I started walking
backward, pulling the balloon down to a diagonal.  This tipped
it, hotter air expanded on the topside, forcing the cooler air
down, and popping the valve flap partially open.  Cool air dumped
in, mixed, and thrusted out the bottom pulling me foreward.  I
ran after it, picking up speed, the flap opened fully, and I
jumped into the air.

   Without lift, I swung foreward, and opened my paracute to
brake me. Filling with air blown off the ground from my engine it
lifted me up before my feet touched, and I climbed steeply.
Basicly following the tree line, I cut over open air as it snaked
along below.

   I wondered if I could still see heat, {at night} it would get
dark eventually, and I had enough fuel to stay airborn at least
that long. Guessing I was near Abobo, I checked my landmarks,
mostly the hills in the west toward the Rift Valley.  I put my
back to it, let the slowly setting sun warm the balloon, and cut
the propane.

   Pretty soon, I didn't need the sun glasses, and a strong tail
wind started.  I banked left so it didn't stall out the balloon,
and rolled this slowly so the sun warmed side heated underneath.
Tacking along at about W/NW, the sun finally sank over the low,
flat horizon.

   Deciding to save fuel, I let my eyes adjust, and looked for a
place to land.  I hadn't slept in days, just dreamed while the
demon rode me through the night.  Eventually, I could see the
balloon, but little in the glow floating up from the ground but
trees disrupting it.

   Then I saw something ahead, warmer than anything around it. My
eyes wouldn't zoom in, {You don't have the processing speed}, and
my new rifle lacked a 'scope, so I waited as it slowly resolved
into a boxy structure, and a man shape moving around.  He was
working on something that turned out
to be a tent.

   There was something else, about waist height, and visibly
getting hotter. Not a fire, but a cylinder like a water heater,
or something.  They also had lights, on the front of the
ampibious looking truck. They overpowered my night vision as I
glided over, but revealed the man, a white with balding light
brown hair.

   The hot thing looked like a water heater, or cooker on top of
a large bottle tank.  I came down silently, and didn't cry out
when my bad knee twinged.  I just rolled up my canopy, and
stuffed it in the cool balloon, then carried them back.  Walking
around the camp, the man jumped, and lifted his gun to bear on
me.

   "Who's there?" {English}

   "Just a traveler," I called back, and dropped my bundle to
raise my hands, empty in front of me.

   Someone popped out of the top of the truck, a woman with two
rifles in her hands.  "Is something wrong?" she said in Bantu.

   "Nothing, sweety," he sounded surprised, but not angry, "Just
one of those flying storytellers?"

   She lowered the {Garands} back into the truck instead of
mounting them.

   "Yes," I bent back down for my canopies, "I was wonderiong if
I could share your camp?"

   "Got any good tales?" I realised that I didn't have to
translate English, which I didn't know a week ago.  {I had to
program your language centers to enhance our interface.  You can
think in it.}

   "Sure," I stepped fully into the light, and set the balloon
chute down by the truck.

   The woman came out, tall, dark, and Kenyan looking. "Jumapili"
She had western clothes, though, belted pants, and a snap up
shirt.

   "J\bok" I introduced myself.

   "An I'm Gerald," he walked up, and held out his hand.  The
other arm still had a gun broken open over it.  It had three
barrels, two rifle, and one shotgun.

   "Are you English?" his accent was strange.

   "Na I'm a Strailyan", I'd never heard of them, "Came out here
on Safauri a couple decades back, and fell in love." he put his
arm around Jumapili "This is mai waif, Juma.  Shea'll help you
set up while I go out for dinnah." He wandered off into the dark,
and I turned to the contraption. Out of the direct light, I could
see quite a bit of heat comming off of it.

   "What is this?" I asked in English.

   She said, "Wood still," in Bantu, but must have gotten the
idea by my gesture, "For the Rover."

   I just shrugged, and started packing up the parachute and
balloon.  I lay the former out, spread the lines, then rolled
them in carefully from the ends.  Folding this into the pack, I
clipped the harness around it to keep everything snag-free.  I
rolled up the balloon next, and slipped it into a bag I have for
this.

   Some time during all that, I was startled by a nearby shot.
Jumapili stopped what she was doing, and climbed in to set up the
dopplegewehr, but it was just Gerald.  Off in the dark, I could
see him, and the slowly cooling barrel of his gun.  Some kind of
gazelle took off clumsily, so I ran to help him.

   "Gerald," I called when I got close, "It's over here." I led
him to it before it cooled to invisibility.

   "You ave increadible night vision, mate," he remarked.

   I didn't reply, just helped him get it up on his shoulders,
and steady it on the way back.  He didn't talk, just grunted with
the weight while I led him through the dark.  I wondered at his
ability to make that kill, in one shot.  He trusted me quickly,
even leaving me with his woman.  If Basiatis was with me, they
would probably be dead by now, or worse.

   "Thanks, Jutkbok," he attempted my name.  "Is that bushman?"

   "It's actually short for jumpbok, the way my parents say it.
It is a Kai!san tradition to name a boy after what he gets on his
first hunt."

   "Kitezan, that's what you are?"

   "My ancestors where Kai, called San by the K\hoi, who
displaced us from our ancestral home, the Kalahari."

   "So you wander, eh?"

   "We were always nomads, and the Kalahari isn't the desert it
was.  I think it's a swamp now, was last time I was down there."

   "You sound Amercan,"

   I nodded, "I learned from one," as far as I could tell.  I
helped him clean the impala, spreading the hide under the corpse
to keep it out of the dirt.  He walked over to the wood still,
and grabbed something from the truck.  A small tripod, and
burner, like the one I adapted for my balloon, he hooked it's
hose to the bottom of the device.

   "Methanol," Gerald said, "Destructively distilled from wood to
run my truck." He put a heavy plate over it, "You can cook with
it, but you got to be carefull 'cause it's toxic." He dropped a
couple cuts on, and they seared nicely.  The plate shone so
bright I could see it, nearly red.

   "So," he turned to grin at me, "Got any good stories?"

   "Do you beleive in Demons?" I sat down on my pack.

   "Never met one," he rubbed his stubbly chin.

   "I did," I got comfortable, "Want to hear about it?"

   He flipped the meat, "Sure," and pulled over a folding stool.

   "Well," I thought about it, Basiatis didn't try to stop me,
so: "My people, the Kai!san never beleived in demons, nor did I a
week ago.  The ancestor's stories told of a God, who could be any
of the creatures, but his favorite was the Elan.  In trance, our
preist once spoke of another, who came from the sunset to take
all the rain, and kill everything."

   "Noone lives like that anymore, the giants came from outside,
and brought your wars.  You found use for us, as pilots, scouts,
and guides. Our light weight was an advantage, {and an
evolutionary bottle neck.}"

   Gerald looked over at me all of a sudden, because I'd said
that out loud.

   "I was flying one evening, looking for food, when the clear
sky split with thunder, and something flew over, too fast to make
out.  It arched down, and pulled up to hover on a tripod of fire.
 I brought up my binoculars, and spotted something like a tower,
or obelesk sinking down to the ground, and extinguishing..."
