========================================================================= Date: Sat, 23 Mar 1996 00:01:48 -0500 Reply-To: Enmare Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Enmare Subject: Arc Lamp (1/1) Well, I was minding my own business last night, reading _The_Illustrated_Man_, and stuck in the lull that half of us in the war seem to be in, and this story popped into my head, with no invitation whatsoever. But here it is anyway. It's sort of the Bradbury/HL cross... Some elements of the Bradbury universe (if you've read Kalidescope, you'll have the general idea) and Immortals. There might be some offensive stuff in here, and it is anything but canon. I didn't come out and say it, but some people might find it offensive. Just a warning. The idea of Immortals who get zapped by lightning and cut each other's heads off is not mine. It belongs to a lot of people whose names I can't spell. ----------------------------------------- Arc Lamp There are two kinds of nights on this planet. Either choking evenings when the dust clouds come up and cover the sky, or clear nights like this one, when the thin atmosphere lets you see straight into space, with far more detail than you'd be able to see on Earth. Not that I remember much about Earth, except a few green trees, and maybe a meteor shower. There's one tonight, and it always puts me in a reflective mood. The dust swirls around at my feet. There's always dust on this planet, always. It wore away at the fields until we had to move the plants inside. Beyond the occasional spring, all there is is dust and rock. The wind picks up the dust and uses it as an abrassive against the rock, creating more dust and smaller rocks. And sometimes an avalanche. My parents died in an avalanche seventy years ago. I died too. The government never told us about all the dust here, or the distinguishing feature of this planet, known to astronomers for years (but we were agriculture people, we never did have a astronomer with us), which is the dust volcanoes, that spew the dust out beyond the atmosphere so that there is always some rock visible on the surface, the dust never gets that deep. We were determined to start again on our own, no rocket ships could visit, that was in our charter. We have very little communication with the outside universe, just one public telecom, and Benny's. The public telecom has been broken for some time. The last message we got in was from our inspiration, Frederick Harlan, who told us that we could rebuild technology. He was so very proud of us, and no one had the guts to ask for a rocket ride back home. Lately, a public works project has been designing some sort of large message, asking for help to land, that could be seen through the dust. I lend a hand from time to time. Benny's telecom is still working, to my knowledge, but no one asks to use it. They've considered him a loony, and ostracized him for long enough. He tells them outside news when he can, like how daredevil rocket pilots are trying to find a way through the asteroid belt I'm watching tonight, and collect a several million dollar reward. Maybe they're waiting for him to die, so that they only have to deal with me, his heir. He found me after the avalanche, helped me up. Benny has a tattoo of a fountain-head surrounded by dots on his left arm, camoflauged by all his other tattooes. He looked down on me, laughed a little, then put down his arm to help me up. "Kid, your life has just gotten worse. I don't envy you." is what he'd said. He told me about Immortals then, about sword fights and Quickenings. Or at least he tried to. When he had gotten to the Quickening, he said, "It's electricity, as far as I know. Bioelectrical, maybe." "How many volts?" I'd asked. He laughed then too. He used to laugh a lot more. I stayed in his compound for several years, isolated from the rest of the community, and then when they had forgotten me and my parents, he brought me out to the leaders and introduced me as the last alien native to the planet. I did a demonstration for them, and let him do the talking. "She wants to live with us, learn from us. She's tired of being alone." They all nodded: it's a horrible thing to be alone, ignored through space, like our colony. "I mean you no harm." I said. They named me again. Eve, after the first woman. Benny still called me Laura in private. Only the leaders of the colony know that I can't die. The populace think I'm Benny's granddaughter. I'd started out as his wife and moved down from there. I had a brief time as his sister before that, though. If I'm lucky, and the medicine on the planet stays good, he should live to see me his great-great-granddaughter. The community must think us a rather incestous lot, crammed into the compound. Of course, the compound is supposed to hold more than just us too. I have a rather large imaginary family here, and although they don't take up any physical space, they're a comfortable weight in my mind. I remember the first time Benny and I made love. It's funny, this Immortal body. Who gave it the right to decide what should heal and what should remain broken? I take my earings out, and I still have holes in my earlobes months later, but that... no, that always heals. I feel the weight of my sack. There is no metal to spare for a sword on this planet, so Benny gave me a gun and taught me how to use it. I also carry a sharpened stone knife around, like a prehistoric human. I will probably never use it, shunned as we are, but I carry it around anyway, just in case. I watch the meteor shower, and see an explosion blossom above. Another daredevil didn't make it. The flames dies out, and glowing debrie start to spread out. Maybe a minute later lightning begins to arc out from near the center of the explosion. Benny said that some Immortal trusted in his body to keep him alive despite the danger of the asteroid belt. He didn't count on how sharp space junk can be. -It looks something like the spark in a florescent light bulb...- I think before it hits me. It was probably the most painful thing I've ever experienced in my life, and my trecherous body won't let me die to escape it. Finally, I realize that I'm on my knees in the dust, breathing hard, and Benny is standing next to me, frail, old, but he still offers me his arm so that I may stand. "I think I just lost my virginity," I gasp out, and I have the pleasure of seeing Benny laugh again. 03/22/96