[SunCMars]

Tempas knew that Jason's life lay in the balance, a balance severely weighted against him.
He quickly weighed the options.

He could not transport him back to the ship.
He did not have the strength, the time, or any anti-venom.

His mind reeled.

What to do? Yeah that.

He stood up, and ran to the center of this large opening under this planet.

He was a scientist, a technician in his own right, not so much the warrior, as Jason.

He saw on the floor, many bits of crushed gravel.
He saw a burnt vine, that lightning from above, likely set afire some time ago.
He saw a large pool of water under the medium waterfall, that dripped down from above. Its depth was less than a meter.

He dragged Jason's body over to the pool of water.
He stripped him down to his nothings-on..

He saw where the giant spider had penetrated his armored suit.
Once on his right forearm, once under his left arm, near that pit.

The violin-ed bellied spider's mandibles were long and very sharp. It's poison had been injected into the wounds.

Tempas immediately laid Jason in the pool of water at its shallowest end.
He rubbed lightly on both of the wounds.

He then picked up some fine gravel and rubbed on the wounds again.

He then collected in a cloth bandolier, some alkaline dusty powder from the gravel floor and some charcoal scrapings from the burned out vine.
He made a wet poultice from this.

Pulling Jason from the water, he rubbed this mixture, over and over, into the bite-wounds.
He did this over a period of many hours.

And, he prayed.

Ah, well, he mumbled some words, I can only suppose he prayed.

Jason came back to life the next day. His wounds had stopped being red, began becoming dark and ominous.
He was in terrible pain, but he was, yet, alive.

And not happy.

Who would be?

 

[SunCMars]

The poison made Jason go mad.

His mind separated from his body, his mind returned, went back to Earth.

While unconscious, Jason thought of his lady love, the lady he longed-for on the Maine-land, she dwelled on.

 

[SunCMars]

Jason had met this lady in his dreams, never admitted, in hers.

She desired a simple man, not an....... Argonaut.

A man from the Argo, not.

The lady was slim, a brunette, with lips worthy of many long kisses.

They had not met in person but had met, many, many times in dreams, and in writings-together.

She could never see the two of them together; he thinking, them not-together, naught.

 

[SunCMars]

Later, Tempas asked Jason about this Maineland lady.
He smiled broadly, and answered, naught.

There are no kiss-and-tells from true Martians.

 

[SunCMars]

On the way back to the under-ground and parked spaceship, Jason got weaker and weaker.
I suspect, I know, he is yet dying.

His wounds are festering, turning even more ugly.
One can cut off his right arm to save him, but not his left shoulder.
No.

 

[SunCMars]

The poultice that Tempas applied only delayed the inevitable.

Had it been a small spider bite, it would have healed, I know this.
I do.

 

[SunCMars]

Tempas got distracted, and he too was exhausted from half-carrying his friend.

His handheld device, its screen had gotten dusty, crusty unreadable.

The two made a wrong turn, down a tunnel not shown in memory or in evidence.

About half way down, both men fell as they tried to move forward and failed.
Both, went into this long slumber.

Both awoke to a voice, a voice speaking a language heard on Earth, not on the God forsaken rock of a planet.

It had to be a dream.

It must be.
It cannot be else.
Else, is not permitted.

"Tempas, open again your eyes, look on me. Look on me as not-normal, as one short and round."

Tempas opened his eyes and there before him stood a man, less than a meter tall.
He was round and jolly, not a whisker showing.

His eyes were blue, his hair, dark red. He had freckles.
No, he had freckles on top of freckles.

I asked his name, he told me that will come later.
Later and later, never, not mentioned.

He asked, "Is this man Ulysses, or is this man, naught?"

"Aye, little man, naught", Tempas said.

"How is it you know of Ulysses and not my more famous friend who is here, here and now?"

"Give me his name, please."

"His name is Jason, of and from, Jason and his Argonauts, I am not one, but am, some other".

The tiny round man rolled his eyes, then his head, then his belly.

"Come with me, the both of you. I have some good food and tidings for you."

"Ah, I cannot, I must get him back to our, uh, I must get him back to our camp." Tempas was wary, and worried.

"Your Jason is dying, I can help him".
"I can."

"Get up now, the two of you!"

He waved his hands over Jason, and ill Jason suddenly became, a lot more, alive.

The two of them followed the tiny and short, that little round man, further down that cave, that tunnel.

 

[SunCMars]

What to do with the bodies of these dead banshees?

On Earth, they would quickly decompose, within a week, maybe completely in a warm clime.

They could not take a chance of leaving the bodies out in the open for the other ones to discover them, and with them having been slain.

Looking around, they nearby found a very deep cut in the planet. They tossed the bodies down that crevice.

...............................................................................................

Ulysses and his crew kept moving forward 'Northward', um, according to the compass that they carried. Actually, they first went due 'West' about 20 KM.
They assumed the Banshee's would return in the same direction (and path) as from where they came from.

They did not want to meet up with them again!
They were lucky this time around.

It was a consensus belief that someone sent these beings out to find and kill the them, (the Argonauts).
This put the crew and their mission in peril, and at a deep disadvantage.

The element of surprise, now seems lost!

 

[SunCMars]

North of Ulysses position lay a city on the lower plain, well outside the walled-city above.
There was a palace in the center of the city. It had a large number of guards surrounding it.

Later, that morning, inside the palace, a woman reported to her Mistress, a large, strongly built, black woman.

"My Queen, I have bad news". A female warrior entered her office.

"More bad news, is it, Major Ghorry?"

"Yes, more".

"Khahhh, what is it?"

"You asked that we send out *Blood Wasps early last night to find who these intruders were. The ones that flew over our territory two days before, and likely landed somewhere".


"Somewhere, still unknown"



*Banshees

 

[SunCMars]

"What, they found nothing?" The Black Queen was visibly irritated.

"They found nothing of any intruders, but some good number of them have gone missing?"

"Ho!"

"How is this? What manner of creature can make those vile things, disappear?"

"They are said to be near invincible, what is going on here?"

Major Ghorry had no answer and looked just as perplexed as did her Queen.

"Find out if they are truly missing, or just somehow lost!

"Yes, your Majesty".

 

[SunCMars]

Another dark figure came out of the shadows. It was an eight foot tall black man.

He was very narrow shouldered, and very thin.
His legs were extremely long, as were his arms.
He was slightly bent over as if in pain.

He had the most evil black eyes seen on any being I have ever seen.

"What do you think, Larsoon?"
"Could it be Brian acting up again?"

No, it is not likely Brian, he has not the stomach for these actions. He leaves us alone, as we leave him alone.
I know he hates us, but he fears us as no other.

The Sliders on top of the plateau are more his enemies, and not us.

*The Sliders rule this planet. The Black Queen is but a nuisance to them.
Someday (this balance of power) will change. The Sliders are day creatures, humanoids. And, they are, afraid of the magical dark creatures (of the lower plain) ,and those of the night.

 

[SunCMars]

"Why is it we cannot just kill that Wizard, Brian?"
Tell me again, I continue in forgetting". The Black Queen was forever asking this question.

She hated the answer.
He said it anyway.

"Majesty, that would disrupt The Good Order of Things. We are sworn to never do this. Our powers depend on this Good Order.

"What are you saying? That the little round, fat being is more powerful than I ?"

Larsoon droned out, "That, we do not know and must not test. If we kill him, we risk everything, maybe losing control of our powers?"

"It is thus written"

It must be.
It cannot be else.

Breathing hard in and out, and bending forward, The Black Queens huge breasts (seemingly) nearly toppled her over.

She purposely left her large nipples uncovered and exposed from her bodice. Round circles were cut from the cloth.

They were well protruding, and menacing pink. They drew everyone's eyes to them.

Even Larsoon. He ever stared at them as if they were talking, not his Queens mouth.

Knowing her, she did this on purpose. A calculated purpose. She has a purpose for every action of hers.

 

[SunCMars]

The reason for the exposed nipples is not a sexual one.
Brian knows the reason and keeps this secret for his own reasons.

 

[SunCMars]

Ulysses and his band of raiders were now 5 clicks away from The Black Queens city.

Of course, he does not know who owns the city. He is completely in the dark.
Uh, not at the moment, it is now *daylight savings time.

*The Banshees do not dare roam in sunlight. To do so, would soon be, injurious.

 

[SunCMars]

The Black Queen has a name. I cannot write or say it.
Dare not.
So, I will make an anagram of the letters.

Hmm, lets see, uh, yes...

Ellba

 

[SunCMars]

Ulysses would wait for dark to move 'past' the lower city.

He had no business down here.

His quest was in the Capital City, above. At the very heart, in the belly of the beasts.

What he did not know was that the lower city knew they were here and would never let them pass, unmolested, ah, with their guts spilled, them killed.

 

[SunCMars]

More beasts lived down on the lower plateau, way more.

The beasts that lived and worked for The Sliders were few and much more deadly. They served the Upper Plain loyally and royally.

These beasts were tamed and brought in from a secret realm. They were paid for in Gold.

Even this Universe had its hidden factions and dimensions.

 

[SunCMars]

That night, The Black Queen had her dragons patrol the cities environs.

She had, what appeared to be six of them.

They always patrolled and hunted in pairs. One dragons eyes looked down and left, the other looked down and right.
Their flight spacing was about 100 meters.

Ulysses noted this the first night.

They had superior eyesight in the night, poor sight in daylight.

They were cumbersome and clumsy in flight.

There was no way that The Argonauts could continue to the wall with these creatures patrolling overhead.


Why?

Ah, damn! It was an open plain, all flat ground with no cover to the North, to the Great Wall, then to the above.

The dragons had to die.

 

[SunCMars]

The dragons were heavily skinned. No arrow or low powered projectile could lethally injure them.
The hand held phasers that the 6th D. pilots gave them would be their only possible counter-weapon.

Typically, dragons are fire blasters, incinerating anything within 50 meters of their mouth after they launch their fire balls of toxic and flammable gas.

They had in their bellies a second stomach that separated hydrogen out from water. It was from here that they got their fire medium. The same stomach also was heavily lined with an oily gel, a gel that would be ejected along with the flame. It acted as a long lasting lay-over plasma the lingered and kept the flame going. One of the dragons teeth glowed hot enough to set the medium to flame.

Their eyes and testicles were their only vulnerable body places. Blasting off their balls would only enrage them, not kill them. Their eyes had thick lids and it would be hard to destroy both of them.

Female dragons were smaller and had no testicles. It was only their eyes that were vulnerable.

The Argonauts saw no females flying. They must be held in reserve, and kept inside as baby makers.

 

[SunCMars]

I ask you all of you.....

Who among you has the co·jo·nes to blast away a male dragons large sack?

I thought so.

Go for the eyes.