The Human female had died valiantly, sacrificing herself for her mate. Her body lay in state on the ceremonial altar behind the Praetor's master console in the Control Chamber on Arcturus Prime, as was the tradition. Now her mate, too, lay mortally wounded. In this stunning, completely unexpected, and thoroughly enjoyable reversal, the heretofore-dominant Human team appeared poised to snatch Defeat from the jaws of Victory. These were the little unexpected thrills that made The Tournament such a delightful experience.
This
one would be talked about for centuries to come.
In moments it would be over. The three remaining combatants had also been brought to the Control Chamber. Its superior lighting and imaging capability were designed to offer maximum visual impact for the deliverance of the final blow, marking the end of another successful Tournament. It would be a bit of a letdown for the audience. This one had lasted a mere
six days
. Still, they had been an
exciting
six days. How did the Humans express it?
Short and sweet.
Although they had lost, the Humans had fought ferociously, worthy of Arcturan warriors. In fact, they had faced, and successfully defeated The Phalanx itself – the pride of the Arcturan Legions. That feat had not been equaled in the past five thousand years. Few teams even reached that level. The pair would take their place among the Honored Dead of The Tournament. In the entire history of the event, less than a hundred had been so enshrined.
In death, the Human male would lie in state next to his mate for the official period of mourning. The entire population of Arcturus Prime would honor them – via telecast, of course. All waited now on the Golganthans to deliver the Death Blow. Understandably, the porcine competitors were as taken aback by the sudden turn of events as the Arcturans had been. The Human male lay bleeding before the Golganthan pair. The Golganthan male was poised to strike with his mate's sword. He was
hesitating.
Oh, this was
priceless.
It was all there in his eyes. He was torn between duty to his race and...
remorse
for taking the lives of those who had shown compassion for
them
.
Strike, little piggy, strike! If you don't, we will destroy their planet and yours, too!
The Praetor, focused on the action in front of him, had forgotten the lifeless form behind him. She was not so lifeless; nor had she forgotten
him.
As she rose from the slab like some latter-day Lazarus, Giselle once again called upon her spirit guide. As she had before, in times of danger, distress or rage, she surrendered herself to it, allowing it to take physical form.
The air itself seemed to vibrate around the Arcturan from the raw, physical power of the deep, menacing growl. His sense of dread was immediate; his reaction only a hair slower. He whirled to view its source, a disrupter filling his hand.
A hair slower
made all the difference. The Praetor saw only a flash of white and a mouth full of fangs. His disrupter flew away, along with the hand holding it. An instant later, a gout of blackish-green blood erupted from what had been his throat. The rest of him sailed through the air and bounced off the wall, eyes wide in utter incomprehension.
Geoff's body was fighting valiantly, but was unable to sustain consciousness. He expected the Golganthans to finish it any second, to cap his spectacular failure with the deathblow that might just as well be struck directly to Earth's heart as his own. Instead, they now shrank to one corner, paralyzed with fear. The whole chamber trembled and shook with the force of the rumbling terror.
As he slipped away, he sensed her, could feel her essence. His angel had returned for him. He had failed her in life, failed his people and planet, yet she had come to watch over him and take him home. He had not known such total, unconditional love since his mother's passing. That thought comforted him.
Even now, his anguished, confused mind was playing one final, cruel trick on him. It was not Giselle's beautiful face his eyes saw, nor the lush, magnificent body that had caused him so much exquisite torment, then ecstasy. Instead, his nightmare had returned to haunt him. Standing watch over his battered body, bloody fangs bared to all comers, stood a great white wolf with glittering sapphire eyes. Then, the vision faded to blackness.
*****
The eyes were still there when his re-opened. They were softer, human once more. The smile had returned, too. He cursed his own brain for having deluded him yet again, but he knew what he was seeing
now
. That was all that mattered. She spoke her agreement.
"Hello, My Love. It's good to have you back."
He remembered her dying in his arms, the battle with the Golganthans, and watching the sword pierce him.
"We're dead, aren't we? This is Heaven?"
"Sorry. We don't get off that easily. We still have work to do."
"But, my wound...."
His tunic was open. He looked down at his abdomen and saw... taut, unblemished flesh and firmly-toned, six-pack abs. Given the choice between maintaining his consciousness and repairing itself, his body had wisely chosen the latter. Now, that body was back – and so was he. Her tunic was just as bloody as his. The hole from the arrow was there, but the corresponding wound in her chest was not. Giselle smiled at him, reading his thoughts.
"That is
Lorelei's
blessing...."
She sighed deeply.
"... and curse."
"
Lorelei
," he repeated. "Then you... me...
both of us?
"
Giselle nodded, smiling a bit more wistfully now.
"The first of our kind. Adam and Eve, redux. Thank you for retrieving my sword."
She helped him to his feet. They stood
so close
. Each could feel the other's heat – and desire. He kissed her then; hungrily, passionately. She melted into his embrace, her sword and his still clasped firmly into their respective hands. She poured all her heart and soul into that kiss, a lifetime of longing to belong to something,
someone
beyond her self-imposed exile. He accepted her gift and responded with all that was his to give.
When at last they broke their kiss, starved for air, an absurd notion came to his mind, something she had told him only a few days before.
Project Lorelei
had been cancelled because.... He voiced the notion in utter incredulity.
"
Not sexy enough
?"
She shrugged her shoulders a little and smiled impishly.
"To each, his own."
A noise drew their attention. The Golganthans were no longer cowering in terror, but were clearly confused, unsure of what to do next. Geoff gazed at the beings whom, such a short time before, he had wanted to cut to pieces. With his love safe and in his arms once again, he felt all the rage drain from him.
"What do we do with
them?
", he inquired. "For that matter, what do we do with
ourselves
?"
"First things first," she replied. "I finish the job I came here to do."
Geoff looked perplexed. He peered towards their former nemeses guardedly.
"Must we still go through with this?"
Giselle glanced at him, then at the Golganthans.
"They were never part of the job."
She stared grimly at the apparatus around them, the machinery of the Arcturans' sick perversion.
"
This
is. Are you with me, Sadie?"
"Saddled up and ready to ride, Boss. Just say the word."
"Is it all there?"
"Space
and
time displacement, just like you figured."
The Golganthans jumped at the human-sounding voice that came from everywhere – and nowhere. Geoff scanned the room as well, grinning. Finally, his eyes fell upon... the Praetor's master console.
"Finding any decent games in there, Sadie?", he asked. "Do they have Super Mario Brothers?"
"Don't crack wise with
me
, Joy Boy. You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool
me
none of the time!"
"In the name of those countless, untold souls the Arcturans ripped away in the name of 'entertainment'," Giselle intoned, "I declare
these
games OVER!"
Giselle explained it all. Her "Things That Go Bump In The Night" file had been bait to get the Arcturans interested in her diary. She had requested her laptop computer to 'set the hook', knowing the blatant voyeurs would not be able to resist easy access to her most personal, intimate musings - and had cooked up a rude little surprise for them.
As the Praetor downloaded Giselle's diary via her Wi-Fi link, he also downloaded Sadie - an extremely sophisticated AI 'worm' Giselle had written for this mission and perfected through her various cybernetic espionage assignments. The plucky little program had gone immediately to work, adapting to the protocols and command syntax, punching through firewalls, cracking passwords, insinuating herself into the Arcturan operating system's executive layer. By the time Giselle called upon her, Sadie
was
the system.
"But," Geoff began, "in order for you to call on her you would have to..."
"Be
in
the Control Chamber and
in control of
the master console," Giselle finished. "And for
that
to happen, I had to 'die' - and earn a quick trip to the slab over there. You, My Love, performed your part brilliantly – even if you hadn't a clue you were doing so. Your actions placed
all four of us
here – and here we make our stand."
"All of this would require detailed knowledge in advance," Geoff postulated. "How did you
know
?"
"My 'angel' told me," Giselle replied with a wink. "To be honest, I wasn't sure how the whole thing worked - until I had faced the Raptors. They bled
red:
hemoglobin, not cupraglobin. They were
real
. That meant the Praetor transported them from Earth, and in order to do so, the portal would have had to transcend space
and
time. As for the rest, this is one of those times I have to ask you to trust me. It will all come out later, but for now, just accept this: this mission has been planned for a very,
very
long time. It was
never
about defeating the Golganthans. It has always been about stopping the Arcturans and ending The Tournament forever."
"What about
me,
