Chapter One

Deep in the forest, where the tree limbs grew tangled and knobby and the ground beneath was invisible for the rotten leaves covering the earth, lay an old spear, half buried in the silt and grime. It had lain there since ages past, and still it was doomed to be until the iron shaft was rusted to the dark color of the dead compost surrounding it; slowly sinking beneath the eyes of the sun…
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The ancient building rose hagardly above the thoroughfare, like an old woman who had given up fighting against the encroaching rust and was merely waiting for the day when her collapse was emminent. Sergeant Brian Lodwin peered at it through the haze of heat waves mixing with the setting sun. It wasn’t too different from the thousands of other buildings he had seen in the area. After all, this barren wasteland was once a major metropolitan city, home to those who sought out the warmth and dryness of the west desert sun. Phoenix, it was called, after some fabled sun-bird capable of resurrecting itself.

Withdrawing a spraycan of blue paint, the Sergeant sighed heavily and stooped to draw the obligatory blue ‘X’ on the wall near the ground. Now, this building was marked and he could move on to the next. This mission was only about halfway done… 70 more square miles and he would be free to return to his hub and relax for a week, or until his next assignment. Maybe then he could go home to his space-city of Marplor and visit Natasha. She was always glad to see him, and though they may not ever be anything serious, he enjoyed their rendezvous.

‘Snap,’ he barked suddenly. A whir of sounds buzzed around his knees and an electronic voice sounded.
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Snap, scout out the next building with a base square footage over 3000.’
‘Right away, sir.’ The mechanized robot dog closed its eyes, appearing to concentrate, and started away to the east. The Sergeant could hear the hard steel claws scraping on the decomposing cement of the overgrown parking lot.

Stark skeletons of once giant queen palm trees stood in contrast against the brilliant light of the red sun, casting long spindly shadows across the landscape. Time to stop for the night, it was, just as soon as Snap located the next building for inspection.

‘Here sir, I have located the next building.’ The voice sounded from the pad on Brian’s wrist. ‘50 yards to the left of your position. I await your next directions.’
‘Load down, Snap. I will be there shortly.’ Following the directions, Brian soon found himself at the base of a structure that had once been a four-story business building but was now a crumbling pile of bricks and mortar open to the sky. He checked his charts. Lorden Life Insurance. Ah, he remembered his research. This building had also once housed a rustic television station bought by a man who was influential in the city politics in the Golden days, when politics were the way of life. It would be sufficient to spend the night in.

Later that night, Brian sat shivering in his insulated self-warming blanket. He could not get over the chilliness of the desert night. The dark blue sky winked back at him with a thousand tiny eyes, and off in the distance something howled - a blood-chilling sound in this age of computerized communication. It brought back memories of nature prevailing over man in this part of the universe - the knowledge that there were forces beyond human control on this planet called Earth. Brian had sent Snap into hibernation, a time to recharge his self-maintained batteries. Shivering in the middle of a yawn, he crawled back into his protective tent and closed his eyes. Damn the ISSA for not sending a radio pod linked to home, or anywhere with the sounds of another human voice.
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‘Welcome, strange neighbor.’ White hot sun flooded into Brian’s eyes as he squinted towards the voice, his hands automatically groping for his weapons.
‘You need no weapons here, strange one.’ The lilting voice held an edge of authority. ‘However, where you go, you will need something greater by far than that which you have.’
‘Where am I?’ The sergeant’s voice cracked with sleep.
‘You are where you are needed… you are where you belong.’
Brian could make out a figure in the light now… a man-creature such as he had never before beheld. Its face was ageless, its eyes a flinty grey. Slightly pointed ears split the cascade of white-blue hair streaming straight down the figure’s back. Standing against the background of light, the powerful body appeared immortal. He held a staff at arms length, its broadened base flat against the short cropped grass. His clothes…they were the strangest of all. The stranger wore a silvery foot-length robe fasted with an elaborately embroidered belt. Heavy silver chains adorned his neck and rings of silver were clamped around each wrist and ankle.
‘No.. no, I’m pretty sure I don’t belong here,’ Brian stammered. He rose to his feet, brushing his heavy-duty uniform clear of wrinkles. This had to be a dream, or someone was playing a cruel trick on him.
‘I do not blame you for being unreceptive to this change from your world, Strange One. However, listen to me before you dismiss what I have to say.’ Brian shrugged. If this was a dream, he would wake up soon enough.
‘Go ahead, Light-Man.’
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Reviews

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Interesting. I'm curious as to what Sergeant Brian Lodwin's duty is. Is he a surveyor, marking old buildings for destruction and/or reconstruction? What is the ISSA? In the dream, or in his wakening in another realm or planet, is Snap there? What does Brian look like?

In the second paragraph, you write emminent when I think you meant imminent to signal something that is for sure to happen soon. And also, in the third paragraph, I'm thinking that you could choose a better word than rendezvous, it just doesn't seem to fit quite right with what you're trying to say. That's just my opinion, do with it what you will.

I love the description of the ruined planet, and the intricacies that you include that make the imagery vivid. I have a pretty good vision of this city, and I loved the fact that it's called Phoenix. If you ever get around to reading 'War of the Magi,' you'll see how much I like phoenixes. =) The technology is smartly established with Snap and his wrist monitor, and I like that you didn't draw obvious attention to it as if to make it obvious. And you definitely set up a good hook in this section.

The first paragraph was incredible. That is, hands down, the jewel of this section. It's vividly portrayed, and the vision of a spear lying rusting in the forest is so romantic that it really touched on my imagination. There is something almost fantasticaly nostalgic about such a vision, and I love it. I want to know what that spear represents in this story...so you have to work on this more. =) Great job overall.

I really hope you continue with this story. I think it'd be really something.

[Nathan Gray]

This was awsome and I'm excited to see the rest of it. Please post!

[Michael Raymond Robinso..]

I loved the line of the white hot sun flooded his eyes, wish I would thought of that one.
Got me interested though, seems like a mixture that will capture me till the end. Looking forward to the next.

[Albert Freeman]

Wooohooo now this is going to be interesting. Going from a high technology post apocalyptic future to a world in another time would certainly throw me for a loop and make me wonder if I had too much sun. lol. Good start to this story. Looking forward to more. (I'm getting back to my writing too. Vacations always make me rusty)

[Orlando Murcia]

You are very creative and talented I have never heard anyone Use the lines about when "The white hot sun flooded into Brians eye's'' That was great, continue your writing. Orlando Murcia