Strange Little Girl

"They've dropped off now." Cola said as she sat down wearily at the table next to Orla. "I never realised how tired they would make me."

Orla gave one of those 'wise little old lady' smiles. "If you think they're wearing you down now, just wait until they start to walk." She said, pushing a cup of carrot-leaf tea towards Cola.

Cola picked the cup up and held it, looking down into the steam coming from the hot liquid. "I have to say," She said as much at the cup as at Orla, "I don't know what I'd have done if you hadn't taken me in."

"Oh, don't worry." Orla said with more of that wise smiling, "The tea-leaves told me you were coming, and I never complain at what they send me."

"Tea leaves?" She queried, Orla nodded and Cola continued, "You know, I should really be making a move towards getting back to the warren. It's been over a week now.."

"I don't know as that would be a good idea, dearie." Orla said, "I don't think it's safe there these days."

Cola started at this news, "What have you heard?" She'd spent the past few days just looking after her growing boys and luxuriating in being 'Mother'. The comfort of Orla's little burrow had eased her anguish over being left by Gilchrist and Lotte's abandonment. The little burrow was a good place to forget; it was a clean little hole, with a million and one knick-knacks dotted around. Many of which were adorned with wise words about paw-prints or such labels as "Gift From Camber Sands" and the occasional "My friend went to...". Orla's clock was an ornate fob-watch, it looked real gold-plated and ticked the seconds away loud and clear. This was a place to relax, which is why Cola felt as though she woke up at Orla's words. "Please, tell me what's happening?"

"We have been trading with your warren for a while now." She told, "A number of us enjoy a good bottle of South Slope and you're a good place to source Wotsits from - the bushes round here only have barbeque flavour and, well, it's no substitute for cheesie flavour, as you know.

"Well, two of our traders disappeared last week, we'd been expecting them back with a couple of crates of 'Uncle Tom's' but there was no sign.

"We had a little meeting and sent two of our Quorn hunters off with strict instructions. We'd heard that the Black Bunny had been seen and were concerned that he would attempt to re-found his Coney Commune - as you know a number of us were rescued from the Chiltern Coney Commune by some enterprising Squirrels a time ago.

"Only one of the hunters returned - they were travelling fifty feet apart and nearing the warren when Edward saw Duncan stiffen and then start off at a run towards the warren. Edward called out after him but he didn't reply or look back.

"Duncan was under strict orders, so he came straight back here. He's beside himself with grief; they're good friends on The Hunt.

"So, anyway: this looks very like that Gilchrist has got another working Carrot again." Orla shook her head. "We had a party when the Chiltern Coney Commune collapsed. We'd considered it an omen that we'd had a visit from that young buck who was trying to find the Carrot and hoped that the Black Bunny had been taken down permanently with the commune."

Cola put the cup down shaking her head. "It's a real pity that we don't have proper communications, from the warren to the surrounding areas." She said, thinking with her Head Doe hat, "If only I'd known what you knew about the Commune and Gilchrist we'd not be in the state we're in now - I'd be back at the warren and the boys would be growing up there, and Lotte would be with me..." Cola's voice trailed off as tears filled her eyes, "Why didn't I know?"

"Finished?" Orla said pointing at Cola's cup. Cola nodded slowly.

Orla picked the cup up and upended it onto it's saucer. She tapped the bottom twice and spun it round.

Smiling, she turned the cup over and stared into the bottom like an elf into a mirror.

"The raggedy-man is coming." She said with a glint in her eyes, "and the wise one. I think I can see... Ah ha! Yes, the runner." Then she frowned. "Ah." She didn't sound as happy as earlier, "The White Avenger."

Then she fixed a smile and looked up at Cola. "Visitors, friends; coming!"

Cola had a little laugh, "Does it say when they'll get here? And whether they can change nappies or not?"

Orla grinned, shaking her head. "You should get come sleep whilst you can." She said nodding towards the room they'd set aside as the nursery. "They'll be up before you realise."

Cola nodded, standing up. She didn't care if the old lady was making it all up, it sounded good. The raggedy-man, the wise one, the runner, and the White Avenger. She laughed, quietly; Orla took that sort of thing so seriously.

Cola tip-toed into the nursery and smiled down at the two boys as they slept, thumbs in mouths. She slid into the bed and closed her eyes.

As per her nightly ritual she scrolled though Herbert's implants' storage and read the next chapter of his other life.

---*---

I was dozing off when the proximity alarm sounded. My eyes jerked awake and I sat up straight. Malcolm snored loudly next to me - it was only my implants that had woke me.

I tuned into the comms of the scout 'sect that had woken me. It was getting dark so the 'sect was swapping between infra-red and visible light to try to make a positive identification of the intruder.

I relaxed a little when I realised it was a child, and that I had a good fifteen minutes before it got this far up the mountain. I tasked my implants with searching through the day's records to find out who the intruder was. I asked the ship how the Verbal Translation Matrix was coming. It reported an eighty percent accuracy chance for any conversation. That was pretty good for only two 'sects recording for little over one day.

It was yesterday mid-day when the ship informed me that I could take some processor nodes away from the maintenance routines. I bargained up from one 'sect to two and considered an extra week a good price to pay for some safe knowledge of the surrounding area.

I took two scout 'sects - I didn't see the point in having combat 'sects in atmosphere and all I really wanted to do was gather information. I put them under the control of the VTM and tasked it with getting as full a matrix as possible in as short a time as it could and to relay all video into my implants for me to peruse later.

The town at the foot of the mountain was populated with a bipedal, vaguely normal-looking life-form, that seemed like a evolved pig. It was probably the snout rather than a nose and the floppy ears; I couldn't see a springy tail. I checked all over just in case I found a water spirit and a monkey god. Luckily, no.

The adults were three foot or so tall. So they'd tower over me. That didn't please me. I'll end up looking like Yoda to them. The idea made me chuckle and I practised talking like a cross between a giant frog and Fozzie the bear.

They didn't appear to have firearms. I saw swords and Big Stick Technology only, but then I'd see the same back home, just less swords.

I thought that I could get along with these people as neighbours for a few months, they seemed quite free and easy.

I was pleased when I located the market and found out that they weren't the only race hereabouts. There was at least two others, both of smaller stature, one that looked more coney-like and another that seemed to have spikes rather than fur - some sort of alien hedgehog I suppose.

Malcolm and I were eating well on torrac, it was planted in abundance all around us and I saw fields of it cultivated on the outskirts of the town.

I decided to keep my distance until I was sure they were safe and I would pick my place and time to meet one or two.

Unfortunately fate, or rather a child, had other ideas.

My implants came back with a match for our intruder - it was a young female called... I couldn't pronounce her name and told the VTM to refer to her as Peppermint.

I frowned. She was taller than me. Oh well, I shrugged and got my things ready. My main tool was a hand-light. It could act as any light source from a lamp that would illuminate our entire camp site or could be dialled down to a laser-pointer. For those in the know, you could override the safeties and make a laser that would cut through as much as ten centimetres of rock. I'd practised. I may be a strange alien living on a hill with a madman, but I'd decided I'd be respected here.

---*---

I composed myself and sat so that our camp-fire would be between us as she arrived in the camp. I looked back at Malcolm - he was gently snoring. I hoped he'd stay sleeping as he would be really able to ruin my airs.

I snuggled the VTM's output device around my neck - not as large or complex as the original one I wore before getting implants, this looked like a medallion and really just acted as a loud speaker. I tried to hide it so that I didn't look too much like a Brother Gibb.

She stepped up into the camp. I cleared my throat.

"Hello?" She said with a quaver in her voice (translated by the VTM - it seemed to be doing okay so far)

"Greetings." I said, I hoped that the VTM would be able to get a formal feel to the translation. She nearly jumped out of her skin at my voice.

She peeked round the fire, I stepped towards her.

"I come in peace." I said before mentally kicking myself. Here I am, am alien visitor to a strange planet filled with some wondrous flora and fauna and all I could do was spout clichés. Great.

"What are you?" She said, looking down at me. I tried to keep a straight face.

"Wizard am I." Oh no. My carefully planned speech dissolved in the panic of actually meeting her.

She laughed, "You talk funny." I tried to regain my composure. Then I realised I didn't have any composure.

"I don't know your language." I explained, "I have cast a spell of Tongues to speak for me." I held up the medallion as if to explain further.

Her eyes widened. "You're not an Omega are you?"

"No, I'm a wizard..." I said to her, then to my implants, "What did she just call me - scan library to reference 'Omega'" only to be told what I should have known: "Ship library functions unavailable. Please try again later." I looked at her - she seemed a little frightened but not too much. "Why do you ask?"

"Because," she said, "My daddy always tells me that if I'm bad the Omega will come from beyond the stars and take me away." She looked up at where the ship was, then asked in a quiet voice, "You did come from beyond the stars, didn't you?"

I nodded, then, in case that gesture didn't translate, explained, "Yes, I've come from beyond the stars in my flying castle to contemplate." The VTM beeped in my ears - it couldn't find a translation for 'contemplate'. "Bugger" I said.

She repeated the strange words to back to me "you've come to contemplate-bugger?"

"No!" I said quickly, then I lost it, I needed to say something and I said the first thing that came into my head: "I'm on Holiday."

"Can I visit your castle?" She asked, happy with my clever explanation.

I shook my head, "No, my castle is under a spell, it will eat anyone trying to get in." Her eyes widened. Which for her race was quite frightening.

"It would eat me?" She asked, incredulous.

"Oh yes." I said with all seriousness.

From behind me I was shocked to hear Malcolm start singing, "Feed my frankfurter!"

She looked past me, "Who is that?"

"My jester." The VTM beeped. My shoulders slumped. "That's Malcolm - he's my friend." At least that worked. She seemed able to cope with his name.

"Hello Malcolm!" She called to him.

"Strange little girl," He sang back, "Why are you coming?"

"They dared me." She said, proudly. "They were all too cowardly, but I came."

"Your town?" I asked, a little confused.

"No, silly, just my school friends." She smiled, then looked crestfallen. "They'll never believe me."

That gave me an idea, "I can help there - bring me a stone." I pointed at some small stones and rocks and she hopped over there and returned with a couple of stones each about the size of my hands. "Put them down." She did. "Stand back."

I held the laser light and waved a dovetail-shape over the first stone. She bent to pick it up and I managed to stop her before she burnt herself. I grabbed my pan of water and emptied it over the stone - steam hissed off it.

Hoping it was cold enough I bent down and picked it up gingerly. Feeling that it was warm but not painfully so, I held it in front of me, then pulled it apart - the stone was now in two perfectly interlocking pieces. She clapped her paws in delight. "Again! Again!" I think it lost some subtlety in translation.

I did the same again, except I made the shape more rounded, like a jigsaw piece. Looking in my water pan I was pleased that I hadn't emptied it all and made another small cloud.

Peppermint was very happy with my gifts. "I'd better get back. Otherwise my father will be angry with me."

"Will you visit again?" I asked. She waved her hands and said, simply, "Yes."

She started down home.

"Strange little girl, where are you going?" Malcolm sang.

"Home!" She called as she disappeared, laughing.

Malcolm was smiling.

I let out a breath. "That seemed to go well."

---*---

A day went by. The 'sects spent the day down at the town and managed to get another three percent of the VTM filled. I suppose it was the old eighty-twenty rule rearing its ugly head.

Night had fallen and I was cleaning up our cooking pot when the proximity alert went off. This time it wasn't just Peppermint- she was accompanied by three adults.

Three large, hulking, angry-looking males.

I got the VTM to christen them Napoleon, Snowball and Perky (well, you find three cultural names to call pig-like aliens). I persuaded Malcolm to hide and I and got myself into "wise man" stance ready for them.

"What have you done with her?" Napoleon said as soon as he saw me. "Where is she?"

As Peppermint was behind him I was sure he couldn't mean her.

"Who are you talking about?" I asked, holding the laser-light tight, ready to act defensively.

"My daughter," He then said a name. I instructed the VTM to use 'Dandelion'.

"I don't know Dandelion." I replied.

Perky whispered in Napoleon's ear.

"My daughter goes missing just after you Omega arrive, I don't care if you don't know her name, just tell me where she is!" He lunged at me and the other two held him back.

Peppermint came round between us.

"I told you, he'd not an Omega! He's a wizard."

"Would the devil tell you his name?" Napoleon said to everyone. He pointed to the half-cleaned out pot. "Look! He's eaten her already!" He lunged towards the pot. I pointed the laser at it, dialled down a little, and it glowed red where the laser touched it and a small cloud of steam came billowed up. It smelt of torrac and herbs.

"Don't touch it!" Peppermint shouted, aware that it would be hot from my 'magic wand'.

"Listen to her," I said. I looked at Snowball and Perky, "Can you tell me what's going on? I might be able to help."

"That's why I told you about him!" Peppermint shouted, "So he could help!"

Napoleon was looking at me with murder in his eyes. "You know what's happened." He spat, "You've taken my daughter and eaten her."

I pointed at my stock of torracs. "Look at those - I'm a herbivore." Napoleon didn't look convinced. "Look," I said, "I don't need this and I don't have to put up with it." I swung the laser-light in a wide arc in front of me, setting fire to the grass in a circle around me. "If I wanted to hurt you or anyone in your village I'd just set it alight." The four of them stepped back from the flames.

I suddenly realised what I'd done; trapped myself; and hoped that the grass was green enough to not burn for long.

"What has happened? Do you want my help?"

Peppermint stepped in front of the three males. "Dandelion's missing." She said, "She's very small, she only learnt to walk last month and we're scared for her - there are hungry wolves out there." She didn't say 'wolves' but that seemed to be the gist of it.

I called the scout 'sects to me. I looked up at the men. "I'll help you. I'm not sure why. But I'll help you."

"He'll send us on a wild donkey chase!" Napoleon shouted. The VTM playing up again.

I looked at Snowball, "If I find anything I'll let you know." I sent one 'sect to sit by his ear. I spoke through it, "Can you hear me?" He jumped a little at the sound so close to his ear. I smiled. "Try not to swat the insect I'm using to talk through..." I asked. I sent the other 'sect high up into the air and turned the infra-red on.

I stepped over the line of dwindling flame and started to draw what I could see on the dirt.

"Your town is shaped like this." I drew an wobbly oval." One main road runs east to west." I drew the line, trying to show exactly what the 'sect was showing me. "Another road leads off north." I drew that.

"We're here." I sorted through the image I was getting. "There are groups of people..." I put finger spots on the rough map where I could see warm spots from the infra-red.

I closed my eyes and sent commands to the 'sect, it gave me a brighter image, showing a better resolution. I made it squelch the town itself so I could more clearly see the environs. I could make us out at a pink blob to the south of the town. I started to look for blobs of colour smaller or fainter than the five of us.

I drew three lines on the map. "These are moving fast - unlikely to be a child." I drew three other dots. "Any of these could be a single life sign."

They seemed to grasp the concept of the map - Perky pointed at the last dot I'd put down. "That'll be Old Stinky- he lives on his own out there. Those fast moving could be wolves."

"That gives you two spots to look for."

"He's trying to put us off." Napoleon muttered.

"Lordie." I said, as I could see the three fast spots converging on one of the others. "The wolves think that that ones looks like prey." I looked up at the men. "If it's her she needs help now." I shut my eyes and sent the high 'sect down towards the dot.

Sure enough, it was a little girl toddling into the woods. She walked with the glee of a child with a new toy. "It's her. You need to get to her before the wolves." I looked at Snowball. I'll let you know if she moves. Snowball and Perky started off and tugged Napoleon to come with them.

My sect alighted near her ear. "Dandelion!" I called. She turned to my voice. "I'm a fairy sent to take you home. Will you follow me?" She gurgled with delight and stepped towards the sound.

"Follow." she said. Damn - I realised that she had a vocabulary of only a few words. The 'sect heard a rustling noise. That was quick. I thought, quickly followed by, shit. It was the wolves.

Nasty looking creatures they were, very angular and pointed, no tails as such and with a fur that looked more like feathers. They sniffed the air and smiled at her, tongues lolling between vicious tooth-ridges.

I spoke through to Snowball. "The wolves have found her. I'll see if I can hold them off until you arrive." I could only hear a plaintive reply from him.

I spun my 'sect up fifty feet and then slammed it fast down at the rear-end of the wolf nearest to Dandelion. In vacuum a 'sect can reach obscene speeds that it just can't in atmosphere - if I made it go as fast as it could the friction with the air would turn it into a useless, molten mass in seconds. I had to settle for just a hundred miles an hour or so. I was regretting not taking the single combat 'sect instead.

My 'sect dug into the wolf's behind and it turned to try to face the burning pain. The only things behind it were the other two wolves - I smiled as I could hear them fighting among themselves - then frowned - the 'sect was buried in three inches of flesh and was having trouble getting out again.

Luckily the pain of me trying to extricate the 'sect made the wolf insane and sure that the other two wolves were attacking it. I finally managed to pull the 'sect out as the three men burst in on the wolves.

Big Stick Technology was brought to bear - Big Sticks with long metal leaves stuck to the end. Very effective against wolves. I was pleased to see that one of the wolves was already down, hamstrung by the wolf I'd attacked. I didn't realise how stressed I was until I wiped the sweat from my brow, and had to get a cloth. Napoleon ignored the wolves and jumped for his daughter - who still seemed to treat the whole thing as a funny adventure. She was laughing at him and he was crying. With the melée of the Perk and Snowball I couldn't get another attack in from my 'sects - but it didn't matter. One wolf was downed by their spears and the third took the better part of valour and hobbled off, bleeding badly.

It was only then that I realised that Peppermint was still with me. I looked up at her.

"They found her in time."

She hugged me.