humbled and happy. The celebration lasted well into the evening. The Zord flying high overhead left to inform the community of what he had seen, and to tell the two flyers their riders were ready.
Chapter Seven
The two Zord flew effortlessly towards the north. They glided most of the time, letting hot thermal columns of air lift them high, then soared forward. Scotty sat on Vring’s back, staring at the ground far below. Most of the land had been reclaimed by the forest, but there were vast wastelands to the west. “Hey, Vring! Do I see plant life out in the wastelands?”
“Yes, you do. It appears the death breath has diminished greatly and is now low enough for plants and animals to return. Torg live on it now, unaffected.”
“The planet is healing itself.”
“That’s the way it seems.” The two flew in silence, then Vring said, “You know I had many opportunities to kill you before you fixed my wing.”
Scotty sat up straight, “What? When?”
“You have always gone to the hill to stare at stars. I remember seeing you there ten of your years ago.”
“I always had my bowgun handy.”
“You weren’t always as good as you are now. I would watch you practice occasionally.”
“Why didn’t you take me?”
“I heard your thoughts. I listened to your dreams and felt the sorrow of your mother’s loss. I guess I felt you had been given bad luck and you didn’t deserve it. I enjoyed your feelings when you looked up at the sky.”
“Your father would have thought you weak for your actions.”
“He actually did just that. He sent me to take you specifically when you came and saved my life. I was injured getting ready to kill you that night.”
Scotty didn’t say anything. “I guess what the greatest Queen of the Holy Realm said was right.”
“What did she say?”
“There are no accidents.”
“In hindsight, I’m thankful I had mine.”
“Me too, Vring.”
“What are you planning to do when we arrive?”
“This trip is to gather information to formulate a plan. That’s why I’m glad Jingo came with us. He’s much better than I am at that. He sees things that I don’t.”
“We all have our gifts.”
“Look at him; he’s sleeping on Cezee’s back.”
“It’s the safest place to sleep. You should try yourself. We’ll arrive tomorrow and you haven’t slept. We’ll be pretty much on auto glide for the rest of the night. Take your feet out of the bindings and I’ll make sure you don’t fall.”
Scotty removed his feet and leaned back on the broad shoulders of the giant Zord. He looked up at the stars knowing he could never sleep, then fell asleep ten minutes later.
Vring and Cezee caught the rising warm air masses and rose and glided without having to flap their wings. The night passed silently and smoothly. Scotty woke as the sun came over the horizon and stretched his arms and legs. He had a dream of a young woman with green eyes and auburn colored hair. The dream slipped from his mind as he tried to remember. All that remained was her asking him, “Who are you?” He knew he had seen her face before, but he couldn’t remember where. She was beautiful, and her expression was one of wonder.
“How much longer before we arrive?”
“We will be where we can see the fields at mid-afternoon. I think we should not venture close during daylight.”
“How am I going to learn anything if I can’t get close enough to see the layout of the community?”
“I’ll let you watch through my eyes. I’ll give you my vision.”
“Fair enough, Vring. Let Jingo know what we’re doing.”
“Cezee just told him.”
Vring flew over a large flock of birds that were circling a forest, “We’ll circle here and take a look at those fields. If they use their scanner, they might think we’re part of that flock below.”
“What has them disturbed?”
“A family of Torg just entered the trees.”
“That is disturbing.”
Vring looked at the huge field ten miles away and focused in on the beings laboring in it. He sent his vision to Scotty. Scotty closed his eyes and saw the field as if it were only a half mile away. “Wow. You have great vision.”
“Comes with the territory; we have to be able to see from high altitude.”
Scotty saw the laborers in the field and then he saw the fifteen guards sitting in chairs on the hills adjacent to the fields. They were all holding weapons and watching the workers. He watched as Vring focused on one of them, and immediately saw the one that had killed his mother. His expression hardened and he vowed that one was going to be his to handle. Vring then started looking at the various species in the fields and Scotty said, “Stop. Go back to that last one.”
“Which one?”
“The Human.”
Vring circled slightly closer to the fields and looked at the one Scotty wanted to see. It was the girl in his dream. Vring immediately saw Scotty’s surprise. “You’ve seen her!”
“Yes, in a dream last night flying here. I also know her face. I have seen it somewhere before.”
“Well, what do you want to do about it?”
“Vring, I notice that large numbers of the workers go into the woods and quickly return.”
“If ya gotta go…”
Scotty laughed, “Where did you hear that?”
“You need look no further than the one on Cezee’s back.”
“Sounds like him.” Scotty thought a moment, and then decided, “Find a place for us to land for the night. I have an idea and I want to discuss it with Jingo to see what he thinks.”
Vring circled higher, then picked a grove of trees on the edge of the forest. The two huge Zord flew lower and Scotty pulled his bowgun. There were three Torg on the edge of the trees and all three were downed quickly. The Zord landed and the other ten members of the Torg family fled, having never seen such large creatures. Jingo said, “Bon Appetite. Enjoy your meal.” He turned to Scotty and said, “What’s up?”
“I’ve had a dream.”
“So how’s that different from what you normally do?”
“In my dream I saw one of the workers in the field.”
Jingo’s eyes narrowed, “Are you sure it was the same one and not someone who looked like them?”
“It was her, Jingo. I want to try to capture her and take her back with us. The Zord are right. I don’t know enough to just go in close and endanger them. She’s Human and she can tell us things we just can’t see from a distance.”
Jingo thought about his idea and sat down, keeping one of his bowguns in his hand. “All right, here’s how we’ll do it.”
“You’ve already come up with a plan?”
“Yep, but you’ll have to take a risk. You and Vring will have to leave as soon as it gets dark. There is a small line of trees next to the fields.”
“I’ve seen them.”
“I noticed that this appears to be the community bathroom. It’s a wonder those trees aren’t a thousand feet high with that much fertilizer.”
Scotty shook his head and Jingo continued. You and Vring should fly on the backside of those trees and wait
