Star Trek Gateways 3of7 Doors Into Chaos by John

Author:John [John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2010-08-06T16:34:34.301000+00:00

The man was scared. That much was obvious to his inquisitors. His green skin, sloping brow, and long hair made them almost as nervous. Whatever came out of his mouth made no sense to them and the metallic adornments on his clothing gave them concern. They had never seen anything like it.

He had wandered into their village, dusty, tired, and obviously thirsty. The man stumbled by the well, helping himself to cool water while the villagers scattered, calling for the Protectors. They weren't sure what to do with a green-skinned man and in turn summoned the Clerics.

Wrapped in their gray robes, allowing only their eyes to be seen, the women came from their secluded church and studied the stranger. They whispered among themselves while the Protectors kept the man surrounded. Parents kept their children indoors but the windows were filled with round, young faces looking anyway.

When he first spoke, everyone took a step back. Some felt he was a demon pronouncing a curse but cooler heads prevailed and realized he was attempting to communicate. One Protector, an older man, stepped forward and gestured. The man repeated the gesture, proving there was intelligence behind those frightened eyes. The stranger made any number of hand motions

to suggest the direction he had come from and then pointed to their setting sun and held up two fingers.

He had walked for two suns, they concluded. No wonder he was thirsty. Quickly they estimated how far two days' walk would get a stranger, where could he have possibly come from. There were no other enclaves in that direction, it was the wrong time of the year for the nomadic tribes to be in the area, and that left them one conclusion: he had been cast out of heaven. The Protectors turned to the Clerics, who continued to silently watch.

When they shared the news, the lead Cleric reached within the robe and extracted a small object and plucked its center. The sharp, high note reverberated through the now-silent village and made the stranger wince.

Shortly, three colossal, robed figures came forward. Their robes were not gray but brown, and they carried coils of rope with them. The Cleric gestured toward the stranger and the men surrounded him, quickly binding his hands and feet. Two then hauled him on their shoulders and carried him toward the church.

None of the Protectors accompanied them, instead bowing deeply toward their spiritual leaders. The women ignored the obeisance and followed their Inquisitors to their home and the beginning of their study.

Now the stranger screamed in gibberish and the women watched in silence. One of the Clerics had retrieved scrolls from the catacombs under the church, wiping the dust from them with a scarlet cloth. She unfurled them on a wooden table and two others joined her as they scanned the texts. They had always known that God cast out the ill behaved but the last such known instance predated the village's existence. The Clerics did not know what to do with such a Holy

Criminal so they had to ask him.

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