Sirena
Her Search for Aakeode
by
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The chief, Red Arrow, and the medicine man, Little Coyote, walked past the corn field to the edge of the bank of what used to be a river, and was now a small stream. Looking down the ten-foot drop to the water, Red Arrow shook his head and said, "We must leave soon before that water is gone. In several moons, there will be only sand down there." "Yes," answered Little Coyote. "We must gather food and water to leave very soon. We have only four hands of people left. The others have gone." As he finished speaking, they heard a low rumbling noise that became a loud roar. Knowing the cause, they hastily retreated from the edge of the bank as a flash flood came surging down the channel. They waited some time until the flood passed, and the only noise heard from the riverbed was a gentle trickle of water. Slowly approaching the bank and testing each step, in case the ground had been under cut by the flood, they reached the edge and looked down. The stream was somewhat smaller than before, but had enough water to supply their needs. Suddenly, Little Coyote pointed and shouted, "Look over there!" Red Arrow looked to see part of a shiny cylinder under an over-hanging piece of sandstone ledge. "What do you think it is?" he asked, wrinkling his brow. "We should go and see," Little Coyote replied as he started to where they had a ladder near a slope in the bank. They lowered the ladder over the bank to rest on the dry portion of the riverbed and clambered down. The two splashed across the stream and walked up to the cylinder. Red Arrow removed a tomahawk from his belt and began tapping on the cylinder as he wondered what kind of rock it was. Sirena’s eyes opened from her millenniums-long sleep to a dim light in the pod. She moved her head around to look at her surroundings as she tried to remember her past. Soon, memories began flooding her mind: the destruction of the colony when they were attempting to colonize the earth, the large lizards that frequently tried to get through the barrier force generated by the Exploratory Vessel, the large meteorite that struck the earth and made the sky black with debris. She remembered how Ganto, the leader, took the rest of the colony inside the Exploratory Vessel before putting them in a deep sleep. Two separate life sustaining pods were made ready for her and Aakeode, her husband. They would sleep until humanoid life became existent on earth. Now she was awake, and wondered what form of humans she would face. She could hear the sound of something banging against the pod. Groping along the wall, she found the porthole switches. Setting the porthole cover control to Single, she rotated the opening control to move the outer cover just enough to see out. Peeking out the circular window, she saw the pod was near a stream of water. She pressed the cover control again to open it fully and saw two men standing nearby, with one tapping the pod with a piece of stone in a stick of wood. They appeared similar in shape as she, although their heads were smaller in size and their skins had a copper tinge. Their dark eyes had a slanted shape and their heads were covered with coarse hair that hung down in three thick braids. They had limited body hair and wore only a flimsy fiber apron around their loins. "Oh Great Omnipotent Deity!" Sirena cried. "Where am I? Where is my husband, Aakeode?" Her eyes filled with tears as Sirena sat up and realized she was alone. However, the tears stopped, and instead of crying, she began admonishing herself. "Straighten up and look at your position. Aakeode is not here and you need to find him. As for problems, the work at the colony was filled with them. Remember all that underbrush, the various pests, and those large lizards, which could eat you with one gulp. Now you have to discover the problems here, and use what you have to work with." She noticed the banging had stopped and turned to look out the porthole. As she put her face to the pane, her eyes met another pair looking at her. Both faces stared at each other, then snapped away from the porthole. "Whew!" she said. "I did not expect that; he was probably the one doing the banging. I guess I better go out and meet these two." She got up and strapped on her waist belt with its cases of Pod Controller and Zone Rod. She looked at her hand to see the Zone Rod security ring on her finger. Without the ring, the Rod would not work, but would destroy the possessor using it. Removing the Zone Rod from its case, she set it for Zone Wide Range, Full Neutralize, and Short Distance. Setting the pod door for a thirty-second closure, she opened it and stepped out to face the two men. Standing there until the door closed, she turned to see one man approaching her, while the other remained standing and watching. Sirena pointed her finger at him and said, "Atchey, Thacumba, Jemah," causing him to freeze in place. The other man began to run away and she froze him in place, too. However, he had one foot off of the ground at the time and fell down. She left him lying there and walked over to the first one. Placing her hand on the man’s head to read his memory, she found it filled with all sorts of information. However, her interest was in only three items: had he seen Aakeode, how they found the pod, and their means of language communication. The man had not seen Aakeode. He and the other man found the pod today, while watching the stream after the flash flood. The language communication was somewhat more difficult to determine. Sirena went through several memory gyrations before she understood some of the more intricate words Finally finished with the man, she walked back to the pod’s door, pointed her finger at the man on the ground and wiggled her fingers to release him. Red Arrow got up, stood there for a few moments and shook his head. Then he looked at her, his tomahawk on the ground, and ran away. He stopped at the ladder, where he turned around to watch her and the other man. Pointing her finger at the first man, she uttered a few words to release all of his body but his feet. Little Coyote’s head shook, as he tried to clear his mind. Then, finding his feet would not move, he looked at her with frightened eyes. "Who are you? What do want with me?" he asked.
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About the Book
During the Mesozoic era, beings from another world attempted to colonize the earth. However, a shower of meteorites destroyed the colony. Two people, a male, Aakeode, and his spouse, Sirena, became the only survivors. Placed in separate life preserving pods, their bodies assumed a dormant state of sleep. As time passed, the two pods passed through many changes in the surface of the earth. Centuries later, the two survivors awoke to find the pods had separated, and each began hoping to find the other. More centuries passed, as the two continued searching without success. They used their powers to acquire other bodies when necessary. Follow Sirena as she boldly advances through different bodies, situations, and countries in her search for Aakeode. The story, Ghost Church, describes the husband’s search for Sirena.
About the Author
Correll Pryce is a retired computer programmer and system analyst. He began working with business accounting equipment during the early days of mechanical machines. With the advent of commercial accounting beginning the use of computers, he worked with them to expand his knowledge and abilities. He retired after designing and programming many computer applications. He lives in Hollywood, Florida, and has written two other books: F.E., Techs, and Jackie, and Ghost Church. F.E., Techs, and Jackie is a fictional account of memorable incidents in Correll’s working career. Ghost Church is the companion book of Sirena. There is another book in progress, as part of the trilogy.