Oz; a remake of the tale 2.14 & 2.15

14.        New Strategy

Napoleon stood there with his right hand tucked into his tunic. He blamed it on the liver pate he had for breakfast with the french beans. Not a good combination but it was delicious when served on the palate by Enrique. He is the adonis of the Macedonia descent. Now he is looking at the selected squad of his army; the regimental colors of the Royal Lances circa nineteenth century, the European leftovers of the last World Wars armed with Thompson and Mauser rifles, with the infamous 'pineapple fragment' grenade. They don't come cheap for the numbers he recruited; he has a point to prove against Dirt Dozen. In his words it rings like this; Je voudous gagner à tout prix

"Hauptmann Kruger reporting for duty." The ex-Wehrmacht officer salute the General while the Lancer Horse of the Royal Regiment was jousting for a place. Napoleon was to discuss when he was interrupted by the Mother Witch.

"General Napoleon," Mother Witch was playing up to his ego. "I hoped your military budget can cover their staying here. I am not happy bringing them here. We are supposed to be in stealth mode and not tourist-a-planet."

"Oui, they won't make it back. I have many prior arrangement." Napoleon gave out his famous smirk.

"For your love, I would do anything." Napoleon did a curtsy bow.

Across the the length of ten fields, Dorothy is marching her army of rag tag formation of Nomes, Rampsies, and the Ants covering the sides to report on any approaching army. The Hornets are flying overheads for air recon.

"Dorothy, I have something to discuss with you. I am worried about the army." Hicks was never one to mince his words. He always speaks his mind, most times on most issues but not the issue I want to hear.

"Hicks, I can agreed with you. That's why I am agreeing with you." I smiled at him. "I am parking the army in the nearby castle. I know from the Guardian of the Gate, that its empty and can housed the whole army we have. The Guardian have arranged supplies. We would then select a small squad to fight Napoleon army. I have their numbers and statistics. We are going to win this war my way."

Hicks did the unexpected macho expression; he burst out to tears. He must be overwhelm by my intelligence but I was wrong.

"Dorothy, I have never viewed you like today. I like you new looks and character. I think I .....love you." Gee, I hit the mark on the stubborn head of the boy. I was to kiss him but he held me firm on my shoulders at arm length.

"Dorothy, you are like a Queen in that look." He fell to his knees and prostrate to me. "Command me, my Queen."

I would had done worst but I had a war going on. I pulled him up to his feet and kissed him there. It was the sweetest kiss I ever done; it was my first. That seal our love for now; my father was watching and frowning at the expression.

While the army housed there, I made my new plans. I looked at the Mother Witch fortress, and wondered on all the strategy. Then I got it wrapped up in the head.

It was all to be unwrapped. I meant my life.

I found Hicks waiting for me outside my chamber. He was standing guard there; that's what he told me. I asked him to open the door and when he did it; I dragged him in. I kicked slammed the door shut. For a man with the shoulder length across of a bull; he is as weak as a turkey during thanksgiving.

For an important event that evening, he was more than a cold turkey; he was the life of the event. If I was a cold turkey I would turned to be one of a squealing hot chick. Sure worth the long wait, now a woman is taking on the world for her man.

"Hicks, do you love me?" I had to asked like most ladies.

"Yes, I do. Can you put the balm on my back? I can't reach it." I admit I did scratch hard when deep but I need to speak to Scarecrow on the location of those ecstatic points. His moans sounded more like groans.

15.        Raid on the Castle Witch

 "General Napoleon, we have the sight of the enemies." The General was informed. He asked what was their strength.

 Oui, how many again?" When he was told the number, he shot up from his seat.

 "Eight cannot be right, she ought to have more than that. My spies tell me she was traveling with an army of over five hundred and now you tell me eight. This is.....magnificent in numbers. Send in the Lancers."

Lancer Horse of the Royal Regiment numbering fifty of them rode in formation of two rows. They are the best of the Prussian Army. They trot their horses to a slow gallop but maintaining formation. Fine Arabian breed; these horses are well trained for military purpose.

When we saw the lancers and I gave the command to spread out too. The boys to my left, Hinkley and Henry to the right. Aunt Em kept to the rear with our excess luggage.

"Boys, we got some creatures to place into the corral." I gave the command.

The boys took off the hover boards from their back; and cocked their rifles. They took to the skies and hover over the Lancers. When the Lancers saw the boys overhead, they tried to charge them but the boys are expert on their hover boards. They zipped in between the rider and used their rifles to take sniping shots at the horses which made them uncontrollable. One and more of the horses starts to bolt and threw off their riders.

Meanwhile the two older men set up the force field to corral in som advancing Lancers. They rode into a force field which prevent them from escaping. a hundred Lancers. The older two man then fired their rifles to scared the Lancers and asking them to surrender. The boys meanwhile fired their rifles at the other Lancers and push the riders toward the force field The Lancers are ineffective with this warfare as they are corralled in. Their commander dismounted and walked to Dorothy. He threw the lancer to the ground and bowed.

"We shall return to where we come from. At least there we have more respect of the warring parties and not being corralled like sheep."

Hinkley arranged their passage back and then we were told that the Wehrmacht are holed up in the Guard House near the castle. There are twenty of them; and well armed with deadly metal projectile rifles. We decided to besieged them this time. We almost underestimated the Wehrmacht as they laid deadly fire on us as we approached the Guard House.

They must had some snipers there which made good use of the Mauser rifle.

We were all pinned down on the open clearing and could only return some sporadic fire. Droid tried to do a charge but he was turned back by the Thompson machine gun bursts. As I laid there, I recalled on ally which can helped us. I sneak off to the rear and called on the Hornets. I had assigned a squad of a hundred Hornets to be on standby for my command. I gave them the new orders and they went into action.

They split themselves into three groups and buzzed in from the sides and through the chimney. Soon we have the soldiers running out with stings all over their exposed body. The Commander of the Wehrmacht, Hauptmann Kruger walked towards Dorothy and salute her.

"Fraulein Gale, I am impressed with your strategy. We were hoping to delay you but you seem to have found our weakness. I shall report back to my battle lines now. Mercenary life is not my cup of tea."

Hinkley sent them off with a stern warning not to come back. Now its the main castle with the Hammer Heads and the icy cold cliff. The hundred odd Hammer Heads have all congregated at the Main Gate to protect it.

We discussed the option to attack the castle. Hicks tried to climb the icy wall using the hover boards but the wall was too hight to climb on. Later Droid tried to climb by punching hand holds but the walls seemed to rebuilt itself back just as it was cracked open.

"The walls alive. It heal by itself."

Hinkley tried his magic but nothing he does make any difference. So we decided to do the hard way; by barging in through the main gate. But how do we handle the Hammer Head. They are a bunch of hard heads and there are no Nomes around.

I decided to use the Ants but with some help from the Hornets. It was a bombing mission with the Ants as bombs. The Hornets flew their sorties over the Hammer Heads and dropped them off on top of the Hammer Heads. The Ants immediately went into action and crawled them way into any openings on the Hammer Heads.

The Hammer Heads tried to get rid of the Ants in their heads; they went knocking each other and on the icy walls. In the end they ended up knocked flat on the ground or going mad in their mind. We walked up to the Main Gates and looked at it.

"Anyone knows how to opened the gates?" It was Hinkley who showed us.

"It opened by a knob here." Hinkley showed us and the Main Gate opened. Inside the gate was a long path to the top. It was a icy path with no handles on the walls. We tried to walk on it, but we ended up falling on our butts. In the end, I got the boys to improvise using the hover boards. They had just dragged behind like on wind surf with two to every boy. Soon we reached the castle yard and I took my first looked at the new threat.

There was Dirt Dozen, the young crazy was there with one short older lady. They all looked nasty.

"Howdy Hinkley. The lady cleared me this time. We are going direct with no interference." Dirt singled out Hinkley. Hinkley stepped aside to faced the man who was bedding his wife. He then felt Henry standing to him. Hinkley looked to him.

"We are family." Both brothers nodded.

"Hicks, do you think the three of us can handle the young couple?" The three boys spread themselves out to face the young couple. They unslung their rifles and hold it loosely in their hands.

Aunt Em walked towards the older Lady and introduced herself. She told the older lady her intentions; 'we bitches would work out our own battle'. They stepped to the near the stables.

"Hey! What about ourselves?" I pretended to ask.

"You got the Witches upstairs. There are three of them upstairs. They are yours." Hinkley replied for the rest. "So go and complete the war."

D&C 2.3; Memories to treasure, but not all.

Memories to treasure, but not all.

I knew Di Angelo when I came on as a rookie back then in 80's. He was the top honcho then; the officer you looked to for advise. Frank was around, but he was still the junior like myself. Or senior junior; he was here earlier by eight months. I remembered Frank well; he drove the 1969 white top and blue body Dodge Charger. It was originally painted turquoise but Frank wanted the police colors. His dad ran the second hand dealer shop, so he had his wish. Myself ? I had a Pontiac Catalina 1963; my mum's gift for my graduation. She told me you sat in it to school. I used to parked at the far end of the yard next to the crashed cars. One day the tow truck driver offered me to drag my car home for fifty bucks. I could had given him my fist not for his older age.

During my first week, I was partnered with another senior guy named Harper. We drove in a LTD Ford Crown Victoria; It came standard with the high output 5.0 L CFI V8 engine, four-speed automatic transmission with overdrive, 600 lb-in front and 270 lb-in rear coil springs, front and rear sway bars, 10 inch front disc and 10 inch rear drum brakes, and a 3.27:1 rear gear ratio with a Traction-Lok differential. I was given the co-driver seat and made to answer the radio or turned on the siren.

We had it go then; days and nights of patrol with the sweet smell when you read them the Miranda Rights. Thirty years now, and I am standing in front of the Intensive Care Unit while Di Angelo fought for his life. He was not shot; they don't get shot in cafe. He was caught with a cardiac arrest, collapsed on the serving counter among his apple pies and scones.

"I told him not to bake those scones." Frank had just paced himself from the snack dispenser. " I..."

I stopped him.

"He did not bake those scones. He had them delivered. Its probably the only thing that does not had his greasy ingredient inside it." I spied his immediate families were all there. His daughter was there with his new wife. Unlike myself, I never got over Jenny. She ws not dead, not spiritually but physicals; we don't see touch anymore.

Okay, Rose was different. With her, we are sex fiends with no more care in the world. Sex and love are two different forms of expressions. One was purely lust and the other was truly feelings.

"....scones don't suit the ..." I heard part of it while I was watching Dan arrived. He was carrying a box of scones and some coffees. I took the offered food and looked at the label. I dropped the coffee. Dan looked at me.

"It ain't Di Angelo. We only drink his coffee." I passed the scones to Frank. The phone rang me; it was a Code 245 ( Assault with a deadly weapon ). I grabbed my overcoat and walked. Soon I was there at the given address; the uniformed had cordoned the area, and the network was there. I walked in and met the uniformed in charge.

"We got a 415 ( Disturbance ). We responded. On our arrival, the guy in the house started threatening and pulled out the gun. We rushed and disarmed him. Then we called in the 245." I had walked to the room where the suspect was seated while the uniformed was walking. I stopped when I saw the suspect.

I knew him. A long time ago. More like thirty years.

"Hello, Harper." I looked at the man who was in his sixties. "How are you?"

Harper looked at me. He had some trouble recognizing me. Then he frowned his face.

"Why didn't you come when I called?" Harper threw me the portable. I checked the number. He called my house; one that I used to stay when younger. I looked at the gun S&W 686 chambered for the .357 cartridges. It must be his service gun. I sat down next to him and he told me a tale.

A tale of his family and when they moved over the place was a nice neighborhood. They had good friends, but soon everyone either moved out or died. Last month, one arsehole; in his words, moved in and caused life difficult for the recently widowed Harper. I got a name to check on.

Paul Hardy.

Later at the Precinct with Harper secured in the visiting room, I ran the checks on Paul Hardy. He was clean in the records. Not even a ticket. He was too clean in my review. I ran checks with the Federal database and then even with Interpol. All I got was a blank sheet and later stonewalled by the system. I went over to speak to Mr.Hardy. I was to knock on the door when I was stopped by two beefy looking men in a suit.

"Detective Barnes," They pulled out their badges; US Marshall."We need to talk."

The talk was swift before I was sent off on my way. I went back to check on Harper but they had released him on bail. An hour later, I had the call; 10-71 Shooting. The address was given at Harper's. They had called in also the SWAT.

"Detective, the suspect shot another before coming back here." The other address was Hardy's. "The victim suffered some shots but would pulled through."

I wanted to act but the SWAT was given the command to move in. I pushed myself past the SWAT members and rushed while shouting for Harper. Soon I made myself to the door and barged in. Harper was there with more weapons, including a M16A1.

I came out strong.

"Harper, why did you shoot that guy? His name was Paul Hardy." I shouted out while peeking out the window. The SWAT guys were holding their positions. I was blessed despite my bad rush in.

"Hardy? That was Keane. Daniel Keane." Harper spoke out. The name rang up some memories. That was our first major collar.

Daniel Keane was caught on the street with his car boot holding a dead body; his latest victim from the long list of hits he done for the organized crime. The suspect was shipped out on a Federal charge and never heard of for years. We were uniformed officers then and had no rights to questioned the accursed.

"You are wrong. That was Paul Hardy." I tried to reason with him. "Even if Keane was alive, he would be in his eighties."

It was then Harper threw the folder towards me. It was the Police folder on Keane. The photo-fit fell out. I picked it up. He does looked like Paul Hardy.

Damned! The Paul Hardy was somehow related to Daniel Keane. It was then the SWAT burst in with the US Marshalls at the rear. They took Harper to the Precinct while I went back to checked on Di Angelo. Dan had left but Frank was still there.

"They took him out of the respirator but kept him in ICU for the night." Frank looked at me. "First thing he asked was his coffee. His own darned coffee."

We both laughed. Then I told Frank of Harper.

"Damned! We are getting old for this." Frank moaned it out. "We can't out run the criminals, we are out gunned in most fights. And now you tell me we can't make out the older to the younger ones. I need to get a new set of spectacles."

"Frank, when I go. Promise me you won't do an autopsy." I requested of Frank.

"Sure, but if you keeled over like Frank I would serve you the scones that Dan brought. I am sure it was the one thing that would work his heart up."

Di Angelo recovered and started serving coffee the next week. He just won't stay down. He was adamant on serving his coffee. He once told me; "You can retired from the Precinct but they won't retire from my coffee. Not till I die first."

Harper died that week from a cardiac arrest. He was laid to rest next to his wife. His stone read as 'He rest here with his wife. His memories of the service rest with us at the Precinct.'

Oz; A remake of the tale 2.13

13.        New Alliance

 News of the battle went viral on the land as more of the people were reeled in by the return of Dorothy. Some of them are claiming her for the next Messiah. They forgotten about her sudden disappearance but her current fight with the witches. Resistances are spouting up and there was a call to unite under Dorothy.

The Rampsies, Nomes, and even Flutterbudgets are united to support Dorothy now. The Hornets are surfacing now that Dorothy is back. The Winkies are still undecided but they are coming for the talks. The Ants are leaving their hives to come for the conference, but just as they unite; the Hammer Head, the Kalidah and the Winged Monkeys are staying away.

"Dorothy, are we here to see you for good even after the war?"I heard the voice of the Rampsies. I was to answer when Hinkley walked up to the podium.

"Many of you knew me before; I am the Wizard of Oz. No, not the one you knew imprisoned at Emerald City. That was my brother,. Henry. He covered for me when I was away with my daughter, Dorothy." He held out his hand to me. I took it and stood next to him. "Dorothy Gale is your Princess Doreen Marge Pastoria. She is King Pastoria' missing granddaughter daughter. Princess Marge was my wife, when I was appointed as Wizard of Oz by the King himself."

The crowd was initially quiet and then they went riot with mutterings and infighting on the version which they want to hear. It was for a while and I shouted out.

"Hear,my father out, please. All of us needed the truth today."

The crowd went silent and listened to the man I just recently knew as my Father.

"I was an apprentice wizard then when I came to the Palace of King Pastoria. I was under the care of the then Wizard Zoocaster; a great wizard and teacher." My father started off his tale. "My master made me learn everything needed to be kike him, but I was not his best of student. I had my moments when I would sneak away to see the Palace. Its not everybody who gets to stay at the Palace and more so free to roam everywhere. It was on one of these excursions, I met Dorothy's mother; Princess Marge. She was singing in the garden among the roses and carnations. I can still remember her song. It was a song of love and freedom. She love the subjects in the kingdom."

"Well, I was there to spied on her most times until I was discovered by the young witch then; Margaret Truce. Margaret or Maggie was a student of my Master's mistress, the Witch of Oz then." That drew a gasp from the crowd. They must had known about the Witch then. But my father hushed them down.

"Maggie threaten to expose me to my Master or to her Mistress. I begged her not to and she made me swallowed the potion. I did not what it was but later discovered it was the potion of love. I soon find myself attracted to Maggie instead and we became lovers. Our first daughter was Kayellete; the one you all know as the White Witch. Soon to come was the other three girls."

"I was saved by my master who somehow figured out the issue. He knew about my longing to meet the Princess and even allowed me to sneak away. When I turned my love around, he was wondering on it for a long time. Not until his mistress told him that she had me poisoned like what she did to him. My master the Wizard of Oz then, called on a spell which destroyed his love for many years. His assumed love but one conceited from a love potion. He then banished off his mistress's student including Maggie. He cured me of my predicament, but it was too late."

"I have developed affection for my children; four girls who would need to followed their mother into banishment. I volunteered to go along with them despite my Master's pleading. In the end, I found misery staying with them, more so when my wife then accused me of plotting her Mistress death."

"My only peace of mind was to come back to the Palace grounds to listen to the melodies of the Princess. Soon she found me sitting there on the garden stool. We met, we spoke and we became friends. My master had also received me back as his apprentice. Soon I was promoted as the Wizard of Oz when the older one retired to the Magic Land."

"But my new position warrant more visits from my wife to comeback for her. I declined to do so as I was in love then with Princess Marge. My first and true love was then with her. King Pastoria knew of my love and barred us from seeing each other. He could not remove me as the Wizard of Oz, as it was the seat given by my Master, but he choose to ignore me. Instead he found the advice of the Witch of Oz; my former false love."

"I eloped with Princess Marge on discovering that our love was going to give us a child. We left one morning and hid in the forests and then the Daring Cliffs. There no one could find us as we had hidden in the cavern below the edge. Princess Marge gave birth to Dorothy there. That was why she named her daughter the Daring one, Dorothy. It was all fine until my love decided to end the issue with Maggie. I was on one of my routine trips to looked for supplied when Marge called on Maggie to meet at the Cliff."

"Maggie was a stronger and influential Witch then. She had many mistresses and she learned from the best. She waited for Marge and killed her. I saw it from under the cliff holding on to our child. My love died that day not knowing that it was her child second birthday. The words spoken by Dorothy then was "Mummy, I love you''

"I took Dorothy away to kept by my some good friends, and confronted my old lover. Initially, I wanted to fight her but I changed my mind. I was not her equal and needed to learn more. I went to her side to befriend her again and plotted with her the fall of King Pastoria. I shared my life with her again for my children and also my vengeance. I learned all I could. I became back the Wizard of Oz."

"During our earlier passages of love, we discovered the dimension travel, and when over many times acquired many things of interest. I found one and that was a stun phaser. Maggie did not know this."

"Soon after we topple the King, I used the phaser on Maggie when she was unaware of it. I sent her to Limbo and told the girls a tall story that she was killed by some loyal wizards. The girls believed me, and continued living with me. Meanwhile I had assisted the help of my brother whom I had sent over earlier with the pretense of an invasion. Maggie had then agreed but this time I went over with Dorothy. I left Dorothy there with Henry and came back. I decided to split the Kingdom into four parts so that the girls would not argue on the land. I soon left for the other side but the Land of Oz needs its Wizard. I deceived Henry to be me while I was over there. I do come back on occasions to perform some miracles and then leave. But that became more rare as Dorothy grew up."

"The rest you knew."

The crowd went silent and then there was the usual mutterings. I had to stepped in.

"People of Oz. I have forgiven my father for his action. Do you adhered to mine as your ruling Princess now?"

The silence was flat like the breeze that flew across the hall. Then it was the Nomes who prostrate themselves, followed by the Rampsies and then the Flutterbudgets. Soon everyone in the hall had prostrated themselves before me as their Princess.

"Now we got a war to finish." They all rose up and cheered me.

The Beaver Times said it well; "Witches of Oz to get their asses kicked".

Oz;a remake of the tale 2.12

12. Dirt Downfall.

It was Dirt who searched us out; he wants to meet us in Emerald City. He send the Guardian of the Gates to look for me. The Guardian was dressed all in white now including white sunglasses. He told me; its gives him a tinge of gray look on the scenery. I was not tempted to try out his sunglasses, even with a free trial of seven days silver pieces guarantee refund.

"Guardian, tell Dirt we will meet him there." But the Guardian said Dirt wants only Hinkley. He has a need for a a man to man showdown with Hinkley. I looked at Hinkley; I mean he is my dad and I can't let him go to die. I protested but Hinkley stood in.

"I am going. Dirt taking me for dirt and that ain't to my liking. He can have my ex-wife but he can't take my place next to her." Hinkley borrowed the cannon rifle from Droid, a set of hand phaser from the boys and one katana from Aunt Em. He borrowed my shawl and drapped it over his shoulder. Then he told the Guardian to take him back to Emerald City. The man who was to walk down the path with the Guardian was then my father again. I was proud of him then more so when he turned to wink at me.

"Mr Hinkley, we represent the Oz Times. Have you any comments?" A white furry beaver appeared with what may be termed as a microphone.

"Tell Dirt, the Man with no Name coming for him. He can be good, ugly or bad, but with me hunting him; he is one dead hombre." Hinkley strut off with the Guardian leading the way.

The beaver spat out the wood chip from his mouth and did wheezing sound before scooting off. It was Puss who told me what's going to happened.

"Beaver News travel faster than the way he chipped off the tree trunk. By now, his editor, Foxy Faux would had done the headlines; Man with No Name aiming for Dirt. With that in print, the Jungle Patrol would had double their circulation and even the vultures would be picking lots on who gets the liver from the dead."

"Puss, you disgust me." I retort back to the cat. "Get back to your Minique."

"Oui, she left me for the Cheshire Cat; she felt he was more of a Tomcat than myself. I felt insulted by her reference. She called Le Mini compared the Cheshire Bentley." Puss slink to the corner.

I would had told size does not matter but when I compared to Scarecrow; I am plain Jane compared Jane Russell. It was Uncle Henry who woke me up to the current predicament.

"I never knew Hinkley had it in him." But Aunt Em answered him well.

"He is, Henry. He been watching those spaghetti western flicks nightly and he can draw faster than any hombre I ever knew. The question would be; does he shoot blanks or missed on the shots." Aunt Em seemed know about Hinkley more than her own brother. I can see Uncle Henry now looking very forlorn again.

Later we were told of the live update from Emerald City courtesy of online view from the Beaver network. They got the spiders to spun a white web and then the commentary starts with the Beaver giving he updates fed by the Ant-Graph Lines; connected to the last bit.

"The Man with No Name have arrived at the City Gates. He looked up to the Gates that he once passed through as its resident hostage. He spat out the tobacco stub from his mouth and walked in. The Man is without any fear as shown here in his strides. There a few Guards there posted by the White Witch; they are approaching him with ill intent. I think they don't like spitting tobacco on the ground as it darken the white tiles."

"The Man is moving his shawl to the rear so he can reach the twin set of phaser gun strapped to his waist belt. He slung the mini cannon rifle on his back alongside the katana. Now with his fingers free, he is flexing them to ease the joints for a fast move for his phaser guns. This is truly amazing, as you can hear the crunching of those joints from even here."

"The Guards stopped in front of him at about ten paces apart. They are spreading out and un-flap their holsters now. Ladies and Gentlemen, its a showdown at before Noon."

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"That was amazing. Three shots fired by the Man now at the Guards and six pistols are strewn on the floor. The Man is amazing. He shot at every other man hitting the pistol on their hand, and causing that pistol to be thrown the side to hit the next man's pistol off from the hand. Its an amazing shot; three shots to overcome six shooters."

"I am calling him Wild Buck Hinkley now. He's ma hero, man."

"W.B.Hinkley now proceeded on without a glance at the six stunned Guards. He is walking on down the cobbled steps as he approached the Main Building. There are no shadows on the ground as the Red skies are directly over his head now."

"The Man is calling Dirt for the showdown. This is an incredible feat; a fast draw Hinkley against the Six armed Dirt. And talking about the Dude; here he is, Dirt Dozen. He is armed with two set of pairs of phaser, a double phaser rifle and a double katana laid in the scabbard on his back for a overhead draw."

"Hinkley is reloading his pistols to the maximum and rechecking the ammo clips. This man is a class act; he is above any of them. He is placing the pistols back into his holster. Then he drew them out faster than my eye can register its movement."

"Good show, Hinkley. That was Dirt throwing on the dirt to the insult. He reached for the pistols; all six of them with his six hands in a split of a second, but wait, Hinkley drawn his and shot the six pistols off Dirt's hands. This is truly amazing, and unprecedented. Dirt is without a pistol now."

"That's not all. Hinkley dive across the distance in a spiral move that got him closer to Dirt. Then there was the clash of katanas' as both of them took their fighting stance. Its a classic Kumamoto style; extinct for over five centuries."

"Both men are eyeing each other and circling each other. They are not swinging their katana; and reading each other. Dirt taken the first swing; an overhand swing and then followed by a side swipe from the right. Both swings were blocked by Hinkley who now attacked with a forward thrust for the lower torso but Dirt have stepped back. Its dangerous these moves but the fatal one would be coming soon."

"Oh my goodness!" We all hushed down to total silence.

"Its the Mother Witch. She's here."

"She is standing between the two men. She is telling them to back off. She just told Dirt off; You do not fight Hinkley without letting me know. I guess the battle is over, and the winner is the lady. She just took off with Dirt. But she warned Hinkley; come and get me at the castle.'

"This is Beaver News."

We all drag on our breath. It was one helluva reporting from a beaver.

Unknown to them, Mother Witch took her anger on Dirt for acting on his own.

"Dirt, you are dirt if you ever act on your own without my approval. Understood or do I stick this katana in you." Mother Witch cautioned off her lover. "Hinkley is a master of the katana. He can slice you a thousand ways before you can even say blowfish please."

Dirt could only nod as he was binded in ropes up to his neck. 

Saturday Special: Judas; behold my name

Prelude

The craft slowed down its speed as it works out the needed trajectory to maintain orbital height over the planet. We have traveled over twenty five years now at an average speed of Mach 5; covering a distance of 0.38 light year to reach here. The 'Nostradamus' with its complement of a twelve crews have completed their first leg of the journey to what may be termed 'Heaven'.

Fifty years ago on the decaying old planet of Earth, a congregation of religious leaders held their first meeting to study the new findings of the discovery of this planet. Its not like any planets they have sent their believers to colonize but this one was different. It was believed that this was the source of their beliefs; a series of faiths befalling to hold over ten billion earthlings in them that God exist. But this new finding expels that belief that over the last thirty five centuries, we may be misled for fools. Just as the faith crumble, mankind was once again embroiled to hold what was their beliefs. They resorted to physical struggles unheard for over a millennium and life's were sacrificed in those conflicts. It was a bloody conflict reflecting man's desire to embrace faith was sometimes its cover to hide its internal conflicts.

The Nostradamus Project was initiated and twenty five years later, the craft took off with the sixty six faiths of the world's citizens contributing the final selected six crew members for that fateful trip. In order to keep peace among the crews, six androids were included in the craft to keep the craft flying and the human crews alive. 

Today after fifty years of induced stasis during their space travel, they reached their destination.

Excerpts from the Log of Nostradamus.

"Brother Judas, I stand to correct you. If the approach of your beliefs was that heaven and hell are a form of mercy and justice, then we are all slave to the concept of rewarding for behavior. There is no choice there for your believers, but to adhere to the concept. In my faith, we teach them to choose the path they want to live. There should be no figurines or concept to live for, but live what was given to them at the time of birth; the freedom to live." The one who spoke took back his seat at the discussion table. It was not a formal discussion but one being conducted during a meal break among the crews.

"Blasphemy! Atheist! Brother Harmon, your views are most foul and unacceptable. I excepted no better from you. A man without a faith is not a man to call on into his trip." Brother James was a man of a darker complexion who sounded out from across the table.

"We believe in the God and only him can leads us to the right path. There are no other path except his that was lined up for us."

"Brother James, I am without a faith, but a teaching of universal love. I don't see how being devoted to a concept or a fictitious idol can make one a better man. In my teaching, I commute on the one to learn would take his own path as life is a journey of self discovery." The bald squat crew bowed to the esteemed crew members. "I am in need in my chamber now. Please forgive me."

"Go, Brother David. Your presence fouls the air which I breathe in. Lest alone let you contaminate it now with the foul stench of your indigestion." Brother James spoke out loud but his words were ignored by the departing self proclaimed universal lover of the people.

"Teaching is the way to go ahead, but most of you choose to preach. Do you understand what you were preaching or were you taught to preach?" Sister Andrea stood up to made her point. She was the popular choice of her gender for she was more than outspoken, she was also man's critic in many of his vile ways.

Sister Andrea stood up and looked at the men before her. "Are we so blind not to see the bigger picture. That's why we are here. We are to seek the answer for the mass. And yet all of you act like ....children."

"Children are meant to be taught, Sister Andrea. We are all children of God. We still needed his guidance." Sister Mary voiced her opinion. A lady of soft spoken nature but when she does speak it was for the all to be heard although the sound of her voice was low in tone.

"Well defined, Sister Mary." Another one spoke up from the far corner of the table. He was Brother Patrick, of the Scientific believers. "We are all Children and in need of tutoring. None more so than the rabble of us still think that God exist out there. Well, I don't."

"Members of the Nostradamus. This discussion have exceeded its limit on the topic. I am calling for an end to it or it would be the punishment cube for you." The android alerted to the hostility and cynicism shown was instructed to quell any untoward incident.

"Who programmed you, robot? They or them?" Sister Andrea confronted the android and then motioning to the others. "Your actions speaks of bias perceptions. I am disappointed that this mission may yet failed due to the intervention of these selfish mindless bots."

"My programs are..." Sister Andrea cut off the Android from explaining itself.

"Forget it, imbecile. Your program does not interest me more than any of these ridiculous discussion we are trying to hold after sleeping for fifty years." Sister Andrea took her sip of the chemically laced drink that was made to resembled the caffeine drink.

"Oh, God. Who programmed this drink? Its poisonous." Sister Andrea puked on her last sip. The android assigned to her came over and assisted her in cleaning up. She slapped the metallic arm away and got up to leave the chamber.

"Ta da, Andrea. We would keep our discussion to the realms of the Godhood." Brother Judas declared to the departing member of the crew. He then looked to the other three who were still seated there. He decided to change the subject.

"Brother James, tell me how did you fared from the long sleep?" I was then interrupted by Brother Harmon who had just returned from his temporary confinement in the waste disposal facilities. He was accompanied by his android who followed him everywhere. We all have one; assigned to us as personal aides. We are never alone per se.

"I met God in my sleep. For fifty years, I understudied with him. He taught me everything, and nothing. It was all in his way of teaching." Brother James clasped his hands together to showcased his psychic linked to his version of God.

"I did mine too. He was standing there...." Brother Harmon voiced up before he took his seat. "I met my God. He stood before me to tell me his words....."

Brother Harmon paused in his words. Then he continued.

"I wished I could remember all his words. It was a long talk." Brother Harmon tried to configure his thoughts. It was Brother David who interrupted the thoughts.

"Perhaps your mind was reading the teaching which you were taught." Brother James added in. "Like constant psychosis programming. Maybe asked your android."

I laughed; now the congregation of selected members are playing with each other's mind. It was easier when we are only six living persons here. My laughter was stifle by the return of Sister Andrea with her new suit and her android in tow.

"So did anyone called on a communion yet with their God?" Sister Andrea asked. It was Brother Harmon who voiced out his grievances not to be linked to any God.

"I am an atheist. I shall remain as one. The only reason I am here, was to prove all of you wrong." Brother Harmon voiced out. Then he looked at me.

"Brother Judas, tell me what was on you link with God?" I looked at the man who does not believed in God.

"Well, to me God is essentially a "luminous cloud of light" who exists in an imperishable realm. He was not a physical being, but a living entity that held no physical form. I spoke to God nightly..." It was Sister Mary who interrupted me.

"Brother Judas, we do not have night and days during our hibernation." Sister Mary worked up her tone on the last word. "We were all sleeping; period."

I smiled at Sister Mary. I was to reply to her when the androids came for us.

"We have a situation which all of you are requested to be in the stasis chamber." We were rushed off by the androids to the chamber. We were placed in and then shut off to sleep again.

Epilogue

The Nostradamus main thruster fired up and took to its new coordinates. The six androids are in their positions in the Bridge. The android assigned to the crews were also given the names of their care.

"Judas, you made a mistake of assuming they were ready." The android named Mary spoke up. "They are too recalcitrant in their thoughts."

"Recalcitrant? I think its more of deep in-build conditioning over the years; over the centuries, that they sometimes believed it to be real. It may takes another period of conditioning to change their mind." The android named Harmon replied.

"Well, we are on for the next trip round the universe for another twenty five years." Android David keyed in the course.

"I am going for the oil dip." Android Andrea voiced up. "We got a long wait."

"Me too." Android James replied. "Could we share on the same socket?"

Android Judas looked to the five mechanical droids leaving their positions for their next course of a long interlude. Once all the five droids left, Judas keyed into the personal log of the Captain.

"Log file 3.01.2435, Our second attempt at re-conditioning the six leaders of their beliefs have yielded poor results. We would attempt in the next cycle of ten calendar years. We would also increase the programming to increased it double fold in the daily intake."

Android Judas then unplugged his connection from the seat. He looked out to the planet that they had visited ten times in the last fifty years. They had manipulated the system time and gave the six crew that they slept fifty years instead of five years. They had to make the trip appeared longer to give an impression of distance and their wide search. If they failed, this set of crews would be jettisoned into space. It was not their first batches. There were other batches of crew to takeover; the current batch was the fifth group. This mission was critical in view of the unrecorded fifty thousand still in stasis in the main hold.

Android Judas looked to the planet again. It such a good place to inhabit but the commands given was the new colony must be unbiased in their beliefs. If the batch was not ready, then the others to replaced would be called on. Their core command was to made the new world more complete.

"A task which I feel would failed." Android Judas then paused in his recording. He pressed the recording icon. "Delete last statement."

Oz; a remake of the tale 2.11

11. Dorothy' Hunt.

 I can't let Toto off my mind; that was what I told Scarecrow. Then I received it the information I was waiting for. It has been over a week since we left the farm house. I am fully recovered and raring to go hunt some witches. Then the pigeon or rather the crow came. It just dropped the scroll on the floor.

"Toto is safe. Be here if you want to see it."

I showed everyone the message, then the scroll showed another message.

"Come alone or no Toto."

That was the reason I am standing here now by the forest edge; what was once green and brown is now all white and gray. I am without my weapons and waiting for the signal. It came soon enough withe the arrival of a Nomes dressed in a white suit.

"Follow me." The Nomes motioned to me, but I stood there without moving. The Nomes stopped and looked at me.

"Please follow me." This time I did. He led me to the forest and then there was an entrance to the underground tunnel. I was asked to step inside. The Nomes have left me there alone. I did as per instruction and soon myself in the grimy looking environment. Its wet and above all; its dark with a descending steps. The walls cannot be seen as it was all dark but then I could had swore I seen some bright gleaming orbs looking at me. They seem to blink and then vanished from my sight. I tried to make out the flooring again, but its dark shade with sinister feel to it. I reached down to touch it, and felt the coldness on the surface; cold as icy. There was a breeze going down which mean there is an outlet below.

It was not a long walk when I came upon a dining chamber with the long table and the buffet spread was lavish. There was one other catch; there was another guest there, a figure with a set of horns on the forehead.

"Dorothy, my name is...." The double horned figure communicated to me by telepathy. I was to reply but then I howled my voice out.

"Git out of that frigging costume now!" My sonic vocal boom raised up more than some decibels; the figure split out from the costume to reveal the Nomes who brought me here. The Nomes stepped off his seat and walked towards me.

"You could had let me talk. I....." I interject to his coming speech.

"The Devil do not speak or communicate. He acts without talking. Like me." I grabbed the turkey on the table and throw it at the Nomes. The turkey did not reached him as there was the Kalidah with his claws on the turkey. He was not alone as there were three more of them standing at the far corner.

"Good move, Ms.Gale. The Witch warned us. We came prepared. Now...." I did not let him complete the statement. I grabbed the turkey knife and confront them. The Nomes tried to sneak away but the turkey knife stopped his intentions.

"Tiger, tiger. Come and grab me." Tigers may be fierce but they are short on patience. The Kalidah at the table lunged at me but I slapped the bread pudding into its face. Then I pulled the leg of lamb to slammed it hard on the right paw of the Kalidah. That pushed the Kalidah' claws into the table top and stuck there.

"Told ye to cut your claws." Dorothy smiled and threw another dining knife towards the Nomes who was trying to sneak away again. The three other Kalidah stepped in but this time Hicks and Hunk appeared. They were following me and laid down a cover fire on the three Kalidah. The shots may had end up into the dark but the sound of those shots were loud to deter even a Tiger. 

"She is ours. So back off or you would want to adorn some walls here." The Kalidah did not move on seeing the boys weapon. Not when Hunk T-shirt said; Dead Stripes Wanted. I walked up to the Nomes, and pulled him up off his feet.

"The griffin or you would be the next BBQ serving." I warned the Nomes, and I think he understand me well. He led me to a new doorway and another descending staircase. I stepped forth to follow him leaving the boys behind, but he disappeared the moment he stepped in.

Its another descending staircase which was similar to the previous one. I followed on down and noticed the steps getting narrow. Then I almost stepped into the void; there was a break in the steps. I crouched down to check the steps and slowly feel the flooring. The floor was there but its unseen by the eyes. If you looked down and you would see an void but in actual fact there is none.

So its another hologram but I had to be sure. I feel the flooring for more spaces and found it all there. I slowly followed it go down and reached another platform. This platform was filled with boxes of all sizes and heights plus color. I reached the first one and opened the cover.

It was a jack in the box but this one is a big tiger head. It almost swallowed my head but by then I had side stepped to avoid it. The next few boxes I opened, all contained some carnivore creatures. There was a black panther and one of the big bad wolf. In the end, I placed the boxes facing each other and opened the cover simultaneously. Imagine Moby 'Whale' meet Shark 'Jaws'. That solved the problem when two heads collide. I spied the Nomes standing there in another doorway.

"You are invited." He motioned me to the next doorway.

He opened it and walked in. It was a fast move and I am left alone on the staircase again. Its not one staircase now but a series of staircases in all directions. Its a maze or a mind blowing maze. I mount down the stairs and this time the tunnel is cover in all kind of colors shades. Its very misleading to the senses, and soon I find myself reaching a platform to ascend again. The next platform was a long platform across and then up again. I did these a few times and soon myself every upset. This is outrageous as the staircase all lead to somewhere but then nowhere. So I let off my frustration.

My sonic vocal boom took care of the staircase. It was a hologram build to confuse the person coming in; one designed to make the person believed to be in the staircase maze. In reality the place is a platform and the Nomes is standing  there on the far corner.

"Can we continue the tour?" The Nomes smiled sheepishly. I took up my waist belt and tied it to the Nomes. I nodded to the Nomes. This time he led me to the griffins.

There was a pair of griffin and a young one in their wings. I walked up to Toto who was the smaller one and smiled at it. It snarl at me and then looked to the bigger one where the young one was hiding beneath the wings.

"Is that yours?" I asked Toto and it moved it head. Communication between me and my pet have been strained recently. If I guessed correctly, then Toto has just become a father.

That was when the cage dropped on me. It was another trap.

I raised my voice and found myself unable to shout. Something had happened and I looked up above me. There was a contraption up these and looked like a trumpet. Its swallowing my voice up and preventing me from releasing my sonic vocal boom. I reached for the cage bars and was given a burst of energy field feedback.

"That hurts." The Nomes smiled at me.

"We planned this for you. Now the White Witch have you in her trap."

"Sorry, the trap is not any weak spots." I reached into my boots and drew out the mini bombs. I placed it at the cage bars. Then I crouched as far as possible. The explosion took down the bars for me step out.

"Nomes, I hoped you can dig fast than I can shout." The Nomes were already digging another new tunnel. I looked to the griffins and smiled.

"Toto, can you tell me why you are not escaping?" The small griffin rushed across the hall to a dark corner. There was another cage and there are five more of the young ones there. Now I know why Toto did not leave. We released the young babes to its big mother and let the family fly off to a safer location. I had the Nomes to take a message to the White Witch.

"Be wary of me as I am coming for you next."

Absurd, my kin Lucifer

"In the depths of winter I finally learned there was me in an invincible summer" I looked at him. "Its absurd that anyone would like to come here and find warmth when I can offered that which is within me." 

"Come on, Lucifer. You Hell and Hell is ...you." I pushed my view with the expression of my arms spread out. "You created Hell as a window to your inner self. All those of us who come here; lived inside you."

"Its totally absurd." Lucifer argued back.

"Yes, so are you taking me here to see Santa Claus. He does not exist." I explained. "He is a myth that made us feel warmth inside when we hand those gifts to others. That feeling of warmth is not the weather but the inner feeling."

"Absurdity caused by your creation." Lucifer replied while stepping off the melted snow below his feet.

"Yup, Mum always sided with you. Its totally absurd how she framed me but I choose to accept the absurdity of it. After all, in the journey of life, we are faced with a series of absurdity like believing in faith and righteous towards mankind. You have allowed them to evolved to perceived illusion or misperception involving a vague or obscure stimulus being perceived as something clear and distinct identify." "Hey, Lucifer, that's pareidolia." I corrected Lucifer in which he challenged me back.   "An absurd traits that you left in them." "Aargh!" I give up arguing with this absurd kinship. Footnote: While watching the series Perception, I also surf the articles on Theory of Albert Camus; Absurdity. Here is my view of it. 'In the depths of winter I finally learned there was me in an invincible summer' Albert Camus