Date: Tue, 6 Sep 1994 17:50:00 -0700 (PDT) From: "V. Allegra Goodrum" Subject: B5 original fiction (fwd) Hi all, This is my first attempt to post an original piece to this newsgroup. I hope you all like it. Criticsm is welcome, but please - be gentle AND constructive. :) ========================== Asera By V. Allegra Goodrum Asera peered around the corner into the area known by the strangers as the zocalo. There was much activity, but the girl felt she had to risk it. Once again her stomach rumbled plaintively. Asera ducked behind the corner once more, afraid that the passing strangers would hear. When no one approached her, Asera's hunger outweighed her caution and she peered around the corner once more. The zocalo was humming with activity. People of all races were hurrying about their business, unaware of the starving human child just meters away. Asera soon had no thought of the passersby either. She could only stare at one man who was busily devouring a meal. The man looked like Asera, though his skin was lighter and his hair seemed to fly above his head like a peacock's feathers. He ate and drank with a gusto that made Asera's mouth water. Well, thought Asera. Now or never. She stood and tried to brush the wrinkles out of her dirty flightsuit. She straightened her small frame and brazenly walked into the zocalo. No one paid her the slightest attention. Asera had seen few other children in the day since she awakened in this strange place. Perhaps her feigned nonchalance fooled those around her. It certainly didn't fool Asera as she tried to still her racing heart. Asera made her way to the man at the table. She stood behind him as he continued to eat. Apparently the delight of his meal completely preoccupied him, for he failed to notice her. Now, thought Asera. Suddenly, with a lightning quickness, Asera reached out and grabbed a roasted bird carcass off the man's plate. She quickly tucked the meat under her arm and dashed across the room. The man leapt to his feet and screamed, "Thief! Stop her. She has stolen my dinner!" People looked around in confusion. Asera took advantage of the turmoil and scrambled back into the darker halls. Panting, she reached her secret place and, unlatching a utility vent, squirmed her way into the small opening. Asera tried to still her breathing as the noise slowly abated outside. When she figured no one would hear, she made herself as comfortable as she could in the narrow shaft, and settled herself down to enjoy her catch. Later, as she finished eating, she wondered, not for the first time, how she had come to be here. She remembered the light shining in her eyes. The voice, a man's voice, filled with worry and tears, told her to put on the flightsuit. Blasts and screams echoed beyond the light. The voice (Daddy? Was that the voice's name, Asera wondered) told her she was going to a safe place, far away from the fighting. "Why are they fighting, Daddy?" Asera remembered asking the voice. But his answer, like all the rest of him, was lost from her memory in a meaningless jumble. Was it something about freedom? Then there was the ship. And an awful pull as it rumbled and shook and took her away from the place of the light and the screams and the voice named Daddy. And then -- nothing. Nothing but the shriek of metal being torn into a thousand pieces and the man called Daddy being torn into a thousand more. And then -- silence. It was into that silence that Asera awoke. Her head was bleeding profusely, her vision blurred and unfocused. When the pain went away, she realized that she knew her name and little else. As she began to explore her surroundings, she realized something else as well - that she was alone in a place called Babylon 5. Asera sighed as she licked the last of the grease from her fingers. Up the shaft, the dim noises of the zocalo echoed. She knew she couldn't go back there. She'd been lucky to have escaped detection thus far. Asera knew she couldn't afford to be caught by the strangers. The voice named Daddy wouldn't want that, she was sure. Besides, there was no telling what the man with the hair would do to her for stealing his dinner. She looked down the shaft. A heavy darkness seemed to beckon to her. She had heard of a place, a place spoken of in whispers by others in the halls - a place called Downbelow. Asera shrugged fatalistically, It was as good a place as any, she supposed. As Asera began to make her way further into the depths of Babylon 5, she dimly wondered if, Downbelow, she would find the voice named Daddy. (TO BE CONTINUED) =========================================================================== Copyright @ 1994 by V. Allegra Goodrum. Posted with permission of the author. This piece may be reproduced anywhere in the Internet only so along as this notice and the above copyright is posted with it. All rights are retained by the author. Babylon 5 is a copyright of the PTN Consortium; no infringment of that copyright is intended. ----------------------- ASERA - PART 2 "Well? What are you waiting for?" The boy's shrill voice echoed in Asera's ear. "Go on - take it?" Asera looked at the boy. He was no more older than she, a fact belied by his tired face and hunched body. In his hands he held the laser pistol, punctuating his words with quick jabs of the weapon into her ribs. "I - I don't want to", Asera said quietly. "Somebody might get hurt." Laughter erupted around her. "Listen to the baby", mocked a thin, pale skinned youth of indeterminate sex. "She don't want to hurt nobody." Asera started to turn to the pale one, to reply to his taunting laughter when the tired faced one slapped her hard across the face. Tears welled in her eyes as he grabbed her by the ruff of her stained flightsuit. "Listen to me", he hissed menacingly, his stale breath inches away from her face. "We let you in here, we gave you food, we took care of you. Didn't we? DIDN'T WE!" He finished in a scream. Asera nodded, stunned by her fear. He was right. The Young Ones, the abandoned children of B5 had found her two days earlier. She was frightened of their harsh words and cold eyes, but when they offered to let her stay with them in one of the hidden passageways that peppered the bowels of Downbelow, she accepted. She just couldn't take one more day of being alone. At first she thought the Young Ones took her in out of kindess. Now, she knew different. The tired faced youth, shoved the laser pistol at her again. "All you have to do is point and shoot. Once the guard is down we'll do the rest." Asera swallowed hard. "What if I don't, Collin?" The youth named Collin smiled. It was a hard sight. "Then I'll just get Jackal to use the pistol on you instead." Jackal, the pale one, laughed almost hysterically. Asera knew she had little choice. She took the pistol from Collin's hand. "Where do you want me", she asked dully. Collin almost leered in the dim light. "N'grath is keeping a real close watch on that shipment of Junalian liquor. But Jackal found out where they're keeping it. Seems there's only one guard on that level. They don't figure anybody to get that far into their territory without them knowing about it." "Yeah, but they don't count on us little ones, do they Collin?" crowed Jackal. "We can get in and out so fast through the environment ducts, no body knows where we come from." "That's right", Collin said as he turned back to Asera. "Once we get in, you take out the guard. Jackal and I will do the rest. Got it?" Asera knew it was more than a question. The threat hung heavy in the air. Asera nodded resignedly. The memories of the man called Daddy faded even farther into the backgound of her mind. She knew she was becoming something ugly in this strange world. Something hard and cold, like the smile of the child called Collin. In his lost face, Asera could see her future. "Let's go", she whispered. ------------------ Written October 1, 1994 by V. Allegra Goodrum. Babylon 5 and all names and characters are copyrighted by the PTEN Consortium. It is not the intention of the author to infringe upon that copyright or to in any way profit from the distribution or sale of this piece. If you reprint this, please do so only with this disclaimer.