Chapter 6

6: One night, Gene Crowley, the owner of the Hotel of Wonders, decided to help ease the highly anxious group of the Untaken by putting on a nice dinner and having the Collective vampires tell everyone a little bit about themselves.  There was much excitement about the people from another planet who had materialized from rocks.  This would be a wonderful way to bring everyone together as a community and not just a scared bunch of survivors.
  Bill had asked Gene where the Mortimer Marmot costume was and Gene showed him.  Ben Templewhite volunteered to don it so that he could entertain the children and take pictures with them to boost their morale.  The hotel gift shop had small selection of TV dinners that were in a display cooler.  Those were auctioned off to the highest bidder since there wasn't enough for everybody.  After the auction came the dinner.  Everyone gathered in the main ball room.  It was served buffet style.
  "Ooh, they have rice crispy treats!" marveled Alex.
  "Rice.  Crispy.  Treats," nodded Jeff.  "You had me at the rice."
  "Hey, Lowe.  How come you didn't bid on any of the TV dinners?" asked Carrie.
  Jeffrey interrupted, using a mocking tone.  "Let me guess.  You have not the financial fortitude for such frivolities."
  Carrie turned to Jeffrey and said, "He wouldn't take the time to alliterate his iterations."
  Lowe nodded his head at Jeffrey, then turned to Carrie.  "Thank you, Carrie.  The real reason I didn't want any of the TV dinners is that, microwaved food does not constitute a substitute for real food.  The subsequent consequence is large increments of excrement," he replied with a sage look on his face.
  Carrie ignored Jeffrey's huge grin, sighed dramatically and shook her head.  "I just HAD to ask."
  The dinner was a hit.  And while the people ate, the ten Collective vampires in turn took the stage and spoke a little about themselves.  First up was a man named Rymuthis.
  "Hello, my name is Rymuthis.  I am a clothing designer.  I know what you're probably thinking: if they're made of water, do they even wear clothes?  Well, no we don't wear clothes, but we have been coming to Earth for many millenia.  As your clothing styles changed from year to year, it was my job to observe trends and learn to imitate your outer wear so as to be able to blend in with you.  We've been studying human behavior and other things for a long time and we couldn't risk being found out by you."
  A hand went up in the audience.  "Hey, how come people from other planets always dress the same?  It's all silver leotards with V-neck tops wide shoulders?"
  Rymuthis chuckled at that.  "I think that misconception arises from your movies.  As you can see, we're each 'wearing' different looking clothes.  It's all a matter of personal taste, just like for you."
  After him, a man named Zemostra got up to speak.  "My name is Zemostra.  I am an engineer.  I designed and built the craft which brought us here, called the Riven.  It is a Zemostra 9300.  On Sypraxia we have different brands of spacecraft just like your automobiles.  Of course, right now, the Riven is at the bottom of a little lake.  I must say, that is rather embarrassing."  The crowd laughed a little.  "But anyway, the Riven is run by a computer called the Core Zone.  I also invented that.  It is an intelligent computer.  If not for the Core Zone, this planet would now be overrun by the Nocent.  As it is, this town is creeping with the Revenant, but those are a lot easier to deal with due to a lack of motor function and low mental capacity."
  A woman got up next.  "My name is Azaroth.  I am a scientist.  I have been coming here for years to study your cultures, religions, technology and societies.  I actually knew Rend very well before he betrayed us.  We used to come here together and share notes on our various discoveries and insights.  I've always admired the human spirit. Through many large-scale tragedies and calamities, you have persevered over the centuries.  As the resources on my planet dwindled due to the Nocent's over-industrialization, we turned more and more to humanity's unyielding faith, love and optimism as inspiration for our lives."  Many in the audience looked at each other wondering how the hell she came to that by observing humans.  "I am truly humbled to finally live among you as equals."
  A rather short vampire took the stage.  "Hi, my name's Lox Myth.  I am an artist and no I don't do paintings.  We're made of frickin' water.  Paint would never dry.  No, my friends, I mostly sew and cross-stitch.  I also do the occasional sculpture.  My sculptures may look boring on the outside, but on the inside are full of tunnels, crevices, enclosures and such.  There are different textures and bumps and holes to fell as you flow through them. Some of them are rather large and can only be compared to your roller coasters.  They're kind of like a combination of a maze, an obstacle course and a water slide.  They're fun as hell."
  An older looking man got up to speak.  "My name is Temeron.  I am an elder.  I have been around since the beginning of intelligence on Sypraxia.  There is much you do not yet know about our history.  We will share more with you as time goes on."
  A young woman with long, flowing hair came up next.  "My name is Marisol.  My job is one of the most sacred on Sypraxia.  It needs a little setting up, though.  First, you must know that on Sypraxia, there is a stone temple called Petralumis, made of living stone.  The stone was carved from a quarry on the banks of the Collective shore.  Our gods are the rocks.
  "One day, I was walking around when I felt a rock in my shoe.  When I took my shoe off to shake the rock out, a bunch of sand also came out.  Sometimes you don't notice the sand in your shoes until you feel a rock.  I took that as a life lesson.  As soon as the thought came to me, something like a voice spoke into my mind.  It was the rock in my hand communicating with me in the way that the gods speak to people of faith.  I listened.
  "The rock told me the story of how it broke off.  It had been a part of Petralumis.  When it first broke off, it's edges were sharp.  At first it hurt to be broken off, but the pain went away.  Now there was no more pain, but it hated the hot sun.  It didn't remember when it stopped enjoying the sunlight.  One day it just realized that it didn't like being hot any more.  It hoped that it could cool down.  Eventually, storms came and a river formed.  The rock was stuck at the bottom of the river with no light.  There was only the constant torrent of water which slowly chipped away at it.  Each chip hurt.  As the water slowly dried up, the stone realized that it had become smooth.  After years in darkness, the rock saw daylight once more.  It thought the sun was beautiful, not because it had never seen it before, but because it had."  Marisol lifted the pendant from her necklace for the audience to see.  It was a rock on a chain.
  "Many years before, Petralumis had been whole.  The Collective would leave the lake to worship at the temple.  When the Nocent and the Collective split, the temple crumbled.  The temple is old and falling apart, but even so, the gods are within.  Legend has it that a small boy had heard the voices of the gods.  He filled his pockets with rocks which had broken off from the temple and he brought them to the Collective lake just as they had asked him to do. When the elders saw what he was doing, they asked him why and he told them.  Thus began the tradition of Petralumis.  It is an annual ceremony, kind of like your Christmas.  Only those who have been appointed by the gods can transport these rocks to the lake.  That is my job and it is an honor to have been chosen for it.  You see, the story of the boy is more than just a legend to me.  That boy was my father."
  A woman with flowing white hair and a simple white gown got on the stage.  "My name is Dimojyn.  I am a healer.  If you remember, the Scathing is a Sypraxian virus.  For us, it kept our spirits from connecting with the water. It is a disease that separates spirit from matter.  I was able to spiritually reconnect the Collective with their physical selves.  My hope is that I will be able to do the same for those humans afflicted with it."
  A man in a tweed jacket and gray slacks stood up to speak.  "My name is Repotox.  I'm a story teller.  I know the entire history of the Collective and Sypraxia."
  A young looking woman stepped up wearing a purple gown.  "My name is Lume.  I am a musician."  In the audience, Jeffrey's ears perked up.  "I carry no instruments."  She slowly waved her fingers in the air.  Holes appeared in her fingertips.  Then the most pure and beautiful sounds started to play.  She was sucking air through the holes of various sizes and this created different tones which mingled freely and harmonized at random intervals.  The sound was similar to bells, but without the initial impact.  It was like a flute which could hold impossibly long chords and play intricate melodies.  Her eyes were closed and she moved her head to the music.  Many in the audience wept with the power of her emotion conveyed through the tune.
  A large man in dust-gray coveralls took the stage.  "My name is Mendoron.  I am a military specialist.  I have studied many of your fighting techniques, but there are many things that the Sypraxian body can do that the human body does not easily replicate.  I'd demonstrate, but it might be too dangerous indoors.  Anyway, I was in charge of keeping the Collective safe during our many trips here to Earth over the years.  I also designed and built an outpost on your moon.  It is an underground living space from which we could remotely view the Earth.  Unfortunately, we never used it because nobody wanted to stay there, separated from the Collective.  But enough about that.  I hope to be able to train some of you in hand-to-hand combat to fight against the Revenant and the Defectors.  I have the feeling we haven't seen the last of them."
  The night went on and the vampires mingled with the crowd.  Dozens of small group conversations broke out as everyone got to know each other a little better.