Chapter 12

12: Temeron, the elder Collective had a group gathered around him who were eager to learn more about the religion of the Collective.  "It's called the Hierarchy of Sypraxus.  To begin with, it is important to note that the more solid something is, the less you need it.  Food is the least needed, then water, air and finally your spirit.  Life follows the example of these different states of matter.  Sypraxus is the ability to change at will between the different states of matter.  This is only possible through a deep understanding of the three stages of life. 
  "We all start in innocence.  For the Collective, we call that the solid stage.  During that time of your spiritual development, you are in ignorance and bliss.  You do not take notice of the problems of the world.  Some may even be in denial that problems even exist.  You are only in touch with your needs.  You tend to be more real. It takes nothing to be innocent.  You don't want anything to change.
  "The second stage comes when we start to notice the problems in the world.  We might become disillusioned or disenchanted.  We call that the liquid stage.  Everything seems to be bad.  We lose our innocense and begin to be aware of wants as opposed to mere needs.  We may become superficial or even hateful.  It takes your five senses to reach the second stage.  You want the world to change.
  "The third stage is enlightenment.  We call that the air stage.  At this stage you begin to have hope.  You begin to recognize that there is more than your eyes can perceive.  You begin to be aware of others' needs.  You become more deep.  It takes faith to reach the third stage.  You can be calm and at peace.  You want yourself to change.  Unfortunately, some people never get past the first stage.  Most people never get past the second stage. For some reason unknown to me, some people want to go back to the first stage after having reached the second. I must confess to you that I have never met anyone who has truly reached the third stage.  It would take an incredible amount of love and faith to reach the third stage.  The Sypratic Tome promises that there will be someone who will reach all states of matter: solid, liquid, gas and spirit.  We await their arrival eagerly."
  In a different part of the hotel, Jeffrey was sitting in front of a microwave reading a book.  Alexander approached him, intrigued by the wonderful aroma emanating from the microwave.  "Chuptu?" he asked Jeffrey.
  Jeffrey looked up from his book.  "What did you say?"
  "I said, what are you up to?"
  "Oh.  I'm microwaving some popcorn that I won in the raffle.  Want some?"
  Alex's eyes lit up.  "Sure, sounds good.  What are you reading?"
  Jeffrey showed the cover of the book to Alexander.  "I'm reading about a guy named Pavlov who trained his dogs to salivate when he rang a bell."
  A really confused look came across Alex's face.  "That's weird."
  Jeffrey shrugged.  "I guess it depends on how you look at it."  At that point, the microwave beeped.
  Alex rubbed his hands together in eager anticipation.  "Alright!  Popcorn's ready!"
  Jeffrey sighed and shook his head.  Then he put the book down and pulled the microwave door open to retrieve the bag.  Lowe walked into the room just as the two of them were munching.  He looked downcast.  With all the rescue parties coming back with survivors they had found, there were many tearful reunions, but there were still many loved ones missing.  One of those was Lowe's uncle.
  Jeffrey offered Lowe some popcorn, but Lowe was in no mood for any.  "Lowe, they did send a search party in the direction of your uncle's home.  You did give them his address, right?"
  "Yeah.  Him and his boyfriend live at Casanova Mobile Homes lot 1408."
  Jeffrey did a double take and suppressed a laugh.  "Casanova Mobile Homes?"  After a second, he shook it off.  What he was thinking wasn't appropriate to say at the moment.
  Alex swallowed a mouthful of popcorn.  "So your uncle's gay?"
  Lowe looked at Alex for a moment.  "If you laugh I will seriously hurt you."
  Alex shook his head.  "No, I won't laugh.  There's nothing funny about homosexuality."
  "Well, my uncle is a lesbian stuck in a man's body.  You see, he's gay, but his body just doesn't know it yet. In order to fit in with the homosexual crowd, he has a boyfriend for now until he can have the sex change operation.  Think of it as a reverse 'fag hag', as much as I hate that term."
  "I look forward to meeting him.  What does he do?" asked Alex.
  "He's the singer for a midget metal band called Bawdy Flies.  You know that T-shirt I wear that says 'Asian midget trannies are people too'?"
  "Oh yeah, I think that shirt's hilarious."
  "Well, it's not supposed to be funny.  It's my way of supporting my uncle.  His name is Singh Ho Ping, but his stage name is Urban Confucius."
  Alex's eyebrows went up.  "You uncle is Urban Confucius?  Dude, I've heard of him.  He did that one Christmas song or something.  I once saw his band perform dressed as female elves."
  "So you've heard 'Don We Now Our Gay Apparel'?  It was a minor local hit.  Got some air play."

Chapter 11

11: Mar stood outside the Wolf Cub Elementary school.  He had observed the Defectors for an entire day now.  These people were in desperate need of direction.  This man, this Richard Finestra as he was called, had no real leadership skills, but he seemed to revel in the power of his assumed position.  Once Mar showed up, Richard would not be willing to give up his place at the top.  There was one very simple solution to that.

  The gutter by the curb offered him a way onto the school grounds.  He had decided that a dramatic entrance was the approach he wanted to take.  The playground had a system of lawn sprinklers that were set to a timer.  Richard was currently sitting in a lawn chair right beside one of those sprinklers sipping lemonade.  Showtime.

  Moments later, a noisy spray of water gushed forth from the sprinkler and formed up in mid air into Mar's body. He looked Richard in the eyes and said, "Richard Finestra.  My name is Mar.  I will now be leading the Defectors."

  Richard's eyes went wide and his glass of lemonade fell with a dull thud onto the grass, splashing onto his leg. At the same time, his chair tipped so far back from his involuntary leg jerk that he fell backward.  As soon as he was able to scramble to his feet he ran for the door to the main school house.  Mar entered through the garden hose.  If it was a chase Richard wanted, Mar would be more than happy to oblige.

  Richard was hiding in the kitchen.  Mar quietly snuck out of the sink and tapped him on the shoulder.  Richard bugged out and fled, looking for another hiding place.  Mar was going to toy with him for a bit before engaging the kill switch.  Next, Richard chose the janitor's closet on the second floor.  This was too easy.  Mar came out of the utility sink and tapped him once again.  Richard actually let out a yelp and ran some more.  He ran up the stairs to the third, uppermost level and hid in a classroom.  One small problem.  There just happened to be a bathroom which opened into the classroom.  Easy pickings.

  Mar was through with games.  He sprayed out of the toilet and grabbed Richard by the ankles.  Richard struggled free, but fell backwards and went right through the glass of a window.  Mar watched as he plummeted three stories to his death in a shower of wood fragments and glass shards.  A guy named Finestra being defenestrated.  Mar just couldn't resist laughing at the irony of the whole thing.  That was a goddamn masterpiece and fuck it all, no one was around who could appreciate the true genius of it.  Mar sighed, shook his head and headed downstairs on foot to address his new army.

  The Defectors shied away from his approach.  There were many questions.  "Who are you?  Are you Rend?  We thought you were dead.  Why did you kill Richard?"

  Mar put his hands up to silence the crowd.  "No, I'm not Rend, though he was a good friend of mine.  I was sad to see him go.  I've been watching everything that has been going on.  I know about the Collective, about the Untaken, the Revenant and about you guys, the Defectors.  I figured it was about time to step in and take the reins.  My name is Mar.  I'm your leader now and I want nothing more than to destroy every last one of the Collective and the Untaken."

  At this, there were several nods of agreement.  The tension seemed to ease just a little.  "Now I killed that motherfucker out there because I didn't like the way he was running things.  The Revenant are an asset to us.  They can take care of the Untaken if there are sufficient numbers of them.  Richard was mindlessly destroying so many of them without even thinking about the fact that he could be using them if he was smart.  If he had a plan. If he had a goal.  If he had two fuckin' brain cells to rub together.  He also took you for granted."

  Heads were nodding more vigorously now.  Mar could see that he had them in his grasp.  "He should have been training you to fight so that you could mount your own attack against that damn hotel.  Well, that's what I'm here to do.  We will be a formidable army by the time I'm through with you.  Now let's get to work."  A small round of applause materialized and vanished quickly, but Mar could still see some fear in their eyes.

Chapter 10

10: The smell of fried chicken.  Randall Switter was just starting to come down from his adrenalin rush.  After watching Glen disappear, Randy had fled for his life.  Unseen hands had silently pulled him into a dark room.  Those hands belonged to Sam Wine.  Sam was the inhabitant of this apartment.  Apparently, he was cooking up some fried chicken.  It smelled delicious.
  "Randall, were there any others with you?"
  "Yeah, three guys outside and one upstairs.  I think Glen's dead, though."
  "Damn!  I had tried to stop you before you went up, but you ran up there as if your lives depended on it."
  "Yeah, Glen had to use the bathroom."
  "That's a damn shame.  Did you know him well?"
  "No.  We were put together as part of a rescue team to find survivors out here."
  "You two and the other three guys outside?"
  "Yeah.  They're keeping an eye out at the entrance to the building for any zombies."
  "You should go get them.  The zombies don't come here.  This place scares them.  It's haunted."
  "It figures.  I got zombies outside, ghosts inside.  Do you see the irony here?  We're stuck in the middle here with soulless bodies on the one hand and bodiless spirits on the other.  I don't know if I'd rather laugh or piss myself.  I think both."  Sam sat silently as Randy went to the others and told them about what had happened to Glen and then about finding Sam.  They agreed to come inside.
  After a round of introductions, the timer went off on the oven.  "If you'll excuse me for just one moment."  Sam went into the kitchen to check on the chicken.  He came back with a steaming platter full of fried chicken.
  "You know, it's too bad Lowe ain't here with us.  I hear that Chinese people really like fried chicken," said Ben.
  Randy looked confused.  "The Chinese?  I thought that was somebody else that really likes fried chicken."
  Ben nodded.  "Well, that's just a stereotype."
  "That looks like enough chicken for all of us," observed Mickey.
  "Yes, I have been saving it for a special occasion.  Today seemed to be just that day."
  "But you were all by yourself.  Why did you cook so much chicken?  And why is today so special?"
  "Oh well, you see, today is the day that you have come to my house."
  "But you couldn't have known that we were coming and how many of us there'd be."
  "Well that does take some explaining doesn't it?  Why don't we discuss it over dinner?"  Everyone agreed and helped themselves to some tender, juicy thighs and drumsticks.  There was also a fresh pot of coffee.  He prepared each of their coffees to their liking.  As usual, Sam took his with two sugars and a splash of cream.
  "There's no simpler way to put it except to say that I am a psychic."  Everyone at the table looked at each other, then to him.  "I knew you were coming today.  As I told Randy, I tried to keep him and Glen from going up the stairs, but I wasn't fast enough.  I knew Glen was going to die, but I failed to prevent that.  I did prepare enough chicken for him too, but unfortunately, we shall have to dine upon his portion as well."  Ben put down his fifth piece of chicken, suddenly not hungry any more.
  "How do you know you're a psychic?" asked Sauro.
  Sam took a sip of coffee.  "I don't know.  How do you know that you have the sense of smell?"
  Sauro's eyes went wide.  "Because I can smell things."  He swept imaginary crumbs off his lap.
  Sam nodded his head.  "Exactly.  I can sense things that aren't immediately obvious to most people.  I first became aware of this gift when I was seven.  My father was dying of stomach cancer.  Near the end, he asked me to come to the side of his bed to sit and talk to him.  He took my hand and asked how school was that day.  As I recanted the various details of my day, he was asking me questions here and there.  Then his voice seemed to stand up from the bed, walk around my chair and put his hand on my shoulder.  My hand was still holding his as his body lay in the bed.  I finally realized what had happened.  He had died some time during our conversation and his spirit had left his body.  I wept, but he told me to be strong.  We said our goodbyes and then he crossed over to the other side."  Sam used a toothpick to persuade some persistent chicken gristle out from between his teeth.

Chapter 9

9: Out in the desert, the battle raged on between the vampires and the zombies.  A female vampire named Amrita was shoulder to shoulder with her friend, Bufadora.  Every day it seemed as if there were more and more of these things.  Bufadora's fists were as tough as hammers and she smashed them together with a zombie's head between them.  The Scathing seemed to be spreading even beyond the city of Marble Cliffs, Arizona.

  "How is this getting around so fast?  Most of these people don't even have the chip.  Somehow it's gotten everywhere!  This virus must have ways of transmitting that we don't know about."

  Amrita thought back to life on Sypraxus when the Scathing was still rampant.  It had travelled from lake to lake infecting everyone in its path.  "It must have a way of becoming airborne," she postulated while kicking her heel through the face of a zombie.  "Before Dimojyn helped us to reconnect with our spirits, entire lakes were dying."

  "You do have a point, Amrita.  The Scathing travelled from lake to lake without any person being the medium."  Bufadora looked around the desert and noticed tiny flying bugs here and there.  These sand flies were something she hadn't noticed before.  "These little bugs seem to have no fear in landing on us.  We can swat them away, but what if they are carrying the Scathing in their bodies?"

  Amrita looked around at the sand flies.  "You're right.  We don't know for sure one way or the other.  We should bring some back to the hotel to examine them further."  She looked around at the other vampires.  "Bufadora, all of us Collective are immune to the Scathing, but the humans are not.  We should go now to tell the Untaken at the hotel."  Bufadora nodded and the two of them carefully caught a few of the sand flies, then headed off to warn the others to be wary of the flying bugs until more could be found out about them.

Chapter 8

8: A the Wolf Cub Elementary school, Richard Finestra's leadership had turned this small band of survivors into a mob of zombie killers.  Gone were the days of cowering from the Revenant.  As a matter of fact, the Revenant were all welcome to come into the school grounds.  Bring it on.
  The Defectors had also been raiding the nearby houses for supplies.  They occasionally found people hiding in the houses.  If they were cool, alright.  If they resisted, they were taken as prisoners.  Two such prisoners were brought in today.
  Richard looked the two men up and down.  "So, what are your names?"  One of them started to answer, but Richard cut him off.  "I don't really give a shit.  We're just gonna kill you anyway.  All in good time, but for now you can watch the festivities."  Richard brought the two men out to the playground area.  There, all manner of atrocities were being carried out against the Revenant.
  At a wooden bench, a zombie was tied down and a Defector was casually scraping away the skin of her face with a fork from the cafeteria.  He used the back of the fork to scoop out her eyeballs.  Most of her right cheek was missing, but there was very little blood.  On a zombie, wounds don't scab, they dry up or rot.  There's no pus, just maggots, no inflammation, no infection, very little blood.  Their blood either congeals or collects in the legs through gravity and spills out of their bloated veins.
  At the swings, a different zombie was tied to each swing.  Behind each, a Defector stood ready to push the swing.  In front of each was another Defector holding some stabbing tool.  One had a pitchfork, one had a machete and one had a dagger.  The point of the game was to push the zombie into the blade until it stuck.  If the blade came out when the swing went back, they had to keep pushing.
  Several zombies were strung up from the football goal posts.  Wrapped candies had been forced down their throats and people were beating them with baseball bats.  These human pinatas would be battered until they gave up their goodies.  One particularly vicious swing opened the chest cavity of a zombie and candies spilled out.  Several Defectors rushed forward to claim their prizes.
  In the middle of the field, a zombie had each of its limbs tied to the bumper of four different cars.  The Defectors each drove the cars in different directions, ripping the zombie limb from limb.  This game was called wishboning.  You won if the torso was still attached to the appendage tied to your car.
  Both of the prisoners saw all this and were disgusted.  One said so and Richard asked him how it made him feel.  "It makes me sick to my stomach," the man replied.
  Richard grabbed a machete from a nearby Defector.  "Go ahead, puke.  I dare you."  The man wasn't able to resist his body's urge.  He doubled over.  With a quick motion, Richard lopped his head off with the machete.  The stump of his neck spewed forth vomit along with blood.  Unable to support the weight of the body any longer, the legs gave out and the man crumpled to the dirt, landing in his own mess.
  Richard turned to the other man.  "How about you?  Do you feel like puking?"  The other man down at the body and then to Richard.  His eyes went wide and then he fled toward the fence separating the school from the outside world.  Some of the Defectors easily caught him since his hands were tied behind his back and he couldn't get over the fence.  They brought him back to Richard.
  "I'd bet you'd like to be free of those ropes, wouldn't you?" asked Richard.  The man nodded, looking a little pale.  "Turn around and stick your hands out."  The man did as he was told.  Richard raised the machete and chopped off both his hands, right above the ropes.  "There is that better?"  The man screamed and fell to the ground.  "Oh, and in case you ever think of running away again."  Richard chopped off both of the man's feet.  Richard grabbed a tiki torch that was posted by the fence.  He cauterized both arms and one leg.  "You're not going anywhere.  And I don't want you dying too fast.  I want you to think about what you've done."
  The man writhed around in the dirt.  His face was contorted in agony.  He tried to stand up or to move in any way that would get him away, but it was hopeless.  A crowd formed around him to watch his last few minutes of life.  The ground around him was turning into a thick, dark mud.  It got in his mouth, up his nose and into his eyes.  He was face down and he couldn't use his hands to lift himself out of the muck.  He turned his head to the side and vomited.  He had also urinated and defecated himself.  His body was losing fluids at a deadly rate.  It wasn't long before his movements became less frantic.  He was reduced to involuntary twitches which became less and less frequent until they finally ceased.  By then, most of the crowd had already lost interest and had returned to whatever they had been doing.  Recess is everyone's favorite period.

Chapter 7

7: Miles above the Earth, from an abandoned military outpost built by the Collective, a solitary Nocent looked down upon the bright blue orb.  His name was Mar and he had been living at Rue for many years watching and waiting for the arrival of the Nocent for the setting in motion of the Plan.  The outpost was nothing more than a loose cluster of pipes and tanks buried under the surface of Earth's moon.  The entrance to Rue was on the dark side of the moon.  With his body made of liquid, this outpost had been all that Mar needed.  Sypraxians gain their energy from the rays of the sun.
  The observation room was nothing more than a pane of glass at the end of a pipe which protruded out of the ground.  The end of the pipe was flush with the surface of the moon.  Since there's no wind on the moon, no dust would blow onto the glass.  Mar always had a perfectly clear view of the Earth.  Mar could shape his body to be a lens through which he could see incredible distances with complete clarity.  Today, as he looked down, he knew the time was near for him to make his move.  This outpost that his brother, Mendoron had built would no longer be needed.  Mendoron had included an escape pod which was a one-way ticket to Earth.
  Mar had been watching the Defectors and didn't like the way they were dealing with the Revenant.  These foolish humans were unfocused and uncoordinated.  They needed a new leader.  Rend had failed, but the Plan could still work.  Mar could wait no longer.  Today was the day for the Nocent to achieve absolute power.

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.