These are the continuing adventures of the HMB Impulsive. Its mission: to prove aliens ain’t got nuthin’ on human ingenuity and sheer cussedness.  In this week’s installment…

Security Chief Enigo LaFuentes again insists that the tattoo is part of the plan, and Chi Nikki Chawa has an announcement for the crews of the Impulsive and Lone Star.

Missed an installment? Find the links here.

Hey, guys, I’m trying something new to see if Google will like my blog better. I enjoy our little talks – or rather, my little monologues – in front of the episodes, but they don’t make a good impression in the search results. I know there’s a way to change that in the metadata, but I don’t know how to do it on my blog. (News flash – I’m not very WordPress savvy.)

My son and his wife (known as the Lexes {Alex & Aleksis, and they are as cute and syrupy as that}) are back in Colorado. I’ve been at my job for – wow – over two months now, and I’m finally working on a DragonEye novel that I feel more comfortable with, with a crit group that gets me.

Which goes to say, I no longer have practical or emotional excuses to not be writing more. So, now it’s just my battle against sloth. Attaboys do help. I’d like to shout out to Tamara Wilhite, who never fails to make my day by commenting on my Space Traipse announcements on LinkedIn.

Now, to the story!

When last we met, Ta Pala Chawa had told Loreli and Enigo of a prophesy that predicted the coming of the Evolved Paleos in order to protect the people from an otherworldly threat – the Interplanetary Union itself. This took our crew – and this author – completely by surprise.

Read on as I – er, as Enigo and Loreli – try to make sense of the situation.

“Protect your people from the Union?” Loreli asked Ta Pala Chawa. “But you didn’t even know the Union existed until today.”

Enigo cut in, “Bizarro, yeah?”

“Bizarro,” Ta Pala agreed. She untwisted herself, then lay on the ground, brought her legs up over head from behind and crossed her ankles under her chin. With one hand, she pointed at the door. “You tell now, cousin.”

Chi Nikki Chawa entered the small room, pulling the doctor with him. The doctor was protesting that he still had people to examine.

“You have waved your wand at my people enough,” Chi Nikki Chawa told him. He gave the doctor a firm push toward one corner of the room. The doctor staggered, but did not fall, and true to his gentle, unassuming nature, he took a few extra steps as well.

Then, however, he noticed the others. He looked at Enigo suspiciously. “Are you drunk?”

The chief of security scoffed. “Why would you ask that?”

“We’re on a new planet, and first thing, you get dragged off by an exotic woman, who is doing some kind of…performance, and you’re getting a tattoo.”

Ai madrio! I was building a rapport. It was anthropological research.”

Loreli replied, with just a hint of a sneer, “That you wear on your body. Doctor, examine him. He may be drugged. Or perhaps something in this village be affecting us that way it’s affected J.R.?”

Ta Pala Chawa made an impatient noise.

“Enough!” her cousin ordered. “Doctor, remain where you are. Everything is unfolding according to plan – except for you, Doctor. We don’t know why you’re here. But from the moment your sacred feet set foot upon our soil, Green Woman Loreli, the prophesies came to fruition. Your people and those of the Lone Star will be treated kindly, if they acquiesce to our demands and leave.”

“But what about you, Chi Nikki Chawa,” the doctor protested. “The Evolved Paleos, I mean. You’re dying, and it’s because of what we humans did to your world. And the scientists of the Lone Star are wrong – you only have a few years, not decades. If I have time to study the phenomenon, I’m sure I could help you. We could extend your lives.”

“Tell them!” Again, Ta Pala grunted, and there was a strain in her tone.

“Loreli, contact your ship and the Lone Star. I would speak to the Captains and to J.R., if he will listen to reason. It is time you understood the Prophesy of the Sky Tear and the Age of Heroes.”

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