Vacation on Mars

(Portions (c) Id Software 2004 as applicable; remainder (c) 2009 Terry Wilson; see author's comment(s).)

Juubi and Haifun emerge through a hazard door to be greeted by a great shaft, the bridge over which has been burned away. Bits of girder, railing and pipe still glow red hot. They each wear special custom built spacesuits specifically made for their "vacation." They are festooned with strange devices they got used to quickly called "weapons" (the FWL story has only one, and our Featherwing Lovers never even touch it.) They plan their jump across this strange chasm when suddenly a green glow erupts from the side of the corridor on the other side. A being jumps out of the nook where the glow now fades, and turns to them. Fortunately, he is human: Counsellor Elliot Swann. His face is an unspoken question.

Juubi calls across to him, "Hi, boss!"

Haifun says, "We're ready to answer those questions you asked us back at the spaceport."

Flashback: Counsellor Elliot Swann and his bodyguard Master Corporal Jack Campbell emerge from the aft ramp of a transport, "Darkstar 4409" that has just landed at Mars City, the morning of 15 November 2145.

Swann, a look of frustration on his face, mutters, "I can't believe it's come to this, I didn't want to come here."

Campbell, clearly his friend, responds, "He left you no choice."

"True," the balding lawyer acknowledges, "but this is the last time. I'm tired of running damage control every time he makes a mess."

"Right," says Campbell who's decked out in combat armor and carries an intimidating equipment case, "you're the 'control' and if that fails, I'm the 'damage'."

Swann responds, "If that's what it takes. Betruger is going to start doing things our way."

Campbell gives him a nod, "Whatever you say, Counsellor." At this, he turns back to the transport ramp, "but tell me, what are we going to do with these two?"

Juubi and Haifun emerge from the transport, giggling at each other. Haifun, with her long brown hair instantly has the eyes of not only the two powerful friends, but those of a dockworker, a marine guarding the platform, and Dr. Mark Caseon, who can't wait to get off Mars. They don't have looks of admiration at what must be the longest hair on Mars, but one of total disbelief. Elliot Swann soon reveals why.

"What the heck are you two doing here? Mars is no place for a vacation. It's dangerous here, it feels like all hell could break loose," he mutters incredulously.

"Just a vacation," Juubi says, straightening out a strand of Haifun's hair.

"Yeah, right," Campbell mutters to Swann, "UAC's highest rated marine...well, second highest rated marine...is bumped off the flight so these two to go on a casual stroll around the most expensive town in the solar system."

"And, since I can't get you to answer why you're really here," Swann says, "can you tell me, just for curiousity's sake why, as close as you two obviously are, I have never seen you two kiss."

Haifun pecks Juubi on the cheek, "See, we kiss, Counsellor."

Swann seems a little nonplussed, "I think you know what I mean."

Juubi walks by him and whispers so softly that not even Campbell can hear, "I just hope I'm not forced by circumstances to answer that."

Elliot Swann, sighs. Campbell, who knows him well, can almost hear his thoughts, He sounds almost like Malcolm Betruger.

The Present: Campbell comes out of the corridor that branches left from the main corridor the burnt bridge leads to, plainly curious as to what now has his boss so perplexed, "Wow...I guess they can look after themselves around here," he gasps.

Juubi pauses to inspect the chasm under the bridge, then looks up at Swann and smiles.

"Don't tell me you're planning to jump," Swann asks in a rhetorical tone. The gap in the bridge is about thirty feet, clearly beyond any human's ability, even in Mars' gravity.

"Not exactly," Haifun says, then looks at Juubi and says, "Careful honey, the lift in the middle could drive us into those pipes," pointing at the broken pipes above where the bridge used to be.

"And sink around the edges," Juubi complains, "will bring us down pretty smartly on the other side, since it's open grating. It is better to go long than short."

"So!" Swann calls across to them, "you said you were going to answer my questions."

"So we did," Juubi says, "Why are we on Mars? Why have you never seen us kiss."

Juubi turns to his wife and after an adoring gaze, their heads tilt and come together in the dim light on their end of the bridge. A poof-whoosh sound barely audible across the bridge over the noise of the updraft in the shaft heralds the deployment of their wings. Juubi then turns to the broken bridge and sprints at its edge, spreading his wings as he clears the railings, catching the updraft in the middle.

Campbell has never seen such a creature, but he's seen things equally strange, if much different, since his arrival on Mars. He raises his weapon and points it at Juubi.

After a flap, Juubi's wings vanish and he falls to an impact several feet past the jagged edge on the far side of the bridge. Haifun is already in the air as Juubi lands, tucking into a shoulder roll and coming back to his feet right in front of Campbell, staring at the huge trapezoidal muzzle of a BFG 9000, UAC's most advanced and powerful handheld weapon. Haifun lands a bit more skillfully and comes up beside her husband.

"Glad to see you're still human," Juubi says.

Haifun looks at Counsellor Swann, "We volunteered when our brother on the Board told us of a report radioed back by Dr. Richard Davis four months ago. If you could call the creatures we've been fighting for the last sixteen hours 'demons', Juubi and I, along with a handful of other featherwing beings secretly living as humans on Earth, are what you might call 'angels'."

Juubi adds, "We thought you might need our help," then extends his hand to Campbell, who lowers his enormous weapon and takes Juubi's in a firm hold. Both turn in response to a now familiar cry: something called an Imp.

Juubi rapidly unholsters his shotgun and pops off a round at it. It falls over onto its back, clutching at what seem to be minor wounds from the shotgun's pitiful spread pattern. The Imp was too far away for the shotgun to have done any significant damage, if it were loaded with normal ammunition. The Imp, still screaming, disintigrates into flaming fragments and soon is no more.

Campbell gasps, "I must have killed three dozen of those and I have never seen one go down so easily."

Haifun says, "We've prepared our ammunition with our own built in poison. We call it scratch. Ordinarily, it will only knock a human unconscious, and selectively erase his memories of featherwing beings. We use it to keep our existence a secret."

"But against these things," Juubi adds, "it has quite a whallup."

...to be continued(?)