Chapter 1

I slowly regained consciousness. I looked around myself and slowly took in my surroundings. After finally remembering where I was and how I got here I was happy to be alive. I took stock for a few minutes then got up and back into the pilot's chair.

I initiated the onboard A.I. unit to determine where I was. It told me it was calculating.

I left the bridge while I waited and went to the galley. Once there I used one of the awful tasting emergency rations to settle my stomach. I had just returned to the cockpit when the A.I. came back up to give me it's readings.

"We are currently in Terran orbit, Calculations of atmosphere readings and star positions conclude that we have traveled back in time to the mid to late 20th century. Further analysis is required to garner an exact time." The A.I. unit said in it's metallic voice.

I was dumbstruck. "How can this be A.I.? You are saying that we traveled not only across the galaxy but also back in time nearly a thousand years?" This can't be right I thought. Time travel is not possible even in the distant future. "A.I. can you tell me, are there any type of broadcasts coming from the planet?" Jakstar asked.

"Indeed sir, but they are an ancient form of radio and television wave. I will endeavor to receive them so that I may garner the exact date." the metallic voice said. "Would you care to watch some of the broadcasts?" it asked.

I said yes and proceeded to watch the broadcasts for almost 3 hours. When I had enough I asked the A.I. to determine the best way to go down and learn all I could without being thought suspicious. The A.I. told me that my best bet was to go down as a student so that I would not be thought suspicious for wanting to learn. "The problem is that you will need money to live or you will need to find a family, to support you, until you are able to establish some sort of currency base."

I considered this. How was I to accomplish this feet. I knew I had no family and from the images I had seen on the screen I knew I was not going to be able to get a job with these barbarians until I learned how they worked. But I also didn't have enough rations to stay up here long enough to do a decent reconnaissance.

After careful thought I decided I would have to go down and impersonate an orphan so I could get adopted and maybe go to school. I asked the A.I. unit if it could produce an exact copy of transfer papers for me to be taken into an orphanage.

"Quite easily but orphans are always younger than you." It said

"I know this A.I.; I will change my size to appear no larger than a thirteen year old. Besides I have always had a baby face and when I cover my ears it will be easy." I said.

"Agreed sir, but if you do this you will have to live by their rules and there is a chance that no family will try to adopt you." the A.I. said.

"I can Take care of myself. So how bout them records? Make them say I am 12 years old." I said.

The A.I. produced the documents. After checking over general behavior of these humans I had the A.I. land just outside of one of the smaller towns in Alabama at least that is what the signals we were getting from the planet called that area. Once we were safely down I exited the ship and used my implanted connection to the A.I. to tell it to return to orbit and await further instructions from me and to remain undetected.

The "Elfbow", as I had come to call the ship, took off immediately to orbit earth. I was now on my own and suddenly not so sure of my plans anymore. I bunched up my nerves and proceeded in the direction of the orphanage that I had decided to use. It took me nearly 3 hours to reach the front gate. This smaller body was going to take some getting used to.

As I approached the front gate I noticed what looked like fifty kids of all different ages playing in the yard. I walked up to the gate and waited for my presence to be noticed. I didn't have long to wait. After only a couple of minutes some of the kids took notice and started laughing and pointing. I had no idea what they were laughing at till I looked down and remembered that because of my reduction in size my clothes were almost hanging off me and after realizing how I looked I blushed which made them laugh all the harder. But all the laughter had alerted the nuns that I was there waiting.

One of the older nuns approached the gate and asked, "Can I help you young man?"

I just stared at her. I had no idea what she had just said. It sounded alien to me. How could I have forgotten? I asked myself. This was a different time. So I just stood there for a minute. Then I had an idea.

I stepped towards the gate and held out the paper document, passing it between the bars of the gate. I held it in the direction of the nun and put on my most innocent look I could muster. The nun stared at me for a moment then grabbed the document I held and looked at it. Her eyes changed from annoyance to curiosity then to concern as she read the paper.

Dear Nuns

Please take in this young boy, his name is Jakstar Elfman. He was rescued from a van load of people. He was the only survivor. Both parents and sister were killed on impact. He has not spoken since the accident and it appears that he doesn't speak English so you will have to be patient with him and teach him. He is not very shy but he will seem to be for lack of understanding. Please be patient with him as he was dreadfully behind on schooling. He did appear very intelligent though so he should pick it quickly. I just hope a home can be found for him with the loving environment that he deserves. Adding to our suspicions of him not being from our culture is that some of his actions are quite foreign.

The note as well as the records that I handed over were airtight and quite convincing so by the end of that day I was put in some new clothes and put in a room.

I made no friends for the first month I was there; I just soaked up all that was going on around me. By the end of that first month I had learned the basics of English and was just starting to get up the nerve to try and make friends when the decision was taken away from me.

It was an early June morning, I had learned the date, when my popularity was given an unwanted jump start. I was out in the playground, for the first time in almost a month, just enjoying the sun when I heard a commotion from off by the east gate. I went over to see what was wrong, when I saw something that made my blood boil. Standing over by the gate was a group of what looked like young men up to no good. They were pushing around the youngest of the nuns. She just kept asking them to stop but they wouldn't listen. I heard the other nuns yelling from inside the building. They looked frightened and they acted as if this had happened before.

I watched and waited to see if one of the other nuns were going to come out to help but it was obvious that they had no intention of it and I soon found out why. As I was standing there watching one of the young men, the obvious ringleader grabbed the nun's habit and ripped it open exposing her body down the entire left side. I may have been acting thirteen but I was almost a man by my races norm so I will admit that I looked at my first exposed breast with a weird feeling creeping up between my legs. But it was the absolute fear I saw in the woman's eyes that spurred me to action.

I was moving before the thugs ever knew I was there. I stepped up behind the first, closest, thug and jabbed into his back with all my skill and strength. I hit the spot right next to the spine above the kidneys that when struck right will cause a human to drop to the ground in agony, unable to move their legs.

Before my first target had even started to drop I was moving again. The thug's friends hadn't noticed their friend's plight yet so I stepped up next to the next one and performed a roundhouse kick that landed square on his diaphragm. He bent over double and proceeded to loose his lunch while trying desperately to draw in air that would not come.

The last two thugs then realized that something was wrong with their friend but I had moved so fast that they didn't notice me as I circled back around till I was between the last two and at the same time I caught a toe underneath the big thug's chin I also put my fingers to use again on the ringleader of the group. However this time I went straight for the pressure point that is right above a man's genitals.

They both Dropped to the ground. I stood there for only the briefest of seconds before I turned to the stunned and scared young nun. I slowly held out my arms so she could see I meant her no harm, a standard practice of my era in the pit. I was very surprised when she ran to me and dropped into my arms, remember I was playing the part of a 12 year old so I had made myself short, and held onto me like I was an anchor.

I had never been hugged before. I didn't know if she was trying to hurt me or thank me. I was pumped up from the fight so when she ran at me and threw her arms around me, I was very surprised. I even went into defensive mode again and I was just about to put my elbow into her neck when the head nun finally came running up with a blanket and pulled the young nun away.

I just stood there, I was not used to the sudden feeling I had gotten from the young, half nude, nun running into my arms. Pressing her breast into my chest. I didn't stay there very long however, my fighting instinct told me I still had enemies near by. I strode over to the obvious ringleader and proceeded to grab his hair and use my considerable muscle, even at this smaller size I was stronger than normal. I dragged the thug by his hair till he was outside the gate then I let go and said one of the few words I had figured out. "GO" I said.

All his thug friends watched this in horror and when I turned to go back inside the gate they were already running out of it. The ringleader slowly got to his feet to leave as I closed the gate behind me.

I returned back up to the school, went up to my room and stayed there for almost two days. I didn't come down for meals and the staff and kids were all to scared to come anywhere near my room. I did hear the head nun ask me to come out for meals once or twice but even she wouldn't open the door to my room.

I stayed in my room like that till dinner time two days later. I was sitting in my bed facing away from the door just staring at the star lit sky thinking maybe I had made a bad choice when I heard a soft footstep behind me. My instincts are what kept me alive for years in the Pit. When I heard the footstep I jumped and turn in a fighting stance, ready to defend myself. What I saw stopped me dead in my tracks.

Standing less then three feet from the edge of my bed was the same young nun I had helped. She was wearing a new abbot and looked very scared. She had jumped back a bit when I jumped up. She was obviously trying to hold back tears and I could tell that she was very frightened but I saw them. I did not understand why. So I returned to the one thing I knew. I opened my arms in the peace gesture. Her eyes opened wide and she seemed to breakdown all at once. She threw herself into my arms again; I was standing on the bed this time so I was actually taller than her. Remembering what had happened last time I had made the peace gesture I had been expecting it this time but it still took all my control not to want to defend myself.

She started crying and trying to talk to me at the same time. I had no idea what she was saying, remember I am still new to this language, but she never slowed down. I just stood there, not even putting my arms around her, not knowing what to do. After she had trembled in my arms for nearly twenty minutes she gained control of herself enough to look up into my eyes. When she saw that I didn't understand anything she had said, she started laughing. She was still huddled up against me, me having not moved an inch, when she looked up into my eyes and saw the struggle, saw the fear. She then realized that I didn't know what affection was.

She pulled away from me reluctantly. After she let me go she sat down on my bed next to me. She looked up at me and patted the bed next to her.

I slowly sat down next to her. Looking into her eyes, I saw no hatred, no deceit, so I finally thought I could relax a little. She watched me the entire time, watched my body language. She decided right there that I wasn't a bad person. She decided that I had probably been abused badly so I had learned to defend myself.

She looked at me and said "My name is Amy."

I simply looked at her for a second, not quite understanding

She looked at me again and said "Amy". She then pointed at herself. "Amy" she said again.

I smiled and said "Jakstar" while pointing to my chest.

She smiled widely. "Nice to meet you Jakstar!" she said.

I just looked at her and finally smiled back. I didn't understand what she had just said but she had a very infectious smile and I thought I had the gist of what she had just said so I soon smiled back. This gave her the courage to try to do some more teaching. She started coming back to my room for at least three hours everyday after that. I am smart even by my races standards so I was soon able to converse with her haltingly after only about two weeks.

I had now been down here on earth for nearly two months. The orphanage was now getting ready for some sort of holiday. They always held an open house to try and get parents in there. I learned about two days before the big celebration that it was called independence day.

Thanks to the help of Amy I was actually able to hold very basic conversations with the other orphans. I didn't make any friends because the other kids seemed scared of me.

When the big day came I thought I was ready to put on the appearance of being just like everyone else. Everyone was under the impression that I was just from a non English speaking family, because of my troubles learning English and also because I spoke it with an accent. Although none of them could figure out my accent so I just let them keep thinking what they wanted.

I never did make any friends though because of my little show almost a month earlier but I was ok with that for now. Sister Amy still had time for me all the same and she was actually the closest thing I had to a friend by the end of my second month there.

On July 4th, I awoke with the rest of the kids and got dressed in my best clothes to go outside and wait. We were told to be on our best behavior and smile at all the adults that came into the gates. My slave training had me standing at attention almost all day. It turns out that this really was a big deal for the orphanage to do. There were couples coming though all day long. Many did stop to inspect all of us but they almost always ignored the boys in the group. They all seemed to want little girls. Only one or two couples seemed to be interested in boys. But since there were only a few of us compared to the girls it was ok.

It was nearing the end of the day and I was getting tired when the last couple came through the gates. I stood straighter and waited. I was the only boy that had not moved from my assigned spot. All the other boys were playing and the nuns were barely able to get them to stand still long enough to stop and talk to the couple.

It seemed that the older nuns had forgotten about my being there since I had stood still. That and the fact that they seemed to want to forget I was there. The couple didn't seem interested in any of the boys and were getting ready to leave when Sister Amy asked them if they would like to meet me. The other nuns seemed not to like this idea because they didn't want to have to tell anyone about what I had done but Sister Amy soon had the group of them walking in my direction.

I was standing there, staring at the tops of my shoes like I had been taught to do, when they walked to where I was standing.

The older nuns had stopped them at about five feet from me and proceeded to tell them my story, or at least what they knew. They kept on trying to steer them away from me and would answer what they knew of me in short clipped sentences. But good old Sister Amy just kept on talking about me and would actually try to go into any details that they might appear to want to know.

It was Sister Amy that finally told them about what I had done to save her a month ago. When the couple heard the story they were of course very skeptical that this little boy could do what this nun said but the other nuns seemed to flinch when Sister Amy told the story so they took it as true.

After hearing the story a couple times, and seeing that the older nuns obviously didn't feel comfortable around me, they asked if they could have a few moments with myself and Sister Amy alone. The other nuns quickly agreed, any thing to be out of my immediate vicinity. They walked over to one of the benches and sat down. Sister Amy joined them. When they looked up and realized that I had not followed them Sister Amy called for me to come over and join them.

I heard Sister Amy call for me so I came over. I stood next to the bench and never lifted my eyes. I heard Sister Amy talking to them about me but I didn't understand much of what they were saying. But Sister Amy just kept smiling the whole time she was talking to them. I heard Sister Amy tell them something about me not being able to understand them very well because of my lack of English skills and I saw them nod their heads in understanding.

The man looked directly at me and said. "I understand you protected this young lady from a horrible fate? Are you sorry for what you did to those poor men?"

I looked at him for a moment then I looked at Sister Amy and shrugged my shoulders because this was our signal that I didn't quite understand. She looked at me and thought for a minute. She then looked right in my eyes and said. "He knows you helped me. He asked if you felt bad about helping me?"

I thought about it for a minute, never taking my eyes off of her before replying. "I will do again if I need to."

The couple looked at each other and smiled, they then turned to me and the woman this time said. "Will you protect all girls this way?"

I looked her in the eyes this time and thought about what she said and finally responded with. "All girls need protect."

They both smiled at my comment. They started talking very excitedly to Sister Amy then. It seemed I had said something they liked very much. But since it was obvious they were no longer talking to me I stopped trying to listen; besides they were going so fast I couldn't understand even half of it.

Finally Sister Amy asked me. "Jakstar, would you like to go with this family to live? They have four daughters of their own but were never able to have a son and you are the age to be right in the middle of them age wise."

I stared at her for a moment and said. "Is it far?" I asked her. I didn't know this planet yet and I didn't want to go to far from what I knew. They all looked at each other and then the woman looked back at me and said. "We actually live in Tennessee; we just came here because we didn't want to risk adopting a child that might have been a friend's kid. We know it is a ways but we have a small farm and plenty of room for you to play and our school was voted one of the best in the state."

I didn't understand most of what she said but I did understand school and best so I asked Sister Amy what she thought of it. She seemed very happy and even had some tears in her eyes. We elves do not have the ability to cry so this occurrence was one that I had needed to get used to and learn to adjust to; why they did it was still beyond me. But I held out my arms in my peace gesture to show I agreed with it. Sister Amy understood what I meant by it. The Killions didn't understand though and got up to give me a hug. Sister Amy quickly got between them and me and stopped them. She then proceeded to explain that what I did was a sign that I understood and accepted the situation and not an invitation to hug. She then told them that I did not understand showing affection so they would have to teach me and they would also have to work with me on my speech if I was to attend school.

They quickly agreed and went inside with Sister Amy to do the necessary paper work. I just stay were I was told like I was supposed to. It was another hour later when they came out holding the bag that had been given to me when I had been given some clothes. They walked to their car and placed the bag inside and turned facing me. I did not move I didn't even look up. Sister Amy came over to me and said. "You need to go with them now. They have decided to adopt you." I didn't say anything so she continued. "I will miss you very much but I think these people will be very nice to you." I was sad to go because this nun had shown me more love in the past two months then I remembered receiving for the first part of my life.

I actually understood what she meant this time so I walked over to the Killions car and they opened one of the back doors so I could climb in. I then turned around and held my arms up in my usual peace gesture. Sister Amy did the same and smiled back at me. The whole time there were tears pouring out of her eyes. I couldn't help but think I was going to miss her.

I climbed into the Killions car and never looked back. They climbed in and we left. We drove what seemed like all afternoon and most of the night. The woman fell asleep after the sun went down but I never even let an eye close. They both tried to talk to me as much as they could to try and learn about me. By the time the woman, Ellen was her name, fell asleep they had figured out how to speak to me so I could understand them.

Finally at about 3 am we pulled onto a little dirt road that lead back about three miles and finally turn onto a dirt driveway that lead back to a pretty big house. It was two stories and had a large barn off to the east side of the house. They pulled up next to the house and the man, Jason was his name, shut down the car. Jason woke Ellen up and then turned to me and said. "We're home."

I grabbed my bag and climbed out of the car. I followed the Killions inside and Ellen gave me a quick but quiet tour of the house before showing me to what would be my room. It was clean and had a nice twin bed. I put my bag down and she told me to go to bed and that I would meet the rest of the family in the morning. I said thank you and climbed into bed as soon as she left because I was tired. I was asleep almost instantly.

I awoke the next morning kind of late. It was almost 11 am by the time I awoke. I went to the bathroom that was next door to my room and cleaned up. Even though I looked like I was only a child I was actually a bit older but luckily my race does not have body hair so I didn't have to worry about shaving but I did have to worry about my morning erection.

I was in the bathroom for almost fifteen minutes before my erection went down. When it did I changed into some of my everyday clothes and went downstairs to meet with Ellen and what she had said was the rest of my new family. I had forgotten how quietly I moved because when I suddenly showed up at the doorway to the living room looking in at the scene I heard more than one gasp and one of the younger girls even let out a little scream.

"It's alright girls." Said Ellen. "Girls this is Jakstar, your new brother."

They all looked at me for a long time. Finally Ellen said. "Jakstar these are your new sisters. This is Jessica, Jessie for short. This is Cassandra, Cassie for short. This little one is Stephanie, but we all call her Steph. And the shy one over there is Christina, but we all call her Christy."

I took in the names and memorized them. Jessica was the oldest at almost 16. Then there was Cassandra, she was 14. Stephanie was 13, only a year older than me. And then there was Christina, she was the baby at 10 years old. They all had red hair just like their mother, although Jessie and Cassie, both were starting to fill out like their mother. They were all fairly thin but still looked like they ate well.

I tried not to stare to much at Jessie but she was quite attractive with her small tight shirt she wore and little cut off jeans that were cut way to short. Formal introductions made, Jason went outside to chop some wood while Ellen went into the kitchen to make lunch. I stood there in the living room while the girls all stared at me. Finally Steph, being the obvious speaker in the family asked me to have a seat. I sat down in the seat that Ellen had vacated. All the girls were sitting next to each other on the couch across from me.

Steph then asked me. "Mom and dad said you don't speak very good English, is that right?"

I looked at her confused for a moment before I figured out what she was asking, I said. "I do not speak good."

Christy laughed at that before Jessie said. "Mom told us we need to help you with your English so you can go to school with us next month." She then said. "Your not stupid are you? You aren't going to embarrass us are you?"

I was lost when she said this because she had said it all so fast. She didn't seem to like me very much. Luckily Ellen had been standing by the doorway to the kitchen and had heard what her oldest had said. When I shrugged my shoulders and held out my arms in the peace gesture to let them know I didn't understand, Ellen came back in quickly and told the girls what I meant by the gesture. The girls all took to it fairly quickly. All of them except for Jessie who only snorted and said something about my intelligence. Ellen didn't hear her but my hearing caught the words and the meaning behind it.

The girls then did their best to try to make me feel comfortable. Jessie just went upstairs to her room. After about twenty minutes of being told about the girls, I decided to see if I could go outside and help Jason. I had not had a decent days work in a while so I felt the need to work some. When I went outside and found Jason out back cutting the wood I asked if I could help. At first he said no, it was not safe, but after some talking I convinced him to let me try. I then took my shirt off like Jason had done and grabbed the axe.

Even though I had shrunk my body to resemble a child I still had the defined muscles. Jason noticed the muscles and also what looked like whip scars that crisscrossed my back, but he said nothing. He just figured I had a rough life and had been made to do some hard work by previous parents. Jason wasn't the only one to notice my muscles but since my scars had healed so well, he was the only one able to see my scars. At some point during the day all the Killion women had looked through a window and seen my muscles.

I took a good hold of the axe, after watching Jason do it, I had figured out the basics. I lifted the axe over my head like I had seen Jason do and then brought it down hard. My swing went through the piece of wood I meant to chop plus it went almost half way through the block under it. I had seen Jason try hard to get through the piece of wood so I thought I would have to as well. I didn't realize I was so much stronger. Jason looked almost scared for a moment but quickly recovered and grabbed another piece. He put it up on the block again and stood back.

I continued to chop wood for almost an hour. I broke a little sweat but this wasn't much work compared to what I had done before. I never complained. After about twenty minutes of my chopping, Jason decided I was ok and went inside to talk to Ellen. They didn't know what to make of me. Jason thought it was funny though that he had caught his oldest daughter standing at an upstairs window just watching me with a funny look in her eyes. He didn't let her know she had been caught but decided to keep an eye on his oldest daughter.

I was having fun at this bit of light work so I lost all track of time. When I was called into lunch I had already finished every piece of wood that had needed to be chopped and even had time to stack it all. I went inside and sat down with this family. There was a large lunch set out on the table and I ate as much as I could. When I was on my third plate, I realized that everyone else had stopped eating and was staring at me. I finished my plate and sat quietly. I didn't want them to change their minds about me.

After lunch I followed Jason around so I could find more to do. He seemed happy with my work ethic so he started showing me everything there was to know about life on the farm. I learned quickly so I was soon being given tasks and then left alone to complete them. After only about five or six hours of work though I was called back inside to dinner. I was going to have to get used to these quick work periods and multiple meal breaks.

After dinner everyone went their own ways to spend the rest of the day. I tried to find more to do but I was told that after dinner was free time till bed. I didn't know what to do with all this free time so I asked if I could go outside and perform my "shurcram", the style of exercise I had been taught by my trainers in the pit. Jason and Ellen had no idea was I was talking about but they told me as long as I was back before dark then I could go where I wanted to.