Chapter 2

Aelinor always bathed before going to bed, so she started to heat some water for that purpose. Armor said, Aelinor, you do not need to bathe unless you enjoy doing it. Dirt will not stick to me, so you will not have to worry about having to wash off dust and dirt. I will regulate your body temperature so that you will never sweat, so you don't need to wash that off, either.

While you are sleeping, I will generate 10 more amulets suitable for men to wear. They will be ready by the time you wake up. They will do everything that your amulet does, plus provide a means of private communication similar to what we are doing now. The range will be about 15 miles. I'll also modify your amulet to work the same way. This new feature is called "radio."

The next morning, Aelinor waited until daylight to leave her house. Her 2 hours of sleep appeared to be plenty, as she started the day fully refreshed and "raring to go!" She was also pleased with what she was able to accomplish with that extra 4 hours of wakefulness. Most of the time had been spent going over the characteristics and capabilities of the Glaxoi. She was surprised to learn that they had relatively stupid intellects with an IQ of no more than 75-80. That was why the level of the human living standard had fallen so far since their arrival.

The Glaxoi cared only for their own gratification, so they did nothing to help their human "live stock." In fact, the more misery there was, the better they liked it. Glaxoi reproduction was a kind of cell-splitting process in which a "bud" split off from the parent at intervals controlled only by the availability of nutrition and a suitable host. Neither parent nor child had any choice about when this happened, so the Glaxoi tended to surround themselves with suitable hosts. Even beings as mentally dense as the Glaxoi would notice that human females were tied down to the bearing and raising of children, so they contrived to have their own offspring take over only males. Human females were forced to have as many children as possible, so that the food supply could be kept up for the Glaxoi. In fact, the pain of childbirth was a particularly rich source of tasty food for them.

Aelinor wanted to make her first recruiting contact this morning. She was looking for Brad, a woodcutter who lived in the same region of the forest as she did. His hut was about a mile away, and there was a nice path she could use. Brad was 33 years old and a mountain of strength; he would be an ideal recruit, but he was something of a loner, so Aelinor was not sure how welcome her visit would be.

When she got close to his hut, she called out, "YO, BRAD, ARE YOU HOME?" Getting no answer, she walked around his house looking for him. She found Brad in back of his house, surrounded by 6 bandits who were poking at him with their swords and stabbing spears. They were all so intent on what they were doing to Brad that they had not noticed Aelinor as she walked up.

"Where is your money?" demanded the leader. "We know that you must have some cached around here, somewhere. Come on, we want it, and we want it now! Come across, or we'll start poking a little bit deeper with our points. Give up your money now, before you turn into a bleeding mess. You know that you will give it to us eventually, so why not give it to us now and save yourself a lot of pain?"

Brad stoically stood his ground and refused to give in to the bandits. The bandit leader became enraged at Brad's attitude and tried to slap Brad's face with his armored hand. Brad jerked his head back just in time and grabbed the bandit's arm as it flew past. Brad pulled the bandit off his feet and threw him into two of his companions, knocking them down.

Before the bandits could react, Brad ran to his woodpile and picked up a section of tree limb to act as a cudgel. He stood with his back to the woodpile and faced the charging bandits. Aelinor had seen what had happened and reacted now that Brad was separated sufficiently from his tormentors. She raised her left arm and pointed her forefinger at the group. Her mental command of lightning caused an arc to jump from her finger and touch each of the bandits, in turn. They were not immediately electrocuted because they were all wearing chain mail which conducted the electricity away from their vital organs and head. However, there was enough current in the arc to heat the mail to red heat. This turned each of the bandits into a torch of flame as his skin caught fire. It took a few seconds for the bandits to die, so their pain must have registered with any Glaxan in the vicinity.

Brad had seen this stranger standing in his yard, but had not wanted to divert attention from himself to such a beautiful young woman. But he had seen the arc of lightning jump from her finger to the bandits, so he knew that she was anything but ordinary. His actions had been, in part, to protect her as best he could under the circumstances. Now, he was grateful to her for rescuing him.

Brad said, "Thank you for saving my ass from those bastards. I might have beaten them all, but I would have been a bleeding mess by the time I finished. Who are you, and how in the world did you set them on fire?"

"I forgot that you would no recognize me in my new body. I am Aelinor, your neighbor. I have been given some remarkable powers so that I can save humanity from this terrible state we have fallen to. Let's have a seat away from the stench of these burned bodies, and I will give you the whole story."

"Yes, come into my home, and I will fix both of us a mug of tea. Then you can tell me your story."

Around the tea an a few other minor interruptions, Aelinor told Brad her story and gave him one of the amulets to wear. Only moments after he had donned the amulet, Brad, normally a very cool and calm individual, began to swear. He got so agitated that Aelinor shook his shoulder to bring his attention back to her and the present time.