tonystewart3 – Short Fat Stubby Finger Stories

SHORT FAT STUBBY FINGER STORIES PRESENTS:  THE FINAL COUNTDOWN – THE LAST CHAPTER

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  This is the last episode … thank you for reading the book …. MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR 2020 …. Tony Stewart. ps:I will have to do the cross links tomorrow … sorry.

EPSIODE 99

NIGHT FALLETH

   Professor Robinson, shaken beyond belief at the creature’s actions, had no idea what had happened, or why.  He was convinced if Sharkie had been accused of failing, then he too must wear the same accusation, for it had been him that had instructed his now deceased accomplice on every single aspect of their day-to-day activities. But the proxy was quite willing to tell him the truth of the matter.  “You should have died with them, for you were the main reason for what went wrong; you failed to kill Joseph when you had the chance and, as a result, you have placed my life in danger.  But the future shows you will have a second chance at redeeming yourself if I let you live… so you have been spared until that time exists.  But fail again … you have already witnessed how the outcome will be. 

  Then, to Professor Robinson’s absolute horror the creature began to whirl around the room.  His movements so extreme, so volatile, Professor Robinson thought that the future had already arrived …and he had failed again.  The creature swirled … and whirled … and whirled around him so fast, so menacingly, that he was becoming dizzy; on the verge of collapsing.  Suddenly the room became a blur, a white nothingness covered the room and Professor Robinson found himself blinded in the room and closed his eyes as unrequested tears immediately came to the fore; tears, his bodies defence against the wicked whiteness of the room seeping easily from his eyes and rolling down his face.  Then, his eyes still shut, his mind still confused, a pressure began to be applied to his entire body; a pressure that could be felt on every single component that makes him human from head to foot.  He felt he was being packaged and gift wrapped.  Every part of his body felt like it was being flattened, bent to shape, flattened again then folded over and over again and again until it was ready to be on forwarded; his body compressed as it he been a newly purchased suit that had to be folded into shape to fit within the confines of a particular suitcase, and never gain a crease.  Then Professor Robinson wondered if perhaps his entire head was going to be crushed to a pulp in the same manner as the rest of his body.  But he survived the ordeal, and when the process was completed, his reorganised body suddenly felt he too was travelling in the cyclone the creature had created – and he passed out.  When he came to, he found himself travelling in his own vehicle along the highway heading to London.  But it was only when the lights of the oncoming semi flashed its brilliant beam into his eyes warning the car, he was travelling in was beginning to wander into the oncoming lane, did he realise that he was the only one in the car … and he was driving.    

Then, like what had happened inside the police station, Professor Robinson’s world also turned to complete darkness …

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SHORT FAT STUBBY FINGER STORIES PRESENTS:  THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

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EPISODE 98

Suddenly something snapped in Joseph’s head.  An image of Arkerious reappeared in his mind.  It was not a new visit from his mentor, but the previous one repeated.  Once again, in total clarity he heard Arkerious telling him how many people on the planet had his d.n.a.  Once again, he clearly heard Arkerious telling him his d.n.a contained B2e+.  And once again Joseph found himself mulling over this information, and wondering why Arkerious had told him no more; wondering why he had disappeared straight after giving him the information.  ‘Why, Arkerious, why?’ he asked in a loud, frustrated voice in the privacy of his mind, ‘It is not like Rangor could have heard what you were saying.  Not when you are talking to me inside my own mind. What is B2e+ anyway?’  It sounds like a pop group.”  Joseph asked.  He found himself becoming panic stricken at the time it was taking him to work out when the move was going to be made.  He knew it seemed that Rangor was having some difficulty is seeing them; sensing where everybody was, but he knew that they were all there, and it was only a matter of time before he lost interest in seeing them killed.  He would suddenly simply destroy the entire room, regardless of the consequences. And he was running out of time; the rubies were fast becoming a thick, foamy, blobby mess. Another minute or two and they would be useless to them.  There would be no way possible, even now, to hand them over to the two men, never mind them being able to throw them … they would be as stuck to their hands, as they were to his … in fact, even now they would be useless, Joseph decided.  He looked hard at his hands; the thick gooey, glowing, green, red, and yellow mess reminded him of soft fried eggs that had burst and the yolk had run over the egg white.  He absently began to stir the vulgar mix with the middle finger of his clean hand and had to snap his mind out of the need to jump and scream at the sensation that ran up his arm and into his entire body in case he was heard by Rangor.  Suddenly Joseph realised he could feel a strange sensation taking over his entire body; a feeling of overriding power and strength surged through his body and into his mind.  And, as coloured and black and white lights began flashing before his eyes, Joseph nearly collapsed on the spot when he realised the spontaneous movement had caused him to write B2e+ in the gooey mess on his hand, and, to his surprise, he found he had the answer to his problem.  Bacteria 2 plus; Rangor is allergic to it.  Oh, grouse,’ he thought to himself with complete disbelief.  ‘This can’t be the answer.  Surely I will die almost immediately.’  Words, thoughts, disbelief, ran amok through Joseph’s mind and body.  One part of his mind went ballistic with joy as he realised the answer to their problem was within his understanding … the other part of his mind felt he was verging on the brink of madness, for the solution was teetering on suicide.

  “Change of plans, everybody.”  He called out in a loud whisper, “Nobody else move.  Sergeant, throw down just one cannonball, but aim it at the middle of the wall that runs down the right-hand side.  Now!”

  The cannonball crashed loudly into the wall in the otherwise silent room and the wall itself was parted in half by the instant reply from the creature.

  “Ah, Joseph, you are back,  Rangor called out excitedly,  “Where are you.  I want to get this over rather quickly, you understand.  I am rather a bit peckish, I am afraid, old chap.  If you could be so kind as to give me a bit of an idea where you are …”

  “Now, listen to me carefully, and don’t argue.”  Joseph continued, still ignoring Rangor’s irritating rantings, “We haven’t got the time to argue.  I want you to keep up a slow barrage of attacks anywhere along the back wall and whatever is left of the right-hand wall, you can even throw it at the ceiling, however, whatever you do, don’t throw anything too close to this end on my left or at the face. We don’t want to be accidently in the creature’s firing line, and most definitely do not throw anything at the creature, because I am going to be out there.  Grab whatever you can pick up from the tables and throw them at random, not too close together, or too far apart. Oh, and make sure they alternate as much as possible. They are meant to distract Rangor while I get close enough to destroy him.”
  Not a word was spoken by Joseph’s friends, but the frozen look of disbelief on their faces in the continuing black and white light show in the room created by the lack of power was enough to make him realise he had to convince them quickly.  “I know how to destroy him, but I need you all to distract him while I get close enough to do it.  Do not call out to me no matter what you are thinking, he will sense my presence and kill me – then he will kill all of you. Now start throwing things – starting with you, Hervey”

  For but a split second nobody moved, then a cannonball zipped out of Harvey’s hand to the rear half of the room, and a huge ball of power smashed into the same area, but within a second two more cannonballs were smashed against the wall in two different sides of the room.  This time there was hesitation from the creature, and no reaction took place.  Joseph waited out the silence, then climbed over the timber frame that remained intact. From that point on, he carefully moved forward with each blast the creature made as it tried to find the source of the nois,e until he finally arrived at the side of the creature.  There he waited his opportunity to pounce.

  “What game are you playing, Joseph?”  The creature unexpectedly roared out in the mocking psychedelic light that made the room look like a late sixties dance club.  The volume so loud Joseph almost cried out in fright.  “You know that you cannot defeat me with such puny weapons.  Reveal yourself to me and I will be merciful.” 

  Joseph now only feet away from Rangor’s head almost collapsed at the nearness of the vile breath the creature exuded, and had to place his clean hand over his mouth for a moment in order to not cough.  Finally catching his breath and calming his overtly beating heart, Joseph turned to face his friends, raised his fingers to indicate five, then indicated they should each thrown a weapon simultaneously across the width and breadth of the room, which they did.  The cannonballs, the axe, the sword and the body armour all made loud and distinctive noises in a wonderfully round surround sound circle as Joseph had hoped for, but it was the creature’s reaction that made Joseph smile.  The first burst of power demolished a part of a wall on the far side of the room, thick dust and bricks being scattered in all directions.  The second was nowhere as loud, and the destruction was mild in comparison.  The third and fourth bursts were nought but pops of smoke, and the fifth failed to do anything physical whatsoever.  Joseph’s instincts had been proven to be correct; not only had the creature not been able to see them because the rubies were melting in his hand rather than providing the image Rangor needed to see where they were in order to kill them, the creature had run out of power.  

  Joseph wondered if the chance to kill him was more important to Rangor, than his quest to invade Earth.  But, it mattered not, the proxy, the connection had to be terminated … now, because Joseph feared Rangor would suddenly terminate his connection with the proxy and leave while he could:  Little did Joseph know how angry Rangor was at this  precise moment; or how he was about to vent his anger.
  Taking a huge chance that he was safe, Joseph stepped out in front of Rangor’s face, both amazed and offended by the vile, evil, ugliness, that confronted him, almost hypnotised him with the aid of the black and white light show that the storm was putting on, and now his senses began to feel offended by the obnoxious odour that emitted through its mouth.  It was certainly a fearsome site to behold, and an even harder repugnancy to tolerate, yet Joseph was not scared, and he was surprised by this.  So surprised it gave him the courage to risk his life in what he was about to do.

  “Hello, Rangor,” Joseph said softly, quietly, as he rubbed his hands together, lathering up the completely melted, glowing, rubies as he attempted to distribute it equally on each hand, “Goodbye, Rangor,”

  “Joseph!” Rangor began in total disbelief, but before he could say any more, Joseph began pushing his fingers between the proxy’s lips, pushing them down hard against the rejecting, choking throat until he could travel inwards no more, but continued with the side by side, up and down, massaging he had commenced the instant his finger-tips had parted the proxy’s lips.”

 The proxy seemed to be unable to writhe or twist within the frame of the wall, however, Joseph could not help but hear the gurgling the choking creature was making, feel the tension, the spasms, the sheer pain and terror the creature was undergoing, and retaliating with the rankest odour Joseph had ever inhaled, but Joseph was not relenting.  He knew that it would be unwise to show the creature any leeway what so ever.  To Joseph it was as if the creature’s head was bobbing up and down, it was screaming out of pure terror and pain and begging him to be released.  For a second Joseph almost fell for the trap when he saw Mary in his mind and she was lost in the weeds and being attacked by the creature. but he rejected it as fast as it came into his mind, then he saw Rosetta’s beautiful face lying peacefully in her man-made coma, and again he pushed the distraction out of the way, and this time he fought back as he began to imagine exactly what he was doing right this moment … and now he could feel Rangor’sanger … and it was building.  He wondered if he was going to survive.  Suddenly the boot was on the other foot and he could feel his own power subsiding.  ‘My god, I can’t let this happen; not after all we have been through.’  Joseph struggled to regain control, and as he did a flash of his time in the cradle in the forest appeared in his mind. He let his mind drift back to that strange wonderful night when he looked upwards, towards the endless universe; when he saw the stars in the heavens.  Billions of them, millions of colours, all suddenly blacked out by the appearance of his saviour.” 

Well, I don’t know who you are, young fellow, but you are certainly here for a reason.  I would have been frozen to death if you had of been me,” the figure had said as it moved away and allowed the stars back into Joseph’s childish eyes.

  ‘And he is right.’  Joseph acknowledged.  He suddenly began rubbing the inside of the creature’s chest as hard and fast as he could.  Rangor released a roar so loud that the young constable felt his legs become warm again, while Constable Hobson again began to pray, and Chief inspector O’Reilly finally faced acceptance that Joseph had been telling the truth.

  Joseph, however, had no time to reflect on anything other than the fact that he was sweating profusely. He retracted his hands, saw that the goo that once were the rubies was completely gone them and without hesitation, he whisked off his coat and shirt, ran his hand over his chest, then rammed his wet, open hands straight back into Rangor’s still open mouth and received instant gratification for his effort: Steam blew back out of the creature’s mouth, as did another scream.  Joseph knew he probably only had one more chance.  He reached down to his trouser pocket and extracted a handkerchief which he immediately ran over his chest, his neck and his saturated hair, then wrapped his hand around it and pushed it hard into Rangor’s throat, squeezing it as hard as he possibly could.  Instantly he could hear sizzling and agonising coughing coming out of Rangor’s mouth, then an explosion of pure energy threw Joseph backwards for several yards as it took out the wall where the head had resided during the battle, before the bizarre screech of a final death scream … followed by total darkness in the room.

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SHORT FAT STUBBY FINGER STORIES PRESENTS:  THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

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EPISODE 97

  Suddenly, a burst of light exploded so hard as Rangor entered the room it threatened to set the fire system off.   The voice screamed out, ‘Now!’, and Professor Robinson shut his mouth and rolled as fast as he could to reach the right end of the lounge and get himself behind it as a burst of energy blasted the leather covering with so much force it split the lounge in half and blasted a hole in the wall behind it.  The professor’s choice of selecting the right end of the lounge to hide behind had been purely co-incidental.  He had been warned to make himself safe, but he had not been mollycoddled and told where to go; he had just been lucky.

   The two men still on their knees opened their eyes at the sound of the explosion, and then saw the smoke that now came out of the wall and spread itself into the room.  They looked at each other in confusion, failing to understand the fog-like atmosphere that was being created in the room, for they had not realised that Rangor had entered the room.  But they quickly became aware of his presence, and his intentions as a thunderbolt hurtled across the room, knocking the unnamed man so hard that he was thrown up against the wall five feet from floor level.  So forceful was the subsequent blast that blood ran freely from where once his eye had been set, and down what remained of his face into his open mouth.  But he had no time to feel the pain.  He somehow got up onto his feet and tried to run, but a volley of white lightning sped through the air, cutting him down like a butterfly caught in the rain.  He was dead, long before his smoking remains floated to the floor below.

   Sharkie was beside himself in fear.  Transfixed, he just stood there, staring, as this incredible disaster took place around him.  The Punjaniti stopped its display of destruction, and turned its gaze to him.  A repulsive odour filled the room, and the face moved within inches of Sharki’s.

   “You were warned,” the voice rasped.  “There was a penalty to pay for the services of the Punjaniti if you got it wrong, and you got it wrong.  You failed me and now you die!”
  “But we did what you asked.”  Sharkie whimpered, “We attached a ruby to every one of them with the exception of Joseph as you told us.”

  “You failed!’ The proxy said, its voice so deep, so guttural, Sharkie suddenly, mentally, felt, rather than recalled, the horror and torment he himself had placed on his victims in their last moments on this mortal coil … and for the first time in his life Sharkie felt the horror of absolute terror; a terror so strong that it brought tears to his eyes.

  Terrified at the thought of his own pending demise, Sharki opened his mouth to scream out his innocence, but no sound emitted.  Flames wide enough to engulf the entire room came out of the creature’s mouth.  So hot, the paint began peeling off the wall and ceiling; liquid paint now dribbling down onto Sharki’s ever reddening scalp.  The sprinklers went off this time, just a split second before the nozzles melted, and the alarms screamed so loudly that they could be heard for miles as Sharki exploded into a thousand boiling pieces that splattered across the entire room before he could get the first note of his intended final scream off the tip of his tongue.

SHORT FAT STUBBY FINGER STORIES PRESENTS:  THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

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EPISODE 96

Joseph thought hard, quick and with articulate clarity.  He knew everything must be planned and actioned in the time-frame that he had imagined in his in-brain video.  ‘This would work.’ he thought, ‘It had to.’ 

 “Gentlemen” Joseph spoke softly, loud enough for everybody in his small group to hear, but not loud enough to be heard by the proxy, “I want you to not all answer at once, therefore I don’t want any of you to speak at all.  Instead, I will ask you all a question and if your answer is yes, I want you to slowly raise your hands.  Slowly because we can’t afford to make a mistake and make a noise.  Now, the question is this.  Do any of you play darts in any form at all?” 
  The young constable’s arm was already beginning to move forward at the word, ‘play’ before he saw the look on Joseph’s face and immediately slowed down the speed at which his hand was moving, but, never-the-less, it was his outstretched arm that reached its pinnacle first.  Harvey and the sergeant were next, and also the last, to advise Joseph that they participated in the classic sport.
  Joseph popped his head up to check up on Rangor, and satisfied he was still stuck in the wall, mumbling to himself something about Joseph revealing himself, he returned to the group. “Good, now this is not an ego trip question.  I need to know if you really can do what I am about to ask you.  And you can answer by shaking your head.  Can you guarantee accuracy with both attempts?  Because that is the way it must be?  We have no fall-back plan or weapon. I ask you because I am going to get you to throw a total of six rubies straight into the creature’s mouth, one after the other.  It has to go straight into the creature’s mouth … and if you miss, we will all be dead within a second.  The three men responded, shaking their heads with so much enthusiasm, Joseph was frightened they would start coughing.  He quickly waved his hand indicating that they should shop, and backed up his request with speech.  “Okay, that is fine.  You are absolutely certain you can do it?”  The three men grinned as they shook their heads again, only this time with a much slower movement, “Alright, I will pass them down to you in a minute.  When you receive them, they will feel wet and sloppy – they are meant to.  Do not try to dry them, and do not drop them.  It is extremely necessary that as many of the rubies enter the gullet at the same time as possible for this to work quickly, so throw the next one the second you have thrown the first one.  Do not wait for another countdown, there won’t be one.  Now Harold and Chief inspector O’Reilly, I want you both to throw a cannonball at the wall at each end of the office table, Chief Inspector, aim for the left hand-side, and Harold, aim at the right.  I will count down from three quickly when it is time.  Ensure you throw the ball on ‘three’ then duck back down just in case, and ruby throwers throw the rubies as soon as you hear the bang of the balls as they hit the wall.  And for god’s sake, resist the urge to grunt as you throw – suck it in, or wear a blast.  Oh, and Serge, you are the biggest so I have the hardest throw for you.  I am giving you a cannonball, and it has to be accurate; it is imperative that you get that ball straight in the mouth of the creature when you throw it, which will be at the same time as the ruby throwers – that is, as soon as you hear the thump from the other cannonballs hitting the ball. If our timing is right, and so are my calculations, the cannonballs will attract Rangor’s attention, but the one that enters his mouth will confuse him, and I am counting on him literally staring out the wall with his mouth wide open for a second or two, which is our best chance to get the rubies into his mouth.  But we have to move quickly, it won’t take long for the creature to explode, literally.

SHORT FAT STUBBY FINGER STORIES PRESENTS:  THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

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EPISODE 95

Something was terribly wrong.  They could smell burning, but it didn’t seem to coming from their connection with Rangor, it seemed to be coming from somewhere close by.  Then the smoke slowly began to enter the room itself; the room they were occupying.  The clash of thunder that accompanied it was so loud it made plates fall off shelves in the kitchen at the far end of the hotel. Then they heard the creature’s roar; a sound so loud, so personal, so hateful that their collective heads momentarily ached like it had been struck with full force by a baseball bat.  The shivers that ran down their back originated from the way the ice was somehow packed hard against the curvature of their neck and their spine.  They were being crushed to death by an invisible force and the pain so unbearable they were not capable of screaming out to share their agony with the rest of the world.  Then, unexpectedly the room began to shake violently, increasing their pain tenfold.  For that second, they wished their death to be instant, the pain was agonising and unnecessarily expanded to the point that Sharkie truly believed himself to be suffering greater pain than he had ever provided for anyone he had killed over the years.  His pain now bringing tears to his eyes, and prayers for instant death.  Then, for the first time in his long and ruthless life, he began to feel the fear of his own victims and broke into tears before passing out into a world of blackness,

SHORT FAT STUBBY FINGER STORIES PRESENTS:  THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

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EPISODE 94

Joseph grinned at Rangor’s taunts.  He knew that everything was going right for him at the moment as the sweat ran down his face, under his clothes … and most especially, inside his tightly closed hand.  He slightly opened that hand, surprised to find the rubies were beginning to glow.  Then, as the dripping sweat from his face and forehead added their contribution to the rubies, the rubies began to sizzle and glow profusely.  Soon the sweat from his body intermingled with the gems to such a point that they were getting so hot he was barely able to use them the way he planned to and wished he could discard them right there and then, but he was not quite ready. 

First, he had to get the creature’s full attention.

SHORT FAT STUBBY FINGER STORIES PRESENTS:  THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

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Episode 93

“Keep your mouths shut!”  Joseph spoke in a commanding voice that grabbed everybody’s attention immediately.  “It’s time to get out of here,” Joseph gave the closest of the men a gentle shove with his hand resting firmly in the middle of their individual back, but instead of releasing his hand, Joseph continued prompting them towards the door, and the others automatically followed suit.  And as they all moved forward in a close group Joseph spoke softly, but loud enough for all to hear.  “Do not talk … listen!  What you are seeing is the proxy.  I believe Rangor is low on power at the moment, which is why it is only the head being presented to us.  Mind you, it is still arriving, which is the only reason why it hasn’t already blasted us to smithereens. But it is only minutes away from being here with us. We need to get downstairs and into the street… no, wait. Head for the cars.”  Joseph ordered, “We need to get out of the village.  Without the rubies he won’t be able to find us.”  

  In panic, fear guiding their decisions, the small group began running towards the stairs ten metres away, however, before they could take but three steps, a massive shock of thunder struck the building; the entire structure shook and a loud cracking noise that send frozen shivers down their collective backs brought them to a halt. Whether it was luck, or fate, is immaterial, it was enough to make them stop dead in their tracks with barely enough time to look upwards.  And what they saw caused them to make the collective decision to move back into the safety of the hallway at the long side of the office as fast as they could; an irrefutable decision as a huge beam streaked down from the third floor and completely demolished the stairs they had been about to use to escape; the weight of the falling beam forcing the entire row of steps to be thrashed beyond use as they made contact with their cousins on the floor below.        
  Now forced, totally unprotected, to stand in the hallway, they could see the Punjaniti at work through the relevant safety of the timber and glass wall that enclosed the office on two sides.  Rangor unexpectedly released a barrage of power hits in no particular direction.  The room suddenly lit up so bright it was as if the roof had been blown off and the sun had full reign over them.  Without any apparent reason Joseph suddenly called out a warning, advising them to get to the floor and cover their heads and faces.  Fortunately for all, everybody did what they were told to do with no reservation or delay, as, without warning, a bolt of power smashed through the glass partition beside them, shattering it into a million pieces.  

  As the six men dived to the floor, they rolled up hard against the knee-high wooden panel that resided below the damaged glass frame, trying to avoid the slivers of glass that smashed into whatever they landed in.  As he rolled, Joseph suddenly realised he was still gripping the rubies tightly in his hand and he wondered why he was not dead.  He should have died instantly, perhaps even saving the life of everybody else because he had been holding all of the rubies.
  And then he noticed that nobody was dead, frightened yes, but nobody had been harmed so far.  The creature seemed perplexed. The energy he was dispersing was not making sense; the charges were far and few between, and seemingly aimed without rhyme or reason.  It was almost like the creature was blind.  Joseph was also perplexed; the situation seemed ridiculous, but it couldn’t keep going on this way.  Eventually somebody would be harmed, or more than likely killed, because the creature would end up killing them all even if it was by accident.  He had all the power, and at the moment, they had nothing … not even a plan.  Then unexpectedly Arkerious appeared in his mind and their minds momentarily melded.  Joseph had no idea what he was talking about when Arkerious advised him that he had B2e+ in his d.n.a., nor did he understand the figure of fifteen hundred humanoids that shared the B2e+ component of his d,n,a., but there was something that Arkerious said that did inspire him to take action.  Something that was understood by Joseph, or, at least, he thought he did … and a plan began to hatch. 
  “No matter what happens during the next moment or two,” He called in a voice just loud enough for all of them to hear his order, “Do not move an inch.  I am about to do something and it is important that you do not show yourselves and get yourself in the crossfire.  You will most likely die, should you do that.  The same goes for making loud noises, they will bring you to his attention, and his fire power; he will know where you are, and he will kill you.  I think Rangor is blind at the moment, so he will not be able to see you, but he will most likely react to any sound you make and aim all of his hardware in that direction; so, nobody move … I mean it.  Everybody’s life depends on every one of you doing what you are told.  So here I go!” And without a second’s hesitation, Joseph jumped up, his hands clenched tightly and immediately began to taunt his nemesis.

 “Hey, Rangor are you going blind?  Can’t you see me?”  The creature spun his head in every direction trying to determine where the voice was coming from, but Joseph had allowed for the surprise of his voice to throw Rangor off balance momentarily so he would not be ready to use his senses immediately to trace the voice to where Joseph was standing. 

  The seconds ticked by in silence while Joseph bent down to carefully pick up several items off the display table and placed them carefully at his feet in a position that would stop them from rolling, but still give him easy access to them.  And while he was moving, he squeezed hard on his left hand and could feel the rubies becoming a bit squishy; the heat in the room was increasing due to the random power shots Rangor had made and it was making Joseph sweat even more than the fear of Rangor had been, and as result it was quickly being absorbed by the rubies.  Arkerious had been right.

  ‘Well,’ Joseph thought inwardly, ‘let’s get this show on the road.’  And with that he picked up the first of the small cannon balls he had removed from the display desk and threw it as hard as he could, aiming it at the far end of the glass panel that still remained intact on the entrance side of the office.  The glass exploded in an almighty explosion that caused the creature to spin around and send out half a dozen bursts of energy that took out most of the glass panel that had survived the cannon all, and scattered the relics from the past display on the entrance side of the office in all directions as the damaged panels that supported them began to collapse.  Then, things that had survived the initial burst stopped rocking and spinning and began falling into each other, or smashing down to the floor, as the maelstrom in that corner of the room began to subside. Joseph threw the next cannonball into the wooden wall behind the chief inspector’s desk.

  The creature’s face swung around so fast it made Joseph feel dizzy just watching him, but as the balls of death barely burst out of the creature’s mouth heading the wrong way for the beleaguered creature, Joseph let fly with a sword that hit the creature in the middle of the face before it fell harmlessly to the ground.  The action had been farcical as an attempt to actually kill the creature, as Joseph had known it would be, the creature not actually being a physical being, but he was satisfied that his plan was working and threw another ball at what was the last of the glass wall on the entrance side of the office which immediately drew a dozen or more blasts of power, only, this time, the barrage was straight along the wall, machine gun style … and when the barrage was finally finished, the wall was demolished, and so were most of the many relics that had been on display.  Then, Joseph threw the next cannonball at a spot on the floor where Rangor’s feet would have been should he have fully emerged from the wall, and the reaction on Rangor’s hideous face told Joseph his plan was indeed working.  Rangor roared with rage, then released a blast so strong it was a miracle that the room didn’t catch fire, but fortune was with Joseph, and nobody came near being injured.
  Rangor was furious at this act of defiance from his intended victims; he was already in a state of low power which is why he dared not allow the proxy to fully enter the room due to the increased energy he would be forced to use.  His priority was to locate the rubies, but something was now blocking them from his vision, and his eyesight would not return to normal until he, or, at least, the proxy, visually reconnected with the rubies, for that was how they worked.  For the moment the eyes of the proxy were locked into the time-line of the rubies, and his to the proxy.  He knew they were somewhere nearby, but something was interfering with every one of them, and he had no idea why, and until he did, he was blind.  For Rangor this was the equivalence of a human flying a drone from a hospital bed; all vision was provided by the drone’s camera, and at the moment the drone appeared to be flying through heavy fog, or a snow storm and he had to rely solely on the ruby’s g.s.p. for its vision.  This was a rare occurrence; he could only remember it happening on one occasion recently, and that also had involved Joseph … though he doubted Joseph had contributed anything to that event, other than not dying, that is.  Somehow, the computer on his desk took all of the punishment that was meant for him. But that was several days ago, and Rangor had not expected another irrational event to occur in a similar occasion, but he felt certain that this time Joseph was somehow involved in what was happening now, because it had been Rangor that had ordered Robinson to place the rubies on all witnesses other than Joseph and call the proxy up to kill them.  He knew he could destroy Joseph once he had been permanently stopped from using the power of protection that he drew from his friends, but, for the moment, he had to finish this cat and mouse game Joseph was playing with him.  And he had to do it fast.  Rangor needed to feed, then rest for at least twelve hours before the entry to Earth began.  He could risk a small meal at a planet near Kepler-22b in a nearby galaxy to give him the energy to get through the ordeal of entry, but he definitely needed power build up to survive it, and that would require a minimum of twelve hours rest, and even then, it would rely on the statue being completely set up and the volunteer’s body and the proxy to be waiting within the confines of the statue.  ‘Twelve hours and no less.’ Rangor thought, ‘No less, because I will still have to bleed power to the proxy while I am recharging.  If I suddenly lose connection with it before I enter the statue, all will be lost for this chance.  I am aware that I can try again, one more time within a month, before this phase of the moon would be gone for several years, however, I want to invade now.  This planet will be mine before the rising of the next full moon, but first I have to deal with Joseph, once and for all!’   

  “Where are you, Joseph,” Rangor called out in his loud guttural voice, “there is no use hiding. You will eventually make a mistake, then you and your friends will all be dead.  Give yourself up and I will make your death a pleasant one.  Soon you will be with your women, and the rest of your friends.  For once I have killed you, I will enter this world of yours and feed with such pleasure it will be like I have gone to your heaven, figuratively speaking, of course.  I am expecting this planet to be five-star gourmet class, and I am salivating simply at the thought of such a banquet.  I tell you, Joseph, I am anticipating the succulent meal you will provide so much, so I would really appreciate your co-operating in this matter and give yourself up so I can get on with my plans.  Do you hear me, Joseph, or are you already dead? 

  Well, that would be disappointing, having you dead all this time and not being able to see it happen.  How long should I wait to see if you are dead? 

********

  Five minutes?

********

  Five days?

********

 I think you really are dead. 

********

Then, if that is the case, I may as well leave.

********

 Adieu, Joseph, you have been a worthy adversary, but nowhere good enough to defeat me.” 

  As the creature spoke, Joseph was not certain whether to believe Rangor, or not, but as the face began to slowly disappear from its resting place in the wall, Joseph knew he had no choice.  He picked up an ancient scotch bottle and threw it at the wall just below the face.  The creature roared with frustration knowing that it was impossible for him to trace the source of the noise under these conditions, and in that one moment of time, Rangor’s hatred and loathing of Joseph reached a new high. 

If hatred alone could kill, Joseph would have been struck dead that very instant.

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EPISODE 92

The sweat poured from their foreheads as they concentrated relentlessly on increasing the power for the Punjaniti to kill their enemies.  The veins on their temples were throbbing as they felt the power of the Punjaniti begin to ebb through their minds.  Stronger and stronger it surged, and they felt their bodies shuddering, they smelt the smell of death: They sensed the pain and agony of the victims as they were being burnt to a crisp, and the adrenalin that roared through their brains gave even more reason to increase the power.  But this time something was wrong; the vibes they felt, the joy of shared death was not uncommon during this process of summoning the Punjaniti, but still, there was something that did not seem right. The death screams seemed to be coming not from the victims, but from the creature itself.  It began to sound more like a want, than a result.

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EPISODE 91

The chief inspector pressed a button on the intercom on his desk, and called the other policemen into his office where, much to the surprise of the Sergeant and Constable Hobson, they both found rubies in their coat pockets, and when they finally fully awoke, Constable Jervis, whom they had half dragged up the stairs, surprised them all when he too found a ruby in his clothing, though nobody could understand how he had received it, because he never seemed to come in contact with any of the villains.  Nobody, that is, but Joseph who surprised them all with his explanation.

  “Remember.”  He began, “I was out of sight.  Nobody had known I was in the room standing behind the poster over there where I had a perfect view of the proceedings.” Joseph pointed to a six-foot high, four-foot wide, poster advertising the forthcoming historical event celebrating the village’s past that stood upright in the far-leftt hand corner of the entrance to the room, “I was lucky that the poster is tacked on to a wooden cross with a stabilising footing, rather than simply taped to the wall.  I could see everything from there, but nobody could see me.  When Sharkie began to attract your attention, Chief Inspector; when he began to question you about Harvie’s involvement in bringing the three of them down here to the station, Professor Robinson took advantage of the distraction and walked behind you and placed the ruby in Ben’s jacket – he then went back to where he had been standing previously. It only took a couple of seconds and nobody noticed he had moved because all eyes were on Sharkie.  Right, the mystery of Ben’s mysterious ruby now settled, let’s move.” Joseph said as he scooped up all of the rubies, but before he could finish his sentence, the world around him changed dramatically.    

  Another tremendous crash of thunder rocked through the building; smoke began emitting from the wall behind where the chief inspector sat.  The lights in the entire building suddenly went out; visibility now arrived in the building only via the lightning flashes in the streets that surrounded the building.  An array of psychedelic influenced bursts of light flashed off and on with constant regularity through the open front door of the police station, through the glass dome at the top of the building, and through various windows spread around the three-story building … and, then, when things seemed at their absolute worst, Constable Hobson, a nervous man at the best of times very nearly had a heart attack when he first saw it.

  “The wall!  The wall!” he screamed loudly, almost beside himself in fear, “Look at the wall.”

  Everybody turned to look where his bulging eyes were pointing and, collectively, the other three policemen were mortified by what their eyes took in for the first time; their tongues were frozen, their screams unheard.  Harvey stood mesmerised by the events taking place before his eyes.  Constable Hobson did everything but actually faint or have a heart attack, but he did fall to his knees and pray silently for the strength to get through this day, and the young constable could feel the warmth in his uniform becoming warmer and wetter … and totally uncontrollable, but the fear of this thing he witnessed took his mind away from embarrassment,and into defence mode as a barrage of flashing lights fell upon the repulsive face that confronted him from inside the confines of the wall.  No body, no arms, torso or legs, just this this monstrous, hideous, threatening face which continued to grow larger, uglier, and more fearsome by the millisecond.  A living nightmare, heralded into their world by a thunderous fanfare, and an electric black and white light show delivered at machine gun speed that dominated not only the police station, but the entire village.

The Punjaniti had arrived ...

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EPISODE 90

The sound the men created with their alternate chanting and singing; a sound so strange, so cold, it had been known to chill the bones of those that heard it without participating, soon generated enough power to cause the scorpion to begin to illuminate.  The sounds of their wailing increased with each note.  On and on they sung, until their voices reached a crescendo, then they would repeat the song from the beginning once again.  And each crescendo increased the glow that emitted from the scorpion in equal proportion.  Suddenly they felt the connection, they could sense the arrival of the creature at the police station. The scorpion began pulsating as the power was consumed by the proxy, then immediately replaced by their increase in volume as they continued the chant.

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Episode 88

The sound that the three men made, did indeed sound like one voice, but the one voice that unexpectedly spoke into Professor Robinson’s mind alone made it hard for him to retain the blending voices.  Fortunately for him the message was short and sweet, but it unnerved him never-the-less.  Twenty-three little words that made him nervous with every note they sang.  ‘Close your mouth and move to safety the very second I give you the signal.  Do not hesitate, or you too will die’.  The voice had said to him, and him alone.  And for the next few minutes, unaware of the secret words that had been for Professor Robinson alone, the other two men continued to sing the enchanted song along with the Professor.  None of them aware that every word they uttered, in either speech or song, was being transmitted further up the corridor to the recording device that had been automatically turned on in William’s conference room.

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Episode 87

The chief inspector shook his head in a mixture of disbelief at what he was hearing, and horror at the thought of walking over the dead.  It produced images he felt would never truly leave his mind;     ‘Nightmares in waiting’, he commiserated to himself,

  ‘KABOOOOOM!’ Almost on cue the next rumble of thunder rocked the building, and a flash of lightening lit the room up as if it was the middle of the day.

  “I was not aware that we were expecting a storm.”  Chief Inspector O’Reilly noted calmly as his mind tried its best to deal with what Joseph had been telling him.  “We could do with a bit of rain.”
  Joseph winced at the sound, but said nothing about the oncoming storm.

He was more afraid of what it meant than worrying about a bit of rain.  “I am afraid our time is really running out, chief inspector.”  He remarked patiently.  “We need to finish this conversation before it is too late.  There is a creature that resides in space and travels throughout the seven universes, there are seven, according to the guardians, and the creature’s entire contributions to the meaning of life is to destroy it, by consuming it.  The creature is known under various names; The Punjaniti, Rangor, among them.  He appears to be capable of expanding his body from the size of a field mouse to that of a creature able to circumnavigate an entire planet and suck the life out of it … literally, in one sweep … which is what it does.  And at the moment, Planet Earth is on its bucket list.

  Again, without warning, the thunder roared through the building as the walls shifted slightly, and several hundred years of accumulated dust in the ancient monument to law and order in the village began floating down upon them. 

  “And now it seems that the creature is on its way.  Do you think that is a storm you are hearing?”

  “Oh, Joseph.  What is going on here.  I said that I would hear you out, but what you are telling me is absolute rubbish.  It’s just a storm coming.  We do have storms in the village, you know.”  Chief inspector O’Reilly snorted, desperately trying to get the thought of reality out of his mind “and how can this creature be on its way if it is still waiting to be invited?”
  “There is far too much involved to tell you everything, chief inspector.  Joseph snapped, his voice rising,  “Rangor is of the opinion that its minions have possession of the statue, but they haven’t.  But that is to do with his actual arrival on Earth.  In the meantime, I have already told you the creature has the capability to produce a doppelganger proxy of himself which has limited capabilities, but dangerous capabilities never-the-less.  The proxy has the capability of communicating with inhabitants of the planet, mind-to-mind, or being used to kill a proposed victim.  The proxy is, for all sake and purpose, Rangor.  And while Rangor lacks the ability to carry out any physical deeds such as destroying a prospective victim while they are on a protected planet.  Instead, when required, he extends a greater energy to the proxy, using the same source that supplies the power for his total existence. and uses mind power to initiate any physical action.  And, on top of all that, the proxy uses the rubies to destroy his victims.  I told you earlier the rubies come from a planet in the second universe and contain elements way beyond our full comprehension.  There are elements in the rubies that allow the proxy to hone onto its intended victims by a pulse transmission it emits; this takes place when a ruby has been planted on the proposed victim by one of Rangor’s minions and activated; special rubies that transmit a signal through space to the proxy to guide it to the victim or victims.  These signals can be activated in various ways by the minions, or by Rangor himself depending whether it is the minions or Rangor that want the deaths to take place.  Remember, neither one wants the deaths to be noticed for what they really are: murder.  Both parties prefer the attacks take place out of sight of the public and authorities, and the best way of achieving that is by using the proxy. 

  The rubies also are used to completely destroy the victims.  There are various elements in the rubies, and one of them allows heat to build up inside it, and that heat can be expanded to a built-up volume that completely deletes any life-forms it comes in contact with. And a variety of solid items to boot, when connected to Rangor’s mind. 

  Similarly, when the ruby is activated, the proxy receives a signal which it locks into.  The pulse the ruby emits becomes the proxy’s eyes, and controls the movement of the proxy up to the point the victim is located when normal visualisation returns.  The proxy follows the signal until it locates the ruby, and then begins to feed Rangor’s power into the ruby.  The ruby absorbs the power the proxy transmits to it, then processes it before releasing it through-out the victim’s body until it reaches boiling point, at which stage, the ruby itself explodes with so much force it destroys both itself, and the victim.”

  When the next clap of thunder arrived, it was so violent that the chief inspector literally jumped in his chair.  Something warned Joseph to look upwards, and he somehow managed to move himself out of harm’s way as a portion of a column centred in one corner of the chief inspector’s office broke free and shattered on the floor only inches from where he had been sitting.

  “I’m surprised the village has survived for so long if all of your storms are so violent.”  Joseph remarked caustically, but was surprised when he saw how ashen Chief Inspector O’Reilly’s face had become; the surge of power that had been emitted outside in the village had obviously unsettled him.

  “No, they are usually much milder.”  O’Reilly admitted a tad nervously,

  “I don’t think that I have ever noticed one of such intensity.”

  A light went on in Joseph’s head; he knew that he had one ace up his sleeve, and judging by the expression on the chief inspector’s face he was vulnerable – this was the time to play it.

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EPISODE 86

Professor Robinson and the unnamed man smiled, agreed it was time to move on, and then all moved into position, kneeling, facing each other as they created a pyramid on the floor.  Professor Robinson then retracted the mini metallic copy of a gold scorpion he wore on a chain around his neck and placed it on the floor between them, ensuring that it was placed at an equal distance between them. Then, on the count of three, the three men began to chant; their voices soft, clear, and blending so perfectly it would have been impossible to distinguish the difference between them; for a moment they were one voice.

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EPISODE 85

“I’m sorry, Joseph.  I find a sudden need to break protocol and interrupt at this point.  Why am I about to die?” A clearly perplexed, and now concerned, Chief Inspector O’Reilly asked.

   “Do you believe in sci-fi, space monsters, and life on other planets, Chief Inspector O’Reilly, or do you think that predictions of the future that have already come true were simply coincidences?  People like Da Vinci and Jules Verne with their predictions of submarines, Da Vinci in, or around, fifteen fifteen, and Jules Verne in 1872 (in the English pulication of his book), and they weren’t the only ones; there were fourteen or more patents in the system by seventeen twenty seven..  And, of course, H.G.Wells introduced us to outer space creatures intent on taking over our planet.”

  “I believe some people have the gift of prophesy, and I believe there very well could be the chance of life on other worlds in some form or other, but life-forms restricted to the environment of their own planet; Things like bugs, grubs, birds and bees, all designed for their environment.  Five eyed monsters with a dozen tentacles, no thumbs and deep muffled voices rolling through space, speaking perfect English or Japanese as they get ready to attack us and little green men intent in turning us into slaves, or the equivalence of human K.F.C..  These I find a little difficulty in trying to believe could possibly exist.”

  “Ouch, well, two out of three ain’t bad, as Meatloaf once put it, but, in this case, it has to be three out of three.  How about witches; do you believe witches exist?  Ah, your exasperated sigh tells me the answer.  You have discovered nothing about their disappearance, never mind their actual existence.  So please let me fill you in on all the gory details, and I expect another sigh to emerge as a result of your scepticism.  However, I beg of you to not speak until I have explained more.  I will make this as painless as I possibly can, but you must understand that I am telling you facts, not a sci-fi fairy tale, no matter what you may think.  You must rid yourself of prejudices; be prepared for a new way of thinking.

  Firstly, there is a creature that wishes to invade this planet.  This creature is half man, half demon.  He is known by several names including Rangor and the Punjaniti.  The creature is ancient, very ancient, well over a million years, extremely intelligent, extremely dangerous and has powers well beyond our understanding, or defensive measures.  However, we have our own alien allies; a race that define themselves as our guardians.  They exist, as far as they are concerned, to protect various life-forms throughout the seven universes; life-forces that are deemed the most likely force to eventually dispatch the creature to the pits of hell in which it belongs.  For the creature exists for no other reason than to cull all life throughout the seven universes.”*
  The second mention of seven universes, aliens in the back yard, and now the guardians of Earth, found Chief Inspector O’Reilly placing pressure on his tongue with his teeth to the point he half expected blood to flow, and the scream from his aching tongue to give away his little secret, but neither action happened, and he managed to refrain from communicating his utter frustration; to simply tell Joseph to shut up and get out of his office.  He was losing any interest he may have had in the beginning faster than Joseph could deliver his story to him.  But, for the moment, he held back as Joseph continued.
  “The creature can enter most planets in the universe where life exists and wreak havoc on those planets by way of death to the majority of the planet’s inhabitants in order for the creature’s own survival.  It is all a bit ironic; Rangor needs huge intakes of life to retain the power energy he requires to continually attack the planets that he feeds on; it really is a case of biting the hand that feeds him … and he apparently needs to rest for quite a while between attacks, which is why it is so hard for his enemies to track him.  His attacks are completely random in both spacing and geography.  There is no warning of his attack given, nor is there a logical sequence to them. It is always a case of discovering an attack has taken place, never a case of advanced warning.

  There are, however, usually witnesses to the attacks, but the information gained from these survivors is very hard to extract because they are usually so traumatised their mind has permanently blocked out the horror that is now locked in the deep darkness of their minds.  And getting them to recall the events with the aid of artificial devices has often resulted in the witness succumbing to total madness, which is why it has taken so long to find a solution to the problem.

  An attack on any given planet usually takes that planet one or two centuries, at the very least, to repopulate to Rangor’s requirements as the entire planet’s food-chain is reduced proportionally during the attack.  The creature doesn’t gorge himself on flesh, blood and bones, but the essence that makes up the life-force of the planet.  As a result, the creature must search endlessly for more planets with sufficient life-forces, and Earth is one such planet it wants to savour.  But it has been impossible for the creature to inhabit Earth because they are one of the planets that the guardians protect. The planets that the guardians protect are referred to as superior intelligence planets for various reasons, but mainly because the inhabitants are extremely intelligent and have the capacity to invent and improve the quality of their lives, and therefore, these planets have the necessary ingredients and skills within their grasp to work out a way of dealing with this creature: compassion, intelligence, flexibility of movement and the ability to think, communicate, debate, trial … and share information.  The majority of these superior planets are secretly working together to eventually destroy the creature. but have so far failed to find a way; just not enough information exists, regardless of how long it has been destroying civilisations.  This union of minds has been brought about by the guardians who created the secret formula that protects most of these particular planets.  These planets are survivors of attacks by Rangor, and they fully realise that the creature may eventually find a way of regaining entry to their world, and Planet Earth is currently under such an attempt.

  The power of the guardians is limited, but effective.  There are not enough guardians in existence to guard every life-bearing planet, but they have enough to protect the planets that hold the key to the future safety of all planets; the superior planets.  It may sound a bit cruel, but without some way of predicting Rangor’s movements, there is not a lot anyone can do.  The guardians provide an invisible chemical cover for the planet that cannot be penetrated by the creature.  It contains a chemical that has been proven to protect certain planets, but nobody knows how it works outside of the guardians.

  Arkerious, Earth’s current guardian, is of the understanding that a survey of every life-bearing planet in the seven universes many eons ago, discovered that a handful of planets had found something on their planet had stopped Rangor in his tracks when he tried to enter their world.  The inhabitants of these planets had all seen the creature’s arrival, a gigantic figure in the heavens followed by the Rangorians; the vampire bat scavengers that always followed him on a feeding frenzy.  The Rangorians were the ones that devoured the flesh and bones of their master’s victims.  The inhabitants of these planets had seen Rangor and the vampire bats swoop down on their planets, ready to absorb the rich pickings that waited in quiet unawareness of what their immediate future held for them when, at least three quarters of the way down to collect their quarry, the humongous creature suddenly flew directly upwards, away from the planet as fast as he could; his head bobbing out of control, while he coughed up a continuous spray of vile.  Almost immediately following their master’s strange behaviour, the Rangorians followed suit, though their flight path was not quite as organised as their master’s, and many of them collided in their urgent attempt to escape whatever it was that had frightened them and fell to the ground where they died within minutes.  This, on one planet, resulted in the demise of over one hundred of the large vampire bats as they crashed to their deaths; on other occasions, on other planets, the massacre was subsequently lower.  Surprisingly, blood tests of the vampire bat’s slowly rotting corpses on all planets showed that they had all died from poisoning; a poison, in each case, that seemed only to affect Rangor and the Rangorians.

********

There had been six planets in all that had survived an attack without loss of life, other than the poisoning of the Rangorians.  The guardians eventually found each planet had one uncommon element to each other, and all six were uncommon to all life-bearing worlds. The guardians were eventually able to reproduce the six elements, but then found the new elements to be selective where they would work.  It took some time to discover which element would work on which of the thirty-six planets* they wanted to protect, but eventually they achieved the results they sought.

  The technology of the safety net for these particular planets was produced by the guardians and installed on each of the superior life-form planet.  Earth, for example, has a layer of B2e+ in the mix.   I really have no idea what it all means, something to do with zinc, I believe – I am no chemist or scientist.  I once tried looking it up on google and ended up with a headache.  Whatever it is, the same chemical also applies to another five of the protected planets of which there are thirty-six in total; six per planet*.  The point is that they have reproduced an environment that prevents Rangor or his cohorts to actually land on the protected planets, and this includes Planet Earth; Third rock from the sun.

  However, they were forced to accept the realisation that none of the lower species’ planets were capable of housing any of the elements that could save them; in fact, all six of the elements were more likely to kill them, than protect them.  So, unfortunately, they are on their own for the time being, and will be for some time to come.”

“These, guardians, where did they come from?”

“It seems they just arrived as life began on planets in the seventh universe, which is where our ‘Earth’ resides, and took up a preassigned position with the various protected planets in the seven universes that they still guard until this very day.  I have no idea what they did before* their individual life-charges reached the necessary level of intelligence, but I assume that they protected their individual planets from day one as best they could, and sat on a seat somewhere in the heavens, playing with their Apple, Google, Switches and Xbox time fillers as they watched their children grow up and learn how to create wars, then really stuff things up when they discovered wi-fi. and social media.  Over the millenniums, the guardians have successfully prevented Rangor from physically entering the protected planets, however, it is now widely believed that Rangor, may have finally found a way of entering these planets by way of creating a proxy to negotiate entry on his behalf.  There are unconfirmed reports of two partial entries to planets in the second and fourth universes, but they are only rumours at this stage.
  However, Planet Earth is most definitely undergoing such an attack at this very moment, has been for some time, and Rangor is believed to be so, so, close to succeeding.  

  Rangor does exude patience, if nothing else, though it might be reaching its limits because there are humans, including us, who are just as close to preventing him from entering this world for once and all, as he is to breaking through.  It is a close battle, but Rangor holds the upper hand at the moment, and this is what brings me to why I say, your life is at risk.

  The proxy is something like a hallucinatory being; a type of projection that is a living part of the creature.  The proxy was born in, and survives in, Rangor’s mind, but it passes through the guardian’s cloak around the planet because it is only considered to be a thought; an apparition.  The proxy is only a projection, it does not have a physical body, so it does not make physical contact with the guardian’s blanket that protects the planet.  In Rangor’s mind, if a human host offers their body to the proxy, the proxy should be able to enter it without any problem.  However, Rangor is certain the host needs to be a willing partner; he is certain, in his own mind, that if anything goes wrong with the transfer and the host becomes injured, or he attempts to hijack an unwilling host who fights back, he may not have enough power available to continue to control the proxy and the host, along with the power required to utilise the statue when the time comes to destroy the poisonous blanket the guardians have installed around the planet.  Rangor has convinced himself that the system is located near one of the three portals on the planet and has selected Trenthamville as his starting point.  If this is the wrong choice, he still has a chance of entry at one of the other portals within the month.

  Bur Rangor needed to have full use of the host’s arms and legs to activate the statue’s transfer system once he is inside it.  Rangor knows there is every chance he will find himself trapped on the planet and unable to escape through the planet’s blanket if something goes wrong with the host body because he will not be able to fly without the freedom of his wings, and once he exposes his true body to the elements the blanket will attack him which will begin to try to kill him immediately.  With his power in such a weak condition as it was now, and with the extra burden of supporting the proxy along with the host and the time required to locate and destroy the guardian’s weapon, it was extremely unlikely that he would survive the onslaught of the blanket.

  However, that is the downside to Rango’s plan.  On the upside, for Rangor that is, once the proxy is inserted within the human, Rangor would have the host climb into the statue, pull down the lid and set the controls located on the lid of the statue just above his head.

  Once the code has been completed Rangor should automatically convert into pure power and be transferred down the same electrical path that he uses to contact and control the proxy because it is but an extension of himself, and therefore, again avoid making contact with the protective blanket in any form whatsoever.  Instead, he would be encased within a human body; a body from this world.  Rangor and the host would now again be one. And all he needed to do now was to destroy the protective blanket while he wears the body of a human.  In his mind he will be a free man, so as to speak, when he exits the statue … and he will be able to start his run of carnage immediately.  We are absolutely certain that he is ready to attack our planet.  There are observers looking through the night sky that will wonder about the huge patch of darkness that appears where it shouldn’t.  Darkness that seems almost to pulsate; almost as if it was a living, breathing, thing, and it is, but it is not singular, it is a mass of living death.  There are over one thousand Rangorians waiting to be summoned by their master; to follow him and clean up his mess behind him.  They are ready, he is ready, but we have no idea whether or not he is right and can carry out his plan.”

“What does the statue do?”  Harvey asked in awe of the story he was hearing for the first time.

It is not the statue itself, it is the compound from which it is assembled that matters.  None of the elements used are of this planet, the gold; the diamonds and the rubies are all from two planets in another star system.  None of these items are considered as valuable jewellery in that star system, but they have uses that are more valuable to Rangor than anybody realises.   These rubies are similar to chips on Earth, only even more complex.  They have a natural electronic chemical within that allow the user to performer to perform a bagful of tricks, including retaining  extraordinarily high quantities of power to be transported  extraordinarily long distances, such as when Rangor travels from the heavens to insert himself within  the proxy and the host, the gold is a neutraliser to keep the statue and its hosts clean whilst in the statue, and the diamonds deflect any anti-bodies that try to attach themselves to Rangor during the transfer.”|

  “How the devil did Rangor get that to Earth?” 
  Rangor arranged for a minion he had under his control from each planet to collect a prearranged qty and arrange delivery to pre-arranged co-ordinates in a desert on Earth.  The proxy had already assembled a gang of thieves to work for him that he named the Punjani,  When the goods arrived on Earth, the proxy gave the instructions to a second set of hard-edged criminals as to where to hide the items around a nearby city, then over a period of time he had the Punjani steal the goods back which was not hard to do as the proxy gave specific location details to the Punjani, and then, invisibly, followed them to protect them from anybody following them.”

  “Bloody hell, it was all a bit complex, wasn’t it?”

  “No, not really.  Rangor had to have the troops loyal to him so he could get the statue.  And he knew that it would take some time to make the statue made without suspicion about its intended use.  He named the tribe after himself simply to give them the illusion that he was egotistical, hence the reason for the jewelled statue, and to enhance their reputation as a well organised band of thieves, all in order to take the heat away from him, lest the guardians began to hear tales that placed him in their sights.  Everything  was going fine for Rangor, and his statue was all but ready to be  handed over, when something went terribly wrong.  A traitor arose in the camp, dobbed their hiding place in the mountains to the government, then stole the statue during the carnage.  The traitor and his cohorts managed to hide the statue, thinking they could come back later when the heat had died down, breakdown the gold and divvy up the spoils. But to their misfortune, the original members of the Punjani had also escaped and  tracked them down; and they were so angry at the traitors they struck them down on sight.  It was only when they had a few drinks and calmed down that they realised they did not know the location of the statue.  And so it had been lost for over one hundred years when Professor Tussacani came across it and brought it back here to Trenthamville to finish studying it before finding a museum to hand it over to.
  Unfortunately several groups of interested parties also got to hear of it being here and it has been found, stolen, then found again, and stolen again, several times over the weekend.  As far as we are aware it is safely on its way to a safe residence in London, while Professor Robinson and Rangor think it is safely locked away in a garage,”

  “Assuming that the creature get the statue back, what happens if he doesn’t find the guardian’s weapon in a certain time.  Will he still die?”

  “No.  He will simply reverse the whole thing.  He will reactivate the proxy, get the proxy to arrange disposal of the now deceased host, and send himself back to where he came from in the same manner as he arrived.  He will probably turn the proxy off while he rests for a while.  No harm will come to him, nobody will never know he has been here.”

  Rangor has found something new to try and it appears to have a good chance of succeeding.  Our problem at the moment is to stop him from fully entering, not kill him; we don’t really know how to do that.  But whether he kills himself trying to disassemble whatever protects the planet … well, we will just have to see what happens.  Mind you, if Rangor can do this, then nothing will matter anymore.  But, in the meantime, he still has to get past us.  And he is well and truly on his way here.

  The proxy was created by Rangor many hundreds of years ago.  It was created to allow Rangor his time to be equally split between feeding and searching for new life-forms, or devising ways to enter those that banned his entry; the ones protected by the guardians.  Its prime purpose was to make contact with prospective minions on those planets that would aid him in finding a way to enter the planet.  The proxy would be given the capability to talk to the inhabitants in their language by communicating through their minds, with what, in fact, was a small portion of Rangor’s own mind.  In other words, Rangor portioned off a small part of his own brain as one does with a computer when you split up your hard drive into several drives. This is simply a high-end version of multi-tasking, though it was not a simple process by any means.  The proxy it is left to its own devices while on Earth, but it is still powered by Rangor, and the further Rangor physically exists away from the proxy, the more power he uses, so occasionally he turs the proxy off for all purposes other than listening for a death call up.  When that call comes up, the power to the proxy is immediately returned and retained until the victims are completely destroyed; then the proxy may be turned off again.

  Now, as far as your missing villagers are concerned; the witches were duped into accepting their own wants as payment for helping Rangor.  When they were introduced to the proxy they assumed him to be in league with the devil, as he is known at times.  From him they wanted permission to worship him and do his bidding, in return they wanted riches.  They agreed to obtain the statue and the ceremonial knife from wherever Professor Tusacani had hidden it and summon Rangor when they had found it.  They were also supposed to perform a sacrifice on the night of collection by Rangor which they duly carried out without reservation.

 Three young back packers the would-be witches had promised to let witness a ritual were brutally murdered; bound and gagged, their eyes bulging in terror, their throats were slashed by the coven leader as the proxy entered the room as easily as if he had been carving the Sunday roast. The trouble was, the witches got a bit carried away with themselves and summoned the creature when they had only located the ceremonial sword, and had no idea where the statue was located.  They didn’t really care; they just wanted the rewards they were promised.  The proxy’s reaction to their mistake was instantaneous; he killed half of them on the spot.  Two nights ago, the remaining witches were stupid enough to make the same mistake and summoned the creature, again without having access to the statue … and the remainder of coven were annihilated.  When I say annihilated, I mean annihilated.  Those embers you may have walked over in the farmhouse, or perhaps shuffled your feet through, was all that remained of the first of the witches, that is the power the rubies contain.”

SHORT FAT STUBBY FINGER STORIES PRESENTS:  THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

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EPISODE 84

In the same room of The Rat and the Mouse that Joseph and his compatriots had recently searched for clues, Sharki was addressing his two cohorts.

  “I think it is time that we left this village.  The key has been passed on, the collection will be made by the interested party when the time is right, in the meantime the purchase is safe in the garage.  It is doubtful there will be anything more for us to do here on Rangor’s behalf.
  But, before we go, there is one more thing we have to do to leave a clean trail behind us, and that is to call in the cleaner.”

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EPISODE 83

“Now … what is this all about then?”  Chief inspector O’Reilly asked expectantly.

   Joseph sighed, rolled his eyes and began. “Please bear with me, Chief Inspector, regardless of how incredible this may seem to you, and I would appreciate it if you don’t interrupt me until I am finished.  Firstly, I believe that those men are responsible for some of the things that happened at the farm, but not everything.  They are certainly not responsible for the deaths of most of your missing locals, however they are open to being arrested for Vittorio’s hospitalisation, but not his death.”
  “This is a lot to understand, never mind take in and remember.”  The chief inspector noted, his tone one of impatience. “And can’t you explain one thing at a time … and with a bit more clarity? You are as bad as the young constable downstairs. You are not frightened of me as well, are you?”
  “No, I am not afraid of you, Chief Inspector, but I am frightened for you.”  Joseph replied, his eyes were steely, his tone stern.  “I asked you not to interrupt for a reason.  What you will hear tonight is not the norm.  This world is in great danger and it is going to happen tonight if we cannot stop it.  I am about to tell you of things that will amaze you: make you want to disbelieve me with all of your heart … and one cannot blame you, for it is a most unusual tale that I will tell to you. But it is the truth, I swear to it.  There are a lot of things that you will have to hear that will come across as incredible, things that you will have to absorb; and that will be even more difficult for you, as you will soon see.  However, the more questions you ask, the more distractions you will cause both of us.  This is not an easy thing to explain in the limited time we have available to us … and believe me, we do not have a lot of time.  Better you hear me out so you have the whole picture, then we can go over each issue individually as needed, because everything I tell you will cross-thread with at least one other thing I will tell you, if not more.”
  “Oh, I see.  Yes, well, thank you.  Sorry, I will do my best.”  The chief inspector agreed, though Joseph feared he may very well already be too confused to listen, and he was beginning to fear the chief inspector had no time for anything in the world that was out of order to his way of thinking,  However, Joseph felt he still had to attempt to give as much of the whole story to him as he could, but it certainly couldn’t be done in the laid-back tale told over a pot of hot tea and a piece of cake as the chief inspector appeared to expect.  It needed to be short and snappy … there was not much time available to them.  The creature could attack at any moment, and the police staff and Harvey would be at its mercy if they didn’t have sufficient belief in the story he was about to tell them to ensure they would willingly follow his instructions.

“That is good, my friend, because we are running out of time … and there are lives at stake …and that includes yours!”

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EPISODE 82

The Chief inspector turned to Harvey.  “I appreciate the fact that you came straight over, but I do wish that you had been able to advise me earlier.  I appreciate that something was going on that you couldn’t tell me in their company, but you can tell me now.”
  Harvey looked at Chief Inspector O’Reilly with uncertainty.  “I am sorry, but I am not exactly following you.  Tell you what?”
  “Why you wanted them free when you knew they were guilty.  There is no need to keep pretending, Harvey.  I am fully aware that you are lying about their involvement, though I must admit your injury looks pretty convincing.  However, I doubt that it had anything to do with your coming here, other than a being a reasonable cosmetic confirmation of your made-up story.

  “I’m sorry, Chief Inspector, but we needed things to happen the way that they did in order to see what happened next, which is what we are now waiting for.”   The chief inspector and Harvey swung around in surprise at the unexpected voice, but Joseph chose to ignore their surprised look.
  “Chief inspector O’Reilly, could we see you alone for a few moments, please?”  Joseph asked.  “There is something that you need to know … and you probably won’t like it.”

  Chief Inspector O’Reilly shrugged and shook his head. He knew that this was going to be one of those nights.  He ushered Joseph and Harvey upstairs and into his private office on the second floor, leaving a worn out, and totally perplexed, Constable Jervis to regain his position on the chair behind the counter. The very second that he sat down Ben allowed his face to fall down towards the safety of the two open hands that lay on the desk top awaiting its arrival.  Then closed his eyes and mind to everything that had been with them on this awful, woeful day: closed so hard, so tight he was all but fully asleep within seconds; however, that level of safety took him two more seconds to reach.  And then, not even the jibes and sounds of raucous laughter at his current mental state from his two co-workers managed to enter his sanctuary.  For the moment, Constable Ben Jervis felt safe … and happy.