Amorok Table of Contents and Chapter Synopses

Prologue: Do Neanderthals Have Souls?

The prologue begins with some screenshots of Google Internet News Reports for April 1, 2021. SAGAN Corp announces that it can create the first living Neanderthal in 35,000 years, but it will not, because it agrees with the Vatican that such a being is endowed with an immortal soul, and cannot be treated as property. SAGAN Corp instead will bring back Pleistocene mammals, beginning with the Wooly Mammoth and the Dire Wolf, in its state-of-the-art Mammoth Preserve, north-east of Coppermine Inslet.

The CEO of SAGAN Corp issues a news release that the Innu people of Coppermine Inslet will become the managers of the Mammoth Preserve, in exchange as acting as test subjects for a new genome-alteration program that controls the genes for dangerous addictive behaviours. What makes this program so new is that it can be used for any human up to the age of fifteen. Ellie E., age seven, is the first ‘poster child’ for the treatment. The effect is that she has vastly superior strength, intelligence and sensory abilities, but she can no longer speak.

Chapter One: The Dreaded Phone Call

Protagonist: Dwayne D.

Charlie H. (the black-ops handler) initiates the call to Dwayne D. (the field operative). Dwayne has sworn off any involvement in clandestine operations after a major screw-up airlifting civilians out of war-torn Yemen; but he is running low on money, and Charlie has discovered this behind Dwayne’s back. While Charlie is pitching his hard-sell about how great it is to work for do-gooder SAGAN Corp, he brings Nancy D. (Dwayne’s ex-wife of two years) into the call. Nancy makes it clear that their daughter Stacey needs an additional $25,000 a year to attend Yale, where she has been accepted into Mechatronic Engineering. Nancy pulls Stacey into the call–by which time Dwayne is pulling his thinning hair out–until Stacey tells him excitedly how proud she will be if her dad takes this job, as it will give him a chance to meet and maybe work with the social media star, Ellie E. (Stacy is wearing a ‘Team Ellie E.’ baseball cap with oversized sunglasses on its brim). Nancy twists the knife, telling Dwayne she will contact her lawyer to force Dwayne to sell his speedboat if he can’t come up with the money. Charlie calms the waters, telling Nancy that Dwayne will be making $25,000 a month, and this job is a lifetime deal if Dwayne makes it through the probationary period. The only troublesome detail is that Dwayne must decide immediately, and pack his bags, if he wants the job. Dwayne is forced to say yes.

Chapter Two: The Betrayal

Protagonist: Sky Wolf (to be revealed as Amorok)

Sky Wolf escapes the trap created by SAGAN Corp to turn the Sky People (a cross of Dire Wolf and Neanderthal) into automaton soldiers. In the process, Oldest Female of the Sky People transports the other twenty-three Sky People somewhere unknown, leaving only their three-dimensional shadows behind. Sky Wolf is given the co-ordinates for some sort of advanced technology, and told to locate it.

Chapter Three: The New Boyfriend

Protagonist: Ellie E. (central character)

Ellie E. argues with her father and mother about her decision to delay her entry into Cal Tech Engineering, as she has a new Hawaiian boyfriend, and wishes to take a year off to be with him on Kauai. When her father vehemently objects, she storms off, into a spring blizzard, and goes to the Mammoth Preserve to visit her best animal friend, a teenage girl Mammoth. (She leaves her vocalizer neckless behind in her hurry.) She flips her snowmobile, and is about to be killed and eaten by a hungry polar bear when Sky Wolf intervenes.

Chapter Four: The Sandbar

Protagonists: Ellie E., Sky Wolf, Dwayne D.

Ellie E. and Sky Wolf are pursued by three SAGAN Corp attack helicopters, which are herding them, rather than trying to bring them down. Dwayne is point man, riding shotgun in the lead chopper, and is ordered by Charlie to kill Sky Wolf using depleted uranium bullets (the only metal that can piece Sky Wolf’s body armor). Just as he takes aim, Sky Wolf downs all three choppers, two exploding in mid-air, while Dwayne’s chopper pilot is shot through the head, and Dwayne is forced to land his chopper only a few yards away from Ellie. E and Sky Wolf. Against Charlie’s orders, Dwayne refuses to kill his daughter’s hero. Ellie E. and Sky Wolf escape through a inter-dimensional portal, which manifests itself immediately after Dwayne’s refusal.

 

Dwayne is left stranded, and he phones Charlie, who informs him that because of Dwayne’s incompetence, compounded on his refusal to follow orders, five trusted employees of SAGAN Corp are dead, along with the loss of valuable property. A manslaughter charge with maximum prison time is the minimum sentence. Charlie suggests it might be better if Dwayne ended his life here and now, rather than face decades of shame.

Dwayne begins to understand that another Yemen situation has occurred, but cannot prove it. To test Charlie, he asks for one phone call to his daughter Stacey, to tell her how much he loves her, and how he hard he tried to turn his life around. Charlie agrees, but he will be monitoring the call and talking Dwayne through it, though Stacey won’t hear him. Dwayne shows his location on the sandbar using his SAGAN Corp-issued smartphone’s camera, confessing his guilt and remorse to his daughter, which pleases Charlie. Charlie then tells Dwayne to wrap it up with a tearful goodbye. Stacey, weeping, asks Dwayne to post his smartphone on the control panel of the chopper, so she can see him better. Dwayne complies. Just as Charlie is about to terminate the call, Stacey says: “Dad, don’t do anything foolish, I’ve got a handle on all this.” Charlie then cuts her off. Stacey has used Dwayne’s phone to scan the chopper’s mechatronics, which allows her to download its schematics and send them through Kugluktituk’s power grid to the Internet, a hack courtesy of the Dark Elf herself, Ellie E.

Chapter Five: Ganzorig’s Auto Repair

Narrator: Ganzorig Almanaiz (liasion to the Almas and Yetis)

Ellie E. and Sky Wolf pop out of the portal in Ulaan Baator, Mongolia, a little after midnight (although it was late afternoon at Coppermine Inslet) in the middle of an auto-wrecking yard. They have been held in stasis until the Ganzorig Almanaiz (Mongolian for “Strong Hero, Friend of the Almas”) has been able to contact the Alma in charge of the Earth portals, Shaikan Khun. Ellie E. and Sky Wolf meet her, shocked to discover that she is a smaller version of Big Foot. Ganzorig and Shaikan Khun are justifiably concerned about the two youngsters: they are both genetically engineered from Denisovan (Yeti) DNA, as well as Dire Wolf. This has not been sanctioned by the Pleidean Council, whom Shaikan Khun represents. She locates the other twenty-three Sky People, on Level Six of the Caves of Mars, the ancient Draconian deuterium power station. They are alive, but have only twelve hours of oxygen and water left in their environment suits/body armor.

On inspection of Sky Wolf’s body armor and weapons, it is clear that the technology has been adapted from the Draconians, who must therefore be working with SAGAN Corp. Less than a year before, the Draconians were ordered to leave Earth, and the solar system as well. Shaikan Khun suspects a revenge scheme by the Draconians. In order to thwart it, she offers the two youngsters a challenge: retrieve a major shipment of Exerstinon from Level Three of the Caves of Mars (under Arsia Mons, Mars’ only active volcano). Shaikan Khun will send them to Level Two, but then she will shut down that portal’s location, so that the Exerstinon theives cannot hijack it. Ellie E. and Sky Wolf must lead the Sky People to the top of the volcano, so that the entire Pleidean Council can witness the translation back to Earth. Good performance will result in a good outcome for the Sky People, who would otherwise be eliminated by Pleidean law. Ganzorig donates to Ellie E. his Universal Translator, as well as a state-of-the-art space suit, and Shaikan Khun sends them through the portal to Level Two of the Caves of Mars, the Alma shipping center for trans- and extra-solar shipments.

Chapter Six: The Caves of Mars

Antagonists: The Draconians

Shaikan Khun sends Ellie E. and Sky Wolf to Level Two of the Caves of Mars, located in Arsia Mons, the only live volcano on Mars. The Exerstinon shipment (about one tonne of very valuable life-enhancing medicinal food) should be below on Level Three, with an easy descent on a ramp cut into the wall just outside the Alma environs. When the two reach Level Three, they find that a hole has been cut into the floor, and the shipment gone, along with a cave-in that leads all the way down to Level Five, and is very unstable and dangerous.

On Level Four, they discover six Draconian robots, whose design is eerily similar to Sky Wolf’s body armor. Five of the robots are standing ready; one is seated, apparently turned off while it was trying to re-attach its left metatarsal. Ellie E. uses Sky Wolf’s heads-up display to ferret out the commands that will turn these robots on, as she has correctly determined they will need at least one to clear the way down to Level Six. The first five boot up, then turn themselves off. The sixth remains running, but it is busy diagnosing itself as not having the correct tools to repair itself. Ellie E. uses some of Sky Wolf’s built-in climbing gear to reattach the robot’s left metatarsal, also succeeding in opening a repair hatch, and climbing inside the robot, she uses Sky Wolf’s Draconian command set to manipulate the robot.

Sky Wolf leads the way down to Level Six, but the robot is much heavier than Ellie E. anticipates, and the ramp gives way at Level Four, a large rock nearly crushing Sky Wolf’s right rear leg, and sliding them both down to Level Five. He and Ellie E. open his armor to assess the damage, just as two Black Draconian Warriors, come to determine the source of the rock slide. They attempt to open fire with their side arms, but Ellie E. vaults back into the robot, and lobs a large boulder at them. They duck out of the way, causing their shots to go wild, and the boulder strikes their scout ship, damaging its landing gear, leaving it tilted to one side.

A White Draconian Overlord leaps out of the top hatch of the scout ship, brandishing a large particle-beam weapon. Ellie E. positions the robot in front of Sky Wolf, and a Mexican stand-off is set: The Draconian Black Warriors are exposed with Sky Wolf rail-guns’ targeting them, Ellie E. has a another large boulder ready to crush the Draconian scout ship, neither side is sure if the particle-beam weapon can do any serious damage to a robot of that size before Sky Wolf can kill the two Blacks.

The White Draconian–without losing his sighting on his gun–begins to speak in perfect Oxford English. He makes it clear that their intention is peaceful; they merely wish to load their shipment of Exerstinon and leave Mars behind.

Ellie tells him that she was sent to retrieve the shipment, by order of Shaikan Khun, representative of the Pleiadean Council, or she and the Sky People will be eliminated.

The White Draconian is all smooth logic. Whose demands seem more unreasonable?

He tries to convince her that she is young and inexperienced in the ways of Galactic Politics, and to show his good will, he tosses her an injector of Exerstinon spray–just out of easy reach of either Ellie E. or Sky Wolf–that will heal Sky Wolf’s wounds instantaneously. He adds that for Draconians, Exerstinon is less interesting than peanut butter, but for a primate, it is ambrosia–the food of the gods. The turning point is that she must get out of the robot, and do it herself.

Ellie E. finds herself forced to do the White Draconians’ will. She makes one last check of Sky Wolf, and yes, there is severe internal hemorrhaging in Sky Wolf’s right femur; any more, and his femoral artery might burst. She tells Sky Wolf to keep his rail guns trained on the Black Draconians, and he does until she administers the dose of Exerstinon. Sky Wolf passes out at the same time the miracle drug does its work of reducing the bleeding and strengthening the artery.

Ellie E. is helpless and is captured by the Black Draconians under the weapon of their White Draconian Overlord, who informs Ellie E. that Sky Wolf is SAGAN Corp property, and the Draconians are close partners, indeed the designers of Sky Wolf’s body armor. He orders the Black Draconians to bind Ellie E. and Sky Wolf, and pack them in the cargo hold of their ship. Black Soldier One reminds the White that they will need three pairs of hands to repair their ship; the White is displeased by this, and tells him to force Ellie E. in laboring with them. If not, the White jokes, they can just eat the little primate.

Ellie E. instead finds the Blacks to be friendly and reasonable. “You broke the thing, kid. You fix it.” they tell her. While they are working together Ellie E. learns that the scout ship is an antique, a hybrid composed of several eras of technology. Although the engine runs on zero-point energy, it must converted to electricity and magnetism to power the outer hull. The external shell is therefore connected to the central power source with a web of fibre-optic cables. They add that they only took this assignment on for the bonus of hunting and fishing on the Wild Dinosaur Planet, replete with giant therapods and sea reptiles. The White Draconian is a washed-up aristocrat with no future except a dismal retirement, and they owe him nothing, except that he is the one with the power to issue hunting permits. They even let her keep the nano-soldering/polishing tool as a show of goodwill.

While the Blacks are busy lifting and toting the landing struts back into place, and the White Draconian is arguing about the Exerstinon shipment with persons not located on Mars, Sky Wolf wakes up, and speaks to Ellie E. on their secure connection. He can sense the presence of the Sky People below them on Level Six; they are all in hibernation; conserving their oxygen and water. Ellie and he determine which icon in his heads-up display will bring them to full wakefulness, and what amount of power that require to make it through many meters of Martian rock. Using her Galaxy S 7, and the nano-soldiering/ polishing tool given to her by the Blacks, she creates a device that will decouple the fibre-optics at the same time it will force the Sky People to awake, and gives them the information of their condition on Mars. Ellie E. can only hope that the Sky People can liberate them from the White Draconian Overlord.

The device works as planned. In all the commotion, Ellie uses the nano-soldering/polishing tool to work through Sky Wolf’s restraints; he blows off the cargo door and the two of them roll out onto the floor of Level Five just as the combined forces of forty-six rail guns punch a hole in the rock only twenty meters away. The Sky People, fully awakened, march forth, their armor and speed more than a match for the shaken White Overlord, who is quickly disarmed. Oldest Female intends to kill all the Draconians for their treatment of Sky Wolf, but Ellie E. intervenes. She explains that they have all been swept up in some sort of Galactic drug deal, and that the two Blacks should be allowed to leave. Only the White Draconian needs to go back with them to Ulaan Baator, where she will confront Shaikan Khun, and learn the truth. They reach the Portal at the top of Arsia Mons, the Overlord under armed escort, and back to Earth they go.

Chapter Seven: SAGAN Corp

Antagonists: Charlie Chief of Security, Revealed to be First Short Leg

Ganzorig’s Revisited.

When Ellie E., Sky Wolf, the White Draconian (under Sky People escort) emerge into the auto-wrecking yard under the kleig lights of Ganzorig’s Auto Repair, only ten minutes of Mongolian Earth time have passed. Six SAGAN Corp attack helicopters with state-of-the-art weaponry are now hovering over the yard. All of Sky Wolves form a protective circle around Ellie E.; not only are their rail guns poised and ready, they are a match for anything SAGAN Corp can unleash. Ellie E. begins to feel the first thrummings of the Power; although she does not possess it, she can feel it.

The voice of SAGAN Corp is about ready to give the command to fire, when a dozen VOR Corp buses, all baring the logo of Team Ellie E., pull up. Sasha steps out with her father Sergei, who has his own megaphone. Don’t try anything violent, he warns them; everything happening here is being live-streamed to social media through VOR Corp satellites.

SAGAN Corp doesn’t listen. They attempt to open fire with rotary cannons, but the guns won’t work. Then the rotors stop, and the security forces find themselves in midair. Sergei and Sasha explain that the mechatronic trouble is courtesy of Team Ellie E., and the suspension in mid-air is courtesy of the Power of the Sky People. The choppers and lowered gently to the yard in a horseshoe-shape. As soon as they land, three food trucks drive in, open up, and begin to serve Russian pastries and drinks to the SAGAN Corp forces. “You are guests of VOR Corp now,” Sergei says.

Sasha acts as an on-the-scene reporter, fearlessly marching over to Ellie E., handing her a vocalizer, which Ellie E. quickly configures. Ellie E. thinking on her feet, explains that the Sky Wolves are the new interplanetary police force, and they have just made their first major drug bust. A medicine intended for humans has been recovered from a heist by a White Draconian Overlord, who intends to sell it to his people as a pleasure drug.

“Hold everything!” The White Draconian shouts in Russian. “There has been a terrible misunderstanding. I’m here to bestow on the good people of Coppermine Inslet, Canada the most human powerful medicine in the known Galaxy, free of charge.” He motions to Ellie E. in AmSlan that SAGAN Corp will ultimately kill all of them unless his approach is taken. “I would like to honor the tremendous leadership of Ellie E.–witness the competence of her Team–with extraterrestrial selfies for everyone.” His strategy takes Shaikan Khun by surprise; Ganzorig just shrugs his shoulders; everyone else decides it is time for a selfie. Sergei makes sure that the White Draconian video gets through to Fox News, CNN and the BBC.

The SAGAN Corp team leader tells everyone not to worry, they are simply here to oversee the transfer of the prisoner back to SAGAN Corp headquarters, where he will then meet with world security forces to decide his fate. Shaikan Khun disagrees; she is here to personally put the White Draconian through the Portal, so she goes with him.

“Let’s go home,” Ellie E. says to the Sky People, and they pass with the White Draconian through the Portal.

First Short Leg

The party–Ellie E., the Sky People, and Shaikan Khun–arrive at the sandbar, and as the last of the Sky People exits the Portal, it begins to shimmer with rainbow lights. The White Draconian tells Ellie that the Portal had not been used in thousands of years, and that like any other machine it must be re-calibrated and re-tuned to work properly. It will very likely implode, closing the connection to Ulaan Baator, and ceasing to exist in Earth space and time.

Dwayne is now standing outside the chopper with his rifle. Charlie has locked him out of the chopper, and can be seen slowly circling the sandbar in a custom speedboat, with a large automated rail gun aimed at them all. Charlies hoists an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) with a 10 kiloton tactical nuke to his shoulder, and his voice blasts through the speedboat’s megaphone. He will fire it into the sand, where it is programmed to dig down to the rock and stop. Nothing on the sandbar will survive his RPG, but he will be long gone when it explodes.

Dwayne, Ellie E. and Sky Wolf are helpless; none can cross the distance quickly enough with a weapon, and the Power will not stop the explosion, as none of the Sky People has the expertise to defuse such a complex weapon simply with the power of their minds. The White Draconian offers his services. He describes himself as an old, tired aristocrat, out of step with the times. “Allow me die honorably. I can catch this rocket in mid-air, and throw myself into the Portal. You will have to deal with your SAGAN Corp madman yourself after I am gone.” Dwayne, Ellie E., and Sky Wolf all agree.

Charlie fires the RPG, and true to his word, the White Draconian intercepts it while it is running its drill-and-dig programming, tearing a hole in his chest. With the last of his strength, he leaps into the Portal. The implosion destroys the sandbar, and suddenly everyone finds themselves sinking into frigid Arctic waters. Oldest Female hoists Dwayne on her back, and he defends the group against Charlie’s cannon, which causes some broken bones in the Sky People, but cannot pierce their armor. Dwayne and the Oldest Female skirt around the speedboat, and Dwayne jumps aboard, butting Charlie in the head with his sniper rifle. “You are under arrest,” Dwayne shouts at the unconscious Charlie.

A state-of-the-art cargo VTO jet hovers over the group, and safety nets are lowered. On the side of the VTO is the logo for Pahinui Environmental Enterprises of Kauai Hawaii, and the voice of Keola booms out over the water, telling everyone to be calm, and they will be rescued. Ellie E. is riding on Sky Wolf’s back when she hears the voices of Frank and Stella ask for her.

Chapter Eight: Amorok, Friend of the Innu

The story ends with Google Internet screens, the first of which is: “You Don’t Have To Be Afraid, These Are The Real Extraterrestrials.” A group photo of the children of Kugluktituk Elementary are seated in front of Sky Wolf, with the smallest one between his paws.

The second screen is: “Ellie E. named Ambassador to the Pleiadean Council”. Shaikan Khun places a Universal Translator her neck, while the Pope looks on. There is a link to a short video of the Pope shaking hands with Ellie E., and Shaikan Khun.

A side panel has a small entry of Dwayne D. being named Head of SAGAN Corp Security at the Coppermine Mammoth Preserve. He is picture in a speedboat with his wife Nancy and daughter Stacey.

The third screen is the Unified Innu Council presenting a soapstone-carving necklace to Sky Wolf, declaring him to be Amorok, Friend of the Innue.

THE END