RESTORATION

            Ardel and I wake to a bright, warm, windless morning. As we go downstairs for our morning coffee and breakfast we find Dorwith sitting near the front door.

“Good morning, Dorwith. Did you sleep well?”

“I can sleep anywhere, Journee, with equal comfort. I am most fortunate.

Thank you for your inquiry,” He yawns, and settles down onto the rug next to the door.

“What do you want for breakfast?” I ask.

“Fish, thank you,” he says feigning disinterest.

Dorwith joins Ardel and me for a satisfying breakfast. Afterward, we retrieve items left on our list and go to the pods.

Dorwith tells us, “We need to be directly over the Demons for this to work, but stay above their reach. They do not use weapons as far as we know, but they could cause our death if they can reach us. Their grip is formidable and their intentions deadly. I will spray the DNA chemical directly onto the Demons faces.

They are capable of a five foot jump, so stay twenty feet above them. I can reach the target from that altitude as I am a perfect shot.” Dorwith walks on ahead of us, unaware of his bragging.”

I begin to shake. “Ardel, I’m not comfortable calling these Gentle Giants Demons when they are mutated Giants.  The Outstar ships made victims of them. I want to call them simply Giants, that’s what they will be again when we accomplish this undertaking. Is that O.K. with you?” I ask.

“I like the way you think, sweetheart. You are kind and considerate. I figured there had to be a reason why I love you,” he winks and squeezes my hand as we get closer to the pods.

“I’m glad we have experienced help, big boy.”  

Dorwith gives us his style of co-ordinates, which are unspecific directions.

How does he know where the Giant’s are? I think he must smell them out.  Just thinking about that, I realize I may be right. “Do you smell the Giants so you can find where they’re located? And, by the way, Ardel and I are calling them Giants because they can’t help what happened to them.” I add.

“Of course, Journee, that is a good idea, since they are Giants and not actual Demons.  My olfactory epithelium has more receptors than yours and I’m sensitive to odor molecules. I act upon the senses.” He lazily looks out the window and points maybe 20 degrees to our left. “Perfect. Now, just stay on this course until I deduce we need a change.”

Ardel follows his directions. The three pods fly noiselessly in a tight formation, heading toward the Giants.

“Slow down, Ardel, we’ll have a visual within less than three seconds,”  

“I see them.” Ardel elevates our pod a few more feet and reduces speed. “How slow do you want me to go, Dorwith?” he asks.

“Stop over their heads. Move slightly as I direct you.” Dorwith is busy behind us.

I help Ardel keep our altitude as low as possible. The terrain is level without hills or anything that could elevate the Giants so they can surprise us. We see several large beings resting and mingling about together. I don’t see any elderly, nor do I see their youngsters. “Where are the older and younger ones, Dorwith?”

“This is a hunting group. There aren’t any women, children and of course oldsters here,” he answers in a monotone. “Stop now, Ardel.”

We do and Dorwith takes his applicator and aims.  He splashes the fluid directly onto a Giant’s face every time. The group becomes agitated and angry, yelling loudly and screaming. Since they are looking at us, they are better targets for Dorwith. We are frightening them.

I whisper to Ardel, not to distract Dorwith, “He is a good shot.”

Ardel merely shakes his head and carefully keeps us above the group.

One of the Giants hurls a rock at us.

 “I didn’t think they had weapons, Dorwith.”

“The rocks will temporarily dent, but not put us out of commission. Don’t worry, these pods were made with a memory metal, I studied the schematics. They will resume their shapes, quickly,” he says.

Dorwith uses a system he developed that places the spraying apparatus outside our pod, while he aims from inside. It is clever and allows him to be precise and quick.

The Giants jump up trying to catch us. We must be as close as possible and it is making me nervous. The rocks pelt our pod. All the Giants fight us in their limited, but united fashion.

Ardel readjusts the location of the other two pods, keeping them away from us and higher; close enough to be handy, yet out of immediate danger. I cross my fingers.

Within fifteen minutes Dorwith has sprayed every Giant. “How long will it take to make a transformation in their behavior and will they be able to share the chemical effects with their relatives?”

“It’s gradual and I must spray every single one or there will remain danger.”

“Wow, we are in this for a long while, sweetheart,” I look at Ardel with trepidation. I ask Dorwith, “How will we know which ones have been sprayed?”

“They will have a color change in their eyes that remains for several months. We must continue relentlessly, until every one has been sprayed,”

“Where to now?” asks Ardel.

Dorwith points to the left at an imprecise 45 Degree angle. “Over there.”

We follow the direction he points and soon find ourselves over a family of Giants: Children, women and six stationary elderly. 

Ardel stops directly over the center of the family who look up in panic, their terrified, desperately agitated, unsure what to do. They jump and scream with their arms stretched out toward us. None run away. The family is close together in their frightened situation.

Dorwith splashes six children and four adults with the chemical. We move a few feet closer to the rest of the family and Dorwith finishes his work. He doesn’t spray the elders as they cannot move from their locale ever again.

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