Writing I'm a glutton for punishment, aren't I?

[Sere Tuscumbia]

Once again, I'm going to post one chapter of a story I'm working on. If it gets posts, I might post the 2nd (completely unfinished) chapter. And so on and so forth. If I get none, well, that just means I get shot down once more.

*~*~~``

Starfire

Chapter 1

She stood and wiped the dust from her fingers. As she turned, the frown on her face was obvious, and she never made that face unless something was wrong.

True, there was an eerie feeling in the air, but digging sites always had that feeling, it was normal for digging up bones. A bit of hair fell out of her auburn bun and she impatiently pushed it back in place as her emerald-green eyes flashed in anger.

If something was wrong in the camp, everyone who didn?t know it at the time was gonna find out. Margaret Marie Bradford strode briskly toward a large tent to the left of the digging ground, and flung the flap open.

"What in the [I]hell[/I] is going on around here?!" she demanded to the small figure bent over an artifact.

"Hmm?" Dr. Elizabeth Crawford looked up, her sharp, grey eyes peering through a small pair of glasses.

Meg threw her hands on the table, and sighed. "Liz, several of the artifacts have gone missing and I can?t even find them on the tracker!"

The doctor turned and started rummaging through a box behind her.

She then pulled a little machine out and stared at it a moment. "Interesting," she muttered. Fiddling with some switches, then rotating some buttons, the doctor muttered to herself. Liz growled, then whacked the side of the small machine a couple times. The machine buzzed and hissed, not willing to cooperate with the doctor.

"Damn!" she hissed, as the machine sputtered sparks. She threw it down on the ground. "I knew that stupid machine was good for nothing!"

Meg sighed. "It isn?t our fault they decided to stick us on this miserable planet with these primitive objects! And stick us with these . . . [I]aliens[/I] that we know absolutely nothing about!"

"Well, this [I]is[/I] their planet." Mark Whit stuck his head in the tent. "And these artifacts are their ancestors . . . "

"Just shut up will you?" Meg interrupted, thoroughly annoyed at the young man?s appearance.

Mark raised his hands in surrender. "Yes, [I]ma?am[/I]! Jeez, you?re like a drill Sargent!"

Meg scowled. "One more word and I?m gonna . . . gonna hurt you!" She reached for the nearest object, and it happened to be a very large artifact.

Mark?s eyes widened. "Ok . . . I . . . I?m leavin!" He turned tail and ran.

Meg sighed, and pushed her wiry glasses up into her hair, which was falling out of her bun. She collapsed into the nearest chair, making it groan in protest, and threaten to crash to the ground.

Her head in her hands, she muttered, "This job is really getting to me."

Liz patted her back awkwardly. "I know . . . I know."

"Why me?" Meg groaned.

"You had the highest test rate, and showed excellent skills in leadership."

"Yeah, but [I]still[/I]! I didn?t [I]want[/I] to be picked for this job! There were [I]plenty[/I] others who would have [I]died[/I] for a chance to dig up old bones and pieces of . . . [I]stuff[/I]! I had absolutely [I]no[/I] problem staying at the academy!"

Liz sighed. "There?s nothing I can do about it . . . by the way . . . you might want to catch up to that Mark character and set things straight. There?s gonna be rumors going ?round the camp ?bout that . . ."

Meg set the artifact back on the table, her anger vented. "Might as well. It wouldn?t be good for my . . . [I]reputation[/I]."

She stood, and opened the flap, emerging out into the cool night air. Breathing deeply, she looked around.

The giant hole in the ground was hard to miss, as were the impressive monuments resting beside it.

She walked up to one, and rested her hand upon it. The smooth stone was still warm under her hands, after resting in the sun.

They had dug it up early this morning, along with some temple items.

The statues reached up toward the double suns, the arms twisting around each other in an elegant design. Even the ancients, centuries older than the rest, didn?t know what these magnificent forms were for.

Sighing, Meg turned toward Missy?s Diner. The small trailer was housed behind the pad for transport of medicines, artifacts, food, so on and so forth. She opened the door and sat down on one of the red plastic covered stools.

"What can I do for you hon?" Missy, a Mississippian, decked out in her red-and-white checkered apron, approached the counter from the kitchen, which adjoined the diner.

"Coffee, please." Meg mumbled, as she laid her head down on the counter and closed her eyes. After a little while, she heard the cup slide across the counter, and rest beside her.

Meg sat up, slid the mug between her hands and held it there, finding a little peace in its warmth. Lifting the steaming cup, she took a long drink. She sat, enjoying some silence, when the sound of a arguing couple behind her attracted her attention.

"That wasn?t sensible!" Meg heard.

"I don?t want to be sensible!" Meg caught, but after that, she was caught up in her own thoughts . . .


[I]She twirled around. "Oh come on, be sensible!"

Meg sighed. "I don?t want to be like practical, sensible Kathleen! I want to be impractical, [/I]senseless[I] Meg!" She flung her shoulder length auburn hair over her shoulder in frustration.

Kathleen peered at her sister of 16 with a look of disapproval. "If, again, you aren?t practical, you?ll never get anywhere in life!"

"[/I]I don?t care![I] Do I [/I]want[I] to get anywhere in life?"

"Of course you do!" The sister of 24 put her hands on her hips and stared at Meg.

Meg imitated her sister. "Why? Does getting somewhere in life help? I?ll stay right where I am thank you very much!" . . .[/I]


"Stay right where I am huh?" Meg muttered to herself as she took a swig of her coffee. "Ugh!" She made a face. "It?s cold!" She heard someone laughing from behind her and swiveled on the stool.

"Would you care for another one?" There stood her long time friend, Rauchiel.

Meg laughed. "Rauchiel! How long has it been?" She stood and they embraced in a hug.

The alien laughed. "It?s been a while, that?s for sure."

"Why are you here?"

By the look on Rauchiel?s face, Meg could tell he didn?t enjoy what he had to say. "It?s an important job that has to be done. For this race, for all of our sakes . . . and you will need to be here to hear it Maruei . . ."

[I]That was Rauchiel?s pet name for me, when . . .[/I] Meg shook the thought out of her head. That was something in the past, the long past she didn?t want to remember. She smiled up at Rauchiel, and he seemed to buy it, for the time being.

"Anyway, how bout that coffee?"

*~*~~``

Ta da! Please R&R!

Sere

[vegeta rocker]

not bad, just wanted to know more in a chapter.

[BabyGirl]

[color=deeppink]Ah, well done! I so rarely read anyone else's work nowadays. Your writing style reminds me a lot of my own, and because of that, I really enjoyed it. I also love sci-fi stories...can't wait until you post more ^_^[/color]