Lake Iliamna

[Nathan Oyagak]

Sometime during the grueling dilemma of achieving sleep, that and the cruelty of hyper dosage of keif to achieve mental quell during a sweat lodge ceremony, Nathan induced the finial chemical compound into his system; it composed primarily of an Arctic Lichen genetically altered to its purest state, concurrently the most lethal psychedelic drug known to man, combined with synthetic unstable biopolymer agents encasing methyl sulfates as a carrier and binder to his body. Nathan became carrier for the *******, and the hallucinogenic onslaught was profound:

Acrylic whispers, echoes of reflections and slurred movement dominated Nathans mind, lives of others; their memories of pain and ultimate failure and death permeated his existence, a powerful side affect as a result of his chosen ceremony cite of Lake Iliamna, and a lethal omen of Nathans connection with the land. With the last grasps of his sanity, or perhaps his insanity, Nathan forced the connection to the land and focused his psychosis; and the memories of the land of the people of the Pebble Disaster, the entire Bristol Bay area and her Deltas gave a fateful aria that sang of terrible loss, its voice rasped for vengeance, sorrowful and profound, yet gentile enough to open the flood gates and let the land sing her death in soprano; her voice demanding, unyielding, undeniable and showed Nathan her fatal wound and pled her assassination.

“Red Alert, I repeat, Red Alert.” A memory focused, and the sensation of a syringe entered her arm, she was paralyzed with shock and instant doom. “Mayday, Mayday; this is the Central Pebble Mine Administration broadcasting on all emergency frequencies”, the injection was cool and catatonic, and brought an instant shroud of death to darken and circle her now clouded eyes, “ and declaring an immediate evacuation of all personnel and civilians in the Greater Bristol Bay area.”

The injection spread as wildfire through her arteries, her bone and tissue infected became instantly gangrene and her body responded violently, in desperation she reacted, “Again, this is the Central Pebble Mine Administration broadcasting on all Emergency frequencies: We are declaring massive environmental release, further at this time, the Lake Iliamna seismic station is currently reading massive T-phase activity and advises of eminent T-phase tectonic shifts……”.

Her response was instant and catastrophic as the region of initial pollution churned and upheld itself in an attempt to dislodge and expel the toxin, a mistake that carried the poison to her very life blood and the dormant volcanoes of Southeast Bristol Bay spewed their violent rejection of the synthetic chemicals and their ability bind at the chemical level high into her respiratory system, a tear scared in her eye as she chocked the toxin further into her very being.

“Mayday, Mayday; this is the Pebble Mine Administration Nushagak River Base, we are reporting complete environmental failure at the Portage Creek docking facility. All chemical storage and transport facilities are dumping their yield into Kaichak Bay. Massive tectonic activity has compromised all facilities and devastating tsunamis are forecasted within the hour……” Her spasm was tremendous and the powerful chemicals took their yield of her being.

Paralyzed, she looked within as her broken body filtered the toxic chemicals into every essence of her being, a process consuming her resources for more than a month and introduced a caustic toxin into her sister ecologies; on her deathbed, she lamented her broken, polluted body.

Nathan watched in rapt terror and sorrow as her life ebbed, he felt the land die, life in all forms exploded in fantastic death throes and the higher the life form, the greater the plea of mercy on the Lady of his vision. He wept and went to her in his vision, cradling her in his arms he sobbed in mercy and as his mouth opened her aria became a duet and a plea.

For how long He sustained her, Nathan could not say. The pain and eternal wearing of his will to hold her on this side of the life fold became his only paladin, and vigilance began to pay. Nathan saw a people return to her bosom, saw kin of his heritage return in sympathetic horror, they were the shroud of humility and picked up vestige rags and ruins of Nathans garments and bestowed them on their shoulders.

Still cradling Lady of the vision, Nathan reached out with her and they understood. A profound turn in his vision occurred. In scant decades he saw her people turn the earth, remove the soil toxin, a cost of his knowledge the sole price of witness, and her only demand now. Together they felt her cleaned and Nathan saw one last vision, her weak voice speaking in his ear, ‘For you my Love!’, and Nathan witnessed his birth.

Nathan screamed for air as the bond separated, gasping and crying as in his final vision, he succumbed to consciousness and being lucid was not his kind friend. “Shit, what just happened?” scraped across his mind as he took in the surroundings. He felt the area more than he saw and he knew there was scant life near him, moreover he felt the life force of one that was about end and he reached out to it.

In an instant Nathan knew it was Daniel Paulson, it could be no other. No other life force had ingested the ceremony as he had and Nathan knew it would kill him in short order. Nathan gathered his will and removed his battered self from the ground. Moments gathered to shake off the drugs and the ceremony were the price of his stamina as he gathered Paulson from the ground, Alaska Corporation had bonded them mentally and now that bond must suffice until he could reach the healing waters of Nathans sciences, for the time Nathan must consider that if Paulson survives, he would be another progenesis of ********.

[karlsie]

It looks like we need to get back to hammering out that sci-fi. That was a very good internal look at Nathan and adds a personal touch to the background history of the story. It's also in the spirit of what i was envisioning for a collaborative effort; the individual characters weaving in and out of the main plot line with their stories of life bumped into a scenario fifty years into the future.

[Nathan Oyagak]

Nathans immediate need and requirement was first and foremost to extricate himself and Paulson from the site of the ceremony. His options were few and limited, even prior to the sweat lodge, the area was heavily fortified with personnel that were not associated with the Alaska Corporation, and they were heavily armored.

The sunlight hit Nathan like a supernova as he heaved out of the sweat lodge, and brought him to his knees, Paulson, a rag tag disposal to his side, groaned as gravity captured his being and demanded its full dues, the two spiraled to the ground helpless to any other circumstance, Nathan felt the void increase from Paulson as he continued to rotate out of control. “Son of a bitch”, Nathan gasped as his world de-solidified from the peripheral and his un-headed spin hit a jarring end , “What the hell happened to me?”

It was a time before Nathan could move, considerable in his estimation judging from the way the sun light assaulted his senses, and every fiber of his being screamed warning from his south west, it was a terrifying mental urge that would not yield, and in moments it solidified in voices of broken English.

“It is over here Comrades!” The voice nearer than that was comfortable for Nathans needs of the moment and the under-carriage of the dense Spruce and Alder gave way for the ferns to present an armed envoy of trespassers who’s mere sight repelled Nathan, “Shit” mental alarms splashed across his consciousness and four Council RFA plasma rifles had him in their sight.

Nathan growled as his remaining strength focused and his upper haunches curled further into their end sprawl from the free fall down the slope that separated him from Paulson, it was like his lower torso coiled in the opposite direction, at once Nathan let go of the coil and came screaming off the ground. The four council skirmish troops had no idea what befell them, A ravaged savage came from face down on the ground to a flying attack in microseconds and as they fell back their panic stricken RFA fire struck every object except their assailant.

Nathan landing short of the assault party struck out wildly and three of his foes fell backward as he felt the fourth man lunge past him and grab his throat from behind. Nathan, grabbing his assailants wrist and in blind inhuman strength began crushing down until he felt the grasp falter, and then used the brutes force to carry him into low clock wise spin and ended with an upright stance, the wrist and the throat of his attacker in separate hands. Feral fury was the rasp in Nathans words as he horsed to his captive, “Time to die!” and wrought brutal crushing force unto the windpipe of the now weak rag doll in his hands.

As Nathan opened his eyes he was secure in the three blasts of gunfire, he knew they were meant for him, however his vision focused beyond the ruined foreigner in his hands and he saw that Paulson had clawed his way down the hill and now lie in a supine position, arm in a disdained aiming position. As Paulson lost consciousness, Nathan spun around and in a fluid moment slapped down the three corpses falling towards him, before himself landing solidly upon his knees with the strength of arched reeds after a storm.

“I can’t do this alone,” Nathan thought “I have to have help.” He again lifted his head and attempted lurch to a stance, only to fall forward again shoulders bridged beneath him by his fists and locked arms. Heaving the acid stench of the ground into every breath, Nathan knew the obstacles here were too great.

He again looked to Paulson and saw his friend on the near abyss of chemical induced coma in his aura and cursed. In the next instant he was on the ground and a council RFA at the nape of his neck. A sentry demanding council authorized skirmish papers pressed the cool pasti-steel harder down. Nathan knowing he had no such authorization began to laugh ‘fuck you’ in parody and a sharp blow to the head brought a near civil answer. “I am Nathan Oyagak, and I am hunting vultures upon my land. He awaited the heated ammo shot to his head, but the sentries laughter kept that at bay for far too long.

[The Late Mitchell Warren]

Wow Tom! That was very good. I think hanging around Karla is causing you to breathe in all those literary fumes because you're really improving. You have your own distinctive voice, a nice vocabulary and an interesting character.

[Nathan Oyagak]

Thank you, both

[Nathan Oyagak]

Gentile hands took direction of his center of gravity, still reeling from the ceremony Nathan gave no resistance and as he was lowered on his back, a thick slurred dialect commanded response. “Pozdravljam Gospodar ujutro.” Furling his brows to enable speech, Nathan horsed the proper response “za danan on hoda sa mnom” in mutilated Croatian response.

Looking up Nathan did not recognize the Croat from any particular feature and ventured “do you speak English?” A short delay and “yes, some” the simple reply affirmed and then after a melodramatic pause continued “I am Andelko, and you my friend are a powerful warrior and I fear I must carry you far so you may properly kill me. But please do not call me vulture again, for it causes me to bloat with pride.” Nathans chest attempted a rumbled laugh but produced sporadic coughs instead.

“It will be dusk soon; we should wait for the night to move you and your friend. I did not believe it possible for any person to look worse than you, but I fear your friend is in very bad shape.” The heavy Croat drawl edged Nathan closer to reality and he turned his head to look at Paulson, who for all outward appearances seemed catatonic.

“There is a war going on in there.” Nathan stated nodding at Paulson, blithely communicating his assessment of the situation. “And I do not believe Mr. Paulson will survive the next eleven hours without my intervention, there simply is too much at stake to abandon him here so we must alter the situation.”

“The situation my young comrade is this, you and your friend are injured and incapacitated beyond immediate travel. There are four divisions and six quads of Council loyal skirmish assault troops from around the global corporations, and most of them are scale pay assassins with no city state loyalties.”

“Your Corporation is under direct fire on orders of the supreme councilor and her regime.” Nathan looked closer at Andelko, he could not place the man, yet there was something familiar and he recognized the intricacies of a safe-house project.

“And as contrary, how am I assured that you won’t take an opportunity to exercise collecting the bounty that is so obviously my precursor?” Nathan feigned helpless captive across his features and continued. “Or would you rather explain how you came to be waiting so close to my proximity at my time of disability?” They were easy questions, however Nathan had slurried them enough with his analytical senses and as his words settled around the Croat, he sensed the other would not be able to lie to him very easily now.

The compulsion settled around Andelko and he resisted the urge to open up completely, his contract associates had selected him for his reputed abilities to fend off psychic onslaughts and at this moment he was sensing a power within Nathan that he gauged to be near lethal if unleashed. “There are no guarantees.” Trying to inwardly direct his abilities to answer in ways that would allow him the freest range of his tongue, the Croat continued.

“It is true there is indeed a large bounty involved with you, and if you are who you say you are.” Andelko was leading when his head reeled and Nathan demanded “You doubt me?”

“Nnno.” The Croat gasped and gathered his center again, and when he opened his eyes the world began to coalesce into shape again.

Andelko had no reservations that this was indeed Nathan Oyagak with him, at least not anymore. “I am an operative under contract with certain members of the Icelandic Accords who wish to remain anonymous, even to me. You have vested interests with them and they are unwilling to let you be about without some discretionary assistance, Doubtless this isn’t the first attack of terminal idiocy you have displayed, Hmm?”

“Obviously,” Nathan growled, “I have not paid attention to who is of interest to me. We will hunker down, bide our time and prepare to move within a few hours. You will secure this area and then find some rations and fresh water. Stay to the East and you will miss the nearest patrol. Their camp is about 35 minutes away and you will find what you need there.” He was intent with his words and when he again looked to the Croat it was visible that the man was under considerable duress as a drop of sweat gathered at the nape of his and ear a tear escaped his eye to be shaken loose by the man’s trembling head, Nathan realized how far the level of his compulsion exerted on the other and unrelenting finished. “Return when you have what we need, our extraction point is near and the vector will be clear. Do this and you may earn your next payroll offering.”

The Croat was gone in a matter of minutes, taking only the time to help with the relocation of Paulson to a more sheltered vista of the immediate area. There was no haste in the sentry’s movement away from the secured scene and Nathan knew that the man was trying to conserve energy for what would naturally be presumed a radical egress from the central lake area.

Turning to Paulson, Nathan reached out with his mind and hit a void barrier, there was no conscious action of the other man’s mind. Not the best sign he could have detected in his charge, and on another level began searching for answers that eluded him about why Paulson was not able to disentangle from the ceremony, all the while he gathered his strength for the extraction and the necessary evil he had just sent the Croat into. There would be no return for Andelko, and vultures would feed on vultures tonight.