I will now relate what went down on the Lovett property that might help the reader understand a bit more about the
main characters in the story. In some tales, a writer may strive to endear the focal cast of a chronicle in order to
retain interest and draw the reader into the world they have created.
It's standard and makes sense, the viewer will feel cheated if the hero or heroine is killed-off in the first chapter
and a new scenario has to be built. But because what's written below did actually happen and was reported in
The Fort Pierce News Tribune back in 1948, it can be safely accepted that it's valid.
However, the full true account was never known due to the lack of back-story of the individuals that took part in
the altercation on the Hobe Sound estate and so this is their story.
The eight security people didn't look like security people. Florida -as most know, enjoys a warm climate and with
that seemingly forever-sunshine, it's accepted that a tan would be acquired by those of the caucasian-persuasion.
But these guys looked different.
Ninurta said nothing and leaving the room, left Tibbs, Mucklebones and Boy In A Dress to their own devices.
The bedroom light was on and from past-experience with the stoic Vandalain, it could be said that he realised an
illuminated area is where a person -a hunter perhaps, would concentrate their focus.
And that was fine with Ninurta, that's why he left for the darkness.
"What do we do?" Muckles asked as she saw a shadow move across the lawn. A guard would have a torch she
thought and noticed a second dark figure step off the gravelled-driveway. Robert Lovett was in deep slumber, his
covers neatly pulled-up around him and never at any time had the four invaders allowed him near the telephone.
So who had alerted this new group of problems?
Tibbs waved a hand for his wife and BIAD to follow him "We need to use the back-stairs..." he muttered softly as
he checked the handset for the house's schematics. "...We can follow the garden wall around to get to the ship"
Mucklebones frowned at the thought of leaving the Gunman to deal with the gang of men below, she knew Ninurta's
talents had been honed in such volatile settings, but eight?
Seeing the Man-Girl step through the bedroom door following her husband, the Witch decided that the mean-man
with the big gun might fall under the cosh on this one and her own flair may be called upon.
Lifting the latch of the lead-lined window, Muckles stepped onto the little balcony and like Errol Flynn, began to utilise
the liana-bound trellis.
To be fair, the vines held well until the poncho-wearing alien put her full weight onto the climber. But that stuff called
gravity seemingly wanted to see what was under that green-tattered shawl and so, Mucklebones slid noisily and very
un-Flynn-like down to earth.
The hissed curse -and I have no idea what it means, was "Bucket of hens-feathers!" and that was when she received
a kick to the face.
The Fort Pierce News Tribune failed to identify the alleged security men and so who ever delivered that blow cannot
be named, but if the immediate situation hadn't needed Muckles to avoid the next brutish attack , she'd have baptised
him 'Bastard One'. The large boot caught her shoulder as she attempted to roll away from the oncoming aggression.
"What the hell do you...?" the man in the light-blue shirt and neatly-creased pants began and then saw Muckles' full
appearance. He carried no firearm she noticed as she got to her knees, but the billy-club he brandished did alert her
internal radar. The awareness-moment was realised and struggling to her feet, Muckles began to run towards where
the cool shadows of the shrubbery waited.
One would expect the club to have been thrown to thwart the escape, but instead the bruised Witch ran straight into
another of the men that had interrupted the clue-finding foray in Florida. This one had wide shoulders and a pervert's
smile. "Looky-here..." he mocked loudly and grabbed Mucklebones by the hem of her poncho, "...a stinkin' Gray!"
Even as the guard swung her around in a circle, Muckles held onto what her captor had just said and the easy manner
he had stated it. Although, the confident collating was disrupted by a chunky fist finding the side of her jaw and revealing
her physical femininity as she crumpled to the dew-damp lawn, she guess she was done for.
"Where's yer' pals?" the grinning 'Bastard Two' hissed as he glanced at his approaching cohort and then redirected his
gaze to the panting heap on the ground. The pair of shadows lay across the half-exposed exhausted female and for a
moment, Muckles felt the feeling of a confidence that had nothing to do with muscle-superiority or machismo-self-pride
coming from the men. It was something else, something she could only touch at.
The wide-shouldered man leaned forward and whispered "Alien, you're in a world of hurt", -which he furnished the threat
with his debauched grin. Muckles looked towards Bastard Two and felt pain from her jaw injury, she also noticed two others
stepping out of the bushes. They may have captured her husband and BIAD she thought.
Now before I continue, I must append that the newspaper report never actually said there was eight guards that were on
the grounds during those early hours of May 1949, it was only stated as 'a number'. That's probably due to what happened
next.
Out from behind the bushes that the new pair of supposed-security staff had come from, a gang of yelling brown-robed
dwarfs suddenly leapt onto the nearest of the guards. The second man that turned -baton in hand, to fight off the this weird
squad of screaming miniatures never got the chance to see the identical long grey-white beards or small-round spectacles
on the assailants due to his ankles becoming entangled in black vines and suddenly dragging him towards the shrouded
undergrowth.
Undergrowth where Boy In A Dress waited.
"Are these guys botherin' you?" Ninurta asked easily as his lean silhouette parted from the darkness that had hidden it.
The GunMan stepped onto the clipped-grass and half-monitored Tibbs rage as the replications of himself battered the
guard to the ground.
Apart from the reason of wanting a piece of the action by avenging the Witch who he reluctantly called a 'friend', it was also
due to Bastard One and Two's change of stance in order to assist their comrade. The multiple-Tibbs couldn't fight all three,
even if they had beaten on his wife.
The one with the billy-club charged first -and with a note of approval from Ninurta, didn't voice his intentions.
The held-high weapon only opened up the guard for an easier targeting as Ninurta -stepping swiftly to one side, placed
a strategic foot out to trip the advancing man and thrust a jab into his solar-plexus area.
The deep shadow of the wide-brimmed hat failed to relate to Bastard Two that his approach hadn't gone unnoticed and
has he stepped over the prone Mucklebones, he genuinely believed he could teach the one Ms. Rhanes had warned about,
a lesson in who rules the roost around here.
Ninurta didn't smile before or after the Witch grabbed the guard's foot, but at least had the steady intention of slowing the
man's fall with a knee for the accelerating face of Bastard Two. Later, it would be discovered that two of his teeth were
embedded high up in his nasal cavity.
The other one dealing with distressing signals from his coeliac-plexus and the multi-need to breath, vomit and urinate,
moaned into the grass until Muckles finally got her feet. Oddly enough, she didn't shoo away Ninurta's assistance.
I implied that there was a limit on the guard's torment because of what Muckles did next and how it caused Bastard One
to lose consciousness. Since The Fort Pierce News Tribune didn't report it in their article, I won't either. But I know you'll
be assuming it has something to do with the man's nether-regions and I must admit, it did make Ninurta wince.
Also what went not investigated or even looked into by the Florida-based Journalist -was that since the guard was out-cold,
it could well have been that a wild animal or something may have strayed onto the estate, bitten him down there and then
took-off with the organ. Rule 101 in reporting, never rule anything out.
"They know..." Muckles gasped as she wiped her hands on her poncho. "...They know what we're doing and Forrestal
was right" she added and staggered towards the impassive GunMan. Ninurta grabbed her skinny forearm and helped
into a better position to watch her husband.
It wasn't Vithian, even Tibbs' wife knew that. But whatever the growling language was, there were a couple of words that
sounded very human and and very Muckles-like. The guard was dead and it wasn't just that one of his arms lay nearer
Lovett's house than the owner of the limb -that could be offered as a clue. To be honest, there were bits everywhere.
As Ninurta and the wheezing alien looked-on, the amount of duplicate Tibbs diminshed. One-by-one, they merged until
only the screaming original blood-soaked Time-Manager was left. Half-heartedly pounding into the steaming meat that
was once was said to patrol wealthy people's houses for money.
Except that wouldn't be quite true.
Muckles limped over to her man and stopped his wearied rage, the night was quiet as the pair sobbed and the GunMan
continued his mistrust of the dwindling darkness. Dawn was still an hour or two away, but there's a time when not-enough
-light can be just as well utilised as no-light.
"I'm hungry" chirped Boy In A Dress as his high-heels crunched on the gravel of the driveway, Ninurta narrowed his eyes
and wondered why the flaky Man-Girl had been in that location. Maybe some more guards had arrived and he'd dealt
with them. The wide manic-grin told the Vandalian nothing... well, except that BIAD had bats in his belfry, perhaps.
"I gotcha yer, yer bastard" Tibbs murmured and Muckles held him closer, for a moment the exuberant garden of one the
men who would be later crowned as a co-founder of the Cold War, had found its peace again. Robert Lovett slept on
and his dreams held no green-caped monsters or growling cowboys.
Tibbs kissed the bruised cheek of his wife and then pushed his chin over her shoulder, the hug felt odd to Muckles and
she realised his mind was elsewhere. "No... I mean I've got it" he said as he stretched out an arm towards the remains
of the security man.
Ninurta and BIAD watched their friend's little fingers scour through the gore and bone as Tibbs left his wife's embrace
to further his investigations. It wasn't much, but it looked like a misshaped baseball had mated with an octopus.
The object that the Vithian plucked from inside the flattened rib-cage, was around four inches long, vaguely ovoid and
had five arm-like appendages sticking out of one end.
Wiping the blood from its surface, Tibbs observed that it was made from material he hadn't seen since Panny Cummins
had managed to house a wormhole inside the Temarr region. Christ... that's going back a bit.
So it came to him as no surprise when the light-brown component disappeared from the palm of his hand. Tibbs smiled
through the tears and the blood at what he'd found and silently counted to ten. The strange tentacled-item returned and
lay lifeless in his hand. It was Belcite.
"Gentlemen and of course, my lady..." Tibbs croaked as he got to his feet, "...I give you the Mainyu" he said and allowing
his eyes to roll over white, he fainted into the waiting arms of Mucklebones.
............................
The Police Report would indicate that four unknown individuals had attempted to rob Mr. Robert Lovett's home and the raid
had been circumvented by eight brave Home-Wardens, six of whom tragically lost their lives.
The two who'd escaped death had been severely injured and serious medical care had been required.
The same Police Department would ask The Fort Pierce Tribune to refrain on reporting on the deceased male found attached
to the Main Gate by his own intestines, the frenzied attack at the lawn location and the crime-scene where the other four victims
were discovered near the retaining wall of a rear fountain. The small editorial just said 'group'
I never judge Boy In A Dress because of the possible mental stress of being a singularity, it's been agreed that in space–time,
matter is infinitely dense. With that said, I have to also give a pass on Ninurta's conduct and blame myself.
I forgot that he still had that knife.
main characters in the story. In some tales, a writer may strive to endear the focal cast of a chronicle in order to
retain interest and draw the reader into the world they have created.
It's standard and makes sense, the viewer will feel cheated if the hero or heroine is killed-off in the first chapter
and a new scenario has to be built. But because what's written below did actually happen and was reported in
The Fort Pierce News Tribune back in 1948, it can be safely accepted that it's valid.
However, the full true account was never known due to the lack of back-story of the individuals that took part in
the altercation on the Hobe Sound estate and so this is their story.
The eight security people didn't look like security people. Florida -as most know, enjoys a warm climate and with
that seemingly forever-sunshine, it's accepted that a tan would be acquired by those of the caucasian-persuasion.
But these guys looked different.
Ninurta said nothing and leaving the room, left Tibbs, Mucklebones and Boy In A Dress to their own devices.
The bedroom light was on and from past-experience with the stoic Vandalain, it could be said that he realised an
illuminated area is where a person -a hunter perhaps, would concentrate their focus.
And that was fine with Ninurta, that's why he left for the darkness.
"What do we do?" Muckles asked as she saw a shadow move across the lawn. A guard would have a torch she
thought and noticed a second dark figure step off the gravelled-driveway. Robert Lovett was in deep slumber, his
covers neatly pulled-up around him and never at any time had the four invaders allowed him near the telephone.
So who had alerted this new group of problems?
Tibbs waved a hand for his wife and BIAD to follow him "We need to use the back-stairs..." he muttered softly as
he checked the handset for the house's schematics. "...We can follow the garden wall around to get to the ship"
Mucklebones frowned at the thought of leaving the Gunman to deal with the gang of men below, she knew Ninurta's
talents had been honed in such volatile settings, but eight?
Seeing the Man-Girl step through the bedroom door following her husband, the Witch decided that the mean-man
with the big gun might fall under the cosh on this one and her own flair may be called upon.
Lifting the latch of the lead-lined window, Muckles stepped onto the little balcony and like Errol Flynn, began to utilise
the liana-bound trellis.
To be fair, the vines held well until the poncho-wearing alien put her full weight onto the climber. But that stuff called
gravity seemingly wanted to see what was under that green-tattered shawl and so, Mucklebones slid noisily and very
un-Flynn-like down to earth.
The hissed curse -and I have no idea what it means, was "Bucket of hens-feathers!" and that was when she received
a kick to the face.
The Fort Pierce News Tribune failed to identify the alleged security men and so who ever delivered that blow cannot
be named, but if the immediate situation hadn't needed Muckles to avoid the next brutish attack , she'd have baptised
him 'Bastard One'. The large boot caught her shoulder as she attempted to roll away from the oncoming aggression.
"What the hell do you...?" the man in the light-blue shirt and neatly-creased pants began and then saw Muckles' full
appearance. He carried no firearm she noticed as she got to her knees, but the billy-club he brandished did alert her
internal radar. The awareness-moment was realised and struggling to her feet, Muckles began to run towards where
the cool shadows of the shrubbery waited.
One would expect the club to have been thrown to thwart the escape, but instead the bruised Witch ran straight into
another of the men that had interrupted the clue-finding foray in Florida. This one had wide shoulders and a pervert's
smile. "Looky-here..." he mocked loudly and grabbed Mucklebones by the hem of her poncho, "...a stinkin' Gray!"
Even as the guard swung her around in a circle, Muckles held onto what her captor had just said and the easy manner
he had stated it. Although, the confident collating was disrupted by a chunky fist finding the side of her jaw and revealing
her physical femininity as she crumpled to the dew-damp lawn, she guess she was done for.
"Where's yer' pals?" the grinning 'Bastard Two' hissed as he glanced at his approaching cohort and then redirected his
gaze to the panting heap on the ground. The pair of shadows lay across the half-exposed exhausted female and for a
moment, Muckles felt the feeling of a confidence that had nothing to do with muscle-superiority or machismo-self-pride
coming from the men. It was something else, something she could only touch at.
The wide-shouldered man leaned forward and whispered "Alien, you're in a world of hurt", -which he furnished the threat
with his debauched grin. Muckles looked towards Bastard Two and felt pain from her jaw injury, she also noticed two others
stepping out of the bushes. They may have captured her husband and BIAD she thought.
Now before I continue, I must append that the newspaper report never actually said there was eight guards that were on
the grounds during those early hours of May 1949, it was only stated as 'a number'. That's probably due to what happened
next.
Out from behind the bushes that the new pair of supposed-security staff had come from, a gang of yelling brown-robed
dwarfs suddenly leapt onto the nearest of the guards. The second man that turned -baton in hand, to fight off the this weird
squad of screaming miniatures never got the chance to see the identical long grey-white beards or small-round spectacles
on the assailants due to his ankles becoming entangled in black vines and suddenly dragging him towards the shrouded
undergrowth.
Undergrowth where Boy In A Dress waited.
"Are these guys botherin' you?" Ninurta asked easily as his lean silhouette parted from the darkness that had hidden it.
The GunMan stepped onto the clipped-grass and half-monitored Tibbs rage as the replications of himself battered the
guard to the ground.
Apart from the reason of wanting a piece of the action by avenging the Witch who he reluctantly called a 'friend', it was also
due to Bastard One and Two's change of stance in order to assist their comrade. The multiple-Tibbs couldn't fight all three,
even if they had beaten on his wife.
The one with the billy-club charged first -and with a note of approval from Ninurta, didn't voice his intentions.
The held-high weapon only opened up the guard for an easier targeting as Ninurta -stepping swiftly to one side, placed
a strategic foot out to trip the advancing man and thrust a jab into his solar-plexus area.
The deep shadow of the wide-brimmed hat failed to relate to Bastard Two that his approach hadn't gone unnoticed and
has he stepped over the prone Mucklebones, he genuinely believed he could teach the one Ms. Rhanes had warned about,
a lesson in who rules the roost around here.
Ninurta didn't smile before or after the Witch grabbed the guard's foot, but at least had the steady intention of slowing the
man's fall with a knee for the accelerating face of Bastard Two. Later, it would be discovered that two of his teeth were
embedded high up in his nasal cavity.
The other one dealing with distressing signals from his coeliac-plexus and the multi-need to breath, vomit and urinate,
moaned into the grass until Muckles finally got her feet. Oddly enough, she didn't shoo away Ninurta's assistance.
I implied that there was a limit on the guard's torment because of what Muckles did next and how it caused Bastard One
to lose consciousness. Since The Fort Pierce News Tribune didn't report it in their article, I won't either. But I know you'll
be assuming it has something to do with the man's nether-regions and I must admit, it did make Ninurta wince.
Also what went not investigated or even looked into by the Florida-based Journalist -was that since the guard was out-cold,
it could well have been that a wild animal or something may have strayed onto the estate, bitten him down there and then
took-off with the organ. Rule 101 in reporting, never rule anything out.
"They know..." Muckles gasped as she wiped her hands on her poncho. "...They know what we're doing and Forrestal
was right" she added and staggered towards the impassive GunMan. Ninurta grabbed her skinny forearm and helped
into a better position to watch her husband.
It wasn't Vithian, even Tibbs' wife knew that. But whatever the growling language was, there were a couple of words that
sounded very human and and very Muckles-like. The guard was dead and it wasn't just that one of his arms lay nearer
Lovett's house than the owner of the limb -that could be offered as a clue. To be honest, there were bits everywhere.
As Ninurta and the wheezing alien looked-on, the amount of duplicate Tibbs diminshed. One-by-one, they merged until
only the screaming original blood-soaked Time-Manager was left. Half-heartedly pounding into the steaming meat that
was once was said to patrol wealthy people's houses for money.
Except that wouldn't be quite true.
Muckles limped over to her man and stopped his wearied rage, the night was quiet as the pair sobbed and the GunMan
continued his mistrust of the dwindling darkness. Dawn was still an hour or two away, but there's a time when not-enough
-light can be just as well utilised as no-light.
"I'm hungry" chirped Boy In A Dress as his high-heels crunched on the gravel of the driveway, Ninurta narrowed his eyes
and wondered why the flaky Man-Girl had been in that location. Maybe some more guards had arrived and he'd dealt
with them. The wide manic-grin told the Vandalian nothing... well, except that BIAD had bats in his belfry, perhaps.
"I gotcha yer, yer bastard" Tibbs murmured and Muckles held him closer, for a moment the exuberant garden of one the
men who would be later crowned as a co-founder of the Cold War, had found its peace again. Robert Lovett slept on
and his dreams held no green-caped monsters or growling cowboys.
Tibbs kissed the bruised cheek of his wife and then pushed his chin over her shoulder, the hug felt odd to Muckles and
she realised his mind was elsewhere. "No... I mean I've got it" he said as he stretched out an arm towards the remains
of the security man.
Ninurta and BIAD watched their friend's little fingers scour through the gore and bone as Tibbs left his wife's embrace
to further his investigations. It wasn't much, but it looked like a misshaped baseball had mated with an octopus.
The object that the Vithian plucked from inside the flattened rib-cage, was around four inches long, vaguely ovoid and
had five arm-like appendages sticking out of one end.
Wiping the blood from its surface, Tibbs observed that it was made from material he hadn't seen since Panny Cummins
had managed to house a wormhole inside the Temarr region. Christ... that's going back a bit.
So it came to him as no surprise when the light-brown component disappeared from the palm of his hand. Tibbs smiled
through the tears and the blood at what he'd found and silently counted to ten. The strange tentacled-item returned and
lay lifeless in his hand. It was Belcite.
"Gentlemen and of course, my lady..." Tibbs croaked as he got to his feet, "...I give you the Mainyu" he said and allowing
his eyes to roll over white, he fainted into the waiting arms of Mucklebones.
............................
The Police Report would indicate that four unknown individuals had attempted to rob Mr. Robert Lovett's home and the raid
had been circumvented by eight brave Home-Wardens, six of whom tragically lost their lives.
The two who'd escaped death had been severely injured and serious medical care had been required.
The same Police Department would ask The Fort Pierce Tribune to refrain on reporting on the deceased male found attached
to the Main Gate by his own intestines, the frenzied attack at the lawn location and the crime-scene where the other four victims
were discovered near the retaining wall of a rear fountain. The small editorial just said 'group'
I never judge Boy In A Dress because of the possible mental stress of being a singularity, it's been agreed that in space–time,
matter is infinitely dense. With that said, I have to also give a pass on Ninurta's conduct and blame myself.
I forgot that he still had that knife.
Edith Head Gives Good Wardrobe.