Chapter One: Untitled

Across the expanse of time, an infinite light, the size of a basketball, hurtles through the cosmos. Its path not a direct one as it dodges and weaves through the debris of space, skirting along a lumbering behemoth meteor that glitters in the light reflected from the cosmic traveler. It passes through one galaxy after another, gaining speed, momentum upon entering a solar system containing a bright star with nine planets caught in its gravitational pull. The celestial wayfarer wends its way closer to its goal, the blue planet that teems with life.

Passing satellite stations so quickly, that even the most sensitive of detection devices could not register the anomaly, remaining unaware of the intruder. There was only a moment of static when it soared by a Tel-Star module, the communications satellite's reflecting panels rotating on its artificial axis.

An aspiring, teenage astronomer, looking intently through his Christmas gift telescope, dismissed the plummeting sphere that flared slightly upon entering the stratosphere as a meteorite and nothing unusual or new. The boy with a blink of the eye immediately forgot it.

It never slowed as it approached the steely blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean, veering suddenly westward at a right angle, several feet above the thrashing waters. Keeping its course low and beneath the detections of any sonar or radar a country may have in place.

The sun crested to the east, casting an orange-red glow on the mirroring water that was left behind the orb as it continued its path westerly. For it to be seen by the naked eyes, it would appear to be a wavering in the air, like the shimmer of a mirage on the sea of a sandy desert. Reaching the shores of North America, like a guided missile, it wove its way around high population areas, avoiding unbelieving eyes that might chance to spy it.

It struck through the southern states, keeping just above the tree line, startling a moonshiner testing out his latest brew, causing him to fall backwards over the copper kettle and tubing in a loud clatter, spilling its contents on the rich Louisiana soil.

A herd of pronghorns scattered through the badlands of New Mexico, frightened by the low flying object. It slowed almost imperceptibly as it-neared Roswell, hesitantly circling the area before moving on, still keeping westward. It slowed even more as the dim lights of the hovelled homes of the Mescalero Indian Reservation came into view, veering to the higher elevations of the Pajerito Mountains.

The sphere finally descended into a consecrated area, a burial ground long forgotten. It hovered, its glowing surface pulsating before crashing to the ground with a force that left a small crater in a blast of dirt and granite. The explosion, muted by the thick copse of blue spruce, knotty pine and scrub, startles a crow roosting in a tree nearest to the open burial ground. The large bird flutters into the air, its caws raucous over being disturbed.

As the dust settles, from within the shallow the orb has cracked open like a large egg. A gelatinous mass, pale green and veined with red, oozed from the protective shell. It dragged its bulk like a monster sized slug, slowly moving towards a raised platform covered with various worn out furs from the constant howling winds. Eagle, hawk and crow feathers spin and twirl on leather tethers hanging off the planchette. Beneath the coverings, the desiccated remains of the Gouyen, Lozen sleeps eternally.

The crow settles back on a barren branch of a long dead, knotty pine. The crow’s ebony black head cocking back and forth, observing the slow moving mass inching across the ground. It hops from its perch to land elegantly on the needle-strewn ground, strutting over to the alien formation. It dares to peck at the glob, thinking it might possibly hold some nutritious value. The mass shudders and lurches a tentacle-like appendage at the bird. With a squawk and a flurry of wings, it takes to the sky, eager to be away; a single breast feather floats in a rocking descent to land and adhere upon the mass. With the possible threat to it now vanquished, the alien life form continues its slow progress to its goal.

An hour passes, the westering sun throwing the sky into a glorious mat of reds and oranges, smudges of darkness quickly encompassing the easterly sky. The mass has now crept up the supports, burrowing under the furs, superimposing itself over the remains of a once great warrior, prophet and medicine woman.

There were several reasons for this selection. The primary one was the mental prowess and the possible adaptability to handle the merging of the two distinctly different entities. Secondly, the body had not been embalmed, as most bodies normally would have been, leaving it in a pristine condition for the transformation that would soon occur. This left the cell structure of the blood and tissues intact and untainted by chemicals. Finally, the body was easily accessible, placed in an area where there would be little to interrupt the process.

Deep within this celestial visitor, triple helix DNA strands pick out the long dormant double helix of Lozen's make-up, adding them to it's own, increasing it's already incredible advancements. However, more than that, it gains an ability that has never before been available to this particular life form.

Unwittingly, it also picks the DNA from the crow feather, its make-up so much simpler that it goes unnoticed, to become enmeshed with the human strands. Now, only time would tell what the outcome would achieve.