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#2
AUG 09 |
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“This Savage Tomorrow”
“Wake up! Oh, please, please wake up!”
Ka-Zar dimly heard the unfamiliar voice as if it were coming from somewhere way over yonder, past the low mountains. He was dreaming that he was enjoying a picnic by the Lake of Sapphire with his wife Shanna, his son Matthew and Zabu. The sun was hot and the air cool. He was vaguely annoyed by the shrill voice that grew louder and more insistent.
“Ka-Zar! Wake up! Oh, why won’t you wake UP?”
Ka-Zar’s head snapped up as he came fully awake and the recent events of the day came back to him. The fight with the raptors. The shimmering green energy curtain. And of course--
He rolled over and smoothly got to his feet in one quicksilver, fluid motion. Rosalind Ratliff squealed in surprise and scuttled backwards on her hands and knees, her brown eyes open as wide as they could go. “You-you’re awake,” she gasped.
“Well, you were screaming at me to wake up, weren’t you?”
“But you were…you were so still…I thought maybe you were dead…and then you just got up all of a sudden…”
Ka-Zar didn’t bother answering. When you had been raised in a place like the Savage Land, as he was when he was barely old enough to walk, there was no such thing as taking a few minutes to rub the sleep out of your eyes. Chances are if you didn’t come awake and in full possession of your facilities instantly, you’d be dead. Ka-Zar took stock of his surroundings while Rosalind got to her feet, brushing her hands free of dirt and dead leaves on her jeans. She stood beside Ka-Zar timidly as his nostrils flared, breathing deeply of the air.
Apparently they were in the same spot they had fallen in. The trees, jungle foliage and vegetation were all the same. But there was something different about the air. The air was not the same. There was something almost antiseptic about it. Something that he couldn’t put his finger on.
“I suppose your mining friends failed at double-crossing you and killing me. Disappointed?” Rosalind asked.
“What are you talking about?”
“Oh, please! I wish you’d stop the act! It’s obvious you’ve given the mining rights to some major outfit like Roxxon or Consolidated Minerals and they’re testing out some new kind of techniques here in the Savage Land! That’s what that…that…thing, whatever you call it was!”
Ka-Zar shook his head. “Are you this wrong about everything? What do you base that on?”
“It couldn’t be anything else!”
Ka-Zar knelt, his face thoughtful. “I don’t hear anything.”
“Is this the part where I say: ‘You’re right. It’s quiet. TOO quiet’?”
“The Savage Land is never entirely quiet. The jungle is alive and always makes some kind of noise. But there’s absolutely nothing stirring, except--”
“I don’t want to hear anymore of your ‘Lord of the Savage Land’ bullshit!” Rosalind steeped forward, stabbing a finger at a gently smiling Ka-Zar. “I demand you take me to a place of safety where it’ll be my pleasure to--” Rosalind broke off and looked closely at Ka-Zar. “What the hell do you find so funny?”
The roar that came from behind Rosalind nearly made her wet her pants. The blast of air and the sound was almost a physical wave of force that made her stumble forward a couple of steps. She turned and was confronted with a sight so frightening that every muscle in her body seized up so that she was literally paralyzed.
Zabu stood there, his fur bristling with rage, saliva dripping from the seven-inch curving fangs protruding from his upper jaw. His eyes were chips of green fire. He breathed heavily, his nostrils flaring rhythmically.
“You have to smile, Rosalind. Zabu doesn’t like anybody yelling at me. He thinks that means they’re about to attack me. Luckily, over the years he’s grown accustomed to people yelling at me so he doesn’t eat them right away but he still doesn’t like it. SMILE. And, as I was going to say before you interrupted me, there’s nothing stirring except for Zabu and he’s coming up right behind you so stop your complaining.”
Rosalind managed a weak smile that apparently satisfied Zabu somewhat as he stalked away from Rosalind with a sullen growl. She looked in amazement at the saber-toothed tiger as it walked over to Ka-Zar and licked his face with a tongue that looked as wide as a bed sheet. “I can’t believe you were able to tame him.”
Ka-Zar stood up and laughed. “If you don’t believe anything else I tell you, Rosalind, believe this: Zabu is anything but tame. He’s not just an oversized kitty cat. He’s a prehistoric saber-toothed tiger. There’s never been a more savage and powerful predator on the planet. He’s designed for two things: to hunt and to kill. There’s no way possible to domesticate such a creature.”
“But around you he’s…well, quiet.”
“Zabu and I are brothers, that’s why. And for all your ranting and raving I think that brotherhood between man and animal is a concept you’re simply not capable of understanding.” Ka-Zar gave Zabu a friendly pat on the shoulders and motioned that they should go. “Let’s see what’s going on here. We’re in the Savage Land but yet we’re not…and the only way we’re going to find out what that energy curtain was and why the jungle is so quiet is to start moving.”
Rosalind was still looking at Zabu with fear and uncertainty. “You’re sure he won’t attack me?”
“Rosalind, I’ll make you a deal: you tell me exactly what you and your friends were doing here and I’ll show you how to make friends with Zabu.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“In an hour you’ll be riding on his back.”
Rosalind smiled again. And this time the smile was genuine.
Zabu was a bit sulky. Usually he didn’t like anybody riding on his back but it seemed to be important to his two-legged brother that the female did so. The tiger loped along slowly, with Ka-Zar walking at his side. Rosalind sat astride Zabu, just behind his shoulders, clutching two fistfuls of his gorgeous golden brown fur in her small hands.
They were walking through an immense field of knee-high grass that was a green so intense and deep that Rosalind was dumbstruck. She thought she had seen green before but never green like this. In fact, all of the colors in the Savage Land were richer, deeper and more intense than any color she’d ever seen in her life.
“So you and your friends honestly thought there was some kind of double-dealing going on here in the Savage Land and you were going to get to the bottom of it, eh?” Ka-Zar chuckled. He was keeping up a running conversation not only to learn more about Rosalind but also to keep her attention from the fact that there was something really wrong here.
When they had reached the end of the jungle it had ended as abruptly as if a gigantic razor blade had cut it off and then the field of grass had begun. Zabu had whuffed in surprise and Ka-Zar couldn’t blame him. The jungle and fields and mountains and plains flowed organically into each other, blending together. This was more like pieces of mismatched sod being slapped down side by side with no regard for the integrity of the land. Impossible as it seemed, something or somebody was actually rearranging the landscape of the Savage Land.
And there were no signs of any life anywhere except for them. The skies should have been filled with pterosaurs, pterodactyls and numerous other flying creatures. There should have been herds of triceratops, brontosaurus and diplodocus. But there were none. It was as if all life in the Savage Land had been completely eradicated.
Ka-Zar sighed. Thanks to the alien technology of the Nuwali there had been no shortage of beings with immense cosmic power of their own that had come to the Savage Land. Terminus, the High Evolutionary, Garokk and even the Mad Titan himself, Thanos, had all at one time or another attempted to steal or misuse the vast knowledge and power of Nuwali technology. Ka-Zar had no doubt that this latest threat was yet another plan by someone to exploit that technology for his own ends. Ka-Zar sighed again. He missed the good old days when all he had to worry about was Man-Apes on a rampage.
“E.A.R.T.H. has its various representatives who attend any and all meetings that have environmental concerns. We’ve been interested in the Savage Land for a number of years now but it’s only been recently that we’ve decided to take action and do our part to preserve all this.” Rosalind indicated the entirety of the Savage Land with a wave of her hand. “I fell in love with the Savage Land years ago when I got Peter Parker’s photo journal as a birthday present. It didn’t take much for me to raise my hand when the word went out for volunteers to come here and investigate for evidence that companies from the outside world were mining here for oil or minerals.”
“Why didn’t you simply contact me? You could have all stayed at Plunder Hall and your friends would still be alive.”
“How were we supposed to trust you? Rumors have been circulating for years that you’ll only allow mining if you’re recognized as the sovereign ruler of the Savage Land. We couldn’t take the chance that you would turn us down. And, while we’re on the subject, that’s a large part of why E.A.R.T.H. is investigating you. The Savage Land is too vast, too beautiful and too valuable to be under the rule of one man alone. What gives you the right to lord it over all this?”
“When we’re done with this present business I’ll take you to the grave of my father and tell you the sacrifices he made to be sure I lived. Then we can debate my right to this land.” Ka-Zar stopped abruptly and so did Zabu, who lifted his massive head, his ears twitching.
“What’s wrong?” Rosalind asked, looking around apprehensively.
“This gets screwier and screwier,” Ka-Zar muttered. “It’s all wrong.” He pointed. “There should be a trail here leading to Plunder Hall but there’s nothing…just more of this grassy plain. Which actually should be sixty miles to the south if I remember correctly.” Ka-Zar shook his head. “Makes me wonder if Plunder Hall is even still there. If it isn’t…”
“Then what?”
“Then we’ll have no choice to try and find one of a number of secret camps I’ve set up. I can leave you there while I investigate further.”
“Why not call for help?”
“Because this land is mine and I take care of what’s mine. And anybody who threatens it answers to me.” Ka-Zar looked at Rosalind, his blue eyes serious. “And that goes for you and your organization as well. Understand me, Rosalind: I admire the beliefs you hold because they mirror my own. I’ve spent most of my life to keep the Savage Land the way it is now and I expect that one day I’ll die doing so. And because of that I do have the right to rule…and so I do. If you and your friends want to help then I’ll sit down with you and we’ll figure out the best way we can work together. But you are most certainly not going to dictate to me what should be done with the Savage Land. There’s only one word that counts here and you’re looking at the guy who utters that word.”
Rosalind looked back at him quietly for a minute or so before answering: “I suppose I might have been excessive in some of my opinions. I do appreciate what you’ve done for me so far. I’ll be sure that when I report to Gregory he understands that.”
“There’ll be no need of that. I’ll be happy to tell him myself.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean that your friend Gregory is responsible for the deaths of your friends and I’ll be damned if he’s going to walk away from that responsibility. He sent them here and when I return the bodies to their loved ones he’s going to be right there at my side so that when I have wives, husbands, children, parents, brothers and sisters asking me how such a thing could happen, he’ll be there to explain his part in things.”
Rosalind dropped her eyes. “I guess that’s only fair.”
Ka-Zar turned and continued walking. “Damn straight it is.”
Rosalind awoke with a jerk. The rhythmic motion of Zabu’s lope had lulled her into a sound sleep where she had lain on the broad back of the saber-tooth tiger as comfortably as if she had been lying on the queen-sized mattress back in the bedroom of her San Francisco apartment. Zabu had stopped suddenly and it was this unexpected motion that had awakened her.
They were standing at the summit of a hill looking across a broad flat plain of blue dirt. For miles and miles the blue plain extended without so much as a living thing growing, walking or crawling upon it. But that didn’t mean there was nothing there. In the middle of the plain an immense spire rose upwards for at least a mile. Made of some sparkling emerald substance, it glittered in the humid late afternoon sun and to Rosalind it looked disturbingly like a green dagger thrust into the very flesh of the Savage Land itself.
“Ka-Zar…what is it?”
“I have no idea. It certainly wasn’t there when I left a couple of hours ago.”
“What do you mean?”
“That spire…it’s in the exact same spot Plunder Hall was.”
“But…that can’t be right. Are you sure we’re not lost?”
Ka-Zar gave her a look of outright disgust and Rosalind immediately regretted her hasty words. Ka-Zar knew the Savage Land so well it was virtually impossible for him to get lost. Even if the landscape had been changed around as he said earlier, there were still some things that hadn’t changed and that was how he was navigating. They weren’t lost.
“So what do we do now?”
“We go ring the doorbell and ask the occupant what the hell he, she or they have done with my house.”
“Is that what we should be doing? Maybe we’d be better off--“
Ka-Zar’s voice was razor blade sharp as he answered, “There are four hundred people in the castle and on the farms adjacent that work for me. They’re gone. It’s my responsibility to find out what happened to them. If you don’t want to go, that’s fine.” Ka-Zar squinted towards the north and leveled his muscular arm in that direction. “Head that way. Just keep going straight. A full day’s march should bring you to one of my camps. It’s not much, just a flexosteel dome covered with camouflage netting. But there’s three days worth of food and water and a satellite phone inside. My advice to you is to hold up there and contact S.H.I.E.L.D. Their emergency frequency is clearly marked on the back of the phone. Contact them and wait for them to pick you up. Tell them what’s happened and-“
Zabu’s challenging roar burst out, echoing over the vast plain. Ka-Zar and Rosalind turned back again to look at the glittering green spire. A number of metal spheres had emerged from the spire and were speeding across the plains directly toward them.
“Well, guess that decision’s been taken out of our hands. Rosalind, hang on tight to Zabu and whatever you do, don’t let go.”
“Wait! Wait! What are you going to do?”
“Attack them, of course.” And then Ka-Zar was gone so fast that Rosalind blinked in amazement. One second he was standing in front of her and the next he was simply gone and he was already halfway down the crest of the hill and a second later Zabu was close behind him. Rosalind’s fingers locked into the saber-tooth tiger’s fur and even if she had wanted to scream she was unable to draw in a breath. So quickly was Zabu running that it was as if the air rushed by too fast for her to draw in a decent breath for a lusty scream.
Now she could see that the four spheres were dropping closer. Four appendages popped out of the spheres and crimson laser bolts of deadly intensity speared down at Ka-Zar, who was now zigzagging madly across the plain in a manner that was impossible to track. The spheres were speeding up and dropping lower, the crimson grids of their sensory oculars blazing.
Zabu sprang into the air at the lead sphere and he latched onto it with all four paws, the three-inch long claws ripping and tearing at the metal as if it were balsa wood. His fangs punched right through the surface of the sphere as his five hundred pounds brought the mechanism crashing back down to the ground. The sphere was emitting a high-pitched shriek that to Rosalind’s ears sounded as if the sphere was screaming in terror. She could relate. If she weren’t using all her strength to hold onto the insanely bucking saber-tooth tiger she’d be doing some screaming herself. Zabu leaped off the sphere just before it exploded with a bright green flash of energy. Strangely enough there was no heat or flames accompanying the explosion. It simply burst apart with an oomph!, scattering components all over the plain.
Ka-Zar’s hands were at his belt, unhooking the length of nylon rope. He leaped into the air, one foot landing on the top of a sphere and he pushed off from it, going higher up into the air. His rope whipped out, encircling another sphere. He arced through the air and landed on the ground, pulling the rope tight. The sphere swerved, skewing wildly off course as it madly fired laser beams, trying to hit Ka-Zar. The Lord of the Savage Land grinned fiercely and his muscles swelled as he yanked mightily on the rope, pulling the lassoed sphere right into the path of the sphere he had jumped off from. Both spheres exploded in an impressive spiked cloud of green energy.
The last sphere jinked right and left, trying to get a clear shot at Ka-Zar. Zabu crossed the ninety feet separating him from the sphere in four seconds and sprang into the air, one massive paw swiping out to bat the sphere. It careened wildly through the air, out of control, sparks erupting from the sensory oculars.
Ka-Zar reached down and removed something from the inside lip of his right hunting boot. He placed it in the pouch of the shepherd’s sling held in his right hand. He whirled the sling over his head so rapidly that it was nearly invisible and then released one cord. The projectile left the sling and punched right through the sphere like a .44 magnum bullet through an apple. The sphere simply dissolved into great gobbets of liquefied metal drops.
Zabu loped up to Ka-Zar and affectionately licked the grinning face of the Lord of the Savage Land. Rosalind shakily slid off the back of the saber-tooth tiger and walked away a few feet on legs that seemed to have turned into rubber. It looked like she was actually trying to do a drunken version of The Funky Chicken. She sat down heavily and drew in a great big lungful of air.
Ka-Zar was rolling around on the ground with the tiger, yanking on Zabu’s ears. The tiger growled in mock anger and snapped at Ka-Zar playfully.
“You’re insane, you know that?” Rosalind tried to yell out the words but the most she could manage was a weary croak. “We almost got killed!”
Ka-Zar pushed off of Zabu, who got to his four feet and shook all over, getting the dust off. Ka-Zar walked over to where Rosalind sat and dropped down next to her. “Now what makes you say that?”
“We nearly got killed by those…those…whatever they were and you take time out to play?!”
Ka-Zar shrugged. “And when is there a better time to play than after you cheat Death? Not that that wasn’t much of a cheat.”
“You’re joking, right? Why else would those things have attacked us?”
“Look at the sophisticated technology of that structure and of those spheres. My guess is that whoever is inside of that building has a lot of them inside. He could just as easily have sent forty, but he only sent four. He just wanted to see what we were about and what we could do.”
“You really think so?”
“We’re still alive, aren’t we?”
“So what do you think that he makes of us now?”
Ka-Zar shrugged. “You’re a bright young woman. You tell me.”
Rosalind thought for a second. “He’s probably trying to figure out how a half naked wild man and a tiger could have destroyed his machines?”
“X gets the square.” Ka-Zar stood up and extended a hand to help Rosalind to her feet. “But I’d bet my last loincloth that whoever is in there has a pretty good idea of who I am right about now. We might as well get moving and go find out what he’s doing here and what he’s done to my land. Come on.”
They started walking and Rosalind said, “What did you do to that last sphere? It just seemed to…well, it melted.”
“Oh! Let me show you.” Again Ka-Zar bent down to the top of his boot and reached inside. He withdrew something and opened his gloved hand to show her. It looked to her like a plain silver-gray ball bearing about the size of a walnut.
“What is it?”
“It’s made out of Vibranium. Sometimes it’s called the Anti-Metal. Wakandan Vibranium absorbs vibrations but Anti-Metal produces vibrations. The vibrations given off by this metal destroys the molecular bond of all other metals and basically liquefies them. On the inside of my boots I have a couple of pouches I carry these in for occasions where I run into enemies like our friends back there and an ordinary rock just won’t do the job.” Ka-Zar replaced the Vibranium ball back in its pouch. “Let’s pick up the pace a bit, okay?”
“What’s the rush?”
“Because it’s getting dark and, frankly, I’d rather try to find a way inside while it’s still light. Otherwise we’ll have to spend the night out here and try to find a way in at first light. You up to roughing it?”
“I’ve been in a few tight spots. I’ve slept outdoors more than once.”
Ka-Zar said nothing in response. He himself could sleep naked in four feet of snow with no discomfort and judging by the equipment he had seen back at the destroyed E.A.R.T.H. camp his idea of roughing it and hers were light years apart. However there was nothing to be gained by arguing with her on the issue. Ka-Zar was much more curious to learn who was within the great green spire. The technology was unfamiliar to him. This wasn’t one of his old enemies. This was somebody new and he was extremely interested to learn exactly who he, she, it or they were.
“This isn’t such a good idea.” Rosalind was craning her head backwards, looking up at the towering green spire. Ka-Zar ignored her as he was holding Zabu’s huge head between his hands and he actually seemed to be talking to the tiger in a series of growls that she could hardly believe could have come from a human throat as well as in English and some guttural gobbling tongue that sounded like the demented babbling of a lunatic.
But apparently Zabu understood because the tiger whirled and took off at a run, again displaying that astounding speed that made Rosalind blink in amazement.
“Where’s he going?”
“I told him he had to find his own way in. He can’t go the way we’re going.”
“You actually expect that animal to find his own way in? You mean he actually understands what you say?”
“Zabu understands what I say better than 90% of the humans I talk to. Present company included. He’ll get in. Probably end up rescuing me as well.”
“You must be joking.”
“Hardly. Wouldn’t be the first time, and you haven’t seen a rescue until you’ve seen a Zabu rescue. It’s messy as hell but when the screaming stops you know you’ve been rescued.” Ka-Zar was standing there with the nylon rope in his hand. “Climb on board.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Tie you to my back, of course.”
“Why?”
Ka-Zar grunted in exasperation. “Because we’re going up there.” He pointed at the green tower. “All the way up to the top if we have to. I can make better time if I don’t have to worry about you falling off. I’ll lash you to my back for safety. All you have to do is be quiet and enjoy the view while I do the work.”
“Maybe there’s a way in down here. You haven’t even looked yet!”
“Rosalind, I don’t have time to argue about this. Those spheres came out through openings higher up. If they came out that means we can get in. It’s going to be full dark in another hour and a half. If I can find one of those hatches I can get us in but I can’t do it standing here arguing with you. You either shut up and climb on or stay here until Zabu and I come back for you. Which is it?”
Rosalind had to admit that the view from halfway up the spire’s height was beautiful. Far off in the distance she could see a rosy glow on the horizon that Ka-Zar told her was part of a ring of volcanoes surrounding The Savage Land. She was astounded by the strength and agility of The Lord of The Savage Land. Although the surface of the green spire looked smooth as glass to her, somehow Ka-Zar was finding hand and footholds and he easily scaled the skin of the green tower. He was breathing a little harder but not as much as she would have expected and she was intrigued with the way that the sweat of his exertions sparkled on his bronzed skin. Despite herself Rosalind found she was enjoying the feeling of power that the man radiated. She found herself comparing him to the men she knew in the outside world. They seemed so petty compared to Ka-Zar. He was so primal, so direct. She thought of David, her boyfriend of two years ago who threw tantrums when there wasn’t enough soy milk in his chai. Somehow she couldn’t see Ka-Zar throwing a tantrum about much of anything.
She gazed outwards over the Savage Land and she could see the crazy, patchwork that this once beautiful paradise now was. A desert region was slapped down in the middle of a forest. A glacier was side by side with thousand foot tall trees. Grasslands were next to mountains. There was no reason to the Savage Land now. It was a slapped together world that was no longer beautiful.
Ka-Zar paused and held on to his handhold with one hand, easily supporting both his weight and that of his passenger while he used his other hand to wipe sweat from his face and forehead and push back his sweat-slicked hair.
“You okay?” Rosalind asked nervously. After all, they were a helluva long way up.
“Sure. I love a good workout. How you doin’ back there?”
“Okay, I guess. I’m sorry I’m not being more help.”
“Oh, that’s all right. You’re not so bad when you’re not being self-righteous. Okay, here we go again. Gotta save my wind for the climb.”
That was when an entire section of the wall abruptly rotated, spinning around until they were inside of the green spire. The sudden motion took Ka-Zar by surprise and he lost his grip on the wall, leaving both himself and Rosalind to plummet downward, inside of the tower. Rosalind’s scream echoed as their speed increased. Ka-Zar said nothing, simply going to work, his hands loosening the rope securely holding Rosalind to his back. She guessed what he was trying to do and she wrapped her arms and legs tighter around Ka-Zar as the rope came free.
Ka-Zar flung the rope out blindly, trusting to blind luck that the loop at the end would catch onto something and break their fall. And indeed it did. The rope pulled taunt and their descent stopped. Ka-Zar swung easily to a wide ledge that protruded from the inside wall and Rosalind slid from his back. Ka-Zar made a sudden jerking motion with his hand and the rope came free. He reeled it in as he and Rosalind looked downward.
The interior of the tower was alive with activity. Hundreds of robots were going about their work on numerous catwalks, pushing massive cubes and cages back and forth. Ka-Zar was astounded to see that the cages contained the various prehistoric life forms that lived in the Savage Land. The interior of the tower pulsed with a radiant golden energy that seemed to fill the very air with power that made the skins of Ka-Zar and Rosalind tingle.
Rosalind shook her head in disbelief. “Ka-Zar, what is going on here? It doesn’t make any sense? Why rearrange the Savage Land and steal the creatures? Who could have the power to do such a thing?”
“I think we’re about to find out.” Ka-Zar nodded in the direction of a large circular metal platform that was approaching them. “Our ride’s here.”
“Should we go?”
“I didn’t climb all the way up here not to,” Ka-Zar said irritably and jumped onto the platform. Rosalind followed and the metal platform descended, going past the catwalks. Ka-Zar was able to get a closer look at the robots. They didn’t seem to be made for combat but you never could tell. The level of technology he had seen so far was incredibly sophisticated and he was guessing that he and Zabu were going to have a helluva hard time fighting their way out of there.
“Is that where we’re going?” Rosalind asked. Below them was a massive golden cube and a triangular opening appeared in the roof as the platform approached. They descended into the cube. They found themselves in a metal shaft and they continued downward for perhaps another minute until they stopped. The metal tube hissed as it split apart to permit them exit.
The room they stood in was a magnificently designed control center. More robots went about their work, scuttling about on four legs, their bulbous heads swiveling to and fro on elongated necks. A number of holographic screens floated in the air above a throne-like command chair that was high-backed and had outswept arms giving it a throne like appearance. The man who sat in the chair was portly, bald. His round face was severe but intelligent. He did not seem like a man who laughed much nor found joy in his life. But his eyes held the clear intensity of a brilliant mind. He was garbed in a simple jumpsuit of some emerald metallic fabric with a wide cobalt blue belt. Matching boots, gloves and collar of the same cobalt shade completed his outfit. Despite the simplicity of his garb he wore it as regally as if he were a king.
“Now this is something I did not see in all the timestreams I’ve been monitoring.” The portly man indicated the holographic screens above his head. “Ever since my sensors detected you I’ve been reviewing all possible alternate timelines and this one is in none of them. Extraordinary.”
“I am Ka-Zar. I want to know who you are and what you’re doing here. What are you doing to the Savage Land?”
“I know very well who you are, Lord Kevin Plunder. I’m most familiar with your history, and a fascinating one it is. What is even more fascinating that you should not be here.”
Ka-Zar growled and stepped forward, one hand dropping to the hilt of his knife. “If you know my history as you claim then you know I’m not a patient man. I’ll ask you only one more time: who are you and what have you done to my Savage Land?!”
“I? I have done nothing, Lord Plunder. In fact, I am trying to put it right after the devastation you caused.”
Ka-Zar sprang at the portly man, his upraised knife in his hand, snarling much like Zabu. The explosion of electric energy caused by his hitting a force field protecting the portly man lit up the entire chamber with a burst of yellow light. Ka-Zar was flung backwards to land some ten feet away, his knife clattering on the metal floor. Rosalind ran over and bent down. “Are you all right?” she cried.
Ka-Zar nodded, slowly getting to his feet. “Don’t think that force field is going to protect you from me, mister. It’s not like I haven’t fought your kind before.”
“But you have not fought ‘my kind’ before, Lord Plunder. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Artur Zarrko. During my sojourns in the 20th and 21st Centuries I met various superhuman beings of those time periods who labeled me ‘The Tomorrow Man’ due to my limitless time travel capabilities.”
“So why have you returned now? And why here?”
“I have not returned anywhere, Lord Plunder. You and your companion are no longer in the 21st Century. You were brought by the time displacement field to the 23rd Century. This Savage Land is one that I am attempting to put right after the destruction that was caused by you, Lord Plunder. You are the one responsible for destroying the Savage Land in the year 2017. The same year that you murdered your wife and disappeared.”
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To Be Continued...
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