Brady Carmichael and the Poodle of Mass Destruction - The Kachina Shaman Read Online Free PDF

shape started to form with bright green eyes and a
gaping mouth. Then the mouth started to stretch, becoming long and
skinny.
    “It’s changing into something.” Fifi said in
disbelief. “Is that a beak?”
    “Unbelievable…” Brady trailed off and then
resumed, “It’s a giant kachina chicken.”
    “Ship. Take us out of here. Now!” Brady
barked the order.
    The ship began to lift, but it was too
late.
    The giant chicken took a huge lumbering hop
and landed on the egg.
    Brady and Fifi were caught inside a flying
wonder egg being sat on by a giant magic chicken.
    Brady turned to Fifi. They looked at each
other. Then they burst out laughing.
    Fifi remarked, “Say what you will, but at
least that old crazy dancing man has a sense of humor.”
    “Any ideas?” Brady asked.
    “I still like the front door approach. Why
don’t I climb up inside the chicken and get him to stop dancing?”
Fifi said, “How hard can it be?”
     
    --
     
    Pretty hard, it turned out. It was a good
thing Fifi was small. She scrambled out of a small hatch on top of
the egg.
    The chicken was made of packed and tangled
debris gathered by the vortex. Held together by some kind of
supernatural force field, the debris glowed with a dim green
light.
    Fifi growled to herself and started the
climb, knowing that Brady was monitoring her in the egg below. The
thought that he was keeping tabs on her made her feel a little
better about climbing around inside a giant magic chicken.
    She climbed past and over twisted remnants of
the warehouse, pieces of fence, small bushes and trees, bodies of
snakes, scorpions and other animals. At one point Fifi climbed over
an old pick-up truck that was lodged into the bird’s core not far
from where she climbed.
    It was easy to see where she needed to go. A
brighter glow emanated from the head of the chicken and she could
hear distant chanting that had to be the shaman. She kept at it,
going straight up.
    Of course he has to be all the way up at the
top, she thought to herself.
    After about ten minutes of steady climbing,
she reached him.
    The shaman sat as if in deep meditation in an
open circular area that would have corresponded to the chicken’s
brain. He glowed a bright emerald green and didn’t seem to be aware
of her as she drew close.
    She hid behind a portion of metal siding just
outside the shaman’s clearing. Fifi loosened up her nun chucks.
Noting the treacherous flooring, she planned her attack carefully.
She leaned back on her haunches preparing to launch herself.
    One, two…
    Uh-oh – the shaman looked up and stared
directly at her.
    She tried to leap, but couldn’t. Why can’t I
move? Fifi thought frantically and struggled against the force that
held her. Oh no, she thought, as realization hit and icy fear
washed over her. She was frozen and could not move.
    The shaman smiled and slowly rose to his
feet. He casually walked over to her. Kneeling down, he made a
graceful flicking gesture with his fingers and the torn metal
siding she was crouching behind lifted into the air, leaving her
exposed.
    The greenly glowing chunk of metal floated up
and then crashed down behind the shaman.
    Fifi was horrified to see that she was
glowing as well.
    “You and your friend have caused me a lot of
trouble today. You have disrupted plans and embarrassed me in front
of my partners.” The shaman regarded Fifi, glowing eyes piercing
into her. “Now I will exact payment from you. Here, in the body of
my spirit animal, you are part of me. Inside my body, I reign
supreme.”
    “Fifi! Is everything OK? I’ve lost your vital
signs.” Brady’s voice crackled over the comlink. “This is weird,
we’re losing system control. Something is hacking our systems. I
can’t en-” Brady was cut-off abruptly.
    The shaman laughed, a deep, surprisingly rich
baritone. “Welcome to my world.”
    Fifi thought to herself. I’ve got to move,
got to get free.
    She struggled against the force that held her
still, but could not