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SKELLS
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The
Skells is a story based on a fantasy world of a skeleton family living on the
planet Talus, sharing their life and adventures where any mention of humans is
forbidden.
Ulna,
the youngest family member, discovers a way of transporting himself and a friend
to Earth. When the authorities of Talus destroy the transporting machine, an
amazing journey of human and skeleton adventures begin as they try finding other
ways of returning home.
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In Store Price: $AU23.95
Online Price: $AU22.95
ISBN:
1
921118 95 4
Format: Paperback
Number of pages:
153
Genre: Fiction - Science Fiction
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Author: M.G. Rayment
Publisher: Zeus Publications
Date Published: 2007
Language: English |
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About
the Author
Michael
(Mitchell to his family and friends) Rayment lives on a small property in the
Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia with his wife, Karinne, and their
two children, Finn and Matilda. Also, living with them is their mangy dog, cat
and five chooks.
As a child,
Michael lived next door to people just like The Skells, and has based his book
on fact – only some of the names have been changed.
Although he
much prefers writing, in the real world Michael teaches a range of subjects
including social justice and human rights at TAFE.
Michael has
commenced writing his second fiction/fantasy book for teens.
Introduction
As
a distant crow yelled obscenities, the temperature peaked in the high thirties.
The sun was relentless in its provision, drawing satisfaction at the sight of
those who suffered. Trees perspire and the animals wilt as they long for the
fall of night.
Shimmering
in this heat, almost like an oasis, was a strange land known as Talus. It was
probably the closest thing to Utopia where immortality existed, discrimination
was not known and death was truly accepted. The very reason for this was largely
due to the kind of race Talus supported.
The
inhabitants were not without their problems, however. One particular issue that
plagued them on a daily basis was the difficulty distinguishing male from
female, young from old and even ethnicity.
Their
near identical attributes were because of who or what the society of Talus was.
No true identifying features alienated one from another, bar two exceptions. The
first being that children could be recognised as they were smaller in stature.
The second exception was voice. Imagine, if only for a moment, you had no sight.
Immense difficulties would arise in identifying the most familiar person;
however their spoken words would allow instant recognition. Therefore the voice
allowed others on Talus to know the secret identity each individual held.
In
this strange land where people wear no clothes, adorn themselves with no
decorations, where inhabitants talk in secrecy of the living and where the dead
do not die, exists a world of skeletons.
Book One
This side - read a sample
In
the quiet suburb of Boneyard, on
thirty-four Sternum Way
, lived the Skells. Mr Maxilla Skell was a butcher. His trade and the
land
of
Talus
in general, would not support the consumption of any meat as it was regarded
with disgust. The butchering trade involved the propagation, slaughter and
preparation of fruit and vegetables. Therefore, every occupant of Talus was
vegetarian.
His
spouse, Tibia Skell, was the mother to their son Ulna, and daughter, Femur. She
held a part-time position as a paleontologist, studying fossils, in the
Boneyard
Museum
.
Both
Ulna fifteen, and Femur sixteen, were still of school age and typical of
adolescent children. Only two stages of interaction happened between the two.
Either they were fighting for no apparent reason or they chose to ignore each
other.
Femur
regarded her brother as somewhat of a bonehead as he continually had his nasal
orifice in a book or tinkered with his experimental contraption. Ulna viewed his
older sibling with contempt, assuming she only cared for herself.
Femur
had decided to take advantage of the heat so, with her left shoulder adorned
with a beach towel, she announced to her mother, “I’m going to the beach.”
“All
right,” her mother agreed, “make sure you put some sunscreen on, otherwise
the sun will bleach your bones.”
“Yes,
Mum.”
“What
about Ulna? He may want to go with you,” Mrs Skell suggested.
“Mum,
he’s too busy getting his sticky phalanges into some dorky gadget he’s
building.” Upon stating this, Femur left.
»«
Mr
Skell, from a day of cultivation, came to a halt on the driveway, seated in a
bare-bone chassis, known as the family car. As most devices in Talus were
constructed in skeletal form, the car was consequently no different, lacking the
external skin of conventional vehicles.
Femur
threw her father a quick wave, as she dashed past. He alighted, entering a
doorway deprived of a door. In fact, the Skell’s dwelling had no windows, nor
external or internal walls. Only a timber framework supported a roof for
shelter. It was considered architecturally sufficient for urban dwellers.
“Hi,
dear,” Mr Skell greeted his wife who sat at the dining table, surrounded by
vegetables.
“Hi,
sweetheart,” she returned, banging her skull on his. This was regarded as an
act of affection. “Did you have a good day?” she continued.
“I
worked like a slave, today. Boy, it’s a real scorcher out there. I think if I
had muscles, everyone of them would be aching.”
“Shh!
You know you can get into a lot of trouble talking like that!”
“Sorry.”
He stared at his wife, noticing a difference in her appearance. “Hey. You’ve
done something with your skull.”
“Do
you like it? I’ve had a skull wax.”
“Looks
terrific. Makes you look, oh, a couple of hundred years younger.”
“Thank
you, dear.” She began to shell peas from a pod and place them into a bowl.
“Where’s
Ulna?” He asked.
“In
his room. Maxilla, I’m worried about him. Haven’t you noticed there’s
something different about him to other skeletons his age?”
“In
what way?” Mr Skell attempted to frown but lacked the forehead to do so.
“Lots
of ways.” They were immediately interrupted by their pet dog, Ribs, who ran to
greet its master. “Good day, boy,” Mr Skell said, roughing the bones on the
pooch.
“Well,
for instance,” Mrs Skell continued, “when was the last time he took Ribs for
a walk or gave it any attention? When was the last time he went out somewhere
with his friends or went to some bone’s party?”
“Yer,
I see what you mean.”
“I
think you should have a father to son talk with him.”
“Yer.
I’ll do it later.”
“Now,”
she demanded.
“Now?”
“Yes.
Now.”
Mr
Skell reluctantly arose and left the table, walking through the door-less
opening of his son’s room.
“Hi,
Dad.”
“Hello,
Mr Skell,” added Fibula, a friend of Ulna’s. Now Fibula looked like any
other young skeleton with the exception of glasses. As he owned no nose or ears
to rest his spectacles, white electrical tape attached them to his skull.
“Hi,
boys. Your mother thinks I should have a talk with you, Ulna.” His son worked
feverishly on a machine, paying little attention to his father. “What are you
up to, by the way?”
This
question seized his son’s alertness but Fibula answered the question. “Ulna
and I are working on a machine which is capable of translocating an individual
from one dimension to another.”
“Eh?”
asked Mr Skell.
“It’s
a machine that will take us to the Other Side,” Ulna stated in laymen’s
terms.
“Shh!”
Mr Skell placed a phalange to his mandible. “Don’t let your mother hear you
say that, son.” He sat on the edge of the bed and asked, “Ulna. Why do you
want to build such a machine?”
“I
don’t want to be like Uncle Ilium, who lies around all day in a coffin, I want
to experience things and do something with my death.”
“No
one can go back to the Other Side. Once a skeleton, always a skeleton. There’s
no going back, especially,” he laughed, “with a machine.”
“Dad,
I can build such a machine. You’ll see.”
“The
Other Side isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. Well,” Mr Skell shrugged,
“so I’ve heard.”
“My
dad knows a lot of stories about the Other Side, don’t you Dad?” bragged
Ulna.
“Well,”
he shrugged again, this time in modesty.
“Tell
us some of them, would you Mr Skell,” Fibula pleaded.
He
looked about, then prompted the boys into a huddle, minimising the volume he
needed to speak.
“I’ve
heard that the Other Side has animals.”
“Like
we do?” Fibula asked.
“No.
Not at all. Funny creatures. You can’t see their bones. They’re covered with
a thing called skin. Some others have feathers and others have fur.”
“I’ve
never heard of it,” Fibula commented.
“That’s
not all,” Mr Skell continued, “the ones with skin are the dominant ones,
they rule the ones with feathers and fur.” He lowered his voice further, to a
whisper. “They’re called humans or sometimes they’re referred to as
people. They smell and sometimes what looks like water comes out of their skin.
I think they call it sweat.”
“You’re
kidding!” A wide-eyed Fibula was amazed.
“No,
I’m not kidding. Listen to this. They have this thing in the middle of what
they call a face. They get a small piece of material, place it onto this thing;
I believe it’s called a nose. Anyway, they force air through it and this slimy
stuff comes out and ends up on the material.”
“Wow!
I wish I could do that!” exclaimed Fibula. “Imagine the kids at school,
they’d be so jealous.”
“Dad,
what’s skin made of?”
“I’m
not sure,” Mr Skell shrugged, “but it’s only temporary. After a while they
turn into what we look like.”
“I
know. It’s amazing, isn’t it?” exclaimed Fibula.
“Shh!”
both Mr Skell and Ulna hissed together.
“What’s
amazing?” Mrs Skell asked upon walking into the room.
“Ah,
this.” Mr Skell removed two ribs and commenced to beat ‘When the saints come
marching in’ on his skull, using the bones as drumsticks. By this behaviour,
it was obvious he did not wish for her to know the true conversation he had just
held.
“Act
your age, Maxilla,” Mrs Skell chastised her husband.
“Sorry,
dear,” he said, replacing the ribs in their cage. He then added, to give the
impression of completing a talk his wife would approve of, “okay kids, so get
out there, and enjoy yourselves; you’re a long time dead.”
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