Legend of Oria 1: Initial Contact by James Campbell Page A

reached the clearing, Oria could see the petrified remains of his father and brother near their stakes.  Their skin and facial features were intact and etched in stone.  Oria stared at the location where the Susquehanna had bound and burned him.  His stomach turned as horrible images ran through his mind.  He couldn't believe that his father and brother's remains were still intact after 500 years and that no one had properly cared for them.  He looked closer at the remains.  The look of shock grew more pronounced on Oria's face.
    Linda seeing Oria's discomfort said to him “Oria, are you Ok?”
    Oria took a deep breath and replied, “I think so.  This site brings back some bad memories.  Those remains appear petrified while others aren’t.”
    “Yes.  That's puzzled many of our team.  This father and son must have been quickly petrified as they were burning at their stakes while the others left at the stakes were not. We have no idea how that is possible.  We did not find anywhere else at this site any petrified artifacts or human remains”
    Oria knew how the remains must have been petrified.  His alien captors must have scared off the Susquehanna and fired an alpha-K beam at his father and brother to save them from the agony of death.  The others were already dead.  Oria partially regaining his composure looked up at Linda and replied, “It certainly is a mystery.  Maybe it was an extra-terrestrial being that intervened.”
    Linda chuckled to herself thinking this guy must be another one of those alien chasers.  “Interesting theory Oria, I'm glad to see you're recovering and have a sense of humor.”
    Linda then returned her attention back to the group and started speaking.  “As you can tell from Oria's and my conversation, we have uncovered some phenomena that we can’t readily explain.  What you see here is evidence of more brutal times in our history.  As you can see, evidence shows that our ancestors bound to stakes, scalped, and set afire many people.  We’re not sure why one of the stakes had no remains.  We also don’t understand why we found petrified remains on only two stakes and not any of the others.”
    Linda paused for a moment; the horror of this scene still angered her.  She felt that the white man had frequently wronged Native Americans, but still she did not agree with some of the methods of her ancestors.  She continued, “Most of what you see here was buried under a mound of sand and stones.  Whoever put these people to death must have fled quickly.  It looks like friends of the slain family buried the entire site.  This is not a traditional burial by either Vikings or Native Americans.  We can only guess that whoever buried this site must have been gravely frightened yet concerned that some attention be paid to the deceased.”
    Linda paused, and then pointed at a location away from the stakes and said, “Over there we found some Susquehanna arrow heads and other artifacts.  Also, we have found many Nanticoke artifacts at this site.  Of course, we expected to find Nanticoke artifacts since they are indigenous to this site.  I say we, since I too, am a member of the local Nanticoke people.  Our tribe has been located in this vicinity for many hundreds of years.”
    Linda surprised Oria at her revelation that she was Nanticoke and a decedent of his tribe.  He wondered if she might even be a relative of his.  However, it saddened him that she had no idea of the strong link between the combined Viking and Nanticoke heritage of her people.  Oria raised his voice and asked Linda, “Linda, are you suggesting the relationship between the Viking and Nanticoke people was not a mutually beneficial relationship.  How do you know it wasn't the Susquehanna that came down and killed this family and their local Nanticoke tribe?”
    Linda appeared a bit flustered.  There was no way she could accept that anyone of European descent could have been decent to her people.