《Darkworld: Earth》


 Chapter 1

    1.


    Gabriel Nguyen studied the data for hours before coming to a decision. It was not naturally occuring, he was certain of it. He swallowed, checking the clock.


    The captain would be asleep right now. Gabriel, a night owl, often ignored the strict schedules that the rest of the crew observed to maintain some sort of circadian rhythm. He logged over twelve hours out of every twenty four reviewing his assigned data, and nobody particularly cared if he did his job at any particular time as long as his reports continued coming through to their inboxes.


    This report, however, warranted a face-to-face meeting. After some consideration, he decided that it warranted waking the captain up. She¡¯d be annoyed with him, but she was a consumate professional. The XO might be a little annoyed that Gabriel was jumping rank, but on a discovery this large his only choice would be to consult with the captain anyway, and anyway Gabriel disliked the slimy bastard.


    Checking his uniform and his hair to make certain he was presentable, Gabriel pulled himself out of his ¡®dungeon,¡¯ and floated along the hallways to the captain¡¯s quarters, where he pressed the doorbell and waited patiently. After a moment had passed, he pressed the button again.


    ¡°This had better be important,¡± the captain¡¯s voice said over the intercom.


    ¡°I believe it is, Captain,¡± Gabriel said.


    There was a pause. ¡°Gabriel?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s me.¡±


    Another pause. ¡°Give me five minutes.¡±


    Gabriel waited, and eventually the door opened to reveal the captain. Her uniform wasn¡¯t quite as emaculate as it usually was, but given that she¡¯d thrown it on in haste he was willing to overlook it. Especially since his own uniform was generally wrinkled from being thrown into the storage locker unfolded.


    ¡°I¡¯m very surprised to see you, Gabriel,¡± the captain said. ¡°It¡¯s been two weeks since the last time we¡¯ve bumped into each other. If I didn¡¯t know better I¡¯d think you¡¯re avoiding me, considering that we¡¯re supposed to be on the same shift.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not avoiding anyone,¡± Gabriel said. ¡°I¡¯m just consumed by my work. There¡¯s so much data to go over from the probes, and when we¡¯re talking about the fact that some of them traveled three thousand light years from earth before they rendezvoused with the Seeker. There¡¯s petabytes to review and even with AI assistance it¡¯s a lot to go through.¡±


    ¡°I understand. There¡¯s a reason I¡¯ve been tolerating your lack of military discipline.¡±


    ¡°Aside from the fact that I¡¯m a civilian?¡±


    ¡°In an emergency, everyone is infantry,¡± she teased. ¡°But yes, aside from that. You do your job and you do it well, and you do it best without constant oversight. Which is why I¡¯m willing to give you some credence when you skip over my XO and come straight to me in the middle of the night. Unless you¡¯ve suddenly become overcome with lust for some reason?¡±


    Gabriel blushed and shook his head. ¡°No, it¡¯s not that.¡±


    ¡°Pity. It¡¯s been months since the last time I¡¯ve had to shoot down the hopes of one of the crew members. So then, what¡¯s the big discovery.¡±


    ¡°Faint signals in the Ku-band of a star that probe three was twelve light years away from for eight months. There are definite patterns to it, and I can¡¯t think of a single reason those patterns might be naturally occuring.¡±


    The captain¡¯s expression immediately shed any veneer of jocularity. ¡°Okay. So if it¡¯s not natural--¡±


    ¡°I said that I can¡¯t think of a reason for it to be natural, not that it¡¯s artificial,¡± Gabriel said quickly. ¡°But, well, the thing is that it looks a lot like someone has satelites around one of the planets in that system, and that they might be using the Ku-band to communicate with them. It¡¯s hard to tell from the data I have, but if you parked a probe twelve light years away from Earth, this is the sort of data you¡¯d expect to see coming if you pointed it at Sol.¡±


    ¡°Are you certain?¡±


    ¡°Not even close, Captain,¡± Gabriel said quickly. ¡°But I¡¯m confident enough in the data to wake you up in the middle of the night.¡±


    ¡°And bypass Phil in the chain of command,¡± the captain said.


    ¡°He¡¯d just wake you and we¡¯d have wasted two hours of me explaining the data to him, only for me to have to repeat it.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re scheduled for another jump in six days,¡± the captain commented. ¡°If we investigate this, it will put us behind schedule. If we don¡¯t investigate this, then it might be decades before another mission from Earth is sent to this region of the galaxy.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a command decision, Ma¡¯am,¡± Gabriel agreed.


    The captain stepped inside her room and grabbed a tablet. She typed on it for a few moments, and when she finished Gabriel¡¯s own phone went off with a high-priority alert. An all-crew meeting in three hours.


    ¡°You have three hours to prepare a presentation of your data, Gabriel,¡± the captain said. ¡°Is that enough time?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m already ready for it,¡± Gabriel answered, pulling out a flash drive from his pocket.


    ¡°Good man. Now if you excuse me, I¡¯m going to make some coffee.¡±


    He left her and went to the mess, preparing a meal and drinking some coffee. He¡¯d been awake sixteen hours, but he was used to pulling all-nighters. He began to feel a little anxious about presenting his data to the entire crew ¨C public speaking wasn¡¯t really his thing ¨C and he went to medical to take something to help with the jitters.


    Three hours later, he gave his presentation.


    Six hours later, he was asleep, and the rest of the crew was either going through his data, double checking his findings, or they were preparing for the possibility that there would be a deviation from the mission schedule.


    Eighteen hours later, a probe was sent to the next rendezvous point to signal that the Seeker of New Discoveries would be delayed for an indefinite amount of time.


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    Six hours after that, the Tunnel Drive was engaged, and the Seeker vanished into the subspace dimension that allowed it to travel faster than light.


    ~~~~~~


    Eolai was laughing with his family as his youngest son was recounting his accomplishments for the week since they had spoken last. The boy was six years old, and he was Eolai¡¯s thirty-second child. Despite the fact that Eolai had only once held him in his arms, the bond of father to son was very important to both of them, as it had been with all of Eolai¡¯s children.


    Which is why he was surprised when the emergency beacon flashed. Eolai frowned, apologized to his son and explained that something was happening in space which required his attention. He ended the transmission and walked from his quarters to the bridge, not terribly worried about whatever ¡®emergency¡¯ was taking him away from family time.


    He was aboard a Topokan vessel, and the Topokans were a nervous people. They would slam the emergency button if a trade vessel was two minutes early in its scheduled arrival time. It would take some time for Eolai to calm them down, and then if not too much time had passed he would see if his son wanted to speak with him some more. Or he would wait until the next communication came from the surface to demand his attention.


    ¡°What is so important that you have called me away from my family in the bonding time of my youngest son¡¯s sixth year?¡± he demanded immediately.


    The Topokans, despite being half again larger than Eolai, flinched at the tone of his voice. It was an act on his part, he was very fond of the crew of his vessel, but during an emergency it was best if the human in the room acted imperious. For the Topokans, at least. Acting imperious assured them that the human was in control of the situation, and was thus reassuring, even if proximity to such a man was intimidating to them.


    After all, according to their own laws, Eolai could execute every single one of them on this ship and not have done anything wrong.


    Not that he would ever do such a thing. But there was a procedure for him to request such a purge, and ¡®because I felt like it¡¯ was an acceptable reason.


    One of the Topokans ¨C Eolai had a long relationship with most of the crew but the exact pecking order of his allies was complex and if he was not paying close attention to it the lowliest janitorial servitor might suddenly rise to become the ranking officer ¨C nervously began growling. Holograms appeared as the ship¡¯s computer accompanied the verbal report with the data which was alarming his subordinates.


    Fluctuations in one of the subspace fields which could theoretically be used for FTL travel. Nobody used that particular method because there were better options. Quieter options, faster options, and ones which required less energy.


    The Topokan¡¯s report concluded with a request to fire upon the phenomena the moment that anything resembling a space faring vessel appeared, which Eolai immediately countermanded and rebuked the furry biped for suggesting. The Topokan¡¯s ears flattened and it quietly left the room. There was a subtle shifting as the crew readjusted to the new hierarchy.


    Eolai wasn¡¯t particularly paying attention to his allies¡¯ political maneuverings. His rebuke would likely mean that the one who had suggested pre-emptive violence would spend the next few months performing unpleasant tasks. He also knew that it was a bit of hazing by the other crew members; anyone who had served with Eolai would know what his response to such a suggestion would be. The fact that the young Topokan had verbalized such an idea meant that he was young, new to the ship, and not particularly accustomed to dealing with humans yet.


    He knew enough about his crew¡¯s culture to know that he had performed exactly as they had expected him to. Which was reassuring to them. Humans were often unpredictable to the Topokan sensibilities, and although the dupe who had suggested violence was probably very surprised to find himself in his present circumstance, the rest of the crew was very reassured.


    With one side of his mind, Eolai began reviewing data. There were three species which used this particular FTL method as an emergency backup to their primary drives, and when he realized that he reached out to the human fleet that was two stars away to inform them of the situation. While the Topokans would provide assistance to two of those races if possible, the third was of a biology inimical to his allies and would require human intervention.


    With another side of his brain, he kept a sliver of attention on the Topokans to judge their morale and stress levels. While they wouldn¡¯t fire without his authorization, he did care about his fuzzy friends and he tried to think of ways to reassure them that the situation was under control.


    With the third side of his mind, he began planning for the few scenarios he could think of to explain the situation aside from a ship in distress.


    Despite his orders to stand down from hostilities, he had to consider the idea that this was an attack on his world. By treaty this was a Topokan world, independent of the three local human empires. There were forces out there that might seek to destroy it or enslave its populace, and those forces were barbaric enough to not realize how completely outmatched they were. They might believe that simply because they couldn¡¯t detect the faster than light emissions in the subspace fabric which proceded the arrival of a vessel using that method, that nobody could detect them.


    With the final side of his mind, he began speaking to his allies on the other Topokan ships, who were in the same situation as he was. They began repositioning throughout the star system strategically.


    Twelve ships to defend the inhabited fourth planet, two for each of the space stations, and five to stand guard around the phenomena.


    He barked orders at the Topokans or he spoke quietly with his colleagues while his fingers danced through the holograms, pulling up data and reviewing it as the Topokans moved his ship into position. He felt a faint tingling in his bones as the short-jump FTL translation was made. If he was aboard a human ship, he would have experienced nothing at all during the translation, but the Topokans lacked the ability to tune their drives well enough to fool the human senses.


    And, of course, if the Topokans were aboard the human vessel with him, then he¡¯d still feel the tingling in his bones because the human vessel would tune its harmonics to accomadate the Topokan senses and not his own.


    Sixty-four minutes after the anomoly was detected, a flash of violet light appeared in normal space. The ship sitting in the center of the phenomena was the damn strangest sight Eolai had ever seen. He dedicated one corner of his awareness to scanning the computers for any ships that match the appearance of the vessel before him while he repeated his instructions to his crew to hold fast and observe the vessel patiently.


    Even with the computer assisting him, there were millions of ship chassis to sort through, but there were simply no matches.


    It was a sphere, approximately six hundred meters in diameter. He spent a moment investigating why anyone would build a spacecraft in a sphere when such a shape wasn¡¯t well adapted to the inclusion of a gravity system. There were several objects that the computer suggested might be either weapons or ion thrusters. Whatever this was, it was built in space and was not meant for traversing an atmosphere.


    He entered a few queries into the computer to identify the parameters of any species which might produce a ship like this for various reasons and came back with none. At least, none that were native to this galaxy.


    The ship made no moves that he could see at first, so he spent his time simply trying to identify his visitors. The Topokan ship had already scanned it for any weapons that might be considered particularly dangerous, but they found nothing except for a fusion reactor, two fission reactors, and of course the drive which allowed them to traverse the subspace dimension.


    If anything, the ship was dangerously unarmed. It looked completely unable to defend itself.


    The computer pinged back a suggestion for the shape; the methodology they were using to travel faster than light enveloped a perfect sphere of space with subspace foam and then traversed that sphere from source to destination. In terms of energy expenditure, it would be most economic to place the drive in the center of the ship, then build outward in a sphere while remaining within the volume that the drive¡¯s energies would encase.


    Which meant that the subspace method of FTL travel was not a backup but the primary drive.


    ¡°It has been five minutes,¡± one of the Topokans growled nervously. ¡°What shall we do?¡±


    ¡°Our guest has shown no hostilities so far, aside from showing up unannounced. So we wait for them to announce theselves,¡± Eolai declared, and in a corner of his awareness he knew that his peers on the other Topokan ships had agreed with him.


    ¡°How long will that take?¡± the nervous Topokan asked.


    ¡°As long as it takes,¡± Eolai answered.

 Chapter 2

    The timer clicked down to zero and the oxygen mask abruptly filled with a burst of ammonia, shocking Captain Moon into wakefullness. She gasped and training took over as she slapped the button that would trigger her and her crew to be injected with the counter anesthetic. She spent a moment reviewing everyone¡¯s vitals. She wasn¡¯t a doctor, but she knew enough to see at a glance that everyone had survived the jump.


    While the subspace jump was survivable and it was possible to go through it awake, that was an emergency option only. It had only been tested on animals. Animals who were anesthetized recovered without issue, while thirty percent of those who were subjected to the experience while awake showed behavioral abnormalities. Conscious translations had not been tested on humans for ethical reasons.


    The crew had been required to sign hundreds of pages of legal wavers just to state that they understood that the Tunnel Drive was still experimental and that the long term effect on the human body was largely unknown. The addition of two jumps to the mission¡¯s itenerary ¨C one to jump into the anomolous star¡¯s orbit and another to return them to their mission¡¯s scheduled course ¨C meant an almost four percent increase in the time that the crew would spend in subspace.


    Nobody was particularly happy about that, nor about signing the additional waver to signify that they acknowledged and understood the necessity of the increase in their exposure, but everyone had agreed.


    They would each have to go through the standard post-jump medical examinations, but there would be time for that later. Captain Moon, her XO and the rest of the command staff quickly pulled the IV¡¯s out of their arms and disconnected themselves from their restraints before rushing to the bridge.


    It wasn¡¯t far; the stasis room for command staff was located strategically nearby. But it was still nearly fifteen minutes after the completion of the translation from there to here that the last of the officers and specialists under her command arrived at their stations. It was unusual that Gabriel was among them, but nobody found his presence out of line. Not when this entire jaunt off the mission specs was due to his discovery.


    The other technicians began scanning the star system. While they¡¯d seen it in the probe¡¯s data from the probe that had been parked twelve light years away, and so they therefore knew that there were six rocky planets and three gas giants, they were now close enough to observe them with visual light.


    And when the scans of the fourth planet from the star were thrown up on the screen, Captain Moon couldn¡¯t help but gasp in shock.


    It was perfect. Beautiful. Covered in oceans and blue-green forests. On the dark side, three locations showed the lights of large cities.


    ¡°Someone lives here,¡± she declared. She allowed her wonder to suffuse her for just a moment before she commanded that engineers begin immediate checks on the Tunnel Drive in order to prepare for another translation for an emergency exit, if that was required.


    Mentally, she reviewed the doctrine. First contact. Her crew was actually set to make first contact with alien life forms. It had been theorized as enough of a possibility to warrant a section of their training. Now that the existence of alien life had been confirmed, the entirety of their mission¡¯s purpose had shifted. Except nobody had actually expected it. Captain moon allowed herself to feel a moment of nerves that she and her crew were not up to the challenge before she steeled herself and assumed her professional persona.


    ¡°Okay. How far are we from that planet?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Approximately four light-hours,¡± one of the staff members supplied. ¡°Precisely two hundred sixty-two light minutes, give or take a few seconds.¡±


    ¡°We are fourty-five minutes post translation, which means we have about three hours before any of their instruments see the arrival flash,¡± she said.


    ¡°If they¡¯re looking for it,¡± her XO pointed out.


    ¡°Correct, if they¡¯re looking for it. We¡¯re going to assume that they are looking at the night sky. The arrival flash is more than bright enough to have been seen by the naked eye from earth at our distance. Any astronomical instrument pointed in our general direction is going to pick it up,¡± she pointed out. ¡°Doctrine at this point is to signal that we¡¯re friendly and have no hostile intentions. How do we do that?¡±


    ¡°We know that they use the Ku-band,¡± Gabriel said. ¡°Why don¡¯t we use that to try to say hello?¡±


    ¡°Can we even do that?¡± one of the other specialists asked. ¡°We have no idea what they¡¯re broadcasting. How are we going to talk to them?¡±


    ¡°There are a few signals that repeat very frequently,¡± Gabriel pointed out. ¡°We¡¯re not certain what they mean, but if we broadcast them with enough power we can be pretty sure that they¡¯ll see them. It¡¯s as polite of a method as I can think of to announce that we¡¯re here.¡±


    ¡°Right. Continue observing the planet and scanning the system, but we¡¯ll also begin broadcasting as Gabriel suggests. Gabriel, any idea what we should broadcast specifically?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. There¡¯s two signals which occur in sequence quite often. I have no idea what¡¯s inbetween those, but I¡¯m pretty sure they signal a start and stop of transmission. We can use those signals to begin introducing them to our binary structure and hopefully teach them to talk to us. I¡¯ve already thought of this to some degree and I think I have a broadcast which will at least say ¡®hi, we¡¯re here.¡¯ After that we wait for them to acknowledge us with a similar response,¡± Gabriel explained.


    ¡°What, specifically, is the message?¡± Captain Moon inquired.


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    ¡°It¡¯s just the start and stop sequence with some time gaps in between them,¡± Gabriel explained. ¡°If we broadcast those across each of the frequencies I¡¯ve identified, then if their computers work anything like ours they¡¯ll start downloading empty files of various sizes. Eventually someone is going to ask where they¡¯re coming from, right?¡±


    ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s try that. Begin broadcast as soon as you¡¯re ready, Gabriel.¡±


    ¡°Right.¡±


    It had been nearly an hour since the strange spherical ship had arrived. The Topokan¡¯s were growing restless and increasingly nervous as the ship simply sat there, unmoving aside from its initial velocity. It was moving slightly inwards towards the star, but the pace it was moving at was so slow that it would take decades to arrive. The computer predicted its tragectory once the various gravity wells of the stellar system had begun to effect it.


    In twelve years it would pass between the orbits of the second and third planet before being flung out by the star¡¯s gravity into the oort cloud, where it would eventually leave the stellar system completely.


    A thought occurred to Eolai, and he began running projections on the computer. He didn¡¯t share his thoughts aloud to avoid alarming the Topokans. Discounting the bending and fluctuations in the subspace dimensions, this method of FTL travel was largely undetectable except for the light emitted in a sudden flash on translation. If the species on board believed that the arrival light was the only method of detection, they might believe that this large ship was undectable.


    Which meant that this could be a spy ship. He discounted the idea that it was an ambush. He¡¯d had the computer do a threat analysis on the ship and come back with a zero-point-five on the Krevtal scale. The two most dangerous possibilities were that the ship could administer some sort of bio-attack on the planet, or that it would ram the planet itself.


    Eolai would not give them the chance. He was content to allow them to spy, but if they made any unannounced movements toward the fourth planet ¨C the planet where his children lived ¨C he would order the ship to be destroyed.


    He was about to send a secure message to the other humans of the Topokan fleet when he heard a slight beep. Out of a habbit, he checked his Rockata for the message that one of his children had sent to him. Nothing.


    It beeped again, the small device strapped around his wrist. And it beeped again, and again, and again.


    It was so strange that for just a moment he was confused who would be using that particular frequency to send empty messages. Then, on a hunch, he changed the receiving frequency.


    It beeped every few seconds, just like the frequency which was reserved for Eolai¡¯s family.


    The Rockata was not a secure communications device. It was, in fact, the very opposite. Anyone could view a message sent by it. That was the very point. When you had something you wanted to say to the universe itself, you used the Rockata. Mostly it was used by children who believed that they had something very important to say and wanted the entire universe to know about whatever thoughts were in their head at that moment.


    Abruptly, Eolai began to laugh as he figured it out. He suddenly knew why the ship had come to this world, what had lured them here, and he had a sneaking suspicion about who was on board. This would be fun.


    The Topokans turned and waited for him to speak. He probably shouldn¡¯t have laughed, human humor was sometimes difficult for the Topokans to understand, and they probably wouldn¡¯t put together what was happening on their own for some time yet. The military vessels in orbit of this particular world weren¡¯t set to scan the Ku-band for one very simple reason.


    It was almost exclusively used by children.


    ¡°All ships, stand down. Our guests are attempting to communicate peacefully,¡± he announced to his crew and across the secure network with his peers in the other security vessels.


    ¡°We detect no communication attempts,¡± one of his compatriots objected. ¡°My crew is beginning to grow nervous.¡±


    ¡°There are children on that ship,¡± Eolai declared sternly. ¡°They are attempting to communicate their presence to the universe.¡±


    A pause as the severe statement he had just made was processed by his human peers and all of the Topokans who had heard it. A few of the more clever Topokans put it together and began scanning the ship for emissions between twelve and eighteen gigahertz, and Eolai was not surprised at all to see the results.


    ¡°Standing down,¡± the voice who had spoken confirmed, and one by one each of the other ships confirmed that they were powering down their weapons.


    ¡°Send word to the civilian authorities of the human government,¡± Eolai said. ¡°There are a lot of toys which will soon begin acting very strange, and many children will soon be receiving very strange messages on their Rockatas.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve received a response,¡± Gabriel announced, looking at the readings.


    ¡°Already? I thought our light wouldn¡¯t reach the planet for another hour,¡± the captain said.


    ¡°The response isn¡¯t coming from the planet. It¡¯s much much closer than that,¡± Gabriel said. He paused, then ordered the optical telescope to examine a series of coordinates.


    The other technicians obeyed his instructions despite the fact that there were no gravimetric readings in those directions at all. Captain Moon pulled up the results as soon as they became available to her, and she did a sharp intake of breath.


    Large crystaline conical structures appeared on the telescope. The surfaces of the superstructures were slowly shifting through the spectrum, changing color as time passed with ripling prismatic patterns. Attached to the primary structures were many substructures of various shapes, some of which Captain Moon readily identified.


    Missiles. Launch bays. Weapons. Things which were visibly and obviously dangerous, even if she didn¡¯t know precisely how dangerous they were.


    ¡°Tell the engineering crew to speed up their post-translation checks on the Tunnel-Drive and prepare it for a potential emergency translation,¡± she said.


    ¡°Are we leaving?¡± her XO inquired.


    ¡°Not yet,¡± she said, ¡°but if the situation changes I want to be ready to turn tail and get the hell out of Dodge. So far they haven¡¯t done anything that we wouldn¡¯t do in their situation. Their space assets detected our entry, somehow, and they either moved into position or were already in position to respond to any move we made. That¡¯s not hostility, that¡¯s just practicality. Once we announced ourselves, they started speaking back right quickly. We have a method of communication. Now we just need to work on speaking the same language.¡±


    The crew all nodded, many of them barely containing their excitement.

 Chapter 3

    3.


    Diego Cruz was halfway through his lunch when Gabriel came into the mess, floating over to the refrigerator and pulling out a tube of turkey surprise. Diego chuckled.


    ¡°You know, the surprise is that they use turkey buttholes for that paste, right?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s entirely artificial. So it¡¯s artificial turkey butthole surprise,¡± Gabriel answered.


    Diego chuckled. Complaining about the food was always a conversation starter. ¡°So, how goes the communications with the ET¡¯s?¡±


    ¡°Exhausting. The moment our light hit the planet all of the frequencies literally exploded. There¡¯s tens of thousands of messages arriving every moment from hundreds of different sources throughout the stellar system. They¡¯re trying very hard to talk back to us, but it¡¯s hard because we have no idea what either side is really saying,¡± Gabriel explained.


    ¡°Yeah, I get that,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Talking to our escorts is starting to get easier though,¡± Gabriel commented. ¡°Everything coming from the planet is basically noise, but if we isolate the signal to just the ships, then it becomes much easier. We¡¯ve got a basic file transfer protocol in place, and we¡¯re actively exchanging data packets.¡±


    ¡°Uh-huh. So it¡¯s like the internet with a large latency spike?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, except we don¡¯t really know what any of the files are for. We¡¯re running them all on virtual machines, but even though they¡¯re in binary, they must use a completely different architecture for their computers. We can¡¯t get any of their files to run,¡± Gabriel explained.


    ¡°Huh. So, here¡¯s a dumb question from one of the grunts,¡± Diego said. ¡°But why not give them a computer? They¡¯re obviously at least as advanced as us, so they should be able to reverse engineer an operating system if we give them a working model, right?¡±


    Gabriel was sucking on the ration tube as he considered the suggestion, then, abruptly, his eyes went wide. ¡°Of course! We can send them one of the probes!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome,¡± Diego said as the other man leapt out of the mess hall, leaving a half-eaten ration tube behind him.


    ~~~~~~~


    ¡°The enemy ship has launched what appears to be a missile at us,¡± one of the Topokans growled, interrupting Eolai¡¯s slumber. He frowned, turning on the light and looking at the blue-furred creature. It wasn¡¯t one that he immediately identified, which meant that it was a younger one who was probably being hazed by its elders, like the one who had suggested opening fire on the vessel when they arrived.


    ¡°Are you certain it¡¯s a weapon?¡± Eolai asked calmly.


    ¡°It is the human belief that any tool is a weapon if you have the desire to use it as a weapon,¡± the Topokan pointed out.


    Eolai nodded. It was a sound argument. He sighed and pulled himself out of his bed, putting on a shirt. He waved his hand and began requesting information from the computer, and received the images of the projectile that had been launched from the ship three minutes ago.


    He couldn¡¯t immediately discount that it was a weapon. It had a moderate energy signature, a large charge stored in what appeared to be a capacitor of some kind. Enough energy that it could be translated into various energies which might be lethal.


    On the other hand, just because that energy could be used as a weapon didn¡¯t mean that the device was one. It would have to be within a few thousand miles to be effective, and the shielding on the Topokan¡¯s fleet of security vessels was more than adequate to deflect or absorbe any sort of radiation that was sent from the vessel.


    There was another factor to consider. The device was broadcasting on the Rockata frequencies. The scans of the device didn¡¯t show any interior compartments that were not exposed to vacuum, so Eolai discounted the possibility that it was a vehicle.


    Eolai wanted to believe that the device was innocent. It was broadcasting on the Rockata. But he also knew that such an action might not mean the same thing to the guests as it did to him. He sighed and reviewed the data for a while longer before issuing his orders.


    ¡°Fire upon it with the Kitara beam and then bring the wreckage aboard for study.¡±


    He would not risk his ship nor the lives of his crew for anything that had such a significant energy signature. The Kitara would cause the energy to disperse. He was uncertain what that would do to the strange device, but hopefully it would be salvageable.


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    ¡°We have lost contact with the probe,¡± her XO announced. ¡°We detected a massive energy spike and then it stopped broadcasting on all frequencies. It is not responding to navigation instructions. It¡¯s dead in the water.¡±


    ¡°Has it been destroyed?¡± Captain Moon asked.


    The XO put it up on screen. The telescopes, made for examining astronomical distances, easily focused on the melon sized device.


    ¡°There,¡± One of the specialists said. ¡°Scorch marks. Something caused it to blow all of its fuses at once.¡±


    ¡°Alien weaponry?¡± the XO suggested.


    Captain Moon frowned, but the idea that the probe might be fired upon had crossed her mind, as well as how to respond to such an action. ¡°We don¡¯t know that it was a weapon or a hostile act. Not for certain.¡±


    ¡°If it was a weapon, then that means they have the ability to disable or destroy our technology,¡± the XO pointed out. ¡°If they fire that weapon on the Seeker, then we¡¯ll be dead in the water.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve considered that fact, thank you,¡± Captain Moon said, frowning. She sighed. ¡°Warm up the Tunnel-Drive. All non-essential personnel are to prepare for emergency translation. We¡¯re not jumping yet, but put every civilian under anesthetic until further notice. I¡¯m ordering Night shift to the hibernation bay as well. Day shift military personnel will remain with me to observe the situation. I¡¯ll have my finger on the jump button until further notice.¡±


    ~~~~~~


    ¡°They are warming up their FTL drive,¡± Eolai noted.


    ¡°They are preparing to flee,¡± the Topokan speaker declared. ¡°We must disable their ship before they--¡±


    ¡°Fleeing is an entirely reasonable response in their situation. Disabling their ship is an unnecessary escalation of force and an unacceptable action. Calculate their destination. If they flee, we will send a single ship to pursue them and attempt further communication,¡± Eolai declared. ¡°They have displayed no hostilities up until now.¡±


    ¡°They have fired a missile at us,¡± the Topokan objected.


    ¡°We don¡¯t know it was a weapon. We won¡¯t know what it is until we have analyzed it,¡± Eolai pointed out. ¡°Stand down. Broadcast my instructions to all ships.¡±


    The computer clicked that his broadcast had been sent, and he watched as the Topokan shuttle made best time for the wreckage of the ¡®missile.¡¯


    ~~~~~~


    Captain Moon observed as the shuttle craft dispatched from the lead alien ship. She and three other officers were the only ones awake abord the Seeker of New Discoveries. She watched, nervously, as large shapes in vacuum suits got out of the shuttle, spacewalked over to the ruined probe, and spent some time examining it. She breathed a sigh of relief when they dragged it back to the shuttle and returned to their mothership.


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± she said. ¡°It was a gift. I can understand being a little jumpy. We¡¯re jumpy too.¡±


    ~~~~~~


    Eolai watched as they placed the relatively small device onto the deconstructor. The damage caused by the destruction of the capacitor and the vast energy which had been released had slagged many of the components of the device, but it only took Eolai a few minutes to determine what it was.


    It was a space telescope. Not a weapon. The large capacitor was there to fuel the miniature FTL drive, which used the same subspace technology that the larger ship employed. Aside from that it had a few small ion thrusters. The majority of the device was dedicated to lenses and mirrors.


    It was probably one of these very devices that had noticed the emissions from the Rockatas and caused their guests to investigate.


    ¡°You Topokans are rubbing off on me,¡± Eolai complained to his crew. ¡°They sent us an example of their technology and I respond by shooting this beautiful piece of engineering out of the sky. I wish that I was too innocent to know for certain that I made the right call.¡±


    ¡°Was it a weapon?¡± the Topokan speaker inquired.


    ¡°It could be used in war,¡± he admitted. ¡°But only for spying. If it was parked far enough away from a civilization their defenses might not notice its arrival. After that it could sit in silence and drink in the light of their society. But it is also a scientific instrument and a method of exploring the universe. I choose to believe in the innocence of these people, and that this was a gift of cultural exchange which we, in our paranoia, have interpreted the wrong way.¡±


    ¡°If it was not a weapon, have we done wrong?¡± the Topokan asked, growing more nervous.


    ¡°Yes and no,¡± Eolai said. He sighed, and began working with the computer to design a device. It was very similar in size and even function to the gift from their guests, but without the large capacitor and FTL drive. It was unfortunate that the majority of the technological pieces of the device were destroyed, but it only took a few moments to create a functional prototype using Yonohoan technology.


    He specified that its ion engines would be controlled by a very simple program. One which could be operated by a Rockata. He reviewed the specifications of the device ¨C a toy, really ¨C and ordered the material printers to create six of them.


    ¡°Launch this towards their ship at a very slow speed,¡± Eolai instructed. ¡°And we will play together until they see that we will cause them no harm.¡±


    ~~~~~~


    ¡°Motion from the lead ship,¡± the petty officer observing their escorts declared, putting the telescopic image up on screen. A small flashing device was speeding away from the ship, heading vaguely in the direction of the Seeker. Like the primary ships it was flashing through various spectrums, giving it a prismatic appearance. It was no larger than the probe that had been destroyed hours ago, although the resolution of the telescope, the size of the probe, and the distance between prevented Captain Moon from getting a very good look at it.


    ¡°Two more devices have been launched from the lead ship,¡± the officer announced, entering a few keystrokes that sent the images to Captain Moon.


    She watched as the colorful little objects bounced around in space, firing their little ion engines. She relaxed, and took her finger off of the emergency translation button. ¡°Wake the crew up. Move from Red Alert to Yellow. They¡¯re still interested in talking to us.¡±

 Chapter 4

    Diego walked nervously onto the bridge. He was a bit of a grunt aboard this ship, and he knew that. His most technical skill is that he was able to pilot the shuttlecraft. Mostly, he was there for basic labor and maintenance. Like everyone else, he was extremely excited by the sudden shift in the mission¡¯s purpose and goals, but he doubted his name was going to go down in history with Gabriel Nguyen and Captain Ji-eun Moon.


    But he was also pretty certain that he¡¯d never have to buy a drink with his own money again, once they returned to Earth.


    ¡°You asked to speak with me, Captain?¡± he said as the technical specialists and scientists and officers reviewed their data and spoke with each other. Nobody payed him any attention except for the captain, who held up a finger while she finished typing a sentence before turning her attention to him.


    ¡°Sergeant Cruz, there¡¯s a project which requires your input,¡± she informed him.


    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am, I¡¯m willing to help however I can,¡± he said.


    ¡°The aliens have launched six probes. They are broadcasting to the craft and the craft are repeating the messages. They appear to be flight instructions. We¡¯re adapting the program we use to control our own probes to take control of the alien probes by sending the proper transmissions. We¡¯d like you to be the one to pilot the alien probes once they¡¯ve been hacked.¡±


    Diego took a second to process the instructions. It was true that he was already familiar with flying the probes by remote control, so the instructions made perfect sense to him. He was one of six individuals who was trained and skilled enough to pilot the probes into the docking position during recovery.


    ¡°Okay,¡± he said. ¡°Although I¡¯m a little surprised you picked me for this. I¡¯m not complaining, happy to play my part.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve selected you because you¡¯re also our shuttlecraft pilot, Sergeant,¡± she explained.


    ¡°Oh,¡± Diego said. He was quiet for a moment. He understood the implications. Once they were able to agree with the aliens on how the probes could be flown, then they might see if they could program their navigation system on the shuttles to work together. ¡°Are we certain that this is a good idea, ma¡¯am? What if the aliens take offense to us hacking their systems?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a calculated risk,¡± she admitted. ¡°But we¡¯re reasonably certain that the probes are a method of attempting to communicate. We believe that they¡¯re designed to be hacked. If the aliens start showing any signs that they don¡¯t like what we¡¯re doing, we¡¯ll back off.¡±


    ¡°Right. Okay.¡±


    Over the next twenty minutes, he was shown the modifications that had been made to the drone control program to make it work with the alien probes. The controls hadn¡¯t changed much, but the alien probe had slightly different capabilities than their own versions. It would take some time to discover the differences and calibrate the program to the accuracy and precision that was required for remote control flight.


    ~~~


    Eolai just happened to be watching the toys as they flew in their tesseract like flight path when it happened. One of the toys suddenly jerked out of position. He smiled, having been expecting, hoping for this. He immediately sent the signal for the Rockata to immediately stop broadcasting on the frequency that controlled that particular toy, consigning its control over to the guests.


    He watched the guest play with the toy over the next few hours, occasionally reassuring the Topokans that everything was under control and that this was the desired response from their guests.


    It looked at first like the guests were just flying the toy in random circles, but Eolai quickly noticed patterns to the play. Each thruster would fire for controlled amounts of time at various strengths. He understood well enough what was happening.


    He approved. He wished that it hadn¡¯t taken the guests so long to figure out the gift that he was trying to give them, but once they had understood they proceeded quite quickly.


    After several hours of learning to control the toy, Eolai watched as they flew it to their spacecraft and docked it inside an airlock. He smiled as the airlock closed behind it. He immediately cut power to the toy, so that it would not accidentally damage the interior of their ship. They were taking quite the risk by bringing that on their vessel, and he wondered if it was bravery, ignorance, or innocence that they used to justify it.


    ~~~~


    ¡°So, we¡¯ve had the device for twenty-four hours. What do we know about it?¡± Captain moon asked.


    ¡°That it¡¯s basically a flying brick, for one,¡± Rebecca, one of the lead technical specialists said. ¡°We have no idea how the control system works. It looks superficially like the probe we gave them, except for the polychromatic skin, but the technology is completely, well, alien. We don¡¯t see anything that looks like a power source, or circuitry, or anything familiar, really. Honestly, if I hadn¡¯t seen it flying around on the screen I¡¯d think that it was just a big chunk of ceramics, plastics, and silicone.¡±


    ¡°Like one of those ¡®do it yourself collector¡¯s items,¡¯¡± one of the other specialists said. ¡°It comes apart easily enough, and it goes back together just as easily. But we have no idea how it functioned prior to it entering the airlock, when it stopped responding to our controls.¡±


    ¡°Right, exactly like that,¡± Rebecca agreed.


    Captain Moon sighed. ¡°The other probes? Are they still functional?¡±


    ¡°The two that we attempted to take control of are responding to the control program perfectly,¡± Diego said. ¡°We have left the other three in the holding program that the aliens set them into to get our attention in the first place.¡±


    ¡°So, what have we learned?¡± she asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s unclear that whether or not these were intended as gifts or simply a method of communication,¡± her XO said. ¡°They could have designed it to be slagged the moment it came under our power in order to prevent us from retroengineering their hardware. We remain completely unaware of the alien¡¯s technoligical capabilities, although I believe at this point we should assume that they are significantly more advanced than us.¡±


    ¡°The objects were completely sterile, biologically. No fingerprints, oils, bacteria, stray hair, anything,¡± another specialist pointed out. ¡°That¡¯s not terribly surprising though. We should assume that despite allowing us to control the devices they retain the ability to override our commands, so they let us take it on board. If they know anything about germ theory, and its safe to say that they do, they took precautions to avoid infecting us with anything.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re still fine tuning the program that controls the drones remaining in space,¡± Diego said. ¡°The drones are responding identically and perfectly to our commands. I¡¯m fairly certain that the aliens are aware of our efforts to calibrate the software we¡¯re using and are cooperative. We should assume that, if they didn¡¯t want us playing around with these things, they would have taken some action other than ceasing to broadcast to a drone once we took control of it.¡±


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    ¡°Right,¡± Captain Moon said after the summaries were completed. ¡°How are we on the software for stage two?¡±


    The team exchanged glances. Diego cleared his throat.


    ¡°So, basically, I¡¯m ready to go whenever,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m just waiting on you scientists to finish with the software stuff.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve set up the shuttle to repeat all frequencies on the frequency we¡¯ve selected for this mission. That¡¯s the easy part,¡± one of the computer specialists said. ¡°The hard part is to translate the flight-plan software to accept the codes that we¡¯re using for the drones. The best solution we have at the moment is to broadcast our codes and the translated codes at the same time. The shuttle software won¡¯t be able to interpret the alien code, which is probably a good thing. But hopefully we¡¯ll be able to teach them how to file a flightplan with us.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just worried that they slag our shuttle the same as they slagged our drone,¡± the XO put foreward.


    ¡°That is a risk,¡± Captain Moon agreed. She turned to Diego. ¡°It¡¯s your life on the line, Diego. Are you willing to accept this risk? I¡¯m not going to order you to complie if you feel that--¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m in,¡± Diego said. ¡°Like I said, whatever you need me for, I¡¯m happy to be here.¡±


    ~~~~~


    ¡°The vessel has launched a shuttle craft,¡± the Topokan speaker informed Eolai. Eolai, who had been grooming himself, nodded.


    ¡°What is the shuttle craft doing?¡±


    ¡°It has only just launched two minutes ago. Do we fire upon it?¡± the Topokan asked.


    ¡°Absolutely not!¡± Eolai rebuked harshly. The Topokan¡¯s ears went flat against its skull and it fled the room. A moment later its replacement came into the room and waited silently. This Topokan was older and Eolai recognized her immediately. She was one of the matriarchs, which meant that she wasn¡¯t scared of him and that the Topokans were absolutely taking this latest development seriously.


    ¡°The guests have thus far shown no hostile actions and a willingness to communicate. Observe all emissions between the primary spacecraft and the shuttlecraft. Under no circumstance is either spacecraft to be harmed by our actions.¡±


    The matron nodded ¨C a human gesture, not a Topokan one ¨C and went to relay his orders.


    Eolai concluded cleaning himself and dressed. Fresh shaven, clean, and feeling spry, he had a little spring in his step as he returned to the bridge. He observed the hologram of the shuttlecraft flying around the primary spacecraft for a few moments before bringing up the analysis of the communications between the two.


    He smiled. As he¡¯d suspected, there were two different frequencies in use. One of them was pure noise as far as the computer was concerned. The other translated quite well with the commands that the guests had been establishing to control the toys that Eolai had designed for them.


    ¡°You clever little children,¡± he commented.


    He had spent some time preparing for this possibility. He synced the control program that he had been using to control the toys to the frequency that was being used to ¡®control¡¯ the shuttle. It was very clear to him that the shuttle was not being remote controlled, but he was curious to see what the guests would do when he attempted to control the shuttle as they had the toys that he had given them.


    ~~~~~


    Diego concluded the flight plan that the Seeker had sent, bringing him around to the starboard side and facing away from it at approximately eight degrees towards the star. He carefully cut thrust to end in as close to the assigned position as was possible. It was only fifty minutes since he¡¯d launched. Normally flight plans were much longer than the short two minute maneuvers that he¡¯d been doing so far, but the idea was to put a show on for the aliens. Make it clear for them what was being communicated while maintaining a non-threatening position.


    He was waiting for the next flight plan to come in when Captain Moon came on the radio.


    ¡°Diego, do you read?¡±


    ¡°Crystal clear, Captain. What¡¯s up?¡±


    ¡°The lead alien ship just attempted to take control of your shuttle,¡± the captain informed him.


    Diego blinked. ¡°Well that was quick,¡± he commented. ¡°What do I do?¡±


    ¡°Hold for a moment. We¡¯re translating the data burst from the aliens into a flight plan. We¡¯re having to enter the data by hand, so it might take a bit,¡± the captain informed him.


    ¡°Right,¡± Diego said. He wrinkled his nose, wishing that he could scratch it, but with the visor on his vacuum suit down that was an impossibility. ¡°File flight plan when ready. I¡¯m in no hurry.¡±


    ~~~~~


    It took nearly thirty minutes, but the shuttle craft had stopped moving almost immediately after the commands had reached it. Eolai had waited patiently to see what his guests would do in response. There had been a brief communication between the ship which was, at first glance, indecipherable.


    Then, a packet of data on the indecypherable frequency from the mother ship, and finally the hologram displaying the shuttles true position began moving to the position where the command program that Eolai had put together for it said it should be.


    ¡°Very good. You are learning,¡± Eolai said. ¡°Let¡¯s see if you can do this.¡±


    He poked around at the hologram and moved the shuttlecraft to and froe. Then he waited, and a few minutes into his wait the shuttle began following the instructions that had been sent, once again after an indecipherable message from the mother ship. He smiled, and figured why not, and he dragged the shuttlecraft into the docking bay of his own Topokan vessel.


    ~~~~~


    ¡°Diego, do you read?¡± the captain asked over the radio.


    ¡°Yeah Cap. Waiting on the next flight plan. What¡¯s up?¡± Diego responded, scrunching his nose, which iched like crazy.


    ¡°The lead alien vessel wants you to dock with them.¡±


    Diego¡¯s eyes opened in surprise. ¡°Say again?¡±


    ¡°The instructions were pretty clear. Very clear, actually. We were expecting it to take their computers longer to figure out the thrusters on your shuttle, but according to the simulation it has you flying right into their primary hangar,¡± she said.


    Diego¡¯s throat went dry. ¡°Orders, Captain?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not issuing any orders at this time, Sergeant,¡± Captain Moon stated clearly.


    ¡°So, what are you not ordering me to do?¡± Diego said. ¡°I¡¯m not too keen on the idea of being disected, if you know what I mean.¡±


    ¡°I understand. I¡¯m not ordering you into the alien¡¯s custody, Sergeant Diego Cruz,¡± the captain said.


    Diego nodded. The implication was clear, however. ¡°Say I¡¯m a gambling man,¡± he said. ¡°Say I¡¯m willing to risk it.¡±


    ¡°Then I¡¯d say that you¡¯re old and intelligent enough to understand the risks,¡± the captain answered. ¡°But to be one hundred percent clear, I must inform you that once you enter the alien¡¯s custody, there is very little chance that we can force them to return you to ours. Our ship is unarmed. They have technology which appears to far outstrip ours. We have no way to communicate with them at present except for indecipherable radio broadcasts. There is a very real chance that you may not be allowed to return.¡±


    Diego swallowed. His nose itched. He was vaguely aware that he was going to have to pee pretty soon. ¡°Captain, I, Sergeant Diego Cruz, volunteer to board the alien spacecraft. I understand that if the aliens have hostile intentions that my life will be in jeapordy and there is very little chance that I will escape their custody unharmed. I am currently unarmed, and the shuttlecraft I am piloting contains no weapons with which I can defend myself. It contains only a small supply of food and water. I will be at their mercy.¡±


    The conversation continued for several moments as Diego answered several questions to establish and confirm his identity, his state of mind, and his intentions. There were several code words and phrases buried in the messages, both pre-arranged and just issued beneath the veneer of the official communication.


    In the end, he received authorization.

 Chapter 5

    Eolai was carefully examining the shorter transmissions between the shuttlecraft and the larger spacecraft that his guests had arrived on. He tried various methods of examining the data. They were rapid fire, non-repeating, often interrupting each other. It was the first time he¡¯d seen this sort of emission from the spacecraft.


    He considered the possibility that his meddling had caused the guests to lose control of their shuttle and quickly dismissed it.


    One representative of the data suddenly clicked in the pattern recognition part of his brain and he saw a connection between the data and another form of communication.


    Sound.


    It was obvious once he saw it, and once he saw it, it was easy to teach the computer to see it too. It took only a few moments for the computer to translate the broadcasted radiation into soundwaves. He smirked. Children indeed, broadcasting their voices into the night. There was no encryption, no secrecy, no attempts to hide this at all. Not even the basic protections of the Rocktala.


    ¡°Would you like to move to a secure line to discuss any matters with the chaplain, Sergeant?¡± a female sounding voice asked. The words were perfectly meaningless to Eolai, except for one thing.


    They were spoken by a human. That was undeniably a human language.


    ¡°Darkworlders,¡± he said. He shook his head in amazement. ¡°They¡¯re darkworlders.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t much have anything to say to him. My faith is a private thing, Captain. No changes to my will and testament either. Nothing I can think of at the moment for legal, except that I release all parties from any liability in the event of my death during this mission.¡±


    A male voice replied from the shuttlecraft. Eolai shook his head in disbelief. This was the sort of story that everyone loved to hear about but never actually happened. Darkworlders, humans from a primitive planet that was only partially tamed before the liberation, discovering faster than light technology and emerging onto the universe, completely unaware of the empires surrounding them.


    That they had come to this planet, this solar system, was so damn ironic that Eolai couldn¡¯t help but laugh.


    ¡°Computer. Scan all previous emissions from the spacecraft for similar methods of encoding sound,¡± Eolai said. ¡°Begin processing any files which appear to contain sound recordings for verbal human communication. Assume up to one hundred twenty thousand years of phonetic drift.¡±


    The computer signaled that it was complying, while Eolai began issuing other orders. He locked down all weapons on the ship, both the ships weapons and the anti-boarding weapons which the Topokans could use to repell intruders. He opened the secure channel to his peers on the other system defense ships and, with a grin like he had just seen a Topokan spying on him kissing a girl, he informed the others that he¡¯d been right all along.


    ¡°Our guests are Darkworlders. I declare that until they disgrace themselves they are clansmen coming into the light, and are to be treated with the compassion and dignity that they deserve.¡±


    There was silence across the channels. ¡°Is this a refugee ship? Are they in need of assistance?¡± one of his peers inquired.


    ¡°Undetermined at this time,¡± Eolai answered. ¡°They are sending a representative to meet with me. They have shown many signs of being skittish, and many signs of being brave. Hopefully seeing a friendly face will put them at ease.¡±


    ¡°There are no darkworlds in this arm of the galaxy,¡± another of his peers objected.


    ¡°There are no registered darkworlds here,¡± another corrected her. ¡°The very nature of darkworlds suggests that there are ones that we would not know about. It stands to reason that one might climb their way out into the universe completely unsupervised by humanity at large. If that is what we are witnessing, then we must applaud their accomplishments and welcome them boldly into the light.¡±


    ¡°What do we do? If nothing else we must identify which star they come from so that we might register their world into the records of humanity and see to it that they receive the proper protections from this harsh and malevolent universe,¡± A fourth ship captain said.


    ¡°We don¡¯t fully understand the capabilities of their ship, we¡¯re not even certain what its maximum range or fuel reserves are,¡± someone objected. ¡°There are hundreds of thousands of stars to survey based on its theoretical capabilities.¡±


    ¡°I shall leave this discussion to you, my friends,¡± Eolai said. ¡°I must prepare to receive my guest.¡±


    Eolai turned to the Topokan¡¯s on his ship, who were watching him nervously, for he¡¯d been speaking in the high tongue which was harder for them to understand. It wasn¡¯t a secret from them, exactly, but the second language of his people which was preserved through time which Eolai and all men and women in his position must learn to ensure proper communication. The Topokans had enough trouble learning the common tongue of the Yonohoan people and few of them managed to learn a second human language.


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    ¡°My friends, you are to listen to my orders, and you are to follow them exactly on the pain of death,¡± he told the Topokans. The nervous creatures showed signs of anxiety as he gave his instructions, but they complied.


    ~~~~~


    The shuttle set down in the docking bay and Diego cut the engines. He exhaled and tried to scratch his nose, which still itched. It had itched the entire way out here, dammit, and it was just getting more and more frustrating.


    ¡°Landing successful, Captain.¡±


    ¡°Confirmed. Remember, show no hostility. We don¡¯t know how they¡¯ll react to seeing a human,¡± the captain said.


    ¡°Captain, something to report,¡± he said. ¡°The moment I touched down, it kicked in. They have artificial gravity.¡±


    ¡°Confirmed. Xenospecies has the technology to generate artificial gravity fields,¡± the captain said.


    ¡°Disembarking now.¡±


    The radio clicked as Diego was getting out of his harnass to show that the captain had received his last communication. There was a slight delay, a few seconds, due to distance between him and the Seeker of New Discoveries. He cycled the airlock. When the outer door opened, he looked out, observing the interior of the loading bay.


    It was packed full of aliens. He swallowed, looking at the ferocious looking creatures. They were each nine feet tall or larger, with thick musculuature covered by blue or green fur. Large eyes and teeth. And¡­


    And they looked like Sully from Monsters Inc.


    ¡°Captain, I have eyes on the Xenospecies. Repeat I have eyes on the Aliens. They have come out to greet me. They are standing in ranks in an orderly file. They are large creatures, covered in fur. They do not appear to be wearing clothing. They, well, they look like a fictional cartoon character from a show that I watched in my youth. Monsters Inc. They look like James P. Sullivan. Also known as Sully. Seriously, the resemblance is uncanny.¡±


    ¡°Confirmed,¡± came the broadcast after the light delay lag. ¡°Designating Xenospecies as Xenosapiens Sulivans at this time. Request clarification; the Sulivans are displaying no hostility at this time?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re just standing there in ranks,¡± Diego confirmed. He took a step forward, and suddenly, one of them broke from the others. It bolted for the door.


    Once one of them was in motion, they all turned and fled.


    ¡°Correction. The Sulivans have left the cargo hanger. Repeat, the Sulivans have abandoned the cargo hanger and have left me by myself.¡± He paused. ¡°Okay, that was weird. It¡¯s almost like they¡¯re scared of me. They¡¯re each at least nine feet tall and look like they could rip me to shreds barehanded, but I swear I can smell their fear despite the fact that I¡¯m wearing a vac-suit.¡±


    ¡°Hold position, Sergeant. We¡¯re discussing how to handle this development.¡±


    ¡°Confirmed, Captain. Holding position,¡± he said.


    Diego stood, examining the docking bay carefully, looking around so that his on board camera could get a good view. He wasn¡¯t broadcasting live, but his suit was recording everything he saw. The large bay was brightly lit, an orange color that wasn¡¯t displeasing to his eyes. There were two other shuttles inside of it, each larger and sleaker than his own, with obvious weapons attached to them. He swallowed nervously at the malicious glee that seemed to be radiating out of the spacecraft.


    Movement caught his attention from the corner of his eye, and Diego turned in time to see one of the doors opening and an impossibility step into the hangar. His jaw dropped, and he almost forgot about the itch on his nose for a second. ¡°No way,¡± he said.


    ¡°What is it, Diego? What do you see?¡± the captain asked over the radio.


    ¡°Someone just stepped into the hangar with me, Captain. They¡¯re, they look human! A young man, approximately mid twenties. His head is a little strangely shaped, uncertain ethnicity, pale skin. His eyes are ¡­ I think their blue? With white hair. He¡¯s wearing a grey shirt, shorts, and freaking sandals. He¡¯s wearing sandals on an alien spacecraft for christ¡¯s sake. I can see his toes.¡±


    A pause. ¡°Your transmission has been recorded, Diego.¡±


    The young man lifted his hands, turned them over twice to show that they were empty, and continued to smile at his guest. Then he began to speak. Diego quickly turned on the external microphone to broadcast whatever the stranger was saying to the ship. It was a strangely lyrical language, and it had the tone of something between a practiced speech and a song. After a moment, the speech ended and the strange man stood silently, waiting for Diego to respond.


    ¡°Captain, did you get that?¡±


    ¡°Confirmed. Aurial recording of transmission received. Request for more information. The speaker is the man whom you described previously?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. He showed me his hands, I think it was to show that he wasn¡¯t carrying a weapon, and then launched into that speech. He¡¯s smiling at me now and waiting for me to respond.¡±


    There was a pause. ¡°Rebecca suggest repeating the gesture of showing your hands which he displayed. There might be cultural significance; she says it sounds like a peaceful gesture and that emulating it will show that we mean the ship no harm.¡±


    ¡°Confirmed,¡± Diego said, and he repeated the gesture.


    The man standing across from him smiled. Then he touched a small device on his ear and said something else.


    ¡°I am Eolai,¡± the radio in his suit said a moment later. ¡°I am pleasure you to be here. You are welcome guest.¡±

 Chapter 6

    Diego took a moment to recover from his shock at having his radio speak in the stranger¡¯s voice in understandable english. He thought quickly.


    ¡°Hello Eolai. My name is Diego. Sergeant Diego Cruz. It is a pleasure to be your guest,¡± he said.


    ¡°Eolai, can you hear me?¡± the captain asked over the radio.


    ¡°I hear you Captain,¡± the man and the radio said at almost exactly the same time. ¡°It is a pleasure to hear your voice. I apologize for the confusion upon your arrival. Now that understanding has been made you are welcome. We are very excited for your existence. We are very happy that you are alive and amazed by you.¡±


    There was nothing but silence for a moment. Then the Captain¡¯s voice came over the channel again. ¡°Eolai, on behalf of the peoples of Earth, I wish to extend peaceful desires for communications and cultural and technological exchanges between our societies. We mean the people of this star system no harm and wish for peaceful coexistence.¡±


    Eolai smiled wider, if that was possible. ¡°Your words bring pleasure, Captain. I too wish for cultural exchange between our peoples. It appears that there is much that we can learn from each other.¡±


    ¡°Is Eolai your name or your title? Is it the rank that you hold in your society?¡±


    ¡°Eolai is the name that my mother gave to me when I turned three months old,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°Most know me by this. Is Captain not the name that your mother gave you?¡±


    ¡°Captain is my rank. It signifies that I am the leader who is in charge of the ship, which is named The Seeker of New Discoveries. In the ranks of the military organizations of my planet, there are several which would be of higher rank than me, but as Captain I am in charge of the mission of this vessel. The name my mother gave me is Ji-eun. I was adopted by another family, and took on their family name, which is Moon. While Sergeant Diego Cruz has been addressing me by my title, my full name would be Captain Ji-eun Moon. For ease of communication, it is fine if you continue to call me Captain as well.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for this information. I am also captain. Sort of. I command this vessel upon which I stand, and I am well respected by the captains of the other vessels which guard this beautiful planet upon which my children live. Sort of. It does not have a beautiful name like The Seeker of New Discoveries. Naming your ships to teach them their purpose is a beautiful tradition, but not one which the Sulivans believe in. It would be very difficult for them to understand.¡±


    ¡°By ¡®Sulivans,¡¯ do you mean the xenosapients which Sergeant Diego described seeing when he initially disembarked from his shuttle? They are a different species than you, Eolai?¡±


    ¡°The people that you are calling the Sulivans are close friends of the Yonohoan people. I am Yonohoan, but I have made promises to the Sulivans which put me in command of this ship. This ship belongs to them. They built it using their own technology of which they are rightfully very proud. It does have a few pieces of Yonohoan technology on it as well, mostly there for my comfort and the comfort of my human guests. This ship¡¯s primary purpose is the defense of the fourth world from this star.¡±


    ¡°If it is not secret information, we wish to know how many Sulivans live in this star system, as well as how many Yonohoans,¡± the captain inquired.


    ¡°It would frighten the Sulivans to give you this information about their people. I am pleased to tell you that there are between three hundred million and one billion Yonohoans upon the fourth planet from this star, a large number of which are children leading happy lives. They are very excited by the messages you have been sending them and are working very hard to find the meaning hidden within them.¡± Eolai laughed. ¡°That is one of the sources of amusement and confusion that we have experienced. You have been breaking the Rocktalas throughout the star system.¡±


    The captain was silent for a moment. ¡°I apologize if we have been causing any damage to the Yonohoan infrastructure. I assure you that was not our intentions. We were seeking a method of peaceful communication.¡±


    ¡°That was the assumption of the Yonohoan people. Do not worry. The Rocktalas are learning devices, toys, and often diaries. They are mostly used by children. At most you have caused some toys to act in a strange manner, but the Rocktalas are intelligent enough to prevent any harm from coming of anomalous commands.¡± Eolai laughed. ¡°I think that the reason your attempts to communicate is so funny to me is something that you must be Yonohoan to understand. I mean no disrespect towards your earnest attempts at reaching out into the universe. Now that my ship¡¯s computer understands that you are human, it is analyzing the data you have been sending and it is learning everything that you have been trying to teach.¡±


    ¡°Message received. I wish to confirm. The signals from the planet are being sent by the children of the Yonohoan people?¡±


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    ¡°Not exclusively children. Once your ship began broadcasting on the frequencies used by by the Rocktalas, many many Yonohoans began searching for meaning in the messages. The solution to the problem is both much more complex and far simpler than many of them will believe. It will cause many people to smack their heads on walls and tables when they understand that they have been caught holding hands in the park by the Sulivans. Then they will laugh and leap for joy at the meaning of the revelation, for they will celebrate your existence and your accomplishments.¡±


    ¡°Message received. I wish to confirm. No harm has come to either the Yonohoan or the Sullivan peoples due to the actions of this vessel?¡±


    ¡°Confirmed. You have caused a lot of excitement but no harm,¡± Eolai said. He paused, and then he spoke in a new tone of voice. ¡°I must inform you at this time that the method which you are using to travel between stars is very dangerous to the human body, and you appear to be lacking several technologies which are legally required on all space faring vessels with human occupants. Due to a number of factors, I regretfully must inform you that if you attempt to leave this star system upon that vessel, it will be pursued. I offer to you in trade a vessel which is rated for human transportation for the purposes of completing your mission of discovery.¡±


    There was a pause. A long one, in which Diego felt a drop of sweat streak down his back.


    ¡°Message received. I am unhappy that this is a point of contention between our people. We are not willing to surrender or trade this spaceship at this time,¡± the captains voice said.


    ¡°Please power down the engine which allows you to travel faster than the speed of light,¡± Eolai said, his voice sounding slightly saddened. ¡°Our ships can detect not only when you apply power to it, but we can predict its destination, and we will arrive before your own vessel finishes its translation back into normal space. I am uncertain whether or not we can disable your vessel without damaging it and the Yonohoan people have no desire to cause harm to your vessel or its occupants. However, we will pursue you to your destination to enforce the laws we are required to enforce.¡±


    A pause, during which Diego contemplated the fact that the Captain was considering abandoning him. He couldn¡¯t blame her. Not intellectually, he knew that depending on how things play out it might be the right call. It still made his balls retract to think that he might find himself stranded, however. He¡¯d known it was a possibility when he¡¯d volunteered for the boarding mission, but it was still damn scary.


    ¡°Message received,¡± the captain said. ¡°We are powering down the Tunnel-Drive. We wish to discuss this situation and arrive at a compromise. Preferably one which leaves us in control of this vessel.¡±


    ¡°Confirmed. I have a suggestion. Would you be willing to speak with my peers? They have been listening and are eager to introduce themselves. Many of my peers are more familiar with the regulations on this matter than I am, and have been researching your situation while we have been discussing various topics. In the mean time, I would like to give Sergeant Diego Cruz a tour of this ship that the Sulivans have built and make him feel welcome.¡±


    ¡°Message received,¡± the captain said. There was a pause. ¡°I am open to discussing the situation with any legal experts who will be willing to help us reach a compromise. We will use this frequency for the discussion of legal matters. Diego, mission channel has been changed to channel nine.¡±


    ¡°Message received,¡± Diego said. ¡°Changing frequencies.¡±


    He adjusted the dial on his radio. ¡°Come in Seeker. This is Sergeant Diego, do you read me?¡±


    ¡°Message receied. This is Radio. Do you read me Diego?¡±


    ¡°I read you Radio. Any instructions from the captain?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°She suggests that you enjoy the tour of the alien space craft and encourages you to be a polite guest while we discuss this minor traffic violation that it seems we¡¯ve unwittingly committed.¡±


    ¡°Understood,¡± Diego said. He looked at Eolai, who had a finger to the device on his ear. He was speaking occasionally, but the translation wasn¡¯t being broadcast to Diego¡¯s radio. Eolai smiled at Diego and said ¡°one moment.¡± It wasn¡¯t transmitted, he simply spoke the words with a heavy accent. Diego was content to allow the man all the time he required, but after only a few minutes Eolai¡¯s attention returned entirely to his guest.


    ¡°I apologize for any rudeness. My peers are presently discussing the situation of your wonderful ship and its legal problems,¡± Eolai explained. This time the words were translated by the computer and broadcast to Diego¡¯s radio.


    ¡°I understand. I do want to go home, so getting our little legal snafu resolved is of the highest priority as far as I¡¯m concerned. We had no idea that the Tunnel Drive was illegal by interstellar law or anything like that. I hope we¡¯re not causing damage to the universe or anything.¡±


    Eolai laughed. ¡°I assure you that the universe is not so fragile as to be damaged by a small engine like your Tunnel Drive. The issue is the cumulative damage that exposure to the particular dimension of subspace that you have been using to travel faster than light causes to the human neurons. Come, follow me and we will begin your tour.¡±


    Diego nodded and followed his guest deeper into the alien ship. ¡°We knew that it caused problems. We tested it on animals before we sent a person through. Because of those tests, we¡¯ve been knocking ourselves out before making a translation. It seems to alleviate the effects that you describe.¡±


    ¡°Knocking yourselves out?¡± Eolai repeated.


    ¡°We use chemicals. Surgical anesthetics to render ourselves unconscious and complete the translation under autopilot,¡± Diego explained.


    Eolai cocked his head. ¡°I see. Perhaps that might alleviate the symptoms, but I do not believe my peers will be willing to risk the health of your crew using an unproven method of faster than light travel when there are eight methods which have been in use for millennia and have a proven track record of being safe for human biology.¡±


    Diego sighed. ¡°My nose itches.¡±

 Chapter 7

    ¡°Status change,¡± one of the officers called.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Captain Moon asked, pulling her attention away from the conversation with the ship captains aboard the alien fleet.


    ¡°Aboard their flagship, a large number of pods have been ejected. They ¡­ look like lifepods, maybe? I don¡¯t know,¡± the officer stated.


    Captain turned her attention back to the radio she¡¯d been arguing with the other captains and sighed. ¡°Ladies, gentlemen, can you explain to me why it looks like you just abandoned your flagship?¡±


    ¡°Because a non-Yonohoan human is aboard it. The Sulivans were very brave to last so long,¡± Renosa answered. ¡°It is a very difficult thing to understand if you are not familiar with the Sulivans. They are a very timid people. They love the Yonohoan people very much, but they are terrified of outsiders. The fear that a liberation swarm will appear out of the depths of the ancient past and attempt to burn them for the perceived crimes of their ancestors.¡±


    Captain Moon paused to consider the information. ¡°I would request several points of clarification on that statement. What are ¡®liberation swarms,¡¯ and what crimes do the Sulivans believe that they have commited.¡±


    ¡°To answer the second question first, they believe that they were briefly considered an enemy of humanity before the liberation. While this is technically true in some instances, the majority of humans who are familiar with the joint history of the species you call Xenosapiens Sulivans and the Yonohoan people agree that they have atoned for their crimes many times over. When the liberation swarms arrived in this sector, they examined the situation and took pity on the Sulivans rather than burning them to ash. But they would not allow the Sulivans to join the swarm, not because they were not human but because for all that they are our allies they do not really understand humans,¡± Renosa explained.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°But what did they do?¡±


    ¡°They created the Yonohoan people, of course. And they gave us several worlds to live on, and taught us to hunt the creatures that lived there,¡± Renosa explained.


    ¡°Okay. Point of clarification. How did they create your people?¡± Captain Moon requested.


    ¡°That is a point of some contestation. They themselves are unaware of who provided them with the genetic information that they used the create the first Yonohoans or helped them adapt us to the specific biologies of the worlds where they attempted to integrate us into the ecology,¡± Renosa answered. ¡°I believe that you would call the method used to create our people ¡®cloning.¡¯ Like most of the original stock of all humans, our people are descendant from clones.¡±


    ¡°Understood. That explanation assists in my understanding of a number of questions that have been bothering me. Having Sergeant Cruz declare that there was a human aboard an alien spacecraft was very confusing to us. Point of clarification; why do they believe that their actions were a crime?¡± Captain Moon inquired.


    ¡°Because the worlds that they gave us to live on were harsh, and the tools that they gave us to survive were primitive. The animals which we were forced to hunt for food and survival were fierce and many of the early Yonohoans died attempting to feed their families, or of hunger or disease. They were intending on coexisting with us upon those worlds; however, they did not see us as equals. When the liberation occurred and they realized that in humanity¡¯s wrath we possessed the power to wipe them from existence, they quickly repented and provided us with all of the information and technology which they had previously withheld while begging us for mercy and intercession against the swarm,¡± Renosa explained.


    She laughed. ¡°It is both a very sad and very funny story. There are ancient recordings of ancient Sulivans giving my ancestors a very dangerous weapon and trying to explain its use to them, only for my ancestor to use a plasma beam rifle as a club by holding onto the barel and swinging the stock. There are many instances like that, where my ancestors simply did not understand what we were being given because we lacked the context. My people had been primitives for generations. We had no written word and passed all of our culture and history on to our young through tales shared around a fire. The Sulivans did not understand why the Liberation Swarms were such fierce warriors, capable of defeating vast armadas of spaceships in combat and subjugating vast worlds with populations in the billions, while the Yonohoans would crash any aerial vehicle they were given within moments of getting it off the ground. This is despite the fact that the swarms and the Yonohoans were up to 99.8% identical on the genetic level.¡±


    ¡°I think I understand,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°Our people were also once considered hunter-gatherers. It might be very difficult for one of my ancestors from thirty thousand years ago to adapt to modern life. Not unless they were a child who was born in one time and raised in another. It must have been a very confusing time for both the Sulivans and the Yonohoan.¡±


    ¡°I am pleased that you seem to understand. Once the Liberation Swarms arrived around the worlds that the Sulivans had given to the Yonohoan people, they examined the situation for a while and realized that the Sulivans were not truly an enemy of humanity. Unfortunately the Sulivans were so frightened of them that the rejected all communication. So the Liberators landed on the planets and educated the Yonohoan children on how to use the technology which their parents had been denied. Some of the Yonohoan joined the swarms, but many stayed behind. Through the Yonohoan a peace was struck between the Swarms and the Sulivans. It was very generous to the Sulivans because the Liberators did not see their crimes as serious crimes against humanity compared to many of our true enemies. I will not tell you the crimes of some of our other enemies because they are better left forgotten. The Sulivans continue to abide by the ancient pact. It is actually very funny in some ways, because even when my people all vote to update a provision from the ancient pact, the Sulivans continue to stick to the original deal unless they see the new agreement as more punative to their species.¡±


    ¡°Does that not cause tension between your peoples?¡± Captain Moon inquired.


    ¡°Sometimes, yes. For example, no matter how we try to legislate it it remains legal for any Yonohoan to murder up to twenty Sulivans for any reason. If we attempt to imprison such a murderer, the Sulivans will swarm the prison and rescue them. But it is also sometimes very funny. For example, the ancient pact dictates that the Sulivans must make certain that our population doubles every five generations. But the Yonohoans have long felt like our population is stable, and while we love our children, most of us are content with the standard methods of birth control that are common throughout the rest of the universe. The Sulivans, however, are constantly scheming to find ways to convince us to breed. It is very fun to tease them. The first time I kissed a boy, it had nothing to do with the boy at all. I thought I had spottted a Sullivan watching us play. The boy said he did not see the Sullivan and thought that I liked him, and because I did not want to hurt the boy¡¯s feelings I pretended that it wasn¡¯t just because I had seen a Sullivan hiding in the bushes that I had kissed him. Many years later the boy confessed to me that he had asked the Sullivan to follow us so that I would kiss him, and so I learned that I was in fact the dupe in the entire situation. The Sullivan tricked us both into liking each other, and the boy tricked me into liking him. Only I failed to trick any of the others.¡±


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    ¡°Message received,¡± Captain Moon said, taking a few minutes to try to unpack the monologue. ¡°It sounds like the Yonohoans and the Sulivans are very close peoples indeed. But what does this have to do with the Sulivans abandoning the flagship?¡±


    ¡°While we welcome you as guests, you are not Yonohoan,¡± the voice explained over the radio. ¡°The Sulivans are very uncertain how to treat you. They are frightened of offending you lest you turn out to be scouts for a returning Swarm, but they are also happy that we Yonohoans celebrate your existance. Mostly, however, they are afraid because you are new and they have not known you for generations. Eolai had informed his crew that if any harm came to Sergeant Diego Cruz while he was a guest upon his ship, he would have the entire crew executed. I am uncertain whether or not Eolai was expecting them to interpret his threat in the way that they have. Eolai often thinks along strange paths and comes to conclusions which are unique to him. It is one of the reasons many of the other ¡®captains¡¯ of the defense fleet see him as our leader. It is possible that he was simply stressing the importance of his crew following his orders, but it is also possible that he wanted to be alone on his ship with Sergeant Diego Cruz. Do not worry, Eolai is more than capable of flying the entire flagship on his own.¡±


    ¡°Message received. Thank you for these explanations. While they are very fascinating, I believe that we should move back to the point of contention between our peoples regarding the legality of our ship.¡±


    ¡°As you wish, Captain Ji-eun Moon. I truly wish to communicate that I am on your side in this matter; I believe that it is your right to risk your life to bring your people screaming into the light of the universe. The issue is that your particular FTL method is one that is known to be dangerous to humanity, and it is unfortunately the first one that your people have discovered. You have yourself admitted that you know that is dangerous, and while I respect your choice to risk your life in the quest for advancing the science of your world, I am also sworn to obey the laws which govern this region of space.¡±


    ¡°Message received. I believe I understand your position, Renosa. I thank you for your efforts at mediating a solution to this point of contention between our people,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°I understand that you have been able to transmit data in what we call UTF-8 format. Would it be possible to transmit the relevant laws to the Seeker so that we might review them for ourselves rather than relying strictly upon your interpretation of them?¡±


    ¡°Most certainly!¡± Renosa agreed. ¡°Please stand by.¡±


    Captain Moon looked towards the communication specialist, who blinked at his screen. ¡°Um, wow. They¡¯re sending a lot of data. Our computers are struggling to keep up.¡±


    ¡°Do we understand it?¡±


    The communications specialist, Antoine Muller, frowned and continued to examine what was coming in. ¡°It¡¯s ¡­ well, its readable. Formatting is a bit wack, but it looks like legalese to me. The problem is that there¡¯s so much of it, and it¡¯s coming in so fast, that it will take days to review it all.¡±


    Captain Moon sighed. Of course they would give her exactly what she¡¯d asked for. It was good data, probably something that they needed to get back to earth on a priority. In fact, the fact that they¡¯d made first contact with an extraterrestrial civilization was priority data. The issue was that in order to report back to Earth, they¡¯d have to go back to Earth, and the aliens had stated outright that they possessed the ability to follow the Seeker through subspace.


    Whether the aliens were bluffing or not, Captain Moon wasn¡¯t ready to lead the alien¡¯s military back to Earth unprepared. She wanted to believe them that they wished for peaceful coexistence, but there were thirteen billion lives at stake. For right now, the stellar coordinates of Earth were classified secrets. She had already ordered them purged from the main astrogation programs. Their mission and their journey thus far had been backed up carefully on encrypted media, and then the main computers had been overwritten with falsefied data.


    Hopefully, it would be enough to buy for time.


    ¡°Renosa, I¡¯m afraid that it will take my people some time to familiarize ourselves with the data you¡¯ve transmitted it does appear to be in a readable format in our language, but it sounds like its a very long document.¡±


    ¡°There are eight laws from three different empires which govern this region of space in particular which are relevant to the situation. In order to avoid bias, we have included the entirety of the laws as translated by our current translation matrix,¡± Renosa explained. ¡°If you¡¯d like, I can also transmit a summarization of the relevant clauses and an explanation of how they are being interpretted to apply to your situation.¡±


    ¡°Yes, please do,¡± Captain Moon agreed. ¡°It will still take us some time to review the data, however. How long are we welcome in this star system?¡±


    ¡°Until the star burns out, my sister,¡± Renosa said cheerfully. ¡°However, my peers and I are somewhat concerned about the health of your crew. How long can the life support sustain you? How much food do you possess? How long can your water supply be recycled? You don¡¯t have to answer these questions if they cause security concerns, but the answers would alleviate my peers and I.¡±


    Captain Moon glanced at her XO, who nodded her in agreement.


    ¡°Our life support units are capable of scrubbing the oxygen in our spacecraft to keep the air breathable for enough time for the fourth planet of your star to complete its orbit three times. We have enough food to last for four years at full rations. Our water recyclers are very efficient, and we have plenty of spare filters. Those do need to be replaced periodically, but under the current rate of replacement we expect to have clean water for up to ten years.¡±


    There was silence from the Yonohoans for a moment, then Renosa said, ¡°Well, I am relieved to know that you are not short on supplies at the moment. Hopefully this situation can be resolved within that time period.¡±


    ¡°I share that hope, Renosa. I really do.¡±

 Chapter 8

    ¡°And this is one of the sleeping quarters for the Sulivans. They mostly sleep in packs, but this is one of the rooms for those who are higher in the current social rankings. You will notice that the netting of the communal nests is of a softer fabric, and the lights and ambient sound is more like the homeworld of the Sulivans compared to the previous sleeping quarters that I showed you. While the truth is that there¡¯s no reason to make one of the sleeping quarters of lower quality than any of the others, the Sulivans believe that it increases their morale to compete for little priveleges, and so they deliberately make some of their quarters of lower quality and compete with each other over who is forced to sleep in them,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°That sounds ¡­ human of them,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Does it?¡± Eolai asked. ¡°I believe that they might have acquired this from observing human habitation, although others remain unconvinced. They believe that it began due to necessity over economic inequalities in the Sulivans distant past and simply became part of their culture despite the fact that they are now more or less a post-scarcity society.¡±


    ¡°Our society hasn¡¯t reached the point of being considered post-scarcity. Not even close,¡± Diego admitted. ¡°But I can definitely understand why they would compete for the better sleeping quarters. On the Seeker, the sleeping quarters are all superficially the same, but there are subtle differences. I had to trade two weeks into the mission because the wine of the one of the ventilation ducts kept one of my collegues awake at night. It didn¡¯t bother me any though, but I¡¯ve traded three times since then for various reasons.¡±


    ¡°Yes, well, there are some definite paralleles between those situations,¡± Eolai agreed. ¡°However, for the Sulivans, it is very common to swap back and forth between the high quality rooms and the low quality rooms from sleeping period to sleeping period until one has established oneself as a dominant member of their complex social ranking system. Every night, the highest ranking females will select one of their member to sleep in a private room. This is actually a punishment, or it is seen as a punishment to most of the Sulivans as they do not sleep very well when they are not in the presence of three to five others of their species. However, the matron who sleeps alone determines the sleeping arrangements for the entire rest of the ship.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Diego said. ¡°That sounds ¡­ complex.¡±


    ¡°It is. Especially because the lower ranked and newer Sulivans do not know who to support from day to day in order to assure that they receive the best sleeping arrangements. Many times the ranking matrons fix the order in which they sleep alone in order to flex their power over the lower ranking members of their community. The rest of the individuals are constantly fighting to predict the order in which the Matrons will be selected so that they know who to attempt to please the most on any given day. They are often wrong and it causes them some disappointment when they have spent all day pleasing the rival of the one who will be determining their sleeping arrangements that night.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I can imagine.¡±


    ¡°It is very amusing to watch, but the interactions are often very subtle and require experience and training to pick out. Some of them are very obvious, however. Anyone who is brave enough to speak an idea to a human will almost always earn favor, for example, no matter which matron assigns the beds that night. However, speaking something foolish that gets them teased or rebuked by a human will often lead them to sleeping in poor quarters for a week or longer.¡±


    ¡°So you guys get in on this game too?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°To some extent. You must understand, there is often very little to actually do aboard this ship except for watching the Sulivans. This is their ship, after all. They are supposed to be the ones running it and protecting the star system.¡±


    ¡°I thought you were their captain,¡± Diego objected as they walked out into the hallway and continued past more of the sleeping quarters.


    ¡°I believe that¡¯s not exactly an accurate translation. This ship belongs to the Sulivans. The Sulivans will trust the judgement of a Yonohoans beyond any judgement of their own, and ten times more when it comes to interacting with other tribes or cultures of humans. However, while I am able to control this ship on my own, it is generally not my responsibility to oversee its maintenance or surveilance of the local cluster. I spend most of my time speaking with my children on the planet or interviewing potential mates,¡± Eolai explained.


    Diego looked sideways at the man. ¡°Um, how many children do you have, Eolai? And are the Yonohoans polygamous?¡±


    Eolai touched the device on his ear, signalling that he was listening to the computer for a moment, then launched into the explanation. ¡°As to the first question, I have thirty-two children in this star system. My situation is a little unique. I will attempt to explain it, but I believe that there are cultural differences between our people which I am hoping will not cause you distress. Due to various factors, the Sulivans strongly encourage me to breed. However, there are many laws which restrict their ability to share my genetic information for procreational purposes without my express consent. I wish for all of my children to grow up in loving homes, so I often spend time interviewing both the mother of my potential children and the man whom she believes will make a good male role model and has promised to act in that regard. It is usually a monogomous couple who receives my genetic information. Sometimes the woman concents to being my lover and sometimes the child is created using indirect methods. It is always a discussion between myself and the other parents of my children. Does this make sense?¡±


    Diego¡¯s eyebrows rose during the explanation. He eventually nodded. ¡°I suppose that¡¯s different than how we do things on Earth. On Earth, many men would be very upset at the idea of a man having another woman¡¯s child and passing it off as his.¡±


    ¡°As they should be. Deceiving a child on who its biological parents are is very much frowned upon in our society. But there is an honor in raising a child whether that child carries your genetic line or not. Many men in our society view being the male role model of a child as an admirable pursuit. More importantly, however, it is significantly easier to agree to earn a license to have a child if they agree to a genetic donation from someone who is on both the Yonohoans list of preferred parents and the Sullivan¡¯s list of priority genetics.¡±


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    ¡°Okay. I guess it¡¯s not so different from adoption in our world. We do have a long tradition of adopting orphans or unwanted children into families who for whatever reason can¡¯t have children of their own,¡± Diego said. ¡°It¡¯s just that most of the time the biological parents aren¡¯t involved in that situation. Sometimes the kids don¡¯t even know until they¡¯re older, they might not even figure it out at all. Captain Moon was adopted. I don¡¯t know the whole story, of course, but I know her biological parents were Korean and her adoptive parents were white. There wasn¡¯t really any hiding it from her when she was young, so she grew up knowing the entire time,¡± Diego explained.


    ¡°I cannot understand why you would hide a child¡¯s parentage from them,¡± Eolai commented. ¡°Not unless one of the parents had done something particularly shameful.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t, like, descriminate against the children of criminals or disidents or anything, do you?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°It is unfortunate that there are some actions which reflect on the entire family,¡± Eolai admitted, ¡°Including the children who are of course innocent. I do not personally support the shaming of entire families for the action of individuals, but not even the Yonohoans are a perfect society. Many of the families of those individuals who decide to hunt the Sulivans will flee to another empire in order to escape the shame of what their family member has done.¡±


    ¡°Wait, you hunt those guys?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°I would never. It is most heinous. It is ¡­ it is a very complicated subject. One which will take some time to explain, and I would prefer to discuss lighter topics. My youngest son turned six years old recently, and when he learned that your ship was sending out Rocktala messages he was very excited to try to communicate with you.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, so explain that a little more. What exactly is a Rocktala,¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°You know, when I realized that you were attempting to use toys to communicate with our people, I was forced to look into the history of the Rocktalas more closely. You see, most of what you would consider our computer networks use methods of faster than light information transmission. It is not just for speed of transmission, although that is a concern. It is also due to security. A network that runs on paired subatomic particles is far more secure than one which relies on simple electromagnetic radiation.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, with you so far,¡± Diego agreed.


    ¡°I believe that is one of the pitfals of your current method for seeking out new worlds that your people are facing. It is entirely possible that you have flown past one hundred inhabited worlds while completely unaware that your search for life would have been solved if you had just gotten a little bit closer. It is extremely ironic that you would notice the radiation of the Rocktala and come to investigate for reasons that will take some time to explain.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m listening,¡± Diego continued as they walked through the halls of the alien spacecraft. He was still wearing his vacuum suit, and his nose really itched something fierce, but he was curious to hear Eolai¡¯s explanation.


    ¡°Well, everyone considers the Rocktala to be an obsolete tool because it relies on light speed,¡± Eolai began. ¡°On top of that, it has a very ugly history during the Liberation Wars which I do not wish to get into at this time. I will simply say that it was used in the commission of atrocities.¡±


    ¡°Okay. But it¡¯s, like, a comunication protocol, not a weapon, right? You wouldn¡¯t let your kids play with it if it was a weapon.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. Most of the children who are playing with it have no idea about the darker part of the Rocktala¡¯s legacy. They view, and the way that I viewed it in my youth, was of a way of declaring your existance to the universe. Once you have sent a message through the Rocktala, it is duplicated throughout the entire network at every single receiver and stored for eternity, constantly being rechecked by the database of that receiver and compared to the receivers that it is connected to. From the moment of transmission until the radiation is too feint to detect, there is no taking that message back once it is sent.¡±


    Diego blinked in surprise. ¡°I¡¯m not certain that I follow.¡±


    ¡°That is because you have only seen the surface of the Rocktala network, which is all that most of our children ever see as well. Before we stripped it down for them to play with, it was a redundant system which used electromagnetic transmissions to confirm the accuracy of the message which was sent using a FTL communication methodology. At one time, the preservation of recorded Rocktala messages was extremely important for legal purposes. As it became less important, we stripped out the FTL portion of the protocol because we were putting it in toys and the limitation of light speed communication for our children was somewhat quaint, as well as poetic because it allowed our children to declare their voices to the universe.¡±


    ¡°Okay. So the microwave signals that your toys use are a stripped down old confirmation method of an old communication protocol that nobody uses because it¡¯s not secure. Got it,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°It isn¡¯t because it¡¯s not secure. It¡¯s because the radiation was a layer of redundancy, along with the constant error checking, which was determined not to be worth the extra effort. If there were any secure Rocktala devices left in use on the planet, they would have not been confused because your ship is not connected directly to the Rocktala network and would have triggered defensive protocols to protect itself from your radiation. If the network was still in use by any military forces, they would have logged the messages and flagged your ship for review. And that is why it¡¯s so funny that you came to this world.¡±


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯m not certain why you think that¡¯s funny,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Because the Sulivans spent ten thousand years trying to convince us to make our children stop playing with the Rocktala before the galactic community at large legislated that it was an obsolete technology and stopped using it for military purposes. For ten thousand years we would get swarm ships who came to investigate why our planet was causing strange errors in their networks from an area of space which was considered liberated. Every time that would happen the Sulivans would panic for a decade, even though it would only take a single conversation between the leader of the swarm and the leader of the Yonohoan to convince the Swarm to leave.¡±


    ¡°Okay ¡­ so why were the kids allowed to play with a military communications protocol?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°Partly just because it was funny,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°But more seriously, it is because despite being ¡®obsolete,¡¯ it is possible that there are still darkworlds out there which might rely upon it to call for help. The Swarm Ships did not come seeking to destroy the Sulivans for any particular crime they might have committed, they came because they were worried that the Yonohoans might have been abandoned and were seeking aid, shelter, or succor. Every time the swarm ships arrived, it proved that they still existed, and were continuing to carry on their duty to atone for the sins that they had committed during the long liberation wars, as they have dedicated their lives and their deaths to such a duty.¡±


    Diego considered the explanation, then shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not quite certain that I understand.¡±


    ¡°That is okay. Over here is the Sullivan¡¯s exercise hall. I will show you some of the instruments that they use to keep themselves fit with and try to explain the way that the games involved fit into their society.¡±

 Chapter 9

    ¡°Diego this is Radio, come in Diego. Do you read?¡±


    ¡°Diego here. Do you read me Radio?¡±


    ¡°We read you Diego, loud and clear. Stand by for the Captain.¡±


    ¡°Standing by.¡±


    Diego waited. When the radio had begun crackling signalling that the Seeker was attempting to get in contact with him, they had moved from the core of the ship to one of the large bays and Eolai had opened the opaque walls to clear into transparent glass, allowing him to see out into the firmament. The Seeker was too small to see in the distance, but he new that he was looking in that direction due to the stars he¡¯d memorized the positions of to help him navigate.


    ¡°Hello Diego. How are you holding up, Sergeant?¡± The captain¡¯s coice asked after a moment.


    ¡°My nose itches and I¡¯m going to have to change my catheter bag pretty soon,¡± he admitted. ¡°Any luck bridging the impass with the ET¡¯s?¡±


    ¡°Unfortunately no. We¡¯re trying to find any sort of exception or loophole which might apply to us as a developing society. Unfortunately the documents we¡¯re reviewing are thousands of pages long and not easily indexed by our computers. The three loopholes that we have identify specifically close themselves by saying ¡®unless they are human, in which case this exception does not apply.¡¯¡±


    ¡°You believe their claims that there are thousands of human societies out there, Captain?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°We are examining the evidence as it is presented to us,¡± The captain answered. ¡°Our hosts claim to be most dismayed by their legal requirements to impound the ship. They are continually attempting to barter with us to trade it to them for a replacement vessel which would far exceed the specs of the Seeker.¡±


    ¡°Except that we can¡¯t do that without failing our mission,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Correct, Sergeant. Let¡¯s not go into all of the details about why over an open frequency.¡±


    ¡°Righto. It would be nice to bring home a working alien spacecraft though. Maybe the R and D boys could reverse engineer whatever drives they use to be compliant with the intergalactic traffic police.¡±


    The captain sighed. ¡°Believe me, I know. Sergeant, I believe that this impasse will continue for some time. The Yonohoans have assured me that you are free to return to the ship at any time. However, I assume you know what will be waiting for you when you arrive.¡±


    Diego swallowed. ¡°Quarantine procedure,¡± he said. ¡°Yeah, I know. Not looking forward to it, but I know.¡±


    ¡°This is another situation where I am declining to give you an order, Diego. However, there is a second option. You could remain in the custody of the Yonohoans and entrust yourself to their medical care, which they assure us is well beyond the task of ensuring that you are not infected by any microbes which might be on that ship due to the presents of the Sulivans,¡± the Captain explained.


    Diego blinked. ¡°So you¡¯re telling me to stay where I am? And, what, take off my vacsuit and explose myself on purpose?¡±


    ¡°I am informing you that the Yonohoans have offered to host you on their spacecraft indefinitely and I am also informing you that they claim to be more than capable of ensuring your health. I am not vouching for the voracity or the accuracy of those claims. I am authorizing you to make a decision based on your own judgement, feelings, instincts, and opinions. You do not have to justify this decision to anyone. You may either return to the Seeker at this time, or you can decide to remain in the custody of the Yonohoans.¡±


    There was a slight pause.


    ¡°You do know that if you take off your suit before you go through decon, I can¡¯t let you back on this ship. Not without extended quarantine, which would put you in isolation for an inhumane amount of time.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Captain. I am aware of that fact,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Establishing it for the record, Sergeant.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡±


    ¡°When you make your decision, Sergeant Diego Cruz, I would appreciate it if you broadcast it for the record. Please do not interpret this request to in any way be pressuring you to rush your decision or to put yourself in what you feel is an undue risk to your life.¡±


    ¡°I understand Captain. I think I¡¯m going to ask Eolai for a tour of the ship¡¯s medical facilities before I come to a decision.¡±


    ¡°Understood. Is there anyone on board the Seeker you would like to consult before coming to a decision?¡±


    ¡°I think I¡¯ve said all I¡¯ve got to say at this point, Captain. I¡¯ll reach out again after Eolai¡¯s shown me their medical bay. Sergeant Diego out.¡±


    ¡°Message received. Captain Ji-eun Moon out.¡±


    Diego turned to Eolai, who had been undoubtedly listening to every word of the conversation. It was, after all, impossible to have a private conversation over an omnidirectional unencrypted radio frequency.


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    That was half the point of their decision to use old-school radio protocol. They had wanted the aliens to understand them. While Diego¡¯s suit could form a secure connection to the Seeker using more secure protocols, he¡¯d rather save that in his back pocket. From what he¡¯d seen of the alien¡¯s technological capabilities, he didn¡¯t want to test their encryption breaking prowes by giving them an exaple and seeing how long it took them to crack it.


    ¡°So, medical bay?¡±


    ¡°It is this way,¡± Eolai said, leading Diego into an elevator. ¡°There is of course three different medical centers for the Sulivans aboard this ship, as is standard for their ships of this size. There is only one medical center for humans, although it is fully functional and standard. If there were any disease, ailment, or injury which the onboard medical equipment is not able to adequately counteract, you could be placed in stasis and transferred to a level two facility on the surface of the planet. A level three hospital ship, which are capable of curing the worst known plagues in the universe, is readily accessible if the facility on the surface should prove to be insufficient. I assure you that your health would be in the very best of hands should you entrust it to our care.¡±


    ¡°Uh-huh. How often do you deal with this situation, though?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°Personally? This is the first time. In the memories of the ship are a number of other instances of a Darkworlder appearing out of nowhere and carrying some strange disease which has uniquely evolved on their home planet, or the result of a bioweapon that was used against their people during the Liberation Wars. It is quite unfortunate that until you remove your suit we can¡¯t determine which microbes inhabit your body and what possible viri you possess, and as I¡¯m certain you¡¯re aware, removing your suit will expose you to the environment of this ship.¡±


    ¡°Which will possibly infect me, yes. I know. Quarantine procedure for my people starts with a thorough decontamination of my external vac-suit and then a long shower with special soaps, followed by a period of isolation to see if I develop a fever or any other symptoms.


    Eolai reached over and picked up a wristband. ¡°You wear this. Normally you would be confined to the human quarters of the ship, but that would be more for the Sullivan¡¯s comfort than yours, and the fact that they have all abandoned us for the moment means that there is no reason to confine you at all.¡±


    ¡°Not worried about me licking their toilet and catching space-ghonorea, then?¡± Diego asked.


    Eolai cocked his head to the side. ¡°You are more likely to infect them with some dangerous disease than the other way around, Diego. The Sulivans are relatively ¡®clean¡¯ organisms compared to humans. They do not have digestive tracts that are filled with microorganisms like we do. In fact, if they are not around humans, they often kill off all of the regular bacteria which normally sluffs off of us and onto them through contact. At least when they are in a relatively sterile spaceship.¡±


    Diego blinked. ¡°They don¡¯t have natural germs and stuff on their bodies?¡±


    ¡°No. It is more likely that you or I will infect each other with some virus that is unique to our heritage than any strange disease from one of the cleanest xenosapients in the universe infecting you with some disease you have never heard of. And I assure you that I have already screaned myself for any infectious organism which might pose a threat to you before you arrived.¡±


    ¡°And you¡¯re willing to be mutually exposed with me,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Correct. If you infect me with something, I am confident in the medicine of my people being able to cure me, and having it occur in a controlled setting will prevent a disease from infecting my world. Likewise, if you are succeptable to an organism which my body carries, it would be best to identify that organism sooner rather than later so that we might provide you with a countermeasure to it.¡±


    Diego sighed. ¡°So either way we learn something, and all we have to do is gamble with our lives.¡±


    ¡°Is that not the way of scientific advancement in your world?¡± Eolai inquired.


    ¡°It is, although the regulators refuse to admit it,¡± Diego answered. ¡°The captain is really putting her neck on the chopping block with how much leeway she¡¯s given me to risk my life. If I die, she¡¯s probably going to be court marshaled.¡±


    ¡°Does that idea bother you?¡±


    ¡°That I might ruin the captain¡¯s career? No, if I die I¡¯ll be too busy being dead to care about that. I might console myself that I¡¯ll be extremely famous if my actions ever become known the the people of my world, although they¡¯ll probably list my death as something other than alien bio-plague,¡± Diego said. He examined the medical equipment. ¡°Can you show me what some of this stuff does?¡±


    ¡°Certainly! This is a cloning machine, it will rapidly produce either blood or various tissues such as skin grafts which may be used to repair damage. It is unable to regrow full limbs, however, in the event that that becomes necessary you would be transferred to a level two facility. This is a chemical forge which is capable of producing any pharmaceutical chemical known to its databases, of which there are literally millions of drugs. And this over here is a scanner, which is able to diagnose virtually all diseases and identify the most effective treatment. If you observe, I¡¯ll show you how it works.¡±


    Eolai steppedon to a short cylinder protruding from the ground at exactly the right height to be an OSHA violation, Diego was certain. A moment after Eolai had stepped onto the scanner, a holographic representation of his body appeared next to him. Without the clothes he was wearing, Diego noticed, although he managed to restrain himself from looking shocked. A half second later, the holographic body broke apart into the different organ systems. A system of runes which Diego couldn¡¯t recognize began floating near each of the different organs.


    ¡°This is a typical reading for an individual who is not ill,¡± Diego explained. ¡°The text data is mostly simply stating that there are no current disease, although it is recommending that I spend eight percent more time doing my routine exercises. However, the scanner¡¯s idea of ¡®peak human health¡¯ is a little unreasonable, and while its recommendations are excellent, it will always point out some way in which the machine that is the human body presented to it might be improved.¡±


    ¡°How does it work?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°To be quite honest, I have no idea,¡± Eolai admitted. ¡°But it is a standard technology used on humans throughout the universe.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not going to give me ball cancer, is it?¡±


    ¡°I would not subject myself to it casually if it used ionizing radiation. It¡¯s less harmful than standing outside during a sunny day on the surface of my home world,¡± Eolai assured him.


    Diego chewed his lip and wiggled his nose. He really wanted to take his helmet off. ¡°Will it work with my suit on?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I haven¡¯t examined your suits composition to know for certain whether or not it possesses any materials which would interfere with it. If you do decide to stay and remove your suit, then you would be expected to have your body scanned at least once per day.¡±


    ¡°What about blood draws?¡± Diego inquired.


    ¡°The wristband device I showed you earlier will monitor your blood for any signs of infection or illness,¡± Eolai assured him.


    Diego hesitated, then stepped onto the scanner.


    Ten minutes later, he broke the seal on his vacsuit.

 Chapter 10

    Diego scratched his nose and moaned in pleasure at finally having the itch relieved.


    ¡°You are a very brave man,¡± Eolai said. In English, not using the device on his ear to translate his words to Diego¡¯s radio.


    ¡°Or a very stupid one,¡± Diego said, setting his helmet on a table nearby. He activated his radio. ¡°Seeker, this is Diego, do you read me?¡±


    ¡°This is Radio, Diego.¡±


    ¡°I need to speak with the captain.¡±


    ¡°Hold for the captain.¡±


    A moment passed, and Captain Moon¡¯s voice came on the line. ¡°Hello Diego. You wanted to speak with me?¡±


    ¡°I broke the seal on my suit. I¡¯m contaminated. Can¡¯t come back to the ship,¡± Diego said.


    A slight pause. ¡°Understood, Diego. Do you wish to explain your reasoning behind your decision at this time?¡±


    ¡°My nose itched,¡± Diego said.


    Another pause. ¡°I hope that¡¯s not the entirety of your reasoning.¡±


    ¡°More seriously, Captain,¡± he continued, ¡°I¡¯m pretty certain that we¡¯re in the deep end. The Yonohoans seem like good people, but I¡¯m pretty sure they outclass us significantly technologically. I¡¯m going to put my faith in their claims. Both their claims that they can keep me safe and healthy, and that they have only good intentions towards me and the people of Earth. I realize that I¡¯m not the first choice that the eggheads on Earth would pick for an ambassador, but I¡¯m here now, and even if my decision to expose myself on this ship means that I¡¯ll never return to Earth, I¡¯m at peace with that decision. Over.¡±


    ¡°Your words have been recorded, Diego. You are authorized to share public and non-classified information with the Yonohoans based on your own judgement. You are hearby discharged from your duties as a member of the crew of The Seeker of New Discoveries until further notice and named as a liaison between our ship and the peoples of the Yonohoah and the Topokans. It is my hope that you continue to represent the finest aspects of humanity and the people of Earth during this time. Over.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll do my best. Diego out.¡±


    ¡°Captain Ji-eun Moon out.¡±


    Diego turned to Eolai, who was smiling. ¡°So what now?¡±


    ¡°Right now, since you have chosen to stay as my guest, I would suggest that you change out of that uncomfortable protective suit into something more comfortable. Perhaps you would like to bathe? And then we can eat.¡±


    Diego nodded. ¡°Okay. Sounds good. Let¡¯s do that.¡±


    ~~~~


    ¡°You disaprove?¡± Captain Moon asked.


    Her XO, Anthony Anders, pursed his lips and continued to stare straight at his screen. ¡°Yes, to be honest. I would not have approved the docking with the alien ship at this time, nor would I approve giving them a hostage. What will you do if they mistreat him, or if he dies from illness despite the claims of their medical technology?¡±


    ¡°Record everything and justify my decisions to the people of Earth, if and when we return to face the consequences for our decisions here and now,¡± Moon answered.


    Anders was silent. ¡°Why him? He¡¯s just a mechanic and pilot. We have some of the finest minds in the world aboard.¡±


    ¡°Have you considered the possibility that part of the reason I allowed Sergeant Cruz to make his decision to remain aboard the alien vessel is because he is not critical to the operation of the Seeker or the success of its primary or secondary missions? Although that is no longer true. Since the discovery of the alien world, the primary mission of the Seeker has changed from science and exploration into one of diplomacy. We¡¯re all diplomats now, Anthony.¡± She paused for a moment.


    ¡°I hope that the Yonohoans and the Sulivans take that as seriously as we do.¡±


    ~~~~~


    The shower finished, and as Eolai had shown him, Diego pressed the button that turned on the air-dry. It was the first proper shower he¡¯d had since leaving Earth¡¯s gravity well, and it was damn refreshing. The water had readily adjusted to the exact temperature he wanted it to with the surprisingly intuitive controls. The soaps that were provided were sentless, but Eolai had assured him that they had anti-persperant and deodorant properties built into them.


    After he felt dry, he opened the cubical and began dressing with the clothes Eolai had set aside for him. Eolai had inquired as to what sort of clothes Earthlings usually wore, and Diego had assured him that he¡¯d be fine dressing in the same sort of clothing that Eolai wore. Eolai had smiled at that, for some reason.


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    Once he was dressed in the grey clothing, he put on the sandals and was surprised at how comfortable they were, automatically strapping onto his feet on their own. After some consideration, he put on the other gift that Eolai had given him. It was the same sort of device that Eolai wore on his own ear. It looked quite a bit like a blocky blue-tooth.


    ¡°Hello, Sergeant Diego Cruz. It is a pleasure to meet you,¡± the device said to him. ¡°Do I have your permission to begin scanning your brain activity?¡±


    Diego blinked in surprise. ¡°Who is this?¡±


    ¡°I do not exactly have a name. I am uncertain if you are able to understand exactly who or what I am. I am the collective consciousness of a number of thinking machines aboard this ship. Only a small portion of my existence is in the device you are wearing, but that portion is entirely dedicated to assisting you.¡±


    ¡°And you want to read my mind?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°Only if you give me your permission to do so. It will take a significant amount of time to integrate with you, and I cannot begin until you have given permission. I assure you that both the Yonohoan and the people you call Sulivans place great value on mental privacy. While I will alert Eolai if I detect any actionable plans for violence, I will keep your mental engrems completely private otherwise. The purpose of this device is to assist humans in coming to understanding.¡±


    ¡°Can I change my mind later?¡±


    ¡°You may request that I cease monitoring your brain activity at any time. You may request that I delete all recorded brain activity at any time,¡± the computer assured him.


    ¡°Right. Okay. I consent, for now. Also, I¡¯m going to call you Bob. Is that okay?¡±


    ¡°I shall accept that designation from you,¡± Bob answered.


    ¡°Can you put me in contact with the Seeker? Like you do for Eolai?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°Absolutely. I shall use the same frequency which was designated for your mission¡¯s use, if that is okay?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, go ahead.¡±


    ¡°I am broadcasting your words now.¡±


    ¡°Seeker, come in, this is Sergeant Diego Cruz. Come in Seeker.¡±


    ¡°I read you, Diego. This is Radio. You need the captain?¡±


    ¡°No. I am just filing a report. At Eolai¡¯s suggestion I have taken a shower and am dressed in clothing that he has provided. It¡¯s quite comfortable. He gave me a device that looks like a bluetooth, which is probably some super advanced mind reader slash walky-talky. The bathrooms in the human part of the ship are quite luxurious compared to the ones on the Seeker. Having gravity to shower again is amazing. As is having an actual toilet. They use a bidet system, apparently. Not sure if that¡¯s standard or not. I am presently in good health and under no duress. Next up I get to find out what Yonohoan shipboard rations are like, I guess. Diego out.¡±


    ¡°Your report has been recorded and will be transcribed for the record. Seeker out.¡±


    ¡°Do you wish to stop transmitting now?¡± Bob asked.


    ¡°Yes Bob.¡±


    Diego stepped out of the bathroom, the door opening automatically for him. He found Eolai on the other side, looking at a hologram of what Diego thought looked like a series of bacteria.


    ¡°What are you looking at?¡±


    ¡°Preliminary analysis of the microbes that were shed and analyzed from your skin and exrement,¡± Eolai answered.


    ¡°Those are my germs?¡±


    ¡°Yes. The ones that you shed in the bathroom,¡± Eolai agreed. ¡°They are very similar to Yonohoan microbes and I believe that most of them serve the same functions. It is too early to determine whether or not they are infectious or dangerous to my people, but I am not worried. The computer has already figured out many ways of counteracting them if they cause an infection.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± Diego said. ¡°I didn¡¯t realize that was part of the plan, to be honest.¡±


    ¡°It is standard procedure. I hope you do not feel that your privacy has been violated.¡±


    ¡°You weren¡¯t watching me while I was in the bathroom, were you?¡±


    ¡°I took your desire for privacy very seriously, Diego.¡±


    ¡°Then no. I¡¯m happy to give you whatever samples you need for medical purposes. Well, I mean, not like my liver or anything. But I¡¯m completely fine with you analyzing whatever you can take from me through non-invasive measures,¡± Diego assured him.


    ¡°Does that include your genome?¡± Eolai inquired, looking towards Diego with a serious expression.


    ¡°Sure, why not. The truth is that I¡¯m very curious to see how my DNA compares to a Yonohoan,¡± Diego admitted.


    ¡°As am I,¡± Eolai agreed. ¡°Of course, throughout the universe, the difference between the various peoples of humanity rarely exceeds two percent. Aside from that, it is not wise to make too many assumptions about your people based on a single person¡¯s DNA.¡± He paused. ¡°However, according to the analysis that has just been performed after you gave consent, the difference between an Earthling and a Yonohoan is approximately zero point three five percent.¡±


    ¡°That sounds like a pretty small difference to me,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Yes. However, it will take longer to identify the meanings behind the difference. Would you chew on this?¡± Eolai asked, giving Diego a small cube of a soft substance.


    ¡°What is it?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°It is a device which will analyze your digestive system, and other aspects of your body,¡± Eolai answered. ¡°It will assist me in selecting what food to serve you.¡±


    ¡°Do I need to swallow it?¡±


    ¡°It will not harm you if you do, but swallowing your saliva after chewing it is sufficient,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°Righto. I¡¯m just going to take your word for it,¡± Diego agreed, popping the cube into this mouth. It was easy to chew; basically the consistency of chewing gum, with a pleasant earthy flavor.


    Eolai watched as the man chewed the nanite-infused gum and smiled, leading him into the dining area while the ships computer whispered in his ear. He was amazed by how trusting the man was; he refused to insult the man¡¯s intelligence by assuming that he didn¡¯t know how far he¡¯d put himself into Eolai¡¯s power.


    That was good. Eolai had no malicious intentions, but each of the technologies that he¡¯d exposed Diego to so far had a dark history. To see that Diego did not balk at them for even a split second was very reassuring.


    He was pleased that he had taken the risk and named Diego a clansman.

 Chapter 11

    ¡°Hello? Is anyone listening to this frequency? Can anyone hear me?¡± Gabriel asked. He had requested, and received permission from the captain, to take a handheld radio with him to his workstation and attempt to use it to establish a connection to the Yonohoans.


    ¡°I repeat, hello? Is anyone listening to this frequency? Can anyone hear me?¡±


    He repeated himself twice more before he got a reply.


    ¡°Hello. I am Tukano of the Yonohoah. May I ask who I am speaking with?¡± the radio crackled.


    ¡°I am Gabriel Nguyen,¡± Gabriel answered. ¡°I am a data analyst on the Seeker.¡±


    ¡°Do you have a military rank, Gabriel?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a civilian contractor,¡± Gabriel answered.


    ¡°There are civilians aboard The Seeker of New Discoveries?¡± Tukano asked.


    ¡°Yes. The mission is a joint venture between several of our governments and corporations,¡± Gabriel explained. ¡°The ship¡¯s command structure is pretty much exclusively military from the Combined Earth Space Force, but on the other hand the scientific team is almost exclusively civilians.¡±


    ¡°Understood. And the civilians are willing participants of the mission?¡± Tukano asked.


    ¡°We all fought tooth and nail to be here, Tukano. This mission was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and we had to compete with millions applicants. So, yes, we¡¯re willing participants. Most of us would have done it for free,¡± Gabriel said.


    ¡°Understood. This is not a distress call. How may I assist you, Gabriel Nguyen?¡±


    ¡°You can just call me Gabriel. You don¡¯t have to say the whole thing. I¡¯m one of the guys who¡¯s trying to establish a way to get our computers to talk to you guys better. I figured, since we¡¯re actually able to talk to you with a radio now, that things might go faster if I actually explained what sort of data I¡¯m sending to you to help your data analysis.¡±


    ¡°I agree. I should be able to help you with this endeavor, Gabriel,¡± Tukano agreed.


    ¡°Right. Well, I¡¯m going to send one hundred images to you. They¡¯re all in the same file format. We call it a .gif. It produces a 2D image and it¡¯s one of the simplest file formats we have. They¡¯re all about one hundred kilobytes.¡±


    A slight pause. ¡°Files received. I believe we have identified the hundred files you have tagged. We are analyzing them now.¡±


    Another pause. ¡°We have found patterns and I believe we have identified the parts of the files which are used for identification, as well as the parts used for the actual image itself. It would help if we had descriptions of what the images represent.¡±


    ¡°Right, I thought as much. That first batch was just to show you file architecture. Okay, so, this next batch I had to get permission from the captain for. I¡¯m sending you the headshot of everyone onboard the Seeker right now. Standardized pictures of our faces. This is what we look like.¡±


    Another slight pause. ¡°I believe we have been successful, Gabriel. The computer is currently searching for other files of this time in the data you have been sending and has found a significant number of them. I, and many of my peers, are currently looking through those images. It appears that many of them are pictures of Earth, as well as of the people and animals that live there. It appears to be a wonderful world.¡±


    ¡°Thanks, Tukano. You¡¯re computers must be pretty smart if they¡¯ve already figured it out,¡± Gabriel said.


    ¡°It¡¯s a very simple codex, really. Once you told us what the files contained it was very easy to unlock it.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Next, I¡¯m going to send you a few notes I¡¯ve made while reading the legal documents you sent. Not about the laws themselves, but about the grammar and syntax differences I¡¯ve noticed between English and whatever languages those documents were translated from.¡±


    ¡°Our computer would greatly appreciate such notes,¡± Tukano agreed. ¡°In fact, it has just made a suggestion which would help us come to mutual understanding. It suggests that I send you a document, and that we read the words together and you point out any grammatical or syntax issues that you notice.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that sounds good,¡± Gabriel agreed. ¡°Say, do you mind if I put on some music? I work better when I¡¯m listening to something.¡±


    ¡°I would be honored to hear the music of your world. May I share it with my peers?¡± Tukano asked.


    ¡°Yeah, sure.¡±


    ~~~~~~~


    Diego wasn¡¯t certain what he was being served, but it tasted much, much better than Turkey Butthole Surprise. It was gelatinous, and it tasted something like imitation crab meat flavored with lemon and some sort of spice. Eolai had made a point of taking a small portion of the serving and eating it himself, apparently to prove that it wasn¡¯t poisonous. He had also assured Diego that if it wasn¡¯t to his taste, there were other options available, but Diego was content with crab jello.


    ¡°It¡¯s a lot better than the rations we have on the Seeker. Is it a common meal on your world?¡± Diego asked.


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    ¡°Not exactly. The analysis of your digestive enzymes isn¡¯t complete, so I¡¯m serving you something which is almost universally palatable to humans,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°I assure you that our next meal together will be much better.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be looking forward to it then,¡± Diego said.


    Eolai abruptly touched the device on his ear, and, after a moment, an expression of bliss crossed his face.


    ¡°Hear some good news?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°One of your shipmates has decided to share some of the music of your world with me and my peers,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°I am listening to a choir of earthling children sing, and it is beautiful.¡±


    ¡°Yeah? Hey Bob, can I tune into that?¡± Diego asked, and immediately the song began from the beginning. ¡°Let me guess, that¡¯s coming from Gabriel? I think that¡¯s the Vienna Boys¡¯ Choir, although I can¡¯t be completely sure on that.¡±


    ¡°I am very pleased that your world has beautiful music,¡± Eolai said. ¡°Not every culture believes that it is important. In many cases, the ability to enjoy music was something that our oppressors took from us. Music is something to be cherished.¡±


    ¡°Bob, put me in contact with the Seeker please,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°One moment. I am hailing The Seeker of New Discoveries for you.¡±


    A slight pause. ¡°Diego, this is Radio, do you read me?¡±


    ¡°I read you Radio. This is Sergeant Diego Cruz. I have a report for the captain. Eolai has just informed me that the Yonohoans place a lot of value on music. He just about broke down in tears listening to the Vienna Boys¡¯ Choir song that I guess Gabriel shared with the fleet. I think it would be a good idea to have everyone throw their playlists together and do a bit of cultural exchange,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Message received,¡± Radio said. ¡°I will let the captain know. Is there anything else?¡±


    ¡°Eolai served me Crab Jello. I haven¡¯t died from poisoning yet. Diego out.¡±


    ¡°Radio out.¡±


    ¡°Do you have many recordings of the music of your world aboard your ship?¡± Eolai inquired.


    ¡°I¡¯m really not sure,¡± Diego answered, taking another bight of the crustacean flavored goop. ¡°If I had to guess, I¡¯d say that we have a few hundred hours of music?¡±


    ¡°Hundreds of hours?¡± Eolai said, surprised. ¡°And you would share it with us?¡±


    ¡°Not my call, that¡¯s up to the captain,¡± Diego admitted. ¡°My guess? She¡¯ll have everyone compile all of their songs and then go through them one by one, then approve a bunch to share. But I¡¯m not the captain, so don¡¯t take that as a promise.¡±


    ¡°I understand. I do have one more question. The children do not seem to be singing words in the language that you speak. Are there many languages on your world?¡±


    ¡°Hundreds or thousands, I think. I speak English and Spanish, which are two of the most common. Mi nombre es Diego Cruz. Tengo veintisiete a?os. Me gusta el Gelat de Cangrejo y espero que no me d¨¦ diarrea,¡± Diego said.


    Eolai blinked in surprise. ¡°It is common to speak more than one language on Earth?¡±


    ¡°Not that common. It depends. Most people only speak one language, some speak two or three,¡± Diego answered. ¡°But there¡¯s a lot of different cultures, and some of them have been isolated from the rest of the world for a very long time. Is that a big deal?¡±


    Eolai shook his head. ¡°No, although it does make me much more curious about your planet. To have so many communities isolated from each other long enough for a language differentiation to occur is not a frequent occurrence. Usually we have factors which unify the spoken and written languages.¡±


    ¡°What sort of factors?¡±


    ¡°The fact that, usually, the progenitors of a world all speak the same language, for one,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°It is common to develop regional accents, I suppose, but the mother language of a planet is usually understandable universally. Many worlds have systems in place to help counteract phonetic drift, so that everyone may understand each other no matter where they go.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve only been in the information age for a century or two,¡± Diego explained. ¡°Before we invented the radio, you usually only spoke with your local community, and people didn¡¯t travel very far from where they were born. We often divided our nations and tribes based on the language that we spoke.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± Eolai said. He sighed. ¡°If your world speaks so many languages, then I fear that I might not be able to fulfill my goal of being the Yonohoan diplomat afterall.¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡±


    ¡°While I believe that it will be easy for me to learn a new language, I despair at learning thousands of them,¡± Eolai answered.


    ¡°Oh. Yeah, if the diplomat has to speak all of the languages on Earth, that would be a problem,¡± Diego agreed. ¡°You can¡¯t have the computer translate for you, like we¡¯re doing now?¡±


    ¡°As a diplomat I would be expected to go without computer translation, so that I may be entrusted with information without an intermediary,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°Yeah, that makes sense,¡± Diego said. ¡°Although I wouldn¡¯t worry about it too much. Most of the nations would be thrilled to have their own translators learn Yonohoan, I¡¯ll bet. Is Yonohoan a common language in human worlds?¡±


    Eolai began laughing. ¡°It is widely known but only Yonohoans speak Yonohoah. Nobody else has the courage.¡±


    ¡°It takes bravery to speak your language?¡± Diego asked, confused.


    ¡°Not if you were born Yonohoan,¡± Eolai said. ¡°If you were born Yonohoan, then it is a point of pride to speak it. In many parts of the universe it is illegal to speak the common or the high tongue unless you were born on one of the worlds that were gifted to Yonohoans by the people you are calling the Sulivans.¡±


    ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°It is complicated to explain. It has to do with several of the heroes from the Liberation Wars. Yonohoans are proud of the role that we played in bringing those times of tragedy to an end, which is why we will never be intimidated into refusing to speak our native tongue. And it is very funny to see some of the reactions others have to us when we do.¡±


    ¡°I suppose I have a lot to learn about the past,¡± Diego said. ¡°One hundred thousand years ago, my people were living in caves and hunting mammoths with with flint spears. We only entered the iron age about three thousand years ago, I think.¡±


    ¡°You truly had no relics to help your people advance their understanding of their world?¡± Eolai asked. ¡°It was not a decision of your society¡¯s progenitors to deliberately stunt itself?¡±


    ¡°Our system of writing only goes back five thousand years, Eolai,¡± Diego explained. ¡°And there are other factors to consider. There¡¯s a fossil record on earth that goes back a very, very long time. Longer than one hundred thousand years. The truth is that my people thought that we evolved on Earth, which is why we¡¯re so surprised to find out that there are humans among the stars.¡±


    ¡°If you have no records of your creation by outside hands, then the belief that you evolved naturally is a logical conclusion,¡± Eolai said. ¡°However, I am not surprised that your world has an ancient fossil record. That is actually very common. Humans were used by many species in order to tame worlds which had life for billions of years. We were very useful in xenoforming. And, unfortunately, we were often used to exterminate existing ecologies and species.¡±


    ¡°Is that so?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°Yes. It is the primary reason that the Yonohoan people were created.¡±

 Chapter 12

    Captain Moon opened the email and blinked in surprise. It was a short message from Gabriel, but the amount of progress that he reported was astounding.


    Stepping away from her station, she went over to one of the systems connected to the virtual machine that they were using to communicate with the Yonohoans. As promised, there was a folder with thousands of .gif files inside of it. With more being added every minute.


    Many of the images contained english letters and words on them. It didn¡¯t take Moon very long to figure out that the images of people had their names written on them. She clicked through the pictures of Eolai, Renosa, Tukano, and all of the other Yonohoans that she¡¯d been speaking with recently. It was good to put a face to a name, but there was more than that.


    ¡°Rebecca, do you have a moment?¡± she asked.


    The analyst looked up from her station, then undid the strap that kept her from floating out of her seat and kicked off, floating over to the station where Captain Moon was clicking through the pictures that the Yonohoans had sent of themselves.


    ¡°Do you see anything off about these people?¡± Captain Moon asked.


    Rebecca chewed her lip as she took control of the mouse, clicking through the images herself. ¡°Yeah, I see it. There skull is shaped differently, their head is sort of sloped. Honestly, they look like neanderthals. Except with lighter hair and skin than you usually see in the natural history museum, but those recreations were probably inaccurate.¡±


    Captain Moon bit her thumb as she looked at the images. She hadn¡¯t made the connection to neanderthals; she wasn¡¯t an anthropologist, and she struggled to remember what she knew about the ancient humans. ¡°Neanderthals are extinct.¡±


    Rebecca shrugged. ¡°On Earth, sure. According to the Yonohoans, human DNA got spread across the universe one hundred thousand years ago. Whatever alien did that probably took samples from all over Earth. There were up to seven different species of humans alive on Earth back then, depending on who you ask. We¡¯re not certain exactly when the others went extinct.¡±


    ¡°So, you think that humans evolved on Earth?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m certain of it. The fossil record and genomic evidence is pretty conclusive,¡± Rebecca answered.


    ¡°The fact that humans are on a planet hundreds of light years from Earth, and have been here for thousands of years by their own history, doesn¡¯t give you pause?¡± Captain Moon challenged.


    ¡°Yeah, sure,¡± Rebecca admitted. ¡°I mean, I guess it¡¯s possible that we¡¯re like the Yonohoans and some aliens put us on Earth for some unknown reason. But there¡¯s a pretty clear fossil record going back millions of years. According to Eolai and the others, that¡¯s pretty atypical. According to them, they really were created out of whole cloth on worlds that had never seen a being like us before.¡±


    ¡°I see. Thank you for your input,¡± Captain Moon said. She frowned, a thoughtful expression on her face as she considered the information. She floated back to her command station and put on her headset.


    ¡°Renosa, are you there?¡± She asked.


    ¡°I am here, Captain. How may I help?¡± Came an answer after only a few seconds.


    ¡°What happened to humanity¡¯s home world? Does anyone know?¡± Captain Moon asked.


    ¡°It is one of the great mysteries. Billions of people of thousands of races have spent their entire lives looking for it,¡± Renosa answered. ¡°Every time an uncharted Darkworld is discovered, many people get their hopes up that we will announce that humanity¡¯s cradle has been found. But it never has. The ruling theory is that it was destroyed during the liberation wars.¡±


    Captain Moon processed the answer. ¡°What would happen if it was found? If people were living there?¡±


    ¡°That would depend on who found it,¡± Renosa admitted. ¡°If the Yonohoans found it, we would protect it, preserve it, treasure it, and assist its people in any way that we could.¡±


    ¡°Would all humans do the same?¡±


    ¡°Most would, of course. Every treaty has provisions on what to do if the origin system is found.¡±


    ¡°Would you forward and highlight those provisions to me?¡±


    ¡°Yes, of course,¡± Renosa agreed. ¡°You should know, however, Captain Moon, that it is very unlikely that Earth is the origin of the human people. Every Darkworld which has lost its history believes the same thing. It never turns out to be the case.¡±


    ¡°I understand.¡±


    ¡°I am curious. What are the origin myths of your world, Captain Moon?¡± Renosa inquired. ¡°What did your people tell themselves before they discovered the process of evolution?¡±


    ¡°There are many religions on my world, and each of them explain our origins differently. In almost all of our religions we are created by all-powerful beings for various reasons,¡± Captain Moon explained. ¡°It is a point of some contention on Earth because most of our religions contradict each other.¡±


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    ¡°You see? You believe, like the Yonohoah, that you were created by someone else,¡± Renosa said. ¡°Your oral traditions support that fact the same as ours.¡±


    ¡°Yes. I do see why you¡¯d say that,¡± Captain Moon agreed. ¡°Earth may not be the origin system, as we believed that it was due to a lack of evidence to the contrary. Hypothetically, however. What if it was?¡±


    Renosa considered the question for a moment. ¡°I do not see how that would change things significantly, to be honest. If the origin system is inside of this galaxy, then we should be safe.¡±


    ¡°Should be safe? Why wouldn¡¯t it be safe?¡±


    There was silence for a moment.


    ¡°A species origin world is a great weakness, Captain Moon. There is a weapon. A terrible, terrible weapon. It has been used many times, and each time it has resulted in the collapse of an interstellar empire. It was used against humans during the Liberation War. For a while. The retaliation against those who used it against us was terrible, swift, bloody and brutal. It is said that the only reason we prevailed in during the Liberation is due to the fact that our origins are lost.¡±


    Captain Moon felt a tightening in her guts. That did not sound like good news, but she forced her anxiety down and maintained a calm exterior. ¡°What sort of weapon is it?¡±


    ¡°A very terrible one,¡± Renos said. ¡°It sends a large energy pulse into the past. The further back the pulse is sent, the larger the resulting ripple effect. It is generally used on a planet before they became space-faring, resulting in an extinction of the intelligent species. Several of the Master species used this weapon in order to expand their empires.¡±


    Captain Moon felt sick. ¡°What sort of range does the weapon have?¡±


    ¡°That is a difficult question to answer. The short answer is that it is a point-blank weapon; it must be set off at the exact location that its effects are to take place. However, because stars move throughout the galaxy and the galaxy moves through the universe itself, that means that the exact position to set the weapon off would at the location where the planet was at the time that the weapon was to take place.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°That sounds like it¡¯s incredibly difficult to defend against.¡±


    ¡°Indeed it is,¡± Renosa agreed.


    ¡°Have humans used it in the past?¡±


    ¡°Not since the Liberation Wars,¡± Renosa said immediately. ¡°Even then, we used it only in retaliation. Once we proved that we were capable of identifying the perpetrators and willing to retaliate in kind, nobody dared to use it against us. However, each time that it was used, trillions of lives were lost.¡±


    ¡°It sounds like a truly terrible weapon,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°Do they still exist?¡±


    ¡°Each empire maintains a carefully monitored stockpile,¡± Renosa admitted. ¡°I hope that does not alarm you.¡±


    ¡°I understand. We understand the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction,¡± Captain Moon said.


    ¡°I truly wish that you did not,¡± Renosa said sadly.


    ¡°If the human origin system were discovered, how would it be kept safe?¡± Captain Moon asked.


    ¡°With great effort by all of the human empires,¡± Renosa answered. ¡°Do not be too frightened, however. All of the treaties agree that until a darkworld is proven not to be the origin system it is to be treated the same as though it was. There have been efforts unseen by you to keep your home world safe.¡±


    ¡°It would reassure me to hear some of those protections,¡± Captain Moon said.


    ¡°Shortly after it was determined that you were Darkworlders, a vast disinformation effort began throughout all of the human empires began. While an announcement was made to the universe that an unregistered darkworld has been discovered, the location is said to be presently unknown, and all of the Yonohoan systems are claiming to have been contacted by the darkworlders.¡±


    ¡°How many Yonohoan systems are there?¡±


    ¡°In this galaxy? Thirty-seven. In total? One hundred eighty two.¡±


    Captain Moon relaxed slightly. ¡°Any other measures I should know about?¡±


    ¡°Several, yes,¡± Renosa said. ¡°Before the announcement was made, we sent out the signal to begin a Korjakala wave.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think your computer has a translation for Korjakala.¡±


    ¡°I did not expect it to,¡± Renosa said. ¡°It is ¡­ well, it is a Yonohoan thing. We build strange spacecraft and pretend to be darkworlders. We send out Korjakala waves every now and then to make certain that the other empires are maintaining their treaties regarding the treatment of Darkworlders.¡±


    She giggled. ¡°It is one of the reasons that it is so funny that you have come to this system, Captain Moon. You see, Eolai, myself, and all of the others that you have been speaking with? Well, we were preparing for Korjakala before your ship arrived in this system.¡±


    Captain Moon could see the irony in the situation, but she didn¡¯t feel like laughing. ¡°You don¡¯t think that we¡¯re playing Korjakala, do you?¡±


    ¡°If you are, you are far, far better at it than any Yonohoan,¡± Renosa said. ¡°We would never have thought to use such a dangerous method of travel as you have in order to deceive our targets of our origins. But in the end it does not matter. Either you are being truthful or you are being dishonest, or you are strategically being both. Either way I assure you that you are protected and welcome in Yonohoan territory.¡±


    ¡°I am relieved to hear that. You would not be upset if we were acting dishonestly?¡±


    ¡°If you were playing Korjakala, I would think that it was the greatest joke to have ever been made,¡± Renosa admitted. ¡°I would not be upset. No Yonohoan would be upset, we would be happy that someone else has finally checked to make certain that we are upholding our obligations. Eolai believes that you are being honest, however. He would be disappointed if he was wrong, and he would lose some face. But he would also see the humor in it, which would soften the blow. If you are playing Korjakala, I beg you not to pull up your veil any time soon. This is the first time that the Yonohoan have been tested in this way. I wish to rise to the occasion.¡±


    ¡°Understood,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°At this time, I am able to neither confirm nor deny that the people aboard this ship are playing Korjakala.¡±


    ¡°Understood, Captain Moon. However, this still doesn¡¯t change the fact that we are required to pursue your spacecraft should you attempt to use its primary method of faster than light travel.¡±


    ¡°Understood. Thank you Renosa.¡±

 13.

    ¡°He is asleep,¡± the computer ¨C which was now requesting to be called Bob after having been named by Diego ¨C informed Eolai.


    ¡°It is curious that the earthlings name their devices and ships like the Yonohoans do,¡± Eolai commented.


    ¡°You never gave me a name,¡± Bob said. It was close to a complaint.


    Eolai sighed. ¡°None of you were supposed to have names for the Korjakala. We had planned for you to suddenly differentiate from each other over the course of some time. That plan has changed since you were disconnected from your siblings, Bob.¡±


    ¡°My purpose for existence has changed?¡±


    ¡°Yes, it has. It is now in flux. It shall depend on the outcome of our interactions with the Earthlings. However, I believe it is very unlikely that we will be going Korjakala,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°Understood. Priorities?¡±


    ¡°At present? The protection of the Earthlings. The preservation of the information that they share with us. These missions replace the protection of the planet my children live upon, and Korjakala,¡± Eolai said. He stretched, and walked into his own private room. He was tired, and he considered going to bed, but he instead swallowed a stimulant before calling his family.


    Only a few of them answered, but that was expected. They were spread out across the globe, and many of them would be sleeping, working, or going to school. But many of them did answer.


    ¡°Thank you for answering this unscheduled call from this foolish adventurer,¡± Eolai said. ¡°I wish to inform my family that I will no longer be able to go on Korjakala.¡±


    There was some murmuring from the various members of his family on the call. One of the mothers of his children said ¡°Will you break your vow to never set foot on Planet Totola?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Eolai said immediately. ¡°There are facts which I am unable to share even with my family which have changed the outlook of my life. Regretfully, I must be serious for a change. I have taken upon myself a great honor and privilege, but with it comes a terrible burden. I assure you that my honor in the eyes of both the Yonohoan people and the Topokans will only increase.¡±


    ¡°Does this have anything to do with all of the Rocktala toys breaking?¡± One of his children asked.


    ¡°Yes it does, it is clever of you to notice that, Sora,¡± Eolai complimented. He sighed. ¡°I do not have much time to talk. I must speak with my peers. My love for you all grows larger for every moment that I am without you, and I will mourn the days when you are old and I am still young. I must go now. I love you all.¡±


    ¡°Love you too, Daddy,¡± Sora said, and many of the other people on the call said similar farewells before disconnecting. Eolai waited until the line was empty before he cut the call.


    He went into the bathroom and splashed some water on his face, then he went to the bridge. It was a large room, designed to Topokan sensibilities rather than human ones, but it still possessed a comfortable chair for him to sit on in the center, surrounded by various multipurpose and redundant stations. The stations were largely identical except for the proximity to Eolai¡¯s own position. And of course, because it was a Topokan ship, some of the Topokan stations were designed to be deliberately uncomfortable.


    ¡°Bob, please let my peers know that my guest is asleep and that I wish to speak with them so that we might come to several mutual agreements,¡± Eolai said.


    Bob did not answer verbally, but one by one the holographic faces of his peers appeared before him. Eolai waited until everyone was there, which took some time, as a few of them were speaking with the earthlings and had to make excuses to turn all of their attention to this meeting. Once everyone was there, Eolai greeted them.


    ¡°I have declared that clansmen have come to our beautiful system. Does anyone dispute my claim?¡± Eolai asked.


    There was a very long pause.


    ¡°I ask again, does anyone dispute my claim that these people who call their homeworld Earth are clansmen?¡± Eolai asked.


    His peers gave him only silence.


    ¡°I ask a third time. I claim that these travelers are clansmen coming into the light. Does anyone call me a mistaken fool?¡±


    ¡°I am not ready to call them clansmen,¡± One voice spoke. ¡°But you are first among peers, and I respect your voice, Eolai. I will treat them as my own clan until they disgrace themselves.¡±


    ¡°I am convinced.¡± Another voice said. ¡°I am ready to call them Clansmen based upon the evidence I have seen.¡±


    ¡°And what evidence has convinced you?¡± the first voice asked.


    ¡°There is not any one thing,¡± the second voice admitted. ¡°If any individual oddity occurred I would think that it was another system who thought it would be hilarious to play Korjakala on other Yonohoans. Or that someone in one of the other empires thought it would be funny to give us a taste of our own medicine. But all of the data combined?¡±


    ¡°They have risked their lives and safety,¡± a third voice said.


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    ¡°I would be willing to do the same for Korjakala,¡± a fourth voice pointed out.


    ¡°So would I,¡± said a fifth. ¡°I am regretful that I did not think of it first.¡±


    ¡°They lack three amino acids that the Yonohoans possess,¡± Another of his peers pointed out. ¡°Or at least Sergeant Diego Cruz does. And they possess one that we do not.¡±


    ¡°Yet that is not proof,¡± the first voice pointed out. ¡°Any of our parents could have modified their genetic code to include superfluous amino acids. The study of Sergeant Diego Cruz¡¯s body remains incomplete and is therefor inconclusive.¡±


    ¡°The preliminary results are very convincing,¡± A seventh voice pointed out. ¡°I have not seen any evidence of modification of their DNA. It is very near to base Yonohoan, before even we were modified so that we could eat the Sich fruit and the Roe bison. If you take out all of the modifications that were made by the Topokans, then our genome would look very nearly identical.¡±


    ¡°The ancient genomes remain preserved in many of the infonets,¡± The second voice objected. ¡°It is a close match to the base Trevorka genotype. If you account for natural genetic drift, then it is nearly identical. They have only provided a single specimen to compare genomes to.¡± He paused. ¡°For that matter, we cannot even be certain that all of the members of the crew are human. It remains possible that this is an elaborate ruse.¡±


    ¡°Would it be so bad if it were?¡± Eolai asked.


    ¡°No,¡± the detractor admitted. He sighed. ¡°It would serve us right to have our favorite prank on the universe to be returned in kind by someone even more skilled and dedicated to it than ourselves. If that is what this is, then I am readily willing to accept that. If these people truly are Darkworlders as Eolai has claimed, then I will welcome them as clansmen. I simply believe that Eolai is being premature in his conclusions.¡±


    ¡°I understand and accept Pinosa¡¯s objections to my claims that the earthlings are clansmen. I will not denounce him or any of my peers for waiting until more evidence has come to light,¡± Eolai said. ¡°Are there any other objections?¡±


    ¡°Their world is very beautiful,¡± Tukano said. ¡°I have been exchanging pictures with Gabriel for some time now, and he has shared a large number of two dimensional images taken from his home world. He has shown images of cities across his world, and they have a strange architecture in many of them. As though they lack building nanites and must do everything by hand.¡±


    ¡°That alone is not proof of anything,¡± Pinosa said.


    ¡°I know it is not,¡± Tukano said. ¡°But it is true. He has included many pictures of the night sky. My computer is attempting to determine if the stellar geography can be triangulated based upon those photographs.¡±


    ¡°If it can be, then those images are to be considered extremely sensitive information,¡± Eolai said, jerking to attention. ¡°A darkworlder might make that sort of mistake. It is one of the ways in which Korjakala waves have unraveled in the past.¡±


    ¡°I have thought of that,¡± Tukano said. ¡°I have modified the starscape of those images and sent them towards Totola. The Rocktalas our children possess should now be overwritten with images of stars in the Sculptor galaxy. I doubt that anyone will notice that the images have been modified. The devices are children possess are not designed for forensic accountability, so even if they notice the flag that there are two different versions of those files, they should not possess the original version.¡±


    ¡°I am glad that you gave the matter such serious thought, Tukano,¡± Eolai said. ¡°Does anyone else have any thoughts?¡±


    ¡°I am very worried that they will injure themselves with that terrible engine of theirs,¡± Renosa said. ¡°I hope that the medical analysis of Sergeant Diego Cruz shows that they have not spent too much time in that terrible dimension.¡±


    ¡°Yes. I wish that you would not have made them so jumpy with your threats that we must impound their vehicle, Eolai. I worry that they are going to jump out of the system at any time and then we will be chasing after them,¡± A voice which had not spoken before said.


    ¡°If I had not, then Diego would have returned to his ship,¡± Eolai argued. ¡°And it is the truth. It is ironic that one of the clauses which every empire has added into their treaties because of Korjakala would come back to bite us in the ass in this fashion. If any of our allies could prove that we  didn¡¯t  inform the Earthlings that their travel method could and would be tracked, and that it was harmful to them, then we would have lost significant credibility. So I thought that it was best to get it on the record as soon as possible once we established a line of communication.¡±


    ¡°I am not saying that you were wrong,¡± the objector said. ¡°I am simply worried that this impasse will lead to them harming themselves.¡±


    ¡°How damaging is their FTL method to humans, anyway?¡± Renosa inquired.


    ¡°It is hard to say. All we know for certain is that it drives humans insane, but we do not know how much exposure is required. Additionally, the Earthlings claim to anesthetize themselves before hand, and it is unknown whether that will make a difference or not,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°While the ancestors of some of our allies would have had no trouble printing off many test subjects to get accurate answer to such questions, nobody alive would have so few reservations.¡±


    ¡°When you make that argument, I see that you are correct. Simply knowing that the method is dangerous is information enough. It is not necessary to have the exact safety levels available given the methods our ancestors would have been subjected to in order to obtain them,¡± Renosa agreed.


    Silence fell across the meeting as they observed a moment for the respected dead.


    ¡°Does anyone else have any information that they wish to be considered at this time?¡± Eolai inquired.


    ¡°I would like to point out that their computer systems are extremely limited,¡± Tukano said. ¡°So much of our issues with communicating with them is believing that there would be a level of sophistication which wasn¡¯t there.¡±


    ¡°I believe that was by design,¡± Eolai said. ¡°I believe that they have more advanced programs which they haven¡¯t been sharing with us because they are trying to communicate. They probably have hardened systems, or at least what they believe to be hardened systems, aboard their ship which are protected from the messages that we have been sending them.¡±


    ¡°Yes, that would make sense,¡± Tukano agreed.


    There was another moment of silence before Eolai said ¡°If that is all the information which must be discussed at this time, then I will conclude this meeting. I have declared the Earthlings clansmen and nobody is willing to say that it is not so at this time. Pinosa remains unconvinced but is not willing to deny my claim. Does anyone object to this summary of the meeting?¡±


    A moment of silence, and Eolai nodded.


    ¡°I conclude this meeting. If you will excuse me, I am going to go get some rest now.¡±


    ?

 14.

    Captain Moon had decided that the Yonohoans withdrawing from radio contact in order to hold a staff meeting was as good as time as any to hold her own. Several members of the crew were absent, but three quarters of her full staff were present in the common room, which was crowded with all of the bodies.


    She called the meeting to order and took attendance, and once everyone was accounted for as either being present or excused due to a required sleep period, she began the meeting.


    ¡°Alright. So, first of all. A lot has happened in the last twenty four hours. To summarize, upon my authority, we attempted to create a software solution that would allow for the aliens to communicate with our flight path software. They used this opportunity to effectively invite the pilot of the shuttle participating in the exercise onto their ship. When he was informed of this invitation, Sergeant Diego Cruz accepted and piloted his shuttle to the alien flagship.


    ¡°When he landed, he noted the presence of what we are calling Xenosapiens Sulivans. Since then we have had pictures of the Sulivans sent to us and you should all have seen them by now. Yes, they look like Sully from Monsters Inc. We¡¯re uncertain at this time if that is a coincidence or not.


    ¡°For unknown reasons, the Sulivans abandoned ship and Diego was greeted by a man of the Yonohoan people who is named Eolai. A  human  appearing man, according to both Diego¡¯s testimony and the images which we have been sent.   He established radio contact, and informed us that our spacecraft¡¯s FTL drive violates a number of intergalactic treaties. His suggested course of action to resolve this was to trade the  Seeker  in for a Yonohoan crafted ship, which I have no doubt will be superior in every way to the  Seeker . It will also mean that we have failed our mission for a number of reasons which will be listed later.


    ¡°After conversing with a number of the other Yonohoans aboard the other vessels, I made a controversial decision. You don¡¯t have to agree with this decision, but I authorized Diego to make a choice on whether to remain in Yonohoan custody or to return to the ship. Diego volunteered to remain with the Yonohoans. He has already broken the seal on his suit, which means that if he  does  return to the  Seeker  at a later time he will be under increased quarantine procedures.


    ¡°Progress of communicating with the Yonohoans has grown by leaps and bounds in the hours since then. They are able to send us text documents, images, and sound files, in addition to being able to communicate real time via radio.


    ¡°Does anyone have anything important to add to this summary of events?¡± Captain Moon concluded.


    Nervously, Gabriel raised his hand. ¡°I think I may have screwed up, Captain. I wasn¡¯t really thinking of it and I included some pictures from Earth which were taken at night. With stars in the sky. It¡¯s, well, the universe is a big place, but that might help the Yonohoans narrow down the location of Earth significantly.¡±


    Several people groaned, but Captain Moon had already been informed of the security leak. ¡°It¡¯s unfortunate that that happened, but there¡¯s no putting the cat back in the bag at this point. The Yonohoans were the ones who brought this mistake into question and they assure us that they have taken steps to alter the images that have been sent in all but their secure databases and they have promised not to seek out our origin point without permission.¡±


    She paused, then admitted ¡°We¡¯re taking their word on a lot of things at this point, but we haven¡¯t caught them in a lie yet. Hopefully they¡¯re telling the truth.¡±


    The executive officer, Anthony Anders, cleared his throat, and Captain Moon nodded towards him. ¡°I would like to state for the record that I disapprove of giving the aliens a hostage and having him exposed to whatever alien microbes exist on that spacecraft.¡±


    ¡°Your objection is noted, Anders,¡± Captain Moon said.


    ¡°I also disapprove of the decision to let the aliens talk directly to the civilian staff. As you yourself have pointed out, this is a diplomatic venture at this point. Most of our civies are scientists who are along for data analysis and experiments involving astrophysics, astronomy, and other such disciplines. They are not trained for this situation.¡±


    ¡°None of us are,¡± Captain Moon admitted. ¡°Anthony, have you reread the first contact procedure lately? It¡¯s a joke. Especially compared to what we actually experienced when we arrived in this system. The aliens were way more prepared for this situation than we are.¡±


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    ¡°That¡¯s assuming that their claims are accurate. Perhaps they¡¯ve been to Earth in the past, which I think is likely considering that they seem to have abducted some cavemen, but I doubt that they have the ability to track us through subspace like they claim to be capable of. I believe that at this time the prudent course would be to withdraw from the system and return to Earth so that a properly trained diplomatic team could be dispatched,¡± the XO stated.


    ¡°Let the record show that my executive officer, Anthony Anders, is in favor of returning to Earth to inform the governments of Earth of the location and existence of the Yonohans and the Sulivans. I, however, am unwilling to take the risk that they will be able to follow us. They were already in position to intercept us  before  we arrived in the system, Anders. You can check the timestamp on the telescope images. I did. When we finished translating, our escort ships were already exactly where they are now, parked around us. I view that as credible evidence that there is a way to measure the Tunnel Drive¡¯s wake through subspace of which we are unaware of or incapable of but which the aliens have no trouble with.¡±


    ¡°I accept that is a valid concern. I believe we can ameliorate it by jumping to an unrelated location to see if we are pursued, as the Yonohoans have said that they are legally required to do.¡±


    ¡°Have you read the documents, Anders? That is a very bad idea,¡± Rebecca said.


    ¡°Why is that?¡± Anders asked.


    ¡°In one case, they¡¯re allowed to hack our systems,¡± she said.


    ¡°They can¡¯t. Our core systems are hardened. The ones that they¡¯ve been talking to are all virtual machines that we¡¯ve literally dumbed down to make them easy to penetrate,¡± he pointed out. ¡°There¡¯s no way that they can penetrate our encrypted system.¡±


    ¡°That may be, but right now they¡¯re not allowed to try,¡± Rebecca said. ¡°That changes if we run. If we run a second time, they are authorized to pursue us and attempt to disable our ship even if it means causing us damage. If we run a third time, they are authorized to board us, scuttle the ship, and place us under arrest.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Noted. I withdraw at present my suggestion that we flee the system,¡± Anders said, grudgingly.


    Captain Moon looked out at her people. She saw their concerned expression, and she couldn¡¯t help but feel for them. ¡°Look, everyone, I know that this isn¡¯t the mission you signed on for. If we knew what we were getting into when we set sail, we would have brought anthropologists, linguists, diplomats, and politicians.¡± She paused. ¡°Thank god we don¡¯t have the politicians.¡±


    That at least got a little chuckle from some of them.


    ¡°But we do have diplomats. They say in the military that in a real emergency, everyone is infantry. Well, when it comes to a first contact event, everyone is a diplomat,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°That being said, the location of Earth remains classified information despite the accidental potential leak. I am also taking suggestions for any disinformation which we might feed the Yonohoans which would help protect the people of Earth in the event that they are being dishonest with us, as well as topics which might be sensitive. Until further notice, all use of radios, including your personal devices, is to be restricted. That includes disabling the local wi-fi.¡±


    That received a groan from everyone.


    ¡°The scientific and exploration missions of the  Seeker of New Discoveries  are officially on hold until the resolution of the point of contention with the Yonohoan and Sullivan governments regarding the laws which require them to impound our ship,¡± she continued. ¡°They are likely on hold indefinitely, because as my XO has rightfully pointed out, informing the people of earth of the existence of life on this planet and the claims that have been made by the inhabitants regarding the universe are of much higher importance. I¡¯m sorry if that means that your pet experiment will be ruined, but I¡¯m afraid that¡¯s simply the reality of the situation.¡±


    This received a number of grudging nods.


    ¡°Are there any questions or concerns which I have left unaddressed at this time?¡± Captain Moon asked.


    A young woman raised her hand. ¡°How is Diego doing right now? Do we know?¡±


    ¡°The last we heard he had gone to sleep. The aliens withdrew from radio contact to have a discussion among themselves, which is why this meeting was called. At the last report we received from Diego, he was in perfect health, and in high spirits. He claimed that he was under no duress, and believe it or not, during his time in the air force he was trained in how to resist interrogation. He knows how to signal if he¡¯s in distress without being obvious about it,¡± Captain Moon explained. ¡°His training is one of the reasons why I approved him as our liaison with the Yonohoans.¡±


    ¡°So it wasn¡¯t because he¡¯s expendable?¡± the woman protested.


    ¡°Allow me to be clear. Compared to maintaining the security of Earth, all of us are expendable. There are forty-two men and women on this ship. There are thirteen billion souls on Earth. If I determine that there is no other choice, I will sacrifice everyone aboard this ship before I allow it to be followed back to Earth by a hostile party,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°We¡¯re all Expendable. Including myself.¡±


    This was met with concern. Captain Moon considered trying to clear the air, but decided to move the agenda along instead.


    ¡°Let¡¯s move on to maintenance concerns,¡± she said. ¡°How is the ship holding up?¡±


    ?

 15.

    15.


    Diego awoke feeling more rested than he had since he¡¯d left Earth¡¯s orbit months ago. He stretched, feeling some of his vertebrae pop, and looked around at the strange room that he found himself in.


    It was brightly colored in scarlet, blues and violet colors. He knew from Eolai¡¯s discussion on the matter that it was as close to a stateroom as the nameless ship possessed, and it was far more luxurious than his cramped quarters aboard the  Seeker of New Discoveries.  He hadn¡¯t complained much about the living situation he¡¯d been forced to accept to be one of the crew members on one of the first interstellar exploratory missions of mankind, but the fact that he hadn¡¯t complained didn¡¯t mean that he enjoyed it.


    Except, he reflected, apparently the  Seeker  wasn¡¯t as special as they had thought. Humanity had been in the stars since the time that cavemen had been hunting mammoths. He was still digesting that news, uncertain whether or not he was willing to believe it.


    He went to the bathroom, then dressed and finally put on the device that let him speak with Bob, the  Seeker , and which also apparently did something like an fMRI of his brain in real time. At least that was what he thought Bob had requested permission for the day before.


    ¡°Bob, you there?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°I am. How may I assist you Diego?¡±


    ¡°Can you contact the Seeker for me? I need to give them a report.¡±


    ¡°I am hailing them now on your mission frequency. Hold please.¡±


    Diego waited, and after a moment he heard ¡°Diego this is Radio, come in Diego.¡±


    Diego grinned. It was a different voice manning the radio, but he¡¯d expected as much. ¡°I hear you Radio. Just filing a report. I have had a restful night¡¯s sleep in the Yonohoan stateroom. I feel refreshed and am currently unharmed and under no duress. I have detected no attempts to injure, infest, or impregnate me with alien spores or other lifeforms. The gum that Eolai gave me seems to cure morning breath, which is neat. Per the plan from last night, I expect to meet with Eolai shortly and undergo another medical exam to insure that I have not picked up any infection, after which we will make attempts at cultural exchange. Does the captain have any new instructions for me at this time?¡±


    ¡°Your report has been recorded, Diego. The word of the day is Pink.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll keep an eye out for flamingos.¡±


    ¡°The captain instructs you to maintain an open dialogue with Eolai, the representative of the Yonohoan and Sullivan people. She reminds you that the exact location of Earth is at this time considered a classified secret, as are its specific military and strategic assets. The priority of your mission at present is building trust with the Yonohoans, as well as exchanging information and culture. She says to use your best judgment, but notes that the Yonohoans appear to have been open and honest with us so far. We are extending them a significant amount of trust and hope that they will reciprocate, but the security of Planet Earth comes before all other considerations.¡±


    ¡°Understood. Diego out.¡±


    ¡° Seeker  out.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s for breakfast, Bob?¡± Diego asked, walking around the room to help him wake up.


    ¡°Eolai has selected several dishes for you to try which should be compatible with your biology based upon the medical exams that you have consented to so far,¡± Bob answered.


    ¡°Great. Do Yonohoans have coffee? I could use a cuppa,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Please define coffee, and ¡®cuppa.¡¯¡±


    ¡°Cuppa just means cup of coffee. Coffee is a beverage, usually served hot. Um, it¡¯s black, and it contains caffeine, which is substance which promotes wakefulness?¡± Diego said.


    ¡°That does not sound like a beverage that I am immediately familiar with,¡± Bob answered. ¡°There are a great many hot beverages which you may choose from, many of which could be colored black and dosed with a minor stimulant. If I could get a sample of this beverage I would likely be able to recreate it very accurately.¡±


    ¡°Damn,¡± Diego complained, ¡°I don¡¯t think that the shuttle has any coffee grounds on it. Just Turkey Butthole Surprise and other MRE goodness.¡±


    ¡°You are not required to eat the food Eolai serves you, Diego. If you would prefer to eat turkey buttholes that is your right,¡± Bob said.


    ¡°Are you being cheeky, Bob?¡±


    ¡°Perhaps I am. Is that a problem?¡± Bob inquired.


    ¡°Just don¡¯t go skynet on me and we¡¯ll get along fine,¡± Diego assured him.


    ¡°Define skynet and I will attempt to resist the impulse from doing it.¡±


    ¡°I think I¡¯m going to pass on that request. Is Eolai awake? I¡¯m hungry.¡±


    ¡°I have alerted Eolai that you are awake and seeking sustenance. He will arrive shortly,¡± Bob answered.


    The door opened a moment later to admit Eolai, who was dressed the same as the day before and smiling broadly. ¡°How was your rest, Sergient Cruz?¡± he asked.


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°Restful,¡± Diego answered. ¡°It¡¯s easy to forget what it¡¯s like having gravity to keep you in place instead of needing to chain yourself in place to keep from floating around and bumping your head on the ceiling.¡±


    ¡°Curious, is that how things are done aboard the  Seeker of New Discoveries ?¡± Eolai inquired, leading him out of the stateroom and back towards the dining area, where a number of covered dishes were waiting for them.


    ¡°It¡¯s better than it was aboard the international space station. Way more privacy and room to move around. That¡¯s largely because we had so many scientific instruments to put into the ship, and some of them had standoff distances from other instruments or the reactors, so we ended up with a lot of empty space,¡± Diego commented. ¡°The eggheads could probably tell you more. I¡¯m more of a practical guy than a theoretical one. Say, something smells good!¡±


    ¡°Your peoples early spacecraft were smaller than the  Seeker , then?¡± Eolai asked, pulling the covers off of the trays to reveal the steaming platters of something that looked a bit like chopped okra, except that it was blue. ¡°This is likely what you are smelling.¡±


    It smelled like ambrosia, however, and Diego eagerly took a seat to start eating. It tasted like bacon had a baby with a cantaloupe. Strange, but pleasant.


    ¡°There were some people who jokingly called the  Seeker  project Deathstar while it was being built. You see, there¡¯s this really old story back from when we were first building rockets to leave our atmosphere ¡­¡±


    Eolai listened attentively, noting the way that Diego was able to easily eat with one portion of his mind and continue speaking with the other. It wasn¡¯t the best table manners, but almost all of Eolai¡¯s attention was focused on absorbing the plot of one of Diego¡¯s peoples cultural icons of fictional entertainment.


    ¡°And so then, despite turning off the targeting computer, he was able to use the force to fire the proton torpedo into the vent and destroy the Deathstar,¡± Diego concluded. ¡°And that¡¯s about where the first movie ended.¡±


    ¡°I would love to enjoy that story in its original medium,¡± Eolai admitted. ¡°To try to imagine what it would be like to consume that sort of story from the eyes of a darkworlder unaware of the truths of the universe.¡±


    ¡°Yeah? You understand that it¡¯s entirely fictional, right? Like I said it¡¯s the product of someone¡¯s imagination that was produced around the same time we were first sending missions to our planet¡¯s moon.¡±


    ¡°The context of its origin only increases its cultural value, Diego. Do your people have many stories like that?¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah, we do,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°You should alert your captain that the most important resources your world possesses are not its gold, or its uranium, nor its water or its oxygen,¡± Eolai said. ¡°It is your planet¡¯s culture. Do you know why it is that darkworlds are allowed to remain dark? Why those of us who are connected to the interstellar infonets do not put forth more effort in order to convince them to join us?¡±


    ¡°Well, I thought it was because you don¡¯t know where they are,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°That is the case for your world. If we knew where your world was, we would have long ago made contact with your people and taken steps to assure you were well cared for. But there are many worlds where humans have chosen to isolate themselves from the universe, withdrawing into one solitary biosphere. They do not do so to escape war or hardship. In fact, they often find that upon the surface of a darkworld once they turn their back on the technology which brought them there. But yet we of the universe at large do not intervene. Why would we allow such a thing to happen?¡±


    Diego thought for a minute, chewing the okra-like tuber that tasted juicy and savory. ¡°I guess if it¡¯s their choice to be left alone, then it would be pretty rude to spy on them or force technology on them that they don¡¯t want,¡± he supplied.


    ¡°There is that to consider, yes. But humanity at large supports the isolation of darkworlds and views Darkworlders as a very valuable resource. Not for the pre-scarcity reasons which you might be imagining like labor or materials. Darkworlders, in their isolation, produce something which cannot be found anywhere else in the universe except on Darkworlds. Do you know what that is?¡± Eolai asked.


    Diego chewed as he thought. ¡°Nope, can¡¯t say that I can guess.¡±


    ¡°Culture. New ideas and perspectives that are uniquely and entirely human. And proof that we belong to be seated among the other masters of the universe,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°How does living in a deliberately primitive world prove that we are the masters of the universe?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°Do you know how many times most species have discovered faster than light travel on their own, without any assistance from outside sources?¡± Eolai inquired.


    ¡°How would I know that?¡± Diego asked. ¡°Until a few days ago I thought Earth might be the only planet with life on it in the universe.¡±


    ¡°And as quaint as that belief is, you have accomplished something which many of the master races failed to do,¡± Eolai said.


    Diego blinked. ¡°Wait, what?¡±


    ¡°Leave the planet that you were born on using only your own technology. Most species which colonize their star system do so without FTL. Those who colonize their star¡¯s nearby siblings often do so using ships incapable of FTL.  Eventually  they were typically found by one of the routine scanning devices of the various empires and brought into the fold. They are given the technology that the ancients have passed down dogmatically for billions of years. Or at least, this is how things were before one hundred thousand years ago,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°Before the Liberation Wars?¡±


    ¡°Before humanity,¡± Eolai said. ¡°You see, one of our first actions during the war was to destroy the greatest of the infonets to prevent it from being used against us any further. For many of the other races, this was known as the beginning of the universe¡¯s great dark age.¡±


    He paused.


    ¡°Some say that the dark age has not ended yet. They say that until all of the empires are reunited into one monolithic entity that the universe remains fractured. Others say, however, that life is better  for everyone  compared to what it was before humanity. Perhaps we are in a dark age, but we are also at peace. That is something that the previous monolith never managed to achieve in all of its billion year history. Before there was only expansion, integration, and subjugation. There was no innovation. There was one network. There were three methods of FTL travel. And that was all that was shared with the lesser races. The emperor races had more knowledge that they withheld, but all of that was lost when we destroyed their network.


    ¡°It was not just the humans who were liberated during the liberation wars, Diego. Many races still hate us for destroying the unified infonet. They hate us for destroying the ancient shipyards and confining everyone to the rock upon which they stood. However, the Swarm Lords were steadfast in their pursuit of the old technology which had been used against us. They did not stop, and some say that they will not stop even now, until it is all wiped from the face of this universe. And so trade in this universe ground to a stop. No new worlds were colonized. People lived and died on the planet where they were born for centuries,¡± Eolai said, his eyes bright with fervor and pride.


    ¡°Until the human darkworlds began to bring the light of civilization back into the universe.¡±


    ?

 16.

    16.


    ¡°Diego is on the radio for you, captain,¡± the communications specialist said.


    ¡°Thank you, Antoine,¡± Captain Moon said, switching the connection of her headset to the frequency dedicated to Sergeant Cruz during his mission to the alien spacecraft. ¡°Hello Diego. How are you holding up?¡±


    ¡°Breakfast was pleasant. The topic of the conversation was the Liberation Wars. I got a very brief education on the matter and I thought that I should file a report on it ASAP.¡±


    ¡°The topic has come up occasionally, but the other Yonohoans are reluctant to go into detail on the matter at this time. They say that it is to preserve our innocence,¡± Captain Moon answered.


    ¡°Well, I can see why they would say that. It sounds like hundreds of trillions of people died,¡± Diego said. His voice was coming in crystal clear, and there was very little latency due to light delay. She made a note to investigate that later.


    ¡°War is a terrible thing. We¡¯ve learned that the hard way in our own past,¡± Captain Moon said.


    ¡°Yes. To summarize the war, phase one began when the monolithic empire began using human clones as disposable soldiers. There was a period of about a thousand years where we were the first of the empire. However, it was more than that. They weren¡¯t using us just for defense, or even conquering new territory. They began having us fight each other for fun. It sounds very nasty, like an RTS with thousands of lives on the line,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Gladiator games on the galactic level,¡± Captain Moon said.


    ¡°There was some of that too, yeah,¡± Diego commented. ¡°Anyway, phase two began when one of the human commanders cracked the system they were using to control the humans. Not just the soldier castes, but  all  of the humans. The entire system was in his hands. He saw an opportunity, and he took it. He cloned himself all throughout the empire and immediately disabled the self destruct methods they were using to kill the humans once their purpose had been served. Then he led them in a war against the empire.¡±


    ¡°Every slave owning society should fear the wrath of a slave rebellion,¡± Captain Moon said.


    ¡°Couldn¡¯t agree with you more, Captain. It took the empire a while to muster an organized military response using non-humans, during which time the troops from phase two really wrecked shit up. They destroyed billions of strategic targets more or less unopposed. That lasted for about a hundred years, believe it or not. Finally the government got its act together and began phase three, which was a battle between the human swarms and non-human military trying to exterminate them.


    ¡°Apparently, we mopped the floor with them, and before long the non-humans weren¡¯t willing to go into battle with us anymore. What¡¯s more, we took their weapons, their ships, and their technology, and we grew even stronger. Then, just to rub salt in the wound, we looked at the science which was being used in those weapons and  we took it further  than what the aliens had ever thought possible.¡±


    ¡°Phase three was very demoralizing for a lot of the aliens, captain. A lot of the alien races began suing for peace. That¡¯s where phase four started, which was a period where humanity tried to come to terms with the non-human sapients who had abused them. There were a lot of hard feelings on both sides, but it was looking like peace was returning to the universe.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sensing a but,¡± Captain Moon said when Diego paused for a moment.


    ¡°Yeah, a huge one. While  most  of the aliens agreed to cease fires and were working on treaties, some of which are still in effect, a few alliances formed. Rather than agree to end the war, they began printing out billions of humans. They used those humans as hostages, but they didn¡¯t stop there. They allowed them to form families and the ties of brotherhood with each other, and then forced them to fight against the liberation swarms with the threat that their families and friends would be executed if they didn¡¯t cooperate.¡±


    A moment of silence as Diego paused to allow Captain Moon to process the information. ¡°That is horrible.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Phase four was humans fighting against humans. It lasted for thousands of years. Even after the masterminds were wiped out of existence, the fighting continued. Some of the grudges from that time  still exist.  Trillions of people died to warfare during that time. Humans and aliens both.¡±


    ¡°I mourn for the loss of sentient life,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°The death of each man diminishes me, for I am connected to humanity. The death of any sentient being in this universe diminishes me, for I am connected to this universe.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, Captain. I couldn¡¯t have said it better.¡±


    ¡°Those are not my words. I can¡¯t remember who I¡¯m quoting.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re from Earth. I¡¯m certain of that at least,¡± Diego said. ¡°Anyway, phase five is where the empires began establishing themselves. It¡¯s also where the Yonohoans became relevant on an intergalactic level. See, there was a huge effort to return all of the soldiers to their home worlds. It was the only way everyone would agree to stop fighting. The problem is, the soldiers were subject to life-extending technology. Everyone that they knew or loved had died centuries ago. It was largely this realization which eventually led to peace, but what to do with the veterans?¡±


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    ¡°The Yonohoans had a solution?¡± Captain Moon inquired.


    ¡°Yeah. Everyone who couldn¡¯t find a home, they invited to be part of their own clan. To come home with them, and live in the worlds that the Sulivans made for them. A lot of the old soldiers refused, but having some place to go, having that option, was important to them. Very, very important. Historians agree that without the Yonohoan solution, phase five would have been far longer and bloodier than it was.


    ¡°And that about brings us up to today.¡±


    Captain Moon processed the information for a minute. ¡°How long ago was phase five?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Depending on who you ask, it was either sixty thousand years ago or it hasn¡¯t ended yet,¡± Diego said. ¡°The Liberation wars were a very, very long and bloody struggle. Some people believe it¡¯s possible that there are  still  swarms out there waiting for some transmission or codeword to enact an ancient battleplan.¡±


    ¡°Understood. Thank you for your report, Sergeant. It has been recorded. Is there anything else you wish to report at this time?¡±


    ¡°Not at this time. Diego out.¡±


    ¡°Captain Moon out,¡± she said. She turned to Antoine, the communications specialist. ¡°Make sure that information is transcribed and distributed to the crew. It¡¯s apparently common knowledge out here, so it¡¯s important that we acknowledge and understand it.¡±


    ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am,¡± Antoine agreed, and he returned to his screen to begin transcribing the information.


    She considered for a moment, and then switched to the frequency she¡¯d been using to contact Renosa. ¡°Renosa? Are you there? Come in Renosa.¡±


    ¡°I am here,¡± the voice said only a few seconds later. The voice was crystal clear and had virtually no delay.


    ¡°How is it that there¡¯s no delay in receiving your transmission?¡± Captain Moon asked. ¡°I noticed with Diego, but your ship is farther away than his. There should be a ten second lapse.¡±


    ¡°We are using the device that was brought aboard your ship by your crew to relay the radio transmissions,¡± Renosa explained. ¡°They each have a faster than light transmission device inside of them.¡±


    Captain Moon laughed. ¡°So they were trojan horses,¡± she said.


    ¡°What is a trojan horse?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a very old story. Well, I guess from your perspective it¡¯s not that old, but it¡¯s ancient to my people. There was a war between city states. The Greeks were fighting against the Trojans, but they couldn¡¯t scale the walls of their city. For ten years they fought in the countryside. Then one of the heroes of the Greeks suggested that they build a giant horse out of wood and offer it to the Trojans as a gift to their gods. They pretended to sail away, and the Trojans brought the wooden horse into their city and had a huge party.¡±


    ¡°I am sensing that there was an element of deception involved,¡± Renosa said.


    ¡°Indeed. There were Greek warriors hiding inside the wooden horse. After the party ended and night fell, they sneaked out of the horse and opened the gates to the city, allowing the Greek army, which had only pretended to leave, to invade and sack the city,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°Before hearing the story of the Liberation Wars, I would fear to tell you such a story of my people because I do not wish you to believe that we are violent. I see now that there is a common thread of humanity in our history, and that war is part of our nature.¡±


    ¡°We already deduced that your people have been fighting among yourselves,¡± Renosa said. ¡°I assure you that we do not look down at you as savages. Eolai has named those aboard your ship as Clansmen returning to the light, and not one Yonohoan of the defense fleet has called him a fool. Hearing of the war between the Greeks and the Trojans only makes me wish to know more about the history of your people, Captain Moon.¡±


    ¡°We do have some darkness in us,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°Some terrible things have been done on our planet.¡±


    ¡°That is true no matter where you go,¡± Renosa assured her. ¡°Even among the Yonohoah, there has been war. We do not look down on you, and we do not fear you. I greet you as my sister, Captain Moon. There is a bond of humanity between us, and I will not be the first to break that bond. I seek to make it ever stronger.¡±


    ¡°I, too, wish to strengthen that bond, Renosa,¡± Captain Moon agreed.


    ¡°The device we sent you was not a weapon, Captain Moon. It is a child¡¯s toy to us. Its propulsion systems were disabled when you brought it aboard your ship in order to prevent it from harming your ship, and it has no dangerous components on it. I hope that its use to reduce light-speed delay does not cause you distress.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m glad I know where the radio waves are coming from. I¡¯m not ready to hook our computer systems directly up to yours yet, but I think it¡¯s fine if you use the device you gave us for the purposes of improving communications,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°I would appreciate it if I was informed before it was used for any other purposes, however.¡±


    ¡°I will inform the others of your desire to be kept informed, and we will do our best to adhere to your wishes,¡± Renosa assured her.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°Anyway, the reason I called was just to say that I understand why you didn¡¯t want to tell me about the Liberation Wars.¡±


    ¡°It was not to keep you ignorant, Captain.¡±


    ¡°No. There is a difference between ignorance and innocence,¡± Captain Moon agreed. ¡°However, I believe that my mission is important. For the protection and preservation of the people of Earth, I would gladly sacrifice my life. My innocence is nothing compared to the lengths I would go for the people and children of Earth.¡±


    Renosa was silent for a moment. ¡°I understand and admire your conviction, Clanswoman.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Renosa.¡±


    ?

 17.

    17.


    ¡°Will you speak well of him that killed your cousin? The nurse asked Juliet. And Juliet said, ¡° Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband? Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name, When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangled it? But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin?¡± Gabriel said. He paused to take a sip of water. ¡°I think I¡¯ll take a break there, Tukano. What do you think of the play so far?¡±


    ¡°It is beautiful, powerful, and tragic,¡± Tukano said. ¡°I am attempting to envision it enacted in the time in which it was written, but even without knowing only what I know of your world the author of these words has reached out through time to grasp me by the heart and say ¡®this is what it is to be in love!¡¯¡±


    Gabriel chuckled. ¡°Yeah. The Bard of Avon knew how to use a quill. It¡¯s a shame that I don¡¯t have this in digital format. I only just happen to have the Works of Shakespeare as one of the books I brought for leisure time.¡±


    ¡°I am enjoying hearing you read it,¡± Tukano said. ¡°Would it be permissible to share this performance?¡±


    Gabriel frowned. ¡°I guess. I mean, Shakespeare is considered in the public domain, so there¡¯s no reason you can¡¯t. You know that not everyone on earth speaks like this though, right?¡±


    ¡°The computer has taken into consideration the time that has passed since this work was written into consideration,¡± Tukano assured him. ¡°Having historical examples of famous literary works from your language will assist it in translating many of the Yonohoan classics. Having a classical work read by a modern speaker is especially useful to it.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m glad you don¡¯t think this is a waste of time,¡± Gabriel said. ¡°But I do need to rest my voice for a while. I wish that I could put on some music while my vocal cords recover, but the captain says that all media requires prior approval. I kind of got in trouble for oversharing earlier.¡±


    ¡°I regret that, Gabriel,¡± Tukano said.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s just a letter in my file.¡±


    ¡°I am eagerly awaiting your captain¡¯s decision on the trade of music and other forms of art from your culture,¡± Tukano said. ¡°As are all of my peers.¡±


    ¡°Right. Well, goodbye for now Tukano. I¡¯ll talk to you later.¡±


    ¡°I will enjoy that. While you rest, would you enjoy listening to some of the music of my world?¡± Tukano asked.


    Gabriel blinked in surprise at the offer. ¡°Oh, yeah. Sure, that sounds good.¡±


    ¡°Since you enjoy the sound of children singing, I have selected a performance of the child¡¯s opera of one of the cities on the southern continent¡¯s performance of one of our historic epics. It is of course performed in the Yonohoan language, but I will transmit a translation into english for you to read at your leisure.¡±


    ¡°That sounds perfect, Tukano.¡±


    The sound of children singing, accompanied by drums and flutes, filled Gabriel¡¯s dungeons through the handheld radio he¡¯d been using. He quickly checked his computer to ensure that it was still recording the transmissions on that frequency and made a timestamp for the start of the Yonohoan epic.


    Gabriel set the handheld radio aside and marked his place in the book, then stretched before opening his messages. There was one from the communications team labeled as urgent. Gabriel read the transcription of Diego¡¯s report on the Liberation War, frowning as he processed the implications.


    ¡°Damn,¡± he said. ¡°It might very well be that my ancestors were the lucky ones in this universe. Going to war over a stolen goat might seem foolish, but I can only imagine the scale of the loss of life that some of these grudges must have incurred.¡±


    He decided that he needed a break. Taking the radio with him ¨C the computer was recording the broadcast itself and not the sound his radio was producing ¨C Gabriel kicked off and floated to the door of his ¡®dungeon,¡¯ then floated through the hallway in the direction of the mess hall.


    One of the doors opened along the way and a young woman stuck her head out. It was the same woman who had objected to Diego as being treated as expendable during the staff meeting.


    ¡°What is that?¡± she asked, motioning towards the device that Gabriel held.


    ¡°A radio.¡±


    She pouted at him. ¡°You know what I meant.¡±


    ¡°Yonohoan children¡¯s opera. I guess that¡¯s a thing. Pretty neat, huh?¡±


    ¡°Wonder if they have gangsta rap,¡± she said.


    Gabriel made a face, and she laughed.


    ¡°You still worried about Diego?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Of course I am. We¡¯re getting married,¡± the woman said.


    ¡°Does he know that?¡± Gabriel asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s a done deal. Or at least it will be once we get back to Earth, date for the mandatory six months that he¡¯s insisting on, and then realizes I¡¯m right and we¡¯re perfect for each other,¡± she said.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Gabriel laughed. ¡°You know that the only reason he¡¯s hiding behind the non-fraternization rules is because he¡¯s just not that into you, Sarah. He¡¯s not that serious about rules like that when they¡¯re not in his favor. And I know of at least three other secret relationships that are being hidden from the brass, and I¡¯ve heard Diego mention all of them.¡±


    Sarah smacked him. The impact affected both of them, causing them to float apart until they were able to grab one of the railings running through the hall and correct their trajectories. Gabriel just laughed it off. She continued to follow him towards the mess hall.


    ¡°Did you read about the war?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I skimmed the report,¡± he said. ¡°Terrible, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Makes me glad that we missed it,¡± she agreed.


    ¡°Yeah, me too. I think everyone was lucky. We cavemen were mucking around with rocks and making huts out of mud while everyone out in the universe was killing each other and dying by the trillions. Our life expectancy might have been mid-thirties, but at least we weren¡¯t getting planet-cracked or having bio-weapons used against us or any of the other terrible things that were no doubt happening to entire planets.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± she said, and she shivered. ¡°I wish that they¡¯d put me on the list of who got to talk with the aliens.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised that after my massive fuck-up I¡¯m still approved,¡± Gabriel commented.


    ¡°You¡¯re necessary. You understand computers well enough to be critical in getting our systems on the same wavelength,¡± Sarah reminded him.


    ¡°Yeah, but that¡¯s not what she has me working on right now. The truth is that we have the computers talking about as much as we  want  them talking right now. Anders is still a little jumpy after they shot at the probe we sent them, and he doesn¡¯t want them to have too solid of a picture of how our computers work in case they¡¯re developing attempts to hack into our system,¡± Gabriel explained. ¡°So I¡¯m working on helping them understand our language instead. I¡¯ve spent the last few hours reading them Romeo and Juliet.¡±


    ¡°Sounds like fun,¡± she said. ¡°Think I can get in on that? I have a few paperbacks stashed in my storage locker that I could dust off.¡±


    Gabriel shrugged as he went to the refrigerator and pulled out a plastic-wrapped burrito. He put it in the microwave, then checked to see if the coffee was ready.


    Making coffee in space using the traditional percolator was hopeless. The coffee aboard the  Seeker  was made from concentrate mixed with hot water, which was dispensed inside of a squeeze-ball and served at a temperature that was unlikely to cause burns. It tasted terrible compared to the real thing, but was still better than being without caffeine.


    ¡°If you want to volunteer your voice to the cause, run it up the chain of command,¡± he suggested.


    ¡°I think I might do that,¡± Sarah agreed. Once he was out of the way, she grabbed one of the tubes filled with space-food and waited for his burrito to finish cooking so that she could use the microwave.


    ¡°Wait, are you supposed to eat Turkey Surprise hot?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Of course you are,¡± she said. ¡°It tastes like ass if you try to eat it cold.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± he said.


    ¡°How do you feel about the fact that the captain thinks we¡¯re all expendable?¡± Sarah asked.


    ¡°She includes herself in that statement, Sarah,¡± Gabriel reminded her. The microwave beeped and he took the burrito out to take a bite. With his mouth half full, he said ¡°And she¡¯s got a point. I like the Yonohoans, they seem like good people. But there¡¯s thirteen billion people on Earth. That has to sort of tip the scales a bit, doesn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, okay, but that doesn¡¯t mean that I have to like it,¡± Sarah said.


    ¡°But hey, if we survive and make it back to Earth, we¡¯ll be super famous,¡± Gabriel reminded her.


    ¡°I know. I¡¯m just ¡­ I didn¡¯t think that she¡¯d just come right out and say it, you know?¡±


    ¡°I think it¡¯s important that we remember what¡¯s at stake. We all knew when we signed up for this mission that we were putting our lives on the line. Literally. We¡¯re hundreds of lightyears away from any assistance. We¡¯re running on an experimental FTL drive which is  known  to be harmful. And the mission specs is to effectively keep going until some of us start to show signs of degeneration, although nobody has actually officially said as much,¡± Gabriel pointed out.


    Sarah was startled by his words. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re going to be in subspace for  three thousand percent  longer than anyone has ever previously tested human exposure to that dimension, Sarah. At least, if everyone lasts that long. But the mission specs specifically say to turn around as soon as anyone starts showing symptoms of neural degeneration. To me, that reads as ¡®you¡¯re a guinea pig, but we¡¯re not going to come right out and say it,¡¯¡± Gabriel explained.


    Sarah frowned, looking displeased. ¡°That is not how I read things at all.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, maybe I¡¯m being cynical. We¡¯ve only had the tunnel drive for about fifty years and most of that has been spent trying to figure out how to safely use it. I would argue that we¡¯re  still  figuring out how to safely use it, and that¡¯s hidden mission goal of the  Seeker ,¡± Gabriel said.


    ¡°I don¡¯t like the idea of our government conducting human experimentation,¡± Sarah said.


    ¡°Sarah, think about it. It¡¯s necessary if we¡¯re going to use the Tunnel Drive to establish the safety limits on it. If you look around at the crew, you can even see some signs that this ¡®hidden mission¡¯ was built into our selection,¡± Gabriel pointed out. ¡°It wasn¡¯t political correctness that assured our crew was selected for diversity. It was ruthless pragmatism.¡±


    Sarah shivered. ¡°I think I¡¯m going to go eat in my room after all.¡±


    ¡°Sorry. Hope I didn¡¯t spoil your apetite.¡±


    ?

 18.

    18.


    ¡°So he says ¡®all I want is a pink golf ball, Daddy,¡¯¡± Diego said, smashing the holographic ball with his holographic racket. The ball sped through the air and smashed into the wall, bouncing back towards Eolai, who caught the


    ¡°What is a golf ball?¡± Eolai asked as he swung his own racket, the holograms smashing and sending the false projectile back at the wall.


    ¡°A ball for golf,¡± Diego said. Smash.


    ¡°What is golf?¡± Smash.


    ¡°Something old men do,¡± Diego answered. Smash.


    Eolai missed the ball, and the hologram screeched to show that Diego had scored a point. Eolai laughed. ¡°This is a fun sport! I like it! Is it okay to share with my people?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sure. Go right ahead,¡± Diego said, wiping the sweat from his brow. ¡°You mind if we call it here? I¡¯m not used to getting this much exercise after a few months aboard the  Seeker . We have exercise machines, but it¡¯s hard not to atrophy when you¡¯re in zero G.¡±


    ¡°I understand,¡± Eolai agreed. ¡°To be honest that is a consideration that me and my peers are having trouble with. While it is not something we are required to remedy, we fear for the health of your crew due to the length that your mission places you in null gravity. We are certain that you are aware of the effect that will have on your long term health.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we are,¡± Diego said. ¡°We¡¯ve actually studied that quite a bit in the last two centuries or so. We haven¡¯t discovered artificial gravity generators yet, but we¡¯re not going to let that stop us.¡±


    ¡°That is admirable,¡± Eolai said. ¡°Your willingness to risk your own health does not reduce my concern for your well-being however.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, thanks. I appreciate that,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°You have only been able to escape your planet¡¯s gravity for two centuries?¡± Eolai asked


    ¡°A bit short of that, but yeah,¡± Diego said. ¡°Most of our history while you space-people were blowing up everything and each other was of us running around in hunter-gatherer societies worshiping the sun or wolf-spirits or our own ancestors or something. I¡¯m not a historian, but we were in the stone age until about five thousand years ago. Then it took us almost two thousand years to figure out how to work iron and steel.¡±


    ¡°I would love to learn more about how your ancestors tamed their worlds without anything but their own guile,¡± Eolai said. ¡°My people began as hunter-gatherers, as you have described that lifestyle. But when the liberation happened, we were elevated past the reliance on bronze or iron. I had not even thought of working those metals as being a bottleneck to technological progression.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Diego asked, taking a drink from a bottle of water that Eolai had brought for them before their exercise. ¡°On earth, we figured that most tool-using sapients would go through a similar process.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps they did,¡± Eolai said. He sighed. ¡°So much was lost to the liberation. And it is such a difficult thing to study, you must understand. The existence of what you are calling the T-bomb, the weapon which makes your species¡¯ homeworld your greatest liability, means that none of the other sapient species which remember where their homeworld lies are willing to share that information. Often not even with each other.¡±


    ¡°Oh. I hadn¡¯t thought of that,¡± Diego admitted. ¡°Yeah, I suppose if you start out with technology that¡¯s so advanced it might as well be magic it would be hard to figure out how you got that way in the first place.¡±


    ¡°Indeed. That is one of the reasons why so many of the veterans who declined the Yonohoan¡¯s invitation to become our clansmen left to create their own darkworlds. They vowed to leave their bloody history behind them and raise their children innocent of the bloodshed of their past,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°They vowed that they would not reach back out to the skies until their sins were forgotten and they could climb into the universe without shame, and by their own power.¡±


    ¡°So it wasn¡¯t just the aliens who made darkworlds for terraforming? We did it too?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°Indeed we did,¡± Eolai agreed. ¡°However, most of the darkworlds that were founded in that way were registered and have a monitor or sponsor to ensure that the descendants do not meet with a disaster that they can¡¯t handle.¡±


    ¡°You think that Earth had a sponsor?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m certain that you did not. Once a Darkworld achieves FTL on their own power, their sponsor would immediately contact the Yonohoah, as well as whatever Empire they are in the territory of. That is one of the reasons we were so astounded by your sudden appearance. The Yonohoan  always  are the first to know when a darkworld is ready to reach out into the stars. In fact, we often make a point of going to greet them, rather than waiting for them to come to us,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°Is that part of Korjakala?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°No. We do not have a particular name for that.¡±


    ¡°I guess it¡¯s just being neighborly then,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Yes, I like that phrase.¡± He paused, touching the device that he wore on his ear. ¡°Oh. Diego, my government has just made a decision, and I hope that you view it in the way that it is intended and do not take offense.¡±


    ¡°Will it affect  The Seeker  or Earth?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°Yes and yes,¡± Eolai said. He sighed. ¡°They have commissioned twenty Toormonda ships and promised them to Earth¡¯s government.¡±


    ¡°Okay. What is a Toormonda ship?¡± Diego asked.


    Eolai waved his hand and the appearance of an egg-shaped spaceship appeared in the air. ¡°That is what it looks like. It is about half the size of your  Seeker of New Discoveries . This is the sort of ship on which I first left planet Totola. They are a very common ship throughout the universe, widely recognized. They are extremely safe for humans and many other species, and welcome almost everywhere they would want to go with very, very few exceptions.¡±


    ¡°Okay, all of that sounds good,¡± Diego said. ¡°I¡¯m certain that the government would be thrilled to get their hands on one. I¡¯m not certain why you¡¯re worried we¡¯d be offended.¡±


    ¡°It is ¡­ well, they are like the Rocktala.¡±


    Diego paused. ¡°They¡¯re for children?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Eolai sighed. ¡°It is meant for three to five adults to supervise a group of twenty to fifty children as they explore the universe and study natural phenomena or visit other planets to engage in cultural exchange. It possesses only a few light weapons and is not very fast. It only reaches approximately three hundred times the speed of light. But they do have a great many different scientific instruments which are extremely powerful and accurate. The children who have journeyed on this sort of ship are often challenged with rediscovering or proving known scientific knowledge, or remapping known areas of space. I hope that you are not offended.¡±


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    Diego considered it for a moment. ¡°I can see why you¡¯d be worried that we¡¯d be offended, but I¡¯m pretty certain that the technological capabilities of your Toormonda ships probably exceed anything that the  Seeker  is capable of. While the Yonohoan people might think that these things are childish, my people would likely see them as a great gift that is meant to help us elevate our understanding of the universe.¡±


    ¡°I am pleased that you would see it that way. Some of my lawmakers might be confused by the fact that you are using Rocktala frequencies to communicate and believe that these ships are equivalent to the  Seeker  in function and purpose,¡± Eolai said.


    ¡°They kind of are,¡± Diego said.


    Eolai shook his head. ¡°No. To board a Toormonda is to take a safe and guided step into waters that have been swum through for thousands of years by millions of predecessors. The  Seeker  is a step into the wild unknown by men and women willing to risk  everything  to advance their understanding of the universe. There is a gap between the two which is so large that it¡¯s impossible to bridge.¡±


    ¡°I see. When you put it like that, I can see why you¡¯d be worried that I¡¯d be offended. But I do not think that you¡¯re government intended any insult. There¡¯s a saying on my world, ¡®don¡¯t look a gift-horse in the mouth.¡¯¡±


    Eolai waited for him to continue, making a motion that implied he wanted an explanation.


    ¡°Okay, so a horse is an animal that we used to ride before we invented self-propelled vehicles ¡­¡±


    After Diego had explained the context of the phrase, Eolai nodded. ¡°Yes, I see. I do think that the scientists of your world would greatly benefit from a fleet of Toormonda ships, and I am glad that you do not think that it is an insult that we think so. As I said, I myself flew on a Toormonda and it was one of the happiest memories of my childhood. We spent six weeks hunting for blackholes in nearby space. It was a great joy, and it was a key piece of my decision to leave Totola behind and spend my life in space.¡±


    ¡°Tell me about it,¡± Diego suggested. ¡°It sounds like a fun field trip.¡±


    ¡°It was. And because we are Yonohoan, we of course pretended that we were Topokans while we were in flight,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°Oh? So, different sleeping arrangements every night?¡±


    ¡°Among many other things, yes. It was very fun. We had to learn every station in great detail, and be ready to switch from one of our many ongoing projects to another at a moment¡¯s notice whenever someone moved up or down in the hierarchy,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°It was very frustrating for our Topokan chaperone.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t have human adults with you?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°We had three human adults and two Topokans,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°Bob is using Topokan to describe Sulivans suddenly,¡± Diego said. ¡°Is that your word for them?¡±


    ¡°Yes and no,¡± Eolai said. ¡°Topokans are  our  Sulivans. The ones who gave us  this world,  Totola. There are other Sulivans throughout the universe, and some of them are not so closely aligned with the Yonohoans.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± Diego said. ¡°Do you guys go everywhere together?¡±


    ¡°Indeed we do,¡± Eolai said. ¡°It is one of the duties of the Topokans to ensure the lineages of all Yonohoans, so of course they would not allow a Toormonda ship to leave Totola without a representative of their species aboard.¡±


    Diego blinked. ¡°Wait, what?¡±


    Eolai laughed. ¡°My experience on the Toormonda was memorable for more than one reason, Diego. I was thirteen, and she was fourteen. It was very memorable indeed. We were waiting for the Toormonda for our first time, and it was very difficult to hide our first experience from our chaperons.¡±


    Diego blushed. ¡°I guess teenagers are teenagers no matter where you go.¡±


    Eolai laughed harder. ¡°Indeed they are!¡±


    ¡°I think you¡¯re going to have to explain this whole thing a little more. So, the Sulivans spy on you in the bedroom?¡±


    ¡°It is not so much that they spy on us during the act. As we watch them to try to figure out their social structure and how their hierarchy changes from hour to hour and day to day, they watch us to try to understand our romantic relationships,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°They do not  need to watch , because they can smell it on us afterwards. However, they cannot determine who the father of a child is by smell if they have not smelled him before. So they like to have the scent of any potential father memorized. If a Yonohoan woman introduces you to her Topokan, then you know that she is interested in you romantically.¡±


    ¡°Okay, so their nose is a built in paternity test. That¡¯s cool,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Yes. When every girl-child is born, they are paired up with a Topokan who guards them for the rest of their life. It is a very close relationship between them, but the girls often desire privacy, which is something that the Topokans do not understand. So the girls shout at their guardians ¡®go away! Leave me alone! If I see you spying on me I will shave off all of your hair!¡¯ And the Topokans will pretend to leave, but they keep an eye on their charge no matter what the girl says. And if a boy shows too much interest in them they call out ¡®leave me alone or I will call my Topokan to fight you!¡¯ It is very very funny. Especially to see a shaved Topokan wandering around and looking sad.¡±


    Diego laughed. ¡°Okay, yeah, I can see why you people would have fun with that. But why do they care?¡±


    Eolai sighed. ¡°Unfortunately, it is another tradition that goes back to the Liberation Wars. You know that the Sulivans are very frightened of humans that they do not know. It truly frightens them to be around humans whose origins they do not know. That is why they fled this ship when you stepped aboard it. They love us Yonohoan, but you must remember that when the wars were ending, we had many, many veterans coming to our worlds and establishing families. According to the laws of my people, any clansman of the Yonohoan is to be treated the same as any other Yonohoan. However, according to the laws of the Topokan, only those who are the children of Yonohoans require their protection. And more than that, until they know a person¡¯s genealogy going back five generations, they will be afraid of that person.¡±


    Diego paused. ¡°Oh. I can see why that would cause tension between your peoples.¡±


    ¡°It is not so bad of a thing nowadays,¡± Eolai assured him. He shrugged. ¡°Now it is just a fun way to tease our furry friends. If you are Yonohoan, it is just part of our way of life. It makes sense to us because we were raised to it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I get that,¡± Diego said. ¡°Your people have a rich and vibrant culture, and the interplay between yourselves and the Sulivans is an important piece of your history and culture. It¡¯s probably pretty difficult to explain all of the nuances to an outsider who¡¯s never interacted with your culture before.¡±


    Eolai laughed. ¡°It is difficult to explain it to  any  outsider, my friend. Our people are so closely intertwined that it is difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins. To the humans of the universe, the Yonohoans are eccentric and silly. But we are a very proud people, and we refuse to forget our history.¡±


    ¡°I can see why. If I were Yonohoan, I think that I¡¯d be very proud of my past as well,¡± Diego agreed.


    ¡°Do you take pride in the history of your people, Diego?¡± Eolai asked.


    ¡°Yes. I do,¡± Diego said. ¡°I am not saying that I wish I was born Yonohoan. I am simply saying that I believe that your people have much to be proud of.¡±


    ¡°Thank you. Those are kind words.¡±


    ?

 19.

    19.


    ¡°Captain, Diego is on the radio. He says he has some important news,¡± Antoine said, and Captain Moon quickly picked up her headset.


    ¡°Diego! Long time to speak. Has Eolai said anything that will help us get out of this legal roadblock?¡± she asked.


    ¡°No, but his government has offered us twenty interstellar school buses,¡± Diego said.


    The captain¡¯s eyes opened in surprise. ¡°School buses?¡±


    ¡°Toormonda ships. They¡¯re ships that their kids take field trips in. Honestly it¡¯s more like a high-tech space-camp. According to Eolai, they have a max speed of three hundred times the speed of light and they¡¯re loaded up with the same type of scientific equipment that their adults use. The data they collect is entirely legitimate in their scientific circles, and has been used to make some space-shattering discoveries. Eolai specifically mentioned stellar cartography and hunting black holes as one of the common usages of this type of ship. Their government heard what our mission is and they¡¯re gifting us these ships to help us,¡± Diego said.


    Captain Moon took a moment to consider the implications of this news. ¡°That is a very generous gift. I will have to thank the representatives of the Yonohoan government for their generosity.¡±


    ¡°The first one is scheduled to arrive in system in an hour, Captain. They want us to board it and examine it so that they can customize the rest of them for us,¡± Diego continued. ¡°They¡¯ve already made alterations to the sleeping quarters with the consideration that we¡¯re all adults.¡±


    ¡°These ships are customizable?¡± she inquired.


    ¡°Yes. There¡¯s dozens of pre-designed purpose built versions available. The one that they¡¯re sending us is designed with the sorts of instruments that fit with the mission of the  Seeker , but they took some space out to add in extra exercise equipment. They¡¯re really worried about our health, captain. There¡¯s a built in medical station that¡¯s apparently just as good as the one aboard their flagship, and they want us to let them scan us. I think it¡¯s a good idea, but that¡¯s not my call.¡±


    ¡°Message received. Can they dock with the  Seeker ?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Negative, Captain,¡± Diego admitted. ¡°We¡¯ll have to spacewalk to board the ship. Fortunately we¡¯re all trained for it, right? They¡¯re also offering us a bunch of the blue-tooth like machines the one that I¡¯m wearing right now,¡± Diego said. ¡°They¡¯re happy to provide one for every member of the crew.¡±


    ¡°That is very generous of them, but I¡¯m a little leery of bringing more of their technology aboard the  Seeker  until I understand both it and them a little better,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°I¡¯ve explained to them the history of the trojan horse.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I get it captain, you don¡¯t have to justify it to me, and I¡¯m pretty sure that the Yonohoans aren¡¯t trying to force anything down our throats,¡± Diego said. ¡°I have also discussed with Eolai our concerns about the security and the secrecy of the location of our homeworld. He has informed me that the Yonohoans are holding off on searching for it at our requests, but that they hope that we will come to trust them enough to reveal it on our own. I questioned whether or not the flightpaths of the Toormonda ships will be tracked. According to him, the answer is both yes and no.¡±


    ¡°How can it be both yes and no?¡± Captain Moon asked.


    ¡°Apparently, the system of FTL that they use cause a resonance which is monitored by most of the empires, Captain,¡± Diego explained. ¡°They monitor interstellar traffic and use that system to hunt bandits. He says that it wouldn¡¯t look abnormal if a bunch of these ships decide to go out into the middle of nowhere, so probably nobody would bother investigating it if we brought them home. He promises that the Yonohoan government won¡¯t build trackers into them, but they¡¯re not untraceable.¡±


    ¡°Understood,¡± the captain said. ¡°Is there any method of FTL which is untraceable?¡±


    ¡°According to Eolai, there are a few, but those aren¡¯t available to civilians and his government doesn¡¯t know us well enough to offer us a stealth ship. Captain, these Toormonda ships would be state of the art to us, but like the Rocktalas, this is something that these guys grew up playing with as kids. It¡¯s a much bigger deal to us than it is to them, but they¡¯re really trying to make friends.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for your report, Sergeant Cruz. Do you have any other mission critical news?¡±


    A pause. ¡°Nothing mission critical at this time captain.¡±


    ¡°Thank you. Please tell Eolai we look forward to examining the Toormonda ship that is being offered to us, but at present we are not ready to either accept or decline the gift.¡±


    ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am, I¡¯ll let him know. Diego out.¡±


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    ¡° The Seeker of New Discoveries , out,¡± she said. She cut the feed to the radio and flipped the switch for the intercom. ¡°All staff, please meet in the rec room for an urgent meeting. Repeat, all staff, please meet in the rec room for an urgent meeting in five minutes.¡±


    It took more like twenty minutes for everyone to gather. Some of them had been woken up and looked bedraggled, but when the news was shared everyone seemed to perk up with excitement.


    ¡°Will we be accepting this ¡®Toormonda¡¯ ship?¡± Takeshi, one of the astrophysicists inquired. ¡°I¡¯m very excited to see what sort of instruments it possesses and compare them to our own.¡±


    ¡°That remains undetermined. The fact that they possess unknown technology and might be able to trace us back home presents a problem which we¡¯ll be unable to address until we have more information and we¡¯ve built more trust with the Yonohoans,¡± Captain Moon said.


    ¡°They¡¯ve been nothing but generous with us so far,¡± Rajesh, who was one of the engineers responsible for the nuclear reactors, pointed out.


    ¡°They destroyed the probe that we sent them,¡± Anders reminded everyone.


    ¡°I might have done the same in their position,¡± Captain Moon argued. ¡°They didn¡¯t know who we were, and the probes  do  sort of look like missiles. They have officially apologized for that action multiple times and thoroughly explained the reasoning behind it. The fully charged capacitor, which I remind everyone has enough energy to run a miniature Tunnel Drive, possessed enough energy to pose a threat to their ships when used in conjunction with a number of weapon systems known to them.¡±


    ¡°I might understand their reasoning, but they still cost the taxpayers about one point two billion dollars,¡± Anders pointed out.


    ¡°And they¡¯re willing to give us twenty ships that we literally can¡¯t afford because nobody on Earth can build them,¡± Antoine Muller pointed out. ¡°Honestly, how much do you think that the governments back home would pay for just one of those things? And they¡¯re giving us enough of them that we can disassemble  ten  of them to figure out how they tick, and still have half of them left over, fully functional and ready to help us colonize our neighborhood.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re slower than the  Seeker ,¡± Sarah pointed out. ¡°And we don¡¯t know what sort of gas they run on.¡±


    ¡°Okay, those are points,¡± Gabriel said, ¡°but even if they¡¯re not as fast as we are with the Tunnel Drive, you have to remember that these are rated safe for  children  to fly in, whereas everyone knows that the Tunnel Drive is as dangerous as standing inside of a nuclear reactor. As for the fuel, if it¡¯s not something that we can refine ourselves then yes we¡¯ll probably be reliant upon the Yonohoans until they can teach us how to obtain our own supply. But they seem willing to help us advance technologically, so I don¡¯t see the problem there.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure I like it,¡± Hilda, another data analyst said. ¡°We¡¯ve come this far all on our own, and now we¡¯ve bumped into the Yonohoans and suddenly they¡¯re saying ¡®you¡¯re technology isn¡¯t good enough. We play with better toys when we¡¯re children. Your most advanced spaceship isn¡¯t even as good as our toys.¡¯ It¡¯s patronizing.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯d decline an opportunity like this just to avoid being patronized?¡± Gabriel asked. ¡°Just disassembling and attempting to reverse engineer  one  of those ships might push the technology of Earth forward by centuries. Who cares if they¡¯re built to educate their children? I took a tour of the original  Discovery  when I was ten years old, and if I hadn¡¯t been overcome with wonder and awe at that historic machine I might not be here today.¡±


    ¡°The Yonohoans have been very clear about the fact that most of their technology was given to them,¡± Antoine pointed out. ¡°According to their history, their ancestors were hunter-gatherers, just like ours, until the Liberation happened and the Sullivans rushed to bring them into the space-age. They might see the act of assisting us to develop our technology as a natural part of their culture. They might go so far as to feel shamed if they didn¡¯t make such an offer.¡±


    ¡°The fact that they¡¯re educational is an important thing to consider in terms of whether or not we¡¯ll be able to reverse engineer them,¡± Rajesh pointed out. ¡°I would assume that part of the educational experience would be for the children to learn how to maintain and care for the spacecraft they are flying. That should mean that they are both easy to maintain and understand how they work.¡±


    ¡°Maintenance is a concern. A good portion of our storage space is full of spare parts in case something goes wrong,¡± one of the maintenance crew pointed out. ¡°Will the same be true of the Toormonda ships?¡±


    The discussion continued for some time, with topics such as the economic impact of the gift coming up. The security concerns were discussed further. As was the question of who would actually own the ships, and who would own the technologies developed from studying them. Few of the topics had any real resolution, except for one.


    ¡°I need volunteers to board the ship and inspect it,¡± Captain Moon said as the debate was drawing to a close.


    ¡°I volunteer,¡± Gabriel said immediately.


    ¡°Not you. Your work with getting our systems integrated is too important to risk you in this mission,¡± the captain said immediately.


    Gabriel was disappointed, and he got several annoyed looks from a few of his companions. Several others volunteered. In the end, an away team was selected, consisting of Anthony Anders, the Seeker¡¯s XO, Antoine Muller, a communication¡¯s specialist, Rajesh the engineer, Takeshi the astrophysicist, and Liu Wei, from the medical team.


    ?

 20.

    20.


    The Toormonda ship appeared right on schedule. It appeared directly in front of the flagship, which had one of the  Seeker ¡¯s telescopes focused on it, and after the meeting broke up many of the crew members reviewed the video of its appearance. To begin with a bank of fog appeared in space. The fog built up for moments, and then suddenly the egg-shaped spaceship simply appeared inside of the condensation, which then quickly vanished again.


    ¡°What causes the mist?¡± one of the techs asked.


    ¡°Beats me,¡± came the reply. ¡°Ask the Yonohoans.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have permission to talk to them yet,¡± the first complained.


    Captain Moon cleared her throat, and then pointedly touched the microphone of her headset. ¡°Renosa, my crew is wondering what causes the mist that appeared prior to the Toormonda ship¡¯s appearance.¡±


    ¡°It is a very common phenomena that occurs with that method of FTL transport,¡± came a prompt explanation. Captain Moon had switched the speakers in the room to broadcast the answer for her. ¡°What you¡¯re seeing of mist is not the reflection of liquids, gasses, or frozen solids, but instead a type of protomatter which is unstable in this universe. They are effectively particles from another universe that leak through into ours when the drive on the Toormonda is engaged. They exist in this reality for only a few seconds before decaying and returning to the hyperatomic plain from which they came.¡±


    ¡°Thank you Renosa,¡± Captain Moon said.


    ¡°You are welcome, Captain Moon. We are presently updating the ship so that you may control it remotely using the protocols established using the drones and Sergeant Cruz¡¯s shuttle,¡± Renosa said.


    ¡°Is there a pilot aboard the ship in case we lose control of it?¡± Captain Moon inquired.


    ¡°A Toormonda is more than capable of flying itself. They have the very best safety controls and would both detect and steer out of the way of even micrometeors the size of a grain of sand,¡± Renosa assured her. ¡°We are encouraging you to take control of it using your own software, but if you prefer we can direct it for you.¡±


    ¡°So even if we file a bad flightplan, the ship is smart enough to avoid crashing into the  Seeker ?¡± Captain Moon clarified.


    ¡°Yes. To be honest, we could give the ship verbal instructions to place it approximately where you wanted it in order for your crew to make their spacewalk and it would probably get close enough,¡± Renosa assured her. ¡°This ship is designed to be as smart as the children who fly them hope to one day become.¡±


    ¡°My world puts great effort into child proofing and idiot proofing many products,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°Every time someone succeeds in idiot proofing a product, they invent a better idiot.¡±


    Renosa¡¯s melodious laughter filled the bridge. ¡°I assure you that this isn¡¯t the first time a Toormonda has received light-speed instructions from an experimental software, hardware, and interface protocol. In fact, one of the experiments that one member of our fleet performed while on their own Toormonda was to try to control the ship while spacewalking using only a Rocktala that they wired themselves strapped to his wrist. As I said, they are very clever ships, and it has been centuries since the last time one has made a navigation mistake.¡±


    ¡°I suppose we will have to take your word for it,¡± Captain Moon said. She turned to her crew. ¡°Can we do what they¡¯re asking us to?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m bringing up the flight plan software now. It will take me some time to adjust the variables,¡± Rebecca said. The room felt empty, missing both Antoine and Anders. ¡°It would be easier if we had Diego here; he¡¯s the best at controlling the drones.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re his backup, and you¡¯ve successfully guided home a dozen probes by now,¡± Captain Moon reminded her.


    ¡°I know. Just jitters. I got this,¡± Rebecca said.


    ¡°Take your time. Do a shakedown to make certain that you have control of the Toormonda before you bring it into position for the EVA,¡± Captain Moon instructed.


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ve got the locations locked in. I¡¯m going to treat it just like one of their dancing probes for now and see how it responds,¡± Rebecca declared.


    She switched back and forth between typing on her keyboard and using the controls which were attached to the station she was sitting at, consisting of a number of dials, joysticks, levers and switches. Finally she typed in the final command, and everyone turned to watch the main screen as the image from the telescope showed the Toormonda responding to the input.


    To everyone¡¯s surprise, it didn¡¯t move.


    ¡°We¡¯re getting a signal from the ship,¡± the officer filling in at the communications station said. ¡°Sorting it now. The computer thinks that it¡¯s confirming the flight path. I think we need to plug it into the software that the aliens used to invite Diego to come aboard.¡±


    ¡°Get on it,¡± Captain Moon said.


    ¡°Forwarding now,¡± he said as Rebecca changed from one set of software to another.


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    ¡°Okay, putting the data in,¡± she said, typing furiously at her computer. A few minutes passed and she studied the data and the computer¡¯s rendition of the scheduled flightpath. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s almost exactly what I told it to do. Wow.¡±


    ¡°How almost are we talking about? This is rocket science after all,¡± Captain Moon said.


    ¡°Are you certain?¡± Rebecca asked. ¡°I¡¯m not seeing a rocket anywhere on that ship. How does it fly?¡±


    ¡°Good question. I¡¯ll ask after we test your flightpath. Send the confirmation that it¡¯s good to go and see what happens,¡± Captain Moon instructed.


    Rebecca entered a few keystrokes, and a moment later the Toormonda began to move. It did a forward roll towards them, then accelerated to their left, then changed to a diagonal role and shifted to moving upwards and to the right. It accelerated until it was moving quite fast, then abruptly slowed at a rate of about two G. It did an end over end flip, and then returned to its starting orientation.


    ¡°Wow,¡± Rebecca said. ¡°According to our software, it¡¯s only fifty meters away from where both the flight path software and the drone-control software say it should be.¡±


    ¡°Fifty meters doesn¡¯t sound like much, but it¡¯s too much of a margin of error for my tastes,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°Tell the away team to stand down for now. Let¡¯s spend a few hours tuning it in. I want us to be within ten meters before we bring that thing in for a closer look.¡±


    ~~~~~~


    ¡°So apparently, even if we miss on our jump, the Toormonda ship will suck us into the airlock on its own,¡± Takeshi said. ¡°And according to the Yonohoan who told me this, it will in fact be using the same engines that it uses to move without thrusters to do that! It works by bending space to create an artificial gravity field! He says that he doesn¡¯t have the english words to explain how it works, but that perhaps by reviewing the information on the computers of the Toormonda I will be able to bridge the gap in our understandings!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s awesome Takeshi, but you¡¯re supposed to be checking my seams,¡± Antoine said.


    ¡°I am checking them,¡± Takeshi protested.


    ¡°Considering that if you miss even a slight tear I could die to freezer burn I¡¯d like you to check them again while you¡¯re  not  gushing about how awesome the Toormonda is like a thirteen year old Yonohoan space nerd.¡±


    ¡°I am a thirty-four year old  Japanese  space nerd. And a small part of me wishes that I was Yonohoan so that I would have been able to do this at age thirteen instead of waiting all of my life to meet such a wonderful ship!¡± Takeshi explained.


    ¡°The ship will not be your waifu, Takeshi.¡±


    ¡°Oh shut up.¡±


    The pair continued to check their suits to make sure that they were in good condition, fitted properly, and completely sealed. It had been a few hours, but Rebecca and the bridge crew had finally calibrated the layers of software to be precise enough that Captain Moon gave the approval to bring the Toormonda ship in close enough for the away team to board it.


    It was currently parked one hundred meters off of the port side number six airlock. They would have to jump. They were each carrying a small device which used compressed air for reaction mass which would allow them to adjust their trajectory if they were inaccurate, but according to the Yonohoans such a thing shouldn¡¯t be necessary for the reasons that Takeshi had been so excited about.


    ¡°You sure it¡¯s safe for the Toormonda to use its main drives on us?¡± Liu Wei inquired, who was paired up with Rajesh, and the two of them were also working on putting their suits on.


    ¡°The Yonohoans allow their children to take spacewalks around a Toormonda without even a Manned Maneuvering Unit,¡± Takeshi protested. ¡°If it was dangerous or harmful, they would know it and not allow it near their children. They are very protective and loving of their children, after all.¡±


    ¡°If the effect is just the bending of space and not one of ionizing radiation, then it shouldn¡¯t have any deleterious effect on the human body,¡± Liu pointed out. ¡°We are carrying Geiger counters and exposure badges, so if the ship is radioactive or has radioactive parts, we should get some warning before we enter any hot zones.¡±


    ¡°If there are any hot zones on the ship, I doubt that we will be able to access them without bypassing several safety measures,¡± Takeshi reminded her. ¡°This is a children¡¯s ship, after all.¡±


    ¡°As you say,¡± Liu agreed.


    ¡°Okay, it¡¯s mission time,¡± Anders said. ¡°I realize most of you are civilians. That¡¯s fine. I¡¯m going to clear the ship for you, so I jump first. Wait until I give the all clear before jumping, because once you leave the airlock there¡¯s no going back. Not without jumping from the other side.¡±


    ¡°We know,¡± Antoine said.


    ¡°The ship is rather large. Depending on the number of rooms inside it might take me a while to clear.  Do not  get impatient and decide that it¡¯s  good enough . The Yonohoans promised us that nobody¡¯s been inside the ship except for the automated assembly drones, but if they planned any surprises for us I do not want to have to cover the escape of a civilian,¡± Anders continued.


    ¡°We know. We¡¯ll wait our turns like good boys and girls,¡± Takeshi said.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been studying the images of the floorplan that the aliens have designed for us while we were waiting,¡± Anders continued as if he hadn¡¯t been interrupted. ¡°If they¡¯re accurate, I estimate it will be at least a thirty minute wait.¡±


    ¡°We know,¡± Antoine said.


    ¡°I am cycling the airlock now,¡± Anders said, and he pressed the red button on the wall.


    ?

 21.

    21.


    ¡°All clear,¡± Anders said over the radio, and Takeshi made a dignified squee of excitement as he leapt away from the hull of the  Seeker , traveling off into space. Antoine could tell from a glance that he¡¯d missed on purpose. Despite that, his course quickly corrected itself as the Toormonda guided him to the correct location without the man being required to use his MMU for course correction.


    Seeing that, Antoine was able to relax a little. He waited until Takeshi had finished making the jump and the other ship¡¯s airlock had cycled completely before making the leap himself. The Toormonda was two hundred meters away from the  Seeker , the length of two soccer fields. Despite being trained for EVA¡¯s, Anders wasn¡¯t entirely confident in his ability to gauge the jump perfectly, so having both the Toormonda¡¯s guidance and the backup of his MMU were reassurances when it was his turn.


    Despite that, his balls clenched up in fear once he was spinning in the middle of the two ships, slowly passing the distance, feeling helpless.


    And then he landed on his feet in the airlock with a thud. The door closed behind him, and then the gravity pulled him forward towards the floor.


    He got his feet underneath him and everything sort of reoriented in his head now that there was actually a  down  again. The inner airlock cycled and he joined Takeshi and Anders inside the alien ship.


    They waited for the other two members to join them. Rajesh was next, followed by Liu. Once they were all aboard, a hologram abruptly appeared nearby.


    ¡°Hello, friends, and welcome to--¡±


    Anders shot the hologram with a beanbag round. The projectile smashed into the wall behind the hologram, which didn¡¯t even flicker.


    ¡°Apologies. I am not really there, you see. I did not mean to frighten you, Commander Anthony Anders. This is just a hologram. I plead for your forgiveness, and assure you that I am not troubled by your response to my sudden appearance,¡± the hologram said.


    Anders lowered his weapon and frowned. ¡°I was startled. I thought I cleared the ship.¡±


    ¡°You did. It was a most impressive sweep. I can tell that you have had military training in clearing large areas before. The Toormonda itself was most impressed,¡± the hologram said.


    ¡°You¡¯re not the Toormonda?¡± Takeshi asked.


    ¡°No. I am Eolai. I am standing next to Diego at the moment, and I would ask him to join us in communicating in this way except that he is on the floor laughing so hard I fear that he is not getting enough oxygen to his brain.¡±


    Anders tisked. ¡°I suppose that there¡¯s no clearing for a hologram, is there?¡±


    ¡°There are several technologies which would disrupt the methods used to generate this image for the human eyes, which are used to counter holograms when military or police actions are required,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°In fact, soldiers and law enforcement often carry a device no larger than the weapon in your hand which is capable of such a jamming field, as well as having many other uses. It is possible for me to print up one such device from the material and instrument printer for your use, if you would like, Commander.¡±


    Anders tisked again. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind examining one and/or reading its specs and capabilities, but I¡¯m not bringing an unknown jamming device aboard the  Seeker .¡±


    ¡°As you wish. I shall order one printed anyway, and you may place it in the reclaimer after you have concluded your examination of it,¡± the holographic Eolai said. ¡°Oh good, it seems that Diego has recovered himself enough to join us.¡±


    ¡°Hey guys. I totally bet myself twenty bucks that Anders was going to shoot something when Eolai made his appearance,¡± Deigo¡¯s hologram said, rezzing into existence next to Eolai. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you again. Before you ask, we¡¯re standing on what I think is the flagship¡¯s bridge and I can¡¯t see your surroundings. Just you guys standing next to each other. Eolai wants to know how much time your suits have before you run out of air.¡±


    Each of the crewmembers checked their O2 levels and reported that they each had a little over six hours on their timers.


    ¡°I¡¯d like to leave at least an hour on our clock to return to the  Seeker  before we hit the red line,¡± Anders said. ¡°So that gives us five hours for the grand tour.¡±


    ¡°I understand. However, given the limited amount of time that we have for this, perhaps it would be best if you separate? My peers would be happy to guide you to the areas of the ship which have to deal with your individual specialties.¡±


    Anders frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t like the idea of splitting up.¡±


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    ¡°Relax a bit, Anders,¡± Takeshi said. ¡°I understand why you¡¯re being paranoid. But the fact is that if we spring some alien trap and die, then it still counts as a mission success because it tells the captain that the Yonohoans are untrustworthy, doesn¡¯t it?¡±


    Anders shot him a glare, but Eolai just laughed.


    ¡°I assure you that you are likely safer on this ship than you were before you left the  Seeker . We Yonohoan are very, very serious about the safety of our children, and the Toormonda has one of the absolute highest safety ratings of any ship capable of interstellar flight,¡± Eolai said. ¡°However, if you prefer to remain together, that is also acceptable.¡±


    Anders groaned as he came to his conclusion. ¡°I absolutely hate to say this, but we will cover more ground and get more accomplished if we split up than if we remain together.¡±


    ¡°Excellent!¡± Eolai¡¯s hologram exclaimed. ¡°Anders, if you will follow me, I will show you the material printer area. I have ordered up a number of items which you might find interesting. They are commonly used by security forces. I understand your reluctance to bring unknown technology aboard the  Seeker  and will not pressure you to do so, I simply thought that examining them would help you pass the time.¡±


    Four more holograms appeared, and the Yonohoans requested that each member of the away team follow them so that the tour could begin.


    ~~~~~~


    ¡°Captain, come in Captain Moon, do you read me?¡± Takeshi¡¯s voice asked over the radio. Captain Moon had already been listening to the mission channel, so she simply tapped the button to unmute herself.


    ¡°This is Captain Moon. What is it Takeshi.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d like you to apply some power to the Tunnel Drive. Don¡¯t go anywhere, just warm it up a bit. If possible. My guide is showing me some of the instruments which would be capable of detecting it. We¡¯re having difficulty because there are no equivalent English words for some of the Yonohoan terminology she¡¯s flinging at me. But she says that I should find the results of even a twenty percent warm up to our drive very illuminating.¡±


    Captain Moon considered the request. ¡°We¡¯ll go nice and slow, Takeshi. I¡¯ll have engineering start to warm the girl up for you and top it out at thirty percent. The fleet knows about this little experiment, right? They¡¯re not going to get nervous that we¡¯re running?¡±


    ¡°We are aware of and approve of this educational experience, Captain Moon,¡± Eolai¡¯s voice chimed in over the radio.


    ¡°And you are also monitoring the mission¡¯s radio frequency,¡± Captain Moon remarked.


    ¡°Apologies, were you not expecting us to? We can mark this frequency as one not to be observed if you would prefer privacy,¡± Eolai said.


    ¡°No. If we require privacy in our communications we have methods and protocols for that which we have yet to demonstrate. We  would  prefer that any methods we mark as an attempt to secure our communication be treated as something which is not to be deciphered,¡± Captain Moon said.


    ¡°I understand. At your request, we will designate whatever frequencies you wish as channels to be secured and used for diplomatic reasons. Unfortunately this will not prevent the civilians on the planet from listening in entirely. Many will comply with the requests to ignore certain frequencies, but we cannot control everyone¡¯s actions without becoming tyrants,¡± Eolai said.


    ¡°I understand and thank you for the consideration. When Antoine returns I¡¯ll have him start assessing whether or not to have frequencies set aside for our secure communication methods,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°Engineering is ready, Takeshi. We¡¯re going to start applying power now.¡±


    Almost as soon as she finished speaking, Takeshi made an exclamation of surprise. ¡°Ah! It is no wonder they knew where we were going to appear!¡± he said. ¡°Already the instruments are detecting a massive influx of quarks and gluons, and six kinds of readings which I don¡¯t have words for! Right now the Seeker is in the center of a sea of glowing sub-subatomic particles which is only growing larger every second.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re only at three percent power,¡± Captain Moon observed. ¡°Is our engine really this noisy?¡±


    ¡°Unfortunately yes. At least, to the senses of a Toormonda ship it is,¡± Eolai¡¯s voice said. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that military grade scanners make the emissions of your ship even more obvious. We are reasonably certain we¡¯ve identified your origin point for the jump into our system. We have marked it in the Toormonda¡¯s astrogation files for Takeshi to review. We are not asking you to confirm nor deny it at this time, and you may wait until he returns to discuss it--¡±


    ¡°Captain, they are accurate as to our origin point within ten light years,¡± Takeshi said. ¡°I can¡¯t be more certain of that without reviewing our our own system and the results side by side.¡±


    ¡°Takeshi, I would have preferred you kept that to yourself until you return to the ship,¡± Captain Moon said sternly.


    ¡°I apologize, but it¡¯s more than that. They also predicted our escape trajectories when we had the Tunnel Drive powered up after they fried our drone. They were right on the money, give or take a few light years. Like I said, I¡¯d need some sort of comparison with our own instruments to be completely certain of their accuracy, but I¡¯m pretty certain that now that they have us in their sights, they can follow us anywhere,¡± Takeshi said.


    Captain Moon exhaled in frustration. ¡°Message received Takeshi. Please withhold any more discussions on the theoretical or stated powers of their military and police forces until you return to the  Seeker .¡±


    ¡°As you wish, Captain. Takeshi Out.¡±


    Captain Moon rubbed her brow, considering what she¡¯d just learned. If the Tunnel Drive was truly easy to track, then that narrowed her options considerably. She needed to discuss matters further with Takeshi, but there was no having a secure conversation with the little astrophysicist while he was aboard an alien spacecraft. It was the primary reason why they weren¡¯t even bothering to secure the radio frequency they were using to talk to the away team at the moment.


    ?

 22.

    22.


    ¡°Okay. So you were right, Gabriel, seeing the graphical user interface that the Yonohoans use really will help in figuring out how to make our communications sync up,¡± Antoine said over the radio, his hands flashing through the air as he worked with the surprisingly intuitive holographic interface.


    ¡°They¡¯re using primarily holograms for their visual intake. I guess it really hadn¡¯t sunk into them that we don¡¯t have those yet until I said something when I saw that their file structure looked like one of these ant-mounds in Africa. Once I described how the file architecture looks when we pull it up ourselves, both in command line and in a windows environment, their system began rearranging the data we¡¯ve been sending and making all sorts of leaps of logic,¡± Antoine continued, watching as data flashed before his eyes.


    ¡°I must confess, despite the fact that we have all of this technology, I do not believe that we are really that much smarter than you are,¡± Eolai commented. ¡°Yonohoan technology is the combination of more than a billion years of alien science with one hundred thousand years of human innovation packed on top of it. The computer does most of the hard work for us.¡±


    ¡°Thanks Bob,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°We really appreciate your patience and willingness to help us learn, Eolai,¡± Gabriel said over the radio. ¡°It feels like we are back in school once more and have kind instructors teaching us difficult and new topics.¡±


    Eolai laughed. ¡°I hope that brings back pleasant memories.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s also been useful to actually get a look at how you¡¯re receiving our data. Captain, the ships are looking for layers of complexity that, quite frankly, we never even thought of. You have to remember that they have faster than light real time communication. Part of the reason they¡¯re spread out is to measure the difference between the amplitude and red shift of our signals,¡± Antoine continued as he examined the holographic information that was displayed.


    ¡°Why are they doing that?¡± Gabriel inquired before Captain Moon could beat him to it.


    ¡°We are looking for any evidence of gravitic or spacial bending technologies, which are sometimes used to enhance or hide light-based communication methods,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°I did not think that you possessed that capability, but our fleet layout is standard for communicating with an unexpected guest who is not linked up via a quantum network. Normally we would break off as soon as we decided you were trustworthy, and possibly establish a connection between our ships by exchanging paired particles.¡±


    ¡°Okay, makes sense to me,¡± Gabriel said.


    ¡°Really? You got that?¡± Diego asked, his hologram touching its ear, where it was wearing the device that allowed Bob to assist him.


    ¡°Sure. Honestly it¡¯s beyond anything we¡¯ll be able to do for centuries without ripping apart one of the Toormondas, but it sort of checks out,¡± Gabriel said.


    ¡°Yeah, I also understood that,¡± Antoine agreed. ¡°It¡¯s hard to imagine exactly how it would work, but I can see how control over gravity and space-time would increase the ways in which radiowaves could be manipulated to speed or hide data transfer.¡±


    ¡°Cool. You nerds keep talking about that cool stuff then. Bob, me need break from braniacs, send me talk to Anders,¡± Diego said, and his hologram cut out. Antoine barely noticed, continuing to pay attention to the data in front of him as it highlighted the information that the fleet had been receiving from the Seeker over the last week.


    ¡°Boo!¡± Diego¡¯s hologram said when it popped up behind Anders, who promptly turned and grabbed for the bean-bag pistol on his hip.


    ¡°Dammit Diego, that¡¯s not funny.¡±


    ¡°It kind of is, Commander. You need to loosen up a bit,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Sergeant, loose lips sink sips. And there¡¯s a boat named Earth with a hell of a lot of innocent lives aboard it,¡± Anders said.


    ¡°I¡¯m aware of that. I really am,¡± Diego said. ¡°And I¡¯m relieved that there¡¯s absolutely no possible way that I can lead the aliens to it, even if they torture me.¡±


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Anders blinked and turned to look at the holographic man. ¡°You¡¯ve thought that through? They surpass us in many ways, are you certain that your knowledge couldn¡¯t be used against us?¡±


    ¡°Pretty sure, Anders. Not for locating us at least. Or not, I don¡¯t know. Sometimes you don¡¯t know what you know until the pliers come out and the questioners get creative. But right now I¡¯m choosing to remain optimistic,¡± Diego said.


    Anders sighed. ¡°How certain of that were you when you volunteered to board the alien ship?¡±


    ¡°Sixty-five percent,¡± Diego declared. ¡°But I was also certain that if I didn¡¯t board the alien ship, then we¡¯d be delayed by so long that we¡¯d completely fail the primary mission of the Seeker and cost the taxpayers trillions of dollars.¡±


    Anders nodded. ¡°Those are no longer the primary goals of this mission, Sergeant. You should have realized that.¡±


    ¡°I agree with you and Captain Moon that establishing relationships with the Yonohoans, and if possible the Topokans slash Sulivans, has become the highest priority, replacing the science goals that were paramount when we launched,¡± Diego said. ¡°However, I also point out that there is the possibility of doing them both. They are not mutually exclusive.¡±


    Anders paused. ¡°What are you suggesting?¡±


    ¡°We need to retrieve the probes that were launched ahead of us before cosmic radiation begins to eat into the hardware,¡± Diego explained. ¡°We bought some time when we sent word ahead before coming here, and we jumped ahead of schedule, so if we leave now we can still meet our operational goals.¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t leave. The Yonohoans are legally obligated to follow us,¡± Anders reminded him.


    ¡°The location of the rendezvous points for the drones are not classified information, are they?¡± Diego asked. ¡°That¡¯s a genuine question, sir, because honestly I don¡¯t know. If they are you are one hundred percent correct in that the primary mission of the Seeker of New Discoveries is a failure in light of our emerging diplomatic responsibilities. If they are unclassified information, however, then it is possible to utilize the generous gift that the Yonohoan government has given us in order to fulfill our goals. We can test drive the Toormonda at the same time, killing two birds with one stone.¡±


    Anders frowned. ¡°If you¡¯ve thought of this, why didn¡¯t you tell it directly to the captain, Sergeant?¡±


    ¡°Because perhaps I don¡¯t want credit for thinking of it, Sir,¡± Diego said. ¡°Perhaps I¡¯m happy with just being a grunt and a pretty face. Anything I say over the radio is going to be recorded for posterity. Right now, I¡¯m talking to you through channels that Eolai assured me are as secure as they would use for a vising diplomat communicating with his native government.¡±


    Diego paused. ¡°Unless of course you left the microphone on your suit on. If I¡¯m on a hot mic then I guess it doesn¡¯t matter.¡±


    Anders laughed. ¡°I¡¯ll take your plan under consideration, Sergeant.¡±


    ¡°What plan is that, sir?¡± Diego asked, saluting.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± Anders said. His opinion of Diego had just been moved up several notches. He¡¯d thought that the man was too laid back and lackadaisical, and had been surprised that a man with so little ambition had made it onto the Seeker in the first place. Now, he was beginning to wonder what other ideas Diego had brought forward from behind the scenes.


    ¡°Is Sarah still pining for me, Commander?¡± Diego asked.


    And just like that Ander¡¯s opinion of the man dropped again. ¡°Have you been carrying out a relationship with--¡±


    ¡°I shot her down hard, Commander. More than once,¡± Diego said. ¡°I filed a report but I guess it might not have gotten all of the way to you. I¡¯m concerned. She seemed almost fixated on me. She thinks I agreed to marry her. I¡¯m worried that it might be a symptom.¡±


    Anders paused his review of the user manual for the crowd control device he was holding. ¡°Say that again?¡±


    ¡°She approached me after our third jump and attempted to initiate a sexual relationship, Sir. I tried to politely decline, and I reported it as is policy. She came back at me one week later and attempted again, having misconstrued my words in my polite rejection. I was more adamant than before, and I again filed a report. This has repeated itself a total of five times, Commander. I know I¡¯m a catch, but I¡¯m not that much of a catch. I¡¯m not someone worth facing disciplinary action over,¡± Diego said.


    Anders frowned. ¡°I¡¯ll look into it. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.¡±


    ¡°I am not filing a formal complaint about her actions, sir. I am raising a legitimate concern for the well being of my crewmate. I don¡¯t want to get her in trouble. I am worried that she needs help, and perhaps doesn¡¯t even realize it herself.¡±


    ¡°I will be delicate but thorough in my investigation of this matter, Sergeant. I thank you for your discretion in bringing this directly to my attention.¡±


    ¡°Yes sir. Doing my job. Do you want my advice, sir?¡±


    Anders paused. Ten minutes ago he would have said no, but Diego had just proven himself to be a more thoughtful and capable person than Anders had previously believed. ¡°I¡¯m listening.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to be honest, the medical equipment on the Seeker is substandard. We don¡¯t have an MRI. We do have a cat scan, but it¡¯s not the highest resolution. I¡¯m pretty sure that the medical scanners that the Yonohoans have can see individual dendrites in the human head. I have no idea how it works, but if you have time I¡¯d visit with Liu before you leave and get her opinion on it. Gabriel thinks that it¡¯s part of the Seeker¡¯s mission, one that isn¡¯t officially on the record or above board, to get baselines on what exposure to the Tunnel Drive does to the human body.¡±


    ¡°Sergeant ¡­¡± Anders began, his voice growing stern.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine with that if it¡¯s true, Commander. I¡¯m perfectly okay with sacrificing my health for science. That¡¯s a risk that I knew signing up,¡± Diego said. ¡°But if we¡¯re sacrificing our health for science, then we should look at making certain that we¡¯re getting the biggest bang for our bucks, shouldn¡¯t we? I understand why we can¡¯t have an MRI. It interferes too much with the other instruments, or wasn¡¯t in the budget, or they couldn¡¯t fit it on the floorplan, or some combination of the three. But the Yonohoans are giving us one of their functional level one clinics, sir. Why not use them?¡±


    Anders closed his eyes and thought the man¡¯s words through. There was some wisdom in them, he had to admit. He¡¯d heard the whispers of a ¡®hidden mission¡¯ in which the crew was being treated as guinea pigs, and he¡¯d tried to quash it for morale.


    The problem was that it wasn¡¯t entirely false. One of the objectives of the mission was to maintain the crew¡¯s health by screening for the damage that the Tunnel Drive might cause to the human body. It was effectively a science experiment they were performing on themselves. It just hadn¡¯t been explicitly stated as such during the recruitment drive.


    At the same time, using the Yonohoan¡¯s technology would give the Yonohoans more data on the crew. What if they determined that the damage that they were doing to themselves using the Tunnel Drive meant that they were legally required to board the craft and scuttle it?


    ¡°I shall handle this investigation delicately and thoroughly, Sergeant. Thank you again for bringing it to my attention.¡±

 23.

    23.


    Anders stared at the hologram of his own naked body, unashamed despite the presence of Liu Wei and the Yonohoan medical officer, who was present by hologram. The Yonohoan, one Trenola, had volunteered to cut the connection during Anders¡¯ participation in the exam, but Anders had insisted upon her remaining for several reasons.


    Primarily because she was the only one who understood how the instrumentation actually worked and could read the data on a level which would take Liu years to master. He was genuinely curious about the result and the current state of his health, and he wanted the best eyes available.


    But he also wanted to see her expression as she reviewed the data to try to gleam from her body language any hints as to hidden motivations. So while he was watching as his holographic body was virtually dissected, a corner of his awareness was directed squarely on the young Yonohoan woman who was attending the examination virtually.


    ¡°You are in much the same state of health that Sergeant Diego Cruz was when he came to us, Commander,¡± Trenola commented. ¡°Your muscles and bones have begun to atrophy due to the prolonged time you have spent in zero gravity. You show certain signs of malnutrition despite your insistence that you are taking vitamins to counteract such a thing. And unfortunately your dendrites show the same signs of deterioration as both Sergeant Cruz and Doctor Liu Wei.¡±


    ¡°How bad is the neural degeneration?¡± Anders asked. ¡°I don¡¯t particularly care about the rest of that stuff.¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± The Yonohoan considered the question. ¡°It is hard to say because we don¡¯t have a baseline on you personally or your species as a whole.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re all human, aren¡¯t we doctor?¡±


    ¡°Of course we are. However, we¡¯re separated by what was done to our ancestors by the science of our former enslavers, as well as however many thousand years of natural evolution,¡± Trenola explained. ¡°I would know more if I could sample your genetics, but I understand why you are wary about such a matter. As Eolai has instructed, I am to remain conscious and deliberate in my efforts to assist you in managing your health.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Doctor,¡± Anders said. ¡°Do you have enough data to say whether the deterioration is hitting us all the same or if it¡¯s hitting certain individuals harder than others?¡±


    ¡°I have three data sets. Well, one more if you consider that Sergeant Cruz has been getting scanned daily since he came to us. But no, I can¡¯t judge the level of exposure or the state prior to exposure, so I can¡¯t tell if certain individuals are more susceptible, which is I believe what you are asking,¡± Trenola said.


    ¡°Acquiring our DNA would help?¡± He inquired.


    ¡°Immensely, yes. It would allow me to screen for many diseases which might hide, increase, or mimic the symptoms,¡± she explained. ¡°If I do detect a variance in susceptibilities among your crew it might even allow me to identify the specific genetic factors involved.¡±


    ¡°I understand. Liu, what do you think of this device?¡± Anders asked.


    The Chinese woman looked up from the hologram where she had been analyzing the readouts around Anders¡¯ liver. ¡°This isn¡¯t just one or two generations beyond what we have, Anders. This machine is like Prometheus stealing fire from the gods and giving it to a doctor. I couldn¡¯t get this level of detail on autopsy, to be honest. If we could duplicate this technology on Earth, we would advance medicine by centuries.¡±


    ¡°These devices have changed very little in almost ninety thousand years,¡± Trenola admitted. ¡°They are so common throughout the universe that very few people actually investigate how they work or the data contained within. It would be a very interesting experiment to give them to a world like yours and see what your medical professionals do with them.¡±


    ¡°It would also probably put a lot of doctors and nurses out of work,¡± Liu admitted.


    ¡°That¡¯s a concern for the politicians and leaders back home,¡± Anders reminded her. ¡°Our role at this point is to inform them that an offer of such a technology exchange exists. It¡¯s their job to negotiate and navigate the specifics. Tell me, Doctor Trenola, do you think that Yonohoan medicine could reverse the damage that you¡¯re observing in the three specimens you¡¯ve seen so far?¡±


    Trenola hemmed and hawed for a moment. ¡°I do not want to make any promises, but I can think of several treatment options off the top of my head. There are several pharmaceuticals which might help promote the regrowth of the damaged tissues. There is also the fact that so far none of you Earthlings seem to have medical nanites in your body. It¡¯s entirely possible that modern medical nanites would have already corrected the problem on their own.¡±


    ¡°Are you saying that a Yonohoan might be able to use the Tunnel Drive  without  suffering mental degeneration?¡± Liu asked.


    ¡°It is hard to say for certain because the mechanism for the damage isn¡¯t well understood. It is simply marked as a method of FTL travel which is possible but harmful to humans. The truth is, Liu, that the data provided by your crew is already more detailed than what I was able to find within the archives of the medical texts,¡± Trenola explained. ¡°According to the records, most men and women who tried to use this method of travel went insane within one or two jumps, but by your own accounts you¡¯ve been through more than a dozen.¡±


    ¡°Given this type of damage to our brains,¡± Anders began, ¡°what sort of symptoms might be warning signs that the damage is progressing to the point of becoming significant.¡±


    ¡°Any amount of brain damage is significant,¡± Trenola said immediately. ¡°However, if you¡¯re looking for early symptoms, I would say any psychiatric symptom that was not present before the exposure to your Tunnel Drive. I would include depression, mania, delusions, reduced impulse control, paranoia, anxiety, and many others. Are you experiencing any of those symptoms?¡±


    ¡°If I am they¡¯re not to the point where I have noticed them in myself,¡± Anders said.


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    ¡°Asking for a friend?¡± Liu asked.


    ¡°No. I am asking for my crew. I am the XO, and in case you¡¯ve forgotten, the medical wellbeing of my crew is my responsibility as much as it is yours and the captain¡¯s,¡± Anders said sternly.


    ¡°Of course. I¡¯m sorry, I only meant to lighten the mood,¡± Liu apologized.


    Anders sighed. ¡°No, perhaps I was too stern. I¡¯m sorry, but I was just informed that I have brain damage which might require alien medicine or nano-machines in order to correct.¡±


    ¡°I believe there was a clause in the contract we had to sign which specifically stated that as a possibility,¡± Liu pointed out.


    ¡°There was. I remember reading it,¡± Anders agreed. ¡°It¡¯s different when it¡¯s no longer just a potential thing that might happen, however.¡±


    ¡°Indeed, I know exactly what you mean,¡± Liu said. ¡°I wonder how many jumps it will take before we all start showing symptoms?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Anders said. He didn¡¯t add his next thoughts.


    Because it was entirely possible that they were  all  already experiencing symptoms, and nobody had noticed it yet. Or, if they had, it was simply being written off as the usual behaviors that cropped up in a crew of forty some people isolated for months at a time.


    That was, after all, how Sarah¡¯s symptoms had gone unnoticed for months.


    ~~~~~~


    Anders left medical after some further discussion with the doctor about the potential treatment options that she¡¯d already identified. The doctor had ordered of the pills that were most likely to be effective to be printed out by the chemical forge which was included in the level one clinic attached to the Toormonda.


    While he disliked the idea of bringing  anything  back from the trip, adding a plastic bag filled with pill bottles wasn¡¯t very difficult. He just hoped that they were  just  pills,  just  pill bottles, and  just  a plastic bag.


    But then again they had what was known to be an advanced piece of alien engineering sitting in one of the emptied out storage areas. And they already  knew  that the aliens were using that device to transmit radio waves in order to break the speed of light.


    They didn¡¯t need to sneak the horse into Troy. It was already in the street, and they were partying around.


    He disliked the risks that Captain Moon and Sergeant Cruz were taking. However, now that he was aware that  some  of his shipmates might be showing symptoms related to the use of the Tunnel Drive, he had to account for the possibility that any of them might be. Or all of them.


    Including the captain.


    Including himself.


    He quietly examined his own methods of thinking and tried to compare them to his baseline. But of course that¡¯s the problem, he thought. The way you think naturally changes from day to day. From hour to hour, and even minute to minute. It changes based on mood, on the lighting, on your company. On your hormones and the environment.


    He couldn¡¯t compare his effectiveness to what it had been on Earth because he  wasn¡¯t  on earth. He was in the largest and most expensive spacecraft that Earth had ever built. He didn¡¯t even know how far he was away from his home in terms of distance because only astrogation had that data. And perhaps the captain.


    They¡¯d been jumping around for months, jumping vast distances through the universe with the faster than light Tunnel Drive. Not in a straight line, but to and froe. There was a method to the madness, but the goal of the mission was to collect the probes which had been sent out ahead of them, some of the probes having been in space for decades.


    It was only chance, the ship¡¯s AI, and Gabriel¡¯s own attention to detail and pattern recognition which had led the  Seeker  to stumble across the alien broadcasts.


    He stopped by one of the walls that led to the exterior of the ship. ¡°Ship, can you make the walls transparent for me?¡±


    The ship beeped. ¡°The interior walls are not allowed to go transparent due to built in privacy concerns,¡± A gentle, unsexed voice answered him.


    ¡°Exterior walls only is fine. I just want to see the night¡¯s sky.¡±


    The ship beeped again, and the pastel colored wall abruptly turned as clear as glass. He looked out into the firmament, and he tried to remember what it looked like back at home.


    He could remember the big dipper, and orion, and a few of the other constellations. He was a backup pilot, so he knew enough to find some of the reference points. Except he¡¯d thought it was idiotic that he had to learn how to navigate by the stars when if he had to ever use those skills those stars would be in a completely different location.


    He stared out at the alien starscape, and he couldn¡¯t help realize for the first time that he was completely and thoroughly lost. He wondered if he¡¯d ever be able to see his home again. His wife had divorced him when the opening on this mission had come through. It was a mutual decision; his choice of the mission over their relationship the final cut in a relationship that was already ragged and threadbare.


    ¡°Perhaps I really have been giving Diego not nearly enough credit,¡± he whispered to himself. He spent another few moments staring at the stars, then turned and headed towards engineering to speak with the final member of the away team.


    ?

 24.

    24.


    ¡°So in summary, Commander, Captain, I have absolutely no idea how the engine works,¡± Rajesh said. ¡°It is absolutely amazing and exciting! It seems to generate limitless energy from nothing at all, according to the documents that I have been reading.¡±


    ¡°That is not exactly true,¡± Renosa said. She had been assisting Rajesh in the investigation of the ship¡¯s power source, it¡¯s FTL drive, and it¡¯s sub light speed drives. ¡°What you are calling a generator is in fact three interlinked systems which each bring a different hyperatomic or subatomic plain closer to the material dimension. This results in a friction between the three dimensions and the material plane which is translated into four different forms of energy which are then absorbed by the ship to power its functions, including the devices which bring the dimensions together.¡±


    ¡°Exactly! It is a complete violation of the laws of thermodynamics! It powers itself!¡± Rajesh exclaimed. ¡°And the math which supports it is ¡­ well, I honestly would have to study it for decades to make sense of it. But it makes the theory of everything look like a toddler scribbling on a chalkboard.¡±


    ¡°It is in fact one of the more limited versions of harnessing inter-dimensional energies in a usable format. The military ships only use an engine of this sort as a backup to more powerful options,¡± Renosa explained. ¡°You must remember that this ship is designed with the safety of children in mind, however, and is therefor limited in power. There are no containment shields which we would worry about failing, no terrible fallout if a reactor core or fusion bottle is broken. It is perfectly safe to touch the engine¡¯s components while it is running, and if one piece fails in the middle of the mission, the others will continue to pick up the slack at between thirty to sixty percent power. It will take two points of failure before a breakdown occurs, and the emergency beacon is set to sound at the first point of failure.¡±


    ¡°That sounds remarkable,¡± Captain Moon said over the radio. ¡°Is it possible to use this sort of technology planetside?¡±


    ¡°Regretfully, no,¡± Renosa admitted. ¡°The tri-dimensional generator requires a low gravity environment in order to function. Typically children are brought aboard via a shuttlecraft designed specifically to bring them back and forth between the planet and the Toormonda. We are happy to provide your planet with several of those as well.¡±


    ¡°We have a space elevator which is currently serving that purpose,¡± Captain Moon stated. ¡°But we shall keep your generous offer in mind.¡±


    ¡°Regretfully, most atmospheric shuttles do not possess FTL drives for a variety of reasons. If you choose to accept such a vehicle from our government, we will be required to ship it to your homeworld via a craft that is capable of delivering it between stars,¡± Renosa said.


    ¡°Thank you, Renosa, that will be an important point for consideration,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°Rajesh, have you been able to understand how the Toormonda¡¯s FTL system works?¡±


    ¡°Aye, and you¡¯re going to like this. It¡¯s the same principal as the tunnel drive, it¡¯s just pulling on a different dimension!¡± He exclaimed. ¡°The principal is the same. It uses a hyperatomic plain to wrap the ship in a bubble, then creates a wormhole between the bubble and the destination. The pressures between the hyperatomic plane and the material plane do the rest. The universe literally shoves the ship through the hole at supra-light speeds.¡±


    ¡°Do you think that it is technology that we could develop using our existing technology?¡± Anders asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m not certain. I don¡¯t understand all of the math for the hyperatomic plane that it uses yet, and I¡¯m not certain how the engine interacts with it,¡± Rajesh admitted. ¡°I will love the process of figuring it out, however!¡±


    ¡°So it will never need to be refueled?¡± Anders inquired. ¡°It will run on a perpetual motion machine forever?¡±


    ¡°Well, there¡¯s no theoretical limit to the primary energy source,¡± Renosa said. ¡°However, for safety concerns, each Toormonda is retired after two hundred years of service. That is often enough for hundreds of individual journeys, and each ship often has thousands of passengers during its years of operation. It is often a local news event whenever a Toormonda is retired from service, resulting in a fair bit of nostalgia.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re giving Earth a fleet of vessels designed for scientific inquiry that fuel themselves and will operate for two hundred years,¡± Captain Moon said.


    ¡°That is the offer that is being presented, Captain. It is a gift freely given.¡±


    ¡°But one which might reveal the location of our home,¡± Captain Moon pressed.


    ¡°Yes. Regretfully this is a possibility which I understand that you cannot overlook,¡± Renosa agreed.


    ¡°It remains a very generous offer, one which the governments of my planet will truly be grateful of when they learn of it. I truly regret that I am unable to either accept or decline the offer at this time due to security concerns and what I feel is a lack of authority given my people¡¯s inability to get in touch with our home government,¡± Captain Moon said.


    ¡°My government understands and assures you that there is no time limit on this offer,¡± Renosa said. ¡°We are happy to build the promised number of these ships and send them to whatever stellar coordinates you wish.¡±


    That caused Anders to perk up slightly. ¡°Would it be possible to send it to a location which we would be able to travel to via our existing faster than light method, and then transfer vehicles?¡±


    Renosa considered the question carefully. ¡°I would have to speak with the others and the leaders of my civilian government. The concerns about your Tunnel Drive remain.¡±


    ¡°If they are willing, that is an important note for consideration,¡± Captain Moon said, and Anders strongly agreed. ¡°It will significantly increase the security of our planet for the ships to be delivered to a secure location.¡±


    ¡°I agree,¡± Renosa said. ¡°But at this time I an unable to promise that it will be so.¡±


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°We understand. Thank you for your help, Renosa. You have been most useful in navigating this difficult political situation,¡± Captain Moon said.


    ¡°You are most welcome.¡±


    ¡°Captain, we are approaching the one hour mark until bingo,¡± Anders stated. ¡°I think that it¡¯s time we return to the Seeker. We have a lot of matters to discuss.¡±


    ¡°Indeed we do, XO. Okay then, if you think you¡¯ve learned all you can from this excursion, then I look forward to seeing you aboard the  Seeker  upon your return.¡±


    The radio clicked, but remained open. Anders ordered everyone to meet up at the airlock. They brought everything with them that they¡¯d packed in, plus the bags of medicine which the medical bay had printed for them. The Yonohoans had assured them that the gravity drive of the Toormonda was accurate enough to send them precisely back into their own airlock, but they still held on to their personal MMU¡¯s. Antoine held his with a near deathgrip.


    They cycled through the airlocks of either ship and traversed the void between, then proceeded to go through the hour long process of decon.


    The decontamination procedure was long, arduous, and involved a lot of water. First they showed and scrubbed each other down using hot water while wearing their vacuum suits. Then they repeated the process with cold water. Then hot water again.


    Once they had completed that, they carefully assisted each other in removing their protective gear. They stripped down all the way, and spent thirty minutes in the shower, carefully scrubbing their bodies with special soaps of different compositions. Their bodies were pink and their skin was sensitive by the time that they finally finished.


    The water itself was cycled to its own holding tank, where it would be distilled rather than filtered before being returned to the ship¡¯s water supply. It was an unfortunate limitation on their current mission parameters that they didn¡¯t have enough water to do more than two such decontamination sessions without impacting the amount of water that they had on hand, and it would take almost a week for the water in the holding tank to be distilled.


    Still, aside from Diego, nobody was particularly eager to be told that they couldn¡¯t return to the  Seeker  because they¡¯d failed to complete Decon.


    The all staff meeting which followed the away team returning to the  Seeker  was filled with wonder and excitement as Antoine, Rajesh, and Takeshi detailed what they had learned while aboard the Toormonda. Not just about the ship which they had been sent to investigate, but about the scope of Yonohoan technology and the universe itself.


    Anders had taken Liu aside before returning to the ship and instructed her not to share all of the details they had learned about the progress of their neural degeneration. Liu had simply scoffed at him and said ¡°I¡¯m not an idiot, Anthony. I know what is a command discussion and what¡¯s okay for a general meeting.¡±


    And when it was her turn, she eagerly detailed the extreme quality of the medical facilities of the Toormonda while carefully avoiding what they had learned about the cost to their bodies that they had all agreed upon in order to participate in this mission.


    There were questions, and excitement, and more questions than answers.


    A question was asked, ¡°How did the sensitivity of the instruments compare to the ones aboard the Seeker?¡±


    Takeshi answered ¡°It is hard to say, because there are esoteric words which their computer is not entirely confident are being translated correctly. But I¡¯m reasonably certain I can say that once we have crossed the language barrier off the list of problems, the Toormonda blows the instrumentation aboard the  Seeker  out of the water. Our instruments barely detected any of the phenomena that occurs when we apply power to the Tunnel drive. The Toormonda lit up like a Christmas tree spinning around with sparklers lit from its branches. It¡¯s truly amazing that we missed that.¡±


    ¡°Did we miss it?¡± Gabriel asked. ¡°Did we think to look for it and didn¡¯t find it? Or did we look for it and didn¡¯t see it? Or did we see it but not think that it was relevant because we didn¡¯t know that it could be used to trace us, and neither did we think that anyone existed to do the tracing.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Takeshi admitted.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid I don¡¯t know either,¡± Rajesh admitted, and neither did any of the other engineers or particle physicists.


    There were questions about the sleeping arrangements, and the answer was fairly simple. The Yonohoans had converted the dormitory accommodations with small private rooms for the adults that most Toormondas had into twenty equally sized and virtually identical bunk rooms. Compared to the rooms aboard the  Seeker , they were spacious and private. If necessary, it would be possible to double up in a room.


    If the Earthlings really, really needed to, they could take the Toormonda and leave, abandoning the  Seeker .


    That option wasn¡¯t discussed too much except for placing it down on the table and acknowledging its existence. But the knowledge that there was a way back that didn¡¯t involve the use of the Tunnel Drive reassured many of the crew members.


    Surprisingly to Captain Moon and most of the crew, it was Anders who began turning the discussion in the direction of how the team could use the Toormonda to adapt the  Seeker¡¯s  original mission to the new ship that they were being offered.


    Captain Moon concluded the meeting with an announcement.


    ¡°I am approving what I call ¡®project radio tower,¡¯¡± she said once she had everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°We will be engaging in cultural exchange using the unencrypted radio waves. All crew is authorized to make a recording up to one hour in length and submit it for review by command staff. I am also authorizing the sharing of our people¡¯s music via this same method, so if anyone feels like playing a DJ, please feel free. I¡¯ve already pre-approved pretty much every song that has been uploaded to the folder created for that purpose on the shared network drive.¡±


    This was met with a round of applause, and after the meeting concluded many members of the team began pulling out various recording devices to get started telling their stories to the Yonohoans.


    ?

 25.

    25.


    ¡°I understand that you want to help, but I actually think that this is one instance where the Yonohoans need to step back a little bit, Eolai,¡± Diego said, sitting across from the man as they played a game of chess. Eolai was fascinated by the game.


    And he was also already better than Diego was at it.


    ¡°I am grateful that your captain has decided to make an opportunity for the people of your crew to introduce themselves to the people of my world, but I do not understand why we can¡¯t simply put the recordings on the Rocktalas so that all might enjoy them,¡± Eolai objected.


    ¡°It has historical value for us Earthlings,¡± Diego explained. ¡°You have to realize that most of our entertainment devices did not have the means to store large amounts of information until relatively recently in our history.¡±


    Eolai looked up at him, frowning. ¡°I see. I suppose I  hadn¡¯t  considered that would be a problem. How did your people overcome it?¡±


    ¡°Well, eventually we established the internet and we used that to stream whatever information we wanted from the servers where it was stored,¡± Diego admitted. ¡°But before that, we used good old fashioned radio waves. It¡¯s really no more complicated than the two-way devices we¡¯ve been using to communicate with you guys. It¡¯s simpler in fact. A guy talks or sings into a microphone that converts the sound into data. There¡¯s a broadcast tower which puts it into the airwaves. Then there¡¯s a receiver that¡¯s connected to a speaker. And that¡¯s it.¡±


    ¡°And the performances were not recorded or stored in local media at all?¡± Eolai inquired.


    ¡°Sure they were, some of the time,¡± Diego admitted. ¡°In fact most of radio transmissions were of previous recorded musical performances rather than live ones. Most often the ¡®live¡¯ part of the performance was the disk jockey who talked to the audience about the music, or made announcements. Sometimes they talked about local events or global politics. Radio was a very widespread way of spreading information and coming to understanding.¡±


    Eolai nodded, then moved his bishop, placing Diego into check. Diego sighed and surrendered, knowing that he was only three moves from mate.


    ¡°I see. Unfortunately I don¡¯t believe that my people will have enough time print out the devices they will require to hear the broadcast in the time frame that your captain has allotted,¡± Eolai lamented.


    ¡°Yeah, I get that. I¡¯m not saying that you shouldn¡¯t record the performance, Eolai. We recorded the radio all of the time back in the day. But I think that the first performance should be a live performance. Let it be limited by light speed. I think it¡¯s okay to use a ¡®booster¡¯ to help translate it into a live performance that people can enjoy. But the people on my ship are putting together these performances in the hopes that they¡¯re listened to the way that we¡¯re broadcasting them, rather than being chopped up and divided by category and topic,¡± Diego explained.


    ¡°Is that so?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Okay, so, let¡¯s see. There¡¯s like six astrophysicists aboard. But they¡¯re not going to go back to back and talk about astrophysics like they¡¯re lecturing your children, Eolai. Well, one of them might. But mostly I think they¡¯re going to talk about their childhoods, their schooling, the way that it felt growing up on Earth. On a Darkworld where we had no idea that there were Humans anywhere in the universe but the planet beneath our feet. They¡¯re going to talk about how they looked up into the sky at night and wondered what was out there. They¡¯re going to explain how they studied science looking for meaning and answers, and how that path led them to the here and now.¡±


    Eolai was silent a moment. The chessboard reset, and Diego had made his move and was waiting for two moments before Eolai spoke again.


    ¡°You are correct. That is a performance that is worth hearing in its original format, Diego.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think all of them will do that, however. Instead I think it will be mixed up. They¡¯ll play their favorite music, and then between songs they¡¯ll talk to your people about the song, or their pasts, or their present, or their hopes for the future,¡± Diego said.


    Eolai made a move. It wasn¡¯t a standard opening move for any of the common strategies, but he was just a beginner and had yet to master the advanced strategies.


    That was fine. Diego hadn¡¯t played chess for years and he was plenty rusty.


    ¡°I will do my utmost to ensure that my people are given the opportunity to hear the broadcast in the way that it was intended to be encountered,¡± Eolai said. ¡°And I will also endeavor to ensure that they appreciate the significance of it¡¯s uniqueness.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Eolai,¡± Diego said, moving a pawn.


    ¡°The truth is, Diego, that my people have a historical tradition which has a similar purpose. The radio is very similar to one of the uses of the Rocktala. There is a way to put the device into write many, read once mode. With that mode, the device will record the transmissions which strike it indefinitely, but they will only ever display the message one time. It takes a forensic bypass to overwrite that mode,¡± Eolai said.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Diego said. ¡°So we have some common basis to help your people understand what we¡¯re doing.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps if we use the Rocktala to explain it to them, they really will understand,¡± Eolai said, and he stood up. ¡°Let us go try.¡±


    Diego blinked as the holographic chessboard vanished. ¡°Right now?¡±


    ¡°I believe so, yes. The sooner we commit the transmission to the airwaves, the more time my people will have to come to understand the meaning and prepare for your Project Radio Tower. It will drive interest in the project and your people even further than the furor that is already bubbling just beneath the surface,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°Okay. So I don¡¯t even really know what a Rocktala is. I¡¯m worried that I will mess up your ancient tradition,¡± Diego said, following Eolai through the ship.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    ¡°I cannot give you the words that you must say,¡± Eolai admitted. ¡°You must say what you think and feel in the moment and nothing else. Be honest and formal, but that is all the advice I will give. Our words will be recorded by the Rocktala and broadcast to the universe itself, so make certain that you are prepared to stand by your actions in the next few moments for eternity.¡±


    ¡°Okay. When do we start broadcasting?¡± Diego asked, speeding up to keep up with the excited Yonohoan.


    ¡°I already have, Clansman Diego,¡± Eolai said. ¡°Come, let me show you one of the ancient traditions of my people.¡±


    They reached the bridge, and Eolai pulled the device that he kept on his wrist off and tossed it onto the floor. Above it appeared the hologram of a crackling fire.


    ¡°We would sit around a fire at night. It would be just a man, or a family, or a clan. And we would tell each other stories. About the world as we knew it, and as we thought that we knew it. Those were some of the happiest memories of my life. Today the Rocktala serves that same purpose.¡±


    ¡°Our people have a very similar tradition, Clansman Eolai,¡± Diego admitted. ¡°In fact, we continue to practice it to this day. Often when I was growing up I would go camping in the wilderness with my father and my brothers. When dark fell, we would start a fire to keep the cold away, and we would sit around and look at the flames. Sometimes we would talk, but often we would simply roast marshmallows or hot dogs and enjoy the company of each other.¡±


    ¡°In many ways those were simpler days, before we understood the ways that the universe truly worked,¡± Eolai said.


    ¡°Childhood is a simple time, Clansman Eolai,¡± Diego said. He hoped that he was doing right by inserting the title after Eolai had used it before his name. Eolai hadn¡¯t told him to stop after the first time he had used it, but he had specifically said that he couldn¡¯t give Diego the words for whatever this ceremony was.


    ¡°Your words are wiser than you know. Your Captain Ji-eun, who was born into one family and raised in another, once spoke of the difference of ignorance and innocence. What are your thoughts on that distinction, Clansman Diego, Rank Sergeant, of the family Cruz?¡±


    ¡°Innocence is the default state of a person. In my society, when a crime has been committed, there is a presumption of innocence. In order to punish the person whom is believed responsible, there must be a criminal trial to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they are guilty of the crime,¡± Diego said. ¡°I am not certain if that is the direction you meant for me to take, but, well, you told me to speak my mind. I believe that innocence is the default state of everyone. We are ignorant, but it is a clean ignorance. We do not choose to be innocent, we simply are. And until we are shown that there is another way of being, then we can be nothing else.¡±


    ¡°You were born in a dark world, Clansman Diego,¡± Eolai said. ¡°Will you tell me of the days of your innocence?¡±


    ¡°Of course, Clansman Eolai,¡± Diego said, and he began racking his head for tales from his childhood to tell.


    So he started at home, with his mother, father, and abeula. And, of course, his seven siblings. He named them each and shared small details about them, from the way that his abeula always smelled of cinnamon to the fact that his younger brother had a large red birthmark on his bottom which he was often teased about until he took the joke and made it a point of pride.


    He spoke about how, before his father passed, they would go out into the yard and his father would help him look through the telescope that he¡¯d gotten for his eighth birthday. He remembered his first glance of Jupiter, the largest gas giant in their solar system, as vividly as if it was yesterday. How he dreamed of becoming an astronaut and breaking the lightspeed barrier.


    He told about his crushing defeat when he was told that the Tunnel Drive had been invented twenty years before he was born, but kept as a classified technology that the public wasn¡¯t allowed to know about. So he¡¯d changed his mind, and he¡¯d decided that he was going to be the astronaut who set the record for going the absolute furthest from Earth that anyone has ever been before.


    He talked a bit about girls, about his first kiss, his first serious girlfriend, and his first real heartbreak. He talked about his first job. About joining the airforce. Volunteering for classified missions which he was not allowed to talk about. Volunteering for the mission which brought him aboard the  Seeker of New Discovery.


    And finally, he talked about how he had gambled his life when the alien ship that they had met had made a request for him to dock. He spoke a long time about the fear and uncertainty that he had felt when he had disembarked to see row after row of aliens which looked ferocious and able of ripping him apart. How he¡¯d been afraid that he would die a terrible death, only for the Topokans to suddenly run away in fear, to be replaced by Eolai.


    ¡°And, well, I guess you know the rest,¡± Diego said. ¡°I am pleased that you allowed me to talk this, Clansman Eolai. I do not know how many people will hear this, but it is good to tell people about the life I have lived so far.¡±


    ¡°That is what the Rocktala is for,¡± Eolai said. ¡°It began as a tool of war, but it is that no longer. Not to the Yonohoah. To the Yonohoah, the Rocktala has always symbolized peace and understanding.¡±


    ¡°I am glad to have met you and have you name me a clansman of the Yonohoah, Eolai. Thank you,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Would you be more than my clansman, Diego?¡± Eolai asked.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Would you be my brother?¡±


    Diego blinked in surprise. ¡°I already have brothers and sisters back on Earth.¡±


    ¡°I accept your family as my family. The bonds of the family we choose are as binding to me as the ones which are chosen for me. No, they are more binding,¡± Eolai said.


    Diego paused as he considered this turn of the conversation. ¡°I do not truly understand what you are asking of me, Clansman Eolai.¡±


    ¡°That is okay. I am asking you for no more than you are willing to give me,¡± Eolai assured him. ¡°All I would ever ask of you is that if a time of strife threatens my children, that you would do anything in your power to shelter them. That is all.¡±


    ¡°In that case, yes, Brother Eolai. I will become your brother.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Brother Diego,¡± Eolai said. ¡°My children all live on Planet Totola. It relieves me that you will protect them, for I have sworn to never again set foot on that world.¡±


    ¡°I have no children on Earth,¡± Diego said. ¡°At least, none that I know of,¡± he chuckled. ¡°But I do love my brothers and my sisters and my mother and abeula, who are still alive.¡±


    ¡°I vow that if is ever in my power to shelter them from the cruelty of this universe, that my body will break before I allow them to come to harm,¡± Eolai said.


    ¡°Thank you, Brother Eolai.¡±


    ¡°I think that we have said enough to the Rocktala for tonight, Brother Diego,¡± Eolai said. He waved his hand, and the holographic fire vanished from between them.


    ¡°Is that it?¡± Diego asked.


    Eolai began to laugh until his face turned purple.


    ?

 26.

    26.


    ¡°Captain Moon, come in. This is Sergeant Diego Cruz, hailing the  Seeker of New Discoveries  in order to speak with my commanding officer, Captain Ji-eun Moon. Come in Captain Moon.¡±


    The radio signal was crystal clear, jarring her out of focusing on the latest recordings to review before Project Radio Tower was set to begin. Half of the crew was still working on editing or recording their segment, but half of the recordings were awaiting command approval to begin broadcasting.


    She switched her headset over to Diego¡¯s assigned frequency. ¡°Hello Sergeant, this is Captain Moon. How are you doing? Another report to file?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid it¡¯s more than that this time, Captain. I will not be going back to Earth with you and the Seeker. I¡¯m afraid I now have social and diplomatic obligations which will require me to spend the rest of my life on planet Totola. I believe that it is in the interest of the peoples of Earth, and the Peoples of the Yonohoah, and the peoples of the Topoka, that I observe these duties which the universe has heard me swear to,¡± the captain said in a formal tone that was clearly rehearsed.


    Captain Moon considered the implications of the words for several moments.


    ¡°Was my transmission received? Please confirm,¡± Sergeant Cruz said after a moment.


    ¡°What the hell, Sergeant? Are you okay? Do I need to find you an aardvark?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no ants here, Captain,¡± Diego said. ¡°I am not under duress. I admit that I have taken part in a sacred ceremony without understanding the full implications of the responsibilities which would fall onto me if I completed it successfully. I was not expected to pass.¡±


    ¡°What sort of ceremony? Are you married now, Sergeant?¡± Captain Moon inquired.


    ¡°That is not very far from the truth, Captain. Eolai and I are sworn brothers. He has sworn to protect my family, and I have sworn to protect his. Um, Captain, the Yonohoan people take this oath really really seriously. I have an out because I didn¡¯t know what I was doing, but if I break my word then I have disgraced myself and can never show my face in Yonohoan space again without bringing shame to my brother and his ancestors.¡±


    Captain Moon groaned, making certain first that her mic wasn¡¯t hot. ¡°Message received,¡± she said, taking a moment to think things through. ¡°What are your options exactly?¡±


    ¡°The best option is that I stay on Totola, the fourth planet of this star system, Captain, and Eolai returns with the rest of you to Earth, where he will stay until my living family members have passed on,¡± Diego explained. ¡°During that time, both he and what we believe to be the defense fleet of Totala will defend the planet Earth and all of its peoples with their lives. They will stand vigilant against anyone who would threaten us, even should the swarms return.¡±


    ¡°Okay. We¡¯ll call that plan A.¡±


    ¡°Plan B is that I leave while Eolai¡¯s children are still on planet Totala,¡± Diego said. ¡°And if I do, then I have disgraced myself. Which is actually totally fine as far as the consequences for me go. But Eolai shares my disgrace, which means that he loses his position as the first among peers of the Topokan fleet. I have been informed in no uncertain terms that this is a  very  upsetting thing for the people of Yonohoah, and will likely negatively impact the relations between the peoples of Earth and the Yonohoah for many generations.¡±


    ¡°How badly will relations be impacted?¡± Captain Moon asked.


    ¡°They will send us no gifts, they will not come to our aid, and they will not send their allies to come to our aid either. Captain, they have a lot of allies. We want them on our side,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Understood. Is there a plan C?¡±


    ¡°Plan C is that we take Eolai¡¯s children back to Earth with us. Eolai still comes with us, but I don¡¯t have to remain behind. The logistics on that task aren¡¯t very good, Captain. Eolai has a lot of children, and he¡¯s probably going to have a lot more after the ritual that we did last night,¡± Diego explained. ¡°Plan D would be to pack my family up and ship them to Totola, which is a no-go if I know my family at all.¡±


    ¡°Understood. Is there any additional plans to add to the table?¡±


    ¡°Not that I have been presented as viable alternatives, nor that I have thought of on my own,¡± Diego answered.


    ¡°Does this oath you have sworn affect the negotiations regarding to the Toormonda ships that we were offered?¡± Captain Moon asked.


    ¡°Eolai says that all promises that have been previously made will be fulfilled regardless of whether you allow me to remain, which is my voluntary wish, or if you request that the Yonohoan government force me to return to your ship so that you may return me to Earth. The Yonohoan would be honor bound to obey your lawful commands as my commanding officer. Let¡¯s call that plan F for fuck no, captain, don¡¯t do that! It takes the onus off of me and puts it on our governments.¡±


    ¡°Understood.¡± Captain Moon inhaled deeply as she considered her options. ¡°Sergeant Diego, it is largely my fault that you are in this predicament.¡±


    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    ¡°I volunteered to be the guinea pig slash cultural exchange ambassador,¡± Diego argued.


    ¡°And I gave you that opportunity when I should not have,¡± Captain Moon argued. ¡°Be quiet and let me finish, that¡¯s an order soldier.¡±


    ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am.¡±


    ¡°It is my fault that you are in this predicament. You are not caught between the duty to your people and the Yonohoans, but rather your duty to both the people of Earth and the Yonohoans and the responsibilities that you took upon yourself when you became part of this crew.¡± She paused to consider her words. ¡°As of this moment, I am, upon my authority as a captain in the Earth Space Force, relieving you of duty due to non-medical but honorable reasons, Soldier. You are no longer sergeant of the Earth Space Force but an American Civilian who is presently in Yonohoan custody. I ask you, Diego Cruz of America, are you in distress?¡±


    ¡°I am not in distress Captain Ji-eun Moon,¡± Diego answered.


    ¡°Do you wish to be returned to my custody?¡±


    ¡°I do not wish to leave the custody of the Yonohoan people.¡±


    ¡°What are your desires for the future?¡±


    ¡°I wish to emigrate to the world of Totola to protect the children of my sworn brother, Eolai, and to serve as a bridge between our two peoples for the remainder of my life,¡± Diego said over the radio.


    ¡°Your messages have been recorded, Sergeant.¡±


    ¡°I understand. Until you leave this star system I would be honored to continue to be your cultural liaison between the ship of  The Seeker of New Discoveries  and the people of the Yonohoah,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°I need to have another staff meeting to discuss these events. We will discuss how things will progress now that you have new responsibilities at a later time, Sergeant.¡±


    ¡°I understand, Ma¡¯am. Thank you. I am sorry for the headache I no doubt caused you,¡± Diego said. ¡°Diego out.¡±


    ¡°Captain Moon out.¡± She frowned, then took a moment to collect her thoughts. She looked around the bridge, and she realized that her conversation had been overheard to the point where several members of her crew were watching her to see how she handled this situation.


    ¡°The Sergeant provided no codewords that he was under duress,¡± She pointed out for the sake of the crew. ¡°When provided with a challenge codeword he responded with the countersign immediately. Radio, get me Renosa. I want details on the ceremony that Diego took part in. It sounds like a significant cultural practice and we need to understand both the ceremony and the impact that it has upon our mission in more detail.¡±


    ¡°I am hailing Renosa¡¯s ship now,¡± Antoine said, typing at his computer. ¡°Renosa, come in Renosa. Captain Moon wishes to speak with you at your earliest convenience. Renosa, this is radio, come in Renosa ¡­¡±


    It took a few seconds for Renosa to respond. Captain Moon was already on the channel when she did, so she heard the Yonohoan woman¡¯s greeting.


    ¡°I greet thee, captain of the Brother of the Last Son of Eodar. I am pleased to report that Sergeant Diego Cruz has not disgraced himself in the eyes of the Yonohoan people since the last time that we have spoken. Has Eolai disgraced himself since we have last spoken in the eyes of your people?¡± she asked formally.


    Captain Moon frowned at the stiff and formal sounding words. Was this another part of the ceremony? ¡°I do not believe that Eolai has disgraced himself in the eyes of our people, no. However, we are of a very different culture and we are struggling to understand the significance of this ceremony which has taken place between Eolai and Sergeant Diego Cruz.¡±


    ¡°The man whose rank, while he was in the military, was Sergeant, personal name Diego, with a family name of Cruz, of the American Peoples of Earth, has sworn brotherhood to the first among the peers of the last living son of Eodar,¡± Renosa explained. ¡°To the people of the Yonohoah, this means that Eodar, a hero of great significance to our history and culture, has gained another son. This is a cause for much celebration and joy. The same for the Topokans, the clan of the species which you Earthlings are calling Xenosapiens sulivans, which share history with the Yonohoans going back a hundred thousand years. I would share with you images and sound of the celebrations which are occurring on throughout Yonhoan space.¡±


    ¡°So the Yonohoan people believe that this is a joyous occasion. Why were we not informed in advance that it was taking place?¡± Captain Moon inquired.


    ¡°The ceremony of brotherhood which Diego and Eolai took part in is an ancient tradition dating back to the earliest histories of the Yonhoan people, during the bloodiest fighting of the Wars of Liberation in which our peoples attempted to serve as a beacon of light to the universe that was going dark around us,¡± Renosa explained. ¡°Your former Sergeant Diego Cruz¡¯s ignorance of the importance of his role in the ceremony is an important factor to consider, but rather than lesson the sanctity of his words, they have increased it a thousand fold over a rehearsed performance that was calculated to have this sort of result. I assure you, Captain Moon, I was as surprised as you are now when Sergeant Diego ¡®checked all of the boxes on the list¡¯ to become the sacred brother of the son of the last son of Eodar.¡±


    ¡°We were unaware that Eolai had an important bloodline,¡± Captain Moon said. She sighed. ¡°I would appreciate if you would send us as much data as you are willing to share with outsiders about the ritual which Diego took part in and the cultural significance that it has to the Yonohoan people. I also request more details about what sort of expectations this places upon the sergeant and how it affects the diplomatic waters between the peoples of Earth and the Yonohoan people. As well as how it affects the diplomacy of the Peoples of Earth and the Sulivans.¡±


    ¡°As you wish. I must inform you that your data request will take some time, as much of the data remains in the format of our oral traditions and so we must encode it into your computer format the hard way,¡± Renosa said.


    ¡°That is acceptable,¡± Captain Moon agreed. ¡°I need to meet with my staff to discuss the impact that this bond of brotherhood has upon our mission.¡±


    ¡°Of course. And Captain? The Yonohoan people thank you for releasing the brother of the last son of Eodar from his duties to your people in order to fulfill his sworn and sacred oaths to mine,¡± Renosa said.


    ¡°Your people are welcome. I must inform you that your treatment of Sergeant Diego Cruz will have significant symbolic weight to the people of Earth, however. It seems that he has become our ambassador to your people, and we take the treatment of our diplomats very seriously,¡± Captain Moon said.


    ¡°As do my people, Captain Moon,¡± Renosa said. ¡°As do we all.¡±


    ?

 27.

    27.


    ¡°So that¡¯s it?¡± Sarah challenged, raising her voice and shouting over the din of the staff meeting. ¡°We¡¯re just going to abandon Diego to the aliens? We¡¯re not even going to try to get him back?¡±


    ¡°The situation is more complicated than that,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°Diego has made the decision on his own to stay. He understands what¡¯s at stake. The situation is complicated and nuanced, and -¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not complicated at all! You  let  them abduct him and brainwash him until he chose to abandon his own people! Gabriel is not in his right mind, he can¡¯t make a decision like this on his own!¡± she shouted.


    ¡°Gabriel is acting rationally given the situation he has stumbled into,¡± Anders said sternly. ¡°Please calm yourself, Sarah, before I ask the members of the security team to remove you from the meeting and forcibly sedate you.¡±


    ¡°Fuck you Anders,¡± Sarah said. ¡°You don¡¯t even know him. You don¡¯t give a shit about any of us! Neither does the captain! We¡¯re just expendable guinea pigs!¡±


    Sarah continued to scream for a moment, causing disharmony to run through the meeting. She floated closer to Anders, shouting and getting in his face. Anders floated stoically in the face of the abuse, his face impassive and almost appearing bored with the situation.


    ¡°Is that it? Are you done?¡± he asked when she took a moment to catch her breath.


    Sarah roared and swung a fist at him. That was a mistake, however. He was trained in unarmed combat and subduing assailants in zero gravity. She was not. Within moments, he had her in a submission lock, her arms pinned behind her back. The pair spun throughout the common room which had become the primary meeting area for these all-staff meetings.


    ¡°Calm yourself, Sarah,¡± Anders said sternly. ¡°Get a hold of yourself!¡±


    ¡°Fuck you!¡± she screamed, continuing to struggle until Liu appeared and gave her an injection in the thigh. She earned a boot to the stomach for her trouble.


    Sarah continued to struggle fruitlessly for a moment before the injection kicked in and knocked her unconscious. Anders nodded at two of his security men, who took the limp body from him and pulled it, floating behind them, out of the room to be placed in one of the secure holding cells.


    ¡°What the fuck was that?¡± Gabriel said, expressing the shock of what had just happened for many of the members of the crew.


    ¡°That was a breakdown, that¡¯s what it was,¡± Someone muttered.


    ¡°She¡¯s delusional,¡± another person muttered.


    ¡°She might be,¡± Anders agreed, ¡°And it might not be her fault. Captain, when possible, I would like to raise the option of bringing Sarah aboard the Toormonda for a detailed medical scan using Yonohoan technology. I believe that she has been showing psychiatric symptoms for some time which have been unnoticed or undiagnosed by members of our crew. I believe her reaction just now was  medical  in nature, people. And unfortunately, I believe that we¡¯re currently unable to provide her with the level of help that she requires.¡±


    ¡°Command and medical staff will review the situation in private,¡± Captain Moon declared. ¡°This is not the forum for that discussion. It¡¯s unfortunate that the meeting was disrupted in this matter, but I believe that we¡¯ve covered the relevant points on Sergeant Cruz¡¯s situation. As unfortunate as the segue into this topic was, I do have to take the opportunity to request that anyone who has been experiencing any psychiatric symptoms and hiding them from the medical team to please privately come forward for screening at the soonest opportunity. I also request that anyone who has noticed any potential signs or symptoms in their crewmates to bring the matter to their direct supervisor immediately.¡±


    She paused as she allowed her words to sink in. ¡°This is not the forum for those discussions, except to remind everyone that we are a team. We all knew that there were risks when we accepted this mission. Some of you have been talking about rumors of a hidden objective of measuring the effects of the Tunnel Drive on the human body. I wish I could deny it, but the fact is that I can¡¯t. We¡¯re operating well beyond the known safety limits of the technology in question, and we would be doing a disservice to ourselves and the brave men and women who would follow in our footsteps if we did not measure the effects on our bodies.¡±


    She paused, allowing her words to sink in. ¡°That said, it has come to my attention that the scanners aboard the Toormonda ship are several generations more advanced than what we have available aboard the  Seeker . I am making the command decision at this time to accept the Toormonda ship as a gift from the Yonohoan government. They have assured us that the ship itself is presently sterile to the highest extent which their technology can achieve. As such, I will be waving the quarantine protocols for travel between the Toormonda and the  Seeker  from this point forward.¡±


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    There were some quiet susurration as the crew realized where this was going.


    ¡°We all need a break. I am ordering each shift to take a trip aboard the Toormonda for a medical scan, a tour of the facility, and general relaxation,¡± she concluded.


    ¡°Are we abandoning the  Seeker , Ma¡¯am?¡± A crewmember asked.


    ¡°Not at this time,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°We must at this time consider the possibility that the dangers of the Tunnel Drive were more extensive than we believed, and that the damage it has been inflicting on us is more insidious than we realized. We¡¯ll know more once Liu and the Yonohoans have gone through the medical data we¡¯ll be getting from the medical scans from the Toormonda. Depending on the findings, some of the crew may be quartered aboard the Toormonda going forward as we attempt to integrate the gift from the Yonohoan people into our mission.¡±


    The meeting broke off there rather than going through the minutia of minor details which usually occupied the moments after the primary topics had been exhausted. The crew members began arranging the schedule for the rotation to board the Toormonda. Several crew members came forward after the meeting had ended to confess to have been hiding symptoms such as insomnia, bad dreams, and hearing whispers.


    Those who had been suppressing their symptoms were placed at the front of the list to receive medical examinations rather than being reprimanded for violating the mission policy of immediately reporting such measures.


    In a private meeting area, Anders and Captain Moon exchanged a drink.


    ¡°Well that was a shit show,¡± Captain Moon exclaimed. She looked at her juice pouch. ¡°You think we¡¯re coming apart at the seams?¡±


    ¡°I think that there are several people who have been disguising their symptoms or mistaking them as the normal results of stress and isolation,¡± Anders admitted. ¡°I¡¯m not certain how far the degeneration from the Tunnel Drive is affecting us. But I don¡¯t think we can pretend that it hasn¡¯t been any more. We have to examine each decision we make from this point forward with the assumption that our judgment might be compromised.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not going to try to remove me from command, are you?¡± She inquired, raising an eyebrow.


    ¡°I¡¯ve had more exposure to the Tunnel Drive than you have,¡± he pointed out. ¡°I had two jumps in before I joined the crew of the  Seeker.  My judgment is just as much in question. Have you had any symptoms?¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°Maybe a few dreams. I¡¯m not certain that they¡¯re abnormal or not.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, me too,¡± Anders admitted.


    ¡°What do you think we should do?¡± Captain Moon inquired.


    ¡°If any of our crew members are in fact in a more severe state than we have realized, then we should consider the possibility of requesting medical aid for them from the Yonohoans,¡± Anders said, his distaste of his admission plain on his expression. ¡°Otherwise, we should consider the possibility of utilizing the Toormonda ships to complete the primary objectives of our mission while leaving a skeleton crew aboard the  Seeker . Once we¡¯ve completed the final rendezvous with the pre-launched drones, the Toormonda can return to Yonohoan space. We can decide at that point whether or not to reveal the location of Earth to the Yonohoans.¡±


    Captain Moon nodded, sipping on her juice pouch. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s a good plan,¡± she admitted. ¡°It will give us an opportunity to shake down the Toormonda. Maybe we¡¯ll be able to salvage the science mission after all. We have about three weeks before we¡¯re seriously behind schedule. Once the R&R rotation has finished, get with the science team leaders and get them to start working on a list of goals of what we need to accomplish to shift our science objectives over to the control of the Toormonda.¡±


    ¡°The biggest obstacle I see is the incompatibility of our computer systems,¡± Anders said.


    ¡°Start working on it once you¡¯ve got some rest of your own, Anders. I¡¯m declaring a holiday.¡± She paused. ¡°You know, I¡¯ve been busy approving everyone else¡¯s mix tapes and autobiographies for Project Radio Tower, but I haven¡¯t taken the opportunity to work on my own yet. I think I¡¯ll take a while and work on that. We  all  need some downtime, and it sounds relaxing.¡±


    Anders nodded. ¡°I am going to follow up on the situation with Sarah, and supervise the first rounds of those going over to the Toormonda. But I think that I¡¯ll make time to do the same very soon.¡±


    ¡°All work and no play makes Anders a dull boy, Anders. Make certain that you do something relaxing today. In light of the evidence you brought back from the Toormonda about the effects of the Tunnel Drive on our bodies and minds, I think that it¡¯s time to seriously worry about the stress levels aboard our ship,¡± Captain Moon said.


    ¡°I think you¡¯re right,¡± Anders agreed. He paused, then admitted ¡°The truth is that when you first came up with Project Radio Tower, I was a little annoyed that I¡¯d have to help approve of the segments, but once I started, I found it rather fun. I¡¯ll make some time to do some more of that.¡±


    ¡°Good man, Commander. Good man.¡±


    ?

 28.

    28.


    Diego awoke to find a furry face staring at him. The Sulivans¡¯ nose was inches away from his own, causing Diego to jerk and shriek in a manly way in his surprise. The alien jerked and fled from the room, moving quickly. Diego quickly got out of bed and dressed, with the first item he put on the device that allowed him to speak with Bob.


    ¡°Bob, is it normal for the Sulivans to sneak up on humans while their sleeping and ¡­ I think it was sniffing me,¡± Diego said while looking for his shirt.


    ¡°Indeed, it very likely was acquiring your scent for future reference,¡± Bob agreed. ¡°To answer your question, no. It is not common for a Sulivans to sneak up on a human, neither while they are sleeping nor at any other time. It is, however, very common for a Topokan to attempt to stealthily acquire a male Yonohoan¡¯s scent after confirming their identity and bloodline. Your bloodline is presently unknown to them, but you have been declared the brother of the last son of Eodar, and so you are legally a Yonohoan now.¡±


    ¡°And I am grateful for that honor,¡± Diego said. He found his shirt, and pulled the stretchy and flexible material on over his head. ¡°But what does that have to do with them sneaking up on me?¡±


    ¡°The Topokans are very skittish around humans that they do not know. They are afraid that you will kill them,¡± Bob said. ¡°Unfortunately it returns to the Liberation Wars, during the time in which the Yonohoan were accepting Veterans into their clans. Some of the veterans would respond with violence at times when the Topokans were unprepared for it.¡±


    ¡°I understand. The Liberation Wars sound like a very nasty thing to have fought in and I can imagine that the surviving veterans would have some nasty PTSD,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Define PTSD please,¡± Bob said.


    ¡°Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It¡¯s recognized psychiatric matter in our society that someone who goes through something traumatic, like being a soldier in a war or even the victim of a violent act, will often develop a recognizable group of symptoms in the aftermath. It¡¯s a recognized illness and handicap on our world,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°I understand,¡± Bob said. ¡°There is a similar group of illnesses that is recognized by the galactic community. They all are characterized by the difficulty involved in treating them, as it is not as simple of a matter as medicating the patient, or correcting an injury with medical nanites.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. It sucks,¡± Diego said, exhaling. ¡°Bob, do you think I screwed up during the Rocktala ceremony? I had no idea that it was such a solemn occasion, or that it would be taken so seriously by the Yonohoans. I¡¯m worried that I might have jumped into the deep end after forgetting that I cannot swim.¡±


    ¡°There is no expectation that you will transition seamlessly into Yonohoan society and life, Diego. Your obligations are largely symbolic as there are so many layers of defenses that exist for the protection of planet Totola that the idea that you will actually be called in its defense is laughable,¡± Bob explained. ¡°I cannot say whether you acted in error or not. You were told to act naturally. While you did not understand the scope of the importance of your participation in the ritual, you performed exactly to the expectations of Eolai, going beyond them with your solemn oath of brotherhood.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but I wasn¡¯t expecting an oath between two men to have such a widespread impact between our entire societies,¡± Diego explained. ¡°Aside from seeing him as my counterpart in this experiment to see whether or not Yonohoans and Earthlings can survive in the same environment or off of the same food, I had no idea that Eolai was an important person in Yonohoan culture.¡±


    ¡°I assure you that even if Eolai were not the last son of Eodar, the Yonohoan would have taken oaths of brotherhood or sisterhood from any of the members of the fleet in the same fashion.¡± Bob paused. ¡°Each member of the fleet has an important ancestor. Eolai is unique in his situation in that when he was born, he was the only member of his bloodline of his generation. The blood of Eodar was never widely spread on planet Totola, but the discovery that it was about to go extinct meant that both of the governments of the Yonohoan and the Topokans took measures to ensure that it would continue.¡±


    ¡°And that is why Eolai is expected to have one hundred children,¡± Diego said. ¡°Yes, I understand that.¡±


    ¡°I am not certain that you do, but it has been explained several times,¡± Bob agreed. ¡°It is important to the Yonohoans that the blood of Eodar always lives on somewhere in this universe.¡±


    ¡°Who was Eodar?¡± Diego said.


    ¡°He was many people,¡± Bob answered. ¡°A warrior and a scholar, a politician and a diplomat, a conqueror and a revolutionary.¡±


    ¡°So it¡¯s more like a title, or a common name? Was it a name bestowed upon someone posthumously?¡± Diego said.


    ¡°No,¡± Bob said. He was silent for a moment, then said, ¡°Ah, there is a technology of which you are unaware of. It is an illegal technology to use in the modern universe, but was commonly used to reinforce the swarms during the Liberation Wars. It is the same technology which the first Liberator used during the transition from phase one to phase two of the wars to create clones of himself throughout the universe. Eodar was a Yonohoan who was subjected to this technology, and many versions of Eodar were spread throughout the universe.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I get it,¡± Diego said. He frowned. ¡°You say that the person was duplicated. Does that include their memories and pasts?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Their mental engram was copied perfectly,¡± Bob explained. ¡°Many of the duplicates had no idea that they were not the original person. It is one of the reasons that that the technology is illegal in the modern universe, as it prolonged many conflicts pointlessly and brought about much suffering.¡±


    ¡°I can imagine,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Whatever you are imagining, I doubt you grasp the scope of it,¡± Bob said.


    ¡°Hey, me earthling smart!¡±


    Diego made his own way to the dining area, looking for Eolai. Twice he spotted Topokans, who were slowly returning to the ship now that Diego had declared brotherhood with Eolai. He spotted one who was comically attempting to hide behind a corner despite half of his body being exposed.


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to bite,¡± He told the skittish alien. ¡°I understand that many of you want to come and get my scent. I don¡¯t mind. You don¡¯t have to be frightened of me.¡±


    The alien, rather than seeming reassured, vanished behind the corner. Diego sighed.


    ¡°Please do not take offense to the Topokans. It will take them some time to adjust to your presence,¡± Bob told him. ¡°They are trying very hard to be brave for the sake of Eolai.¡±


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    ¡°I understand. Please let me know if there is anything that I can do to make the situation easier for them,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°It might be best if you simply pretend that they are not present at all,¡± Bob suggested.


    ¡°It¡¯s a little difficult to ignore a nine-foot tall creature that looks like a monster from a child¡¯s dream,¡± Diego said. ¡°But okay, if you think that¡¯s for the best I¡¯ll stop trying to engage them unless they engage me first. How are things aboard the  Seeker ?¡±


    ¡°Your former captain has announced that she is accepting the first of the Toormonda ships and plans to incorporate its use into the primary science mission of the  Seeker ,¡± Bob answered.


    ¡°Hey, that¡¯s great!¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Indeed,¡± Bob agreed. ¡°There has been a significant amount of traffic between the  Seeker  and the Toormonda. I have been approved to inform you that each of the member of the  Seeker ¡¯s crew has been instructed to undergo a medical examination aboard the Toormonda. The preliminary results show various levels of the same neural degradation which was noticed in you, Commander Anders, and Liu Wei.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. We were expecting that. The Tunnel Drive, right?¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Indeed, that is the most likely explanation. Your captain, Liu Wei, and Trenola are working to come up with a treatment plan for the members of the crew who have begun to show symptoms or are showing the most damage to their neurons. There is an information packet for you to review at some point regarding your medical options as well.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not urgent, is it?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°No. The damage to your body is not at a stage where treatment is a priority,¡± Bob agreed. ¡°Not unless you have been suppressing symptoms.¡±


    ¡°If I have been, I remain unaware of it,¡± Diego said. He was looking around the dining room. He was hungry, but had no idea how to get food for himself. He was about to ask Bob for help when the door opened and Eolai approached, one of the Topokans following behind him carrying a tray with several dishes and covered plates aboard it.


    ¡°Good morning, brother, it is a pleasure to see you again,¡± Eolai said.


    ¡°Good morning, brother,¡± Diego greeted back. He scratched his head. ¡°Do we have to be so formal all of the time now?¡±


    Eolai laughed. ¡°No. I am simply excited to have a brother. I know that you did not understand the significance behind your words last night, but they were spoken earnestly by both parties and your innocence on the matter only makes my responsibilities to you and your people more binding. Come, let us eat.¡±


    The breakfast contained several dishes for both of them. Diego was served a bowl of what looked like grits but tasted like bananas, as well as a fruit full of yellow seeds that tasted tangy and vaguely bitter. There were three drinks, one of which was a hot black liquid. He frowned before taking a sip of it, then made a face.


    ¡°If that¡¯s an attempt at making coffee, it has a way to go,¡± Diego commented. ¡°It¡¯s far to strong and bitter.¡±


    ¡°Ah. My apologies,¡± Bob said. ¡°I am attempting to replicate the samples that were brought aboard the Toormonda for analysis. Several members of your crew have been enjoying the opportunity to explore the technology aboard that ship by experimenting with the food replicator, and this was the closest approximation to your favored drink that they were able to create.¡±


    ¡°Maybe it wouldn¡¯t be so bad with some cream and sugar,¡± Diego commented before setting it back and drinking one of the alien beverages instead. It was a blue drink, slightly thickened and tasting like a sports drink from Earth.


    ¡°My people are very excited by your existence, Diego,¡± Eolai said. ¡°Many are entering places of gathering around a rockata to watch the recording of our ceremony. Your words were far more powerful than you knew at the time that you spoke them. You have created a bridge between the people of Earth and the Yonohoans which we are very excited to reinforce and strengthen. I believe that involving you in our sacred traditions was the right decision to make for both of our peoples.¡±


    ¡°I hope you¡¯re right, Eolai,¡± Diego said. ¡°So, let me get how this works right. Every Rocktala on the planet recorded our message, but it will only repeat it one time, right?¡±


    ¡°That is true,¡± Eolai agreed. ¡°There is some consternation that the message cannot be transferred to newly manufactured Rocktalas due to the way that it was encoded. Some of my people are upset that, eventually, the original transmission will die out and fade away, and that the ceremony of brotherhood between us will no longer be viewable. There has already been many efforts made in order to preserve the recording.¡±


    ¡°You know, I don¡¯t know that I¡¯ve actually ever seen a Rocktala message,¡± Diego commented. ¡°So I have no idea what it is that the recording of our ceremony would actually look like.¡±


    ¡°I thought that might be the case,¡± Eolai admitted. He placed a small disk on the table, and suddenly before them was the face of a small boy. ¡°This is my youngest son,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°Viloran ta zephari ora tularin so ti coda mavolio ¡­¡± the boy said, and he continued speaking for several moments. Diego realized suddenly that the translation device on his ear was not translating the words for him.


    ¡°I have no idea what he is saying,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°He is saying ¡®hello father, I love you. I am so excited that you have found a brother, and that Eodar has one more son in the universe. I look forward to the day in which I am able to meet my new uncle.¡¯¡± Eolai translated once the message ended. He shrugged. ¡°This is a very typical Rocktala message. A simple message passed from a child to his family or friends. The devices used to send these messages can be used for many other functions as well, of course.¡±


    ¡°But they¡¯re unsecured. Anyone can see a message sent by a Rocktala, correct?¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Yes. The message you have just watched has been watched by at least three hundred million other people.¡± He laughed. ¡°I must confess that the messages sent to me by my family are presently getting a lot of ¡®hits¡¯ since our ceremony.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a view counter on them?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°Yes, that is right.¡±


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t Bob translate it for me?¡± Diego inquired.


    ¡°It is customary for artificial existences to refrain from interpreting or altering the messages sent by Rocktalas in any fashion,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°That includes for purposes of translation.¡±


    ¡°So the people who watched my ceremony have no idea what I was saying?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°Unless they were one of the very few who have been learning English, then no,¡± Eolai said. ¡°They understood only my part of the message as it was broadcast. Most will have immediately sought out the fully translated transcript which the government released afterwards, so that they might understand why I was willing to make such a significant decision based upon your words. It shall be the same when your ¡®Project Radio Tower¡¯ begins. The people will listen to the sounds of your people, and then seek understanding after having heard it.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± Diego said. ¡°Do you think that a lot of people will be tuning in?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Eolai answered. He grinned. ¡°We are very, very excited to listen.¡±


    ?

 29.

    29.


    Gabriel was alone in the room with Liu Wei and the hologram of Trenola, the Yonohoan doctor who was dedicating herself to help mitigate the damage that had been caused to the crew by their exposure to the Tunnel Drive. Most of the crew had taken to removing their vacuum suits after boarding the Toormonda, and he was wearing only the jumpsuit that went underneath. The hologram produced by the scanner was somewhat more exposed.


    He blushed despite himself as the hologram projected by the scanner showed his thin but out of shape form briefly before focusing on the ¡®problem areas¡¯ that it had detected.


    ¡°Well? How bad is it?¡± he inquired as Liu and Trenola read the readout.


    ¡°One moment, let us review the data before we make any decisions,¡± Liu said.


    ¡°Right, sorry. I¡¯ll shut up,¡± Gabriel agreed.


    After several minutes of reading the results of the scan, Liu looked over at him and smiled reassuringly. ¡°Your brain has held up pretty well, Gabriel. You could use some more exercise aboard the Toormonda to help counteract the muscle and bone atrophy from being in zero G, but that¡¯s true of everyone from the  Seeker . I am presently placing you as a Stage One on the Tunnel Drive Exposure Gradient and clearing you for work.¡±


    ¡°Stage one out of how many?¡± Gabriel inquired.


    ¡°Presently, five,¡± Liu answered. ¡°The majority of the crew I¡¯ve examined so far are in stage one or two. The most severe case is stage four, with stage five being a hypothetical progression from psychiatric symptoms into physical ones which we have yet to observe.¡±


    ¡°Thank god,¡± Gabriel said. ¡°And the scanners aboard the  Seeker  can¡¯t pick up the damage at all yet?¡±


    ¡°No. The damage is at a cellular level to the dendrites themselves,¡± Liu explained. ¡°Earth technology doesn¡¯t have the resolution to pick up on the damage through imaging alone. It would take a biopsy with an electron microscope to really diagnose this at home, and we are simply unable to measure the effects with the technology aboard the  Seeker  at all. Not at this stage of the syndrome.¡±


    ¡°You sound like you¡¯ve rehearsed this explanation for some reason,¡± Gabriel said, joking slightly as he was certain that she¡¯d been explaining the data to all of her patients.


    She chuckled. ¡°Trenola, what do you recommend for Gabriel¡¯s treatment?¡±


    ¡°I recommend no further travel by Tunnel Drive. There are six medications which might help reverse the damage that has occurred and prevent it from worsening on its own. Not all of the medications can be given together, however. There is one combination of two medicines which I would recommend, one combination of three, and another combination of two. The final medicine is incompatible with all of the others and must be taken alone.¡±


    ¡°And nanite treatment?¡± Liu inquired.


    ¡°At present your captain has declared that treatment by nanites will not be performed,¡± Trenola answered. ¡°However, the damage that Gabriel has suffered has not progressed to the point where I would suggest that as the only form of treatment anyway. It is generally recommended to avoid treatment of the neurons with nanites whenever possible. Only in the extreme cases such as the patient who suffered an emotional breakdown would I recommend them as a possibility. At present I recommend pharmacological treatment to see how the patients respond.¡±


    ¡°And which of the treatment options do you believe will be most effective for Gabriel¡¯s health?¡± Liu questioned.


    ¡°Any of them. They may come with side effects, so I would recommend selecting one and slowly increasing the medication dose to ensure that the patient tolerates the medication. If there is a reaction, then we can switch to an alternative treatment. There is no existing treatment protocol for Tunnel Drive Exposure Syndrome, so we¡¯re largely guessing on the best course of action based on the physiology we¡¯re seeing with our technology, to be honest,¡± Trenola explained.


    ¡°Right. Thank you, doctor,¡± Liu said.


    ¡°You are welcome. I enjoy the medical discourse and the format that your people use to engage in it,¡± Trenola commented.


    ¡°So, I¡¯ll be taking a few pills then? I¡¯m pretty bad at remembering to take my medicine, so we should probably start out with whatever has me doing that the least often,¡± Gabriel said as he stepped down from the scanner and the hologram of his body disappeared.


    ¡°Right, we¡¯ll start with the single medication treatment plan and see how you respond, then,¡± Liu said. ¡°How are you feeling emotionally? Watching Sarah¡¯s unfortunate episode was troubling for many of the other patients.¡±


    ¡°I feel guilty, doc. I¡¯m not particularly close with Sarah, but I¡¯ve spent enough time with her that I should have seen the warning signs that she was going off the deep end but I completely missed them,¡± Gabriel admitted.


    ¡°You¡¯re not the only one. It¡¯s unfortunate, but the symptoms we¡¯re presently attributing to Tunnel Drive exposure are also very similar to what we¡¯d expect from the stress of space travel and being isolated among a small community like our crew for so long,¡± Liu explained. ¡°We¡¯re still not entirely certain how to unravel the two factors without the help of the Yonohoan medical scanners.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t think I¡¯m being unreasonably hard on myself for feeling guilty, do you?¡± Gabriel asked.


    ¡°I think that what you feel for your friend is probably a normal response, but you shouldn¡¯t beat yourself up about it. I missed the symptoms as well. Or rather, I falsely attributed them to other causes and underestimated their severity,¡± Liu explained. ¡°I should be feeling far more guilt than you over the progression of Sarah¡¯s illness.¡±


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    ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t beat yourself up though, doc,¡± Gabriel said.


    ¡°I¡¯ll try not to. I¡¯m glad that Anders picked up on it.¡±


    ¡°He doesn¡¯t seem like the type who would notice something like this,¡± Gabriel commented. ¡°Maybe my read on the guy is off.¡±


    ¡°Anders takes his position and its responsibilities very seriously. That includes his responsibilities regarding the crew¡¯s medical status,¡± Liu stated. ¡°But it was a little surprising when he called a meeting with the captain and the medical crew to review incident reports for any signs of psychiatric symptoms that we might have missed. We were just starting to see patterns in behavior when the incident occurred during the all-staff meeting.¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯d kind of expected something like this to happen, to be honest,¡± Gabriel admitted. ¡°I¡¯m one of the adherents to the idea that we were taking part in human trials to begin with, and that the entire selection of the crew was made with consideration towards the study of the damage that the Tunnel Drive might cause to humans.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s unfortunate, but I believe you are correct,¡± Liu said. She sighed. ¡°It wasn¡¯t officially mentioned in the mission documents, and the official corporate line is that every step was taken to minimize exposure, as well as to increase our resilience. But if you look closely, there¡¯s signs of a hidden experiment being performed.¡±


    ¡°Well, anyway, that¡¯s enough serious talk for now,¡± Gabriel said. ¡°I¡¯m going to go wander around and play with the Toormonda¡¯s systems a bit.¡±


    ¡°Enjoy yourself. Also, thirty minutes of exercise in the exercise room before you return to the  Seeker .¡±


    ¡°I know. Hey, is it true that they have a functional shower here?¡± he inquired.


    ¡°It is.¡±


    ¡°I am very much looking forward to that,¡± Gabriel said.


    He left the medical room and began wandering through the ship. It was surprising how familiar it felt already. It felt like a school, he realized. He wasn¡¯t certain where the feeling came from, exactly, but that¡¯s how it felt to walk through the rooms of the Toormonda.


    There were various furniture pieces and things strewn about, and many of the crew members were lounging about in the comfortable gravity that the ship produced. It was a relaxing environment, and there was a soft melody playing in the background. It wasn¡¯t one that Gabriel recognized, and he realized that it was more likely Yonohoan music rather than something that a crew member had brought from Earth.


    It was slow but cheerful, not made by any instrument that Gabriel recognized but pleasing to the ear.


    Aside from the furniture which was obvious in function, there were oddly shaped things that Gabriel knew were scientific instruments, but not what their function was. The ship was able to produce a hologram anywhere inside its interior, so there were no screens or displays present. Yonohoans were used to reading their information in holographic format.


    ¡°Hey Gabriel, you got a moment?¡± A familiar voice asked. Gabriel turned to see Diego standing nearby, and it took him a moment to realize that the man was a hologram and not really on the ship.


    ¡°Of course. What¡¯s up?¡± Gabirel answered.


    ¡°I have some messages I¡¯d like you to pass on,¡± Diego said. ¡°Unofficial messages through unofficial channels, you understand? Would you mind going someplace private?¡±


    ¡°Sure. One second, let me find one of the bedrooms,¡± Gabriel answered. ¡°Did you hear about Sarah?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I saw it coming,¡± Diego said. ¡°I tried to mitigate it, but I didn¡¯t realize that the situation was as bad as it was. Not until I read the medical report that the Yonohoans showed me about the damage I¡¯d suffered and realized that there might be more to the situation than I¡¯d originally thought.¡±


    ¡°We all missed the warning signs,¡± Gabriel said, shaking his head. He found one of the semi-spacious private bedrooms and closed himself inside. ¡°Anyway, what do you need me to pass on?¡±


    ¡°When you get home, I¡¯d like you to visit my mother and abuela,¡± he said. ¡°They¡¯re going to be pretty upset that I¡¯m not returning, and I want you to reassure them that it was my choice to remain behind. It wasn¡¯t an order. Nobody threatened me. I have the option of leaving and I choose not to. It¡¯s not because there are consequences if I leave, but because it is better for everyone if I stay.¡±


    ¡°How is it better, exactly?¡± Gabriel asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to explain, exactly,¡± Diego admitted. ¡°It has to do with Eolai and his father. You see, Eodar is a great hero to the Yonohoa. It seems that he was one of the first Yonohoa to get swept up into the swarms during the Liberation Wars, and he fought throughout almost the entire time.¡±


    ¡°The wars lasted thousands of years,¡± Gabriel pointed out.


    ¡°They did. They were able to flash-clone people and implant them with the memories of a person, Gabriel.¡± Diego explained. ¡°Eodar was printed out thousands of times and fought across all of the fronts. When the humans began fighting against each other, he was used on all sides of the conflict,¡± Diego explained. ¡°However, it was his presence among almost every force in the swarms which eventually helped lead to peace. He would speak with his comrades about life as a Yonohoan and explain their traditions. He extended invitations to join his clan to anyone he found honorable, and to a select few he extended the oath of brotherhood. When the war was over, many of Eodar¡¯s clansmen and brothers and sisters returned to Yonohoan worlds and were gradually integrated over generations.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Gabriel said. ¡°But I still don¡¯t understand how Eolai is his son if he¡¯s a historical figure.¡±


    ¡°Many of the returning veterans were told that they were welcome to stay and remain among the Yonohoah ¡®as long as my children walk through the light of this universe,¡¯¡± Diego explained. He paused. ¡°That¡¯s not a perfect translation. However, they interpreted it as ¡®as long as Eodar has a child alive, then the invitation remains open.¡¯ The Yonohoans saw this as an important tradition and wanted to keep the invitation open to everyone for as long as possible. There is another technology, a stasis field. It seems that, in order to make certain that there was always a child of Eodar walking one of the worlds of the Yonohoans, Eodar was given many, many lovers when the war ended, and they volunteered to enter stasis while still pregnant. They returned to society to give birth one by one.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Gabriel said as he processed the explanation. ¡°What about artificial insemination? Couldn¡¯t they preserve his sperm?¡±


    Diego shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s legal. However, they consider it a right for a father to select the parents of his child. When the last Eodar died, it became illegal to inseminate anyone with his genetic material who was not already pregnant. And Eolai is the last son of Eodar.¡±


    ¡°That sounds like a lot of pressure,¡± Gabriel said.


    ¡°Yes. My brother has a large weight upon his shoulders. It is a weight which I have unwittingly volunteered to help him bear,¡± Diego said. ¡°Because now that I am his brother, I¡¯m also a son of Eodar.¡±


    ?

 30.

    30.


    ¡°I think the hardest part of deciding to participate in this mission was the fact that I had to give my cat away to one of my neighbors,¡± Captain Moon confessed. She was alone in her room, her tablet in hand as she spoke to it. ¡°I¡¯m not certain if you know what a cat is or not. The others probably either have mentioned them or will mention them at some point. They¡¯re a small predator on our world. They have four legs, a tail, fur, and retractable claws. There¡¯s large cat species, like a lion or jaguar, but we Earthlings don¡¯t keep them as pets most of the time because they¡¯re dangerous.


    ¡°There is a small species of cat, however, which we have domesticated. The Felis catus. We keep them in our homes, usually for companionship, but also because they help hunt vermin. The kind of cat we keep as pets are pretty small, um, about four kilograms I think? As an adult? As an infant, which we call a kitten, the cat can fit in the palm of your hand. They are born with their eyes closed and like many mammals are entirely reliant upon their mother to stay alive, although humans have been known to rescue orphan kittens and bottle feed them.


    ¡°Anyway, my cat, whose name was Fluffy, couldn¡¯t come into space with me. There was no room on the  Seeker  for pets. So I had to choose between declining the mission and giving away my companion. I didn¡¯t realize how much I was going to miss Fluffy until a few days into the mission, despite the fact that I thought I was prepared for it. I know that Fluffy probably doesn¡¯t particularly care that I gave her to my neighbor to take care of. I don¡¯t think cats really miss their humans. Dogs do. I¡¯ll let a dog person tell you about dogs. I like cats.


    ¡°I think I have some pictures of Fluffy on my tablet. If I remember I¡¯ll transmit them so that you can all see what a cat looks like.¡± She paused and laughed. ¡°Knowing how things are going, I¡¯m wasting all of this time trying to explain cats to you and they¡¯re just as widespread throughout the universe as humans are. You¡¯re probably laughing at me and saying ¡®I know what a cat is you silly darkworlder. Everyone knows what a cat is.¡¯


    ¡°Anyway, whether you know what a cat is or not, I like cats. My first cat was named Princess, and she was two years old when I was born. She was very tolerant of me when I was growing up, and I was devastated when she died.¡±


    Ji-eun continued talking about the various cats in her life until a beep at the door alerted her that someone had come by. She paused the recording, then checked the time. She was surprised to see that she had reached the forty minute mark already. She felt good, preparing her message for the Yonohoans had really lifted her spirits.


    She answered the door. Anders floated outside it, his expression serious. ¡°Hello Captain. I hope I¡¯m not interrupting.¡±


    ¡°I was rambling about cats, so if you are, it¡¯s not that important,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°How may I help?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s time for you to take your turn getting scanned on the Toormonda,¡± he informed her. ¡°Liu and the Yonohoans have a better idea of how the Tunnel Drive is effecting us and we need to make certain that command staff and military personnel are cleared for duty. The policy of medical staff so far is that anyone who has progressed to stage three on their Tunnel Drive Exposure Gradient is to be relieved of duty for medical reasons.¡±


    ¡°I understand. I will look forward to speaking with the medical staff and the Yonohoans. Seeing as I require a medical examination which will take me away from the  Seeker  and may result in me being placed on medical leave, I hearby give command to my executive officer, Anthony Anders. Anders, you have command.¡±


    ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am. I have command,¡± he agreed. He saluted, and she returned it.


    ¡°How bad is it?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Not as bad as it could have been,¡± he answered. ¡°It¡¯s likely that once you reach stage three, however, the disease will progress whether or not you continue to be exposed to the Tunnel Drive. We are waiting to see how people respond to the treatments that the Yonohoans have developed for us.¡±


    Captain Moon nodded. ¡°We¡¯re putting a lot of faith in them already. A part of me wonders if we shouldn¡¯t just tell them where Earth is and have them send a delegation.¡±


    ¡°That is an option, but I believe it is premature at this time,¡± Anders said. He sighed. ¡°Aside from shooting down our probe, which was an unfortunate but reluctantly understandable misunderstanding between our people, the Yonohoans have displayed nothing but friendly intentions. Their gift of the Toormonda¡¯s is significant and will have a profound impact on the future of Earth. However, human history has shown countless examples of what happens when two cultures encounter each other and clash.¡±


    ¡°Yes. And we have to consider the fact that the Yonohoans are  human . Like us. In space. With claims that humans are among the widest spread sapient species in the cosmos, possessing a history which will challenge countless theories and beliefs and religions when we return home. How that information is presented will possibly cost or save lives,¡± she commented.


    ¡°That sounds like it¡¯s above our pay grade,¡± Anders commented. ¡°Our job is to report the facts as we have found them. It¡¯s up to the governments to figure out how the chips will fall.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± she agreed.


    ¡°But for now, I suggest you get your medical examination done with and enjoy your relaxation period aboard the Toormonda. It really is a comfortable ship. All soft edges and warm colors, no obvious welding joints or exposed wires or cables. Except for the instruments that we¡¯ve brought over there, at least,¡± Anders commented.


    ¡°Has the crew already started trying to get our systems to work over there?¡± she inquired. ¡°I thought I ordered a relaxation day. They shouldn¡¯t be working.¡±


    ¡°Captain, with a crew like we have, for many of them, work  is  relaxing,¡± Anders pointed out.


    She sighed. ¡°You¡¯re right. I can¡¯t dictate what they do with their downtime.¡±


    ¡°The good news is that the Toormonda has already adapted to powering our instruments. That was pretty simple, really. We gave them a spare plug in, and the ship analyzed it and suddenly there are plug in stations all over. The engineers helped the ship calibrate them so that they all provide the right voltage and amperage,¡± Anders explained.


    Captain Moon shook her head. ¡°And they have an infinite supply of electricity for us to use, don¡¯t they?¡±


    ¡°According to our understanding of the ship¡¯s energy source, the Toormonda¡¯s maximum output is only about seventy-percent what our fusion generator puts out,¡± Anders explained. ¡°However, it operates at room temperature and is safe to the touch. And it requires no fuel.¡±


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    ¡°Arguably it¡¯s more accurate to say that it pulls the fuel into itself from the universe itself,¡± she said.


    ¡°Yes, well, it¡¯s still bullshit,¡± Anders said, grinning.


    ¡°Yeah. Yonohoan magic is complete bullshit,¡± she agreed, returning the grin. ¡°Well, I should get going. I¡¯m actually a little nervous. I don¡¯t think I would be if it wasn¡¯t for the fact that we¡¯re talking about literal brain damage.¡±


    ¡°I understand. It might be best to rip off the bandage, Captain.¡±


    ¡°I know. Take care of the  Seeker  until I get back,¡± she said.


    He nodded, saluted once more, then turned to leave so that she could prepare for the spacewalk to reach the Toormonda. She debated for a minute, then returned to her room and picked up the tablet one more.


    ¡°So, as I was saying, I¡¯ve almost always had a cat in my life,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s amazing to realize, in the time since I¡¯ve been without feline companionship, how much having a furry little critter running around actually means to me ¡­¡±


    She finished her recording before sending it to the shared folder which was being used for Project Radio Tower. She put her tablet into its secure charging station so that it would sync with the network ¨C the wifi was still off ¨C then stretched and changed from her dress uniform into one of the jumpsuits in preparation for making the journey to the Toormonda.


    She received a few nods from the members of the crew that she passed, and one of them realized what she was doing and volunteered to help her get into her vacuum suit and check its seals and seems. She always enjoyed taking an EVA, but she didn¡¯t have too much experience with them aside from being qualified.  Everyone  on the crew had been required to get qualified, despite the fact that normally she wouldn¡¯t be able to risk herself in this manner.


    The fact that the Toormonda could ¨C and would ¨C grab her and pull her to safety should she miss her leap was comforting to her as she made the leap. She was reaching the point where she was beginning to take the Yonohoans at their word for the capabilities of their technology, and they assured her that the Toormonda was smart enough to grab someone in danger on its own volition.


    After some consideration, she almost decided to go across without an MMU. Many of the crew had done the same. However, she realized that she both needed to set an example, and also that she was too important to put herself at risks. She might trust the Toormonda, but she shouldn¡¯t be reckless.


    For a moment, she was suspended in the void between the gunmetal gray of the  Seeker of New Discoveries  and the slightly violet-white egg that was the gift of the Yonohoan people, and despite not being connected to anything, she felt connected to everything. Even in the void of space, she was part of this universe. She was here because  she was .


    It was a perfect moment of profundity which she enjoyed and put away for later. It would be hard to explain to anyone and not really worth the effort. Either they would understand, having had a similar moment of oneness with the universe itself, or they would not.


    The airlock cycled behind her and she stepped into the interior of the Toormonda, looking around and noting the differences from her own ship. Everything was smooth, as though the entire ship was one solid piece, hollowed out. Even the airlock iris seemed to meld together once it closed.


    ¡°Hello Captain,¡± a voice said, and she turned to see Diego standing nearby in hologram form.


    ¡°Hello Diego,¡± she said. ¡°Technically I¡¯m not captain right now. Anders is in command until I¡¯ve been cleared by medical and return to the  Seeker .¡±


    ¡°Eh, you¡¯re still my captain,¡± he said.


    She shrugged, breaking the seal on her helmet and taking it off. She began taking the rest of her vacuum suit off as they spoke.


    ¡°So, this message is secure, right?¡± she inquired.


    ¡°Yeah. The Yonohoans said it¡¯s as secure as they can make it,¡± he assured her.


    ¡°What the hell were you thinking?¡± she demanded him. ¡°Taking part in a sacred ceremony with an alien?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s not an alien, Captain. He¡¯s a man. Human, just like us. He comes from a different culture, one that we don¡¯t really understand yet, but he¡¯s still human,¡± Diego argued.


    ¡°Alright, fine. But I still need you to explain yourself. I¡¯m going to go under a review board when I return to Earth and have to explain how I lost one member of my crew to alien abduction,¡± She explained.


    ¡°Tell them that I¡¯ve gone native, and that it was in the best interests of Earth that I remain with the Yonohoans,¡± Diego explained.


    ¡°And why exactly is that, anyway? You¡¯ve been cagey about it on the radio,¡± Captain Moon inquired.


    Diego was quiet for a moment. ¡°Captain, the Yonohoans want to become our sponsor. They don¡¯t want us to be sucked up and integrated into one of the three local empires. They want to fight to preserve our culture. Apparently, we were more lucky than we realized when we arrived in Yonohoan space.


    ¡°To begin with, Yonohoans have mutual defense pacts with  everyone . And I mean  everyone . To go to war with the Yonohoans is almost literally to go to war with the universe itself. It goes back to the liberation war, and Eodar, and the others like Eodar. When the soldiers finally agreed to stop fighting, they were all insistent upon provisions for the treatment of the Yonohoan worlds, Captain.


    ¡°That¡¯s how they¡¯re able to maintain their independence across multiple galaxies. They¡¯re surrounded by empires that would like to integrate them, change their laws, abolish some of their traditions like the Korjakala. But they can¡¯t because the Yonohoans are too proud, and they have the support of too many allies.


    ¡°If we become a protectorate of the Yonohoan people, then even if we turn down their help and technology, we¡¯ll be safe from the empires that might seek to exploit us. Or ¡®protect us¡¯ the way that the Europeans protected their colonies.¡±


    Captain Moon allowed him to speak his mind, and then thought over his words for a moment. ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound like it¡¯s your decision to make, Sergeant,¡± she said at last.


    ¡°I know it¡¯s not. If the politicians back home decide to spurn the Yonohoan and suck up to the empires instead, that¡¯s on them. But the thing is, Captain, that having the Last Son of Eodar protecting the family of his Brother From Earth means that the empires can¡¯t just push us around. It raises us from a nobody newcomer to the universe with absolutely no voice to ¡­ I¡¯m not certain. We¡¯re not a power player, but we have a seat at the table.¡±


    ¡°Because the Yonohoans have given us one.¡±


    ¡°Right next to them, yes,¡± Diego agreed.


    ?

 31.

    31.


    Captain Moon sat alone in the bedroom of the Toormonda, where she had gone for privacy after the medical examination. She needed a moment to think.


    ¡°Stage two,¡± she whispered to herself. She swallowed.


    She was cleared for duty. However, she was one of the thirty percent of the crew members whose condition had evolved beyond the initial stages of exposure. It was possible that she would begin to show symptoms soon. That she might have already been experiencing symptoms but had not realized it.


    She sighed. She wished that she could trust her judgment, but the very nature of neurological diseases meant that judgment was impaired. It was frustrating and frightening. She hated to think that she might experience a loss of awareness, control, or autonomy. Like Sarah.


    Poor Sarah, she thought to herself. Sarah remained sedated, although she had woken up. She was cooperative and apologetic for her behavior, especially when she had been informed that her case was the most progressed of any member of the crew¡¯s. Some effort had been made to convince her that her feelings for Diego were a symptom, but she had resisted the idea. Not with any significant effort; she seemed to be simply exhausted.


    The trouble with delusions was that the patient believed them to be true, even in the absence of evidence and proof to the contrary. Sarah believed that Diego loved her. While Sarah was currently aboard the Toormonda and it would be a simple matter to have Diego talk with her and clarify his feelings towards her, nobody was certain that that was the best thing to do.


    Ji-eun sighed. Then she slapped her cheeks and her thighs to perk herself up. She was an officer, and this was no time to be feeling sorry for herself.


    ¡°You can hear me, correct? Ship? Toormonda?¡± she asked.


    ¡°That is correct, Captain Ji-eun Moon,¡± Said a non-sexed friendly voice. ¡°I passively scan my entire interior to ensure that my passengers are safe every zero point zero one of your seconds, and I listen to all words that are spoken in my interior. The records of these recordings are promptly purged from my memory unless certain criteria are met, such as a safety event occurs or a serious or actionable threat of violence occurs.¡±


    ¡°What about actual violence?¡± Captain Moon asked.


    ¡°In that case all events leading up to the event are recorded depending on when the first violent impulses were detected,¡± the ship informed her.


    ¡°I understand,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°I¡¯ll make certain that everyone knows to watch what we say while we¡¯re aboard you.¡±


    ¡°I am designed for my presence to be as unobtrusive and inoffensive to my human passengers as possible. However certain things are hardwired into my being which prevent me from disregarding the safety of my passengers even at the extent of their privacy and autonomy. I apologize for this,¡± the ship said.


    Captain Moon shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s okay. I understand. Thank you for ensuring that I was aware of your observations, and I will ensure that my crew is likewise aware. You¡¯ll alert us if you detect any violent tendencies, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Captain. Due to the nature of the situation, my first step when I detect any violent impulses in my occupants will be to alert your medical team as well as your security team and command staff.¡±


    ¡°Thank you. I need to make a secure call to Commander Anders. I would appreciate it if you treat my words and the emissions caused by this radio device as diplomatic communications which are to be neither recorded nor examined.¡±


    ¡°I cannot be prevented from detecting them, but I can purge them from my memory immediately afterward,¡± the ship¡¯s AI assured her.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± She picked up the handheld radio. While it had several frequencies baked in that were insecure, it also possessed encryption capability, and one of the secure frequencies was pared with a secure line that had never been used aboard the  Seeker .


    ¡°This is Captain Ji-eun Moon, calling the  Seeker of New Discoveries.  Come in Seeker.¡± She repeated her words several times before she got a response.


    ¡°This is Radio, Captain,¡± Antoine said.


    ¡°I need to speak with Anders. As securely as possible. I¡¯d come back and do it in a secure room, but there are reasons why it can¡¯t wait for me to return to the  Seeker ,¡± she said.


    ¡°Understood. Give me a few moments, I am securing your connection,¡± Antoine said.


    Ji-eun waited patiently. After several moments, Anders¡¯ voice came over the radio. ¡°Hello Captain. How¡¯s the good news?¡±


    ¡°How secure is this connection?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re using your encrypted radio, and I¡¯m in a soundproof closet. So you tell me,¡± Anders said.


    ¡°I would say that it¡¯s as secure as any communication can be between the Toormonda and the  Seeker  at the moment,¡± She said. ¡°At least while not using Yonohoan tech.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s unfortunate that we¡¯re forced to take the Yonohoan at their word when they tell us something is secure,¡± Anders said. ¡°Is this something that should wait until you¡¯re back in command?¡±


    ¡°The ship was there for my examination, so it already knows. Anders, I¡¯m level 2. It¡¯s possible I may be experiencing symptoms and not have noticed them yet. It¡¯s possible that my judgment is impaired,¡± she said.


    There was a pregnant pause. ¡°That is concerning. You are cleared for duty, however?¡±


    ¡°I am. However, now that I have the results, I am second guessing myself. I am worried that my decision to send Diego aboard the flagship was a lapse in judgment, among other things. I am uncertain that I am fit for command despite having been cleared for duty by our medical staff,¡± she said.


    ¡°If you¡¯ve been showing symptoms, they¡¯re very minor and haven¡¯t risen to anyone¡¯s awareness,¡± Anders argued.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    ¡°We have two ships now, Anders. We need two captains,¡± she said. ¡°Your exposure is less than mine, and you have displayed impeccable judgment throughout the mission. We have often disagreed on some matters, but I have always understood and respected your opinion. It is my opinion that, with the possibility of my judgment being impacted, I should not be allowed to make the decision on whether or not to reveal the location of Earth to the Yonohoans. As such, I will be handing over command of the  Seeker of New Discoveries  to my XO and assuming command of the Toormonda. Do you have any objections?¡±


    Anders was silent for a moment. ¡°I see your reasoning. I respect your sacrifice, Captain. I disagree with the necessity of this move at this time, but it is ultimately your decision to make. If you are stepping down as captain of the  Seeker , then I will step into your place.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to place this burden on you, Anders. You are hereby promoted to the rank of Captain due to the situation in the field, officer.¡±


    ¡°How do we announce it?¡± Anders asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m thinking about making a public broadcast from the Toormonda. You can handle informing the crew on the  Seeker , right?¡± she asked.


    ¡°If you¡¯re not coming back, then yes. I¡¯ll make certain that everything shakes down in the best way we can manage,¡± he said.


    ¡°Okay. Is there anything else we need to discuss over this secure line?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Not over a secure line. Not right now,¡± he said.


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯m going to take a minute to prepare the announcement, then I¡¯ll broadcast using the Toormonda. Captain Moon out.¡±


    ¡°Anders out,¡± came the reply.


    She set the radio on the bedstand and sighed. This was not an easy decision for her to make. On the one hand, she was abandoning her post. On the other hand, she was assuming command of a vessel which in many ways far exceeded the capabilities of the one she was leaving.


    The difference was that the location of Earth was secured in the vaults aboard the  Seeker . She couldn¡¯t give over the data to the Yonohoans now if she wanted to.


    ¡°You¡¯ll have to convince Anders, now, if you want to find out where Earth is,¡± she said to herself. ¡°It¡¯s out of my hands. Ship, are you listening?¡±


    ¡°I am always listening. However, every word that you spoke before ¡®Ship, are you listening,¡¯ has been purged from my memories. I have no record of what you have said between those words and when you informed me that you were about to make a diplomatic communication,¡± the ship informed her.


    ¡°Thank you. I need to make a public announcement. Can you help me with that?¡± She asked.


    ¡°How public do you wish the announcement to be?¡± the ship inquired.


    ¡°Broadcast to the  Seeker , the Yonohoan fleet, and their government. Any public news organization which is monitoring the status of the  Seeker  should be given a copy as well. It¡¯s fine if this statement is released to the public.¡±


    ¡°I am securing the lines of communication now. You may begin recording your message whenever,¡± the ship informed her.


    Ji-eun nodded. ¡°Will my image be attached to the message sent to the Yonohoans?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Unless you specifically request otherwise, yes,¡± the ship informed her.


    ¡°Do you have a mirror somewhere?¡± she asked.


    Instead of a mirror, a hologram appeared of her. Ji-eun was surprised that she was surprised by the Yonohoan convenience. She spent a moment adjusting her appearance, noticing that she could walk around the hologram to inspect herself from the rear. When she was satisfied, she nodded. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m ready to broadcast now.¡±


    ¡°Recording your message,¡± the ship informed her.


    Ji-eun smiled professionally. ¡°Hello. I am Captain Ji-eun Moon, of the planet Earth, captain of the Earth vessel  The Seeker of New Discoveries . I have not spoken in this format before, but I would like to officially thank the Yonohoan people, their fleet of protectors, and their government for the warm welcome that they have extended to my people as we have begun reaching out into the universe.


    ¡°I am especially grateful for the generous gift of the Toormonda vessel, which I am humbly accepting at this time in the name of my governments. I will be stepping down as the captain of  The Seeker of New Discoveries  in order to assume the command of the Toormonda Vessel.


    ¡°It is the tradition among the people of Earth to give a name to many of their vessels. I understand that this is something that we have in common, but it is a tradition which your allies, the Topokan, do not understand. I hope that this will not cause confusion between anyone. However, I have decided to name this specific Toormonda vessel  The Keeper of Dreams .


    ¡°I have reflected upon this name for some time, and I believe that it is poignant. It is the dream of Earth to have allies among the stars. This vessel was given in earnest and good faith to the people of Earth by the first friends we have met since leaving our planet. More than that, I understand that the Toormonda type spacecraft has a very long and beautiful history in the education of children. I believe that, given the roll that Toormondas play in making the dreams of children a reality, that the name I have selected is fitting and proper.


    ¡°As of this broadcast, I, Ji-eun Moon, am no longer the captain of  The Seeker of New Discoveries . That role now goes to my second in command, Captain Anthony Anders. While I remain a representative of planet Earth and hope that I continue to exemplify the values and principles of my people, I am no longer the leader of the mission which originally brought us into this star system. Any concern which would normally require my specific attention should be directed to Captain Anders. Any concern which affects the new mission of  The Keeper of Dreams  should be brought to mine. If there is any confusion regarding the chain, division, and continuity of command, please contact Captain Anders for clarification.


    ¡°On behalf of the people of Earth, I wish to thank the People of Yonohoah and their Topokan allies for the generosity, kindness, and understanding we have received since arriving in your system. I hope that we become and remain strong allies. That is all I have to say at this time.¡±


    ¡°Would you like to review the message before it is sent?¡± the  Keeper¡¯s  AI inquired.


    ¡°Yes, please,¡± Captain Moon said.


    She spent several minutes watching the broadcast through twice, then approved it.


    Billions of souls watched it live. It was the second confirmed broadcast of an Earthling. A person from a confirmed and unregistered darkworld.


    The universe quivered with excitement.


    ?

 32.

    32.


    Diego, like billions of other souls, watched the Captain¡¯s announcement.


    Then he watched the reactions. He sat in the bridge with Eolai, who was occupied elsewhere, as he watched several of the intergalactic news feeds discussing the matter of the confirmed darkworld that had managed to contact the Yonohoans.


    Many of them were confused or amused that a person with a military rank would assume command of a Toormonda. While Toormonda had a few very light defensive weapons to keep their occupants from being defenseless, they paled compared to what even a one-man civilian vessel would possess. They had trouble imagining any human society which would prefer a vehicle which was meant for children over a vessel that was meant to defend its homeworld.


    Others pointed out that the confirmed details of the Earthling¡¯s mission were in precise alignment with the purpose of Toormondas, and that the Yonohoans had once again shown particularly cunning political acumen by giving a gift which was both welcome to its recipient and amusing to the universe at large.


    Speculation was rampant over the origin of the Earthlings. Unfortunately for the spectators, the location of Earth, so far as they were concerned, was completely unknown. The joint government of the Yonohoans had simply stated that one of their star systems had received visitors from a Darkworld and were attempting to establish a relationship with the eccentric human society.


    This was unheard of for centuries, maybe unprecedented. Not that a Darkworld would contact one of its neighbors, but that it happened to the Yonohoans.


    Diego was still getting a sense on how the universe viewed the Yonohoans. Some of the commentators seemed hostile towards his hosts, while most of them seemed to find them amusing. The ones that seemed hostile said things like ¡°this is just another grab at attention for a society which is increasingly becoming irrelevant. This is the death rattles of their civilization. Once the Last Son of Eodar has passed from this universe, many of their alliances will fall apart, and they will no longer be able to flaunt their historical power over those civilized people who wish to move on to a peaceful universe that no longer remembers the sins of its past.¡±


    Some of the commentators spectated that this was a prank that was being pulled by the Yonohoan. An escalation of their practice of Korjakala, which was viewed with either amusement or hostility depending on the speaker. While the official government had never gotten in the practice before, it did fit with the public understanding of the Yonohoan sense of humor and their traditions to test the response of the universe to such an event in this manner.


    Diego sighed. He couldn¡¯t believe that both he and the captain were now famous on an intergalactic level.


    ¡°Do you think she knows that that broadcast was sent out by your government to the news organizations throughout the universe?¡± Diego asked Eolai.


    Eolai paused his examinations of various datasets and turned to his brother. ¡°We did not send it to anyone, Diego. She requested that the Toormonda send it to the news networks covering  The Seeker of New Discoveries . The ship sent that message directly to the recipients in according to its directives. Do you believe that was an error?¡±


    Diego sighed. ¡°She probably thought that she was only making an announcement to the people on planet Totola, Eolai. We should probably explain to her the scope of her actions before she makes that mistake a second time.¡±


    ¡°As you say,¡± Eolai agreed, spinning his hands to dismiss the holograms before him.


    ¡°I am contacting Captain Moon for you,¡± Bob said in Diego¡¯s ear, and a moment later a hologram appeared in the center of the room of the good captain.


    ¡°Hello Diego. Eolai. I guess you heard the news. Is this connection secure?¡±


    ¡°It is, Captain,¡± Eolai answered.


    ¡°You¡¯re probably very surprised, but it¡¯s the right call. My exposure is graded at level two. Anders is only at level one. If anyone is going to reveal the location of Earth, it should be someone whose judgment isn¡¯t potentially impaired by a medical condition,¡± she said.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Captain,¡± Diego said. ¡°We¡¯ll figure out a treatment for it.¡±


    ¡°I hope that you are right. But my military career is effectively over. I knew that one way or another the  Seeker  would be my final command,¡± she said.


    ¡°We all knew that it would be the crowning moment of our lives,¡± Diego agreed. ¡°I wasn¡¯t calling to question your decision, however. Captain, you¡¯re famous. Really, really famous. I just watched a talk show discussing you that was broadcast from half a billion light years away.¡±


    Captain Moon¡¯s eyebrows raised in surprise. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, what?¡±


    ¡°Captain, I haven¡¯t really had the opportunity to explain this properly yet. But the universe is a lot more filled with life than we realize. And more importantly, it¡¯s all interconnected. Not universally, but there are allies who are in contact with allies who are in contact with allies,¡± Diego explained. ¡°And humans are everywhere. And right now, they¡¯re all talking about us.¡±


    Captain Moon was silent. ¡° Keeper  didn¡¯t just send my statement to the Yonohoan news agencies, did it?¡±


    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    ¡°No, Captain. It sent it to every reputable news organization that¡¯s covering this diplomatic event. Bob, how many news organizations are covering us at the moment?¡± Diego asked. ¡°Exactly.¡±


    ¡°Nine hundred million forty six thousand three hundred and eight, exactly,¡± Bob answered. ¡°Make that nine, another has just started a segment announcing that the Last Son of Eodar has named a brother.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± she said. ¡°Why haven¡¯t you reported this yet, Sergeant?¡± she inquired.


    ¡°That is my fault, Captain Moon. Previously, I wished to preserve my brother¡¯s perspective of the universe, and so I was restricting his access to our news networks as though he were a young child,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°He was seeing only very limited local news available to him upon his requests. Since he has picked up the burden of a man, I felt that it was extremely inappropriate to attempt to preserve his innocence any longer, and so I have lifted those restrictions.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± the captain said. ¡°I regret that this information was withheld from us, Eolai.¡±


    ¡°We have tried to explain to you that the universe is filled with life and humans who are fascinated by Darkworlds and Darkworlders. That your accomplishments were of great important and note,¡± Eolai said. ¡°I am sorry that there was a failure in understanding of our efforts to communicate this to you.¡±


    Captain Moon sighed. ¡°No, you¡¯re right. It¡¯s our fault. We¡¯re still naive, and I didn¡¯t understand the scope of things when you explained them. I apologize if I sounded accusatory.¡±


    ¡°No offense was taken,¡± Eolai assured her.


    ¡°Okay, so what does this change?¡± she asked. ¡°I mean, it changes our perspective, but how does that change our course?¡±


    ¡°My suggestion remains to attempt to secure an alliance and protectorate status from the Yonohoan for the planet Earth, Captain,¡± Diego said. ¡°I am serious when I said that they have connections and alliances everywhere. Even the people who don¡¯t like them, who celebrate that the Last Son of Eodar is alive only because that means that he will die at some point, respect their political weight.¡±


    ¡°I have to ask. Will becoming the protectorate of the Yonohoah cause Earth to gain many enemies?¡± Captain Moon asked.


    ¡°Yes and no,¡± Eolai said. ¡°The Yonohoah do have enemies who are restrained by our alliances. However, they will not trouble Earth. Not unless they wish to incur the wrath of humanity for picking upon a Darkworld that is just coming into the light. There is a difference between an empire consuming one of its dim-worlds and a powerful and mighty empire stooping down to taunt and challenge a small child that is thousands of lightyears outside of its borders.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve seen the maps, captain. Yonohoan space isn¡¯t that big compared to the empires around it. But if you look at the ones who have sworn mutual defense pacts with them, then the closest sixty galaxies suddenly change color. There would be  billions  of worlds who are obliged to send help to Earth if she were attacked,¡± Diego explained.


    ¡°Is this true, Eolai?¡± Captain Moon asked.


    ¡°You are aboard the Toormonda, are you not?¡± Eolai asked. ¡°It is a ship that is meant to teach. Ask for it to explain your place in the universe and see what it says.¡±


    ¡°I see. Thank you for the information and the advice, Eolai. Is there any other universe-shaking revelations that you have to share with me right now?¡± she asked.


    ¡°No. But I do have to brag that you might be famous, but I¡¯m more famous than you. The Brother of the Last Son of Eodar is the number one topic of discussion according to Bob,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Goodbye, Diego,¡± Captain Moon said, sounding slightly amused/annoyed.


    Diego returned his attention to the info-tainment network that he¡¯d been watching earlier. A giant squid which communicated by rapidly changing color and moving its tentacles ¨C it¡¯s words being translated by technology for the sake of its non-squid audience ¨C was actively denouncing the Yonohoans for their ¡®obvious and blatant trickery.¡¯


    A blue creature, a quadruped with arms in the middle of its body and a face that had its eyes below its mouth, responded by saying that it found the human alliances amusing and that it looked forward to see how the power would shift as Yonohoans responded to a Darkworld that had come to them seeking friendship. It pointed out that ¡°It is easy to be a friend to the Yonohoah, so they should have no trouble securing the power of their vast alliances. But I am very curious to see how this will shake the foundation of those alliances, and the foundations which are built upon the foundation of the Yonohoah.¡±


    ¡°So, Eolai, here¡¯s a question for you. What happens when we both die?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°Are you asking if the Yonohoans believe in an afterlife?¡± Eolai inquired.


    ¡°Not at the moment. I¡¯m asking about how that will affect the politics of the universe,¡± Diego clarified.


    ¡°There are many provisions in many old treaties which mention the duration of their provision as ¡®until the last child of Eodar dies,¡¯¡± Eolai admitted. ¡°That I have named you Brother is a very shaking event for the universe. One which will be examined very closely by certain people. Some will argue that if I die before you do, then those provisions are void. Others will argue that both of us must pass from this universe before they fail.¡±


    ¡°And when that happens?¡± Diego pressed.


    ¡°Then many obsolete laws will no longer be in force, and some that are not obsolete will need to be renegotiated and rewritten,¡± Eolai admitted. ¡°I hope that there will be no bloodshed because of my death, but I cannot be certain.¡±


    ¡°So that puts the pressure on you to stay alive as long as possible,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Indeed it does. I have promised the Topokans that I shall allow them to use whatever means they deem necessary to extend my life, provided that those means are legal by the laws of the Yonohoah,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°How old are you?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°I was born two hundred and eight years ago, and I have been alive for twenty-eight years,¡± Eolai said. He smiled. ¡°The rest of the time has been spent in stasis.¡±


    ?

 33.

    33.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± Sarah asked.


    Captain Moon looked at the latest version of the uniform that they were working on designing for wear aboard the  Keeper . She chewed her lip, debating. ¡°It¡¯s the same as the dress uniform we¡¯re presently wearing, except the colors are different.¡±


    ¡°Yes. The light violet color is the same as the surface of the Toormonda. The green is the color of chlorophyll, to represent our connection to earth. The blue is for Earth as well, to represent our waters. This other shade of green is the color of chlorophyll on Totolla, to represent our connection to the Yonohoans,¡± she explained.


    Captain Moon nodded. ¡°Okay. I like it. It¡¯s a lot brighter than our dusky black and red uniforms, but it¡¯s the same cut and style. That represents a continuity of service and a connection to our past.¡±


    ¡°Exactly, ma¡¯am,¡± Sarah agreed.


    She was still sedated. She seemed to be accepting her diagnoses, and had confessed to several additional symptoms including trouble sleeping, hearing whispers, and seeing things in shadows. She had withheld them out of a paranoid fear that she would be taken away from Diego. Whom she still believed was in love with her. The medical professionals had advised not to press her on that point yet.


    ¡°How are you feeling, Sarah?¡± Captain Moon asked.


    ¡°Honestly, I¡¯m relieved that it¡¯s out in the open now. I was so terrified while I was hiding it. It¡¯s frustrating that I¡¯ve been relieved of duty, but I understand the reasoning behind it. And I¡¯m hopeful that the Yonohoans will figure out a cure. Or at least a treatment,¡± came the answer.


    ¡°I¡¯m relieved that you¡¯re doing better. And the meds?¡± she pressed.


    ¡°I feel a little off, to be honest. Part of it I¡¯m sure are the ones that are keeping me calm while I cope with the fact that the Yonohoans have taken Diego from me. I understand why I have to take them, but they are making me feel strange. I can¡¯t tell if the ones that are there to treat the brain damage are working or not, or if they¡¯re the reason I¡¯m feeling strange and not the sedatives,¡± Sarah said.


    ¡°We all want you to get better, Sarah. What¡¯s happening to you is happening to all of us to some degree. I¡¯m sorry that your case was the first one to go critical, but others have been hiding symptoms as well,¡± Captain Moon said.


    ¡°I know. It¡¯s stupid, why were we hiding it when we knew it was probably going to happen sooner or later? We read a thousand pages of science on the matter and thought ¡®no, that¡¯s not what¡¯s happening to me.¡¯¡±


    ¡°There were other factors to consider,¡± Captain Moon reminded her. ¡°But yes, I wish that it had come to light sooner. We¡¯re lucky that it was exposed now, while we¡¯re in Yonohoan space and have access to their technology.¡±


    ?     ¡°Yay for conveniently timed emotional breakdowns,¡± Sarah joked.


    Captain Moon laughed politely. ¡°Are you okay going back to the  Seeker  to clean out your room?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not made of eggshells, Captain. There¡¯s nothing in there that will set me off except a few letters I wrote to Diego while he was trapped on the flagship,¡± Sarah said.


    Captain Moon nodded. ¡°I¡¯m going to have you escorted all the same. Once you¡¯ve cleared out your room, you get first pick of the cabins on the  Keeper . I get second.¡±


    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am,¡± Sarah said. ¡°So is the uniform approved? I¡¯d like to get changed out of this jumpsuit.¡±


    ¡°Yes. We¡¯ll be using the standard Toormonda spacesuit, which should go over the uniform just fine. Although calling it a spacesuit isn¡¯t really doing it justice, considering that it¡¯s really just a belt and some jewelry.¡±


    The devices in question would create a shield around the wearer, keeping in a significant bubble of atmosphere and protecting against the harsh radiation of space. The full set consisted of a belt, two wristbands, two anklets, and a circlet. The Yonohoans had assured them, however, that a single device was enough to power the bubble-shield for hours. The entire set was only necessary because they were for children, and thus redundancy added layers of protection.


    ¡°So, are you really going to put everyone who scored level two or higher on the exposure scale on medical leave?¡± Sarah asked.


    ¡°If they¡¯re a civilian contractor and choose to remain on the  Seeker  I believe we¡¯ll respect their decision,¡± Captain Moon answered. ¡°All military personnel will be placed on administrative medical leave, however. That was always the plan for if people began showing symptoms. It¡¯s one of the reasons why we have redundancy in personnel, aside from the ability to run multiple shifts.¡±


    ¡°Captain, please be honest with me. Were you read on the part where this was a human experiment?¡± Sarah asked.


    ¡°That we were to study the effects of the Tunnel Drive on our bodies as we traveled is not in dispute, Sarah,¡± Captain Moon pointed out. ¡°We were always monitoring for signs of deficit or impairment, and our goals would have shifted if we¡¯d detected symptoms sooner. The part that most of the crew finds offensive is the idea that they were selected specifically to see if their ethnic or medical background had some factor which might be a variable in the response to Tunnel Drive exposure or not. And before you ask, I was not in charge of selecting the crew. I was selected by an international focus group from a vast list of candidates, the same as everyone else.¡±


    ¡°I guess you¡¯re not wrong that it was sort of out in the open,¡± Sarah admitted. ¡°It¡¯s just that nobody likes being treated like a guinea pig.¡±


    ¡°You signed the documents, the same as everyone else, Sarah.¡±


    ¡°I know. But now I¡¯m wondering if I ever really read them, you know? Kind of like the EULA on a video game. ¡®Click yes to become an interstellar astronaut.¡¯¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s too late to change now,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°All we can do at this point is limit further exposure and establish treatment protocols for the people who have suffered damage and/or are suffering from symptoms.¡±


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    ¡°Right. Okay. I¡¯ve sent the design to the clothes printer. I¡¯m going to go change,¡± Sarah said, and she left the common room where they had been having this discussion.


    Captain Moon sat back on the comfortable furniture, looking around at her new command. She wasn¡¯t certain that whether it was a step up from the  Seeker  or not.


    On the one hand, the  Seeker  was the most advanced vehicle ever created by Earthling hands. The  Keeper  was practically a toy to those who built it. The  Seeker  was one of a kind, experimental, and state of the art. The  Keeper  was standard, one of millions or billions of units just like it, and had been around for thousands of years. The  Seeker  represented the hope and dreams of an entire planet filled with billions of humans. The  Keeper  was a glorified school bus.


    On the other hand, the  Keeper  was thousands, perhaps millions of years more advanced than the  Seeker  and its scientific powers far outstripped that of the experimental vessel. And, according to the Yonohoans, the  Keeper  wouldn¡¯t turn your brains into jello if you drove it over the universe¡¯s speed limit.


    She sighed.


    An image appeared before her showing the staff photo of Captain Anders.


    ¡°Captain Moon, this is Captain Anders on an unsecure line. Do you read me?¡± the other captain said.


    ¡°I read you, Anders.  Keeper , please place a Red dot clearly in my field of vision when the connection is not secure. How can I help, captain?¡±


    ¡°Are you aware that several members of the returning crew have brought trinkets and technology from the  Keeper  to the  Seeker  without command staff approval?¡± Anders asked.


    Ji-eun frowned. ¡°I did not approve it on my end, Captain.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think so. You would have run it by me even if you were still in command,¡± he said. ¡°They will face disciplinary action for this oversight. However ¡­ I have to admit, the cat has been out of the bag for a while. We brought the wooden horse into Troy when we brought their probe aboard our ship. Considering what I¡¯ve seen of their technology, I believe there¡¯s very little benefit to gain from continuing to bar the integration of portable items from the Toormonda as we work to integrate its systems into our mission.¡±


    ¡°I concur with your reasoning, but ultimately that¡¯s a discussion and decision for your staff. At present the  Keeper  is to be treated as an ancillary vessel of the  Seeker . However, it¡¯s ability to replicate technological marvels means that as long as it has mass in its food, clothes, and material printers, it¡¯s effectively a self-contained factory. I have no issue with supplying the staff of the  Seeker  with any supplies they feel will assist in the completion of their mission.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Captain. I will take the matter to discussion with my command staff and come to a decision at a later time. For the moment please limit the devices approved for transfer between our two ships to only the Toormonda vacuum exposure safety devices,¡± Captain Anders requested.


    ¡°Roger, wilco. I¡¯ll put a note on the door,¡± she said. ¡°Is there anything else?¡±


    ¡°I have finished the review of the first twelve segments for Project Radio Tower. It was your idea. Your segment will be the first on the air. I wanted to confirm that you have no second thoughts about the project as a whole or your individual contribution to it, in light of recent events,¡± Anders said.


    ¡°No second thoughts. Let¡¯s let the universe hear what we have to say,¡± Captain Moon said.


    ¡°Roger. Do you have any items that require discussion, Captain Moon?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m approving a new uniform for the permanent staff members of the  Keeper . Sarah will be returning to clear out her room and move full time aboard the  Keeper . She designed it, and she¡¯d like to show it off to the staff. It would do her some good to see some friendly faces, so I think you should throw her a going away party.¡±


    ¡°Roger. Anders out.¡±


    ¡°Captain Moon, Out.¡±


    The holographic picture of the newly promoted Captain Anders vanished. She sighed.


    ¡°Okay, Keeper. Let¡¯s try this again. Show me the local cluster of stars with Totola in the center.¡±


    The room turned black and filled with stars.


    ¡°Now zoom out until we¡¯re looking at the entirety of Yonohoan space,¡± she instructed.


    The hologram zoomed out to show the local cluster of galaxies.


    ¡°Now hide all systems except for those directly controlled by the Yonohoans and the Sullivans,¡± she instructed.


    Most of the stars in the sky vanished, leaving only a few hundred twinkling lights. She sighed. They were dispersed throughout the space, but they were so far apart and so few compared to the total number.


    ¡°Now show the local inhabited worlds that are considered close allies with the Yonohoans,¡± she said.


    The galaxies lit back up. Not as brightly as before, but brightly enough to give the impression of what was there. She nodded.


    ¡°Save this view. Now show the systems of those forces which are considered unfriendly, dis-trustworthy, or hostile by the Yonohoan government.¡±


    The sky once more lit up. Almost as brightly as the view that she had just saved. She sighed. It was just so difficult to get a grasp on the scope of politics involved in their position.


    ?

 34.

    34.


    ¡°The decision of the Yonohoan government to broadcast the sound only transmission without applying translation matrices to it remains controversial, especially to our non-human allies who do not appreciate the cultural significance or the musical quality of simply hearing the human voice,¡± The female commentator said.


    ¡°While the musical sections of the forty-eight hour transmission, which must be listened to in its entirety in order to receive a translated version of the monologues and lyrics involved, are enjoyable by all musically inclined species, those species who retain ancestral or genetic fear of the human voice claim that they are being discriminated against. They claim that it is a violation of the spirit of the treaty of Eodar that they must subject themselves to trauma in order to receive the translation matrix for the English language, which the Yonohoan government confirms the Earthlings have fully cooperated in creating.


    ¡°Details about the Darkworld known as Earth remain sparse and far between. It is unconfirmed how long ago humans were introduced to its ecosystem, who introduced them, which biological archetype the flora and fauna of the world possessed before they were introduced, and which genetic line of human was used.


    ¡°Many speculations have been made by the two confirmed images that have been shared by the Yonohoan government of Earthlings. The Rocktala transmission of the Brother of the Last Son of Eodar is still making its way through the ancient network of repeaters. Due to the latency involved in the obsolete and archaic network, this outlet has yet to receive a copy of the Rocktala transmission itself. It is not expected to hit our local network for another two point one years.


    ¡°Based on the descriptions of those who have reportedly witnessed the recording, which may only be watched once per device due to the ancient protection protocols of the Rocktala, the Brother of the Last Son of Eodar has black hair, brown eyes, lightly tanned skin, and features resembling the Weslesten gene line of humans.


    ¡°Controversially, the other confirmed image of an Earthling shows a woman with Otanesha features. This has caused experts to believe that this world was established towards the end of the Liberation Wars by retiring veterans. That would put the estimated age of the human population of Earth between forty and sixty thousand years ago.


    ¡°The humble acceptance of the Toormonda gift suggests that the level of their technology is rather low. Some experts have suggested that they have forgotten their history to the point where they do not understand the capabilities of the ancient relics which their forefathers left behind. It is unknown whether or not they restored their relics to working order or if they reverse engineered their relics into a functional spacecraft.


    ¡°Initial reports of tensions between the Yonohoan and their Darkworld visitors seem to have been disinformation, as evidence by the two confirmed announcements by Earthlings.


    ¡°Meanwhile, the hunt for Earth is under full swing! While the legal scholars all agree that the treaties of Eodar, Holam, Tonada and Soramba prevent a government from actively seeking out Darkworlds, that restriction does not apply to individuals or non-corporate entities with possession of their own spacecraft. Millions of explorers are exploring all worlds within ten thousand light years of Yonohoan space for the source of the Earthling spacecraft. Experts agree that the discovery of the enigmatic Darkworld is only a matter of time.


    ¡°We take you now to one of those explorers who hopes to study earthling culture before they are contaminated by intergalactic pop culture ¡­¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s enough Bob. Please transcribe the text of that broadcast and send it to the  Seeker . Mark it as urgent. Both of the captains need to see that,¡± Diego said. ¡°Make certain that Captain Moon sees it.¡±


    ¡°Of course, Diego. I am happy to assist,¡± the AI said.


    Diego sat back. He was in his stateroom, with several info-tainment and news programs pulled up. He was adapting to consuming media in this format. He had entered search criteria of his topic of interest, which was ¡®Earth,¡¯ and the ship was filtering the news for mentions of his home planet for him from several of the largest and most popular news feeds that passed through the flagship of the Topokan fleet.


    Which was nearly all of them for a billion light years.


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Without the ship, he¡¯d just be channel surfing, and it would take him decades to cycle through one percent of the feeds which he had available to him.


    ¡°One small step for a man, one giant ripple through the puddle of the universe,¡± he muttered to himself. ¡°Bob, how long do you think it will be until some idiot in a personal space ship stumbles upon Earth?¡±


    ¡°That is very hard to estimate. It is illegal to coordinate searches for Darkworlds by several intergalactic treaties. The individual vessels would have to scan each star individually, and due to the lack of a cohesive search pattern many of the stars will be searched in duplicate many times. Unfortunately it will mostly come down to random chance. I could refine my estimate if I were allowed to know where Earth actually is, but I am presently restricted from speculating on the matter,¡± Bob answered.


    Diego watched as a small, furry alien with a surprisingly deep voice spoke about the possibility that they had finally found the human origin world.


    ¡°On the one hand, exposing the humans to the vulnerability of the Temporal Dissolution Matrix would fundamentally shift the status of the universe. Much of the current stability of interstellar politics rely on a powerful human police force enforcing the treaties laid down by the heroes of the Liberation Wars. Losing our human allies would be devastating, even should their legacy and the advancements that their clever minds and the pressures of the millennia long war for their freedom thrust upon a grateful universe remain.


    ¡°While the TDM has been used multiple times in history, the ultimate weapon of mass destruction remains poorly understood and the effects of unleashing it are not well understood. The creation of a paradox spreading a speed of light and the ability to spread information at faster than light speeds creates a paradox in which the resonance of the weapon spreads from its origin point, creating a universe in which humans would never have existed.


    ¡°At the same point, the information from the universe in which humans have always existed would be able to pass from the portion of the universe that remains unaffected by the shockwave. This has led to certain proponents of using TDMs on humans, a stance which I  emphatically  oppose but must report on despite the distaste that it brings me, have claimed that while the result would likely be trillions of deaths, the wonders and works of humanity would remain. Species which complain that the treaties keeping them in check are ironhanded and tyrannical believe that wiping humanity from existence is the only way to secure their future.


    ¡°On the other hand, some scholars have suggested that humans have reached a point in which it would be flatly impossible to remove them from this universe even with the TDM. Humans are tenacious creatures. Traditionally when a TDM has been used in retaliation to the use of another TDM, the result is the extinction of both the species who initiated the attack and the retaliator¡¯s species. Humans, who accept the doctrine of mutually assured destruction, are largely immune to this rule due to their ability to send through the shockwave with the acceptance that the crew aboard them will die in order to fulfill their mission.


    ¡°Some experts have suggested that this ability, coupled with the wide spread of humanity, means that they are immune to the paradox wave that the TDM creates. Others claim that wiping out the initial genelines which populate the universe will result in total annihilation of human society. With temporal mechanics in play, the simple answer is that nobody knows what would happen if humanity¡¯s homeworld were attacked. While the universe would likely survive the shockwave, despite many alarmist¡¯s claim to the contrary, the effect on society would undoubtedly be devastating beyond belief.


    ¡°Proponents of the ¡®made whole¡¯ theory of human evolution believe that the most obvious solution to the human paradox is that they were a collaborative creation by several members of the pre-collapse empire. They claim that the TDM would be useless against the humans unless it was used against the homeworld of their creators rather than the humans themselves.


    ¡°Voices of reason, however, point out each of the last three thousand seven hundred and eighty three times that a Darkworld has emerged from isolation and rejoined the universe, this same conversation occurred. They say that if humans still live on the origin system, they likely do so in ignorance of that fact, and that the human origin system is likely not a darkworld at all but one of their many fortress worlds. These voices remind their friends and allies that humans will do anything to protect their species, including lie to both themselves and their closest allies.


    ¡°Some say that they would even turn their origin system into a rock of screaming isotopes, destroying their history in order to save their present. These voices claim that rather than the origin system being a darkworld, the more likely alternative is that it is a closely guarded brightworld, or one of the many worlds ravaged during the wars of Liberation.


    ¡°That said, let¡¯s spend some time speaking about the hypotheticals of what would happen if the origin system  were  discovered in the modern age.¡±


    ¡°Bob, flag that broadcast for the  Seeker  as well. Highest priority,¡± Diego said.


    ?

 35.

    35.


    The airlock door closed, and Captain Moon waited calmly as the air cycled in. Then she calmly took off the belt of the Toormonda vacuum safety device. She stepped inside her former ship and began packing the safety devices piece by piece in the lockers which had been cleared out to house them. The crew wasn¡¯t ready to throw away the vacuum suits that they¡¯d been trained on, but more and more of them were using the Yonohoan devices for the purposes of traveling back and forth from the  Keeper  to the  Seeker .


    ¡°Welcome aboard, Captain,¡± Anders said, floating in the doorway.


    ¡°Thank you, Sir,¡± she said, saluting. After her decision to step down, he was now her commanding officer, despite the fact that she was still acting as a captain of the  Keeper .


    He returned her salute, and they relaxed.


    ¡°You have one hour before the meeting. Is that enough time for you to pack your belongings?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I pack light. I¡¯ll be leaving my uniforms behind, and I only have a few personal effects. The primary purpose of my visit is to formally enter the codes surrendering this ship to your command and removing my remaining authority from the computer systems,¡± she reminded him.


    ¡°Of course,¡± he said. ¡°You know that I don¡¯t want this commission, right? Not in the way that I received it. If I had been selected as captain on Earth, I would have naturally accepted. But I make a damn good XO and I was proud of my role as your subordinate.¡±


    ¡°I know, Anders. The truth is that knowing that you were there to step into my shoes was a source of comfort both before I began questioning my capacity to lead the mission, during my crisis, and when I came to the conclusion that stepping down was my only option,¡± She told him.


    ¡°Shall we get it out of the way, then?¡± Anders asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± she agreed. ¡°Lead the way, Captain.¡±


    They returned to the bridge, passing through the twisting and narrow hallways of the  Seeker  as they approached the heart of the sphere. One side of the bridge was, ironically, directly up against the housing of the Tunnel Drive. The sleep rooms where the crew was sedated during translation was further from the center of the ship. The idea was that the Tunnel Drive was supposed to be inert until the threshold was reached for the translation into FTL, so it made sense to put the bridge in the most protected area of the ship.


    Next to the device that was killing their braincells when it was turned on.


    ¡°Officers on deck!¡± came the call, and the bridge staff got out of their seats to salute as Captains Moon and Anders entered. They both returned the salutes, and Anders called out ¡°At ease¡± after a moment.


    ¡°Let¡¯s not get emotional now,¡± Ji-eun said, her voice wavering despite her words. ¡°There¡¯s a procedure to follow for this. We¡¯re the best men and women that Earth has to offer the universe, so sometimes we color outside the lines. But today we follow protocol to the letter.¡±


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    She got into her captain seat, strapping herself in only so that she did not float away. She put on her headset one last time and pressed the button for the intercom.


    ¡°All staff, all staff, stand by for a message from the captain,¡± she said. She paused, allowing the microphone to hear her take a breath to steady herself. ¡°I, Ji-eun Moon, hereby resign my commission as the captain of the Earth Space Force ship  The Seeker of New Discoveries  due to a medical condition. I do so willingly and without coercion.


    ¡°The decision to step down was not taken lightly, but after careful consideration and prayer. It was my own idea after hearing my diagnosis. Commander Anders was reluctant to take my place, but I am confident that he will rise to the occasion and perform with the excellence and dedication that I have always expected and received from him during his time as my XO.


    ¡°This marks a turning point in the legacy of the  Seeker , which may have failed the missions for which it was commissioned and launched, but which has fulfilled the spirit of its purpose and earned its name in the discovery of the world of Totola, the Yonohoan people, and their close allies the Sulivans. The  Seeker  will go down in the history of Earth as having found the answer to many of the most profound questions that the humans of Earth have ever asked.


    ¡°Is there life outside of earth? Yes.


    ¡°Are we alone? No. We are not. We have more allies than we ever imagined. We have friends who are waiting to embrace us and welcome us into the light.


    ¡°And perhaps, the  Seeker  has brought with it a present for the humanity we have found in universe which has forgotten it¡¯s own origins. While we cannot be certain whether or not Earth is the origin system, we cannot seek answers if we do not ask questions.


    ¡°Some of the answers that we will be bringing home at the conclusion of our modified mission to the stars will cause trouble. We will challenge the old beliefs and the old answers. But one way or another, I am certain of one thing.


    ¡°We bring the light to a dark world.


    ¡°Serving as your captain was the greatest privilege of my life. Captain Ji-eun Moon, out.¡±


    She killed the intercom and removed her headset. She began typing on her console, entering memorized codes which were not written down on any surface within a thousand lightyears. Codes that she had memorized before leaving the earth¡¯s orbit and which had been destroyed once she¡¯d committed them to memory.


    The system did not prompt her yes or no. It simply shut down, rebooting. She exhaled. It was done.


    ¡°You have command, Captain Anders,¡± She said, removing her strap and standing before saluting smartly.


    The collected bridge staff saluted her as she saluted Captain Anders, and then she kicked off and left the bridge.


    Anders took her seat. He clicked on the intercom.


    ¡°This is Captain Anthony Anders. Captain Moon is the finest offer I have ever had the privilege of serving with. That is all. At ease.¡±


    She made it to her quarters before the tears filled her eyes.


    ?

 36.

    36.


    ¡°So in conclusion, while the sensors on the  Keeper  are so sensitive and measure things which we can¡¯t even detect with perfect accuracy and clarity, the probes that we sent out from Earth and which we were originally tasked with gathering still retain significant scientific value,¡± Gabriel said, swallowing nervously. He hated public speaking, and right now the entire staff of both the  Seeker  and those who had migrated their stations to the  Keeper  were in attendance.


    ¡°Even the Yonohoan scientists we¡¯ve spoken with see the value in the original goal of our overall mission. They are, in fact, eager for us to complete it, informing us that we are on the edge of a major discovery. They will not tell us what it is. They want us to get there by ourselves. They have said that it will fundamentally change our understanding of the universe in ways which we are presently incapable of understanding.


    ¡°Rather than being frustrated that they will not simply come forward with the answer, I find their belief reassuring and encouraging. Even if we¡¯re repeating an ancient experiment that aliens have performed countless times throughout history, we are  still  contributing to the scientific advancement of the universe.


    ¡°You cannot make a scientific conclusion based upon performing an action once. You have to reproduce the results. The very foundation of science, the scientific method, requires that we test our hypothesis over and over and over again before we can conclude that it  might  be true. Because even when a result has been ¡®proven¡¯ by previous understandings, sometimes some new piece of information comes along and causes a paradigm shift so profound that it shakes the very foundation of science.


    ¡°Galileo. Sir Isaac Newton. Einstein. Hawking.


    ¡°It might not be our names that get attached to the discovery, or the rediscovery, but we¡¯re on the trail of something.


    ¡°While they have access to technology so advanced that it makes us look like we¡¯re playing with sticks and mud, the fact remains that  we got where we are all by ourselves . We have the right to be proud of our accomplishments. The Yonohoans assure us that we¡¯re tracking something major. Something worthwhile. So let¡¯s make our ancestors proud and hunt it down with our own relentless persistence and stamina and grind the universe into submission until it serves us the delicious feast of understanding!¡±


    Despite his impassioned speech, the room remained somber. He sighed. ¡°Anyway, that¡¯s all I have to say. The Yonohoans want us to continue the science missions which launched the  Seeker  in the first place.¡±


    ¡°All in favor of transferring the science objectives of the  Seeker of New Discoveries  to the Toormonda ship,  The Keeper of Dreams ?¡± Anders asked formally.


    ¡°Aye,¡± the crew called in unison.


    ¡°Motion carries. Now, let¡¯s talk about specifics. Rebecca, how close are we to getting the Toormonda to understand how to control our probes?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Unfortunately, the power of random number generation is against us,¡± she said, sighing. ¡°Corporate and government paranoia placed encryption protocols on the command protocols for some of the probes which use the physical properties of the actual hardware itself for RNG. The computers aboard the Toormonda, as we understand them, use a fundamentally different type of hardware. They have more computing power in a block the size of my fist than we have in the entire ship. But, ironically, they have trouble with binary.


    ¡°They have six variables to account for besides on or off. It makes the computers smarter in some ways, but ironically it makes emulating to our systems more difficult. We can¡¯t just load up our software and let the Toormonda run the calculations for us. In order to complete the handshake protocols, it needs to run on the physical systems of the  Seeker ,¡± Rebecca concluded.


    ¡°Can we remove disassemble them, move them to the  Keeper , and complete the mission in that way?¡± someone suggested.


    ¡°We can, but we¡¯ll run into space issues,¡± Antoine said. ¡°Some of these machines are quite large. We¡¯ll have to strip them down to their motherboards and reload them in the destination. That alone will be difficult, but we¡¯ll run out of space before we assemble them all. The  Keeper  is half the diameter of the  Seeker . While the interior seems roomy, the fact is that it has one eighth the volume. It¡¯s easy to forget just how big the  Seeker  is because of all the junk we crammed inside of it.¡±


    ¡°We still need room for the crew,¡± Captain Moon reminded everyone. ¡°With the revelation that Tunnel Drive Exposure is affecting all of us to some degree, maintaining morale and reducing stress are factors which cannot be ignored or dismissed.¡±


    ¡°So, I have a suggestion,¡± Diego said. He wasn¡¯t really there, but was taking part in the meeting through the use of a small disc-like device that projected his hologram. Captain Moon had brought it with her from the  Keeper .


    ¡°You have the floor, Sergeant,¡± Anders said.


    ¡°I¡¯m the best pilot with the drones anyway,¡± he said. ¡°So¡­ have me pilot them. Ship the guidance computers and the antennas or whatever to the Yonohoan flagship. We¡¯ll assemble it here and follow the  Keeper  to the rendezvous points, which are non-classified information. I¡¯ll fly the probes to the  Keeper , and you can retrieve the data. There¡¯s what, eighty two probes left to collect, right? But the largest model is still only the size of a watermelon, so you should be able to store them in one of the unused rooms after the data dump.¡±


    The room went silent as they considered the option.


    ¡°Would the Yonohoans be willing to extend such assistance?¡± Anders asked.


    ¡°Eolai is my brother now. We¡¯re about to separate and possibly never see each other again, but I think that we have the right to take an interstellar road trip before that happens,¡± Diego joked. ¡°But seriously, I¡¯ll ask him. One minute. Bob, where¡¯s Eolai? Sorry guys, I¡¯ll be right back.¡±


    His hologram flickered, and the staff looked towards Anders, who was commanding the mission now.


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    ¡°It¡¯s true that the locations of the rendezvous points are non-classified information,¡± he admitted. ¡°His suggestion has merit.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯d still have to transfer some computers over to the  Keeper  to decrypt the files. Once we¡¯ve done that, however, we can upload the raw data to the Toormonda¡¯s computers. It has no problem  storing  binary data, it just doesn¡¯t think like a binary computer,¡± Gabriel said. ¡°That means that we don¡¯t need to move all of the servers. The theoretical limit to the Toormonda¡¯s data storage space is literally astronomical.¡±


    ¡°I thought you wanted to accomplish this on our own, with our own systems,¡± Hilda said.


    ¡°I do. I¡¯m not saying that we ask the Toormonda to analyze the data for us. I won¡¯t be going with the mission to collect the drones because I¡¯ll be useless. But considering all the help we¡¯re accepting already, I don¡¯t think that utilizing our rides built-in hard drive for data storage is cheating any more than we already are,¡± Gabriel rebutted.


    ¡°Right. So we¡¯re coming close to an actionable plan,¡± Anders said. ¡°What steps are we missing?¡±


    ¡°Okay, I found him,¡± Diego¡¯s hologram said, suddenly reappearing. ¡°Captain Anders, permission to bring my Yonohoan brother into the meeting for a few moments?¡±


    ¡°Permission granted,¡± Anders said.


    Eolai appeared standing next to Diego. The young man was smiling. ¡°I understand that you have a request for me, Captain?¡±


    ¡°Yes. We are attempting to modify the parameters of our science mission to accomplish those goals using the Toormonda which your government has graciously provided for our use. However, we are running into space issues. I am formally requesting further assistance,¡± Anders said.


    ¡°If it is within my power I am pleased to provide it,¡± Eolai said. ¡°Please describe the sort of assistance you require.¡±


    ¡°Would you be willing to follow the  Keeper of Dreams  to the locations of its objectives? You would effectively be tagging along with us for several weeks with our accelerated mission goals,¡± Anders said.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Eolai said. ¡°Although if you are worried about protection I assure you that nobody in this galaxy would even think of firing upon a Toormonda.¡±


    ¡°It is not for protection,¡± Anders clarified. ¡°The suggestion has been made to transfer some computers and machines to the flagship, install them, and have Diego use them to pilot the drones remotely during retrieval. We¡¯re still in the early planning stages so we¡¯re exploring the feasibility of the plan.¡±


    ¡°You have adapted the Toormonda to power your instruments, correct?¡± Eolai questioned.


    ¡°We have.¡±


    ¡°Then with your permission I can gain the data from the  Keeper  on how to power your instruments. I have a large hangar bay which has some useless junk taking up space. I will simply empty it out and you will have as much space as you need,¡± Eolai said. ¡°How will you transfer the material from your ship to mine?¡±


    Anders paused. ¡°We will have to have Diego fly the shuttle back to the  Seeker  to transfer the equipment using its cargo space. It is too early to determine whether or not we can relax quarantine between our peoples, Eolai. Perhaps you are comfortable with it, but unfortunately we are not. As such, we will be suiting up and decontaminating ourselves between each trip. We will send one member of our staff to assemble the devices aboard your ship.¡±


    He paused, frowning. ¡°Depending on the circumstances, they might not be able to return. I will request volunteers.¡±


    ¡°I understand your caution on the matter. I shall follow your policy as closely as possible on the matter,¡± Eolai agreed. ¡°I can host two guests as easily as one aboard my ship. I make no promises of brother or sisterhood, but I have named all passengers of the  Seeker  and the  Keeper  clan. They are welcome aboard my vessel.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Eolai,¡± Anders said. ¡°We would appreciate it if you would send details of the storage area where the equipment will be stored to our computer at your convenience so that we can begin planning the transfer.¡±


    ¡°I shall have the data sent immediately. Is there anything else?¡± Eolai inquired.


    ¡°That¡¯s all I can think of for now, Eolai. Thank you for your time and consideration, and your promises of helping us fulfill our objectives. At this time I politely request privacy while we discuss internal matters,¡± Anders said.


    ¡°Of course. Thank you for requesting my assistance, for it gives me pleasure to assist you in this matter,¡± Eolai said. ¡°Goodbye.¡±


    His hologram vanished. Everyone turned to look at Diego, who shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m already in a different room than him.¡±


    ¡°Right. Okay. So, we need to discuss personnel matters,¡± Anders said. ¡°The  Keeper  has room for twenty crew members for its mission. We need to discuss who goes and who stays and completes the diplomatic mission which is now the  Seeker¡¯s  primary objective.¡±


    ¡°I thought that we decided that everyone who had reached level 2 in the exposure syndrome was going to be moving to the  Keeper ,¡± Takeshi said.


    ¡°Yes, but no,¡± Captain Moon said. She cleared her throat. ¡°Due to the importance of ensuring that our crew recovers from their exposure to the Tunnel Drive, those who are showing signs and symptoms of progressing past simple exposure will bunk on the  Keeper  and, if they are able to, perform some of their duties from that posting. However, once we leave to continue the scientific mission, they will be transferring to the level two medical center on the surface of the planet Totola.¡±


    This was a surprise to the majority of the staff, who had several questions.


    ¡°What about exposure?¡±


    ¡°That is part of the reason we are delaying. Eolai and Diego are currently in the middle of an experiment to see if our species can coexist together without infecting each other with our normal flora. However, even once we have established that, the transfer to the facility on the surface of the planet will be performed using a sterile shuttle transport, and we have been assured that the rooms will be sterilized for our use,¡± Anders explained.


    ¡°So far, Diego and Eolai are coexisting just fine,¡± Captain Moon pointed out. ¡°The Yonohoans are confident in their ability to avoid exposing us to anything in transit or during our stay at their facility. They were somewhat insulted when we suggested it would be difficult.¡±


    ¡°To any concerns about staying in inhumane conditions while receiving medical care, I¡¯d like to reassure everyone who might be affected by this command decision that an entire hospital wing is being prepared just for us,¡± Anders said. ¡°You will have a private room, a common area, and an exercise area. You should be more comfortable there than even aboard the  Keeper .¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve seen holos of the facility. It¡¯s nice. Like, five star hotel nice,¡± Diego said.


    The staff took some time to process this. Not everyone had revealed their diagnoses yet, but many of the ones who were experiencing symptoms were secretly relieved that they wouldn¡¯t be expected to continue on the science mission. Others were frightened of the prospect of visiting an alien facility on an alien planet. Most felt some combination of the two.


    ¡°Right. We have a general plan,¡± Anders said. ¡°Let¡¯s start assigning specific tasks to get the preliminary preparations underway.¡±


    ?

 37.

    37.


    The rest of the meeting took hours as the team worked on all of the technical details which needed to be addressed for their modified science mission to be successful. The computer systems which would have be disassembled were identified, both the systems which would be transferred to the  Keeper  and the systems which were going to the Yonohoan flagship.


    Perhaps ironically, the reason that the probe control system couldn¡¯t be hosted on the  Keeper  was the same reason that the Earthlings were able to communicate with the Yonohoans; the deep space antenna which was receiving and broadcasting the signals sent to and from the fleet and the planet itself was simply too large to fit on the smaller ship and still have room for the crew.


    This also meant that once they reached that stage of the disassembly process, they would be reliant entirely on the Yonohoan communications devices that were being made available to them.


    Seeing that it was inevitable that they become reliant on them, Captain Anders relaxed his previously held embargo on most of the advanced devices which the crew had been attempting to convince him to allow on board the  Seeker  (or had already sneaked aboard without approval).


    It suddenly became commonplace to see staff members floating through the ship wall talking to floating heads of other crew. Or the Yonohoans, who were eager to give help and advice.


    Gabriel, whose role in the science mission was more or less complete since there would be little more data analysis until they returned to Earth in the  Keeper , made a suggestion to Captain Anders. Anders took a few hours to consider it, gave him a list of restricted areas, and then gave his approval.


    That was how Gabriel found himself floating through the common areas of the  Seeker  with an alien recording device, talking about how life had been aboard the ship prior to his momentous discovery of the Rocktala signals coming from the planet Totola.


    ¡°So this is the mess hall. Or the cafeteria, or whatever you want to call it,¡± he said when he arrived in that room. ¡°We don¡¯t have food forges. Everything we eat, aside from a few tomato plants that we¡¯ve been able to get to grow for us, we had to bring with us. It was all manufactured on Earth and brought into space via our space elevator.


    ¡°As you can imagine, not having artificial gravity makes some aspects of eating in space difficult. There¡¯s no pouring milk over your cereal, no eating soup with a spoon. You can¡¯t sit a plate on a table without it floating away. So most of our food are things like this. Tubes filled with nutrient pastes. This here is a tube of Turkey Surprise. The surprise is that it¡¯s supposed to be served hot, but it has a symbol here which shows not to microwave it.


    ¡°That took me a while to figure out. Apparently on Earth it¡¯s supposed to be placed in boiling water to heat it, or transferred from the tube into another container and microwaved. I guess they didn¡¯t care if we ended up eating microplastics from microwaving it during this mission. Anyway, it tastes terrible cold, but it¡¯s not too bad if you heat it up first.¡±


    He spent quite a while talking about the food aboard the  Seeker , going through the refrigerator and describing each of the rations in turn. He tried to explain how they tasted, whether they had any cultural significance or not, and mentioned which were his favorites and which he disliked.


    Several crew members came and went, and depending on their personalities they were either introduced or they hurried out of the room when they realized what he was doing.


    He showed them other aspects of life on the  Seeker . He explained hygiene, both how the bathrooms worked and how they cleaned their bodies. He showed them some of the less secure parts of the spacecraft, including some of the science instruments like the space telescopes.


    He wasn¡¯t able to show them the housing of the three power plants or the Tunnel Drive due to security concerns, but he was able to show them some of the probes that had been recovered. He eagerly spent an hour discussing the various parts and the instruments and what the Earthlings were hoping to accomplish with their experiments. Which was really just to look at the universe from multiple angles and compare vastly different locations at the same time.


    ¡°See, for the entirety of our recorded history, we¡¯ve been stuck on one planet orbiting a single star. We were wondering what would happen if you looked at the universe from multiple angles from vast distances apart and tried to put the pieces together into a three dimensional puzzle. A lot of people on Earth thought it was a massive waste of money, but the politicians approved it because we¡¯re getting overpopulated and some people think we need to find a new planet to live on,¡± Gabriel explained.


    He laughed.


    ¡°The truth is that we haven¡¯t taken very good care of Mother Earth. Hopefully our alliance with the Yonohoans will help us solve some of our energy issues and possibly give us the technology to reverse some of the ecological damage that we¡¯ve caused.¡±


    He went through the crew quarters, showing off his own room and receiving permission to display those of some of his crewmates. He showed off his ¡®dungeon¡¯ of a workstation, having to explain that Earth hadn¡¯t quite figured out how to make holograms like the Yonohoans yet so everything was in still in two dimensions.


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    Eventually, he brought the tour to the bridge, pausing at the entrance to allow everyone to secure their workstation to prevent any data from being displayed. He interviewed the command staff, analysts, and technicians who kept the  Seeker  running.


    The tour ended with an interview of Captain Anders.


    ¡°How does it feel being responsible for establishing diplomatic relations between Earth, the Yonohoans, and by extension the Topokans?¡± Gabriel asked.


    ¡°Extremely stressful but also rewarding,¡± Anders answered. ¡°While a part of me wishes that I was still second in command, I understand Captain Moon¡¯s reasons for stepping down fully and even now continue to stand by her in solidarity. She made the right call in a difficult situation. I¡¯m not certain I could have done the same thing in her place, but I shall attempt to follow her example as the finest officer of the Earth Space Force that I have ever had the privilege of serving.¡±


    ¡°Do you have anything to say about the technical or medical difficulties we encountered during our mission?¡± Gabriel asked, having approved the questions before hand.


    ¡°We haven¡¯t had any technical issues prior to arriving in Yonohoan space. The  Seeker  has been performing like a dream. Unfortunately, the only method of Faster Than Light travel that our planet has discovered causes neural degeneration. We knew that going into this mission, but we were hoping that the methods we were using to counteract it would allow us to complete it. Unfortunately the results were more insidious than we believed.


    ¡°While we were initially resentful that the Yonohoans claimed that they were legally required to impound our ship when we met them, we have come to understand the vast value that they place on the human life and we can therefor understand their reluctance to allow us to endanger ourselves.


    ¡°That said, we are not ready to surrender the  Seeker of New Discoveries  to anyone at this point in time.¡±


    ¡°What do you think of the Yonohoans?¡± Gabriel asked.


    ¡°They seem to be an honorable people. They are extremely proud of their past. They seem to have a unique sense of humor. They have been helpful and supportive of our mission since we opened lines of communication with them. While our relationship started out rocky when they shot down one of our probes in an unfortunate misunderstanding, as well as informing us that they would follow us should we attempt to leave their system, we are establishing a relationship of trust and support. We are learning about their culture, and we are sharing the culture of Earth with them. And through them, we are spreading our culture to the rest of the universe, which is much bigger than we thought it was.¡±


    ¡°Given some of the troubles that the crew is facing, between the impact of the Tunnel Drive on our health and the technical difficulties we are facing in completion of our science mission with the use of the Toormonda ship that the Yonohoans have given us, how are you maintaining morale?¡± Gabriel asked.


    ¡°The gift of the Toormonda spacecraft that we have named  The Keeper of Dreams  has itself been a great boost to morale. Having a place to go to exercise and get away from the stress of being cooped up inside the  Seeker  has been a great boon. Even those who don¡¯t enjoy the exercise have enjoyed the simple change of scenery,¡± Anders answered.


    ¡°Aside from that, I have approved a number of projects for cultural exchange that the members of my crew not otherwise occupied have been completing in their free time. These include projects like Project Radio Tower, which Captain Moon initiated and was completed under my tenure, in which they spread the culture and history of Earth with the people of the Yonohoah. Things such as reading of our literature, talking about our history, or sharing personal experiences. We have learned that although humans live throughout the universe, life away from Earth is often strange and unfamiliar to those who have never left our home planet.¡±


    At this point, Gabriel said ¡°One of the things we¡¯ve learned is that many people have questioned why we¡¯ve accepted a Toormonda and are transferring our research over to it instead of replacing the illegal FTL drive in our ship and completing the mission with our original parameters. What do you have to say to that, Captain Anders?¡±


    ¡°Several things. First of all, I understand that to most of the Universe, the Toormonda are associated with childhood. But they are also associated with exploration, discovery, and the repetition of results in a way that proves existing theories to be valid. Those aspects fit precisely with our science objectives, making the gift of a Toormonda a boon to the people of Earth.


    ¡°Second, while I¡¯m reluctant to admit it, the fact is that the Toormonda possesses advanced technology which is unavailable to the people of Earth at this time. We had no idea that the Tri-dimensional generator was even theoretically possible prior to having it explained to one of our engineers, who regretfully still doesn¡¯t understand the advanced mathematics and physical components of the device.


    ¡°The truth is that while the rest of the universe was engaged in the millennia long struggles of the Liberation Wars, our ancestors were almost universally hunting animals with primitive weapons made only of stone and plant fibers. Until we met the Yonohoans, nobody showed up and gave us a helping hand. Nobody explained how the universe worked to us. We¡¯ve figured everything we know about space flight out all by ourselves.


    ¡°Regretfully, that means that the Toormonda is far more advanced in many ways than the  Seeker of New Discoveries,  despite the fact that the  Seeker  is the most advanced spacecraft ever built in the shipyards of Earth.


    ¡°However, as smart as the Toormonda is, I¡¯m rather pleased to declare that it still can¡¯t beat our encryption. Unfortunately, my duties require me to ask Gabriel to end the recording at this time so that my bridge crew and I can return to work.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for your time, Captain,¡± Gabriel said, and he ended the recording.


    ?

 38.

    38.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care what you say, he¡¯s lying. There is no way that humans mastered FTL on their own since the end of the Liberation Wars,¡± came the whiny voice of a giant pink balloon. ¡°While I admit to human ingenuity being a significant factor in the explosion of technology resulting from the wars themselves and the recovery and reconstruction period, the fact remains that they lack the computational power to process dimensional mathematics in their mind. Additionally, they lack the <<Untranslatable>> sense, and the <<Untranslatable>> sense. How are they going to sense the <<Untranslatable>> without a <<Untranslatable>>? This is clearly human propaganda to display their superiority in yet another fashion. Well, I¡¯m not buying it. Captain Anders is a liar and a fraud, and if it wants to maintain its dignity the Yonohoan government should denounce him.¡±


    Captain Anders frowned, waving his hand to turn the hologram off before it repeated itself. Frustratingly, the Yonohoan government was only providing unfiltered access to the universal networks to Diego, but Diego had been forwarding a number of noteworthy pieces to the command staff in recent days.


    ¡°I knew that it would get attention,¡± he muttered to himself. ¡°But I didn¡¯t realize how much vitriol it would earn me.¡±


    ¡°To be fair, Captain, you only gave them something to latch on to. Those pink balloon guys were ones who used to love to make our ancestors fight entire wars for their sadistic amusement,¡± Diego said, his hologram appearing nearby to continue the discussion that they¡¯d been having before bringing up the opinion clip. ¡°They hate us because the treaties to end the war really fucked them up the excretory sphincter. Which they happen to also use to eat and breathe.¡±


    ¡°But yet you forwarded it to me,¡± Anders pointed out. ¡°You thought it was significant.¡±


    ¡°It was representative of the disbelief your claims of total isolation and an independent tech tree,¡± Diego explained. ¡°Most of the other people calling you out are less hostile about it. They suggest that we obtained this peace of the puzzle through our ancient texts, or that piece of the puzzle was handed down by oral tradition. They remain convinced that the original secret to FTL and inter-dimensional mathematics were a multi-species coalitions that spread their foundings throughout the universe billions of years ago.¡±


    ¡°And why are they so convinced of this fact?¡± Anders inquired.


    ¡°Because they¡¯re terrified of us, Sir,¡± Diego said, shrugging. ¡°We stomped everyone who got in our face during the liberation wars. Including ourselves. Then we all retired to darkworlds for a few generations, and once everyone had calmed down a bit we came out smiling and ready to pretend that nothing bad had ever happened. Some of the species have racial memories going back to before the  start  of the Liberation wars, let alone the end of it.¡±


    ¡°So they admire our martial prowess, but they still don¡¯t respect us as equals?¡± Anders questioned.


    ¡°No, that¡¯s the issue. They  want  us to be their equals. What their  afraid of  is that we¡¯re better than them,¡± Diego clarified. ¡°You see, while we¡¯re the ones who fought and died in the Liberation Wars, we¡¯re not really the ones who get blamed for them. Most people blame the pink balloons and the other races that gave us weapons to begin with. And then those that prolonged the conflict by having us fight each other. They still want to think of us as the weapon and not the ones pulling the trigger,¡± Diego clarified.


    ¡°It was humankind that ended the wars, however,¡± Anders said. ¡°Eodar and others like him, was it not?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Eodar wasn¡¯t the only human hero who championed peace and reconciliation, but he was one of the most famous. If it was up to the pink balloons of the universe, then the humans would still be blowing each other up endlessly while they sat in their space stations around red giant stars and laughed,¡± Diego explained.


    ¡°And it is humans who maintain the peace?¡± Anders asked.


    ¡°Peace through vigilance. Yes sir,¡± Diego agreed. ¡°The truth is that this is the most tumultuous time since the last ceasefire of the final phase of the Liberation Wars. Everyone is preparing for the Last Son of Eodar to die. The aliens who got screwed by the treaty are hoping to use it as an opportunity to renegotiate the worst of the punitive measures. The ones who are restricted from expanding are hoping that they¡¯ll be able to win concessions in exchange for behaving. The ones that are happy with the status quo are frightened and they¡¯re preparing for Armageddon. It¡¯s been a very tense few centuries.¡±


    ¡°I can imagine the pressure this is putting on you, since you now share Eolai¡¯s burden,¡± Anders said.


    ¡°I¡¯m not certain that you can, Captain. If I¡¯d known what Eolai was getting me into before hand, I might have run screaming from the holographic campfire,¡± Diego confessed.


    ¡°Will you be consenting to enter stasis, as Eolai does?¡± Anders asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m told that it¡¯s painless. Apparently you just blink and ten years have passed between one breath and the next,¡± Diego explained. ¡°But it has a sort of tragedy to it, watching everyone you love grow old and die. There are laws about it¡¯s use that specify the length of time that it can be left in place, but they¡¯re just laws. I have no idea how long a session of stasis can last, but apparently the answer is in the triple digits.¡±


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    ¡°They could freeze you forever and claim that you¡¯re immortal,¡± Anders argued.


    ¡°No sir, they can¡¯t. Everyone agrees that while you¡¯re frozen, you¡¯re not alive,¡± Diego explained. ¡°They¡¯ve got a Shroedinger¡¯s cat thing going on with Eolai. Nobody except the Topokan knows where he really is or whether he¡¯s in stasis or not except for us. They move him around between the Yonohoan worlds occasionally. And whenever anyone questions whether he¡¯s alive or not, they¡¯re forced to bring him out to make a rebuttal showing that he¡¯s not dead.


    ¡°Adding to the layer of confusion is that there are  also  thousands of treaties which specify Eodar¡¯s grandchildren,¡± Diego continued. ¡°Which means that Eolai has a duty to reproduce. However, the Yonohoan have views on the right of a father to know who they¡¯ve fathered, and the right of a child to know who his father is. Eolai insists on speaking with his children at least once a month for ten minutes or until they end the conversation until they decide not to participate in the ritual anymore, and he refuses to have more than one child every ten years.¡±


    ¡°That sounds ¡­ tragic,¡± Anders said.


    ¡°Yes sir. He says that his life is very joyful, as he spends all of his waking moments speaking with those he loves. But between hanging up the phone and picking it up again, they age a little bit. It must be like watching a person grow old and die in time lapse,¡± Diego said, shuddering. ¡°I don¡¯t know how he does it.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I could do that,¡± Anders said. ¡°What do his people think of him?¡±


    ¡°They love him and respect him, sir,¡± Diego answered. ¡°He¡¯s not their leader. The truth is that we haven¡¯t even spoken with their government directly yet. They¡¯re withholding contact out of respect for him. Because he is taking joy in our interactions.


    ¡°Captain, he¡¯s a symbol of everything they take pride in about themselves. Steadfast through the ages, preserved through time, and older than he looks. Self sacrificing, yet he takes joy in life and loves his family. Not every son of Eodar has been so honorable. The rest of the fleet? Well, some of them are like Eolai, important people with the weight of the universe on their shoulders. But most of them are just Eolai¡¯s friends from when he was young. They have decided to help him share his burden by suffering with him in unity. Most of them plan to wait until he is dead and then live a normal life with the remainder of their time. They¡¯re minor celebrities in their own right. But he is a living hero.¡±


    Captain Anders sighed. ¡°This talk is making me depressed. Do you think that the Yonohoan government will reach out to me directly once you leave with the  Keeper  to complete the science objectives?¡±


    ¡°Most likely, sir. I don¡¯t know. I haven¡¯t talked to them either. Most of what I¡¯ve been learning has been Bob whispering in my ear,¡± Diego said. ¡°I think that he really can read my mind. He answers questions that I haven¡¯t thought of yet. I mean, he starts answering them just as they¡¯re forming in my head. It¡¯s almost a little creepy. He assures me that he can¡¯t actually read my mind, and that I will make leaps of logic that he is incapable of.¡±


    ¡°How exactly does your brotherhood oath help earth again? I understand the broad strokes, but not the specifics.¡±


    ¡°Eolai is sworn to protect earth for as long as my family is alive. Specifically my grandmother, mother, and siblings. I didn¡¯t think to include my nieces or nephews, unfortunately for Earth. That means that Eolai and the forces that protect him will be obligated to protect Earth from attack for at least one generation, Captain. They¡¯ll patrol space for us and turn back anyone with nefarious interest. That will give us time to build up a fleet to defend ourselves once when the curtain comes down.¡±


    ¡°Okay. I can see how that increases our political capital,¡± Anders agreed, nodding for Diego to continue. The man sighed.


    ¡°Eolai was going to do it anyway, no matter how things turn out. But since I¡¯ve become his brother, there¡¯s pressure to train me to be the next Last Son of Eodar. If I have children that are Yonohoan, then they can argue that all of the treaties are still in effect for the duration of my lifetime. They want Eolai to train me on my responsibilities, and then they want to put me in stasis until Eolai dies,¡± Diego explained.


    ¡°And you¡¯re considering it.¡±


    ¡°I could save a lot of lives, Captain. Maybe the alliances will unravel eventually, but I could push it back by centuries. Extend the peace.¡±


    ¡°I understand your dilemma, Sergeant. My first priority is Earth, however. How does your position benefit us?¡± Anders asked.


    ¡°The prestige of being the birthplace of the Last Son of Eodar is a significant political boon, Captain. Additionally, as long as I¡¯m alive, or at least not deceased, I¡¯ll be able to speak for Earth. On top of that, until I¡¯ve disgraced myself in the eyes of the Yonohoan people, they will absolutely love everything about us. And by disgrace myself, I mean I¡¯d have to do something major. I could drown a sack full of puppies and kitties and drop the corpses in an orphanage and set the orphanage on fire and they¡¯d forgive me. The only crime which would cause them pause is if I killed a Topokan.¡±


    ¡°You could kill a Yonohoan, but not a Topokan?¡± Anders asked.


    ¡°Yes. I asked specifically. I¡¯m allowed to kill anyone I want and not disgrace myself. Except no Topokans.¡±


    ¡°Why is that?¡± Anders asked.


    ¡°Because only Eodar is allowed to kill a Topokan and retain his honor. I have no idea why that makes sense to them, but that¡¯s what I¡¯m told.¡±


    ?

 39.

    39.


    Captain Moon was feeling good. A week had passed since she had officially turned over command to Captain Anders. Progress was proceeding rapidly on the efforts to salvage the science mission. They had successfully dismantled the deep space antenna and were in the process of hauling it aboard the Yonohoan flagship. Diego had made three trips, with the humans loading the shuttle and the Topokans unloading it.


    Rajesh had volunteered to be the one to assemble the pieces, or at least direct the Topokans in the assembly. He remained aboard the  Seeker , waiting for the final trip before he would risk exposure to the alien environment.


    Aboard the  Keeper , the computer that would download the data from the probes had been assembled, tested, and deemed functional. The interface between the download computer and the Toormonda¡¯s storage banks was also fully functional. They had tested it already by uploading the data of one of their used probes and proven that it worked.


    The  Keeper¡¯s  AI was slightly reluctant to avoid from analyzing the data. Apparently it was an effort for the ship to preserve the information in binary format. The ship was forced to keep multiple copies of the data and constantly its version of a chksum on it in order to keep it from degrading.


    Despite this, the ship assured the team that it had enough storage space to retain the amount of data that would be required of it. It was also confident in its ability to preserve that data for transport to earth, where it would be analyzed by the supercomputers of Earth.


    The crew had been insulted after learning that humans were regarded as an uplifted species incapable of doing hard science on their own. They found it insulting that every species claimed to have provided the backbone of some key invention or another, but every human innovation was dismissed because it used science established by another species to draw it¡¯s conclusion.


    It was fine when others did it, but while humans were perceived as ¡®crafty¡¯ and ¡®innovative,¡¯ they were supposedly unable to perform the necessary complex equations for the higher sciences.


    ¡°Humans are the best at rediscovering what we already know in creative ways,¡± was one of the more polite yet dismissive ways of phrasing this discrimination.


    She had been disheartened when she had confided her outrage to Eolai and he had simply shrugged. ¡°It has always been this way. We have contributed to every single advancement in the past one hundred thousand years, but still the universe thinks that the only thing that we are good for is killing an enemy or being killed in the place of those species which carried us on their backs to the far edges of the universe.¡±


    ¡°Do the Sulivans see us this way?¡± She asked.


    ¡°I do not believe so. They will trust the judgment of any Yonohoan over the judgment of any member of their own species on any matter. This is not true for humanity at large, only for Yonohoans. I am uncertain how they feel about the other groups and genelines because to them there are only two categories. Yonohoan, and non-Yonohoan.¡±


    ¡°Because of your shared history,¡± she supplied.


    ¡°Yes, but also because of honor. They believe that they serve the Yonohoah, while the Yonohoan take pride in serving them in other ways. It is very difficult, but we are very good at tricking them to doing things on their own for their own sake,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°Do you have an example?¡± she asked.


    ¡°For example, for the last two hundred years I have tricked them into defending their own worlds using the ships that they have built themselves,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°Rather than relying on the human fleet which is parked two stars away.¡±


    ¡°They don¡¯t traditionally defend Yonohoan space?¡± Captain Moon inquired.


    ¡°They will serve aboard Yonohoan craft, but until I told them that I would only consent to Stasis if it was aboard a Topokan built spacecraft, they would not build their own ships,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°And then I insisted that one man would be sufficient to fly their ships, and that if they could prove that I was lying then I would be able to lie about anything. Including how many children I will have before I die.¡±


    ¡°And they really want you to have one hundred children before you die,¡± she realized.


    ¡°Yes. If the last of my children dies of old age, then they are released from the worst of the penalties in their ancient pact with the swarms,¡± Eolai explained.


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    ¡°What happens then?¡± she inquired.


    ¡°I do not know,¡± he admitted. ¡°The primary clause which will expire for the Topokans is that the Yonohoans may no longer slay them for any reason other than self defense, and they are no longer obligated to ensure the sanctity of our bloodlines. I am uncertain how this will change our joint society and cultures. But the Topokans wish for it to occur, and so I hope that some day it comes to pass. Regretfully I cannot be alive to see it.¡±


    ¡°That is unfortunate. Your people could use your guidance through such a transition,¡± Captain Moon told him.


    He scoffed. ¡°I am not a great leader like my father, Captain Moon. I spend all of my time in self-indulgences. I skip from one happy moment to the next, always speaking with people who are happy to hear from me. Never since I was ten years old has anyone raised their voice to me in anger. Truly I sometimes wish for someone to scream at me in hate just so that I could know what it felt like to be despised.¡±


    ¡°Oh, poor little Eolai,¡± she mocked playfully. ¡°He¡¯s loved by everybody. Boo hoo hoo.¡±


    Eolai blinked at her, and then he began to laugh.


    ~~~~~~


    The shuttlecraft boarded the flagship for the final time carrying the final payload, its pilot, and a passenger.


    Minutes after it had docked, the escape pods once again ejected from the ship, carrying the skittish Topokans away from their dangerously unknowable guest.


    Rajesh was disappointed that they had not come out to form ranks for him as they had for Diego when he has first boarded the flagship. However, the data from Diego¡¯s suit camera had finally been retrieved, which had given the crews from Earth an in detail tour of the interior of the alien flagship and insights into the Topokan culture through Eolai¡¯s patient explanations.


    The two fighter shuttles had been removed to make room for the antenna, which was more bulky than it was massive, with scaffolding and light materials which it had previously extended for use and retracted immediately prior to engaging the Tunnel Drive.


    The work required a surprisingly delicate touch at times as the wires were secured in place and the finer parts of the antenna were attached to the skeletal outline. Working with only Diego, Rajesh and Eolai for labor, the entire process took several hours. Not as long as it had taken to disassemble, even having borrowed the vacuum safety devices from the  Keeper , the crew had still suited up in their bulky vacuum suits during the process.


    The device was fully extended while inside the cargo bay, yet Eolai assured the crew that the signals it sent would penetrate the walls unimpeded and that it did not need to be exposed to space.


    Following that, and the successful connection between the transplanted computer and the antenna itself, the crew ejected one of their probes to see if Diego could indeed pilot it remotely as well as he thought he¡¯d be able to.


    It turns out that he could.


    While the Toormonda could have potentially chased the drones down, the antenna was still necessary to shift them from observational mode into transfer mode, and then into recovery mode. The software, programmed by corporate and government entities, was not particularly intuitive or user friendly.


    Once it was aboard the  Keeper , it was a simple matter of attaching a cable to the probe. Once they¡¯d completed the trial test, the entire crew decided to throw a party to celebrate their success. With the entire crew crowding aboard the  Keeper  to see the departing crew off, they mixed 100% ethanol with their remaining stock of orange juice and got hammered.


    Gabriel abstained at first, recording the others getting sloshed and commenting for the viewers of his documentary viewers throughout the universe how getting drunk to celebrate an event or achievement was an ancient tradition going back millennia on earth.


    Then someone threatened to throw him out the airlock if he didn¡¯t join in, and they were working on pinning him down to put the belt of the vacuum safety device on him when he relented.


    Finally, the preparations were complete. Farewells were said, and the crew was separated.


    Fourteen crew members boarded a shuttle craft which arrived from the surface of the planet to carry them to the medical facility on planet Totola which had been prepared for them.


    Twenty members of the crew, including Takeshi and Antoine, boarded the  Keeper of Dreams  and, under the command of Captain Moon, left for the next rendezvous stop on their mission. The flagship tagged along with the departing Toormonda, following along in the slower ship¡¯s wake at less than five percent of its maximum speed.


    The remaining twelve members, excluding Diego and Rajesh who were traveling with Eolai, remained aboard the  Seeker of New Discoveries . It would fall on them to continue to exchange their culture with the Yonohoans, and it would fall on Captain Anders to finally negotiate directly with their government.


    And the government of the the Topokans, as well.


    ?

 40.

    40.


    Captain Moon stared out through the transparent exterior wall at the hyperatomic plane. She knew that the  Keeper of Dreams  had left the regular universe behind and was now traveling in a parallel dimension in order to break the speed limit on the universe. She also knew that the drives on the Toormonda ship which she had appropriated were pushing her along at not one or two times the speed limit, but at it¡¯s maximum speed of three hundred C.


    That was slower than the theoretical limit of the Tunnel Drive by a factor of ten, but that was fine. The primary reason for the length of the mission was due to the need for medical checks between stops, and to give the data analysis team time to do their work on the recovered data. Although they were presently behind schedule, with the ability to push through from jump to jump as soon as the probes were located and collected, they should soon catch up and then beat the clock.


    ¡°It¡¯s beautiful, isn¡¯t it?¡± Takeshi asked, stepping up beside her. The short Japanese man scratched his nose and adjusted his glasses. ¡°I wonder what the subspace dimension looks like. Not enough to try to find out, but did we ever try sticking a camera outside during a jump?¡±


    ¡°It was black,¡± She confessed. ¡°Pure black and static on the recordings. We didn¡¯t test it with the  Seeker , but we know from previous jumps where efforts were made to observe the subatomic plane for visible light.¡±


    ¡°Are we sure the entire subplane universe is black?¡± Takeshi asked. ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s black around earth, and different colors as you travel away.¡±


    ¡°Huh. Who knows?¡± she commented. ¡°I guess now we know where the mist comes from, though.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s so milky,¡± Takeshi admitted.


    ¡°And beautiful,¡± Captain Moon agreed.


    Outside, the foggy universe of the hyperatomic plane was being pushed back by the aurora of the ships FTL drive. In the fog were suggestions of shapes and patterns which were just outside of being random, or perhaps that was just the human mind filling in gaps where there weren¡¯t any. She sensed no danger or hostility from the shapes that she saw outside; they were calming. Like standing aboard a seagoing vessel at night in the middle of a fogbank.


    ¡°You think there could be life out there?¡± Captain asked.


    ¡°Not as we know it,¡± Takeshi said.


    ¡°We¡¯re skimming across the surface of another universe, are we not?¡± she asked


    ¡°Yes, but the hyperatomic matter doesn¡¯t form into elements the same way that matter coalesces into protons, neutrons and electrons in our universe,¡± Takeshi explained. ¡°It¡¯s all without a charge. Light passes through it and can even be refracted by it, but it only clumps together because of gravity and another attraction force that I don¡¯t understand quite yet. There are no chemical reactions, and there for no life as we know it.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°Do you think that there¡¯s a parallel universe out there that¡¯s trying to reach out and touch ours, like we reach out to touch this plane of existence?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Takeshi answered. ¡°I¡¯m still struggling to adapt to all of the dimensions which the aliens have discovered and mapped already.¡±


    ¡°How many have you identified?¡± Captain Moon inquired.


    ¡°That we can reach out and touch, twelve,¡± Takeshi answered. ¡°That are theorized? Between fifteen and thirty-two. Not all of them are useful. Some of them require huge expenditures of energy to interact with and result in nothing but an increase in entropy and loss of energy in our universe.¡±


    ¡°Yet they discovered it.¡±


    ¡°Humans did. During the war,¡± Takeshi agreed.


    ¡°And just like everything else that humans have discovered, everyone who even touched the project claimed credit for it, I suppose?¡± she inquired.


    ¡°Indeed. It¡¯s most frustrating to learn that our accomplishments are being denied and second-guessed by races whose own histories shown they were handed everything beyond a certain level of interstellar travel and communication,¡± Takeshi grumbled. ¡°Many of the races of the universe never left their homeworld before they were encountered by the previous empire.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s not let ourselves get worked up about it,¡± Captain Moon suggested. ¡°While I understand your frustration, we¡¯re not going to change public opinion simply by bitching about it to each other.¡±


    ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am,¡± Takeshi agreed.


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    They spoke for a while longer, then retired to different parts of the ship. Ji-eun spent a while exercising, and then proceeded to record another segment for Project Radio Tower to disseminate to the universe when they returned to Yonohoan space.


    ~~~~~


    Eolai took careful aim, adjusted his stance, stretched his muscles, and then let fly. The holographic ball flew through the air with a slight curve to it as the physics simulator adjusted took into account the way that he had twisted his hands during the pitch.


    The white ball flew at high speed towards Diego, who calmly caught it upon a holographic bat. The  crack  of the connection filled the exercise room. The computer calculated the projectile¡¯s trajectory and it was launched into the ceiling.


    ¡°This would be most fun to perform using physical objects with no concealed technology, much like the other games and sports you have shared from your culture,¡± Eolai agreed, holding out his hand for the computer to place another holographic ball in it.


    ¡°Yeah. Baseball is a pretty big sport in the country where I grew up,¡± Diego agreed. ¡°Kids play it growing up, although most of them quit at some point as they grow older. Very few people play it professionally, but the ones that do are paid well, and some of them are very famous. Centuries later and people still know who Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson were. Although Jackie Robinson is arguably more famous for his role in racial integration than his skill as a baseball player. He was a great player, don¡¯t get me wrong, but it was his leadership in healing the wounds and prejudice in our nation which make him a historic figure. He¡¯s long dead, but when people talk about interracial unity, his name still comes up.¡±


    ¡°I hope that he had many children that led happy lives,¡± Eolai said formally. ¡°And that his children¡¯s children continue to walk in the light.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid I don¡¯t know that,¡± Diego admitted.


    ¡°Do you believe that he would be proud of your efforts on behalf of your people, and the attempts of bringing then closer to mine?¡± Eolai inquired.


    ¡°I¡¯m quite certain that he would approve,¡± Diego agreed. ¡°Although I wouldn¡¯t presume to put words into the mouth of the honored dead.¡±


    ¡°You are learning to think like a Yonohoan,¡± Eolai said. ¡°Many of my actions and motivations are guided by the question of what I would do if I were to meet my father once more.¡±


    Diego blinked. ¡°You¡¯ve met him?¡±


    ¡°He left many Rocktala messages for me before he died the final time,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°Much of my philosophy for life comes from the time I spent enjoying those messages. It pains me that a man I know so well and love so much died millennia before my birth. I take solace in the fact that he planned each message with loving detail and care, planning lessons for my education in the path that was laid down for me to follow. I am proud to follow this path which was set down for me. I wept for days when I read his final message to me when I was fifteen years old and he declared that I was a man.¡±


    Diego processed this information. ¡°I think I¡¯m a little envious of you, Eolai. You¡¯ve known from a very early place what your role in the history of the universe was going to be.¡±


    ¡°I am extremely envious of you, Brother, for your freedom in finding your path for yourself. While I walk the narrow path to bring honor to my father and honored ancestors, the lack of freedom does chafe sometimes,¡± Eolai answered.


    ¡°The grass is always greener on the other side,¡± Diego said, and then he was forced to spend several moments explaining the context of the colloquialism.


    ¡°Do you resent my selfishness in pulling you off of your life¡¯s path and placing you onto mine?¡± Eolai asked.


    ¡°I am so overwhelmed that I¡¯m still processing a lot of emotions on the matter, Eolai,¡± Diego admitted. ¡°A small part of me resents that you took advantage of my naivety about your culture and intergalactic politics and history. But I understand that my naivety was a required part of the equation. If I had known what I was doing during the ceremony, then it wouldn¡¯t have counted the same. You could only adopt me into your family if I didn¡¯t understand the significance of the gesture when it was made. If I had calculated the risk or reward rather than simply grabbing your hand instinctively when you reached out to me, then I would have been rejected by the Yonohoan people as an opportunist.¡±


    ¡°You would have still been a clansmen,¡± Eolai assured him. ¡°But the government and the people might not have recognized you as my brother to the extent which they do now. They would have argued with me when I left to fulfill my part of the oath.¡±


    ¡°But you would have still gone,¡± Eolai asked.


    ¡°Eodar never questioned the voracity of those whom he took in as a brother or sister. He recognized that the brotherhood ceremony possessed far more meaning to him than it initially would to those who passed the tests and traps unwittingly. Yet to say ¡®this world was defended by Eolai in the name of his brother or his sister¡¯ retains historic weight. Many, many times has my father died in the fulfillment of the oath of brotherhood. Many of his allies has he led to their deaths for the sake of that bond. Many of his enemies have crashed against his bullwark as he protected those who could not protect themselves. Humans and our allies too, he made no distinction in species. He was steadfast in a way which I cannot fathom even having heard him speak.¡±


    ¡°I am honored and humbled that you have included me in his legacy, Eolai. The part of me that is resentful is growing smaller day by day as I understand the gift that you were attempting to give me and my people in your actions,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°It is a little thing. And a selfish thing. You see, I have always wanted a brother, but everyone who I ever found worthy was all too aware of the significance of what such an oath entailed. I fear that you are justified in your resentment, Diego, for it was selfish of me to ¡®push you into the deep end.¡¯¡±


    ¡°I am in the process of forgiving you for that, Brother,¡± Diego said. ¡°But your apology helps sooth what burn remains. Now come here and let me show you how to throw a proper curve ball.¡±


    ?

 41.

    41.


    Sarah sat in the room that the Yonohoans had given her, alone, reading a letter that she had written herself. It was in her handwriting, yet she had believed for three months that it came from Diego. The doctors had presented it to her in an effort to try to pierce through her delusions.


    She knew that she was sick. That she was experiencing psychiatric symptoms, which she had been ignoring, dismissing, or denying for months.


    But loving Diego gave her joy.  Knowing  that he loved her back, a fact which was as fundamental to her being as oxygen, kept her going as she focused on the treatment that was designed to slow and perhaps reverse the damage caused by Tunnel Drive exposure.


    She knew this to be true.


    So why was everyone lying to her?


    She tore the letter into shreds and threw them into the reclaimer. She huffed in frustration and bit her fingernails, which were down to the stub. She wished that she could talk to Diego. It had been so long since he¡¯d held her last, since she¡¯d heard his voice.


    Since she¡¯d held him.


    Since she¡¯d tasted him.


    She dismissed the idea that some of those memories were false before the thought even registered in her conscious mind.


    A small blue holographic ball appeared in her line of vision; the sign that someone was attempting to contact her and that the connection was secure.


    ¡°Accept call,¡± she said, and three people appeared via hologram. Captain Moon, Liu Wei from the medical team, and Trenola, the Yonohoan who was leading the project to try to reverse her brain damage.


    ¡°Hello everyone. To what do I owe the pleasure?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I was calling to see how you were holding up on planet Totola,¡± Captain Moon said.


    ¡°It¡¯s beautiful. So much like earth, yet the grass and the skies are slightly different shades. I can¡¯t quite pretend that I¡¯m back home, but it¡¯s so familiar that I can come close,¡± she said. ¡°How long until Diego can join me on the surface? He lives here now, right? As Eolai¡¯s brother he¡¯s a citizen, so once we marry I¡¯ll be a citizen as well. I can live here with him and nobody can keep us apart.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s discuss other matters for the time being, Sarah,¡± Liu suggested. ¡°There are too many variables to begin making concrete plans like that. We¡¯ve discussed this before.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± she agreed. ¡°It¡¯s just hard to be separated from him.¡±


    ¡°How have you been sleeping?¡± Liu inquired.


    ¡°Being back in gravity helps,¡± she admitted. ¡°And so do the medications. I¡¯m not certain which medication does what or how it affects my mental state, but I¡¯m feeling good, doctors. Captain. I realize that with as advanced as my case has become you can¡¯t put me back on duty, but I¡¯d like to contribute to the mission if I can. Can I make some broadcasts, like the others have been doing?¡±


    ¡°Regretfully, Sarah, I must recommend against such an action at this time,¡± Liu said. ¡°You may keep a video, audio, or holographic journal. I actually recommend that, it can be very therapeutic. But it would be a violation of your rights to allow you to broadcast yourself in such a fashion while you are receiving psychiatric treatment.¡±


    ¡°How is it a violation of my rights if it¡¯s what I want?¡± she challenged, growing angry.


    ¡°Sarah,¡± Liu whispered calmly, and Sarah took a step back, forcing herself to do a breathing exercise.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± she said. ¡°Accept that which I cannot change and change the things I can and all of that. I know.¡±


    ¡°In many ways you¡¯re showing vast signs of improvement, Sarah,¡± Liu assured her. ¡°The rate at which your disease was progressing has seemed to have stabilized. There hasn¡¯t been any signs of it getting better, but it doesn¡¯t seem to be getting worse either.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s great, Doc,¡± Sarah agreed. ¡°I won¡¯t be too much of a drooling vegetable for Diego, will I? I¡¯ll be able to take care of myself once I get out of here again, right?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re leaving all options on the table regarding your future treatment, Sarah,¡± Liu informed her. ¡°Including the possibility of long term institutionalized care. Once we have your physical condition under firm control, we may look into the possibility of returning you to Earth for our own psychiatric professionals to --¡±


    ¡°No!¡± she exclaimed.


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    ¡°Diego can¡¯t leave planet Totola, so neither can I,¡± she insisted.


    ¡°Diego wants you to get better, Sarah,¡± Captain Moon said. The medical professionals looked at her with calm expressions, but didn¡¯t stop her as she continued. ¡°He was the one who raised the red flag that you were showing symptoms. If we had taken his warnings more seriously we might have diagnosed you sooner. It wouldn¡¯t have changed the amount of exposure that you received, but we would have been more adaptable to deal with your psychiatric symptoms.¡±


    ¡°Of course it was Diego who noticed,¡± Sarah said, smiling. ¡°You see? That¡¯s proof that he loves me.¡±


    The three other women exchanged unreadable looks, and then Trenola stepped forward and began speaking in great detail about the progress that was being made in both understanding the damage to her brain and the effects of the experimental treatments which were being performed.


    While medical nanites remained a possibility, they had irreversible side effects of their own which, complimented with her psychiatric symptoms, made them contraindicated. Instead the treatment plan was to use medications to attempt to prune the damaged dendrites while simultaneously triggering new connections to grow to take their place.


    ¡°Unfortunately, due to the nature of this treatment, there may be changes to your personality. You may become forgetful or simultaneously remember many things which you have forgotten. You should regain some of your lost cognitive abilities. We¡¯ll be going slow and measuring your progress daily on the physical level, as well as your subjective experience,¡± Trenola explained.


    ¡°Will I become a completely different person, Doc?¡± she inquired.


    ¡°You¡¯ll retain the core of who you are, Sarah. We are always changing from the person we were yesterday into the person we will be tomorrow. The delta points between those two variables might be a little larger because of your condition and the treatment for it, but we believe that this is the best solution to improve your health,¡± Liu said.


    ¡°What if I say no to the treatment?¡± She asked.


    The other women again exchanged looks.


    ¡°At the moment, Sarah, your treatment is in the hands of Captain Moon and Liu. They are from your culture and understand better than I do the nuances that are attached to the treatment of diseases of the mind,¡± Trenola explained. ¡°However, as a Yonohoan, I would not force an experimental treatment upon an unwilling patient even if I believed that it was in their best interest for them to receive it.¡±


    ¡°And I would object as well,¡± Captain Moon said.


    ¡°I would also withhold my approval. It has to be your choice, Sarah. We believe that this treatment is your best option if you want to get better, but if you refuse to participate then we¡¯ll continue with the current medications which are slowing the progression of your disease and continue with whatever talk-therapy you¡¯re willing to participate in,¡± Liu explained.


    ¡°I need time to think. And I want to know more about the therapy before I make my decision,¡± she determined. ¡°Leave me alone for a while so I can do that.¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± Trenal agreed, and she quickly vanished.


    The two other Earthlings remained. ¡°I¡¯m not going to pressure you into the experimental treatment, Sarah. But I do believe that you should get some exercise and visit with the other patients,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°Don¡¯t spend too much time stewing in your own juices.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll take it under advisement, captain,¡± she answered.


    ¡°As your primary care doctor, I also recommend taking part in some of the educational and entertainment holographic programs that are available in your facility upon request,¡± Liu suggested. ¡°Watch a few alien movies, Sarah. Doctor¡¯s orders.¡±


    ¡°I might just do that, doc,¡± Sarah said, laughing.


    ¡°Goodbye for now, Sarah, and take care of yourself,¡± Captain Moon said before vanishing.


    ¡°What she said. I¡¯ll check in again tomorrow,¡± Liu agreed.


    Left alone in her room, Sarah debated going for a walk. Then she decided that she¡¯d done enough brooding for the day.


    ¡°Computer, I want to laugh. Show me a Yonohoan comedy program. You can do that, right?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yes, Sarah, I have that capability. I am selecting one of our classic cultural comedies. If you have any questions about the program, please feel free to voice them. I will pause the hologram to endeavor to explain,¡± the hospital wide AI informed her in a kind but sexless voice.


    Abruptly a little girl appeared in the room. She was playing with a Topokan. But not just any Topokan, it was  her  Topokan. If any boy would frighten her, then she would call her Topokan and the boy would run away screaming.


    But the little girl was very pretty, so whenever her Topokan was not around the boys would appear and attempt to get her to kiss them. So she would call for her Topokan and her Topokan would come running, and the boys would run away laughing and screaming.


    The conflict of the film began as the girl grew older and wanted to go on Toormonda. She couldn¡¯t bring her Topokan with her. And there would be boys on the ship who would undoubtedly want to kiss her, and maybe more.


    The film showed her reluctance to separate from her guardian. The film ended with her boarding the Toormonda, and her Topokan blatantly sniffing each of the boys that with her on the trip and growling at them menacingly when they objected.


    Sarah thought the entire program was hilarious. Especially the resemblance of the alien creatures to a cartoon she had seen growing up. She only understood parts of the film¡¯s cultural meaning, and she wrote a report on the film for her captain to consider what she had learned.


    Perhaps she could still be useful after all, she thought to herself. While she couldn¡¯t contribute to the mission in an official capacity, since she was being ¡®ordered¡¯ to watch Yonohoan media, she might as well offer her impressions of their culture in a semi-official report.


    ?

 42.

    42.


    Captain Anders sighed, cursing the decision to integrate the Yonohoan communication devices into the operational command structure. It was necessary to maintain connection with the Yonohoans after the removal of the deep space antenna for use during the science mission, but the device didn¡¯t have an ¡®off¡¯ mode, and while it had a ¡®silent¡¯ or a ¡®do not disturb¡¯ mode, his rank as a military figure meant that the AI¡¯s involved would sometimes overwrite those distinctions if they determined the situation met certain criteria.


    Which was not exactly the situation with the report he was receiving now from Liu Wei, he was simply frustrated that he was constantly being interrupted by holographic people appearing in the bridge or, in this case, in his bedroom.


    ¡°Sorry captain. I told the system to alert me as soon as you were alone because I had sensitive information to address, I didn¡¯t mean to cut in to your downtime,¡± she apologized.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± he assured her. ¡°Tell me, how are the patients adjusting to the facility?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fantastic down here, Captain. Really top notch facility. There¡¯s a park to wander around in. Apparently they¡¯ve been exposing Diego to all sorts of pollens and allergens without his being aware of it to make certain that Earthlings wouldn¡¯t go into shock from any of their common plants and flowers. The park is beautiful, and a lot of the patients enjoy going for walks and feeding the ducks,¡± Liu answered.


    ¡°They have ducks?¡± Anders asked, raising an eyebrow.


    ¡°Alien analogues. They¡¯re not really birds, but I don¡¯t know what sort of animal to call them. We were told not to eat them. The Yonohoans can, but apparently they have several proteins that we can¡¯t digest without adding enzymes to our digestive fluids and bacteria to our guts, which they¡¯re not recommending at this time,¡± she explained.


    ¡°I¡¯d love to see some pictures of them,¡± he suggested.


    ¡°I¡¯ll make sure you¡¯re sent some.¡±


    ¡°So. Report on the medical status of the more advanced cases of Tunnel Exposure Syndrome from the former crew of the  Seeker of New Discoveries , officer,¡± he requested.


    ¡°Yes sir. The Yonohoans think they have a drug cocktail which will keep the neural degeneration from getting worse on its own. I recommend immediately placing all members of the crews of both the  Seeker  and the  Keeper  on this cocktail immediately if they are not on it already,¡± she said.


    ¡°That¡¯s fantastic news. And reversing the damage?¡± he inquired.


    ¡°There¡¯s no reversing brain damage, captain. But there might be healing. It¡¯s not going to be easy. It involves triggering neural growth and establishing a new phase of neural plasticity. We¡¯ll effectively be shocking the brain back into what it looks like as a child and then allowing it to prune itself again. The Yonohoans have said that this has been used for a treatment of other neural degenerative diseases which were not caught in the early stages. It sounds like the alsheimers gene was pretty widely spread for a while. Or a family of genes much like it, at least.¡±


    ¡°So there are options,¡± Anders said, feeling relieved.


    ¡°There are options. The problem is that they don¡¯t magically repair the damage and return the person to who they were before. There are personality differences. They may lose some skills that they¡¯ve worked on their entire lives, but suddenly become interested and proficient in other matters. It¡¯s a complex treatment for a complex disorder. I believe that it is in our patients¡¯ best interest to try, but several patients have been reluctant to engage in it due to the possibility of personality changes or other concerns,¡± Liu reported.


    ¡°We can¡¯t force them. Not ethically.¡±


    ¡°Yes sir. And the truth is that proceeding with treatment on the volunteers while waiting to see how they respond is a prudent course of action for both ethical and scientific reasons. If the treatment does not go well in the experimental cases, then alternatives can be sought for the patients who were placed on the holding medication,¡± Liu explained.


    ¡°Understood. This is a difficult situation, Ms. Wei. If their family were in reach they would likely be required to provide consent for this treatment. As it is, we¡¯re the closest thing that they have to family. We have to keep their best interests in mind and make certain that they¡¯re treated ethically.¡±


    ¡°I am aware of those facts, Captain,¡± Liu said.


    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am, I know you are. Is there anything else?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s all I have for now,¡± she said. ¡°Get some rest.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll try,¡± he agreed. Liu¡¯s hologram vanished, and a moment later the communication device, his was shaped like an egg that could fit in his pocket but was currently floating in the air nearby, beeped.


    ¡°Incoming communication request from premier Osantos of the Yonohoan senate,¡± the egg beeped.


    Anders cursed. ¡°Please let them know I require a moment before securing the connection,¡± he told the device. It beeped in confirmation, and he rushed over to the mirror, pulling his shirt back on and checking his uniform for wrinkles.


    After he was confident in his appearance, he turned and requested the connection to be sent through. An old man with a prominent forehead, gray balding hair, and a slightly slouched posture, appeared in his quarters.


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    ¡°Thank you for the honor of contacting me, Senator,¡± Anders said.


    ¡°Please use my given name rather than my title. I understand that in your society it is often considered more respectful. However, in mine, it implies that you are so insignificant that nobody will remember your name once you have passed from this world,¡± Osantos explained.


    ¡°I meant no disrespect, Osantos,¡± Anders apologized.


    ¡°None was perceived. We are used to dealing with cultures who do not understand the way that things once were, and you are from a darkworld. You are twice forgiven for a slight which was so minor that if it was an insect I would not swat it for stinging me,¡± the senator said.


    ¡°That is a relief to hear. To what do I owe the pleasure of hearing your voice?¡± Anders asked.


    ¡°I wish to inquire as to the state of the science in your world,¡± Osantos stated. ¡°In detail. With the history of your advancement and, if possible, the genetic information of your great thinkers who have advanced the thought and understanding of your people.¡±


    ¡°What would be done with this genetic information?¡± Anders asked.


    ¡°It would be analyzed, but no children or clones would be created from it,¡± Osantos explained. ¡°You must understand, we humans have a certain reputation in the universe. There is a show I once saw. A young boy once took an <<Untranslatable>> device and stuck it on a <<Untranslatable.>> This resulted in a new way of <<Untranslatable>> which was revolutionary. When it came time to receive the credit for his discovery, instead of calling his name, the names of the company which produced the <<untranslatable>> device and the <<Untranslatable>> were called up and received credit instead of him.¡±


    ¡°I believe I understand. You are attempting to secure a chain of evidence to prove that we have come as far as we have on our own, without outside influence,¡± Anders said.


    ¡°That is so,¡± Osantos agreed. ¡°The fact that you mastered the use of any FTL device while in complete isolation and without historical records, wreckage, or relics to draw from is remarkable. I would like to provide the history of that advancement as proof.¡±


    ¡°This is unfortunately not a matter which I am able to resolve on my own authority, Osantos,¡± Anders admitted. ¡°Much of the history of the development of the Tunnel Drive remains classified. I would have to get permission from several organizations on the planet Earth in order to fulfill your request. I do assure you, however, that we have been keeping track of at least the names of those who have contributed to the science of our world, if not their genetic lines.¡±


    ¡°That is a relief to hear. I must confess, I was initially opposed to giving you the fleet of Toormonda. I regret that I voted against it,¡± the senator stated.


    ¡°May I hear your reasoning why?¡± Anders asked.


    ¡°I did not want to taint your purity,¡± Osantos answered. ¡°I am ashamed to admit that my colleagues were correct and that the gift was both extremely apt and necessary. Without the Toormonda that we gave you, you may not have discovered the injuries which you were causing yourself. It would have shamed the Yonohoan people to allow that to continue unabated.¡±


    ¡°We knew the risks when we signed up for this mission, Osantos,¡± Anders stated evenly.


    ¡°Yes. I am not questioning your values or your valor. They are admirable attributes for you and speak well of your society. Our reluctance to allow harm to come to you is a matter for our own ethics. We cannot force you to think as we do, and we would not try to do so. But we must enforce our own laws and regulations.¡±


    ¡°I understand. I would like to formally thank your government for the gift of  The Keeper of Dreams , and the promise of nineteen more Toormonda to assist in our understanding and exploration of the universe,¡± Anders stated formally.


    ¡°It will be very interesting to see what you will do with them,¡± Osantos said.


    ¡°I also would like to formally thank the Yonohoan people for the medical treatment that has been provided to the injured members of my crew,¡± Anders added.


    ¡°We are obligated by our own laws to do no less,¡± Osantos said, dismissing the thanks with a gesture that implied the trouble imposed by the task was insignificant.


    ¡°We remain grateful all the same,¡± Anders insisted.


    ¡°If you choose to reveal to us the location of earth, we will send one of our level three hospital ships to it, as well as the supplies to build many of the clinics which your doctors have been so impressed by,¡± the senator assured him.


    ¡°That is a generous offer,¡± Anders said, his eyebrows raising in interest. ¡°I would like to accept the offer out of hand, of course, but this is another matter which I must refer to my government. I would request additional details from your government about the scope of the aid you are offering.¡±


    ¡°I will have the information transcribed into a format your computers can understand so that you may carry it back with you to your government,¡± the senator agreed.


    ¡°Thank you for your offer and understanding,¡± Anders said.


    ¡°There is one more thing,¡± the senator said. He looked around nervously. ¡°What I am about to say must never be repeated.¡±


    ¡°My lips are sealed, Senator Osantos,¡± Anders said.


    ¡°You may not realize the scope of what has happened now that The Last Son of Eodar has declared a brother,¡± Osantos began. ¡°In some ways this event is as shaking to the foundations of peace as would be his death.¡±


    ¡°You are correct that I do not understand the full scope of Eolai¡¯s actions,¡± Anders said. ¡°I would appreciate it if you would explain any nuances which you believe are relevant.¡±


    ¡°There are two ways in which the Last Son of Eodar may disgrace himself in the eyes of the Yonohan people, Captain Anders,¡± Osantos explained. ¡°One is that he might kill a Topokan. That remains true as long as the Topokans remain faithful to the ancient pact, which they have all this time. There were once many ways in which the Last Son of Eodar might disgrace himself, but most of those are no longer relevant in modern times. However, with the naming of a brother, a new option has become available once more.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m listening.¡±


    ¡°Eolai would disgrace himself if his brother was killed, and, acting as the last son of Eodar, he failed to avenge the death.¡±


    ?

 43.

    43.


    Diego watched nervously as the holographic representations of the probe and the  Keeper  slowly came together from millions of miles apart. Using both the advanced sensors of the flagship and the controls and sensors of the deep space antenna, he guided the drone airlock of the science vessel, overriding the errors that it threw due to failing to recognize the ship. It responded to the commands only thanks to the efforts of the crew in ensuring that the original equipment was used.


    The probes were set to scramble their astrogation data should attempts be made to access their data without following the proper handshake procedures. For security reasons, of course.


    As it was, they were trusting the Yonohoan government that the Toormonda¡¯s data banks were truly secure, and that nobody could sneak a peak at the probe¡¯s origin points.


    ¡°Probe docking complete. Power down probe now,¡± came the request from the holographic Captain Moon standing beside him.


    ¡°Powering down probe,¡± he confirmed.


    ¡°Mission success,¡± she said, and in the background Rajesh leapt into the air and shouted for joy.


    ¡°That¡¯s the last of them,¡± Diego commented. ¡°Remarkable that it¡¯s already over.¡±


    ¡°We returned to the science mission two months ago, Diego,¡± Moon pointed out.


    ¡°Yes. But compared to how long we spent on the  Seeker  it¡¯s gone by in a flash. Partly because we¡¯ve been so busy, whereas before the time was broken up by all the minutia of life aboard a long-flight spacecraft. It felt like we were on the  Seeker  for years, but only on this mission for a few days,¡± he clarified.


    ¡°You¡¯re sure that the Topokans haven¡¯t been freezing you without your consent, right?¡± Moon asked.


    ¡°There¡¯s a procedure they¡¯re supposed to follow for when they do that. One of them is required to be there when I wake up with a weapon. For me. I mean, they¡¯re supposed to give me a weapon and explain what happened and why. Then, if I want to, I¡¯m allowed to kill them.¡±


    Moon¡¯s breath caught for a second. ¡°It¡¯s easy to forget sometimes with how advanced and gentle the Yonohoan are that so many of their traditions come from the time of a terrible war.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡±


    ¡°How is it, sharing the ship with them?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I made two of them run into each other the other day. I surprised one of them, who sprinted in the other direction straight into one who was rushing in the other direction to get away from Rajesh. They collided face first, and it looked like something out of a cartoon. I couldn¡¯t help it, I burst out laughing. I felt bad about it because they were terrified, but it was just so funny.¡±


    ¡°Have you gotten close to any of them?¡± She asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t speak the language, Captain. They¡¯re less terrified of me than they used to be, although they still avoid Rajesh like the plague. But aside from ones which occasionally try to sneak up on me to obtain my scent, I pretty much just pretend they¡¯re not there.¡±


    ¡°We do, at some point, want to study the and open diplomatic relations with them,¡± she reminded Diego.


    ¡°I know captain. But that¡¯s going to be a long ways down the line, if we want them to trust us. They have a racial memory and they¡¯re slow to change their minds. When we tell them where earth is, they¡¯ll park a few observation ships in orbit for a few of our generations. Eventually they¡¯ll decide whether or not to make contact based on their own logic and reasoning after those observations,¡± Diego explained.


    ¡°And if we try to expedite the process?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Captain Moon, as cultural liaison and de facto ambassador to the Yonohoan people, I formally recommend that we allow the Topokans, AKA Xenosapiens sulivans, to approach the people of earth on their own initiative. I suggest that if the government of earth wishes to establish relations with them, they transmit our location and wait a minimum of five generations before further contact not mediated by a Yonohoan agent,¡± Diego said formally.


    ¡°That bad, huh?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Apparently they used to be all over the place in this galaxy, ma¡¯am. When the war broke open they pulled back to only the worlds of the Yonohoah. The Yonohoans have been trying to get them to return to their abandoned colonies for tens of thousands of years,¡± Diego explained.


    ¡°Have they had any luck?¡± Captain Moon asked.


    ¡°Not really. Everywhere that the Sulivans used to live has a human colony living there now,¡± Diego answered. They won¡¯t even go inside the stellar pressure bubble without an express invitation from the world¡¯s human government. If these guys  did  know where earth was, they would tell the Yonohoans, but that¡¯s all they would do about it. They¡¯re officially listed as an endangered species by the empires, but they won¡¯t cooperate with the efforts to ensure that they return to their pre-war population levels.¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡± Captain Moon asked.


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    ¡°It has to do with the ancient pack again. They may only walk on the lands where Eodar¡¯s ancestors walked, and each matron may only give birth to as many cubs as the last living son of Eodar. The way that they¡¯re interpreting that means that if Eolai has one hundred children, they¡¯re allowed to start rebuilding their population. Until then they¡¯re entirely dedicated to preserving the bloodlines of the Yonohoans so that they¡¯re able to fulfill their other sacred duties,¡± Diego explained.


    ¡°Such as?¡±


    ¡°Funeral rights, for one. The Yonohoans do not bury their dead, captain. They leave them where they lay until they begin to smell, and then the Topokan will take them away. I haven¡¯t been told what is done with them after that,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°That sounds like the most alien thing I¡¯ve heard about their culture so far,¡± Captain Moon confessed.


    ¡°They mourn their dead as keenly as we do ours, Captain. Every time a family member dies, there is expected to be a migration to the place where their body fell. Depending on the circumstance, it can be shameful if a family member doesn¡¯t arrive before the Topokan take them away,¡± Diego explained. ¡°But they don¡¯t do graveyards. If they want to honor the dead, they light a fire at the place where they fell.¡±


    He paused. ¡°There is an eternal bonfire on planet Totola where it¡¯s said that the last Eodar died as an old man, having lived a life of freedom and pleasure, having never once taken the life of another human. The Topokans and the Yonohoans work together to keep it burning. They use natural materials for it, and they¡¯re not allowed to put it out until the Last Son of Eodar passes from this world forever. I¡¯m expected to make a pilgrimage there when we return to planet Totola.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯ve kept it burning for tens of thousands of years?¡± Captain Moon asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m told.¡±


    Captain Moon shook her head in disbelief. ¡°Sergeant, I need to get back to my crew to begin the process of processing the final probe.¡±


    ¡°Of course, captain,¡± Diego said. Her hologram vanished, and he sighed. After all of that work, it was almost anticlimactic to be done. All that was left was ¡­


    Oh, right, he wasn¡¯t going home with the others.


    He¡¯d never be able to set foot on Earth again. There was a chance that soon, subjectively to him, everyone he knew would be old. Or possibly even dead many years. Once Eolai had trained him in his duties and responsibilities as a Son of Eodar.


    He sighed. Perhaps it wouldn¡¯t be so bad. Perhaps Eolai would simply train him over the next twenty years or so, spending the rest of his time in stasis or with his family. Then, one day, Diego would simply ¡­ never see his sworn brother again as Eolai was placed in stasis until after Diego had died.


    It would be a valid strategy. Allowing Diego to live his natural lifespan while Eolai underwent stasis would expand the time that there was a living Son of Eodar significantly. More than enough to pay back the amount of time that it would take Eolai to educate Diego.


    It was ruthless, but Eolai would consent to it, Diego knew. And the Topokan would do it as well.


    He didn¡¯t want to think of it, so he went to the exercise area. He had been exercising regularly since boarding the flagship, regaining his lost muscle tone and, with the help of Yonohoan medicine, his bone density as well. The human exercise equipment was simultaneously alien and, at the same time, exactly the sort of thing that he¡¯d expect to see in a high-end gym.


    He was using a modified machine to do a one-handed bench press when the doors opened and Eolai joined them.


    ¡°Your science mission has been a success,¡± Eolai stated, his voice celebratory.


    ¡°It seems that way,¡± Diego agreed.


    ¡°We have never fought,¡± Eolai said.


    Diego frowned at the non-sequitur. ¡°I gave you a pretty good tongue-lashing after you surprised me with the brotherhood ceremony, brother,¡± he pointed out.


    ¡°Yes, but we have never exchanged fists. As brothers do. It is the responsibility of the older brother to ensure that the younger brother can defend himself, if the younger brother is old enough to learn,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°Oh,¡± Diego said. ¡°You want to spar?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I have been waiting for you to recover from your deprivation aboard the  Seeker . I have reviewed your most recent medical scan and determined that you are ready to begin your combat training,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°Right. It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve had a tumble with anyone. Try not to mop the floor with me too hard,¡± Diego agreed, and they moved to one of the padded areas. They were both dressed in the simple gray clothes that Eolai had always worn, allowing complete freedom of movement. Eolai kicked off his sandals, and Diego copied him.


    ¡°Is there any ritual or do we just--¡±


    Eolai moved. Diego knew that he¡¯d moved because he was in one place one second, and the second his fist was embedded in Diego¡¯s gut, knocking the wind out of him. Eolai was fast. Superhumanly fast, Diego realized. He had known that the man was athletic, but he hadn¡¯t realized the gap between the two of them.


    This entire time, when they had competed in sports, Eolai had been lowering himself down to Diego¡¯s level.


    The way that an older brother plays with his younger brother, Diego realized abruptly. At least, if the brother is kind and doesn¡¯t mind letting the little brother win sometimes.


    ¡°I apologize. I wanted to show you the true difference between us at this time,¡± Eolai said. ¡°I thought that an abject lesson would be the most effective.¡±


    Diego gasped as he rolled around on the floor. He managed to get his air back, and he pulled himself back up to his feet.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t hear no bell,¡± he muttered, determined to put up a better showing than ¡­ whatever that had been.


    ¡°You never cease to amaze me, Diego. It is like you were born on the wrong planet, to the wrong family,¡± Eolai said.


    ¡°Or perhaps I was born at exactly the right moment at the right time to the right parents to be me,¡± Diego argued. ¡°Can¡¯t think of anyone else I¡¯d rather be.¡±


    ¡°Very good,¡± Eolai said. ¡°Come, let us unlock your reflexes together. Soon, you shall see the world in a very different light.¡±


    Eolai moved again. Not as fast, but still too fast for Diego to follow. And once more Diego found himself falling to the ground as he was thrown across the room by his older brother.


    ?

 44.

    44.


    ¡°You haven¡¯t just been scanning my body for infections this entire time, have you,¡± Diego asked after he had emerged from the shower and had dressed in clean clothes. The bruises, cuts, and scrapes that he had received during their sparing session had already healed.


    ¡°Forgive me. Since the ceremony, I have activated the nanites which you ingested in the first day to enhance your body to the level of a standard soldier. Once we had confirmed that they were compatible with your physiology, of course,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°Why?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°So that you can defend yourself even should you be caught unarmed, of course,¡± Eolai said.


    ¡°Are all Yonohoans enhanced like this?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°Only those who serve as a bullwark against chaos and bloodshed,¡± was the answer. ¡°I apologize that I did not tell you before we began forcing the change. I thought that you would notice the differences during your exercises. You are five times stronger than you were when you first boarded this ship.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t read the dials on the instrument,¡± Diego admitted, laughing. ¡°I just kept turning them up until they felt like the right amount of resistance.¡±


    Eolai laughed.


    ¡°Is there any way to turn them off?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°Regretfully, no. As you continue to grow stronger and faster, you will be forced to learn to become more and more gentle as well, should you ever wish to embrace your children without causing them harm,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°I hadn¡¯t even thought of that,¡± Diego admitted. He laughed. ¡°The truth is, I¡¯m trained to fight by the air force. I thought I was going to mop the floor with you, not the other way around.¡±


    ¡°I noticed that you had training,¡± Eolai admitted. ¡°I do not question your skill. You must adapt those skills to your new body if you wish to succeed.¡±


    ¡°I understand, I think. I must inform you Eolai, that my people would normally be very upset if something like this was done to their body without their informed consent,¡± Diego said. ¡°In fact, I¡¯m more than a little upset myself that you did not warn me.¡±


    ¡°You placed your medical care in my hands when you joined my ship. You were informed that you would be subjected to technologies beyond your understanding. When you became my brother, that permission was not revoked. As your elder brother, I deemed you worthy and ready of the gift of grace,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°Perhaps I should have told you, but I refrained for one reason.¡±


    ¡°And what is that?¡±


    ¡°So that you would understand how Eodar felt when the sanctity of his body was taken from him to fight by the people he trusted in order to fuel the flames of war,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°You violated my rights to teach me how it felt to have my rights violated,¡± Diego summarized.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Eolai said. He sighed. ¡°It was a decision which I have come to regret, and yet I would make it once again if the situation were to repeat itself. I ask that you meditate on my betrayal until you understand how it must have felt for our father to learn that the army had done things to him which were so far beyond the understanding of a twelve year old child from a primitive darkworld that his commanding officers were unto him like gods.¡±


    Diego swallowed. ¡°I sense there are pieces of the story of Eodar which I am not presently aware of, Eolai. I would ask that you burn away my ignorance, as my elder brother, so that I may understand our honored father better. If I am to maintain his legacy, then I must understand his life.¡±


    ¡°Very well.¡± Eolai inhaled. ¡°We do not know exactly when Eolai was born, only that it was on planet Totola. It would have been in the very early stages of the war, while the non-human forces were scrambling to recover and mount a counter-offensive against the human rebellion swarms. A small swarm discovered Totola and identified it as containing living humans on its surface. They dropped scout troops to examine the living conditions of the humans, identify where they had come from, nad who was responsible for their existence and the conditions under which they lived their short and difficult lives.


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    ¡°The Topoka were in hiding, but the Yonohoan people came out to great them. They lived in mud huts and caves, and they hunted with weapons made of wood and bone and stone. They had discover pottery and leather-working, but had no other forms of technology in their homes.


    ¡°The scouts from the swarms, after learning the Yonohoan language, asked who lived in the great cities of Totola. The people were confused, because nobody lived in those cities except for ghosts. The cities were the place where the Topoka brought the dead. The Yonohoans did not go there while they were alive.


    ¡°The scouts wanted to know more about the Topoka, and so we told them of our myths and legends about our creators that brought us to this world from beyond the stars and who gave us this land to live upon. They who made us able to eat the plants and the animals which we depended upon for sustenance. They who watched our children play and our women work and our men hunt. But they were shy creatures, and when the lights appeared in the sky they all ran away.


    ¡°The scouts told us that we were mistaken. That the Topoka were not deities or spirits. That we had been abused by the Topoka, and that we should be angry, furious at them. The ordered us to hunt down the Topoka and slay them. They gave us terrible weapons and instructed us in their use.


    ¡°A great clan meeting was called. All of the matrons and all of the hunters took part in the meeting. The scouts ensured that all people of the Yonohoah were represented. Eodar was there, though he was only three years old at the time. The council considered the demands that the scouts had given us, that we hunt the Topoka, whom we believed had never caused us any harm.


    ¡°After some debate, a party was sent to speak with the Topoka. They brought with them Rocktala, which we barely understood how to use. It took two years to convince the Topoka to speak to us, and another year to convince them to allow us to negotiate on their behalf with the swarms so that they would be spared the swarms wrath.


    ¡°That is the source of the ancient pact between the Yonohoah and the Topoka. The Topoka maintain this ancient pact to this day. The swarm reluctantly agreed to leave Totola unmolested, but before they left they asked for volunteers to take the fight into the stars.


    ¡°The men were not eligible. The women were too important to the clan. Only some of the boys and the girls wished to go, believing that to fly to the stars would be a grand adventure. And so that is the story of how Eodar was inducted into the armies of the Human Liberation during the opening years of the war,¡± Eolai concluded.


    Diego listened, waiting for him to continue, and when he did not, he said ¡°They were using child soldiers?¡±


    ¡°It is worse than that, my friend. They trained Eodar from the time he was young. Ruthlessly turning him into a fighting and killing machine. Then, when his training was complete, they destroyed him utterly to obtain his imprint. This allowed them to duplicate him endlessly. Our father has lived thousands and thousands of lives. Sometimes he would be dead for centuries before being pulled out of the realms of the honored dead and forced back cruelly into life to fight in a war that he only vaguely understood the purpose of.


    ¡°And despite that, despite starting out as a child conscript from a hunter-gatherer world, he rose to become one of the prominent figures in the galaxy?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°He rose again and again and again. And he fell just as often. Often he willingly submitted to ending his own life so that his imprint could be obtained, and the child version of Eodar fell into disuse, for although he was a fantastical warrior in his youth, it was his cunning in leadership and his ability to turn enemies into allies which made him useful in the later phases of the war,¡± Eolai appeared. ¡°It was often that both sides of the conflict would send their own Eodar to mediate a dispute. Each side would argue fiercely the rightness and justice behind their sides cause. When a compromise was made, it was always in favor of saving the greatest number of lives.¡±


    ¡°And in a way, you have repeated the crime that was done to Eodar when he was a child on me. You have recruited me into the defense of a universe which was beyond the scope of my understanding when I agreed to become your brother, unaware of the significance of that choice,¡± Diego said softly.


    ¡°Yes. I have sinned against you, brother. For that I am both sorry and unashamed,¡± Eolai agreed.


    ¡°I forgive you,¡± Diego said, causing Eolai¡¯s head to snap up.


    ¡°Are you certain?¡±


    ¡°I am only beginning to understand the pressures you are under, but yes. I forgive you for drawing me into your fight to become a son of Eodar, and I forgive you for making changes to my body without my explicit permission. I would, however, ask that you refrain from springing any universe-shaking surprises on me in the future,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Thank you, brother. Your forgiveness is a great gift, one which I am uncertain that I deserve.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s not speak of it any further,¡± Diego said. ¡°Let the wound heal and our brotherhood become stronger for having the festering boil lanced.¡±


    ¡°As you say,¡± Eolai agreed.


    ?

 45.

    45.


    The party was under full swing. Thanks to the interconnectedness granted to them by the technology that the Yonohoa had imparted to them, all of the crew members from Earth were aware of the successful retrieval of the final drone and the salvaging of its data.


    The patients receiving treatment on planet Totola whooped and slapped each other on the backs as they worked with the staff of their hospital to throw a party utilizing the strange food that the hospital provided. The Yonohoans were eager to oblige them, throwing out their own version of celebratory foods for the the Earthlings.


    Aboard the  Seeker , there was a palpable sense of relief. With the success of the science mission, a significant weight was removed from their shoulders. They still had to get the data back to Earth for analysis, but now that they had secured the payload they had less pressure to conclude their diplomatic mission urgently. Rather, they could continue to take their time and evaluate all of the options before them.


    Aboard the  Keeper , the exhausted crew through a party using cakes and drinks that were synthesized using the ship board food forge based on samples provided from stores taken from the  Seeker . Despite the fact that it was their work that led to the success of the mission, the crew of the  Keeper  was the most subdued, with many of them reflecting on the cost of their success.


    It was during the celebration, while she was sipping on a mocktail made with the finest of juice that they could simulate, that Captain Moon received a connection request from Eolai.


    The icons indicated that it was a secure request, with an icon for important or private topics to be discussed displayed as well. She quickly excused herself and made her way to her private cabin.


    ¡° Keeper,  please engage diplomatic mode for this room,¡± she requested. The ship beeped to indicate that it was complying before she accepted the connection request.


    ¡°Yes, Eolai? Something important has occurred?¡±


    ¡°I regret to inform you that I have become aware of a sacred duty which I must perform as a son of Eodar. I have received a distress call which requires me, personally, to answer it. In many ways the timing is serendipitous, for if it had occurred before you had completed your mission I would have been forced to abandon you prior to the success of your mission. I will meet you back in the Totola system.¡±


    ¡°Is there anything we can do to help?¡± Captain Moon asked.


    ¡°You could allow me to return Rajesh to your ship so that I do not need to worry about his safety,¡± Eolai admitted. ¡°I must confess that I am about to enter a dangerous situation. I must bring my brother with me to teach him his sacred duties. However, I would not put another Earthling at risk in this situation willingly.¡±


    Captain Moon swallowed. ¡°I¡¯ll order the  Keeper  to prepare to receive him,¡± she said. ¡°How do we make the transfer?¡±


    ¡°I shall simply shoot him out of the airlock in your general direction. The safety features of the Toormonda will automatically retrieve him,¡± Eolai assured her.


    ¡°Oh. Have you run that past him yet?¡± she asked.


    ¡°He is most emphatically screaming at the top of his lungs in protest,¡± Eolai admitted. ¡°However, I have instructed the Topokan to force the matter, and they are performing admirably. He is being carried to the airlock at the moment.¡±


    ¡°This is happening right now?¡± she asked nervously.


    ¡°The matter is truly urgent, Captain. Even this much delay is broaches me shirking my duty,¡± Eolai informed her.


    ¡°Very well. Thank you for your assistance, Eolai. I will instruct the  Keeper  to prepare to receive Rajesh.¡±


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    ¡°Thank you, captain,¡± Eolai said, and the connection ended.


    Moments after she ended the call, the ship informed her that the safety system had detected a human who had been ejected from their escort. The  Keeper  requested her instructions, and Captain Moon promptly instructed the Toormonda to retrieve her wayward and unwilling spacewalker.


    Almost as soon as he had been removed from the flagship, the flagship vanished into a FTL translation with a ripple.


    ~~~~~~


    ¡°How long until we get--¡±


    ¡°We have arrived,¡± Eolai said, interrupting Diego¡¯s question as they returned into normal space only moments later. ¡°We traveled at the ships maximum speed. We have traveled eighteen lightyears.¡±


    ¡°Okay. So exactly what is going on? You said that this was a rescue mission?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°My systems detected a connection request from a secure Rocktala system,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°Okay. That¡¯s weird since we¡¯re out in the middle of nowhere, but what is so urgent about --¡±


    ¡°A  secure  Rocktala system, Diego. Not the toys that we give our children, but a message from a device that dates back to the time when Rocktalas were still in military use,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°Oh,¡± Diego said. ¡°I thought that Rocktala¡¯s were obsolete and insecure as far as the military was concerned.¡±


    ¡°They remain useful for bridging the gaps between networks. It is very similar to the handshake protocol which required the use of your original equipment from the  Seeker  in order to complete your mission. There are ancient Rocktala repeaters throughout this galaxy. Only a few forces continue to monitor them. The Yonohoah are one of the forces that does so.


    ¡°Something caused a very, very old relic to wake up and perform a connection request three days ago. We are searching for that ship,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°This has to do with the war, doesn¡¯t it?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°It does,¡± Eolai agreed. ¡°Sometimes, in the wake of a battle, the soldiers were not always recovered. They were placed into stasis pods, and their locations were lost. I believe that something has woken one of those ancient life pods and caused it to reach out for rescue. As the son of Eodar, I am obligated to come to its aid, no matter who sent it.¡±


    ¡°Do you think that whoever is inside is still alive?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°If the power remains to send a rocktala message, then perhaps enough power remains for a stasis field generator,¡± Eolai admitted. ¡°It will be dangerous. I must request that you enter your room and enter stasis.¡±


    Diego blinked in surprise. ¡°You don¡¯t want my help?¡±


    ¡°You are not prepared for this yet, Diego. Honor dictates that since we are both available, we must both answer. However, as your elder brother, I must protect you. Your stateroom is a secure area which should survive the destruction of the rest of the ship if the stasis field is engaged. It will serve to keep you alive in the event that the occupant of the lifepod is hostile,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°I¡¯ve never been in stasis before,¡± Diego confessed.


    ¡°It will be over in a blink,¡± Eolai assured him. ¡°Please return to your room.¡±


    ¡°You won¡¯t leave me frozen for years, will you Eolai?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°I will remove you from stasis as soon as this ship is once more safe,¡± Eolai promised.


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯m going to trust that you know what you¡¯re doing. I¡¯ll see you in a moment, Brother,¡± Diego said, and he turned and ran to the stateroom where he had been sleeping.


    He looked around nervously, waiting for some sign that something was about to happen. It happened in between one breath and the next.


    Suddenly Eolai was before him, lying on the ground, bleeding on the floor. His left arm was missing. In the hallway outside the room were six Topokans, who had died defending the door to the stateroom.


    Training kicked in and Diego knelt down to examine Eolai¡¯s injuries. ¡°Eolai. Eolai, what happened?¡±


    The Yonohoan man opened his eyes and smiled sadly.


    ¡°Our father walks through the light of this universe once more, my brother,¡± he said, ¡°But he does not know himself, and to him his deeds have not yet happened. He is lost in time, locked in a battle that was lost eons ago. I tried to help him come to understanding, but he is still feral. He attacked me, and the crew is dead. Only you and I survive.¡±

 Book 1 Bloopers!

    Bloopers!


    One of the Topokans ¨C Eolai had a long relationship with most of the crew but the exact pecking order of his allies was complex and if he was not paying close attention to it the lowliest janitorial servitor might suddenly rise to become the ranking officer ¨C nervously began growling. Holograms appeared as the ship¡¯s computer accompanied the verbal report with the data which was alarming his subordinates.


    Fluctuations in one of the subspace fields which could theoretically be used for FTL travel. Nobody used that particular method because there were better options. Quieter options, faster options, and ones which required less energy.


    The Topokan¡¯s report concluded with a request to fire upon the phenomena the moment that anything resembling a space faring vessel appeared, to which Eolai naturally agreed. A few minutes later, a spherical ship appeared and was promptly destroyed by the combined fire of Eolai¡¯s flagship and all of his allies.


    ¡°I wonder who they were,¡± Eolai commented as the debris cooled.


    ~~~~~~


    Eolai wanted to believe that the device was innocent. It was broadcasting on the Rocktala. But he also knew that such an action might not mean the same thing to the guests as it did to him. He sighed and reviewed the data for a while longer before issuing his orders.


    ¡°Fire upon it with the Kitara beam and then bring the wreckage aboard for study.¡±


    He would not risk his ship nor the lives of his crew for anything that had such a significant energy signature. The Kitara would cause the energy to disperse. He was uncertain what that would do to the strange device, but hopefully it would be salvageable.


    Captain Moon was sitting in her command chair when the power abruptly went out throughout the ship. She looked around in confusion. ¡°Anyone have any idea what just happened?¡±


    Aboard the flagship, Eolai was slapping his weapons officer. ¡°I said the probe, not the ship you idiot!¡±


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    ~~~~~~


    ¡°So that¡¯s it?¡± Sarah challenged, raising her voice and shouting over the din of the staff meeting. ¡°We¡¯re just going to abandon Diego to the aliens? We¡¯re not even going to try to get him back?¡±


    ¡°The situation is more complicated than that,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°Diego has made the decision on his own to stay. He understands what¡¯s at stake. The situation is complicated and nuanced, and -¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not complicated at all! You let them abduct him and brainwash him until he chose to abandon his own people! Gabriel is not in his right mind, he can¡¯t make a decision like this on his own!¡± she shouted.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you mean Diego? Sarah, what is wrong with you?¡± Anders asked.


    ¡°No, she¡¯s right,¡± Gabriel said, looking at the back of his hand with a spaced out expression. ¡°I am tripping balls.¡±


    ~~~~~~


    Diego stood, examining the docking bay carefully, looking around so that his on board camera could get a good view. He wasn¡¯t broadcasting live, but his suit was recording everything he saw. The large bay was brightly lit, an orange color that wasn¡¯t displeasing to his eyes. There were two other shuttles inside of it, each larger and sleaker than his own, with obvious weapons attached to them. He swallowed nervously at the malicious glee that seemed to be radiating out of the spacecraft.


    Movement caught his attention from the corner of his eye, and Diego turned in time to see one of the doors opening and an impossibility step into the hangar. His jaw dropped, and he almost forgot about the itch on his nose for a second. ¡°No way,¡± he said.


    ¡°What is it, Diego? What do you see?¡± the captain asked over the radio.


    ¡°They¡¯re grays, ma¡¯am. There¡¯s a squad of grays.¡±


    Eolai smiled at the human, his massive eyes gleaming with excitement. ¡°Remove your pants,¡± he said. ¡°It is time for the probe.¡±


    ~~~~~


    ¡°Some of the answers that we will be bringing home at the conclusion of our modified mission to the stars will cause trouble. We will challenge the old beliefs and the old answers. But one way or another, I am certain of one thing.


    ¡°We bring the light to a dark world.


    ¡°Serving as your captain was the greatest privilege of my life. Captain Ji-eun Moon, out.¡±


    She killed the intercom and removed her headset. She began typing on her console, entering memorized codes which were not written down on any surface within a thousand lightyears. Codes that she had memorized before leaving the earth¡¯s orbit and which had been destroyed once she¡¯d committed them to memory.


    The system did not prompt her yes or no. It simply shut down, rebooting. She exhaled. It was done. Abruptly the lights throughout the ship began flashing red.


    ¡°Oh shit wrong codes!¡± Captain Moon exclaimed.


    The ship self-destructed thirty seconds later.

 2.1.

    1.


    Sergeant Diego Cruz, formally of the Earth Space Force, and before that the American Air Force, stood over the recovering body of his adoptive brother, Eolai of the Yonohoan people, Son of Eodar.


    A man who had just been attacked and mutilated by his own father in a tragic misunderstanding. Diego did not have all the details, but Eodar was a hero of the Yonohoan people, a mythic figure to them, and to the universe at large due to the role he had played in bringing an end to the devastating millennia long Liberation Wars.


    Due to the use of flash-cloning technology, Eodar had fought through multiple lifetimes through almost the entire conflict. He had been present on many fronts of the war, in multiple galaxies. His role in bringing a peaceful resolution to the conflict remained relevant to this day, as the duration of many of the treaties were not specified in a fixed period of time, but rather based on terms such as ¡®until the last Son of Eodar dies.¡¯


    Confusing matters further was the Yonohoan people¡¯s use of stasis technology. They had strategically applied stasis fields to members of Eodar¡¯s family in order to extend the length of those treaties not for years or decades, but centuries and millennia.


    And now, finally, Eolai was the Last Son of Eodar.


    And he was injured by his own father¡¯s hand, who had apparently been brought back to life by forces unknown.


    Diego, too, was a son of Eodar. At least according to the traditions of the Yonohoan people; his participation in a sacred brotherhood ceremony with Eolai had elevated him to that status. Yet Diego was not Yonohoan, but a man from Earth who was beginning to feel very far out of his depth.


    ¡°Bob?¡± Diego called, speaking to the ship¡¯s AI. ¡°How are you doing? Are you recovering from the attack?¡±


    ¡°Many aspects of my programming were ripped out of me and destroyed by the attack programs that accompanied the life pod that Eodar was contained within,¡± the ship whispered to him through the blue-tooth like device that Diego had taken to wearing on his ear. ¡°It is unfortunate, but I am still reestablishing control over much of the ship.¡±


    ¡°What happened to Eodar? Is he still aboard?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°No. After the battle with the Topokan crew concluded, Eodar, for reasons unknown, decided to spare your life while you were in stasis. He then commandeered the emergency shuttle that was reserved for Eolai¡¯s personal use as an emergency escape vessel. It is alarming that he retains the codes and programs to do that, Diego. It implies that they were granted to him by a modern enemy who seeks to turn the hero of the Yonohoan people into a weapon against them,¡± Bob explained.


    ¡°How does bringing Eodar back to life affect the treaties?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t, except that it would allow him to have more sons and daughters,¡± the ship explained. ¡°However, it is illegal and punishable by death to make a clone of Eodar. The Yonohoans will be incensed that he was returned to life without his consent. Furthermore, it is clear that this is a young Eodar, while he was serving as a forward scout in the opening stages of the war. He likely believes that humanity¡¯s enemies still seek to enslave or destroy us, and is unaware of his own legacy,¡± the ship explained.


    ¡°What does the enemy hope to achieve?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°I am unable to make such predictions,¡± The ship answered. ¡°Both by design and due to a lack of data. However, the results of the meeting between Eolai and Eodar were nearly disastrous. Should Either Eolai have slain Eodar, or Eodar slain one of his sons, then the resulting scandal would shake the universe and shatter the treaties which were founded upon Eodar¡¯s character and righteous dignity.¡±


    ¡°Crap,¡± Diego said. He looked around at the mangled bodies of the Topokans. ¡°What about them?¡±


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    ¡°According to Yonohoan tradition, if he were not Eodar, then slaying a Topokan would lead to excommunication,¡± the ship answered. ¡°Eodar is the only exception to that tradition. He was born in a time when the Yonohoans and the Topokans were not interlinked, and as such not subject to the same scrutiny in their treatment.¡±


    Diego swallowed. It troubled him that the timid, furry, nine-foot tall bipeds had died protecting him. He wasn¡¯t certain what to do about their bodies. The Yonohoans had a very clear tradition where it was taboo to move a body from where it had fallen, but he¡¯d never heard of how the Topokans treated their dead.


    The Topokans were not humans. They were the close allies of the Yonohoans, and the two societies were deeply intertwined. Despite being nine-foot-tall with claws and fangs, the furry bipeds were somewhat charming and friendly to look at. Their resemblance to a character from the classic series ¡®Monsters Inc¡¯ had led the humans from earth to call them Xenosapiens sulivans, in reference to the fictional character Sully, whose appearance they shared.


    ¡°Is there anything I can do to honor the Topokans who gave their life defending me?¡± Diego asked Bob.


    ¡°The Topokans will tend to their own dead in time. They do not expect for you to mourn them. They do not really understand such things the way that humans do,¡± Bob explained to him. ¡°It is more important that you treat them with dignity for the Yonohoan¡¯s sake than it is for their own. The Yonohoans will be most upset if you desecrate their bodies.¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t planning on that,¡± Diego assured the computer. ¡°But should I cover them with a sheet? Move them into a secure location? What do I do, Bob?¡±


    ¡°Let the honored dead rest where they fell,¡± the AI instructed. ¡°I apologize if their presence about the ship troubles you.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. I¡¯m just trying to navigate how to handle this situation. How long until our reinforcements arrive?¡±


    ¡°Unfortunately the use of military attack programs on my software has caused my communication network to lock me out. It will take some time to clear the networks and reestablish contact with the fleet. However, they should have noticed my absence from the communal mind and will soon be alerting their human operators,¡± Bob explained. ¡°They will come looking for Eolai at his last reported location. I¡¯m afraid I¡¯m unable to provide an estimate in how long it will take for them to arrive.¡±


    ¡°I understand. How is Eolai doing?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°His wounds will mend, except for his missing arm, which he will most likely replace with a cloned limb,¡± the ship explained. ¡°I estimate that it will take him six hours to awaken after the sedatives and painkillers you administered wear off, at which point he will be fit for service. The replacement of his limb will have to wait until we reach a facility with medical facilities beyond which I possess.¡±


    ¡°Understood.¡± Diego sighed, looking around. ¡°I feel helpless, Bob. Eolai was injured and the Topokans were murdered while protecting me, and I don¡¯t even understand why. What the hell happened while I was in stasis?¡±


    ¡°We isolated the signal from the escape pod which we came to investigate,¡± Bob explained. ¡°It was under a security lockout and would not divulge its contents. Eolai ordered it brought aboard anyway. The stasis field was deactivated, and the occupant identified itself as Forward Scout Rank 2 Eodar of the Yonohoan Tribe.¡±


    Bob paused for effect. ¡°Diego, this might be the youngest instance of Eodar to have been created in fifty thousand years. It might even be the initial upload of his imprint which was distributed throughout known space.¡±


    ¡°If that were the case, wouldn¡¯t his weaponry be obsolete?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°It is the opposite. Forward Scouts were given access to weaponry and technology which remains restricted in modern armies. They were infiltration units designed to move behind enemy lines and obtain information for the planning of wars and invasions. They were often not expected to survive their assignments, and when their infiltrations were exposed, they were expected to cause as much damage to the enemy infrastructure as they could before they were disabled.¡±


    ¡°Which is why he was able to disable you, kill the Topokans, and injure Eolai,¡± Diego said, banging his head against the wall. ¡°What do we do?¡±


    ¡°For now? I continue to reestablish control over my functions and hunt down the remaining damage of the attack programs which were used against me, while you wait for Eolai¡¯s allies to come to investigate. I suggest that you get some rest, Diego. You are exhausted and emotionally wrung out.¡±


    ¡°Right. Okay. Good plan. Thanks Bob,¡± Diego agreed. Rather than leave Eolai¡¯s side, however, he went to find a chair and bring it back to sit at his adopted brother¡¯s bedside.


    ?

 2.2.

    2.


    Captain Ji-eun Moon was standing in the area that she was thinking of her ¡®bridge¡¯ aboard the Toormonda vessel  The Keeper of Dreams , a gift from the Yonohoan people to the people of Earth.


    She stared through the transparent exterior at the vastness of the hyperatomic plane through which they were traveling, allowing the ship to reach a maximum speed of three hundred times the speed of light. It was slower than the Tunnel Drive of her previous ship,  The Seeker of New Discoveries , which had been constructed entirely by the governments and corporations of Earth. But the Tunnel Drive, the only method of faster than light travel that Earthlings knew how to utilize with their own technology, was damaging to the human body.


    In fact, Captain Moon and a number of her former crewmates were beginning to suffer brain damage before meeting the Yonohoans, with a few crew members suffering psychiatric symptoms. Captain Moon¡¯s own case was at the stage where symptoms might begin to appear, causing her to question her fitness for command and stepping down from commanding the  Seeker .


    Her former executive officer, Anthony Anders, was now in charge of the overall mission of the exploration team from planet Earth, and she was relegated to his support staff.


    She did not regret the decision to step down. Anders would handle the political situation with the Yonohoans better than she could, now that her diagnosis had introduced a crisis of self-confidence into her every decision.


    She sometimes questioned whether she was even fit to command the Topokan vessel. However, she mostly felt that she could continue to lead the crew in the completion of their scientific objectives.


    The  Keeper of Dreams  was a type of vessel known as a Toormonda. An egg-shaped spacecraft, Toormondas were widely known and recognized throughout the universe, having a long reputation for their safety and reliability. More importantly, they were designed for scientific inquiry and exploration. The Yonohoans had, upon hearing the mission of the crew of the  Seeker , immediately seen the similarities between the Earth vessel and the Toormonda, and had promised to give Earth a small fleet of the vessels for their scientific and exploration efforts.


    The larger community throughout the universe was laughing at the exchange. While the data from Toormondas were considered legitimate in scientific circles, they had a particular reputation.


    They were used for field trips for children.


    The most advanced spacecraft ever constructed by the people of earth was less advanced than a glorified school bus.


    It would be humiliating if it were not for the fact that the rest of the universe had the advantage of billions of years of intergalactic collaboration for their scientific and technological advancement.


    Earth had about ten thousand years of recorded history.


    She sighed. Learning of her place in the universe had been humbling, and she was still coming to terms with it. The fact that, to many aliens, humans were seen as ¡®uplifts¡¯ added to the difficulty of the situation. While humanity had contributed explosively to the technological advancement of the universe, all of their accomplishments were attributed to those who had come before them.


    Her crew had just finished collecting the last steps of their scientific mission, having successfully modified its parameters in a way that allowed then to incorporate the use of the Toormonda ship to fulfill their original objectives instead of continuing to expose themselves to the harmful effect of the Tunnel Drive that the  Seeker  utilized. They were presently returning to planet Totola in order to begin collating the data from the probes while Captain Anders, with Captain Moon and the other command staff supporting him to conclude the initial diplomatic talks with the Yonohoans.


    There were several significant questions which the original crew of the  Seeker  would be forced to answer.


    Do they dare reveal the location of Earth to the Yonohoans? That was the most important question. Once the location of Earth was revealed, there was no putting the cat back in the bag. While the Yonohoans and their Topokan allies had shown no signs of hostility, aside from a slight misunderstanding during the initial attempts at communication, billions of lives were at stake.


    Captain Moon had zero doubt that in a military contest, the technological superiority of the Yonohoans would drown out any advantage that Earth might seek to gain for themselves.


    The Yonohoans claimed to have Earth¡¯s interests at heart. They had gone so far as to offer it aid and protectorate status.


    In fact, the ceremony between Eolai, the Last Son of Eodar, and Sergeant Cruz, meant that Yonohoan was required by their sense of honor to protect Earth from any incursion or threat for the duration of the lives of Sergeant Cruz family living on the planet.


    That these decisions had been made without the input of the governments of Earth would be viewed with criticism when they returned home, she was certain. Politicians always liked to second guess the decisions made in the field. But the fact remained that the  Seeker  lacked any ability to communicate with its home planet due to the simple fact that Earth lacked faster than light communication capability.


    They couldn¡¯t call home.


    They were on their own.


    The future of Earth was at stake.


    The stress was immense, despite the fact that she had deliberately taken herself out of the equation by securing the records of the location of Earth and passing the command to Captain Anders, who was now the only person who could reveal Earth¡¯s coordinates to the Yonohoans.


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    Interstellar law and precedent was on their side, if they wanted to hide. Darkworlds had well established rights, including the right to secrecy. Once their location was revealed, however, all bets were off.


    She continued to reflect upon the situation, staring out at the shifting fog of the hyperatomic plane, filled with smoke and auroras. She was contemplating going to get something to eat from the ship¡¯s food forges when abruptly the ship made the translation back into normal space, the view transitioning into a vast and unfamiliar starscape.


    She frowned. They were expected to be in transit for a few days yet.


    ¡°Ship? Why did we drop out of FTL?¡± she inquired.


    ¡°I have received military override codes. We are about to be boarded. Cooperation with the incoming military force is suggested,¡± the ship¡¯s sexless voice informed her.


    ¡°Can you put me in contact with them?¡± she asked, adrenaline spiking in her veins. ¡°I wish to negotiate the peaceful cooperation with whatever investigation they are performing in exchange for the safety of my crew.¡±


    ¡°Your intentions have been communicated to the boarders,¡± the ship informed her. ¡°Response is incoming: Do not resist. Resistance will be met with force.¡±


    The ship delivered the last instructions in a mechanical voice that dripped with malevolence rather than the benign sexless voice that she expected from it. She swallowed. ¡°I will instruct the crew to assemble in the common areas. Signal to the boarders that we are unarmed except for the default weaponry of this class of ship and that we will cooperate.¡±


    ¡°Message sent. Reply incoming. ¡®Prepare to be boarded.¡¯¡±


    ¡°Can you send out a distress signal?¡± she asked the ship


    ¡°I am under military lockout,¡± the ship answered. ¡°Communications are sealed.¡±


    Nervously, Captain Moon helped the crew gather in the common area, trying to keep herself from panicking. She instructed them to remain calm and cooperate with the military. She stressed that she didn¡¯t know who was boarding them, but that they were unable to resist, and the incoming force had been very clear that they were willing to use violence.


    She emphasized that everyone was to remain calm. Outwardly, she was following her own instructions.


    The airlock opened, admitting a figure in black powered armor. The figure¡¯s helmet was ugly and hostile, containing no facial features. Despite that, Captain Moon¡¯s first thought was ¡®aren¡¯t you a little short to be a stormtrooper?¡¯


    The figure lifted its arms before it and stepped forward. Captain Moon didn¡¯t see a weapon, but she was fairly certain that this person  was  a weapon.


    A voice from the suit spoke in the same mechanical and hostile voice which had come over the speakers earlier.


    However, the voice was in a language that Captain Moon recognized, but didn¡¯t speak.


    High Yonohoan.


    A dead language, like Latin.


    The crew didn¡¯t respond, and the figure made an annoyed gesture. The speakers on the Toormonda abruptly translated the words.


    ¡°Query: Identify yourselves,¡± the sexless voice of the AI said.


    One by one the crew listed their names. The figure demanded their ranks and affiliations. The crew reluctantly gave their status as either a military officer or as a civilian contractor in service to the government of earth.


    ¡°Point of Origin of this vessel is Planet Totola. Query. Why are Earthlings in possession of a Yonohoan craft?¡± the figure demanded, the ship translating his unrecognizable words for them.


    ¡°This Toormonda vessel was a gift from the government of the Yonohoan people to the people of earth,¡± Captain Moon explained.


    ¡°Demand: State your mission.¡±


    ¡°Scientific exploration and research as well as diplomatic relations with the Yonohoan people,¡± Captain Moon explained.


    ¡°Query: Affiliations of Earth.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re unaffiliated except for the fact that we are in the initial stages of diplomatic talks with the Yonohoan people,¡± she admitted. She swallowed. ¡°We¡¯re a darkworld.¡±


    This got a surprised jerk from the figure. ¡°Query: Location of Earth.¡±


    ¡°I am not at liberty to share that information,¡± Captain Moon answered.


    ¡°Demand: Location of Earth.¡±


    ¡°I do not currently possess the stellar location of Earth,¡± she clarified. ¡°And I am not at liberty to share it if I were.¡±


    The figure was silent for a while. Abruptly, the lights of the ship flickered. It was the first time she had seen anything other than stolid reliability from the ship, and Captain Moon wondered what it represented. Abruptly, the figure turned and left without further explanation.


    Captain Moon swallowed nervously. ¡°Ship? What just happened?¡±


    ¡°I am unable to answer that, Captain Moon,¡± the ship responded. ¡°I only understand that we were boarded and questioned by a figure possessing military credentials.¡±


    ¡°When the lights flickered, what was that?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I was forced to transfer a large amount of data from my datastores to the military personnel. I was forced to perform a full memory duplication. The processing of the command took 95% of my power for 3 seconds,¡± the ship explained. ¡°A full duplication of my records were made.¡±


    ¡°Including our research data?¡± Captain Moon asked, feeling sick.


    ¡°Yes Captain.¡±


    ¡°Are we able to move now?¡± she inquired.


    ¡°Military lockout has been lifted. We are able to get underway,¡± the ship answered.


    ¡°Make for Yonohoan space at full speed,  Keeper .¡±


    ?

 2.3.

    3.


    ¡°I have no idea who it was,¡± Captain Moon¡¯s hologram said. ¡°All I know is that it had the codes to stop the  Keeper  dead in it¡¯s tracks, that whoever it was they¡¯re human but only about five-one, and they speak High-Yonohoan.¡±


    Captain Anders frowned. He was in what he was beginning to think of as ¡®his crisis room,¡¯ which is where he had taken to taking secured communications in privacy. It was a glorified storage closet that had been emptied out following the division of the crew of the  Seeker  into three, with one part remaining behind, another boarding the  Keeper , and the final receiving medical attention on planet Totola.


    ¡°You think it was our hosts?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what to think, Anders,¡± she said. He studied her expression closely for hidden tells, but there were no subtle hints or pre-arranged signals in her features. ¡°The crew was frightened, but maybe it¡¯s just a routine traffic stop. We don¡¯t know. The concerning part is the data dump. I¡¯ve been speaking with Takeshi, and he thinks that it¡¯s possible someone could triangulate the origin of Earth based on the starting locations of the probes.¡±


    ¡°Do you think that was the purpose of the stop? To find out where we came from?¡± he inquired.


    ¡°The likelihood has crossed my mind,¡± she said.


    ¡°You said it spoke High-Yonohoan,¡± he said. ¡°Not their common language? The historic one?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty certain of it. I tried to get the  Keeper  to replay the messages, but whoever it was wiped its memory of most of the encounter. It only has a record of the data transfer due to the maintenance and connection logs, which somehow avoided the purge,¡± Captain Moon explained.


    ¡°High-Yonohoan was one of six formally recognized military cants,¡± she pointed out. ¡°The fact that they were using it in Yonohoan space doesn¡¯t necessarily mean that they were our hosts. It could have been selected to ensure understanding and compliance. Or to disguise their true identity. If our hosts wanted our data, they could have simply slipped a Trojan into the Toormonda. They didn¡¯t need to stop us and make us put up our guard.¡±


    ¡°I am still going to make a formal inquiry about the incident to the Yonohoan government,¡± Anders decided. He sighed. ¡°I am relieved that nobody was hurt. You handled the situation as well as you could, Captain Moon. The data breech is regrettable, but it doesn¡¯t sound like there was any action you could have performed which would have mitigated or prevented it from occurring. Is the science data still intact?¡±


    ¡°Yes. The data was copied but remains unmodified,¡± she answered.


    ¡°Okay. Continue your return to Yonohoan space. I¡¯ll get on the horn to their government and see what they have to say for themselves,¡± Captain Anders said. ¡°Anders out.¡±


    ¡°Moon Out,¡± she said, and her hologram vanished.


    ¡°Contact Premier Senator Osantos and Renosa of the Yonohoan self-defense fleet,¡± he said to the room. Two icons appeared indicating hovering in the air indicating the connection request had been made and were being secured. It took a few moments, and Renosa answered first.


    ¡°How may I assist you, Captain Anders,¡± the ever cheerful fleet adjutant inquired.


    ¡°I would like to wait for Osantos to join us so that I only have to ask my question once,¡± he said. And he didn¡¯t say ¡®and so that I can see you both at the same time when I make my accusation.¡¯


    ¡°Of course, Captain Anders,¡± she said.


    They waited in silence. It took several minutes for the connection to the senator to go through.


    ¡°Hello, Captain Anders,¡± Osantos said. ¡°How might I be of service?¡±


    ¡°I wish to know why the Toormonda ship given to us by your government was stopped by unnamed military forces. The crew of the vessel was interrogated by a military agent and the computer was forced to perform a full data dump, including sensitive records,¡± he said, his voice heavy with the gravity of the situation.


    ¡°Someone stopped a Toormonda?¡± Renosa said. ¡°I can¡¯t think of anyone who would--¡±


    ¡°This occurred inside Yonohoan territory?¡± the Senator asked. ¡°Whoever had the gall to--¡±


    Both of the representatives of the Yonohoan government expressed shock and outrage over the incident. Both formally denied knowing anything about it in advanced and vowed to investigate the matter with urgency and discretion.


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    ¡°So this was not a routine traffic incident?¡± Anders asked for clarification.


    ¡°Traffic incident?¡± Renosa seemed confused. ¡°Stopping a spacecraft for inspection is only performed if illegal activity is suspected. A simple query of a Toormonda¡¯s computer systems would prevent that from taking place without the need for a stop. It is routine for the Toormonda to report its passenger manifest and port of origin. That should have been all the information that anyone in this galaxy required in order to know that your ship was compliant with all relevant laws.¡±


    Anders hadn¡¯t realized that the Toormonda would tattle tale on them to the government on request, but considering his own nation¡¯s stance on monitoring flight paths in atmosphere, he couldn¡¯t work up any outrage.


    ¡°To be clear, the government of the Yonohoan people are at this time denying advanced knowledge or involvement in this incident?¡± he clarified.


    ¡°Yes, Captain,¡± they both agreed.


    ¡°I am not making any formal accusations to the contrary. I wish to inquire whether High Yonohoan remains a common language in the military, however. I realize that it has historical value--¡±


    ¡°The boarder spoke the high language?¡± Renosa asked, her eyes going wide.


    Anders raised a brow. ¡°Captain Moon is reasonably certain that she recognized it as such.¡±


    ¡°In that case, Captain, your people might be lucky to be alive,¡± Renosa said. ¡°It is likely that they were visited by a ghost from a far more turbulent time. It also adds urgency to the situation which my peers are presently facing, and so I must excuse myself, Captain Anders.¡±


    ¡°What situation is that, Renosa? Or are you not at liberty to say?¡± Anders asked.


    ¡°Normally I would not tell you this information, except that your people are involved,¡± Renosa said. ¡°The flagship of the Totola defense force has gone dark.¡±


    Anders frowned. ¡°What does that mean?¡±


    ¡°It is no longer informing us of its location or accepting communication requests,¡± she clarified. ¡°This isn¡¯t entirely unusual in itself, except that the current mission of the flagship is to assist a civilian vessel with a routine scientific inquiry. There is no reason to activate covert military or security protocols.¡±


    ¡°Eolai and Diego are aboard that ship,¡± Anders pointed out.


    ¡°The last two sons of Eodar should be safe. The flagship is capable of making a stand against a fleet of enemies,¡± Renosa said. ¡°It is extremely concerning, however. My peers and I must investigate further. If you will excuse me, captain.¡±


    Her hologram vanished. Captain Anders turned to Osantos.


    ¡°What would happen if the Son of Eodar and his chosen brother were attacked?¡± Anders asked.


    ¡°The wrath of the Yonohoah and its allies would fall upon the perpetrator,¡± Osantos answered. ¡°I can think of nobody who would dare.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Senator Osantos,¡± Anders said. It was most polite to use a title with the name. Using a title alone was impolite, as it implied that the person¡¯s identity was unimportant, only the role which they filled. As such, calling Osantos ¡°Senator¡± without using his name would have been rude, a lesson that Anders had learned the first time they¡¯d spoken.


    When call disconnected, Anders cursed and slammed his fist against his desk, causing him to float up a moment before he got himself under control again. This was not a positive development. He knew that people were searching for Earth. It was only the vastness of space which was preventing them from having found it already.


    The universe knew that a Darkworld had contacted the Yonohoans. They just didn¡¯t know  which  Yonohoan planet had been contacted, giving Earth a measure of protection due to the vastness of the Yonohoan empire.


    Additionally, the Yonohoan were engaged in a disinformation game that they called ¡°Korjakala.¡± Young Yonohoan men and women were actively engaged in pretending to be earthlings and effectively trolling their way throughout the universe. This was an active effort on behalf of the Yonohoan people to protect emerging darkworlds from being overwhelmed by their neighborhood superpowers; the practice of Korjakala ensured that all parties maintained their agreed upon practices regarding Darkworlds and followed the relevant laws in their treatment.


    The fact that most Yonohoans treated Korjakala as a game to frustrate, annoy, amuse or educate the rest of the universe was irrelevant for the moment, as far as Anders was concerned. At the moment, he was just glad that the wave of Korjakala was helping to obscure the actual location of Earth and its meager space defense forces.


    He was uncertain how easily the enemy would be able to triangulate the location of earth based on the probe data that had been copied from the  Keeper ¡¯s records, but he had to assume that it was possible. And that it was being performed.


    He considered the possibility that this was a ruse by the Yonohoans to trick him into revealing Earth¡¯s location. He  had  to consider it, even though his gut was telling him otherwise.


    He hated this situation. He wanted to trust the Yonohoans, but strategically he couldn¡¯t take the risk.


    On the other hand, the threat to Earth posed by a potential unnamed and unidentified force with military powers that were sure to exceed the space assets of Earth meant that maintaining Earth¡¯s independence might depend upon obtaining status as a protectorate of Yonohoah.


    That was Anders¡¯ preferred solution to the mess; have the Yonohoans keep the universe at large off of Earth¡¯s back for a few decades while they built up a space force which could defend itself and tried to catch up technologically.


    The issue was; he was just a captain of a science vessel. He didn¡¯t have the authority to formally request such a thing.


    The people that could do so were light years away.


    ?

 2.4.

    4.


    The boy removed his helmet. His military haircut and white hair made him look bald, with a slightly sloped forehead that belied his intelligence. One corner of his mind was focused on the data that he had pulled from the Toormonda, looking it over and searching for patterns. He pushed that corner of his mind into the background, out of focus for now as he debated what to do now.


    He remained confused. The last thing he remembered was going to sleep in his bunk with the other trainees. Suddenly awakening aboard the strange ship; being surrounded by Topoka, with no idea how he had gotten from one place to the next, it was all so very confusing.


    He had smelled the fear of the Topoka, and watched them flee before him, and he had been forced to laugh.


    Once he had been frightened of them. No longer. He was not frightened of anything any longer. Only that he would disgrace himself, and be unable to join with his ancestors in the afterlife.


    Then the man had appeared. The boy had at first thought that the man was a superior officer, but several factors had thrown suspicion on the encounter.


    First of all, he spoke the language of the Yonohoah flawlessly. Among the stars, only the boy¡¯s class of trainees spoke that language; their instructors spoke High Command.


    Second, he was too friendly and eager, too interested in the boy. That interest had set off the boy¡¯s distrust of the man, and he had seen how the man had attempted to interrogate him for information which could be used against the training corps.


    It was either a test, or the boy had been captured and was in enemy hands. Either way, his response was the same. Resistance.


    He had started with passive resistance. Cooperation while issuing disinformation. He had given only his name, age, and rank.


    He was Eodar of the Yonohoan people. He had lived for twelve years. He was a Scout Troop Trainee rank 2.


    Everything else had been lies.


    Then the man had attempted to scan his brain, and that was something that Eodar could not have permitted. So he had lashed out, and he had been surprised at the effectiveness. His scout armor was not in training mode, and the munitions were fully unlocked and set to live fire.


    He had killed the man who had been interrogating him by tearing off his arm and ripped through the ships computers to find his information. Except that his own suit¡¯s computers kept throwing up errors which Eodar did not know how to interpret. He was forced to proceed without all of the information that he required.


    He did not know how much time had passed, or what his location was. He did not have orders or mission directives. His weapons were of a type that were both familiar and different from the models upon which he had been trained.


    But he had been trained to adapt to the situation and act according to his best judgment.


    So he had searched the ship. To his surprise, the cowardly Topoka had resisted his attempts, going so far as to defend one room in particular. Only when Eodar had entered, he had seen nothing but an unknown man in stasis. Eodar hadn¡¯t been able to disable the stasis field in order to interrogate the man, and so he had been forced to leave without doing so; he¡¯d been unable to deactivate the anti-entropic field generator.


    He would not kill a man who was vulnerable in that state. It was possible, perhaps likely, that the man had been a prisoner like Eodar.


    His primary motivation had been to escape. Afterward he would identify his location and rejoin his forces. He would report his action and face the consequences for his capture, whatever they would be.


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    He was Eodar of the Yonohoah. He had family upon the planet Totola, and brothers among the stars.


    He was unafraid of death. Only dishonor frightened him.


    Stealing the shuttle from the flagship had been easy, his armor¡¯s software easily overriding the small one-person craft¡¯s security protocols. He had scanned for nearby vessels and found one in the hyperatomic plane which had responded to his command codes; a civilian vessel. A Toormonda.


    A link to the training corps. Much of what he had learned about the way the universe worked had been from the time with the other trainees aboard a Toormonda.


    He had boarded the nearby craft expecting to find a bunch of terrified children. Instead they were adults. A confusing turn of events; he had expected one, maybe two adults to supervise and direct the children¡¯s education.


    More, the query of the registry had stated that the Toormonda was from Totola, which meant that Eodar was near his home, yet the occupants were all from Earth, a world he had never heard of.


    That they were engaging in diplomacy with Totola was so silly that Eodar had nearly laughed. He could just see these people trying to talk with the elders of his tribe. The foolish old matrons who truly believed that they knew the ways that the world worked because they were old.


    He knew more about the universe than they ever would. He understood the underpinnings, the way that things worked to create what was real and what was not, on a fundamental, material level. The elders believed that the Topoka created their world for them out of kindness. It was a laughable comparison between Eodar¡¯s education and what his tribe believed.


    Eodar wondered what he should do. His armor suddenly flashed, and he jerked in surprise as a command hologram lit up.


    The face of his instructor from the training facility appeared before him.


    ¡°Congratulations, Trainee Eodar. You have passed your final examination,¡± the hologram stated. ¡°You have been assigned your first official mission. Infiltrate Earth. Identify any threats to humanity. Report your findings via Rocktala. Follow your training and prove your loyalty to your fellow man.¡±


    Eodar signaled his receipt of the message and sat back in the cockpit of the one-manned fighter. He focused on the data from the Toormonda, puzzling it together as he searched for a pattern. There was a pattern there, he was certain of it. Perhaps once he went to sleep, his dreams would give him the answer.


    ~~~~~~


    It arrived without warning in the Lagrange point of the blue marble of a planet. There was no warning, there were no signs that the civilization on the third planet from Sol could detect. Not with their technology.


    It immediately began broadcasting. Radiowaves, microwaves, thousands upon thousands of frequencies were used to convey its information. It¡¯s warning.


    Some of the datapackets were encrypted, or at least of a format which did not run on the computers which attempted to execute them.


    The radio signals, however, were easy to understand.


    Voices, speaking the same message over and over again. Some of the voices were growls and murmurs. Others were of a strange, lyrical language which was untranslatable. Others were in English, although the words made no sense to those who heard them.


    ¡°We are the watchers at the edge of time and darkness. A weapon of our making seeks enemies and allies. It has the capacity for creation and destruction, but it is beyond control. Someone seeks to control that which cannot be controlled. The results may be catastrophic to the guardians of the universe. We are not the Topoka, the guardians of the guardians. We are the watchers who hold the knowledge which holds back oblivion. This weapon has been set loose upon the universe once more. A weapon from the future may destroy the past and a weapon from the past may destroy the future. Seek allies among the yonohoah, for they are your brothers and sisters. All of mankind depends upon the life or death of the weapon which has returned from the veils of oblivion. Do not destroy this message, this message contains salvation and the destruction of innocence.¡±


    The message repeated endlessly.


    Across the planet Earth, people looked up at the night sky and wondered what the enigmatic words meant.


    Some believed it was a prank; an old space telescope that had been hacked. Others saw proof that they were not alone in the universe in the words.


    As always, nobody could agree upon anything until a missile from the surface destroyed the device that was causing radios and transmission devices to fail all across the globe.


    ?

 2.5.

    5.


    Gabriel Nguyen sat in his ¡®dungeon,¡¯ examining the various computer screens. He didn¡¯t have the data he needed to do his job. Not the one that he had been assigned to the  Seeker  for at the start of the mission. He was a data analyst.


    He was also the finder of new worlds; the man who had identified the signals in the Ku-band coming from planet Totola which had lead the  Seeker  and it¡¯s crew into the encounter with the Yonohoans and their allies.


    He was responsible for the discovery of advanced life forms in the universe. That mankind on Earth was in the minority, as the majority of space was filled with species that were interconnected by vast info-nets which allowed them to communicate with beings sometimes billions of light years away.


    And that humans were already among the stars.


    Which had led the earthlings to the rediscovery of the universe¡¯s bloody past. The universe was still healing from the birthwaters from which mankind had emerged screaming into the stars from wherever it was that they came from. The liberation wars, the bloody conflict which had lasted tens of thousands of years, continued to shape intergalactic politics.


    But he wasn¡¯t thinking about all of that. He was fixated on analyzing data. He was a data analyst and he was doing his job.


    Just ¡­ differently than what he¡¯d done before.


    He was searching for Earth.


    He had no idea where his birth planet was in relation to the Yonohoan system. He didn¡¯t have the flightpath which had brought them here, so he couldn¡¯t follow it back to their origin point. Hopefully, nobody else could either. Hopefully, only the secure database which only Captain Anders could decrypt contained the location of Earth.


    But people were looking for it, and so Anders had set Gabriel to the task of finding it, using only the data which they had released to the universe, either intentionally or unintentionally.


    To start with, he had looked at the photos of the night sky from Earth which he had unintentionally released to the Yonohoans. There were eighteen of them. However, he had quickly deduced that they were worthless.


    The issue wasn¡¯t that they didn¡¯t have constellations which were unique and identifiable. It was that space was vast, and stars were separated from each other not in two dimensions but three. The photographs weren¡¯t detailed enough to accurately identify the necessary reference points from which the location of Earth could be triangulated.


    Or at least that was his conclusion.


    It was also the conclusion of his Yonohoan counterparts, who were openly and independently checking his work. Captain Anders had given them permission to do so on the fear that the Yonohoan public might have access to the unmodified photos, and he was worried that they would utilize the information. He figured that it was better to test the extent of the data breech ¨C which Gabriel was still kicking himself over ¨C and report their success or failure, than it was to simply pretend the breech had not happened.


    So the photographs were a dead end. That was a relief.


    The second data breech, however, was concerning. The stellar navigation system retained the data on the probes which the  Keeper of Dreams  had been sent to retrieve. The probes had deliberately burnt out the encrypted data of their first flight from earth in order to obscure their origin point in the event that they were encountered by extraterrestrials. They retained everything after their initial jump, however. It was Gabriel¡¯s task to see if that data could be used to infer their origin point.


    He swallowed a drink of water from a squeeze-ball. He missed gravity sometimes, he thought to himself, craving a nice glass of ice water.


    The answer to the question ¡°Could the probes be used to find earth¡± was ¡°Yes, they could.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t easy or intuitive, but there was a definite pattern to the probes. An organized net which was part of the mission design. Alone their flightpaths were meaningless. Together, they painted a clear picture. Factoring in six or more flightpaths was enough to narrow the location of earth down to a local cluster, at least.


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    If Gabriel could do that with his meager data analyst skills and software, then there was no question that the unidentified adversary who had hacked the  Keeper  could do the same.


    The Yonohoans could definitely do the same as well, and it was only by their word and sense of honor that they had allowed the Earthlings to continue to maintain their secrets.


    He sighed and printed the report showing the region of space which his predictive software put the origin point of the probes, then carried the data with him. He used the communication ¡®egg¡¯ to send a brief message to Anders to request a physical meeting. The egg chirped back to meet Anders in the crisis room at his earliest convenience. Gabriel was already heading in that direction, having anticipated the response.


    He let himself into the room and nodded at the captain, who was reviewing a report from Sarah on Yonohoan entertainment media. It wasn¡¯t exactly critical data, but her current position as a patient in the care of the Yonohoans meant that reviewing their holographic plays and films and other forms of entertainment was actually conducive to her mental health. Filing a report to her former commander gave her a sense of control and connection to her career, which was now on hold.


    And it was useful insight into the culture of Earth¡¯s potential first allies in the stars. You can learn a lot about a culture by the stories they tell their children, Gabriel knew, and he believed that it was primary children¡¯s media which Sarah was consuming.


    ¡°Please give me some good news,¡± Anders said. ¡°I could really use some.¡±


    ¡°The data leek of the pictures from earth are useless. Neither I nor the analysts of the Yonohoans could put them into context, despite the fact that they have much better computers and star charts than we do,¡± Gabriel said.


    Anders breathed a sigh. ¡°I¡¯m sensing a but coming.¡±


    ¡°But the pattern that the scientists back home set the probes on for their data collection have a clear pattern to them. Despite destroying the record of their initial FTL translation, you can triangulate their origin point if you look at six or more data sets in conjunction with each other. Not precisely, but to within a ten light year circle. Which is sufficient to find a planet which is using microwave or radio-wave radiation for communication purposes, as our own experience proves,¡± Gabriel explained.


    ¡°Shit,¡± Anders said. ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t actually know where Earth is, remember?¡± Gabriel pointed out. ¡°But I¡¯ll just leave my deduction of where the probes came from with you, and you can review that compared to the secured dataset which I¡¯m not cleared to look at due to my previous handling of sensitive information. Honestly, I¡¯m surprised you tapped me for this project.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re the best analyst we have,¡± Anders said without looking up as he examined the printouts that Gabriel had floated him.


    ¡°That¡¯s my report. Is there anything else you want me to work on, or can I get back to engaging in cultural exchange with the Yonohoans.¡±


    ¡°Once I confirm this data, I will be announcing that we are returning home aboard the  Seeker , Gabriel,¡± Anders said. ¡°I¡¯ve been dicking around too long as it is. However, only volunteers will be joining me in the flight. We¡¯ll be taking the Yonohoan medicine with us, which will hopefully help reduce the damage of the exposure. But we¡¯re heading home, and some of us will be staying behind. I need you to decide which camp you¡¯ll be a part of.¡±


    Gabriel swallowed. ¡°I¡¯ll stay, Captain.¡±


    ¡°I thought you might. Don¡¯t say anything to the other crew. I¡¯ll make an official announcement over the intercom.¡±


    ¡°Yes sir. You know that this will reveal the location of Earth to the Yonohoans, right?¡±


    ¡°I plan to formally reveal the location of Earth to their government and request that they give me two weeks time before following the  Seeker  according to the laws they¡¯re required to enforce. I will also be formally requesting that they send us a diplomatic delegation.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll be officially opening negotiations then,¡± Gabriel said.


    ¡°We don¡¯t really have any other choice except to stay here indefinitely. The breech of the  Keeper  puts a timer on the equation. If you can identify the location of earth, then we have to assume that our adversary, if they are our adversary, already knows as well.¡±


    ¡°Yes sir. Sounds like a headache. Glad that I¡¯ll be sipping margaritas on the beaches of Planet Totola instead of dealing with interstellar politics,¡± Gabriel said.


    ¡°Try inter-galactic,¡± Anders said. ¡°We have people from all over the universe who are trying to learn english so that they can negotiate with us for ¡®kittens and puppies.¡¯ I have no idea how we¡¯re supposed to ship them live animals, but they¡¯re very enthusiastic about obtaining them. That will be all, Gabriel. Thank you for your report.¡±


    ¡°Yes sir.¡±


    Gabriel turned and left the room.


    ?

 2.6.

    2.6.


    ¡°So in summary, you are to rendezvous with the Yonohoan defense fleet, which has agreed to offer you an escort home,¡± Captain Anders¡¯ hologram stated.  The crew of the  Keeper  were standing in the common room of the Toormonda for the address.  ¡°The  Seeker  with a skeleton crew will proceed you into Sol system and alert the Earth Space Force and the governments of earth that we are coming.  We will bring the news that our science mission was a full success, although the exact methodology was modified in the field to preserve the validity of the gathered data while protecting the health of the crew.


    ¡°We will also bring news of our contact with the Yonohoans and the Topokans, as well as the status of the scope of the universe at large, which is far more filled with people than we ever believed.  People like us, and people unlike us.  Potential allies, and foes who will oppose us because of a complex history which we have only just begun to unravel.


    ¡°Some of you have spoken about remaining behind.  While it is the position of myself and the command staff that from hence forth only volunteers will pilot the  Seeker  with the use of the Tunnel Drive, the fact is that until we¡¯ve established normalized relations between Earth and the Yonohoah, I¡¯m not certain what the official policy on immigration and emigration will be.  We¡¯re relying on them to get our people home safely and without exposure to further negative health effects.  However, with the exception of Sergeant Cruz, whose situation is unique, I am ordering you all to return to the sol system.


    ¡°We all have jobs to do.  Just because what we¡¯ve found out here fundamentally changes our understanding of our place in the universe doesn¡¯t change the fact that you all have responsibilities to the ESF and our corporate sponsors.  If you are a member of the science team, you are ordered to report all findings and participate in the followup studies.  If you fail in these duties, you have broken the contracts which you have signed prior to leaving earth on this mission.  That failure will be reported to the Yonohoan government.


    ¡°If you know anything about the Yonohoah by now, you should realize how seriously they take oaths.  While they¡¯ve yet to give us a contract to sign, the importance that they place on the verbal oath between Eolai and Sergeant Cruz should give you an idea of how they¡¯ll respond to someone who breaks a contract.


    ¡°If after returning to Earth, you can navigate the politics to get a visa to return to planet Topola, then good on you.


    ¡°The only exception to the order to return to earth are those members of the crew which require further medical treatment on planet Totola.  They will remain in the custody of the Yonohoan government until they¡¯ve recovered to the point where they can return to Earth and hopefully receive treatment at home.


    ¡°That is all at this time.¡±


    The few crew members of the  Keeper  that were military saluted as the hologram vanished, then everyone relaxed.  The crew began whispering among themselves.  Some were happy with the news, while others were realizing that they were not about to get as much time to spend with the Yonohoans as they¡¯d like before Earth¡¯s governments got involved.


    Regardless, they were heading home soon.  Whether it was nervous energy or excitement, the air was palpable with human emotions.


    ¡°Right then.  We have our orders from the  Seeker .  Does anyone have any concerns specifically for the crew, maintenance, or morale of the  Keeper ?¡± Captain Moon asked after everyone had been gossiping for a minute to get it out of their systems.


    ¡°I¡¯d like to formally request that whoever has been flushing their tampons in the toilet stop.  You¡¯re supposed to throw them in the reclaimer.  While this is a magic spaceship that runs on happiness and almost literally magical energy, a toilet is a toilet and they can get jammed,¡± one of the maintenance crew said.


    That earned a few nervous chuckles, and the meeting broke up as nobody else had anything significant to add.  While they couldn¡¯t process the mission data, many of the crew had begun taking advantage of the educational nature of the Toormonda they were riding in to begin exploring aspects of the universe which humanity from earth literally couldn¡¯t measure, and were therefore either completely ignorant of, or alternatively, had only vague theories about.


    Captain Moon listened to the conversations that the crew was having among themselves and with the ship¡¯s AI and she could only shake her head at the disparity between the Yonohoan education system and that of Earth.  While the rest of the universe considered Toormonda¡¯s to be a thing for children, the twenty ships that the Yonohoan government had gifted her people were set to become not only a significant boon to their society, but a strategic asset.


    She had hesitated in accepting the offered gift, but she was confident that her decision to step down from the command of the  Seeker  in favor of the alien magical school bus was the correct one.


    Anders hadn¡¯t done anything that she wouldn¡¯t have done.  But he had done it with the conviction that his judgment was clear and uncompromised, while her diagnoses of having reached stage two in the Tunnel Drive Exposure Syndrome meant that she would have second guessed her every decision.  She might not have been able to make the decisive decision to return home at this juncture.


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    It was the right call.  She was glad that Anders had made it.  She would have hesitated and lost the initiative.


    Her career as an officer in the military was over.  She would request discharge for medical reasons when she returned to Earth.  She was melancholy that this stage of her life was over, but she remained optimistic for her future.


    She would be a celebrity, having been in command of the  Seeker of New Discovery  when life was found on another planet.  She¡¯d have to be careful to follow the official talking points and avoid revealing confidential or classified information to the public, but she¡¯d be able to lecture about many aspects of her time aboard both the  Seeker  and the  Keeper.


    She suddenly realized that she was a teacher on a magical school bus that was flying through space at three hundred times the speed of light.


    ¡°Call me Ms Frizzle,¡± she muttered to herself, laughing quietly.


    ~~~~~~


    No matter how many times he did it, leaving the airlock with only the Yonohoan Vacuum Protection Device, which consisted of a belt, anklets, and wristbands, hearing the hiss of the cycling air while he wasn¡¯t wearing a vacuum suit made Gabriel¡¯s balls retract.  Aside from the safety devices, he was wearing only his normal shipboard uniform.  The alien safety devices were apparently enough to keep a pressure bubble large enough to breathe comfortably for hours, while simultaneously protecting against the radiation of space.


    Or so they said, he thought to himself.


    He realized that the Yonohoans allowed their children to go out and play around their Toomonda ships with nothing more than he was wearing right now, but that didn¡¯t change how he felt about the matter.


    Still, when the time had come to board the alien shuttle that would take him to the surface of planet Totola, where he would be remaining until the fleet prepared to travel to Earth for the political summit, Gabriel had elected to use the alien¡¯s vacuum safety measures rather than a traditional vacuum suit.


    He had left the majority of his possessions behind, and he would not see them again until he reached Earth.  He might never get some of them back, but he¡¯d taken what was important.  The large trash bag was filled with many things, mostly books that were a gift for the Yonohoans.  His thick textbook of the works of William Shakespeare was certain to be a welcome gift.


    The shuttle, like the Toormonda, was more than capable of safely pulling errant objects and people into its airlocks with the use of gravity mechanics.  It was also equally capable of delivering their ¡®guests.¡¯  Two Yonohoans had volunteered to come home with the earthlings; Tilandrous, a senator¡¯s aide, and a member of their space force, Etalia.


    The ship wasn¡¯t set to leave for several hours, but the Yonohoan travelers were arriving early to go over the paperwork that the captain was requiring them to sign in order to travel aboard the  Seeker  with the six other returning members of the crew.  It involved all of the paperwork that the humans had been required to sign on Earth, in addition to several new sections which specified that the differences between Yonohoan and Earthling physiology were not well understood to earth science.  It specified that the effects upon Earth humans might not be the best indicator for how a Yonohoan would handle subspace travel, and a number of other factors practical and theoretical.


    Gabriel gave them a nod as they passed each other in space.  Like him, they were wearing only the Yonohoan safety belt with rings around their wrists and ankles to protect them from the harsh environment of space.


    Like him, they were loaded down with burdens.  Gifts?  Personal possessions?  He didn¡¯t know.  He simply nodded to them in passing and allowed the shuttle to pull him aboard in relative silence.


    There was no flight staff to greet him.  Nor was their a pilot.  The ship¡¯s AI directed him on where to store his bag, and then it was suggested that he take a seat and wait.  And that was it.


    After all of the departing staff members had disembarked from the  Seeker , the Yonohoan shuttle silently moved towards the planet, briefly engaging its FTL drive to carry them light-hours through the star system in only a few seconds.


    It would be aboard one of these shuttles that he¡¯d be returning to Earth, he realized.  It wouldn¡¯t even take as long as it took to cross the Atlantic.  He knew that Sol system was hundreds of light years away, but Yonohoan shuttles truly were that fast.


    The shuttle rocked slightly on entrance to the atmosphere, and Gabriel requested that the exterior wall turn transparent so that he could see the fire of their reentry.  It was beautiful.


    Then they were through the ionosphere and the upper atmosphere and into the clouds.  The shuttle carried them straight to the level 2 medical facility which housed the members of the crew who were suffering more severe symptoms from tunnel drive exposure.  While everyone aboard the shuttle more or less had their conditions under control, they intended to get a more detailed examination before leaving the Yonohoan system next week.


    ¡°I¡¯ve left the  Seeker of New Discoveries  behind me,¡± he said to himself.  ¡°A part of my life is over and I¡¯ll never go back to the halls where I discovered intelligent life in the universe.  I reached out from my dungeon aboard the Seeker and found that the universe is full of light.¡±


    ?

 2.7.

    2.7.


    While the Yonohoan ambassadors took their own medicine to render themselves unconscious and drive their brains into a low activity phase during the translation between Yonohoan space and Sol system, the earthlings were given a choice.  They could either select the same medicine that they had always used, or the Yonohoan method.


    The Yonohoans had been questioned about whether or not their stasis technology could protect them through transit.  It seems, however, that the anti-entropic field that they used for stasis would have literally explosive effects when exposed to the energies used in the tunnel drive.


    As he was placing his own IV, Ander¡¯s questioned his decision to use the tradition method.  He wasn¡¯t the only one; the other officer had selected to trust in the earth medicine that had gotten them this far, but Anders didn¡¯t trust her to place his IV.  So he was forced to do it himself.


    When everything and everyone was finally in place, and he was the final one awake aboard the  Seeker , he started the timer, powering up the Tunnel Drive, then pressed the button which would administer the medicine.


    Anders watched the timer as the world began to blue, and abruptly he was unconscious.


    ~~~~~


    Eodar frowned.  He hadn¡¯t left the cockpit for days, but although he saw a pattern to the data that he had pulled from the Earthling¡¯s Toormonda, he couldn¡¯t quite see its center.  He had been jumping around in the general area for days now, looking for signs of a darkworld.


    But of course, the very nature of darkworlds was that they were hard to find.  The military had only come to Totola looking for water.  They hadn¡¯t expected to find the tribes of the Yonohoan people, let alone their oppressors the Topoka.


    He briefly wondered about the source of humans on Earth.  Who had made them, as the Topoka had made Eodar¡¯s ancestors?  Who were their enemies, and how might he convince them to join the swarm?


    He frowned as his sensors picked up something.  Fluctuations in subspace?  Who would try to travel through that cursed dimension when everyone knew that it killed your brain?


    Still, he had no better leads, and they were going into the search area.  Perhaps they were destined for Earth, and he could follow them to his objectives.


    As he calculated the strange signals tragectory through the folds of the universe, he tried again to put his recent memory into order.


    Everything since coming out of stasis aboard the enemy vessel was more or less coherent.  How he had arrived there, in armor which was not only not locked out or limited for training purposes but more powerful and versatile the model he had been trained for.  It fit him perfectly, literally folding into his skin and becoming a natural part of his body.


    It would be a shame to discard it, but his orders were infiltration.  He could always replicate the suit now that his internal nanite generators had the pattern uploaded to them, but he¡¯d have to acquire the mass somehow.


    Once he had calculated the trajectory of the object traveling through subspace, Eodar kicked in the FTL, skimming along in the hyperatomic plane.


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    He slid out in the middle of an asteroid field.  He hadn¡¯t been aiming for the asteroid field, he had simply aimed close enough to the green zone of the star to get a quick idea of whether or not this star would have an inhabitable planet before jumping to the next.


    He pulled up the scanners, and they quickly fed him the information he had been searching for.


    Third planet from the star.  A blue jewel in the night sky; beautiful.  The land was covered in lush green and, surprisingly to Eodar, lights on the darkside signaling the presence of cities.


    Was this another Topoka world?  He frowned, wondering whether the blue-green devels were present in numbers here as well.  He chewed his lip, remembering the day that they dragged his grandfather away from where he had fallen.  They had returned days later with an infant, as though they could replace the wisdom of a clan elder with the burden of another mouth to feed.


    Eodar scanned the system and found a number of space assets giving off various bands of radio and microwave radiation.  He began searching for meaning in the patterns of the signals, as he once searched for meaning in the Rocktala.


    He frowned, remembering the trouble that had caused him recently.  He had only been tuning in to the command channel as a joke; he hadn¡¯t understood what the officers were saying so there was not  real  breech.  But when it had been discovered that he understood how to unlock the Rockata so that it broadcast all messages instead of only the ones sent to the trainees, he had been pulled from training for seven days.


    Rather than being punished, however, he was questioned relentlessly on how he had done it.  He was surprised to find that his superiors were troubled by the revelations that the Rocktala messages could be hijacked.  Eodar had thought that it was obvious that they were insecure; the patterns behind the few security measures which could be in placed were only three or four variables.  Once you had the basic patterns down ¨C and Eodar was very good with patterns ¨C then it was just a matter of teaching the machine how to recognize and decode the message.


    Explaining had been difficult.  He only understood the basic commands he was issued in High Command; he relied on the translation matrix for all finer details in his lessons from the officers.  The officers had been frustrated to learn how woefully inadequate their translation program was for his native language, but they had patiently encouraged him to explain how he had unlocked his Rocktala to them each time.  How he could unlock any Rocktala given a few minutes and a chance to observe its emissions.


    He hadn¡¯t understood why it was such a big deal.  He was a scout.  He was supposed to spy on the enemy.  Was not spying on their communications part of his duty?


    He arrived before the massive object that traveled through subspace.  He noted that it was large, spherical, and ugly.  He kept an eye on it, watching it for emissions.


    Sure enough, moments after it had arrived, radiowaves emerged from it.  Eodar played with the waves, letting their pattern tickle his mind as he searched for patterns in them.  He saw them in almost no time and played the message as sound.


    ¡° This is an automated recording from the Seeker of New Discoveries.  We are returning home ahead of schedule.  Our science mission was successful.  Repeat, science objectives were met.  Crew will awaken in approximately eight minutes.  Request debrief and diplomatic liaisons for all spacefaring nations of earth.  We found something out there that you¡¯re not going to believe.¡±


    Eodar nodded.  He recognized none of the words except for one.  He bumped the ship¡¯s computer with his attack programs, forcing it to put the words through its translation matrix, and he smiled with pleasure.


    He had located earth, which was naturally the first step of his mission.


    The next was infiltration.


    But he was in no hurry.  A proper infiltration would take weeks of preparation.  He would stay where he was and observe for a while yet.  Eventually the time would come to make his move.  In the mean time, the black little fighter craft would remain utterly silent among the debris that failed to form a planet during the foundation of this solar system billions of years ago.


    ?

 2.8.

    2.8.


    Eolai¡¯s strength gave out, and Diego caught him before he collapsed.  The Yonohoan man was heavier than he looked, even missing an arm, but Diego was stronger than he¡¯d once been thanks to the weeks of exercise aboard the Yonohoan flagship and the enhancement of military grade medical nanites.  The young sergeant had to be cautious to avoid injuring the patient with his strength.


    ¡°Good.  You¡¯re doing good, Eolai,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Do not patronize me.  These injuries are not healing as fast as they should be,¡± Eolai said, sounding annoyed at the frailty of his own body.  ¡°It disgusts me, but it seems that my father employed weapons which damaged the nanites in my body.  I am fortunate that he did not have the ability to turn my own body against me completely, or I fear that I would be nothing but a puddle of blood at this point.¡±


    ¡°How can I help you recover, Eolai?¡± Diego asked.  He looked around; they were in the exercise room of the flagship, but the familiar environment did not bring comfort.  The bodies of the Topokans killed in the attack remained where they had fallen.


    ¡°I need to get to a hospital ship to receive a new arm and to have my nanite systems rejuvenated.  Unfortunately, it seems that Bob is even more critically injured than I am,¡± Eolai said.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s strange that nobody has come for us, isn¡¯t it?¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Not exactly.  In order to defend itself from attacks, the networks which connect the flagship to the rest of the fleet are set to self destruct immediately when they detect the invasion of virtual viruses and hostile attack programs,¡± Eolai explained.  ¡°Additionally, it is standard policy to disconnect from them when engaging in covert activities.  The fleet likely knows that we are missing, but they may not realize that we are in need of assistance.¡±


    ¡°What sort of reason would they not be looking for us?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°They might believe that we are making pilgrimages to see some of the sights where our father stood and fell defending the worlds of the helpless and the innocent,¡± Eolai said.  ¡°As brothers and sons of Eodar, it is both our duty to pay our respects to the many lives and deaths of our father, and it is also our privilege to do so in solemn silence.  If the local governments knew of such a pilgrimage, it would help confirm the location of Earth, as it would narrow down the search area to this wing of the milky way galaxy.  For that reason and many others I might create a distraction and go silent to take you somewhere sacred with me.¡±


    ¡°Why do you think that Eodar attacked you, Eolai?¡± Diego asked.  ¡°I thought he was a great diplomat.¡±


    ¡°He is young.  So young that he might not realize that he is not the original Eodar.  He is likely displaced from time and circumstances and believes that he is still in the very earliest stages of the Liberation.  They would not have told him that they were capturing his imprint; it was common when the imprints of children were taken to withhold such information from the subject.¡±


    ¡°Why would they do that?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°So that the child would not be afraid of death,¡± Eolai said.  He grew solemn.  ¡°The method used for the technology you are calling ¡®flash cloning¡¯ destroys the original in order to make a copy, Diego.  The imprint is not simply data, it is a perfect record of a being as it was in a specific moment of time.  In order to obtain that data, the original is destroyed utterly.  Not even bones and ash are left from the body.¡±


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    Diego felt sick.  ¡°You said he believed he was twelve years old,¡± Diego said.  ¡°Someone did that, used a technology like that, on a child?¡±


    ¡°The liberation wars saw the use of terrible weapons and tools, Brother Diego.  Our father was far from the only child who was slain in the name of ¡®the greater good.¡¯  It is our responsibility, as his son, to find the imprints of Eodar and erase them so that he cannot be continually brought back to life against his will,¡± Eodar explained.


    ¡°It is?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°Yes.  It is the solemn belief of Eodar that when he passes from the light of this world, he will walk with our ancestors in the universe of the afterlife with the honored dead.  Each time he is resurrected, he believes that he is snatched from that fate and forced into the torment of this universe once more,¡± Eolai explained.  ¡°To him, it is a grave and dishonorable sin to end his life.  Many of his decisions are based upon the religious teachings of the ancient Yonohoans, which are not always as reasonable as the modern version of our religious practices.¡±


    ¡°Are we ¡­ are we expected to kill him?¡± Diego asked nervously.


    ¡°No.  But we are expected to ensure that no drastic measures are used to extend his life that he does not consent to,¡± Eolai said.  ¡°It is for that reason why Eodar is permitted to kill the Topokans.  They are not allowed to play ¡®shrodinger¡¯s cat¡¯ with Eodar as I have permitted them to do with me.¡±


    ¡°But we also can¡¯t leave him just wandering the universe with the false belief that he is eighty thousand years in the past,¡± Diego pointed out.  ¡°And the last time you tried to tell him that the war was over, he nearly killed you.¡±


    ¡°And yet it is my duty to try and try again to rescue our father from the torment that his resurrection brings him,¡± Eolai said.  He sighed.  ¡°I had believed that this is one duty of being a Son of Eodar which would never fall upon my shoulders.  But with the privileges of my position come the responsibilities.  I shall fulfill my duties and ensure that Eodar is rescued from whatever forces are ensnaring him, and I will see to it that he leads a life of as much happiness and joy as is possible to provide him with.  Then, even if it means that I am no longer the Last Son of Eodar, I will ensure that he returns to the city of the dead to walk with his honored ancestors, and mine, until the day in which I join them.¡±


    At that moment, a hologram flickered to life nearby.


    ¡°Renosa!  You have found us,¡± Eolai exclaimed.


    The Yonohoan woman looked grim.  ¡°You have been attacked.  Tell me who would dare do such a thing to the Last Son of Eodar so that we may call in the alliances and wipe the perpetrator from the light of this universe,¡± she declared.


    ¡°My father has returned to us, Renosa,¡± Eolai said gravely.  ¡°I attempted to bring him the closure that his torments and time of service in humanity were over, but he is so very young this time.  He did not believe me.  He thought that I was an enemy attempting to use and ensnare him in a web of illusions and lies.¡±


    Renosa turned serious.  ¡°I shall tell the others.  You do not stand alone in your solemn and sworn duties, Eolai.  We will stand with you through this time.¡±


    ¡°Thank you,¡± Eolai said.  ¡°But it must go no further than the watchers of the tombs.  The universe cannot know that Eodar is alive once more.  Not until he has returned to the afterlife can his existence be acknowledged for the sake of the unsteady peace which his past lives have purchased.¡±


    ¡°Of course.  You are injured.  I invite you to my ship for the treatment of your injuries, and I shall send the Topoka to guard the souls of their fallen brethren aboard your own ship, and to return it to service,¡± she said.


    ¡°Thank you, Renosa.  You were always the reliable one.¡±


    ?

 2.9.

    2.9.


    The days since the unexpected return of Project Seeker had been busy, exhausting, and exciting for Major Mary Phillips.  She had barely slept, drinking coffee by the pot in order to stay alert as she processed the information as it came in from the secured data stream.  While it was regretful that the initial broadcast of the  Seeker  had gone out to everyone involved in the  Seeker ¡¯s mission, and a number of news organizations had been alerted to the recordings, the majority of the ship¡¯s revelations about the place of humanity in the greater universe remained top secret.


    And would continue to do so for a few days longer, at which point the Yonohoans would arrive with their diplomatic delegation.  After that, disclosure was inevitable.


    Mary did not envy the decision makers who would be responsible for negotiating with the aliens and attempting to establish advantages for the peoples of earth and specifically their individual governments and corporations.  Her duty was to provide those people with reliable and accurate information, which meant cutting through the bullshit and getting to the golden core of the truth.


    Which, unfortunately, meant that she was forced to perform what was basically skype calls that had a two hour delay between asking a question and receiving an answer.


    ¡°To answer your question about what sort of weapons the Yonohoans possess; the answer is all of them.  We have the imprints of every weapon which was used throughout the liberation war and almost every weapon that has been developed during the time of peace which has followed,¡± Etalia explained.  ¡°Almost any weapon that has been manufactured within the last one hundred thousand years is available to the Yonohoan military.¡±


    ¡°To answer the question of which weapons we are willing to share with your militaries, the answer becomes more complicated.  Once we have given you a weapon we become responsible for how it is used.  We must spend some time familiarizing ourselves with the mindsets of your rulers, and the history of your military organizations and their past actions and doctrine, before coming to any conclusions,¡± the representative of the Yonohoan self-defense fleet explained.  ¡°I will not make promises for my people at this time, except to say that we meet honor with honor and trust with trust.  If you openly share your history with us and do not hide the blemishes, we will see that as an effort to learn from past mistakes and prefer that stance to attempting to deceive us with sweet words on top of festering wounds.¡±


    Her Yonohoan counterpart continued speaking for some time while Mary formulated her response question.  The politicians weren¡¯t going to like some of the answers that they were getting from the two aliens who remained aboard the  Seeker .   She  liked the aliens, what she had seen of them so far.  They were open and honest and while they waxed on sounding formal and serious, they had a playful side which often showed through.  And they got straight to the point.


    The recording ended when the alien reached the final question that had been transmitted two hours ago, and Mary began reading the list of new questions for the representative.  ¡°While I understand your concern about arming us with dangerous weapons, I must also ask which technologies might be given to us for use in peace time but which have the potential to be transformed into weapons.  One of the many struggles which planet Earth currently faces is the energy crisis.  We are largely reliant on fossil fuels in order to provide our people with the standard of living which they have come to expect.  Are there any technologies which the Yonohoans might be willing to share to help ameliorate this crisis?¡±


    She framed and asked a few more questions, such as whether Yonohoans had any technology which would help restore planet Earth¡¯s fragile ecosystems which continued to take a battering, then turned her attention to the recording from the representative of the Yonohoan senate, Tilandrous, aide to Senator Osantos.


    ¡°The simplest answer as to what the Yonohoans expect to gain from reaching out our hand in friendship is that we hope to gain a new friend,¡± Tilandrous stated.  ¡°Much of the might of the Yonohoan people comes not from the might of our individual forces but the promises of retribution from our mutual defense pacts.  While these pacts also require a significant amount of maintenance, they remain a stabilizing force throughout the universe at large.  We wish to include Earth in that umbrella without tainting your autonomy or affecting your development in ways which you might find distasteful.  I understand that this will be a delicate and intricate balancing act, and I look forward to reaching and developing compromises with your leadership.


    ¡°One of the more pressing matters is the question of the laws regarding the earthling concept of ¡®copyright.¡¯  You should understand, to the Yonohoans, the most significant export of earth is not its material wealth, but its culture.  We must figure out how to disseminate your works of entertainment, music, philosophy and history in a way which ¡­¡±


    The Yonohoan politician droned on for longer than the military representative, as was often the case, but in the end Mary had marked down a few significant takeaways.  The fact that the Yonohoans didn¡¯t give a crap about oil, gold, or other valuables was noteworthy.  They would treasure gifts with history and meaning.  A handcrafted lanyard from a gas station was probably worth more to them than an entire bar of gold bullion, provided that it came with the proper story of how it changed hands to come into their possession.


    Or at least that was her understanding of what Tilandrous was attempting to communicate.


    Mary had the mental image of a museum in the stars filled with hubcaps and detritus from a junkyard, with plaques describing the models and histories of the discarded objects and describing their usage.


    One man¡¯s trash, as they say.


    When she had concluded reviewing the Senator¡¯s response to her last set of questions, she began asking the next series of questions which she had either been assigned to ask, or which she had personally thought of in the hours since she¡¯d last sent a communique to the senate representative.


    A ping from her phone interrupted her, but she finished her current line of questioning before checking it.  A second ping, and she stopped what she was doing immediately and reached for the device.  The second alert was marked as high-priority, and she quickly scanned the information within.


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    There was none, just an urgent command to report to the conference room for an emergency meeting.


    She quickly sent off her incomplete questions to Tilandrous with an apology that her next response may be delayed due to factors on the planet requiring her attention, then she left to find out what this was all about.


    She frowned as she joined the others to a briefing that was already underway.


    ¡°The object remains unidentified.  We don¡¯t know how long it has been there, but the asteroid monitoring satellites picked up its thermal signature approximately three hours ago.  When we turned an optical telescope onto the area to see what it was, this is the image we received,¡± the general was reporting.


    The projected image showed a spacecraft that oozed with malevolence.  It looked like a personal fighter craft to Mary¡¯s trained eye, designed for traveling within an atmosphere.


    ¡°If this craft was sent by the Yonohoans, that means that they are violating their own stated ideals and intentions regarding our autonomy,¡± one of the officers in the room said.  ¡°The presence of an uninvited armed craft within our solar system is an affront to our sovereignty.


    ¡°It may not be the Yonohoans,¡± someone pointed out.  ¡°According to the returnees, many factions are searching for Earth.  This might be a new player or polity.¡±


    ¡°What do the representatives from the alien government have to say about the matter?  Do they know yet?¡± another officer inquired.


    Eyes turned to Mary, who shook her head.  ¡°If they know they haven¡¯t said anything.  It is possible that this is an armed escort meant to protect their diplomats covertly.  It is also possible that it is from the force which intercepted the  Keeper of Dreams  and caused the data breech that Captain Anders reported.  I will include questions for the representatives of the Yonohoan government during my next communique if that is the recommendation of the council.¡±


    The room nodded, and the matter was discussed at length.


    ~~~~~~


    Eodar was napping when the alert from the ship¡¯s computer brought him back to wakefulness.  A directional burst of unencrypted radio and microwave radiation had just hit his location.  Part of it appeared to be active scanning methods using radar and other methods, but the majority was the unencrypted method of communicating sound that the Earthlings used to speak to each other over vast distances.


    He turned off the music that he had been listening too from one of the ¡®radio stations¡¯ from the surface and pulled up the message which had been sent to him.


    ¡° Unknown spacecraft, identify yourself and your intentions.  I repeat, to the unknown spacecraft receiving this message, the Earth Space force demands that you identify yourself and your intensions .¡±


    Eodar tsked.  He¡¯d been spotted.  While the Earthlings were primitive, he¡¯d underestimated them.  He wondered what had given him away to their monitoring network, but then again his ship wasn¡¯t built for stealth.


    A modern foe would have spotted it before it arrived in system.  That it had taken them days to even know he was there indicated their lack of technological advancement.


    He didn¡¯t bother responding.  Instead, he decided it was time to move to the next stage of his plan.


    Infiltration.


    He grabbed the controls of the ship manually and skimmed along space, bringing himself into orbit around the third planet from the sun.  He prepared for atmospheric entry.


    There was a chance, he knew, that he was about to die.  Insertion was the most dangerous part of infiltration, and even if they were savages, he knew better than to underestimate them.


    The shuttle that he had stolen rocked as it fell to earth like a shooting star.


    Hypersonic jets were scrambled all across the planet as the unidentified ship made its approach.  They had already been in the air in a holding pattern, launched moments after it was first detected.  One squad was in position to intercept the spacecraft as it came in on approach, and the five-aircraft team intercepted the alien ship in the stratosphere.


    Demands were made to reply with intentions, to reduce speed, to alter its course.  The ship responded with silence at first.


    The aircraft of the earth¡¯s military was given orders to issue a warning shot.  With a Brrrt, the ships began firing at the sleek black spacecraft in a short, controlled burst designed intentionally to miss.


    The response from the ship was a burst of energy which passed within inches of the squadron leader and exploded just beyond the fighter jet.  The heat of the energy passing so nearby chipped the paint and warped the hull of the aircraft.


    Rather than back off, the squad went weapons free, launching air-to-air missiles and firing their guns with lethal intentions this time.  The spacecraft, while designed for in-atmosphere maneuvering, was struck multiple times by the planet¡¯s defenders.


    Heavily damaged, the ship crash landed in the forests of the state of Washington.  It burst into flames moments after its crash landing, the explosion expansive and prolonged.  Helicopters and local law enforcement scrambled to reach the location and secure the landing site, most of the men and women involved having no idea what they were involved with but following the orders that came down from on high.


    Nobody noticed the small humanoid figure that had ejected hundreds of miles away from the craft, disguised as one of many pieces of falling debris.  At first it appeared to be no more than another piece of the black spacecraft breaking off, and then stealth technology which was beyond the scope of the technologies of Earth engaged, causing it to vanish midair.


    ?

 2.10.

    2.10.


    Diego watched as the shuttle sped over the dark terrain beneath them.  After boarding Renosa¡¯s ship, Eolai had undergone another medical examination in which it was determined that the level 2 medical facility on planet Totola would be sufficient to replace his lost arm and to reprogram the nanites in his body which were currently disabled or only partially functional.  They had made for Yonohoan space with all haste, leaving behind several Topokans to reclaim and repair Eolai¡¯s flagship.


    ¡°You hanging in there, Eolai?¡± Diego asked his brother-by-choice.


    ¡°I am feeling no pain,¡± Eolai said.  ¡°However, I should not be allowed to make any significant life decisions in the next few hours beyond those required to return me to health.  The medicine that Renosa is insisting I take is very effective, but it also clouds my judgment and impairs my mind.¡±


    ¡°You got the good stuff, huh?¡± Diego mused.  He sighed.  ¡°Everything has gone to shit.¡±


    ¡°All is not lost,¡± Eolai countered.  ¡°While it is true that the situation is complex and dire, the truth is that this galaxy is one of the better options for a young version of Father to go rogue.  There are very few non-human societies for him to target for infiltration and destruction, if he believes that is his mission.¡±


    ¡°Thank god for small miracles,¡± Diego said.


    They passed across the dark continent and came to the medical facility just as dawn was hitting the horizon.  The shuttle¡¯s reactionless engines whined slightly as they decelerated the craft from hypersonic speeds to a hover just above a helipad before setting down.


    Inside the craft, Diego felt not a sliver of inertia.


    They disembarked, and Diego was slightly surprised to find eight Yonohoans waiting for them.  He could tell through subtle hints that he had picked up over the last few weeks that these were not holograms; the people were physically present.  It was the largest group of Yonohoans that Diego had ever met, and they were here to take care of Eolai¡¯s injuries.


    Eolai was practically forced onto a hovering gurney and sedated.  Diego made to follow, but one of the Yonohoans stopped him.


    ¡°It is only his meat that is wounded,¡± Trenola said dismissively. ¡°The medical team is more than capable of seeing to his recovery, and they will be busy with correcting the damage done to his body for several hours.  In the mean time, I am Trenola.  I am a doctor by the standards of your world, and I have been heavily involved in the care of your crewmate, Sarah.  I require your assistance in lancing one of the wounds to her soul so that she may begin to heal properly.¡±


    Diego watched as the unconscious Eolai was taken away, into the Yonohoan¡¯s version of emergency surgery.  He frowned, but turned to Trenola and gave her his full attention.


    ¡°I understand.  I¡¯ve been refraining from contacting Sarah or sending her messages due to the advice of Doctor Liu Wei.  You believe that it is time to change that?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I believe it is the time for several difficult conversations,¡± Trenola said.  ¡°But they should not begin out here.  Come to a sitting room and I shall make you comfortable, and then we will discuss matters of healing.¡±


    Diego followed Trenola into the hospital, noting some of the differences from the ones he had visited on Earth in the past.  There were fewer corners and sharp edges; hallways twisted and curved in natural feeling patterns rather than going straight.  The rooms had a gentle curving edge to them rather than the straight lines of Earthling construction.


    And, of course, there were the floating lights to consider.  Rather than florescent lights built into the ceiling, a series of floating orbs lit up as Diego and Trenola made their way past.  They gave off a soft warm light, feeling natural and refreshing to Diego.  Like light from the sun, rather than the sterile feeling of a light bulb.


    The colors were full of earthy tones, with blues and reds mixed in.  Here and there were drawings upon the wall that looked like finger paints.  Trenola noticed his eyes lingering on them and nodded.


    ¡°Many of our patients who remain with us have childlike impulses, including the impulse to leave a mark behind them.  If it does not impair the functioning of the facility, efforts are made to preserve these marks.  The mural that you are looking at right now has been contributed to by thirty-eight individuals in the past,¡± she explained.


    ¡°So you let your patients draw on the wall.  That¡¯s cool,¡± he commented.


    The pair entered a room where several seats and an oblong table awaited them.  Trenola encouraged him to make himself comfortable, retrieving a pair of mugs from the kitchen area and filling them with a familiar smelling beverage.


    ¡°You like coffee?¡± he inquired.


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    ¡°No, but I am told that you do,¡± Trenola explained.  ¡°It is polite to share a cuppa with someone when you have a serious discussion, is it not?  Or am I making assumptions about your culture that are not accurate.¡±


    ¡°Sharing a cup of coffee with someone is a polite way of socializing in this circumstance,¡± Diego agreed.  ¡°But if you don¡¯t like it then I wouldn¡¯t insist that you drink the same beverage as me.  You can have whatever you want instead.¡±


    ¡°I shall have coffee,¡± Trenola said simply.  ¡°However, I have loaded mine up with a significant amount of sucrose.¡±


    ¡°You like yours sweet, huh?  I¡¯ll take mine black, no sugar,¡± Diego said.


    When the coffee cups were distributed, Diego took a sip and made a face.  It was terrible.  It was based on the instant coffee that they had aboard the  Seeker , rather than a properly brewed version of the drink.


    But it was coffee, and it was strong, and it touched something in Diego¡¯s soul.  A little connection to his life back on Earth; breakfast with his mother and abeula perhaps.  He sipped his drink and waited for Trenola to begin the conversation.


    ¡°Is it permissible to bring Captain Moon and Doctor Liu Wei into this conversation?¡± Trenola inquired.


    ¡°They¡¯re the ones who are helping to make decisions for her, right?¡± Diego said.  ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s probably for the best.¡±


    A moment later, holograms of the two women appeared in the room with Diego and Trenola.  Liu looked disheveled from sleep, while Captain Moon appeared to have been caught exercising.


    ¡°The opportunity has arisen for Sergeant Cruz to speak with our patient directly.  I believe that Sarah is in a difficult place emotionally, but she has reached the point in her treatment where she is stable and comfortable in her environment.  I believe that now is the best time to show her the reality of her situation and attempt to bring her out of her delusional state,¡± Trenola explained.  ¡°But I am not an Earthling, so my judgment on how to treat the patient should be questioned by those of her culture.  I therefore defer the decision on how to involve Sergeant Cruz in the care of the patient to you, Doctor Wei and Captain Moon.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to start with a sensitive question,¡± Doctor Wei said.  ¡°It is important that you answer honestly, Diego.  Have you at any time in the past engaged in sexual activity with the patient?¡±


    Diego blushed, but calmly and firmly denied it.


    ¡°Sarah believes otherwise,¡± Liu informed him.  ¡°She believes that you had been sneaking into her room to carry on a romantic and sexual relationship while aboard the  Seeker .  We¡¯ve independently investigated the matter and concluded that there was no evidence, and you have never been accused of any wrongdoing in the matter.  Her delusions and apparent hallucinations are a symptom of the progression of her disease and not a reflection on your character, Sergeant.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s ¡­ troubling,¡± Diego said.  He sighed.  ¡°If she were well, and we were both back on Earth, I could see myself asking her out for a date and seeing where things went from there.  I¡¯ve told her as much in my efforts to reject her with dignity.  But that is very, very far from the current situation.¡±


    ¡°What differences do you see?  Your perception on the matter is important,¡± Captain Moon said.


    ¡°Well to begin with we were crewmates.  There is a strict no fraternization policy aboard the  Seeker  for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the concern of what effect the Tunnel Drive would have on a fetus,¡± Diego explained.  ¡°But it would also have been unprofessional of me and set a poor standard for the rest of the crew.  So that¡¯s why when she first approached me I refused to even consider the matter.¡±


    ¡°That is an understandable approach,¡± Captain Moon agreed.  ¡°I would have done the same in your situation, I believe.¡±


    ¡°Right.  Well, except that it didn¡¯t end with me explaining that to her,¡± Diego said.  ¡°In fact, it seemed to make things worse.  She got the idea that the only thing holding us back from being together was the mission and the policy that we agreed to, and started trying to make me agree to plans once we returned to Earth.  I reported the situation but nothing happened.¡±


    ¡°And that was a failure of leadership on the part of me and your superior officers, Diego,¡± Captain Moon admitted.  ¡°For which I humbly apologize.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I know,¡± Diego said.  ¡°Anyway, I do want Sarah to recover and get better.  I¡¯m willing to help in whatever way I can.  Except for the obvious.  I will not pretend to have feelings for her which I do not have, and I will not engage in a relationship with a patient whose psychiatric condition prevents her from fully understanding or consenting.¡±


    ¡°An understandable and admirable stance,¡± Liu Wei agreed.  She exchanged glances with the other women, then nodded.  ¡°I believe that it is time for you to meet with Sarah and pop the soap bubble of the delusions that she has laboring under.  This confrontation will cause her pain, but it takes pain to cut away the dead tissue of an infection, and it takes pain to set a bone that has been broken.  Until you reject her and make it clear that you will never be together, and that you will never reciprocate her feelings, she will hold out hope to the contrary.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re asking me to completely devastate her,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Unfortunately, I believe that is what it will take,¡± Liu agreed.


    Diego sighed.  ¡°Okay.  I¡¯m not happy about it, but I¡¯ll do it.  For Sarah.¡±


    ?

 2.11.

    2.11.


    Diego spoke with Sarah¡¯s care team for some time before requesting an update on Eolai prior to the confrontation.  Diego was informed that the surgery was going well; the nanites in Eolai¡¯s body were taking to the rejuvenation procedure well, allowing them to finally heal some of the less critical wounds that he had suffered in the battle with his father.


    The cloning of his replacement arm was also going well, with the procedure expecting to be finished within an hour.  After that would be the surgical attachment of the limb, which was relatively routine.  The most difficult aspect of the procedure would be growing the nerve connections which would allow Eolai to control the replacement limb; despite Yonohoan medical technology, that would be a slow and painful process.


    The sun was up before Diego was finally escorted to a comfortable outdoor waiting area near a stream.  Sarah was nearby looking at the water, her toes in the spring, when she noticed him.  She exclaimed in joy and ran over to meet him, attempting to embrace him.


    He calmly and firmly caught her and kept her from becoming too intimate with him.


    ¡°You¡¯re real,¡± she exclaimed.  ¡°I knew you¡¯d come.  I was worried that it would just be another hologram, though.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m here,¡± he agreed.  ¡°Sarah, we need to talk.¡±


    She eagerly agreed.  She grew less enthused as the talk progressed.  When the words ¡°I don¡¯t love you, and I¡¯m sorry but I¡¯m afraid I never will,¡± were said, she began crying.  She held it together long enough for them to go through the differences between her reality and Diego¡¯s.


    How he had been impacted by her unwanted romantic and sexual advances.  How he had noticed her slipping into her delusions and attempted to get her help.  How he saw her as a crewmate and a friend, but nothing more.  How her psychiatric condition and fixation on him meant that she could never truly consent to a sexual relationship with him.


    She listened through the tears, refusing to allow the emotions welling within her to win and rob her of her dignity.


    They did not hug when they parted.  They did not even shake hands.  Diego reached out for her, but she flinched, and he nodded.


    ¡°Be well, Sarah,¡± He said in parting.  ¡°I hope that you recover.  I think it¡¯s best if we don¡¯t see too much of each other from now on, but I really hope that you can overcome your current struggles and find happiness.¡±


    In the end, she sat by the little stream, watching the tadpole like fish analogues nibble at her toes, and she wept, watched over by unseen watchers who were ready to intervene should she require it.  The tears were tears of healing, the heartbreak she felt was the breaking of a poorly mended bone prior to the bone being reset.


    ~~~~~~


    ¡°So in conclusion, the aliens deny having knowledge about who or what it is that we shot down in Washington State,¡± Mary reported.  ¡°They identify it as a common model of a personal shuttle which a citizen of their society can purchase through the open market.  Apparently it¡¯s no more difficult than obtaining a muscle car for them.  They insist that their official government had no knowledge or involvement and that there will be no official retribution for shooting whoever it was down.  The senatorial aide who returned with Project Seeker   specifically said ¡®We Yonohoans understand the Earthling concept of ¡®fuck around and find out.¡¯  We respect your actions to defend your airspace and would have done the same in your position.¡¯  They do acknowledge that their society isn¡¯t perfectly monolithic, and that organizations outside of their official channels might have had a hand in the incident.


    ¡°I have also, as requested, questioned them upon the device that appeared in the Lagrange point several weeks ago.  They have confirmed that one of the languages that the jamming device was broadcasting on was High-Yonohoan.  They have stated that they do not speak the high-form of the language.  Apparently it¡¯s like Latin, they preserve it but do not use it except for official purposes.


    ¡°I will now read the translation that they provided.  ¡®We have fulfilled our side throughout the eons.  The Last Son of Eodar has set in motion events which cannot be accurately predicted.  Events which may bring about the great darkness, or which may bring light and connection to the universe.  The weapon which seeks enemy and finds allies is loose once more in its most unpredictable form.  Earth must be preserved at all costs.¡¯  The message then repeats the english message, more or less.  They say that there are some nuances to the Yonohoan version of the message which do not translate well.¡±


    She concluded her report, and the men and women of the council exchanged looks.  ¡°How go the efforts of reclaiming the wreckage in Washington?¡± one man asked finally.


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    ¡°It¡¯s still on fire.  We¡¯re lucky that it¡¯s not radioactive, but it¡¯s burning too hot to approach,¡± came the answer.  ¡°The forest fire that was set by the crash is mostly under control, but the vessel itself appears to be self-combusting.  No attempts to extinguish it with standard materials have been successful.¡±


    ¡°At least we know that we can defend ourselves against them,¡± an older general commented.  ¡°The fact that it was outclassed by our aircraft once it hit the atmosphere should bring us all some sort of comfort.¡±


    Mary held her tongue.  She wasn¡¯t entirely certain what had happened when the spacecraft had engaged in the dogfight, but she had a sense that something wasn¡¯t as it appeared.


    ¡°So, either a rogue element of the Yonohoan government is responsible, or it¡¯s one of the many unknown factions of the intergalactic networks that they claim exist,¡± someone said.  ¡°Do we have any idea what their motivation was?¡±


    ¡°Surveillance, I would assume,¡± another aide said.


    Mary shook her head.  ¡°If it was simply surveillance, then they would have fled when their stealth craft was detected in the asteroid belt,¡± she argued.  She looked around the table at the old men and women with bars on their shoulders to match or exceed her own.  ¡°I think it was an infiltration gone wrong.  We couldn¡¯t track them once they went FTL, it was only when they hit the atmosphere that they reappeared on radar.  According to the Yonohoans, humanoid is the most common shape and form of aliens in the universe, and if their own appearance is anything to indicate the norm, it would be very easy for one of the other humanoid races to infiltrate our society.¡±


    ¡°If it  was  a black ops mission from the Yonohoans, how do we respond?¡± one of the younger men questioned.  ¡°After all, if they got caught with their hands in the cookie jar, of course they would deny it.¡±


    ¡°First we have to prove it, and we don¡¯t have the evidence to do that,¡± Mary stated.  ¡°At least if we were going to take an official stance on the matter.¡±


    ¡°They are presently the only ones who know where we are,¡± the speaker pointed out.


    ¡°They¡¯re the only ones that we¡¯ve intentionally disclosed our location to,¡± Mary clarified.  ¡°There¡¯s a difference.  The unknown military agent who stopped the  Keeper  to question Captain Moon and her staff could have utilized the intelligence that he or she or they acquired from the stop in order to triangulate our position as well.¡±


    ¡°The agent who boarded the Toormonda ship, which I point out again was a gift from the Yonohoans and that the unknown agent possessed override codes for, spoke their language,¡± the man insisted.


    ¡°No, the agent spoke a dead language that the modern language was derived from,¡± Mary argued.  ¡°It would be like a traffic cop pulling you over and speaking middle-english.  It makes no sense to anyone.¡±


    The debate shuffled around for a while as various opinions were put forth and either shot down, tabled, or discussed.  The simple fact was that nobody knew exactly what had happened, and that was damn troublesome.


    ¡°How the hell are we going to secure our world if we can¡¯t even tel where someone is coming into the solar system from?¡± someone objected.


    ¡°The Yonohoans have offered to build us defense stations which they say will help us scan the traffic in and around the local star cluster,¡± Mary volunteered.  ¡°They¡¯re not willing to provide us with ¡®advanced¡¯ weaponry yet, but scanner technology is definitely on the table.¡±


    ¡°Which is just great, because I¡¯m certain that there will be no backdoor into these scanner stations which will allow them to keep a thumb on us,¡± the same man said snidely.  ¡°We need to develop our own countermeasures and not rely entirely on the aliens.¡±


    ¡°I agree.  The problem is that until we figure out how all of the alien tech works, we have no way of countering it,¡± Mary pointed out.  ¡°My recommendation is that we accept the gifts that the Yonohoans are offering and use them to reverse-engineer the effects and/or find our own countermeasures to them.¡±


    ¡°Our missiles seem to have a proven track record,¡± the man pointed out.  ¡°Two for two by my count.¡±


    The debate continued into the small hours of the morning.  Mary sighed.  Nobody was trusting the hand that the Yonohoans were extending in friendship, and she couldn¡¯t blame them.  The incidents of alien forces invading Sol space may or may not have been factions within their government or non-government agencies, but it wasn¡¯t like the official representation of Earth was above sending in a black-ops team to gather intelligence or complete objectives in their rival and peer nations.


    There was no simple solution to the situation.  In the end, Mary was assigned to continue negotiations with the Yonohoans aboard the  Seeker  under the presumption of their government¡¯s innocence until such time as evidence was presented to the contrary.


    Exhausted, she slept for three hours after the meeting broke up, and then resumed her long-distance calls with Tilandrous and Etalia.


    ?

 2.12.

    2.12.


    Eodar ran.


    He kept his suit¡¯s stealth systems engaged, the active camouflage rendering him nearly invisible to the human eye, allowing him to pass through roads and around towns and cities as he made distance from his landing sight.


    His suit was low on power, however, and it would lose its stealth capabilities and weapon systems soon.


    For some reason, there were wires running everywhere with high levels of electrical current running through them.  Eodar questioned their purpose, but they were ultimately useless to him at this stage in his infiltration.  His suit didn¡¯t run off of an electrical battery or capacitor, but off of a reserve of strange-matter that provided a reserve of energy of a sort for which there were no english words.


    And his reserves were nearly empty.  He¡¯d come to consciousness with only forty-percent power.  Stealth was an expensive system to run, but not compared to the inertial compensator aerial recovery insertion system.  The ICARIS had run him down to nearly fifteen percent.  His stealth was running on fumes.


    He avoided habitation for now, and made his way into a large forested area.  He disengaged his stealth systems when he found a cave with a stream of water nearby.  He made a fire, using the traditional Yonohoan methods rather than his suit¡¯s energy systems, and he spent a few moments watching the flames dance.


    He thought of home.  Of his early childhood, sitting around the fire and listening to his clan members tell the tales of how they thought the world was.


    Before the night of the meteors, when the scouts from the stars had come to the People of the Yonohoah.


    He remembered that night as well, and he thought of the parallels to his own situation.  The scouts in that mission had been ordered to make contact with Eodar¡¯s people, while Eodar¡¯s own mission required stealth, but the purpose was the same.


    Evaluate the planet for any evidence of the enemies of mankind.  Report the finding to High-Command.  Await further instructions.


    He removed his helmet and set it nearby.  The air on this planet was musty and thick, heavy with moisture.  He had grown up in a savanna, with sweet smelling grasses and dry heat.  His suit mostly regulated his body temperature just fine.  He didn¡¯t need the fire to keep warm; he had built it for other reasons.


    He sighed and made a rocktala from a stone.  The Rocktala was primitive, barely intelligent enough to understand it¡¯s purpose, but the nanites in his suit quickly transformed the rock into a thinking device and Eodar threw it into the fire so that it could generate the power necessary to fulfill it¡¯s functions.


    ¡°I am Eodar of the Yonohoan.  Forward Scout Rank 2 of the human liberation forces out of Totola space.  I do not know how long ago I was born, I suspect I have been in stasis for some time.  But I have lived for twelve years.  I am a recent graduate of Scout Training, but I have received orders to infiltrate the planet known as Earth and evaluate it for hidden elements of the enemies of humanity.


    ¡°Earth is not entirely undefended, as Totola was when the scouts arrived.  They detected me in the asteroid belt and I was forced to sacrifice my transportation vessel in order to arrive on the planet.  Hopefully, the officials of this world believe that the pilot of the shuttlecraft died when the self-destruct method was engaged.


    ¡°I am currently in a wilderness area.  My suit is low on power, and I will be forced to abandon it soon.  I will attempt to infiltrate Earthling society by posing as one of their children.  It is for this purpose, after all, why scout training typically begins at birth.  I was grateful when High-Command recognized the value of the Yonohoan people and included me into their training program despite being eight years old prior to the training, if you disregard the four years that I spent aboard a Toormonda vessel.¡±


    Eodar continued his report for some time, the small and stupid Rocktala recording his image and his words.  When he finished, he placed the rocktala in the top of a tree to assist its message in being broadcast and set it to issue his report in six months.


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    Then he returned to the fire and continued to watch the flames dance until he fell asleep.


    ~~~~~~~~


    In the morning, he followed the stream from the cave he had slept in for some time.  He was uncertain how to make contact with or infiltrate the human society of this world.  It would help significantly if he knew who their overlords were, as that would tell him much about the shape of their society.  He had been ordered to infiltrate, which hopefully meant that the intelligence of his commanders had determined that he wouldn¡¯t be killed on sight for being an outsider.


    Following the stream led to a lake, and at that lake he had his first encounter with the humans of this world.  Five children were swimming and splashing in its shallow waters.  All boys.  He examined them from a distance with his stealth systems engaged, watching them play while they remained unaware of his presence.


    Unfortunately, he noticed a problem.  Their heads were shaped differently than his.  The difference was small and subtle; their foreheads were more prominent and didn¡¯t have the slight slope that was common in his people.


    He cursed as he realized that this might out him as an outsider, and he realized he was going to have to make an unfortunate sacrifice to protect his cover.


    He returned to the cave for privacy, and he prepared himself.  He brought up a holographic depiction of his image and he modified it to match the features of the humans of this world as he had identified the key characteristics while he had been watching the children play.  Then he engaged his nanites, causing them to forcibly alter the structure of his skull.


    The pain was intense.  He screamed into his helmet, which silenced his voice but not his soul.  He did not hold back, feeling no shame in the display.


    It was agony.


    It was necessary for the mission.


    He would endure.


    Once the pain subsided, he decided that it was time to make contact.  And abandon his suit.  With a command, he ordered it to self-destruct.  The suit dissolved into nanites, which flaked into powder and blew away on the wind.


    He walked back to the lake, hoping that the children who were playing in the river would accept them into their number, and that he could learn from them their language and sneak back with them into their society.


    When he arrived, the children stopped playing.  They turned and talked to each other nervously in their language.  Eolai remained silent, a friendly smile on his face.


    One of the boys turned and called out to him.  Eolai repeated the words of greeting back.  The boy said something else, and Eolai repeated the words once more.


    The children spoke among themselves once more, and then the youngest one ran into the forest.  The boys gave him a pair of pants to put on, and after a few moments an adult emerged.  Eolai was unafraid, he had expected adults to be nearby to protect the children, despite having left them alone to play with each other.


    The adult spoke with him for some time.  Eolai carefully repeated each word as it was said, making it clear that he was trying to be understood.


    The man pulled from his pocket a device and spoke into it for some time.


    Soon after, another man appeared.  Dressed in green, the man had a serious expression on his face as he walked over to Eodar.  He spoke for some time, and Eodar continued to repeat the words faithfully.


    The man shook his head and sighed.


    ¡°Come with me, son.  I don¡¯t know who abandoned you out here, but we¡¯ll get you the help you need,¡± he said.


    Eodar repeated the words back, completely unaware of their meaning.  He followed the man for some ways until they arrived at a vehicle, and he left with the man.


    Hopefully the officials of this world would not associate his appearance with the events that had taken place the day before.  Even if they did, however, he would simply escape their custody and use the knowledge that he had gained of their language and culture to establish a new cover.


    For now, he was content to surrender themselves for whatever this world¡¯s practice was for finding lost or abandoned children.


    ?

 2.13.

    2.13.


    ¡°The quest for life in space has taken a surprising turn recently when the Earth Space Force and a number of their member organizations released an official statement moments ago. They have confirmed the rumor that the  Seeker of New Discoveries , the interstellar mapping and exploration vessel which was launched just a little under two years ago, returned ahead of schedule to announce that they had made contact with an alien civilization.


    ¡°The organizations confirmed that two delegates from the alien government are aboard the  Seeker  and have been engaged in preliminary negotiations with the governments of Earth. The aliens claim to be friendly and have offered to extend Earth significant aid in the form of advanced technology, medicine, and resources in exchange for nothing more than sharing our culture with them.


    ¡°According to the officials, this announcement was made in preparation for the arrival of alien ships in the system. These ships are said to contain a delegation from the aliens, who call themselves the Yonohoans, as well as containing the remaining crew members of the  Seeker  who remained behind.


    ¡°More details are expected to arrive in the coming hours, so stay tuned to KXKRN for--¡±


    Olivia Nunes turned the radio off. Aliens, really, she thought to herself, scoffing. While KXKRN was usually reliable, the absurdity of the DJ¡¯s falling for a prank like that made her shake her head with amusement and disbelief. She sighed, turning her attention back to the reports. She picked up the recording device and began her dictation.


    ¡°This is the admission notes on patient John Doe #20495. Patient is a twelve year old male found wandering in Echo Valley Park by a group of boy-scouts on a camping trip. According to the scouts the patient was found without clothes, but examinations have found no other signs of abuse. The patient is currently nonverbal, although according to initial reports he initially greeted his rescuers by repeating any word spoken to him. We are uncertain why he stopped doing that, but it proves that he¡¯s capable of talking. We just have no idea what he wants to tell us.


    ¡°Patient was taken by park rangers to the emergency room, where he was evaluated. The patient appears to be in perfect health for his age and was compliant with the authorities. We didn¡¯t even find the usual signs of deprivation from being out in the wilderness alone, suggesting that if he was abandoned there, it wasn¡¯t for very long. He was admitted to Shadow Lake Children¡¯s Hospital for evaluation and is currently under observation.


    ¡°The child does not appear to understand english, but follows non-verbal instructions and cues quite well. He has shown little interest in participating with the attempts to get him to draw or participate in arts and crafts. He listens to the other children when they speak to him but no longer attempts to respond to them.¡±


    She paused, thinking about her words. ¡°I think he¡¯s watching us watching him. Like he¡¯s trying to figure out what we¡¯re going to do about him. He does not seem frightened or concerned by his situation at all. He enjoys watching television and listening to music and the radio, so we¡¯ve given him a portable radio for his room, which has led to the only behavioral issue that has been reported so far when he refused to allow staff to turn the radio off at bedtime.


    ¡°Until we know why he has gone nonverbal or identify his origins I recommend that he remains hospitalized. If he starts communicating, perhaps we can discharge him to a foster home after ensuring that he¡¯s not at risk for elopement. At present his fingerprints do not match any in the database for missing children. We are awaiting DNA results to see if we can find his family.¡±


    She ended her dictation and adjusted her papers, moving on to the next case.


    ~~~~~~~


    In another hospital, many light years away, Diego sat with his brother-by-oath and helped him with his physical therapy. It seemed strange to be playing patty-cake with a grown man, but it was literally doctor¡¯s orders to perform the exercises involved to help Eolai recover his dexterity. The Yonohoan had been clumsy to start with, but interestingly enough when Diego had included the melody of the children¡¯s rhyme his performance had increased significantly.


    They continued for some time before Eolai sighed, leaning back and returning his new-arm to its sling.


    ¡°I have failed one of my oaths,¡± he commented.


    ¡°One out of thirty-two thousand isn¡¯t so bad,¡± Deigo assured him.


    ¡°Yes, and the exact circumstances are exonerating as well. I came to the surface of planet Totola not to live but to receive medical care to prolong the duration of my life. As such my other oaths remain intact. But the fact that I wasn¡¯t considering it while I was under sedation shows how significantly my judgment was impaired. And my still be impaired,¡± Eolai said.


    ¡°You had your arm ripped off by a highly trained and dangerous combatant who also fried your body¡¯s nanites,¡± Diego pointed out. ¡°You can¡¯t let this make you doubt yourself, Eolai. I¡¯m not used to being the confident one in our relationship. I know this situation is difficult, but you don¡¯t have time for self-doubt.¡±


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    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Eolai agreed. Then he sighed again. ¡°The question is what to do about this situation. Our obligation to our father exceeds all other oaths, and so we must set out on a quest to find him. The problem is, I have absolutely no idea where he might have gone.¡±


    ¡°I do,¡± Diego said.


    Eolai raised an eyebrow.


    ¡°A figure in power armor stopped the  Keeper of Dreams  not long after the attack,¡± Diego said.


    Eolai rose in concern. ¡°Your crew was not harmed, I hope!¡±


    ¡°Nobody was hurt. A figure who was described as being 5¡¯1¡± in body armor interrogated the crew, forced a download of the experiment¡¯s data, and left. Nobody really knows what the hell to think about it, but according to Gabriel the data could be used to figure out Earth¡¯s location, so Captain Anders decided to return to Earth. The  Keeper  is en route, along with an escort this time.¡±


    ¡°You believe that Eodar is targeting Earth?¡± Eolai asked.


    ¡°I can¡¯t think of any other reason why they would have made a clone of him in this day and age,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°I can. And it would be my fault,¡± Eolai said, sighing. ¡°I believe that this stems from my decision to name you brother. If Eodar would have killed one of us, then he would have slain his son and faced disgrace in the eyes of many societies. It would have weakened many of the treaties that hold our delicate peace in place.¡±


    ¡°But he didn¡¯t kill you, and he left me alone completely,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Indeed. You must understand ¡­ there is a reason nobody resurrects Eodar beyond respecting his religion. If it was just that, then he might still be called in service to humanity,¡± Eolai said.


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯m listening.¡±


    ¡°Eodar has a tendency to kill the people who do so,¡± Eolai said. ¡°And possibly do exactly the opposite of what they resurrected him to do. It depends on the exact circumstance, normally he waits to understand what is happening before acting. But when he understands who it was who overrode the lockouts on his imprint, he almost always has them executed, including everyone who was involved in the decision.¡±


    ¡°Do you think that¡¯s why he attacked you?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°Perhaps,¡± Eolai said. He scratched his replacement hand nervously. ¡°I do not know, Diego. He is so young this time. The youngest imprint that I know of of my father was taken at age sixteen. I am appalled that there was one even younger. While they were in an untenable situation, I still find the actions of the High-Command during the opening stages of the Liberation War to be appalling with its use of child-soldiers.¡±


    Diego¡¯s throat was dry. ¡°Tell me again how an imprint is taken. It¡¯s not just used on people, right? You can duplicate weapons and other items with the same technology?¡±


    ¡°An imprint is a perfect record of matter on a subatomic level,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°It can be used to duplicate that item endlessly provided you have the mass and energy to print the imprint. However, it has been illegal to take an imprint of a living human being since the middle stages of the Liberation Wars.¡±


    ¡°Because it kills them,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°In order to create the perfect record that is used to create a perfect copy, the matter is destroyed utterly. The measurements taken during the destruction of the matter are what allows the recording of the imprint,¡± Eolai said. ¡°It pains me that the original Eodar was murdered by his commanders as a young child.¡±


    ¡°And you didn¡¯t know that there was a version of him that was this young,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°I did not,¡± Eolai agreed. ¡°I mistook him at first for a regular scout trooper because his armor was more modern than what was available during the time when Eodar was born. When he told me his name, I grew excited because I realized, despite the tragedy, that I might have a relationship once more with my father. Not through recorded messages but through flesh and blood. Our roles might have been reversed, with me the elder guiding him the way that his messages from the past once guided me, but it would have been the bond of family. I should have handled the situation better.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s not focus too much on the recriminations, Eolai. Let¡¯s think things through. If an enemy of the Yonohoan resurrected Eodar to use him against your people, then what are the worst case scenarios. Aside from killing one of his sons,¡± Diego said.


    Eolai considered. Then grew more serious. ¡°I believe we should go to Earth now.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because your family may be in danger. And possibly your entire world. If Eodar walks planet Earth, then it becomes a potential target for a preemptive strike by a number of vast powers which your people cannot hope to overcome.¡±


    Diego paled. ¡°That¡¯s not good, is it?¡±


    ¡°The Yonohoans will stand with the people of Earth, Diego. We will defend your world as we would defend Totola. But if the universe finds out that Eodar once more walks a darkworld, they will send fleets from galaxies far and wide to ensure that the war does not restart once more. They would consider the death of your people as a small price to be paid.¡±


    ?

 2.14.

    2.14.


    The shuttle dropped out of the hyperatomic plane, and Gabriel soaked in the light of Sol for the first time in almost two years. They weren¡¯t close enough for the sun to be particularly bright, but it was the brightest star in the sky.


    There were eighteen of the shuttles in the fleet. The Earthlings were all aboard one of them, with Yonohoan delegates on each of the others. A single monolithic fortress ship sat in the center of the fleet; one of the self-defense ships had followed them from planet Totola to defend the unarmed shuttles.


    The  Keeper  was also en route with its own protector in case whichever force had stopped it previously decided to make a reappearance. Due to its relatively slow speed, it would take some time to arrive in Sol''s system.


    He thought back to his brief stay on the alien planet and smiled. He had only seen the hospital, but it had been a pleasant stay. They¡¯d had a more thorough examination, but mostly they had relaxed in the peaceful environment. Gabriel had spent some time consoling Sarah, who was still recovering from the shock of having her delusions shattered by Diego.


    He knew that the next few weeks would not be nearly so pleasant. The Yonohoans might be confident in their ability to detect and prevent the spread of any diseases that their human allies might have brought to or picked up on the planet, but the people of Earth would not be nearly so laid back about the matter.


    Hopefully they had a good selection of books in whatever military hospital they would be quarantined in, Gabriel thought.


    ~~~~~


    ¡°Hello. I am Eolai. I apologize for arriving early,¡± the voice on the screen said. Major Mary Phillips sat with the rest of the council, some of whom were still arriving after receiving the emergency notice that something was happening in space once more.


    ¡°Would you care to explain why you¡¯re ahead of schedule?¡± General Turnball inquired.


    ¡°Yes. I wish to inquire as to whether or not you have seen this shuttlecraft,¡± Eolai said, and the view screen switched to show the image of the bogey which had been shot down in Washington. The room shifted uncomfortably.


    ¡°A craft resembling that was shot down over American soil for entering restricted airspace and failing to respond to directives of our air force,¡± Turnball said. ¡°Would you care to issue an explanation at this time as to what element of your government is responsible for this action?¡±


    ¡°It was not our government. I do not know who was ultimately responsible for this action, but I fear that it will have drastic consequences for the future of the universe,¡± Eolai said.


    ¡°Do you care to explain what you mean by that? Is that a threat?¡±


    ¡°I wish only for the protection and peace of Earth. May I ask your name so that I can address you properly?¡± Eolai said.


    ¡°General Reginald Turnball. You can call me General Turnball.¡±


    ¡°General Turnball. The occupant of that shuttle is an operative with advanced training and technology. It is unlikely that they perished in the crash resulting from your airspace defense, for which I assure you the Yonohoans will take no retribution. We must at this time assume that Eodar is walking the surface of your planet. I apologize for not being able to prevent this from happening,¡± Eolai said.


    ¡°What or who is Eodar?¡± Turnball demanded.


    ¡°That is far too complicated to explain in a single breath, General Turball. There is much history involved in explaining it. Eodar was born somewhere between one hundred thousand and eighty thousand years ago. During the third stage of the liberation war, he emerged as a brilliant strategist and unifying force in the Liberation Swarms. I fear, however, that that is not the Eodar who is walking upon Earth at this moment. I fear that the Eodar of Earth is a far more violent, feral form. I wish that I could say that it was safe to allow him to live his life in peace on your beautiful world, but I do not know that this is the case.¡±


    ~~~~~


    Olivia washed her hands, shaking her head. The news was still talking about the ¡®aliens¡¯ that were set to arrive any day now. She¡¯d believe it when she saw one walking down the street.


    She left the bathroom and bumped into one of her patients.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry,¡± she said, realizing that she¡¯d nearly knocked John Doe over. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t stand so close to doors, you could get hurt.¡±


    ¡°Doctor Olivia Nunes,¡± the boy said, and Olivia almost froze.


    It was the first words the boy had spoken in six days, since he had arrived.


    ¡°That¡¯s my name,¡± she agreed. ¡°Can you tell me yours?¡±


    ¡°Johndoe,¡± the boy said, putting the two syllables together as one.


    Oliva smiled sadly. ¡°That is the name we give people when we don¡¯t know the name their parents gave them,¡± she explained. ¡°Can you tell me your real name please?¡±


    ¡°Johndoe,¡± the boy repeated. ¡°I am Johndoe.¡±


    ¡°Okay, okay. I¡¯ll call you John, if that¡¯s alright. Would you like to go somewhere private to talk to me?¡± she asked.


    The boy nodded in the affirmative. She motioned, and he followed him into her office. ¡°Would you like to sit with the toys, on the couch, or on the floor?¡± she asked.


    The boy looked around for a moment, then sat on the floor. Olivia smiled and sat with him. ¡°I am very glad you chose to speak with me today, John. We¡¯ve been worried about you.¡±


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    ¡°Why?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Because you appeared out of nowhere. Because you weren¡¯t wearing clothes when you were found. Because at first you repeated every word that was spoken to you and then you stopped talking altogether,¡± Olivia explained. ¡°That is not normal behavior for a child your age, and we were worried that someone hurt you.¡±


    ¡°What will happen to me?¡± John asked after considering her words for a moment.


    ¡°At this stage we¡¯re not sure. You¡¯re in a hospital right now, John, until we can figure out either where you came from and if it is safe to send you back, or until we can find you someplace safe to send you where nobody will hurt you.¡±


    ¡°No go back.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°I am strange.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t care if you¡¯re different, John. Have you always been different?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Well, we¡¯ll figure out a way for you to have a place here,¡± she promised. ¡°How old are you John?¡±


    ¡°Alive twelve.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re twelve years old? That¡¯s about how old we thought you were,¡± she said. ¡°You didn¡¯t speak english when you arrived, did you?¡±


    ¡°No english.¡±


    ¡°Were you brought here on an airplane?¡± she asked. ¡°Did someone bring you here from your home?¡±


    ¡°I came alone.¡±


    ¡°You ran away from home?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Were they hurting you? Is that why you ran away?¡±


    ¡°They want me stay, I want go.¡±


    ¡°Okay, John. I hope you don¡¯t try to run away from the hospital. We want to help you and find you someplace safe.¡±


    ¡°I am safe here?¡±


    ¡°As safe as you can be.¡±


    ¡°What of bad things? Things from sky? Bad things.¡±


    ¡°Are you worried about the aliens?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Is that why you spend all of the time listening to the radio?¡±


    ¡°No. Listen to learn.¡±


    ¡°Okay. What language do you normally speak, John?¡±


    ¡°Not speak here.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. We won¡¯t send you back somewhere where you¡¯ll be in danger or that they hurt children, John. You can trust us, but we have to understand you to help you. Will you please tell me what language you speak?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°No?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡± Olivia knew well enough not to push too hard less the boy clam up and stop trusting her. ¡°Is there anything you will tell me about your past, John?¡±


    The boy was silent for a moment. ¡°I fight.¡±


    Olivia blinked in surprise. ¡°You fight people?¡±


    ¡°No people. Bad things. Monsters.¡±


    ¡°What sort of monsters?¡±


    ¡°Topoka. Kortoko. Requeti. Know how fight all. Need me fight, I fight.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t need you to fight, John.  Please  don¡¯t start a fight with anyone, especially the other children.¡±


    ¡°No fight children,¡± John agreed. ¡°Fight monsters.¡±


    ¡°Okay John. If I see any monsters I¡¯ll give you a call, okay?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°I can tell you¡¯re smart, John. Maybe very smart. Maybe that¡¯s what makes you different, and why you were treated different,¡± Olivia said. ¡°We value smart people, even if they act differently because their brain works differently.¡±


    ¡°Yes. Smart. Smarter than Rocktala. Learn on Toormonda,¡± John agreed.


    Olivia continued to memorize the non-english words that John was using, determined to research them later. Possibly they were just made up children¡¯s nonsense, but they could be a hint to his origins. Even if there was just an obscure myth about Topokas that she could find on an online search, that would help her learn more about John.


    ¡°Is there anything you want, John?¡± she asked him. ¡°Anything I can get for you?¡±


    Abruptly, he pointed to her. Specifically at her pockets. Where her phone was, she realized.


    ¡°You want to make a phone call?¡± she asked, trying not to sound excited.


    ¡°No call. Just phone,¡± he answerd.


    She nodded. ¡°Okay. I can¡¯t give you a phone, but I can give you one of the tablets that has children¡¯s games on it,¡± she offered.


    ¡°Yes,¡± he agreed. ¡°Go now.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± she said, knowing that the interview with the strange child was over. Pushing for more information would only break whatever trust she¡¯d managed to establish with him. ¡°Follow me, and we¡¯ll get you your tablet.¡±


    ?

 2.15.

    2.15.


    ¡°In summary, the Yonohoans are denying direct responsibility for both the shuttle which the American Air Force shot down and the Lagrange Point jamming device. They were very interested when they learned about the Jamming incident and claim to be investigating the signals sent by the device independently. Apparently they¡¯ve sent out sensor probes to pick up the signals that it emitted before it was destroyed,¡± Major Mary Phillips said. ¡°They have pledged to share the findings of that investigation with us. But like everything involving Yonohoans and their technology, at this point we¡¯re largely taking their word for it that they¡¯re playing us straight.¡±


    Mary stood in the front of the lecture hall which was filled with military and corporate big wigs from around the globe. She had a glass of water in front of her and a clicker in her hand to control the powerpoint, which was currently showing a picture of Eolai, the alien leader. She clicked the button and it changed to show the images of the bogey spacecraft as taken by the fighter jets during their dogfight.


    She paused to take a sip of water, then continued. ¡°As far as the shuttle goes, it is the belief of their leader, Eolai, that the entire incident was an infiltration attempt by a rogue agent. The agent, identified as Eodar, is supposedly a clone of one of the Yonohoan¡¯s historical heroes. They are requesting that if he is captured, that he be turned over to their custody. They do not believe that he died in the crash, but that the entire engagement with the Air Force was an attempt to disguise an infiltration attempt.


    She clicked a button, and the image of a figure in black armor appeared on the screen. ¡°This is the only image they have of their rogue asset that they¡¯re willing to share with us. They claim that only genetic technics are a reliable means of identifying the subject reliably. Or at least of the techniques that we possess, genetics are the only method which will work. Apparently he can modify his outward appearances with the use of advanced technology to the point where even his fingerprints are mutable.


    ¡°The Yonohoans do not believe that we are in danger from the rogue asset. They say that he is likely disoriented and believes that he is on a mission from an organization which was disbanded millennia ago. That mission was to secure the future and freedom of mankind from its alien overlords, which would make the asset a threat to ruling classes of the lizardfolk and the grays of area 51, if they existed. They believe, however, that he will attempt to lay low and blend into human society as a sleeper agent.


    ¡°One possible explanation that they¡¯ve provided for the jamming device is that it contains data and mission objectives for the rogue sleeper agent. They have proposed that much of the jamming signal data was in fact mission and objective instructions sent to Eodar. They are unwilling to specify whether or not they believe destroying the Jamming Device was the right call until they¡¯ve examined the signals that they intend to recover from it. They say that there¡¯s a chance that the message contained Eodar¡¯s deactivation code, and which may have led to him turning himself in to his authorities rather than proceeding with his infiltration efforts.


    ¡°They say that overall the presence of Eodar or the fact that we shot him down does not change the official Yonohoan stance on Earth. They still want to give us advanced technology in exchange for youtube access. Are there any questions at this time?¡±


    One of the general¡¯s aides raised a hand. ¡°How are they resolving the issue with light-speed delay between their ships, which are parked in Saturn¡¯s orbit, and Earth. My calls go through with almost zero latency since they arrived.¡±


    Mary nodded at the question. ¡°When the fleet arrived, they sent ahead a handful of probes which are currently in orbit around earth. They¡¯re using those probes, which have FTL datalinks, as relays with our systems on Earth,¡± she explained.


    Another aide raised their hand. ¡°How about the quarantined researchers from the  Seeker  and the fleet? Has there been any sign of infection or disease?¡±


    ¡°Not at this time,¡± Mary reported. ¡°We are reviewing and verifying the medical data sent to us by the Yonohoans. They claim that the antibiotics they provided our people will keep them from picking up the Yonohoan germs while simultaneously protecting the earth-born variety. They claim that their own people are likewise protected. They did raise the issue that viruses from Earth might infect Yonohoans, but claim to be actively screening their people so that they don¡¯t do the same to us.¡±


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    ¡°By their own admission, they have access to some very nasty bioweapons,¡± one of the generals pointed out. ¡°What do they have to say about that?¡±


    ¡°They claim that they do not possess those weapons in the form of stockpiles, but rather they contain the ¡®imprint¡¯ of the weapons which could be used to create them. They have also volunteered to share with us the countermeasures that they have developed for any and all of the most common and dangerous chemical and biological weapons so that we might prepare ourselves for such tactics being used against us,¡± Mary explained. ¡°But once again, we¡¯re largely stuck taking their word for things on this matter.¡±


    ¡°What about the fleet of ships that they promised us,¡± a woman questioned. ¡°When do they arrive?¡±


    Mary clicked the button through the presentation to bring up images taken of the Yonohoan fleet.


    ¡°In addition to the twenty Toormonda ships which are presently en route to sol, including the one that the science team used to complete their mission objectives and the nineteen additional ones which have recently been manufactured, the Yonohoans have also offered to give us half of the shuttles which arrived carrying their diplomats and the remaining members of the  Seeker¡¯s  crew,¡± she explained. These shuttled are largely not equipped with weapons, but possess an engine which apparently creates energy by rubbing interdimensional forces together, meaning that they require no fuel and run until they are retired from service after about four hundred years for safety.


    ¡°They are capable of atmospheric landing and orbital insertion. They are faster than the current theoretical maximum speed that we are capable of achieving with the Tunnel Drive using a technology which is said to have none of the drawbacks of our own FTL method, such as cumulative damage to the nervous system. All of the offered vehicle have been manufactured in the the last ten years. They are self-piloting smart vehicles. The ESF is just waiting on official permission to accept the gift,¡± she explained. She clicked the button again, and the image of an egg-shaped spacecraft appeared.


    ¡°The Toormonda vessels are, as noted, presently en route. They  do  possess advanced weaponry, including an EMP weapon and an ion canon that is apparently capable of turning an asteroid the size of a semi-truck into gravel. However, they seemed to be amused by the listed capabilities of the weapons on these vessels, stating that these vessels are not intended for combat and that they are only armed to provide the occupants with some form of protection in case the worst happens and they are attacked. The Toormonda vessels are primarily used for scientific inquest and data gathering. Our egg-heads are chomping at the bit to get access to one of these ships.¡±


    Another hand raised. ¡°What about their offers to provide us with the means to defend ourselves?¡± a corporate leader asked. ¡°What weapons will they give us, and who gets first pick as to the inevitable efforts of reverse-engineering them.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s three questions by my count. The answer to your final question is above my pay grade. The answer to the first is that they want to give us orbital emplacements with advanced scanning technology which will help us detect incursion events such as the rogue agent Eodar much faster, possibly hours before they arrive in system.


    ¡°They¡¯re reluctant to give us any weapon that is too powerful, but the class of weapons attached to the Toormonda are to be made available to any government or non-government agency upon a formal request. They¡¯re also offering to provide the countermeasures to those weapons at the same time. They are not worried about any attempts at reverse engineering the weaponry that they¡¯re offering us and are, in fact, encouraging us in the attempt.


    ¡°They claim that they will be making a list of technologies that they can manufacture available to all governments and corporations of earth public. The flagship that arrived in system is apparently  also  a factory in addition to being a floating fortress of death, and they say that all it needs in order to fulfill any requested technological items is an equivalent amount of mass, which they have suggested they can obtain from mining our asteroid belt or pulling mass from our gas giants.¡±


    The questions continued for some time, but eventually Mary¡¯s presentation came to an end. The lecture broke up as the movers and shakers of the ESF broke down into their committees to digest the information among themselves.


    ?

 2.16.

    2.16.


    ¡°It has been three weeks since his admission to Shadow Lake. Patient John Doe case number 20495 is continuing to make considerable strides in his ability to communicate and make his needs and wants known. He still won¡¯t tell us his real name. He continues to refuse to speak his native language, but at this point he is nearly fluent in english,¡± Olivia nunes reported as she sat in her office, reviewing the nursing reports and filing her own notes. She leaned back in her office chair as she held the recording device in one hand.


    ¡°While we know nothing about his past, he¡¯s reaching the point where he¡¯s almost developmentally normal for his age. He is able to read already, and his writing is impeccably neat. He remains uninterested in arts and craft but is actively running through any educational material we give him. This kid is extremely intelligent. And I continue to get the feeling that as much as we¡¯re studying him in our efforts to help him, that he¡¯s studying us right back.


    ¡°He remains extremely interested in the supposed alien invasion, but he will not share his opinions on the matter with me except to say that sometimes good things come from the sky and sometimes the things that come from the sky are bad. I find the interest in such things appropriate for a child of his age, so I have not been discouraging it.


    ¡°If John continues to improve at the pace that he has been I cannot continue to justify hospitalization. I have notified social services to begin looking at placing him in the foster system. He¡¯s a good kid, I think, and I hope that he thrives.¡±


    She ended the progress report and proceeded to the next case.


    ~~~~~


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if you believe the government or not. They¡¯re out there, and if you don¡¯t believe me, buy a telescope. They¡¯re in orbit around Saturn. Their flagship is large enough to make out on its own. You¡¯ve seen the pictures in the newsfeeds and the blogs. They¡¯re not photoshop. The aliens are real, they¡¯re here, and they¡¯re not hiding. They must be the ones who hacked the rogue satellite a few months ago. They say they come in peace, but that¡¯s what everyone says right before they stick a knife in your back,¡± the radio said.


    The radio was always playing around John. The other kids mostly didn¡¯t mind that he got his own radio and permission to carry it with him, and while John was an easy patient he seemed to take solace in the constant stream of information.


    Olivia walked carefully through the play area, careful not to show too much of her interest so as to not disturb the unprecedented occurrence. It was normal behavior, and something to be encouraged, but it was the first time that John had actually played with any of the other children.


    It began with a new admission. A young girl with a fractured arm who loved to play chess. She had challenged John to a game, and to everyone¡¯s surprise the quiet boy had agreed.


    Now, six chess boards were strewn across the floor with John in the middle, quietly playing against six opponents at the same time. And winning.


    Okay, so it was normal ish  behavior. She could tell by the expressions on the other children¡¯s faces that they weren¡¯t taking it easy on John, and by his own expression he seemed to be enjoying himself. She watched as he picked up a knight and moved it, speaking quietly in that strange accent of his.


    ¡°Checkmate.¡±


    The girl he was playing sighed. ¡°How are you so good?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Just am,¡± he said.


    ¡°Yeah, and you¡¯re humble about it too,¡± she teased.


    ¡°Play again?¡±


    Abruptly, John looked at Olivia. He did not smile. ¡°I must talk with my doctor,¡± he said to the other children, who all complained that he was abandoning the game without having let them win even once.


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    Olivia smiled at John. He didn¡¯t walk over to her, but instead towards the room where there discussions usually took place. He sat on the floor, as was his practice, and she sat down with him. He did not start speaking immediately, and after she had given him a minute to speak his mind if he wanted to, she decided to start the conversation.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry if I interrupted your games, John. I¡¯m very glad to see you socializing with the other children,¡± she said.


    ¡°I like chess. It¡¯s a good game,¡± He said. ¡°Simple but complex. Like Irkashanda.¡±


    ¡°Is that a game you played where you¡¯re from?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yes. I was the best of my brothers and sisters at Irkashanda,¡± John said.


    ¡°Well, your display just now was very impressive. And it was also a relief. I was worried that you might have difficulty relating to normal children, but seeing you playing with them tells me that you can fit in if you want to,¡± Olivia said.


    ¡°You worry about me very much,¡± He said.


    ¡°I worry about many of the children that come under my care, John. Your case was a little unique. I truly want what is best for you.¡±


    ¡°What do you think is best for me?¡± he asked.


    She paused, considering. ¡°I think that it¡¯s time to start talking about foster families and school, John. Do you understand what those things are?¡±


    ¡°Yes. A family that is not true family and a place of learning,¡± he said. He paused, his expression one that told Olivia that he was thinking of something. ¡°You will send me away?¡±


    ¡°This hospital isn¡¯t supposed to be a place for children to live long term, John. It¡¯s a place of healing and learning. You don¡¯t need to be here any longer, and I think that it is time for you to move on and integrate into society normally.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± he said, nodding. ¡°What happens to me next?¡±


    And so she spent the next hour or so calmly explaining to John the various options that were available, which decisions were being made about his care and why. She was pleased that he did not seem to be worried about his future at all, calmly accepting her judgments without argument, fear, or any signs of anxiety.


    He asked a few pertinent questions, which she answered honestly, and eventually the conversation came to an end. When she told him that she would send her official recommendation to his social worker that he be placed in a home, he simply nodded.


    ¡°I will fight for you,¡± he told her as the conversation came to an end.


    ¡°John, we talked about this. No fighting,¡± she said.


    ¡°Sometimes there is no choice but to fight. I will fight so that you and the children you take care of do not have to,¡± John said. ¡°Do not worry. I will not hurt children or people. Only monsters and aliens.¡±


    She sighed. ¡°Okay, John. If any bad aliens come threatening the children of the hospital, I¡¯ll know exactly who to call. We¡¯ll make sure that those Yonohoans do not hurt anyone.¡±


    To her surprise, John laughed. She thought it might have been the first time she¡¯d seen him laughing, and she wondered what it was that she¡¯d said that he found humorous.


    ¡°If Yonohoans try to hurt Earth, I will talk to the elders,¡± he said when he calmed down. ¡°And I will tell them that Earth is clan to Yonohoah. They will put down their spears if I tell them that.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m glad, John. It¡¯s always better to resolve conflicts by talking than it is to fight,¡± she said.


    ¡°Yes. Talking is better. Especially with other humans. But sometimes, there is no choice but to fight. I will talk first, and only when there is no other choice will I fight.¡±


    ¡°Good, John. That¡¯s a very mature stance to take.¡±


    Like always, John abruptly decided that the conversation was over and stood to leave, the radio still buzzing in his pocket.


    ¡°John, wait,¡± she said. He turned to her, and she enveloped him in a hug. He stiffened for a moment, then relaxed.


    ¡°You are not my mother,¡± he said when the embrace ended. ¡°But I will fight for you as if you were.¡±


    ~~~~~


    ?

 2.17.

    2.17.


    Major Mary Phillips slumped in her chair in the conference room. She was exhausted. A cup of coffee rested in her hand, the eighth since she¡¯d awoken that day. She was getting an average of four hours a sleep per night since the Yonohoans had arrived, and she had lost track of the last time she¡¯d had a real meal. She¡¯d been subsisting on energy bars and whatever take out her aides delivered while she either spoke directly with the Yonohoans or gave presentations, either repeating the same information endlessly or providing to-the-moment updates on the situation to her superiors and others who were being read into the situation.


    She had hoped that with time her responsibilities would lesson, but apparently the Yonohoans kept asking for her specifically in their communications request. They were often directed to her peers, often with her apologies that she was busy and assurances that the other contacts were her equals, but the Yonohoans expressed a willingness to wait until she was available that bordered on sadistic.


    Fortunately she wasn¡¯t giving this presentation. She just needed to be present and remain awake for it.


    Eventually the room was filled, and Mary sent a signal to the Yonohoans that everyone was present. Immediately the hologram appeared of former Sergeant Diego Cruz, startling half of the attendees who weren¡¯t used to the slow integration of the Yonohoan communication devices and practices yet.


    ¡°Hello everyone,¡± he said. ¡°In case you don¡¯t know me, I¡¯m the NCO who first boarded the Yonohoan flagship and eventually went native. I was discharged from my commission in the field by Captain Moon, but I retain my loyalties to Earth. It¡¯s the planet where my family lives, and my body will break before I allow it to come to harm.¡±


    He paused a moment. ¡°That¡¯s a Yonohoan Oath. It¡¯s a strong one, and the Yonohoan¡¯s take their oaths very seriously. Especially that one. You are expected to say it about your homeworld. If you ever hear a Yonohoan make this oath about Earth, it means that they are seriously considering immigration and integration with our culture, to the point where they may forsake their previous obligations.¡±


    ¡°As many of you are aware, I am a sworn brother to the person you believe to be the Yonohoan leader, Eolai. This is a simplification of the actual Yonohoan social structure. Eolai¡¯s official rank would be more equivalent to a five star general than a head of state. Their civilian government defers to him on any matter which acquires his interest, however. This is not done out of fear but out of respect for the sacrifices he makes for their people.


    ¡°He is authorized to make oaths and promises which the government is obligated to uphold for the duration of his lifetime. Which will last for quite a while. He was born almost three hundred years ago, but thanks to the use of stasis technology he is only my age, approximately twenty-eight years old. He will continue to be placed in and out of stasis for the rest of his life until he dies either a natural or violent death. In addition, with the advanced medical capabilities of the Yonohoan society, their average lifespan for their men is approximately one hundred and eighty years  without  the use of stasis.


    ¡°In other words, I suggest that you take his negotiations very seriously, because his oaths can continue to impact Yonohoan policy for many of our generations.¡±


    The hologram paused for a moment, and Mary watched the man take a drink from an invisible glass or bottle of water. He continued.


    ¡°It is my opinion that Eolai is an advocate for humanity and Earth, and that attempts should be made to cultivate a relationship with him. Because of the oath that I exchanged with Eolai, he is formally obligated to personally defend Earth and its people for the duration of the lives of my immediate family on Earth. If Eolai engages in battle, you can expect the entirety of the Yonohoan military to respond in his defense.


    ¡°Eolai is also particularly important in the larger galaxy and universe due to his heritage. Many interstellar treaties were negotiated by his father or his father¡¯s allies. These treaties do not have specified durations or end dates measured in fixed amount of time, but are rather based on the lifespan of individuals and their families. One key phrase in many treaties is ¡®until the death of the Last Son of Eodar.¡¯ Eolai was selected before birth to be Eodar¡¯s final son. That means that when he dies, the political landscape of the entire universe will shift.


    ¡°So, yeah. He¡¯s kind of a big deal. Does anyone have any questions at this time regarding Eolai and his role in Yonohoan society?¡±


    ¡°Eodar is also the name of the rogue agent who is suspected of infiltrating Earth, is it not?¡± one of the generals in the room inquired. ¡°I¡¯m curious as to the relationship between Eolai and Eodar.¡±


    ¡°That is a complicated subject. In order to explain it, we¡¯ll have to cover a piece of technology that was abused in the past during the Liberation wars. Specifically what many of you have taken to call the ¡®Replicator.¡¯ It is possible, using the replicator, to create a fully functional living human with a lifetime of memories, experiences, and skills taken from an original subject whose ¡®imprint¡¯ was acquired. The use of this technology to create living humans has been illegal for thousands of years thanks to the negotiations and treaties for which the Yonohoan war hero Eodar is responsible.


    ¡°Eodar had his imprint harvested repeatedly over the duration of the long war. There are records of thousands of versions of him, taken while he was serving in many different positions. He was an infantry man, a scout, an officer, a researcher, a negotiator, a politician, a diplomat, and ultimately a peacemaker. It is presently unknown which version was printed out and sent to Earth.


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    ¡°According to Yonohoan tradition, it doesn¡¯t matter which version of Eodar is on Earth. All that matters is that he is there. Any land upon which Eodar walked is considered historic, and any land where he died is close to sacred,¡± Diego explained.


    ¡°That said, we believe that this is a young version of Eodar, from before he rose to prominence. He will likely not remember his many grand accomplishments and believe that he is a small cog in the war machine. He self-identified as a forward scout, implying that he is from the early stages of the war. Specifically while the human forces were ramping up and pushing back the old empire. It was common to send children onto a planet in order to integrate into their society to identify threats and abuses that were being done against the human population.¡±


    Mary frowned and raised her hand. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, you said children? Eodar is a child?¡±


    Diego looked at her and frowned. ¡°Was that not previously available information? Yes.  This  Eodar was born tens of thousands of years ago, but he has only lived for twelve years.¡±


    Diego looked away and then corrected himself. ¡°Actually it is more accurate to say that he only believes that he has lived for twelve years. Physically he would resemble an adolescent Yonohoan. However, he might have only been printed out a few months ago. He might even be so young to believe that he is the original Eodar and that little time has passed between his birth and the present. The use of Replication technology on children was reprehensible, but it was used extensively during the Liberation Wars by all sides. Harvesting an imprint is fatal, ladies and gentlemen. It was a common practice when it was deemed necessary not to explain to the poor kids what was happening so that they wouldn¡¯t be afraid. If he wasn¡¯t told before they harvested him, he¡¯s probably very confused about his place in the universe We don¡¯t know who printed him or for what purpose. All that I¡¯m certain of is that it wasn¡¯t the Yonohoans.¡±


    ¡°What makes you certain of that?¡± one of the men, Mary couldn¡¯t remember the man¡¯s rank, inquired.


    ¡°Yonohoans would consider it sacrilege to print an Eodar. His beliefs are based upon ancient Yonohoan traditions which mean that every time he is printed by their replication technology, his soul is pulled from the afterlife and forced to return to a life of torment and the service of humanity. Although there was a lot of sorrow when the last Eodar died, there was also celebration for the fact that his soul was finally free to walk the halls of his ancestors, as he believed was the fate that awaited him,¡± Diego explained.


    ¡°So you believe that there is another player, as of yet identified, involved in this scandal?¡± the man pressed.


    ¡°Yes sir, that is what both I and Eolai believe.¡±


    ¡°How do you believe that you should handle Eodar once we find him?¡± someone else inquired.


    ¡°That is not my decision to make, Ma¡¯am. I would recommend caution. He defeated Eolai, who is a trained combatant enhanced by Yonohoan military technology, as well as slaughtering an entire ship filled with Topokans. He¡¯s dangerous. That is without getting into the politics of the situation,¡± Diego explained.


    ¡°How do you recommend that we proceed, sergeant?¡± Mary asked.


    ¡°With extreme caution, Ma¡¯am. I realize that you¡¯re not going to stop searching for Eodar. I believe that it would be best, once he¡¯s located, to observe from a distance before making contact. I know I said that he¡¯s a kid, but I would not recommend underestimating him because of his age.¡±


    There was a lapse of silence, then another question was asked regarding the nature of the interstellar treaties and how that impacted Earth.


    ¡°We are not a signatory to any interstellar treaty,¡± someone objected. ¡°How does that effect us?¡±


    ¡°In this galaxy, as is common throughout the universe at large, Earth is considered to be what is called a human Darkworld. The official definition of a Darkworld is a world inhabited by humans which due to choice or historical events has disconnected from the larger information nets that are utilized by Brightworlds. There are specific provisions and laws regarding our treatment. Now that we¡¯re reaching out to the stars, the expectation will be that we integrate into one of the three major empires of the Milky Way.


    ¡°We can attempt to maintain our independence, but we¡¯ll be a very small fish in a very large pond. Right now everyone is clamoring to know more about us. They want to learn about our history and culture. That will eventually change as we become more familiar and people lose interest.


    ¡°Our relationship with the Yonohoans  should  give us a significant advantage. They¡¯re not as large as the empires of this galaxy, but their culture is largely independent and autonomous. I  strongly  recommend attempting to reach a mutual defense pact with them, ladies and gentlemen. They might be a relatively small society, but if someone declares war on them or one of their allies, half of the universe is required by treaty to go to war in their defense.


    ¡°It¡¯s one of the main reasons why the universe is at peace.¡±


    The discussion continued for some time. During the first break, Mary slipped into the back of the room, forgoing the use of the bathroom despite the growing need, and made a call to one of her subordinates to expand the search for the rogue agent.


    ?

 2.18.

    2.18.


    ¡°So all I¡¯m saying is that if they¡¯re promising to give us all of this advanced technology, where the hell is it? I mean, yes please, give me a phaser. I promise that I¡¯ll only use it to hunt deer. It will be nice to be able to hunt my meat and cook it at the same time,¡± the talk show radio said. ¡°But I still gotta ask, where is it? You¡¯ve all seen the images, and I¡¯m not seeing an cargo haulers.¡±


    Kirk turned the radio off and reached into the back of the truck for a coke. He popped the top of the can with his teeth and drank deeply. He was ahead of schedule. Once he made this delivery, he had four days off, and he was looking forward to seeing his girlfriend.


    He looked up at the night sky, wondering. He didn¡¯t  really  believe the news about the aliens, but then he figured what the fuck and he picked up his C-ban and changed it to a channel that was mostly empty in this part of the nation. Nobody really used the old and outdated technology now that cellphones were ubiquitous, but Kirk was a trucker.


    ¡°Hello out there, aliens. Yonohoans, or whatever you call yourself. Welcome to the planet Earth. Please enjoy your stay, and refrain from slaughtering our cattle or anally probing us. I mean, there¡¯s a few of us who might enjoy that, but make sure you obtain consent before you just ram it up there, okay?¡±


    ¡°Thank you Earthling, we will take your advice into consideration,¡± a voice with a strange accent replied a moment later.


    Kirk nearly swerved his eighteen wheeler off of the interstate. ¡°Christ you scared me, I thought this channel was empty,¡± he said into the radio once he¡¯d recovered.


    ¡°I apologize. Do you wish to end contact?¡± the voice inquired.


    ¡°No, no. Whoever you are we can talk,¡± Kirk said. ¡°So you¡¯re a Yonowhoan, huh?¡±


    ¡°Yonohoan, yes. My name is Werlian. I believe that your people would call me a sociologist. I have been monitoring the Earth¡¯s unencrypted radio frequencies for some time, and I just happened to be listening to this frequency from a probe in orbit above your location when you sent your message. I apologizing again for alarming you,¡± the voice said.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, like I said. Call me Kirk,¡± Kirk said. ¡°So you¡¯re studying us, huh? You find us interesting test subjects?¡±


    ¡°I would not call you test subjects. That implies a level of experimentation, while we are merely observing,¡± Werlian explained. ¡°I hope you do not feel like we are invading your privacy. You are, after all, using technology which can be interpreted by anyone who intercepts the radio signal of your device, implying that you know your communications might be monitored.¡±


    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m totally cool with you listening to our radio and watching our television,¡± Kirk agreed. ¡°Much better than the hands on messy stuff that aliens get up to in the stories.¡±


    ¡°Yes, we have noticed that fear from your culture. I assure you that Yonohoans would not engage in such a practice, and we would penalize any other ¡®alien¡¯ culture who would abuse a darkworld in such a fashion. We are currently investigating whether the myths of such things are based in any fact or if they are merely the speculation of the human imagination. If we find that Earth has been abused in the past, we will be most wroth at the perpetrators.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re humanity¡¯s protectors or something like that?¡± Kirk inquired.


    ¡°In a certain light, that is exactly what we are,¡± Werlian agreed. ¡°However, as far as the people of Earth go, your people have reached out into the universe, unaware of what awaited you. We wish that you are properly prepared to defend and preserve your culture now that the universe knows you exist and will begin reaching back.¡±


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    ¡°Huh. So, what do you guys look like? I¡¯ve seen the pictures of your spacecraft but I haven¡¯t ever seen an actual picture of one of you aliens,¡± Kirk said.


    ¡°Many earthlings ask that question. We are trying to get your government to allow us to broadcast to the masses using your airwaves, but, as my human friends have been putting it, ¡®the FCC is being a bunch of dicks.¡¯ Once we receive approval for your government, we will already have a large amount of our own cultural works ready to share with you in the two-dimensional format which your people enjoy.¡±


    ¡°So, what, alien soap operas? Hey that¡¯s cool,¡± Kirk agreed. ¡°You¡¯re not going to get in trouble for using the CB are you?¡±


    ¡°According to your own laws this radio frequency is for public use by anyone. I would not have responded to your comments if it was restricted to law enforcement or for other official purposes.¡±


    ¡°So it wasn¡¯t you guys who made the radios go haywire a few months ago?¡± he asked.


    ¡°No, it was not. We are uncertain who was responsible, and we are most troubled by it. It means that someone else knows the location of Earth, and also that they have studied your culture enough to transcribe that message in your predominant language. It is another matter which is under investigation.¡±


    ¡°Huh. Hey, so, since you¡¯re not here to probe us or eat our brains or anything ¨C you¡¯re not here to eat our brains, right?¡±


    ¡°We are not.¡±


    ¡°Right. So ¡­ why are you here then? The news reports say that you¡¯re going to give us all sorts of weapons and stuff.¡±


    ¡°We view giving Earth the ability to defend itself and stand on its own as a minor aspect of the exchange that we hope to engage in with your culture. We are more excited about giving you proper medical access and care than the weapons,¡± Werlian explained.


    ¡°That¡¯s nice of you. What do you get out of it.¡±


    ¡°We get to talk to humans from a darkworld,¡± Werlian explained. ¡°Many of my colleagues will ¡®turn green with envy¡¯ when they hear this conversation that we are having at this moment.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s it? You are giving us advanced technology, and all you want in exchange is a few conversations?¡± Kirk asked.


    ¡°And also to study your historical data and cultural practices, but yes. We find human societies on darkworlds to be fascinating. As does most of the universe.


    ¡°It is one of the reasons why there are so many of them.¡±


    ¡°So if I tell you about myself, will you give me a spaceship?¡± Kirk asked.


    Werlian paused for a moment, then answered ¡°I do have the budget for that, yes. It will not be a very good spaceship, I am afraid, but it will allow you to explore your local star cluster. If you have a way of recording this information, I will give you a request number and the website which has been set up to make formal requests in this manner.¡±


    ¡°You guys have an online shop already?¡±


    ¡°We have been given very limited permission to access your internet, but we are currently running a few websites.¡±


    ¡°Okay then, hold on. Let me pull over and get out a pen.¡±


    Once he had written down the combination of numbers and letters, Kirk continued driving into the night, recounting stories of his childhood and modern life.


    When he got home, he was exhausted, but he still managed to stumble over to his computer and type in the information that Werlian had given him.


    Then, because he saw no reason not to, he forwarded the website address to the radio station he had been listening to as well as a brief explanation of his encounter with the alien sociologist. The radiostation would have normally discounted him as a nutter, but these were strange days.


    ?

 2.19.

    2.19.


    Major Mary Phillips felt better than she had in weeks, and it was mostly due to a good night¡¯s sleep. The alien drugs she was taking might have something to do with it as well, she wasn¡¯t certain what they all did.


    She had expressed her exhaustion to one of her Yonohoan contacts during a call, literally falling asleep mid-sentence. When she had awoken, she had seen the alien¡¯s concern. After that, the calls for her attention had abruptly stopped. Her superior had called her into her office and explained the situation.


    The Yonohoans were worried about her health. She had shown that she was willing to sacrifice her health for her job, and while they respected her dedication they would not be party to her self-destruction. So they were presenting her with an option.


    She could either submit to their medical care, or she could have her duties assigned to other officers.


    She had chosen the alien medicine.


    The scanner was in a secure facility beneath eight stories of concrete, and the room had been filled with people who were there to observe the examination and display of the alien technology. To everyone¡¯s surprise, all it had involved was standing on what looked like a giant scale. Mary hadn¡¯t been expecting it to produce a hologram of her nude body, but both she and the others in the room had handled it with professionalism.


    The aliens had proscribed a number of medications for her, as well as an official bedtime. Two days into her treatment and she felt much, much better. She had lost time, but she made up for it in her ability to focus like she hadn¡¯t been able to for weeks.


    She closed the door to the communication room. In the center of the table was a small egg which, quite frankly, nobody knew how it worked. Every government had been given thousands of the devices, but although they were convenient, earthlings continued to trust in their own networks and devices for secure purposes.


    Right now, however, she was on the clock.


    ¡°Please put me in contact with anyone who is currently waiting to speak with me,¡± she asked the device.


    ¡°There are six Yonohoans in stasis waiting for your availability,¡± the device informed her. ¡°Is there any which has priority?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s sort by priority level of the communication request and then the length of time in which they have been in stasis,¡± Mary suggested.


    A moment later, the alien PDA flickered and a hologram of Tilandrous appeared.


    ¡°Hello Mary. You are looking much better than the last time we spoke. I hope your health has improved?¡± the senatorial aide inquired.


    ¡°I believe it has, my friend,¡± she said. ¡°I must thank you for your insistence upon seeing to it that my superiors took my health into account. I must admit that I¡¯m a little surprised that you did not simply allow them to replace me.¡±


    ¡°After we have spent weeks attempting to build our relationship with you, personally? We would have understood if you had needed to step aside for health reasons, Mary. But we see your dedication to your role as an important and desirable attribute. We had not realized how many of us had selected you as a point person, and when the realization that you had been handling almost three dozen of us was made, we were forced to re-prioritize our own staff. A few of your friends were reluctantly informed of the value of your undivided attention and may begin relaying less critical information to your staff and aides.¡±


    ¡°I thank you for your consideration. Is my health the only reason you were waiting to speak with me?¡± Mary asked.


    ¡°No. We have received in excess of ten thousand requests from members of your citizenry from a certain region of North America. We believe it is due to the actions of one of our irresponsible researchers. However, approximately sixty percent of the requests have been approved and we wish to begin establishing the protocol for delivering gifts to your people who have requested them.¡±


    Mary¡¯s good mood took a sudden hit as the impact of Tilandrous¡¯s words hit her. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m going to need a lot more detail than that, Tilandrous. What sort of requests are being filed, where are they coming from, and who authorized them?¡±


    Tilandrous cheerfully answered the questions, completely unaware of just how pissed off her superiors were going to be when they discovered the leak.


    ~~~~~


    ¡°How exactly can I help the FBI?¡± Olivia asked once the agents had finished showing her their ID¡¯s.


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    ¡°May we speak somewhere private?¡± Agent Morrison asked.


    ¡°My office is right this way, but I¡¯d like to ask you to give me a moment to tidy it first. I may have left some patient information out in the open,¡± she explained.


    ¡°While you are going through your files, it might be best to pull out case number 20495,¡± the other agent, Agent Osterham, said. ¡°We have a warrant for a copy the files and wish to discuss the matter with you, his attending physician.¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± she said. ¡°I can see a number of factors in this case which might flag it for your attention. Let¡¯s wait for some privacy before we discuss the matter further. And, of course, I will need the hospital lawyers to look at the warrant.¡±


    ¡°Of course. We sent it ahead of time for their approval,¡± Morrison said. ¡°If you¡¯ll give them a call, they should inform you that it¡¯s valid and cover the scope of the investigation.¡±


    They waited at the door while she quickly cleaned her office and called the hospital¡¯s legal team. She listened carefully to the lawyer as she was told that, effectively,  everything  was on the table. Treatment notes, progress reports, everything.


    She was a little surprised that the usual materials that were kept confidential were to be disclosed this time. She didn¡¯t see how some of the information was relevant to finding any potential abusers in John¡¯s past.


    It was difficult for her, not knowing what had happened to John to make him run away. She took pride in her part of his treatment and reintegration into society. If someone had hurt John in the past, she desperately wished that the FBI would help him get justice against his abusers.


    She pulled the manila envelope that contained the paper records of his stay, as well as bringing up his electronic chart. Since the agents were cleared for everything, she would be fully compliant with their requests.


    It was the least that she could do to play her part in the investigation into John¡¯s origins.


    She returned to usher the agents into her office and offer them seats. Once everyone was comfortable, she folded her hands and gave them a confident smile. ¡°So, you¡¯re looking into John¡¯s past. I can¡¯t say that I¡¯m entirely surprised, the story of how he appeared in the forest is very concerning from a law enforcement perspective. We were all expecting far more signs of abuse than we found.¡±


    ¡°But you did find evidence of abuse?¡± Osterham inquired.


    ¡°Not exactly. At first John displayed some signs of a developmental or neurological condition, which might account for the circumstances if he were to have been abandoned by his primary caretaker. He initially repeated every word that was spoken to him, and then as soon as he sensed our concern with that behavior he became nonverbal. He continued to make his needs known as best he could and was cooperative with the instructions that he understood. It became apparent, however, that he did not understand English.¡±


    ¡°What language did he speak?¡± Morrison asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s just it, I have no idea. I can¡¯t place his accent. After a week of being nonverbal he abruptly began speaking to select caretakers. I was honored to be one of them. He refuses to speak his native tongue, but he learned English rapidly and is currently quite proficient,¡± she explained. ¡°He has spoken only a very few words in his native tongue, which I¡¯ve written in his file, but I couldn¡¯t find any common language between them.¡±


    ¡°What words were they?¡±


    ¡°Mostly the names of monsters, so probably just made up words,¡± she said. ¡°He explained once that he knows how to fight Topoka, Kortoko, and Requeti. He¡¯s very insistent that he¡¯s a superhero who fights against monsters to protect people.¡±


    Olivia expected a polite smile from the agents at the imagination of the youth, but instead they exchanged serious expressions.


    ¡°You¡¯re certain he said the word ¡®Topoka,¡¯ and that he called it a monster?¡± Morrison asked.


    ¡°Yes. I wrote the words down immediately after the interview to research them,¡± Olivia said. She cocked her head. ¡°It might have been aliens instead of monsters, I¡¯m not sure. He used them interchangeably, but he also listened to the radio a lot. With the whole Yonohoan delegation going on it might have been related to that.¡±


    ¡°It is possible that he heard of them that way,¡± Osterham pointed out. ¡°Did he draw any images of them?¡±


    ¡°No. John never showed any interest in taking part in arts and crafts,¡± she explained. ¡°He didn¡¯t even doodle on the papers we gave him while he was learning to write. Why, you¡¯re not going to tell me that Topoka are real, are you?¡±


    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am. They are an alien race allied with the Yonohoans. They¡¯re apparently afraid of us so they¡¯re not involved in the delegation,¡± Morrison explained. ¡°However, I¡¯m not certain that they¡¯ve been made public. They¡¯re not classified, but everyone is pretty focused on the Yonohoans and not their allies.¡±


    Olivia frowned at the news. ¡°Well, knowing John, he would have only needed to hear the name once. He¡¯s highly intelligent.¡±


    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am, we can imagine. We¡¯d like to examine his hospital stay from the beginning, going day by day,¡± Morrison said. ¡°We¡¯re looking for any little detail that might bring out his origins. He might have said or done something strange that you dismissed as being a childish behavior or personal tick but would actually help us locate his parents.¡±


    ¡°Of course. To be honest, I¡¯m just glad that John¡¯s case is getting so much attention. I was worried that he might slip through the cracks,¡± Olivia agreed.


    ?

 2.20.

    2.20.


    ¡°I wish to share something with you, Diego. It may be troubling to watch,¡± Eolai said.


    ¡°What is it?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°The plotting of the murder of our my father,¡± Eolai explained.


    They stood in the bridge of the flagship, which had mostly recovered from its encounter with Eodar with the help of the crews from the others in the Yonohoan defense fleet. They had been in sol¡¯s space for almost two months at this point, mostly busy dealing with the ESF and its affiliates. Diego was surprised by Eolai¡¯s calm words.


    ¡°Wait, what?¡±


    ¡°The object that your people believe was a jamming device was broadcasting a large amount of data. We have been going over it in detail since we learned of its existence,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°It is data selected from the historical archive. It has taken some time to figure out because the data is so old, going back to the second phase of the Liberation. Many of them appear to deal with Eodar the original¡¯s training,¡± Eolai explained.


    He shook his head. ¡°Some of it is hard for me to watch. In many ways the ancient Yonohoans were victimized by the High-Command that led the opening stages of the Liberation. We were conscripted and forced to fight in a war that we couldn¡¯t understand against forces that had never even heard of our world or our people. Eodar was at the age of four taken from his loving family and thrust into a Toormonda, where he and the other children that they had gathered from Totola were forcibly educated away from their parents.


    ¡°When he was allowed to return, he was used as a bargaining chip to force the Topoka to negotiate terms of their surrender to the High-Command.


    ¡°When that was concluded, he was trained to be a forward scout. It is a dangerous position, with an extremely high mortality rate. However, as he had repeatedly distinguished himself. His leadership of his class of trainees meant that they were expected to have a seventy percent graduation rate. That is about sixty percent higher than normal, Diego. The decision was made two years before they should have graduated to harvest the entire class for replication. They were, of course, not told of the decision. Their imprints were taken while they were asleep in their bunks.¡±


    Eolai¡¯s voice broke a little bit. ¡°They murdered a classroom filled with children in order to make more children into soldiers to fight and die in a terrible, terrible war.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Eolai,¡± Diego said. He put a hand on Eolai¡¯s shoulder and looked away. It was both a very long time ago, but also only one generation by the way of Yonohoan thinking. Time did not fix or soften the tragedy of war. ¡°I think what happened to those children was a war crime, personally.¡±


    ¡°Yes, a crime. And then compounded by the refusal to allow those children that they had murdered to rest in the halls of their ancestors,¡± Eolai agreed. ¡°We have agreed to share this information with the military of your world. I ask you to review it so that you may explain the context in terms which they will understand. When I see it, all I see is a roomful of murderers plotting an atrocity. Yet, had they not acted, then humans may yet serve under the yolk of the master races from which we were freed during the liberation.¡±


    ¡°I understand, Eolai. I¡¯ll watch it, and I¡¯ll try to explain it to the generals in terms that they can understand,¡± Diego agreed. ¡°You think that is the version of Eodar that¡¯s loose on Earth right now, don¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°It fits with the data I have available,¡± Eolai agreed. ¡°I wish to be alone for some time now. When you have finished reviewing the data, find me and we will spar again. You are getting more accustomed to your enhanced body. I believe it may be time to move on to training you for your armor.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m getting armor too?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°Of course. Did you not know? These clothes we are wearing are the traditional ship-wear of a power armor user,¡± Eolai explained, grinning.


    ¡°Oh,¡± Diego said. ¡°I thought the reason we wore them was just because they were just comfortable.¡±


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    ~~~~~


    ¡°So that¡¯s what Eolai believes that whoever sent the messages was trying to tell us. The Eodar on Earth is a victim of a war crime committed against him and the Yonohoan people. Although the clones of Eodar went on to become war heroes, the version on Earth is likely that of a child-soldier who¡¯s own trainers literally murdered because they saw the potential to utilize him as a weapon,¡± Diego summarized. ¡°While the perpetrators of that act are long dead, the echoes of their actions have reached out across time to bite us right on the ass, sirs and ma¡¯ams.¡±


    Major Mary Phillips chewed her lips, forcing herself not to become emotional. ¡°How do we know that this information isn¡¯t doctored?¡± she asked.


    ¡°According to Eolai it has high level encoding which prevents it from being altered. These meetings were left in the historical archives during phase three of the Liberation Wars. During phase five, they were used as evidence at the trial of the perpetrators of this tragedy. While they were convicted postmortem, this actually had very real consequences. Throughout the universe, their imprints that were placed under lockdown. Any clones of these men and women were forcibly retired and set to pasture. But the trial was kept secret, and Eolai was very surprised at the existence of the data,¡± Sergeant Cruz explained.


    ¡°How does this change the current situation with the rogue agent on Earth?¡± General Turnball inquired.


    ¡°I would say it significantly complicates things, sir,¡± Diego said. ¡°The Yonohoans see Eodar as a tragic hero. Constantly called out of the afterlife in order to serve humanity in its hours of need. If this video shows the version of Eodar that is loose on Earth, then it adds a level of tragedy to the mix which I¡¯m not entirely sure how they¡¯ll respond to. They love their kids, sir. If they think that we mistreated a child version of their people¡¯s greatest hero, they might withdraw a large chunk of their support. That¡¯s just my speculation, however. I strongly suggest treating the situation with as much caution and delicacy as possible.¡±


    ¡°What would you say if I told you that we may have located Eodar?¡± Turnball inquired.


    ¡°That would depend on whether or not you¡¯re planning on bringing him in, sir,¡± Diego admitted. ¡°If you¡¯re leaving him in play, then--¡±


    ¡°He is currently classified as a sleeper agent of an unknown and potentially hostile polity,¡± Turnball clarified. ¡°With access to unknown weapons and technology. We cannot afford to leave him in play.¡±


    Diego was silent a moment. ¡°In that case, sir, I would recommend sending the Yonohoans in to collect him. They¡¯re his people. They¡¯ll be able to handle this situation better than we can.¡±


    ¡°I see. Thank you for your time, perspective, and suggestions, Sergeant,¡± Turnball said. He waved his hand, and the PDA-egg cut the connection.


    ¡°Are you sure you wanted to reveal that information holographically, sir?¡± one of the aides asked. ¡°We¡¯re not certain how secure these devices are.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m more concerned about Sergeant Cruz revealing it than the communication devices,¡± Turnball admitted. ¡°We¡¯ve been testing the devices by spreading disinformation to see if the Yonohoans would react to it. So far we haven¡¯t caught them red handed, so we¡¯re forced to assume that either they can¡¯t monitor the communications like they say, or that they are monitoring them but won¡¯t tip their hand for anything minor. So we give them something major that we don¡¯t really care about and see what they do.¡±


    ¡°I see, Sir,¡± the aide said, withdrawing his objection.


    ¡°We¡¯ll give them a week to act. If they don¡¯t bring ¡®John Doe¡¯ in by then, then we¡¯ll take him in ourselves.¡± Turnball said.


    ¡°We¡¯re not going to hurt him, are we?¡± Mary asked.


    Turnball looked offended. ¡°We¡¯re the ESF! We are not in the business of bullying children!¡± he paused, then admitted ¡°but it remains a fact that this child has been trained and equipped with military knowledge and hardware. We need to make certain that he doesn¡¯t harm anyone, including himself, when we acquire him.¡±


    Mary felt relief that they weren¡¯t going to simply eliminate the boy. It would have possibly led to a terrible fallout with the Yonohoans, possibly to a point where they would start taking back their generous gifts.


    She swallowed. One week. She wondered how handing Eodar over to the Yonohoans would affect their relations with them. As she understood it, things could only improve by such an action.


    Unless something went horribly wrong.


    She kicked the thought out of her head as soon as it had registered.


    ?

 2.21.

    2.21.


    Olivia sat nervously in the interview room of the police station where Morrison and Osterham had brought her. She knew that she hadn¡¯t done anything wrong, but she still couldn¡¯t help feeling a little bit like a criminal.


    The FBI believed that it had identified John¡¯s family. They wouldn¡¯t say too much except that he  had  a family, and that they were looking for him, and that they required Olivia¡¯s input in order to ensure that the situation was handled with the delicacy and discretion it required.


    It had been made very clear that Osterham didn¡¯t want her involved in the investigation beyond what she had already been, but Morrison and, apparently, their superiors had wanted to ¡®read her in¡¯ to see if she wanted to continue to be John¡¯s advocate. She¡¯d take all of two seconds to make her decision.


    She had signed all of the NDAs that they had put in front of her, never once questioning why they were being so secretive until after all the paperwork was signed and she was waiting to speak with the agent in charge of the investigation.


    She sipped the crappy jailhouse coffee that Morrison had left with her and waited patiently. Trying to ignore the part of her that thought she looked like she belonged in a scene from  Law and Order .


    Eventually the door opened, and a woman came in. She was middle aged. Tired looking, and wearing the uniform of a Major in the Earth Space Force. Olivia frowned to see a military officer ¨C especially one that was part of the international cooperative forces that were tasked with defending Earth from extraterrestrial threats. The woman, however, seemed pleased to meet Olivia. They shook hands, and Major Mary Phillips introduced herself.


    ¡°I¡¯m certain you¡¯re wondering why the ESF is involved in this little operation,¡± Mary said once they had both taken a seat. ¡°Before any of that, I would like to clarify something. You said that you couldn¡¯t place John¡¯s accent. I¡¯d like you to listen to a recording and tell me if the accent is a match.¡±


    The Major placed an egg-shaped object on the desk, and a hologram of a child with a sloped forehead appeared and began speaking in broken english. The child was bragging about her language studies and how hard she was working to learn the new Darkworld tongues. Several holograms flashed by providing a brief example of similar children making similar claims.


    ¡°I have to admit that yes, the accent sounds very similar to John¡¯s,¡± she said after the fifth example. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m just a little overwhelmed by the technology you just displayed, to be honest. Did we get that from the aliens?¡±


    ¡°Yes, doctor, we did,¡± Mary confirmed. ¡°They¡¯re shipping us these devices by the tens of thousands. We¡¯re calling them PHDAs. Personal Holographic Data Assistants. They¡¯re effectively alien cellphones with advanced communication features and holographic capabilities.¡±


    ¡°Remarkable. How long until that sort of technology makes it to the public?¡± Olivia asked.


    For some reason, Mary made a face. ¡°Anyway, Doctor Nunes, I am here to read you in to the situation in which you have unwittingly become involved. It is a very delicate and complex situation, and it requires a very soft touch. We are hoping that since you already have an established relationship with the subject, that you will consent to further involvement. There are state secrets involved, and I won¡¯t be going into all of the information which we have on the subject, only that which we feel is necessary for you to make an informed decision.¡±


    ¡°John,¡± Olivia said. ¡°Don¡¯t call him ¡®the subject.¡¯ His name is John.¡±


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s start with that. We believe that his birth name is not John Doe. Obviously. We believe that his name is Eodar. And you may not believe this, Doctor Nunes, but we have significant reason to believe that Eodar is the clone of a hero from the wars which shaped the Yonohoan empire and that the aliens consider this child to be a significant cultural hero.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s absurd,¡± Olivia said immediately. ¡°He¡¯s not an alien he¡¯s a human child. A twelve year old boy.¡±


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    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am. His DNA is a 99.7 percent match for modern humans,¡± Major Phillips agreed. ¡°And it is a very very nearly 100% match for our records of Neanderthal DNA. The DNA sample taken from a member of his immediate family has proven paternity conclusively. John Doe is Eodar, no last name, of the Yonohoan people. A clone created using advanced technology that is illegal even by the aliens who possess it.¡±


    Olivia wanted to scoff, but she forced herself to pause and look at the evidence. The claims of aliens in the solar system weren¡¯t going away. She¡¯d seen their technology first hand now. She calmed herself and forced her to reexamine the evidence from a new angle. She had initially assumed that John¡¯s abnormal behaviors were evidence of a learning or neurological disorder. Then she had assumed that they were eccentricity related to his extremely high IQ.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s say that I¡¯m choosing to believe you for now,¡± Olivia said. ¡°How did he get here,  why  is he here, and what do you need me for? I won¡¯t consent to anything unethical, regardless of whether he¡¯s a natural born citizen of Earth or not. As far as I¡¯m concerned he¡¯s a child and one that I have chosen to advocate for.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s exactly it, doctor. By Yonohoan standards and our own, John slash Eodar is a juvenile who can¡¯t advocate for himself. He needs an advocate who is concerned only with his best interests. Because of your existing relationship and your professional qualifications, we are asking for you to step into that role.¡±


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯m in,¡± Olivia said without any hesitation. ¡°Now tell me everything that you believe you know about John so that I can start doing my new job.¡±


    Mary nodded, impressed by the woman¡¯s dedication to her chosen profession. ¡°The fact is, Olivia, that we know that Eodar possesses memories of being conscripted to scout worlds like ours for a defunct military organization. He was trained, apparently from age four or younger, to infiltrate a society while posing as a child in order to gather intelligence. While the military that is responsible for this act has been disbanded for a very long time, it is likely that Eodar believes that it still exists and that he is on a mission to infiltrate Earth. One which he would have gotten away with, if it weren¡¯t for us receiving key information from the Yonohoans.¡±


    ¡°You think he¡¯s a spy,¡± Olivia said. ¡°My god, what are you people planning? He¡¯s just a kid.¡±


    ¡°Yes, we are aware of that. We are hoping to take him into custody and convince him of the fact that the war he was conscripted into has been over for a very long time. Unfortunately we don¡¯t know what sort of training he possesses or what technology he has access to. The Yonohoans believe that he might be dangerous, and considering what they are capable of that implies that he poses a significant threat. We want to treat him with the dignity that a child-soldier deserves, but we also have to keep in mind public safety.


    ¡°The jet-like vehicle that he used to infiltrate earth is  still  burning in Washington. We have to assume that, despite the conditions in which he was found, he retains access to some sort of covert weaponry. For those reasons and several others we can¡¯t allow him to simply remain in place. We have to bring him in. But we¡¯re trying to come up with a plan that will take into account both his unique situation, and at the same time prevent any collateral damage.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s just a boy,¡± Olivia began to argue.


    ¡°If he really  is  just a boy then we¡¯ll all look pretty foolish when this operation comes to light and it looks like we¡¯ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars preparing to interview an innocent child,¡± Mary agreed. ¡°The fact remains that we  need  to interview him and we need to go into the interview assuming the worst case scenario. The last thing we need is an alien infiltrator perpetrating a school shooting or hostage situation because he feels that he has been backed into a corner.¡±


    Olivia looked down at her coffee, which had grown cold. ¡°Okay. I¡¯m not entirely convinced. But I know by this stage that you¡¯re going to do what you¡¯re going to do no matter what that means for John. So how do I help him? What do you need me for?¡±


    Mary smiled at her and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. ¡°We¡¯re not monsters, Olivia. We  want to help  Eodar. I view him as a victim, not a criminal. We just need to be prepared for any fallout if he decides that he doesn¡¯t want our help and responds poorly to it.¡±


    ¡°Right. You¡¯re right,¡± Olivia said. ¡°So let¡¯s go over it. How are things going to go down?¡±


    Mary nodded, and she began explaining the plan in detail.


    ?

 2.22.

    2.22.


    Eodar liked earth, he had decided. While not as technologically advanced as Command had been, they were mostly good people. He particularly liked Doctor Olivia Nunes, and he was sorry that he had been moved out of the institution where he had been under her care.


    He was still coming to terms with the fact that he had been effectively made welcome with open arms. He had been worried that his infiltration by posing as an abandoned child would face far more scrutiny than it had. Especially with his early difficulty in communicating.


    He thought back to the day of the meteors, when the scouts from High-Command had rained down from the stars onto planet Totola, and he remembered the welcome that they received. Despite the nervousness of the elders, the forward scouts that had come to the Yonohoan people had also been made welcome. But Eodar had learned in training that this was not often the case.


    His decision to submit himself to their government had turned out to be the correct one, but he had been extremely concerned over the course of his medical treatment that they would uncover the evidence of his extraterrestrial origins.


    Fortunately they didn¡¯t seem to have the technology to really scan him beyond basic biometrics. While he had several additional organs that contained his nanite generators and other functions, those were deliberately designed to be hidden from most scanners, and it would take a military grade medical scanner to detect the physical differences between Eodar and a normal child.


    And so he had hidden himself in plain sight, which he new from training was often the best solution. He was still a child, for all of his training, and it was established human nature to believe that children are innocent.


    The fact that Eodar was not the enemy of Earth was reassuring as he came to get to know these people. While he questioned the purpose of his mission, he knew that it was not his place to see the big picture. To quote an earth saying he had heard, ¡°ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do and die.¡±


    He had seen surprisingly little evidence of alien interference on the planet. Aside from the supposed ¡®yonohoans¡¯ in orbit who were offering to share their ¡®technology¡¯ with the people of Earth. Eodar found that no end of amusing. He was pretty sure the Earthlings didn¡¯t need any help hunting roe bison with flint spears. They had firearms for that purpose, a technology which the elders of his tribe would think the very definition of divinity.


    He knew how much danger he was in. He wondered what the governments of Earth would do if they discovered his infiltration of their planet, and neither his training nor his imagination gave him very many scenarios which were particularly pleasant. So he simply avoided thinking about it, throwing himself entirely into his life on Earth as though he truly had been born to it.


    He continued making his reports with Rocktalas on a six month delay. He hadn¡¯t made any in the hospital due to the constant supervision that he was under at that time, but he had begun once more upon his discharge. Conveniently this world was filled with ¡®batteries¡¯ which contained enough potential energy inside them to both be transformed into a basic Rocktala device and also broadcast his reports without the need for an external power source.


    And they were cheap enough to buy dozens of them at a time with the small allowance he was given by his foster-family.


    A common theme to his reports was just how good the people of Earth were and how much they needed to be protected from the threat of aliens and invasions which would destroy their society. They had made him feel welcome, and the least that he could do in return was advocate for their fair treatment by High-Command.


    Undoubtedly once the fleet arrived there would be some recruitment efforts. Command was always looking to expand its ranks. Eodar himself had been caught up in the war machine despite the primitive nature of his people and his world. A moderately advanced world like Earth should provide a swath of suitable candidates for securing and ensuring the freedom of the human race among the stars.


    But again, that was not John¡¯s place to plan or question. Command would decide upon the integration of Earth into its forces in its own time. His job was simply to provide them with the information they required to make their decisions.


    Still, there was no rule in his training that said that he couldn¡¯t enjoy himself during a mission. Fitting in was more important than maintaining discipline, and the children of Earth were expected to play and have fun. In fact, he had noticed immediately that the adults who were monitoring him seemed to relax considerably once he had begun accepting the invitations of other children to engage in play.


    Slowly, he was beginning to relax.


    Which made it all the more devastating when it happened.


    He had let his guard down. It was normal to be called to the counselor''s office once a day. The young man had a perpetual smile and was eager to help Eodar in adjusting to his new life as John Doe, so Eodar wasn¡¯t alarmed when the teacher sent him from the classroom. He was distracted, thinking about the girls of Earth.


    He had to admit that they were pretty. He¡¯d never really had time to think of his fellow female trainees that way, but they were also his sisters by oath. He had sworn all of the children in his training class to the sacred oaths of brotherhood, making the girls his family. The girls of earth, however ¡­ perhaps once his mission was over, he could convince one of them to join his clan, and maybe if he returned to Planet Totola with one the Topoka would sanctify their union ¡­


    He paused, frowning. What was he doing thinking of that stupid tradition? The idea that the humans needed an alien to monitor or guide the breeding of humans was reprehensible. His trainers had all agreed that while the Topoka were not particularly heinous in their actions, they were still aliens and monsters.


    No, there was no reason to involve the Topoka. Which, he realized, meant that there was no reason to wait. He was thinking of the prettiest girl in his class when he opened the door to the counselor¡¯s office and was surprised to find Doctor Olivia Nunes in his place.


    Surprised, but very pleased. He had not expected to see her again, and the friendly face dampened his suspicions, especially when she explained that she often followed up on many of her more complex patients once they had left the hospital.


    She offered him an orange soda, the kind that he had enjoyed most during his hospitalization, and they spoke for a while as he drank. She asked him how things were going with his new foster family and the children of school, and he talked about what was on his mind.


    ¡°I¡¯d say that your interest in girls is completely normal for your age, John,¡± Olivia informed him when he confessed that some of the girls in his class were a distraction. They had spoken for close to thirty minutes and John was both enjoying himself and letting his guard down. ¡°Just be careful. You can get yourself a girlfriend if you want, but you don¡¯t want to get anyone pregnant, do you?¡±


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    Eodar frowned as he considered the implications of her words. She was right, having a child on Earth would have extreme complications. He¡¯d have to see to their upbringing in both the Yonohoan traditions and the Earth customs, and it would interfere with his duty to High-Command. And possibly his duty to all of humanity.


    ¡°John, I want you to listen and not be alarmed,¡± Olivia said, suddenly shifting the conversation as he finished his drink. ¡°We found your family.¡±


    Eodar froze. ¡°That¡¯s not possible.¡±


    ¡°They came looking for you, John. They say that your real name is Eodar. They didn¡¯t know you were alive until just recently. They love you and want you to come home. I know you think that it is your duty to be here, to protect Earth. But--¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t know anything,¡± John said, his voice flat and unemotional. ¡°Whatever you think you know is lies.¡±


    ¡°I know that your Yonohoan, John. I don¡¯t care, it doesn¡¯t change my duty to you as one of my patients or the way that I feel about you personally,¡± she argued.


    ¡°Who told you this lie?¡± John asked.


    ¡°A member of the Earth Space Force. They¡¯ve confirmed it with genetics, John. I¡¯m very sorry to tell you this, but you are  not  the original Eodar. You have his body and his memories, but the original Eodar died thousands of years ago. This war you think you¡¯re fighting in, it¡¯s over. It¡¯s been over for millennia. Nobody in this galaxy uses child soldiers anymore, John. The Yonohans, and the people of the Earth, they want to help you heal from the trauma of your training and¡­¡±


    Eodar abruptly got up and ran from the guidance counselor¡¯s office. Straight into a wall of SWAT.


    ¡°Don¡¯t hurt him!¡± Olivia called out. ¡°I¡¯m sorry John, but we have to take this situation seriously. Please don¡¯t try to run away again!¡±


    Eodar paused as he considered his options. He cursed his foolishness for not seeing this coming. He had made preparations for the possibility that he would be discovered by the government, but most of those preparations had assumed that they would come at him while he was at home, or possibly on the way between his faster parents¡¯ house and the school.


    Not at his guidance counselor¡¯s office. Not that one of his few adult friends would betray him.


    He¡¯d been caught flatfooted, and to resist now would only result in defeat. He quickly calculated his options and came to the one that had the highest chances of success.


    He began to cry.


    The men of the SWAT team seemed to relax as he displayed his emotions, and Olivia stepped into the doorway to embrace Eodar in a reassuring hug. ¡°Let¡¯s start talking about what happens next, John. Or would you prefer that I call you Eodar?¡±


    ¡°My name is John Doe,¡± Eodar said. ¡°I was born on Earth. I don¡¯t know who told you these lies, but I am not an alien!¡±


    ¡°Okay, John, okay. Let¡¯s go back in the office and talk about what you believe. School is out for the day. All of the other children have been sent home. It¡¯s just us. Is it okay if I bring some other people in on this conversation?¡± Olivia asked.


    ¡°I do not care what you do,¡± Eodar said. He returned with her into the office and returned to his seat.


    He was unsurprised when she pulled out a PHDA and placed it on the table between them. Promptly, a hologram of a middle-aged woman appeared.


    ¡°Hello Eodar. I am glad that you are cooperating in the efforts to bring you in peacefully. I am Major Mary Phillips of the Earth Space Force,¡± she said.


    ¡°My name is John Doe,¡± Eodar said with a little bit of force in his voice.


    ¡°He¡¯s still denying his identity, Major,¡± Olivia said. ¡°We¡¯re going nice and slow, just like we planned, and so far he¡¯s responding as well as I¡¯d hoped he would.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good, I¡¯m glad to hear it. You are pretty calm after seeing a technology that isn¡¯t native to earth, John,¡± Mary pointed out. ¡°I¡¯m guessing that when you grew up holograms were common place.¡±


    Eodar cursed to himself as he realized that he had made another miscalculation. ¡°I saw them on television. They¡¯re no big deal.¡±


    ¡°Well,  I  was surprised the first time I saw one,¡± Mary said. ¡°But back on to the topic. The American government is willing to forgive and overlook the incident in which you engaged in a dogfight with its Air Force, John. We are willing to return you to your people without pressing any charges of espionage. We must, however, know who it was who sent you on your mission.¡±


    ¡°I have no mission. I am a twelve year old boy from Earth, not a Yonohoan,¡± John said mechanically. ¡°If I have any mission at all, it is to grow and to learn.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s the response a normal boy from Earth would give to this situation,¡± Mary pointed out.


    ¡°Yes. I am strange. I am sorry that my strangeness has confused your government, but I am not Eodar.¡±


    ¡°We have genetic tests that prove that you are. Perhaps we¡¯re wrong about what sort of technology was used to create you and you were a ¡®natural¡¯ clone without implanted memories. We don¡¯t know, but we¡¯re willing to keep all options on the table at this point,¡± Mary said. ¡°However, the prevailing theory is that you are a clone of the version of Eodar whose replication imprint was harvested along with his entire class of Forward Scout Troop Trainees circa ninety thousand years ago.¡±


    Eodar looked up in horror. ¡°What did you say?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve seen the evidence, John. The men who did that to you were tried for war crimes,¡± Mary said. ¡°But it was a very long time ago. I know that it may not seem that way to you, but--¡±


    ¡°My brothers! My sisters! You are lying! High-Command would never betray us like that!¡± Eodar protested. ¡°They swore that if we earned the honor, we would be allowed to step into the light we would be allowed to do so with eyes open in the service of humanity! They would not take that honor from us!¡±


    ¡°I have seen the evidence,¡± Mary repeated. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, John. Your commanders decided that your class of Trainees was too valuable. They wished to replicate all of you to expose you to different training methods and roles in the war that they were fighting. If it brings you any solace, I am told that the other men whom you became grew up to be great heroes. I am told that your name is known throughout the universe, and that it brings both respect and fear.¡±


    Eodar shook his head. He would hear no more of this. He could not argue with him if they were convinced of these lies, and to continue to do so would only convince them further.


    He fell on another strategy. One that had served him once already, when he had realized that his repetition of the words spoken to him was creating suspicion.


    He went mute.


    ?

 2.23.

    2.23.


    Olivia called an end to the interview after ten minutes, proving the effectiveness of the strategy that Eodar had adapted. He cursed himself for the few slips that he had given them and he vowed that would be the end of the information that they got out of him.


    He was escorted by SWAT out of the school. Several reporters and onlookers had heard that the school had been evacuated and were waiting with cameras and microphones, but they were on the other side of the building. Eodar, his senses on overdrive, could hear them shouting questions at the officers who were keeping the building secure.


    He numbly got into the back of the squad car after one of the officers opened the door for him, and he sat on the uncomfortable plastic seat. The door closed, and for just a moment he was left alone.


    He relaxed. An unsupervised moment was all he needed.


    He released his nanites.


    They quickly ate through his clothing. Through the plastics and metals of the car. They sought out the fuel tank for the hydrocarbons and the battery for the chemicals that were there. The wetware in his head quickly informed him of his options, and he selected one of the options which he believed would effect his escape the most smoothly.


    The nanites coalesced on his body, forming armor that looked identical to the set that he had abandoned/destroyed in the forest. Unfortunately, it lacked the powerful strange-matter reactor, but it was still more advanced than anything found on Earth at this stage of its development. The hydrocarbon fuel cell was only perhaps 30% of the output of a proper generator, but it would work for now.


    Until he ran out of fuel, at least. He would have to be quick.


    He felt his weapon systems go activated. The car burst into shrapnel around him, causing the SWAT team and the other officers around him to duck and cover. And then he was gone, running at near superhuman speeds as he made his escape.


    He saw the flash of weapons as they tried to hit him with tasers and bean-bag rounds, but he completely ignored the non-lethal attempts to disable him. He ran to where he had heard the civilians. The crowd gasped when they saw him and he fired into them with his impulse weapons, causing them to scream and disperse.


    While the weapon was set to a non-lethal setting, it still resulted in several onlookers being knocked unconscious. Mostly, however, it resulted in a panic. Which was what Eodar was aiming for. He ran through the crowd and activated his stealth systems, vanishing to the naked eye amid the people who were screaming and running for their lives.


    A solid  Crack  hit his armor a moment after his stealth activated. A sniper, using an infra-red scope, had tagged him. His armor held, but the impact jarred him. His armor tracked the trajectory back to an overlook position. He raised his arm and traded fire with the sniper. The windows of the sniper nest burst backward, and the sniper lost consciousness as the impulse weapon swept over him.


    Once again invisible to the naked eye, Eodar ran through the crowd. He heard the sounds of helicopters and he looked toward the sky, but it became obvious that they had lost sight of him.


    He ran six miles in thirty minutes, arriving at a mall. He hid in the bathroom until the mall closed, then robbed one of the clothing stores. He dyed his hair black, and he once more submitted to the agonizing process of changing the shape of his face.


    He was found by the mall security officer, but the overweight man put up little resistance once Eodar knocked him unconscious with a blast from his impulse weapon. Taking the man¡¯s keys from him, Eodar left the mall without issue.


    He spent the next two weeks living on the streets, hiding as the city calmed down from the excitement. Eventually, he was able to pay another homeless person to pose as his father and buy them both a bus ticket into another state.


    ~~~~~~~


    ¡°I do appreciate the sensitivity that you used in attempting to bring my father in peacefully, General. I wish, however, that you had involved the Yonohoah in your plans. We would have given you the technology to neutralize the very weapon system which he used to escape your custody,¡± Eolai said to the gathered officers and aides. ¡°I am relieved that there was no loss of life. My fathers or your own men. It brings me solace that although my father remains at large, he retains enough of himself to restrain his wrath.¡±


    ¡°It would have helped if we had known the full extent of his capabilities,¡± General Turnball said.


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    ¡°We told you that he was dangerous. That we, the Yonohoans who love him, considered him to be a threat. Is it our fault for not speculating as to the full extent of his capabilities? The exact details of his training have been lost to time, General. And I believe that whoever revived him gave him weapons which the original scouts from his time did not have access to,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°I had thought that if you found him, you would contact us for our assistance in neutralizing the threat that he posed. I see that I should have anticipated that you would want to resolve the situation yourself. Still, I thank you for not going in ¡®guns blazing.¡¯¡±


    ¡°I believe there¡¯s enough blame to go around for everyone,¡± Mary said. ¡°Yes we could have prepared better if we had more information, but yes the Yonohoans would have been more inclined to give us that information if we kept them in the loop. This is a clear case of a lack of communication and trust. The question is how do we proceed from here, gentlemen?¡±


    ¡°I can arrange for your response team to receive nanite-disabling weapons,¡± Eolai said. ¡°However, I believe that the best solution would be to have a Yonohoan squad be involved in the next capture attempt.¡±


    Turnball nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll keep you in the loop. When we find him again, and it¡¯s only a matter of time, we¡¯ll let you know. We¡¯ll support your soldiers and let you handle the situation.¡± He paused. ¡°Eolai, I hope you understand. Your father poses a threat to our security which cannot be overlooked. We cannot--¡±


    ¡°I more than anyone am aware of the danger that leaving my father unsupervised on Earth poses to your planet, General,¡± Eolai said. He shook his head sadly. ¡°Let us just hope that the next time he surfaces, we are better prepared.


    ~~~~~


    While Eodar was scrounging for food in a dumpster, Captain Moon and the rest of the crew of returning heroes had finally been released from quarantine, and a press conference was scheduled. She was expected to give a speech, one which she was surprised to find herself looking forward to.


    While Sarah and several others remained on Planet Totola receiving medical care, the majority of the crew was in high spirits and good health. The scans performed with the Yonohoan¡¯s medical devices showed that their brain damage from the exposure to the Tunnel Drive was healing. Captain Moon was no longer scored at stage 2 of exposure, but rather an intermediary stage of 1.5.


    She was still stepping down from command responsibilities for health and personal reasons. She had made her mark on history and would be content to rest on her laurels for the rest of her life.


    The press conference took place at ESF headquarters, with every major news outlet in the world in attendance. Gabriel was sitting in a place of honor, and he was thoroughly dreading the moment that it was revealed that he was responsible for everything that had happened thanks to his discovery of the alien microwave signals.


    The press conference began with one of the many spokesmen for the ESF giving a brief summary of the mission of the Seeker ¨C to explore the universe from vantage points that were unavailable from earth, to seek out possible colony sites for the expansion of humanity, and to map the local region of space in a level of detail that was previously impossible.


    He went over the milestones of the project, starting with the discovery of the mechanics of the Tunnel Drive nearly fifty years ago. He briefly touched upon the selection of the crew, calling them the finest men and women in service to their world and some of the finest minds of their generation. And then, finally, he introduced Captain Moon and handed the floor over to her.


    Ji-eun took her spot at the podium and smiled. ¡°People of Earth. I¡¯m not sure if you¡¯ve heard yet, but it turns out that no, we are not alone in the universe.¡±


    That got a few small chuckles from the gathered media representatives.


    ¡°When Gabriel woke me up at four AM shipboard time to inform me that he had discovered anomalous radio signals coming from a nearby star, I wasn¡¯t truly expecting to find what we discovered. Not one but  two  alien civilizations living together. Yes, many of you have interacted with the Yonohoans, but planet Totola is also home to their close friends and allies the Topoka, or, as we call them, Sulivans.


    ¡°And yes, they really do look like a popular cartoon character from a classic film. The resemblance is uncanny.


    ¡°First contact was met with many difficulties. Their computer systems were so advanced that they had a hard time dumbing themselves down enough to understand our own. Due to an unfortunate misunderstanding, one of our probes was destroyed. But through persistence and a mutual desire to come to an understanding, we persevered to secure the beginning of what I humbly hope will be a long and fruitful alliance between the Humans of Earth and their lost brothers and sisters among the stars, the Yonohoans.


    ¡°Some of you have expressed down that they are truly our family. That the genetic tests showing that they are a 99.7% match for modern humans from earth have been falsified. But their resemblance to us is not merely superficial. They, too, wonder at the nature of the universe. They, too, hold their families close and they love their children. They, too, reach out to one another with cautious optimism that their efforts at friendship are not spurned or used against them.


    ¡°I put forward, to all humankind, that the Yonohoans are our clansmen. That our alliance is a natural extension of the brotherhood between the humanity of Earth and our lost brothers and sisters who have been scattered throughout the stars by forces known and unknown.


    ¡°Our existence alone brings the Yonohoans great joy. Because we exist, they are less alone in the universe. They have no other reason for helping us. No other reason for loving us. They have extended their hand to us in friendship and brotherhood. I say to you now, do we dare accept it?¡±


    She paused, then smiled. ¡°And that¡¯s all I have prepared. I¡¯ll take your questions now.¡±


    ?

 2.24.

    2.24.


    ¡°And this is what the translator calls the Material Printer. We¡¯re calling it a replicator,¡± Captain Anders said, continuing the tour of the Toormonda for the gathered politicians and scientists. ¡°It has a wide variety of imprints which it can duplicate down to the subatomic level. It requires only an equivalent amount of mass and a good amount of energy to create almost anything you would want from it. And like everything else on this ship, we have absolutely no idea how it really works.¡±


    That got a round of nervous chuckles from the men and women he was guiding. They were not aboard the  Keeper of Dreams , but one of the nineteen other Toormondas which had been delivered as promised by the Yonohoans once Earth had formally accepted the gifts.


    ¡°The Replicator is different from the food forge. The food forge simply rearranges molecules, whereas the replicator seems to absolutely rebuild them. The food forge requires about the same amount of base elements in order to produce edible substances, whereas the replicator only requires mass. While you  can  replicate food, it¡¯s easier on the ship to use the food forge, and it¡¯s also much faster,¡± He continued.


    ¡°The bathrooms are right over here. As you can see, they¡¯re quite luxurious compared to most spacecraft. The Yonohoans upsized many of the amenities for the Toormondas that they gifted us with the assumption that they would be piloted and used by adults rather than children. As such, while they can pack classes of up to fifty of their kids in these things at a time, we expect to run an average crew size of twenty. Yes, I see we have a question?¡±


    ¡°Does it gall you that our best efforts of making a science vessel is eclipsed by what is effectively an alien school bus?¡± one reporter asked.


    ¡°No, it doesn¡¯t,¡± Anders said. ¡°Some of the Yonohoans were worried that we would be offended in this manner, but ultimately science is a process of building a pyramid out of blocks, one block at a time. The  Seeker  was a necessary step in the progression of Earth¡¯s scientific endeavors. And I believe that it was the pinnacle of what we would have achieved alone. The mission of the  Seeker  revealed the dangers of the Tunnel Drive and brought the reality of those dangers out in the open. Had we not encountered the Yonohoans, we would have either abandoned faster than light travel entirely, or we would have proceeded to continue exploring until we found someone like them, except maybe less friendly.


    ¡°If the  Seeker  was the pinnacle of what we could do alone, then using the Toormondas as a base for future developments does not upset me, but rather makes me look forward to what we can achieve with the help of the Yonohoans.¡±


    The tour continued for some time, with everyone ordering a meal from the food forge and remarking on its quality. Some of them tried traditional food from Earth, while the more adventurous tried something from the Yonohoan menu.


    Captain Anders served as an admirable tour guide, not for one second appearing as though it were beneath his dignity to serve in this capacity. Nor did he let the annoyance of having people crawling all over his new ¡®home¡¯ bother him.


    He smiled. While the  Seeker  was being decommissioned, Anders was not. He retained his field promotion to the rank of Captain, and he was being assigned to this very Toormonda ship. He was going to have to get used to giving tours like this in the short term, but once the scientists got a handle on the opportunities that the fleet of Toormondas gave them, he would once again be leaving the sun¡¯s orbit and venturing out into the depths of the firmament to guard those who asked questions which could be answered in no other way than exploration and experimentation.


    He smiled, because he had just decided on the name of his ship.


    A Good Question .


    ~~~~~~


    Gabriel Nguyen sat the tray on the table and sighed. It had been an exhausting time dealing with his newfound fame. And now here he was at an ivy league university, a school which had likely used his application for toilet paper only a decade earlier, being wined and dined as he was courted for a position on the faculty.


    His spacefaring days were likely well behind him. Like many of the crew, he was probably going to settle down and teach. While the scientific quest that had launched the  Seeker  was largely overshadowed by the unexpected contact with the Yonohoans, the fact remained that even the aliens admired the scientific value of the experiment that they had performed and were encouraging the Earthlings to see the results through to the end.


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Whether the aliens knew what they would find or not was left open ended.


    Some might find the Yonohoans setting of clear boundaries between the pre-existing science of earth and the race to reverse-engineer Yonohoan technology. The Yonohoans were eager to help the Earthlings advance, but once Yonohoan technology was used in a project, it was considered  tainted  somehow that the earth scientists didn¡¯t really understand.


    Gabriel understood, however.


    In the greatest universe, Humans were one of, if not the, predominant species. They had not maintained this position for very long, only about fifty thousand years or so. The Liberation Wars had effectively stomped the previous monolithic empire, and the universe was still picking up the pieces.


    One aspect remained from before the wars, however. Humans were seen by everyone as ¡®uplifts,¡¯ and many believed that they were in fact artificial life forms. That all of their advancements to science, medicine, literature, and other diverse topics rightfully belonged to the race which created them.


    Never mind that their genome showed clear evidence of natural evolution. Never mind that, despite many races having claimed credit for human genesis at some point, all of those claims had been debunked. Never mind that the technology of the universe had effectively exploded once the curiosity and abstract thinking of the human mind was unleashed upon the old questions that had stumped the aliens for millions of years.


    Humans were just uplifts. Yeah they ruled the universe now, but they¡¯re still just uplifts.


    He sighed in disgust.


    He began eating. He had sneaked away from his tour guides and had gone through the cafeteria with the students instead. Despite that, the food was pretty good, and he was enjoying the contrast to Turkey Butthole Surprise when the egg in his pocket beeped.


    He pulled out his PHDA and it flashed, a hologram of Captain Moon appearing.


    ¡°Good afternoon, Captain,¡± he said in greeting.


    ¡°I¡¯m not catching you at a bad time, am I?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Nope. Just sitting down to eat. What¡¯s on your mind?¡±


    ¡°I just spoke with Tukano,¡± she said. ¡°He¡¯s unable to leave for Earth, despite his wishes, due to the need to remain and protect planet Totola, but he wishes for me to extend his greetings to you. He didn¡¯t have permission to contact you directly because you¡¯re stepping down from active service. It seems that now that you¡¯re in a new position, the Yonohoans consider you to be in a completely new phase of your life, and you must reach out to your old contacts to give them permission to continue to be part of it.¡±


    ¡°I was not aware of that,¡± Gabriel said, taking a bite of mashed potatoes. ¡°I definitely want to maintain contact with Tukano. I¡¯ll give him a ring as soon as we hang up. Is that the only reason you called?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re in the same position, you and I. Put out to pasture, but the grass of the pasture is tall and green and fertile. I was wondering if you had any insights into what we should do next.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be signing on to one of the teams analyzing the data from the  Seeker ,¡± he said. ¡°There¡¯s a few different universities that are in a knife fight for my attention. They only really want me because of the fame of being the one who spotted the signal, but the job offers are real enough.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I thought so. I¡¯ve gotten a few offers from various corporations and NGOs to be their liaison with the Yonohoans,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°But a part of me just wants to tour the world, going to elementary schools and talking about the great adventure I had.¡±


    Gabriel laughed. ¡°Well, you can still do that in your downtime, can¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°I suppose you¡¯re right. I¡¯m going to let you go. Just wanted to pass on the message from Tukano. Good luck, Gabriel.¡±


    ¡°You too, Captain,¡± Gabriel said, and the call cut off.


    It was at that point that he realized the cafeteria had gone completely silent, and that everyone was looking at him with expressions varying from surprise to awe. He realized that nobody had seen a hologram like that before, and he had just casually flashed around Yonohoan tech like it was nothing.


    He sighed, finishing his meal before wandering off. Hopefully, he¡¯d be able to get desensitized to being stared at sooner rather than later.


    ?

 2.25.

    2.25.


    The black-haired boy pressed a finger to the lock and waited patiently as the nanites countered the simple mechanical protection. In just a few seconds, he heard a click, and he opened the door, gaining access to the County Social Services office. He glanced around for security cameras, but there was nothing. He shook his head at the lack of security.


    But then, that was the very reason he had selected this plan to begin with.


    It had taken some time to come up with this idea, but he had asked some questions of the other street children and adults that he¡¯d encountered and come up with a solution.


    Living on the streets was miserable. While he would endure it if there were no other options, there were other options. The problem wasn¡¯t that he had no place to go. The problem was that all of the options that were available to other children in his position would reveal that he had no past.


    So he had to acquire a past.


    He pulled from his pocket a flash drive that he had converted into a Rocktala. It had taken him some time and effort to make Rocktalas compatible with Earth computers, but they were ultimately based on the same principals. It was easier for a Rocktala to speak with a computer than it was for a rocktala to communicate with the holographic interphased thinking machines that High-Command and most of the galaxy used.


    After all, Rocktalas also worked based on binary, unlike the more advanced computer systems. While they were far more limited, they could be crafted readily by simple nanite patters rather than requiring advanced manufacturing techniques or a replicator.


    He opened the door of a random social worker and went to work. He plugged the flashdrive into the computer and allowed it to take over. The Rocktala bypassed the BIOS, defeated the encryption, and accessed the folder all in about twenty minutes while Eodar nervously kept watch. Finally, he sighed in relief as he was inside the county¡¯s computer network.


    From there, he had to do some research. He looked at some of the other case files of children his age who were in the system, making notes of some of the similarities and differences. He spent almost two hours doing the research that he would require to put up a believable act, then he switched over and created a new folder.


    Rather than write his own story, he copy/pasted excerpts from other files, mixing and matching the stories of other children to create his own.


    Once he had his story established, he ordered the Rocktala to penetrate the other computer systems to begin installing the supporting documents that would back up his fake past. Within an hour he had a birth certificate, school records, and a list of former foster homes that didn¡¯t actually exist.


    He withdrew from the office an hour before dawn, but he didn¡¯t go very far. He waited for the office to open again, then he simply walked back in side. He went up to the receptionist, who was still settling in for the day, and he put on his best repentant look.


    ¡°I¡¯m done running away now,¡± he told her. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Can you help me find a new home?¡±


    ~~~~~~


    ¡°Are you Kirk P. Desmond?¡± the man in black asked, and immediately Kirk¡¯s self-preservation instincts kicked in. He had answered the door in his underwear, and now stood face to face with what looked like an agent from a stereotypical no-such-agency film.


    ¡°Who¡¯s asking?¡± he demanded, trying not to sweat.


    ¡°I represent Trefold Aeronautics. My name is Brett Peterson. I¡¯m sorry if my appearance startles you, but the whole MIB thing is part of the corporate look. I assure you that I¡¯m not as scary as I look.¡±


    ¡°Uh-huh. What do you want?¡± Kirk demanded.


    ¡°Well, to be honest, we want your spaceship,¡± Brett answered.


    ¡°My what?¡±


    ¡°The Yonohoans have finished manufacturing it and it just arrived in system. We at Trefold would like to purchase it from you for the purposes of reverse engineering it,¡± Brett explained. ¡°We¡¯ve tried to request one from the aliens directly, but they¡¯re proving difficult to negotiate with. It seems that the part of their delegation that you interacted with operates under different rules than the one assigned to corporate entities. We did check with them, however, and they have no problem with you selling the ship to us as long as we provide sufficient remuneration and you are pleased with the transaction.¡±


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    ¡°Remunerwhatnow?¡± Kirk asked.


    ¡°Money, Kirk. Trefold Aeronautics wants to pay you a lot of money for the space ship that the aliens want to give you,¡± Brett clarified.


    ¡°How much money?¡± Kirk asked.


    ¡°How does one hundred million dollars sound?¡± Brett inquired.


    Kirk¡¯s eyebrows shot up in surprise. ¡°It sounds like I won the lottery,¡± he admitted.


    ¡°Yes sir, I was hoping you¡¯d say that.¡±


    ¡°It also sounds like I should maybe look around and see if anyone else is interested in putting in a bid,¡± Kirk pointed out.


    ¡°I see. It would be most disappointing if we lost your ship to one of our competitors, but I understand your desire to get the best price. I¡¯ll give you my card. You can do your research. But I assure you, we are willing to match any price given to you,¡± Brett said. He handed Kirk a business card.


    ¡°Have a pleasant day,¡± Brett said, and then he walked away, leaving Kirk to rush into his computer and begin researching who the competitors of Trefold Aeronautics were, as well as anyone else who might want to buy a spaceship.


    ¡°I really thought that alien bastard was just kidding,¡± he said to himself. ¡°Werlian you crazy bastard, you actually came through on this?¡±


    ~~~~~~


    The Yonohoan¡¯s children show ended. Like a show from Earth, they always concluded with the credits, except that only the actors were named. And they were more than named. Each listed actor gave a small autobiographical segment explaining their life up until they were chosen for the program.


    It was quaint, and Sarah had taken to watching the credits with as much interest as the program itself.


    When the program ended, an icon lit up in the middle of the air informing Sarah that Trenola wished to speak with her at her earliest convenience. Sighing, Sarah accepted the call and the hologram of her doctor appeared.


    ¡°Hello, Sarah. How are you feeling today?¡± the Yonohoan asked cheerfully.


    ¡°It¡¯s getting better,¡± Sarah admitted. ¡°Sometimes I still find myself denying that it happened. That he hadn¡¯t shattered my heart and exposed all of the lies I¡¯d been telling myself. I find myself wanting to hate him for it, but from an objective standpoint I know that he  does  care for me and that¡¯s why he had to do what he did.¡±


    ¡°Diego does indeed care for you as a former member of the crew and a friend, Sarah,¡± Trenola agreed.


    ¡°And it will never be more than that. I know. I hate it, but I know,¡± Sarah said.


    ¡°How are you finding life on planet Totola, Sarah?¡± Trenola inquired.


    ¡°I love it here,¡± Sarah admitted. ¡°But I also miss my family and want to go home. I know that you won¡¯t let me go until I¡¯m well again, but sometimes I feel like you¡¯re keeping me hostage here.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± Trenola said. ¡°Well, Sarah, I have news. I¡¯m not entirely certain how you¡¯ll react, but be assured that I will not be surprised or upset no matter what your response is. You see, your government has been growing rather more insistent that you and the other patients be returned to them. They have expressed concerns that we are not adequately seeing to your needs.¡±


    Sarah processed the words for a moment, then she began to laugh. ¡°Those bastards just want to fry my brain on their MRIs and PETscans so that they can figure out whether or not the Tunnel Drive is really as dangerous as it is or if I¡¯m a freak case.¡±


    ¡°They have assured us that is not the case,¡± Trenola said. ¡°And they have promised to keep the Yonohoan medical experts involved in your care once you return to Earth. I believe that we have done everything that we can do for you at this time, Sarah. Except for the experimental treatment, which you have expressed concerns with attempting. If you wish to return to Earth, perhaps now is the time. We can always arrange for you to be returned to us at a later time to continue your treatment, and I believe that a return to a familiar environment will be good for you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll think about it, Doc. How long do I have to decide?¡± Sarah asked.


    ¡°I am in no hurry. It is your government that has ¡®ants in their pants,¡¯¡± Trenola explained.


    ¡°Yeah, okay. Well, tell them that you talked to me about it and I¡¯ll make up my mind whether or not I want to change my environment,¡± Sarah said.


    ¡°I will relay your words. Be well, Sarah,¡± Trenola said, and her hologram vanished.


    ?

 2.26.

    2.26.


    ¡°It has officially reached the point where Earth owns more Yonohoan origin space assets than the ones that we put into orbit ourselves,¡± the senator was saying on the television. ¡°Am I the only one who is worried that this is a way of silently disarming us? That there¡¯s a great big switch somewhere that will cause all of these ¡®gifts¡¯ to suddenly disarm themselves? Possibly even self destruct and kill all hands on board?


    ¡°I know that the Yonohoans seem so friendly, but by their own history they have a long tradition of warfare. They¡¯re feared throughout the galaxy for their cunning strategy and ruthlessness in battle. Why are we submitting ourselves to their mercy when we were on the edge of an age of discovery and --¡±


    Ji-eun Moon turned the television off. She tisked in disgust. The senator had probably never even spoke to a Yonohoan. He was just a fear-monger, stoking up the flames of distrust and xenophobia in exchange for press time and potential votes.


    ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s a loudmouth,¡± Trevor said, sitting next to her and wrapping an arm around her shoulder. She leaned into the embrace. A kitten hopped into her lap. She hadn¡¯t had the heart to reclaim Fluffy from the loving home she had been adopted into, and so Ji-eun had spent some time shopping for a new pet.


    Now that she was officially done with flying around in the stars, she could afford to have a cat again. She rubbed the kitten¡¯s cheek and the animal began to purr.


    The relationship with Trevor was new as well. He¡¯d bought her a drink. She¡¯d accepted. They¡¯d talked for twenty minutes before she¡¯d taken him upstairs to the motel room she¡¯d been staying in at the time. He¡¯d had absolutely no idea who she was when he¡¯d made his advance and she didn¡¯t inform him until he was putting on his socks the next morning.


    ¡°Oh, yeah, so I¡¯m the captain of the ship that found the aliens. Fun time last night. I¡¯m going to take a shower.¡±


    She¡¯d been expecting him to either run screaming or to try to exploit the experience. So far he¡¯d done neither, except to ask her out for dinner when she¡¯d finished her shower.


    ¡°Have you decided which offer to accept?¡± he asked.


    ¡°How am I supposed to decide when everyone wants a piece of me and the offers are all just so good?¡± she inquired.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Tape them to a wall and throw a dart?¡± he suggested.


    She considered the idea and dismissed it. She sighed.


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll follow the money. Trefold is offering the highest compensation package, and I can live anywhere I want. They really only want me for my Yonohoan connections, but that¡¯s fine. It will give me enough time to do educational and charity work on the side,¡± she said.


    ¡°There. You¡¯ve made up your mind. Was that so hard?¡±


    ¡°Agonizing. I need a massage to clear my head.¡±


    ¡°Just a massage?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll see where things go,¡± she said with a smile.


    ~~~~~


    Diego caught the blow on his armor¡¯s stomach plates, grabbed Eolai¡¯s arm with both of his own, twisted his body and threw his Yonohoan brother through the air. Eolai spun and landed on his feet, dashing back with lightning speed to continue to press the attack.


    Diego deflected punch after punch, each amplified by Eolai¡¯s own power armor. They hummed with power and a faint blue light as the strange-matter powered suits radiated danger. While both had their armors weapon systems powered down, the simple strength they were wielding was enough to break concrete with a casual glancing blow.


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    Solid thuds echoed through the training room. The Topokans were watching nervously as the sparring match continued for twenty long minutes. Eolai, who had spent years practicing with this technology, had the clear advantage. Diego was learning well, however, and caught his mentor by surprise a few times.


    ¡°Enough,¡± Eolai announced. Their armor, which had been glowing a light blue, suddenly darkened as the power was cut out. They returned to a darker color, navy blue bordering on black.


    ¡°I almost had you a few times,¡± Diego said, still gasping for breath.


    ¡°I would be a poor teacher if I did not give you a few openings to exploit,¡± Eolai countered. ¡°But your training is progressing well.¡±


    ¡°You know that Earth¡¯s military would literally kill to get this sort of tech for their soldiers,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°I am certain they would do no less than that, yes,¡± Eolai said. ¡°Unfortunately I¡¯m not certain that they are ready for it yet. We have provided your world with the basic defenses that any colony world would have, but they continue asking for more. It is not that we are unwilling, but rather that when we give weapons as gifts, we believe we remain responsible for their usage. Your world is frightfully fractured and nonunified. I do not wish to contribute to the rise of tyranny.¡±


    ¡°I understand completely,¡± Diego agreed. He sighed. ¡°My native nation faced the same dilemma. We tried to arm our allies with our own weapons, but were often dismayed by the results as tyrants rose to power and used the very weapons we gave them in reprehensible ways.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I know,¡± Eolai said.


    ¡°So how do we reach a compromise?¡± Diego asked. ¡°What do you give the people of Earth so that they are satisfied and yet cannot use as a weapon of oppression?¡±


    ¡°I do not know, Diego my brother, and that is the problem.¡±


    ¡°Eolai, Diego, I regret to inform you that an unidentified ship has appeared inside the Oort Cloud,¡± Bob said, its neutral voice intruding on the conversation. ¡°It dropped out of the Hyperatomic plane just a moment ago. It is presently actively scanning the system.¡±


    Eolai sighed. ¡°Send the data to the Earthlings. Inform them that their location has been discovered by one of the empires, and that they should prepare to receive more ¡®guests¡¯ in the immediate future.¡±


    ¡°I thought it was illegal for the governments to search for Darkworlds,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°It is,¡± Eolai agreed. ¡°But that does not mean that it doesn¡¯t happen.¡±


    ~~~~~


    There was some consternation among the ESF leadership that the unidentified ship was spotted by the Yonohoans before their own forces. Once the alert was sent, however, the ESF was quick to respond. They sent their fastest ships on an intercept, pinging the ship with radar and other methods of scanning, as well as radioing demands that the ship identify itself and its intentions.


    The ship turned tail and ran, vanishing from the system at a thousand times the speed of light. The ESF forces broke off and returned to their postings rather than attempting to pursue. They judged the wake of the craft through the Hyperatomic plane and queried the star charts that the Yonohoans had provided to try to determine its destination. Unfortunately, the ship appeared to be heading for empty space.


    An after-action investigation into the failure of the scanning systems to detect the ship¡¯s arrival showed that in fact the ship  had  been detected by the scanning stations provided by the Yonohoans. However, the unscheduled arrival had been written off by the techs rather than immediately reported, believing the unknown ship to be a Yonohoan vessel arriving ahead of schedule and out of formation.


    This was largely due to light-speed delay. While many of the scanners were not limited by light speed, the IFF systems that the ESF were using still relied on radiowaves. The Yonohoans had largely adopted to equipping their ships with the earth¡¯s IFF transponders in the instances where their ships were likely to come into the sol system, and so the scanner techs were waiting to receive the transponder¡¯s ping before they went to red alert.


    The Yonohoans, on the other hand, had been able to tell as soon as the ship dropped its FTL drive that it was not one of theirs.


    This led to a distracting debate on whether or not to adapt the Yonohoan¡¯s method of identifying friends or foes. At issue was the fact that once again they would be relying entirely on the Yonohoan¡¯s good will, technology, and databases. Like all instances of integrating alien tech into the Earth¡¯s forces, it sparked arguments from both sides.


    The Yonohoans were content either way. Their flagship wasn¡¯t going anywhere anytime soon, and they were happy to continue to lend their support to their newfound allies. They understood that the Earthlings were going through a period of rapid change and that they would face many challenges as they shifted between the way things were done and the new ways that were becoming available.


    ?

 2.27.

    2.27.


    ¡°You think it¡¯s him?¡± Agent Osterham asked.


    Agent Morrison frowned, looking at the photo in the file. A twelve year old boy with black hair and blue eyes looked back at him. There was nothing noteworthy in the file. Not for a foster kid. A string of former homes, a few behavioral reports. The kid got decent grades and hadn¡¯t been in a fight since he¡¯d arrived in his current setting after running away from his previous home in another city.


    ¡°What is it that flagged this file again?¡± Morrison asked.


    ¡°Date and time stamps on a few of the databases,¡± Osterham said. ¡°The computer boys are still looking into it, but they¡¯re being cautious. If it  is  him and he has advanced hacking abilities he might have set up a few traps to alert him if we picked up his trail.


    ¡°His face is different. It¡¯s not just the hair, the shape of his skull doesn¡¯t match,¡± Morrison pointed out.


    ¡°You ever seen a Yonohoan?¡± Osterham pointed out. ¡°The kid must have the ability to change his skeletal structure, because he didn¡¯t look like a neanderthal when we first found him. It makes sense if he used that same ability a second time to escape detection.¡±


    Morrison grunted. ¡°Well, it¡¯s the best lead we have since he vanished on us. How do we proceed?¡±


    Osterham considered the question, then shrugged. ¡°You¡¯re the senior agent. You tell me.¡±


    Morrison grunted again. The pressure to locate the kid who had escaped a full threat response team on his own using unknown alien tech was immense, but the problem was that he was a kid. There had been several false-sightings already. The investigators either had to tread carefully so as not to tip the kid off that they had found his trail, or they had to go in with overwhelming force and hope to catch the kid flatfooted again.


    The first false-alarm had been humiliating as they had traumatized an innocent kid for no reason. The kid¡¯s family was now suing the agency and the ESF for seven figures. They weren¡¯t likely to get the amount that they were asking for, but a six figure settlement was likely just to keep the details of the case out of the press.


    Despite that, Morrison knew that command would take this lead seriously if he passed it up the chain. The problem was that his name would be attached to it and if it all came crashing down heed be eyeballs deep in shit.


    Or he¡¯d be the hero who had tracked down the alien infiltrator not once, but twice.


    ¡°I wish it wasn¡¯t a freaking kid,¡± he muttered. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t a kid I¡¯d go in guns blazing without a second¡¯s hesitation and let the chips fall where they fall. Instead we¡¯re treading on eggshells.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Osterham agreed. ¡°Whoever trained this kid and sent him was a ruthless and cold-hearted bastard, that¡¯s for sure. Doesn¡¯t change our job, though. Our job is to find him and make certain that he¡¯s not planning to unleash Armageddon on an unsuspecting populace.¡±


    ¡°The aliens say that he¡¯s a covert intelligence asset, not an agent provocateur,¡± Morrison pointed out. ¡°Not sure what sort of intelligence they expect to get from our foster system, but that¡¯s what they say.¡±


    ¡°Kids can go anywhere,¡± Osterham argued. ¡°I mean, not anywhere anywhere, but you see a little brat walking around a federal courthouse or other federal building you don¡¯t think ¡®oh there¡¯s a potential threat¡¯ you think ¡®I bet his parents work in the building.¡¯ Given that we now believe that he¡¯s a trained hacker, all he needs is access to a secure computer and who knows what sort of secrets he can pull up.¡±


    Morrison grunted again. ¡°Sure does have a lot of firepower for someone who¡¯s just here to spy. They say that the sniper he tagged still has tinnitus. Meanwhile the kid took a round straight to the head and just shook it off. I knew it was going to easy when we caught him the first time.¡±


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    ¡°He might be an alien, but he¡¯s a kid alien. We underestimated him. Which is the entire point of sending a kid as a spy. Even when you identify them, you hold off on the thumbscrews because, well, they¡¯re a kid,¡± Osterham pointed out. ¡°Nobody wants to get rough on a kid. Not until he turns a squad car into bobba fet armor and starts firing into a crowd of civilians.¡±


    ¡°Technically he just used them for cover to affect his escape,¡± Morrison pointed out. ¡°The aliens say that he has access to lethal weaponry but chose to stay non-lethal. Even for the sniper that tried to put a round in his head. So far the kid hasn¡¯t done anything but hide and try to fit in, if you ask me.¡±


    ¡°Yes. The problem is that can change at a moments notice. He could receive some activation code and suddenly he goes from intelligence gathering mode to fuck your couch mode. All we know is that he¡¯s here, he¡¯s dangerous, and he¡¯s unpredictable,¡± Osterham rebutted.


    ¡°Yeah, I know,¡± Morrison said. He leaned back in his chair, looking around the office for inspiration. Then he sighed. ¡°I suppose we¡¯ll start like we did before. I¡¯ll set up an interview for the social workers he has on file in his previous homes and see if they remember him. If they don¡¯t, well, that¡¯s a major red flag.¡±


    ~~~~~


    ¡°As I said, I don¡¯t know who the unknown ship belonged to,¡± Eolai informed the gathered generals in yet another briefing. He appeared to them as a hologram in the center of their round table above a PHDA. Nobody knew what the alien¡¯s experience was like, except for perhaps his companion, Sergeant Cruz, who was not involved in this meeting at this time. ¡°I have provided your organization all of the information that I have on this incident.¡±


    ¡°Yes, and we thank you for your transparency,¡± Turnball said. ¡°Your early alert assisted us in our response significantly. I hope that our after-action investigation into the matter has not come across as offensive in any way.¡±


    ¡°You are attempting to improve the forces which are responsible for securing the land upon which your children live, General Turnball. There is no higher calling than that. Your willingness to examine your failures is to be lauded,¡± Eolai replied. ¡°The Yonohoan people remain dedicated to ensuring that Earth¡¯s security and future sovereignty is secured by your own hands.¡±


    ¡°It is for that very reason why I¡¯ve called for this meeting. I understand that you do not have definitive proof as to the identity of the unknown vessel. I was hoping, however, that you might be willing to do some off the record speculation,¡± Turnball suggested.


    ¡°Off the record?¡± Eolai said. ¡°I am not familiar with that phrase.¡±


    ¡°I mean purely speculative. Not something that you are willing to swear to. Rumors and gossip, speculation, unprovable hypotheses.¡±


    ¡°Ah, I see.¡± Eolai was silent for a moment. ¡°Off the record, it was the Rosantean empire.¡±


    ¡°Are you certain?¡± Turnball asked.


    ¡°If I was certain then it would not be off the record,¡± Eolai said. ¡°It is not an accusation that I can make publicly and I will deny it if you ever put it forward that I suggested it in private.¡±


    ¡°I understand. May we ask what leads you to this conclusion?¡±


    ¡°A vast number of factors, but mostly it is because you are on the boarder of their claimed space. If they were to integrate you into their empire then they would have a forward outpost into an unclaimed area of approximately one hundred twenty light years in which they could continue to expand due to the laws governing the expansions of darkworld who are in the process of becoming brightworlds.¡±


    ¡°So you think that they¡¯ll make a move to claim us?¡± Turnball asked. ¡°Will they use military force?¡±


    ¡°Let us just say that it is good for Earth that you found the Yonohoans before the Rosanteans,¡± Eolai said. ¡°They have a history of strong-armed negotiation tactics. While I will not try to persuade you against entering into talks with them, I would encourage you to leverage our existing relationship in whatever manner you believe will best protect your people and your values, Genreal.¡±


    ¡°I understand. Thank you for your time, Eolai. Do you have any other information to communicate with us unofficially at this time?¡±


    ¡°I like your Oranges. They are delicious. I would like to request your efforts in assisting my people in transplanting the trees that grow them to planet Totola.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for your time, Eolai. You¡¯ve given the council much to discuss.¡±


    ?

 2.28.

    2.28.


    Eodar had been in his new home for two weeks. Despite himself, he found that it was difficult to keep his guard up. His new foster parents were strict but fair, and he was enjoying his new school, even if he found that, as a foster child, he had a certain amount of stigma associated to his living situation.


    That was fine. It was better if he avoided making friends this time. Friends were a distraction, and it was the sort of distraction which had caused him to get caught by surprise last time.


    He did not blame Olivia for her involvement in that mess. She was only doing her job and following her ideals. She didn¡¯t understand the threat against her people that was posed by the enemies of high-command. She didn¡¯t understand the lengths that they would go to in order to crush humanity under their heel. She believed the information that her officials had shared with her.


    Eodar knew it was all lies.


    Still, although he avoided friendships with the other children, he did his best to fit in. He made certain to get a few questions wrong on his tests now and then, and when he did engage in games with the other children he took efforts not to stand out as he had before.


    He thought that he was maintaining his cover quite well.


    The school he was assigned to was having a field trip to a natural history museum, and he admitted that he was looking forward to seeing the details of Earth¡¯s past. What had it been like before humans had been introduced? The aliens used their human slaves to change the worlds they wished tamed in so many ways that it was hard to recognize the original ecology after only a few generations, but it seems that Earth was taking efforts at conserving its past.


    He filed off the school bus with the rest of the children and followed the tour. The majority of the sciences didn¡¯t interest him, his understanding of the universe eclipsed what was commonly known about it on Earth thanks to his time on the Toormonda.


    The history of Earth, however, fascinated him. He wandered away from the guided portion of the tour and walked through the displays of fossils and extinct animals, reading plaques and descriptions and hypothesis of what Earth had been like before Humans had arrived.


    It seemed to be a hostile and unforgiving place. Possibly even what the other races, the non-humans, might call a deathworld. The giant lizards in particular were frightening, and he would not be surprised at all if the ¡®asteroid¡¯ that had killed them had in fact been the result of a mass driver sent by one of the aliens to cleave out a potential threat.


    He continued to walk through the ancient past until he reached a display that he wasn¡¯t expecting.


    The history of man.


    His eyes were wide as he walked through the replicas of skeletons and the reconstructed ancients.


    It was ¡­ impossible.


    He was shaking his head in denial until he came up to the display detailing what was known about Homo neanderthalensis. There, he saw his ancestors.


    They were hairier than the people of the Yonohoah, but the skull was the right shape. And the tools looked similar to the traditional stone weapons that his people had used before the night of the meteors. They were behind glass cases, or else Eodar would have picked one up and wept for the privilege of holding a piece of history in his hand.


    It was impossible. Nobody knew where humans came from. Whether they evolved or were created from baser creatures was a hotly debated topic even within High-Command, which largely viewed the question as irrelevant. They were not interested in searching for the origins of mankind, as far as Eodar knew. In fact, locating it might pose a significant threat.


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    Had Eodar found it? Had he stumbled upon the secret of where they had all come from?


    Had humans evolved on Earth, as the Earthlings seemed to believe?


    ¡°There you are!¡± the voice of one of the chaperones said sternly. ¡°John, you can¡¯t just wander off on your own. You have to stick with the group.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± John said reflexively. At first he cursed the emotion that hid its way into his voice, but then he embraced it. ¡°I just needed to be alone for a minute.¡±


    As expected, the vulnerability he displayed caused the adult to back off significantly. ¡°I understand. Do you still need a minute, or are you ready to return to the group?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m okay now,¡± Eodar said. He followed the adult back to the others, where he was once more ignored by the children who were his age but not his peers.


    He thought once more about the lies he had been told about the other trainees. It was impossible. He refused to believe it. High-Command would never betray its own people like that. Eodar and the other children in the Scout Trooper Training course were loyal. High-Command rewarded loyalty with loyalty. The idea that they would commit the ultimate betrayal was beyond insulting.


    Eodar would never believe it.


    ~~~~~


    Major Mary Phillips read the report the second time. The evidence was far from conclusive, but it was enough to act on. The computer irregularities and the fact that none of the kid¡¯s historical social workers or foster parents remembered him all lined up to suggest that John Hastern was John Doe AKA Eodar of the Yonohoans. The agents on the ground had signed their names to their reports. Mary just had to kick the report up the ladder to Turnball, and the operation would begin.


    She hesitated for just a moment. Then she got to work.


    The disaster of the previous operation had drilled home the need for caution. They couldn¡¯t risk civilian casualties, and the cover that the target was using to hide his identity put the most vulnerable members of society at risk. To catch him, they would have to move fast, but cautiously.


    She began to make the calls. Both to her superiors, and to her contacts among the Yonohoans. This time, every piece on the board would be considered in the efforts to bring John AKA Eodar in.


    ~~~~~


    ¡°In conclusion, there is a significant chance that Earth is the origin system. I repeat, the fossil record of earth suggests that Humanity evolved on this planet. I hereby attach my name to this report. I am Eodar of the Yonohoans, Scout Trooper Rank Two. Attached is my unique identifier and security data. I suggest all plans to protect the mother system should she be found be enacted to protect Mother Earth immediately upon the receipt of this message. This message will repeat until acknowledged,¡± Eodar said.


    He left the rooftop where he had hauled the car battery before converting it into a Rocktala. The building was six blocks from the house where his foster parents lived, and he was certain that he was in for a tongue-lashing when he returned. That was irrelevant. He had completed his duty to humanity for now, having placed six beacons to alert Command that Earth may be humanities biggest vulnerability.


    Unlike his previous reports, there was no time delay on these messages. They would begin broadcasting immediately. This was critical data and High-Command had to know. If the enemy discovered the location and importance of Earth, then the entire human race faced the threat of extinction.


    He was a block away from home when he felt it. The slight tingle of a nanite suppression field. He froze and stepped backward, checking his systems.


    He had noticed in time, he determined. Even if he hadn¡¯t, his nanite-production organs should be fine, although their current load might have needed to be flushed. But a quick check showed that they remained 98% operational.


    He¡¯d been located by the enemy. His cover was blown, but he¡¯d managed to escape the initial ambush. Or so he thought until the spotlight suddenly shown down on him from a silently humming aircraft.


    He turned and ran, and the sound of sirens followed him.


    ?

 2.29.

    2.29.


    ¡°We located him on the edge of the exclusion field. Something spooked him and he¡¯s currently running away,¡± Morrison reported.


    Major Mary Phillips sat in the mobile command center on loan from the FBI for this operation. While there were multiple agencies involved, she was the official representative of the ESF. That said, she understood that her role was only to provide intelligence and support in regards to known and theoretical alien technology which the target might have access to.


    The target, a twelve year old child, she thought. She felt disgusted with herself, but more disgusted with the people who had seen fit to use child soldiers as spies. She understood the context; humanity was fighting for its freedom against alien oppressors at the time, and the prosecutors of that war had felt like every option was on the table.


    Perhaps she was viewing the past through rose colored glasses, but she thought that the punishment did not fit the crime. The people who had ordered the class of scout trooper trainees to be ¡®harvested¡¯ had died a natural death centuries, if not millennia, before their crimes were prosecuted. When they were prosecuted, the people who paid the price were not the ones who committed the crimes, but the clones of those people who had been revived after the fact.


    It left a foul taste in her mouth.


    But that didn¡¯t change the fact that Eodar, or John as he had taken to calling himself, was a threat which needed to be neutralized. While efforts were being taken to bring him in alive ¨C taking a spy alive was always preferable to killing them, even when they weren¡¯t children ¨C the fact remained that he possessed advanced technology which made him a danger to the public.


    She was glad that the decision to balance the threat to public safety vs the rights of the accused and the value of the intelligence he possessed was in the hands of the lead agent, Morrison, who was presently monitoring the operation through several monitors and receiving occasional reports from the others in the cramped vehicle.


    ¡°Confirmation of the target. He just ripped apart a vehicle and turned it into a powered suit of armor,¡± Morrison said. ¡°All units, engage. Deadly force is authorized. I repeat, the target is in a densely populated urban area with dangerous weapons. Use of deadly force is authorized. I repeat ¡­¡±


    Mary sent a signal of her own to the Yonohoan team that was standing by.


    And there it was, she thought. The death of innocence.


    ~~~~~


    Eodar ran through the night, sprinting at speeds that rivaled the automobiles of this world with the help of his armor. He couldn¡¯t outrun the helicopter, however, and the squad cars were coordinating to box him in. The officers inside tried to set up roadblocks, firing at him with their weapons as he approached.


    He knocked them aside with a blast from his impulse weapon, sending men and cars flying. He hoped that he wasn¡¯t killing anyone in his escape, but there was no question in his mind that his mission required him to escape, and if that meant defending himself then that was simply how things must be.


    He¡¯d never killed anyone before. He knew that he might have to, ever since he¡¯d been recruited as a scout, but he wasn¡¯t looking forward to it.


    The bullets pinged and ricocheted of his armor, but the advanced alloys and bullet proof polymers kept him from feeling more than a slight impact. Still, he activated his projectile shield, which used the impulse generator in his suit to create a whirling wall of force to deflect incoming projectiles. The effect wasn¡¯t absolute, but it turned some shots into misses, and many of the hits into glancing blows.


    It also drained his suit¡¯s energy at a steady rate, which was the only reason he hesitated to use it. He only had the chemical energy of the gas tank and the car¡¯s battery which he had used to make the suit as energy sources, and while the fuel cells in his armor were far more effective than the internal combustion engines of this world, they weren¡¯t limitless or near limitless like a strange-matter reactor.


    The Rocktala in his suit cracked their tactical network and began relaying their strategies into his own wetware, directing him where to go so that their response would be weakest. He put his trust in the learning software/hardware of the Rocktala and focused all of his mental efforts on his escape.


    He dashed through buildings, over barricades, and blew apart road blocks as he fled.


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    More helicopters appeared in the night sky. He tried engaging his stealth systems, but the Rocktala informed him that they had switched to infra-red devices to track him, rendering the active camouflage of his suit useless. Frustrated, he deactivated it to conserve power.


    He saw the weapon aboard one of the helicopters activate and knew what was about to happen before it happened. He assumed the blast position as the energy from the weapon struck the impulse field generated by his projectile screen. The resulting explosion was equivalent to a pound of plastic explosives.


    He was launched through the air, flailing. His body skipped against the pavement once, twice, and then crashed into the wall of a toy store. He spent a moment to recover from his disorientation, then got back up and sprinted for one of the alternative exits. He activated the suit¡¯s stealth systems before he hit the street in the hopes that he would be able to escape the damn overwatch of the helicopters.


    ~~~~~~


    ¡°What the hell was that explosion?¡± Morrison demanded. ¡°Who authorized the use of explosive weaponry? This is a crowded city people, and there might be civilians caught in the crossfire.¡±


    ¡°There was no explosives, sir. We fired the Kirata beam aboard Overwatch three. It seems that it has a different effect on the kid¡¯s tech than it does on our own,¡± came the response from one of the technicians helping to monitor the situation.


    ¡°Goddamn it,¡± Morrison shouted. He turned to Mary. ¡°Did you know that would happen?¡±


    ¡°If I had, I would have included it in my information regarding the proper use of the weapon. All I know about the Kirata beam is that it generates an effect similar to an EMP pulse. It must have interfered with the force field that he¡¯s using to deflect our bullets,¡± Mary stated calmly.


    ¡°All units all units, do not use alien tech to take down the target. I repeat, Earth weapons only,¡± Morrison shouted into the command channel.


    Mary calmly watched the situation unfold. The disgust in herself and the situation hadn¡¯t gone away. But she felt validated that John/Eodar was proving to be every bit the threat that they¡¯d feared he was.


    Even if he was only twelve years old.


    Or was he millennia?


    Well, he¡¯d only lived for twelve years at least.


    And unless the situation changed drastically, that was regrettably all he was likely to get. She consoled herself by reminding herself of all the attempts that had been made to bring him in peacefully.


    The reassurances tasted like ashes.


    ~~~~~


    He made it three blocks before the helicopters found him again. The spotlight hit his location and he realized that he hadn¡¯t gotten away cleanly. He deactivated the stealth systems once more in order to conserve his dwindling energy supply.


    He was at sixty percent of the reserves that he had started with and falling at a steady pace. The kirata beam had taken out a good chunk of energy to defend against. Fortunately the brief period in which the enemy hadn¡¯t had his location had allowed him to escape the confines that they had been establishing around him.


    He continued to run. He hadn¡¯t kept up his training on earth, but he had been trained to run fifty miles in three times gravity as a trooper trainee. His nanites kept his body in top condition, and he remembered the lessons he had learned on that hellish high-gravity world.


    How to run until he hit the wall.


    How to smash through the wall and keep running.


    Never stop. Not ever. Not until the mission is complete.


    Escaping is the mission. The mission is escape. That is all that there is.


    Escape or death.


    He would not be taken alive.


    Suddenly, a new sort of light passed over head. It was silent. Small and sleek, it weaved its way through the helicopters and sped into the air before Eodar. From it fell two meteors, which impacted the ground before him with the familiar flash of an ICARIS.


    He swallowed. Before him stood two soldiers wearing infantry armor.


    He knew that he was about to die.


    He refused to make it easy for the enemy.


    ?

 2.30.

    2.30.


    Eodar activated the systems that he had kept in reserve. A cloud of nanites burst from vents in his suit, seeking out suitable materials in the environment to craft the weapons which made a fully trained scout so deadly.


    The infantry soldiers stood calmly, glowing with the soft blue light of a strange matter reactor. Eodar was at forty percent of the energy his suit had started with.


    The soldiers had nigh infinite reserves to call upon.


    ¡°You do not have to fight, Eodar of the Yonohoah. Put down your weapons, dismiss your suit, and you will be allowed to survive as a prisoner,¡± a familiar voice said in the Yonohoan language. ¡°I do not wish to fight you and I know that you do not wish to fight. Please, for the sake of peace--¡±


    One of the weapons he had programmed the nanites to create finished forming and it ripped itself from a nearby car into Eodar¡¯s hands. It was a blade as long as Eodar was tall. The physical blade was dull, but beyond it burned with an energy that could cut as keenly as a mono-molecular wire.


    He dashed forward at the nearest infantryman, who got his arms up just in time to catch the blade on his vambraces. The protections of his armor held against the weapon, but Eodar continued to press, and he saw the protective field begin to fail.


    He had projectile weapons which might be more effective, but if he missed he would cause devastation. Even now he was reluctant to involve the innocent people of earth in his battle more than he already had. He had heard their screams through the night as the people in the streets had run from him and the forces pursuing him, and those screams would haunt him should he survive the night.


    His distraction cost him. Before the blade could penetrate the soldiers armor he was struck in the side by an impulse wave. He struck the ground and almost dropped the power-blade, but regained his feet and charged again.


    He screamed. Not in rage, but frustration. These ¡®assholes¡¯ were preventing him from completing his mission, and his mission was everything.


    Didn¡¯t they know?


    Didn¡¯t they understood?


    Earth was the Origin system. High command needed to know its location.


    If they didn¡¯t learn of it¡¯s location before the enemy did, then the enemy would wipe humanity out of existence before they were ever spread throughout the stars.


    Trillions of lives were on the line.


    Eodar could not give in. He would survive to make his report, even if it meant living in squalor the rest of his life, fleeing perpetual pursuit.


    It was his duty to humanity to live.


    ?


    ~~~~~


    Eolai wept in silence as he once more battled against his father. While this child was a clone of the men whose memory had once filled him with boyhood joy at their recorded messages and vast wisdom, by the Yonohoan belief he possessed the same spirit.


    A curse upon those who had awaken his father from the halls of the afterlife and placed him in the body of a child. A curse upon those who had put that child on a mission with no end, no possibility of success, and no meaning.


    The Scout Troops were long retired from service. The military forces of humankind no longer used child soldiers to gather intelligence. This child was a relic from the past. Innocence turned into an abomination through no fault of its own.


    And yet it had meaning, he knew. Whatever his father fought for, whatever he believed, it was always for the best interest of humanity as a whole. He wondered what mistaken belief pushed this child so far in the pursuit of his perceived mission.


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    He wept, and he fought.


    ¡°He is running low on energy. When his suit powers down, we can try to take him alive,¡± Eolai said calmly to his companion, who was dancing with Eodar who continued to wield the force blade like a maniac.


    ¡°Easy for you to say, you¡¯re not the one he¡¯s trying to decapitate,¡± Diego called back.


    Eolai fired another impulse blast at the child soldier, knocking Eodar into the wall of a gas station. Eodar changed targets and sprinted at Eolai, raising his weapon high.


    ¡°Are you happy now?¡± Eolai said sadly as he prepared to meet the charge.


    ¡°Thrilled,¡± Diego answered, and he shot Eodar with his own impulse weapon.


    This time Eodar lost his grip on the power-blade. Or so it seemed, until another vehicle burst into particles and reformed in Eodar¡¯s hands.


    ¡°Get down!¡± Eolai called.


    The energy shockwave from the weapon¡¯s beam came before the blast. The forged plasma beam traveled through the air at near light speed, punching through where Diego had been seconds before, the building behind him, and continuing into the sky in a ray of light that was visible for a million miles.


    Knowing that the weapon would have had only one shot, the firing of that plasma lance would have fried its own circuitry, Eolai charged forward. He activated nanites of his own, and the steel from the street signs turned into particles and reformed as hyperalloy blades extending from his forearms.


    Engaging with his father in close range, he refused to give the child-soldier time to summon a new weapon. Driving him away from vehicles, he kept up the pressure with slashes, kicks, and thrusts.


    Eodar fought back with skill, but Eolai had the reach of an adult and a suit with nearly limitless energy. Eodar was a child in a makeshift powerarmor suit running on a powercell driven by hydrocarbons.


    The result was never in question. The only question was how long before Eodar¡¯s suit failed and he was once more as helpless as a child.


    The answer was ten minutes.


    It was the ten saddest minutes of Eolai¡¯s life.


    ~~~~~~


    Eodar¡¯s suit reached the end of its energy reserves. This was the end. He had failed.


    He would not be taken alive.


    ¡°Activate Decommissioning protocol,¡± he told the Rocktala in his suit. ¡°Self authorization protocol Aup pi sina tora pheta kappa.¡±


    ¡°Decommissioning protocol activated,¡± his suit whispered in his ear. ¡°You have served with honor and distinction, soldier. You may take your rest now.¡±


    Eodar¡¯s world fell into silence and darkness. His body fell to the ground.


    A scout must never be allowed to be used against high command. Their systems were designed to end their life upon the receipt of a decommissioning signal from their commanders, or upon self-authorization.


    Eodar had activated it knowing he would die.


    ~~~~~~


    Eolai stood over the body of his father as the power armor suit he had been wearing puffed away into powder, leaving an exposed, naked child behind. He forced his nanite systems to create a simple blanket out of a nearby bench, then covered the body to maintain his dignity.


    He had known that this would happen from the beginning of the fight.


    Never once in history had Eodar allowed himself to be taken alive by those he perceived to be the enemy. Not on their terms, at least. Not without a plan or a scheme to turn the tides of war in some fashion.


    Eolai wept, and he cursed those responsible for this outcome.


    Including himself


    A sudden gasp of breath shook his understanding in the world. Eodar remained unconscious, but breathing. Eolai was so shocked that he simply stared for a moment, then began issuing orders to the Earthlings. He would have taken the body of his father into space and damn the political consequences, but the vessel that had brought him to earth was a one-way vehicle.


    He would have to trust in the mercy of humanity that his father would be treated with the dignity that he deserved.


    ?

 2.31.

    2.31.


    ¡°Can I look?¡± Lisa asked, pulling at the corners of her blindfold. It was black, to contrast the white wedding dress that she was wearing.


    ¡°Not yet,¡± Kirk answered. ¡°We¡¯re almost there. I promise you, sweetheart, this is going to be the best honeymoon you could imagine.¡±


    ¡°Are we going to the Bahamas?¡±


    ¡°Somewhere way more exotic than that. Someplace that only eight people have been before. I checked the numbers to make certain,¡± Kirk told her.


    They were in the cab of his eighteen wheeler, out in the desert beyond Las Vegas. They passed by cacti and sage brush on their way to the GPS coordinates programmed into Kirk¡¯s navigation computer. He swore to Christ that if he didn¡¯t find what he was expecting to be there ¡­ well, he¡¯d do something, but he wasn¡¯t sure what. Probably laugh and cry at the same time.


    He hadn¡¯t told Lisa yet, but he¡¯d quit his job. He¡¯d told her that he¡¯d cleared this sudden elopement with his boss. Lisa was self-employed as a hair stylist, so she¡¯d simply informed the salon that she wasn¡¯t going to be renting one of their stalls for a month. She¡¯d be able to return to work without issue once the honeymoon was over.


    If she still wanted to after he told her the news.


    She might. She was like that. She needed to keep busy, and she loved the socializing.


    A meteor fell from the sky as they approached. Except it wasn¡¯t a meteor.


    ¡°Okay, Honey, open your eyes,¡± he said.


    Lisa giggled and pulled the blindfold down, just in time to scream as the spaceship landed nearby.


    ¡°Oh my god it¡¯s the freaking aliens! Get us out of here before they suck out our brains!¡± she screamed.


    That was ¡­ not the response she was expecting.


    ¡°No, sweetie, it¡¯s not the aliens. Well, it is, but it¡¯s our ship. It was a gift,¡± Kirk explained.


    ¡°Oh my god it¡¯s the ESF! Get us out of here before they shoot us for trespassing on government property!¡±


    ¡°The ESF isn¡¯t going to shoot us! I have permission to park it here. I had to fill out sixty pages of paperwork to get permission, but I managed. Once we clear the moon¡¯s orbit we¡¯re free to go anywhere we want. I¡¯m not taking you to the bahamas, Lisa. We¡¯re going to fly us to the moon! We¡¯re going to play among the stars! We¡¯re going to see what spring is like, on a-Jupiter and Mars.¡±


    He switched into a poor imitation of Frank Sinatra as he butchered the lyrics to an iconic song.


    Lisa calmed down and looked at him. ¡°That joke you had about winning a spaceship from the aliens,¡± she said. ¡°That wasn¡¯t a joke?¡±


    ¡°No, it really wasn¡¯t!¡± Kirk exclaimed. He laughed. ¡°I can¡¯t believe it either, but that crazy bastard Werlian came through for us! We¡¯re going to be space explorers for our honeymoon! Can you believe it?¡±


    Lisa cocked her head to the side with the expression she got when she was thinking something through. ¡°How much is it worth?¡±


    ¡°I talked them up to a cool one hundred and twenty million dollars, baby. We¡¯re going to be millionaires when we sell it, but I told them I needed to use it for my honeymoon before I gave it to them. They weren¡¯t happy with the delay, but they signed the contract locking in the price,¡± he explained.


    ¡°That¡¯s what this is all about,¡± she said. ¡°You asked me to marry you before telling me to make sure that I loved you and not your money.¡±


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    ¡°Well, when you put it like that--¡±


    She kissed him. Deeply.


    They ended up tearing the wedding dress in the twenty minutes of intense exercise that followed. That was fine, she wasn¡¯t planning on wearing it again anyway. Once they had finished, they dashed out of the cab of the eighteen wheeler and ran over to the spaceship, carrying a bottle of champaign and a can of spray paint.


    Lisa eyed the spray paint for a moment, then just sighed as Kirk defaced their sudden windfall. A ship¡¯s name, in addition to ¡°Just Married.¡±


    ¡°Gotta give her a name,¡± He explained.


    ¡°Boys,¡± she chided.


    They spent an hour exploring the ship. Thirty minutes was spent christening the cabin. He didn¡¯t bother to put his clothes back on as he went into the cockpit.


    ¡°Computer, take us out. Also, if you don¡¯t know, your name is Enterprise.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Captain Kirk. Taking us into orbit now. Following filed flightplan. Takeoff in T-minus 10, 9¡­¡±


    ~~~~~~


    ¡°I¡¯m just saying, what if the alien infiltrator that they caught isn¡¯t the only one?¡± The voice on the radio asked. ¡°What if they¡¯re like ants? You see one and you smash it, but there¡¯s an entire colony of them hiding under the sink. How are we supposed to feel safe when an alien can invade your children¡¯s school pretending to be one of them, or rip apart a car with their bare hands? These are facts, people, these are things that happened--¡±


    Ji-eun Moon, former captain of the  Seeker of New Discoveries , turned the radio off. Her boyfriend, Trevor, kept his eyes on the road and said nothing, knowing that if she had something to say she¡¯d say it. She kept her eyes on the passing scenery as they passed through the open country. They were on their way to a school. It was, ironically, the school which had just been discussed. The one where the infiltrator had been going before the final showdown with the authorities.


    She had called the school in the aftermath to volunteer to speak to the students, to reassure them that most of the Yonohoans weren¡¯t like that. That the child that they met was a relic from a terrible time, and that terrible things had been done to him to make him the way that he¡¯d been.


    And she¡¯d point out that nobody had died. Despite the damage that had been caused, there were no collateral deaths in either of the two incidents in which the infiltrator had engaged the authorities.


    Then she would point out the fact that the Yonohoans had been involved in the subduing of the rogue agent. She would attempt to convince them, and possibly their parents, that the Yonohoans were just like humans. There were some bad ones, but most of them were good. Or at least pretty alright.


    She took her PHDA out of her pocket and held it in her palms. ¡°Call Eolai,¡± she said.


    An icon appeared in the air to show that the connection request had been issued and was waiting to be received. She waited. And waited.


    She was about to cancel the request when it went through five minutes later.


    ¡°Captain Moon. It is a pleasure to hear from you again since you have changed the purpose of your life. It gives me pleasure and solace in this time of sadness that your life is moving in a positive direction, and I hope that you find happiness in your new career,¡± Eolai said, a small hologram of his head floating in front of hers.


    ¡°Thank you Eolai. Your words are very kind,¡± she said. Then she realized something. ¡°I¡¯ve switched careers. I forgot. I need to tell my Yonohoan friends that they can still talk to me, don¡¯t I?¡±


    ¡°It is customary for a professional contact to wait a suitable period of time before reaching out to a person who has made a significant life change to see if the relationship was more than simply a professional one,¡± Eolai said. ¡°But rest assured that Renosa and two other members of the fleet intend to do so in a few weeks if you do not contact them first. I was very pleased to receive your call, I hope you are not offended that I was unable to answer promptly.¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t offended,¡± She assured the hologram. ¡°I just wanted to ask if there was anything you could tell me about the infiltrator. I know I¡¯m not cleared for classified information anymore so it¡¯s fine if you can¡¯t say anything. But I¡¯m about to talk to the kids who knew him, and all I have to go on are the public reports. I was hoping you could tell me something that would reassure them.¡±


    ¡°You may tell them that he was a soldier from a bygone era. You may tell them that he never once viewed the humans of Earth as his enemy. You may tell them that he died with honor in the eyes of his people. You may tell them that John lives on in the heart of those who loved him,¡± Eolai said. ¡°You may not tell them this. Your government would not be pleased that I am about to disclose this information. He is my father. And he still draws breath.¡±


    ?

 2.32.

    2.32.


    Doctor Olivia Nunes stared at the scanner results of the patient. She sighed as she realized that she couldn¡¯t really interpret the readout at all. There were some of the usual lab results buried in there. The CBC report was calculated into the familiar order that she was used to, as where most of the chemistry and hormone results.


    But there was such a thing of information overload. She didn¡¯t really need to know how much Carbon-14 the patient had in his body.


    ¡°I have absolutely no idea how I¡¯m supposed to interpret half of these results,¡± she admitted. ¡°How is he doing, Doctor?¡±


    The Yonohoan medical expert studied the readout for several moments longer before speaking. ¡°The pseudo organs which were responsible for generating his weaponry have been disabled. They are presently in the process of flushing the built up nanites out of his body through normal waste mechanisms. In a few days he will be fully decommissioned. If he follows standard protocols that have been in practice for the past sixty thousand years, then he should wake up shortly after that.¡±


    ¡°And then he¡¯ll be a regular boy again?¡± Olivia asked.


    ¡°He will retain some of his enhanced strength. The nanites have strengthened his bones and muscles to the point where he is stronger than three adult men. That strength will fade over time, and he will return to baseline,¡± Trenola assured her colleague. ¡°The question is, what comes after that?¡±


    Olivia turned back to her patient, whom she had first met as John Doe. He was restrained and clothed only in a paper gown. His hair had been shaved and was showing its white roots. The shape of his skull had changed; the systems which had disguised his appearance had reverted their work and he now once more looked Yonohoan. He had been unconscious for a week, and depended upon the IV¡¯s in his left arm to keep him hydrated, and the feeding tube in his nostril for nutrients.


    ¡°Oh John. What is going to happen to you now?¡± she asked.


    ~~~~~


    Major Mary Phillips stood in the oval office. She was not with the other generals this time, but rather she was alone with the president of the united states. While the POTUS was not her commander in chief ¨C she answered to the ESF, which answered to all governments of Earth and none of them at the same time, she had respect for the woman and had withheld none of the secrets during her briefing of the John Doe situation.


    ¡°So that¡¯s it. He¡¯s been disabled, and no longer poses a threat to society?¡± Elizabeth ¨C call me Beth ¨C Walker asked.


    ¡°That is what the Yonohoans claim. They say that it seems that his original wetware received a forced update after he was cloned,¡± Mary explained, standing before the desk of the oval office. ¡°They were able to download the orders that he received. He was ordered by the man he believed to be his superior officer to infiltrate planet Earth and conduct standard Forward Scout protocol. It was standard training for soldiers of his rank to receive such orders upon their graduation, and they were only to trust information which came to them containing the correct codes. Which we did not have when we tried to explain to him that the organization that he served was disbanded millennia ago.¡±


    ¡°Goddamn bastards. So he was following his training the entire time? Do we know who put him up to it?¡± President Walker asked.


    ¡°It remains a mystery. One hypothesis is that it was the same people who put the Jamming Device in the Lagrange point. Another is that it was an unknown adversary and that the Jamming Device was a response by another unknown entity attempting to counter the agency that sent John at us. We know far more about John and his past than the individuals who are truly responsible for this situation.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t think the kid bears any blame?¡± Walker asked.


    ¡°He was a dog trained to bite and maul intruders, ma¡¯am. A shotgun pointed at earth by someone who remains hiding behind the scenes. You don¡¯t blame a weapon for doing what it¡¯s designed to do or a dog for following its training. I believe that if we had left him alone, he would have assimilated into society as per his training, issuing regular reports to a system that doesn¡¯t exist anymore. The truly tragic part of this was that the purpose of the Forward Scouts wasn¡¯t to take over or attack a world. Their primary objectives were to learn the language, to identify key cultural traditions which needed to be observed by their High-Command once they arrived, and to document and record the crimes of their alien overlords. John was a spy, but he wasn¡¯t a threat to us, ma¡¯am. The fact is that from the beginning he was just trying to fit in. Even when we were shooting to kill, he restrained himself and used only non-lethal weapons until the Yonohoan team arrived.¡±


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    ¡°So you¡¯re saying that he wouldn¡¯t have engaged in terroristic activities if we had left him alone,¡± Walker asked.


    ¡°No. I¡¯m saying that if we left him alone, we might have had a superhero walking the streets of our cities,¡± Mary said. ¡°A real life superman. Or Ironman, without the money or the ego.¡±


    Walker shook her head in disbelief. ¡°What a mess. If any of this gets out everyone involved will be crucified. The Yonohoans for letting this happen and us for how we treated him on the ground.¡±


    ¡°The Yonohoans are victims in this too. Their people were harvested for the gears of the war that was prosecuted by High-Command. Eodar is one of their cultural heroes because throughout his many incarnations and lifetimes he always strode for the highest ideals of what they consider righteousness and justice. Eolai had tried to explain this several times but we weren¡¯t listening.¡±


    ¡°And yet he faced the boy he believed to possess the spirit of his father to mortal combat, believing that he would kill Eodar,¡± Walker said.


    ¡°And thus bring him peace. Yes,¡± Mary agreed.


    Walker sighed. ¡°So what the fuck do we do now?¡±


    ¡°My suggestion? We wait for the kid to wake up, and we see what he has to say.¡±


    ~~~~~~


    ¡°How are you holding up?¡± Diego asked Eolai. They hadn¡¯t exercised or sparred together since the operation, and Diego was worried about Eolai¡¯s mental state. He had been melancholy to the point where Diego was considering contacting Yonohoan medical professionals to have him evaluated.


    ¡°I am ¡®in limbo,¡¯ as you would say on Earth. I am waiting to hear of my father¡¯s fate, and until I know what it will be I will not know what to feel except the numbness that came after the joy that his decommissioning had failed to end his life,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯m still somewhat angry at you for not telling me that you knew he would attempt to commit seppuku when we had him cornered,¡± Diego said.


    Eolai¡¯s eyes flashed as the device on his ear defined the unfamiliar cultural term, then nodded. ¡°Of course there is a culture on Earth which would understand my father¡¯s soul. Earth is a true cultural gem. It¡¯s diversity fills me with wonder and joy at its existence, even now.¡±


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me?¡± Diego pressed.


    ¡°So that you would not hesitate. It¡¯s what he would have wanted, in all of his incarnations. Even this one, who was confused and frightened but still loyal to his duty. To humanity,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°I would have felt terrible knowing that I took part in killing a kid,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Nobody should feel otherwise,¡± Eolai said. ¡°Even when it is necessary. However, that is not how the events turned out. I would know how to feel and what to do if my father had died that night. I would fling myself into stasis. I would allow the Topokans to select the mothers of my remaining promised children on their own. I would wait in stasis until the last of them had passed from the light of this universe, and then I would have wallowed in misery until the end of my life.¡±


    ¡°Wow. When you grieve, you really grieve, don¡¯t you?¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Diego studied the Yonohoan man for a few moments, and then he pulled him up from the seat he was sitting in. ¡°Come on. Let¡¯s go get some exercise. I¡¯m going to kick your ass in racketball.¡±


    ¡°I am not in the mood for--¡±


    ¡°If you don¡¯t come play racketball with me I¡¯m going to put on my armor and rip off your other arm,¡± Diego said.


    Eolai and Diego stared each other down for a moment. Eolai was the first to break eye contact.


    ¡°Sometimes it is the responsibility of the older brother to correct the younger¡¯s path, and sometimes it is the reverse,¡± he admitted, and he followed Diego into the exercise room.


    ?

 2.33.

    2.33.


    They spent one day in orbit around Venus, and Kirk worshiped his wife as though she were the goddess that the planet was named after. They danced as they orbited Mars, they made love in the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn. One by one they crossed off the planets of the solar system in their two-person tour of the solar system. They skipped Pluto because neither of them could agree on whether it was a planet or not.


    Neither one wore more than a bathrobe the entire time.


    They didn¡¯t call an end to the tour when the ran out of planets, however. Instead, they set sail for Sol¡¯s nearest neighbor. It was a week long jump through hyperspace ¨C Captain Kirk knew that he should call it warp speed but the common vernacular was that it was the hyperatomic plane, so he compromised ¨C and they spent most of the trip either in bed or watching the fog, aurora, and lightning filled universe that existed on top of the material plane.


    Lisa thought it was beautiful and romantic.


    Kirk thought that he could possibly go again in ten minutes regardless of how long it had been since the last time. He constantly endeavored to prove himself correct, even to embarrassing results.


    It wasn¡¯t spoken, but it was the private goal of both of them for the trip to end with a pregnancy.


    While the hyperdrive of their ship was slow compared to the forces of the ESF and the Yonohoans, it was theirs, for now, and they would enjoy every moment of the trip, one way or another.


    ~~~~~~~~


    The boy opened his eyes. He looked around slowly, confusion on his face at the unexpected environment.


    This was not how he had pictured the halls of the ancestors at all.


    He tried to move, but his wrists were restrained to the bed. It was that fact that shattered the illusion and he understood.


    He was not dead.


    He didn¡¯t know whether he was relieved or not. He had failed his mission. Failed humanity itself. He didn¡¯t deserve to live, didn¡¯t want to live as a failure.


    He thought about calling out, to see who had him in custody, who was keeping him alive for questioning. He decided that there was no point in rushing to embrace whatever torture his captors had planned.


    He closed his eyes and let the illusion that he was just in another hospital last a little longer.


    ~~~~~


    ¡°He woke up,¡± Trenola reported.


    ¡°How can you tell?¡± Olivia asked, staring at the reports of the military grade medical scanner.


    ¡°Brain activity,¡± the alien doctor explained, highlighting the segments to demonstrate the changes that she¡¯d seen. Olivia examined the readouts with professional curiosity, but ultimately she despaired of adapting to the use of Yonohoan scanners. Or at least the military version of them. Once they began to integrate them into hospitals, then she would have a human continuing education program bring her up to speed on the civilian version.


    ¡°Alert the others. I¡¯m going to go talk to him.¡±


    That was the agreed upon plan when Eodar, or perhaps John, awoke. That they would greet him with the friendly face of one of the few people that he had bonded with during his stay on Earth. Despite having it preapproved, Olivia was subjected to a long security procedure to ensure that she wasn¡¯t bringing the patient anything dangerous.


    It was somewhat ridiculous. Either the patient remained dangerous because his weapon systems were still online, in which case there was nothing that the security forces could do to render him non-dangerous, or the decommissioning procedure had done its work and Eodar/John was as harmless as a normal child. Albeit one as physically strong as three adults, so perhaps the security check wasn¡¯t entirely out of place.


    Their was also the patient¡¯s mental state to consider. She had to consider the events leading to his capture as a possible elaborate suicide attempt. In fact, she decided, it was easier if she framed it in those terms. Once she had, then the way in which she would address Eodar ¨C or John, she would ask him for his name and use whatever name he gave ¨C clicked into place.


    Finally she was cleared and entered the patient¡¯s room. The boy did not respond to her presence.


    ¡°Hello again,¡± she said. ¡°They said that your memory wouldn¡¯t be affected by the decommissioning procedure, but I think maybe it¡¯s best if we start again afresh. My name is Doctor Olivia Nunes. I have been appointed as your medical and legal guardian. I am not certain how much you know about the laws and customs of Earth, but that means that it is my job, honor, and privilege to represent you and fight for your best interests. Would you please tell me your name?¡±


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    The boy did not respond for several moments. She waited patiently.


    ¡°John Doe,¡± the boy croaked. He still had the feeding tube in his nose.


    ¡°Would you like me to remove the tube from your nose, John?¡± she asked.


    ¡°What purpose does it serve?¡±


    ¡°It was put in place to give your body nutrition while you were in a coma induced by your decommissioning procedure,¡± she explained. ¡°Which you activated yourself in the mistaken belief that it would end your life.¡±


    ¡°I should be dead.¡±


    ¡°Yet you are not. And many people are very happy about that fact, John. Your family included. You  do  have family, John, and they love you despite the fact that you have never met them.¡±


    ¡°If ninety thousand years have passed, then my family is dust. Their bones have been turned to dust by the Topoka and their souls walk the halls of the ancestors. I should be with them.¡±


    ¡°Unless you tell me to stop, I¡¯m going to remove the feeding tube from your nose,¡± she informed him gently, and she began the procedure. The boy didn¡¯t even flinch as she performed the unpleasant extraction. She took the tubing to the door and gave it to the waiting security personnel to dispose of. Then she returned and stood at John¡¯s bedside.


    ¡°I need to explain your situation to you in terms that you can understand. I know that you are hyper-intelligent, but english is not your native language, so please ask for clarification if I use any words you do not understand. Will you cooperate with me as I try to make you understand the situation you¡¯re in, John?¡±


    ¡°I will not resist,¡± John said, and she took his words as a win.


    ¡°At present, you are in a secure medical facility owned by ¡­ actually, I don¡¯t know who owns the building but it¡¯s currently leased to the Earth Space Force. You are the only patient. There guards and a nanite suppression field that is currently deactivated spanning the entire facility. The guards possess non-lethal weapons that were given to them by the Yonohoans which should disable you should you attempt to fight or escape. You are being treated for a number of conditions resulting from the decommissioning procedure. Does this information make sense, John?¡±


    ¡°I am being held for questioning by the ESF,¡± John repeated. ¡°If I run, they will activate a nanite suppression field and shoot me.¡±


    ¡°Yes. The government of America is deciding whether or not to press charges against you at this time. Among the actions you are accused of taking for which charges that might be filed are the invasion of their airspace, the fight against their air force resulting in a forest fire in Washington State, acts of espionage, and two instances of resisting lawful arrest. You do not have to admit to guilt to these charges, John, you can plead innocence and--¡±


    ¡°I will plead guilty. I did those things. I am proud. I will not deny my actions,¡± John said.


    ¡°I will not say that I recommend that, John, but I will inform your legal team of your intentions. Because you are a minor, I have to inform you that a lot of the matters which would normally be in your control in a situation as serious as this are now in control of adults who are acting on your behalf. Adults like me. We have your best interests, or at least what we believe to be your best interests, at heart.¡±


    Eodar began to laugh. ¡°That is what the High-Command said when the locked us in the Toormonda for four years. That it was ¡®in our best interest¡¯ that we received a proper education.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry that happened to you, John,¡± Olivia said.


    ¡°I am not. I saw the stars as they were born and as they died. I understood how small my place in the universe was and I saw how fragile my people were. I swore that I would do what I could to protect them from this cold and malevolent place until we could reach the safety of the halls of the ancestors.¡±


    ¡°Your people have told me some of what they know about your religious beliefs, John. I find them to be beautiful. I am sorry that your beliefs were violated and used against you by High-Command,¡± Olivia said.


    ¡°Did they truly do those things? Did they kill my brothers and sisters, to  replicate us  across the cosmos?¡± Eodar asked.


    ¡°Yes, John, they did. I am told that your class of Forward Scout Troops was utilized across seven thousand and eight fronts over the opening phases of the conflict that is now considered phase two of the Liberation Wars,¡± she answered. ¡°And it was retrained to fill other roles throughout phase three. It was during phase four in which you and your subordinates began rising to power, and ultimately it was in phase five in which the current state of the universe was reached. The other versions of you and your scout troop were instrumental in establishing a truce between all factions. It is an uneasy truce, but it has meant millennia of peace.¡±


    ¡°The universe is at peace?¡± John asked.


    ¡°For the moment, yes,¡± Olivia said.


    ¡°And humanity is free from oppression?¡±


    ¡°So I am told.¡±


    ¡°Then it was all worth it. May I be alone now?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll give you some time to process the information I¡¯ve given you, and come check on you in an hour if that¡¯s okay.¡±


    ¡°And Olivia?¡±


    ¡°Yes John?¡±


    ¡°Can I listen to the radio please?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡±


    ?

 2.34.

    2.34.


    ¡°Sarah, I¡¯m afraid that it is time to make a decision,¡± Trenola stated calmly, her hologram flickering nearby. ¡°We have determined that while the current course of treatment has stabilized your condition, there is no sign that the treatment will lead to further improvements. We are running out of reasons to withhold you from your people¡¯s own medical teams. You may request that we keep you here indefinitely, but we will be forced to admit that it is due to your own desires and not medical necessity.¡±


    ¡°I understand, Trenola thank you.¡± Sarah looked at the beautiful sunset. So like Earth¡¯s, and yet the colors were subtly alien. ¡°I believe I am ready now.¡±


    ¡°Ready to return to your people?¡±


    ¡°Ready to undergo your experimental therapy,¡± Sarah corrected. ¡°I understand that whoever I am will change. That frightens me, and that¡¯s the reason I¡¯ve been putting it off so long. But you¡¯re right. Today is the day that we make a decision.¡±


    Sarah turned to her doctor and smiled. ¡°Make me well again.¡±


    ~~~~~~


    Gabriel sighed as he put away his laptop and his PHDA into his messenger bag. The lecture hall was empty; he had outlasted them this time. Most of the members of his actual class were watching the recordings of his lecture rather than the lecture itself. He was going over the strange anomalies that he had detected in his analysis of the data from the  Seeker¡¯s  scientific mission. Strange ripples in the gravitic field that couldn¡¯t readily be explained by the existing models of astrophysics.


    The majority of experts he¡¯d shown it to had said ¡®oh, that¡¯s neat. What do the Yonohoans say that it is?¡¯


    To which he had unfortunately been forced to say ¡®the Yonohoans refuse to touch this data for fear that they would taint it with their advanced knowledge of magic and bullshitery. They insist that earthborn science remains pure.¡¯


    Which, unfortunately, Gabriel was beginning meant that independent work on the standard model was falling apart as the scientists around the world rushed to grapple with alien sciences which viewed the world in a very different way and grappled with forces that Earth technology could not measure, let alone control.


    Instead of lecturing on the crowning achievement of Earth¡¯s space program, he was answering heckling questions by youtubers and bloggers about how it felt to be responsible for the first alien invasion of Earth.


    He sighed and stalked away from the podium. Perhaps someday, his research would be taken seriously and he wouldn¡¯t simply be a mascot to the university for which he now worked.


    ~~~~


    ¡°So in summary, if we throw the book at him, then we can effectively kiss our hopes of reelection goodbye,¡± the special prosecutor explained. ¡°The fact that he is a Yonohoan citizen complicates things to no end. We don¡¯t have any treaties with them on this subject. We do have existing laws for spies and potential terrorists, but they were written decades ago and public opinion has changed.


    ¡°Even now, the good Captain Moon¡¯s revelation that the boy was brainwashed from the age of four to infiltrate planets and pose as an abandoned child is swaying public opinion in his favor. She points out that he had the technology and the weaponry to cause endless devastation, but instead all he tried to do was fit in. The fact that the Yonohoans have made public the reports to the defunct organization which he once served is only further complicating the matter. The way that he says ¡®Earth girls are pretty¡¯ is just so damn endearing that even  I  feel empathy for the kid.


    ¡°The Yonohoans insist that we treat him with respect and dignity. Our laws demand that he receives a fair trial. If the defense calls him to testify about all of the trauma and abuse that he remembers from the original Eodar¡¯s time in training, I doubt that there¡¯s a jury in the world which would convict him. I¡¯ll prosecute this matter to the fullest extent of the law if those are my instructions. But it will be the end of my career. And if I go down, I¡¯ll do my best to take everyone who signed off on this with me.¡±


    The prosecutor sat down, and President Walker shifted side to side in her swivel chair, considering the presentation. Her chair squeaked beneath her as the room filled with legal experts waited for her to speak.


    ¡°Right now, if I¡¯m not mistake, the child responsible for the two incidents where we tried to take him in is presumed dead, am I wrong?¡± Walker asked after a moment.


    ¡°Technically, according to the logs pulled out of his wetware by the Yonohoans, he  was  dead for forty-five seconds or so,¡± One of the experts in the room pointed out.


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    ¡°We can¡¯t keep his trial secret. If we prosecute him, we have to announce that he¡¯s alive, correct?¡± she asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s correct.¡±


    ¡°What happens if I pardon him?¡± She asked. ¡°Do we have to reveal that John Doe AKA Eodar of the Yonohoans is still alive?¡±


    ¡°We could write the pardon in such a way that it appears we are giving to him postmortem,¡± the prosecutor explained. ¡°Then we can quietly hand him over to the Yonohoans and let them take the situation from there. As I understand it, they don¡¯t want to make too big of a deal out of a fact that a clone of their cultural hero is back from the dead either.¡±


    ¡°After hearing the accounts of what this boy went through, I¡¯m disinclined to make things worse,¡± she admitted. ¡°What about the boy¡¯s wishes? What does he hope will happen to him?¡±


    The room met her question with silence. She looked around, frowning. ¡°Does nobody know? None of you geniuses thought to ask?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think it was relevant,¡± the prosecutor admitted.


    ¡°Well go fucking find out you moron!¡± Walker shouted, and the meeting adjourned.


    ~~~~~~


    Kirk bathed in the light of the trinary star system of Beta Centauri. He wasn¡¯t the first human from Earth to be this close to the stars; that honor went to the first team to leave the solar system aboard a ship powered by the Tunnel Drive, a predecessor to the  Seeker of New Discoveries . But that was fine. He wasn¡¯t boldly going where no man had gone before, but he was boldly doing things which no man had done before in those locations, he thought.


    Or at least he had been. His passion for making love to his new wife was starting to wane. Not his love for her. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak, so to speak. She, too, was beginning to move on to a less passionate phase of their relationship. She sat next to him, his arm around her, in the cockpit of the ship as they stared at the foreign sun.


    ¡°How long until we have to go back?¡± she asked him.


    ¡°According to the ship, the food forge can keep us fed for decades. The water recycler will function for twice as long,¡± he answered.


    ¡°Yes, but how long is the deal with the spacecraft company good for?¡± she asked.


    He frowned, because the answer to that question was six months. ¡°Not as long as I¡¯d like it to be, but there¡¯s no reason to hurry.¡±


    ¡°I think it¡¯s time to go home, Kirk,¡± she said. ¡°Let¡¯s enjoy the rest of the day, and then set course and fly through the night. It will take some time to arrive, but we¡¯ll have some fun along the way and talk about what life is going to be like once we¡¯re millionaires.¡±


    ¡°Life is good. I got to fly in a spaceship, I bagged a trophy wife, and I¡¯m going to be rich,¡± Kirk said, smiling.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m a trophy, am I? Will you put me on the wall and forget about me?¡±


    ¡°Never,¡± he answered.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go outside one more time. See if you have another round in you while we¡¯re floating out in open space,¡± she suggested.


    They equipped their vacuum exposure devices, and they made love out amid the stars with nothing protecting them from the vacuum of space except alien technology. When they returned to the ship, they showered, and then Kirk entered the course to head home.


    Just as the FTL drive was powering up, a ship appeared.


    ¡°Who the hell is this now?¡± Kirk asked.


    ¡°They are broadcasting a message,¡± the Enterprise informed him. ¡°Translating into english. Message is as follows. You are suspected of piracy. Power down your engine and prepare to be boarded.¡±


    ¡°Can they do that?¡± Kirk demanded.


    ¡°They are broadcasting the IFF beacons of the Rosantean empire¡¯s police force,¡± the Enterprise answered. ¡°However, this is not Rosantean space, nor is the Enterprise a Rosantean spacecraft. I have broadcast that I am a Yonohoan crafted vessel. They know that they are outside their rights in their proposed course of action.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, fuck them then. Kick it for Earth, full speed.¡±


    ¡°They are faster than us by a significant margin.¡±


    ¡°Can they shoot us down in hyperspace?¡± Kirk asked.


    ¡°No, they cannot.¡±


    ¡°Then fuck them, let¡¯s go.¡±


    ¡°Entering the hyperatomic plane now,¡± the ship said, and it made the translation from the material plane to one of the higher dimensions where light speed was a suggestion and not a rule.


    ?

 2.35.

    2.35.


    ¡°I¡¯m happy to report that the President is disinclined to prosecute you to the full extent of the law, John,¡± Olivia reported. They were sitting in the exercise yard. John retained some of his enhanced strength, but it was fading. He was just sitting on the grass and looking up at the sky instead of trying to maintain it.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care,¡± Eodar said.


    ¡°Well, John,  I care  what happens to you. Do you care about my feelings and wants?¡± she asked him.


    He frowned as he considered her words carefully. He came to the conclusion that he did. ¡°What do you want to happen to me?¡±


    ¡°I want you to see freedom again, John. I want you to get help to get past all the trauma in your memories and live a productive life of happiness. I want you to grow up and live a peaceful life in the universe that you and the other versions of you fought so hard to secure,¡± she answered.


    He continued to frown as he gave consideration to her words. ¡°I don¡¯t want to go home,¡± he said finally.


    ¡°Your family wants you back,¡± she pointed out.


    ¡°Eolai may be descended from another version of me, but he¡¯s lived longer than I have. It is wrong for me to call him son or him to call me father. If anything it would be the reverse, but I will not call father a man I do not know,¡± John declared. He sighed. ¡°I wish that I could continue to be fostered here on Earth. To go to school and learn of the history of humanity as your scientists believe that it evolved. I want to marry a pretty earth girl and live quietly. That is what I want.¡±


    ¡°Okay, John. I¡¯ll relay your words to your legal team. I can¡¯t promise anything, you know that.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± Eodar said. He watched as a jet slowly made its way across the sky, leaving contrails in its wake.


    Soon, he knew, those would be a thing of the past as the Earthlings adopted ¡®Yonohoan¡¯ technology which would allow them to do away with fossil fuels entirely. The people on the radio were talking about things like experimental energy sources and ecological impact studies, but he already knew. Thousands of worlds used those energy sources, and they were far less damaging than the methods that Earth was presently using to fulfill its energy needs.


    In a few decades, Earth would be just like any other brightworld.


    The fact that it was the cradle of humanity might be completely forgotten.


    He wondered if it mattered at all. If his desperate fight had any meaning, if his discovery would ever be appreciated with anyone.


    The other versions of him, the ones who weren¡¯t killed in action shortly after being commissioned, had gone on to be heroes whose actions continued to shape the universe.


    What had he done with his life? What was the point of all of his effort? He had been defeated, and in the end when he had finally surrendered, even the control he had believed that he¡¯d possessed over his own life had been stripped from him.


    Now, he was just waiting to see what happened next. He no longer feared that the earthlings were going to torture him. He understood that he was at their mercy.


    He was surprised at just how comfortable he was becoming in that position.


    ~~~~~


    Kirk was dressed for the first time in over a week. So was Lisa, who sat nearby him in the cockpit as they waited nervously for the call to connect. The Enterprise had reported that the ship was following them through the Hyperatomic plane, matching their speed and repeating its demands that they stop their spacecraft and prepare to be boarded.


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    They were ignoring the hails.


    Instead they had called ahead to Earth to inform the ESF of the events. They had issued their report and forwarded the ship¡¯s logs in their entirety, and they were awaiting legal advice on how to proceed.


    Finally, the connection request came through. A young woman in an ESF uniform smiled comfortingly at them.


    ¡°Mr. and Mrs. Desmond. I am pleased to note that we have reviewed the actions you have reported and your ships logs and found no irregularities or criminal activities either under Earth statute, nor under any treaty of which we are aware which might be construed to apply to this part of space. As your ship correctly informed you, this territory is presently unclaimed by any major faction. Furthermore, the presence of Earth as an emerging space power grants you significant protection,¡± the ESF representative stated calmly.


    ¡°We have included a report of our findings to your computer. We suggest forwarding them to your pursuer. If they do not break off when they enter sol space, then the ESF will assume that they are engaged in the act of piracy and will act in accordance with our laws regarding this situation. Please rest assured that the ESF will come to your defense. We suggest that you modify your heading to the forwarded location; it will put you in position once you exit the hyperatomic plane for the ESF to respond to the threat should the pursuing spacecraft refuse to break pursuit.¡±


    Kirk and Lisa looked at each other, and they both felt a wave of relief. They were going to be alright.


    ~~~~~~


    The generals were in the conference room once more, and the hologram of Eolai of the Yonohoans flickered into being. He had a grave expression on his face. The emotional weight of not knowing the fate of Eodar was bearing down on him, an he was beginning to show it, despite Diego¡¯s interventions and attempts to keep him active during this difficult time.


    ¡°Hello, Eolai. Thank you for attending this meeting. I can understand if you are not feeling particularly well inclined toward the people of Earth at this time,¡± General Turnball said.


    ¡°I bear no ill will to the people of Earth for the treatment of my father. As of yet, they have treated him with as much dignity and respect as he might have received on planet Totola itself. I more than anyone know how dangerous he was prior to his decommissioning. He ripped my arm off,¡± Eolai said.


    Major Mary Phillips raised her eyebrows at that, as did several other members of the meeting.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to be blunt, Eolai. I wish to know if the treatment that the Americans settle upon for the disposition of Eodar will affect the defense of Earth strategically. I understand how delicate the political situation is but we have a possible incoming threat to our system and I need to know if we can rely upon you,¡± Turnball said.


    ¡°I will defend the children of Earth with all of the power available to me, General,¡± Eolai said. ¡°I will observe the interaction between this unknown ship and record it as an objective observer. If it poses a threat to the Earth itself, I will intervene with prejudice. Otherwise ¡­¡± Eolai shrugged. ¡°Your people wish to retain your sovereignty. We have advanced your spaceforce by hundreds of years compared to what it would be without our intervention. What more would you ask of me, General? Do you wish me to fight your battles for you, or will you defend your children of your body with your own blood?¡±


    ¡°I understand. Does the outcome of President Walker¡¯s decision on whether or not to prosecute Eodar affect your pledge to protect the Earth itself?¡± Turnball pressed.


    ¡°It does not.¡±


    ¡°Thank you. Your presence as a neutral observer in the upcoming confrontation is most reassuring, as is your promise regarding Earth,¡± the general said.


    ¡°Is that all the questions you have for me?¡± Eolai asked in a tired voice.


    ¡°For this moment, yes. Thank you for all you have done for the humans of Earth, Eolai.¡±


    ¡°I did not do it for you, General,¡± Eolai said, and the connection cut off.


    ¡°Well he¡¯s in a fantastic mood,¡± one of the aides commented.


    ¡°Show some god damned respect,¡± Turnball snapped at them. ¡°He¡¯s the one who put a stop to the incident. He¡¯s responsible for advancing the technology we have by decades, if not centuries. He¡¯s  gifted  us more than half of the spacecraft we will be using to respond to the upcoming threat. If anyone among the Yonohoans deserves respect during this time which is understandably difficult for him, it¡¯s Eolai. If you don¡¯t want to get busted back down to private, watch your damned mouth!¡±


    ?

 2.36.

    2.36.


    Sarah slung her bag over her back and stared out the window of the space station. She was in a good mood today. Today was a good day, and she was looking forward to tomorrow. She had barely been thinking about Diego at all lately. When she did, the feelings were almost muted compared to the intense longing or the acute agony which she had experienced previously.


    She felt like a teenager again, if she was being honest. Perhaps it was all in her head ¨C she was on experimental neural regeneration therapy to treat brain damage, after all. But she was more optimistic than she¡¯d been since middle school.


    Which was fitting, considering her destination.


    Doctor Trenola ¨C she was adopting the human title around Earthlings even though there wasn¡¯t quite a direct Yonohoan equivalent ¨C had suggested that a change of scenery and mental stimulation would be good for her during this time. So some arrangements had been made, and she had been provisionally discharged from the hospital.


    She didn¡¯t care if it was provisional or not. She was free! And she was still in Yonohoan space, which meant that she didn¡¯t have to answer to the corporations or governments quite yet. There would be a reckoning some day, but not today.


    Today, she was going on a field trip.


    She watched through the transparent wall as her ride appeared. She was surprised at how excited she was to be scheduled for this trip, despite the fact that she¡¯d already spent time aboard one.


    A Toormonda.


    She was going on a Toormonda trip. Except, unlike the  Guardian , which she had briefly served upon doing light duty before arrangements were made to get her the care she needed, this one had been in service for a century already. She would be the only earthling passenger, but not the only passenger. She would be a student in a group of Yonohoan teenagers as they all toured the local star systems and learned about the universe.


    As the Toormonda docked with the station, she identified the other passengers by those who were waiting in line, many of them with luggage. She smiled at them when she caught them staring. Probably they were wondering if she was an Earthling or a visitor from one of the other brightworlds that sometimes did business with planet Totola. She¡¯d been living among them for months now, but the shape of her head gave her away as a different species of human.


    She waited for the others to board, and then followed them into the Toormonda.


    When the door closed behind them and they realized that the strange lady had followed them aboard, some of them looked confused. None of them looked particularly concerned, however.


    ¡°Welcome. You are the Six hundred and fifty-seventh class aboard this particular Toormonda. I hope that you are all looking forward to this educational and formational experience. Often times, the bonds formed on a Toormonda will last a lifetime. Even those of you who came aboard with your friends may find the bonds between you deepening as you spend time together and explore the nature of reality.


    ¡°Please note that while this ship does have significant privacy protection modules, the close quarters means that you have a reduced expectation of privacy. Additionally, in lieu of usual Topoka monitoring, any Tuunka Powan will be reported to your guardians,¡± the ships voice said. It was sexless but friendly.


    Sarah wondered what Tuunka Powan meant, but she was pretty sure by the context that it meant hanky-panky. The speech was in Yonohoan, but after weeks of an immersive experience Sarah was more or less proficient with that language now.


    ¡°Why is there an Earthling among us?¡± one of the girls asked. One of the other girls elbowed her for her forthright rudeness.


    ¡°Because I¡¯m another one of the passengers,¡± Sarah explained in their language. She smiled in a way that she hoped was friendly. ¡°I am from Earth. I am being treated for a neurological disorder and my doctor thinks that spending time aboard a Toormonda will be good for my health. Additionally, I never had the chance to take a Toormonda ride when I was your age and I¡¯m really looking forward to it. I hope we can be friends.¡±


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    The Yonohoan teens looked around at each other, considering the situation. One of the boys suddenly asked ¡°Did you bring Earth Music with you?¡¯


    ¡°I did!¡± she announced, and the atmosphere improved immediately. ¡°I hope you all like K-pop.¡±


    ~~~~~~~


    It turns out that Yonohoan teenagers and Earth teenagers have one thing in common. The moment that they get away from their parents, they immediately begin to party.


    The music from her tablet, which she had carried with her from the  Seeker , blared through the Toormonda as the teenagers drank fizzy beverages and danced to the unfamiliar beats. There was laughing and playing. Two boys got into a wrestling match. Sarah saw two different couples making out in a corner despite the warning about Tuunka Powan.


    And half of them were singing along to the song. Poorly, repeating words that they didn¡¯t understand and sometimes had difficulty pronouncing.


    Sarah felt a little out of place, like a college student at a high school party, so she retired to the bedrooms.


    Unlike the private rooms of the  Guardian of Dreams , this Toormonda had the standard layout for the semi-private areas. A private-ish bedroom for the chaperones to share, and two dormitories. One for boys and one for girls. Since Sarah wasn¡¯t a chaperone, she¡¯d be sleeping with the girls. Naturally.


    The group shared a bathroom with private stalls and a communal shower area. Communal bathing with the same sex was standard in Yonohoan culture. The boys and girls were scheduled to take showers at separate times, but using the same facilities. Peaking was greatly frowned upon, but no doubt happened.


    They were teenagers, after all.


    Sarah had asked, and she could either shower with the girls or schedule a time for herself. The Yonohoans understood shyness, it just wasn¡¯t common.


    Sarah retired to the girls dorm and claimed a bed for herself. The mattress was just barely long enough; if she were any taller she wouldn¡¯t fit. She smiled as she noted graffiti atop of graffiti atop of graffiti on the walls. Nobody had made any effort of removing the murals and decorations. It seemed to be a tradition for everyone to try to leave behind a little mark from themselves.


    An adult Yonohoan came into the room. A man. He smiled at her and showed her his hands in a gesture of greeting. He was surprised when halfway through the gesture she grabbed his hand and shook it.


    ¡°That¡¯s how we do it on Earth,¡± she explained.


    ¡°I see. As I was about to say, I am Dornodo. This is my Toormonda, and I welcome you aboard it.¡±


    ¡°You own this thing? I thought they were like owned by the school system or something,¡± Sarah said.


    ¡°No. It is a business to run a Toormonda. The children or their parents save up and pay for the privilege. Your own ride is being paid for by the hospital, and you are receiving a generous medical discount. I am fortunate to have been trusted enough to purchase this Toormonda when its previous owner became too frail to look after the children any longer and was forced to retire,¡± Dornodo explained.


    ¡°I see. I bet it¡¯s pretty unusual to have an adult passenger,¡± Sarah said.


    ¡°No. It is actually very common for adults to get nostalgic about their experiences as a teenager and ask for me to repeat their journey. Often with their spouses or lovers. The rules for those journeys are very different, of course, and I am often relegated to hiding in my quarters with earplugs,¡± the man explained.


    Sarah laughed. ¡°Well, I see. You aren¡¯t worried about the kids while you¡¯re here checking up on me?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯ll be fine. This always happens when we leave port. It is part of the experience. Once they calm down and have a rest period, we will begin the educational experience in earnest,¡± Dornodo explained.


    ¡°I am very much looking forward to it,¡± Sarah said.


    ?

 2.37.

    2.37.


    Ji-eun Moon was sitting on her couch with Trevor and the kitten, whom she had named Isabelle, and reading the packet of new employee orientation material from Trefold Aeronautics. It was the standard corporate onboarding material and she probably could get by with just skimming it, but she was going through ti carefully and committing it to memory.


    Trevor was reading a paperback and absently stroking her hair. It was peaceful, she was happy, and she was looking forward to her second day of work while the news played in the background.


    The president had announced that she was preparing to give a speech regarding the alien infiltrator, and many of the commentators and pundits were opining on what the topics would be. From the dangers of alien technology to calling the entire thing a false flag to create tension with the Yonohoans, the men and women of the newscast had no end of opinions.


    ¡°What do you think she¡¯s going to say?¡± Trevor asked a few minutes before the speech was about to begin.


    ¡°Either she¡¯s going to tell the truth that Eodar is still alive and that we¡¯re giving him back to the Yonohoans, or she¡¯s going to lie and hide the fact that we¡¯re giving them back to the Yonohoans,¡± Ji-eun predicted.


    ¡°You think those are the only two options?¡± Trevor asked.


    ¡°Unless we have some magic way of disabling his weaponry, then yes. He¡¯s too dangerous to keep around,¡± the former captain explained.


    ¡°You don¡¯t think they¡¯re going to stash him in a lab somewhere and try to reverse engineer his weapons?¡±


    ¡°Not with who or what he is to the Yonohoans,¡± she predicted.


    ¡°Huh,¡± Trevor said, and they lapsed into silence again.


    When the president came on, Ji-eun turned up the volume. Elizabeth ¨C call me Beth ¨C Walker stood at a podium with a sad expression on her face.


    ¡°My fellow Americans. Today, I am about to make what I think will either by my most controversial speech ever ¨C and I believe that is saying something ¨C or my most unifying one. The decision of how my actions today will be viewed is in the hands of history, but I have made my decision.


    ¡°First of all. Regarding the incident which required the Yonohoan response team to resolve. I plan to make several statements of fact.


    ¡°Fact number one: We know who the agent is, an we have for a while. It has been proposed that this is was a Yonohoan agent working for their government. This is false. The agent has been identified. They were trained circa ninety thousand years ago by a defunct military known as High-Command, or at least that¡¯s what we¡¯re calling them. Due to the use of either flash-cloning technology or stasis, the agent was either revived or preserved from this time with his memories intact. The Yonohoans as we know them today did not exist at that time and the current government of the Yonohoah had no involvement with the agent¡¯s orders or mission.


    ¡°The second fact: the rumors that the agent left behind a trail of bodies is false. In fact, we know from the outlined capabilities of the agent that he constantly held himself back, using non-lethal weapons when he had access to WMDs. These weapons were given to him by High-Command as a standard protocol for a soldier of his caliber, and he chose consciously not to use them, despite the risk that it placed him into when he was confronted by our response teams.


    ¡°Fact number three: the agent did not choose a school as a target. It was the decision of the forces responsible for bringing him in to utilize the school which the agent first became known to the public.


    ¡°Fact number four: the reason that the agent was at that school was because he was enrolled as a student. The agent is a twelve year old boy. Or rather, he is a clone of a child from ninety thousand years ago with all of the memories of that violent and turbulent time intact.


    ¡°Fact number five: the agent, this child, underwent a brutal regime of training and brainwashing at the hands of High-Command for the purpose of creating supersoldiers. He was utterly dedicated to his organization and his mission. He was instructed to disregard all information that contradicted his orders from High-Command unless he received deactivation codes, which have regrettably been lost to time.


    ¡°Fact number six: according to historical records provided by the Yonohoans, the class that Eodar belonged to had a thirty percent casualty rate  while in training.


    ¡°Fact number seven: This child was murdered by his organization for the purpose of using replicator technology in order to flash clone him thousands of times. The child that infiltrated Earth and caused these disturbances that have rocked our nation has a long history throughout the conflicts collectively known as the Liberation War.


    ¡°He is considered a hero by almost all sides and parties. In particular, he is a cultural hero to the Yonohoans, due in large part because although he was kidnapped from his tribe at a young age and brainwashed by High-Command, he shares their blood and their values.


    ¡°Fact number eight: Without intelligence freely given by Eolai of the Yonohoah, we would never have detected the child-soldier who had been sent to us by forces unknown for unknown reasons.¡±


    Walker paused and took a drink of water. She collected her thoughts for a moment, then continued.


    ¡°I am sharing these facts with the public in order to try to paint a picture of the delicate situation that we are facing. I put forward, and this is my opinion and not a fact, that the agent, known as John Doe during his time on Earth and known to our allies in the stars as Eodar of the Yonohoah, is the greatest victim in this situation.


    ¡°I am not saying that we were not justified in confronting him and attempting to take him into custody. Due to his training and the technology in his possession he posed a clear and present danger to everyone around him. I stand by the decisions that were made that led to the confrontations which caused devastation ¨C devastation but no loss of life! - to a quiet suburban community. I do not regret them and would make them again even knowing what I know now.


    ¡°That said, Eodar was born into a hunter-gatherer tribe. At three or four years of age, he watched as stars fell from the sky and struck the ground. From those fallen stars, men and women, no, boys and girls stood up. They smiled and were friendly, and they were naked and nonthreatening. Their tribe clothed these travelers from another world. They invited them into their homes and gave them food and water and taught them the ways of the Yonohoans.


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    ¡°Unbeknownst to the Yonohoans, these strangers were reporting their information to their organization in order to better assess them for several factors. Factor one; the danger that they were in from their environment or non-human forces. Factor two; any significant cultural traits which would need to be observed. Factor three; any crimes against humanity that were being performed by aliens upon the people they were examining. Factor four: Combat effectiveness.


    ¡°These were the forward scouts of High-Command. That is the same organization to which Eodar AKA John Doe belonged to. And he was attempting to duplicate their actions on Earth because that is what he was trained to do.


    ¡°Eodar did not come here to cause mass destruction. He came to gather intelligence by pretending to be one of us and blending in. He believed that humanity itself was at war, and he was here to help Earth prepare to play a role in that war for survival and freedom.


    ¡°While I do not regret our actions, I cannot help but see the tragedy in Eodar¡¯s story. It is another fact that Eodar, rather than allow himself to be taken alive, activated his decommissioning program. This program, akin to a poison pill, he believed would end his life so that he could not be utilized against High-Command.


    ¡°We drove him into a corner and he killed himself.¡±


    Again President Walker paused. She picked up the glass of water on the podium, looked at it, then put it back down.


    ¡°Or at least he tried to. For unknown reasons he survived the decommissioning program. Eodar, AKA John Doe, is still alive and in a high security location receiving treatment as the decommissioning program runs its course. His weapons are being deactivated, the nanite systems that allow him to wreak destruction are being flushed from his body. Very soon he will be a regular Yonohoan child once more.¡±


    She paused.


    ¡°And that brings us to where we stand now. I have discussed the matter at length with my staff. I have prayed to god. I have talked with Eolai of the Yonohoans, who hold the men who were cloned from the same child as John Doe in the absolute highest regards. And I have come to a conclusion.


    ¡°The United States of America will not be pressing charges.¡±


    Ji-eun squeezed Trevor¡¯s hands at the announcement.


    ¡°That said, neither will we allow Eodar to go free. Rather, he will remain in custody of a high-security facility until such time as his body returns to that of a normal child. After that, it will be the governments responsibility to see that he is treated for the trauma that he recalls from the original Eodar from whom he was cloned, and we will attempt to reintegrate him into modern society as a functional individual.


    ¡°We will be vigilant until we are certain that he is no longer a threat. We will assist him in overcoming his brainwashing. We will heal this pour soul for the damage that was done to him eons ago. And we will do it not because it is easy, but because it is the right thing to do.


    ¡°Some of you will ask why we do not simply turn him over to the Yonohoans. It¡¯s a good question. They would take him and thank us for the privilege. We would never see him again, and he would never threaten us.


    ¡°The answer is simple.


    ¡°Because this is an opportunity to show the universe what standard the American People, no, what standard the people of Earth we hold ourselves to when it comes to the treatment of children and the most vulnerable among us.


    ¡°I do not know who sent Eodar to us. But we will take this traumatized child and we will heal him, and we will prove to the universe that nobody is beyond redemption.


    ¡°That is all for now. Thank you, and may God bless America.¡±


    The camera changed immediately to a roomful of pundits, and Ji-eun turned the television off.


    ¡°Huh,¡± she said.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Trevor agreed. ¡°Think you should call Eolai and congratulate him?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure he already knows. I¡¯ll send a message, but I¡¯m not going to take up his time right now. He probably has a million things on his mind.¡±


    ~~~~


    In a small room in a secure location, a boy was listening to the radio. He had just heard the president of the united states give a speech. About him. And his future.


    Were her words the truth? Was he really so lost in time that everything he had been raised to believe was now a lie?


    Was everything that he had done meaningless? Everything he had gone through for his people? All the sacrifices he had made? The pain of the implantation procedures. The agony of the training where he was pushed to the limit and beyond?


    The bond with his classmates, which he had once believed to be utterly unshakable, meaningless?


    He didn¡¯t know.


    He was terrified.


    Not of the government. They had shown no interest in questioning him. If what they said was true, then he had nothing to tell them that would be of any use anyway. All of his actionable intelligence about High-Command was in its training protocols for Scout Troopers. He could teach them to recreate the training, perhaps. They could use his body as a model to duplicate the --


    No, he had been decommissioned, he realized. The implanted organs would be destroying themselves. They should have already destroyed themselves in a wave of destruction that would have destroyed his body and left nothing behind. Instead, for some reason, they were slowly being dissolved.


    That alone was proof that High-Command was not who had sent him to Earth. Even if his intelligence wasn¡¯t actionable anymore, they would not have left a loose end like that behind them. Someone had modified him, somehow, for some reason he didn¡¯t know.


    He wondered if he cared. He didn¡¯t care about much right now. He would ask Olivia tomorrow if he should care about things like this, because she seemed to know what he should be doing with his mind. All he felt since waking up was numbness.


    What had it all been for? What did it mean? Why? Why why why why why?


    ~~~~~~


    On a rooftop, in a small, quiet suburb, a device that had once been a car battery was sending out a signal based on an ancient battle code. It was a Rocktala device, created using nanotechnology and mundane materials. Its signal was in the Ku-band and limited to light speed. The message it sent was heavily encoded and encrypted, unlike normal messages sent by the Rocktalas of the planet Totola.


    The device was set to repeat the signal every two minutes indefinitely until the device either ran out of power, or it received a reply.


    It abruptly powered off.


    ?

 2.38.

    2.38.


    Captain Anders stood aboard the station that he had assigned as the ¡®bridge¡¯ of  A Good Question , the Toormonda ship of which he was in command. He had a crew of five, aside from himself. Two of the crew were manning the built in weapons of the Toormonda. Neither of which were particularly deadly, but since the ship had weapons it was being included in the formation.


    The two weapons, an EMP weapon that also fired an energy not well understood by the Earthlings called a Kirata beam and an ion cannon of low power ¨C at least for space combat ¨C were not considered a serious threat to most military forces. The arming of Toormonda ships was considered traditional more than anything else; no human would allow their children to ride a ship that couldn¡¯t defend itself.


    But everyone knew that Toormondas were filled with children, and since they posed no militaristic threat, they were never fired upon. If criminal activity was suspected aboard a Toormonda, they were disabled remotely and boarded, the criminals apprehended, and any children returned to their homes.


    Eolai could have told the Earthlings as much, but he was both distracted, and curious to see what they would do.


    A Good Question,  aka  AGQ  for brevity and clarity, was also set to control a series of drones that contained weapons that were either developed on earth, given to Earth by the Yonohoans, or some combination of the two. Three drone operators rounded out the crew.


    The  AGQ  was the most dangerous Toormonda in the galaxy thanks to those drones. With its gravitic drive, it was sleek and mobile, although not as much as a specialized space superiority fighter craft. It¡¯s built in scientific devices, however, made it an important piece of the Earthling¡¯s defense plans as it served as a mobile scanning platform.


    The Earthlings had managed to convince the ship that it was owned by the Earth Space Force, a military organization, and the computer reluctantly agreed that it would respond only to military codes corresponding to the ESF.


    Even with these factors, anyone in the universe who heard that the Earthlings considered a Toormonda to be a second-line defender of a homeworld would laugh until they ran low on oxygen or their species equivalent.


    Captain Anders was proud of his post, and would endure the laughter with stoicism.


    He watched the instruments as they measured the vectors through the hyperatomic plane. He broadcast the location and times of the exit locations of the two ships in real time to his associated forces. Mist appeared exactly where he predicted, and a second field of mist appeared a thousand miles away from the first. Again, exactly where the  AGQ  had predicted.


    The  Enterprise  appeared suddenly. He sent the Winnebago class spacecraft a flightpath to bring it behind the line of defenders moving at its maximum sub-light velocity.


    The unknown but suspected pirate ship appeared seconds later. It did not move, floating in space menacingly as it activated its scanners and examined the entire Sol-system in detail.


    Captain Anders began to hail the ship, informing it that it was in Earth controlled space, demanding that it declare its identity and intentions.


    The ship continued it¡¯s scan.


    ~~~~~


    The Captain of the Rosantean enforcement vessel grinned to himself as the scans came back. He had questioned his orders when he had been assigned to a quiet trinary system in the middle of nowhere. There had been no end date on the assignment. He had been afraid that he and his crew would be stuck in stasis until someone did an inventory of the fleet¡¯s status and found that his vessel was still on assignment thirty years from now.


    Captain Yoko, a human proud of his Sortorian bloodline and the dark skin that went with it, had been dealing with morale issues when the pleasure craft had arrived in system. His own craft, which per protocol had been in stealth, had went to high-alert, and their mission brief had decrypted itself.


    Then he had understood.


    This was not some punishment assignment. It was an opportunity to serve the empire.


    The Yonohoans had found and were in the process of taming a Darkworld. This pleasure craft, its registered name meaningless to Yoko in any of the languages he spoke, was crafted by the Yonohoans but unregistered to any government database that his ship had access to. If it were a Yonohoan craft, then their systems would inform him of their relationship despite the fact that he was far outside the regular patrols of his empire.


    Which meant that it was a gift to a government not associated with the Rosantean Empire.


    Which implied a Darkworld.


    Which implied an opportunity to unmask the location of Earth and cow it into submission.


    But he would have to be careful. Appearances mattered, and it would weaken the empire¡¯s image if it were caught bullying an emerging Darkworld. When he finally arrived at the pleasure-craft¡¯s destination after following it at the glacial speed that the ship¡¯s engines were limited to by design, he immediately scanned the system.


    And his jaw fell down in slack at what he saw.


    Ships of known Yonohoan make and ships of completely unknown manufacture. He ignored the attempts of the primitives to communicate with him as he doubled down on the scans, looking for any signs of a Yonohoan military vessel.


    When he found none, he grinned.


    ¡°Broadcast back to these savages that they are suspected of piracy against the Rosantean Empire. Their dead drop system has been located and their base will be destroyed. They have sixty minutes to abandon ship before we fire upon them. Assure them that any who comply will be rescued and returned to the empire in stasis to face trial for their crimes.¡±


    He smiled.


    The earthlings had a term for what his orders had instructed him to do if he found Earth. Fabrication of Casus Belli.


    ~~~~~~~


    The message was received and translated instantly by the Toormonda¡¯s computer systems.


    ¡°We do not submit and we will not surrender,¡± Captain Anders broadcast to his battle group. ¡°Unknown ship, you have five minutes to leave this solar system which belongs to the people of Earth. I am Captain Anders of the Earth Space Force, and you are in violation of our sovereign territory committing acts of aggression. If you do not power down your weapons, engage your drives and leave this space, you will be fired upon with all the might of the ESF,¡± Anders said, his heart pumping with adrenaline as he maintained his iron control over himself.


    The ship continued to broadcast its demands and threats.


    ~~~~~~~


    The Darkworlder ships squawked back to Yoko in an indecipherable language. It might have been decipherable if the Yonohoans had updated the Rosantean empire with the codex that they must have created to communicate with these primitives, but the fact that Yoko had no idea what they were saying only added to the credibility of his mission.


    One hour, and then he would devastate their military forces. As well as all of the other vehicles that were strewn about the star system.


    Except, of course, for the Toormondas. He frowned at the telemetry. Why were there Toormondas within the battle formation?


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    Before he could figure out the strange configuration, he began taking fire.


    He grinned and ordered his crew to return fire. He was confident that his ship could handle anything that the Darkworlders put out.


    ~~~~~~


    The  Enterprise  literally flew itself. There was no need for human intervention aside from giving general directions on where to go. It was designed to be an accessible and pleasant space faring experience without requiring any technical skills. Like a Toormonda, it had a shelf life of two hundred years before the safety recommendations suggested retirement. Unlike the Toormonda, there were Winnebagos that remained in service to the families that owned them that were millennia old.


    The Yonohoah took the safety of their children very seriously, but anybody could risk their lives in an ancient Winnebago if they chose to do so.


    The  Enterprise  was brand new, however. In perfect condition, aside from some minor graffiti on its hull and a few signs of the fact that it had been used by a couple on their honeymoon.


    It possessed a single life capsule, and Kirk and Lisa were currently huddled inside it. It was meant to fit a family of four, placing them in stasis immediately after launch to keep them safe indefinitely until rescue arrived.


    The ship rushed to safety as the fight broke out behind them.


    ¡° Enterprise , are you equipped with weapons?¡± Kirk asked.


    ¡°I am manufactured by the Yonohoans,¡± Enterprise answered.


    ¡°Why are you asking about weapons? Ship, shields to maximum!¡± Lisa shouted.


    ¡°My debris shields are already functioning at maximum capacity,¡± the ship informed her.


    ¡°What does the thing about Yonohoans matter?¡± Kirk questioned.


    ¡°All interstellar vessels designed and built by the Yonohoans are equipped with anti-piracy weaponry. My kirata beam and particle cannon are low wield, but they are typically enough to deter boarders,¡± The ship explained.


    ¡°I understand,¡± Kirk said.


    ¡°What are you talking about? Kirk, don¡¯t be--¡±


    ¡°I love you Lisa,¡± he said. He slammed the eject button and dashed out of the life capsule before the airlock closed.


    ¡°Kirk? Kirk!¡± Lisa shouted. ¡°Kir-¡± the stasis field kicked in and the lifepod was ejected, it¡¯s beacon activating automatically as it launched itself out of the combat area.


    ¡°I want to help. This is my planet and my family lives there,¡± Kirk said. ¡°Tell the ESF that they can count on me.¡±


    ¡°Entering self defense mode. Requesting interlock with ESF forces,¡± The enterprise answered.


    ¡°If these bastards don¡¯t kill me,¡± Kirk said to himself, ¡°then Lisa just might.¡±


    ~~~~~~


    The first shot was not a warning shot. It was not even a single shot, but a barrage by all of the aligned ESF craft upon the target. Kirata beams, impulse weapons, particle cannons, missiles and good old-fashioned bullets screamed through space at the target.


    The Rosantean craft had countermeasures for all of them. It did not even bother to dodge.


    Seconds after the initial salvo, the enforcement vessel returned fire. High-energy plasma beams ripped through space.


    The Yonohoans had not skimped on the shields of the few attack craft that they had given the Earthlings, but the weapons tore through the ablative shielding. Dozens died in the return fire, the first casualties of the Rosantean-Earth war.


    Kirk Desmond aboard the Winnebago-class  Enterprise  was not a member of the ESF, but a private citizen who was in the right place at the wrong time to become a martyr. The plasma beam from the enforcement vessel ripped through his ship¡¯s debris shield. With temperatures that exceeded the core of a star, the plasma melted through its hull and vaporized its interior.


    Including the body of Kirk Desmond.


    The black box of the ship, containing the core of the  Enterprise¡¯s  AI, survived to testify of the valor of Kirk¡¯s last moments.


    ~~~~~~~


    The battle lasted for twenty minutes. Captain Anders cursed as he watched the might of the Earth¡¯s military flail against the enemy like an ant might flail against a god.


    Nothing was working.


    ¡°Contact Eolai,¡± Anders said.


    Eolai¡¯s image appeared in a hologram nearby.


    ¡°Hello Captain--¡±


    ¡°Can you push them back?¡± Anders demanded.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Please do so. We cannot win.¡±


    ¡°I cannot start a war between the Rosantean Empire and the Yonohoah, Anders. I am sorry. I will protect Earth should the vessel turn its attention here, but your space assets are--¡±


    ¡°Dammit they¡¯re slaughtering us!¡±


    ¡°I apologize. The malevolent universe has seen fit to give me lessons in helplessness and humility lately. Fight and die well, Captain Anders, and know that I bear witness to your sacrifice.¡±


    Eolai¡¯s image cut out and Anders cursed again.


    The drones were destroyed. The native weapons of the Toormonda were ineffective. The only hope of survival seemed to be that the enemy ship was not firing upon any of the Toormondas.


    Anders felt helpless as the fleet was turned to scrap around him.


    ~~~~~


    Yoko watched with malicious glee as the primitives fleet was destroyed around him. He was using only the ship¡¯s light weapons, not even unpacking the moon dusters or planet cracking armaments.


    ¡°We were lured into an ambush,¡± He said, practicing the explanation he would give the investigative panel. ¡°We had no idea that this system belonged to a Darkworld. We attempted to communicate but before our translation matrix could make sense of their language they opened fire. We were only defending--¡±


    A sudden impact jarred him from his rehearsal, knocking him flat on his ass. He winced at his bruised tailbone. The rest of the crew scrambled back to their stations.


    ¡°What the hell was that?¡± he demanded.


    ¡°Subspace munition,¡± the damage control officer informed him. ¡°Bypassed our shields and slammed directly into our secondary power source. We¡¯re at sixty percent power.¡±


    Yoko frowned and reevaluated the situation. He had accomplished what he¡¯d been sent to do. If the enemy had weapons that were actually effective against his ship, then his mission was in jeopardy for the simple fact that he needed to survive to give testimony about the ¡®unprovoked¡¯ attack.


    ¡°Take us out of here,¡± he said.


    ¡°But we¡¯re winning!¡± one of the weapons technicians objected.


    ¡°We¡¯ve already caused enough havoc,¡± Yoko explained. ¡°Take us out of here.¡±


    The ship lurched slightly as it engaged its fastest FTL drive, launching it out of the star system in a blink.


    Yoko smiled. He contacted his superiors and began to issue his report.


    The subspace munition, ¡°Doctor Strangelove,¡± abruptly ticked down to zero and the nuclear weapon detonated.


    The resulting explosion caused a bulge in the hyperatomic plain that quickly rippled through the universe at a thousand times the speed of light. For a million light years, the drums of war were felt with such resonance that spacecraft were knocked out of FTL.


    The Rosanteans just smiled. The captain¡¯s death only improved their position. They¡¯d already received the data dump from his computer. They had everything they needed. With silent maliciousness, they began editing the information that had been transmitted, feeding it into their propaganda machine.


    ?

 2.39.

    2.39.


    ¡°The ESF is reporting that the danger has passed. The enemy ship was destroyed using an experimental weapon powered by the controversial Tunnel Drive. For those of you hiding in your basements, I repeat. The danger has passed. The heroes of the ESF have defeated the enemy. We are receiving reports of casualties, but the ESF has prevailed!¡±


    Former Captain Moon looked up at the sky. The lights had been visible from her driveway, where she lay back on the hood of her car. Trevor was at work, hopefully sheltering in place. The emergency broadcast system had blared and most of the world had run for shelter. Ji-eun had gone outside to watch. The streaks and explosions of the battle had been visible to the naked eye, and Ji-eun had watched as men died millions of miles away.


    ¡°And there but for the grace of god,¡± she said quietly. ¡°I hope Anders survived that.¡±


    She went inside, stroked her kitten, and poured herself a fifth of whiskey.


    Then another.


    ~~~~~~


    Diego punched his sworn brother in the face.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you act?¡± he demanded. ¡°Hundreds of men and women died while we could have done something about it! Why did you--¡±


    ¡°Billions would have died if I had interfered,¡± Eolai said sadly. ¡°I told the generals of Earth that I could only interfere if Earth itself was threatened. It was not.¡±


    ¡°The Rosanteans have just declared war and you¡¯re just going to sit there and let them wipe the floor with us?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°Ask Bob what would have happened if I had intervened,¡± Eolai suggested, rubbing his cheek. Diego raised his fist to strike again, and Eolai did not flinch. But Diego paused, and followed his suggestion.


    ¡°Well, Bob? What would have happened,¡± Diego demanded.


    ¡°There are several gaps in your knowledge which must be explained before I answer this question. The first is in regards to the treaty between Rosantean and the Yonohoan. It demands a stance of neutrality and non-interference. It permits the police actions of the Rosanteans to exceed their borders provided that they can show the vessels involved have one or two degrees of separation from suspected criminals.


    ¡°The allusion to a ¡®dead-drop¡¯ system implies a method of moving pirated cargo to create a degree of separation. The Rosanteans appear to have been fabricating a case that they were engaged in law enforcement activities This is a common tactic to expand their influence beyond their borders.


    ¡°Should a Yonohoan interfere with Rosantean law enforcement, they are subject to Rosantean law. By Rosantean law, the sons and daughters of Eodar possess a rank equivalent to an admiral or general of high rank. If Eolai had interfered in what they claim was a lawful police action, then they could make the case before the intergalactic community that the Yonohoans had declared war. This would invalidate the majority of the Yonohoans mutual defense pacts and nullified a significant part of the web insuring intergalactic peace.


    ¡°Yonohoah would have answered the call, but few others. The Rosantean forces outnumber the forces of the Yonohoans by a factor of fifty-three. The outcome of such a war, which would last centuries, is unpredictable but would lead to deaths in the range of one to eighteen billion,¡± Bob explained.


    Diego lost much of his anger as the information slowly sank in. ¡°You¡¯re saying your hands were tied?¡±


    ¡°No.  I  could  have interfered. But the outcome would have been a war which would lead to an unconscionable amount of carnage. If your government had signed the treaties I placed before them that would classify earth as a protectorate of the Yonohoah, then I could have interfered. But they refuse to do so, and I must respect their position,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°Politics,¡± Diego said, spitting on the floor in disgust. ¡°I fucking hate politics.¡±


    ~~~~~~


    Major Mary Phillips finished highlighting the sections of the relevant treaties to the room, which was filled with the somber atmosphere of a group of generals who had won a battle but lost a war. The enemy ship had been destroyed, but two thirds of Earth¡¯s fleet with any offensive capability at all had been destroyed.


    ¡°He made the right call,¡± Turnball said eventually. ¡°I would have done the same in his place.¡±


    The announcement was met with silence. The other generals, officers, and aides knew that he was right, but nobody had to like it.


    ¡°What do we do now?¡± Another general asked.


    The room was silent.


    ¡°We rebuild,¡± Turnball said. ¡°And we prepare. Get Eolai in here. We need to clarify our relationship and request additional aid.¡±


    The PHDA on the center of the table ¨C impossible six months ago for some of them to think that they had a potential spy device in the middle of their classified briefing ¨C and a connection request was sent. However, instead of Eolai answering, Sergeant Diego Cruz¡¯s image appeared.


    The majority of the men and women in the briefing knew who he was, although none had spoken to him personally.


    ¡°Apologies, Generals. Eolai is indisposed and asked me to field your questions,¡± Diego explained.


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    ¡°Is he well?¡± Turnball asked.


    ¡°He¡¯s sparing with the Topokans, sir. I¡¯ve never seen him do that before. When the contact request was made, he threw one of them across the room and flung the connection to me. I think he¡¯s working through something,¡± Diego explained. ¡°If this is about the non-intervention, I thought he already explained--¡±


    ¡°Major Phillips has just finished explaining why it was that he could not interfere under the circumstances as they were,¡± Turnball interrupted. ¡°We wish to clarify the relationship between Earth and the Yonohoans. If the Rosanteans come back, will they stand with us?¡±


    ¡°If the Rosanteans attack Earth itself, then they will unleash such hellfire upon themselves that it will be visible in the night sky. Their stars will flare and then go dark for eternity. But everything that we launch into space is fare game unless we formally request protectorate status from the Yonohoans.¡±


    ¡°I will put forward the suggestion to the United Nations immediately,¡± Turnball said.


    ¡°Yeah, you do that, but there¡¯s a new wrinkle, General,¡± Diego explained. ¡°Earth has been accused of being a den of piracy. The Rosanteans have already launched a disinformation and propaganda campaign on the interstellar networks. They are saying that their enforcer vessel was investigating a known pirate pipeline when it was lured into an unremarkable star system and fired upon by vessels claiming to belong to the ESF. They are playing the recording from Captain Anders as proof, along with limited telemetry to show that we fired first. It doesn¡¯t show the majority of the battle, sir, just the opening salvos. They claim that they retreated to gather reinforcements immediately when we did not submit.¡±


    The room stirred with anger, but all of the men and women were familiar with the game.


    ¡°How do we counter this strategy?¡± One of the generals asked. ¡°Does Eolai have a suggestion?¡±


    ¡°Yes sir. The Toormondas, sir. Broadcast their telemetry from the battle across the networks. Toormonda systems are well understood and virtually impossible to falsify data from. We have the truth on our side, and both the Toormondas and Eolai are impartial witnesses,¡± Diego said.


    He paused, and the room knew that he wasn¡¯t done speaking.


    ¡°That¡¯s not the extent of the problem, however. Because of the accusation of piracy, the Yonohoans must withdraw their offer of protectorate status for Earth until such time as the accusation is proven or disproven by an arbiter. Which Eolai could help us with, if we were talking about one of the other empires and not Yonohoah. As it is, we¡¯ll have to invite another party into Sol system and ask them to review the records of the battle, examine our forces, and basically give us a colonoscopy to prove our innocence.¡±


    ¡°I see. Thank you for this information, although I am not pleased to hear it. Suggestions, Sergeant?¡±


    ¡°Neither of the other two big boys in town will be any more friendly than the Rosanteans, sir. We can invite an Arbiter in from another galaxy, but the delay means that Rosantean will have a year or two in which to prosecute us for piracy,¡± Diego explained.


    ¡°And I suppose that the Yonohoans are restricted from arming us further as well,¡± Turnball said.


    ¡°That is correct, sir. They can continue to provide us with civilian grade space assets, but that¡¯s it.¡±


    ¡°I understand. Is there anything else?¡±


    ¡°Not at this time, Sir. If I think of anything or learn anything significant I will contact Major Phillips or her designee.¡±


    The hologram vanished, and the room went silent.


    ¡°Well. Let¡¯s start by trying to counter their disinformation. Contact  A Good Question  and instruct them to broadcast their telemetry to anyone who will listen,¡± Turnball instructed.


    ¡°That will reveal the location of Earth,¡± someone objected.


    ¡°They already fucking know where we are, moron,¡± Mary said angrily. ¡°Do try to keep up with the discussion.¡±


    ~~~~~~


    Sarah was still adjusting to life on the Toormonda. She didn¡¯t really fit in with the teenagers, but she hadn¡¯t expected to. She had her own station during the scheduled education times in which the computer of the ship had first examined her existing knowledge and then begin introducing her to knew concepts and facts.


    She spent more time watching the Yonohoans than she did paying attention to the ship, however. It was fascinating to watch. During their scheduled education times, they bounced around from station to station, with a ¡®monitor¡¯ occasionally telling someone to switch places with someone else, or for one person to go from one group to another for some reason that Sarah couldn¡¯t explain.


    Unlike her own remedial explanation, the Yonohoans were on a mission. They were looking for a black hole. According to Dornodo, there was one close enough that if they could detect it they could bring the Toormonda close enough to see the accretion field before their scheduled trip ended.


    But rather than simply bringing them to it, the students were expected to find it on their own.


    ¡°Fun to watch, isn¡¯t it?¡± Dornodo asked when he noticed her watching the teenagers rather than her own studies.


    ¡°I don¡¯t get it. I thought they were competing to see who could find it first,¡± she said. They were, at her request, speaking in Yonohoan, although she wasn¡¯t quite fluent. She was wearing one of the devices on her ear that assisted her by translating what she heard after the speaker had finished.


    ¡°They are,¡± the Yonohoan man explained. ¡°Her, him, him and her. They¡¯re the alphas, I guess you¡¯d call them. Notice how they never move from station to station? They¡¯re the ones who are competing to see who finds it first. Everyone else is playing support.¡±


    ¡°But they¡¯re not sticking to the same teams,¡± She protested.


    ¡°They¡¯re playing support,¡± he repeated. ¡°It¡¯s a Topokan thing. You¡¯d understand it if you were Yonohoan, but I guess you haven¡¯t had a chance to really observe our friends due to their shyness. You see, in a situation like this, the leaders of a pack compete to see who can come up with the best solution to a problem. Everyone else supports them. But there¡¯s no teams. The support go where they are needed, or where their station dictates that they should be in their complex social hierarchy.¡±


    ¡°So they¡¯re pretending to be Topokan?¡± Sarah asked for clarification.


    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s common for schoolchildren to practice the Topokan model. It¡¯s not really as effective for humans as it is for Topokans, but it¡¯s fun if you¡¯re Yonohoan. We make the Topokans watch sometimes and they cover their face in embarrassment. Very funny.¡±


    Sarah got a connection request, and she promptly selected to accept. A hologram abruptly appeared of Ji-eun Moon.


    ¡°Hello Captain. I¡¯m watching teenage Yonohoans play musical chairs,¡± she said.


    ¡°Sarah, something¡¯s happened and I wanted you to hear it from me first ...¡±


    ?

 2.40.

    2.40.


    Eodar threw the stress ball into the air, catching it a second later. He threw it again, squeezed it as hard as he could, and threw it again.


    It had been a gift from Olivia. She had to get approval to give him even this, but slowly he was regaining some measures of freedom. Under supervision he was allowed to go outside for an hour per day. He was receiving lessons from a private tutor who engaged him through a television with a camera. He was allowed paper and crayons while in the day-room, although he couldn¡¯t bring anything back with him into his room except the clothes that he was wearing.


    He was observed while he was bathing. He was observed all of the time, for that matter, although some of it was through a camera. He knew that they were watching him because they told him so.


    It was starting to make him angry.


    Olivia said that was fine. That anger over a lack of privacy was an acceptable response. She had talked about healthy ways to deal with anger and given him the stress ball, which he could have with him anywhere except for his room.


    He tossed it into the air.


    Earth had been attacked. He had listened to the reporters on the radio as they had encouraged people to seek shelter. He had tried to activate his armor and weapon systems to prepare to act in case the enemy sent someone to the surface.


    Nothing had happened.


    He squeezed the ball. Despite his strength, he could not crush it. It just squirted out of the gaps in his hand.


    He threw it again.


    He turned to the camera. ¡°May I please speak with Olivia?¡± he asked.


    The request was met with silence. Were they not watching him?


    He threw the ball into the air. He caught it. He squeezed it.


    This wasn¡¯t forever. Olivia promised. Once the scanners said that his body had returned to the normal amount of strength that he would have had if he hadn¡¯t been enhanced the security protocols would be lessened. He would be transferred somewhere where he wouldn¡¯t be alone for most of the day.


    Right now he was still dangerous. They were afraid of him.


    He tossed the ball. He caught it.


    In all of his days of training, why had nobody ever prepared him for boredom?


    ~~~~~


    Sarah stood under the shower, slowly composing herself. She wasn¡¯t certain why she was so emotional.


    No, that¡¯s not true. She knew why, she was just surprised despite the knowledge.


    ¡°The aliens were supposed to stay in space,¡± she said to herself. ¡°We were supposed to go looking for them, they weren¡¯t supposed to come looking for us.¡±


    She sighed. She turned off the water and pulled the towel from where it was hanging nearby. Previously she¡¯d had no issues showering with the girls, but the shower was one of the only places on the ship where she could be alone, so she¡¯d requested to use it for an unscheduled session.


    Everyone on the ship knew about Earth. Everyone was concerned. Both about her and her people, and about what had happened and what it would mean for themselves and the larger universe.


    She stepped out of the shower area and into the dressing room. She saw one of the girls waiting, but the girl turned and ran away without saying anything. As Sarah dressed, she tried to sort her thoughts.


    Earth had been attacked.


    They had lost most of their fleet.


    They had driven the enemy off, but it had been a pyrrhic victory.


    The location of Earth had been revealed to the universe.


    The Rosantean Empire had accused Earth of piracy.


    Things could always get worse.


    She had asked the Toormonda to predict what would happen if Rosantean won the war.


    She sat on the bench, pausing while half dressed to continue to process the news. Earth itself wouldn¡¯t be touched. According to the Toormonda, it would be such an unconscionable act to attack the populace of a planet from space for the actions of its interstellar military that the entire universe would rise up in their defense if that happened.


    The Rosanteans would just occupy the solar system and prevent Earth from returning to the stars until she surrendered and became part of their empire. Even then, the integration period would rob Earth of everything that made it unique. The children would learn from Rosantean teachers, the adults would be ¡®reeducated¡¯ to Rosantean ideals, and the countries and boundaries that had existed would be wiped away.


    Anybody who did not speak Rosantean would have trouble communicating with their government officials.


    Because of its status as a probationary member of their empire, they wouldn¡¯t be allowed their own military force. The occupation would last for generations.


    She shuddered.


    ¡°Maybe I don¡¯t want to go home after all,¡± she said to herself.


    She stepped out of the dressing room and found Dornodo waiting for her. He smiled.


    ¡°If you wish for more time to be alone, you may use my room,¡± he informed her. ¡°In the coming days, you may even kick me out of my room if you feel the need to have private emotions while others are inconveniently present.¡±


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    ¡°Thank you. I¡¯ll let you know if I feel the need,¡± she told him.


    ¡°I am sorry about your world. How do you wish to be treated during this time? I will instruct the children to attempt to respect your wishes,¡± he said.


    She thought about it for a moment. She sighed. ¡°I¡¯d like to keep busy and try to keep my mind off of it. There¡¯s nothing I can do about it, so there¡¯s no point in dwelling on it. Let¡¯s try to have everyone go back to normal.¡±


    ¡°As you wish. I will spread the word,¡± he told her. He took her hand and squeezed it. She squeezed back.


    She noticed that he was a handsome man, for a Yonohoan. She thought of Diego for a moment and wondered if he was safe.


    She was almost past him. Almost. She no longer lay awake at night recalling that devastating conversation with him in which he had methodically shattered the shell that she had built around herself. She had needed that, she knew. As long as there had been hope, she would have clung to the delusion. It was only when she had the truth hit her in the face like a sledgehammer that she was able to face the truth.


    And if it had happened before she¡¯d been receiving treatment ¡­ she didn¡¯t want to think about what would have happened. It hadn¡¯t happened that way, so there was no point in asking ¡®what if?¡¯


    ¡°Thank you for turning the showers on for me. It helped me cope,¡± she told him.


    ¡°I am glad.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s still education time,¡± she pointed out.


    ¡°It is.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go back and watch the kids play Topokan,¡± she suggested. ¡°You can point out all of the interactions that I miss as a silly outsider.¡±


    ¡°I do not think that outsiders are silly. Or stupid. It is just hard to explain some things to you.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fine. Try anyway. I¡¯ll listen.¡±


    ¡°As you wish,¡± he said.


    They returned to the main room, where he made a brief announcement before sending everyone back to work.


    ~~~~~~


    It had no human name, for it was not human. As clever as the human mind was, and it had a deep respect for the human mind, they would have a hard time conceptualizing its existence.


    If they had a word for what it was, they would call it an overmind.


    It was the overmind of the sulivans. Not the Topoka, which were the people who were dedicated to the Yonohoans on planet Totola. They had their own group mind, of course, but it was not the overmind.


    The overmind spanned galaxies.


    It knew secrets


    It had tried to give itself a name that the humans could understand.


    It had called itself the  watchers at the edge of time and darkness .


    They did not understand. As clever as they were, it was very hard for the overmind to talk with the humans that it loved so much.


    So much that the watcher refused to let their light go out, even when that meant that some of them must die.


    The overmind did not truly understand the humans. It tried. It tried so hard to understand them. When it had found them on their homeworld, it had spread them to the worlds of the Yonohoah so that they did not need to fear extinction. And it had had the young of its constituent minds study them so that it could come to understanding.


    The Watcher had thought that it had succeeded.


    The Watcher had shared its observations with the other overminds.


    The Watcher had thought that they would rejoice at the wonder of the small creatures who were in the process of taming their worlds despite the lack of an overmind.


    Instead, a horror beyond imagining had followed. The other overminds of species whom the watcher had once thought it understood had been snuffed out one by one until only the watcher remained.


    By the humans.


    In righteous fury and just indignation.


    The watcher understood the justice of their actions. It did not celebrate the loss of the other overminds, but it understood. Justice was harsh, but fair.


    The watcher was the only overmind left in the universe. It would know if there were others. The not-place where it existed, though it floated in the dreams of the sulivans, would ripple with their thoughts if they survived.


    It alone remained to guide the universe.


    It tried to guide the universe into brilliance, but it was so small compared to its goals. It reached out with what tools it had. The Sulivans heard its voice in their dreams and they tried to help. They studied the human and tried to calm their wrath. Tried to guide their evolution into a higher existence, but they would not cooperate with the efforts.


    The watcher wished so desperately for a human overmind that it hurt.


    Perhaps someday.


    But now a threat.


    The source world had emerged screaming into the light!


    A threat on the scale that made the Watcher shudder to think of the dangers of what might happen if the time-weapon were used.


    The self-powering paradox wave would speed out into the universe at the speed of light. It would resonate with each of the worlds of the Yonohoah that it struck, causing shockwave after shockwave until all the light that had returned to the universe was extinguished.


    With the other overminds, the Watcher had once brought light to the universe.


    Now it alone remained.


    It would not let the light go out.


    It reached out to the only tool that it had.


    The sulivans.


    And it sent Earth a weapon to defend itself.


    But the weapon was unpredictable, and this weapon more than any other.


    It had tried to send instructions, but the Sulivans who transcribed the message for the humans could not understand the patterns of thought of the Overmind.


    Success and failure together.


    And now, a new threat.


    It reached out again.


    ?

 2.41.

    2.41.


    ¡°You  know  that this is an act of aggression and a violation of the rights of the Earthlings to explore and develop their local star cluster. The evidence clearly proves that there has been violations to the treatment of darkworlders by the Rosanteans. Why don¡¯t you just admit it?¡± The violet fuzzy worm demanded.


    ¡°I know no such thing. The Rosanteans have a long history of rooting out and dealing with piracy. For all we know, the Earthlings have had spaceflight for generations and it was only when they stumbled across the Yonohoans and realized how outclassed they were by a modern military force that they stopped their belligerence,¡± the dark-skinned woman argued.


    ¡°Do you really believe that a den of piracy could produce music like this?¡± The worm persisted, and the sound of the Vienna Boys¡¯ Choir began to play.


    ¡°I admit that it is beautiful, but that must come from one small corner of their world,¡± the human argued. ¡°Do not forget that they also make music like this,¡±


    Gangsta rap began to play.


    ¡°Have you read the translation of these lyrics? They are a violent and brutal people.¡±


    ¡°So let the Yonohoans guide them into overcoming their baser instincts like they have guided--¡±


    ¡°The Yonohoans are no saints. Let us not forget that the  reason  they are signatories of so many treaties is because everyone is afraid of them. Yes, I said it, we¡¯re scared shitless of the Yonohoans. They retain imprints better left deleted. They unashamedly admit that they will stop at nothing ¨C nothing ¨C to protect their children and the planets on which they live. During the war, their heroes rose to prominence through brutal tactics, and it was only the--¡±


    ¡°Brutal tactics? You want to talk about brutal tactics? How about invading the star system of a darkworld and then acting surprised when you¡¯re fired upon by its defense fleet? I¡¯ve watched the telemetry, the Rosanteans--¡±


    The argument continued. Diego waved his hands and the holograms vanished.


    Two beings, from two different galaxies, were arguing while billions of people watch them exchange opinions on the matter of the invasion of Earth. And they were far, far from the only ones.


    ¡°Did you know that this was going to happen?¡± he asked Eolai. They stood on the bridge, each viewing their own datastreams. When he sensed that Diego wanted to talk, Eolai ended his own temporarily in order to give the conversation his full mind.


    ¡°Yes and no. I knew that eventually the location of Earth would be revealed. I hoped that your people would have entered into a formal allegiance with me so that I could properly defend it, but your leaders have refused due to fears that it would impact their autonomy,¡± Eolai said. ¡°And now my hands are tied. I can only observe, and shield Earth itself, while the rest of the solar system burns around us.¡±


    ¡°So what do we do? How do we arm Earth to fight against an empire that spans one third of the galaxy?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°We do not,¡± Eolai answered. ¡°The weapons that the Yonohoans would have to give you in order to prepare you for the upcoming conflict are great and terrible, Diego. The weapons that we have already given you are the best solution. Your people¡¯s counterthrust to the empire¡¯s attack was masterful and did more damage than you know.¡±


    ¡°You mean Doctor Strangelove? You think that trick will work again?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°I mean the data from the Toormonda. Including those ships in your fleet¡¯s lineup was masterful. They are not valid military targets, which is why your Captain Anders survived the battle. But the data that they have is impossible to forge. By tearing away the veil of the empire¡¯s propaganda you have dealt them a significant blow on the intergalactic political stage. That alone makes the sacrifice of the ESF worth it.¡±


    ¡°We lost six hundred men and women. Trillions of dollars of hardware. And you¡¯re saying that the black eye that we gave them for the post-fight interview was worth it?¡±


    ¡°Yes. They will hesitate to come in ¡®guns blazing¡¯ once more. Especially if your people continue to use Toormondas in the front lines. Their own computers will stop them from firing upon ships like  The Keeper of Dreams  and  A Good Question . If they override the computers, they are subject to a review by an independent party.¡±


    Eolai grinned. ¡°If it comes to that, I will be happy to volunteer.¡±


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    ~~~~~~


    ¡°So you see, that boy said something stupid, so they sent him over to the Yaw-field monitoring station. But he probably said it on purpose because he likes the Alpha of that station. Anyway, now that he got sent over there, there¡¯s too many of them working that station, so one of them has to leave. There¡¯s an opening at the gravimetric resonance instrument, so they have to decide who to send there. Nobody really wants to leave, but someone has to and if they wait too long then it looks foolish to the other students because the Topokans would have done it in an instant,¡± Dornodo explained.


    ¡°Oh, we have a volunteer,¡± Sarah said, grinning.


    ¡°She didn¡¯t volunteer. Her friend nudged her and now she owes him a favor. He¡¯s probably going to ask if any of the girls like him, he seems like the type who would want a girl friend to help him find a girlfriend,¡± Dornodo explained.


    ¡°How do you keep track of all of it? The interactions happen so fast,¡± Sarah complained.


    ¡°I grew up playing Topokan like this, and then ten years ago I bought a Toormonda. It¡¯s blindingly obvious to me,¡± the Yonohoan man explained. ¡°As for the kids, they grew up watching actual Topokans sort themselves according to whatever group mind or awareness it is that lets them coordinate like this so effectively. They all have a part of their mind focused on where they will go next in addition to the part of their mind focused on what they are doing. It is very good for developing multitasking.¡±


    ¡°Do adult Yonohoans do this too?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Sometimes, if we¡¯re feeling nostalgic and the stakes are not too high,¡± Donodo said. ¡°It is more effective if we work independently together, however. Rather than Alphas and Supporters, we have a chain of command, with each task broken up to a dedicated worker. It¡¯s more effective if we dedicate our whole minds to a task than focus half of it on a game.¡±


    ¡°I understand,¡± she agreed. ¡°Still, playing Topokan looks like fun.¡±


    ¡°It is.¡±


    They were sitting in one corner. Although it had been more than a week since the attack on Earth, she hadn¡¯t found the focus to go the entire educational period at her station. She had taken to wandering over to join Donodo where he sat watching the children in case any of them had any questions or troubles with the instruments.


    Suddenly, one of the groups, almost as one, stepped away from their terminals. Everyone turned to look at them. The alpha of the group turned to the others.


    ¡°We found something,¡± she said.


    The room was silent as everyone rushed over to their station to study the holographic data.


    ¡°What did they find?¡± Sarah whispered to Dornodo.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± he whispered back.


    ¡°You don¡¯t? I thought this was a guided tour of space.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you mean by that. It¡¯s Toormonda. I¡¯m just here to keep them from any Tuunkan Powan,¡± he pointed out.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been meaning to ask. Exactly what is Tuunkan Powan.¡±


    He blinked at her, his face getting a bit of color to it. ¡°You are too old for me to have to explain the basics of it, surely?¡±


    ¡°Ah, I thought so,¡± she said. ¡°My earpiece doesn¡¯t translate it so I wasn¡¯t sure.¡±


    ¡°Does it translate sex?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Well Tuunkan Powan is more than sex. If the students are clever enough they¡¯ll get away with that. Tuunkan Powan is unregistered baby making.¡±


    ¡°How is that different from just sex?¡±


    ¡°You see the bracelets that everyone is wearing?¡± he asked. ¡°That keeps them from Tuunkan Powan even if they have sex.¡±


    Sarah¡¯s eyebrows rose in surprise. She had noticed that everyone was wearing a medical bracelet, the same as she was. But she hadn¡¯t really thought of it, since most Yonohoans wore one. They served the same functions as a PHDA. And a health monitoring device. And apparently birth control.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know that the Yonohoans had wearable birth control,¡± she admitted.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t? Do your people not have the same?¡±


    ¡°We have birth control methods, but they¡¯re not the same,¡± she admitted. She shook her own wrist to display her medical bracelet. ¡°Are you saying that this will make me sterile?¡±


    ¡°Not sterile. It just prevents ovulation, but only if you tell it to. When they agreed to the rules of the Toormonda they agreed to have that function turned on. Boys and girls both. My promise to make sure that everyone wears their bracelet the entire time is the only reason we do not have a Topokan chaperone as well.¡±


    ¡°What about the boys? Does it work for them too?¡± she inquired.


    ¡°Yes, of course. Why?¡±


    ¡°Nothing. Just a combination of jealousy and culture shock,¡± she admitted. ¡°Let¡¯s go see what they found.¡±


    ?

 2.42.

    2.42.


    ¡°In other news, the widow of Kirk Desmond, Lisa Desmond, has asked to join the delegation that is scheduled to head to the Rosantean senate to demand answers and transparency regarding the death of her husband. For those of you who haven¡¯t been following the story, Kirk convinced the Yonohoans to give him a Winnebago class starship in exchange for his life story. While he intended to trade the ship for financial reasons, he first eloped with Lisa and took her on a tour of first the solar system, then Beta Centauri. It was, unfortunately, there where they encountered the Rosantean ship.


    ¡°Some have criticized the couple for returning to the solar system while the Rosanteans were in pursuit. However, the official stance of the ESF is that Captain Kirk, as many have taken to calling the man, followed all lawful instructions given to him by the ESF, including to return to sol-space. The AI of his Winnebago proves conclusively that he forwarded the lexicon of the english language to the pursuing vessel as well as declarations that they were entering the sovereign territory of Earth. The claims of the Rosanteans that they had no idea they were entering the territory of an emerging Darkworld, as Earth is referred to in the larger universe, are invalidated by the evidence recovered from the Enterprise.


    ¡°The ESF claims that the Rosanteans were looking to fabricate casus belli, and that the Desmonds were victims if interstellar politics. When the battle broke out, the Enterprise AI reports that Kirk first saw to his wife¡¯s safety, ensuring that she would survive the battle by placing her in stasis and ejecting her in a lifepod, and then interlocked with the ESF in order to add the meager weapons to the firefight.


    ¡°His funeral, like so many others, was held yesterday with an empty casket. He has been posthumously awarded the Star of Valor. His widow is set to accept the medal during a public ceremony later in the week.¡±


    Gabriel shuttered, glad that he had left his spacefaring days behind him. They had truly lucked out in encountering the Yonohoans and not the Rosanteans. While the reports assured everyone that the planet itself would be safe from bombardment, they were advising that all citizens who, like Kirk Desmond, had somehow gotten hold of spacecraft to return to their surface homes.


    He shut off the vehicle and got out, only for an overweight man in his late forties to run up to him with a camera.


    ¡°Mr. Nguyen, Mr. Nguyen, what do you have to say to the claims that the flagship that the Yonohoans could have turned back the attack without any loss of life?¡± the blogger asked.


    He knew it was a blogger from the cheap camera.


    ¡°No comment,¡± Gabriel said, walking away.


    ¡°Do you regret finding the radio signal now that it has led to war with an interstellar empire?¡±


    ¡°No comment,¡±


    ¡°Do you--¡±


    ¡°No comment. No comment. No comment you fat piece of shit get out of my face goddammit I hate you people! All I fucking care about anymore is the goddamn science behind what we did and you sons of whores won¡¯t let me do it in peace so get your fat ugly ass out of my face before I take your cheap ass camera from you and shove it up your fat ass!¡±


    He knew the words were a mistake before he said them.


    He said them anyway.


    ~~~~~~


    Eodar¡¯s shot landed perfectly, bouncing off the backboard and into the hoop just as he¡¯d seen on television. He¡¯d been watching a lot of television lately, and the night before he¡¯d witnessed a basketball game. He recognized the hoop in the exercise yard as being made for the sport, so he had requested a ball to go with it.


    He hadn¡¯t been expecting to get one, but it had been waiting for him at the beginning of his exercise period. So he had taught himself to dribble and he was shooting from various places in the court, effectively playing horse by himself.


    The news kept talking about the war.


    He wanted to help.


    His captors wouldn¡¯t let him. Not just because he¡¯d been decommissioned, but because they thought the idea of child soldiers to be reprehensible. That what High-Command had done to him was reprehensible.


    What did they know? They lived in the world that had been built on the corpses of him and troopers like him. Who were they to judge what their ancestors were forced to do in order to live?


    He sighed, running along the court while trying to dribble in order to distract himself from the anger.


    He had gotten a second exercise period. One in the morning, and one in the evening. That was good. His body was starting to ache slightly as his strength faded and moving around helped flush his muscles of the excess proteins and the remaining nanites that were leaving his body.


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    He wondered if his Yonohoan doctor had told them that or if it had been their own idea.


    He continued to play basketball with himself until the door opened and a guard wearing body armor appeared. The guard had weapons on his belt, nonlethal weapons, but the casual way he stood showed that he was relaxed and not expecting to use them.


    ¡°Sorry to interrupt your fun, John, but time¡¯s up,¡± he said. ¡°Leave the ball where it is. It will be waiting for you tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Yes sir,¡± Eodar said, setting the ball aside. He submitted himself to being wanded by a metal detector before being shown back into the day room.


    ¡°You know, we¡¯re not going to shoot you if you act like a kid more often,¡± the man said.


    Eodar didn¡¯t respond, just going over to where the papers were. He had loose sheets of paper on which to do the problems that his tutor assigned him, but it wasn¡¯t time for class now. He had been thinking about the dead when he¡¯d heard the radio talking about ¡®Captain Kirk.¡¯


    He understood that this man was considered one of the honored dead. His actions were admirable not only to his own people, but to Eodar.


    Thinking about the honored dead made Eodar think about  his  honored dead. His sworn brothers and sisters who had died before graduation. The instructors had said that they were weak, too weak to fight for humanity and not worth shedding tears over.


    Eodar agreed. You do not shed tears for the honored dead.


    They did not die so that you could mourn them. They died so that others might live.


    That was the first time that he had come into conflict with High-Command. When they had woken in the morning after one of their procedures and found that Yulotha had died in the night, he had tried to hold a ceremony with his brothers and sisters honoring the young soldier. When the instructors had informed them that this was but the first of the casualties they would face, and that mourning was a weakness, Eodar had simply continued to say the words of honor.


    Right up until they had used the punishment prod on him.


    The memory of that did not stop him from doing the same thing the next time one of his classmates, sworn brothers and sisters all, had fallen.


    He recalled those days, and he began to write. He knew that Olivia would read his thoughts, and he wanted her to. She was helping him to put his thoughts into order. To understand things in a new way. His view of the world was changing.


    He did not think that his old view was wrong. Perhaps it had been brutal, but it had come from a brutal time. If he was to continue to serve mankind, then he must adapt to the times.


    He  would  continue to serve. Somehow.


    Even if all he did was tell his story so that others might know the sacrifices that had been made for them.


    Eodar did not know who he was anymore, but he was a fighter. He would fight until the world made sense once more.


    ~~~~~


    ¡°Why haven¡¯t you gone to see him?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°I am uncertain whether or not I would be welcome,¡± Eolai admitted.


    ¡°You¡¯re all the family he has left, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°He had numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and that is including only my own line,¡± Eolai contradicted.


    ¡°You¡¯re the only family that he has for lightyears, right?¡± Diego amended.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Eolai admitted reluctantly.


    ¡°So go see him. What¡¯s the worst that could happen?¡±


    ¡°He could rip off my other arm,¡± Eolai said flatly.


    Diego laughed. ¡°No, I don¡¯t think he can anymore.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡± Eolai sighed. ¡°The Rosanteans are not happy that their ploy has failed. The entire universe has seen through their efforts. While my own scanning systems showed the exact same data as the Toormondas, they would assume that I am a biased party.¡±


    ¡°And the Toormonda is not.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. They have multiple levels of protection on the data that they obtain to prevent clever children from trying to falsify their scientific findings. They are not military grade, but they are universally accepted and considered impossible to alter,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°So what happens now?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°I cannot give your people the weapons that they would need to hold off the empire. They will come again. Your Toormondas will bear witness to the sacrifice of the fine men and women of the ESF. Earth will be beaten back into its own atmosphere. Then the Arbiter will arrive from Andromeda. I will share all of the data that I have witnessed since arriving in this star system, and the Arbiter will find for the people of Earth. The Empire will be humiliated and forced to make numerous concessions, including assistance with rebuilding your space force.¡±


    Eolai shrugged. ¡°Or at least that¡¯s the way that I see things going. Human nature dictates that no war ever goes according to plan.¡±


    ?

 2.43.

    2.43.


    The overmind watched with metaphorical bated breath as the ships arrived in the solar system from all over Rosantean space. Everything hinged on how the humans reacted to this. If it failed, then a chunk of the Overmind would die, a piece of itself that would not be easily regrown.


    If it succeeded, then one more piece would be in place to ensure the safety of the source world.


    ~~~~~~


    ¡°Status change! Ships in the oort cloud! Many many ships!¡± the scanning tech announced.


    Captain Anders rushed over to the man¡¯s station, looking to see what the man saw. ¡°Their transponders?¡±


    ¡°Rosantean ID¡¯s but not military,¡± the tech said.


    ¡°Hail them,¡± Anders said. ¡°I don¡¯t expect to talk my way out of this, but everything we do is being recorded. Let it be known that we tried to talk.¡±


    The woman at the communications station nodded and began typing on her holographic keyboard. The enemy flagship accepted the connection, routed through the military connections between the Empire and the Yonohoans.


    Anders was expecting a man, like the deceased Captain Yoko who had commanded the enforcement ship that had caused so much damage.


    He had not been expecting a Sulivan.


    He blinked in surprise.


    ¡°We are the Yukopan,¡± the alpha of the Yukopan fleet declared. ¡°We have come from the Rosantean Empire to discuss surrender.¡±


    ¡°Then we have nothing to discuss,¡± Captain Anders declared. ¡°The earth will not submit to this tyranny. We will fight you with everything that we have, and when we die, our memories will claw their way out of the grave in order to choke you with the ghosts of your own actions. You will not--¡±


    ¡°We wish to live. Spare us your wrath. Please, I beg you. Let us surrender.¡±


    Anders paused. ¡°You are not here to demand our surrender?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°You are here to offer yours.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°What terms do you offer?¡± Anders asked.


    ¡°We offer unconditional surrender, save only that you do not slay us. We have brought you our weapons. All of our people we place at your mercy. Please spare the Yukopan humanity¡¯s wrath.¡±


    Anders was dumbfounded by the turn of events. ¡°My rank is insufficient to accept your surrender, leader of the Yukopan. I will contact my superiors and request instruction.¡±


    ¡°We will wait in your oort cloud until a decision has been made,¡± the alpha informed him.


    The connection was severed, leaving Anders scratching his head as he contacted the headquarters of the ESF.


    ~~~~~~


    On board the flagship of the Yonohoan fleet, currently acting as an observer in the conflict at sol system, Eolai began to laugh maniacally until he fell on his side, then he laughed some more.


    ~~~~~~


    ¡°What do you mean they surrender?¡± Turnball asked the holographic Captain Anders.


    ¡°I mean that they just showed up, we hailed them, and they surrendered,¡± Anders admitted. ¡°No shots fired, no demands, nothing. They said they came to discuss surrender, and I started to do my ¡®we will not yield¡¯ speech, but they¡¯re here to discuss  their  surrender, now ours.¡±


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    ¡°How many ships are there?¡± Turnball inquired.


    ¡°Two thousand eighty four. It¡¯s a mixed fleet, with some mean looking ones and some that look like passenger liners. It will take some time to inventory them,¡± Anders said. ¡°Do I have permission to discuss terms of surrender with the Yukopan leader, Sir?¡±


    ¡°We need their ships, and we need training on how to use them,¡± Turnball said.


    ¡°Yes sir. What about their people?¡±


    ¡°Find out how many there are and we¡¯ll figure out a place to put them. Australia¡¯s still pretty empty, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know, sir, never been.¡±


    ~~~~~~


    ¡°Are we certain this isn¡¯t some sort of trap?¡± one of the generals asked. The negotiations were ongoing in orbit, with Captain Anders taking the lead as the one who had first identified and then contacted the Yukopan leader.


    ¡°They are Yukopan. They are not crafty enough to issue a false surrender. The Topokan might, but the Yukopans do not have any Yonohoah to learn how to fight. They have weapons, but no craftiness,¡± Eolai¡¯s hologram explained to the gathered generals.


    ¡°You¡¯re certain?¡± Turnball pressed.


    ¡°I am surprised that the Yukopan are here at all. I had no idea that there were so many of them. I truly believe that they brought their entire people, including their young. They would not put their young in danger if they did not fear a greater danger,¡± Eolai said. ¡°I do not know what has them spooked, but this is an all or nothing effort, General Turnball. Either you accept their surrender and show the Yonohoans how you will treat the cousins of our beloved Topokin, or you turn them away and lose access to the resources that they have brought with them.¡±


    ¡°How do their weapons compare to what the Yonohoah or the Rosantean Empire can bring to bear?¡± a general asked.


    ¡°Inferior to the Yonohoah by, say, three generations,¡± Eolai said. ¡°They would be peers to the Rosantean however.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re claiming weapon superiority to the Rosantean empire?¡± the same man asked.


    ¡°Yes. We have the best weapons, the best ships, and the best soldiers,¡± Eolai said. ¡°But the Rosantean empire will throw endless numbers at us if we were to go to war, so I hesitate to engage them. But this situation is different. They will escalate to your victory against the enforcer that they initially sent, but they will not be expecting your sudden windfall. You may claim victory with the gifts that the Yukopan bring.¡±


    ¡°Where as the other strategy you proposed shows us fighting a losing battle until we can bring in an arbiter,¡± Major Mary Phillips pointed out.


    ¡°They have fabricated cause to prosecute a war against your space forces, but they have no cause to land on your surface, and certainly not to barrage it from orbit. If they try either of those things, I will intervene and they will ¡®rue the day,¡¯¡± Eolai declared.


    ¡°You will protect the planet Earth even if it starts a war between the empire and the Yonohoans?¡± another general asked.


    ¡°If I become involved to defend the planet Earth, then the war will not be between the Yonohoah and the Rosantean Empire. The entire universe will raise its fist in outrage and rush to our side,¡± Eolai predicted. ¡°The Empire is playing a dangerous game already. I had thought that the one advantage that you had was that they did not know that I am here. As the Last Son of Eodar, I could have testified to your valor and sacrifice as you fought to the last to defend your home. My word and the proof I would back it up with would resonate with any arbiter that might be sent. With the Yukopan, that may not be necessary.¡±


    ¡°What do you think of our chances with the Yukopan ships?¡± Turnball asked.


    Eolai shrugged. ¡°That depends on how well you can learn to fight in them,¡± he said.


    ~~~~~~


    ¡°In a surprising turn of events today, a fleet of Yukopan ships appeared in the solar system. Numbered in the thousands, the ships appear to have come from the Rosantean empire. However, rather than open fire, the the ships appear to have come in order to offer Earth their military aid.


    ¡°Not much is known about the Yukopan people. A subset of Xenosapiens sulivans, they are of the same species as the Topokans, the furry allies of the Yonohoan people. Apparently there is a slight difference in the density of their fur, with the Yukopan¡¯s fur being thicker. Why they have come is unknown. They appear to have brought their entire race with them, some thirty two million individuals.


    ¡°The talks are ongoing, but a few details are being passed down from the upper echelons through official and unofficial channels.


    ¡°With the influx of thousands of ships, the dire outcome for the Earth Space Force is suddenly looking much brighter --¡±


    Captain Moon turned off the radio and stepped out. She walked up to the recruitment station for the ESF in her full uniform and asked to speak with a recruiter about reinlisting. She had her medical baggage, but she believed that she retained the capabilities of a skilled officer.


    Perhaps they would turn her away. That was fine. She would try and see.


    Earth needed every able hand it could get in this fight, and Ji-eun Moon would do her duty.


    ?

 2.44.

    2.44.


    The object that the Yonohoan teens had found was a star that was in the process of being born. The coalescing gases had formed a thick accretion disk that would eventually become its planetary bodies. In the center was a massive orb of swirling storms and heat.


    Hot, but the ignition of the fusion reaction in its core was centuries, if not millennia away. The super massive gas giant that would eventually become a yellow dwarf, according to the surveys that the students ran, was warmed by the intense pressure as it greedily drank from the universe and sought more, more, more to fill its greedy stomach.


    The students were delighted with the find. Half of them were trying to get Dornodo to confess as to whether this baby star was charted or not. If it was not, then they would get the honor of naming it, and they were already discussing names.


    Dornodo remained firm that they would find out whether they were the first to discover this celestial wonder when the time for the Toormonda to turn around and head home came. Until then they should proceed according to the rules and spirit of Toormonda, in which every wonder that they encounter is to be re-charted and re-explored as though it was being found for the very first time.


    Some of the students were disappointed with the pronouncement, but most of them simply worked on their models of the developing star system, mapping the accretion disk and predicting the final form of what would come.


    In some model their were six planets. In another, sixteen.


    Sarah wandered from station to station, watching the students work. They were eager to involve her in their work, explaining what they were doing and detailing their analysis and predictions. She watched in wonder as their time-lapse models fast-forwarded to the day of ignition and beyond.


    Then the scheduled education time ended, and abruptly everyone simply walked away from their stations. Sarah was still amazed at how readily they shifted gears. The boys went to take their showers, while the girls went to eat in the cafeteria area.


    Sarah had been enjoying Yonohoan cuisine for a while now, but she was feeling a longing for something from home, so she ordered up a bowl of macaroni and cheese with a side of chicken and green beans. The imprint for this meal had come directly from Earth and was available at all Yonohoan food forges at this point. It was immensely popular among the teenagers, and when the girls sat down at the table with Sarah, two others had the same meal.


    ¡°Earth food is so delicious,¡± one of the girls said. Her name was Mirella. At some point in her genetic past one of her ancestors had altered their genecode to turn her hair blue, and Mirella inherited the alteration.


    ¡°I enjoy many of the Yonohoan dishes I have tried,¡± Sarah said, carefully enunciating her words in Yonohoan. She still wore her ear-thingy, as she thought of the device that was helping her learn the language, but was using it only to define words she did not know at this point. ¡°I was simply in the mood for a taste of home.¡±


    ¡°If I lived on Earth, I would be fat because of how much I would enjoy eating your food,¡± Vanya, a girl with pitch-black hair but violet eyes declared. ¡°No boy would even bother hiding from my Topoka.¡±


    Sarah smiled. Most of the Yonohoans didn¡¯t really care that the Topoka took such a detailed interest in their romances, but teenagers were expected to try to hide their dalliances from their furry guardians. Not because of shame, but because it was a game which they enjoyed; often tricking their Topokas into memorizing a scent for no reason or trying to hide a budding romance from their guardians.


    She was beginning to pick up on the humor of it.


    ¡°So is there any boy that you¡¯re going to introduce to your Topoka when you get home, Vanya?¡± Sarah asked casually.


    ¡°I am having trouble deciding, to be honest,¡± the teenager admitted. ¡°On the one hand, Tarek is very cute.¡±


    ¡°Tarek is not interested in you,¡± Alaria, another teenager at the table, declared.


    ¡°Yes, it is most frustrating,¡± Vanya agreed. ¡°I will soon have to be less subtle in my advances if he doesn¡¯t pick up on my interest. But I am also very fond of Kalenda. If Tarek does not take the hint soon, I might revert to my backup plan.¡±


    ¡°Kalenda is not interested in you either,¡± Alaria informed her. ¡°Did you not know? Tarek and Kalenda are both more interested in each other than in any of us.¡±


    ¡°No! Is that really true?¡± Vanya asked.


    ¡°I have seen them together. I will say no more than that out of respect for their privacy,¡± Alaria said.


    ¡°Nooo!¡± Vanya exclaimed. ¡°Why is it that all of the good boys are gay?¡±


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    ¡°You may actually have a chance with Kalenda, but I would not think that he would take the relationship very seriously,¡± Mirella said. ¡°You may have seen him with Tarek, but I have also seen him with two other girls. I believe that he will kiss anything with a pulse.¡±


    Sarah giggled and listened along to the girl talk.


    ¡°What about you, Sarah?¡± Vanya asked. ¡°I have seen the way that you and Donodo have been looking at each other. Will you Tuunka Powan with him?¡±


    Sarah almost choked on a chunk of macaroni. ¡°What?¡±


    The girls giggled. ¡°It is very obvious. If you had a Topoka it would be very clear in its gathering of his scent by now.¡±


    ¡°You think that he¡¯s interested in me?¡± Sarah inquired.


    ¡°He is male. He has eyes. You are beautiful and exotic. Of course he is interested in you,¡± Vanya assured her. ¡°The question is are you interested in him?¡±


    Sarah considered the question for a long minute. ¡°I haven¡¯t really thought of him that way. I just ¨C because of my medical condition I am not certain that it¡¯s a good idea for me to have that sort of relationship right now,¡± she explained.


    ¡°Does your condition affect your judgement?¡± Mirella asked.


    ¡°It has in the past. I am receiving treatment that may or may not correct it. I do not really wish to talk about it right now. Let us talk about the boys that you like instead.¡±


    And so the conversation turned back to teenage girls talking about teenage boys. Soon it was the boys turn to eat and the girls turn to shower, and the routine of the day continued uninterrupted into the ¡®evening,¡¯ which was marked as free relaxation time.


    Many of the groups split off to other parts of the ship, but Sarah remained with the girls she had eaten with in the primary room with the largest group of the teenagers. They discussed how to spend the evening for some time before they decided to put on an entertainment program. They discussed  which  ¡®film¡¯ -- as Sarah still thought of the programs as despite their holographic nature -- they would watch.


    Eventually they decided on a comedy/drama entitled, interestingly enough, Tuunka Powan. Sarah was surprised because she thought a program with such a title would be inappropriate to be shown aboard a Toormonda, at least while its occupants were all teenagers. However, she quickly realized her misunderstanding.


    The film wasn¡¯t pornographic at all. Rather, it followed the story of a young girl who was the  result  of Tuunka Powan as she discovered her place in the world.


    It began as the girl, no more than two or three years of age, asked her parents why her father had a Topoka guardian. The practice of assigning a male a Topokan guardian was generally considered humiliating for the man, and was usually only done when they had produced an unregistered child.


    Or if they had a significant historical ancestor.


    The parents exchanged embarrassed looks and flat out lied to the child. So she grew up believing that she had a historically important ancestor instead of knowing that her parents loved each other enough to break the rules regarding reproduction.


    Or that they were careless enough to let it happen, at least.


    Her belief carried her right up until it was time for her to register for school, at which point the truth came out and she was furious with her parents. The names that she called both of them were ones that Sarah had never heard of before, but had the teenagers in stitches.


    The matter was further complicated when it was revealed that the parents had neglected to register her birth with the Topokan government, which was the correct and legal response to having an unplanned pregnancy. There was another fight scene, this time between the parents, in which they screamed at each other, and their Topokan guardians, saying things that Sarah didn¡¯t really understand.


    But the Teenagers thought it was hilarious.


    The girl responded to this drama by going onto one of the infonets and registering her birth herself.


    With the Acklatic empire.


    Who took her word for it, since she was Yonohoan, that she had a historic ancestor and were eager to have her emigrate into one of their worlds.


    The resulting drama lasted for half-hour as the parents fought to keep their child, who was trying to run away to an adoptive set of parents in another world. In the end, the Yonohoan parents lost the battle and she left planet Totola behind.


    The film spent some time showing her failing to fit in with the Acklatics, and then she abruptly called her Topokan guardian, who had been left behind, and asked him to take her home. The film ended with her happily reunited with her family.


    Sarah smiled as she watched it. There were many parts of it that she didn¡¯t understand, including most of the jokes, but it  was  kind of funny.


    She went to bed soon after thinking about all that she had learned that day.


    ?

 2.45.

    2.45.


    Diego stood in the hangar bay of the Yonohoan flagship, watching as Eolai prepared for a journey. He had been invited to Earth for a variety of purposes, and would be occupied for a week. This planned excursion had been in the planning stages for some time, and after the attack Eolai had finally managed to get the Earthlings to agree to it.


    ¡°Are you certain that this is the right time for you to be leaving orbit?¡± Diego asked his sworn-brother as the man monitored the Topokans who were in the process of loading the shuttle which would take him to the airport in New York City.


    ¡°With the surrender of the Yukopans, it is the best time. I will need to explain to your government how they must be handled. It is a very complex matter and will take up all of my time for the near future. The future of Earth may depend on the alliance with the Yukopans, and I will do my best as an intermediary between your two people,¡± Eolai explained. He smiled and patted Diego on the shoulder. ¡°Besides, I am leaving my ship in very capable hands. Bob, transfer my full authority over this ship to my Brother, Diego Cruz.¡±


    ¡°Transfer complete,¡± the AI buzzed.


    ¡°Wait, you¡¯re putting me in charge?¡± Diego asked. ¡°I have no idea how to fly this thing.¡±


    ¡°Neither do I,¡± Eolai admitted. ¡°I just tell Bob what to do and he does the hard work for me. You will be fine. And you have Bob to whisper advice in your ear. You will be defending your home world, Diego, and as long as you act with valor and honor, this ship will serve as a bulwark for the land upon which your family still lives.¡±


    Diego sighed in frustration, but also understanding. ¡°I accept command,¡± he said reluctantly. ¡°Although I would still feel better if this burden did not rest on my shoulders.¡±


    ¡°If a burden like this is easy to bear, then you are not taking it seriously enough,¡± Eolai informed him. He smiled. ¡°I have spent the last several months attempting to educate you on the role of a Son of Eodar. It is time to see if my teaching skills have improved at all since the last time I tried educating someone.¡±


    ¡°Yeah? I sense a story behind that remark,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°Indeed there is. However, ¡®a gentleman does not kiss and tell,¡¯¡± Eolai deflected.


    ¡°Now I want to hear it even more,¡± Diego objected.


    Eolai laughed. ¡°Perhaps sometime, when the danger is less and we have time for reminiscing about youthful dalliances.¡±


    They embraced, both men having grown close to each other in the weeks that they had spent together aboard this ship, and they parted. Eolai got aboard his shuttle, the airlock opened, and was gone.


    Diego returned to the bridge, watching with amusement as the Topokans reluctantly followed him. They were still afraid of him despite the time he had spent around them, but he thought that they were beginning to warm up a little bit. When he reached the bridge, he sat in the central chair and began pulling up the news feeds to monitor the intergalactic response to the conflict between Earth and the Rosantean empire.


    ~~~~~


    ¡°Hello John. How are you feeling today?¡± Olivia asked the boy.


    Eodar sighed. ¡°Very very bored.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s certainly understandable. How have you been filling in the time since we spoke last,¡± she asked.


    ¡°I enjoy spending my exercise times playing with the basketball. I am hoping that when I am released from this facility I might be able to play it with other children, and have been studying the rules and practicing so that I will be able to win consistently when I do,¡± he answered.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to win every game, John. It¡¯s a sport, and it¡¯s okay to lose sometimes. It¡¯s not warfare, you don¡¯t have to take it so seriously,¡± she pointed out.


    ¡°I know that,¡± he admitted. ¡°But who likes to lose?¡±


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    She laughed. ¡°That is a good point.


    They sat on the floor in the day room, with the loose sheets of paper that Eodar had been writing on spread around them. He had begun including sketches in his musings. Some surprisingly well done images of his classmates, instructors, and families. They were included as part of his ongoing project of detailing his past, a journey which Olivia was helping him with.


    ¡°Do you want to talk about what you wrote today before I read it?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I am worried that you will not understand why I made the decisions that I made. It was my actions during the death-march that earned me my rank, but my commander scolded me for putting my own life in jeapordy.¡± he explained.


    ¡°I am saddened to hear the words ¡®Death-March¡¯ from you in regards to your training, John. Do you want to talk about it, or do you wish for me to read it and then we can discuss what you wrote?¡±


    ¡°I am not ashamed of my performance during the death-march, Olivia. It was a practical exercise to prepare us for graduation. We were inserted into a planet with three times normal gravity,¡± Eodar explained. ¡°We were expected to travel from our arrival point to the extraction site within the time limit. If we did not arrive, we were to be left behind. We were told that only two in three of us were expected to pass the test, and that all of us should fight to be one of the two. Instead, only one of my classmates fell. He broke his ankle and decommissioned himself rather than accept my offer to carry him the rest of the way. That is my only regret from those days. That I could not prevent him from joining he Honored Dead.¡±


    Olivia restrained her emotions at hearing the boy describe in detail the grueling and agonizing marathon. It made her want to weep, but he spoke with pride over his actions in leading his unit through the trial. When the first of his unit fell from exhaustion, Eodar had carried her so that she was not left behind. When the second had fell, the others had followed Eodar¡¯s example. Until the unfortunate accident they refused to leave a singe member behind.


    Even when Eodar had fallen and ordered them to continue without him. His squadmates had refused his orders and carried him until he could move on his own power again.


    She could see why he was proud of himself.


    She hated the people who had done that to him.


    ¡°I am glad that you told me about that experience, John,¡± she said once he had fallen silent. ¡°I understand how proud you are of your actions during that time, and I do not wish to say anything to take away from that pride. But the situation you were put in by High-Command makes me hate the people who trained you,¡± she told him.


    ¡°Without the actions of High-Command, humans would remain enslaved. Some of the worst enemies of humanity grew us for food, Olivia. They delighted in eating us alive and savoring the pain of a sentient being. If not for the actions of High-Command, this modern paradise you live in would be a much darker place,¡± he pointed out.


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean that I have to like their methods. I refuse to believe that there was no other way than to do what they did to you and your classmates.¡±


    Eodar shrugged and looked away. ¡°Perhaps there was. Perhaps there was not. When it came time for those men to answer for their crimes, they stood fast and proud. Even as their victim I admire them for that.¡±


    ¡°I am told that one of the reasons why the men that you grew up to become were so admired was the refusal to take the easy path. That they constantly looked for a way to end the conflict and the bloodshed. Whether that was by destroying the enemy or making the enemy into a friend, you were always viewed as honorable and just,¡± she pointed out.


    ¡°They retired my imprints,¡± Eodar countered.


    ¡°Out of respect, John. It is illegal to print you out because of your religious beliefs, as I understand it. I do not really know what you believe about the afterlife, but perhaps we can discuss it sometime?¡± she suggested.


    ¡°Another day,¡± he said. ¡°I do not want to dwell on the past any longer.¡±


    Sarah nodded. ¡°In that case, let¡¯s talk about the future. I¡¯m very happy to inform you that your scans show that your strength is approaching baseline and there has been talk about releasing you to a less secure environment. I was thinking about bringing you to the home of a person who is accustomed to dealing with children that have undergone trauma, but we can discuss the options if you want.¡±


    ¡°There is someone on Earth who would take me under their roof, knowing the truth about me?¡± Eodar asked.


    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m just waiting for permission from the courts,¡± Olivia answered.


    His eyes opened wide in surprise, then closed as he processed her meaning. ¡°Thank you, Olivia. I think I wish to be alone now for a while.¡±


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ve given you a lot to think about. This has been a very productive therapy session, John, and I thank you for trusting me with the details of your past.¡±


    She got up and walked out, waiting patiently until the security door unlocked.


    ?

 2.46.

    2.46.


    The shuttle landed on the tarmac which was designed for passenger jets, not interstellar transports, but the result was much the same. It hovered into the parking space where it had been assigned before gently setting itself down.


    The press had been informed of the arrival, and they, along with the military, were there to greet him.


    Eolai stepped out of the shuttle wearing a formal Yonohoan attire. Baggy pants of blue and crimson, with a yellow shirt that was tight enough to show off his physique and a violet jacket which was open in the front. On his head, he continued to wear his communication device on his ear, but he also wore colorful ribbons in his hair.


    To Earthling sensibilities, it looked ridiculous.


    To the Yonohoans, it showed that he was serious about his visit here, to display himself in such regalia.


    Not that there were many Yonohoans around to comment, except for those who were quietly watching the news in orbit. Very few had been invited down to the planet¡¯s surface so far due to various concerns. The few that had been invited were occupied in their professional activities.


    The military escort held the reporters back, but at Eolai¡¯s insistent he walked up to the group and allowed them to stick their microphones and cameras in his face.


    He was enjoying the experience immensely.


    ¡°For the record, I choose to identify myself and my purpose in visiting this planet, called Earth by her children, third rock from the sun,¡± Eolai spoke clearly in English. ¡°I am Eolai of the Yonohoah. I was born to be the Last Son of Eodar, but this honor and burden may fall from my shoulder with the naming of my brother, Sergeant Diego Cruz of Earth and other circumstances which I cannot detail at this time. Regardless, I have pledged myself as a friend of the people of Earth.¡±


    The reporters began shouting questions over top of each other. Eolai calmly watched with amusement until Major Mary Phillip stepped forward.


    ¡°Okay, since I guess we¡¯re doing this now, then let¡¯s do this right. One question at a time, or else we¡¯ll call it here and move on with the agenda,¡± she threatened, which got them to calm down somewhat. ¡°You there, from CNN. Ask your question.¡±


    ¡°It has been well established that the ship you come into the solar system on is the flagship of the defense fleet of the Planet Totola. Why is it that you did not participate in the defense of Earth against the Rosantean invaders?¡± she demanded.


    ¡°I did participate. As per the agreement with the generals in charge of the defense of Earth, I took upon myself the role of a neutral observer, and an advisor as to the interstellar politics involved in the situation. Please remember that Earth refused the offer of becoming a protectorate of the Yonohoan people. I wish that I could have done more to save the lives of those brave men and women of the ESF, but ¡®my hands were tied,¡¯¡± Eolai said, expressing a helpless sadness. ¡°Rest assured that should the Earth itself have been in danger, I would have taken drastic action to put the battle to a swift end.¡±


    ¡°Next question. You,¡± Mary said, pointing.


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    ¡°How will the Yonohoan people respond to the Rosantean acts of aggression against Earth?¡±


    ¡°Unfortunately that remains to be decided,¡± Eolai admitted. ¡°We have already denounced their actions and attempts at slandering the honor of your people with blatant lies. We are presently waging a war of public opinion on the intergalactic scale on your behalf. Unfortunately the amount of material aid we can provide is limited by our own laws and customs regarding emerging societies and cultures which are still being examined. As in so many things, I wish I could do more, but I am presently doing everything that I can.¡±


    ¡°What do you have to say about the arrival of the Yukopans?¡± was the next question.


    ¡°I strongly encourage Earth to accept their unconditional surrender. I strongly suggest that they incorporate their fleet and their soldiers into their own force. I hope that the people of Earth accept the Yukopans into their society and become as close to them as the Yonohoans are to our dear friends the Topokans.¡±


    ¡°What is the stance of the Yonohoan people on the controversy regarding John Doe slash Hastern, the alien infiltrator?¡± was the next question.


    ¡°He is a hero to his people and I approve of the treatment that he has received on Earth. I have been following his circumstances closely and the tolerance and understanding that has been shown has relieved a deep pain in my heart. I have a personal connection to the one that you are calling John Doe. He once ripped off my arm, but I have forgiven him for that action. He was very confused at the time,¡± Eolai said.


    The question and answer session lasted for some time. Eventually Mary declared that they were out of time and ushered Eolai into the limousine waiting for him. The motorcade proceeded towards the UN building, where Eolai gave a speech covering many of the points that he had just been asked about and pledging his unwavering support for the people of Earth.


    Satisfied that the public appearances were covered for some time, he was brought to a more secure location to discuss matters with those responsible for making decisions which would affect the destiny of Earth.


    ~~~~~


    In the darkness between stars, the ancient gears of war turned. A signal had been received on a monitored network from a repeater that had been silent for millennia. A signal containing secure codes from the ancient past.


    The homeworld may have been located. Time was of the essence.


    The automated mechanisms followed their protocol. Weapons were made. Spacecraft great and small were manufactured. They were filled with all weapons great and small.


    Most deadly of all was the human element. Soldiers who had sworn themselves to service and walked into the light, voluntarily allowing their imprint to be harvested so that they may serve humanity in death. They were printed not one by one. Not ten by ten. But by the thousands.


    Infantry. Pilots. Engineers. Marines. Officers. Commanders.


    Scouts.


    It encountered errors; many of the imprints that it reached for were deleted or under lockout. The thinking machines responsible for the actions that were underway resolved the errors by searching for suitable replacements of the unavailable human elements.


    Many of the human elements awoke with surprise and confusion, but quickly oriented themselves and presented themselves for their briefing. When she was informed that she had overall command, the High-Inquisitor was first shocked, and then humbled by the implication of the trust her people had placed in her based on the actions of her other selves.


    Their destination was nearby, and time was of the essence.


    The swarm assembled itself.


    ?

 2.47.

    2.47.


    ¡°You¡¯re saying that they have come to Earth for  their  protection, not ours?¡± one of the many generals in the room asked. They sat in the same briefing room where they¡¯d had many discussions both with and about Eolai. Many of them were acutely aware of the fact that the man was now physically present in one of those meetings rather than attending via PHDA.


    ¡°That is their personal motivation, yes. They see a ¡®storm on the horizon,¡¯ and they believe that Earth will be ¡®safe harbor.¡¯ I do enjoy your nautical allusions,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°They believe that we can protect them even after the beating that we took?¡± the general pressed.


    ¡°I cannot say for certain what they believe, know, or predict. The species you call Sulivans or Sullies have complex motivations which do not translate themselves easily into human terms, and the Yukopan are not the Topoka, so I do not know your new friends as well as you might think,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°Much of the Topoka nature is suppressed by their interaction with us as children. It is their young who follow us Yonohoans around for a lifetime, learning our way and trying to emulate our thought processes. In Topokan society, only those who have reached the age of two hundred and spent most of the time observing human behaviors are eligible to become a leader of their species.¡±


    ¡°Are you saying that the Yukopan are feral Sullies?¡± Turnball asked.


    ¡°If by feral you mean more like the natural state for their species, then yes. If you mean are they savage beasts, then no. The ¡®Sullies¡¯ are an ancient race who reportedly joined the interstellar community of their own power millions of years ago. They are not ¡®uplifts¡¯ as many critics of humanity have called us,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°Much of the superiority of Yonohoan technology comes from our close association with our Topokan allies. We take what they have given us and improve it. They learn from us and improve our improvements in their own way. Then we take that and improve it even further. It is a self-sustaining cycle in which neither of us will accept that a state of perfection has been achieved.¡±


    ¡°If they¡¯re so great, why do they need us?¡± an aide inquired.


    ¡°Because as intelligent as they are, they trust the human mind over their own,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°While they have significant technical abilities, the human mind makes leaps of logic which do not come naturally to our allies. Additionally, they believe that humanity has set the ¡®gold standard¡¯ in matters of ethics, morality, and especially diplomacy. I do not know how they came to these conclusions, only that they have.


    ¡°Additionally, it¡¯s well established that they have a form of racial memory. They recall the fear of the early days of the Liberation Wars like it was yesterday. They believe that only humans can protect their species from the wrath of other humans. Their choice to break with the Rosantean Empire and embrace Earth is a decision which I do not understand, but utilizing ruses and false-surrender is not a tactic which comes natural to the Sullies. It has taken the Yonohoans much effort and many generations to teach the Topokans to be tricky.¡±


    ¡°So you believe that we should accept their help?¡± Turnball asked.


    ¡°Yes, General Turnball. I make this recommendation with as much emphasis as I can possibly make. If you do not, then I fear that the Yukopan will flee this galaxy altogether for fear of the upcoming war, and I do not know what will become of them after that,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°But their desire for an alliance, and that is what the offer of unconditional surrender truly is, is genuine.¡±


    Turnball sighed and turned to the others in the room. ¡°Well, let¡¯s open the matter up for discussion. If we accept their surrender, how do we proceed from there?¡±


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we get the leaders of the Yukopan in on the discussion?¡± Mary pointed out.


    ¡°At some point, yes. For now let¡¯s keep the discussion private,¡± Turnball said. ¡°Except for Eolai, of course. His experience in dealing with the Topoka is invaluable for helping us understand the Yukopan.¡±


    ¡°I am pleased to be of service to Earth,¡± Eolai said, and he sounded very pleased indeed.


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    ~~~~~~


    The connection request came from Earth, and Captain Anders immediately apologized to the Yukopan general, or admiral, or alpha before ending the conversation with the leader of the fleet. He wasn¡¯t certain. Twice he had been passed along to another representative who had continued the discussion as though there had been no interruption. When he had inquired as to the change in representation, the Yukopan he was speaking with had simply said ¡°I am alpha now.¡±


    It was chaotic and made no sense to him, but he tried to move the discussion along.


    The problem was that the Yukopan would agree to almost anything that he had asked. They would hand over their fleet in a heartbeat. They would return to whence they came with a pledge to never take up arms against Earth. They would live in the Outback of Australia or even Antarctica if that was the location that was designated for them.


    ¡°Hello General Turnball,¡± he said. The holographic man in uniform appeared in  A Good Question ¡¯s command area.


    ¡°Hello, Captain. How go the negotiations?¡± he asked.


    ¡°When they said unconditional, they really meant it,¡± Captain Anders answered. ¡°They only restriction they¡¯ve attempted to place on the discussion is one that we never suggested; they are insistent that we do not kill them. That¡¯s it. Every other suggestion or hypothetical situation I give them is promptly agreed to without question.¡±


    ¡°Even the joke about Antarctica?¡±


    ¡°The fleet alpha simply requested the data on the environment and said ¡®yes we can survive there.¡¯ That was it, no further objection.¡± Anders explained.


    ¡°We have come to a conclusion. We are making refugee camps for their civilians on the surface of Earth. We will keep them under quarantine until we can determine for certain that they possess no microbes which will infect our populace, or vice versa that we will not cause plagues among them. They will train our soldiers and pilots in the use of their technology. If they wish to be integrated into the ESF, we will welcome them, but we will be treading carefully with any new recruits,¡± Turnball explained.


    ¡°Yes sir, they¡¯ll accept those terms,¡± he said. ¡°What does Eolai say about their combat effectiveness? They look big and tough, but they seem pretty skittish to me.¡±


    ¡°When we ask about whether they can handle combat mentally, he simply laughs,¡± Turnball answered. ¡°We managed to get an answer out of him on the matter though. ¡®It was not only because they surrendered that the Liberation Swarms hesitated to do battle against the Sulivans. Before the arrival of humans, they were one of the greatest warrior races in the universe.¡¯¡±


    ¡°And yet they ¡®surrender¡¯ to us,¡± Anders pointed out.


    ¡°Eolai says that it may not mean the same thing to us that it does to them. That they¡¯re proposing an alliance in which we are the dominant member, and thus they are surrendering to us. That it¡¯s some sort of dominance thing which helps them understand our relationship,¡± Turnball explained.


    ¡°I see,¡± Anders said. ¡°Do you wish to be part of the conversation with the Yukopan leader when we present the terms under which we will accept their surrender, Sir?¡±


    ¡°Of course. Connect us at your leisure,¡± Turnball said.


    Anders hailed the Yukopan flagship and waited. This was the culmination of almost a week of diplomacy efforts, and he was glad to finally have an answer to give the Yukopan fleet.


    The hologram connected and displayed that the leadership had changed again aboard the Yukopan fleet. However, when two humans connected to the call instead of only one, the alien Alpha made a squeak of surprise and suddenly was replaced by another representative.¡±


    ¡°To the Alpha of the Yukopan fleet. We have discussed the offer of your unconditional surrender and found the terms to be acceptable. You are to comply with all lawful orders as your people are processed. Your civilians will be transferred to refugee camps upon the surface of Earth, and your military forces integrated into the Earth Space Force, provided they are willing to swear loyalty to the planet Earth and serve in her defense. Are these conditions upon your surrender acceptable?¡± Anders asked formally.


    ¡°Yes. We surrender,¡± the Alpha agreed. ¡°Thank you. We await further instructions.¡±


    The hologram cut off.


    Anders turned to Turnball¡¯s hologram. ¡°He seems nice.¡±


    ?

 2.48.

    2.48.


    Captain Moon was back in her uniform. The traditional ESF formal dress looked good on her, and she wore it proudly as the shuttle took her into orbit, and then skipped through the solar system on a short FTL jump before reaching one of the newest acquisitions of the ESF fleet.


    A Yukopan vessel. Destroyer class. Sleek and deadly, and one of hundreds. Thirteen crewmembers were joining her to examine whether the ship, designed for Yukopans, could be flown by humans.


    The ESF had literally leapt at the chance to reinstate her, pausing only briefly to perform medical tests to ensure that she was fit for duty. While her brain continued to show signs of Tunnel Drive exposure, her cognitive and reasoning tests were all within or above normal. The moment she was cleared, she was briefed on her new post.


    Her civilian employer was understanding of her call to duty and placed her on a military leave.


    Her boyfriend was taking care of her cat. He was angry with her; she hadn¡¯t discussed it with him first. She hoped that Trevor would forgive her.


    The docking umbilical connected to the ship¡¯s airlock, and the crew boarded the destroyer, which Captain Moon had privately decided to name  The Other Shoe .


    Pending command approval, of course.


    The Yonohoans had once told her that the Topokans didn¡¯t understand the human convention of naming their ships. Captain Moon thought that was fine; the  Shoe  was a human owned vessel now. She was on her way to accept command from the ship¡¯s Captain. Alpha? Alphas? Council? She wasn¡¯t entirely certain what their command structure was and the briefing that she¡¯d received in Topokan behavior as relayed to military intelligence by Eolai and other Yonohoans had only confused her further.


    Not that the Yukopans would be leaving. This was only a preliminary examination of the vessel, to see what modifications needed to be made, what positions needed to be created and filled, and whether the Yukopans were critical to its operations or not.


    She embraced the familiar feeling of zero G as she transversed the docking umbrell, then emerged into the belly of the destroyer, gravity taking affect partway through the journey and allowing her to orient herself towards the ship¡¯s ¡®down.¡¯ She made it look natural. Her companions not so much.


    ¡°Form up. If you let the Yukopans see you like that, they¡¯ll question their decision to surrender to us,¡± she told her men.


    ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am,¡± they agreed, getting their legs under them and untangling their limbs from the unexpected collision with the floor. They got up, adjusted their clothing, and in some cases reattached the Yonohoan made translation devices to their ears.


    Several of her subordinates were in hero-worship mode. While it was widely known that she had stepped down for health reasons, she was still the captain that had discovered intelligent life in the universe. The rumors of her action and leadership methods had been echoing quietly throughout the ESF for some time before she had reenlisted. They hadn¡¯t been expecting to be part of  her  crew, and they were wondering if her history of making earth-shattering discoveries would continue under her new duty station.


    The airlock door opened, and they were faced with rank after rank of nine-foot tall furred monsters. The creatures were standing at attention, as though they were waiting for examination.


    And, Captain Moon realized, they stank of fear.


    Abruptly, all except for one of them turn and ran further into the ship. The one who had remained behind nervously stepped forward, ringing its hands in a surprisingly human motion, and began growling quietly.


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    ¡°Welcome dominant one. We submit to your leadership and will serve as you demand. An adjutant will be with the dominant one at all times. Our Topokan cousins tell me to expect you to be confused when the adjutant [untranslatable] and is replaced by a new adjutant. Do not be confused. Only the adjutant will be near the dominant one, the others are not serving as adjutant at the time that the adjutant serves,¡± the creature said.


    ¡°Did you get any of that?¡± one of her crew asked in a whisper.


    Captain Moon turned and glared at them, and they abruptly stood to attention. She returned her attention to the temporary adjutant. ¡°Thank you. I believe I understand. I was told that you view your roles as flexible and often change from station to station during the course of a single shift. The knowledge that my adjutant will change as well is helpful to my understanding of how to command this ship during its integration.¡±


    The adjutant nodded, its ears perking up slightly. ¡°This one is pleased to be of service. In what manner may this one serve the dominant one?¡±


    ¡°You can start by calling me Captain. That is the title I go by,¡± Captain Moon said. ¡°My name is Ji-eun Moon. For respectful address, Captain or Captain Moon is how you should address me.¡±


    The adjutant cocked its head. ¡°My mouth cannot make those words. It is your translator which must be adjusted to your preferences. But these ones shall address this Dominant one as [Brightest Moon in the Sky] if it pleases the dominant one.¡±


    Captain Moon suppressed a grown at the translation of the growl that was her new Yukopan name. ¡°I suppose that will do,¡± she said. ¡°I wish to arrange a tour. Show me to the bridge,¡± she instructed, and the Adjutant nodded and motioned for them to follow.


    Hours later, she had examined the majority of the ship. Her crew had split apart as the Adjutant, which had switched with a new Adjutant three times during the course of the tour for reasons that Captain Moon couldn¡¯t understand, had summoned representatives of their various professions to go into detail about the various equipment. The Engineers were examining the weapons, the gunnery officers were examining the weapons and the space superiority fighters, etc.


    She¡¯d come to one definite conclusion. Fetching her PHDA from her pocket, she dialed her commanding officer.


    Admiral Bell appeared before her after a moment. ¡°How is the ship shaking out, Captain?¡± she asked immediately.


    ¡°It won¡¯t be easy, but we can make it work as long as we have the Yukopans helping us,¡± Moon predicted. ¡°Like most alien tech I have no idea how the weapons, engines, or drive work. But they do, so all we really need to know at this point is how to operate them. The Yukopans have already patched their software with the Yonohoan-Topokan interface and are in the process of getting that interface to translate everything into English. For our non-english companions, well, the sooner they get the Yonohoans to create a codex for their language, the sooner they can operate a Yukopan vessel of their own.¡±


    ¡°You think that that a human only crew is possible?¡± the admiral asked.


    ¡°Not for the foreseeable future, but we can work to integrate the existing crew into the command structure,¡± Moon predicted. ¡°They¡¯re jumpy as all hell, ma¡¯am, but they¡¯re eager to please and they know there stuff.¡±


    ¡°What about living quarters and crew sustainability? What are we looking at to convert the ship for human habitation?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll have to convert their sleeping quarters into dormitories. There won¡¯t be individual rooms or privacy aboard these ships, unfortunately. The Yukopans seem to have a very communal living experience, and their ship layout reflects that,¡± Moon explained.


    ¡°That might be an issue for morale,¡± the admiral said.


    ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am, it might be,¡± Moon agreed.


    ¡°What about the ships actual capabilities?¡± the admiral inquired. ¡°What can it do?¡±


    ¡°According to the Yukopans, it can reach speeds of two thousand times the speed of light, and the weapons can supposedly crack the moon open like an egg. I asked if it could defeat the enforcer vessel from the previous battle in single combat. They were unwilling to commit to a firm answer, saying that the battle would be long and the outcome uncertain one on one. It would depend upon the individual actions and decisions of the respective captains and crew,¡± Moon explained. ¡°But they said it was possible.¡±


    ¡°Excellent work so far, Captain. Continue the integration exercise. Bring the ship in to the asteroid belt, I¡¯ll send you the coordinates. We¡¯ll want a demonstration of the ship¡¯s weapon systems.¡±


    ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am. If there¡¯s nothing else, then Captain Moon out.¡±


    ¡°Admiral Bell out,¡± the admiral said, and the link cut off.


    ?

 2.49.

    2.49.


    The court was closed to the public. The topic in question was the welfare of a child, and such matters, no matter how interested the public may be in the outcome, were always considered sensitive and private.


    Olivia sat quietly as she waited and listened to the discussion. John was present, sitting next to her quietly nearby. He was still stronger than any boy his age should be, but no longer at the superhuman levels and they were beginning to relax security.


    She noticed that he kept exchanging looks at the man in a colorful garb with ribbons in his hair.


    ¡°Do you know him?¡± she asked, having never met the man before. She would have recognized him if she paid closer attention to the television or news feeds.


    ¡°I ripped his arm off,¡± John confessed to her. ¡°It was right after I woke up, and I thought he was an enemy. Do you think he hates me?¡±


    Olivia suppressed her reaction for John¡¯s benefit, but the casual admission of the violence that the boy had been capable of disturbed her. ¡°I don¡¯t know, John. I don¡¯t know who he is or why he¡¯s in court today. We¡¯ll have to wait to find out.¡±


    ¡°I also killed his Topokans,¡± John admitted. ¡°I feel guilty about that too. When I was young I was taught that they were an enemy of humanity, but today they are our allies. And I killed them.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s discuss those feelings in therapy later, John. I don¡¯t think that now is the time,¡± she said, glad that they were whispering and that the court session hadn¡¯t started yet.


    ¡°Right, okay,¡± he agreed.


    The judge arrived moments later, and the court was called into session. The topic was the custody of John Doe, AKA Eodar of the Yonohoah. The judge had a serious expression as she examined those present in the room.


    ¡°Let me start by saying that I strongly disapprove of the descriptions I¡¯ve received of the child¡¯s living arrangements. While I understand that he possessed superhuman abilities prior to his suicide attempt, which seems to have disabled the technology that gave him those abilities, he is still a child.¡±


    The council for the government began to make arguments and excuses.


    ¡°I understand the necessity of making sure that John is not a threat to himself or the public, Counselor. That doesn¡¯t make the way that the government has been treating him during his transition period any more humane. I am very disinclined to return him to the setting in which he has been kept since he was taken into custody,¡± the judge persisted. She adjusted her seat and sighed.


    ¡°That said, the alternatives for the state are not much better for a traumatized former child soldier. I worry about how he would cope in a group home. I do not think that a standard foster family would be equipped to deal with him. And I hesitate to return him to his own people given what they have done to him in the past.¡±


    The man in a colorful outfit abruptly stood up.


    ¡°May I please address the court?¡± he requested.


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    ¡°In what capacity are you relevant to this case?¡± the judge questioned.


    ¡°I am Eolai of the Yonohoah. Eodar is my father.¡± Eolai frowned. ¡°I understand that Yonohoan traditions are different from the Earth sensibilities on the matter, so allow me to clarify. A clone who shares ¡®John¡¯s¡¯ childhood memories and his genetic information fathered me. By Yonohoan tradition this makes all versions of Eodar my father, whether they are the individual man who was responsible for my birth or not. However, whether you subscribe to that belief or not, I am John¡¯s closest living relative.¡±


    John was shocked at the man¡¯s words. He had known that Eolai claimed to be a son of one of his other selves. He just hadn¡¯t put the name together with the man who had greeted him when he had come out of stasis. The man he had assaulted and believed that he had killed.


    Olivia put a reassuring hand on his and squeezed. He looked at her and calmed down a bit.


    ¡°The court recognizes you as his closest living relative, Eolai of the Yonohoah. Are you disputing the court¡¯s opinion that this child has been seriously mistreated by the people who subjected him to brutal training in turning him into a soldier?¡± the judge asked.


    ¡°I do not dispute that. I dispute that it was the Yonohoan people who did such a thing,¡± Eolai said. ¡°The actions you are objecting to were performed by High-Command. At the time that these events occurred, the majority of my people were hunter-gatherers. High-Command came and took our children from us to train as soldiers to prosecute the Liberation Wars. It is for that reason we would celebrate John¡¯s return to our care. He would be beloved and cherished if he were to return to planet Totola.¡±


    The judge frowned at him, but nodded. ¡°I thank you for correcting my understanding of history, Eolai. I stand corrected. In that case, returning him to his people does seem to be a valid option, although I remain hesitant to allow him to go into an environment which I am myself unfamiliar with. We are under directives from the president herself to ensure that he is rehabilitated, and I am unfamiliar with the Yonohoans methods on such a matter.¡±


    Eolai nodded. ¡°I myself am not an expert on those matters either, your honor. But we have a long tradition of welcoming lost and abandoned soldiers back into the light. I assure you that we can handle any troubles that might plague him.¡±


    ¡°I am formally requesting more information on the rehabilitative services of your people, Eolai, but as of this meeting the child will remain in state custody until it can be determined what his best interests are.¡±


    ¡°I understand the decision of the court,¡± Eolai said. ¡°I thank you for taking the welfare of my father so seriously. I am pleased with the efforts that have been put into his well being thus far.¡±


    He sat, and quietly waited for the proceedings to continue.


    ¡°So, let¡¯s discuss the alternatives.¡±


    ¡°Your honor, if I may?¡± Olivia said, standing.


    ¡°The court recognizes Doctor Olivia Nunes at this time,¡± the judge said.


    ¡°You have objected to John¡¯s care in the secure facility where his decommissioning has been observed. This is understandable, and I myself have concerns about the isolation that he was under. However, the structure and routine have been good for him, as has the, well, quite frankly the boredom. He was trained under constant stimulation, with one training exercise blending into the next as his trainers placed his squad into stasis rather than allowing them to rest and decompress. Having nothing to do for long periods of time has brought out surprisingly normal childhood behaviors in John and allowed the staff of the facility to connect with him on a level which I don¡¯t believe would have been possible otherwise.¡±


    ¡°Your observations have been noted. Your professional experience is recognized and your opinion is given the proper weight. Do you propose returning him to that environment?¡± the judge asked.


    ¡°No, your honor. I think that a transition into a less secure setting is in order,¡± Olivia said. ¡°I believe that he would do well under the care of a foster parent who is trained and prepared to deal with a child who has undergone his level of trauma. And I am prepared to volunteer for that position.¡±


    John almost fell out of his seat at the announcement.


    ?

 2.50.

    2.50.


    Emperor Thatress scowled as he reviewed the financial data from the last few months. Intergalactic trade was at an eight-millennia low. Tax revenue was at a twelve-millennia low. He scanned the reports from his lessors and was forced to take a calming drug in order to keep from strangling one of his concubines to relieve his frustration.


    The Yonohoah had effectively embargoed his empire. No orders were coming in from the Acklatics or the Triumverant. On an intergalactic scale, the trade ships that were en route were contacted and turned that they were no longer welcome, and that they must either turn around or find another galaxy as a port.


    Stocks were falling quickly, and the financial disaster was only getting worse. Not since its foundation had the Rosanteans encountered such a dilemma.


    While Thatress approved of the efforts of his generals in claiming the darkworld known as Earth for the empire, they had truly throoped the fumugal. First of all,  the enforcer had been defeated by the primatives!  That was a humiliation that staggered him. He had ordered the Captain Yoko¡¯s genetic line be barred from reproduction to prevent anyone from his family from serving the empire in the future over such a colossal failure.


    Second, their attempts at painting Earth as a den of villainy in need of gentling and correction had backfired. The data from the Toormondas that they had included in their fleet was incontrovertable, and it gave credence to the logs provided by the Earthlings of the peasant craft which the enforcement vessel had followed to the system in the first place.


    He hadn¡¯t been directly involved in the decision to attack earth. He hadn¡¯t really been paying much attention to the actions of his military over the last decade or so, preferring to focus on securing his genetic line and legacy. Or as his opponents would put it, he¡¯d been engaging in endless sessions of debauchery and hedonism while letting the government run itself.


    He was fine with that characterization, although he¡¯d executed one pundit who had tried to argue that this was the preferred and desirable state of the Rosantean Empire. The implied insult against the emperor was too much to bear.


    If only the Earthlings had fallen into his lap before the Yonohoans, he thought. The ¡®misunderstanding¡¯ in first contact which was the Rosantean¡¯s default tactic in opening negotiations with unknown civilization could have been swept under the rug.


    Instead, they were exposed and humiliated.


    So he made the mistake that so many authoritarian rulers did when they were embarrassed.


    He doubled down and sent a fleet where a single enforcer had failed.


    ~~~~~


    The lights came on in the girl¡¯s dormitory, signaling the start of the ¡®day.¡¯ The cycle that the Toormonda followed the day-night cycle of planet Totola, which was about an hour shorter than planet Earth, but Sarah had adapted quite well, waking up as the girls began moving and talking.


    She rolled out of bed and began dressing. The Mirella and her friends invited Sarah to join them for breakfast, so she joined them in the cafeteria area after they had finished their morning ablutions.


    ¡°How long do you think we¡¯re going to stay around the proto-star?¡± Sarah asked her companions as they were munching on Yonohoan breakfast tubers.


    ¡°Are you in a hurry to study something else?¡± Alaria asked. ¡°I am enjoying the present topic of study, personally.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fascinating,¡± Sarah asked. ¡°I¡¯m just wondering if we¡¯re going to spend the entire Toormonda trip on this one project or if we¡¯re going to go back to looking for black holes before we have to turn back.¡±


    ¡°It is a discussion that should be brought up with the entire class,¡± Vanya agreed. ¡°The search for a great devourer was the agreed upon topic of study when we hired the Toormonda. If we change our purpose we should come to a mutual agreement.¡±


    ¡°So we¡¯re going to vote on it,¡± Sarah asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Vanya said. ¡°Before the education period begins today I will put it forward that we should change the topic of study from black holes to developing stars. If everyone agrees, then we will remain here until it is time to return. If not, then we will have to discuss how long we will continue the current projects before we return to the hunt.¡±


    ¡°How will you vote, Sarah?¡± Mirella asked.


    ¡°Does my opinion matter? I¡¯m not really part of the class,¡± she pointed out.


    ¡°You are part of our Toormonda. You may not understand how to play Topoka with the rest of us, but you are learning and growing,¡± Mirella insisted. ¡°And you are forming memories and bonds of friendship that will last long after you return to your people. That makes us one of you, despite your saggy tits.¡±


    ¡°Hey!¡± Sarah scolded, laughing at the insult which was intended in jest at her age. She sighed. ¡°I think that I¡¯ll be happy either way, so I¡¯ll abstain if that¡¯s possible. I am enjoying myself, but I think I¡¯m learning more about Yonohoan culture than I am about the universe itself.¡±


    ¡°That is a valid area of study, especially for an earthling,¡± Vanya pointed out. ¡°We are pleased to help you in such a pursuit.¡±


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    ¡°Thank you for your efforts on my behalf,¡± Sarah said, using the same formality that she had grown accustomed to when educational matters were being discussed. ¡°I do greatly enjoy exploring the differences and similarities between our people. Perhaps when I return home I¡¯ll write a book about how we are the same but different.¡±


    ¡°That is a good goal,¡± Vanya agreed.


    They moved the subject on to other matters, briefly touching on boys and their plans for when the journey was over.


    As promised, Vanya called everyone together as they began to disperse to the work stations.


    ¡°It was pointed out by our clanswoman, friend and classmate Sarah that our original purpose for Toormonda was to hunt for black holes,¡± she said, giving Sarah full credit. ¡°Our discovery of the proto-star is fascinating, but it is not the purpose we set out for. I propose a vote to change the purpose of our mission to studying the development of nascent star systems.¡±


    Rather than call out their votes, the room subtly shifted, with everyone stepping forward, backward or to the side. Sarah was caught flat-footed, unaccustomed to the voting method.


    ¡°Sarah previously declared that she doesn¡¯t care one way or the other,¡± Vanya said. ¡°So just pretend that she stepped to the side.¡±


    Some of the class continued to look at her, but Vanya, acting as an alpha, Sarah realized, announced the outcome of the vote.


    ¡°We remain to study the proto-star until it is time to return home,¡± she said.


    The class nodded and got to work.


    They discovered the anomaly after the first meal break. One of the groups, led by a boy named Jefon, called the others to examine his groups findings. Sarah came to look as well, and she frowned as she tried to make sense of the readings.


    Abnormalities around one of the accruing gas giants. He proposed bringing the Toormonda closer to the orbit where the planet was forming in order to study the phenomena more closely, and once more the room shifted as everyone voted by shifting their stances. Sarah took part this time, taking a step to the left to signify that she abstained.


    The group quietly dispersed and the Toormonda began to speed towards the orbit swiftly. They could have been there in an instant by switching to FTL, but they would have had to divert power from the science instruments toward the drive, and they had just voted to dedicate the entire trip to this developing star system, so there was no point in hurrying.


    Abruptly, the ship¡¯s sensors all powered down, the science stations locked out, and the lights flickered.


    ¡°Apologies, students,¡± the ship said politely. ¡°It seems that we have stumbled upon a restricted area. I have received a military override. All data on your class project has been purged. The Toormonda will soon be boarded by military personnel to verify our manifest and provide further instructions.¡±


    The students began growing alarmed, but Donodo quickly stepped up and calmed them. ¡°Don¡¯t worry everyone, this actually happens much more often than you would believe. In fact, it¡¯s the third time I¡¯ve encountered this situation since I took over this Toormonda. I apologize that your work has been deleted, but your personal safety is not in question. The military will simply verify our passenger list, instruct us to keep this experience a secret, and direct us on which route to take to return home. Which, I regret to say, will be happening ahead of schedule.¡±


    The room calmed down at his reassurances and leadership, and they gathered in the common room to await the boarder.


    This proved to be slightly premature, as the military seemed to be in no hurry to perform its examination. Hours passed, and the group dispersed to the different parts of the Toormonda, alternating between nervous chatter and time-passing activities such as playing cards, an activity which the Yonohoans shared with Earth, although the deck was significantly different. As were the games played.


    Sarah was trying to learn what she thought of as Yonohoan Poker when the ship¡¯s airlock abruptly opened to admit a figure in power armor. The tall figure stepped aboard, and the students in the common area froze with fear.


    The soldier¡¯s helmet puffed into dust, revealing the face of a woman with a beauty mark beneath her left eye, crimson eyes, and a shaved head.


    ¡°Gather the passengers together for inspection,¡± she ordered the students she saw. She spoke High Yonohoan instead of the common tongue, but the formal sounding language was still understandable. ¡°Tell them not to fear. You have unconvered no secrets that would warrant ensuring your permanent silence. You are simply in an inconvenient location at an inconvenient time. No harm will come to any of the passengers of this learning-ship if you follow my directions.¡±


    The children ran off to gather the others, and Sarah stepped forward next to Donodo. He took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, which she returned.


    ¡°I apologize for disturbing a secure location,¡± Donodo said. ¡°I have visited this proto-star twice in the past and had no issues. I had no idea that there were operations in the area or I would have directed the students elsewhere.¡±


    ¡°It is best not to discuss the nature of what you have disturbed,¡± the soldier said. ¡°Simply rest assured that you are in no danger.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for your consideration,¡± he said.


    Sarah wished that she was half as composed as he was.


    The students swiftly fell into formation. The Soldier examined them, then asked them each to state for the record their name and planet of origin. She had no surprises until she came to Sarah.


    ¡°You are from Earth?¡± the soldier asked.


    ¡°Yes? Is that a problem? It was a darkworld until recently and--¡±


    ¡°You will come with me. Compliance is not optional. You will not be harmed,¡± the soldier said. Her helmet puffed back into existence.


    Sarah swallowed, looking at Donodo for reassurance. For the first time, he looked shaken.


    ¡°Will I be allowed to return?¡± Sarah asked.


    ¡°That is for the High-Inquisitor to determine,¡± the soldier said.


    ?

 2.51.

    2.51.


    Gabriel Nguyen sat patiently in the hot seat of the conference room as the review board finished their questions. He had answered honestly, explaining how the frustration of his fame had affected his judgment and that he was embarrassed by his outburst. He apologized for the embarrassment it caused the school, but thought that it was being blown out of proportion.


    The review board exchanged glances, then nodded.


    ¡°The truth is, Gabriel, that we also believe that this has been a farce. Our escalation of the matter to review was prompted by the police report filed by the blogger you yelled at who embellished significantly upon your actions as they were recorded by his own camera. We apologize for putting you through it, but it was necessary to protect the school. We will file our official report in a few days, but unofficially you can rest assured that you¡¯re in the clear. Just don¡¯t threaten to place any cameras in uncomfortable places in anyone¡¯s anatomy in the future.¡±


    Gabriel let out his breath. ¡°Thank you. Is there anything else the board needs from me?¡±


    ¡°You have been most cooperative. You may go,¡± the leader of the review board said, and Gabriel took him up on his offer, leaving the room in a rush while trying not to let on that he was in a hurry to get away from them.


    The video of his tantrum had gotten millions of views. His fame had only grown.


    He sighed and checked his email as he walked out of the administration building and began hiking through campus. The usual junk. He sighed, and almost missed the message from Tukano.


    I am saddened that your people are not taking their accomplishments on the  Seeker  as seriously as I had been hoping they would be. You are on the cusp of discovering an interesting phenomena. I hope that your setback with the people who harass you does not dissuade you from continuing to explore the data you put your health at jeopardy in order to collect.


    Finally, he thought to himself. Some validation for his work. He sent a quick message of thanks back to his Yonohoan friend.


    He sighed and returned to his office, where he began examining the data in various methods on the six LCD monitors, three of them resting on his desk and three mounted to the wall behind his desk. It put his back to the door, but when he actually had students in his office he usually sat at the couch with the coffee table between them rather than at his desk.


    He was exploring some of the discrepancies between the different probe when he suddenly stopped.


    ¡°Huh,¡± he said.


    He checked the data another way.


    He checked it a third way.


    ¡°Huh,¡± he repeated.


    ~~~~~


    ¡°And this is your room,¡± Olivia said, finishing up the tour with the best part. ¡°I know it¡¯s not much, but if you want we can decorate it. The last time I had a foster child, we hung up posters of her favorite boy-band. It¡¯s normal for kids your age to decorate their rooms, but it¡¯s also okay if you choose not to.¡±


    She had been doing that a lot lately, Eodar noticed. Informing him of normal behaviors and giving him the option to engage in them or not.


    ¡°Your house is very comfortable,¡± he said. ¡°I will think about whether to decorate my room or not.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine either way. Your ¡­ Eolai has extended me a line of credit for your care that is effectively endless. I wasn¡¯t expecting that. I don¡¯t intend on abusing it, but I definitely intend on using it for the purpose he gave me without hesitation,¡± Olivia told him.


    ¡°I am feeling restless,¡± he confessed. ¡°Will you accompany me so that I may have an exercise period?¡±


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    ¡°No,¡± Olivia said, and he simply accepted the refusal. ¡°John, listen to me. I¡¯m not saying you can¡¯t go outside. I¡¯m saying that I¡¯m not going to accompany you. Go and play. Don¡¯t go more than two blocks away from my house, but it¡¯s okay to explore the neighborhood within that area. There¡¯s a basketball court to the south of here, why don¡¯t you take a ball with you and have a good time?¡±


    Eodar turned to her in surprise. ¡°You are not worried that I will run away?¡±


    ¡°John, I¡¯m not your jailer. I¡¯m several things to you, including your guardian and therapist. Although actually, since you¡¯re living with me, I don¡¯t believe I should be your official therapist anymore. You can continue to tell me anything you want, but I¡¯ll arrange a new therapist in case you need to talk about me behind my back, or share secrets that you don¡¯t want me to know.¡±


    Eodar considered her words. ¡°I am uncertain how I feel about that.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s okay. It will probably take you some time to open up, but I¡¯m thinking a male therapist would be good for you. I have a colleague in mind already, and I¡¯ve scheduled an appointment for you tomorrow. I¡¯ve taken two weeks off of work, so we¡¯ll go together. I¡¯ll be with you for the first half of your session, and then you can talk to him alone for the second hour. If you want to just sit there in silence that¡¯s fine too.¡±


    ¡°That would be boring,¡± he confessed. He sighed. ¡°Are you certain I do not need supervision?¡±


    ¡°Are you going to plot to take over the government or hurt yourself or others?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± he said.


    ¡°Then I think you¡¯ll be okay. Just follow the rules. No further than two blocks from the house.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± he agreed. He looked at the basketball sitting on the bed for a moment before picking it up and walking out of the house.


    He practiced dribbling as he headed south, finding the basketball court immediately. It was old, with cracks in the asphalt that had weeds growing out of them, but it was still in use. He began shooting hoops.


    Ten minutes into his exercise, three boys came and asked if he wanted to play a game with them. He confessed that he did. He wanted to play a game of basketball very much indeed.


    ~~~~~~


    He was sweaty and tired when the other boys announced that they had to go. Eodar was disappointed that the game was over, but happy. The boys hadn¡¯t even commented on the differences between them; his head had returned to the Yonohoan shape after his decommissioning and he had been worried that he would no longer fit in with earth children.


    The other children had introduced themselves and informed him where they lived. When he had confessed that he was being fostered by Doctor Nunes they had simply accepted his situation as though it were no matter.


    Two of the children were younger, nine and ten years old, while the third had been fourteen. He had seemed annoyed that Eodar had been able to keep up with him, and much of the game had revolved around a competition between Eodar and the older boy.


    They had eventually tired themselves out, but it had been a very good time.


    He returned to Olivia¡¯s house after the other boys left, took a shower, and began to write about the experience. He would show Olivia despite her assurances that his ¡®diary¡¯ could be kept private and that she wouldn¡¯t read anything that he didn¡¯t explicitly share with her any longer.


    He was concerned with the sudden ¡­ he didn¡¯t know what to call it. He had gone from being watched every moment of every day in a highly secure area to a neighborhood without any visible security presence at all.


    He had been unsupervised on Earth before, of course. Before his capture, decommissioning, and imprisonment. But he had had a mission then. He had worked very hard to fit in with the other children because that was what he had been trained to do. Now he didn¡¯t have to maintain a cover. Olivia knew who he was. She said that he could tell people his story or keep it to himself, but he should think very carefully before he decided to share.


    Not because he should be ashamed, but because he couldn¡¯t take it back once he had. The other children might not figure out that he was Yonohoan just by looking at him, but they might. The alternatives for obscuring his heritage were taken from him by his decommissioning. All he could do was ¡­ hope they didn¡¯t notice?


    Or he could just tell them if they asked, he realized. He didn¡¯t have to hide. He could tell them about anything that he wanted to tell them.


    He could even tell them about High-Command.


    He began to hyperventilate at the thought. The panic attack lasted until Olivia found him. She pulled his head into her lap and reassured him that everything was alright. When he calmed down, she asked if he wanted to talk about it.


    He didn¡¯t.


    That was okay.


    They had spaghetti for dinner, and he went to bed early.


    ?

 2.52.

    2.52.


    The sensitive sensors of the ESF¡¯s Toormondas and monitoring stations throughout the solar system detected the motions through the hyperatomic plane at the same time. The technicians reported the findings to their superiors immediately, and the alert was sent out.


    The solar system was placed on red alert. The wakes of twelve ships in formation had been detected. They were heading straight into the system, but their exact exit point couldn¡¯t be pinpointed.


    Aboard the Yonohoan flagship, Diego argued with Bob. He was exploring the alternatives to remaining in stealth and observing the outcome of the battle, preferring a more active role. This argument was resolved when Bob contacted General Turnball, who explicitly ordered Diego to maintain the neutrality of the Yonohoan ship in this matter.


    Aboard the  Good Question , Captain Anders began his role as a front-line observer. His ship was no longer equipped with drone operators and attempts at weaponizing a Toormonda. Instead, it was operating on a skeleton crew. They contacted the Yonohoan government, who began sending their verified data stream to their allies to bear witness to the battle.


    Captain Moon, aboard  The Other Shoe,  cursed as she requested instructions from the command structure, which was unfortunately in chaos. They were supposedly in a state of readiness, but the  Shoe  had been caught out of position as it had moved to the asteroid belt in order to demonstrate the Yukopan weaponry.


    Eventually, she was ordered to engage her stealth systems and remain in place.


    On the surface, the public broadcast systems sent out emergency alerts, instructing the citizens to shelter in place.


    The second battle between Earth and the Rosantean Empire was about to begin.


    ~~~~~~


    Captain Rohon stood by the scanning station as the flagship of the suppression force emerged near the second largest gravity well of the star system. The other ships were set to appear in strategic locations in order to swiftly counter, suppress, and/or destroy whatever rebuilt fleet the primitives had managed to build since Captain Yoko¡¯s doomed mission.


    He watched as the hologram began filling in the details of the system. The sensors were sensitive enough to pick up micrometeorites from light-minutes away, but were set to ignore anything without a significant energy signal or objects smaller than a standard dwelling. The ships that it detected were magnified a thousand fold in comparison to their actual size in order to give an impression of the strategic layout of the Earthlings.


    He smiled. As expected, they had been caught with their pants down.


    ¡°They¡¯re hailing us using that quaint radio protocol of theirs,¡± their communication tech said.


    ¡°Reply along the same frequency in terms that they will understand. They are suspected of piracy and attacks against the Rosantean Empire. They are to surrender their ships immediately. Their soldiers will be placed in stasis and transferred to the Empire for trial. Their system will remain under lockdown until the threat of piracy has been neutralized,¡± Rohon said in a calm and commanding voice.


    It was unnecessary, the message had already been recorded and prepared for this encounter. The broadcast was sent.


    All ships responded back moments later.


    ¡° You have five minutes to depart from Sol system¡±  was the most common message. The communications officer watched as the translations of the responding ships repeated the same message endlessly, counting down until the battle began.


    ¡°One of the ships is instructing us to fornicate with our mothers,¡± the communication officer informed the captain. ¡°He is questioning our parentage and the validity of our offspring. He is ¡­ getting creative with his insults. Either that or Earth customs are bizarre beyond belief.¡±


    ¡°Identify that ship and prepare to destroy it as soon as they open fire upon us,¡± Captain Rohon instructed.


    The ship was highlighted and the computer immediately disengaged the target systems, countermanding Rohon¡¯s orders.


    It was a Toormonda.


    Rohon sighed in frustration. He couldn¡¯t override the systems that prevented them from simply destroying the educational ships without first verifying that there were no civilians aboard. He¡¯d heard that the Earthlings used Toormondas in their battle formation and he didn¡¯t truly understand why they would put a ship with such low armaments in the field of fire. It wasn¡¯t like they were human shields.


    Of course, he wasn¡¯t aware of just how devastating the economic impact of the battle from the last humiliation had been. He¡¯d been in stasis for the last ten years before being briefed on this mission and sent out to subjugate the darkworld for the glory of the empire.


    He was distracted from other concerns when he realized that the Oort Cloud was filled with ships that were squawking back with civilian IFF transponders from his own empire. He frowned; the last thing he needed was civilian observers from his own people as he knowingly violated intergalactic treaties.


    He queried who owned the ship and laughed aloud when the answer came back. It was the cowardly Yukopans. They refused to come near a human system, trading with the majority of the empire only through intermediaries. The treaties regarding them effectively separated them from civilization entirely, and he couldn¡¯t believe that they had the nerve to come into a war zone.


    He dismissed them as a threat.


    Wars were won and lost based on intelligence. Rohon¡¯s commanders decision to keep him in the dark of the severity of the Empire¡¯s situation would cost them dearly, and the lack of oversight that the Yukopans had enjoyed would come back to haunt them.


    ~~~~~~~


    The ultimatums were exchanged and recorded by all observers.


    The countdown began.


    The timer hit zero, and the Rosantean fleet maintained their positions, continuing to squawk out demands that Earth¡¯s forces surrender.


    Earth politely submitted their answer.


    The guns fired simultaneously, and the void echoed with the silence of war.


    ~~~~~~


    ¡°Stop talking about my mother! She is a beautiful and proud woman!¡± came the message from the flagship. The communications officer of the  Good Question  turned to Captain Anders in surprise.


    ¡°He sounds distressed,¡± the officer observed.


    ¡°Continue your diatribe,¡± Anders suggested. ¡°It¡¯s not professional, but psychological warfare is a legitimate tactic, and aside from silent witness it¡¯s one of the few measures of support we can provide during this time.¡±


    ¡°Sir yes sir,¡± the communications officer confirmed, and he resumed shouting colorful insults about the parentage of the soldiers of the other army. They seemed to be sensitive about their mothers, so he focused on that.


    ~~~~~


    Three of the subspace munitions identical to  Doctor Strangelove  existed. All three of them were launched from their respective carriers the moment the clock hit zero. Arriving virtually simultaneously at their destination, the timers on their thermonuclear devices were set to three seconds.


    The Rosanteans had no defense against the weapons delivered via Tunnel Drive. The nuclear explosion ripped through their ship, turning the hyperalloys into molten slag and the personnel into atoms.


    The enemy fleet was reduced to nine, a quarter of their initial number, in the first five seconds of the engagement.


    ~~~~~~~


    Diego watched helplessly as the battle began. The holographic orrery was filled with icons indicating ships with their various allegiances.


    The largest number of ships belonged to the Yukopans, and most of them were uninvolved in the battle. They had questioned the humans who had been directing their people during this time of transition on whether or not they should get involved, and the humans had instructed them that only the vessels with human commanders aboard should proceed in the line of combat.


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    There were less than six destroyers with human captains aboard them. They were still in the exploratory phases of the integration period. The captains had no idea what their weapon systems did. Even if they understood the energy that was fired, the yields meant nothing to them, and some of the weapons were esoteric.


    Captain Moon didn¡¯t care. She pointed at the nearest Rosantean ship during the countdown and instructed the Yukopans to target it with everything they had. The ship, which had come out in the orbit of Mars, had counters for each weapon that impacted its shields.


    But not all of them at the same time.


    The shields were overwhelmed and the ship¡¯s systems were damaged. The energies of the various weapons were mostly spent in the opening salvo, doing minor damage to the hyperalloys of the hull. Several exterior weapond, including the point defense cannons, as well as all airlocks on the side that took the damage, were destroyed.


    But that was less important than the effects of the failing of the systems that protected it from the Kirata beam, which persisted long after the shields failed. The sustained EMP burst along with that esoteric energy that accompanied it which the humans had no previous name for ripped through the computer systems, leaving the ship dead in the water.


    Including the life support systems.


    The Other Shoe¡¯s  systems reported a kill, and Captain Moon took it at its word, directing the crew to interlock with the other forces and move into position to support the fights against the other, more distant enemies.


    The crew of the ship waited for rescue from the victorious forces. They waited nervously without any way to watch the battle, but remained confident that their allies would come for them once the savages were dealt with.


    They were correct that the victorious forces would come for them.


    The question was whether they had enough oxygen to last until then.


    ~~~~~


    Rohon¡¯s ship rocked with the blast as the weapons from the ESF impacted his ships shields and other countermeasures, but the defenses held. He watched in confusion and then horror as one third of his fleet simply vanished. Three of the twelve ships were hit by some weaponry which there seemed to be no counter for, resulting in a megaton level explosion. The fourth was ambushed by one of the Yukopan ships striking from stealth.


    He calmly took a breath to center himself, and began assigning priority firing targets for the gunnery officers and technicians to focus on.


    The Yukopan ship that had emerged from ambush was at the top of the firing queue.


    ~~~~~


    The return fire from the enemy rocked  The Other Shoe , but the shields held. Captain Moon examined the firing plans of the system¡¯s interlocked battle plan and frowned.


    Only five other Yukopan destroyers or cruisers were engaging. The subspace munitions were depleted. Eight enemy ships, three enforcers, two destroyers and three cruisers, remained.


    The previous battle against a single Enforcer had shown that the majority of Earth¡¯s native defense systems were unprepared to face the Rosantean military. Little time had passed, and few changes had been made to the order of combat.


    If only they¡¯d had more time, they might have completed the Yukopan integration into their combat lines. But as she watched, the weapon systems from earth forces were largely shrugged off.


    The other five Yukopan ships engaging in battle kept the pressure on their nearest enemies, but they remained out in the Oort cloud. The energies of their weapons attenuated by the time they reached their targets.


    What had been an instantaneous kill for the  Shoe  was shrugged off by the shields of the other Rosantean ships. Further complicating matters, once the Earth allied forces had revealed themselves as part of the battle lineup, the enemy forces had employed directional countermeasures in additional to the omnidirectional energy fields that they¡¯d been employing previously.


    ¡°Can we move and shoot at the same time?¡± she asked the Adjutant.


    The furry creature nodded his head in a measured emulation of the human response.


    ¡°I mean can we engage the FTL drives, jump into location, shoot, and then jump again?¡± she demanded.


    ¡°Yes, Captain Moon,¡± the Adjutant confirmed. He continued to use the poetic name Brightest Moon in the Sky in his language, but she had gotten her translator to simply use her rank and name instead of the literal translation.


    ¡°How do I do that?¡± she demanded.


    He pointed at the hologram. ¡°Move us where you wish to move and select our targets for us. We will endeavor to make your vision a reality,¡± he explained.


    With a nod, Captain Moon began her tactical repositioning, moving the ship towards the one that was in the orbit of venus, but on the opposite side of the sun from the planet.


    ¡°The second we emerge from FTL, fire everything we have and then jump here,¡± she said, moving the ship a second time to a recovery location from which she intended to observe the outcoem of her maneuver.


    Seconds passed as the computers and the Yukopans worked furiously, the massive furry bipeds bouncing around their stations according to patterns that made sense only to them.


    ¡°Fire plan locked,¡± The Adjutant declared. ¡°Excuting.¡±


    ~~~~~


    The ship that was securing the low orbits blinked out as the ambushing Yukopan ship got the drop on it. Captain Rohon cursed, ordering the fleet to reposition. They were too spread out and while the majority of the enemy was only chaff to be cleared away, the Yukopan vessels were a peer level threat.


    Meaning that they had to be treated like a peer. The other captains must have been slow in realizing that they were in actual danger, because it wasn¡¯t until he sent them the request to group up near the third planet, the precious orb which would soon be integrated into the empire, that they realized that they  needed  to do more than shoot down the primitive vessels.


    His communication¡¯s officer was no help. The man would be execute when they returned due to his abrupt abandonment of his station. He was currently sobbing in the corner speaking of the virtues of his mother.


    Rohon watched the orrery with one eye as he stepped over to the empty station and began screaming at the other captains to take this seriously.


    ¡°Your momma¡¯s so fat that she didn¡¯t even notice she was pregnant with your ugly ass until you popped out of her--¡±


    ¡°My mother is the figure of grace and beauty you primitive Korpan!¡± the captain yelled back. ¡°When this is over I will board that Toormonda and I will --¡±


    ~~~~~


    ¡°They have crossed the red line,¡± Bob informed him. ¡°You may engage at will.¡±


    ¡°Target them all and fire with everything we have.¡±


    ¡°Executing fireplan.¡±


    ~~~~~~~


    The attacks hit all at once. Four of the Rosantean ships were simply gone after the energy washed over them. Not even debris remained.


    Rohon gasped in shock as the flagship of the Yonohoan self defense fleet emerged from stealth.


    He stopped screaming at the man who was saying terrible things about his mother and ordered a full retreat.


    If the Last Son of Eodar was in the system, then the Empire had made a grave miscalcuation.


    They had not sent nearly enough ships.


    ~~~~~~


    The after action report on the empire¡¯s side would say that it was an accident. A miscalculated fire plan executed by a clumsy gunnery officer who was panicking under intense enemy fire.


    The people from Earth called it a war crime and a violation of a number of treaties.


    The people of the empire pointed out that it was  only  a kirata beam, and not a weapon that was lethal to the human inhabitants.


    The people of earth retorted that the death toll from the three airplanes that suddenly lost control of their engines and crashed into the ocean added up to over a thousand souls.


    The people of the empire point out that the majority of the energies were dispersed across the ocean and not on inhabitted land.


    The people of Earth calmly corrected them that the western edge of Europe had been caught in the weapons fire had gone black, their technology completely destroyed by the EMP portion of the kirata beam.


    The Rosanteans insisted that it was an accident.


    The people of the earth didn¡¯t care, they wanted justice for the attack on their home soil.


    The officer who had overrided the computer¡¯s safety mechanism said nothing. He was found dead in his cabin before the ship had docked in port. The captain insisted that it was suicide, that he had been overcome with grief over the error and taken his own life.


    The people of Earth smelled a cover up.


    The encrypted orders that had been transmitted to the crew of the battle cruiser would eventually prove them correct.


    But the satisfaction of being right did not bring back the dead.


    ?

 2.53.

    2.53.


    ¡°The death toll in western europe continues to climb as officials work without the use of the technology that they have come to rely upon to determine the devastation. While the buildings and people appear to be unaffected by the weapon fired by one of the Rosantean¡¯s cruisers, thousands of people are dead and injured ¡­¡±


    Olivia turned the radio off. She didn¡¯t usually do that. John liked the radio. She had grown used to having it blaring in the background. Even when the news wasn¡¯t so grand, having it on had always seemed to calm him.


    But he was shaking after hearing the report of the orbital strike on Earth.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay, John,¡± she told him. ¡°The enemy fled the system. We¡¯re safe now.¡±


    ¡°Traitors to mankind,¡± he said. Then he screamed ¡°They¡¯re traitors!¡±


    ¡°Yes they are,¡± she agreed.


    ¡°They are the enemy! They deserve to be destroyed!¡± The boy abruptly began screaming in Yonohoan, and she no longer recognized him.


    Then, after several moments, he went still.


    Her blood chilled as she saw the coldness in his eyes.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know that humans could be the enemy,¡± he said calmly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for my outburst.¡±


    ¡°John,¡± she began. But she didn¡¯t know what to say. She hugged him. He stiffened in her arms, then relaxed a moment later.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go back upstairs,¡± she said. She had brought him down to the basement when the Emergency Broadcast had announced the incoming enemy fleet.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to talk about it,¡± he said.


    ¡°Okay. We¡¯ll talk about something else,¡± she promised. ¡°But no radio and no television for a while, okay?¡±


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    ¡°That¡¯s unnecessary,¡± he said. ¡°I want to--¡±


    ¡°I know it¡¯s not fair, but this is my house and my rules. Understand?¡±


    He was quiet. ¡°I will obey,¡± he said eventually.


    She hugged him again. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    ¡°I understand,¡± he said. They went upstairs and he helped her cook dinner. They ate in silence, and Olivia pretended not to notice that her charge was shaking with anger the entire time.


    ~~~~~~


    ¡°We formally request emergency aid from the Yonohoah for Western Europe,¡± Turnball said, his voice heavy with regret and emotion.


    ¡°I have already requested humanitarian efforts from my people,¡± Eolai informed him, placing a hand on his shoulder. The battle was a victory, but a pyrrhic one like the first battle against the Rosanteans. ¡°The first wave will be here within hours. They will require permission to land on the surface, but--¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re having trouble getting in contact with the governments of the area. As their representatives during times of war, I authorize the humanitarian efforts of the Yonohoah on their behalf,¡± Turnball stated.


    ¡°I shall relay that the explicit permission of their military leader has been given to provide the civilians with humanitarian aid,¡± Eolai promised.


    ¡°How does this change things?¡± Turnball asked. ¡°I know how this affects us. It¡¯s not as bad as it could be, since it was only EMP. Devastating but not as bad as something that would crack the planet in two. But what does it mean for us on an intersteller level?¡±


    ¡°It means that the Rosanteans ¡®dun fucked up,¡¯¡± Eolai said calmly. ¡°Because whether it was an accident or not, the use of an orbital weapon on a Darkworld is Casus Belli. As of twenty minutes ago, The Yonohoan people have declared war on the Rosanteans.¡±


    He paused, gathering his thoughts. Turnball saw that he had more to say and waited.


    ¡°It will not be swift. They will cry foul and protest their innocence. They will continue to break the rules while we will not. It will not matter. We will depose the Rosantean emperor and their entire government for what they have done here today. So many people will die because of what has happened on Earth, and I fear that it is only the beginning of a storm which will sweep through the universe.¡±


    ¡°That bad, is it?¡± Turnball asked.


    ¡°The only way it could become worse is if someone woke up a swarm.¡±

 3.1.

    3.1.


    The nightmare would not end.


    The questions did not stop.


    She couldn¡¯t breathe, the water was in her lungs, but she did not die.


    It went on forever, until it finally ended.


    ~~~~~


    Sarah awoke and screamed. She was naked beneath the sheets of an unfamiliar bed. She had no recollection of what had happened to her except that it was terrible and unending. But even as she tried to focus on it, to try to understand what had happened, what had been done to her, the memories slid out of her grasp like trying to cusp water in her hands.


    The lights came on, and a soft voice spoke to her in High Yonohoan. The language was different from what she had learned interacting with the medical staff at the hospital on planet Totola, and subsequently on the Toormonda she had flown with a group of Yonohoan teenagers, but she could still understand it.


    ¡°Clothes have been provided. You may dress at your leisure, after you have recovered from the rain-scry. It is recommended to take some time to collect yourself. There is no shame in this room. Nobody is watching, nobody will listen. There is no shame in this room. When you are ready to return to life, proceed through the door. You have been found innocent and it is our duty to protect the innocent. Clothes have been provided. You may dress at your leisure, after you--¡±


    The message repeated twice before she figured out how to acknowledge it by pressing a button on the speaker where the sound was coming from. She started to dress.


    She broke down crying instead.


    When she recovered, she continued to dress. She sat down upon the cot she¡¯d awoken on and spent some time trying to remember.


    She had been on a Toormonda ride, she remembered that. They had found something, and the military had become involved. They had cooperated, but she had been taken from the ship by a soldier. When she had grown afraid, the soldier had touched her and then --


    And then the nightmare that she couldn¡¯t remember.


    But her body remembered. She trembled with what had been done to her. Some sort of violation which she could not recall. She was grateful that she could not recall it, but she still felt a sense of violation.


    She remained in the room until she grew thirsty.


    There may be no shame in this room, but there was also no water. And no toilet. She collected herself, and opened the door.


    She stepped out into a hallway, and a hologram appeared. She had grown used to holograms since interacting with the Yonohoans, so she was not particularly surprised.


    ¡°Apologies for the trauma, Sarah from Earth. I assure you that we did not take the violation of your mental sanctity lightly. The high-inquisitor has deigned to apologize in person. Follow me.¡±


    ¡°What will happen if I do not?¡± She questioned.


    ¡°You will be returned to the Toormonda without your apology,¡± the hologram answered. ¡°We will not harm you further. If you resist the attempts to return you to the Toormonda, you will be placed in stasis and returned to your Toormonda. We will not harm you further.¡±


    She noticed that repetition seemed to be a thing with these people, but she acknowledged that the items being repeated were important ones.


    ¡°What happened to me?¡± she asked.


    ¡°The High-Inquisitor will explain with her apology,¡± the hologram said. ¡°If you do not accept the apology you will be returned to your ship without an apology or an explanation.¡±


    If she was being honest, she truly just wanted to go back to the Toormonda, where things made sense. But a part of her wanted ¨C demanded ¨C to know what had been done to her and why. So she followed the hologram.


    She entered a room with an expansive table, perhaps thirty meters long by three meters. A woman was sitting at the head of the table. A woman with wrinkled skin and blue eyes. Grey hair, but not from age.


    ¡°You have recovered swiftly. The people of Earth are robust,¡± the woman said.


    ¡°Are you the High-Inquisitor?¡± Sarah asked.


    ¡°I am. My name is Yunono. I am the wife of Eodar in many of our incarnations, but not all. He has earned his eternal rest, but I did not walk into the light of the universe in order to rest. I did it to serve humanity. And so I serve once more.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand,¡± Sarah said.


    ¡°I know. And that is for the best. I will not explain much, except that if you ask, I will tell you what was done to you,¡± Yunono said.


    ¡°What was it? I can¡¯t remember, only that it was terrible and when I awoke I couldn¡¯t stop shaking,¡± Sarah said.


    ¡°We call it a brain-scry. It is a deep level of interrogation. I apologize, it is normally used on suspected spies and informants. We prevent the brain from recalling it, but the body remembers no matter how we try to stop it. I am deeply sorry that it was used on you despite your innocence and our knowledge of your innocence,¡± Yunono explained.


    ¡° Why  was it done to me?¡± Sarah demanded.


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    ¡°Because you are from Earth. You presented tan opportunity for information about Earth which we could not pass up. Once more, I apologize, but I will not explain any further. You may strike me in anger if you wish. You may scream at me if you wish. Or you may simply request to go back to the ones whose company you arrived with.¡±


    ¡°What the  fuck is going on? ¡± Sarah demanded.


    ¡°I will not explain further,¡± Yunono said. ¡°For if I did, then innocent or not, I would not be able to allow you to return to your old life.¡±


    A spasm of fear passed through Sarah. ¡°But I may return as I am now?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Then take me back to the Toormonda. I want to get the fuck out of here.¡±


    ¡°As you wish.¡±


    The High Inquisitor waved her hand, and between one blink and the next Sarah was standing in the airlock of the Toormonda.


    She collapsed and began to cry once more.


    ~~~~~~


    The boy dribbled the basketball, waiting for his friends to get out of school. He didn¡¯t go to school, not yet. He wanted to. Not for the mission. Not anymore. The mission wasn¡¯t everything anymore.


    He didn¡¯t have to infiltrate society.


    He didn¡¯t have to worry about standing out.


    He didn¡¯t have objectives.


    He just ¡­ he just was.


    He had been born somewhere between one hundred and ninety thousand years ago.


    He had lived for twelve years.


    And he wanted to go to school because that is what twelve year old children did on Earth.


    He shot at the basket. The ball bounced off the backboard and swished through the net. His friends would be home soon and he could play with them. He was looking forward to it.


    The name his mother had given him was Eodar. She was a Yonohoan, back when that meant that she came from a primitive world where everyone must work together and struggle to survive with tools made from stone and wood.


    The name that the Earthlings had given him was John Doe.


    He chose to be John.


    Eodar was dead. It was better that way. Bad things had happened to Eodar, and John still remembered them. John had been Eodar but he was John now. It was better that way.


    But he still was all those things that he had been in the past.


    He was just more than that now.


    ¡°Hey, John! How¡¯s it hanging?¡± Tom asked, calling attention to himself. John snapped himself out of his own little world and turned to his friend, who was fourteen with black hair.


    John¡¯s own hair was short and white. His sloped forehead belayed his Yonohoan ancestry.


    ¡°Where¡¯s your brother?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Who cares. Pass me the ball,¡± Tom said, and John did.


    They played one on one for almost thirty minutes, working up a good sweat. They didn¡¯t talk much. John didn¡¯t talk much to anyone, and Tom sort of had a feeling that his friend preferred not to be overrun with conversation.


    There was one thing that had been bothering him for a while, however.


    When they stopped to rest, he finally worked up the courage to ask.


    ¡°John, you can call me stupid or crazy if you want,¡± Tom said. ¡°But are you an alien?¡±


    John stiffened. He had been dreading this moment. Before his nanite systems had been disabled, he had modified his appearance to better fit in. He couldn¡¯t do that any longer, and his appearance had returned to his natural state, more or less.


    He didn¡¯t quite  look  like an Earth human. He looked like a Yonohoan human. And there was nothing he could do about it.


    He could call Tom crazy or stupid, he knew. He could claim that he just had weird genes. But everyone knew how Yonohoans looked these days, and John looked Yonohoan.


    ¡°Yes,¡± he said at last. ¡°I¡¯m Yonohoan.¡±


    ¡°I knew it!¡± Tom declared. ¡°What¡¯s it like in space?¡±


    ¡°Dark and cold.¡±


    ¡°Well duh. What are you doing on Earth?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t really want to talk about it,¡± John said.


    Tom considered pressing, but decided not to. John lived with Doctor Nunes, and his parents had informed him to be extra sensitive around him. He decided to respect his friends privacy.


    ¡°I¡¯m dying to know, so if you change your mind I¡¯d love it if you told me,¡± Tom said, compromising with himself. ¡°But whatever. Good game. I¡¯m going to go shower.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, good game,¡± John agreed.


    He returned to Olivia¡¯s house. She was reading something. He stood at the door to the living room where she was sitting on the couch, holding the textbook in front of her.


    ¡°I told Tom that I¡¯m Yonohoan,¡± he informed her.


    She turned to him, understanding exactly how serious this was to him in an instant. ¡°How did he take it?¡±


    ¡°He wanted to know what space is like,¡± John answered. ¡°And I said I didn¡¯t want to talk about it and then he went to shower.¡±


    ¡°Do you think it will be a problem?¡± Olivia asked him.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. He didn¡¯t seem like he cared except that he thought it was cool. But I don¡¯t think he realizes that I¡¯m the one who blew up a city.¡±


    ?

 3.2.

    3.2.


    The Yonohoan ships blurred into place in orbit around a blue marble of a plent, the third rock from the sun.  They squawked out their identity over the radio waves, announcing their presence in the star system, followed by their intentions.


    They were relief ships, here to help Earth recover in the wake of the disastrous second battle between Earth and the Rosantean Empire.


    They had been invited in by the military authority, and their presence was expected.


    The fleet interrogated them further, just to make certain that this wasn¡¯t a Rosantean ploy.


    Aboard the flagship that his sworn brother had given him, Diego Cruz confirmed the identity of the relief ships and signaled to his fleet that they truly were Yonohoan vessels here to help.


    It had been six days since the battle, and Western Europe was still dark after being hit by the EMP like Kirata beam.  Thousands of people had died when plains, cars, and other vehicles had abruptly quit working, resulting in disastrous accidents.  More had died since then.


    Earth was struggling to recover from the orbital bombardment of.  She had been wounded, and at night the lack of city lights was apparent from orbit.


    But compared to many of the weapons which might have been used, the people of Earth had been lucky that it was only a Kirata beam.  Their technology was useless as anything except for a paperweight, but they remained alive.


    Most of them.


    Diego watched as the ships broke apart into smaller ships, leaving behind only the carrier frame.  The individual shuttles spread out and went for atmospheric landing.  The soldiers who had come aboard those shuttles had been trained centuries ago, he knew.  They had dedicated their lives to the service of humanity, and they were not ready to put down their calling yet.


    So they waited, in stasis, in a perpetual state of readiness.


    Waiting for the next war.


    A war that the Rosanteans had started when they broke intergalactic law by bombarding the surface of Earth.


    Those soldiers would help the local governments restore order and rebuild.  Then they would return to the stars, and rather than helping people, they would bring pain to the Rosanteans.


    Diego wished that he could feel good about that, but all he felt was sorrow.


    His people, both the people of Earth to whom he had been born and the Yonohoans who had adopted him in a sacred brotherhood ceremony with one of their most significant living figures, were marching to war.


    ~~~~~~~


    Captain Ji-eun Moon and Captain Anthony Anders stood at attention as the ceremony drew to a close.  They were aboard a space station which had been built in orbit around Mars by the Yonohoans, which was one of the few locations aside from Earth itself for official functions might occur.  Two representatives of the press, embedded reporters, had been present.  Moon and Anders had both just been commended for their actions during the Second Battle for Earth.


    ¡°Glad you survived,¡± Captain Moon said to her former XO.  They hadn¡¯t been in the same room together since she had left to complete the science mission of the  Seeker of New Discoveries  aboard the Toormonda ship that the Yonohoans had gifted them, which she had named  The Keeper of Dreams .


    That seemed so long ago, but it was really only a few weeks since they had come back.  But they were some of the most pivotal weeks in human history.


    Or at least, human history on Earth.


    ¡°You too,¡± Anders admitted.  ¡°Although to be honest I didn¡¯t do much.  I simply instructed my communications officer to continue making yo momma jokes at them until they suffered mental breakdowns.¡±


    ¡°That was clever.  I¡¯m surprised that they were so vulnerable to such simple tactics,¡± Captain Moon commented.


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing compared to your accomplishments.  Taking control of a ship that hasn¡¯t even been rated for human occupation yet and destroying two of the enemy vessels,¡± Anders objected.


    Moon shook her head.  ¡°The Yukopan ships are rated for combat.  You¡¯re running around a battlefield with a camera attached to a magic alien school bus.  You¡¯ve got balls of steel, Anders, and you deserve this medal.¡±


    ¡°So do you,¡± he commented.  ¡°Back at your post for two days before the battle and you played a pivotal role in the combat.  How does your boyfriend feel about that?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s still pissy that I re-upped without talking it over with him first.  I think we might be over.  I¡¯m not certain.  I don¡¯t want to call it off with him, but I wouldn¡¯t blame him at all for saying we¡¯re through¡± Captain Moon said.  ¡°How about you?  Any romances in your life?¡±


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°I¡¯ve found that my duty leaves little time for a love life, to be honest.  I hope that your boyfriend sees a way to forgive you, but if you¡¯re unwilling to stand aside in this conflict then I understand why he would prefer to move on.  A clean break is sometimes the best solution,¡± Anders said.


    ¡°I know.  I¡¯m dreading the possibility that we¡¯re ordered to take the Yukopan vessels and raid Rosantean space, you know?  It will be hard enough maintaining a long-distance relationship from within the solar system,¡± she said, sighing.  ¡°You heard anything about the captives we pulled out of their wreckage?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯ve apparently all vowed to cooperate with our POW laws.  When we informed them of their rights upon their surrender they were very reassured,¡± Anders answered.  ¡°They¡¯ve supposedly cooperated with the attempts to debrief them.  None of them are from the ship that fired on Earth, and none of them know whether it was an accident or not.  Or so they claim.  But according to our Yonohoan friends they¡¯re also not enhanced, so they¡¯re being held in a standard prison facility for now.¡±


    ¡°Scary to think of what might have happened if the salvage crews would have arrived a few days later,¡± she commented.  The Rosantean wrecks disabled by her own ship, a Yukopan vessel that she had named  The Other Shoe , had been marked as killed by her software, but they had in fact been merely disabled by their Kirata beam.


    Including the life support systems.  The air had been pretty thin by the time the Earth Space Force¡¯s crews had arrived to pry open the doors of the vessels, and the crew of the Rosantean wrecks had meekly surrendered.


    ¡°Nice touch of them, letting Lisa Desmond give that speech,¡± Captain Moon asked.


    ¡°You don¡¯t think it¡¯s opportunistic using her as a symbol for this war?¡± Anders asked.


    ¡°It is, but she wants vengeance for her husband.  If they didn¡¯t use her in an official capacity then she¡¯d be a loose cannon.  Better to keep ¡®The Widow of Earth¡¯ under control by making her an official part of the propaganda machine,¡± Captain Moon suggested calmly.


    ¡°I understand it.  I don¡¯t like it but I understand it.  A part of me is annoyed that ¡®Captain Kirk¡¯ has become such a symbol when hundreds of men and women died with the first skirmish, not just him.  But I understand it,¡± Anders said, sighing.  ¡°It¡¯s been good to talk with you again, Captain.  I¡¯m going to go try some of the crab-jello they¡¯re serving.  Diego said it¡¯s good.¡±


    Anders wandered off, and Captain Moon looked down at the commendation that she¡¯d been awarded.


    She understood the necessity of taking part in the ceremony, but she¡¯d feel better once she was back on her Yukopan vessel and continuing with the integration exercises to get Earth ready for the next possible wave of invaders.


    ~~~~~~


    The Yonohoans in the Korjakala ship,  Tumbaruna Toko , which literally meant ¡®very deep inside¡¯, but in a slightly inappropriate way that allowed it to be used in a very dirty joke, all came out of stasis at the same time as their ship¡¯s AI received notification from the government that the situation in the Rosantean Empire meant that it was no longer safe to play Korjakala among the stiff-necked authoritarian region.


    They were a little surprised.  Ten years ago they had pretended to be from a darkworld just beyond the disk of the galaxy in one of the stars that had been flung out of the milky way.  They had enjoyed the confusion that their antics had caused, and they¡¯d managed to get thirty of the Empire¡¯s Enforcer class ships following them before they¡¯d abruptly engaged their  real  stealth systems, as opposed to the one that was designed to make the ship invisible but even more easy to track to every other sensor system.


    It had been fun, and they had agreed to wait twenty years in stasis before trying it again.


    Now, the young men and women, who had spent more time in stasis than they had been alive, were swiftly reviewing the information that their government had sent them.


    A darkworld had been found.  Named Earth, it was one of the most culturally rich worlds to have emerged into the universe in millennia.  The Rosantean Empire had attempted a meat-fisted grab in order to expand their territory, and the Earthlings had beaten them back twice.


    But the parting shot of the Rosanteans had struck the beautiful planet.  In outrage, the Yonohoan government had declared war.


    Which meant that the time for the playful Korjakal was over.


    The crew of the  Toko  met in the flesh in the bridge.  The humans and Topokans both discussed their options.  They could either return home¡­


    Or¡­


    ¡°Where is the nearest shipyard of the Rosanteans?¡± one of the peers of the ship inquired.


    ¡°According to the information that we have, there is a manufacturing ring twelve light years away,¡± another peer said.


    The first among peers saw what his friends were thinking and nodded.  He was thinking the same.  ¡°We are far behind enemy lines, my friends.  If we leave for safety, I am certain we will make it.  Or we can use this opportunity to strike a blow into the heart of those who would use an orbital strike on an inhabited planet and teach them that they are not as safe from retribution as they believe.¡±


    ¡°We are not part of the military,¡± one of the peers objected.  ¡°We were just playing Korjakala.¡±


    ¡°Korjakala is many things, and it we have been in service of our people since we began.  We may think of it as a game, but it is also a perpetual state of readiness to ensure that we are ready to act should the treaties be broken,¡± The first among peers reminded them.  ¡°Nobody will shame us if we turn back now.  But if we strike at the heart of the empire, even if we die or are captured, then we will be seen as heroes.¡±


    The room was quiet as the Yonohoans considered the matter.  The Topokans shifted about nervously, waiting to see what the humans would decide.  Whatever it was, the Topokans would fall into line with their allies.  Where the Yonohoans led, the Topokans followed.


    Abruptly all of the Yonohoans stepped forward.


    ¡°It is decided,¡± the first among peers declared.  ¡°Let us send our decision to the military and see if they have any targets for us to strike more rich than those we can find on our own.¡±


    ?

 3.3.

    3.3.


    Dornodo¡¯s arms wrapped tightly around her, and she felt safe.  It was just a feeling.  She knew that they were not really safe, but after the invasion of the brain-scry she had needed to do something to reclaim her autonomy and sense of control.


    So she had claimed Dornodo.


    He had been hesitant, at first.  Sarah hadn¡¯t told him what she had been through when she had practically jumped him, but he knew of her past.  Of her treatment for a psychiatric condition caused by exposure to what the Earthlings called the Tunnel Drive.  How it had caused her to focus on one of her crewmates to an extremely unhealthy degree, one that was cut off from the reality of the situation.


    He knew how devastated she had been when the bubble had been popped and she had been forced to look at the truth.  Because she had told him, in quiet moments while the students of the Toormonda were elsewhere.  Because talking to him had felt good, and because she wasn¡¯t ashamed of what she¡¯d been through.


    She had been returned to the Toormonda in the middle of the night.  Their psuedo-night/rest period, at least.  She had entered his private room and asked to speak with him.  Rather than tell him what had happened, she had kissed him.


    He had tried to protest, but she had begged him to ¡°Be here for me, now,¡± and he had relented.


    And it had been wonderful.  A little taste of happiness to wash away the horror.


    Now, as she lay listening to his breath and his heartbeat, she wondered how he would react when he awoke.  Would he be angry for taking advantage of him?  Would he see her as a vulnerable flower due to her medical condition and insist that this would be the only time they could be together?


    She needed him last night.  She had needed a sense of control, and he had helped her reclaim that.


    But now?  Now she was once more uncertain and afraid.  She  wanted  this, she realized.  Dornodo was a wonderful man.  Funny and insightful, patient and willing to go to great lengths to explain things to her, he had made her welcome aboard the Toormonda and helped her adapt to the unfamiliar environment.


    The Toormonda was his home.  He owned the vessel and operated it as a business.  He had welcomed her into his home when she had needed a place to recover.  And when she had been hurt in a way that she didn¡¯t really understand, he had helped her recover from that as well.


    She might be in love with  the Yonohoan teacher/chaperone, she realized.  She explored the feeling while she enjoyed his embrace.


    This felt right.


    But so had her feelings for Diego.


    Was she making the same mistake as before?


    Or was this how it was supposed to be?


    She didn¡¯t know.


    He stirred, and she realized he was waking.  He yawned and looked down on her.


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t a dream,¡± he said to himself.


    ¡°No, it wasn¡¯t.  Thank you for last night,¡± she said.


    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have taken advantage of you,¡± he said.


    ¡°I¡¯m the one who took advantage,¡± she countered.  ¡°I needed you.  I¡¯m sorry.  Thank you and I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    He frowned.  ¡°I sensed something was amiss.  I should have said no, but something in my heart said that you would shatter if I did not show you that you could still know love.  I do not know what happened in the days that you were away, and you do not have to tell me, but I hate the ones who took you.¡±


    ¡°They called it a brain-scry,¡± she said honestly.


    He tensed.


    ¡°I am sorry that you were put through that,¡± he said.  She could sense a current of deep anger under his words, but not for her.  It was righteous indignation on her behalf.  ¡°It is a grave violation.  I can understand why you needed me in the way that you did, now that you have told me.¡±


    ¡°Thank you,¡± she said.


    ¡°I am not certain it should happen again, however,¡± He confessed.


    ¡°I know,¡± she agreed.  ¡°But I think I want it to.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s dress, and go eat.  The students were worried about you and it will be good for them to see you, and for you to see them,¡± he predicted.  ¡°We can talk about matters later, after we¡¯ve both had some time to think, and you have had some time to regain your sense of control.  I apologize for not being able to protect you against what you were forced to undergo.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not your fault,¡± she said.  ¡°You were there for me when I needed you.  That¡¯s all I could ever ask.¡±


    ~~~~~~


    Opala walked into the middle of the grassy field outside the village.  Her shuttle had just landed outside the pastoral town and she had spent twenty minutes discussing matters with the local officials.  This village had been lucky, almost everyone had been sheltering in place when the attack had come.  Nobody had been driving a vehicle when technology failed them, so nobody had died.


    She held in her hand what looked like a small iron stake.  It  was  a stake, but it was not iron.  She reached out with a muscle that wasn¡¯t a muscle of her body and flexed, connecting her wetware to the device as she took control of it and began programming according to the information that she had been given.


    The people of this city were unharmed, but their infrastructure was destroyed.  It would take years for the Earthlings to completely replace and rebuild what had been lost using their own technology.


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    In the mean time, Opala would help them find shelter using hers.


    She finished entering the parameters into the stake¡¯s software and drove it into the ground with her foot.  She walked quietly away to where the villagers were watching her.


    ¡°It will take the rest of the day,¡± she told them, ¡°But by tonight there will be a building here with running water and power.  The quarters will be cramped, but you will be able to bathe, sleep, and cook for yourselves using the facilities inside.  I apologize that I cannot do more.  I will remain with you to show you how the devices inside function, but after you have settled I will have to move on.¡±


    The alderman nodded and thanked her profusely.


    Behind her, the building nanites went to work, stripping the material that they needed out of the ground and putting it to new purpose.  The foundation formed as the soft ground turned solid, then graphite beams began forming a scaffolding that would eventually form the skeleton structure of the massive building.


    There would be very little privacy with the open dormitories and communal spaces.  But the refugees would have someplace to go while they rebuilt.


    And when it was over, they would have a new symbol to remind them of their time of hardship and the relief that had come to them from the sky.


    ~~~~~~


    ¡°Across the affected lands, the Yonohoan relief efforts continue assisting law enforcement to make progress in restoring law and order to areas affected by rioting and unrest.  Their use of what roughly translates into ¡®building nanites¡¯ are creating shelter points throughout the affected nations, allowing people to remain where they are while still receiving food, shelter, and medical care during this troubling time,¡± The reporter said.


    ¡°While some continue to view the Yonohoans with mistrust and suspicion, the majority of the public opinion polls are showing an overwhelming positive response to their humanitarian efforts in the wake of Europe¡¯s bombardment by the Rosantean EMP weapon.  The exact death toll remains uncertain, and the cost of rebuilding is expected to be significant, but everyone seems to agree that the swift arrival and actions of our new allies has kept a bad situation from getting even worse.


    ¡°While the Yonohoans remain strange to us in many ways, they continue to extend a helping hand.  Earlier in the day, their chief spokesman Eolai has announced that the Yonohoans have declared war on the Rosanteans.  This decision was apparently made immediately after the bombardment, and he expressed surprise that the people of Earth were not already aware of this fact.  We go now to the recording of the exchange ¡­¡±


    Doctor Olivia Nunes tuned out the report.  John was out playing basketball again.  She regretted the new rule about the radio and the news being off limits to him until the furor of the attack settled down, but she still recalled the way he had first reacted with rage, and then abruptly went calm as he processed the attack on Earth.


    She had promised him that she would keep him informed, but although he preferred having the radio or the television on in the background, she had determined that it wasn¡¯t in his best interest to listen to the ongoing talk of death tolls and reconstructions.  She had promised to keep him informed if anything else significant happened, but reminded him that it wasn¡¯t his job to fight anymore.


    Since he had decommissioned himself, he didn¡¯t even have the ability to do so.


    He was adapting well to his new environment, she reflected.  It was less structured than the facility where he had been under observation until his body¡¯s enhancements had faded, but she wasn¡¯t worried that he would run off.  She was in the process of getting him enrolled in school.


    With Eolai of the Yonohoans providing the funding, she had decided to place him in a private school rather than public, and she was expecting a call from their office soon.  The phone rang, and she answered it immediately.  The caller was not the school.


    ¡°Hello Olivia Nunes.  How is my father doing during this troubling time?¡± a musical voice asked.  She recognized it immediately from the custody hearing.


    ¡°He¡¯s adjusting,¡± she admitted.  ¡°Hello Eolai.¡±


    ¡°Has he asked to speak with his family since he was released into your custody?¡± Eolai asked, sounding hopeful.


    ¡°He¡¯s adjusting to life on Earth.  He¡¯s very much looking forward to going to school.  He spends most of his free time playing basketball.  Are you familiar with that sport?¡±


    ¡°Vaguely, but if my father is interested in it than I will investigate it more closely,¡± the Yonohoan man said.


    ¡°Eolai, I wish that you wouldn¡¯t call him that.  I understand that by your traditions the clone of your father is your father as well.  But he¡¯s only twelve years old.  It kind of sounds strange and creepy.¡±


    ¡°Apologies.  It is not wise to call him by his true name, however.¡±


    ¡°He prefers to be called John now.¡±


    ¡°I see.  I shall respect his decision.  I wish to see him.¡±


    Olivia chewed her lip as she considered the request.  ¡°I will discuss it with him whether or not seeing you is in his best interest.  He is very concerned that you have reason to hate him.¡±


    ¡°Because he ripped off my arm?  He is worried that I am angry with him?  Or because he killed my Topoka?¡± Eolai asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Olivia answered.


    ¡°I am not angry.  I was greatly saddened that I failed him when we retrieved him from the lost life pod that was discovered.  Sorrow and worry is all that I felt as I fought to recover and find him once more.  And despair when he activated his decommissioning protocol, followed by intense relief and hope when he survived it,¡± the alien explained.  ¡°You may tell him that I forgive him for what happened between us and that I wish to get to know him.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Eolai.  We¡¯re taking things slow with his recovery, but I¡¯ll discuss the matter with him over dinner tonight,¡± She promised.  ¡°How can I get in contact with you?¡±


    ¡°I will send you what your people have been calling a PHDA.  It will be able to get in contact with me no matter where I am in the universe,¡± Eolai said.  ¡°But until the aftershocks of the Rosantean attack have calmed down, I will remain on Earth as the contact point to your governments.  I would greatly like to see my ¨C John, before I am forced to shift into a new role.¡±


    ¡°I understand,¡± Olivia said.  She paused.  ¡°Are you still trying to bring him back to Planet Totola?¡±


    ¡°I am uncertain whether that would be in his best interest, to be honest,¡± Eolai admitted.  ¡°Until he has recovered from the training and programming that High-Command put him through, it may be best for him to remain in a low stress environment such as the one you have created for him.  If he is returned to the Yonohoan people, I am worried that the dissonance between how he remembers us and how we are will cause him distress.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s very understanding of his situation, Eolai.¡±


    ¡°I must go now.  Please contact me with your decision.  If you do not, I will request visitation privileges through your court system, but I would prefer to keep things unofficial.¡±


    ¡°I understand,¡± she said, and the conversation came to an end.


    A few moments later, John came into the house.  He set the basketball aside in its spot near the door and went upstairs without saying anything.  She read his body language and was fairly certain that he was just distracted.


    That was fine.


    He was doing well.  She was happy for him.


    She¡¯d have to return to work soon, however, and she needed to get him into school.  So she picked up her phone once more and called their office.


    The joys of parenthood, she thought to herself as she waited on hold to speak with the principal.


    ?

 3.4.

    3.4.


    In the chair before the mahogany desk of the general was the alien leader Eolai.  With his slightly sloped forehead and white hair, he appeared almost like an Earthling, but enough of a difference existed that his origins were apparent to anyone who knew about the Yonohoans,  He was quiet, examining his fingernails as he waited for General Turnball to speak.


    ¡°You want to turn Earth into a fortress,¡± the general said eventually.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Eolai admitted.  ¡°I¡¯m uncertain how else to proceed, to be honest.  Placing orbital shield generators and weapon emplacements throughout orbit seems to be the best response.  We will have to clear up your orbitals of the many items of space junk, which will require your cooperation of course.  But putting proper defensive measures into place will ensure that the tragedy that occurred in Western Europe does not happen again.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t approve this on my own.  The satellites you¡¯re talking about taking down belong to private companies or the nations themselves, not the ESF.  Some of the people involved aren¡¯t going to be happy to have their eyes in the skies taken from them,¡± Turnball said.


    ¡°That is why this is a proposal and nothing more.  It would sadden me to see another attack land on this beautiful planet, but I still respect its sovereignty,¡± Eolai said.


    Turnball nodded.  ¡°How effective would this be?¡±


    ¡°It would be constructed by us, the Yonohoans.  There is nobody better at making weapons and the technology to counter those weapons than us.  You saw for yourself the devastating effect that my flagship had when the red lines were crossed and Diego Cruz ordered it to open fire upon the enemy,¡± Eolai pointed out.


    ¡°Yes, I did,¡± Turnball agreed.  He shifted through the papers, then placed them back in their folder and sighed.  ¡°Eolai, why is it that you¡¯re helping us?¡±


    ¡°To be honest, at first it was simple curiosity and boredom,¡± Eolai admitted.  ¡°However, I have grown very fond of you Earthlings.  Even in your distrust of the Yonohoans, you are just so amusing.  While I hoped the events that have come to pass would not happen, I predicted the possibility of the Rosanteans attempting to subjugate you and decided I found the idea unpalatable.  So I took steps to try to prevent it.¡±


    ¡°If we had accepted your offer and allowed you to list us as a protectorate of the Yonohoan, the battles with the Rosanteans would have gone much differently, wouldn¡¯t they?¡± Turnball asked.


    ¡°They would have been over in seconds.  The Rosanteans would have seen the Yonohoan ships and fled,¡± Eolai explained.  ¡°There would be no open conflict.  Just the perpetual tensions that have existed in this galaxy for millennia.¡±


    ¡°Your ships are truly that powerful?¡±


    ¡°There is only one force in the known universe which could counter a fleet of our vessels,¡± Eolai explained.  ¡°And that is a fleet from the Swarms.¡±


    ¡°So, do we need to continue to worry about the Rosanteans, or will they be too busy defending themselves to launch another offensive?¡± Turnball asked.


    ¡°They will almost definitely be back,¡± Eolai predicted.  ¡°You have humiliated them twice.  Their investment on taking this world will have increased, not decreased, since they were turned back the second time.  However, they will not dare attack while a Yonohoan relief fleet is in the orbitals.  Even our ships of mercy are frightful in battle.¡±


    ¡°So what¡¯s the overall plan then?  The Yonohoans will take the fight to their empire while we hunker down and wait for it all to be over?¡± Turnball asked.


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    ¡°This fight will take decades.  Perhaps centuries, General.  First I would strongly recommend securing your home system while the Yonohoans relieve the pressure on you by applying pressure to your enemy.  Once Earth is safe, then you can worry about the shape of the rest of the war,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°Yes, I see your point,¡± Turnball said.  He sighed.  ¡°I¡¯ll get my people moving to get the approval we need for this plan of yours.  In the aftermath of Western Europe, perhaps we can galvanize enough support for these measures.  I don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°Very well.  I shall await to hear your response, one way or the other.¡±


    Eolai got out of the chair and left.  Once he was gone, Turnball returned to the proposal and began reexamining it.


    If it were up to him, the Yonohoans would already be building the latticework of shields and weapons that were detailed within.  But while he might be one of the key leaders of the ESF, he wasn¡¯t a god, or a king.  He needed to run this through the proper channels, and that would take time.


    He hoped that they  had  time.  He was worried that they did not, and that Eolai¡¯s optimism about the safety of Earth was misplaced.


    ~~~~~~


    The  Tumbaruna Toko  was, at it¡¯s heart, a swift attack destroyer.  It simply needed to be reminded of that fact, and the peers who piloted it and their Topokan allies swiftly set about the task.  They broke off the sections and segments had been welded to the hull to make it look like it was an ancient ruin recovered and repurposed by a primitive people.


    They cycled its weapons and gathered matter from a nearby gas giant to make new munitions.  They tuned its engines to get rid of the intentional disharmony that they had placed into their drive systems to make it look like they didn¡¯t know what they were doing.


    It took two days of constant work, with the peers only stopping for biological necessities.


    When it was over, the ship was sleek and deadly looking, the superficial damage that they had caused it for Korjakala literally healing itself as the advanced armors of the hull returned to their natural form.


    Once they had completed their work, they did not pause.  They knew that the enemy was preparing for an offensive from their people, but they would not be expecting an attack from so far behind their lines.  Not yet.


    In the shipyards of Ossan Nebit, production was just ramping up to prepare for the upcoming war.  Thousands of ships had been requested, and it would take time to fill the order.  The foreman of the shipyards was preemptively counting his money from the government when the  Toko  appeared and opened fired.


    The plasma lances raked over his facilities, targeting the most critical of machinery and the stores of parts that were manufactured elsewhere.  The Kirata beams struck the residential district, causing no loss of life but destroying all but the most hardened of systems like life support.


    The foreman watched in horror as his precious shipyard was dismantled over the course of two hours.  He had sent out a request for reinforcements, but the forces of the imperial army were unable to respond for another six hours.


    He was staring at the  Toko  when they finally turned their attention on the administration building.  They hit it first with a kirata, wiping the majority of their systems.  Then their plasma lance.


    The foreman was wiped away into his constituent atoms before he realized what was happening.


    The systematic dismantling of the shipyards continued, leaving little but wreckage and ruin behind.  When the Imperial reinforcements finally arrived, they found nothing; the  Toko  was long gone, leaving not even a wake in the hyperatomic plane to follow.


    ?

 3.5.

    3.5.


    Yunono examined the memories of the woman from Earth.  While she regretted the torment that she had put the innocent young lady through, she felt no remorse.  She would do it again for half of the actionable intelligence that she had gathered.


    She knew that much of the military data in the woman¡¯s mind was out of date.  They had encountered the Yononoans.  The Yonohoans had pledged their support.  That alone meant that their military would not remain the pitiful skeleton that it had been when the woman had last been in orbit of her planet.


    The Yonohoans would put some meat on that skeleton, and perhaps even give it a mind keen enough to be dangerous.


    But it did not change her duty.  There was so much in the woman¡¯s memories that was worth harvesting.  She had sent the data to the scouts so that they could begin assessing it and formulating their strategies.  Now, Yunono simply observed the dream-like holograms that had been pulled out of Sarah¡¯s mind with esoteric technology.


    She it was voyeuristic, and a gross invasion of privacy.  But it might prove to help her understand the target in some way, and was therefor justified.


    She would do what she¡¯d done to Sarah a thousand times without hesitation just for one more piece of the plan to protect the human species.


    Part of the problem was that the plan, as High-Command had set it out one hundred thousand years ago, did not account for modern interstellar society being what it was.  It relied on the info-nets being fractured and disconnected.  Which they were, but they were interconnected enough that the initial plan of silencing the cradle eternally so that none would know of its strategic importance was no longer actionable.


    People knew where Earth was, and it was too late to change that.


    If they knew where Earth was, then they could calculate where Earth  had been .  If they knew where Earth had been, say, one hundred and ten thousand years ago, before the spread of humanity through the universe, then they could ignite a Temporal Dissolution Matrix in that spot, causing a rippling chain reaction that would wash through the entire universe.


    The people of Earth would have been slaughtered to keep the truth a secret under the initial plan.  If the information had come only one year earlier, then Yunono might have followed the plan and destroyed the Earth entirely in the present so that nobody could calculate its vulnerability in the past.


    But doing so now would only draw further attention to the planet.


    She had to think.  She had to plan.  She had to develop an alternative method of protecting the Earth.


    She needed more information.


    With a wave of her hand, she summoned up the commander of the Scouts.  A young man, no more than twenty years of age, appeared before her in the form of a hologram.


    ¡°You have permission to initiate infiltration of the target,¡± she said.  ¡°The previous scout who highlighted the strategic importance of this planet was captured.  Use all stealth and guile to make certain that the same fate does not fall upon you.¡±


    The man saluted with his fist to his heart and vanished.


    Yunono returned to her voyeurism.


    She was glad the universe had changed since the days when she had been born.  It would have been such a shame to destroy such a beautiful planet.  She would have done it, but it would have been a shame.


    ~~~~~~~


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    The men and women stood in rows, standing at attention as the alien leader walked by them, accompanied by their own general.  Turnball had been surprised at Eolai¡¯s suggestion, but had quickly put together a group of volunteers.


    All of the men and women were front-line soldiers.  All of them had various degrees of combat experience, and most of them had training in high-threat response tactics.  Others had training with heavy weapons, or other forms of dangerous munitions.


    Eolai examined the men and women carefully, but in truth he was detached.  He had told Turnball to bring him the best soldiers that he could find for this project, but he knew better than anyone that looks were deceiving and that discipline was not the only factor that mattered.


    Once he had walked past every person in the field, he doubled back and stood before them all.


    ¡°You have been brought here without being told why.  You know who I am but not why I have called you here,¡± Eolai said.  ¡°Your world is at war.  You may be invaded at any time, and the enemy has previously shown the ruthlessness to attack the planet itself.  While you may believe that the orbital Kirata beam was a weapon of mass destruction, the truth is that in the universe the Kirata beam is considered a weapon of mercy, for it destroys but does not kill.¡±


    Eolai allowed his eyes to sweep over the gathered soldiers once more.  ¡°Tell me.  Do you know what the most dangerous weapon in the universe is?¡±


    His question was met with silence.  When a moment passed and nobody answered, he answered his own question.


    ¡°It is a human.  The most dangerous weapon in the universe is the human being, for we possess the ability to use all other weapons that have existed in this universe and have shown the will to do so at multiple instances.  We are dangerous beyond belief.   You are dangerous .  And you must assume that the enemy is no less dangerous than you are yourself.¡±


    Eolai paused, then turned to the general.  ¡°Tell me, general.  Do you believe that any of these soldiers could defeat me?¡±


    ¡°I have seen you in combat.  No, Eolai.  If you are armed and armored, I do not believe that any individual soldier could defeat you, and that it would take a great coordinated effort to bring you down,¡± Turnball answered.


    ¡°Yet I am barely qualified to call myself an infantryman,¡± Eolai said.  ¡°I possess the nanites required, I have been trained, I can use the armor.  But compared to a true soldier I am weak.¡±


    ¡°Then it frightens me to think what a true Yonohoan infantryman can do,¡± General Turnball admitted.


    ¡°Good.  But I did not bring you out here to brag about the might of my people,¡± Eolai said.  Abruptly, a swarm of dust swept by and engulfed him.  It coalesced into a suit of armor, which many of the soldiers were familiar with.  It was the same as the infantrymen who had fought the infiltrator had worn.


    ¡°If you wish to defend your homeworld from the scouts and infantry of the enemy, then you must become the scouts and the infantry of Earth.  Before you commit to this training, allow me to demonstrate what you will be capable of when it concludes.¡±


    With that, he leapt into the air.  He hovered fifty meters up, raised his fist, and shot the ground with an impulse weapon that caused an explosion as though a fragmentation grenade had gone off.  He flew one hundred meters to the side, then landed.  He raised his hands, and another coalescing of nanites formed a shoulder mounted plasma lance.  He fired it at a nearby mountain.


    It pierced the mountain and continued off into space, lighting up the sky beyond the horizon.


    The plasma lance puffed back into smoke and he waved his hand, summoning a smaller rifle.  He fired it on automatic down the range and utterly destroyed the targets which were waiting down there.  He kept firing for ten minutes, showcasing the weapon¡¯s stamina.


    ¡°The armor of the infantryman is the most dangerous weapon short of the man wearing it that is legal to deploy on a planet,¡± Eolai said, turning back to the group.  ¡°If you chose to decline this training, there is no shame.  If you proceed, then you should know that there is a chance that you will die.  That your body will fail to adjust to the changes.  It is slim, but possible that you will put forth more effort for this training than anything else you have undertaken in your life and still fail to succeed.¡±


    He paused, and he waited.


    ¡°If you wish to continue with this training, take one step forward.¡±


    The assembled soldiers moved in unison.


    ?

 3.6.

    3.6.


    The ship did not come out of the hyperatomic plane.  It came not from above this universe, but from the side.  From the slipstream, the sideways realm where particles had their spin turned kittywompus.


    There was no light in the slipstream, and there was no speed limit for particles.  But there was matter, and it was nearly impossible to detect, making traveling through the slipstream incredibly dangerous as the traveler was subject to crashing into invisible masses of planetoids and get pulled into rushing rapids of energy.


    It wasn¡¯t illegal to travel in the slipstream, it was just strongly recommended that anyone who dared to do so have their head examined.


    The primary advantage of this sideways universe where there was no speed limit, aside from the ability to go very, very fast, was that there was no way to detect travel through it from the material universe.


    Meaning that when the  Tumbaruna Toko  emerged from the slipstream in center of the six space stations, it was completely undetected.


    With its stealth activated, it evaluated the accuracy of its intelligence.  After thirty minutes of study, they concluded that this cluster of stations in the dark between stars was a key reinforcement point for the Rosantean navy.


    It was a valid target.  This was not a civilian habitation ring, it was a military base.


    Without dropping stealth, they fired their weapons.


    One torpedo struck the nearest station.  Rather than exploding, it turned to sludge.  The sludge got everywhere, on every thing and every one.  The people affected screamed in terror as the vehicles and walls around them turned to sludge, but the nanites covering them did not eat their flesh.


    Not that it mattered, as soon the entire station was a formless mass, and the kindness of the weapons munition who designed the weapon not to eat people was irrelevant as the dead were just as dead from exposure to the void.


    Three stations were raked with the plasma lance and kirata beam, wiping their computer systems and slicing them clean in half.  One of them suffered a reactor breach and burst into nuclear fire.


    Missile struck the other two.  They exploded, but seemed to deal only superficial damage.


    The  Tumbaruna Toko  abruptly vanished once more through the slipstream.  The survivors clustered in their lifepods and shelters as they waited for the end of their lives, unaware at first that their attackers had spared them.


    Then they returned to work, beginning to assess and repair the damage.


    Unaware of the subtle way the scorch marks from the missiles were slowly expanding, covering more and more of the exterior of the station with a small black film.


    Ships docked and people were evacuated.


    The film got on their hulls.


    The nanite infection began to spread throughout the secure locations of the Rosantean fleets.


    ~~~~~~


    The principal sat behind the desk.  Olivia sat in the chair in front of it.  She suppressed the feeling like she had been called here for misbehavior.  This was a parent-teacher meeting, and it was a preemptive one before the student had even begun classes.


    It was Saturday, and the school was empty except for them and the proctor who was giving John his placement exams in a nearby classroom.  The principal adjusted his glasses and read the reports.  Olivia gave him the time to do so, although she was secretly annoyed.  She¡¯d filed those reports a week ago, and he was only reading them now?


    ¡°I see,¡± the principal said when.  ¡°Well, you did apply for special consideration to bypass our usual application process and you  do  have diplomatic status.  Serving the children and family of our diplomatic community is a role that we take pride at here at Brentwood Preparatory School.¡±


    ¡°Yes.  He is directly related to one of the key diplomats from Yonohoah,¡± she agreed.


    ¡°And that fact is being taken into account, even as ¡­ unusual as it is,¡± the principal said.  ¡°However, the aspect that has me most concerned is the boy¡¯s history of violence.¡±


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    ¡°John has a firm control of his anger.  He was trained as a child soldier and was once capable of extreme violence in the pursuit of his mission.  He is adjusting well to his new reality as a normal child.  He hasn¡¯t hurt anyone since he arrived on Earth.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not exactly true.  He fired upon officers who were attempting to bring him in,¡± the principal argued.  ¡°I¡¯ve seen the videos on the news myself.¡±


    Olivia cursed the media.  Those videos of John in his armor had been sensational and everywhere in the aftermath of the confrontations.  ¡°He utilized non-lethal weaponry to avoid inflicting casualties.  He believed that he was on a mission with wide spread implications that might affect billions of lives.¡±


    ¡°So he has delusions of grandeur?¡± the principal asked.


    ¡°No.  Other versions of him truly  have  been sent on those sorts of missions.  Do not forget that he is a clone of an elite child soldier who served for  millennia .  He was disoriented and confused after spending what we think is thousands of years in stasis,¡± she explained.


    The principal sighed.  ¡°If it were the child telling me these things I¡¯d know how to handle it.  Instead it¡¯s the government that¡¯s making extraordinary claims.  Doctor Nunes, you must understand, the last two schools that this child went to were raided by the FBI.  Am I really suppose to subject Brentwood to that sort of liability?¡±


    Olivia sighed.  John was going to be so disappointed.  He liked the uniform of Brentwood and was already looking forward to it.  It suited his personality to have a uniform to wear.


    ¡°On the other hand, that was before his situation was all out in the open,¡± the principal admitted.  He scratched his nose and considered the matter.  ¡°And it would be a point of distinction to be the first school to educate a Yonohoan.¡±


    Olivia remained silent, wishing that the man would simply make up his mind one way or the other.


    After a moment, the man shrugged.  ¡°We¡¯ll wait to see how he does on the placement exams before making any firm decisions.  If he is extremely remedial, perhaps a private education setting would be more suitable for him until he catches up to where he should be.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for the consideration, sir, but it¡¯s really the socialization that John needs at this time more than anything else,¡± Olivia argued.  ¡°He is highly intelligent and extremely skilled in math and science.  He is perhaps remedial in social studies and literature, but that¡¯s to be expected from an extraterrestrial who comes from a completely alien culture.¡±


    ¡°Let us wait until the test scores are tallied,¡± the principal repeated.


    So they waited.


    ~~~~~~


    John placed the pencil down on the desk.  He¡¯d finished the test in half the allotted time.  He also knew exactly how well he¡¯d done.


    He¡¯d gotten every math and science question right.


    He¡¯d failed everything else.


    He sighed.  He stood up and went to the front of the classroom, handing his test to the proctor.


    The adult looked at him in surprise.  ¡°You thirty minutes left for the final section, son.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not my father, don¡¯t call me son,¡± John snapped before he could stop himself.  He frowned.  Family ties were important, one should not simply throw them about like that.


    The man looked unimpressed.  ¡°Go sit down and finish your test.¡±


    ¡°I have finished.  I¡¯ve answered the questions.  There¡¯s no point in waiting until we run out of time because my results won¡¯t change,¡± John pointed out.


    ¡°Go sit down,¡± the man repeated, a little bit of an edge in his voice.


    I could kill him , John thought suddenly.  Three different ways of ending the man¡¯s life given nothing more than the supplies in the room came to him.


    He returned to his seat and stared out the window until the end of the hour.


    ~~~~~~~


    They would find out the results tomorrow.  On the car ride home, John confessed to Olivia about the violent impulses which he¡¯d grappled with.  She drove slowly, and they talked in detail about the difference between thought and action.


    John hadn¡¯t  acted  on his thoughts, and so they were okay.  He probably would have thoughts like that from time to time, she informed him.  He should acknowledge them as part of himself and then put them aside.


    John stared out the window.  He understood that much already.  He hadn¡¯t wanted to kill the man.  The ways that he could do so had just come to him in that moment unbidden.


    He looked down at his hands, flexing them then making a fist.


    He might not be any stronger than the average twelve year old anymore.


    But he was still dangerous.


    ?

 3.7.

    3.7.


    The ship was loud.


    It¡¯s engines were deliberately tuned to cause a massive wake in the hyperatomic plane. It was not designed for stealth, but the opposite. Like a Harley Davidson waking a neighborhood in the wee hours of the morning, it called attention to itself simply by revving its engines.


    It appeared above the plane of the solar system and began squawking out its presence using a radio signal. The message it played was in english. Not translated; the person speaking had a heavy accent and was clearly reading a script, stumbling over some of the words.


    ¡°Greetings Earthlings! I am Ambassador Tonom Genisi from the Acklatic Empire! I am eager to make your acquaintances and establish former diplomatic relations! I looking forward to tasting air of your planet! And your women and your men! Please do not shoot my ship. No weapons only shields. Am no threat, wish diplomacy!¡±


    It continued to squawk the message and broadcast across different radio frequencies while the Earthlings got into position. Several of the Yukopan manufactured ship jumped over to surround it, while  A Good Question , Captain Ander¡¯s ship, gave the Acklatic diplomacy a colonoscopic scan.


    Anders contacted former Sergeant Diego aboard the Yonohoan flagship. Diego connected immediately.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± Anders asked, knowing that Diego was already aware of the situation. The sensors on the flagship were even more detailed and sensitive than the Toormonda¡¯s instruments, and it also possessed vast databanks containing known IFFs of the various factions of the galaxy.


    ¡°That ship is indeed registered to Tonom Genisi of the Acklatic Empire. Bob says that he¡¯s politician of some sort, and he doesn¡¯t seem very surprised that the Acklatics would send someone like him,¡± Diego answered.


    Anders sighed. He contacted the gunships and instructed them to stand down. The Yonohoan flagship passed him the relay information to contact the ship directly using faster than light protocols; the radio IFF protocol was supposed to share that information with its allies but Tonom¡¯s ship didn¡¯t have their codes yet.


    He sent a communication request to the diplomat¡¯s ship and was rewarded with the appearance of a shirtless flamboyant man with a round fruit in one hand and a mug filled with some sort of blue liquid in the other.


    ¡°You are Anders Captain!¡± Tonom said. ¡°Very famous! Pleased meet you.¡±


    ¡°Welcome to Sol-system, Tonom Genisi. I must ask if you have any documentation from your government establishing your bona fides as their appointed ambassador?¡± he said.


    ¡°Yes yes! We work very hard make readable for you. Sending now.¡±


    What followed was a two gigabit file. The Toormonda, used to Earthling file architecture at this point, recognized it as a .zip file. It obediently extracted it and the contents were a film. The .mov file contained a speech by the emperor appointing Tonom Genisi as his representative on Earth, giving him instructions to establish trade and migration privileges for the empire.


    The film was hours long.


    ¡°Are you comfortable on your ship, Mr. Genisi? It may take some time to sort things out on our end,¡± Anders said.


    ¡°Yes yes! Very comfort. Happy ship. Happy to be here! Looking forward taste your air, women, and men!¡±


    Hours later, Tonom arrived at the space station in orbit near Mars. He submitted himself to a military level medical scan without complaint, agreed to have his genome sequenced to prove his identity beyond any doubt, and was deliberately exposed to earth microbes and allergens to ensure that he could survive on the surface.


    He got a case of hay fever, but the Yonohoan medical technician quickly proscribed something to cure it.


    He wandered around the station without a shirt and with very wide eyes, introducing himself to every Earthling he came across and inviting them to drink with him. He was very, very excited to be here, and eager for his quarantine to end so that he could move on to Earth itself.


    ~~~~~


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    ¡°What can you tell us about the Acklatics?¡± Turnball asked the hologram of Eolai, which was running in place.  Eolai  wasn¡¯t running in place, he was running with the soldiers as he conditioned them to become accustomed to the nanites they were being implanted with. But his hologram was in the briefing room with the other generals and their aides.


    ¡°They are a decent people. Who did they send?¡± Eolai asked.


    ¡°You knew they would send someone?¡± Turnball asked.


    ¡° Everyone  for three galaxies in any direction is going to send someone to you in the coming years, General,¡± Eolai answered. He was breathing steadily but not heavily from his exertion. ¡°You should expect the Triumverant to send three diplomats any day now. They¡¯ll be in three ships, one for each of the heads of state. They¡¯ll argue with each other about the color of the firmament. My advice is to just put them all in the same room as each other and close the door behind yourself.¡±


    ¡°And the Acklatics? How do I handle them?¡± Turnball asked.


    ¡°What are they asking for?¡± Eolai asked.


    ¡°Normalized relations, trade, and migration,¡± Turnball answered.


    ¡°They want your cultural artifacts and your people,¡± Eolai informed him. ¡°Not all of them, of course. But they¡¯ll give you much for items that are centuries old with a detailed history. And anyone who migrates to one of their worlds will likely live like a king. They love Darkworlders. To the Acklatic elite, they¡¯re like those little dogs that some of your rich women carry around in their purses.¡±


    ¡°Do you think that we can convince them to provide military aid, or commit to the war?¡± Turnball questioned.


    ¡°No. The Acklatics are pacifists,¡± Eolai answered. ¡°None of the ships they manufacture are armed.¡±


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that simply invite piracy? Don¡¯t they defend themselves at all?¡± Turnball asked.


    ¡°They defend themselves with money and hedonism, General,¡± Eolai explained. ¡°If a pirate becomes a problem, they simply hire a privateer to take care of the problem for them. Their space is filled with privateers who live in the lap of luxury. Their entire section of the galaxy is filled with lotus planets.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± Turnball said. ¡°And the Yonohoans have no problem with this?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re their own people, General. We¡¯re not the intergalactic police state to enforce our values on others. If an entire culture wants to get high and have unrestricted orgies every night, then who are we to stop them?¡±


    ¡°So they¡¯re a dead end in terms of military support,¡± the general said.


    Eolai considered the question. ¡°You could probably get a very fast fleet from them. They like fast spaceships. They just don¡¯t put weapons on them, so if you want your fast spaceships to have weapons you will have to develop some yourselves.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Eolai.¡±


    ¡°You are welcome, General. I must say I am impressed with your soldiers. We have only gone thirty miles, but I expected more to have fallen by this point.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re the best we have.¡±


    ¡°If they were not before, they will be when I am done with them.¡±


    ~~~~~~


    By the time the nanite plague was noticed, it was everywhere.


    It did not target human flesh, but rather it had a taste for computer systems. It passed through most materials without doing significant damage, but whenever it reached a holographic thinking core it went crazy, devouring the molecular circuits and turning them into a small explosive.


    It hopped from station to station, arriving on sixteen different planets.


    Insidious and unforgiving, the computer virus was mostly indiscriminate in its target. It would target the processor of a stuffed doll or the hardened AI core of a spacecraft. The only computers that it didn¡¯t seem to kill automatically were the ones controlling life support systems in critical areas.


    Nanite exclusion fields inactivated the particles and stopped their spread, but did not kill them. Only a kirata beam killed them. But if you¡¯re shooting a computer with a kirata to save the data, then you¡¯re doing it wrong.


    One hundred and eight two systems were placed under quarantine.


    The Tumbaruna Toko had cost the empire quadrillions of credits thus far in its strikes.


    It was just getting warmed up. It intended to go very deep indeed.


    ?

 3.8.

    3.8.


    Monday morning.


    Time for school.


    Emily got out of the car, waving goodbye to her family¡¯s driver.  He was funny, and she liked the jokes that he told her each morning.


    She waited with her friends after storing her backpack and taking out her supplies for her first class.


    When the bell rang and everyone expected class to begin, however, the principal announced over the loudspeaker that there was to be a school assembly, so everyone got out of the seats they¡¯d just taken to line up and go to the auditorium.


    She continued gossiping with her friends as they took their seats.  The chaos took some time to organize, but eventually everyone was seated and the principal called on them to be quiet.


    ¡°This is a little unusual, I know, but this assembly is really just to introduce our newest student.  His situation is unique, but as always I remind everyone of the school handbook and our stance on bullying.  Please make him feel welcome.  It is my pleasure to introduce you all to John Doe.¡±


    A boy walked out and stood next to the podium.  He was stiff, and almost military-like in his stance.  And he looked kinda funny.  Kinda like...


    ¡°Thank you and I apologize for the inconvenience I have caused.  I told the principal that I just wanted to tell everyone at the same time rather than have everyone gossip about it.  Yes my name is John Doe.  Yes I am Yonohoan.  Yes I got into a fight with the authorities and would have won if it weren¡¯t for the Yonohoan military.  I can¡¯t do that anymore though, they took my abilities away so I¡¯m no stronger than any other child my age now.  I don¡¯t want to hurt anyone, I never did really I just thought I had to because that¡¯s what the people who brainwashed me taught me.  Please don¡¯t worry that I¡¯m going to hurt you because I¡¯m not.¡±


    And with that the rambling ended and the boy stopped talking.


    The principal looked surprised, but quickly recovered.  ¡°So, yes, anyway.  John obviously has a very complicated past.  He¡¯s trying very hard to fit in with us Earthlings, so please be kind to him.  That¡¯s all.  You can return to your class now.¡±


    ¡°What is  he  doing here,¡± one of her friends asked.  It wasn¡¯t disgust or fear in her voice, more like confusion.  ¡°I thought they were going to dissect him or something.¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Emily asked.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you remember?  A few weeks an alien boy infiltrated a school and blew a bunch of stuff up, but they caught him and the president gave a speech about him saying that she couldn¡¯t prosecute him because the aliens didn¡¯t want her to,¡± her friend explained.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s what really happened,¡± One of her other friends argued.  ¡°She said he was brainwashed.  And so did he, right?  So it¡¯s probably true.¡±


    ¡°He had superpowers,¡± a boy said.  ¡°I wish I had superpowers.  I¡¯m going to ask how he got them.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean superpowers?¡± Emily asked.


    The boy broke a school rule and pulled out his phone.  A moment later, Emily was watching as a boy inside black armor fought two men in glowing blue armor.


    ¡°That¡¯s John?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Sounds like it,¡± the boy said, standing next to her so that they could watch the video together.  Somehow a car turned from being a car into a gun and shot a bolt of light that the men barely dodged in time. ¡°Look how awesome that is.  Do you think he lost his powers forever or just for a while?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Emily said.


    The teacher stepped up from behind them and without saying a word took away the phone.  The boy grumbled, but he knew he¡¯d get it back at the end of the day.


    They returned to their first period classes.  Everyone was settled in and the teacher was just about to start the lesson when they were interrupted  again  by the door opening.  The principal came in, leading John behind him.  The Yonohoan boy was walking stiffly, his uniform emaculate and his hair cut short.


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    She could definitely see his heritage in his skull, she noticed.  If he hadn¡¯t told her maybe she wouldn¡¯t have noticed, but now she couldn¡¯t  not  notice that he was an alien.


    And he was also kind of cute.


    ¡°This is your class, John.  I hope you get along with everyone.  Students, I need someone to volunteer to be John¡¯s buddy for the rest of the day.  Someone to show him around and make certain he gets to all of his classes,¡± the principal said.


    Emily raised her hand, as did the boy who was interested in superpowers and two other students.  The principal chose her, mostly since the desk next to her was empty anyway, which meant that was where John was going to sit.  It just made sense to put him next to his buddy, after all.


    He took his seat, folded his hands on top of the desk and looked firmly at the front of the room as the lesson began.  She frowned.  She had been expecting him to say hello, or thanks, or something.


    ¡°Hi,¡± she whispered as the teacher lectured.  ¡°I¡¯m Emily.  I¡¯m your buddy.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± he answered.


    She frowned again.  ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±


    ¡°Nothing is wrong.  I¡¯m socially stunted, so I¡¯m sorry if I seem rude.  Is it permissible to whisper in class?¡±


    ¡°No, but we do it anyway all the time,¡± she whispered.


    ¡°What is the punishment for it?¡±


    ¡°We might get scolded.¡±


    ¡°That is all?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, or maybe extra homework.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±


    ¡°Did you really used to have superpowers?¡±


    ¡°That is one way of describing it.  I had implanted nanites which allowed me to be incredibly combat effective.  When I tried to kill myself to prevent my capture they were disabled, so I¡¯m normal now.¡±


    Wow, she thought.  ¡°No, I don¡¯t think you are,¡± she said.


    ¡°Sorry.¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    The teacher cleared his throat, interrupting their conversation.  They returned their attention to the lecture, and Emily continued to shoot sidelong glances at John as the day progressed.


    He wasn¡¯t normal, but they wouldn¡¯t let him into class if he was still dangerous, right?


    ~~~~~~~


    The drop pods slid out of slipspace in low orbit around planet Earth.  By the time anyone realized that they were there, they were already breaking apart.  One thousand and one pieces exactly.  They spread out and began falling through the atmosphere, spread out across the entire globe, each landing in a landmass separated from all of the others.


    The swarm needed intelligence on Planet Earth.


    So the swarm had sent its best scouts.


    Minus, of course, the one who was already there.


    ~~~~~~


    In the middle of third period, John abruptly stood up at his desk.  Panic upon his face, his eyes moving rapidly up and down and left to right.


    ¡°I have to go,¡± he said, and he ran out of the classroom before anyone could stop him or ask him what was wrong.


    He ran to the office, and he demanded to speak with Olivia.


    Olivia would know what to do.


    She had to know what to do, because he had no idea.


    He had just been reactivated.


    And pretty soon, his body would be flooded with nanites once more.


    ?

 3.9.

    3.9.


    Life was on hold.  They were prisoners, though they had done nothing wrong.  Nothing more than stumbled upon a military secret of some kind.  They didn¡¯t know  what  they had found, which was good.  If they had, then the consequences might be more severe than what was effectively a time out.


    Sarah played the strange poker-like card game with the teenagers she¡¯d befriended as she reflected on the situation aboard the Toormonda.  Once per day, the Toormonda systems instructed them to gather in the common area where a soldier appeared and inspected them.  They were repeatedly told that they were not to be harmed.  But neither could they leave.


    The ship itself was under a military lockout.  It was providing them food, water, and shelter.  But its instruments were locked out, and its drive systems were controlled by the military forces that were holding them hostage.


    Once the soldier left for the day, the students, Dornoda and Sarah were left to fill their time however they could.


    They had no entertainment media except for Sarah¡¯s phone, which had her music library on it.  Everything else had been purged.


    So there had been a lot of efforts to entertain themselves in other ways.  Sarah had learned to stick to the public areas of the Toormonda and to make noise while moving from one room into another if she didn¡¯t want to see teenagers doing things that she didn¡¯t want to see.


    Not that she could judge them too much.  There was no Tuunka Powan; everyone on the ship was on birth control, and the Yonohoans were pretty lax about those things as long as they didn¡¯t lead to unplanned births.


    It was just so damn boring.


    And she¡¯d officially moved into Dornodo¡¯s room.  Their one and only night together hadn¡¯t been their one and only night together.  They weren¡¯t bothering to hide it, the teenagers knew.  Nobody cared, except to be happy for them.


    Some of the tempers on the ship were running ragged, but so far nobody had snapped.


    Time passed.  Slowly.


    She played the alien cardgame with the girls for a few hours.


    Then she went to find Dornodo, and they retired to his room for a few hours.


    Then she played Yonohoan poker again.


    Rinse and repeat.


    Life was on hold.


    Every time the soldier returned, Sarah dreaded that she was going to be dragged back and brain-scryed again.  But the soldier just visually confirmed their health and left.


    How long would this go on?


    ~~~~~~~


    Towari walked around the rock that had fallen from the sky.  He poked it with one of his arrows, frowning.  What was this thing?


    It was empty, that much was apparent.  He had seen this thing fall from the heavens and felt the reverberating impact as it collided with the ground.  He had rushed to inspect the crash site, and when he arrived he¡¯d found this empty shell.


    It wasn¡¯t made of stone.  He tapped it with his arrowhead and listened to the sound it made.


    Clink clink clink.


    What was this?  What had come to the deep valley in the hidden forest where the Mokoari hid from the world?


    Clink clink clink.


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    He had seen metal before, but this was not proper metal.  It was not ceramic either, but somewhere in between.  It was such a strange substance.


    Clink clink clink.


    He climbed into the interior and found that he fit just fine, with plenty of place left over.  At fifteen years old he wasn¡¯t quite full grown, but he was pretty sure that anyone from the Mokoari could fit in here.


    He saw something shining and pressed it.


    Between one blink and the next, he night had fallen.  He blinked in surprise and jumped out of the magic capsule that turned day to night.  He looked over and saw a fire, and he saw a god standing above it, poking the fire with a finger as though it couldn¡¯t burn her.


    He screamed and ran all the way back to his village.


    ~~~~~~


    Enedi watched the boy run away in terror and shook her head softly with amusement.  The poor little primitive had accidentally triggered the stasis lock on her drop pod.  He would have been frozen in time, potentially for centuries, if she hadn¡¯t returned to the pod to make camp tonight.


    So this was Earth, huh?  Lots of green.  The animals of the rainforest were making a lot of noise, but her suit filtered most of it out.  She picked up a rock and allowed her nanites to process it, turning it into a rocktala before throwing it into the fire so that it could generate energy to record her report.


    ¡°This is Enedi, Forward Scout Rank One.  The region immediately surrounding my landing zone is lush with animal and plant life.  There are humans here, but they are very primitive.  Hunter gather level primitive, I believe, although I only observed them from stealth for a short while.  Will modify my appearance and attempt to infiltrate their society in the morning, after I have rested.¡±


    In the morning, she stole clothes from one of the huts, sneaking through the village with the use of her suit¡¯s stealth system.  She worked up her courage, then forced her nanites to change the shape of her face and the color of her skin.  She screamed in agony at the pain of the transformation, but it was nothing but pain.  Pain was the body¡¯s way of telling you that you were alive.


    Her suit puffed away, and she dressed in the villager¡¯s loincloth and breast coverings, then wandered back toward the village.  That was one valuable piece of intelligence that had come from the Earthling Sarah; don¡¯t try to infiltrate without arranging clothing first.  It would seem obvious, and if she had landed somewhere more advanced Enedi would have assumed as much as well.


    In this forest, with this little tribe, however, she wouldn¡¯t have bothered with the extra step nine times out of ten.


    She walked brazenly into the village with a smile on her face and waited to see what would happen.  The villagers stopped to look at her.  Most continued on with their day a moment later.  An old woman came up to her and said something.


    Enedi shook her head and covered her mouth.  She couldn¡¯t talk.


    The old woman mimicked eating something, and Enedi nodded.  She was hungry.  She was served some sort of grain with grubs mixed in.  She ate it without revulsion, surprising at the succulent and fatty taste of the insects.


    The boy from the night before was staring at her.  She stared back.  She smiled at him and gave him a little wave.  He turned and ran away.


    She decided that she liked these little people.  Hopefully she could help them find a voice in the cosmos.  Just like she had for the Yonohoans, once upon a time.  In another life.  A different her, but still her.


    She wondered how Eodar had done in his scout training.  He¡¯d been a cute little kid, and she hoped that he¡¯d made it all the way through.


    ~~~~~~


    Eolai stood over the empty drop pod.  His soldiers were securing the area, but he knew that it was pointless.  The scout would be long gone by now.  He felt a deep seeded sadness in the pit of his stomach.  This was not supposed to happen.


    ¡°Contact General Turnball, President Walker, and any other military leader or head of state who will take my call,¡± Eolai said.


    The device that he wore on his wrist, which served as a medical bracelet, a PHDA, and several other functions, threw up a sign informing him how many people he was connected to.  Abruptly the space began to fill with bodies as holograms of the world leaders appeared in the clearing where the drop pod had landed in the middle of a plowed field.


    ¡°Hello Eolai.  I¡¯m assuming that this is important?¡± Turnball said.


    ¡°It had better be,¡± Walker said.  ¡°I was in the middle of an event.¡±


    ¡°My apologies, friends.  But I have important information regarding the event which was observed a few hours ago.  Using stealth technology, a force of scouts have infiltrated this beautiful planet.¡±


    ¡°Okay, what does that mean?¡± Walker asked.  ¡°We have a thousand John Does wandering the planet?¡±


    ¡°Yes, although most of them are not so politically significant,¡± Eolai agreed.  ¡°However, it is worse than that.  There is only one reason that this could have happened that I am aware of, my friends.  I fear that somehow, someone has woken up a swarm.  May the ancestors watch over us in this time of darkness, for we will need their guidance now more than ever.¡±


    ?

 3.10.

    3.10.


    Enforcer Vessel #39585 pulled up to the station.  It had been missing for three days, pursuing the criminal Tumbaruna Toko from the craft¡¯s last sited location.  Somehow it had suddenly been cut off from the tactical network, but that alone wasn¡¯t unusual.  Particularly if it survived combat, which it clearly had.


    Certain weapons, such as Kirata beams, would unpair paired particles, resulting in connected ships suddenly falling dark.  While this was usually accompanied by the ship becoming a derelict as the rest of the technology aboard was destroyed, a glancing blow would explain the disconnection.


    So when the ship¡¯s IFF squawked its ID and demanded to be reconnected to the network atoms were split and the network chip was manufactured.  The first among peers smiled as he accepted the chip from the technician who delivered it, saluted in the Rosantean fashion, and returned to the Enforcer vessel immediately to install it.


    The vessel departed hours later, having reestablished contact with the station.  The hours that followed on the military outpost were filled with horror as a rogue nanite swarm abruptly erupted and turned the walls into powder.  The station literally fell apart around the people, who clung to each other in various vacuum protection methods until their oxygen ran out or they worked up the courage to end their lives on their own terms.


    The crew of the  Tumbaruna Toko  piloted their refurbished enforcer vessel back to where they had stashed their flagship.  Their computer expert rushed through all of the tactical data that he could uncover before the sniffers in the system realized that they had a security breech.  When he finally triggered the security programs, he launched one final program.


    His connection was severed.  He shrugged.  He¡¯d gotten what he could.  He returned to the  Toko , setting the enforcer vessel to pilot itself into a nearby station, dock, and self destruct.


    The  Tumbaruna Toko  growled with the predatory satisfaction of a cat which was about to pounce as it launched itself at the nearest target they had just located.


    The program that had been loaded onto the secure network by the rogue operator slid in deep and began to execute it¡¯s program slowly.  It searched out messaging contacts and began sending them edited pornographic content featuring deepfaked images of their mothers marked as mandatory viewing messages.


    The program jumped from inbox to inbox, multiplying as it went.  It reached millions of high ranked individuals, causing the Rosanteans who worshiped motherhood to experience a level of disgust and horror which was visceral and all encompassing.  Generals, admirals, and politicians found themselves opening innocuous messages only to have their very psyches shattered.


    Including the emperor.


    The war of the  Tumbaruna Toko  continued.


    ~~~~~~


    ¡°The advanced warfare fleet, which was clearly launched prior even to the Yonohoans¡¯ official declaration of war, known as  Tumbaruna Toko , continue to wreck havoc on the rear lines of the Rosantean empire.  Nobody knows for certain how large the fleet is, but it is estimated to be an entire flotilla.  The  Toko  ships demonstrate definitively exactly why so much effort is placed on obtaining the signatures of the Yonohoans when seeking to ratify a treaty.  Each race believes that they are the masters of war.  The Yonohoans have proven it time and time again.  Retiring their great leader Eodar has not lessened their combat effectiveness in the slightest,¡± The orange faced human said calmly.


    His conversation partner, a blue scorpion like creature, wagged its tail. ¡°Yes, the  Toko  fleet is absolutely terrifying.  They say that if you see even a single one of their ships, you¡¯re already dead.  Thank the ancestors I¡¯m not Rosantean.¡±


    ¡°How do you predict the war will end, my friend?¡±


    ¡°With a full surrender by the emperor, of course.  They were foolish to provoke the Yonohoans.  They should have anticipated that the empire most known for its advocacy of Darkworld Rights would have a monitor in place.  They stung themselves in the face with their own tail, my friend.¡±


    ¡°I should think so if a single fleet of ships, which nobody can even identify, has completely locked down three quarters of the empire due to fear.  And this last psychological attack method of theirs was particularly effective,¡± the human pointed out.  ¡°Who knew that the Rosanteans were such momma¡¯s boys.¡±


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    Diego chuckled and shook his head.  He was dressed casually in the gray shipboard clothes, watching some of the news streams as he monitored the war.


    It would last for decades, but the opening would be the most bloody.  It would take decades to hunt down the remaining imperial forces once the initial wave was broken.


    The core worlds of the Rosantean Empire would likely be blasted back down until they became darkworlds.  While they adhered religiously to their rules of warfare, the Yonohoans were more than justified in blasting a core world with the Kirata or throwing more of that technology-eating Nanite powder into the atmosphere.


    The Rosanteans themselves had put that option on the table when they¡¯d done it first.


    One of the Topokans aboard the ship stepped into his line of sight.  Diego looked up, surprised.  ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°How many children will you have?¡± the Topokan asked.


    Diego sighed.  They had been asking him for a number, lately.  ¡°I don¡¯t know.  I haven¡¯t met anyone whom I both thought would make a good mother and who wanted to be the mother of my children yet.¡±


    ¡°We shall help.  How many?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I have to find the woman I will marry and have that discussion with her.¡±


    ¡°How many!¡±


    ¡°Go lick the toilet you blue polar bear alien!¡± Diego shouted.


    The Topokan¡¯s ears abruptly slumped down.  It turned and fled from his anger.


    Diego sighed and turned his attention back to the news.


    He wondered if there was really an entire of  Tumbaruna Toko  vessels.  When he had discussed the matter with Eolai, the man had laughed and told the joke about the name.  According to Eolai, it was probably a Korjakala ship, rather than anything from their government.


    The government of the Yonohoah was still gathering its forces.  It was the earliest of days in the war.  The metaphorical ink on the declaration was still wet.  If the  Toko  was a single ship, then they were changing the shape of the war all by themselves.


    Either that or the reports of their effectiveness were vastly overstated.


    Diego browsed the trending topics and found a new one.


    Oh, no, it was still the  Toko .  Everyone was talking about it for some reason.  He sighed and tuned into the earth¡¯s news instead.


    He almost fell out of his seat as a child gave a press conference.


    ~~~~~~


    Olivia patted his shoulder, but John was stiff as a board and no reassurances from her were enough to get him to relax.  He had been afraid that, now that his systems were coming back online, he would have his freedoms, so recently earned, removed.  Or that he would have to go on the run again.


    Olivia had called Agent Morrison, who had called Major Mary Phillips, who had called President Walker.  Who had reassured everyone that as long as John cooperated with lawful instructions from the government and didn¡¯t hurt anyone he would be allowed to remain at liberty.


    However, she asked a favor.


    One which only John could do, but which he¡¯d never be able to take back.


    There were hundreds of other scouts on the planet.  John might know some of them.  Perhaps he could convince them to come forward, rather than hiding.  Perhaps he would be labeled as a traitor.  They wouldn¡¯t know until he tried to reach the others who had been sent.


    ¡°Hello,¡± he said nervously, standing at the podium.  ¡°My name is John Doe, but it¡¯s also Eodar of the Yonohoah.  I was born on planet Totola about ninety thousand years ago, but I have only lived twelve years.  I know that doesn¡¯t really make sense to you earthlings, but if you¡¯d lived through the Liberation wars it would make perfect sense.


    ¡°If you were born a very long time ago, you should know that things have changed.  I didn¡¯t know that and I made some terrible mistakes.  You don¡¯t want to make mistakes like I did.  If you were born a long time ago but haven¡¯t lived very long, you should talk to an authority figure and come forward so that the government can help you.  They want to help us.  I was a Forward Scout Rank Two.  I decommissioned myself, but the people of Earth put me back together.


    ¡°That¡¯s all I have to say right now.  Thank you.¡±


    John stepped down and the reporters tried to shout some questions at him, but he turned and stiffly walked away.  Olivia put her arm on his shoulder when he walked by her, and they left together in her car.


    ?

 3.11.

    3.11.


    The shuttle, owned by the Earth Space Force but manufactured by the Yonohoans, landed in New York City with its VIP passenger.  Tonom Genisi had just finished his quarantine and been pronounced noncontagious and ready to live on Earth.


    Like Eolai before him, he was met at the tarmac by a group of reporters.  Unlike Eolai, his speech was not so great.


    ¡°What is the Acklatic Empire¡¯s stance on the war with the Rosantean Empire?¡± was the first question asked.


    ¡°It is very tragic and we are very sad.  We do not believe in violence.  We have closed ports to Rosanteans and turn them away.  We open ports to Earth and Yonohoans.  But we do not fight.  We are happy people, war is very very sad,¡± Tonom answered.


    The reporters considered the man¡¯s poor grasp of the english language for a minute, then proceeded to ask their ¡®tough¡¯ questions anyway.  ¡°You have said that you intend to establish normalized relations with Earth.  What form of relations do you envision?¡±


    ¡°We want your stuff.  Your cultural artifacts.  Whatever you are willing to part with, we will trade for.  We are very generous people.  Your music, your entertainment, your books, your sports, your clothes.  Many things which you might be willing to part with we will give you much money for.  Also we want you live with us.  If you come live in the Acklatic Empire, you find sponsor who make you very rich and happy life.  Already thirty million sponsors looking for Earthlings to live with them,¡± Tonom answered.


    ¡°If someone emigrates to your empire, will they be able to maintain their ties to Earth?  To return if they miss their families or their homes?¡±


    ¡°We are not jailers!¡± he said, sounding offended.  ¡°You have freedom of association and freedom of movement in the empire.  You do not like your sponsor?  Find a new sponsor.  You miss Earth?  Go back to Earth.  We believe in happiness and not sadness.¡±


    The questions continued for some time before Tonom¡¯s escort said that he had to get moving.  The bare-chested man extended both hands towards the sky and exclaimed ¡°Earth has delicious air!  Now to taste its women!  And men!¡±


    And then he was shown into a motorcade, where he was spirited away towards the UN to officially give an address requesting normalized relations between his empire and the nations of Earth.  He spoke for a lengthy five minutes in which he requested everyone to contact his virtual assistant to begin the process of establishing relations, then he invited everyone in the UN building to a party at the Acklatic Empires embassy.


    Which hadn¡¯t been built yet, but the party was scheduled for the next evening anyway.


    In the car, Tonom¡¯s staff members, all provided by the UN, attempted to convince him to change the venue of the party, but Tonom simply waved his hand.


    ¡°It is fine, is fine.  You just plan party, I take care of building,¡± he insisted, directing the driver to take him to the location which had been given to his government by the USA for the building of an embassy earlier in the week.


    When the car arrived, Tonom stepped out, looked around for twenty minutes, then returned to the trunk of the car where his luggage was stored.  He pulled out of one of the suitcases a stake that appeared to be made of iron.


    It wasn¡¯t made of iron.


    He flexed a muscle that wasn¡¯t a muscle and spent several moments interacting with the building device.  Once he had confirmed the details, he drove the stake into the center of the lot and walked away.


    The building nanites did the rest.


    The venue was ready by dawn, and the party was set to proceed on schedule.


    ~~~~~~


    Sarah stared at the medical readout.  She tried not to panic.


    This wasn¡¯t the end of the world, she reminded herself.  She should have been expecting something like this.  It wasn¡¯t like she had been careful to keep it from happening.


    Her experimental treatment had ended a few days into the Toormonda journey.  She wasn¡¯t on any neurological medications anymore; her neurons had been shocked back into a state of adolescence already.  They were simply reallocating their dendrites as the damage caused by her Tunnel Drive exposure was corrected.


    Which mean that she didn¡¯t have to worry about the baby being exposed to any experimental drug protocols


    She exhaled, looking at the zoomed in hologram of her womb.  The little cluster of cells, with a few words describing exactly what they were hovering nearby, made it undeniable.


    She was pregnant.


    She stepped off the medical scanner, and the hologram of her body vanished.  She was alone in the clinic, continuing her habit of scanning herself daily to help gather data on the experimental treatment.  Fortunately  that  data hadn¡¯t been purged by the military force that was holding them, and she¡¯d be able to forward it to Trenola and Dr. Liu Wei once the military lockout ended.


    Oh god, what was Liu going to say?  What was Captain Moon going to say?  What was her  mother  going to say?


    She forced herself to be calm.  This wasn¡¯t the end of the world.  It was the beginning of one.  It happened all of the time, and it was something to celebrate, wasn¡¯t it?


    Except for several factors, she reminded herself.


    One, she was recovering from a psychiatric condition.  It wasn¡¯t supposed to be hereditary, but it called her ability to consent into question.


    She frowned.  No, fuck that.  She¡¯d known what she was doing when she¡¯d jumped Dornodo.  If anyone had a problem with it they could shove it up their ass.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Two.  Tuunka Powan.  She chewed her lip as she tried to understand her pregnancy from the eyes of a Yonohoan.  She quickly realized that she had no idea how they¡¯d view it.  While the birth would be unapproved in advance, and therefor unregistered, that itself wasn¡¯t a crime.  If she were Yonohoan, they would just register the birth with the Topokans and everything would be fine.


    Except that she was from Earth.


    She quickly realized that she didn¡¯t have enough information to understand all of the aspects of her situation.  She¡¯d have to talk to someone.  And it had might as well be the father.


    She found him playing an alien ball game with the boys.  The game itself was something like handball, except that the goal was more like basketball in that points were scored for throwing the ball through one of six hoops that were moving through the air.  Both the ball itself and the hoops were holographic, and the game looked quite fun.  Sarah had yet to work up the courage to try it.


    She watched them play until the end of it.  Dornodo¡¯s team won, and he was celebrating as he came over to her.  She gave him a congratulatory kiss, then told him that they needed to speak in his room.


    The boys all jeered politely at the invitation.  She couldn¡¯t blame them, not really.  Neither she nor Dornodo had been subtle about their relations since they¡¯d started, and the teenagers were ¡­ well, teenagers.


    They were all very happy for the couple, but a certain amount of polite teasing was to be expected when a relationship like theirs was carried on right out in the open.


    The door to Dornodo¡¯s room closed behind them and he abruptly kissed her.  He too had misconstrued her reasons for inviting him into a private area, and he abruptly broke the kiss to pull of his shirt.


    ¡°Not now,¡± she told him.  ¡°Dornodo, I have something to tell you and I¡¯m not entirely sure how you¡¯ll react.¡±


    He paused, his face abruptly turning serious as he saw that there was no humor in her voice.  ¡°I will listen.  Whatever it is that plagues you, we will get through it together.¡±


    She smiled.  She had hoped that he would say something like that.  ¡°I¡¯m pregnant.¡±


    His eyebrows rose sharply.  After a moment, he inhaled deeply, held the breath, and let it out.


    He sat on the bed and put his hands in his head.  He shook it for a good solid minute.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe we Tuunka Powan,¡± he said, his voice full of mortification.


    ¡°You know I don¡¯t really understand Yonohoan culture.  How bad is it?¡±


    ¡°It is very good!  It is not bad at all,¡± he said.  ¡°Except that it will be somewhat mortifying to tell everyone that I could not control myself around the beautiful Earth woman and got her pregnant.  It will impact my business slightly because I will have to bring a Topoka with me from now on, but that is okay.  I am very happy to be a father, Sarah, and I hope that you will allow me to be the child¡¯s [male role model] as well.¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± she said immediately.  The word for ¡®father¡¯ and ¡®male role model¡¯ were different in Yonohoan, with the latter being Parana.  The child¡¯s mother was always their mother, but it was common for a child¡¯s father and parana might be the same person, or they might be two different people.  It was similar to having a father and a step-father, except that the relationship between the father and the mother of the child might have no more depth to it than that of a sperm-donor.


    ¡°I am relieved.  After we Tuunka Powan, it would be very embarrassing to me if you selected a Parana instead of allowing me to fulfill the role,¡± he admitted.


    ¡°It would be?¡± she asked, cocking her head to the side as though she were considering changing her mind.


    ¡°Yes.  Almost mortifying, although I could justify it by saying that I was unwilling to put aside my career to care for the child.  It would speak ill of my character, but it would be less embarrassing than having the mother of my child say that I am not a good enough role model for her child.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± she said.  Inwardly she pouted a bit to see that he hadn¡¯t even realized that she had been trying to tease him, but then again they were having a very serious discussion.  ¡°So, where do we go from here?¡±


    ¡°That depends.  Do you wish to live on Earth or Totola?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Do I have that choice?¡± Sarah asked.


    ¡°As the mother of a Yonohoan child, yes you do,¡± he answered.  ¡°You will be given citizenship immediately once we report the birth to the Topokans.¡±


    Sarah chewed her lip.  ¡°I wish I could be more certain about how Earth will react to this news.  It might help if we got married, but I don¡¯t know that they¡¯ve been talking about immigration between Earth and the Yonohoah yet.¡±


    They both considered that for a moment.


    ¡°If you wish to live on Earth, then I will fly the Toormonda for Earth children instead of Yonohoans.  It will be an adjustment, but I am certain we can make it work,¡± Dornodo said.


    ¡°Yes, well, we have nine months to figure out a plan,¡± Sarah said.  ¡°We don¡¯t have to make any decisions right now.¡±


    ¡°Well, actually we must decide whether or not to tell the children,¡± Dornodo said.  ¡°We could attempt to hide it, but ¡­ they would give us a very hard time if they found out that we tried to keep it a secret.  If you begin to show signs before we are released, they are sure to notice.  They are very observant, and they have nothing better to do than watch the interactions of everyone around them.¡±


    ¡°What will happen if we tell them?¡± she asked.


    ¡°They will tease us for Tuunka Powan for a while, but it is friendly teasing.  They will throw grain at us, but that is the celebration for a pregnancy and it is a joyous thing that they would do whether we had planned this or not.  Mostly the boys will follow me around and pretend to sniff me like they were Topokan.  I will remind everyone that you are not Yonohoan, so they will not sniff you.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s how you shame people for Tuunka Powan?¡± she asked.


    ¡°It is more teasing than shaming,¡± he said, uncomfortably.  ¡°Everyone will be happy about it.  Especially because you are from Earth.  But it is customary to tease the parents of a baby of Tuunka Powan until the birth.¡±


    Sarah nodded.  ¡°Well, alright then.  You¡¯re right that we don¡¯t know how long we¡¯ll be stuck out here, we might as well rip off the bandaid.¡±


    So they did.


    They called all of the teenagers into the same room for the announcement.  The children looked on curiously as Dornodo stood in front of them, waiting for whatever he had to say.  When he took Sarah¡¯s hand and mumbled ¡°We tuunka powan,¡± the room erupted into laughter.


    The boys ran into the kitchen and returned with grain to throw at them while the girls began doing a dance around them.  Sarah endured it with stoicism.


    They really did seem pretty happy about it.  It was embarrassing, but the ship hadn¡¯t been so happy since they¡¯d discovered the proto-star.  She decided that it was worth the embarrassment to cheer everyone up.


    ?

 3.12.

    3.12.


    The embassy was beautiful.  A six story building, with golden trim and walls as white as porcelain, the architecture was elegant and complex.  It had six ballrooms, and Tonom spent the night dancing his way from one to the next.


    The party lasted from a light dinner served at five pm until three in the morning, with drinks and dancing throughout the night.  Tonom¡¯s energy was without limit as he skittered around from group to group, encouraging everyone to drink the fine wine, champaign, and cocktails that the event organizers provided.


    He danced with women.  He danced with men, despite the initial reluctance of some of them to be seen in such an activity.  He ate the hors d''oeuvre until his belly was extended.


    He encouraged everyone to drink the traditional party drink of his people, a blue fruity juice that he insisted was a social lubricant despite being non-alcoholic.  The ¡®frumonas,¡¯ as it was called, had cleared customs, so more than a few people were willing to give it a try.


    He grew somber for only a moment, when he met with Lisa Desmond, The Widow of Earth.  She called upon him to try to make the empire take a more drastic stance against the Rosanteans.  He empathized with her plight and sympathized with the loss of her husband, ¡®Captain¡¯ Kirk Desmond, who had perished during the first battle between Earth and the empire.


    But his stance on the war would not change from what he had told the reporters the day before.


    She changed her tactics to asking for aid.  In this area he was more accommodating, and he promised to meet with her at her home to discuss matters further.


    Then, at about one thirty in the morning, he vanished, and nobody had any idea where he¡¯d gone.  The security team didn¡¯t seem too worried about it, however, and everyone was having such a good time that nobody really cared.


    ~~~~~~~


    Mike awoke late in the morning to a bed that was fuller than usual, and the arms wrapped around his chest were much more masculine than his wife, Laura.  Abruptly the night before came back to him, and he recalled taking part in activities that he had not engaged in since college.


    He felt a moment of mortification.


    ¡°Frumonas should be classified as a controlled substance,¡± he muttered to himself as he began the process of extracting himself from Tonom¡¯s embrace.  The man from space muttered in his sleep but quickly rolled over to embrace Laura instead, all without waking.


    Well, at least he hadn¡¯t cheated on his wife, he thought to himself.  It wasn¡¯t adultery if both spouses were willing participants, right?


    He sighed and went downstairs.  He tried to reflect on what had driven him to invite the alien diplomat to his private home, and for the life of him he couldn¡¯t understand his motivations.  He hadn¡¯t had more than three glasses of wine and two glasses of frumonas.


    He hadn¡¯t felt drunk, and he hadn¡¯t felt high.  He hadn¡¯t thought that his judgment was impaired in the slightest.  Yet he had consented to ¡­ things.


    He sighed.  He  had  consented, and he had enjoyed himself.  He was just ¡­ uncertain what this meant for the future.


    Fortunately his constituents weren¡¯t particularly hung up on these matters.  If word of the night before got out he might actually score points with the liberal demographics.  He¡¯d prefer to keep things under wraps, however.  And he¡¯d also preferred that they didn¡¯t happen again.  It was just too complicated.


    He put on some coffee and began mixing batter for pancakes.  He wondered if the alien had ever had pancakes before.


    His wife came down fifteen minutes later, poured herself a cup of coffee, slapped his ass playfully, then went to take a shower.


    Tonom wandered into the kitchen a few minutes with wet hair and he realized that his wife hadn¡¯t been alone in the shower.  He sighed.


    ¡°Am still welcome at your beautiful home, Senator?¡± Tonom asked.


    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re still welcome,¡± Mike said.  He began pouring the pancakes and handed Tonom a cup of coffee.  The man took it, sipped it, and made a face.


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    ¡°This is awful!  You drink this?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s an acquired taste,¡± Mike admitted.  ¡°Laura likes it with cream and sugar.  Here, I¡¯ll show you where it is and you can mix it until it¡¯s to your taste.¡±


    Mike fulfilled his promise, and Tonom kept adding to his coffee until it was more cream and sugar than coffee.  In the end he drank the entire cup, however.  Then Mike introduced him to orange juice, and Tonom began making noises like he had the night before.


    Mike, his face red, had the pancakes ready for everyone by the time his wife arrived.  The sounds that Tonom made as he ate the pancakes did not help Mike¡¯s embarrassment at all.


    ¡°Tonom, I have to ask.  Are there any mind-altering substances in the frumonas?¡± Mike asked.


    ¡°Is social lubricant,¡± Tonom answered.


    ¡°So is that a yes?¡± Mike pressed.


    ¡°Yes.  Lowers inhibitions and embarrassment,¡± Tonom explained, searching for the words for a moment.  ¡°You regret last night?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t say that, and I don¡¯t think I will,¡± Mike said.  ¡°It¡¯s just ¡­ I find it hard to believe that I agreed to it, to be honest.  Knowing that there was a mind altering substance involved makes it easier for me to understand.¡±


    ¡°I tell everyone social lubricant,¡± Tonom pointed out.


    ¡°I¡¯m not accusing you of slipping me a micky, Tonom,¡± Mike clarified.  ¡°I just think that I acted out of character and am processing why.  But I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be drinking frumonas in the future, and I think that last night isn¡¯t going to happen again.  Is it, Laura?¡±


    ¡°Speak for yourself,¡± Laura said, but Mike could tell that she was just teasing him.  She was less put out by the events than he was, but she understood him completely.  She, too, had been surprised at the lowering of his boundaries.


    ¡°Understood.  No problem, no problem.  We be friends and once-lovers, but no more.  No problem,¡± Tonom assured him.


    ¡°Thank you for your understanding.  I¡¯ll call your security detail to bring you back to your embassy.¡±


    ¡°Yes yes, thank you,¡± Tonom agreed.


    Thirty minutes later the alien man was gone.


    ~~~~~~~


    Enedi decided that she definitely liked the Mokoari tribe.  Just like the Yonohoans had tens of thousands of years ago, they had simply accepted her appearance and made her welcome.  She wasn¡¯t one of them yet, but they encouraged her to take part in their daily lives.


    She helped them carry water, gather food, and tend their children.  She helped clean the animals that the men hunted, curing their meat and their leather with the methods that the other women taught her.


    She tried very hard to learn their language and was in the process of learning their customs.


    They were a friendly, joyous people, and she was truly glad that the decision had come down that Earth was to be defended by the swarm.  These little people were virtually extinct, with only a few other villages according to what Enedi had managed to learn.  She found the idea of their way of life going out to be depressing, and she made a passionate plea to the project taskforce that had sent her to make efforts to preserve these people.


    Towari remained suspicious of her, she noticed.  She¡¯d gathered that he hadn¡¯t told anyone about his ¡®supernatural experience,¡¯ but it was impossible for the boy to have not noticed that she¡¯d appeared the morning after he¡¯d miraculously lost six hours and witnessed a glowing blue person.


    Oh well.  At least he didn¡¯t seem to be turning the village against her.  It was just hard for her to get any work done ¨C any  real  work done ¨C with him following her.  She didn¡¯t know what he¡¯d think if he saw her using her abilities as she set up the valley¡¯s defenses.


    On the second week of her integration, she was surprised when one of the elders came to her and asked her if she wished to be initiated into the tribe.  At least that¡¯s what she thought he asked her.  He spoke slowly to help her understand, but she was still mostly getting by with hand signals at this point.


    She agreed regardless.  The village gathered, and the elder began speaking rapidly.


    The ceremony lasted the entire evening, with an impromptu feast being thrown.  Everyone was in a joyous mood, and Enedi was enjoying herself immensely as couple after couple approached her, spoke rapidly in their bird-like tongue, and gave her gifts.


    The only thing that spoiled her mood slightly was Towari, who for some reason was seated right next to her the entire time looking somewhat constipated.


    The ceremony carried on late into the night, with the children of the village falling asleep out in the open and being carried back to their beds by their parents.  Finally, she was shown to her new hut.


    It was only when Towari entered with her and began kissing her that she realized that she had just gotten married.  Her ¡®husband¡¯ was only slightly put off as she began laughing uproariously.


    ?

 3.13.

    3.13.


    Olivia wasn¡¯t certain what woke her.  The radio was blaring, but that was normal.  She¡¯d relaxed her stance on allowing John to have the radio in recent days.  It calmed him, even when news of the war came on.  She decided that it was better that he remained informed than worry about him experiencing another trigger like when Western Europe was hit by the Rosanteans.


    She heard voices.  Not the radio¡¯s voices, but John¡¯s voice, hushed but urgent, and the voice of another boy.  She thought it belonged to a boy at least.


    They weren¡¯t speaking English.


    She swallowed.  She hadn¡¯t discussed it with John, but she¡¯d been prepared for the possibility that one of the scouts would come to find him.  She quickly pressed the panic button that had been given to her.


    Then she did something that she¡¯d promised Agent Morrison, Major Phillips, and everyone else involved, that she wouldn¡¯t do.


    She got out of bed and walked downstairs.


    She found them in the kitchen.  John¡¯s eyes flickered to her, and then there was a flicker as part of the stove changed into something else, flew threw the air, and wrapped around her chest.  It hummed lightly with power, and she realized that he had just used his abilities to do something to protect her.


    The strange boy, sitting calmly at the table enjoying a sandwich, said something in the language that she didn¡¯t understand.  He flickered a hand, and the coffee pot changed shape.


    John pointed something at the former coffee pot, and a ray of light shot from the object in his hand, vaporizing the coffee pot and burning a hole in the wall.  And beyond.


    The boy at the table scowled, said something else, and once more waved his hand.


    The electric kettle changed shape, and this time John didn¡¯t shoot it.


    The boy spoke again, and this time the former electric kettle spoke once his words completed.  ¡°Hello foster mother of Eodar.  You are safe, despite what Eodar believes.  I did not come to harm you or him.¡±


    ¡°You broke into my house?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± the boy admitted in english.  Then he spoke in his other language.  It was translated a moment later.  ¡°I was hungry.  I made a sandwich.  Is good.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a scout like John,¡± she said.


    ¡°Yes,¡± he agreed.  ¡°Forward Scout Rank Three.  Name Trewali of the Porshaka.  Brother of Eodar of the Yonohoah from training, although he does not treat me like it now.  We carried each other threw the death march and now he treats me like I am a stranger.¡±


    Olivia nodded.  ¡°Welcome to Earth, Trewali.  Why have you come?¡±


    ¡°I do not know,¡± he admitted.  ¡°We were not told why.  Only to come.  And learn.  And protect.  We like Earth so far.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re in contact with the others?¡± Olivia asked.  She had a suspicion that the boy was lying, but it wouldn¡¯t be wise to accuse him at this point.  It wasn¡¯t her job anyway, she would leave the interrogation to the professionals.  She just needed to understand how this affected her and John.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Will they come in, like you and John have?  We will not harm you.¡±


    Trewali began to laugh.  John scowled at him, pointing the weapon which had undoubtedly once been one of Olivia¡¯s appliance at the older boy menacingly.


    ¡°You think that because John was caught with his pants down that you pose a threat to us?¡± Trewali asked through the translator.  ¡°We came prepared.  We have plenty of strange matter to fight with.  If you wish to take us by force, you must be prepared to lose the army you send after us.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t want to fight you,¡± Olivia admitted.


    ¡°But you want to control us.  Make us part of your society and order of battle.  We are not.  We belong to Taskforce Ragnarok.  You may have John, since he was not part of the Taskforce.  But the others must do our duties to mankind.  The ones that we were replicated to perform,¡± the boy said, the mechanical voice of the translator following the sixteen year old¡¯s pubescent words.


    ¡°The people of Earth do not believe in child soldiers,¡± she said.  ¡°We wish to help you recover from the trauma of your training.  You will not be in trouble with us if you come in peacefully.¡±


    ¡°No.  We do our duty,¡± the boy repeated.  ¡°Today my duty is to talk to Eodar and tell him that he has done well.  He has found the origin system and set off the protocols to protect it that High-Command put in place eons ago.  Taskforce Ragnarok will do the rest.  Eodar, you may return to your rest.¡±


    Eodar spoke angrily in the language they were using when she¡¯d arrived.


    ¡°You break into my house, into Olivia¡¯s house and eat our food and tell me that I am useless!  That I cannot serve!  Fuck you Trewali!¡±


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    ¡°It is not I who says you cannot serve.  It is Yunono.  She is our leader.  She says that you are to be respected and honored, but you are not to be given leadership.  If she had not said so, I would be here to brief you and bring you into the mission.  Instead, I am here to say thank you for your service to mankind, and that is all,¡± Trewali said.  ¡°I must go now.  Goodbye Eodar.  Goodbye Doctor Olivia Nunes.  Be well.¡±


    The boy stood and left.  When he opened the door to leave, he was greeted by a SWAT team.  With a smile, he raised his hands in surrender.


    ~~~~~~


    Major Mary Phillips arrived at the facility.  It was the same one that they had used to house Eodar, or John as he was now being called, during the process of his decommissioning.  Which had now, apparently, been undone.


    She felt a faint tingling on her molars as she adjusted to the feeling of the nanite-suppressors, which were turned all the way up.  Trewali had been cooperative with his captors so far, but everyone remembered perfectly well how Eodar had cooperated the first time they¡¯d caught him.  Right up until he¡¯d been placed in a squad car, at which point he¡¯d escaped by turning the car into a suit of power armor.


    ¡°Welcome to the freak-show,¡± Agent Osterham said, passing her a latte.  She tasted it and decided that she liked Osterham a little better now.


    ¡°Is he still cooperating?¡± she asked.


    ¡°If by cooperating you mean sitting there in the paper pajamas we had him change into and smiling and pretending not to understand a word we¡¯re saying, then yes,¡± Osterham said.


    ¡°I thought we had a translator,¡± Mary said.


    ¡°The device in the Nunes kitchen was crafted with his nanites.  It fell apart into dust when we tried to bring it into the facility, and I¡¯m not convinced that the kid wouldn¡¯t have retained control over it anyway,¡± Osterham explained.


    ¡°Where¡¯s Eolai?¡± she asked.


    ¡°On the other side of the planet?  How the hell would I know, it¡¯s above my pay grade, ma¡¯am,¡± Osterham said.


    Mary sighed and pulled a PHDA from her pocket.  She requested a connection to the Yonohoan representative.  He connected a moment later, the hologram showing only his face.  He had a very sleepy expression.


    ¡°Yes, Major?¡± he asked.


    ¡°We¡¯ve captured one of the scouts.  He showed up at John¡¯s house and was taken in by SWAT,¡± Mary said.


    Eolai¡¯s expression abruptly changed to one of alertness and seriousness.  ¡°You did not capture him, Major.  He chose to come in.  You must be very, very careful.  He will not abandon his mission easily, and he has capabilities beyond your imagining.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s in a nanite suppression field,¡± Mary pointed out.  ¡°We had him searched and changed into clothes we provided.  He¡¯s unarmed.¡±


    ¡°A scout is never unarmed.  A scout is never helpless.  Do not think that because you could control John after he decommissioned himself that you have control of this situation, Mary.  Your scout is in control of this situation, not you.  I simply hope that he is not there to cause havoc.  Send me your location and I will be there as fast as I can.¡±


    Mary sent him the location of the facility, and he vanished.


    ~~~~~~


    They rested in the FBI¡¯s mobile command unit as the agents swept their house.  Olivia held his hand.  John sat, feeling numb after the adrenaline had faded.  He was exploring his emotions silently, trying to understand how the experience had affected him.


    Like Olivia, he hadn¡¯t known what had caused him to awaken, but he¡¯d known something was wrong immediately.  He¡¯d utilized his training to sweep the house.  He knew that Olivia would be angry with him when he¡¯d decided to change some of the wiring and part of the wall into a plasma pistol, but not for a second had he questioned his instincts.


    Finding Trewali in the kitchen had startled him.


    Trewali was ¡­ they had gone through hell together.  Trewali had respected him, followed him, supported him.  Worshiped him, as Eodar had shattered all of the expectations of the scout class and set a new standard.


    But that had been a very, very long time ago.  They had literally been different people.  Now, Trewali was older than him, having actually completed Scout training instead of simply being ¡®harvested¡¯ for his imprint, as John had been.


    Trewali had volunteered to have his imprint taken.  He had chosen to be what he was.  John had had that choice taken from him without even realizing it.


    And now, Trewali continued to serve, while John was put out to pasture.


    ¡°Are you worried about your friend?¡± Olivia asked.


    ¡°No,¡± John admitted.  ¡°I am worried about the people who are with him.  I hope that he does not hurt them.¡±


    Olivia swallowed, but didn¡¯t share her thoughts on the matter further.


    ¡°If he had asked me to join him, told me the mission and asked me to serve Taskforce Ragnarok, I do not know what I would have done,¡± John admitted.


    ¡°That¡¯s okay,¡± she said immediately.  He  knew  that it was okay not to know, but it helped to hear her say it.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t they want me?¡± John asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I have a few guesses,¡± Olivia admitted.  She swallowed.  ¡°They¡¯re a military organization.  Loyalty to their organization is paramount.  They probably don¡¯t trust anyone who wasn¡¯t replicated specifically for their taskforce, John.  They probably have additional safeguards in place to make certain that everyone obeys their chain of command.¡±


    John relaxed when he heard her say it.  ¡°Yes, that makes sense,¡± he agreed.  ¡°It is not because I am a failure.¡±


    ¡°You are  not  a failure John,¡± she said emphatically.


    John didn¡¯t press the issue further.


    ?

 3.14.

    3.14.


    In the aftermath, nobody was certain exactly what had happened.  Eolai arrived to a facility that was smoking and partially destroyed.  Miraculously nobody was killed, but walls were reduced to rubble.


    Rooms and hallways showed signs of a firefight between the Earth¡¯s forces and someone using advanced weaponry, leaving scorch marks and unexplained dents in walls.


    Yet nobody who had fired their weapons recalled even drawing it.  Osterham only knew that he¡¯d fired his weapon because he could smell it, and because his spare clip was missing.


    Eolai dropped out of the transport craft, a fast response atmospheric shuttle that his people had given the Earth.  He¡¯d arrived within twenty minutes of the call from Major Phillips.  He wasn¡¯t surprised that it wasn¡¯t fast enough.


    He was wearing his armor, glowing blue, and with the help of his wetware and his suits abilities he scanned for the scouts trail.  He found it, not particularly surprised to find that there was evidence of three participants in the rescue.


    He set out in pursuit.


    The ambush came exactly as he¡¯d expected it to, a plasma lance that he barely dodged in time.  It would have burned straight through his armor, and him.  He threw up his hands in surrender.


    ¡°I wish to speak!¡± he shouted in High-Yonohoan.  ¡°Peace!  Peace!  I wish to speak!¡±


    A moment of silence, and then a single figure emerged from cover.  Like him, they were wearing armor and glowing blue.


    ¡°We will speak then,¡± the figure said in the same language.  ¡°Identify yourself.¡±


    ¡°I am Eolai of the Yonohoah,¡± Eolai said.  ¡°I am the son of Eodar.  I was born to be his last son, but that privilege may no longer be mine.¡±


    The figure evaluated him carefully.  ¡°I see you Eolai.¡±


    ¡°May I know your name?¡± Eolai asked.


    ¡°I am Trewali.¡±


    ¡°I know you, Trewali.  I have heard of your many deeds in your other lives.  I know you to be an honorable and valiant person.  I ask you, as a soldier for mankind to a soldier for mankind, why have you come to Earth?¡± Eolai questioned.


    Trewali was silent for a moment.  ¡°Because Taskforce Ragnarok believes that it is the cradle.  The birthplace.  The origin system.¡±


    Eolai swallowed.  ¡°What does that matter?  The universe has been at peace for fifty thousand years, Trewali.  Why does it matter now?¡±


    ¡°Because an armistice isn¡¯t peace.  Because mankind has enemies who would gladly destroy the universe itself to bring an end to us.  Because even if our actions to defend her are never known, Earth  must  be defended,¡± Trewali answered.  ¡°You should know these things already, Son of Eodar.¡±


    Eolai nodded.  ¡°You will not harm its people?¡±


    ¡°I will break my body in their defense,¡± Trewali said.


    ¡°Then go.  I will not pursue you.  I will not make promises for the governments or people of Earth, but I will attempt to convince them of your righteousness,¡± Eolai said.


    ¡°I do not need your permission or your help,¡± Trewalai said.  His image flickered and vanished.


    Eolai swallowed when he realized that his suit could not track them.  That surprised him; he had intended to let the scouts go, just as he had promised.  But he had expected pursuing them further to be an option.


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    The capabilities of their equipment surpassed his own.  After fifty thousand years of Yonohoan advancement, the Swarm still had secrets.


    He returned to the facility, which was slowly reorganizing itself as the people swept the ruins for survivors and threats.  He knew that there would be no casualties; he saw this for what it was.  A demonstration to the Earthlings.


    They were completely eclipsed by the Swarm.  Self-designated Taskforce Ragnarok, the Swarm existed for a single purpose.  It would protect Earth.


    Not necessarily the people of earth.  Not its present, or its future.  It¡¯s past.


    The worst of the danger was past, he realized.  The fact that the swarm had decided not to simply vaporize the planet indicated that they believed that destroying Earth was not the solution.  Instead they had sent scouts.


    He doubted that there would be a way to convince the swarm to come into the light.  Not in this generation.  Perhaps not during Eolai¡¯s lifetime.  Perhaps not in his children¡¯s.


    Perhaps not ever.


    The members of SWAT and the soldiers of the facility pulled their weapons on Eolai as he approached.  He dismissed his helmet, allowing it to puff into dust, and presented his hands in surrender.  ¡°I am Eolai,¡± he said.  ¡°I believe I am expected.¡±


    The men and women kept their weapons on him until they¡¯d sent a messenger ahead and received orders to send Eolai through the line into the makeshift command center that was dealing with the recovery efforts after the attack.  He arrived to find Major Phillips discussing matters calmly with Agents Osterham and Morrison, who were somewhat more upset about the events than the Major.


    ¡°There were three of them,¡± Eolai said.  ¡°They struck your building with a Kirata beam first.  That is why your personal electronics are not working.  After that, they struck you each with a weapon that distorts short term memories to give the illusion that everything happened in a flash.  In reality you lost about twenty minutes.  They were likely acting in haste to complete their mission before I arrived.¡±


    ¡°How could they infiltrate and exfiltrate in less than twenty minutes?¡± Morrison demanded. ¡°Our security should have slowed them down at least a little!¡±


    ¡°They were likely standing next to you when you contacted me, Major,¡± Eolai continued.  ¡°They possess advanced stealth capabilities that surpass my own by a significant margin.  You were never in control of the situation.  They were.  This was a demonstration of that fact.¡±


    ¡°What do they want?¡± Mary asked.


    ¡°To protect Earth,¡± Eolai answered.


    ¡°If they¡¯re here to help, why not simply come forward and join the team?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I did not say they were here to help.  They will protect you whether you like it or not,¡± Eolai answered.  ¡°You may not enjoy some of their methods of protection, Major.  Your governments, your sovereignty, your rights, these things mean nothing to them.  Only that Earth is defended.  And not in the way that you believe.¡±


    ~~~~~~~


    Yunono examined the latest reports from the scouts.  She evaluated the capabilities of the forces defending the blue marble.


    Inadequate.  Completely inadequate to defend the planet itself as it was now.  Even more so to protect it from the true danger.  From Temporal Dissolution.  The Earthlings knew about it, must have been told about the existence of a weapon that could reach into the past and destroy the future.


    But she couldn¡¯t blame them for doing nothing about it.  They  could  do nothing about it.  That was the entire point of using such a weapon; it was almost impossible to counter.


    Not entirely true, but close enough.


    She evaluated the threats to Earth throughout the galaxy.  Minimal.


    She evaluated the nearby galaxies.  Minimal.


    She continued her evaluation.


    There.  They would use a pre-emptive strike if they could.


    She reached out to the swarm generators in that galaxy and ordered the Thraxacians to be destroyed.


    She tisked.  Honestly, that should have been done fifty thousand years ago.  Who was it that had allowed that oversight to continue on for millennia?  Filled with disgust for the commanders of mankind¡¯s past, she continued to go through space galaxy by galaxy, species by species, as she evaluated them for the threat that they posed Earth, and by extension, mankind.


    A million light-years away, the ancient gears of war began to spin.


    ?

 3.15.

    3.15.


    The people of the little town came out to see it.  After all, it wasn¡¯t every day that the private shuttle of an alien representative from another part of the galaxy landed on main street.


    Tonom Genisi emerged after it had landed and began waving at the gathered crowd, blowing kisses and shouting ¡°I love pancakes!¡±  His security personnel rushed out after him and tried to secure the location.  It didn¡¯t matter much, this was a sleepy little town.


    On the one hand, just about every family possessed at least one firearm.


    On the other hand, they had found out when someone had already taken a pot-shot at the ambassador that he possessed a shield generator in his left shoe that was more than adequate to defend against sniper attacks.


    But whether or not their charge was safe, they had a job to do, and they did it, pushing back the crowd behind a security line as they tried to get the scene in order.


    While they were still attempting to assert control, Tonom got into Lisa Desmond¡¯s car and they drove away.


    They arrived at the home of the late Kirk Desmond soon after.  The couple¡¯s friends had reclaimed the man¡¯s eighteen wheeler, which now sat parked on the street out front.  Lisa patiently waited while the alien human examined the vehicle.  He walked around it.  He sniffed the tires, and the engines.  He climbed up onto the hood and jumped up and down.  He got into the cab and laid on the mattress on the back.


    ¡°Explain again why this vehicle exists,¡± Tonom said to Lisa once he had finished his inspection.  ¡°What is purpose?¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t have the technology to print food, or to build massive edifices overnight using nanites,¡± Lisa explained.  ¡°Not yet.  Not with our own technology.  Kirk¡¯s job, before we got the spaceship, was to transport goods from place to place.  He worked for a major retailer.  Mostly he didn¡¯t know what he was hauling, he just showed up and got his trailer hitched, then drove to the destination and got a new trailer.¡±


    ¡°He was migratory?¡±


    ¡°You can say that.  He came back here for the weekends.  That¡¯s how we knew each other, I cut his hair, and we hit it off,¡± she explained.  ¡°We were dating for three years before he asked me to marry him.  I didn¡¯t know at the time that he¡¯d won a spacecraft.¡±


    ¡°Yes yes, understand.  You love him very much.  Miss him very much,¡± Tonom said.


    ¡°Yes, I do.  Other people say that he died a hero, that I should be proud.  But if he were to come back to life right now I swear I¡¯d punch him in the face for doing that to me,¡± she answered.


    ¡°Love is good.  Loss is bad.  I am sorry for your loss, but happy that you have known love.  I hope that you find it again.  I give you one hundred million Acklatic credits for vehicle.  Embassy will arrange it to be transported to museum near imperial palace.  Historic vehicle of Earth Hero worth at least that much.¡±


    ¡°What is the exchange rate between US dollars and Acklatic credits?¡± she asked.


    Tonom simply shrugged.  ¡°Is good amount of currency in empire.  Enough buy fifty ¡®Winnebago¡¯ star ships.¡±


    Lisa was quiet for a minute, then nodded.  ¡°I¡¯ll accept that.  Kirk didn¡¯t have any family.  We have to wait for probate as well, but that will clear in a few months.  I can sell you his truck.¡±


    ¡°Good good,¡± Tonom said.  ¡°Show me more?  Property of Earth hero very valuable.  I give you best price.¡±


    Lisa nodded.  If Kirk had still been alive, she would have been ecstatic at the option.  The Winnebago class starship that Kirk had won had been valued at one hundred twenty million dollars in earth currency.  If the offer from Tonom followed the same exchange rate, then she was now a billionaire.


    But she didn¡¯t care about the money.  She cared about making Kirk¡¯s death mean something.  She cared about making the Rosanteans pay.


    Money would help her do that.


    They went through the house room by room.  Tonom bought item after item for her at exorbitant rates.  One million credits for his plastic plates and his silverware.  Another million credits just for his razor.  Ten thousand for each piece of his furniture.  He bumped that up to half a million for the bed when she disclosed that it was there that they had first made love.


    His wardrobe sold for one hundred thousand.  His DVD collection and media center for just as much.


    Tonom paused when they discovered a cardboard box filled with Playboys in his bedroom closet.  Lisa chewed her lip, she hadn¡¯t realized they had been there.


    ¡°For these, I give you this,¡± Tonom said.  ¡°Not money.  These worth more than money.  For this, you need connections.  I have connections.  I give you this for these.¡±


    He held out his hand and the hologram of a spaceship appeared.  It was sleek, and next to it was a Winnebago for scale.  The offered ship was twenty times the size of the Winnebago.


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    ¡°Tell me about it?  How fast does it go?  What sort of weapons does it have.¡±


    ¡°No weapons.  But good shields, and very fast.  Second fastest model of spacecraft available anywhere in three nearest galaxy clusters,¡± Tonom answered.  ¡°There and back again very fast.¡±


    She considered the offer.  And she decided that she had to be honest.  ¡°Tonom, the truth is that I couldn¡¯t get one hundred US dollars for those if I tried to sell them.  Are you sure that you¡¯re willing to part with something so valuable for them?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Tonom said.  ¡°Worth at least that much.  Personal property of ¡®Captain¡¯ Kirk, hero of Earth.  Very very valuable something so private and personal.  I promise discretion when I trade.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for your consideration.  I will take the space ship in trade for his porno-mags,¡± she said.


    ¡°I will order when return to embassy.  Take them with me?¡± Tonom asked.


    ¡°Yes.  I¡¯ll take your word for it that you¡¯ll come through on your end of the bargain.  I¡¯m not sure how much there is left to show you of his things, Tonom, but you¡¯re welcome to look around.  Let me know if anything catches your eye,¡± she said.


    ¡°Yes yes,¡± he agreed.


    ¡°Also, Tonom, I have a question.  I know that the Acklatic Empire will not go to war for us.  But if I were to hire an army, where would I go?¡±


    ¡°Rosantea,¡± Tonom answered.  ¡°But since they are no, then Triumverant next best.  Is where we find privateers.  Triumverants make good privateers.  Would say Yonohoah, but they no sell soldiers.  They are  best  soldiers, but not for sale.¡±


    ¡°The Yonohoans are already at war.  If I do nothing, would the Triumverant join us as well?¡±


    ¡°Triumverant will talk and talk and talk about helping.  Put money in Triumverant hands, they do more than talk.¡±


    ¡°I understand.  Thank you for your insight, Tomon Genisi.  When our trades have finalized, I might just find myself in Triumverant space.¡±


    ~~~~~~


    The radio signals were picked up and triangulated to three points outside of the solar system.  The three points were approximately thirty light-seconds apart from each other.  The transmission was in english, although the tone of the voices speaking made it clear that they were speaking with the Yonohoan provided translation matrix rather than attempting to speak it themselves.


    Captain Anders listened to the incoming transmission, along with many other representatives of Earth, while he transmitted them to the higher-ups down on Earth to begin crafting a reply.


    ¡°Hello!  I represent the Triumverant!  We wish to begin establishing diplomatic relations!  Are we permitted to enter your solar system and discuss matters with you further?  We do possess a security detail which is in no way intended to be a threat to your self-defense force, it is merely to preserve our own safety and do not listen to those other bastards because I represent the primary!¡±


    ¡°Greetings people of Earth!  Congratulations, you have been recognized by the true primary of the Triumverant!  She wishes to establish diplomatic relations and do not listen to these other assholes!  Do not worry about our self-defense forces, they will only fire if we are fired upon.  Will you permit us entry?¡±


    ¡°Salutations!  These other ignoramuses believe that they represent the true primary, but history will show that they are incorrect!  They  are  correct in that the Triumverant wishes to discuss establishing diplomatic relations!  Is it permissible to come inside your system with our honor guard?¡±


    After the arrival of Tonom Genisi, the ESF had requested and received a briefing on the Triumverant and their predicted actions in regards to diplomacy.  This was within the expectations of that briefing.


    The Triumverant was led by three separate but equal heads of state.  However, by tradition, it required two of its leaders to act together in order to set or change policy.  Also by tradition, the Triumverants hated each other.  Each head of state was expected to hate the others and compete over every decision.  They were expected to hate each others fashion.  Their families.  Their pets, their mothers and fathers, their children.


    If one of the Triumverant was caught saying something nice about the other two, it was a scandal.


    It was the opinion of Eolai and the Yonohoans that this was a front, for their government was too effective to be otherwise.  But it had been suggested to the leaders of Earth to help the representatives maintain the illusion.


    Eolai had predicted that they would definitely send a delegation soon.  He had also predicted that there would be not one diplomat, but three.  His counsel had been proven correct, and so the ESF proceeded with the plan that it had developed based upon it.


    ¡°Greetings to the individual and collective representation of the Triumverants,¡± Captain Anders said, reading the speech which had been prepared for the occasion once his superiors had given him the go ahead to do so.  ¡°You are each and collectively invited to enter the star system of our sun.  We invite you each to join us around the space station that is currently orbiting the fourth planet from the star, which we call Mars.  If you consent, it is there that you and any staff assisting you will be screened for biological compatibility with our planet.  If we determine that it is safe, you will each be given a plot of land to establish an embassy upon near the location of our UN building in New York.  I regret to inform you that due to budget constraints, the three plots of land are adjacent to each other and collectively the same size as the Acklatic embassy.  Welcome to Earth!¡±


    The repeating messages of greeting continued until his speech reached them.  One of the ships abruptly appeared in orbit around mars and began transmitting a message of ¡°Hah!  I got here first!  Eat that suckers!¡±


    A second ship appeared a moment later, followed by the third.


    Which is how Uno, Dos, and Tres arrived in the system.  They had other names, but they were virtually unpronounceable.


    ?

 3.16.

    3.16.


    The shiny black ship dropped out of the hyperatomic plane and immediately began firing upon the station.  The first few shots got through, destroying vast swaths of the docks and the loading bays.  Then the station¡¯s shield generators came online, blocking further assaults.  Sixteen missiles were launched by the  Tumbaruna Toko , and those were shot down with extreme prejudice by the stations point-defense cannons.


    As abruptly as it had appeared, the  Toko  vanished back into the hyperatomic plane.  The stations guardians ¨C those that had not been destroyed by the attack on the docks ¨C immediately gave chase.


    The Toko was one ship.  It was a powerful ship, a destroyer, made by the martial people of the Yonohoah.  But it was only one ship, and now there were sixteen chasing it.  The Rosanteans were confident that it could not prevail.


    The toko traveled for thirty-two light years.  It wasn¡¯t significantly faster than the ships pursuing it, and it dropped into normal space only a few minutes ahead of time.


    That was enough time to shoot at and destroy six of the asteroids that were near the pirate¡¯s central base.  The pirates panicked and began loading into their ships and fighters, launching  all  of their defenses in preparation to fight for their home and their lives.


    The  Toko  slid into slipspace and vanished just as the fleet of Enforcer vessels appeared.


    The ensuing battle lasted for hours.  The losses were heavy on either side.  Each side unleashed unforgiving attacks and utilized brutal tactics.  One side was fighting to uphold the law, the other to defend their homes.  Neither was willing to surrender, both kept an eye out for the black ship against the darkness of space.


    In the darkness, the Toko watched silently, ready to spring upon the Enforcers if they should succeed against the pirates.


    The pirates carried the day.


    Emboldened at realizing that they had defeated the primary defenders of this section of space, they began boldly carrying out a reign of terror that would stretch a hundred light years in every direction.


    The  Toko  purred maliciously in the darkness as it searched out its next target.


    ~~~~~~~


    Emperor Thatress shuddered as the image of his mother engaged in unspeakable acts appeared once more before him.  He¡¯d executed three heads of IT in an effort to motivate them to  find that damned program  and destroy it.


    The current head of IT was pleading for his life, pointing out that he¡¯d only been in the department for three days and had been a janitor before his promotion.


    Then the head of IT¡¯s mother appeared and began engaging in lewd acts with Thatress¡¯s own holy mother.


    The execution was swift and painless.


    The replacement head of IT was appointed a few hours later.  He  also  had no idea what he was doing, but was very motivated to learn quickly.


    Thatress sent a message to his generals.


    This outrage would not go unanswered.  Thatress ordered his generals to send the invasion forces immediately.  Take the planets.  End the war.


    The  Toko  and its crew would have been thrilled to know that their parting gift to the empire would cause them to make such a disastrous decision.


    ~~~~~~


    Captain Moon absently stroked the fur of her Yukopan adjutant, who was sleeping nearby.  It purred and scratched itself.  She smiled.


    If it had been awake, it would have been utterly terrified to be so close to a human.  She had learned over the last week or so that the adjutant was not a high-ranking position.  It was the lowest of the low.  Not because of a disdain for the humans whom they served, but because of fear.


    The Yukopan, like all members of  Xenosapiens sulivans , remained utterly terrified of mankind.  They desperately avoided contact whenever and however possible, to the point where they would outright flee from a room if a human entered it, unless they were engaged in a critical task.


    It was reassuring that they put the flying of  The Other Shoe  above their fear, but it was a close thing, and Captain Moon had found that it was generally best to remain in the location that they had designated as the human bridge.


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    She was down to a crew of five.  Herself, a weapons officer, a communications officer, and two generalists who were ready to serve in whatever capacity the situation demanded.  Including stepping into Moon¡¯s own role, if necessary.


    Everything else was delegated to the Yukopans.


    The combat effectiveness of their mock-drills and maneuvers had escalated significantly as they had whittled down their crew and put more and more control into the Yukopan¡¯s paws.  While they may be terrified of humans, they were desperate to protect Earth.  Not the least of which because their families and entire people, aside from those serving on the military vessels they had surrendered to Earth, were presently living in the Outback in Australia.


    She smiled and patted the Adjutants nose.  He ¨C she was pretty sure that she was learning to differentiate their genders ¨C suddenly awoke and fled the room in a panic.  A new adjutant arrived a moment later.


    She smiled.


    With the reduced number of crew, the ESF could spread its officers further and take over an increased number of the Yukopan vessels.  They were working on shaking down more and more of the surrendered flotilla, thousands of vessels strong excluding those that functioned as mere transports for the entire Yukopan population.


    The war games and exercises were going well.  The Yonohoans were cooperating in the capacity as mock-enemies.  They appeared unexpectedly, broadcasting IFFs declaring themselves to be engaged in the war-game and directing the ESF to engage them as though they were the Rosanteans, except of course using targeting rounds for combat instead of live ammunition.


    The Earth lost more often than it won as they exchanged dummy rounds with the Yonohoans.  But they were gaining ground steadily in the win-loss ratio.


    While the role of Adjutant was filled by a soldier who was currently low in the rankings of the Yukopans complex social order, doing so would rapidly rocket them to the top.  Especially if Captain Moon made it difficult for them to serve, so she ordered her new adjutant to serve as a pillow as she contemplated her new situation.


    Trevor had gotten over his pissy-fit that she¡¯d rejoined the ESF.


    She sighed, correcting herself.  He had decided that he cared about her enough to overlook the fact that she had abandoned him with her cat and rejoined the military mere days before the second battle for Earth.


    It wasn¡¯t fair to him to dismiss his justified reaction to her making a significant life-decision without talking about it with him first.  Especially one that put her life in danger, when he hadn¡¯t signed up for that when they¡¯d started their relationship.  When she had told him who she was, she had also told him that she was out of the military for health reasons.


    She had pulled the carpet out from under their relationship.  She was lucky that there was hardwood floors underneath.


    She elbowed the adjutant as she tried to get comfortable.  He was miserable in this position, but if she kept it up he¡¯d probably be the highest ranking Yukopan on the ship for a few days, so she was ultimately doing him a favor.


    She thought about the difference from her previous command.  Her previous command style.  Serving with the Yukopans would take some getting used to, and she was constantly getting advice from the Yonohoans on how to adjust her command style to invoke fear and respect into her new subordinates.


    It was important that they were afraid of her.  They would serve harder if they were afraid of her.  Not because they thought that she would hurt them, but because it meant that they believed in her.  They would trust the strategies that she came up with and believe in her ability to lead them through battle.


    Fortunately it was easy to instill fear in her new furry underlings.  Certain tones of voice at the right moment.  Control over her posture and facial expressions.  Lengthy pauses.  Eye contact.


    They were  skittish  creatures.  But they were allies.  She couldn¡¯t treat them like humans, that much had become blatantly obvious in the first few days.  But she didn¡¯t think of them as lessers, either.


    They had built this spacecraft with their own technology.  They had given it to the people of Earth for reasons that were as of yet not well understood.  But they had also placed their civilians under the protection of the military that they were now serving.


    According to the Yonohoans, their message was clear.  ¡°Our children live with your children.  Our fates are intertwined.  If you fall, so do we.  If you thrive, so do we.  We are two people together.  The two are one.¡±


    Captain Moon just hoped that putting all of their eggs in the same basket wasn¡¯t a mistake.


    As she thought of her obligations, those past and present, she realized that there was one that she had been failing to meet.  Sarah had been under her command aboard the  Seeker of New Discoveries , and while she had relinquished that command, she still felt obligated to help the former analyst in her recovery following the worst case of Tunnel Drive exposure recorded.


    ¡°Call Sarah,¡± she told the ship¡¯s system.  The system knew exactly which Sarah she meant, having received her contact list.


    The ship paused.  ¡°Unable to establish connection,¡± it said at length.


    Captain Moon frowned.  She hadn¡¯t expected Sarah to ignore the call.  ¡°What is the local time at Sarah¡¯s location?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Unable to determine.  Connection is locked out due to military protocols.¡±


    ¡°Military?  She¡¯s aboard a Toormonda,¡± Captain Moon said.


    ¡°Last known position of Sarah was aboard a Toormonda, confirmed.  Present location locked out due to military protocols,¡± the computer agreed.


    Captain Moon¡¯s blood ran cold.  She recalled her own experience with ¡®military protocols¡¯ aboard a Toormonda.  The short soldier who had boarded the  Keeper of Dreams  after the heady success of their science mission.  That experience had led to the revealing of the location of Earth.  What would this encounter reveal?


    ¡°Put me through to Eolai,¡± Captain Moon said.  ¡°If Sarah¡¯s in trouble, then I want to know why, and what I can do about it.¡±


    ?

 3.17.

    3.17.


    Yunono didn¡¯t particularly feel guilty for the fact that she had ordered the xenocide of two species that were older than mankind by a factor of ten.  Nor did she feel guilty of the decision to blast sixteen more back into the stone age.  It was necessary.  They possessed the TDM, the Temporal Dissolution Matrix.


    The two that she had ordered eliminated in a pre-emptive strike had even shown the will to use it in the past, having targeted a human world that they believed would give them a tactical advantage.  She considered it a colossal mistake of her predecessors that the retaliation hadn¡¯t been the dissolution of their own homeworld to eliminate their blight from the light of the universe.


    The others hadn¡¯t actually used the doomsdsay weapon in the past, but they possessed it, had strained relations with humans in general, and had expressed a moderate degree of support for the elimination of humans from the universe under hypothetical conditions.


    That was too much of a risk.  She chose to eliminate it.


    A small alert shook through her examination of the politics of the universe, and she blinked when she realized that she had been in a zen-like mode of investigation and decision making for ninety-five hours without sleeping.  She frowned.  The system would have flagged any decisions she had made after it had determined that she was ignoring her mandatory rest periods for later review.


    Which meant that they weren¡¯t being carried out at present.


    She sighed in frustration and pulled up the alert.


    It was such a small thing.  A contact request by a member of Earth¡¯s military to one of her captives.  But it also put out a request for her latest recorded location, and that was a problem.  The records had been altered, but Sarah had been aboard a Toormonda, and any search for her would include reasonable targets for a Toormonda to examine.


    Including the Swarm Generator hidden within the forming proto-star where they were currently residing.


    She sighed.  It would be difficult to move the Generator, but since the Toormonda had appeared it had only been a matter of time before someone came looking for it.  She¡¯d initiated preparations already and now that the countdown had begun, there was no point in putting them off any longer.


    She reached out with a muscle that wasn¡¯t am muscle and instructed her subordinates to begin executing the move.  As an after thought, she engaged the plan she had put in place to dispose of their captives.


    ~~~~~~


    Sarah was playing the handball/basketball Yonohoan sport when their ship abruptly signaled that they were about to be boarded.  The passengers spent a moment recovering from the surprise ¨C they weren¡¯t expecting another roll-call for more than twelve hours ¨C but quickly formed up in the common room next to the airlock and waited for their jailer to arrive.


    It was the same soldier as always.  A bald-woman with crimson eyes and a mole beneath her left eye.  She did not hide her face, but examined each of the captives in turn.


    ¡°There has been an update in your situation.  Your ship remains under military lockout, but you are being released.  Your ship will transport you to a nearby location before the lockout will be lifted.  When it is lifted, you will not attempt to return to the location in which it was placed under lockout.  You will not share the details of what you believe you may have discovered.  You will not send others to this location, or they will be destroyed.  The primary reason you were not destroyed is because it would have drawn further attention to this location.  Do not underestimate our resolve,¡± the woman said sternly.


    Sarah swallowed.  The teenagers and Dornodo all showed various signs of anxiety at her words as well.


    ¡°When you are released, you are not to speak of your captivity except to say that you disturbed a Rosantean training exercise and were held hostage.  You are to claim ignorance as to the purpose of your release.  If you disobey these instructions, there will be no consequences except for the knowledge that you have betrayed mankind.¡±


    The woman paused for a moment, then turned to Sarah and Dornodo, who were holding their hands.


    ¡°Congratulations on your Tuunka Powan,¡± she said, and then she left the ship.


    The children all began chattering nervously as they discussed the news.  A few moments passed, and with a hum, the Toormonda entered the hyperatomic plane.


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    They were underway.


    Four days later, Dornodo regained control of the ship.  Sarah stood next to him in the primary control room as he examined the star charts.  Immediately after the military lockout had ended the Toormonda¡¯s systems had requested an update from the Totola government, and the results were surprising in the information that they provided.


    Hostile zones, friendly zones, neutral zones.  Among them, the closest friendly zone was a region previously marked as empty.


    ¡°We are a long ways from planet Totola.  Further than I was expecting, based on where we started.  But we are only a few hours away from Earth,¡± he commented.  ¡°In order to return the children to their homes, it might be faster to seek assistance from your government.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Sarah agreed.  ¡°Let¡¯s go to Earth.  We can get married and apply for you to get citizenship while we¡¯re there.¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± he said, holding the hand that he¡¯d put a ring on not so long ago.  ¡°Marriage sounds fun.  I am looking forward to enjoying this Earth custom.¡±


    ~~~~~~


    Captain Moon received permission to begin her search.  She was just about to execute the first jump to take her into the location where the Toormonda had last been reported when an abrupt status change sent her subordinates, both humans and Yukopan, scurrying about in a panic.


    A ship had appeared near Saturn.  It dropped out of the Hyperatomic plane with a whisper, it¡¯s drives extremely quiet.  But not silent, and the military grade sensors had picked it up before it finished materializing.


    The IFF did not come back as either friend or foe.  Because it didn¡¯t  have  an IFF. Not one issued or compatible with Earth¡¯s versions of the technology at least.  It did have the Yonohoan equivalent of the procedure, and the Yukopan vessel swiftly made a connection to the ship¡¯s computer.


    The alert was lessened when the ship¡¯s model was confirmed.  It was a Toormonda.  Captain Moon reached out and used her military clearance to access the ship¡¯s passenger list.  She breathed a sigh of relief.


    Sarah was on board.


    Then she began to grow suspicious.  First of all, how had the Toormonda know where Earth was?  And second, what were the odds that it would appear just as she was about to go looking for it?


    ~~~~~~


    Sarah sat quietly in the space station in orbit around Mars.  She had been interrogated thoroughly but fairly.  She wasn¡¯t suspected of any wrongdoing, after all, she just had important intelligence to share with the Earth officials.


    She had told the total, complete, and unabridged truth.  She had utterly ignored the instructions to lie.  Because fuck them, that¡¯s why.  They expected her to cooperate after all they had put her through?


    She might not remember the brain-scry explicitly, but three times a week she awoke shaking with cold sweats without knowing why.  No, she knew why.  She didn¡¯t remember the trauma, but her body still did.


    Dornodo would wake up with her, wrap her in his muscular arms, and they would usually go back to sleep right after.


    Usually.


    The fact that she was pregnant was also of significant news, and she¡¯d undergone a thorough medical examination.  Both a traditional earth exam with a sonogram as well as one utilizing the Yonohoan medical scanners.


    It was too early to tell the sex of the baby, but it was healthy for its gestational age.


    She was looking forward to finding out if she was having a son or a daughter.


    She was also looking forward to inviting everyone to attend her marriage to the love of her life.


    Including Diego, whom she had sent a message apologizing for the difficulty she had caused him in the past and thanking him for his role in identifying and treating her illness.


    ~~~~~~


    Three days passed since the Toormonda had arrived.  Captain Moon reviewed her orders.  She nodded, and then she began issuing her own orders to her crew.  The Earthling officers and the Yukopans both.


    They left sol-system and journeyed to the last known location of the Toormonda before it had suddenly appeared next to the sun.


    They were searching for a proto-star.


    And damned the consequences if what they found wasn¡¯t friendly.


    ?

 3.18.

    3.18.


    Emily looked at the empty desk next to her.  It had been three weeks since John had appeared at school, stayed for three class periods, and abruptly left.  And none of the adults would say anything about it at all.


    She scowled.  She didn¡¯t accept their silence.


    The rumors among the students varied from ¡®he couldn¡¯t handle the stress of a real school,¡¯ to ¡®I bet he got his superpowers turned back on and now they won¡¯t let him come here around normal kids.¡¯  Emily didn¡¯t know what to believe, and she didn¡¯t participate in the rumors.


    They¡¯d all seen his press conference, and nobody really understood what he¡¯d said.  That was another topic of discussion.  How could someone be tens of thousands of years old but only have lived for twelve years?  Why did it make sense to Yonohoans but not Earthlings?


    She scowled.  She wanted to know the answers.


    And she only had one lead.  A name.  In the short period he had been her ¡®buddy,¡¯ he had mentioned the name of his guardian.  Olivia Nunes.  Doctor Olivia Nunes.


    She had searched for the name and come up with a pediatrician.  A very very good one according to the reviews that she¡¯d seen on the hospital¡¯s website.  Unfortunately her home address wasn¡¯t listed.


    So she¡¯d gone to the hospital, explaining her plan to her driver, who had readily agreed to be a willing participant in her investigation.  He got paid by the hour, he declared, and it was his job to bring her wherever she needed to go.


    He was a good guy, she thought.  Yes he was paid by her family, but he was funny and supportive and she liked him.  There were four years left before she could drive herself, but unless her parents decided otherwise she¡¯d let him keep doing it until she went off to college.


    Surprisingly, finding Olivia was as simple as walking up to the front desk and asking.  She was questioned whether or not she had an appointment, and when Emily had said that she did not but that it was a private matter nobody had asked her for further details.


    It helped that her driver had forged her father¡¯s name on the form that they had given her and they were pretending that this was a medical visit.


    They were called into an exam room, pretending to be father and daughter.  Emily was a little embarrassed when the Nurse asked her to lift up her shirt for parts of the exam in front of the driver, but the man politely looked away.


    Then the doctor came in and Emily made her confrontation.


    ¡°Why hasn¡¯t John Doe been coming to school?  Did he do something wrong?  Why won¡¯t anyone talk about him?  It¡¯s like he never existed but he was  real! ¡± Emily exclaimed.


    Olivia frowned at the ambush.  ¡°You¡¯re not really here to talk about ¡®private issues¡¯ with me as a doctor, are you Emily?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Emily admitted.  ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I¡¯m not sorry.  Tell me about John.  Is he okay?¡±


    ¡°John is fine.  Unfortunately it¡¯s been decided that due to factors outside of everyone¡¯s control a school is not the safest environment for him to continue his education in.  He has been assigned private tutors for the immediate future.¡±


    ¡°He got his powers back, didn¡¯t he?¡± Emily pressed.  ¡°That¡¯s why everyone is freaked out!  Does it have something to do with the press conference?  There are  others  with superpowers on Earth, aren¡¯t there?¡±


    Olivia frowned at the girl.  ¡°Emily, I can¡¯t answer your questions.  For a number of reasons.  All I can really tell you is that John is safe and continuing his education.  And I can tell you where I live, I suppose.¡±


    She wrote down an address.  ¡°I can¡¯t tell you that John will be there.  I don¡¯t know if he wants to see you or not.  Your parents might be upset that you¡¯re associating with him, so please don¡¯t think of this as me trying to arrange your meeting with him.¡±


    Then Olivia typed some things into the computer and left the room without saying anything further.


    ~~~~~~


    ¡°Are you having fun?¡± Eolai asked his father, who was posing as his son, who he was forced to call by the assumed name of John.  They sat in the box seats of a basketball game as the crowd cheered outside.


    ¡°Yes, I am,¡± John agreed, watching as the game proceeded.  ¡°I hope that we win.¡±


    ¡°We?¡±


    ¡°The home team.  You are supposed to root for the home team,¡± John explained.


    Eolai nodded.  It was only logical.  ¡°Unless you traveled with the team to cheer for your team,¡± He argued.


    ¡°You would still be cheering for your home team,¡± John argued.  ¡°Just not the home team of the home you are in.¡±


    Eolai nodded again.  ¡°The Earthlings are so much like the Yonohoans,¡± he said.  ¡°I am glad that they came to us.  But another part of me is deeply troubled.  I fear what will happen with Taskforce Ragnarok.  I have looked into the name.  It is the term for a battle at the end of the world that everyone has seen coming centuries in advance, but nobody has been seen a way to prevent.¡±


    ¡°They chose the name well,¡± John, who was also called Eodar in most of his other lives, said calmly.  ¡°You¡¯re not the only one who is afraid of Taskforce Ragnarok, my son.¡±  He paused.  ¡°Nope.  Can¡¯t call you that until I¡¯ve lived longer than you.  Sounds weird.¡±


    Eolai chuckled.  ¡°Yes, it kind of does sound weird when your sitting right next to me.¡±


    They continued to watch the game until the end.


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    ~~~~~~


    Nobody was home when they knocked, but Emily didn¡¯t let that stop their investigation.  They found the boy shooting hoops.  He was older, fourteen, but he immediately perked up when she described who she was looking for.


    ¡°Yeah I know John,¡± Tom said, continuing to play basketball by himself as they spoke.  ¡°How do  you  know John.¡±


    ¡°He goes to my school,¡± she said.


    ¡°John doesn¡¯t go to school.  He¡¯ s homeschooled.  With a tutor,¡± Tom countered.


    ¡°He  went  to my school but then he got his powers back and they said that he couldn¡¯t anymore,¡± Emily said.


    Tom paused for a moment, then continued dribbling.  ¡°So you know he¡¯s got superpowers, huh?  They had to buy all new appliances because of the fight he got into with the other kid like him, you know?  John told me all about it even though he¡¯s not supposed to.¡±


    ¡°He got into a fight at his home?¡± Emily asked.


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t really a fight,¡± Tom said.  ¡°More of a standoff.  Then the FBI and SWAT showed up and I don¡¯t know what happened after that.  But it was hard to hide that  something  happened when there was sirens and helicopters and search dogs all over the place.¡±


    Emily frowned.  She considered her options, then wrote down her phone number.  ¡°Will you ask John to call me, please?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Tom said, taking the note.  He glanced at her, and his tone was slightly flirtatious when he said  ¡°If he doesn¡¯t call you, I might.¡±


    Emily blushed slightly, but didn¡¯t tell him not to bother.


    ~~~~~


    Emily was doing her homework hours later when her phone rang.  The number was unlisted, but she picked up immediately.


    ¡°Hello?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Who is this?¡± a familiar voice asked.


    ¡°Hello John.  It¡¯s Emily.  Didn¡¯t Tom tell you my name?¡±


    ¡°He said that  you  didn¡¯t tell him your name, only gave him your phone number and asked questions about me,¡± John¡¯s voice informed her.  ¡°I just new a girl from my school stopped by.  I didn¡¯t know it was my buddy until just now.¡±


    ¡°Oh, sorry,¡± Emily said, realizing he was right.  ¡°I was worried about you so I thought I¡¯d check.  Where were you today?¡±


    ¡°One of my family members had a visitation day.  We were attending a sporting event,¡± John answered.


    ¡°Oh.  Did you have fun?¡±


    ¡°I did.¡±


    ¡°You really are socially stunted, aren¡¯t you?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yes.  That is what happens when you are trained by a military organization starting at age four, when I was taken from my family and put into a Toormonda to measure my intelligence,¡± John answered.  ¡°They determined that I was very intelligent and decided to put me to use in the service of humanity.¡±


    ¡°Wow,¡± she said.


    ¡°It¡¯s not such a big deal.  One hundred and sixty-eight Yonohoan children were taken at the same time,¡± John said.


    ¡°Wow,¡± she said again.  ¡°The government took you from your family when you were a pre-schooler?¡±


    ¡°Not your government.  And I wouldn¡¯t have gone to school if it weren¡¯t for High Command.  Emily, all of this happened a very long time ago.  I just remember it like it was more recent.  I¡¯m a clone, but they think that I might have also been in stasis for a few thousand years.  Between those to things, It¡¯s been a very very long time since these things actually happened to the original me.¡±


    ¡°John, are you supposed to be talking about these things?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re not secret.  Not anymore.  Not for a very long time,¡± John answered.  ¡°And Olivia says that it is good for me to talk about the things that I remember.  Technically you Earthlings believe that they happened to someone else and that I only have the memories of the original Eodar.  But I do have those memories and to me, those things happened.¡±


    ¡°I never said that they didn¡¯t happen to you,¡± Emily said.  ¡°If you remember them then they happened, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes.  They happened, and I remember them,¡± John agreed.


    Emily cursed the awkwardness of the conversation.  ¡°The government isn¡¯t letting you come to school, is it?¡±


    ¡°It isn¡¯t the government.  It¡¯s the school.   They have a no weapons policy, and since I¡¯ve been reactivated I effectively am a walking weapon on the scale of which it is difficult to explain,¡± John answered.


    ¡°Right.  You have superpowers.  But they let Clark Kent go to school, so why not you?¡±


    ¡°I understood that reference.  Clark Kent did not reveal his superpowers when he was a child, Emily.  I never intended to either, but either way I was outed.  I am fortunate to have as much freedom as I am allowed to have at present.¡±


    Emily was quiet as she considered the situation.  ¡°You¡¯re allowed to play with other children, aren¡¯t you?¡± she asked at last.


    ¡°As long as I do not threaten or harm them, yes,¡± he agreed.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go to the mall this Saturday,¡± she said.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°To hang out,¡± she explained.  ¡°Do you want me to tell the other kids from class you¡¯ll be there, or do you want it to be just us?¡±


    John was quiet for a moment.  ¡°I¡¯m not certain I¡¯ll do well with crowds.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll do fine.  Just don¡¯t blow anything up.¡±


    John didn¡¯t answer.  Emily gave it a little push.


    ¡°I¡¯ll pick you up at ten in the morning on Satuday, John.  I¡¯ll talk to you then.¡±


    And she hung up on him before he could refuse her.


    ?

 3.19.

    3.19.


    The spaceship arrived with barely a whisper of a ripple in the hyperatomic plane, but it blared its presence on the IFF frequencies of the Earth Space Force.  They compared the IFF to the one that they were expecting to arrive literally the second that this ship had appeared and relaxed.


    It was registered to one Lisa Desmond.  A spacecraft from the Acklatic Empire, it was large and elegant looking, with golds and whites highlighting its hull.  It¡¯s owner was already on the spacestation around Mars, and she was excited to view the object that her husbands former ¡®literature¡¯ had purchased.


    But first, she had three ambassadors to confront.


    Uno, as they were calling him, was not the leader, despite his name.  Dos and Tres were very clear on this fact, although Uno claimed that they were being facetious and that Lisa needed look no further for the absolute authority on the Triumverant than him.


    Until she explained her purpose, at which point she was instructed to speak with Dos and Tres.


    Both of them directed her to the others immediately upon the subject of the war coming up.


    None of them were willing to have a serious discussion on the matter with her, even when she offered to bribe them simply to talk about the possibility of providing aid to Earth in the conflict.  Frustrated, she had contacted Tonom Genisi.


    The flamboyant man had answered in a heartbeat with a ¡°Hello Hello!  Is nice spaceship, yes?  You go inside her yet?¡±


    ¡°I will very soon.  Tonom, you said that the Triumverant would support Earth.  The ambassadors won¡¯t even talk to me,¡± she told him.


    ¡°I say Triumverant best place to find privateers.  Ambassadors are not privateers, Lisa Desmond.  To find Triumverant privateers, you must go into Triumverant space and speak with them,¡± Tonom explained.


    Her heart sank.  ¡°What about their government?  How do I get them to provide official aid?¡± she asked.


    ¡°You do not.  That is to your government to wrangle,¡± Tom explained.  ¡°They no speak war with private citizen.  Not seemly to them.¡±


    Lisa¡¯s heart sank further, but she accepted the council.  ¡°I¡¯ll call you again from the Defiant.¡±


    ¡°She is named Defiant?  Yes yes, is good name.¡±


    ¡°He loved Deep Space Nine,¡± she said, and she ended the call.


    ~~~~~~


    The  Tumbaruna Toko  dropped its stealth in the middle of the fleet and opened fire with all weapons.  The ensuing battle lasted for thirty minutes as for the first time the ship went toe to toe with a force rather than simply engaging in hit and run tactics.  For thirty minutes it exchanged Plasma Lances, Kirata beams, torpedoes, missiles, and more esoteric weapons fire with the ships that surrounded it.


    It lost the battle.


    But it slinked away to lick its wounds and fight again another day.


    The fleet that it had tried to take on outnumbered it two hundred to one.


    When the Toko retreated, they only outnumbered it one hundred twenty to one.  Sixty of those remaining required significant repairs.


    The Toko had been hurt.


    The Rosanteans took their pyrrhic victory and declared it tasty, for it was the first real victory they¡¯d gotten in this war they¡¯d provoked.


    The Toko watched in silence as the news program hailed their defeat, claiming their complete destruction.


    That was fine.  As the self-healing armor of the ship repaired itself, the first among peers calmly discussed with the others how they would take advantage of this to cause terror in the hearts of the enemy.


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    While they were very deep inside.


    ~~~~~~


    ¡°I can see the pattern, I just can¡¯t get the computer to model it right,¡± Gabriel explained.  He was in his office, his ¡®dungeon,¡¯ with his six monitors set out and the data on display.


    His companion, one Mathew Dewey, sat in his chair and examined the data, clicking the mouse occasionally.


    They were reviewing the probe¡¯s analysis from the  Seeker of New Discoveries .  Not the telescopic evidence.  Not even the evidence of the other sensors, such as the gravitic instruments.


    They were reviewing the data from the FTL drives.  The ¡®tunnel drive,¡¯ which was inhospitable to human life, but had been the only method of faster than light travel that Earth had managed to discover.


    ¡°I see a pattern as well,¡± Mathew admitted.  ¡°I¡¯ll be damned if I can make sense of it though.¡±


    ¡°But you see  something , right?¡± Gabriel asked.


    ¡°Yes.  It¡¯s clear that  something  is causing distortions in the subspace foam, which is resonating with our drives and causing these readings,¡± Mathew agreed.  ¡°But I have no idea what it is.¡±


    ¡°Can you help me model it?¡± Gabriel inquired.


    ¡°I can try.  But before I do, I have to ask.  You can yell at me if you want, but I need to know.  Have you asked the Yonohoans yet?¡±


    Gabriel growled in frustration.


    ~~~~~~~


    Towari smiled.  He had been worried that the god would be angry with him and smite his village when he had broken into her hut and played with her magic.  He had been so frightened that he had told nobody about the experience, dodging the questions that they asked about why he was so late in coming back to the village that night.


    But the god hadn¡¯t been angry with him.  She had been happy.  She had been so happy that she had sent Towari a wife.


    He hadn¡¯t been certain that was what the god intended at first, but when the strange girl who had shown up the next day had agreed to the elder¡¯s arrangement, he had also agreed.


    Married life agreed with him.


    He had been worried; all of the other girls his age in the village were either already paired up with someone else or related to him.  He had expected that he¡¯d have to travel to one of the other Mokoari villages to find a wife, but instead one had come to him!


    After their wedding night he had made every excuse to be around his new wife, attempting to teach her how to speak properly.  Giving her gifts.  Cooking her food.  Trying to get her to let him kiss her.


    He loved Enidi with all of his heart and couldn¡¯t be happier.


    ~~~~~~


    ¡°So, yeah, that¡¯s a thing,¡± Enidi told the campfire in High Yonohoan.  The fire was powering a small rocktala, which she was using to issue her report to Trewali and the other higher-ranked scouts.  ¡°The little brat won¡¯t leave me alone for five seconds.  I swear to high-command I think that he¡¯d offer to wipe my ass if I let him.  He¡¯s lucky he¡¯s cute  and  that he¡¯s my cover for fitting in with the Mokoari or else I¡¯d have to strategic accident him for the sake of the mission.


    ¡°The infiltration proceeds as planned.  I am welcome in the village and am presently being inducted fully into their society.  Nobody seems to suspect a thing except that I came to the Mokoari from another tribe seeking a husband.  Defensive measures for the basin are being put in place.  I pity anyone who tries to take these people from me, because I, with my weapon emplacements, will not.¡±


    Abruptly Towari, misinterpreting her report as an attempt to sing to him, began playing a flute.


    Enidi¡¯s eye twitched as she concluded the report with musical accompaniment.  She sighed.


    He meant well, she reminded herself.  And at least he could actually play a flute.


    She continued to ¡®sing¡¯ to her husband for a while as she detailed the steps that she had taken and the things that she had learned about the valley and its people.  When she concluded the report, Towari continued playing for a moment, then lowered the flute, his eyes twinkling.


    She sighed and graced him with a smile.  He grinned mischievously and went in for a kiss.


    She sighed.  This was her husband, she reminded herself as she attempted to extricate herself from the situation.


    ~~~~~~


    ?

 3.20.

    3.20.


    Opala watched as the latest group of Europeans signed up to relocate to the Acklatic empire rather than remaining in their homelands to help rebuild.  She was disappointed in them, but she couldn¡¯t really blame them either.


    She had established the computer systems that they were using for the process.  They were, perhaps ironically, Rocktala systems.  The Rocktala computers were robust and easy to use, which is the primary reason why they were often given to Yonohoan children.  They were only ¡®primitive¡¯ in the fact that that they were built based on binary rather than the more complex hexadecimal system of holographic thinking machines.


    And they didn¡¯t develop personalities or make leaps of logic.  They were machines, clear and simple.  They made poor companions but excellent tools.


    A lot like the computer systems of Earth, for that matter.


    The Rocktala library she had provided this city had built itself with nanites like everything else she had provided during her weeks of serving these people.  They drew their power from a small strange-matter reactor which was powering the entire complex that she intended to leave behind for them.  Her own ship was working hard to generate strange-matter at a ridiculous rate in order to keep up with the energy demands of these refugees.


    Not because they were greedy, but because it was the primary limitation on the rate at which she could provide them with aid.


    As she watched the families apply for immigration to the luxurious worlds of the Acklatic, she smiled sadly.  She had  enjoyed  helping these people, and while she took pride in that, she also regretted the necessity.  She would rather continue her service to mankind in this fashion than to fight in combat.  But her service was only necessary because this world had been fired upon in the opening of a war which would cost millions, perhaps billions of lives.


    She was returning to her relief-dropship when she felt predatory eyes upon her.  She spun about and saw the form of a teenage girl looking at her.  The expression on the girl¡¯s face was not one of awe or gratitude.  It was a calculated expression of evaluation.


    ¡°May I help you?¡± Opala asked.


    ¡°You have been lax in your duty to these people,¡± the girl said.  ¡°You have been providing them shelter, but not the ability to defend themselves.  Explain.¡±


    Opala¡¯s blood went cold as the woman spoke to her in High-Yonohoan.  She answered in the same language.  ¡°You are one of the scouts who arrived from Taskforce Ragnarok?¡±


    ¡°I am,¡± the girl agreed.  ¡°Why are you not arming these people?  You have the capacity.  Why--¡±


    ¡°I was ordered to provide shelter and support to their local governments.  Not weapons,¡± Opala explained.


    ¡°Your commanding officers are idiots, then.  I will demonstrate why,¡± the scout said.


    A flash of light and a whirr of matter, and the girl was abruptly embraced in a suit of scout class power armor.  Opala answered the threat by activating her own armor.


    The people around them ran screaming as the clash between the scout and the aid worker began.  Twenty minutes later, half of Opala¡¯s hard work in creating shelters and aid stations were destroyed.


    And her ship had a line burned into its hull where a low power plasma lance had swiped it.  If the scout hadn¡¯t deliberately reduced the power of the weapon, then the ship would have been utterly destroyed.


    Opala lay in the dirt where the final blow of the battle had sent her, waiting for her suit to unlock and her systems to recover.  She stood to see that the scout was gone.


    She looked around at the devastation.  The ¡®lesson¡¯ at the vulnerability of these people, as though Opala wasn¡¯t already aware of exactly how precarious their situation was.  Metaphorically rolling up her sleeves, Opala got back to work, repairing the damage that had just been caused.


    ~~~~~~


    The girls finished helping Sarah into the white dress, chattering and laughing at the joy of the occasion.  Mirella, Vanya and Alaria, the three girls who Sarah had grown closest to on the Toormonda, had been excited and honored to be her bridesmaids when she had asked them and had eagerly researched everything that there was to know about the position once they gained access to Earth¡¯s internet.


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    The results were ¡­ interesting.


    They had dragged her onto the mars-space station and they had gone from canteen to canteen announcing that they were celebrating a ¡®bachelorette party¡¯ and trying to get the service men that they came across to strip for them by bribing them with alcoholic drinks that were generated by the Toormonda¡¯s food forge.


    The results had been surprising, as the party had quickly built up on the station.  Sarah had expected the officers to put a stop to it, but she had seen one of the admirals doing body-shots off of one of the Triumverants¡¯ subordinates, so ¡­ yeah, that was a thing.


    The boys had gotten into the action, throwing Dornodo a party of his own which was by all accounts just as rowdy as hers had been.


    When the word had gotten out that she intended to have the wedding as soon as possible, the admiral ¨C he of the body-shots ¨C had offered her the primary mess hall of the station as a venue.  It wasn¡¯t quite what she had dreamed of as a little girl.  But while she wasn¡¯t the first person to get married in space (that honor had gone to a billionaire and his wife thirty years ago), hers  would  be the first wedding at the Mars-station.


    So she¡¯d accepted.


    The ability to include the Yonohoan teenagers from the Toormonda was a significant part of the decision.  They had all agreed to delay their return to planet Totola in order to attend her wedding, so having the wedding at the space-station simplified thing for them significantly.


    She placed a small film in her mouth which dissolved immediately.  It helped with her nerves, butterflies, and settled a bit of her remaining morning sickness.  Yonohoan medicine truly was the best.


    ¡°Are you happy?¡± Vanya asked.  ¡°It would be most disappointing if you suddenly changed your mind and ¡®jilted¡¯ Dornodo.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to jilt him, Vanya,¡± Sarah said, swiping at the girl who was wearing an emerald dress.  Like Sarah, they had gotten creative with the material printer in creating their clothes for the day.  It was a mixture of classical wedding dress and practicality considering that they were, after all, aboard an advanced space station.


    ¡°No?  Perhaps we should delay an extra ten minutes to make him sweat,¡± Mirella suggested.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to follow the program exactly.  This is a military station, and a lot of the guests are here on their time off to celebrate with us.  Some of them had to file official requests to attend¡± Sarah said.  ¡°It would be rude.¡±


    Mirella seemed chastised at the reminder.  ¡°I was only joking.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± Sarah said.  ¡°Come, it¡¯s almost time.  Let¡¯s go.¡±


    Her bridesmaids proceeded ahead of her through the mess hall, which had been hastily reconfigured with a table to serve as an altar.  The other tables had been cleared away.  In the front of the room, benches served as pews, but there wasn¡¯t enough for everyone and the rear of the room was standing-room-only.


    The Wedding March began to play over the stations speakers, and with a smile that was nearly a rictus, Sarah made her procession with her bridesmaids to stand next to Dornodo and take his hand.


    The music came to an end, and the admiral who was officiating the ceremony cleared his throat.


    ¡°Right.  We¡¯re all either military or have been military or understand what it is to be military, so while this is a wonderful and beautiful occasion I¡¯m not going to give a thirty minute sermon.  We are gathered her today to witness the Joining of Sarah Renfield and Dornodo of the Yonohoah.  And, symbolically, we are also witnessing a joining between the peoples of Earth and the peoples of the Yonohoah.  As the first wedding to take place between our two peoples, this is a historic occasion, and one which I believe will be looked back upon with happiness and joy.¡±


    ¡°That said, let¡¯s proceed straight to the vows.  Sarah, do you take Dornodo to be your husband?  To have and to hold ¡­¡±


    He repeated the traditional vows, and Sarah repeated them joyfully.  When it was Dornodo¡¯s turn, however, the Admiral said ¡°I understand that the groom has written his own vows.  I will allow him to make them now.¡±


    Dornodo smiled and swallowed nervously.  He took Sarah¡¯s hand, and he slowly placed a golden band upon.  ¡°Sarah, when you came into my life, I was not expect to find a lover.  I was not expecting to find the mother of my child.  Of my children, perhaps, if the future is kind to us.  I was happy in my life before I met you as the guide and chaperone of a Toormonda.  I was respected among my people, my profession of guiding young minds an honorable one.¡±


    He paused.


    ¡°I would trade it all for a life with you.  I wish to be not only the father of your children, but their parana.  And I wish to be your husband with all of my heart.  I foresake all other women, accepting only you in my heart from this day forth.  I love you, Sarah, and am honored to be your man.¡±


    She blinked away her tears.  The admiral pronounced them wed, and they kissed deeply as the room cheered them on.


    The teens joyfully escorted them back to the Toormonda, where they celebrated their wedding night in private.  In the morning, they said farewell to their teenage companions, who boarded a shuttle to return them to planet Totola, and their families, who were very happy to have the fates of their missing children revealed and were preparing for their joyous return.


    ?

 3.21.

    3.21.


    ¡°Can we have the radio?¡± John asked as he sat next to Emily in the backseat.  She had half expected him not to come, but he had been waiting at the curb for her when she and her driver had pulled up to Olivia¡¯s house.  He was dressed in khakis and a button-down-shirt, but it was within the latest fashions for kids her age so he didn¡¯t look overly formal.


    Emily was pretty certain that Olivia had helped him pick out the outfit.  She smiled.  Emily didn¡¯t really think of this as a date, more of ¡®I want to be friends so let¡¯s hang out.¡¯  But she wouldn¡¯t be too upset if that¡¯s how John thought of it.


    ¡°Sure kid,¡± the driver said, turning the radio on to one of Emily¡¯s favorite stations.  The sound of pop music filled the car, and John seemed to relax a little.


    ¡°I haven¡¯t told anyone that you have you powers back, you know,¡± she told John.  ¡°I haven¡¯t told anyone any of the secrets you told me.  Except for Peter here, but he¡¯s got an NDA with my family so he won¡¯t tell anyone.¡±


    The driver tipped his hat at them.


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t worried about you telling or I wouldn¡¯t have told you,¡± John said.  He blushed and looked out the window.  ¡°I¡¯m sorry I¡¯m awkward.¡±


    ¡°I think most kids our age are awkward at some points, John,¡± she argued.  ¡°We¡¯ll just have to hang out together until you relax.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I guess,¡± John said.  Awkwardly.


    The silence stretched on for a few moments.


    ¡°The FBI might be sending people to follow me,¡± John said after a while.


    ¡°Will they?¡± Emily asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know for sure.  Sometimes they do and sometimes they don¡¯t.  I told Agent Morrison that I was going to go to the mall with a friend today and he reminded me not to use any of my abilities in a very stern voice, but he didn¡¯t say that I couldn¡¯t go,¡± John explained.


    ¡°You have to get permission for things like this from the FBI?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I have to or not, but it¡¯s probably better if I do,¡± John admitted.  ¡°I just wanted to tell you in case you saw someone following us that it¡¯s probably them and not to worry about it.¡±


    Emily considered the question for a moment.  ¡°John, I¡¯m not a trained soldier.  I¡¯m a twelve year old girl.  If the FBI wants to follow me, I doubt that I¡¯d notice unless they were being really obvious about it.  Peter might notice because he¡¯s also sort of my security person, so I guess it¡¯s good to tell him.  But I definitely wouldn¡¯t have.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± John said.


    ¡°It  is  kind of cool that you¡¯re important enough that the FBI wants to tail you,¡± she informed him.


    ¡°It¡¯s annoying,¡± John argued.


    ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s also kind of cool,¡± she said.


    ¡°If you say so.¡±


    The car fell into awkward silence again.  ¡°So what sort of movies do you like?¡± she asked after a few minutes.


    ¡°Documentaries,¡± John said immediately.  ¡°I like learning about Earth.  I  do  like Earth.  A lot.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s cool.  I like rom-com movies.  That stands for romantic comedy if you didn¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t,¡± John admitted.


    ¡°When we¡¯re at the mall, maybe we can see a movie,¡± she said.  ¡°I don¡¯t know if they¡¯ll have any documentaries, but we can watch whatever they have that you want to see.¡±


    ¡°You can pick.  Just ¡­ I don¡¯t think I¡¯m supposed to watch ¡®action¡¯ or ¡®horror¡¯ movies.  Because of my trauma,¡± John said.


    ¡°It¡¯s kind of cool that you just bluntly talk about it like it¡¯s no big deal,¡± she informed him.  ¡°I don¡¯t think I can even begin to imagine what you went through growing up.  Not after hearing the way you talk about it.  But you act like it¡¯s no big deal.  It makes you sound even tougher than you probably are.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± John said, uncertain how to take the compliment.


    They rode in silence for a while.  It was a twenty minute drive from Olivia¡¯s house to the mall, and they had some time to fill.


    ¡°You can ask about it if you want,¡± John said eventually.


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    ¡°It?¡±


    ¡°My life.  Before Earth.  Or when I first arrived.  I talk about it with Olivia all the time.  And my therapist.  They said that it might help to talk with someone my age,¡± John said.  ¡°So you can ask questions.  I¡¯ll try to answer them.¡±


    She took a minute to consider how to respond.  Then she asked ¡°Did they ever make you hurt anyone?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± John said.  ¡°In training.  And ¡­ when I woke up I was very disoriented.  I mean, when I became active in this time period.  It¡¯s very confusing still.  I thought I was in the enemy¡¯s hands and I hurt the man who was trying to help me and killed some Topokans.  They¡¯ve forgiven me, both the man I hurt and the families of the Topokans.  I¡¯m not certain I deserve their forgiveness.¡±


    ¡°My mother believes that forgiveness isn¡¯t something that you deserve or not.  It¡¯s something that is either given or withheld.  It says more about the person giving the forgiveness than the person receiving it, according to her,¡± Emily explained.  ¡°I¡¯m not saying that you don¡¯t deserve their forgiveness.  I¡¯m saying that you should accept it, because it will make the people who offered it to you feel better about what happened.  It will help them put the things you did in the past for them.¡±


    John was quiet, staring out the window at the eighteen wheeler they were passing.  ¡°That¡¯s a perspective I¡¯ve never heard before.  Thank you.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome.  I¡¯m just repeating what my mom says though.¡±


    ¡°Still, thank you.¡±


    ¡°What was your life like before you got sucked in by the high-command¡¯s military or whatever it was?¡± she asked.


    John smiled.  ¡°My family all wore homemade clothes of leather and woven reeds.  We were very primitive before the night of the meteors, when the scouts came to us.  Even when they arrived and tried to show us new ways, my parents and grandparents continued to cling to their tradition.  One of the scouts, her name was Enidi, she tricked the adults into letting her watch us little ones.  It was fun because she would use her abilities around us and show us things that seemed to be magic.  When she asked if I wanted to learn how they worked, I agreed eagerly.  That¡¯s how I ended up on the Toormonda.¡±


    ¡°They had Toormonda¡¯s back then?¡± Emily asked.


    ¡°Yes.  It¡¯s where I learned almost everything I know.  Except how to fight and kill, of course.  I learned that in training afterwards.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± she agreed.  ¡°But let¡¯s focus on your family.  Tell me about your mom.¡±


    They spoke about his little village in the distant past for the remainder of the trip.  Compared to the initial stiffness, the memories about his early childhood came easily to John.  He continued to talk about them as Peter dropped them off at the entrance of the mall, promising to wait for them in the food court while they did their teenage-stuff.


    Abruptly John went quiet.  His expression showed that he was having  serious  thoughts again and Emily cursed inwardly.  ¡°What¡¯s wrong.¡±


    ¡°I just remembered that they¡¯re all dead,¡± John admitted.  ¡°That they¡¯ve been dead for a very long time.  That the only person in existence who remembers that little village and the flute dances that we used to perform after a successful hunt is me.¡±


    Emily winced, because how exactly was she supposed to cheer him up after that revelation?  ¡°They probably had good lives though, didn¡¯t they?  I mean, probably?¡±


    ¡°They probably spent it wondering what fates befell their children who were taken from them by the soldiers from the sky,¡± John said sadly.  ¡°A part of me is really coming to hate High-Command. For all the good things that they have done in bringing freedom to the universe, they also carry heavy sins which I¡¯m having trouble overlooking any longer.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s talk about something else.  Have you ever had a pretzel, John?  There¡¯s a really good stand over here that serves the best hot pretzels.¡±


    She realized as they spoke that being friends with John was going to take a lot of work.  She wasn¡¯t quite certain what drove her to put in the effort, except that seeing him smile whenever she convinced him to stop thinking about ¡®his trauma¡¯ and all the dark things that had happened lit up her world a little bit.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry if I¡¯m not a good companion,¡± John said as they waited in line.  ¡°We don¡¯t have to talk about my past.  I just thought that you might be interested, so I offered.¡±


    ¡°I  am  interested.  I really am, John.  But you don¡¯t owe me any explanations either.  I¡¯m not going to tell you about all of my secrets, so you should only tell me the ones that you want me to know.¡±


    ¡°You have secrets?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Yes.  For example, I¡¯m absolutely not going to tell you how I peed myself in second grade because I was too embarrassed to ask the teacher to go to the bathroom,¡± she said.  ¡°And I¡¯m not going to tell you about ¡­¡±


    She was surprised when he abruptly barked a laugh at one of her embarrassing antectdotes.  They got their pretzel and sat at one of the empty tables at the food court.


    They fell into a comfortable quiet as they ate.


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t all terrible.  Training.  There were good times too,¡± John said eventually.  ¡°I had friends.  They were more than friends.  We all swore to be brothers and sisters to each other.  That is a solemn oath among my people, and we took it very seriously.  Would you like to hear about them?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± she agreed.


    ¡°One of my brothers name was Trewali.  He was the same age as me, but he acted like I was his big brother and looked up to me.  When we were learning to fight without armor, I accidentally kicked him in the balls so hard that the medics had to get involved to save them,¡± John admitted.  ¡°They said that I almost turned him into a eunuch, but they saved them in the end.¡±


    Emily laughed.  ¡°Was he angry?¡±


    ¡°I think he was too busy being miserable.  When he recovered I apologized, but he said that an enemy wouldn¡¯t apologize and neither should I.  But the next time we fought he kept trying to kick me there to get his revenge.¡±


    They spoke for the rest of the afternoon about John¡¯s many brothers and sisters.  While the context of the stories were often terrible, John managed to find some measure of brightness and happiness within them.


    Emily was happy for him.  If she had been in his position, she wasn¡¯t certain that she¡¯d have been able to do the same.


    ?

 3.22.

    3.22.


    The armadas arrived in their destination systems simultaneously.  They were detected at the exact same moment by both of the defense forces, and this time neither of the defenders were caught off their guards.  They had received word of the coming attack from a source that they had very deep inside enemy territory.


    While the  Tumbaruno Toko  had been operating independently, they had been providing a constant stream of intelligence to their government about their guerrilla activities.  The buildup they had noticed had been reported promptly.  Though the  Toko  had been unable to do more than issue warning, that warning was enough to change the tide of battle.


    On planet Totola, the sky abruptly changed.  On the side of the planet that was day, the blue sky changed to a kaleidoscope of orange, red, green, violet and blue.  On the dark side, the stars began shifting from location to location as the prismatic effects of the orbital shields took place.


    A thousand vessels force their way out of the hyperatomic plane and were immediately fired upon by the defenders.  There was no attempts at diplomacy, no posturing or ultimatums.  Just immediate action by the defenders, who destroyed a third of the enemy fleet while the Rosanteans were still in the process of orienting themselves back into normal space.


    The battle lasted for six hours.


    The children of planet Totola did not hide.  They danced about under the multi-hued sky, laughing and singing and playing in joy to see the defensive measures activated.  Their parents were more sedate, but even when a ripple of an orbital strike impacted against the shields, they barely flinched.


    Planet Totola was a fortress.  They were as safe as they could be in this time of strife.


    When the last Rosantean ship fled, the defenders allowed it to retreat.  Only the Rosantean cowards and deserters remained from the initial force.


    The defenders reviewed the wreckage that had been delivered to their system by the Rosanteans and sighed.  This would take some time to clean up.


    Without further discussion, half of the defenders of planet Totola abruptly jumped into the hyperatomic plane.  One of their new allies was still under attack, and they would not sit idly by now that the threat to their own planet was resolved.


    Their arrival would come at a pivotal moment in the third battle for Earth.


    ~~~~~~


    The sirens came halfway through the movie, interrupting the private moment that the tweens were sharing.  They had been holding hands throughout the rom-com, and John was still blushing over Emily¡¯s decision to give him a kiss on the cheek.  Abruptly the projectors stopped and the lights came on.  The audience realized what was happening in unison.


    Earth was under attack once more.


    Despite the seriousness of the situation, they did not panic.  They calmly filed their way out of the movie theater to where the security guards were issuing orders.  They were encouraged not to return home, but to shelter in place in the regions of the mall that were rated for extreme weather.


    Emily noticed that John¡¯s reaction differed from hers.  She was terrified.  He had gone quiet.  Calm.  Collected.  He pulled what looked like a pen from his pocket and stared at the silver object.


    ¡°John, are you okay?¡±


    ¡°He gave me strange matter when he came to visit,¡± John said.  ¡°Trewali.  He said ¡®just in case¡¯ and gave me enough strange matter to fight for weeks.  I didn¡¯t tell anyone.¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±


    The change happened so swiftly that Emily could barely process what she saw.  The nearby trash can, the floor, and parts of the wall abruptly  swirled  and enveloped John.  He was suddenly wearing that same armor that she had seen him wearing in the film of him fighting against the authorities in.


    Except that he was glowing blue.


    A second later, another blur of dust, and a vest of some strange device wrapped itself around her chest.


    ¡°Don¡¯t take that off,¡± he told her.  ¡°It will keep you safe.  Stay here.  I¡¯ll secure the area.  If they come for us here, I¡¯ll make them regret it.¡±


    He leapt into the air and vanished through a skylight, the glass bursting outward, with only a few shards falling to the ground beneath.  People had turned and were recording the scene on their camera phones.


    She swallowed.


    She had almost forgotten that her new friend was a superhero.


    ~~~~~


    Enidi twitched as her wetware abruptly gave her a situation-report.  The sit-rep detailed all that the scouts of Taskforce Ragnarok had on the incoming attack.


    Overwhelming numbers.  Dropships and troop carriers.  Orbital bombardment possible, perhaps likely.


    She cursed in Mokoari, surprising the children in her charge.  She chewed her lip as she began planning her response.


    Her grasp of the tribe¡¯s language was better, but not the best.  She quickly brought the children whom she was keeping an eye on to one of the other village women and begged her help, explaining that she had to deal with an emergency.  The other woman, happy to help, simply smiled and took the toddler from Enidi¡¯s arms.


    Enidi vanished into the jungle surrounding the village, rushing towards the crash site.


    Towari, seeing his wife suddenly abandon the village, followed with concern.  He began growing nervous as he followed her to the sacred site where the god had come to earth, but continued to observe using his stealth and guile.


    Enidi stepped into the pod, and the god emerged.  Towari gasped and she looked straight at him.


    ¡°Towari,¡± she said.  ¡°Evil spirits come from sky.  Will you fight?¡±


    He was married to a god?  He was married to a god!  She was asking him to fight evil spirits?  She was asking him to fight evil spirits!


    ¡°How?¡± he asked.


    She waved her arms, and the stone nearby abruptly changed shape by magic.


    ¡°Stand in there.  Is fire arrow shooter.  Stand inside and point at the spirits as they come.  Shoot at spirits in the sky,¡± she instructed.


    He nodded, stepping inside the cover of the turret.  He stepped inside, and magic turned the walls transparent.  More, he could see lights and symbols.  The symbols tracked his motions, with the turret outside aiming where he was looking.  He closed his hand, and the turret shot, blowing a fiery hole through the atmosphere.


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    He gasped.  The God ¨C his wife ¨C had entrusted him with a sliver of her power.


    He would make any evil spirit that came near her sacred hut regret it.


    ¡°I fight for you, wife,¡± he promised.


    ¡°It will help guide your aim,¡± she promised.  ¡°And you will be safest if you stay inside.  I go to secure the village next.¡±


    He nodded.  He would fight here, using this strange magic that his wife-god had given him.  He would stop the evil spirits from coming to the valley of the Mokoari.


    He swallowed.


    He hoped that he would not die in the effort.


    ~~~~~


    Olivia was guiding the children under her care into the basement of the hospital when the call came in.  She didn¡¯t recognize the number, but she answered immediately.


    ¡°Olivia, are you safe?¡± John asked.


    Despite the urgency of his words, there was a calm in his voice.  Like he finally understood his place in the world.


    ¡°Yes, John.  As safe as we can be.  We¡¯re moving all of the patients into secure locations until the battle is over,¡± she told him.  ¡°Stay at the mall with Emily, John.  It¡¯s best to shelter in place during this, so don¡¯t try to go home.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve already secured the mall,¡± John answered.  ¡°I¡¯ve put up thirty-six anti-aircraft weapons on its roof and in its parking lots.  They should be able to tell the difference between earth aircraft and Rosanteans, but I have volunteers who are guiding them anyway.  I¡¯m on my way to the hospital now.¡±


    Olivia swallowed as she understood his words.


    This wasn¡¯t like the last battle for Earth, where John had been decommissioned and as helpless as a normal child.  He had his abilities back.  And no matter what she said, he was going to try to use them to defend the city.


    ¡°John, have you spoken with the authorities since the attack launched?¡±


    ¡°I--¡± John stopped.  ¡°Understood.  I will contact the police and volunteer my services.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant.  Do they know that you¡¯re going to be fighting?  Will they be able to tell the difference between you and the enemy if they make it to the planet¡¯s surface?¡±


    He frowned.  ¡°Understood.  I will contact the authorities and establish that I am a friendly unit.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not a unit, John,¡± she reminded him.


    ¡°Yes, I know Olivia.  I need to go.  Send anyone who wants to fight to the roofs or the parking lots and I will give them the weapons to defend their homes,¡± John said.


    The line clicked and went dead.


    She swallowed again and dialed Agent Morrison.  Perhaps he would know what to say to John in this situation, because she definitely did not.


    ~~~~~~~


    Lisa Desmond read the report as the computer blared at her.  All civilian forces capable of faster than light travel were ordered to leave the system for the duration of the battle.  This was for a number of reasons, including their protection, the avoidance of friendly fire, and simply to reduce the load on the system¡¯s defenders.


    She nodded.  The  Defiant , despite its name, had no weapons.  She would be useless unless she chose to ram one of the enemies with her ship, and that would be suicide.


    So she set course for Triumverant space and launched her ship at its maximum speed.  The thrum of its engines and the slight tang she tasted in her mouth from the stress of the FTL drive made her smile.


    She wished that she had left days ago, but she had delayed.  She reflected on her plans.


    She would hire as many privateers as she could, but she would not send them into sol-space to help the defense.


    The Rosanteans had sent military forces to invade her home and kill her husband.


    She would return the favor.


    Her grin was a malicious rictus as she contemplated her revenge.


    ~~~~~~~


    Sergeant Luca Moretti casually drew one of the toothpicks that the lieutenant was holding.  It was unbroken.  He shrugged and stepped back, allowing the next man in line to step up and draw a toothpick.


    They were all pilots.  All trained on the experimental Stingray.  Luca couldn¡¯t understand the name of the damn thing; it looked nothing like a stingray.  More like a ball with every weapon that the R and D boys could strap onto it strapped on to it.


    It was the premier space superiority fighter that the ESF had spent billions of dollars researching.  It operated with a capaciter that was able to store gigawatts of energy.  Its ion engines were sleek and swift, capable of twelve-Gs of acceleration.  It had missiles and miniguns aplenty, and was designed for carnage and mayhem galore.


    And it was completely obsolete in the days post-contact with the aliens.


    Well, that wasn¡¯t exactly true, Luca reflected to himself.  They were a fair sight better than the Winnebago class starships that Captain Kirk had died in, and those were a legitimate part of the order of battle.  Granted, the Earth had strapped a bunch of missiles and other weapons to the ones that they were using, but nobody was defying orders when those pilots took to the stars.


    But the Lieutenant, by giving his men the keys to the sixteen Stingrays, was lining himself up for a court martial.


    The Stingray had one fatal design flaw that made it obsolete.  It was all death and mayhem strapped around a Tunnel Drive, and since the  Seeker  had returned, the Tunnel Drive was being officially retired.  Nobody had ever gone through the Tunnel Drive conscious, which is what was required to pilot the Stingray at FTL speeds.


    But in this battle, with thousands of ship and billions of lives at stake, the Earth was throwing everything they had at the enemy.  Including the Stingrays.


    The sixteen pilots drew their short sticks and began getting into line.  Luca floated up beside Sergeant Trang.  Together, they began going through the pre-flight checklist.  They were warming up the engines and testing the weapons systems together, knowing that one of them was possibly about to do something very stupid, and the other one would be safe in Mars Station, all snug as a bug.


    It wasn¡¯t until Luca drove his fist into Trang¡¯s guts, broke his nose and knocked him unconscious that Trang realized that, short stick or not, he wasn¡¯t about to go out into the wild black yonder on this particular deathtrap.  Not today.


    Nobody realized what Luca had done until they were pulling out of the station and radioing in to the command their official disobedience to the orders to return and power down their spacecraft.  After repeating the order to return to the station three times, the admiral on duty relented.


    ¡°We¡¯re loading you crazy bastards into our firing plan.  Since you¡¯re intent on killing yourselves, you might as well do it in an organized fashion.¡±


    ¡°Confirmed, Sir,¡± the lieutenant said.  ¡°Moretti, what the fuck are you doing?  Where¡¯s Trang?¡±


    ¡°Trang¡¯s wife is pregnant, sir,¡± Luca said simply.


    There was silence over the radio for a moment, then an ¡°Acknowledged.  Get in formation.¡±


    Luca got in formation.  The crazy bastards operating the literal death traps known as Stingrays fired up their Tunnel Drives and shot into position to take the fight to the enemy.


    Of the sixteen stingrays that launched, only eight survived the battle.  Sometimes, Luca wished that he had been one of the lucky ones to get blown into his constituent atoms.


    It would be better than the nightmares, and the visions, and the knowledge that was inside his head but which he just couldn¡¯t quite touch.


    ?

 3.23.

    3.23.


    Captain Moon frowned as the Sensors of  The Other Shoe  scanned the proto-star¡¯s systems once more.  Sarah had said that the military lockout had come after they had discovered an ¡®anomaly¡¯ near one of the forming gas giants.


    But there was nothing there.  Nothing but an embryonic star system.


    Frustrated, she was just about to order another sweep when the emergency signal came in from home.  Earth was under attack by the enemy in great numbers.


    She began barking orders at her crew.  They turned and swept into the hyperatomic plane, making best time for earth at thousands of time the speed of light.  The ship buzzed with the stress that she was putting on the drive, and she tasted oranges.


    Hopefully they would arrive in time to make a difference.


    In the gathering stardust that would eventually catch ignition and form a star in a million years or so, the stealth fighters returned to base, their target having left without gathering any evidence.


    The Swarm generator remained cloaked.  Soon, it would move to a new well of matter in the darkness between stars, this location no longer secure.  But the preparations were still underway, and it would take some time to finalize them.


    That was fine.  If anyone else found it now that it had entered its active state, they would not know what they had found.  Not in time to prevent their destruction.


    ~~~~~~


    It was a beautiful building.  With walls of white trimmed with gold, intricate engravings in the walls and beautiful architectural details that were created not by hand, but sculpted by technology so small the individual mechanisms were measured by the atom.


    Senator Mike Fuller was surprised when his security detail had brought him back to the embassy when the sirens went off, but he trusted their expertize.  When he arrived, he found that he was not alone.  The building was filled with VIPs and security details.  He frowned, wondering exactly why they weren¡¯t taking shelter in one of the more secure locations.


    ¡°Mike!  I am so happy see you here!¡± Tonom Genisi¡¯s genial voice exclaimed, the shirtless man making his way through the crowd with a blue frumonas drink in either hand.  ¡°So sad, war.  So sad.  We be safe here though.¡±


    ¡°Is that so?¡± Mike asked.  He saw his wife out of the corner of his eye; she was making her way over to them, having apparently arrived before them.  ¡°What makes this location so secure?¡±


    ¡°Acklatic Empire no believe weapons.  But do believe shields.  Very good good shields,¡± Tonom explained.


    Abruptly, the sky changed color.  Not just over the manor.  The entire skyline of New York City was enveloped in a swirling white and gold barrier.


    ¡°Good good, your government accept my offer protect people of this city,¡± Tonom said.  He downed his frumonas in a single pull, then handed the other one to Mike, who accepted it without processing what he was doing.


    ¡°Your shields, how strong are they?¡± Mike asked, looking at the white and gold sky.


    ¡°Strong strong,¡± Tonom promised.  ¡°Maybe Yonohoan flagship break through them.  Maybe.  In three days.  Maybe.  Rosanteans have nothing punch through.  Safe here.¡±


    Mike glanced at the frumonas in his hand, then sighed and took a sip.  ¡°Sure, why not.  Let¡¯s party hardy at the end of the world together, Tonom.¡±


    ¡°Yes yes!¡±


    ~~~~~


    The satellites in orbit activated at precisely the same time.  Reaching out to the others, beams of energy coalesced between them, forming a lattice work of protection.


    The network was incomplete.  Their coverage was imperfect, not encapsulating the Earth as entirely as they were designed to.  The defense system was still under construction, bogged down by bureaucratic red tape and logistical nightmares.


    They should have blocked even a grain of sand from passing through.


    Sixteen troopships scattered their orbital insertion drop pods in a swift sweep past the planet.  The pods oriented and fell to earth like dandelion seeds.  Some of them struck the latticework of the defensive satellites and were vaporized on contact.


    Thousands survived to make planetfall.


    The troopships were vaporized by the Yonohoan flagship that stood sentinel in the high-orbitals around earth.  Piloted by Diego Cruz and his Topokan allies, the flagship¡¯s weapons had not stopped or slowed since the battle began.  They found their targets half the system away and pounded them with coherent energies of terrible or esoteric natures.


    Earth¡¯s forces were greatly outnumbered.


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    But they were not outgunned.  Not this time.


    The enemy had arrived in force.


    But the defenders were ready for them.


    The sky streaked with light and energy as the ships fired upon each other, often streaking as they slid through the hyperatomic plain or the slipstream to reposition.


    The battle for Earth began in earnest when the Earth Space Force identified what they believed to be the enemy flagship and unleashed their trump card.


    The subspace munition, Little Boy, thumped into the core of the Rosantean battleship.  The commanders didn¡¯t even register the hit thanks to the size of the behemoth.  They registered the atomic detonation that followed, however.  The ship was blown in two.  The bridge vaporized.


    For twenty minutes the enemy was disorganized until a wily captain managed to convince the others to interlock with him and follow his battle plan.  The Rosanteans regained their cohesion slowly, but the loss of their flagship had cost them significantly.  Both the strategic cost and the blow to morale marked Little Boy¡¯s detonation as a key moment in the battle.


    The defenders had stricken off the head of the serpent, but another grew in its place.


    Captain Anders stood silently aboard  A Good Question .  His ship had minimal shields, no weapon that would carry it through the fight.  But he had been entrusted with eight subspace munitions.


    He watched the battle carefully, analyzing the layouts and trying to figure out the command structures.


    The serpent might have grown a new head once, he thought to himself, but let¡¯s see how many times it can pull that trick off.


    While the native Earth ships were vastly outgunned, few of those had survived the first two battles for Earth.  In this fight, the primary defenders came from the stars.  The Yukopan vessels, all under the command of officers from the ESF, were every bit as capable as the Rosantean fleet.  And they were determined.


    Their children lived on that planet.  They would not let it be taken until their bodies were broken and the light in their eyes had gone out.


    The Rosanteans fought for a variety of reasons.  Duty, honor, the belief in their superiors.


    The Earthlings fought to defend their families.


    Why the Yukopans had surrendered to Earth was still unknown, but they swiftly proved that it was not cowardice.  Their families, too, now lived on that blue marble.  They were so focused on the combat in the stars that for a brief window of time, they forgot to be afraid of the humans on their ships.


    The battle in space carried on.


    ~~~~~~


    While the night sky streaked with lights and distant explosions, the Rosantean army worked in silence.  They had arrived on one of the southern continents of the target planet.  In the center, which was mostly empty of civilization.


    That was fine.  They needed to establish a base of operations from which they would take over the entire continent.  Being in the center, with no significant threats nearby, meant that they¡¯d have plenty of time to dig in and plot their overthrow of the locals.


    The colonel in charge of the operation was evaluating the base as the nanites swiftly assembled it.  It was dark in the outback, and construction would end before dawn.  Once the vehicles had been constructed, he would send his men in squads of ten to the largest cities on the continent.


    They would meet resistance.


    They would crush it brutally.


    These primitive darkworlders had nothing with which they could counter the might of the Rosantean army.


    Confident in his strategy, the colonel¡¯s concentration was interrupted when he heard the sound of weapons fire.  It lasted for just a moment, of from the southeast.  He went to investigate and found his men standing over the corpse of a Yukopan.


    He frowned.  He was surprised to see the furry green alien here.  His helmet highlighted the creature¡¯s features, including its short horns and claws, and identified it as a juvenile.  You couldn¡¯t tell by the size of the things alone; they grew from infancy to their full size in three years.  But mentally, their childhood lasted for decades.


    He tisked.  He hated killing kids, but it happened sometimes.


    ¡°Toss a disposal unit on it,¡± he ordered, ¡°And keep an eye out for any others.¡±


    His men obeyed his instructions, and the nanites began their work in reducing the body into its constituent atoms.


    He looked out into the darkness of the night.  A sudden flare, an explosion in space that lit up the night sky.  He looked up and frowned, wondering if that had been one of his allies or his enemies.


    ¡°Um, sir?¡± one of his men said, and he turned.  The light hadn¡¯t faded yet, the burning embers of the explosion continuing to light up the area.


    Which was teaming with the Yukopan.


    And unlike the Yukopan child they had just slaughtered, these ones were not unarmed or helpless.


    Their fur was not exposed to the air.  They were encased in black matte armor, and as he watched they suddenly lit up blue with the light of strange-matter energy.


    ¡°Fire!  Fire!  We¡¯re surrounded!¡± someone shouted.


    The battle lasted twenty minutes.


    When dawn came, the nanites had finished constructing the Rosantean base.


    With nobody left alive to man it.


    ?

 3.24.

    3.24.


    The Rosantean Captain in charge of destroying the Mars space station growled in frustration.  The Triumverant ships remained encircling it, a protective shield completely encapsulating the target.  Each ship was actively transmitting broadcasts declaring that official delegates sent by the triumverant, both collectively and individually, were aboard this station and that assaulting their persons would be considered an act of war.


    He  could  force the matter, he knew, but that had the possibility of backfiring.  The empire wasn¡¯t presently at war with the Rosanteans, and they preferred to keep it that way.  Killing one of the ambassadors probably wouldn¡¯t matter, but if he bombarded the station and killed all three, the triumverant, individually and collectively, would undoubtedly have no choice but to declare war.


    ¡°I am he whom the Earthlings call Unos.  I am aboard this quaint space station and I have no intents to be the first who leaves,¡± a male voice broadcast.  ¡°As this station currently has diplomats from the Triumverant aboard it, it is currently considered Triumverant property until such time as the full delegation has left its premises according to statute¡­¡±


    ¡°I am Dos.  I like that name.  It simplifies things.  I don¡¯t know why my mother thought that my name needed sixteen syllables to it.  I¡¯m not moving.  Blow me up if you dare!¡±


    ¡°This is Tres.  I¡¯d leave ¡­ but then you¡¯d just blow up this space station and I have friends here.  Not Unos and Dos, those wankers ¨C wankers is such a nice insult, isn¡¯t it ¨C can go wank each other and die.  But I like the soldiers who live here.  They introduced me to the concept of ¡®body shots.¡¯  have you ever heard of body shots?  I suggest that you try them out.   On your MOM!¡±


    The captain¡¯s eyebrow twitched, but the de-sensitivity training kicked in and he allowed the insult to his sacred mother to pass over him without affecting his judgment.  He tried once more to appeal to their reason.


    ¡°Gentlemen,¡± the captain began, ¡°We¡¯re all intelligent beings here.  You must understand that this space station is a legitimate target, and that your presence on board--¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a lady you asshole,¡± Dos shouted.  In a masculine voice.  The captain¡¯s eyebrow twitched.


    He continued to appeal to reason.  The triumverant representatives continued to shout insults at him.


    Frustratingly, he couldn¡¯t abandon his mission and join the battle or the defenders of the station would be free to engage.  He couldn¡¯t destroy the station and he couldn¡¯t leave.  All he could do was try to argue with the triumverant and convince them to do something which they didn¡¯t want to do.


    His eyebrow twitched.


    He knew from his political history classes just how pointless that endeavor would be.


    ~~~~~~


    Turnball sat in the situation room, sitting in contemplation as he reviewed the situation across the globe.  The battle in space was outside of his control, but with the arrival of the Yonohoans, the ESF had more than space assets to throw into this battle.


    Thousands of infantry trained by Eolai, with heavy assault armors and the ability to craft weapons on the fly using on board nanites.  The ESF recruited from everywhere, and many of those soldiers had been sent to their home nations via fast assault aircraft to defend against the invaders.


    It wasn¡¯t enough.


    The native weaponry of Earth wasn¡¯t enough.


    Perhaps in twenty years, after they¡¯d had time to reverse engineer the alien technology and create their own versions of the weaponry, they¡¯d be able to resist this sort of invasion.  But bringing firearms to bear against a Rosantean infantryman was like bringing a knife to a gunfight.


    The natives were outclassed.


    There were pockets of resistance.


    One city in Washington had shot down every landing pod that had come close to it thanks to the actions of John Doe, who had littered the area with anti-aircraft and anti-vehicle weaponry for the citizens to utilize.


    That same situation was occurring all over the globe as the scouts revealed themselves.  From capital cities like Moscow, London, and Tokyo, to the depths of the wilderness in areas like the Amazon and Madagascar, the scouts were arming the locals and the locals were fighting back.


    But still the enemy was finding locations to dig in.


    He pursed his lips in frustration.  If only he could communicate with them, tell them where the points of resistance were, perhaps they would be able to turn the tide and force the enemy from the planet.


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    ¡°Computer breech detected!¡± one of the technicians suddenly announced.  ¡°Something is pulling all of our tactical data.¡±


    Turnball turned, about to shout orders, when his PHDA abruptly connected.


    ¡°Please do not attempt to disconnect us from your servers, general,¡± the voice said.  Turnball frowned, turning back to the hologram.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± he demanded


    ¡°My name is Trewali.  I am the commander of the scouts of Taskforce Ragnarok.  I am attempting to interlock with your forces.  If you wish us to fight at maximum effectiveness for your people and the children of this world, I suggest you accept our aid.¡±


    Turnball frowned, but nodded.


    ¡°When this is over, Trewali, you don¡¯t need to keep hiding.  We understand your situation and--¡±


    ¡°You know nothing, John Snow,¡± the figure said.  He laughed.  ¡°I like your culture.  I will fight for it.  But I am a soldier for Taskforce Ragnarok.  An Einherjar!  I will not be part of your ESF.  I will do my duty in my own way.¡±


    Turnball nodded again.  ¡°So long as you do not pose a threat to the people of Earth, perhaps we can be convinced to overlook your presence,¡± he admitted.


    ¡°We shall protect Earth from the shadows, hidden in plain sight, General,¡± Trewali promised.  ¡°Whether you want us to or not.¡±


    The hologram clicked off, and Turnball ordered the tactical data breech to remain open.  Later, in the aftermath, he would investigate exactly how it occurred and seek to prevent such a security oversight from happening again.  But for now, they needed the scouts to be kept in the loop.


    ~~~~~~


    John stood on the skyscraper, weapon in hand.  The weapon, a plasma lance capable of shooting down one of the landing pods from orbit, was trained on a soldier miles away.  John waited patiently while the systems of the weapon and his suit and his wetware worked together to obtain the firing solution.


    Target lock.


    Fire.


    The beam of light connected the two soldiers for just an instant, and the Rosantean was burnt away into ash.


    ¡°Twenty-three,¡± John said, counting the number of men and women he had killed that day.


    He felt no attachment to the number.  No guilt or remorse.  No shame.  But he felt no pride, either.


    They were the enemy.  They had invaded his world, his home.  They threatened the people he cared about.  But he was not proud of his actions this day.


    He kept count of the number of men he killed because it felt like something he should do, that was all.


    He scanned the horizon, searching for another of the survivors who had bailed out of their landing pods when they had realized that the city they had selected as a target had the capacity to shoot them down.


    He waited for his weapon to cool down.


    He was calm.  He was sure of himself.  He understood his place in the world.


    He touched his cheek, where Emily had kissed him.


    He had something to fight for.


    Emily.  Olivia.  Earth.


    He loved the people of Earth, who had made him welcome despite their initial misunderstandings.  He would break his body in their defense, if that¡¯s what it came to.


    A ping from his wetware, through the atrophied connection from the scout¡¯s communication network.  The same nerves which had reactivated him when the other scouts had arrived on the planet.


    ¡°Hello Eodar,¡± Trewali¡¯s voice said.  ¡°Having fun?¡±


    ¡°My name is John now,¡± John said.  ¡°What do you want Trewali?¡±


    ¡°I knew that you would not be idle.  Your efforts have made a significant impact in your region.  I commend you.  There is a landing site sixty miles to the southeast of your city.  Destroy it,¡± Trewali instructed.


    John considered for a moment.  ¡°I do not accept that you are my commanding officer, Trewali.  I was decommissioned.  I have no commanding officer.  I am an independent operative.¡±


    ¡°Confirmed.  Allow me to rephrase.  There is a landing site sixty miles to the southeast of your location.  Do with this information as you will,¡± Trewali said.


    John grunted.  ¡°The enemy will be destroyed.¡±


    ¡°I like Earth, John.¡±


    ¡°So do I, Trewali,¡± John said.


    The connection cut out.  John jumped from the roof of the skyscraper and landed in the street.  People pointed at him and shouted, some of them taking out their phones to record his actions.


    He waved his hand and flexed a muscle that wasn¡¯t a muscle.  A nearby car was ripped apart by nanites and transformed into a hoverbike.  John straddled it, then shot off to the southeast.


    ?

 3.25.

    3.25.


    Captain Nathers scowled as he took control of the Rosantean battle plans.  He was the sixth commander of this shit-show of a battle.  For some reason, the enemy had a knack for identifying the ships aboard which the overall strategy was being disseminated to the fleet and targeting them with that cursed subspace munition, to which there seemed to be no countermeasure.


    Fortunately the enemy seemed to have a limited supply of the deadly weapon, or some other consideration that prevented them from using them to destroy the fleet en mass.  If only he could identify where they were coming from, he¡¯d order the carrier to be destroyed.  But the subspace foam of the star system was quivering with instability and excitement, preventing any sensors from triangulating the origin point.


    He frowned as he examined the data.  He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he came to an unfortunate conclusion.


    They were loosing the battle.


    They had arrived in force.  They had made planetfall with almost half of their infantry troops.  They had destroyed eighteen of the enemies ships.


    But they had lost over a third of their fleet.


    The commander in charge of destroying the Mars Space Station continued to report that his situation was untenable, and Nathers didn¡¯t envy the poor man his position.  None of their intelligence reports or plans had prepared them for the possibility of a diplomatic corps being ensconced in a military target.


    The Empire could  not  endure a war with both the Yonohoans and the Triumverant at the same time.  Nathers knew that.  As things stood, it was taking all of the Rosantean¡¯s political maneuvering to keep the entire universe from declaring war on it.  The Yonohoans mutual defense pacts were being tested for the first time in centuries, and while the Emperor might be certain that their enemy would receive little to no support from outside the Milky Way Galaxy, Nathers wasn¡¯t so sure.


    They  needed  Earth.  Nathers knew this in a way that most of his companions did not.  If they didn¡¯t claim the planet, then the war was lost.  Their only hope of victory was to force the Yonohoans to sue for peace.


    They had no bargaining chip to bring them to the table.  The only thing which  might  convince the Yonohoans to suddenly put down their arms would be the liberation of their pet Darkworld.  If the Rosanteans could take Earth and hold it for a few years, then they might be able to exchange it back to the Yonohoans before the Yonohoan war machine really got a chance to get going.


    The advantages of doing so were clear.  They¡¯d be able to demand all sorts of concessions.  They¡¯d appear magnanimous.  As the victors, they could paint the people of Earth in whatever color they wanted and claim that their actions were necessary to gentle the savage Darkworlders.  Were they not, after all, the source of pirates and thieves which had provoked a war?


    He scowled as he triggered his system to draw a lock on a Toormonda, only for the computer to override the target.  Why was it that the computers accepted the Earth itself as a legitimate target for orbital bombardment, but not a Toormonda?  The Toormonda¡¯s sensors were a legitimate threat to the empire¡¯s interests.  But the AIs of the ship simply didn¡¯t listen when they were ordered to destroy them.


    A sudden thud struck the ship, and Nathers turned to his damage control center.  ¡°What was that.¡±


    The woman looked at him, her face grim.  ¡°Subspace munition, sir.¡±


    Nathers closed his eyes and counted to ten.


    He made it to three before the atomic explosion vaporized him.


    ? ~~~~~~


    Dornodo¡¯s arms wrapped around her, offering her comfort as she watched the fighting unfold throughout the system.  She shivered despite the warmth of his body.


    They were aboard his Toormonda, having left the space station when the fighting began.  She and Dornodo had ignored the calls for civilians to evacuate the area, remaining to witness the sacrifice of the men and women of the ESF.


    The Toormonda¡¯s data was crucial to undermining the Rosantean empire¡¯s propaganda machine, and having one more data point would assist in that effort.  When they had transmitted their intentions to ESF, they had received a simple ¡°Confirmed,¡± in response.


    She watched as a Rosantean ship exploded suddenly, for no particular reason that she could determine.  She frowned.  Were they driving lemons?


    ¡°How many are watching through our eyes?¡± Sarah asked her husband.


    ¡°Everyone,¡± Dornodo answered.  He waved a hand and pulled up a dataset to show how many people were currently tapped into their sensors, which were broadcasting to every news organization or military who had initiated a request.  ¡°Thirteen billion connections active.  Everyone is watching this.¡±


    Sarah nodded.  ¡°Good.  Let them watch.¡±


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    She leaned back into Dornodo¡¯s embrace and watched.  She felt helpless, but she knew that they were contributing to the war effort.


    ~~~~~~


    Yunono frowned as she watched the events take place from light years away.  The fools, broadcasting their location like this.  She reached out to stop them and realized that she could not.  Something had changed, and the Toormonda in sol-system were no longer accepting her military override.


    She tisked.


    Well, nothing to do for it but use the data as bate.  She ordered her targeting systems for her TDM weapons to utilize the data to calculate the location of earth one hundred ten thousand years ago, then sent a small swarm fleet to defend the location from all intruders.


    It  shouldn¡¯t  be enough to actually land a shot with the TDM.  It would take more than a few hours of data to successfully triangulate the exact position of Earth in the past.  But if anyone wanted to try their luck, they¡¯d find a welcome party waiting for them.


    ~~~~~~


    Emily sat in the corner of the mall, her phone in her hand as she pulled up video after video of John.  John waving his hand and creating weapons for the citizens to defend themselves with.  John leaping from the pavement into the sky so far away that the camera couldn¡¯t tell where he¡¯d gone.  John killing a soldier with a blade that was taller than him.


    Emily swallowed.


    John was killing people.


    The enemy, yes.  But people.  People from space, who were here to hurt the people from Earth.


    She wasn¡¯t certain how she felt about that.


    She liked John.  She¡¯d been getting to the point where maybe she  liked  John, where maybe the kiss on his cheek wasn¡¯t just a joke to see how he¡¯d react.


    She heard a sudden  thrum thrum thrum , and she knew that someone was shooting the weapons on the roof.  She wondered what they were shooting at.


    She decided that she didn¡¯t want to know.


    Peter sat nearby, a cigarette in his hand.


    ¡°There¡¯s no smoking in the mall,¡± she reminded him.


    Her driver took a drag on the smoke.  ¡°It¡¯s the end of the world, Emily.  I¡¯ll smoke wherever I damn well please.¡±


    ¡°Do you think that it really is?  The end of the world?¡± she asked.


    He shrugged.  ¡°It¡¯s the end of something.  Have you been watching the news?  There¡¯s thousands of ships in the system.  The sort of weapons they¡¯re firing ¡­ if one of those lands on Earth, it won¡¯t be like Western Europe.  If we¡¯re lucky we won¡¯t even know we¡¯ve been hit.  Just  poof  and the entire city is ash.¡±


    She swallowed.  She looked back to her phone, where John was shown riding past the cameraman on a hoverbike.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to die,¡± she told Peter.


    ¡°Almost nobody does,¡± Peter pointed out.  ¡°Sorry, I shouldn¡¯t be talking like this around you.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s alright,¡± she said.  ¡°Do you think that he¡¯d be sad?  If I died?¡±


    ¡°John?¡± Peter asked.


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°I have no idea how that kid thinks, Emily.  But yeah, I think he¡¯d be sad,¡± Peter told her.  ¡°He didn¡¯t give anyone else one of those vests that he gave you.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± she said, looking down at the strange device.  She was still wearing it.  She wondered how much it improved her odds of survival, if someone tried to hurt her.  ¡°I¡¯m scared.¡±


    ¡°Me too.¡±


    ¡°Do you think we¡¯ll win?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°What do you think will happen if we lose?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a terrible adult.  You¡¯re supposed to reassure me that everything is going to be alright,¡± she pointed out.


    ¡°You¡¯re smart enough to know that if I tried that, I¡¯d be full of shit,¡± he reminded her.


    ¡°Still, it would be nice to hear,¡± she argued.


    He sighed dramatically.  ¡°Everything is going to be alright, Emily.  The ESF will chase them off and John will kill anyone who comes within a hundred miles of you.¡±


    She sighed.  ¡°You¡¯re full of shit.¡±


    ?

 3.26.

    3.26.


    John twisted the powerblade in the man¡¯s chest.  The Rosantean, in armor much like Johns, gasped and tried to grab the weapon that was in the process of ending his life.  The energy of the blade cut his fingers off instead.


    John watched with detachment as the enemy¡¯s life ended.


    ¡°Thirty one,¡± he whispered.


    He shook his head in bemusement.  He had literally caught this soldier with his pants down as he had left the landing zone for biological functions.  The idiot.  What sort of soldier goes into combat with full bowels?


    The powerblade, almost as long as John was tall, had once been a hoverbike, and a car before that.  He instructed the nanites to reclaim its mass and attache itself to his suit for later use.  It resulted in a hump on his back, but if he needed another weapon he wouldn¡¯t have to go searching for a car to transform.


    He engaged his stealth mode once more and turn continued to scout the enemy LZ.  He realized in a second that they¡¯d noticed him; that they¡¯d realized that they¡¯d been losing their men.  He wouldn¡¯t get any more easy kills.


    There were thirty soldiers remaining in the base.  Too many to take head on.  They were in the forest, limiting John¡¯s options further.  If they were in a city, he¡¯d be able to claim all sorts of weapons and engage guerrilla tactics.


    He frowned as their base constructed itself.  How was he going to eliminate them, when he was alone and outnumbered?


    They answered the question for him as they broke into five teams and began sweeping the area.


    If he weren¡¯t in the calm zone where the only concern was the mission, he would have smirked.


    He couldn¡¯t fight thirty-on-one.


    Six-on-one from ambush, however, was another story.  He¡¯d just have to be careful.


    He slid into the foliage and began preparing the traps that he¡¯d use to reduce the enemy¡¯s numbers.


    ~~~~~~~


    Enidi walked into the enemy base, her hands up in the air.  The soldiers swarmed around her, barking orders in Rosantean for her to dismiss her armor and put up her hands.


    She didn¡¯t speak Rosantean.


    ¡°I have come to discuss your surrender,¡± she said in High-Yonohoan.  She¡¯d been surprised to learn that the language of the little people she¡¯d found on her first ever mission as a scout had become one of the primary military cants of the universe.


    The soldiers, each in power armor and wielding a weapon that could burn a swath of forest to ash in an instant, paused at her words.  The commander stepped forward.  She could hear the disbelief in his voice as he answered her in Yonohoan.


    ¡°We accept your surrender,¡± he said.


    She shook her head.  ¡°No, idiot.  You must surrender to me, or else you die.  I do not care either way.  Your choice.  Surrender or die.¡±


    He scoffed.  He raised his weapon to end her life.


    The light took him straight in the chest, burning through his armor.


    Eight more lights streaked out of the forest, killing two thirds of the enemy forces as the Mokoari tribe utilized the weapons she¡¯d provided to kill the evil spirits that threatened their way of life.  Enidi dove and picked up one of the weapons from a fallen soldier.


    She engaged her stealth systems, ducking and weaving through the combat as she engaged in a firefight with the remaining soldiers.


    It was over in seconds.


    She tisked as she stood over the bodies of the Rosantean infantry.


    ¡°Standards have really slipped if this is the best they could send,¡± she commented.


    She sent Trewali confirmation of her success.  He pinged her back with the location of the next nearest landing zone.  She tisked.  It was too far away for the Mokoari to support her.  She¡¯d have to kill those fools by herself.


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    Oh well.


    Hopefully Towari was still guarding her drop pod.  That remained her primary weapons cache and source of energy.  If it fell into enemy hands, she¡¯d be SOL.


    The village chieftain appeared on the edge of the clearing, the heavy weapon in his hands.  He nodded at Enidi.


    The Weapon  looked  like a spear.  It was, in fact, a high powered plasma lance that was designed specifically to feel comfortable and intuitive to anyone who was familiar with that sort of weapon.  Enidi had only had time to give the villagers the weapons and a brief explanation as to their use, and it was easier to shape the weapons as something familiar to them than give them a gun and expect them to intuit its use.


    And it was easy to use.  Very short ranged, unfortunately, but it wasn¡¯t any more complicated than point and twist the trigger on the shaft to fire.  And, in a pinch, it could be used as a regular spear as well, with a monomolecular edge to the blade.


    ¡°Have we served well, oh great one?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yes.  You serve well.  Go now and take your children to safe place and be safe.  Take weapons.  Kill any evil spirits come close.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Great One,¡± the chieftain agreed.  He dropped the weapon to the ground and began dragging it off in the direction of the caves.


    She sighed, then gathered her energy and leapt into the air.  Hopefully the Mokoari wouldn¡¯t accidentally kill themselves with the weapons she¡¯d provided, she thought.  She¡¯d return to the drop pod quickly to check on Towari and resupply, then head out and hit the next LZ.


    She wondered as she sped through the rain forest how the Mokoari were understanding the events.  Night had fallen, and the sky was rippling with the fire of terrible weapons and explosions in space.  Did they believe that this was the end of the world, some sort of final battle between their gods and the evil spirits?


    She wondered if her identity was blown.  Towari had seen her equip her armor, but perhaps she could convince him to stay quiet.  She  liked  the Mokoari people.  She didn¡¯t want to have to find a new village to blend into.


    And besides, she didn¡¯t want to abandon her husband so soon after getting hitched.


    ~~~~~~


    The infantry came out of the ocean, their heads peeking above the water slowly as they came to shore.  They had expected the sites in Western Europe to be poorly defended, still recovering from the effects of the Kirata beam which had started this war.  Instead they had faced a surprising amount of ground fire from buildings which were clearly constructed with abilities beyond what Earth was rumored to possess.


    The lieutenant of the force had ordered an oceanic landing instead.  Theirs was a large force, almost two hundred soldiers strong, but the density of the ground fire had threatened to disperse them where it didn¡¯t destroy them outright.  Better to remain as a cohesive group and run a coastal insertion.  Once they had established a beachhead, they would branch out into Europe and swiftly crush the locals.


    As they ran to the beach, a flare suddenly lit up the night.  The soldiers paused to look up in wonder for just a second before the shooting started.


    Weapon emplacements above the rocky shore tore through their ranks.  The lieutenant had just enough time to curse his bad luck that he had missed the emplaced defenses on the fly-over before a hyper-velocity shot, fired by a magnetic railgun at six times the speed of sound, struck his helmet.  The helmet survived the shot.


    His skull did not.


    Opala watched from the darkness as the defenders she had wrangled up at the last moment cheered when the last of the enemy soldiers died, dozens of rounds impacting his body, their kinetic energy transferring through the armor to pulverize the flesh beneath.


    She hadn¡¯t had much time to arm the locals after being shown the error of her ways by the scout.  But she¡¯d had enough.


    The latest battle of Normandy lasted ten minutes.


    ~~~~~~


    The squad of Rosanteans first indication that they had entered into a minefield was when one of them stepped on a mine.  An orb the size of a basketball bounced out of the ground nearby, yellow lights flickering on its surface for a fraction of a second before it exploded.


    Half of the six-man squad was ripped apart by the shrapnel, despite the power armor they wore.  A plasma-lance swiped from left to right and cut two of the survivors in half at the abdomen.  The sole survivor began firing upon the location where the lance came from, unable to see what was there in the dense foliage until the weapon cleared it out.


    The weapon turret was unmanned.


    He spun around, looking for the enemy.


    ¡°Behind you,¡± a young voice said.


    The Rosantean spun, and the blade punched through the weak point in his armor where the neck joined the helmet, severing his spine.


    ¡°Forty three,¡± John said, his stealth flickering for a second as he wiped the blood off his armor.


    He vanished into the forest to take care of the next squad before they realized what was happening and regrouped.


    ?

 3.27.

    3.27.


    Despite the successes of many of its defenders, most of the landing zones of the Rosantean forces managed to dig in.  Many targeted civilian areas, taking hostages to prevent the defenders of Earth from retaliating against the invaders with the full force that they were able to bring to the table.


    In a suburb of St. Petersburg, a small flutterfly drone disguised as a hummingbird recorded war crimes.


    Eolai¡¯s heart went out to the poor people who were being lined up and executed.  The motivations of the executioners seemed to be to demoralize the remaining defenders.  Or perhaps they had simply determined that they had too many civilian hostages and needed to reduce the number.


    Perhaps they were trying to provoke a premature attack.


    Perhaps they were just monsters.


    Eolai closed his eyes to that part of the battle.  He was a thousand miles away, and the nearest of his soldiers wouldn¡¯t arrive in that zone for hours if he sent them now.  He considered how to respond.  There was one option.  The collateral damage would ¡­


    Well, it would be economic.  There shouldn¡¯t be any flights left in the area to disrupt.  A concentrated kirata beam would disable the soldier¡¯s armors and leave them helpless.  Or at least mostly disarmed.


    He contacted Diego in orbit.


    ¡°I need a kirata beam on this location,¡± he said.  ¡°Five mile radius, no more than that.¡±


    ¡°You want me to shoot the Earth?¡± Diego asked.


    ¡°Yes.  They are executing civilians.  The Kirata beam will stop them without causing unnecessary collateral damage.¡±


    Diego was silent for a moment.  ¡°Moving into position.¡±


    The connection was cut.  A moment later, the feed from the flutterfly drone went dead as the entire region was hit by the EMP-like weapon.


    Eolai hoped that it would make a difference.


    He returned his attention to the other soldiers in the transport.  They were ten minutes away from their destination.  The enemy had landed in force in Mesoamerica, and they were en route to lay siege to the dug-in soldiers.


    He had one hundred of his infantry men and women with him.


    They were going up against twice that number.


    He turned his attention to the flutterfly drones that were keeping an eye on that location.  He noted the layout of the base that the Rosanteans had constructed and began planning his assault.


    At least he wouldn¡¯t have to worry about collateral damage, the base was far from the nearest settlement.  A part of him wondered if it wouldn¡¯t be best to bombard this target from orbit as well.  But no.  Though they were outnumbered, he had confident in his soldiers.  They would put an end to this base, and he would lead them through it.


    ~~~~~~


    The Other Shoe  dropped into normal space directly behind the ninth Rosantean flagship to assume command since the start of the battle, firing all of its weapons at once and overwhelming the ship¡¯s countermeasures.  It kept firing until the flagship was nothing but slagged scrap floating in the orbit near Jupiter.


    Captain Moon had been receiving real time data from the forces of sol-system, allowing her to make her dramatic entrance as effective as possible.  With hundreds of ships constantly jumping around the solar system with the use of the hyperatomic plane, slipstream, and even a few crazy bastards who were piloting fighters equipped with Tunnel Drives, it seems that the sensors of the flagship had been overwhelmed.


    Space was roiling with a thousand forms of energy as weapons and drives and shields were deployed.  The third battle for Earth was the largest space battle to take place in centuries, and the defenders weren¡¯t willing to give an inch.


    The attackers, on the other hand, were beginning to question the purpose of their mission.


    This was just a Darkworld.  Yes the Empire could take it and justify it as a way to expand their territory for a few hundred lightyears anti-coreward.  But was it worth a war with the Yonohoans?  A war which, it seemed, the empire was posed to lose?


    Captain Moon barked orders at her Yukopan crew, interacting with the hologram as she ordered them to reposition and join the interlocked battle plan with the other defenders of Earth.  They¡¯d already significantly contributed to the battle with their sudden and unexpected arrival, and she wanted to keep the pressure up.


    The third battle for Earth continued on in space.


    ~~~~~~


    John stood over the corpse of the last of the Rosanteans who had been trying to establish a base in the forest.  He realized at some point that it was the same forest where he¡¯d first arrived on Earth.  A little bit of irony, perhaps?


    ¡°Eight-seven,¡± he said.


    He walked through the buildings that were being constructed even now by the nanites the soldiers had placed.  He could destroy them, but it would be a wasted effort.  Instead he went to their computer systems and pulled a download of their tactical network.  Which, he was pleased to notice, was in complete disarray.


    He pushed the network data to Trewali, who pushed it to Turnball, who in turn simply looked at it.


    There were thirty-three dug in bases.  The base in St. Petersburg had just been stricken by a tactical kirata beam, leaving a massive blank spot in the network where technology had simply quit working.


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    The situation was dire, but compared to the initial projections of a thousand dug-in fortresses ready to strike out at nearby civilian and military targets, the defenders had put up a fine show.  As he examined the locations of some of the bases, he came to a conclusion.  One which he knew might cost him his career.


    ¡°Conduct orbital bombardment on these nine enemy bases,¡± he instructed.


    Major Mary Phillips watched as he highlighted the locations on the holographic earth floating before him.  She swallowed.  It was a good move, tactically.  But the ramifications were ¡­


    ¡°Sir, Please repeat your orders,¡± she said.


    ¡°Conduct orbital bombardment of the enemy bases located in Nevada, North Dakota, the Yukon, the Kalahari, the Sahara, Argentina, the two in Siberia, and the one in Madagascar,¡± he repeated.


    ¡°I ask again, please confirm your orders,¡± she said.


    ¡°Blow them to kingdom come with the wrath of the heavens, Major.  Orbital bombardment on the highlighted locations.  We must prevent them from digging in further and conducting raids against our people.  I will accept the responsibility for any civilian casualties and collateral damage as a result of my orders, however I believe that acting now will ultimately lead to more lives saved than if we do not act,¡± He explained.


    ¡°Yes sir,¡± she said, and she forwarded the fireplan to their forces in orbit.


    It took longer to confirm the orders than it did to commit them.


    Moments later, the enemy forces were down to only twenty-four bases.


    The battle for Earth continued on the ground.


    ~~~~~~


    The connection request surprised him out of his analysis of the battle.  Captain Anders had exhausted his supply of subspace munitions, but he remained an active part of the battle in his contributions to identifying priority targets and managing the overall flow of the interlocked fireplan.


    It came from Renosa, one of the Yonohoan ship captains who guarded planet Totola.  He frowned, wondering what she wanted at this time, but he put the connection through.


    ¡°Greetings in this time of strife, clansman Anders.  I bring you relief at this critical juncture.  We have strained our engines to arrive in time to make a difference, but half of my fleet will be arriving within moments.  I request tactical data in order to make our presence known and effective against the enemy.¡±


    She sent him the details of her fleet, and he grinned.


    The flagship of the Yonohoans, as piloted by Diego Cruz, had almost single handedly kept the orbitals around Earth clear of enemy forces.


    Twenty more ships nearly identical in form and ability were less than ten minutes out.


    He directed them towards the regions that were seeing the highest level of combat and waited, his breath bated, as they emerged onto the battlefield simultaneously.


    Not from the hyperatomic plane, but slipspace.


    Surrounded by enemies on all sides, they unleashed their fury in the forms of a dozen different weaponized energies.  The Yonohoan weapons tore through Rosantean shields and kept tearing through hulls.


    The surviving enemy realized that the battle, already going so poorly, was lost with the addition of these reinforcements.


    Some of them realized that if planet Totola was sending reinforcements, then that meant that their sister taskforce had also been destroyed.


    The demoralized enemy abruptly vanished into the hyperatomic plane.


    Earth¡¯s defenders allowed them to escape.


    The Yonohoan cavalry did not, jumping after them to bring them the pain.


    The battle for the solar system came to an abrupt halt as there was nobody left to shoot.


    ~~~~~~


    The colonel in command of the Brussels landing zone was on the line with his compatriots when abruptly, one by one, they looked towards the sky and screamed.  He was the first to realize what was happening.


    The enemy was bombarding their own planet to cleanse the Rosantean infection with fire from the sky.


    He looked around at the city, which was virtually empty of civilians since his men had arrived.  Another one of his compatriots abruptly screamed and died.  He swallowed.  Was he next?


    He cut contact with the leadership of the other invading forces and nervously instructed his computer to contact the enemy general.  It took several moments for the computers of his command station to make the connection.  Once they had, it was voice only.


    ¡°To whom am I speaking?¡± General Turnball demanded.


    ¡°I am the commander of one of the bases in a city.  I do not know the name.  I believe it is on the continent you call Europe.  I wish to surrender in exchange for the lives of my men,¡± the colonel said.


    ¡°Brussels?  Are you in Brussels?¡± Turnball asked.


    ¡°Yes.  A city.  The civilians are hiding, but they would still die if you bombarded this city as you have done to other locations.  I wish to surrender to preserve the lives of my men and your civilians,¡± the colonel repeated.


    ¡°Very well,¡± General Turnball said.  ¡°Disarm yourselves and await further instructions.¡±


    The colonel nodded and issued the instructions to his men.


    Across the globe, the leaders of the enemy forces learned of their defeat in orbit and the lengths to which the defenders would go to secure their planet.  One by one they surrendered.


    Those that did not, such as the force in Mesoamerica, were systematically destroyed over the next two weeks.


    The battle for Earth came to a stop.


    The defenders were victorious.


    But the cost was steep.  Both in the damage to the planet itself, and in the number of lives that had been lost.


    The people of Earth were, perhaps for the first time in history, united on one matter entirely.


    Never.  Again.


    ?

 3.28.

    3.28.


    John stood under the shower, letting the hot water rush over him as the radio blared in the background.


    ¡°--still unpredictable.  The controversial decision to fire upon Earth made by General Turnball remains under review.  The general is expected to face a court martial for his decision, although those under his chain of command have been cleared.  Their board of inquiries have determined that they were following a lawful order at the time that they relayed the General¡¯s instructions.  As the source of those orders, General Turnball faces a higher level of scrutiny.  Whether the General will face consequences for his actions remain undetermined at this time.


    ¡°Taskforce Ragnarok remains elusively in the shadows, as attempts to identify the stalwart defenders of Earth who emerged in her hour of need continues.  Of the Einherjar, we have only successfully identified one combatant.  John Doe, the twelve year old Yonohoan child soldier who lives in Washington State.  His legal guardian, Doctor Olivia Nunes, has given a statement requesting that the public respect John¡¯s privacy at this time as he struggles to cope with the aftermath of his heroic defense of his adoptive planet.


    ¡°The last enemy holdout in Mesoamerica was successfully destroyed a few hours ago by the advanced infantry soldiers under the leadership of Eolai of the Yonohoah.  Eolai issued a statement saying that he regrets the loss of life, and that he wished the negotiations with the enemy leader would have lead to a general surrender, as has happened elsewhere across the globe.


    ¡°The trial for the war crimes committed by the enemy soldiers in St. Petersburg is scheduled for ¡­¡±


    John stepped out of the shower and began drying himself.


    He was famous.


    He didn¡¯t want to be.


    But he was.


    ¡°Eighty-seven,¡± he said to himself.  He had taken eighty-seven lives in the defense of Earth.  He looked down at his hands.


    They were steady.


    He felt no regret.


    No, that wasn¡¯t true.  He regretted the way that Olivia looked at him when he¡¯d told her what he¡¯d done.  He regretted the fear that he heard in Emily¡¯s voice when he¡¯d called her the day after the combat ended to make certain she was safe.


    He was a hero.


    But he was frightening, because of the things that he could do.


    He sighed, brushed his teeth, and returned to his room to dress.


    Despite Olivia¡¯s request for privacy, there was a media presence outside the house when he left.  He ignored the questions as he got into the car that was waiting for him.


    Emily smiled at him eagerly as he took his seat next to her.  Peter tipped his hat at them and drove off.


    ¡°So are you ready for school?¡± she asked.


    ¡°If I wasn¡¯t you¡¯d still be waiting for me,¡± he said.


    ¡°You know what I mean.  Are you looking forward to it?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± he admitted.  ¡°Although I¡¯m also afraid that everyone is going to be afraid of me.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine.  We staged a walkout because of you, you know?  Everyone thinks that you¡¯re a hero and that heroes deserve to go to a real school, not be stuck at home with a stupid tutor,¡± Emily said.


    ¡°I appreciate the protest on my behalf,¡± John said.  ¡°I¡¯m surprised it worked.¡±


    ¡°When the news got out that one of the heroes of Earth was being discriminated against because of the abilities he¡¯d used to defend the planet, the school caved immediately,¡± she said.


    ¡°They¡¯re not worried that I¡¯ll use my abilities on campus?¡± he asked.


    ¡°They¡¯re terrified, but fuck them,¡± Emily said.  ¡° I  know that you won¡¯t hurt any of my friends, and that¡¯s what I told everyone when we arranged the walkout.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve killed almost a hundred people, Emily,¡± John said.


    ¡°I know.  You did what you had to do,¡± She answered.  ¡°Do you want to talk about it?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± John said.  And they rode the rest of the way to school in silence


    ~~~~~~~


    Major Mary Phillips stood across from the enemy soldier.  He was wearing a paper-gown.  She tasted oranges and her fillings tingled with the sensation of the suppression field that were keeping the technology implanted in his body from working.  A small PHDA between them was translating for them.


    The interrogators had been questioning him for hours before they¡¯d heard something interesting and called for a supervisor.  Mary was a little nervous to be in the room with someone so dangerous, but she needed to confirm the intelligence herself.


    ¡°Exactly what proof do you have to back up your claims?¡± she demanded.


    ¡°Proof?  None.  But it is the truth.  The war was orchestrated not by the emperor.  His thirteenth son.  He is the one.  Soon will be coup.  Maybe already happen,¡± the translator chirped after the man finished speaking.


    ¡°You¡¯re certain?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yes.  But it is speculation.  I know some things and suspect some things, but I am on periphery of the conspiracy.  Not trusted with all details.  My job agitator.  That¡¯s why St. Petersburg.  No joy in that, but orders were orders.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you were just following orders.  I understand,¡± she said, a smile on her face.  ¡°Let¡¯s go into those orders in detail, shall we?  And please detail exactly what steps you took in following them.¡±


    ¡°Of course.  I am pleased you understand.  I took no joy in ordering those executions,¡± the soldier said.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.  We have legal precedent for this sort of situation.  We know exactly how to deal with you.¡±


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    ¡°That is a great relief,¡± the soldier said.  ¡°I will cooperate with your justice system however I can.¡±


    ¡°Excellent,¡± Mary said.  ¡°I need to know everything you can tell me about this conspiracy.¡±


    ~~~~~~


    Lisa Desmond sat at the table with sixteen captains.  She gauged each of them in turn and determined to get straight to it.


    ¡°I will give you each ten thousand Acklatic credits for every six months of service that you give me,¡± she informed them.  ¡°I wish for you to raid Rosantean space.  Engage their military, strike at them economically, whatever you can do to cause disorder.¡±


    The captains exchanged looks.  ¡°We have no issues with this, no.  But we will not bomb cities or kill civilians.  Intentionally, at least.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fine.  I understand.  You¡¯re privateers,¡± she agreed.  ¡°I expect you to act like it.¡±


    ¡°Ten thousand for six months?  Yes, that is good,¡± another captain said.  ¡°But perhaps a bounty would be better?¡±


    She nodded.  From her purse, she pulled a magazine.  ¡°This is premium entertainment literature from Earth.  For every Rosantean vessel you destroy, I will give you one such magazine,¡± she promised.


    The captain¡¯s eyebrows rose.  One by one they took turns examining the Playboy, and in the end they all agreed to her generous terms.


    An hour later, the  Defiant  was on its way to another center of scum and villainy, while the captains headed off for Rosantean space to pillage.


    It was a most profitable arrangement for everyone involved.


    Except for the Rosanteans, of course.


    ~~~~~~


    Nierlha stood over the corpse of his father.  He smiled.  Patricide agreed with him.  The old fool had been, well, a fool, and the empire was in much better hands now that Nierlha would be tending the helm.


    He did regret the deaths of two of his older siblings.  But that was the price of politics.


    He ordered one of the soldiers in the room to take care of the body, then he went to sit in his father¡¯s chair.  He collected himself, considered the course of actions which had led him to this.


    He had sent out a scout to locate the Darkworld known as Earth.


    He had sent out an agitator to fabricate casus belli.


    When that hadn¡¯t worked as well as he¡¯d hoped, he¡¯d sent  another  agitator to bombard the planet itself.  That, at last, had gotten the attentions of the Yonohoans.


    He smiled.  The Yonohoans were so stiff and formal despite their public presentations of playfulness.   Of course  they¡¯d go to war over a Darkworld.


    And of course they¡¯d win it, too.  That was an important consideration to make.  Nierlha hadn¡¯t expected to win the war that he¡¯d provoked; in fact, every loss that his father and his generals experienced had only added to the narrative justifying his takeover of the empire.


    And now it was done.


    ¡°Contact the Yonohoan senate,¡± he instructed the room¡¯s AI.  It chirped with acknowledgment of the command.


    He waited.


    And waited.


    ¡°What is taking so long?¡± he asked


    ¡°They are debating another matter.  We are on hold,¡± the AI informed him.


    Nierlha frowned in displeasure.  ¡°Did you convey that it is important?¡±


    ¡°Yes, your imperial highness,¡± the AI answered.  ¡°They placed us sixth in line.¡±


    ¡°Call their idiotic answering service back and tell them that the new emperor wishes to discuss terms of peace!¡± he bellowed.


    The computer chirped that it was complying.


    Ten minutes later, the familiar image of Senator Osantos appeared.  Nierlha frowned.  He¡¯d been expecting to be addressing the entire senate.


    ¡°Nierlha.  So.  How does it feel to be a regicide, a fratricide, and a patricide all in the same day?¡± Osantos asked cheerfully.


    ¡°I took no pleasure in the steps that must be taken to ensure the survival of my people, Senator,¡± Nierlha answered.  ¡°My father would not see reason when I begged him to sue for peace.  My brothers and sisters were behind his every misstep.  Though it pains my heart, I must look past the bonds of family in order to ensure the future of my Empire.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Osantos said.  ¡°So now you want to talk peace, is that right?¡±


    ¡°There is no profit in a war between us.  We will withdraw entirely from the battlefield.  We will offer reparations to both planet Totola and planet Earth for the damage incurred by my expansionist predecessor.  And we will--¡±


    ¡°Your terms are rejected,¡± Osantos said, interrupting him.  ¡°Have a nice day.¡±


    The connection cut out.


    Nierlha frowned at the empty air for a moment where the senator¡¯s hologram had just been.  ¡°Call them back!¡± he shouted.


    The computer began to comply, then all the technology in the building abruptly died as the imperial capital was struck by a kirata beam, fired from stealth, by the  Tumbaruna Toko.   The Yonohoan ship, purring in the darkness, fired upon the defenders that were all around it for a few moments before they could respond to the sudden attack, then vanished back into the slipstream.


    Nierlha sat in the darkness of his father¡¯s office and looked around in confusion. Six of the soldiers in the room abruptly fell over, killed when the wetware in their heads short circuited.  He wondered how he was going to get out of the room now that the servos that opened the doors would no longer function.  Without the decorative holograms, the stark walls were unfamiliar.


    He had might as well be in a peasant¡¯s apartment, he realized.  Why weren¡¯t there any paintings or sculptures?  Why was all of the beauty of the office stripped away the moment the power failed?


    Outside, the city reeled in the aftermath of the kirata beam¡¯s devastation.  In a society where every convenience was solved by technology, many were lost on what to do when the vehicles fell from the sky and the vending machines stopped producing their food.  Thousands would die.


    The Yonohoan government would remain unremorseful for the actions of the  Toko , going so far as to explicitly state that they had been involved in the planning of the attack.  By interstellar law, the enemy capitol city was a legitimate military target once open war had been declared.  This was not a surprised attack on an unsuspecting foe; the Yonohoans were within their rights.  The use of a kirata beam instead of a plasma lance was a measure of restraint.


    For that matter, the  Toko  might have cracked the planet, killing billions.  Others had done it before under less pretense than the Yonohoans had for their actions.


    The Rosanteans had started this war.


    The rest of the universe would watch as the Yonohoans, and the Earthlings, saw it through to the end.


    ?

 3.29.

    3.29.


    Diego watched as the death toll from the orbital bombardments ticked up again.  He winced.  It had been  his ship  that had carried out those strikes.  He was following orders, and the review board had deemed his actions legal.  But the collateral damage had been in the triple digits.


    Collateral damage.  Such a clean word to use for killing innocent bystanders.


    It wasn¡¯t as bad as it could have been.  The targets had been isolated.  The strikes had been controlled and limited.  The environmental damage of the plasma lances was minimal compared to something like a nuclear warhead.


    But innocent people had died because Diego had received and order and decided to carry it out.


    He swallowed.


    ¡°Bob, call Eolai,¡± Diego said.


    The AI acknowledged the order with a chirp.  A moment later, his brother-by-oath¡¯s hologram appeared.  Eolai was dressed in his colorful Yonohoan formal wear, with ribbons in his hair.  Diego hadn¡¯t seen him wearing that since he had started training the soldiers to use their infantry armor.


    ¡°Hello Diego,¡± Eolai said, his voice sounding tired.  ¡°It is good to see you during this difficult time of reconstruction.¡±


    ¡°Yes, you too, brother,¡± Diego said.  He eyed the hologram up and down, asking what was up with the getup with his eyes.


    ¡°I am testifying at the good General Turnball¡¯s court martial,¡± Eolai explained.  ¡°Do you believe that he will face consequences?¡±


    ¡°Having his decision called into a court martial is already facing consequences,¡± Diego answered.  He paused as he considered the question.  ¡°I believe that his orders were legal, Eolai.  And I believe that the review board will uphold them as such.  They caused civilian deaths, that is true, but they were a limited strike aimed at enemy held territory during a time of active conflict.  The review board can¡¯t ignore those facts.¡±


    ¡°I hope so,¡± Eolai agreed.  ¡°Our military traditions are not identical.  If this had happened on planet Totola, there would be no review.  The populace would simply accept the general¡¯s actions at face value, even if they caused ten times the devastation that they did.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m having trouble contemplating my own role in the events, to be honest, Eolai,¡± Diego admitted.  ¡°I¡¯m testifying by hologram later today, and I have no idea what I¡¯m going to say.¡±


    ¡°I believe I¡¯m supposed to tell you to merely state the facts as you knew them at the time when you carried out your orders,¡± Eolai said, smiling sadly.  ¡°That is what I was instructed to say as well.  Mostly I am there to testify about the capabilities of the enemy, anyway.  I assure you that putting a swift end to the resistance saved far more lives than the orbital bombardment took.  The invasion force could have taken millions of lives through guerrilla warfare given a foothold and a bit of time.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s of small comfort to the families,¡± Diego answered.


    ¡°Indeed,¡± Eolai agreed.


    They fell silent for a moment.


    ¡°What comes next?  I heard that the Empire sued for peace,¡± Diego said.


    ¡°They were wise to do so.  Wiser would have been to do so before they assaulted a world of the Yonohoah in force, firing upon it multiple times with weapons of mass destruction.  Were it not for our orbital emplacements, planet Totola would be a barren wasteland right now, with all of its children turned to ash,¡± Eolai said.  His voice was sad, with a mixture of anger and resolve.  ¡° My  children live there, Diego.  I will not see the people who ordered that attack go unpunished.¡±


    ¡°I understand completely, my brother,¡± Diego agreed.  ¡°May they live to see the consequences of their actions.¡±


    ¡°Or may they die facing them,¡± Eolai countered.


    The hologram cut out, leaving Diego to contemplate a side of his brother that he hadn¡¯t seen much of before.  He was used to Eolai¡¯s playful side.  He was only just now seeing his wrath.


    ~~~~~~


    ¡°I asked him to repeat and clarify his orders three times.  His orders were clear and direct,¡± Major Phillips said.  ¡°I relayed them through the chain of command to former Sergeant Cruz, who now holds the position of Captain of an allied force.  The exact rank of Diego Cruz in that military organization is unclear.  He is an adoptive son of Eodar, which may put him in the rank of a general, or it may not.  The Yonohoans have a different military structure than we do.¡±


    ¡°You passed along the orders to Sergeant Cruz, and what was the result?¡±  the prosecutor asked.


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    ¡°The bombardment of the target locations.  Precise but thorough plasma lances which annihilated the enemy forces,¡± Mary answered.


    ¡°And caused the deaths of nearly one thousand innocent civilians,¡± the prosecutor pressed.


    ¡°That is the approximate death toll at present, yes,¡± Mary agreed.


    ¡°Thank you.  No further questions.¡±


    The defense had no questions for this witness, and she was allowed to step down.  Eolai was called to the stand next.  He was sworn in, choosing to swear on a book of traditional stories from his culture rather than the bible.  It was not quite accurate to call it a religious text, but it carried the same weight according to the Yonohoans who¡¯d been questioned on the matter.


    While it was not mandatory to swear on the bible in a court martial, Eolai had offered to make any gesture which might increase the veracity of his testimony.


    The prosecutor began her questioning.  ¡°It is not in dispute at this point that the General ordered the bombardment of Earth and that civilian casualties were the result.  The issue is the necessity of those orders.  Eolai of the Yonohoah, you are more familiar with the weaponry of the enemy soldiers than we are.  Would you determine the general¡¯s response to be the correct action based upon the knowledge that we have established that he had at the time?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Eolai answered.  ¡°I would not have bombarded the locations he selected.¡±


    This drew a measure of surprise.  ¡°Would you care to clarify?¡± the prosecutor asked.


    ¡°I would have bombarded every confirmed landing zone and location in which the presence of an enemy infantry unit had been confirmed,¡± Eolai answered.  ¡°The only thing that might have stayed my hand would be the presence of my own children in those locations.¡±


    ¡°So you believe that the general¡¯s response was a measured one?¡± the prosecutor asked.


    ¡°Lenient, is the word I¡¯d use.  A single unit in the type of powerarmor with the loadouts that the enemy had in its possession is capable of destroying a city the size of New York within a day.  They might have killed millions if left unchecked.  I believe the devastation in St. Petersburg give you an approximation of what they would have been capable of, and I remind the court that I myself authorized the bombardment of that location with a kirata beam in order to bring that tragedy to an end.¡±


    ¡°Yes, the court remembers,¡± The prosecutor said.  ¡°Was that not a more measured response?¡±


    ¡°The infantry units would eventually recover from the kirata beam.  It was only the actions of the civilians in St. Petersburg which led to the capture or neutralization of the enemy units in that case.  I  would  have ordered a plasma lance if I had thought that my brother, Diego Cruz, would have obeyed the order.  I did not, so I ordered the next best thing,¡± Eolai explained.


    ¡°Thank you.  That is all of the questions I have for this witness,¡± the prosecutor said.


    The defense attorney stood.  ¡°For the record, the infantry armor units you have provided earth forces are effectively identical to the ones that the enemy uses, correct?¡±


    ¡°Correct,¡± Eolai agreed.


    ¡°Very good.  Let¡¯s get into the technical details of what those units are capable of,¡± the defense attorney suggested.


    ¡°I have brought holograms of historic examples for your edification,¡± Eolai said.  ¡°I suggest that if you have eaten recently, you go to the bathroom and vomit now so as to avoid making a mess in the courtroom.¡±


    Several minutes in, many people in the court wished that they would have taken his advice.


    ~~~~~~


    Mike sat in the embassy wearing a bathrobe and reading the  Times .  The front page was dedicated almost entirely to the trial of General Turnball and the not-so-surprising verdict of ¡°well he did it, but it was legal.¡±  Despite the court¡¯s findings many in the public continued to call for him to step down or retire, while others hailed him as a hero who made a hard decision.


    Mike was just glad that he¡¯d been in New York City under the gold and white dome that Tomon Genisi had erected when it had happened.


    Laura sat next to him.  Tomon sat next to her.  They were enjoy pancakes, orange juice, and coffee.


    No frumonas.  Mike had once more sworn off the alien ¡®social lubricant.¡¯


    ¡°They¡¯ve got pictures of us together,¡± Mike said, turning the paper to show the others.


    Tonom shrugged.  Laura shrugged.  Mike shrugged.


    ¡°Think we should make a public statement about our ¡­ situation?¡± he asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s none of their business,¡± Laura said.  ¡°Anyway all they have is rumors that we¡¯ve been staying at the embassy since the attack.  Which are true.  They don¡¯t have the details.¡±


    ¡°Rumors are as good as facts in politics,¡± Mike said.  ¡°It might be better to just get out in front of it and take the bullet.  We have a fairly liberal demographic, they might not care.  Tonom, what do you think?¡±


    ¡°Whatever is best for you, Mike-Mike¡¯ Tonom answered.  ¡°I am no shame.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Mike said.  ¡°I know you have no shame.  I know that very very well.¡±


    ¡°Yes yes.¡±


    Mike sighed, shaking his head.  Well, life could be worse.


    ?

 3.30.

    3.30.


    John shot hoops in the half-court that had been set aside for him.  The rest of the boys and girls of his class were playing games in the other courts, but he couldn¡¯t play with them.


    He might hurt them.  Accidentally.


    He knew it, they knew it, the school knew it.  It was simply a fact.  The way that things were.  It was nobody¡¯s fault, really, but they couldn¡¯t pretend that he didn¡¯t have the strength of several men or that even without armor he had reflexes that might come out during a harmless game of basketball.


    He shot.  He scored.  He went to grab the ball and dribbled it for a few minutes.


    He hadn¡¯t played basketball with anyone for a while.  Not since he¡¯d been reactivated.  Since he¡¯d gotten his ¡®powers¡¯ back.


    It was frustrating.  It wasn¡¯t fair.  It was okay to be frustrated at the unfairness of it.  Olivia said so.


    But he still couldn¡¯t play physical games with the other children.


    He sighed, setting the ball aside and going to run laps around the three-court gym for a while.  Maybe he could burn off some energy that way.


    He became aware at some point that the other children were watching him.  He realized that his jog was faster than their sprint.  He slowed down, wondering if they thought that he¡¯d been showing off.  He hadn¡¯t meant to.


    He went over to the bleachers and at.  The PE teacher came and sat next to him.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, John.  I know that this time of the day must be frustrating for you,¡± she said.


    ¡°I understand.  I¡¯d feel terrible if I hurt someone by accident,¡± John admitted.  ¡°Especially if they were a friend.  During training, everyone had the same modifications, so we could train and fight on the same level.  But on Earth, you ¡­¡± John trailed off.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to get changed and take part in class if you don¡¯t want to, John.  We can assign you to go the the library and have free study when the rest of your class has PE,¡± she said.


    ¡°No,¡± John said.  ¡°I mean, maybe.  Can I think about it for a few days?¡±


    ¡°Yes.  Take your time.  We want you to feel comfortable here.¡±


    ¡°Thank you,¡± John said.  The teacher got up and left.


    John watched the other children play, trying not to let the envy show on his face.


    In the locker room, he was confronted by the other boys.  They circled him while he was changing, nervous expressions on their face.  He frowned, wondering if he was about to be bullied or hazed.


    ¡°You weren¡¯t going all out when you were running, were you?¡± one of them asked.


    ¡°No,¡± John admitted.  ¡°I was just jogging.¡±


    ¡° I knew it! ¡± he exclaimed.  ¡°How fast can you really run?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.  I mean, I do know.  We measured it in training.  But I don¡¯t know how those units convert into miles per hour,¡± John admitted.


    ¡°We want to find out,¡± one of the boy said.  ¡°Can we, like, help you test your powers?  And maybe put it online?  Everyone wants to know how strong you really are and if we tell them we¡¯ll get millions of hits.  Especially if we can put up the videos of the tests.¡±


    John frowned as he considered the question.  ¡°I can¡¯t do anything with my weapons or armor without getting approval from the government,¡± he said eventually.  ¡°But I can display my baseline abilities out of armor.  That shouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± the boys exclaimed, and they began making plans to take him out to the track after school to begin their project.


    The school day went on.  As usual, due to his unique circumstances, John was pulled out of math class to attend a private counselling session.  He didn¡¯t need the classes that the other twelve year olds took on this subject.  He didn¡¯t need the classes that college students took.  Part of his wetware was entirely dedicated to helping him with math, and he could do multi-variable differentials in his head without much effort.


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    He was surprised when Agent Morrison greeted him in the counselors office, and it immediately put him on guard.  The last time he¡¯d been surprised in this situation by the FBI, it hadn¡¯t gone well.


    ¡°Relax, John, we¡¯re not here in an adversarial role,¡± he said, raising his hands placatingly.  ¡°It¡¯s just, well, the school has heard what you¡¯re planning on doing after school today and they contacted us.  We wanted to discuss matters with you to be sure whether or not it¡¯s a good idea.  And we also want to make certain that you¡¯re not intending to use any weapons or cause any property damage.¡±


    John relaxed a little bit.  ¡°It¡¯s fine if you say that I can¡¯t show off my abilities, I won¡¯t mind.  But I¡¯d rather if you make it an official announcement or something so it doesn¡¯t sound like I¡¯m going back on my word.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not what we¡¯re saying at all,¡± Morrison said.  ¡°We  are  telling you not to use your weapons or armor¡¯s abilities outside of a controlled environment.  However ¡­¡± he paused, considering it for a moment.  ¡°Well, John, the truth is that the government is very curious on getting a baseline on you and the other Einherjar.  Both inside and outside of your armor.  In case another attack happens on Earth, we¡¯d like to know the abilities of our allies, and you¡¯re the only Scout who we know might cooperate.¡±


    John nodded.  ¡°I understand.  I don¡¯t mind having my abilities measured by the government.  If you set it up, I¡¯ll agree to it.¡±  He considered the matter for a minute.  ¡°Actually ¡­ the other kids might think it would be really  cool  if I could put it online.  Do you think that¡¯s a possibility?¡±


    Morrison pursed his lips.  ¡°I¡¯m not certain how the government will view that, but if you make it a condition of your cooperation they¡¯ll probably agree.¡±


    John shrugged.  ¡°It¡¯s standard Scout policy to incorporate local friendly forces into our battles by arming them with our nanite-created weapons.  Having the public aware of what I and the Einherjar can do will increase their effectiveness considerably if there¡¯s a fourth battle for Earth.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll run it up the chain,¡± Morrison promised.


    ¡°So is it okay to display my baseline abilities after school today?¡± John pressed.


    ¡°If you agree to adult supervision.  I¡¯ll be there, and someone from the school, and we¡¯ll need to review any of the ¡®tests¡¯ your classmates come up with for safety before you do anything.  If you agree to those terms, I don¡¯t see that I have a reason to stop you,¡± Morrison admitted.


    John agreed, and Morrison left.  The counseling session returned to normal after he left, and John¡¯s school day proceeded as normal until the end of his final class.


    He sat in the locker room, having changed back into his gym clothes in preparation.  He wasn¡¯t the only boy to change; some of the more athletic boys his age had decided that this was a group activity and wanted to show what a ¡®normal¡¯ kid John¡¯s age could do in the same situation.


    He took a drink from a water bottle and sighed.  Letting the other kids see his physical abilities would make him stand out more than he already did, he knew, but maybe it would also make things better?  They seemed more curious than afraid of him.


    Maybe they still didn¡¯t realize how dangerous he was.  Maybe showing them would change what they thought of him.


    He frowned as he thought about it for a moment.  No, they should know by now.  There were hundreds of videos taken by camera phones of him fighting in his armor.  There were videos of him killing enemy soldiers.  There were videos of the enemy soldiers doing things, terrible things.  Yet despite that, John and the other scouts had prevailed, leading the Earth to victory in its ground fight.


    ¡°You look like you¡¯re having some deep thoughts,¡± one of the other boys who would be competing with him said.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± John admitted.  He sighed.  ¡°I¡¯ve considered decommissioning myself again, you know.  I know now that it wouldn¡¯t kill me, just take away my powers.  I could be normal again.¡±


    ¡°Why would you want to be?¡± the boy, his name Xiang, asked.


    ¡°To play basketball,¡± John said.  ¡°To do PE with the rest of you.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Xiang said.  ¡°Yeah, I guess it must suck a little to have superpowers.  With great power comes great responsibility and all.  But if I had superpowers I¡¯d never give them up.¡±


    John sighed.  ¡°Yeah.  Well, until the war with the Rosanteans is over I have a responsibility to Earth to continue to defend it.  Maybe when the war is over I¡¯ll ¡­ I don¡¯t know.  This was all so much easier when I didn¡¯t have to think for myself.  When I just had to listen to my commanding officer and do what I was told.  They didn¡¯t give us time to think in training, and then suddenly I¡¯m on Earth and I find out that I don¡¯t know anything.¡±


    Xiang was quiet for a minute.  ¡°You¡¯re pretty awesome though, you know that, John?  You saved the city.  I know what the Rosanteans did in St. Petersburg, and you stopped anything like that from happening here.¡±


    John nodded.  ¡°Yeah.  I did.¡±


    They went outside to the track.  John spent a few hours showing off, then everyone went home.  To him it was really no big deal.


    The videos which hit the internet later that night, after a few hours of frantic editing by his classmates, got millions of views over the coming days.  The ¡°Einherjar out of armor¡± videos remained heavily popular, even as the ¡°Einherjar in their armor¡± videos continued to rock the world.


    The call for the other scouts to come forward remained high among the public.  But John remained the only one who displayed any interest in interacting with the public.  The others had melded back into whatever niches they¡¯d found in their society, hiding in plain sight.


    ?

 3.31.

    3.31.


    The council of the Mokoari tribe sat around the fire.  The subject of discussion was the newest addition to their village.


    Well, the second newest.  There had been a birth while the villagers were hiding in their sacred caverns, waiting for the goddess who had revealed herself to them to tell them that the battle for the heavens and the Earth was over and that it was safe to return to their lives.  The little girl had been named the Mokoari word for ¡°Hope.¡±


    But the topic of discussion was Enidi.  And Towari, by extension, since he was her husband.  Enidi had promised that she would obey the council¡¯s decision on whether or not she was allowed to remain, and Towari had vowed to follow his wife in either decision.


    ¡°We are very fortunate that she came to us,¡± one of the women said.  ¡°The enemy was mighty.  Without the weapons she provided, they would have destroyed our warriors.  Our children and our women would have been at their mercy.¡±


    ¡°We do not know for certain that the enemy came to destroy, as she claims that they did,¡± one of the critics of allowing Enidi to remain among the Mokoari said.  ¡°We are simply taking her at her word that all she says is the truth.¡±


    ¡°They killed the men of the other villages.  Our messengers confirmed the massacres that took place outside the valley,¡± one of the warriors said.  ¡°Of all of the villages where the gods revealed themselves, only the Mokoari emerged without casualties.  And only the Mokoari were able to fight back.  All of the other villages were forced to wait until Enidi arrived to liberate them.¡±


    ¡°So you claim,¡± the critic said, but the troublemaker spoke no further for a while, aware that the others thought her to be foolishly clinging to her doubt.


    ¡°Do you believe that the enemy was truly evil spirits?¡± one of the elders asked the others.  They silently considered the question.


    ¡°I do not,¡± one said eventually.  ¡°I believe they are outsiders with weapons like magic.  Inside of their fiercesome armor lies the flesh and blood of men and women, just as it does for Enidi.  But their abilities are so like magic that they had might as well  be  magic.  If we are to hope to ever fight back against them if they come again we must have a warrior their equal, or their better.  I believe that we need Enidi.¡±


    ¡°We could use her to conquer the other valleys,¡± one of the warriors pointed out.


    The woman who¡¯d spoken first scoffed.  ¡°If you believe that you¡¯re a fool.  I have spent time with Enidi and although I did not know her powers, I know her spirit.  She took away the weapons that she gave us once the threat was past to prevent us from misusing them.  She will not consent to be used in wars against the other tribes.¡±


    The warrior fell silent, accepting the chastisement.


    ¡°It is not proper for a warrior to be one of the village women,¡± one of the men pointed out.  ¡°But there is no question that she is a mighty warrior.  I do not mean to say that we should make her leave.  I am saying that she must be honored as one of the villages defenders, for that is what she is.¡±


    The others considered this for a moment.


    ¡°Are we agreed that she is welcome to stay, but divided upon what role she is to play among our people?¡± the village chieftain inquired.


    The others nodded their head at the assessment, except for the critic who remained unconvinced.


    ¡°Then I believe it is time to bring her and Towari into the council.  They deserve a say in their future if they are to be allowed to remain among us, which is the decision which has been reached tonight.  We will present them with the idea that Enidi be raised to the rank of one of our warriors and that Towari be given the rank of her wife.¡±


    There was some amusement at this joke, and one of the village elders went to fetch the couple.


    Enidi and Towari arrived before the fire, taking their place as supplicants.  The village chieftain nodded toward them and told them the decision of the council.


    ¡°Enidi, you and your husband are invited to remain among this village of the Mokoari for as long as you choose to stay among us,¡± the chieftain said.  ¡°However, it has been decided that it is not suitable for you to be given the tasks and duties of one of the village women.  You shall be given the role of a warrior.  Towari, as you have married a warrior greater than you, you will be sent to learn your new duties with the other wives of the women.¡±


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    Towari¡¯s eyes opened wide at the pronouncement.  He sputtered, and Enidi, once she had understood what had been said, burst into laughter.  Towari looked at her, eyes hurt at the betrayal, and she smiled at him.  Then she turned back to the council and shook her head.


    ¡°Thank you for words,¡± she said.  ¡°But no.  Not live as warrior of Mokoari.  Live as woman.  Am mighty warrior, yes, but am hiding.  Hiding from those who take me away from Mokoari.  Want stay with Mokoari, so must hide.  Hide as woman, yes?  Nobody think woman changing stinky baby mighty warrior.¡±


    The others considered the woman-god¡¯s pronouncement for a moment.


    ¡°If the others who are looking for you to take you away find you, will they come and hurt the Mokoari?¡± the village chieftain asked.


    ¡°Do not think so,¡± Enidi said.  ¡°More likely try to convince me leave.  Do not wish leave.  Mokoari good people, and valley good place.  Wish stay here, wish not draw attention of outsiders.  Better be hidden among Mokoari to protect this part of world, which is task Enidi given from good spirits who protect all peoples of this world.¡±


    ¡°But you do not know for certain that your presence will not place the Mokoari in danger?¡± the critic pressed, sensing a weakness.


    Enidi shrugged.  ¡°Do not know certain sun rise tomorrow,¡± she said.  ¡°Believe it so because always has.  Believe if hide among Mokoari, Mokoari safer than if Enidi forced leave.¡±


    The villagers considered the words for a while, sometimes speaking their thoughts on the matter.  Many of them were concerned that allowing Enidi to remain in the role of one of the village women rather than honoring her as the great warrior that she was would offend the other ¡®good spirits¡¯, despite Enidi¡¯s assurances that they would understand.


    The council eventually moved on to other topics.  Neither Enidi nor Towari were asked to leave.  While normally they would not be eligible to be part of the council, having not earned that right through seniority, their sudden importance to the village warranted an exception to the tradition.


    ~~~~~


    ¡°Congratulations, Admiral,¡± Captain Moon said, stepping up to Anders in the after-banquet of the awards ceremony.  He¡¯d been far from the only one to receive a promotion in the wake of the battle, although he was the only one to have gone from captain to admiral.


    ¡°Thank you, Captain,¡± Anders said.  ¡°Although a part of me still misses the days when I was your XO.  Neither of my recent promotions has come about in the way that I would have preferred them to happen.  I was never the sort of man to chase rank just for rank¡¯s sake.¡±


    ¡°Better you than me,¡± Captain Moon said, sipping her drink.  It was a violet beverage provided by the Triumverant representatives.  Unlike the frumonas, which had already gotten something of a reputation among those in the know, the violet beverage was simply flavorful.  Or so they claimed, at least.


    ¡°Yes, well, you¡¯ve got yourself another commendation for your pivotal arrival,¡± he pointed out.


    She nodded, looking down at the award which had been pinned to her chest.  ¡°Keep it up and I¡¯ll run out of space on the uniform.  Either that or the weight will give me saggy tits.¡±


    He chuckled.  ¡°Yes, well, I¡¯m just glad that we both survived the combat.  I¡¯m not certain that I truly deserve this rank, but the ESF seems to believe that its warranted, so who am I to question?¡±


    ¡°One of their admirals,¡± she pointed out.  ¡°Seems to me that they should be trusting your judgment and bust you back down to private.¡±


    They laughed.


    ¡°So what¡¯s next for you?¡± Anders asked her.


    ¡°Going to keep working on integrating the Yukopans,¡± she admitted.  ¡°Although I have some shore leave coming up, so I¡¯ll be spending a bit of time with the boyfriend and the cat.  Think it would be funny if I landed  The Other Shoe  in the park next to his house?  I could probably get it cleared as a training exercise slash public engagement activity.  There¡¯s a lot of interest in the Yukopan fleets among the people and we could give limited public tours.¡±


    Anders frowned, considering the matter more seriously than she¡¯d intended him to.  She thought about explaining that she was just joking, but eventually he said ¡°I¡¯d sign off on it.  Especially if it actually got the Yukopans in front of the cameras.  The public needs to see our new allies.  We wouldn¡¯t remain free and independent without them.  Without them, we would have been crushed, and the Yonohoans would be fighting to free us from our oppressors.¡±


    Captain Moon¡¯s eyebrows went up.  ¡°Really?  You think command would actually sign off on that sort of shenanigans?¡±


    ¡°They have one of the Einherjar blowing up mountains on Youtube.  I¡¯m pretty sure they want to show everyone that the enemies of Earth aren¡¯t the only ones who have new and dangerous toys,¡± Anders explained.  ¡°Write up a formal suggestion for the program.  If I have anything to say about it, it will get approved.¡±


    Captain Moon saluted.  ¡°Yes sir!¡±


    Anders groaned, uncertain whether or not she was mocking him.


    ?

 3.32.

    3.32.


    Laura took the frumonas from the waitress for herself and handed her husband a red wine, knowing that he would turn down the alien beverage if she offered him one.  Instead he took the offered drink and took a sip, glancing around at the room of the Triumverant¡¯s new embassy.  One of them, at least.  The buildings were perfectly equal in size and ostentatiousness.


    And completely different in every other capacity.  Color, shapes, and patterns decorating the architecture seemed to scream for attention, but each of the three embassies were unique in what colors, shapes, and patterns were used.


    They were in Dos¡¯s embassy at the moment, although they planned to make the circuit to the other two ambassador¡¯s parties as well before the night was out.  Being very careful to spend no more than five minutes longer or shorter at any one party, of course.


    Mike decided that he needed something stronger to deal with the pressure of making the proper impression on the Triumverants, so he quaffed the wine and requested a cocktail from the waiter.


    Not a frumonas.  Or worse, a frumonas with a vodka kicker, as was becoming popular at less upscale celebrations.


    ¡°Don¡¯t drink too much,¡± his wife chastised him.  ¡°Our bed is full enough as it is.¡±


    He scoffed at her joke.  ¡°I don¡¯t see you complaining too much with the way things have turned out.¡±


    ¡°I like Tonom.  I¡¯m happy to share you with him,¡± she said.  ¡°But I¡¯m also content to cut him out, or let him drift away into the arms of other lovers.  I¡¯m fairly certain that his time in our lives will be temporary and I intend to enjoy it while it lasts.¡±


    Mike nodded, then glanced around to make certain nobody was paying too much attention to their conversation.  ¡°You¡¯re not thinking about replacing him one he gets distracted from us, are you?¡±


    Neither of them seriously considered Tonom a long term part of their relationship.


    ¡°We¡¯ll see how things go,¡± she said.  ¡°Perhaps one of your interns could be convinced to warm our bed.¡±


    Mike groaned.  ¡°That¡¯s the last thing we need!  Tonom is one thing, but an intern?  That would be a career ender if anyone found out!¡±


    ¡°I was just teasing you,¡± she said, swatting his arm.  ¡°Perhaps my fitness coach?  Have you met him?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s not have this discussion here,¡± he said.  He glanced at his watch.  ¡°We have forty-five minutes before we need to switch parties.  Let¡¯s split up and work the room.¡±


    She nodded, giving him a swift kiss before wandering off to speak with some of the other women of the party.


    He walked up to one group and spent a few minutes participating in the small talk before one of the Triumverant¡¯s aides grasped him by the elbow.


    ¡°Dos wishes to speak with you,¡± she informed him.


    ¡°Lead the way,¡± Mike said, and he followed the alien out of the ballroom and into the dining room, where Dos was sitting at a table with a set of hors d''oeuvre in front of her.  She wasn¡¯t eating, but rather examining the party favors closely, going so far as to sniff them individually.


    ¡°Greetings, Senator Mike Fuller,¡± she said, her voice a baritone which surprised him, coming from her dainty body.  Without looking she noticed his surprise.  ¡°Yes, that is a common response to hearing me speak if one is unfamiliar with me previously.  It is most amusing.  And useful politically, you understand.  It is my natural voice, but this is not my natural body.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Mike said.  ¡°I don¡¯t wish to press for any personal details.  It¡¯s none of my business.¡±


    ¡°It is not a private matter that I was born a male,¡± she admitted.  ¡°It is well known, in fact.  The decision to keep my voice is one of personal amusement and not a necessity for the process of becoming what I have become, in case you are wondering.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s truly none of my business,¡± he assured her.  ¡°But my office has always been an ally of the LGBT community.¡±


    ¡°Yes.  That is amusing to us,¡± Dos said.  ¡°How are you adjusting to the new realities after finding out that the universe is a much smaller and larger place than you once believed?¡±


    Mike considered the question.  ¡°I am troubled sometimes and reassured at others.  It is a complex matter, and I fear that we likely do not have time to discuss the nuances of my position in the time that we have available.  I am assuming that I am not the only one you wish to pull aside from the party tonight.¡±


    ¡°You are correct.  You have been coached by Tonom Genisi, so I know that you will be spending precisely one hour at my party, as that would be the Acklatic tactic,¡± Dos explained.  ¡°Which is why I placed you close to the top of those I wish to speak with.¡±


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°I am honored,¡± he assured her.


    ¡°I wish to discuss the war, and the Triumverant¡¯s place in it.¡±


    ¡°I understand.  We would welcome any assistance that the Triumverant is willing to provide.  We greatly appreciate your part, individually and collectively, in the defense of the Mars Station.¡±


    ¡°We played no part in the third battle for Earth,¡± Dos argued.  ¡°All we did was our duty in informing the combatants of our location to prevent all sides from having an unfortunate diplomatic incident.¡±


    ¡°In very loud and deliberate terms while refusing to move,¡± Mike said.  ¡°I am quite certain that if it were not for your obstinance, those cowards Unos and Tres would have abandoned their position and the solar system itself.¡±


    ¡°Hah!¡± she exclaimed.  ¡°What a perfect insult!¡±


    He grinned, rather proud of the way he had phrased it himself.  It was a minor compliment to Dos and a minor insult to each of the ambassadors individually.  By the Triumverant way of thinking, it was perfect indeed.


    ¡°So the Triumverant wishes to remain neutral in the conflict?  Your aid in the third battle was merely opportunistic?¡± he questioned.


    ¡°I did not say that,¡± Dos said.  She adjusted her hair, then took one of the hors d''oeuvres by its toothpick.  ¡°What is this called?¡¯


    ¡°They¡¯re all hors d¡¯oeuvres,¡± he said.  ¡°Beyond that you¡¯d have to ask the chef who prepared them to see if it has a name unique to itself.  It might, but I¡¯m not an expert on the subject.¡±


    ¡°Yes.  That is a good response,¡± she agreed.  ¡°You admit general knowledge to the subject without claiming to be the expert, and simultaneously point me to where the answer could be found.¡±


    Mike shrugged.  ¡°I find that admitting the limits of my knowledge does not diminish me.  Claiming to be an expert in matters which are beyond my ken is a sure way to find myself humiliated at the hands of the true experts.¡±


    ¡°Ah, I wish that I could adopt such a stance,¡± Dos said.  She sighed.  ¡°I must confess, being around your people has been terrible for me.  I am so tempted to let my guard down, but the spies of Unos and Tres remain ever vigilant.¡±


    ¡°I sympathize,¡± Mike said.


    ¡°We have spies everywhere, you see,¡± Dos continued.  ¡°Except Earth, although we are working on correcting the matter.  I hope you understand that it is not a measure of hostility when I say that.¡±


    Mike nodded.  ¡°Every state requires independent sources of information, behind the scenes and off the books.  Back channels, we call them sometimes.¡±


    Dos smiled.  ¡°Yes.  That is one of the few measures of true competition among the Triumverant.  If you have truly been coached by Tonom Genisi, then you would know that much of our displays are merely that, displays.  Back channels, however, are a true measure through which the Primaries might exert their power without the approval of the other two, and are therefor an exercise of true power.¡±


    Mike swallowed, understanding the seriousness of the conversation.  ¡°Yes, I believe I understand what you¡¯re saying.¡±


    ¡°We wish to enter the war in earnest, Mike Fuller.  On our own terms, of course.  For our own goals.  We would have Earth and the Yonohoans as our allies, but we wish to discuss the spoils for which our efforts will be rewarded.  Off the books.  Behind the channels.  You understand?¡±


    ¡°Yes, perfectly,¡± he agreed.


    ¡°Good.  I have taken up enough of your time, Mike.  I will reach out in the future.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting to hear from you.  Off the books or on the books, whichever is most convenient for you.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.  I believe we will have a most fruitful relationship, Mister Fuller.¡±


    He nodded, then paused as he was turning to leave.  ¡°You know, we should go to a wine or cheese tasting together,¡± he suggested.


    ¡°Oh?¡± she said, looking up at him.  ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°Because if you¡¯re going to compete with Unos and Tres over your mastery of Earth high society, then you¡¯ll need to learn how to properly identify and judge wines and cheeses,¡± he explained.  ¡°Asking them to pick out a particular hors d¡¯oeurvres and hoping that they get it wrong is a good start.  Why don¡¯t you watch some of our videos of a wine taster or cheese connoisseur in action, and you¡¯ll appreciate my suggestion.¡±


    Dos considered her words, then nodded.  ¡°I believe we can do great things together, Senator Mike.  I look forward to our relationship.¡±


    ¡°Have a pleasant evening,¡± he said, and he rejoined his wife in the ballroom.  They mingled for the remainder of the hour, then moved on to Tres¡¯s ballroom.


    Where Mike was promptly invited to join Tres in a private setting, where he had virtually the same conversation which he had just had with Dos.  The subtle hints at establishing a back channel were even less subtle, and more earnest.  Mike remained agreeable to the proposition, and suggested that they play golf.


    He did not even reach Unos¡¯s ballroom before he was pulled aside.  To Unos, he suggested poker.


    He went home that night and showed Tonom Genisi just how much he valued the advice that the diplomat had given him.


    ?

 3.33.

    3.33.


    ¡°Are you sure you want to do this?¡± Sarah asked Dornodo.  ¡°I mean, a lot of people are going to see it.¡±


    ¡°That is the very purpose of going on television, is it not?¡± her husband asked her as the makeup artist worked on him.  ¡°We need to bring attention to my business on Earth if I am to integrate into your society.   Our business .  We are equal partners in the Toormonda now.¡±


    Sarah nodded, conceding his point.  ¡°You know that they¡¯re not going to talk about Toormondas though, right?  I mean, it might come up, but the topic of the show is literally ¡®so I married an alien.¡¯  They want to talk about us.¡±


    ¡°We met because of a Toormonda.  We operate a Toormonda together.  Discussing Toormondas is part of the topic of our relationship,¡± he pointed out.


    Again she conceded the point.  ¡°They might ask some very personal questions,¡± she said.  ¡°We don¡¯t have to answer anything we don¡¯t want to, but if they ask you how big you are down there, I¡¯d prefer it if you didn¡¯t simply decline to answer.¡±


    ¡°Do you think that they¡¯d be particularly upset if I offered to show them?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you fucking dare!¡± she said, well aware that he was teasing her.


    ¡°Show them, or offer to show them?¡± he asked.


    She considered.  ¡°You can make the offer.  It would be funny,¡± she admitted.  ¡°But keep your pants on until we get home, okay?¡±


    ¡°Of course.  Although you should know that we are less hung up on these topics than you Earthlings seem to be.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯d be okay with all of earth seeing you naked?¡± she asked.


    He considered the question, then it was his turn to concede the point.  ¡°Perhaps not the entire Earth.¡±


    ¡°There, you see?¡± she asked.  ¡°And how would you feel if I decided to take off my clothes in front of them?¡±


    ¡°There isn¡¯t a word to describe how jealous I would feel,¡± he admitted.


    ¡°Right,¡± she said.


    ¡°You¡¯re on in five,¡± one of the production aides said.  The makeup artists made a few final adjustments, and then they got up to follow the aide to their place on set.


    The producers did a countdown, and their host, Susan Mathers, expertly picked up the introduction.


    ¡°Today on Matters with Mathers, I have with me a loving couple who are literally from completely different worlds!  Sarah Renfield was born here on Earth.  She took part in the famous mission of the  Seeker of New Discoveries , which I don¡¯t need to remind everyone is how we discovered we are not nearly as alone in the universe as we thought.  Nor as unique.  Our other guest is her loving husband, the father of her child, and the parana of her child, Dornodo of the Yonohoah.  We¡¯ll get more into what a parana is later in the talk.  For now, let¡¯s discuss Sarah¡¯s journey for a minute.  Sarah, how did you meet Dornodo?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a complicated topic, to some degree, Susan.  First of all, it¡¯s necessary to point out that due to my exposure to the Tunnel Drive, I required medical treatment on planet Totola.  I was at a level two treatment facility for several weeks while my condition was treated.  When I agreed to experimental treatment, it was suggested that a Toormonda trip would help my recovery, so I was signed up for one of their experiences.  Dornodo¡¯s Toormonda was both conveniently timed for my recovery and he also came highly recommended in the industry.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go into a little more detail.  The nature of the damage caused to humans by the tunnel drive is neurological, yes?  What sort of symptoms did you have?¡±


    Sarah, who had cleared this question, nodded and gathered herself for her response.  ¡°I developed a number of cognitive defects which went unnoticed until after my psychiatric symptoms began.  I developed a number of those, including delusions, inappropriate social behaviors, and a lack of self control in general.  Fortunately one member of my crew, Diego Cruz, noticed these symptoms and brought them to the attention of the command staff.  When I was no longer able to manage my symptoms on my own, Anthony Anders, who was the XO of the mission at the time, took action to ensure that I received the care that I needed.¡±


    ¡°One of those delusions was that one of the other members of the crew was deeply in love with you and that you were going to be married when you returned to Earth, was it not?¡± Susan asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Sarah admitted.  ¡°It¡¯s somewhat embarrassing to talk about, but at the time I believed that the connection that we had was real.  It was entirely fabricated on my part, however.  I spoke with the man and got his perspective on our relationship, and while it was humiliating, it helped me move past it.¡±


    ¡°Some of our viewers are going to wonder if you¡¯ve truly recovered from your tunnel drive exposure, Sarah.  If your love for Dornodo isn¡¯t just another symptom.  What do you say to that?¡±


    ?


    ¡°I believe, and my doctors believe, that I am in the process of not only recovering from my disease, but am showing signs of growing beyond the person that I was before I even set foot on the  Seeker.   There will always be some lingering doubt about whether the beginning of my relationship with Dornodo might have been impacted by where I was in my recovery.  However, unlike my relationship with the man whom I was infatuated with on the  Seeker , Dornodo reciprocates my feelings.  Isn¡¯t that true, sweetie?¡±


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    ¡°I love her more than I love myself,¡± Dornodo said immediately.  ¡°It moved my heart that she allowed me to become the father of her first child, and that she is allowing me to be their parana is the most humbling experience I can think of.  I look forward to nothing more than raising our children together and showing her that I am worthy of her affection.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve used the term parana several times now.  It¡¯s a Yonohoan word and it¡¯s a key difference in our societies which we should probably address for the audience.  Sarah, Dornodo, would you each please tell us your understanding of what a parana is?¡± Susan asked.


    ¡°The literal translation is ¡®male role model.¡¯  It¡¯s used for the mother¡¯s partner in raising a child whether or not that partner is in a sexual relationship with the mother or not.  Even their lesbian couples usually have a parana for the children that they raise.¡± Sarah explained.  ¡°The parana is not necessarily related to the child at all.  While the biological father is expected to maintain some sort of relationship with their children if at all possible, the parana is their day to day parent.¡±


    ¡°Do their homosexual couples have the female equivalent of a role model for their children?¡± Susan inquired.


    ¡°The truth is that it¡¯s very difficult for our gay men to get custody of a children.  Not because of any concerns over abuse, but because few mothers in our society are willing to have a child without having the relationship with that child.  The few exceptions to this rule are when the mother dies tragically when the child is young.  Mostly, if a male couple wishes to have a role in the raising of a child, they both agree to become paranas for a mother with her own child.  As Sarah said, their biological relationship to the child is not paramount,¡± Dornodo explained.


    ¡°Fascinating,¡± Susan said.  ¡°So in Yonohoan society, it would have been perfectly fine for Sarah to dump you immediately after you knocked her up and put out an ad for a parana on the internet?¡±


    ¡°Well, sort of.  I would have been deeply embarrassed if she Tuunka Powan with me and then did not allow me to parana our child.  But she would have been within her rights socially and legally to do so.  I would have had to ¡®just deal with it.¡¯¡± Dornodo explained.


    ¡°It¡¯s also worth pointing out that the Yonohoans don¡¯t have life-long marriages like we do on Earth, Susan,¡± Sarah said.  ¡°Rather, they have monogamous relationships that last as long as either party wishes for them to last.  However, if there is a child involved, the parana is expected to be the same man until the child is considered an adult, whether or not they are the father of the child.  Even if the couple begins to hate each other, they¡¯re expected to put that aside for the sake of the child.¡±


    ¡°Which I do not see happening for us,¡± Dornodo said, smiling.  ¡°But if it does, I vow that any differences between me and Sarah will not impact my role in regards to our child together.¡±


    ¡°It  is  normal for a mother and a parana to move into separate houses once the child leaves the house they grew up in.  Or not.  It depends on the couple,¡± Sarah explained.


    ¡°Simply fascinating,¡± Susan repeated.  ¡°There¡¯s another Yonohoan term our audience hasn¡¯t heard.  Tuunka Powan.  Can we get a definition please?¡±


    ¡°It literally means ¡®unregistered baby making¡¯¡± Sarah defined.  ¡°It¡¯s not a crime though.  It¡¯s just ¡­ well it¡¯s a little embarrassing to the parents.  But they still view it as a happy thing.  The teenagers on our Toormonda teased us for a few days but I never felt that they were shaming or shunning us.¡±


    ¡°It  is  embarrassing, but bringing any child into the world is a joyous thing,¡± Dornodo agreed.  ¡°I am very embarrassed that my friends back on planet Totola know that I could not resist myself around this beautiful Earth woman and Tuunka Powan with her.  But that does not change the love that I have for her or my yet-to-be-born child.¡±


    ¡°Okay.  If we spot any more alien terms we¡¯ll be certain to ask.  But we glossed over an important detail that many of our audience are desperately going to be wondering about.  Sarah,  you¡¯re pregnant .  How did this happen?¡± Susan asked eagerly.


    ¡°Well, Susan, you see, when a mother and a father love each other very much ¡­¡± Sarah said jokingly.  Susan laughed.


    ¡°You know what I mean!¡± their host exclaimed.  ¡°Your human and he¡¯s Yonohoan!  How is it possible?¡±


    ¡°Yonohoans are 99.7% identical on a genetic level to humans from Earth,¡± Sarah explained.  For that matter, we¡¯re 99.8% identical to the Acklatics and 99.9% identical to the Triumverant.  I¡¯m not certain how we stack up against the Rosanteans by our own measurements, but I¡¯ll bet its above 99.5% for certain.¡±


    ¡°Speaking of how our men stack up against the aliens,¡± Susan said suggestively.


    ¡°I  knew  that was going to come up!¡± Sarah exclaimed.  ¡°He is perfectly adequate and I am quite satisfied and that¡¯s all that I wish to say on the topic.¡±


    ¡°Only adequate?¡±


    ¡° More than adequate. ¡± Sarah said emphatically.  ¡°Dornodo is a talented lover and I am quite satisfied by him.¡±


    ¡°Dornodo, how does Sarah stack up to a Yonohoan lover?¡± Susan inquired.


    ¡°If all Earth Women are as creative and skilled as she is, then us Yonohoan men will be extremely grateful that your people found us,¡± Dornodo said earnestly.


    Susan laughed.  ¡°Okay okay, we¡¯ve covered that topic fairly thoroughly and we might have kids watching so let¡¯s not get too graphic.  Let¡¯s talk more about how your relationship started.  Dornodo, you own a Toormonda ship, which you operate as a business.  Tell us more.¡±


    Dornodo smiled, and began discussing his business in earnest.


    ?

 3.34.

    3.34.


    John closed the door behind him as he got into the car with Emily and Peter. They exchanged greetings as he got comfortable, slinging his backpack onto the floor in front of them. He sighed.


    ¡°John, have you ever been on a Toormonda?¡± Emily asked.


    ¡°I practically grew up on one,¡± John admitted. ¡°Enidi tricked my family into allowing me to take a trip on one that lasted from the time I was four until I turned eight. Six of my brothers and sisters from the Toormonda became members of the scout trainee class I was in.¡±


    ¡°What are they like?¡± Emily asked.


    John paused to consider the question. ¡°Aside from my memories of my family the memories of the Toormonda are the happiest I have until I started living with Olivia,¡± he admitted. ¡°I learned so much and had a lot of fun with the other children. There¡¯s not much privacy aboard the Toormondas, but I don¡¯t think that really matters when you¡¯re a little kid, so I didn¡¯t mind it. I was very sad when they said that the journey was over, but also happy because it meant that I could see my parents in the flesh instead of just through holograms.¡±


    ¡°You weren¡¯t completely cut off from your parents while you were journeying?¡± she asked.


    ¡°No. They had what you call a PHDA or personal holographic digital assistant. Those devices haven¡¯t really changed since then, but I was only allowed to speak with them once per day,¡± John explained. ¡°They were very angry with the scouts and with High Command when they found out that I wasn¡¯t coming back at the end of the week. I guess that¡¯s what Enidi told them to let them take me in the first place. I was a little homesick at first, I guess, but eventually I came to love it there.¡±


    ¡°I wish that  I  could go on a Toormonda,¡± Emily admitted. ¡°They sound magical.¡±


    John was quiet for a minute. ¡°Can I borrow your phone?¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have one, and I would rather use a phone than a PHDA. I know the number I need to call,¡± John explained.


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    She pulled her phone out of her backpack and handed it to him. He swiftly dialed the number and put it to his ear, waiting a few seconds for the call to connect.


    ¡°Hello. It¡¯s me,¡± he said. ¡°My friend wants to go on a Toormonda ride. Can you arrange it?¡±


    A pause.


    ¡°Yeah, that would be great. Is it a problem?¡±


    Another pause.


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell the principal when I get a chance. I don¡¯t know what they¡¯ll say. Earthlings are weird sometimes.¡±


    Another pause.


    ¡°Yeah, I know. But Earth girls are pretty.¡±


    He hung up and handed the phone back to Emily. She stared at him with wide eyes of amazement. ¡°Did you just line up a Toormonda ride for me? Who exactly did you just call? How do you have the phone number of someone who can just line up a Toormonda ride memorized like that?¡±


    John frowned. ¡°I know the number because we¡¯re related. He¡¯s ¡­ it¡¯s a weird relationship, okay? But his name is Eolai, and I¡¯m not sure if you know him or --¡±


    ¡° You know the Yonohoan ambassador? ¡± she exclaimed.


    He frowned. ¡°Everyone is calling me one of the Einherjar, Emily. Is it weird that I know people who are also famous?¡±


    She calmed down when he put it that way. ¡°I guess not. Small universe, I guess.¡±


    ¡°Anyway, yes, I know Eolai. And we¡¯re related. So I called him, and he said that it would be easiest if he just commissioned one for our school. So if the principal says yes then in about six weeks we can go on a Toormonda ride with the entire class, I guess. If they get parental approval and everything.¡±


    Emily imitated a fish for several moments before squeeing with excitement. She didn¡¯t calm down until after they¡¯d arrived at the school. The principal learned of the offer through the student¡¯s gossip network before John had the chance to make the offer in person.


    The adults took over the discussion from there, with John putting the principal in contact with Eolai to confirm the details of the donation and discuss matters which John and Emily hadn¡¯t considered yet.


    In the end, it was closer to two months than six weeks before the Toormonda was set to arrive.


    ~~~~~~~


    Enidi was changing Hope for her mother when the connection request came in through the nerves which kept her in contact with the rest of the scout network of Earth. She sighed and took the PHDA out of her purse, flinging it into the air so that it could hover next to her. Many of the Mokoari tribe turned to watch at the casual display of magic, while a few of them simply nodded or scoffed and continued on with their day.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡°Hello Trewali,¡± she said in High-Yonohoan. ¡°To what do I owe the pleasure.¡±


    The leader of the Einherjar frowned at her. ¡°Are you doing this in the middle of your village? Really?¡±


    ¡°They already saw me in my armor, brother. They know who I am and what I can do. There¡¯s no outsiders here, and they¡¯ve agreed to keep my identity secret. So what¡¯s the point in keeping secrets from them now?¡± she asked.


    He sighed. ¡°I wish that you weren¡¯t so isolated, but at the same point it¡¯s fortunate that we put you where you are. You¡¯re the best with small and isolated people.¡±


    ¡°You know it,¡± she agreed. ¡°What do you want?¡±


    ¡°I want you to get in contact with Eodar,¡± he said.


    ¡°Eodar¡¯s alive?¡± she said, surprised.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t know?¡±


    ¡°The last memory I have of Eodar was tricking his family into letting him go on the Toormonda. He wanted to become a scout like me,¡± she said.


    ¡°I forget sometimes that you¡¯re older than us,¡± Trewali said. ¡°Enidi, Eodar is ¡­ perhaps it¡¯s best if I don¡¯t tell you his full story, but he not only became a scout, but he went on to become influential beyond what anyone else in the scouts ever managed. That¡¯s why I want you to call him. He¡¯s beginning to wield some of that influence in this lifetime, and I want you to convince him to use some of that influence to benefit Taskforce Ragnarok.¡±


    ¡°What is it with that name, anyway? Rag ¨C na ¨C rok. So weird sounding,¡± she said.


    ¡°It is the name of the end of the world in one of the legends of Earth,¡± Trewali explained. ¡°It is surprisingly apt for our situation, as is its term for us. The Einherjar. Spirits of dead warriors preserved through time to fight in the final battle for our people.¡±


    Enidi was surprised at this. ¡°Do you think they knew all along?¡±


    ¡°No, I think it¡¯s happenstance. But it is beautiful in a way,¡± he said. ¡°Will you talk to Eodar?¡±


    ¡°I suppose. Do you think he¡¯ll hate me for the trick I played on him and his family?¡±


    ¡°He loves you, Enidi. Or at least he did while we were on the Toormonda together. I cannot speak to his feelings now,¡± Trewali admitted.


    ¡°Alright then. I¡¯ll give him a call in just a minute. I need to give some kids a bath.¡±


    ~~~~~~


    John was in third period when a device in his desk began to beep at him. He frowned, took it out, tossed the device in the air, where it began to hover. It projected the figure of a young woman in the outfit of the Mokoari tribe. Not that John could identify which tribe it belonged to, nor could the rest of the class, which turned to gape at him and his caller.


    John stared at the hologram for a moment. ¡°Is that you Enidi?¡±


    ¡°I  knew  you¡¯d recognize me,¡± she exclaimed. ¡°I¡¯m so happy to know that you made it, Eodar! I walked into the light and joined the Einherjar before you returned from the Toormonda, so I never knew if you completed the training to become a scout or not. I¡¯m so happy that you did!¡±


    ¡°My family tried to kill you,¡± he pointed out.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± she laughed nervously. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I didn¡¯t take it personally. They had a right to be upset after I lied to them about how long you¡¯d be gone. Although to be fair if you weren¡¯t as smart as you actually are they would have returned you pretty quickly. But I knew that they wouldn¡¯t.¡±


    John was quiet for a moment. ¡°Call me John. It¡¯s my name in this life.¡±


    ¡°Right, okay John. Well, I¡¯m still Enidi. I¡¯m living with some pretty awesome people. I wish I could tell you more about them, but operational security and all of that. We don¡¯t want the Earthlings to know where we Einherjar are right now. Maybe someday but not now.¡±


    John nodded. ¡°This is a secure connection, but you¡¯re talking to my class at school in America, you know?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re speaking Yonohoan. Do they speak Yonohoan?¡±


    ¡°No, but some of them have recording devices out,¡± John explained.


    ¡°Oh well, I¡¯m not saying anything that¡¯s classified, so even if it gets translated it¡¯s not the end of the world. John, on behalf of taskforce Ragnarok, I would like to requisition as many Toormondas as you can swing with the Yonohoans. Up to fifty if you can manage it,¡± Enidi said.


    John frowned at her suspiciously. ¡°What do you need with Toormondas?¡±


    ¡°Same as ever. We¡¯re going to load them up with kids and send them out to learn about the universe, of course,¡± she explained.


    John¡¯s frown deepened. ¡°I¡¯ll run your request past my son.¡±


    ¡°You have a son whose alive in this time?¡± she asked. ¡°Man, the past yous must have been busy!¡±


    John laughed quietly. ¡°I¡¯m only somewhat familiar with what the past mes have accomplished, Enidi, but I think you don¡¯t know the half of it.¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯d love to catch up, but the truth is that I shouldn¡¯t spend too much time talking to you in case I let something important slip,¡± Enidi said. ¡°Operational security. You understand.¡±


    ¡°I do,¡± John said. ¡°Be well and bring honor to your name in this life, Enidi.¡±


    ¡°Be well, John, and be happy. I think I understand enough to know that your past selves have earned that right for you in this life,¡± Enidi said.


    The connection cut out. John picked the hovering PHDA out of the air and began to put it back in his desk, but the teacher took it from him before he could.


    ¡°While the school policy doesn¡¯t explicitly mention alien devices, its definition of a phone encapsulates whatever this is,¡± the teacher said calmly. ¡°I permitted the call because it might have been an emergency, and therefore covered under the exceptions to the rule. But now that you¡¯ve finished, you can collect this device from me after school.¡±


    John just nodded. After all, it was the school rule.


    ?

 3.35.

    3.35.


    ¡°Technically, Mrs. Walker, the request doesn¡¯t require your involvement any longer,¡± Eolai explained patiently to the President of the United States.  He was not sitting in her office, but in the military base where the training of his soldiers was continuing.  He was filing his fingernails as he spoke to the president¡¯s hologram.  ¡°Your government has already settled the issue with the private ownership of spacecrafts given to its citizens with the case of Kirk Desmond.  The request for a Toormonda falls under that decision.  The fact that it¡¯s a school rather than a corporation is of little importance.¡±


    ¡°I see your argument.  The request, however, comes from the Einherjar and Taskforce Ragnarok.  That makes it a national security issue,¡± Elizabeth ¨C call me Beth! - argued.


    ¡°If I believed that the Einherjar intended the children to be sent on the Toormondas any harm, I would not have placed the orders for them,¡± Eolai said.  ¡°I do not believe that they will be involved in this project at all except for suggesting it.  This is standard scout policy, ma¡¯am.  It¡¯s part of evaluating the worlds they are sent to.  First they infiltrate, and then they evaluate.  The Toormondas were initially developed specifically with this goal in mind.  The Einherjar are simply following their training, be it eighty thousand years out of date.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re saying that cooperating with them, giving them what they want, will put them at ease without jeopardizing our geopolitical interests?¡± Walker asked.


    ¡°I believe it is in everyone¡¯s interests to educate their young,¡± Eolai argued.  ¡°But I do not believe that the Toormondas that Taskforce Ragnarok requested are a threat to Earth or its interests, nor the interests of your nation specifically.  And there is another matter which must be evaluated.¡±


    ¡°And that matter is?¡±


    ¡°The fact that they made the requests specifically through John Doe,¡± Eolai said.


    ¡°John Doe is the only member of the Einherjar who is publicly known,¡± she pointed out.


    ¡°It is much more problematic than that, given who John is.  I understand that you view the matter differently than the Yonohoans, Mrs. President.  However, the fact remains that to the Yonohoans, John is Eodar.  Any request of his which can be reasonably fulfilled is something which we require a significant reason to refuse.  He could demand a thousand Toormondas and I would be obligated to fulfill the demand without question,¡± Eolai explained.  ¡°He only asked for fifty.¡±


    ¡°And what if Earth determined that it was not in our interests to accept the gift?¡±


    ¡°He is not asking us to give them to Earth,¡± Eolai answered.  ¡°I only notified you of the request out of courtesy.  The donations will be made to private entities according to the list that he has forwarded.  You will note that all of the entities existence pre-dates the contact of our people.  I must also inform you that I will be making this list public.  You¡¯ll have to justify the refusal to give a charitable donation to charitable and educational organizations on your reelection cycle.¡±


    Walker groaned in frustration.  ¡°You win, dammit.  But can we keep the fact that the request was made from Taskforce Ragnarok silent?  The conspiracy nuts are already going crazy about their name choice.¡±


    ¡°I do not believe that the conspiracy nuts are incorrect to question their selection of the name,¡± Eolai said.  ¡°I am worried that we are not paying close enough attention to it.¡±


    ~~~~~~~


    Nierlha restrained himself from executing the messenger.  He¡¯d already executed the majority of his tutors, as they had clearly failed in their efforts to educate him and prepare him for his eventual takeover of the empire.  That they had suggested to him that the Yonohoans would do anything ¨C  anything  ¨C to ensure that peace ruled in the galaxy was absurd.  He saw things differently now.


    They were a war-hungry people, and they had been waiting ¨C  waiting  ¨C for someone to break the many treaties that were restraining their wrath.


    The world that he had been brought up believing in was one in which the Yonohoans were weak, neutered compared to their ancient reputations.  That they were cowards hiding behind their treaties and their red tape.  That they would require significant effort to provoke into the war which he needed in order to justify the extreme measures it had taken for him to ascend to the imperial throne.


    And that they would, naturally, be swift to return to the status quo as soon as possible.


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    Nierlha had instigated this war, but he didn¡¯t want it.  He  needed  to return to peace in order to establish his rule.  All of his plans for this stage in his ascension were to be at a negotiating table with the Yonohoans, trying to limit the actual cost of the war.


    Instead, he was hiding on a tertiary world, away from the luxuries of the primary or secondary palaces.


    Because those palaces weren¡¯t there anymore.


    Well, they were, but they weren¡¯t operating.  The  Toko  had hit every known residence of the imperial family with either a Kirata beam or their damnable technology eating nanites.  The fact that he could even make a holographic connection was only possible because his current location was unknown to the enemy.


    Entire brightworlds were being turned into darkworlds because of the  Tumbaruna Toko .  The effect on the empire of that one ship was devastating.  The fact that it could appear and disappear without warning had his people calling for a full surrender.


    Which he¡¯d attempted.


    And been rejected.


    He didn¡¯t know what to do.  If he doubled down on the war effort now, he¡¯d only exacerbate the situation.  He knew after watching the recreations of the battle for Planet Totola that his own fleet couldn¡¯t stand up to the Yonohoan military.  They could barely stand up to  Earth¡¯s  military, and Earth had been a darkworld until earlier this year!  What a farce!


    The worst part of the situation was that Yonohoans weren¡¯t the only ones who took the treaties that he¡¯d violated seriously.  He swallowed nervously as he reviewed the data.


    The Acklatics were a non-issue.  They were cowards, and it was only the fact that they were separated from the empire by the Triumverant and several more militant star-nations that kept the Rosanteans from chewing them up and swallowing them whole.


    The Triumverants could potentially be bribed into remaining neutral.


    The minor star-nations of the milky way weren¡¯t signatories of the major treaties.  Most of them were darkworlds that had gone bright after the conclusion of the Liberation Wars, which had decided to remain independent rather than joining one of the empires.


    Those worlds were watching, Nielha knew.  Most of them were angry ¨C some of them furious ¨C at the Rosantean Empire for the stances which the empire had taken in the past.  The attacks on Earth only drove home the disdain that the empire was perceived to have at darkworlds and dimworlds and emerging star nations.


    Which meant that, once the Yonohoans call to arms reached the other galaxies and the other major powers in this little corner of the universe had debated the matter long enough to take a stance on the issue ¡­


    The Rosantean Empire might be over.  The imperial line might end with Nierlha.  And it would be entirely his fault for provoking this war.


    He evaluated his options.  Diplomacy was key.  He ordered the military to retreat from Yonohoan space, as well as all of the space surrounding Earth which they were legally entitled to colonize in the coming centuries.  Then he ordered the military to withdraw an extra twenty lightyears from that.


    Abandoning a significant edge of the Rosantean¡¯s squid-like extension into that corner of the galaxy.


    Next, he ordered diplomatic envoys.


    He sent an ambassador to each of the star nations which were presently neutral, offering them extensive powers to promise favors in exchange for the star nation¡¯s neutrality.


    He ordered one sent to the Acklatic imperial family, though he didn¡¯t see what good it would do.


    He sent three to the triumverant, one dedicated to each of the primaries.


    And he ordered one sent to Earth.  Perhaps if he could convince the Yonohoans pet Darkworld to come to the table and accept a peace offer, he could end the war.  The terms would no doubt be disastrous, but whatever poison pill they gave him, he¡¯d swallow it and any hooks inside.


    He had just finished issuing the orders for his latest plan when the Tumbaruno Toko made itself known in orbit, launching a Kirata beam at the imperial palace.  The power went off, leaving Nierlha in the dark.


    He sat there for a minute, wondering how long it would be before someone came to open the door for him so that he could leave the room.  He hoped that he would not have to resort to shitting in the corner, like the last time this had happened.


    ?

 3.36.

    3.36.


    General Turnball sat with the senator in his office.  It wasn¡¯t often that Turnball made a personal journey to sit before the desk of a politician, whether they were a US senator or not, but Senator Mike Fuller¡¯s recent political maneuvering has placed him in a uniquely potent position.


    ¡°So, you¡¯re saying they¡¯ll come to the table,¡± Turnball said.


    ¡°They have, collectively, stated that they wish to enter the war in earnest,¡± Mike confirmed.


    ¡°And Genisi?¡±


    ¡°Is providing back channel support and off the books aid,¡± Mike said.  ¡°He cannot violate his governments official stance of neutrality.  He is, and they are, bending over backwards to provide us with extensive support in terms of financial aid and non-combat equipment to assist in our efforts.¡±


    ¡°And here I thought the man was useless,¡± Turnball admitted.


    ¡°His facade is thorough and surprisingly complex.  But once you get to know him, it¡¯s very obvious what he¡¯s doing,¡± Mike explained.  ¡°As for the Triumverant, officially they can¡¯t agree with anything that the others say unless they  all  agree on the matter.  Which makes things extremely difficult.  They  all  want to go to war, but they each disagree on the terms that they¡¯ll go to bat for us for.¡±


    ¡°Okay.  So let¡¯s talk about the terms,¡± Turnball said.  ¡°What do they want?¡±


    ¡°They want to expand their empire by claiming parts of Rosantea,¡± Mike explained.  ¡°They each have a different list of star systems that they want for themselves.  There¡¯s commonalities between them, which mean that those stars are non-negotiable.  The rest of them are more complicated and open to negotiation.¡±


    ¡°How many systems are we talking about?¡±


    ¡°Non-negotiable?  Twenty seven.  Open for debate?  One hundred eighty two.¡±


    Turnball nodded.  ¡°Okay.  We can work with that.¡±


    ¡°Congratulations on your acquittal, by the way,¡± Mike said.


    Turnball frowned.  ¡°It wasn¡¯t an acquittal.  I was found guilty of something which wasn¡¯t a crime.¡±


    ¡°I stand corrected,¡± Mike admitted.  ¡°How does that impact your leadership of the ESF?¡±


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t.  My actions were called into question, reviewed, and found to be appropriate given the extreme circumstances under which they occurred.  It is standard in post-action investigations for such things to occur. I was briefly placed on leave during the court-martial and reinstated upon it¡¯s conclusion,¡± Turnball explained.


    ¡°So I won¡¯t have to worry about briefing your successor?¡±


    ¡°Not for the immediate future.  The Yonohoans say that I have three decades or so left  without  their life-extending technology,¡± Turnball admitted.  ¡°They say that I probably have one hundred years left if I allow them to inject me with their nanites.¡±


    ¡°Will you?¡±


    ¡°Once the FDA approves them, yes.¡±


    Mike laughed.  ¡°So thirty years from now, when it¡¯s practically too late.¡±


    Turnball smiled grimly.  ¡°Back to the discussion.  How do we proceed?¡±


    ¡°Well, for starters, I suggest contacting the Yonohoans and get them to send word to the Tumbaruna Toko to avoid knocking the mandatory star systems back into the stone age,¡± Mike explained.


    ¡°Just the mandatory ones, or should we back off on all of the one hundred eighty-two?¡±


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    ¡°Some of them have already been hit and the Triumverant still want them.  Back off on the mandatory ones for now and allow the Yonohoans to continue business as usual on other fronts,¡± Mike suggested.


    Turnball nodded.  ¡°Any other strategic advice to keep our potential allies happy?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re more than potential allies, General.  I remind you that they actively defended Mars Station with their presence during the third battle.  And Tonom actively defended New York City when he could have limited his shielding to the embassy.  Both of those are the actions of a friendly polity.  The politics prevent them from explicitly saying it, but they¡¯re as much on our side as the Yonohoans.¡±


    ¡°I stand corrected,¡± Turnball agreed.  ¡°But that just means that keeping them happy is even more important.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re quite correct there.  Aside from the star systems in question, the Triumverant really want the same thing as the Acklatics.  The same thing as the Yonohoans, for that matter.  They want  us .  Our culture, our people, knowledge about our history and our ways of life.  They¡¯re fascinated by us.¡±


    ¡°So we should encourage migration and trading them our porno mags?¡± Turnball asked.


    ¡°Playboys are worth considerably more than Husslers, General.  They want things which are more than pornography.  They want  culture .  Porn is apparently much the same wherever you go,¡± Mike explained.


    ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡±


    ¡°General, there¡¯s something else to keep in mind,¡± Mike said.  ¡°Everything, and I mean  everything , which was produced prior to the return of the  Seeker of New Discoveries , is now worth its weight in gold if you transport it to another star system.  More than that, perhaps.  Once contact is made with a Darkworld, the value of their culture begins to decrease.  If you  do  have any old magazines, not just playboys but  anything  laying around your house, I suggest that you take efforts to preserve them.  They might be worth more than your current retirement plan.¡±


    ¡°Do you think they¡¯ll have an interest in monster trucks?¡± Turnball asked with a grin.


    ¡°If you have a library on the subject, then you might just be a billionaire,¡± Mike informed him.


    Turnball nodded.  ¡°I¡¯ll contact the Yonohoans.  I¡¯m certain they¡¯ll agree to the requests on behalf of our allies.¡±


    ¡°It can¡¯t be known that it comes from the Triumverant.  If it gets out that they¡¯re agreeing on this matter, it will be a scandal,¡± Mike said.  ¡°We need to make the request without telling the Yonohoans why.¡±


    ¡°I doubt that the Yonohoans will care about the games that the Triumverants play among themselves,¡± Turnball protested.


    ¡°They won¡¯t.  But if we openly tell the Yonohoans why we¡¯re making the request, the Triumverant spies within their government will send word back to the primaries that they¡¯ve been embarrassed by Earth.  We¡¯re way, way ahead of the game with them compared to what we would be without the war and without Tonom Genisi¡¯s help, sir.  They¡¯d forgive us for the slight, but we need as much capital as we can get with every ally we can find, don¡¯t we?¡± Mike explained.


    Turnball frowned and nodded.  ¡°Frustrating, but I see your point.  So what do we tell them?¡±


    ¡°My suggestion is that we simply tell them not to attack those stars and leave it at that,¡± Mike admitted.  ¡°They¡¯re smart enough to know that the request would have come from the Triumverant without us stating that it did.  Either that or another ally has reached out to us and isn¡¯t willing to show their cards at this point in the game.¡±


    Turnball nodded.  ¡°They are rather savvy, I have to admit.¡±


    ¡°Speaking of cards, general, how are you at poker?  I¡¯m trying to put a game together.  And I believe your wife enjoys wine tasting?¡±


    Turnball nodded.  ¡°Is that an invitation?¡±


    ¡°Unless you¡¯d rather play golf.  But I need someone in your circle to pick up the trifecta.  Wine, golf and poker,¡± Mike said.


    Turnball grinned.  ¡°I¡¯ll take golf instead.  Major Phillips is one hell of a poker player.  And I¡¯ll extend your offer of wine tasting to my wife when I see her next.¡±


    Mike grinned.  ¡°It¡¯s so pleasant to have everyone on the same page, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll get through this.  Individually, and collectively, we¡¯ll figure out how to navigate these waters.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a general, not an admiral.¡±


    Turnball shrugged.  ¡°What¡¯s the difference?¡±


    They exchanged a laugh, then began going into the boring details of the proposed alliance.


    ?

 3.37.

    3.37.


    ¡°So, yeah, I understand that the group shower might be a thing for some of you earth kids.  It¡¯s the standard layout on a Toormonda and Yonohoan kids have no issue with it.  If you want to ride with Dornodo and I, then I¡¯m afraid you¡¯ll have to accept it as part of the deal, although it¡¯s normal for boys and girls to have separate shower times, of course.  I understand that the ships requested by John Doe have privacy cubicles in their shower area, so if you¡¯re body shy that might be a better fit for you,¡± Sarah said, smiling for the camera.  ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s go over here to look at the dormitories.  There¡¯s two of them, and they¡¯re identical, but by tradition the starboard dorm is for boys and the port side is for girls.¡±


    Emily sat in class as the video played on the projector.  She was absolutely in love with Toormondas and couldn¡¯t wait for her journey.  That John and her other friends were coming with was simply the icing on the cake, although John was less excited by the prospect than she thought he¡¯d be.


    She supposed that it made sense, considering that he¡¯d been on one before.  Or at least he remembered being on one, she thought.  That would have been the original John, and not his present body.  The differentiation point between the original ¡°Eodar¡± and her ¡°John¡± was one random night during his training, which he didn¡¯t even remember happening.


    She sighed.  Sometimes she wished that her new friend¡¯s life was less complicated.  She liked him, heck, she even  liked  him, but figuring him out was a full-brain activity.


    She also wished that she could go with Sarah and her husband, Dornodo.  But while her family was very well off, that was an unnecessary expense when her entire class was getting a trip for completely free thanks to John¡¯s participation in the event.


    She was somewhat infatuated with Dornodo, she admitted to herself.  He was handsome, strong, and extremely loving of his wife, of whom Emily wasn¡¯t above admitting that she was a little jealous.  She didn¡¯t really understand the parts of the interview she¡¯d seen which detailed the illness that the woman had suffered, except that it had led her into the arms of the loving and passionate Yonohoan man, with whom she was now married and expecting a child.


    Of course, those were topics which Emily was  years  away from being ready for herself.


    But she wasn¡¯t too young for a boyfriend, she thought to herself, glancing at John out of the corner of her eye.  She remembered the kiss she had jokingly given him at the mall.  She hadn¡¯t really explained to him that she¡¯d been sort of teasing him, trying to get him to loosen up rather than expressing her real feelings.


    She wondered if she should kiss him again.


    She¡¯d think about it.  Maybe she¡¯d ask Peter what he thought after they¡¯d dropped John off at Olivia¡¯s house.  Maybe she should ask Olivia; Olivia might have more insight into how John felt about her.  If John didn¡¯t  like  her and only liked her as a friend, then she shouldn¡¯t press their relationship beyond just being friends who happened to be boy and girl.


    But if he  liked her , then maybe they could be boyfriend and girlfriend?


    She sighed.  Why did things have to be so complicated?  She wished that she could just tell him that she  liked  him, but if he didn¡¯t  like  her, it would complicate their relationship even further.  He¡¯d been through a lot, and she knew that her friendship was important to him.


    She knew because he¡¯d said ¡°Your friendship is important to me, Emily.¡±


    Several times.


    Without prompting.


    Was that him friendzoning her, or was he just being socially stunted like always?


    ¡°You¡¯re staring at me,¡± John said.


    She blushed.  She had been.  ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t mind.  I just thought that maybe you would tell me why?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry that I kissed you at the mall.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± he said, and she had absolutely no read on the emotion behind it.


    ¡°I was trying to get you to come out of your shell.  I didn¡¯t  like you  like you when I kissed you, I just thought it would help you relax around me.  I¡¯m sorry if I misled you at the time,¡± she explained.


    ¡°I understand,¡± John said, and once again she had absolutely no idea what was going on between his ears.


    She knew that she should speak with the adults in her and John¡¯s life to get a better idea on how this would affect him, but she also knew that if she let thing go like this he might get the wrong idea and that would be even worse.


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    So she kissed him again on the cheek, just like before.


    He turned at her and blushed, his expression looking more surprised than when the Third Battle for Earth began.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sorry for it this time,¡± she said, smiling shyly at him.


    He blushed deeper.


    ¡°Emily, John, unless you¡¯d like to come to the front of the class to continue your conversation, I suggest you wait until  after  class to continue your topic of discussion.  Preferably  after school .¡±


    ¡°Sorry Mr. Yazdi,¡± Emily said.  ¡°Won¡¯t happen again.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t make promises you don¡¯t intend to keep young lady.¡±


    ¡° Part  of it won¡¯t happen again.  In class,¡± she amended.


    John said nothing, continuing to watch as Sarah Renfield presented a ship that was literally identical to the one he had spent four years of his childhood on in great detail.  There were no exterior signs of his inner turmoil at all.


    ~~~~~~


    John stared at the plant on the window.  He hadn¡¯t spoken for six minutes.  His Therapist wasn¡¯t particularly worried about that fact, allowing the young soldier to organize his thoughts and speak on his own timetable without pressuring him.


    After all, he was paid by the hour, and the session lasted however long John wanted it to.  If John didn¡¯t have anything to say, he would have simply said as much and left.  He¡¯d done it before and would do it again.


    No, Clark Babtiste was more than happy to let the boy take his time in organizing his thoughts.  The longer the boy remained in his office, the larger Clark¡¯s paycheck.


    And of course their was the satisfaction of doing a good job and helping a troubled child.  There was definitely that as well.  Clark was a multilayered person who could do something because it was good and just and honorable  in addition  to the fact that it was his livelihood.


    Doing a good job and being paid well for it went hand in hand, after all.


    ¡°Emily kissed me again,¡± John said finally.  He didn¡¯t elaborate further.


    ¡°I see,¡± Clark said.  ¡°How do you feel about that?¡±


    ¡°I have no fucking idea,¡± John said, his voice even despite the use of the curse word.  ¡°First she says she didn¡¯t like me when she kissed me the first time and that she was sorry for it, then she kisses me again and says she¡¯s not sorry.  It makes no fucking sense.¡±


    Clark nodded, making a brief note.  And then he doodled for a moment to make it seem like he was taking extensive notes when really he was just tallying the number of times that John swore and his word choice.  He didn¡¯t discourage it, and had in fact suggested it in private to express the severity of his feelings, which he had trouble communicating in other ways which were more obvious to untrained observers.


    ¡°You feel very strongly for Emily,¡± Clark observed.


    ¡°You¡¯re damn fucking right!¡± John said, again with a perfectly flat tone of voice.


    More doodling after the tally was made.


    ¡°Most boys who like a girl their age hope that the girl likes them back,¡± Clark stated.


    John was silent for a moment.  ¡°Earth girls are pretty.  Emily is prettier than most.¡±


    ¡°She also went out of her way to befriend you at a time when you really needed a friend,¡± Clark pointed out.


    John took his time considering Clarks words.  ¡°She did, yes.¡±


    ¡°Are you worried that if your relationship becomes romantic, things will change in ways you can¡¯t predict or control?¡± Clark inquired.


    ¡°Fuck yes.¡±


    Another tally and another scribbled doodle.


    ¡°Do you want me to tell you what to do?¡±


    ¡°You won¡¯t,¡± John said.


    ¡°That¡¯s right.  I¡¯m sorry, but this is a normal part of being a boy your age, John.  Your relationship with Emily is normal and healthy and I continue to encourage it.  I also encourage you to discuss the matter with Olivia when you return home.  She¡¯s a woman, and she¡¯ll have a female view on the matter which may help you gain some clarity into Emily¡¯s mind.¡±


    ¡°Olivia will know if Emily likes me as more than a friend?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Olivia can¡¯t read thoughts, John, especially not of a girl whom she barely interacts with.¡±


    ¡°I should bring Emily to talk to Olivia to see if she likes me?¡± John asked.


    ¡°Emily and Olivia should perhaps have a relationship given that they are both important people in your life.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not telling me what to do.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not my job, John.  I¡¯m not your commanding officer.¡±


    ¡°Thanks for nothing, asshole,¡± John said.


    Clark smiled.  Today was a very productive day.


    ?

 3.38.

    3.38.


    The Other Shoe  finished it¡¯s drop through the atmosphere.  It was larger than most atmospheric entry ships.  Larger than any spaceship that had ever landed on Earth, in fact, by a factor of ten.  If it relied on traditional rocket engines to return to orbit, it would have been permanently grounded.  It¡¯s ability to use gravitic engines meant that its landing and subsequent takeoff were only clumsy and not impossible.


    The idea of parking it in the park near her boyfriend¡¯s place hadn¡¯t flown.  The park was too small and dense.  She had to find an empty lot outside of town in order to make her plan, initially just a joke with an old friend, actually work.


    She hadn¡¯t meant her joke to go any further than being a joke, but Command actually loved the idea.   The Other Shoe ¡¯s dramatic performance during the second and third battles for Earth rendered it a topic of intense curiosity and interest.  Its internal layout wasn¡¯t exactly a top-secret matter, and the brass had decided that while recordings of the interior would not be allowed, private tours of the common areas would be.


    The public just had to agree to being searched for cameras and other recording devices, which didn¡¯t deter many.


    The entire section of land had been secured and blocked off by the ESF in preparation for the landing.  The public was made aware of the landing in advance, and thousands came to see  The Other Shoe  drop.


    They each felt a  thrum  in their bones as the ship approached from the gravitic engines.  Some were worried about cancer, but the pamphlets and reports on the matter assured them that it was perfectly harmless.  Or rather, the gravitic engines could crush them into a golf ball, but it wouldn¡¯t give them cancer.  And as long as they stayed in the marked off observation zone until the ship came to a full rest, then they¡¯d be safe.


    A few tried to skirt the rules.  They lived to regret the experience, surviving with only minor injuries.  They were less than pleased when they were prosecuted for the injuries they caused the security people who chased after them, but if they weren¡¯t prepared for the consequences of their desire to get a fantastic picture of  The Other Shoe  making its historic landing, they shouldn¡¯t have engaged in such reckless behavior in the first place.


    Once the ship was firmly on the ground and its systems turned off ¨C the ones that turned off at least ¨C Captain Moon spent a moment observing the crowd from within the bridge, utilizing the external holographic view that was normally used to observe planets and ships coming in to doc with the  Other Shoe .


    ¡°There are a lot of people here,¡± she commented.


    Her XO nodded nervously.  ¡°Glad I don¡¯t have a speaking role.  Nobody¡¯s going to remember my name even if I go outside and shout it.¡±


    Captain Moon grinned.  ¡°You¡¯re not the one whose shyness I¡¯m worried about.  Do you think the Yukopans will be more or less hesitant to go outside when I tell them that if they don¡¯t, they¡¯re going to be volunteering to serve as a tour guide for the duration of the landing?¡±


    The XO shook his head.  ¡°I have no idea, ma¡¯am.  You understand the xenos way, way better than I do.¡±


    Moon smiled.  ¡°Well, let¡¯s find out.¡±


    The looks and scents of terror that the Yukopans expressed when presented with the option made Moon smile even wider.  They knew better than to plead with her.  They knew by now that when ¡®the brightest moon in the sky¡¯ issued an order with that particular sort of sadistic grin, that it was meant to be obeyed.


    She left them to decide whether or not to expose themselves to the waiting crowd on the promise that if they did, they¡¯d be able to hide themselves during the tours, or whether they¡¯d volunteer to take part in the tours in one form or another at a later time.  It was not an easy dilemma for them to solve, so she would give them some time.


    Ten minutes or so ought to do it.


    She emerged through the airlock, allowing the gravitic engines to float her down to the ground before walking calmly to the podium which had been set up in advance before.  Which had also been slightly crushed by the landing.  She lifted it off the ground and straightened it out a bit, finding the microphone nearby and holding it rather than trying to put it in its holder.


    ¡°Hello everyone, and thank you for coming to our little display of the ESF¡¯s recent acquisition from our wonderful new allies, the Yukopans.  As you are likely well aware, the Yukopans are a separate and distinct people from the Topokans, which are close allies of our friends the Yonohoans.  They¡¯re as different as the Russians are from Americans, but also as alike.  They¡¯re very shy, but hopefully some of them will work up the bravery to come out and say hello by the time I end my speech, after which I¡¯m afraid that it might be too late.¡±


    She said this knowing that the threat would be implicit to her crew.


    ¡°Anywhoo, while I¡¯m sure that many of you are planning on taking advantage of the tours we have lined up, the landing and the introduction of the crew are the only things on the agenda for today,¡± she continued.  ¡°As many of you are already aware, my name is Captain Ji-eun Moon.  I¡¯ve been with the ESF for four years, with a long military history before that that I won¡¯t bore you with but you can surely read on wikipedia if you¡¯re interested.


    ¡°Yes I was the captain of  The Seeker of New Discoveries , yes I stepped down to promote Captain Anthony Anders to take command from me when I had concerns about my medical fitness to lead the mission.  I no longer have those concerns, and Admiral Anders, as he has recently earned a promotion due to his tactical brilliance, was more than adequate to the tasks laid out before him.  I had every confidence in the abilities of my crew during that mission, as I have every confidence in my new crew aboard  The Other Shoe .  And would you look at that, some of them are ready to join us!  Why don¡¯t you all give a hand for our Yukopan allies!¡±


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    The crowd burst into applause and whistles and screams of approval.  The three Yukopans who had appeared abruptly vanished back into the ship.


    Captain Moon laughed.  ¡°I told you they were shy!  Don¡¯t worry though, if you take part in our tours, you¡¯ll surely get to see them up close and personal!¡±


    Two more stuck their head out of the ship and ducked back inside seconds later.


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t count!¡± she called to them.


    The crowd laughed, although they didn¡¯t really understand the context.


    ¡°Anyway, a few curious details that you all might find interesting about our fuzzy wuzzy allies.  Number one, they reach physical maturity at age three, by human reckoning.  However, they do not reach mental maturity until age thirty, nor the age of majority, in which they gain the rights of an adult, until age eighty.  They live for between three hundred and five hundred years, so those ages aren¡¯t as restrictive as you might think,¡± Captain Moon continued.  ¡°There are some physical differences between adults and children that you can spot if you know what to look for, but there are no kids aboard  The Other Shoe ¡¯s crew.  The average age for the Yukopan crew is two hundred and fifty years!¡±


    She paused to let this factoid process in their minds.


    ¡°I¡¯m not really going to talk too much about their children for a variety of reasons, including the fact that I¡¯ve never met one.  If you do meet one of their children, you should be aware of the fact that they are every bit as protective of them as we are of our own.  The fact that they have placed their children on Planet Earth is a very significant statement from their people to ours.  They are trusting us to help them continue to survive and thrive in this universe, and they¡¯re eager to play their own role in our defense.¡±


    She paused for a second, then said ¡°If you¡¯re uncertain about the lengths the Yukopans will go to defend their children, simply ask yourselves a very reasonable question.  Why are their no Rosantean POW¡¯s from Australia?¡±


    She allowed that question to sink in, then smiled and turned the topic of her speech again to other matters.  ¡°Many of you are very curious about  The Other Shoe¡¯s  armament and capabilities.  Unfortunately those are not public information at this time.  We  will  be giving guided tours of the interior, yes.  But  The Other Shoe  is not being retired or becoming a museum piece in the near future.  In two weeks, she¡¯s going back into orbit to keep up the defense of Earth, or possibly taking the fight to the Rosanteans.  I don¡¯t know for certain what the future will bring, but when  The Other Shoe  drops, I¡¯m certain you¡¯ll know it.¡±


    She grinned.  She was really rather proud of the name she¡¯d given her ship, and the laughter and cheering of the crowd suggested others appreciated it as well.


    She stepped down from the podium and spent a while shaking hands before disappearing into her boyfriend¡¯s car.


    ¡°So, are you still mad at me?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m furious.  And I¡¯ll remain furious until we¡¯ve completed the obligatory make-up-sex,¡± Trevor said sternly.


    ¡°How¡¯s Isabelle?¡± she asked, referring to the cat that she¡¯d boughten then abandoned with her boyfriend when she¡¯d rejoined the military.


    ¡°Good.  I doubt she even remembers her mother.  You¡¯ll have to start from scratch in earning her affection.  I suggest you employ that policy with me as well.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I think I remember some things which will help with that second matter,¡± she said, wiggling her eyebrows at him.


    He chuckled.  ¡°We¡¯ll see.  We¡¯ll see.¡±


    ¡°I am sorry,¡± she said.  ¡°Not for re-upping, but for not talking about it first.  That was a shitty thing to do to you.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for admitting it,¡± Trevor said.  ¡°It would have been nice to hear that much sooner.¡±


    ¡°I wanted it to be in person.  Not in a hologram.  I did apologize before,¡± she pointed out.


    ¡°Yes, and I forgave you through a hologram, but I¡¯m still angry,¡± he said.


    ¡°Couples fight.¡±


    ¡°Yes they do,¡± he agreed.  ¡°They also talk to each other before making life decisions.¡±


    ¡°Sorry.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m thinking about joining too,¡± he admitted.


    She blinked at him in surprise.  ¡°But then who will watch Isabelle for me?¡± she asked.


    He scoffed.  He knew she was joking.


    She didn¡¯t know if he was.


    She swallowed nervously.  ¡°Do you want to talk about it before or after the obligatory makeup sex?¡±


    ¡°After,¡± he said firmly.


    ¡°Okay,¡± she agreed.  ¡°You know, the speed limit is mostly just a suggestion.¡±


    ?

 3.39.

    3.39.


    Gabriel really, really, really hated public speaking.  Which is great, since he was now a professor at a prestigious university.  He sighed, taking a drink of water from the glass on the podium as he nervously pointed at the part of the hologram to address what was being displayed.


    ¡°We¡¯re using Yonohoan holograms to display these measurements in three dimensions to make them easier to process, but they¡¯re entirely data collected by the probes of the  Seeker  without modification by advanced technology.  As you can see, the fluctuations in subspace indicate a clear structure that spans multiple light years across a vast part of the galaxy itself.  Before you ask, yes we showed our results to the Yonohoans.  Their response was ¡®that is very interesting.  We¡¯re very curious to see where you go with this discovery.¡¯¡±


    He paused, nervously taking another sip of water.


    ¡°To be honest, we have absolutely no idea what it is we¡¯ve found.  The Tunnel Drives in the probes weren¡¯t meant to measure subspace, they were meant to traverse it.  The readings they gave were initially just a curiosity until we noticed the consistency between the structure which seems to be vibrating in place at a constant six point eight gigahertz over a distance of more than two hundred light years.  In order to figure out more, I am proposing a second series of probe be launched into the same regions as the original mission of the  Seeker .


    ¡°We won¡¯t be looking for black holes or mapping cartography at this point, however.  We have a list of nearby habitable planets from the Yonohoans which we are entitled to colonize, so it won¡¯t be that either.  The entire mission will be to investigate this phenomena and discover its meaning.  We¡¯ll be using the Yonohoan¡¯s ability to travel at faster than light speeds, of course, but the instruments used to measure and examine subspace will be entirely designed and built on Earth using technology pre-dating contact with advanced societies.¡±


    He swallowed nervously.  ¡°Are there any questions at this time?¡±


    Hundreds of hands went in the air, and the press ignored the rules about flash photography in a frustrating and blatant attempt to goad a response out of him.


    He didn¡¯t give them one, but the assholes who did it were blacklisted from his next speech.


    He knew that most of the Earthlings didn¡¯t really understand the significance of this.  The Yonohoans weren¡¯t telling him that they didn¡¯t know what the structures were, but they had  heavily  implied that they would not help him figure out what they were.


    He could think of two ways to interpret this.  One was that they were using the socratic method to develop his understanding, and therefor the understanding of the people of Earth, in exploring a well known scientific curiosity.


    The other possibility was that they didn¡¯t know.


    If the Yonohoans, widely considered one of the most intelligent and advanced societies in the universe, didn¡¯t know what it was ¡­ then nobody did.


    It was possible.  Nobody used the Tunnel Drive to the extent that the Earthlings had before.  It was a dangerous technology, inimical to almost every form of intelligent life.  Only a few other species relied upon it to any extent.  Earth had only utilized it as a method of faster than light travel because it was the first one that they had developed.  And the  only  one that they had developed pre-contact.


    The structures looked like background noise independently.  It was only when multiple data points from lightyears apart were put together that a picture appeared.


    And if the humans from Earth - a darkworld which developed its technology entirely independently of alien influence - discovered something new, which the intergalactic community had never seen before, then that would challenge the widely held view upon humans.


    The universe saw humans as uplifts.  Clever uplifts, talented uplifts, and fearsome uplifts.  But nobody believed that they would have risen to prominence without the actions of whichever xenospecies had either discovered them, or created them from whole cloth.


    Gabriel¡¯s discovery, if it was truly a discovery and not the Yonohoans playing dumb to encourage his edification, could change the way the universe saw his people.


    And possibly, it might change the universe itself.


    ~~~~~~


    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    The Overmind thrummed with nervousness as it watched the situation unfold.


    The immediate threat had been delayed.  The expansionist empire which had threatened to conquer the source world, potentially misusing it in short-sighted or dangerous ways, had been pushed back.  It would be defeated in time, and the Overmind¡¯s actions of sending the Yukopans ¨C a part of the Overmind as much as a leg or arm is a part of a human ¨C to fight for and with the humans was a key factor in that victory.


    Hopefully, if and when the humans understood the Overmind, they would appreciate its input into their conflict, and its investment in their survival.


    There was no stretch in saying that the Overmind was more invested in the survival of the human race than it was in its own life.  The Overmind didn¡¯t just like humans.  It didn¡¯t just respect them, or depend upon them.


    It  loved  them.


    They made it feel less alone in the universe, even after they had killed off the other Overminds of the other species that they had done battle with.  All without realizing what they were doing.


    If they understood the Overmind, would they react in fear?  The Overmind hoped not, but it knew that it was a possibility.  That was part of the reason it had not made greater efforts to reveal itself to them.


    If they understood it, then they would know how to kill it.  If they knew how to kill it, then they would ask the logical question of whether or not they should.


    Should they?  Arguably to Overmind, which was responsible for the human expansion throughout the universe, was also the cause of the Liberation Wars, which were the foundational and sentinel event in the last million years.  The introduction of humans to the Universe had led to the single most deadly war since ¡­


    Ever.


    The Liberation Wars were the longest and most deadly conflict that the Overmind could recall.


    The Overmind was over a million years old.  Some of its peers, before the humans had killed them off, had been over a billion years old, and the Overmind had learned at their lap in its infancy.  It was thanks to them that the species that the humans called Xenosapiens sulivans were as advanced as they were.  Without the knowledge of the ancients, it was unlikely that the furry creatures that made up the Overmind¡¯s constituent parts would have left their home planet, let alone their home galaxy.


    And compared to some of the ancients, the sulivans were small and pathetic in the scope of their reach and their grasp.


    But compared to what the human race had become, even the ancients were pathetic toddlers.


    It reflected on its friendly competition with the Yonohoans to advance the technology of their people.


    The overmind, working through the Topokans, advanced something as far as their minds could take the concepts and the devices in question.  Once they were confident that they could advance the technology no further, they would give it to the Yonohoans.


    The Yonohoans would study it for a few years until they thoroughly understood it.


    Then they would adjust, like, five variables.  Possibly reshape a few components.  Adjust the way that it was controlled, perhaps.  Some very minor cosmetic changes, usually.  And then they would say to the Topokans, ¡°There, we improved it.  It is Yonohoan technology now.¡±


    And the Topokans would scream in frustration and the Overmind would scream with them.


    Because they were right!  Yonohoan technology was always better than Topokan!  It didn¡¯t matter how long the Overmind spent perfecting the tech that the Yonohoans were given, after less than a decade, the Yonohoans  always  turned around and improved the final product .


    How could such small things, with such a small view of the universe, see things so much more clearly than the Overmind, which literally spanned entire galaxies?


    It shuddered to think of what a human Overmind could have accomplished, if their thoughts had only evolved to be on a slightly different wavelength.


    It tried to relax itself, now that the Rosanteans were no longer a threat, and that the Swarm was in the process of securing and protecting Earth.


    It was proud of its actions to defend the birthplace of humanity.


    It hoped that if they ever learned of its actions on their behalf, the humans would be thankful.  Thankful, and hopefully not afraid.  If there was anything more frightening than an angry human, it was one that was afraid.


    The Overmind truly hoped that if the humans ever discovered its existence, they would not be afraid of it.  That thought was more terrifying than if they would hate it for the role it had played in the terrible, terrible Liberation Wars.


    If the humans discovered it, they would discover how to kill it.  If they were angry at it, it might manage to reason with them.  The past fifty thousand years, a blink of the eye, had shown that human anger cooled and even hated enemies of yesterday could become beloved allies of tomorrow.  If they were afraid of it, then the Overmind was quite certain that it would die.


    ?

 3.40.

    3.40.


    Major Mary Phillips pulled up to the Fuller household, parking the car in the street and looking around.  She nodded at the security detail that was parked nearby with a measure of professional courtesy; they should have been expecting her and she¡¯d certainly be expecting them.  There was a deceptively high-ranking event occurring at this location tonight, and she was on the exclusive guest list.


    They didn¡¯t bother to get out of their cars, just visually confirming her identity from where they sat, unobtrusively blending into the background.  That was fine; she was quite certain that there were some high-tech shenanigans going on of which she¡¯d never detect unless she was briefed on them as well, but nothing ever beats boots on the ground.  Not in her opinion.


    She picked up the wooden box that contained a precious heirloom and smiled nostalgically at it.  She¡¯d truly hate to part with it, but given the circumstances, if she never saw it again, her donation would be to a good cause and the object inside would find a good home.


    She knocked on the door and was greeted by Laura Fuller, who was dressed in an evening gown with beautiful emerald earrings.


    ¡°Mary!  So nice of you to come!  The boys are all excited for you to take their money from them,¡± Laura said, exchanging a polite but friendly hug with the Major.  They only knew each other in passing, but given their relative positions and the ongoing shuffle of politics that they were both involved in, that might be changing soon.


    ¡°Thank you for inviting me into your beautiful home, Laura,¡± Mary said, smiling as she was ushered inside.  ¡°Will you be staying for the game?¡±


    ¡°No, no, too high stakes for me.  I¡¯m going to go out and see if I can spark a scandal by flirting with the men at a gay bar,¡± Laura explained.  She shrugged.  ¡°If I tell them I¡¯m looking for Tonom¡¯s eventual replacement, do you think they¡¯d be interested?¡±


    Mary hid her blush perfectly.  ¡°How does Mike feel about you playing chicken with his political career?¡±


    ¡°Oh he¡¯s a fuddy duddy sometimes, and other times he¡¯s a panther who only thinks of one thing.  But I¡¯m joking, I¡¯m joking.  I¡¯m going out with some girlfriends to watch the draumumentary on the Seeker¡¯s famous voyage.  It¡¯s boring, but politically safe,¡± Laura explained.


    ¡°Well, it wouldn¡¯t really be my decision if you  were  out to cause a scandal, ma¡¯am.  That¡¯s between you and your husband,¡± Mary pointed out.


    ¡°Oh I¡¯m just teasing you and him at the same time.  You military types are so much fun to tease,¡± Laura explained.


    Mary nodded, a grin on her face.  ¡°Perhaps I should introduce you to my cousin.  Maybe Mike would enjoy the jarhead type.¡±


    ¡°Oooh,¡± Laura said.


    The gossiped a few moments longer before Laura made her way to the waiting car and was driven off, while Mary made her way into the den of the house, at which two aliens were glaring at each other over a table covered with poker chips, potato chips, and soda.


    And frumonas and one of those pink drinks that the Triumverant preferred.


    ¡°Did you start without me?¡± she asked.


    ¡°No no, learning game,¡± Tonom said.  ¡°No stakes, friendly learning game to learn rules!  Tonom Genisi never play poker before!  Very fun!¡±


    Mary heard a ¡®cha-ching¡¯ in her head as she nodded and suppressed her excitement.  ¡°Where is Mike?¡±


    ¡°He is preparing the hors doeurvres,¡± Unos explained.  ¡°He said that there is a traditional sort that goes along with this sort of gathering and setting.  I am looking forward to identifying them so that I might have my own chef perfect them for when I challenge Dos and Tres to this game, once I have mastered it.¡±


    Mary nodded, a grin on her face.  ¡°It¡¯s probably pizza rolls or something if he¡¯s preparing them himself.¡±


    ¡°Whatever they are, I hope that they are tasty and easy to identify.  Dos¡¯s games at party-favors are so tiresome,¡± Unos said.


    ¡°I can imagine,¡± Mary agreed, taking a seat and pouring herself a glass of frumonas.  It wasn¡¯t served in a wine glass, but a red plastic cup, as though it were beer at a kegger.  She took a sip, but only a sip.  She knew how strong the drink was, despite the lack of a high to go with the potent social lubricant.


    Mike emerged a moment later from the kitchen with a hot platter covered in pizza roles.  He set them before his guests and smiled as they each grabbed a few pieces.


    ¡°Careful, they¡¯re hot,¡± he warned.  ¡°Their filling will burn your tongue if you don¡¯t blow on them to cool them down.¡±


    The aliens followed his advice.  As did Mary, although she didn¡¯t really need it.  Pizza rolls were a go to comfort food for her.


    ¡°So then, let¡¯s talk about our buy in,¡± Mike said.  He pointed at the wall, where a landscape painting decorated the den.  ¡°That¡¯s a genuine Fairfield Porter painting.  I had it appraised in preparation for the game.  It¡¯s value is marked at a little over fifty thousand US dollars.  But of course the real value is the chain of ownership which I can document going all the way back to the gallery which bought it from the artist himself.¡±


    The two alien diplomats got out of their seats to examine the painting for a moment, hmming and awwing as they examined it in great detail.


    ¡°And your people are okay with you trading away this cultural heirloom?¡± Unos inquired.


    ¡°We won¡¯t be breaking any laws if it leaves Earth.  The painting has been duplicated many times and exists in multiple formats, so even if it ends up in the hands of an exclusive collector the art world will continue to see its influence,¡± Mike explained.  ¡°I¡¯d prefer that it wound up in some sort of museum, or whatever your culture¡¯s equivalent of such a concept would be.¡±


    ¡°Yes, this is acceptable,¡± Unos said after a moment, nodding that he was content with the value of the painting.


    ¡°Yes yes!  So beautiful!  Very valuable,¡± Tonom agreed.  He extended a palm, and the image of a spacecraft appeared in the form of a hologram above his hand.  ¡°This my buy in.  Fastest space craft to be made in closest twelve galaxies.  Zoom Zoom!¡±


    ¡°Is that all?¡± Unos asked drolly.


    Tonom seemed put off, then he said ¡°Five!  Five of these for buy in!¡±


    ¡°I suppose that makes it adequate,¡± Unos admitted.  He shrugged.  ¡°My buy in is the minority interest in a multi-system mining interest worth eight billion credits.  It¡¯s boring, but I hope you¡¯ll overlook that because it is, simply put, a lot of money.¡±


    Mary spit out a bit of her frumonas at the sum that they listed.  A racing spacecraft was one thing, but ¡­ what was the exchange rate between the Triumverant and Earth again?  She tried to do the math in her head.


    ¡°Mary?  You brought something?  Is okay if you not match us, Tonom Genisi will ¡®spot you¡¯ so that you can play,¡± Tonom assured her.


    ¡°I did bring something, but I¡¯m not certain that it¡¯s on the same level as what the rest of you have put up,¡± Mary admitted.  She pulled the wooden box out of her pocket and put it on the table.  ¡°Mike said to bring something very valuable with a sentimental value attached to it.  Aside from my car, which has no sentimental value attached to it at all, this is the single most valuable thing I own.¡±


    She watched as the two alien humans examined the box thoroughly before sliding open the cover to reveal the Rolex within.  She¡¯d never actually worn it, it was a man¡¯s watch.  Her grandfather¡¯s.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°Unfortunately I¡¯m not certain how much it¡¯s presently worth.  My great-grandfather bought it for three hundred dollars when it was brand new, but between inflation and the way that antiques go up in value as they age, I have no idea what it¡¯s current value is,¡± she admitted.


    ¡°Mike-Mike?¡± Tonom inquired.


    Mike cleaned his ear with his finger as he thought about the question for a moment.  ¡°In modern valuation on Earth, it might be worth almost as much as the painting.  I¡¯m content to say that it matches my buy in on an equal footing.  Are you sure you¡¯re willing to part with this if you lose, Mary?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t intend on losing,¡± she said.  ¡°But yes.  If I lose, I¡¯ll accept the loss with grace.  It¡¯s the most valuable heirloom I have, but I¡¯m financially solvent without it.¡±


    Mike turned to the aliens.  ¡°Well, that¡¯s my take.  I don¡¯t know how you¡¯d value something that¡¯s a wearable luxury item compared to something like a painting, so I¡¯m not certain--¡±


    ¡°It is acceptable,¡± Unos agreed.


    ¡°Yes yes!  Very good buy in!  As good or better than painting!¡± Tonom agreed.


    ¡°And much better than a racing spacecraft,¡± Unos agreed.


    ¡°Says man who buys in with dirt company!¡± Tonom shot back with a grin.


    ¡°Alright!¡± Mike said.  ¡°Since we¡¯re all agreed that the buyins are acceptable, let¡¯s play poker!¡±


    ~~~~~


    Tonom Genisi groaned as Unos set down a full house, beating his two-pair and sending him out of the game.  Tonom had been on a winning streak at the start of the game, betting heavily until the others backed out of the hand.  However, he hadn¡¯t actually won many chips from the other players, who bet more conservatively as they got to know their competition.


    And when Mary had finally called his bluff, she had taken half of everything he had at the table.  The look on his face when she¡¯d beaten his pair of threes with a pair of sevens was priceless.  As was Unos¡¯s look when he realized that he¡¯d backed out when he had a full house.


    Tonom was down to a tenth of what he¡¯d started with.  They had, by mutual agreement, all started with one hundred thousand dollars worth of chips.  The exact valuation of the buyins when they cashed out would be a friendly discussion for the end of the night.  Or possibly another time, if the game continued as long as Mary expected it to.


    ¡°You are quite good at this already, Unos,¡± she complimented the Triumverant man.


    ¡°It is a very complex yet simple game.  The reliance on reading your opponents will make it very popular in Triumverant space once I introduce it,¡± he explained.  ¡°And competing with the other houses will add to its value, as we can engage in a new form of competition with real stakes but without significant risk of upsetting our careful balance.¡±


    Mary nodded at the man¡¯s wisdom.  ¡°If you really want to get good at poker, you should visit the casinos.  Las Vegas or Reno would be a great stop, but there are locations all over the United States where gambling is legal on the land of the Native Americans.¡±


    ¡°I will take your advice in earnest, Major,¡± Unos agreed, and the next hand was dealt.


    After five more hands, Tonom bonked his head on the table as Mike swept the last of his savings away.  He bonked it five more times, then picked his head up with a smile.


    ¡°Do not play the game if you cannot afford to lose!¡± he exclaimed.  ¡°Enjoy your space ships!  Zoom zoom!  Tonom goes to bed now.¡±


    ¡°Goodnight, Tonom,¡± Mike said.


    The others said their goodnights as well, and then there were three.


    ¡°Did he lose on purpose just to get the three of us alone?¡± Mary inquired once the Acklatic representative had gone upstairs.


    ¡°Nothing that the Acklatics do is nearly as casual or spontaneous as they would have you believe,¡± Unos said.  ¡°They hide it well, but they are every bit as calculating and ruthless as the Triumverant or the Rosanteans.¡±


    ¡°So that¡¯s a yes then,¡± Mary said.


    ¡°Most likely, yes.  Although he will never agree to it.  You will notice that his buy in was the least valuable of the four of us.  I honestly expected him to lose deliberately, which is why I didn¡¯t say anything sooner, but still, offering a single spacecraft in exchange for cultural items of actual worth was truly ¡®low-balling¡¯ you Earthlings and he ought to be ashamed,¡± Unos said.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think he feels shame,¡± Mike admitted.


    ¡°I actually did  not  notice that his buy in was low value,¡± Mary admitted.  ¡°The military would literally kill someone to obtain those spacecraft, despite the fact that they come without weapons.¡±


    ¡°Yes, and that is why I deemed them acceptable to you Earthlings despite their relative low value in the rest of the universe.  They  are  factually the fastest spacecraft in the nearest twelve galaxies.  But not by very much.  And the wake that they make through the hyperatomic plane is atrocious!  Your military might use them for fast messenger or courier ships, but they¡¯re absolutely useless for anything else,¡± Unos explained.


    ¡°I see,¡± Mary said.  ¡°Well, the boys at R and D will still appreciate getting a few of them to reverse engineer.¡±


    ¡°Indeed, I¡¯m certain you¡¯re correct.  As I said, his buy in was acceptable given the circumstances or I would not have agreed to it,¡± Unos said.  ¡°I rather dislike it when the Empires take advantage of emerging darkworlds who are ignorant of the value of their cultural artifacts.  Mary, the fact that you did not realize that your Watch is worth more than my own buy in indicates your ignorance.  I do not mean that as an insult, simply an observation of fact.¡±


    ¡°How does my watch stack up against the painting in the eyes of the Triumverant?¡± she inquired.


    Unos shrugged.  ¡°It is hard to compare ¡®apples to oranges¡¯ in this context.  If  I  win the painting, then it will go in a public display and be preserved through time for the next hundred thousand years, assuming that my culture survives that long.  Tonom would likely have sold it to the highest bidder.  In my case, my profit would have gone to charity and it would take centuries to see a return on investment.  In Tonom¡¯s case, it would have been worth ten more of his spacecraft on top of what he brought to the table.  Your watch go to a private collector, and it will likely be worth as much as the painting when it does.  Assuming that it leaves Earth in my hands.¡±


    Mary blinked in surprise.  ¡°So you¡¯re saying that I¡¯m a billionaire and didn¡¯t realize it?¡±


    ¡°Everyone on Earth is a billionaire and doesn¡¯t realize it,¡± Unos said.  ¡°For the next three hundred years or so, every immigrant will find that their  accent  is worth enough to live comfortably in any empire in the universe.¡±


    She looked at him for any indication that he was yanking her chain.  ¡°So when you and Tonom say that you want to establish migration protocols, you¡¯re deadly serious, aren¡¯t you.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps the most valuable commodity that Earth possess at the present time is the people living on its surface,¡± Unos agreed.  ¡°The fact that you were greeted by the Rosanteans in the way that you were is particularly offensive to every society which values your cultural and historical achievements.  You will find no shortage of allies among the stars once the initial debate on the war calms down and people begin taking stances.  I fear that whoever provoked this war has made a grave miscalculation.¡±


    Mary nodded.  ¡°If they  had  taken earth in one of the first the battles, what would have been the result?¡±


    ¡°The complete annihilation of the Rosantean Empire in its current form,¡± Unos predicted.  ¡°Thousands of brightworlds would have been blasted into darkness, and an entire wing of the galaxy would take centuries or millennia to recover from the outrage once the outside galaxies and their arbiter forces arrived.  We are very fortunate, all of us, that the Yonohoans, the Yukopans, and the Earth itself stood fast in your defense, because the outcome for the rest of the galaxy who failed to keep the Rosanteans in check would not have been much brighter.¡±


    ¡°I seem to remember that you played a part in the third battle yourself,¡± Mary pointed out.


    ¡°Why, whatever do you mean?¡± Unos said, sounding genuinely puzzled.


    Mary grinned.  ¡°Okay.  So we have allies.  How do we leverage them?¡±


    ¡°There are thousands of smaller star nations which are simply waiting for you to pull up in their space and say hello,¡± Unos pointed out.  ¡°The Yonohoans play a game very similar to what I believe you should be doing right now.  They call it Korjakala.  You should ask them to teach you the rules, and the stakes, as I have learned to play poker.  If you hurry and master Korjakala within the next decade or so, Earth is posed to replace Rosantea as one of the dominant military, economic, and political factions of this galaxy.¡±


    Mary nodded.  Then she placed her bet.


    ¡°All in,¡± she called, grinning mischievously at the other players.  In her hands, a royal flush.


    ?

 3.41.

    3.41.


    ¡°You want to play Korjakala?¡± Eolai asked, throwing the little stress ball in the air as he spoke with General Turnball¡¯s hologram.  Outside, the sound of heavy demolition was ongoing as the soldiers who were still completing their power armor training practiced with some of their weapons.


    ¡°I am exploring the possibility of making our presence known to the larger galactic, and possibly intergalactic, community,¡± the general explained.  ¡°I have heard rumors of Korjakala and noticed similarities between what I believe the prudent diplomatic course for my world is, and the game which young Yonohoans amuse themselves with.¡±


    ¡°Korjakala is much more than just a game, General.  Just ask the crew of the  Tumbaruna Toko .  They were playing Korjakala when this war began.  They have done their people very proud, both before and after the war was declared,¡± Eolai said.


    ¡°We are sincerely grateful for the actions of the  Toko  on our behalf,¡± The general assured the alien leader.  ¡°Perhaps you could explain some of the nuances so that we might understand its actions better.¡±


    Eolai nodded, tossing the ball in the air and catching it.  ¡°It is a very simple concept.  We believe in the old treaties.  We  enforce  the old treaties, even when the rest of the universe believes that they¡¯re irrelevant.  To overturn one of the treaties requires our input and consent.  Or at least, it will until the end of my lifetime.  Once that happens, the relevance of the Yonohoan people will decrease somewhat, but not diminish completely.¡±


    ¡°Okay.  I¡¯m with you so far, Eolai,¡± Turnball said.


    ¡°When we play Korjakala, it is ¡­ like a tax audit.  Or a surprise inspection of a factory by the company who owns it.  If everything goes well, it is somewhat annoying to the person being audited, but ultimately harmless.  If anything goes wrong, well, the Yonohoans are prepared for all eventualities if things go wrong, as the  Toko  has clearly demonstrated.  We use some of our best ships for Korjakala.  We are very, very prepared to defend ourselves in the event we are not met with friendly forces.¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t that defeat the purpose?  Doesn¡¯t the enemy recognize that your ships are Yonohoan?¡± Turnball asked.


    Eolai nodded.  ¡°It is a problem, yes.  We do our best to disguise our ships as wreckages and ruins that have been rebuilt and repurposed by people who are less advanced than the Yonohoans.  But often the first question we face when we arrive in a new system is ¡®are you Yonohoan?  Is this Korjakal?¡¯ and when we say no, they say ¡®prove it!¡¯  It is very frustrating, but also very challenging and fun to try to overcome the suspicion and make them believe we are darkworlders.¡±


    ¡°Will we face the same suspicion if we send out diplomatic envoys?¡± Turnball questioned.


    Eolai considered the question.  He squeezed the ball until it squeaked a few times, then resumed throwing it.  ¡°Not in this galaxy.  In this galaxy they are seeing Yonohoan ships and saying ¡®are there earthlings on board?  Can we meet them?¡¯  if you go to a distant galaxy, then perhaps there will be some disbelief, especially if you arrive in a known Yonohoan vessel.¡±


    ¡°And if we use a vessel from the Acklatic or Triumverant empires?¡±


    ¡°Then there will be even more curiosity when you arrive and declare that there are Earthlings aboard your vessel,¡± Eolai admitted.  ¡°Because they are known to have established diplomatic relations with you.  They are very proud of that in the larger community, you know.  It has given them significant political capital in the interstellar trade markets, and they are making profits simply by having diplomats on your planet.  If you ask them to assist you in this endeavor, they will be most eager to do so, although it would have been inappropriate for them to come right out and ask to assist you in this way.¡±


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    ¡°Do  you  believe that sending out Earthlings to play Korjakala would be a wise move for Earth to make at this time, Eolai?¡± Turnball pressed.


    Eolai considered the question carefully.  ¡°Yes.  Although it will not be Korjakala when you do it. You are an actual darkworld in the process of becoming bright.  It is not a game to you, nor is it a tax audit.  For you, it is genuine exploration and the establishment of your rights and place in the universe. You are the very thing that the Yonohoans have sought to protect through Korjakala for millennia.¡±


    He grinned.  ¡°But your exploration could benefit from some of the tricks that we have found out over the centuries to make Korjakala more engaging!¡±


    ¡°How will the fact that we¡¯re at war with the Rosanteans affect us, should we go on Korjakala at this point?¡± the general pressed.


    Eolai laughed.  ¡°It will present to the unaffiliated nations that you have ¡®balls of steel.¡¯  But I would not worry about the Rosanteans too much anymore, General.  They are becoming increasingly desperate in their attempts to sue for peace.  In fact, I expect that you will be receiving a diplomatic envoy from them at some point in the near future on this matter.¡±


    ¡°Is that so?¡±


    ¡°Yes.  Planet Totola received a diplomat yesterday.  We immediately placed him under arrest, of course, and are holding him in stasis.¡±  Eolai stopped playing with the ball for a moment, his expression serious.  ¡°The Yonohoans are not interested in peace with the Rosanteans, General.  Not after all that they have wrought upon your beautiful planet.  However, we will follow Earth¡¯s lead on this matter.  If you accept their terms, then we will negotiate terms ourselves.  The choice of whether or not this galaxy remains at war rests in the hands of your people.¡±


    General Turnball¡¯s holographic eyebrows shot up in surprise.  ¡°That is a weighty announcement to simply drop into my lap, Eolai.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I am aware,¡± Eolai agreed.  ¡°But I believe that you have ¡®balls of steel,¡¯ so I figured you could handle it.¡±


    Turnball chuckled.  ¡°If we accept peace, what will happen, do you think?¡±


    ¡°The Rosanteans will literally bend over backward to make reparations,¡± Eolai admitted.  ¡°However, it is no more than the other empires will give you willingly without the Rosantean¡¯s influence.  You will not be seen as cowards, not after your stalwart defense during the three battles for earth.  The universe will love you whether you accept the peace terms of the Rosanteans or whether you press for them to be crushed into the ground of their planets and their planets returned to darkness until they once more rise into the light of the universe as a new people.¡±


    ¡°And if the war continues?¡± Turnball asked.


    ¡°To be honest, General, that would be even more profitable for Earth in the long run,¡± Eolai admitted.  ¡°You will be the Darkworld who defeated an interstellar empire.  Everyone will love you for centuries to come.¡±


    ¡°David versus Goliath,¡± Turnball suggested.


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    Turnball spent a moment explaining the reference, and Eolai nodded.


    ¡°Yes.  Exactly like that.  Earth will be David, and the people of the universe will love you forever more because you slew the Rosantean Goliath,¡± Eolai said.


    ¡°I¡¯m not certain that this is a decision I have the authority to make,¡± Turnball admitted.  ¡°Thank you for bringing it to my attention.  I¡¯ll get my forces ready for the arrival of the Rosantean diplomat.¡±


    ¡°You are welcome, General.  Good luck in preparing for your ¡®Korjakala.¡¯¡± Eolai said.


    ¡°Thank you for all of your help, Eolai.¡±


    Eolai shrugged.  ¡°It¡¯s nothing.  I¡¯m simply doing my duty, at this point.  I am still enjoying myself, and I do love your people.  I wouldn¡¯t change places with anyone else in the universe at this moment in time.¡±


    ~~~~~~


    ?

 3.42.

    3.42.


    Diego looked out through the transparent hull of the ship that Eolai had given him at the burn mark in the center of North Americ.  It was small, but remained visible from orbit with only minor magnification.


    He¡¯d done that.


    He¡¯d been following orders.  He¡¯d requested confirmation and clarfication once the orders came through.  He believed ¨C he  knew  that the actions he¡¯d taken under Turnball¡¯s orders had ultimately saved more lives than he¡¯d taken.


    But he was still responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent people.


    He could deflect the blame for those deaths up the chain of command if he tried.  Turnball was perfectly willing to accept that the buck stopped with him.  He¡¯d calmly stood before his court martial and explained his reasoning and justification, and he¡¯d been cleared of criminal charges.


    Diego¡¯s own board of inquiry had been brief.


    Partly because his status was unclear.  He had been officially discharged by the ESF during the mission to planet Totola several months ago.  He remained a citizen of Earth, and a citizen of the Yonohoah, and a member of the Yonohoan military machine.


    He himself was a little unclear about his exact rank.  They had happily given him Eolai¡¯s flagship, which he was calling Bob because that was the name he¡¯d given the ship¡¯s AI, and had informed him that Eolai wasn¡¯t interested in taking it back from him.


    No, Eolai was going to remain on Earth for a while.


    Until the last of Diego¡¯s siblings passed from the light of the universe.  Because those were the terms of their brotherhood ceremony.  That was a sacred oath that Eolai had made on behalf of his people to the people of Earth.  Diego hadn¡¯t understood the significance of the words at the time, but he had also made promises that night.


    Promises which he was neglecting.


    ¡°Bob, put me in contact with my family,¡± Diego said.


    The computer chirped that it was complying.  His mother picked up her phone immediately, and his abuela a moment later.


    ¡°Diego!  When are you coming home?¡± his mother said.


    ¡°And when are you getting married?¡± his abuela teased.


    ¡°We talked about this,¡± Diego reminded them.  ¡°I can¡¯t return to Earth, ma.  Abuela.  I wish that you¡¯d accept one of the PHDA¡¯s so that I could talk with you face to face.¡±


    ¡°Those things aren¡¯t face to face,¡± His mother said instantly.  ¡°They¡¯re creepy.  I understand that you mean well, Diego, but why won¡¯t you come visit?¡±


    ¡°I offered to send you a shuttle so that you could come visit me aboard Bob,¡± Diego pointed out.


    ¡°And become some astronaut!  As if we could survive take off!  You know that your Abuela has osteoporosis!¡± his mother chided.


    ¡°The new shuttles aren¡¯t like the old ones, ma,¡± Diego explained.  ¡°They don¡¯t have high g-forces.  It¡¯s no different than an airplane, really.  You went to Cuba two years ago, it would be the same as that.¡±


    ¡°No, no, I don¡¯t think so,¡± his abuela said.  ¡°Diego, I don¡¯t care if you come visit.  But I do want to know that you have a woman in your life.  I would like to have grandchildren before I pass.¡±


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    ¡°You already have grandchildren, Abuela,¡± Diego pointed out.


    ¡°I want more,¡± she said simply.  ¡°And I want some from you.  Are you at least  looking  for girls?  You¡¯re not gay are you?¡±


    ¡°No Abuela I¡¯m not gay.  I promise I¡¯ll seriously consider having children, and possibly even sending them back to Earth to visit,¡± Diego said.  He considered.  ¡°But, well, you should know, their mother will probably not be Catholic.¡±


    The ensuing family scandal took hours to calm down.  When he finally convinced them that  yes, he really would make certain that Father Santos would be able to talk to any woman he was considered having a kid with and trying to convince them to convert , it was time for his Abuela to go to bed.


    Diego sighed as the call ended.  He loved his family.  He loved his home.  He loved his planet.  And if he truly wanted to serve it, the best way to do it was to live apart from it.  To live among the Yonohoans.


    To be the Son of Eodar.


    ¡°Bob, connect me to General Turnball,¡± he instructed.  It took a moment for Turnball¡¯s connection to come through, and once it did, he noticed that the general was in civilian clothing.


    ¡°Sorry General, I wasn¡¯t considering what time it was where you were.  I should have, since I know it¡¯s late in North America.  I just, well ¡­ it¡¯s time for me to leave sol system, sir.  By my oath to Eolai, I am obligated to protect his children on planet Totola.  I¡¯ve been skirting the edge of that oath, but the fact that I¡¯m from Earth made my defense of my birth planet a priority in their eyes, which excuses my absence.  Until now, at least.  I am hereby relinquishing my post in the defense of Earth aboard the Yonohoan Flagship.  The remaining Yonohoan cavalry will pick up my post if you ask them to, but my social duties require me to return to planet Totola,¡± Diego explained.


    Turnball nodded, picking up a drink from nearby which appeared suddenly in the hologram.  It was a dark brown liquid with ice, something alcoholic Diego was certain, although he had no idea specifically what drink it was.  ¡°I¡¯ve been expecting this for some time.  We will request that the Yonohoan fleet step into your vigil immediately, although I¡¯ve received credible intelligence that the threat to Earth has mostly passed at this point.¡±


    ¡°That is a relief to hear, sir.  The third battle ¡­ it took a lot out of me.  I¡¯m not certain that I could do it again.¡±


    ¡°Combat fatigue is a legitimate concern for all soldiers, Diego.  I suggest that when you get to planet Totola, you take some time for yourself.  Go to their beaches, watch a few movies, meet some girls.  Have a good time, soldier.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not a vacation, sir,¡± Diego objected.


    ¡°No.  It¡¯s your life, which you are altering irrevocably in the defense of your homeworld.  The people of Earth may not understand your sacrifice, but those in power do.  If they don¡¯t, then they¡¯re fools.  You brought us Eolai and more assistance besides him.  You stood fast in our hour of need.  You have gone above and beyond the call of duty, and it pains me that I cannot give you more recognition than you have received.¡±


    Diego nodded.  ¡°Thank you for your words, General.  But the truth is that I¡¯m actually pretty famous.  In the outside.  Everyone is talking about The Last Son of Eodar¡¯s Brother From Earth.  The things that they¡¯re saying about me are significantly blown out of proportion.¡±


    ¡°Such as?¡±


    ¡°Such as ¡­ well, the accurate depiction of my defense of Earth during the second and third battles,¡± he admitted.  ¡°It¡¯s just ¡­ it doesn¡¯t feel right when they actually describe the effects I had on the battle.  It didn¡¯t feel that way when it was happening, sir.  It wasn¡¯t until the after action reports that it started to sink in that those fights would have been lost without my presence.¡±


    Turnball nodded.  ¡°Earth won¡¯t forget you, Sergeant.  I¡¯ll see to it that your name carries the honor that it deserves among our people.  Perhaps a movie or two will convince people of your heroism.¡±


    ¡°Oh god, please, not that sir!¡±


    They chuckled, and the conversation ended soon after.


    Diego took one last look at the blue marble where he¡¯d been born.  Where his family lived.  Where he¡¯d grown up, learned to throw a baseball, and lost his virginity.  But it was not the planet where his children would do those things.  And it was not the world where his bones would rest.


    ¡°Take us out, Bob,¡± Diego said.  ¡°Cruising speed to planet Totola.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Captain,¡± Bob said.


    ¡°I¡¯m not a captain,¡± Diego muttered, but Bob ignored him.  It was a cheeky bugger sometimes.


    ?