by Frank Carey
Rutile looked at the young neoLogash before looking at Ruby. "Ruby, telling you this goes against every Logash social mores there is, but Ashley adores you. She has put you on the same pedestal as her mother and father."
"I do? I mean, yes, I do," Ashley said.
"And you're telling me this because?"
"Family is everything to the Logash. Ashley considers you family, which means you're Logash. Logash don't distrust Logash, it's not in our nature."
"Really? Is that possible?" Ruby asked, still not seeing where this love fest was going.
"Really." Rutile looked down at her shoes. "I am sorry for almost killing you, threatening Chasm, and for my behavior overall. I was wrong to doubt you."
Ruby pulled away, but realized she was facing a turning point in her relationship with the Logash. "Look, you've had a bad day to end all bad days. I accept your apology and hope we can be friends. Not all Alue are heartless murders."
After a slight hesitation, the three hugged it out just as the door opened to a group of Alturans waiting to get on. "Another newbie," one of the Alturans said at Rutile's stare as she and her companions got off the car.
"They've really got to change their training," another said as the last Alturan got on the car, the closing door cutting off any other comments.
"I take it you didn't interact with other species?" Ruby asked as they headed to the Tomb.
"Only at the zoo, and all of them had four limbs," Rutile replied.
"Welcome to the League," Ashley added with a smile.
After a short walk, they found themselves standing in front of a large, disk-shaped door. Ashley tapped it with a knuckle. "Adamantine alloy, you can tell by its distinctive tone."
"Damn, that has to be three meters tall," Rutile noted. "Something valuable inside?"
"Something dangerous," Ruby noted. "The tomb you were in contained artifacts considered inert. This one contains things which are known to be dangerous. The door is designed to keep them inside long enough to eject the module into the nearby sun if the need arises."
Rutile looked at Ashley who was nodding vigorously. "I heard they once had a mad robot probe stored in here," she said as she tapped her access code into the door's lock pad. The giant door rolled into the wall on its left, revealing a brightly lit interior. "Oh, one final thing. Elf males love hugs. Unlike most species, the elf male is the nurturing, loving, gender while the females are the warriors."
"You're kidding, right?"
Ruby shook her head. "Nope, the elf male melts for a snuggle or a hug and damned if I can figure it out."
They entered the Tomb and followed a trail of blinking lights to where Harm was taking notes on a table. "Grandpa!" Ashley called out as she ran over and gave him a hug.
"I see you brought friends," he said with a sideways look at Rutile and Ruby.
"Grandpa, they made up!" Ashley informed him.
"Oh, well then, welcome to my humble lab," he said with his arms outstretched.
"See, I told you," Ruby said as she and Rutile hugged the elf.
Rutile stepped away from Harm to get a better look at what he was working on. "Is this it?"
"Yeah, one genuine, 1947 flying saucer from Roswell, New Mexico, or at least what's left of her, courtesy of Area 51." He walked over to Ruby and put his arm around her shoulders. "Before we continue, I need to warn you that this isn't all that was shipped from A51. There were also some biological specimens. I suggest you sit this out. I wish I had."
She pushed the arm off of her. "Show us, dammit."
With a slight bow, Harm walked over to what looked like a standard forty-foot transportainer made from high-density carbon fiber. He glanced at Ashley, signaling her to get close to Ruby. When the young neoLogash was in place, Harm pressed a button on the side of the transportainer. The side lowered to reveal three large glass containers, each seven feet tall, three wide, and filled with yellowish-green fluid. Floating inside each container was the remains of an Alue. "Meet the only known specimens of gray aliens ever to be found anywhere in the League."
Ruby barely kept her knees from buckling as both Ashley and Rutile helped her remain upright. "Oh my. How did they die?"
"Blunt force trauma due to a high-speed collision with the desert floor. As far as I can tell from the data pulled from the flight computer, their cloaking system failed right when they were in range of a missile installation. Not knowing what the hell they were looking at on their radar, the installation operators assumed some kind of attack, so they fired off a couple of Nike missiles at the unidentified flying object. One missile got through and took out the saucer's engineering section. The rest is history." Harm walked over to the tubes. "Two of the bodies were basically as you see them. The middle pilot lived a few days before succumbing to his injuries. The damage you see is from the postmortem the Army Air Force medics performed."
"How can you be so cold?" Rutile hissed.
"Twenty billion dead Crystallanians will do that to you. These were corporeal Alues flying around your Homeworld, ships from another universe firing lead projectiles at you. Now, does that wreckage over there resemble the ships you saw attacking Homeworld?"
Rutile gave the elf a final hairy eyeball before turning to the wreckage. "Maybe, but there's a lot missing."
"I was afraid of that. Ruby, anything about her seem familiar to you?"
Ruby looked at the wrecked ship while Ashley hovered nearby. "Nothing. In fact, the bodies don't jar any memories loose either. I just find it horrible to think they were once like me. Hell, up until now, I didn't think my kind could die. When Chasm and the quads blew up the Harvest Moon, I thought Vapin and Kerus just went back to the 'Webs to hide."
"All children go through a phase where they move from being convinced they're immortal to realizing they could die at any moment. They eventually reach an equilibrium between the two extremes," Harm explained
"I assume you have gone through this education," Rutile said.
"You haven't?"
"No, we seem to skip that."
"Oh. Yes, I have gone through it, though in my case I did die." Harmon said.
"Excuse me?" Rutile said.
"I'll explain later," Ashley said. "Grandpa has had a very full life."
"What's next?" Ruby asked, anxious to do something, anything to take her mind off the three bodies.
As if reading her mind, Harm closed the front of the container, sealing the alien bodies back in their carbon fiber tomb.
"We need to run high-precision scans of every cubic inch of this craft and send the data off to analysis." He handed out the new model scanners. "Any questions?"
The three assistants shook their heads.
"Good. Remember, call out if you see anything that seems out of place."
CHAPTER SEVEN
Agendor walked into a darkened room filled with view screens of all sizes including several holographic projectors. "Hello?" he called out into the dimly lit room.
"Back here," a voice said from the rear of the room. The big Logash looked and saw a hand waving.
"Hello," he said as he shook hands with each of the scholars. "Harm said you needed help?"
"Boy, do we," Nebulon said. "We've been collating historical records from every planet in the League."
"What are you looking for?" he asked.
"You said your people sent out seed ships right before Homeworld was destroyed."
"Correct. We sent out one hundred and thirty eight ships, each containing the genetic legacy of the Logash race. The seed ships were programmed to introduce the genetic material into a planet's biosphere if, and only if, there was no sign of a sapient species having already developed. It took years to program the AIs. I just hope we got it right."
"Interesting. Colonization by genetic seeding. The moralists will have a field day with that," Tannith said.
"The Logash Moral Movement certainly did. In the end, we did everything possible to avoid manipulating any civilized planet."
> "What about colonies," Tannith asked. "Did you try generation ships?"
"Yes, eight of them. We had only just developed FTL drives and the Minerva was part of the test program."
"Remember the blood samples Losira took from you during your physicals?"
"Yes."
"She ran DNA tests on those samples and compared them to samples from the other League races. The results are preliminary, but they suggest that fragments of your DNA appear in over half the League member races. We are now correlating those races with reports of Alue spacecraft. Finally, we compare drop-offs in the number of reports with dates when planetary computer networks become prevalent."
By this point, Agendor had sat down in a chair. "You two came up with this all by yourselves in this short amount of time?"
"Actually, it was Chasm's idea. That elf sees patterns like no one else," Nebulon said.
"Now the fun part, correlating data," Tannith said as she got to work on the terminal while Nebulon asked questions and Agendor answered them.
###
Several hours later, after assignments were complete, everyone congregated at Harm's place for dinner and a debriefing. Having first made sure the Logash could eat what Ashley ate, Harm served up a buffet of foodstuffs from around the League. As people served themselves from an ample buffet, they sat down and talked about the events of the day. A familiar voice interrupted the elf as he checked a second roast beast for doneness. "You do remember I like mine flame kissed, don't you?"
Harm spun around and took hold of his wife, kissing her like he hadn't seen her in weeks. "Freshly dead with a trumpet sound still on its lips. I promise, it will gladly crawl on a plate for you, my love."
"That's my elf. I see new faces."
"Yes, yes you do. Did Ciara brief you yet?"
"Nope. We just got in from a sequestered training session at one of our secret bases. What happened while we were gone?"
He explained. She gaped.
"How old?"
"Two million years. I think your Australopithecus cousins were minding the store at the time."
"Shit. Is that even possible?"
"Ask Agendor's alpha wife, Rutile. She's the genius engineer of the family unit."
"Huh?"
"Six adults--three male and three female--in what resembles a wolf pack. Agendor and Rutile are the alpha pair, Tessa and Malg are beta, while Sil and Qui are gamma. They share spousal duties such as mating and child rearing," Harm explained as he pulled the beast out of the oven to rest.
Marta gave the six a hairy eyeball while she grabbed her husband around the waist. "You have explained about monogamy, right?"
"They are fully aware that I am yours body, mind, and soul, though I think Ash may have a crush on them."
"Really? I'm fine with that," she said while sneaking a piece of beast. "Damn, that is good. When can we cut into it?"
"Give it a few minutes so it won't bleed all over. Did anyone ever tell you that you are a sea of contradictions?"
"Of course. I'm a human woman after all. We are noted for bending reality to our will. Now, since you are bound and determined to dawdle cutting the beast, introduce me to your new friends."
Harm led her over to where Agendor and Rutile were standing. "Commander Rutile, Investigator Agendor, I would like you to meet my wife, General Marta McMurphy of the elite Elf Marine Expeditionary Force."
The three shook hands as Agendor and Rutile intertwined tails.
Marta glanced at Harm for an explanation.
"Twin-link without being twins," Rutile explained. "Our people are constantly intertwining to exchange data and maintain emotional stability."
"That sounds handy. Has my husband been treating you well?"
"Very," Rutile said as she gave Harm a look which all women understand.
"Rutile, stop it. Agendor said. "She is joking with you, General. She has no interest in your husband whatsoever. None of us have had time to even consider bonding outside our species."
Rutile smiled. Marta smiled back while holding Harm's arm in a vice-like grip.
"There you are," Ashley said as she walked up with her brother, saving Harm from an arm amputation. "Agendor, Rutile, this is my twin brother, Grayson.
"Pleased to meet you," he said as he shook hands with them.
"I told him about the tail thing," she said.
"May I?" Rutile asked
"Sure," he said. She walked beside him and intertwined tails. He stood there for a moment, but moved like a cat striking to grab Rutile as she nearly fainted. "Are you OK?" he asked as he sat her down in a nearby chair.
"I... I... I never experienced that much data, that many feelings. This didn't happen with Ashley."
Ashley and Grayson took each other's hands and stood still as their eyes pulsed. "Damn, we should have thought of that," they said in unison. They looked at Rutile and continued talking as one person. "For lack of a better term, we become supercharged when we first come together. This will pass shortly as we come into equilibrium." They each released the other's hand.
"I should go and mingle. Are you going to be OK? I can ask Aunt Losi to come over and check you out," Grayson asked as he held Rutile’s hand.
"No, I'm fine, really. It was nice meeting you."
"It was nice meeting the both of you. I'm thrilled that you and your family survived. We are blessed by having you with us." He got up, bowed, and walked off, briefly taking his sister's hand as he passed by her.
"Shit," Rutile said while sitting back in the chair. She stopped and looked at Ashley. "You're how old?"
"Dammit, I thought we had that sequestered," Ashley said with a blush.
Marta walked around Harm to hold Ash. "Honey, why are you looking so nervous?"
The young neoLogash looked up at Agendor. "I didn't want you to think we're, you know, freaks."
Harm sprayed tea in a coughing fit. When he finished, he said, "Ash, You're not a freak. I know freaks and you are not a freak."
"You know a freak?" Marta asked.
"My clone for one."
Ashley looked at him, the embarrassment now gone from her face. "I forgot about him."
"Wait a minute," Agendor said. "Would someone care to explain..."
"Lord! Sister, you do so worry," Grayson said as he walked up and hugged Ash. "You asked how old we are. Physically, we're in our early thirties measured in standard years. Temporally, we're about a year and a half old, give or take."
"We're the same age as our parents," Ashley added.
Rutile grabbed a drink off the table and downed it. Agendor, quite the opposite, was intrigued. "First off, you are not a freak. In my humble opinion, you are a beautiful, intelligent, young Logash woman who any family unit would be lucky to have as a member. I have no idea how the fates were so kind as to bring you into this universe after all these centuries. If I may pry, how did it happen?"
"That would be me," Chasm said as he brought a tray of drinks and confections around. Chasm was always happiest when he was doing something for the benefit of others. He walked over "I was gestated in a gestation tube where I went from fertilized egg to thirty year old male in a year."
"Amazing. Are there others like you?" Agendor asked as he went into full biologist mode.
"No. Two hundred tubes, only one survivor. The process was flawed and never repeated."
"You're like us, then," Agendor said. "Alone in a strange time, a strange world."
"Agendor, we are not alone. Your genetics are spread across the League. The Logash are part of half the species that call this part of the galaxy home. When I set out on my journey, having a family was an impossible dream. I was destined to die without ever seeing my kind again. Look at me now. I have a wife, children, shipmates, friends, and purpose. You have your family, the other Logash, and billions of people from races too numerous to count who have your seed ships to thank for helping them gain sapience. Yes, it's strange, but you are far from alone."
"Damn," Tessa said whil
e running over and hugging the black elf. "Can we keep him?"
The room filled with laughter.
###
With bellies full and cups of tea and coffee in hand, the participants sat or stood around the room waiting for Ciara to begin the briefing.
"People, we've had a full couple of days since Nebulon and her team brought back the probe from the Vengeance. Harm, why don't you start?"
"Sure," the elf said before typing on a small terminal. The main viewer switched from a slide show of League world landscapes to a display of data taken from the Roswell wreckage. "With the help of Ashley, Rutile, and Ruby, I was able to take measurements of the saucer. Unfortunately, ninety percent of it was gone, probably taken by the United States Air Force during years of examination. A records search shows at least part of the drive system was incorporated into Earth's FTL drive, speeding up their entry into the League."
Everyone turned to look at Jason. "Hey, so my father's people took a shortcut. So what? We're probably not the only ones."
"He's right. If memory serves, Tralaskan FTL designs resemble Goranthi, if you catch my drift," Harm said with a smirk.
"Hey!" Jason said as the crowd looked at him once more. Being a Tralaskan-human halfling had its downside, at least in this discussion.
"Anyway, what we did find is quantum spin signatures identical to the prison universe, which we have officially renamed the Alue universe."
"Wait a minute,” Royce said. He had arrived shortly after Marta and Grayson. Currently, he was on his third serving of beast, "what about Xura?"
"I haven't heard from the inspector in almost two years, and it's not like I haven't tried calling her. Something's up, but we can't worry about it. We just need to assume we're on our own for now. Bottom line: the Roswell wreck is a bust, and I still need a more complete ship to examine. I went through our inventory, hell, I even scanned the cube using the Algonquin's equipment, but found no more spin anomalies."
Tannith walked over and motioned her brother to hand her the keyboard. "Nebs, Agendor, and I may be able to help. We first ran searches through the League and Crystal databases for references to UFO activity--there are hundreds of reports from Earth alone. Agendor was able to identify the ships he saw attacking Homeworld and the Minerva." She typed in a command and a picture of a disk-shaped UFO appeared. The craft had a dome shape on the dorsal surface and a thick disk on the ventral. The body of the craft looked like two tea saucers stacked top to top. "It was at this point that the database group got us access to the Logash database. I had Tessa and Qui join us to help with the data sifting. We think we found out what happened." She handed the keyboard to Tessa.
