by Cara Wylde
“Our plan was flawless,” an ivory-skinned man with long, white hair said. “All you had to do, Captain Arkvar, was to take your fleet and follow a simple order. We understand it was not easy. But something not being easy or comfortable is not an excuse to defy the Galactic High Council of Seven. By saving the life of Alison Page and bringing her with you, you have failed us, Captain. You have failed the Council and the Gaea Alliance.”
Allie felt her blood boil under her newly blue-colored skin. The rush of sudden anger made her cheeks flush inky blue.
“Wait. Don’t I have any say in this?” She let go of Ark’s hand and stepped forward. Back straight, brows furrowed, and fire in her voice… She was ready to take on the elders of the Universe. “I am a human. Old Earth was my home planet. You’re talking about my race as if we’re… children. As if we’re helpless and clueless, and unable to decide our own fate.”
The purple-skinned woman smiled indulgently.
“Thank you, Alison Page. We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.”
“What?! No! You’re twisting my words.”
“We are not twisting your words. You are the one who, while stating the truth, chooses to interpret it differently.”
Allie crossed her arms over her chest.
“That is not…” She sighed. “I can’t win this, can I?”
“It’s not about winning or losing. It’s about what it is. Yes, the human race is very young. Your limited perspective does not allow you to see it now, but compared to all the other races sharing this Universe as their home, Terrans are the youngest, most innocent, and inexperienced race. At the same time, they are the ones who will complete the circle of unity. When you transcend your physical condition, you will be able to see even more than we, the Galactic High Council of Seven, can see now. That is what we strive for. So far, it was worth the countless sacrifices of the Gaea Alliance. Now, it is worth the sacrifice of Old Earth.”
Allie bit the inside of her cheek. Once again, she had to admit it all made sense. She didn’t like it, but there were no other arguments she could come up with. What had she been trying to achieve, anyway? Oh, Ark! The Council had said Ark had failed them and the Alliance.
“Captain Arkvar hasn’t failed anyone,” she raised her voice. “He did what he felt was right. In the grand scheme of things, there is no right and wrong, is it? It was destiny. It was meant to happen. Yes, he saved me because he felt I was different, but he also did it because he recognized me as his twin flame. Twin flames, as I’ve heard… are hard to come by.”
“Yes, you are right.”
“Huh. That was easy,” Allie thought.
“But every action comes with its consequences.”
“Err… no, wait.”
“Consequences aren’t right or wrong, either. They’re just consequences.”
“Fair…?”
The woman turned to Ark and looked him straight in the eyes.
“We cannot undo what you have done, Captain Arkvar. You saved Alison Page’s life, so Alison Page must live. You are twin flames, so you must be together. The Council has decided that you will be stripped of your rank and sent to spend the rest of this physical existence on your planet, Unxendio, among your people. You will take Alison Page with you. Although she is human, she will learn the way of your race and fit in.”
A murmur rose from behind Ark and Allie.
Arkvar was silent. His strong, proud features didn’t betray a thing of what he felt inside.
Allie, on the other hand, was enraged. For a moment, she wasn’t sure how to react, but then she ran her hands through her fiery red hair, pushed it out of her eyes and face, and got ready to pour her heart out and keep at it until the Council got tired of her tirade.
“This isn’t fair! He followed your order, and he did it against his own instincts! The Gaea Alliance is formed of volunteers. Volunteers! You can’t dismiss a volunteer like that!”
“Allie…” Ark grabbed her hand and pulled her back. “It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not fine.”
That wasn’t Allie. That was an angry voice coming from among the other captains. More voices rose in unison.
“Councilors, if you strip Captain Arkvar of his rank, then we step down as well.”
“He did what his conscience told him to do. And our own conscience always reigns supreme.”
“Yes. Despite any order.”
The men and women in the Council seemed surprised for a moment, then they glanced over the seven ship captains. It was written in their eyes that they’d just made a decision, right on the spot, and it wasn’t a pleasant one.
“I brought my own human twin flame with me.”
The Grand Hall went silent.
Ark and Allie turned to see who had said those words. It was a tall, bulky man with light-green skin and dark scales on his neck and shoulders.
“Theren?” Ark whispered.
A second green-skinned alien who seemed to belong to the same species as Theren stepped up.
“And I. My brother is the only one I’ve told. Theren and I found our twin flames on Old Earth and couldn’t leave them behind.”
“Kaelen…”
Allie smiled wide. She couldn’t believe this was happening! She and Ark weren’t the exception anymore. That meant the Council would have to reconsider their verdict.
But what happened next was even more surreal. The last four remaining captains stepped forward and said they, too, had brought human females with them, on their own spaceships.
“We can prove it to you.” Kaelen turned to his comrades and nodded.
In a matter of seconds, all six alien captains used their inner stargates to bring their human twin flames on the Septem Space Station, in the Grand Hall. Allie found herself surrounded by six other women. She couldn’t understand what was happening or why, but her heart filled with joy, and her eyes with tears. She wasn’t the last human in the universe! They were there. Her human sisters. She wasn’t alone.
Some of the women still looked human, but others had already gained some alien traits and were hard to recognize. They hadn’t expected to be transported to the space station, so they seemed lost and confused. Their captains had decided to keep them a secret, and now they’d changed their minds. It was a lot to deal with.
One by one, the members of the Galactic High Council of Seven stood up. They studied the human women, silently assessed the loyalty the fleet captains showed toward the commander of The Hesperia, and acknowledged this had just turned into a situation they could not dismiss lightly.
“The Council will retire to reconsider,” said the red-skinned man. “You will be summoned when we are ready.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The Galactic High Council of Seven was ready the next day, late in the afternoon. By human standards. Allie was the only one who measured time in seconds, minutes, hours, days… The Unxendi paid no mind to the passing of time, and when they did, they used the Terran system for Allie’s sake.
The Councilors had deliberated for hours. The reckless actions of the seven captains they had sent to put an end to Old Earth had turned their initial plan upside down. Too many human females were involved. Too many brave, experienced spaceship captains were willing to resign if the Council didn’t come up with a sensible solution. Sending one human on an alien planet with her twin flame was one thing. Alison Page already looked like an Unxendi, and the Councilors themselves had sensed her psychic abilities. She wasn’t as spiritually evolved as her adoptive race, but she could keep up if she really tried. However, sending six other human females on the planets of their twin flames was an entirely different thing. Too many Terrans spread across the Universe, when Terrans should stick together, on one planet, and help each other transcend. Their species was too precious to be divided like that, and the truth was that the Councilors didn’t want to take away seven of their most evolved humans, especially when those humans were women who co
uld give birth to even more evolved souls. Also, their twin flames were some of the most brilliant captains in the Gaea Alliance…
When the Galactic High Council of Seven summoned everyone in the Grand Hall, they had a new plan. And it was better than the first one.
The captains and their human twin flames were invited to sit at the Council’s round table. The gesture alone showed that the wisest aliens in the Universe now considered them their equals. They weren’t on trial anymore. They were there to build the future of all species together. They were the future.
The purple-skinned woman was the first to speak. Her confident posture and warm, yet firm voice commanded attention and respect. Allie was impressed at how beautiful and young she looked even when she knew for a fact that she was thousands of years old.
“We have reached a decision. Before sharing it with you all, we first want to take a moment to apologize to Captain Arkvar and Alison Page.”
All seven Councilors turned to Ark and Allie. While Ark kept his composure easily, Allie felt like she wanted to crawl under the table, and then under the colorful tiles on the floor. She blushed an angry shade of blue up to the tips of her pretty ears.
“We are sorry for rushing into an unfair decision. After careful consideration and a change of perspective, we understood that, were we to implement it, it would affect us all in the long run. Captain Arkvar of The Hesperia,” she glanced around the table, “Captain Theren of The Khepri, Captain Kaelen of The Zorya, Captain Veekerg of The Anshar, Captain Makkal of The Huldra, Captain Koovak of The Chantico, and Captain Razaal of The Surya… by saving your human twin flames and bringing them with you, you have offered us and New Earth an unexpected opportunity. Your children, and your children’s children, will become Young Terra’s powerful leaders.”
“What… what do you mean?” whispered Allie.
The bald, red-skinned councilor was more than happy to explain.
“The planet we’ve chosen to be your new home is ready to receive you. The first few human souls have already begun to reincarnate there, and we’re helping them build their society. From the shadows, of course. We have decided to send you all to New Earth. You can build your homes and families there, and you can contribute to the evolution and spiritual transcendence of the people who will keep coming and populating the planet through the next hundreds and thousands of years. With the Anunna far away, we can now offer you our protection and support.”
A soft murmur rose from among the captains and their human twin flames.
Ark leaned in to whisper in Allie’s ear: “See? Everything is fine. It’s working out. You had no reason to worry.”
“They were about to strip you of your rank,” she whispered back.
“But they didn’t.” He took her hands into his. “A home and a family on a new world.”
“Sounds nice, but…” She still had her doubts. She cleared her throat and addressed the Council directly: “I’m sorry, but I don’t understand. You’re sending us to New Earth? You want us to live among… humans?”
“Yes.”
Allie chuckled. “How do you think that’s going to work? I mean… look at me. My skin is blue.” She pointed to the dark-haired woman sitting across the table. “She has scales on her neck and chest. And…” she squinted her eyes to better study the woman sitting three seats away from her, “… she has… pointy ears?”
Except for the Councilors, everyone around the table agreed. Allie had made a strong point.
It was the tall, ivory-skinned alien’s turn to speak:
“What you’re trying to raise here is the problem of racism.”
“Err… maybe? Now that you mention it, yes.”
“Do you know why racism existed on Old Earth?”
“Because people had different skin colors?”
“No. Because the Anunna infiltrated your society in its early stages and implanted the concepts of superior races and inferior races. False beliefs… this is right, that is wrong… fair is noble, dark is unworthy… None of these belong to you, Terrans. The Anunna brought them among you to manipulate and divide you, to hinder your evolution and prevent universal peace and unity.”
Allie nodded. She could barely wrap her mind around it, but she was open to the possibility that the Council might be right. However, there was still something which didn’t make much sense to her.
“You keep saying the Anunna are… evil. Why? Why do they want to hurt my people, and why are they fighting so fiercely to prevent… err… unity?”
Silence fell over the Grand Hall.
Allie’s blue eyes moved from one person to another. The only ones who seemed to be just as confused as she was were her Terran sisters. Even the captains appeared to know the answer to that question. Allie had the feeling that none of those in the know were too eager to share the information out loud.
The light-green skinned alien took a deep breath that drew everyone’s attention to him. He was tall and bulky, with dark-brown hair that fell to his shoulders, and yellowish eyes that reminded Allie of a feral cat.
“The path of spiritual transcendence is not free of obstacles, nor struggles. The effort it takes to get there is even greater when the souls have grown too attached to their physical bodies and material realities. The Anunna are the most technologically advanced race in the Universe. Mind you, that doesn’t make them the most powerful. They are stuck in their ways. They have chosen a path which promotes fear, lack, envy, and anger, because these are the lower frequencies which resonate with their highly materialistic desires. They do not want to become One with us. They perceive our common goal as an attempt to strip them of their possessions. Their perspective is… a distortion. And the distortion is so deeply rooted into their culture and collective subconscious that it has swallowed them whole, and they cannot see any other way of being, living, succeeding.”
Allie listened to him in complete awe and fascination. Despite his feral eyes, he had the gift of storytelling. So much so that instead of making her angry, the story of the Anunna made her sad. She felt sorry for them. Now that she knew what it felt like to be able to communicate telepathically, and how amazing it was to simply manifest the things she wanted, she didn’t even want to imagine going back to any sort of technology.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
The green alien nodded politely.
For a few minutes, the captains and their human twin flames exchanged whispers. It only took a moment for Ark and Allie to bring their thoughts together, in silence, and make a decision. Apparently, not all the couples around the table preferred the telepathic method. Once everyone was in agreement, Arkvar took it upon himself to speak for them all.
“We accept. We will take our twin flames and build our homes and families on New Earth. However, we demand to be allowed to keep our positions in the Gaea Alliance. The Anunna are far from here, but that doesn’t mean we should ever let our guard down. Our ships will take strategic positions in orbit and protect the planet from any possible threats.”
“Agreed,” murmured the Councilors in unison.
It took them another hour to decide on a couple more details and establish some basic rules: the origin of the captains would be kept secret, and neither they, nor their twin flames would display their physic skills, unless the people of New Earth proved they were ready and had the same abilities. The Council had to reassure the human women that race would never be an issue anymore. The new, improved Terrans would notice the differences, but they wouldn’t judge them.
“That sounds… utopian,” said Allie. She turned to Ark. “Baby, do you know what we’re doing here?”
He leaned in and kissed her forehead.
“What, beautiful?”
“We’re building a utopian society.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
New Terra was nothing like Allie had expected. As she opened her eyes after having gone through Ark’s personal stargate, she gasped at the view unfoldin
g before her.
“Do you like it?”
Allie allowed herself to take in the colors, the crispy scent of the fresh mountain air, and the comforting sounds of birds hopping from one branch to another, and tiny living creatures shuffling through bushes. She was sure the expression on her face was all the answer Ark needed.
Their house was outside of the village, by the edge of a young forest. It was rather small, but cozy and rustic. It had a large yard, a rich garden, and a wooden patio with a small table and some chairs. It was nothing fancy, but Allie could see herself having her morning coffee there while reading a book.
Carefully, almost hesitantly, she made her way down the stone alley that led to the main gate. The gate and the fence were just for design. Allie could swear there was no way something which was shorter than her could protect the house from intruders. If she wanted, she could very well skip the opening the gate part and jump over the fence in her own yard. Rose bushes and petunias were spread here and there, and she bent down to touch their petals and inhale their soft perfume. She sniffed and cleared her throat. No, she didn’t want to cry, but it seemed almost impossible to hold back the tears. The flowers smelled like home. They were real. The roses and the petunias looked and smelled exactly like the ones her grandmother had in her garden on Old Earth.
“This is surreal,” she whispered.
She stood on her tiptoes and gazed beyond the fence, at the small houses in the village. They all looked the same.
“All this looks and feels exactly like…”
“… your home planet.”
She chuckled. “My home planet in the Middle Ages.”
A tiny fluff ball hopped off a chair on the patio to welcome her. Allie took Skippy in her arms and scratched his ears. She felt Kimmy ripple around her shoulders, as if it was jealous of the alien pet. Allie sent reassuring thoughts to both Skippy and the Kidem, then reminded them they didn’t have to be friends if they didn’t want to, but they did need to behave. Apparently offended by her demand, Skippy struggled out of her arms hopped to the ground, and disappeared in the garden behind the house.
