Liz answered the door in the palace; she was expecting Michael and Maria.

“Hi, Maria… Hi, Michael… Come on in. Dinner will be ready soon. Glad you could make it.”

Maria smiled. She looked older. Her face was drawn and had a sadness to it… not the sadness of something gone wrong today, but the sadness of a long, enduring pain… “Hi, Liz.”

Michael gave Liz a hug.

“Have you seen Izzie lately?” Michael asked. Liz nodded.

“She and Alex doing okay? I haven’t seen them for quite some time… I think since the end of last year.”

“Yeah,” Liz answered. They’re doing okay.”

“Kyle and Jeliya?”

Liz nodded again. “Yeah, they’re makin’ it.”

“Jim?”

Liz didn’t answer for a moment. Then she nodded.

“He’s hanging on. I saw him at the ranch last week.”

There was silence for several minutes, as though no one quite knew what to say.

“I always thought she was the strongest one of all of us…” Michael continued after a few minutes.

“Kathleen?” Liz asked.

“Yeah.”

“Well,” Liz said darkly, “I understand her perfectly. She was strong. But the strongest steel shatters if you hit it just right and hard enough. I’ve… I’ve felt like doing the same thing… You just don’t know… well… I guess you do.”

Maria hugged Liz, and both of them began to cry.

Michael sniffed, too, not meaning to. “The stoutest trees are the ones the wind blows over,” Michael said, “It’s the ones that nobody thought were strong… the ones that can bend… that somehow survive. How long has it been? Nine years?”

“Nine years, forty-four days, and…” Maria looked at her watch, “…what are we dwelling on it for! It’s not going to change anything!”

“Hey, all!” Max said, as he walked into the room. Max looked around and noticed that the mood had become somber, as it always tended to do when they got together anymore since the day of "The Darkness." Max, like the others, looked older, and like the others, his face showed far more sadness than it should. But he was determined to try to bring some happiness into this reunion.

“Come on, guys… Let’s watch some vision screen or something before dinner! Buffy’s starting her nineteenth season tonight!”

Michael grinned slightly. “Let’s see… She’s what? …knocking forty now?”

Even Liz smiled slightly. “Well, she still slays ‘em like she always did,” Liz said with a slight giggle. “She just complains about her back after she does it now.”

Maria smiled and giggled, too. “At least Angel doesn’t change. And he can give her back rubs!”

“I hear Steven Spielberg has chosen the cast for Star Wars, Episode 3,” Max said.

Everybody laughed. “That would be funny if it just weren’t true!” Michael said. “I don’t think he’ll live long enough to make another Star Wars movie after this one… not at the rate he’s putting them out!”

The four friends sat down on the oversized Antarian sofa and turned on the video screen. For a few minutes, no one said anything, as they watched the early evening news from Earth. Then Maria broke the silence…

“Why don’t we… you know, try going back to the past one more time?”

Michael hugged her. “Maria… you know we did that… Three times! It didn’t make any difference.”

“I know, I know,” Maria said softly. “I know… I just keep trying to think what we could do.”

“I think we tried everything that we know to try,” said Liz. “Maria, I’m hurting, too. So is Max, and so are the others. All of Antar is hurting. But some things apparently can’t be changed.”

“I know,” Maria said softly again. “But I just can’t help wanting to do something.”

“I know,” Liz said, hugging her. “I feel the same way. Sometimes I can’t stand it. But we have to remain strong… for each other. The scientists are still trying to find out what happened and how we can make sure it never happens again.”

“I don’t give a damn about ‘again’,” Maria almost yelled. “I care about…” Tears began to roll down her cheeks, as her voice broke up. “I care about what I lost… what we all lost.”

Liz hugged Maria, and Maria hugged Liz, as both cried quietly. It was hard on Max and Michael, just as much as it was on Liz and Maria… and every other Antarian. Max and Michael both longed to get back to some semblance of a normal life, but they hurt inside as deeply as Liz and Maria… in their own way. They didn’t get together often with the others or even with each other anymore, precisely because the visits always broke down into talk of how there should have been a way… they should have had some warning… they should never have come to Antar… maybe if they took the new granilith or used the Sphere of the Portal one more time to go back to the past… a hundred different things… it was all a lesson in futility and frustration.

Everything had been tried, most things several times. As to what had caused it -the “Day of Darkness,” as it was known on Antar- nine years later, the scientists were still “working on it” …the scientists in whom Michael had put so much confidence. Now he tended to get frustrated and short-tempered with them. He knew -they all did- that whatever the scientists found out, if they ever even did find out exactly what happened, it wasn’t going to change the past. It was too late for that.

Chapter 2 - "Diane's Story"

In Washington, D.C., former alien task force agents Diane Casey and Dan Klein were having dinner at their favorite Chinese restaurant. Diane still lived on Antar and had become integrated into society there thoroughly and quickly. She already spoke fluent Antarian and was very well versed in Antarian history and lore.

Diane made frequent use of the sphere of the portal to see Daniel Christopher Klein who had only really come to know her when she left to go to Antar with Max and Michael and their group on the new granilith. Shortly after that, on Earth, Dan had been made Head of the National Security Department that is in charge of “alien” matters, replacing Zeb Sikorski, who had “disappeared,” along with his new Sub-Director, Dumas Zwolinski, after numerous irregularities and embarrassments to the Department. Liz offered Diane the use of the sphere of the portal so that she might go to see Dan right after President George W. Bush appointed him to the new position. Since then, Diane had used the sphere at least a couple of times a week, possibly becoming the most well-traveled intergalactic visitor ever.

“Diane, when are you going to give in and marry me?”

Diane smiled and gave Dan a kiss.

“Don’t be in such a hurry, Dan.”

“A hurry? It’s been ten years since we met and over eight since I asked you to marry me! I don’t think of that as a ‘hurry.’”

“I know, Dan. I’m just… you know…”

“I know you’re afraid, Diane, but maybe it wouldn’t happen to us… I mean… now. That was nine years ago.”

Diane winced. “I was there, remember? I was there on Antar when the sky turned black in the middle of the day. I watched as all the Antarian children became ill. I watched Liz hold her children and try to save them as they died, one by one, each one of them, over a few hours after the sky turned black. I could never bear that. I’d rather never have children, Dan, than lose them like that…”

“I know, Diane… I know… but the darkness lasted less than six hours, and it’s never happened again. Antar has been okay since then.”

“No, Dan!” Diane shook her head. “Antar will never be the same… never again. Every child under fifteen died during “The Darkness” …about half of the fifteen-year-olds died, too. No Antarian has been able to have a child since then. Antar is a dead planet… a planet just waiting for its own extinction.”

Dan looked down for a moment and rubbed one eye with the knuckle of a finger. He nodded.

“I… I can’t imagine what it must be like for them… for you, too. I do understand, Diane. That’s why I’ve waited all these years. That, and because I love you.”

Diane wiped a few tears from her own eyes. “Geez, I love you, too, Dan! I do! I want to marry you! But I know I’m going to want to have children… and… I’m afraid… I don’t even know if I can have kids now… and if I can, I don’t want to lose them…”

Dan put his arm around her comfortingly and pulled her close to him.

“Your scientists up there still don’t know what caused it?”

Diane shook her head. “No. I don’t know if they ever will. God knows, they’ve given it their all! It’s just that no one has ever heard of anything like this before.”

“You said Max and Liz went back to the past to try to change what happened?”

“Yeah, three times. Michael and Maria went, too. I went once, too. The first and second times, they went through the portal. The third time, they programmed the new granilith to take them to the past the same way they saved Liz and Maria and everybody before on Earth.”

“But it didn’t work this time, you said.”

Diane shook her head again. “They weren’t there. When we went back to before ‘The Darkness,’ the children just weren’t there. It was like they never existed at all before ‘The Darkness.’ Dan… I never saw Liz so distressed before… or Maria either.”

“Max couldn’t heal them? I mean, he tried, didn’t he?”

“Yes. Oh yes! He tried and tried… It just didn’t have any effect at all. I felt so sorry for Max watching him try so hard and each one die in their arms. It was too much for me, Dan. You can understand, can’t you?”

Dan nodded and held Diane closer.

“After Max saw that he wasn’t going to be able to save Maya, they called Kryys in to try to save her as she was dying. He was awesome, turning into these streams of swirling lights and passing all through Maya. But he couldn’t save her. He said there was nothing to fix. Ten minutes later, she was dead. Thirty minutes after that, Kryys was dead. An hour after that, both of the other girls were dead.”

“Buried?”

“No. Antarians don’t get buried. Their bodies turn into a pile of dust after they’re dead… not always immediately, but very soon.”

“How about that guy that lived on the other planet that had the spheres before Liz? …that ‘Shag’ guy? Did Max and Liz ask him…?”

“…if he had ever seen anything like this or knew what could be done?” Diane finished Dan’s sentence for him. “Yeah! They contacted him immediately. He had never seen anything like it either… and Shag has been all over the universe.”

“Wow…” Dan said quietly. “Doesn’t leave much of any place to go does it?”

“No,” Diane shook her head. “It doesn’t.”

Chapter 3 - "A Bright Anniversary"

Every year, on the anniversary of the “Day of Darkness,” Antarians would begin crowding into the huge main square at the center of CoruzAntar at sundown carrying candles, symbolically chasing away the darkness that nine years before had robbed them of their happiness, their futures, and their lives. They were honoring the memory of the lost children. If light could have brought them back, the children would long ago have been back. As millions upon millions of Antarians squeezed into literally every square inch of CoruzAntar, the city was lit up like daytime by several million bright candles. It was a day of grief and sorrow, but no one could stay away. On Antar, there are no cemeteries… there are no bodies to bury. There is no place to go to share one’s grief and remember. But in a way, this was better. For here, each year, they could all come to light up the night and cry together… and remember… most of all, to remember.

Later, as the crowds were beginning to thin out somewhat, Liz made her way to the linked science lab where she often interned or simply assisted the Antarian scientists. She enjoyed learning about physics and the sciences. It was one of her great passions. She thought that she might rest her mind a bit by throwing herself into a little work and research during the night. As she opened the door and walked in, she found Varec still working.

“Varec, what are you doing here so late?”

“I should ask you the same question, your majesty.”

Liz looked at Varec with that particular look that she had.

“Okay… I mean, Liz,” Varec corrected.

Although Liz was indeed the queen, and a very beloved queen, she had always insisted that her friends, in particular, call her “Liz;” and she had always counted Varec as a friend… a very good friend. It actually embarrassed Liz to be called, “your majesty,” even after all this time. She accepted it from most people, because it was their way… and because it would have caused them embarrassment for her to ask them to refer to her so intimately or informally.

Liz looked around the room. There were several thousand small vials of dust on the walls. Each had a name and a number on it. Each corresponded to a child. These vials contained only a small sample of the dust left behind by the bodies of a few thousand children. The scientists had examined and studied the particles for years. To Liz, it almost seemed like a mausoleum, but she knew that the studies were important.

Varec fumbled with the dust particles from one of the vials and funneled them back into the vial, which he recapped and returned to its place on the wall.

“What is it, Varec?” Liz asked.

“It’s… it may be nothing, Liz. I don’t know…”

“What may be nothing, Varec?”

Varec knew that he was going to have to say it. Liz was very perceptive. She could see it in his face when he was hiding anything, and she certainly knew when he was being evasive.

“Well… I didn’t think much about it at first. It’s just that each of these samples is 99.99% what I would expect from an Antarian…”

“And the other .01%?” Liz pushed.

“Missing,” Varec said. “One small, almost unimportant element is missing. It wouldn’t mean much if it were one or two samples. It’s easy to understand how an element -even several elements- can be missing from such samples… not to mention that they can pick up additional elements and become contaminated. But what confounds me is that it isn’t just one sample that is missing this particular element. It is every single sample. Not one of the samples has HC020f in it.”

“That’s a trace element in Antarian bodies, isn’t it?”

“That’s right, Liz. We don’t even know if it’s important. No one would worry about not seeing it in a sample. We can live without it. We’ve never been concerned about the HC020f in our bodies. We normally don’t even check for it. We just know it’s there… in very tiny amounts.”

“And none of these samples has HC020f? Not even one?”

“Not even one.”

“Do you have any idea at all why this could have happened?”

“Well, maybe the darkness that caused their deaths somehow leeched this element out of all the bodies. Or…”

“Or what, Varec?”

“Well, there’s one other thing. I’m not sure about it. But I’ve been over these samples so many times that I already know what I’m going to see in each one without even looking at it. The strange thing is, the samples all seem normal… superficially.”

“Go on!”

“…but I would swear that the 99.99% of the elements that are right were synthesized, not natural.”

Liz gasped. “Is there any way to be sure?”

Varec shook his head. “I’ve done every kind of test. Normally, if the elements were not natural, it would be no problem for me to tell it and prove it. But… these samples are almost perfect.”

“But not perfect… you said ‘almost.’ That means not 100%…”

“That is my belief… but I can’t verify it. None of our tests are sophisticated enough to verify it. Call it just the experience of someone who has looked at a lot of samples. To me, there is something about these samples that makes my mind think ‘synthesized,’ and I don’t even know what it is!”

Varec pounded his fist down on the table in an uncharacteristic display of frustration, momentarily losing his usual carefully maintained self-control.

Liz thought for a moment. “Varec, I would put your experience and talent up against any test that exists in the universe. If you think these samples look synthesized, then I believe they are. But what does it mean?”

Varec was silent for a few moments. “It… it may mean nothing, Liz…”

“But you think it does!” Liz said with conviction.

Varec looked down at the floor then up toward the sky.

“Well, Liz, I don’t want to give anyone additional pain or any false… ideas. But it could mean…”

He paused again.

“What?” Liz asked, not allowing him the time to regret his decision to speak.

“It could mean that our children…”

A lump caught in his throat as he tried to say it…

“I think it might mean that our children may still be alive.”

Chapter 4 - "Escape On Gadyslar"

Sirens were screaming, piercing the nighttime darkness of Gadyslar. Then the sirens were joined by the cacophony of the yarols clamoring in their high-pitched, screechy voices as they tracked the fugitives’ scents through the forest toward the river. The young couple ran fast and agilely through the forest holding hands to avoid getting separated. Soon they were at the river.

“We’ll swim upstream,” said the young man as he pulled the girl into the stream with him. “The yarols will follow our scents downstream with the current.”

For most, this would have been an impossible task. Although the river was not a “rapids,” it was swift enough that the average individual would have been swept downstream. But this young man and woman, who appeared to be about sixteen or seventeen years old, were in the peak of condition. Their bodies were toned and muscled from hard, constant work in extreme conditions.

Forty minutes later, the young man and his companion emerged from the river three miles upstream, breathing heavily but not exhausted. The young man pointed toward a far away line of trees and took the girl’s hand again. They ran together for the next hour till they had reached the distant woods.

“How far do you think we made it, Alyyx?”

“I’d say at least twenty nauts… I think we’ll be okay for a little while. The yarols went downstream following the water scent. You want to sit down, Jayyd?”

The young girl sat down and leaned her head on Alyyx Evans’ chest. She smiled and looked up into his eyes. Alyyx returned the smile and kissed her gently on the lips. “As long as we’re together, Jayyd… That’s what matters to me.”

“I couldn’t have gone on if you hadn’t got me out tonight, Alyyx. I don’t think I could live without you.”

Alyyx smiled and kissed her again. “I couldn’t let the Ghors turn you over to that freak creep from Derstuk that bought you.”

Jayyd hugged Alyyx and laid her head back on his chest again.

“Alyyx? How are we going to get off of this moon? The Ghors have it guarded. They watch from their planet down there all the time. They know everything that comes and goes…”

“I don’t know, Jayyd. I haven’t figured that out yet. But I will! Nobody’s selling you, Jayyd Guerin! Nobody!”

Jayyd smiled. She waved her hand over Alyyx then over herself, changing their colors to match the surrounding darkness and the trees.

----------

In the complex from which they had escaped, the Ghor commander was furious.

“I want those two Antarians back in this complex before morning! I don’t need to tell you the trouble it could bring us if they were to get off of this moon and escape.”

“You mean from the Derstukki that bought the female?” the guard asked.

“Him, too!” the Ghor commander said, “But he’s not the one I had in mind.”

“Who…”

“Never mind Rawgus! You don’t want to know! You just make sure those two are back here before daylight… or you will be punished most severely for this unfortunate occurrence. Do you understand that?”

“Yes, Hosk!”

“Commander,” said another guard, seeking Hosk’s attention.

“What is it Pussox? I’m busy!”

“Commander, you have not forgotten the Garg’s visit tomorrow, have you?”

Hosk’s skin, or whatever passed for skin on a Ghor, turned several shades of the splotchy grayish pallor his species was known for. Clearly, he had, in the confusion of the night’s events, forgotten that the supreme military leader of the Ghors’ planet was to make a visit in the morning to Gadyslar, the moon where the Ghors’ kept their captured victims to await their sale to other creatures in the universe as slaves, pets, or occasionally, as exotic foods.

“Just get those Antarians back!” Hosk screamed, as he turned to leave. “And I do mean tonight!”

----------

On the planet Ghorbidfael below, the Garg was preparing for his visit to Gadyslar in the morning. The facility on Gadyslar had been very profitable to the Ghors, and Garg Jerkov planned to see the facility for himself.

“I’ve heard of this newer system that Hosk is using to collect specimens now. The “Midnight Cloud,” he calls it. I don’t think I quite understand how it works. Where did he find this again?”

“He found it on Krolus, my Garg.”

“Krolus? Yes… that’s right. Stole it, you mean! That was the planet where he stole the ionic speed technology that got him back home in three months instead of fifteen years or whatever it would have taken after that Xarian king, what’s his name… Shaqor, sent him to that part of the galaxy.” The Garg smiled, allowing the pointed teeth that normally remained set into the Ghors’ lower lip to rise above the lip where their sharpness could be seen.

“I wonder what the Krolians would pay to get their technology back…”

“My Garg… you wouldn’t.”

“Don’t be an imbecile. Of course I wouldn’t give it back! But I might let them have Hosk… if the price was right. Then I’d kill them of course.”

“Of course, my Garg.”

“How does this ‘Midnight Cloud’ work, Grisnot?”

“Well, sir… when it is used from an area anywhere within forty parnaps of a planet, a dark ionizing cloud envelops the planet. The cloud causes systemic dysfunction in immature creatures… those creatures that are still maturing. This dysfunction makes them temporarily cease to function. The creatures are recovered by a transporter device once they have ceased to function. The device scans the creatures’ bodies as it transports them and leaves a synthesized material behind similar to what would have remained of the creatures if they had actually ceased to function… ceased to function permanently, I mean.”

“Of course! …Grisnot?”

“Yes?”

“Why would the Krolians develop such a device?”

“Well, sir, I understand that many generations ago the Krolians were involved in a war with another planet, and many young Krolians were captured and imprisoned on the other planet. The Krolians devised this technology not as a weapon but as a means of rescuing their children who were being held as prisoners.”

“Interesting… very interesting! Well, it has served Hosk very well indeed! Our planet has increased its profits seven hundred percent since he returned with the device. And since we don’t have to stop ships in space to find specimens, that annoying king from Xarius won’t know anything is going on and will leave us alone.”

----------

In the woods, twenty nauts away from the Ghors’ slave facility on the moon of Gadyslar, Jayyd slept peacefully under the stars with her head on Alyyx’s chest. For the first time in nine years, they slept free.

Chapter 5 - "The Council of Xarius"

King Shaqor and Queen MayaSabriena sat at one end of the table. Around the table sat King Zan and Queen Liz of Antar, Zan’s number one General, Michael Guerin, still known to some as Rath, his wife, Maria, Antar’s chief and preeminent scientist, Varec, and several of the best scientists and medical practitioners of Xarius.

“Honorable citizens of Antar… Honorable citizens of Xarius,” Shaqor said, opening the dialog, “We are here to examine new ideas that have recently come to light and to discuss our findings and opinions on the matter of the remains purported to be of children who perished on Antar during the great tragedy known as the ‘Day of Darkness.’ I would ask the honorable Varec, Antar’s preeminent scientist, to begin by telling this Council his theories regarding the remains that have been brought here today.”

“Thank you,” said Varec, “Nine years ago, when the great tragedy that we call the “Day of Darkness” occurred, the legitimacy of the remains seemed unquestionable. After all, we saw our children die before our eyes. We watched as they breathed their last breaths. Then we watched as they turned into dust. That is as it is with our people. Furthermore, examination of the remains of some of the children by medical personnel as well as by myself revealed nothing surprising or extraordinary. There was a lack of one element, HC020f, but this in itself seemed irrelevant. This element is merely a very tiny trace element in Antarian bodies, and its lack would not have led to the children’s deaths. What seemed strange was the fact that not merely some of the remains studied, but all of them, lacked this element. Still, as I said before, it is an element of no consequence and only found in the tiniest trace amounts in any Antarian.

It was several months after the Day of Darkness when I first began to notice that the remains seemed somehow different than I thought they should. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was looking at a synthetic -that is, a man made or machine produced as opposed to natural- set of elements. But this seemed ridiculous, so in the beginning I put it out of mind. There simply did not appear to be any reason that such a thing might be true. Still, after reexamining the remains many times, I decided to do a number of tests that should have determined with one hundred percent assurance and accuracy whether or not the remains were or were not natural. Every test gave the same result. The remains were natural in origin. Given this evidence, I forced myself to suppress any feelings to the contrary. It seemed that I had simply been wrong. The tests had proved it. But I never stopped thinking that something seemed not right.

Now, nine years after the Day of Darkness, I have brought this matter here at the urging of Queen Liz of Antar, who believes in me more strongly than in our ‘infallible’ tests.”

There were some smiles at the table, and some of those present quietly applauded.

“Thank you. I am honored by your praise and by the confidence that Her Majesty, Queen Liz of Antar has placed in me. I am not sure that it is well placed, however. You will understand that if I announce these suspicions and they turn out to be untrue, it will be a tragedy for Antar once again, opening wounds that should never be reopened. This is why I have requested this Council. It is my hope that the experience and eminence of those present in this room today will finally be able to either give credence to my suspicions or disprove them once and for all. Thank you.”

Shaqor stood and thanked Varec. “I open this Council to all debate and issues.” He sat down again.

Michael spoke first. “Sometimes, in military matters, when a trail seems to grow cold as we try to follow it one way, it makes sense to try to follow it backwards. What I’m saying is that it makes no sense for the remains to be anything but natural, on the surface of it. We don’t have a clue how it could have happened if it is true that they are synthetic. So perhaps we should ask the unthinkable questions. Who would have a reason to replace the remains with synthetic remains? Who would have the capability to do it? Who would want to do it? How would they do it? Because the obvious conclusion, if the remains are not natural, is that somebody, somewhere, somehow replaced them.”

Some of those at the table nodded.

Danar-Sol, the preeminent medical researcher and biologist of Xarius spoke next. “I have examined the remains brought here today, and I, too, have come up with only one result from every test available on Xarius. The remains are entirely natural, not synthetic…”

Varec’s face fell. He looked down at the floor and closed his eyes.

“But…” Danar-Sol continued, “I also came to the conclusion that something is not quite right… despite all the tests and the evidence. Because of this, I devised several new tests, four of them to be exact. Three of the new tests gave the expected results: ‘natural.’ However, the fourth test gave a different result: ‘biologically grown substitute.’”

Varec nearly jumped out of his seat.

Danar-Sol continued, “What this would mean, if it is true, is that the remains are indeed ‘natural,’ but not the natural remains of the children. In this respect, they are synthetic, but not man made or machine produced, so they would produce a ‘natural’ signature on any test that was not made to search specifically for a biologically produced substitute. I am still testing the other remains to form a more positive position on this matter.”

Maria looked at the ceiling and wiped tears from her eyes. Liz seemed momentarily unable to say anything. She rubbed her hand over Maria’s back.

Max spoke next. “I, for one, am prepared to accept this conclusion. I have always trusted Varec with my life, and he has never let me down. And Danar-Sol is known throughout the galaxies as the preeminent biologist. Even I heard of his name long before I ever knew of the planet Xarius. We must continue to do the testing in order to have all the evidence and information that we need and can get, but I am inclined to ask King Shaqor and all the honorable citizens at this table to consider the questions posed by General Michael Guerin. Number one, who would want to and who would be able to do this?”

“In my travels throughout the universe,” said Shaqor, “I know of only one culture that had that ability. That would be the Krolians. The Krolians fought a war millenia ago in which many of their young people were captured and imprisoned on a planet with which they were at war. I think it was Byagus. The children of Krolus were held as hostages on Byagus to force the surrender of the Krolians. But the Krolians developed a technology that would get their children back. Basically, it involved placing an ionic cloud around the planet that would disrupt the natural functions of the children in some way so as to make them appear dead. Then the device activated a sophisticated transporter system that scanned the body of each child and replaced it with a biological substance exactly like the child’s own at the same time as it transported the child to the Krolian ship stationed some ways away. The Byagians believed that the Krolian children had all died, and without hostages, they quickly surrendered.

But the Krolians, you must understand, are and always have been, a peaceful people. They would no more harm your children than I would. I can vouch for that. There is no possibility that the Krolians did this. The Krolians would not even develop weapons to fight the Byagians with. They chose instead to use trickery and illusion, of which the Krolians are masters.”

“Then,” said Michael, “the question that comes to my mind is, who could have got their hands on this technology and used it against Antar? And in order to answer this question, we must ask who would have a motive and what would that motive be?”

“I would say Hosk, the Ghor Captain who deals in slaves,” said Shaqor. But that would be unlikely. Where I sent him the last time we met, he would only be getting back about two years from now.”

“Where is Krolus?” asked Michael.

Shaqor answered, “It’s in Galaxy 41X.”

“Isn’t that where you sent Hosk?” asked Michael.

“Yes, but Krolus would be a three months trip in the opposite direction from the Ghors’ home planet. He would be going even further away from Ghorbidfael.”

“Maybe he knew Krolus was there,” Michael said. “Hosk is a creature of violence and war. It figures that he might be aware of a planet that had ever used such a technology.”

Shaqor nodded. “Quite possible. The Krolians have an ionic propulsion drive system in their ships that is many times more efficient and faster than any the Ghors have. With their propulsion drive, a Ghor ship could return to our galaxies in a matter of months instead of years…”

“I think we need to pay a visit to Ghorbidfael,” said Michael.

Chapter 6 - "Ghorbidfael"

Three men stepped out of the portal and into the nighttime darkness of a back street on Ghorbidfael, home planet of the Ghors. Max and Michael had used their powers to increase the height of each of them to about nine feet and to give them something that looked like the clothes the Ghors had been wearing the only time they had seen them before.

“Max! …Hey, Max!”

“Yeah? What is it, Michael?”

“Maybe you ought to change our smell, too. The Ghors have an animal-like sense of smell. They might recognize us.”

“I won’t be able to stand being around you if you smell like a Ghor, Michael!”

Shaqor snickered.

“Yeah, well, you better do something with our smell,” Michael insisted.

“Alright, alright…” Max passed his hand over each of them.

Michael lifted his hand and sniffed his underarm. “Holy…! Yeah, I think that’ll do it!”

‘Shag’ suppressed a laugh as he lifted his shirt and smelled it. “I may not look like I’m ten thousand years old,” Shag said with a grin, “but now I damn well smell like it!”

Max grinned. “Glad you guys approve. Now let’s get going. Liz is never gonna sleep with me again!”

The three new “Ghors” walked down the street, sticking to the shadows. A few blocks down the road and around a corner, they came to a local drinking establishment. Shaqor motioned them in. Fortunately, it was dark inside, the way the Ghors liked it. Many of them carried out business in this type of place, and they liked to keep their identities private. The three friends sat in a corner and hid their faces. The secretiveness actually worked in their favor; they were acting exactly like most of the Ghors in the room.

“Ja-Grrr ah sli toh!”

“Huh?”

Max glanced up. Fortunately, his face was in the dark.

“Ja-grrr ah sli toh!” the Ghor intoned more insistently.

“Kor lis na glon jat,” Shag said without raising his head. “Fut nar tov grrr… Jya!”

The Ghor walked away.

“What was that all about?” Max whispered to Shag. “You guys get in a growling match?”

“He just said, ‘Order or get out!’” Shag snickered. “I told him to bring us the cheapest thing.”

“What… you hurtin’ for money, Shag? I didn’t know,” Max said with some friendly sarcasm in his voice.

“We don’t know what they drink, so I’m afraid that’s the best I could do,” Shag explained.

“You did fine!” Max grinned.

Two and a half hours later, the three left the “bar” and walked down the street into the shadows.

“Portal,” Shag said quietly. The portal appeared and the three stepped through it and back into the palace conference room.

“Alright, Shag,” said Max, “I know you were listening to the conversations around us back there, and you know I didn’t understand a word -or should I say, a ‘growl’- of it! So spill it! What’d you hear? Anything useful?”

“Maybe,” Shag said. “I know that Hosk is back and has been for at least five years.”

“That means he had to have used the Krolians’ ion drive in his ship,” Michael said. “That pretty much confirms that he was there.”

“I’d say so,” Shag agreed. “I also learned that the supreme Ghor commander, Garg Jerkov…”

Max and Michael both broke out laughing.

“What?” Shag asked. “Did I say something funny?”

“I really don’t see what’s so funny.”

“Go ahead, Shag… Finish,” Max said.

“The Ghor Commander, Garg Jerkov, is going to visit their main slave facility tomorrow.”

Max and Michael became sober again.

“Where is it?”

“They didn’t say,” Shag said. “They just said that Hosk runs the facility.”

“Figures,” Michael groaned. “He would!”

At that moment, Liz and Maria walked into the conference room with MayaSabriena. Liz let out an involuntary yelp, and Maria immediately assumed a defensive posture. Maya laughed,

“Don’t you girls recognize your husbands?”

Liz looked carefully at Max then sniffed,

“Oh, good Lord! Max, what have you done!”

Maria looked at Michael as though he had fallen into a sewer and just climbed out… which, to tell the truth, might actually have smelled better.

Max passed his hand over the three of them and removed the smell. Then he changed their clothes back. Michael reduced their size back down to around six feet instead of nine.

“I am soooo not going to be able to forget that,” Maria lamented! She sniffed Michael’s breath… “What did you have in your mouth?”

“Oh…” Michael snickered, “just some cheap Ghor beer or something.”

“I thought you guys couldn’t drink alcohol.”

“I told you it was cheap!” Michael laughed. Max began to laugh, too. “Probably Ghor tap water!”

“Mmmm… no, I think it had a little something in it,” Maria said. Liz nodded. “…the way you guys are acting. Not as bad as that time on Earth… The Ghors probably watered it down.”

Maya sniffed the air and sprayed a couple of puffs of air freshener into the room from a small bottle.

“You get used to it,” she said. “When your guys have traveled the universe as much as my Shag has, you’ll recognize them no matter how they look…”

"…Or smell, for that matter," she added with a giggle.

“What’s our next plan?” Michael asked.

Max looked at Shag.

“Well,” Shag said, “I think it’s time to go see Hosk again… as ourselves this time.”

----------

On Gadyslar, the screeching howls of the yarols could be heard in the night, as the Ghors searched for the two escaped Antarians. But for the moment, they were safe, twenty nauts away, in a small wood. The coming morning would be the first time in many years that they hadn't felt the sting of the Ghors' prod waking them up before the sun had even risen to begin their labors… and to wait… to wait to be sold to some perverse being or creature from another galaxy somewhere far, far away… a being or creature that would buy them perhaps as a pet… but more likely as a slave… or an exotic food.

Chapter 7 - "The Dragon Feast of Vyatu-Xi"

On the far side of Galaxy 56Y, as the Xarian map of the known universe showed it, the planet Drago was preparing for the yearly celebration of Vyatu-Xi. It was no small occasion for the inhabitants of Drago. The fact is it took their planet the equivalent of sixteen Earth years to revolve around their sun, so a “yearly” event on Drago only occurred once every sixteen Earth years.

The inhabitants of Drago celebrated the beginning of each New Year with a huge feast. Everyone turned out in the streets to celebrate… and to enjoy treats and exotic foods brought from all over the galaxies by the Dragon ship captains. It was an event that all Drago residents awaited eagerly each year.

The planet Drago was about 11 years from Antar if one had traveled there in the new granilith. The “Xarius Voyager” could have made it in a few weeks. The Ghors’ fastest ships would have taken about 63 years. But that did not include Hosk’s ship with the stolen Krolian ion drive in it. Hosk’s ship could have made it in about 8 months.

The inhabitants of Drago were fairly large. The average height of the males was about 6 feet 8 inches. The average height of females was slightly larger, about 7 feet… still fairly small compared to their distant relatives, the Ghors, which could top out at 9 feet, but larger than the average Antarian or Earthling. Their skin tended to be pallid gray, like that of the Ghors, when they were at rest or not excited, but when they were excited or active, their skin turned a classic “alien green.” That was probably the only thing about them that met the alien stereotype, though. The Dragons had teeth that would be envied by a piranha. In fact, Dragons had not one row of teeth but two distinct rows of teeth. The teeth in the forward row, the ones that showed, were long and pointed, and what one might call “snaggle-toothed.” The closest thing to the forward teeth of a Dragon would be the teeth of a mako shark or a sand tiger shark. The rear teeth, which sat just behind the forward row, were broad, triangular, and serrated, much like the upper row of teeth in a great white shark. The arrangement gave the Dragon a superior ability to eat even the toughest food items easily. The long, pointed front teeth were for grasping and holding struggling prey. The rear teeth were for sawing and tearing flesh.

The Dragons preferred their food live; and during the feast of Vyatu-Xi, numerous prey would be turned loose and chased down by all the Dragons then ripped apart and eaten while alive, sometimes by several Dragons at once if more than one caught the same one at the same time and there was any discrepancy… which there always was.

Near the center of the city, the Dragons had a large court that somewhat resembled a baseball field. It was the central point of their celebration. And it was the place where all the prey would be turned loose on the day of Vyatu-Xi. Normally, the prey would run toward the nearby forest to escape. The Dragons, however, were not in the habit of releasing prey that had any real chance of escape. The long legs of the Dragons gave them speed and surprising agility for creatures that were cold-blooded. Few, if indeed any, prey ever actually made it to the forest.

At the edge of the field, on one end, was a large building that looked like a storehouse. This is where the prey were being kept until the celebration. Inside the storehouse, already, there were 23 creatures or beings gathered from different parts of the universe… from several different galaxies. Nine had been bought from Hosk. Three were Antarian.

----------

A mere forty-three light years from Drago, in Galaxy 39A, was a planet called Yargish. The residents of Yargish were anything but like the Dragons or the Ghors in appearance. Both male and female Yargishis were reed thin and tall as a tree. To be more precise, they measured about 18-21 feet in height, on average, and had a girth of 17-19 inches, small enough that a large man might be able to put his hands completely around one. Their coloration was generally light purple. Their legs comprised about half of their total body height, and their arms were equally long. The light purplish skin of a Yargishi was more like rubber than anything else. They had no hair anywhere on their bodies. Unlike the Ghors or the Dragons, too, the Yargishis were meticulously clean and strictly vegetarian.

In the small country village of Duvarny on Yargish, a retired but still very active interplanetary ship captain lived with his small family. About eight years before, right after he had retired, he had returned from a trip, bringing with him a creature unlike any he had ever seen before. It had pained him greatly to take only the one, because it was one of three identical ones. It especially pained him to see the Dragons buy one of the other two. Narwha knew what the Dragons did with the creatures they bought. But Narwha was not a rich man, and Hosk demanded a large sum for his “pets.” Four years later, Narwha had actually gone back to Hosk to try to buy the third identical creature, but it had been sold. He ended up taking a male of the same species.

Narwha had hoped that they might mate and produce offspring, but that had not happened. He didn’t understand why. They seemed to like each other very much. But he had never been able to get them to mate. He had provided a wonderful habitat for them, a habitat like Hosk had said was the natural habitat of their own world, and he fed them well. But they still would not mate… Narwha knew this for a fact… he watched them day and night through the glass. Still, mating or not, Narwha loved his pets. They were different… unlike any creatures he had ever seen before, not rough and ugly and smelly like the Ghors, not vicious like the Dragons. These creatures could subsist on a properly balanced vegetarian diet, though Hosk had told him that they did eat meat, too.

Narwha smiled as he watched his pets through the glass. Sometimes he would reach over the glass partition, easy for a being of his height, and take one of the pets out. He would let it walk around the house or set it on his lap and stroke its hair. He never worried about his pets running away. As long as one of them was inside the habitat, the other always stayed nearby. Narwha loved his pets.

----------

On the Ghor moon of Gadyslar, Hosk looked up from his desk to see Max, Michael, and Shaqor step out of thin air into his office. It unnerved Hosk to see them do that. He had no idea how Shaqor was able to step out of thin air and find him wherever he was. But he pretended to welcome him.

“Shaqor! My old friend! What are you doing here in my office? How can I make you welcome?

“You cannot, Hosk!” Shag said. “I will never be ‘welcome’ in your presence nor you in mine, and we both know it. What you can do for me is tell me what you know about the children who disappeared from Antar nine years ago.”

“Shaqor! I wouldn’t… I mean… what would possibly make you think that I would know anything about that?” asked Hosk, trying to look sincere.

“Then you might tell me about another ‘acquisition’ that you made, Hosk… an ionic drive for your ship… a Krolian ionic drive.”

Hosk’s ‘skin’ fluctuated between grayish and splotchy red and grayish red, looking almost like a neon sign… a neon sign that plainly said “GUILTY” in capital letters. But he continued to insist he had nothing to do with any disappearance of Antarian children and knew nothing at all.

“Shaqor! The ion drive… I bought it from a traveler. I don’t know anything about Krolians.”

“Then tell me about the ‘Midnight Cloud’ Hosk.

Now Hosk’s skin was literally rippling with colors. He was a liar, but the biology of his species betrayed him. Shaqor knew it. So did Max and Michael. Somehow, Hosk didn’t seem to realize it, though, as he continued to play the innocent.

“I’ve never heard of anything called a ‘Midnight Cloud’ Shaqor. Why would I?”

“Because we both know that you deal in slaves and steal whenever you get the chance. And we both know what the ‘Midnight Cloud’ will do. And we both know that you were on Krolus.”

“I swear, Shaqor, I have never heard of this ‘Midnight Cloud’ that you speak of.”

“Then perhaps you would not mind if I examined your records, Hosk?”

“No! I mean… yes… I mean… you can’t just do that, Shaqor. You are a man who lives by laws and rules.”

“I could make an exception in your case, Hosk.”

Hosk touched a switch on the floor under his desk with his foot as he continued to protest his innocence. Outside in the halls of the facility, red lights were lighting up everywhere, the signal that Hosk had had put in to advise his guards that he was in danger. Within moments, six nine-foot tall Ghor guards burst into Hosk’s office. Hosk jumped up from his desk screaming,

“Kill him! Kill him! Don’t let him get away!”

Almost as a whisper, Shag said, “Portal.”

The three men stepped back into thin air. Trying to follow, the Ghors ran into the wall. Shaqor had escaped… so had Max and Michael. But they would be back. Of this, Hosk had no doubts at all. And he would be ready.

Chapter 8 - "The Ghors - Creators of the Universe and Other 'Fairy' Tales"

Alyyx Evans awoke and began to stretch. Then he noticed rays of sunlight starting to show over the horizon.

“Jayyd! Get up! Get up! The sun’s coming up!”

He looked around. Jayyd was already awake. She was sitting by a tree with her face in her hands. In the Ghor facility, they would have been stuck with the prods if they had slept this late. In fact, they would have been awakened with the prods long before the sun began to rise.

“What’s the matter, Jayyd?”

“You know… the same thing.”

“The visions?”

Jayyd nodded. “Alyyx, I don’t know what to feel… I… I always see that lady. She used to be crying most of the time.”

“And now?”

“Not crying… just sad, I think.”

“Who do you think she is?”

“I don’t know, Alyyx… I feel like…”

“What?”

“Oh, it’s crazy. You don’t want to know.”

“Yes I do! Tell me!”

“Well, it’s just that every time I see her in a vision, I feel like saying, ‘Mom, don’t cry.’”

“Huh…” Alyyx muttered, “Yeah, that’s strange. We never had a real Mom. The only Mom we had was with us here until the Ghors sold her when we were young. Does she look like Mom?”

“No… not at all. The lady I keep seeing has blonde hair like Mom, but she looks different.”

“Well, I can remember all the way back to the day the Ghors made us.”

“Oh, Alyyx, you cannot!”

“Yes, I can! I remember! We were in a spaceship. When we woke up, the Ghors told us that we had just been made. Hosk showed us the machine that made us. Me… and you… and a lot of others that look like us… Then they brought us here.”

Jayyd thought hard. “I think I remember, too, Alyyx… I’m just not sure…

Alyyx?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think the Ghors made all the beings in the universe?”

“Hosk says they did.”

“But you don’t believe it, do you?”

“I… don’t know. I have doubts, Jayyd.”

“What do you think?”

“I don’t think the Ghors made all the beings in the universe.”

“Why?”

“Because… look how the Ghors treat them! And Hosk sells us to others. I don’t know, Jayyd… I just think that that doesn’t seem… normal.”

Jayyd smiled. “Since when have the Ghors been normal?”

“Alyyx grinned. “Yeah. You’re right. But that’s another thing. Would a being that creates other beings create other beings that are… you know… better… smarter… nicer than they are?”

“Well, they created us,” Jayyd said.

Alyyx thought for a long while. “Did they? I wonder.”

----------

In Galaxy 01B, on the planet Aklat, Ee-l'wee sat on a large round sofa that seemed to swallow her up. Ee-l'wee was an Aklatian; and like all Aklatians, she was small. Ee-l'wee measured a mere 15 inches in height. Also, like all Aklatians, Ee-l'wee had two pairs of wings, like a dragonfly. And like all Aklatians, Ee-l'wee was female.

It might seem to anyone who had never met an Aklatian that the Aklatians would be at a severe disadvantage in the universe, especially in dealing with nine-foot-tall, murdering, slaving giants like the Ghors. But the Aklatians had not survived by being the “butterflies” of the universe. Though small and pleasant to look at, Aklatians were anything but helpless. Hosk had found that out the hard way the first time he had met one. His first thought had been that she would bring him a lot of money as an exotic pet for some rich traveler. It had taken Hosk nearly two months in what passed for a Ghor hospital to recover from the burns he had suffered from the electrical charge he received when he touched one of the little “fairies.” Two of his four hearts had actually stopped and had to be restarted. It was not a mistake he wished to repeat. To Hosk, an Aklatian “fairy” was as formidable a trading “partner” as any Dragon from Drago. And besides, Aklatians had money. Lots of it. Hosk had never met one that didn’t.

Ee-l'wee had expanded her house in order to accommodate the two large creatures she had purchased from Hosk seven years before. She had only intended to buy one, the one that could talk to unintelligent creatures, but the other one had hovered over it so protectively that she had agreed to take them both, much to Hosk’s delight.

Ee-l'wee owned and ran what might be described as an interplanetary zoo on Aklat. She normally avoided purchasing “intelligent” creatures, as these two appeared to be, but she had not purchased them as “exhibits” for her zoo. She had purchased the boy specifically because he was able to communicate with and control all kinds of animals and lower beings. And Ee-l'wee had over three hundred different species of animals from all over the universe in her menagerie. Visitors came from all over the galaxy, sometimes even from other galaxies, to see the rare animals in her menagerie, and they paid well to see them. The boy would be a very big asset to her. As for the female creature that she bought with the boy, she would have a function, too. It was quite obvious to Ee-l'wee that the older creature was protecting the younger one. The younger one treated the older one as its mother. Ee-l'wee was quite sure that splitting them up would be a major mistake.

Ee-l'wee treated the two creatures well, gave them their own special rooms in her own house, and allowed them to roam freely for the most part. She treated them more as professional, live-in employees than as slaves; but in the end, both Ee-l'wee and the creatures she had bought from Hosk knew that "slaves" is what they were.

Chapter 9 - "The Pursuit"

On Xarius, Max, Michael, and Shag met back in the palace with Liz, Maria, Maya, and Varec and set about to decide what their next course of action should be. Though they hadn’t seen any proof yet, there seemed little doubt in any of their minds that the Ghors were hiding something, and it had to do with the missing children.

“Max…” Liz said cautiously, “If there really is a chance that any of the children are still alive, we could use the Sphere of Searches to find them…”

Max was dumb-struck… “I must be an idiot! Why didn’t I think of that already?”

“Well, maybe,” Michael said, “because we all thought they were dead. Why would anyone ask where a dead person is?”

Shag nodded.

“But maybe some of them are not dead…” Maria continued, “and the sphere could locate them. I think we should try it!”

“Absolutely!” Max agreed, “Just remember, though, that when we went back to the past, the children weren’t there. We met our past “selves,” and our past “selves” told us that they had no children. Let’s hope that whatever is blocking us from finding any of the children in the past doesn’t block the spheres from finding them in the present… if any of them are alive. Liz?”

Liz nodded… “Sphere of Searches!”

“Ask.”

“Where is my daughter, Maya?”

There was a pause. Liz became pale and her skin clammy. Her stomach was tied up in knots. But she needed to know… She had to know, even though she feared more than death itself the possibility that the sphere would confirm that Maya was dead or that it would say that she could not be located.

“Your daughter, Maya, is on the planet Beshune in the city of Grazida in the house of Lorvo the Traveler.”

“Is she… okay?” Liz asked.

“I regret that it is not within my power to know that information.”

Liz nodded. “Sphere of Visions!”

“Ask.”

“I want to see my daughter, Maya.”

A mist appeared in the room, and inside the mist appeared a vision, which became clearer and clearer. Nineteen-year-old Maya was standing over a cradle, which she was rocking as she sang softly.

Liz gasped… “Does she have… Is she… Is that…”

“I don’t think so,” said Michael. Look close. That baby is not even part Antarian or Earthling.”

Liz let her breath go out in an audible sigh of relief. She hadn’t realized that she had been holding it and had stopped breathing.

“She’s okay,” said Max, excitedly. “She’s alive, and she’s okay!”

Maria could bear no more…

“Liz?”

Liz looked at Maria. If ever she had seen a pleading look, she was looking at it.

“Maria! Oh, Maria! Of course… You know it!”

“Jayyd. Ask about Jayyd… then the others…” said Maria.

“Sphere of Searches!”

“Ask.”

“Where is Jayyd Guerin?”

Maria had her hand over her mouth. She was biting on her lip without realizing it. The pause in getting an answer from the sphere was probably no more than five seconds, but it might as well have been a lifetime!

“Jayyd Guerin is on Gadyslar, a moon of Ghorbidfael.”

“I’ll kill Hosk!” Michael said with conviction. “I’ll kill that lizard-breathed S.O.B. with my bare hands! We were just there! We were right there in his office, and he denied…” Michael’s voice broke.

“Sphere of Visions,” Liz said.

“Ask.”

“I want to see Jayyd Guerin.”

The mist appeared, and in the mist there was a vision of a young girl, about sixteen years old, and a young man about the same age or just slightly older. The two youths were running through the woods… being chased by something… something that made screeching baying sounds like a bloodhound with something heavy standing on its tail. Quickly, the pursuers -Ghor guards with some kind of scent-tracing animals- came into sight. The two young people were outrunning their Ghor pursuers handily, in spite of the Ghors’ considerably longer legs… but they would not escape. What they could not see or know was that other Ghors were lying in wait ahead. Inevitably, within minutes, Jayyd and the young man would run right into the nets being prepared for their capture.

“Portal!” Liz exclaimed. “Take us to Jayyd Guerin on Gadyslar.”

Liz, Maria, Michael, and Max stepped through the portal onto the Moon of Gadyslar. Suddenly, the young couple was in front of them. The young man took Jayyd by the hand and started to run a different way, but Michael cried out to them…

“Jayyd!”

The young man had little time to think, but it didn’t require much thought to know that these new people were not Ghors. Who they might be could be determined later. He stopped.

“Jayyd…” said Maria, edging toward her daughter with her hands outstretched.

Jayyd looked at the blonde-haired lady approaching her with tear-filled eyes…

“You! Who are you?” Jayyd asked. “You’re the one in my visions!”

The young man looked at Jayyd and at the newcomers. Somehow, he knew… somehow his doubts disappeared. He needed to trust these people.

“The Ghors are coming,” the young man said. “How did you get here?”

“Portal!” Liz said.

“Come!” Maria said to Jayyd and to the young man, holding out her hands. “Please! Quickly!”

At that moment, the Ghor pursuers charged through the trees toward the young couple and the newcomers. The young man took Jayyd‘s hand, and the two of them took Maria and Michael’s hands. Together, they all stepped through the portal.

Chapter 10 - "Two Down… 222,138 to Go”

Michael stepped out of the portal back into the palace conference room on Xarius holding Jayyd and Alyyx by the hands. Right behind him were Liz, Maria, and Max. Maria rushed to Jayyd and threw her arms around her, as large tears ran down both of Maria’s cheeks. Unsure at first how to react, Jayyd slowly… inexplicably… moved her own arms around the sobbing lady who held her as though she might never let her go.

“Mm… mmm… Mom, Don’t cry!” Jayyd said. This brought more tears to Maria’s eyes and tears to Michael’s, too. Michael put his own arms around both Maria and Jayyd.

“Mom? …Dad?” Jayyd wasn’t sure if she was asking or stating a feeling that had just popped out of some deep recess of her mind.

“Yes!” Maria cried. “Yes! You’re home now! You’re home, Jayyd!”

“Home!” Jayyd mulled the word over in her mind. She didn’t remember ever hearing this word. Yet… somehow, she knew what it meant. “Home!” It meant family. It meant happiness. It meant security. It meant…

“Mama! Daddy!” Jayyd’s eyes filled with tears, and she hugged Maria and Michael both tightly as memories long ago forced into some deep recess of her mind by the Ghor’s machine began to flood back into her head again.

“Mama! Daddy!” She cried again, just to hear the magical words… the words she had forgotten existed.

Max turned to thank the young man who had helped Jayyd. As he looked into his eyes, recognition hit him like a sledgehammer…

“Alyyx? Alyyx! Oh my God! Liz! It’s Alyyx!”

Liz had, until this moment, not actually looked directly into the young man’s face. She had been so concerned with Maria’s getting Jayyd back. She had asked the Sphere of Searches to find Jayyd. That it had found Alyyx with her was a blessing she had not expected. Liz ran to Alyyx and threw her arms around him. When she had last seen him, he had been almost eight years old; now he was seventeen. Liz pulled back and looked at Alyyx’s face then smiled…

“You’ve become such a handsome young man! Oh my God, Alyyx! This is so wonderful!”

It was Alyyx’s turn now to feel the strange, yet somehow comfortable, feeling that these people were something… or someone… that he should remember. But where were these memories? Alyyx shook his head trying to remember. It seemed that a fog was lifting from his mind. He looked at Liz then at Max…

“Mama? Daddy?”

Liz and Max held Alyyx in their arms as tears ran inexorably down both of their faces.

“It’s okay, Alyyx… You’re home now!” Max said.

Alyyx nodded. He knew that it was true. The fog was still lifting from his brain, but already he knew… He was “home.” Alyyx did not remember this word, but he had no doubt of its meaning. He was home.

Varec stood with Shag and Maya. The three of them watched the reunions with a few tears in their own eyes. Turning to Shag, Varec smiled…

“Well, Shaqor… That’s two down… There are only 222,138 Antarian children left to find now…”

Shag nodded, still smiling. It seemed a daunting task, finding so many children, but Varec was right. It wasn’t only Max and Liz’s children or Michael and Maria’s children… or even his own precious little daughter, who still was out there somewhere… There were 222,138 more Antarian children to be found or to account for. And account for them or find them he would… all 222,138 of them… if it took him the rest of his life!

Chapter 11 - "Rumors and Dragons"

On Antar, Diane Casey and Dan Klein sat at a table in the CrashDown enjoying lunch together. From his table, Dan could see the beach across the street and the beautiful Golden Sea.

“It doesn’t seem right somehow, Diane. The beach is so beautiful… and it’s a weekend… but the beach is practically deserted…”

Diane nodded. “It wasn’t always that way, Dan. Before ‘the Darkness’ happened, that beach used to be crowded on weekends with children and their parents. I can still see them in my mind… still hear their cries of joy as they played…” Diane shook her head and looked down slightly. “It’s sad now.”

“I wish there was something I could do, Diane. I know Max and Michael and some of the others are on Xarius right now talking about the children. Did I hear right that they think some of them could have survived?”

“That’s supposed to be a secret for the time being… until they know if it’s true or not… but I’ve never seen anything spread so fast in my life as this rumor. I think all of Antar is on pins and needles. About half of the Antarians I know didn’t go to work today or leave their homes. They’re just glued to their vision screens looking for news… any kind of news. And the news reporters aren’t talking about anything else. All day it’s been the one and only topic. They don’t have a shred of news, but they’re expanding every word to fill every minute of the day with every latest rumor.”

“Just like they do on Earth,” Dan laughed. “I can understand, though. I just wish I could do something to help!”

Suddenly, Jeff Parker ran out of the back of the CrashDown accompanied by 24-year-old Korina, the only employee who had showed up today. Korina had been a 15-year-old when “The Darkness” happened. She was one of the youngest children not taken by the tragedy. Korina excitedly made an announcement in Antarian, and the three people in the café besides Diane and Dan left their food on their plates and ran from the restaurant. Dan saw that the few people on the beach also were running somewhere in a real hurry.

“They found two of the children!” Jeff said excitedly. “The news just came in!” Jeff turned to Korina, “Korina, you can go home if you want to,” Jeff said. “I can handle things here. I mean… there’s no one here anyway, right?”

Korina smiled and took off her apron. In an Antarian second, she was out the door.

“What’s this about, Jeff?” Diane asked.

“Come on,” Jeff said, motioning toward the back with his head. “We can watch on the vision screen in the back.”

Diane and Dan followed him into the back. On the screen, the reporter was talking fast in Antarian.

“They found two children. They’re alive and well,” said Diane. “They were on a moon of Ghorbidfael -That’s the Ghors’ planet!- Okay… they’re saying that the two children were being chased through the woods, and Max and Michael and Shag… and Liz and Maria… rescued them somehow from the Ghors.”

“The Ghors?” Dan queried.

“I told you about them once,” Diane said. They’re the ones that tried to take over our ship on the way here. It was the kids and the pawgor that saved us.”

“And they came back and took all the kids… Revenge maybe?” Dan surmised. …But how? Didn’t they all supposedly die?”

“They’re saying that they didn’t die… that they were transported to the Ghors’ ship and sold as slaves… or… oh!”

Dan didn’t press for more information.

“Can you get me in touch with Max, Diane?”

“I don’t know, Dan… I… maybe. I think I can. I could try. Why?”

“I want to offer my help if they need it to get any of the kids back. If they need to kick some Ghor butt, maybe I could help. I was a pretty decent tackle on the football team in college… and a damn good kicker!”

Diane smiled and touched Dan on the cheek with her hand.

“I’ll see what I can do. I’ve got a feeling that after this announcement, there isn’t going to be any shortage of Antarians wanting to join you. What about your job… on Earth, I mean?”

“I’ll have to split my time… you know, ‘It’s lunch time! Think I’ll have a hamburger and kick a few Ghor butts before going back to work!’”

Diane laughed.

“It can be managed with that portal you use,” Dan said.

“Dan, you’re a riot!” Diane laughed. “I guess that’s why I love you! I’ll tell Max you want to help however they can use you.”

Dan smiled.

----------

On Xarius, Liz and Maria were getting to know two of their children again.

“Varec?” Liz said, sniffing, with a smile, “It’s your turn… Sphere of Searches!”

“Ask.”

“Where is Liz-JoLee z’Varec?”

There was a brief pause. Varec understood more keenly now how Liz and Maria had felt while waiting for the answer from the sphere. The wait took perhaps five seconds… but it felt like eternity.

“Liz-JoLee z’Varec is on Drago… in the Dragon capitol,” said the sphere.

“Sphere of Visions,” Liz said.

“Ask.”

“Let us see Liz-JoLee z’Varec.”

In the mist appeared a young girl about 17. With her were a few dozen other young beings… most were not Antarians. But two other children in the group did appear to be Antarian. Liz looked closer. She and Max both gasped. One was JoLeesa, one of the triplets. The other was an Antarian child whom they did not recognize. The children appeared to be being corralled and “herded” from a building into an open field. Liz did not like the look of the creatures that were herding them… and she had a very bad feeling about the whole thing.

Suddenly, the Dragons released all the creatures they were herding. The children began to run. Then the Dragons ran after them.

“NO!” Shag yelled so loudly that everyone in the room froze. “NO! IT’S THE DRAGON FEAST! WE MUST GET THEM RIGHT NOW! IMMEDIATELY! The children will be ripped apart by their teeth and eaten alive as each one is caught! I’ve heard about this… I had never seen it before. LIZ, NOW!”

Liz stammered… “Sph… Sphere of… Portal! NOW!”

The portal appeared. Max, Michael, Varec, Shag, Liz and Maria leapt through the portal and directly into the center of the killing field of the Dragons of Drago.

Chapter 12 - "The Battle Of The Killing Arena"

Max, Michael, Shag, Varec, Liz, and Maria stepped through the portal directly into the center of the killing arena of the Dragons of Drago.

“I hope you’ve got a plan, Max!” Michael said as he saw the mob charging in their direction.

“I’ll think of one.”

“Well, you’d better think of it now, Max, because WE ARE out of time!”

The first few victims running from the Dragons were upon them.

“Liz! Open the portal!” Max yelled over the roar of the approaching Dragons.

“Portal!” Liz called out… “Take the children who enter to Xarius, but do not allow any Dragon to enter.”

Liz did her best, with Maria’s help, to “herd” the running children toward the portal. Six of them ran into the portal. Four more ran around it and continued on toward the forest. The remainder were just now arriving. Unfortunately, so were the Dragons.

Without mercy, two Dragons at once pounced on their first victim, a young creature from the planet Karis. The young Karisian screamed as the Dragons sank their teeth into a leg and an arm, preparing to rip him apart. Max and Michael, sharing the same thought, threw two fully charged power bolts at the two Dragons vying over the catch. The Dragons reared back and roared in pain, dropping their prey. Before the Dragons realized what had happened, Liz and Maria grabbed the young Karisian and ran him through the portal, each one holding an arm.

At the same moment, a second victim was grabbed in the teeth of a very large Dragon. Max and Michael threw two more power bolts, but this Dragon’s skin must have been thicker due to its size. The Dragon growled in pain but did not release the prey, a Vindulian child about twelve years old. Shag raised both of his hands and placed one over the top of the other. A beam shot forward, and the Dragon’s head exploded.

“Wow!” Michael said, “Remind me not to ever get Shag mad!”

Max nodded, his own eyes still pretty big. The Dragon lay on the ground with smoke pouring from where its head had once been. Varec had already grabbed the Vindulian child, and Liz and Maria had just reappeared through the portal. Varec handed Maria the rescued child, and Maria carried it through the portal.

Up to this point, the group from Xarius had only had to contend with a few of the faster victims and Dragons, who had arrived ahead of the main mob, but now many more were arriving. Max and Michael began throwing power bolts at random Dragons in an effort to stop them or slow them down. Shag, too, was firing off short beams of energy, but they seemed to become less and less powerful with each succeeding shot. Max and Michael, too, were tiring, and the Dragons were beginning to be less afraid of, even ignoring, the less powerful, semi-depleted power bolts.

The portal reappeared, and Liz and Maria stepped back through with reinforcements. Kyle Valenti and Dan Klein had shown up, asking to be allowed to help. Liz and Maria led them through the portal and directly onto the “battlefield.”

Dan and Kyle quickly sized up the situation.

“Kyle!” said Dan Klein… Kyle looked over at Dan. Dan made some circular motions with his fingers and traced an imaginary line through the circles. Kyle nodded.

“Go!” Dan yelled.

Kyle ran in one direction and Dan in the other, circling through the Dragons and their intended victims. Several Dragons were already upon various young victims. Kyle tackled the first Dragon hard, knocking it off its feet. As he did, he snatched up the Gredorian child and rushed her out past the Dragons. Three other Dragons were bearing down on Kyle and the child he held in his arms. Their long legs were impossible to outrun for long. As the three Dragons pounced, Kyle zigged suddenly and passed the child off to Dan, who had run through the mob from the other direction, so confusing the Dragons that they collided with each other. Dan rushed the Gredorian girl through the portal.

“Touchdown!” Kyle said to himself with a smile. Meanwhile, Kyle was not waiting for Dan to return to go after another Dragon. Rushing through the Dragon “line of offense,” Kyle bumped a Dragon that had just caught a Jyristi child about six years old. The Dragon dropped the child and Kyle grabbed her and ran zigging and zagging as the Dragons gave chase.

“Hey, you fumbled!” Kyle yelled back at his pursuers. “Get over it!”

Max took the Jyristi child from Kyle and rushed her through the portal as Dan reappeared from the other side. Dan and Kyle glanced at each other. Dan made some motions, and again, Kyle nodded. They both rushed straight down the middle through the mob of Dragons. Two Dragons had caught an older child by both arms, which they would have ripped off immediately.

Kyle hit the first Dragon hard with his shoulder. Dan hit the second equally hard with his shoulder. Both Dragons bellowed as they were spun around and forced to release their holds on their victim. Dan put the victim over his shoulder without stopping as Kyle threw himself sideways into the two Dragons, bringing them both crashing to the ground. Dan rushed the girl to Varec, who took her and gasped,

“Liz-JoLee!”

Varec rushed his daughter through the portal to the palace on Xarius. Max had already been forced to remain at the palace for the moment in order to heal the wounds of the many rescued victims. The Dragons’ teeth had made horrible injuries to legs, arms, shoulders… luckily, so far, none had been fatal, and Max had been able to save them and heal them all.

Varec laid Liz-JoLee down in front of Max. Max grimaced slightly as he looked at her wounds then placed both hands first on one of her torn arms then on the other as a greenish glow under his hands brought mending to torn tissues and new health to an injured body.

Meanwhile, on Drago, Dan and Kyle continued to go after the Dragons and deprive them of victims. Dan had rushed into the middle of a small group of Dragons and up to one that was hovering over a young boy from Nordos. Pausing just long enough to motion, Dan placed a finger over the Dragon’s head. Kyle grinned and rushed forward. As the Dragon turned to face Kyle, Kyle kicked. His boot went up, catching the Dragon in what was apparently a sensitive area. The Dragon let out a scream in a pitch much higher than it had been using before.

“And… It’s GOOD!” Dan yelled to Kyle, who smiled and gave Dan a thumbs up.

Although Kyle and Dan were having astonishing success rescuing the Dragons’ intended victims, the sheer volume of Dragons and victims on the field now made it a sure thing that some of the children would be killed before they could be rescued. Michael and Shag were still throwing power bolts and had had some success using Kyle’s tackle maneuver on a few Dragons, but it just was not enough.

Then Liz reappeared through the portal, bringing with her two new reinforcements.

“Liz! How? I mean… Where did you… How did you…?” a shocked Michael tried to ask.

“I used the spheres to find him and go get him. Then Varec brought the pawgor to us on Xarius. Then I used the portal to get us here.”

“Dang! I think that fellow gets bigger every time I see him!” Michael said, looking at the pawgor. “Does Danyy have his memory back?”

Liz nodded.

“Sorry to rescue you then throw you into a battle, Danny,” Michael said. “I guess these are desperate times… They certainly are for some of these children out here.”

Danyy looked at the pawgor, and the pawgor rushed into the melée, quickly sinking its own huge front “fangs” into the behind of a Dragon that had a ten-year-old Corshic girl in its mouth. The Dragon roared and dropped the girl as he spun around to see who or what had taken a bite out of him. He was totally unprepared for what he saw. His skin turned even brighter green than it already had been from the excitement of the hunt.

Apparently, the pawgor found Dragon meat less disgusting than Ghor meat. A good portion of rump was removed from the Dragon, which did its best to limp off. Other Dragons nearby dropped their victims and ran as they watched the pawgor make a meal out of the piece it had removed from the first Dragon. It seemed that the Dragons loved making meals out of other live creatures but had an aversion to being eaten themselves. Of course, this was probably the first time any Dragon had ever met anything that could make a meal out of a Dragon.

It appeared that now, with the arrival of the pawgor, the odds were at least even of rescuing most of the children on the field.

But there was to be one more unexpected surprise. Somehow, Danyy’s “owner,” Ee-l’wee, the little Aklatian, had followed Danyy and found him. She appeared now, flying with her four dragonflylike wings, in front of Michael and Shag, who sheltered Danyy. Ee-l’wee reached out for Danyy, and Michael reached his hand out to swat her away.

“NO!” Danny yelled. Surprised, Michael pulled his hand back.

“I’m not letting some little human dragonfly take you away, Danyy, now that we’ve got you back. Who is this little ‘fairy?’”

“She’s Ee-l’wee. She bought me from the Ghors. She… she treated me good. She has a zoo on her planet.”

“She put you in a zoo?” Michael said disgusted.

“No,” Danyy said. “I lived in her house. I controlled the animals for her. But you can’t hit her!”

“Why not?” Michael asked.

At that moment, a nearby Dragon decided to make a meal out of the little flying Aklatian. The Dragon reached out to snatch Ee-l’wee out of the air, but as it did so, its entire body lit up as though struck by lightning. The Dragon crumpled to the ground, smoke coming from every pore on its body.

“Oh!” Michael said… “That’s why, huh?”

Danyy turned to Ee-l’wee.

“Please Ee-l’wee. These are my people. And they need help. You told me that the Ghors disgust you and you don’t believe in selling intelligent children. But the Ghors sold all the children on this field to the Dragons to be killed and eaten for a holiday festival. Will you help?”

Ee-l’wee looked at Danyy mournfully then turned and flew through the mob of Dragons. It was too easy. No Dragon could seem to resist the little flying morsel. Many dropped the children they had already caught to go after Ee-l’wee. Each one that touched her suffered the same fate. It was cooked to well-done, smoke pouring out every pore and opening of its body. And yet… the Dragons simply could not understand that she was a threat. They could perceive the pawgor as a threat, and they ran from the pawgor, which already had saved a dozen children and gorged itself on Dragon flesh. But a little 15-inch high flying “fairy” was just impossible for the Dragons to perceive as a threat, even seeing it with their own eyes. One by one, the Dragons were struck by a lightning-like power they had never experienced before.

Kyle and Dan rescued the last two victims, whisking them away from under confused Dragons’ noses. Then the field was quiet.

The only bodies visible on the field were Dragons. Most were either missing chunks or smoking. The ones that could had run away. The children who were injured had all been whisked through the portal to Xarius. There were still four children to account for… the ones who had initially run around the portal and made it to the forest after Max and Michael and gang stopped their pursuers from catching them.

“We’d better see if we can find the missing kids quickly,” Michael said. “The Dragons will surely be back with weapons.”

Shag shook his head. “They’ll be back… and with reinforcements… but not weapons.”

“How do you know?” Michael asked.

“Because weapons are a ‘no-no’ in Dragon culture. It’s not that they’re pacifists, obviously. It’s just that it’s part of Dragon culture that any Dragon incapable of bringing down an enemy or victim with its teeth and claws is deemed unfit and eliminated from the gene pool.”

“As in…”

“As in ‘killed.’ Or if it is a very important Dragon… a technician or scientist or something, it may just be castrated.”

“Oh,” Michael said, “Is that all? ‘just’ castrated?”

Shag grinned. “Got to keep the gene pool strong and vicious.”

“Danyy,” Michael said, turning to the now 18-year-old boy. Can the pawgor find the missing children and bring them back?”

Danyy smiled and nodded. The pawgor rushed off into the forest. Within minutes, it returned with three of the children. One was an Antarian girl. She was sitting on the pawgor’s back. Behind her was a Dinuvian girl, who was holding tightly onto the Antarian girl. In the pawgor’s mouth, carefully restrained behind its two huge front teeth was a younger Kirishi boy, only about 6 years old. The boy was obviously less inclined to take the ride and still struggled to get free, but to no avail.

Liz ran to the Antarian girl and threw her arms around her crying as the girl slid off the pawgor’s back.

“JoLeesa! Oh, JoLeesa!”

JoLeesa smiled broadly and hugged Liz.

“You know who I am?” Liz asked. “You have your memory?”

“I do now,” JoLeesa answered. “When I saw the pawgor, it all started coming back. I thought about Danyy… then I remembered you and Daddy!”

“Oh, JoLeesa! …Let’s go home!” Liz cried.

JoLeesa turned to the Dinuvian girl. “Mom, this is Darja. She’s from Dinuvia. She’s been here since the same day I was brought here.

Liz smiled. “Come on, Darja! We’re all going home. We’ll be notifying your people where you are.” Liz looked at the boy in the pawgor’s mouth… “You, too!” She held out her hand to the boy, and the pawgor released him and rushed into the forest to find the other missing child. Liz took JoLeesa and the two that were with her, and the three passed through the portal.

Minutes later, the pawgor returned with a small Finisi girl carefully restrained in its mouth. Shag took the child as Danyy hugged and petted the pawgor. Then the three of them passed through the portal. The battle of the killing arena was over. Now each child had to be identified and his or her home planet notified.

The rescue had been remarkably successful -with a little unexpected help! Max had been able to heal all of the children’s injuries, and all the children held by the Dragons had been rescued. It would not go down in Dragon history as one of their better festivals. Antar and Xarius had undoubtedly made one enemy this day. But new alliances and strong bonds were about to be forged all over the galaxies with other planets… planets that would soon be getting back children they had all thought were dead.

Chapter 13 - "Celebration"

On Antar, everywhere, vision screens were flashing:

“URGENT NOTICE! JUST IN! MORE CHILDREN FOUND ALIVE - RESCUED FROM PLANET DRAGO !

It was impossible to describe the mood of jubilation and sheer joy that ran like a wildfire from one end of Antar to the other. The news reporters were breathless with the reports; and to top it off, they had VisionStream, the Antarian version of video, of some of the battle, filmed by an independent correspondent from a ship in space. The news anchors noted that all of the children, Antarians and non-Antarians, had been rescued and taken to Xarius where King Zan himself had healed each one’s wounds.

Antarians watched the news and the VisionStream then ran into the streets rejoicing, dancing, crying, and hugging each other. Such happiness had not been seen on Antar in many years. Real hope ran through every Antarian that they might actually again see the children they had lost - alive and well!

For one family in the Grelligo region of Antar’s south, the news was especially sweet. Though none of the children had yet been officially identified by the authorities, the family of GrelJorlis saw their child on the news VisionStream. They watched as Kyle and Dan rescued him from a Dragon… They watched as Liz and Maria took him through the portal. The family of GrelJorlis knew that BrenJonyyt was alive. So did many of their neighbors, who rushed to tell them that they had seen their son on the VisionStream. The house of GrelJorlis was a party all day. Everyone celebrated, and Grelligan jubish flowed like the waters of the nearby river.

----------

On Xarius, in the palace of King Shaqor and Queen MayaSabriena, Max, Michael, Liz, Maria, Varec, Shag, and Maya all worked tirelessly to try to identify the children and the planets that they had come from. Shag, with his 10,000 plus years of experience traveling the galaxies, was a huge help. He was able to communicate with most of the children and was familiar with many of their planets. Liz and Maria catalogued the information. They had rescued a total of 57 children from the Dragons; the children ranged in age from five to nineteen.

Another small problem was Ee-l’wee. The little Aklatian had been allowed to return to the palace on Xarius with them. Ee-l’wee knew that Danyy was not going back to Aklat with her. Danyy was home… or almost home… except for one small detail. Ee-l’wee still had the older female… the one the Antarian children had called “Mother.” The one that had been so protective of Danyy that she had somehow been able to see the transporter beam that took Danyy away and had thrown herself into it and gone with him rather than let him go.

Ee-l’wee still had the female… and she knew what she had to do. Ee-l’wee held out her hand and intoned a word in Aklatian, “Bal’yeet.” A sphere appeared in her hand, and Ee-l’wee said, “Jemet… Aklat.” A portal opened, and the little Aklatian disappeared.

“She has a set of spheres!” Michael said in amazement. She has spheres, too!”

Shag smiled and nodded.

“I thought…” Michael started…

“…that ours were the only ones?” Shag said, finishing his sentence. “No. The spheres are very, very rare. There are only five sets in the entire universe… and they are priceless… but not unique.”

Suddenly, Ee-l’wee reappeared, and with her was the female.

Liz and Maria gasped… “Kathleen?”

“We thought you…” Michael started to say. “We thought you…”

“We thought you had jumped into the river after Danyy disappeared,” Max said for Michael. “Someone saw you running toward the river. They said you jumped. No one ever found your body.”

“I didn’t jump in the river,” Kathleen said. I saw the beam sweep over slowly and take Danyy, and something appeared in his place… something that looked like dust remains. Then I saw the beam move away, and I ran after it. I jumped into it as it reached the river. I guess it might have looked like I threw myself in the river at that… to anyone looking.”

“Oh my God!” Liz said. “Wait till Jim finds out! He’ll get both of you back! Jim’s going to be soooo happy!”

“You know what really broke my heart,” Maria said. Mom and I went over to the ranch one day, and Jim was sitting there on the porch petting the pawgor… and both of them looked like they had lost everything that they had ever lived for. Jim was rubbing the pawgor’s back and saying, You miss ‘em, too, don’t you, boy… The pawgor came around every day looking for Danyy.”

Liz hugged Kathleen then Maria and MayaSabriena hugged her.

Kathleen turned to Ee-l’wee, “I never thought I would ever see Jim again, and that broke my heart… but I am so thankful that you bought me, too, when you took Danyy from the Ghors. I don’t know how I could have made it if you had taken him away from me. And thank you for treating us kindly. I don’t condone selling or buying slaves either one, but… if you hadn’t taken us, someone or something else would have… and they would probably have split us up. And… we don’t know how they would have treated us.”

Ee-l’wee smiled, though somewhat sadly.

Dan Klein asked, “Ee-l’wee… do you have any animals from Earth in your zoo?”

Ee-l’wee shook her head.

“Liz?” Dan said. Liz knew what he wanted. She called the portal, and Dan stepped through it. Twenty minutes later, he was back, and he had by the hand a pair of young chimpanzees.

“They’re for you,” Dan said to Ee-l’wee.

Ee-l’wee flew around the chimpanzees, looking at them with amazement.

“Are they intelligent, Dan Klein?”

Dan smiled. “Compared to a Ghor… probably… but not as higher life forms.”

Ee-l’wee actually broke a smile. “I like you, Dan Klein! Thank you!”

Dan released the two chimpanzees, and Ee-l’wee took them by the hands. They seemed to like her.

“Bal’yeet,” Ee-l’wee said. A portal appeared. “Jemet… Aklat.”

“Ee-l’wee,” Max said.

Ee-l’wee looked back.

“Thanks for the help with the Dragons.”

Ee-l’wee smiled again… then she stepped through the portal with the two chimpanzees by the hand.

----------

On Antar, the news was still running without interruption, and the celebrations were still going on in the streets. Antarians were already talking about Kyle and Dan’s unconventional battle techniques and that marvelous pawgor. Somehow, seeing “their” pawgor rescuing Antarian and other children on a far away planet gave them a sense of great pride. The scenes of the pawgor taking a bite out of the first Dragon’s rear end and the scene where Kyle zigged and passed a child off to Dan, who came from the opposite direction then ran through the portal with the child as the confused Dragons collided with each other were played over and over. They were sure to become Antarian classic clips, as was the scene where a Dragon tried to grab Ee-l’wee and wound up on the ground smoking.

For Antarians, today was a good day… a day to rejoice… a day to be happy and celebrate. And Antar was not the only planet celebrating. The news was out… and spreading at the speed of light.

On Ghorbidfael, Hosk had gone into deep hiding. Already, his planet was surrounded by a ragtag fleet of ships from numerous different planets, all with one object for their visit… to kill Hosk.

Chapter 14 - "Gifts and Powers"

”Shag?” Michael said questioningly…

“Yes?”

“How is it, you think, that Kathleen was able to see the transporter beam that took Danyy? Nobody else saw it. Not one single Antarian saw it. I didn’t see it… Maria didn’t see it… Max and Liz didn’t see it… So how do you think Kathleen saw it?”

Shag raised his eyebrows slightly and shrugged. “I don’t know… but if I had to guess, I would say that she has developed a gift.”

“A gift? You mean, as in a power?”

“Call it what you want, Michael… it’s a gift. She saw something that others couldn’t see.”

Michael nodded… “Yeah… Jim deflected a falling branch from a kid once by putting his hand up… but Max healed Jim once, and we figured that’s how he got his power.”

“Didn’t he heal Kathleen, too, after that thing that happened on Earth… in the mountains?”

“Yeah, that’s right… he did… You know about that?”

“I heard. You know, Michael, their son, Danyy has a gift, too. He talks to animals. Yet both of his parents are from Earth.”

“Yeah… that’s true. My kids and Max’s have some special abilities; but then of course, we’re part Antarean to begin with.”

“Max! Michael!” Liz called… “I’m going to get Maya from that place where we saw her rocking a baby crib when we used the Sphere of Visions before.”

“Oh, yeah,” said Michael… “She looked okay, but that was one weird, furry baby! I’ll get her for you, Liz. Call the portal.”

“Thanks, Michael… Portal!

…Take Michael to my daughter, MayaSabriena.”

The portal appeared, and Michael stepped through it. In front of him, across the room, was Maya, rocking the baby crib and singing softly as before. Michael stepped forward toward Maya… but before he had taken his second step, something hit him hard, throwing him violently across the room. Michael had only got a glimpse of the huge hand coming at him from the side before it had connected with his head.

Lying crumpled against the wall in the corner of the room, Michael looked up in time to see it rushing at him. This time, he reacted, moving out of the way of the charging… whatever-it-was. It moved fast! Michael moved faster! “Whatever-it-was” stood about seven feet high; but it walked stooped over, so it was probably actually taller. It was covered with thick reddish-black fur. It’s face somewhat resembled a gorilla’s but was much longer and bigger. It had two very large lower teeth protruding upward about 12 inches out of the lower jaw. Its arms were huge, and its hands, if that’s what they could be called, were the size of car tires… in fact, as Michael thought about it, that’s pretty much how he felt… as though he had been hit by a car.

Michael put his right hand up and the palm began to glow green. The creature seemed to recognize the danger and backed off. Standing back up, Michael reached out to Maya with his left hand while keeping his right hand aimed at the creature…

“Maya! Come with me,” he coaxed.

Maya looked unsure and frightened. She had no idea who Michael was. For a moment, it seemed that she might not move. But after quick consideration, Maya decided that although she had no idea who Michael might be… she did know Grezhf… Grezhf worked her 20 hours a day with only 4 hours to sleep. Grezhf made her clean the house, take care of the baby, comb her fur for her and pick the bugs out of it… Grezhf made her cook the meals then threw her the left over fat and bones that she had chewed on for her meals… and Grezhf beat her mercilessly when she was tired or feeling ill. Maya held out her hand to Michael. Michael took it, and the two of them stepped quickly through the portal.

As they stepped into the palace of King Shaqor on Xarius, Liz rushed to Maya and hugged her, and tears began to brim up in her eyes all over again. Maya seemed confused and slightly flustered. She pulled back slightly and looked at Liz then at Max… then Michael… then Maria. She didn't understand why, but there was a comfortable feeling here… a comfortable feeling about these people. Maya put her arms around Liz, and Liz began to cry. As she did, the veil that had shrouded Maya's memory began to come down. Maya began to remember… and tears came to her eyes, too. She hugged Liz tighter…

"Mama! Mama! Mama! Where have I been? How could I have forgotten you? How could I have forgotten everything?"

She looked at Max, who was standing beside her now, wiping tears from his own eyes. She hugged Max as he wrapped her in his arms together with Liz.

"You know, Liz," Max said wiping another tear from his cheek, "This is so wonderful… I'm kind of glad we only have four children. I'm not sure how much happiness I could take!"

Liz smiled and hugged him closer. "You'd better get used to it, Honey! I've got a feeling that every child we return to a family is going to feel like our own child all over again. Your heart is just going to have to be strong."

Max nodded.

“Max, I want to find Andya. We got Alyyx from the Ghors, we got JoLeesa from Drago, and now we’ve got Maya back from whatever that was. Andya’s our last one missing.”

Max nodded. But he looked around the room. Varec had Liz-Jolee back, Michael and Maria had Jayyd back but were still missing Zorel and Kryys, Jim would be getting Danyy and Kathleen back now; but Kyle and Jeliya… Kyle stood there looking happy for all the others, but Max knew how he felt inside. Rayyn and Taz were still missing. So were lots of others.

“Liz, let’s find Rayyn next… okay?”

Liz looked at Kyle… She nodded.

“Sphere of Searches!”

“Ask.”

“Where is Rayyn Valenti?”

There was a pause of a few seconds then the sphere answered, “Rayyn Valenti is on Yargish in the house of Narwha the retired space captain.”

“Portal!”

“Uh… wait a minute,” Michael said… After that last one, I think we should take a look before we just go charging in.” Michael rubbed his jaw.

Liz nodded… “Sphere of Visions!”

“Ask!”

“Let us see Rayyn Valenti.”

A mist appeared in the room, and a vision appeared. It was Rayyn, and with him was a female, possibly Antarian. The two were inside some kind of clear enclosure. Outside the enclosure sat a very strange creature, but it did not appear to be anything like Grezhf. This creature was extremely tall, perhaps 20 feet, but thin as a reed. It looked fairly harmless, but Michael knew that looks could be deceiving. After all, Ee-l’wee had “looked” harmless, too. The Dragons sure found out otherwise.

“Portal!” Liz said.

Max, Michael, Liz, Kyle, Shag, and Maria all stepped through together. Narwha stood up as the intruders appeared. Suddenly, they were looking up at Narwha… way up… “treetop” up! It was disconcerting. Narwha bent down and looked at the intruders. Before he had bought the female from Hosk, Narwha had never seen any member of her species. Then he had bought the male. Now, here stood a whole handful of creatures of her species right in front of him.

It had never occurred to Narwha that the creatures he had bought from Hosk might actually be “higher life forms.” Oh, he knew they were intelligent… probably more so than the average animal… but not higher life forms. Now he was surprised by the appearance of these others through a portal. Narwha knew of the spheres. He was a well-traveled Yargishi. He had never seen one of the fabled spheres personally, but he knew that, without a shadow of a doubt, any creature that had the use of the spheres was a higher life form. Of this there could be no doubt.

Narwha easily reached over the enclosure with his long arms and picked up the boy. He placed him in front of the new arrivals. Then he reached in and took out the female. For the first time, Liz and Max saw her face. It was Andya. Max and Liz moved quickly to Andya’s side. Kyle was already at Rayyn’s side.

“I think you want these,” Narwha said in Yargishi.

“DarShela,” said Shag, which in Yargishi meant, “Thank You.”

Narwha repeated the phrase, “DarShela,” knowing that the intruders would be in their full right to take the “hostages” by force but had not resorted to violence unnecessarily. Narwha tried to explain that he had not realized they were higher intelligent life forms and had bought them from Hosk as pets… he had treated them well.

“We understand,” Shag said… “We blame Hosk for the most part… Hosk and all the Ghors, because they are slave traders by a matter of their culture.” Shag asked Narwha if he had any information on any of the other victims sold by Hosk. Narwha told him that he knew that some, including at least one Antarian girl who looked exactly like the one he had bought were sold to the Dragons of Drago.

Shag nodded…

“We know about that… They have already been rescued.”

Narwha seemed genuinely happy to know this. It had saddened him when he had learned that the other girl like the one he had bought was sold to the Dragons, because he knew what the Dragons did with them. Narwha had no love for the Dragons of Drago.

“Hosk keeps the pets in a subterranean area on the Ghor moon of Gadyslar,” Narwha said. “It is a huge area, and there are hundreds… many hundreds… of ‘pets’ there at any given time. The subterranean holding area is very sophisticated. It has separate areas for different types of pets and all the information on each of them is kept there… what they eat, how they live, where they come from, everything.”

“This is very useful information!” said Shag. “We need to get a hold of those records. And, of course, we want to liberate all of Hosk’s ‘pets!’ Hosk only deals in higher intelligent life forms… slaves.”

“He told me they were pets,” Narwha said sorrowfully… apologetically.

“Hosk will say that they are vegetables if vegetables are what someone wants to buy and someone is willing to pay his price for the vegetables,” Shag said.

Narwha already knew this was true. Though he had treated his “pets” well and had indeed been told by Hosk that they were pets, somewhere in his heart and soul Narwha now realized that he had always suspected -perhaps known- that they were more than that. He had allowed himself to believe what he wanted to believe, and this made him guilty.

“I will help you in any way that you would like me to help to obtain the freedom of your young people whom Hosk has taken,” Narwha said.

Shag looked at Narwha and smiled slightly as he nodded… “DarShela, Narwha. We will let you know if we can use your services. For now, we thank you for the information you have given us and for the return of our children.”

“DarosYoviv,” said Narwha… “You’re welcome.”

Max, Michael, Liz, Maria, Shag, and Kyle stepped back through the portal with Andya and Rayyn. Once in the palace of King Shaqor, Liz threw her arms around Andya and began to kiss her face. Max hugged her, too.

“Andya, you’re home now!” Max said… “You’re home! I’m your Daddy; and this is your Mama.”

Andya, who had learned to understand some Yargishi over her years with Narwha, though she had never spoken, already understood that in some way she belonged with Liz and Max, but the fog that shrouded her mind was still there. She knew… but she had no memory.

Rayyn, too, had learned to understand Yargishi and knew that he belonged with Kyle. In some way, he was beginning to feel something. Kyle held him close to his chest and ran his hand up and down Rayyn’s back. He wiped tears from his eyes as he laid his head down on top of Rayyn’s and kissed him. Rayyn put his arms around Kyle. It just felt right somehow.

Shag came back into the room with Maya, JoLeesa, and Alyyx with him.

“Andya!”

Andya looked at Shag.

Shag pushed Maya, JoLeesa, and Alyyx in front of him.

“Andya,” said Alyyx, holding out his hand to his sister. Andya took Alyyx’s hand then Maya’s and JoLeesa’s, and tears began to roll down Andya's cheeks. She turned and grabbed Liz, pulling Liz to herself and hugging her tightly. Maya, JoLeesa, and Alyyx all joined in and put their arms around Liz, Max, and Andya together. In the center of the "hug," Liz was in Heaven.

Chapter 15 - “Return To Gadyslar"

”I think it’s time we paid Hosk another visit,” Shag said. “If Narwha the Yargishi is right, we may find more children there, and we should also try to find Hosk’s records of his slave sales.”

Michael and Max agreed.

“Sphere of Visions,” Shag called.

Being the original owner of the spheres, Shag was able to call on them at will.

“Ask!”

“Show us the subterranean slave chambers on Gadyslar.”

In the mist, they saw an underground chamber. It appeared to be large… and possibly abandoned.

“Sphere of Visions.”

“Ask!”

“Show us the children in the slave chambers.”

In the mist, children appeared. Shag, Max, and Michael saw children of numerous species locked in rooms off to the sides.

“Sphere of Visions.”

“Ask!”

“Show us any Antarian children in the slave chambers on Gadyslar,” said Shag.

In the mist, children appeared… Antarian without a doubt… They counted at least forty, but there were clearly many more. Unfortunately, they did not recognize any of the children they saw. This was not surprising, since over 200,000 children were missing from Antar alone.

“How are we going to do this?” Michael asked. “There may be hundreds of children down there who need to be rescued. We can’t just ‘portal’ them all back here.”

Shag and Max nodded their agreement.

“We need a plan,” Shag said.

A moment later, he chuckled, “…and I think I just thought of it!”

“Portal!” Shag called. “Take us to the bridge of my ship, the ‘Xarius Voyager.’”

Shag, Max, and Michael stepped through the portal onto the bridge of the huge ship.

“How far are we from Ghorbidfael?” Shag asked the Captain in charge.’’

“Eight minutes, sir,” the Captain answered.

“Set a course for the Ghor moon of Gadyslar.”

“Yes, sir!”

Eight minutes later, the Xarius Voyager dropped in over the moon of Gadyslar. Shag opened the lower bay of the ship, and the ship settled over the moon like a mother hen sitting on an egg. Gadyslar was not a small moon like “Michael’s Moon,” which had spent a few days in the bay of this same ship over 10,000 years before. With a circumference of over twenty miles, Gadyslar was easily four to five times the size of Michael’s Moon, and it was probably about as large an item as Shag could fit into his lower bay, but fit it did, with room to spare. Shag closed the bay doors, and the Moon of Gadyslar floated freely within the lower bay of the Xarius Voyager.

Hundreds of small vessels traveled back and forth inside the bay of the Xarius Voyager, following established “traffic lanes,” moving from one part of the huge ship to the other. So large was this ship that several thousand individuals actually considered it their full-time home. They worked here, raised their families here, enjoyed their free time here. It was everything needed and everything that any average-sized planet might have.

“Now let’s go see if Hosk is there,” said Shag.

“Portal! Take us to the subterranean slave chambers of Gadyslar.”

The three friends stepped through the portal. At first they saw nothing but empty space. Off to the sides, Max found several smaller chambers. The doors were locked, but this was no obstacle.

“You want to do the honors?” Max asked Michael.

“Sure,” Michael replied. Michael pressed his hand to the door, and the lock fell open easily.

The three opened the door and walked in. This chamber led to more chambers. It was like a honeycomb of passageways and chambers. The three walked through the first chamber and down one of the passageways. At the end of the first passageway, they came to another chamber.

"Do you get the idea that these chambers are more like some kind of waiting areas?" Shag asked.

Michael nodded. Suddenly, Max held up his hand. "Shhh. Listen."

There was a quiet whirring sound… and it seemed to be drawing nearer. Max waved his hand over himself then over Shag and Michael, changing them to look -and smell- like Ghors, as he had done when they were on Ghorbidfael once before. The three stood against the wall and waited, as the whirring sound grew closer. Then the source of the sound appeared. It was a hover train, a series of linked hover cars designed to shuttle large groups of people and individuals back and forth. Where it was going, they did not know, but they were about to find out.

The driver, a rough-looking Ghor with one good eye, pulled over and stopped.

"Get on! Hurry it up! I don't have all day!"

"Shut up!" Shag said gruffly in Ghorish, assuming the typical Ghor attitude. "Just drive! You're not paid to talk!"

"Stuff it, flower-ass! Hosk doesn't pay me enough to shut up. I'll say what I want! Hosk still hasn't paid me for this month… or last month."

"He probably never will," Shag said, attempting to stir up the driver and loosen his tongue, though it didn't appear to need much loosening.

"He will!" The driver said. "He will if he wants to live!"

"Ha! You think you can make Hosk do anything?" Shag agitated. "Hosk has weapons… and guards…"

"Hosk thinks he does," said the driver.

"What do you mean?" asked Shag.

"I mean that Hosk doesn't have the allegiance of his own guards… or his guards' weapons."

"And you do?"

"Naw… No one has their allegiance. They work for themselves, but Hosk doesn't realize it. If he keeps on not paying them, he's going to find out."

"I heard that profits had dropped because of some of the slaves getting away and those ships out there in space," Shag said. "Maybe he can't pay us."

"Not my problem if they want Hosk's mangy head," said the driver. "He'd still better pay me. He's sold plenty of slaves… and there are plenty of slaves here still waiting to be sold."

"Well," Shag said, "That's where we're headed… to get 150 Antarian slaves for the Dragons."

The driver looked back and raised the eyebrow of his good eye. "I didn't know the Dragons could afford 150 slaves… considering what Hosk asks for them… and what he got out of the Dragons already for the slaves they lost. Besides, I think there's only 121 Antarian slaves down there… not that that's a problem… We can convince the Dragons that some of the others are Antarians."

"Yeah, well, after that King from Antar ruined their festival," Shag said, "the Dragons must have scraped together enough to buy some more… They wanted Antarians specifically."

The driver laughed. "I can see why! Revenge! …for that Antarian King interfering in their festival. Maybe Hosk will pay us now!" The driver sped up. "I'll get you down there. I was supposed to go to the Karisian area, but this sounds more important."

"You don't care what the Dragons do to the Antarian slaves?" Shag asked.

"Of course I care!" said the driver… "We all care! I put my bets on the Dragon festival like all the other drivers and guards… which kids will run the fastest, which ones will scream the most when the Dragons catch 'em, which ones will be ripped into the most pieces, which ones…"

"Alright! I get it!" said Shag.

Michael's fists were tightening. The tendons were standing out. Shag touched his hand. "Cool it," he whispered. "We need this guy for now."

"That's the only reason he's still alive," Michael whispered back.

A couple of minutes later, the driver pulled the hover train into a cul de sac next to a large door. He got out and opened the door. Inside were children… Antarian children. Michael felt a strong urge to get the children out of there without further delay, but he kept his composure, attempting to act like a Ghor. Shag noticed the effort…

"Keep it cool," he urged Michael… "You won't regret it later."

Michael nodded.

The one-eyed driver p