 
Ho gene

Ben Adams

Copyright © 2020 Ben Adams

All rights reserved.

ISBN-10: 1661516319

ISBN-13: 978-1661516314

www.benadamsbooks.com

Chapter 1

Gliding through eternal space, ten million miles away from Planet Earth, Pioneer 10 traveling across the Milky Way at speed of 51,800 kilometers per hour. Millions of twinkling stars filled the black space, gleaming like a pearl on a black velvet. Eagle Nebula rise like a sacred mountain surrounded by a glowing cloud. The sound of the tiny rocks hitting the probe, shortly breaking the silence. A bright explosion of light appeared upon Orion Nebula, caused by the explosion of a star that has reached the end of its life. A rogue planet is roaming aimlessly across the interstellar space and it's been booted out from its birthplace a long time ago and sent across the universe. Not bound to any host star, this ranger will continue roaming until invade a solar system and collide with one of the inner planets.

Pioneer 10 launched in 1972 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the first mission to study the asteroid

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Belt around Jupiter. The probe traversed the belt in

1973 and crossed the orbit of Neptune in 1983 to become the first human-made object to leave the Solar System.

The probe carries an aluminum plaque featuring a pictogram, Its representation the Hydrogen, figures of

a man and a woman, the position of our sun to the center of the Galaxy, and the earth distance to the sun.

They made this plaque in case Pioneer 10 intercepted by an alien life that want to communicate with us. That what the scientists hope, but what they don't know, Pioneer is heading toward a black hole. A region of space-time with strong gravitational effects, the probe starts to be sucking to the black hole, nothing can escape from the massive gravity, the pulls so much, not even light can escape. The probe's scientific instruments started sparking and the ultraviolet photometer recording increase of hydrogen amount.

The probe was spinning slowly, slowly then a little faster and faster, until it was at full speed. Lightning jumped from the black hole's center and struck the probe, more Lightning strikes again and again, Pioneer, looks like a plasma ball creating fascinating beams of colored light.

While it's been falling into the black hole, Pioneer stopped suddenly. The massive gravity vanished, and the acceleration become zero. The probe started to

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Glow and became brighter and then unusual physical

Phenomena occurred. Pioneer turned into some kind of

An energy pattern and then sucked into the black hole. It traveled through space and turn into matter on the other side, opposite a planet about 1,402 light-years from earth. The crew of a spaceship observed the probe and headed toward it. The ship stopped near Pioneer and seemed to be checking probe out. One of the crew started up spacewalk toward Pioneer, dragging behind him what looked like two metal disks. He attached the first one to the probe body, placed the second on the top of the previous one, and returned to his ship. The disc started spinning out and when it reached distance of five meters, the other disk started to follow it under the causes of the magnetic attraction and dragged Pioneer with it. The spaceship took an opposite direction of that planet and started a communication with a space station located thousands of miles away. The distance between the planet and the spaceship got bigger and bigger until the planet was out of the sight. The spaceships forbidden to get near that planet, and they should keep at a distance from it. That planet has only one continent with a population reached 135 million. A planet called Ho gene.

5

As soon as he come into sleep, his cell phone was ringing

like crazy on the nightstand.

He pulled a pillow over his head, but it was impossible

to block out the loudly ringing. He sat up in bed and

looked at the clock and it was one a.m.

"Are you kidding me?" he said, yawning and shaking

his head. "I worked like a horse all day." He turned over

and went back to sleep, but the phone started to ring again.

He sat up this time angrily, grabbed the phone, "Hello!

What the emergency? Why are you calling me in the

middle of the night?" he said angrily.

"Thomas." The caller's voice sounds familiar, but

he doesn't recognize the number.

"Yes, it's me." Thomas said, wondering who would

be calling at this late hour.

"It's me, Frank Herbert." Said the caller.

Thomas overcome with astonishment; Frank is the

center director at NASA's Ames Research Center.

"Does he even know I exist and working for Ames."

Thomas thought.

"Hello? Are you there?" Frank said. Thomas

beginning to tremble as he spoke through broken

sounds. "Mr. Herbert, sorry I was..." As he tried to

switch on the bedside lamp, he fell out of the bed.

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"What the hell is going on there?" Frank mumbled, and then said "Son. Are you, OK?"

Thomas took a deep breath and said, "I am sorry Mr. Herbert, how can I help you? Sir?"

"Come to the office right now," Frank ordered.

"Right now, Thomas, don't be late" Frank said and disconnected the line.

Thomas looked at the phone, mumbles to himself, "What the heck is going on?" Questions racing through his mind: "did he mess up? Did he do something that will cause him to lose his job".

"Right now." Frank last sentence pop up in his head, he rushed to the wardrobe, rummaging through the clothes and he pulled out his grey suit, black tie and sat on the edge of the bed to wear his shoes. He stands in front of the mirror, stealing a nervous smile and adjusting his tie.

He was encouraging himself by maintain a positive thinking. "Everything will be ok."

Thomas has an oval face, blue eye, brown hair, broad shouldered along with a classic Roman nose.

He was a physicist working in Ames and he has been working with the company for about four years now. The physics was his passion from earliest childhood. Mr. Franklin was his teacher in sixth grade and he often told him that he must study physics when he goes the university.

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His graduation thesis brought him an offer to work for

Ames. Thomas left his apartment, took the elevator down

to the lobby of the building to find the night watchman

was snoring loudly. As he passed him, the old

watchman stood up holding his teacup. "Whose there?"

he said, yawned, looking through half-closed eyes. "No,

not in my shift time, buddy?" He yawned again and back

to sleep. Thomas carefully walked out, trying not to

disturb the old man. He left the building walked along

the sidewalk for a while.

Thomas stood at the kerb, looking for a cab. The small

trees on the roadside swayed as the slight breeze hit

them. Some windows of the building near the signal light

gave out red, yellow and green every time the signal

changed.

He stared at the sky, watching the faint stars. "The light pollution spoiling the beautiful night sky full of stars.

There Could Be Life up there." He thought.

One cab pulled up beside him. He opened the door, sank down in the back seat. The driver looked back toward Thomas and gave him a big smile. "Where you would like to go, sir?"

"To 42 street." Thomas said. He could see the driver's eyes open wide in surprise through the car's rear-view mirror.

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"Are you working for Ames, sir? There is one building only."

"Yes, I am." Thomas said. "Oh boy, here we go, chatting with the taxi drivers." Thomas mumbled.

"I believe they are paying pretty good salaries, there." The driver said and sped up.

"Are you a scientist?" driver asked, turning the steering wheel to the right

"Actually, I am a physicist." Thomas said.

"What? Another physicist!" Driver said and turned his face toward Thomas. "I'm a really lucky person," snapped off a bar of chocolate. "Sure, am a lucky!" continued with his mouth full.

"What he's talking about? He doesn't look cranky." Thomas thought.

The driver laughed silently, and his shoulders shook. He looked at Thomas through the rearview mirror and said, "I am always telling Marta, baby, I meet famous people all the time."

He laid his right arm over front passenger seat, laughing again. "Oh, Marta, she thinks my job is useless. Marta is my wife, but sometimes I think she is crazy."

He began to mimic her voice. "Sami, you smell like a sheep, why don't you go take a shower." He smiled and snapped another piece of chocolate.

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"I think you two make a wonderful couple." Thomas said.

Sam shakes his head, saying, "Enough talking about Marta. I once picked up famous physicist, William Hawking."

"William Hawking!" Thomas taunted.

Sam nodded his head. "He was really a nice guy. We talked for about thirty minutes." He said.

Thomas crossed his arms across his chest. "What did you both talked about?" he said and put hand over his mouth, suppressing a yawn.

"The black holes." Sam said.

Thomas smiled and said, "Hawking's favorite subject."

"I told him, I find black holes really cool," Sam said and looked over his shoulder at Thomas, "I explained to

him that humans can travel through a black hole to

another planet."

This part of the conversation got Thomas attention, so he asked, "What was his opinion on this point?"

"He looked at me and he said, "Sam what enters the black hole from a side it will be spitting out from the other side much faster." indeed, he convinced me."

Sam said.

"Interesting," Thomas mumbled and leaned forward. "Did he explain to you how this happens inside the black hole?" he asked.

Sam scratched his chin and said, "According to

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Hawking's explanation, light travels faster in a black hole and we cannot see it with our eyes because it exceeds the speed of light."

"Objects on earth are visible because light reflects off them. It makes sense." Thomas said, shaking his head as if he agreed.

Sam gloated that he caught Thomas's attention.

"Black holes are so dark, because our eyes cannot see the light even though it continues to shine and travel faster." Sam said.

He giggled as he stopped the car near Ames's building and looked back at Thomas. "Hawken told me before he gets out of the car, "A black hole can act as a time machine and you can control the time by controlling the light speed and the direction." and then he left."

Thomas got out of the car and stood on the sidewalk for a moment, staring at the cab speed away.

"Well, he is such a strange man" He mumbled and made his way to the building. Once Thomas passed through the main entrance, a security guard appeared out of the corner. He pointed down the corridor. "Mr. Dobbin, this way please. They're waiting for you in the meeting room."

Thomas found himself wondering. "What might happen to hold a meeting at midnight?"

He walked along the corridor towards the meeting room. He drew his attention to a painting mounted on a wall.

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A scene depicting a rocket with feather wings protruding from the back. "Humanity's dream of flying started with the help of feathers wings." Thomas mumbled and opened the meeting room door. There were two men and a woman sitting around a large oval table. They turned their heads toward him, and he felt a little embarrassed. He held out his hand in greeting.

Thomas heard a familiar voice. "Great, we're all here." He turned and saw Frank Herbert sitting in the corner of the room.

Frank closed his laptop cover and got to his feet. "Go take your seat, Thomas," Frank said. "Let me introduce you to Julia Hopkins, a biologist at NASA."

He walked to the other side of the table and put his hands

on the back of a man's chair. "And this gentleman is Dene Elliott, a former Navy fighter pilot." He said.

He sat in one of the chairs and drummed his fingers on the wooden surface of the table, saying, "Come, Mr. Pavan,

and introduce yourself."

Thomas looked at the man. He was tall and thin, wearing round glasses, thinning black hair with a scruffy mustache. He placed a small pile of papers on the table and nodded very slightly to Frank. He got up and walked toward the display board. Everyone was looking at him until he stood beside the display board and turned to face them.

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He switched on the projector and typed the words: "Top Secret."

Dene's eyes narrowed as he was thinking hard. Julia took a deep breath, excited to hear more and Thomas looks lost among all these Events tonight.

"What I'm about to tell you is top secret, you cannot tell anyone, to your girlfriend, your husband even to your cat."

There was a short silence. "My name is John Pavan and I'm working for NASA," He said. "My department is officially non-existent." adjusting his glasses with his left hand, then coughed to clear his throat.

"When a hoax spread across the country, our job is to analyze the collected data to determine the best way to deal with the issue," John said. "Apocalyptic events, for example, can be very destructive to the economy."

He put the projector remote on the table and raised both hands just above his chest to face each other, "Each one affects each other one." He said.

"We can't stop the rumors from starting, but we attempt to cover things up." John said and gave a faint smile. He picked up the projector remote and clicked it, turned his back on and looked at the next slide.

"That is, Pioneer 10." John said, looking around the room at their faces.

"Our Ambassador to the Stars." he added proudly.

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John took a step to one side before he asked, "Can someone tell us, where is Pioneer 10 right now?"

"NASA estimated Pioneer to be approximately 10 billion miles from Earth." Thomas said.

John nodded his head and said, "That's right, Thomas." He looked up toward the ceiling. "Far away in space."

He pointed at Dene, saying, "Mr. Elliott, you surely know that the space probe uses the Hohmann transfer orbit to travel in space." John directed his hand toward Julia. "Can you explain that to Mrs. Hopkins?"

Dene crossed his arms and said. "Hohmann transfer is used to transfer objects between two circular orbits of different radii in the same plane)."

John whirled his arm in circle, pretending to throw ball. "Once you leave the nest, you can never come back," John said. "Probes are not designed to return."

He lifted his index finger and said. "But the science information that collected by the probes are important to us."

Julia could not resist asking, "Does the government hiding aliens at Area 51?" All eyes turned to her.

She expected him to quibble about it. "You are working for the Federal Government, aren't you?" Julia demanded.

"You can't fool the intelligent. "Frank said with a wide smile on his face. "Let's get things clear; I think we can trust them."

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John pulled out a chair and sat down. "I'm a federal agent and this is a national security issue." He said and looked at Julia. "As regards your question, the answer is no." he shook his head negatively. "I have been to Area 51, there is no alien and you can count on that."

Dene rubbed his eyes and mumbled. "Good, because I want to know, why we are meeting at late hours in the night." He held up his cell phone. "When I received a call from The vice Chief of Naval Operations, I told my elf is it an alert state!"

John gestured with his hands. "Not at all, there is no threats against our nation. As I told you before, we are going to cover things up." He said.

"We don't want to spread any panic," Frank Confirmed. "People like to tell rumors and spread gossip through the internet."

Thomas asked, "What do you hope to get out of us? What do you expect us to do?" Then he looked around and said, "We're in different professions, working in different fields."

"We've already informed the white house," Frank said. "They assigned the mission to Mr. Pavan to lead a group to solve the mystery before the public became aware and you have two days to finish the mission."

"We don't want to put pressure on you but expect a lot from you and we can start from now." John said.

Silence prevailed as he picked up the projector remote.

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"Watch carefully." he said, while a scale model of our solar system came into view, which showed red blip near Neptune. "The slideshow will now continually loop. Allow your eyes to focus on the red blip." They watched the red blip moving across the screen, passing Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, and mars finally stopped near Earth's moon. "Thomas, can you describe the motion of this object by its position?" Frank asked.

Thomas put a finger over his lips in deep thought for a moment. "It can't be an asteroid or a comet. It's more likely to be an object moving at a variable speed." He said. John and Frank looked at each other, before John asked, "What makes you so sure about that?"

"The speed of the object is controlled. You can guess that by compare the two variables of time and speed." Thomas said.

"I am a pilot and I agree with your theory," Dene said. "That, a spaceship."

John looked confused. "That explains a lot of things." He mumbled and walked back and forth in the room.

"It continued to move toward earth," Frank said. "For the moment we must focus on that."

"Why they didn't put the air force on alert to deal with the alien spaceship!" Julia wondered.

"It's not a hostile spaceship, we have received a signal," Frank said.

"Pioneer 10, its back." John said, shocking everyone in the room.

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Chapter 2

From every habitable planet in the constellation of Cygnus, they came. Several spaceships were heading toward a nearby planet. This planet located in the life zone range, orbiting its sun at an average distance of 138.10 million km. Tolar is the name given to this planet, which means "The white lime." The planet's inhabitants have a pale blue skin, golden pupil with long white hair. The spaceships entered Tolar's atmosphere, landed gently on the surface of floating platforms hundreds of feet above a large city. A spiral pillar moving up and down through a vertical axis. The spaceships crews boarding the pillar to docked at skyscraper look like a sliver-thin Pyramid.

On the higher floors of the building, a man stood in long cape with hands behind his back. He was staring through a glass wall to a city stretched out before him. Thousands of aircraft hovering in the air over the city. Network of tubes at the heart of the city, the lights shine inside the tubes and are caused by high-speed pods. Mount Osiva, the volcanic cone lies to the north-west of the city, the snow- capped tip of the mountain and the sun just barely rise above it into the blue sky.

An orange flag with nine stars placed on a glow fiber table with undulating legs.

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The flag symbolizes the Planetary Alliance. Nine planets united to create a force so great that no enemy would dare go against them, except one. That enemy has a great advantage over the alliance forces, a planet, the people dare not speak its name. The man heard footsteps entering the room. An old man was wearing looks very much like an ancient Chinese robe. The robe reaches below the knee with overlapping collar, seam runs down the robe through the center back with lateral slit on each lower side. This is the traditional tolarian man's robes.

The young man turned to him and indicated to come closer. The old man steps forward toward the right side of the man with his hands folded in his wide sleeves.

"You summoned me, sir." The old man said.

The young man continued to stare at the city. "Malara, the capital of tolar and the Headquarters of the Planetary Alliance," The young man mumbled. "It's a beautiful city, don't you think so? Moslan."

"As they say, Malara, the galaxy city for one hundred years," Moslan said. "And you sir, Onibas the greatest tolarian politician and who is serving as the seventh  secretary general of the Planetary Alliance."

Onibas cape billowed as he swiftly turned and strode

toward his desk and sat down. He placed his hand palm downwards on the table, the lights slowly dimmed and

the table glowed bright white.

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A hologram appeared in the center of the room displaying a group of scientists in a laboratory and they were examining what looks like a spacecraft.

"Those scientists working in the space station M28," Onibas said. "Our best scientists." Moslan felt Onibas tense at the words and his mind began to wander and his thought back to the early years. After the alliance won the Great War, they built a huge space station to prevent any spaceships from that planet from exceeded the safety zone. the genie is locked in a bottle and the alliance celebrated their victory.

"That spacecraft captured by the space patrol ships," Onibas said. "It's suddenly appeared in the sector."

"Suddenly!" Moslan wondered. "We have a serious dereliction of duty because they didn't notice the ship was approaching the planet?"

Onibas shook his head in the negative. "It was clear from the surviving records that there is nothing wrong with any of the techniques or procedures the space station used." He said.

"Surviving records! I don't understand, sir." Moslan said.

Onibas pointed to the hologram. "Moslan, you have been my mentor, my teacher and you served as advisor for three  secretary generals in the past, I need you to advise me how I can handle this matter. Just watch what happened." He said.

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The scientists were still working in the laboratory when something broke through the wall. A huge anchor rolled

into the center of the lab and hook on a long chain. The scientists appeared shocked and they step backward away from the anchor. Suddenly more arms emerged from the anchor, the chain pulled back dragging the anchor behind. The arms cracked the wall, and the pressure drops in the

lab. The air sucked out into the vacuum of space, causes some men to suck out into space. It was a big mess, and everyone try to cling in order to stay alive. Flashing light beaming through the broken wall and from the hole a few men wearing spacesuits rushed into the lab. They surrounded the spacecraft and grips on the backside. They activated their jetpack and pushed the spacecraft through

the hole. A few Seconds later, there follows an explosion and the hologram stopped.

Moslan stared at Onibas in astonishment. "The emblem on the men's chests!" he said. "The intruders came from planet Ho gene."

Onibas frowned, his eyebrows knitting into one. "They sacrificed of half their force to seize the alien spacecraft," Onibas said. "The station M28 has been destroyed."

Moslan eyes bug out. "M28, the pride of the Planetary Alliance!" he hissed. "This is the most horrifying and shocking news."

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"Our fleet was not only defeated, it came to the conclusion, there a traitor among us." Onibas said.

"A traitor! At the most important base, we established after the great war." Moslan shrugged.

"He shut down the anti-Warp Drive System," Onibas said. "The Imperial Fleet traveled at warp speed and were spotted near the base. It was too late to do anything."

"Who is he?" Moslan asked.

Onibas grinds his teeth and words slide slowly from his mouth. "Gali, the commissioned officer."

"High-ranking traitor," Moslan said, shook his head in regret. "It will cause a major shock to the internal relationships within the Planetary Alliance."

Onibas stared at him and asked, "Shall I present the facts of the case as they appeared to me to the council?"

He looked at the flag and in an irritated tone said, "Whatever the Consequences."

Moslan took a deep breath and said with a faint smile, "Seeing things as they really are to avoid complications later."

He leaned forward and looked into Onibas's eyes.

"What's the worst that could happen? It is usually good to ask yourself this question to clear your mind and get your focus back."

Moslan sat down in the chair in front of him, staring at the ceiling and then said, "Battle of Delsa, I was there

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And I remember sitting down in front of the

Ancient Gate of Mandas City. A young man facing the horrors of his first combat mission and fighting under

a rain of shells. The explosion of every bomb, thrown dirt and dust into the air. A small piece of shrapnel injured his eyebrow and he felt blood hot against his face. He wiped it off and looking at his blood on his hand. "It happened so quickly!" he thought. This piece of shrapnel is even faster than an eye blink. A high-explosive bomb is humane since death comes quickly, and it was only now that he realized this fact. That young man learned how to overcome his fear and find ways to build the courage he will need to moreover."

Onibas looked at the scar over his eyebrow, and for a moment, he stared at him. For the first time since he had known him, he realized he knew nothing of his Past-Live and never asked him about his life.

Then all of a sudden, there was a knock at the door. A man in a military uniform entered the room. He took a step in and saluted the  secretary general. "Sir, the planetary leadership council now assembled in the main chamber."

Onibas got up, walked toward the door and before reaching it, he turned and said, "Moslan, I'm so glad having you beside me."

He closed the door quietly behind him and walked across the corridor. So many thoughts were running

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Through his mind, and he knew a lot of things had changed. In the chamber, the planetary leaders were waiting, and not knowing the purpose of the meeting. It had been a long time since the council last met and this kind of meeting only hold to discuss a matter require the immediate attention. The council consists of nine members, and they are the leaders of habitable planets in the constellation of Cygnus.

Planet Doran, almost all of this planet is covered by snow for 10-11 months in the year. The inhabitants have adapted to severe cold, they built dome houses because the snow glides smoothly over its surfaces.

Planet Palion, the cities and towns hidden in dense forests. The average height for both men and women are 230 centimeters, the big hand along with the dark mist skin their most characteristic and most unusual feature.

Planet Azore, a few very small islands in an uninterrupted ocean, the inhabitants built cities floating on the water, their bald heads with their big lungs made them a perfect swimmer and they can hold their breath underwater for thirty minutes.

Planet Delsa and it two brothers, Gitis and Yama orbiting the same sun. In the past, they formed a tripartite union before they joined the Planetary Alliance.

Planet Nadus, a barren area of landscape, lack of

Vegetation exposes. The dust storm moves soil from

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One place and deposits) it in another. The planet has an estimated population of 584,000. Sahara was the only city

in this world survived over the last 300 years. Under large robes with headdress and masks, the people adapted to working at high temperature in the mines. Silicon dioxide the most important exports of Nadus, and the quality of

this product leads to an increase in demand.

Planet Jodar, the land of mountains, the majority of the dwarfs born and live in the highlands.

Zatonium is a chemical element, found in Jodar and it use

in nuclear power reactors to power the spaceships.

King Shor, the richest leader in the galaxy, he had

a hundred rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. The dwarf's biggest city is Liondale, it built on top of the longest mountain in the planet, wealth seekers come to the city from everywhere and you can see many races roaming the streets and shops late at night.

These planets formed the alliance and they meet for the

first time in 10 years at the request of the  secretary general. A decade of peace all over the galaxy and the people have forgotten the Great War. They fought against their enemies and they went to rebuild what destroyed by the weapons of war.

Onibas reached the last step before the door, his

Head-mounted display blinks lights. He stopped in

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Amazement. The device started to display stereoscopic

Images of a man sitting upon a chair in spaceship cockpit. Onibas felt his heart beat strongly and overcome with emotion and then he said, "I thought you were dead, it's a miracle you survived."

A faint smile crept over the young man's face as he says, "We have failed! My brother. I have failed!"

"'It was a betrayal, and no one could have prevented this from happening." Onibas said.

"Onibas, after the fleet lost the battle, I hid my ship in Von asteroid belt."

"We'll send someone to get you right away. Give me your coordinates?" Onibas asked.

He shook his head in the negative. "The alien spacecraft left Planet Ho gene. I have to find what they plan to do."

"Kuldar, stop this mission, go back home."

A few seconds of silence pass and then Onibas heard him saying, "I have to cut the connection, it would signal my location to the enemy."

"I order you to get out of there," Onibas said. "I gave you an order as your leader not as your big brother."

Kuldar face fell into a pout, leaning forward, and his eyes narrowed as he said, "Onibas, I observe a strange phenomenon occurs here."

Onibas felt worried, waiting to hear back from him.

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Kuldar's voice filled with surprise. "It's a completely white hole, two imperial ships returned and one left

accompanying the alien space craft." He said.

Onibas wondering what might happen that cause that physical phenomenon.

"I intercepted communications they had sent to Ho gene." Kuldar said.

Onibas saw a lack of understanding on Kuldar's face, there was no fear, just curiosity.

"They talked about travelling to kintaro through a hole that shorten the journey millions of light years."

"Kintaro!" Onibas said.

Kuldar pressed some buttons and said, "This is a part of their mythology, Kintaro I mean."

"The Ancients assumed that somewhere in the universe there is another life." Onibas said.

"They spoke of a new beginning on that planet,"

Kuldar said. "The sun is warm and younger."

"New planet, new beginning!" Onibas mumbled.

Thoughts crowded into his mind, he started meditating and conclusion before he paid attention to certain thing. Suddenly, his eyes widened. "Kuldar!" he exclaimed. "Destroy the target, don't let him enter the hole."

Kuldar looked a little surprised, but said, "As you wish, my brother, it will be handled."

He pulled at the yoke, tilted forward at sharp angle

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The ship's radar indicated the target. Kuldar was ready to launch a missile on a touch screen, when the imperial ship made crazy stunts. It was approaching the alien spacecraft and then they connected to one another by the magnetic field strength.

"What's he doing?" Kuldar mumbled.

Suddenly he heard the call on the radio. "I don't have time for these trivialities, Tolarian."

Kuldar remained silent while the imperial pilot continues. "Kuldar, that's your name? I heard something through your connection." The pilot said with a chuckling laugh, "Why does Onibas send his own brother to his death?"

Kuldar pressed a button. "Missile had been canceled." The computer said.

"You didn't attack, is it because I am a girl!" she said.

He held his arms across his chest and relaxed in his seat. "No, not all. I just wanted to give you a chance. Go back to your planet." Kuldar said.

"I'm the only hope that my people have," She said with anger. "Ho gene shall rise out of the ashes." She said sadly after a short silence.

"Ho gene deserved his fate," Kuldar said. "That something you cannot change. It is your last chance, go back home. My ship is one of the most sophisticated in the galaxy."

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The imperial ship increased its speed and the distance to the white hole became closer.

"She will not stop." Kuldar said.

He heard his brother's voice. "The priority is to destroy the target."

Kuldar made a combat maneuver and started firing missiles. One missile exploded against the ship's shield and the second missed her.

"Damn, there is a shield surrounded the ship." Kuldar said aloud while the imperial ship started to pass through

the white hole.

"Onibas, I will follow her." He said.

There was a noise over the communication channel. He increased his speed, but as soon as the imperial ship

entered the hole, it turned to beam of light and disappeared.

"If you can hear me, I will enter now." Kuldar said.

Kuldar was talking in a very low voice that Onibas could hardly hear. "Kuldar,...I will send....c....b.."

Kuldar saw the white hole as if he looks through a cone, it was totally white and there a small black dot at the end. "There's no trace of her, she disappeared."

When the ship was nearly to enter the hole, Kuldar saw the missile that missed the target roaming in front of his ship, he tried to veer away, but it was too late.

It was not an explosion in the usual sense, once the

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Ship touched the bomb, the energy and light caused by the exothermic reaction, quickly shrink and sucked to the white hole. The turbulence was astounding, Kuldar felt as if a giant's hand had shaken the ship.

Suddenly there was another explosion composed of a mixture of colors, but this time emanated from the hole. "I need to stabilize the ship in order to use the warp system for main propulsion." Kuldar said.

He gripped the yoke in both hands using all of his strength and the ship turned around, leaving the hole behind. When he thought he had succeeded, the concussion of that explosion reached him.

All kinds of colors around him and seemed to be coming from his body and shooting everywhere. An expression of wonder on his face. "Unbelievable!" he said. Without uttering another word, his ship turned to beam of light and disappeared.

A reverent silence spread across the place, the white hole slowly returned to its normal color, and the dazzling colors faded. Back there at Tolar, Onibas was standing in front of the chamber Big's door. He lost the connection with his brother but, Kuldar has task must succeed. He pushed through the door into the chamber, the leaders were sitting on identical throne chairs. He took five steps until he stood in the middle of the room. They were peering into his face, with inquiringly and impatience.

29

"Planetary leaders, it is an honor to stand before you

today," Onibas said. "Nearly twelve years have passed, since last we met."

He said with his arms wide open. "Our victory carried the peace and tranquility to the galaxy."

He pointed to the statues surrounding them. "Nine

warriors, represent the Planetary Alliance." He said.

After a few seconds of silence, he added. "There were

many sacrifices and many heroes are no longer among us. There were moments we were about to kneel before the Emperor of Ho gene, but we stood."

He stared at them one by one and exclaimed with emotion. "The Planetary Alliance still stood."

His words brought instant and enthusiastic response from the leaders.

"For the alliance." king shor exclaimed.

"I believe we are not here today to take pride in what we have achieved?" King of Palion asked.

"My dear Zoryal," Onibas said quietly. "My friends, there is no danger, definitely not."

"You know the rules, don't you, Onibas?" King of Doran asked. "No such special meeting shall take place unless it necessary."

The leaders revealed the inner tension Onibas tries to hold down.

"We presumed that...." Onibas said.

30

"Presumed!" King Zoryal said.

Onibas came back quickly and said, "The space station M28, it's been destroyed."

There was loud talking interlaced and King Shor began to talk, made a fist and banged against the arm of his chair. "How did this happen; can you determine the extent of damage?" he yelled.

"It's totally destroyed by the Imperial Fleet." Onibas said in an almost inaudible whisper.

"Ho gene, never quite dared to attack the alliance since the Great War." King of Azore said.

"It seems that someone has grown lazy, careless and incompetence." King of Nadus said his anger growing further.

"Ho gene know that any attack on the bases would be futile," Onibas mumbled. "We can build it back up again."

"It was one of the most powerful bases for its proximity to that planet, what causes of its failure?" King of Gitis asked.

Onibas turned to look at him and said, "One of the leaders have become a traitor and he disabled the anti-Warp Drive System."

"A traitor!" the word repeated, came by many lips.

Onibas said, spreading his hands, "Calm down."

They stopped talking and looked at him.

"You have to know what the real purpose of their attack." Onibas said.

31

He started telling them about the alien spacecraft.

There had been a flood of questions. King Zoryal put his hand to his chin as he spoke, "What they want from such primitive machine?"

"Perhaps the most important question to consider is, from where the spacecraft came from. Is there another life

in the universe?" King of Nadus said.

With a nervous laugh, King of Yama said, "That's insane.

If there another life, we will receive interstellar signals from them."

"Planet Kintaro exists." Onibas said.

They stopped their argument and turn to look at him. King of Delsa clasped his Hands and said, "Onibas, you are talking about a myth," He continued rapidly. "It's an old

Ho gene myth. The myth told of how 625 male and

female came from planet Kintaro, they lived and died in

Ho gene. No one would infer if they had begotten children, but it is common knowledge that their planet no longer exists."

Onibas extended his right arm and said, "We have the

proof, we got a report from the scientists who examined the spacecraft, we know that it's made of unknown metal not found on all of our planets. The spacecraft carries a plaque featuring the position of a sun in our galaxy, and Kintaro is the third in distance from the Sun."

"That planet has been observed before, right?" King shor asked.

32

Onibas shook his head approvingly. "It was one of the planets the astronomers predicted the planetary surface can support liquid water given sufficient atmospheric pressure. The location of the planet confirmed using a space telescope." He said.

"How far Kintaro is away from us?" King Shor asked.

"It's about 1,402 light years away," Onibas said. "The most important thing now is to prevent Ho gene take over that planet. Ho gene's sun is dying and that helped us to won the Great War."

Tension appears in everyone's eyes. King of Azore stood up and said, "But we have Kuldar there and he is known to be a great warrior. Is it possible that he can find the way to stop that?"

"He's just one man and if the imperial ship passed through the white hole, he will follow her, I know him well. The imperial ship will collect information to determine if they can occupy the new planet." Onibas said and was silent for several seconds, then added, "They have lost the whole advantage they obtained through their sun. Ho gene's sun's mass consists of t1-1 (73%); the rest is Y2-2 (25%), their unique sun similar to Kintaro's sun."

"Onibas, you are a military strategist. What's their expected plan?" King of Nadus asked.

Onibas crossed his arms over his chest and said,

33

"A prelude to invasion of this planet, they sent one ship. Under the appropriate circumstances, they will send the Imperial Fleet."

The kings started to engage in a loud discussion, some have suggested waiting until things got clear, while the others suggest letting Ho gene's fleet to migrate to the new planet and that will lead to weakness of his defenses against the Planetary Alliance.

"Kintaro isn't enough to satisfy Ho gene and it will seek something more, our planets" Onibas said, interrupting the debate.

"Do you mean to say, that Ho gene seeks for what he lacks, and he is going to turn toward us to take revenge?" King of Yama asked.

"It's just the first step," Onibas said. "Ho gene has bigger plans, something that would affect us all"

"Can you explain that a bit more?" king of Gitis asked for further clarification.

Onibas nodded and said. "Ho gene will never leave that planet, as soon as they leave Kintaro their power will fade. They will settle there and never leave. Our own resources what they want. We must prevent his ambition, even if we have to destroy planet kintaro." Onibas saw the approval in their eyes, and that mean a new planet will join the ongoing war. The planet we call Earth.

34

Chapter 3

On the top of a sacred mountain in Tibet living mysterious monks. They called Tai chi dragons and rarely making contact with others. The construction of their temple started nearly 2400 years ago. There is only one gate, but the strangers forbidden to enter the temple. Only a few people passed through this gate and there are many stories about their supernatural abilities, includes the ability to move and run extremely fast and superhuman reflexes.

Every year when cole flowers beginning to bloom in the area, the villagers will hear a trumpet coming from the Tai chi dragon's temple. It is a call for the young people who want to join the Tai chi dragons.

Too many fails to overcome the challenges, and those that are not ready will not pass the gate and who succeeded will enter the temple for further evaluation.

There have been 150 men heading toward the temple that morning. Everyone wishes to be part of the dragons. Young man walked down the road, he also following his passion, an old dream of his childhood.

This morning his father put his hand on his shoulder and said, "Kai, the time has come for you to developing your inner strength. The power you struggled to hide it from others."

35

He still remembers the day, when he fought with Shang

and Sui, who had bullied him at school. He had always avoided fights whenever possible, but that day he avenged by beating them, lead to Shang has broken arm. His father told him when they returned to their house after apologized to Shang's family. "Son, when you feel the desire to seek revenge, stop and repeat in your mind, it is not worth it."

He was four years old when his uncle came to visit them one night, they sat drinking tea and talking while he wrapped in a blanket, pretending to sleep.

A splashing sound in the lake caused by a fish jumped to

eat dragonfly, the crickets singing and the frogs croaking nearby. He heard his uncle say, "He's one of them, you

have to accept that."

His father turned his face toward the place he sleeps and said, "No, he is much more powerful than them." He took

a sip of tea. "But he has a kind heart."

"I have noticed that," His uncle said. "He must be able to control his powers, never allowing it to control him."

"He will," His father said. "He's so clever."

A dog was barking somewhere in the village, his father threw a piece of wood into the fire and sparks flew into the air like bright lights in the dark.

36

His uncle sucked at a pipe, blowing smoke rings, he's done that twice then said, "Who knows, maybe he'll grow up to be like Zotar."

"The legend of Zotar!" His father said.

His uncle nodded his head and said, "I know it's only a myth, but the Tai chi dragons claim that he existed before 2400 years."

His father smiled and said, "Zotar, who delivered the earth from the Iron spiders and killed king Melos."

"That have been orally transmitted through the ages, no doubt with some exaggeration." His uncle said.

An owl hooted loudly in the stillness of the night, his father laughed and said, "An Iron spider can carry 100 men and fly like a bird, a story that's hard to believe."

"I can smell rain in the air, I have to go before get caught in a thunderstorm." His uncle said.

He stood to his feet, gave the traditional greeting, then turned and walked away.

Kai yawns under the blanket and fall asleep. His father pour water on the fire, a slight smile on his lips. "Someone seems to be eavesdropped to our talk." He said.

He didn't hear what his father said, the dreams invaded his mind, a dream fighting thousands of spiders and another dream throwing a big rock and exclaimed. "I am a hero, I am Zotar."

37

Kai restored those memories while he's sitting before the front gate of the temple. There were people all around him sitting in half lotus. They were staring at the door waiting for it to open. Every year master Toshi is walking out of

that door and he run some tests on. That who succeed will invited to follow him to the temple. The tasks change every year, so no one comes prepared, it depends on the form of self-skills.

Several hours passed and nobody come out, the time passed slowly, then people felt bored and stood to walk around.

Kai meditates in his sitting position, which cleared his mind and prepare for the incoming challenges. What he has to do is imagine what behind the walls, there are ordinary people with extraordinary abilities, and this added incentive that has helped him to keep boredom away.

A tall guy approached him, stared at him for a second, he troubled by a stone in his shoe, he shakes it out and said, "Damn, I just got tired of waiting. Do you still have hope that they will come?" He asked and raised one hand to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun.

"They will." Kai said.

"What makes you so sure of that?" the man said.

Kai pointed at the birds perched on top of the gate, startled and flew away.

"Someone trying to open the gate." Kai said.

38

The gate opened with a loud squeak, and two men appeared coming out. A man wearing a blue following a short distance behind an old man wearing white.

"Master Toshi, what do you think?" The man in blue asked with a look of ridicule on his face.

Master Toshi pointed to Kai and two other men sitting on the ground. "The new generation forgotten the importance of patience," Master Toshi said. "And that's really bad."

Warriors in green steps forward from the temple and the young men looked terrified and stares straight at them.

"Patience is the greatest skill can man learn." Master Toshi said and raised his index finger. "You don't deserve to join the Tai chi dragons," He said. "When I lower my finger, the warriors will hit you so badly." Master Toshi said.

They looked at his finger and began to run away, collide and falling into and over one another down the road, until they vanished from sight.

Master Toshi turned back, saying, "You three follow me." and made his way back to the temple.

Kai and his fellows stood up and rushed inside. He was so excited that he swore he could hear his own heart beating. Kai had already achieved his first goal and there is still a long way to go. He will do his best to learn and to be a Tai chi dragon. Kai saw A Giant Oak stood in the middle of the temple and the wind swayed the branches of the tree.

39

To the right there was the main chamber of the temple, built of a calcareous stone along with a large dome cap over the building. Master Toshi climbed the steps to the chamber, they try to follow him but the man in blue looked at them and said, "You cannot enter there, this chamber is forbidden place."

One of the warriors walked up to them and said, "Come, your ability to stay is based on the number of tasks you should pass."

Kai followed him, looking up where Master Toshi standing, staring at him.

"Do you think he's the one?" The man in blue asked.

"Maybe, maybe not," Master Toshi said. "Yang, I can feel unusual aura surrounding him."

"Master, do you want us to run some special tests on him." Yang said.

Master Toshi nodded his head. "I'm almost at the end of my life, and more unreasonable events will soon take place."

He said.

He turned and entered the chamber, walked through the hall to the inner. He stared up at the dome above him. He saw

all these ancient paints on the dome many times. The

paints indicate the location of a planet orbiting another star......... a planet called Ho gene.

40
Chapter 4

Black Rock Desert 7:15 PM:

Chinook flying around low about 2,716 ft high, the sound of the twin-engine drowned out all other noise. Thomas peered through the round window, down there the lights of a camp gleamed out through the desert. The Chinook is heading directly toward it. He turned his head to the right and said loudly, "Julia, I think we have reached our destination."

"Oh, thank god, Dene the worst pilot ever." Julia said and put her hand on her stomach.

John smiled and said, "That's not bad, really. I flew with several of the other pilots, you will not try to be with them again."

"I hope not, Mr. Pavan," Julia said. "This will be my last mission."

They start laughing while the helicopter approaches to attempt a landing. Seconds later, it landed in a field, blowing up a tremendous cloud of dust. It took two minutes before the blades have stopped rotating, Dene walked out to them, carrying his flight helmet.

"Hope you enjoyed flying with us today." Dene said with proud look in his eyes.

41

Julia carried the bag firmly strapped to her back. "Remind me to take a cab when we return." She said.

Dene put his hand behind his head and said, "Ooh, the volcano has erupted."

Julia gave him a squinty look and got out of the Chinook. The soldiers began to unload equipment and carry it into the building. John looked at them, saying, "You be careful, it is the most sensitive devices of its kind in the world."

A man in a military uniform stepped toward him. John saw the stars on his uniform, a huge man, muscular looking arms, baldhead with a tattoo on the side of his neck and wide nose.

"Mr. Pavan, I am Major Doke, the base commander." He shook his hand strongly.

"Major, May I introduce my colleagues, Julia Hopkins, Thomas Dobbin and this guy is Dene Elliott."

The major welcomed them all and said, "Everything's set up according to the instructions given to us."

"Have they installed the radio telescope?" John asked.

Major Doke pointed to a nearby hill, to the east of the camp. "A team from NASA came ten days ago and finished everything." He said.

They looked to the nearby hill, but the darkness made it invisible to observe.

42

John put his hands on his waist while he stares around.

"UFO Seekers." He said.

"What about them?" Thomas asked.

He turned around to face them. "This place will attract a lot of attention. UFO seekers will spread the news everywhere," He said. "Dozens of people will be coming with their cameras and that's the last thing we want out here."

"What action could be taken to avoid this?" Major Doke asked.

"We can send teams within a circle of five kilometers diameter around the camp. They have to pretend they are UFO seekers and try to persuade people there are nothing here or sneaking at night to sabotage their vehicles if they do not leave easily." John said.

"The teams will be ready shortly." Major Doke said.

"We must be prepared for any unexpected surprises, this event seems to violate laws of physics, but the achievement of science is to discover new things." John said.

Major Doke pointed where a few military tents set up. "We have prepared everything that will let you rest until tomorrow." He said.

"Thanks, that's what we need right now," John said. "Come on, guys. Tomorrow will be a busy day."

43

Black Rock Desert 6:38 AM:

Sunshine's from a clear sky, dead tumbleweed driven by the wind, roll over the desert. The wide flat land extending to the horizon, a black collared lizard lying on a small rock, startled by the noise of footsteps and slide from its resting place to hide in a small hole.

Dene was jogging over the sand, sweat running down the muscles of his chest, he stopped, breathing hard and exclaimed, "Good morning, Thomas."

"Good morning, you're such an early bird." Thomas said.

Dene get down doing ten push-ups, he stood and clapping his hands. "Maintain fitness, keep your body healthy." He said.

"I'm going to the administrative facility. We have to make sure the devices are working properly." Thomas said.

"Catch you later, I'll have a bath." Dene said.

Thomas heads toward the facility, opened a door leading to wide Operations center, at the front there are three big screens, the middle one showing a map of the world, on the left screen showing spectral data and, on the right, showing topographic data.

John turned his chair and looked at Thomas, "Hi, there."

44

Julia lifted her coffee mug and a smile touched the corners of her mouth as she is working on her computer. Thomas stood in front of the right screen, crossed his arms over his chest and said, "We are still getting data, although 45 years have gone past."

"We share Pioneer feed with Nasa at the same time." John said.

Julia raised her head and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "Does that help us to determine the landing place?" she asked.

"As you can see, the topographic map can provide certain information about the proposed probe crash area." Thomas said.

John scribbled some numbers on a piece of paper and said, "What we see right now is a transmission from Pioneer's devices, it is approaching this area."

"That is regrettable." Julia said.

Thomas looked at her with wonder. She saw the questions in their eyes, felt kind of embarrassed, she cleared her throat and said, "I mean, Pioneer done great services to mankind, burning up after entering the Earth's atmosphere, it is a very sad ending."

"Actually, objects burn not because they are falling from great height, but because they enter the atmosphere at a high-speed." Thomas said.

John looked at the screens and said, "Theoretically, we can bring objects safely down to Earth by reduce speed

45

Travel through the atmosphere, but unfortunately, we have not yet reached this kind of technology."

He lifted his head and half turned in his chair. "Dene, you are here."

"I didn't want to interrupt your conversation, all these scientific things." Dene said.

John loosened his tie and asked, "Are you so disappointed?"

Dene waved his hand. "No, not all." He said. "It clear that not an alien technology, I don't want to be killed by a giant jelly creature."

Julia laughed at his joke, she sighed. "Oh boy."

Dene looked at her smiling face and winked with his left eye. She felt warm on her cheeks, gave him a quizzical look but her heartbeat heavy beneath her chest, she thought. "You are such a silly girl!"

"There are a lot of questions which were unanswered." Thomas said.

"Like what?" Dene inquired.

Thomas sat cross-legged, facing him and said, "For now the most important thing, how the spacecraft crossed 2.7 billion miles in 3 months to reach earth's moon."

"It is possible we may never discover how; space is full of mysteries." John mumbled.

Julia pulled out the vial rack, withdrew one vial from it and said, "I am ready to deal with some type of Alien bacteria."

46

"Vial, for what?" Dene asked in surprise.

A faint smile touched her face. "Pioneer, during its journey into space hit rocks and cosmic dust and the scientists thought that the asteroids and rocks were remnants of an exploded planet."

"I didn't understand." Dene said.

Julia motioned with her hands. "Bacteria are found everywhere, if earth exploding one day, the bacteria will float away into space." She said.

Dene said as understanding flares in his eyes, "It's a little bit scary."

"She's going to collect samples from the crash site," John said. "Stored and then examined in specialized laboratories."

Dene stared at her, smiled and said, unconsciously, "I knew there was something special about her."

At this point, Julia sensed an attraction to him.

Thomas leaned forward, looking at the data on the left screen. "That's strange." He mumbled.

His words attracted their attention. John stood close beside Thomas' chair and asked, "What's caught your attention?"

"You can feel something is wrong when reading the data that come from the radio telescope, the estimated shape of Pioneer. The dimensions not compatible with the real size of Pioneer. Mr. Pavan,

47

Can you check this spectral data?"

John focused on the data appeared on the screen, he

Knitted his eyebrows together in deep thinking. After a few seconds he said, "This dimension is four times the size of Pioneer." He pointed to the screen. "This yellow is our spacecraft, but the red and green I can't determine the cause of it."

"Compared to liquids and solid it has lower density; it can be a heavy gas out there." Thomas said.

"But its movement synchronous with Pioneer movement." John said.

Thomas tapped his fingers on the desk, turned his face toward John and said, "I think Pioneer carried small chunks of ice and dust from its journey through space and it's melting now by solar winds."

"You are right. It could be caused by ice melting process." John said.

Julia exhaled a long breath and leaned back in the chair. "What time will it start?" she asked.

"Any time, it will be falling with the same acceleration as meteors," Thomas said. "We need to be ready for it when it happens."

Dene looked at the topographic maps. "Half an hour before, the screen shows a map of all Nevada." He said.

"It's updating according to the data provided by

Pioneer; the circle now is all the places within 30 kilometers from the camp." Thomas said.

48

Major Doke showed up at the door, he stepped inside and walked toward John.

"The car is ready." he said.

"I do not think there is a danger to the camp but tell everyone to be careful. My team will use the car to reach the crashing site." John said.

He turned around to look through the window. "The sun is shining from a clear blue sky, and that making good observing conditions." He said.

"The spacecraft approaches the boundary of the atmosphere." Thomas said.

He lifted his head and said, "Now, we can determine the crashing site accurately."

Julia placed the vials in essential bag, put micro tape recorder in her coat pocket and a small notebook in the other side.

John leaned forward and put his hands on the desk, thought a long moment, staring at the screens then he clapped his hands twice, saying, "Let's go, guys."

They rushed to wear silver hazmat suits and walked heavily toward the door, passed through to ride in a Khaki vehicle.

Dene took the driver's seat and started the engine. "Where to?" He asked.

John pulled a pad and entered some coordinates, he pointed northwest. "That way, about seven kilometers." He said.

49

Dene stomped the gas pedal to the floor, leading the vehicle to bounces, raising a cloud of dust and stones, leaving the tires tracks on the thin layer of sand.

The car roared down the sandy road, shaking up the four passengers in the car.

Julia felt a blast of warm air hit her face. Her helmet was resting on her lap, and when she turned her face to the left, she saw a rabbit running horrified along the side of the car. She thought that was funny because of the confusion, the rabbit continued to run alongside the car for several meters.

Thomas stared at the sky, blue and sunny with a lonely white cloud across the horizon. Everything seems calm but it will easily be interrupted by the upcoming event.

John looked at the pad for several moments and then he turned his head up to the sky, saying, "Something's wrong."

Thomas leaned forward and asked, "Mr. Pavan, What happened?"

"Pioneer should reach now the terminal velocity and

it is the maximum speed a falling object can reach when enter the earth gravity," John said. "But it speeds now is similar speed of a normal passenger jet."

"That's impossible." Thomas said.

John held up his pad, "Either the data are wrong, or this device no longer receives signal."

Dene turned the wheel to the right to avoid A prickly cactus

50

then he asked as he kept his eyes focused on the road ahead, "It's given us the wrong coordinates?"

"No, we've got the right coordinates," John said and pointing to the sky. "There it is."

Dene stopped the vehicle. No words came out of his open mouth, Julia stand up on the back seat, staring at the sky, trying to identify the visible object.

"It's a silent landing." Thomas mumbled and slowly he opened the door and stepped outside.

The rest followed him and the whole found themselves looking at Pioneer while it is landing smoothly.

More than forty-five years passed, and it looks didn't change that much. Thomas moved forward a few more steps, but he stopped. "What is that!" he wondered.

There is something big, invisible, attached to Pioneer, and it became gradually visible to their eyes.

An alien spaceship shaped like seashell and its surface reflects the light of the sun.

Thomas saw words and unknown symbols on its hull, suddenly the spaceship cockpit flashed with lights and cockpit glass opened.

Contrary to all their expectations, they saw an ordinary girl, wearing a full bodysuit with high collar.

"What are you?" John mumbled incomprehensibly.

They shuddered, as somewhere inside their heads a voice seemed to be speaking. "Greetings people of Kintaro. My name is Otar."

51
Chapter 5

This planet has ruled most of this quadrant of the galaxy for one thousand years. There were many planets that resisted his ambitions, seeking for freedom or engaged in a needless war spawned by greed.

The Imperial Fleets roamed the interstellar space to maintain order and to collect more resources for their race. The planet's inhabitants developed superhuman abilities such as super-strength, ability to move faster than other people do in the occupied planets. Unarmed close combat with the imperial warriors are much more likely to lead to suffer from a serious injury.

Ho gene is the name was repeating over and over again in the constellation of Cygnus. The Imperial House, Goryan, the noble family that ruled Ho gene since the beginning of time. Under the law of Batra, the Emperor sits on his throne and rules for twenty years before a member of House of Goryan attempt to claim the throne for himself. The challenger must have an ancient gold pendant, it one of seven pendants, the founding Emperor of the Goryan Dynasty gave to his seven sons. These pendants were equipped with embedded, intelligent technology that anticipates the holder is descended from the Goryan Dynasty.

52

It checks the holder's genes, because of its proximity to the body. The sun in the middle of the pendant, flashing bright yellow only when the holder is descended from the Goryan Dynasty. Due to the extinction of some cadet branch, three pendants remained. The current emperor, Tago, came to the throne in 2381 and he fought against the Alliance before Ho gene lost the Great War. Since that, he focused on building the capacities to protect and to secure the planet. The supercontinent of Corwana covered a third of Ho gene's surface with a population reached 135 million. The Emperor's palace located in the northeastern end of the massive Corwana continent and overlooks City of Gyda, it is the largest city and the capital of Ho gene.

A spaceship sinks slowly through the clouds above the palace. Its shadow fell over the landing area, glides effortlessly without engine power to a smooth landing.

The spaceship belongs to the Emperor's Special Command. It is a special unit within the Imperial Fleet and receive instructions directly from the emperor.

In his silver black special suit, the admiral made his way through the neon glowing circle round corridor connected the landing pads with the main palace complex.

Once he reached the Emperor's Hall, the guards on either side salute, crossed arms fists on chest.

53

He walked across the marble floor of the great hall, and

then a long turquoise carpet runner trailing from the door

to the throne, the pennants hung down from large poles under a curved high ceiling, the sunlight streamed through plates of glass and beaming on one particular spot, the throne. The Emperor was sitting down on the throne and wearing his imperial armor, eyes closed, with his head raised and sunlight on his face.

The admiral stood before him, cautiously to avoid making any noise that might disturb him.

He peered up from the corner of his eye at the admiral of

the imperial fleet, Admiral Caden. The competition between the two men was fierce, and they each wanted to

be more powerful than the other and more privileges.

Suddenly the emperor opened his eyes. His pupil look glowing like lanterns and the veins all over his body start

to pop out and make his muscles start to tense up.

"Admiral Paladan." The emperor said.

Paladan crossed his arms fists over his chest. "Ho gene

shall rise." He said.

The emperor lifted his arm and gazed to his veins as they return to the normal size.

"Things are no longer the same as they were before,"

the emperor mumbled. "The power we pride ourselves

on, no longer existing. Our sun is dying."

54

He fondled cheetah's head sitting beside the throne, the cheetah rubbed up against his legs and sat licking her fur. The emperor returned his attention to Admiral Paladan. "What is the status in the sector after the recent operation?" he asked.

"Our enemies are remaining surprised and afraid to enter the sector." Paladan said.

The emperor waved his hand in a negative. "Certainly, they were surprised, but obviously our enemy wants to take revenge after its defeat in the sector." He said.

"Surely they will do, but for now they retreated to their defense line." Paladan said.

"We knew that the Alliance held its first time meeting since the end of the Great War." Admiral Caden said.

The emperor looked into Caden's eyes and said, "Onibas, the Tolarian."

Caden nodded his head, saying, "Yes, your majesty," He said. "The  secretary general of the Planetary Alliance requested to hold that meeting."

The emperor leaned forward and stared at them both for a few brief seconds. The tension was written on both men's faces. He asked without taking his eyes from them, "Why do you think he did that?"

"The base is much important for the alliance and as a  secretary general, Onibas has to inform the Planets leaders." Paladan said.

55

Admiral Caden sarcastically smiled. "My dear Paladan, it's not that much important. Onibas is a very clever man and he must have realized that, our plan I mean." He said.

"That's exactly what I thought," The emperor said. "Onibas will try to destroy us in every way possible."

Paladan grits his teeth and purses his lips. "So arrogant, with this extraordinary compliment from the emperor." He thought.

"After we became more aware and our scientists finally discovered the truth about Planet Kintaro, it's will become a matter of life and death for the alliance and you knew that Onibas was a fighter and would rather take a proactive approach." The emperor said.

He raised his finger. "We must succeed in our mission, but after creating the proper conditions to the largest mass migration in the universe." He said.

Caden hesitated for a while before he said, "We just don't have enough ships to evacuate the entire planet."

The emperor taps his fingers on the arm of the throne, glanced up to the white clouds visible through the hall window. There was a silence for a long moment before he said, "My father told me once that do not hesitate to make personal sacrifices to succeed."

Caden thought, "What kind of sacrifice he means, we estimated as many as one hundred thousand people will be evacuated from around the planet."

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"The final evacuation plans were made; it includes all the most important people and we made sure that their families will join them." The emperor said.

"What about the rest of the planet? "Paladan asked cautiously.

"Their fate depends on new scientific theory." The emperor said.

They looked at him wondering and in silence. He knitted his eyebrows together. "Our scientists believe that we can travel through the white hole at time equal zero. Theoretically, we can make gates anywhere and use it to travel between any two nearest star systems."

"Space Gate!" Caden said.

The emperor smiled with confidence. "Our scientists have finished making the gates here in Ho gene and when we colonize Kintaro, we can connect the gates together." He said.

"To move our people from Ho gene to Kintaro" Paladan said.

"That is what we aspire to." The emperor said.

He pointed to Admiral Caden, saying, "The success of this operation will depend upon the siting of your forces. The right times and in the right ways"

Caden crossed his arms fists over his chest, "I will not let you down, majesty." he brought his arms down to his sides and said, "If we use the heart tactic efficiently, the Emperor's Special Command ships will pass through the

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white hole without any damage."

He brought his both hands forward. "We can deceive the enemy by an old trick, which handheld the coin, but in this case, which warships surrounded the heart." He said.

The Emperor gestured for him to continue.

"Once our ships maneuver towards the certain orbit. The fleet will split into three groups of two, and as it moves, they will be easily observed. That will surprise and confuse the enemy, which group to target, where is the heart, the enemy ships will be concentrated facing one group, we will convince them that this group has more weapons and shields. The Emperor's Special Command ships at this point will leave Ho gene's orbit and activate the warp drive. Our groups will be maneuvering again to surrounded the Emperor ships when they pop in the nest, Admiral Paladan, you need to act fast and jump again immediately before the enemy active the anti-Warp Drive System, Onibas will soon realize that he has been fooled, but it is too late to do anything. The Emperor ships will pass through the white hole and the rest of the fleet will follow shortly."

The Emperor clapped his hands and rubbed them together, saying, "That's a brilliant plan, but should certain everyone's fully committed."

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Admiral Paladan was going to say something when a voice interrupted him, "Her Majesty, the Empress."

The Emperor waved his hand at them, signaling them to leave. He stood up, held her hand, and gently kissed it. "My dear, Yoko, you look marvelous in this dress."

Yoko is pretty, meticulous woman in her early 30s, the hair was magma-red, and it crashed over her shoulders, oval face shape, curved eyebrows, deep-set amber eyes, angled nose with heart-shaped lips.

She glanced down at her dress, floor length red velour dress with oversized draped sleeves and the pointed shoulders along with the gold patterned trim and matching corset.

"My sister liked this dress too." She said sadly.

The emperor said with a slight grimace on his face. "She insisted on taking over this mission." He brought a smile to his face, consideration for her feelings.

"You could have stopped her, and she will obey you." Yoko said, the tears rolling down her face.

He placed one hand under her chin and wiped away her tears with the other.

"Otar, no longer a little girl. She is a warrior princess and she had proved her capability in combat."

He looked straight into her eyes. "She is descended from the dynasty of Goryan," he said. "And they are extremely stubborn when they want something."

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Yoko stared at him, wondering, "Is this the real reason, potential competition for the throne."

She shook her head, dismissing the thought. "Tago treated her like a younger sister and he always granted her wishes since he knew he could not have fathered a child."

"She's just an ordinary girl, landed on this mysterious planet." Yoko said.

The Emperor sat on his throne and picked her up in his lap. "Do not worry, she's a smart girl and will grab the best opportunities in order for her mission to be successful," He said. "We provided her with the best equipment."

After a time of silence, he said, "In fact, I am afraid she will decide to use force against them. With the information we have about their planet, a few Imperial Ships can destroy Kintaro,"

He gently wrapping his hand in her hair and said, "Soon we will join her and then they......"

His eyes brightened as he lifted his face up. "They will kneel before the emperor."

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Chapter 6

Objects scattered over a wide area in orbits around a nearby planet. These objects are observing a spaceship heading towards the planet's atmosphere. In repeated behavior pattern, the objects let the spaceship pass after beams a red light that swing up and down, scanning the spaceship's body.

He sat in the captain's command chair, looking at an image of a red, cloudy looking planet filled the screen.

He retrieved a particular memory. Surly the planet looks different today from what it was twenty years ago. This planet has survived the explosions of the mega cannons, but at what price. A sudden and drastic change in the weather due to the war, the planet's inhabitants succeeded to replenish their dying atmosphere and allowing life to exist again on the surface. The fog, this problem has not yet been overcome, the planet shrouded in fog most of the year, but people are perfectly capable of adapting to the changing environment. Moya is the name given to this planet, back in the old days you can find always different races come up to this planet for trade. Unfortunately, after the war, they became more and more hostile towards the strangers.

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A man moved up to stand beside the captain's command chair. He stood staring at the huge screen for a while, and then said, "It was a beautiful place in the past."

"Moslan, have you been here before?"

The sensation spread throughout Moslan's face. "It is memories of my childhood with my mother when we used to go to her hometown to visit her family."

"I have always asked myself why your skin is lighter than us," Onibas said as he raises his eyebrows. "No wonder, the tolarian and the moy knew that we are actually one race."

"Are you willing to form an alliance with them?" Moslan asked.

Onibas crossed his arms over his chest. "There seemed no other choice left." He said.

Moslan turned his face towards him and said, "Do not

forget that they were first to stood up against Ho gene.

To serve their own greed"

"It amazes me how much you dislike the idea. In the latter, their blood runs in your veins." Onibas said.

Moslan gave a nonchalant shrug. "My mother told me that their King Dibo was greedy, selfish and hateful man and he made good relationships with Ho gene at the time of the former emperor." He said.

"But he turned to fight against them." Onibas said.

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Moslan thought for a bit and then said, "The only reason he did that was because he thought he could take control of the constellation after former emperor's death," he smiled sarcastically. "But Tago, the new emperor, wasn't going to give up that easily. He attacked Moya and caused the death of King Dibo."

"We'll take our chance with his daughter, Queen Aurora." Onibas said.

"She is just like her father." Moslan said.

Onibas stared at the planet appeared on the biggest screen, saying, "She had every reason to hate Tago."

"You mean when her father prepared her to be the crown prince's fiancée?" Moslan asked.

Onibas agreed with a nod of his head.

"We may count on her discretion." Moslan said.

They stopped talking and turned towards the screen. There were Moy's ships heading toward them. The authorized commander of the spaceships appeared on the screen. "Secretary-General of the Planetary Alliance, you may lead your ship to follow us."

"I shall do just as you say, Commander." Onibas said and asked his crew to obey all the commander's orders.

The Moy's ships split in two groups to the right and left, the commander's ship pushed forward to it position in the front.

Moslan forced a smile to his lips. "Very aggressive."

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Onibas remained silent, lost in his own thoughts, "If he succeeds in persuading them, he will gain a strong, stable ally against Ho gene."

Down there, city of Razin enveloped in a thick fog, obscured the buildings and giving a gloomy appearance to the city.

Onibas glimpsed a statue rising above the fog, depicting King Dibo represents the spirit of Courage.

"The pursuit of gratification from vanity." Onibas smiled in mockery.

"Every tyrant thinks he is different, but their shame and Pain last forever." Moslan said.

"But in the end, they fall." Onibas said.

The commander's ship began to enter dense layers of fog and slowly disappeared from sight and the rest of the Moy's ships turned around and flew away.

Onibas's ship follows the direction of the commander's ship, the sky lost in a heavy fog that enveloped the entire spaceship. Suddenly they saw a string of lights from the ships parked on the field immediately in front of Dibo's statue.

Onibas's ship landed softly on the ground, the three engines start to slow down and then stopped. The crew watched as one of the outside guards paced around, and then he stopped and saluted a man approaching the ship.

"It seems our host has arrived." Onibas said.

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He was an old man but seems to have a high fitness.

The man was not fundamentally a military person and it was obvious from his clothing that he occupies a leading position.

"The queen sent her best man to escort you." Moslan said.

"Are you familiar with the man?" Onibas asked.

Moslan said, without taking her eyes from the screen. "Minwa, the Prime Minister and the queen's advisor. He has served the monarchy very well in the past."

Onibas stared at the man for long moment and asked, "Why they sent their best man to welcome us?"

"Certainly, he is not here for this." Moslan said.

Onibas looked at him, a question in his eyes.

Moslan turned to him and said, "He came to examine things closely, to study your behavior and even your emotions."

"This means that there is hope for some gains. I like everything around me to be clear and their reactions are predictable." Onibas said.

He smiled and said, "let us not keep our host waiting. Moslan, you will come with me. The crew, stay here."

Onibas and Moslan left the ship and walked along the passage. The old man watched the two men approaching. His cold eyes scanned Onibas from head to feet.

"Greetings, gentlemen. Firstly, I would like to Welcome you all in the city of Razin."

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He looked at Moslan carefully and said, "My name is Minwa, but I think the hybrid already told you that."

Onibas did not like the word but he kept the smile anchored on his face. "We are pleased that her majesty has agreed to see us." Onibas said.

"The queen wants to know the reason for your visit and she is waiting in her palace right now." Minwa said.

Moslan could sense the old man's suspicions growing. "The Secretary-General came to present an important matter to Queen Aurora that can grab her attention." He said in a very calm voice.

"Only the queen will decide what is more important for this nation. I'm just an old man." Minwa said with a hint of cunning in his voice.

"I think you are doing a fine job." Moslan said.

Onibas looked at him in astonishment. He thought, "Moslan wants to send a message that we have nothing to hide."

"Interesting," Minwa said and he wanted to add something but kept quiet for a few seconds before point to a small flying craft. "Shall we go?"

They all headed toward the craft.

Onibas and Moslan stared down into the haze as the craft flew over the city. The fog gives out a creepy feeling although there are very magnificent buildings.

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Minwa said in a low voice, "A lot of things have changed around here."

"I noticed that." Moslan mumbled.

He turned around and said, "Before the war, the windows are always open, and the weather was sunny all the time. My mother used to take me to the garden beside the seven lakes."

Minwa pointed west. "The garden over there but the lakes almost dry." He said.

"Soon everything would return to normal." Moslan said.

"We are working on it." Minwa said.

Onibas looked at him and said, "Maybe this meeting will solve a lot of problems for both of us."

The flying craft turned around in a wide sweep and starts gliding down to the ground. The palace was huge and looked strikingly. It has two wings, the west face overlooking the city and the east face overlooking the ocean, in the center, the garden lined with many brightly colored flowers.

"Her majesty waiting in the royal throne chamber." Minwa said.

As a great wall stood honor guard, they walked between them into the entrance of the palace.

They entered the chamber to find Queen Aurora standing beside the throne. She was almost 40, round face, huge almond-shaped eyes, golden pupil, Straight nose, clear light blue skin with short white hair.

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She was standing with hands clasped in front of her. Onibas stepped forward to greet the queen. "Queen Aurora, I am very glad to have the opportunity to meet you."

The queen nodded her head. "Secretary-General of the Planetary Alliance, I hope your journey wasn't too arduous," she said as she turned and stepped to her throne and sat down smoothly. "It has been a long time since we have had visitors."

"I hope that today begins a new era of cooperation between the planets." Onibas said.

"Did you extend an offer of cooperation or you came seeking our help?" Minwa asked.

He looked up at the queen; she made a gesture with one hand for him to continue.

"You defeated Ho gene without our help."

After a moment's hesitation, Onibas said, "Yes we did."

"Something new has happened," Queen Aurora said. "Isn't that why you came here today?"

Moslan intervened, saying to the queen, "If he is our enemy, then he's your enemy as well."

"But he is too weak now." Minwa said.

Moslan looked at him and shook his head. "Ho gene's ambitions did not end."

"We've had enough war." Queen Aurora said.

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"Sometimes war is necessary to end evil." Onibas said.

He pointed a finger at the ground at his feet. "They destroyed this planet only because he stood against them."

"Moya was left to fight alone." Queen Aurora said.

Onibas crossed his arms over his chest and said, "The fleets will gather in orbit around Tolar, join us, Malara shall welcome you."

A flush of anger appeared on Aurora's forehead. "Where was Malara when the Imperial Fleet appeared over the horizon, where was Malara when Razin fall." Aurora said sharply.

"I cannot change what happened, but we can change the present and the future, together." Onibas said.

Queen Aurora turned her face aside. "The answer is no, you can stay as long as you want, we will take care of you and your crew." She said.

Onibas went silent for several seconds, thinking about his failure to convince the queen.

"You heard, gentlemen." Minwa said.

He looked to the queen for confirmation then he looked back at them. "That's the end of the meeting."

Onibas saw Moslan take another short step forward.

"I thought that you wanted to get revenge on Tago." Moslan said.

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Queen's face creased in confusion, but Moslan continued by asking, "Isn't that what you want?"

"Choose your words carefully, you speak before the queen!" Minwa said in reproof.

Queen Aurora looked at Moslan nervously. "What do you mean?" she said.

"Forgive me, your Majesty. The people, everywhere, gossiping about what happened between you and Tago." Moslan said.

Onibas could see the rage and anger in her eyes.

"Gossip!" Queen Aurora said.

Moslan pretended to hesitate, and then he said, "He cannot marry his.... Slave."

The queen stood up. Anger rose in her, gritting her teeth as she said, "He's going to suffer for what he's done."

She looked at Onibas and said, "We will be glad to join you but under one condition."

"Which is?" Onibas asked.

Queen Aurora sat down as she smiled an evil smile and started to laugh loudly. "Tago's head is mine."

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Chapter 7

John and his team stared at the girl climbing out of the cockpit and sliding to the ground. She was in her early 20s, oval face shape, short wavy brown hair, soft arch eyebrow, pale-green eyes, small straight nose and lush mouth. Otar walked with the confidence of someone who belonged here, and she smiled as she passed between them to take a look at the car.

"Primitive forms of public transportation." Otar mumbled.

They looked at her in amazement.

She said without turning, "Go ahead, I am listening," And she pointed to her left ear. "I have a chip in my ear that help me learn any language fast. So, you have to speak to help me understand the words"

Cautiously, Thomas took a step forward. "Where did you come from?" he asked.

"Done." Otar said.

Julia said enthusiastically, "Done! I am amazed at how quickly you have learned our language."

"No, that's not what I meant. I had just finished checking this transportation," Otar said and she sat on the hood of the car. "I have already learned your language after heard his words."

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Otar swung her legs over the edge of the car while looking around. "Such a beautiful planet." She said and turned her face up towards the bright sun. "The sun gives a bright coloring to the clouds and valleys. It is so warm, and I can feel the energy within my body."

She closed her eyes, stretched her arms up over her head and sliding hands on chest close-up.

Dene was looking at her when she suddenly opened her eyes and there was a bright glowing from her pupils. He was shocked and pointed his finger at her, opened his mouth to speak and stuttered. "H.... Ha.... Have you seen that look?"

He could see by the expressions on their faces that they saw nothing. Dene thought, "What he actually saw. Or was it only his imagination."

Otar stood up and then turned to face Thomas, saying, "In response to your question, I came from Ho gene."

"Ho gene!" Thomas said confused.

Otar smiled and said, "My planet is located in a faraway solar system."

"How far?" Dene asked.

Julia took a step closer looking at her with undisguised curiosity. "We know aliens don't look like humans. Are you mutant?" she asked.

"Are there more of you coming?" Thomas asked.

John moved his hand. "Hold on, folks," he said and stared at Otar, thinking.

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After a while he said, "There are a lot of questions that need to be answered, but right now, the most important thing is to find way to cover things up."

"Of whom?" Thomas said.

John blinks twice and knitted his brows. "The government and the people." He said.

"But this is a national security matter!" Dene said.

John looked at Otar and then he looked at her ship. "Many countries are currently spy on us and they will try to steal the ship's technology," he said, putting his hand on his waist. "I have a direct line to the president's office."

"You said no one should be know something about her." Julia said a question mark in her voice.

"I need to notify the president first and tell him what went down. Only the President and a very select few of his advisers will know." John said.

"I am sure that you are familiar with this procedure," Dene said. "Where you go, mysterious things start happening around you."

"I have an excellent record in my department. But this is the first encounter with aliens," John said and turned to Otar. "Sorry I called you an alien."

"Kintaro has learned to live with the fact that they are alone in this universe." Otar said.

"Kintaro!" The word caught his attention. "Is that the name given to our planet, Earth?" he asked.

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"Earth," Otar repeated the name softly. "'Oh, this planet is called the Earth."

She laughed and said, "Our scientists must modify the name in their space maps."

"You have found us by using the map we left in the spacecraft?" Thomas asked.

"I used the map to guide me to Earth." Otar said.

"Why did you use that name, Kintaro?" Thomas asked. "Where did that name come from?"

Otar looked surprised, and said, "I think a part of earth's history lost."

She turned around, confused, and said, "You are a very primitive civilization, how you managed to reach Ho gene."

"We have visited your planet!" Julia said, in great astonishment, "This is impossible, even we have not reached Mars yet."

"Your explorer team visited Ho gene thousands of years ago and they told the ancients about planet Kintar. They described the seas and continents as I have seen it from space when I approached the earth."

There were a few seconds of silence then she said, "I saw a picture of your planet carved on the old stones."

The team stands staring at each other, their mouths were open, but no words came out.

John exhaled. "Oh boy, we have things to discuss, but in another place. We are going to San Francisco."

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San Francisco City 10:00 AM:

The doorbell rang twice. A voice from the other side of the door responded. "Please wait a minute," a familiar feminine voice. "I don't know why they call it hair dryer."

She opened the door holding a hair dryer in her right hand and said in a taunt. "It looks more like a ray gun than a hair care device."

The man at the door, glanced up, down, up, down, then said, "Otar, you will need some time to get used to such changes."

"As they say, if you couldn't adapt, you need to make some changes, Thomas." Otar said.

"At first glance I thought you want to change the world so your people can live in earth." Thomas laughed.

"I have found out that the Earth is suitable for a life," Otar said.

He stopped laughing and looked at her suspiciously. "You are joking, aren't you?" Thomas asked.

She leans her head against the doorframe. "I am joking, Thomas. You people watch too many alien invasion movies." She said.

Otar closed the door behind, saying, "You know what? I like watching television. It fun, enjoyable but that's nothing compared to what I got at home."

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"Eight days have passed since you came to our planet." Thomas said.

A smile lighting up his face and said, "I'll never forget the face of Mr. Pavan when you sent your ship away to Earth orbit."

Otar laughed, then her face dropped to seriousness. "If this technology falls into the wrong hands, it could be very dangerous." She said.

"I can understand that." Thomas said.

He pressed the elevator button, saying, "I like this neighborhood because it has these great quietest buildings in San Francisco."

"I want to thank the president of the country for this opportunity to study Planet Earth." Otar said.

The elevator doors opened and Otar stepped into, followed by Thomas.

He said as the door closed, "I call it my good luck that they agreed you can stay in an apartment in the same building."

"To study me or to prevent me committing any folly." Otar said, batting her eyelashes.

Thomas looked at her eyes. A strange, a powerful warmth penetrated his heart. He thought, "no one has ever been able to touch my heart, or perhaps he had taken pity on her because she is a lonely in a strange planet."

"I want to learn more about space." He said.

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"Sometimes a little knowledge can be dangerous if you are not ready for." Otar said.

She looked at the people on the sidewalks, teenagers, mothers with children and there also old people barely able to walk.

"Your world will take its time to evolve." Otar said. Turning her face away.

She felt guilty when she remembered her mission, this planet has no chance to stand against the Imperial Fleet. However, on the other hand, Earth is ready to become part of Ho gene Empire and that mean protection from threats of aggression from outer space.

"let's think in what is going on in the great world around us, greed is the common link between us," Thomas said. "But where a new technology is not bad in itself, some people will choose the wrong way and use this technology for some evil purpose."

Otar put her hands in the pockets of her coat. "I assume you agree with me."

"Share the same opinion means nothing." Thomas mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Otar asked.

He kicked a tin can out of his way. "They are expecting something in return. The government, they will seek for a new technology to make them stronger than ever before."

"To occupy the weakest." She said.

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A tree blowing in the wind causing leaves to chase each other in circles along the ground.

"The desire to control others, a common feature among all creatures." she said.

"Not necessarily," he mumbled. "To feel safe and secure by possession great power."

"By browsing what you called the Internet, the Earth seen two world wars and the high estimates say that 80 million people died," she said. "If the Earth is able to invade other planets. Will you exterminate the inhabitants if they resist?"

He took time to think and answer. "Our technology has not reached that point yet."

"You know what I mean," she said. "Don't quibble."

He pursed his lips and said, "The answer is not to expand lie, we cannot ignore our history, there will be blood and death."

"I sensed some hesitance in your answer but thank you for the clarity." She said.

"Wherever there is good, there must also be evil." He mumbled.

Otar spotted a hotdog kiosk and the delicious smell coming from it made her stop and pointed. "This smell delicious." She said.

Thomas smiled and grabbed her hand. "Come. Let me buy you a sandwich, we have enough time" he said.

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After buying their sandwiches, they stood between two buildings to eat and seek shelter from the rain.

"Whenever it was raining, my father used to prepare a cup of coffee and sit on the balcony to enjoy the sound of the rain slipping through the trees and a few seconds later, my mother will sit in the chair beside him and holding hands." Thomas said.

As he finished talking, Otar tried to imagine the scene. "This sort of emotions," She said. "I see and feel it everywhere, people here learned to show their emotions very easily."

She put her head down, thinking for a moment. "Things are different in Ho gene." She said.

"How different could be?" he asked.

"My people maintain to control over their emotions from the childhood." She said.

He stopped chewing and looked at her. "That's bizarre, you must show love to someone you care about."

"We learned that we had to be strong, so we can survive on the battlefield." She said.

"You should not suppress your own feelings." He said.

She smiled as her hands folded over her chest. "My sister Yoko is the only one I dare to show my emotion in front." She said.

He was about to ask her, when they heard a hoarse voice behind a large garbage bin in the middle of the

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Narrow passage. "Look what we have here."

Three men came out of the shadow and one of them was smacking the palm of his left hand with a stick.

"Give me your wallets." One of them snarled.

Thomas was staring at them; his hand moved towards Otar and grabbed her hand.

"Let's run away." Thomas whispered.

He turned, pulling her and started running fast, they were about to reach the end of the narrow passage when two other men blocked the way and one pulled a small folding knife from his pocket.

"What's the hurry?" the man with the knife said.

The gang surrounded them and started to laugh diabolically.

Otar with a very curious look on her face watched the man with the stick approached her.

He looked down and stared at her pendant. "What beautiful jewelry."

Otar complete indifference to the hand of the man stretching toward her neck and holding her pendant.

Thomas yelled out in anger. "Don't touch her."

One of the men hit him on the head with the pistol grip and he fell down onto the ground.

Otar looked at Thomas's face covered with blood. The anger rising in her chest and make her breathe faster.

She turned her attention back to the man in front of her and there was a bright glowing from her pupils.

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She formed a fist and punched him in the mouth to send him flying through the air and down to the ground. He looked stunned as he spit out four teeth and blood into his hand.

"Ooh, my teeth you fuc.. bitc.." he yelled in pain.

He stood up and began to totter. "Grabbed her, once we finished, you will feel some real pain."

One man punched her in the stomach while another man jumped and kicked her in the thigh, both men bounced back as if they hit a wall.

The man with the stick yelled loudly, "Bastards, all attack her at once."

The men rushed to attack her, trying to punch and to kick her, but Otar was moving right, left, up and down faster than the eye could follow.

She flipped with one leg extended kicking one of the men in the stomach and jumps in the air and sends her body spinning around so her two legs can attack, she landed on her feet and there were three men falls to the ground.

The man with the pistol took two steps backward and swung his weapon toward her. "You asked for it." He yelled as he pulled the trigger.

"Noooo." Thomas screamed.

The bullet left the barrel belched smoke and fire and it starts to accelerate toward Otar.

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Otar reacted with amazing reflexes and turned right to let the bullet passed right near her left ear and hit the wall behind.

"What the hell?" the man mumbled as he struggled to fire more bullets.

Otar rushed forward directly to the man, leaning left and right to let the bullets passed and she reached the man and grabbed his arm.

His eyes widened in horror. "Who are you?"

Otar clenched her fist tightly and looked straight at his eyes. "You will never know."

She twisted his hand hard and the pain forced him to his knees. "AAAHH. Please let me go"

She pulled him up and threw him into the air to hit the garbage bin.

The man with the stick let out a loud scream and started to run away.

Otar turned to Thomas and rushed to help him stand.

"You risked your life for me." She said in tenderness.

He wiped his blood. "I will not let any harm come to you" he said.

He wore an embarrassed expression on his face and said, "But you have managed without my help."

She holds his hands and said, "There is a saying among Ho gene, all souls connected will show compassion."

Otar could feel her blush and heat at the same time.

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Ames Research Center:

John and his team are sitting in what looks like an operating room.

Dene seems tense, nervous and walking around the room while saying. "We can't trust her that much."

Julia followed him with her eyes, lifting her chin and said, "Dene, you need to calm down and stop moving,"

She continued typing on her laptop. "Otar got a verbal approval from the government to do her research."

"What is the purpose of this research? Someone should ask her this question?" Dene asked.

"All possibilities have been studied." John mumbled.

"Even if Earth invaded by aliens!" Dene said with disapproval.

"She's just one person." John said.

"Do you know that the hornets send a single hornet scout to look for a beehive, once one is located, they will attack the hive with many of swarms?" Dene said.

Julia burst out laughing. "Sorry, I couldn't stop imagine her with big antenna," She added, with a short laugh. "Maybe your fears come true."

John tapped on the desk with his finger and smiled. "Or maybe you're just scared of the unknown." He said.

"We all do." Dene said.

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Julia sliding her glasses from her face and setting them on the table. "I have reviewed the results of her blood tests many times and I found something strange."

She captured the attention of the two men.

"What have you discovered?" John asked.

Julia rotated her chair to face them. "I found mutation in the myocyte cell." She said.

"As far as I know, myocyte is found in muscle tissue." John said.

"Would that mean?" Dene asked.

Julia looked at him and said, "A mutation is the alteration of the Extrachromosomal DNA."

"What are the results of this mutation?" John asked.

Julia put her glasses back on, returned to the laptop, and said, "A mutation can have a large effect. It can be beneficial or harmful."

"Mutation is a rare event." Dene said.

"Apparently you have some doubts." John said.

She leaned back on her chair, repeatedly clicking a pen. "The function of the muscular system, that's what, worries me."

John sat silently listening to her.

"The performance for elementary movements of her body, are normal," Dene said. "I watched her movement pattern."

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She pointed at him with her pen. "Let me ask you a question, you exercise regularly, why do muscles get tired and weak after exercise?"

"The muscles produce Lactic acid during intense exercise and that lead to feeling exhausted." Dene said.

She put the pen down then said. "Allow me to add, the extra oxygen you breathe in reacts with the lactic acid, breaking it down to make carbon dioxide and water," she continued, "What will happen if your body limited the lactic acid in your blood stream."

Dene laughed. "I will become a superhero with a super-strength and ability to move faster."

"Because you develop muscles that do not tire easily, and minimum lactic acid produces." She said.

A flash of understanding lit John's eyes. "You mean the mutation in her myocyte cell; probably lead her strength exceeding normal human capacity." He said.

"Or her power become unimaginable." She mumbled.

Suddenly the door opened and Otar was standing there beside Thomas, with a very small wound on the left side of his forehead.

Julia muffled scream into her hands, Dene works out a combat movement. "I will save you, Thomas. I will knock you down, alien." He said loudly.

"Calm down, guys. What happened? There is a lot of tension here." Thomas said.

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Dene puts his fists down. "I thought she.... I mean what happened to you?" he asked.

Thomas waved his hand. "It's nothing compared to what happened to the men." He said.

"What men?" Julia asked.

Thomas looked at Otar and said, "We were attacked by a gang, five men, but Otar kicked them one by one."

"By herself!" John said, surprised.

Thomas nodded his head and said. "Yes, don't ask me how it happened, all I can tell you; she is a super girl."

John, Dene and Julia looked at each other.

"We are doomed." Dene mumbled.

John glanced at him sideways. "Let's change the subject. You both came at the right time. We have an important call to make." He said.

He asked Otar to take a step forward. "As we agreed during the last week, tell them that you will give yours full cooperation and sure they will respond to your demands."

He pressed a button and after three minutes, a face appeared on the screen.

"Mr. President." John said his voice full of respect.

The President was sitting behind his desk in the white house office. "I guess I just thought you would be different, another species from another planet, I shall be delighted to welcome you, young lady." The president said.

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Otar flung a quick smile on her face. "Thank you, sir. I hope the friendship between our two peoples should last forever."

"I have given my orders to allow you to do your research." The president said.

He crossed his hands over the table and added. "Our responsibility of maintaining international peace and security imposed on me to ask you to help us develop our own knowledge and technology."

"No." Otar said, her face all serious.

John looked shocked in her reply, but she hastened to say. "We cannot interfere with the evolution of inhabited planets; it could be very dangerous to your world."

Several moments of silence passed before she said, "Well, all I can do is to put your world on the first stage of future evolution."

"In all fields of science and technology." The president said.

Otar held her left hand, palm up, a floating hologram of a blue ball suspended in the air. She tapped her fingers on the ball and pointing at one of the computers in the room. "I let my ship's computer chat with this computer; if you look you can find thousands of scientific theories on its hard disk."

John turned at the computer and rushed to check the files and a big, broad, smile appeared on his face.

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Six months later:

She was standing in a familiar room, wondering how she even got here. Breeze blowing through the balcony causing the curtains to move flatwise.

A woman was standing outside, staring at the ocean. She took a few steps to get to where the woman was standing.

"I missed you, a lot." She said.

The women turned to look at her. "Why have you done that?" The women asked, two tiny tears fell from her eyes.

"I found him in that world, the man who I loved. You always wanted what was best for me." She said. They stood face to face, as the wind blew through their hair. "Otar, I am happy for you, but it will not change anything here."

"Yoko, we can live together on that planet, there is no need to start a war." Otar begged.

"He is the only one who can decide what is good for us." Yoko said.

Otar was about to say something when the room went entirely dark. Suddenly she found herself in the Emperor's Hall, kneeling on her knees and two guards seized her arms.

She looked up at the throne, the Emperor was staring at her.

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"You have failed me." He said, his voice full of indignation.

The Emperor stood with an angry look on his face and crossed his arms over his chest. "I trusted you and treated you as if you were my own daughter." He said.

Her eyes filled with tears and the words were hardly out of her mouth. "Please, we can start a new life, to save our nation and to live in peace." She said.

The Emperor turned his back on her. "You know the penalty for betraying the Empire." He said.

The guards let go her arms and stepped back and one of them drew his sword. As he brought it down, she could see the reflection of her face in the marble and the blood spraying out from a wound from her neck.

She lurched up in bed, breathing hard, sweaty and her heart pounding.

Strong arms wrapped around her, holding her close. "You had another dream?" he said.

She sat on the edge of the bed. "Yes, Thomas, I dream about that moment, when I die."

Thomas sat beside her, saying, "It's just a dream," He hugged her tightly as he kissed her head. "You are my wife now and this is your homeland."

She closed her eyes and rested her head on his chest.

"Is there no other way?" she asked.

Through a long exhalation, he said, "All we can do is prepare as best we can."

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"I'm afraid it will be useless." She said.

He raised his head and looked up. "I wish if we can somehow close the gate between Earth and Ho gene." He said.

She thought bitterly, "that means I cannot get back either, and I had to stay here till the end of my life."

He knew there were strong emotions inside her, he turned to her and said, "As a physicist, I know that theories take time to develop, what is impossible today is possible tomorrow. What have you told me, and trusted me with, challenged me to change my way of thinking. I believe one day in the near future we will be able to visit faraway stars."

"Are you going to tell them about my mission?" she asked.

"It would be dangerous, and they may start acting violently toward you." he said.

The morning sunlight pour through the window over the bed. He went over to open the window to let in some fresh air.

"I am planning to tell Julia and Dene, we have to work together without the intervention of the government," He said, picking up his cell phone. "Based on information you've provided; I have a theory that may work." He pressed Dene's number and mumbled while waiting for him to answer. "A theory takes us on a journey through space."

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Chapter 8

The activity started and ended so quickly, one moment he was there, the next floating in another universe.

"Where am I!" Kuldar mumbled. "This wormhole seems to act like a tunnel connects two different places located far away from each other."

He could see a few nearby planets; a whole solar system not yet been discovered.

"Let's look at the space map," He said. "Computer, can you identify our current location?"

"It's 1400light-years from our planet." the computer said. Kuldar checked the map, but there was something unusual. He tried to figure it out, as a space explorer and fighter; he would say something wrong with this map. He focused and saw a group of stars

Within the constellation.

"You are bringing an old star map. Can you see that group of stars C1, C2 and C3?"

"I expected data according to the current map." The computer said.

Kuldar leaned back in his chair, thinking, and quiet for a few seconds.

"Are your devices working properly?" he asked.

The computer goes through a check-up routine.

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"All functions work well with the whole system." The computer said.

"Track down the Imperial ship." Kuldar said.

The computer started the tracking and located the Ship. The metallic voice said, "The ship orbiting a planet, about 10 million miles."

Kuldar knits his eyebrows and his voice sounded strained. "I don't see how that could happen. I just followed her outside the tunnel and even if she uses the A warp drive, she cannot go that far."

Then an idea came into his head. "How much time has passed since she reached that planet?" He asked.

"About six months ago." The computer said.

Kuldar shifted forward in his chair and ran a finger over his lips. His thoughts were racing through his mind. "There is something bizarre going on, first the three stars on the map, second the missing time. But right now, he should go to that planet to defeat the Ho gene's warrior."

"How long will it take us to reach that planet?" he asked.

"When the warp drive in operation, we can reach the planet in less than 5 hours."

Kuldar switched the ship to the propulsion system and getting ready to enter warp drive. "let's start our journey." He said while pushing the joystick to start the accelerate.

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San Francisco City 12:00 PM:

The coffee shop was crowded and cheerfully noisy. The waiters serving breakfasts and refilling coffee cups for the customers. No one paid attention to the four people sitting outside around sidewalk table, they leaned together as if they were in an attempt to keep their conversation private from the others.

"I guess we agreed to keep it a secret."

They looked around, then at him. "If you had asked me six months ago, I would have said, no." Dene said.

He tapped his fingers on the table. Julia grabbed his hand and said, "Honey, stop being so hard on yourself," she turned to the others, smiling. "He always does that when he gets nervous."

"It my habit to relieve stress." Dene said.

Julia tapped his shoulder with her purse. "That's why I married you. To keep you in a good mood."

He lifted her hand, kissed the ring. "I thought you married me because I am the only person in the world that can make your heart to explode from your chest."

Her face had turned a slight shade of red, lowering her eyes, embarrassed.

Otar smiled as she pushed her finger up. "Dene, stop that, the woman likes to keep a very special moment away from other ears."

"Ooops, My bad." Dene laughed.

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Thomas was looking down the street, the people were hurrying towards their destinations, there is a man laughing loudly at a table beside them, nobody warned them of the upcoming danger. Suddenly he heard the loud screeching of tires, a yellow cab was about to hit a man crossing the road.

"Sam." He exclaimed as he remembered something.

They turned to look at him, wondering.

"Who is Sam?" Julia asked.

"He is a cab driver." Thomas said, holding his head on his hands. "I totally missed that!"

He ripped a sheet of paper out of his notebook and then places it on the table, reached into his pocket and pulled out a pen.

"Sam the driver, told me in the middle of our conversation, a black hole can act as a time machine and you can control the time by controlling the light speed and the direction." Thomas said.

He draws a tunnel with an arrow indicates one direction.

"I believe that the objects when enters the black hole, turn into light." Thomas said.

He pointed to Otar. "She's the best example, her ship turned to a form of light."

"We cannot really determine what happen inside the black hole. Just a theory, but not a fact." Dene said.

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Thomas nodded his head. "Yea, you are right and that's why we gather here today so I can present my plan to you all."

They all remained silent while he's writing something on the paper and then he said, "As you can see, this is an electron orbiting a nucleus, when an electron is hit by a photon of light it absorbs energy the photon was carrying and moves to a different orbital. The electron can't stay long in the new orbital, so it returns to the original orbital by release the energy as another photon," He took a sip of coffee. "Yes, let's continue. The light sucked into the black hole, but for unknown reasons the electrons inside the black hole's horizon released the photons to the other side, so they called it the white hole in Planet Ho gene."

Otar agreed and said, "Bright, and totally opaque white."

Julia tapped her finger against the paper. "I guess I understand what you mean, you will try to stop that interaction and replaced it with something else."

"You're assuming in this case that the light waves can travel through the tunnel and this disappearing act came to be called a quantum leap." Dene said.

"Yes." Thomas said.

Dene crossed his arms over his chest. "You are wrong. I am not an expert in the field of Physics, but you have missed something." He said.

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A slight smile crossed Thomas's face. "I am impressed, Dene, you aware of this." He said.

Dene looked happy with the compliment.

"It seems I am the only one who need more explanation." Julia said.

"Light can't escape a black hole." Dene said.

Thomas extended his hand and said, "Let me explain, no objects can escape the black hole's pull and we are not going to be receiving visitors from the other side."

Julia turned toward Otar. "How do you think she got here?" She asked.

"There could only be one explanation." Thomas said and ran his index finger up.

"The dark matter." he said as he put his hand down.

Dene's face showed a lack of understanding as he mumbled. "The dark matter, I never heard this word before."

Thomas flips the paper over and hold the pen. "The matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume, all objects you can touch composed of atoms."

He draws a human figure with many dots inside.

"Every human has billion atoms. If our body made by dark matter, we will be invisible and turned into a black hole." Thomas said.

"In our world!" Dene said.

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Thomas shook his head in denial. "Fortunately, that impossible to happen. The matter and the dark matter cannot exist in the same place."

"Do black holes contain dark matter?" Julia asked.

Thomas put his fists together. "The black hole is a dark matter."

Otar turned her spoon in her coffee cup. "Black hole ejecting Matter all the time because it can't keep it in the same place with the dark matter." She said.

"A black hole has enormous pulling power, which creates a centripetal force. Imagine the centrifugal force that is equal to the centripetal force. The matter falls into the black hole due to the pulling power and as we said before, the matter and the dark matter cannot exist in the same place, so it ejects to the other side in no time." Thomas said.

Julia turned to Dene. "That makes sense to me." She said.

Dene stared at the paper for a few seconds, and then looked at Thomas. "How are you planning to prevent them from sliding into our world?"

Thomas looked up at the sky "Otar's ship, we will use a weapon called the electrons bomb, this weapon when it is used against targets, causes to gain extra electrons and the target will collapse in its atomic composition."

He crumpled the paper. "The gate will be closed for many years till we are ready to fight."

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Earth's orbit:

The spaceship suddenly appeared out of warp and slowly moved in a horizontal direction to the right.

"We've reached our destination." The metallic voice said.

Kuldar looked at the small blue planet. The continents arranged themselves on the planet's surface billions of years ago. Parts of the planet's surface blanketed by clouds and move around the Earth.

"Such a beautiful planet." Kuldar mumbled.

He saw thousands of objects orbiting the planet. "Are these defensive systems." He asked.

"By checking the signals from which they are transmitted, they can serve multiple purposes." The computer said.

"Send me the broadcast of the closest object." Kuldar said.

The computer started to broadcast through the cockpit screen. The satellite was delivering television programming, football matches, news, live shows and various kinds of television programs.

"They really enjoy entertainment." Kuldar said.

He found the Imperial ship location, but there was stillness aboard the ship that he thought they are unaware of his approach. He maneuvered his spaceship into position facing the imperial ship.

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There was nothing, only the reflection of the sunlight from the shiny metal. Suddenly he realized that the engines were off.

"The ship turned to sleeping mode," He mumbled and pressed some buttons. "Scan the hostile ship to any signs of life."

"There is no sign of life except waves of brain telepathy." The computer said.

"There are no great rewards without great risks, girl, you have my respect, but your brain connected to a machine, if your ship destroys, your brain will melt, and you will become brain dead." Kuldar said.

He looked back at the ship as it begins to move away, continued its journey around the Earth's orbit.

"It's obvious you didn't expect me to follow you to this planet, you shouldn't have left your ship unsecured. Now you must face the consequences." He said before pressing different button icons on the screen. Missiles show up, blinking lights and slowly moving across the screen.

"This missile will be able to do the work." He said and fired it up.

The missile flew all the way through the vacuum of space and exploded about two meters from the Imperial Ship. This blast was unusual, an electricity thunder-shining spark and lightning surround the target and turned to blue electric ball.

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San Francisco City 1:23 PM:

Otar screamed louder, held her head in her hands as her body shaking rapidly and lost consciousness on the table. Thomas stood up so quickly that the chair fell over and rushed to her holding her shoulders.

"Otar, are you ok what happened to you?" he asked in a worried voice.

Julia sat beside Otar, pulled her body onto her lap, and rocked her gently. "Otar, speak to me," Julia said and Turned to Thomas. "Her skin turns icy cold, this strange, we need to get her to a hospital."

Thomas looked confused and worried as he pulled out his cell phone. Dene grabbed the cell phone with his left hand. "Stay with her. I will call an ambulance."

The people in the cafe were looking at them, wondering what happened, for a minute they have been staring at their table with real curiosity, and then they went back to what they were doing.

From far away they heard ambulance sirens and kept getting closer and closer until it's shows up and the driver applied the brakes to park in front of the coffee shop. The paramedics got out of the vehicle as soon as it stopped, snatched a stretcher out.

A paramedic raced to Otar, down over here to check her pulse and asked a bunch of questions about her general health and medical history.

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The paramedics determined that she would need to take to the hospital. Thomas asked while they are putting her on the stretcher. "Is she going to be alright?"

"Her pulse is weak. We need to get her into a hospital as quickly as possible." The paramedic said.

Thomas climbed into the ambulance to be with her. Dene waved his hand. "We shall meet you there."

"Take care of her." Julia said before the ambulance doors closed and driven away with lights flashing and siren blaring.

At the way to the hospital, Thomas was looking at her with a plea in his eyes that she is going to wake up and be able to talk. The pulse weakened gradually, Thomas saw the confused look in the paramedic's eye before he took a syringe and injected it into her vein. The paramedic glanced down at his watch and started counting on his fingers and he stopped after one minute to check Otar's pulse. He looked at his colleague and shook his head, saying, "There is no response."

Thomas looked at him with inquiring eyes. "Sir, what you mean?"

"This injection supposed to improve her pulse, but it still getting weaker." The paramedic said.

Thomas felt waves of fear and worry flooded through his entire body. He leaned down to her, whispering. "I know you will get well. You are strong."

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Old memories passed like a shadow behind his eyes, they lived each moment they were together, and they were happy and so thankful they had a chance to meet.

"She's not breathing, there's no pulse." The paramedic said.

Thomas felt like time had stopped, and then everything began to move in slow motion. He yelled, his voice echoed but never left his mouth, "please save her, she is the only thing in the world I care about," but the words remained locked up inside him.

"Let's shock her." The paramedic yelled and placed the big electrode peddles on her chest. Her body bounced up and down on the stretcher.

"No response. Again."

Her body bounced, but there was a loud beeping sound. The paramedic shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry she's gone." putted his hand on Thomas's shoulder.

Thomas's eyes filled with tears; his chest felt as though it was being pressed upon. He leaned down and pressed his lips against her forehead. "I'm sorry." He said in a quavering voice. He watched as the paramedics covered Otar's body and the hospital door slid open to let them in. Thomas followed them but his legs were like jelly, his inner thoughts was screaming, "it was my fault, I should have known that her body can't survive in Earth's environment. I am sorry, Otar." His tears fell to the ground.

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10,000 meters:

Kuldar's ship hovering 10,000 meters above San Francisco City, collecting data, indexing and analyzing the results.

"You can't hide from me." Kuldar mumbled.

He checked the screen that displays a black dot that moves continuously until it stopped.

"Your brain sends a weak signal. I hope you will not die from the R.K missile. It was the only way I can track your location without destroying your ship," He said, smiling wildly. "I showed you mercy."

Kuldar slanted his ship down and he saw a wide area of green forest, so he decided to land there. He stepped out in his space suit, switching on his air-quality device monitor. After a minute, he took off his mask and tucked it under his arm, took two deep breaths.

"Finally, fresh air." He said.

A swarm of screaming parrots flew over him, he tilted his head up to look at the wings fluttering in the sky. An Elk peer out from behind a clump of grass, staring at him with his big brown eyes. Kuldar remained motionless and was careful to make no noise and scaring the animal.

"What beautiful eyes you have!" He said. "I have never seen an animal like you."

The Elk turned slightly away into the forest.

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Kuldar listened to the voices of the creatures all around him, a big variety of animals, birds, insects and reptiles enrich this forest.

"This planet has a variety of natural environments," he said, pressing the intelligent device attached to his wrist. "Computer connect to the planet's satellites and search for the similarities between Tolar and Kintaro. The topic is everything can match between the two worlds."

He started walking until he reached the end of the forest. A road goes up a hill. He stands beside the road as a green Jeep pulled up beside him. Kuldar stares at the vehicle for a long moment, then, the driver side window rolled down and the driver said, "Do you want to buy it or you need a lift somewhere?"

Kuldar turned his eyes to him, took a step forward and hit the car's door. He stood, puzzled, wondering how he could get inside.

"Are you kidding me? It is a jeep, dude." The driver said, leaned across and pushed open the door for him. Kuldar got in the car and looked at the door.

"Yes, go ahead, close it." The driver said.

Kuldar closed the door and smiled.

"Dude, for a moment, I thought you were an alien," The driver said. "Especially with that pale face. Are you sure you are ok?"

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Kuldar's eyes scanning the interior of the car. "Not bad, but there will be a long way to the next technological revolution." He mumbled.

The driver took his eyes off the road and stared at a Kuldar's suit. "It's a nice suit," The driver said. "This reminds me of the first astronaut game I got when I was a child."

He began slowing down before entering a curve, turned the steering wheel gently to the left and then speed up again. "You sure don't talk much." The driver said, shot him a side-eye look.

"My name is kuldar. I'm from Tolar."

"Tolar!" the driver said, biting his thumb, thinking. "Yes, I know Tolar, I believe it is a small town in North Dakota."

A big smile crossed his face. "Bob knows everything."

He raised himself up and then tilted his head left and right to crack his neck. "Oh boy, it was a long drive. Dude, aren't you far from home?"

"About 1,400 light-years away from your solar system." Kuldar said.

Bob gave him a stunned look and laughed aloud. "That's very funny. It's a good one, tolarian."

"Thank you, Bob." Kuldar said.

As they approach the city from the east, they saw San Francisco's tallest buildings rising into the sky.

"So, what brings you to San Francisco?" Bob asked.

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Kuldar checked the device attached to his wrist and lift it up so Bob can see. "I need to be there."

Bob looks up, his eyes narrow. "What kind of navigation system you are using, I can see lots of strange words, these must be Spanish words." Bob said with a wave of his hand. "Don't worry amigo! I will take you there."

Kuldar put his hand on Bob's shoulder. "Thank you, amigo. I appreciate that."

Bob gave him a big smile. "Oh, don't mention it, I like the Mexicans, I'd even like to put a tattoo." He said.

Bob pressed down on the accelerator to increase the car speed, and then put a stick of gum in his mouth. He turned to Kuldar. "You are certain to enjoy your stay in San Francisco. There's an old saying, if you're not alive, San Francisco will bring you to life." He said.

Kuldar repeat this sentence over and over in his mind, yes, he has to keep this planet alive. If he fails, then everyone else in the galaxy will fail too.

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San Francisco Hospital:

Julia and Dene rushed to the hospital. It was around 3:00 p.m. as soon as they had entered into the hospital, they saw Thomas, sitting in a chair in the passage outside the emergency room. His shoulders sagged, and there was sadness in his eyes. He did not notice their arrival, until he lifts up his eyes, to see them standing next to him. Dene felt something had happened, so he sat beside him and asked. "How is she?"

Thomas sighed and tears began to fall from his eyes.

"She passes away. Too late to save her."

Julia put both hands to her mouth, staring at him with wide, horrified eyes, whispering, "I can't believe that it's really happening. This is a tragedy."

Dene tried to speak but could not find the words and so he remained silent. Julia entered the room, where Otar's body laid on her bed. Her face was fresh and pink as if she were still alive. Julia sat in the chair beside the bed and grasped her left hand. "I know we didn't know each other well, but those days we have spent together has taught me that all creatures everywhere in this universe have the possibility to choose between good and evil." She walked to the window and pulled the curtain open. "You always loved our sun. You deserve this moment. Farewell, my friend."

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A beam of sunlight through the window fell across otar's body. After gazing at Otar for a few moments, Julia turned and left the room with tears in her eyes.

The room went quiet, but the quietness was deceptive. Otar's heart was beating all the time, but the medical equipment was not able to sense any pulse, a very low pulse her heart went on to keep her a life, a medical case human have never deal with before. Every cell in her body start unusual activity, the sunlight falling on Otar's skin turning her cell into an energy reactor. All the inhabitants of Ho gene have the ability to produce maximum energy their cell can handle. Otar's pulse rate increased, her breathing return to normal, the muscles become stronger and more powerful, but there is another creature in the room she is feeding up with that energy she produces. That creature growing up inside her, they were intimately connected together, one-month-old fetus that she didn't even know he existed. Otar started to move her head, wiggling her fingers and there were shining light between her eyelashes. Suddenly she opened her eyes, and with a strong feeling of anger, a word left her lips.

"Kuldar."

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Hospital Entrance:

Kuldar was standing in front of the entrance. He lifted his wrist and glanced at the device.

"I finally found you." He said with a tone carried a tinge of sarcasm. Kuldar crossed the entrance, his steps sure and confident. People's curious eyes rested on his suit, he did not care about anything or anyone, his focus was on finding Otar. The whole Alliance is expecting him to success in his mission, Onibas count on him. His device start flashing blue. "The little warrior is here," he said, "In this room."

Dene. Thomas and Julia were sitting on the same place, being sad and very quiet. Kuldar stands at the front of the room, he mumbled in his own native language. As the word was so unfamiliar to Dene, he raised his head up to look at Kuldar, the blue pale face got his attention. Their eyes met; Dene felt an intense feeling of cold rush through his body. For some unknown reason, he stood, and asked, "'How can I help you, sir?"

"I came here to help you, people of kintaro." Kuldar said and entered the room.

Kintaro, a word that Dene had heard before. Everything becomes clear to him, and he extended his hand and grabbed Kuldar's forearm. "Not so fast, my friend, Identify yourself first."

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Kuldar stopped, turned halfway around and said, "You just don't want to be involved. Let off my hand."

Dene felt the strength and power of Kuldar's arm, but he wasn't ready to give up. Kuldar left his arm up too long, dragging Dene up with his legs kicking up in the air. He drove his fist into Dene's stomach, causing him to bend over and fell down on his back. Dene struggled to stand up again, but his lungs demanded air.

Thomas looked stunned, trying to figure out what just happened. Julia looked at her husband, as a normal human being, the only thing she felt was the instinct to protect those we love. She stands in front of Dene, knowing that doesn't make much difference.

Kuldar looked at her steadily a moment then said, "You do not need to fear me, I came here for one purpose, the Imperial warrior."

He turned to enter the room, but an angry voice boomed in his ear. "My name is Otar."

She was standing right in front of him, he could feel her breath upon his face and her pupil glowing.

Otar brought up her foot and kicked him full in the chest. "Leave me alone." She yelled in anger.

Kuldar flew backwards until he bumped up against the wall behind. He felt waves of pain shot throughout his entire body.

As a great warrior, he puts his lead hand up as a guard and his rear hand on the ground and establishes the

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Proper position to get up. Otar moved faster than normal eyes could comprehend and delivers a heavy punch to Kuldar's head. He rotates his body anti-clockwise and lean slightly to his left, Otar's fist passed over his head and cracked the white wall.

Kuldar knew, he is fighting a battle he can't win, not in a normal way, so he applied the technique that worked before against the Imperial warriors, drain his energy by keep moving as fast and as far as possible.

Thomas went toward Otar, and said in a voice full of emotion, "It's a miracle, you're alive."

The look in Otar's eyes told him more than any words can ever say, but she ignored him and spins her body putting her full weight on her instep, outstretched her hands and arms. Kuldar jumped up and slides down the ground to avoid her fists. He extended his leg then kicked her behind the knees, causing her to lose balance and fall over backward. Otar quickly stands up and let out a great big scream. "You definitely will lose, tolarian."

Kuldar gave her a faint smile and said, "Shall we continue our fight outside." Then he ran as fast as he could toward the window and break through.

He fell to the street and rolled twice to the left, lying on his stomach and gazing at the broken window.

Suddenly he saw Otar fly out of the window like a

Leopard jumping over tree trunk.

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A local television reporter was standing on the street outside the hospital, he was covering an event nearby when he saw the very strange and unusual fight. The cameraman changes the focus on them, Otar was holding a big motorcycle, she made full rotation and move her weight over the left foot and her right foot is raised, after that she landed her right foot in a power position and throws the heavy motorcycle toward Kuldar.

The reporter said loudly, "Unbelievable, it's a kind of power I never seen."

Kuldar made a backwards jump and landed directly on top of a parked car. The motorcycle collided with the car, causing the car alarm to blare. Kuldar lost his balance and fell back down but managed to land on his feet. The reporter waved to the cameraman. "Get closer to them, are you filming this?" he asked.

The fighting continued, with Kuldar extended his arm, pressing his device. "Let find out where the weak points in your body were." He said.

Otar's body show up as a green light on the device and there was a red color where the stomach is located.

Kuldar knit his eyebrows. "There is a fetus grow inside her." He mumbled in confusion. "I can't hurt you, little one."

Otar started to slow down and get tired, she turned her head up and could barely see the sun go down.

"I still have enough power to defeat you." She said.

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Bison Burger:

Bob was sitting in a restaurant called Bison Burger with two friends, he appeared to be enjoying his meal and waved his left hand holding his burger with the other. "I like to come here to eat this delicious burger." he said as he chews. "I can't resist this great taste."

His two friends laughed.

"Check out the TV, a girl threw a motorcycle with one hand!" said one of them.

Bob turned back to the TV. "Are you joking me?" he said and stopped chewing a moment and looked up. "This girl is really upset, just a moment!" Bob said as he moved closer to the TV.

He put his finger on the screen. "That's the man I told you about. Kuldar the tolarian." He said.

Bob placed his hand on his head saying, "Amigo, you are gonna get yourself in trouble."

He turned to his friends and said, "You don't want to fool around with the Mexicans."

He lifts his right foot and said, "Watch your leg, the leg, Kuldar. Oh man oh man, it must really hurt."

One of his friends said, "This man knows how to fight, knows how to bounce like a boxer."

"He was raised in Tolar, a small town in North Dakota." Bob said proudly.

A man sitting at a table near them and was listening

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Carefully to their conversation. He got up from his chair, walking toward Bob and stands behind him.

"What did you just say? I heard you say something, Tolar, I guess." The man said.

Bob turned to the man. "Yes, sir," he said then pointed to the screen. "That my friend and he is from Tolar."

"Tolar," The man mumbled and raised his ID card. "John Pavan, FBI."

Bob appeared terrified as he glanced at John. "Dude, I should have mentioned earlier, that guy is not my friend, he was just a man I picked him up and took him to San Francisco Hospital."

John looked at the television screen. "Otar, are you sure you've told us everything?" he said, "It seems we have another visitor, from a planet you have always talked about, Tolar."

Bob asked confused. "Sir, are you talking about the aliens."

John ignored his question and pulled his cell phone from his pocket, dialed a number, and when the voice answered, he said, "I need two strike teams, send the first one to my location. The other group must be ready to act quickly when I call."

He turned to face Bob and said, "Look dude, you will tell me the location where you picked up that man."

Bob nodded his head, saying, "Yes, sir. I'll tell you everything you want to know."

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The street:

Kuldar dodged a high kick by sitting down, crossing his fists in front of his face, then he holds Otar's ankle and pulled with tremendous force. She slipped and then fall down onto the ground. Kuldar got his arm behind her back and putting his other arm under her chin. "Time to lose your consciousness." He whispered in her ear.

Otar attempts to escape, but Kuldar apply pressure with his arm against her chest. "Just give up. You are going back with me to my planet." He said, gritting his teeth.

Otar placed her hands on the ground and as she pushes up, extracting the maximum power from her arms, she yelled, "Come, lets fly." they flew quite eight meters up in the air, then they did a complete flip in the air before Otar kicks him in his stomach, driving him into the ground. Kuldar stayed lying in the street, staring at her landed on her feet.

"I have failed." he said it in an ashamed voice.

Otar kept looking straight ahead with no expression on her face at all.

"Why you don't come and claim your victory. Why you don't come to finish me!" Kuldar mumbled.

Otar took a couple of steps forward, leaving Kuldar behind her. There was a group of about 10-armed men

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Wearing black uniforms walking toward her. She recognized John walking through the crowd. The men stopped moving and reloaded their weapons. Otar stayed calm crossing her arms over her chest. "John, I can feel the disturbance in the minds of those men, but nothing happened. My friend here, he simply misunderstands me." Otar said.

John turned his head just enough to see Dene, Thomas and Julia. "I was expecting strong loyalty from my team." He said.

Dene looked down at the ground, then raising his head and said, "We all care about the earth and we're going to fix everything."

John yelled as he raised his hands up. "Dene take a look around you. Everybody is watching now." Then he ordered one man. "Get the camera from him."

Kuldar stands to his feet and saw the look in John's eyes, the desire to explore the unknown.

"Kuldar, Is that your name?" John asked.

Kuldar remained silent while John looked away and said, "I know everything about you. Right now, my other team surrounding your ship."

He took one-step forward. "The fit most important question I can ask you. Why you are here?"

Kuldar examined their weapons and turned to face Otar. "You made a mistake. This kind of technology should not be shared with primitive planets."

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John extended his hand to one of the men and took his weapon from him. He put his finger on the trigger and pointed it toward the sky.

"Kuldar, you are right. This weapon has made based on the new technology provided by Ho gene."

He threw the weapon to the man and put both hands into his trouser pockets. "Well, are you going to answer my question?"

Kuldar lifted his wrist and pressed the ship icon on the screen. He turned back to face Dene. "I mean you no harm. Otar will bring disaster to this world."

John yelled, "What do you mean?"

"They sent her to learn about you, to get information. The imperial fleet will invade earth." Kuldar said.

Thomas eyes switching between Kuldar and John. "She had changed, John." He said.

The anger swells up in John's throat. "You knew about it. How did you betray your country?"

"I have a plan to close the gate between the two worlds." Thomas said.

"I have to report this to the government." John said and ordered his men to move toward them.

He looked very serious when he said, "Otar, Kuldar you have to come with me. Do not resist."

Kuldar said, without looking at Otar. "I suggest a temporary truce."

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Otar nodded her head, "Yes, let's do that. But we do not want to hurt anyone." She said.

Kuldar pressed a button on his device and immediately an energy shield appeared around his hand and arm.

"You care about them. I guess I was wrong about you." Kuldar said.

"Surrender now." John yelled.

"I don't think so." Kuldar answered quickly.

John shakes his head, saying, "I can see that you want to do things the hard way."

He raised his hand, and said, "Get them, but I want them alive." The men formed a semicircle and moved toward them. One of the men, dropped onto one knee and fired, it was freezing gun, shoots a cryogenic laser beam, which freezes its victims. Otar was standing up directly in the beam's path, but kuldar bravely covered her body with his shield.

"Thank you." Otar said and moved to the right as she kicks over a trash barrel and set it flying. The barrel hit the man, knocking him down.

John shouted out loud, "all attack at once."

The men rushed forward, five for each one. Otar bends to avoid a high kick from a man, and then grabbed his right heel, spins him around, and throws him like a ball to fell down above two men.

Kuldar jumped up into the air and did two somersaults before landed between them. He raised his shield in Order to parry

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a weapon stroke, then punched a man with his left hand. Another man let out a loud scream, grabbed Kudar in a rear chokehold and apply pressure on his throat. Kuldar tucked his chin down, jumped a little bit, and rotated forward into a roll to throw the man over his head into the ground, and then he smashed his shield into the face of another man.

John waved his hand in an angry motion. "You bunch of cowards," he said then grabbed his walkie-talkie.

"Release, Andromeda." He turned to look at a big van near them. Suddenly the two doors opened, and a giant Robot step out. He stands for a moment; its eyes scanned the faces of those around him and then he moved toward his targets.

"Step back, I can handle him." Kuldar said, pulled his shield in front of his face and start running toward the Robot. He jumped into the air, raising his right arm and smashed the Robot's head. Kuldar felt like he hit a wall. He fell down on the ground. The Robot grabbed Kuldar's arm, pulling him up.

Otar, speed to rescue him and dashed her shoulder against the Robot's stomach with all her force, but she simply bounced back without causing any damage to his body. The Robot extended its other hand and caught her by the neck.

"Surrender, you cannot defeat Andromeda." John said with a smile on his face.

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Kuldar and Otar struggled and tried to escape, but his fists were too strong. Thomas and Dene were watching the fight from a distance. Thomas said as he takes a block from the ground. "I don't know about you, but she is my wife."

"I know I will get in trouble," Dene said and walked with him. "After all, we are still a team."

Thomas waved his arms and yelled, "Heh, you big guy. Look at me." he threw the block on top of his head. The Robot turned toward him, his system checking if he is an enemy.

"Thomas, don't get closer I warn you." John said.

The Robot stared at Thomas for a few seconds, and then kicked him, sending him flying through the street.

Otar started to get very angry when she saw that. She kicked with her legs, but the Robot did not let her go. Dene jumped on his back and start knocking his head. The Robot moved slowly, circling around trying to get rid of him but Dene hold strongly. Finally, the Robot opened its hand, which it was holding Kuldar. Dene jumped down quickly before the Robot could catch him. Kuldar stepped back, studying his weak points.

The Robot raised its left arm toward Dene and fired from a gun attached to its arm. Kuldar pushed him away, but the bullet hit kuldar's body.

He felt great pain and slowly turning around while he was still lying on the ground.

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The robot turned its head toward Kuldar and pointed the gun at his chest. Kuldar closed his eyes and mumbled. "Sky Arrow, I think it's too late. Farewell, Onibas." his thoughts began to drift to his planet.

The explosion happened quickly, leaving cracks in the street. The head rolled away and the light withdrawn from the round eyes.

"Sky Arrow," Kuldar said. "You came at the perfect time."

His spaceship hovering above, and the robot parts littered the ground. Otar yanked her neck away from the truncated robot's arm.

"Your spaceship almost killed me!" Otar said.

Kuldar slowly stands to his feet, putting his hand over the wound. "Keeping you alive is my priority and my spaceship programmed to do this." Kuldar said.

John yelled loudly. "I'm doing this for your own protection. For our planet's future"

Kuldar turned to face Otar and said, "Call your spaceship. I will take your husband and his friends in Sky Arrow."

Otar grabbed Thomas's hand. "Go with him, his spaceship can accommodate more people," She said, and stared at her spaceship landed smoothly. "Our next meeting will take place on a safe place."

John looked at them rushing to the ships. He grabbed his walkie-talkie. "Send the new fighter aircraft."

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Chapter 9

Emperor Tago was standing on a balcony of a big building in a military base outside the city. Thousands of spaceships assembled in lines extend for many kilometers. The chosen people were heading toward the spaceships. Scientists, engineers, soldiers, noble families and anyone who can be helpful to establish the new colony. The empress put her hand on the emperor's shoulder. He turned and kissed her palm. "Yoko, the time has come to join your sister." The emperor said, looking into her eyes.

Yoko placed her hands on the top rail, looking up at the clouds in the sky, the birds sailed across the sky, and the wind blew the trees and generating pleasant sounds when moves tree leaves. Ho gene's sun sending its light and heat, and which will continue millions of years into the future. Their planet will survive; however, it will do, with or without them.

"It is now about a month since she left." Yoko said.

The emperor stood beside her and said, "She completed the first month, her mission will take a three-months as planned before."

He crossed his arms over his chest. His eyes looked around the base. "But the plan has been changed."

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Yoko said without turning her head, "The Planetary Alliance."

The emperor nodded his head. "Two massive fleets heading toward us," He said. "The fleets would be stationed at sector 10."

"We see what we expected to see, blocking the way to reach the white hole." Yoko said.

"Yes, Onibas is a smart man. He forced the alliance to give him what he wants, to get a great army together." The emperor said.

"Our fleet shall be strong enough to save all these people." Yoko said.

The emperor went silent for three seconds before saying, "We have something they don't, to reach a goal that we desire," he extended his hand toward the horizon. "I'm going to build an empire that never seen before."

Yoko lay with her head on his chest and closed her eyes. "We will miss our life on Ho gene." She said sadly. The emperor put his fingers beneath her chin, lifting her head up. "The scientists estimated that we need one year to connect the gates, and after that is done. We will have the ability to move between the two worlds." He said.

One of the guards appeared, he said as he saluted, crossed arms fists on chest. "Upon your majesty orders, the Fleet 's Admirals arrived."

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The Emperor put his hands-on Yoko's shoulders and kissed her forehead. "I have an important meeting with the admirals. The next time we meet it will be at the emperor's ship." He said, then turned and limped out of the room.

The Fleet's Admirals were waiting for the emperor to come. Some of them are having a side conversation, while some others sit in silence. Admiral Paladan was staring at Admiral Caden, he knew that Caden a lot better than him, but that didn't stop him from trying to be the first admiral and there will be lots of opportunities for everyone on Kintaro. Caden was busy with something else, so he didn't notice him staring. His thoughts drift to the Imperial House, Tago has a rival for the throne. Admiral Melos, who is descended from Goryan. Melos did not hide his ambition and he always reminds other leaders that he will one day become emperor, but could it happen? The answer to this question may come in the near future.

The door opened and the emperor walked in, the leaders stood up and cheering the emperor as he sat in his chair.

The emperor stared at them for quite a while, then in a loud and strong voice he said, "The time has come for us to move out from Ho gene," then his voice turned calm. "But this situation will not last forever. After establishing our first colonies on Kintaro, we will unite the two planets together and see our home again."

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He turned towards Caden, saying, "Admiral Caden, does everyone fully understood the plan and their part in it?"

"Your majesty, the fleet trained many times to apply the engagement strategy. Everybody knew their position." Caden said.

The Emperor's eyes surveyed the faces of the Admirals. "The success of the plan depends on the time to move the formations." He said.

Admiral Melos's lips twisted into a cynical smile as he leaned back on his chair. "The fleet will make sure the Emperor's ship arrived safely to the white hole," he said, looking straight into the Emperor's eyes. "Our victory among all these brave men."

The Emperor stared at him, Melos's words carry a lot of meaning, and he made himself equal to the emperor. Under the law of Batra, Melos held a very privileged position in the fleet and his unit is very loyal to him. The Emperor got up and ordered his admirals to prepare the ship for takeoff.

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Sector 10:

Thousands of spaceships in formations around the destroyed station M28, and there were a lot more ships on the way and it is exiting the warp every minute. A force never seen before and soon the space will witness a great battle. Two spaceships pass each other at a close distance, a man sitting in the Captain's chair and observing the other spaceship move away. He turned to the commander and said, "The  secretary general's star ship, The Phoenix, it was one of the strongest ships during the Great War."

"Yes, I remember that." The commander said.

The Phoenix made its way between the ships. It is equipped with big cannon at the front and many laser guns. The ship's crew came from different planets, some of them worked on this ship before, while many have been chosen recently.

On the Phoenix Bridge, Onibas was standing with arms behind back. The bridge crew on their seats, monitoring the screens and analyzing the data.

The star ship's commander standing behind his seat, holding the top with both hands. He turned to look toward Onibas, still standing in the same position for almost twenty minutes. He knew something running through Onibas's mind, so he asked him, "Sir, did something worry you?"

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Onibas keeps staring at the ships and said, "In every war there is always fear surround us, Radro," he turned to look at him. "Ten years ago, the alliance tried to avoid unnecessary war, but this was overly optimistic."

"Would it have been possible to defeat Ho gene once and for all that time?" Radro asked.

Onibas shook his head in negation. "Ho gene is much stronger than us in its own environment. Attacking it in his own backyard, it would have caused a huge loss."

"We came back to end what we stopped at," Radro said. "And so, the same result."

"It's different now. The beast came out of his den," Onibas said with a smile in his voice. "Our chance to defeat the emperor is much bigger than his chance to escape."

"The Imperial Fleet would be ready to move toward us. Soon we will engage in a big battle." Radro said and focused on a ship exit the warp near them. Shortly, other ships appeared.

"Palion's ships. They start to appear one by one." He said.

"As you know it is the farthest planet." a man's voice came from behind them, they turned to look at him. Onibas raised his eyebrows and said, "Moslan, you've had a long nap."

Moslan stood, hands clasped in front of him. "As much as possible, try to get enough rest." He said.

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Then he added farther, "Rest will help your body to meet your mental demands."

"I agree with you 100%, the best decisions are made by fresh mind." Onibas said.

"Look at all these ships, it brings back an old memory." Moslan said.

"The memories of war?" Radro asked.

Moslan nodded his head. "Yes," he said. With a face full of resentment. "Bad things happen in every war. You can't just think of victory and forget the millions who died in the Battlefields."

"Their sacrifice will never be forgotten" Onibas said. The silence reigned for a long time.

The communications officer turned his head and said,

"Sir, we have contact with the Council."

Onibas nodded and said, "We mustn't keep them waiting." The communication officer opened the channel and the screen divided into eight quarters; a face appeared on all screens.

"Planetary leaders, Greetings to you all."

King Shor starts talking. "Secretary General, greetings to you and to your crew. I hope that things are going well."

"The Alliance fleets had arrived and spread through the sector." Onibas said.

"What's the status of the imperial fleet?" King Zoryal asked.

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"There is a large gathering of their troops, but they're still on the planet." Onibas said.

"Do you think they will move towards the sector?" King of Azore asked.

"There is no other way to avoid our forces." Onibas said.

"Always be prepared," King of Nadus said. "This is a battle we can't afford to lose."

"Victory will be ours." Onibas said confidently.

"The rational optimism is the path to success," King of Delsa said. "'Do not press a desperate enemy, let his recklessness defeat him."

"When to expect the arrival of the Moy's fleet?" King of Yama asked. Onibas turned his eyes upon him and said, "Their plan is different from ours."

"What does that mean?" King Shor asked.

Onibas stared into outer space for a second and said, "They will perform a free attack against the Imperial Fleet, the time of their attack will be determined according to the battle status."

Radro suddenly interrupted them. "Sir, the Imperial Fleet left Ho gene, they are heading directly towards us."

Onibas clasped his two hands together. "Planetary leaders, the time has come, wish us good luck." Then he crossed his eyebrows, saying, "The good luck, we all need."

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Earth:

Kuldar's ship flew up out of the clouds and into the sky. Otar's ship began to accompany him, by increasing the flight speeds. Inside Sky Arrow, Dene was impressed with what he sees. Kuldar turned to him and asked, "Pilot, aren't you?"

Dene looked surprised and replied, "How did you figure that out?"

"The eyes of all pilots have the same passion for freedom, here, up in the sky." Kuldar said.

Julia looked at his wound, there was a lot of blood covered the upper part of his suit. "We must take care of your injury." She said.

Kuldar looked down at his wound, realized that it was bad, he exhaled with pain and said, "This can wait till we could reach a safe place."

He stared at Thomas. "You have a strong wife," he said, "I wonder if the baby will come to take copies of your genes in most of his cells, or from his mother genes."

"I don't understand. What baby?" Thomas asked in wonder. Kuldar raised his right eyebrow. "You Didn't Know. There is a month-old fetus inside her."

"A father? Me?" Thomas said and turned his head and stared outside at Otar's ship. "I don't know if she'd discovered that she is pregnant."

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Thomas had two different feelings, so happy for the new member in his family; on the other hand, many enemies will chase them down. Dene saw the struggle in his mind, so he put his hand on Thomas's shoulder.

"'You don't have to worry about the future. The government can understand that there is no threat from Otar," Dene said, "We will give them time to understand us."

Thomas shook his head gratefully. "I can only hope that they will understand one day."

Kuldar turned the ship to the west and headed for the Pacific Ocean. Flying over the water, the sun had almost set, and the sky was orange, reflected the bright orange color on the sea.

"There is a small uninhabited island." Kuldar said, biting his lips with pain. He stopped a little to take breath. "We will land there, and then we can decide what our next step."

Several fighter aircraft observed in the horizon, obviously it is going after them. Otar's voice came across the communications system. "Guys, someone is following us."

Kuldar pressed the screen and there were twelve fighter aircraft flying towards them. Dene gazed at the planes for seconds and mumbled. "What kind of plane it is. I had never seen it before."

"It is advanced aircraft." Kuldar said.

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Otar said, "I will deal with them. Just continue on your journey." Then she turned the ship sharp round and went back to intercept the aircrafts. A pilot's voice came across the communications system. "You are violating our airspace. We will accompany you to the nearest base."

"'No, I don't think so," Otar said, "We are so busy right now."

"'This is your last warning. Turn around now." The pilot said and all fighter aircraft were ready for battle.

"Otar, I can't let you go." A familiar voice came over the radio.

"It's nice to hear your voice again, John," Otar said, "I can see you worked hard on that."

"We developed a new fighter craft. Special thanks go to you." John said.

"It can't be compared to what I have." Otar said.

There were a few seconds of silence, and then John said, "I am doing all that for my planet."

"Me, too," Otar said, "For the earth."

"You will never get it. Attack!" John yelled.

The fighter aircraft fired laser beams toward Otar's ship. She tilted the yoke to the right to avoid the beams, and then she increased the ship's speed to perform a combat maneuver. The ship's nose to point vertically upwards and made a wide turn that put her behind them. She was careful not to hurt them in any Way, but the squadron split up into two, one turned right and the other turned left.

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Otar surprised by the maneuver and she pulled on the yoke to climb to an altitude that her chasers cannot reach it. The fighter craft kept chasing her higher and higher.

"Here is insufficient oxygen to fuel your engines. Do not be stupid." Otar said and checked her ship's altitude. The squadron continued to follow her without losing anything of its engine's strength.

"I don't have any other choice than to penetrate the atmosphere," Otar said, "This is the only way to stop the fight without hurting anyone. Surely you can't follow me there." She pulls back on the ship's yoke, moving the nose up and pushed the top speed. Otar's ship penetrated the atmosphere of the Earth to fly out into space. About five minutes passed, feeling stillness all around her, only the stars are watching from afar. Suddenly the sound of the explosions echoed all around her. The spaceship shook violently. Fortunately, the shield has been activated before the attack.

"That's impossible," Otar said, "I might have underestimated their abilities."

The squadron was flying through space, as easily as it flies in the sky. Humankind entered upon a new stage of space travel. Otar's ship avoided more incoming missiles, and then she fired a barrage of electro-magnetic pulse at the fighter craft and knocked its electronic devices.

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The squadron floated without engine power and all the lights turned off. While she was looking at the squadron moving in every direction, an electric spark leap from the fighter aircraft. One by one, the engines starts again and the squadron maneu-vered into position to make an attack.

"You insist on finishing your job," Otar said, "Let's return to Earth and continue the fight."

She increased the ship's speed as much as it could and penetrated the atmosphere back to Earth. Under the clouds, the south-west of China territory extends for 1,200,000 km. The squadron fired laser beams toward Otar's ship. She started dodging of the laser beams that fell like rain, turning left and right until she got a chance and fired a missile blew up in the middle of the squadron. It was a sound bomb, the explosion caused a sonic wave, spread fast and hit the fighter aircraft to smash the wings and the cockpits. Fire a sound bomb requires disabling the ship's shield, and that is what she did. While the sound bomb fired, a laser beam hit the cockpit in Otar's ship and ray pierced through her body. She felt the pain burn through her body and was going to faint, but she struggled to stay upright and pressed the communication button.

"Guys, the sky is clear. I am going to land."

The ship landed near a temple called Tai chi dragon's temple. While she was about to faint, she saw a monk approaches her ship, then her eyes closed.

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Kuldar's ship landed on a small island in the Pacific Ocean, the waves breaking on a sandy beach, the coconut trees were fluttering in the wind and the seagulls' wings flapping in the sky.

"You can get out of the ship and sit on the beach to get some rest." Kuldar said.

Dene tried to help him get up, but he softly pushed his hand away and said, "I have something to do. I will join you later."

"Are you sure?" Julia asked.

Kuldar shook his head weakly and stared at Thomas. "Don't worry. She will be here any moment."

"I know, don't push yourself too much. You have to rest." Thomas said.

They left the ship, leaving him looking at the screen.

"Study of the similarity had completed." Computer said.

Kuldar read that the degree of similarity between the genes is 95% on Earth and the eleven planets in the constellation of Cygnus.

"Computer, in which planets the gene mutation occurred?" Kuldar asked.

"The ten planets in the constellation of Cygnus." Computer said.

Kuldar felt a sudden clear thought entered his mind; it became clear to him why everything is weird. The group of stars C1, C2 and C3, they back from death.

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He also noticed there is a missing time and that he reached planet earth within six months from the time Otar left the white hole.

"The missile that exploded close to my ship in the white hole caused all this mess," he said, "It created a phenomenon that I read only in science fiction stories."

He turned his head up, gave a long sigh and mumbled, "Tolar, you near and far and not real."

He watched Dene, Julia and Thomas sitting on the beach, talking and waiting for him.

"They have to fight, for the fate of their planet," He said, "Computer, make a voice biometrics for Dene and store the voice print in your data."

"It's completed." Computer said.

Kuldar stared at Dene for a few seconds before he said, "Upgrade him to the status of main pilot."

"I need you to confirm the order." Computer said.

"Confirmed," Kuldar said, "Now, connect me with Otar's Ship.

He looked down and he was losing a lot of blood.

"Otar, are you there?" Kuldar asked.

There was no response. "I am sure you will understand everything as I did," he said, "But let me help you to understand the matter. I hope you can listen to my message when you back to your ship."

He started to explain everything for almost a minute and then he left the ship.

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He stepped into the sand, salty air filled his lungs, closed his eyes and listening to the waves crashing onto the beach. He walks slowly and with heavy steps, sat down in front of a coconut tree and leaned back. He retrieved an old memory as his past life passed through his mind, childhood, adolescence and his military career. He knew his time was coming to an end, but he had one last thing to do. When they saw him, they rushed to him. Dene down his knees ground while Thomas and Julia were standing around him and were looking at him.

"Are you OK?" Dene asked.

Kuldar attempted a smile, then said, "It's already too late for me," He coughed, and blood sprayed from his mouth. They stared at him in distress; there is nothing they could do for him.

"But there is still hope for your planet." Kudar said. They remain silent, giving him plenty of time to complete his words.

"The black hole is the passage between the two worlds," Kuldar said, "Thomas, you should know that already." Thomas nodded his head.

"Good. Therefore, you are ready for your mission."

"A mission?" Dene said. Kuldar looked at him and said, "My ship under your command. Take your team there."

"To where?" Dene asked.

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Kuldar raised his head, looked up at the sky and said, "To travel beyond Earth's atmosphere, where human has never gone before."

Kuldar eyes float over their faces. "If my calculations are correct, that will save the Earth for about 1700 years," he said. Then he continued, "The Q45 is a strategic missile, you need to fire it to the center of the black hole."

"But what will happen after these 1700 years?" Thomas asked.

"In that era the earth will be sophisticated enough to fight against Ho gene." Kuldar said.

"You mean this will close the passage between the realms?" Julia asked.

"No... you don't understand...it is..." his weak voice a mix of pain. Suddenly he tilted his head to the side and his eyes open wide.

Julia crouched at him and checked his pulse, she said, sadly. "He died."

For one minute, they pay silent homage to his death.

"Guys, what are we going to do?" Julia asked.

Thomas looked down at Kuldar's corpse. "We will try to save our planet." He said.

Without any more words, they head to the ship, and Dene sat in the captain's seat.

"Captain Dene, welcome on board." The computer said.

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Dene looked confused with all of these flight instruments in the cockpit.

"What am I supposed to do?" Dene mumbled.

"My analysis suggests that you need help." The computer said.

Dene nodded his head. "A big help to learn how to put you up in the sky." He said.

"It would take less than two seconds. Do not blink." The computer said.

A green laser beam scanned his eye, and then the computer said, "Captain, what are your orders?"

"Check out the Zatonium engine." Dene said.

Thomas turned and looked at him, his face a question mark. "Zatonium ! What is that?" he said.

"Zatonium is a chemical element, found in planet Jodar and it use in nuclear power reactors to power the spaceships." Dene said.

His jaw dropping in astonishment. "How I knew all this information!" he said.

"Your brain has been programmed." The computer said.

"That's cool." Julia said.

The computer interrupted, "The engine has been checked."

"Good. Let's go." Dene said.

He pulled on the yoke, and the ship took off, starting the journey to the deep space.

139
Chapter 10

The Imperial Fleet spread out to cover a large area of space, leaving Ho gene behind. While the Emperor's Special Command ships still orbiting Ho gene, the Imperial Fleet split into three groups of two and began the camouflage maneuver. Aboard the Emperor's ship, Admiral Paladan was watching the movement of the Fleet ships on the bridge monitor. The Emperor was sitting in his seat not far behind him, leaning his chin on both fists. The Fleet spaceships became invisible and disappeared over the horizon. Admiral Paladan turned back to look at the Emperor. "Your majesty, the fleet began its maneuver. It will not be long before start direct engagement with the enemy."

"The alliance was aware of our movement. They are ready and prepared to attack our force." The emperor said.

"Our prepared plan will surprise the enemy. Their goal is to win this battle, but our priority is to reach the white hole." Paladan said.

Emperor Tago stared at the Emperor's Special Command ships. He thought, "Inside every one of them, the rarest and most precious things in planet Ho gene, the smartest people they could find. When they reach their destination, planet Kintaro, these most important elite groups have to build our new home."

140

"Your majesty, we have contact with Admiral Caden." Paladan said.

The Emperor waved his hand in the air and immed-iately Caden's face appeared on the screen.

"Your majesty, the enemy at a range of 238,855 to 285,185 miles." Caden said.

"Send an order for the entire fleet to take defensive actions," The emperor said. "We must deceive the enemy to make him believe that we are hesitant to attack him. The enemy's fleet will abandon his strategic positions to attack us."

"We will pull most of the alliance's force away from the white hole and the Emperor's Special Command ships shall find their way clear." Caden said.

"Do not venture to attack the enemy, guard your stronghold against all attacks," The emperor said, "It's only a matter of time until their forces start moving towards you."

Caden starts speaking to Admiral Paladan. "You'll need to be ready when the moment comes."

"We will wait on your signal." Paladan said

The emperor nodded his head and the connection ended.

141

The Phoenix:

Onibas is sitting in the captain's seat and watching a several blips on the radar screen. The entire Imperial Fleet had stopped and were waiting at a distance. Radro checked the screen. "They've stopped,' he said. "What a bunch of cowards."

"They have a plan." Onibas said.

Radro looked at him, puzzled. "Producing a good strategic plan requires engagement in direct combat," he said. "Obviously they surprised by the number of our forces."

Moslan shook his head in the negative. "No. What they want is simple. They want to drag the alliance into attacking them." he said.

"That will lead us to leave our present positions and clearing the way in front of the Imperial Fleet to approach the white hole." Onibas said.

"We can do a flanking maneuver and keep pushing and pushing until they crumble." Radro said.

"That a choice. However, it is better to wait. We have all the time we need." Onibas said.

Radro, still not entirely convinced. "We don't want to give them the time to study our formation." He said.

"We might confuse them by changing our formations repeatedly." Moslan said.

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"That will put our fleet under acute strain." Radro said.

Onibas leaned back, one leg crossed over the other and started to scratch his chin in deep thought.

"I guess you found it a good point." Radro said.

Onibas looked at him saying, "It's a good point of view, but our fleet is large, and the units would have to wait a very long time to participate in changing the formations."

"Just enough time for all to rest." Moslan said.

Onibas ordered the communications officer to connect him with the entire fleet. Immediately, his face appears on every screen on the fleet's spaceships.

"Attention to all fleet commanders, as you all know, the enemy fortifying their position within a distance of 281,163 miles. Our top priority to maintain our current position and not dragging into enemy territory. Therefore, we are repeatedly going to change our formations." He said.

The connection ended and he looked at Moslan.

"Now let's wait and see what the next hours brings." He said.

Moslan stared at the radar screen. The fleet began maneuvering at clear coordination.

"The next few hours will be the most critical and determine who is victorious in the battle." He said.

There was a complete silence, and everyone watch the ships moving around.

143

The Imperial Fleet:

Admiral Caden made his way to the ship's bridge and as he stepped inside, everyone sprang to stand at attention. He sat in the captain's chair and asked, "Is the enemy still gathering there?"

"Yes, Sir." the commander replied.

Caden clasped his hands, looked through the spaceship window to the fleet's spaceships. He turned to face him and said, "That was expected. They think they're acting from a position of strength."

"Onibas is so arrogant. He managed to collect a huge fleet." The commander said.

Caden said, waving his index finger. "No, absolutely wrong. This type of man knew exactly what he is doing," He said. "The time, that's what he's counting on. Quite unlike us."

"Sir, the alliance ships are changing formation." The commander said, staring into the radar screen.

Caden remained silent, looking toward the screen. The commander seemed tense, and he kept looking back and forth between the screen and the admiral.

"Are they going to attack us?" The commander asked. "Should I warn the Fleet for the threat ahead?"

Caden waved his hand. "It is a normal maneuvering, only part of the fleet moved repeatedly," he said. "They are trying to hide their weak points."

144

A faint smile played around Caden's lips. "So now we move to the next step." He said.

Puzzling look drowned upon the commander's face. He barely resisted urge to ask the admiral what his words mean, but he just stood there waiting for him to continue. Caden turned to him, saying, "It's time we use our secret weapon, the mega cannon."

"Sir, we can't take that risk to send the mega cannon to a distance allow us to open fire on the enemy ships." The commander said.

"We won't send anybody," Caden said. "This weapon has been developed to fire from far distance."

He added, "It was developed in complete secrecy."

The commander clicked his heels together and said, "What's your orders, sir?"

"You will send an order to the mega cannon unit to get ready to open fire." Caden said.

"Immediately, sir" The commander said, then he told his communications officer to contact the mega cannon unit to wait for further orders.

Several minutes later, the mega cannon unit took position in front. Caden stood up and stared at the screen. "To all mega cannon unit, we are just interested in one specific target, the Jodarian ships."

The entire unit pointed their cannons against the Jodarian ships. Caden narrowed his eyebrows in anger, and then yelled, "Fire!"

145

The Alliance fleet:

The Jodarian ships were on their way to their new position. Everything seemed quite normal, rather boring. Jodarian fleet's admiral was sitting in the captain's chair, He yawned loudly, and then he turned to the commander. "I am very bored of these maneuvers," He said. "Onibas insisted that his plan can work. We shouldn't waste time; I prefer we attack the enemy now."

"I agree with you, sir," the commander said. "I'm afraid our men will lose their patience."

"Liondale, I am yearning to back to this bustling city." The admiral said.

Suddenly a glaring flash of light upon their left, then three spaceships exploded in a ball of fire. A several successive explosions around them shook their ship violently.

"What is happening?" The admiral yelled.

One of the officers said, "Sir, we had lost nine ships. It is the mega cannon."

"This is impossible. How they managed to hit us from this distance." The admiral shouted in anger.

"Sir, we must activate our shield." The commander said, fearfully.

"Activate the shields. All ships," The admiral said. "Get ready for the next attack."

146

The silence fell over the ship's bridge, everyone staring, listening and the hearts knocking strongly.

"Are they going to attack again?" The commander asked.

The admiral looked at his watch and said, "The mega cannon consumes high power. It is need time to reload."

"How much time we have?"

The admiral shook his head. "I don't know," He said. "Inform everyone we are under attack."

Thirty more minutes passed, and then a glaring flash of light illuminated the ship's window.

"They strike again." One of the crew said.

"Sir, we just lost our shields," The commander said. "The next attack will be deadly."

A mutter spread through the bridge, everyone was scared and staring at the admiral.

"Everyone, calm down," he said. "I'm not going to lose any more ships."

"Sir, they are attacking us, specifically." The commander said.

The anger reddened the admiral's face. "Damn you, Onibas!" he shouted. "You are foolish."

"We have to do something." The commander said.

The admiral knocked on the arm of his seat. "Connect me with The Phoenix," He said. "There are so many things I'll have to change." The admiral added and his eyes twinkled.

147

The Phoenix:

Onibas started walking back and forth along the ship's bridge. He let out a long exhale as he sat in the captain's chair. Moslan turned to face him and said, "Sir, it's a bad situation."

"Yes, they have a superior weapon." Onibas said.

Radro raised both hands palm up and shrugged. "We are within the range of their cannons."

"So far they are focusing on attack the Jodarian ships." Moslan said.

Radro mumbled. "No one knows who will be next."

Onibas fell into deep thoughts and lightly touching his lower lip with his left index finger. Moslan stared at him, respecting his silence. It was not long before the communications officer interrupts the silence by saying, "Sir, Admiral Kors."

The admiral's face filled the screen. He seemed to be wrestling down his anger; he finally looked up and said, "Secretary-General, the Jodarian lost nine ships and our shields are gone," he said. "We can't afford any other attack."

"We assess the current situation." Onibas said.

Admiral Kors said, with a sharpness he had not intended. "I'm afraid we don't have enough time."

He leaned back in his chair, saying, "I have spoken to King Shor and the admirals of the fleet."

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"The attack should start immediately." He said.

Onibas replied, "The attack must be coordinated in order to succeed. As you can see the titan ships were spread out to block the mega cannons from hitting the fleet."

"One or two hits can only be looked, and then the titan ships will withdraw suffering superficial hull damage." Admiral Kors said.

"We aware of the seriousness of our situation, everyone will be consulted about the next attack." Moslan said.

Admiral Kors waved his hand. "It's the right time to discuss that with the admirals."

The screen divided into eight quarters; a face appeared on all screens. Admiral kors continued, "I vote we start attacking the imperial fleet."

"I vote for that plan." One of the admirals said.

"Me too."

"Count me in, too."

Shortly, everyone agreed to this plan.

Onibas stood up and turned toward Radro, his voice rose sharply as he gave this order. "Mobilize the fleet in preparation to attack the imperial fleet."

Radro clicked his heels together and said, "Yes, sir."

Moslan nodded his head to Onibas and mumbled, "A new war has begun."

149

The Emperor's Special Command:

Emperor Tago was sitting quietly on his chair, holding his pendant in his hand. It looked like as if the sun sparkles off the pendant, a bright flash of yellow proved that he was descended from Goryan. His thoughts took him into the future, where Melos is ready to claim the throne. "No one can steal my glory." he thought.

Admiral Paladan stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the Alliance fleet launch their attack."

Empreror Tago turned to him smiling. "Caden managed to drag the alliance into war." He said.

"Our fleet split into three groups of two and Admiral Caden asked to leave Ho gene's orbit and activate the warp drive." Paladan said.

"Set the coordinates and activate the warp drive." Emperor Tago said.

Paladan gave his orders to the Emperor's Special Command ships.

"Everyone is ready." Paladan said.

Emperor Tago leaned back in his chair and said, "Now."

The Emperor's Special Command ships started to make a loud noise, and then it disappeared altogether, leaves a flash of light trailing behind it. Within a few seconds, the ships drop out of warp in the middle of a huge group of Imperial ships.

150

Emperor Tago looked through the spaceship window; a huge battle was going on. Thousands of spaceships engage in combat with other, missiles fired wildly into the space and explosions occur everywhere. Laser beams tore through some spaceships, sending them out of the battle to join the remains of several others. Admiral Paladan turned to the emperor. "The first part of the plan succeeded." He said.

"We need to jump again. But after creating a bulge in the battle line," The emperor said. "Connect me with Caden."

The Communications Officer opened a direct line with Caden's ship and as he appears on the screen, a yellow light strikes his ship bridge.

"The battle has become so intense that your ship's bridge is lit by explosions around you." The emperor said.

"Indeed, your majesty," Caden said. "We're about to produce a salient in the defender's line."

"We are in a race against time. Once the alliance discovered our plan, they will active the anti-Warp Drive System." The emperor said.

"I will do whatever it takes to break through the defenders' line." Caden said.

Emperor Tago nodded his head complacently.

151

The Alliance fleet:

The Phoenix was fired upon heavily, but the shield protected the ship. The crew responded by firing the laser beams against the attacker, several ships exploded while the other were severely damaged. The Phoenix got the highest percentage of attacks because it is the fleet command ship and the Imperial ships prefer exposing themselves to death rather than retreating to Ho gene. The right wing of the Alliance fleet had entirely scattered because admiral Caden focused his attack on the weakest side of the Alliance fleet and he sent thousands of ships to clear the way. Although Caden managed to produce a salient in the defender's line, the Alliance destroyed many enemy formations and control the battle. On the bridge, Onibas was discussing the battle with Moslan. "Our units succeeded in placing the Imperial fleet under pressure on five sides, but the enemy succeeded in scoring a deep penetration against our right wing."

"Extra troops there, would be a great help," Moslan said. "They had pushed themselves away from their main power center."

"It's very strange behavior." Onibas said.

Moslan thought for a moment, and then said, "Every step has a different set of effects. Either their leader is inexperienced, or he already has a plan."

152

Onibas watched the enemy gather more forces for offensive action in the cracked defense line. He thought, "They are desperate and that their only chance to make a successful maneuver would disrupt the Alliance fleet cohesion." He was about to send an order to the Palion ships to support the right wing, when Radro interrupted his thoughts, saying, "Sir, we have been informed that the warp drive was used by the Imperial fleet."

Onibas sharply turned toward him. "These new ships did not show up on our radar!" Onibas said.

"There were thousands of ships orbiting Ho gene, the ships have activated their warp drives and appeared in the middle of the Imperial fleet." Radro said.

Onibas and Moslan looked at each other and at the same time said, "Emperor Tago."

"What's he up to?" Onibas asked.

Radro said, "Sir, our right wing had broken."

"We have to prevent those ships from reaching the white hole." Onibas said.

"Actually, they stopped moving entirely and formed a circle formation." Radro said.

Moslan crinkled his eyebrows in deep thought and then a second later he said, "Tago, he will jump again."

Onibas stares at him, his eyes narrowed slightly. "I already figured it out. Radro, active the anti-Warp Drive System. He cannot escape us."

"We can't, the Moy's ships are coming." Radro said.

153

The Emperor's Special Command:

Admiral Paladan just ended the connection with Caden, took a quick look at the screen and turned to face the emperor. "The way is clear," He said. "Awaiting your Majesty's orders."

Emperor Tago angrily banged his fist on the arm of his chair. "The rest of our fleet will not be able to move forward." He said.

"Your majesty, we might have to make some changes to the plan." Paladan said.

"Go to plan B, after we enter the white hole, our remaining force should retreat to Ho gene," Emperor Tago said. "Our scientists will summon them through the gates."

"Caden and his ships will accompany us and..." Paladan said, hesitating. "....The Iron Spiders Force."

Emperor Tago grinded his teeth with rage. "Melos." He said.

A few seconds passed. Then Emperor Tago said to Paladan, "Take us there."

Paladan ordered the entire Emperor's Special Command ships to activate the warp drive. After obtained the proper coordinates, the ships started to make a loud noise, and then it disappeared altogether.

Caden's ships finished their maneuver to give way for the emperor's ships to centralize.

154

Caden's face appeared on the screen. "Your majesty, we're happy you arrived safely, the Alliance fleet are too far away now, and they can't catch us."

Emperor Tago stared at the white hole, he mumbled. "This is just the beginning, a new world waiting for me and we shouldn't let him wait too long."

Caden opened his mouth to say something when the screen flickered and the image faded, suddenly a woman's face appeared on screen. "I hope you missed me." The women said sarcastically.

Emperor Tago looked surprised and he could barely say, "Aurora!"

"I was just passing by and saw your ship and decide to give you a warm greeting," Queen Aurora said. "A very warm one." She started laughing cruelly.

"Dear Aurora, I know you are still angry with me, but the fault......"

"Enough!" she yelled hoarsely. "You're going to die. Bastard."

The Moy's fleet open fire, Caden ships took the first hits. The Emperor's ships are smaller in number than the Moy's fleet and indeed that the battle would be absolutely lost by the Emperor ships. Melos was on the bridge of his spaceship, he realized that the battle was lost, but at the same time he thought, "Tago's death is my way to the throne." He turned to his first officer saying, "Take us to Kintaro."

155
Chapter 11

After traveling ten million miles, Sky Arrow had reached her final destination. Dene, Thomas and Julia staring at the black hole, completely pitch black, a phenomenon no human has ever seen before. Thomas looked in awe and wonder, as he watched the light spinning and sucked into the black hole. A heavy silence permeated the cockpit; none of them imagined that one day they would witness this. Thomas says, breaking the silence. "There's something weird happening."

Julia turned to him and asked, "Weirder than this?"

"There is no gravitational force pulling you toward the center of the black hole." Thomas said.

Dene nodded his head slowly. "Yes, you are right Thomas," he said. "It's clear that we know nothing about black holes."

"At least we know now that the black hole's gravitational force pulls on objects only from a certain distance." Thomas said.

"It means we're safe here," Julia said. "From the distance we are now."

"I wish we could get closer so we might do more research, but we have a mission to complete." Thomas said.

156

Dene touched the screen and opened the weapon selection window, the Q45 missile symbol appears beside a dozen of weapons Kuldar's ship have.

"The Q45 ready for launch." Dene said.

He turned his head to look at them. Thomas was looking straight at the black hole, sighed, and then said, "I believe that science will have another chance in the future."

Dene smiled and moved his finger and before clicked on the screen, a hundreds of spaceships emerged from the black hole's center. The Iron Spiders Force slowly made its way heading toward Sky Arrow.

"Who are these people?" Julia asked, terrified.

Dene focused on the ships through Sky Arrow's outside cameras. He raised his eyebrows. "The Iron Spiders!"

"What planet they came from?" Thomas asked.

Dene said as he tilted the spaceship to the right to escape. "The one you don't want to meet up with."

"Ho gene!" Thomas mumbled.

"According to what I have learned about them, the Iron Spiders Force is a part of the Imperial fleet," Dene said. "The whole fleet still remained anchored in Ho gene. We still have a chance to close the gate."

Julia asked as she pointed toward the ships. "And what about them?"

"We will inform Earth." Dene said.

157

Sky Arrow was increasing its speed to attempt an escape; the Iron Spiders were surprised to see their spaceship and began to chase after them. Melos's face appeared on the cockpit screen. "Tolarian' ship!" He said with great astonishment. "In this part of the galaxy. But you don't look like a person from Tolar"

Dene pulled back on the yoke, bending the spaceship up in an arcing inverted to turn around and head back to the black hole. He said, looking at Melos' face on the screen. "I am human, Earth is my planet."

"Earth!" Melos wondered.

Dene increased his speed, left his pursuers far behind him, and then he lowered his eyes to the screen again, saying, "I'm from what you call kintaro."

"Where are you going?" Melos asked. "You can't escape us."

"What makes you think I'm planning to escape?" Dene said. "I will close this fuc.. door."

Melos's face turned red. "No, you won't. It's my destiny to become the next Emperor." He said. "All units open fire."

Dene was about to launch the missile when the laser beams hit the spaceship causing her to roll severely. Sky Arrow's shield prevented the damage, but the ship kept rolling over towards the black hole. Julia was screaming and Thomas held on to the arms of the chair so tightly. Dene clenched his teeth so hard and trying to restore the balance.

158

Melos watched the Sky Arrow rolling until it sucked by the black hole. He said with a cunning smile on his face. "It's no longer my problem. Let Tago deal with it if he still alive."

The first officer asked, "Sir, what are we going to do now?"

Melos turned his eyes toward him. "What we came for." He said. "To occupy planet earth."

"Shouldn't we wait for the fleet?" The officer asked.

Melos yelled in anger. "We won't wait for anyone."

He stood up and crossed his arms over her chest. "It should be an easy battle," He said. "Head to Earth."

The Iron Spiders Force turned around and started on a journey towards the solar system.

Sky Arrow traveling ahead into the black hole beyond the speed of light, within seconds it was there, on the opposite side. Dene, Julia and Thomas looked around, and there were thousands of ships engaging in a battle.

Thomas stared through the window. "It's a whole new universe." He said.

Julia grabbed Dene's arm, seeking safety. "We are very far away from the earth," She said. "Lost in space."

Dene felt helpless, but he gathered his courage and said, "They depend on us to save them."

"What about us?" Julia asked.

159

Dene cupped her cheeks in his palms. "There is always hope," he said. "I promise I will do my best to return home." He took his place in the chair, took a deep breath and then said, "For the earth."

"For the earth."

"For the earth."

The Q45 missile flew straight toward the white hole and then exploded with an incredible colors flashing expanded rapidly and spread through space, and then everything went back to normal.

"'It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Julia said.

"Did we make it?" Dene asked.

Thomas raised his shoulders. "I don't know," he said. "We will find it out, if someone tries to cross, but for now it........" Suddenly a hostile ship spot them and start to attack with brutal hits.

"Warning, shield efficiency fell to 10%," The computer said. "5%, 1%, we lost our shield."

"I must get away from him." Dene said.

The hostile ship prepared to strike the fatal blow, her laser cannon starts to glint, then the explosion happened, and the ship was torn to pieces.

"Kuldar, good we arrived just in time to save you," Onibas said. "I will pull you into the Phoenix."

Dene, Julia and Thomas looked at each other, and then they looked up where the entrance started to open.

160

The Emperor's Special Command:

The battle on the gate was going on, the Moy's ships surrounding the Emperor's Special Command ships and Caden's ships. The Phoenix and few units of the Alliance fleet arrived to support the attack against the emperor. Admiral Paladan was standing on the ship's bridge, watching anxiously which way the battle will swing. He finished his talk with the crew then he turned to the emperor, saying, "Caden is doing well but the enemy's numbers are big."

"The Moy are inexperienced in combat," Emperor Tago said. "Onibas, he's the one we fear."

"Caden ordered our fleet to apply pressure against the alliance fleet to prevent any extra units to join Onibas." Paladan said.

"We can't retreat now, that is not our preferred choice. Obviously, we must continue to fight until we die, or we win." Emperor Tago said.

Suddenly the light of an explosion, falling through the windows, Tago kept staring at the fading light, said, turning to Paladan, "They are trying their best to take me down, but I'm not willing to give up so easily."

He fell into deep thoughts, and then his body was trembling with anger. "Melos had betrayed us and he could face the death penalty under the law of Batra, he deserves this fate." Tago said.

161

Paladan remained silent, and kept his opinion to himself, he knows that Melos may become the emperor one day and it is better to maintain friendly relations with him. The communications officer screamed in pain, took the headphones off, and said, his voice tense. "Sir, an unusual signal had been received from an unknown source. It looks like it sneaked into my head, it... it .." then he put his hands over his ears as if to block the sound. Paladan looked at him quizzically. "Are you ok? Pull yourself together."

Emperor Tago looked at the man, seeing him kneeling and shaking his head. Suddenly he heard a buzz, and it was coming from everywhere. Everyone stood up with puzzled looks on their faces. The sound turned into metallic sound and the emperor put his hands over his ears. He closed his eyes as he felt the pain strikes his brain and when he opened his eyes, he saw a man materialize on the bridge. The sound has stopped, and the crew turned around to look at the man. He was about seven feet tall, totally bald, with very thin legs and very thin arms. The man stared at the emperor and starts walking toward him. Paladan stood before him shouting. "Stop, you cannot approach the emperor." The man continued walking as though he did not hear him. Paladan jumped toward him and tried to punch him in the face. "I don't even know how you got here, but I can deal with that." he yelled.

162

Everyone's eyes widened in amazement as they saw Paladan's punch crossed his head. The man looked down at Paladan who lost his balance and fell to the ground. "You can't defeat me," the man said in a deep voice. "You can't touch what's not there."

"A hologram, no, you are not! Are you a ghost?" Paladan asked in a tone of fright.

The man looked right into his eyes and then said, "Even ghost has a soul, but my people without souls."

"Where you came from?" Paladan asked.

The man ignored the question. Paladan asked, standing up in front of him. "What do you want?"

The man pointed one long finger at Emperor Tago, saying, "I want him."

Paladan turned his head toward the emperor, and then his eyes returned to the man. "But why?"

"We have been searching for him for a long time. More than one thousand years." The man said.

Emperor Tago gathered all his courage and stood up. "I think you should finish what you came for." he said.

The man walked toward him, stopped two steps away, and then he knelt before the emperor. "Master, we're glad to finally get to meet you." The man said.

"Do you know who I am?" Tago asked.

The man stood up and said, "You are a descendant of Goryan and your wish is our command."

He added. "And anything you want."

163

The Phoenix:

Onibas was sitting in his chair, eyes closed, head down and two tears slid down his face. A heavy silence hung over the place and everyone respected his privacy. After a few more minutes, he raised his head to look at Dene. "So, my brother died a hero." He said with sadness in his eyes.

"He sacrificed his life for me," Dene said. "And few people do what he did."

Onibas sighed and said, "We're in the middle of a war and I don't know how I'm going to send you back to your planet."

"The gate has already closed." Dene said.

Onibas stared at him for a long time, then said, "Our scientists will analyze the ship's data to understanding the cosmic nature of the white holes." He stood up and said, "Then we may find a way to bring you back to your home."

Thomas and Julia stepped onto the bridge along with Moslan. Dene looked at his wife and smiled. "They had finished learning our language." Moslan said.

"It's amazing how we learned fast." Thomas said.

Julia clasped her hands together in excitement. "I feel like I gained more knowledge." she said.

"A new language a new way of thinking." Moslan said.

164

Thomas nodded his head in agreement. "'I've got to agree with you." He said.

Radro came close to Onibas, stood in front of him, and then said in a puzzled voice, "There is a strange phenomenon occurring around us now."

"What do you mean by that?" Onibas asked.

Radro pointed to the screen and said, "A hundreds of clouds appeared suddenly."

"Clouds!" Moslan mumbled.

Thomas asked, turning his face to the screen. "Appeared out of nothingness?"

"Yes, but the strange thing, these clouds consists of antimatter." Radro said.

"Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon?" Moslan asked.

"It surrounded the alliance fleet. As if, they are just targeting us." Radro said.

"It's only a cloud, without cognition." Onibas said.

Radro hesitates, then says, "Sir, we think there are some things hidden within these clouds."

He was silent for a second, then added. "Looked like the shadow of ships."

"Our universe consists of matter, dark matter and energy. If matter and antimatter present same time they will destroy the universe." Thomas said.

"The antimatter in the universe is negligible as compared to the amount of matter." Onibas said.

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"The antimatter got annihilated long time ago in the beginning of the universe." Moslan said.

Thomas wanted to say something, but a strange buzzing sound seemed to come from all over the place. The sound increased in intensity, pushing everyone to put their hands up and covered their ears. Suddenly the sound stopped, and a man materialize out of nothingness. They stared at him without speaking, wondering how he got here. Onibas raised his gun and asked the man, "How did you get here?"

The thin man looked at the gun in Onibas's hand. "No bullet can kill me; no man can take my life."

"So where is it? Your body," Moslan asked. "You are a man without a shadow."

The man pointed at the screen. "This is my ship." He said with a deep voice. They turned and they saw the cloud was fading and a big ship appeared. The man crossed his arms over his chest and said, "I'm not allowed to hurt you, but you have to stop chasing Emperor Tago."

"You are allied with Ho gene." Onibas said.

The man shakes his head negatively. "No, but our duty to protect him."

"Sir, Emperor Tago heading toward the white hole." Radro said.

Onibas got angry and yelled, "give the order to open fire. All ships open fire."

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Radro said, "We lost control of our own ship."

"It happens to everyone." one officer said.

Onibas turned to the man and said, "You did it."

"I'm sorry. I did what I should do." The man said.

The Emperor's Special Command appeared on the screen penetrating the white hole and disappeared.

"We have failed." Dene said.

Thomas bunched his lips and said, "A mighty force just entered our solar system that no force in Earth can face."

The thin man said, with his arms extended and his palms facing each other. "You will accompany me."

"What does that mean?" Onibas said with a look of disapproval on his face.

The man remained silent, focusing on a ball of energy hovering between his palms. His hair tousled with the static electricity and his eyes were widely opened. Suddenly the energy ball exploded, spreading light to every niche and corner. Radro opened his eyes as soon the dazzling light vanished. He stared in astonishment at the captain's chair and turned his head left and right.

"They disappeared." Radro mumbled.

The crew looked straight to the place where Onibas, Moslan, Dene, Julia and Thomas were standing. They disappeared without trace.

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Chapter 12

Kai was standing in front of a statue of a woman holding a baby. He passed this place many times, but nobody had ever told him what the statue represents. He heard steps behind him, turned around and he said, bowing with respect. "Master Toshi."

The old man took two steps to stand beside him and clasped his hands behind his back, staring at the statue.

"In the past years, I have seen you a number of times standing here," Master Toshi said. "You have never asked anyone about it. You learned how to curb your curiosity"

"There some things that are more important to know. Our time in this world limited." Kai said.

Master Toshi said, keeping his eyes forward. "You are able to hear your inner wisdom. Good, good, Master Kai."

Kai's eyebrows wagged and his lips repeated the word. "Master! Me."

Master Toshi turned to him and put his hand on his shoulder. "You deserved this. I knew there was something special about you," he said. "Your ability to learn and the high physical abilities you have, that make you to be like him."

"Like whom?" Kai asked.

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Master Toshi pointed at the statue and said, "Zotar."

Kai gazed up at the baby for a few seconds, then said, "Zotar! It's just a myth."

"A myth, you think so?" Master Toshi asked.

Kai lowered his head and said, "Forgive me, Master. A story that I have heard since childhood."

"There's some truth at the heart of any myth." Master Toshi said.

Kai was silent for a while, then asked, "What is the truth about Zotar?"

"Zotar was the son of a woman from another planet. It will take you more than a million years to reach it." Master Toshi said.

"Is there life beyond Earth?" Kai asked.

Master Toshi reached out his finger to touch a drop of dew. "There are thousand lives in a single drop of dew, but you still can't see." He said.

"Smaller than lice!" kai said.

Master Toshi nodded his head, "Yes," he said. "The ancients knew about it 2400 years ago."

"That's strange." Kai said.

Master Toshi removed some leaves fell on the baby's face. "Zotar didn't fight with a sword, he didn't fly too high riding on the back of a dragon," Master Toshi said. "He used the science to defeat his enemies."

"So, all those stories about his abilities to fly to the sky and shoot lightning from his fist are just stories.' Kai said.

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Master Toshi smiled and said, "He did all those things, but through science."

Expression of perplexity came over Kai's face. "Has there been weapons stronger than a sword, faster than an arrow." He said.

"Master Kai, I saw most of his battles." Master Toshi said.

Kai opened his mouth to say something, hesitated a little, and then said, "Master Toshi, you are talking about a man died 2400 years ago!"

"I saw him through a screen." Master Toshi said.

"Screen! What does this word mean?" Kai said.

Master Toshi turned around and started walking. "Come with me, Kai," he said. "There's something you need to see."

Kai started to follow him until they reached a side of the temple wall quite close to the mountain. Master Toshi stopped and said, "There are secrets hidden behind this wall. Only a few people saw what you are about."

He removed a single brick from the wall and put his right hand in secret hiding place. A voice came from somewhere, saying, "Access granted."

Kai turned his head right and left. "Where is the voice coming from?" Kai asked.

The wall opens slightly, just enough for one person to enter at a time. Master Toshi gestured with his hand for Kai to follow him.

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They walked through a short passage and emerged in in a huge cave. Kai's mouth dropping open with surprise as he saw lamps light up the place like a moon and boxes with shiny glass screens. Master Toshi looked in his face and said, "Kai, what you are seeing is what I told you before, the science."

"Magic!" Kai mumbled.

Master Toshi grabbed his shoulders and shook him gently. "There is no magic, just science," he said. "An ancient invention. Like a spinning wheel, a plough pulled by two bulls, but these inventions are more sophisticated."

"Who invented all this?" Kai said.

Master Toshi looked at a data running on a nearby computer screen and said, "Before, more than a thousand years ago, earth was much different than it is today. People used to travel hundreds of miles by cars and the sky was crowded with airplanes. You can get information about what is happening in the world through your television."

Kai repeated the words. "Cars .. Airplanes...television. I don't understand what you mean"

"We are the guardians of Zotar's legacy. The time has come for you to know who you are and realize that you have a great mission." Master Toshi said.

"Me!" Kai said.

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Master Toshi pointed to a spaceship parked in the middle of the cave. "By using this flying object, Zotar defeated King Melos." He said.

"Who is he?" Kai asked.

Master Toshi took a deep breath and said, "Melos was the leader of the Iron Spiders. They came from another planet called Ho gene."

"What were their intentions?" Kai asked.

"Conquer our planet. No armies in all countries could stand before them and the earth fell under the occupation of Ho gene troops." Master Toshi said.

"Zotar planned to hide in this cave that time." Kai said, looking around.

"He wasn't born yet. For over twenty years, King Melos enslaved our people and the world population reduced by 60%" he said. "Come, let us enter into the ship."

Kai stands there, wondering how they could get in the ship. Master Toshi said in a loud voice, "Computer, open the door."

The side door of the spaceship opened, and a metallic voice came from inside. "Welcome back, Captain Toshi."

Kai followed him to the cockpit, scanning everything he could see. Master Toshi sat down in the cockpit chair and pointed to a chair next to him. Kai sat down, staring at the cockpit instruments.

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Master Toshi pressed a button and a tray slid open. He reaches inside and takes out a pendant. Kai looked at it in Toshi's hand and he could see a sun in the middle of the pendant. Master Toshi turned his face towards Kai. "This pendant will determine whether you are the one we are waiting for." He said.

"Experiment!" Kai said.

Master Toshi extended his hand and said, "Take it," he ordered.

Kai looked at his master with confused eyes, and then took the pendant. Suddenly the pendant shined a bright light.

"This is amazing." Kai said excitedly.

Master Toshi exhaled comfortably. "I've finally found you," He said. "The pendant returned to its owner."

"Returned!" Kai said. "There must be a mistake. I have never seen this pendant before."

"It belonged to one of your ancestors." Master Toshi said.

Kai looked at the pendant and asked, "What's his name?"

"Zotar." Master Toshi said.

Kai seemed surprised and said, "I never imagined that He was one of my ancestors."

"In fact, you are not only a descendant of Zotar, you are a descendant of Goryan." Master Toshi said.

"Who is he? I mean, Goryan." Kai said.

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Master Toshi looked down at the pendant in Kai's hand, saying, "He was the one who made this pendant."

"A jeweler." Kai said.

Master Toshi shook his head in the negative. "He was a scientist," He said. "Then became an emperor."

He remained silent a few seconds and then said, "These pendants were equipped with embedded, intelligent technology that anticipates the holder is descended from Goryan."

"There must be a lot of people in the world descended from Goryan?" Kai asked.

"There are," Master Toshi said. "But no one with a pure genetic line, except you. The pendant confirmed that."

Master Toshi pressed some buttons then said, "He will explain everything to you."

"Who?" Kai asked.

Master Toshi pointed to the screen. A man's face appeared. "Hello, my son. My name is Zotar and I guess you already know that. Two years have passed since the end of the war, Melos died, and the Iron Spiders defeated."

Zotar turned his face aside, remained silent a few seconds and then said, "We won the war, but we lost earth. King Melos before he died, he exploded a bomb called the electromagnetic pulse. This bomb ionized the surrounding air caused electrons loss in a reaction.

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Cars, buses, trains, aircrafts and all communication systems stopped functioning. At first, I thought it was temporary, but my research shows that the disaster will continue to grow over the next 200 years. The world will return to primitive ways of life, these are my expectations."

Zotar sighed and continued. "There is another threat coming, a man called kuldar, he has sent this warning."

Zotar's face disappeared and Kuldar's face appeared on the screen, saying, "I have discovered something important. Our genetic origin in planet earth, our planets are former human colonies and earth is our homeland. I have discovered also that there is a genetic mutation, allow people of Ho gene to have supernatural abilities. This mutation occurs in specific gene called Ho gene, now you have realized, where the name came from. So now, let us talk about the black hole, this phenomenon hiding a big secret. It is not only a gate between these two worlds, but as well behave like a time machine. The time difference between the two worlds is 2400 years, when I came to this world many things were different. The group of stars C1, C2 and C3 were no longer excited at my time. The other thing is the difference between the arrival time of Otar's ship to earth and the arrival time of my ship. The reason for this is an explosion happened Inside the black hole, the time warp occurred when my ship collided with the missile.

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This gave me an idea, if the Q45 missile exploded inside the black hole that will affect the time, future here and past there. This temporary solution, because after 2400 years the earth will have to face its destiny and trying to find a way to defeat the Imperial fleet."

Kuldar's face disappeared and Zotar's face appeared on the screen, saying, "My son, you got the pendant, go and fight Tago and claim the throne for yourself."

The screen went black and Kai was holding the pendant tightly and looked at Master Toshi for a few seconds before saying, "We cannot predict the exact arrival of the Imperial fleet, it may take years."

"They are already here, ten months ago, they landed in North America," Master Toshi said. "The ship will take you to their settlement."

Kai thought for a moment, then asked, "Zotar, is he a human being?"

"Yes, he is." Master Toshi said.

"His mother?" Kai asked.

Master Toshi looked straight into his eyes, then said, "She came from Ho gene and she passed away when he was one year old. The radiation caused her death."

"What was her name?" Kai asked.

Master Toshi said while as he is leaving the ship, "Her name was Otar."

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Chapter 13

The Emperor's Special Command built a settlement not far from the city of San Francisco. The data retrieved from the database stored in Pioneer 10 showed that this part of this world was the place where the signal transmitted. Emperor Tago stood not far from the emperor's ship, staring at the ruins of San Francisco. The admirals stood round him in a half-moon. He turned to face them, and said, "Ten months passed since we landed here, as you all know, our scientist describes and explain what happened. The white hole sent us 2400 years into the future, this was not expected, but it can be understood."

He raised his head up to the warm sun, and there was a bright glowing from his pupils. He looked at the faces of the men, and said, "In the past, the past history of this planet, Melos destroyed everything, and he wiped out earth civilization. He failed and died."

He smiled, but his smile seemed more like a sneer. After a few seconds, he said, "They still don't know we're here, except the people of this land who been used to build this settlement. The time has come for us to spread around the world and take full control."

He looked at Caden and asked, "Admiral Caden, 'are our troops ready?"

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Admiral Caden crossed his arms fists over his chest and said, "Yes, your majesty, we are waiting for your order to......."

He stopped and looked up in amazement. "That one of our ships!" He mumbled.

Emperor Tago crossed his eyebrows and stared toward the spaceship, wondering where it came from. The ship landed softly, and the door slide open. A man wearing an armor walked out of the door and stood not far from the emperor. Everyone's eyes were on his chest, staring at the pendant. Admiral Caden broke the silence saying, "The pendant it shined a bright light. He is a descendant of Goryan."

Kai said, "I came to claim the throne."

Emperor Tago said in anger, "Kill him."

Everyone remained silent. Emperor Tago shouted at them. "I gave an order!"

"Your majesty, we must obey the law of Batra." Admiral Caden said.

Emperor Tago stepped forward, staring at Kai. "Fine, let us make a quick fight," he said. "After I'm done with you, your world will be mine."

"Don't sell the bear's fur before killing it." Kai said.

Tago snarled and began to run toward him. Kai stayed in his position and remained silent, and before Tago kicks his stomach with his right foot, he bent like a bamboo stalk in the wind. Tago passed over him, landed on his feet and spreading cloud of dust.

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He said, kicking Kai's ankle. "A very strange fighting style."

Kai jumps up into the air, raises his knee and spinning with arms spread open. Tago raising his head up and looking at Kai sending a kick into his face. Tago knocked back three meters to fell down on his back. Kai smiled and said, "Are we done yet."

Tago pulled his legs up to his stomach and pushed himself up to stood on his two feet. "Are you in a hurry?" He said, and then he rolled up like an armadillo to kicked Kai in his stomach, forcing the air out of his lungs. Kai bent down, trying to catch his breath. Tago kicked the back of Kai's head and pushed him face down, to the ground. He looked down at him and put his right foot over the back of his neck and squeezed hard, saying, "How dare you come here to steal my throne!"

Kai tried to stand but found himself weak and dizzy. Tago grabbed the back of Kai's armor and pulled him up. He made a half spin and threw him a few meters away, yelling, "You weak pathetic fool."

Kai felled to the ground and stayed laying down for a while to regain some strength, before he stood up on shaky legs. Tago moved very fast and grabbed his neck, squeezing as hard as he could. Kai shakes his head from side to side, trying to escape, Suddenly the sun was shining directly into his eyes.

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He felt a surge of energy moving through his body, veins all over his body start to pop out and make his muscles start to tense up. Tago looked at him, feeling Kai's neck muscle becoming bigger and stronger. He said as he trying to squeeze harder. "What's happening?"

Tago's eyes meets Kai's eyes and he could see his pupil glowing like lanterns. Kai grabbed Tago's arms and drew his hands away from his neck. Tago felt Kai's fists tearing his arms and not able to escape. He pushed his feet against Kai's chest, but his feet simply bounced without any effect. Kai knocked his head against Tago's head twice then he let his arms go. Tago reeled backwards, and then fell down on his back. He shakes his head and stand up slowly. Kai stared at him, giving him time to steady on his feet.

Tago wiped some blood off his forehead and said in anger. "How dare you? I am the emperor."

He looked around and saw a laser gun held at Caden's waist. "Caden, give me your gun." Tago said.

Caden remained silent, looking toward the emperor.

Tago repeated the order, "Give me your gun. The gun!"

Caden put his head down and mumbled, "Your majesty, I cannot interfere."

Tago rushed at Caden, pulling his gun. "I am the Emperor." He yelled.

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He turned and began firing at Kai, yelling, "Die. Die"

Kai reacted with amazing reflexes and turned right to let the laser beam passed right near his left ear. Tago fired more shots, but Kai kept moving left to right to avoid the incoming beams until he gave Tago a strong punch on his face. Tago fell down on his back, throwing his gun to the ground.

Kai extended his right hand towards Tago's neck and pulled his pendant. He threw it away, saying, "The throne is mine!"

The admirals salute him one after another, a new king on Ho gene's throne. Admiral Caden stepped forward, crossed his arms fists over his chest and said, "Your majesty, we are waiting for your order."

Kai looked at Him and smiled. "The time of wars has ended," He said. "There is enough space in our world for both of us."

He remained silent a few seconds and then said, "A new era of peace has begun."

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Chapter 14

On the east side of New York City, a man enters a modern building and heads for the reception desk. A young woman moved forward to greet him. "Good morning. Welcome to Goryan Corporation," she said. "'How can I help you, sir?"

"My name is John Pavan, I have an appointment with Mr. Goryan."

She pointed toward the elevator. "We have been waiting for you, Mr. Pavan. The elevator will take you directly to Mr. Goryan's office." she said, with a lot more respect than she showed in the first time.

John walked to the elevator, stepped inside and after a second, it starts speeding its way up. The elevator doors open to a wide hall where Two women sitting at desks. One of the women gave him a welcome smile. "Good morning, Mr. Pavan. This way please." She said opening a door with words written in golden letters Charles Goryan. The man leaped to his feet and extended a hand in greeting. "Welcome my friend. It is nice to see you again."

"Me too, Charles." John said.

Charles said with a big smile, "Well look at you, haven't changed a lot."

"It's been twenty years since we graduated."

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John said, as he looked around the office. "From time to time I see your name in the newspapers."

"We got a lot of contracts from the government." Charles said and giggled.

"You're an inventor, Charles," John said. "Selling your inventions to the air force. What happened to the man who one day he told me that he is going to explore the universe?"

Charles said after staring at him a few moments. "John, we do not have the technology to travel at nearly the speed of light. Besides, we need at least one thousand years to reach nearest planets like Kepler-452b."

"What If we had technology to travel quite close to the speed of light?" John asked.

"We still have a problem; we will die long before we reached this planet."

"What If we had technology to transport the crew members in hibernation pods?" John asked.

Charles eyes narrowed as he asked, "You seem very confident, are you trying to sell something?"

John leaned forward and asked, "How much do you pay for to fulfill your dream?"

Charles leaned back in his chair and said, "The money is not important. The difference is in the value of the technology you offer."

"This technology can't introduce to the public. It is not yet the right time." John said.

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Charles put his finger to his lips, thought for a while, and then asked, "You ain't afraid that I will selling it to any third party?"

"I'm sure you don't want to take this risk because it will be the end for us both." John said.

"Things the Government want to keep it secret." Charles said.

"Yes, to maintain technical excellence." John said.

Charles's secretary entered the room, handed some papers for his signature. He lifted up his hand and said, "Not now, Emma. I am in the middle of an important meeting."

The secretary took the paper, headed toward the door, and closed it softly behind her.

Charles drummed his fingers on his desk, looking straight into John's eyes. "The purpose of knowledge is to enable us to discover new facts that will increase our understanding of how the universe works," he said. "'I will accept your offer."

John extended his hand to shake Charles, saying, "I knew I came to the right person."

He gave him a cd and said. "Check it and call me back. I have more." He turned and left the office.

Charles placed the disc onto the CD tray and after watching the screen for 30 minutes, he mumbled. "I had never dreamed of this kind of technology." He added. "A window to the future."

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Six months later:

In a large manufacturing facility built by Goryan Corporation, a giant spaceship parked on the ground surrounded by technicians and machinery. Another smaller ship parked not far from the first one. Behind a large glass window overlooking the work area, Charles was standing, crossing his arms over his chest and gazing at the workers.

"You're almost finished here." John said, steps, and stood beside him.

"I made some improvements to the design," Charles said. "You sure you don't want to tell me who invented this technology."

"Of course not. This is top secret." John said.

After a few seconds of silence, John asked, "how many crew members you have?"

"We have a crew of about 625, men and women." Charles said.

"Why you built that small ship." John asked.

Charles turned to him and said, "For the robots."

"Robots!" John said with astonishment.

Charles smiled and said, "We will sleep for a thousand years and we will face many threats during our journey. Meteors, comets etc."

He pointed to a corner of the facility where lines of robots were standing. These robots of the same design A tall, thin robot.

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Charles said, putting his hands against the glass. "These robots will protect the main ship. If necessary, the robots will adjust the ship's path to avoid any danger."

"That's very interesting." John said.

"The robots have special instruction to follow." Charles said.

John asked looking at him. "A special instruction! What you mean by that?"

Charles put his hand against his chest and said, "Their loyalty is to me. Nobody can reprogram the robots and they have the ability to learn and consider best solution in different situations."

"Are you expecting these robots to work for a long time?" John asked.

Charles went back to his chair and sat down with his legs crossed. "The machines will need repairing and changing parts always," he said. "An Alpha robot will take control of all robots. This robot can repair other robots and ensures mission continuity. Alpha program has a famous quote. "The best way to predict your future is to create it" Alpha will develop his program repeatedly."

John's cell phone ringed, He answered and said to the caller, "I'm on my way."

He looked at Charles and said, "I have to go, an idiot claims to have seen a UFO on the moon. Good luck on your journey."

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Unknown:

Against their will, they had experienced what the physicists called teleportation and transferred to another place. Onibas stared up at the dome above them, it extended miles in every direction farther than they can see its end. The buildings everywhere, same design and the same height. Many spaceships enter and depart through the huge dome. There were people walking on the street, but none of passersby shows any interest in them. Julia kept turning from left to right with her eyes opened in fright. "Their faces!" she said.

"They all had the same face, the same features," Moslan said. "The only difference is that they wear different suits."

"The same height, too." Onibas mumbled.

Thomas stared at the trees in front of him and said, "No insects, no birds, it is a strange world."

"Where are we exactly?" Dene asked.

They heard a voice behind them saying, "This place called Origin."

They all turned to see the thin man walking toward them. Onibas looked him straight in the eye and said, "This is you, although you have the same face as the others, but you have a unique suit."

"He placed me in a higher position," The thin man said. "In Origin, everyone is important."

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Moslan looked around and asked. "Where did you come from?"

"Origin." The thin man said.

Onibas crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Origin is a massive starship. Where is the location of your planet?"

The thin man looked at him for a long time then said, "I am trying to analyze your question. You assume we came from a planet that live on its surface the origin of our species."

"It's a simple question." Onibas said.

"Actually, it's a hard question. We have no idea where we came from." The thin man said.

Dene asked as he waved his hand around. "Are you the only survivors of a dead planet?"

"I don't have much information about the past." The thin man said.

Thomas looked around and said, "I don't feel sense of life around me. It looks fake to me."

"Do you in fact feel this way?" The thin man asked.

Dene opened his arms, saying, "I don't see any birds flying. Even no single ant."

The thin man looked into his eyes and said, "Just look around you. You should see what you want to see."

They heard birds sing sweetly in the trees, but they were singing the same way.

Onibas said, "Bizarre!"

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Julia pointed at the ground. "Guys, you should look down."

They all stared down at a red ant moving in a long line. The strange thing is that the line extended further than the possible limit of sight.

"What kind of magic is that?" Dene said.

The thin man turned his eye towards him and said, "I didn't do anything, you only see what you want to see."

"So, what is real?" Moslan asked.

"Only what is necessary." The thin man said.

Onibas looked at a man crossing the street and said, "No emotions, he was doing what he should do."

"We all do, isn't this true?" The thin man asked.

"We always have the choice." Dene said.

The thin man was silent for a few seconds, and then said, "Sometimes there is more danger in making the wrong choice."

"But what about you?" Julia asked. "Do you always follow the orders of your leaders?"

"In Origin, instructions to be followed. There were no orders." The thin man said.

Onibas asked with impatience. "'Why have you brought us here?"

"He wants to meet you." The thin man said.

"Who is he?" Onibas asked, with much curiosity.

The thin man pointed to a far house. "There."

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Their eyes widened in astonishment, they felt as if everything is changing and moving faster and suddenly, they saw that house in front of them. The door opened and there was a tall man, wearing suit of black sitting at a small table in a room without furniture.

The man was thin, dark complexion, coarse black hair, a small black beard with gray eyes. He was wearing high top hat and looking at them as he smiled. Thomas eyes narrowed as he said, "Where have I seen that guy before?"

Dene and Julia also thought they saw him before. Dene stepped cautiously inside the room and looking at the man's eyes. Suddenly he said with great astonishment. "Abraham Lincoln!"

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