 
### Baily Chatham and the Time Crystals

### G. R. Zee

Distributed by Smashwords

Copyright © 2017 Dr. G. Zee

All rights reserved.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. Thank you for downloading this book. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase you own copy. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from an authorized retailer. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, organizations, incidents, ad dialogue in this novel are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, on any planet, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my loving, adorable husband, Bobby because I am and have always wanted to be Bobby's girl, and to my beautiful mother, Rita, who loves to laugh, lives life with a passion, and encouraged me to become a creative thinker.

This book is the first in the series.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1. BAILY SEEKS HER GENETIC HERITAGE (2012)

CHAPTER 2. TWENTY YEARS EARLIER (1992)

CHAPTER 3. A SANTA SIGHTING

CHAPTER 4. BACK TO THE FUTURE IN 2012

CHAPTER 5. ORP's MEETING AND WEATHERBY'S MEETING

CHAPTER 6: THE DRAGON MAN

CHAPTER 7. DR. MARYBETH INGLE

CHAPTER 8. SYNNOVE

CHAPTER 9. THE RESCUE MISSION

CHAPTER 10. TIME TRAVEL

CHAPTER 11. TIMELINE TWO

CHAPTER 12: DEJA-VU

CHAPTER 13. THE TRACKING DEVICE, PLANET ZEBION

CHAPTER 14. DRAGON WRATH

CHAPTER 15. TIME-CRYSTALS

CHAPTER 16. DEPARTURE FROM EARTH

CHAPTER 17. BACK TO THE MOON

CHAPTER 18. DEEP SPACE

CHAPTER 19. ANOTHER ATTEMPTED RESCUE

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CHAPTER 1. BAILY SEEKS HER GENETIC HERITAGE (2012)

Up until Baily got kidnapped, her day was rather ordinary. She met her best friend, Mimi, for lunch. It was a typical American day in a plastic cube of heavenly comfort under the golden arches.

"Who comes to Mickey-Dee and orders salad?" chirped Mimi, the same thing she always said as she gobbled her giant cheeseburger. She was one of those very hyperactive, petite girls who could eat like a horse and never gain weight.

Baily Chatham ignored this comment, as usual.

"Did you get your DNA results from Genetic-legacy-dot-com?" she asked, hooking her long, golden-blond hair behind her left ear.

"Yep, got 'em yesterday, right before the place blew up."

She slathered a wad of ketchup on a clump of French fries and stuffed them in her mouth. Baily assumed that this comment, about the place blowing up, was one of Mimi's crazy jokes.

"What are you talking about?"

"Didn't you hear it on the news? I heard it on CNN this morning. The Genetic-legacy-dot-com laboratory had a massive fire and was totally destroyed and the entire website is down. They are looking into terrorism and arson. The whole thing is a crazy mess."

"That does sound crazy," agreed Baily, wondering if she would ever get her results or find any relatives.

Baily took the DNA test to begin with because she wanted to find some biological relatives. She was an adopted child.

"Well, I'm glad one of us got results," Baily offered, "I wanted to find out if any of my biological relatives have forty teeth like me - that's eight too many. That's why my face is freakishly wide."

It was one thing for Mimi to tease Baily but it was a whole different thing for Baily to put herself down. Mimi immediately objected.

"You are not freakish! You know you're beautiful."

It was true, Baily had creamy skin and big lilac almond shaped eyes. She stood five-feet seven inches tall and had a beautiful trim and strong figure, Baily turned heads. Although Baily was very slim, she had no hips to speak of. She was flat on top but hid it well with a padded bra so she looked like she at least had an A-cup. She looked like a beautiful model, but she got embarrassed by compliments, so she changed the subject.

"What did you find out about your own heritage?"

"It was kind of disappointing," Mimi sighed, while smushing her fries into a river of catchup. "I think it was a big waste of money. Thank goodness we got the seventy-five-dollar special. I didn't learn anything new, except that we have some relatives in Argentina that we never knew about before."

"Hey, that's interesting! Didn't your family come from Russia? How did they wind up in Argentina?"

"They came from Prussia, and who knows?" Mimi seemed totally indifferent and slightly bored, which was strange because she paid for her DNA test to find out more about her ethnic heritage just as Baily had done. But, the truth be told, it had been Baily's idea. Mimi got tested just to keep Baily company. Now Mimi realized that, for her, it was more important to think about the future than the past.

"Well, you're lucky that you know where you came from and who your relatives are. I want to know if I'm Swedish or Danish or whatever. What if I have kids someday? I want to know what to expect."

Mimi threw a french-fry at her, "You can expect a bunch of vegetarian, purple-eyed, big toothed adorable freaks like yourself. You're going to turn green from eating all that salad."

"At least I know how to drive a car."

"I know how to drive a car," Mimi mumbled indignantly, her cheeks full of cheeseburger. "I ride a bike because it's better for the environment."

"Don't talk with your mouth full. That's great, you'll eat a cow but you're worried about pollution?"

Mimi swallowed, "Anyway, you're probably British like your adoptive parents. And who the hell cares, we've all been Americans for generations, so why does it matter?"

Baily had a few secrets that even her best friend Mimi didn't know, like that she could see and hear beyond the normal human spectrum of sight and sound. She had other secrets too, female secrets that she was too embarrassed to confide to her best friend. At the age of twenty, she hadn't yet started to menstruate. She carried sanitary napkins in her purse just in case she might start at any minute, because you never know.

She had the other secret too. She had to wear padded bras because she was flat as a pancake. And of course, she had no body hair, other than the hair on her head. All of this made her very modest and very careful to never been seen without her clothing on at sleepovers or when shopping with her friend. Because of her height, she looked like a model and no one suspected that she was underdeveloped. But, maybe she came from a family of late bloomers? Very late bloomers. If only she could find some biological relatives, then she could find out if she was 'normal' for her family. Unfortunately, she would never get those DNA results now.

"What if there's a genetic thing in my family, other than purple eyes and forty teeth? Shouldn't I know what to expect? Because you never know what life might bring." Baily reasoned.

"I guess so, it's always good to know about family genetics if it comes up on the report or from any relatives you meet. Now you have to start over with another DNA company. Are you going to tell your parents that you are doing this DNA research?"

"Not yet. You know I used the money I earned from my campus job last semester. I won't be able to get another test until next semester anyway. I'm not trying to keep secrets from them, I'm just afraid that they'll feel insulted. My biological parents died in a small plane crash and I was the only survivor. That's the only information my adoptive parents have about me. I don't want for them to think I'm looking for other family members because I don't love them or anything. Of course, I love them. I just want to know who I am, what my family looks like, what medical conditions run in the family, that sort of thing. Just normal stuff," Baily explained.

"So, when you find your biological relatives, you're going to keep them a secret?"

"Probably. I don't know. I didn't think it through yet," Baily admitted. "I guess I'll have to play it by ear. I just hope I get the results of the test soon."

It dawned on Baily that she needed to work out a strategy. Should she bring her parents into the loop or keep the future DNA results to herself? Maybe if she found and met any living relatives she might have to share the information with her parents. She might have to very gently explain why she followed this course of action.

It never occurred to Baily that the destruction of the Genetic-legacy-dot-com had anything to do with herself. She had no idea that when she submitted her DNA test, she had set off a maelstrom of panic and activity in a secret world that was heretofore unknown to her.

When the girls parted, Baily had to lean down to hug Mimi, who was five inches shorter. They took the obligatory "selfie" with Mimi's phone camera (to be uploaded to Facebook and Instagram later). Baily waved as Mimi (in her pink helmet) got on her bike and rode off. Smiling and shaking her head, Baily climbed into her old dark green Mini-cooper and headed home. She was driving down a somewhat isolated back street, thinking about how summer vacation was nearly over and how hard senior year of college was going to be, when she noticed blue flashing lights in her rear-view mirror.

That's weird, she thought, I know I'm not speeding. Is my license plate out of date or something? Her heart raced a little as she tried to remember what she was supposed to do. She pulled over to the curb and frantically searched her wallet for the documents she needed. In her rear- view mirror she saw the police car pull up behind her. By the time the police officer came to her car window she was ready with her driver's license, car registration and insurance card.

"Step out of the car please, Ma'am," he firmly requested, but it was really a demand.

"Why? What did I do?" Baily knew that this was not routine and she was alarmed. Although she had never been stopped by a police officer before, she knew that all he should do is ask to see her license, insurance and registration. Perhaps if she had been driving erratically, then it would make sense, if they thought she was intoxicated. But she had been driving the speed limit and within normal expectations. It just wasn't reasonable for them to ask her to get out of her vehicle.

A second officer showed up and chimed in, "You need to step out of the car, ma'am." He was young, strong, and official looking.

"Officer, excuse me, but first I need to call my dad," Baily turned her head toward the passenger seat and reached for her pocketbook to retrieve her cell phone.

The first officer was lightning quick to respond. He jabbed her bare arm with a syringe. Nearly immediately, her body slumped down; she had no idea what was going on around her.

Baily woke up on a cot in a windowless room. She looked up at the white clean ceiling and saw one light fixture high above her head in a spot she could never reach. She turned her head and saw the blank walls were painted dove gray. Everything was clean nice, and new looking. No one was around, but there was a camera on her. She felt groggy and confused as she slowly sat up.

She looked around and realized that her pocketbook, keys, and cellphone were all missing. She shivered from cold, her only attire was the pair of cotton shorts and the sleeveless tee-shirt she had been wearing when the "police officers" had stopped her. The last thing that she remembered was trying to call her father on her cell phone.

"Hello?" she called out, "Where am I? Is anyone here?"

She realized she had been kidnapped, but she couldn't imagine why. Baily was a very calm and rational person. She was the type of person who kept her head in emergencies, the type of person who could quickly analyze a situation and assess possible solutions. She was also the type of person who could see through walls (in the form of shapes that were a little more than shadows), an odd ability that she had learned at an early age to keep secret; even her best friend Mimi didn't know about this unique talent of hers. It had scared her parents when she was a toddler and they convinced themselves she could simply hear and sense people coming, so she learned to keep this little gift of hers a secret. Right now, she could see the shape of a man moving quickly down the hall toward her cell, so she wasn't at all surprised by his sudden entrance. He was about six-feet four inches tall, probably late twenties or early thirties, broad shouldered and clean shaven. He had short brown hair and kind sea green eyes.

"Ma'am, is your name Baily Chatham?" he asked in a gentle voice as he sat down in the only chair, next to her cot.

"You know I am. Why am I here? Who kidnapsh people for traffic violations? I wasn't even shpeeding," Baily tried to sound indignant but mostly she felt weak, confused, and nauseous from whatever drug they had given her. Her speech didn't sound right. Whatever drug they had given to her, it was very strong, and it had knocked the heck out of her.

"You haven't been kidnapped, ma'am," he said with a wry smile.

"Pleash shtop calling me ma'am. I need to call my parentsh, I need to go home," she realized her speech sounded a little slurred. She laid back down on the cot because she was too dizzy to remain upright.

The man noticed her weakened condition and her slurred speech. He started to get up.

"I'll come back when you're feeling more alert," he said as he started to leave.

"Please stay, I need to know what's going on," she forced herself to speak slowly and deliberately so she could speak more clearly, and she forced herself to sit up despite the spinning room. "Tell me what your name is."

He hesitated, looking at her hunched and hung-over, but he finally decided to stay.

"My name is Jacob Weatherby, I'm a GIA agent ma'a- er Baily."

"What is GIA? What does that mean? Should I call you Jacob?"

"Call me Weatherby. GIA stands for Galactic Investigative Agency. It's a government agency."

"I've never heard of it," Baily murmured.

"Not too many people have heard of GIA. Baily, did you recently send a sample of your saliva to Genetic-legacy-dot-com for a DNA test?"

Baily looked at this man and thought for a second. What a strange question. Why would he ask that? She remembered that Mimi had told her that the Genetic-legacy-dot-com had been burnt to the ground in possible terrorist activity, or just plain arson. Did they think it was her fault?

"Yes, is it against the law? Because I know other people who..."

"No, it's not against the law. Did you use your own saliva?"

"Of course, who..."

"Did you mix it with anyone else's saliva or with animal saliva?"

"No, what kind of..."

"Did you mix it with the saliva of an alien being?"

Baily was incredulous, "No, what..."

"We need to retest both your saliva and your blood."

Baily looked at him like he was crazy. She nervously crooked her hair behind her left ear, "O.K., why? What does this have to do with you drugging me and kidnapping me?"

"Ma'am, er, Baily, things will be much more pleasant if you cooperate. I know it's hard for you to believe but this is a matter of national security."

Baily didn't know whether to laugh or shriek, she kind of did a little combination, "My saliva is a matter of national security?" She gave a crooked smile, "If I wasn't locked up in this jail cell, I would think you're crazy, but so far I've met three of your 'GIA agents'. I've been drugged, kidnapped, and imprisoned. I want to call my parents!"

"Baily, this is not a jail cell. Look around you, do you see bars on the walls? You are here for your own safety. This is a nice room where I hope you'll be comfortable. I'll tell you what," said Weatherby, "you cooperate with me and if all goes well, you'll get your wish."

"You'll let me call my parents?"

"First, we need to test your DNA and get results, then we will talk about it. Deal?"

"If this is not a jail cell, I'm free to leave," she tried halfheartedly to stand up.

Weatherby gently settled her back on the edge of the cot, "Not just yet."

Baily glanced around her. She was in a windowless cell. There were two doors. Weatherby had come through one door. Baily pointed to the other door, "What's in there?"

"Bathroom."

"I need to go in there."

He gestured his approval. She tried to get up and her knees buckled. Weatherby helped her, half carrying her, to the bathroom. It was furnished with a toilet, sink, and shower. There was a small bar of motel-style soap. There was no mirror, no shower curtain, no towel, and no window. The shower was a walk-in type, like the ones offered in handicapped rooms in hotels. There was no shower door. If she showered here the room would probably get all wet the way it was set up. In other words, there was no way to escape and no way to make a weapon. There wasn't even anything she could use to hang herself with, not that she wanted to kill herself, but they obviously weren't taking any chances.

"Do you need help with the facilities?" he asked.

She noticed the handicapped railing that encompassed the room and latched on to the nearest one.

"Nope, I've got it from here," she informed him.

He left her alone, discreetly closing the bathroom door. Baily noticed that it had no lock. She used a few minutes to regroup. How could my saliva pose a threat to national security? She wondered. Impossible, she thought, these people must be kidnapping me for ransom. It's better to cooperate and avoid being drugged again. He's so handsome, it's hard to believe he's a bad guy, her mind rambled.

After a while, she came wobbling out of the bathroom, her foggy mind made up. Weatherby was waiting for her by the door. He helped her back to the cot.

"I need a blanket. I'm cold in here," she complained, rubbing her arms.

"I can bring one to you," he assured her.

"How long will it take to get the DNA results?"

"So, we have a deal?" he smiled.

"Yes."

Because maybe they would let her call her father and he could come and get her. She wanted to go home. There was nothing in her DNA that could threaten National Security. Her dad would pay any ransom money they asked for if this was just a normal kidnapping, which is what she thought it probably was.

"I promise it will be very fast. We are as anxious as you are to get the results."

"Exactly what are you looking for in my DNA?" she asked, as if she really believed that they were looking for anything other than ransom money.

"I'll let you know when we find it," he answered vaguely, then he left her alone.

Yeah, right, she thought, you're looking for money from my parents in my DNA, but not quite sure what to really believe. Yet, a few minutes later a technician came in and took blood and saliva samples from her, then quickly left. She got up and tried to stop the door from closing, but he was too fast for her. She tried the door after it had closed. It was solidly locked and immovable. She yelled for help until her throat was sore, but no one came.

At some point, later a tray of food was delivered through a small opening in the bottom of her door. Baily ate the vegetables, the salad, and drank the water. She ignored the meat. Apparently, they didn't know she was a vegetarian. While she ate, she worried about what her parents were going through. She knew they must be very concerned about her disappearance. Did they get a ransom note yet? Maybe they've hired someone to look for me. But why me? We're upper middle class, not mega-rich. It really doesn't make sense.

Eventually the lights went out. She tried to sleep on the rock-hard mattress. She didn't have a pillow. Weatherby forgot to bring her a blanket; she was still shivering with cold. They keep this place like an icebox, she thought, I wonder how long it will be before I can go home or have an opportunity to escape.

When the lights came back on she assumed it must be morning. She thought about taking a shower but with no towel and no clean clothing, what was the point? She went into the bathroom and splashed water on her face and finger combed her long hair which was now a slightly tangled mildly wavy golden mess.

In due course, Weatherby came in wearing gray pants and a white button-down shirt with a navy-blue sports coat. He had a gun in a holster at his hip. Baily didn't remember seeing the weapon the prior day, but then again, she had been recovering from a drug-induced state of mind.

"Can I call my parents now?" she blurted out.

"Good morning, Sunshine," he greeted her.

He was kind, but restrained. He had a guarded look in his eyes and an overall tenseness.

"Did you get my DNA results?" she asked, best to play along with the kidnapper.

"Yes, we have a lab here that processed your DNA overnight."

"You promised I could call my parents when you got my DNA results," she reminded him.

Now they knew for sure that she was not any kind of threat, so she would be able to go home; unless she was a kidnap victim and they were waiting for ransom money, then she would have to wait for her parents to pay the ransom.

"Actually, I told you that if you cooperated with me, and if all went well, you would get your wish," he refreshed her memory of their deal.

"Right, and I cooperated. My wish is to call my parents," she affirmed.

"Unfortunately, all didn't go well. This isn't your fault, it's just reality. I can't let you call your parents, but I can tell you what you've been waiting to find out since you paid for your original DNA test. Don't you want to know what your genetic heritage is?"

He slowly sat down on the lone chair as he waited for her to respond.

Crap, my parents couldn't pay the ransom, she thought.

"Not as much as I want to call my parents," she answered out loud.

He felt sorry for her, she looked like a nice kid. She looked like a drop dead gorgeous nice kid, to be exact, but he also knew that she was a very dangerous person. He knew he had to handle her with care.

"Your genetic heritage reveals that you are approximately one eighth human," he smiled and waited.

"What did you say?" she thought she hadn't heard him correctly.

He finally had her total attention. She was no longer preoccupied with trying to get her cellphone back to call her parents. He repeated what he had said, "...and seven eighths alien."

"Alien like Mexican or illegal immigrant from somewhere else on Earth? Is that why I'm here?" she asked confused, but with a light starting to dawn.

Oh, so that's why I'm a threat to national security, I'm an illegal alien. Now they're going to try to send me back to a foreign country where I don't even speak the language. Didn't my adoption make me an American citizen?

"Alien like from another planet, and that's why you're here," he told her as gently as you can tell someone that they an alien-hybrid, part human, and part non-human.

She slumped forward, elbows on knees, eyes welling with tears, speechless. She looked at him dumbfounded. She thought about her forty teeth, her purple eyes, her ability to see through walls, her ability to hear sounds from far away and on a greater spectrum of sound than other people could hear. Her ability to see colors that other people couldn't see. She thought about her ability to see nearly invisible faintly blue and faintly pink wires in the air above her head that no one else could see. She thought about the fact that at the age of twenty she still did not get her period, did not have hips or breasts, did not have body hair. It was entirely plausible that she could be partially non-human. This was not what she had anticipated when she sent her saliva test in to Genetic-legacy-dot-com.

Weatherby looked at the poor girl and felt his heart melt. He had always been a sucker for a damsel in distress. He had to remember that she had very special and potentially deadly powers. He didn't even know if his gun would protect him from her if things went south. As of yet, as far as the Galactic Investigative Agency knew, she had never manifested any alien capabilities, but they were very certain that she had some astounding potential powers. He took a deep breath and prepared to tell her what the GIA had agreed he could reveal to her. They didn't want to give her information that she could use to her advantage against them, but they knew that they needed to give her some explanation.

"You know you were adopted, right?" he began.

She nodded dumbly, looking forlorn.

"They told you that you survived a small plane crash, right?"

She nodded.

"That was the story the adoption agency was given. At the time that you were found, according to our records, you were presumed to be a human baby, and you did survive a crash. The plane that crashed, however, was an alien scout-craft. The five adult aliens onboard all died. The GIA agents who found you onboard thought that these aliens were kidnapping a human baby. They couldn't locate your parents, so they eventually put you up for adoption. We didn't know, until you sent in your DNA, that you are an alien-hybrid.

"An alien what?" she asked, confused.

"Part human and part non-human, created in a laboratory from genetic material of both human DNA and genes from beings from other planets."

"I don't understand," she said, her brows furrowed.

"We don't totally understand either."

He wasn't going to give her full disclosure. He was now going to give her vague answers to the rest of her questions.

She sat there and looked at him blankly while she tried to process what he had just told her: That she didn't have any parents or any relatives on Earth, that she was made in a laboratory, a synthetic being - real, but not real; human, but not human; raised on Earth, but from another planet - from an unknown planet - a planet that had people with wide faces, forty teeth, purple eyes, and the ability to see through walls, the ability to see and hear beyond the human spectrum of sight and sound, and probably the ability to see those thin flickering pale pink and pale blue wires that float in the air, the wires no one else could ever see, just above her reach all of her childhood. She tried to envision a planet where, apparently, people didn't develop like humans do, a planet where twenty-year-old females look like very tall ten-year-olds.

Baily thought about her childhood from a new perspective now. Everything started to make more sense. One time, when she was in preschool, her mother had been cooking dinner and had accidently created a grease fire in the kitchen. Baily had been terrified. She was rooted to the spot, watching in shock while her mother frantically put out the fire. Afterward, her mother looked everywhere for her, unable to find her, even though Baily was standing right there, still in shock, unable to move or talk.

Mrs. Chatham ran through the house looking for her. Baily heard her mother calling her name. She heard her mother opening and closing doors all through the house. She heard her mother calling for her in the backyard, then in the front yard. Suddenly, her mother came back into the kitchen and finally saw her, standing in the exact same spot where she had been all along, and she had swooped her up in her arms and hugged her tightly.

"Oh, thank G-d I finally found you!" her mother cried, "I've been looking everywhere for you. Where were you hiding all this time? Didn't you hear me calling for you?"

"I'm right here," Baily had answered, confused. It was as though she had been invisible for a little while, yet that wasn't possible, was it?

"You must have been hiding," her mother said. "I don't blame you for being afraid of the fire, I was afraid too. But everything is O.K. now. Mommy put the fire out and you're perfectly safe."

At the time, Baily had felt confused. She didn't understand why her mother hadn't been able to see her. She had not been hiding; she had been standing in the same spot the entire time, watching her mother extinguish the fire. She thought that her mother was acting very strange. On reflection, Baily now wondered if it was possible that she had been invisible for a little while when she was watching her mother douse the fire.

She entertained this notion because there had been another incident in her childhood when her mother had been unable to see her, even though she hadn't moved an inch and she was right in front of her mother. When Baily was in middle school she and her mother had been in a car accident. Fortunately, they had been stopped at a stop sign when a teenage driver rammed into them head-on. Baily was in the front passenger seat, next to her mother who was driving. The other car had hit their car on the driver's side and had crashed into them causing damage to the driver's side headlight. Baily had been petrified.

The crash caused a huge noise and a small fire, which only intensified Baily's terror. No one was seriously hurt, but the accident was traumatic. Once again, Baily's mother couldn't see her, even though Baily was sitting in her seat with her seatbelt intact. Baily sat still, feeling dazed, and watched her mother call for her, looking everywhere for her.

"Baily? Where are you?" her mother looked in the back seat. Mrs. Chatham got out and looked around the crash site, frantically calling for Baily, limping on a broken ankle, becoming increasingly agitated. Finally, the police showed up, along with an ambulance. Her mother was hysterical with fear, she told the police officer that her daughter had disappeared. However, when the officer looked into the car he saw Baily primly sitting there with her seatbelt still attached, looking fine. It was later determined that Mrs. Chatham had been in a state of shock. The doctor hypothesized that the shock and pain from the accident had caused a temporary mental state, which made her think her daughter had disappeared.

"The mind plays games on you sometimes," the doctor kindly assured her later that day. "You thought your daughter was missing and she was there all along and just fine."

But now, finding out that she was genetically an alien-hybrid, Baily wondered if her mother had really been wrong after all. Is it possible that I was invisible twice in my life? Baily wondered. She considered the possibility, yet she was only half convinced that she was really an alien-hybrid. Or maybe, she thought, I have some sort of unusual syndrome that is unknown to these people. Maybe there's something unusual about my DNA that causes me to have extra teeth and some extra sensory vision and hearing skills. Maybe these people are just jumping to conclusions by labeling me an alien-hybrid when in fact I just have an unusual syndrome that they've never heard of, something not reported in modern medical journals.

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CHAPTER 2. TWENTY YEARS EARLIER (1992)

Just a little over forty light years from Earth, on a planet with three moons and two suns (one near and bright the other far and dying), three diminutive scientists were finishing the greatest cloning project of their professional careers. They were getting ready to have a planet-wide celebration of the greatest scientific achievement in over ten-thousand years. The little scientists were located on a planet called Zebion. The tallest scientist, Sol, stood at three feet and three inches weighing approximately eighty pounds. He, like the rest of his race, had a light silvery skin tone. He was dressed in the same uniform as the other scientists: a light blue jumpsuit made of crinkly material with a built-in weather control system to keep them comfortable in the extreme heat and cold of Zebion. The communication device that was built into the sleeve of his uniform vibrated.

Sol read the text message and informed his team via their telepathic language, "Time to go pray."

He didn't really have to tell them; they all got the same message. The other two scientists, Lot and Tul, stopped what they were doing and all three immediately filed out of the lab. On their planet, they all lived by a set schedule. Lot, who was three feet one, was the heaviest of the scientists He weighed ninety-three pounds and waddled as fast as he could to keep up with the others. He struggled over the uneven terrain, as fast as he could go over the sparse grass, through the dusty path. Lot had a problem with his metabolism that caused his girth. The shortest and thinnest of the three scientists was Tul, who was three feet tall and weighed seventy-two pounds. All three were anxious to get into the chapel on time and they were especially anxious to see Orp, the beautiful single linguist who had made their historic cloning project possible.

There were five hundred survivors living on Zebion (not their home planet, but their only planet now). Everyone (all the Zebians living in the South, which was most of the planet's population) filed into the massive but humble chapel where they all worshipped their god, HA-UN. A skylight in the ceiling let the holy light stream into the chapel. On the North wall of the chapel (where everyone faced) there was a holographic image of an eternal flame. There were no chairs or pews because services were very short and the little Zebians stood for their twenty-minute prayer sessions a few times a day.

The religious leader was council member Oslo, the tallest person on the planet. He stood at three-feet six, weighed eighty-eight pounds, and dressed in a dark purple jump suit. He also wore a short gold cape denoting his status as one of the five council members (rulers of Zebion). He stood in front of the eternal flame with his arms raised above his head, his palms turned toward his face. The worshippers did the same. Oslo spoke to his congregation using telepathic communication. Although Zebians could speak out loud when they wanted, most often they used internal speech with each other.

"We give thanks to HA-UN who enabled us to win the five-hundred- year war and survive the Alpha-Draconians."

Everyone waved their arms back and forth, Oslo continued.

"Although our original planet and most of our race was obliterated, we give thanks to HA-UN for bringing us to Zebion, allowing us to survive, and providing us with sustenance."

The congregation waved their arms. Oslo continued.

"We give thanks to HA-UN for delivering us from the evil of Naga-Luf (the father) and his son, Naga-Seb, of the Alpha-Draconian soulless scourge."

The congregation waved their arms.

"We pray to be saved from this Alpha-Draconian evil and for all peoples on all planets to be saved from this evil and from all evil for all eternity."

They waved their arms, then they bent their elbows and brought their hands to their eye three times, symbolically catching the holy light and bringing it into their souls. The rest of their service was singing out loud and swaying in place. The three scientists looked around as they always did and tried to catch sight of their beloved Orp. They often praised her for her quick wit, her brilliant mind, and her courage. They knew that if it wasn't for Orp they would not have their current scientific achievement. She was a woman they revered. Most of all they marveled at how humble she was.

Sol, their group leader, and the tallest of them, spotted her first. "Over there, to the left of her usual spot," he telecommunicated to the others. Lot and Tul looked over and saw her in her lavender jump-suit, wearing her iridescent white hooded cloak, which came to the top of her shoulders. Her silver skin had a slight sparkle to it (or did they just imagine that)? Her huge black almond eyes dominated her face. Her nares were just the right size under her huge eyes and over her perfect rose-bud mouth. Her ear-holes were in precisely the cutest spots on her head, just peeking out of her hood. She was the most beautiful woman on the planet. They were, all three of them, in love with her. She was exactly three feet tall and sixty pounds, the perfect Zebian woman. They knew she was single because she wore a white cloak and married women wore colored hooded cloaks. None of them had ever had the nerve to talk to her, they all just admired her from afar.

As the scientists walked back to their lab, Sol communicated, "I'm going to ask council member Oslo to introduce me to Orp at the celebration of our project. I think, as our group leader, I should have the right to meet her."

"We all have the right to meet her," Tul responded, sullenly.

"We should honor her at the celebration," recommended Lot, as he panted, trying to keep up with the others, slowed down by his bulk.

The other two scientists stopped walking and turned to look at their chubby co-worker.

"He's right," acknowledged Tul.

"I should have thought of it myself," muttered Sol.

"Why don't we each offer a personal public thanks to Orp when it is our turn to speak at the celebration of our project and then she will probably come and introduce herself to us at the end," suggested Lot.

"Great idea," agreed Sol, "and that way I won't need Oslo's approval or cooperation to meet her."

Sol was pretty sure that, as group leader, and as the tallest of the three, Orp would naturally like him the best. Of course, since this project would make them the greatest heroes on the planet, she would be crazy not to marry one of them. It was obviously just between himself and Tul, because who would look twice at that fat dimwit Lot? Of course, Tul was a shrimp who just followed Sol's lead. He was, after all, the team leader, so, just himself. He smiled to himself imagining himself getting married to Orp. They would be the biggest power couple on the planet.

The three scientists returned to their lab and finished their major scientific break-through cloning project. They came from a race that had mastered the technology of cloning over ten thousand years earlier. The Zebian scientists were so adept at cloning that they could combine the DNA from various species across the galaxy and create fast growing or naturally progressing hybrids of any imaginable combination or description of new species. For them, creating hybrid species and cloning was both a scientific pursuit as well as a creative outlet.

Zebian scientists had been creating fantastic creatures for generations. They had populated planets all over the Milky Way Galaxy with these creations. They created creatures with human bodies and dog or wolf heads and vice versa, they combined beings of all descriptions from various planets. However, their current project was an accomplishment that surpassed anything that had ever been done since their race had first learned about the art and science of creating hybrids and cloning, over ten thousand years earlier.

They had just created the infant Adam and Eve of a new race that would save their own race and would enhance the humans of Earth... at least, so they hoped.

Their project was completed and "Adam" and "Eve" (to use an Earth fairytale they had heard of) were placed in the nursery at the laboratory where they were being taken care of by specially trained Zebian nurses. The scientists went to their respective homes to prepare for the celebration. When the brighter of Zebion's two suns rose in the sky, the banquet was prepared, and at the time for the morning meal all the Zebians received a text directing them to gather in the field behind the chapel. Tables and benches were set up for everyone.

The three scientists were invited to sit at a place of honor with the five council members, in front of the entire population of the planet. The sky was beginning to brighten. There was a slight haze. The ground was sparsely covered with thin greyish grass. Vegetation did not grow well on Zebion. The festivities started with a traditional Zebian presentation by the children. Due to strict population control, there were very few children on the planet, one-hundred fifty to be exact. At that moment in time, there were one-hundred fifty married couples on Zeb, each with one child of various ages. There were also fifty single people (twenty-five males and twenty-five females). When couples petitioned to have a child, their baby was genetically engineered and the sex was pre-assigned so that there was always an equal number of males and females.

Due to the harsh climate of Zebion, they kept their population small. They hoped that someday in the future they would relocate to a better planet and once again become a robust and prolific race. They hoped that Adam and Eve might pave the way for them to live on Earth, sharing the planet with humans, perhaps merging species into one (the new species they had created) or at least they hoped to find a planet near Earth, or an Earth-like planet.

The first child to stand up and speak was a two-feet tall girl who wore a buttercup yellow jump-suit, white boots, and a white hooded cloak with tiny yellow Swiss Dots on it. She spoke in a sweet and lilting voice, telecommunicating her memorized speech into the minds of the audience.

"Welcome to our celebration, people of Zebion. Although we are happy now, we must remember our past and that there is an evil in the Milky Way Galaxy and this evil found our people on our original home planet, Setto, where we lived before we were forced to move to Zebion. We are a peaceful people. We were quietly living in peace when the evil Alpha-Draconians attacked our home planet, Setto. The evil father, Naga-Luf, and his evil spawn, Naga-Seb, tried to enslave our people and overtake our planet." The little girl stepped back.

A little boy stepped on the stage, he was also two-feet tall. He had light purple straight hair. The Zebians don't go bald until they reach puberty. He wore an emerald green jump-suit and white boots. On Zebion girls wore yellow and boys wore green. He continued the presentation.

"Our peaceful people were forced to wage war in self-defense. We had to fight for five hundred years. We finally chased Naga-Luf and Naga-Seb off of Setto, but the evil Alpha-Draconians annihilated our people and obliterated our beloved lush planet, that was rich in spices and vegetation, our beautiful planet with temperate weather and one sun." The little boy stepped back.

A girl, about two-feet two inches dressed in pale yellow with a snow-white hooded cloak stepped up and continued the presentation.

"Less than five hundred of our people survived the vicious attack by these evil demons. By the grace of HA-UN we found planet Zebion, and although it was barely hospitable, we were able to relocate here. Now we live on a home planet where the suns never set into darkness, rough winds storm in the South until the brighter sun rises each day, the land is barren of vegetation and spices, water is scarce, and snow covers the North all year. Yet this is enough for us, and we thank HA-UN."

Everyone in the audience stood up, held their arms up in prayer, and chanted telepathically.

"This is enough for us. We are eternally grateful for the life that is granted to us. We thank HA-UN."

They waved their arms forward and backward in their prayer gesture and sat down.

Meanwhile, the three scientists were nervous, each one was silently rehearsing his speech and his acknowledgement and special thanks to Orp. Would she be surprised, each man wondered? Hopefully she wouldn't be embarrassed by all the attention; she was very modest.

The taller girl stepped back. The first girl with the Swiss Dot hooded cloak stepped forward again. "Bless HA-UN, our people brought with us our advanced technology to our new planet, Zebion. We continue to travel throughout the Milky Way Galaxy. We continue to advance in medical knowledge and the creation of hybrid races. We continue to engineer items that enhance the medical, scientific, travel, and communication endeavors of our species as well as for our friends all over the galaxy."

The boy stepped forward and joined her. He continued the presentation. "Our worst enemies are still endangering unsuspecting innocent planets, especially one forty light years away that calls itself Earth, among other names. We have been visiting Earth for thousands of years and we are very fond of the humans of Earth. As many of us know, we have a small colony on Earth. We have vowed to protect the Earth."

The taller girl stepped forward again and joined the other two children. She added, "Although we have a good relationship with the people of Earth, they don't understand the danger that they are in. They want our technology and any other off-planet technology that they can obtain. They are trusting the evil Prafins, who are slaves to the demon Alpha-Draconians. The humans do not know that these monsters intend to subjugate the people of Earth, and enslave mankind."

Oslo stood up and bowed his head; he crossed his arms over his chest in a show of respect for the children's performance. Everyone in the audience did the same. In the Zebian culture, the children always present their history and context for the festivity at every celebration. This gives the children a chance to gain leadership skills and to learn and present their history. Oslo stepped up on stage. The scientists shot glances at each other, each getting ready to be invited up on the stage for his big professional (and romantic) moment.

"Thank you, children, Oslo telecommunicated, for your wonderful presentation. As the children mentioned, we are interplanetary leaders of cloning technology. Our scientists sitting here (he gestured to Sol, Tul and Lot at the head table), have just completed a project that leads us into a new era of the science of cloning and the creation of hybrid species. They are on the threshold of leading us into a new age of advanced creation via creating new species, and that is why we are here today, celebrating."

The three scientists sat up straighter. Sol was puffed up with pride. Tul was frantically searching the audience for Orp, unable to locate her. Lot nearly passed out from the attention because he was truly a humble being. Each of the scientists was in a state of high anxiety preparing for their big moments, any minute now.

Oslo continued, "Until now, we have had ten thousand years of experience creating three-dimensional life forms. There are many planets in the Milky Way Galaxy and numerous ones have intelligent life. However, not all life forms are three dimensional. Some planets, such as Andor, support life forms that are four dimensional and higher. Since four dimensional beings are often invisible to third dimensional beings, it is difficult to meet them, impossible to capture them, and only a dream to hope to obtain their DNA."

Oslo paused for a second, so his audience could digest his words, then he continued.

"In fact, our scientists weren't even sure if fourth dimensional beings even had DNA. That was a subject for debate for many years. Thank HA-UN, we have among us a great heroine. The most brilliant, quick witted, fast acting member of our inter-galactic diplomatic corps, our linguist, Orp was able to obtain what we believe to be fourth dimensional DNA for our scientific team. This genetic treasure has been used by our scientists to create a new hybrid race. They combined our Zebian DNA with humans-of Earth DNA along with this probable fourth dimensional entity to create a new super-race that will one day be able to protect both Zebion and Earth to defeat our enemies. The Earth will be safe, and someday we will all live there, along with humans, merging into a new super race, created today, bless HA-UN."

Oslo held his arms up and did the arm wave prayer gesture. The entire audience followed his lead and performed the same gesture. The three scientists had been taken by surprise. They thought they would be the ones to honor Orp; they didn't expect Oslo to do it.

"We should have seen that coming," Tul tele-whispered to the other two scientists.

Oslo continued, "Allow me to introduce the woman who made this accomplishment possible. I want her to tell you in her own words how she obtained the DNA of a probable fourth dimensional being."

The three scientists were in shock. They had never imagined that Orp would be honored, much less introduced directly on stage. Their plans were crumbling.

"We can still honor her and thank her," Lot tele-whispered to the other two.

Orp had been hidden behind an enormous stone vase filled with a huge bouquet of flowers. She stepped out from behind the floral arrangement and joined Oslo on stage managing to look simultaneously shy and confident, melting hearts. She was wearing her lavender jump-suit with a necklace of flowers that resembled daisies and roses. Over that, she had her new iridescent white hooded shawl.

"Bless HA-UN, she started, I am so pleased and grateful to be of service to my people and to all good life forms. I only did what anyone else in my place would do under the same circumstances."

Sol murmured, "She has such a presence!"

Tul responded, "Yeah, I thought she would be afraid to talk."

Lot snorted, "Don't be daft, she's a highly educated experienced member of our diplomatic corps. Come to think of it, I don't think we've ever heard the details of her story."

"Shush," the other two said, annoyed they had missed some of what Orp had said.

"...but the United States government did not believe anything we told them about the Alpha-Draconians or the Prafins having an agenda to subjugate Earth and enslave humanity. The only thing they want is technology from other planets."

"What is the United States government?" asked Lot via telecommunication to his friends.

"Shush," they both answered, irritated. They had no idea what the answer was. Something to do with space travel they assumed.

"...Of course, the diplomat from Andor refused to offer any technology. The Andorians believe that humans of Earth are too immature for advanced and alien innovations. The meeting ended to the dissatisfaction of our Earth friends, and we left to get into our respective space craft and return to our home planets. I was following the Andorian diplomat. We had just come outside when he became the target of an attempted murder. I saw a small war-craft that I believe was operated by the Prafins. I ran ahead and pushed the Andorian diplomat to the ground causing him to narrowly miss being vaporized by the alien ship's electromagnetic ray weapon."

Before she could continue talking, the audience started to call out "Bless HA-UN" and "Savior of life" while raising and lowering their arms. After a few moments, they settled down and let her finish. After the obliteration of their planet and near annihilation of their people a few generations ago, the Zebians had learned to dearly value all life.

Orp continued, "The war-craft flew away fast. When the Andorian diplomat stood up, I noticed his wrist was bleeding from his fall on the gravel ground. I quickly used my white hooded shawl to dry up his blood. He put his hand on his heart and bowed to me and thanked me for saving his life and wished me safe travels. Then, to my astonishment, he went invisible. That's when I realized he must be a fourth dimensional being, or perhaps higher. I knew his blood would be valuable, even if it was dried, so as soon as we returned to Zebion, I offered my bloodstained hooded shawl to the Zebian Council of Five and they in turn gave it to our scientists. Our scientists analyzed the alien blood and found a way to duplicate and synthesize the Andorian's DNA, which paved the way to their incredible project. Please acknowledge our three lead scientists without whom there would be no cause to celebrate today."

Orp gestured to Sol, Tul, and Lot. "Gentlemen, please stand up.

They stood up and everyone cheered. When they sat down Orp proclaimed, Let the feast begin!"

"What just happened?" asked Sol.

"The exact opposite of what we expected," answered Tul, glumly.

"Well I'll be gobsmacked, aren't we three egotistical idiots," laughed Lot.

They had expected to be the ones onstage while Orp admired them from the audience, not the other way around. Sol wasn't having it, he jumped up and made his way through the crowd to meet Orp. She had so many well-wishers surrounding her, he couldn't get near her. He spent the entire celebration trying to meet her, which finally resulted in a two-minute exchange. Tul just sulked all day. Lot, as ever sweet and cheerful, ate and had fun.

Near the end of the party, Sol reminded them that, as part of their reward, they had been given a few days of vacation which was a really big deal because Zebians rarely got vacation days.

"I'm taking a trip to the Northwest to see snow. I've never seen it before," announced Sol. "What are you guys going to do?"

"I might as well go with you, I have nothing else to do," moaned Tul.

"What are you going to do, Lot, stay home and eat?" sneered Sol.

Lot laughed good naturedly. "I actually don't eat that much. I have a metabolism problem. Maybe I'll go to the lab and look for a cure," he joked.

When Sol and Tul got up to leave, Lot stated that he was staying because he had volunteered to help the clean-up committee.

Sol shook his head, "That's no work for a lead geneticist. That's for the uneducated. Let them earn their keep."

"Maybe he's looking for some scraps to eat," Tul offered sarcastically.

Lot, who was always on an even keel just smiled, and explained, "I have friends on the clean-up crew. I offered to help them because cleaning up after five hundred people is a really big job. You guys have fun on your trip. See you in a few days."

A little while later the chubby, preeminent scientist was picking up trash when he heard a woman's voice behind him telecommunicate.

"Aren't you one of the lead scientists?"

He whisked his chubby frame around as fast as he could, and came face to face with Orp, who was also trudging around picking up garbage.

He smiled broadly, "Yes, I'm Lot, as in lots to love."

She giggled.

"And aren't you the heroine we celebrated today?" He asked her.

"Oh, stop, you're embarrassing me. I told Oslo he should have introduced you, not me, today. I really didn't want to be the center of attention. You guys did all the important work," she telecommunicated.

"Believe me, we couldn't have done it without you, and true confessions, all three of us scientists are in love with you," he bravely admitted.

She giggled again.

"Now that you made the hybrids, what are you going to do with them?" She asked.

It felt so comfortable; he felt as though he had always known her. It was the most natural thing in the world to flirt with her and chat with her.

"We met with the Zebian Council of Five yesterday to discuss that. We considered fast growing them but we decided to let them grow up naturally so they can learn and become enculturated on Earth. They will be taken to Earth soon. If we don't like their progress, or their outcome, we will tweak the process and make new hybrids. This is a reiterative process. Eventually, we will create the perfect race. In any case, we will ultimately create a new and invincible race. Our enemies will never defeat us. The babies don't look like us, but our DNA is in them," he told her.

Orp told him, "I want to be part of the ongoing project. As a member of the inter-galactic diplomatic corps. I can follow up with the hybrids when I travel to Earth."

"It would be great if you could. Then you could tell me how they are doing socially, not just biologically. Did you talk to the council about this?"

"I will talk to Oslo, he's the head of the council," she answered.

"Smart move," Lot said, "Hey, it's really nice of you to help clean up today."

"I have friends on the clean-up committee. Besides, it's a big job, so it's the least I can do considering this mess was in my honor," Orp answered.

"Same here," Lot smiled, "the council gave us a few days off to reward us for our work."

She smiled back, "Same here."

"So, what should we do with our days off?" He asked her.

"The diplomatic team has a meeting site on a lake that's really pretty. We could stay there for a few days," Orp suggested.

And just like that Lot was the lucky winner of the Orp romance trophy. If the guys ever knew, he thought. By the time their vacation was over, Orp and Lot were a done deal.

Orp was currently the darling of the diplomatic corps as well as the shining star of the entire planet. Everyone wanted to do her a favor. Oslo loaned her the Council-of-Five's official self-flying scout-craft to use so that she and Lot could travel to the Lake resort in comfort. The diplomatic corps arranged for them to have the best private "cottage" on the lake, serviced by three housebots (a maid robot, a butler robot, and a chef robot). The "cottage" was very spacious and featured three stories, an elevator, and several bedrooms and bathrooms (slightly different from similar rooms found on Earth abodes, everything significantly smaller in proportion, of course).

The roof of the cottage contained a landing strip for the scout-craft. Lot helped Orp out of the aircraft. They were greeted by the very formal butler robot, Imty. While Imty was designed to look similar to Zebians, he was clearly a robot. It was against Zebian law to create a robot that could be mistaken for a biological Zebian. So, while they had the technology to create realistic looking robots, they chose to refrain from doing so to avoid ethical and moral dilemmas.

"Good afternoon Sir and Miss, I am Imty, your butler housebot, at your service."

"Hi Imty, I'm Orp, this is Lot," Orp answered.

"Sir, Miss, kindly follow me and I will show you to your rooms. Then I will retrieve your bags and deliver them to your rooms."

Imty turned and led them to a door which in turn led them to an "elevator," which was more like an airshaft that gently moved them to the second floor of the house where they felt themselves being glided out of the airshaft and onto the second hallway landing. Imty continued to lead them around the beautiful hallway until he stopped at a cheerfully decorated yellow and white room, appropriate for a little girl.

"Miss, this will be your room while you stay with us," Imty gestured with one robotic arm for Orp to enter. Lot looked in and admired the bright and sunny décor.

"Follow me please sir," Imty continued on to another room. This one was, thankfully, for an adult man, decorated in forest green and walnut brown. Lot made himself at home and in a short time Imty was back with his bag. Betty, the maid housebot, delivered Orp's bag to her.

They just had enough time to freshen up before they were summoned to dinner, which was served in a formal dining room. Zebian dinners are usually communal, but at the resort at this time of year there were hardly any Zebians, so their meals would be served at the cottage. Since the Lake resort was a little to the North and it was cold at night, the fireplace was lit, and little pots of candles were glowing on the tables. The dinner was elegant and romantic.

"Who created this marvelous feast?" Lot asked Imty.

"Our chefbot, sir, Riky. He will be making all your meals here."

After a sumptuous dinner, Lot invited Orp to take a walk around the lake and she readily agreed. The brighter of the two suns had already set and only the more distant sun was still in the sky. So, it was still light out, as it would be all night until the brighter sun rose again, but it looked like it does on Earth around sunset, not quite as bright. The winds blow harder at this time of day, so they were bundled up in scarfs and heavy cloaks. As they leisurely walked under the second sun, Lot was surprised when Orp casually reached for his hand. They held hands as though it was something they did every day. He felt as though he had always known her.

The next morning, she was in his doorway, all dressed, asking, "Do you think it's too cold to go swimming in the lake?"

He was still in bed and quite shocked to see her in his bedroom. Before he could answer her, Imty came rushing.

"This is most improper! Miss, please do not impose on the gentleman before he is dressed for the day!"

At the same moment Betty, the housebot came bustling in scolding.

"Nonsense Imty, don't be so old fashioned. Beg pardon Miss and Sir, Imty is an old model housebot. He was one of the first butler housbots, he's positively ancient. His programming is horribly outdated. Don't listen to him, go wherever you like, whenever you like. But, to answer your question, the lake is too cold to swim in at this time of year."

Imty was fuming but Orp and Lot laughed at their funny housebots.

"Let's go explore the resort," Lot suggested.

"Great idea, I'll meet you downstairs," Orp agreed.

"Breakfast will be served in the dining room," Imty announced, resuming his formal dignified manner.

"Can we eat in the kitchen?" Orp asked (wishing she could just make it for herself).

"Certainly not," Imty responded.

"Of course you can," Betty assured her, "I'll go tell Chef Riky."

Orp gave Lot a devilish smile. He grinned and shook his head. The housebots were definitely entertaining. The typical Zebian didn't have housbots, only the Council of Five, special guests, diplomats, and a few other important people, had the pleasure. They also worked on the big spaceships of course.

The cottage kitchen, while ultra-modern, was also cozy and beautiful. Chef Riky was scandalized that the guests wanted to eat in the kitchen but he quickly made a space for them to dine in a snug little corner by a window where he served them an amazing breakfast.

"If I keep eating like this, I'm going to double my size," Lot worried.

"You're fine, enjoy the great cuisine," Orp assured him.

He couldn't quite believe that she liked him despite his chubby physiognomy. After breakfast, they explored the resort. There were very few Zebians in the town. While they were wandering around, they found a chapel, a store, and a beautiful garden. They went into the store and Orp made a beeline for the short, hooded cloaks. She looked through several and selected a deep purple cloak and held it up for him to see, while smiling significantly at him. Then she put it back.

Lot was shocked. On Zebion it was the tradition for a groom to buy his bride a colored hooded shawl as a wedding gift. Unmarried women wear white short, hooded cloaks and married women wear colored short hooded cloaks.

Well, I can take a hint, Lot thought to himself.

"Would you like to take a walk in the gardens?" Lot asked her.

"That would be lovely."

"I'll meet you there in a few minutes."

In a short while he met her there and when they were in the prettiest spot he took her in his arms.

"I've been in love with you since the first time I ever saw you. I've been admiring you from afar for over a year. Every time I went to the chapel I would look for you and adore you from a distance. Yesterday morning, when you talked to me during the clean-up after the celebration, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Being with you here at the resort has been the greatest time of my life. I can't even imagine living without you."

Orp was lovingly looking up at Lot, waiting for him to finish, but he didn't say any more. She was wondering if that was a marriage proposal.

Lot was thinking, well, she's still in my arms. She didn't push me away. So far, so good.

Orp didn't know what to say. Is he or is he not proposing?

Finally, she bravely said, "There's a chapel here at the resort."

"Yes, there is," he acknowledged.

Yes, there is? She still didn't know what was happening. Was this a declaration of love or a proposal? To heck with it, she thought.

She took a deep breath and blurted out, "So, we can get married right here."

Then she couldn't breathe, waiting for him to say something.

He smiled and reached inside his chest pocket while saying, "So I had hoped. He pulled out the package containing the deep purple hooded cloak that she had been admiring in the store.

"Would you honor me by wearing this mini-burnoose as my wife, my best friend forever, my lover, my dearest, most precious angel?"

Orp accepted the gift and held it to her heart, softly crying. Sometimes, when you meet your soulmate, you just know right away that he's the one. You don't have to date or drag it out. You can just race to the finish line and spend the rest of your lives living happily ever after together.

A few days later, back at the lab, Lot asked his two co-workers, "How was your vacation?"

"Cold," grumbled Tul.

"Interesting. I wouldn't want to live in snow but I'm glad I experienced it," Sol answered.

"Don't you want to know what I did for fun?" Lot asked.

"O.K., what did you do?" Sol asked, while Tul just glowered.

"I got married."

The guys both laughed, they thought it was a joke. Who would ever marry Lot? They got back to work. Lot knew they would look at Orp later in the chapel and realize that she wasn't wearing a white hooded shawl anymore. He had given her a deep purple hooded shawl with pink Swiss Dots as her wedding gift. The colored hooded shawl was always the traditional wedding gift from the groom to his bride. Lot smiled to himself, his co-workers were in for the shock of a lifetime. Meanwhile they were about to meet with the transition team that would transport "Adam" and "Eve" (the cloned hybrids) to Earth.

The transition team decided to create special pods with highly protective padding that would give the babies enormous protection during every aspect of space travel, which included a hyperspace transition phase, the three-day traverse of the wormhole, and a moon-landing to switch to a scout-craft. They had to devise methods for feeding and changing the babies. The biggest question was, since the babies were seventy-five percent Andorian beings, would they turn invisible at some point?

One thing that Lot was adamant about was placing a chip technology into each baby so they could track them if they went invisible.

"We need to be able to find them, not only when they are infants, but all their lives," he argued.

That made sense, the hybrids were valuable assets, and you never know what life might may bring. Humans typically live less than a hundred years. Zebians live approximately five hundred years. No one knew for sure the life span of Andorians, but rumor had it that they lived between eight hundred to a thousand years. While Zebians were small silver beings with larger heads and huge eyes and non-protruding ears and noses, the Andorians looked like tall blonde Swedish humans with wide faces and wide set large blue or violet eyes and very ghostly white skin. However, their ears were higher up on the head than human ears, and slightly pointed. Also, they had four fingers, not five, and their fingers were more claw-like, very long and ending in long sharp talons.

While the babies looked like a combination of human and Andorian (with human ears and hands), they also had Zebian DNA (which included a Zebian soul, spiritualism, and key aspects of Zebian intellect). Oh yes, make no mistake about it, the Zebian masters of cloning and genetics knew how to create a divine soul. By the grace of HA-UN, they certainly did. The end result (they hoped) was a mostly Andorian being that looked similar to an Earth human but had a Zebian mind and soul. The Zebian scientists estimated that "Adam" and "Eve" would live approximately 750 to 825 years.

After the meeting with the transition team they got the expected text message – time to go to the chapel. They went, as usual, as a team. But to the surprise of Sol and Tul, Orp was waiting outside the entrance of the chapel and she was wearing a purple colored hooded shawl.

Tul groaned to the others, "Oh, no, she got married. We missed our chance."

Sol shook his head and telecommunicated back, "I can't believe this. I was sure I would marry her."

Lot didn't say a word, he was, as usual a little bit behind the others, huffing a bit, trying to keep up. The others went into the chapel first, nodding politely to Orp and didn't realize immediately that she had stepped forward to hug her newlywed husband, Lot. They walked into the chapel hand-in-hand happy as little clams. When the other two took their places they finally noticed that Orp was about to join them with Lot. They were bug-eyed with shock.

"I told you I got married," Lot murmured to them, smiling.

"She married you?" Tul rudely replied, skeptically.

"Is this a joke?" Sol asked incredulously, unable to even process what he was seeing.

Orp sweetly asked out loud in their native tongue, "I hope you don't mind if I join you? I want to take every opportunity to spend time with my darling. Our honeymoon was much too short."

"Of course, you should join us, congratulations," Sol quickly recovered.

"Yes, congratulations," Tul offered as well, wondering what she ever saw in Lot.

Sol and Tul looked at each other in total confusion and had a little private conversation in their heads before the service started. Lot knew they were probably doing just that but he couldn't have cared less because he had the grand prize, the most beautiful and eligible girl on Zebion. He couldn't have been prouder or more in love.

When services were over, the transition team got to work. After a few days, the pods were created, the chip technology was completed, and the babies were ready to be sent to Earth. They had a six-month journey to survive, including a period of time to travel through hyperspace as well as a three-day journey through a wormhole which came with the dangers of extreme space sickness. Once they neared the Earth they were to stop on the moon and change vehicles from the large space craft to a smaller scout-craft that would take them to the hidden secret Zebian community on a remote and sparsely populated island in Indonesia. Their pods were designed to also fit into the scout-craft that they would transition into. The scout-craft would take them from the moon to Earth.

Orp dearly wanted to accompany the babies to Earth. She actually talked to the council about chaperoning them on their journey. However, at the last minute, she was needed as a linguist at an important conference on another planet. She was terribly disappointed. Little did she know that this unexpected change in her schedule would actually save her life.

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CHAPTER 3. A SANTA SIGHTING

Six months later, the Zebian scout-craft carrying the baby hybrids entered the Earth's atmosphere and was headed toward their secret Zebian landing site when an unexpected storm threw them way off course and caused an unpredicted crash. A United States commercial pilot witnessed the crash and duly followed protocol by discreetly reporting it to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) which does more than track Santa's journey every Christmas. In fact, to avoid any possibility of panic or interference by being overheard on non-secure radio lines, the protocol was actually to report a Santa sighting, which NORAD understands is code for a UFO sighting. No matter what time of year it is, a Santa sighting by any commercial or military pilot is taken as top secret and any communication to the press or public is considered treason. Outside of the U.S. airspace, there are agreements between NORAD and other governments as to this protocol.

The pilot's message to NORAD was, "Santa has been sighted and Rudolph is wounded." He then gave the coordinates of the sighting. "Rudolph is wounded," is code for saying that the UFO is crash landing. NORAD passed the information on to the agency delegated to handle UFOs and all aliens on Earth. That agency is the Galactic Investigative Agency which is an ultra-secret U.S. government agency that loosely coordinates with the U.S. Airforce, NASA, the CIA, the FBI and a few other less known agencies.

Of course, the GIA really operates independently, and outside the scope of the American constitution. The U.S. president is informed of their work on an as-need-to-know basis and they are not accountable or even known to Congress. They obtain their funding illegally from multiple government, corporate and (mostly) criminal sources. Most of their personnel are crossovers from Special Operations from the other government agencies, both known and unknown.

GIA agents were quickly dispatched to the crash site where they found a very small scout-craft smoking, with lights out, smoke still lingering, lodged in the side of a canyon. Former Airforce Lieutenant (and now GIA Special Agent) Roy Vickers was the first one to enter the scout-craft. This was his first GIA assignment and he was very excited. Within two minutes he came right back out, feeling nauseous and disoriented. The twenty-eight-year-old Special Agent leaned his six-feet three-inch frame against the hatch of the scout-craft and tried to catch his breath. His normally handsome sepia-toned face was looking a bit greenish. The GIA agents who had years of experience with alien UFOs assured him this was a normal reaction, especially for this type of scout-craft.

"This looks like a Zebian scout-craft. When you go back into it there should be a switch on the control panel located next to the hieroglyphic of a cloud shape. Lift the switch, that will normalize the atmosphere in the craft so you will be able to breathe more comfortably. They do this to prevent humans from being able to enter their space craft in case of crashes like this," instructed a GIA engineer as he handed Vickers a small flashlight. Of course, that was not true. The Zebians altered the pressure and atmosphere in their space craft to control gravity and other considerations. They were not affected negatively by the changes.

The Special Agent went back into the craft and found the switch. He made his way around the small craft and counted the little silver dead bodies that were strapped into what looked like easy-chairs that were designed as egg-shaped pods, with controls built into them. "Interesting technology," he thought to himself as he looked around. He was sure no one was alive, but they were fascinating to look at. After a few minutes, Vickers reappeared in the scout-craft hatch and signaled for the team to move in and help him.

"Five of them, all dead. Let's start moving the bodies out of the craft," he called out to his team as he turned around to go back into the scout-craft. As the team worked on removing the bodies of the five deceased Zebians, Vickers continued to look through

the scout-craft. Some movement suddenly caught his eye.

On a wall of the craft, tucked into a shelf, there were two cushioned bins, similar to little laundry baskets, one was yellow and one was green. They were securely sheltered in cushioned cubby holes. Inside these baskets, something was moving. When Special Agent Vickers went closer, he heard noises like a kitten meowing.

"Hey, I found something over here," he called out.

Another GIA agent came over to see what he had found. "Careful, it could be dangerous," he cautioned.

Vickers grimaced, "I don't think so, it sounds like a kitten."

The agent said, "Don't touch it, it's alien, it could be lethal. I'll get the team over here with the proper equipment to investigate."

"Don't hurt them. There's one in each cubby hole. They're too small to be harmful," said Vickers.

The agent gave a curt laugh, "You have no idea. The smallest aliens could be lethal. An alien microorganism could be lethal. Don't ever judge anyone or anything by its size or by how cute it is. This is your first time out with GIA, but wait, you'll find out, as we all have."

The rest of team suited up and came over wearing and carrying appropriate gear. You'd think they were dismantling a bomb. They were in hazmat suits and they used long mechanical arms to remove the baskets from the cubbyholes, first the yellow basket then the green basket. They carefully positioned the baskets on the floor of the scout-craft and backed up a bit more. Using extreme caution, they handled long sticks with mechanical claws on the distal ends to remove the flexible covers from the baskets. When they saw what was in the baskets there was an audible gasp from everyone present, then they stood in silence for a few minutes. Everyone was in a confused state of shock.

"Holy mother of..." Vickers started to mutter.

In each basket, there was a beautiful fair-haired human baby of approximately eight months old. After a few seconds one of the babies sat up and whimpered, then changed its mind and sucked its thumb instead. The other baby just kicked its little legs and grinned. Both babies were examining the team members with wide-eyed interest.

"What the heck were they doing with these babies?" asked one agent.

"Apparently, they were kidnapping them," answered Vickers, thinking that the UFO had been trying to leave Earth with human children.

"We'll have to locate their parents," said the agent.

"Assuming their parents are still alive," offered the team engineer.

"But why the heck would they kidnap babies?" asked another team member, baffled.

"To eat them?" wondered Vickers, horrified.

"Absolutely not," the team engineer answered. He was the most experienced GIA team member. "The Zebians are freaky little varmints, but they don't eat humans. They are definitely vegetarians. I don't know what their agenda is, but you agents better find out."

Vickers looked at the dead little silver varmints. He was unconvinced. Maybe they were trying to kidnap human babies as a food source. If they weren't going to eat them, perhaps they meant to sell them as food to another species, on another planet? Whatever they were up to, he would get to the bottom of it. It was his job to protect the human species, especially babies and children.

"Adam" and "Eve" were top secret. The Earth colony of Zebians had received a coded message to expect visitors but they didn't know any details yet, so the GIA investigation led them nowhere. While the Zebians on Earth lived in a remote and secret location, they were known to GIA and were allowed to live in peace as alien diplomats in exchange for some Zebian off-planet technology. The one thing that the Zebians were careful to never give humans were any kind of weapon. The technology that they did give, they didn't explain. It was up to GIA to figure it out and back engineer it. So far, that hadn't happened. Now GIA would use the crashed Zebian UFO as another item of off-planet technology and attempt to back engineer it. The most frustrating thing about these UFOs was trying to figure out their fuel source because there was no equivalent to it on Earth.

Since the Zebian Colony didn't know about "Adam" and "Eve," the only thing that the Zebians on Earth found out from GIA was that their expected scout-craft had crashed and everyone onboard was dead. They immediately notified their home planet of what had occurred. It was assumed on Zebion that the babies had died in the crash. For the time being, that was the end of their big project.

On Zebion, the council decided not to create another "Adam" and "Eve" because they believed that HA-UN had intervened and destroyed the originals. "This is an act of G-d," Oslo explained. "We will not continue this project. It was not meant to be. We must bow to a higher authority."

Everyone was deeply disappointed, but no one dared argue with the obvious fact that their creation did not please HA-UN. So, life on Zebion resumed as usual. "Adam" and "Eve" were not completely forgotten, nor were they considered to be a failure, just a sad disappointment.

The GIA was never able to identify the parents of the babies. They believed the parents must have either been abducted or murdered by the Zebian aliens. There were no missing person reports matching the identities of these babies, so they were eventually put up for adoption. The adoption agency was told that the parents of each child was killed in a small plane crash. In each case, the agency was told that each baby was the only survivor. Two adoption agencies were used. Neither agency knew of the other.

The baby girl went to a family in Connecticut. They were a nice, stable upper middle-class family and they were thrilled with their new baby girl. They were very down to Earth people; the mother was a nursery school teacher, the father worked in the insurance industry. The baby boy was adopted by a pharmacist (the father) and a lawyer (the mother) who lived on Long Island, New York. Since the babies were so young, they were expected to adjust and have normal lives.

Young Special Agent Roy Vickers felt confident that the babies had been found in time, before any harm befell them. He felt optimistic about their futures and most importantly, they would never know about their near alien abduction. No one, other than the GIA team members, would ever know about that. The babies would most like never meet each other. Even if they ever met each other, the only thing they would ever know that they had in common was that they had each survived a small plane crash in which their parents had died and they had subsequently been adopted. It certainly would seem like an odd coincidence, but not impossible to believe. The chances of them ever meeting was very slim, though.

Once the babies had been adopted, their files were closed and Roy had the satisfaction of successfully completing his first assignment as a special agent for the Galactic Investigative Agency. He thought about how he had been recruited to come to work for this ultra-secret agency and he smiled, still not believing his good luck. He had grown up with a generation of kids that had watched Star Wars and Star Trek movies. He had loved astronomy as a kid. His favorite Christmas gift had been his telescope. He had always thought he would someday join NASA and become an astronaut.

When Roy was ready to leave the Airforce, he actually had applied to NASA. He was so excited when they showed an interest in him. He remembered trying to act confident during his NASA interview, and he was horrified when his voice cracked while answering a question. Ugh, they'll never want me now, he thought, I sound like a neurotic geek. The interviewer asked him why he wanted to join NASA. He gave what he thought was a reasonable (and honest) answer.

"I have a fascination for life on other planets. It has always been my goal to explore space in the hope of finding that there is intelligent life on other planets."

It was a short interview with a don't call us, we'll call you," kind of an ending. He had been devastated. He was sure he had blown the interview to high heaven. Yet, he couldn't think of a better answer to their question. What was the right answer? What words had they hoped to hear from him? He was shocked and delighted when he heard from NASA again and they invited to return for a second interview.

This time, at the second interview, there were two people. They weren't warm fuzzy types of personalities. One was representing NASA and the other, oddly, claimed to be representing the Pentagon. Together they questioned him in depth about his true motivation and interest in becoming an astronaut. Finally, after extensive probing he received some information.

"Most potential astronauts are science oriented and want to help discover new planets, or want to visit known planets near Earth. They want to pave the way for space travel," the NASA interviewer told him.

Oh, so that was the right answer. So, what am I doing here? Roy wondered.

"But, you have an intense interest in meeting alien life forms," the Pentagon official offered. "What if you could meet with beings from other planets without ever leaving Earth? Would you be interested?"

"Oh my gosh, is that even possible? Are there aliens on Earth?" Vickers asked in shock.

"Perhaps not yet, but if they do come in the future, we need to be prepared," the Pentagon official demurred.

This was not a NASA interview. This was an interview for a job with the secret GIA. He couldn't tell Vickers the truth until he agreed to work for the GIA and signed all the appropriate confidentiality oaths. First, Roy had to commit to further interest in working for them. That commitment would be followed by a battery of tests that he would have to pass with high marks. Everyone who came to work for the GIA went through a similar process, depending on the position for which they were being recruited. Once Vickers signed on with Agency, they would reveal more to him about alien life forms visiting Earth.

Roy Vickers was a member of MENSA. As a man with a genius I.Q., he didn't need to have it spelled out for him. He immediately realized that there were indeed aliens living on, or at least visiting, Earth. He didn't have to think twice before he answered the interviewer.

"I'm definitely interested in working for you," he instantly answered.

They put him through a battery of tests, not just retesting his I.Q., they performed psychological, ethical, and biological testing as well. He passed everything with impressive results. Then came a slew of confidentiality paperwork that he had to sign and a cover story for his family and friends (he claimed that he continued to stay in the Airforce as a liaison to the Pentagon, working on high priority issues that he can't talk about). Last, they sent him to train for his new job. They started by exposing him to photographs and films of aliens to visually acclimate him and sensitize him to the sight and sound of alien life forms. This helps to reduce the shock and fear of meeting aliens for the first time, and helps to familiarize new GIA agents with the various appearances of different alien life forms, as they come from different planets around the galaxy.

Vickers had always heard rumors, and of course, conspiracy theories, that the United States Government had a place where it kept alien space crafts that had crash landed on Earth. He had heard rumors that in this place the bodies of dead aliens had been dissected; rumors that alien technology, taken from their crashed space craft, was being back-engineered. The second phase of Vickers' training was to actually visit this mysterious, rumored place. It was to become his new office and eventually, his new home: The Military-Base-Under-Ground.

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CHAPTER 4. BACK TO THE FUTURE IN 2012

When Fabian Matthews started working for Genetic-legacy-dot-com, he was thrilled to start his new job. Like all new employees, he attended orientation and employee training. This was his first job as a lab technician. He had done very well in school, but now he had an opportunity to apply his new knowledge in the real world. The pay and benefits at this company were better than most hospitals or government agency jobs offered for lab technicians.

There was a funny moment during training when they were told what do in the event that they should encounter non-human DNA, specifically alien DNA, as in DNA from beings from another planet. Everyone laughed at the thought of an alien sending in their saliva for analysis; as though some Martian might want to connect with their Martian cousins on Earth. Fabian was surprised that there was actually a protocol to follow if non-human DNA was encountered. Of course, it never actually happens, the instructor assured them. More laughter.

So, approximately two and half years later, when Fabian analyzed Baily's DNA, he ran it through the lab procedure three times before he realized that he had done everything according to the exact correct lab protocol, and that he really did have what appeared to be non-human, alien DNA. He took out his personnel manual and followed the instructions to the letter. He did not tell another human being, not even his supervisor. He packed up the lab results, and all the original materials, and sent them to the address provided, via special courier, just as the manual instructed. He then sent an email to the address provided in the manual to inform the appropriate party that non-human, alien DNA had been identified and that the materials and results had been dispatched to the appropriate address. He knew that he would never hear any more about it, although he was dying of curiosity. He knew that he could never talk about it, but boy would that ever be difficult. He was dying to tell someone. Well, maybe someday, when enough time elapsed, he would tell someone in confidence.

Within an hour of sending that email, the Genetic-legacy-dot-com facility that he worked at exploded. Everyone, including Fabian, died in the blast. What the investigators found odd was that not only were the computers destroyed, but all back up computer data had somehow been destroyed as well, even though the backup data wasn't kept at the location of the laboratory that had exploded. The cause of the blast and the cause of the destruction of the computer data was never solved. The investigation was mysteriously stopped and closed by a higher authority.

Two days later, Colonel Roy Vickers sat in his very impressive office in the M-BUG and faced his subordinate, GIA agent Jacob Weatherby, who was seated in the big wingback chair across from Vickers desk. Vickers was not the same naïve young man he had been when he had first started out in the Galactic Investigative Agency twenty years earlier. He had learned over the years that no matter how pretty, how apparently sweet, or how little the aliens were, they were dangerous and they were the enemy. They were only to be used for their potential knowledge and off-planet technology that could be used first to help and protect the United States and second to help the Earth, but never, never trust these aliens. Never, never help the aliens, except under duress, only in exchange for off-planet technology, and only with extreme caution. The aliens are not our friends. The alien's lives are of no importance to us. We are not to be concerned if they live or die. Only human lives have any value. The end.

Vickers was not happy right now. He had now acquired many years of experience with UFOs and aliens, and in this field, he was a leading expert. After all these years, his very first case had just caught up with him, and, apparently, he had made a major mistake. Twenty years ago, those babies had seemed to be obviously human. It hadn't occurred to anyone at the time, that they might be alien hybrids, certainly not with Zebian DNA or of Zebian origin. It had never occurred to him or his team to check their DNA. Hindsight is great, isn't it?

"Baily Chatham wasn't the only survivor of the Zebian UFO crash nineteen, twenty years ago," he told Weatherby.

"I know that sir," Weatherby responded. Jeesh, does he think I don't read the case files? Weatherby wondered.

"I've sent agents out to pick up the other baby. How old are they now? About twenty or close to it? The other one is male. His adoptive parents named him Ethan," Vickers cleared his throat. "Ethan Madison. They'll be bringing him in within twenty-four hours. We'll test him, but I'm betting he's a hybrid."

"I'm sure he is, sir," Weatherby answered. "The thing is, sir, Baily's DNA is mostly non-human but her psychological testing is mostly within human norms. Her behavior is human and normal too. I'm not sure she poses any real threat to national security."

Vickers laughed softly under his breath and slightly turned his head. He looked back at Weatherby and narrowed his eyes. He was still handsome, but now middle aged. His very short cropped tightly curled hair was mostly turning gray now, his sepia skin starting to show some fine lines around his eyes and mouth.

"She may not have figured it out yet, but when she does, she'll be able to kill you with a thought. She'll be able to walk through a wall. She'll be able to travel through time, to the past or future. We need to keep her here and we need to keep her calm. If she ever does figure out how to harness her powers, we need her on our side."

"Well sir, that's going to be a huge challenge," reported Weatherby. "She feels like she's been kidnapped and imprisoned unfairly. She keeps telling me that she never broke a law. She's right. We are keeping her locked up without any just cause that she knows of. From her perspective, she wasn't arrested and she's never had a trial. She keeps asking to go home. She wants her cell phone back. She wants to call her parents. I don't know what to tell her that won't send her off the deep end. GIA agents already arranged for her car (with a medical corpse in it) to crash. They made sure it burst into flames with a corpse that was burnt beyond recognition. The local police already notified Baily's parents about the fatal accident. As far as the Chatham's are concerned, Baily is dead and they are about to bury what they believe is her burnt body. Now what should I tell Baily about why she can't call her parents?"

Colonel Vickers thought it over, then suggested, "Why don't you tell her that her parents died in an accident?"

Jacob Weatherby snorted, "No offense, sir, but she's way too smart for that. It's a little too convenient. She would never believe it. We've erased her identity and when we tell her that, I'm guessing she'll have a meltdown. I don't see any scenario in which she becomes our ally."

Vickers was Weatherby's direct supervisor at GIA, at least on this particular case. One reason Vickers was involved at all, besides his many years of experience with aliens, was that he had been on the team that had discovered Baily on the crashed Zebian space craft a little over nineteen years earlier when he had just transitioned from the Air Force to the Galactic Investigative Agency. He had always considered his first assignment to be both educational and a big success. It was bitter to discover that he had screwed it up big time. If he had tested the baby's DNA at the time of the crash, then Baily wouldn't be here now demanding to call her parents. This would have been resolved a long time ago. But those babies were so cute and so obviously human.

Weatherby, on the other hand, was currently Baily's handler in the M-BUG. He had a very important and sensitive job. Baily presented both a grave danger to humanity and a possibly fantastic asset to the United States Government (if she could be trained, trusted, and relied on). The problem was, they could and would never give her back her identity and/or her freedom.

"With all due respect," said Weatherby, "would you feel allegiance and motivation to work for a government that keeps you locked up as a prisoner?"

Weatherby was between a rock and a hard place. How did they expect him to deprive Baily of her identity and freedom while getting her allegiance and cooperation? In addition, he was expected to keep her calm and happy. He had an impossible task. He really liked Baily; she was beautiful and smart. She was also a very calm and reasonable person to deal with, at least so far.

Colonel Vickers leaned forward and narrowed his eyes, then he spoke in a steely voice, "You've made some good points. Therefore, we need to move quickly and try to leverage what we have to get her cooperation. Don't tell her that her parents think she's dead. Instead, tell her that if she cooperates with us, we will let her make a phone call after she completes a mission. I want to send her down to level eighteen."

Level eighteen in the M-BUG was currently off limits to humans. Any time a human entered that level, he or she never came out alive. Multiple special forces had been defeated there. As far as GIA and the United States Air Force knew, there were only a handful of Prafins (little aliens who are supposedly U.S. allies) and a high-level team of human scientists working on level eighteen. Obviously, the Prafins were not really allies anymore and no one knew what they were doing on level eighteen. One thing was for sure, they were holding the team of several scientists captive, and forcing them to work on their own alien agenda.

The Prafins looked similar to the Zebians and were also from the same Solar System. They had been allies of the U.S. government since the 1940s, in return for sharing their off-planet technology. In fact, the M-BUG had been built for them, at their request, and to their specifications, partially using their alien technology. The M-BUG was like an enormous vertical and horizontal city underground.

"It's a death sentence," Weatherby whispered, appalled, "She'll never get out alive."

"Look, she'll either find a way to help us, or die trying," Vickers responded. "She's a danger to humanity, and you know it. If she can be of any use to us at all, now is the time for her to prove it. She either has to get us some information about what is happening on level eighteen, or liberate our scientific team down there, or die trying. If she dies, that's one less problem we have to deal with. Remember, she only looks human, but she most certainly is not human, not by any stretch of the imagination."

Weatherby was stunned. "First of all, she thinks she' a human. She's never known any other planet or any other life form. She doesn't have any concept of what we're talking about when we tell her she's an alien. She thought that meant that she was born in Mexico for heaven's sake. I'm really not comfortable with sending her down there, to level eighteen. At least give me time to give her background information and some weapons training. She'll need to take a weapon down there. She'll need a few months of training."

He had to be careful. He couldn't refuse to send Baily down to level eighteen without being replaced as her handler. He could even be charged with treason for trying to protect Baily and for putting her safety above the mission at hand.

Colonel Vickers briefly considered Weatherby's request and quickly responded, "She can't have any weapons but you can give her limited information. She can only know what I just told you. Her assignment is to minimally gather data about what is happening on level eighteen and maximally to liberate the human scientists on that level, at any cost.

"Can I offer her freedom in return for a successful mission if she returns alive?" asked Weatherby.

"Tell her that if she liberates all of the human scientists and brings them back to safety we will discuss her future freedom."

"And will we really give her back her freedom?" Weatherby asked.

"She'll never have her old life back, but we might give her future assignments," the Colonel answered.

That's not freedom, thought Weatherby, that's an offer to become a slave of the U.S. government's secret forces. However, Jacob Weatherby knew perfectly well that alien-hybrids could not be U.S. citizens and could not have civil rights, no matter how nice or pretty they might be. So, Weatherby couldn't say anything on that subject. He could only nod, stand up and say, "I'll talk to her."

"I want a camera and audio equipment on her so we can see what's going on down there and I want her down there tomorrow," ordered Vickers.

"I'll take care of it," Weatherby promised, feeling terribly depressed, as he left the room.

Just before he walked out of the office, he had a thought. "Could you give me one more day? I need to fly to Connecticut and talk to Baily's parents. I want to find out if she's ever exhibited any unusual behaviors. Also, I'll try to get her some warm clothing, the eighteenth floor is very cold. I can't send her down there dressed in shorts and a sleeveless tee-shirt."

"And exactly why would her parents give you clothing for a dead girl?" Vickers asked, annoyed.

"She needs something to be buried in," Weatherby answered reasonably.

Vickers sighed. It wasn't a bad idea to interview the parents. He was interested in knowing what they had to say.

"You'll tell them you're a detective on the case?"

"The usual lies and subterfuge," Weatherby gave his charming slightly lopsided smile.

Vickers nodded his consent and Weatherby headed out to meet with his charge, Baily Chatham, who was soon about to die for the second time and this time for real.

As far as Vickers was concerned, Baily was not only a danger to society but a personal embarrassment to him. She was a reminder that he had made a big mistake on his first job working for the GIA. He should have tested the baby's DNA. The fact that he didn't caused enormous problems. They had to bomb the Genetic-legacy-dot-com building causing the deaths of hundreds of innocent people. Then, they had to destroy all the data associated with the company to ensure that no record of Baily's existence survived. Vickers blamed Baily for all that death and destruction. He certainly didn't feel personally responsible. It was all her fault. His only mistake was a purely rooky error, he neglected to check her DNA twenty years ago and that was a damn shame.

Now, twenty years later, Roy Vickers again thought back to those exciting days when he had been recruited and trained to become a GIA special agent. He had been so happy to successfully complete his first mission. Little did he know then that those adorable babies had been alien hybrids who would come back and haunt him. But, how could he have known? They had been cleverly designed to look human. It had never occurred to him to test their DNA, which really wasn't a popular test twenty-years earlier, nor had it seemed warranted at the time. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he convinced himself that he hadn't done anything wrong. It was their fault. These alien kids, Baily and Ethan, were demons on Earth. Literally, they were demons on Earth. He would use them to help battle and control the other aliens, but when they were no longer of any use, he would have to dispense of them to ensure the safety of Earth.

So Weatherby was stuck trying to protect a sweet innocent girl from the temper and hatred of his boss, Vickers. Weatherby was convinced that Baily was incapable of hurting anyone. Even if she had the capacity to harm any humans, Weatherby was sure she wouldn't do it. She was sweetness and light. She hadn't even tried to escape from her cell other than screaming for help. Now Vickers had given her a death sentence, forcing her to go to the eighteenth floor from which she most likely would never return alive.

*************************************************************

CHAPTER 5. ORP's MEETING AND WEATHERBY'S MEETING

While Colonel Vickers and Agent Jacob Weatherby were in their conference, another meeting was about to take place at a secret and remote location. Select Pentagon officials were meeting with diplomats from a few alien planets. The alien species represented included the Zebians and the Andorians, along with some other species sojourning on Earth for various reasons. Once again, alien technology was the goal of the U.S. government, and caution about potential dangers was the alien agenda of the Andorians. As usual, the Andorian had no intentions of sharing any type of weaponry.

The Zebian linguist, Orp, was about to enter the hallway leading to the conference room. She was calmly following the rest of the Zebian delegation. Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder. When she turned she saw the Andorian diplomat materialize before her eyes. He bowed to her and she immediately recognized him as the Andorian she had met over twenty Earth years earlier; the same diplomat whose blood had supported the "Adam" and "Eve" project.

"I was hoping to meet you again," he told Orp, "I owe you a debt of gratitude for saving my life. I have some news to share with you that I think your people will appreciate."

"You don't owe me anything," Orp protested, extremely pleased to see him again so many years later.

But the diplomat from Planet Andor continued, "I have never forgotten you and I remain deeply in your debt. Although the Zebians are not members of the Galactic Starlight Union, you are known to be a peaceful race. It may surprise you to know that I am aware that your original home planet was decimated by the Alpha-Draconians, specifically by Naga-Seb and Naga-Luf."

Orp couldn't hide her sadness and she nearly vomited when he said the names of her planet's worst enemies.

"This is true," she confessed.

Yet she knew perfectly well that the entire Universal Starlight Union knew all about the five-hundred year war on Setto waged by the Alpha-Draconians against the Zebians. None of them had come to their rescue.

"Did you know that Naga-Seb, the son of Naga-Luf, is dead?"

Orp practically fainted.

"Dead? Don't they live for a thousand years, those Alpha-Draconians?"

The Andorian diplomat gave a wry smile.

"Yes, they do, and due to their colossal strength, they are almost invincible. But, in the late 1940s (Earth years) when humans were first trying to back-engineer Prafin technology, the humans accidentally triggered a powerful electromagnetic death ray aimed at a cave. Naga-Seb was in that cave, in the line of fire, unbeknownst to the engineers who accidentally activated the weapon. Naga-Seb was vaporized. His father, Naga-Luf, has been bereft ever since."

Orp crossed her arms over her chest and bowed.

"I am so grateful for this information. I will inform my council. A great evil has been removed from the Galaxy. If only the father, Naga-Luf, could also be neutralized, the Galaxy would be a safer place for all third-dimensional beings."

At that, they entered the conference. Months later when Orp and her team were back on Zebion, the news of Naga-Seb's death was a cause for another celebration. One of the demons who had destroyed their home planet had been annihilated. It was a celebration of that moment when you realize your worst enemy has been vanquished. The Zebians planned to make that an annual feast day, a festival of freedom.

When Orp had presented the Council of Five the information that the Andorian diplomat had given her, they were initially excited. Until now, they only knew of the Prafins living on Earth and trading technology with the humans. It was hard to believe that giants like the Alpha-Draconians could sneak onto Earth unnoticed. While it was wonderful news, finding out that one of their worst enemies, Naga-Seb, had been vaporized, the news of the Alpha-Draconians on Earth was cause for concern. Of course, the death of Naga-Seb was cause for celebration because he had helped to annihilate their planet and most of their species. With him dead, the galaxy was now a safer place. The council agreed with Orp, it would have been much better news if his father, Naga-Luf, had also been vanquished, but you can't have everything. However, their celebration was darkened with their alarm about the Alpha-Draconians existence on Earth.

"The humans of Earth have no weapons to fight these savages. They are utterly defenseless against them. They are like children to begin with. I'm afraid that Planet Earth is doomed to become another Alpha-Draconian conquest."

"Unless we intervene?" a council member tentatively suggested.

Oslo flipped his gold cape over his shoulder and scoffed.

"How would we intervene? You mean all five hundred of us, including the children? They would annihilate the remnant of our race. Our job is to survive and to find a better planet on which to rebuild and flourish. We cannot help Earth."

"Unless the Universal Starlight Union were to assist us, and take the lead?" suggested another Counsel member.

Oslo nearly laughed, "You mean the way they intervened and protected us from the Alpha-Draconians during our five-hundred-year war defending our planet from them? You mean the way they stopped the Alpha-Draconians from destroying our planet? You mean the way they retaliated on our behalf after our planet and ninety-nine percent of our race was annihilated? Yes, I'm sure that the Universal Starlight Union will rush to take the lead and protect the Earth."

"What good are they?" asked the member who had originally posed the suggestion.

"Exactly," Oslo responded, disgusted.

As far as he was concerned, the U.S.U. was useless. He would never forgive them for allowing the Alpha-Draconians to gain so much power in the galaxy (in the hope of sustaining peace). When the price of peace is that high, it becomes a pointless objective. At some point, you have to make a stand against evil. At some point, you have to stand up for the rights of innocent victims and beat the bullies back into submission, and then you have a viable peace. Cowering and hiding while these violent and toxic animals take over the galaxy is not a peaceful solution. It's simply a coward's solution. Submitting to terror is not the road to peace.

However, Oslo and his Counsel, could not think of a viable solution to rescue Earth from the Alpha-Draconians in the immediate future. For now, they decided to focus on the positive news and celebrate their first annual freedom festival because at least Naga-Seb was dead and gone forever, and that was a reason to throw a party.

By now Orp and Lot had been married the equivalent of twenty Earth years. Lot had lost some weight and Orp had gained some weight and they were one of the most popular couples on Zebion. They were loved for their sense of humor as well as for just being a fun and happy couple.

After the Freedom Festival was over, Orp asked Lot if he remembered the chip technology that he insisted on inserting into the original "Adam" and "Eve" hybrids before they were taken to Earth?

"Yes," he answered, "What about it?"

"Do you still have a way of tracking them?"

"What's the use?" he asked, "They died in the crash."

"What if they survived the crash and we never knew it?"

"That's crazy, and anyway it's twenty Earth years later," Lot told her.

"Hey, Naga-Seb's been dead for over sixty Earth years and we never knew it. I was just thinking, anything is possible."

Lot shrugged, but it got him to thinking. Of course, he knew the chances were slim to none, but, why not activate the tracking device? So, it would come up with nothing, or it would locate the burial site of the babies. It was worth a shot. He decided to activate the tracking device so they would have closure, and then, they would never think about it again.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Weatherby took a very quick trip to Connecticut on a private airplane owned by the GIA. He drove from the private airfield to Baily's parent's home in Fairfield, Connecticut. It was a beautiful home on a sloping hillside, in a lovely upper class suburban neighborhood. He parked in the driveway, climbed the steps to the front door, and rang the bell.

He was pleasantly surprised when the diminutive, but slightly chubby Mrs. Chatham opened the door wearing white pedal pushers and short sleeved cotton shirt made of a pretty flowered pattern. Her hair was dyed brown, not a gray wisp in sight, and she had big brown eyes. She looked to be in her fifties. Her eyes were swollen and reddish, as though she had been crying a lot and hadn't slept much, which made sense because she had just found out the day before that her daughter had died in a car crash. She looked up at him expectantly with an inquisitive look on her face.

"Ma'am, my name is Jacob Weatherby. I am a detective working on your daughter's case. I am very sorry for your loss," he quickly flashed her a false detective's badge and card and put it away before she could examine it. "I wonder if I could come in and ask you a few questions that might help us finish the investigation and give you some closure?"

"Of course," she murmured, as she stepped aside to let him enter her home.

He realized that she was still in shock at the news of her daughter's supposed death. He felt horrible for her. He followed Mrs. Chatham up a short flight of steps into her formal living room which overlooked the front lawn.

It was a beautiful bright and cheerful room with a big picture window. The walls were painted a pale gold, the sofa and matching chairs were white.

The floors were tiled in a white marble that had gold streaks. The accent pillows were white, yellow and gold. The tables in the room were light maple wood. The lamp shades were all off white with gold trim. It gave the effect of making the room seem bathed in sunshine. Weatherby had never seen such a cheerful room in his life. There was a huge framed photograph on the wall of Mrs. Chatham and Baily, when she must have been around ten years old, and a man whom he guessed was Mr. Chatham. They were a beautiful, happy family, although Baily was slim and blond and the Chathams were chubby and brunette. This was clearly a happy home and no wonder Baily was so well adjusted and sweet.

"Ma'am, did you notice Baily behaving in an unusual way lately, or ever?" Weatherby asked, once he was seated uncomfortably on the white sofa that he was sure no one ever sat on.

"Not really, she was pretty much an easy-going girl all the time."

"Did anything odd ever occur, anything that you couldn't explain, such as paranormal phenomena?"

Mrs. Chatham thought about the times Baily had disappeared from view, but that had been her own hysteria, nothing to do with Baily.

"Why do you ask? Was there something paranormal about Baily's car crash?"

"No, just covering all bases, because there was no other car in her crash. Perhaps she lost control of her car for some unexplained reason. Maybe she tried to avoid running over a cat or a dog."

Mrs. Chatham started to cry uncontrolledly. Weatherby moved to her side to comfort her. Through her sobs he caught a few words "...didn't mean... (muffled words) ... called her... (muffled words) ... the sound of the phone..."

"You called her around the time of the crash?" he asked her.

"Yes," she could continue talking.

"What time did you call?"

"When she crashed," she sobbed.

"Can I look at your phone?"

She took her phone out of her pocket and handed it to him. He quickly found the phone call she was talking about.

"You called her at four fifteen," Weather announced.

"Yes."

"The crash was between three o'clock and three thirty. We know this because she parted from her friend at two forty-five and her car was found at three forty-five."

Mrs. Chatham looked up at Weatherby and smiled. "I'm so relieved. I thought I had caused her to crash. You see I thought..."

"No, Mrs. Chatham, you didn't distract her from driving by calling her," Weatherby assured her.

Good heavens, it's bad enough we stole your child, and made you mourn for her, but we can't have you blaming yourself for her death. She's not even dead. Yet.

"I'm so relieved. My poor baby," Mrs. Chatham started to cry again.

"Might I see her room?" Weatherby asked.

"Yes, of course," Mrs. Chatham got up and led him up a longer flight of stairs and down a long hallway. Baily had a large room painted lavender (to match her eyes, Mrs. Chatham told him). There was a beautiful Degas print hanging on one wall. Her bedspread was pink and she had a big pink teddy bear on her bed. There was a corkboard on another wall with a calendar and some photos pinned to it. One picture was of Baily with a short dark-haired girl (her best friend, Mrs. Chatham told him).

Weatherby opened the closet and looked at Baily's clothes.

"Why don't we select something for Baily to wear for her burial?" he asked kindly.

"Yes, that's a good idea," Mrs. Chatham answered, reaching for a formal gown that looked like a prom dress. That wasn't what Weatherby had in mind.

"Was Baily a formal person, or was she more informal? What kind of clothing did she wear day to day?"

"Oh, well she usually wore jeans, or shorts in the summer," Mrs. Chatham answered, hesitating over the formal gown.

Weatherby quickly reached into the closet and chose a sweater, a warm blouse, and a pair of jeans.

"Let's make sure she's warm and comfortable," he suggested.

"That's very thoughtful," she said.

He grabbed a pair of short boots.

"And, these look about right. Would you mind getting me a bag to put these in?"

When Mrs. Chatham left the room to get a bag for the clothing, Weatherby opened up the top drawer of the dresser and grabbed a few pairs of underwear, a few pairs of socks, and a few bras. He was briefly surprised at how padded those bras were. He quickly looked through the drawers until he found pajamas too. He hid everything by rolling it all up in the sweater and jeans. A dead girl doesn't need pajamas and extra undergarments. By the time Mrs. Chatham came back he was able to quickly stuff the clothing into the bag without her knowing what he had taken.

"Do you think she might like to have this photo buried with her?" he asked pointing to the picture of Baily and Mimi on the cork board.

"What a nice idea, I think she might like that," Mrs. Chatham said.

Weatherby thought she might like to have that photo and the clothing from home.

"We'll do our best to find out what happened and I will be in touch."

He would have to think of a plausible reason for her to have lost control of her car (probably to avoid hitting a cat or dog if nothing else came to mind).

Mrs. Chatham walked him out of the house. He drove back to the private airfield. A GIA agent would return the car for him. He flew back to the M-BUG to resume his oppressive duties handling poor Baily and soon to handle the other poor boy, Ethan.

*************************************************************

CHAPTER 6: THE DRAGON MAN

Weatherby went to see Baily in her small windowless cell. He didn't bring her the clothing yet, but, as a peace offering he brought her pocketbook to her (without her wallet, keys, or cellphone). It had other useful items in it though, like a small hair brush, lip gloss, and girl stuff related to moon cycles that he couldn't bring himself to think about. At the sight of her unique beauty he felt his heart beat faster.

"Hello sunshine," he greeted her quietly, with his usual cheer. "I thought you might want this," he handed her the bag.

At the sight of her light gold Coach bag her face lit up, but then her eyes welled up with tears.

"You know this bag was a gift from my parents last Christmas," she told him in a chocked voice.

He wanted to shoot himself. And that's what you get for trying to be a nice guy, he thought, feeling like his plan was backfiring. She sniffed her tears and opened the bag, looking for her phone.

"At least I can call home now," she smiled at him gratefully, while rummaging through her bag looking for her cell phone.

Not exactly.

"Well, uh, they wouldn't let me give you your phone yet, but I thought you would want your other stuff. You know what? Tell me what else you need and I'll get you whatever you need to make you more comfortable here." If he had to buy it himself, he would do it.

She fleetingly thought of the blanket he had forgotten to bring and the towel and pillow that she needed, but instead she responded in an aggravated voice.

"What is it going to take to get my phone back?"

Just then his phone beeped. He had a text message from his GIA coordinator:

OUR AGENTS CAUGHT ETHAN MADISON. THEY ARE BRINGING HIM IN.

Humph, as if he were some sort of fugitive from justice, Weatherby thought. Poor kid, he's just another clueless twenty-year-old American kid who has no idea that he's an alien-hybrid. Some days you just hate your job. Weatherby turned his attention back to Baily. He sighed.

"I'll work on it. I'm so sorry for this inconvenience. You know I'm on your side," He smiled at her warmly. She looked back at him like he was crazy. He missed the days when he knew who the bad guys were.

I'll tell you what," he began again, "If you do something for me, I'll go to bat for you with my boss."

So, what has he actually been doing all this time, Baily wondered.

"What do you want for me to do?" she asked suspiciously.

"It's really easy," he lied (hating himself), "just take a ride in the elevator down to another floor, take a look around, then come back and tell me what's going on down there.

"That's all?" she asked wearily.

He treated her to his razzle-dazzle smile.

"That's it, super easy."

"Why don't you do it yourself?"

"Because I'll be multi-tasking. I have some staff to supervise, and, while I'm doing that, I'll be keeping an eye on you. I'm going to put a small camera and audio equipment on you, and I'll be watching you on a computer."

She considered his request, pensively slipping her hair behind her left ear and biting her lip.

"It must be dangerous or you would do it yourself," she murmured.

"It might involve some danger," he conceded. "There are a few aliens on the floor I'm sending you to visit. They are about three-feet-tall, gray skinned, big eyed creatures. There's also a valuable team of scientists who might be captives there. You will have an opportunity to liberate them if you're feeling brave, it's up to you. Are you up for it?"

"Liberate them? What do I look like to you, Wonder Woman? Why don't you send in soldiers?" she asked, incredulous.

Crap, she's smarter than she looks, he realized.

"We tried that, they weren't successful," he admitted.

She would have laughed if she didn't feel half terrified, half in a state of total disbelief.

"You're telling me soldiers couldn't liberate the scientists but you think I can do it? Really? When you say the soldiers weren't successful, exactly what do you mean by that? What happened to the soldiers?"

"I'm not sure," he lied again. "I was only told that they couldn't find out what was going on down on the eighteenth floor."

That would be because they were annihilated – blasted to pieces with only the use of alien mind control.

She looked at him in astonishment. Surely, he couldn't think she could accomplish something that trained armed soldiers had failed at?

"What makes you think I can achieve something the soldiers couldn't do?" she asked.

"Because I believe in you. You're special, remember?"

He felt about one-foot tall, like a spectacularly evil heel. He couldn't believe he had to send this beautiful young girl into a probable deathtrap. Yet, if he refused, he would be committing treason and would be imprisoned, replaced by someone more cooperative, and she would be sent by someone else. He had to think of a way to lessen her danger.

She nodded dully.

"If I come back in one piece, I get out of here and go back home? I get my life back?"

"You will definitely come back in one piece and we will then discuss your future expanded privileges," He promised, mentally crossing his fingers.

"Privileges? I don't want privileges. I want my freedom. I need to go home. I need to go back to college and finish my senior year. I need to get my life back."

"If you help me out, we can talk about your freedom when you bring back the information I need. If you bring back the scientists, you'll have an even stronger position."

He figured she would most likely die trying, but if she survived he would appeal to GIA for her freedom. Colonel Vickers was powerful, but after all, he wasn't the highest power in GIA. If absolutely necessary, Weatherby could go over his head. The corpse that Baily Chatham's parents buried could always turn out to have been a terrible mistake. Oh, look, we found your daughter after all. He would worry about the logistics when and if he needed. In the back of his mind, however, he knew this was all wishful thinking as he watched her sitting and mulling it over.

She bit her lip and considered her probable freedom for a risky visit to the alien infested eighteenth floor.

"O.K., I'll give it a try," she agreed.

"Spectacular," he turned on his megawatt smile. "Get some rest. I want for you to be in top form. I'm going to send you there tomorrow."

The next morning, before going to see Baily, Weatherby went to see the next "victim," Ethan Madison. The young man had been brought into the M-BUG heavily sedated. Like Baily, Ethan was also assigned to an unadorned small cell. When Jacob Weatherby entered the room, he came face to face with a six-feet three-inch tall man who, Weatherby guessed, probably weighed about one hundred and eighty pounds. Ethan had white blond hair which was cut very short and he had wide set almond shaped eyes. Unlike Baily's lavender eyes, Ethan's eyes were cornflower blue. His square jaw was clean shaven, his nose was small and straight, his ears were slightly pointed. Like Baily, his face was unusually wide. Upon closer examination, Weatherby realized that Ethan's face wasn't clean shaven at all. It looked as though he hadn't started to shave yet. As big as he was, his shoulders weren't broad. He had a very boyish look, as though he were an overgrown child.

Ethan was standing in a boxer pose with his feet spread, his fists balled up and his brows furrowed. He was ready for a fight.

His first words were, "Who are you and where am I?"

Weatherby turned on his megawatt smile, although he was well aware that it worked better with women.

"Good morning. My name is Agent Jacob Weatherby. You are in a military facility operated by the Galactic Investigative Agency. You've probably never heard of this agency, but it is a legitimate government agency. We operate in conjunction with the U.S. Air Force, the FBI, the CIA and the Pentagon on top priority assignments."

"Why am I here?" Ethan asked, looking understandably confused.

"It's a matter of national security," Weatherby answered.

Better take this slowly, he thought. While to some extent, GIA was used to dealing with aliens on Earth, this was the first time they had encountered two aliens who had been raised as humans and apparently didn't know they were alien hybrids.

"Why would you need my help with that? I'm still in college. I'm not even in ROTC."

Ethan's response surprised Weatherby. WOW, this kid is a bit egotistical, eh, but I'll go with it, Weatherby decided.

"We need to take a sample of your

blood and saliva and do a DNA test on them," he told Ethan.

"What for?" Ethan asked, suspiciously.

Now he had relaxed his stance and was at standing with his arms at his side.

"Believe it or not, depending on your test results, you might be able to help us fight aliens," Weatherby grinned.

This kid was big, strong, and potentially dangerous. The best strategy was to make him think that he was being recruited, at least for the moment.

"I don't want to fight aliens," Ethan said.

"Why not?" asked Weatherby.

"Because I think we should give them citizenship. This country is big enough for everybody."

Weatherby smiled. The kid had a good heart. He wasn't as smart or as mature as Baily but he was a heck of a nice guy.

"Ethan, I'm not talking about illegal immigrants from third world countries. I totally agree with you. This country is big enough to absorb immigrants. I mean, let's face it, we are all the grandchildren of immigrants from previous generations, unless we're Native Americans. Now this might sound crazy at first, but I'm actually talking about aliens from other planets. We call them visitors. Some visitors are friendly but some are hostile. We are having a problem with some alien visitors who we thought were our friends but we suspect they turned against us. Basically, we might need your help spying on them."

Ethan was understandably staring at him in disbelief.

"What did you say the name of this military agency is again?"

"The Galactic Investigative Agency."

"Galactic as in Milky Way Galaxy?"

"Yes."

"So, you're saying you investigate aliens who come from around the Milky Way Galaxy?"

"Yes."

"So, you're saying aliens are real?"

"Yes."

"And the Pentagon and the Air Force knows about this?"

"Selected personnel know."

"And for some reason you need my help?"

"Yes."

"But why me? And what does my DNA have to do with anything?" Ethan finally asked.

"Can I ask you to trust me for twenty-four hours? As a patriotic American citizen, can I ask for your trust and cooperation?" asked Weatherby.

"What makes you think I'm patriotic?"

"Are you?"

"I guess," Ethan admitted.

"Would you be willing to defend your country and your planet against a hostile alien attack?" Weatherby asked.

"Of course," Ethan responded, quickly.

"Will you give me twenty-four hours, no questions asked?"

Ethan sighed. He was intrigued, but he had a life. He was working his way through college.

"I would, but I have to go back to work. I need to earn money to help pay for my college expenses. My parents pay for some of my education, but I earn my own spending money."

Weatherby knew that Ethan would never be returning to college, but he couldn't tell him that. So instead, he lied to him.

"Not to worry," Weatherby assured him. "We will arrange for time off with your employer. Everything

will be taken care of. You will be well compensated for your time spent with us. What do you say?"

The vague promise of "well compensated" sounded good to a twenty-year old.

"O.K., hey man, I need my cell phone," was his response.

"Of course," lied Weatherby. "I'll find it for you."

I'm really getting good at spinning yarns, thought Weatherby. Then he sent in the technician to get the blood and saliva for DNA and other biological analysis.

Ethan allowed the lab technician to take the blood and saliva samples. He was still feeling strangely groggy from the drugs that GIA had administered to him. His last memory was parking his car in the ally a block away from his job.

Crap, they're going to think I didn't show up for work, Ethan worried. I hope this guy is telling the truth. I hope they remember to square things with my boss. I wonder what they'll pay me for doing this. Aliens! Who knew? But, why me?

Ethan knew that he was different from the other guys his age. He hadn't physically matured like other guys his age had, but no one teased him because he was very talented at every sport he participated in and he was freakishly strong even though he looked underdeveloped for his age. On top of that, as Weatherby had immediately realized, he had a good heart and he was a nice guy. His downfall was his ego, combined with his immaturity.

At the moment, he wasn't worried about his parents missing him. His mother usually called him on Sundays to check up on him. She wasn't the type to panic though. He lived with a roommate who spent most of his time at his girlfriend's apartment, so he wouldn't be missed at home. So, mostly, this seemed like a splendid adventure that just popped up out of nowhere.

Although, once again, Ethan asked himself through a fading drug-induced fog, why me? All his life, he had felt a little different from other people. He suspected that he could see and hear things that other people couldn't see and hear. He could see shadows through walls, could hear conversations taking place in other rooms (if he concentrated) and more. There were thin pale pink and blue lines running through the air above his head, like electric wires, that no one else could see. He couldn't quite reach them.

Once, when he went to a horror movie as a kid, he was terrified, and he suddenly found himself alone in a strange place. No one else was there; it was a misty solitary place. Then, in a few seconds, he was back in his seat in the movie theater watching the scary movie again.

Ethan knew that he had unusual habits. He didn't eat meat. He mostly liked to eat organic fruits and vegetables. He couldn't drink soda. He only drank purified water and milk. He rarely ate any sugars. The only starches he ate were crackers and flat breads. He liked certain cheeses. Fortunately, he ate eggs and fish or his poor mother would have gone insane trying to feed him.

He had been a very serious child who had done well academically in school. His adoptive parents wondered about his biological parents, but they only knew that his parents had been killed in a small plane crash and that no other relatives could be located. Ethan had no interest in finding his biological relatives. He was only interested in moving forward with his life. He was in college on a track scholarship. Track was his best sport; he was a very fast runner. Between that, his parents help, and the money earned from working, he was putting himself through school. He was studying computer engineering, but feeling disenchanted, not sure this dry topic was right for him.

Getting "recruited" by the GIA was actually the most exciting thing that had ever happened to Ethan. He had always longed to be more buff, to be developed and physically more mature like the other guys his age. He wished he was more "manly." He had no idea why his body didn't mature properly. It made him feel frightened and inadequate, and he made up for that with his egotistical and chauvinistic attitude.

So, being brought to the GIA M-BUG was very flattering and exciting. For once he felt like an adult man. He felt like James Bond, Superman, and Captain America all rolled into one super hero man of action. They need me to fight aliens, he told himself, and stopped questioning why because it was so delicious to be needed.

Meanwhile, Weatherby's next visit was to Baily's cell. He found her sitting on the side of her bed wearing the outfit and shoes from home he had sent to her earlier. Her hair was clean and combed. She was dressed in a pair of classic Levi's, a blue checkered flannel button-down long-sleeved shirt, a powder blue pull over sweater and short brown boots. The eighteenth level was cold and he wanted her dressed warmly.

"Morning sunshine," he greeted her with his usual megawatt smile.

His feelings for her were sincere and he hated lying to her. Most of all, he would be heart-broken if she didn't survive this moronic, useless mission that he was forced to send her on. If only he could help her escape. If he helped her to escape, he would most likely be executed for treason. There would be no trial, because GIA was actually a secret agency. The pubic had no knowledge (other than conspiracy theories) of UFOs or aliens on Earth. Ethan and Baily would be prisoners in the M-BUG for the duration of their lives, which would most likely be short lived anyway.

"I'm ready to get this over with," she told him with no enthusiasm. "How did you get my clothing out of my house?"

"We have our ways. You look great. Did they send you a breakfast tray yet?" he asked her.

"No."

She thought it was odd that they could break into her home and get her clothing. She hoped that her parents were not harmed.

"Are my parents O.K.?"

"Yes, your parents are fine," Weatherby assured her. "I managed to get you one more item from home that I thought you might want." He handed her the photograph.

Baily was shocked. She knew that this photograph had come from her bedroom. How had anyone been able to get into her bedroom? She took it silently and put it into her pocket while she followed Weatherby out of her cell and into the M-BUG hallway.

Weatherby thought about where to take Baily to eat. Certain places were off limits to prisoners, and she was definitely a prisoner. Well, to heck with the rules, he thought, this might be her last meal.

"I'll take you to the employee cafeteria first, then we'll get started." It was the best place to eat breakfast.

There were several eateries in the M-BUG, which was like a giant underground city, but he was going to take her to his favorite employee cafeteria, where the food was superb and at least he could give her one last excellent meal before sending her to her most certain painful death.

"I'm not hungry," she muttered.

"Then you can watch me eat," he happily told her, determined to feed her and determined to prolong her life for at least another hour or two.

Baily reluctantly followed Weatherby out of her cell. She was surprised when she saw how vast the M-BUG appeared to be. She kept her eyes open for an opportunity to escape. There were so many people, all busy working, only about half of them dressed in military uniforms. The cafeteria was huge, cheerfully decorated, and had an amazing selection of food. Against her own judgement, she wound up getting a Greek yogurt parfait, with multi-grain toast, jam, and a cup of fresh fruit and herbal tea. A vegetarian's delight.

Weatherby enjoyed watching her eat.

"Would you like dessert?" he asked her.

"Who eats dessert for breakfast?" she asked, horrified.

He laughed.

"Lots of people. My mom eats dessert for breakfast all the time."

"Is she fat?"

"A little plump, but my dad adores her," Weatherby smiled, his eyes sadly kind. "What dessert would you eat if it wasn't breakfast time?"

"The chocolate cake looked..."

He sprang out of his seat before she could finish talking and shot over to the dessert bar. He was back in a flash with a corner piece of rich moist dark chocolate cake slathered with dark fudge icing.

"Live dangerously," he told her, "Have cake for breakfast dessert."

Despite herself, she smiled.

"I can't, it's too many calories."

She was probably going to be dead from a horrible death within an hour and she was worried about calories. Weatherby couldn't control much about what was going on in their lives, but this was one thing he could do for her.

"Eat the cake," he told her, "you can diet tomorrow."

He was pretty sure there wouldn't be a tomorrow for Baily, but at least she could have one moment of pleasure before she died. She tasted the cake. The look on her face of heavenly pleasure told him it was heavenly. He prevailed upon her to eat all of it. What a waste of a beautiful, smart girl, he thought. Life can be brutal.

They took their trays to the racks and moved on to the audio-visual department where Baily met the GIA audio visual technician, Karina Simon, who was a very attractive woman in her mid-forties. She wore her thick honey-blond hair swept up in a French-twist and dressed her trim elegant form in modest librarian-style skirt and sweater with sensible flat shoes. She had oddly good posture and walked like a ballerina. If she knew that Baily was supposed to be a dangerous alien-hybrid, she certainly didn't show any fear.

She shook Baily's hand warmly, "It's so nice to meet you. Let me orient you to the equipment we'll be using today."

Karina smartly and expertly taught Baily about the microphone, earpiece, and camera that were all hidden in a fashionable pair of glasses that she was quickly fitted with. They spent some time testing the equipment. The idea was that Weatherby could see and hear what was happening on level eighteen and talk to Baily while she was down there. Karina of course would stay with Weatherby and monitor the equipment while Baily was down on the eighteenth floor.

"When you get to level eighteen, you might encounter small aliens with grayish skin. They have smaller bodies and larger heads with dominant eyes. Don't let them frighten you. We call them the Prafins. Try to avoid being seen by them if you can possibly hide from them. I will be watching and listening to you the entire time you are on the eighteenth level. Try to come back as fast as you can. The most important thing is to try to see where the scientists are, how many you can count, and what they are doing. If you can free them, that would be great. If it's too dangerous, don't even try."

She looked up at Weatherby.

"Can I just walk off the elevator for a second and come right back?"

Why not, he thought, what's the worst thing that could happen? That they'll force me to send her back down?

"Yes, as long as you get some idea about what is down there."

He took her to the back M-BUG elevator.

"When you come back up, stop here at the thirteenth floor, I'll be waiting for you. You don't need a key to come up, you only need a key to go down."

He put his key in the slot and pressed eighteen, then removed his key and stepped off the elevator. She was on her own. She tried to press floor one to see if she could escape the M-BUG but it went to eighteen. When the door opened, instead of getting off, she tried to press floor one again, thinking she could escape the M-BUG, but the elevator remained open on eighteen.

By now, Weatherby was monitoring her from the computer with Karina. He realized that Baily didn't want to leave the elevator. He saw her pressing the elevator button, trying to get to the first floor. Of course, that floor was off limits. The elevator was programmed to reject that command.

She heard Weatherby's voice in her ear.

"Exit the elevator, Baily."

Baily braced herself to face whatever was on the eighteenth floor. She didn't know the little Prafins could kill her with their minds. She took a step forward and looked around. The first thing she noticed was that the height of the room she was in was about two or three times higher than the rooms on the other floors in the M-BUG. Why do little three-feet tall men need such tall rooms, she wondered. The elevator was in an alcove.

As she rounded the corner to her left, she discovered the answer to her query. She entered a vast hall that was divided by a glass wall. On one side of the glass wall, there was a laboratory and, she assumed, the people there were the scientific team that she had been sent to liberate. She faced them so the camera would record and transmit the image. They had test tubes and microscopes and all manner of scientific equipment. They were standing and sitting, wearing white coats, using computers and handheld electronic devices. Then she turned her back to the glass and faced the giant creature moving quickly toward her from the other side of the hall.

"This isn't the little gray alien," she said into her hidden microphone.

"Baily, get out of there, run back to the elevator NOW!" screamed Weatherby's voice in her earpiece.

But it was too late. An enormous leathery skinned dragon-man was closing in on her. He was two and half times the size of a typical pro-basketball player. His head looked like a giant snake's head and his body looked part human and part lizard with dragon skin that consisted of leathery shiny green flecked scales. His arms had hands that ended in clawed fingers. His eyes had vertical slits like snake eyes.

Baily felt herself being lifted into the air, although the creature wasn't even close enough to touch her yet. She realized he was doing it with his mind. She felt herself being jerked forward and she suddenly understood that she was about to get thrown backwards through the glass wall by a very angry dragon-man. First, she saw the room moving by her in a blur as she sped in a forward motion. She flew at high speed through the air and came so close to the terrifying creature she was looking into its enormous vertically-slit yellowish snake eyes.

She gasped, "Oh-sh..."

But before it actually touched her, she was hurtling backward at rapid velocity. She had no control over her body. She was like a ragdoll being thrown across the room by an angry toddler. She felt something ice cold move through her body and for a second everything went dark and soundless. She was abruptly sprawled on the floor behind the glass wall, shivering from cold but intact and unhurt. Somehow, she had been thrown through the glass wall without actually breaking the glass. There was a moment of shock and silence. The stillness was shattered by Weatherby's voice in her earpiece.

"Baily, are you O.K.?"

Baily stood up slowly thinking it was odd that even the earpiece was still intact in her ear and working fine. She was aware that the scientists had stopped working and were behind her, watching her, probably in shock. She faced her dragon-man opponent, who stood on the other side of the glass wall, staring at her.

"How did he do that? He threw me through the glass wall without breaking the glass," she said to Weatherby, through her microphone.

Weatherby's voice answered her.

"I don't know what that creature is Baily, but I'm pretty sure he meant for you to crash through the glass. I think you moved through it on your own."

"But how is that possible?" Baily asked.

Another voice exploded in her brain, and it didn't come through the auditory channel, and it wasn't in English. Yet, she understood. The communication came to her in a part of her brain heretofore unknown and unused. Ideas seemed to come partially in pictures and partially as concepts that her brain seemed to translate from whatever language was being telecommunicated to her. She knew it was coming from the dragon-man.

"If you had been human I would have killed you, he relayed to her brain, But, as a time traveler, you are useful to me."

This was news to Baily. Until this experience on level eighteen she didn't believe she was anything other than human. A new paradigm was beginning to form in her mind. She had to re-conceptualize herself, her identity, and her entire concept of reality as related to the existence of aliens, especially since she was apparently one of them herself.

"I'm a time traveler?" she asked out loud.

She heard Jacob Weatherby groan in her ear and moan.

"This is not good. How did you figure that out?"

Simultaneously, the dragon-man spoke in her head.

"You must be a time traveler, because only an Andorian being can move through a wall and they are time travelers. If you can do that, if you can move through a wall, you can time travel."

Baily was inherently a calm and logical person. While most people in her situation would be reduced to screaming and cowering in fear at the sight of a creature like this, Baily remained composed and rational. She knew that she needed to keep the upper hand if she wanted to live. It was best to humor the beast. She didn't know what an Andorian was, but she decided to ignore that for now and concentrate on the idea that he thought she could time travel.

"O.K. so how can I help you as a time traveler?"

Weatherby realized that she must be talking to the dragon-man, although he didn't know why he couldn't hear the dragon-man's side of the conversation.

"Good Baily," Weatherby said, "Keep him thinking you can do that. Try to get back to the elevator.'

The dragon-man answered in her head, "I need you to rescue my son."

"You need me to rescue your son? Where is your son?"

Since she didn't know how to telecommunicate she spoke out loud. This way Weatherby could hear her too. It seemed to work.

He answered her, "Nineteen Forty-Eight."

"What is the rest of the address?" she asked, "Nineteen Forty-Eight what?"

"It's not an address, it's an Earth year, he told her. In Nineteen Forty-Eight, Earth engineers tried to understand how an off-world weapon worked and they accidentally obliterated my son. I need you to go to the time before his death and bring him to me now."

In her ear, she heard Weatherby's voice.

"Whatever he's asking for try to negotiate. Remember, we want our scientists back."

Baily squared her shoulders and smiled bravely at the horrific dragon-man, "I will need to bring these scientists upstairs with me first before I rescue your son."

"Good girl," Weatherby said in her ear.

"You can have them after you bring my son to me," the dragon-man answered her.

"You have to give me a few of the scientists now," she bargained.

"You can have one," he answered.

"I want at least two," countered Baily.

"You can have one," the dragon-man held fast.

In her ear, she heard Weatherby say, "At least bring back Dr. Marybeth Ingle and Dr. Jonathan Stone."

Baily said, "Very well, I will take Dr. Marybeth Ingle."

She turned and looked at the people in the lab. A red-haired, green-eyed, very freckled woman in a white lab coat raised her hand and nodded. Marybeth grabbed a small electronic notebook and another small electron device and quickly shoved them into her lab coat pockets. The red-haired doctor looked like she was probably in her early thirties. Her hair was a tangle of curls, she looked like a tall Keebler elf, grown to about five-feet six inches and probably weighing around a hundred and forty pounds. Baily wondered what Dr. Ingle was working on, and why she was down here to begin with.

Dr. Ingle started walking toward the back of the lab and Baily took the hint and followed her. They quickly came to a locked door. In a few seconds, the door opened and Baily saw her first little gray man. In fact, there were three of them.

"Oh, so this is what the Prafins look like," Baily whispered.

"Shhh," Dr. Ingle whispered.

The three little gray creatures didn't talk. They seemed to be military men. They had large bald heads with huge black almond eyes that wrapped around the sides of their heads. Their ears and noses were just holes in their skulls. They were dressed in odd looking cellophane-material jumpsuits of a color not quite definable on the Crayola charts. One of them led the way while two followed behind and they brought the women, via back hallways, back to the elevators.

Before the elevators closed, the dragon-man warned her, "Bring my son back to me or I will kill the remaining scientists."

Once on the elevator, Baily punched the thirteenth floor. Marybeth Ingle was shaking like a leaf. They arrived swiftly, and Jacob Weatherby was waiting for them when the doors opened. Colonel Vickers was also there grinning broadly. Dr. Marybeth Ingle stormed off the elevator, never so happy to be free in her life. Baily came off next, somewhat dazed and bemused.

"Well, I liberated one scientist, that's something," Baily said with a sigh of relief.

Dr. Ingle swirled around, and grabbed Baily in a bear hug. She was about one inch shorter than the younger woman.

"Oh, my G-d, I don't know who you are, or even how you did it, but thank you. Thank you for saving my life."

"Dr. Ingle, I just wish I could have saved everyone," Baily said.

"Please call me Marybeth. You were amazing. I don't understand everything that just happened, but I'll love you forever for saving me. I can't thank you enough." Dr. Ingle had tears in her eyes. She was all choked up.

The tall uniformed man standing nearby introduced himself.

"Baily, you did an outstanding job. I am Colonel Roy Vickers. I met you once before when you were a baby, but I know you don't remember that. I'm truly proud of you today."

Everything was becoming strangely real for Baily. She temporarily forgot to ask for either her phone or her freedom. It's not every day that you move through a wall, talk to another being inside your head, and realize that you're an alien from another planet. She turned to the only other familiar person there. The handsome man with the megawatt smile.

"Hello sunshine," he said quietly, "welcome back."

His sea green eyes were shining. He smiled at her with pride.

She gave him a half smile and nervously crooked her gold blond hair behind her left ear.

"Looks like I'll have to diet tomorrow to make up for that giant chocolate cake you made me eat this morning."

He laughed.

"I'm glad you lived to diet another day. Let's go debrief. I want to get all the details I couldn't see or hear. I'm sorry we didn't know about that other dragon creature or I would have given you a heads up at very least."

"Oh, for sure, it would have been the least you could do," she muttered as she followed him in a daze.

She thought it was interesting that he still would have sent her down to level eighteen to face the giant dragon-man if he had known of its existence.

While they went off in one direction, Colonel Vickers led Dr. Marybeth Ingle off in another direction for a private conversation and debriefing session.

*************************************************************

CHAPTER 7. DR. MARYBETH INGLE

Colonel Vickers led Dr. Ingle into a debriefing room that was set up for very important people. Contrary to the way they debriefed enemies, this was set up for friends and heroes and was done with extreme comfort and care. The room was painted in a calming mint green color. Tiffany lamps placed on Ethan Allen tables cast a soft glow around the room. The maple wood floor was partially hidden under an exquisite Turkish Bergama carpet. There were two deeply cushioned arm chairs with matching ottomans upholstered in vertical stripes of mint green, ivory, pale pink, and ebony silk. On a low mahogany table, there were platters of crackers, cheese, fruit, and a pitcher of water with slices of fresh lemon floating in it. Waterford crystal glasses and Wedgewood plates were casually ready to be filled.

Dr. Ingle glanced at the repast and her first thought was, I wish they offered me a glass of wine instead of a glass of water; I could sure use it.

Across from the chairs, on the opposite wall was a lovely antique table over which was a large beautifully ornate mirror. This was a one-way mirror. On the other side of the mirror was a team, including a psychiatrist and a technician (Karina Simon) operating the audio-visual recording, and others watching the debriefing. Audio and visual recorders were hidden behind the painting next to the mirror. There was no indication within the room that anyone was watching or recording the conversation taking place.

Dr. Ingle was not a shy woman. She was feeling so overcome with relief to be free from her enslavement, she was partially in shock. She flopped down into the nearest chair and immediately started to load up a plate of food for herself.

"Excellent," she said, "It could only be better if you had something chocolate."

"I'm sure the chocolates will be delivered any minute, Dr. Ingle," Colonel Vickers assured her as he gave a quick, significant glance toward the mirror. Behind the mirror, Karina Simon quickly made a phone call to the catering kitchen and ordered a tray of chocolate desserts to be delivered to the debriefing room known as the "Green Room."

"Call me Marybeth," Dr. Ingle said with her mouth full. She started groping in her deep lab coat pockets and pulled out two small electronic devices, one from each pocket that she had quickly smuggled out from level eighteen. "You're going to want these - they contain the work they were forcing me to do down there. This is not what I signed up for. I'm a geneticist. I want to help improve the human condition, not deteriorate it."

Marybeth Ingle had earned both a medical degree and a doctor of philosophy degree from a prestigious university. Her research focus was on genetic engineering and gene therapy. She had been recruited by the GIA specifically to work with aliens with the promise of learning to improve her knowledge base and work skills in this field, but she had been somewhat misled.

When she had come to work for the GIA, she had envisioned helping mankind eliminate all known diseases. She hoped to extend human life expectancy. She thought she could ultimately engineer longer-living, healthier, smarter humans. These were the promises that the aliens had dangled at the end of the recruitment stick to get her to sign on with the GIA. But, instead of the carrot, she only got the stick.

Marybeth had dutifully engaged in research with her new alien partners. She was especially delighted with the advanced technology that they offered. This technology enabled her to record her notes, create imaging and create scientific models in a manner not currently available on any Earth technology system. After some time though, she began to realize that the aliens were not really trying to improve the human condition for altruistic reasons.

Were the aliens trying to eradicate human diseases? Yes, they were. Were they trying to make humans stronger? Yes, they were. Were they trying to make humans longer-living? Yes, they were. Were they trying to make humans smarter? Not exactly. They were trying to make humans submissive. They were trying to make humans willing to follow orders without question. They were trying to make humans ready and willing to submit to a higher authority. They were trying to make humans ready for slavery.

All of the experiments, imaging, and notes were carefully recorded on the alien technology devices. Marybeth was not about to leave her hard work behind when she was able to escape the eighteenth floor. Even though she had been misled by the aliens, she still had learned a lot of information in her field that she could still use to benefit mankind. The aliens had to be stopped, but meanwhile she had come away with invaluable knowledge. Marybeth handed the technology devices containing her research to Vickers. She already knew their contents. She knew he would need the technology.

Colonel Vickers, who was now forty-two, was slim but broad shouldered. He always dressed in his military uniform. He leaned his imposing, handsome frame, forward and couldn't believe what he was seeing. His hazel brown eyes glittered with excitement at the sight of this alien technology. He quickly assessed its double value. First, it was valuable because it had information about what the aliens were working on. Second, because the device could be back engineered (perhaps with Dr. Ingle's assistance) to be used as new technology for Earth.

"Marybeth, this is splendid. I can't thank you enough for grabbing this on your way out. That was fast thinking," he smiled warmly at her. "I know this has been a long and terrifying ordeal. We are trying to liberate all the scientists. You are the first we were able to free. Tell me what is going on down there?"

Marybeth kicked off her shoes and curled up in the overstuffed arm chair. She wasn't a military person. She was a scientific genius, and something of a mad scientist.

"I went down there thinking I was working with friendly aliens," she said, "like little E.T.s, in a cooperative relationship to better mankind. I thought they were the little gray men we would be working with."

Vickers nodded, "That's right, go on."

"Well, it turns out the small gray men are little servants who are working for the giant dragon-like creature. They have enslaved the scientific team and forced us to work on their agenda. If we try to resist they can put pressure on our brains that cause intense intracranial pain. We can't bear the pain. They can actually cause a human brain to burst."

Vickers winced and thought, well that explains a lot (like what happened to the soldiers that were sent down to liberate the scientists).

Marybeth continued.

"Let me tell you their agenda. They have Jon Stone's environmental scientists working on changing the Earth's atmosphere to make it more amenable to their own (dragon-men) race. I suspect that there are more of them on Earth, but I don't know where. They are also altering the Earth's water and food supply to nurture their own species rather than to meet the nutritional needs of the human race. My part, as a geneticist, was to alter human DNA. They want to transform humans into a slave sub-species to serve the little Prafins, who in turn serve the dragon-men. Of course, we scientists are all stalling and we are not really cooperating. We just give them the appearance of cooperation while we are trying to get off the eighteenth floor. Unfortunately, we have not been able to come up with a viable escape plan."

Vickers sat up straight, his sepia-toned skin was draining to pale yellow. He pressed his lips together. Marybeth feared he might faint.

After a few seconds, he said, "I'm going to let you get some rest. We have a beautiful suite of rooms prepared for you. Tomorrow we'll talk some more. I'm going to ask you to stay with us in the M-BUG until we liberate the rest of the scientists."

Marybeth had been working for GIA for many years. She knew the organization was super paranoid. Since she was single with no kids, staying in the M-BUG for a short term was no problem.

"Do I still have a home?" she asked, only half kidding.

"Of course, GIA has paid for the homes and all the bills for every captive," he assured her. "We are waiting for the team's return, which will be soon."

It was the complete truth. Their salaries had been used to pay their bills and mortgages or rent, any excess was placed in trust for each captive. Excuses were being provided to their families about their absences. GIA had to get them out of captivity as fast as possible. It had been several months already since they had seen the light of day.

Just then the food staff brought in a tray of chocolate desserts: cake, brownies, and candy. Vickers smiled broadly.

"I hope this satisfies your sweet tooth?"

Marybeth examined the tray. She selected one of everything. Then she muttered, "No chocolate chip cookies."

She sat back and happily indulged, brushing her tangled red curls over her shoulder and stuffing chocolate into her mouth.

Vickers laughed and stood up.

"Enjoy the chocolates. Agent Weatherby will come in a few minutes and bring you to your suite of rooms."

With that, he left Marybeth to enjoy her dessert. Behind the mirror, the team of observers also left, with the exception of Karina, who continued to film. She liked to capture everything, including what she liked to refer to as the "after party." Sometimes more information is revealed after the formal meeting is over. When people are relaxed, they continue to talk, and they reveal interesting information in casual conversation, when their guard is down.

Meanwhile, in another room, Weatherby was debriefing Baily. Theirs was a stark, small conference room. No food was provided. In this discussion, Baily explained to Weatherby that the dragon-man could talk telepathically into her brain.

"...but it didn't come through my ear," Baily struggled to describe this phenomenon, "It was like I could hear his voice in my head. Although it wasn't exactly English, it was more like whole concepts and pictures that my brain instantly translated for me. Yet I could also hear his voice. I didn't know how to talk back into his head so I just answered out loud and that seemed to work out O.K."

Weatherby assured her, "We didn't know anything about this dragon-man creature before you went down there. What did he ask you to do?"

"He wants me to rescue his son. If I can bring his son to him, he claims he will release the rest of the scientists. If I don't bring his son back, he threatened to kill all of the scientists," Baily explained.

"He won't kill them, he needs them. Well, O.K., where is his son?"

"He was killed in the year 1948. He was obliterated when our engineers tried to figure out how an alien weapon worked. They accidentally fired it, and it killed him while he was hiding in a cave. The dragon-man thinks I can time-travel back to right before his son's death and rescue him, then bring him forward in time, at which point he will exchange his son's life for the lives of the scientific team. Now that I've fulfilled my part of the mission, I need my cell phone, my wallet, and my freedom."

Weatherby smiled.

"But don't you want to help us free the rest of the scientists?"

Baily looked at him like he was crazy.

"Listen, I know I'm not totally human, I realized that when I flew through a glass wall and landed in one piece with no shattered glass. I guess a human couldn't communicate with this dragon-man either. But I'm pretty sure that if I could travel through time, it would have happened by now. I have absolutely no idea how to do that. Do you think I would be sitting here begging for my freedom if I knew how to time-travel? I would just go back to the time before you captured me, right?"

Weatherby was pretty sure she could time-travel but he knew she hadn't figured it out yet.

"I will ask Colonel Vickers about setting you free. "You've really earned it. For now, let's go see how Dr. Ingle is doing."

Weatherby had already decided that he wasn't going to keep Baily locked up in her cell all day. He was going to keep her with him. He knew Vickers wouldn't set her free, but he thought he might be able to get her better living quarters in the M-BUG. She might be an alien hybrid, but she deserved to be treated with kindness and she ought to have some comfort. He took her with him to fetch Dr. Ingle. They arrived in the plush green debriefing room shortly after the chocolates had been delivered.

Marybeth's face lit up when she saw Baily come into the room.

"I was wondering what happened to you. Baily, right? I barely had a chance to thank you for getting me out of level eighteen before they dragged me in here."

Marybeth glanced over at Weatherby, "And you are?"

"Agent Jacob Weatherby, ma'am. I'll be your liaison here. I am here to show you to your suite of rooms, your apartment, while you stay in the M-BUG."

Marybeth laughed.

"You make it sound like a grand suite in a fancy hotel."

Then, turning her attention back to Baily, she said, "Sit down, have something to eat. What kind of work do you do here?"

She smiled warmly at her savior, her new best friend.

It's hard to resist someone who looks at you with so much love and speaks to you in a tone of adoration. Baily sank into the other huge armchair that Marybeth gestured her into. Weatherby took the ottoman. They helped themselves to some fruit, cheese and candy.

Weatherby quickly responded.

"Baily doesn't actually work here."

"I'm a captive," Baily explained with a half-smile.

Dr. Ingle sat bolt straight upright in her chair.

"What does that mean? Is that a joke?" she asked Weatherby in a high-pitched voice.

"Yes," Weatherby quickly assured her.

Simultaneously, Baily responded in a rush.

"No, they kidnapped me a few days ago. I'm not sure how long I've been here. They won't let me call my parents. They prom..."

"O.K., I think I better take Baily..." Weatherby started to interrupt Baily.

"NO!" shouted Marybeth, jumping up, "She just saved my life. You're not taking her anywhere, Agent Weatherby. She stays with me. Let her talk."

Weatherby cleared his throat and tried again, "Dr. Ingle, I need to..."

"Quiet, I want to hear Baily's story," she glared at Weatherby.

If looks could kill, then he would have been run over by a truck and shot with a poisoned arrow all

from one look.

Marybeth turned to Baily and, with a look of pure love, sweetly said, "Continue."

So, Baily told Marybeth her complete story ending with, "I didn't believe I was really an alien hybrid until my experience on the eighteenth floor today. You saw for yourself how I went through the window without breaking the glass, right? And what you couldn't see or hear was how the dragon-man could talk to me inside my head. Could he talk to you inside your head too?"

Dr. Marybeth Ingle had considerable experience with aliens and hybrids because she was a geneticist who worked on genetic projects that other human scientists couldn't even dream about. She marveled at the alien cloned hybrid before her who she now considered to be her new best friend. She found Baily to be an amazing phenomenon on both a scientific level and on a humanitarian level.

Marybeth leaned toward Baily and told her with great sincerity, "I don't care what planet you were born on or created on. I don't care what your DNA looks like. You are an awesome person. You have astounding courage. I don't care that you can move through a glass wall or hear an alien speak to you in your head. No, I can't do either of those things, but so what? You saved my life. I am so grateful to have my freedom, to be off of the eighteenth floor. I owe you a debt of gratitude for the rest of my life and I will never forget what you did for me today."

Then she looked at Weatherby and said, "I know how GIA operates and you need to tell Baily the truth about why she can't call her parents."

Baily asked, "What truth?"

Weatherby sighed.

"Thanks, Dr. Ingle. You are putting me in a terrible situation. I am under orders..."

"I don't give a rat's butt about your orders," spat Marybeth, "If you don't tell her right now then I will. I have a pretty good idea about what GIA is up to."

Baily looked from one to the other and asked, "What's going on?"

Marybeth immediately answered her.

"They have probably erased your identity. You need to know the truth, Baily. Try to stay calm, love." That was not exactly a delicate way to break the shocking news, but it was typical of Marybeth's shoot from the hip style.

Baily looked at Weatherby for confirmation, and he reluctantly nodded, bracing himself for her meltdown. Well, so much for keeping her calm, he thought to himself. To the absolute astonishment of both Weatherby and Dr. Ingle, instead of an angry outburst, Baily went invisible.

It was at this exact moment that Karina Simon chose to hit the send button and emailed the audio-video file she had been filming all day. The file that started with Baily's adventure on the eighteenth floor, included Dr. Ingle's debriefing session with Colonel Vickers and culminated with Baily's disappearance after hearing that her identity had been erased by GIA. The file was sent to the GIA archives. The GIA archives were located in a secure vault.

*************************************************************

CHAPTER 8. SYNNOVE

Finding out that you're dead and don't know it can do that to you, can make you totally disappear. Baily had just had quite a day. The shock of confirming that she was an alien hybrid, compounded by the validation that her human identity had been erased, was too much for her to handle emotionally, mentally, and physically. Still, she wondered where the heck she was as she looked around her new strange environment. She seemed to be standing on a cloud, surrounded by wisps of smoke, or some white-gray substance that looked like smoke. Everything seemed to be in muted grays, barely blues, and barely pinks. She was in a pastel world of near colors. It was rather soothing.

Out of the mist, a figure appeared who seemed to float gently toward her. It was almost like looking into a mirror and seeing a slightly older version of herself. The woman coming toward her was a little taller, her hair was lighter blond and straighter, but she had the same kind of wide face and purplish eyes that Baily had. Her ears were higher and pointier than human ears, but the difference was subtle. She only had four fingers instead of five and they were longer and more clawish, ending in strong pointy nails. She wore a white jump-suit with a pale peach colored cape that flowed behind her when she walked and white boots. Her skin tone was so white it was almost transparent, and that was another subtle difference that made her look nonhuman.

"Welcome," the woman said, "I see you've found your way to my world."

"Where am I?" asked Baily.

"This is Ezoku. You are actually exactly where you were before, only in a place that only Andorians can enter." The woman was closer now. She smiled serenely, "My name is Synnove, by the way."

There was that word again, "Andorian." The dragon-man had used that word.

"I'm Baily, I don't know how I got here," she said, looking around confused.

Synnove nodded.

"I understand your confusion, you're new at this. You came to my attention this morning when you moved through the glass wall. I am here on Earth as an Andorian diplomat in the capacity of an observer. It is my job to know what is going on in the M-BUG. While I have been monitoring your progress since you arrived here, you caught my full attention when you flew through a glass wall intact without shattering the glass. That, combined with the fact that you were able to enter Ezoku, has revealed your true identity to me. Now I understand who and what you are. You are like me, a non-human, and you must be Andorian or you wouldn't be able to enter Ezoku. But I see that you don't know how to exist outside of your third dimensional world yet. Perhaps I can guide you?"

"Um, yeah, that would be great. Did I just leave Earth or something?" Baily asked.

"No, not at all," Synnove laughed gently, "We are still on Earth. However, your friends can't see you right now. They probably think you disappeared right before their eyes. I realize that you have lived as a human all your life. I wonder how you came to live on Earth without knowing you are Andorian. You look human, but you must be mostly Andorian, or you wouldn't be able to enter Ezoku. You don't realize it, but you must have always been able to see and hear beyond the range of human vision and sound. You've just never had a reason before to access your Andorian traits until now. Apparently, your mind and skill sets are suddenly expanding."

"It's mind boggling," Baily agreed. "What exactly are my Andorian skills? The dragon-man said that I could travel through time."

"You can," Synnove assured her, "but you do not need to do his bidding. You are free to choose your own path. There are things you should know though, before you choose to time travel."

"Such as?"

"Such as who you are and who you are dealing with," answered Synnove.

"O.K.," agreed Baily, "Tell me."

"First of all, the dragon-man, as you call him, is an Alpha-Draconian. He is one of the leaders of a nefarious race. They do not belong to the Universal Starlight Union, in fact..."

"Wait," interrupted Baily, "They don't belong to what?"

"There's so much to tell you," Synnove smiled sweetly, "You must feel like you walked into the middle of a movie and missed the beginning." Synnove had been on Earth a long time and knew a lot about modern Earth culture.

"A sci-fi move," answered Baily.

"I'm sure," Synnove responded. "Let me back up a bit. I'm guessing that you grew up on Earth and were raised as a human. Is that correct?"

Baily nodded, making a mental note to question Synnove about where she came from and why she's on Earth.

Synnove continued, "But you are more than human, as you are beginning to find out. There are many planets in the Milky Way Galaxy (as you have been taught to think of it) that have intelligent life on them. Most are benevolent and peaceful beings, of which the majority belong to an inter-galactic government body called the Universal Starlight Union. The Supreme Leader of this Union comes from my planet, Andor, and his name is Raphael. Each participating planet has an elected council member on the Universal Starlight Union."

"O.K., so the dragon-men, I mean the Alpha..." Baily looked at Synnove for help.

"...Draconians," Synnove supplied the word.

"The Alpha-Draconian dragon-men don't belong to this Star Union?" Baily clarified.

"Correct," answered Synnove, "The Alpha-Draconians and the Prafins are enemies of the members of the Universal Starlight Union. Then there are the Zebians, those are another race, who also don't belong to the Universal Starlight Union, but they are very peaceful."

"This is a lot to remember," said Baily.

"Yes," agreed Synnove, "It will become easier with time. Here is some more information that will clarify the differences between the groups. The Alpha-Draconians and the Prafins believe in serving themselves, they are selfish and greedy. Their goal is to dominate other planets and enslave the indigenous inhabitants of those planets."

"Yuck, disgusting," responded Baily.

"Yes," nodded Synnove, "But the members of the Universal Starlight Union, and the Zebians all worship HA-UN. Members of the Universal Starlight Union believe in service to others."

"What is that about?" Baily asked, intrigued.

"It's similar to what humans would call religion," explained Synnove, "But while it has variances of practice, including an atheistic version in some places, there is no violence committed over these differences, only mutual respect."

Synnove spent quite a bit of time explaining the universal religion to Baily, and by the time she was finished Baily understood that most advanced beings that belonged to the Universal Starlight Union worshipped a creator they called HA-UN, and that they devoted their lives to service to others. This meant that they tried to help other individuals, communities, and planets survive in peace and prosperity. It created a system of harmony, peace, and inter-cultural, inter-planetary respect and love.

Of course, each planet had their own version(s) of the religion and their own rituals. Some planetary societies, explained Synnove, thought HA-UN was a female entity. Others devoted their lives to service to others without belief in HA-UN. The key to success was mutual respect and freedom to worship as one pleased while performing service to others. This was applied on all planets and this was the key to peace. Baily became an instant convert because in her mind HA-UN was the same G-d she had always worshipped anyway, and the idea of serving others resonated with her. It was just nice to know that her G-D was worshipped on most planets in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Next Synnove taught Baily how to access and control the parts of her mind that would enable her to move through matter, move through time, and move through dimensions. Up until now, this had only happened by accident, not through her intellectual control. She also taught Baily how to communicate telepathically, not only to receive a message but to send a message.

While they were in Ezoku, they perceived themselves to have a three-dimensional body. But in fact, their physical form was more complex and could be manipulated far beyond anything imaginable in the third dimension. Synnove taught Baily how to observe the third dimensional world from the safety and invisibility of Ezoku.

While Baily was in Ezoku, Marybeth and Weatherby initially were quite shocked that she disappeared from sight.

"What just happened? Where did she go?" Marybeth asked panic stricken.

"I don't know, Dr. Ingle, she just went invisible," Weatherby looked grim, rooted to the spot.

"Has she ever done that before?"

"Not that I'm aware of," he answered her.

"Do you think I scared her? Is this some reaction like fear or shock because she found out her identity was burnt by GIA?"

"I don't know."

"What should we do?"

"I don't know."

Weatherby was still standing in the same spot staring at the chair where Baily had been sitting seconds before.

Marybeth Ingle stood up too and began to cry. After months of being imprisoned by the aliens on level eighteen, this was just too much. She felt responsible for losing Baily. Weatherby immediately put his arms around her. He was always a sucker for a woman in distress. Once he had her in his arms, he realized how small and vulnerable she was, how young she was. She had seemed so bossy and fierce until now, but suddenly she seemed small and fragile.

"It will be O.K., Dr. Ingle, I have a feeling she'll come back from wherever she is."

While he assured Marybeth, he wasn't really so sure he believed it himself. All they could do was wait, and Weatherby dearly hoped that Vickers didn't discover that Baily was missing.

Eventually Baily felt that she had gained competence to use her Andorian talents and it was time for her to decide what to do with them. She knew she had choices. One choice was to stay in Ezoku and avoid being captured by GIA. Another choice was to go back in time prior to submitting her original DNA test, and regain her old life and avoid being captured by GIA to begin with. She discussed this option with Synnove.

"But you can't do that dear, because if you go back in time to that moment, your earlier and slightly younger self will already be there. There can't be two of you occupying the same space-time," Synnove calmly explained.

"Ugh, I hadn't thought about that. What if I chose to stay here with you in Ezoku?" Baily asked.

"You could, but it would probably feel odd to you since you are used to living in the human world. However, you are most certainly welcome to stay here, or to visit as often as you like. As I told you, I am here as an observer."

"You mean you're a spy for Andor?" Baily asked.

"No, not really a spy. Don't forget, our goal is to serve others. I keep an eye on the GIA and their associated agencies. They are determined to gain access to off world technology, sometimes from untrustworthy sources such as the Alpha-Draconians and the Prafins. As you have seen, they didn't even know about the Alpha-Draconians. They are putting humanity in harms-way. While I cannot directly intervene, I can keep the Universal Starlight Union apprised of their situation and their progress."

"Why can't you directly intervene?"

"I am a member of the Universal Starlight Union Diplomatic Corps. To be honest, I have a junior position in the Corps but I perform a very important job. While I am isolated and often lonely here, I am performing a very needed task for the U.S.U. Diplomatic Corps. It is critically important that the U.S.U. be aware of what is taking place on Earth, specifically with regard to the M-BUG.

"Earth is a rather underdeveloped planet, you know, compared to the U.S.U. planets. By underdeveloped, I mean that humans are considered to be culturally rather primitive on multiple levels, including their often-violent conflicts with each other, and their overall lack of scientific advancement. They don't even know how to travel around the Milky Way Galaxy, while the rest of us are already exploring other galaxies. So, the U.S.U. is concerned about this M-BUG and the fact that enemies of the U.S.U. are working on suspicious projects with humans, probably in exchange for off-world technology that is dangerous in human hands.

"To get back to your question, I cannot directly intervene to protect humans because, firstly, they can't know that I'm here on Earth at all. I'm essentially an uninvited alien, living in a secret dimension, Ezoku, which is unknown and unavailable to humans. Secondly, my purpose here is not to protect humans, but to observe them. I am a diplomat, not a warrior. Direct intervention would potentially put me in conflict with the Prafins and the Alpha-Draconians. I am not trained for war or conflict, I am here as a peaceful observer. Thirdly, it is against my religion to engage in conflict. I believe in Ha-Un, as I explained to you. My religion requires me to serve others and never to hurt others."

"Never hurt others, even in self-defense?" Baily asked.

"Correct, never hurt others for any reason. Harming others is never justified. I would like to again extend my offer to you, to invite you to stay in Ezoku if you think you would feel secure and relaxed here, you are welcome to stay. I fear though that you might feel bored here and miss the features of the three-dimensional world that you grew up in that are not available in Ezoku."

Baily disagreed with Synnove's answer. People have to be able to defend themselves from rape, slavery, or murder. But apparently, these issues don't pose a threat on the Universal Starlight Union planets. Baily wondered what that must be like. Perhaps humans are underdeveloped after all, she thought. She quickly realized though that living full time in Ezoku would not be pleasant as there didn't seem to be anything here.

"I see. Well, I think you are right, I would feel safe here, but I would not be comfortable staying here. Furthermore, I would not be helping anyone by staying here. Now that I know about this team of scientists being held in captivity on the eighteenth floor of the M-BUG, I feel that I have an obligation to help liberate them if I can. I know how it feels to be a captive. But once I liberate them, I want to find my own freedom again."

"I don't blame you. How are you going to liberate the scientists?" Synnove asked.

"The Alpha-Draconian on level eighteen..."

"NAGA-LUF," said Synnove, "his name is NAGA-LUF."

"Well, he told me that if I rescue his son from annihilation in 1948, he will release the scientific team."

"His son, NAGA-SEB, was even more dangerous and more ruthless than he is. These Alpha-Draconians are liars, they will promise anything to get what they want. Don't expect them to keep their promises," warned Synnove.

"I need to at least try," said Baily.

"I have to warn you, you could be an unwitting accomplice to helping them enslave mankind. I strongly advise you to not rescue NAGA-SEB," Synnove said.

"I can't think of any other way to free the scientists. Mankind will have to fight for their freedom if need be," Baily recklessly answered.

"It's not that easy. Mankind doesn't have the ability to fight Prafin and Alpha-Draconian mind-power or alien technology," sighed Synnove.

Baily's young mind was made up. She didn't go right back to 1948 though. First, she returned to the green room. Soon she was sitting in her seat as if nothing had happened, and continued the conversation.

"What exactly do you mean when you say that you erased my identity?" she calmly asked Weatherby.

She was right back in her familiar comfortable third dimensional world, sitting in the overstuffed armchair. Truth to be told, she had never actually left, she had simply moved into another dimension for approximately three hours and now she was back in the third dimensional world. Weatherby and Dr. Ingle had no idea that Baily had just been in a dimension called Ezoku, or that Ezoku exists at all. As far as they knew, she had disappeared from their sight for a few hours and then suddenly reappeared without any explanation as to where she had been in her absence. They presumed she had ceased to exist for a few hours or had simply been invisible. One thing was certain, she wouldn't give any explanation. Baily simply acted as though she had been there all along and as though no time had passed. She acted as though she had not gone invisible, leading them to believe that she had no memory of being invisible for a few hours. It was all very odd.

Weatherby swallowed hard, thinking, at least she's taking it calmly, now that she's returned.

He said, "Your parents think that you died in a car accident. I'm so sorry, Baily. As far as everyone on Earth is concerned, Baily Chatham passed away.'

Marybeth Ingle had stepped away from Weatherby's embrace before Baily returned. Now that Baily was back and was safe, Marybeth was no longer the small vulnerable girl that Weatherby had held in his arms. She was once again the fierce woman who was outraged at any injustice, especially an injustice aimed at the woman who had just saved her from slavery. She glared daggers at Weatherby.

"This is how you treat the woman who rescued me from slavery? I won't allow GIA to keep her enslaved here the way I was enslaved on level eighteen. You have to make this right."

"Dr. Ingle, it's not my call," said Weatherby, "I'm under orders..."

"Nazis follow orders, Americans think independently. Make this right Weatherby."

Marybeth gave him a withering look and sat back down in her armchair.

Baily sighed, she knew she could escape any time she wanted to, but she couldn't tell them about her Andorian skills without scaring them. Anyway, they would wonder how she suddenly had so much knowledge about herself and her Andorian skill set. So instead, she decided to be the voice of reason.

"Listen, Weatherby, tell me what would happen if you didn't follow orders?"

He immediately answered.

"I would be accused of treason and either put to death or buried deep in a secret federal prison for life. There wouldn't be a trial.

Marybeth jumped to her feet.

"What do you mean no trial?"

"Come on, Dr. Ingle, you know GIA is a secret government agency. You signed a slew of documents when you agreed to work for us. If you don't cooperate with the agency, one of two things happen to you as a private contractor. First, you go into the hospital for treatment for severe mental illness, which is considered a warning shot, and if that doesn't shut you up, then you are found dead from apparent suicide," Weatherby responded.

Marybeth sank back down into her armchair, still glaring at Weatherby, but now speechless. None of them spoke for a few seconds while they thought about their situation. Marybeth Ingle and Jacob Weatherby were feeling uncomfortably helpless about not being able to assist Baily. On the other hand, Baily knew that she had quite a few options, including living in another dimension, or going to the far past or the future, so she was unconcerned about her freedom. Her greatest concern and sorrow was losing her family and friends, especially Mimi. She hoped to find a way to get them all back someday.

Baily calmly broke the silence.

"We need to plan out our next move. NAGA-LUF promised to release all the humans on level eighteen if I bring back his son from oblivion prior to his death in 1948.

She looked at their blank faces and wondered what they didn't understand. Then she quickly remembered that they didn't know about her time in Ezoku, so of course they didn't know that the dragon-man was named NAGA-LUF, nor did they know that she had learned how to time travel (oops).

Marybeth said, "Who promised..."

"You have to do what for whom?" Weatherby asked simultaneously. "Oh, you mean the dragon-man, right? He wants you to travel to 1948 and rescue his son. So, he told you his name is NAGA-LUF?"

Baily nodded. She needed to be more careful. There was no reason to tell anyone about Synnove. Her future and her freedom depended on keeping Synnove a secret.

Baily asked Weatherby, "If I could figure out how to time travel, would GIA want me to go back to 1948 to rescue the dragon-man's son?"

*************************************************************

CHAPTER 9. THE RESCUE MISSION

Later that day, as promised, Weatherby was able to move Baily out of her prisoner's cell and into a slightly more comfortable studio where she had towels, pillows and a blanket. She even had a comfortable chair with an ottoman to sit on. It was simple, but nicely furnished, so she felt more like a guest and less like a captive. Although she was still locked into her room at night, she simply walked through the wall when she wanted to leave. Her grasp of her Andorian skills gave her a new freedom in the M-BUG, thanks to Synnove's kind guidance.

Earlier in the day, Baily had seen where Dr. Marybeth Ingle's apartment was located in the M-BUG. The doctor's apartment was a one-bedroom, one-bath, spacious home that was warmly decorated with beautiful artwork, rich charming décor, and comfortable furniture. While there were no windows, there were huge programmable panels depicting outdoor scenes which could display either urban or country views of any season. Once the display was chosen, the time of day changed appropriately.

Late in the evening, unaware of the security cameras tracking her movements, Baily walked through her solid front door and went to visit Marybeth. Rather than stop her, security monitored her. When she approached Dr. Ingle's apartment, they called to warn the doctor.

"That's fine, I'm perfectly safe," Dr. Ingle told them calmly. "Baily saved my life today. She's my friend, I'm sure that she's just coming to visit me. Stand down please."

Of course, some security guards had moved into position near Dr. Ingle's apartment, but they remained discreet. Baily was surprised when Marybeth opened the door before she could even ring the bell, but the warm greeting she received knocked the confusion right out of her mind. Baily was just happy to have a friend in the M-BUG.

"I thought you had a view of the beaches," she commented about the fake "window" panels as she looked at the night view of a quaint mountain town drenched in snow.

"Yes, but I reprogrammed the panels to display a little town in Switzerland so that I can pretend that I'm on one of my favorite vacations. If only we could go skiing, but what we can do is make some hot chocolate. Let's go into the kitchen."

Over cups of cocoa in Marybeth's cozy kitchen they discussed what life had been like for Marybeth during her sojourn on level eighteen. She even drew a map for Baily to show her where the scientists slept, where they ate, and where their work areas were. She showed Baily that there was a staircase that had been hidden from her view as well. In addition, Marybeth showed Baily the layout of the M-BUG, including elevators in the front of the building that lead to the lobby, and to the outside world. She didn't tell Baily to try to escape, but she thought that Baily should have some knowledge about how to best plot an escape route, should the opportunity arise. Then she continued to discuss her experience on level eighteen.

"We were allowed to get approximately five hours of sleep per night," she told Baily, "and the Dragon-man wasn't around then. There seemed to be minimal guards around then as well. They had us pretty much under their control."

"By guards, you mean the Prafins?" Baily asked.

"Prafins? I mean the little Gray fiends, they work for the Dragon-man. If we tried to resist or escape them they would inflict much pressure on our brains we couldn't take the pain. It felt like our heads would explode. Sometimes soldiers would show up with weapons and we thought they might rescue us, but the Prafins just exploded their heads and then disintegrated them with their strange weapons. After a while we were afraid to even try to defy them in any way," Marybeth answered.

"It sounds horrible. I don't know how you survived. I think that you and all of the scientists are very brave. I am committed to rescuing the rest of your team from level eighteen. If I can go back in time and bring back the Dragon-man's son from 1948, and free the scientists on the eighteenth floor, do you think these people here that run this M-BUG will let me go free?" Baily asked.

Marybeth was not the type of person to pussyfoot around. She didn't tell Baily what she thought the girl wanted to hear, it wasn't her style. Marybeth Ingle was a straight shooter. As a scientist, she dealt with facts, and it never occurred her to tell a white lie. Her answer was painful.

"Honestly? No. I think they will try to keep you under their control or even try to kill you. They already erased your identity. They view you as a threat to humanity. You have to decide if you are going to cooperate with them or escape from them, but they will most likely never let you go of their own free will."

Baily's shoulders fell. She was in the unusual position of grieving over her own death, even though she was still alive. Her identity had just permanently "died" by virtue of the fact that GIA had erased her existence via a fake fatal car accident. Her connection to her family and friends was forever severed. All of her goals and dreams for her future had just been abruptly terminated along with her identity.

Not only did she lose her family, friends, goals, and future, she now had to adapt to a new self-concept. Suddenly she had to come to terms with being non-human. Parts of her brain that she had never even known existed were being activated. Who knew that she could telecommunicate with aliens, or walk through walls, or possibly time travel? Who knew that she could disappear from the view of other people and enter into another dimension that no else could enter. Part of her mind wondered if any of it was even real, if maybe she was simply insane and imagining the entire thing.

She missed her life so much that it hurt to think about it. The only thing that Baily really wanted was to go back home and resume her life, even though she knew it wasn't possible. She just wasn't ready to totally walk away from the person she used to be.

"Do you trust me?" Baily asked Marybeth.

"With all my heart," Marybeth answered.

"Do you have a cell phone or a tablet or something like that?"

"Yes, I have both and a computer too," Marybeth answered.

"Listen, I know I'm literally dead to the world, and I promise not to communicate from the grave, but can I just use your phone to check my email and look at my Facebook account to see my old friends and family one more time?" Baily pleaded.

"Of course, you can," she said.

Marybeth realized that Baily was barely out of her teenage years. This poor kid, Marybeth thought, they have totally destroyed her life.

Marybeth fetched her cell-phone and giggled, "I just have to enter my high-level security code."

Baily watched her enter the digits 0-1-0-1.

"It's binary. It amuses me. Here you go, have at it," Marybeth offered the cell-phone to Baily.

Baily immediately read through her emails but was careful not to answer any, pleased that GIA hadn't erased those. Then she logged into Facebook and was happy to see that she still had an account but when she saw the posts she started to softly cry. Her obituary was posted and family and friends had already started to leave condolence notes and memories of her. There was a message about where and when her funeral would be.

Baily scrolled down and viewed the last "selfie" that she and Mimi had taken right before she had "died" in the fake car accident. Mimi had written a heart-rending note of love and loss to her best friend. It was maddening. Their last picture was so cute, they were so innocent and happy. She thought about sending a message to her friend or parents, but she didn't trust GIA. Surely, they would kill anyone who knew she was really alive. For the safety of her family and friends, she refrained from contacting anyone she knew. She wasn't really ready to stop being the old Baily Chatham, but she didn't want to be responsible for causing harm to anyone she loved either. Baily logged out of Facebook and handed the phone back to Marybeth.

"Thank you for trusting me," she whispered, "you're the only one who does."

"I'll always be your friend, and I'll never forget what you did for me today. I'll always be here for you," Marybeth promised.

She meant it. No matter what the future might bring, she would help this girl who had saved her life. She vowed to herself to never forget this girl's courage. Baily had succeeded in a task where armed soldiers had failed. In Marybeth's opinion, Baily was a spectacularly daring, courageous young woman. She would do anything for her.

"I guess I better go back to my room and get some sleep," Baily said, with a heavy heart.

"Sure," agreed Marybeth as they got up and moved toward the front door. "I need some sleep too, I have a feeling that tomorrow is going to be an intense day again." Before she opened the door, Marybeth asked, "If GIA wants you to time-travel, do you think you would be able to do it?"

"Yes, I think I can do it," Baily answered without hesitation.

"And do you want to try?" asked Marybeth.

"Yes, because I want to free the scientists. What GIA did to me was wrong, but two wrongs don't make a right. I live to serve others. I want to make the world a better place by helping other people whenever I can," Baily firmly answered.

Baily didn't explain her newfound religion to Marybeth. However, her belief in HA-UN and the associated principles was really just a more intense extension of the religion she had been taught in her childhood. HA-UN was just another name for the universal G-d she had believed in all her life. Today, from Synnove, she had learned about the importance of serving others. She had learned that HA-UN had created not just the heavens and the earth, but he/she had created all the heavens and all the earths. Baily's commitment to helping people in distress was something much greater than the petty fears of the GIA leadership.

Marybeth smiled and gave her a hug. "You are an amazing person," she whispered to her. "Go try and get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."

Baily left, but instead of going back to her room, she suddenly decided to take a look around the M-BUG before returning to her assigned quarters. First, she took the elevator to the seventeenth floor, still unaware that she was being watched by security. She got off the elevator on seventeen and had a look around. She was surprised to see that there wasn't much on that floor, it seemed to be used mostly for storage. It was largely empty space.

Baily knew what was on the infamous eighteenth floor and she had no desire to go there. However, she wondered if there were lower levels. Knowing that the elevator only went to eighteen, she found the staircase and went down the stairs. It seemed to dead-end at level eighteen until she noticed a brick slightly sticking out of place in the wall, very low down. She knelt down and pushed it in. A small space slid open, just large enough for a Prafin to walk through.

Baily decided to squeeze through it, half crouching, half crawling, at this point she had disappeared from the view of the security cameras which were pointed at the door, not at the brick wall. She had to walk hunched over down a narrow staircase until she came to a small door at level nineteen. She opened the door and peeped through it. She found a very gruesome scene on the other side of the door. There was a huge laboratory were human subjects were being kept in cages. They were clearly being used for experiments. Some had feet where hands should be, some had two lower arms growing out of one elbow. One had an extra eye in the middle of his forehead. All were in pain, and most were at least semi-conscious.

Some started to cry loudly for help at the sight of her, some seemed to have only silent cries. She realized that some of them might be the soldiers that had disappeared on the eighteenth floor, the ones that had been sent to rescue the scientists. Apparently not all of them had been killed. There were too many for her to help and she knew that their cries would soon alert the Prafins. They looked like they were probably beyond her help at that moment. None looked able to ambulate up a flight of stairs.

Horrified, and feeling helpless, Baily nearly closed the door. She made a mental note to tell Weatherby what she had found: more humans in need of rescue. However, she spotted a set of keys that she presumed would open the cages, sitting on a counter. There were no Prafins in sight, so she took a chance and rushed over to the counter and grabbed the keys. She nearly had them in her hand when the sound of the victims screams grew much louder. Looking up at the closest prisoner she saw him looking in terror, not at her but behind her. Baily turned in the direction of his gaze and saw a Prafin coming out of a door atop a short flight of stairs across the room, to the right of where she had entered. The Prafin spotted her at the same moment. He probably came to see why his victims had been screaming.

Baily quickly ducked down but she could already feel the pressure building in her head. The Prafin was already putting pressure on her brain, trying to make her brain explode. If she were human, perhaps she would already be dead, or maybe he was playing with her so he could capture her and use her as one of his experiments. She knew that she needed to get into Ezoku quickly to escape the wrath of the Prafin, but it was hard to concentrate with the pain in her head. She sensed the Prafin was getting closer. His victims were screaming louder, they didn't seem to be able to speak clearly, only to scream with garbled speech. It was as though they had been reduced to animals. She could barely process what was happening. It took all of her strength to focus on entering into Ezoku. She was crawling on the ground, but she was finally able to crawl to the safety of her new dimension, Ezoku.

She called out to Synnove for help, still crawling through the cloudy pastel world of Ezoku, feeling weak due to the pressure in her brain. Just as she spotted Synnove coming toward her, to her horror, she felt something grab her foot. She looked back and realized that her entire body wasn't in Ezoku. Her left foot was still in the outside world. She hadn't been able to crawl completely to safety. The Prafin was trying to pull her back to his dimension.

To him it must appear to be a disembodied foot. He was very strong and Baily felt herself sliding out of Ezoku. She had nothing to grab onto. Synnove was too far away to help her. She didn't want to become a prisoner on the nineteenth floor, locked in a cage, a subject of one of their experiments. Her mind froze in sheer terror as her body was being dragged out of Ezoku. She heard Synnove calling out to her, telling her to concentrate, but her mind was overcome with panic, and she was losing the battle with the Prafin.

She saw Synnove gliding very fast toward her as she helplessly slid out of Ezoku until only her head and one arm were still in the safety of Synnove's world. She lost sight of Synnove as her head emerged back into the nineteenth level and once again she was in the laboratory of horrors, with only her right arm and hand in Ezoku from her elbow to her fingers.

She could hear the Prafin's voice in her head, "You are mine now..."

But she suddenly felt a hand grab her right hand and start pulling, a very strong and firm pull. The Prafin was holding her firmly around the waist. Baily turned and twisted her body sideways and kicked the Prafin with all her might as Synnove pulled her into Ezoku. The Prafin fell back slightly, just in time for Synnove to yank her to safety. This time Baily quickly bent both of her knees up toward her chest and made sure she was completely in the pastel world that no one but Andorians could enter.

"I didn't know that could happen, that I could be only partly in Ezoku," she said.

She panted in relief, crouched in a nearly fetal position waiting for her heart rate to slow down.

"I didn't know either, I've never seen that happen before," Synnove answered, looking concerned. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, I think so. I just wanted to see what else was in the M-BUG. I've been here for a while and I wanted to see exactly where I'm being kept as a prisoner."

"I can show you around from the safety of Ezoku if you like," Synnove offered. "I'm very familiar with this place. You'll be amazed at what is actually happening here. It's quite big, and there are parts that the humans are unaware of, like the floor you just discovered."

"I would like that. I think I need to let Weatherby know about the nineteenth level. If they think the eighteenth level is bad, they won't believe what is going on down on the nineteenth level. It's even worse."

"Yes, quite so," Synnove agreed with her usual serenity. "I'm afraid it only gets worse."

Baily couldn't imagine anything worse than what she had just seen, but she dutifully went with Synnove, staying in the safety of Ezoku space. There was another level down. They went down to into level twenty. Here they found another shocking sight.

Level twenty opened into an enormous train station. They were just in time to see a double wide transparent train leave the station, where there were several Prafins inside the cars. Baily had no idea where they were headed but the tracks headed as far as her eye could see in several directions. There were Prafins milling around at the station, apparently waiting for another train. One car was for transporting livestock and some human prisoners were in this car, in their cages. Baily couldn't imagine what their business was or where these trains were going, but she was horrified.

"What is going on here?" Baily asked.

"I've entered several of these trains in the past. They go all over this and other countries and connect to other M-BUGs. However, the humans don't know about these trains or the existence of the other M-BUGs. As far as I can tell the other M-BUGs have only levels nineteen and twenty with a stairwell or elevator up to the surface. They kidnap people and animals all over the country, and from other countries, and take them to the lower levels, or sometimes transport them around by the trains down here."

"This doesn't make sense, why are they doing this?" Baily asked confused.

"They are conducting some kind of research. Some of their laboratories are being used just for agricultural research," Synnove explained.

"I still don't understand. If they are doing all of this, why are they holding the human scientists on the eighteenth floor here?"

"I suspect they are reading their minds. They give them tasks to complete to terraform the Earth and transform humans and animals. They don't really expect the scientists to cooperate, but they read their minds to glean what the scientists know. Then they actually apply the knowledge in their own labs," Synnove answered.

This response made sense, but was so disgusting, Baily couldn't respond. It seems that while the scientists believe that they are hoodwinking the aliens, the opposite is true. While the scientists are thinking about how to confuse and mislead the aliens, the aliens are reading their minds and learning what the scientists really know. Baily thought about how enormous this alien invasion really was. It was much more complex than anyone realized. The aliens were conducting their own worldwide experiments on humans, animals and agriculture. They were changing biological life and terraforming the Earth right under our noses and no one even knew about it. Even the GIA didn't know what was really going on. There wasn't time to take any train rides tonight, so Baily was ready to explore the M-BUG's other floors.

They quickly returned to the stairwell and ran back up the stairs as quickly as they could to level sixteen. There they saw hundreds of people working. They took their time walking around this floor and saw people working at computer stations. Baily realized that they were monitoring international social media and news in all of the languages on earth to see what people were reading and saying about aliens. It was obvious that these employees were making sure that the public didn't believe in aliens. They replaced any credible information with fake news and conspiracy theories so anyone who reported on aliens looked foolish.

"It's weird that they're working so late at night," Baily noted.

"I think they work in shifts twenty-four hours a day," Synnove explained.

"No wonder humans don't feel comfortable talking about aliens on Earth. Anytime some valid information surfaces, they make it look ridiculous. Of course, people feel like idiots admitting they believe in extraterrestrials." Baily commented.

"It's not like this on other planets. On Andor, for example, we know about life on other planets and, as you know, we formed the Universal Starlight Union with many of the species from other planets. For some reason, the government leaders here on Earth want to keep humans ignorant about life on other planets. It's truly a shame and this attitude will probably cause the demise of life on this planet," Synnove responded.

Baily agreed, and satisfied that she understood what was happening on sixteen, Baily and Synnove took the stairs to fifteen, however they remained in Ezoku space so no one in the third dimensional world could see them. Security was confused, they had lost track of Baily quite a long time ago. Security personnel were dispatched to the stairwell to try and locate her. Meanwhile, on level fifteen, Baily and Synnove found research staff also working at computer stations, monitoring aliens around the globe. Their job on level fifteen was to try and control their (alien) behaviors, do damage control, coordinate their comings and goings between the Earth and the moon, and arrange meetings with select Pentagon officials as needed.

Interesting, thought Baily, "So, while they deny the existence of aliens on Earth, they have a group of professionals devoted to keeping aliens secret and setting up meetings for aliens with Pentagon officials when needed?"

Synnove nodded, "Yes, they try to manage the aliens' behaviors and keep them out of human sight on the one hand. On the other hand, there are times when they need to set up meetings between them and select Pentagon officials who are assigned to negotiate with them. Mind you, not all Pentagon personnel know about the aliens, only a few select high level officials are aware of aliens on Earth. The level fifteen staff try to regulate spaceship traffic between Earth and the moon, but of course most of that is out of their control anyway. Aliens do as they please most of the time. They usually travel in an invisible stealth mode so they can't be seen by humans. However, if their scout-craft is in distress or crashes they become visible, although this rarely happens."

They moved to level fourteen and took a look around there. On Fourteen they found an enormous lab filled with human scientists. Baily couldn't tell exactly what they were doing. They seemed to be engaged in inventing some type of technology. Some of the research included self-driving cars, flying cars, holographic messaging technology and entertainment centers as well as virtual reality technology. Synnove confirmed this and explained that this would make sense when she saw the other floors.

"When you see what is happening on some of the higher floors, you will realize that the team on this floor is attempting to apply knowledge gained from the research being conducted upstairs."

Baily already knew that level thirteen held the administrative offices and conference rooms. She had also been on level twelve, which seemed to hold food courts, restaurants, cafeterias, and leisure centers for break rooms. Her own cell had been on level eleven along with conference and debriefing rooms. She had just come from level ten, where Doctor Marybeth had her lovely apartment and Baily had a small studio. So, Baily and Synnove went up to level nine.

On level nine they found beautiful two and three-story homes built around parks. There were fountains, swings, and bike-riding paths in the parks as well as picnic areas. The sky on this level was adjusted with a dark evening view with stars. Baily instinctively knew it would show a fake sunrise in a few hours. It was a beautiful suburban scene, apparently for people who permanently lived in the M-BUG. She went up to the prettiest house and saw the name on the mailbox: Vickers.

"I can't believe that people actually live down here permanently. I can't imagine being a child and growing up here, never knowing what it's like to live on the surface of the Earth," Baily shook her head in disapproval and disbelief.

"There are very few children here, mostly babies and toddlers," Synnove assured her. "I don't think they intend to stay permanently, this is for short term assignments, maybe up to three years at the most."

"It still strikes me as a horrible idea, especially with the Prafins and Alpha-Draconians downstairs."

"Oh, these people don't know about that. I think only Vickers and his small team know about the Prafins and they just found out about the Alpha-Draconians," Synnove reminded her.

"Even without the danger of the aliens, this is no place for children. They need sunshine."

They went up to level eight. There they found a giant lab that was obviously being used to back engineer alien technology. They even saw a damaged scout-craft on this level. Then they moved up to level seven, it was the same as level eight. Baily found the same type of laboratory on level six.

"You see, on level fourteen the engineers are trying to invent new devices based on what is being discovered on levels six, seven and eight where they are back engineering alien technology. I think this is the heart of the M-BUG. This is their primary purpose," Synnove explained.

"I don't think they understand the high price they are paying for this technology," Baily sadly murmured. "It won't do them any good to have all this alien advanced technology when humans are subjugated or wiped out entirely."

"Yes, it's very disappointing. That's why the Andorians refuse to give the humans any of our technology. We believe that the humans aren't mature enough to handle it, and apparently they never will be."

Synnove and Baily continued their tour of the M-BUG. Level five was a night life complex: nightclubs, casinos, dancehalls with jukeboxes, and gaming rooms with video games. There were very few people enjoying this level.

They went up to level four and found a cultural center. There was an art museum, library, movie theater, and a small university for continuing education. They continued up to level three and found an enormous sports complex. There were places here to play hockey, soccer, basketball, baseball, and football. There was even a golf course. Level two was health related. Here they found a beauty parlor, health spa, gym, skating rink, and indoor pool. Levels two, three and four were empty this time of night.

"I didn't know that there were so many people here to enjoy all of this. I don't see anyone on the top levels at all," Baily said.

"They don't all live here in the M-BUG," Synnove explained. "Some come in from the surrounding city. They have varying levels of security clearance. Remember most of them don't know anything about level eighteen and none of them know about levels nineteen and twenty. Levels two through five aren't used by many people."

The stairs went up to level one. They found a lobby to what appeared to be a federal government agency called the "Central Aeronautics Policy Administration" which was probably a front for the GIA. Baily thought about leaving, but where would she go with no identification, no money, no clothing? She couldn't go home without endangering her family. Moreover, she had committed herself to helping the scientists on level eighteen escape, and now she had found human victims on level nineteen as well. For now, Baily decided to go back to her studio and get some sleep. However, for future reference, it was good to know how to leave the M-BUG. All she needed to do was to develop a survival plan. She knew that she would need to create some kind of identification for herself prior to her future escape.

"I guess that about does it. At least I know what's in this facility. I know a lot more than Weatherby knows. I don't know when I'm even going to tell him about it because I don't want to tell him about Ezoku yet. Eventually I'll have to explain level nineteen and level twenty to him," Baily said.

"It's entirely up to you," Synnove said.

"Thank you for rescuing me tonight, and for safely showing me around the M-BUG. I guess I should go get some sleep," Baily responded.

"You don't have to stay here, you know. It really is your choice," Synnove offered.

"Where would I go?" Baily asked.

"You are in a difficult situation. You look human, but you are not human. You were raised on Earth, but yet you are not from Earth and you have no home planet. I'm not sure where you would fit in best, but I'm sure we can think of something. Anytime that you want to leave the M-BUG, let me know and I will help you," Synnove assured her.

"Thank you, it's good to know that I have options, but for now I'm going to stay here. I think I'm safe for the moment. Goodnight Synnove."

Security noticed that Baily showed up in her room and they called off the search for her. They were enormously relieved that she hadn't permanently disappeared. However, they realized that she could leave at any time and there was nothing they could do to prevent her from departing from the M-BUG. They were happy that she had stayed, but wondered what she was up to.

Prior to starting his usual workday, Weatherby had a quick meeting with Vickers who had some unexpected and perturbing news.

"After viewing the film of Baily's experience on the eighteenth floor I got curious and ordered the original architectural designs for that floor. I'm sure it will come as no surprise that they have mysteriously disappeared. However, with some digging, I was able to secure notes one of the draftsmen kept. What I discovered was rather disturbing," Vickers said.

"It should have been a red flag that the entire floor was built to such an extreme height. As Baily mentioned, little grey men wouldn't need such a tall floor to work on," Weatherby responded.

"True, but that's not what really startled me."

"So, what did you find out?" Weatherby asked.

"Baily didn't actually move through a glass wall."

"Well it certainly looked like a glass wall to me," Weatherby answered, perplexed.

"Yes, it was certainly transparent like glass, but chemically it was composed of entirely different material than glass. It was bullet proof glass, over three inches thick."

"So, even if she had been human the glass would not have shattered." Weatherby responded.

"Correct. Why do you suppose they needed bullet proof glass?" Vickers asked.

Weatherby considered the question for a few seconds.

"I guess they planned to take prisoners from the start. They must have anticipated that we would send soldiers to free them."

"Exactly. We were being duped from the beginning. They came to Earth with a plan and we are only little pawns in their big game. Now the question is: what is their end game? I'm afraid they're here to take over our planet. I don't like it. We need to find out how many of these creatures are on Earth and where their headquarters are located. How these giants could be hiding on Earth without our knowing about them is beyond imagining."

"Is it a good idea to let Baily time-travel to save one of them?"

"Maybe that will give us a clue about who and where they are. Apparently, they've been here since at least the 1940's without our knowledge."

Personally, Weatherby thought it was a horrible idea to save the life of one of these creatures, but Vickers was the boss.

Later that morning, Weatherby actually knocked on Baily's door (as opposed to just walking in), which pleased her very much. When she opened the door, she found him standing there with his killer smile that reached all the way to his kind sea green eyes that lit up at the sight of her.

"Morning sunshine," he greeted her. "Ready to start another fun day?"

Baily sighed, "As ready as any newly dead person can be. At least I'm not buried yet."

She had been thinking about her impending funeral but she couldn't tell Weatherby about that or she might get Marybeth in trouble. Of course, Weatherby already knew because security had audio-visual equipment in all the residences and prison cells in the M-BUG, so Weatherby had already reviewed the late-night meeting between the two women. He also knew that Baily had disappeared from the security cameras for some time the evening before.

"You're not dead yet, kid. I'm sorry that the agency burnt your existence as you knew it before, please believe me Baily. I hate that they did that to you. It would never have been my choice or my decision but I can't reverse it. Believe me, I tried. But you still have a life, and it doesn't have to be a bad life."

He sincerely meant what he said, but they both knew he was very limited in what he could do for her. If it were up to him alone he would definitely set her free. He trusted her implicitly, even though he knew she possessed inhuman powers.

"GIA seems to want to enslave me," Baily answered bitterly, realizing that at best they wanted to enslave her. At worst, they wanted to kill her as soon as she served her purpose.

"I have a feeling that no one will ever enslave you, and I pity the fool who tries. I'm on your side, beautiful, always," Weatherby answered softly.

He was thinking about her ability to walk through walls and her ability to disappear for hours at a time from the security camera. He had also been surprised to hear her confidently affirm that she would be able to time travel. There would be zero possibility to enslave such a creature, such a perfectly gorgeous kind-hearted creature. She might not be human, but she was willing to time travel and attempt to free captive scientists for an agency that had destroyed her life. Her super human skills and supreme kindness broke his heart.

"Come on Sunshine, the chocolate cake is waiting for you. Let's go have breakfast before we start our new adventure," he said playfully.

She smiled despite her depressed mood.

"Oh, no, not that again. I lived another day to diet, remember?" she chided him as she followed him out to the employee cafeteria.

During breakfast, Weatherby surprised Baily by informing her that she was not the only baby to be rescued in the "plane crash."

"You mean there're others like me?" she asked.

"Just one that we know of. There was a baby boy found in the wreck. He was also put up for adoption. He's your age, and you're going to meet him today."

This was surprising news. All her life, Baily had believed that her parents had died in a plane crash. She had always been told that it was small private plane and that she was the only survivor. It had come as a huge shock to find out the that the small private plane was actually an alien scout-craft. Now, there is a new twist to the story, there was another baby to survive the crash.

"So, am I related to him?" Baily asked hopefully.

"No," answered Weatherby, "According to your DNA reports, you are both alien hybrids though. However, a segment of your DNA is probably from the same alien entity. We are analyzing that now. It might be your non-third-dimensional parent, but we don't quite have the appropriate equipment for a proper analysis."

"So, we might be related?" she asked.

"Possibly, there might be some relationship, but you are both very complex. We believe you were both created in a laboratory."

This was depressing news, although it was the second time he had mentioned it to her. It made Baily wonder if she even had an eternal soul. She had no idea who or what she was. Her lilac eyes watered as she bit her lip, deep in thought. It was bad enough to be an orphan, worse to find out that she was from another planet. Just when she thought it couldn't get any worse, she finds out that she doesn't have any biological parents on any planet. What does it mean to be a creature that was made in a laboratory?

"All I wanted was to find out about my DNA, like everyone else is doing. I wanted to know if my relatives came from Sweden or something. I wanted to know if there were any medical conditions that run in my family that I should know about. I wish I had never done that DNA test and I would still be living a normal life. Now I found out I was created in a laboratory on another planet. What does that make me? Am I some sort of alien experiment?" she wondered.

"Cheer up, Sunshine. You're still the smartest, bravest young woman I've ever met. It doesn't matter where you were born or how you were born. It only matters how you live your life, remember?"

Weatherby was looking at her with concern, his sea green eyes glittering with empathy.

Baily poked at her vegetable omelet and nodded. It was true, she was still the same person. She was committed to everything that Synnove had taught her. She went over it quickly in her mind. The universal religion. Service to others. Mutual respect. Freedom. Intergalactic harmony. She felt like she was part of something much bigger than just herself, bigger than a family or a tribe or a country. She was part of something bigger than one planet. She was part of the Universal Starlight Union and all of its associated planets and cultures. She was part of universal peace.

Baily looked up at Weatherby and smiled.

"You're right. I've lost a lot, but I'm still going to make a difference in this world. I'm going to start by freeing those scientists on the eighteenth floor."

In the back of her mind though, she promised herself that after she freed the scientists, she would set herself free and find a way to start a new life. She just had to figure where she would go and how she would live.

Weatherby smiled very broadly, feeling very relieved.

"That's my girl," he said.

To himself, he thought, mission accomplished, at least for now. He was impressed by her courage, by the fact that she still believed that she could make a difference in the world, and he dearly hoped it would become true in the most positive way.

After breakfast, Weatherby took Baily to a new conference room, one she hadn't been to before, where she encountered some people she knew and one she didn't know. Karina Simon was there, ready to record the conference and prepared to provide any technology devices requested. Colonel Vickers was present, ready to conduct the meeting. Marybeth Ingle was there in an advisory capacity. The new person, a tall handsome Nordic looking young man, had slightly pointed ears, a small nose, cornflower blue almond shaped wide-spaced eyes and a very wide face. He looked boyish and clean cut. His name was Ethan Madison.

The minute Baily saw Ethan she had an intense desire to get him alone and interrogate him. Does he have forty teeth? Is he a vegetarian? Has he met Synnove? Has he been to Ezoku? Was he kidnapped by GIA like she was? However, they were in a room full of people and she couldn't really ask these questions, so she was surprised when he asked the question.

"How did the Galactic Investigative Agency recruit you?" Ethan asked.

"Recruit me?" Baily repeated, confused.

Before they could continue talking, Weatherby quickly interrupted. The last thing he needed was for Baily to explain to Ethan that they had been kidnapped, not recruited. He quickly and smoothly intervened.

"Let's start the meeting and there will be plenty of time for chit chat latter. Colonel Vickers' time is short."

So, they took their seats and discussed their game plan. It started with Colonel Vickers making his presentation. The lights dimmed and Karina Simons projected a map of the Nevada mountains on the screen. Vickers had his laser pointer ready.

"We reviewed all of our GIA files," he said, "and we determined the precise place and the exact date in 1948 that an alien weapon was successfully discharged. It was in the Nevada mountains. It blew a hole through a cave wall and it was then deemed too dangerous for further use until we could better understand it. We have been trying to back engineer it all these years. We believe this is what caused the death of Dragon-man's son, although we can't fathom what he was doing in that time and place. It occurred exactly here (he pointed to spot on the map) on August 13, 1948."

Now Vickers looked at Baily, "And will you, Baily, be able to time travel to August 13, 1948 to prevent this from happening? We can bring you to the correct place but we cannot bring you to the correct time."

Before Baily could respond, Ethan spoke up and asked a brilliant question that gave everyone pause. "Instead of saving Dragon-man's son, why don't we use the weapon to kill the Dragon-man and the Prafins on the eighteenth floor? Wouldn't that also free the scientists?"

Everyone looked at Vickers for an answer. This made the best sense of all. However, Vickers response was disappointing.

"Ethan, thank you, you are correct. That would solve our problems. Unfortunately, this weapon would be too strong to use on the eighteenth floor. It would most certainly demolish the entire floor, and everyone on it, and then some. That's why it's not an option. We don't know how to control the level of intensity of this weapon, to see if it's possible to only kill our enemies without demolishing the entire M-BUG in the process. All we can do is try to appease and bargain with the Dragon-man."

Vickers looked at Marybeth with dismay when he realized she wasn't paying attention to the meeting. She was staring intently at her cell phone with a frown on her face. Colonel Vickers was surprised at this unprofessional behavior. Of course, he realized that she had been incommunicado for months, but still, she should be paying attention to their meeting.

"Dr. Ingle," he said sternly, "are we keeping you from your social life?"

Marybeth didn't look up, and she wasn't at all embarrassed or apologetic.

"Things are getting worse," she murmured.

"What things? Worse than what?" asked Colonel Vickers annoyed.

"There's so much hatred and divisiveness out there," she mumbled, still reading.

"This is not new," Colonel Vickers responded.

"It's getting much worse since I started working on the eighteenth floor," Marybeth finally looked up at Vickers and explained. "This is the result of the work we are doing down there: changing the air, changing the food, changing the water. Terraforming the Earth to accommodate the Dragon-man's race is causing the human race to become mentally, physically and emotionally poisoned. They are becoming violent, combative, and illogical."

"Then we need to free our scientists as soon as possible," said Vickers.

"We need to kill those aliens," Ethan called out, forgetting (or not believing) that he too, was an alien.

"We need to reverse the damage before the human race destroys itself," Marybeth responded.

"Let's continue with our plan," suggested Baily. "I believe I know how to time travel, although I haven't done it yet. I think I can find the right time."

"Marvelous," said Vickers, "and can you take Ethan with you?"

Baily wasn't expecting that. Of course, if Ethan was an Andorian she could teach him what she knew. She looked at Ethan and wondered if it was going to be a problem to take him along. He seemed to be opinionated, and he was awfully anxious to kill aliens. She wasn't sure that was necessary.

Ethan returned her look and gave her an encouraging smile and a "thumbs up." Baily refrained from rolling her eyes, but she didn't have a good feeling about Ethan Madison.

The team proceeded to make preparations for their impending trip. Baily and Ethan attended training sessions to coach them in how to behave when they arrive in the past. Physicists taught these sessions. They were warned to avoid contact with humans, and to refrain from changing anything in the past other than the one object of their mission, which was to bring the dragon-man's son to the present. Any interference with the past might create an alternate timeline.

There were two plans suggested. The favored plan was to bring the dragon-man to the future. If that wasn't possible, the second plan was to bring the alien weapon to the future before it could be used to kill the dragon-man. GIA wanted to bring the dragon-man to the future and use him as a bargaining chip to free the scientists. Baily didn't think that would be a viable plan. The dragon-man probably wouldn't cooperate, and was too big to control. Getting the weapon would be easier and far less dangerous. In her mind, there was no other possibility.

*************************************************************

CHAPTER 10. TIME TRAVEL

Once the training had been completed, and everyone knew what their mission was, the team, including Weatherby and Karina Simon, traveled from the M-BUG to the Nevada mountains with a small military escort. The terrain was rough and barren. There were no witnesses to their expedition.

When they arrived at the designated place, Weatherby wondered if they would ever see Baily and Ethan again. He wouldn't blame them if they took this opportunity to grab their freedom and start a new life. He had no choice but to hope for the best. He double checked the coordinates and reluctantly steeled himself to let them go.

Karina Simon set up her cameras. She was filming both their departure (to the past) and their return (to the present). Vickers and Dr. Ingle were watching everything from the M-BUG. If all went well, the time travelers would leave and then seem to return in a short while. Assuming they came back at all.

"So, you're sure you can do this?" Weatherby asked Baily. He looked down at her face with much more than this simple question in his eyes. Searching her face with his sea green eyes, he was silently asking "Are you going to return to me? Do you know I care for you? Do you know I will worry about you for the rest of my life if you don't come back safely to me?" But of course, he couldn't verbalize any of that, especially in front of so pubic an audience, both present and remote. Since his feelings for Marybeth had first emerged, he had gone through a transition. While his affection for Baily was still sincere, it had evolved into a more brotherly than romantic esteem.

"I know I can move through time," she assured him. "I will try to pinpoint the correct time, that's the tricky part."

She looked up at him, trying to ignore the look on his face, the deep caring in his eyes. After all, no matter how sweet and kind he seemed to be, he was still her captor. As tempting as he was, she knew she had to escape from him and GIA eventually. There was no future with him, or with his scary alien-hating agency. Like it or not, this was her new reality, she was (at least partially) an alien. She didn't know that his attraction for her had shifted to brotherly love.

She had to struggle with herself over this rejection of what she perceived to be his admiration for her. She felt attracted to him. He was older than she was, and he was the only person (other than Marybeth) who had shown her any kindness. It was hard to resist the loving look in his eyes. She felt safe when she was with him. She had no one else on Earth anymore that she could consider to be like family to her. Part of her wondered if he would leave his job and run away with her and yet she knew that he would never be able to do that. He had already explained that he could go to a secret prison for life or be secretly executed for treason for helping her escape. She knew there was no hope for any chance at love with him.

"If all goes well, you should both return in a few seconds, right?" he asked her.

"If all goes well, we will be right back and we will have the weapon with us. The weapon that was used to kill the Dragon-man's son. We'll get it before they can use it in 1948," she assured him. She had already explained to him that she didn't plan to try to get the dragon-man to come to the future because it was both too difficult and too dangerous.

Then Ethan piped up and mentioned, "When that crumbling rock behind us suddenly becomes a completely intact cave, then you'll know we had a successful mission."

"Oh, right," chuckled Weatherby. "Because in 1948 they blasted a hole in that cave wall causing it to crumble." He laughed but he didn't take his eyes off of Baily, fearing he might never see her again. He could live without seeing Ethan again, but losing Baily would kill him.

The plan they had devised was that Baily and Ethan would steal the weapon so it could never be discharged and Naga-Seb (Dragon-man's son) would not be killed. Baily and Ethan needed to travel to a point in the past just before the weapon had been fired, probably the night before. Although, Baily wasn't sure how she would find that moment in time.

"We'll see you in a little while," Baily promised Weatherby.

Baily and Ethan then disappeared from Weatherby's view. They left before Weatherby had a chance to give her further instructions or information. He had something for her that he never had the chance to give to her. Baily had grabbed Ethan's arm and stepped with him into Ezoku for a private chat. Baily had taken hold of Ethan's arm and quickly led him into her pastel cloudy world.

"Do you know where we are right now?" she asked him.

"Yes, I've been here before," Ethan smiled, looking around. "I've never told anybody about this place. How did you find it?"

"It's Ezoku. Humans can't come here," she told him, "It's only for Andorians like us. I met Synnove here, do you know her?"

"No, I've never met anyone else here," he answered, looking a little confused. "There are others like us? Andorians?"

"Yes, well at least one. Oh, you'll like her, she's amazing. She looks like us, well at least similar to us. She's from a planet called Andor. She actually told me that I shouldn't travel back in time to save Naga-Seb's life because she doesn't believe that Naga-Luf will keep his promise to release the scientists on the eighteenth floor. On the other hand, I can't think of any other option. We need to try to save the scientists, and I don't know what else we can do. What are your thoughts?" Baily asked.

"Hey, they recruited me for this mission and I'm not going to let them down," Ethan assured her.

"Ethan, we were not recruited," Baily explained, patiently, "We were kidnapped, but I'm still willing to help emancipate the scientists."

"Maybe you weren't recruited, but I was," Ethan belligerently responded.

"Really? Did you find a recruitment brochure, and then go to an office or make a phone call and ask to sign up? Because I was arrested by fake traffic cops who drugged me and kidnapped me. I woke up in a dungeon cell. They wouldn't let me call my parents, or call a lawyer. I no longer have any civil rights or any identity. That was my so-called recruitment," she responded sarcastically.

It was like talking to a wall, he didn't seem to have listened to a word she said.

"Look, if you're too scared to do this," he said in a disgusted tone of voice, "just tell me how to time travel and I'll do it myself. They're sending me because I'm strong enough and brave enough to get the weapon and to get the job done. They are only sending you along to help me complete my mission because you know how to time travel. Basically, you're just the bus driver."

Ugh, he's an immature, egotistical idiot, she thought to herself. She found it hard to believe that they shared any DNA at all. She resisted a very strong impulse to leave him standing there alone in Ezoku while she just moved to the far past or far future without him. She could so easily start a new life without any of them. However, taking a deep breath, she thought about her vow to serve others and how there were captive scientists on the eighteenth floor of M-BUG depending on her for their freedom.

"Fine, I'll take you on a trip through time," she said, deciding to be the mature one of the two, "but first, come on, we have to return to the outside world."

Baily took Ethan by the arm and once again they stepped back into Weatherby's world seeming to suddenly reappear a few minutes after disappearing. Karina's camera was still rolling. In the M-BUG, Dr. Ingle viewed their reappearance on the screen and leapt into the air exuberantly.

"They did it," Marybeth shouted. She turned to Vickers triumphantly, "It's over, they already returned successfully."

"I'm not so sure," Vickers murmured, "I don't see the weapon."

On the video being recorded live, they watched as Weatherby had a similar reaction as Vickers.

"Welcome back guys. How did it go? Where is the weapon?"

He looked relived, happy, yet skeptical.

"We didn't leave yet," explained Baily.

"She's afraid to go," Ethan said.

"No, I'm not!" exclaimed Baily, ready to smack him, "We are leaving now."

Baily was very aggravated by Ethan's behavior. She was feeling like she had to travel through time while simultaneously babysitting for an overgrown narcissistic infant. She was concerned that he would do something impulsive that might create an alternate timeline. How could GIA put her in charge of this infantile egotistical boy on such an important mission?

Meanwhile, Weatherby believed Ethan, or at least believed that Baily had some concerns about time travel. He had been aware that this might happen and he and Vickers had a little something prepared.

"Listen, Baily, before you leave, I have something for you. I know that time-travel might be tricky. I know that it might be difficult for you to find the exact point in time to return. We will wait here for you for a long time. We brought provisions to camp here for a few weeks if needed. But, just in case you miss us, take this envelope. There is a special phone in here. If for some reason we aren't here when you return, use this phone to call me. My phone number is programmed in this phone."

The "envelope" was a leather satchel that had a cross-body strap. It contained a satellite phone, map coordinates, and a single phone number for them to call if things went south. Vickers and Weatherby had thought of various scenarios that could possibly occur. One was that Baily and Ethan returned early or late and missed their "ride home" to the M-BUG. Another was that they escaped to another time period but had a change of heart. Just in case they didn't come back, they now had a way to contact GIA should they ever want to. If they tried to use the phone for any other purpose, to call any other number, they would be immediately traced and tracked.

Baily accepted the envelope and put the strap on her shoulder. She grabbed Ethan's hand in her left hand, stood on tiptoe, and reached up with her right hand. She hesitated for a minute, remembering what Synnove had taught her. She used her mind to make the timeline bend down to her reach, then she lightly pinched the barely visible flickering blueish wire hovering in the air just above her. This wire was invisible to humans, and was of the light consistency of a rainbow light, but was always present in the air (even indoors). There was also a pinkish flickering light, also barely visible, also a horizontal wire always present. The blue wire goes to the past, the pink wire goes to the future. If you hold tight, you travel fast. If you hold lightly, you travel slow.

The minute she touched the wire, they disappeared from human view. They moved back in time, very slowly at first, even seeing themselves from earlier in the same day. Mostly they saw a desolate place in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Flashes of green foliage and blue sky, sometimes brown, sometimes snow, depending on the time of year. Occasionally there would be the rare hiker.

They knew that they had come to the right time era when they came to a make-shift military compound with tents and temporary shacks. At one point, they witnessed a gigantic explosion. Baily stopped shortly after that, which she hoped was the night before the explosion.

"That explosion had to have been the weapon blasting through the cave wall." Baily whispered. It was too dark to see the cave at that moment.

"O.K., so let's look for the weapon," Ethan whispered back.

There was a soldier walking around with a flashlight. Baily grabbed Ethan and scurried out of the way. They stealthily crept around the compound and discovered a lot of soldiers guarding one small shack. Baily pointed and Ethan nodded.

Again, she grabbed his arm and led him into Ezoku where they couldn't be seen or heard by humans. "They must be guarding the weapon, it has to be in the shack," she said.

"Why are they bothering? There's no one around here for hundreds of miles," Ethan complained.

"Unless they're expecting time-traveling aliens like us. Don't forget, they know they have alien technology. They don't know who or what to expect. They are smart to find a remote location to test the weapon and guard it as though some one might come for it. After all, we're here, aren't we?" She pointed out.

"I guess so,' Ethan admitted. It still hadn't fully sunk into his head that he was an alien. He thought of himself as a patriot who was protecting his country from aliens.

"Maybe we should time-travel back to the moment when they first brought the weapon here," Ethan suggested.

"Why?" Baily asked him.

"How else can we get access to it? It's too heavily guarded right now," he answered.

Baily bit her lip, thinking, "Maybe, or maybe move into that little building from this dimension and then..."

"Can we do that?" asked Ethan."

Baily admitted, "I'm new at this too, but I'm pretty sure we can."

They could view the third dimensional world from the safety of Ezoku, like a black and white movie. While remaining in Ezoku, they began to quietly walk over to the small shack. Of course, the soldiers wouldn't be able to see or hear them while they remained in Ezoku, but they prudently remained cautious. When they got to the shack they walked through the wall, still in Ezoku space.

They were able to enter the shack and peer around, no one was inside. "That must be the weapon," Ethan pointed to a device sitting on a table. It didn't look like any type of human-made gun. For one thing, it was shaped like a ping-pong paddle, round and flat on top but with a longer handle on the bottom. That is, assuming the round part was the top. It was actually a little bit thicker and smaller than a ping-pong paddle. It was silver in color, the round part that looked like the paddle had a slight protrusion that came to a dull point.

They moved back into the third dimension and quietly approached the weapon. Ethan lifted it. "It weighs a ton," he whispered.

"Be careful with it," Baily cautioned under her breath. Then she snatched it from him. It was light as a feather. She put it back down on the table with a disgusted look.

He glowered at her. "Look, he whispered, pointing to the handle, "These must be the controls. No wonder they can't figure out how to control it." There was an adjustable color wheel on the handle along with a button (instead of a trigger).

Baily peered closely at the color wheel. "Oh, I don't think these colors are all visible to the human eye," she murmured.

"No duh," he shot back, forgetting to whisper.

"Shush," Baily cautioned, just as they heard the door to the shack being opened. "Grab the weapon," she whispered, "Let's go."

Baily grabbed Ethan in one hand and quickly reached up, made the timeline bend down, and pinched the pink flickering light causing them to time travel to the future. They never knew if the soldier, or whoever opened the door to the shack, had caught a glimpse of them. Baily knew that traveling back to the future required them to pass the moment that they had departed. They couldn't risk being in the same time slot prior to their time-travel or there would be two of Baily and two of Ethan in the same time period. That would be a disaster. It shouldn't be too hard to see themselves with their team in the future and then stop shortly after, maybe to be safe wait until the evening after they had left, to then stop and rejoin their team.

Their trip to the future went smoothly, similar to the trip to the past. The problem occurred when they couldn't locate their party in the present. They never found Weatherby and Karina Simon. But one thing was for certain, there was an intact cave there that hadn't been there at the time they left. Eventually they approximated a time that they thought was close to their departure date. They stopped, stepped out of time travel mode, into a deserted spot, and used the satellite phone.

When a man answered, Baily asked "What is today's date, please?"

"Who is this? How did you get this number?" came the answer.

"Tell me the date and then I will answer the question," she responded.

"May 10, 2010," he answered, "Now tell me..."

She hung up quickly. "We're too early," she told Ethan. They moved forward in time by what they hoped (judging by the changing colors of the foliage) was a little over two years. They still couldn't find their team. They stopped and used the satellite phone again. This time a woman answered.

The conversation was nearly the same.

Baily asked "What is today's date, please?"

"Who is this? How did you get this number?" came the answer.

Please tell me the date, then I will answer your questions. The woman on the other end of the phone knew that this was second time the agency had received such a phone call, but the last time was two and a half years ago. She knew what to do, she had to keep them talking while she tried to locate the satellite phone. She initiated the procedure while she spoke to her caller saying, "It's been a long time since we've heard from you. I'm so glad that you called again. Tell me, why did you wait so long since the last phone call to call back?"

Meanwhile, she sent a quick text message to Colonel Gardner:

Mysterious female caller contacted GIA via satellite phone, same question posed as 2.5 years ago: what is today's date please? I have initiated a search procedure to locate the caller.

Colonel Gardener read the text in alarm. He remembered the original phone call as well. The Galactic Investigative Agency is a secret agency, no one outside the agency has the main phone number. The first phone caller could have been a fluke, but a second phone call with the same leading question was definitely not any fluke. He texted back to the (highly trained) switchboard operator:

GIA employees and former employees know caller protocol. This must be an alien entity. Keep it calm and notify me as soon as you determine its whereabouts.

The switchboard operator kept Baily on the line. When Baily wouldn't answer a question, the operator would just fill in time with comments. Finally, she was able to pinpoint where the call was coming from.

"October 14, 2012," the operator finally told them the date.

"We apparently missed our ride," Baily told her, while wondering how that could be possible. They had missed their ride by over six weeks.

"You missed your what?" the operator asked. "How did you get this number?"

"From Agent Jacob Weatherby. He was supposed to be waiting for us here," Baily explained.

There was a short pause, then the voice asked, "Where are you?"

Baily gave her the coordinates.

"We retrieved the weapon for him. Did they free the scientists on the eighteenth floor?" she asked.

This confirmed for the operator that she had the correct location but she was quite surprised that the alien admitted her position. The operator remained silent while she thought this over, creating a long silence, then quietly spoke.

"Stay where you are, a team will come bring you to safety."

While they had been gone sixty-four years, it had really only been a few hours, but Baily was looking forward to being reunited with Weatherby. She was especially in need of being with the only person left who was nice to her, after putting up with Ethan who was a pretty immature, egotistical kid. She kept imagining Weatherby, with his kind eyes, murmuring, "Hello, Beautiful." She knew there was no future with him and she knew in her heart that on multiple levels she was too young for him, but he made her feel safe. He made her feel loved, or at least liked. She couldn't wait to see him. She was looking forward to seeing her friend Marybeth as well.

*************************************************************

CHAPTER 11. TIMELINE TWO

2012 THE M-BUG

Colonel David Gardener called Jacob Weatherby into his office. He had just received information that a woman had contacted the M-BUG via a satellite phone that was, according to the inventory, assigned to Weatherby. A woman who knew about the M-BUG. A woman who knew that scientists were being held captive on the eighteenth floor. A woman who claimed to have a weapon for him. A woman who was waiting for Weatherby at specific coordinates in the Nevada mountains. He hoped to hear a logical explanation from Weatherby.

After being confronted with this information, Weatherby looked dumbfounded.

"I have no idea what you are talking about. I know of no such woman."

Gardener believed him. At that moment, they got a call from General Vickers. Gardener updated Vickers on this strange development.

"She's most likely an alien," was Vickers assessment. "Pick her up and obtain the weapon," he ordered.

No kidding, thought Gardner, an alien, you don't say. Gardner had already figured that out for himself. He certainly didn't need the General to tell him that the caller was an alien, or that he needed to pick her up and get the weapon. It was already underway. However, Gardner was a "yes man" and that was both how he had obtained his job and how he kept his job, so he responded accordingly.

"Yes sir, we are in the process of sending our team out now to retrieve the alien and her weapon."

Meanwhile, in Nevada, Baily was feeling concerned. Why hadn't Weatherby waited for her as he had promised? It was also odd that no one had expected a phone call from her, because that was, after all, the back-up plan. The operator clearly knew she had called before in 2010, but she had no comprehension of why she was currently calling. Baily didn't want to give this very dangerous weapon to the wrong people.

"If Weatherby doesn't come for us, we're in trouble. I think we're in an alternate timeline," she told Ethan.

"No, that's not possible," he told her, "We didn't interact with anyone in the past."

"Well, we don't know if we were seen leaving," she reminded him. "Someone opened the door just as we were moving back into the future."

"True, but what could he see? A blur at best. I don't think that could change the timeline."

"We took a weapon that the U.S. military has been trying to back-engineer for sixty-four years. It no longer exists for them. That's probably what changed the timeline. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced.

"Hmm, well it's odd that we couldn't find any sign of our team or their equipment as we returned and even passed our original departure date," he agreed.

"I'm going to leave this weapon in Ezoku. They don't need access to anything this powerful," she told Ethan. "I wish I hadn't mentioned it on my call."

Since the only other inhabitant of Ezoku that they knew of was Synnove, they agreed that the weapon would be safe there.

"You know what we haven't thought of?" Ethan asked.

"What?"

"The fact that Naga-Seb didn't die, that could have changed the timeline too," Ethan responded.

"Right, or a combination of everything we just discussed. Do you think we changed the future or do you think we created an alternate timeline?" she asked Ethan, knowing he didn't have an answer.

They eventually heard a plane flying overhead. When it landed, Weatherby was one of the first to emerge, along with two armed military men. Baily's heart leapt at the sight of him, she felt so relieved to see him. She expected that special megawatt smile. She thought he would say, "Hello, Sunshine," or something like that.

Well, that settles it, Baily thought, at least we didn't change the timeline. Obviously, if Weatherby came to pick them up, they were still in the same time–line as far as Baily was concerned. All that worry for nothing, Baily secretly chided herself. She was so delighted to see the handsome Weatherby come and rescue them, she couldn't wait to get closer and look into his sea-green eyes sparkling with love for her. I'll bet he's thrilled to see that I got back safe and sound after all, Baily thought. She realized he must have been sick with worry if he had waited a full month for them to return and finally gave up on them. She wondered what went wrong, but whatever the glitch was, she was safely back now and they would discuss it and laugh over it in their debriefing later. Baily lovingly watched him alight from the military craft and her heart fluttered as he rushed toward her.

She ran toward him smiling and called out, "Well? Did you bring me a slice of chocolate cake?"

She really was glad to see him, but when she got a few steps closer, she froze. He was pointing a gun at her. He was not smiling and he had no recognition in his eyes. To him she was a total stranger. She quickly decided to go invisible and hide in Ezoku, but she hesitated thinking about Ethan. She didn't like Ethan very much but she didn't think it was right to abandon him and she wasn't sure if he knew how to get to Ezoku without her help. In the split second that she hesitated, Weatherby pulled the trigger and shot her.

*************************************************************

CHAPTER 12: DEJA-VU

Baily woke up feeling sick and groggy in the same windowless cell that she had originally inhabited in the M-BUG when she had been kidnapped by GIA the first time. He had shot her with a dart gun filled with a similar drug that had been used on her the last time. Weatherby was sitting in the same chair by her cot, watching her with same cautious look in his eyes, minus the kindness. It was like Deja-vu.

"Here we go again. Hello Weatherby," she said to him, "How is Marybeth? I'm looking forward to seeing her again."

He looked like he was going to faint. "How did you know my name? How do you know my wife? Can you read minds?"

His wife? Then she noticed the wedding band. Funny, she thought, she would have never imagined that Marybeth was his type. In fact, she thought Marybeth was too old for him. But she couldn't be jealous, could she? This was a different Weatherby, in a different reality. Anyway, in any reality she knew there could be no future with Weatherby.

Baily smiled weakly, "Congratulations on your wedding," she offered.

He gave her a strange look and repeated the question, "How do you know my wife?"

"Don't you remember? I helped her escape from the eighteenth floor, right before I went to..." she trailed off suddenly remembering she was in a different timeline. Then she thought to ask, "When did you get married?"

"Five years ago, and she's still a captive on the eighteenth floor. So, let's start again. How do you know my name, my wife's name, and anything about the eighteenth floor?"

She thought about it for a few seconds, tell him or not? She wondered if another version of herself existed in this timeline (if indeed it was a different timeline). Perhaps it was the same timeline with an altered future. She had no way of knowing. She decided to tell him almost everything (minus any information about Ezoku, Synnove, and the weapon). He digested the information quietly.

After a beat, she said, "Ironically, you're the one who told me that I'm an alien hybrid in the original reality, and in this reality, I'm the one explaining it to you."

"But what I'm confused about," he answered, "is your story about these dragon-men. As far as we know, there are only Prafins on the eighteenth floor."

"Trust me, the Prafins only work for the dragon-men, and now there are at least two dragon-men, where before, in the first timeline, there was only one. Our plan to save Naga-Luf's son, Naga-Seb, was successful, but it didn't free the scientists as we had hoped."

"You said in your call from the satellite phone, that you had retrieved a weapon?" he questioned her.

"It must have been a bad connection, I said I didn't find the weapon," she lied, not making eye contact with him.

Baily could barely breath. She was hoping that Ethan wouldn't tell him anything about the weapon or where it was hidden in Ezoku.

Weatherby looked skeptical, but he changed the subject.

"You freed my wife once before, I need for you to do that again."

"But the bargaining chip that I used before was to agree to save Naga-Seb's life. Now that's already been accomplished. From what you've told me, things have gotten worse instead of better. "

He grimaced.

"Then find that weapon that you are lying about, and use it to free the scientists."

Baily sighed, she knew she was a terrible liar. Her parents always knew when she was lying. She really didn't want to give them a weapon that was so strong that it had been used to blast a cave wall away in 1948. On the other hand, human eyes couldn't see all the colors on the control wheel, or even some of the other nuances that control the device. Perhaps she and Ethan could figure out how to use the weapon without blowing up the entire M-BUG. Of course, they would have to retrieve it from Ezoku and prevent the humans from ever obtaining it.

"I'll need Ethan's help," she agreed.

Weatherby nodded and left her cell, satisfied that he might be able to control her and get his wife and the rest of the scientists back to safety. As soon as Weatherby left, Baily didn't hesitate to go immediately to Ezoku, hoping to see Synnove. Unaware of the video-cameras recording her movements, Baily seemed to disappear from the camera's view, seeming to vanish into thin air. She entered into the pastel cloudy world of Ezoku that was starting to feel familiar to her and thought about how to find Synnove. She tried to call out to her using that part of her mind that she had learned to use for telepathic communication with other aliens.

Synnove soon emerged from the mist, but as she approached it was clear that she was holding the weapon that Baily had hidden in Ezoku, prior to leaving Nevada. The look on her face was not as friendly as it had been in the past. Baily thought that she must have miscalculated her relationship with Synnove. She wondered what kind of impact that weapon would have in Ezoku, if it would, or even could cause damage, or even death, and if its impact would be different in this dimension than in the world outside of Ezoku. She wondered what would happen to her body if she died here in Ezoku?

She heard Synnove ask her (rather unpleasantly), "Tell me why I found this weapon in my peaceful refuge?"

Baily carefully explained why she had hidden the weapon in Ezoku and the results of her time-travel. To her surprise, Synnove could not tell her if there was now a new timeline or an altered reality, but Synnove herself lived outside of time (as it applied to the world outside of Ezoku). She remembered Baily and everything that had occurred between them since they had first met. So, time in Ezoku was the same.

Synnove calmly said, "I told you not to trust Naga-Luf. He's a liar. The Alpha-Draconians never keep their promises. They are manipulative, aggressive, untrustworthy, vile creatures. As for time-travel, it's very tricky and sometimes dangerous. I continue to strongly advise you to avoid it."

Baily sighed, "I wish I had listened to you. I just wanted to help free the scientists on the eighteenth floor of the M-BUG. How did you even find where I left the weapon?"

"Ezoku is my home," Synnove explained, "I move freely through here. It's smaller than you realize."

Baily wondered how that could be true since she accessed it from the Nevada mountains and also from the depths of the M-BUG which she thought was several hours away from the mountains, although she wasn't sure where.

She asked Synnove, "If I wanted to go back to the Nevada mountains from inside Ezoku, could I do that? Is it a far journey?

Synnove explained that there were exits to anywhere on Earth from Ezoku and learning to navigate Ezoku space wasn't difficult. She promised Baily, "You can always reach out to me for guidance to move from door to door to transverse Earth via Ezoku."

"So, you're not angry at me?" Baily asked Synnove with relief.

"Not angry, concerned. I will arrange to remove this weapon by taking it off of the Earth," Synnove answered.

"Before you remove it, can the weapon be used to rid the Earth of the Alpha-Draconians first?" Baily asked.

"No, absolutely not. We who believe in HA-UN are non-violent," Synnove answered. "We, the members of the Universal Starlight Union, don't harm others, no matter how evil they are."

Baily didn't agree, she believed in self-defense. She knew it was useless to argue with Synnove, but she hoped to later steal the weapon and use it to kill the dragon-men. Toward that end, she asked Synnove to show her around Ezoku. She wanted to see the "doors" and how to use them to move around the Earth, and also to glimpse anyplace in Ezoku where Synnove may decide to hide the weapon before she removed it from Earth. She discovered that Ezoku really was small and that only the perimeter was cloudy and pastel. The interior was crystal clear and very beautiful.

Inside Ezoku there were beautiful gardens with flowers not seen on Earth, waterfalls, and a beautiful blue sky. The buildings (only two) were not made of any material that Baily had ever seen before. They looked like they were made of some liquid material, frozen but not cold, that made them look like crystals. The furnishings looked like they were made from clouds and liquids too. Synnove took Baily to an open field where there was a small space craft, the size of an egg-shaped sport utility vehicle.

"This is my scout-craft," she explained, "I occasionally use it when I need to go to the space station on the dark side of the moon. No one on Earth can see me leave or return because I only use the Ezoku dimension which is invisible to the human eye."

"I hope you will take me someday," Baily responded.

"Someday I will," Synnove promised.

Baily wondered what it would be like to visit the moon, or Andor. More importantly, she wondered how to use the forbidden weapon and where she could possibly find it when she needed it. Later, when she returned to the M-BUG she found Ethan in a cell close to her own assigned cell. She told him all about her experience in Ezoku with Synnove. Then they discussed two things: first, how they would emancipate the scientists, and second how they would emancipate themselves after their mission was accomplished. Baily thought it was strangely sad that Ethan was still interested in being a GIA agent of some sort. She was no longer sure that she belonged on Earth at all.

Baily admitted to Ethan, "Weatherby knows that we hid the weapon, although he doesn't know about Ezoku. He wants for us to retrieve the weapon and use it to vaporize the Prafins and Alphas on the eighteenth floor. He doesn't know how dangerous that weapon is."

"We'll have to figure out how to use it without destroying the entire M-BUG. Can we get it back now that Synnove found it?" he asked.

"We'll have to steal it. We won't have a chance to practice with it before we attempt to use it. I'm afraid we might demolish the entire M-BUG and kill everyone including ourselves if we use it," she answered.

"We need to try, it's all we've got," Ethan responded.

"In the first timeline, Marybeth had told me about their schedule on the eighteenth floor and she drew a map for me of their living and working arrangement. If it's the same in this timeline, we should rescue them at night, during their sleep cycle, when they have minimal guards. Only a few Prafins are there at night and no Alphas are there at all," Baily offered.

Ethan frowned and shook his head, "The minute the elevator door opens, they'll be alerted."

"What if we don't use the elevator? I remember the map. What if we have a small hole created through floor seventeen into the ceiling of eighteen? Then we can drop a ladder and send a rescue team down to eighteen. We can reseal the hole when the rescue is completed."

"We'll need to evacuate and seal off the entire M-BUG to be safe. You know they will figure it out and come after us. We'll need to use that weapon eventually," Ethan said.

"We'll retrieve the weapon and use it only if we have to," Baily responded.

They presented Weatherby and Gardener with their plan. While a team worked quietly to open a space between the seventeenth and eighteenth floors where Baily knew the sleeping quarters must be, Baily and Ethan went to search for the weapon. Eventually they found where Synnove had stored it.

Ethan smiled, "Clever, the last place we thought to look, in her scout-craft."

Baily was worried, "She's planning to take it off planet. I don't know when she's leaving. The problem is, we can't take it until we're actually ready to use it. Until then we have to leave it here. At least now we know where to find it quickly."

"What are you babbling about? Why can't we take it now?" Ethan demanded, annoyed.

Baily explained, "Two reasons, one we don't want to give GIA any chance to try to duplicate or back-engineer this weapon and, two, we don't want Synnove to know that we are borrowing it. We'll use it, then replace it as quickly as possible."

Ethan reluctantly agreed. They returned to the M-BUG and waited for the team to finish creating an opening into the eighteenth floor. The eighteenth floor was a more than double the height of other floors so they had to build a long ladder for this mission as well. When the time came to execute their plan, Baily returned to Ezoku to retrieve the weapon. She quickly returned empty handed.

"Is it invisible?" Weatherby asked, confused.

"It's gone," Baily told him, but she didn't explain how it disappeared. Ethan understood. Synnove had left in her scout-craft to bring the weapon off of Earth.

"We need to move forward with this rescue mission, even without the weapon," Ethan insisted.

Motivated by an intense desire to save his wife, Weatherby agreed. They waited until the middle of the scientist's sleeping cycle, then they stealthily lowered themselves down to the eighteenth floor. Weatherby went first, followed by Ethan and two GIA soldiers. Baily stayed on seventeen, ready to assist the scientists emerging from below. At first it seemed they would be successful. Marybeth quickly scrambled up the ladder, groggy and excited. Baily helped her climb up to seventeen. In the M-BUG, the elevators only went down to eighteen, but Baily knew that were two more creepy alien floors below eighteen that the humans were unaware of.

Two more scientists came up the ladder quickly and silently. Baily and Marybeth helped them up. Just as the second one was levered up they heard a terrible noise from below. The Prafins had been alerted to their presence. A soldier managed to take a shot at a Prafin, which had no effect at all on the alien. Immediately the Prafin retaliated by using his mental ability to cause the soldier's brain to explode.

The team had to quickly abort the rescue. Ethan nearly threw Weatherby up the ladder using super-human strength no one knew he had. As Weatherby looked back he caught a glimpse of the Prafin's strange huge almond eyes popping out of its head. He didn't understand what he was seeing. Meanwhile, more Prafins were running into the dormitory. The second soldier held his ground and tried to shoot at them while Ethan flew back up the ladder. By the time Ethan reached the seventeenth floor, the second soldier was dead.

The team quickly sealed off the seventeenth floor, then rushed off that floor and sealed off the entire floor. They knew the aliens wouldn't chase after them because the majority of human slaves were still captives and needed to be guarded. The good news for Weatherby was that he had successfully liberated his wife. The bad news was that he had just discovered how lethal Ethan could be.

Out of breath, the team paused on level sixteen. The elevators had been disabled. Weatherby put his arms around Marybeth and looked down at her adoringly. He gave her that megawatt smile that Baily remembered so well. Leaning down toward her, he murmured to Marybeth, "Hello beautiful, welcome home."

Baily turned away. It was only a few days ago that Weatherby had talked to her that way, but that had been in a different timeline. That was a different reality. She had to make herself stop whatever feelings she had developed for him because he had no memory of her at all and his heart belonged to Marybeth now. It would never have worked out between them anyway and she knew that very well. It still hurt.

Weatherby slowly turned around and asked Ethan, "How did you make the Prafin's eyes pop out of his head?"

Weatherby didn't know if he should feel impressed or horrified. He felt both.

"I don't know," Ethan answered honestly, "I was trying to pop his head open like he did to our soldiers."

Hmm, thought Weatherby, he said 'our soldiers,' at least he thinks he's one of us. As long as we keep him thinking that he's one of us, we can use him as a weapon, but G-d help us if ever turns on us.

Baily already knew the drill. She knew there would be a series of debriefings. Colonel Vickers had been promoted to General in this timeline and was now overseeing the entire M-BUG. Colonel Gardener, who reported to General Vickers, debriefed the three scientists, including Dr. Marybeth Ingle-Weatherby. Baily loved seeing her again, even though Marybeth didn't remember their friendship from the first timeline.

Just like last time, Marybeth adored Baily for helping to rescue her from the Prafins and Alphas. Unlike last time, she now had more heroes, including her husband, Ethan, and the two soldiers who had died in the rescue mission. A memorial had to be planned for them, but Ethan and Baily would not be allowed to attend because they were prisoners in the M-BUG.

Predictably, Baily and Ethan were moved from their cells to more comfortable efficiency apartments in the M-BUG. Ethan was happy with his delusion that he was a GIA agent, while Baily knew that she couldn't trust GIA, but she wasn't ready to leave just yet. Baily still wanted to emancipate the rest of the captives on the eighteenth floor, and notify Weatherby of the nineteenth and twentieth floors, and then she would leave the M-BUG and find a way to start a new life.

Baily discussed her intention of freeing the rest of captives with Weatherby. She planned to go back to the eighteenth floor as an invisible observer for a few days. She hoped to identify a weakness in their routine that would enable her to rescue more victims. Maybe, with Ethan's help, they could slowly take more and more captives to safety. She thought it was worth a try.

Ethan was feeling invincible since defeating a Prafin in the first rescue attempt. Not that it had been easy, but he had done it, he had done it. Sure, they had lost two men, but they had rescued three and got the rest of the team back to safety. When consulted about Baily's plan he assured them, of course, he was willing to help Baily attempt a second rescue. Anyway, they weren't going to actually do anything. Initially they were just going to stay in Ezoku and observe, so what could go wrong?

Baily and Ethan had agreed to keep Ezoku a secret. As far as anyone knew, they simply went invisible. The fact that they entered another realm that was unavailable to and invisible to humans was kept confidential. The one, and maybe only thing that they agreed on, was that humans did not need to know about Ezoku. Not that it would matter, since humans couldn't find it or enter it anyway.

Weatherby insisted on fitting them both with audio visual equipment.

"It probably won't work while we're invisible," Baily told him. She hoped it didn't work, she didn't want to give him a glimpse of the pastel cloudy border world of Ezoku she would be sojourning in.

"Wear it anyway, both of you," Weatherby insisted.

Baily wondered what had happened to Karina Simons in this timeline. She didn't seem to exist in the M-BUG, no one had heard of her. It seemed strange to be setting up audio visual equipment without her help.

"Is something wrong?" Weatherby asked.

Baily bit her lip and smiled wistfully. She shook her head, "No, I was just thinking about someone I used to know."

Once they were fitted with the equipment, they went to work. Watching from level thirteen, Weatherby saw Baily and Ethan descend to level eighteen in the elevator. When the doors opened though, everything went black. Weatherby cursed softly under his breath, realizing that they had gone invisible. He kept watching his computer screen in case something changed. What he eventually saw shocked him, although Marybeth had given him a vivid description, nothing could have prepared him for this sight.

Down on the eighteenth floor, from the safety of Ezoku, Baily and Ethan were cautiously moving from the elevator around the corner to the science lab. They came face to face with the Alpha-Draconian father and son, Naga-Seb and Naga-Luf. Ethan had never seen them before and Baily had only seen one of them before this moment. A combination of shock, rage, and over-confidence caused Ethan to step right out of Ezoku, without even first discussing it with Baily. He was sure he could at least pop their eyes out of their heads, if not explode their giant ugly dragon heads.

Baily watched in horror as Ethan got thrown through the glass wall, which he moved through without breaking the glass. She immediately rushed to help him, planning to quickly pull him back into Ezoku. Weatherby saw Baily suddenly appear on his screen (as she appeared through Ethan's vision). Baily never reached Ethan. For a second he could see them both on his computer screen. Then Baily seemed to be thrown up and back into a strange tunnel that disappeared in a quick vortex with Baily in it. Simultaneously, Ethan went invisible again and Weatherby's computer screen went black.

Ethan hadn't needed Baily's help to get back into Ezoku. He was perfectly capable of finding his way back to Ezoku, which he had figured out how to do since his experience time-traveling with Baily. He felt terribly disappointed in his own inability to fight and defeat the Alpha-Draconians and simultaneously confused about Baily's sudden disappearance into a vortex that appeared out of nowhere and just as quickly disappeared, carrying Baily with it.

Ethan returned to the eighteenth level alone. He had escaped to Ezoku, hoping that Baily had escaped and that she would be waiting for him but she had not been there, nor was she with Weatherby or anywhere in the M-BUG. He watched the video recording with Weatherby and saw Baily disappear again.

"I don't know what happened," he told Weatherby, "It happened so fast. I think they killed her. I tried to pop their heads with my mind, but they were so much stronger than me, I never had a chance."

Weatherby was furious, "You were only supposed to observe. You got your partner killed."

"She wasn't my partner," Ethan quickly responded.

As far as they knew, Baily was dead and gone.

*************************************************************

CHAPTER 13. THE TRACKING DEVICE, PLANET ZEBION

"Uh, I think you better sit down," Lot said to Orp.

She sat down and waited expectantly. Lot continued, "Remember, when you asked me if I still had that tracking device for Adam and Eve?"

"Yes?" She answered.

"Well, I do, and I finally got around to activating it, just to see where they buried the bodies of the babies," he told her.

"And?" It was so hard to get a story out of him, she thought, smiling.

"Adam is underground, but much deeper than a normal burial," Lot said.

"So?" Would he ever get to the point? she wondered. But she was used to her husband's long drawn out style of communicating.

"So, he's moving around. Dead bodies don't move around. He's alive, but living deeply under the Earth, for some strange reason," he answered.

"That's odd, what about Eve?" asked Orp.

"She's alive too, somewhere in the mountains on the other side of the Earth from Ethan," he told her.

"We need to inform the council," Orp told him, "they will probably tell our Zebian community on Earth to locate Adam and Eve and make contact with them."

The mission that they thought had failed twenty years earlier had just been brought back to life. Now they had to track down Adam and Eve (Baily and Ethan) and find out what had become of them. The Zebians needed to tell their Zebian hybrids, Adam (Ethan) and Eve (Baily), who they really were, collect information about them, analyze their progress to date, and decide if they wanted to create more hybrids like them. So, they informed their Zebian council and the Zebians on Earth were notified.

There were only five Zebians living on Earth. Due to their appearance, in an effort to not scare the human population, they lived hidden on a remote and sparsely populated island in Indonesia. Communication with them went from Zebion to the moon station, to their hidden home. These Zebian astronauts had been on Earth for a hundred years, secretly watching, and collecting data.

When the message came in with the coordinates of where to find Adam and Eve, it was quickly determined that Eve was accessible but Adam was deep underground somewhere in the United States, in Colorado. On the other hand, Eve could be located in a cave in the Himalayan mountains in Bhutan. It wouldn't be easy, but they could get to her. They wondered what she was doing there, in such a remote location.

While the Zebian astronauts were getting ready to fly the scout-craft to find her, Baily (Eve) woke up in a dark cave. The only light came from the dim glow of what appeared to be thousands of huge egg-shaped objects that seemed to range in height from two to four feet high. She had a vague memory of being engulfed in a vortex and feeling an intense and crushing pressure that was probably meant to kill her, but instead had transported her to this place. She realized that had she been human she most certainly would not have survived the experience.

Baily stood up, feeling weak and dizzy, she attempted to explore the cave, taking a closer look at the glowing giant eggs. There seemed to be low heat emanating from them, as well as a vibration or humming. She had no idea where she was, but she had a splitting headache. She felt like someone was slamming her brain with an icepick, yet she knew she was lucky to be alive.

She gently put her hand on one of the eggs, it was smooth and warm to her touch, but a piercing sound occurred, causing more pain in her skull. She quickly pulled her hand back. Instantly, an Alpha-Draconian appeared in the cave, rushing toward Baily. It was enormous, but looked slightly smaller than Naga-Seb or Naga-Luf.

"Get away from my babies," it telecommunicated.

Baily immediately knew that the safest place for her was to move deeper into the interior of where all the eggs were sitting. This monster was obviously their mother. Baily wondered if there were more Alpha-Draconians nearby as she backed up between and behind the eggs in a crouching position, making it difficult for the monster to hurt her for fear of harming the eggs.

Without any more communication from the beast, its long tail suddenly flew through the air like a lasso and wrapped itself around Baily's neck. Baily found herself being lifted and choked, up and over the eggs. She realized she was about to be hurled against the cave wall (if she wasn't strangled first). She didn't know if she would go through the wall unharmed or smash against it. It was happening too fast for her to get control of the situation. Moving into Ezoku required a level of concentration she couldn't achieve under the circumstances. She felt herself being whipped through the air and nearly passed out from lack of oxygen. Suddenly there was a blinding light in the room accompanied by a slight whining sound, and she fell to the ground.

When Baily regained consciousness, her vision was blurry and her throat hurt from near strangulation. When she was able to focus her eyes, what she saw was almost as bad as the sight of the Alpha-Draconian female, who, by the way, seemed to have disappeared. Standing before her was a silver creature, smaller than a Prafin, with a bigger head than the Prafin's had. It had large black wrap-around almond eyes, it had holes where the nose and ears should be. It was holding a weapon that looked similar, but not exactly like the one Synnove had taken off planet. The one that had been used to accidently kill Naga-Seb in the original timeline.

"Who are you? What just happened?" Baily asked the creature, her voice hoarse, her throat hurting from nearly being strangled.

"I am Kel from Zebion. Praise Ha-Un, the evil one here has been eradicated," he answered telepathically, slightly lifting the weapon in salute.

Baily was surprised that the little hideous creature believed in her God, Ha-Un, but she answered, "Praise Ha-Un," telepathically.

She wondered though if Ha-Un would be happy about the murder of a sentient being, even in self-defense, or defense of another innocent unarmed person. According to Synnove, the answer was no, but Baily was grateful to have been saved.

"We must leave now, there might be more Alpha-Draconians coming soon," Kel implored Baily.

"But you can kill them," Baily responded, eyeing Kel's weapon.

"That would be unwise, there is no time to explain," Kel answered.

"At least destroy the eggs," Baily begged.

"No, the Alpha-Draconians would exact revenge," Kel answered.

After a moment of thinking about it, Kel, who was about the same height as most of the eggs, asked Baily, "Can you carry the smallest egg for me? I need to remove one for research. That is the only defensive measure I dare to take."

Baily looked for the smallest egg.

"Quickly!" Kel pleaded.

She found one that was barely two feet tall and carried it, following Kel through the cave and out to the scout-craft. It was a small vehicle. Baily felt claustrophobic when she climbed into it to place the egg inside. As she looked around the interior, searching for a secure place for the egg, she heard another piercing sound that hurt her head. Kel immediately scrambled into the scout-craft behind her, crowding her even more. He started lift off before Baily could even telecommunicate with him. She had not planned to travel with him.

"We need to leave, no time to discuss this," he told her.

Obviously, another Alpha-draconian was right behind them, ready to attack.

Baily thought about escaping into Ezoku but the little space ship flew up into the atmosphere so fast that she lost her balance and nearly dropped the egg. Fortunately, she had been crouching down with her back to a wall of the vehicle so she was able to keep the egg intact while hanging on to the bottom of a tiny chair that was too small for her to sit in.

"Where are we going?" She asked Kel.

"I have to get this egg back to Zebion for further research," he answered.

"You're taking me to Zebion? Where is that?" She asked.

"Zebion is our home planet, but we are not going back there. We are only going to the moon where we have a space station. We will transfer it to a larger transport at our moon station," he explained.

"How long will we be on the moon?" she asked.

"Not long. You can either return with me to Earth or go to our home planet, traveling on the bigger ship, and see where you were created," he answered.

"I was created on Zebion?" she asked, confused.

"Yes, you and Adam were created on Zebion," he answered.

"You mean Ethan?" She asked. "You mean Ethan and I were created on planet Zebion?"

"I apologize, we didn't get a proper introduction," Kel said. "What is your Earth name?"

"My name is Baily Chatham. Why did you refer to Ethan as Adam?" She asked.

"You and Ethan were called Adam and Eve when you were created on Zebion. You were named after the Earth fable of Adam and Eve because you are the first male and female of a new species sent to Earth," Kel explained.

Baily smiled, she knew what he was referencing. "Because we are part human and part Andorian?" She clarified.

"Yes," he answered, "and part Zebian, like me."

Part Zebian like him? Baily felt sick. She remembered something Weatherby had told her when he had first revealed to her that she was an alien hybrid. He had told her that she was only one eighth human and that her other DNA was a mixture of non-human aliens. Having met Synnove, the Andorian and human mixture made sense. But, how could she possibly have Zebian DNA?

"You mean my future children might look like you?" she blurted out.

"I guess so, although you'd have to talk to the team that created you for specifics," he answered, unperturbed.

Of course, as far as he was concerned, she was the hideously ugly one.

The thought of having little silver children with big heads and black wrap-around eyes that looked like giant alien bugs nearly made her vomit. This isn't what she had dreamed of all her life. Once again, she felt a sense of extreme unreality take over her brain. She thought to herself, I'm sitting in a tiny space craft, flying to the moon with an alien who claims that I share his DNA. Either that, or I've gone insane and none of this is real. I can't decide which case would be worse.

"So, if we are in space, flying to the moon, why aren't I floating around in this little cabin?" She asked skeptically.

"Don't be silly, this isn't Earth-tech! We have advanced space travel technology. We know what we're doing. Relax, we'll be there in an hour," he assured her.

She sat on the floor with her legs crossed, in what her nursery school teacher used to call "crisscross" style, holding the egg in her lap. Prior to landing, Kel told Baily to hold on, and he made sure the landing was smooth, both for Baily's safety, and to protect the egg. Once they landed, they first rolled forward, then Baily felt like they were descending.

"What's going on?" she asked

"We moved into an elevator that is bringing us down into the space station which is underground, deep inside the moon. When we enter the terminal, we will be able to breathe in the controlled atmosphere," Kel explained.

After a few seconds, their descent stopped and Kel drove out of the elevator and parked the scout-craft. Then he opened the door of the scout-craft. Once he was out, he turned to assist Baily. She came out and took the egg with her. What she saw amazed her. The moon space station was not just for Zebians. There were a variety of obviously alien beings moving around an enormous structure.

The first thing she noticed was that not everyone here moved by walking. Some were gliding just above ground level and some were slowly flying at a low level just above her head. No one was wearing traditional astronaut suits. Everyone seemed to be dressed according to their home planet cultures, in materials and colors alien to Earth. Baily didn't know where to look first, it was all so enchanting, but Kel was off at a fast speed and she had to keep up with him.

Kel moved at a remarkably rapid pace through the colorful alien crowd. Baily had to hustle to keep up with him while carrying the egg. She was nearly toppled by a low flying alien baby careening through the mob, then nearly toppled again by the baby's caretaker who was chasing it. Kel quickly maneuvered through the station until he brought them to the Zebian space port. The Zebian ship was much larger than what Baily had expected.

With regard to the Alpha-Draconian egg, the Zebian spaceship captain, Del, said "I don't have any problem putting the egg in a highly-padded crate and securing it deep in the cargo area of the ship. My only concern is that the egg might hatch during the six-month voyage back to Zebion. Would this create a danger to our ship, crew or passengers?"

"If it hatches, it will be too weak to cause a problem. How would it eat? I think it will most likely die in transit because there's nothing to nurture it in the cargo of the ship. There were thousands of eggs in the cave and they were all glowing and humming. I don't know what was nurturing them, but this one isn't glowing or humming since we confiscated it."

Finally, it was decided to take the chance. Kel and the other Zebians stationed on the moon thought it was most likely that the egg would die during the journey, but it would still be invaluable for their researchers on Zebion. Baily found herself wondering what kind of research they would be doing with this egg.

While the Zebians took care of the egg, Kel offered Baily the option of taking a trip to Zebion. He brought her aboard the ship so she could see how passengers traveled. It looked surprisingly comfortable. The Zebian crew and staff seemed hospitable, if ugly. They offered her a small meal, which was amazingly delicious, probably the best food she had ever eaten in her life, which surprised her because she was a notoriously picky eater.

The ship had a beautiful dining room with some furniture big enough for larger guests. There was a swimming pool on board and a room for reading and entertainment which would require her to learn some new technology which the Zebians promised to teach her. Her proposed stateroom featured a couch that (they showed her) opened up into a bed that was definitely large enough for her to sleep in. There was a private bathroom for her with Earth-type facilities. There was even a private glass-enclosed star-gazing balcony. It looked like a fascinating adventure.

They promised her that she could return to Earth at any time after landing on Zebion. It was very tempting. Everyone she knew and loved had been left behind in the first timeline. She was a prisoner in the M-BUG with no future. She no longer had an identity on Earth. She had tried three times, and had failed each time, to emancipate the humans on the eighteenth floor of the M-BUG, so that no longer seemed to be a viable goal, just a heartbreaking failure. Yet, something deep inside of her heart told her to return to Earth.

"I want to visit Zebion eventually, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to do that yet. I think I need to go back to Earth for now, although I'm not sure what I'll do there," she admitted. "I have unfinished business there, on Earth."

"Zebion isn't going anywhere. It will be there when you're ready to visit," Kel kindly assured her, and then he thought to offer, "Can we help you with your unfinished Earth business? Would it help you to tell us about it?"

Baily explained to Kel and the spaceship captain that she had tried multiple times to rescue human captives from the eighteenth floor of the M-BUG, clarifying that the acronym stands for "Military Base Under Ground." They questioned her about how she and Ethan had come to live in the M-BUG to begin with, and so she told them her entire story, which ultimately led to her own rescue by Kel.

"But now it's your turn to explain to me how Kel happened to come at the exact moment that I needed to be rescued from the Alpha-Draconians?"

The two Zebians gave each other concerned looks. There was a moment of silence because they weren't sure if they should tell her anything. Finally, Kel responded, because he decided that she had a right to know, and he had never been given a direction to withhold information from her.

Kel answered via telecommunication, "When you and Adam, er, um, Ethan, were created, a location chip technology was implanted into your bodies to locate you in case you went invisible or got lost. It was never actually used because we thought you had both perished in the scout-craft crash that killed the five Zebian astronauts that had been tasked with bringing you to Earth. For some reason, twenty years later, they suddenly decided to activate the location chip technology from Zebion and I was sent to find you. Ethan was located deep beneath the Earth's surface in the State of Colorado in the United States, but we found you high in the mountains in Bhutan."

"He's in Colorado? That's where the M-BUG is located?" Baily asked in surprise.

She tucked a strand of hair behind her left ear and thought for a moment. She also had to process that she had been found in Bhutan.

"I must have been unconscious longer than I thought because I was abducted from Connecticut. And I don't know how I got from an underground city in Colorado to a mountain in Bhutan in a matter of seconds, in what seemed to be a vortex."

Kel answered, "As to moving through the vortex, that sounds like an Alpha-Draconian technology. On the other hand, your movement from Connecticut to Colorado sounds like a fast mode of transportation was used, perhaps some advanced technology supplied by the Prafins."

"The Prafins are evil," Baily complained. "I want to go back to that M-BUG and release all the captives. I know I could do it if you would let me borrow that weapon you used to vaporize the Alpha-Draconian. I'm sure it will work on the Prafins too. I will vaporize both the Alpha-Draconians and the Prafins in the M-BUG and free the captives. I promise to bring your weapon back to you..."

"No!" The Zebians both cried out at once. Then Kel explained Zebian history, referencing their 500-year war against the Alpha-Draconians. He described how the Zebians ultimately won the war and prevented the Alpha-Draconians from conquering their first home planet (Setto), but the Alpha-Draconians finally got revenge by blowing up their entire planet. The Alpha-Draconians had decided that if they couldn't have Setto, then the indigenous population couldn't have it either, so they destroyed the planet with a nuclear holocaust. Only five hundred Zebians had escaped and found a new, highly inhospitable planet to live on: Zebion. They will not, cannot incur the wrath of the malevolent Alpha-Draconians again. They cannot afford to lose their new planet, Zebion. Their race is nearly extinct. They are still hoping to find a more hospitable planet and multiply their species once more. In fact, the Zebians were hoping to someday live on Earth in harmony with humans.

Baily thought that it was highly unlikely that humans would ever welcome Zebians or any other aliens to share the Earth. Then again, they didn't even know that other aliens were already living on Earth.

"I understand your situation, but I hate to leave humans living in captivity like this," Baily said. She bit her lip and looked forlorn. The thought of giving up her quest to rescue the team of scientists made her feel hopeless.

The captain said, "Excuse me for a minute. I might have something that can help you. We can't loan you our vape-ray gun, but we might have something else that is useful."

He scurried off and left Baily alone with Kel.

Baily asked Kel, "Do you have any idea what he is going to offer me?"

Kel answered, "I'm not a weapons expert, but whatever it is, if you use it, you will most likely need to leave Earth immediately after you complete your mission, whether you are successful or not. Whether you free your captives or not, the Alpha-Draconians will be enraged. They will be determined to kill you for even trying to thwart them. You must promise that you will depart from Earth immediately after you complete this exercise."

"But how?" Baily asked. "I don't have a spaceship."

Kel assured her, "I will have to return to Earth and collect my colleagues and our possessions and return to the moon. We will take you both with us, you and Ethan. We will come back to the moon. Fighting the Alpha-Draconians, even with non-lethal weapons, will put us all in danger. Since I had to vaporize one of them, and our ship was spotted, we have to leave Earth under any circumstances. Fortunately, the Alpha-Draconians don't know where our new planet is located."

At that moment, the captain returned with small objects that looked like glittering emerald green miniature grenades, only made out of some sort of glass or crystal substance.

"What are those?" Baily asked.

"Time-Crystals," the captain answered. "You'll need to wear this mask."

He offered her a small adjustable mask made of some silver crinkly material that looked like tinfoil and was obviously made for Zebians, but upon trying it on, she was assured it fit over her nose and mouth adequately. Then the captain handed her a little vial, and instructed her to spray a drop on each human captive, under their nose, to revive them in case they are affected by the Time-Crystals, which otherwise would freeze them into an unconscious state.

"Time-Crystals," the captain explained, "will freeze time and the crystals themselves will disintegrate while they are working. These particular crystals will last for ten Earth minutes. During those ten minutes, anyone who ingests the gas emitted by the crystals will be frozen for the duration of ten minutes. When the time is up, the frozen victims will be able to move and think again and the Time-Crystals will be completely gone, disintegrated, melted away, with no evidence that they ever existed. The ones who were frozen will not realize that they had been frozen, to them you will have disappeared as if you had vanished. If you are successful, they will think all the captives also vanished."

"Well," said Baily, "they are used to seeing me disappear," (forgetting that they did not remember her from the first timeline and that the Prafins and Alpha-Draconians had not, in fact, seen her disappear but rather saw her materialize from Ezoku).

"Perhaps," said the captain, "but they are not used to their captives disappearing. You will need to bring the captives to safety, and I advise you to evacuate the M-BUG of all human and friendly-to-human alien life before the ten-minutes elapse. Seal off the M-BUG after that. In fact, to be safe, inform the human leaders to initiate an evacuation before you even go the eighteenth floor. Also, pull the pins from the Time-Crystals as you emerge from this Ezoku place that you have described, so that they will work before the Alpha-Draconians can attack you. And be sure your mask is on your face. You need to wear the mask to avoid inhaling the gas that will be emitted from the time-crystals when you first pull the pin. After a few seconds, the gas will turn into a gel, but it will still be dangerous to inhale. Good luck. No matter what the results are, if you survive, come back to the moon with Ethan. You will be safe here."

"Thank you. I am so grateful to you for this assistance. I know that if the humans in the M-BUG could thank you, they would, so on their behalf, I thank you also. You are probably saving the lives of many brilliant scientists. Not only are you saving them from a life of slavery, but you are thwarting the Alpha-Draconians from terraforming the Earth to the advantage of their own species and in such a way that would harm humans. You are a true friend. I promise I will come back here to the moon," Baily said, "but I can't speak for Ethan."

Now her eyes were shining with new hope. She had a viable plan to finally save the captives, and she even had a plan for her own rescue afterward. Even though she didn't much like him, she hoped that Ethan, too, would come to the moon and start a new life.

She turned to Kel, but then said, "Ugh, the thought of traveling back to Earth in that tiny space craft..." Baily fretted.

"No, no, don't worry, I am going to borrow a larger scout-craft and take you back to Earth safely," Kel promised.

Soon Baily was securely strapped into a comfortable big chair, gazing out at the stars as she traveled back to Earth in the borrowed scout-craft.

"What will you do on Earth? How will you propitiate the humans into cooperating with you?" Kel asked her.

"I don't know yet for sure. First, I will go see my friend from Andor, my friend Synnove, and she will help me," Baily answered, hoping that it was true.

"And how do you imagine the Andorian will help you with the humans?" Kel asked.

"I hope that she will give me advice, for one thing. I think she will approve of this plan to use the time-crystals because it only involves temporarily freezing the enemy while not hurting them in any way. I do think the humans, as you call them, will cooperate with me because they dearly want to free the captives."

Meanwhile, back on the moon, the Zebian captain prepared the ship for the long flight back to Zebion. Given the precarious situation they were in with the Alpha-Draconians, he realized they would need to take precautions. They were not traveling in a warship, but they did have some defensive mechanisms that they could employ in case of unforeseen trouble with their adversaries. The Time-Crystals were a relatively new defensive weapon, but not their newest. The captain had something very new, but as yet untested. He decided to lock and load his newest weapon in his arsenal and leave in ready-mode, because you never know what life might may bring.

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CHAPTER 14. DRAGON WRATH

It is widely held by members of the Universal Starlight Union, as well as by the Zebians, that the Alpha-Draconians are soulless monsters. This is not even remotely true. The Alpha-Draconians believe in conquering worlds and spreading their species across as many planets as possible, not because they lack souls but because they believe in their own celestial rights. They believe that they are far superior to all other life-forms. They do not worship Ha-Un, a religion and creed that they hold in disdain. The Alpha-Draconians believe that they themselves are divine beings, who are descendants of the original deities that created all the Galaxies. Therefore, from their perspective, all planets belong to them to begin with, and that is why it is their divine right to return to, and conquer, any planet that they select for their own use.

It is the Alpha-Draconian master plan to eventually take over and inhabit every planet of the entire Milky Way Galaxy. They know that the Universal Starlight Union will not dare to oppose them, mostly out of fear, and also due to their ridiculous religious beliefs. The Alpha-Draconians already started to implement their master plan by targeting planets that are not members of the U.S.U. Once they finish conquering those planets (including Earth), they intend to sequentially target U.S.U. member planets, starting with the weakest and least popular. They plan to finally conquer the stronger and more popular U.S.U. planets, saving Andor and their U.S.U. "supreme leader" Raphael for last. The Alpha-Draconians intend long-term torture and humiliation for the Andorians, and especially for Raphael. They intend to enslave the Andorians and to teach them, on no uncertain terms, that "Ha-Un" does not exist and that the only Gods in the universe are the Alpha-Draconians. They plan to teach the Andorians, and all U.S.U. survivors, a new religion all right. The only living respectable beings in the universe with immortal souls are clearly Alpha-Draconians who are both in possession of souls and also the Gods of the universe, simultaneously.

Not only do the Alpha-Draconians have souls, they in fact marry their twin souls, and stay married for life (which for them is approximately one thousand years). They have a deep, intimate, and spiritual love with their mate. Each pair of soulmates shares extra-sensory telepathic knowledge with each other from the moment they mate. This telepathy excludes all others. When one spouse dies, the other spouse immediately knows of this painful loss, even if it occurred on the other side of the planet, or on a different planet, from where the surviving spouse is located.

At the moment when Kel discharged his vape-ray gun and vaporized the Alpha-Draconian female, Naga-Seb felt a soul-searing pain envelope his entire being. His head flew back, his lizard-like eyes bulged out, his hand reached for his heart, his knees became weak, he screamed in agony. Finally, he knelt to the ground and collapsed in anguish. His father, Naga-Luf, did not ask what had happened. It was obvious. Clearly, Naga-Seb had lost his mate. The only question was, how? How had she died?

Naga-Luf gently helped his son to stand up. They were currently located in the M-BUG in the depths of the Colorado Mountains. He knew, without being told, that his son did not want to live without his mate.

"Think of your children. Think of your unborn children," he urgently advised his son. He was referring to the majority of the eggs that were incubating in their cave in Bhutan. "You must live for the children. They won't have their mother, they will need their father more than ever."

These were the words, the only words, that could bring Naga-Seb out of the most extreme depth of his loss and help him to feel his sense of love and responsibility to the children created from his union with his forever-lost soulmate. He knew he would never love again. He knew he would live for centuries as a God without his goddess, but he had to live for his yet-born children, the future Gods.

The Alpha-Draconians had no memory of the time when Naga-Seb had been vaporized in 1948, in the first timeline. In that timeline it was his wife, Yaga-Seb, who had suffered the searing pain of his loss, and most of their eggs had not been conceived yet. Naga-Seb had no idea that his time with his wife since 1948 had been a gift and that most of his unborn children would never have existed if it hadn't been for Baily's time travel to save Naga-Seb's life. In fact, they weren't even aware that Baily existed, or that she was a time traveler. They had already forgotten the intruder to the M-BUG that they had banished into the vortex (which they assumed had killed her).

With great effort, Naga-Seb dragged himself up and allowed Naga-Luf to lead him back to the cave in Bhutan. Naga-Luf whisked them off in their travel-vortex across the globe, back to their cave, high in the secluded mountains of Bhutan. There, Naga-Luf's wife told them what little she could relate about the death of Yaga-Seb, although mostly, she was in a state of shock.

"Yaga-Luf, my goddess, my love-light, I am so grateful to find you safe and healthy," Naga-Luf greeted his twin soul. They were seven hundred and twenty years old. They had already been married for six hundred years. Naga-Seb was their oldest child. Most of the eggs in the cave belonged to Naga-Seb and Yaga-Seb, although some belonged to Yaga-Luf who was just starting to get to be too old for conceiving children. She only had another fifty to eighty years of childbearing left, during which time she would certainly lay much fewer eggs. Naga-Seb was their favorite child and the loss that he suffered was very painful for both parents to bear.

"Mother Goddess, please," Naga-Seb gasped painfully, "What happened to my Goddess?"

"Our daughter-in-law, Yaga-Seb, felt her eggs were in danger," The Goddess, Yaga-Luf began her explanation. "They were calling out to her as only eggs can do to their mother's heart. For my part, I heard only a faint mewing from my unborn babes, I didn't think there was cause for concern. Perhaps because my eggs were safer, far removed from the intruders."

"But what intruders?" asked Naga-Seb.

"Let her finish," Naga-Luf said.

"Yaga-Seb ran to the nesting cave to check on their safety," Yaga-Luf continued. "I heard her scream, but not in fear, rather in fury. I didn't worry because I knew she would protect both her own babies and our babies."

Here Yaga-Luf stopped and looked beseechingly at her husband. He nodded his encouragement and understanding.

"No one could ever hold you accountable for any wrong my darling," Naga-Luf assured his wife.

"After a short while, when she didn't come back, I went to the nesting cave to see what she was doing. I found scorch lines on the cave wall and floor that could only have been made with an extinguisher. There was no sign of Yaga-Seb anywhere and our youngest, newest egg was missing too."

Both dragon-men gasped.

"An extinguisher?" Naga-Seb asked.

"Are you sure?" Naga-Luf asked.

"Yes, you can look for yourselves. I ran out of the cave and saw a small spacecraft take off. It looked like the ones they used long ago on Planet Setto."

"Impossible," Naga-Luf assured her, "We exploded Setto and everyone on it hundreds of Earth years ago."

"It's true Mama-Goddess, I was with the brigade that annihilated the planet. I watched it explode from a safe distance. No one could have survived," Naga-Seb confirmed his father's words.

"Maybe a few survived and came for revenge," Yaga-Luf offered.

"Impossible," Naga-Seb reiterated. "Although, I suppose some of them might have been off-planet when their home was destroyed. Perhaps they have been tracking us and waiting for a chance to extract some revenge. What kind of monsters kill unarmed women and children? They didn't have the nerve to face the men in the family? We will track them and show them what revenge is."

"I will take care of this," Naga-Luf promised. "If they are that cowardly to attack and murder innocent women and children, they do not deserve an easy death. They have probably run away, back to the moon, I'm guessing, getting ready to return to whatever planet they are planning to hide on. We will find them, and we will make them die a slow and terrible death."

Naga-Luf went deep into the cave where he kept his own high-technology communication base. He sent a message to the Alpha-Draconian space station on the moon. Their space station on the moon was in a secret and separate location from the Universal Starlight Union's space station that hosted the Zebion, Andorian, and many other cooperating alien spaceports on the moon. The Alpha-Draconians didn't keep spaceships at their moon space station, they only kept warships. The only way they traversed the galaxy was via warship, always prepared for battle.

Naga-Luf sent a detailed message to his moon-base informing them that they need to be on the lookout for any scout-craft or spaceship that resembled the vehicles from the now defunct Planet Setto because some beings using similar space vehicles had extinguished the Goddess Yaga-Seb and one of Yaga-Luf's unborn children. It was therefore imperative to track down these cowardly terrorists and make them suffer a slow and violent death.

Naga-Luf was somewhat surprised to get confirmation that such a scout-craft had been seen arriving on the moon earlier (and was still there), but another larger scout-craft returned to Earth. Their spies had intercepted messages that led them to believe the larger scout-craft was carrying the same visitors back to Earth because they, for some reason, had borrowed a different vehicle.

Naga-Luf instructed the moon-base to keep a lookout for its return and more importantly, if a larger spaceship similar to that used on Setto were to leave the moon at any time, to follow in a warship. He then put out the word on Earth that he was searching for any aliens who were originally from Setto. He wanted to know immediately where they were located on Earth if anyone knew of their location.

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CHAPTER 15. TIME-CRYSTALS

Baily had put the three small Time-Crystals into her pockets along with the mask. As the scout-craft approached Earth, Kel asked Baily if she knew how to get back to the M-BUG on her own. She assured him that she would be able to do that, and she encouraged him to land wherever he felt safe.

"Since we are still under cover of night, it will be safe for us to land at the Zebian Embassy on Earth. Don't be disappointed though, it's only a cave hidden on a remote island in Indonesia. When you are ready to return to the moon, can you find your way back to us and allow us to take you and Ethan to safety?" Kel telecommunicated.

"I'm sure I can, assuming that Synnove will be available to help me navigate Ezoku. I can't speak for Ethan, but I promise to make the offer on your behalf. Ethan still believes that he can become a trusted agent for the Galactic Investigative Agency. He doesn't understand that they intend to keep him their prisoner. It's difficult to reason with him, but I will make the effort," Baily explained.

"Well, at least convince him to come and meet us, so that we can reason with him," Kel responded.

Kel landed the scout-craft and insisted that Baily come inside the embassy and meet the other four Zebian astronauts that made up his team on Earth. She saw that their cave was hidden by heavy foliage. The cave itself had a long entrance. When she entered deep into the cave she was surprised by the interior. While she couldn't figure out what their power source was, she was delighted by the brightly lit core space and interested in some equipment that appeared to be high technology which littered one side of the room.

Four ugly, silver, diminutive creatures came rushing forward to greet her warmly, as though she were a long lost distant cousin. They seemed to be overjoyed to meet her. Baily didn't attempt to remember their names as they all looked the same to her. She was feeling very anxious to return to the M-BUG and see if the Time-Crystals worked. She promised to return as soon as possible, with Ethan, if he agreed to come. They wished her luck.

To be polite, and to avoid frightening them, she walked to the mouth of the cave, not wishing to disappear into thin air before their eyes. Unfortunately, they followed her, as if to escort her to the door, so to speak. At last, she had no choice but to finally let them watch her turn invisible as she entered into Ezoku. She turned once to see what impact her disappearance had on the Zebians and saw them standing open-mouthed and slack-jawed.

Baily turned around, in the pastel perimeter of Ezoku, and used her telecommunication skills to call out to Synnove. In a few seconds, Synnove appeared, looking less serene than usual. Baily immediately knew that something unusual was going on in Ezoku. She was anxious to get back to the M-BUG and start both the evacuation and rescue process. She wanted to liberate the team of captive scientists as soon as possible, before the Alpha-Draconians realized that their female had been vaporized and their egg had been kidnapped.

"I've been looking for you," Synnove was communicating faster than usual. "We have an emergency situation."

"What is going on?" Baily asked her.

"The Alpha-Draconians have been attacked. I don't know which species would be insane enough to perpetrate this crime against them, but another alien reportedly vaporized one of their females as well as one of their eggs. I don't know the specifics of how, where, or exactly when they were attacked, but they are furiously scouring he Earth for the suspects. Meanwhile, our Supreme-Leader, Raphael, has commanded me and all members of the Universal Starlight Union abiding on Earth, to leave Earth immediately. If you want to leave Earth, you need to leave now, or you might never have another chance."

Oh dear, thought Baily, is it too late to save the humans? Baily bit her lip and thought for a second. This was horrible news and not at all what she had anticipated. There seemed to be a veritable crisis for all sentient life forms on Earth at the moment. Baily decided it would not be a good idea to consult Synnove about her proposed rescue scheme using the Time-Crystals. It would be better to conceal that plan for now, she thought.

"But why is Raphael ordering everyone to leave Earth? Why should the problems of the Alpha-Draconians matter to Raphael?" Baily asked.

"Because they are known to be a rabidly violent species that doesn't hesitate to engage in brutal wars at the least provocation. As you know, the Universal Starlight Union is devoted to maintaining peaceful coexistence throughout the galaxy. Raphael believes that humans invited the Alpha-Draconians here in exchange for high-technology. He will not allow us to risk our lives or become involved in any way in vicious altercations with other species, especially if they were invited by the indigenous population," Synnove explained.

Baily knew she had to stall for time. "What about Ethan? We can't leave him stranded, can we?" She asked in an effort to buy herself some time to complete her self-assigned mission.

"No, of course not, I won't leave anyone stranded on Earth," Synnove assured her. "But I don't have much time to obey orders. You have exactly one Earth hour to convince him to come and join me in my flight to the moon."

Baily glanced around and recognized that everything was cloudy and pastel. She wouldn't be able to find her way back to the Zebian cave without Synnove's help. She could wander around Ezoku for years looking for the right portal. She finally decided to confess part of the truth to Synnove.

"The Zebians are also planning to leave Earth in a little while. I promised the Zebians that I would ride with them to the moon because I discovered that Zebion is my home planet and I want to get to know them better," Baily admitted, thinking honesty is the best policy.

"That's delightful! How did you even meet them? Synnove asked, astonished.

"It's a really long story, but apparently, they had implanted a chip technology somewhere into my body when I was born and they suddenly used it to track me down and meet me. They now have sent me to get Ethan and see if he's at least willing to meet them also. The problem is, I won't be able to get back to this portal without your help. Will you wait for me to return with Ethan before you depart from Earth?" Baily hoped that Synnove wouldn't hate her for not disclosing the entire truth because someday she was sure to discover the veracity of the reason for her own inconvenient early departure from Earth. Certainly, the history of her brief sojourn and rescue on Bhutan would eventually come to light.

"Under normal circumstances, I would wait forever, but I'm under strict orders right now. I have one Earth hour, then I need to leave," Synnove patiently explained.

If it takes me longer than an hour, how can I find my way back to this spot?" Baily asked.

"I'll try to leave a path for you to follow. You'll know it when you see it. It would be much easier for you though if you came back to Ezoku within the hour. You had better hurry. Come, follow me, I will lead you back to the M-BUG," Synnove offered, as she led the way through the pastel mist to the desired portal.

When Baily emerged from Ezoku and appeared in the M-BUG she startled Weatherby, Gardner, and Vickers who were all in a conference. At first, they were speechless and nonplussed. Weatherby was the first to talk.

"We thought you were dead," he spluttered bluntly, an amazed look on his face.

"I nearly was, but I was rescued by friendly aliens," Baily assured them.

"What does that mean? Explain yourself," demanded Vickers, who was always suspicious of non-humans.

"I have to beg you to trust me. I can explain more afterwards. Know this – the Alpha-Draconians, that is to say, the dragon-men, are very angry. Things are about to change dramatically, for the worse. I have obtained the means to rescue the scientists from the eighteenth floor, but first you must immediately evacuate the M-BUG of all human life. Once the captives have emerged, you must permanently seal off the M-BUG. This is for your own safety and for the safety of Earth."

"Absolutely not," Vickers emphatically announced his immediate decision.

"I agree, this is absurd. Why on Earth would we trust you?" asked Gardner, who was very much a yes-man when it came to decision making.

"I'm inclined to trust her," Weatherby offered, "but we need a detailed explanation, Baily."

Weatherby, Gardner, and Vickers all looked expectantly at Baily, waiting to hear what her reasoning might be. However, much to their shock and dismay, instead of obliging them with an explanation, she issued an order of her own. This complete lack of respect for their authority created anger, panic, and disharmony all at once.

"I'm running out of time. I will need Ethan's help. Start evacuating everyone from the M-BUG immediately, or everyone will die," Baily haughtily commanded. "The Alpha-Draconians are declaring war. When they find out that the scientists have escaped, they will most likely vaporize the entire M-BUG. If you die, I will not be responsible." And with that, she disappeared.

Baily quickly moved through the M-BUG to Ethan's cell. While she was doing that, pandemonium occurred in the conference room.

"You heard her," Vickers screamed, "she threatened us."

"She certainly did," Gardener agreed.

"No, she warned us for our own safety," Weatherby interjected.

Vickers ignored everyone and called the armed guards, instructing them to hunt down Baily and bring her back. He told them to use any force, including lethal force if necessary. But something about her words and actions struck a deep sense of confidence in Weatherby, and he felt strongly that she was telling the truth and in favor of their safety. Weatherby was able to calm both Vickers and Gardner down with logic.

"Obviously, something has happened to terrify Baily. Clearly, she isn't here to hurt us but rather, she came back to protect us. Whatever she's dealing with, it must be too urgent to waste time with long, detailed explanations. I can't imagine why there's a time constraint, but she did say the dragon-men are waging a war. I think it's better to err on the side of security and give her the benefit of the doubt. Why not go ahead and evacuate the M-BUG? Let's just treat it like an old-fashioned fire-drill. What's the worst thing that can happen? If all is well, we will have everyone return to the M-BUG shortly. On the other hand, if there's really a problem, many lives will be saved. Let's err on the side of caution," Weatherby concluded his sensible speech.

Gardener gave Vickers a sidelong glance and noting that he looked agreeable, sighed and said, "It's a reasonable request, I'm inclined to agree."

Much to Gardener's horror, Vickers glowered and flatly refused, stating, "I'm still in charge here. I will not have our work interrupted with this nonsense, and under no circumstances will I ever take orders from an alien."

Meanwhile, Baily found Ethan in his cell and she quickly informed him that she needed his help with one more rescue attempt.

"But where have you been? I saw you disappear in a vortex," he shrieked.

"Where I have been is such an amazing story, you will hardly believe a word of it. I have literally been to the moon and back. Unfortunately, I don't have time to tell you about it until later. I need to ask you to trust me. We have less than an hour to save the scientists. Once we start the rescue mission we will only have ten minutes to get them out of the eighteenth floor, up to level thirteen, to the other side of the M-BUG, and outside. We need to convince those stubborn men, Vickers and Gardener to evacuate the M-BUG, because the Alpha-Draconians are going to probably vaporize the entire structure. When it's all over, you and I need to get out of here as fast as possible because our lives are in imminent danger. Believe it or not we will have a scout-craft waiting to take us to the moon," Baily had never talked so fast in her life.

"Wait, back up, what?" Ethan asked, confused.

"No time, let's go," Baily said.

"You're kidding me, right?" Ethan was saying while Baily pushed him into Ezoku, just as the armed guards stormed into Ethan's cell. They cursed when they found it empty. But Ethan turned in time to view them from the safety of Ezoku and whistled low, realizing he was now, for some reason, a GIA enemy rather than an asset. Before he could even question Baily, Synnove came rushing up to them.

"Thank you for coming back so fast," Synnove smiled warmly at them.

"We're not quite ready to leave yet," Baily told her. "Give us a few more minutes, we'll be right back."

"But what else do you need to do?" Synnove asked.

"Rescue the human captives," Ethan piped up.

"You're running out of time, you know. I understand you were raised as a human, but..."

"We'll talk later," Baily called over her shoulder as she rushed Ethan to the stairwell, where she wanted him.

To Ethan, she said "Wait in Ezoku until the first captives arrive at the stairwell, then emerge and offer to help them."

"But how are you going to evade the..."

"Not now, just trust me," Baily cut him off.

Baily wasn't even sure how many people she had to rescue. She put her mask on and adjusted it to her face. Ethan laughed at the sight of her. He shook his head and started to say something, but she ignored him. She took two Time-Crystals out of her pockets and pulled the pins. She ran fast out of Ezoku and threw one crystal toward the spot that the Alpha-Draconians usually came from and threw the other crystal toward the spot where the Prafins usually stood guard.

Sure enough, they were there. The Prafins froze. The Alpha-Draconians were coming at her, and they too froze. She looked at her watch. She still had nine minutes and fifty-five seconds before the Time-Crystals evaporated. The third Time-Crystal was in her pocket in case of emergency.

The minute Baily pulled the pins out of the Time-Crystals, they were activated. They glowed a brilliant emerald green and small glittering dots and ribbons of gold emanated from them filling the air with a huge cloud of sparkling gold and emerald dust. It was nearly impossible to see through the colorful haze. Fortunately for Baily, she had super-human vision skills.

The Prafins were running toward her from one direction and the Alpha-Draconians were rushing toward her from the other direction. Both sets of aliens immediately slowed down to a forced and lethargically sluggish movement, as though they were barely able to drag themselves through space. Within seconds they all froze in place, in mid-motion, as if encased in ice. Baily had been watching in fascination and horror, hoping that the Time-Crystals would really work. She suddenly realized that her mask had prevented her from inhaling the thick glittering dust that emanated from the Time-Crystals, which she suspected was the cause of everyone else's suspended animation. Within a half a second, the "dust" turned into a thick shimmering green and gold gel suspended in the air as a dense fog.

Baily rushed through the glass wall where many members of the science team were watching in shock. They saw Baily emerge from nowhere, wearing a mask. They saw her throw tiny green objects in two directions. They saw both the villainous Prafins and the ominous Alpha-Draconians freeze in their pursuit of her, as if suspended in mid-motion. The scientists themselves were safe behind their glass enclosure and were unaffected by the Time-Crystals.

"I'm sorry to startle you but I am here to free you and we have only a few minutes to get all of you to safety. I am asking you to trust me, there is no time for explanations. First, I need to protect you from becoming inanimate like the aliens in the hallway. I need to spray a drop of this on each of you below your nose, on your upper lip."

"It's called the philtrum," one of the scientists informed her, smiling sweetly.

"Side effects?" asked another, as they all looked at her as though she were slightly insane.

You would think they would be chomping at the bit to get out of here, but instead they are teaching me anatomy and questioning the side effects of this chemical, Baily thought to herself.

"The side effects are that you get to live in freedom for the rest of your lives," she answered as she began to quickly spray each person's philtrum. "Are there any other captives down here? If there are, I need to find them immediately and bring them with us."

"There are a few more, I can take you to them in the other lab," offered her new anatomy teacher.

"Perfect, the rest of you head for the stairs, behind the elevators," Baily pointed in the right direction. "My friend is waiting there to help you." She checked her watch. "You have eight minutes to get to the first floor. RUN!"

Baily followed the scientist in another direction and was led to the second laboratory. On the way she asked, "Are there any Prafins or Alpha-Draconians there? Are any aliens guarding the second laboratory?"

"I don't go there very often, but I don't remember seeing any of them there in person."

"In person?" Baily asked, but she didn't get an answer. Just to be on the safe side, Baily pulled the third Time-Crystal out of her pocket and put the pin into a position to be quickly pulled if needed. When they arrived at the door, the second lab was locked.

"Wait here," Baily told her escort. She quickly walked through the wall and found ten more scientists at work inside the locked lab. They were being watched remotely on a giant screen by one of the Prafins. Baily wondered how far away he was. He didn't seem very concerned to see Baily appear in the room.

"I've come to rescue you. Stop what you're doing and follow me," she ordered. She was able to open the door from the inside without any problem. When Baily turned around she realized that no one had moved, they were afraid to leave.

"You have less than one minute to leave or I have to go without you. Everyone else has already escaped. I won't be able to come back for you," she warned.

Still no one moved. Finally, one person whispered, "He'll pop our heads open if we so much as move in your direction."

Baily looked for an on/off switch or a plug, or any way to turn the screen off to prevent the Prafin form watching them, but nothing was apparent. Time was running out. She hated to leave anyone behind.

"He can't hurt you if he can't see you. The other guards have been neutralized as have been the Alpha-Draconians. Run out the door and I promise you'll be safe," she said, with her fingers crossed behind her back. She hoped to Ha-Un that she was telling the truth. Baily swiftly swung herself around the door where the Prafin couldn't see her.

The scientists started to make a run for it. One, two, they were holding their heads in their hands, stumbling out of the lab. A third one came out crying in pain. Baily heard someone scream. The fourth one staggered out and was bleeding from his ears. The fifth one nearly crawled out. Each one that made it out was immediately pulled behind the door into the hallway, out of sight of the screen where the Prafin was watching. Once out of the Prafin's line of vision, the pain immediately began to subside. The sixth and seventh scientists helped each other stumble blindly out of the lab, blood leaking out of their eyes and ears. They heard another nerve fraying scream. The eighth scientist, a petite woman, came flying out of the door. She had been physically thrown out. Baily grabbed her and quickly dragged her behind the door.

"That's it," the woman said, "The others had their brains exploded right after they saved my life. They threw me out, then they died."

Baily was about to close the door when she saw an arm, then another. The ninth scientist was crawling out on his belly. A few people who were sufficiently recovered pulled him out to safety swiftly.

"Is anyone else alive?" Baily asked him.

"No, Jonathan died. His head exploded. We all would have died if even one Prafin had been here in person, but I guess they aren't as strong when they work remotely," he gasped.

The nine scientists were still feeling residual intracranial pain of varying strengths, but they mustered their stamina and staggered to safety. They had only six minutes left. Six minutes to help nine fragile, sick adults who could hardly walk, get through the hallways, past the frozen aliens, up seventeen flights of stairs to safety. Six minutes, that reminded Baily that she had to stop and spray a drop of liquid on each person's philtrum from the vial she was carrying, to prevent them from freezing when they passed by the disintegrating Time-Crystals.

By the time Baily finished treating each of the nine scientists, they had five and a half minutes left to escape. Their chance of living in freedom for the rest of their lives was very slim, as the rest of their lives might only last less than six minutes. She herded them as rapidly as they were capable of moving toward the staircase. When they reached the stairwell, Ethan and the other escapees were gone, they had already moved on far ahead. Baily stayed behind as she allowed everyone to start up the stairs ahead of her. She knew the Alpha-Draconians couldn't fit into the stairwell, but the Prafins could speedily overtake them. Now she also knew that the Prafins could use their powers remotely and still have a devastating impact.

The scientists seemed to be recovering quickly and began to pick up speed as they progressed up the stairwell. Their movement through the halls and up the first flight of stairs took the longest. By the time they got up to level thirteen, they only had two minutes left. Could eleven people squeeze into the elevator? Did Baily dare spend time waiting for the elevator? Hurtling through space and crashing with lethal force in an elevator is a terrible death, but the aliens could also probably implode the stairwell. Heck, they would probably be imploding the entire M-BUG soon. Baily decided to take a chance on waiting for an elevator. There was no way to get all these people up thirteen flights of stairs and out of the building in two minutes.

At the entrance to the level thirteen stairwell, Baily guided her group around the corner and swiftly moved across the building to the front elevators that would take them to the first floor and outside of the building. This she knew from information Marybeth had given to her in the past. They arrived at the elevator and pressed the button. They waited. Baily watched the second hand on her watch tick the slowest, longest seconds of her life. Fifty-two seconds, they barely had a minute left. The elevator doors opened. She was scarcely able to get her crew into the small space and pressed the button for the first floor.

Nothing happened. She tried the button for floor number two. The doors closed. The elevator moved. They took the slowest ride of their lives. Thirty seconds later, the doors opened. They still had thirty-eight seconds to evacuate the building before the Time-Crystals evaporated and the aliens unfroze. They rushed off to the elevator and around the corner to the stairwell. They ran up the stairs to the first floor. Half way up the stairs, they ran out of time.

The Time-Crystals had been slowly evaporating on the eighteenth floor. When the ten minutes was over, they totally disappeared and both the Alpha-Draconians and the Prafins unfroze. However, they felt somewhat disoriented. They looked about feeling confused, wondering what had just happened? A human girl had appeared and disappeared in an eye-blink. The group of human scientists who had been working behind the glass partition were gone, but where could they have gone? They were all there a second ago. How is that possible?

The Prafins went to check on the second lab, but nine scientists were missing and one was dead. Wait a minute, what is Ret doing with us? Ret, a Prafin who was still dazed, realized that they were questioning him. He slowly remembered what had happened, at least, up to a point.

Ret reported, "I was at my station, remotely guarding the ten scientists in the small lab. A human suddenly appeared, although I'm not sure how that was possible because I'm sure the door was locked. She appeared out of nowhere. She ordered everyone in the lab to leave. I wasn't worried, I knew they wouldn't dare to move. I was right, they all stayed put. But, suddenly, they all started to attempt to escape. The human hid from my view, but I put pressure on the captives. Nine escaped, but I killed this one."

"But why did you let them escape? Why didn't you chase them? Why didn't you get us to help you?" Naga-Luf asked, beside himself with rage and shock.

"I tried to, your majesty," the Prafin tried to explain, "I remember running into the hallway, where we all woke up a minute ago. Everyone looked frozen in place. I thought that was odd. That was the last thing I remember."

"Could the human have magic?" asked one of the Prafins.

Naga-Seb kicked him and the little Prafin flew across the room. "Idiot," Naga-Seb scoffed, "they have some powerful technology that we don't know about. Something that froze us while they escaped."

Meanwhile, this confusion and disorientation on the eighteenth floor gave Baily a few extra minutes to get her nine scientists out of the M-BUG. When they got to the door of level one they couldn't open it, it was locked. However, Ethan and Weatherby were standing by to open it. Everyone filed out into the impressive lobby. There was no time to stop and admire it though; they all rushed out of the building which had previously been evacuated because Weatherby, defying orders, had pulled a fire alarm.

All of the employees and residents of the M-BUG, as well as the former captives from the eighteenth floor, had been speedily evacuated. Everyone was standing a good distance away from the building. General Vickers was furious. Once he saw Baily and Ethan emerge from the M-BUG, he decided it was high-time for everyone to return to work. While he was pleased to see that the captives had been rescued, he wasn't about to let Baily and Ethan escape to their own freedom. After all, he had a country and a planet to protect. They were still dangerous aliens.

While Vickers was giving the order that the "fire drill" was over, down on the eighteenth floor, Naga-Luf was giving a different order to the cowering Prafins.

"One job," Naga-Luf screamed at his small army of Prafins, "You had one job. Guard the human scientists and make them work. You useless, worthless imbeciles. You are of absolutely no value to us now. We will finish this work without you and without the humans. We will terraform this planet on our own without any help from anyone else."

Naga-Seb and Naga-Luf stepped back in unison, into their vortex, to return to their cave in Bhutan, across the globe. As they departed, Naga-Seb took his extinguisher (the Alpha-Draconian version of an electro-magnetic ray gun). It was set at the highest magnitude. He discharged the weapon, which not only vaporized the Prafins, it vaporized the entire M-BUG.

Vickers and the rest of the M-BUG personnel were about to return to the M-BUG when a flash of dazzling light and a loud crackling reverberation caused nearly everyone to lose their balance. The building that they were walking toward disappeared and in its place appeared a giant, smoking sinkhole. People were in shock. The ground beneath them began to cave in. Everyone had to run further away, seeking firmer ground. Baily looked around and spotted Weatherby. He was half carrying Marybeth to safety.

Baily grabbed Ethan by his elbow, "We need to leave, our mission is completed. Tell me now if you want to stay here or come with me to freedom. I intend to join the aliens who are vacating the Earth."

"I don't see a future with GIA right now," Ethan frowned, gesturing to the increasing sinkhole before them. "I'm game to try something new."

They stepped into Ezoku for the last time. General Vickers never knew exactly how many lives Baily had saved that day. In fact, he never credited her with saving any lives at all. Instead he blamed her for the destruction of the M-BUG which he thought she and Ethan had engineered to secure their own escape to freedom. Weatherby and Marybeth, on the other hand, both knew the truth of Baily's heroism. They never knew how she had done it, but they were forever grateful to her and Ethan for their courage. Wherever Baily and Ethan had escaped to, they deserved their freedom, and Weatherby and Marybeth wished them well.

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CHAPTER 16. DEPARTURE FROM EARTH

Once in Ezoku, Baily turned briefly to view the catastrophic scene on Earth that she and Ethan had just escaped. The area where the M-BUG had been appeared to have been replaced by a gigantic ever-widening sinkhole. It continued to cave inward. People were frantically running away from the caving land as fast as they could move. She couldn't see Weatherby or Marybeth any longer, but she knew that they would survive. Ethan was by her side, and he was also staring at the cataclysm in slack-jawed shock.

"Well, you got what you wanted. We escaped from the M-BUG," he muttered.

"Everyone escaped from the M-BUG," she corrected him. "Including the captives. That place was evil, but we all got out without any more loss of lives. All except for the captives on the nineteenth floor."

"The nineteenth floor? There was a nineteenth floor? What are you talking about?" Ethan asked, confused.

"Yes. One night I toured the M-BUG. I started out on my own but then Synnove helped me. I was almost captured by a Prafin on the nineteenth floor where they were experimenting on humans. It was horrific. There's a twentieth floor too."

"Not anymore," Ethan said. "Those floors must have been destroyed in this mess."

"Maybe, but there was an actual train station that led to other M-BUGs all over the North, Central and South America. I just realized that I never had a chance to tell Weatherby about those M-BUGs and now it's too late."

"What could he do about it anyway?" Ethan asked.

"Probably nothing, but he should at least know about their existence," Baily answered.

"Well, it's not our problem anymore. We are free now. So now we just go back to our parents and resume college?" he asked her.

"That would be great, but to do that we would need to get back to the first timeline," Baily answered with some bitterness.

"How do you know for sure that we are in a second timeline? Maybe we just changed the first timeline, in which case we might be able to go home," Ethan challenged her.

"Well, for one thing, no one remembered us when we returned from 1948. Also, if we are in the first timeline, our parents think we are dead and buried.

Furthermore, our identities were deleted. We are now dead people."

"O.K., but what if we created a second timeline, then our identities haven't been deleted, right?" Ethan asked.

"In that case, if we are in the second timeline, we either never existed in this timeline, or our duplicates exist in this timeline and are already living our old lives. Either way, there's no place for us to return in this timeline," Baily reasoned.

"So, what do we do now?" Ethan asked, still staring at the chaotic scene unfolding on Earth in front of them.

"We need to leave Earth," Baily calmly answered.

"Is that a joke?" Ethan turned to look at Baily, incredulous.

"I'm not joking, Ethan," Baily calmly assured him, and she brought him up to speed on what happened when the Alpha-Draconians had whisked her away in their vortex.

She explained how she was saved from being murdered by the female Alpha-Draconian when the Zebian astronaut suddenly appeared in the cave and vaporized her enemy. Then she quickly described her trip to the moon, what the moon station was like, and how she met the Zebian ship captain. She explained that they had given her the Time-Crystals (but neglected to tell him that she still had one left over). Of course, she also told Ethan about the chip location technology that the Zebians had placed in their bodies before bringing them to Earth, which also required some explanation about how, where and when they had been created on Planet Zebion. All of this she reported very efficiently and rapidly.

"I know it's a lot to digest. I'm kind of still trying to absorb it all myself," she finished.

"I'll say. It's bad enough to find out we aren't human, but this is pretty awful. If they found you through that location chip then we can't have any duplicates here in this timeline, or they would have located them too," Ethan commented.

"I hadn't thought of that," Baily said. "Are you willing to leave Earth or would you rather try to start a new life here? Remember, if you don't leave now, you might never have a chance to leave. Synnove told me that all members of the Universal Starlight Union have been ordered to leave Earth immediately. The Zebians are also leaving, mostly out of fear of retribution from the Alpha-Draconians, which, by the way, is not to be mentioned to Synnove or anyone who is not a Zebian."

"I don't know why it's a secret from Synnove, but anyway, I guess I better take my chances with leaving now while I can. There's nothing left for me on Earth. I think I've been burnt with the Galactic Investigative Agency, if they even still exist now that the M-BUG has been destroyed, and I don't have any family or friends or even an identity in this timeline," Ethan responded ruefully.

"In addition to all of that, Zebion is actually our home planet. I'm curious to see it. Don't get put off when you see the Zebians though. They don't look anything like us," Baily warned him.

"What do they look like?" Ethan asked her.

"Kind of like the Prafins, but smaller and silver," she answered honestly.

"Are you fu..." before he could finish responding, he was interrupted by Synnove.

"Oh, there you are," she said, rushing up to them. "I hope you are ready to leave because we are just about out of time."

Not realizing that Baily had told Ethan so much, Synnove took a few minutes to explain to Ethan that there were several different species of aliens on Earth who belonged to the Universal Starlight Union, all on Earth for a variety of reasons, all of whom had been ordered to permanently leave Earth immediately with no plans to return in the foreseeable future.

"Who exactly is ordering this departure from Earth?" Ethan asked.

Synnove sighed, "The supreme leader of the U.S.U., Raphael has ordered all U.S.U. members to evacuate Earth because a war is brewing between the Alpha-Draconians and everyone else. Some unknown alien entity murdered an Alpha-Draconian adult and also an unborn infant."

Baily held her breath, hoping that Ethan wouldn't say the wrong thing, as she listened to his next question.

"Why does Raphael care about the Alpha-Draconians getting murdered?" he innocently asked Synnove.

"Because the members of the U.S.U. avoid any hint of dissention with the Alpha-Draconians, or their allies, if we can help it. We are the peace keepers of the Galaxy. We strive to live in harmony with all species on all planets."

"Even though the Alpha-Draconians are trying to take over the Earth? No one is going to protect the humans? What good is the U.S.U.?" Ethan asked astonished.

"It is Supreme Leader Raphael's belief that the humans brought this on themselves. They invited the Alpha-Draconians and Prafins to Earth in order to trade technology. So far as Raphael is concerned, the U.S.U. must leave Earth to its own destiny and we cannot interfere," Synnove serenely clarified.

"Raphael is grossly mistaken," Baily vehemently retorted, "No one on Earth even knew that the Alpha-Draconians were here at all. In fact, most humans have no idea that any aliens exist on Earth. The few people who are in charge of the M-BUG thought that they were dealing exclusively with peaceful, friendly Prafins. They had absolutely no knowledge that the Prafins were secretly serving the Alpha-Draconians. Synnove, you know this is true. I was actually the first survivor who ever conveyed a picture of the Alpha-Draconians to the humans via live video recording technology when I went to the eighteenth floor in the first timeline. Up until I came along, any human who ventured to the eighteenth floor and met an Alpha-Draconian, either died or remained a captive. The Earth needs and deserves the protection from the Universal Starlight Union against these vile, violent aliens!"

"Unfortunately, our Supreme Leader disagrees. He realizes that the Alpha-Draconians may have used subterfuge to gain access to Earth, but by allowing the Prafins to come to Earth, it is still an invitation that the U.S.U. is unwilling to defend," was the unruffled response Synnove offered to Baily's uncharacteristic impassioned outburst.

"That's only because he has the wrong information," Baily complained. "You need to tell him the truth. If you won't tell him the truth, I will. Just introduce me to him and I will explain to him how the Alpha-Draconians deceived the humans. Most people on Earth have no idea that aliens exist on Earth at all. The few people who know about the aliens believed that the Prafins were a benevolent group and had no idea about the Alpha-Draconians."

"And I will volunteer to lead the U.S.U. troops to kick their Alpha-Draconian butts the freaking heck off my planet," Ethan oddly chimed in.

Synnove remained impassive. She calmly responded, "It is nearly impossible to meet with Raphael, but I will put out the word and send it up the long chain of command that you feel an injustice is being committed by the U.S.U. After all, we do more than keep peace in the Galaxy. It is our mission to pursue justice as well as maintain harmony throughout the Milky Way Galaxy and beyond.

"Thank you, that's all that I ask, but we need to speak to him quickly," Baily answered.

"First, we need to vacate the Earth," Synnove answered. "You told me that you want to join the Zebians. I can take you both back to the portal where I met you earlier today, that will lead you to their embassy. Follow me."

Baily thought back to only a few days ago when she had been kidnapped by GIA. If she had known that was going to be her last day as a normal human being, she probably would have done things very differently. Maybe she would have spent more time with her mother. Maybe she would have told her mother she loved her. Maybe she would have spent more time with her best friend. Possibly she would have canceled her last lunch date with Mimi, and maybe she would never have been caught, at least not on that day.

Actually, if she had known that getting her DNA tested was going to change her life so dramatically, she never would have done the DNA test at all. She could have bought herself years of happiness with her mother and her friends. In the end though, the truth would have come out. She couldn't hide forever.

If Baily could have anything in the world she would only want to go home to her life in the first timeline and Ethan felt the same way. The last thing either of them wanted was to live on a planet with strange little silver alien people, but neither of them could think of an alternative. Earth was clearly no longer their home, and obviously they were not humans. Neither Baily nor Ethan had any idea what the future held for them. Who knows what horrors exist in space or what nightmares exist on other planets? They knew that flying through space to another planet would be an adventure, they hoped it would be fun. They both still longed for a happy ending.

*************************************************************

CHAPTER 17. BACK TO THE MOON

The Zebian astronauts had already packed all of their important possessions on to the large scout-craft that Kel had borrowed earlier, in preparation for evacuating Earth. They had just finished this task when Baily and Ethan materialized, seemingly out of nowhere, ready to join them in their journey back to the moon. Baily introduced Ethan to Kel, the only Zebian she recognized and remembered. The other four all looked the same to her, little silver midgets with large black wrap-around eyes and holes where their nose and ears should be. However, they were both warmly, albeit quickly, greeted by the Zebians, then hurriedly rushed onboard the scout-craft and strapped into their respective passenger seats. Baily hoped that her second trip to the moon would be more comfortable than her first trip had been.

The Zebians had been on Earth for hundreds of years, but now were in a rush to get off the planet as quickly as possible. A few hours earlier Kel had been forced to vaporize an Alpha-Draconian enemy because it was in the process of murdering Baily. While this had saved Baily's life, it had imperiled all five of the Zebian astronauts living on Earth. Their enemies, the soulless giant Alpha-Draconians, were most likely scouring the Earth, hunting them down as they frantically scurried around in a mad dash to leave Earth as swiftly as possible. It had been an unpleasant shock to discover that the Alpha-Draconians were on Earth, and an even worse discovery to find thousands of their eggs growing in a cave located on a remote mountain in Bhutan.

While the Zebians were loading their scout-craft, the Alpha-Draconians were ecstatic because they had finally successfully located the Zebian embassy on one of the Sangihe Islands of Indonesia. Naga-Luf, the leader of the Alpha-Draconians on Earth, received the information from the space station on the moon. The Alpha-Draconians had used their space satellite (invisible to NASA) to locate the position of the scout-craft that Kel had borrowed earlier that day.

"If you want to exact revenge on these monsters that murdered your wife and my child, now is the time," he told his son, the Alpha-Draconian God, Naga-Seb. Since his smallest egg was missing, he assumed that it had been extinguished, along with his daughter-in-law, the Goddess Yaga-Seb. Naga-Luf had no idea that the Zebians had kidnapped his youngest yet-born child. If he had known that, it would have changed everything.

"Death is almost too good for these cowardly baby and women killers," Naga-Seb answered. "How can I prolong their death with maximum pain?"

"Use your imagination, I'm sure you will think of something appropriate. Make sure they suffer for as long as possible. Go quickly, don't delay," his father answered.

But it wasn't that simple. There were two types of vortexes used by the Alpha-Draconians. One was a travel vortex, which took time to create. The other was a short-term weapon, which could be created instantly. Both the travel vortex and the weapon vortex would kill a non-Alpha-Draconian. Once a vortex is created between two destinations it can be instantly recreated. However, it takes time and ability to create the first trip via vortex, so Naga-Luf began the process and worked as quickly as possible. He didn't need any weapons, nor did he need any assistance. His size and Draconian powers would be more than enough to either quickly, or slowly, exterminate any number of Zebian vermin. He finally created his vortex and his only remaining decision was how to destroy his multiple miniscule nemeses.

Naga-Seb emerged from the vortex in heroic fashion, ready to rid the world of these loathsome miniature monsters. He was just in time to catch them before they escaped his grasp. Their scout-craft had just taken off from their embassy and were out of his physical reach, but a quick creation of a vortex would at least knock them out of existence. It wasn't the slow death he had planned for them, but it was death, which was at least final.

He smiled, at least as much as a creature with a snake's face can smile. "This is for my Goddess wife, and for my yet-born niece," he screamed as he reached out and with one easy move created an enormous weapon vortex that would swallow and crush the scout-craft carrying the five Zebians and their two hybrid guests.

At that exact moment that the vortex was about to engulf them, the scout-craft captain, although completely unaware of the oncoming vortex, utilized a hypervelocity to leave the Earth's atmosphere. That increased speed serendipitously enabled the Zebians to narrowly escape the destruction intended by Naga-Seb. In the end, Naga-Seb wasn't quite sure if he had been successful after all.

He returned to the cave in Bhutan and was embarrassed to admit the truth to his father, the God Naga-Luf.

"I sent a vortex to crush their scout-craft but there's a possibility that they escaped. I can't say for sure. We need to have our space station on the moon look out for them in case they actually arrive on the moon."

"Perhaps it's for the best," Naga-Luf consoled his son, "If they survived this, our warships can follow them into deep space and impose a long and terrible death that would not even be possible on Earth."

Naga-Seb smiled (to his best ability) and nodded.

"Perhaps it is for the best. If they didn't die now they will wish they had."

What the Alpha-Draconians didn't realize was that if they succeed in torturing and murdering their perceived enemy, they would also inadvertently kill Naga-Seb's youngest yet-born baby-god. While this might be a terrific stroke of karma, it was obviously not their intention to harm their own species.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the Alpha-Draconians, it wasn't just the Zebians who were leaving the Earth. When the Andorian leader of the Universal Starlight Union, Raphael, discovered that the Alpha-Draconians were planning to take over the Earth, and that the Zebians had spurred them to violence by killing one or more of them, he ordered all members of the Universal Starlight Union to leave Earth. There were various members of the Universal Starlight Union on Earth (some were on vacation, some were there to study Earth, some were diplomats), but all of them had to stop what they were doing and go to the U.S.U. moon space station. From there they were to return to their various home planets.

As much as the U.S.U. were peaceful and open-minded, they had never invited the Zebians to join the U.S.U. This was because the U.S.U. members did not approve of the Zebian art and science of creating hybrid sentient races. The U.S.U. members felt that only HA-UN should create life and it was against their beliefs to create any form of sentient life. As for the atheistic version of HA-UN, they believed that life should always be natural and biological, and never created via artificial means. In the U.S.U., even robots could not look like biological entities, but had to look mechanical or obviously artificial. So, the Zebians were respected as a peaceful race and as believers in HA-UN, but held at a distance and not allowed to join the U.S.U. They were, however, allowed to have a space port at the U.S.U. space station on the moon, as were other non-U.S.U. members who were deemed to be peaceful and nonthreatening. This practice also enriched the U.S.U. so it was a lucrative practice as well as a goodwill gesture.

Once the Zebians were ready to land on the moon, their scout-craft had to hover for some time as several alien ships were all trying to enter the moon's space station at the same time in response to Raphael's instruction that all U.S.U. members abandon their various positions and posts on Earth immediately. The increased activity around the space station was noticed by the spies hidden, not too far away, at the secret Alpha-Draconian space station. They intercepted communications between the numerous hovering scout-crafts and the U.S.U. moon station until they determined the reason for all the unusual space traffic. Once the Alpha-Draconian spies realized what was occurring, they immediately sent a joyful, encrypted, message from the moon to their embassy on Earth (the cave in Bhutan).

Deep inside the cave-embassy, the Goddess Yaga-Luf was the first to receive the message from the moon and the decrypted message read as follows:

VICTORY IS OURS, THE EARTH IS OURS TO TAKE. ALL MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSAL STARLIGHT UNION WERE ORDERED TO LEAVE EARTH AND HAVE ARRIVED AT THEIR MOON STATION. THEIR LEADER HAS RELINQUISHED ANY PROTECTION OF EARTH AND YIELDS ALL POWER OVER EARTH TO OUR SUPERIOR CONTROL. WE HAVE NOT YET SPOTTED THE SCOUT-SHIP CARRYING THE FIENDS FROM SETTO, THEY WILL MOST LIKELY LEAVE ALONG WITH THE MASS EXODUS OF LARGER SHIPS SOON TO TAKE PLACE.

As soon as the Alpha-Draconian Goddess Yaga-Luf read the message, it was simultaneously transmitted to her twin-soul and spouse, the God Naga-Luf. All he had to do was think of the response that he wanted to send back to the moon base and his Goddess wife sent the message on his behalf. His response instructed the secret force on the moon to identify the ship from Setto, follow it into deep space, and ensure a slow and painful death for all onboard; thus, once and for all ending (what he imagined to be) the only surviving species of Setto. Of course, Naga-Luf did not know that the Zebians had his youngest not-yet-born child (still an egg) on their spacecraft. He believed his youngest egg had been extinguished.

Meanwhile, the Zebians, in their borrowed scout-craft, were finally cleared to enter the landing tunnel at the moon station. They flew into the designated tunnel and coasted into the appropriate elevator, then descended into the space station. Once they all disembarked from the scout-craft and entered into the space station, Baily enjoyed seeing Ethan's reaction to all the colorful and chaotic alien activity in the enormous space station. She felt like an expert now, because she had come to the moon with Kel a few hours earlier to bring the Alpha-Draconian egg and to receive the Time-Crystals with which to freeze the Alpha-Draconians and their little gray slaves, the Prafins, long enough to free a team of human scientists who were captives on level eighteen of the Military Base Under Ground (the M-BUG) where she and Ethan were prisoners of the Galactic Investigative Agency (the GIA). But she was still wide eyed with wonder herself at the alien hodgepodge of bustle and commotion in the space station. Kel arranged for the Zebian astronauts to offload all their equipment and baggage so that he could return the scout-craft he had borrowed.

Everything that they had transported to the moon, including their original small Zebian scout-craft that had been left earlier, had to be loaded onto their big spaceship, which already housed the crated Alpha-Draconian egg, in the ship's huge cargo compartment. Ethan was bug-eyed with wonder at the interior of the space station, which was even more chaotic now with so many more aliens frantically returning from Earth. Kel instructed Baily and Ethan to follow him across space station to the Zebian spaceport. Once they arrived there, he explained that they could board the ship, but that take off would be delayed while the Zebians finished loading the ship and also while so many ships left the space station. Kel anticipated that they would have to wait their turn in a long line of departures.

It was surprising that such a tiny species such as the little silver Zebians had built a huge spaceship, more than adequate in size to transport humans, and even larger species, if needed. This was because the Zebians were adept at space travel and it wasn't unusual for them to invite visitors from other planets to join them on journeys. The interior of the spaceship was comfortable and modern, with gardens and small trees and parks throughout. There were huge windows everywhere for stargazing. Communal dining is important in Zebian culture and the dining room on the ship was a high-ceilinged round room with various sized furniture. Most tables and chairs were small to accommodate the Zebians, but some were the right size for humans and some were larger for bigger species.

Baily was shown to her cabin, which was small but charming. What she liked the most was the private glass-enclosed balcony where she could sit and have a snack or read a book. The balcony also featured a tiny personal garden of flowery plants. She had a small round table there as well as a comfortable chair and ottoman crammed into the tiny space. Inside her cabin, she had a private bathroom and small closet. There was a queen-sized couch that converted into a bed. A desk and chair were also provided.

Ethan's cabin was exactly the same and next to hers. They soon found out, when they explored the ship, that other cabins were not suitable for humans but were designed for Zebians. There were suites on the ship that were designed for other species as well. Lavatories on the ship were designed for Zebians, so the two designed for humans were only in their own cabins. Most interesting of all to Baily were the housbots. These were housekeeping robots that cleaned, cooked, and served humans. They were designed to look similar to Zebians but were obviously mechanical.

Baily's housebot was named Hettie and she was programmed to speak English (and all Earth languages and numerous languages from other planets as well). Del, the ship's captain, made sure that Hettie was pre-programmed to speak English as soon as Baily and Ethan boarded, then he assigned Hettie to both of them. Not only did Hettie clean their cabins and bring their snacks, she also offered to make them some clothes.

"I see that you have nothing in your closet or drawers, are you expecting any luggage?" Hettie asked Baily.

"No, we didn't have time to pack. Ethan and I left in a hurry, we only have the clothes that we are wearing," Baily explained.

Of course, since they had been kidnapped and subsequently traversed timelines, they only had the clothes they were wearing anyway, but that was beside the point. She felt ridiculous talking to a robot. As she finished talking, she realized that Hettie was making some odd noises and was whirling around her. She seemed to be taking pictures with her robot eyes.

"What are you doing, Hettie?" Baily asked.

"Taking your measurements. You will need clothing. Leave everything to Hettie."

Baily smiled, she didn't answer. She wondered what kind of horrible, uncomfortable, alien clothing Hettie would produce for her. Well, at least it would be better than nothing. Ethan came and knocked on the door and they resumed their exploration of the ship. Along the way, they found a media center where, instead of books, there were tablets, but they didn't know yet how to use them. There also seemed to be games, but again, they didn't know how to access them.

There were several rooms on the ship that looked like they were for entertainment such as concerts, dancing, or some sort of sports. They were really curious to know what would happen onboard during their journey. There was one room that was completely empty. They were wondering what happens in there when suddenly they heard a voice behind them.

"This is the Dream-scene Room," the voice said, using telecommunication. Baily and Ethan turned around and saw the diminutive ship's captain standing behind them.

"Welcome back Baily," he telecommunicated, "And you must be Ethan. I am Captain Del. I am just checking up on you. I see you found the Dream-scene Room, it's one of our most popular entertainment spots."

"What happens here?" Baily asked.

"Nothing right now, but when we enter deeper into space this room is programmed to make your dreams come true," the captain responded.

"How does that work?" Ethan asked.

"Basically, on Earth, you would call it a form of hallucinations. But in this room your hallucinations represent your deepest desires. Don't worry, you'll only enjoy it for short periods of time, then we turn off the programming. It's strictly controlled because otherwise it becomes addictive," Captain Del explained.

Ethan and Baily gave each other nervous glances, each wondering what hallucinations they would have in the Dream-scene Room.

"But right now, I need to take you both to the Take-off Theatre," Captain Del told them, "because we are preparing for liftoff."

They followed him for quite a distance to the front of the ship and to the top floor. There was a huge room with big easy chairs of various sizes to accommodate various sized species. Captain Del ushered Baily and Ethan to chairs appropriate in size for humans. Once they were in the chairs, the captain had them strapped in with crisscrossing safety straps, then also strapped their legs in place. They could control the angle of recline of their chairs, but they couldn't get out of the chairs.

"I will come back for you when it is safe for you to traverse the ship," he promised.

After a little while the room went dark, the ceiling opened to reveal a glass window and Baily and Ethan reclined in their big easy chairs and enjoyed the magnificent view as the ship gently lifted off. First it rose from the depths of the spaceport, up past the surface of the moon, up into space. Then it started to move out into space on the journey toward Zebion. This was the first step in a six-month journey. They were headed toward a wormhole, a very dangerous part of their journey, that would enable them to take a shortcut across the galaxy. They would find the wormhole in about three months.

It didn't take long before Captain Del came back and released them from their easy chairs. While the Zebian ship was taking off, they were finally spotted by the Alpha-Draconian spies. The Alpha-Draconians followed their orders, their warship took off at a safe distance and followed the Zebian ship. The Alpha-Draconians had significantly advanced stealth technology and were easily able to mask their movement through space. They used a clever mirror technology to fool the Zebians into thinking that their warship was just star-filled space.

The Alpha-Draconians were not in any hurry. They didn't want any witnesses to their impending crime. They preferred to annihilate the passengers on the Setto (Zebian) ship in deep space, far from the moon and far from any other observers. Shortly after the Zebians left the moon, the Andorian ship, carrying Synnove, also took off, staying in Ezoku space but monitoring the activity in non-Ezoku space. Her ship's captain, Latricia, noticed the Alpha-Draconian warship. Captain Latricia also recognized that the Alpha-Draconians were using mirror technology in an effort to mask their presence.

The Andorian ship's Captain Latricia apprised Synnove of her observations regarding the Alpha-Draconian warship. "I think they are following the Zebians," Latricia reported to Synnove. "They are masking their motion through space via stealth mirror technology, the Zebians won't even know that they are being followed."

"If indeed they are following them,' Synnove responded. "Let's follow them and monitor them from Ezoku space," Synnove suggested. Even in space, the Andorians were able to move through Ezoku, a dimension that only Andorians could enter and that other species could not enter or experience. Synnove knew that Baily and Ethan were on that Zebian ship. Raphael might have ordered everyone off of Earth, but he didn't say they couldn't protect innocent victims in space.

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CHAPTER 18. DEEP SPACE

Baily went back to her cabin after it was safe to navigate the ship again. She was surprised to find an interesting outfit laid out on the couch for her evening attire. It was a yellow jump suit made of a silky material along with a light weight white object that looked like a mini-burnous with gold fringe. It was a hood with a cape that only reached to the shoulders and attached at each shoulder with Velcro. A pair of satin white boots were on the floor next to the couch as well. As Baily was examining her new clothing, Hettie the housebot came into the cabin.

"I see you have found your new outfit," Hettie said.

"Yes, thank you. I'm surprised that you were able to make all of this so quickly," Baily responded.

"We have machines for this onboard. Our journeys are so long and we often have guests on board, so we need to be able to make clothing. I only enter your measurements and select appropriate styles and colors. Now you will be dressed as a nice little Zebian girl-child," Hettie informed her.

"No, Hettie, not a girl-child, a woman," Baily corrected her. Although Baily wasn't sure how she felt about being referred to as a Zebian of any age since she

considered herself to be human, or now, possibly a combination of human and Andorian.

"No, child, you are not yet grown. Just a tall child," Hettie insisted.

"Why do you say that?" Baily asked, thinking there must be a glitch in the housebot's language program.

"Because you still have hair. Only children have hair," Hettie explained.

Baily realized that the Zebians that she had met so far were all bald and she suddenly understood. "So, the children on Zebion have hair and the adults are bald?" Baily clarified.

"Obviously," Hettie answered. "Now you must get dressed for dinner."

Baily was feeling a bit panicky now because of her secret. She was thinking about her female reproductive developmental delay. Her child-like figure and lack of menses. Now she finally realized that, being an alien, she had no idea what to expect from her physiology. If she were to even have menstrual cycles, would they occur before she was a hundred or two hundred years old? How long does "childhood" last when you live for six hundred to a thousand years?

Then she had another horrible thought: was she going to go bald when she reached adulthood? She tried to imagine what she would look like. Of course, she was also a combination of human and Andorian, both species had and retained their hair into adulthood. She longed to know what to expect, but there were no females onboard that she could talk to. At least none that she had met so far.

While she was mulling over these concerns, she began to undress. Upon seeing her disrobe, Hettie realized that she had missed something important. Once again, she began to circle Baily and take pictures with her robot eyes and take more measurements. Hettie had never seen underwear before, but she knew what to do. Once Baily was dressed, Hettie showed her a little button that controls the temperature of her jump-suit. The suit was designed to provide either air conditioning or heat, as needed.

"Since the jump suit will keep me warm, why should I wear the little hooded cloak? I don't think it's necessary," Baily commented.

"But all Zebian females cover their heads and shoulders with this type of hooded shawl. When you grow up and get married, in a few hundred years, your husband will give you a colored hooded shawl as a gift. He will pick a color that he thinks suits you best," Hettie informed her.

"But what if I don't want to wear this hooded shawl?" Baily asked.

"This does not compute," Hettie stubbornly answered.

Exasperated, Baily asked, "Did Ethan get new clothing?"

"Yes, wait and see," Hettie answered, "He will look like a proper Zebian boy-child, except very tall."

Baily hoped he had to wear some weird humiliating thing, as she did. Arguing with a robot was impossible, so she thought she would wear the Zebian cloak, then remove it as she walked down the hall. However, she was a little lost and distracted trying to find the dining room and forgot to remove her head covering prior to entering the dining hall. Once she entered everyone was there, including Ethan who was dressed in a leaf-green jump-suit with matching boots. As soon as she entered the dining room, she was the cynosure of all eyes and such a fuss was made over her that she decided to keep her head covering on for the evening. They seemed to ignore Ethan in favor of her, and he didn't seem to have any negative reaction to her appearance, so how bad could it be?

After dinner, Captain Del announced that the Dream-scene Room would be open for those who wanted to partake. This caused a lot of excitement. Most of the Zebians wanted to participate. Baily and Ethan decided to give it a try as well. Outside the door of the Dream-scene Room, everyone removed their boots. When the doors opened, Baily was surprised to see a cloudy substance on the floor which felt soft and foamy when she stepped on it. At first, nothing happened, they were just standing around, feeling curious. Then the room slowly darkened, Baily felt her herself gently lifting into the air while feeling a little sleepy.

The Christmas tree was beautiful, probably the biggest one they had ever had in their home. It was decorated with all the ornaments that they had accumulated over the years, including the ones that Baily had made when she was in grade school. There were at least a dozen gifts under the tree, maybe more. When Baily entered the room, her parents didn't seem at all surprised to see that she was alive, and yet her heart exploded at the sight of them.

"Do you want to eat breakfast first or open gifts?" her mother asked.

"Mimi called, she's coming over in an hour," her father told her.

Mimi came to their house every year and celebrated Christmas with them because she and Mimi were like sisters.

"Let's open gifts first," Baily suggested, wondering what was in the brightly wrapped boxes. Of course, she knew what was in the boxes she had wrapped for her parents.

They opened their gifts. One was a light gold Coach bag for Baily. She had never received such an expensive gift before. She felt delighted and a little bit guilty because her family was very down to Earth and they usually gave very practical gifts.

"Oh, my gosh, I love it! But what made you buy something so extravagant?"

She knew she parents could well afford it, but they weren't the type of people to buy designer bling. They always taught her to be frugal and buy utilitarian items (and give the excess money to charity, and also to put some extra money away in her saving account).

"Just this once," her mother said.

"You've made good grades in college and we're proud of you," her dad said.

She could see how pleased they were with her reaction to their unexpected gift. The rest of the gifts they gave to her were more pragmatic, such as cosmetics and gloves. The gift-giving was followed by dad making his famous pancakes for everyone. Mimi came just in time to eat. After breakfast, they exchanged more gifts with Mimi.

She couldn't wait to go to her room with Mimi and talk to her alone. Once they were in Baily's lavender and pink sanctuary, they sat on Baily's bed to have a comfortable chat.

"I thought a lot about what we talked about," Mimi confided, "and I've decided to get my DNA tested too. If we save our money next semester, we can do the test over summer vacation. What do you think?"

Some part of Baily's mind felt confused. Hadn't she already done that test? She wanted to tell Mimi that she changed her mind, that she no longer wanted to do the DNA test. She thought it was a horrible idea. But before she could say anything, Mimi began to fade before her eyes. She wanted to scream out.

In place of Mimi she saw alien-looking people gently falling from the ceiling of an empty room. In a few seconds, she (and everyone else) landed softly on a foam mattress on the floor. Everyone looked around feeling temporarily dazed and a bit confused. Baily felt heartbroken, she desperately wanted to go back home to her parents and to Mimi. If only she could turn back the clock. If only she hadn't done the DNA test that had changed her life forever.

After about two minutes of resting, everyone's heads cleared up. The room was filled with clear air, the doors opened. People were slowly leaving and finding their boots. Captain Del was waiting for Baily and Ethan to emerge from the Dream-scene Room. He was anxious to see how they had enjoyed the experience.

"How was it? Did you enjoy your encounter in Dream-scene?" he asked Baily when she came out of the room.

"How does the Dream-scene Room work?" she asked him.

Captain Del was alarmed because Baily didn't seem to be euphoric, which was what he had been expecting. No one ever had a bad experience in the Dream-scene Room. Could something have gone wrong?

"Did you have a bad experience?" Captain Del asked with concern.

"No, I'm just feeling devastated that it's over and I want to know how it works," Baily assured him.

"Oh, so you enjoyed it. That's to be expected. Yes, it's disappointing when it ends. The way it works is that the room is filled with a gas that is a hallucinogenic. It makes you hallucinate your dearest desires, which for a short time, you think are true. The gas removes some of the gravity in the room, so you gently float during this experience. If you do it too often it becomes highly addictive so we only allow the use of the Dream-scene Room once a week for a short time. More often than that is dangerous. Do you want to try it again?"

"Definitely, I can't wait to go back. Will it always be the same dream?"

"It's hard to say. Everyone has different experiences. I've never heard of anyone having a bad experience though," Captain Del answered.

Ethan came out the Dram-scene next and had a short talk with Captain Del too, but Baily didn't wait to hear it. She didn't want to ruin her good mood. She wanted to cherish the experience of visiting her favorite Christmas with her parents and Mimi. They were lost to her forever, lost on Earth, lost in a different timeline, unless she could find them in the Dream-scene Room.

When Baily returned to her cabin she found that Hettie had opened her couch and had turned it into a bed. There was no pillow, sheets or blanket, but the mattress looked very plush and cushiony. An odd-looking garment was folded on the bed which she assumed was meant for her to sleep in. It had a temperature control built into it, which explained the absence of a blanket. It was a long-sleeved hooded night gown to keep her head warm and had a draw sting at the feet to keep her feet warm as well.

Before she went to sleep, Baily sat on her star-gazing balcony and looked out at the universe. She wondered if her parents and Mimi still existed in a timeline on Earth, or if they had been deleted when she had time-traveled and saved Naga-Seb. She now knew that traveling to the past to save the Alpha-Draconian had been the mistake of a life-time.

"If I had to do it over," she thought to herself, "I would have just gone back to my parents." But she knew that wasn't possible either. The Galactic Investigative Agency might have killed her parents in order to capture her again. Anyway, she had committed herself to rescuing the captives on the eighteenth floor and she had finally succeeded, but the price she had to pay was unfairly heavy. Their freedom left her with no identity on Earth and no family on Earth, or any other planet. She felt like a lost soul with no future.

The next day Baily went to the media center on the ship and learned how to use the tablets which stored holographic movies that had the actual recorded histories of each planet that the Zebians had been visiting over the centuries, including Earth, and their own original planet, Setto. To begin her education, the Zebian librarian encouraged Baily to learn about the history of Setto, their many scientific accomplishments, the five-hundred-year war, the destruction of Setto, and the founding of Zebion. It took her a month to view everything on this tablet, but it prepared Baily for the planet and the culture her spaceship was headed toward. It helped her to understand the Zebians that she was traveling with as well.

Ethan had another way of getting to know the Zebians as he found several games to engage with them onboard. The Zebians taught him to play and he was on several competitive teams. The fact that he was bigger than them wasn't always an advantage, being smaller in these games was often better. Baily discovered two games that she enjoyed and she chose to be on the opposing team from Ethan. They were games that required more strategy and planning than brawn, so her team won often.

There was a fun game that both Baily and Ethan wished they could play, but they could only watch because they were too big to participate. Baily thought it was like bumper cars, if it could be compared to anything on Earth. The Zebians got into little flying bubbles and flew around a room where they bumped into each other. It looked like fun but she and Ethan were too large to fit into the bubbles.

There was another sport that they could watch but not participate in, however, they could bet on the outcome. This was a racing sport. Some of the astronauts got into small crafts that Ethan called mini-rockets, and they sped around the space ship along a speed track that was projected via light rays. Everyone else watched through windows that opened only for the race. Many observers bet on the results.

Ethan liked to play scoop-ball with the Zebians and he was excellent at this sport. This consisted of two teams, both wearing jetpacks (so they could fly around the room). They had one goal on the South-East corner ceiling (in the air), and another goal on the North-West corner floor (on the ground). The ball was the size of a watermelon and the "bat" was scooped out to swoop up the ball (similar to a jai-lai stick). Each team needs to get the ball into their goal to score points.

The problem is that both the ball and the goals have artificial intelligence and sometimes are belligerent to their own teams. The players have to figure out the patterns of the goals and the ball. Baily became very good at this game because she was able to predict what the goals and the ball were going to do. Ethan was good at scooping the ball and getting it into the goal (when the goal didn't clam up on him).

The other game that Baily loved (and Ethan wasn't very good at) was called Power Sphere. Baily quickly realized that this was similar to chess. The goal was to protect the Planet by defending the Power Sphere. The game board was projected by laser lights. The players had to assume roles (they wore hats that depicted their roles in the game) and everyone wore jetpacks (so they could jump an opponent if needed).

The first row of defenders on each team were the drones. In the second row were two scout ships, two spaceships, two warships, one envoy vessel (which can move around the galaxy with immunity) and the all- important Power Sphere (which protects the planet form nuclear attack). Since this is a game that requires thought and logic, Baily was very skillful at playing and the Zebians fought to have her on their team. The losers took Ethan.

Between the games, the history tablets, and the really addictive visits to the Dream-scene Room, three months passed very quickly and rather pleasantly. Baily and Ethan were surprised one day to be summoned to the Take-off Theater.

"I'm sorry about this," Captain Del told them, "but we are about to enter a very unpleasant part of our journey. You will need to be strapped in to your seats throughout this experience. It will last approximately three Earth days. However, to make it less unpleasant, we will sedate you for the duration so you won't suffer from space sickness. We will be traveling through a wormhole and this will save us forty light years of travel. However, the days in the wormhole are rough traveling and the ship will be rocked around violently. Just like before though, I will return and release you as soon as we emerge from the wormhole, which will be in three days."

They realized that they had no choice, so they allowed themselves to be restrained into the big easy chairs, and sedated. The captain left them and soon the room went dark, the ceiling opened to reveal the glass dome. Baily and Ethan reclined in their chairs and enjoyed the view as the ship entered the wormhole. They began to doze off quickly due to the sedative they had received.

The captain and crew set the ship's coordinates and strapped themselves into their own easy chairs in the command center. The other Zebian passengers were secured appropriately around the ship. Almost everyone onboard was sedated, they would wake up in three days when the ship emerged on the other side of the wormhole. The Zebians had made this trip many times, there were never any problems. They were experts at navigating through wormholes.

Usually Captain Del would sleep through this part of the journey, but this was no ordinary voyage. He was deeply concerned about the possibility of the Alpha-Draconians coming after them. After all, the Zebians had killed one of their women and then kidnapped one of their eggs. The captain sat in his command station and kept watch. He took the precaution of consuming an anti-nausea medication to take the edge off of the extreme space sickness. He kept vigil over the safety of his vessel and his passengers.

One day into their three-day trip through the wormhole, the Alpha-Draconian warship also entered the wormhole. They immediately attacked the Zebian ship. They didn't destroy it because their orders had been to make the Zebians die a slow and painful death. They knocked out the ship's navigation system and watched the ship float off course, hopeless, lost in the wormhole, rocking and roiling in the eternal wasteland which was now their grave. The Zebians were doomed to die a slow and terrible death of space sickness. The Alpha-Draconians knew the Zebians were most like asleep and that they would awaken and be helplessly sick until they died.

"It was too easy," laughed the captain of the Alpha-Draconian warship. They took their mirror camouflage down and sped back out of the wormhole as fast as they could. Once they were out of the wormhole, they sent a message back to Earth.

ON OUR WAY BACK TO THE MOON. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. ENEMY WILL DIE A SLOW DEATH OF SPACE SICKNESS, LOST IN WORMHOLE WITH NO WAY OUT.

This made Naga-Luf and Naga-Seb extremely happy. Their enemies would die a terrible death, their loved ones were avenged.

Seconds before the attack on the Zebian ship, Captain Del spotted the Alpha-Draconian warship and without hesitation aimed and fired his newest, though as yet untested weapon. He saw the green streak of light shoot out from his Zebian spaceship and hit and lock onto the Alpha-Draconian warship at the exact moment that he felt the impact of their attack on his own ship. The Zebian spaceship suddenly spun out of control and Captain Del could not steer it back on course. He didn't know if the weapon he fired would be effective or not, he could only hope it would work. Meanwhile, he had a much bigger problem, and no way to fix it.

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CHAPTER 19. ANOTHER ATTEMPTED RESCUE

The Andorians were horrified at what they had observed from Ezoku space. They only saw the Alpha-Draconians attack the Zebian ship. They hadn't noticed the green streak of light emitted from the Zebian ship toward the Alpha-Draconian ship. In any case, there was no immediate result of that counter attack. The Andorians had been following the Alpha-Draconian warship since they left the Earth's moon to see what they were up to with their mirror shields in force. While they expected the Alpha-Draconians to eventually commit an act of aggression, this was cowardly and cruel beyond imagining. Under normal circumstances the entire Andorian crew and passengers would also be asleep during any journey through a wormhole, but some of them had to remain alert to monitor the Alpha-Draconians in the highly unlikely possibility of an attack in the wormhole. Even in Ezoku space they were subject to space sickness, although not as strong as it would be when they emerged from Ezoku.

"What kind of monsters attack another ship in the wormhole? This is unprecedented! We need to find a way to rescue the Zebians or they will be eternally adrift in the rocky space of the wormhole. They are probably all sleeping on their ship right now, and unaware of their fate," Captain Latricia told Synnove.

"But what can we do? We will have to take our ship out of Ezoku and endanger our crew and passengers. We might get lost in the wormhole while trying to save them," Synnove worried aloud.

"We need to find a way to securely anchor their ship to ours and then tow them out of the wormhole," Captain Latricia calmly answered.

"Do we have a mechanism to make that possible?" Synnove asked.

"We have the mechanism to tow an Andorian spaceship that is in distress, but I don't know if their Zebian ship has any place for us to attach a towline. We need to catch up with their ship, circle them slowly, and identify some exterior loop where we might be able to fasten the towline," Captain Latricia explained.

Only key members of the crew and medical team, along with the Captain and Synnove were awake. The rest of the passengers and crew were asleep while the ship traversed the wormhole. The Andorian ship remained in Ezoku space as it overtook the Zebian vessel. The Andorians carefully evaluated the exterior of the Zebian ship, looking for an appropriate protrusion that might be used to attach the towline. At last one was identified.

"This piece here," Captain Latricia eventually said, "looks like a possibility."

"It looks like a door handle,' Synnove noted.

"Let's hope that door is securely locked, hinged, and firmly fastened to the vessel, or we will be towing a door through space and they will be left alone and adrift with a gaping hole in their doomed ship," Captain Latricia answered.

"Let's hope," Synnove agreed. "Now what is our plan of action?"

"We will gather our towing gear, emerge from Ezoku space, and send someone out to attach the towline to their ship. Once we have them hooked up to our ship, we will tow them to safety," Captain Latricia quickly summarized.

"Where will we take them?"

"Andor is the safest and nearest place. We'll bring them home to Andor," the Captain decided.

"That shouldn't be a problem. They can stay until they repair their ship. I will volunteer to go out into space and connect the towline from our ship to their ship. After all, their passengers who have Andorian DNA are my friends. I feel responsible for their welfare," Synnove offered.

"Are you sure you want to brave the strong winds and rocky space in the wormhole?" Captain Latricia asked.

"It will be as dangerous for anyone else and someone has to venture out. It should be reasonably safe in the shelter of our wind-tunnel extension. I'll only be in space for a few minutes," Synnove replied.

The Andorian vessels were designed with emergency towing and repair mechanisms that included a sheltered tunnel which could be ejected toward a distressed ship. An Andorian astronaut can simply cross the wind-tunnel, secure the distressed ship with a towline (or perform maintenance as needed, or even board the ship if needed) and later use the wind-tunnel to return to the safer ship. Then the wind-tunnel is retracted. If the distressed is being towed, it is taken to safety. In this case, since they were attempting to rescue a non-Andorian alien ship, the wind-tunnel would not completely attach to the distressed ship and would only shelter Synnove until she came close to the Zebian ship's door. Then she would need to emerge from the wind-tunnel and fight the elements in space long enough to attach the towline. All the while, she herself would be secured to the Andorian ship by her own personal safety harness and towline, so in case of emergency she could be hauled back into their ship.

Once the ship was in the right position, Synnove suited up and entered the wind-tunnel. The Andorian vessel left Ezoku and materialized into three-dimensional space. The ship immediately experienced the increased turbulence of the wormhole's stormy atmosphere. Synnove held on the wind-tunnel's walls as she made her way down corridor. Once at the end of the passage, she clipped herself into the safety harness and secured both her own and the mutual towline to the Andorian ship. She held the loose end of the towline and opened the door of the wind-tunnel.

As soon as the door was open she was hit by a gust of tiny pebble-sized space rocks that nearly knocked her down. She fought against it and stepped out into the caliginous night, weary of rocks and space debris. She was immediately overcome by a strong wave of nausea which she knew she had to fight long enough to attach the towline to the Zebian ship. She swam through the rocky space and caught hold of the door to the Zebian ship, but she became so overcome with space sickness that she fainted.

Captain Latricia could see everything via the ship's cameras and the cameras and intercom on Synnove's space-suit. When the Captain realized that Synnove had lost consciousness, she used the emergency line to pull Synnove back into the wind-tunnel and remotely closed the wind-tunnel door. The medical team was dispatched to bring Synnove to the clinic and the wind-tunnel was retracted. Then the Captain moved the ship back into Ezoku space.

When Synnove woke up in the clinic, her first words were, "Did I do it? Are they safe?"

Captain Latricia's facial expression was all she needed to see to know that she had failed. "I'm so sorry, Synnove, we won't be able to rescue your friends," Captain Latricia told her.

"Impossible!" Synnove insisted, uncharacteristically emotional.

"That's right, it's impossible," the Captain agreed.

"No, I mean we can't leave them to die," Synnove moaned in her weakened state.

"If we were in regular space, it wouldn't be a problem to rescue them, but we can't do it in a wormhole. Even Andorian astronauts can't survive the violently wild winds and subsequent space sickness of the wormhole. It's just not possible, even with our wind-tunnel. If we don't get out of the wormhole quickly, we too will be in danger of being lost here forever," Captain Latricia patiently explained.

Synnove was too debilitated to think of an argument, but the ship's doctor came up with a logical alternative. "Why not send a housebot? They don't get space sick and the ship's engineer can quickly reprogram one to perform the sequence of activities to attach a towline."

Synnove's usually placid face lit up with hope. Captain Latricia couldn't think of an objection other than to say, "It will have to be quick, we are running out of time to safely traverse the wormhole."

With the help of the engineer on duty, the housebot was rapidly reprogrammed to perform towing routines. The little housebot went down to the wind-tunnel. When the ship emerged from Ezoku the housebot never lost its balance, attached the safety harness, gracefully moved through the turbulent space, and secured the door of the Zebian ship. The housebot returned to the wind-tunnel, re-entered the Andorian ship and the wind-tunnel was retracted.

"We might never send a living astronaut into space again," Captain Latricia proclaimed, delighted with the housebot's success.

"In one day, the Zebians and their guests will wake up expecting to be clear of the wormhole. I'm afraid they'll all become terribly ill from space sickness, not to mention confused about their situation. How long will it actually take us to get out of the wormhole?" the doctor asked Captain Latricia.

"Due to the fact that they are far off course now, I believe they will be confused and sick for an extra day and we have no way of communicating with them until we clear the wormhole. I do hope that their communication systems are still intact so that we will be able to explain their circumstances to them once we are safely out of the wormhole," she responded.

Captain Del, who was awake, was astonished when he saw the Andorian ship suddenly appear, seemingly out of nowhere. Of course, they appeared in his dimension because they emerged out of Ezoku space. He watched as their ship flew around his own. He saw their astronaut come out and get pulled back into their ship. He saw a robot come out and attach the tow line and knew the Andorians had come to save them. He nearly wept with gratitude.

The next day, the Alpha-Draconian warship had already left the wormhole and were still in deep space headed back to the Earth's moon. Everyone onboard were celebrating their easy victory, sure that the Zebians were going to be suffering a long and atrociously painful death. Out of the blue there was a colossal explosion of light accompanied by a thunderous noise. This lasted a moment, followed by silence, darkness, and the total obliteration of the Alpha-Draconian ship and everyone onboard. There was nothing but stardust left, stardust where there had been empty space before. Stardust left in a space where there had just been a gargantuan warship filled with giant reveling Alpha-Draconians.

The Zebians never knew that their newest weapon worked successfully. The weapon that was a combination of an enormous Zebian vape-ray gun (but built to a larger proportion, more like a bomb sized mechanism) wrapped inside a Time-Crystal. So, when this weapon attached to their enemy's ship, nothing happened, at least not until the Time-Crystal slowly disintegrated. Instead of freezing the ship, or freezing the enemy, it simply froze (and hid) the weapon that it concealed. When the Time-Crystal was completely melted, the weapon activated and turned the warship and all of its occupants into stardust within a second. They never knew what hit them. It was a merciful death.

The Alpha-Draconian warship never returned to the moon. When their absence was noted, it was believed that they must have encountered an unforeseen problem in their travels. While this would be highly unusual for the Alpha-Draconians, it wasn't entirely unheard of. In later months rescuers would be sent to look for them, but they would never be found. No one in the Alpha-Draconian world suspected in their wildest dreams that the Zebians had vanquished their Alpha-Draconian "superiors." In fact, they all believed the opposite (at least for the time being), they believed that the Alpha-Draconians had annihilated all of the Zebians on their pitiful spaceship set afloat and lost forever in the wormhole (which they knew was true because the Alpha-Draconians had communicated as much just before they disappeared and went radio silent).

Meanwhile, three days had passed since the Zebians had initially entered the wormhole and Baily and Ethan slowly regained consciousness in the Take-off Theater. They looked up at the glass dome above them and saw a dark misty sky and watched rocks bouncing off the impact resistant glass. The ship itself was roiling around wildly, yet moving swiftly in one direction. Baily heard Ethan moaning. She felt horribly sick, too ill to talk.

She couldn't understand what was going on, this wasn't what they had expected. This was worse than being too drunk and having a stomach virus at the same time. She just wished that she could go to her cabin, but she knew that she didn't have the strength to even crawl through the ship. She sometimes slept, sometimes woke. She was sweating and when she needed to vomit she managed to gain the strength to lean over the side of her seat to retch on the floor. The effort left her limply hanging over her chair until she gathered the strength to sit up again. A housebot would immediately come clean the floor each time she or Ethan dirtied it.

This condition seemed to go on forever, she had no concept of time. She didn't know how many days went by. However, there finally came a flash of complete darkness that lasted for a few seconds, then the skies cleared up and the ship stopped rocking so violently. Baily didn't know how long they had been sick, but still no one came to release them. She was about to try to get out of her chair herself when Captain Del came into the Take-off Theater with an apology and an explanation. As he released them from their chairs he relayed the story of what had transpired while they had all been sleeping. Thus, Baily and Ethan heard the story of how the Alpha-Draconians had attacked their ship and the Andorians had rescued them.

"The Alpha-Draconians could have vaporized us, but instead they merely destroyed our navigation system," Captain Del told them.

"Why did they do that?" asked Ethan.

"Clearly they wanted for us to die a slow and painful death of space sickness. They had no idea that we might be rescued. We are lucky that they are so vindictive, or we would have been annihilated in our sleep. Fortunately, the Andorians saw everything and came to our rescue. The Andorians are towing us to their home planet, Andor. We will stay there while we repair our ship. I hope you're not disappointed to have a lengthy delay before you finally get to see your home planet, Zebian." Captain Del kindly informed them.

"I'm actually happy," Baily weakly assured him, "I have been hoping to meet the Universal Starlight Union leader, Raphael. Perhaps I can meet him while we are on Andor."

"The Supreme Leader of the Universal Starlight Union? How do you even know about him?" Captain Del asked, surprised.

"Synnove told me about him. He is under the misconception that humans invited the Alpha-Draconians to the Earth for advanced technology. However, even the humans who know that aliens are on Earth, don't know that the Alpha-Draconians are on Earth. They came to Earth uninvited and under the cover of their slaves, the Prafins. I must implore Raphael to protect the Earth from these hateful, vile creatures. He ordered all U.S.U. members off of Earth knowing that the Alpha-Draconians plan to take over Earth and enslave humans."

Ethan, even as weak as he was, snickered and mimicked Baily in a high voice, "I must implore Raphael..." but Captain Del and Baily ignored him.

Captain Del sighed, he had a very sad and resigned look on his face.

He said, "I know you read about the five-hundred-year war we had with the Alpha-Draconians. You know that the Universal Starlight Union likes us and respects us. You know that the Zebians believe in Ha-Un, just like the members of the U.S.U. do. Where was Raphael during our five-hundred-year war? Where was the Universal Starlight Union? Don't be disappointed if he refuses to help you. They avoid war at all costs."

Baily knew that Synnove didn't believe in any violence, even in self-defense. She wasn't completely surprised to hear Captain Del's response.

"Someday the Alpha-Draconians will try to take the Universal Starlight Union planets too. Then what will they do?" Baily asked.

"That's a really good question," Captain Del answered.

"I need to meet Raphael. Even though he might refuse to defend the Earth, at least he needs to know the truth. I need to do everything in my power to get him to defend the Earth. If he won't send a military force to fight the Alpha-Draconians, then maybe I can work around him and find help in the U.S.U.," Baily said.

"I will lead a force," Ethan offered, lamely.

"You don't know how deadly and evil the Alpha-Draconians are," Captain Del warned. "We won the five-hundred-year war and they destroyed our planet. They blew up planet Setto with nuclear force. If they couldn't have it, they didn't want to let us have it either."

"Do you think they will destroy the Earth if they can't have it?" Baily asked.

"Absolutely," Captain Del answered.

"Then we have to destroy them, and destroy all of their planets first," Baily decreed.

"The Universal Starlight Union will never agree to that, Baily. They believe in keeping in peace in the galaxy," Captain Del reminded her. "But don't despair, we have one of their eggs, that is for research. We might be able to change the nature of the Alpha-Draconians. Perhaps

we will be able to turn them into non-aggressive, peaceful, docile creatures."

"That's why we stole the Alpha-Draconian egg in the cargo area? That's a long-shot. It won't solve the current problem," Baily complained.

"One step at a time," Captain Del answered.

A FEW MONTHS LATER

The trip to Andor was somewhat uncomfortable because the navigation system had been destroyed and it's never smooth sailing when you are being towed. However, the Zebians were able to land on Andor without harming anyone onboard and without further damaging their ship. They were all disappointed that by the time they came out of the ship, the Andorians had already departed. They weren't able to meet them or to thank them.

"I'm sure they had a good reason for leaving so fast," Baily told Captain Del. "I know Synnove very well and she's a very kind person. After all, they risked their own lives in the wormhole to save us. I'm sure we will see them again soon. I suspect they were called back by Raphael."

"I'm sure you a right, dear," Captain Del assured her.

When they all looked around the planet they had landed on, they realized that they were on a beautiful planet, which in fact seemed to be completely empty. They were in a green valley. The sky was blue, the sun was bright, there were beautiful trees, flowers, and birds were flying around. There was no sign of civilization anywhere.

"Apparently, they didn't take us to Andor after all," Captain Del commented.

He told Kel to take another astronaut in a smaller scout craft and take a look around. After a while Kel came back and reported that the entire planet seemed to be uninhabited.

"This is so much better than Zebion. Once we fix our navigation system we can go back to Zebion and bring the rest of the Zebian people back to live on this planet. We can thank the Andorians for finding us a better place to live," Del told Kel.

Everyone agreed, even if they had to live in spaceships until they built new homes, this was far superior to Zebion. The Andorians had not only saved them from dying in the wormhole, they had given them a better future. On a planet like this they could rebuild their race and finally recover from the devastation that the Alpha-Draconians had caused when they destroyed the Zebian's first home, Setto, in a nuclear war.

"The Alpha-Draconians tried to vanquish us again, but instead they inadvertently gave us a new beginning," Kel said, looking around him in wonder.

"You never know what life will bring," Del agreed, gazing around in awe.

Baily smiled, she didn't know what Zebion was like, but she knew that she would be comfortable living on this beautiful planet. Wherever they were in the galaxy, it was peaceful and lovely here. It was like a pleasant day in Spring and the entire planet was a just a big beautiful empty park. For the first time in a long time Baily felt safe and happy.

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Thank you for reading my book. This was the first in the series. If you enjoyed reading it please consider leaving a review at your favorite retailer. I would love to hear from you. Visit me by the following methods:

Faceboook: G. R. Zee

Website: https://grzee-author.com/.

Email: drgezee.gmail.com.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am grateful to my sister, Nola Firestone, the very first person to read the manuscript. She encouraged me to change the ending (for the better, I hope). Thank you Marni Becker-Avin for taking the time to do a detailed grammar check of the second draft. Thank you Joyce Cash for doing a detailed grammar check of the third draft; I can always count on her to find every error.. I also thank my son-in-law, Alan Michaels, for his support and encouragement. Thank you for the cover design by Caligraphics, www.caligraphics.net.

Many authors of science fiction books and television shows influenced me, most notably Isaac Asimov, who described life on other planets; Gene Rodenberry who described space travel and how an inter-galactic governing body might work; Len Kasten who described Planet Serpo and the Serpian Race as well as space travel to that planet; and Charles James Hall who described the Tall Whites on Earth. James Scott Bell's book on writing techniques was also helpful.

