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In the minutes after the news about the destruction of Zeta Station, the whole Federation sectors were flooded with thousands, if not millions, of subspace messages that almost broke the whole space-net connecting every alien races throughout the galaxy. This, coupled with the same anxiety that followed in the whole system, caused major backlog. It wasn't a very impacting problem, because if it was, billions of messages would be sent almost at the same time, which could cause the system to severely broke down with no chance of recovering, and effectively delaying communication.

The massive backlog wasn't affecting the telepathic race of insectoids who used a backup 'psychic relay' that, while effective, proved to be morally hard to be accepted. Rendloks were a new representative alien of the Federations and hadn't got their full membership.

The progress of having full membership was the main concern of Atho, one of the veterans of the last fight with the then unknown Black Creatures and was now considered a hero among the Rendloks. As the first Rendlok honorary ambassador, he tried to petition the whole Federation members to get Rendloks into the Federation so they could get technological support from their mostly nomadic culture (that is, jumping from planets to planets with an organic ship). Despite of being able to colonize, they couldn't establish a better colony for the Rendloks, as their method of colonizing wasn't a conventional starship travel, and the knowledge had been lost after they adopted their psychic conscience.

Though with the use of nowadays' communication, he and the Rendloks could communicate with the rest of the Rendloks scattered around the galaxy, and slowly rebuilding their old civilization. The only thing they needed was funding from the Federation, and it fell into Atho's hands to appeal to them.

He was gaining respect from his peers, though. Due to his enhanced senses and four hands, he could do twice other ambassador could do, partly due to the fact that he had no secretary on his own. He recently found out from the Terran Ambassador, Alan Forthering, that he looked like an ant, thus explained his hard-working capabilities, yet got surprised that he couldn't lift something very heavy (ants could lift 10-times their weight). Though Alan, one of the last original Warriors, still felt that telepathic communication was controversial, he nevertheless liked to talk with Atho.

Still, he wondered if Dairyu ever managed to go into exile and stayed anonymous for 15 years. That final thoughts he gave to the Rendlok before he went away was cryptic, yet reassured Atho that he would survive.

His trail of thoughts was cut short by a knock to the door in front of him. He wanted to say "come in" through psychic connection, but inadvertently knew the person behind the door, and his reasons to go visit Atho.

"Ah, Alan Forthering, come in," said Atho through his mind. As Alan, the dark-haired human, came in, he quickly said, "Just go to the point, Alan, I know it's important."

"Well, I can't hide my thoughts from a psychic, after all," said Alan with a small laugh. "Yes, there's something urgent you must address. The rest of the council don't know about it, but I am going to you because you're one of the six persons who have the first contact with it."

Atho assumed that the alien Forthering said was the one he made first contact with 5 years ago, with 5 other scientists trying to find out how to talk with it without psychic use. He was still thinking about that while following Forthering to hangar bay 5.

As he saw the creature, though, it was all wrong.

"Oh no, no...no! What is this creature doing on the station?!"

What Atho saw was the same nightmare he faced 15 years ago that killed most of his race in the same desert planet colony where he grew up. The Black Creature, as many people said, had latched itself with a werewolf host that had clearly died, based on the look of it. Its completely black eyes made the rest of them uneasy, and it was staring at them, increasing that uneasiness.

"Where did you get this thing?" said Atho inside Alan's mind. It was full of anger and rage that the sheer power was giving the human a headache.

"Atho, stop that, please.... You're hurting my head."

The Rendlok realized what he had done. He toned down his psychic link and said, "Sorry...but still, why are you letting this creature on board? You know how it destroyed not just one, but almost dozens of colonies from all races, right? I thought you knew better than this!"

"The Black Creature is...talking."

This caught Atho by surprise. The Black Creature, which had no brain wave, talked? He scoffed and said, "Is this some sort of a joke? Alan, I am a psychic. It can't talk without any brain activity. Even zombies that can talk still have little brain activity for eating brains."

"I'm not sure how you compare this situation from a horror movie, but it talked to the control and piloted the shuttle with ease, as if it's a normal being. We found out that it is a Black Creature host when it looked lifeless, and so we call you here, aside from being one of the six persons who...fought the Controller and the only one able to understand any psychic form of communication."

"Alan...I thought you knew."

"Yes, I know the real heroes of that day, but right now, heroes or not, we still have jobs to do and honor their passing. I leave you to it, Atho."

The rest of them left him alone with the Black Creature in the airlock, with the locked gate the only barrier between him and the creature. He was trying not to lash out and took control of the gate controller to eject the shuttle to space, unprotected. He knew first-hand of the horror of a Black Creature just by seeing the Controller, and he sure didn't want to get it again. The Black Creatures devastated many colonies and homes, including families and races living in it. It was, apparently, one of the main causes that the previous cycle of civilizations ended, leaving obscure artifacts and historical sites throughout the galaxy, based on what Atho saw from a memory crystal he found in a settlement.

Just as he was thinking about that, he was greatly surprised when the host started to say, "I am not evil!" with a loud, but clearly scared, tone. The voice was like a child trying to tell them that he's not bad or naughty, yet the one that surprised Atho the most was the sudden spike of brain activity coming from the supposedly dead host.

"Alan was right. He really can talk!" exclaimed Atho inside his mind, but realized that he also labeled it as a 'he' based on the gender of the host. The Black Creature was controlling the werewolf's body, curious of what he could see, but instead, he was fixed to Atho and said, "A giant ant!"

"How do you know I look like an ant, Black Creature?" asked Atho.

"I looked it inside his memory, and he somehow looked like a dog."

"What are you doing with him?"

"I cannot live without a host. After the Master died, I am all alone. I am a being without individual mind, and I am in danger of ceased to function if I can't find a host. I found this dog's body and took its body."

"So, you're still alive because you reactivated his brain function? But how do you even survive for these 15 years?"

The Black Creatures didn't answer Atho, which made the Rendlok suspicious. His brain activity had somehow ceased functioning, too. Atho quickly tried to mind probe the Black Creature and see what he was hiding, but it was all black.

"Black Creature, how do you even do that?"

"I developed a mind of my own, and thus able to control my reasons."

"Again, how did you survive? The whole system is exterminating the remains of your race and you just go through the sectors like a free being! Everyone hates you and you still want to meet with them? What is wrong with you?"

"I am not operating against the Master's will," said the host with stern but monotonic voice. "This is my freedom from death."

"When the Controller dies, it takes every last Black Creatures with it. Even if you're with a host, you won't be able to survive without a central mind. Tell me how you survived."

"I am not a single Black Creature," said the host short. This surprised Atho which made him think. The Black Creature host in front of him wasn't from a single blob of the parasitic being, but maybe more of it was inside the body of the unfortunate werewolf. Yet, despite of trying to stay very calm when questioning the host, his telepathic communication was to suppress the anger building up inside him. His friends and colleagues didn't know what Atho was feeling aside from what he was thinking. His trails of thoughts were cut short when Forthering came to the door and opened it, which surprised Atho to the point he accidently paralyzed a man via telepathy. Forthering noticed it and said, "I think your method of questioning is not forceful enough."

As the rest of the men electrocuted the host, he realized that it made a high-pitched shriek that was the Black Creature host's characteristic when attacked. Yet, unlike when he was fighting a group, this one didn't resist and quickly lay down, unconscious. Upon seeing what's going on, Atho said "You know how dangerous these things are, Alan. If you let it away from your sights just for a moment..."

"Hold it right there, Atho." Alan then switched to thoughts conversation. "I am stopping you from pulling that lever."

As Alan pointed out, Atho's lower left hand was inches from pulling the emergency eject lever down, which could blow the ship into space without recompressing its interior, but also blowing the host into space.

"I understand how mad you are on seeing a Black Creature again, but right now the only thing that matters is not questioning a captured predator. We still got work to do."

Atho was silent for a moment. It was true that he really wanted to know how the Black Creatures survived in that werewolf, but at the moment, they were dealing with the biggest accident in the universe. Since the war, there was never any casualties that exceed 5000 alien races, but millions died because of a 'supernova' which would never happen if it's inside a stormy nebula. No Rendloks were listed as casualties, which relieved him, but he still needed to help the rest of the Federation races.

Just when he wanted to get into his office, he saw a Rendlok that looked confused. But, what made him more intrigued than wanting to help was the way the Rendlok was wearing. He was wearing a tribal clothing that looked like it came from where Atho belonged. What disturbed him was not how the Rendlok was wearing, but it was the exact same garment some of the Rendlok colonists wore when the Black Creatures attacked them 15 years ago. They discarded that way of clothing after joining the Federation and changed from primarily nomadic to more of an agricultural community.

Atho wanted to approach the Rendlok, but he was held back from the big crowd in the station. His view was blocked for a while, but then, the Rendlok was gone, apparently blending with the rest of the crowd. The confused Rendlok didn't know what to do, aside from getting into his office and helped what he could. His mind was not in the game with the Black Creature problem and the casualties.

He would understand soon enough that it wasn't a normal disaster, but something that could threaten everything again.