FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 7. ...Should she choose to accept it...

Just as Sarah, Storm, and Ajagi were walking toward the door it slid open and another feline came through with black fur like a panther but dark gray spots like a clouded leopard. She swiftly walked over to the tiger and dingo next to the window and knelt down to the padded floor seat to join them with a group hug. Sarah asked her companions, "Who's that?"

"She is their mate. Her duty period must have ended," Storm said as they passed through the door.

Sarah replied, "Oh.....ooohhhhhh," as she realized the meaning of what he said. Shortly after exiting the lounge she asked them, "Why don't your doors open automatically for you? I would think that if you are so advanced with technology that you could build a ship like this, you'd have doors that sense you approaching and open for you."

"We are all physically able to open the doors ourselves so we saw no need to use energy in such a wasteful manner," Ajagi replied.

"They do have actuators that move them if an emergency occurs," added Storm. "If we all need to take action the doors are set to stay open so we can move from one area to another quickly. If we are attacked and the vehicle is breached, the doors in that area will be held closed to isolate any loss of atmosphere."

Sarah thought to herself that their explanations made perfect sense. While the three walked down the hall, back the way they originally came, they were passed by a reptilian creature and one who looked like a mouse, standing only about four feet tall.

With a smile, Sarah was the first to say, "Hello," followed quickly by her two smiling friends. The reptile and mouse both replied a cheerful, "Hello," in return before passing them and disappearing into the lounge.

When they returned to the research room Ajagi immediately headed over to the control console at the transfer system. "First I will find the answer to your question about where your galaxy is," he said. With interest Sarah went over and stood next to him to watch. He passed his hand over a sensor to activate a holographic display screen that appeared in front of them. Sarah didn't recognize any of the symbols and markings of the language displayed on the screen, though she tried to guess their meaning. Ajagi touched various spots on the screen, which was solid as a glass panel, to change display screens and manipulate the data until he found the information he was looking for.

"There it is," he said, stopping on one screen and reading all the data. "The transfer system shows your galaxy...it is very far away but will be visible from the other side of the vehicle."

"Alright," said Sarah. "Hopefully you guys can give me a tour of the ship and point it out to me." She then looked over the transfer machine as she was standing so closely to it. "So, how does this thing work, anyway? The transfer system, I mean."

Ajagi answered, "It acts as a middle point in the transfer to maintain the life energy connection between your natural body and your synthetic body. I do not know precisely how it works. We only know how to operate it. It was created and perfected long before I was ever born. There are some of our other people who have the special knowledge required to build them and understand how they work."

"I guess somebody needs to know how to fix it when it breaks down," said Sarah with a small laugh. Storm sat up on the work table behind them and leaned back to lie down as they talked.

"It does not break or fail," said Ajagi. "The components we create to build devices such as this are made to never fail. This unit was built before we ever required vehicles to leave the surface of our planet. It can still be damaged or destroyed, so it is very heavily protected with different types of armor and shields to protect the connection that transfers life energy of a being who is visiting us. These controls are our only contact with it, but destroying the controls will not harm the transfer system itself."

"What happens if it does get destroyed? Or what if the power goes out? I mean, is it dangerous for me to be here?" asked Sarah with concern in her voice. Storm rolled over on the table to lie on his stomach and look at the others, swishing his tail gently.

"The transfer system supports itself," replied Ajagi. "If it becomes disconnected from the energy source of the vehicle it will sustain itself for a minimum of one hundred days. That will provide far more time than required for a rescue vehicle to find it and reconnect its power.

"If it should be destroyed by a catastrophic impact while the life energy of a being is transferred here, or if it is shut off or the link shut down, the connection with that being's natural body will be lost and the life energy will not be able to return. Once the link is shut off the natural body will not have any higher conscious energy to find and it will be impossible to establish a link again. The life energy, the consciousness, will remain trapped here in the support system or synthetic body we provided to complete the transfer. As long as that does not happen and your body here is safe, it is not dangerous for you to be here."

"A lost soul, then. What happens to my body back home if the connection is lost? Or what if something happens to my body here?" asked Sarah.

"If the link is lost and your life energy remains here, your brain in your natural body at your home will lose its ability to function at any capacity above the lowest abilities. Its brain will maintain its basic functions required to live but the rest will essentially be dead. The same will happen if your synthetic body here is destroyed or damaged enough that it can not support your life energy and you do not transfer back to your natural body quickly enough. Your natural body will cease to function beyond supporting its own life, and your life energy here will be lost permanently. In that event, you will be completely dead. That is why it is so important to protect both the transfer system and your synthetic body here. These awful protection covers are required for our safety while stationed here."

Sarah understood the implications of her presence there but still had additional questions. "What if something happens to my natural body at home, like a gas leak blows up my house or something?"

"If you do not transfer back the result will be the same as when the connection is lost. Your conscious life energy will be trapped here because your natural body at home will not be alive to maintain its end of the connection link," replied Ajagi.

"I'll have to be careful about making the house safe before I transfer here, then," said Sarah. After a few moments of thought she asked, "I was wondering...what happens to my body at home when I'm here? I mean, when I'm walking around or talking here, am I doing the same thing back home and walking into the walls or something?"

Storm closed his eyes in relaxation as he laid on the table while the other two were having their conversation. "No," replied Ajagi, "all the movement impulses from your mind here are sent to your body here. Your natural body is essentially paralyzed and you will remain where you were before you transferred. The only action you can perform beyond natural life functions is to open your eyes, and that requires a conscious thought to do so above what is required to open or close your eyes here.

"Your natural body may also fall asleep when you are transferred here. If that occurs it will be difficult or impossible for you to open your eyes and return until your body awakens. In the event of danger here, that will make it a risk for you to be unable to quickly return home and escape the danger with your life energy."

"Wow, this is amazing," Sarah said. "I believe what you are telling me, but it is all so incredible it is almost unbelievable."

"I understand," said Ajagi. "It is a great deal to accept."

Sarah looked over the control console of the transfer system and its few physical inputs. "It's so complex but looks so simple...What's that?" she asked, pointing to a large switch with a pin through it behind a protective cover.

Ajagi replied, "That lever will disconnect the link to your natural body after you have transferred home. It is protected so that it may not be shut off without full intent."

"Reminds me of the joke about the janitor unplugging the power cord of the life support machine in the hospital so he can plug in his floor buffer," said Sarah. "Um.....you probably haven't heard that one."

"No...I have not heard that story," replied Ajagi with confusion. "If you have no more questions about the transfer system," he said while standing up, "we must discuss our mission plan and why we need your help."

Sarah stood up and followed Ajagi to the large work table. "Wake up, 'Sleeping Beauty'," she said jokingly. Storm opened his eyes in surprise and got himself up, looking at her with a smile and small laugh. He enjoyed the nickname despite not knowing its origin. He hopped off the table and turned to face it with the other two, then pressed a small square outline with a claw point. With that, a larger area on the table activated to form a large display screen where it had previously looked like nothing more than table top. More strange symbols appeared on it as they did before with the display screen at the transfer control. Storm pressed a few of them and brought up a picture of three different ships.

"The invaders call themselves 'the Kra'," said Storm. "We do not know the name of the planet they come from, but it does not matter. These are the three types of space travel vehicles they use. All are capable of attack. The largest carries their main supplies and the majority of their people, perhaps several million per vehicle. The smallest is used for moving ahead of the rest, surveying new areas, and is responsible for the initial invasion and attack. They each carry smaller numbers of their people, approximately five hundred per vehicle.

"The vehicle in the middle is the most dangerous. Its primary purpose is weaponry. It contains their largest weapons and has more in number than the others. It carries thousands of their people to overcome any who remain after it has destroyed a population center."

"Holy crap," Sarah said. Storm and Ajagi still did not know the meaning of the words but understood the intent due to the context. "Why are they invading? What do you have that they want?"

"Everything," Ajagi said. "When the surface of a planet is secure the largest vehicles approach the surface to let their full population out. Each carries their own weapons but their main purpose is labor. They strip planets of every resource available that they can use for their own gain. When nothing remains they leave and go on to the next planet. They usually return the resources to their home planet, but the last information we acquired indicated they are stripping their own planet to nothing to prepare for invading our planet. It is all done for the benefit and advancement of their species with extreme greed and prejudice against all other planets and living things. Nothing else matters to them and they will destroy anything and anybody that is a barrier to those gains."

Storm resumed speaking after Ajagi. "They are a most brutal species. If anybody shows any sort of resistance, the Kra kill them. They do not accept surrender after a failed battle and do not take captives. Those who surrender without showing any resistance are captured and exploited, forced to perform the labor of stripping resources for the benefit of the Kra. If any individuals become injured and can not perform as required they are immediately killed, or saved for killing at a later time for the enjoyment of the Kra, just as any who were injured before capture. They also kill their own people who become injured, to prevent any from turning against the rest by joining or helping those who are being invaded. Their injured are also seen as inferior and not allowed to live in their species. Among the civilizations that are invaded, those who have capable bodies are kept as slaves to perform their labor, and to be killed for the enjoyment of the Kra any time they choose. In the end they will not stop until every last one of a species is dead. They have already destroyed untold numbers of civilizations...we did not know of them until they first attempted to invade and defeat us."

Sarah was speechless at what she'd heard. She turned around, walked slowly to the table with seats around it, and sat sideways in the chair, just staring blankly at the floor. "I had no idea it was so serious," she said quietly. "You've all been so friendly and welcoming, and happy, I never realized the urgency of the situation...I never realized the threat to your lives was so real."

Storm went over to sit in the chair next to her, facing her, while Ajagi moved over to stand next to her. "They are very dangerous. It is most critical that we defeat them," Storm said with pleading eyes.

"There is more to tell you," Ajagi said. "In the past their attacks were very simple and contained few of their people. They must have thought our civilization would be as primitive as the others they destroyed. Our ancestors had never fought a war before but were able to defeat the Kra and drive away their attack. Many years later they tried again with different tactics, but our people were able to overcome them once again. Each time they returned to their planet to create a new strategy or new weapon.

"As their attacks became more challenging, we required the help of people beyond our planet. That is why the transfer system was first put into use. Your ancestors were able to help us create new strategies and methods of defense. We also used beings from other locations around the universe to help us. We were always able to remain a tiny bit advanced over the weapons and strategies of the Kra and have always been able to defeat them without losing the lives of very many of our people. Without the need for such advances we would never have created vehicles such as this, but we are very saddened that so many of our people died for those advances."

Storm added, "Now they are creating a weapon we have no means to defeat or protect ourselves from. The information we have collected shows they are creating a weapon that takes energy and matter from the universe, collects and concentrates it, and shoots it with tremendous force. It differs from their other weapons because it is energy and matter we can not see or detect."

"That sounds like something we call 'dark energy' and 'dark matter'," said Sarah, "but it's always been theoretical. We can't detect it, see it, or even prove it exists."

"Yes," replied Storm, "it exists and it is the material they are using. Our best sensors can barely detect it, and by the time they do it would be much too late. The generated force shielding around our vehicle is made to detect and absorb normal matter and energy weapons. We do not yet know how to adjust them to repel this new weapon. A projectile made of this dark energy and dark matter would pass right through those shields and damage our vehicle while leaving the shield intact...unless the shield generation units were damaged."

"You can understand why we can not protect ourselves from this weapon," said Ajagi as he knelt down on the floor next to Sarah to sit on his feet. "Our only advantage is that it is exceedingly difficult for them to collect this dark energy and dark matter for each attack burst. It also requires a very large device to collect it so it can only be installed in their middle and largest vehicles. But if each of their attacking vehicles contains this weapon, the collective amount of attack could easily be far more than we can defend against. Once this weapon damages one of our vehicles enough to disable the generated force shield, their regular weapons will quickly destroy it."

"Have they already attacked you with this weapon?" asked Sarah.

"No," replied Storm, "they do not have it completed yet and we do not know how soon they will. When they have the large version perfected they will begin building duplicates for all the other vehicles. We are trying to prepare for when they do return."

Sarah took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She looked at Storm and asked, "What can I do to help?"

Storm replied, "It is the same task that we required help in the past to complete. We must create another weapon, or a strategy, that we may use to defeat the Kra. Our people on other vehicles are working with others who have transferred to develop strategies. We are one of the fleets working on creating a weapon. The threat is not immediate but we must create something for us to use when they do attack again."

"How do you know they'll come this way? You have a big solar system and they could come from any direction," Sarah asked.

"We do not know," Ajagi answered. "This fleet is protecting the region we have concluded is most likely for them to pass through, because it is on the most direct in line between their planet and ours. They have always come from this direction. The other fleets are scattered around in case they altered their strategy and come from a different direction, and there are several million sensor probes in the void between fleets to help with detection. Approach from any direction will be intercepted in a very short time."

"Once any of us develops a new weapon or strategy," said Storm, "it will immediately be shared with all the other fleets so they may begin building a weapon or alter their strategic plans. Because we are in charge of weapon development in this fleet, we must create an idea for a new weapon. We needed somebody who had a great understanding of the universe and the physical laws and properties of everything and every force in it. We needed somebody who can understand things beyond what is already known. That is why we chose you."

Sarah understood the challenge but sat there dumbfounded, shaking her head. "And to think," she said, "a few days ago I was working on a pointless project for a pointless job. Now I'm coming up with some ray gun to blow up space invaders." She paused for a few moments, then stood up with Storm. "Yes...yes, I will help you however I can. What do we have to work with?"

"Come over here and we can show you," Ajagi said. The three moved back over to the work table to look at the display screen on the surface. He typed at a few symbols on the screen and quickly brought up pictures of several various devices his people had created. "We have weapons that generate and concentrate tremendous amounts of light or atomic particles to launch toward invading vehicles. We also have one that creates very large magnetic fields to overload the control systems of their vehicles. Those work to some extent but each time they attack they have created new defense systems that make our weapons less effective. We once tried a weapon that attached a thrust generator to the side of their vehicle to push them away but all it did was make them angry...more so."

"Do you have a transporter? Something that can deconstruct objects and make them materialize wherever you want?" asked Sarah.

"No, we do not have such a device. I do not know if that is possible," said Ajagi.

"Too bad," replied Sarah, "I was thinking maybe we could beam a nuke into the middle of their ship and blow them up."

Storm looked at Ajagi and said with a smile, "I knew she would be good at coming up with ideas." He then added, "I believe I understand your meaning of an explosive device that uses a nuclear reaction. We have tried that before and it caused minimal damage to their vehicle and only the individual Kra who were closest to the blast died from radiation exposure."

Ajagi said, "The most successful weapons have been the ones that generate projectiles of light or atomic particles. The concentration is so great their shields have difficulty in protecting their vehicles from the bursts. If there are enough simultaneous bursts to one area it will quickly breach the walls of their vehicle and cause enough internal damage to destroy their vehicle or drive them away."

"We have larger numbers of vehicles, and they are small and more maneuverable, so we have always been able to overcome an attack and drive them away," said Storm. "To generate their next attack they are stripping their own planet of every available resource. Their fleet will be so large we may not be able to defend ourselves."

"Our current light generating weapons can create a force of twenty-five trillion jard, and the atomic particle weapons create a force up to one hundred trillion dols," said Ajagi.

"Wait a second," interrupted Sarah, "what's a jard or a dol? If we're going to be working on this together we will have to figure out our units of measurement."

"You are right," said Ajagi. "Our understanding of distance, time, force, and other measurements is different from yours. Every other weapon devised with help of a transferred mind has required such a mutual understanding."

For an hour sitting in seats around the smaller table, Sarah, Ajagi, and Storm went through every constant from physics, chemistry, and mathematics in order to gain that mutual understanding. They decided that when she is home, in her natural body, her planning and equations would be in her own units for her ease of understanding. After transferring back they would take what she'd figured out and convert it to their units for them to understand, develop further, or begin building.

After they finished sharing notes, ideas, and some thoughts, they all got up from the table. Sarah yawned and stretched, and then looked at them wide-eyed in realization. "I'm amazed again at how natural this body feels," she said. "I feel tired, I'm stretching out muscles that got stiff from sitting for so long, but the whole thing is homemade. Too bad we don't have things like this back home for amputation and paralysis patients."

Ajagi looked puzzled. "Your medical treatments have not advanced far enough to repair damage to the body like that?"

"No," Sarah replied. "Sometimes an amputated limb can be saved and reattached, but people who get paralyzed from a broken neck or something are usually stuck that way for the rest of their lives."

"How awful that would be," said Ajagi. "We are able to heal all of those types of injuries. It is very rare that a synthetic body part or whole body is necessary. A whole body was once necessary for someone who was badly burned when a new propulsion system was being tested and it exploded. Amputation can easily be repaired as long as the lost part of the body is not lost for too long. I've been working on some devices to help with that," he said, pointing to some units laying on the tables lining the walls. "One goes on the amputated limb and the other goes on the body where the limb was severed. Each one contains numerous mechanical connections to automatically clean, sterilize, suppress pain, stop bleeding, and maintain blood circulation until surgery can be performed. From every test and analysis I have applied to it, it seems to work. Without an actual test subject to try it on I do not know for sure, and I can not expect anybody to volunteer. Amputation is exceedingly rare on our planet but it does happen more frequently when we are attacked during this war. It is sad that it was necessary for me to create such a device."

"It is sad," agreed Sarah, "but you all continue to amaze me at all you have accomplished and created. Besides, amputation may be rare on your planet but when it does happen, this device will be nice to have around."

Sarah yawned again and said, "As tired as I feel I should probably get home. I'll get some sleep tonight and get to work first thing in the morning on thinking up something. I'll come back later tomorrow and we can share what we've come up with."

Storm and Ajagi agreed with her thoughts. Sarah then smiled and said, "I have to tell you, I was scared when I first came here. Now that I've spent so much time with you both, I feel as comfortable as if we've been friends my whole life."

She then walked up to her two friends, stood up on her tiptoes to match their height more closely, and wrapped her arms around their necks to hug them together. Ajagi and Storm each wrapped an arm around her back and squeezed gently, fully understanding the friendship intended by her hug. After several moments they all released each other. She then went over near the window and sat down with a persistent smile. "I'll see you both tomorrow," she said, then tried to open her eyes.

Nothing happened. She tried again, and never left her place on the ship. "I can't open my eyes. What's happening?" she asked.

Ajagi glanced over at an indicator on the transfer system. "The system indicates your body fell asleep. Keep trying to open them and you will wake up enough to open your eyes. After you have transferred back I will suspend the connection so you may sleep uninterrupted."

"Alright, thanks," Sarah said. With all her concentration she tried once more to open her eyes, and found herself looking up at her living room ceiling, still feeling the fading sensation of fur pressed against both of her cheeks.

Chapter 8. Three Heads Are Better Than None

The blue glow of the alarm clock indicated it was shortly after 1:00 AM when Sarah got into her bedroom. She smiled as a warm happiness filled her while she thought about the beautiful creatures she'd just spent so much time with. As a lifelong lover of animals she always enjoyed making friends with any she met and had wondered since she was a little girl what it would be like if they could talk like humans. Now that she knew she looked forward to getting to know her friends even better.

Sarah hung up her bathrobe, brushed her teeth, headed to bed, and snuggled under the covers. When she closed her eyes to go to sleep a small part of her wished she'd find herself back on the ship with her friends, but a larger part of her was relieved to see the empty darkness that would help her fall asleep. As she laid there with her eyes closed she thought about all the animal faces she'd seen, but fell asleep in a few minutes. While she slept, Sarah had several random dreams, some of which included Storm, Ajagi, or the other members of the ship's crew.

With her perception of time so drastically altered in her sleep it seemed like only a few minutes worth of dreams. As the dreams continued she began to have unpleasant dreams, then nightmares, about the Kra invading Arfurah and attacking its people. The ships and their weapons were making a horrible rough noise, a sound like grinding and whining combined, as they destroyed cities and killed innocent Arfurans. Suddenly the sound became intensely loud, forcing Sarah to wake up and realize the sound she'd heard in the dream was the neighbor's lawnmower. She became annoyed to be awakened so early in the morning, especially on a Saturday, but at the same time she was relieved to be taken out of such an awful dream.

Sarah trudged slowly to the kitchen, yawning the entire way, and started a small pot of coffee brewing. Still quite tired, she then trudged out to the living room and plunked herself down on the couch where she'd taken her amazing journey the evening before. As she sat there she couldn't avoid thinking about the people she'd met and the task she'd undertaken for them. While she knew it was all real, a small part in the back of her mind kept wondering if it had all been a dream of some sort. It was all so incredible, so fantastic, it seemed beyond the scope of reality. But then, as a scientist, she dismissed such speculation, knowing there could easily be civilizations in the universe so far advanced beyond current human achievements.

When she could hear the ending sputters of the coffee maker finishing its job, Sarah got up and returned to her bedroom to get her fuzzy bathrobe. Tying off its belt before reaching her front door, she opened the door and was greeted by a beautiful noisy morning. She walked out to her mailbox to retrieve the morning newspaper with the mail she didn't get the day before, and on the way back to the house returned the wave to the neighbor who was mowing his lawn.

Sarah closed the door to keep the noise out when she got back inside, dropped her cargo on the table next to the couch, and returned to the kitchen. With a fresh cup of coffee, fresh fruit, and a fresh mind, she sat at the counter to eat breakfast while thinking about the challenge given to her. After finishing she took her second cup of coffee and returned to the couch to think about ideas. A short time later Sarah got up and went into her office, the former dining room she never used. She pulled books and scientific journals dealing with the known and theoretical physics of energy and particles from the shelves and began to flip through them for more ideas.

As Sarah read she began forming ideas for weapons using the technology the Arfurans have, plus theories on how to advance that technology. Throughout the morning she skimmed over all the topics she could find in the publications she had in hopes of finding those that would be applicable to the mission. Shortly after noon she made a trip to the university library to look through the theses and dissertations of other physics students, reading those that dealt with theories on time, space, light, energy, particles, dark matter, and dark energy. Ignoring the copyright laws she made photocopies of those texts that would be most helpful, and then headed back home.

When Sarah got back home she made some tea and continued reading the information she had. Shortly, she was beginning to feel quite burned out and her mind was starting to wander. She stopped writing on her pages of notes and began to make doodles in the margins of cartoon-like foxes and wolves. She found some of her drawings quite funny and got a laugh out of them, and soon realized how tired she was feeling.

Knowing her productivity was rapidly winding down to a crawl she decided to take a nap. Sarah went to her room, undressed and took a quick shower to refresh herself. After she got dry she went to close the drapes from the afternoon sun, set her alarm for two hours, and got in bed. When she didn't transfer anywhere with her eyes closed she relaxed and quickly fell asleep.

The two hours seemed like two minutes when her alarm went off. Sarah wished she could stay in bed but knew she had to get up because she would be meeting with her friends soon. She got up, put on her same fuzzy bathrobe, and headed for the kitchen. Having not done any grocery shopping during the week all she could find was a can of soup to eat with the last of her fresh fruit, and some juice. She figured it was either that or mix some soy sauce with ketchup to have something to dip an onion bagel into, and decided the former was more appetizing.

The stove clock showed Sarah it was nearing half past six. Finished with dinner, she went to the living room and sat on the couch to review the notes she'd made earlier in the day. She did her best to quickly memorize what she'd written so the notes could be transcribed after she transferred. She imagined the alternative would be opening and closing her eyes after transfer so she could return to her living room, read some notes, and transfer back while they were still fresh in memory. Since that option didn't seem terribly practical Sarah decided to read and memorize more thoroughly.

Confident she would be able to remember what she'd written, Sarah went to use the bathroom in preparation for what she figured would be a long night. After getting a good drink of water she returned to the living room and laid on the familiar couch. She knew she could lay on her bed or sit in the easy chair, but she found comfort in keeping things the same, at least for the time being. Looking forward to seeing her friends, Sarah closed her eyes with a smile on her face.

As instantly as the night before Sarah found herself in the research and transfer room of the Arfuran ship where she'd left herself the night before. Her new body was still in the protective suit she'd been wearing on her previous visit. On that occasion she found nobody in the room to greet her. Sarah got up off the floor and began looking around for clues or a note from Ajagi or Storm about where they'd gone. Shortly she realized that even if there was a note they wouldn't know her written language and she wouldn't know theirs, so feeling rather silly she headed for the door.

The door slid very freely as if on frictionless rollers when Sarah opened it. There was nobody in the hallway to guide her so she headed for the only place she knew. As she walked through the hall she found the silence of the ship to be eerie. Either the place is abandoned or they have incredible technology to make systems quiet, she thought to herself. Sarah opened the door to the relaxation room and peered inside. Unlike the previous night, the room was now mostly empty except for one table occupied by Arfuran creatures who looked like two mice, an otter, and a zebra, all playing a game she found completely unfamiliar. She saw no sign of her two friends.

"Excuse me," she said timidly, "does anyone know where I may find Storm or Ajagi?"

Everybody at the table stopped their game and looked toward her. "You must be Sarah," the zebra said.

"Yes," replied Sarah. Everybody at the table quickly responded with smiles and welcoming greetings.

"They were going into the information archive when I was coming out a short while ago," the otter said.

"Thank you," Sarah said, "but I'm not yet familiar with your ship...your vehicle, I mean. I've only been here and the transfer room down the hall."

Before Sarah could ask for directions one of the mice hopped down off her seat and came walking toward her quickly. "I will show you the way," she said in a fairly high voice. Looking back to her companions she said, "I will be back shortly. Please wait when the game is on my turn."

Everybody at the table assured her they would and said goodbye to Sarah. Just as she returned her exit greeting to the rest, the mouse took her hand and began to lead her down the hall. Despite being so much shorter than Sarah she had a fast stride that required Sarah to keep pace with her own much longer legs. "Thank you for showing me the way. Everybody here is so friendly!" she said.

"It is my pleasure to help," said the mouse. "My name is Takaras. I hope your travel here was enjoyable."

"Yes, in fact it was so enjoyable it seemed to go by in a flash," replied Sarah with humor in her voice. Takaras just looked up at her with an agreeable smile. Sarah couldn't help noticing the long white whiskers that sprouted from either side of her muzzle, bouncing lightly like her tail with every step. The two walked down several corridors and around a few corners before coming to the information archive in the middle of the ship.

Takaras slid the door open to peek in and confirm that at least one of the two objects of the search were still in there. Seeing both were there, she confirmed to Sarah this was the right place. Sarah lowered herself down on one knee to thank Takaras again and give her a hug. Hugging back, Takaras turned and ran off to rejoin her gaming party in the lounge.

"Storm! Ajagi!" exclaimed Sarah as she approached them from behind. "It's good to see you both again," she added as she hugged them before they could even wag their tails.

"Hello, Sarah," Storm replied with a smile, light laugh, warm hug, and a lick to the cheek. "You arrived here earlier than I was expecting."

"It is good to see you again as well, Sarah," replied Ajagi with the same warm, friendly greetings.

Sarah smiled and said, "That must be the proper greeting you mentioned my first time here."

"Yes," replied Storm. "Your greeting was so familiar it was quite automatic for us to be as familiar. I hope you did not find it unpleasant."

"No, not at all. Your greetings are quite nice," Sarah reassured them. Looking around the room she commented, "This isn't quite what I'd pictured. I was expecting to find a library in here." All she saw were small tables with what appeared to be computer terminals with a few other crew members doing their own viewing.

"That is what this is," said Ajagi. "This is the information archive where we may access all the information we have archived back home as well as new information of research done on our other vehicles. All information is shared between all other crews."

Storm added, "Physical copies of all our written information would be far too enormous. Everything is stored in these memory centers." He pointed to the walls which contained numerous identical computerized units. "We have been gathering information about energy and our existing weapons that may help us in our mission."

"I will save what we have so we may return to the transfer and research room," Ajagi said. He tapped a few symbols on the holographic screen to send their work, then passed his hand over a small sensor on the table to shut it off. Turning around he said, "We may go now. The information will be waiting for us."

The three left the library and walked the halls at a pace more leisurely than her trip to the room. "What have you been researching, Sarah?" Ajagi asked. "Did you find anything that will be helpful?"

Sarah replied, "I went through everything I could find on energy, matter, antimatter, physical laws, theories, astrophysics...I wrote down a few ideas we could look into as well as several theorems of theoretical physics. So much of it is unknown on my planet, it's things people have only thought about. You all are so more advanced than we are, maybe you already know what works."

"I hope that is true," replied Storm, "but we do not know everything. Certain knowledge of the universe has not been discovered or understood by us yet. We have not learned how to collect the 'dark matter' you concluded the Kra are using."

On their way to the transfer and research room the three passed a few other Arfurans in the hall, each one giving a friendly greeting. Sarah was consistently impressed with how friendly and welcoming everybody on the ship was. She noticed she never received any stares or strange looks for having such a different appearance from everybody else. Everybody treated her like an old friend.

As they entered the transfer room Sarah said, "Everything I have is written on my notes back home. I memorized it the best I could but I will have to transfer back and forth a few times to make sure I got it all.

"That will not be necessary," said Ajagi. "Your memories are part of your higher life energy. When you transfer all that energy and information goes through the transfer system and any new memories are recorded. All the information from your notations is already here."

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding," Sarah said in disbelief.

"No, we do not lie and I am not trying to make you laugh with a lie," replied Ajagi. "I will show you." Ajagi activated the screen on the transfer system console and began tapping at various symbols again. "How recently did you last view your writings?"

Sarah thought briefly. "It was just before I transferred here, so maybe 15 minutes."

Ajagi figured the conversion in his head between her minutes and the time units they used, then resumed tapping screen symbols. "Eight taren ago...written...physics...Is this it?"

On the screen appeared an exact copy of all the notes Sarah had written back home. "That is amazing," she said. "Yes, that's it."

Ajagi tapped a few more symbols and deactivated the screen. He then walked over to the work table, tapped the activation square, and began tapping symbols on its tabletop screen with his claw points. Sarah and Storm stood nearby watching as her pages of notes appeared, followed shortly by a large quantity of Arfuran information.

"Hmmm...this would be a lot easier if we knew each other's writing," Sarah said. "I think we're going to have to run through some more conversions and translations before we can really get much work done." Sarah reached her arms out behind her friends to pat and rub their backs as she spoke. The wagging of their tails indicated their feelings about the friendly gesture.

For two hours the three went through Sarah's notes and her scientific knowledge, converting everything to the language of the Arfurans. With scientific laws being consistent throughout the universe they easily understood what each other was referring to when speaking of various parts of math and physics. They shared their respective ideas on new weapons, setting aside those ideas they knew would not work with the technology they had and focusing on those ideas they knew they could develop.

"What about antimatter? Are you able to make that?" Sarah asked. "If you shoot some at their ships it'll annihilate whatever regular matter their ships are made of."

"We have studied that possibility," Storm replied. "The generated shields around their ships are capable of stopping and destroying it the same as a solid projectile of normal matter. Also, while we are able to create antimatter we have been unsuccessful in taking it from its containment field and launching it with a carrier projectile."

Ajagi added, "Antimatter is one of the ideas we will have to explore at a later time if we devise a weapon system that can use it."

"You're still far ahead of what we can do on my planet," Sarah mused. "The most antimatter we can make is just a few atoms at a time, and even that is very difficult."

Storm responded, "Your people have still come a long way, Sarah. To be able to create even one atom of antimatter is an incredible achievement."

Sarah nodded and looked back at her notes. "This may be a long shot but what about hiding your planet? If you were able to create some sort of device that could bend light around your planet, or a giant mirror that could reflect a view of a different direction, they wouldn't see the planet if they did arrive to invade."

Ajagi let out a small chuckle. "I like how creative you are in your thinking. Unfortunately we are not able to create something that size to hide a planet that big. We would have to create barriers around our moons as well or they would give away the location of the planet. If we had the ability to do that, the Kra would not be so easily fooled. They would search until they found where the planet was hiding, or begin stripping resources from one of the nearby planets, waiting until we appeared again."

The three continued going through the rest of Sarah's ideas, as well as sharing their ideas with her so she could ponder them. Ajagi and Storm took notes in their language on the tabletop screens and showed Sarah how to use it to take her own notes by writing with her fingertip. "I am happy with our initial progress," Storm said as they reached the end. Ajagi agreed.

Sarah replied, "I'm glad you feel that way. You're more familiar with the extent of the threat and what it will take to defend against them, so if you're confident then I can feel confident. Later, before I go for the night I'll figure out how to get these new notes back home with me so I can work with them tomorrow."

"It is night at your home?" Ajagi asked.

"Yes. Guessing on how long I've been here I'd say it's about sunset or just after," Sarah answered. "I would open my eyes to have a look, but I really don't want to leave here," she said with a smile.

Her two friends smiled at the compliment about their company. "Sarah, I was wondering about something," said Storm. "During your last visit you said I look like a creature on your planet called a 'fox', and Ajagi looks like a 'wolf'. What do these creatures look like? Can you describe them for us?"

"Yes, I'd be happy to," said Sarah. "First of all, there are several different varieties of each. There are foxes with red and orange fur, like yours, and we call them 'red fox.' Then there are some with gray fur that we call 'silver fox', and there are some with white fur we call 'arctic fox.' That is because they live in the arctic regions of our planet where it is always cold and snowy. I know there are many other kinds of fox but I can't remember them all."

Storm and Ajagi listened intently as she went on. "There are also many varieties of wolf but I'm not as familiar with them. There's the 'gray wolf' that looks a lot like you, Ajagi, with the light gray fur. There's also a 'red wolf' but the fur of that one isn't really red. For foxes and wolves, they have heads shaped like yours, faces that look like yours, the same eyes, the same pointed ears, the same long bushy tail...they are every bit as beautiful as you both are."

The two furry listeners smiled again at the compliments. Sarah continued, "But then there are the differences between them and you. The main thing is that they don't walk on two feet like you and me. They walk on all four, and instead of hands like what you have, they have front feet shaped a little bit like the back feet. Also, their bodies are smaller than yours. A fox is pretty small, maybe about this big..." Sarah held her hands as wide as she thought a fox is long. "Wolves are a bit bigger than that, but not as big as you, Ajagi.

"Also, they don't have the kind of intelligence you or I have. They are very smart, but they do not have any written language, they do not have a spoken language like what we use...they just have yips, barks, and howls...this would be a lot easier if I could show them to you. I certainly don't want to offend or insult you."

"We are not insulted," replied Ajagi. "Storm asked you to describe these creatures and you are doing exactly that. If we did somehow share a common ancestor with the creatures of your planet, it seems we developed in a way much different than they did."

Storm agreed and added, "You can show them to us if you desire. The transfer system contains your knowledge and memories. We were able to retrieve your written work, so we should be able to retrieve visual images you remember of these creatures."

"That's a great idea," Sarah responded. The three got up from the table and went back over to the transfer system console. Storm activated the screen and began tapping symbols to input the intent of the search. After several seconds a list appeared on the screen in the Arfuran language. Storm tapped one of the list elements and an image of a fox appeared on the screen. "There's one, that's a fox," Sarah declared.

Storm and Ajagi stared at the screen, taking in every detail of the fox. "I agree with your description of the amazing resemblance," Storm said. "The face looks almost identical to somebody I know." Sarah didn't know if he was joking or being serious. He tapped a small symbol on the screen and another fox image filled the screen. Again the two gazed at the details of the picture while Sarah remembered what she was seeing.

"I'd forgotten about that picture. I saw it in an encyclopedia when I was in high school. How'd this thing find that memory in my head when even I couldn't remember it?" she asked.

"You always have your memory," replied Ajagi. "Even if you are unable to recall it, the information is still stored in your mind and is part of your life energy. The transfer system reads all of it."

After several more pictures of foxes Sarah said, "They sure are wonderful to look at...look at that cute one! Anyway, could you bring up some pictures of wolves for Ajagi to see?"

"Yes, I would be happy to," said Storm as he began tapping at screen symbols again until a new list formed. Tapping at one of the listings brought up a picture of a timber wolf with the same color fur that Ajagi had. Storm alternately looked between the picture and Ajagi, who was intently staring at the wolf in the photo. "That could be your father, 'Jagi," Storm said.

"Yes...the resemblance is absolutely amazing," Ajagi said in a half attentive voice. "I see what you mean about them walking on all four appendages....beautiful....very beautiful creatures."

Sarah grinned, knowing how much each of her friends were enjoying the sight of these Earth animals. Storm tapped the symbol on the screen and went to the next picture, a photo of two adult wolves with their pups. "What a lovely family they are," he said. After several moments he went on to the next memory, a full motion display of a full wolf pack from a time Sarah had visited a wolf sanctuary.

"That was a great trip," Sarah said. "It was awesome to see a full pack of wolves so closely."

Ajagi stared silently at the screen, memorizing how every individual wolf looked as seen through Sarah's eyes. Before the memory clip was done playing, he turned away, walked to the side of the large table, and stood there, looking down.

"Ajagi? What's wrong?" Sarah asked as she moved to his side.

"I miss my family," Ajagi replied quietly. "By watching the display of those wolves in your memory...I am reminded of all the ones I love back home. I have been out here for so long...we all have been out here for so long. Every person in every vehicle in every fleet has been out here for so long, and we all have people back home who miss us. We miss them. Without a battle even taking place our lives are being destroyed by this war. We want to go home...I want to go home."

Sarah's eyes began to fill with tears as she touched his shoulder to turn him toward her. Pulling him close she hugged him tightly in hopes of comforting him. "I promise you," she said, "one way or another we'll end this war and you'll go home."

Ajagi hugged her back tightly for several moments before releasing her. "I apologize for saddening such a happy and interesting time we were having. I try to keep my unpleasant emotions controlled but sometimes it is too difficult."

Sarah looked into his eyes. "Don't apologize one bit. Considering everything you all are going through it is completely understandable to feel that way."

"Thank you," Ajagi said. "I may have left many loves behind when I left home, but I have to remind myself how many loved ones I have here. Everyone on this vehicle is a friend, and that includes you."

Sarah wiped the tears from her eyes and hugged him again, smiling. "If it would help take your mind off it, would you like to show me around the ship?"

"It would be my pleasure," replied Ajagi. "Would you like to come with us, Storm?"

Storm answered, "With Sarah's permission, I would like to stay here and view more images of her home. They are your memories, Sarah. May I?"

"That'll be fine, Stormy," Sarah replied. "We'll catch up with you later." Turning to Ajagi she said, "Lead the way!"

As Ajagi slid the door open for them to exit, Sarah commented, "I just realized again how thorough you guys are in making these bodies. It responded to my emotions by crying just like my natural body does."

"Yes, we take pride in the precision of our work," Ajagi said.