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Chapter 11. Crazy Cashew or Demented Pecan?

The clock menacingly showed it was near 3:00 in the morning. Despite her body being asleep so recently, Sarah felt wide awake. The alarm would be waking her in a few short hours and she knew she needed to get more sleep before the work day began. Sarah nestled her head back into the pillow and laid there trying to get back to sleep with permission of the suspended transfer system. The minutes ticked away while her mind raced, thinking without a pause about Storm, Ajagi, her other Arfuran friends, the mission, the war and impending battle, what life must be like on Arfurah, and her evening playing games with Storm.

A half hour was lost to thought before Sarah was finally able to get to sleep. Thoughts turned to dreams as fur-covered alien beings paraded through her unconscious mind. The parade was brought to an abrupt halt when the alarm rudely woke her. Setting aside her tired, groggy feelings, Sarah got out of bed without using the snooze alarm and headed for the kitchen.

While she waited for her tea to brew her mind wrestled between ongoing thoughts of her second life behind closed eyes and the desire to resume sleeping. The stove timer snapped her out of her self-imposed lethargy to alert her to the tea being ready. To accompany the hot drink she ate some toast with a side of the fresh fruit she'd acquired the day before. As she ate it, Sarah remembered the fruits and berries she'd enjoyed in the garden and lounge on the Arfuran ship. This led to thoughts about what Storm had said about the food grown there not being quite as good as what grew naturally on Arfurah. As delicious as it was already, she wondered what the home grown produce must be like.

After breakfast Sarah returned to her bedroom and bathroom to prepare for the day. Looking neat and professional, she gathered the notes for her personal project and looked around for her attaché before remembering she left it in her office on Friday. The professional appearance was actually a façade hiding the fact of how exhausted she was becoming from the lost sleep. Sarah headed for her car and reluctantly left for work.

As soon as she could open her office door and dump her work on the chair, Sarah headed for the coffee pot. She never actually felt any waking effect from the caffeine but instead relied on the illusion of stimulation to wake her up.

"I would say 'hide' but it won't do you any good," said Kacy as she came around the corner in a hurried pace.

"What?" Sarah replied, but Kacy was already gone. Without an answer, Sarah already knew what she meant.

"Good morning Miss Shepherd. I hope you're feeling better today," Berglund said dryly as he came around the corner. His pinstripe suit and greased back hair of light brown and gray projected the same illusion of professionalism as they always had.

"Yes, I am fine, thank you," Sarah said curtly without looking up from the cup she was stirring.

"Don't forget our meeting at eight o'clock," Berglund reminded her. "We will be discussing projects for my DARPA grant and all of the physics staff is required to attend."

Sarah stopped stirring her coffee and silently paused for a moment before taking off her glasses to look at him. The presence of Berglund was beginning to turn her stomach and she didn't want to have to see him clearly.

"Yes, I remember. Conference room. I'll be there," she said as she looked at his nauseating blurry visage. She then picked up her cup and turned to head for her office without leaving any time for pleasantries. She had none for him, knew he had none for her, and didn't want to share them if he did.

The trip back to her office was filled with growing feelings of anger toward Berglund as Sarah tried to suppress them. She wanted to focus her attention on her project and didn't want any time wasted on useless thoughts about useless people. Back in her office Sarah set down her coffee and removed her work from her chair as she sat down. After her Arfuran project was laid out on her desk she looked up at the German Shepherd figurine to relax, release her anger, and clear her mind before continuing her task.

Sarah could still remember quite clearly the additional thoughts and progress she made with her friends the night before and wrote those notes after her previous ones. Skimming over all the notes collectively she began formulating new ideas, trying to piece together something that might be of most help to the Arfurans. Before she knew it, nearly an hour had passed and she had to get to the meeting. Tucking her notes into her attaché, she grabbed her coffee cup and a blank note pad, and headed for the conference room.

It was a few minutes before eight when Sarah got to the conference room. She poured some fresh coffee from the carafe that Kacy had so kindly prepared for everybody, then took a seat at the side of the table next to some of her colleagues. A few more people shuffled into the room and took a seat shortly thereafter. Kacy entered the room with her usual armload of paperwork, followed at the stroke of 8:00 by Berglund who walked into the room and shut the door behind him. He didn't do it so much to prevent interruptions. He liked people who were late to have to open the door and draw attention to themselves rather than just slip in silently.

After he set his own things down, Berglund got right down to business without any morning greetings. "As you all know I received a grant from the Department of Defense and DARPA to begin research into new advancements and technologies for energy-based weaponry. We are all here this morning to begin the preliminary formation of ideas for potential weapons and consider the systems driving them that aren't yet fully developed or don't yet exist."

Sarah laughed to herself in her mind. "Don't yet exist, yeah right...if only he's seen the things I've seen the past few days," she thought. She quickly saw the ironic similarity to the project she was working on for the Arfurans, and also saw the difference between the two projects, one being for offense and profit and the other being for protection of an entire civilization from destruction.

Berglund droned onward. "The grant consists of a starting budget of $1 million for initial concept design and, perhaps, prototype development. If they like what they see in our progress, that will be followed by at least $10 million for research and development. Let's go around the table and throw out some ideas."

One after another Sarah's coworkers mentioned things like lasers and microwave beams, technology that already existed. Berglund wrote each one on the white board behind the head of the table and commented on or denounced each one. Sarah felt she wanted no part in this disgusting use of dangerous weapons for profit, so when it was her turn she suggested antimatter, knowing such a weapon was impossible with human technology.

"Find me a way to make it, contain it, control it, and fire it, and maybe we can talk," Berglund said with a condescending tone. "I expected better ideas from you."

It was exactly the kind of response Sarah expected but she didn't care. The less useful she was to this project, the less of her work would be stolen by Berglund for his gain. As she sat there watching with feelings of complete apathy, she noticed that every time Berglund placed the marker on the ledge of the board it fell off. The undersized ledge had been a complaint since the board was installed but the budgeting department didn't permit it to be replaced when there was nothing technically wrong with it.

Sarah quit listening to Berglund's droning voice and entertained herself by watching him try to hide his mistakes to preserve his professionalism. As she watched the marker fall off the ledge one more time she noticed the square patterns in the carpet. It was the style of carpet that was pieced together by squares of various colors to mimic tile. It looked like the floor tiles on the Arfuran ship.

In an instant Sarah's daydreaming mind began clicking together related thoughts and ideas. "The marker drops...gravity pulling marker down...floor tiles...artificial gravity...the tiles generate gravity...what if it was immensely amplified," she thought. She picked up her pen and scribbled a few things in the back of her notepad. As the meeting continued, Sarah recalled in her mind equations and theories about gravity, its place and effects as a force in the universe, and some theories she'd been thinking about since she was an undergrad.

"Are you paying attention, Miss Shepherd?" asked Berglund.

She looked up at him. "Yes, absolutely. You were saying the long range laser would require a hundred kilowatts of energy input. That's only enough to burn the paint off a car. If you want something to use as a weapon you'll need a good megawatt unless you can reach near 100% efficiency of the beam source. Also, add a miniaturized particle accelerator to the list of suggestions."

Berglund stared silently for a moment, dumbfounded that she had such an intelligent suggestion when he thought she wasn't listening, then nodded and changed what was on the board. Sarah was always skilled in pretending to pay attention and keeping alert to the subject at hand while she was in school. If she could have made a career of feigned attention, she'd have been a professional.

Whenever she could write without being easily noticed Sarah sketched some of her thoughts and made references to different theorems. The meeting couldn't get over soon enough for her. As soon as it let out, Sarah walked back to her office as fast as she could and closed the door behind her. Remembering the appointment she set the previous Friday, she called her eye doctor to cancel it with the assurance that it was nothing to be concerned about. She then transferred her temporary notes to her main list and for the rest of the morning sketched drawings of her latest idea along with accompanying formulas and theorems.

When Sarah could go no further with the physics models she knew already, she turned to the theory she had been working on for the past many years. As intelligent as she was, she'd always had an understanding of science beyond what was already known from past researchers. She pushed thoughts of her ongoing workplace projects out of her mind to focus on developing this new theory of hers, a project she'd been wanting to complete for years but never gave the priority due to workplace demands.

Sarah ate her lunch at her desk to continue working without pause. She was thankful that nobody disturbed her work aside from the noise of talking in the hall outside her door. She was so intently focused on her work she didn't notice the minutes, and hours, ticking by on the clock. Sarah filled page after page of notes, testing each equation wherever she could and only putting a large X through the less useful ones in case she had a need for them later.

Before she knew it she had her daily eight finished. As soon as Sarah noticed it was just passing three o'clock in the afternoon she finished writing her last thought and saved all her work on her computer. She hurriedly stuffed her work into her attaché as fast as she could grab it. She had no desire to put in any overtime that day, finding the task at hand to be more important. Shutting off the lights and closing the door, she fled the office for her car. On her way through the halls she glanced into the chemistry lab to see Phil starting another experiment for his research. Sarah felt sorry for him, that he had to spend such late nights in his lab instead of being at home with his wife.

Sarah was feeling good about her progress during the trip home. She started some of her favorite music playing and enjoyed the breeze coming in the open window from the warm September afternoon. She was not in a frantic hurry because she knew the transfer system would not be operative again until some time in the evening, but she still wanted to get home to continue what work she could. When she got home she retrieved the mail and newspaper from her box out front and went inside.

In the house Sarah went to the kitchen to start some tea, then went to her office while waiting for the water to boil. As she pulled the papers and notes from her attaché and began laying things out, she noticed her first page was missing. "Oh well, not too important," she said. She plugged her laptop into the monitor sitting on the desk to continue where she left off, then heard the whistle of the boiling water from the kitchen. Sarah went to prepare her cup of tea and returned to the office, kicking off her shoes to relax a bit as she resumed her work.

When she sat down Sarah remembered she had to do some other research. She used her computer to find information on the construction and operation of electromagnetic pulse bombs and printed out what pages she could. Pencil in hand she started writing some ideas around the margins on how to make the bombs larger and stronger, mostly involving more wire, electricity, and explosives.

She then returned to her new notes from earlier in the day. "Gravity panels..." she said to herself, "a billion times stronger...form a ring..." She stopped her review and returned to the theory she'd been trying to create. "Gravity in all directions...rip open space and time...shoot laser...it could work." Sarah thought intensely about her idea, then after several minutes began writing a new equation in her theory that had never existed before. Employing theorems and formulas about time and space from other sources she added to her theory, then began running numbers through it. "If they can control it, it could work," she said again.

Sarah was beginning to feel giddy as she continued testing her theorem with new variables with results showing what she hoped and expected. She looked again over all her notes, taking in everything she'd written, then began to laugh hysterically. "It could work, you psychotic nut!" she laughed out loud.

The time was going on 5:30 and Sarah was beginning to feel a bit hungry. Since she'd broken through the most challenging part of her work she felt ready to go get some early dinner. She listened to the radio at first while beginning to make some dinner. When all she could hear was the same repeated commercials from one station to another, she turned it off and put in a CD of her more favored music. Sarah started feeling wonderful, singing along to her favorite songs while preparing a meal of grilled cheese, soup, and a side bowl of her usual fruit. She always enjoyed the more simple details of life, finding grilled cheese and soup a very satisfying comfort food. When it was ready she sat on the stool beside the counter to eat while flipping through the past several days' newspapers for the comics.

Soon her dinner was finished and Sarah took care of her dishes. She then shut off the music and went to her bedroom to get ready for her evening bath time. While she got undressed she was thinking about her friends on the ship and life on Arfurah, wondering how it compares to life and behavior on earth. As she was stepping into the shower Sarah was thinking about how Arfurans might bathe and keep clean; while she showered she wondered what kind of soap or body shampoo they must use in their fur; after she was done she thought about what they do to brush out their fur as she brushed and combed her wet hair. Her mind was a continuous stream of small questions about what they do and what things they have, questions too numerous to ever ask about, questions which would have to be answered by experiencing life there.

On her way out of the bathroom Sarah grabbed her fuzzy bathrobe off the door hook and looked at the time as she put it on. "It's seven now...they'll be ready for me before too long," she thought. She returned to the kitchen to get a glass of ice water, then went to the living room to relax on the couch. She was already quite relaxed because of her happiness, but stretching out would help her relax even more. She looked around to make sure there were no dangers to her vulnerable body after transfer, locked the door, and shut off the phone ringer. Before she sat down she remembered her notes, so she quickly went to her office to gather them up and bring them back to the coffee table before lying down on the couch. The setting sun was becoming hidden by clouds moving in from the west, creating a lovely evening skyline in the window which Sarah could enjoy until it was time to transfer. Once she got comfortable on the couch she tried closing her eyes but saw the transfer system was not active yet.

Sarah kept her eyes open, looking out the large bay window toward the sunset. The dark cloud line obscuring the sun had a wild beauty of approaching storms, though she'd heard of no rain in the forecast. The stormy look made her think of her friend Storm the fox and the pleasant evening they'd shared the day before. She smiled as she relived their conversation over ship-grown fruit and the enjoyment of the table games. Whenever she pictured him in her mind, her heart started thumping a little harder.

"Wait a minute," she said aloud. "What am I doing? I shouldn't have such...fond feelings about Storm. He's a fox alien from another galaxy for crying out loud!" She continued to analyze her feelings about him, finally dismissing the feelings as fondness for somebody who is a very affectionate and close friend. She returned to thinking about the times she spent with him and their other friends, smiling repeatedly at various thoughts.

Every few minutes Sarah was closing her eyes to test the function of the transfer system, only to open them again when she saw nothing but darkness. She hoped there wasn't something wrong that was preventing her from transferring, but trusted the mechanical ability of her technologically advanced friends to keep things running smoothly. It was passing a half hour since Sarah laid on the couch as she sipped her ice water. She set the glass back on the table and returned her head to the pillow to test her eye-controlled transfer.

The darkness in Sarah's eyes was replaced with the sight of a familiar research room, familiar table, familiar transfer system, and familiar friends. "Hi everybody!" Sarah said excitedly. Storm, Ajagi, and Nanida were studying something at the large work table when they looked up to the sound of her voice. With smiles and wagging tails they quickly came over to give her the proper Arfuran greeting. Sarah returned their hugs and gave each a kiss on the cheek. "How are you all doing?" she asked.

"We are doing very well," answered Storm, to which Ajagi and Nanida nodded. "It seems you are also doing very well. You have had a happy day?"

"Yes, it's been a good day," said Sarah. "I really didn't want to go to that meeting I told you about, but without it I may not have made the progress I did today. Something happened that gave me a great idea that just might work if you can make the device. Am I interrupting anything important?"

"No, you are not interrupting," Nanida said. "Ajagi was showing me the injury assistance device he has been working on. It is very important and interesting, but it was not an urgent matter. I am also interested to learn of the progress you all have made for our defense project."

"What have you devised?" asked Ajagi.

Sarah looked down and lightly stamped her foot on the floor. "It has to do with this. In your floors you have something that creates the gravity on this ship that keeps us from floating around like furry balloons. You have figured out how to make gravity. We just need to make a lot of it. If we can get the memories of my notes from the transfer system, I can show you."

All four quickly moved to the transfer system where Ajagi tapped the symbols on the holographic screen to access her memories and send them over to the work table. They then moved to the side of the work table and brought up the images of her notes on the surface.

Sarah said, "These pages here are about that electromagnetic pulse bomb I told you about," pointing to a few of the images. "We can go through those later. This stuff here is my idea." She tapped the images of two pages and they quickly enlarged to easily read. "This is a theory I began working on years ago. When I thought of all this I was compelled to complete it, and as far as I can tell, it works. Since the equations are new I'll guide you through them so you can translate it into your nomenclature."

"How will this use our gravity system?" asked Storm.

"The amount of your gravity is about the same as what it is on my planet," said Sarah. "Let's consider that to be one unit of gravity. Enormous stars have enough gravity to bend light by affecting the tiny mass of the photons. Galaxies have enough collective gravity to affect it much more. A black hole has gravity that is at least a billion times as strong as the gravity on our planets. That much gravity affects the very nature of space and time.

"Black holes are a singular point with gravity that pulls inward from all directions. My theory is that the same sort of gravitational pull, pulling outwards in all directions from a center point, can rip open space and time to create a wormhole. Normal matter such as ships or people can't go through a wormhole because the midway point becomes infinitely small and their atoms get torn apart. Light has very little mass and is pure energy. If a very powerful laser was shot through that wormhole it would come out the other side intact...at least, according to the equations in my theory.

"To create this level of gravity, we need a gravity generation system like what is in this floor, but it will have to be able to withstand a pulse of energy a couple billion times stronger than what this requires and be able to create a gravitational pull at least a billion times stronger than what we have here. If it was built into a light amplification tube that creates a very strong laser, then the wormhole could appear and take in the concentration of photons as they move through the length of the tube.

"There are a lot of requirements, though. First, you'd have to be able to create a gravity system like what is in this floor but a billion times stronger, maybe even more than that. Second, you would have to be able to control where the other end of the wormhole goes as you told me your researchers seem to think is possible. If we can control it we could make the laser appear to come from anywhere around the invading ships. They would never know who was shooting at them. And third, we may need a way to trap or neutralize the gravity it creates so it doesn't affect the surroundings. The opposing sides with opposing direction of gravity should somewhat counteract the gravity beyond the walls of the cylinder but I don't know that it will neutralize itself entirely."

Storm, Ajagi, and Nanida stood there studying the diagrams Sarah showed them and considering what her plan was. Storm spoke first. "This could work, friends. If we can make the device Sarah has planned, this weapon could work very well. What are your thoughts?"

"The strategy is excellent," said Nanida. "If we combine it with the magnetic bombs you were telling me about we could potentially disable all their ships and force a surrender."

Ajagi stood there silently studying the plans and formulas, recognizing all but her new one from their past meetings on translation. After a few moments he looked up at Sarah and said, "We have much work to do. If we may work on translating your new discovery to our units so we may study and test it further...I believe this will work." With those last few words Ajagi's mouth pulled back into a large smile, looking almost sinister on his lupine face.

Storm moved over to Sarah and said, "You have said before that you were amazed by us. We are very much amazed by you as well." He pulled her close in a warm hug followed by a large lick of appreciation on her cheek. Sarah smiled and giggled like a young girl, then moved closer to the side of the table to work with Ajagi on translating her formula to Arfuran terms.

"This part here is the force of gravity, multiplied to the power of itself since it is looped around and interacting with itself from all directions," Sarah said as Ajagi wrote with a claw point on the table screen. "And here is where the speed of the photons gets exponentially increased by the stretching of space-time..."

Storm and Nanida tried to keep up with all the parts of the plan translation but had some difficulty since the physics of space and time weren't their specialty. For nearly an hour they went through the several pages that contained Sarah's theory, her new equation, and all the supporting equations. When they were finished Ajagi read over everything again, scanning the information much more easily in terms he knew.

"By the claws of Dissilen, this could really work," he said. "We need to build a model to test the feasibility of creating this wormhole. After it is working we can begin attempts to control it."

"We must not risk the safety of the vehicle," Nanida said. "It should be built and tested on Stamedigan when its orbit returns with the expedition crew. If there is any problem with the burst of gravity it will be contained to the planet."

"That will not be necessary, Nanida," said Ajagi. "Sarah is correct that most of the gravity generated by the cylinder will neutralize itself with opposing forces, and the remaining amount can easily be contained. The best place to build and test this system will be on Arfurah. All the resources, production facilities, and science engineers will be right there to build whatever materials the system will need. Time is a bit critical and testing on Stamedigan will progress too slowly due to the lack of existing production facilities and refined resources there."

"I agree," replied Nanida. "If you believe it will be safe, proceed with development on Arfurah. Ajagi, I am sorry but I need you to remain here. The other projects require your knowledge."

"I understand, Nanida," said Ajagi. He then turned to Storm. "I envy you, my friend. Please give my love to my mates when you get home."

"You think I should go?" asked Storm.

"Yes. You are in charge of weapons development, after all," replied Ajagi. "I will send all the information ahead so the production teams can begin building the parts required for the gravity cylinder. You and Sarah should be able to complete the testing in very little time once it is built."

"Me?" gasped Sarah. "You want me to go to Arfurah too?"

"Of course," Ajagi replied with a smile. "It is your theory and you understand it better than any one of us. I believe you will find our home as pleasant as we do. You will be the first of your species to visit our planet and I know everybody will welcome you."

All Sarah could think to say was, "Oh...wow..." as she contemplated being the first human to step foot on another planet even if she wasn't the first to make contact with its native species. The scientist in her was overwhelmed with the level of discovery she going to experience.

"I know how much everybody wants to go home," said Storm. "I wish I could take everybody with us. It is not possible, so I will bring some of Arfurah back to you all here."

Sarah looked blankly out the window at the stars. "Oh, wow..."

"I will send out the request for a transport vehicle to be prepared immediately," said Nanida as he headed for the door. "It should be ready for you to leave in no more than twenty taren."

Storm replied, "Thank you, Nanida. We will be ready to depart."

Ajagi moved his medical device to the work bench along the side of the room and returned to the center work table to begin sending the project information. "I will send the plans for this magnetic bomb device to the nearest fleet that does not currently have their transfer system in use," he said. "They will be able to do all testing safely to determine if the magnetic pulse affects our vehicles or the transfer system, and how far away the detonation must be." He then started tapping at the symbols on the tabletop display, softly muttering something as fast as he was tapping.

Sarah turned to storm to say, "Since we have to wait a few minutes I'm going to transfer back home to take care of a couple things. We have more work to do than what I can do in the evenings. If we're going to be that busy I can't go in to work every day, so I should at least call and leave a message."

"I understand. That is thoughtful planning," said Storm. "I will gather a few small things to take with me. I will be back here soon. I must say I will be very happy to have my home under my feet once again even if it is for only a few days."

Sarah nodded with a smile and asked Storm, "What does 'by the claws of Dissilen' mean?"

"That is just an expression," Storm replied.

Chapter 12. Uncomfortable Hate

Sarah's eyes opened into a dark living room, the sun having set behind overcast skies more than an hour before. The street light nearby gave her just enough light to see her glass of water to take another drink before going to the kitchen to refill it. In the kitchen she picked up the phone and called the number for Berglund's secretary, knowing she would only get the answering system.

"Hi Kacy, this is Sarah Shepherd. I'll be gone for the next few days...I have some personal matters to take care of and won't be able to make it in to the office. Thanks." She kept her message simple and vague in an effort to keep the truth of the matter private.

Sarah put some more ice in her glass and filled it to the top with fresh water. She then took a sip and left it there to go to her bathroom and freshen up. While she was in there, the whole time she kept saying to herself in disbelief, "I'm going to another planet..." After a quick shower she toweled off and brushed her teeth for the night. Out of habit she grabbed her fuzzy bathrobe back off the hook and put it on as she returned to the kitchen for her water glass. On her way to the living room she changed her mind and decided to go to bed for the night, figuring it would be a little more comfortable than the couch.

Back in her bedroom she set the glass on the bedside table, hung her bathrobe back on the hook of the bathroom door, and slid between the sheets of the bed. The cool satin felt good on her skin and made a pleasant contrast to the warmth of the comforter she pulled up over her. Sarah reached over to set her glasses on the nightstand and turn off her alarm clock, making sure it would not disturb her in the morning, then sunk her head into the pillow to close her eyes.

Instantly she was back in the transfer room of the ship. Storm had not yet returned as far as she could tell, and Ajagi was in one of the seats beside the round table. He was positioned off to the side with his head sitting heavily in his hands, elbows supported by his knees as he was slumped over.

"Ajagi! What's wrong?" Sarah asked as she moved quickly to his side. She put one arm around his back and her other hand on his forearm. "Are you missing your mate again?"

Ajagi breathed deeply and let out a long sigh. "Sarah, I was not...completely honest with you when you first visited here," he said. "I did not lie but I did not answer your question." He lifted his head out of his hands and looked at Sarah. "You were asking about our emotions and the things we feel. Storm said he did not know anybody who felt hate and we do not allow it to enter our minds. He is correct that it is a very uncomfortable feeling but was incorrect about not knowing anyone who felt it. I feel it. As much as I try...I can not stop it from filling my mind."

Sarah was deeply concerned because of the emotion in his voice. "What do you mean?"

Ajagi continued. "We have told you things we know about the Kra. We know of the weapon they are building. We know of what they are doing to their planet, stripping it of all its resources. We know how horribly they treat beings of other species. We know much of their language. The only way we can know such things is by being there. We sent two of our people, Tibo and Kalise, to spy on them and send back whatever information they could.

"Nobody was chosen. They freely volunteered with the knowledge they may never return, also knowing it would likely cost them their lives. They both knew the information they found could save the lives of everyone on our planet and decided the risk to their own lives was insignificant. They were highly intelligent, absolute masters of both keeping hidden and disguise. They made themselves look like the Kra, studied and duplicated their behavior, had to do things that every part of their minds told them they should not but they did because of the importance of the mission and the importance of not being found.

"We know about the Kra keeping captive slaves of other civilizations to kill for their own pleasure because our spies witnessed it. They had to cheer with all the rest or else their differing behavior would reveal their identity. There are other things they saw I can not say, it is too horrible. They put themselves at great risk to gather information about the new weapon the Kra are developing, including strategies for attack and plans for action after invasion. They planted a highly directional transmitter on the outside of one of the large Kra vehicles, aimed at Arfurah so they could send us the information without the signal being detected.

"As they orbited the Kra planet an asteroid drifted through the signal and scattered some of it back toward the vehicles. The Kra detected it and sent out smaller vehicles to find the source, which passed through the signal as well. When the transmitter was found they did a search of their entire large vehicle until our friends were found.

"Tibo was fortunate, if we may call it that. She swallowed a small capsule she brought with her to end her own life before the Kra could. Kalise was not lucky and was captured before he could swallow his capsule." Ajagi's voice wavered and he returned his eyes into his hands.

"Sarah...they transmitted a visual recording...repeated many times to be sure we saw it...they tortured him...horribly. He had no information they did not know already. They knew who he was, where he was from, what information he had taken and where it was sent. They did not care. They enjoyed watching his pain, they were entertained. They forced him to watch as the body of Tibo was mutilated. It did not matter that she was already dead...they enjoyed it. Every one of the Kra watching was cheering.

"Then they turned to him...they...I can not..." Ajagi could not speak as his breathing turned into an almost uncontrollable pant for nearly half a minute. "They kept him alive, connected him to machines, would not let him die. They continued to torture and mutilate him...his screaming...Sarah, his scream haunts me. I could not watch the visual recording, I had to turn away, but I could hear him...his unbearable pain...when he finally...did die..."

Ajagi began sobbing harder into his hands as Sarah wrapped her arms around him to hug him tightly. Her eyes were beginning to fill with tears when Storm returned to the room. Without asking he knew what was going on. He had seen Ajagi like this before. Ajagi threw his head back and howled as loud as he could, the sound penetrating the door and echoing through the halls of the ship. Sarah could not hold her tears back and cried with him. As he began to run out of breath his howl faded to an open mouthed sobbing, and he returned his head to his hands. Storm quickly stepped behind his friend and wrapped his arms around him as well.

As Ajagi began to regain control of himself he tried speaking again. "When he finally did die, they mutilated the rest of his body...both of their bodies were destroyed beyond anything that could be recognized as a living being...every one of the Kra cheered...as if it was some great victory. It was not enough to kill him...they wanted him to suffer as terribly as possible. I hate them, Sarah. I hate them down to my core, with every cell in my body and every thought in my mind. I was happy when I saw your new plan...I felt we could finally destroy them as they destroyed Tibo and Kalise...I felt I wanted revenge, to see their entire species destroyed, I hate them so much. And I hate...myself for feeling that way about any creature. I can not stop the hate I feel."

Sarah and Storm hugged him tighter with their best efforts to console him. "Don't hate yourself, Ajagi," Sarah said. "By doing that to your friends, and by being what they are, they put the feeling in you. They created the hate."

Storm continued speaking for Ajagi. "A full report had to be made but the visual recording they transmitted to us was so terrible, nobody could watch it. We had one volunteer watch the entire visual recording in order to make a report on exactly what happened. He believed his mind was strong enough to deal with the images. It required all his efforts to make the report, and then he was fully overcome by the disturbing sight. He could not eat or sleep, could not function, frequently breaking down with screams as the images flooded back into his mind. He could not stop them, tore at his green skin with his claws to take the memory away. He had to go through a treatment process that erased part of his memory for him to go on with his life. After that he knew he had seen something terrible but did not know what it was."

"Why did a report have to be made?" asked Sarah.

"So we would never forget," replied Storm. "We must never forget the importance of protecting ourselves and how terrible it will be if we fail. We must never forget the sacrifices that have been made by our people to ensure we will survive. They gave their service, and ultimately their lives, for the survival of their people. This happened 73 days ago and we have been working as quickly as possible since that time to develop a new way to protect ourselves. Every day that passes makes it more urgent that we succeed."

Ajagi lifted his head out of his hands again and looked at Sarah. "I could have had the same treatment done to make my memories easier to bear but I chose not to because I felt I should not forget. The pain I feel is nothing compared to the pain he felt. I do apologize. I did not want you to see me like this. I felt it was important that you knew the full truth and hoped I could handle it more properly."

"You don't have to apologize one bit," said Sarah, wiping the last of her tears from her face. "I completely understand, and I can't think of any more proper way to mourn the loss of a friend than letting that sorrow out. By using the information they sent and protecting yourselves from the Kra, their deaths won't be for nothing." Ajagi turned toward her, and she and Storm hugged him once more. Before parting their embrace Sarah kissed Ajagi on one cheek while Storm licked his other.

"Thank you, my friends," Ajagi said. "I have never known of any other species in the universe who is as cruel...who is as brutal as the Kra."

Sarah sat silently for a moment before speaking. "Yes...you have," she said quietly, looking down to the floor. "My species...humans. Not all, but some. We have a history spotted with people who have shown just as much brutality and cruelty, whether it is for gains of power, land, resources, wealth...or just for their own entertainment. Sometimes for no reason at all. They do it against other humans, their own people...sometimes to the other animal species of the planet but not just killing them for food. In some places the brutality to other humans still goes on to this day, and pleasure killing of other animals happens all over the world. With others in the past and present doing such horrible things, it makes me ashamed to call myself 'human' as they do."

Ajagi looked Sarah in the eyes. "Do not be ashamed of who you are. You recognize such horrible things as being horrible. You are not like those who do horrible things, or the Kra. It is not your entire species that behaves in such a way. All of the Kra do."

Storm waited until he felt it was the right time to change the subject. "I returned to tell you that the transport vehicle is ready to leave," he said to Sarah. "It is prepared with things the crew of the fleet wanted to send home to mates and family, and plenty of food in case there is loss of power and we have to wait for another vehicle."

"Does that happen very often?" asked Sarah.

"No, it has never happened, but we prefer to be prepared for anything," replied Storm. "Ajagi, I promise to deliver your love to your home personally."

"Thank you, Storm. I hope you have a pleasant journey," said Ajagi.

The three friends hugged and shared nuzzles one more time before Storm led Sarah out the door to the transport. "I took care of things back home," Sarah said, "but can you show me a place here where I can freshen up? If this body duplicates what my natural body does, I imagine there are certain things I need to...take care of." Storm nodded and led her to the bathing room. The room was empty of other individuals but there was a continuous flow of water falling from a large mound of rock in what Sarah assumed was a showering area. She couldn't tell if they were real or artificial rocks.

"You should be able to find things easily in here," Storm said. "I must go retrieve something I forgot I wanted to bring home. I will return in five or six taren." Sarah looked around and figured out what each device was, finding a sort of toilet that had a complete lack of paper. "They must do things differently here," she thought to herself. She removed her protection suit and used the receptacle, hoping she was in fact using it for its intended purpose.

When she was finished she went over to the falling water. It was surrounded with several plants with large thick yellow leaves that grew out of soil pits in the floor. She couldn't see anything in the way of soap so she did the best she could with water alone. The water was cool and comfortable, the refreshing temperature and pleasant scent of a lake in summer. She didn't take as much time as she would have liked because she knew Storm would be ready to go soon, so she quickly stepped out of the falling water. Not far from that spot she found a set of vent pipes on the wall that activated and blew warm air when she approached. Without a towel she had little choice but to stand in front of it and enjoy the drying air. Sarah didn't take much time to dry her hair, knowing it would take too long, so she got it as dry as she could and reached for her protection suit.

Just as she was pulling it up she sensed somebody open the door behind her. With a gasp she quickly pulled the front of the suit closed and turned around to see who it was. "Are you ready?" asked Storm. Sarah nodded her affirmation and finished closing the front of her suit correctly. "I hope you found everything alright," said Storm.

"Yes, but there was no soap to wash with," said Sarah.

Storm closed his eyes in embarrassment. "I apologize, please forgive my oversight. The leaves of the plants by the water contain a fluid that works very well for cleansing fur...it should work well on your skin, too. I should have thought to tell you about that."

"It's alright," responded Sarah. "I did well enough with just the water. I'm ready." The two turned for the door and headed for the transport bay. "Did you find what you wanted to bring?" she asked.

"Yes, I have it right here," said Storm, holding up a small elongated box. Along the way through the halls they paused briefly as they passed various furry friends, sharing a parting hug and friendly nuzzle and lick.

"You really do have a family here, don't you," said Sarah as they arrived at the transport bay.

"Yes, you are truly correct," replied Storm. "As we told you before, the friendship we all share here makes it bearable to be away from home."

Sarah held her breath as she looked out at what appeared to be a huge wide open door with empty space beyond it. She then looked up at the size of the transport ship that sat in front of her. "This thing is twice the size of my house!" she exclaimed.

"You must have a very large home," said Storm. He followed her through the airlock door into the transport and led her to the main control room. The control room appeared to be the main habitation room as well, with a table and seats like what Sarah saw in the lounge, plus a large padded area on the floor by the rear wall. Surrounding the control panel at the front were large windows that wrapped from one side to the other. Storm took a seat at the controls and pressed a button to activate a display screen, then tapped the symbols on the screen to begin activating systems on the ship.

Sarah stood behind him, watching his actions without knowing what any of it did. All she could hear was the quiet rustling of air through a duct from the ventilation system. Storm pressed a button and spoke; Sarah couldn't see where the microphone was hidden.

"We are ready to go, Nanida," Storm said.

"I hope you have a pleasant trip," replied Nanida over the speaker. "Try not to run into anything on your way out."

Storm laughed and shook his head. "Hit another transport just once and they think it will happen every time."

Sarah laughed as well, understanding the humor. Storm placed his hands on a pair of control handles and manipulated them slightly. The transport ship silently rose a few feet off the floor, then gently turned around to face the bay door. Sarah held her breath lightly as she looked out the open door into space, taking a seat beside Storm. "How is the air not escaping?" she asked.

"The energy field that surrounds the vehicle does not allow it to escape," replied Storm. "It is the same field that covers all of the windows. If the window or the structure around it should ever fail, the atmosphere will not escape and the area can be safely evacuated and repaired."

Storm manipulated the controls and the transport slid gracefully out through the bay door. Sarah followed the edge of the ship with her eyes as they passed through the door to look back at the rear of the large ship, as well as taking in the view of the rest of the fleet. "This is absolutely incredible," she said. Storm smiled at her amazement, pointed the transport toward Arfurah, and moved the speed control forward. Sarah never felt the acceleration and couldn't believe how quickly the view of the fleet disappeared past the edge of the window and beyond where she could see. The bright point of light created by the center star held steady in the front window.