The Alien Mind (free)

An Uncertain Future

AS RIVI FINISHED HER SPEECH SILENCE hung over the assembly. Over the years, she had given many similar speeches at many events all over the Earth. Yet, even at a convention where the Earth's top scientists had gathered to argue over and discuss new theories, her speech had reduced them to utter silence. She seemed to have that effect on people. To make them stop and think.

Perhaps it was because hearing a seventeen-year-old sounding so sure of herself in front of such a huge crowd of people was strange to them. Perhaps it was just that they seemed to view her as a celebrity or someone special, and they gravitated to her to hear her speak. Whatever the reason, it wasn't long before the crowd of children and adults burst into applause. Rivi couldn't tell if they believed what she said, but she hoped at least some of them did.

Humans could be stubborn sometimes.

Would they still applaud if I had told them all a bunch of nonsense? Rivi wondered. Smiling, Rivi walked off the stage and left the auditorium that housed the science fair at which she was speaking. She reached out with her mind and located Dan's computer. Sure enough, she found Dan standing around the corner, waiting with a silver cube already expanded. Rivi turned on her light-emitting bracelet and followed Dan through the side of the hollow cube.

"There were so many people in the building, I figured it would be better if I waited for you out here."

"You never seem to be fond of speaking to huge groups of people," Rivi observed.

"I received enough attention already; I'm not looking for more. Besides, they always seem to eat up everything you say," Dan said.

Rivi manipulated the atoms in the cube walls, causing the cube to float up into Earth's afternoon sky.

"Yes, but do they actually digest it?" Rivi asked as they left Earth's gravitational influence and floated into space.

"You give them the truth. What they do with it is their choice," Dan replied, sending Rivi a smile as he helped her set up their ship for inter-dimensional travel.

"Yeah, I know. Hey, you said something earlier about needing to get to planet Gronter. Should we head there now?" Rivi asked as they left the gravitational pull of Earth and drifted freely in space.

"We can. The healers there still need help with some strange plague that has devastated the Gront," Dan said as they folded the ship into the fourth dimension.

Rivi pictured the green and brown smoldering planet of Gronter.

"Was Entrit surprised that you came to help Earth with the blackout problem?" Dan asked as they exited the fourth dimension, within visual range of Gronter.

"No, not really. She lived down the hall from me when we were being raised by the Aunantet. She knew I would eventually hear that there was something happening on Earth. I think she was more surprised that President Harper called her, personally, to ask her for help, and suggested that she contact me for help if the job was too big for her to handle."

"He's the Democrat who was elected to office after Malcarosi finished his term, right?" Dan asked as their ship slowly entered into Gronter's cloudless atmosphere.

"Yeah. As I recall, your foster parents were ecstatic when he won the vote," Rivi replied with a laugh.

"Yes. They even sent me a message inviting me to a party they were throwing." Dan replied, shaking his head with a smile. "We were too busy helping with the cleanup after that tsunami on Punatris. Besides, I was hoping the other guy would win."

Rivi laughed as she gently touched her ship down in the middle of a Gront town that had been carved out of the mounds of lava flows. Rivi and Dan stepped through the cube wall and were greeted by the humid warm air, heated by the many volcanoes that pocked the surface of the planet Gronter.

"I don't think I'll ever get accustomed to the constant smell of sulfur here," Dan said, wrinkling his nose.

Rivi waved at a few Gront children playing with a ball in the blackened street. Like all the native citizens of Gronter, the Gront children were short and plump, with dark leathery skin. Despite the worrisome plague being managed just a short block away, the children were full of energy.

"The Gront thrive on it," Rivi explained.

"They may thrive on it, but personally, I'm glad that the some of the Herboviromenter's from Aun have agreed to bring some of their plants to the site where the healers are working. I prefer to work in an environment where there's a bit more oxygen," Dan said, pointing the way to the healer's pavilion.

The large tent the healers had set up was surrounded by large leafy green plants. The healthy Gront seemed to be giving the plants a wide berth. Rivi followed Dan into the pavilion and was horrified by what she saw. Dozens of Gront lay on cots. They were all covered in boils and milky splotches.

"What do you think this is, Dan?" Rivi asked, shocked.

"I don't know Rivi ... I really don't know," Dan stated quietly as they headed to an Aunantet comp amalgamator sitting at a metal table in a far corner of the tent.

Rivi motioned for Dan to wait a moment - she could tell that the Amalgamator was conversing with her computer. No doubt, she was trying to search her records for anything that might help with this plague. When the Aunantet comp amalgamator finally opened her eyes, she looked questioningly at Dan and Rivi. Recognition dawned on the Amalgamator's face; Rivi knew that the Amalgamator had queried her and Dan's personal computers to see who they were.

"Daniel Peterson and Rivinaig, am I correct?" The Amalgamator asked with a smile.

"Of course," Rivi replied with a nod.

"Does anyone know yet what might have caused this plague?" Dan asked.

"No not yet, but it has gotten to every city on this crisped planet. The healers are quite overworked," The Amalgamator replied.

"We've come to help," Dan explained. "I'm a healer and would be glad to help in any way possible."

"We need all the help we can get. As far as order goes ... there is none. Just pick someone and see what you can do for them," The Amalgamator stated.

Dan nodded and walked off to Rivi's right. He knelt beside one of the Gront lying on a cot. Rivi watched him for a moment and then turned back to the comp amalgamator.

"I am a comp amalgamator so there's not much I can do in the way of help here, but I'd be glad to help where I can," Rivi stated.

"Nonsense, Miss Rivinaig ... We have plenty for you to help with. Three young Gront over there that have the later stages of the plague," The Amalgamator said, lowering her voice. "I don't know if we will be able to do much for those little ones ... perhaps you could go over and visit with them - some friendly company may at least lift their spirits."

Rivi nodded and set off for the three young children. Passing between cots, she sat down between two of the three young Gront – both lay staring solemnly at the roof of the pavilion.

"Hello," Rivi said cheerfully.

"Hi," The three children stated tiredly, one after another.

"You three must be friends, huh?" Rivi asked with a smile.

"Yes," The child who seemed to be slightly older said.

In order for these children to have a later stage of the plague, they must know how the first people contracted it. I need to find out where this disease came from, Rivi thought to herself.

"What were you doing before you got sick?" Rivi asked.

"We were playing up on the mountain when some sort of mechanical object fell from the sky," Another of the children stated, rolling over to look at Rivi, his skin stretched and pockmarked with blisters.

"We went to go see what it was, and some sort of cloud came out of it ... Then we didn't feel so well ... we went home after that," The eldest child explained.

"It wasn't too long after that when the whole village got sick," the younger Gront child stated. "Miss ... do you think we are going to die?"

"I don't know," Rivi replied hesitantly. "Hey, how about I tell you three a story ... would you like that?"

The three children nodded. Rivi began her story.

She told the three young ones about a place that the Creator had made just for those who believe in him, where there was no suffering, or sickness, or sadness. Rivi watched as the children's faces lit up into smiles as they fell asleep. She continued talking until her story was ended, and gently, patting each of their wrinkled foreheads, she stood and walked slowly away careful not to wake them.

Rivi looked around for Dan and noticed him on the other end of the large tent. She smiled and started making her way around the cots headed in his direction. Rivi's smile faded though, as she got nearer and could see his face - something was wrong...

She walked over to the area in haste until two other healers of a species she didn't recognize stopped her.

"I'm sorry, Miss, but we can't let you over here ... Mr. Peterson is having some trouble with this case and shouldn't be disturbed."

Rivi frowned worriedly as she headed back over to the comp amalgamator at the main desk. The Amalgamator looked up as Rivi approached.

"Can I help you with something, Miss Rivinaig?" The Aunantet asked politely.

"I was wondering if you might be able to tell me what is going on," Rivi asked as she pointed out that all of the healers in the tent had gathered around Dan.

"That happens every once and a while - a case will come up that is too strong for a single healer to take care of and their mind can become trapped in the patient. As you can see now, other healers will try to join with Mr. Peterson to help him heal the patient and free his own mind."

As the Amalgamator finished explaining to Rivi, three healers tried to join with Daniel and the patient, only to jump back as if they had been shocked by an electrical surge. Two other healers who had been looking on came hurrying over to the Amalgamator at the desk. Rivi recognized that the two healers were of a species called the Erets, in the Aunantet language.

The Eret species were renowned for their excellent hearing. They had many long, floppy ears covered in short white, brown, or black fur that hung down from all over their heads. The rest of their bodies were covered in tight protective scales. The Eret healers spoke quite fast and in their own native language. Rivi narrowed her eyes as she struggled to understand what they were saying.

The comp amalgamator at the desk put her hands up in confusion, signaling to the Eret that she didn't understand them. The Amalgamator looked across the room. Rivi followed her gaze and saw a male Aunantet take a computer out of his pocket. The Aunantet looked toward the table and quickly came over.

Rivi watched curiously as he pointed to the Eret, and then to his hand. One of the Eret spoke a word in 'Retish', their native language, and the Male Aunantet nodded. He pointed again to the table and to the support post of the tent. He received two more words.

He's an ILM (or inter language mediator)! Rivi thought to herself in surprise, realizing that she should have known there would have been at least one working with this diverse group of healers.

The ILM began to speak to the Erets in perfect Retish, performing the subtle clicks, whirrs of the tongue, and the deep throat sounds, as if he had always known the language. Rivi listened to the conversation that sounded more like a symphony of underwater animals from Earth than anything else she had ever heard.

"What is going on?" Rivi asked the Aunantet ILM in the native language of Aun.

"You are Human - Is Mr. Peterson a friend of yours?" The ILM asked after he looked Rivi over and reverted to Earth English just as easily as he had with Retish.

"Yes," Rivi answered in English.

"Then you should know that your friend may be in danger," He answered sympathetically. "Although by no decision of his own, his mind refuses to be connected with - the healers cannot help him."

"What do you mean 'his mind refuses to be connected with'... certainly, he wouldn't refuse someone's help if he was in danger," Rivi said, confused.

"I think I can answer that," The comp amalgamator said as Rivi turned back toward her. "I just found in my records of the healers history that although it is rare, sometimes a healer's mind is not compatible with any of the others. Your friend is not refusing their help - he simply cannot receive their help."

One of the Erets spoke again and the ILM translated.

"It is like rope ... most types of rope can be tied to other types of rope. But some types of rope can't be tied to others or the knot will fall apart."

"Like I said, situations like this are very rare," The comp amalgamator said.

Dread began trickling into the pit of Rivi's stomach. "What will happen to Dan?" She choked out in a whisper.

"He is trapped because the illness in the patient is too strong and has tried to attack him as well. He will more than likely die quite soon," the ILM clarified with remorse.

Rivi paled, closed her eyes, and exhaled loudly. She bit her bottom lip as she looked up at the Amalgamator.

"Isn't there even a small chance that he will make it out?"

The Amalgamator closed her eyes and Rivi knew she was consulting the records on her personal computer, hidden somewhere on her person.

"I don't have any record of anyone who has successfully come out of this ... however my records are not conclusive," The Amalgamator added in hope.

Rivi looked at the floor worriedly but then her face melted into a look of defiance. She spun around on her heel and made to walk over toward Dan. The two Eret healers tried to stop her.

"What are you doing?" The ILM asked.

"I once told Dan that if he ever needed help, I would be there," Rivi replied as she looked past the two Eret healers to her friend.

Dan's face had formed into a frown and creases lined his forehead. Rivi gently pushed past the protesting Eret healers and approached the small group of healers gathered around Daniel, watching him sadly.

"There's nothing you or anyone else can do to help him, Miss," another healer stated but stepped aside to let Rivi pass.

Rivi walked around the cot to stand beside Daniel. Daniel's hand was resting on the shoulder of the Gront lying on the cot. Rivi looked up into Dan's face and laid her left hand on top of his.

"I'm here, Dan," She whispered as she frowned with concern. "I wish I could help you somehow."

Dan's face relaxed and Rivi's frown melted – a weak sense of strength and quite a few feelings which were not hers, flooded into her awareness. As if on instinct, Rivi closed her eyes and her other hand went up to the side of Dan's face.

Rivi suddenly found herself in the hallways of Dan's mind. Knowing she had a job to do, she fought down her surprise and paid little attention to his memories floating in various places down the halls. After a few moments, she came a set of double doors, standing wide open. She walked up to the open door and looked into the room. Inside the large, almost-empty room, she found Dan sitting on a tall stool, looking at what seemed to be a video screen.

Rivi frowned and walked up closer. As she looked at the screen, she could see what seemed like an Earth style video game playing on it. Hundreds of red rockets flew around, evading some sort of weapons fire coming from the bottom of the screen. The weapons fire seemed to be faltering.

Rivi instantly realized the connection. She turned around and saw Dan holding some sort of joystick-like instrument and pressing a button on top to fire the weapon Rivi saw on the screen. However, every time he missed, a snake-like object from the side of the joystick slowly wrapped itself around Dan's neck like a scarf. Rivi found another stool beside the door and brought it over beside Dan.

As she sat down beside Dan, she realized in horror that the snake was slowly suffocating him. She reached up and desperately tried to pull the snake from his neck. It didn't come loose-instead it tightened. Daniel blinked and coughed slightly.

"Can you help me, Rivi," Dan asked, as his gaze stood fixed to the screen, "I'm losing my strength ... I keep missing the viruses."

"I think I can give you some of my own strength," Rivi told him as she leaned forward and placed her left hand on his free hand, resting on his knee.

Dan sat up a bit straighter and a thin smile crept across his face.

"Thanks, could you help me beat this virus?" He asked.

"I'm not a healer, Dan," Rivi replied sadly.

"Yet you still managed to join my mind while I was in the process of healing another," Dan joked pointedly.

"I'll try," Rivi said, uncertain.

She placed her right hand around his own hand that was manipulating the joystick. Suddenly, she could feel something change. Somehow, she now knew what to do. The images flying through her mind were not her own, yet she could decipher their meaning. She tightened her hand over his and concentrated on what her mind was telling her to do.

Together, they worked to destroy the viruses flying around on the screen in front of them. Once the last virus was destroyed Dan hung his head in exhaustion. Rivi got up from her stool and tried once more to pull the snake off of Dan's neck. Instead, it shied away from her grasp, releasing Dan and pulling itself back into the joystick, which Dan let fall to the floor.

The joystick fell and broke into millions of pieces before slowly disappearing. Rivi put an arm around Dan's waist and helped him out of the room. The doors shut behind them as they walked out into the hallway.

"Well, that's strange," Rivi stated with a smile as she released Dan and stepped back to look at his tired form. "You are able to help me with computer viruses and I, obviously, can help you with healing."

Dan smiled slightly as he realized the irony of it.

"See you in the normal world," Rivi said, waving as she walked off down the hallway, disappearing as she went.

#

Rivi opened her eyes and placed a hand on the edge of the patient's cot to steady herself. The world around her seemed to be spinning, with her at its center. Feeling slightly nauseated, she shook her groggy head and the world soon steadied itself. She looked up at the cot and the patient lying there to discover that there were five healers of different species looking at her in shock.

Rivi frowned and looked up at Dan who was also 'coming to'. He watched absently as the Gront patient laying on the cot in front of him slowly awoke. The blisters and boils on his face slowly disappeared and the Gront sat up as if nothing were wrong. Dan continued staring blankly at the cot.

"How do you feel?" One of the Aunantet healers asked.

"I feel fine ... Thanks!" The Gront replied as he jumped off the cot and ran happily out of the tent.

"Dan?" Rivi queried, still watching him.

Dan blinked his eyes and turned to look at her. A smile spread across his face.

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine ... I best get back to work," He replied with a laugh.

"Go ahead, you! Just don't scare me like that again," Rivi exclaimed, laughing, pushing him playfully on the shoulder.

She shook her head as he laughed. Still feeling a bit dazed, she walked out of the healers tent and stumbled over the blackened ground of the Gront's home world. A cloudy sky cast dark shadows over everything. Rivi found a short rock wall nearby and sat down, trying to figure out what just happened. Rivi looked up and saw the comp amalgamator from the desk coming over to her.

"Hey ... how are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling ... confused ... your name is Etok, right," Rivi stated, querying the Aunantet's personal computer - finding out also that Etok was only a year older than she was.

"Yeah ... how did you do... whatever you did in there?" Etok asked, looking at Rivi questioningly.

"I don't know... I'm not a healer so I didn't think I'd be able to help much in the first place. I just thought I'd go and at least stand with him ... it just seemed like to right thing for me to do, as his friend. But then ... I don't know... it just happened. I was able to help him just like he was able to help me with a computer virus a few years ago."

"Rivinaig, things like that don't just 'happen'," Etok protested. "comp amalgamators can't join with healers and certainly not in the middle of a healing. Furthermore, it is very rare for a healer to be able to join with a comp amalgamator while they are working with their computer, much less enter the Amalgamator's mind to help them with a computer virus."

"Look, I can't explain it," Rivi admitted, looking up at Etok. "I just know what happened."

"The two of you must be pretty close friends to be able to help each other like that," Etok said as she sat down beside Rivi.

"We've been friends for about three years. We've gone through a lot together. Something like this is nothing compared to the Aruk."

Rivi thought the name seemed to trigger something in Etok.

"You were one of the children captured from Earth," Etok stated, "You must know quite a bit about the Aruk."

"Yeah, in a manner of speaking," Rivi chuckled dryly.

"I was with one of the first groups that came to Planet Gronter's aid. Besides the virus, the other thing the locals were excited about was some type of object that fell to the surface a few days before we came. I didn't have much to do at the time and, being curious, I went up the volcano to take a look."

The mountain the children were talking about, Rivi thought to herself.

"Did you find anything?"

"I found what seemed to be a spacecraft. There weren't any doors though, and whatever circuitry was inside was just about destroyed. I think the heat from the volcano melted the circuits."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Rivi asked politely, not quite seeing the Aunantet's point.

"Because the little information I was able to get said that it had been sent from Atrig."

"Atrig ... Oh, I remember ... it is a mostly desert planet near the center of the galaxy. Let me guess, the Aruk decided to begin building a new base there?" Rivi suggested.

"Nope ... Built," Etok replied. "From what I have been able to find out from others, it's been there for quite a while."

Rivi stared back at her in surprise. It had only been a year and a half since Dan had rescued her, Ankh, and Anit from one of the Aruk bases, and then succeeded in destroying it. Rivi and Dan had been searching for the few others they thought might still be out there, but they never imagined that the Aruk had built bases that far into the galaxy already.

"Why would they want to build it on Atrig - plants can't grow there. They'd have to import all of their food," Etok stated.

"Strategic reasons," Rivi said as a chill of understanding sped up her spine. "Atrig is near the center of our entire galaxy. This is the crouch before the pounce ... I've got to go find Dan."

Rivi stood and headed back into the healer's tent. After passing rows and rows of cots, Rivi finally found Dan. She waited patiently until he was finished healing the Gront on the cot in front of him. She took his arm and led him out of the healer's tent.

"What's wrong, Rivi?" Dan asked as they left the cool interior of the healer's tent and stepped out into the heat of planet Gronter.

"We need to go talk to Ankh."

#

Rivi and Dan arrived on Planet Aun just as the sun was creeping into the sky over the capital city, Emab. They checked for Ankh at the Earth Embassy where the ongoing search for the missing children continued, but they didn't find him. Rivi and Dan took a short walk around the corner to try to find Ankh and Enuet at their home. Whereas most other Aunantet homes were made out of materials that allowed the building to be built in many bizarre forms while maintaining their structural integrity, Ankh and Enuet's home had only one story above ground. Nevertheless, the rest of its qualities were very typical of an Aun home; a flat roof and circular windows set into square walls that bowed outward.

Sort of like box that has been filled close to bursting, Dan thought, trying to compare the image of the building to something he already knew.

At the very moment that Rivi and Dan walked up to the house, Ankh happened to be up on the roof, standing and thinking, among a particularly crispy bunch of leaves. As soon as Rivi and Dan approached the bottom of the stairs along the side of Ankh's house he gave a single sweep of his hand over the dry leaves on the roof and sent them down upon the two teens.

"Ahh!" Rivi yelled as the pile of leaves descended and smashed upon them, coming to rest in drifts around their feet.

Dan and Rivi laughed as the rest of the leaves floated down around them.

Ankh jumped down from the roof, manipulating the atoms in the ground under him to absorb his impact, and landed nimbly on all three legs. His long, straight robe swept delicately around his ankles. Rivi and Dan stepped out of the leaves encircling their feet and shook their heads, laughing as the last of the leaves fell from their hair.

Ankh walked over to them, smiling as he helped them brush the leaves from their long traditional-Aun style robes. He motioned with a hand up the stairs and they followed him into the house, walking through the door, not bothering to open it.

"How long has it been since you cleaned the roof off?" Rivi asked, laughing and shaking her head at Ankh as they reemerged on the other side of the door.

"About a year," Ankh replied, grinning bashfully.

Dan chuckled as Rivi's guardian father led them down a short hallway and into his living room. The round living room had only a few pieces of furniture in it. It was obvious that Ankh and Enuet didn't spend much time in here. There was a pile of bean bags in the center in case of guests. One rocking chair sat off to one side with a little side table beside it. A small, velvety, round-leafed plant in a painted pot sat on the table. The walls were plain except for the occasional half-foot-long crystal hanging from strings of various lengths attached to the very top of the wall. Light from Enuet's backyard garden came into the room through a large mesh wall and sparkled off the crystals.

"It's so easy to forget small stuff like clearing off the roof, in real-time, while you are traveling in the T dimension. The rest of me just got back two days ago," Ankh explained.

Rivi frowned slightly and then her eyes widened in shock as she realized that Ankh was now fully visible. Ever since she could remember, Ankh had always been semi-transparent. Now he stood before them as solidly as any normal being.

"Hold on, what is the T dimension?" Dan asked.

"It's where everyone sits around drinking tea all day!" Rivi's Aunantet guardian mother, Enuet, called sarcastically from the back porch.

"No!" Rivi exclaimed with a laugh, "It's the thin dimension within our dimension in which all time is kept and recorded. Futurity Histographers can separate themselves ... and while one part of them stays in the real world the other part of them observes the T dimension. This is why Ankh can know about Past, Present, and Future events... And why up till now, he has been semi- transparent."

"Why did you come back then?" Dan asked, now even more confused.

"It was getting too dangerous. I couldn't observe in peace anymore. I was being chased through time," Ankh replied.

"Go ahead, ask him by whom, ask him!" Enuet snapped in reply, as she stepped into the mesh wall.

The wall parted sharply and suddenly in response to Enuet's heated temper. It continued to ripple around her as she stood there with her three hands perched on her hips and middle back. The part in the wall revealed the porch behind her. The semi-enclosed porch contained many huge potted plants. As a Herboviromentor, Enuet could work with plants the same way Rivi could with computers. Enuet liked to bring some of her work home with her ...although she did try to keep it out on the porch.

"Go on ...Ask him!" Enuet reiterated.

The thin mesh-like porch wall she was holding open rippled with her irritation. Rivi and Dan looked back to Ankh.

"It was the Aruk, wasn't it?" Rivi asked flatly.

"Yes," Ankh groaned as he walked over to sit on the pile of bean bags across from Enuet.

"The T-dimension is supposed to remain untouched!" Enuet said stormily as she released the wall and marched over to a rocking chair in the corner of the room and began rocking furiously.

"Do you know what they're trying to do?! They are trying to break into the time string to change the history of whole civilizations!" Enuet fumed.

Rivi and Dan looked at one another and then from Enuet to Ankh in utter disgust.

"It's alright, En," Ankh said soothingly as he watched Enuet stew in her rocking chair.

"We've got to do something ... all those histories being destroyed... We have to...." Rivi stuttered, trying to put together a coherent plan.

"Hold on ...we know what they've done in the past," Dan stated, staring thoughtfully at the ceiling. "We also know what they are doing now, especially on planet Gronter ... But how does all of this add up to form whatever their plans are for the future?"

"It sounds like a modified adaptation of their 'take over the galaxy' plan," Rivi speculated quietly as she paced back and forth behind the stack of bean bags, "If you change the history of a civilization you can make it into what you want. They could make themselves rulers over these civilizations! Like the Gods over Egypt of old!"

"I know that look," Dan warned as he watched Rivi. "You can't stop them all by yourself."

"Rivi, I know you feel like you want to go straight out there and stop them, but this problem is just too big," Ankh said.

"I can't let them ... I know what it is like to be in their captivity... I can't let them do that to others!" Rivi exclaimed.

"Perhaps you would rethink what I think you are planning, young one, if I showed you the immensity of the situation," Ankh stated as he got up from his chair.

"I don't think that anything is going to change my mind," Rivi exclaimed.

Ankh walked over to the side table beside Enuet's rocking chair. He opened a drawer and took out a tangled mess of wires. He pulled three-disk looking objects out of the tangled mess and set them beside the plant. Ankh shook out the wires and pulled it over his head like a cap. Enuet handed Ankh the disk-looking objects one at a time. He held one with each hand and held his arms straight out. His body slowly started to fade in and out again until it was transparent like Rivi remembered him normally looking.

Dan turned around in a circle and Rivi gasped as the room around them seemed to fade into the background. Hundreds of images from other planets flashed in and out all around them, almost like a three-dimensional hologram. With so much to take in, Dan and Rivi walked over to sit on the beanbag chairs in the center of the room.

"Sorry," Ankh said as he opened his eyes and realized that everyone was overwhelmed, "I have not had reason to show anyone what I see for the longest time. Bear with me - it requires concentration to use this device."

The images slowed down and began to fade into a huge three-dimensional galactic map of the milky-way galaxy. Bright dots showed systems with inhabited planets and most of the dots had smaller screens floating above them showing the images they had seen just moments ago. The galaxy and all the individual planetary systems swirled and turned through the room just like it would in space.

"Whoa," Dan exclaimed as his face lit up with wonder at the sight.

Rivi, however, was far more contemplative.

"What are we seeing here?"

When Ankh did not answer, Rivi turned to look at him. His eyes were squeezed shut and his mouth formed a thin hard line in concentration. Rivi turned to look at Enuet with concern.

"Using this device is hard on him," Enuet explained. "I believe what you are seeing are images of the Aruk involvement on all these various planets."

"But this is improbable! There cannot possibly be this many Aruk to affect all these planets," Rivi said.

"This is the future you are seeing here. If they go unstopped this future will take hold. They will apparently recruit more to their cause." Enuet said sadly.

"How can they do this without the rest of the Aunantet knowing?" Dan asked.

"They have been blocking, attacking, and booting out any Aunantet Futurity Histographer who tries to step too close," Enuet replied.

Rivi stared at all the images above each of the planets. Some showed stone images or paintings of the Aruk in temples. Some showed images of whole civilizations utterly destroyed. Others showed the Aruk deliberately altering different civilizations' artifacts and lost temples.

Rivi reflected on the similarities between these images and the pictures of the temples and lost artifacts of Egypt she had been shown in the Aunantet school when she was younger. The way the Egyptians would worship those Gods of old... and e*****e people to build their temples.

"But why are they doing this - what is their plan?" Dan asked.

"And more importantly, how do we stop them," Rivi added.

Ankh's forehead furrowed deeper in concentration. His feet shifted under him. He suddenly let out a gasp. His eyes snapped open and the images faded. He dropped his hands and flopped into the beanbag chair beside Dan's with a sigh. Rivi leaned over Dan from her beanbag chair to peer worriedly at Ankh.

"Are you ok?" Rivi asked quietly.

"Yes," Ankh answered as he breathed a sigh of relief. "I've never liked using that device."

Enast gave Ankh a few moments rest before she brought up Rivi and Dan's questions again.

"We don't know what their end goal is - Aun has always been a peaceful place, kids. It was never necessary to defend ourselves or others from these kinds of horrendous attacks before. The Aruk abducting you kids in the way that they did was shocking enough. We never thought they would get this far," Ankh explained.

"We are not prepared for this," Enuet said, shaking her head. "We do not have the resources or enough of us to gather together to combat the Aruk on such a scale."

"The Aruk called 1 implied that we children were the key to their undoing," Rivi suggested.

"Why would we be the key, though, and not everyone else on Earth?" Dan asked.

"The only thing we have been able to find is that Earth children have the ability, when they are young, to expand the potential of their minds," Ankh said. "If this potential is not unlocked before adulthood is reached it won't be reached. Few species have the ability to do what we do."

"Numbers are what we need then? More of us to fight against the Aruk?" Rivi said jumping up from her seat.

"Unfortunately, yes," Ankh replied.

"Wouldn't the rest of the children who were kidn*pped be willing to help, Rivi?" Dan asked, looking up at her.

"There wouldn't be enough," Enuet replied sadly.

"Then we need to find more people that would be willing to help!" Rivi answered as conviction colored her voice.

Dan and Ankh nodded in agreement. At that moment a bright, clouded spot appeared in the timeline, hiding Rivi's intentions and plans from the Aruk's prying Futurity Histographers. The future was about to change!

THE END... or is it?