Danny yawned.
He had slept well. But, then, he always slept well. The slave pen (and that's what it was, for all the comfort his mom had) where he grew up could be noisy at night. It was either learn to ignore it, or live forever sleepless. A few had been driven mad. Compared to that, this place was as silent as something that wasn't a tomb, but was still silent. No sense jinxing things.
He made is way down the narrow stairs to the main floor, hair still wet from his shower. Slicking the red mass back as he passed the front windows, he noted it was almost touching his shoulders. Time for a hair cut? Or did Mary like long hair? More importantly, how could he find out without embarrassing himself? Hmm... maybe have Goldie ask.
"Morning sleepy-head!"
Speak of the devil girl. He looked up as his ever widening stride took him around the corner to the dining room. Goldie was sitting, human style, at the table next to Mary. He stopped. His sister NEVER sat like that. It hurt her, hips just not built for it. She had her own chair, custom built to keep her head at the same level as everyone else.
He mentally shrugged. Whatever.
"Morning, sis. Morning, Mary."
"Morning!"
There was something... musical in her voice. It perked his mood right up. As soon as she had said it, though, both Mary and Goldie leaned their heads together and giggled. Hmm. Something was up. He had never had to deal with TWO girls before. Best to be careful.
Breakfast that morning was fruit and toast, with some cheese. Taking one of the pink spheres picked up at the market the day before, he grabbed two slices of bread and pulled the plate of butter closer as he sat across from the girls. Making use of the butter knife, he spread a good amount on the toast as he looked at the far table. All the others were down there, gathered around a pile of books.
"OK, what's going on?"
"Well, if you didn't sleep in!"
"Yeah!"
More giggling. Danny looked at their plates. Either they were slow eaters, or they had been down here for only a couple minutes themselves. Should he mention it? He glanced at Mary. She was smiling at him.
Nope. He smiled back, and began eating.
****
"See... here it is again."
Hannah pointed at the section of alien text. Anthony leaned in, hand automatically going to her back, sliding down. Just as automatically, her body responded, pushing back and repositioning slightly. Such moments of affection were so common and open among the couples so as to be almost invisible. His wife giving a pleased hum, Anthony frowned.
"Really?"
"Really. This phrase looks familiar, sort of. I'm telling you, this looks like a mutated version of Hebrew."
"No it doesn't," Tammy scoffed. "I tried to learn Hebrew, in my occult days, and that's not it."
"Who's the Jew here? It's backwards, altered a bit, but..." She sighed, shaking her head as she sat back in her chair. "But it doesn't matter, as I don't speak Hebrew."
"It could be a sister language, one dead on Earth," Chuck commented, taking another look. "It's not like the written words have always matched up with what we expect anyways."
"Let's get to the things we CAN read." Justin pushed the book aside, bringing back one of the heavily illustrated texts. He grabbed one of the alien orange fruits Daium was done peeling and sectioning. "So, what have we got?"
"Alien Squirrels," Alicia said, voice half amused, half contemplating suicide at the stupidity, "make or find a VERY small window from this universe or whatever into a tree in the Clarence Town Park. From the outfits, I'd say... late 60's, early 70's?" She glanced over at Hannah, who nodded. "The woman who did this starts some sort of cult, one which," she gave a disgusted glance at one thick book, "insists on having math in its bibles."
"That's not just math," Chuck corrected, voice as bemused as anyone else's. "That's... wow. Even what I can read is so far beyond even the stuff Daium has shown me."
"Any of you seen Prince of Darkness?" Melinda leaned forward, excited. Alicia gave her an exasperated look.
"That's not one of your tentacle anime, is it?"
"You wish! No, it's a great old horror film. John Carpenter. There's a 2000 year old book written by Jesus, and when it's translated from Latin and Hebrew it's all mathematical equations and such to prove what the book is saying."
"Can't believe they left it out of the Apocrypha," Anthony commented. Melinda grinned.
"Great film! They showed it at a church youth group lock-in, along with Life of Brian. Presbyterians rock!"
"And roll," Chuck added absentmindedly. This got him a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Theories," Nona suggested, "we need theories."
"Oh, we have tons," Justin replied, laughing. "All the theories you want. All fitting the facts and mutually exclusive."
"Oh, god, it's string theory," Melinda moaned.
"The question," Daium said, looking them over as she absently played with little Jeli in the bassinet, "is what do you want to do?"
The humans exchanged glances. Anthony kept his eyes on their two furry friends. Earth... complicated things. Maybe, perhaps, in a good way, but complications were never easy.
"We stay away from their temple," Nona said, seated as she now tended to be next to Tammy. "For now. Later, maybe, we see what's up, but..." She shook her head.
"I'd have thought you'd want to go there right away. See if there's a way home."
Nona shook her head again.
"Too soon. Something about this isn't right. It's too... I don't know. If nothing else, I don't want to be surrounded by a hundred or more cult members eager to mate with our three studs here."
"That's why I vote no for now," Chuck added. "We have the kids to consider. After they're all born, maybe. There's time."
"Dad was getting old," Melinda said, sadness in her voice. "The longer we wait... the more it won't matter."
"What will not matter, my Lady?"
Anthony looked down the row of tables. Their guests were awake. Gone was the cheerleader outfit, which he was glad he had missed. Chuck may not have handled that in the most diplomatic way, but he wasn't sure he would do much better if the image in his mind was any indication. They were back in their two piece white dresses, black furred Sarah standing a few steps behind red furred Miriam, head bowed. Miriam's head was raised high, eye's... slightly lowered. Anthony nodded to her.
"You're up. Good. We have things to discuss today."
"Indeed we do, Lord. Indeed we do." Miriam bowed low, breasts almost large enough to show cleavage. "Lords, Ladies. This humble servant of She Who Saw invites all in this blessed group to the Temple dedicated to their name. Bless us with your presence, let us serve you. All knowledge will be yours: those volumes before you are but a small sample of what the holy library contains."
Anthony flicked his eyes to Nona. Her expression hadn't changed. Tammy, beside her, silently nodded her agreement with the moody Malay. Chuck caught his eye, shaking his head. Melinda, next to him, hesitated, eyes flicking to the baby in her arms... then slowly nodded. The others were the same. He turned back to Miriam.
"You have caught us at a bad time. Naturally, we have plans and destinations of our own. I'm afraid we can not travel to your temple right now."
The two squirrels jerked their heads up, astonished. The smaller one fell to her knees, prostrating herself before them. Anthony went a little cold at that. Another reason to stay away. Miriam fell to her knees, too, but raised her arms, eyes looking at them yet staying down out of respect. That had to be hard to learn.
"Please, oh Lord, reconsider! Our people live only to serve! Has not our faith been enough for you? Do we not please you? If so, come, correct us! Give us NEW words and books to live by! Let us supply you, for your journey onward! We would gladly fill your holds with all we have!"
Oh, she was good. He cast an eye over at Daium. The blackish grey furred Orang stood, adjusting her glasses.
"Out of curiosity," she asked, "where IS your temple?"
****
Mary watched the adults (well... older people) begin to rise and put away breakfast. Her mother, being motherly, waved them away to whatever they were in a hurry to do and began to gather the dishes herself. Looking down at the half eaten fruit on her plate, she grabbed it and took a big bite. Juice squirted out all over her face.
"You're very neat," Danny commented from across the table. His own partaking of the non-orange orange was... much less messy. She felt a blush coming on. Goldie shook her head, giving her brother an exasperated look as she too took a squirting hunk out of the fruit.
"Ignore him, Mary. Fruit should be messy to eat."
She smiled at her friend gratefully. Mary didn't know what she'd do without someone to, you know, really relate too. Goldie suddenly winced a bit, adjusting her hips in the chair. Danny leaned forward, concern on his face.
"Sit in your other chair, Goldie. You know it's not good for you to sit like that."
"But I WANT to sit like this! I don't LIKE that chair!" Her furry body adjusted itself again.
"Yes you do." Danny's voice sounded tired, the tired of an argument fought many times and thought to have been won. Mary suddenly saw his eyes shift over to her. Why would he be... oh. Goldie was doing this because of her.
Danny's eyes pleaded with her for help. How? She didn't know the scope of the argument, what had been said, what her practical limits, in fact, were. That she wanted to be a normal girl was about all she knew, and Mary, well, could understand. Wanted to help. Not in ways that hurt her, though!
Well, at the very least, she could get her to stand up for a bit.
"I'm done. Come on, Goldie, let's help Mom clean up and go play with the babies."
****
"There. That is the site of The Holy Temple of What She Saw."
Daium frowned as Miriam stepped back from the console. Letting her touch her father's ship had seemed... wrong. As if the ship had been defiled. She probably shouldn't tell the priestess, or whatever she was, that. Or anyone else, as it was a silly thought.
(If she touched the Tree, though...)
Looking at the coordinates, she frowned again. The system was, somewhat, in line with the path they had been traveling. A ways away, though. Couple months travel, if they don't stop. You could almost argue that the star wasn't even still in the galaxy, as it was isolated out beyond what most would call the galactic rim, although still rotating with the rest of the stars. Like an island off shore, before the vastness of the ocean.
She smiled. Given there had been no oceans on Tanah, Daium was kind of proud she had come up with that analogy. It was probably even right!
"Thank you, Miriam," Anthony told the woman. His voice, at least to Daium, had a worried undercurrent. She looked up at him. No sign of it there. Maybe just her imagination?
"Will we be leaving for the Temple then?"
Daium had to admire her persistence. The entire walk to the bridge had just been her trying out various, very reasonable, arguments, while her assistant walked silently a few steps behind her. Daium kind of felt sorry for the girl.
That would only last until she made a play for Justin, though.
"Let me talk to our Captain here first, alone."
To Daium's surprise, Miriam happily agreed. The two squirrels left. Anthony turned to her.
"Thoughts?"
She sighed, leaning back in her chair.
"I don't know. I'm not sure I want them traveling with us, for one thing."
Anthony nodded, eyes taking in the screens with a practiced eye. Daium put up a few more, giving the details of some of the more interesting nearby systems.
"We need the books, which means they're coming with. Either that, or we try and photograph all the pages. Hmm... how long would that take, if we use all the camera phones?"
"No idea, but I'm willing to find out."
"What's in the system?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. To be honest, it's exactly what we were looking for. Minus the religious nuts."
The door slid open behind them. Turning, Daium was surprised to see it was the LOWER door, the interior of the ship, and not the upper one to the dome. Rinda, strapping on a gun belt, burst through it, quickly making her way along the circular walkway to them. She must have entered the engine rooms at the far end of the ship and circled around through the hull. Anthony's hand went to the back of Daium's chair as she spun it around to face her cousin.
"Anthony! I've got it! I know!"
"What?" She skidded to a stop before him, hands on his shoulders helping stop her momentum. All four eyes were bright with excitement and worry. He copied the gesture, as if trying to calm the excited Orang.
"Their ceremonies! Machines! They're to try and bring humans to them, right?!?
"That's what it seems, but..."
"WHAT IF IT'S WORKING?"
Working? If it was working they'd have all the humans they needed. There'd be no need for people who just randomly appeared...
"Oh, sacred tree, mother of us all..." Her eyes shot up to Anthony. His face was white.
"Jesus Fucking Christ..."
****
Sarah could not get enough of the babies.
Babies. Human babies. Well, one human, one half human. For all She Who Fucked went on about breeding with the gods, she had never actually gone into much detail of what that would be like. The biology, what, in fact, little half humans would be like. Hell, what they'd DO with the little sacred offspring was also sketchy. Maybe it had seemed like a moot point until they actually had some? But, here, in front of her, were two incredibly cute ones. She wanted to just reach into that basket and tickle them. One look at the human mother standing nearby, as the two young girls fussed with the babies, kept her a couple feet away. The humans didn't trust her or Lady Miriam yet.
Sarah didn't blame them.
"Lady Miriam!"
The voice of the Lord called Anthony was cheerful. Something in the tone alerted her, though. She turned. The Lord and both of the furry Others were walking towards them through the garden. The four eyed creatures looked tense. The one, with blue fur and no glasses, kept her hand at her waist. Sarah could think of no reason why she'd do that.
Lady Miriam, smiling, took a few steps towards them and dropped to one knee, bowing. Sarah took her place three paces back and did the same, making sure her head dropped below that of her mistress. To do otherwise would dishonor her. She had acted improperly in the rooms the day before. She would not repeat her mistakes.
"Lord. Have you come to a decision? Will you come to your temple with us?"
Lord Anthony stopped a few paces away, still smiling. Sarah now noticed both he and the other two wore thick, woven belts, with something attached at their hip. She had no idea what it might be. Whatever it was, though, the other humans were reacting. In the corner of her eye, Sarah saw the baby carriage being pulled away, Lady Melinda stepping in front of it. Lord Justin was practically shoving Lady Alicia behind him, which the pregnant woman was having nothing to do with. Her eyes went back to Lord Anthony.
"We may, but first we have a couple questions."
"Of course! Anything, my Lord!"
"Good! Good. Hmm, let's see.... well, first, I had a question about your rituals. At the temple, you perform rituals to try and make contact with our world. Correct?"
"Yes, Lord, but we fail." Miriam dropped her head, shame in her voice. "We have never, in all the time since She Who Fucked, succeeded. We try, again and again, but it never works! Are we not worthy, Lord?"
"Oh, I'm sure you're worthy. So, you do these rituals often?"
"A few times a year, oh Lord. When the machines are ready and conditions are right."
"I see..."
"Honey?"
Sarah saw Lady Hannah, gloriously pregnant with the Lord's child, walk closer. He waved her back, smile... suddenly not seeming as real to Sarah. She began to tremble.
"So! You do this a couple times a year, and it never works. When, Miriam, was the last time they tried to bring someone from our world?"
"Lord?" Lady Miriam raised her head, confusion in her voice. Sarah was confused too. Why would it matter? Not that she had been admitted to the rituals yet. She would have no knowledge to add to this if questioned by the Lord.
"Simple question. When would the last ritual have been? Ballpark figure, just general timeframe."
There was a pause. Miriam's voice was uncertain.
"A week ago? Less?"
Anthony's eyes seemed to first go to Mary, then traveled around the group. After a moment's pause, all hell broke loose.
"Mother fucking!"
"No!"
"Anthony!"
"Quiet!"
Anthony held his hands up. Sarah finally recognized the strange lump on his belt.
A weapon.
She spoke. It was against all protocol, but she had to!
"Lord? What is wrong? What have we done to offend you?"
"Wrong?"
At first she thought the voice came from the dark skinned woman, as it was angry, as Nona had been angry the day before. It was the blonde, though. The athletic looking one who was always with the dark Lady. Coldly, the woman came forward, eyes blazing. She stopped, dropping to one knee before Sarah, looking her straight in the eye.
"What you did, was play with things you had no business playing with. Your rituals worked."
"W-worked?"
"Oh, yes." She nodded, face so close the human's white nose almost touched hers. "You ran your machines, said your prayers, and drew humans to this universe."
"Oh..."
"You know what happened then?"
"No..."
"THEY DIED!"
Lady Tammy shot to her feet, whirled, grabbed Miriam by the front of her dress and yanked her up. Sarah could only look, uncomprehending.
"How many? Huh? How many have your fucking animals brought over, to die alone?"
"I... I don't..."
"Mary!" Tammy shot a hand out, pointing. "She was brought over here less than a week ago! Your machines!"
"They... they work? Oh! Oh, Praise Be! I must tell..."
"Shut up and listen!" Tammy slapped Miriam. The sound echoed through the garden. Sarah froze, appalled. Nona came up behind Tammy and grabbed her arms, pulling them unresisting behind the blonde's back as Chuck came forward and held a stunned Miriam. Sarah could feel herself guided to her feet, but all attention was on the still yelling Tammy.
"You brought us over! Against our will! Just dropped us who knows where in this fucking insane universe! How many died, huh? How many have you killed?"
"But... you're not..."
"Their moms!" Tammy jerked her head at the shocked Danny and Goldie. "A dozen humans came with them, dropped onto some godforsaken desert planet, all dead! Their mothers turned into sex slaves! SLAVES!! And how many more? How many just popped in between planets? Kid? Babies? GOD DAMN YOU!"
Oh. Oh God. Oh God, oh God, oh God... what had Sarah done. What had she joined. She... she just wanted... it sounded so...
"You're lying."
Sarah's head jerked to her Mistress. Lady Miriam's voice was cold. Lord Anthony came up to them, head cocked.
"Really? That's your answer?"
"You're lying. All of you. You're not humans. You're not Gods. Let me go. Let me and my servant go."
Servant. Not disciple. Not assistant. Not even apprentice. Sarah's eyes looked up at the faces around her. Angry. Upset. The little one, Mary, was holding her pregnant mother, eyes wide with fear as if either one might now vanish. The boy, the half human boy, and his sister were GROWLING, teeth bared. These people... these innocent, human people... surely, Miriam had to see. Had to see they were right. Had to...
"We have to destroy the machines."
It came from Justin. Miriam's head whipped around to him. Sarah saw... the woman she loved and respected, vanish.
Miriam's red tail came up, smacking Chuck on the side of his head and shoulder. More surprised than hurt, he gave a cry and let go. She leapt, not at one of the humans, not to Sarah's side... but towards the doorway to the bridge. Sarah, standing there with Justin's hand holding her arm, just watched. She made no move to follow. Wondering why none of them were giving chase, she saw Anthony's hand was up, the universal signal to stay put. Miriam was almost to the hatch, when her body suddenly vanished from sight in crackle of electricity. Anthony dropped his hand.
"Well, the droid taser works."