Chapter 1

The Interstellar Republic battlecruiser Antares was two weeks into the current leg of its end run around the battle lines between the Republic and the alien Morro. The Antares was making her best cruising speed, a high multiple of the speed of light, in order to return to the Republic as soon as possible. The Antares was being forced to take the long way to the Republic lines due to the overwhelming Morro forces standing between her present location and the Republic. Unfortunately this meant the return to the Republic would take at least five standard years.

Petty Officer Mev Van Zehe, last High Lord of Venda from Venda, was not troubled by the long journey the Antares must make to return home. With the surface of Venda destroyed and now lifeless from a Morro assault there was little left in the Republic that he had any interest in quickly returning to. With a life expectancy of several thousand years there was little reason for Mev to hurry about anything.

Mev and the others had moved to different quarters, although their new space had not really been designed for human habitation. Sheila's stateroom had just been too cramped for five people and a robot, even when most of the group slept on the floor there was barely room for them to fit. After searching through the ship for several days Mev and Sheila had finally found an empty storage compartment that somehow had not yet been already turned into another makeshift berthing area for the overcrowded battlecruiser. Sheila used her influence as an officer in security to gain permission for everyone in the group to move into the empty compartment.

Mev and the other High Lords didn't really have much to move and Anna had little more than a few clothes that had been given to her since she had come on board the ship. Most of the furnishings they used inside the compartment were the same they had used when camping on the surface of several planets they had visited previously. They spread a carpet on the bare deck plates and set their bags, packs, and camp furniture on top of the carpet and even set up the tent as well. Mev was careful to ensure that everything they had was on the carpet which fit into his current project.

Except when they were interacting with others in the crew Mev and the others spoke little with each other verbally. Instead everyone in the group was linked with everyone else and this linkage hummed with extensive silent telepathic communication. Mev and the entire group had been overjoyed when the human girl Anna had made a breakthrough and learned how to join in the telepathic interaction on her own.

The origins of the strange robot Medron remained as mysterious as ever despite the fact that Medron allowed Mev and the others complete access to its artificial mind and body. Medron had been created by spellcraft far beyond the understanding of even Zira, the most knowledgeable of the high lords in the way of their power. Of how and by whom Medron was made the High Lords learned little, but their scans and interactions with the robot did lead to Mev gaining much new and useful knowledge. Medron was a full participant in the mental network that linked every one of Mev's group and its thoughts were becoming less machine-like as time went on.

Anna was now able to communicate telepathically with the High Lords in the same way she had been able to do with Medron for some time now. The human girl was learning much about the ways of the High Lords and their powers, to the point that her body had begun to change without her even realizing it. Because the changes had occurred gradually Anna did not realize how much stronger, faster, and healthier her body had become, though all of the High Lords had quickly noticed the changes but didn't make anything of them with the human girl. But the time would soon come, much sooner than she expected, when Anna's transition to becoming a full High Lord of Venda would be complete.

Mev and the others took their exercise with the rest of the Security division during their daily workouts, though now only Anna still sparred with the other humans. The experienced security officers assigned to be unarmed combat instructors were all amazed at Anna's rapid progress and physical development. Anna still assumed her improvement in speed, strength, skill, and stamina were solely due to the daily workouts with the security crew.

With little in the way of duties anymore with the Antares crew Mev spent much of his time working on developing new spellcraft based technologies, unknown to Venda in his life there before. While the High Lords of Venda had done some basic work in that area, of which Mev's sword and hand weapon were examples, in the culture Zira came from they were far more advanced. Since everyone in her people shared the same powers they made extensive use of advanced spellcraft technologies in their daily lives. With the intimate mental connection Zira now shared with the other High Lords they all knew as much as she did about how such things worked.

And Medron was an even more advanced form of spellcraft technology than anything Zira's people had known or used. While Medron knew nothing of those who made him or where he was made, the alien robot knew much about how he was made. This knowledge Medron had no problem with sharing with his companions, so Mev and the other High Lords had progressed greatly in their knowledge of how spellcraft could be harnessed to create technology.

The first result of Mev's work hung from chains around the necks of everyone in the group. They appeared to be smooth oval transparent stones, homemade costume jewelry. But decoration was not the purpose of the stones for they were not stones at all but instead were completely artificial. They were devices which Mev had constructed which had several useful functions, functions which could only be accessed by a High Lord of a being which shared some of their powers. Even though she was not able to fully use it yet Anna wore one of the stones, too.

One of the functions of the stones was to act as an energy storage which the wearer could draw upon if needed. This is the same thing that Mev's sword and weapon could do but was in a smaller and more discrete form. But despite the small size the stones could store a considerable amount of energy, energy that only a being with the powers of a High Lord of Venda could draw upon.

The stones also had a second capability and that was something new which Mev had not known how to construct before. In addition to energy storage the stones could also act as a miniature computer similar to the portable computers in common use in the Republic. But the stones differed in that the interface to the computing function was only possible using the telepathic power of the High Lords. Due to her developing mental powers Anna was able to use the computing portion of her stone to some extent and her ability to work with it was steadily improving.

Mev knew the time was coming when the High Lords would have to leave the Antares and live independently away from the humans. The time for this was not yet but Mev felt the need to begin to prepare for that time's inevitable arrival. While the High Lords had the power to travel through space on their own it would be more comfortable to do so using some sort of space ship. The need for some sort of space ship was a big part of Mev's reason for exploring what could be developed in the way of spellcraft based technology. Zira's people had used ships and vehicles which utilized spellcraft to propel themselves and even provide the major part of the structure of the craft itself. Mev hoped that the High Lords could replicate such a craft for their own use.

A few days later the Antares picked up a solar system in the general direction the ship was traveling and soon was able to determine there were one habitable planet and several gas giants within that solar system. Captain Mason altered course toward the newly discovered solar system which seemed to offer the possibility of both refueling the ship at one of the gas giant planets as well as restocking food supplies on the habitable planet.

The solar system ahead did not pass unnoticed by the High Lords and Mev made a point to scry the system and especially the habitable planet long before the Antares entered the system. The High Lords found no sign of the Morro or any other hostile forces lurking in the system but they did discover the habitable planet was inhabited. The planet was actually inhabited by the human descendents of a long lost colony ship from Earth.

The colony ship had contained a mixture of colonists from a variety of different locations on Earth, though primarily from Asia and North America. Because of their isolation the colonists had lost most of their technical knowledge over the years and had only recently begun to regain it. In some places on the planet the colonists had regained enough knowledge to reach a level similar to that of Earth in the early 20th century but much of the planet's inhabitants still lived in a more primitive level of civilization.

As the Antares drew closer to the solar system several robotic probes were launched to scan the system more closely and search for any hostile ships or bases. Just as the High Lords had several days before the probes found no Morro or other hostile forces in the system, as well as the fact that the Earth-type planet ahead was inhabited. Probes sent down to the surface remotely explored the land areas of the planet and discovered numerous sites where humans originally from Earth were living.

Captain Mason ordered the records to be searched and it was found a colony ship had been lost while traveling in this general direction 422 years before and it seemed likely this lost vessel was the source of the human inhabitants of the planet ahead. For Captain Mason this presented somewhat of a dilemma since it wasn't really possible to the Antares to rescue or even spend much time in this system. Because of this Mason decided that while they should still make a landing upon the planet to gather supplies it should be made incognito.

It was not long after the ship entered the solar system that Mev and the other High Lords received an unexpected visitor. Just as he had before, the alien Zesh made an appearance, materializing in their midst with no warning. Zesh was so powerfully shielded and hid himself so well that neither the High Lords nor Medron sensed anything of him until he suddenly appeared within their room. All recognized the alien being immediately, though Anna and Medron knew of Zesh only from what they had been told of him by Zira.

"Greetings, Mev van Zehe!" spoke the alien as soon as he was visible within their room.

"Welcome Lord Zesh. What brings you to visit us?" Mev replied, speaking aloud.

"The time has come for you to leave this vessel. After you arrive at the planet to which you approach you must separate yourself from the others on this ship. It is no longer a good thing for you and your companions to remain amongst them," Zesh answered.

"So soon? I had hoped for a while longer, though I knew the time was approaching when we would have to leave," Mev replied.

"There must be no delay. Should you remain aboard this vessel once the planet is left behind dire events would result for all concerned. Your path thereafter would be dark and this ship soon destroyed if you were to remain. Heed this warning!" Zesh said.

"Fear not Lord Zesh, we will do as you suggest. I have already foreseen that we would soon need to leave this ship, though I had hoped it would not be so soon," Mev said to the alien.

"It is good then. You should only remain for a short time on the planet you approach and be discreet. Their time to know of the wider universe is not yet come."

"Is it necessary to descend to the surface of the planet?" Mev asked. "What means shall we use to leave it?"

"Yes, you must first visit the surface of the planet and seek out three of those who live there and bear them away with you. You already possess the knowledge require to facilitate further travel without exhausting your energies." Zesh answered.

"Who are the three people we must find? Why must we take them with us?" Mev asked.

"You are aware there are some on the planet you approach who have taken the first steps to the powers you and I possess?" Zesh asked.

"Yes, we have sensed this. It had made us curious to investigate further," Mev answered.

"Your perceptions are correct. There are three of the inhabitants who have passed the point of no return, yet the people of the planet are not ready for such things. Thus it is necessary for you to bear those three away," Zesh explained.

"Lord Zesh, if they are willing, we shall find the three and do as you command." Mev said.

"Thank you my son. If those three are allowed to remain the entire planet would be destroyed and I do not wish for that to happen." Zesh explained.

"Nor would I either Lord Zesh. We shall provide a place for the three of which you have spoken with us," Mev promised.

The alien reached out with his right hand and gently placed his palm on the top of Mev's head for a moment and then he withdrew it. Zesh looked around the compartment the High Lords shared and smiled at each of them in turn and then he slowly walked over to where Zira was standing.

Zira was standing right next to Anna, who as often was the case was leaning up against the robot Medron, which floated three feet up off the deck of the compartment. Zira smiled warmly as Zesh approached while Anna looked on in awe.

"Zira my child, does your presence here agree with you? Zesh asked.

"Yes Lord Zesh, it does. Very, very much," Zira said, reaching over and caressing the naked side of Anna, who wore nothing.

"That pleases me very much." Zesh said. "You have found the love, acceptance, and comfort here that I had hoped for you."

"Yes, lord. And this one is extra special to me," Zira said, moving a little closer to Anna to indicate the one she meant.