Chapter 11

"Well. That went down with the usual human diplomacy and tact."

Anthony looked over at Chuck. The humor in the man's voice, as he rubbed his shoulder, helped ground him. Anthony gave a rueful sigh.

"That did not go as planned, needless to say."

"I should hope not," Hannah said, moving to his side. She cast a glance towards the bridge door. "Is she..."

"Hope not. Nona..."

"On it." The Malay was quickly tracing Miriam's path, Tammy at her side. The blonde almost seemed to be acting as body guard, although her rage thankfully was fading. Reaching the squirrel, Nona dropped to one knee. "She's breathing."

"Good." Anthony let out a breath. One less thing to have to worry about, although now they still had to deal with her. "We probably should tie her up, or something." A second droid, red with a blue vertical stripe, came out of the same opening in the ship wall as the taser droid. Its two arms ended in handcuffs. Anthony turned to Daium. "We HAVE asked you why your father built droids like this, right?"

She nodded.

"Yes, you have."

He nodded back.

"So long as we asked." Anthony let it drop, watching the robot secure Miriam's stirring form. He loved Daium as a friend, respected her, and knew that it was only due to her help that they were still alive. Still, he also had to admit her father being dead when they stumbled into her home had probably been the best case situation. The more they learned about him, the more surprising it was his daughter was as she was. Not that she probably didn't have her own buried dark side...

"How do we know it's actually them?" Alicia's question was echoed by a couple others. Daium let out a breath, shaking her head.

"We don't. And we can't prove it was them. If they do their thing, and something happens a thousand lightyears away, how are we going to connect the two? Or even know about both? Best case, we get a list of when they have done this, and match it to our experiences and those strange energy readings we've gotten. But, that's still not proof."

"What's the old joke?" Chuck asked. "Guy buys a house with a light switch that does nothing, and he flips it every time he walks by. A month later, he gets a letter from a guy in Germany telling him to stop it."

"But..." Mary came up to her mom again, hugging her. "I did it differently than you guys! I didn't just vanish!"

"There are different ceremonies."

Anthony looked over at Sarah. The furry prisoner's entire body seemed ... deflated. Disillusioned, defeated, eyes looking at anything but the humans. Justin was holding one of her arms lightly, but it was obvious she was going nowhere.

"We're not going to hurt you, Sarah. Or Miriam. Tell us what you know, and we'll let you both go."

She nodded, eyes still on the ground. Anthony indicated that Justin should let her sit on the stone path. He and the other humans took over the park benches, Nona and Tammy coming over to join them. Legs folded under her, Sarah. spoke.

"First ... I am sorry, Lords. I did not know..."

"We are NOT lords," Chuck said, drawing his wives close on either side of him. They were once again holding the babies. "I think that's the entire point here. And we know you didn't know. Nobody could. It's what you, she, did after knowing that's the point."

Sarah nodded again.

"Yes. I know." She sighed. Taking a deep breath, she seemed to gain strength. Lose some of that submissiveness. To Anthony, it was almost as if the real woman was coming to the fore, someone kept under wraps until then.

"They do the ceremony, use the machines, several times a year. There are different versions, always changing, as they try to make it work. Sometimes the change is in the machines, sometimes in the ritual." She gave a tired laugh. "The ritual has been becoming more important, or so the rumors say. I think I joined more for that, than for the actual reality of you humans."

"How many of you are there?"

"Few hundred. Maybe more. We are scattered, now, somewhat. It is another recruiting time, so missionaries are out and about, not at the temple. Plus, there is the new temple. Some have gone ahead there..."

"Two temples?" Alicia leaned forward, eyes narrow. "Are there two machines we have to deal with?"

"No, no. The second temple is not yet active. Miriam was to lead it. We brought the books to fill its library, have with us the plans to build the new machines for the ceremonies..."

Daium leaned forward, excited.

"Plans? With you?"

"Yes, although I have not looked at them. I am just an acolyte."

Hannah, one arm around Mary, the other hand caressing her swollen belly, frowned.

"Do we deal with the machine, or the people? If we can just tell them to stop..."

"Enough will have the same reaction as Miriam to make that dangerous," Nona said. "We know how some of the religious on our planet are. It won't be much different here."

"But we have to try!" Melinda looked around. "We're not going to just bomb the place or something! Killing hundreds to save a few of us isn't right!"

"Morals are annoying, yes," Chuck said, dryly. His eyes flicked over towards the bridge. "Our friend is awake. Pissed and quiet, but awake."

"Ignore her," Rinda said. "It's what we do with Sarah that's the main question."

"We toss them off the ship," Tammy said, voice cold. "We take the books and anything else we need, give them our leftover money so they won't starve, and leave them at the spaceport."

"We can't have them warning anyone," Melinda worried. "If they have a ship and outrun us..."

"We have no ship," Sarah said quietly. Melinda raised an eyebrow at her. "No ship. We have passage booked in a week to the site of the second temple, but no way to travel beyond that."

"See?" Anthony gave Melinda a reassuring nod. "If we warp right away, we'll have a good jump on any news..."

"Let me come with you."

Sarah watched the reaction to her words. She was asking them to trust her. To trust someone they had just met, knew nothing about, and who was the servant of those they now had cause against. But, then, she was also asking herself to trust them. Trust those she knew nothing about, who had just confronted one she had considered, if not a friend, then a teacher and mentor. Neither side had long to consider the matter.

"No," Daium said, all four eyes boring down on her. Sarah forced herself to meet that gaze.

"I will not plead," Sarah told her. "I will not protest whatever you decide, but hear me. I know the temple ... somewhat. Have been there. I have a friend, a childhood friend, who joined with me. She is still there, and..." She faltered. What could she say, with honesty, about Hedva? Would her friend see things from the Human's point of view, or would she side with the Miriam's of the temple?

The brown skinned man, who had left her side to once again be with his mates, regarded her from behind his glasses.

"And you want a chance to talk to her."

"Yes." Sarah lowered her eyes again. Were these not Lords, after all? They knew, knew so much ... even if it was just a guess, or reading her expressions, still, they were special.

"You'll be a traitor." The blue furred Orang's smile was not the kindest she'd seen. Sarah shrugged.

"To some. My people, in general, think She Who Saw is an insane freak. I will not be traitor to THEM." Not that she cared what her people thought. The temple's training had not had to instill a disregard for her people. That had already been there, to some degree. They only had to take advantage to her yearning for something more. Something outside what was expected of her.

What was more outside that, than where she was now?

"Traitor!!!!"

Miriam's cry made her wince. Why. Why did it have to be like this. Why couldn't Miriam have seen the humans for what they really were, seen things the way they saw them...

"Oh, what the hell. She can come."

Sarah's head shot up, meeting Daium's eyes. The Orang stood, walked up before her, dropping to one knee. She could smell fruit on her breath.

"Just understand your position. Earn our trust." Daium paused for a moment. Her voice lowered almost to a whisper. "And stay away from our men."

"No ... no ... no ... no..."

Anthony just shook his head as system after system dropped off the list of possible destinations. This one had contact with the squirrel people, that one was outside the usual monetary systems. Daium had almost set a course for a world filled with methane breathers, before catching the mistake.

It would have been a good choice, apart from that.

"Damn Hannah, and her wanting us to be fully supplied before taking on the temple."

"We could always eat less," Daium suggested. Another list of planets popped onto the screen. "Is sixty light years away too far? Here's one that fits. Even has three inhabited planets and a few moons."

"I'd like to be right on the galactic rim, but ... what's our travel time?"

The right side of the forward bridge wall filled with equations, possible paths through the nothingness next to reality the ship would be traveling through. Was that what the M'ntsn sect was tapping into? Somehow punching holes through that into Earth's reality? And, if so ... was there a way for them to take their ship back home at the end of a warp, instead of back into this universe?

Naturally, given their luck, they'd end up in some galaxy far from the Milky Way.

"Best course gives us seven weeks."

Anthony considered. Seven weeks. They had never traveled that far in one jump before. They could hold enough supplies, naturally, probably had enough now, but their reserves would be very low...

With a sigh, he leaned around Daium and hit a button on the console before her.