Collision Course

Lucy stared out of the domed window as the monorail moved through the lunar landscape. Five more minutes and she'd be home again. Beneath her feet, the carriage shuddered along the rail as the magnetics moved them along at well over 200mph. Travelling between the domes of Lunar Base 12 was certainly getting quicker just lately. It had been announced a few weeks ago on the news network that some improvements were being made. Lucy didn't care much about it, she just wanted to get some decent food in her belly and get some sleep. Of course, she'd have to deal with the parents before that point and no doubt Michael, her oldest brother, would have a few words of wisdom to tell her. The monorail continued to jar along as she stared out of the window. In the distance, she could see the milky blue marble that was Earth. A sudden need for a vacation rose in her mind. Yes, it would be nice to smell a different kind of pollution for a change. Lucy laughed to herself and shook her head. Not a chance! Even if her parents could afford to get there, she hardly wanted to spend her entire time listening to them argue and complain, or her brothers doing the same thing.

"Next stop, Platform 8G." Came the driver's voice over the speakers. Lucy rose from her seat, leaving the blue jewel for someone else to stare at, and moved to the heavy doors. The carriage stopped with a jarring motion, making her grab for the pole, before the doors opened and she happily stepped off. So much for improvements, she thought. Two more minutes. Lucy moved across the platform to wait for a pod to come along. The pods were probably the best bit of kit on the moon. Officially, they were called Personal Travel Vehicles, but their pod-like shape and colouring quickly gave them the nickname. They travelled around the platform along various magnetic lines between the plating as quickly as any lunar bug outside the dome, but they were as safe as could be and highly reliable. A blue tinted one stopped just by Lucy's feet and she stepped in and sat down. The pod closed as a small screen came up to face level. "Destination please." It said.
"Unit 905, Upper Platform 8G." Lucy replied and as quick as a blink, the pod shot off towards home.

The Upper part of Platform 8G was about as close to suburbia as one could get. The units, though uniform and really boring to look at, were large and quite comfortable. Most of the residents had decorated their units with something or other to make it more homely; painting them a different colour; adding porches, or pod ports on the front lawn. Some had even imported real grass from Earth so they could have a proper green lawn! Lucy had always wondered why those people didn't just live there and have done with it. Beyond the various decoration, the units were basically a square of steel and glass, two or three levels high, depending on how many people lived there. A couple of them had glass extensions for an extra room. Lucy's unit had one. Her dad had ordered it so he and her brothers could have a games room. She moved up the fake-but-looked-real-enough lawn towards the uniform glass door. It opened with its usual squeak and Lucy dumped her bag on the far side of it. The door shut again automatically as she moved through the unit towards the kitchen area.

"Lights." She said. The lights came on.
"Kettle." She said. Near the stove, a sharp hissing sound came as the tea kettle heated up to temperature. It reached the desired temp a few seconds later and Lucy went about making herself some hot tea. Milk, no sugar. Just then.
"Ahh, the prodigal bitch returns." Nicholas snorted from the doorway.
Lucy lifted her head and glared at her older brother. "Oh look," She replied, "It's the lazy ass drop-out come to tease." She sipped her tea.
"Fuck you!" The brother smarted.
Lucy smiled over her mug and winked. "You wish." That one always had her brother climbing the walls and soon enough, he stomped out towards the games room. with a laugh, Lucy took her tea through to the living area, but at the doorway, she had to stop. Both her parents were in there and they were arguing again. With a sigh, she took a step to her left and leaned against the wall to wait. One of them, probably her mother, would storm out in a minute. Then probably another minute or later, her dad would follow and she'd have the sofa to herself. Not this time.

"I'm sick of this!" Her mother yelled, "All you talk about is what's happening out there! You never talk about in here any more! I've had enough!"
"But out there is important, Jean!" Her father yelled back, "It's affecting everyone! Why can't you see it like I do?"
"It's been happening for centuries already and I don't see a damned thing!" Jean shouted.
Against the wall, Lucy lifted an eyebrow. OK, this could be juicy for once, she thought.
"You've taken that over us Marcus, and I've had enough." Jean scorned, "If out there is more important than your own damned family, then you can damned well live there instead!"
"Now hold on just one minute!" Her father ordered, "There is nothing more important to me than this family. Why the hell do you think I work so hard at the observatory? I do it so you and our kids can do what you want. I do it so you can spend at the mall. I do it so I can make sure we're safe. Don't you understand, Jean?"
Jean's voice was calm and collected now. "I understand perfectly." She told him. "I understand that you'd rather ply us with money instead of substance. I understand that you'd rather keep track of the universe than keep track of your kids. I understand you'd rather drag us around the galaxy than build a decent home with your family. So yes, Marcus, I understand perfectly."
Behind the doorway, Lucy sipped her tea. "Three." She whispered, "Two. One." Her mother came storming from the room, followed seconds later by her father. "Finally." She slipped into the living area and sprawled out on the sofa.

After having a quick look through the news slide (the local newspaper), Lucy tapped the coffee table to turn the TV on. Same old, same old. A seriously depressing soap, news reels, dated Earth cartoons, a sloppy movie. The latest noise that was supposed to be music on MTVM. Over three hundred channels and nothing worth watching. She wondered why her parents would pay so much for something so useless. Half an hour later, Lucy decided to get something to eat. And her peace was about to end... again.
"I know she doesn't really understand what's going on Michael." Marcus told his son, "She never did. I just wish she'd try to see things the way I do."
"I know, Dad." Michael replied smoothly, "You know what she's like though, right? She won't believe it until she can see it for herself."
"The way things are going, she just might." Marcus said quietly. "The terrestrial near miss four hundred years ago is nothing compared to what's coming now."
Michael lifted an eyebrow, "Oh?"
"Progenia has shifted course again and I'm sure that this time, it won't miss us. I'm almost certain it'll impact with either Earth or Mars. either way, we're screwed."
"But Progenia is mostly a gas cluster planet." Michael responded carefully, "How could that cause so much damage? It'd be like when Progenia's third moon collided with Jupiter. We'd go right through it. It's Progenia that would be destroyed, not us."
"But it's gained in mass since then, Mike." Marcus said, "Over a hundred million cubic tonnes in the last four years. And it's heading right for us."
Michael put his coffee down, "What's the Boss man said about it?" He asked.
"Standard protocol." Marcus replied. "Wait and see what happens."
At this point, Lucy had become engrossed. She and Professor Harris had been studying the galactic collision since her graduation and she had read all about the near miss with Progenia. The collision between the Milky Way and Andromeda had begun over a thousand years ago and it was still very much a young event according to the brains upstairs. No-one had foreseen the outer solar systems colliding until it was too late. And what her father was saying now had her worried. OK, so maybe her peace and supper could wait a few minutes. "So what you're saying then, Dad," She interjected, "Is that the brains upstairs won't do anything until a collision is certain."
Marcus spun on his heel at his daughter's voice. "Uh, just about." He replied.
Lucy put her mug down in the sink and turned to face him, "I guess we're screwed then." She replied, "Those morons couldn't agree on the colour of shit, let alone a cosmic collision."
Marcus chewed his tongue, then folded his arms. "Those morons happen to be my bosses." He said, "And it's those morons that paid for your tuition, so be nice."
"I still say, they're morons." Lucy repeated. "Latest studies reckon that Progenia is less than forty million miles away. Current speed and trajectory in mind, it should hit us in about 2 years, right?"
"Just about." Her father replied.
"And they've been studying Progenia for the last fifty years, right?"
"Your point?" Marcus asked.
Lucy shrugged her shoulders. "If they couldn't decide about Progenia in fifty years, what makes you think they'll decide in two?"
"She's got a point, Dad." Michael cut in.
"I guess they just want to be sure. The last time it passed us, they decided too soon and the government panicked and evacuated the entire systems and four others around us. It took decades to clean up the mess. Maybe they just don't want a repeat of that?" The old man pondered.
Lucy sniffed up, "Still smells like shite." She said, "And if what you said was true, why are you so worried about moving us away?"
"I was thinking maybe the Vega system, but the debris might reach that far. Capella would be better, but it's eight years in hybernation." Marcus offered, "But your mother's adamant that we're not leaving this system. She just doesn't understand what's gonna happen."
Lucy chewed her lip, then folded her arms. "It is a long way to go, Dad, even if it was absolutely dire. Besides, Vega will collide with one of Andromeda's systems in a few more decades, Capella not that long after."
Marcus gave a small smile at his daughter's intellect. As blunt as she could be with him, she was always honest at least. "You're right, but any further and we risk manoeuvring around the red giants. We'd risk enough trying to get passed Procyon and Pollux." He then shook his head, "Anyway, it doesn't matter right now. The government haven't decided yet and the observatory won't risk a panic."
"Fair enough." Both Michael and Lucy replied together. The conversation was over. Marcus went back to argue some more with his wife, Michael went to do whatever, Nicholas still sulked in the games room and Lucy had her meal and retired for the night.

It would be another eighteen months before the conversation would begin again.........

The scene was set; everything preened and polished for the event. The Stephen Hawking Memorial Hall looked amazing. Above the main door, the man's portrait hung with honour, buffed and polished to perfection. All along the wall on the far side, other portraits hung, equally polished up. The greatest minds of the era, starting with Lord Hawking and ending with the current professor of science. Professor Liam Neilson had earned his portrait for his Progenia thesis. As Lucy looked out between the stage curtains, the empty space on the wall that stared back at her. Perhaps after tonight, she might find her portrait up there. And in an hour, the place would be filled with people of all walks: Scientists, scholars, government officials, professors and even some of her classmates. Her parents and brothers would be there and Professor Nielson along with them.

Lucy had been waiting patiently behind the curtain for over an hour already, finalising her presentation and speech, and she was now desperately wishing she had worn more comfortable shoes. Pride must abide and all that, her mother always said. And it was true, the shoes were the only ones that went with her suit. She had to admit though, she did look stunning and she'd been working out a little this last year. Four inches off her waist was as good a result as anything. Eventually, she began to hear the hall filling up. Lucy took another quick peek between the curtains and saw the people filing in to take their seats. Her family took the front centre seats, her friends and classmates filling it out and the second row. The rest of the hall filled up quickly until Professor Nielson came to her with a bright smile.

"You look like you have a stilt up your arse." Nielson said, "Relax before you give yourself a hernia."
Lucy dropped her shoulders and groaned, "Do I really look that nervous?" She asked.
Nielson nodded and smiled again, "Any more rigid and I'll be able to hang the flag from your neck." He replied. He moved up to her and rubbed her shoulders mildly. "You'll be fine." He offered, "Just remember, tonight, you're the smartest person in the building and those lot out there are dumb as pig shit."
Lucy couldn't help but giggle slightly, "Most of them are." She replied, "At least as far as the government guys go."
Nielson frowned, "Be nice." He ordered, "even if they are that dumb."
Lucy smiled again and took a deep breath. "Ok." She replied, "Show time."

Silence filled the hall as Nielson came out from behind the curtain and towards the podium on the stage. Behind him, a large projection screen came down with a click. He turned briefly to watch it and then turned back to the audience. "Good evening." He began. His voice carried widely to the hall from the tiny microphone on podium. "And welcome to our distinguished guests. As we all know, the last few years have been eventful for not just us, but the entire galaxy. Everyone has had their own theories, but tonight, you will be shown a new theory. A theory that not only makes sense..." A slight giggle rippled through the audience, "...but is being proven even as we speak. The greatest minds of our time have brought us many great things, but this time, I give you one of our own students. Miss Lucy Drake."

Lucy stepped nervously from the curtain and smiled to the audience. She took her place before the podium, cleared her throat and looked out into the many faces staring back at her. She then gave a slight nod to Nielson, "Thank you Professor." She said quietly, then back to the audience. "Ladies and Gentlemen, professors, students and representatives of the government." She picked up a small remote from the podium and then pointed it at the screen. The first picture became clear. The Milky Way as it had once been. "This image may be strange to you." She began, "But this is what our galaxy once looked like. This swirling discus, like many others in the universe began to collide with its neighbour, Andromeda." She touched the remote again to show a similar, yet distinctly different image. She pressed the remote once more that started a sequence of images. The two galaxies became closer and closer until the outer edges began to collide. It was slow at first, but as the images progressed, the collision moved quicker with more devastation until the final image was shown. A twin pronged blade-like shape of dust and light. "Over the course of millenia, our galaxy has come to look like this." Lucy continued. "Many of our scholars already know this and have been studying the effects of it for centuries. They predicted this event would have taken hundreds of millions of years and in accordance with respected physics and logic, it has been taken at face value. I present it to you that it has happened exponentially. The scholars said that the speed of this collision would remain stable, but I believe it has not. With each pass, the speed has increased as the gravity of each centre has become closer. It created a pendulum effect, like two swinging magnets. One pulls the other in at increased speed until impact. I believe this is the main reason it has happened so quickly. The research I have done and am still doing has produced an entirely new equation. The scale shown in my presentation has been spanned over not hundred of millions of years, but just a few million." A few gasps filtered through the audience as the learned minds took in what this young girl was saying. "And it's still speeding up." She pressed the remote again to begin a new sequence of images. "The near collision with Progenia four hundred years had been predicted for around that time, but it was then predicted that it would not happen again for several thousand years. The horizon alone has squashed that theory. And this time, it won't be a near miss. Since its collision with Jupiter, Progenia's internal mass has increased ten fold, giving it a centre of gravity that is easily double that of Earth and the Moon." Another image came up, this time of a complex chemical helix. It looked rather similar to a DNA strand, but of course, the individual components were very different. "As we all know, Jupiter is made primarily of Hydrogen and ionized dust particles. Progenia is primarily a Nitrogen and Carbon Dioxide mix. The collision between the two gave Progenia a consistency close to that of water. Probe tests have confirmed a highly dense cloud of radiation surrounding the planet and one of its nearby moons. The government already know this, but what they have missed thus far is that Progenia now has a core effect. My studies have revealed that the new density and chemical reaction happening has created a core of ice. Were we to extract it and melt it down, it would hold the chemical balance and density of heavy water. As far as I know to date, there has been no research into a solid impact with Progenia. The prediction was based on a gaseous impact with Earth."

More whispers and such echoed around the hall as the various minds battled with Lucy's evidence. It was clear that he majority didn't believe her, but she could hear whispers of agreement. Encouraged by this, she continued to the end of her presentation. She touched the remote again to show another new sequence of images. "Thanks to our superb tech labs at Tranquility University, I've been able to piece together what a solid collision might look like between Progenia and Earth." The images slowly moved forward, showing how the gas would first be displaced in Earth's upper troposphere. Then, as the thicker gas of Progenia came into contact, it displaced the lower atmosphere to cover the landmasses in a thick fog of Nitrogen and Hydrogen. The Oxygen in Earth's atmosphere would ignite and boil the oceans. Further eruptions would happen as the oceans released their Oxygen and Hydrogen, splitting apart the tectonics as the world's volcanoes erupted all at once. The images were disturbing to say the least, but the worst was yet to come. Lucy physically turned away from the screen at this point, unable to tolerate the coming event.

With the plates already dislodged and the crust already broken, Progenia's ice core would slam into the surface and cause the planet to literally split right down the middle. The explosion would bombard the moon with debris and cause enough damage that it would eventually shatter and evaporate in the furnace. Once Progenia's core reached Earth's, the two would fuse into a highly dense Iron Oxide that would create a gravity field two thousand times that of Earth. The explosion itself would be over in a matter of hours and it wouldn't take much longer for the new gravity to pull all that debris back towards it. "As you can see from this mock-up, an entirely new planet and moon system could be created from the collision; in accordance of course with the Chaos Theory." Lucy then moved away from the podium, taking the minute microphone with her. "Ladies and Gentlemen. This research has been tested and torn apart by the best minds in the galaxy and all so far have agreed that my theory is sound. All you need is right outside the window. Progenia is less than six months away from impact and nothing has been done. The government doesn't want a panic, so they wait. What I am telling you here, now, is that the time for waiting has ended. My prediction is a total and absolute destruction of Earth and the moon, and almost certainly Mars and Venus along with it. The telemetry is sound and so is the speed of Progenia. We have approximately 5 months and two weeks of life left in our solar system." She looked to the government officials and cleared her face of all emotion. "The decision rests with you. I would suggest you decide promtly.".............

Alexian was a young man when the the Agron hit the large planet of the solar system that their's was merging with. It had grazed the large planet and seemed to change in mass. His father a leading scientist of their world was telling the Council of Elders what was going on and what would happen. "Esteme members of the council. Some time ago Agron hit the largest planet in the solar system that ours is entwining with. It did some damage to that planet but inturn it has changed. It has increased in mass and we beleive that its core has changed into ice. According to our calculations it will slam into the third planet from the yellow sun in a little under six months."

He turned looking at the council of elders. "When this happens there will be masive amounts of debrie produced. Some of it will be reasorbed by the new planet that will be produced but others will be flung out into space. Towards us." he gripped the handrail of the raised stand he was standing on. "Many have speculated that we would make it though this merger with the solar sytems. For four hundred years nothing has been done because it was believed we would come out unharmed. But our data shows that this will not be the case. We project that there will be dozens of pieces the size that we call planet killers. It will not matter where they impact. The explosive force will cause a heat wave that will incenerate everything within hundreds of miles of the impact. The debrie from the impact will be flung into the atmosphere where it will stay possibly for a hundred years. This will blot out the warmth of our sun and cause everything to freeze after a number of years. But before that the firey debrie that falls back to our planet will sent the world a fire. Smaller chunks will hit us leveling our cities, killing millions. There will be to many of these planet killers and smaller ones for our ships to attempt to divert or destroy."

The news was not accepted well by the Elders. "What can we do?" they asked, "How can we avert this from happening. "There is no way to prevent what is going to happen. We do not possess the technology to divert Argon from its path and as you know our telescopes have discovered that the planet Argon will now hit is inhabited by a race that has developed space flight and has colonies in space. They are probably trying to figure out what they can do as well but we doubt they have the technology either.

"The only hope we have is to save some of our people by placing them on the ships we have and setting a course that will take them to Perlaiou. It will shield the ships from the debrie and put them close to the other solar system. From there we will make the trip to this system." He pressed a button on the railing and a star map appeared. "This system is the closest and we have determined that it is the most likely place to reestablish our home. We are hoping that the destrucion of the two worlds will cause such a magnitic well that our sun will be moved out of trajectory with the new system and by pass it as the two galaxcies continue to collide."
The Elders looked at Alexin's father. "Very well Purvel." one of the elders spoke. "Prepare the list of those that will sent to the ships and make ready to depart this world."

Alexin was aboard the ship Athelan. It had been now three months since they had left to go to the planet that would be destroyed by Agron. His father had sent him and the crew with out telling the Elders, to attempt contacting the race there and see if they had any way to stop the disaster that was about to occur. Perhaps they were more advance then them, had some means of averting the disaster. "Approaching planet's moon sir." the navigator told Alexin.

"Reduce speed. Approach slowly. We do not wish to cause them to become alarmed and attack." Alexin told the ships pilot. He himself sat in the command chair, even though he was not the captain of the ship.

Then -

In the days and weeks following her presentation, Lucy had become interplanetarily famous. Newscasts of the speech had been broadcast right across the solar system and suddenly, every being in the system knew her name. The broadcast had reached the science compound on Pluto and even they had sent back responses for her. And the university had received a mountain of new endorsements to help in the study of Progenia and its effect post collision. On Earth, the evacuation had already begun. Most of them would make for the Neptune colonies and then move on from there once the exodus had been better coordinated and each member accounted for. A massive project had been enabled to save the woldlife of Earth, aptly named the Arc Project, and was designed to save enough of each species of the planet to repopulate once a new home had been found. Also, the terraforming machinery that had been used to populate Mars had also been recanted. Not all the machinery had been taken yet, not until Mars had been evacuated, but the majority of the air distributers and moisture control units had been taken and shipped to a military space dock. All in all, the entire operation had seemed to be going smoothly and three months down the line, it was almost finished. A few die-hard fanatics had chosen to stay, including some religious leaders. They believed God would intervene. It was their choice, but those people had only made up 1% of the total human population so far. After those people, the only other ones that were to be left behind were dangerous convicts awaiting death penalties. All other convicts had been transfered to various space stations that would be moved later, to serve out their time until release.

*****

Now -

Lucy watched from her office window as another transport ship was released from the factory across the Lunar landscape. Above the horizon, Progenia loomed over the stars and getting bigger every day. Her office was rather nice, sparce due to the evacuation, but a decent size and in a prominant position overlooking the main courtyard of the university. Since her rushed graduation and promotion to assistant sub-dean, she had enjoyed many of the perks so far. It wouldn't last though. In a little less than three months time, the collision would happen and she hoped to be well out of the way by then. The university leaders, including Lucy, had been drafted as it were into the military operation as civilian advisors, so when a something had been spotted heading their way, Progenia aside of course, they had been informed and asked for advice on the matter. The meeting was due to happen in a few minutes so Lucy's quiet moment had to end. Gathering up her papers and theories on this new object, she made her way down the short corridor to the conference room.

General Tols was there and already talking with the dean, while some of the General's officers were mulling about and taking advantage of the coffee machine. Other people there included some of the professors and a few legal folk. Lucy put her papers down on the table and took her seat in silence. A few minutes after that and one last arrival, the meeting began.
"Right then people." Tols began, "There's been a development. Yesterday, our long range sensors picked up something heading for Lunar (the moon). The trajectories have put its origin somewhere in the Vega system, but we're not sure. There hasn't been a collision in that area that we know of so what we need from you is to identify this object and decide whether it is friend or foe."
The legals talked amongst themselves while the professors did the same. Then one stood up, "First analasys have confirmed that it is not debris, or a rogue meteor, but with our telescopes now gone, we don't know exactly what it is yet."
"How do you know its not debris of some such?" Asked Tols.
"Because its slowing down." The professor replied.
This pricked Lucy's curiosity and she quickly rifled through her papers. "A ship then?" She asked, but it was more to herself than anything.
"Pardon me?" The general said, "What was that?"
Lucy looked up again in shock, "Oh!" She said quickly, closing her file, "Sorry General, I was thinking aloud is all."
"Let's hear it."
Lucy chewed her lip, then stood up. "Ok." She replied, then opened her file again. "I was asking myself if it might be a ship of some kind."
"That's impossible!" One of the officers piped up, "There has been no launch yet."
Lucy shook her head, "Not a ship that belongs to us." She said, "A ship that belongs to another race." She was met with whispers around the table. "It has never been proven that we are the only life in this galaxy and every study has shown that Vega is capable of supporting life. I was merely suggesting that someone from Vega has come here. It's not that impossible to believe. There are billions of stars in our galaxy and any basic logic will tell you that there must be other life somewhere."
"You have no proof of that." Tols said sharply.
"No." Lucy replied calmly, "But Earth history is a rich source of information on the subject. Roswell in the 20th century is still the most remembered event. Not to mention Western europe in the 21st century, China 22nd century, Antarctica 2356. And these are only some of the documented events in Earth history."
"Can you determined then is they are friendly?"
Lucy shook her head. "I honestly have no idea." She said, "I guess the only way to find out would be to make contact with them. I'm sure Professor Matthews would be happy to run up some mathmatical equasions to help you with it."
The general seemed to think for a minute or two, then shook his head. "No." He replied, "I think you should do it. You seem to know so much."
"Me?" She squeaked, "But I'm a physics major. I can't create that kind of contact. You need someone that can make maths a language, not me."
Tols shook his head again, "No." He repeated, "You are already a much more acceptable public face and your predictions and whatevers have been much more accurate than we've had so far. You will make contact with the aliens."
Lucy flopped down in her seat and let her head fall into her hands. "Dad's gonna flip." She breathed.

3 hours later. Lucy arrived at the military headquarters on Lunar base 9. Her family had come with her and as expected, her father looked less than happy about it. Her mother and Nicholas just looked bored. Michael seemed to be the only supporting smile for her. She took the chair the general had ordered her to and then stared at the screen. She had worked up some equations for the ship that had now set itself in a high orbit around Lunar, witht he hope that they could communicate somehow. she arranged them on the desk, then started applying them to the computer. The equations were basic, but she included some physics algerythms to pad it out. She also included a spoken greeting just in case.

The equations sent, Lucy put the mic to her lips and started her practiced speech. "Greetings to the alien ship orbiting our moon. We wish to make contact and peaceful relations with you." She put the mic down and shrugged at the general. "I couldn't think of anything else to say." She offered. The general scowled slightly, but said nothing. Now, it was just a matter of waiting......

As Alexin had the ship put into orbit around the moon, the crew went about taking readings to give him all the information they could. He had no idea of what the people of this race would look like, be like, or what their attitude towards them would be. His own people had a deep history of visitations from some alien race or races. Through out their history there had been sightings of what appeared to be space ships. Many wanted to know what these aliens wanted with their world and why they did not make contact. Even the military was intrested in these ships. Though they had begun exploring the worlds of their solar system, these ships were far more advance then theirs. But there had was never any contact. That was until four hundred years ago. There had been a crash. No one really knew why but all the crew of the ship had died and the ship crashed.

The bodies of the crew were taken away and studied. They were small child like race with large heads and large eyes. They did not seem to have any ears and looked so frail. Their ship was a wealth of knowledge and everything was back engineered and made a great leap in technology for the entire planet. That was when they learned of the two galaxcies colliding and the impending doom of their world. Even with such a doom looming in their future, they had established colonies on a couple of the planets that were not gas giants or balls of molten rock. Where it had taken months to get to one of their planets now only took hours. The one piece of technology that could not be reversed engineered, was the ships main drive system. It had been damaged to badly and parts melted that they could not reconstruct it, though it gave their scientists plenty to excite them.

Scientist wanted to go out further and explore other systems that would have taken hundreds of years to get to, that now would only take a couple of years. Now that the destruction of two solar systems loomed in the near future Alexin wondered if this race was the one that had been visiting their world. He had made sure their approach had been slow, researching the planets they passed and the outposts that the race had placed on some. None was as advanced as the technology on the crashed ship. So that told him they were not, but scans had told him alot about them. They were simalar to them, two arms, two legs, five fingers on each hand, one head. Their anatomical features were also simalar. But where they had only one heart, the Karvellians had two. Their blood was bluish in color and turned red when air hit it, while Karvellians blood was actually red and turned a blueish color when air came in contact with it. Alexin was a good example of his race. He stood six feet tall, had shoulder length white hair, and he had deep amber eyes. He was muscular but not overly. He liked to call himself well toned.

Now in high orbit about the moon of the doomed planet they scanned a milatary base. They had not been attacked and scans had been attempted on their ship. They would find that it was not armed but bristiling with scientific equipment. He knew they were courious about them as much as his people were about them. Most of the crew were scientists, beside those that maintained the ship and flew her. "Prepare the shuttle." he gave the command. "I will go down to make first contact. I will take a two man security detail." He placed a device on his head, that was made of three straps of metal with circitry imbeded with in it. One piece touched his fore head and the other two on his temples.

Leaving the bridge of the ship he went to the small shuttle bay where the small ship was. Entering it he took the pilot's seat and his two security personel took the two behind him. As he left the Athelan he heard the verbal communications from the base. He smiled and pressed a button on the arm of his pilots chair. As he thought of the words he spoke them aloud even though he did not have to. Two things happened, one was that over the speaker in the room where Lucy was came Alexin's voice in English and then in everyones head in the room his voice also could be heard. "This is Ambasador Alexin of the Karvellians. We come in peace. I believe both our races have much to discuss. Request landing corridanates, will be arriving in a small unarmed shuttle with two armed security personell." he figured he should give them a heads up about his secuirty detail.

The shock of actually getting a rsponse put the whole control in chaos! The general and his officers were immediately reaching for weapons, but that was typical of the military. As for Lucy, she simply sat there and stared at the screen in dumb shock. "They responded." She breathed, then jumped out of her seat, "They responded!!" But wait..... "Wait a minute." She said, calmer this time. "Was it just me, or did everyone else hear it in their heads too?" From all around her, people were nodding their heads. They had heard it too. Lucy suddenly felt quite on edge about that. Telepathy had always been a mere theory until now, but in almost every alien sci-fi she had seen, it had been possible, so she really shouldn't have been surprised if it was actually true. The response asked for landing coordinates and one of the techs there had sent them. At that point, Lucy was quickly on the general's heels.

"General Tols?" She asked, almost running to keep up with the incredibly large older man. "Sir? Could I be there please?"
The general stopped briefly and looked at her. "The aliens have already stated that they were armed. I cannot allow civilians to be put in harms way."
"But..." Lucy protested, "I won't be in the way, I promise. They said they came in peace."
"Irrelevant." Tols replied, "Security is paramount. You are not permitted to be there. End of discussion." Then he carried on walking. "Besides, don't you have packing to do? I was under the impression that you and your family were leaving later today."
Lucy scowled, "We're leaving next week." She corrected, "And I think I have the right to be there. My voice was the first they heard and it was me that figured out they weren't hostile. I think I've earned this."
The general ignored her and carried on walking. Half way down the corridor, he half turned to one of his officers. "Make sure she stays out of the way." he said, "I don't need some hot headed teenager interfering in my operation."
"Yes Sir." The officer replied.

The main hanger had been opened as the general and his team took their positions. On the hanger floor, two dozen armed soldier were waiting. Because of the lunar atmosphere, the soldiers were wearing breathing gear, but once the hanger doors were closed again, the air would be restored. The general watched carefully, his hat sat perfect on his head, his head held high and all in all, looking rather imposing. He wanted to give a firm and strong impression. He would nto be messed around.....

Alexin brought the small craft down from the other ship and followed the corridinates that were sent to him. A large door opened and he expertly brought the shuttle into the large hanger and sat it down. He put the interior of the hanger on his view screen and raised a brow. Two dozen armed soldiers and a man in uniform that bespoke of high rank. He used the senors to detect any other life forms in the hanger and found none. There were of course many life signs else where and just beyond an airlock door before the ship.

He sat there a moment and looked at the military awaiting them. They must think his people were very war like or something to have so much waiting for three people. As he looked, he could not see the female that he had heard on the comms. He figured she was some one of importance to be making the first verbal contact. He rose from his pilots chair and moved to the airlock, the two security personal behind him. He was dressed in a black tunic with a wide black belt and silver buckle that held the insignia of his House. With it was a pair of black pants, and knee high black boots. He pulled on the bottom of his tunic to straigten it out and then took a deep breath and opened the airlock and stepped in followed by the guards.

The Hanger was pressurised so he did not have to do that to the airlock, but only open the outer door. He stepped out onto the steps that extended from the ship to the floor of the hanger and walked down them He looked at the General and then about the room as if looking for some one. The General stepped forward. He looked to be a serious and no nonsence type of man. He knew the mans type, the military leaders on his world were much the same. "Greetings Alexin of the Karvillians." the mans voice bespoke of command and superiority.

"That is AMBASADOR Alexin." Alexin spoke and thought with a tint of irritation, especially when he emphized the Ambasador part. "Where is the one that made verbal contact with me." he looked sternly at the General. He wanted to meet the female that had spoke. He had a feeling she like him was a civilian and not military. Military minds always wanted to know about your strenghts and weaknesses, and he bet they were all drooling to have a look at the shuttle and probably his ship in orbit. "I am here on a peaceful mission and to be greated by a strong presence of military might is ......." he paused as if thinking of the word. "An afront to my people's friendly gesture of a peaceful first meeting." This was brodcasted to the general's mind as well as the soldiers and those beyond the airlock. The range of the device was limited so the entire base did not receive it.

The general growled in his throat and straightened his starched jacket. "My soldiers are for protection." He replied firmly, "Should you not be so friendly. Your technology has made it clear that you could harm us without cause or warning and I do not wish to put my people in danger." As good an explaination as he was prepared to give. When Alexin wanted to meet Lucy, he firmed his mouth. "The one you first spoke to is not of importance in this matter. You will be able to speak with myself or my advisors during your visit." He stepped back to allow Alexin to walk with him. "We have a conference room set up you and your detail. We can discuss our business there."

From beyond the doors of the hanger, Lucy heard Alexin's words in her mind and gave quite a sly giggle about what he had said. Clearly, the general had not had the impact he'd wanted and Alexin seemed rather unimpressed by the whole thing. When he'd said he wanted to meet her, she felt a blush rising and quickly made herself scarce from the military types. One officer seemed intent on following her around, but she paid him no mind for now. She was worried though about the military presence at the meeting. Alexin didn't like it at all, took offense even, but to Lucy's mind, he was right. This was a peaceful meeting. Typical army guy, she thought. Peace talks at gun-point always worked.... to make things worse! Lucy found herself a quiet spot and sat down to think over things. While she pondered, she played with one of the augmentations on her forehead. Had she the money, she'd have them all removed. Some of the tattooes, she might keep, but the rest, she was more than happy to be rid of. Her thoughts rested firmly on Alexin and she wondered what he looked like, how he acted and spoke for real. For all she knew, he could look like some giant beetle or snake with a dozen heads!.......

Alexin listened to the general's excuse for the military. Since it was a military base, he figured that the general wanted to be the one doing all the business. He raised a brow when the general said the woman he spoke to was of no importance. Again typical military mind. He had been sent there to talk to their leaders, and he took his orders to mean the civilian leaders. After all the Elders were all civilians, even though some had military back grounds they were now civilians and ruled over the people of his planet. He was not about to deal with a Military Leader, especially one that thought military might was needed at a peaceful meeting. He had only brought two men, not an entire company of soldiers. By coming with only two armed men he had displayed his trust in the people of Aguafira as they caled the blue water world they called Earth.

Alexin did not move when the general stepped back to let him pass. Again he looked at the general sternly. "I have come here on a peaceful mission, but it is evident that you do not think so. Also I have come here to talk to your civilian leaders, not you or your military leaders. If you are so adament on not allowing me to see and speak to those I wish, then this meeting is at an end and I will return to my people and inform them that you are war like and unable to have a peaceful and constructive contact. He then turned and began walking back up into the shuttle.

The general was astounded by Alexin's demands, not to mention the fact he refused to talk with him. This made a huge dent in his pride and he wasn't about to let something this huge get away from him. Giving something of a gutteral shudder, the man lowered his shoulders. "If you refuse to talk with myself and my advisors, then I can offer some scientists for you to speak with, but you will not be permitted to be unescorted. This base is still a military installation. Our civilian leaders as of yet have no knowledge of our contact with you, but they shall be informed as soon as some agreements can be made between us. Many of them have already been evacuated to our bases in the outer solar system for their protection. Until they can be informed, I strongly suggest that you remain in the conference room." The sheer effort to give some lenience on this showed on the old general's face. To push further might send the man into a panic and that wasn't good...

Alexin turned and looked at the general. He could see that the man was shaken and worried now. If he blew this, his career would be ended for sure. To have pissed off and made an ambasador from another world, a first contact, leave would not be good for his career and might be seen that he had caused such an insult that could result in an interplanatary incident that could lead to war. In Alexin's world past such things had happened before they finally came under the rule of the Elders. They had been divided into seperate countries and small things like the general had done sparked wars.

"I want to talk to the female that spoke to me and the scientists. Before I leave this hanger they will be here. My men and I will then go with them to this conference room." his voice was level and non threatening. "I would appreciate it if you would contact your civilian leaders as soon as possible. I think we have much to talk about in the short time that remains for both our worlds." He awaited for the general's next move. The general had given in some, and he recirocated by agreeing to go to the confrence room to start talks. He looked at the airlock waiting on the general to complete his part of the bargin.

The general made a few more of those shuddering sounds before he finally relented. If he didn't, he knew his carreer would be over. "Very well." He said through his teeth, then turned to one of his officers. "Bring the bloody girl to the hanger and those scientists that came with her."
"Yes Sir." The officer replied, then disappeared to bring the people back.
The general scowled slightly at Alexin before turning for the door. "They will be here shortly." He snapped. "But be warned. Any move that I deem unwarranted, you will be arrested under the terrorism act and detained. Legal immunity does not apply to aliens." The threat was thinly veiled at best and the old man left no doubt he would do exactly as he had said.

In her quiet place, the officer arrived and stood tall over her. "You are ordered to the hanger." He said firmly, then walked away. Lucy stood up again with wide eyes and quickly followed the man. "I am?" she asked.
"Yes." The officer replied, "The alien won't talk to anyone but you and your nerds."
"Wow." Lucy said, "This is amazing! I mean.. I get to talk to an actual alien! This is so cool!" She then leveled her gaze at the rude officer. "by the way." She continued, "Call me or my friends a nerd again and you'll find out very quickly how much we can destroy your life. I'm pretty sure you'd like to be on the same ship as the rest of humankind and not the cargo hulls? A human can so easily be mixed up with a hoarde of, say, baboons?" she grinned at him coyly and then carried on walking.

At the hanger door, she met with the scientists and all were as eager as she to meet Alexin. They had all heard the conversation in their minds and couldn't wait to confirm the theory for good. The doors hissed, then opened and Lucy finally got her first look at Alexin. And he looked just like a human! The scientists moved in, quickly asking all the questions they could of Alexin and his guards, wanting to know how the telepathy worked and how advanced their culture and civilisation was, how they had known about Earth and Progenia and most importantly, their technology. They wanted to know everything. Lucy stayed behind a little, observing everything before she opened her mouth. However, as much as she wanted to be in the fray and learning about the aliens, she was utterly taken aback by Alexin. Eventually though, she moved forward and held out her hand in greeting to Alexin. "Hello." She offered politely, "Welcome to Lunar."

He had no doubt that the general would try to as he had said. Though he doubted that the end result would be what he expected. He had chosen his security escort well. They were trained in a matial art that made it hard to hit them with weapons. They twisted, turned, carwheeled, spun in moves that seemed like a dance but with their weapons could fire at the enemy or use thier hands and feet to incapacatate or kill their opponets. He to had been trained in this art, but not to kill. He let a smile touch his lips when the general left and the scientist came flooding in asking so many questions. Behind them was a woman that kept back almost as if she was shy. She came forward finally and extended her hand to him and welcomed him to what they called Lunar.

Alexin gave her slight bow from the waist as he smiled more broadly. "A pleasure to finally meet you." he took her hand and shook it. "I see your scientist are as curious as ours are." He began walking towards the airlock with his guards behind him and the scientist around them. To the scientists he said. "I will try to answer your questions after we reach this confrence room your general has arranged us to meet in." This quieted them down some as they made their way from the hanger followed by the soldiers. The general was not about to let him or his guards to run around a military instalation.

When they arrived at the confrence room he entered with his guards followed by the scientists. Guards were posted at the door and he shook his head. Walking up to the head of the table he took Lucy by the arm to come with him and motioned for her to be seated. "I am Ambasador Alexin of the planet Karvall. We are the fourth planet in the solar system that is now merging with you. Our world like yours will perish in the collision of our large gas giant and your world. We have technology what is in my opinon superior to yours and might aid both our races. Perhaps together we can figure out how both our races can survive."

Lucy followed Alexin to the conference room almost in silence. Her hand still tingled from his touch and of course, the way he spoke to her, it was more than awesome. She had made contact with an alien race! They reached the conference room, guarded of course, and eagerly sat with him at the head of the table. Almost immediately, the scientists were asking their questions again, but this time, they seemed to pounce more on Alexin's guards than the man himself so to speak. They seemed to know that Lucy wished to speak to him independantly.

As Lucy made herself more comfortable, she made sure to pull her sleeves down further. Her forehead and neck, she couldn't do much about, but at least she could hide her arms. The formal introduction made her a little uncomfortable and she found it hard to make an equal response. Eventually though, she gave it her best shot. "Lucy drake." she replied politely, "Assistant sub-dean of Tranquility University." She then leaned in a little, "As superior as your technology is, I wouldn't advertise it too much more. The scientists with me are more than eager to learn about it and the general wouldn't hesitate in having it stripped down to the chasis and taken away for military study. But thank you for letting me know about it." She sat back again and crossed her legs. "So Progenia is one of your system's planets? This is very interesting. We had initially thought you'd come from the Vega system. It's one of our neighbouring star systems. It would seem that the bending light from the collision has put our topography out somewhat. From what we've studied of your system, it's massive compared to our own: It must have taken you years to get here. How have you overcome deep space travel?"

He knew exactly what she ment about the scientists and the general wanting to get a hold of the technology that they had. The people of Aquafira were much like his people. As the scientist question his two guards, who answered questions the best they could while keeping an eye on Alexin. This gave him more time to talk to the woman that introduced herself as Lucy Drake. "Yes from what I can see of the "general" I would say it would not take much for him to take what he wanted."

When asked about a planet being in his system he guessed it was the same one they called Agron. Yes it is part of our solar system. Our system has a total of fourteen planets the one you call Progenia is one of three gas giants in our system. Out of the fourteen planets only two besides our planet can be colonized. Like you we have not reached out to the further stars yet." he chuckled when she said it must have taken years to get to them. "No not years, only three months." he told her. "Our ship's engines are alot better then yours and if things go well, I have been authorized to share our technology with you. We have a common threat, a common doom looming before us. We were hoping that your people had a way perhaps to avert it but from what our scans have learned you do not."

He remained standing half listening to what the scientist were asking his guards. He could tell they wanted to examine them take blood and tisue samples to compare to humans. "I see your scientists are much like ours, always wanting to examine something." he chuckled.

Lucy listened carefully to everything Alexin told her. Her brain soaked it up like a pleasure drug and instantly, she had a million more questions to ask him. They seemed so much the same, but she knew they had to be so much different too. A few of her questions were answered though. Their planet had a very similar, if not identical atmosphere for a start. Alexin would not have been able to cope in her environment. And a similar evolutionary line. She imagined that his planet would look really close to her own. His words about his technology pricked her mind much like everything else he told her, but she did have a forefront response lined up for that one.

"I suppose in a way, we would have thought the same about you. We knew that your technology was far beyond our own when we got your reply. Besides, our language by comparison to most Earth based creatures is primitive, so it would be self serving and somewhat egotisitical to think that it would be universal. That would be proff enough to any logical mind." She said, "Add to that, Earth scientists have predicted the collision for centuries. It has been fated to happen since creation. Anything that could stop that would have to be more powerfult han anything anyone could imagine. I am glad it is happening though. We would never have met otherwise. Not even our descendants would have. The odds are truly that staggering."

She looked to her team and smiled before nodding. "Oh yes, we are a very curious breed of human. The seeming similarities between our species has got their minds on overdrive. I have to admit, I'd die to have some samples for comparison. Obviously, our atmosphere is temerate for you so your planet must have the same, if not uniquely similar components. Also, it would appear that our evolutionary paths have been almost identical also. You are mammalian, I assume? A warm blood vertibrate. We call them mammals."

"Talking to you in your own language is all do to this." he tapped the device on his head. It is some sort of mental inhancer that allows the wearer to hear the language of a person and it translates it into their language and then the reverse. It is another of the things that my people have reversed engineered." she was right on their simalarities of species and cultures and progress was very interesting. All their technology was due to the alien race they called the Greys, due to their skin color. Also it seemed that though out their history, there had been sightings and possible visitations by the Greys. It had been theroized that they may have influenced their race here and there.

His people knew that from what they could determine about the main drive of the crashed ship, that it was capable of traveling between solar systems and perhaps across the galaxcy in a short time. If they could travel with in their galaxcy, was it possible for them to navigate the distance between galaxcies? "I have a question for you. Have you had visitation by an alien race that was short of stature, grey in skin color, with large heads and eyes?"

Once again, Lucy soaked it all up like a massive sponge. The rather cool looking bit of kit on his head was something she would love to get her hands on for an hour or three. What was more interesting after that were his questions about a gray skinned alien race. This pricked her interest greatly. "Well." She began as she bit her lip. "It's odd that you should describe them like that. You see, we have a long history of theorised alien visitation and encounters. And oddly enough, the descriptions usually given are very much the same. A few details change from time to time. Some say the aliens were gray, others say they are more blue. Some have even said they were green! And some have said they looked like children, others say they were much taller. One thing that hasn't changed though was that they had large eyes, large heads and they never spoke."

It seemed amazingly strange and incredibly coincindental that two races from two entirely different galaxies would share such a wild and fantasic story like this. Still, she had more important matters she needed to address and it was now she thought best to bring them up. "If I offend you with my next question, I apologize deeply, but there are a few questions that I really cannot control anymore." She said, scrunching her hands nervously. "and of course, I'm more than willing to offer the same in trade if you wish. If I could please, beg of you some samples for study? I'm not asking for much, just a few simple things and I swear to you on my life that I will not harm you. Just a few drops of blood to compare to my human blood, a full body scan to see if we are really the same inside? And a hair sample so I can study your environment. It would mean so much to me and my team and I'd be happy to prove you the same?"

Alexin had to chuckle a bit when asked to provide samples of his blood and tissue so that they could see how close geneticly they were. He had to say that he was intrested in that as well. To find another race of beings that had a simlar evolutionary history and that looked damned close to being the same was a little to coincidental for him. "I think there will be more then enough time for that." he smiled. "But don't you think that at the moment we should be discussing ways of insuring that both our people survive." he looked up at the cameras in the room. He bet that the general was there watching him and the scientists.

It seemed that her planet had been visited as well by the Greys and he wondered if they had a part in directing their evolution. Which brought up something she had said before about it taking him years to get to their solar system. "I take it from your earlier comment that your ships do not travel as fast as ours." He looked up at the cameras and smiled. "General perhaps you would care to join us. I think this area is more of your domain and perhaps I can assist you there as a sign of mutal cooporation and that my people do not mean you any harm at all."

Lucy's hopes were dashed for the moment, but Alexin did have a point. After a slight wrinkle in her forehead, she nodded. "Yes." She replied. "Save civilisation and all that." She lifted her hand to one of her scientists and nodded at him to bring her the necessary files. Once in front of her, she opened them up and quickly rifled through them while he continued talking.

"No, our ships don't travel like yours." She told him. "We've only recently managed to reach near light speed." She then looked to the door as Alexin invited the General to join them. "Three, two, one." She said quietly. The door swung open and Tols was at the table faster than a bullet.
"I have a list of terms for you to look at." Tols said, "I'm sure we can both agree on it amicably." He slid a file across the table to Alexin, but behind his eyes, there was something else going on.

Earlier -
Tols watched the digital feed with his fists clenched. He didn't like this one single bit. This alien was invading his military base with technology far advanced to his own and playing tootsy with a damned teenage girl! The more angry he grew, his eye started twitching. "This bloody alien should be strapped down and disected for study." He spat at one of his officers, "And that damned ship should have been stripped down to the ginnels by now."
"Yes Sir." The officer replied vacantly.
"Has the attourney general brought the terms yet? I want to see them before they are handed over."
"Yes Sir. They arrived ten minutes ago." The officer replied again, just as vacantly. He handed over the file, then stepped back to find something else to do. Anything so that he didn't have to listen to that old goat any longer.
Tols read through the file and growled. "Pussy." The man spat as he turned to face another officer. "Have this adjusted." He demanded. "I want full access to that ship and any weapons they are carrying before we hand over anything of value. And what we do hand over, make sure it holds no threat to this base or any other military installation."
"Yes Sir." The other officer replied, taking the file.
Five minutes later, the papers had been adjusted and Tols was smiling now. The alien had invited him in. Whipping the new terms up in his hand, he entered the room like a shot. In his, he was already seeing this so called ambassador being taken away to the lab and his soldiers going over every inch of his new ship. Oh, Tols had every intention of having that ship for himself. And a few select officials of course, for a fee....

Alexin looked at the folder. He knew that the device he wore could help interpid their verbal language but didn't think it would their written. He looked at the pages with in the folder but could not understand the writting then the general. There was something about the mannerism of the General that told him he was hiding something.

Tols stood aloof over Alexin and smiled, showing the odd crooked tooth behind his left K9. we have a deal then?" He pushed. Lucy, almost intuitively, took a glance at the paper Tols had handed over. "This isn't right." She said.

He knew also that the device could if the person concentrated hard enough, read another persons thoughts. The Grey's used it to be able to understand their peoples language and all. "General, though I can understand your language, I can not read it. Therefore I must talk with your civilian leaders before any terms can be agreed upon. But as I told you...." he nodded to the camera, "As a sign of mutual cooporation and to show we mean your people no harm, and also to help save your people and I would say advance your career quite hansomely, I can invite you, two of your armed soldiers and one of your engineers aboard the Explorer. As our ships engines far out does yours, modifications that our engineers aboard can give your engineer could help your ships reach your destination in months instead of years." he looked at the General to see his reaction.

Tols showed very little reaction to Alexin's offer. he simply shrugged his shoulders and grinned at Lucy. "Those papers have been signed by our UN officials. Our civillian leaders. They state that we are willing to share what technology we have with you under the agreement that my team have full access to your ship and access to any biologicals your race is able to provide." He then turned to one of his officers. "Please escort Miss Drake from the conferrence room. Her services are no longer required." "This is bullshit!" Lucy protested. "That paper has been doctored. I demand an investigation!" "Thank you for your input, Miss Drake." Tols told her, "Your team has been reassigned to me until further notice." Lucy turned her head to Alexin, worry in her eyes. "Don't." She pleaded in whisper, "Don't agree to it."

"That is exactly what I will do. General if you wish this contact to continue then you will do as I say. Other wise my ship will leave, with out me, and return with a full flotilla of war ships with weapons I am sure is far superior to anything you have. I trust this young lady, who has been more open to me then you have. Now if you want to start a war, and find yourself in trouble with your superiors, I would suggest that you get your civilian leaders here immediately!" There were anger in his voice. "I have been in constant contact with my ship during this meeting and they know exactly what is going on!" He looked at the General, and took a step closer to him looking him in his eyes. Putting the devices other ability into effect he concentrated on the General's mind. "Tampering with official documents in either society I believe is a crime and carries a heavy punishment." he brought the folder up in his hand. "Restore this to its original content so Miss Drake can read it to me!" A messenger came in from the command center to the General. "Sir the ship is powering up its engines."
raven_500@hotmail.com said (2:28 PM):
The General remained stoic, taking Alexin's threats greatly. He took the papers from the alien and put them back on the table. "I have not doctored these papers." he replied firmly; and technically, he hadn't. One of his lackies had done it for him. "So, as far as this paper goes, these are the terms set down by the United Nations of Earth and all her subsidiery territories. The Attourney General and the UN Council will not meet with you until these terms are met." This was also true, but they didn't know the paper had been tampered with yet. "So that would leave us at a stalemate. If you leave, they will hold you in contempt and you will be arrested under the Terrestrial Democratic Act of 2298. Any act of agrression during this time will result in you being arrested under the Terrorism Act of 2001 and your ship will be impounded by the UN. It's your choice, Ambassador." The old man couldn't have looked more smug. As for Lucy, she had only one thing to say. "Someone find me a communicator."

"Well general, you see not only can we communicate with you telepathicly but we can also read your thoughts. Your subordiante, Lieutent Douglas." he had picked that name out of the general's head, "is the one you had doctor these documents." he chuckled. "Well now I don't think your Attourny General would like being called a Pussy." that was also pulled from the general's mind. Turning that part of the device off now he communicated with his ship. "Move on to the planet and go into orbit. Communicate with them there and inform them that their military Commander he is holding me a prisoner and has doctored the terms their Attourney General has sent." The messenger put a hand to his ear piece. "Sir the ship is not moving back the way it came but towards Earth and is sending out a communication stating that the Ambasador is being held a prisoner here and that the documents have been altered." There was fear on the mans face. He knew that if an investigation was made that the general and every military person on the base would be in big trouble. Alexin just grinned.

Lucy got the communicator and started speaking into it when Alexin and Tols faced off. She moved away from the table and turned away from them both. "Please get me the Attourney General?" She asked politely. "My name is Lucy Drake." A few seconds later, just as Alexin was talking with his ship, she got through to the UN offices. "Yes, Attourney General Harris." She said, "You don't know me, but I'm one of the scientists that you endoursed a few months ago. Yes, that's right. Lucy Drake. well Sir, we have sometihng of a large problem. You see, the ship that entered Lunar's orbit is in danger. Yes, I'm here with the Ambassador now. Yes Sir, I understand, but the papers that you signed were doctored. General Tols has not been honest with me, my team or Ambassador Alexin. No Sir, he refuses to back down. Yes Sir, Ambassador Alexin has made contact with his ship to inform you and the Council of what is happening here. Yes Sir, I understand. Thank you Sir, I will be happy to represent you and the Council's interests." She pulled the communicator from her ear and turned back to Tols and Alexin. "General Tols." She said firmly, "As acting UN liason officer, I am placing you under arrest for the kidnapping and hostage taking of the Karvellian Ambassador." She grinned at Alexin , then winked. "You are also charged with treason to the United Earth Territories and profiteering and falsifying government documents. Lieutenant, could you please take the General to teh stockade for questioning."

Alexin could hear Lucy talking on her communicator. As she did, he looked at the General more now to see if he was as smug as he had been before. "No doubt there will be an order given here quite soon, removing you from your duties here. You could have, with the technology I was going to share with you, have made you a hero and you could have probably named your position in your military heiarchy." When Lucy returned and placed the general under arrest he grinned. "You have now lost any chance of greatness general." As the lieutenat disarmed the general and escorted him out, still looking a bit nervous. "May one of my men accoumpany the Lieutenat and his prisoner." he asked Lucy. He knew how some military men would follow their leaders no matter what happened. His people had such fanatical loyalty as well. "Well I guess it will be you and an engineering staff that will be getting a tour of the Explorer." he smiled at Lucy.

Lucy beamed with pride. "Of course, but somehow, I think the General lost his loyalties a long time ago." She pointed to the door where another officer stood with a huge grin on his face and his arms folded in smugness. As for teh General himself, he had nothing to say for himself. He took his hat off, tucked it under his arm and walked out. The man was beaten for now, but he wasn't done yet. Lucy turned to Alexin proper. "I would be honoured for a tour of the Explorer." She replied, "I'll be taking Gibbons. He holds the highest accord in engineering and four Masters in physics, hydrolics, mechanics and temporal fusion.2

"Miss Drake." the messenger that was in contact with the command center, "The alien ship has turned about again and is again entering orbit." Alexin nodded, "We will discuss the terms of your civilian leaders once you have received the original documents. I have also arranged for genitic samples of my race to be ready for your collection once we have arrived aboard the Explorer. If you wish I will send down a couple of our scientists with them so they may work with yours. I would imagine that they are as egar as yours have been." Also if you would be good enough to let your superiors know of the offer I have made regarding the technical specifications of our ship's engines."

Lucy beamed again, "Oh yes, definitely." She replied. She then nodded to the messenger. "Thank you Officer." she said to him, "Could you please have the original papers brought to me? The Ambassador and myself have much to discuss." Within seconds, new papers arrived, the undoctored version that Lieutenant Douglas had kept. They were placed on the table and Lucy sat back down. "For the remainder of this meeting, I will be representing the Attourney General as the civillian authority on Lunar. Is this acceptable to you, Alexin?"

Alexin smiled. "Yes very acceptable, and much more pleasent then the general." He looked at the documents again, shaking his head. "Well you will have to go over all of this and tell me what your government wishes. If you like we can do this aboard the Explorer while your engineer and ours goes over the specs for the engines. Every minute counts I think. My people should be preparing to leave soon for a system in your galaxcy that seems to hold the promise of habitable planets."

Lucy nodded and gathered up the papers. "Very well then." She said as professionally as possible. "I'm happy to discus this aboard the Explorer." She tucked the papers to her chest and grinned. "Ready when you are." A few minutes after that, Gibbons arrived with a mountain of equipment and a huge grin on his face.

Alexin with his guards in tow, returned to the shuttle with Lucy and Gibbons. "Are you sure this general will be securely locked up. I have known some of my people's military to be fanaticlly loyal to their superiors." He was still worried about the general. He was the type that wanted things his way and would stop at nothing to get it his way." once on board the shuttle he again took the pilot's seat and closed the small ship up and retracted its landing gear as the manuvered the ship around towards the hanger door. The hanger was depressurized and the doo opened. Soon the little ship was moving quickly towards the Explorer. It's shuttle bay door opened and Alexin moved it inside and awaited for it to presureize before opening the hatch. By the time they were ready to exit, the captain of the Explorer stood there smiling with a couple others that had equipment and cases with them. He to had one of the devices on his head. "Welcome Miss Drake to the Explorer." he gave a bow at the waist. "This is Excabar and Frea. Both scientists, biologist, gentics and the like. They have everything that you requested and are very egar to meet your people."

Lucy nodded, "The animosity alone will make sure he's kept locked up." She promised, "And under the martial law of the UN military, if he breeches an arrest order, he is to be shot on sight. He's a smart man. He won't leave until released." After that, she and Gibbons followed Alexin and his guards to the Karvellian ship. The ride was awesome and the Explorer was even better! Lucy was so eager to get onto the massive ship, that she almost fell over herself at the door. Gibbons seemed simply dumbstruck the whole time. That was until he met Frea. His jaw dropped and he actually began drooling. Lucy spotted him and tapped his arm. "Close your mouth." She whispered. "You look like a fish." That done, she turned to face the Captain and bowed her head in return. "Thank you Captain." She replied politely as she pulled some of her fringe down over the nodules of silver on her forehead. "It's a pleasure to be here." She nodded to Excabar and Frea and smiled at them politely. "My team are waiting anxiously to meet you both and they will have all the necessary samples and genetic history ready for you when you land."

As the two headed to the shuttle with all their equipment and samples, another figure hurried in. Another female of the race. She was tall, well endowed and the tight fitting uniform of the Korvallan navy showed every curve and accented her body. "Sorry I am late Captain. Just had to finish briefing the Engineering staff." The captain raised a brow but nodded. "This is our Engineering Chief, Lieutenat Karsa. She will be taking your Engineer down to our Engineering section so he can have a look at the engines." Lieutent Karsa looked at Gibbons and Lucy and nodded, standing straight and professional as possible and smiled.

Gibbons finally fell over himself and stared openly at the engineering chief. "If all you Karvallian women look like this, I'm going to live with you guys." He said, quickly following the other woman away. Lucy simply blushed and shrugged her shoulders. "I apologize for his outburst." She offered to Alexin and the Captain. "He hasn't had a date for along time."

Karsa raised a brow at the mans comment but one could see she took it as a complement. "This way sir, I am sure you will pleased with the data that we have to show you." she walked infront of Gibbons, leading the way, the material of her uniform conforming to her ass cheeks quite nicely. Alexin chuckled. He had a feeling that Gibbons was going to be distracted in his duties. He had to say though that Karsa was indeed a fine speciman of the females of their race. "No need to applogize, it is a very natural thing. But please come we have much to discuss I belive." Alexin had noticed the implants and some of the tatoos on Lucy. He wondered why she had them. "I have noticed you have some sort of implants and tatoos. Is there a reason for them?" he asked her point blank. "I do not mean to offend but my people use tatoos only for family recgonition. Are yours for the same purpose?" it was now his turn to be inquisitive.

Lucy blushed a little more, then felt her stomach sink. She had prayed he wouldn't ask about that, but then, the way she went about trying to hide them, it would have been obvious anyway. "Uh." She began, "Not exactly. It's a long story. The short version is that I made a mistake a couple of years ago and now I'm saving up enough money to have them removed."

"What do they do?" he asked her. Being of the scientific part of her society he imagined they had something to do with their technology. Perhaps to help interface with their computers or something.

Lucy shook her head, then leaned up against the bulkhead. "A few years ago, there was a group of people that believed Lunar should be independant of Earth. These people had been born on the moon, like me. They had ideals that made sense at the time and I joined with them. They defined themselves by this." She moved her hand over the augmentations and tattooes that could be seen. "They made themselves different from Terrans. I learned soon after that they were just a bunch of losers that wanted to cause a bit of chaos with the government and I left them. But by then, I'd already done this to myself to be part of the group. Hindsight is a wonderful thing really.

Alexin nodded. "Well if you really wish to have them removed I think our ships doctor can be of service for that. Medical advances have been quite rapid in the last few years. We now have the means to remove the ink from the skin. I am not sure what it is but I have seen it done. The area is injected with a substance that interacts with the ink and brings it to the surface so it can be wiped away. We use it when two family merges. The old family tatooes are removed so new ones can be made to represent the two families. As for the augmentations. I believe he can do that also. If you have the time we will talk to him. It is all quite painless and leaves no scars."

"Wow!" Lucy said, "That would be wonderful! we have our own ways, but they seem much more barbaric. We inject a chemical under the skin that burns the ink away, but it leaves scars. The augmentations would require skin grafts to fill in where the object has been taken out. It's quite painful." She touched the nodules on her forehead, happy to have a viable option for removal, but a sudden rush of regret hit her mind. She'd had them for a while now and they had helped define who she was. Did she really want ris and to return to looking just like everyone else? She'd think on it later. "Maybe." She said, then moved off the bulkhead. "For now though, where can we discuss these papers?"

Alexin smiled "Of course." he motioned with his hand down the corridor of the ship to a comfortable room with a table, chairs, food and drink from their world. "I hope that our food and yours are compatable." They would be taking seeds and plants with them as well as some of the animals of their planet. "Now what are the terms listed in this document?" he asked. Meanwhile Gibbons was being given the grand tour of the engineering section. The Engines were masive, powerful and hummed with effiency. Karsa beamed with pride at her babies. She handed him an interface node. When she saw he had no idea of what to do with it she placed it on his temple. It automaticly attached itself to his skin and he began to see the diagrams of the engines. She chuckled when she saw the look on his face. "That will help you as we discuss the engineering aspects of my engines." she told him.

Lucy followed Alexin into the room and happily picked a spot where she could reach the food and drink. She wanted to smell it, taste it, feel the density and ingredients in her mouth. "I hope so too." She replied, putting the papers down long enough to pour out something that looked a little like water. It smelled sweeter and tasted sweeter too. It felt lighter, yet more refreshing. It was delicious. She then picked up a piece of the food. On the outside, it looked like an apple, only, it was blue! She turned it over in her hand, sniffed it, then took a tentative bite. At first, it tasted just like a small canteloupe, but then a wave of sweetnesss hit her mouth and she almost choked on it. No, that was too sweet. She put the fruit down, managing to swallow what she had in her mouth, then cleared her throat. "Is all your food this sweet?" She asked him, "We have very little that would be considered as sweet as this one item. Even your water tastes like it's been loaded with sugar. Is that a requirement of your staple diets?" Oh yes, the papers. She opened the file and spread them out in front of her.

"No not always. But we have found that on long trips like we have come on we need extra energy and such food and drink is necessary. We have other types of food that is not sweet." he went to a section of the wall and pushed it up. Punching a few buttons a glass appeared and a creamy liquid filled the glass. "It is not sweet but it does quench the thirst." Another section revealed food. Not fruit but a bread, with a cheese and a bit of spiced meat.

Lucy took the bread and drink, giving it a small taste. This was much more to her palet and she nodded with agreement. "Delicious." She said, then returned her attention to the papers in front of her. "Ok, so these are the original terms from the UN Council. They are asking for a trade in non violent technology. That means specifically no weapons or technology used for weapons. They agree our meeting is one of peace and nothing regarding anything used in war will be acceptable. They also ask for biologicals. Native fawna and flora from your planet to compare to our own etc. That has already been agreed obviously. They are also curious about the linguistics between us and the technology portaining to it. They are also asking for any cultural histories and events that you'd be willing to share with us and of course, we offer the same in return. Beyond that, they simply welcome you and your race to Earth for as long as it lasts and they're hoping for a fruitful future between us after our relocation to teh Vega system."

Alexin smiled. "That is so simple to do. We have all that aboard the Explorer. Only problem is that a written record would not be able to be read by your people. But an audio one would be the best way I guess. I am not sure but I think this device could be adapted to interface with an audio account of our history and let who ever wishes to listen to it to understand it." he touched the device on his head. "Where is this Vega System you talk about. How far is it from your system?" he asked.

Lucy nodded and took down some notes on the back of the terms for later. "That would come under the terms of non violent technology trade." She replied, then looked back up. "The Vega system?" She asked, then nodded, "Ahh yes. You would have a different name for it most likely. After all, you call earth - Aquafira, or something to the like. Do you have a recent star chart? If not, I can upload one from the Lunar base."

Alexin moved over to another section of the wall and it moved to reveal a large monitor screen with a keyboard. He typed something on the key board and the screen came on to reveal the two merging galacies. He pointed to the system he had said they were going to. "This is the system." to her of course it was the Vega System. "We call this system Tantum." Down in Engineering Gibbons looked over the data and was amazed. "These look so, so familar." he went to his laptop and looked at the schamatics. They were the same as the ones of the Korvallains, except where they had not been able to take it further to boost the power, but they had. The missing data was there before him. To him it was a simple modification that would jump them decades ahead on research and development. He keyed the com link to Lucy. "Miss Drake, miss Drake." he spoke excitedly, "You won't believe this. I don't believe this."

Lucy felt her communicator buzz in her pocket and quickly slipped it into her ear. It was Gibbons and he sounded more than excited. "Ok Gibbons." She said quickly, "Slow down. breathe honey. Now, tell me what you've found." To Alexin, she smiled and stuck her tumb up in happiness. "Yes, that's Vega." She whispered.

It seemed like they were heading for the same system. It would be interesting to have another race of poeple to share exploring and repopulating a world with. Gibbons was so excited. "We can modify the engines of our ships! We can make the trip to the Vega System in months not years!" he knew it would take time to modify them all but they could do a few now and the rest on the way.

Lucy punched the air, "Yes!" She breathed, "Excellent! Keep on it Gibbons and thanks to the chief for letting you have a look. Have fun down there." She told her companion.
"Hope you guys have some fun upstairs too!" Gibbons told her.
"I'm working on it." Lucy said, then suddenly turned a blush colour as all her blood seemed to rush to her head. Gibbons wasn't talking about work fun, he was talking about other kinds of fun.

"Good news from your engineer?" he asked her. He had a feeling that they shared alot more then anyone knew. The Greys had been a busy race it seemed. But to what end. He saw her blush and raised a brow. He wondered what Gibbons had said to make her do that. Gibbons looked over at Karsa and wondered. Damn she looked good (think of 7 of 9 on Star Trek Voyger) but wondered if he would even stand a chance with her, let alone be able to being of different races." Alexin looked at Lucy. She was young and even with the implants looked good. How close were their genitic make ups he wondered.

Lucy blushed further as she pulled the communicator from her ear. "Uh, yes." She stammered, "Very good news. It seems that our engineering styles are very similar also and he;s found what he needs to advance our own technology in that area." The blood finally began to fade a little from her face, but it was only enough to restore from perhaps her upper jaw upwards. Everything below that remained a rosey peach colour that created an almost glowing contrast between her skin and the silver in her forehead. It also made her silvery eyes sparkle. she found herself staring at Alexin for a moment, but then she panicked as she realized he was looking right back at her. Averting her eyes, she coughed into her hand and pretended to rifle through the papers on the table.

Alexin grinned at her blushing. What ever was said and him looking at her made her seem to be a bit embarased. Was she thinking along the same lines as him. "I wonder what our scientists have found out in your labs. Or do you think it is to early for that?" he asked her and continued to look her up and down, trying to figure out what she would look like with out her clothes.

Lucy looked up from her papers. "I don't honestly know." She replied, taking note of the way he was continuing to look at her. As his eyes moved down and then back up again, she realized just what he was doing. He was actually checking her out! The blush returned with a vengeance now and there was no way to avoid it now. And this time, she opened her mouth before engaging her brain. "If you're going to look at me like that, we'd best find out first if that kind of thing is possible, don't you? Similar we may be, but how do I know your mating rituals won't do me harm, or mine you?" Just at the moment, both her hands came over her mouth and she clasped it shut.

He had to laugh at her actions after she clapped her hands over her mouth. He shook his head and moved forward to stand next to her. "Well I would have to say that we would not find out until it was tried. Would you not agree? But for the moment I think that we need to inform your leaders of our agreements and what has been discovered about your ships engines.

Lucy quicky stood up and gathered up the papers. "Yes." She said quickly. "They'll be pleased to know we agree on the terms and they'll be over the moon about the technology." She started to turn around, only to have her head level with his chin. She stepped back and met his gaze. "Um, about the other thing." She said quietly, "Let's just keep that between us, ok? Private like."

He grinned and nodded. "I think we can do that. But perhaps when we have time we can explore the posibilities. That is if you are willing."

Lucy blushed again, but this time, coughed it down and pushed her hair back off her shoulders. "Let's decide on all that another time." She offered in return. "For now though, I'd love to see the rest of your wonderful ship?"

Grinning Alexin gently took her by the elbow and guided her out of the room and down the corridor. First he showed her the Astormeics lab with its long range sensors, telescopes and the charts that were constantly being updated with the merger. Next it was their biological labs where they were waiting eagerly for the samples from the earth's moon. The biologist there looked at Lucy with that look of can we have some samples from you. Alexin had to wave a finger at them. Then it was off to other lab. Finally he took her to the bridge. The bridge crew stood up and gave her a slight bow before Alexin motioned for them to sit down again. The equipment and technology was better then Earth's. Of course they had one hell of a Grey's ship to reverse engineer. "What do you think of her? He asked her. "Purely a scientific ship."

Lucy felt in awe the whole time. The astrometrics lab was hugely awesome as she expected it to be. One could not cross an entire galaxy without such equipment. The biometrics lab was even better and she gave the techs there a warm smile. She knew they were after samples of her, just like she was after samples of Alexin. Then it was on to the bridge. She stepped into the huge room with wide eyes and her mouth hanging open. "Oh, my God!" She breathed, looking around as the crew bowed to her and then went back to their work. She'd never seen anything so amazing in all her life! Eventually, she was able to speak again. "If there was a word to describe just how awesome this room is, I'm sure they'll find it eventually." She replied, looking around a second time. "Please tell me there's more to see? Oh, and I'd like to pay another visit to your bio lab." She gave him a warm smile. "They'll love us both forever, I promise."

He could see her awe and he was not surprised. From what he had learned in his studies, the scientist back when the ship crashed on their world were in shock and awe at what they found. Some improvements had been made over the years since and they were still trying to figure out the last drive of the ship. Slowly they were piecing it together. When she wanted to go back to the bio lab he

agreed and lead her back down to it. "We have been studying everything as we came here and we have a theory. Again something the science people can talk over. We feel that when your world and our gas giant collide and merge that they will create a very powerful magnetic field that will draw in alot of the surrounding astroid field, this moon, and possibly the fourth planet in this system. once

that happens it will be big enough to be effected by both our suns and shift both solar systems enough that it will not hit what you call Vega. If that is so, it is beleived that system will not be touched by any other system from our galaxcy for possibly thousands of years."

Lucy considered the possiblity as they walked and nodded. "Yes," She agreed, "Our scientists and myself have come up with the same conclusions." she used her hands to illustrate slightly. "Our planets will meet on a 56 degree angle." she moved her hands across each other to show the collision. "The cores will meet and the ice of Progenia will expand and explode while the liquid iron of Earth's core will freeze instantly and shatter. Much of the EM field will come from the shattering of the iron core and it'll easily reach Mars, our fourth planet. You're right about Vega. A collision will occur eventually, but it shouldn't be for another thousand years or so." She held up her finger then. "However." She continued, "I've theorized that the speed of the merge is increasing exponentially. Our collision will shift the course of the merge slightly, but I don't believe it would steady the speed. What are your thoughts on that?" It was then that they arrived back at the bio lab and she happily entered, taking the precautions she would in any lab.

"Once this initial merger of our two galaxcies ends there is going to be a great realining of the systems as the two galaxcies becomes one mega galaxcy. As the centers of the two get closer the merger will spead up, as they are drawn to each other. So we think with in a thousand years the two galaxcies will be complete." As they arrived at the bio lab the scientist perked up again wondering why they had come back. Was Lucy going to give them the genitic samples?

Lucy nodded as she inspected some of the scientists equipment. "That's pretty much my theory too." She replied to him, then smiled at the lab techs. Standing up again, she reached to her head and pulled out a few hairs from her scalp. "Before me, Earth scientists predicted that the merge wouldn't take place for another ten million years. As you can imagine, seeing Progenia on the horizon one day, spooked them all pretty bad. That was four hundred years ago. After that..." She put the hairs on a glass slide, then picked up something that resembled a scalpel. "....The great minds predicted that another collision wouldn't happen for thousands of years." She smiled, hiding the grimace as she scraped a small sample of skin from the back of her right hand. "And then, a few years ago, the opinion shifted. The head scientists were scared and didn't know what to do. Then, along came me." She gave a small laugh, rather empty and lonely as she picked up a small needle and pricked her right forefinger. She drew out the blood and let a few drops fall onto another slide. She then handed the samples to one of the tecchs with a smile. "Enjoy." She told them, then turned back to Alexin. "That should keep them happy for a while."

There were many theories of why the two galaxcies were merging so fast. None knew for sure. Like the people of Earth, their scientists had thought that it would take millions of years, yet something must have happened that had sped the process up. But what that was no one could say. He watched her take hair, skin and blood samples and gave it to the biologists. They took them and wisked them away. Putting them in devices, that he had no idea what they were, but for them would scan, catalog and compare every atom of the samples to those of his people. "Well perhaps one day we will find out what caused the galacies to speed up the process of merging."

Lucy gave a knowing grin. "I already have." She replied as she sucked on her finger to stop the bloodflow.

This perked up Alexin's ears. "You know why they have converged so fast?" he asked her. His people would be greatly intrested in her theroy or if she had proof of her information, the reason for it all.

Lucy's grin widened. "Yes I do." she told him. "If I can get to my data sheet, I can show you. It's back on Lunar."

He nodded and again taking her by the arm, lead her back down through the ship to the shuttle bay. It was now back, with the scientist all gathering their boxes of samples and what not and eagerly heading to their various labs. "When do you think your leaders will be showing up?" he asked her. "We have already made a very successful first contact." he smiled warmly at her. "I think the Council of Elders would wish to talk to one of your leaders directly. Especially since we seem to be heading for the same solar system and will be co inhapbiting it." Helping her aboard the shuttle he closed the door and took the pilots seat and informed the bridge of their departure. It was not long after they were again touching down in the hanger of the moon base.

Lucy nodded, but then shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know exactly when tthey'll be meeting with you and I'm not sure if one would be willing to travel to your homeworld. You see, we have a rather large problem in our race. It's called self preservation. When faced with danger, we instinctively protect ourselves and our offspring before anything else. Many of the UN leaders have already left Earth and are enroute to Pluto to make ready for the journey to Vega. Most of the others will be doing the same thing in the next week. Even me and my family are leaving next week for Pluto, but we're taking a private transport. My dad has managed to buy a pretty decent ship." She shrugged her shoulders again as they pulled into the hanger. "I think your best bet right now would be
the Attourney General and a few of the higher ranking councillors."

He was hoping to be able to take a delegation back with him. There was much to talk about. The two cultures were probably vastly different if their genetics weren't. He didn't want such a good start to turn sour with some sort of misunderstanding when thier fleets met up with each other. He was sure that they would. Then when they reached the solar system, if there were in habitable planets or planet he was sure there would be the problem of who gets what planet or the inhabited one. Working things out ahead of time would be alot better. "Is there a way to get him or any of the others here soon?"

Lucy stood up from her seat and moved towards the door. "The trip from Earth would take a couple of hours, but I don't know the situation down there at the moment." She replied honestly. "But as a representative, I could arrange a conference call for you?"

He nodded and said, "That would be good." Perhaps I can convince them to send a representitive along with me when I return home."


Lucy nodded almost disappointedly, but smiled anyways. She exitted the ship and made for her office. Once there, she collected her data sheet and linked it to the main computer. She would need the entire screen to show better her theories.

Once they got to her office and she grapped a data sheet and pluged it into a connection he stood close behind her. "Perhaps you would like to go back with us. But you would have to have full authority to conduct negotiations and a treaty." he wondered what she would say about that.

Lucy half looked over her shoulder. "I'd never be allowed that kind of authority." She replied as she tapped in a few details and then stood back. The sequence began to play out. It was similar to the one she had shown in her presentation not so long ago, but this one had a few extras. "Ok." She began, "So this is our two galaxies at the minute. In the process of a two pronged disc. If I let the sequence play out, it will end up looking like this." The images showed a slightly distorted discus with two smaller prongs, but distinctly different from each other. "But if I rewind the sequence, it shows everything in reverse." She pressed the relevant key and it all happened in reverse. The two galaxies parted company. "This is what we looked like before." She told him. "Now, no-one had thought to go back further until recently. I was messing around in one of the tech labs and discovered something rather distinct. quite beautiful, I thought at the time." The sequence continued to reverse itself until the very beginnings of the formation. "Now see here." She said, pointing to a particular dust cloud. The image magnified automatically to show more detail. "Both of our galaxies came from this one nebula. Now look what happens when I play the image forward." She touched the relevant key again and the sequence started proper. "See how it rotates on the Y axis. As it turns over, it generates enough energy to send out pulses of dust. This is how our suns were created. But look just here..." She pointed to a particular section of the nebula. The image magnified again and the sequence slowed down. "There." She said and touched the screen. The sequence stopped and magnified a final time. "From what I've learned, it appears that our galaxies started out as a binery pair. We were designed to be a single huge entity, but the energy that the nebula produced, flung us apart very young in the creation. Now, we've known for a few years that our galactic centre has a much stronger magnetic pull than most others around us. In fact, it's all of them except one. Andromeda." She touched the screen again to show Alxein's galaxy. "If I pull up the magnetic fields of both our galaxies, you can see the resemblence and the field in its entirety. You can see for yourself that it's much like the magnetic field of a binery star system. Or in this case, a binery galaxy."

He looked at the screen and how the two galaxcies were colliding and then the reverse and them as they were once together. A binary galaxcy. That was something that his people had never thought of. They had been looking at other things. "Interesting. So both are being attacted to each other like twins. I think my people would be very interested in what you have here." he was still very close to her. "Why don't you think your leaders would not give you the authority. They already have given you the authority to make this first contact a successful one. I think you do not give yourself enough credit."

Lucy gave a short laugh, almost a sigh. "I'm only acting on the Atourney General's behalf. When contact with him is made, my status will be recanted." She told him. "If I were to be a real representative, I'd have to earn it. It takes years to make it to the top." She did sigh then, "But my studies have put me to the top of my field, so that is more than I could want." she smiled before disconnecting her data sheet. She then gave it to him. "I have other copies at home." She told him. "You can have this one to take to your planet's leaders."

Well he would have to see about her status. Like he had done with the General, he might do with the Atourney General. He thought that Lucy was more then qualified and she was more open to possibilities then he figured most of her civilian leaders would be. She had mentioned that her people tended to think of themselves first and that was not a good thing at times. Especially with two races were about to occupie the same space, litterly. "So now we will go make that conference call to your Atourney General." he grinned and took the pad from her.

Lucy smiled back and then took a seat. She tapped the consol a few times, then sat back. "Connect me to the Attourney General's office please." She told the computer. "Connected." The computer replied, then just like that, the Attourney General was on the screen.
"Ahh, Miss Drake." He said cheerfully, "Nice to see your face. Oh, and you have tthe Ambassador with you. Marvelous. How go the talks?" Lucy smiled to the councillor, "So far, everything seems to be in order." She replied, "But the Ambassador would like to speak with you personally." she then moved her chair aside and let Alexin talk.

Alexin smiled at the Attorney General. "Greetings Sir. Your Miss Drake here has been a great help in having our first contact to be a success instead of a disaster." he was refering to the General. "I have one of your engineer's aboard my ship learning quite a bit about our engines from my chief Engineer. He has informed us that with some modifications, your ship engines will be as good as ours and instead of years travel to what you call the Vega System, it will take but months." He hoped that news would be accepted with enthusiasm. "However it appears that this system is the target of my people as well. I would like to have a representative from your government that has full authorities to make a lasting treaty between our people, come back with me to my world, or by the time we arrive the massive fleet of ships with my people. The Council of Elders that rule us would deem it necesarry for talks to make sure there is no conflict between us as we both seek a new home." He looked over at Lucy. If none of those impowered to do this is avaliable, may I suggest that you empower Miss Drake here. She has as I have said been very insturmental in everything so far."

The Attourney General seemed to think carefully on the matter. It took him several moments. eventually, he said, "There are only two with enough authority for what you ask. Myself and Councillor Harrison. The councillor has already left for Pluto with his family under special circumstance. His wife is having a baby. As for myself, I cannot either. My family need me." He went silent again for a moment before looking at Lucy. "I'm afraid Miss Drake is still a minor, so I cannot in good conscience give her authority without both parental permission and government approval. Perhaps if we could meet half way instead? A rendevous half way to Vega. I would be happy to prepare a full meeting with my councillors then, but I'm afraid anything sooner would be incredibly difficult."

Alexin sighed. Such a meeting would be possible but with his people already preparing to leave their world, they would be closer to the Vega System then those of Earth. It would take time to modify the engines of their ships. By the time he returned to his people they would already be leaving the system. If his people got to the Vega system first they might feel it their right to take possision of the first inhaitable world. That might create a problem. "Miss Drake is more then she looks sir. I think she is quite capable of more authority. Plus if you like we can take her parents and family along with us. I am sure they would not mind meeting another race from another world and galaxcy."

The Attourney General shook his head. "Our laws are quite clear regarding juveniles." He said apologetically, "I cannot sanction her approval without government backing and her parents permission. What I can offer right now is a meeting half way. If you are able, I'd be gratefuly if you would contact your leaders and explain our situation. we are only a few weeks away from collision and we desperately need whatever time we have to escape the blast radius and debris field."

"I understand." still he was very disappointed. She would have enjoyed the trip back to his people. "I will inform them as soon as we are able to. It would still take weeks for communications to reach my people. Once we are closer to my system we will make contact and set up a meeting. Miss Drake and I will pick the corrdinates."

The Attourney General nodded, "Thank you for your understanding." He said, "And I am deeply sorry that this couldn't have been done earlier." The screen went blank. In her seat, Lucy gave a deep sigh and stared at the screen for a while. "Stupid laws." She whispered.

Alexin was not to pleased with it all but he had to abide by their laws and customs. "It is to bad that they are so adament on your ways. In my people's culture, we allow leaway in many areas." He slipped the pad into a pocket and shook his head. "To make it back in time for the evacuation and the departure of the ships I will have to leave very soon. Taking out another pad from another pocket, he touched the screen and moved it about then handed it to Lucy. "This contains the starcharts that we made on our way here. There are several hazzards our sensors and telescopes have detected and listed. Also there is the coordinates for our rendevou. To bad your parents were not present here to give you permission to go." he held her hand that now held the pad and then he said, "You are a very lovely and intelligent woman. It has been a pleasure meeting you."

Lucy thought it over for a few moments, hen grinned, "Actually, they are here, all of them." She replied, "They were brought here when I made contact with you. They should be heading back home now and it's only a short hop to the next dome." She thhen blushed, "That is... if you want to meet them?"

He nodded and motioned for her to lead the way. He would indeed love to meet the parents of such a remarkable woman. Perhaps he could convince them to let her come along with him and his ship.

Lucy led the way with a smile, taking him out of the main building and towards the pod stop. One arrived and she stepped into it. "don't worry." she said, "I promise you, it's the safest way to travel around here." she sat down and then waited for Alexin to join her. It would be close quarters for a while.

He entered and sat down next to her. It was a bit tight but he did not mind. As he looked around he had to think of all the reconstruction that would be needed to be done, for both of their people. So many centuries of building, advancements, history that would soon be destroyed. "Lets go."

Lucy closed the lid and the pos shot off for the next dome. It only took a few moments, but this trip provided a unique and marvelous view. About half a mile away, she pointed out of the glass to a small flag sat in the lunar sand, and a small craft nearby. "See that?" she asked, "That was mankind's first step on the moon. One of the proudest moments of our race."

Alexin looked around as they traveled in the pod. The moon, a dead world of sorts was full of life in the domes that dotted its surface. I never failed to amaze him how his people had moved out into space, to their two moons and put a colony on it then out to the other two worlds and with a bit of help of terra forming made them liveable. He smiled when she pointed out their historical site.

Lucy smiled back as the pos shot onward to the next dome. It went through the airlock with a hiss and then came to a smooth stop on the platform. "All out." She said. The lid popped open and she stepped out towards another line of pods. "From here we take a taxipod to my house. It'll only take a few minutes.2

Alexin followed her out and then to what she called a taxipod. They had air cars of sorts, that carried them about the worlds with atmosphers, but on the moons they used mono rails to get about. "So what are your parents like?"

Lucy stepped into the secnd pod with a smile. "My dad's ok." She replied, "But my mother is a bit too much in her own face. My oldest brother Michael is great, but i'd stay away from Nich. He's a real big time loser with a temper to match." She closed the equally tight pod and it shot off for the upper platform. They arrived in a few minutes and she stepped out onto the steel plating.

She pointed quickly to her house and then sarted walking up the drive. "This is home." She said. Then, "Door." The door opened and the smell of cooking dough came to her nose. "Sweet!2 Shee breathed, "Mum brought some bread dough home."

Stepping out behind her he looked around. The dwellings looked quite nice, simalar to those that his people built. "If we should colonize the same world, I can see that we will have an interesting mix of building and transportation." he chuckled.

Lucy laughed, "Probably." She replied, then entered the house. "Dad, Mum!" She called, "I've brought a friend home for dinner!" Her mother was the first to arrive and promptly dropped her coffee cup on the floor as she stared open mouthed at Alexin. She then scarpered as the cleaning bot came out to clean up the coffee. After that, Lucy could hear her mother screaming, "The alien's in my house!" Her father arrived immediately and straightened his shirt. "Oh, um.." He held out his hand to shake Alexin's, "Uh, welcome to our home, Ambassador."

Alexin grinned at what her mother did and said. It was not every day that one had a visit from an alien race. When her father came in, he took his outstreached hand and shook it. "Thank you Sir. " He looked over at Lucy grinning. "I am afraid I will not be able to stay long. My ship must depart here soon to make it back in time before the collision to meet up with our fleet of ships. How ever there is something that we would like to know." he looked to Lucy to be the one to ask.

"Pity." Marcus replied with a frown, but then he perked up again. "But surely you can stay long enough to diccuss it over a mug of our finest joe?" To Alexin's left, Lucy grinned, "He calls that coffee." She whispered, "It's a slang term. You'll find us humans do that quite a bit." Marcus encouraged Alexin into the kitchen and poured him a mug of the steaming liquid.

Alexin followed them to the kitchen and then took the mug of steaming black liquid. He held it up to his nose and smelled it. It had a nice smell and then he carefully brought it to his lips as he could feel the hit on his hands throught the mug. He sipped it and then let the hot liquid go over his toung and then down his throat. It had somewhat of a bitter tast but it was good. "Not bad. Will take some time to get use to though I suppose." he smiled.

Lucy laughed as she took a mug for herself and then sat down next to him. Mrcus took the stool oposite and then stared at Alexin sternly. "I saw the way you looked at my daughter earlier." He began, "As her father, I should warn you that I don't take kindly to folk taking advantage. So, whatever it is you want from her, make sure it doesn't involve her honour."

"He grinned and nodded. "Well since I am leaving shortly, I was wondering if you would not mind her joining me on the trip back to my world. Also was wondering if your family would like to come along as well." He looked at her father as he took another sip of the coffee. "I think before the planned rendevous with your leaders some months down the road, my people would like to know more about your people. On the way you can learn about us."

Marcus sat his mug down with a clunk, his eyes wide open with shock. "You want us to go to your planet with you?" He asked, then almost fell off the stool. In the doorway, Michael stood with a beaming smile. "We'd love to." he said before moving into their line of view. He held out his hand to Alexin. "I'm Michael." He said, "And I'm real happy to meet you."

Alexin took the young mans hand and shook it. "Yes I would love for you to come with us." he could tell that her father was shocked, but probably would love to go as well. He turned to her father again and looked at him with a questioning look, "Well sir, how about you?"

Mrcus could only nod his head at the offer. It seemed his ability to speak had been robbed. A few seconds after that, his wife and nicholas joined them in the kitchen. Michael turned to them and grinned, "We're all going to Karvellion." He announced, then turned to Alexin. "I did say that right, didn't I?"

Alexin laughed and nodded, "Yes you did. Of course this all depends on your laws and customs. I don't know if it is allowed or not by your Attorney General." He looked to her father and her to let him know if there would be a problem.

Marcus finally found his voice again. "well, she's still a minor by law, so she would need our permission and government approval." He said, "But if we were all to go along, that law would be negated because we, as her parents would be accompanying her. No permission required." On her stool, Lucy beamed with a huge smile. Marcus then left his seat and motioned for Alexin to follow. "A word in private if I may?" He asked, leading the other man into the living room. He shut the door and then stood proudly. "Going back to my original question. what are you intentions towards my only daughter?"

Alexin shook his head when her father asked him what his intentions were for his daugther. He remembered the same speach his father gave some one when he came home with his sister. "Well sir that all depends on her. I find her quite lovely and very intelligent and talented. It also depends on you sir, for on our world if one intends on seeing a woman they talk to the father of that woman first. We have just met and hardly know each other let alone customs and such. That is another reason I wish for you and your family to come with us. This way you can get to know me and I you."

Marcus nodded and began pacing the floor. "True, you only arrived today, but I'm far from blind...." He wound his hand over, "In fact, I'm not sure I even know your name. All I've heard you being called is Ambassador."

Alexin smiled. "It is Alexin Sarkron sir. My father is the Chief Scientist/Advisor to the Council of Elders, the rulers of our world." He knew how a father didn't trust any man around their daughter, he had seen that in his father and of course he was suspicious of the man that had come to see his sister, and of course quite protective of her. "I don't know what your daughter thinks of me besides being a man from another planet, and facinated with that idea. But I assure you that I will not take advantage of her. I respect her to much for that."

Marcus nodded, "Very good." He replied, "I can't have her galavanting off with some alien...no offense...with no idea on what it would do to her, or more to the point, what could happen because of it. Besides, she's still only a child. She's my baby, so you can understand where I'm coming from." He faced the man again proper, "What about you, Alexin? I assume that you're single at least, but how old are you? Old enought to have children? Have you been married before? What is your culture on this matter?"

He was getting the third degree. He smiled and answered his questions. "Well in regards to what your planetary cycle is I would be 25 years of age and no I have not been married before. My life has been a bit to busy for that of late. As for our culture on this, well when two people of two different families come together to be as one, the families have a great celebration. Both fathers stand at the head of both families and have the two come forward. Each gives to the other thier child and with a cereamonaly ribbon tie their right hands together as each places a ring upon the other's finger." He held up his left hand and pointed to the finger. Then both their family's tatoos...." he pointed to his right arm. He couldn't show it to him without half undressing. "are removed and a combination of both replace them.

Marcus almost looked as though panicked. "I'm not talking about marriage!" He quipped, "Absolutely not!" he took a few deep breaths to calm down again. "I'm talking about what you younguns do before that. Sex and dating etc. Or does that not happen on your world?"

Alexin laughed. "Of course. Well once getting the approval of the father to date the woman, the man takes her out and they see how they get along. It takes time of course and I am not sure about your culture, but in ours if the two concent to having sex there is no problem. There use to be, along time ago when such things were strict and forbiden. But because of wars and such, the population of the world suffered greatly and things changed to aid in repopulation. This is a part now of our culture to see if the two people are acceptable to each other, in more then just having things in common and enjoying the same things." he looked at her father. He had no idea of what their culture deemed propper or allowed.

Marcus nodded, then tilted his head slightly, "Our laws on sex and such are somewhat more relaxed. Not to my liking of course, but there is only so much a father can do to hide his daughter from it and they are inquisitive to say the least. 25 you say you are? What does that equate to in human terms?"

He had thought he had answered that question, but evidently he had not worded it right. "On my world since it has a longer orbit about our sun, I am considered to be 18 years of age. On your world I would be considered 25 years of age."

Marcus nodded again. "Very well." He replied, then smiled again. "You can relax now." He offered, "The interogation is over. Come, we needto let the family know what's gonna happen and I need to make my ship available for someone else."

He follwed her father out of the room. He could see Lucy waiting and probably wondering what her father was saying to him. "We can not take long. If you were already packed and ready to go we can return to my ship immediately. You said you had a ship, if it is here then perhaps you can take it up to mine and unload what ever you need to and have some one return it to the moon."

Marcus gave a small shrug of his shoulders to the other man. "There's not that much that we're taking." He replied smoothly, "You see, my ship only had a limited amount of storage and everything that we've packed will pertty much fit into one cargo unit." He moved back through to the kitchen and smiled to his family. "Hows about a small detour?" He asked them. "The Ambassador here has invited Lucy to Karvellian and he'd like us all to tag along. Isn't that amazing?"

Across the ktichen, only Michael seemed excited about the idea. Nicholas and his mother seemed anything but happy. It was she that stepped forward. With one hand on her hip, the other touching her mouth with one finger, she paced for a minute, then stopped and turned to face her husband and Alexin. "So instead of dragging us to some way off distant star to live on some weird uncharted planet, you now want to drag us to a different way off distant sun to visit some weird alien world with some weird alien that looks just like us and then go to the first way off star with him?" Both hands came out in front of her and she pointed them sideways at him. "Are you fucking insane?!"

"It's the chance of a lifetime, Mum!" Lucy interjected. "We will be the first to make treaties with Alexin's people and they're all heading the same way as us humans. We could lay the grounds for a peaceful cohabitation. Doesn't that mean anything at all to you?"
Her mother glared at Lucy. "As far as I'm concerned, they can go to hell!" She hissed. "It's not bad enough that I have to leave my home because of their solar system, but now I have to share my new home with them?" She stuck her middle finger up at them all. "You can sit and swing!"

Next to Alexin, Marcus blushed and coughed into his hand. "I believe my wife is swearing at you." He said quietly, "Well, to all of us in fact. My apologies, Ambassador."
sat on her stool, Lucy sighed and shook her head. "Fine." She said, "stay here and die. Or better yet, find a ticket on a different ship. I only need one parent to agree to my going and by the look of it, Dad has done exactly that."

Alexin paid Lucy's mother no mind as she ranted. He could see that she did not see eye to eye with her husband, other son, or Lucy. She seemed to blame everything on his solar system for the destruction of their world. Both galaxcies had been moving together, not just one. If she did not wish to go with her husband, that was her decision. It was also up to her husband, Marcus. If he decided that just him, Lucy, and his other son would go, that would be ok with him.

"We must be leaving very soon." He looked at Marcus. "If your wife does not wish to join us then like Lucy said, she can remain here and find another way to leave." he hoped that there were not many like her that would not accept his people as coinhabitors of a possible new world or worlds.