BR: Earth Station: Gremlins

Created & Written By: JS. Rogers

Based on Buck Rogers

Created By: Philip Francis Nowlan

Credit to: Freda Musaalo

Chapter One: What A Day

Lieutenant Borus Maad didn't really like large crowds and often wondered why he chose to join the crew of Earth Station. Still, he was here and he would always put forth his best efforts as his species has always impressed on one another. The Yingling species was a proud species who took pride in everything they did. It was often easy to hurt their pride, which is something Lt. Maad constantly worked on while living among non Yingling. Lt. Maad looked out the window of his Quarters admiring the stars. It's been nearly five years now that he has been aboard the station. Once the station was ready for the oxygen supply, many of the maintenance and engineering crew came aboard to live while working on completing the station. Being Chief Engineer, Lt. Maad felt is was his responsibility to be here.

After changing into his uniform, he left to head for work, strolling through the Promenade. Engineering was actually up a few floors, Maad just enjoyed the daily stroll through the Promenade, listening to the people, checking to see if he could hear any complaints so he may better the station. Satisfied with what he heard, he left to go to work.

Engineering was a bit larger than your usual engine room, but he insisted on it. “A spacious Engineering creates happy workers.” He'd tell the construction workers. It took a bit of convincing, but Colonel O'Connor finally agreed with him. Every shift, when he gets on, he gets updates from the crew. Knowing what is going on makes the day easier. “Status.” He said as he got to his station.

“Clear,” each department would inform him. Every day was almost the same and in many ways, he hoped it would change just slightly now that Earth Station was up and running.

“Lieutenant, there is one small thing that may or may not be significant.”

“What's that Private?”

“A couple of monitors, one in Engineering and one in Medbay have been, malfunctioning. We've sent someone to fix the one in Medbay and we fixed the one here. I just thought you should know.”

“Thank you Private.”

“Yes, Sir.” It took the crew a little while to get used to Maad and those who have just arrived will probably take a little to get used to him. Lt. Maad's appearance is usually what throws everyone off. Many members of the Earth's different organizations have actually never met a Yingling and when they met him for the first time, it takes some convincing that he is who he says he is. Yinglings do not age like Humans their outer appearance remains that of a Human child. Lt. Maad appears to be the age of twelve, when in reality, he is fourtyish years old.

Continuing his work from the previous day, Maad caught himself at a mental impasse. This wasn't the first time this had happened so he decided to head to Medbay to speak with Doctor Hass. They had become good friends since her coming aboard last year. Medbay wasn't too far from Engineering, so it would be a hop, skip, and a jump for him to get there. As he walked into Med bay he noticed that there were already one or two patients. Paying it no mind, he walked up to Doctor Hass. “Chief, what can I do for you today?”

“I've been having some mental issues today. I was hoping you might be able to help.”

“I'll see what I can do. Hop on the bed.” As he got on the bed, Hass gathered some thing she'd need to give him a check up. As she looked into his eyes, she began to ask him questions. “What has your work day been like?”

“Well, other than the festivities, a little slow. But it hasn't been completely boring.”

“I see. Follow my finger with just your eyes. Have you been able to get out a lot?”

As her finger moved, his eyes followed. “Honestly, there really isn't a whole lot to do on the station. I do walk through the Promenade on my way to work.”

“Okay. How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Five...............one...............three..............six...............ten.”

“Excellent. I'm going to do it again, but faster.”

“One, eight, five, four, two, seven.”

“Excellent. Well Chief, there's nothing wrong with your mental mind. You're underwhelmed.”

“Underwhelmed?”

“Yes. Sometimes our minds can get underwhelmed when we don't have enough variety in our lives. It can give us what we call, mental fog.”

Maad slightly cocked his head to the side, “But I do quite a bit.”

“Borus, it sounds to me that you get up, walk through the Promenade, go to work and then head home.”

“Exactly.”

“You need to do more. This is what I prescribe for you. Spend an hour in the park before work at least three times a week. After work, go to the club, hangout on the Promenade, or go somewhere where there's people and mingle.”

“How often for that?” Maad sounded disgusted at the thought.

“At least three times a week.”

“Do I have to?

“If you want this mental fog to go away, yes.”

Maad hopped off the bed and turned to face Doctor Hass. “Thank you Tina.”

“Don't be a stranger.”

As Lt. Maad walked out of Medbay, his comm went off. “Lieutenant Maad, report to the Control Center.”

“On my way Colonel.” On the way to the Control Center, Maad thought hard about what Tina had said. He wasn't sure if he liked it as it would cause him to change everything about his daily routine. 'Still, it wouldn't hurt to give it a try.' He thought. Walking in to the Control Center, Maad could see a few screens flickering and immediately knew why he was there. “We had some trouble in Medbay and Engineering with flickering screens.”

“It looks like it's spreading.” O'Connor said, a little frustrated. “We just opened the station, we can't be already having problems.” Maad opened the main control panel and started tinkering with it.

“No, Sir.” Maad said.

“I was in the middle of a conversation with the Chancellor.”

“Yes, Sir.” With one more tinker, the screens returned to normal. “That should do it, Sir. You shouldn't have any more problems, but if you do, let me know, Sir.”

“Thank you Borus.......and Borus, again, call me Tim. Sir is a little too formal for me.”

Walking out, Maad just simply said, “Yes, Sir.” O'Connor shook his head.

What Doctor Hass said kept ringing through Maad's mind. He still wasn't sure if he liked the idea of spending time with others. Though his species will hang out with one another, it's rare for them to hangout with non Yinglings. However, Maad realized that he wasn't exactly in a situation where he could hang out with his own people.

The rest of his shift was pretty uneventful and thinking more about what Tina said, he decided to take a chance. “Jennings. What do you do when you get off work?” He asked his first in command.

Jennings voice had a hint of curiosity in it as he replied. “I sometimes go to the High Up Club. Why? Were you you thinking of going somewhere?”

“Maybe. Doctor Hess suggested that I hang out with people about three times a week. I was thinking that I could maybe go to where the crowd goes.”

“That sounds like a great idea. If you like, we can go right after work?”

“I think that will do.” Maad Paused for a moment, “Thank you Jennings.”

“No problem Chief, it'll be fun.” The rest of the shift went by faster than Maad would have liked it to. Although he was the one who decided that this should happen, Maad still wasn't convinced that this would help but he kept open an mind anyway. “Ready Chief?” Jennings asked.

“Well, as you Humans like to say, as ready as I'll ever be.”

It didn't take them long to get to the club, considering it doesn't take them long to get anywhere on the station, despite how large the station is. The outside of the club looked like any other business on the Promenade, at least until you walked in. Inside it was a little dark, and lights sparkled here and there. Standing at the entrance was a man who appeared to be in his early twenties. Looking at Jennings and then Borus, he simply said, “I'm sorry, children are not allowed in here.” Jennings started laughing.

Borus looked at Jennings and then the person talking to them, reading his name tag. “Young man, I'm old enough to be your father. If you would please look at my uniform and check my chip, you'd see that.” Borus held up his right hand, his palm facing Toby.

Toby scanned his hand and instantly got an embarrassed look on his face. The uniform made more sense now. “I'm so sorry Chief. Welcome to the High Up Club.”

“Thank you Toby.” After scanning Jennings hand, the two walked in. Borus paid close attention to everything. This was all new to him and he was beginning to enjoy himself. Jennings tapped Maad's shoulder, directing him over to one of the three pool tables that sat on the far side of the room. They had to weave in and out of people dancing, but when they arrived at the pool table, Borus looked confused. “I have never seen this before. What is it?” He said loud, attempting to get his voice over the music.

“I believe it's called pool. I read that the point of the game is to get the balls into those holes. We hit the white ball with this stick into the other balls. One turn goes until you miss the hole. The one to get all the balls in the holes first is the winner. The white ball is the last one you put in the hole. I think this was a game that was played a long time ago. Do you want to try?”

“Sure. Sounds..............fun. Who goes first?”

“Honestly, I'm not sure , but since you're the Chief, You can go first.”

“Thank you Jennings.” The two took turns hitting the balls. They both realized very quickly that the game was a little bit strategy and mostly mathematics. To Borus it was a lot like being at work. They both were enjoying themselves, talking and laughing when the lights turned on and the screens in the middle of the room went on the fritz. “Not again.” Borus said. “This is the fourth time today that this has happened. The Colonel is not going to be happy.”

As the two engineering officers walked up to the counter, they could hear others moan and complain. “We're from engineering.” Jennings said. “We'll have this back up and running in a moment.”

“Where's your main control panel?” Borus asked. The bartender pointed to a door under the bar. “Of coarse.” Borus opened the door to the panel and noticed that he was going to have to get on his back for this one.

As he slid under, a young woman came up to them. “Hey Jennings, hey Chief.”

Borus peeked out for a moment. “Hello Wilcox.”

“Awe Chief, you can call me B. K.” B. K. was one of Borus' engineers, who was in command of the grave yard shift.

After a bit of tinkering, the screens went back on and the lights dimmed. Cheers were heard in the room. “There we go.”

“Thank you Chief.” The bar tender said. Borus only nodded to him.

Borus was ready to head home as he felt that he had enough “excitement” for the day. However, B. K. had other plans and managed to get him out on the floor, dancing. He was sure it looked ridiculous to others, but it wasn't long before he let loose and had fun.

Chapter Two: Eyewall

Borus was happy that it was his day off. He had spent far more time at the club then he had originally planned and he was exhausted from the dancing. Borus had forgotten that yesterday was B. K.'s day off and though he wasn't angry with her or anything, she had kept him there dancing until nearly three in the morning. He was pretty sure that she was just excited to see him there. Borus was enjoying his sleep until his comm went off. In a vary tired voice, he replied, “Yes. What is it?”

“Chief,” O'Connor began, “I know.....day.....but we ne.....help to......this mess.” Borus had no clue that his comm was on the fritz. He was far too tired to hear what was going on. About twenty minutes later, Colonel O'Connor was waking him up. “Borus!” He said in a loud voice, shaking him. “Borus!! Wake up.” He wasn't sure if it was the shaking, the loudness of his voice, or a combination of both, but Borus suddenly sat up, wide awake.

“Colonel?” Borus said, confused. “What are you doing in my quarters?”

“I tried calling you, but you seemed to be too tired.”

“If you're here, it must be an emergency.”

“The comms are on the fritz, screens are on the fritz, and we've had five cases of sonic showers causing migraines. It's worse then yesterday.” Tim stepped back so Borus could get out of bed. “Lieutenant, what happens if these malfunctions hit the stations core?”

“Frankly Sir,............Kaboom.”

“That's what I was afraid of. What is going on Lieutenant?” O'Connor was more concerned for the station and lives aboard than anything else. It was confusing to him with what was going on.

“I'm not entirely sure, Sir” Borus commented as he walked into the bathroom to get changed. Exiting the bathroom, he continued. “We ran some tests yesterday on any type of virus we could think of. I ran a few tests that aren't common as well. Everything came up clear. My people are supposed to be running tests today to see if there are any type of anomalies, wormholes, or anything of the kind. Don't worry, Sir. We'll get this figured out.” As he was talking, he was putting on his boots.

O'Connor was so frustrated with what was going on, he didn't see what was right in front of him. “I know it's your day off, Borus, but could you please come in and get this solved? When it's done, you can have two days off in a row.”

“Lead the way, Sir.” O'Connor looked Borus up and down, just realizing that he was in full uniform and ready to go.

“You're an amazing man.” They walked out of Borus' quarters, heading towards the Control Center. All around them they could see screens freaking out, machines malfunctioning and even one of the lifts was out of order.

Borus shook his head, lifting his arm up. It had gotten much worse than last night. “Engineering, I want all available hands covering the station. This entire place is going crazy. First priority is to fix the lifts and then the monitors. I'm heading to the Control Center with Colonel O'Connor.”

“Yes. Sir.”

As they walked into the Control Center, many of the officers weren't doing a whole lot. There really wasn't much anyone could do. They walked past a fabricator and out of the blue, a coffee appeared, sitting there as if someone ordered it. “That's a bit concerning.” Borus remarked. Noticing two of his engineers in there, one on each side of the room, trying to fix the screens, Borus headed to the middle console to see what he could do. As he tinkered underneath the center console, he began talking to himself. “Come on you stupid thing. …....... No, that's not right. ….......There you are.” After a bit of talking to himself and fidgeting with the different commands on the terminals below, Borus got up to check the terminals. Almost all at once, the screens went back on and they were functioning properly. “Now, Let's see if I can figure out what's going on.”

The two engineering officers that were in there when he arrived, walked up to Borus for further instructions. “Check with engineering to see where they need you to be. It's going to be a busy day.”

“Yes, Sir.” They said at the same time, then leaving the Control Center.

Tim walked over to Borus and with a short pause, he asked. “Doesn't it bother you that they constantly call you, Sir?”

“Not at all. Saying Sir is a sign of honor and respect. It takes a lot to reach the status of Sir or Ma'am.”

“I can understand where you are coming from. It just makes me uncomfortable. It makes me feel like I'm more important than my crew and I don't like that feeling.”

“Well, Sir, you ARE more important than the rest of us. Every officer here should be willing and honored to put their lives in danger to save yours. You are our commanding officer. This station runs as smooth as it does because of you.”

“No. I disagree. This station runs as smooth as it does because of each of you. Each one of you work hard to do your job properly and efficiently. If I were to suddenly disappear, the station would continue to run. However, if each of you were to suddenly disappear all at the same time, I would not be able to run this station. That's why it makes me uncomfortable. Each of you are just as important, if not, more important.”

“Hmm. You have a point Colonel. I never really thought of it that way.” Borus paused for a moment when something on the screen caught his attention. “Wait a minute, what have we here?”

Leaning down, Tim asked, “What is it?”

“Before you came to talk to talk to me, I had the computer run life scans of the station. I wanted to make sure it was running properly. The normal results showed up with one extra life form.”

“You mean we have a stowaway?”

“You ... could ... say ... that. What we have is a microscopic life form that's trapped in our computer system.”

“Micro....How did it get there?”

“I don't know, but I don't think it means any harm. I'm willing to bet that it's trying to communicate with us. The problem is, we don't speak it's language.” The screen that they were looking at went on the fritz again. “Colonel, a crazy thought just came to me. What if we're hurting it?”

“Hurting it? How so?”

“We've been treating it like a computer virus, which could be hurting it. If you notice, every time we fix something that's malfunctioning, things get worse. Yesterday we had two malfunctions, so we fixed them. Last night we had four malfunctions and we fixed those too. Then today, everything is malfunctioning. I think by fixing what malfunctions we are hurting it and it's getting angry.”

“So how do we fix the situation? I'm pretty sure it's too late for diplomacy.”

“It's never too late for diplomacy, Si, .. Colonel. However, I'm not going to be able to do anything here. I need to be in Engineering.”

“Get to it. Good luck, Lieutenant.”

Borus ran out of the Control Center and didn't stop until he got to Engineering.

Chapter Three: Clarity

Running into Engineering, Borus was thinking about how they could communicate with this life form. First thing he had to do, however, was call everyone back to engineering. Getting on the loud speaker, he did just that. “To all engineering staff, stop what you are doing and return to Engineering, immediately.” As the last staff member walked in, Borus continued. “Alright everyone. Drop what you're doing and come here.” Everyone gathered around Borus to see what was going on. “I believe we solved part of the mystery. All of these glitches are not computer malfunctions. What we have is a microscopic life form. It's trapped in our system and has been trying to communicate with us. We must assume that anything we fix, is going to harm this life form.”

“How are we supposed to communicate with it, Sir?”

Thanx to the conversation that he and Tim had, Borus began to feel uncomfortable with the title, Sir. What Tim said kept running through his mind. “That's what we have to find out, Private. Also, from this day forward, I would rather you address me by either my rank or Chief.” He paused to look at his crew. “Now, let's get to work.”

Each officer worked hard to try and come up with a way to communicate with this life form. Everyone's minds kept drawing a blank. Hour after hour had passed and still they came up with nothing. As the night went on, each officer got tired, one by one they would take a break to eat and refresh their minds. When it was time for Borus to take a break, he decided to stroll through the Promenade. There was something about how busy it was that helped him to release his mind. The music playing was relaxing to him until it started screeching. It only lasted for a moment, but it was enough to get his attention. As he looked around, he noticed random pictures displaying on the monitors. Aloud, Borus remarked, “I know you're trying to communicate, but I don't understand what you're trying to say. Help me understand.” The random pictures, the screechy music, the sonic showers, it was all getting to him as it didn't make any sense to him. None of them could understand what this life form was trying to say. Borus repeated, “What are you trying to say?”

“They're screaming for help.” A girl commented as she walked up to him. She appeared to be the age of fourteen in Human years, with short red wavy hair and blue eyes.

“They?” He asked her, noticing the ridges on her face and forehead.

“Yes. It's not one being who is trapped in your system. It's a ship of microscopic beings.”

“How do you know this?”

“I could sense it.” Her demeanor was calm and her hands rested upon another in front of her.

“You're Emphatic?”

“Telepathic. Well, télépáká to be more precise.

“You're not a child are you?”

“Don't you think we have more important things to worry about right now?”

“Right. I should take you to the Colonel.”

“That would probably be wise?”

As they walked into the Control Center they could see screens flickering and the fabricators producing items then retracting them, then producing them, then retracting them. It seemed to be getting worse and all Borus could think about was trying to communicate with them, which he still didn't know how to do. “Lieutenant,” Tim began, “Get this fixed.”

“I would highly suggest not doing that, Colonel O'Connor.” The young woman said.

“Who are you?” With that question being asked, Borus realized that he never got her name.”

“My name is Frëduh Møsálö.”

Borus stepped in to speak. “She's a tél...é...páká?”

“Yes, but all you need to understand is that I'm a telepath. These beings that are in your system, Colonel, are in pain.”

“You can speak with them?”

“No. In order to speak with someone, you must first know their language. I can feel their emotions, their thoughts.”

“How did you come to realize that they were there?”

“I started noticing patterns. The pictures, my sonic shower, the music, even my fabricator. These aren't just random pictures or malfunctions. As your Lieutenant here put it, they are trying to speak to you.”

“But we don't understand what they are trying to say.” Tim said. Then a thought came to his mind. “Miss Møsálö,”

“Please, call me Frëduh.”

“Frëduh, Can you communicate with them?”

“That's a good question, Colonel.”

“Please, call me Tim.”

“Well, Tim, I have never tried communicating this way before. In order to communicate with them, they would have to be able to receive emotions, and thought. I would not be able to communicate with words.” Frëduh thought for a moment. “There are three things that are considered a universal language. Mathematics, Music and pictures, basic pictures like space, an explosion, things of that nature and the one thing that every sentient creature has is thought. However, interpreting that thought can become very tricky.”

“How so?” Borus asked.

“Imagine, Chief, that you are thinking of a time that you and a sweetheart were on a romantic date and it starts raining. However, you love the rain, so to you it is far more romantic than many might feel. If I were to only read your though, I might interpret that as a very gloomy time.”

“I see.”

Frëduh continued. “Now if I were to read emotions with thought, then I would be able to properly interpret it. However, it's far more complicated than that. With these beings,” Frëduh noticed Tim's face when she said that. “Yes, there's more than one. With these beings, I would need to be able to feel their thoughts, emotions and then try and communicate with them by projecting thought, emotions and imagery to, hopefully, be able to tell them anything. Then they would have to be able to display in themselves thoughts, emotions and hopefully imagery to portray what they are trying to say.”

“Honestly,” Tim started, “it all sounds too complicated. Can you do....what you just said?”

“I understand what you're saying.”

“I'm glad you do, Chief, but can you do it?” He asked Frëduh.

“I believe so. I will need time to prepare, to calculate how I'm going to do this.”

“That's fine, but try to hurry.”

Frëduh spent a little time meditating and focusing on the task at hand. As far as she knows, no one has ever attempted communication of this type before, so in doing so, she would need to be very careful about how she does this. Frëduh pulled up some basic images in her mind, and focused on her thoughts and feelings. She prayed that the Triad would help her.

Chapter Four: First Contact

Frëduh was able to focus on her thoughts, feelings and the new beings that she was to communicate with, despite the chaos that pursued around her. Her breathing slowed and mind cleared of everything except what she felt was needed for contacting these beings. “I can feel them. They can see that I'm trying to communicate with them. Hold on.” Frëduh could feel their thoughts and emotions, the pain they're in.

“Frëduh, ask them why they are damaging the station.”

Transmitting her thoughts and emotions to them, she displayed an image in her mind of something damaged. In return, they displayed in their thoughts, images of pain and suffering, expressing the emotions that properly coincided with them. “They're not trying to damage the station. For some reason they are in pain. They're suffering, horribly.”

“Ask them why they don't leave.”

Frëduh projected thoughts and feelings of freedom, displaying imagery of open doors or wide open fields. The beings displayed in their thoughts of a closed up, dark box of sorts, and a wall or fence closed in, in a circle. “They can't leave. They're trapped and scared.” They then displayed imagery of people being harmed and imagery of death. “They're being harmed. They're afraid they're going to die.”

“How, Frëduh? What's keeping them here?” Display screens started coming back on line, little by little.

It took a moment for Frëduh to translate it and she displayed to them the fence and a man forcefully holding someone, displaying emotions of concern. They responded with imagery of electricity and a fence of electricity. They showed her a sun and a ship exploding, imagery of people crying and more imagery of death. “Colonel, they're in danger of exploding. The electricity that powers the station is keeping them here. They can't leave because of us.”

“How can we help them?” Tim asked.

Borus slowly turned to Tim. “We need to shut down the station. All power must be turned off.”

Tim looked at Frëduh, her eyes still closed. “Let them know that we are going to try and help. Borus, do it.” Frëduh communicated to them what they were going to do.

“I can only do it from Engineering and it will require precise timing.”

“Borus,” Frëduh began, “you must hurry. They don't have much time before they explode.”

Borus ran out of the Control Center to Engineering, the entire time yelling for people to get out of his way. He reached Engineering in a record time and as he entered, he yelled for Jennings to meet him at the core. “What's going on Chief?”

“We need to shut the station down.”

“Turn it completely off?”

“Yes. I don't have time to explain, we have to do it now!”

“Let's do it.” Shutting down the station required two high ranking officers in Engineering to input their pass codes into the system. Once they did that, two doors open displaying a leaver in each door that they would need to pull, however, a leaver must be pulled by each officer who put their code in. The leavers read the chip in that officer to verify it's them. They then pull the leavers and the entire station shuts down. This system is on a separate computer system that is connected only by one thick wire and multiple firewalls to keep out any intruders. “Ready?” They both pulled their leaver and stood there as the station went completely dark. This would last for only five minutes, and then the station would automatically turn itself back on.

Frëduh stood in the dark and as they all waited, they could see a light float to Frëduh. The light kept position just in front of Frëduh's face and as they stood there, a smile came across her lips. “Tim, they say thank you for freeing them and they want to express sorrow for any damage they did to us. Their species is called, The Bomier. They are microscopic organisms that wandered into the station systems just before the festivities. They are unsure of how they got in but when they tried leaving after the festivities, they discovered they were trapped.”

“Tell them we are truly sorry for causing any pain to them.”

Frëduh's smile grew bigger as they turned around to exit the station. With in a couple of minutes of them leaving, everything came back on. One by one, work stations displayed their normal activity, lights turned on, and the station slowly resumed it's daily hustle and bustle. “Tim, The Bomier wanted to express gratitude for saving their lives. They transmitted star charts and information into your system that describe hundreds of star systems and species you have yet to discover. They also wanted me to inform you that you will meet again, but next time, it will be on better circumstances.”

On the main viewer, star charts and pictures of species appeared one after another very rapidly. “Colonel,” Lieutenant Griftin spoke up, “three hundred thousand quads of information has been downloaded into our system.”

Borus walked in the Control Center as the information appeared on the main viewer. “Wow.” He said as he stood by Frëduh's side. “Did that come from the entities?”

“Yes. They're called The Bomier.”

Borus stepped a little closer and without another word, Frëduh attempted to slip out unseen. “Frëduh.” Tim said, “Come here please.” Frëduh turned around and walked to where Tim stood. “Thanks to you, The Bomier and this station has survived. You stepped up when you weren't even asked to. We owe you our thanks.”

“The Bomier owe me more.” She joked with a laugh.

Laughing as well, Tim continued. “I like you, Frëduh. Would you consider stay aboard with us as a counselor? You would receive pay and you will be provided quarters and an office for your counseling. From what I saw here, you're more than qualified and......”

Frëduh put a hand up to stop him from saying anything further. “Colonel, no need to go further. I would be happy to accept your offer.”

“I'm glad. I was hoping I wouldn't have to beg.”

“Come now Colonel. Begging is so beyond you, although it might be interesting to see you beg. I'm sure they're curious too.” She gave him a huge smile.

Smiling back, he said. “Borus will assign some quarters to you. Tomorrow come by my office and I will need to enter some information into the system. We'll get you all situated then.”

“Sounds great, Tim. Thank you.”

Chapter Five: Welcome Frëduh

As Borus and Frëduh walked slowly to her quarters, they conversed with each other. “What species are you?” Borus asked.

“I'm a Cháköönì?n.”

“Cháköönì?n? I've not come across your species. Tell me about them.”

“Oh where to start. Well, Cháköönì?ns mature at a much faster pace than most humanoid species. For example, I'm the age of fourteen, however, maturity wise, a normal Cháköönì?n my age would be twenty-eight. I've always been a little more mature than what we call normal. I'm more of thirty-six ish.”

“I see. You said that you are télépáká. What does that mean?”

“Inside all of us lies one or two dormant abilities. Telekinesis and telepathy. This glove I wear on my right hand,” She lifted her hand to show him, “can become a blade. This glove is crafted by our Gods, Triad. Once worn, it can never come off and it taps into our inner energy bringing out one or both of these abilities. Most people have only one ability, but vary rarely does someone have both, like me. In my language, we call them, télépá, téléká, and télépáká. Normally, one does not become a Daughter of Triad until after Change, but Triad saw something special in me and trained me at the age of twelve.”

“What's, Change?”

“Change is what a Cháköönì?n goes through at the age of sixteen. We grow wings out of our back. They rip through the skin, so between that and the growth, it's extremely painful. One out of every twenty Cháköönì?ns die from it. My mother died from it before I was born.” They had stopped at some quarters on the crew floor that Frëduh could only assume would be her quarters.

“Wait, do the Cháköönì?n women not get pregnant?”

“Borus. One thing about what I just did, it can exhaust me to no end. I would love to continue this conversation later, if that's okay?”

“Of coarse. Let me get you registered in these quarters and I'll let you get some rest.”

“Thank you Borus.”

Borus gave her a smile and replied, “There you are. It should automatically open when you step in front of it. My quarters is just three doors down if you need anything, any time I'm home.”

“Thank you. You're sweet.” Frëduh walked in to her new quarters, rubbing the furniture and taking a deep breath. Thinking about what happened today. “I've arrived.” She said to the air.

Borus looked at Frëduh's quarters for a moment and with a smile, walked to his own. He was a little taken back as he thought about her. He had never met anyone like Frëduh and he wanted to get to know her more. Perhaps in time, he might.