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  The days after Eldon’s contact with his elders made him skeptical. He was in a hard

  dilemma. Juuda, who had become a close friend of Eldon’s, got everything explained

  to him. His denial to hear Eldon’s communications without his approval was a key

  part of why Eldon trusted him the way he did. Juuda’s ideas also began to have an

  impact on Eldon’s mind. His pacifist and just way of seeing things rubbed off on

  Eldon.

  As time went by, some contact was established with the other species. In

  most cases, they were greeted with fear. Humans slowly became more proficient in

  how they make first contact. They were slowly convincing one after another that the

  best cause of action was to cease hostilities with the neighboring species and join the

  humans in their quest of uniting the system. Most of the species joined out of fear.

  The technological advancement of humans was well spoken of, even to people who

  had yet to come in contact with them. Very few joined, because they really believed

  that the humans might end the wars of their ancestors. Especially after the news of

  the Orc-Naga defeat and the murdering of the goblin leader’s wife, it became hard to

  convince them that the humans were truly seeking peace.

  This problem concerned Alex greatly. His plans began enveloping a much

  grander scheme, wherein the entire system would need to be governed. With that in

  mind, he was searching for ways to convince the other species to join the cause.

  Those who feared humans would not willingly join, and those who did not thought

  that an alien, an outsider could not be trusted.

  Anais and Albert, who had left for a long mission near a strange species of

  tiny tree-dwelling creatures, were returning with more data. Helen had made more

  accurate measurements and now dated the end of the civilization on Gaia at about

  sixty thousand years ago. That was the same as about 7,200 years on Earth.

  Y:20 D:7

  Argos

  Emile, who was devoted in sociology and was spending much time at indigenous

  species’ villages, learning from them, invited the leaders to reveal the results of his

  research. In the meeting, Eldon was present at Emile’s request.

  “Hello, everyone,” he started. “As all of you have been briefed, I am looking

  into ways of making the communications and alliances with other species easier. I

  had stayed with some of them for long periods of time, and slowly I began painting a

  better image of their history. I am now convinced that there is a bigger picture we are

  not seeing. Something is so magnificently out of our understanding that we are blind

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  to it.”

  “Can you make this clearer, please?” asked Jain.

  “The species we have here are not from this world.”

  “That’s a brave statement, but what are you going to back that up with?”

  asked Jain.

  “Firstly, there are no cousins of any species we see here. There are no

  animals that evolved parallel with any species we see. We should see animals with

  similar features as every one of them, but we see nothing.”

  Gakuto interrupted. “We have spoken about this, Emile, and I explained that

  this is not proof. They could have driven all those animals to extinction. We need to

  start digging into the soil to uncover the past. This is not proof yet.”

  “And we will not have enough people to start investing into digging for fossils

  anytime soon,” added Juuda.

  “Yes, but this is not all,” said Emile. “They all talk about kings from the stars.

  They all have a history, one way or another, of being abandoned by those kings. The

  cities we see and the expansion on the other planets we confirmed with Eldon’s

  home world, Spi, betrays a coexistence before the war, which is very unlikely. Near

  impossible, really.”

  “Why do you say that?” asked Juuda. “Why do you think that just because we

  were always unable to make peace on Earth, they would have hard time to do that

  here as well?”

  “Let me clear this up.” Emile took a deep breath and put his thoughts into

  order. “They are not special. They are all people like us. They have the same

  chemistry, the same needs, and even very similar wants. They love and hate just like

  us, and they fear change and strangers just like we used to. The question then

  changes into this: Without an external input of something too big, how do you expect

  them to grow into a spacefaring civilization?”

  “So, if we were to leave them alone to advance now, you say they would

  never reach peace?” asked Juuda.

  “Exactly,” said Emile. “If you somehow manage to make them have peace for

  a while, it will not be enough to create an elite table of kings from every tribe that will

  keep the peace over large enough periods of time to create spaceships. The chances

  are astronomically low.”

  “So, what are you suggesting here?” asked Jain.

  “I am saying that there are things we are missing that are far too important to

  neglect. We need to seek the truth of the past. Something huge is hiding here.”

  Alex, who was listening all this time, looked at Emile with seriousness. “How

  do you suggest we approach this then?” he asked.

  “I think we should go to the other planets. We need to see and talk with the

  Vampires who are ancient and check on the first planet of the solar system.”

  “Why the first planet?” asked Alex.

  “Because it is often pointed as the home of the kings by some tribes.”

  “Eldon,” said Alex, “do you think that Rhain and his superiors will know

  something more than you about the past?”

  “Probably,” said Eldon. “Our species does not age. Just like you. Rhain is

  much older than me. He lived when the kings where present. I am sure that his

  superiors are even older, and some of them must have had some sort of connection

  to the kings themselves.”

  “Is it time to turn Arrow into a spaceship?” asked Jain.

  Steve shielded his lips and shook his head. “I hate to disappoint you, but that

  will not be easy or fast. The Arrow is not made to be used as a bus between planets.”

  Eldon’s eyes shined while he smiled. “I might be able to help with that,” he

  said, “I know a few places where underground technology areas are sealed. After a

  few years here, the energy ran out, and these places could no longer be accessed.

  There is even one that I never had access to but seemed to be important. Together

  we might find a way to bypass the gates and get to the equipment inside. There are

  mainly military items, but I am sure they will prove useful. Within them there should

  be some small spaceships.”

  Steve started looking happy. “Military equipment will actually prove even

  better as a source of information than anything else. How do you know of the

  spaceships, though?”

  “When I first arrived on this planet, I landed and hid in one of those bunkers.

  There was more than just my spaceship there. I think I can safely assume that most

  of those will still be full of equipment inside.”

  “Let’s start right away,” said Alex. “Show us this place.”

  “I will take you there, but we will need the Eagle,” said Eldon.