Chapter 73:
Some things uncovered
Antony:
It is good I took Thea with me for my visit tonight because if I had not, she would have missed seeing the entire, or, well, the better half of the family! There are so many red-heads around here, that I have the urge to call them a crate with cherries.
They all look sort of like us, but there is also some human in the mix in their features. Maybe I was wrong, and they are not exactly 100% Naga?
Their ears are not as pointy as mine or Thea’s. Their lips are fuller. Hair, a slightly less vibrant shade than my own. Thea’s already turned white, but then again, we have a big age difference. Not that this makes me love her any less. Without her firm hand, I would have been lost.
The two of us are seated at the head of the table, as it is Naga custom to sit the eldest members of the family at the head. Next to us, there are Kristalina, and Cassius. They are Constantine’s great-great-great-grandparents, and the second-oldest people at the party.
I help myself to some mashed potatoes, and then hand over the platter to Thea. She smiles at me, and fills in her plate. We, the original Naga, can really put away food. Not only do we have a higher metabolism, but we also have an appetite from the dimensional travel. I can see that Daniel wants to ask me something, so, I smile at him.
He is seated further down the table, next to Constantine, and Constantine’s neighbors, Norah and Charlie, as well as their little cherub of a baby, Beth. Next to them, there is Constantine’s and Daniel’s coworker Hugo, with his wife Angelica, and their son, Noah. Noah is the kid who produced the wonderful potion, that saved Daniel’s beige potion.
I lean over, and tell Thea about that. She sighs, and takes a hold of her glass. Gently, she taps it a couple of times, to get everyone’s attention, and then nods at me. Ah, she knows me too well. She must have figured out that I wanted to speak about.
“Daniel,” I say, and he turns to look at me. “I have something to tell you, about Earth.”
He nods, and gives me his entire attention.
“Things were peaceful, while the humans were searching for people to imprint on. The Cosmos was never as vibrant,” he gives me a smile, and I continue. “Yet, when we, the original aliens...”
The eyes of my family members go wide at the word. Huh, is it still taboo? Come on, it has been numerous years, has it not? They should give it a rest. I continue, ignoring the way some of them shake their heads.
“When we left, a war broke out. It was a crushing defeat for Earth. Most of the new half-humans thought of their planets as their homes, and didn’t rise to defend their home planet. Yet, it wasn’t the humans who started it all,” I say, and Daniel blinks at me.
“Then, who?” He asks. I think he is relieved that his species didn’t mess up to the point, that they turned the entire Cosmos against them. Still, the truth will bring shame, all right. But not on the humans.
“A group of original dark elves didn’t want to leave the Nebula Solar System, so, they let loose the rumor that what the humans did, was colonization. It all snowballed from there,” I tell him. He nods at that.
“And, did the dark elves remain on Nebula?” He asks.
“No, they left with all the rest, after Atlantis fell, and the death toll was announced,” I know that there is no excuse for what my generation did, yet, the truth had to be spoken. Now that the connection between the two dimensions will be forged by humans, I think they should be able to do so, with their heads held high.
“You know what? That doesn’t matter,” Daniel tells me, and I blink. “It doesn’t matter, if the humans started the war. If we are the monsters that people told me we were. All it matters, is how we are going to go forward from here.”
He rises his glass, and stares me into the eyes.
“To a better future,” Daniel says, and his toast spreads across the table.
“It does matter,” Rodger says, after placing his glass on the table. “I will do my best to get the truth out there. Tony, Thea, are there any historians I can work with, to get the full record of what happened out there? Earth might remain isolated, might end up included in the Cosmos. But the truth must see the light of day.”
“We can see what we can do,” Thea says. Yes, it is not illegal to speak about the past, but writing books about it? Putting the entire New Cosmos at risk from retaliation because of what those dark elves did, all those millennia ago? We will need to talk to the New Cosmos Security Council into giving us permission for something like that.
“Can you tell us something about your planets? And, these dungeon cores you spoke of, back on Ursula 589?” Samantha, Constantine’s mother, asks.
“Oh, this will be a long one,” Thea sighs next to me, but I am already grinning. I love speaking about dungeon cores.
“More than once, I have contacted human authors, with stories about this dungeon core or that one. There is this way you can speak telepathically to people, when they are asleep. Back during the Antiquity, the second one, not the one before Atlantis’s rise to power, the Greeks and Romans used to call those conversations Muses.”
I go about explaining all that I know about the dungeon core that lives in our backyard. It is a small core, but it feeds our teleport. Timmy is as peaceful as a dungeon core would get, and we take a good care of him.
“Wait, they can speak?” Constantine asks, as he looks at me. Huh, was that the only thing he got from my entire explanation?
Chapter 73:
Some things uncovered
Antony:
It is good I took Thea with me for my visit tonight because if I had not, she would have missed seeing the entire, or, well, the better half of the family! There are so many red-heads around here, that I have the urge to call them a crate with cherries.
They all look sort of like us, but there is also some human in the mix in their features. Maybe I was wrong, and they are not exactly 100% Naga?
Their ears are not as pointy as mine or Thea’s. Their lips are fuller. Hair, a slightly less vibrant shade than my own. Thea’s already turned white, but then again, we have a big age difference. Not that this makes me love her any less. Without her firm hand, I would have been lost.
The two of us are seated at the head of the table, as it is Naga custom to sit the eldest members of the family at the head. Next to us, there are Kristalina, and Cassius. They are Constantine’s great-great-great-grandparents, and the second-oldest people at the party.
I help myself to some mashed potatoes, and then hand over the platter to Thea. She smiles at me, and fills in her plate. We, the original Naga, can really put away food. Not only do we have a higher metabolism, but we also have an appetite from the dimensional travel. I can see that Daniel wants to ask me something, so, I smile at him.
He is seated further down the table, next to Constantine, and Constantine’s neighbors, Norah and Charlie, as well as their little cherub of a baby, Beth. Next to them, there is Constantine’s and Daniel’s coworker Hugo, with his wife Angelica, and their son, Noah. Noah is the kid who produced the wonderful potion, that saved Daniel’s beige potion.
I lean over, and tell Thea about that. She sighs, and takes a hold of her glass. Gently, she taps it a couple of times, to get everyone’s attention, and then nods at me. Ah, she knows me too well. She must have figured out that I wanted to speak about.
“Daniel,” I say, and he turns to look at me. “I have something to tell you, about Earth.”
He nods, and gives me his entire attention.
“Things were peaceful, while the humans were searching for people to imprint on. The Cosmos was never as vibrant,” he gives me a smile, and I continue. “Yet, when we, the original aliens...”
The eyes of my family members go wide at the word. Huh, is it still taboo? Come on, it has been numerous years, has it not? They should give it a rest. I continue, ignoring the way some of them shake their heads.
“When we left, a war broke out. It was a crushing defeat for Earth. Most of the new half-humans thought of their planets as their homes, and didn’t rise to defend their home planet. Yet, it wasn’t the humans who started it all,” I say, and Daniel blinks at me.
“Then, who?” He asks. I think he is relieved that his species didn’t mess up to the point, that they turned the entire Cosmos against them. Still, the truth will bring shame, all right. But not on the humans.
“A group of original dark elves didn’t want to leave the Nebula Solar System, so, they let loose the rumor that what the humans did, was colonization. It all snowballed from there,” I tell him. He nods at that.
“And, did the dark elves remain on Nebula?” He asks.
“No, they left with all the rest, after Atlantis fell, and the death toll was announced,” I know that there is no excuse for what my generation did, yet, the truth had to be spoken. Now that the connection between the two dimensions will be forged by humans, I think they should be able to do so, with their heads held high.
“You know what? That doesn’t matter,” Daniel tells me, and I blink. “It doesn’t matter, if the humans started the war. If we are the monsters that people told me we were. All it matters, is how we are going to go forward from here.”
He rises his glass, and stares me into the eyes.
“To a better future,” Daniel says, and his toast spreads across the table.
“It does matter,” Rodger says, after placing his glass on the table. “I will do my best to get the truth out there. Tony, Thea, are there any historians I can work with, to get the full record of what happened out there? Earth might remain isolated, might end up included in the Cosmos. But the truth must see the light of day.”
“We can see what we can do,” Thea says. Yes, it is not illegal to speak about the past, but writing books about it? Putting the entire New Cosmos at risk from retaliation because of what those dark elves did, all those millennia ago? We will need to talk to the New Cosmos Security Council into giving us permission for something like that.
“Can you tell us something about your planets? And, these dungeon cores you spoke of, back on Ursula 589?” Samantha, Constantine’s mother, asks.
“Oh, this will be a long one,” Thea sighs next to me, but I am already grinning. I love speaking about dungeon cores.
“More than once, I have contacted human authors, with stories about this dungeon core or that one. There is this way you can speak telepathically to people, when they are asleep. Back during the Antiquity, the second one, not the one before Atlantis’s rise to power, the Greeks and Romans used to call those conversations Muses.”
I go about explaining all that I know about the dungeon core that lives in our backyard. It is a small core, but it feeds our teleport. Timmy is as peaceful as a dungeon core would get, and we take a good care of him.
“Wait, they can speak?” Constantine asks, as he looks at me. Huh, was that the only thing he got from my entire explanation?
