“I don’t know, Julie.”
Bleath landed and thought, “We are facing a dangerous situation. We need your help.”
“What’s happening?”
Bleath shared the vision of the giant grey creatures moving south. “Great galloping Torg on a plain! What are those?”
“One of our warriors heard a thought of the Yellow Skin that they are northern mountain cats, White Hair.”
“I’ve never seen any that size,”
“The Yellow Skin thinks they have been affected by the death of the waste lands.”
Scotty thought a moment, “He’s probably right.” He looked at the community leaders and said, “Those cats are alpha predators. They hunt in packs and are vicious. At that size, nothing will be safe. How far away are they, Bleath?”
“Three moons.”
Scotty shook his head, “The giant Torg herds will bring them to your lands. You will not be safe from those creatures.”
“What can we do?”
Scotty thought about it and finally decided that the time had come. “Bleath, would you consider moving?”
“Where would we go? Most of the land is not habitable.”
“I was thinking of taking you home.”
Bleath was silent.
“I believe we can return you to your home world.”
Bleath was stunned silent. So were the community leaders.
“Are you interested?”
“White Hair, we have dreamed of our home for centuries. How can you do this?”
“We will just send you there through a silver screen.”
“I do not know how we would be received after our long absence.”
“Why don’t we try this? I will go with Vring and see how things have changed since your ancestors were taken. We’ll see if everything is safe for you to go.”
“Let me consider your proposal. We’ve only known this world. Some may not choose to go.”
“Let me know what you decide.”
“This is a dream come true.” Bleath lifted and flew north.
“Scotty, we should take a look first.”
“That’s exactly what I intend to do, Julie.” Scotty lifted his arm and pushed a button on a bracelet. “Did you hear what we discussed?”
“Yes. Are you ready to go?”
Scotty looked at Julie and she nodded.
Scotty looked at Jingo and said, “Please handle any issues until we return.”
Jingo bowed and said, “We will work together, Your Majesty.”
A silver screen appeared beside Scotty and Julie. They stepped through and found themselves on a small bridge. “Welcome aboard. I’ve wondered why you’ve not visited before.”
Scotty took a deep breath and saw Julie’s expression. She looked at him and nodded. “I believe that we are going to need your weapons, Anglo. I’ve avoided coming to you until a crisis made the decision necessary. I believe this situation calls for us to use your skills. Do you know the location of the Zord’s home world?”
“Yes, it’s listed in my charts. Here we go.”
The small white ship flew through a silver screen and appeared over a planet covered in dense forests and high mountains. “There’s someone here.”
“Show me, Anglo.”
The display on the wall came on, and they watched five small runabouts flying quickly over the planet’s surface. Julie watched them fire blaster beams at nothing and spread out as they approached a line of tall trees. “What are they doing?”
Scotty said, “They’re chasing a Zord.”
The display changed and now they could see the Zord flying as fast as it could to get away from the pursuing runabouts. “There’s more.”
They saw a view of a large building with hundreds of runabouts around it. Mounted on trees around the building were the heads of many giant Zord.
“They’re hunting them.”
Scotty said, “Anglo, stop those runabouts.”
“The weapons are ready, Your Highness.”
Julie looked at Scotty and started crying. The dream was now a reality. “Fire, Anglo.”
The five runabouts had found a giant Zord and knew they would win the trophy for their team if they could bag it. The thing was so agile it was hard to corner. Keeping it on their screens so they could see it was next to impossible. The team leader finally saw his board lock in on the giant beast as it slowed for the trees ahead. Reaching for the trigger of his blaster was the last thing he did.
The Zord knew his life was over. He was exhausted from the long chase and didn’t have enough energy to get over the trees. He rose higher, then saw all five runabouts explode and crash into the forest. “What the…?” It banked away from the trees and turned back toward the runabouts. He saw a small white ship descending and heard, “We will not harm you. You may leave in peace and go home.” The Zord didn’t know what to think. The creatures in the ship were communicating with it. How did they know it could hear them? “We are going to the building that hunts you and ask that they leave your world. We wish you peace.”
“Who are you?”
“We come from another world where some of your descendants are now our brothers. We will not allow you to be attacked again.”
“The ones taken to El Prado.”
“Yes. They are now a part of our community. We are discussing bringing them home. They wonder how they will be received after their long absence.”
“We have mourned the loss of the six children that were stolen. They were eggs of our high ruler. They will be welcomed with love and veneration. However, I wouldn’t bring them back to this deathtrap our world has become.”
“What do you mean?”
The ruler on a distant planet sells the rights for hunters to come kill us. They have murdered many thousands of us.”
“Why didn’t you communicate with them and let them know you were an intelligent species?”
“We did. The Messenger was blasted from the sky. They said they didn’t care.”
Scotty’s eyes narrowed. He said, “I am going to resolve this problem momentarily. Where may we go to communicate with your Ruler?”
“The far right mountain peak behind me. You will find him there.”
“Thank you for communicating with us. We will be back with one of your descendants.”
Scotty looked at Julie and then said, “Anglo, are there anymore runabouts hunting on the planet?”
“There are about eight hundred scattered around this continent.”
“Please remove them from hunting our brothers.”
The small ship rose high in the atmosphere until it was looking down on the huge land mass. Suddenly, bright white beams erupted from its surface toward the land mass. The ship’s hull grew bright white and the dark black and green colors of the former Duke of El Prado were blasted off its surface. “I’ve been wanting to do that for more than two thousand years. How do I look?”
Scotty and Julie looked out of the ports and saw a gleaming white ship with a huge SR on the rear fin. Julie said, “You clean up pretty well.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“Anglo, I’m not royalty.”
