“Viera, do you know which of the krottel are the leaders?” His violet eyes bored into her.

Her body trembled while she explained which bipedal creatures held the queens of the bugs. Their leaders.

Flower Prancer nodded. “Acceptable work, Ms. Kor. Once they’re off the field of battle, you can release this time bubble.”

Flower Prancer ran out of its sphere and contacted the Ziner. Viera assumed he told them the information she’d given him because five massive krottel disappeared from her awareness. She assumed they’d been transported away. With a sigh, she released her magic.

Feeling more like a rag doll than a person, she slumped on the steps of the Art Institute, half hidden from the combatants, and waited as the remaining krottel lost their ability to fight back. All around her, their bipedal constructs stood, motionless, waiting for their next command.

Chapter 28 - A History Lesson

Viera

The battle raged on while Viera sat on the steps of the Chicago Art Institute. She hid in the shadows, unable to help in any way. Since the krottel leaders had been captured, the fight probably didn’t take as long as it felt, though she reasoned she could map it all out on her body as the bugs died and their final count could be notched on the pinpricks of pain along her arms and legs.

Eventually one of the chanzii she didn’t know found her. “Ma’am, are you okay?”

“Yeah, mostly.” She smiled weakly at her.

“You’re Viera, right. The newest Pillar? You’re living in the same area as Commander Firoza? Right?” The woman sounded concerned, though she kept looking around.

“Yeah. Why?”

She tapped something on her wrist. “I found her. The Elder was correct. She’s okay but looks worn down. I suggest transporting her to Commander Firoza’s house or the ship.”

“Does she need help, or can she go alone?” Viera thought she recognized Juniper’s voice and she immediately felt lighter.

Viera placed her hand on the other woman’s arm. “I’ll be fine on my own.”

“I heard that,” Juniper said, and Viera thought she could hear the other woman’s smile. “Good to hear your voice, Pillar Kor. I’ll get you to Commander Firoza’s house.” Before anything else was said, the world began to look like a watercolor painting. When it cleared up, she was on a couch in Thorn’s living room.

Scout’s voice came from the kitchen. “Ms. Kor? Is that you? Juniper said I should get you some hot chocolate. Is that true?”

Viera smiled. “That sounds perfect.”

***

The next day, Betsy set up a meeting on the Ziner. Thorn’s people didn’t want to bring the krottel leaders back down to Earth. They felt bringing the human leaders up to the ship would be safer for the planet. Despite his reservations, Mr. Mard, leader of the Department of Interstellar Coexistence and Knowledge Sharing, was there, as was Juk, the dick.

Horax, Flower Prancer, Thorn, Betsy, Zuza, Ania, and Viera were all there as well. A few other international government officials were there, but Viera didn’t catch their names. She felt like a small fish in an ocean of important people. She figured she was there because she was at the right place at the wrong time.

Flower Prancer stood at the head of the table. “We want to start this meeting by asking the krottel why they’ve been ignoring all forms of communication and decided to initiate contact in two instances with violence. First with the shuttle and then with Earth.”

Juk’s eyes narrowed. “Do you know the chaos you’ve unleashed on the entire planet? There is no turning back from what you’ve done.” He turned his glare on Thorn and Horax. “Not to mention you two. You confirmed everything. We can’t do any kind of cover up with what you did in Chicago, now can we?”

Viera’s anger exploded like the bomb she’d stopped. “Do you even know all the details? Do you know about the bomb that would’ve taken out the city? Do you know that without the actions of this group, the one you’ve been disrespecting for weeks, millions of Americans would be dead right now?” Everyone gaped at her, and she sat back, trying to calm down.

“Yes, Ms. Kor is correct.” Flower Prancer continued. “I was going to get to that.” He searched the faces of the beings around the table. “I ask again. What were you trying to achieve?”

There were two of the krottel at the table. Viera knew there were more on the ship, but apparently, that was all that were invited to the table. The one on the left tilted its head. “You told us the Earthlings didn’t know about aliens. We came to observe. We didn’t feel we needed to discuss our plans with you, Elder.”

Everyone waited, but apparently, that was all it was going to say.

With a swish of his tail, Flower Prancer continued. “Then why did you attack first this ship and then Earth?”

“You lied. The Earthlings knew where we were. They knew we were aliens, which means they know about aliens. If they know about aliens, then their world is fair game.” It rotated to stare more directly at Juk. “It was you. You sent us a message. You said you were with the rulers of the land and wanted to talk. If the rulers know about us, then the people must know as well. That’s how it works.”

“No,” Flower Prancer snarled. “That is not how this works. You are a hive mind where all your members know what the others know. Very few creatures work that way. For most of us, we need to communicate to know what is happening. On Earth, the existence of aliens isn’t known … or wasn’t known, to the general public. Because you decided you knew best, you’ve changed it for their whole population.”

“We need a planet. We need the magic. You lied to us.”

Viera could feel the frustration from everyone in the room. Betsy scooted her chair back a bit. “You know that our planet is not an option. Why would you even come here?”

“We’ll die out without the magic.”

Thorn turned to them, her fury almost making it hard for Viera to breathe. “Where do you come from that you think you can just go planet to planet, kicking out the original inhabitants and then killing the world itself? Over and over?”

Viera could see the krottel tense. It could probably sense the emotions as well as she could. I wonder if it can translate our feelings, so different from theirs.

Its head swung around. “You want to know our history, chanzii?”

Thorn’s jaw clenched. “Sure, why not.”

It did a motion that could be called a shrug. “We come from the world Bhachana. Many years ago we lived happily, building our family, our colony. Life was peaceful away from the fire … the sun.”

Mr. Mard leaned forward. “You lived underground?”

“Yes, yes, underground, like the civilized.” It made a chirping sound. “The zukacic, the two-footed on the land, thrived for many years. Our people and theirs didn’t interact while they lived. We found books that traced their history for centuries. We don’t know what a cycle of Bhachana is compared to other worlds. Time has a different meaning to us.” It paused as if they’d be shocked at this revelation. When nothing happened, it continued. “The ground above our head started to shake. It got worse. Then one day, we felt sluggish. We had my workers go and investigate. The land above was … it was in ruins. No life remained.”

Zuza rubbed his chin. “How old are you?”

“We told you,” it snapped out. “Time doesn’t mean much to us. We are as old as we need to be,” it huffed. “We searched. There were no two-footers on the planet. When we found books, we learned how to read. When we found reels, we learned how to watch the screens. The two-footers fought. After years of peace, they fought … no one survived.”

Betsy, who somehow had a pad of paper, looked up from what she was writing. “How did you go from being bugs dying on a planet to attacking people on my planet?”

“We studied. The two-footers were studying intergalactic travel. We adapted and mastered what they’d started. We found this shape worked better for the ships. It takes what you call magic to maintain, but it’s required for respect and using the technology. We felt weaker and weaker; we had to leave the planet. We would die.” There was a pause. Then the krottel sighed. “We found another planet and at first we felt good. But then we all felt weak again. We had to try over again.”

Before they could continue, before Betsy or Zuza could ask another question, before Viera could completely wrap her head around everything she’d heard, Flower Prancer swished his tail in annoyance. “You idiots. Did it never occur to you that maintaining that form would use more magic? Do you even know where magic comes from?”

The krottel’s body tensed more, if that was possible. “From planets, of course.”

“You’re dumber than I thought. If it came from planets, you wouldn’t have to leave that first one you left, now would you? Why am I always surrounded by morons?” He snuffled in frustration. “Magic comes from the living. Every time you ran off the living inhabitants of a planet, you destroyed not only the source of the magic, what you’d been seeking, you killed the planet itself. Earth is so rich in magic because there are so many people and so few magic users.”

Everyone at the table sat stunned. Viera turned to Betsy. “Did you know any of that?”

She shrugged. “I hadn’t thought about it.”

The yonat continued. “You’ve been bungling across the galaxy instead of asking the Elders for help. You’ve been around for long enough to know how the different creatures work. Why wouldn’t you just ask? You are such an arrogant ass of a creature.”