Geh!aoa looked around the conference room. The meeting was about to begin. They had a lot to discuss.

Geh!aoa, Geh!kin, Foh!una and Sana Vickall sat around a table, while Nik!eh's moving image was visible on one wall. He was lying down in the infirmary but listening in on the meeting. It's so strange—he is not here, and yet, he is. It feels like talking to a ghost, but Nik!eh isn't dead. Despite the gods trying repeatedly.

"We need to figure out our next steps," Geh!kin declared. "To do that, it would be helpful to know the situation. Zana Vik!ah, please tell us: why did your people kill mine?"

"We came to take the machine you call Petra," the alien doctor said simply.

"Yes, but why? Why not make your own?"

"My people cannot make Petras."

"Who can?"

Vik!ah paused. "What do you know of (something) in the big Galaxy?"

"That didn't translate. Know of what?"

The doctor groaned. "Different people, different places. They talk, they fight, they have war, they trade..."

"Politics."

"What do you know of politics in the Galaxy?"

"Nothing, obviously. We never knew aliens existed before Nik!eh arrived last year."

"My people are the same," Nik!eh put in, his voice coming from some hidden speaker in the wall.

Vik!ah sighed. "You have much to learn. I will try to say simple.

"My people rule eight worlds. Other peoples have one world, two worlds, a few have twenty or forty worlds. Each world is led by a race, a species.

"War is difficult because most worlds are very, very far apart. But some wars happen. We fight to (something), to defend, to grow. One of the things we fight about are Petras. Some races have them, some do not. The races who have them will not share."

Nik!eh spoke up. "My world has something similar. We have one or two hundred groups, and some have heavy metal weapons. Many other groups want heavy metal weapons, and we try to stop them."

"That is a good compare. Races with Petras are very strong. We cannot fight them. But sometimes, someone can steal a Petra."

"Did you steal Petra?"

"No. A people called the Nagathi took Petra from another people called the Uruk-Alb. My people learned of this. We tried to (something) the thieves. When that failed, we attacked. They used a special way to escape. In our ship, we follow the...path. First they go to Nick's world, Earth.

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"We went to Earth. That took nearly forty days. When we go there, we see the path the Nagathi used, but it splits in seven different directions. We do not know which way they went. So, we travel to one world, and it has nothing but desert. No sign of people, or Petra. Then we go here, to your world. We see signs of Petra."

"If you wanted Petra, why didn't you ask us?"

The doctor sighed. "Because the leaders of my people are stupid. They do not ask, they take. They think to ask makes them look small. They have meat where they should have brains."

"The leaders of your people are not here," Geh!kin pointed out.

Vik!ah made a vague gesture with her hands. "All of the leaders of my people are stupid. Big leaders, small leaders. They are men." Vik!ah sighed, acting as if she regretting saying that. "Do not think of that last. It is a different story and not our need now.

"Our Captain very much wanted Petra. A person who controls Petra is powerful, rich. He wanted to be very rich in our people, very powerful, a bigger leader, you understand?"

"We had stupid leaders, too. They are all dead now," Foh!una commented.

"My people have very stupid leaders. Bad people often are leaders," Nik!eh added.

"Sadly, this is (something)." Seeing blank looks, the doctor tried again. "It is everywhere."

Geh!aoa found this background fascinating, but she had more urgent concerns. "What will your people do when this ship does not return?"

"Send another, someday."

"How soon?"

The alien doctor shrugged one shoulder. "A year or two. We did not plan this. My people did will send many ships if they knew Petra was not defended. We did not know it will happen. Only the Kalash-Quovo was near, and went to Earth, and so we alone were able to follow the trail to and from Nik!eh's world."

"Did you harm my people?" Nik!eh demanded.

"Yes, but not your big world, not even your (something.) Perhaps twenty of your people died, in a half-twenty days."

If Geh!aoa was reading expressions correctly, the hoonan was relieved, then curious. "You were there ten days? I'm surprised they didn't try to attack you with heavy metal weapons."

The doctor showed her teeth. "Your people did try. We stopped them from working. Some of my crew respect your people for that, being willing to kill so many of your own to kill twenty of us. Others thought it was very stupid. The Kalash-Quovo can kill all on Earth, with no help. Perhaps your people did not realize that, or if they did, they did not believe it."

"Wait..." Nik!eh spoke slowly. Geh!aoa could almost see the thoughts forming. "You say, in a year or two, more Goldaskian war ships go to Earth?"

"Yes."

"I need to tell them," Nik!eh said firmly. "I need to tell my people." Then he gave a hissing sound for a moment.

"We will do this, Nik!eh," Geh!kin assured him. "Your people will know."

"Rest, Nik!eh." the red-skinned alien ordered. "Nothing burn today."

The pink-skinned alien nodded, and subsided.

"So," Geh!kin concluded, "we have one year to rescue all the fuak!a we can. Then we leave Ooafa, possibly forever."

"Where will we go?" Foh!una asked.

"What about Nik!eh's planet?" Geh!aoa asked. "We can eat the same food, and survive each others' diseases."

"My people are not very nice," the hoonan opined. "It would have to be done carefully. We should also go sooner than a year, I don't want the Goldaskians to get to my planet first."

"Doctor Vik!ah, how long is the journey from Earth to Ooafa?"

"Four twenties and five days, I think." That was the literal translation of what the doctor said. After a moment, Petra added, "One hundred thirty-five days on Ooafa. Seventy-eight days on Earth." Geh!aoa flicked her ears in surprise.

Petra is really quite clever, but its cleverness is...erratic. I can't decide whether the golem is a thing or a person. Nik!eh has assigned it female, so I guess I should think of it as 'her.' Besides, if Petra is a person, best to stay on its—her—good side.

"Thank you, Petra," she murmured softly.

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