Dark Realms #4: The Anasauri’s Plight
Jul. 28th, 2016 03:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sidhe_faerieDark Realms #4: The Anasauri’s Plight
Word Count: 2877
This episode was brought to you by puzzleprompts
Wincet sat at his workbench mumbling to himself as he read from an ancient tome. He was reading about the Anasauri, a race of reptilian humans that evolved into one of the most technologically advanced civilizations in the known universe.
The Anasauri were thought to be extinct. Their home world Saur had been lost to a series of cataclysmic disasters. It had been almost a thousand years since anyone had reported seeing an Anasauri.
Tona walked up and noticed Wincet mumbling. “Wincet, what’s wrong?” She looked over his shoulder and saw the drawing in the book he was reading. “The Anasauri are a myth. Why are you letting those old tales upset you?”
Wincet turned to look at her. “The Anasauri are real! I met them in my youth. They were nearly extinct then. They had a small city on the moon of another planet in their system. I wonder if there are any left.”
“Maybe, we should go looking for them and see if there are any left.” Tona looked at the drawing again. “They certainly were ugly, weren’t they?”
“Ah!” Wincet smiled. “They may have been ugly but they were the most intelligent and well-spoken people that I have ever had the privilege to meet. I just wish you all could have the chance to meet them.”
“Well, unless we go back in time, we never will.” Tona patted Wincet on the shoulder. “I’m going to teach the others some defensive moves. We will be in the Vision Cave. That’s the only place that they can’t break anything of value except maybe one of their own heads.”
“Take it easy on them, Tona. Most of their races are not as agile as elves.” Wincet warned her. “Dallys may be the only one who can keep up with you.”
“I know but we need to be able to keep from getting killed if we are to continue these missions.” Tona grinned mischievously. “Besides its funny when Nellis falls on his ass.”
“Tona!” Wincet said sternly.
“Well it is.” Tona laughed and patted him on the shoulder again before she left.
Wincet sat and thought for a moment. “Maybe there was a way that the Dark Army. It would take some doing but he may be able to pull it off.”
He shut the ancient book and went to the shelf to find another. He ran his hand along the spines of the ancient books in many different languages from many different worlds until he found the one he wanted. He took it over to the workbench and opened it up.
“Now, I just have to find the right spell for the portal to go back in time.” Wincet turned the pages carefully in the old book. “Not too far but just enough for the Dark Army to meet the Anasauri for themselves.”
In the Vision Cave, the Dark Army was spaced out in pairs to work on the moves Tona was teaching.
“Ow!” Nellis got off the floor and rubbed his behind. “Did you have to do that so hard?”
Dallys and Jace tried to keep from laughing but failed.
“Well they’re not going to hit you with a pillow, you know.” Tona sighed. “Let’s try it again. Jace, partner with the little kitten boy this time.”
“I am not a kitten.” Nellis folded his arms across his chest. “I am a Casparian shapeshifter. We’re furry creatures.”
“Furry little kitties.” Tona smirked. “Now remember … lunge and duck. Not roll into a ball and fall on your…”
“Everyone! Come! I have something for you to do.” Wincet waved them over to the center of the cave. “Come look at what I have found.”
“It’s just a dusty old book. You have hundreds of them.” Nellis limped over to Wincet. “What’s the big deal?”
“Wincet, what have you found?” Jace asked. “Are we going on a mission?”
“Please! Anything to get us out of training with Tona.” Nellis rubbed his behind again. “I think I broke my tail.”
“You have a tail?” Tona burst out laughing.
Wincet glared at Tona. He cleared his throat. “I was thinking about the time I met the Anasauri and how they are assumed to be extinct now. That’s when Tona came in and said something about time travel. So, I looked for the spell to turn the regular portal into a time portal. I want to send you through to the last known location of the Anasauri.”
“Where was the last known location of the Anasauri?” Dallys asked. “It isn’t on some planet that eats faeries is it? Do they eat faeries?”
“No! They don’t eat faeries.” Wincet looked up at the stars and pointed to a star near the edge of the universe. “It was on a moon orbiting another planet in their system. Their planet was lost to a cataclysmic disaster.”
“Why do we need to go back to back in time?” Jace asked. “I mean, if there are still some left then we should just meet them and not go back in time. Time travel sounds dangerous to me.”
“There is always some risk when going through the portal.” Wincet looked at each one of them. “If you are not comfortable with the idea, I will not use this spell unless everyone agrees to it.”
“I vote ‘no’.” Jace looked at the others.
Nellis looked at Wincet. “I vote ‘no way’.”
“No offense, Wincet, but I vote ‘no’ too.” Dallys sighed. “If the spell doesn’t work, we could end up anywhere at any time.”
“Borne, what do you think?” Wincet asked. He looked at the android that was standing quietly with his head bowed.
“I am still calculating the odds. I will let you know when I have finished.” Borne bowed his head to finish.
Tona looked at Wincet. “I’m with them. I don’t want to go time traveling across the universe. We could find ourselves as dinosaur snacks or worse.”
“What could be worse than being eaten by a dinosaur?” Nellis asked.
“I just don’t want to be eaten period.” Dallys shuddered at the thought. “Too many creatures think I’m a crunchy and tasty thing.”
Borne looked up. “I have finished my calculations and I do not wish to go.”
Wincet sighed. “I was hoping that you would get the great honor of meeting an Anasauri but I can still send you to the third moon of Calna where they were last seen. Maybe there are some left. At the very least, you could find out what happened to their civilization.”
“I think we would be fine with that.” Jace looked at the others for approval. “Is there anything we should take with us like air or protective gear?”
“Does your world have a moon?” Dallys asked.
“Yes it does. It’s just a giant rock that orbits our planet and shines the light of our sun back at us at night.” Jace looked puzzled. “Why?”
“My planet has a moon too. There is an ocean and several land masses on it.” Dallys told him. “Jace not every world is like yours. Tona’s planet has two moons and Nellis comes from a world without a moon.”
“I’m beginning to learn that everything is possible in the universe.” Jace smiled at her.
“What good is a moon that you can’t use it? We use our smaller one to hunt game.” Tona sighed. “I miss hunting things.”
“This is not a hunting mission. It’s turned into an intelligence gathering mission.” Wincet shut the book he was holding. “Instead of meeting the Anasauri, I want you to see what happened to them. Look around for any signs of invaders or disease. At least, we can give them the respects of letting the rest of the universe know what happened to them.”
“We should get changed.” Tona looked down at the loose clothes she was wearing. She rubbed her nose. “Some of should bathe too. If there are any Anasauri left, we don’t want them to smell us coming.” Tona headed out to the living quarters to clean up and prepare.
Jace patted Nellis on the shoulder. “I think she means that you’re a bit gamey.”
“Hey! This is my natural musky smell.” Nellis glared at Jace.
“I have some herbs that can get rid of that Nellis.” Dallys winked at Jace behind Nellis’ back. “Good thing that I restocked last time we went to market. It will take a lot of herbs to get rid of that smell.”
Nellis walked off in a huff. He mumbled something about furless people and their noses.
“I will go make the preparations for the portal. Meet me there in a half hour.” Wincet sighed and walked out of the Vision Cave.
“You know, Wincet probably thinks we’re a bunch of children.” Dallys laughed.
“We are much younger than he is chronologically.” Borne looked at Jace and Dallys.
“She means that we act like a bunch of children, Borne.” Jace patted his friend on the shoulder. “Come on. We better get ready to go or they’ll leave us here.”
Less than an hour later, the Dark Army stepped through the portal on the third moon of Calna. They expected to see ruins but what they saw instead surprised them.
From the ridge top where they stood, they could see that there was a city gleaming in the sunshine. The tall buildings were made up of mostly metal and glass. There were vehicles floating around in the air from one place to another. Everything was clean and shiny.
“Wow!” Jace looked around. “This isn’t what I expected at all. Is that a flying car?”
“I don’t know.” Tona looked at him. “What’s a car?”
Jace rolled his eyes. “A car is a vehicle that carries people from one place to another. They run along the ground in my world.”
“That would be dangerous they could run over someone that way.” Nellis frowned. “The more I hear about your world the less I want to go there.”
“We need to split up. Borne, Nellis, and Dallys try to find a data port. We need to get as much info as we can on how many there are, what weapons they have, and the size of their army.”
“Tona, we aren’t gathering intelligence for a military strike.” Jace reminded her. “Borne, focus on census data and historical records. That building over there looks like a school. You can probably tap into the city’s servers there. You two keep him from getting caught, please.”
Nellis and Dallys took the lead toward the building that Jace pointed out. Borne glanced back as he followed them and looked worried.
“You and I should go look into some windows to see how they live.” Tona pulled on Jace’s arm. This one is open and it has some shrubs we can hide in.”
“Are you sure those aren’t poisonous?” Jace eyed them cautiously.
“Just come on.” Tona tugged on his sleeve again.
They settled in under an open window and peeked inside. Two blue lizard-like creatures were standing in what looked like a kitchen. The female was washing dishes and the male was reading something off an electronic device.
“You never have time for me or the hatchlings, Punar. It’s always work, work, and more work. You seem to forget that you even have a mate and hatchlings at home.” The female turned away from what she was doing to put her hands on her hips.
“My work is very important to me.” Punar put down the device and walked over to her. He put his hand on her cheek. “Ka, you know that I love you and all of our hatchlings. I would be home more if I could but I must see that all the knowledge of the Anasauri is archived safely for future generations.”
“Ha!” Ka pushed away his hand. “I don’t care about future generations. I care if your hatchlings will know who you are when you come in our home.”
“It isn’t like that.” Punar sighed. “I’m here every day. They see me every night when I kiss their little faces before they drift off to sleep.”
“They see you but when do they get to know you?” Ka asked. “When we are standing around the pit when you die?”
“KA!” Punar shouted.
“Hush! You’ll wake them up.” Ka glared at him.
“I promise to take this weekend off. We can take them to the water to splash around and play. I may even get in too. What about you?”
Ka sighed. “I would like to go water. It’s been a long time since we did anything as a family.”
“Not since the fifth hatchling came out of his shell.” Punar put his arms around her. He started to nibble on her neck. “I can’t wait to see you in your water suit.”
“None of that!” Ka pushed him off. “We have plenty of hatchlings already. I hear what you are thinking, you know. I have heard your thoughts since we were bonded.”
Punar laughed. “Sometimes, I swear you can only read my very naughty thoughts. That’s why I love you so much.”
Ka sighed. “Sometimes, I can read all your thought then other times you are so closed to me. We are bonded. We should share everything even our thoughts. Sharing our minds is what mates do.”
Punar rested his forehead on hers. “You’re right and I’m sorry. Let’s go get some rest.”
“Rest is all you will get this night, Punar.” Ka let him take her by the hand and lead her out of the room.
Jace looked at Tona. “They sound normal to me. How about you?”
“I wonder how many hatchlings they have. It sounds like their population is growing not shrinking.” Tona wondered.
“On my world, overpopulation is a problem. Not enough food and too many people.” Jace looked around. “I wonder if the others are finished. We should get back to the portal site.”
“Don’t you want to peep in some more windows?” Tona teased.
“I really don’t want to take the chance that I will see something I can’t get out of my head.” Jace shuddered.
“You are no fun.” Tona stood up and pulled him up to his feet. “Let’s go. They should have the information from the city’s data storage by now.”
In the school, Dallys and Nellis were keeping an eye out as Borne used a cord from his wrist to tap into a port on a data output station.
“Borne, are you done yet?” Nellis asked. “We got to get back to the portal site.”
“I will be done in just one minute.” Borne disconnected from the data port. “I have to secure the data. It will take a moment.”
Dallys glanced back at Borne then looked at Nellis. “If he doesn’t hurry up then we are going to get caught.”
“Give him a moment.” Nellis looked out the door. “I don’t see anyone around. Don’t worry so much.”
Borne walked up behind them and tapped them on the shoulders. “I am finished.”
“Finally, let’s go.” Dallys pushed past Nellis and went outside. “Come on. We have to get to the portal site.”
Nellis and Borne followed her to the top of the ridge where Tona and Jace were already standing.
“Did you get anything?” Jace asked.
“Yes. I have census records and the historical data Jace suggested that I obtain. I also retrieved medical data about their race.” Borne told them.
“That’s what took so long.” Dallys sighed.
The portal opened behind them and they stepped through.
Wincet was waiting for them expectantly. “Did you find out what happened to them? Was it a natural disaster or was it disease that wiped them out?”
“Neither.” Jace looked at Wincet. “They are alive and well. From what we saw, they are flourishing on that moon. They have a huge city there. They’re living their lives just like everyone else.” He glanced at Tona. “Making babies and going on family vacations.”
“How? No one has seen them in a thousand years.” Wincet was perplexed. “How many of them are there?”
“According to the census information that I downloaded, there are over five million Anasauri in that city.” Borne reported. “There are five other cities with equivalent populations to the city we saw.”
“Did you meet anyone? Did you talk to them?” Wincet asked. He looked at them. “I don’t understand. Why didn’t you talk to them?”
“We didn’t want to disturb their lives. They are obviously hiding.” Jace shrugged. “If they haven’t wanted to be seen in over a thousand years then stands to reason they don’t want people just showing up to talk to them. We should let them be. Maybe someday, they will want to make contact with the universe again.”
“He has a point Wincet. If we let the universe know that the Anasauri are still alive there may be someone out there that will try to destroy them. We still don’t know what destroyed their planet.” Tona looked at the sorcerer.
“Are we in agreement that we shall keep their secret?” Wincet looked at each of them as they nodded in turn. “For now, the plight of the Anasauri is our secret to keep.”
Word Count: 2877
This episode was brought to you by puzzleprompts
Wincet sat at his workbench mumbling to himself as he read from an ancient tome. He was reading about the Anasauri, a race of reptilian humans that evolved into one of the most technologically advanced civilizations in the known universe.
The Anasauri were thought to be extinct. Their home world Saur had been lost to a series of cataclysmic disasters. It had been almost a thousand years since anyone had reported seeing an Anasauri.
Tona walked up and noticed Wincet mumbling. “Wincet, what’s wrong?” She looked over his shoulder and saw the drawing in the book he was reading. “The Anasauri are a myth. Why are you letting those old tales upset you?”
Wincet turned to look at her. “The Anasauri are real! I met them in my youth. They were nearly extinct then. They had a small city on the moon of another planet in their system. I wonder if there are any left.”
“Maybe, we should go looking for them and see if there are any left.” Tona looked at the drawing again. “They certainly were ugly, weren’t they?”
“Ah!” Wincet smiled. “They may have been ugly but they were the most intelligent and well-spoken people that I have ever had the privilege to meet. I just wish you all could have the chance to meet them.”
“Well, unless we go back in time, we never will.” Tona patted Wincet on the shoulder. “I’m going to teach the others some defensive moves. We will be in the Vision Cave. That’s the only place that they can’t break anything of value except maybe one of their own heads.”
“Take it easy on them, Tona. Most of their races are not as agile as elves.” Wincet warned her. “Dallys may be the only one who can keep up with you.”
“I know but we need to be able to keep from getting killed if we are to continue these missions.” Tona grinned mischievously. “Besides its funny when Nellis falls on his ass.”
“Tona!” Wincet said sternly.
“Well it is.” Tona laughed and patted him on the shoulder again before she left.
Wincet sat and thought for a moment. “Maybe there was a way that the Dark Army. It would take some doing but he may be able to pull it off.”
He shut the ancient book and went to the shelf to find another. He ran his hand along the spines of the ancient books in many different languages from many different worlds until he found the one he wanted. He took it over to the workbench and opened it up.
“Now, I just have to find the right spell for the portal to go back in time.” Wincet turned the pages carefully in the old book. “Not too far but just enough for the Dark Army to meet the Anasauri for themselves.”
In the Vision Cave, the Dark Army was spaced out in pairs to work on the moves Tona was teaching.
“Ow!” Nellis got off the floor and rubbed his behind. “Did you have to do that so hard?”
Dallys and Jace tried to keep from laughing but failed.
“Well they’re not going to hit you with a pillow, you know.” Tona sighed. “Let’s try it again. Jace, partner with the little kitten boy this time.”
“I am not a kitten.” Nellis folded his arms across his chest. “I am a Casparian shapeshifter. We’re furry creatures.”
“Furry little kitties.” Tona smirked. “Now remember … lunge and duck. Not roll into a ball and fall on your…”
“Everyone! Come! I have something for you to do.” Wincet waved them over to the center of the cave. “Come look at what I have found.”
“It’s just a dusty old book. You have hundreds of them.” Nellis limped over to Wincet. “What’s the big deal?”
“Wincet, what have you found?” Jace asked. “Are we going on a mission?”
“Please! Anything to get us out of training with Tona.” Nellis rubbed his behind again. “I think I broke my tail.”
“You have a tail?” Tona burst out laughing.
Wincet glared at Tona. He cleared his throat. “I was thinking about the time I met the Anasauri and how they are assumed to be extinct now. That’s when Tona came in and said something about time travel. So, I looked for the spell to turn the regular portal into a time portal. I want to send you through to the last known location of the Anasauri.”
“Where was the last known location of the Anasauri?” Dallys asked. “It isn’t on some planet that eats faeries is it? Do they eat faeries?”
“No! They don’t eat faeries.” Wincet looked up at the stars and pointed to a star near the edge of the universe. “It was on a moon orbiting another planet in their system. Their planet was lost to a cataclysmic disaster.”
“Why do we need to go back to back in time?” Jace asked. “I mean, if there are still some left then we should just meet them and not go back in time. Time travel sounds dangerous to me.”
“There is always some risk when going through the portal.” Wincet looked at each one of them. “If you are not comfortable with the idea, I will not use this spell unless everyone agrees to it.”
“I vote ‘no’.” Jace looked at the others.
Nellis looked at Wincet. “I vote ‘no way’.”
“No offense, Wincet, but I vote ‘no’ too.” Dallys sighed. “If the spell doesn’t work, we could end up anywhere at any time.”
“Borne, what do you think?” Wincet asked. He looked at the android that was standing quietly with his head bowed.
“I am still calculating the odds. I will let you know when I have finished.” Borne bowed his head to finish.
Tona looked at Wincet. “I’m with them. I don’t want to go time traveling across the universe. We could find ourselves as dinosaur snacks or worse.”
“What could be worse than being eaten by a dinosaur?” Nellis asked.
“I just don’t want to be eaten period.” Dallys shuddered at the thought. “Too many creatures think I’m a crunchy and tasty thing.”
Borne looked up. “I have finished my calculations and I do not wish to go.”
Wincet sighed. “I was hoping that you would get the great honor of meeting an Anasauri but I can still send you to the third moon of Calna where they were last seen. Maybe there are some left. At the very least, you could find out what happened to their civilization.”
“I think we would be fine with that.” Jace looked at the others for approval. “Is there anything we should take with us like air or protective gear?”
“Does your world have a moon?” Dallys asked.
“Yes it does. It’s just a giant rock that orbits our planet and shines the light of our sun back at us at night.” Jace looked puzzled. “Why?”
“My planet has a moon too. There is an ocean and several land masses on it.” Dallys told him. “Jace not every world is like yours. Tona’s planet has two moons and Nellis comes from a world without a moon.”
“I’m beginning to learn that everything is possible in the universe.” Jace smiled at her.
“What good is a moon that you can’t use it? We use our smaller one to hunt game.” Tona sighed. “I miss hunting things.”
“This is not a hunting mission. It’s turned into an intelligence gathering mission.” Wincet shut the book he was holding. “Instead of meeting the Anasauri, I want you to see what happened to them. Look around for any signs of invaders or disease. At least, we can give them the respects of letting the rest of the universe know what happened to them.”
“We should get changed.” Tona looked down at the loose clothes she was wearing. She rubbed her nose. “Some of should bathe too. If there are any Anasauri left, we don’t want them to smell us coming.” Tona headed out to the living quarters to clean up and prepare.
Jace patted Nellis on the shoulder. “I think she means that you’re a bit gamey.”
“Hey! This is my natural musky smell.” Nellis glared at Jace.
“I have some herbs that can get rid of that Nellis.” Dallys winked at Jace behind Nellis’ back. “Good thing that I restocked last time we went to market. It will take a lot of herbs to get rid of that smell.”
Nellis walked off in a huff. He mumbled something about furless people and their noses.
“I will go make the preparations for the portal. Meet me there in a half hour.” Wincet sighed and walked out of the Vision Cave.
“You know, Wincet probably thinks we’re a bunch of children.” Dallys laughed.
“We are much younger than he is chronologically.” Borne looked at Jace and Dallys.
“She means that we act like a bunch of children, Borne.” Jace patted his friend on the shoulder. “Come on. We better get ready to go or they’ll leave us here.”
Less than an hour later, the Dark Army stepped through the portal on the third moon of Calna. They expected to see ruins but what they saw instead surprised them.
From the ridge top where they stood, they could see that there was a city gleaming in the sunshine. The tall buildings were made up of mostly metal and glass. There were vehicles floating around in the air from one place to another. Everything was clean and shiny.
“Wow!” Jace looked around. “This isn’t what I expected at all. Is that a flying car?”
“I don’t know.” Tona looked at him. “What’s a car?”
Jace rolled his eyes. “A car is a vehicle that carries people from one place to another. They run along the ground in my world.”
“That would be dangerous they could run over someone that way.” Nellis frowned. “The more I hear about your world the less I want to go there.”
“We need to split up. Borne, Nellis, and Dallys try to find a data port. We need to get as much info as we can on how many there are, what weapons they have, and the size of their army.”
“Tona, we aren’t gathering intelligence for a military strike.” Jace reminded her. “Borne, focus on census data and historical records. That building over there looks like a school. You can probably tap into the city’s servers there. You two keep him from getting caught, please.”
Nellis and Dallys took the lead toward the building that Jace pointed out. Borne glanced back as he followed them and looked worried.
“You and I should go look into some windows to see how they live.” Tona pulled on Jace’s arm. This one is open and it has some shrubs we can hide in.”
“Are you sure those aren’t poisonous?” Jace eyed them cautiously.
“Just come on.” Tona tugged on his sleeve again.
They settled in under an open window and peeked inside. Two blue lizard-like creatures were standing in what looked like a kitchen. The female was washing dishes and the male was reading something off an electronic device.
“You never have time for me or the hatchlings, Punar. It’s always work, work, and more work. You seem to forget that you even have a mate and hatchlings at home.” The female turned away from what she was doing to put her hands on her hips.
“My work is very important to me.” Punar put down the device and walked over to her. He put his hand on her cheek. “Ka, you know that I love you and all of our hatchlings. I would be home more if I could but I must see that all the knowledge of the Anasauri is archived safely for future generations.”
“Ha!” Ka pushed away his hand. “I don’t care about future generations. I care if your hatchlings will know who you are when you come in our home.”
“It isn’t like that.” Punar sighed. “I’m here every day. They see me every night when I kiss their little faces before they drift off to sleep.”
“They see you but when do they get to know you?” Ka asked. “When we are standing around the pit when you die?”
“KA!” Punar shouted.
“Hush! You’ll wake them up.” Ka glared at him.
“I promise to take this weekend off. We can take them to the water to splash around and play. I may even get in too. What about you?”
Ka sighed. “I would like to go water. It’s been a long time since we did anything as a family.”
“Not since the fifth hatchling came out of his shell.” Punar put his arms around her. He started to nibble on her neck. “I can’t wait to see you in your water suit.”
“None of that!” Ka pushed him off. “We have plenty of hatchlings already. I hear what you are thinking, you know. I have heard your thoughts since we were bonded.”
Punar laughed. “Sometimes, I swear you can only read my very naughty thoughts. That’s why I love you so much.”
Ka sighed. “Sometimes, I can read all your thought then other times you are so closed to me. We are bonded. We should share everything even our thoughts. Sharing our minds is what mates do.”
Punar rested his forehead on hers. “You’re right and I’m sorry. Let’s go get some rest.”
“Rest is all you will get this night, Punar.” Ka let him take her by the hand and lead her out of the room.
Jace looked at Tona. “They sound normal to me. How about you?”
“I wonder how many hatchlings they have. It sounds like their population is growing not shrinking.” Tona wondered.
“On my world, overpopulation is a problem. Not enough food and too many people.” Jace looked around. “I wonder if the others are finished. We should get back to the portal site.”
“Don’t you want to peep in some more windows?” Tona teased.
“I really don’t want to take the chance that I will see something I can’t get out of my head.” Jace shuddered.
“You are no fun.” Tona stood up and pulled him up to his feet. “Let’s go. They should have the information from the city’s data storage by now.”
In the school, Dallys and Nellis were keeping an eye out as Borne used a cord from his wrist to tap into a port on a data output station.
“Borne, are you done yet?” Nellis asked. “We got to get back to the portal site.”
“I will be done in just one minute.” Borne disconnected from the data port. “I have to secure the data. It will take a moment.”
Dallys glanced back at Borne then looked at Nellis. “If he doesn’t hurry up then we are going to get caught.”
“Give him a moment.” Nellis looked out the door. “I don’t see anyone around. Don’t worry so much.”
Borne walked up behind them and tapped them on the shoulders. “I am finished.”
“Finally, let’s go.” Dallys pushed past Nellis and went outside. “Come on. We have to get to the portal site.”
Nellis and Borne followed her to the top of the ridge where Tona and Jace were already standing.
“Did you get anything?” Jace asked.
“Yes. I have census records and the historical data Jace suggested that I obtain. I also retrieved medical data about their race.” Borne told them.
“That’s what took so long.” Dallys sighed.
The portal opened behind them and they stepped through.
Wincet was waiting for them expectantly. “Did you find out what happened to them? Was it a natural disaster or was it disease that wiped them out?”
“Neither.” Jace looked at Wincet. “They are alive and well. From what we saw, they are flourishing on that moon. They have a huge city there. They’re living their lives just like everyone else.” He glanced at Tona. “Making babies and going on family vacations.”
“How? No one has seen them in a thousand years.” Wincet was perplexed. “How many of them are there?”
“According to the census information that I downloaded, there are over five million Anasauri in that city.” Borne reported. “There are five other cities with equivalent populations to the city we saw.”
“Did you meet anyone? Did you talk to them?” Wincet asked. He looked at them. “I don’t understand. Why didn’t you talk to them?”
“We didn’t want to disturb their lives. They are obviously hiding.” Jace shrugged. “If they haven’t wanted to be seen in over a thousand years then stands to reason they don’t want people just showing up to talk to them. We should let them be. Maybe someday, they will want to make contact with the universe again.”
“He has a point Wincet. If we let the universe know that the Anasauri are still alive there may be someone out there that will try to destroy them. We still don’t know what destroyed their planet.” Tona looked at the sorcerer.
“Are we in agreement that we shall keep their secret?” Wincet looked at each of them as they nodded in turn. “For now, the plight of the Anasauri is our secret to keep.”