Chapter CHAPTER XXI—THE CASE OF AMABALA

“We have no time to squander!” Jules continued. “The Zux are beginning to attack the human population. At first, they seemed to just be hunting for sport at random. However, it is not clear how long this will last, especially given this most recent news and the arrival of our human guest. Something must be done—and soon.”

I realized at that moment that I liked this authoritative side of Jules. I sat stunned as he spoke. He came off as domineering yet regal as his influence resonated throughout the entire room.

Dazed by his assertion, it took several seconds for my brain to comprehend his message, ‘—they seemed to just be hunting at random.’

Surely, my mother had not been killed for someone’s entertainment. I felt like Bambi. The more I thought about the concept of his theory, the more it angered me. I could not believe it. There had to be a greater meaning.

“Rahim, Iris—Kaya,” I jumped a little at the sound of my name, bringing me back to the present. I had begun the return journey to the isolated island in my mind where I had hidden all the horrors of the past few weeks.

Jules’ eyes scanned my face, studying my expression. My pulse increased dramatically. I did not feel comfortable being watched so intensely by him. His gaze did not have the scrutinizing effects of Yzee or the bug-eyed expression of Sbapoid. As he watched over me, I felt protected, safe, and appreciated. His eyes, dark brown and mystic, seemed to say more than he felt comfortable admitting.

“Please, have a seat,” he said gesturing to the three empty chairs at the end of the table closest to us.

We promptly obeyed.

Rahim sat next to Tala who sat next to Oluh. I sat in between Rahim and Iris. Across the table from us sat Alec, Kachina, Inga, Nevaeh, and Sbapoid.

My mind reeling, or more accurately, being blown, I realized I alone represented the human race at the table. Not only did I find myself in some sort of intergalactic, ultra-dimensional meeting inside of an alien conference room, but the killings that had shaken Miami to its core, including the death of my beloved mother and the kidnapping of my son, all resulted from one extraterrestrial’s sick idea of a game.

“We are currently in an unprecedented circumstance,” Jules continued. “Not only are we in a lower-dimensional universe, but we are without a proper chain-of-command, protocol, and procedures. Consequently, those gathered here have to make a difficult decision.” He paused to let the statement marinate. “Are we to continue our previous roles as diplomatic liaisons here in this galaxy, universe, and dimension as we would in Selethia-Eno or should we dedicate our resources to returning home—whatever is left of it?” Based on his last statement, I felt that I knew where he stood.

The tension in the room grew more palpable. I could sense a range of emotions, courtesy of Iris’s lesson. No one sentiment regarding the current Veex situation dominated the crowd.

Rahim spoke first, “I propose that we return to Selethia—Eno in our own dimension as soon as possible. We have no business here on Earth, let alone in this inferior dimension,” he pronounced arrogantly.

Iris did not hesitate to strike back. “That’s both cowardly and despicable,” she spat venomously. “These Earth-Humans are in no position to defend themselves against an enemy like the Zux. They are clearly a Level 4 planet. Amabala was a Level 3 and look what happened there!”

I did not understand the meaning of the levels, but I knew that Yzee originated from Amabala. I looked at them, sitting up tall and stately, their body mass taking up several inches on either side of the chair.

I wondered what the numbered levels really meant.

Yzee seemed attentive, engaged, and intelligent, even though they had not spoken a single word. Their sheer size alone gave them the appearance of a being capable of defending themselves if caught in a combat situation. Yzee looked toned and muscular somewhere beneath their scales of molting flesh.

I was not the only one who watched Yzee carefully. Jules also set his gaze in their direction, intense and calculating.

“Ambassador Yzee,” said Jules in Teponian. I could tell that Yzee understood what Jules said because he nodded, acknowledging his address.

Jules did not softening his gaze in the slightest, but continued his statement by saying, “Though you are an outsider to our government and the rules that we abide by as members of the United Federation of Selethia, you have directly witnessed the destructive powers of our Tepon counterparts. I am interested in hearing your thoughts regarding our current dilemma.”

When I realized that Yzee prepared themselves to respond, it dawned on me that I did not know what to expect from the scaly giant. I leaned onto the edge of my seat.

Yzee opened their mouth to speak. The top and bottom of their oral cavity, where teeth would be, were lined with seemly thousands of interwoven fibrous threads. As they spoke, my natural ear registered deep and guttural noises and grunts, like listening to someone trying to loosen phlegm in their throat mixed with the purrs of a big cat.

In my right ear, I heard, “Commander Jules, first allow me to thank you for your hospitality. Your kindness and consideration are much appreciated.

“As most of you are aware, my planet was attacked by the Zux five Amabalian suns before we entered this dimension. Though we were initially unaware, the Zux were there to acquire a particular metal resource abundant on our planet, nibradaman. The metal is strong, conductive, and flexible. We use it for construction, electronics, mechanics, transportation, and other non-violent means of survival.

“When they first arrived, all dealings and transactions were satisfactory. Many Amabalians were even excited to finally be engaged in inter-galactic trade. They perceived the arrival of Tepons, even Zux, as an opportunity for our planet to finally reach Level 2 status.

“Others still, were more hesitant in their conclusions of the visitors and protective of our planet’s most valuable resource. Nevertheless, the Zux were treated like royalty. That was—until their true motive was revealed.

“Their sole purpose for obtaining nibradaman was to create weaponry. Wielding nibradaman weapons is forbidden on our planet unless the being in possession of the weapon is an ordained member of the Amabalian Defensive League. ADL priests, like myself, are spiritual leaders and protectors of our people. When news of the Zux’ nefarious plot reached the street level, we led peaceful protests planet-wide.

“The killing started suddenly and shortly thereafter. Being a mostly non-violent culture, the majority of my kind were caught completely off-guard. Our planet was being devastated and the ADL was too small a force to stop them alone.

“We did not think we would survive. Not until your noble vessel, Qego Mouyo, arrived.”

A moment of silence left my body covered in goose bumps. When Yzee spoke again, my skin crawled. It would take me a long while to get used to their voice. They went on to describe the complete and total devastation of their planet in detail.

A minute later, they finished by saying, “If these ‘Earth-Humans’ you speak of are truly as naive and primitive as you claim, they have no chance of survival—.”

My heart sunk.

“—without our assistance that is,” they finished. “As you Veex know, I am the lead ADL priest on my planet. Once Amabala was safe once again, I vowed to travel with this crew in the pursuit of justice for my people. As I was Selethia-Eno, so am I now.

“You have my blade, Commander Hokor.” Yzee’s head dropped in a bow to Jules.

Yzee took their gigantic hands, webbed between the fingers, and made a circle around a large, glowing scale in the center of their chest. I understood this gesture to be some sort of salute.

“Thank you, Ambassador Yzee,” said Jules gratefully. “Ambassador Oluh, what say you?”

I looked at the small, fuzzy alien. He seemed eager to finally speak and jumped at the chance. When he did speak, however, his true voice resembled a toy train, whistling and clicking as it went. His translated voice had a much higher pitch that of Yzee’s. Despite the squeaky voice, he came off as aggressive, and possibly hostile.

“The Zux are vile despicable creatures! They are not worthy of the nitrogen that they breathe!” he squeaked.

“It’s known throughout Selethia that Adirolfese and Amabalians are not the best of friends,” he continued, “Our planetary government was disgusted by the treatment of our closest neighbors!

“We concluded that if the Zux were willing to destroy the Amabalians to get what they wanted, they were willing to destroy us as well. We were ready to go to battle the day you arrived on Amabala.”

“If that is so,” probed Jules. “Why were we there over ten Tepon moons defending the Amabalians alone? Were you not here on Qego Mouyo with us, sent to observe the carnage for yourself in order to report back to your superiors?”

At this question, Yzee sat up straighter in his seat. Their eyes shifting sideways along with their large, bulbous head and whale-like neck in order to peer into Oluh slate-blue orbs.

Oluh shifted in his chair and swallowed hard. I knew he could feel Yzee staring at him because he suddenly exuded nervousness and guilt.

“Well—that’s all true, but I can explain. With the information I gave them, the reigning council thought there was no need to waste our resources when the Zux would not even listen to their own kind.”

Yzee grunted.

“We didn’t make the right choice, Yzee. I’ll admit that. We were selfish. This is why I will give my life to protect the humans on behalf of my people—to bring honor back to my kind.”

He stood up in the seat of his chair as he made his declaration of loyalty. He did not appear much taller standing than he did sitting down, and still looked less than half the height of Yzee, who continued to examine the contents of Oluh’s heart with his black-eyed glare.

Yzee must have been satisfied because after a moment more, they looked away.

“Thank you, Ambassador Oluh,” spoke Jules, clearly appreciative of the commitment, but possibly amused by the banter between Oluh and Yzee.

“How about your highness, Ambassador Nevaeh? Will you also join us in battle if need be?”

“Eniams do not fight on behalf of others as you know,” rang Nevaeh in a voice that sounded like wind chimes on a breezy day to my left ear. “But I will help you tactically as much as I can. The atmosphere here is agreeable and I should be able to fly at great heights for long periods of time without being detected or tiring. I will be your eyes in the sky.”

“Thank you, Ambassador Nevaeh,” said Jules with a nod. “I know you are only here with us as a witness on behalf of the UFS regarding the Amabalian conflict, so I sincerely appreciate you extending your role here on this planet.

“Finally but certainly not feeblest, Ambassador Sbapoid—I am sure we can count on you to fight.”

“Yes, Commander Jules,” hissed Sbapoid in a breathy whisper I could barely understand even with the translator. “Nogerons live for honorable war. I say we kill the Zux once and for all!”

I shivered. He was so creepy.

Jules looked Sbapoid up and down once without responding before turning to his second in command. “Iris, you have heard the commitments of all four delegates. Please present any evidence at this time to support your claim that Kaya is indeed a Huzeen.”

“Yes, Commander,” she replied, standing.

Iris leaned forward and placed her hands over the table, clasping them together in a prayer position. When she separated them, a screen glowed in front of her face. She pressed a few buttons and the three dimensional cubic screens instantly popped up in front of all the Veex and honorable guests at the conference table. I even had a set of my own.

The Veex all eagerly grasped the objects floating in front of them and examined each in turn. The fully digital screens, packed with charts, graphs, images, and pictographs, appeared to be the same data that Iris had brought Jules, Rahim, and me during our first meeting.

I remembered how upset Rahim had become and watched the others carefully.

Oluh quickly jumped into the data, obviously familiar with this type of presentation. Everyone else moved more hesitantly, carefully following the Veex’ movements.

“As you can see,” Iris narrated gleefully, “there is genetic, psychological, and biological evidence supporting my Huzeen claim. Most telling, the DNA sample shows a distinct Tepon footprint, mostly Veex with some other unknown markers. We don’t have enough Tepon DNA samples to map out her entire DNA sequence.

“The most telling evidence is the fact that Kaya has the ability of empathy, which we know to be an ability of the Veex genus.”

“Prove it,” challenged Inga, hardly allowing Iris’s last word to permeate on the rest of the audience, who mostly seemed to be in shock.

“Your snippy remarks lack the subtleties of negativity that would prevent any Level 5 fauna from detecting your attitude from a light-year away,” snipped Iris, dismissing Inga swiftly with sass of her own.

“Can she project emotion?” countered Inga, apparently determined to find a flaw in Iris’s theory.

“Not yet, but I plan to train her myself. Jules and Rahim have also witnessed her abilities.”

Inga turned to Rahim. “Is this true?”

Rahim stuttered, “Well, I—um—she may have—she could be—well, she certainly shows some aptitude for—”

“Arguing is inane and denial is futile,” spoke Jules, once again bringing stability and order.

Iris took her seat.

Jules looked down at the cube once more. He looked up at us all, feeling resolute, his mind made up. “My fellow Veex, do not let pride blind you to the facts that sit right in front of you.”

His statement ignited fevered mumbling. I overheard talks of erroneous data and data contamination. Some even suspected conspiracy.

“Commander, there is one more thing,” said Iris giving me a brief, apologetic look.

“You may share this information, General.”

“We also have data samples from Kaya’s son, Jarrice Lamont Jerito, retrieved from his bedroom the night General Hayami attacked. We have only recently tested them for anomalies What you are about to see are new findings by our own, Professor Alec.”

My heart sank as more of the digital cubes displayed before us. This time, I did not hesitate to grab the blocks, expand the screens, and examine the data. I did not immediately see anything wrong though concerned murmuring broke out less than thirty seconds from the data’s dissemination.

“Is this data stating what I think it’s stating?” asked Jules over the rumble slightly losing grip of his composed demeanor.

“Yes, Commander. Jarrice’s DNA contains what appears to be unknown Tepon components. We believe he is a Zux Huzeen.”

“I object!” shouted Inga coming out of her chair and tossing her data cube at the wall amongst other cries of decent. The discarded data cube blinked upon contact with the wall, then disappeared.

“Sit down, Doctor Inga,” instructed Jules.

Inga remained standing a few more seconds before taking her seat once again.

The room filled with silence.

“Kaya Lena Jerito is not an anomaly,” declared Iris, continuing. “Doctor Quchen and his students were alive when they departed Selethia-Eno. They have been on this planet. We do not know what brought them here, but some, if not all of them, have procreated with Earth-Humans!”

There were gasps, groans, and even gags.

“The ultimate taboo has been committed,’ Inga breathed.

Iris headed her off by saying, “We do not know the circumstances behind their actions. Again, we are in uncharted waters. There may have been an unavoidable reason for this treason.

“The bottom line is this—these humans are no longer just helpless animals that we can choose to ignore. Some of them, like it or not, are our kin. What is more, there may still be Tepons here on this planet and we owe it to them to find them. I understand that they have not responded to any of our initial attempts at communication, but we have no way of knowing how much time has passed here on Earth since their arrival. They may have given up all hope of returning home.”

“Thank you, General,” stated Jules. Addressing the room at large, he declared, “The ambassadors have all committed to defending the Earth-Humans and defeating the Zux. Now, we Veex must vote.

“By show of the sacred symbols—all of you in favor of staying on Earth and fighting back, make yourselves be known.”

Four Veex saluted, their sacred symbols piercing the air and slicing the hopes and dreams of the three who would have left us here to die.