As the Atlanteans watched the antimatter torpedoes detonate, destroying the four major Moons of Jupiter, Ian asked for an inventory.

"We still have five antimatter torpedoes, 250 gravitational mines, over 5,000,000 photon torpedoes, and all our lasers are operational," replied Sitar.

"What is the situation in repairs?"

"All repairs are completed. The outer shell is now clean of residual lava," replied Thorsten.

"Sensor arrays?"

"Passive listening activated!" replied Typhoon.

"What is happening Earth-wise?"

"The Moon is falling. Several big pieces have been swallowed whole already," Samson replied.

"What is the impact of the Black Star?"

"So far, undetectable, but it cannot last!"

"Is there any warship around?"

"None of the Elohim types; however there are quite a few of the other species, most were out on patrol when we blew their bases up. The only other species that got wiped was PGMOCS1212, the old S20-B."

"Listen in on their communications."

"I have a lot of noise to filter out. Jupiter is emitting on a wide bandwidth, and communications are encrypted," replied Iridia.

"Have we been detected?"

"Apparently not, but I would not wager my shirt on it," replied Sitar.

"You cannot bet what you do not have," replied Harp, pouting.

"Ian, I want to port sensors in the Oort cloud equipped with subspace transmitters. It would not do nice to get taken by surprise on our backs," said Harp.

"How many transmitters?"

"Eight."

"Proceed."

"Phobos crashed on Mars," reported Samson. "It joined Deimos, that did the same thing three days ago."

"I would have thought we would see the birth of rings."

"It goes to prove our ideas of how reality works and reality are two different things Harold," said Annabelle.

"Incoming torpedo!" said Thorsten.

"Plot intercept path!" ordered Sitar.

"Best intercept path is azimuth 229°, elevation 42°. Detonation at three minutes," replied Thorsten.

"Program our photon torpedo. Fire when ready! Identify origin!"

Three minutes later, the photon torpedoes collided and exploded, creating a bright, if very short-lived flash of light that destroyed a small Jovian Moon that happened to be within the sphere of destruction.

"Origin within the agglomerate of rocks drifting toward us. Nature of aggressor unknown at this point," said Thorsten. "Converging spaceships to our position. We have been detected."

"I do not give a damn. Barrage of torpedoes, wide dispersion! Fire in five volleys," replied Sitar.

"Enron, engage photon drive. Head for Jupiter," said Ian. "Harp, arm a gravitational mine. We will drop it in Jupiter."

"That is going to be a show. What virtual mass?"

"Yes, I expect there will be fireworks! Set the virtual mass at 10²⁷ tons. That would be enough to light up Jupiter and convert it into a star."

"A nice dirty trick to do, but what happens when the mine stops folding space?"

"Jupiter will blow up."

"We are 6,000,000 miles above the atmosphere!" said Enron.

"Dive in, do not slow down!"

The Atlantean sphere penetrated at half the speed of light in the Jovian atmosphere, creating a tremendous shock wave that tore right through the thick atmosphere, baring the metallic surface of the planet, that had been polished by weathering. Thebes passed quite close to the surface, and as it skimmed the surface, the gravitational mine was dropped. It began its dive toward the core of the planet, its density increasing exponentially as the seconds went by. Meanwhile, the Atlantean spaceship emerged from the Jovian atmosphere, dragging with it several billion tons of methane in a plume that cascaded back toward the planet in a shape reminiscent of a flower.

"Head for the Sun!" ordered Ian, as the spaceship emerged from the planet's atmosphere.

"We are headed directly in a concentration of Extra-terrestrial ships," said Harp.

"Thorsten, acquire targets! Typhoon, fire photon torpedoes at will! Just try to disable them."

The giant Atlantean ship rammed several hundred enemy ships that were unable to move out of the way in time. Enron passed through the Martian atmosphere, literally tearing it to shreds and pulling it away from the surface. The enemy ships, designed more for space travel than flying even in a thin atmosphere, suffered immensely from colliding at half the speed of light with the thin veil of almost undetectable gases. For many, it was as bad as colliding with an invisible wall of steel and they flattened like pancakes. Others were caught in the vortexes and lost control, crashing on the planet's surface or in each other.

Quite a few ships had taken to navigating the treacherous Jovian region, trying to cut short the distance by passing near its boiling atmosphere. The results were unfortunate for them. As the gravitational mine reached its maximum mass, Jupiter suddenly collapsed, and the gravitational well of the planet reached 0.8 solar masses. The slow-moving spaceships were swallowed inside the gravity well as neatly as Jupiter was. By the time Jupiter reached ignition, the mine was settled neatly in its centre, and got burned by the sudden ignition of the hydrogen fusion process. Since the mine was no longer there to hold the Jovian mass in its grip, the igniting fusion created tremendous expansion pressure. It took a few critical seconds for the inertia to be reverted by the thermal pressure, seconds that helped in feeding the growing thermonuclear inferno; but once it was reverted, the explosion was like a miniature nova, and everything around Jupiter, be it Moons, rings, or enemy spaceships were blown to dust by the violent destruction of the giant planet.

By then the Atlantean ship was running away toward the Earth, whose red form could be seen coming toward them at a very impressive speed.

"When will that other planet collide with the Earth?"

"Two hours after we pass behind her. We can see the impact of Halley comet already. It is burning away the residual atmosphere," replied Samson to Ian's enquiry. "By then we will be deep in the Sun's photosphere, if not emerged on the other side. Where we will be depends on your orders."

"Where are the enemy ships?"

"They are all around us, but most seem to travel at a sedate pace," replied Harp, "and I know why. I just saw one blow up from colliding with a meteorite. We have been smashing though this junk like a bowling ball, but they seem unable to match this."

"Slow down to quarter impulse! I want them to see us."

"Quarter impulse!" replied Enron confirming the order just as Paschal did the same from the engine controls.

"Pass by Venus, and then dive toward the solar photosphere at half the speed of light. Try to dive in a sunspot. We will be harder to spot, not that with our size, we will be easy to see. We will lurk just out of sight, and watch the show. Can we make it on time to be hidden when the collision occurs between the Earth and the rogue planet?

"Yes Ian. With an hour and a half to spare," said Samson.

"Hey, I have always wanted to know how the Sun's interior was. Would you mind a side-trip?"

"To where, Harp?" replied Ian, not really opposed to the idea.

"I have been told that at the core of any star lurked a plasma of iron, as it sinks by reason of its density toward the core. I want to check."

"Sure, why not. That spaceship could withstand just about anything, so let us go. Samson, plot a course for the solar core, add 20 minutes examination and trip back up five minutes before collision."

After a few minutes, Samson transferred the data to the con. "It is sent."

The Atlantean spaceship sped toward the Sun and passed Venus' orbit, then took a sharp dive, gaining speed as it neared the Sun's corona. A giant solar flare, almost reaching half the distance to Mercury, illuminated the sky. It arched back into the Sun and dove back in the eye of an enormous black spot.

"Would that do?" asked Enron, as he watched the projection on the forward screen.

"Yes. What is our reflection index?" Ian began querying Harp, which held the science station for the entry.

"At 100%."

"Faraday magnetic isolation?"

"Total."

"Gravitational compensation?"

"Complete."

"Enter."

The Atlantean spaceship entered at half the speed of light, which created a tremendous impact on the corona in the immediate area. The shock wave extended over several million square miles, and the resulting concussion created a wave that began propagating in the super-hot gases in a ripple effect that propagated at a speed that was comparable to the speed of sound in the rather tenuous plasma. The ship slowly slowed down to reach a stately speed, still quite fast, as it entered ever deeper in the gaseous sphere.

The first layer of the Sun was penetrated with relative ease, but as the Atlantean Sphere began digging within the convective layer, it encountered increasing resistance. The deeper it went, light travelled with ever-increasing slowness within the star, and at one point, the Atlantean spaceship, which had kept moving through the star at 0.5 c, was moving at a speed equivalent to it.

"Should I adjust our speed to match the speed of light in this medium?" asked Enron. "We have reached it."

"Uh?"

"Oh, come on, Ian! Do not tell me you slept during the discussion on refractive indexes while we were in the Pyramids? You were the one that called to our attention that the white ball of a billiard table behaved the same way as light when it travelled through the table, bouncing left and right and moving slower if there were more balls around. You kept joking about being framed by 14 bagged balls!"

"And what is the refractive index of the current layer?"

"It is 2.419, exactly the same as diamond."

"I wonder what would happen if we maintained our current speed?"

"Let us test it."

The spaceship stayed at half of c while continuing its dive toward the star core. It became enveloped in Cherenkov radiation, while the photonic shock wave's angle increased and propagated in the solar medium.

"Are you aware that, according to the last measurements, we are diving through material that has a refractive index comparable to silicon?" wondered Harp.

"No, but are we getting close to the Sun's core?" Ian asked.

"Another couple of thousand miles, I have slowed down to about 20,000 miles per hour, so six minutes to core centre," Enron replied.

"Pressure?"

"We are resisting with ease. However the Ancients were far off on their stellar model."

"How so?"

"I will explain on our way back up, Ian."

"All right."

The Atlantean spaceship reached the centre of the Sun and stayed there five minutes before beginning the climb out of the gravity well. As the trip began, Harp began to explain what he had discovered from this trip to the heart of the Sun.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, here is what I found. First, the Sun is stratified, with the heaviest nuclei at its core. The Ancients though that the Sun contained no elements other than hydrogen and helium, and that helium fell to its core as it got created by nucleosynthesis during hydrogen fusion. Their model was as such¹⁰¹⁰ ("Superscripts are protons and neutrons; subscripts are electrons. The Greek letter Y is gamma, representing the emission of a gamma ray. The e is either a position (e+) or an electron (e-)"):

¹H₁ + ¹H₁ => ²D₁ + e⁺ + v^e + 0.42 MeV

That is, hydrogen protons fuse, producing deuterium while releasing a positron. The positron immediately annihilates with an electron:

e⁺ + e^- => 2 ϒ + 1.02 MeV

And this leaves the deuterium free to interact with another hydrogen proton:

²D₁ + ¹H₁ = ³He₂ + ϒ + 5.49 MeV

That was for the primary nucleosynthesis. There were other stages, with helium combining to form beryllium, carbon, oxygen, and leading to iron. Normally, nucleosynthesis in a star stops with iron; heavier elements are born in exceptional conditions, such as novas and supernovas."

Taking a sip of iced tea, Harp continued his exposé:

"Another aspect I need to talk about is star population. It will combine with nucleosynthesis at some point and explain what I found out. There are two main classes of star populations, population II and I. Population II contains hydrogen and helium exclusively, because they are the oldest stars in the universe, and therefore were formed when there was next to no heavy nucleons around. Type I stars, like the Sun, are bright, young and contain heavy elements seeded by the explosion of population II giants that blew up and dispersed their outer layers into space. In fact, the model states that creation of type I stars was induced by shock waves propagating throughout the interstellar hydrogen gases, creating differential densities that allowed gravity to pull matter in. The process is accompanied by the conversion of part of the kinetic energy into rotary motion, creating an accretion disk. We should all know that given our stay in the Pyramids."

Harp sipped his tea.

"Now to the core of the problem. We all know how gravity works. In theory, the gases collect and collapse toward the core of the proto-star. In all logic, heavier elements should fall faster than lighter elements. Just consider this: an atom of iron is 56 times heavier than an atom of hydrogen. It should therefore sink toward the core of the cloud much faster than hydrogen or helium does. That goes for other elements between hydrogen and iron. In fact, as the cloud rotates, it should become differentiated by mass. However, the centrifugal force should not be enough to neutralise gravity's centripetal force. It is a delicate balance, but I came to the conclusion that iron must be found in the Sun. Furthermore, since we are talking about gases, the rotary speed is not uniform from the centre of the cloud to its edge. Yes, the closer to the centre, the faster the rotation, but was this gain in speed sufficient to counter the effect of gravity? I had my doubts."

Harp took a deep breath, trying to find a clean way to explain his results.

"Let us say that the Sun is effectively differentiated by layers, but that is not a simple onion with neat separations. First, the core is mostly composed of helium rotating at a very high velocity; then there is a thick layer of hydrogen where the nucleosynthesis process is very active, and another layer of hydrogen, which I would call the reserve, that only transmits light by refraction. It is in the upper layers of the Sun that things become interesting. There is a layer of oxygen-rich hydrogen, then a carbon-rich layer on top, and a silicon-rich layer, and finally, an iron-rich layer near the surface. My hypothesis was the other way around, and I had to think things out before I began explaining this. Now, hear me right: I am not saying there is no hydrogen, helium, silicon, carbon, or oxygen in the Sun's upper layers. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Helium and, especially, hydrogen, are the most common elements found in the upper layers. There is an accretion of heavy metals at the surface due to centrifugal forces. However, these forces are insufficient to eject the heavy atoms, and their speed is insufficient for them to reach the Sun's escape velocity. In fact, I will do another experiment when we leave. I plan to take special pictures of the Sun that will bring into view the appearance of the Sun at the emission band of iron. I want to take photographs of the Sun in iron, silicon, carbon, and oxygen emission bands. I have created the filters already, and since we will be taking them simultaneously, we will be able to study their relative position in real-time. We may be in for a surprise! See, Sitar, science is like war: expect the unexpected!"

"Oh. Okay. What now, oh Scientist?"

"Up we go! Find us a nice sunspot. I want to see the impact of the two planets. And stay below the photosphere, Enron. If I know Scavengers, they must be trying to recover everything they can, not that there is much left."

***

The Atlantean spaceship lay lurking in the sunspot located somewhat north of the Sun's Equator.

"Even with all the damage we did to their fleet, they look like Fleas on a corpse!" exclaimed Jefferson, as the front screen showed the number of Scavenger ships busy trying to recover anything valuable.

"I wish we could give a kick in that Hornets' nest."

"Well, Williams, we will not need to. The kick is coming from that planet you see on our right, emerging from behind the Sun. The result is going to be quite similar. Hey, Rockhook, where have you been? You missed the dive in the star!"

"I was busy receiving another group of freshly awoken Goblins. Ian, the Healer wants to talk to you."

"Okay. As soon as this is finished, I will take a hop."

"Did it go well?" asked Enron, as he adjusted the power level to compensate a sudden rise in electromagnetic flux.

"I met them, and showed the video recording of what happened to the rebellious faction. It made for a very interesting and educational movie!"

"I can imagine! How was it received?" asked Harold.

"Coldly."

"Did the Healer tell you why he wanted to see me? If it is to release Francesca, he can shove that idea where the Sun does not shine!"

"No, Ian. It has to do with the Orcs. He says the little ones should be releasable."

"I will go check on the issue later."

"I do not get why the Scavengers are not moving out of the way of the incoming planet?"

"Greed, Dunbar. They are trying to recover as much mineral resource as they can."

"Harp is partially right. The other aspect is that the incoming planet is coming from behind the Sun, rotating in the opposite direction to the Earth's orbit. And for a reason I cannot understand, their extraction is done on the night side of the Earth, away from the Sun," said Thorsten.

"Maybe travelling so long far from a star makes them sensitive to light?" suggested Jefferson.

"Anyway, it serves our purpose. What is the situation?"

"Ian, the collision will be in 5 minutes 21 seconds. Currently, the speed is at 722,000 miles per hour. It is increasing since the planet fell into the Earth's gravity well, but that will not change the value by much."

Everyone watched the dark red mass progress toward the Earth, its orbit slowly inclining ever more into a head-on collision course as it was gripped by the planet's gravity well.

"Hey! The Scavengers finally realised something was up! Look at them! It is like Bees after a Bear has opened a beehive!" exclaimed Jefferson, giving a relatively accurate description of the behaviour of the Scavengers' spaceships trying to escape. Some turned on their heels, only to collide with those behind them or on parallel trajectories. Others braked, getting smashed by the following ships. Overall, it was a complete mess.

"Impact in two minutes!"

"How many will escape?" Ian asked.

"Not many, maybe a few thousands at most," Samson replied.

"I wonder if we are seeing their entire population?" pondered Sitar.

"I doubt that. Space is huge, and these species are hives. They split once they have reached a critical mass and begin migrating in different directions. We may even be seeing a freshly split hive," suggested Enron, as he worked the Atlantean spaceship's control.

"Do you think they war against each other?"

"I do not see why not, Sitar. They are faithful to their hive, but once they split, I doubt they keep that attachment, much like Bees."

"You talk like you expect them to have Queens?"

"Hey, Sitar, have you forgotten your own lessons on war? Know your enemy! I read from Atlantis One Archives, and I doubt they have evolved different behaviours. What served them well during Atlantis One should serve them well today. Space has not changed much."

"I admit I have been negligent brushing up my knowledge on them, Enron. I will remedy this as soon as we leave the solar system."

"It is all right. I like studying, and I did not have much to learn about piloting this space egg since our stay in the Pyramids. I filled in my free time reading old ridulian scrolls."

"One minute to collision! Tidal wave apparent on the Earth's surface; fracturing crust on the other planet," Samson said as he kept watch on the two planets. "Last Scavenger ship out, but they will not be out of reach of the impact."

The two planets kept moving toward each other and the Earth began leaving its orbit to curve toward its impending doom. At 30 seconds to collision, the lava surface of the Earth began rising toward the incoming planet, whose crust finally ruptured due to the gravitational strain. The impact was powerful enough the two planets shattered, their core glued to each other and their crust, or what was left of it, getting ejected in outer space. The sudden impact also had an altogether dramatic consequence. The combined masses of the two planets were slowed down sufficiently for them to enter a very elliptic and degrading orbit.

"Estimate trajectory!" ordered Ian.

"Perihelion is less than 6,000 miles from the surface of the star, aphelion is current Earth orbit. I estimate the combined masses will be dragged into the Sun in two orbits at most!" replied Samson.

"Okay. What about the Scavengers?"

"Most are destroyed by the explosion of the other planet's crust during impact. They are currently dispersed."

"Enron, ready for warp speed. We will emerge just after the combined mass has passed our zenith. Navigate so we are in front of the incoming planet. Space should be clear of debris and I want our exit to be totally undetectable."

"Heading?"

"The South star, Sigma Octentis. We will adjust to head for the Wolf Constellation once we are out of the Oort cloud."

"Okay."

"That is a F0 white giant star, approximately 270 light-years away from this solar system. I suggest we should be ready for some surprises if we go there. It has a cyclic magnitude variation of 0.03 every 2.3 hours in luminosity. The Ancients classified it as a Delta Scuti variable, with the variations due to both radial and non-radial origin."

"Thank you, Samson."

"Let us get ready. Enron! Engage! Warp nine."

The star ship left the Sun behind, and immediately entered warp drive. Unbeknown by the Atlantean, a stream of matter shot out of the Sun's surface, indicating for all to see their trajectory.

"Estimate the duration of travel at Warp nine to reach that star."

"The navigation model says 65 days and some minutes," Samson replied.

"That gives us some time to think things over," said Paschal.

Enron reported they were clear of the Oort cloud 21 seconds later.

"Scavenger activity?"

"We have no direct feed from rear sensors since we are moving at 1,516 times the speed of light. However, the hyperspace relays indicate no activity yet from them. Let us not trust this information. If they did detect our passage through the Oort belt, it will take them time to estimate our trajectory, and even an error of one part per million would lead them astray," replied Harp.

"Program the auto-destruct for the hyperspace relays. We need them to stay active for a week at most, but I do not want that technology to fall into the wrong paws," decided Sitar.

"On-contact detonation programmed. What delay do you want before they blow up without contact?" Harp asked.

"Give us a week."

"Fine. Command sent. Command acknowledged. Command accepted."

"We have been up for days. Everyone heads to bed. Evening shift! Take over! Rockhook, you have the bridge," ordered Ian.

***

The Royals made their way to their quarters and had a real meal. It had been days since they had taken a hot meal. Everyone then went to the Royal Baths, and did laps in the hot water, before retiring for the night. For the first time in months, nay, years, everyone slept without being disturbed. By prime, the next shift, led by Yamato, took over and continued to follow the path established by Ian.

Ian and the day shift woke up at sext, fully rested for once, ate a healthy breakfast-lunch, and regrouped in the Royal living room for a discussion, well aware that there was enough qualified Officers on board for them to take a well-deserved break.

As everyone chatted of the previous months' events and exchanged views, Harold reminded Ian of the message from the Healer concerning the Orcs.

"Yes, I almost forgot. Dad, will you come with me? I would like Sitar, Paschal, Thorsten, Harp, Typhoon, Timor and Colibri to come along."

"Why such a big delegation, Son? Are you not afraid that it will scare the young Orcs?"

"No, I want to give them a feeling that their differences, their physical differences, will not be an obstacle to their acceptance in our society. By including a wide spectrum of appearances treated as allies, I hope to alleviate these fears. Timor and Typhoon are the most important, if the others are busy. Too bad Rockhook is not up, but he took over from us last night and it is his rest period."

"I see. Talking about differences, have you found a way to recreate a female gender for the Goblins, Harp?"

"Not yet Dad. However, I have managed to repair their only artificial womb. It is not actually vital for now, given they are few yet awake, but the problem will become critical over the next few years."

"I have included their data into our core data structure. Their computers were too simple and presented a danger, being tri-phasic, therefore vulnerable to AI infiltration, whereas ours are infinite-state positronic. Their data has been vetted for corruption. A lot of things seemed to have been damaged. However, there was a redundancy check and it allowed us to fix 99% of the corruption. Unfortunately, those bits that were the most corrupt were also the oldest, and those we desperately needed to generate a female gender for the Goblins. I am currently asking the Pyramids to cross-index the data with our own data to see if we might have kept a record of that species' basic genetic material somewhere. I have asked for a proximity match, given that the Goblins probably have evolved over time."

"Okay, Paschal. Enron, do you have anything to suggest?"

"No, we exchanged as much as we could while Paschal was dealing with this issue."

Just as they were leaving for the Hospital, Rockhook made his way out of his room, yawning to the point you could see his 46 sharp teeth clearly.

"Hey, I thought you would still be sleeping?" Ian asked.

"I had six hours. It is more than enough. Where is everyone going?"

"To see the Orc Children."

"Wait for me! I am curious!"

"Okay. Rush to take a shower, and we will wait on you. Join us in the hall leading to the Royal Hallway."

Rockhook took to a run, and 10 minutes later, still dripping wet from a dive in the Royal Pool, joined the delegation on its way to the Hospital.

"Here! Dry up! The water you leave behind can help track you, and you might feel a bit cold! Some of these halls are mightily drafty!"

Rockhook quickly wiped from head to foot, and the wet towel was banished to the care of some cleansing machinery.

"Should we not wear clothes if this is an official delegation?" asked Rockhook.

"No, I want the differences between us to be apparent. Wearing clothes will defeat that purpose," replied Ian, as he walked beside Rockhook toward the Hospital.

They met Greywolf, Blackie Dog, Bushtail Fox, Silver Moon and Golden Horn on their way to the Hospital. Everyone joined the delegation after Ian explained where the ship was going and why.

"We only miss a few representatives. The Matriarch is probably busy, and there is no Centaur or Pegasus in our group."

"You need not worry about the absent species. Your message will be clear enough already, my Lord," said Greywolf, voicing the opinion of the others succinctly.

The arrival of the delegation at the Hospital was an event in itself. As they made their way toward the section reserved for the care of the Orcs, the Healer kept a running commentary on the progress of other groups.

"We are ready to release the first group of youngsters rescued from the last bunker of the United Kingdoms. The adults are still way off release, due to the amount of reconditioning they need to undergo. We could speed things up if we could simply wipe their memories completely."

Ian looked at Harold, who shrugged.

"Do it," decided Ian.

"Do what?"

"Wipe their memories. Just write back the minimal information about their surviving siblings. Rewrite language skills, and plant fake memories. Do not forget to take into account the need for parents, their potential death due to natural causes, and the Children they are legitimately the parents of."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"It shall be done. That would cut their treatment by several years."

"What about their neural pathways for eyesight?"

"That was the easy part. About half the Children have been rewired properly, and their genetic material was modified to include a full functional visual pathway. Prince Enron, your request that their visual capacity include ultraviolet and infrared has been incorporated.

"Are there any more issues?"

"Not really. The other groups are progressing on schedule. The only big problem is the Goblins. They come out frustrated."

"I noticed!" said Rockhook acidly.

"Has their genetic remodelling failed?" Ian worried.

"No. They are as healthy as can be. They have a reprogrammed immune system, and, when they get out of stasis, they are protected against every common and not so common sickness. It is just their tempers."

"I think they suffer from agoraphobia!" suggested Colibri. "After living for so long in confined space, they probably have a hard time adjusting to Atlantis' vastness."

"That might be so, Colibri. Dwarves suffered the same issue when they were taken out of their mine."

"I will look into Prince Colibri's suggestion," replied the Healer.

Colibri blushed from head to toe at being called a Prince, and the others smirked at his predicament.

"Here we are. This room contains 1,000 Orc Children still in stasis. All are ready for release. How do you want to proceed?"

"Bring them to deep sleep, so we can examine their mental state," ordered Ian.

The Healer sat at a control desk that gave him access to all stasis chambers in the room. After a few minutes, he turned toward Ian.

"They will be in dream sleep in 20 minutes."

"Okay. Is there a room where we could wait comfortably?"

"There is a Staff room just around the corner, in conformity with Lord Paschal's design."

"Okay, lead us to it."

The reanimation of the Orc Children had reached a critical point. Now, everyone would know if the reprogramming of the Orc society would succeed. Ian, Harp, Paschal and Sitar began scanning the mental patterns of the Children and presenting them with test situations. It took six hours to scan the 1,000 Orcs in the room, and then an hour to compare notes.

"What is your call?" asked Sitar.

"I say it is a go," replied Harp, surprising Harold, Sitar and Paschal. Enron, which had joined them at a later stage, blinked in surprise as well.

"I am surprised!" Sitar said, as he remembered the hatred Harp had toward the Orcs since they had eaten his Mother.

"To all sin forgiveness, and these Children are not the individuals that did these horrible things to our family, Sitar."

"I was going to object, but if Harp is able to forgive, I would have ill grace not to be able to do the same," replied Enron. "After all, the Orcs benefited of high treason from our own people, and justice was dealt with already. I say let us give them a chance."

As Enron spoke, Paschal nodded confirming that he agreed with his analysis.

"So, we all agree?"

After a nod from everyone habilitated to vote on the issue, Ian turned toward the Healer.

"Healer, release 10 Orcs."

"Only 10?"

"Hey Healer, the next step is to see how they react to us, and facing 1,000 freaking Orcs is not my piece of cake, even if they are Children."

The next step brought out of stasis the 10 oldest Orcs of the bunch, and they were dried and warm by the time the inner cover opened, releasing them to the outside world since they had been captured in Africa it seemed so long ago.

The 10 Children, ranging from 10 to 12 years of apparent age, seemed a bit lost as they were helped out of the chambers. Two Boys hugged each other while crying, and the youngest, a female, looked around fearfully, as if searching for someone.

«The two Boys hugging each other are twins. The little Girl is looking for her big Brother. If I read her right, he is still in stasis, but should be out if we continue with the reanimation process,» said Harp. «Ian, your call.»

"Reanimate chamber 839, Healer. It will put this little Girl's mind to ease."

"At your command, Prince Ian."

Ian gestured for the little Girl to come closer. In the beginning, she hesitated, but Ian's rather diminutive size compared to her gave her the courage she lacked when she had seen the giant Troll King.

"What is your name, little one?" asked Ian, gently.

Initially, the Girl had problems speaking. Her voice box was rusty and the Atlantean language was putting her muscles into a new dance. She bit her tongue a couple of times, something that Ian healed quickly with discrete use of Magic, and he gave her time to reaffirm her control over her facial muscles. Finally, after several failed attempts, she uttered a simple word:

"M'Douala N'Bagbo."

"Which one is your family name?"

"N'Bagbo."

"You are looking for someone?"

"Brother."

"Come with me."

Ian extended his right hand and took her left hand, leading her toward a slowly descending stasis chamber. The other Orc Children watched wearily the exchange, wondering where this was leading. As they reached the now ground-level chamber, Ian invited the Girl to look inside as he opened the outer cover.

"Is this your Brother?"

"Yes. Is he dead?"

"No. He is currently being reanimated so you will have your big Brother with you shortly. It takes about half an hour to reanimate and release a person from this kind of sleep. Are you hungry?"

"Yes, but I want my big Brother first!"

"It is all right. I am sure everyone can wait half an hour. Come sit with the others."

"I want to stay."

"How old are you, little one?"

"Four."

"Okay. Just do not touch anything. Healer, lock the controls on this chamber, just in case she touches anything by mistake."

"It is done, Prince Ian."

Ian left the little Orc Girl to watch over her big Brother and returned to the nine other Children. He sat on the floor, inviting the little Orcs to join him down. Some, more shaky on their legs than others quickly obliged, but the older ones were a bit reluctant. Ian ignored the issue, well aware that things would have to take their course in due time.

"Let me introduce myself. I am Prince Ian of Atlantis. Standing behind me is my Dad, Harold Thor Horus Pharaoh of Atlantis. Beside me are the Princes of Atlantis, my Brothers Harp, Sitar, Paschal, Enron, Timor, Typhoon, and Thorsten, to name a few. Enron is King of Elves; Timor, the big furry friend with the gentle brown eyes, is King of the Trolls; Typhoon, the golden Boy with facetted ruby eyes and is King of the Dragons, and Thorsten, the Boy with the shiny armour, is King of the Dwarves. There are others with us, as you see. Silver Moon, Lord Agramon, is King of the Equines; beside him is the King of the Unicorns, recognisable by his gold circle on the forehead. Also present is Bushtail Fox and Blackie Dog. Behind them, trying to play shy Boys, are Rockhook, the Plutarque of the Goblins, and Colibri, another of my Brothers. There are others not present for now. Do you want water? We know that reanimated people are thirsty."

Ian materialised plastic glasses for all the Children, well aware that glass was not something they could handle given their current lack of muscular coordination. The sudden appearance of the small containers of water shook up the Orc Children, but after taking a sip of the fresh and cool liquid, they drank heartily.

"I figure you have lots of questions about how you came to be here. Let us say that you were rescued from a doomed planet, a planet we shared with you for a very long time. Would the older ones sit down, please? I will tell you the story, but you will need to close your eyes for a few minutes, while I tell you how things went, and closed eyes will help you see the images."

"Is this going to be like a dream?" asked one of the youngest Boys. "I hate dreams. They are always scary!"

"Some dreams are scary, others are nice. Yes this will be like a dream, but a dream so real you will feel you are living it, because you will be, through my voice. Do not worry, nothing bad happens to you. However, I must warn you. The first part is not nice, since it tells of why you were rescued, and anchors to the story. Many of you have lost a parent or both. We are going to do our best to supply substitute parents."

The older Orcs joined the younger ones on the ground, hugging them close as they sat between their legs.

"M'Douala, join us, please. Your Brother will not be out for another 20 minutes, and the story will be done before he gets released. You can sit with me, if it makes you feel better."

"Okay, but M'Ventura will be alone! She is four too and my best friend."

"M'Ventura can join me," said Timor, as he sat down on the floor beside Ian. The lonely Orc grinned and sat quietly between the powerful arms of the Troll King, feeling secure for the first time in years.

"Okay. Everyone close their eyes, and relax."

Ian began by the classical story line for Children:

"Once upon a time..."

After 15 minutes, the story came to a close. Ian had left out many things, well aware that old wounds were easily reopened, and that the time was for reconciliation not rekindling of fires.

"Are there any questions?" he asked as he concluded his story.

No one spoke. Finally, a young male of 12 took the Bull by the horns and spoke up.

"This story does not tell all, does it?"

"No. Some things are better left untold."

"What kind of things?"

"The last days of many Orc nests, for one. We found many of them empty. The nests told of horrible ends. Many starved, and resorted to cannibalism to feed the strongest, until no one was left."

"Is that all?"

"No. We were at war with your people for countless generations. We were considered food, although we never considered you as such. Orcs are, or should I say were, Hunter-gatherers. We were Farmers."

"You still hide something horrible. I can sense it!"

"Yes, there are many horrible things I have kept quiet about. For instance, my Brothers Harp, Sitar and Paschal lost their families to Orc Hunters. An Orc party tortured King Enron. And there is more. Do you really want to hear it all, young one?"

"I think it is best that all be in the open."

"Very well. We found out that your species was created as breeder for another species, the Crocodile Priests, rendered sterile by radiation. Your people revolted against that slavery. However, the Crocodile Priests themselves had been manipulated to create you by an advanced life form, the Elohim. We destroyed both the Crocodile Priests and the Elohim, as you have seen in the memories I projected to you."

"These were real memories?" asked another Child.

"Yes. We kept the gore out, but everything we projected happened. I am surprised you were able to spot the gaps."

"They were big enough to get King Timor in without his fur getting brushed," replied the same Child, which brought a big amount of laughter from everyone, including the Orcs.

"What do you want of us?" asked the next oldest Boy as M'Douala returned to watch her big Brother's stasis chamber.

"We believe that, given a fair chance, your species, called the Orcs, can contribute to our society in a constructive way. We started with you, because you are Children. You are the future of your species, and the most likely candidate to adapt easily to Atlantean culture. We plan to give you as much of your culture back, without the bad sides, such as systematic cannibalism, or hatred of us due to conditioning."

"Where are we?"

"Aboard a space ship. As you now know, Earth has been destroyed. We are currently headed toward a star that indicated the South Pole of that planet."

"What is a space ship?"

"There, the best answer is to bring you to the classrooms, and show you. Let us wait for M'Douala's Brother to be released, and we will do so."

Just then a gentle beep was heard, making M'Douala jump. Ian stood up and joined Harp, which activated the last stage in the release. The air blew hard on the Boy's body drying him up quickly. He developed a massive erection and creamed the underside of the glass panel, before waking up.

"How old is your Brother, M'Douala?"

"He is 13 years old. He kept playing with his third leg and shooting that stuff all the time! It is disgusting!"

"Boys do that, M'Douala. They get frustrated and their balls hurt if they do not."

"Do you do that too?"

"Oh yes!"

Ian used a bit of cleansing Magic to remove all traces of the incident before the young Orc Boy emerged from his last bit of sleep.

"There. At least your Brother will not be embarrassed. What is his name by the way?"

"P'Rouke. And he would not have been embarrassed, but proud. He had been showing off his tool for far too long to be embarrassed. It is the first time it is white and he wanted so much for it to get that way since P'Tool could! They kept comparing sizes, and P'Tool had been teasing P'Rouke for his lack of maleness for a year!"

M'Douala's comments brought a lot of snickers from all parties, but mostly from the Orcs themselves.

"All right, M'Douala. Let us keep this quiet anyway. I do not need P'Rouke to play with himself just to verify that he indeed has matured! Deal?"

"Deal!"

Just then, the older Orc opened his eyes, and the Atlantean Prince lifted the second cover effectively releasing the Boy from the confines of the stasis chamber.

"Let me help you out, P'Rouke. Your little Sister is waiting for you," said Harp, as he levitated the Orc out of the chamber, and putting him down on a blanket that had appeared by Magic on the floor. M'Douala hugged her big Brother, crying her eyes out as she sobbed heavily.

It took 10 minutes for the effusions to calm down, and, by then, P'Rouke was able to stand up.

"Would you care to join us to the nearest Staff room, Children?" asked Harold. "It will be more comfortable than sitting on the floor while we feed you properly."

M'Douala took her big Brother's right hand and pulled him along behind Ian, soon followed by the other Orc Children. Once they reached the Staff room, Harp materialised food for everyone, mostly vegetables and well-prepared meats. Everything disappeared as if by Magic, along with several gallons of apple juice. Once the table was clean, Ian took over and gave a quick overview of Thebes, and a video recording of the outside of Thebes was projected on an overhanging silver screen, while the forward view of the ship was projected on the side.

"This is were we are now. P'Rouke, I have recorded what I projected to your Sister and the others so I need not redo it for all the ones coming out of stasis. While you view this, I need to contact the bridge and verify that all is according to plan. M'Douala, stay with your Brother and try to answer questions he may have. That goes for the others too. Please help in P'Rouke's integration as much as you can. Healer, recycle the freed stasis chambers, and move 11 Orc Children from the cryogenic chambers to the stasis chambers."

"At your command."

"Also, begin the release cycle of another 11 Orc Children, of the same age group. Those already released will help integrate the new releases. No more than five releases a day. I expect 176 Orcs released by the end of the day, not one more."