Rose's eye snapped open and she sat up on the med bed, drawing her legs up under her, tailor fashion. Sunshine exclaimed,"MOMMY! You're awake!" She clapped her hands and then hugged Rose. Rose smiled."Glad to see you're not completely grown up,yet.You know? Maturity determines the arrow of time's direction." Captain Dokka Tkarro, who had been talking with Kella, the rabbit derived beastgirl,burst out laughing. Sunny and Kella looked blank. He said,"The older you are, the younger you wished you were, and the younger you are, the more grown up you wished you are!" Sunny rolled her eye and Kella smirked. "Heh! Just like the Tapponok! They're born fully grown in tubes so they don't have to go through the discomfort of pregnancy! No wonder they don't know diddly about children!" Rose blinked,"I was referring to my OWN children and what was wroth on THEM, not a comment on our hosts at this Terminal Planet! Though, the point on them isn't lost, either. That DOES make them more like Machine-life species than us,Cyclops. Growing up to an adult state is UNIQUE among Machine-life species,Sunny! Without it, you would NOT be the person you are!" Rose reached out and ruffled Sunny's hair. Sunny fussed and jumped back,"Aw,Mom! You're getting all mushy on me!" Dokka said seriously,"You can bet than NO Hiver OR Jongwe would ever say that! Or maybe even any Tapponok! We have to remember that these alien species ARE really alien, not just in appearance OR biology either! Rose, why did it take you so long to exit the SNARE? Snowy's in the hall, talking with Kael, and Kella's had time to change clothes." Rose raised her brow and said,"I had a private talk with Nuut, the controlling intelligence of the Nunera system. Mostly it was about my daughter Lime. HOWEVER a comment she made was MOST illuminating. When I asked about Kibo's emergency SNARE termination she said,'Mother doesn't always know best!'" Kella turned from some martial arts moves she was making and asked,"Oh,REALLY? I did notice they share jaw lines, though Nuut is masked like Azreal... KIBO IS AZREAL'S MOTHER-IN-LAW? GOD! No wonder he didn't stick around!" She chortled. Rose blinked again and said,"Thistledown gets along better with my mother than I do! If he didn't--he'd let me know!" Dokka asked,"Enough about 'mother-in-laws'! Anything else about Aldus and how's he's tied in this mess?" Rose shook her head."Daughter is as guilty acting as Mother, but no more explanatory! I was able to piece together that something 'happened to Ambrosius' and Aldus WAS involved AND it did happen on Earth. Beyond that--she did NOT want to talk about it! I didn't uncover what the dark secret is.Just another warning to 'Leave well enough alone'. For the moment, I suggest we do exactly THAT. We don't have anyone who might know anything. Narchi might remember something, or Measure, but both are on Earth. However... His 'CHANCE' meeting with Tyyee the White, the Oracle and Chalchilaloq after their ship crashed in the Ramadan Desert all those years ago looks less and less 'accidental' NOW!" Dokka looked shocked,"I never even thought of THAT! Those people REALLY impacted our world in a HUGE way. Brought allied aliens to our world, like the Trayodashan, helped form the Cyclops Commonwealth, and without which, we wouldn't know the Measure OR Toxic! HOW is he...?" Rose snapped,"Aldus is coming!" The door to sick-bay slid open and Chief Medical Officer Aldus Panchetta came in. He grinned at Rose,"Good to see you up an about! I think some of the crew were about to go hunting for you if you hadn't popped up when you had. Your daughter, Violet wanted me to tell you, she DID save you the very last pork-chop!" He went back to his office humming. Rose hopped off the med-bed. "No time to lay about. I have duties and a pork-chop to devour! We can talk later!" She grabbed Sunny by the hand and they left Sick-bay. --TO BE CONTINUED!--