Starshine came around to her mother and asked,"Pudding?" Malbess broke up laughing as Tall White Lady sighed. "Daughter, you need to work on your grammar! WHAT about 'PUDDING'?" Starry took a breath,"May I have some pudding? Mother?" TWL smilled,"Yes, you may have some pudding! What will you do when we run out?" Starry looked aghast. "No more pudding? I'll cry!" TWL said,"That's why I'm try to make it last. We have a limited amount of it. When we're out, we're OUT!" Starry paused and exclaimed,"LOOKIT! A new door is growing!" Malbess jumped backwards over her seat and stood up. TWL turn and saw the mess hall door rippled into geometric forms and opened from the center into another space on some other ship. A man in green silks stepped through and stood there. The door returned to it's regular self. The man said,"I deeply apologize for any shock or surprise. My name is Obett. I'm here..." Malbess said,"...to meet Snowflake, the Cyclops girl you saw in the news! AM I close?" The man blinked,"Do you have a precognitive on this ship? If so, have you determined what danger she faces?" TWL said,"We have been told, it's you., Obett of Erhlu." He shook his mane of hair and scowled. "I'm not of Erhlu. I'm Altani. From Altan in the Altha star-system. We were uplifted by the Altha in a similar way the Erhlutians were by the Krommiums of the Krommium Neblae. Except the Erhlutians had an easy time of it since they weren't in a capitol star system at the end of the last great war." TWL looked at Malbess. Malbess asked,"Don't you have powerful relatives on the Erhlutian High Council?" He laughed,"I don't even KNOW who my parents WERE! Even If I did, they wouldn't be POWERFUL! The Erhlutians treat us like slaves and have experimented on us for over a thousand generations, tying to create artificial Altha-Krommium warriors for their war-machine. We might have both been uplifted by the ancient Altha-Krommiums, but the Erhlutians feel like THEY are the Inheritors! All other humanoids 'aren't worthy of kissing their feet!' Powerful relations? Not in my family tree!" Malbess asked,"How did you pull that 'DOOR' trick?" He smirked,"The Erhlutians would to know that,too! It's Altha-Krommium technology! I found one of their old scout ships near the Galactic Core years ago and figured out how to fix it. They succeeded with me. I am an 'artificial Altha-Krommium' but lost my slavish devotion to them. They gave me a little FTL ship and told me to leave and never return. They usually kill their mistakes, but they didn't kill me. They must have seen some use for me in their all mighty Probability Macroscope!" Starry said and point off in the distance,"His ship is over there!" Malbees pointed at the gangway up and said,"The Captain is up there and wants to talk with you!" He looked at her. "If you're some kind of android, you've been relaying what I've said and done in real time to the central computer, so your tactical crew can view me. That's fine, but if you all have been warned about me, it sounds like you've been fed information by the Erhlutians! I have something to say about them." Malbess waved a hand. He said,"DO NOT TRUST THEM! They are shiftless and dishonest to the bone. ALL the 'ANCIENT' races are not trustworthy. If they act nice, it's a trick. They're like intergalactic... LOAN SHARKS! Once they lure you in, it's to late. They might give an inch, but you have to pay it back by the mile! The people in the Bi-Lateral-Altha-Krommium-Alliance were the same way. The people of Erhlu followed their example too closely. At least we, Altani, forgot that crap!" TWL asked,"Why do you want to see Snowflake?" He shrugged uncomfortably. "This will sound bad, even if the Erhlutians hadn't poisoned your minds. I'm precognitive. I dreamed of Snowflake. Everyone I dream of dies. I'd like to find out WHY!" TWL nodded,"Yep. He NEEDS to talk with the Captain!" --TO BE CONTINUED!--