The vine wrapped around Jack’s ankle like a snake that just caught its prey. Jack pulled at his leg. “Hey, let go.” “You’re a trespasser, and you’re not going anywhere until Grandfather gets back from talking with the Captain,” the girl shouted. Jack tried to pry the vine from his ankle. “I’m not going to be in trouble, because I didn’t trespass.” The girl flicked her head and turned away. “Trespasser.” Jack gave up on trying to unwrap the vine from his ankle. “I’ve read the Survey Team rules, and it says that a Survey team member will have access to Deck Zero. It doesn’t specify any restrictions. And none of this is real, I would have seen a big glowing forest from my observation tower.” “Well, you’re not very smart, so you probably thought the bio-luminescence was from the exit sign.” Jack rolled his eyes. “I’m getting bored with this game.” The girl waved her hand and the vine unwound itself. “Whatever, go ahead and leave if you want, but if Grandfather has to come looking for you, you won’t like it.” Jack laughed. “I’ll take my chances.” “You’ll be sorry,” the girl shouted after him. Jack stepped over a root slithering across the ground and waved a hand in the air as he walked away. He guessed the trees were probably where the shelves were actually at. The illusion of a forest here was too strong for him to see through it, but he’d had no problem seeing through the illusion at Sunth City…well, most of it. He had seen a massive tree in the center of Sunth City, but Mr. Buckles said that there wasn’t one really there. The Great Trees were probably stronger at projecting illusions and even his Aeden mind hadn’t been able to push past it. He stepped around a tree, thinking it probably marked the end of this row of shelving, and ran into something with an ‘umph’. He closed his eyes and reached out to feel what it was, and touched the cold metal of the shelves. Okay, so the trees weren’t perfectly lined up with the shelves. It was going to take forever to find a way through the stacks with this silly illusion in the way. There had to be a way to get around the illusion. Jack scanned the forest looking for a clue. The trees were an illusion, he knew that, but they weren’t a reliable marker. What else was there? The ground? The leaves? The vines? The roots? Of course, the roots couldn’t burrow under a steel deck, they had to follow the walkways between the shelves. Jack squinted and forced himself to only see the roots winding among the shelves. The pattern came into view and with it, he knew what was real, and what was not. “Oh, aren’t you clever,” came the girl’s voice from somewhere above him. She was probably following him by walking on the top shelf. “What are you babbling about?” said Jack as he hurried along the path. “Don’t be dumb, I can hear you thinking.” “Get out of my head.” “Make me.” Jack grabbed his necklace. “Aya, I’m under a telepathy attack, deploy defensive measures.” A static sound rose in Jack’s ears as his A.I. fought against the telepathy invasion of the Sunth girl. The static made him a little dizzy, but nothing he couldn’t handle. “That’s so lame, a sonic barrier, please, I can get past that,” said the girl. Jack gripped the large crystal on his A.I. necklace harder. “Aya, deploy psionic counter-attack.” A satisfying squeal erupted from above him as an alternating high-pitch frequency was directed at the girl. Jack could see the air rippling around him as the psionic battle raged. The jungle illusion began to weaken and waiver as the Sunth girl had to shift focus to her own defense. A particularly powerful attack hit Jack’s mind like an ice pick and he cried out. He heard a giggle from above as his A.I. increased the frequency pitch until his teeth ached. The girl dropped down from the shelves and landed hard on the ground. She stood and thrust both hands out at him. Waves of psionic pressure pushed against Jack’s frequency attack. Jack threw his hands up to block the attack. The ripples in the air increased until almost nothing was in focus. A deep elderly voice cut suddenly through the battle. “Alright children, that’s enough playtime.” The static in Jack’s ears stopped and the psionic waves rippling in the air faded away. A sonic blast from the old man pushed him so hard that he fell on the ground. His pride was saved only by the sight of the Sunth girl also falling backward. The old man with the silver hair stepped between Jack and the girl, only now he was wearing the uniform of a Senior Survey Officer. Jack pushed himself to his feet and felt a wave of vertigo. He steadied himself and studied the old man. The man was easily the oldest Sunth he’d seen so far, and his body seemed just as real as the girl’s was. Jack narrowed his eyes and glared at the old man. “What’s this game all about with the fake glowing forest?” “I know of your quest to find a way back to Aeden, I had spoken of it with the Captain before, but did not know he had decided to allow you to begin,” replied the old man. “I needed to see how strong you are.” Jack’s eyes flashed with anger. “Bull, you enjoyed scaring me.” “And there is that famous Aeden temper,” said the old man. “Yes, I’ll admit to enjoying it. One should always strive to enjoy one’s job.” The man flicked a hand to dismiss Jack’s protest. “You are clearly superior using a high energy frequency attack, but in a psionic attack, you struggled to even defend yourself. If not for your A.I., my grand-daughter would have incapacitated you as easily as I did when you stepped off the elevator. Having advanced technology at your fingertips won’t do you any good if you’ve been paralyzed by your attacker.” “It wasn’t a fair attack, why would I even think someone on the ship would attack me?” The man raised a bushy eyebrow. “Did an Aeden just accuse me of an unfair surprise attack?” Jack’s face reddened and he looked at the ground. The Aeden had conquered fifty galaxies through brutal and deadly surprise attacks on unsuspecting worlds. Jack had no room to ever claim an unfair attack against him. The girl stood and went to her grandfather. “Did you learn anything from the Captain?” “Yes I did.” The old man wrapped an arm around his grand-daughter. “The Captain didn’t tell Jack what he thought the device might be, because he’s not sure that’s what it is. He found an old Ship's Log entry that only said they’d found an artifact and stored it down here.” “What does the Captain think it is?” asked the girl. “His guess was right,” replied the old man. “I know because I’m the one that brought the device aboard, inspected it, and put it into storage. The Captain really should have asked me about it before giving Jack the map.” Jack’s curiosity over-ruled his temper. “What is the device?” “I’ll take you to it, under three conditions.” Jack’s eyes narrowed. Conditions? Anything with conditions was always a trap. “Fine, what do you want?” The old man grinned like he’d just won a valuable prize. “The first condition is that you consider the Captain’s offer to stay with the ship.” Jack rolled his eyes. “Why would I ever do that?” “Because you’re the only one, aside from Luca, that can use the device.” Jack shrugged. “So, let Luca operate it.” “Luca is content to stay within the boundaries of the rules, he is not an explorer. You, however, intensely dislike rules and are a natural born explorer. I’ll let you take the device to your sector and use it anytime you like. You can go back and forth to Aeden, or anywhere else in the universe where there is an Aeden, or Atan Jump Gate. I want you to lead exploration teams to explore all the Atan worlds that weren’t destroyed in the cataclysm.” Jack’s face clouded in confusion for only a moment, then his eyes widened as he realized what the old man meant. “It’s an Atan Jump Gate? I could go anywhere!” “And I give you leave to do so,” added the old man. “Explore to your hearts content and lead as many Survey Team missions as you like.” Jack’s expression hardened and he crossed his arms defiantly. “You don’t trust me to go on my own.” “Learn to explore correctly, with a team,” said the old man patiently. Jack paused for a moment, thinking. The old man was trying to bribe him with the device. Jack kept his expression neutral and decided a non-committal agreement with a twist would be the proper response. It would give him room to wiggle out of the old man’s trap later. “If I can go back and forth to Aeden to see my family when I want, I think even my Grandfather would agree it’s worth assigning me here on the RS-40 as a Gate Keeper.” The old man’s lips tightened and he frowned. That wasn’t the agreement he was looking for, but if it kept the boy on the ship, at least most of the time, it would be tolerable. “The next condition is more difficult. You’ll go to Aeden and rescue the three Sun Trees Jacuub left behind. The Aedens have abused them long enough, it’s time for them to come home.” Jack almost laughed, thinking the old man was joking, but the old man’s expression made it clear he was being serious. “That’s not difficult, it’s impossible. The Sun Trees are in a gated compound with security everywhere.” The old man shook his head, causing his silver hair to ripple like the leaves in a tree during a light breeze. “You will take Alani with you.” The old man nodded at the girl. “The Aeden have never seen a Great Tree. They will think you are just an Aeden kid taking his alien friend on a tour of the Sun Museum. There are enough alien species wandering around Aeden that she won’t be noticed. Alani knows what to do. You’ll be in and out in minutes, and nobody will ever know what happened.” Jack shrugged. It was obvious the old man knew Jack loved being the hero and leading a rescue would be a tempting bribe. Jack carefully replied so not to be commital. “If the three Sun Trees are being held against their will, then that’s not right, they need rescued. So, what’s the third…” Jack almost said bribe, but it wasn’t time to show his cards. “What’s the third condition?” “A sample of your DNA,” replied the old man. Jack grinned. “I knew it. There was no way a biological humanoid body was born from a plant based species. You grew your bodies in a test tube, then used your neural network to transfer, or link, your consciousness to the body, but you’ve only had Ruk DNA to use. You need new DNA, or you’ll just keep getting different versions of the same body.” “I was told you are exceptionally intelligent,” said the old man. “Do you agree to provide your DNA?” “No, I don’t agree,” said Jack. “You’re either new to genetic cloning, or really bad at it, but the Aeden have already been down this road. Test tube babies can be prone to serious problems socially adapting. They become disconnected from their parent species and develop all kinds of psychosis. We learned that the hard way with the Dragons. You’re not getting my DNA unless it’s done the normal way, and that’s not happening any time soon.” The old man’s face hardened and he was about to reply, but Alani stopped him. “Grandfather, wait. Jack didn’t say no, he said the normal way. The normal way is to go out with different people, and if you find someone you really like, you fall in love, and then you get married and have babies; that’s the normal way.” “I already have a girlfriend,” said Jack. Alani gave Jack another of her expressions that said he was being stupid. “No you don’t. You had a vacation romance, and every girl on the ship was jealous of Kalu, but those kind of romances never survive once you come home. When was the last time you even saw Kalu?” Jack didn’t reply, but it was true. He hadn’t seen Kalu for days, every time he went to her apartment to see her, she was always busy. He’d known the truth, that she’d dumped him, but he hadn’t wanted to admit it to himself. Alani patted her grandfather’s arm. “Let me make the third condition.” “Go ahead, I’ll leave it to you,” said the old man. “Jack, you’re going to be mad for a week or two because you got dumped. I would be too, but I know what kind of boy you are. Gah, every girl on the ship has memorized the article in Teen Ruk Magazine about the different types of boys. You’re Type A – Social Outgoing. You’ll find a new girlfriend quick. There are 380 female Great Trees in the fleet, and about half of them our age. So, would you consider going out with a Sunth girl, if you find one you like, the same as you would with a Ruk girl? If nothing else, we’re your size… I mean…sheesh, Kalu was three feet taller than you, and still growing.” “I hope you don’t get all your advice about boys from a rag tabloid magazine,” replied Jack. Alani narrowed her eyes at Jack and stuck her tongue out. “You sounded nicer in the interview you did for the magazine.” “Well Jack, will you agree to that?” asked the old man. “Just don’t ask me to go out with you, jerk,” added Alani. Jack looked directly at Alani and gave her a grin that said, now who’s the stupid one. It was time to call their bluff. “You guys are really bad at trying to bribe someone, especially an Aeden. First, the Captain already gave me the device, so it’s not yours to trade with. Second, I would never sit back and let someone be held against their will, and Third, I’ll go out with whomever I want, whenever I want. So, the way I see it, you still owe me three bribes.” The old man’s frown deepened. “Pay attention, Alani, you’ve seen Aeden anger, now look at Aeden greed. What do you want, Jack?” “I want a life seed for me, Tan, and Luca,” declared Jack. “Every Ruk has one, but you’ve never given us one.” “That doesn’t sound like greed to me, Grandfather,” said Alani. “Why haven’t they been given their life seed?” The old man sighed. “Jacuub gave three life seeds to the Aedens, and look what happened. The Aedens abused the seeds by not using them as intended. They somehow managed to pollinate the seeds and grow a Sun Tree. Now we’ve had three Sunth trapped on Aeden for almost three-hundred thousand years.” Jack shrugged. “Exactly, you don’t trust me, so why should I stay here.” “Just hold on, Jack,” said Alani. “You’re a jerk, but everyone deserves to have a life seed. It could be the difference between life and death someday. I’m going to give you your life seed, and I’ll send two up to Tan and Luca. Seriously Grandfather, I can’t believe you were going to launch into space without giving them life seeds; that’s just mean. Come on, Jack, walk with me to my Sun chamber.” Alani let go of her grandfather’s arm and grabbed Jack’s arm. The old man watched the two young people walk away. He stretched and yawned. “Enemies into friends, and friends into romance, and my great-grandchildren should be along in a few years. I need a nap now.”

Okay, so someone is going to say, Jack’s only 12, and twelve year olds don’t ‘go out’ with girls. So, let me fix your understand of ‘go out’. Conversation with my 12 year old (many years ago) Him: Hey dad, I went out with Melani. Me: Say what? Him: Yeah, she’s my girlfriend. Me: Umm..okay, so, do you hold hands? Him: No, of course not Me: Do you.. um.. kiss? Him: oh my gosh, dad, what’s wrong with you, don’t be gross, no we don’t kiss. Me: Do you eat lunch together at school? Him: Don’t be dumb, dad, no way, the boys don’t sit with the girls. Me: Okay, so… when did this happen? Him: After math class. She was at her locker and I asked her if she wanted to go out. Me: And? Him: She said yes. Me: And when do you go out? Him: (now giving me that expression that says, I got the dumbest dad in the history of dads) I already told you, after Math class. I asked her to go out, and she said yes. That’s it dad, there’s no more to the story, we went out. Me: (wondering if the hospital possibly mixed up babies and mine is actually at MIT studying physics) I see, son, okay, well. Umm… go help your mother set the table. So you see? To go out, going out, gone out, for the 11-12 year old crowd doesn’t extend any further than verbal social practice. A romance usually lasts in that small space between math and history class, and consists of an awkward four minute conversation of one syllable words. Often with a crowd of the girl’s friends watching and giggling. P.S. If you find a grammar error, ignore it. I've been having a hard time editing this story because I keep trapping myself in past tense instead of present tense. Some stories are like that if there are multiple complex plot threads occuring at the same time.