Jack’s finger was still depressed on the trigger of the heavy machinegun as he stepped backwards through the Event Horizon of the Gate and into real space. He continued to hold the trigger, unleashing a hail of bullets into the wormhole to ensure nothing was going to follow him through. He let go of the trigger as the Event Horizon collapsed. His eyes flicked down to the ground. He was standing on the cobblestone of a courtyard with manicured cherry blossom trees spaced around the border. “Jack, turn around, slowly,” said Chief in a low and deliberately paced tone. Jack turned slowly, unsure what he would fine. Chief and Commander Talbot were standing, but the Marines and Aeden soldiers were all on one knee in a semi-circle with their rifles pointed outward. Several hundred of the fanged Sherata tigers stood silently facing the small group of soldiers. One tiger stood in front of the formation, watching them with eager eyes. Jack slowly placed his weapon on the ground. “Everyone, lower your rifles.” “We can open the Gate and try to make it through to Planet 2,” replied Chief. “We’d never make it, those things are fast,” said Jack, studying the tigers. The tigers weren’t arranged in a battle formation like he’d seen in the past from Sherata tigers, but more like they had assembled to watch a parade. “Commander Talbot, something is different about these Sherata.” Commander Talbot eyes scanned the formation of tigers. “Yes, they’re smaller than the one’s we’re used to, and most of them are female, but even the males I see are smaller. And look at their paws, something is different, but I can’t see what it is from here.” “They have more variety in their fur, and I see cubs,” said Jack. “I’ve never seen a Sherata cub before.” “We keep the cubs in pens until they’re trained,” said Talbot. Jack studied the Sherata for another minute, they were still deadly looking, but something was missing in the way they held themselves, he didn’t feel the same fear and dread as the Sherata that he’d seen before. “Alright, everyone stay calm, and get your fingers off the trigger, this isn’t a battle we could win. I’m going to go talk with that one in front.” Jack walked between the Marines that formed the defense perimeter and out into the open area of the courtyard. His eyes flicked to buildings beyond the courtyard walls. Who had built those, and to what purpose? Were the tiger’s handlers living here, and if so, why weren’t they here? Jack stopped ten feet from the Sherata tiger standing in front of the formation. The creature’s fur was clean and brushed, and its claws meticulously groomed. There was no sign of neglect, and the tiger was obviously healthy and well fed. Jack realized what had set them apart from the Sherata he had encountered before, it wasn’t their size, but that they had no whip scars from their handlers. Jack was about to speak when the tiger knelt on its front leg and bowed its head. “Greetings, Creator. I am Azeil. We have kept the Law and never faltered in our duty. The Sherata tiger spoke in a dialect of Aeden so old that Aya had to load it into Jack’s memory for him to understand what the tiger was saying. “Is our shame forgiven?” The tiger stood. “We kept your commands, come, look, see all that we have built, yes?” Azeil turned and the other tigers moved aside to form a path to the gates of the courtyard. Aya, Jack’s A.I., spoke in his head. “Jack, I have scanned this tiger’s physiology. It is nearly identical to an Aeden Sherata, but the front paws have been modified. The joint of the fifth toe on the front paw has two phalanges moved to a forward position, similar to a human thumb.” Azeil had already begun walking through the path the Sherata had created. She stopped and turned around when she realized Jack wasn’t following. “Is something wrong, Creator? Have I offended? I will show you, we have kept the Law.” Jack needed a moment to think. “I would like some water.” The tiger’s eyes widened and its expression seemed to Jack as if the tiger thought it had just committed the gravest of offenses. “Mistake, unforgivable, I should have had water here, I have failed,” wailed the tiger in a pathetic cry of sudden anguish. The tiger threw itself on the ground and rolled in the dust as it lamented its horrible mistake of not having water available. “Stop,” shouted Jack, confused by this display. “I am not offended, and…” Jack thought quickly how he could undo what the tiger thought was an unforgivable and careless omission of its duties. “…the water is not for me, but…” Jack’s eyes fell on the Sherata cubs. “…for the cubs, they look parched having waited in this heat for us to arrive.” The tiger only increased its lamenting and rolling. “We have failed, we cannot even care for our cubs. All is lost.” Jack’s head whipped back and forth as every tiger except the cubs joined their leader on the ground rolling in the dust and crying out as if they were in terrible pain. Jack backed up to the perimeter of the Marines and glanced at Chief. “I didn’t do anything.” “Excuse me,” said a small voice. “You’re not really one of the Creators, are you?” Jack turned his attention to an adolescent cub not much smaller than an adult. “What…??” “You’re not a Creator,” repeated the cub. “I can tell.” The cub scrunched her face up into the tiger equivalent of a side-grin. “It didn’t make sense that the Creator’s would still be using such a primitive device to open wormholes. Surely they would have invented the World-Bridge by now.” “Wha…?? World-Bridge?? Who are you?” asked Jack. The cub cocked its head to the side. “Maybe you already have a World-Bridge, but call it something different. I can show you,” offered the Cub. Jack held both his hands out in front of him. “Slow down. What’s going on with them?” Jack gestured at the lamenting tigers. The sound of their wailing made it difficult to concentrate. The tiger’s face fell into an expression of sadness. “It’s the sickness, it comes after you turn four or five and lasts until you’re eight or nine, then we die when we’re ten. None of the elders live in the city, they all move to the mountains after the sickness passes. I don’t blame them, I’ll run away too after it’s over. I’m four, the sickness is coming for me soon.” “What sickness?” asked Jack, starting to get frustrated? The cub looked up at Jack with the saddest eyes he’d ever seen. “The Creator’s caused the sickness when they re-sequenced the chromosomal double helix DNA strands. It gave us hyper-intelligence by increasing hormonal development, but the side effect was a hyper-emotional state. Just about anything can kick off an episode. We take care of them, but… I’m so tired.” “Jack, a word over here, please.” Commander Talbot motioned for Jack. “Do you know anything about all this?” asked Jack, walking back to the Commander. “My guess is the dinosaurs were the researcher’s first experiment, but they were too violent and uncontrollable to be used, so they tried next on mammals, but there was a problem,” explained Talbot. “Have you ever noticed that the Sherata have no emotions, they are pure killing machines that blindly obey orders?” “Yeah, I kind of noticed that, first hand,” said Jack. “These Sherata must have been their first attempt. The result was a hyper-intelligent, but emotionally damaged tiger, and that wasn’t the super soldier they needed.” Jack nodded. “I get it, these Sherata are another failed experiment. The researchers removed all emotion from their next batch and finally had their army of super soldiers, but why didn’t the researchers destroy the failed experimental subjects?” Commander Talbot turned his head towards the lamenting tigers. “They were probably going to, eventually, but they blew themselves up with the anti-matter device. And the Emperor didn’t care, or didn’t know where the secret research base was. The needed Sherata had been sent to him already, and these failed experiments were left to fend for themselves.” “So, what’s on Planet 2?” asked Jack. “My guess would be nothing. Planet 2 is where our Sherata were created. It will be an empty world.” “Then we still have two chances left to find the anti-matter device.” “Hello, I can hear you.” The cub waved a paw in the air. “Is that why you’re here, you’re looking for an anti-matter device? We found one a long time ago.” Jack and Commander Talbot turned to stare at the cub. “Do you still have it?” asked Jack. The cub shook its head. “No, it was way too dangerous to keep on our planet. So, we built a rocket and launched it towards the sun, but it was our first rocket ever and it got caught in the gravity-well and crashed on the planet that orbits the second sun. They say the explosion was seen even though it was daytime.” Jack smacked his forehead. “Oh for the love of the Sky Gods, you’ve got to be kidding.” Commander Talbot shook his head. “They blew up the Research Base?” Jack started laughing and bent over with his hands on his knees. “I do not see what is so amusing?” asked Commander Talbot. Jack held a hand up and gasped for air. “Imagine what they were thinking when their own emotionally neurotic experiment fired an inter-planetary anti-matter missile at them.” “We did what?” asked the cub, craning her neck to see what the men were doing. Commander Talbot frowned at Jack’s youthful and inappropriate behavior. “Jack, compose yourself, you are not a teenager to giggle at the misfortune of others. You are a Captain destined to Command the greatest ship ever built, act like it, this is a very serious situation. The Aeden will come because the Eroden are coming, but when they find these Sherata, they will destroy them. You accused me of being sent to determine if you are a coward, but your courage is not what is in question, it is the nature of your courage that your grandfather wants to know. In his own words he told me, ‘We do not need another Butcher of Aeden, that time is done, now we need a leader that has the courage to save lives.” Jack straightened and his expression hardened. “Yes, Sir, you’re right, I apologize, I don’t know what came over me, it won’t happen again.” Jack turned to the cub. “What is your name?” “Mara.” “Mara, you said you invented your own Gate technology?” The cub was sniffing at one of the Marine’s machineguns and replied distractedly. “Yes, the World-Bridge.” Jack motioned for the Marine to remain calm. “Why haven’t you left this world?” The cub, now bored with the machine gun, started sniffing the Marine’s helmet. “Where would we go, nobody wants us, the Creators rejected us.” “I know how that feels, the Creators rejected me also, and if not for the protection of the Ruk, I would have been torn apart by the Sherata that the Creators chose.” The cub finished her inspection of the Marine by licking his face, then looked up at Jack with a brow furrowed in confusion. “Wait... what... the Sherata hunted you, but… we don’t do that?” Jack reached a hand out and stroked the cub’s face. “The Chosen Ones were chosen because they are willing killers created to do nothing but kill.” The cub shuddered. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.” Jack knelt and took the cub’s head in his hands. “I know, I can see that you are not that other kind of Sherata, you are intelligent, and kind, and have cared for the sick in your society for countless generations. You are the Sherata I would choose. I want you and all the Sherata here to come with me, and together we can build a new life for you, and perhaps we can find a way to undo the sickness.” “You want me?” asked the little tiger in a hopeful but uncertain tone. Jack lowered his voice to a gentle whisper. “Yes, Mara, I want you and all the Sherata here, there are two armies coming, and they will destroy this place.” “Why?” Jack paused. How could he explain such complex things as conquest, greed, and hatred to such an innocent creature? Jack shook his head. “I don’t know, Mara, I really don’t know.”