Cody III, Chapter 1 Cody's fingers traced the diagrams and equations in an engineering manual, sparking his imagination, the worn leather bindings cool against his touch. He sat hunched by the view window, where the first flakes of winter kissed the glass, melting into tiny rivulets that raced each other downwards. The vast fields beyond lay dormant, a quilt of white steadily smothering the rows of harvested crops. "Anything interesting?" Tara's voice, melodic even in its mundanity, pulled him from the pages. "I'm studying the equations that led to the development of human hyper-space engines," Cody replied, his eyes still fixed on the pages in front of him. Suddenly, a crackle of energy filled the room, and the air pressure changed as the Third Light of Ara appeared. "Hello, Uncle," Cody greeted the luminescent being hovering over his shoulder, its curious gaze fixated on the book in Cody's hands. A tendril of light fell across the book. “This is a false path,” the Third Light stated, pointing at the equation that solved hyper-speed. “While it does lead to the first level of the hyper-space dimension, it goes no further. This is why humans have not advanced hyper-speed in fifty years. Return to the previous equation and re-work it until you start seeing the deeper levels of hyper-space.” Tara entered the room. “Hi, Uncle Gabriel.” The glowing figure of pure energy turned to face Tara, his form constantly shifting and pulsing with light. Despite knowing that the Ara did not have names in the traditional sense, she refused to keep calling them by impersonal titles. She craved a deeper connection with these beings she had come to know as family. "Hello again, Tara," the Third Light greeted her with a warm smile. "I must remind you, I am not an archangel from your Earth legends." Tara brushed off his words with a dismissive wave. "You may not be an angel, but you certainly look like one. And since you’re the Third Light, I'll just call you Uncle Gabriel for now." The Third Light chuckled at her stubbornness. "Very well, my dear. Until you bore with this game, Uncle Gabriel it is." Cody closed the book with a thud, and set it aside with a yawn. “What brings you here, Uncle?” "Firebelly has been taken," the Third Light announced, his voice a low hum that vibrated in their chests. "Taken?" Tara stepped forward. “What do you mean, taken?” "Kidnapped," the Third Light replied. "But this was left behind." He extended a hand, unfurling his fingers to reveal a ransom note, crisp and stark against his luminescent skin. Beside it lay an origami dragon, its delicate folds casting angular shadows. “Kidnapped?” Tara’s eyes widened. “Maybe you should have opened with that little detail first.” Cody gave Tara a slight shake of his head. “He probably did, three days ago, or maybe three years ago, or three years from now. Look at the shadow across his lower tendrils, there’s nothing here to cause that shadow. He’s not really here.” “What?” Tara’s confusion was marked in her furrowed brow. “Wherever he is, he’s too far away to teleport back, so he bent time to give us a message. But now you’ve deviated from the original conversation we had with him. “That’s right,” continued the Third Light. “It is perplexing, and shouldn’t be possible.” “See, and now we’re out of synch, let me try to get synched back up, I’ve done this before, Firebelly used to warn me three days before an asteroid strike, so I could get the ship ready,” Cody explained. “What I would probably have said was: “Who is responsible?" The Third Light spoke over Cody’s question, they weren’t quite synched with the original conversation yet. "An enigma," the Third Light confessed. "No such orb exists in our records or memories." "What? This is like trying to talk with a pre-recorded message on a Comm-link,” Tara complained. Cody quickly read the ransom note. “He’s talking about the ransom demands. Whoever kidnapped my Ara father is demanding something called, The Orb of Draconia.” "Distraction. Misdirection." The Third Light's eyes narrowed. "We cannot know the true intent yet." "Let me help." Cody's voice cracked with a mix of desperation and determination. "I could—" "Sense him," the Third Light finished, nodding solemnly. "Indeed, your connection to your father might reveal what our fleet cannot." "Then we must act quickly," Tara said, placing a reassuring hand on Cody's shoulder. "Yes, the Second Light of Ara has requested your assistance." The Third Light's figure began to fade. "Begin your search, First Son of Ara. Trust in your bond with The First Light." Cody imagined the Second Light actually said: “The boy is an idiot, but perhaps he might trip over a stone in the path and fall on top of the First Light by dumb luck.” And with that, the Third Light vanished, leaving behind only the rustle of the paper dragon and the heavy weight of responsibility that now rested on Cody's slender shoulders. Cody stood, the origami dragon still in his hand. Its wings fluttered as if caught in a silent storm, mirroring the turmoil within him. He turned to Tara, eyes alight with draconian fire. "We're going," he stated, the decision carving itself into reality. "We should tell your parents first," Tara replied, her voice steady despite the chaos that threatened to engulf them. “And if he wasn’t really here, how do you have the ransom note and dragon in your hand.” “You probably shouldn’t think on it too much, you’ll give yourself a headache,” Cody replied. “We’ll send my parents a message after we launch.” "I don’t like doing that, your mom has been really nice to me," Tara said, meeting Cody's gaze with a stubborn glare. "Fine," he conceded, heading for the airlock. Outside, Fang's emerald light cut through the snowfall, his presence a towering beacon. Whiskers stood beside him, earthen tones grounding the scene. Both protectors emanated an unspoken vow of guardianship. “You guys don’t have to stand out here in the snow,” Cody said. "Your safety is our charge," Fang stated, nodding at Cody with a formal tilt of his head. "And your success, our mission," Whiskers added, directing a warm glance toward Tara. "Just go inside, maybe you can’t feel the cold, but if anyone sees you standing out here, they’re going to think I’m making you stand in the snow," Cody urged, then headed toward his parents ship. Cody stepped onto the metallic ramp, his claws clinking against the cold surface. Twenty-minutes later he was back on his own ship, his parents with their packs right behind him. Tara's eyes widened, and a smile spread across her face when she saw the two doctors approaching. "My favorite doctors!" she exclaimed. "Are you joining us on the trip?" “Yes, and thank goodness you had the sense to send Cody to get us,” Dr. Amelia Branson said as she dropped her pack on the floor. “The clues you have lead straight to Earth, and if you think Ara is a hostile world, you haven’t seen anything until you’ve been to Earth.” Dr. Amelia Branson headed to the pilot’s chair, then stopped to scan the unfamiliar pulsating lights and holographic displays. “Perhaps Fang should pilot the ship,” Amelia stated. Fang slipped into the pilot's seat, his emerald glow reflecting off the console. His glowing hands danced over the controls, each touch eliciting a symphony of beeps and whirs. "Systems online," Fang announced, a note of excitement in his otherwise composed demeanor. Tara settled to his right, her gaze locked on the viewport. Beyond it, stars waited to greet them. Her chest rose and fell, a rhythm of resolve. "Ready when you are," she said, the light in her eyes unwavering. "Destination?" Fang asked, glancing at Cody, awaiting his command. “Earth,” Amelia replied. “Not yet, Mom,” Cody shook his head. “Earth doesn’t… feel right, not yet. Pharos is the nearest planet outside this solar system. Let’s go there.” "Wherever the whispers lead you," Amelia Branson replied, trusting the whispers only her son could hear. "Whispers acknowledged," Fang responded, a half-smile tugging at his lips. With a hum of power, the spacecraft came alive, eager to embark on the mission that would define their destinies. Gravity relinquished its hold as the spacecraft ascended, the farm shrinking to a mere patchwork quilt of brown and white below. Snowflakes scattered in the wake of the engines' roar, their silent dance interrupted by a force unseen. Cody watched, heart tightening at the sight of his childhood slipping away into the distance. "Goodbye," he whispered, not sure for whom the farewell was intended—the land, the past, or perhaps the simplicity of life before this moment. "Look ahead, Cody," Tara urged, her voice steady despite the churn of hyper-drive preparing to launch them into the unknown. He turned, finding resolve in her gaze that mirrored his own. They were leaving much behind, but with purpose, with necessity. The craft trembled, then stretched into hyper-space, stars elongating into brilliant streaks around them. "Okay, let's think." Cody unfolded the ransom note, the paper crisp between his fingers. "The Orb of Draconia... it's got to be a clue." "Nothing is coincidental," Tara mused, leaning over to study the message. "Origami dragon, earth-made... it suggests a connection to our human heritage, but I don’t think there’s any human colonies on Pharos." "Perhaps, but I’ve read a lot of Ara legends," Cody countered, frowning. His mind raced, piecing together fragments of lore and myth he had absorbed over the years. “Pharos is called The Dragon’s eye. I think that’s the first place to start.” “Not Pharos,” interjected Whiskers. “It’s the sun there that’s called The Dragon’s Eye. It’s an abandoned science outpost that was used to map the movement of galaxies.” "Oh, someone could have been using it as a hideout," Tara said, tapping her lip thoughtfully. “Not humans,” Whiskers added. “The outpost is inside the sun.” Dr. Sam Branson was examining the origami dragon, turning it over in his hands. “Whiskers, is there a telescope at that science outpost?” “I’ve never been there, but I would assume there should be,” Whiskers replied. “It would be a very old telescope if it’s still there.” “I know that look, Dad, what are you thinking? “Perhaps nothing, but look here at the way the origami dragon is folded. There’s a fold that goes from the dragon’s eye to the edge of its nose.” Tara peeked over Sam’s shoulder at the dragon. “Oh, it’s looking at something.” Sam nodded. “Maybe, and if Cody’s ‘whisper’ has us going to a place called the Dragon’s Eye, perhaps it means something.” “The origami dragon is a map!” exclaimed Tara, excitedly. “Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Sam warned. “We form a hypothesis, then attempt to prove or disprove it. Whiskers, when we get there, you go to the science outpost and see if the Dragon’s Eye is looking at something specific.” “Good plan, Dad,” Cody agreed. Suddenly, the air charged, and with a popping sound, Two-tails, the Ara assigned to protect Cody’s parents landed on the Bridge in a crumple. “Woah, that was a long jump, you guys were further than I could teleport.” “Are you okay?” Tara asked, running to Two-tails. Two-tails struck a dramatic pose. “I think I need some of that chicken soup Amelia makes,” he moaned, then flipped over on his back. “And some of Cody’s little potatoes fried in garlic sauce, and a bellyrub.” Dr. Branson shook her head. “He’s fine. How did you get here if it was too far to jump?” The Second Light threw me here. I think he enjoyed it.” “Join the club,” Cody said. “He’s been wanting to throw me across the solar system for a while.” Tara grinned. Of all the guardians, Two-tail was the only one with a real sense of humor. “Where have you been?” “It was my day off, I was spending it with my Light-Giver. Then this mess happened and you guys launched before I could get back.” Tara's eyes widened with curiosity as she leaned in closer, eager for more information. Whiskers sat next to them, listening intently. "What exactly is a Light-Giver?" Tara asked. Cody took a deep breath before explaining, his gaze shifting between Tara and Whiskers. "In Ara biology, reproduction works differently than ours. Instead of having parents like we do, they use special crystals to create new life. It's a collective effort - the chosen Ara puts at least half of their light into the crystal, and the rest is provided by the entire community." Whiskers chimed in, "And this process makes the crystal come alive with a new Ara inside." Tara's brow furrowed in confusion. "But what about the person who gave their light? What happens to them?" "They are known as the Light-Giver," Cody clarified. "Their light will eventually grow back, but it takes months for them to fully recover. And typically, the relationship with their creation lasts a lifetime." Tara nodded slowly, processing this new information. "So the Light-Giver is a parent?" Cody smiled and nodded. "Yes, in a way." “It is the closest equivalent we have to human’s and their parent-child relationship,” replied Whiskers. “But, an Ara child belongs to all Ara, the Light-Giver is responsible, and answerable, for the Ara child’s safety and mentorship as they grow. If the Ara see any neglect, the people of Ara will find someone else to care for the child.” “Yeah, that’s called being a parent,” said Tara, then turned back to Two-tail. “So, you spent the day with your Dad. Is he well?” "Yes, thank you for asking," replied Two-tail. "We were enjoying a lovely day on the beach, discussing the concept of consciousness and how it can be affected by physical states." "Cogito, ergo sum," Tara said with a smile. "I think, therefore I am." Two-tail's tendrils of light danced and flickered, clearly excited by Tara's interest in philosophy. Cody turned away, completely uninterested. Tara would gladly argue for hours over some minor academic point that drove Cody to boredom. Tara had just found someone willing to argue with her. He folded the ransom note, and placed it carefully on the console. The spacecraft surged forward into the unknown. "Firebelly," Cody murmured, feeling the weight of the name. "Hang on. We're coming." Days melded into one another, marked only by the changing tapestry of the universe around them. Cody found solace in routine: check the systems, study the maps, discuss the scant clues they possessed. He followed the whispers that seemed to echo within his very bones, guiding Fang's steady hands at the controls. The console beeped, a solitary sound amidst the silence of the cosmos. Cody leaned forward, eyes narrowing as a small, pulsating dot emerged on the display. "Tara, look." "Is that...?" Her voice trailed off, hope mingling with the tension in her gaze. "Pharos." Fang's fingers danced over the controls, the emerald glow of his essence casting sharp shadows across his determined face. "I’ll take us into orbit around its sun." "Whiskers, you’re up," Cody said, the weight of his lineage pressing upon his shoulders, fueling his resolve. Whiskers nodded as the spacecraft banked smoothly towards the red glow of the sun. Whisker’s earthen-tone light flashed, and he was gone. “I’ll put us into orbit,” Fang said. “Whiskers will tell me when he’s ready to jump back. All we can do now is wait.”