bright colors, though sized for adults, and plush and cushy. There is a brightly colored and lit kitchen and dining area, with similarly cute furnishings and appliances. An open door leads to a brightly lit bathroom.
Janus starts awake. He quickly stands.
JANUS
Damn!
There's an unlatch sound, then footsteps. Janus, alert, twirls to face an open passageway. A voice sounds from it.
GUARD
Human Thaddeus--
JANUS
Please, call me prisoner!
GUARD
Very well, prisoner. Commander Xenon invites you to a pleasant breakfast.
Janus examines himself. He rips a bandage off his inner elbow.
JANUS
What have you done to me?
GUARD
Fed you, intravenously and orally.
Janus pauses, then bolts through the door to the bathroom.
INT. MILITARY COMPOUND HALLWAY--DAY
FOUR SALAMANDER GUARDS, in their twenties and athletic, flank a doorway at attention. Janus, in light brown military garb, timidly opens the door and emerges. The guards pay no notice.
JANUS
So...pleasant breakfast, huh?
He perks up and looks at a guard expectantly.
JANUS
Well, why not?
The guard smiles back, then raises a hand radio and presses a button on it.
GUARD
guard A-2 to Assistant Commander Idan.
A wise, enthusiastic, but labored voice sounds from the radio.
IDAN (V.O.)
This is Assistant Commander Idan.
GUARD
Our guest, er, prisoner, has changed his mind.
IDAN (V.O.)
Excellent! Please bring him!
INT. COMMANDER QUARTERS--DAY
FOUR SALAMANDER GUARDS escort Janus into the room. They stand attention at the walls. Xenon sits at the head of a long table. Janus glances around the room, and sees a photograph hung on a wall, of Xenon with a woman Salamander and four children, at a beach, all of them in simple, colorful cover-all swimsuits. They smile at the camera, clearly happy.
Military plaques and books line the walls and bookcases. Purple and orange, simple, cushy chairs circle a bright green rug. Through a great bay window, a sporadic stream is visible of small, sudden ignitions of meteorites fallen from the planetary rings. Two doors are on opposite walls.
Beside Xenon sits a Salamander, ASSISTANT COMMANDER IDAN, and around the table sit SEVEN SALAMANDER MILITARY OFFICERS. Idan, twenty-seven, has pitch black skin with glossy, brilliant, iridescent blue stripes and spots. He appears youthful, yet his wise demeanor is well beyond youth, and he breathes a bit heavily. In his face is carved a playful smirk, as if he is ready to share the Last Secret of the Universe. The Officers are all in their early twenties.
An empty seat is opposite Xenon, who stands and bows.
XENON
Janus Thaddeus, so glad to see you.
He smiles at Janus, and indicates Idan and the seven other seated Salamanders.
XENON
This is Assistant Commander Idan, and these are my Chief Officers.
Janus looks at Xenon with open interest, though a tad of leeriness. Xenon gestures to the empty seat.
XENON
Please be seated. Your food is ready, it happens, just now. Gentlemen.
Janus sits. The broad and tough Chef, in a bright orange and blue apron over a light brown uniform, enters. He places a bowl of dull green soup and a loaf of bread, both large, at Janus's place at the table--then gushes, in a language which easily trumps all languages for Most Difficult Language to Learn. His brief speech features many kinds of clicks, several with a rolling quality that possibly only an amphibian could make, and twenty different vowels, all with carefully articulated tonal contours.
IDAN
Our Chef has not learned your language yet, but he says: 'So honored to serve you, Human Thaddeus, Great Warrior.'
JANUS
I, um, thank you, glad to meet you?
Idan translates this statement back to the Chef as something that sounds more certain and confident, for which Janus is glad, and Janus smiles at Idan and the Chef.
The Chef hardly suppresses a squeal of delight, punctuated with several rolling clicks, then exits. The Salamanders all stoop and drink their soups.
JANUS
Was that your native language?
IDAN
Actually, no. It's a language we devised that combines all possible Human spoken sounds and language features into one language, to prepare ourselves for communication with our friends, your people.
Janus laughs.
JANUS
You made up a whole language based on our languages, but which none of us will be able to understand, just so you can learn to imitate our sounds?
IDAN
(matter-of-fact)
Certainly.
JANUS
And this has become your official language.
IDAN
For public or formal communication. We use our native language informally and privately. We have unfortunately not yet had the chance to communicate with your people. We've tried, but our enemies have blocked all our radio and other messages.
Janus doesn't know what to say, and pauses, and looks at his soup.
JANUS
I don't suppose there are any flies in this soup?
XENON
Why would there be?
JANUS
So how many times have I passed out?
XENON
You have starved yourself three times. I'm curious if you may care to tell us what has caused you to change your mind and join us for dinner.
Janus hesitates.
JANUS
I think I have simply had to be alone, and grieve. Part of me still wants to believe you are out to get me--part of me wants to fight. But it's all too clear you don't.
He fights back tears.
JANUS
I want to learn whether any of my kind remain.
IDAN
In time.
Janus looks for but finds no spoon. He stoops and drinks his soup, slowly at first, then quickly.
XENON
I'm glad you enjoy the soup.
JANUS
Just starved. I want to give your Chef some tips on cooking for humans.
From behind a door, the Chef utters a squeal of delight.
INT. COMMANDER'S LOUNGE--DAY
Janus, Xenon, and Idan sit in cushy chairs around the green rug. FOUR GUARDS stand attention.
JANUS
My entire fleet.
Xenon sadly nods.
JANUS
But that's all of us. My kind. I'm the last.
Panic, loneliness, and terror overwhelm Janus. He suffocates. Weak, he slumps, but regains himself, and shakes of off the terror with anger.
JANUS
What's the point?! Why even keep me here?!
He suffocates again, but forces even, deep breaths.
IDAN
You are not the last of your kind. Your fleet survives in another reality. You have a chance to help them.
Janus almost laughs. Idan looks evenly at him.
IDAN
Time travel.
JANUS
What?
XENON
Our enemies used it against you.
JANUS
(puzzled)
Your enemies.
XENON
We seek your liberty. Most of us. Those you've been fighting do not, and they fought us on their way to destroy you.
JANUS
You?
XENON
Yes. Our people are at civil war, about whether to destroy your people, or seek to live in peace with you.
Janus, dumbfounded, looks out the bay window at the auroras, and the stream of meteorites.
EXT. HOUSETOP--NIGHT
JANUS THADDEUS AGE FOURTEEN lies in a sleeping bag atop the roof of his house. H
is Father NEREUS THADDEUS AGE THIRTY-SIX lies in a separate sleeping bag beside him. They stargaze.
A brilliant meteorite flares and streaks across the sky, with a smoky, fiery trail. Over two seconds, it burns blue, green, yellow, and white, then vanishes--while a smaller, blue-burning meteorite breaks off it and vanishes more quickly.
JANUS
Holy cow!
NEREUS
Wow!
They stargaze for five seconds in silence.
JANUS
Dad?
NEREUS
Yes, Son.
JANUS
D'yever wonder whether we'll meet anybody else?
NEREUS
You mean out there? On some other planet? Some other intelligent life?
JANUS
Yeah.
NEREUS
All the time. It's half of why I joined Star Fleet.
JANUS
What do you think they'll be like?
NEREUS
Your guess is as good as mine.
(chuckles)
With your imagination, probably better.
JANUS
Do you think they'll be friendly?
NEREUS
I also couldn't guess that. I hope they are. But the part of me that's a military man is afraid they won't be. We're not all getting along here, so...and especially if they're completely different--
JANUS
But they won't be.
NEREUS
Why d'you think that?
JANUS
If they're intelligent, if they're like us in that way, we'll find some ways to understand each other. And be friendly.
Nereus considers this, and fixes his gaze on a faint, pink blur and dim blue stars directly above them, near Deneb, at the head of the Northern Cross constellation. A vision unfolds in his mind.
EXT. PLANET HEBE (ORBIT)--NIGHT
Planet Hebe hangs resplendent in her green, brown, and blue, and her rings and borealis. She is breathtakingly beautiful.
EXT. HOUSETOP--NIGHT
JANUS THADDEUS AGE FOURTEEN and NEREUS THADDEUS AGE THIRTY-SIX lie in separate sleeping bags
Treachery Page 11