The Cocoon Trilogy

by David Saperstein

  “Or ruin anything else in the Universe,” Scott added.

  “Yes. I see now,” Spooner said as she moved across the room next to Mersky. She towered over him, peering down like a parent might over a badly behaving child. “You now have a great dilemma before you, Gideon Mersky. You will not become a Brigade commander, nor remain in my presence. And with the powers you now possess, I cannot allow you to return to Earth. To add you back into that bubbling cauldron of self- destruction goes against our prime universal rule that forbids intentional meddling in the affairs of other species. It is clear that you, and your associates, would only encourage disaster.”

  Mersky was frightened. He was light years from Earth among beings he had underestimated – Antarean and Brigade. He had been duped about the children. Now he was at their mercy. Bess Perlman read his mind.

  “What shall we do with you, Gideon?” she asked. Spooner spoke before he could answer.

  “We must find a place for him where he cannot harm anyone, especially the children. Perhaps, in time, he might learn to be a positive part of The Master’s Plan.”

  “What about sending him along on the next inter-galactic mission?” Scott suggested.

  “Do you mean as a Brigade member?” Spooner asked.

  “Not exactly. Sort of a trainee,” Scott answered.

  “Yes,” Bess agreed. “It can be a provisional assignment. In our life in space we have time on our side. Apparently a great deal of time. Perhaps Mr. Mersky will learn what his positive place is in the Universe.”

  “Agreed,” Spooner said. “And to be sure he is kept on that course, I suggest Annabella Costa be assigned to the mission.” Bess smiled at Spooner’s insight into Earth-human behavior.

  “I believe she has an innate ability to, shall we say, hold Mr. Mersky and his emotions in check,” Spooner concluded.

  Bess departed with Mersky and a guard to find Annabella Costa, leaving Spooner and the two children alone.

  “Thank you, Head Counsel Spooner,” Scott said. “I hope you can now see that testing us for space travel is not necessary.”

  “That is quite obvious, young man. Can Commander Alya Mark see me?”

  “Yes,” Melody answered.

  “Alya Mark, you are relieved of your orders to test the children of Butterfly House. They, and all others, shall be transported back to Antares as quickly as possible. Use your Parman Guides. Notify us when you depart.” When Spooner finished giving the order, she turned back to thank Scott and Melody for their service to The Master, but they were gone.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX - IN THE GENES

  The holograph of Spooner’s quarters that the audience on Cayman Brac observed faded until all that was left were the images of Melody and Scott. The darkness that surrounded them also faded and the front of the solarium returned. Scott’s and Melody’s presence was totally back on Earth. As everyone applauded, the commanders and parents were on their feet, firing questions at Scott and Melody.

  “How did you do that, Melody?” Julia Messina asked.

  “Do you project yourselves physically, or is it just an image?” Mary Green wanted to know.

  “How long ago did you learn to do this?” Bernie Lewis inquired.

  “Are you able to teach this method of travel?” Alya Mark asked.

  “Why didn’t you visit us this way?” Stuart Erhardt’s father asked.

  “Where else have you traveled this way?” Ruth asked as she walked briskly to the front of the room. She had just received another message from Bess Perlman, reporting the appearance of the two children and the cancellation of Mersky’s processing to commander. Bess had asked Ruth if she should forward any of Spooner’s messages. Ruth told her to wait.

  “To answer you first, Aunt Ruth,” Scott began, “we have projected to many places. Planets, asteroids, moons, comets... We have met wonderful beings out there.”

  “Klane?” she asked. “The Sloor?”

  “One of our first projections. They are our very good friends,” Melody acknowledged.

  “But you never came to us this way. Why?”

  “We spoke to you telepathically,” he answered. “And there was much to do before we were ready to reveal this ability.” His response did not satisfy Ruth or the rest of the Brigade parents present. Ben Green stood up.

  “What did you have to do that was more important than being with your parents?” His deep voice had a tremor of anger in it. Several parents in the room joined him, asking their children the same question. The voices in the room grew loud and dissonant. The children were surprised at their parents’ reaction. Although they were a new race and advanced beyond many in the Universe, they were still young in many ways.

  Bernie Lewis, who among the Brigade commanders knew the children best, stood up and whistled loudly. Everyone was startled and fell silent.

  “Okay, everyone. Let’s calm down and get a grip. The last thing we need, after all these years, is confrontation and argument. I am not as surprised as you about the ability that Scott and Melody have shown us. I’ve lived with your kids for sixteen years now. They are gifted and powerful, special in every sense of the word. But they are also just wonderful kids; caring, hopeful, energetic and possessing an untainted and with an original outlook of their place in the Universe. I think they know all about us, and our lives...who we were, and weren’t, before the Antareans gave us our rebirth. Bottom line? I trust them. I suggest we all do the same.”

  Bernie’s common sense calmed the atmosphere in the room. It gave the Brigade parents and the commanders pause. Then Beam Amato stood up and walked to the front of the sun room to join Scott and her close friend, Melody.

  “Thank you, Uncle Bernie,” Beam said. “We did not desire to hide anything from you all, or the Antareans. But first we had to understand these phenomena ourselves.”

  “It was one thing to learn how different we were from our peers on Earth,” Scott added, “and quite another to know how different we were universally.” He turned to Alya Mark, who had been patiently waiting for an answer to her question.

  “Forgive me, Commander, for not answering you directly regarding our ability to teach others to project. The short answer is simply, no.” The Antarean showed her disappointment by lowering her head and slightly lifting her narrow shoulders in a shrug.

  “That is most unfortunate, Scott Green,” she said softly. “The Master instructs that all technology is to be shared.”

  “What you have seen here is not technology. It is an ability of our unique genetic makeup. As we confirmed to Head Counsel Spooner, it was you, the Antareans, who began the great change that brought us into the Universe. You processed our parents and changed their genetic makeup. From that event, we were conceived and born. Our ability to project cannot be taught but perhaps it might evolve in another race. Only time will tell. As long as Antares procreates by cloning, genetic advancement will depend on science and technology to make those decisions. You now create duplicates that possess memory and characteristics of the hosts. You no longer mix your genetic pool, and therefore avoid accidental combinations that can cause defects. But it is through those same accidents that evolutionary leaps occur.”

  “I understand,” was all Alya Mark said, but her thoughts, which she did not block, reflected her questioning of basic Antarean society. She silently expressed her vow to bring the matter of changing their reproductive processes before the Antarean High Council.

  While Scott spoke to Alya Mark, Ruth Charnofsky observed Melody and Beam deep in conversation. She tried to listen in, but was blocked.

  “Will you tell us about the Sloor, Melody?” Ruth asked. “We have heard that there have been some remarkable evolutionary changes on Klane. You said they were your very good friends.” Melody shot a quick glance at Scott. He nodded back to her.

  “We can do more than that, Aunt Ruth,” Melody said. She took Beam Amato’s hand and stepped forward. “Rather than tell you, if you will all clear this area, Beam and I will show you.�
� As everyone moved back, the storm outside seemed to lessen. The thick clouds, still gray and rain-laden were not rushing by as fast. The sky brightened a bit, while the room began to darken. Another projection was underway.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN - A VISIT TO KLANE

  Once again, the front of the solarium became a stage. The physical area around Melody and Beam faded to black, but they remained clear and in place. Then a red glow began to grow around them. It was the atmosphere of Klane, tinted by its giant red star. Rock formations materialized in the foreground and behind the two children. The gray, oily sea of Klane became visible in the distance. Thousands of Sloor, adults and juveniles, were gathered on the shore of the sea.

  Melody and Beam walked to where the Antarean Ambassador, Amos Bright, was addressing the Sloor. His long, thin, pale-blue arms, protruding from his sheer, golden ambassadorial robes, were visible though his transparent protective suit. Bright’s hands were held high, palms up, fingers apart and pointed outward in the universal sign of greeting and non-aggression. His face was partially hidden by his breathing device and translator.

  “Our purpose in coming to your planet is one of peace. Our wish is to develop a bond of friendship; to share our knowledge of the Universe; to invite you to share with us, and other beings, in the bounty of The Master’s creation.” It was the official greeting that Antareans had pronounced throughout their galaxy for millennia upon millennia.

  The Sloor leader, the same adult male who had first contacted the Finley’s, stepped forward in front of the thousands of his kind. He bowed and spread his magnificent wings to their forty-foot span. His metallic feathers sparkled in the red Klanian sunlight. As he lifted his head to respond to Amos Bright’s greeting, he saw Melody and Beam walking toward him. The giant Sloor turned from Bright and bowed again, this time to the children who, unlike the other visitors to Klane, wore no protective clothing, breathing devices or translators.

  “Greetings,” the Sloor leader said. “Here are our good friends. Welcome Miss Melody Messina and Miss Beam Amato. A most glorious and long-awaited welcome!” He bowed his head again until his beak touched the ground and his wings lay flat on the beach in a submissive pose.

  “Beam?” Marie Amato shouted. “My darling Beam?” She ran from her place in the group behind Amos Bright, toward the two girls. Because she had not seen Beam for sixteen years, she halted momentarily, wondering which of the beautiful young women her daughter was. Her question was answered as Beam ran to her mother. They tearfully embraced. Beam’s father, Paul Amato, was right behind his wife, joining the embrace by wrapping his arms, encumbered by his protective suit, around Marie and Beam. To the great pleasure of the Brigade onlookers on Klane, and in the Butterfly House sun room, the Amato family was reunited. Melody then approached the Sloor leader.

  “It is so very good to see you, Machoi,” she said. Up to this point, no Sloor had revealed a name to the visitors. “I bring greetings from all the children of Butterfly House. They hope to visit with you again, soon.”

  “That will be a great honor, Miss Beam Amato. And now you must come and see what you have done,” he said, sweeping one great wing aside and gesturing to the Sloor gathered behind him on the beach. “As you predicted, we are becoming.”

  Melody looked beyond Machoi’s wing to the gathering of Sloor. She noted that the young now had black feathers in place of scales. And they were air breathing through holes in their iridescent skin, where gills had once been. Yes! They were changing from amphibian to avian, much like the birds of Earth evolved from dinosaurs. But, unlike the millions of years it took on Earth, the transformation of the Sloor occurred within one generation.

  “Look what has happened to our young while still in egg,” Machoi said proudly. “We are so grateful.”

  “Becoming, is the way of the Universe,” Melody assured him.

  “No!” Amos Bright proclaimed. “It is the way of The Master!” He walked toward Melody who was now joined by Beam and her parents. Antarean Commander Beam, Beam Amato’s namesake, Brigade commanders Alma and Joe Finley and Art Perlman followed close behind the ambassador. “Everything that happens in the Universe is but a gift from The Master. This is the way of all that exists!” Bright’s tone was adamant. With a graceful move of his massive plumed, beaked head, Machoi turned his attention to Amos Bright

  “You may call our becoming your Master’s work. Whatever name you give it matters little. We Sloor know the true source,” Machoi said, dismissing Bright’s claim with a slight movement of his right wing. “The children imparted this gift to our young within egg. We are part of existence; part of the Universe. Sloor, Antarean, Earth-human are all made of the same, and so we are the same, and we are becoming what we may be tomorrow, if we survive.”

  “Not true,” Bright told Machoi and the gathering of Sloor behind him. “The children come from the Geriatric Brigade. The Brigade comes from interaction with us, the Antareans. We, who have traveled this galaxy for millennia, and now travel beyond to other galaxies, are guided by The Master and his Grand Plan.”

  “Very well,” Machoi responded. “Then we thank you and your Master, Antarean Ambassador Bright. And we thank the Brigade people here as well...and first and foremost, the children of Butterfly House.” He bowed to Amos Bright and the rest of the group. “It matters not how this advance came to us, only that it did occur, and that we assure it will continue. We are dedicated to survive. We will become.” Bright bowed to Machoi. His role as ambassador, High Council and former Antarean Commander was primarily diplomatic and non-aggressive.

  “We respect your beliefs. May this be the beginning of our everlasting friendship.” Unsaid, Bright knew it would take a long time to bring the Sloor around to recognizing The Master. However, he was comfortable that time was on his side. It was the “teaching” by the children that disturbed him. Years of space travel as an Antarean commander had taught Amos Bright patience and diplomacy in the face of adversity and unexplained phenomenon. He would not confront this now.

  The audience at Butterfly House watched the events with great interest, noting that the Antareans on Klane, notably Counsel/Ambassador Bright, had not questioned how Melody and Beam had appeared.

  After the welcoming was complete, and Melody and Beam had spent personal time with the Sloor, Bright invited the two young women back to the Antarean base. The Finley’s, Amato’s and the other Brigade members there had many pressing questions for Melody and Beam. Amos Bright purposely kept his amazement at the girls’ sudden and mysterious appearance on Klane, one that the Sloor seemed to accept without question, to himself. Back at the base, he maneuvered things so that he was alone with the girls, unaware that their journey was being viewed on Earth.

  “So, you have visited the Sloor before. And now you appear again. Please tell me how you traveled here.” His tone was diplomatic, polite, interested, yet demanding.

  “We call it projecting,” Melody answered calmly.

  “How does projecting happen?”

  “As I told Head Counsel Spooner earlier this day, we...”

  “You were on Antares this day?” Bright asked, interrupting.

  “Oh yes. We can go anywhere. We told her, Scott Green and I, that...” Once again, a confused Amos Bright interrupted.

  “Scott Green? This is Ben and Mary Green’s son on Earth?”

  “Yes,” Melody answered.

  “And he spoke with Head Counsel Spooner?”

  “Scott and I went to see her together,” Melody said, smiling sweetly as though they had just walked around the corner to see Spooner rather than across the galaxy.

  “Incredible!”

  “Not really.” Melody smiled. “As I was saying, we told Head Counsel Spooner that we would better explain projection and other things, when we all reached Antares on the Mothership.”

  “The ship that brought the mission to Earth?”

  “That’s correct,” Beam answered. “That will happen shortly after we leave here. As far as how we
project, well, it is because we have been genetically altered.”

  “A result of the original processing that you did to our parents,” Melody added. “You started a genetic chain reaction that resulted in us — a new race with abilities we have explored.”

  “And continue to. That’s us,” Melody said, smiling, “explorers.”

  “And what did you do to the Sloor? The leader, Machoi, mentioned teaching their young in egg.”

  “We spoke to them,” Beam answered.

  “That is to say, we communicated with the young before their birth,” Melody explained. “You know we did that with one another before our births. We taught them how to increase their mental capacity and power.”

  “We helped them adjust their genetic code to evolve, as they say, ‘become’, more rapidly than might occur without our help,” Beam added, making their involvement sound normal and logical. But to Amos Bright, it was far more complicated and disturbing. His shock grew to un-Antarean anger. His skin stretched to full height.

  “Interfering in species evolution is a very serious offense among space travelers and traders.”

  “We did not alter or splice genes. We only spoke with them.”

  “No! What you have done is blasphemy.” Bright towered above the girls as they sat on plush, cushioned chairs in his opulent quarters. Rare Antarean anger smoldered behind his dark, almond shaped eyes. “You two shall not return to Earth today. I will escort you to Antares. I will have Head Counsel Spooner notified immediately of this...this gross interference and law-breaking. I shall...” Melody held up her hand to silence him.

  “Excuse me, dear Ambassador/Counsel Bright. Before you go any further, know these three things. First, we are being seen and heard back on Earth by the children of Butterfly House.”