Page 20 of Agrippa's Acceptance

She leaned over and kissed him. “I can’t wait.”

***

Exactly a month later they stood in the doorway of the observation desk, star charts flickered on the walls. It was amazing how much had changed. Amelagar rarely left her alone, though when he did, she liked to spend time with Anatu. Amelagar was to attend a meeting and he’d been instructed to bring her with him. “She is with me,” Amelagar said loudly. He gave the other males a pointed look.

Balthazar motioned them inside. “Come, we are only waiting for Anatu. She was held up on earth.”

“She enjoys living on earth?” A cyborg male she didn’t know asked.

The general snorted, another clone like gesture. “She likes living with her human. If he lived on Tundra, she’d be happy.” Agrippa had followed Anatu’s marriage to the human president. It was like a fairytale.

Agrippa stepped closer to Amelagar and kept her distance from the two males.

The space wasn’t big enough for several imposing cyborgs. Especially with one of them glaring at everyone.

Nebuchadnezzar and Arakhu stood to the side. She knew them from their visits to the infirmary. Their awkward concern for Amelagar had soothed her ryhov. A moment later Anatu hurried in, accompanied by the earth president.

Balthazar looked down at the human made tablet in his hand. She’d noticed the clones using more and more of the primitive human technology. She’d love to develop a hybrid. If only she could win their trust she could help them.

“Agrippa and Anatu, you will work on the human cloaking device. The humans cannot make it work.”

The human president pinched the bridge of his nose. Then he looked up and fixed them all in his steely gaze.

“Do not insult my human.” Anatu snarled.

“Thank you Anatu, what my good friend Balthazar is trying to say is that we need fresh eyes on the project. Anatu has been assisting and that made a difference, but we are running out of time.”

He looked around at the people assembled there. “The cloaking device is in the final stages of development. If some of your people join mine, we might speed up the delivery date. I am informed by Anatu that Agrippa is very useful. The two women will continue work on the cloaking device. If we can outfit the scout ship with the cloak, it will give our mission a powerful advantage.”

“Our cloaking device stopped working a year after we arrived. Anatu have tried to get it working again, but it seems to have been experimental work.”

If it was a new invention she wasn’t surprised that it didn’t work. The clones have not managed to invent or build anything new. Nothing of consequence anyway.

“Do you think you can get it to last years, Anatu?” Balthazar asked.

Aurora had been showing her movies and some of them had space ships that could go invisible. The clones didn’t have anything like it, probably because they didn’t have any enemies in outer space. Well, they didn’t use to have enemies. The humans might not be as technologically advanced, but from what she’d seen in their databases, the clones would probably underestimate them.

“The only way we can take them on before they reach earth is to have a cloaked ship.

The President looked at the wall where the clone star system was shown and the map zoomed in on an area where six blips representing space ships was shown in the typical clone flying formation. Three in front, two behind them and another one behind them.

“You told me you and Agrippa have been working on an idea to use the organic compound of the Rising Sun along with earth ships to create a craft that can dock onto the clone ships undetected.” They’d been sitting in the mess hall, bouncing ideas around. She and Anatu and Aurora and Marysol have become friends. It was weird to have more alien friends than Tunrian.

“Yes, we tested a sample from the Rising Sun who is exceptionally resistant to being taken over by the clone ships for the organic feature. It worked but we need to do more tests.”

“Any idea why The Rising Sun is so resistant and how long would this idea of yours take,” the human president asked.

Balthazar glared at him. “I am the general, I ask the questions.”

“Do not speak to my human in such a disrespectful manner,” Anatu snarled at Balthazar.

“He is quite right Anatu, this is his idea, he should ask the questions.” Rubbing his nose, the president nodded and stepped back. His shoulders shook and Agrippa couldn’t be sure, but she thought it might be with laughter.

The general nodded. “He is quite right, please answer his question Anatu.”

“We cannot find the reason for the Rising Sun’s resistance. Its organic component is not as easy to deal with as the machine programmed part of it.”

“How long to design and build a small ship like you planned, but with a cloak?”

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