Page 85 of Guardian's Soul

He shrugged. "I don't know. Just one of the many mysteries." He reached for a cup and poured himself water. "So I heard you're going to contact these Space Guardians and try to win them over?"

I nodded, reaching for the cube and studying the names again. "I think I'll start with Xyrek Daalor since he was assigned to rescue humans as well."

"Good luck with that," Zaarek said, entering, followed by Raasla.

"Yeah, he's an especially moody asshole," Raasla added.

"You know him? I thought you guys didn't have any contact with each other." I looked at Thrax, who moved his shoulders up to his ears, shaking his head.

"We don't and Xyrek is a good example of why," Raasla said, taking the bowl of cookies from Nock and putting two in his mouth. "That male goes out of his way to make enemies."

"The Reks have always been a contentious bunch," Thrax added, reaching for a cookie, but his hand froze midway just as we all stared at him.

"I have no idea where that came from," he said, looking confused from one of us to the other, but nobody had any answers. I didn't even know what he meant.

"The Reks." Zaarek looked thoughtful before his face scrunched up in pain. "Damn, these frygging headaches."

"Yeah," Thrax agreed, rubbing his temple.

Nock and I exchanged a glance. Neither one of us had any clue what had just happened. But judging by the pain the guys seemed to be in, it was time to change the topic.

"I'll contact him tomorrow. Any tips?" I smiled, but it was forced.

"If he gets angry, let me know and I'll deal with him," Thrax offered.

"I've dealt with angry before." I soothed. "It'll be all right."

I had dealt with clients who had been angry at the world for having had a heart attack or stroke at an early age, mostly because of their life choices. Those were the hardest to deal with. They hated that their entire life had been turned upside down, they hated that they had to do things they had avoided all their lives, and by extension, they hated me for making them. It hadn't been easy, but each one of them had left happy after they finished their programs. Some even came by to visit or refresh some of their exercises.

"Who is next on your list?" Zaarek still looked pained, but it seemed to be getting better.

"The ones with the longest serving record. They should be the most susceptible."

"Good plan," Nock agreed, reaching for the bowl of cookies, but Zaarek held it away from him.

"Zaarek," I called him out. He grinned at me. "Don't be a bully," I scolded.

With a sigh, he handed the bowl to Nock.

"It's empty," the holo streamer complained, glaring at Zaarek, who grinned. I supposed he was feeling better. I shook my head at him, but he just grinned like he had won a battle.

Shortly after that, Nova and Luph called Nock away because they needed him for something. Curiously, we watched the three walking down the hallway, deep in discussion.

"Wonder what they're up to." Thrax rubbed his chin.

We found out the next morning after the two women and Nock spent all night deciphering the markings. Nock seemed smaller and shorter when he declared he was going to bed. Zaarek said something about Kreds needing sleep, and we watched the little man slowly shuffle to his room.

"All right, you guys are probably anxious to know what we found out," Nova said, opening a cube and projecting the screen against the wall like Nock had done yesterday.

"All these swirls are a language," Nova explained, using her orange pointer to move along the swivels. "It was deeply buried inside the Ohrur database, and it contains very old data. I don't think anybody has looked at it since the Ohrurs attacked Darlam. But these symbols tell a story.

"More than thirty thousand GTU years ago, before the Ohrurs came to Darlam, a spaceship landed on the planet." As Nova spoke, her pointer moved along the symbols and swirls, and as much as I tried, I couldn't figure out how anybody could see anything other than pretty ornamental swirls in it.

"The Darlams and later the Ohrurs believed that said ship belonged to a species whose name has been long forgotten. Legend had it that they were the ones who populated the universe and brought life to planets."

"We're not sure if that is true or not because nobody has ever seen this species or has had contact with them, but since all of us bear the Archegene the Ohrurs were looking for, we assume that we are talking about the same species." Luph took over. "It's confusing because the timeline doesn't make any sense, like your planet, Earth, is millions of years old, and your Archegene is much more deteriorated than that of the Darlams. Same with my species."

"Didn't it say that the Ohrurs were looking for the closest match?" I remembered.

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