Page 52 of Guardian's Destiny

"You really did it then?" Hyugh glared at Moddekdum.

Moddekdum raised his hands. "I didn't do anything. Our ancestors did. I'm simply following their instructions."

"Which you could have broken any time you wanted to." Hyugh accused.

"Alright, time out," I put my left hand horizontally over my right. "Can we pretend for a moment that Vraax and I have no idea what you are talking about and give us a quick history lesson?"

Hyugh glared at Moddekdum. "Gladly. About twenty-thousand years ago, our species split into two parties; one wanted to leave Darlam to its own devises, as decency dictates, and the other wanted to exploit them. One party lost, the other won."

"I take it you are the losers, having lived underground for twenty-thousand years," I swallowed, unable to imagine living like this for generations—because it had to be generations, right? There was no way this guy was twenty-thousand years old, "while the winners," I turned to Moddekdum, "lived above the planet extorting the Darlams."

Hyugh nodded, and after a short moment, so did Moddekdum.

"You had no idea they lived here?" Vraax asked Moddekdum.

"Had we suspected, we would have terminated them like the darts they are." Moddekdum's voice was filled with disdain.

"And you have lived here for all that time?" Vraax asked Hyugh.

"It wasn't intentional, but yes. Our ancestors," he didn't notice me breathing a sigh of relief at the mention of ancestors, validating he wasn't twenty-thousand years old, "sought refuge in the subtheris system. This," he encompassed our surroundings used to be the central station filled with stores, we turned into housing."

"You've lived here all this time?" Moddekdum shook his head. He must have been wondering how it was possible that their enemies had managed to live right under their noses for millennia.

"This is our home now, the only one we've ever known. Our population grew from five thousand survivors into hundreds of thousands." Hyugh glared at Moddekdum. Pride welled off him in waves. I didn't know how long he had been the leader of this underground world and how much work his ancestors had done. Still, this was quite impressive.

"Were you ever going to come out?" Vraax wanted to know.

"We learned that the Ohrurs trained Darlams to be their Space Guardians, a foe that can't be underestimated," Hyugh explained. "We are prepared to fight for our lives, but to answer your question, no, we are still not ready to reclaim what is ours."

"Because of us, the Space Guardians?" Vraax checked.

"Yes."

"And yet, you brought us here, you're talking to us, even though Vraax is a Space Guardian," I interjected.

"One we can deal with." Hyugh sounded more confident than he looked as he tried to surreptitiously assess Vraax. "Let's say our curiosity was awakened when we watched you enter our sub system."

Servants entered, interrupting us as they carried dishes of food and pitchers filled with liquids.

"Please," Hyugh invited us, waving at the dishes the servants put in front of us. The girl carrying mine looked nervous and covertly checked me out, just like I checked her out. She didn't appear as timid as Paddekah.

Cautiously, I stared at the food in front of me. My eyes fell on what looked like a dinner roll, but was dark red. It lay next to something meaty in a sauce and what probably was vegetables in a mix of yellow and purple. I was handed a napkin, and insidewas a fork that reminded me of utensils I had seen in a museum once, in Italy. The fork had only two teeth that spread out at the halfway point; before that, it appeared more like a spoon. One side had been sharpened to also serve as a knife, making me admire the usefulness of this one tool, replacing spoon and knife.

I watched the others dig in hungrily and took a deep breath before I dunked mytritensilinto the meat. Carefully, I lifted a small part to my mouth, prepared for pretty much anything. I was surprised by the sweet taste and softness of the food. A little bit braver, I broke a piece of the roll and realized it was more like a dumpling than a roll and delicious as well. From that point on, I didn't care. I dug in with gusto. It had been a long time since I had had something that could be called regular food.

VRAAX

The food wasgood and the vepo delicious. I declined the spirits, needing to keep a clear head. I didn't think these Ohrurs, or whatever they were, would cause us any harm, but I wasn't about to risk Sloane's life on underserved trust.

During our meal, Hyugh asked questions about us, and I filled him in on as much as possible without giving too much away about Tharaax and the others.

When we finished, I asked, "So you know we are Darlams," referring to myself and the other Space Guardians.

"Yes."

"But how can that be possible?" Sloane patted her lips with a piece of cloth that had been wrapped around the trionak. "Our understanding is that the Ohrurs annihilated the Darlams."

"We don't know," Hyugh admitted. "We think that the Ohrurs used the Darlams' Archegene to create a new species. But you do look just like your ancestors," Hyugh nodded at me.

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