I
Agent Brzko didn’t want to startle Rogsaar so he arrived a short distance from the cloaked opening to Rogsaar’s ship. As he approached he could hear Rogsaar humming, sort of. At least he thought it was humming. It sounded more like a cat with a head cold meowing.
He called out to Rogsaar as he approached, “Hello Rogsaar, what are you up to today?”
“Oh, oh Brzko you surprise Rogsaar. I know not when you return.”
“We discovered why you haven’t been able to return to Myaad, and why your flashport isn’t working.” “Tell Rogsaar, tell please.”
“Not long after you left Myaad for Earth, there was an outbreak of some sort of infection. It infiltrated the hives and spread quickly. The Bivoors have been working on eradicating it. But it has prevented any breeding for so long that the population of Myaad is down to just a few, compared to what it once was. I’m sorry to have to tell you all of this Rogsaar. It’s not going to be as easy as just sending you home. Myaad has imposed a quarantine shutting itself off from the Universe in order to make sure they don’t spread the illness.” explained Brzko.
“Rogsaar sad, so sad. Just want home, want other Rogsaar.”
“I know. Many explorers were cut off from Myaad when the outbreak occurred. If we can’t get you home, maybe we can get you someplace where there are other Myaad explorers. How does that sound?”
“Good, very good. Rogsaar not to be alone.”
“OK, I’ll see what I can do to locate other Myaad explorers. But before I go can you tell me what you’re doing with that old tire?”
“Rogsaar find after human leave it under tree. Rogsaar hear loud banging noises, from projectiles launched at this tire.” “Ahh yes, more dumping trash in the forest. Only this time they decided to use if for target practice too. Those projectile launchers are called guns, or firearms. They are very dangerous. But why are you dragging it into your ship?”
“Rogsaar use flashport, try to send to Myaad, not have this material on Myaad.”
“About that flashport, when the outbreak occurred, Myaad shut down all of the flashports on the planet. They wanted to make sure they did everything they could to prevent the spread of the illness.”
“Where flashport go then?”
“They’ve been landing on a planet near Myaad, called Ploosnar. Here’s a picture of where they end up.” Brzko took his tablet out of his pocket, unrolled it and called up an image of the “dump” on Ploosnar. He showed it to Rogsaar. “Have you ever heard of Ploosnar?
Rogsaar shook his head back and forth while shrugging his shoulders “Oh no, no. So Rogsaar’s flashport not go to Myaad. But why is this place so blue? It look peaceful.”
“Ploosnar is very peaceful; they are some of the happiest
beings in the Universe. The blue color is caused by roinad. It’s an element that they mine. Myaad is very close to Ploosnar”
“Rogsaar would like to go Ploosnar one day, see the blue planet. Are they angry at Rogsaar for sending items in flashport?” “Well the Emperor of Ploosnar is a great friend of the Muse of Mischief’s so I’m sure we can arrange that, and no, he’s not angry at you. Until then why don’t you show me more about your ship?” Brzko wasn’t really all that interested in Rogsaar’s ship, but he could only imagine how lonely Rogsaar must be after so many years alone. Brzko knew that M was working hard to help resolve the disease on Myaad and bring the explorers home, so he could spend a little time with Rogsaar and offer some companionship. Always putting the needs of others before his, Agent Brzko was a true gentleman.
II
After discussing ideas for retrieving the abandoned explorers from Myaad with Emperor Bartala and Empress Nalau, the Muse of Mischief retired to her private rooms. Like the owner’s table in a fine restaurant, M’s rooms at the Ploosnar Palace were always a comfort to her.
The Muse of Mischief had just kicked off her shoes and settled in with her tablet to review the day’s correspondence when Lelelu sent her a message.
“Hi M, contact Kiik as soon as you can. She has found some information in the Suus database about the disease that infected Myaad.”
M did not waste any time contacting Kiik. She sat down
at the interstellar communication portal in her room and sent a communication request to Kiik. The Suus only communicate telepathically, and for that to work with a non-telepath, there had to be a visual link. After just a few moments a video image of a Suus opened.
“Hello, I am Kiik, lead researcher on Suus. You must be
the Muse of Mischief. I have heard much about you from our leader, Ciic. It is an honor to be in contact with you.” the words appeared in M’s head, sent telepathically by Kiik.
“Thank you Kiik, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” M said.
“We have identified the illness that infected Myaad. It was logged in our database approximately 300 annual cycles in the past, referred to as Aberidus. It is caused by spores that live in soil. They can stay dormant for an unknown amount of time. We would like to test the soil on Myaad to see if is naturally occurring. If it is we will attempt to discover what caused the spores to activate. If it is not found in the soil it must have made it through their screening processes. Either way, we are able to provide assistance. Our database contains details of a cure. We’ve already started synthesizing it.” Kiik explained.
“That is great news! The Universe has often benefited from Suus databases. Thank you for working so hard on this.” M said.
“We consider it our purpose,” Kiik projected “We are experimenting with ways to speed its effectiveness. We have a team ready to travel to Myaad. Once the situation is under control we will also provide them with the knowledge and tools they need to synthesize the cure themselves. That way if there is another outbreak, they can respond immediately. Hopefully there has not been any permanent damage done to the hives.”
“Thank you Kiik. I will ask Lelelu to contact Bivoor on Myaad and find out where they would like your team to arrive. We’ll be in touch soon.”
After exchanging a few more pleasantries with Kiik, M ended her conversation and contacted Brzko and Lelelu. Now that they were both up to speed, and Lelelu was coordinating the Suus team’s arrival on Myaad, M went back to catching up on correspondence while she waited for Brzko to catch up with her on Ploosnar.
III
“We can welcome them to Lecur. Several of the unused roinad processing buildings still stand at the forest’s edge. It is close to the palace and any services they may require. But they will have privacy if that is what they desire. There is plenty of room to hold their ships until they can return to Myaad.” Empress Nalau said.
The Muse of Mischief, Emperor Bartala, Empress Nalau, and Agent Brzko were seated in the great green sitting room of the Ploosnar Palace. They were joined by Rogsaar. Brzko had brought him at the request of Bartala and Nalau. They felt was important for a Rogsaar to be involved in developing the rescue plan. The group was discussing the option of a coordinated rescue effort for stranded Myaad explorers.
“I think that is a splendid idea my dear. But it is up to them. Rogsaar, what do you think? Would you and the other Myaad explorers like to come and stay here on Ploosnar while we wait for your home planet to be cleared of aberidus?” asked Emperor Bartala.
Rogsaar was staring intently into the green carpet. Myaads were quite striking with white hair and dark eyes, but even more so with Rogsaar on the brilliant green sofa. The Empress had provided him with a new wardrobe upon his arrival. His black pants and dark grey shirt made him looking even more striking. Looking up and meeting Bartala’s gaze Rogsaar said, “No word, Rogsaar have no word to express thank for what you offer. It would please Rogsaar very much to be with other Rogsaars. Rogsaar been alone most of life.”
Empress Nalau walked across the room to Rogsaar and extended her hands “It is our pleasure to help you get home Rogsaar. Until other Rogsaars arrive you must stay with us in the palace, stay as our honored guest. Emperor Bartala, the Muse of Mischief, and Agent Brzko will figure out how to find the other Rogsaars and how to get their ships here. While they work on that, let me show you where you will stay. I have the loveliest orange rooms ready for you. Then we can visit with the food staff to make sure we have everything you enjoy.” Rogsaar could not have objected if he wanted to, Nalau whisked Rogsaar out of the room.
Brzko turned to Bartala “Will retrieving all of the Rogsaar ships put a strain on your resources? I suspect most of them will be in the same condition as the one you just dealt with on Earth.”
“Yes and no mostly no. Some of them will be quick and easy extractions, on advanced planets we do not have to work in secrecy and cloak ourselves. But the extractions will take longer on infantile planets where we have to hide the attractor stream, our ship and the Myaad ship. Can you imagine the chaos that
would create on an infantile planet like Earth to see a ship being lifted from the planet by an attractor stream?”
Neither the Muse of Mischief nor Brzko could help themselves, they both let out a good laugh, “Actually yes, we can imagine the chaos it would create on Earth.” Brzko said.
“We have contacted Bivoor on Myaad. Once their communications are repaired Myaad will activate the link to each explorer ship. They will transmit a specific message to each one, explaining why they were left to fend for themselves, and how they can contact the rescue team on Ploosnar to find refuge until it is safe to return to Myaad. We know that some of the ships will need repairs but that is no problem. The engineers of Ploosnar can be very innovative when they need to be. We just need to know where the ships are, and if the Rogsaar wants to stay on Ploosnar.”
“It sounds like you’ve got the details all worked out. How many ships did Bivoor say there are?” asked M.
“127.”
“Wow! I wonder how many will respond, and take you up on your kind offer.” Brzko said as he tried to picture over one hundred identical looking Rogsaars in one place.
IV
“Rogsaar not remember a Bivoor.” Rogsaar was enjoying a live interstellar chat with Bivoor, after over 100 earth years since seeing or speaking to another being from Myaad. Rogsaar was overjoyed. Bivoor looked relieved to see one of the Myaad explorers that had survived being abandoned.
“We are all very relieved to know that you are OK and we working hard to get you home.”
“Yas, Muse of Mischief has told Rogsaar about aberidus”
Rogsaar said, head shaking. Then corrected the pronunciation “aberidus.” For a moment Rogsaar’s face glowed with the satisfaction felt from getting the pronunciation correct. Rogsaar was highly intelligent, but a creature of very few words after spending so many years in isolation on Earth.
“That is correct Rogsaar. So are you going to stay on Ploosnar? I hope that you do. Emperor Bartala and Empress Nalau have made a very generous offer to have all Rogsaars stay there until we are ready to have them return to Myaad. There are already teams of technicians from Ploosnar and Suus here working on repairing our communications systems. Once they do, we will be able to send information to all explorers.” explained Bivoor.
“This good. Rogsaar wait here on Ploosnar. Empress Nalau give Rogsaar orange room. Rogsaar like Ploosnar very much but still want to be on Myaad.”
“You are not the only one that feels that way Rogsaar. All of Myaad thought we would be extinct before we could cure aberidus, we thought our explorers would be lost forever, but the Suus have brought us the cure and we are working at distributing it throughout Myaad. Bivoors had almost given up hope when the Muse of Mischief’s communications bot arrived on Myaad. She and her friends from Ploosnar and Suus are quite amazing, to go to these lengths to help us.”
“Yas, yas, Rogsaar very surprised and happy when Muse of Mischief and Brzko find Rogsaar.”
Bivoor and Rogsaar chatted for a little longer. Rogsaar had many questions about Myaad, some Bivoor could answer, and some were too complicated for a quick answer. But by the time the conversation was winding down, Rogsaar was starting to accept that going home was a reality.
The Muse of Mischief 