His big purple eyes blinked a few times as he looked at the smaller beings around him.
“You mentioned your planet was destroyed and—” began Dedrick.
“That is correct. We told you we are not from Kesra, this world you call Mars, but from Kahnu, a planet orbiting your sun, between Kesra and Dahmes, the one you call Jupiter. Our world was a beautiful and peaceful one. Our population counted almost fifty thousand individuals. Long before your species existed, our people had traveled to other worlds, including yours and this one. Our culture was a flourishing one, and our people were happy. Unfortunately, one day we discovered a rogue planet was on a collision course with ours. Varih-Aru, as it was named, would reach our world within a few years. We tried desperately to save Kahnu but… things did not go as we had hoped.”
“What happened?” asked François.
“Our attempt to stop the massive world from colliding with ours failed. You see, on our planet, the council of Elders, our leaders and spiritual guides, was not always willing to listen to the scientists of our world. Every decision, every new discovery, any course of action had to be approved by the council. It took many months to convince the Elders the rogue planet Varih-Aru would destroy Kahnu if we did nothing. When they finally accepted the seriousness of the danger, the building of a special ship was commissioned, the Ehoran, a vessel capable of diverting Varih-Aru’s path. Unfortunately for us, we did not realize the council had a secret agenda. Ultimately, they took the Ehoran to escape our doomed world, leaving us to our fate.”
Sensing some confusion among the group, Jorh tried to explain more clearly.
“Our people believed we came from another star, long ago. The first world, Ahtona, was believed to be a planet orbiting a star in what you call the Lyra constellation. We did not know it at the time, but the council actually believed the impending doom was a sign to return. When the time came to stop the danger, the Elders used the vessel meant to meet with Varih-Aru to leave for Ahtona instead. Only a handful of us survived the destruction.”
He paused a moment, reflecting.
François couldn’t help puzzling over one thing. “Why would their rulers let their world and its people get destroyed, when they had the means to stop it?”
“Varih-Aru,” specified Gahneo.
François was beginning to find the alien’s mind-reading abilities a bit annoying.
Jorh explained, “Our leaders were resolute believers of the legend of Ferrhem. The ancient legend said that the great Ferrhem, son of the goddess Ahtona, and his female companion Keisha, daughter of the Grand Hallis, grew reckless and undeserving of the mother world, and were banished to Kahnu. There they would stay, until the day they would be allowed to return, having grown wiser and peaceful. Ferrhem and Keisha had many children on Kahnu, spawning several generations. Eventually growing impatient and resentful, Ferrhem traveled back to Ahtona to reclaim his place as ruler of the first world, promising he would soon come back for Keisha and their people, but Ferrhem never returned. Many more eons passed. When the time came for Keisha to leave the world of the living, she appointed her youngest son, Gihhez to rule over Kahnu. In the following centuries, Gihhez created the council of Elders and began teaching the legend of Ferrhem. Kahnu grew strong and peaceful. We began traveling through the solar system, and eventually visited all its planets and moons. Had it not been for Varih-Aru… but Gihhez and the council were convinced the rogue world was a sign; a sign for them, and them only, to return to Ahtona.”
“Sounds like a pretty dramatic way to ask you guys back. I mean, sending an entire planet as an invite? Couldn’t a small asteroid have been enough?” François chuckled, but once again, his remark only amused him.
Jorh, apparently trying to explain further, went on. “Some of us only took the legend for what it was, a legend. But the elders were certain the time had come. We had just created a new Zarfha engine, a technology cable of… Would you like to see?”
“See?” asked Dedrick, attempting to communicate without using his voice.
Jorh’s eyes blinked quickly at him several times.
“Kahnu, our world, and what happened to it,” he replied. “We can show you.”
“You mean like a movie?” asked Sabrina.
“It depends on what you mean by showing us,” commented Tendai under his breath, hesitantly.
Dedrick and the rest of them were definitely intrigued.
“We would love to.”
“I want to see, I want to see!” rejoiced Chasma, bopping up and down on her seat.
“Good, but before we begin, we’d like you to join us in an experiment.”
The faces in the small group turned to each other, somewhat apprehensive.
“I promise, you have nothing to fear,” said Mahhzee again, feeling the group’s hesitation. Jorh extended his hand forward, and a small Zarfha sphere appeared in his open palm.
Facing Dedrick, Jorh asked, “Dedrick, I want you to look at this Zarfha and try to move it with your mind.”
“I’m sorry, you… what? I’m afraid our species doesn’t have the ability to do that. On our world, we—”
“We know. But now that you are here, in this ship, we’d like to know how developed your telepathic abilities really are. I’ll explain why soon.”
Dedrick could sense the urgency in the alien’s request. He hesitated a moment… “Ok, I’ll try my best.” Focusing visually and mentally all his efforts on the white alien object, he tried desperately to make it move, to make it do something, anything. But the Zarfha sphere remained still, resting immobile in the center of the alien’s hand. A good minute passed before he finally exhaled heavily. He had not realized it, but by concentrating as much as he had, he had forgotten to breathe.
“Oofff! I can’t do it,” he let out, feeling a bit dizzy. After regaining his breath, he reclined in his chair, disappointed. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright,” reassured him, Mahhzee.
“Can I try it?” François sounded quite excited, confident he had a better shot at it than his Russian friend.
“Yes, of course, François,” replied Jorh, moving his extended arm in the Frenchman’s direction.
To his grave frustration, François had no more luck than Dedrick at getting any reaction from the sphere. Even after spending almost twice as long as the Russian did at it. To the alien’s joyful surprise, the humans each took a turn at the exotic challenge, even combining their efforts as a last resort, to no avail. Only Chasma did not participate. Vera found it odd that her child seemed content to watch only. When all had given up and claimed countless times how impossible the test was, Jorh turned the Zarfha to Chasma, and said telepathically for all to hear, “Now, Chasma.”
It took only a second for the sphere to rise above the giant’s hand and to begin spinning silently on itself in mid-air. Chasma began giggling joyfully, as the rest of them watched in awe.
“Is that really…? Chasma, are you really the one doing —?” Vera could not believe her own eyes.
“Your daughter senses things you don’t. She has a powerful mind. We have never met another species capable of interacting with Zarfhas. This is most fascinating,” finished Jorh, as he reclaimed the sphere and leaned back on his chair.