The science team made its way cautiously yet rapidly in the direction the flood had taken their companion. The technician, who arrived first, saw the unconscious human and the now spluttering student lying side by side.
<<Captain, Ruma is regaining consciousness. It would appear that a human has saved it.>>
<<I am aware of that. Is the human alive?>>
<<Barely, my senses detect cardiac arrest.>>
<<Number One, anything in scan range?>>
<<Negative Captain. All clear.>>
<<Then proceed to that location and retrieve both casualties.>>
<<Both?>>
<<Do it.>>
<<Aye Captain.>>
The large ship gently floated towards the scene, coming to rest yards away from the parked police vehicle. The winch cable was lying on the ground where Mike had dropped it. The door of the truck was still open, and the small internal light gave off a bright glow in the otherwise inky dark.
The science team assisted Ruma back to consciousness, and were ready to transfer the half-drowned student to the sick bay on the craft.
The police officer was lying unconscious where he had fallen, his breath coming short and rapid, while his pulse was weakening and sporadic.
Within moments, both casualties were onboard, so the craft left as silently as it had arrived.
When a safe distance from Earth, the craft simply stopped, and the Captain made its way to the medical unit.
It stood looking at the still figure of the human, while three medics were working hard to save his life.
Ruma was in a cubicle to the left, so the Captain went to see it.
<<Captain. I am sorry. I failed you.>>
<<No, it was an accident. You were not to know that there would be a flood.>>
<<I should have read the topography. I knew it was a dry watercourse and that precipitation could cause excess water to drain from the high ground.>>
<<Then you have learned, and are the richer for it.>>
<<What will happen to the human?>>
<<It is very sick, I think it will die>>
<<It saved my life.>>
<<It has come to the end of its life, it is nature, and we do not interfere with nature.>>
<<It sacrificed its life for me.>>
<<What would you have us do? We can’t just save it and put it back with no memory, as that is against the law. The humans are not stupid, there are those who are aware we exist, so will try anything to uncover our colonies.>>
<<I don’t know, I just feel we owe it something.>>
The Captain agreed, but kept its thoughts private.
<<Rest, you will be ready to work soon,>> the Captain said to it’s child.
It returned to the emergency room, where it stood as technicians attached various devices and monitors to the human.
<<Captain?>> the senior medic thought.
<<Yes?>>
<<The human is stable, but critical. I do not have the knowledge of human physiology to risk open-heart surgery. I fear it will die.>>
The Captain thought for a moment. Ruma’s words echoed in its brain.
<<Is it possible to create a replica?>>
The medic was surprised, and its body language expressed this. The creation of copies, or clones, was legitimate for their own species, but rarely used with other races.
<<In theory, yes. The cellular composition is not that different to ourselves, but isn’t it risky?>>
<<Only if we create a perfect copy. What do you know of the humans?>>
The medic paused.
<<Not much, they are short-lived, quite inefficient mentally, physically strong, yet quite primitive.>>
<<Are you aware of their gender differences?>>
The medic was embarrassed, as the permanence of the human’s gender was almost a taboo subject. The exceptionally rare members of their race who were ‘stuck’ in one gender in perpetuity were considered deviant.
<<Yes Captain. They are born with a gender, so keep it all their lives.>>
<<Indeed, their short lives mean they are fertile from about their tenth year until their fiftieth. They can have a child a year during their fertile years.>>
<<Amazing, and just one of a pair does this?>>
<<Just so, and many couples mate for life.>>
The medic was silent, as the enormity of this statement affected it deeply.
<<The human, it is male?>>
<<Yes captain. It, sorry, he is a large male, and in poor physical shape. Overweight, with chronic heart disease and related difficulties. He has reached the end of his natural life.>>
<<It is wearing a uniform, and is that a weapon on the belt arrangement?>>
<<We believe that he is a law enforcer, a POLICE officer. The weapon is a handgun and fires small metal projectiles in order to cause deep trauma to the targets.>>
<<To the point of death?>>
<<I believe so, yes.>>
<<Barbaric. It is hard to imagine a race who need their protectors to be so armed. It is indicative of a society that is dangerously ill-equipped to face up to its responsibilities. They do not deserve this planet.>>
<<No sir.>>
<<How long has it got?>>
<<I am not sure, as long as he is attached to the medical auxiliary unit, it is indefinite, but it is an inefficient use of the equipment, it would be better to let him die.>>
<<How long to create a copy?>>
<<Twenty gronks, in the accelerator.>>
<<What do you need?>>
<<I have the necessary DNA and cells. I just need instructions. You stated you said we should not want to create an exact replica?>>
<<No, for two reasons. One, the replica will have the same in-bred potential for heart disease, and two, he would be identified and cause us potential problems. Even if the memories are erased, there is a chance that some vestiges remain and we will be put at risk.>>
<<Then what do you want me to do?>>
<<We will construct the human to new specifications. We cannot alter its base DNA, but we can change everything else. So, you will change the subject’s gender, but you will also make necessary improvements to the cellular development. This human saved one of us, so make it stronger, faster and give it mental capacity to communicate as we do. For too long we have been alone, so I have in mind to create a being who will become an intermediary, even if it may not be immediately aware of us. Perhaps its offspring will inherit its abilities, so both races may grow closer as a result.>>
<<What form do you wish it to take?>>
The captain moved over to a console, and pushed a few onscreen buttons. A picture of a human TV film appeared, and it was Sigourney Weaver in Alien.
<<This female displays the protective qualities and the necessary courage that appears to be admirable in the human society. Therefore, I want it to be physically strong but with all the necessary the female physical and psychological qualities that seem to be desirable amongst the humans. There are seventy of their allegedly beautiful females in this data base, I want it to be a composite of the best qualities of all of them.>>
The Captain allowed various images to flick on the screen, those of the Charlie’s Angels, Lara Croft, Linda Hamilton from Terminator, and many more.
<<Aye Captain.>>
The Captain left, and the medics busied themselves.
Mike Dunwoody dreamed.
He was floating and was looking down at himself. His body was lying flat on his Mom’s kitchen table with his eyes shut. Mike looked around, but saw stars all around him.