Page 16 - The Chronicles Ser2 (6-10)

“We knew of their presence only by hearsay, until the incident at a place called Roswell. Back then
the bodies recovered were of a sub species, created as servants, as we now know. They were short,
we never suspected a ten foot version of the species!” he concluded.

“I never saw them out of their encounter suits. Perhaps the smaller Greys were “engineered” to
withstand your atmosphere. Now I know what they are, I can recall my Grandfather telling me of
legends relating to my peoples first encounters with Sky Gods” she related to him “If I get my visit I
could scour our peoples archives for those stories there may be some clue as to why they visited
Earth so long ago” she offered.

“Let’s get back to the Council chamber and I’ll relay this message, it may well be the tipping point to
getting you that visit. It’s a pity your Archive-Net isn’t compatible with our Hive-net, things would go
easier. With that they finished their drinks and headed out into the cold, wintry environs of Heput
Plaza and the trudge through the snow that had drifted in from the walls of the city.

Meanwhile, back at the Ranch …

Galena had visited the recovering Engineer in the Infirmary. It was two days since the
incident and, with help from the Sphere’s Computer; he had been revived with only a minor tick. He
did recover with a considerable amount of implanted knowledge, but, because his brain had not
been prepared, he could only recall fragments of information, and they popped out in random
bursts. Apparently the Alcoves were some form of inductive learning device. The occupant of the
Stasis Chamber was another matter. The revival process was taking longer than expected. Because
the Greys atmosphere was toxic to humans, mostly Methane with some Hydroxide vapours, it had
been proposed that, when the Grey recovered, that he be transported to Titan whose atmosphere
might be compatible. She was becoming more and more frustrated. The bridge consoles had been a
nightmare to decode by trial and error. One Tech had mistakenly pressed a control thinking it was
for opening the lower airlocks, however, all she succeeded in doing was venting the contents of the
Sphere’s waste storage chamber all over the surface of the moon. Amusing as that was it didn’t help
with the complicated process of obtaining enough of a working knowledge of the cuneiform script to
create a translation matrix. Galena herself was frustrated at not being able to make tests of the
beings mental capacity. The Alcoves would have taught her much, but … or rather until, the
Computer and the Hive could work out a means of mitigating the ill effects, learning more about the
Greys and their history etcetera was pretty much “On hold”. Then word came that one of the other
beings locked in a dead Stasis chamber and was indeed dead. However; when it was taken from the
sealed chamber it began to decompose too quickly for any viable remains to be obtained. What little
material that was saved, a few teeth and bone fragments, showed that their skeletons were
reinforced with some kind of metal oxide, probably Beryllium, which seemed odd and pointed to a
home environment that was exceedingly strange. Her coms pager buzzed to draw her attention. She
looked at the display. Councillor Hubert Lestrange from Terra Prime wished to see her. She headed
back to her office and let the Councillor know he could meet with her there. He responded with a
reply that he was inbound on the Cruiser Jeramiah out of Mira. He’d be with her in about three
hours. She gathered her thoughts and some materials that she thought may prove useful.

“Rupert; I’m getting a visit from Councillor Lestrange. He’s inbound from Mira. He’s the Achenazi
representative. No idea what he wants, but can you help the Bio-Techs finish off with that trace
signature you found in one of the Alcoves?”

“Certainly; I’ll forward the results from Bio-Lab 4 when they come through. Initial tests show it to be
similar to a race known by the Buraxin, Insectoids from a rim world. It looks like our Greys were
using them for some purpose” he replied.