Pleas to the Pleiades

Osha said to his old friend, “Alright, Captain. If you’re sure you really want to go on without Khlilia.“

The Prince of Candor also gave Jimmie a you’ll-do-what-you’ll do look.

“Yeah. We can always come back here again. Crew of three is plenty anyway. I’d like to put some parsecs between Khlilia and myself for awhile. Jump to the next limb of the galaxy. Osha, take a look at your navigation screen for our next destination. Just for you,” Captain Jimmie Memnon of the Feather Dancer addressed his Afro-Cherokee navigator.

Osha could not completely control his excitement at finally soon coming to where he had always wanted to go. “Wow! A long time coming! What a region. One cluster of seven-plus stars – the Pleiades; three yellow stars – Capella, Canopus, and Procyon; two white – Sirius and Castor; two orange – Aldebaran and Pollux; two blue/white – Alcyone beyond the Pleiades, and Rigel; and one grey/white variable – Algol. The Pleiades are one cultural region, and Orion is another. Capella, Canopus, Procyon, Sirius, Castor, Aldebaran, and Pollux are seven stars, together with myriads more, coping with the Orion reptilians. Jimmie, we can find Khlilia again if she wants. I know she loves you, but we have our duty. Now, it’s the astrological signs of Gemini and Cancer.”

Candor said, “We can jump across to the next limb of the galaxy. We can go quickly to the Pleiades. But … I am sure you guys know, we Thubans, we dracos, we‘re not exactly welcome there.”

Jimmie answered, “If we had done this from Earth, we would have had to bypass dangerous dust clouds and the malevolent variable star Algol. Maybe coming in from left field will convey to them that we‘re … uh, you’re … not bearing ill will. ”

Osha added, “Algol, The Ghoul or alcohol, also called the Medusa’s Head – beta Persei. This intensely variable star would be extremely unlikely to support life. However, it may be utilized by the Draconians and Scorpians as a source of energy. Interestingly, it lies almost between Earth and the Pleiadians, as does an immense dust cloud region.”

“Osha, you want to see again your Asteropian friends. We will have to deal with the Algol dust cloud on our way back,” Jimmie said.

Candor answered, “It will take three biological days to reach Alcyone of the Pleiades, The Seven Sisters – eta Tauri.”

“A place 407.4 light years away from Earth!”

Osha had learned very much about the gravity-lens system that was now in place. “Alcyone, Atlas, Electra, Maia, Merope, Taygeta (and Celaeno, Asterope, and Pleione) are stars said to have had contact with Earth, figuring prominently in ancient legends around the world, including legends of the origins of humanity. Most of its stars are thought to be a hunnerd and somethin’ light years from Earth. It’s a cinch.”

Jimmie was melancholic about Khlilia, but he felt that she had betrayed him. Better to get as far away as possible, and maybe come back for a visit after she had had time to reflect on her choice. It was hard to imagine her getting into a serious relationship with one of those horse-faced guys. “Called by some the Great Central Sun, Alcyone is really out toward the tip of our Limb of the Milky Way galaxy, much farther from the center than we are. Although Alcyone is said in modern popular parlance to be the home of the famous Pleiadian culture, it is quite likely that the real home is among the nearer stars in this cluster. Note how close, in interstellar scale, Atlas and Pleione are to one another.”

Candor said, “Perhaps Alcyone is the original home of this race of humanoid and very sensitive, rather angelic, beings. They are said to be very sensitive and emotional, unlike many others of these so-called civilizations, and have also felt the tragedy of being assaulted by the efforts of the Draconian and Scorpian confederations … of which, as you know, I am a dropout. I only eat bad people … usually.”

“The Pleiadians are said to have been trying to help us against the Draconian onslaught for millennia, and they are also said to be very much like us, although more evolved as a culture,” Jimmie sighed.

“Note how this, perhaps our most loyal friend in the heavens, is even further than we are from the center of our galaxy. Note also that the center of the galaxy, far from being the center of enlightenment it is said to be, is rather a center of selfishness and malice toward us.” Was Candor confusing “us” and “them”?

“Or perhaps the true center of our galaxy, where star systems are all much closer together, is obscured from us by these intervening enemies. Perhaps they wish to keep us from ever contacting the center, if indeed it is a center of goodness at all,” Jimmie sighed again. “The Pleiadians resemble us very closely, but are a bit taller, and they are very beautiful, if you believe the eyewitnesses, as Osha is.”

Candor gave forth more of his ancient knowledge. “Those wily old Nubian and Anubian Egyptians called the Seven Sisters Chu – some say Ku or Su – and considered them to represent the goddess Net or Neith, the lady of heaven, arching her black sparkling back and embracing all.”

“Oh, come on, Candor, you know how I already miss Khlilia! And then you talk about goddesses!”

“Jimmie, you don’t think I miss my own goddess? I have gone through thousands of years without her.” Candor was genuinely heart-broken, and his crocodile tears streamed down his face. “You don’t think that we cold-blooded creatures born from eggs have feelings? I am NOT cold-blooded! I can have hot or cold blood, whichever I choose!”

“Okay, Candor. You’re one of a kind, as I knew from our first meeting. I understand what it means to be an adreno-reptile, a draco-sapent as you are, and there are only a very few of you even remaining in this vast galaxy. It must be really hard to find a mate who’s not your sister. It must be really hard to be surrounded by millions of stupid little mammals who screw up everything they touch.”

“Oh, Jimmie, you understand me as no other mere mammal ever has,” the Prince of Candor said in deep feeling, still shedding his reptile tears.

“I have come to understand much,” said Jimmie. “Long ago, in Florida, I noticed how similar the form of the Pleiades was to the Great Bear, the Big Dipper – a trapezoid with a handle. One night, another Cherokee and I were gazing into the expanse of the night, and we saw a small light fly, in an instant, from hovering high over the lake upon whose shores we stood, to the North, toward the familiar indicator of the Great Bear.”

“Toward Thuban, my home system, just like the Egyptians said.”

“It hung there for a second or so, and then darted again at another angle toward the Pleiades. A few minutes later, another object hurtled southward toward the Gulf of Mexico, burning red and turning its one swastika-like arm in a spiralling trail as it entered the upper atmosphere. I later learned that the best way to escape any planet’s gravitation was to shoot out through the polar vortex, as we have done when landing and leaving Earth, just like I saw those spacecraft do many years ago. Then, to avoid the interstellar dust clouds that had formed around the Sister Stars, and Algol – the Medusa dangerously variable star – in between, one had to stay to the north of the Great Limb, and aim for the Great Central Sun – Alcyone.”

“Or Halcyon.”

Osha had been standing by, confused by this deep meeting of mammal and reptile. He did not know what to feel. “A thousand times brighter than our Sun, and much farther away than most of the myriad Pleiadian stars, it has been the centre of our limb for a long time already, although earlier, it appeared in a different place.” Osha thought that a little objectivity would not hurt.

“There were and are a hundred habitable planets hugging the orbits of the sweet yellow suns of the Pleiadian region, and my friend Osha chose the Asteropians … or they chose him. We never figured out what had fallen into the Florida Gulf that night. Tell us some more old myths, Osha.”

“Tell ya when ah’m good’n ready.”

“Tell you the truth, the Pleiadians seem nice enough, what little I‘ve known of them. I‘m a bit mystified why they don’t help us out a bit more. I really don‘t know who they are, nor how much to trust them. I know I trust Candor, and he doesn‘t know the Pleiadians any better than I do. That‘s when I start figurin‘ you know them as good as anybody goin’.”

“Yes, Osha, tell us,” sadly said the Prince of Candor. “Tell us about the humans who got beyond us and found the realm of the Hundreds of Suns.”

Osha narrated, “Similarly to the Egyptians, the Hopis – among whom I have lived in the vast deserts of the Four Corners, where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado meet – call the Pleiades the Chuhukon, meaning those who cling together. They, like the Cherokees and many others around the world, consider themselves direct descendants of the Pleiadians. In South Africa, the Khoikhoi tribe calls them Khuseti, the stars of rain, or the rain bearers.”

“In that region, it is probably a compliment.” Jimmie was sardonic, not in a great mood, having lost Khlilia. He knew how hopeless it was to search for her on a not-so-friendly vegetarian planet. He hoped she was happy among her horse-faced friends.

Candor nodded in sad agreement. “The Chu syllable is found elsewhere in a very familiar Japanese variant of Su. Subaru means gathered together – and the Pleiades, depicted on every Subaru vehicle. In Japan, they also call them Hoki Boshi, the dabs of paint on the sky, or, the brush stars.”

Everybody was full of feeling about missing Khlilia, but none like Jimmie. “From the Cherokee language, Tsu has become transformed to Chu or Chi in familiar English variants. Tsulawi, Fox Town, the ancient village of my ancestors, guardian town of our sacred capitol city of peace unstained by blood, became Chilhowee. And then there‘s the Chumash people in California. They were the friends of the Overhill Cherokee Chickamaugans. They taught me about some of these things. They taught me about the dark road of the zodiac, the road to Xibalba.”

“The Aztecs called the stars Tianquiztli – the marketplace or gathering place. The Incas called them the seed scatterer or sower. Early Dakota Sioux stories speak of the Tiyami – the home of the ancestors – as being the Pleiades,“ Osha canted.

Candor sighed, tired of the litany. “Refers to Tiamat, my grandmother.”

Osha continued, “The Navajos, the Dine’, named the Pleiades the Sparkling Suns or the Delyahey, the home of the Black God. The Iroquois pray to them for happiness. The Cree claim to have come to Earth from the star cluster in spirit, and then became flesh and blood. Some say that seven maidens, pursued by a terribly large bear, knelt and prayed for help. The Great Spirit raised them high into the heavens, in rescue. The angry bear clawed into the earth in a vain attempt to reach them. After leaving his huge claw marks in the unyielding earth, the bear finally gave up and retreated. The maidens were turned into stars, and placed in the sky, forever out of harm’s way. It is said that this happened at a tower of stone.”

Candor was still full of feeling. “Thuban is my ancestral home in Ursa Major, the Great Bear, also called the Big Dipper. In other significant cultures, the Chu has become Ku or Ki. Another of my family names. In Hebrew, Kimah, the ancient name venerated in the books of Job, means a cluster. Canst thou bind their sweet influences? Khlilia said that. But, sorry, Khlilia, I cannot bind their sweet influences. I was able to give you all the system by which you could reach this and return to your home system, but I cannot tell you how it is done.” It was as if he were speaking to her.

“Did you know how to do this earlier?” Jimmie asked Candor. “If so, then why go to all the trouble to build the first engine? The one we built together?”

Candor answered candidly, “No, Jimmie, I only knew the part that could be superimposed on your engine. You gave me the missing link, the secret ingredient. I was never a rocket scientist in my civilization.”

Osha said, indignantly, “Maybe I speak for Khlilia. Your ‘civilization’ has brought our planet a form of enslavement for millennia.”

Candor answered, “I know. That’s why I dropped out of college and became a poet … of sorts. I’ve mastered all your planet Earth languages. None of my other people do that. They do it directly through the mind, so no language is necessary.”

“So you alone, even compared to humans, know all the languages of Earth? Wow.” Sarcastic. Osha was growing more and more indignant against Candor.

“Yes, I started my career on Earth in China. I was banished to Mars after I taught the Chinese to travel to the Moon. In China, Kimah – The Blossom Stars – is the first stellar object mentioned in the history of Earth’s astronomical literature, appearing in ancient Chinese annals of 2357 B.C. That is still quite recent for me.”

“How old are you, Prince of Candor?” Osha asked.

“Twelve thousand, six hundred and eighty of your Earth years. But it’s only three hundred and seventeen in our scale.”

“I’ve learned that it’s not always a blessing to live a long time,” said Osha.

“Yeah. I agree with you, Osha,” said Jimmie.

“Why is that, my pets?”

“Jimmie, ah don’t keer if this here feathered alligator is a-gonna eat me or not. Ah’m a-gittin’ gall-durned tarred a-bein’ called a pet.”

The Prince of Candor apologised, “I’m truly sorry, Osha. And, I’m not a-gonna eat you.” He faked a Southern accent quite well … but that did not impress Osha one iota.

“I’ll like you better when you play the banjo for us, Prince of Candor.”

“A banjo? Guess Ah’ll have to make one first,” Candor’s country twang continued.

“You do that,” said Osha. He wasn’t afraid of someone he considered merely a vain and brainy-veiny alligator-parrot who couldn’t quite play drums as well as Binger Shaker.

“Yeah, Prince, my man. Make ye a banjo, for me and for thee, and we will play on another whole level,” Jimmie commented in his dispirited mood about Khlilia. “Continue tellin’ us up what went down and what’s now up, Candor. Please.”

“The Greek astronomer Eudoxus of Knidos, around 400-350 BC, called the Pleiades the Clusterers. Greek sailors consulted the skies before setting sail. If the Pleiades were visible, all was well. Otherwise, storm conditions were likely.”

Osha said, “The Pleiades were the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione, and half-sisters of the Hyades, another nearby Taurus parallelogram cluster, whose mother was Æthra, or ‘bright sky’ – the same name as the mother of Theseus. They were perhaps also half-sisters of the Hesperides – The Evening Stars, and the namesakes of our Mars community – who were daughters of either Night alone, or of Atlas and Hesperis, or of Ceto and Phorcys. Both Pleione and Æthra were Oceanids, daughters of Oceanus and Tethys, the titans who ruled the outer seas before having been replaced by Poseidon.”

Jimmie, still grieving about the loss of Khlilia, said, “Khlilia, do we really need all this mythological history? All I can see is Atlas had lots of lovers, and all these Pleiadians and Hyadians and Hesperidians are related. All children of some kind of mermaids Pleione and Æthra, all Oceanids, grandchildren of Tethys.”

Candor answered him. “Dear Friend, Khlilia is gone … for now. In answer to your question, Jimmie, maybe we do. We need to understand the people we are coming to see.”

“Do they know we are coming?”

“Of course they do, but they do not know why.”

Osha kept talking like a Balakoochee. “Legend has it that the halcyon hen buries her dead mate in the winter before laying her eggs in a compact nest and setting it adrift on the sea. Æolus forbids the nest to be disturbed, so the water is calm for the fourteen days centred on the winter solstice, called the Halcyon Days.”

Jimmie could see and hear and smell the sweet fragrance of Khlilia, looking at him and longing for a gift. “And so we have been adrift on the seas of space. And tomorrow on Earth it is Christmas. I wish we had a Christmas tree.”

Candor knew what Jimmie was thinking. “I knew the sentiments of Khlilia about distant holidays.” He brought forth a Christmas tree. Candor could bring forth anything.

Khlilia appeared, as if in a mist, and kissed Candor on his feathery cheek, and then disappeared. Jimmie looked jealous. “How can you summon her when I cannot?”

“Jimmie, my pet, my friend, I can do many things, but I cannot bring her back to you. We must simply continue with this story.”

Jimmie sighed and continued, “Another Asterope was daughter of Porthaön, and may have been the mother of the Sirens, who lured sailors to their deaths with their enchanting singing.”

Osha was compliant. “Sirens and Harpies were loathsome wind spirits with bodies like carrion birds and faces like wicked women. Like some of the hippie women back on Mars. Electra, for example, was a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytæmnestra.”

Jimmie was growing more and more impatient and even angry with this old history. “That makes them my ancestors, according to the old Scottish Latin genealogies. So what?’

“Your granddaddy Agamemnon was a major heavy ancient guy, king of Argos and Mycenæ, who led the Greeks against Troy in the Trojan War. That fight started when one of Priam’s fifty sons, Paris, seduced and ran off with beautiful Helen.”

“Fifty sons does seem a bit much for one wife,” the voice of Khlilia seemed to say.

Osha added, “Problem was, Helen was already married to Menelaus, Agamemnon’s brother, and king of Sparta. It was a two-brothers-married-two-sisters thing. Helen was Clytæmnestra’s sister. The war got off to a sad start, as wars usually do. Agamemnon got along badly with the goddess Artemis, but he wanted to appease her. He wound up sacrificing his own daughter Iphigeneia to satisfy Artemis. Although he won the war to save family face, he lost all in the end.”

“The Iliad tells this story in the tenth year of the tragic war, and how the Greek star warrior Achilles was finally killed by Paris. Finally, despite the warning intuitions of Cassandra, one of Priam’s twelve daughters, the Greeks managed to sneak the famous huge wooden horse into the city and conquer the Trojan Turks. Cassandra was taken back to Greece as a slave by Agamemnon, but they were both finally murdered after the return by the unfaithful Clytæmnestra and her lover Ægisthus. They say Cassandra warned Alexander the Great about losing to Persia.”

“The vengeance kept on going. It’s a family curse, and a never-ending game.”

“Yes! Osha, you are right! That is why you are my pets.”

Jimmie and Osha looked toward Candor suspiciously.

“Don’t worry, my pets. Clytæmnestra and Ægisthus were then both killed by Orestes and Electra in revenge.”

“Old Clyt was a real bitch. What about the other stars?”

“Maia, the grandmother or great mother star, was the eldest and most beautiful of the sisters, and a mountain nymph in Arcadia. Seduced by Zeus, like many a maiden, she gave birth to Hermes. She later became foster-mother to Arcas, a son of Zeus and Callisto. This was during the period after Callisto had been changed into a bear, and before she and Arcas were placed in the heavens by Zeus. She became Ursa Major, and he Ursa Minor. Your month of May is named after her name Maia. Merope means eloquent, but also a bee-eater, or mortal. She married Sisyphus (Se-sophos, the very wise), son of Æolus, grandson of Deucalion (the Greek version of Noah), and great-grandson of Prometheus. Sisyphus later revealed Zeus’s rape of Ægina to her father Asopus (a river), for which Zeus condemned Sisyphus to roll a huge stone up a hill in Hades, only to have it roll back down each time the task was nearly done. Taygete or Taygeta derive from tanygennetos, which means long-necked. Yet another girl seduced by Zeus, she gave birth to Lacedæmon, founder of Sparta, to which she was thus an important goddess. In some versions of the story, she was unwilling to yield to Zeus, and was disguised by Artemis as a hind (a female red deer) to elude him; but he eventually caught her and begot on her Lacedæmon, whereupon she hanged herself.“

“A lotta tragedy for those who are s’posed to have been gods and goddesses,” said Osha. “But I’ve been to Taygete, I was taken there before I learned how to harmonize, and Ah rilly like them Taygetian long-necked girls.”

“All this history is really that of early people who were a hybrid of your proto-people with our reptilian genetics. You see, I am actually your many-times-great grand-uncle. Some earth people have more of our dragon nature than others. You all have more.”

Jimmie was the Captain. “We are now approaching Alcyone. It is a beautiful star system. Stars here are closer together than near Earth. It makes it easier for them to contact other neighbouring civilizations.” He set his contacts. “Hailing Alcyone. Alcyone, anyone on Alcyone planets, this is Commander James Memnon of an independent star ship, bearing a delegation from the planets Earth and Mars, near Sirius.”

A group of Pleiadians in conference responded.

The beautiful woman Merope answered, “This is Merope. We have been expecting you. Please join us. We are giving you the suggested landing coordinates.“

The Earth-Mars trio prepared to disembark from the Feather Dancer after landing.

Candor changed his mind. “Jimmie, Osha, I’m not coming out … for now. The Pleiadians would not be happy to see me, because my cousins who resemble me have given them so much trouble.”

Jimmie and Osha nodded and came out.

Merope, Taygete, Lacedaemon, Aeolus, Maia, Asterope, Pleione, Celaeno, Atlas, and Electra greeted Jimmie and Osha.

“I am Merope. Your cousin, Captain Memnon. We are both descendants of Agamemnon, the forever non-forgetful. Greetings to you and your crew. But … Where is your dragon friend Prince Candor?”

“On our ship. We were not sure if you would welcome him, Merope.”

“Of course we heartily welcome him. But while here he must be vegetarian. I am Taygete.” Osha almost swooned at the sight of her. She was like a swan on Tchaikovsky’s lake, he thought.

“Taygete, he seems to be able to do that … be a vegetarian, for short periods,” Osha defended Candor as best he could.

“I am Aeolus. We well understand why you should keep someone on guard on your ship. But of another kind?”

“We trust Prince Candor, Aeolus,” said Osha.

“After all, he also built the ship … of my design. The technology of this, which your people have had for a long time, has been denied our people because of our incessant warlike nature,” added Jimmie.

“Have you conquered it? I am Atlas, and I ask it.”

“It’s not always on your shoulder, Atlas. They will see that this technology will force them to conquer their passions, or destroy themselves. I am Electra.”

“You have a beautiful planet. Nature is normal here,” said Osha.

The windows showed lush harmonious vegetation, birds, and lizards.

“We have over one hundred planets like this.”

“In forty-nine star systems. By the way, she is Maia, and I am Asterope. We already know Osha from before, when he visited us at our invitation, when we brought him here and taught him. Lacedaemon, Pleione, and Celaeno will show the way, after you have dined and rested. Bring down to here the Prince of Candor, whom we congratulate for his ability to be a vegetarian for a while.”

Days passed, almost the same length as Earth’s or Mars’. The Pleiadians and their guests Jimmie, Candor, and Osha dined and conversed with representatives of dozens of planets, but Jimmie was still missing Khlilia.

One day at dinner, Merope said, “You have passed most of our tests.”

Taygete added, “And now we will put to you the best.”

Asterope said, “We have decided to give you a comet. It will follow you back to Mars.”

Jimmie Memnon answered, “Well … uh, thanks. Uh, we appreciate the gift, but what will we do with it?”

Osha and Candor nudged Jimmie on each side.

“On your way back home, you will pass many interesting star systems, about which we want to gather information for our peace-keeping mission. For this objectivity we will give you the comet. You will be able to guide it slowly down to Mars, and give the planet an ocean again.” So said Merope.

Candor was eyeing a bull-headed guest. “One of the most important of them is that of Aldebaran – The Bull’s Eye – alpha Tauri. An orange (K5 spectrum) sextuple variable star, first magnitude, 60.4 light years away from Earth. Although Aldebaran itself, being six variable stars, would be considered unlikely to support life, the legends persist that this is inhabited by large humanoid creatures with bull-like heads and horns, who are very militaristic.”

Baran Leecy had nostrils flaring, and horns pointing. “Yes, we are militaristic. Our star system is located a short distance from what you call Aldebaran.”

“Excuse me, but our legends also state that you play a continuous role in trying to interfere with our fair planet Earth, but that in recent centuries you have been chased away from our region by the Draconians or the Greys, the minions of the Draconians.”

Nostrils flaring, horns pointing, Baran Leecy answered, “Yes, we are militaristic.” He said it again. “Our star system is located between yours, you of the Earth and the Pleiades planets.”

“Nevertheless, you bull-headed Debaranians continue to have your subversives placed within our governments and military, and that of the Pleiadians.”

Baran Leecy laughed, in a good mood suddenly. “Yes, we are militaristic and bull-headed. Captain Memnon … It is a compliment with us. Our star system is located a short distance from what you call Aldebaran. Our star system is located between yours, you of the Earth and the Pleiades planets. As said, enough said.”

Asterope interjected, “This is Baran Leecy, the Debaranian representative. We are their ‘neighbours’ the Pleiadians, and in the role of your protectors, have been trying to get the cooperation of the Debaranians to keep the Draconians and their collaborators out of your star system, but the Debaranians stubbornly persist in their efforts to re-dominate our systems for their own purposes.”

Candor added, “Debaranians are in continuous conflict against the Antarians and their allies, who are among a small number of Draconian collaborators who reside in the Scorpio neigborhood. The Scorpian Confederacy is near the center of our galaxy but is not at a high level of civilization in the cultural sense. They collaborate with the Draconians but are not really their allies as we would understand the word. Their relationship is based on mutual need, so the two groups use each other. There is some indication that perhaps the Scorpians and Draconians are distantly related, for they are both the most highly advanced of early varieties of animals, as you are among mammals; or perhaps the Scorpians are the ultimate controllers of the Draconians. I myself do not know the answer to this.”

Jimmie made eye contact with Baran Leecy. “Maybe I do. Baran Leecy and I see eye to eye. He seems to understand that I have worked with bulls on Earth … but not in rodeos.”

The Debaranian was smiling. “Yes. I think I can secure our full cooperation. I will speak with General Wood and his commanders.”

Jimmie, Candor, and Osha prepared their spacecraft for the return home.

Osha told Jimmie, “Jimmie, I would like to stay here with my Asteropian and Taygetian friends.”

“Do what you will, my friend. I receive your news with great sadness.”

Jimmie was greatly discouraged, even despondent, to have lost both Khlilia and now Osha to the allures of foreign planets.

After preparing his part of the ship’s take-off, Osha went to the view-window and pointed, sighting on Rigel, “Rigel, The Foot of the Hunter – beta Orion. A blue/white (B8 spectrum) quadruple variable star, first order of magnitude plus, 250.7 light years away. From our system. Another rather variable and very hot star, incapable of supporting life as we know it, but serves as a major interstellar navigational beacon. It is your guide home.”

Jimmie and Candor went with Osha back to the external hatch, and breathed their last breath of fresh air produced by trees.

“Goodbye, Osha,” the Captains said.

Captains Memnon and Candor were soon alone in the vast cosmos.

“Candor, The angular separation between Rigel and Alcyone is about the same anywhere in our section of the Limb, which could be aptly named the Alcyone-Rigel Limb, because Alcyone and Rigel mark its extremity. We can get home accurately.”

Jimmie was gazing through the tempered tympani-skin-sized plate of rubidium glass to the two stars they would be leaving behind.

Then he weightlessly wove to another side of the ship and gazed again. “Goodbye Osha. I’ll be back to find you. I see Canopus, 104 04 16, cosmic heading, The Ship’s Sail – alpha Argo. A yellow star, F0 spectrum, first order of magnitude plus, 116.4 light

years away from Earth System.”

“There are Egyptian myths about this civilization, right? You know that, Jimmie?

“The Canopans are reputed to have been the first known interstellar navigators, as

befits their other name, the Argonauts. Many civilizations may have spread from the

ancient Canopan culture.”

Sure enough, Canopan spaceships joined them.

“And now the Canopans join us, and now also the Capellans, from 81 09 cosmic

heading, The Chariot Wheel – alpha Auriga. At least nine planets. And now come Castor

and Pollux, The Twin Fists, from headings near Canopus. Hail them, Osha … uh, I mean,

Candor.”

More spaceships joined them.

“If we go on the same heading, Sirius, 103 04 23. The Great Dog – alpha Canis

Major. Procyon too. Sirius is a nearby neighbor of Earth at only 8.6 light years away. Very close to Procyon, another neighbor of ours, Sirius is one of the star systems said to have had contact with humanity. The Sirius system figures in many ancient legends around the world, often with the Sirians in a teacher role.”

Candor said, “Sirians are dignified, and possessed of privileged information in a

storehouse of wisdom – the oldest library in our sector. They are not returning our hailing, sir.” The sapent dragon paused. “Although it is generally a blessing for the Sirians, the library has also brought them many troubles.”

“Yeah, it is now known that they have had their people on Earth for thousands of

years, functioning as our big brothers. Sirians tend to make the right connections.”

“And they seem to have made accommodations with the Draco that is not mine.”

“Sirians are considered the leaders of the pack in our region by the Draco. Their

responsibilities may seem heavy to them, and there is often some self-destructiveness and

moodiness in the Sirian. I must warn you, their faces look like Earth dogs.”

“Invite a Sirian delegation aboard, Prince of Candor.”

Seven dog-faced Sirians met the Earthians and the Dragon. They were growling and not pleased.

The Alpha Sirian said, growling lowly, and then barking out loud at the dragon

Candor, “No one told you that you could invite these Earthlings to traverse the universe.”

Again he was growling, and then he barked, “No one told you that you could invite

yourselves, Earthlings, to traverse the universe.” Then, more calmly, as dogs may do, “But you did well, and we are proud of you. We see that a comet follows you, now it is braking down, slowing down, to deliver precious water to dry Mars.

“That seems like a good idea to us, but … Now, let us smell each others’ butts.”

Meanwhile, Khlilia was relaxing near a pond, on the planet near the planet of the

Pegasians. She was being approached by a horse-headed guy, the cousin of Laron.

She said, “Wooo, you, you dare to approach me?’

“Yes, I dare approach you.”

“And whosoever art thou?”

“I am who I am.”

“You are who you are.” Khlilia was adamant.

“I will seduce you.”

“No, you will not. I love only Jimmie Memnon.”

“You love only him?’

“Yeah.”

Khlilia was sorry that she had ever come to that horsey planet. Vegetarianism was

cool, but not if enforced. She missed eating fish.

A cousin of Laron had forced himself on her.

At first, she had loved their vegetarian ways. It was great to only eat grass.

But they had those horse heads, stubborn, and very controlling. They were very

controlling. Why had she ever decided to live here?

She thought about it very long.

She wanted to eat a fish. She thought about that very very long.

She had seen their ways. They ate each other when they were very hungry. They

weren’t completely vegetarian.

Hitler had been a vegetarian, or so they said, but they also said he had terrible gas.

He took a lot of very weird pills in an effort to cure his flatulence. Maybe he just needed a

little meat or fish. She missed her gentlemen carnivores.

The horse-faced men controlled the women there like stallions controlled earthly

female horses, gathering them in their harems. Only rarely did they form lasting bonds

resembling marriage.

Khlilia had been seduced by her own dreams of an ideal vegetarian society, but she was already missing fish ... and milk. Oh what she wouldn’t give for a nice cold glass of milk! Surely, mare’s milk was available, but doubtless the drinking of it violated some local taboo.

She was constantly pressured to join one of the horse-faced humanoid harems. But she held her distance. Everybody was grazing grass and eating crunchy spiny wild thistles and chewy heads of oats. She had no choice but to graze alone. She wasn’t blending in. They had long ago begun calling her short-face. The stud-humans had long ago given up on fighting for her. She was shunned by the winged mares and by the horse-faced humanoid women as well.

She had thought it an ideal planet of vegetarians, living peacefully together. But she had learned that it was an oligarchy, with the winged horses as an elite. They were actually far worse than any of the vain pony-tailed harem-gatherers of Los Angeles she had known.

“Oh, Jimmie Mack, when are you coming back?” she cried aloud.