The Scalian Legacy

Tarza was pacing in his office, fuming over the report he had just read. It was a disaster! His blood was boiling as he considered the predicament they were now in. He knew that each timeline has had its own perils, but this was unprecedented. He was being forced to take a risk into the unknown and had no idea what could happen. His aides, Nramal and Hargue, entered.

“How could this be?!” Tarza began screaming loudly in his rough Scalian language as soon as the door closed behind Nramal and Hargue. “Are we sure that it was old human DNA that we discovered on the scout ship? Could there be a mistake?”

“Sir, I had it triple checked,” Nramal started. “There’s no doubt. A third old human came to our time on that scout ship. It is not part of our standard procedures to scan the interior of our landing pad legs until the next general cleaning,” Nramal explained. “It was never considered a risk.”

“Must I think of everything?!” Tarza was not in the mood to listen to reason. He just wanted to rip someone’s head off and Captain Rauug was who he had in mind.

“We are adding it to our procedures and will upload it to the Redeemers’ database,” Hargue added. “It will not happen again.”

“That doesn’t really help now, does it?!” Tarza barked back. “Do we know who it is?”

“Yes, sir.” Hargue replied. “I confirmed that Jack Felder, one of the brothers mentioned by the one that replies in English, also went missing at the same time. The other two in their party returned safely from the trip.”

“So, now the humans are aware of what we are doing and we have another damn paradox out there!” Tarza began another rant. “Except that this one we can’t get to. He’s out of our reach, so we can’t remedy the paradox. We’re going to have to proceed without correcting this paradox. This could be disastrous!”

Nramal and Hargue knew it was best to remain quiet and let their leader calm down. Tarza had a tendency to explode and then return to solving the problem at hand. However, those violent explosions could be deadly if not handled with care.

“Do we have the scanners updated to detect these old humans?” Tarza began in a calmer tone.

“Yes, sir,” Nramal replied. “These older humans can now be detected in the same manner as existing humans.”

“Good.” Tarza replied while deep in thought. Now that the initial anger was subsiding, he began to think through his options. “What would the humans do once they found this older human?” he asked as much to himself as to his aides.

“Would they even believe that he was from old Earth?” Nramal asked. “They may simply not take him seriously.”

“They should be able to confirm his story from their historical databases.” Tarza began to go through the process. “And Admiral Alterman would consider this a grave threat even if he didn’t believe it completely.” Tarza kept thinking. “He’d want to get more information about it and query those he has access to. We haven’t lost anyone with project redemption clearance, have we?”

“No sir.” Nramal replied. “As you instructed, we’ve been tracking them and none have left the Sphere except for the three of us when we met with the admiral.”

“There’s no indication that they can get into our systems either, correct?” Tarza kept going through the possibilities.

“No, sir,” Hargue replied. “We’ve never had any indication of that.”

“He may have no choice but to attack,” Tarza concluded. “Not sure that he’ll be able to convince the Drumans, but he may just go about it without them, knowing Alterman. If he attacked, how would he do it?”

“Sir, shouldn’t we give Captain Rauug clearance at this point?” Nramal began. “Especially if an attack is possible. Shouldn’t he know the full plan?”

“No.” Tarza was as stern as he was brief. “Rauug is a true believer. He can’t be trusted. I have dealt with too many such fools and their judgment is always clouded by their superstition. Such Scalians can only be controlled through their religion, not by the truth.”

“If the humans attack, it will take days for them to get to us,” Hargue chimed in. “We would not be able to repair the Jack Felder paradox, but we should have no problem completing the mission.”

“I know, Hargue!” Tarza barked. “But we cannot underestimate such a paradox; timelines shift in unpredictable ways. Nor can we underestimate Admiral Alterman. He will try to get through the Sphere somehow and we need to be ready for it.”