He tapped his feet happily on the ground, "it is good to see you."

She replied with another puff of happy, then tapped back, "it is always good to see you as well."

Neutral puff: "have you come to see the clones again?"

Neutral puff: "Yes, I have." A puff of curious. "They have always fascinated me."

Excited: "They have not changed much since the last time. The still die when they are simulated 30."

Curious: "Can you not add the memories before they die?"

Frustrated: "No, we tried and they would not stick. Her memories were mature and they must be put into a mature body. We need to simulate age her to fifty."

Neutral: "Interesting. You will figure it out. There is a feeding soon. I plan on going. Would you go as well?"

Sad: "No. I need to stay here."

Sad: "This will be the second feeding you have missed. You need the nutrients or else you will die."

Angry puff: "You do not need to tell me."

Annoyance: "Do not get angry with me."

Sad: "Forgive me. I am under stress."

Neutral: "It is okay."

Curious: "After the feeding I will be ready. I fear if you don't feed, you will not be ready."

Neutral: "I will be ready. It will be my duty to be ready and I will be."

Happy: "Good. It will be nice to have offspring. I missed having them the last time."

Sad: "Is that all you have come for? To ask me about the feeding and to ask me about our offspring?"

Happy: "And to see you work."

Happy: "And it makes me happy to know you are here with me."

The two coiled together again, soaking in each other's emotional output directly from the source. They both fell to the ground and soaked up the left over emotions that had drifted to the floor.

When they had completed the bonding process the male lowered himself to the ground. Their antenna's brush against each other and he let out another stream of happy scent, he then sent her on her way and the male was once again alone with the clones.

Before the oldest clone died he needed to be sure it didn't have the information he needed. He walked up to the tank and felt along its base until he found the receptors. He hated entering the mind of a human. Others had no problems with it. In fact, some even enjoyed the new sensory perception of sight. He found the new sense too disorienting.

A puff of dread misted and fell to the floor as he places his antenna into the receptors. He felt his mind drift away and break apart. It reformed inside the memory of the woman. The sense of site nearly overwhelmed him and he had to adjust the input so he wouldn't receive more information than he could handle. Things came into focus now and he saw her sitting behind a table. She looked at him and blinked. His mind felt a complete disconnect from the body he now controlled.

The Marjorie stood and walked over to him. "I-I can't see you. I-I can feel you but I can't see you."

"It's okay," he said. Vocal cords, they were hard to emulate and he hoped the words made sense to her. "You won't be here long, you just need to answer me a few questions."

She snapped to attention and looked at him. Her eyes narrowed, it was a reaction he had gotten used to and he knew what was going to happen next. "I will never tell you where Earth is."

The Handler suspected that part of her memory was stronger because it was the newest. All the clones had said this and none of them had given him any information he found useful. "I don't need your permission-"

The connection ended abruptly. He disconnected from the receptor just in time to hear the computer tap out the information. The clone had died. They were dying faster now and the memories were not staying. They were a dead end, he was going to get no more information from them and he ordered all the remaining clones destroyed.

A cloud of disappointment floated in front of him. He fell to all eight of his legs and paced around the room in ever quickening circles. He had two more options, the computer would figure out where the Earth was based on the limited memory fragments they were able to reconstruct or the Arwen crew will leave the planet they've settled and he would be able to track them back to Earth. Of the two prospects the second one seemed most likely. Could there be a way to expedite that processes?

He thought about it. Humans dream, no other race have these strange things called dreams. He knew from the first human, Ruzoto, that they place a lot of emphases on dreams, especially if they were reoccurring. They had the means to manipulate the dreams of humans from a short distance. With some work he could possibly find a way to increase that range. He stopped pacing and let out a puff of satisfaction as the plan formulating in his mind became clear.

This is a good planet. Marjorie thought while standing on top of a large hill which overlooked a valley covered in a white mist that rolled over brown hills and covered a lush green valley. It was a young planet, a planet covered in vegetation and no large animals. It was the perfect place to settle.

Marjorie took off her back pack, rubbed her shoulders and placed the pack down. She unzipped a pocket and pulled out a small energy bar which she ate quickly. The hike was long, it took her nearly seven hours to reach the top of the hill. She felt tired, her muscles were warm and ached a little bit yet she felt she could do it again. The nanobots inside her gave her all the stamina and strength she could ever need with plenty to spare. She was young again, the wrinkles in her face were gone, the aches she felt were gone, everything that made her feel old were gone. It was lucky they found such a nice planet because she was going to live a long time.

Her communicator beeped. She looked at it clipped to her belt. Did she want to answer it? Did she want to know what was going on in the village? It was never good news. With a hefty sigh she picked the communicator from her belt and said, "Go ahead Pippleton."

"Captain," he started. She hated the fact he still called her by her rank. Ranks were no longer needed but he insisted on keeping them. "When will you return?"

"You don't need me there today," she replied. "I'm going to spend the night on the mountain." She looked out over the hills and saw a small dark cloud on the horizon. "It looks like a storm is coming in and I don't want to be caught hiking in the storm." It was a lie, she had walked through storms before.

"There is, the Arwen computers have been tracking it all day. It looks like one of the bad ones. I can send a shuttle to pick you up."

"No, waste of resources. I'll be fine."

"Captain, we are voting on-"

"You don't need me to vote, we both know what my vote is going to be. I'll deal with the aftermath when I return." She turned the communicator off and placed it into her bag.

Now it was quiet. The kind of quiet Marjorie enjoyed. She closed her eyes and let the wind blow across her face and through her hair. She lifted her arms as if she wanted to dance with the breeze. After seven months of searching, seven months of not knowing what was going to happen, seven months of trying to keep her crew from staging a mutiny they found the perfect planet. One with an atmosphere and gravity close enough to Earth it could be its twin. A planet with one big, bright moon that, when full, shinned nearly as bright as the sun. Fran told her it must have some dirt that reflected most of the light back. Marjorie didn't care, all she cared about was setting up a colony then putting someone else in charge while she did what she should have done when she was younger, explore.

She saw the dark clouds release a powerful lightning bolt into the forest. She worried about a fire but realized it was not a problem, the sheets of rain she saw pouring out would put out any fires. The trees, they looked a lot like pine trees only browner, swayed back and forth under that cloud. They were dancing with the wind and Marjorie felt jealous. She laughed at herself and sat on the ground watching the show nature was giving her.

There was a cave behind her and she planned on staying the night there. On many of the planets she visited she would have to sweep the caves to be sure some other life form, a life form that would commonly eat any intruder, wasn't in there. Not here. Here she could roam around without a care and she planned on doing just that. A cool breeze, probably produced from the front edge of the storm, blew across her face. She grabbed her pack, stood and walked toward the cave. Looking back she saw another lightning bolt hit the ground followed by a thunderclap.

This was very good planet, a very good planet indeed.

Commander Pippleton continued to press the page button on his communicator. The Captain was being very stubborn, even for her. His shoulders moved up and down in anger. He wanted to go out and pull a tree from its roots and toss it as far as he could. This was not the way a captain should behave.

He tossed the communicator onto his bed, not as hard as he would have liked, he didn't want to destroy it, but hard enough to elevate some of his frustration. His home was built from bulkheads taken from the Arwen. Most of the homes had been cannibalized from the Arwen, their white surfaces clashed with the green which surrounded them. Some of the most ingenious of the Arwen crew had painted the outside of their shelters green. It was a trend which had spread from one house to another in the section occupied by the science teams.

The Engineers spend most of their time on the Arwen taking things apart, figuring out what to do with what they had taken apart then sending it down to the planet with the hopes it would make life better. They had managed to make a very nice water pump and had set up basic plumbing throughout the small village. The basics first, that's what Captain Cook had ordered, food, shelter, water, and plumbing. Everything else would handle itself once those four things were established.

The plant life here wasn't poisonous, without any predators there was no evolutionary need to for it. It just didn't taste very good. Low in nutrients that the human body needed people had to eat a lot of it. The Commander was thankful for the ample and well-designed plumbing. The Ulliam body digested food more efficiently than the human so he knew didn't have any issues, but the human body produced some of the foulest waste known, especially when it had to digest a diet of nothing but alien planet life. He tried not to think about it as he entered the main town hall.

The first person to greet him was Doctor Lipton, Fran as she liked to be called now. No one here wanted to keep their titles, they all agreed to leave them on the Arwen. She was wearing a pair of shorts and a white, sleeveless shirt. Even though he didn't think the planet was too warm most of the humans did. Her hair was pulled back revealing most of her face. She hurried up to him. "What did Marjorie say?"

"She's not coming," he replied. "She said she would rather stay on the mountain"

"She knows she won't get a say then?"

"Yes, I tried to explain that to her but she shut her communicator off."

"I don't blame her. Come on, we're about to start."

The Commander followed her into the main chamber. The Captain's old chair sat in the middle of the room, all around it were the chairs and table from the bridge. The computers were still on the now empty bridge of the Arwen. The main hall was the center of government from the tiny colony. Five people milled about talking to each other, each person represented a tiny section of the village. With the Commander and Fran it made the counsel total seven. Whatever choice was made had to be majority, there would be no ties.

"Where is the Captain?" One of the reps asked.

"She will not be here," Commander Pippleton answered. "Since I'm second I will represent her."

"Just as well," another replied. "We know how she will vote."

They each sat in their own chair and looked up at the Captain's chair. The Captain's chair was raised high above everyone by a thin pole, allowing each member to see the other without anything getting in their way. "Okay, let's get started. We've deliberated on this matter more than once and I know it'll come up again but, a call to vote was motioned at the last meeting and seconded so, let's vote. All those who want to stay raise your hand."

Four people, including the Commander, raised his hand. "All those who want to leave, vote please."

Fran and two others raised their hands. "So, we're staying another year," Fran said sadly.

The Commander reached over and touched her shoulder, "I'm sorry."

"I thought you of all people would want to leave," Fran said to him. "You're the only Ulliam here, it must get lonely."

"Not at all," The Commander replied. "I find human company just as rewarding as Ulliam. We don't have the same sex drive as you do, in fact we can turn off the drive completely if we wanted. Another advantage of being breed a warrior I suppose, sexual competition can be a dangerous thing. Yes, I do miss my planet but we all do. The Captain is right, we can't chance the Handlers following us. They're a patient race and they can wait us out as long as it takes."

"I still don't think we're being watched," Fran said. "But, I'll take this back to my people and tell them the news. I'm sure some will enjoy the chance to stay here and study the planet."

"Fine," another member said. "Let's talk about other business, shall we? We have a crop field we need to discuss and we need to figure out how to get the food here to taste better."

"Well," Fran said, "we've done some surveying from the Arwen and we've tested samples from all over the planet. Right now we have nothing new to report, the stuff is going to taste bad for a while, at least until our genetic teams can figure something out."

"How long will that be?"

"Maybe another year or two. This sort of thing takes time to develop, I'm sorry."

"Okay, green stuff for another year."

"Or two," Fran said. "We could have a breakthrough though, we're still trying."

The Commander bored of these conversations. In the distance he heard the approaching storm and hoped it would suspend the meeting, or at least shorten it.

The storm had passed by in the night and when Marjorie awoke she was greeted by the sweet smell of freshly wet vegetation. She breathed it in, letting the smell fill her nose. She tried to memorize it, she wanted to be sure this is what she remembered the next time she smelled it. Her, alone with an entire planet below her waiting.

She took another energy bar, as the former Captain she did have some privileges to the rations, and ate it. It was her last so there would be nothing to eat but the plant life. She looked back to the colony, now visible since the fog had lifted. It was a makeshift grouping of white and green set against the most beautiful backdrop Marjorie had ever seen. It looked out of place on this world. They were out of place on this world. Soon it would grow, the small colony would become a small city and the small city would become a small country. Who knew how long that would take, a hundred years, two hundred, but she knew, thanks to the nanobots, she would be alive to see it.

In the mean time she could do other things. She had told the Commander she was going to return but that was a lie. She didn't want to have to explain herself to him or to anyone. Really, there was no reason to explain herself, she was no longer responsible for the ship or her crew. They could take care of themselves, they had their freedom now. There was no reason others shouldn't do what she was doing. No reason at all.

She took out her communicator and turned it on. She paged the Commander and when he came on she said, "Commander, I abdicate my position on the council. I'm going for a walk. I'll see you when I return."

"Captain?" Was all he got out before she turn the communicator off. She placed it into her back pack then slung the pack on. Her nanobots were ready for action. She felt them tighten her muscles with a surge of well measured adrenaline. It was a new day and she was going to explore for as long as she could before she had to rest. Looking to her right she saw what looked like a small river, she had no idea how far away it might be but she was determined to find out.

Chapter twenty-seven.

The days turned into weeks, the weeks into months and when Marjorie woke up one morning to check the chronometer in her bag she found it hard to believe she'd been away from camp for a full Earth year. The climate on the planet had gotten slightly cooler as she explored but she never thought that would be the planet's winter.

It was early morning and the sun rose over a group of small hills. She had made her camp among some very tall trees the canopy of which blocked out the site of the stars. She would have to find a clearing before she camped tonight.

Reaching out for the nearest leaf she yanked it from the branch and ate it. Even after a year she still hadn't gotten used to the taste of leaf in the morning. She ate because she had too, not because it was enjoyable. As she packed she thought about all the wonderful breakfasts her personal cook would make her and her staff every morning. His other meals were good but nothing could beat a good breakfast with some nice, strong coffee.

She shook the thought from her head and continued to place items into her pack. She would need to head back to the main camp soon, her food and water supply was fine but the battery's to some of her important equipment was running low. She would need to recharge them on the Arwen or at camp.

Marjorie placed the pack on her shoulder and started walking. From her right pocket she pulled out her communicator and turned it on. The beacons she was leaving on her trail returned a strong signal. On her screen she saw them all lined up, each one marking another mile she had traveled, each one giving information on the soil, the air temperature, the weather, any ground movement and it's exact elevation. With this information they could plan for the future, map out new locations for colony's, plan for the eventually baby boom she was sure would follow shortly.

The communicator beeped, it was Pippleton checking in for his morning report. They had established this routine after he accepted she was not going to return anytime soon. He never liked it but he was still a good soldier and did what he was told. "Good Morning," she said cheerfully.

"Good morning, Captain."

She rolled her eyes. "What's new this morning?"

"We're going to vote again on if we should leave or not. It's been a year since our last vote and we agreed to revisit the question."

"What do you think the result will be? Do you still speak for me or have you changed your mind?"

"No, I am still with you and I always will be. I understand your logic and I don't miss home."

"It's hard not to be home," she replied contemplatively. "You need to do all you can to convince them that going home is still a bad idea."

"It may be more difficult than you think. I wish you were here to talk sense into people."

She heard something in his voice, an apprehension she hadn't heard before. "What's going on?"

There was a pause. He must have been collecting his thoughts. Finally, he said, "people have been having dreams of home. Vivid ones and when they wake they get angry they aren't home."

A cold chill ran down her spine. She recalled the strange dreams she had before she even met the Handlers. She recalled how they told her they could induce dreams, it's how they communicated with her and with Captain Ruzoto. Could they do the same thing here? "I don't like the sound of that," she replied. "Can you hold off the vote until I get there? I was about ready to head back soon anyway. I can start my journey now if you want."