I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.

            - Jesus -

General Wilson appeared more agitated than usual. He even smiled a few times, an emotion unfitting for an old warrior.

"You two are simply amazing. Not only did you find and bring back the X-3001, you managed to bag an alien hostile along with its weapon and its ship."

"Unfortunately, we have no idea where this new alien came from," Marty said. "George doesn't think it's from a planet in the Alpha Mensae system."

"Perhaps, this species is allied with the Roswell aliens."

"If so, why didn't it destroy the X-3001? From what we saw, this alien was trying to take control, not destroy."

Wilson set his jaw, a sign that he had no desire to debate the issue. "I'm sure we'll learn the answers to our questions in due time. In the meantime we can investigate its technology."

"When are we going out again?" Angie asked.

"I'm not sure. Arthur will discuss your next mission. The X-3002 is being fitted with weapon upgrades. The engineers promised a four week completion."

That relaxed Angie and put a subtle smile on Marty's face.

###

George, Karl and Tyler were surprised to see Marty enter the Black Hole, the new name of the Space Port bar.

"Hey, stranger," George said with his signature sly grin. "We heard that you and the commander were out fighting scary aliens."

"More like one ugly alien," Marty said as he claimed a stool next to George. "It looked like a dinosaur. It's hard to imagine something like that being intelligent."

"Look at the Mehens," George said. "They look like flat-faced geckos. The fact is that intelligent life on Earth could have evolved from large brained dinosaurs if it hadn't been for that asteroid collision in the Yucatan sixty-five million years ago."

"That would have been okay as long as we would still have beer, speaking of which I need one."

Their laughter caught the attention of Brian, who came over.

"I didn't get a chance to thank you personally," he said to Marty. "No telling what that alien would have done to us if you hadn't have happened along."

"Indeed. We were sent out to find you. Let me ask you this: how did the alien sneak on board without the computer noticing?"

"Evidently, it was able to activate the hangar controls and fool the computer into thinking it was normal. Nobody had thought of that trick. Needless to say, all ships are being fitted with protocols to prevent that."

"Good. Why don't you join us for a brew."

"Sorry, but I'm not allowed to drink any alcohol for at least three weeks."

Marty frowned. "Shit! Don't let that alien near me."

Brian laughed and was joined by the others.

###

Marty stood near a window port and watched a beautiful blue world wrapped in white clouds slowly glide like an endless procession past his view. The Space Port was not in synchronous orbit, providing anyone who cared to gaze through the ports facing Earth the pleasure of a kaleidoscopic view of the human home world.

It’s not that he hadn't indulged himself in such an astronaut's visual delight before this, but it's just that he had an astronaut's yearning to set foot on Terra Firma again after being in space for months.

The reflection in the port window of a woman holding an infant made Marty smile. He turned to feast his eyes on Angie's beaming face. The infant in her arms extended its hand toward Marty's face.

"Da Da."

Marty's eyes ballooned. "Is that a prophetic utterance or simply a mimic?"

"I didn't teach him that," Angie said in a surprised tone.

Marty accepted the infant into his arms. "They appear to be perfectly normal. Has anyone named them?"

"This is Gregory."

Marty smiled at the child. "Hello Greg."

"Stop that. He'll never learn his full name."

"I'm surprised that Space Command hasn't become paranoid about these children. The only logical reason that the Roswell aliens cloned them is to infiltrate."

Angie frowned. "The only problem with that idea is that they'll look like the ones we have, and better yet, we have their DNA profile."

"You mean that they're all identical?"

"Yep. We have quad girls and triplet boys.'

"That's wild."

"What's even wilder is that if a lot of the other pod babies survived there are thousands of them."

Marty flashed a teasing grin. "Just think of all the grandchildren we'll have."

"Yeah, sure. You're crazy."

"Crazy like a fox."

She laughed.

###

Arthur seemed upbeat for some reason. Maybe it was because there hadn't been an attack for at least a month, or perhaps his wife had been in the mood of late. Whatever the reason, his mood relaxed the crew.

"Your next mission is to HD 17205, a G5V star in Sagittarius that's 42 light-years distant. We don't know much about it other than that alien you killed had visited it."

"Do you believe it to be the home world of the alien?" George asked.

Arthur shrugged. "There's no solid evidence for that conclusion. We've been able to extract course plots from the alien ship's navigation station that indicate that he's visited stars over a thousand light years away. For all we know his home star could be on the opposite side of the galaxy or even in one of the satellite galaxies."

“That would indicate that he had to travel a minimum of 80,000 light-years,” Karl said. “That would take many jumps.”

“We have reason to believe that this alien species has the capability to jump much longer distances than we do. The engineers are still trying to figure out how his engine systems function.”

“How do you know that it’s a male?” Angie asked.

Ferris answered that question. “He’s a male, believe me.”

That brought a smile to Marty, much to Angie's consternation.

"Do you believe that this new alien is aligned with the Roswell aliens?" George asked.

"I don't think that they are. They have nothing in common. For all we know they're competitors."

"Oh, that's just great," Marty, said. "Now we have two alien species that hate us."

Arthur frowned. "We don't really know anything about this new species. Perhaps you'll discover more information about them when you travel to HD 17205."

We'll be lucky if we don't run into a fleet of them.

###

"We have entered normal space, Angie."

"Reduce our velocity to 1000 kps, Delphi. Maintain long range scans."

"Yes, Angie."

The mood on the command deck was that of subdued anxiety. The threat of an attack loomed over the ship's crew like an ominous black cloud, but they still had confidence in Angie and Marty's ability to pull them through any crisis.

"This star is as massive as our sun," Karl said. "But, it's quite a bit cooler. That could mean it's younger."

"You may be right," George said. "There are only two intact inner planets, and I'm seeing a lot of asteroids outside 4.5 AU. That could be the result of five large gas giants, one of which is 1.2 times the diameter of Jupiter."

“What about moons?” Angie asked.

“There are numerous moons around all of the gas giants. If we stay on this course, we should pass close to a large moon around the fourth planet.”

“It doesn’t look like this is the Roswell home system,” Marty said. “And, I don’t think this is the new alien’s home either.”

“Put us on course to orbit the large moon of the fourth planet, Delphi.”

“Yes, Angie.”

“The large moon is 1.5 times the radius of Mars, approximately 5000 kilometers at the equator,” George said. “It has an atmosphere, but I’m not sure of its composition.”

“The atmosphere is extensive,” Anna said. “It has water vapor and oxygen, but it’s barely breathable.”

“This moon is warmer than it should be,” George said. “The fourth planet is about 6.1 AU out from the sun and the moon has a surface temperature of 280 K.”

“I’m detecting appreciable concentrations of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere,” Anna said. “That indicates volcanic activity.”

“There is some form of life on that moon,” Ferris said. “I can see green areas and large bodies of water.”

“The spectra of the green areas are not indicating chlorophyll -a or b,” Anna said. “It appears to be some other carotenoid-like molecule.”

“If there’s life there than there’s trouble,” Marty said.

“Not necessarily,” Angie said. “We’ve visited several planets that had primitive life forms without having problems.”

“Well, we’ll know soon,” Marty, said. “We should be in orbit within the hour.”

###

“We are now in stable orbit, Angie.”

“Maintain stealth mode, Delphi.”

“Yes, Angie.”

“There are saucer craft on the ground of this moon, Angie.”

Marty’s eyebrows rose. “Where are they? I haven’t seen anything like that.”

“They will be visible on the terminator in five minutes, Angie.”

“Please power up weapons, Delphi.”

“Yes, Angie.”

Everybody anxiously waited for the terminator to slowly rotate into view. The first saucer was sitting at an unusual angle. Three more appeared, their burned surfaces glistening in a setting sun.

“Those ships are damaged,” Marty, said. “I’m not picking up any power signals.”

“Maybe they were in a battle with the Mehens,” George said.

“I don’t think so,” Marty said. “The damage seems more like what you would get from a photon blaster.”

“That’s what the new alien used,” Angie said.

Marty agreed. “Arthur said that the alien had visited this system. What we are seeing here would suggest that the new alien and the Roswell aliens are enemies.”

"We'll have to go down there and ascertain what happened to those ships."

"Is it my turn?"

"I don't know, but you're better at combat them I am."

Marty stood up. "Okay Uma, Lia, Karl, Ferris and Anna, you're drafted."

On the ride down to the equipment deck, Uma asked: “Are we going to shoot aliens?”

“God, I hope not. But just in case, we’ll put on the armor bio-suits and take weapons. Uma and I will take the KLA-16 rifles and the rest of you will take the energy weapons. Hopefully, we won’t have to use them.”

Everybody agreed with that emotion.

###

The alien moon was not a typical gas giant satellite. The mostly nitrogen atmosphere was devoid of methane, but had appreciable quantities of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, and the water was not frozen. Plumes of smoke and ash advertised the existence of many volcanoes.

Uma picked up one of the many rocks strewn around the blackened ground. “This is vesicular olivine basalt.”

“What does that mean?” Marty asked.

“Olivine is a magnesium iron silicate. The vesicular texture means that it released volatiles when it was still molten.”

“It’s obvious that the reason this moon is warm is because it is still volcanically active,” George said.

The nearest alien saucer was sitting in a ditch at an oblique angle. Marty motioned for Karl and Anna to take the left flank and Lia and Ferris, the right. He and Uma took the point.  When he got closer he noticed that a hatch was open on the bottom of the ship. He turned on his flashlight and played it around inside.

“There’s an alien in there,” he told Uma. “You stay out here and cover me. I’m going inside.”

She was relieved by that order. There was no way she wanted to go into a ship with bad aliens. “Yes, sir.”

He barely squeezed through the small hatch and crawled along to a position near the alien, who was slouched on the floor and leaning against a wall. He saw no motion, but he did notice what he thought was breathing.

He keyed his mic. “Hey, Ferris, I need you in here."

Since he didn't get a response, he climbed back out.

Uma gave him a concerned look. "What's wrong?"

"I can't use the radio in there. There must be too much shielding."

He keyed his mic again. "Ferris, please come to the saucer."

When Ferris came running, she had her weapon at ready.

He held up a calming hand. "I want you to come in the alien ship and examine an alien. I think it's still alive."

She gave him a funny look, but she complied.

When they climbed into the ship, Marty saw that the alien had not moved. Ferris moved closer so that she could examine it.

"What do you think?"

"It has a pulse, but it has some severe head injuries."

"Can you patch it up well enough to move?"

"I suppose, but I don't know enough about its anatomy to be sure it would survive."

Marty held an index finger up. "Hang tight. I have to make a call."

After he climbed out, Marty keyed his long-range mic. "Hey, Angie, we have an injured alien here. I'd like to bring it back to the ship."

"Let me get this straight; you want to bring an injured Roswell alien onto the ship?"

"We can't just leave it here to die."

"Why not? It is our enemy, or have you forgotten that?"

"No, I haven't, but if nothing else we can find out why they hate us or where they come from."

"Okay, Good Samaritan, I don't want to be the Pharisee, so do it."

He smiled.

###

"It needs a transfusion," Onuki said. "But, we don't have alien blood stock. We don’t even know how much blood it needs."

"It’s blood has a salinity much like ours," Ferris said. "Perhaps an saline IV would work."

“All we have to do is determine which are veins and which are arteries.”

“The scans should guide us,” Ferris said. “The alien has a four chamber heart much like ours. All we have to do is allow the computer to trace from the venous entry to the heart back to a vein in its leg or arm.”

“What I am concerned about is the possibility of cranial edema.”

“The damage to its cranium appears to be superficial,” Ferris said. “However, there is a puncture wound into an organ that I’m not familiar with.”

Marty entered the bio section. “How’s it going?”

"We're trying to determine a course of treatment," Ferris said.

Onuki inserted an IV line into the alien's arm vein.

"What gets me is how small this species is," Marty said. "They look like children."

"That's what they looked like in the 1947 autopsy," Ferris said. "Unfortunately, the autopsy results were not detailed enough to be useful under this particular situation."

Marty looked over the naked alien lying on an examination table. “Is this a male or a female?”

“You tell us,” Ferris said. “We’re not even sure of the function of some of its organs.”

“If I were trying to guess, I would work backwards from what looks familiar. The rest are probably devoted to reproduction.”

“That is an interesting approach,” Onuki said. “However, some of its obvious organs are not like ours. For example, the brain is tri-lobed, and what would be the hippocampus in our brains is much larger.”

Marty smiled. “It looks like you need to do your work without me.”

They returned his smile, and he turned and left.

When Marty got back to the command deck, he found George and Karl watching the store.

“Where’d everybody go?”

“I don’t know,” George said. “They left us in charge.”

Marty scratched his head. “That’s a scary idea.”

George laughed. Karl smiled.

“How’s the Roswell alien doing?” Karl asked.

“Onuki and Ferris are trying to figure out how to treat it. They’re having trouble ascertaining its anatomy.”

Karl furled his brow. “Assuming that these Roswell aliens were iced in a battle with the new alien, aren’t you expecting to see another Roswell contingent in this system soon?”

“You’re right,” Marty said. “We’ll have to remain on alert. Hopefully, we can revive the Roswell alien down in Medical and obtain some useful information before they do.”

“What we need is a way to communicate with Space Command in real time,” George said. “We need help, but we can’t get it.”

“Actually, Arthur thinks that the new alien has a system that can communicate over light years in real time.”

George’s eyes widened. “No kidding! Now, that would be really great.”

“Yeah, it would, but they have to figure it out first.”

“Oh, well, there’s always a catch.”

###

Marty saw the Medical alert signal and expected the worse. “What’s up?”

“The alien is conscious,” Onuki said.

“Good. We’ll be right down.” He gestured to Tyler and Lia. “We’re needed in Medical.”

When they arrived at the bio-station, Marty saw that the alien was obviously agitated, but it was making no attempt to escape or take aggressive action. Onuki had covered it with a hospital gown.

Marty held a placating hand up. “We’re not going to hurt you. We just want to discuss some things.”

Lia gave him a confused look. “I don’t have any way to translate yet.”

The alien’s black eyes stared unblinking at Marty, running a chill up his spine.

“Why did you help me?”

Its voice was high-pitched but not nasal in timbre, and its English was colored by an accent that no one present could ascertain.

“You were in need,” Marty said. “Even an enemy is worthy of our help. What we don’t understand is why we are enemies.”

The alien seemed to be confused by this. He blinked several times. Finally, he answered. “I don’t know.”

Marty motioned for Tyler to step forward.

“We do not wish to be in conflict. We simply wish to be left alone and fight only in defense. We want you to tell your people that we wish to negotiate, not fight.”

The alien blinked again. “You are allowing me to go free?”

Marty answered that. “Yes. We have no desire to keep you against your will. We will place you back on the moon where your people can retrieve you, and we will go back to our home world and await your answer to our request for negotiation.”

“I will do as you wish, but I am only one among many.”

“We understand.”

“Can he travel?” Marty asked Onuki.

“Yes. His injuries were not as serious as we had first assumed.”

“Hey, you guys,” Angie’s voice said. “Delphi has detected several saucers entering the system.”

“We copy that,” Marty said. He turned to the alien. “It’s time to go. We have to get you back down there and get out of here before your buddies get here.”

The alien blinked.

###

General Wilson had a stern expression. Arthur looked confused. Marty didn’t know if they were angry or just upset, but he did know that he hated these mission debriefings. He and Angie were out there with no way of communicating their situation or status. They represented the only human presence in outer space, and that weighty burden put them under the gun, so to speak. Nobody knew how to deal with aliens. There was no president, no history to fall back on. This caused a dilemma that placed pressure on the crews that went out there into the last frontier.

“Your report says that you captured a wounded Roswell alien, nursed him back to health and then allowed him to be retrieved by his comrades after extending a desire to negotiate.”

“That is correct,” Angie said. “We decided it was not in our best interests to incarcerate him. Onuki and Ferris obtained a good deal of anatomical and physical data, and we discovered that this alien could speak English. As for the negotiation offer, we decided to honor the symbol of the United States.”

General Wilson’s right eyebrow rose. “Symbol?”

“Yes, the one on the dollar bill. It depicts a bald eagle holding an olive branch in one talon and a bunch of arrows in the other.”

Nice going, Angie.

“Besides, we figured that an offer of peace would throw them off balance. It should give us more time to discover their home world. From what we’ve seen out there, these aliens are too numerous for us to prevent an inevitable invasion. If we can get them to negotiate a truce, it would be in our best interests.”

“I understand, but you do not make policy.”

“You should convey that to our diplomat. It is his function to make treaties and commercial accords with the aliens that we run into out there. We were given the mandate to gather information about the Roswell aliens and return to convey this information. I feel that we did that.”

Arthur stepped forward. “We are not criticizing your actions, but we must allow Space Command to make the decisions concerning the conduct of this war.”

“For that to happen, we will need a real time communications system.”

Arthur and Wilson exchanged looks.

“We may soon have that,” Arthur said. “In the meantime, we would like you to refrain from making any deals, at least until we decide what the terms should be.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Now we would like to hear what you found about the Roswell.”

Ferris stood up. “Much of their anatomy resembles ours. Their brains are larger and have three lobes. They also have compound eyes like insects, but their reproductive systems are more complex. We are still going over the data to determine the exact functionality.  We will submit a full report when our studies have been completed.” She paused. “There is one strange thing we noticed: when the alien was coming out of a coma, it spoke several times. One such discourse mentioned a term I’ve never heard: Mebsuta.”

Everybody looked confused, except for Karl. “Mebsuta is the name for a star in the constellation of Gemini: Epsilon Geminorum.”

Arthur and Wilson exchanged looks again.

“Very interesting,” Arthur said. “We’ll look into that. Until then, you are free to have some R&R.”

Yes!