*******

Julia shut her door and flopped down on her bed. She had been one of the many people who were going over the gathered materials from Earth that day. And, with her luck, she had grabbed some really disturbing material. She just wanted to pass out and forget what she saw.
"Julia?" Allen slid the door open and looked in. "I saw you come in here. You okay?"
She rolled onto her back. "Hey Allen. What do you want?"
"Can I come in?"
"Sure, why not?" She shut her eyes as she heard him shut the door and come over. "What do you need, Sparky?"
He sat down on the bed. "I came by to tell you've I've got the next two days off. I was wondering, since I haven't seen you in a while, if you'd like to do something."
"Tomorrow, okay? I just wanna get some sleep right now." She rolled onto her side, her back to him.
"Isthus hounding you again?"
"No. I just picked up some very bad watching material today." She sighed. "These humans are more dangerous than they look."
"Oh?"
"Yeah." She rolled onto her back again and looked at him. "I picked up some movie called 'Pink Floyd's The Wall.' That thing is disturbing. I mean, the actors did a good job, and the music was great, but the images..." She shuddered. "Do you really think they send people through machines and turn them into ground meat?"
"No, Julia." He set a hand on her belly. "I don't think they're that mad."
She smiled. "I guess you're right."
"Good. I'll let you be then so you can recover." He got up and started to move. He didn't get far, especially when she pounced him. "Julia?"
"I was thinking," she purred into his ear. "Since you have off for the next two days...what do you say you stay here the night. I could always use the company."
He smiled. "Julia, you've never suggested that, let alone let me suggest it. Why the sudden change of heart?"
"Well, for one thing, the very image of an ass in a judge's wig is still fresh in my mind."
"You mean like Benjamin down in maintenance?"
"No, not a donkey, silly." She slapped him on the rear.
"Oh..." He tried his best to look at her. "An ass in a judge's wig?"
"Yeah."
"No wonder you want me to stay." She chuckled and gave him a gentle peck on the cheek.

*******

Swift yawned. The morning signal had tolled, proclaiming the dawn of a new day. The lights slowly got brighter, arousing her from her sleep. She stretched a little bit and rolled onto her back, only to find Crash's arm around her. She looked over her shoulder at the gray wolf, who was blissfully asleep. She smiled and wiggled out of his grasp. "Thank you for letting me stay the night."
He cracked an eye open and smiled. "You're welcome, sweet-eyes." He sat up and stretched. "Sleep well?"
She blushed a little bit. "Yes, I did. How about you?"
He took her hand. "Swift, that is the single nicest thing you have ever done for me. I have always thought of you as someone special to me, but...." He gave it a kiss. "Thank you."
She smiled and gave him a hug. "Anything for an old friend."
"Isn't that sweet?" Wrench poked his head down from the top bunk. "Swift, when did you show up?"
"Last night," Crash said. "She stayed the night with us."
Psycho chuckled. "What for?"
She rested her head on Crash's shoulder. "Well, I know Tobias sent you one of those Earth image disks."
"It scared you," Bomber said. "Didn't it?"
"Yeah."
"C'mon, guys," Crash interrupted. "Don't give her a hard time."
"Would Kaitlyn and Myst please report to Tobias' ready room," a voice boomed over the loud speaker. "Myst and Kaitlyn, Tobias is awaiting you in his ready room."
"Hmm. I wonder what he could want with them."

*******

"Okay, let's see." Shivana and Mallory were going through the list of missing articles that Sara had provided. They were trying to find a common link between each individual piece of literature or video. That was easier to say than to do.
"Sara," Mallory asked. "Do you have any information on 'Pink Floyd's The Wall'?"
Sara took a few minutes to process the request. "Pink Floyd's The Wall," she said. "Originally released on vinyl record in the early human decade of the 1970s. It was soon turned into a movie and a sound track." She paused for a second. "Some of the images I'm finding are highly disturbing, resemblant of facism, drug abuse, and other such nasty topics."
"Oh great," Mallory joked. "Isthus is gonna see that and flip. He'll be more than happy to surrender to us."
Shivana chuckled. "Sara, what else can you tell is missing?"
"Several copies of a series of books. One that sticks out seems to be called 'Dune.' It's video equivelants have been ripped from the shelves as well."
"Dune? You mean the one about the desert world and the three warring houses?"
There were a few moments of silence. "Affirmative."
Mallory leaned back. "So let me get this straight. Isthus has taken an interpetive horror film, a book series about where sand comes from, and from what earlier lists say, human classics, famous plays from the early human 15th century, and three porno books." She shook her head. "How do all of these connect?"
"Maybe Isthus is trying to assimilate as much of the human culture as he can before making his strikes."
"Perhaps," Shivana said. "But we cannot be too careful. Keep monitoring for any more new developments Sara."
"All right."

Sara travelled the base to find Terry and Vu. She found them working in silence in the robotics lab. She watched them both as they both went about their business, Vu assembling some body armor, possibly for everyone should the base be invaded, and Terry as he oversaw the construction of a new warrior. Finally, she chose to break the silence. "You two are quite the friendly ones," she said.
"There is no reason for chatter here," Terry said coldly. "I don't wish to break Vu's concentration in his work."
"We don't hate each other," Vu added. "Sometimes it's just better for us to leave each other alone." He held up the chest plate. "Although I wouldn't mind the occasional piece of input about what I'm doing here."
Terry chuckled. "Well, I'm sorry, I cannot help with that. Gotta make sure these things come out perfectly, you know?"
"Yeah, I know." He put the plate back down, grabbed a weilding tool, and set to work again.

Sara made her way to the communications array. She checked in the direction of the approaching Pack fleet to see how close they were. After finding them, she created, encoded, re-encoded, and sent a message screaming into space. She sighed a little bit to herself. "Hurry up," she beeped to herself. "It's getting boring down here."

*******

Kaitlyn found Myst standing outside of Tobias' ready room. Curious to why he wasn't already in there, she approached him. "Hey Myst," she said non-challantly. "What's up?"
He smiled. "Just waiting for you to arrive before we find out what Tobias wants," he replied.
She blinked. "Why wait?"
"Well, I don't want to learn anything before you do." He smiled and stepped out of her way, he tail swaying mischeviously. "After you, m'lady."
"Man," she giggled. "Are all of the Vipers like this?"
"No," he grinned. "Just me." She chuckled and stepped into the ready room.

"I thought I heard talking," Tobias said as they sat down at the table. "What took so long?" He looked at the two and shook his head. "No, never mind. It's not important."
"Yeah," Myst responded. "But what is important is why you called us here."
"Exactly," Kaitlyn said. "So what do you need us to do?"
Tobias smiled. "Back on Earth, we had a healthy supply of video games and computer games. One of the genres dealt with giant mechanized walkers. I got to thinking, maybe we could design out own mecha to use against Isthus and his men."
Myst began to grin. "You mean you want us to design and construct a giant walking tank?"
"Well, not actually construct. We'll start on some of the minor components and finish it once we reach Earth. But yeah, that about covers it."
"So why not let Myst go at it alone?" Kaitlyn asked.
"That's simple. He's only a weapons expert. He can only work with weapons. You're a scientist and an engineer, Kaitlyn. You can design the chassis and systems like the reactor, and Myst can help you impliment armor plating and weapons systems."
Myst nodded. "Sounds fair."
"Good. You two are being granted a lab on deck 12 and four of our best scientists. I want to see initial designs and idea in three weeks. That fair enough?"
"It's a stretch," Kaitlyn said. "But I think Mysty here and I can pull it off."
Myst frowned. "Don't call me that. You make me sound like a chick."
She grinned. "Sorry."
There was a beep. "Tobias," Stephanie's voice sounded. "We have just recieved an encrypted message."
Tobias turned to a monitor. It turned on, revealing the kitsune's face. "Where did we recieve it from?"
"Apparently Earth, sir. The signal looks to be degraded a bit, but we can still decode it."
"Good. Send it down to Xuon. And tell him that it may be double encoded."
"Aye." The screen went blank again.
He chuckled and turned to Kaitlyn and Myst. "You two are dismissed."

He took his lunch break in his quarters. Samantha was out working personel, so he had the entire apartment to himself. It wasn't like there was much to do, anyway. He made himself a small lunch and sat down at the table they had to go over reports. His glasses sat at the end of his nose as he poured over figures and stats that he barely understood. Fifteen minutes into the job, he had to take his glasses off to keep from going blind and crazy. He sat there, rubbing his temples.
A pair of soft arms wrapped themselves around his neck. "What's wrong sweetheart?" Samantha's soothing voice asked him.
"It's these damn figures," he said. "They're too much for me."
"Oh...I see..." She started kissing his neck. "What do you say we put them down for right now and...I dunno...make up for lost time?"
He smiled and put his hands on hers. "What are you suggesting, Honey?"
"Why don't you take a look and tell me, Darling?" He leaned his head on the back of his seat and looked up at her. Her slim figure was garbed in a soft blue nightee. "Remember the first time we were intimate together."
"Of course I do," he said, nuzzling her hand. "Kaitlyn will never forgive me for that."
"Well, I was thinking. Maybe we can...I dunno...reenact that fantastic night."
He chuckled. "Well, I'm not too sure about the whoppee part and the falling asleep entwined in each other's arms part. I do have to go back on duty in a half an hour." She pouted. "But, that doesn't mean I won't rub your back for you...if that is what you want me to do."
She smiled. "Would you? Thank you, love."

*******

Julia parked her cloaked scout over a small desert town. Isthus had sent her on an observation mission to this area. Her computers identified it, from the newly acquired data, as the human country of Israel. She fiddled around with a few of the controls and sighed. "Computer," she said. "Activate external cameras and begin recording." The computer beeped and the screen in front of her lit up. She started nudging the controls to the camera around, getting a good view of the surrounding area and the people going along their business. She sighed again. "Lord Isthus, I know you can hear this, but you do realize there is nothing to be learned from-"

She was cut off by an explosion.

It registered on her screen. "The hell-?" She pushed some buttons and caused the camera to zoom in on the epicenter of the explosion. She figured a bomb had gone off and watched as people scattered. She fiddled with the controls and moved further up the street. She saw a human throw his hands up and push something. He exploded, sending people scattering. "Suicide bombers?"
"Indeed," Isthus' voice answered. "Seems that the two races of people in this area are in a perpetual state of war here. According to documents, the one who blew himself up was called a Palestinean. The ones he was trying to kill are called Jews."
She chuckled a little bit, despite being a little upset about seeing someone blow himself up. "They even sound friendly."
"Ensign, stay in the area until these 'Jews' retaliate. I want a full documentation of their retalliation."
"Are you sure they will retaliate, sir?"
"According to what we picked up, they will. I'll want a full report. Isthus out." The radio blanked.

She returned to the orbiting ships 12 hours later. She told the hanger crews to deal with her ship. She was agonizingly tired. She slowly trudged back to her quarters and collapsed on her bed. As soon as she did, her computer turned on. "You have two messages," it said tonelessly.
She sighed and rolled onto her back. "Who from?"
"One is from Lord Isthus. The other is from Chief Engineer Allen-"
"Play message from Allen."
The computer beeped. "Hey Julia," Allen's voice said. "Listen, I was on my break today and I was listening to some human music. I found a few songs that you might like. I've attached them. All you have to do is play them. See ya later Julie."
"There are five attached files," the computer said. "Would you like me to play them?"
She sighed. "Sure." The computer beeped again. At first she heard nothing. But slowly, a tune began to grow. Then, she heard a female voice start to sing. She shut her eyes and listened.
"You couldn't wait for answers," it sang. "You just had to try those wings." That was enough to send her slowly drifting into a dream world. The music invoked a sort of calmness that put her right to sleep.

*******

"C'mon Sara!" Vu shouted as he pounded the door. "This isn't funny!"
"Yeah!" he could hear Terry add. "Let us out!"
"No," Sara responded - again. "You four haven't had any sleep since you got here. Now lay down and get some. I will call you if anything suspicious happens. You know I have the probes out."
"But there's still stuff to do!" Mallory cried out. "Let us go!"
"No. That's final. Good night guys."
"Sara!" Vu shouted. There was no response. "Sara!!" Nothing. "Shit. I think she's made up her mind."
"When I get my hands on her circuits," Terry shouted. "I'm gonna rewire her so she can't lock us in!"
Vu sighed and sat down on his bed. "Well, might as well get some sleep."
Shivana sat down opposite him on her bed. "Yeah. Might as well." They slid under their covers, causing the lights to turn off. The room was plunged into darkness. Five minutes passed before the lights came back on. "I'm not comfortable," Shivana said softly.
"You too?" Vu sat up. "I don't get it."
She sat up as well. "What don't you get?"
"Tobias and Samantha were comfortable sharing quarters. Why aren't we?"
She looked at him. "What's that supposed to mean?!"
"No offense intended, but I'm sure you're not very comfortable with this."
She nodded. "I hate to admit it, but yeah..." She looked to the wall that seperated Terry and Mallory from them. "I wonder how they do it?"
"Huh?!"
"I mean get comfortable, considering the circumstances."
"Mallory and Terry are sharing a bed," Sara reported. "They love each other, so they seem to be comfortable with it. I'm sure if you two shared a bed, you would find sleep a lot easier."
"What?!" Vu said. He jumped back like he had been hit by Isthus himself.
"Wh-where'd you get that idea?" Shivana asked.
"Don't knock it until you try it."
They looked at each other. "W-well," Vu said nervously. "It...it wouldn't hurt. I mean, nobody would know except for you, me, and Sara." He yawned. "And she's right, we do need the sleep."
Shivana nodded. "I agree. But..."
"But what?" Sara asked.
Shivana said nothing, pointing at the beds. "These things are coming out of the wall itself. It'd be impossible to move them together without disrupting the wall."
Sara laughed.
"What's so funny?" Vu yawned. Suddenly, the beds jerked. They glided together, forcing the two to roll over them onto the other side to avoid being crushed. The two beds fit together perfectly. He shook his head. "This is going to be a hell of a ride."
"Yeah. But who are we to argue?" Shivana sat down on the bed and sighed. "Well, it's all or nothing." Vu sat down quietly on his side. They both took a deep breath and slid under the covers. Instinctually, Shivana slid over and into Vu's arms. They both let go of a contented sigh.
"So this is what it's like for Tobias and Samantha," Vu said before falling asleep.

*******