3, Sleep

Lucie returned and hooked on to the seraph's ship. Once again they sat by the table and looked at each other. It is done, Lucie said. She expected thanks, or at least a positive expression, but got none. Once again he put his finger at her forehead and sucked the memories out of her mind.

Then the seraph said. "I do not believe, - I know". Lucie was stunned. At a sudden she was back in her hopeless position, forever searching without a chance to find. And what a fool she felt like, believing for a while that a seraph did not believe in God. What could he possibly think of her now? You stay here and rest till I return; he said when he went to his own ship. Lucie sat still and saw the equipment in her ship die out one by one. She had no control of it any more.

Then her ship accelerated violently towards the first terrestrial planet. No, she thought loud to herself, while the ship closed into the surface. Then it stopped and laid still on the surface. Lucie was not capable to maneuver the ship any more. All the heat was energy for the ship, which was used for cooling, protection and operation. In fact the cold and empty space was more dangerous for the ship, than this heat. She tested the instruments once again, but not much functioned at her command. One instrument, though, showed sign of life outside. It puzzled her that anything could survive at this boiling wasteland. But most of all, it gave her a hope to better her situation.

She sent out a recording probe to find the beings. The probe had to be maneuvered manually, which was hard for Lucie. Her dragon body was by no mean made for hi-tech operations. She did not even have full control over the dragon urges. Most of the time, it was resting, but sometimes it could break out in spasms, which Lucie quickly regained control over again. However, such spasms could jeopardize the probe’s flight and make it collide destructively.

Finally, the probe reached the life forms. Deep in a cave there was a colony of primitive turtle like beings that did every move in slow phase. Lucie noticed the dragon’s urges at the sight of the turtles. She figured that it needed food. She made the probe pick up a turtle and brought it back to her ship. She investigated the being closely and figured that it was not poisonous. She crushed it and ate it raw. Soon the dragon was satisfied and became much more controllable. Lucie wondered whether the life-force of these being were consumed as well, and adapted into the body. It that case, her body could live much longer than normal. Anyway, she soon felt colder and let more of the outside heat into the ship. She figured that the food made the body adapt to the high temperatures. I’d better sleep it of she thought and entered her sleeping chamber.

The seraph’s ship folded out its four dark red wings towards the star. The wings received the energy and transformed it by photosynthesis. Meanwhile, he analyzed the information of some info crystals Lucie found in Astro’s orbit. The crystals had the information of the entire previous half a billion years. Now he knew it all. But he also knew that all other seraphs knew at the very same time. The issue was critical. It would most certainly be raised at the highest order. Anyhow the outcome, the issue would probably be used by someone for dramatic outcomes.

The seraph tried to focus on any reaction to the new information about the solar system. It was quite for a long time, even though such information traveled way faster than the speed of light. Some relevant information was starting to get to him. It was not unusual to discover a life on a previous unexplored system, so much of the reactions were cheerful and curious. There was certainly a considerable interest about this. After a while, more intriguing questions were raised. Is this really about the dozen? Is this not an authorized terraforming? Who is in charge? Are the dragons still there? How did the humanoids survive? Why did they get souls?

The seraph understood the course the questions were taken. The half a billion years old issue was about to come into focus again. Last time angels fell. This time it might as well happen again. Furthermore, the whole solar system was at stake. Great forces rejected the idea of the dozen at the first place. Now they were really going to get a lot to stir up. Although he could not admit it, he was still a little uncertain whether it was a good idea to give the humanoids soul. However, they were safe now, from suffering the same faith as the dragons. His kind would never allow terminating souls.

It is best to get back as soon as possible, he thought. Soon the ship was charged with energy. It folded its wings and turned slowly around. Facing the star it started to glow, and with a flash it disappeared from the solar system. There was no trace of it left. It had simply converted to energy and gone way beyond the speed of light. He was on his way home to face the growing distress about Terra.