It wasn't as if he planned to get in this position, it had to be fate, and not the good kind.
With the sounds of the attaching machines outside, he sat in the alien ship thinking about the
circumstances that put him this position. It really started as a boy, that day he found his mind
overwhelmed with sounds and images of aliens. Thousands of aliens filled the view in his mind, all
looking as stunned as he felt. The few seconds of the image seemed like hours. Even now he could
vividly identify the smallest detail. The colors, even the smells overwhelmed his mind. The final image
was a strange symbol written in the air by a even stranger alien that seemed to burn into his young
mind.

Over the years growing up, Zneacry became fascinated by the stars and galaxies. He collected every
book he could about science, the stars in the sky and history. Over time, he built a team attracted to his
vision of creating a great library, a great store of knowledge. His passion erupted with the arrival of the
first extraterrestrial ship from a nearby star system.

Zneacry used all his considerable influence, working hard to convince the government to let him travel
with the alien visitors. The day he left his home planet, he charged his team with continuation of his
book and data collection vision, giving his promise to return with even more treasures of information.
The trip to the new alien planet took a few weeks as the ship made short jumps, would stop to recharge,
then jump again. During the trip, the blue skinned humanoid aliens told Zneacry about the ongoing war
with the machines, a war Zneacry had never been aware of.

Over the next year Zneacry observed many different alien societies and gathered a wide array of
information and treasured books. One vivid memory occurred on the third planet he visited. The
evening of his eighth night, Javer his planet companion, took him to an erupting mountain chain. Books
from his planets history talked about such events, but he had never observed the condition. Watching
from a position miles above the evolving event, he could see the dancing electric lights and glowing
liquid as it spread from mountain to mountain until a glow of over a thirty mountain chain produced a
steady flow of golden color glowing liquid flowing down to the valleys below and eventually into the sea.
With Zneacry’s growing treasure of knowledge, he continued visiting planets. His trading skills
continued to grow as he bartered his knowledge and some of his treasures for even more, having gained
great skill at the art of trading.

The final step that brought him to this place that could be his last moments of life, trapped in a space
ship hoping not be targeted by the attacking machines, seemed mundane. Sitting at dinner in a small
cafe that catered to off-worlders on the planet of Cverna, Zneacry was discussing with a small group, the
struggle the planets faced. The last step in his journey started with a single question he had yet to have
answered; "How did this war start?"

One of the companions looked a Zneacry and shook his head, "I don't rightly know, but if anyone does,
it's probably the old guy at the bar. I hear he is one of the few survivors from the original planet and
race of the Arnx."

Zneacry rose and walked over to the old man.

"My name is Zneacry of the planet Yanax. I am a scientist and historian. May I ask you a few questions?
I have heard you are a survivor of the Arnx."

The old man turned to Zneacry with a stare of anger and clenched teeth, “I am not Arnx!”

The old man turned back to his meager meal leaving Zneacry standing by the table a bit surprised. “I am
sorry. I did not mean to anger you. I was informed incorrectly. I was told that you might know how the
war with the machines started.”

After a moment of silence the old man turned back to Zneacry. “I too am sorry. I have not talked about
the beginning of the war for a very long time. I am of the race of Qzne. Please have a seat and if you
buy me a drink of the Varon nector, I may be able to help you.”

The two talked well into the night about the history of the Qzne people. Although hinting at an answer
to Zneacry’s question, the old man never attempted to answer it, instead drawing Zneacry into story
after story of the old man’s life before and after the start of the war. While taking notes of the amazing
history of the old man, Zneacry was able to finally get a name from the old man, Tarique.

As the evening evolved into the early morning hours, the two continued to be totally engrossed in
conversation. When the doors were being closed and the chairs lifted from the floor for cleaning, the
old man changed the subject “I need to leave in a few hours for the planet Tearka on the edge of the
machine domain. If you would like, I could use your companionship. I am old and could use the
companionship. Also the trip would give us more chances to talk about times gone by.”

Zneacry looked at Tarique “yes, I would enjoy that and can be ready in an hour. Where should we
meet?”

“My ship is at a landing area just outside the city to the by the great market. You will see my ship with
the marking of ‘Q’. I will wait for you till an hour after sunrise.”

Zneacry rose and as he turned to leave, “I will be there, I know the landing area.” Walking quickly from
the building, he rushed to the room where his cloths where kept. Quickly packing, Zneacry then darted
to a dark alley where in the far back area, he moved a few bricks on the building and reached in to
retrieve his treasure trove of information in his collection.

His next stop was the ship landing area where he arrived before sunrise, quickly locating the space ship.
The ship was old, not at all like some of the modern ships Zneacry had traveled on; it looked more like a
large pipe cylinder. Stepping inside he found an interior much like a home with weavings and animal
skins on the walls and an actual rug on the floor, again, not like the sterile designs of the new ships.
Zneacry announced himself and heard the old man asking him to come to the command center.

Soon they were on their way to the planet Tearka. Zneacry for the first time was able to watch as the
old man issued commands to the ship and began to understand how to control the star jumper. Tarique
did not hesitate to teach Zneacry the details of the ships controls. Near the end of the lessons, the old
man pointed out a special control that placed a force field around the ship. He explained that while it
would not protect against a strong attack by the machines, it would protect against a single machine
attack and give time to jump from the area to safety.

As the trip grew into days, there were signs that the old man was getting weaker. Finally Zneacry was
able to gain time to talk more with Tarique about the start of the war. They settled down in the small
comfortable meeting room and the old man sighed as he began his story.

“During the years leading up to the development of the machine computers, two major races interacted,
the Arnx and the Qzne. The Arnx, being the more advanced race and the original developers of the
machine intelligence, organized the effort. They were the first to be destroyed. There existed another
race living over twenty stars away. The Qzne had begun trading with the Arnx and some worked with
the Arnx. Most of the Qzne later vanished in battles with the machines.

“The two races had encountered each other years before the creation of the machine. The Arnx
existed as a relatively advanced society with inquisitive minds, constantly in a search to answer the
reason for our existence. A humanoid race trying not to be aggressive but at times made moves others
interpreted as aggressive.

“Over the years they developed an ability to travel between the star, they were able to explore stars and
place colonies on a number of worlds. The Arnx continued to expand their search of the stars and one
day reached the planet of the Qzne. The Qzne also being a humanoid race appeared similar to the Arnx.
Even though the races shared similarities, the Qzne were not as advanced as the Arnx. The Qzne were a
kind people with less drive to explore and question. The Qzne were basically a trading society and were
eager to form a trading bond with the Arnx.

“Over the years, the Qzne began to travel with the Arnx as the two societies began to intermingle and
spread their joint society across the stars. Some Arnx considered the Qzne as less than equals and
began calling themselves ABS (Arnx Believers in Superiority). The ABS openly expressed their
disagreement with their more open minded Arnx leaders.

“I knew well the head of the machine intelligence research. Rumors existed related to Tranfel, the head
of the research work in computer intelligence being a member of the ABS. He had a beautiful daughter
Shallne and she fell in love with a brilliant young scientist of Qzne background working in a lowly
programming position within the research team. Their love grew; so too did her father’s anger and
rejection of the work of the young man.

“Shallne’s father caught them in a compromising position one day and attacked the young man. A fight
ensued and Tranfel began to beat the younger man to a point where he may have died. Shallne
attempted to break up the fight and as her father struck out in rage, she fell, hit her head and died.” At
this point, the old man eyes began to water and an expression of sorrow crossed his face.

“The young man struck back in desperation as Tranfel, in shock by what he had done, froze. The young
man was able to flee in despair and anger with a quick look back on his beloved lying dead.”

At this point, Tarique was exhausted and in obvious depression so Zneacry helped him to his bed and let
him rest. As Zneacry went back to his room to take down his notes, he began to wonder how Tarique
could know such details and have such an emotional connection. There was more to the story to find
out, but it would have to wait till Tarique had regained strength.

With each day, the ship approached closer to the planet, and with each day, Tarique’s strength seemed
to fade till the final day. While Zneacry sat in the control room, the ship made its final two jumps and
finally rested on the Tearka landing pad, just outside a large city. Zneacry rose as the engines shut
down and approached Tarique’s room. As he entered, the old man lay on the bed, seemingly asleep.
Softly Tarique spoke “My friend, please come here.”

Zneacry approached the bed and took Tarique’s hollow hand, “My life is coming to end, I need to pass
some information to you. Two men will come to bargain for the boxes in the hold. Take no less than
four million Zurnaks. I suggest you get it in rare crystals. They have the ability to pay. I leave this ship
to you. In it you will find many books about my race, along with books about the Arnx. Take them with
my blessing and all I ask is that you forgive me for my many transgressions.”

“Tarique my friend, you are kind and I just want you to rest and gain strength, then we will talk.”

Zneacry spent the next hour sitting by the old man’s side as with each passing minute he grew weaker.
Slowly he drifted away to his death. As Zneacry rose he quietly spoke the words “I forgive you, rest well
my friend.”

With a sudden shaking, alarms went off in the ship. Zneacry rushed to the control room to see that the
computer had engaged shields. Sensors showed the city under attack as a mushroom based cloud rose
in a direction away from the city.

The communications erupted as the planetary defense systems reported attacks of machine ships. “All
spacecraft are commanded to stay in place till such time as escape corridors can be set up.”
As Zneacry sat at the console mesmerized, it appeared as if a thousand beams of light struck out in all
directions. Machine ships seemed to appear then disappear in a blink as the planetary defense system
kicked into high gear, destroying the machine ships as soon as they appeared to the sensors.

Over time the battle seemed to intensify and wane in surges, till Zneacry’s mind faded back to the
beginning.

The sound of an unusually intense rolling blast brought Zneacry’s attention back to the current plight.
An alien ship, a dead alien and a world under attack by strange alien machine craft.
At the moment, all he could do was wait. Zneacry headed to the old man’s room and carefully sealed
the body into a large bag and then pumped out the air. Since he didn’t know how long he would have to
deal with the body of Tarique, he needed to avoid any complications to himself.

Returning to the command room, Zneacry decided to leave as soon as possible and told the ship to
prepare a trip to Yanax, giving it the landing spot next to his home. He wanted to leave as soon as an
escape channel was announced. He couldn’t worry about the traders; his first business was to get as far
away from the machines as possible.

Having moved to the kitchen, Zneacry felt the ship shift as the engines engaged. By the time he reached
the command center, the sensors showed the ship well outside the star’s system as it recharged for its
next jump. His journey home had begun, but the journeys of his life were barely beginning.

By the time the ship landed at Zneacry’s home planet, he had cataloged many of the articles in the ship
and ship’s hold. The treasures were immense and the history of the two races of the Qzne and Arnx was
extensive.

 

The treasures were just as magnificent. Zneacry of Yanax became a wealthy beyond even
those men of power; a man whose power and recognition spread around the planet.