Kayim: (smiling) Well, it looks like this is our last night of freedom. (grins)
Talor: (distracted) Uh, yeah, I suppose.
Kayim: (frowning) Talor? What's wrong?
Talor: I don't know, it's just . . . (trails off)
Kayim: Just what?
Talor: I don't know what to think.
Kayim: About the war?
Talor: (nods) It just doesn't seem to have any point.
Kayim: No point? Why, the whole war is, is our privilege. More, our duty . . . to our city, our nation, our ancestors, our G-d, even to our world.
Talor: But, think about all that we have. I mean, for all your optimism, have you ever considered that we might die?
Kayim: Talor, I'm no fool. I know the risks. But the gains outweigh the risks by far. The honor, the glory, the privilege of serving our country.
Talor: But what about what we're leaving behind? What about our parents? I mean, I've never lived without them, on my own. (looks at Kayim) And what about you, what about Rakira?
Kayim: Talor, we both have ties to our small sheltered community. And I'd be lying if I said I had no feelings for her, for my family. But a life without change is stagnant. We've lived here most of our lives. (glances around, focuses on the nearby oak tree) Just think of that old oak tree. It's held in place by its roots, it can never reach the nearby river. If we let our roots hold us back, we'll never experience anything new, we'll lose out on lost opportunities.
Talor: But what if you fall?
Kayim: We'll get up back up again.
Talor: And what if we break?
Kayim: Then we will heal, we will eventually grow new branches, stronger than before. Why, even the minuscule bugs can hide from the winds of the fierce storm, but the tree cannot hide, cannot defend against those prevailing winds.
Talor: (stays silent)
Kayim: Talor, I've known you for a long time. I know you like I know myself. It's something else, isn't it? What is it?
Talor: I can't hide it from you. (pauses) It's, it's my father.
Kayim: Your father?
Talor: We were talking last night and, well, he worries for me. (looks up) He worries for me a great deal. He was a soldier . . . he served in the Legions. And he knows the horrors of war. You see, when he served in the Bloody War, he was an interrogator.
Kayim: (interrupts) I know all about your parent's stories. I know your father is a veteran of the Bloody War, but all parents worry for their children.
Talor: But don't you see, he spent many years, I mean my whole life watching over me, raising me, sacrificing things for me and now right when I am old enough to be of any help to him, I am just going to leave . . . fly off like a bird into the skies . . . never to return.
Kayim: Oh yeah? Well, well you can take your bird and you can shove it where the sun don't shine. You hear that, bubba? Just take your dirty laundry and stick it.
Talor: Uh, what?
Rakira: Talor! I have something important to tell you.
Talor: (puzzled) What?
Rakira: Kayim is gone!
Talor: But he's right here.
Rakira: (shakes her head) No, that's not Kayim, it's . . . (pulls off the mask) Yashira!
Talor: What the hell?
Yashira: (blushing) I'm sorry Talor, it's just I asked Kayim for this favor, so I could, well, convince you to come with me.
Talor: Huh, where are you going?
Yashira: (downcast) To C'neathia. Isn't that where you're from?
Talor: My mother is, but why would I go there?
Rakira: (impatiently, tapping her foot) I know Yashira is helplessly in love with you (Yashira turns sharply toward Rakira, and stares furiously at Rakira, who ignores her), but we have a more important problem. Kayim is gone!
Talor: Where?
Yashira: Rakira, I thought he was with you.
Rakira: He was, until (blushes) well, we were attacked, by aliens.
Talor: The aliens are here? (readies his sword)
Rakira: Wait, Kayim attacked the aliens, knocking them down, but suddenly they all vanished into thin air!
Pantraas: I am afraid that I am to blame.
(They all whirl toward him)
All: Who the shmuzolean are you?
Pantraas: (cocks his head) Although I don't understand that word, I can tell you this: I am Pantraas, Strike Leader of the twenty-third Pantera strike force. We were stranded on your planet when our portal collapsed. My companion and I have been searching ever since then for a way home. However. . .
Shadro: (stepping from the shadows interrupts, all but Pantraas leap back, startled) Allow me. We became enamored of this place, and wished to stay here. Unfortunately, we had no female companionship of our race. While it would have been easy to morph our forms and live with your females without offspring, to us, such an act is reprehensible and repugnant in our society.
Talor: That's not very polite.
E-Warrior: Talor, shut up. I made you, and I can un-make you.
Kayim: What a trip. Thanks for nothing, Rakira.
Rakira: Let me make it up to you.
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