Milo sat on the roof of the Network's structure that overlooked the noisy, rocky coastline near them. The building was quite impressive for an organization that was insulated from society. The inside of the building had a lot of exposed wiring and pipes and not a lot of insulation but was still quite large and built quite quickly. After several minutes of enjoying solitude, he heard the whirring sound of the automatic door coming open and a beautiful elfess emerged behind it. At first he didn't recognize Zorthia, but then he could see it was clearly her. Her hair was in a simple braid and she was wearing a thin, synthetic jacket with a long skirt.

She casually sat down right next to him on the bench as if joining someone she knew well.

"I hope that you aren't angry with me" she said looking out at the shoreline. Milo took a glance at her before looking straight ahead again, not sure of what to say.

"I'm not sure what it is you're talking about. I took the risk of knowing what could happen because I wanted to save Kayla. I can't put any of the consequences of that on you" Milo said trying his best to conceal his nervousness.

"We've been looking into who attempted to sabotage the spacecraft Kayla was on. We strongly suspect it was people within your agency. I'm very sorry." Milo looked at her with his mouth falling open a bit, his nervousness changing to shock.

"How sure are you?" he asked.

"We are pretty sure. We haven't any smoking gun but we were definitely a lot more careful to make sure Avistra didn't know what I was doing within my cell of the HDD than we were in trying to keep the CIA out. I wouldn't have guessed they'd cause us problems. I am truly sorry, and for that, I intend to make it up to you."

"Why do you think they'd want to get rid of me and Kayla?" Milo asked her.

"We don't really know, but that isn't important right now. As I said, I can make it up to you. You and Kayla can work within the HDD for me. I can make sure you're compensated more than what you get within your agency." Milo took in what she was saying. With all the running around he was doing and now appearing to have artificially elevated his relationship with Kayla, he hadn't thought much about his future. If the very agency he was working for was trying to get rid of him then he couldn't go back.

"That is a great gesture of you, my lady" he said. "I'm flattered."

"The two of you are obviously exceptional humans. You could be assets for me." They were interrupted by the sight of an approaching spacecraft. It was very sleek and didn't appear to make any noise.

"That ship" Zorthia remarked. "It can't really be, can it?" She got up quickly and left the way she came and Milo followed her. He followed her all the way to a computer room where he recognized who had just arrived. It was Baycorf, Kopbok, and an elf he recognized as Azari Yuler. Dover was there as well as Brian, Kayla, Loy, Prudasuar, Yanakris, Cubork, and several other hominids.

"Is this it?" Brian said taking the strange, silvery object from Baycorf and taking a close look at it.

"Yes" Baycorf replied.

"You really think this was something that belonged to the Metaphysicists?" Dover asked Baycorf.

"Of course" Baycorf said. "It was apparently hidden in the hope a wise Nal'Larak scholar would solve the riddle of the temple and come across it, but I figured I could go ahead and do it for them." It took less than a minute for Bryan to figure out how to get the computer to read the data on the device. The face of a gray came up on a large screen in the room.

"That's Alkarog!" Cubork said taking a few steps closer to look at him. "Yes, no doubt about it." He started speaking in a language Milo didn't even recognize. Prudasaur spoke up to translate the words.

"I am Alkarog of the Metaphysicist Triumvirate. If you are getting this message I am hoping it's because you are both wise and have an interest in what it is I am about to explain. The Goddess Gaia will one day turn against elf and reptilia alike. Grithmeer seems convinced otherwise but it is the one thing about her of which I am absolutely sure."

The artificial life form 'Zardin' has within him some interesting data about the hyperplane from journeying through it as was well as some other things that might very well expose a weakness of the goddess, but he can't access it in his normal operation. I created a separate persona …or shell, that will assume loyalty against goddess and to all of her enemies. Obviously I couldn't tell the elves or the Nal'Larak about this as they now both openly serve Gaia. To activate this persona the code phrase to say to him is 'verctana lan tanum tyrimna'."

"That's it?" Dover asked?

"Doesn't look like there's any other files on here, but I guess I can use all the decryption software to see if there's anything hidden" Brian said.

"Don't" Baycorf interrupted. "He has given more than enough information. I suggest that we work towards finding Zardin. That could very well be the next best thing to finding the Metaphysicists themselves."

"This thing was just sitting inside the temple of the goddess?" Dover said. "That seems a little difficult to believe to me."

"It was in a cavity that can't be detected using any technology I know of" Baycorf said. At that moment, Zorthia tapped on Milo's shoulder and signaled him to follow her. Milo left even though he kind of wanted to hear the rest of that conversation. She led him down the hallway and into a stairwell where Kayla was waiting for him.

"I've got some grave news the two of you need to know " Zorthia told them. "You've probably heard about the stand that the new Grand Admiral Kerik Kildore is planning to make at the planet Laridok. Your brother is Captain Victor Rall, isn't he?" Zorthia asked Kayla. Kayla nodded.

"He's probably in danger, I'm afraid. He has been chosen to lead one of the squadrons in a massive fighter strike against the reptilian fleet."

"Is this going to be risky?" Kayla asked?

"Not just risky, humaness, but likely futile as well. This very idea was suggested by Kildore after the Battle of Mulgrath, but we knew we probably couldn't build enough squadrons and train the pilots fast enough. Even with all the militia pilots they will be able to rally, it won't be enough."

"Why would he carry out an attack that wouldn't be likely to work?" Kayla asked indignantly.

"Why else?" Zorthia asked. "He can demoralize and weaken the rebel groups in outworld without incurring any anger by outworlders. It's just what he and Avistra need now."

"Well then we've got to get over there and warn them!" Kayla said.

"Forget about it" Zorthia said. "You're probably too late to do anything even if you could, but you might be able to find your brother and convince him to leave." Kayla heaved a huge sigh.

"Looks like I'm off again" Kayla said.

"We're off again" Milo said.