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The Ambassador was ripping through space for all its old Star-Guardian engines could manage. It was being escorted by Captain Falmu’s squadron of five Restan warships. After all, there was a member of the Supreme Authority on board.
Sara Perci had gotten her answers from Ontar before he and Croto had departed Restas. And now she was to present those answers, and their destination, to all the department heads on the Ambassador.
The Consultation Room was crowded. Each department had been asked to send its top three ranking members besides the department head.
“Okay, calm down,” Hooker demanded not too politely. Sara shot him a look, and he just shrugged.
She began. “We embark on a journey that potentially could result in as momentous an occasion as when we met the Restans. And the ramifications of their origins.” She nodded at Tandew and Taland. They of course showed no reaction.
“The ship, the Watcher, we call Croto found and freed his friend, called Ontar, from its wreckage. Ontar had basically been on minimum energy mode for we estimate to be over 10,000 Earth years. It did communicate with us and confirm it was the very ship which brought all the Sabretooths to Restas from Earth.”
She paused. Using the word all didn’t seem to have any effect on them.
“When I say all, I mean all. Every living Sabretooth cat was transferred to Restas. Ontar didn’t have an exact count, those things seemed unimportant to them, but it most definitely numbered in the thousands.”
Now there was murmuring among some of the staff at least. She noticed a few quick shakes of the head. She didn’t care if they thought it was true or not.
“So, that means the Sabretooths didn’t become extinct. They were simply transferred in total.”
She saw mouths opening to protest, and put her hand up to stop them. “Let me finish. Ontar was certain they would have become extinct, hence the transfer to Restas. And yes,” this was a delicate matter to bring up in front of the Restans, but she did anyway, “there was genetic engineering to help them along on their new planet.”
She watched out of the corner of her eye to see if Tandew and Taland had reactions. She couldn’t see any. Perhaps they didn’t care or see it as the insult she had supposed they would?
Now among the humans she saw only nodding. Of course they accepted that fact.
“This got me to thinking, what other species which we knew to have gone extinct may in fact have simply just been removed from Earth? After all, there have been some relatively abrupt extinctions...”
“Oh, my God!” Professor Johannsson burst out. “Don’t tell me we are going to the planet of the dinosaurs!”
Everyone burst out laughing for a quick moment. She let them have their fun. Then their laughter became more of a nervous type. Could it be true? She saw it dawning on their faces.
“Not dinosaurs, at least we don’t think so,” Sara said, waving her hands to calm the last of the chattering.
“Our destination is the star we call 47 Ursae Majoris. It is 46 light years from our sun, nearly 80 light years from Restas. So, we have quite a long journey to make. And frankly, what awaits us there will test all of our resources to achieve a peaceful outcome. Not only peaceful, but a friendship such as we have with the Restans. With what Ontar and Croto says is coming, we will need all the friends we can get!”
“And who or what species are we meeting there? You are saying another one from our prehistoric past? Which one?” It was Johannsson again.
“This species was transferred much longer ago. Closer to 30,000 years. Not Ontar, but another of their race, transferred roughly 7,000 of them to a planet orbiting that star.”
“Sara, why do you not just tell them?” Taland interrupted.
She smiled at her old friend. “Because this is going to knock their socks off, Taland.”
He just blinked at her. Who knows how his translator was translating that one!
After pausing for effect again, she continued. “We always assumed the Neanderthals went extinct, or were assimilated into our so-called superior race of humans. They were not.”
Now the room erupted. Some were shaking their heads, others nodding vigorously. Sara looked at Hooker, who only rolled his eyes at the behavior of his scientist friends.