The twelve small fast ships sped away from the gravitational well of the star heading towards the fourth planet from the star that was 2.6 parsecs away.
There were no more than maybe twenty people on each ship and most were unwell or dying from the sickness that was spreading across the planet.
Rumor had it that the followers of Toner had made the sun burn hot and bright to wipe out the emery’s of Toner and that once they had been wiped out the sun would return to normal.
But even the followers of Toner were dying in their millions and a new leader in the southern desert had built a huge pyramid and had welcomed thousands and thousands of people until she had filled the pyramid and closed it to all others that had come.
Death walked the land claiming the poor and rich alike. No one was spared as the sun burnt hotter and hotter drying lakes and rivers.
The polar caps of ice and snow had started to melted.
Many had blamed Toner and many more blamed the emery’s of Toner all where dying and of the same thing.
Soon none would be left and the once powerful people of Sirius would all be gone and pass from the pages of galactic history to be forgotten.
As for the people on the twelve ships they did not know that the fourth planet that was 2.6 parsecs away was also a dead world and that their only hope would be on the third planet closest to that star.
vMerwyn, Rabbo and Athena opened their eyes.
Tears streamed down Merwyn's and Athena’s cheeks at what they had just seen. A land dying and sick as the sun of their home would burn hotter and hotter entering the final stages of its life. Nothing anyone could do would save the few people that remained on their home world.
As for the people in the ships heading towards the fourth planet most would be dead before they reached the planet and the few that might be alive would soon die as they too were succumbing to radiation sickness.
“Dad” wept Athena “what is to become of us. What of our race?”
“We will survive. Our genes will go on and our way of life will continue,” answered Merwyn.
“I don’t see how.” said Athena.
Merwyn turned and looked at the house where the sleeping Helena was.
“She has Sirian blood in her. I don’t know whose or how it happened but she is part Sirian”.
“And then there is Bastet and me, both of us are pregnant. But what of Ra and the others? They should know that we are the last of our race.” asked Athena.
“Yes they should know. I will hail Ra and the others and bespeak them to let them know and maybe we can heal the breach between us? And in doing so stop this stupid hate between us.” said Merwyn in a sad tone.
Merwyn closed his eyes and focused inwardly before he hailed Ra.
“Ra I need to talk to you. I have sad news from our home world. Please I come in peace?” hailed Merwyn to Ra.
“Oh the great general comes in peace,” answered Ra.
“Our home world is all but dead the sun burns hot and the people are all but gone. This breach between us must be healed or our race will fade away and everything that you and the others have worked for will be for nothing.”
“I do not need your help or offer of peace. We will live on as gods to these creatures. As for our home world it was doomed long ago and our sister worlds will live on.”
“Do not count on our sister worlds, Ra,” Merwyn paused. “Is this the way it has to be between us?”
“It is the way you want it, Merwyn. When you walked away from what we could have been you walked away from us al,l” said Ra his tone of voice becoming hostile.
“I don’t want to fight you. But if you insist on building an army to destroy Athens’s and attacking my daughter to destroy me I will have to fight back. All I want is to be left alone. Please don’t do this to us,” said Merwyn his voice hinting at the power hidden within him.
Ra’s voice laughed and faded away into the night.
Merwyn turned back to Athena and smiled weakly. “And now you know what he plans”.
Rabbo sat still thinking about what he had seen on Sirius and what he had heard Merwyn say to Ra. There was much that he did not understand yet he felt as if he knew the answer. But Rabbo felt that if he could learn more he would understand better.
Rabbo thought about Athena and Bastet and that they were both pregnant. Athena had hinted at the fact she was already pregnant before Bastet had arrived and he wondered who the father was of her unborn child.
He recalled that Isis had said that they could not breed from the humans of the planet yet Merwyn had said that Helena was part Sirian so something was happening that not known to Isis.
Suddenly Rabbo sat bolt upright. “Helena’s daughter was part Sirian too,” thought Rabbo.
“You are very right,” said Merwyn.
“What if she was to mate with Athena’s unborn child,” asked Rabbo.
“That’s an interesting though,t Rabbo. Let’s hope she has a boy,” said Merwyn.
Rabbo suddenly felt very tired so he hopped off into the house leaving Merwyn and Athena sitting on the grass outside. He rode up in his elevator then hopped down the hallway stopping at the bathroom to clean his teeth before entering Athena’s bedroom.
His mother was asleep at the foot of Athena’s bed and for a moment Rabbo thought about snuggling next to her for comfort as it still bothered him about what he had seen on Sirius. But instead he climbed up onto the window sill hopped onto his pillow and drifted off to sleep.
Rabbo woke just before the sun hit the window sill and slipped down off and headed to the bathroom. Once down stairs he looked into the living room and saw Merwyn and Helena working on her astral travel ability.
So he hopped over to the cool storage room and got himself breakfast and hopped back to the kitchen table to eat. Rabbo sat at the kitchen table as Athena walked in carrying two buckets full of fresh milk. He watched as she put the buckets in the cool storage room and shook her head.
“Looks like I need to make more butter and cheese as we have so much milk that I don’t know what we will do with it all,” said Athena.
Once Rabbo had finished his breakfast he hopped down and placed his bowl and cup in the sink and headed out to the garden.
Cat was sitting on the lawn with Rabbo’s children and their mother.
As Rabbo watched his second female friend came hopping up followed by her 5 very young rabbit kitten. She had to stop every so often and turn back and nudge them with her nose as they would stop and look around. Rabbo hopped over to them and sniffed each one to make sure that they were ok and to let them know that he was there. At last the tiny rabbit kittens reached Cat and in a group they all curled up at his feet and very quickly they all went to sleep.
“Tired from long hop to visit,” said Rabbo’s second female friend in rabbit.
“Bring here on long hop why,” said Rabbo in rabbit.
“To their father I bring them.”
“Why?” asked Rabbo.
“Because I think it good of them and make strong hoppers”.
“My, she is bossy,” Rabbo mused to himself. “Bossy is a good name for her.”
Rabbo looked at his second female friend and leaned in close sniffing her. “You are bossy to our kittens.”
“They need to be of strong,” she answered. “What bossy mean?”
“You are bossy,” said Rabbo.
“I am bossy,” she answered.
Just then Athena walked by followed by six buckets full of milk that she was levitating as she headed towards the shed that she used to make butter and cheese.
Bossy watched Athena and then hopped after her hoping that she could get some milk to drink.
“Rabbo what does she want?” asked Athena.
“Milk most likely. The last time she was here I gave her milk and she likes it.”
Rabbo hopped over to join bossy as Athena came back out of the shed with a bowl of milk that she placed on the ground. Rabbo’s older children came bouncing over at the smell of milk. Mischief ran into the shed just as Athena walked back inside. A few seconds later there was a loud crash and cussing from Athena.
“Come and get your hellion of a child out of here,” screamed Athena.
Rabbo peaked in and saw Athena sitting on the floor drenched in milk as mischief rolled around in the milk squealing in delight at the spilled milk to play in.
Rabbo barked at mischief and she came hopping out soaked in milk.
Her brother and sisters hopped over and sniffed her before they bolted into the shed and started to roll around in the milk. Rabbo barked again and they all hopped out slowly with their heads down. Rabbo looked at each of his children and was about to tell them off about playing in the milk when he noticed that Athena was trying had not to laugh.
Athena took her soaked toga off and walked out of the shed and closed the door. She walked across the lawn back into the house.
Rabbo turned to his wayward children and looked at them. They were soaked with milk and were busy cleaning each other. So Rabbo just turned back to bossy who was ignoring everything and lapping up milk.
Athena came back out wearing just her skin and walked by Rabbo and bossy. She entered the shed and closed the door.
Rabbo turned back to his older children and started to talk to them about being nice and not upsetting Athena or Merwyn.
“Who new human?” asked Boxer?
“That is Helena,” replied Rabbo.
“Oh” said Boxer “she nice and glow.”
“Athena have glow of self and double glow from tummy,” said mischief.
Rabbo closed his eyes and looked though the wall at the naked Athena who was pouring cream into a huge barrel and he was very surprised to see that Athena had a double glow in her tummy.
“Are you double pregnant?” Rabbo asked Athena.
“Double pregnant? I don’t understand you, Rabbo”.
“You have a double glow in your tummy like two babies are in there and not one,” said Rabbo.
“Oh I don’t think I’m having twins,” said Athena. “It’s hard for me to see. But I will ask dad later”.
Athena pushed open the door and wheeled out the huge barrel of cream and started to spin it end over end. Rabbo sat and watched as Athena started to make butter.
It was about five hours later when Merwyn came walking out with Helena walking along behind him. As they walked across the lawn Athena noticed that there was something different about Helena almost as if her aura was waking up.
“How was your lesson in astral travel,” Athena asked Helena.
“I don’t, I don’t” stuttered Helena. “I don’t have the words. I feel almost like a goddess looking over my home. And then and then and then seeing Athens’s below me spread out.”
Athena laughed and smiled at Helena. “Welcome to our world”.
Merwyn walked of stepping carefully over rabbit kittens that were hopping around on the lawn.
He returned a few moments later with two chairs and placed them next to Athena on the over side of the barrel. Merwyn sat down and Helena stood in front of Athena and Merwyn.
She looked at the naked Athena and smiled shyly before she started to slip her long toga over her head. Athena could not help think how much Helena looked like a Sirian with her long legs and flat stomach and pear shaped breasts.
“Dad, she is of Sirian blood. Just look at her,” said Athena.
“I am trying not to but I see what you mean. She almost looks like your mother when I first met her. Shorter and wider in the hips with fairer skin. She could almost be a sister to your mother,” said Merwyn.
“We should find out who her grandmother is,” said Athena.
“I am already working on that. I pricked her finger and the test results should be printed out soon. In fact let me go in and check,” said Merwyn.
Merwyn got up and walked off to the house.
“Does Zeus not like me like this?” asked Helena.
“My father has a hard time with naked woman sometimes,” laughed Athena.
“Oh” said Helena looking a little sad. As she reached over to pick her toga back up.
“No don’t. He has to get use to it” said Athena. “Do you remember your grandmother”?
“Yes I remember her telling me that she was a priestess in the temple of Bastet and that Bastet made her with child and then sent her away to where she met my grandfather”.
“Where is your mother now?” asked Athena.
“She died in an earthquake when I was little so my grandmother and grandfather and my father raised me,” said Helena. “Then my father was killed in a battle far away”.
Merwyn came back out and sat down next to Helena.
“She is the grand child of Bastet,” said Merwyn.
“I kind of thought as much,” said Athena. “She was telling me that her grandmother was a priestess to Bastet”.
“I think Bastet may have found a way to save our race.”
Athena leaned into Helena and started whispering in her ear. Helena’s face lit up and she nodded and smiled.
Then Athena leaned in and gently kissed her on the lips before she stood up.
“The butter is done and I need to put it in the shed,” said Athena. Then she turned looked at Merwyn and smiled. “I think Helena needs a nap as she looks tired”.
Athena walked towards the shed opened the door and the barrel drifted in after her as she entered the shed.
Helena smiled at Merwyn stood up and walked toward the house. As she crossed the lawn she turned back and smiled. Merwyn got up and followed her into the house.
Rabbo hopped down to the warren followed along by his four older children. He had two of the smaller rabbit kittens on his back while Boxer, fluffy tail and Wriggler had one kitten each on their back so the trip down to the warren was taking much longer than normal as they all had to hop slowly and stop so that the tired little rabbit kittens could adjust themselves so they would not fall off. Mischief would hop between then pushing the rabbit kittens back into place and making sure that they did not fall off while the rode on the backs of Rabbo and her brother and sisters.
At the warren Bossy was sitting watching Rabbo and the rabbit kittens as he came down into the area were the warren was. Rabbo let the two exhausted little rabbit kittens slip off his back. Boxer, fluffy tail and Wriggler did the same thing. The 5 rabbit kittens weakly hopped into the burrow heading down to sleep.
Rabbo turned and looked at Bossy and said in Rabbit “I don’t think that was very wise. Bring poor tiny kittens all the way up to the grass area. They are so tired now”.
“Then they sleep long and I can sleep” said bossy in rabbit before she hopped into the same burrow as her rabbit kittens.
Rabbo’s oldest sister hopped up next to Rabbo and sniffed him. “Her first kittens she know not how to handle them. It much wrong for her to bring them to big grass near house”.
“I agree” nodded Rabbo. Then Rabbo looked at his older sister. “Who is her mother”?
“She is from my first kittens. He brothers went away. Sharp pointed ear hunter from woods take them. She last daughter from first kittens I have”.
Rabbo looked at his sister “she is my niece”?
“What is niece” asked his older sister.
Rabbo was about to explain when he felt Bastet hail him.
“Psst Rabbo,” said Bastet.
“Yes Baste,t” answered Rabbo
“Are you near Merwyn? He has his shields up on high and I can’t hail him.”
“No I am at the warren. Why do you ask? Can’t you get Athena?”
“No she is too close to Merwyn I think. Either that or she is having some kind of naughty fun,” giggled Bastet.
“Naughty fun? I don’t understand”
“Fun like Athena and me have. Is there anyone there other than Merwyn,” asked Bastet?
“Yes a priestess that has Sirian blood. Merwyn said she is your granddaughter. Is that true”?
“It’s possible? I did use one of my eggs to impregnate a young woman that was in my temple. But I had to send her away as Hermes was starting to sniff around again after I had beat him up a little,” said Bastet.
“You know about genes,” asked Rabbo.
“Yes I do. What do you need to know?”
“Close family breeding. How bad is it” asked Rabbo.
“Well if the gene pool is clean like my family or Merwyn’s family it’s ok as long as it is not to far down the line such as father grandfather and great grandfather being one in the same. For example. I could have my father’s baby or if he was my father grandfather that would not be a risk. Or Athena can have Merwyn’s babies without any worry as the genes are very clean in both. Why do you ask”?
“I just found out that Bossy my second girl friend is my niece,” stated Rabbo.
“That should not be an issue. Just make sure you don’t breed from your children. That’s all. Now could you go and check on Merwyn I need to talk to him or Athena at least”.
Rabbo hopped up the pathway to the house and hopped in. Athena was closing the living room door as Rabbo hopped up to her.
Athena was all sweaty and flushed as she looked down at Rabbo.
“Bastet wants to talk to Merwyn or you,” said Rabbo.
Athena looked at the door and then at Rabbo. “Dad is kind of busy working with Helena.”
“Oh is that what you call it,” Bastet’s voice said as it drifted faintly into both Rabbo and Athena’s minds.
Athena blushed and looked at Rabbo who was looking up at her wriggling his nose at the odor that was coming off of her.
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Be sure to watch in October for Chapter 12 - Part B, the end of Book One.
