From far away Fuath spoke, “And it will... I’ll make sure every race knows how to use it. If my planet’s to suffer, I’ll take the Volardi with me.”

“It’s not your planet. There are Volardi and other Ryba.” Matros’ lips thinned, and he turned to me. “There are many levels of knowledge within the client races. Most can make weapons out of this technology. We have to stop it.”

Nothing happened yet. In my mind’s eye I saw Matros pick up his Vibro-Blade again and attempt to kill the women and then destroy the lab. Too many things had to go ‘right’ for him to succeed. Defeat the women guards, fight the eels, then the king. Then there was the ‘fish’ that was on my face. They knew how to remove it. We did not. After that destroy the laboratory and hoped there weren’t any back-ups.

I’m sure there were.

Anybody that hated the Volardi this much wouldn’t make it so easy to destroy an advantage. The women were guards and familiar with the bio-technology. Something told me they didn’t invent it themselves.

I blinked and an idea that seemed so ridiculous came. Instead of dismissing it, I let it through.

“No, that’s exactly what we have to do. Let it out.”

***

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Twenty-Nine

PETER

“Madness,” said Matros.

I panted as I spoke. “How can we kill people that just saved your child?”

His gaze went down to his... our baby. To the side, I kept my eye on Fuath.

“My Femeni...,” he whispered, “if this information gets out.”

“I think it’ll happen no matter how hard we try.” I hugged my child as if that would give me some clever plan.

“Are most of the client races happy?”

He frowned for a moment before he answered. “Yes.”

I turned to the women. “You are not?”

“No, we certainly are not.”

My gaze returned to Matros, and I fought the fatigue. I should rest in a bed with my child. Soon, but I had to do my part to make sure he had a semi-safe world he could live in.

“The video you all sent to me back home. It said Earth was favored because we gave you children.” There was more to it. The military guy said the same thing. We could share the galaxy because they liked us, but most importantly, we had something they wanted.

Again, Matros nodded.

“What if they gave away the tech and explained how to use it?”

Sammen spoke in unison. “To quote your mate... that would be madness. Why should we give up our only advantage? For years, we pressed the Volardi with our concerns and they treated us like children. The fact that you listen now, tells us we have the power.”

“Then keep the power,” I said. “Keep it by exchanging it for something else.”