Condition Evolution 4 by Kevin Sinclair (books for 10th graders TXT) 📕

his arms, gesturing at our surroundings, a warm, welcoming expression on his face. If I’m being honest, it creeped me out a little. Never trust anyone who seems that nice. They always want something.

Nevertheless, I nodded to him. “Hey there, how’re you all doing? This is a bloody nice planet you got yourselves here. Good find.”

His smile grew larger. “Oh, we didn't find Accre. We made it ourselves.”

“Oh right, like terraforming. I’ve heard of that before, nice job.” I stuck my thumb up to emphasize my approval.

“Ah, not quite. We actually removed a moon of acceptable proportions from the largest gas giant in this planetary system. We placed it closer to the star at the exact orbit we desired,” he said, pointing to the bright orb in the sky. “Once we achieved that, it was then just a matter of terraforming the place to our liking. Do you like what you see?” He smiled, his voice calm and friendly.

“No, it's not too shabby at all. I'm Shaun by the way, and I have to admit, it's more than a bloody surprise to meet Fystr all the way out here.”

The robed Fystr grimaced slightly. “As I mentioned in our communications, we no longer go by the name Fystr. We are the Apochros. Beyond that, my name is Jezai, and it is indeed a surprise to meet you too. We have prepared our hall with refreshments. I will introduce you to the other members of the Apochros Council of Elders, and if you don’t mind, you can introduce us to your other notable members,” he said, indicating the approaching captains from our ships.

“Yeah, sure. It sounds nice, as long as the grub isn’t too weird. I’ve seen some crazy ass stuff, flying around this galaxy, I can tell you.”

Jezai laughed. “I am sure we will have food that meets with your approval, Shaun. Please follow me.” He gestured down the quaint street, setting off with his friends in tow. I quickly welcomed Astrid, Rufus, William and Wulek before we all followed deeper into their town, still marveling at the surroundings. Most ironically, the place almost resembled a quaint country village, for what I assumed to be the base for potentially some of the most powerful aliens in the galaxy. There could not have been more than 200 buildings in the whole area, each with plenty of space around it and no roads, just steppingstone pathways with lush, fertile grasses and plants.

We reached the largest building we had seen so far and were led through an ornately carved wooden door. Inside we found a large open space with a stone floor, and looking up I saw a vaulted timber roof, but most the most interesting feature of all was in the center of the room. An impressively long trestle table covered with a selection of buffet food. My eyes lit up. Did these guys somehow know my weakness for canapes?

Once Jezai had led the five Apochros to the other side of the table, he addressed us all loudly. “Please! Honored guests! Take a seat and enjoy the food on offer.”

Initially, there was a little hesitation from all the crewmates, apart from William, who almost ran to the table. He lifted a jug and gave it a sniff. An expression of disappointment creased his face, but he poured himself a cup anyway. Following his cue, we all took a seat at the table.

“Please, fill your plates and enjoy,” added the female.

Not wanting to be rude, I loaded my plate up with the food that looked least likely to kill me. I had to admit, most of it looked damn tasty, and the smells were amazing. Once we’d filled our boots and we had introduced everyone, Jezai got down to business and began the more probing conversation we were all really here for. “You have made quite the journey to make it here. We have many questions to ask. As you can imagine, being hidden for so long, this day fills us with both joy and intrigue, but also a certain amount of trepidation.”

“Yeah, we can relate to that one. We’ll do our best to answer whatever questions you have.”

“I see you have many races in your crew.”

“Not always,” I quipped lamely, interrupting Jezai.

“You sometimes don't?”

“Sorry,” I chuckled, “we always do. My bad jokes take some getting used to. Just sometimes you can't see all of the crew. We have Veiletian members on board, like Elyek here. I’m guessing you know of their ability to turn invisible?”

“Ah! An attempt at humor,” he replied, looking anything but amused.

Ember groaned a little. “You don't know the half of it,” she said, then added a smile.

Jezai smiled back at her. “Nonetheless, it is an interesting ability and one I have not witnessed before in a developed being. We don’t get out much and remain an insular community with a tendency to only worry about those who live in our little section of the galaxy.”

“It seemed to be a pretty big section as we traveled in here,” I probed.

“Comparatively speaking, we are small,” Jezai said with finality.

“Then how the hell are you being so successful at keeping the Galactic Empire at bay?”

“Overall, we are far more advanced than the Galactic Empire. Beler 3103 is part of our furthest outpost system. Its main purpose is to act as a basic first line of defense, an alert system if you like. Beyond that, you will find a denser system of Beler Stations, all of which act as a net of sorts, intended to prevent a Fystr attack.

“The Galactic Empire dreams of taking the Apochros region for themselves. While they do occasionally attack and manage to take one of the outer Belers at great expense to themselves, it is an empty threat and of little consequence.

“The Beler stations are unmanned, their function being to slow down an incoming enemy and to send an automated report to us detailing the composition of the enemy. We can then send out a fleet, adequate to