A Taste Of Tommorrow

by Seven


Disclaimer:  Earth: Final Conflict and its characters are copyrighted by Tribune Entertainment Company.  All rights reserved.



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The sleek cruiser came out of interdimensional, coming down on the landing pad. The Sa'thai shimmered with a thousand gleaming colors. Gleaming white Kimera began to disembark, fanning out to the city.

The tall gray buildings with their sloped, scaly-looking, surfaces and peaks were the least of what his race had built, Ha'gel thought, his face uptrurned. The new repository was being launched today with a new cargo of knowledge contained in it.

The Kimera rose from the bubble-like chamber, his body melting through the membrane. The Council had a new assignment for him, but there was something far more important to do first.

Ha'gel drifted through the crowds until he came to a low, square building, almost a kilometer in diameter. The sounds of children playing came to him.

Kimera believed that hybrids were special, that they somehow embodied the essences of the races they held.  And there were many hybrids, both children, and adult. They were kept at a separate facility. Not out of prejudice, but out of recognition for their special skills. The Kimera had nothing but love for hybrids.

A group of children ran around the corner, laughing, leading a huge maj'oi beast on a leash. The lumbering beast tried to keep up with the quick feet of the little ones, whose races and bodies varied. Most of them had the odd translucency of a half-Kimera child, with the characteristics of another race. One child had a face mask, his lungs unable to process the atmosphere of the Kimera homeworld.

One boy in particular caught Ha'gel's attention, a child fitting together the interlocking blue pieces of a puzzle. His slightly flattened features made his small face look wider than it actually was, and slitted red eyes were narrowed in concentration. His smooth head snapped up. "Daddy!" he shouted. Ha'gel smiled and held out his arms, to which the boy ran to. "How are you, my son?" he asked warmly. The little boy pulled back, his forehead wrinkling a little. "I miss Mommy. Why isn't she here?"  Ha'gel felt a wave of sadness pass him. "We'll see your mommy again, R'kath," he replied softly. "When you'reolder, you can see her whenever you like."

G'ray... He felt sadness whenever he thought of her.  Part of a primitive race that had been partially wiped out by a mysterious plague. Ha'gel had joined with the unsuspecting young Hr'nah female, and their union had produced a child whose blood carried antibodies. After that, Ha'gel had taken R'kath back to Kimera. He wondered if he had made the right choice. G'ray had loved their son very much, and Ha'gel had loved her.

One must always keep in mind what is important. The child must develop his full potential.

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Ha'gel had bid his son goodnight when he saw a small, shadowy figure in the corner, playing with the streamlined blue puzzle that R'kath had struggled with not too long ago. As Ha'gel approached him, he saw a child of about four, R'Kath's age.

Wavy dark hair, penetrating green eyes. Ha'gel frowned. He kept careful track of all hybrid children, and he did not recognize this one. The boy, he thought, was part Kimera, but... he looked somehow less Kimera than the other children.

"What is your name, child?" he asked. The boy blinked at him. "Liam."   "Lee-ahm," Ha'gel ventured. The name was alien, and not of any race he knew of. "No, lee-uhm," Liam corrected him, crossing his short legs.

Ha'gel stared suspiciously at the little boy. Had this child somehow been smuggled onto the homeworld withoutany records? Was he dangerous? Hybrids were never turned away; the boy would be welcomed.

"Who is your Kimera parent?" Ha'gel asked.

The boy stared at him as if there were something incredibly important he had to say. "You are," he said softly. And he blinked out of existance.

Ha'gel jumped, looking for the boy. He was nowhere in sight. There was nowhere he could have gone to. And what did he mean, I am...?