The Forgotten Past Part 7: Inevitability 
Dr. Andonuts was conducting research in his lab in Winters. He was 
just about to complete the blueprint of his latest model of the Phase 
Distorter when he heard someone behind him.
"Are you the one known as Dr. Andonuts?" the voice was male and had a 
heavy accent.
"Yes. Who are you?" He turned around to find himself face to face with 
someone who had green skin. He could only see the man's eyes, for his 
nose and mouth were covered with a strange mask. "What do you want?" 
The doctor's voice wavered as he spoke, loosing most of his confidence 
and conviction. The man replied by spraying some sort of liquid into 
the air, which caused Dr. Andonuts to cough and gag.
"Now answer my questions. Did you help the Chosen Four?" He did not 
mean to answer, but the doctor heard his voice say yes. "How?"
"I allowed them to use the Sky Runner for transport and built 
the Phase Distorter to allow them to travel back in time."
"Why were robots found at the remains of the battle site?"
"The Phase Distorter cannot safely transport living things. I 
stored their souls in robots so they could use my invention. After 
Giygas was defeated, their souls returned to their bodies." 
The man looked at him in disbelief. "How is this possible?"
"It is really quite simple. All you have to do is map their brain 
schematics..."
"Stop!" the man sprayed another liquid, which made the doctor cough 
once again. "Tell no one whatyou have seen." With that, the man 
vanished from view. Of course, Dr. Andonuts's first thought was to 
tell his son. He immediately tried to contact them in the 
Sky Runner, but no one answered. 
"Maybe they're at the hotel." He found the number and quickly 
dialed it. "What room is Jeff Andonuts in?" Unfortunately, 
the person who answered was suspicious. He questioned Dr. 
Andonuts at least a half an hour before informing him that it 
was pointless to call at this hour anyway because he had seen Jeff 
and "all his little friends" leave the hotel three hours ago and if 
he wished to talk to Jeff so desperately that he should try back in 
the evening. It took another ten minutes to convince the man to 
allow him to leave a message. 
"That man should have been fired long ago." Of course, rudeness was 
the least of his problems. He hoped that by the time Jeff received 
the message it wasn't too late. 
				***
"We know the Chosen Four are in the human city of Ellay," Ganiana 
informed the commander of the ship. "I propose we organize a 
small-scale attack on a part of the city. I believe the humans will 
strive to protect their own, if nothing else. It would be far easier
 and would take less time than planting spies to search for them in 
the city."
"It may also prove more costly. We would loose lives and it may all 
be for nothing if none of them are descendants." It was said that the
commander held such a hatred for humans that he would never refer to 
them directly.
"You can hold me solely responsible if that is the case. Besides, the 
humans would probably loose lives as well, though it would hardly make 
a dent in their number or ours." 
"Very well, then. Try to keep our casualties to a minimum."
"Of course." She turned to leave. 
"And also," He added with a malevolent grin.
"Sir?"
"Try to keep their casualties to a maximum." 
"I will do my best." She was just about to open the door when it burst 
open and a young subordinate poked his head in.
"Commander, the human is escaping again!"
"What?" 
"She was spotted on the fourth floor and appears to be heading to the 
Docking Bay. We've already sealed it off."
"Good. Whatever you do, don't let her escape alive."
"Right!" His head exited the room and ran back to where he came from.
"Ganiana, you'd better oversea the situation to make sure that girl 
does not escape."
"Right away, sir!" She managed to keep the annoyance out of her voice, 
but wished she could begin work on her real mission immediately.
By the time she reached the human, the girl had been recaptured and was 
in her cell. Ganiana went in to interrogate the girl and threaten her 
into never escaping again. So far, the technique had not worked, but 
it had always been done by someone who did not know how to threaten 
convincingly.
"Hello again, Tammy," Ganiana let herself into the cell alone with the girl.
She carried no weapon, for in this case, she feared it could do more 
harm than good.
	"You're the one who brought me here," the girl stated simply, 
showing no fear. Ganiana began by trying to frighten her.
	"Why do you insist upon making pathetic attempts to escape? 
Don't you realize that no matter what you do, you will fail and end up 
back in your cell, with less freedom than before?"
	"You have got to work on your English. Your accent is awful."
	"Are you even listening to me?"
	"Yes. I'm just not allowing you to scare me." Ganiana was 
dumbfounded. "You people give me the same lecture every time. It
just doesn't have the affect it used to."
	"I could have you executed for that!"
	"You don't have a weapon."
	"There are other ways."
	"Then do it. Kill me. It's better than staying here." 
There was silence. "You still need me. So you won't. Am I allowed to 
ask questions?"
	"What do you mean?"
	"Well, whenever I ask a question, no one ever bothers to answer 
it."
Ganiana was not shocked to hear this. Humans were a lower life form and 
were treated accordingly. She decided to answer a couple of them, to 
content her. Perhaps it would even prevent her from escaping.
	"What questions could you possibly have?"
	"Why am I here, for starters." 
	"Long ago, there were other humans here. They committed terrible 
crimes. We have decided, instead of killing off the human race, to make 
the descendants pay for their crimes. Since most of our data on the 
human race was destroyed in disgust, we needed a test subject to make 
sure everything goes as planned." Every word was teeming with pent up 
rage. Tammy could tell that she was fighting to keep that rage under 
control.
	"Are you planning to return me to Earth?"
	"That has not been decided." Tammy guessed by her tone that she 
was lying and they were not. After this, she fell silent, planning her 
next escape. Ganiana realized she saw right through it. She wondered 
whether the human was accepting her fate or planning another escape.
	"You know, you can't judge the entire human race on a couple of them."
	"There you are, trying to escape your fate. I know all humans are 
selfish." She seemed quite relieved by this.
	"Well, if you consider selfish wanting to go back to your home 
planet, rather than being killed by revenge hungry aliens, then I am 
beyond selfish."
Ganiana fell silent. "What's your name, anyway?"
	"Ganiana." Tammy looked her over for a second.
	"That name suits you."
	"Don't attempt to escape again. We will kill you next time."
	"You'll kill me anyway."
	"It will be far more painful." Ganiana exited the room. Tammy 
heard a voice coming from the cell to her left.
	"I told you escaping wouldn't work."
	"I didn't expect it to."
				***
	Ganiana organized the attack in an Earth day's time. It normally 
wouldn't have taken so long except she was unfocused. Never had Ganiana 
been unnerved so completely. She expected the human to behave more like
 Pokey. He fit every human stereotype in existence. Why didn't she? One 
question plagued her mind.Were more humans like Tammy or Pokey? Did 
they really deserve what was coming to them?
				***
	Ness, Paula, Jeff, Poo, Apple Kid and Shalo arrived back at the
 hotel and recieved Dr. Andonuts's message. 
	"I wonder what that's all about," Paula commented. 
	"Yeah." Jeff's dad was usually in a good mood, even when things 
looked their grimmest. "I'll call my dad and let you guys know."
	Ness looked at the others. "Who's room should we wait in?"
	"Yours," they answered at once. He was glad it was neat. They 
waited for what seemed like hours before Jeff came with the news. He 
seemed very shaken up over the whole thing, but managed to explain what 
had happened to his father and what that implied. 
	"So we need to be on our guard," Ness concluded.
	"I wonder what they want," Jeff muttered. The Fobby dream 
passed through Paula's mind. She wondered if this had anything to do 
with the dream. 
	[What can it possibly mean?] She asked herself.
				***
	The next day began normal enough. Aside from everyone being 
extremely paranoid and constantly looking behind their shoulders, 
everything was fine until around noon when they heard the sound of an 
explosion followed by screams of bystanders. They immediately went to 
check it out. 
	"What the-" Ness began. Starmen and Mooks of all orders were 
hard at work destroying the city. "We've got to stop them!" 
	"No kidding," Jeff agreed. "But I don't think I've ever seen so 
many in one place before."
	"Neither have I," Poo agreed. "We'll have to do this quickly." 
Everyone else agreed.
	Paula, as usual, began the onslaught. "Fire Gamma!" She took 
out a row of Starmen and Lesser Mooks in a single blow. Poo was next, 
using his signature Starstorm Omega attack, which did a lot of damage. 
All that were standing now were Starmen of various upper classes. Jeff 
used the Defense Shower. The enemies attacked next. The attacks 
consisted of Starstorm Alphas, actual weapons and many attempted 
to heal the wounded. All six survived the attack, though just barely. 
Ness was about to use Lifeup Omega when Jeff stopped him.
	"Attack them now! Use Rockin Omega!"
	"Are you nuts? Even I couldn't survive another round of that!"
	"If I'm right, we won't have to."
	"You'd better hope you are. Rockin Omega!" Most of the 
remaining enemies were killed as a result, but a few remained. Apple 
Kid took the opportunity to scarf down a couple of Brain Food Lunches. 
Shalo used Thunder Omega, which hit three out of four times, but still 
left them with a significant number of Starmen remaining. 
	"YOU know Psi?" Ness felt a little stupid for not assuming it 
when she said she had strange dreams.
	"Is that what you call it? I've been developing it for awhile." 
The six of them prepared for the next wave of attacks. Suddenly, they 
could here a voice yelling strange syllables at the Starmen. It must 
have meant something, because they all went on their guard. 
	A figure materialized in front of them. It was a teal-skinned, 
purple-haired, female looking alien. Her left hand grasped some kind of 
rope which was tied to something behind her, which they could not see. 
She whipped the thing, or rather, the person to the front. 
(In this case, either would be correct.)
	"Pokey!" the Chosen Four cried. The only thing that bound him 
was a single rope around the midsection, yet he seemed to be unable to 
move. 
The six assumed he had been paralyzed through Psi.
	"You know this human, correct?" the alien demanded. The six 
looked at each other for a moment.
	"I guess you could say that," Ness answered. 
	"If you want him to live, then answer my questions." 
	"Okay, whatever."
	"Which of you are the Chosen Four who defeated Giygas?" Once 
again, everyone looked at each other. They realized this could very 
well be some sort of trap. However, all four of them were in agreement 
that if that was so, they might as well leave Shalo and Apple Kid out 
of it. They simultaneously stepped forward. In response, she snapped 
an order to one of the living Starmen, which they could not understand. 
It stepped forward, holding a small device. It held the device in front
of each of them in turn. Poo was first. The device made a certain 
quiet sort of noise and the Starman shook what looked like a head. 
The same thing happened for both Jeff and Paula. When it got to Ness, 
the machine made a different and significantly louder noise. 
The alien was positively ecstatic. She could hardly contain herself. 
The Starmen seemed embarrassed. She snapped another order at them. Out 
of nowhere, one of them fired an unfamiliar weapon. A beam shot out and
hit Ness in the forehead. He fell instantly, lifeless.
	"NESS!" Paula screamed as he hit the ground. The alien picked 
him up like a dropped shopping bag and slung him over her shoulder. 
"What did you DO to him?" Paula cried. 
	"You're friend's ancestor did something to us that is 
unforgivable. Now his descendants will pay with their lives." She 
replied. "You should thank us. It was either that or the entire human
population would have been eradicated." She smiled and added with 
relish, "You should also thank your friend. He's the one who gave us
the idea." After that, the entire fleet departed, leaving the bound 
Pokey behind. The humans were frozen, unable to comprehend what had
just taken place. Their leader and close friend was gone. In his place,
the aliens had left their worst living enemy.