My eyes popped wide open. My jaw dropped. What had Rox just told me? It could not be true.

"What?" I asked perplexed. Had I misheard him?

"Your civilization is destroyed after the five-year period," Rox repeated. He said without any ounce of emotion. I started to feel a strong pull under my head. My chest was tightly closing. My breath was escaping my body and it was difficult to catch up with it.

"My... what?"

"Your civilization," Rox replied. I felt dizzy. A feeling of illness suddenly came over me. I was nauseated. I tried to breathe in and out. I grabbed the purple strap that had me pinned down to my seat as a seatbelt and tried to pull it out, but it was impossible.

"Get this thing off me," I screamed. Rox pressed a few buttons and soon the strap was off me. I tried to stand up, but tripped and fell to the floor. I coughed and tried to take in some air. I didn't know what Rox was doing, but soon I felt his metallic arms and hands on me.

"Get off me!" I yelled.

"Anabella?"

"I want to see it."

"What would you like to see?" Rox asked me.

"I want to see the... what happened..."

"Are you referring yourself to the destruction of your civilization?" Rox asked me. I wanted to punch him in the face. How could he talk to me about this so casually? He was a nothing but a robot after all. Krimla had been absolutely right. All he did was follow instructions. However, a new doubt overwhelmed me. Why would Brok not instruct him to hide this from me? I didn't know and right now I didn't care. I had to see this thing happening for myself. I had to make sure that this was real.

"Yes. I want to see it," I replied.

"You will not like what you will see."

"I don't care. I want to see," I said.

"Yes, Miss Torres, but you need to go back into your seat to establish the time link," Rox said. I nodded unsure of what he was talking about, but I obeyed him. The purple straps pinned me back to my seat. Rox took a syringe and gave me a shot. My eyelids dropped and soon I was asleep.

***

"Wake up. Wake up. Wake up."

I opened my eyes. Rox' little blue lights stared up at my face. I was still in the main bridge on board the ship. His metallic hand was on my shoulder and the purple straps were off me. I scratched my eyes and yawned.

"We are here. I have landed far away from what used to be the city of Chicago," Rox said.

"What used to be?" I asked.

"If you'd like you may look at it through the screens. It is unnecessary for you to-"

"I want to get off immediately," I said cutting him short. He nodded.

"Follow me," Rox said. We left the main bridge and headed downstairs. We walked down the corridors, but before we left Rox halted and worked with a holographic computer. He pressed a few buttons until a weapon appeared. He pulled the holographic image out and handed it to me.

"You may need this," Rox said, but I shook my head.

"No," I said.

"You cannot leave this ship without protection. I have been re-programmed to protect you unconditionally throughout this trip," Rox said. I grabbed the handgun and hid it in the pocket of my jeans. Hopefully, I wouldn't have to use it. Then we walked on and headed for the exit. The door slid open and we walked out of the ship. We had landed on a mountain top and the first thing I noticed was the grey sky. The sun's rays peaked out from the grey clouds, but I could barely see it on the horizon. Had it shrunken? I glimpsed to the far left and from a far-away distance I saw what used to be the city of Chicago. The buildings were totally destroyed. The concrete had either been pulverized or badly smashed. The cars were totaled, but I noticed that the cities were completely deserted.

"Where is everybody?" I asked. Rox took out a set of binoculars and handed it over to me. I immediately put them to use. I scanned the city. The damage of the infrastructure was eminent. The trash was everywhere, some of the doors had been broken after they had apparently been boarded. Then I saw the unbelievable. Humans were tied by their hands and being led by someone from Sha. The Sha creature had a large, cylinder looking weapon in his hand. He had dark hair, like Brok.

"What in the hell?" I asked. I tilted towards Rox and handed him the binoculars with disbelief.

"What's going on?" I insisted.

"Sha has conquered Earth," Rox explained.

"What the hell does that mean Rox? What's going on? What happened here and why are humans like me being enslaved?"

"Earth was Prince Brok's next target. The war lasted far more than what he intended to."

"What are you saying?" I asked still in shock. The wind blew my long hair. Tears streamed down my eyes and were sporadically blown away by the breeze. I didn't know how to take all of this in.

"Before you were taken into the ship, the prince had initiated the war on Earth. The Sha people were already infiltrating every and all of Earth's communications including your military forces worldwide. However, after he met you, he decided to slow down the initiation of the war and tried to make contact with humans to know more about them. Everything was working well for the first year. Humans and Sha were engaging with each other well," Rox explained.

"So, if everything was alright, what happened?"

"Politics got in the way."

"Politics?"

"The Sha began to grow sick. The more contact they had on Earth, the worse the symptoms became. At first the Sha thought that humans were holding a secret war. The Sha began to ask many questions and they brought their technology with them. The government however suspected that the Sha was using the excuse of the deaths of their people to conquer Earth. Negotiations were long and carefully conducted, but the divisions in the Earth government were creating problems and not just the division of governments, but the people were becoming paranoid."

"Divisions? What do you mean?"

"Your Earth was composed by more than one government. It was segmented by what you used to call countries."

"Yes," I nodded.

"Although there was a stronger government who tried to have a discussion with us, other governments were reluctant and there were even prohibitions to enter into their countries. During an investigation, an accident occurred. It made things difficult. Humans became hostile towards the Sha. Brok began to receive pressure from the members of the Senate to retreat or to attack Earth."

"And all of this happened while we were traveling?" I asked confused.

"No. The past will always be in the past. This was the moment after he met you."

"I don't understand."

"Our ship has the capacity to communicate with past lines."

"What do you mean?"

"It is difficult to explain, so I shall use a metaphor if you don't mind," Rox said.

"No, I don't," I replied as the wind blew Rox' robe.

"We can communicate with the past in the present time."

"How? No wait, don't tell me. The Tuclu?"

"Yes, but I am surprised as to your knowledge of the Tuclu."

"Brok told me about it," I replied. I felt bile in my throat by the mention of his name. I was still shocked that while Brok was with me he had already waged war on my planet and conquered. While we ate, drank and danced, humans were suffering here on Earth, dying and becoming slaves. I had been filled with ridiculous lies of being a princess. I now wondered how many of the Sha people laughed at me at the party while Brok presented me to them. I had been used like an idiot.

"Rox, what happened to my family? My brother, my father?"

"Your brother is dead. He was part of the resistance of humans. He fought very well. Pundok offered him a position on Sha, but he declined."

"Pundok?"

"Pundok was against the war," Rox said.

"Pundok?" I replied with a shocked question. I was completely lost. What in the hell was going on?

"Yes. Pundok thought that the war was too expensive. Prince Brok has been raging wars with other planets for fifteen years and although he brought technologies and some interesting creatures with him the wars were extremely costly and not only that, but it also cost many Sha lives. He debated that humans and Sha could co-exist in peace allowing a healthy space distance among each species. He was the first one to argue that the Sha were suffering of food poisoning and not of an ambush as others suggested including his good friend Tamil. I shook my head with disbelief.

"Are you serious?" I said.

"Yes," Rox replied.

"So... Pundok and Krimla?"

"What about them?" Rox asked.

"What does Krimla have to do with all of this?" I asked.

"Nothing," Rox replied. My stomach was rumbling and churning. I wanted to throw up and I did.