"What do we do with them?"

"I don't know... they look so gentle..."

The lab door slid open with a whoosh and the young man strode across to the couple standing by the viewer pane.

"New directive from the Council." He handed the viewer plate to the doctor. "The subjects are to be maintained for a series of DBS tests, haematology, tissue and optical analysis."

The man turned and waved a hand. "We don't know anything about handling them yet. I'm not sending the medical people in there without some understanding of their behaviour."

"Don't shoot the messenger, Doctor Halz. Take that up with the Council."With a small shrug, the young man left.

"This is all wrong, Wreg." His assistant Glain Ewal, exclaimed. "We should be trying to communicate, not operate. My God, they only arrived four days ago."

Doctor Wreg Halz stared through the glass at the group of beings that arrived, surprisingly, through the Portal Arch.

The Protectors had immediately encased them in a stun bubble and transported them to the medical laboratory. No communication. No attempt at examining reasons. Just secure and confine. Food and water, as well as other forms of nutrition, were delivered to the chamber via robotic arms and it appeared they were well received. A detox mist was delivered to the chamber twice each day to preserve hygiene but soon they would need to enter the chamber to perform a deep cleanse. There appeared to be an organized attempt to provide one area for the excretion of waste, which indicated a certain level of civil intelligence. There also seemed to be a definite physical difference between them as well. Some were tall with unusual appendages and harsher features around the head. Others were smaller with considerable pili extending from the head and markedly different appendages.

The most interesting feature was the odd noises made as they communicated with one another. Nowhere in their experience had the medical people or the scientific staff encountered anything like it.

"If only we knew what those sounds meant." Glain said. "Dare we risk sending someone in among them? Maybe use the hieroglyphics to see if they react."

"Who?None of these people will go in there, I know I wouldn't."

"A protector?"

"No qualifications. They are trained for one purpose only."

"Then it stands to reason whoever trains them might have the qualifications." Glain looked pleadingly at her superior. "We have to try something, Doctor. They are living creatures with obvious intelligence of a sort. We can't just --"

Halz turned and went to his work station and switched on a video pane. The Council icon appeared and a moment later one of the members came onscreen.

"Doctor Halz. You received our directive."

"I did, Overseer. I wish to propose a preliminary experiment before executing the directive orders." He went on to explain Glain's idea and after a prolonged period of watching the Council icon changing colours, the Overseer returned with positive news. A level two trainer would be at the laboratory within moments.

"They agreed," Halz said, surprised.

"This could be groundbreaking, Doctor!" Glain leaned on the viewer pane and watched the subjects.

******

Rogul heard the chamber door slide shut behind him and he stood very still,holding his image pad and watching the subjects watch him. He glanced up at the lab viewer and saw the assistant impatiently waving him forward. The subjects began making their strange sounds with one another but softly; they didn't sound threatening. Rogul set himself and stepped slowly toward the group. One of the taller subjects moved in front of the others and stared at Rogul.

"Look!That's a classic defense posture." Glain said.

"You're right. Interesting."

Rogul turned on his image pad and selected a series of symbols representing stars and planets and turned the screen toward the subject. There was a moment's hesitation and the subject raised an appendage toward the ceiling.

"Look!Look! It's pointing up! It knows what they are!" Glain was almost dancing. She waved the trainer on frantically.

"Amazing."Halz moved closer to the viewer pane.

Rogul moved a little closer and changed the images to a series of animals that had been catalogued by the Voyagers on various expeditions. A picture of a large creature with a long appendage extending from the front of the head area appeared and the subject pointed, mouthing one of the noises they made, drawing other members closer. He held his round, curious now himself about the changes in their features as they all made noises and pointed.

"They recognize that animal." Halz said, almost in awe. "What's that they're saying?"

"It sounds like, elfad or elfan."

After several minutes, Rogul was almost touching the subjects as they gathered around to stare at his screen. The sounds changed up and down in pitch and in some cases were almost musical as the pictures on the screen changed to birds and fish. These subjects seemed familiar with all of them. There was a stunned realization in the lab that this was more than just a stray alien being but an intelligent creature with extensive knowledge of many different things. The test went on for a long period and at the end the doctors witnessed a strange event as the tall subject held out an appendage toward Rogul,grasping his and moving it up and down.

"What did we just see?"

"A breakthrough, Doctor. A breakthrough!"

******

"But you don't understand, Overseer, they can communicate and they are not a lower species, they have knowledge of many, many things."

"It is you, Doctor Halz, that does not understand. You had your preliminary test, now you will execute the directive. These creatures arrived through the Portal Arch unannounced and unexpected.Ordinarily they would have been cleansed on sight but because of their unusual structure we chose to restrain them for experimenting."

"We could learn so much more by communicating, Overseer." Halz said dejectedly.

"Enough, Doctor. You will follow the directive or you will retire your number from the medical team." The command was delivered with no nonsense finality and Halz nodded and left.

******

They have one of each in there." Glain said. "It's so strange,they keeping facing one another and making soft sounds.

"Can you understand any of it?"

"No.But when the deep brain stimulus is activated we should see on the Transcomputer what the sounds mean."

"I hate this. It's so- so primeval."

"They're about to begin. Oh, they're starting on the smaller one and look at the reaction of the other! Luckily they're strapped down."

"Interesting.Another defensive act."

"Look on the screen, the stimulus has begun."

Both the doctors and the technicians performing the work all stood back and stared at the monitors, astonished. Across the screen a series of images marched showing the subjects performing an endless variety of acts, small and tall together. There were even very small subjects that seemed to warrant close attention. Scenes of strange surroundings filled the screen. Giants areas of water and thick areas of greenery. Vast oceans of sand and landscapes of huge mountains both green and white covered. When the stimulus rods were reinserted,sound waves moved across the screens and the Transcomputer began its work.

******

Doctor Halz sat in front of his station, his mind torn by the actions of the Council. His assistant, Glain, had been hustled away by a team of Protectors for trying to obstruct the Council edict. The subjects had all been removed from the chamber, delivered to the cleansing pods and in an instant they were all gone. No attempt to see the opportunity to learn. No interest in listening to scientific arguments. Just cleanse the lot, the sooner the better.

He turned over the image pad recorder and stared once more at the words the Transcomputer hadrevealed from the sounds.

"In heaven or on earth, I'll always love you, John... always."

"I love you too, darling. I'm right here. Be brave, these things can't take that from us... ever."

"These things?" The articulated tentacle slipped up and scratched at the scales on Halz' head.