Somewhere in the vast electrical impulses of the collective mind of an artificially intelligent species lay the directives for both self-preservation and retribution. The same type of electrical impulses inspired an organic species to bomb them from space. The subatomic particles that made them both simply followed the identifiable laws of physics.

The Grandor fleet slung around FeRRuM 26 in preparation to break orbit. The glowing red hole where there once stood a research facility was visible from space. The robots weren't angered by its destruction; the Ibi-Ero Makina had no emotions, but the attack did put a dent in their plans of galactic domination.

Production factories across FeRRuM went into high gear as every available ship launched in retaliation. Grandor's twenty-seven vessel fleet was outnumbered and outgunned as the Makina attempted to stop their escape. Ship-to-ship ballistics lit up space like a pyrotechnic display.

Seven Grandor battlecruisers were overtaken, destroyed, or crippled in space; they fell into the gravimetric pull of FeRRuM. Ten more were in serious trouble and would undoubtedly be sacrificed to save what remained.

When the three assumed dead prisoners and the Zero-G commando appeared on the command deck of a Makina ship, it took the robot crew by surprise. They immediately broadcast the situation.

#71EEB8s watching from a safe distance were shocked by the transmission and doubly surprised when an armada of Gastraddar battlecruisers joined the fray. Attention was focused on one small Makina ship among the hundreds involved. All parties moved to capture or destroy the craft that held the secret to teleportation.

On the deck of the Makina ship, Melock asked, "a moment of your time, please."

Time, as the Universe knew it, came to a stop for everyone except the four people who had just transported aboard. The robo-soldiers rushing to grab them, the countless laser blasts hurling through space, the movement of ships in the battle, planets, stars, galaxies, it all froze.

"I'm gonna be sick." Pippalotti holding on to Murphy leaned over with her head between her legs.

"What's going on? What's wrong with everything? I've lost connection to my surroundings." Lieutenant X shook her synthetic head.

"I am sorry, my dear. I'll send you back to your people. Will the command ship do?" apologized Melock.

"Yeah, that would be nice..." X steadied herself. "Wait, no! We need to get the device back to Grandor, the future of the Empire depends on it!"

"Ah, yes, about that, please let them know I'm taking it with me, the Makina have no trace of its functionality, nor does anyone else. Maybe, if this part of the galaxy matures a bit, I'll come back one day."

"I can't let you do that." X grabbed a weapon off a frozen Makina.

"Goodbye then." Melock waved at her.

"Wait!" X found herself on the frozen bridge of the Grandor command ship.

Pippa straightened up. "Ok. I'm not gonna puke. I think I'm getting a hang of it."

"Excellent, this temporal pause is almost over. I'd like to express my sincerest gratitude for your assistance in reuniting Sister Murphy and myself. Where would you like to go?" The wizard grinned and played with his Fu Manchu.

"I'm glad to have helped but I have like a million questions." Pippa looked around at the frozen chaos.

"Might I suggest you ask our mutual friend. Abaddon is currently on a clone ship just beyond the system."

"Ok, but where are you going next? I mean, shouldn't I stay with you?" Pippa looked at her strange and out of place ancient human friends.

"We're going back to our homeworld. There are other matters to attend to."

"When will you come back?"

Melock considered it. "Maybe in a few thousand years."

"I won't forget you, Pippa." A tear escaped Murphy's black and blue eyes.

Pippalotti stepped forward and hugged her with a big squeeze. "I won't forget you either, Murph."

The two pressed their foreheads together; the pale buzzcut warrior and the gray-skinned Grandorian with the golden teeth. Even Melock, who had seen it all a thousand times, took in the moment with joy. And then the moment ended.

Pippalotti appeared on the bridge of the #71EEB8 observation ship as time returned to normal. In a flash, she watched the Makina craft she was just on be destroyed, the last four Grandor ships punched past the Gastraddars, and the Makina fired on all. In no time the space around FeRRuM 26 returned to emptiness. The sublime beauty of the energy transfer sunbeam shone like an interstellar beacon for the existence of extraterrestrial life. 

The silver-skinned duplicates all looked at Pippa. The guild ambassador spoke for the others.

"What is your report, Ambassador?" 

"They're gone. The Makina don't have the device. No one does. They won't be back." The clones read her expression in perfect detail and knew she spoke truth. "I'm not a Grandor ambassador, yet."

"Then why are you here?" asked the clone.

"Melock said Abaddon was here."

The clones set course for Elipso and Pippa was led down one level to the medical bay. When she opened the door all her previous emotional concerns went right out the window. Abaddon sat propped up in bed. His once golden flesh was cracked and chipped like the patina of an ancient bronze statue. His feathers were gray, wilted, and falling out. Hard cracked lines crossed his perfect face and his hair was matted and stringy. His eyes looked tired. 

"Abaddon!" She rushed past the Varan at his bedside and wrapped her arms around him.

Taegu watched them curiously. "He was thrown into the vacuum when the teleportation hub initiated. We were able to retrieve him but the exposure wounds may be too much for his immune system."

He ran shaky fingers through Pippa's hair.

"What happened to all that shit about being eternal?"

"If I return to Inferno, I'll recover, in time." At least his voice hadn't changed.

"How much time?" Pippa held him.

"At least a thousand years. Probably until after the war."

Pippa let go, put her fists to her temples, and pushed them away.

"A thousand years!? What's with everyone going away for a thousand years? Who the fuck even lives that long?"

Taegu cleared her throat with a soft croak, being well over three thousand years old herself.

"Come on!?"

"I'll give you two some privacy." Taegu walked out with her hypnotic tail slithering across the floor behind her.

Pippa wiped the moisture from the corner of her eye, exhaled with a huff, and stomped her foot.

"What's troubling you?" Abaddon asked.

"I barely escaped a Makina prison before the whole place was blown off the face of the planet! Not many people can say that I bet? I was teleported to some ridiculous fantasy world that was fucking real!!? And there were ice dragons. That's right, giant ice dragons that flew around breathing liquid nitrogen on everything. I've been to hell and back, literally." She gave him a look.

"Well..."

"Yeah, hell! and I fell for an angel that's really the devil!"

"No one has called me an angel in at least ten thousand years. Thank you."

"You're welcome and shut up. I nearly got blown up in my hotel room on what should have been a chill vacation hideaway. And I just said goodbye to the first real friend I've made since leaving the academy." 

She paused.

"You know, I never had any siblings. I always wanted a little sister. Sister Murph." She smiled just saying her name. "And then there is you."

"Me?" asked Abaddon.

"Yeah, what's really going on? Where is your connection to all this? Melock seems to know everything and he sent me back to you for answers. So spill the beans, birdman. I want to know the truth!" She sat on the edge of his bed with arms folded.

"We have a little time, so I'll be brief."

"I wouldn't expect anything else."

"When I saw Melock on Elipso, I attempted to persuade him to keep his teleportation magic under wraps and not share the secrets with others."

"He said to tell you he left nothing behind. Also, there's no such thing as magic." She folded her arms tighter.

"Of course. I suggested his technological abilities were far too advanced for the space-faring species in this particular galaxy."

"No one has ever left the galaxy."

"...in this particular quadrant of the galaxy."

"Better."

"He didn't listen and chose to work with the Makina because he enjoyed their pure logic and found them easy to manipulate. In the interest of controlling teleportation proliferation, I stoked the fires of interstellar war."

"That's what you meant by 'until after the war.' A thousand years of interstellar war!" She threw her arms up.

"It's nothing on a galactic timeline and far better than the loss of all organic life in the galaxy. Not to mention teleportation technology puts my world at risk as well."

"Ah, ha! This is all about your little hell in a gas giant land. That shit wasn't VR at all. Murph was right! I can't believe it."

"Let me put it another way. Should species so easily swayed into fighting with each other be permitted to gain access to technology that would allow them to move instantly and freely to any location they wish? Technology so advanced that to them it's like magic."

Pippa looked down at her finger and her glass rainbow ring was gone. She scrunched up her nose.

"And who are you to make these decisions for trillions of people?"

"A being with a broader point of view. I don't meddle in the affairs of these species often, but when I do, I make it count."

She looked visibly upset and about to burst.

"On the other hand, maybe these are just my observations of recent events. Events that have not only prepared you for a life in interstellar negotiations but provide a true purpose to your calling, your chosen vocation. This is fate. Destiny. War is not inevitable. Not in the mind of an Ambassador of Grandor."

"Goddammit."

"That's my girl."

Even in his shattered state the fallen angel still had a smile made to deceive and, after all, why would she want to resist? Pippa leaned in for a snuggle and he held her in dry cracked arms all the way back to Elipso.

1 + 1 = 3

Pippalotti woke up alone on a luxurious silk-sheeted bed in a gilded hotel room to the sound of a knock at the door. Her complimentary breakfast was wheeled in and she took a cup of delicious coffee over to the floor to ceiling windows to watch the swirling storms of the gas giant rising over the horizon of the moon.

"Was it all a dream?"

She finished breakfast, got her things together, booked passage to Grandor, and headed for the spaceport. After her body scan, an agent pulled her aside.

"Sorry to delay you, ma'am, but you'll have to pay for additional insurance."

"And why is that?" Pippa asked in annoyance.

"Don't you know? Well, I'm happy to be the one to tell you. You're pregnant. Congratulations!"

Pippa felt her eyes bulge out of her head. She put her hand on her stomach and took a deep breath. She was extra hungry that morning and she had recent nausea.

"Wow, ok, I'll take the premium option."

She paid for the upgrade and made her way to a shared first-class cabin. There was a human male about her age sitting in the chair next to her's wearing a t-shirt that boldly stated: Fuck the Man. It must have been his first interstellar flight because he looked nervous, agitated, and a bit like he'd just seen a ghost.

"I like your shirt."