"We must leave, Christen. The Morgal will already know that Moorland's dead. We have very little time to get you to safety, and Dana will be safe with her people. The Morgal had no idea that you existed until Moorland found out about you, and she couldn't do anything about it without blowing her cover. This was, for lack of a better description, a fishing expedition," Kendra reported to Christen.

"How did you find me?" Christen asked as they ushered her out the door.

"We've been tracking your GPS positioning on your HUD and intercepted your transmissions to Dana. They based the technology on ours, and with our superior equipment, it wasn't hard to break the encryption protocols, but neither the humans nor the Morgal could do that for centuries," Kendra assured her.

Despite her pain, she was ready to leave.

"We will explain later, Kendra, not here where the Morgal has eyes and ears," Michael reminded.

Kendra nodded curtly as they followed a route that led upward in a different direction than the one Christen's senses told her she entered from.

***

As they reached ground level, Devon's HUD regained signal, and she sent an encrypted file to Dana with everything from the moment the Morgal had kidnapped her compressed into a data stream.

*I AM GOING WITH KENDRA AND MICHAEL,* she typed on her HUD.

She followed them less for her own safety than a suspicion that going with them would reveal even more than what she saw in her head of the events that brought their people to earth. That part she had not included in her transmission.

Even though she was born human, Alexander's DNA had rebirthed her into a hybrid, and right at that moment, she felt more alien than human.

Her memories of that other world, so much like this earth with a history and an evolution that mimicked that of the earth so closely that it could not be a coincidence, kept flowing through her as if the memories belonged to her. But the Astor evolved far further than humans before the technologically inferior Morgal attacked them.

Their enemies made up for the deficit with cunning, scheming natures, a need to conquer, and a willingness to do anything to reach their goals with a lack of conscience that Christen found terrifying.

The Astor had evolved to a way of life that turned their existences and world into a utopia. They bettered themselves, helped their neighbors, protected their allies and strived to turn their solar system into an Eden or Astor, as near as the alien translation could come, but the Morgal saw their prosperity and envied it.

The Morgal, in their natural form, did not resemble humans as the Astors did. They evolved from a more cunning and predatory DNA in a rough, dangerous world with little beauty. Large deserts nearly covered the entire surface, dangerous creatures roamed everywhere, and the struggle for existence began at birth and ended at death. It was a planet that would nearest resemble Mars, as Earth almost mimicked Astor, if not for the destruction and pollution humans caused.

The Astors offered to help the Morgal as they did for so many other species, but the Morgal only pretended to want an alliance and attacked the Astors once the technology was in place to better their planet.

They slew nearly two thousand Astor volunteers who helped unlock the hidden resources of Morgal. Stole the technology brought to the planet and invaded their neighbors, the Morawi, a small but prosperous world. When the Morgal first claimed Morawi, it was a fertile, watery planet with ample rains, green forests and a thriving ecosystem. When the Morgal finished with it, nothing remained, and it had turned into a desert where few things survived the change in the climate.

The Morgal outnumbered the members of the alliance twenty to one. The Morgal invaded the worlds outside the coalition, one by one until only The Alliance remained. They had been preparing for war for decades, and by then, the Morgal outnumbered them a hundred to one.

The alliance comprised twenty member worlds, but the Morgal had spread over a hundred populated worlds. Few of those worlds were as technologically advanced as the Astor Alliance. Still, the Morgal had also evolved with technology stolen and salvaged from trade vessels and destroyed vessels of war.

With one such technology, the Morgal could transform themselves from black-eyed, leathery, red-skinned beasts with fangs and claws to look like denizens of other planets, but this secret remained hidden until the day of "The Fall." The day the Alliance worlds split apart, the ruptured accords left each world to its own defense.

The traitor worlds, Beldon and Morsat, helped the Morgal plan the invasion that would leave their planets spared, but once the other worlds had fallen, Morgal turned on them. Their reasoning was simple: "Traitors had no loyalty." The Morgal had conquered their entire region of space, and, having no more worlds to invade, they turned their gaze to the stars.

"Why do I remember the history of Astor as if I lived there?" Christen asked as their armored black Humvees sped away from all she knew, with her having no idea where they were headed.

"The Astor were the Keepers of Records and very advanced. They developed something that they called Genetic Memory Enhancement. Every child born to the Royal Lineage, and the Council of Lords, were born with the knowledge of every ancestor of the line. When they met once a year, they shared those genetic memories with a simple touch of the hand, palm to palm.

"When member worlds joined, they injected the ruling royals and Records Keepers with the serum to add to our knowledge of ourselves. Each person only shares what they want to share, aligning their thoughts to transmit only the pertinent facts. It helped that our brains are more advanced and less chaotic than those of humans," Kendra informed Christen.

"Why do you call me a princess?" Christen asked now that the adrenaline rush had faded and the memories of Astor didn't occupy her entire mind.

"We took a sample of your DNA from your friend, Doc. You and your sire both have Astor DNA from the ruling house of Royals. Only five royals escaped Astor alive, and only two of them made it to Earth. We brought samples of DNA with us, thinking that, in time, we could reproduce the Utopias we once knew. Unfortunately, our crippled and failing spaceship forced us to evacuate and buried itself beneath the polar ice caps.

"We only had ourselves and whatever we could salvage in our escape pods. Fate made the humans find our ship, and the DNA they used to create whatever mammal created you, belonged to Cantrall, son of Allorius, daughter of Cannus, son of Laray, and daughter of Sallus.

"That means you have DNA from five of the ruling houses of Astor. Your inhuman maker did you a favor. Your body rejected his DNA and only accepted the pure alien DNA. Whatever your scientists did to prevent you from dying as rejection set in, and we suspect they purified the DNA to inject it into your veins, made your DNA so pure you might as well have been born on Astor itself.

"Such pure genetic material, when you were only human, would have killed you instantly, and you should not have survived, but you did," Michael revealed with an expression Christen couldn't read.

He'd been quieter than usual up until that point. Something in the expression in his eyes unsettled her, with him being almost as distant as the day they first met.

"What does that mean?" she asked since he clearly didn't just tell her so she would know.

"It means that you, Christen Benton, once born of human parents, at this stage in your development, are only about twenty percent human. But the two of us, born of the descendants of Orian and Caldarus, are only about thirty percent alien. Michael is a Herald, a protector, and I am a Caldarian, one of the Chosen.

"Michael will one day be the king of his people, and I am a princess of mine. Until you arrived, the council would have married us to unite the two factions to oppose the smaller factions. Now, if they can get you to marry Michael, you could unite the entire alien population on earth," Kendra revealed, and the ebony-skinned woman with her corn-colored eyes didn't look too happy about this turn of events. 

While Michael frowned at Kendra as if he had not wanted this fact revealed just yet. Christen let her gaze take him in. The man looked like a Greek god with his tanned, perfectly muscled body and the contrast between his dark chocolate hair and those intense gray eyes of his. Although her body might have taken more than a passing interest in him, she had pushed down those feelings with such violence she had barely allowed herself to think of him. Although she had to admit that he showed up in her dreams more than once, yet marriage wasn't where her mind had gone.

"Thanks, Kendra. You couldn't have waited just a few days to let her wrap her mind around all this?" Michael asked with his tone somewhere between anger and amusement.

"Why? This gives her six hundred miles to escape into the world and take her chances with the Morgal instead. The council will be all over her like white on rice, and they won't give her time to adjust and wrap her head around it, as you so eloquently said. Not to mention the other seven houses who would want to throw their hat in the ring in a bid for power, and as handsome as you are, Marius and Peter are also two glorious specimens. They are less orinary than you," Kendra half teased.

Christen had the distinct impression that these two grew up together and that, except that Kendra fancied herself in love with Michael, they were also best friends. 

"Great, you can marry them," Michael shut her down like a pro, and Christen saw Kendra hide the hurt those words caused.

"I prefer warriors over politicians and artsy types," Kendra countered.

"So, you think a warrior like Christen would settle for one of those when she can have me?" Michael asked with a pretense of cockiness, and to her surprise, Kendra burst out laughing.

"Who even says she's into guys?" Kendra countered.

"I say, and what are you saying? You'd drop me to marry her if she doesn't want me?" He teased back, and their banter made her miss Doc and Moore.

"Sorry, I don't swing that way, and I am not interested in marriage at this point. What I want to know more than anything is what happened to Doc?" Christen interrupted their banter while trying to ignore her pink cheeks and probably bright red ears.

Kendra and Michael noticed, and they were laughing so hard she wanted to sink into the ground.

"Aww, cute. I'd say you were right, Michael; she's definitely interested in you. If this wasn't about the fate of the earth and every living thing on it, we could have a winner-gets-all catfight, but I will be the dutiful subject and settle for Aurelius. At least your brother doesn't resemble you - that might have been awkward. As for Doc? Your DNA is potent, Christen.

"She reacted to it like nothing we've ever seen. Our blood can heal a human and make some minor changes, but yours changed her into an Astor. You completely rewrote her genetic composition to almost forty percent pure Astor, proving that you are the 'One' the 'Prophecy of Mortimus' fore spoke," Kendra said.

Christen scowled, nervously toying with a coin she discovered on the seat.

"Whoa, Kendra, enough. Don't dump it all on her in one go. Hell, she would need months just to recover from everything she learned today," Michael warned. 

"We don't have weeks or months, Michael. The Morgal will implement their plans now that they know that the Progenitor isn't just an old wives' tale. Her blood can turn the chosen into Astors, and the clans will unite under her. If we are right, her blood also contains the plans for the weapon that would give us a fighting chance against our enemies. Even better than that, her genetic material can turn humans into Astor. We can amass an army, and the Morgal have no idea. They are not ready, and the mother ship hasn't arrived yet," Kendra countered, and Michael glared at her.

"What? You want to harvest my blood to create an army, marry me to unite the clans, and use me to turn humans into aliens? And I'm just supposed to go along with it? What if I don't want to go along with it?" Christen demanded, anger surging through her.

"You are Astor, you won't allow the world to die for your own selfish reasons, and we will only need a little of your blood to replicate a serum. We won't be draining you of every last drop. The marriage thing is up to you, but I know your kind, and what you are is written into your DNA.

"You will never allow another to suffer if you can stop it. Although you believe you are bound to your humanity, you shall soon understand that you are bound to us, too. Face it, Christen—you are unlike other humans, and the Astors were the best of us. Their sense of moral and social responsibility created a world where we thrived, and humans are not like that. The denizens of this world cannot easily work together, and as history proved, the rest of us were not as noble as the Astors, but you can unite us," Kendra said, concerned that she had perhaps gone too far. Christen wasn't too sure that she hadn't.

"Our mistakes allowed our worlds to die, Christen, and we cannot allow it to happen on this earth. Humans must evolve to their own rebirth or destruction without some alien force descending to destroy it. We hid from them to allow them to forge their own path and helped as unobtrusively as we could to make up for our part in helping to strain the resources of this planet. The lot of us owe humanity for our presence and continued existence," Michael said.

Christen became quiet and pensive as she concentrated on calming herself and taking deep breaths.

"Why don't you just do as the Morgal did, take over unobtrusively and rule? Steer them in the direction that would save them from the Morgal?" Christen asked, and they seemed perturbed.

"Even though we have key people in place, our place is not to rule. The best we can do is just fight the Morgal as best we can," Kendra admitted and cemented her suspicions.

"Humans won't see it that way. They would see you as an invading force, which means they must never know, so how do you plan on creating a human Astor army? While we are on the subject, if your DNA is lethal to humans, how can you breed with them?" Christen asked.

"When we reach our destination, we will show you. It is true that we couldn't have babies with humans. To facilitate that, we had to inject a few subjects with a very weak strain of our genetic material, and it caused minor changes, which enabled us to have children with those altered humans. Our babies converted their mother's DNA further, turning them about ten percent alien. Unfortunately, that caused made it impossible for that changed mother to get pregnant by a human male after having given birth to an alien baby.

"Despite having multiple alien babies, these mothers never became more than ten percent alien, although the babies were almost eighty percent alien. With each successive generation, that percentage became lower. In six hundred years, we will be basically human, but your DNA changes that. In three generations, we can synthesize the enzyme that fights the transformation and have near-pure DNA. If the Morgal doesn't wipe us and humanity from existence," Kendra said, constantly glancing in the rearview mirror and making sure no one followed them. 

"That is a lot of hope to place on one little hybrid human," Christen cautioned, overwhelmed by the day's events.

"No, it is more than hope. We have your altered DNA, and that told us all we need to know. All we require now is an undiluted sample of your blood," Michael admitted.

"Did you steer the humans in these experiments?" Christen asked.

"No, but we found out about them after Dana's accident in the lab. Since we followed her closely, we suspected you were special when she saved you. The council allowed it to play out, but it wasn't until the Morgal hunted us in Mexico and we met you that we realized you were an Astor. When you turned Doc, we learned that you were the progenitor," Michael admitted.

"Any more surprises? No, don't tell me now," Christen declined warily. Her mind hummed with the knowledge she gained. None of it felt real to her as she stared at her bloodied hands and shifted uncomfortably as her body healed.

"We'll stop at Lana's place, give you a meal and get you all cleaned up, but we can't stay long," Michael conceded as she picked at the dried ichor.

Christen could still feel the slippery blood, the strength of that muscle as it beat in her hand, the way it horrified and thrilled her to have destroyed her enemy. That didn't gel with this whole Astor thing for her, and it wasn't the first time she experienced that thrill of power in the moment of victory when her opponent lay dead at her feet. It scared her, yet she always felt in control of herself.