Doc led Christen to a private apartment in a separate wing of the building. The living area, although expensively furnished, displayed a spartan disposition on the part of the decorator, enforced by a white theme with light pastels. Why did this feel somehow familiar? Why would a strange room, lacking in warmth, feel like home?

"I'll return in a moment," Doc informed her, almost excited.

Doc had changed on the inside and outside.

Christen didn't yet know how she felt about the outcome—at least Doc wasn't dead.

She couldn't help wondering about Moore. He thought the woman he loved had died in that jungle, and it would eat him alive.

"Christen, this is Marius Dearn," Doc said. "You would probably remember him as Prograhn Pordeduer Mortegane, (the ruler of all Astor).

The alien words opened a door in Christen's mind, mixing memory and reality as she turned to face this man she hadn't met before.

It turned out to be more than a moment of Déjà vu. She was right about the memories in her head being personal in nature. Christen remembered him, even as her eyes took him in for the first time.

She knew every line of his face and every part of his outward appearance. Marius Dearn was the father of the woman whose blood created Alexander and, in creating him, created her.

The past again flooded her brain and intertwined with recollections of her human father. The two vastly different men both formed their daughters in their own way. Why, then, did Marius feel more like her father?

"I see the words unlocked your mother's memories as I knew they would. Yes, my Miramitah. Madeleine, I guess would be the closest translation, is as much your mother as the woman who once carried you in her belly, more so.

"She is also more than your mother. Alexander, this inferior vessel of her DNA, served us well. Soon your genetic structure would evolve into a near-perfect match for my Madeleine. You may not resemble her, but a genetic test would prove my words."

The words shook Christen's world to a standstill.

"So, I am technically a clone of your dead daughter?" Christen asked with disbelief.

"Yes, but you are also more. Your DNA has properties created by Alexander and your parents that Madeleine's blood did not possess. We thought our last hope died when she didn't make it. Our hope is reborn in you, and the prophecy brought to fruition," Marius enthused.

Christen's brow wrinkled.

"That ship landed here a long time ago. How can you be Madeleine's father?" Christen demanded.

"You know the answer, Christen—find it in the vault of your mind. You know as much as I do of the world we once inhabited. The Astor lived very long lives. We were nearly immortal, especially the royal lineage," Marius reminded.

His words sparked the recollection.

"This is all so strange," Christen said.

Even she could hear the anger in her voice. Everything happened without her consent, and none of it happened by accident. Had they killed her family to expose her to Alexander and create her? That didn't feel right.

Something niggled at her mind, but the thought would not come. 

"The book of the ages foretold your fate, life, death, and rebirth, Charraghden, beloved. Just as it predicted both our fall and betrayal. We thought ourselves far evolved beyond the ancient texts that once formed the basis of our society. Only after the fall did a priest of Kaledarhareen (the old temple) come to me.

"He showed me the book of ages that my father banned from the library of Khorrendian (Knowledge). Everything in that book came to be. Only a fool would have prohibited that knowledge, but my father was no fool.

"I could not understand it until I realized not even the Astor could move fate, and knowing the end of our people was neigh would not have changed the outcome. Only five pages remained unfulfilled. One page told of a ship that would leave for a world like ours. It even contained a list of people who should be on that vessel."

Marius hesitated and glanced at her.

"I understood then. It was the fate of my father to ban the book and live with the knowledge that the Morgal would conquer our planet, nearly wiping our people from existence. Just as I had to carry the burden that I could only save the chosen few. The ones who needed to live. The last three pages belong to you, and they are your legacy, Charraghden," Marius invited as he held out his hand to her.

Christen didn't reach out to take his hand of her own volition. The love Madeleine had for her father came instinctively to Christen. As their skins touched, a thousand different moments flashed through her mind when their hands locked together just like this.

Marius led her to a small room with ornate walls. It only contained a stand created from a singular piece of marble, intricately carved with the history of Astor, and on it lay the book. An ancient script bound in leather and written in a language that translated itself instantly to Christen as Marius brought her to the beautiful manuscript.

He opened it to the pages containing her destiny, and Christen glanced at them.

The world around her ceased to exist.

The power of those pages over her was undeniable, and she learned why Marius suffered under the burden of his knowledge—he had known Madeleine would die before they reached their destination.

How did a father live with such a horrible secret? How did you look your child in the eyes every morning while knowing the exact manner and moment of their end? Would she have been able to stop herself from interfering in destiny? Or at least trying? Did he?

Christen continued reading, pulling herself from her thoughts. The book even instructed him on how to preserve his daughter's DNA, knowledge, and life force in extreme detail.

She turned the page.

~A human child will be born, Christen Benton; she will be the key.~

She stared at the alien date of her birth that translated to the exact day, hour, and minute of her exit from her mother's womb. The moment of her death at Alexander's hand was recorded thousands of years before her existence, not only in words but with a poignant picture that looked like a watercolor or its equivalent.

It even captured the surprised horror on her face as she stared down at the horn protruding slick and bloody from her chest. She instinctively touched the spot, although nothing remained but the faintest white scar. Even after all this time, she could still recall the sensation of it ripping through her.

Christen shuddered, goosebumps on her arms. Even so, she read the words. Curious about what the ancient author had to say.

~The reborn daughter of Astor would watch her former life burn to ashes while the beast born from Miramitah's essence guards over her dying body. His blood will spark the change to recreate the blood of Astor in her veins. The living essence that will save our people, the last of our allies, and the billions of humans that live on this planet called Eragareah or Earth. She is the key to unlocking the secret of the Morgal. The lie that Astor told itself to sleep at night, and with this knowledge, the Astor will be resurrected.~

The manuscript cataloged the precise coordinates of the crash in human measurements and the exact time of her reawakening. 20h22m22s. Just like it appeared on the screens, although she had scarcely noticed it.

The rest of the pages seemed blank, but Christen reached out, and with her touch, the words unfolded.

When she finished reading, she found herself alone. Hours had passed, but she had lost track of time as she read. The story had unfolded in her mind like a map or a movie, showing her much more than written language.

She was right from the start. The origins of Astor was not as pretty as they led themselves to believe. They had a secret that would rock the foundations of this evolved alien nation.

The answer to victory over the Morgal had always been within their reach, but they had forgotten the truth. 

Christen reverently closed the book as the words faded away. Only she knew what the last pages contained, and only she could do what needed doing. For now, that meant keeping the truth from all of them, even Marius.

Soon, she would have to contact Dana to give her instructions that would horrify these creatures until they understood and remembered.

Her HUD was on, but something had jammed the signal since she left that building where they kept her Captive. She didn't even have Dana's number. Nor would it be listed anywhere. How would she contact her sister without access to a computer to even email her?

Alexander and her human DNA had not altered her blood to contain something more than Astor. It had unraveled something that hid an ancient secret that the Book of Ages omitted its truth in all the histories that preceded the last three pages.

She called up the image recorded on her HUD and stared at the blank page in puzzlement. She could clearly see the pages in her mind, but nothing showed on the tiny hard drive in her head.

How interesting.