Chapter 9:
In the Beginning
by Angie, Chris, Emiko, and Tami
"They're coming soon."
Talos looked up, surprised. "How soon?"
From his vantage point at the window, Bjerlo had a good view of the railroad tracks. Hardly a vista Talos would have found inspiring, especially at night, but to Bjerlo this was looking out onto an alien world. Talos could understand the feeling. He had been rather amazed by the many changes that had taken place during his centuries of sleep. After a long silence, Bjerlo said, "Tonight."
Surprise could not have been written any plainer on Talos's body. His beak dropped open. "Tonight? How do you know?"
Bjerlo held up a hand. He was holding a small electronic device that was rapidly flashing purple.
"Right," mumbled Talos. "A signal."
Bjerlo's hand fell back to his side and he resumed staring out the window.
"You don't seem too happy," observed Talos, moving towards his friend. "I guess you don't really want to see them, since they kicked you out."
More oppressive silence. Finally Bjerlo rose. "We should go meet them. Where is the girl?"
It annoyed Talos that Bjerlo referred to Jace in such a way, almost as if she were an object, but he could understand the resentment. "Jace is asleep."
"We should return to the place where I arrived."
"The park?"
"Lead me there."
As they wandered towards the park, Talos considered Bjerlo's sullen mood. It was unlike the alien to be so reticent. Normally he was so excitable it was difficult to contain him, but this past week he had barely moved, barely spoken, and barely objected to anything. Even the previous night, when Jace had arrived, Bjerlo remained calm and cooperative. Had it been because of the signal? Would the DU's arrival bring something Bjerlo did not want?
They returned to the place where Bjerlo had arrived, that small patch of grass hidden behind bushes and tree trunks. Thank the gods the place was concealed. Bjerlo had explained that most people of the DU were not like him, that they were physically different. Talos shivered to think what might happen if such alien creatures were unleashed on the general public. He shivered to think that he was about to meet beings from a universe not his own. He shivered from the cold, and from his fear. Nothing could offer him comfort now that moment of truth had arrived, and the point of no return for his betrayal.
Bjerlo took a seat next to one of the bushes and Talos followed his example. They sat, and sat, and sat, waiting for something Talos could not conceive.
They must have been there for a good ten minutes before it began. It started with a shimmer, almost like heat waves off a hot asphalt surface. Bjerlo stood up, stared at the shimmer in the air, and continued to wait.
The shimmer turned into a crackle. Little particles of light bounced back and forth, creating random patterns in the air. It was beautiful, but it made the feathers on Talos's neck stand up. The light increased, burning into the back of his eyes, and suddenly it was a long orb of opaque light, glowing softly but stably. Something fell out of the orb, onto the ground, and Talos jumped back in surprise. Bjerlo remained still.
The dark shadow of something moved. Talos realized it was more than a something, it was an alien. He seemed frozen to the spot, too amazed to even breath. The alien moved some more, flipped itself over, and propelled itself towards Bjerlo and Talos.
With a scream, Talos dove into the bushes and drove his head into the soft mulch. Bjerlo looked at the bush, amused, and then turned his gaze towards the newcomer. "Greetings."
"Greetings," said the alien, his voice resonating oddly. Any further discourse was very quickly cut short, as a new figure fell into the clearing.
Stumbling to its feet, the figure lurched forward, its voice rising in anger. Grating and harsh, the voice stumbled over a few words before finding its stride. "Thrice damn'd sons of bitches, whoresons from the pits of the darkest..." Head lifting, gold eyes shone in the darkness and a long, thin hand extended towards Bjerlo. "What are you doing here, you damn'd frilly excuse for a piece of shit? I told ya. I'll kill ya."
A quick movement and the tall figure was on the hapless alien, hands scrabbling at his throat. Curses, coherent and not so much, slipped from between compressed lips while a delighted, murderous rage shone in the golden eyes.
Bjerlo struggled with his adversary for a moment. Talos ran forward from the bushes to help, but even if he could have done something, it would have been unnecessarily. A third form dropped from the portal, the largest one yet, the light of the portal shining through its form. Five tentacles shot forward, grabbing the two combatants and pulling them apart. Bjerlo's attacker barely had time to yell angrily as his/her/its struggling form was pulled inside the newcomer.
When the large, transparent alien that Talos could only liken to a humongous slug spoke, his voice had a slight British accent to it. Clearly the portals had a sense of humor. "Now, now, no fighting," he reprimanded gently, moving aside for one last arrival.
A small figure framed herself in the portal for a moment before descending to the earth below. Looking coolly at the slug acting as a holding cell for the assailant, "thank you for holding her," she murmured. "She was being loud." As she stepped away from the glowing portal, her features could be seen more clearly. For all that anyone could tell she looked rather Italian; of course, it's what's on the inside that counts. For a moment, it almost seemed as if she looked at the large slug-creature with a mixture of envy, sadness and admiration, but it soon passed.
Now everyone was assembled, the portal, its work done, crackled into nothingness with a pop that made Talos jump. The aliens seemed to be used to it.
The large slug, apparently taking on a position of leadership, addressed Bjerlo, "I'm surprised to find you here. We thought you had disappeared! Why weren't you with Em?"
Bjerlo tensed, and Talos realized this was probably what he had been dreading: having to answer to his companions. Judging by Bjerlo's behavior, he had probably been working on this answer all week. He opened his mouth to speak, but a sudden cry caused him to stop.
"HENRYYYYY!!!" came a voice, and a decidedly human figure came crashing through the bushes. (Though, Talos noted, several of the aliens had humanoid forms.) The stranger jumped, landed on top of the giant transparent slug, and bounced, managing to keep her precarious position only by way of a miracle. "Glomp!" she announced happily.
Even in the darkness, Talos sensed something familiar about this stranger. He couldn't be sure without more lighting, but hadn't he seen her before somewhere?
"Em!" said the giant slug, his attention drawn away from Bjerlo.
"Henry, I was so worried you weren't going to make it, I walked all around and around trying to find you, I couldn't quite pinpoint the location, and you've got someone inside you, do you know that?" she bubbled.
"Two someones," he corrected. "Likely to stay in there until they've both calmed down."
"So you're Em," said the small, doglike alien. "Honored."
The girl looked down at the alien. "Who're you?"
"Aenyel Glimyout Asli Denostrop Kwalvit Silkreptin Tralsh."
From his hiding place in the bushes, Talos boggled at the name.
"Emperial Teal Atreides-Piett, pleased to meet you!" the girl rebounded after a moment. "Do you have something shorter I can call you?"
"'Aeglias' will do."
Suddenly Talos realized who the girl was. She was one of Jace and Sophie's classmates in Latin class. She had been one of Mr. Campbell's three favorite students, namely because she was one of his only three students with an aptitude for the language. Her name was, in fact, Emperial Teal Young, unless she had recently changed families or gotten married, both of which Talos thought unlikely.
The slug, Henry (Henry!??), addressed Bjerlo once more. "You were explaining why you were not in contact with Em?" he prompted.
"There were some unexpected events," said Bjerlo coolly. "I ran into the senshi of this universe. I was forced to seek refuge."
That seemed to get everyone's attention.
"I had help," continued Bjerlo. "One of the senshi from this universe has agreed to aid us. Talos?"
Recognizing a cue when he heard one, Talos nervously shuffled forward. He stared at the aliens around him, frightened beyond speaking, and kept close to Bjerlo's leg.
"This is Talos. He served as a guardian for the senshi on this planet. He knows some of their identities, and will help us attack them."
Talos could feel eyes upon him, even from the aliens that seemed to lack eyes. "Hi?" he said in a small voice.
"A talking bird!" exclaimed Emperial, sliding off of Henry and staring at Talos.
"We shouldn't stay and talk here." Little by little, Talos found his voice growing stronger. "Someone might, uh, see you. We should go to the American Chemical building. Right, Bjerlo?"
"The humans react badly when exposed to aliens," stated Bjerlo.
"No kidding," said Em. "There are tons of scifi shows where humans meets aliens, and they completely freak out. Why the American Chemical building?"
"That's where we've been hiding out," answered Talos.
"That pepto bismol pink atrocity?" She made a face of disgust.
"We should seek cover, as this bird suggests," interrupted Henry. "Which direction?"
Talos puffed himself up. This wasn't too hard. "Follow me."
At this command, the aliens started to follow him. The dog-sized one hopped forward in a strange fashion, having only three legs, the two humanoids and human walked, and the giant slug undulated across the ground, almost gliding, carrying within him the third humanoid and, supposedly, something else.
"So, you're Aeglias, you're Talos, you're Bjerlo, and who are you?" said Em as they headed out, pointing at the quiet humanoid walking beside her.
"You couldn't pronounce it if you tried, I can't even, anymore..." trailed off the girl. "Rose will do," she said, bringing her thoughts back to the present. "You may call me Rose."
"That's okay, I can't pronounce Henry's name, either, except in my head."
"I enjoy the name you have given me in your language, Em."
"Good!"
Talos coughed. "Aren't you a student of William Fleming?" he inquired.
"How'd you know?"
"My, uh, charges went there. Some of them. You know Jace Kellen, from your Latin class?"
"Yeah, of course I know Jace!"
They were drawing near to the building now.
"She's involved in this."
"Whaddaya mean?"
"She's, uh, one of the senshi. She's also, uh, hiding with us."
Em stopped, then ran forward. "No way, you're kidding!"
"What can you tell us about the senshi on this planet?" Henry probed. Once again, Bjerlo beat Talos to the answer, desperate to make a good impression on his companions.
"The senshi on this planet are very different from what was expected. They are split into a number of factions and fight one another."
They were on the doorstep now. Bjerlo pulled the metal door open (he repaired it a few days after breaking it in their initial entry to the building) and held it open for the others They shuffled inside.
"P. U. It stinks in here," was the first thing Emperial said. None of the aliens seemed to share this opinion; if they did, they kept quiet.
"I think it might be safe to release Isyarra. She seems to have calmed."
Even as he finished speaking, there was a flow of movement through his body and the figure within slipped forward, sliding onto the floor with a faint squelch. Slowly, she sat up (for, in the dim light, it was evidently the female of its species) and looked around blinking in rapid-fire, jerky motions. As if she was unsure of the process entirely.
Slowly, she rose to her feet and pushed clumped masses of grey hair from her face. She looked around solemnly, gold eyes interested. "Ah. We have landed?" she asked.
"Yes, Isyarra, we're here," answered Rose. "This is where we're going to live, I think," she added.
"Dude, you can't live here. It's a dump," protested Emperial.
"And where were you suggesting they live?" Talos shot back.
"My basement?"
Talos stared at the girl. He had gotten an inkling from Latin class of just how crazy she was, but this seemed to tip the scales in insanity's favor. "You expected a bunch of aliens to live in your basement?"
"Well, they'd have to kill my parents first, but yeah! We'd be one big happy family!"
"Emperial!" boomed Henry. "What have I told you about saying things like that about your parents?"
Emperial's face scrunched up. "Sorry, sir."
"Besides, they could clean the place up a bit and everything would be fine," finished Talos.
Henry moved around the room slightly, his five tentacles feeling the building. "This will be more than adequate, thank you. We must first deal with the matter at hand. We must learn everything we can about this planet and the senshi here."
Eagerly, Emperial supplied, "Star Wars! You have to see Star Wars, Henry."
"Star Wars!?" repeated Talos, incredulous.
"Of course! Star Wars is a very important part of American culture."
Talos began to get the feeling this situation was going to be more than he could handle.
Suddenly, from the second floor, a loud thump followed by irascible swearing was heard. It was muffled, but quite obviously Jace.
"Uh, that's Jace," said Talos. "She's upstairs."
"Jace!" squealed Emperial, running out of the room. She popped her head back in a moment later. "Where's the stairwell?"
"Left?" squeaked Talos.
"Perhaps we should all move upstairs," suggested Bjerlo.
The thin grey-haired alien cocked her head at him and then nodded. "Yes, we should," she murmured. "We should meet all of our allies." Without another word (or even a facial expression), Isyarra followed in the direction Emperial had disappeared.
The source of the crashing was found in the first room on the second floor, a redhead in boxers and a sportsbra as she scrubbed the floor, swearing liberally. Her cleaning bucket had spilled some of the water out; she was scowling at it. She would have been on hands and knees, only she had no knees. After closer inspection, she was quite obviously pregnant.
"Who the fuck are you?" she said by way of hello, blankly taking in the humanoid aliens, slugs, and Flemingite quite well.
"Hold on a cotton-pickin' minute. I know -you-. Em Young? Em 'I Hear Voices' Young?"
"One and the same! But what in the gods' names are you doing here, Jace?"
"I could ask the same of -you-, Young." Jace raised a crimson eyebrow. "Why are you hanging around... Is that thing a big ball of snot or is it just me?"
With an indignant squeal, Emperial jumped up and down. "'S not a ball o' snot! `S my Henry!"
"Emperial, please," said Henry, rippling.
"And that's Aeglias, Rose, and Isyarra. I guess you already know Talos and Bjerlo. What's up with the bird, anyway?"
"He's an ancient reincarnation. At least he's not a big ball of snot. Sorry, Henry, but you look like a booger." Jace drew her brows together in a frown. "Are these all the Dark Universe senshi?"
"No, not all, simply a light sampling," mused Henry, looking as miffed as a giant transparent column of slug alien could be. "Emperial, could you perhaps inform the laboratory of our arrival?"
"Rightio!" agreed Emperial.
"In the meantime, we must consider our position and plan for the future. We shall begin with a description of our enemy. Bjerlo?"
No matter how hard he tried to blend into the dingy off-white wall, Bjerlo's green-and-purple-clad form remained distressingly visible. He bore the dull, emotionless expression of someone resigned to their fate. He took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and said, "I think Talos should do it."
All eyes on the bird. Talos cursed Bjerlo, since he was currently trying to get his grey feathers to merge with the warped wooden floor. "Yes, right, then," he stammered, feathers puffing up. "The state of our senshi. All the information on the senshi. Okay."
"Does he normally have this much trouble talking?" queried Emperial.
"Don't listen to the nasty lady," Jace informed him. "She dresses up like a Stormtrooper when she's at home." She cocked her head, voice a low mutter. "You know more about the whys than I do, Tals. I know a bit more about the whos. Start talking and I'll back you up."
Talos ruffled his feathers once, puffed himself up, and cleared his throat. "There are four senshi groups. The Graikos, of which Jace and I are, uh, members; the Romanus, sworn enemies to the Graikos; the Angelus, who I don't know a lot about unfortunately; and the Astronomia. I guess the Astronomia are your natural enemies, like the Romanus are to the Graikos. Oh, and then you've got, uh, you guys..." Realizing he would have to do better, Talos continued, "Each of the senshi groups have different level, much like your captains and generals and lieutenants. For the Graikos and Romanus, the highest levels are Deus."
"I'm Deus." Jace leant back on her hands. "Highest level in Astronomia is, um, Galaxia? I took down a Galaxia, no problem, but I'm not sure how powerful the rest of 'em are. Think the highest Angelus rank is Archangel."
The one called Isyarra tilted her head, eyes half-closed as she absorbed the information. "They then have leaders which they follow?" she asked, voice soft. "Yet they fight amongst themselves?"
"They are chaotic," said Henry. "Such infighting was expected to be present in some form. It was their downfall in the past. Continue your explanation."
If anything, Talos felt more nervous. Now the aliens were alluding to things he did not know. "Then there's a second level in the groups. Graikos have Urdkilthai, Astronomia have Astra, ROmanus have Soros, and Angelus have, uh, normal Angelus. Then there are the guardians."
"Guardians?" said the smallest of the DU, Aeglias.
"I'm a guardian. Our job is to reawaken the senshi of our teams and teach them about their powers."
That seemed to cause a round of amusement among the DU senshi.
"How inefficient." There was a faint curving of Isyarra's mouth. "Then it would follow that, by destroying the guardians, we can prevent any more of these senshi from knowing their powers."
Perdix blanched. "You can't be serious!" One glance confirmed that yes, she was indeed serious.
"Too inefficient." Jace shook her head, though admittedly she looked slightly disappointed at the thought that there wouldn't be a murder spree for Percy. "The guardians look like animals. You wouldn't know which were which. Better to just concentrate on the soldiers already."
If Talos could have paled, he would have been white as a sheet. As it was, his feathers deflated and his neck retracted back into his shoulders.
"Back off," hissed a voice. With surprise, Talos realized it was Bjerlo. Jace looked like she had been equally ready to defend him.
Bjerlo opened his mouth to reply, anger rising on his features, but the pillar in the corner beat him to it.
"Now, now, behave yourselves," said Henry-- clucking in disapproval. (A mean feat considering Talos had yet to figure out where Henry's mouth was.) "I myself am more interested in hearing how many senshi we have to deal with, in addition to how these 'guardians' work. I do hope you'll understand if we insist upon your cooperation, Talos."
"Yes, I understand," said Talos meekly. His voice returned to him as he continued speaking. "I don't think guardians would make good targets anyway. We can easily disappear into the woods, we have no attacks that can do you any harm, and there are a lot of us. I can't be sure how many total, because new senshi and guardians keep appearing every day. I'm afraid I can only give you information on the Graikos I personally met, though, because I've been marked now, and the minute they see me... They'll kill me." It was hard for him to say, because every bit of this betrayal was hard for him.
Henry made a disapproving noise. "Number and names, at least what you know."
With a glance to Jace for help, Talos rattled off, "The Romanus I've seen or heard of are Cupid, Neptune, Bacchus, Thalia, Tisiphone, Urania, Fortuna, and Clio. From the Astronomia... Most of the ones I've heard of are dead. Gemma's still around... I'm afraid I don't know of many Angelus. Just Ariel and Seraphiel. Nathanael died... And the Graikos. I know Aphrodite, Persephone, Hecate, Hyperion, and mm... muh..."
"Metis. Our leader." Jace's voice was tight. "Tyche. Iapetus. Crius."
Knowing about Jace's friendship with Jack, Talos had been trying to leave Tyche's name off the list. He looked up at Jace, noting the grim line of her mouth and intense look in her eyes. Their betrayal was now complete.
"That few?" said Aeglias.
"It certainly is a bit surprising," agreed Henry, explaining, "We were expecting hundreds of senshi, at the very least, but you've named less than fifty."
"Hundreds?" echoed Talos. "Even back at the height of Greece, the gods were not so numerous, and they have not all returned."
Interrupted Em: "You mean to tell me you're some kind of reincarnation of the Greek gods?"
"Exactly," said Talos. Now it was the DU's turn to look lost.
Emperial pushed her glasses up on her nose, crossed her arms, and smirked. Now it was her turn to look smart for the otherwordly guests. "A long time ago there was this ancient civilization called the Greeks, and they had a pantheon of gods they believed in. We're talking a couple thousand years here. They had their own language, culture, art... I've studied their myths and legends. But wait, Jace, who are you supposed to be? And what do you actually do?"
"Fire and forge. I'm Hephaestos." A smirk came to her lips. "I casts the spells that makes the peoples fall down."
"Like what? Can you show me? And how do you do all that when--"
"Emperial," warned Henry, "we don't have time for this."
Taken aback, Emperial blinked and said, "What do you mean, you don't have time? You've got plenty of time! I hope you didn't think you were going outside looking the way you do... any of you." She directed that at the three aliens who actually bore humanlike appearances.
"More alterations are required?" Isyarra frowned and once more something flickered deep within her eyes, her thin mouth tightening as if in remembered pain. "What more need we do?"
"Stop dressing like a reject from an eighties movie, maybe? Lord knows how you're going to disguise the giant ball of snot. Maybe put him in some kleenex." Jace went back to scrubbing the floor.
A piece of the transparent pillar detached itself and moved into the corner as the main pillar began to ripple and writhe. A humanoid form began to emerge, narrowing and thickening where needed, features transparent and indistinct. A moment later, the surface of the shape tightened and color washed over it.
It was a perfect, solid mimicry of Isyarra. From nowhere, Henry's voice said, "I think you will find my disguise is not an issue."
"I am not getting... changed again," piped up the silent Rose, who had been previously watching and listening to her teammates and the talking bird. "Not again. You couldn't do it here, anyway," she added, with indignation in her voice. "This body is so..." Rose checked her anger, and once again quieted down. "I look fine."
"You look fine, you act like freaks," clarified Emperial. "Well, okay, you act like a freak." She pointed at Isyarra. "And you look kind of funny. I guess you're fine, Rose, and Henry, please tell me you're not going to walk around like that."
A bit sheepishly, Henry admitted, "I can't walk like this. I haven't figured out the mechanics yet. You promised me some biology textbooks on your species?"
"As for behaviour, Miss Emperial, you will find us to be quick studies." Cocking her head slightly, Isyarra offered a smile, ever so slightly off-kilter. "We simply need to learn the culture and mannerisms of this world."
"Oh, God." Jace squeezed her sponge into her bucket. "Aliens. Retards. Talos, just get these guys a television and teach Snotman how to perambulate and they'll take over the universe in no time, I'm sure, with minimum of hilarity ensuing."
Talos gave Jace a hopeless look and Emperial snickered. A lot. "Hey, Jace, you ever see the movie 'Earth Girls Are Easy?'"
"Can we at least show them Sesame Street before we show 'em Debbie Does Dallas?"
As expected, the aliens looked completely lost. "What?" began Henry, still looking like a statue of Isyarra.
"You guys should just hang low for a while," said Emperial authoritatively. "There's no way we're letting you out of here yet. Not before we've loaded you up with TV and Time magazine. I've got to get back home. My mom thinks I'm out getting coffee. Jace, do you think you can keep these misfits here for the night?"
Jace looked at all of them suspiciously. "How do I know they're not going to eviscerate me the moment your back is turned? No offence, Tall, Pale And Greyish, but you're giving me the fucking creeps. So's Lady Silent and Mr. Clone, and if you hadn't noticed, I'm helpless, legless, and pregnant."
"And you still scare me half to death," grinned Emperial. "Don't worry. Henry will keep them in line, even if he has to ingest them to do it."
"If you are as you say you are," replied Rose softly, "you're hardly helpless if you're a senshi. As long as you've sworn fealty to the Dark Universe, Hematite will have no need to 'ingest' us. Pregnant you say?" she murmured as an afterthought, a new appreciation coming to her face. "How many are you expecting? Will it be live birth or egg?"
"Um, live birth." Jace shifted over, scrubbing at a greenish patch. "You don't kill me, I swear fealty, what the fuck, I don't give a damn any more."
"Isn't that refreshing," said Henry, finally reverting back to slug form. The piece that had earlier detached itself moved back to rejoin the main mass. "Emperial, you didn't tell me all the locals were so... colorful."
"Ha!" replied Emperial, "just wait'll you see Seinfeld. But I've really got to go. Ground rules: no leaving, keep quiet, I'll be back tomorrow. Not sure how we're going to manage the TV..."
"Leave that to me and Bjerlo," said Talos. Emperial nodded.
"Fine, then, that's your job. I'll be around about 3-ish. Have a TV and VCR set up by then. Are you sure we can't try the thing at my house?"
"Absolutely out of the question."
Sighing loudly, Emperial shrugged her shoulders and said, "I suppose it can't be helped. Well, anyway, bye Henry, love ya!" And with that, she planted a kiss on his rubbery exterior and whirled out the door.
"Emperial, wait--" called Henry, but it was too late. She was gone. The giant transparent slug sighed. "I do so hate it when she does that. But tell me, as I am curious: are family relations on your planet normally so dysfunctional? Since you lack legs, what is your mode of locomotion? What is the gestational period of your young ones and the developmental state of their birth? Emperial has explained that there is a mother and father involved in your species' reproduction. Of which kind are you and where is your mate? What are the obligations of mates in the childrearing process, how long does it last, and what obligations exist between offspring and parent?"
Jace looked up at Henry blankly before turning back to her bucket and scrubbing as hard as she can. When she did speak, her voice was casual, a low gruff murmur. She wasn't going to be fazed by a bunch of goddamn space aliens. "My family is Talos and J... it doesn't matter. I don't want to say. I get around in a chair with wheels. My baby'll be born in four, five months, and won't be properly developed until I kick her out to go to college, damn it. I'm a mother." Her voice hardened despite herself. "The mate, the father, if they're not a complete fuckin' retard, looks after the mother when she's pregnant and provides for the baby. There's usually an obligation between the mother and the father before the baby's born. The parent has to love the child and the child has to... it's complicated. Especially if there's only one parent."
A scowl grew on the redhead's face as her voice deadened. "My 'mate' is dead. His body's a few rooms down the hall."
There was a long moment of silence and then Isyarra moved forward to crouch an arms-length from Jace. She stared at the human girl for another long moment and then, softly, she asked, "Is that customary?"
Jace looked up at Isyarra. The DU General's eyes were like flat golden mirrors. "No."
"I see." Isyarra studied her closely. "Will there be a ceremony of recognition for him later? What do you do with your dead?"
"I don't want him to be dead."
"Oh." The tall alien blinked, drawing back slightly. "And wanting can make it not so here?"
Jace turned, face drawn in the scowling expression that meant she was trying hard not to cry. "... I need to finish cleaning, Tals. Why don't you take the aliens on a tour of the factory or something?"
"Tour! Great idea!" stammered Talos, rousing himself from his shocked stupor and hustling for the door. "Follow me, please!"
The aliens, capable of taking a hint when it was shoved into their faces, shuffled out behind the bird, Bjerlo sulking in the back.
"So, um, this is the second floor, and there are four floors. Everything's pretty empty, but there are some office chairs. Ah, those are things for sitting in."
"Yes, thank you, we have the equivalent of chairs and offices in our home universe," noted Henry.
"Right!" chirped Talos, nearly fainting. "You can each pick some rooms for your own, there are plenty, and there's running water in the restrooms, and even a tub on the third floor. For washing in. So, uh, that's it!" He stopped at the end of the hall, four rooms away from Jace.
Eyes intent on something just over the partridge's head, Isyarra frowned slightly. "Are there any rooms with many windows," she asked suddenly. "And that are high up? And quiet?"
"Any one of the corner rooms on the fourth floor," said Bjerlo huskily. He was secretly quite relieved, since he himself preferred to live on the first floor.
The grey-haired alien turned and nodded politely at him. "I shall take one of those, then."
"I would like a quiet room, as well, but not near Isyarra's," added the quiet Rose. "She gets... noisy sometimes."
A genuinely perplexed look crossed Isyarra's face as she turned to her teammate. "I was not aware of that," she murmured. "I shall behave more considerately in the future."
"We will all have to take measures to monitor our behavior while on Earth," concluded Henry. "That begins with the sleep cycle! We should disperse until the planetary rotation brings this hemisphere back into view of the sun. Night is the customary time of sleep for the dominant species, after all! I trust we can all find ourselves suitable accommodations for the moment." The last statement would have been perfectly natural accompanied by an expectant glance and quirk of the eyebrow, but Henry lacked any identifiable eyes.
Nodding her acquiescence, Isyarra immediately moved towards the stairs. "Until sunrise then," she murmured. "Then this Emperial will teach us." With those final words, she disappeared up the stairs, footsteps almost silent.
With Isyarra gone, the room relaxed and emptied. The non-humans shuffled, hopped, and squirmed off to take what little respite might be found in the coming hours. For most, the musty walls and stained floors of the American Chemical Plant would be their first real taste of Earth, an unfamiliar planet.
A planet which would serve as the launching point for long-awaited vengeance against the senshi of the Light Universe. The battle between the universes was about to begin anew.