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  Reports were coming in faster and faster and Syra could barely keep up. It was obvious the council was closely monitoring Ohtron’s reports as Syra noticed their core com had become very active.

  Ohtron began analyzing the quality of air and in some places of Earth, it was not so bad. In other areas, it was in danger of rendering those places uninhabitable, mostly in large over-crowded cities.

  Wildlife was reported by Ohtron as plentiful in many areas of the planet and plant life was abundant to a degree. Much of this reminded Ohtron of the early Zhian planet.

  As these health reports for Earth continued to come in, Syra began the process of moving her vessel closer to Earth as suggested by Zerk and the entire Zhian Council.

  Once in its new position, the Zhian Sphere would become virtually unnoticed and would be a part of the space that surrounded it. But it was becoming more and more difficult to navigate the closer they got to planet Earth.

  Sometime later, Syra retired to her sleeper and set it to not awaken her until they arrived or in case of an emergency.

  When the alarm of approaching Earth sounded, Syra’s sleeper opened and she was awakened. Just at that moment when she walked into her command center, the Zhian Sphere dropped into Earth’s orbit with ease. Space debris from circling the planet left a lot to be desired though, thought Syra.

  Hiding between two large Earth communications satellites worked and they virtually could not have been seen. The shroud was up and working perfectly. Syra requested an update on Ohtrons reports and she began looking over them.

  After catching up on his reports, hope became dimmer by the moment. This planet Earth showed so much potential but showed signs it could become a dying planet and had little time to save it if some important changes could not be made in the very near future. Some damages appeared to show no signs of reversal.

  One thing for certain, Syra thought. Earth was far better than Zhian in many ways. But it quickly became clear to her that if Earth’s inhabitants did not change their habits drastically, they too would suffer the same fate as the inhabitants of the planet of Zhian.

  Ohtron began cruising at a much lower altitude and slower speed to observe the inhabitants and their dwellings. He began sending back images from the cities and Earths way of transporting its inhabitants.

  Since their destination was North America and preferably the United States of America, he would give Syra a very close up inspection right away!

  Ohtron flew over many great cities across the states and Washington, D.C., until last.

  Warning messages began to fill the com system from Ohtron! Just as he was observing the leader of the United States and his headquarters, a place called the White House, his shroud began to flicker. This concerned him greatly.

  Ohtron would soon not be able to hold his shroud up and fly at the same time and would have to land against his better judgment.

  When there was no other choice presented to Ohtron, he landed on top of a beautiful white oak tree on the north lawn of the White House and rested silently. His shroud working perfectly, and he continued to monitor from there.

  His power would soon be restored. Meanwhile, all he had to do was remain there on the top of that white oak tree and hope those birds did not make a habit of excreting upon him!

  The challenge would be to power up before he turned a light gray and coated completely, or the liquid of life cleansed him!

  Reports were now coming in from Ohtrons position and from no other areas, he had stopped traveling so a decision had to be made quickly.

  Zee10 suggested they allow the usual time for Ohtron to recharge. He would be okay where he was for a time. But he suggested a trip to Earth much sooner than anticipated to retrieve Ohtron if needed.

  As time went on, Ohtron was slowly being coated in white and gray bird excretions. When he became nearly visible, the liquid of life came from the sky and the wind nearly blew him from the tree!

  His weight was bearing down on the white oak trees branches and he continued to hope for a complete recharge soon, but he continued to monitor this White House relentlessly.

  When the water of life and wind had passed, small branches lay everywhere upon the lawn and he knew this would surely bring attention to where he was hiding.

  The north lawn maintenance crew showed up almost immediately after the water of life nearly washed Ohtron out of the tree. He knew maintenance would need to trim the branches and pick up the fallen ones as soon as they arrived.

  It was that moment Ohtron was fully charged and for just a moment, only a moment the men stood there not sure if they saw anything or not! Ohtron zapped out of there as quickly as he could possibly do it and in record time. He was suddenly circling the earth and would soon be docking with Zhian Sphere with his database nearly reaching full capacity.

  The possible sighting of something unusual was reported and security scrutinized the video multiple times. It was obvious something had been there by the depression made into the old white oak’s branches.

  With no specific conclusion because of the appearance and disappearance was so sudden, the report was filed under top security and further research would be required if any other sightings occur. With only the highest-ranking officials able to see the video or read the report, it was stamped CLASSIFIED and filed away.

  But those men had called home about what they saw before ever reporting it, which meant there were obviously no secrets in this White House, thought Ohtron.

  Much of what Ohtron had observed could not be transmitted in its entirety, and his memory was then transferred to the core for analysis.

  After a lot of deliberation, the council and Syra came to an agreement.

  A lot was still not known about Earth. Sending Ohtron again so soon after such a long journey would most likely result in him having to terminate himself once his observations were more complete.

  This was a chance not worth taking. It was not an option to terminate on Earth for many reasons. It was decided to install a backup power source for Ohtron so that if in this position again, he would not have to wait to recharge but simply switch power sources.

  Ohtron received a much-needed upgrade and would be ready for the next mission as good as new.

  One thing for certain, it was a very close call with the incident at the White House, not just for the technology Ohtron carried on him, but all the Zhian citizens who could have been discovered. It was far too soon for that.

  With Zhian Sphere virtually unseen with many eyes watching those communications satellites, they were well hidden and needed it to stay that way.

  But it was time to consider sending someone to Earth to walk among the inhabitants and observe. They would not be as noticeable as the advanced technologies of Zhain such as what was in Ohtron.

  With all Zhian Sphere’s citizens now awake, voting was suggested. A lottery of who would take that walk about the Earth among its inhabitants and only observe.

  This would be a risk no matter how they looked at it and that is when the Zhian Council suggested they consider all options before deciding. No one single Zhianite was worth losing.

  Unfortunately, Syra was the only one qualified to take the trip to Earth and walk among its inhabitants. She was the only one who had studied Earth in the holocom chamber and completed the course. She had also seen all the information Ohtron had supplied them upon his return.

  All Zhian Sphere was discussing this including the council and Zee10. When Ohtron’s download was complete it would be some time before all the information could be analyzed and entered into the core com system’s database of knowledge.

  It was then decided and agreed upon by all citizens that Syra was the only one qualified to be the first Zhian to step foot on earth soil. Ohtron would go with her and be in constant contact.

  Ohtron would now carry his extra power source and not be using most of his power sending chunks of data to the Zhian Sphere. This was what caused the failure in his shroud in the first place, far
too much overload on his systems and all agreed on that.

  It wasn’t long before the maintenance bots started to work on Syra’s exploration travel pod. Ohtron would fit in one of her compartments and this would save his power source as well.

  Her pod would be outfitted with the best of Zhian technologies and would stay in a shroud as long as Syra wished it to be. Her travel pod was capable of appearing as just about anything she needed it to look like. Having this ability would certainly be needed in order to fit in and not be noticed or stand out.

  Syra was the most important Zhian of all time and she too was retrofitted with special technologies reserved with special gear to fit her as closely as her skin and unseen by the human eye.

  To lose her would be too great of a loss and measures were put in to place to prevent that loss.

  Syra returned to her sleeper for a time and then would go through a battery of tests. Last minute training. Language checks. Anything and everything the Zhians could think of to assure this was a successful trip for Syra.

  One quick call from the holocom unit and Syra was thrilled to talk with Arteemus and Allieah. Both her parents wished her well and she understood why their calls to her were so limited.

  Syra was now positioned inside her travel pod. With all the extra precautions made and barring any unforeseen trouble, she and her pod were launched toward earth and all the citizens cheered her exit and praised her courage!

  book one

  chapter three

  Zee10 had his own private open communication between him and Syra and was ready to send a fleet of Zhianite bots to assist her if she needed it.

  While Syra’s pod was en route to Earth, Zee10 received a secret message from Zerk.

  Zee10 was directed to the replicator to have a copy of himself made. Should Syra be captured, his double would be waiting to take over Zhian Sphere should he fail at rescuing her.

  Zee10 was now on standby, awaiting orders from the council.

  His double would remain in shutdown mode and his central core systems blank until awakened by council and Syra. Should the duplicate ever be needed, he would receive Zee10’s download of the essence of Zee10.

  But a partial download of Zee10 was favored by all who served on council and Syra because there would never be another real Zee10. Everyone knew he was irreplaceable.

  The replicator was rarely used but would only work on inanimate objects such as bots or everyday items used. The power the replicators used was enormous and it was one of the reasons council had Zee10 bring so many extra power crystals.

  Syra would soon approach her landing site and was anxious to get settled in as an Earthling. But she knew she had lots of work to do before this could happen.

  Through her research, her systems had coordinated a remote place called Jordon Valley in a state called Oregon according to Syra’s information.

  Because it was populated by fewer than 200 people, she decided this would be the place to temporarily settle. It would be easy to not be seen by the residents of Jordon Valley.

  She had chosen this place because it reminded her just a little bit of what Zone Four on Zhian had looked like in Zhians past.

  Other areas were more like the present time on Zhian with that field of extinct volcanoes and splatter cones which was made of cooled lava was a very familiar sight.

  If it were not for what was going on in her planets core sending up those gaseous odors, plus other dangers, she could have lived and walked the surface of Zone Four and been content!

  According to Syra’s research of the area, the occupants were made up of mostly sheep and cattle farmers. Syra had seen these sheep and cattle in the holocom chamber and was intrigued by them. They had nothing even remotely similar to these animals on Zhian.

  The Jordon Crater Field would get some curiosity seekers from outside the area but would not be something she nor the Zhianites would need to be concerned about.

  Syra landed in one of the most remote spots in the mountainous terrain but it would be some time before she would step outside but Ohtron was released and had lots of work to do!

  Ohtron circled the area at different altitudes, had taken samples of the air, soil, and foliage. The analysis he had taken were sent back to Syra. He also sent it to Zee10 aboard the Zhian Sphere.

  At this point, Syra’s biggest problem was Earth’s sun. With little to no exposure to sun, her face was pale and this environment with all the trees and shade would be a good place to slowly darken her skin by the sun but only in intervals to avoid health issues.

  On Zhian, many hundreds of passes ago, the skies darkened cloud cover had hidden what was once a ray of beautiful sunshine that allowed the plants to grow.

  With Syra’s pod being the perfect research and living quarters, she would enjoy her time just relaxing. Receiving signals from Zhian Sphere kept her up to date on the operations of her vessel and her people, and an opportunity to study Earth before venturing out.

  The special com Syra had installed gave her images of Earth. These were channels designed to entertain and inform. She could also monitor everything around her not just from her pod but using Ohtron too.

  He was fully charged before he was released upon her landing and images up close all around her started to feed in. She immediately set up a perimeter with her shroud that would keep any curiosity seekers out.

  Syra had Ohtron secure her area; he was efficient and was done before she could complain he was taking too long. This was part of Ohtron’s programming and he was capable with those extended arms to handle many types of duties efficiently. They could easily be retracted as well.

  With Syra now using Earth’s time as a reference, she had a lot to adjust to. However, she was completely baffled as to why anyone would play with time such as daylight savings time. There was no daylight saved and thus that was a silly concept to her she thought.

  Back at the Zhian Sphere, the Zhian Council was well-pleased with the area Syra had chosen. Zerk immediately began calculating a place the sphere could land and not be seen. It would be critical they not alarm anyone in the area upon arrival. It was far too soon for that and they needed a secluded safe spot.

  Just to err on the side of caution, a portable replicator was installed in Syra’s pod and a restore pod. Extra crystals were added to power everything in case she would be here from some time before her Zhian Sphere could meet with her.

  Syra’s pod was very efficient. She could literally live out her days in it and never want for anything. It was designed that way in case of a crash landing. Her pod was virtually impenetrable!

  As time went on, Syra would spend some days outdoors receiving a little of Earths sun. It would take some time to adjust to that and there was much work to do to prepare for travel to areas more populated when she was ready to blend in.

  Meanwhile, Ohtron found an abandoned vehicle and recorded its schematics. He would have it replicated once he got back to camp just in case Syra needed a vehicle to operate outside of her pod.

  If it were not for all those miniature Ohtrons called Bitrons he had released from his underside, he would not have found the vehicle in the first place. It had been so well covered in overgrowth and would not have been a good sample for replication in the near future.

  When it was later mentioned to Syra, she insisted Ohtron replicate it.

  Syra could drive just about anything if you put her behind the controls, but this thing called a Jeep was insane, she thought.

  She spent much of her time learning to drive the thing so that when she went out exploring, she would be able to blend in with other Earthlings.

  It was a good thing Ohtron did not have human feelings! It was not long afterward that Syra saw that this form of transportation would simply not work. It was more of a physical workout than anything else Syra thought to herself. She could not even give it demands, it was as dumb as talking to a rock, she thought.

  After traveling more than a trillion miles to Earth, she was not about
to travel far in that thing! She understood the hour in Earth measurements of time and when she calculated the 55 or so miles per hour that old Jeep could do, she estimated it would take her far too long to reach the areas she intended to research and quickly gave up on her Jeep. If only it had been her pod in camouflage it would have had all the perks.

  That evening several hours after Syra retired from her long exhausting day of shifting gears and being jerked about, Zee10 sent her a text message on her private channel she had been waiting for.

  Incoming new transmission. Preparing to land in a clearing adjacent to your location. Stand by. Signed, Zee10. End transmission.

  Syra knew the Zhian Sphere was struggling to maintain the shrouding between those two satellites and was glad Zee10 informed her of his arrival so they could tackle this problem together. The sphere needed to run its shroud to maintain secrecy, but her citizens needed to feel the Earth beneath them.

  Once again, Zee10 and Zerk had made the right judgment call, and Syra looked forward to their docking between those two small hills and on Earth, and not too far from her location.

  The console began sending data almost too fast for Syra to keep up with, but she read on and understood Zhian Sphere had no other choice but land.

  Ohtron frantically began scanning the area making sure the landing would be a smooth one and that there would be no damage to the sphere.

  Suddenly the wildlife in the area began to run in all directions. Ohtron knew to move slightly in one direction so he would not be crushed by the sphere and he hurriedly moved!

  The Zhian Sphere came to a complete stop and rested between the two small hills with a small valley between them for easy access to an entrance, exit, and cargo port.

  Zee10 would be the only inhabitant from the sphere to be allowed to exit and he did so immediately to greet Syra!

  Syra and Zee10 followed Ohtron so he could show them some areas they should stay clear of. It did, however, concern Syra that the wildlife somehow knew the sphere was about to land.

  How did they know? she thought. You could not see the sphere. But she would question this later and she went to work immediately to secure her Zhian Sphere.