The sat in silence for a few minutes. Lidda decided to push her doubts aside for now and tried to accept that, like it or not, she had been part of this since birth. "The Ring is trying to get rid of this evil thing? How?"

Reddge answered. "First you have to understand the magnitude of the problem. These larger ships have the knowledge of hundreds of worlds and the technology of all the ages at their command. Their personalities may number in the tens of thousands with a staggering number of cumulative abilities and skills. They are powerful beyond your imagination. They are for all purposes each a god unto themselves and to the planets they adopt."

"That's mind blowing. Has Earth ever been visited by aliens?" Lidda asked. "Well, before you guys came?"

"Yes. Your legends and myths lead us to believe other ships may have been here in the past, but more importantly there was an attempted takeover. A dark force came here centuries ago which we believe is connected to the same evil source we are fighting. Fortunately, a guardian ship with the galactic alliance discovered it in time to help. The guardian partnered with a group of monks to thwart its power and destroy it. We simply continued the alliance with the brotherhood when we arrived and formed the Ring.

Lidda wriggled about in their chair to face Reddge. "I still don't get it. If this thing is so powerful, how could a single ship and group of monks take it out. Why hasn't it destroyed Earth already?"

"Good question," Reddge replied. "A planet such as Earth could be taken over before it could put up a struggle, but it was only a small probe which came here. Our predecessors barely escaped and tried to destroy him by casting him and his ship into a black hole. The plan failed and he has managed to survive but is still trapped at the center of our galaxy for now. We have been trying to find a solution before he manages to break free. The demon appears to be capable of duplicating himself, making smaller copies from the original ship which he can jettison into space. By sending out these probes, he is attempting to build an empire by gaining control of other ships and worlds."

"Why would such a being want a planet at all?" Lidda shuddered at the thought and wondered how long before the big ship might arrive.

"Well, it isn't for a change of scenery," Casra said. "I can't fully describe how horrible it is. The demon assimilates personalities, absorbs, and controls the totality of whatever they were. He can vaporize metal and solid stone." Casra stood up and circled her arms in a wide circle. "Poof!" Gone. He consumes or destroys everything in his path and in so doing grows ever stronger,"

"Why do you think you have found the solution here?" Lidda asked.

"We have a plan." Casra spoke softly as she continued. "We are talking about a battle Lidda. A battle between good and evil."

Reddge spoke then. "Yes. A battle for our very souls. We must destroy this evil entity and prevent him from gaining control of the entire galaxy. Who knows where it could all end?"

"There's more you should know," Casra said and looked to Reddge. "I think my brother could best explain it."

"We have found a way to perhaps to fool him and infiltrate the demon's fleet. If we can learn more about his tactics, we may be able to strike him from within before he can free himself and gain more control," Reddge explained.

"You're leaving out one important detail, Reddge," Casra added with reluctance in her voice. "The evil we must confront is, or was, Reddge's father, Jejliard."

Lidda gasped, not sure what to say. "I can't even imagine... that's so horrible!" She hugged Reddge tightly and could feel the tension in his body.

"It hardly matters at this point. My real father is dead. It all came about when we were trying to escape a nuclear war on our home planet, Beldora," Reddge explained. "It really started before we went into space when we were still human. My father began to change while we were preparing to leave. He was a trusted and brilliant scientist. No one fully realized what was happening."

"Did he go mad?"

"It would be a credible explanation if it had happened years into our journey," Reddge said. "Space is an empty void. When the ancients learned to convert a human personality into a crystalline life form and the physical body was lost, they discovered our humanity was vitally connected to our mortality. It fades until over time until your very soul turns to dust, if we even have souls anymore, There is no purpose to sterile existence. Nothing to strive for. You can create any illusion of life you wish, but nothing is truly there. No real pain or hunger, no joy or grief, no love..."

"So you could go quite mad. But where did the malevolence come from? Just because you're crazy, doesn't make you evil?" Lidda couldn't imagine what would cause a person to change so radically.

"We aren't sure what happened exactly," Reddge continued. "One theory is that he suffered a contamination from an unknown evil lurking on the alien spaceship we had acquired. Whatever the origin, it eventually possessed him. If he wasn't mad to begin with, whatever is left of him certainly is by now."

"We are trying to reproduce a copy of Jejliard. We are going to fight him with himself." Casra explained.

"You are the plan, Lidda." Reddge looked into Lidda’s eyes as he spoke. "You and I together can create this weapon. I should have told you sooner, but I didn't know how to begin to explain all this."

"Wait a minute. You and I?" Lidda jumped up from the chair. She could feel her anger rising again, spiraling out of control. "You want to create a copy of your father. You mean a child, don't you? A child that will be a copy of him."

"Yes." was all Reddge could say to her.

Casra got up and placed a hand on Lidda's shoulder. "I know what this looks like. But we must try, if not with you, then another. You were engineered to carry half of the genetic material that when combined with the other half carried in Reddge will recreate his father."

Lidda was beyond tears. She had just begun to trust the Tolsuns again and now had to doubt whether anything about their friendship or Reddge's affection was genuine. Could these alien creatures truly experience human emotion, or was it all an act? She was furious. "You have both manipulated me from the day we met. Say it isn't true."

Casra nodded affirmative and Reddge hung his head looking quite miserable.

"Why couldn't you just make what you wanted in the genetics lab?"

"We aren't that far advanced yet. Someday perhaps we can. For now, we are fortunate just to be able to sequence the DNA. We still need mother nature's help in creating life itself." Casra said.

Reddge spoke slowly and deliberately. "I never planned to fall in love with you. It was to be an invitro conception, admittedly with or without your knowledge. But that all changed from the moment we met. I would like nothing better than just to love you, marry you and live a normal life Lidda. You can't imagine the joy I felt the first time I felt real sunlight on my face for the first time in centuries. but it pales compared to the joy I feel when I am with you. Please believe that I love you, but a normal life isn't possible for me until this is resolved."

Lidda was shaking inside and didn't trust her legs to hold her up any longer. She found another chair and collapsed into its welcoming depth desperately hoping this was a dream from which she could awaken.

"I admit this is why I'm here, why I ever came to this planet," Reddge said. "I can still remember who my father really was. I can't leave him to this existence. I can't let him go on destroying and killing eternally even if it means I have to destroy him as well."

Lidda sat wordlessly and tried to think past the fog of her emotion. She seemed to be getting control of herself and she could feel the presence of Widhbo on the edges of her mind. Of course, Widhbo again, trying to steer her thoughts. She remembered she could use telepathy and so spoke only to Widhbo. "Who are you helping, me or them?"

The answer was quick to come back. "I'm serving you Lidda. You wanted to control your emotions did you not? Should I not help you? I have tried hard to stay out of the conversation. It is not my place. It is your decision. I believe in free will."

"So, you are not suggesting to my subconscious that I help them?"

"No, I'm not suggesting anything. I will tell you that I have seen Reddge's father in his demon form. I may be an alien posing as a rock, but I have the capacity to feel fear. If you should want my humble opinion, I think you should help to destroy this evil. One chance is all we may get. We don't know how long it will be until he breaks free."

Jolted by Widhbo's sudden insertion into her thoughts, Lidda forced herself to consider the situation objectively. She knew he was intelligent but had just seen him as a computer. Now she knew Widhbo carried copies of others inside his circuitry and had interacted with many other humans over the years. He definitely had a personality of his own which felt as real as any she had met. Her definition of what makes one human was expanding rapidly. The lines were getting blurry.

An uneasy acceptance was settling over her. "I guess whether I like it or not, this is the reason I exist on this planet too." If she would admit it, Lidda was fascinated with the alien technology and the possibilities of what future she might be able to forge with Reddge and their future children. It was beyond terrifying and at the same time, if what they said was true, the only way she could secure that future was by helping them. Her DNA was abnormal, a ring structure, and Lidda would not be able to procreate with any normal human.

Casra and Reddge were waiting patiently for her response.

"You are a little bossy," Lidda said with a smile slipping into her voice.

"What?" Reddge asked.

"You are!"

Casra managed a laugh. "Yes, admit it. You are, Reddge."

"I'll want a prenup on that. No bossing me around." Lidda said. She got up from her chair. Reddge met her halfway in a strong embrace.

"Whatever it takes to make you happy," Reddge said. "Tell me where to sign and you can fill it in as we go."