BS42 watched Lorne's embryo disappeared. The last thing he heard Lorne say was, "how bizarre." BS42 couldn't help but agree with him. It was bizarre. To his knowledge, nothing like this had ever happened before. Lorne should have had at least eight or nine months more time until he was reborn. ‘What species births immediately at conception?’ BS42 wondered.

"I should check the genetic material and see what's going on." BS42 realized. Earlier, BS42 wasn't in a hurry to check the parents’ genetic material. He wasn't curious at all. He had been a part of this process so many times himself, as a rebirther. Everything was so routine he thought he would do a genetics check after Lorne was squared away. Then, everything went weird.

BS42 went to the Gene Pool's terminal to check the genetic information. He ran the genetic scan and compared it to all of the genetic profiles for native species of the Empire in the database. Surprisingly, there were zero matches.

"Interesting," BS42 thought. It would seem either the Prince found a species within the Empire's Multiverse borders that was as yet undiscovered, or he was in a new universe. Either possibility was exciting. New things often brought big benefits.

‘Let me check the size of the Karmic Chord that brought us here.’ BS42 thought as he called up new data on the computer. The data completely shocked him. "12.37kcs!"

"I've never heard of a kcs that high. The most I've ever heard of was one at 3.8 kcs and that was a monster who accrued good karma for three hundred million years. There's no way Lorne has a kcs this high just from protecting the earth. I wonder if I would get anything if I tried the karmic tracker." BS42 decided to try the Emperor's latest invention. This technology was still a work in progress and the problem was a lack of data. It's like having the tracking technology for fingerprints but a database containing zero fingerprints. The technology works, but it lacks input.

As BS42 expected, nothing came back. ‘What were his nephew's previous incarnations like to accrue such a strong kcs reading?’ This needed to be reported. However, if they were in a new universe he wouldn't be able to report to the Emperor until they found their way into a universe in the Empire's territory.

Now, BS42 was really curious about Lorne's new mother and father’s genetic identity. BS42 went to the computer bank to do another workup to help identify the genetic material. This time he ran both samples through a database of known species from other universes the Empire previously encountered. There was an immediate hit on the father. However, nothing came up on the mother. "This means, the mother is a totally new species the Empire has never encountered before!" BS42 was extremely excited. Lorne's father was renowned not only for his strength but also for his brilliance at inventing new technologies. BS42 was a renowned scientist in his past life. His specialty was genetics and new species integration. If anyone understood the importance of the discovery of a new species it was BS42.

After reaching this conclusion, BS42 turned his attention to the father's species information. As BS42 read the information his face went from shocked, scared, excited, scared, and finally to puzzled.

"I don't know if this is a good thing or a calamity," said BS42.

* * *

Once matters with the Usurpers were dealt with, the Emperor and Empress immediately left the Earth system on their Imperial Warship. Lorne's human companions were never looked at by the Imperial couple. They just left. The three people weren't sure what to do. They also remembered Cosmic Monkey was somewhere. Honestly, all three people were numb. Nothing went as they expected. From the near instant death of Lorne to the horrible deaths of the Usurper Army executed by none other than Lorne's father. A person who turned out to be very much still in charge of his Empire and in no danger for his life. Was this whole thing just some plot hatched by Lorne's father the Emperor?

They weren't just shocked but terrified as well. This Empire was not only capable of wide-scale destruction through their physical powers, but the Emperor demonstrated an ability to trap and torture souls. The Emperor told them from the beginning there was nothing they could do before the power of the Empire. He wasn't joking. If there was one thing they learned today it was ‘Do not mess with the Empire.’ All three humans looked at each other and nodded their heads. The collective knew, from instinct, they were at the mercy of the Empire. Whatever it commanded would be done.

After a little over an hour, the Zug warriors flew up to the humans.

"If you don't mind, I think we should talk. Let's head back to the Emperor's Satellite home. He informed me we could use it as needed. He and the Empress left for Zimwer and have no plans to return to Earth." Zug Crisos said as he smiled. The three humans vaguely smiled back and nodded. Zug Crisos grabbed General Brady and Big Time, while Zug Impendia grabbed the Pretty Pugilist. The group of five people returned to the Jupiter home base nearly instantly.

The three humans were escorted to the War Room and sat at the table. The Zug pair gave the humans a stoic look. Suddenly, Zug Impendia smiled as she looked to the Pretty Pugilist.

"Hello, my dear, the Empress asked me to have a chat with you about an opportunity in which you might be interested. Could I bother you for a private chat in another room?" asked Zug Impendia.

The Pretty Pugilist looked at her two companions and both of them shrugged their shoulders. Darwina didn't know what to do either. "Ok." She said simply.

With that said the Pretty Pugilist and Zug Impendia went to another place in the house. Meanwhile, Zug Crisos continued to look unflinchingly at General Brady and Big Time. Big Time was uncomfortable. He realized these members of Lorne's race were capable of destroying him with a harsh breath. He was nervous. In spite of this, he did his best to sit where he was with as confident a presence as he could manage.

"You gonna kill us? If you are could you get it over with? I just hope you don't put us in one of those soul balls," the General suddenly said.

Zug Crisos was surprised but laughed lightly, smiling at the General.

"You're pretty bold for a baby," Zug Krisos said.

"Listen, son, I'm nearly seventy years old. I should have retired a long time ago, but the government keeps bringin' me back to deal with all these fancy pants. I don't know how old you are but I'm pretty sure the baby here is this one next to me, little kid Big Time." The General said pointing at Big Time.

"11,357,583," said Zug Cristos.

"What's that your phone number? Listen, son, I'm flattered but I'm an old man, but if I were a young man I would only be interested in getting phone numbers from women," said the General. It wasn't clear if he was trying to annoy this Zug or if he was just being himself.

"It's not my phone number. It's my age, you asked me how old I am. I am eleven million three hundred and fifty-seven thousand and five hundred and eighty-three years old. From my perspective, you can see how I consider a seventy-year-old man like you a baby.

"Did you just say you're more than eleven million years old?!" The General gasped as he asked.

"Let me ask you a question, General Brady. Would you like to be immortal?"

***

In the home theatre room, the Pretty Pugilist and Zug Impendia were having their own conversation.

"What is your name dear?" Zug Impendia asked.

"The Pretty Pugilist," Darwina responded.

"Really, that's your name? When the Empress told me your name I was baffled but I guess that's really your name. Do your friends call you Pretty or Pugilist?" Zug Impendia asked.

"My friends call me Darwina." the Pretty Pugilist said.

"Why would they do that if it isn't even your name?" Zug Impendia said a little confused.

"It is my name, they're both my name," Darwina said.

"I don't get it, sweety," Zug Impendia said.

"On Earth, there are people called superheroes. We have two names, the name we were born with and the name we use as superheroes." Darwina explained.

"It is your warrior name." Zug Impendia seemed to understand.

Darwina was about to disagree with her but realized the way she put it made sense and made explaining things much easier. "That's correct, it's my warrior name. Lorne's warrior name was the Invincible Hero," Darwina said sadly.

"Was the kid so full of himself to give himself such a bold name when he was so weak?" asked Zug Impendia.

"He didn't give himself that name we, the humans, did. To us, he was invincible,” Darwina said as tears formed in her eyes.

"Hey, why are you so sad sweety?" Zug Impendia asked.

"Why am I sad? Why aren't any of you sad? Why didn't his parents cry for him when he died? Are they so heartless the death of their son doesn't mean anything to them?" Darwina asked.

Suddenly, Darwina sensed a movement coming at her, she dodged something and then grabbed on. It was an arm. Zug Impendia attacked her. When she looked at Zug Impendia, her face went from furious to shocked. "How did you block me?" she asked.

"It's my power. I have a combat ability allowing me to learn fighting skills and adapt them to my use. I can even imitate superpowers. Now, why did you suddenly attack me?"

"It is only natural I give you a slap for saying such things about the Emperor and Empress. You even wrongly accused them of not loving their son," responded Zug Impendia.

"What's wrong with what I said? He died, and they didn't even shed a tear for him." Darwina barked out tears flowing from her eyes.

Finally, Zug Impendia understood something. These humans didn't know Lorne was still alive.

"He's not dead," Zug Impendia said.

"What? Who's not dead?" Darwina asked.

"The Prince, Lorne, he's still alive. He's just training," said Zug Impendia.

"That man disintegrated him. I saw him do it," Darwina said.

"Hold that thought," Zug Impendia said as she held up her finger. She seemed to look back to the place from where she and Darwina came. After a few moments, she turned her attention back to Darwina.

"That was a trick. Even the Prince didn't realize he wasn't going to die. He knows it by now, but at the time he didn't understand his parents had prepared for his departure," Zug Impendia said.

"His departure, to where?" Darwina asked.

"His next life, he should be in the process of reincarnating now," said Zug Impendia.

"How is that not being dead. You can only reincarnate if you are dead!" Darwina screamed at Zug Impendia.

Zug Impendia wasn't upset this time. "Little sister you must control your temper. Maybe to you, reincarnation is dying but to our people, it's just part of a process of growing stronger. The best part is the Prince will be back soon," Zug Impendia said.

Darwina was really excited. "Soon, how soon until he returns?!"

"I don't know maybe a million years or so," said Zug Impendia.

"WHAT? A million years! Are you out of your mind! I'll be long dead and buried in the ground by then.” Darwina yelled.

"Not if you're immortal. If you are immortal a million years will seem like nothing," Zug Impendia said.

"That doesn't help anything, maybe Lorne is immortal, but I'm not," Darwina said.

"Would you like to be immortal?" asked Zug Impendia.