When Jeff finally heard the firm tread of his father’s footsteps in the hallway, he didn’t wait for a knock. He opened the door and watched as Rod entered with a thin laptop with the words Special project only.

“Thought McGennis and Conners would never leave,” Rod said as he opened the laptop and turned it on. “Nice to have help on Tessa’s playhouse, though.”

Jeff nodded in agreement. The two men, former military teammates of Rod’s, had shown up at a good time, their lighthearted laughter and bantering easing the intensity heavy atmosphere left behind by Rod’s cryptic request that Jeff not hate him and Gwen too much.

Rod put his face in front of the camera and set his fingers on the keyboard in a certain way. “Facial recognition confirmed, fingerprints confirmed.” came the feminine voice of the computer. “Actually,” he began. “It’s good this came up tonight. Do you remember what I said about some kind of move being made soon?

Jeff nodded.

“Steve and Jer didn’t stop by just to help with my domestic deadline. They brought some rather unsettling news.” Rod didn’t elaborate. Instead, he clicked on a specialized Icon, and more security protocols popped up.

“Wow, that’s a lot of security, Dad,” Jeff said, eyes wide.

“We put in a lot of false trails for the WSA to follow. They’ve never even got past the first layer content to read any spin we give them.” Rod explained as he scrolled threw some files.

Jeff gazed at his father in astonishment. Rod spoke as though he and some associates were at odds with the World Security Association, as though WSA was a hostile organization instead of the peace-keeping force Jeff had always been told it was.

“I’m not a spy if that’s what you’re thinking,” Rod chuckled. “Nor do I consider WSA an enemy since we’re basically working for the same thing, earth and its defense. Our people just go about it a little differently, that’s all.”

Jeff wondered why Rod kept saying, “our people.” What sort of powerful group could trump its nose at the World Security Association like that? Had the Thrans voted him an honorary alien or something.

Rod gave the computer one last verbal order, then keyed in another code. A moment later, the computer demanded. “Prepare for a Retina scan.” Rod stared at the tine red lat in the middle of the screen as a light flashed briefly. He then flattened the computer as a tri-di star map erupted from the center of the screen. “Our galaxy,” Rod murmured. “Earth’s right here. He touched a spot near the edge of the projection. Then he moved his finger toward a dense cluster of stars closer to the center. “And here is the star that warms a planet called Thalles.

Jeff nodded. “Thalles, where the aliens came from over a century-and-a-half ago.”

“You know your history well.”

“How could I miss that?” Jeff snorted. “Our only alien contact ever! It would be hard even to doze over in history class, especially considering what happened.”

Rod put his hand on his chin and raised his eyebrows questioningly. “Oh? Which event do you mean? As I recall, lots of things happened during the contact.”

Jeff glanced over to where his dad was sitting on the edge of his bed near his desk, where the laptop still had the star map blazing. “The Thallians took a girl back with them. They wanted this one particular girl. When she agreed to go, WSA let them take her. Also, several Thallians stayed behind and marred some of our people. That’s where that snobbish Thran group came from.”

Rod chuckled. “Typical public high school education and prejudices! There was more to it than that. The WSA would have been hard-pressed to stop Detri from going one Prince Axime explained why she was needed.”

Jeff stared at his father. “Dad, you sound as though you knew them personally.”

Rod shook his head. “That was 180 years ago. Do I look that old?” Rob gave the computer a verbal command.

What Rod was about to do was brutal, but there was no way around it; no easier to break things to Jeff. “I do know a great deal about them, of course. I’ve made it a point to study by Thallian relatives.” Rob paused and let that sink in. He didn’t blame Jeff for looking staggered. It was a lot to hit the kid with.

“You’re saying we’re Thrans?” Jeff gasped. “Is that what you were hinting at earlier.

Rod toyed with a slender pen he’d picked up from Jeff’s desk. “Yes and no,” he said slowly. “Here, let me start and the beginning so I won’t leave anything out.”

He directed Jeff’s attention to the family tree now projecting from the screen and abruptly plugged on. “You’re right about one thing; the WSA does call us Thrans, a semantic cross between Thallian and Terran, I suppose. For the past hundred years, we’ve even been calling ourselves that.

Rod pointed to the top of the chart. When Axime took his Terran bride home, his sister, Princess Kayleen, stayed behind to marry Rodney Carlisle, an ancestor of mine. Several Thallians from the ship’s crew stayed on Earth as well. Later several shiploads of people came from Thalles and joined them to establish a colony.”

Jeff took a deep, shaky breath. This was almost beyond belief. He and his family had Thallian blood running in their veins. They were part of that “snobbish” select group of intellectuals he had grown up despising. Jeff shook off the numbness he felt and forced himself to think. His family was somewhat unusual, but he had never expected anything like this!

Then the details of the chart caught his attention. His eye traced the lines down to his father and the other side of the tree, to his mother. They were distant cousins.

But wait!

Only one line was drawn from the two of them, and it went to Tessa’s name. Jeff searched, and his name wasn’t on the chart at all.

“I don’t understand.”

Rod looked grim. Either Jeff would accept this, or he wouldn’t. Either way, he had to be told. “You’re not our natural child,” Rod said bluntly, glancing at Jeff for signs of a reaction.

Jeff went perfectly, still in shock. After a long moment, he took a deep, ragged breath. “So I’m not of this blue blood line here? He asked in a hoarse voice. “What am I then? Some kind of stray you and Mom, I mean Gwen felt sorry for and picked up from an orphanage one day?”

Rod snorted. “Cut the drama, Jeff! We’ve got no time for you to crate tragic backgrounds for yourself. If having the so-called blue blook is all you’re worried about, then you have nothing to worry about at all.” He hit a key, changing the picture on the computer screen.

Jeff frowned as he saw his one face with the label. Direct Descendent of His Imperial Majesty, AXIME MIQKUEL JEFRON ALEK RICHARD, age 18.

Jeff swallowed hard and could say nothing Confusion clouded his shocked mind.

“Nothing to say?” Rod asked softly but not unkindly.

“But I’m not even in the family tree! So how?

“You’re not in Princess Kayleen’s line,” Rod said. “Think Jeff. What does it leave?”

Jeff stared hard at the picture up on the screen. “He came back!” Jeff exclaimed. “Emperor Axime came back to Earth.”

Rod shook his head. “No, Axime did not come back to Earth. He and Detri were too busy defeating their enemies and establishing their empire.” He paused. “Before you ask, they had no children here on Earth, nor did any of their offspring come later.”

“Here, perhaps this will help. Here is a picture of Axime when he was your age.”

Jeff swallowed as the picture came up next to his own. They looked exactly the same. “Think Jeff.:

Jeff had been thinking. And with a firmer voice than he thought possible, he scowled. “A clone! That’s it, isn’t it? Your people kept frozen cell from that… Thallian…” He swept a hand toward’s Axime’s face on the computer screen. “...Kept them and used them to make me!”

When Rod didn’t answer, Jeff gritted his teeth and cried out, “That’s right, isn’t it? You used cells from HIM to make me!” Jeff fought back tears of anger and horror as he demanded an answer.

Finally, Rod nodded. “Yes, you were made directly from Axime’s cells. However, it’s not as bad as you think.”

When Jeff sprang to his feet and slammed a fist into the nearest wall, Rod did not try to stop him. Nor did he interfere when Jeff sank onto the edge of his bed and remained in a stunned daze for a long time.

Finally, Rod took a deep breath. “You should know why we choose to tell you now.”

“Jeff, today, a WSA military intelligence agent tried to kidnap Tessa. If Steve hadn’t seen what was happening and intervened, she’d be in one of their labs right now, and I’d be trying to find out which one.”

Jeff drew in his breath in a hiss. “WSA tried to kidnap Tessa? Why?

“They know her background, her heritage if you wish. And of course, they know your mother’s and mine.”

“And that I’m a…” Jeff shuddered, then forced himself to say it. “A clone.

“No, they know nothing of the sort,” Rod said, moving closer to Jeff, who had sat back down on the far side of the bed. “They only know you’re adopted and think they know your ‘deceased Terran Biological parents’.” Rod half-smiled. “We fed their computers a real sob story about your background and how we were moved by compassion to adopt the scrawny, slightly-backward infant of a couple of lab janitors killed in a work-related accident.”

“Were there any such people?” Jeff asked.

Rod shook his head. We invented it all. We had to do some pretty detailed work to genetically account for your black hair and eyes of that particular blue. Fortunately, Thran's hair is varied, though our eyes are not quite so deep a blue as yours. Also, WSA has never seen a full-blook Thallian.” Rod smiled. “You’re sort of our secret weapon.:

“Against what?” Jeff snapped as Rod’s words brought back the horror and hurt of the past few minutes.

“Against the RiaZan,” Rod said calmly. He moved back to the computer to project another simulation from the screen. Black, spider-like creatures about six feet tall appeared in full 3-D horror. “Note the head,” Rod instructed. “Sort of like a bulldog with shark's teeth.”

“Carnivorous,” Jeff murmured, interested in spite of himself.

Rod nodded. “Yes, they consider most humaniods to be food animals. Fortunately, Thallians, thanks, and a few other races are poisonous to them. Pure blood Terran,s Bergan,s and most others are not. They also eat one another when a death occurs, or famine exists.

Rod touched the computer screen and put the star chat back up. “Their worlds are right here, between Thalles and us. Their empire includes at least forty plants, thee quarters of which are slave worlds.

“What does that have to do with us or with Tessa nearly getting kidnapped?” Jeff's shock was slowly replaced with curiosity. His father, who had been eyeing him carefully, nodded at the change of tone in his voice.

“Just this.” Rod touched a key, and an arrow-like line moved from the RiaZan Empire, curved slightly, and headed for Earth. “Do you get the picture?”

“Invasion?”

Rod nodded. “The Zan are definitely on the move this way. They’ll make a couple of raids on worlds they’ve hit before, but that won’t slow them down much. Unfortunately, WSA’s MI division learned about it and are scared spitless by what they’ve learned. “

Rod took a deep breath, “That particular branch of WSA doesn’t trust us much, but they realize that our latent psionic abilities may be at least part of the answer to the RiaZen threat. Undoubtedly, it’s why they wanted a Thran child for test purposes.

“You see, WSA keeps good records and has a long memory. They don’t know specifically how it is done, but they know there's a way to unleash psi power. Of course, they’ve kept that information from the public. There’s no mention in any Earth history programs of the fact that Axime and Detri used highly developed, phenomenally strong psionic power to drive an alien invasion from Earth. The only thing WSA didn’t know at the time was the identity of the invaders. They’ve found that out only recently.”

“The RiaZan,” Jeff stated. “You said Axime and Detri fought them?”

“Yes, but I’ll get back to that. It’s time you learned that things aren’t as bad as you think.” Rod closed out the star chart. The word ‘clone’ bring rather bad images to your mind, doesn’t it?”

Jeff clenched his jaw. “It’s like a nightmare. I keep hoping I will wake up and find this is all a bad dream.:

Rod raised his brows, prompting Jeff to elaborate.

“It’s demeaning!” he continued angrily. “To just be a copy of someone else, a shadow of something real!”

Rod opened another file. “What if you were to learn that’s not quite the case? What if I were to tell you that you are unique, different from anyone else? Would you feel better”

“But we just established that I’m a clone.”

Rob smiled and shook his head. “You’re the one who jumped to that conclusion,” He paused. “Since a clone is a literal duplication of another person, it would have been virtually useless to us, even if we had wanted to do such a thing. Axime alone didn’t have much power. At eighteen, the age you are now, he was still immature and underdeveloped, as the men of his world are at that age. Thallian males don’t mature as young Terrans, or Thran males do. He was mature when he came here but was in his late twenties then.”

“Even so, he didn’t have the mind power he needed to fight the RiaZan at the time. He had the potential, but that was all it was potential. To make it a reality, he had to find and join his mind psionically to a mind that perfectly matched his psi power and what we call “Kefta wave length’. But it has to differ in polarity. In other words, males have Kefta waves of one polarity, while females are always the opposite. Sort of like the positive and negative poles of a magnet.”

“Anyway, Detri’s mind was a perfect match for Axime’s. It was a shock to the people of Thalles to find a mind mate for their ruler to be on Earth, but Axime didn’t let that slow him down.”

At Jeff’s look of interest, Rod smiled. “The story of how Axime found Detri and persuaded her to go to Thalles with him is interesting, but we don’t have time for that now. You need to understand exactly who you are.”

Rod opened the file on the computer. He leaned back so jeff could see the chromosomal schematics of his beginning. “To put it as concisely as possible, you are Axime’s offspring. Notice I said offspring, not clone.”

He pulled up a simplified diagram. “We took a cryogenically stored egg cell of Detri’s and replaced most of the genetic material inside it with Axime’s, then fertilized with a sperm cell from Axime. The only thing of Detri allowed to remain was that which influenced the development of certain latent thallian traits and the chromosomes that would trigger earlier physical development.

“So you see, in some respects, you are Axime and Detri’s, child. But only in some respects. Most of you, the parts that count, are from Axime. You came from the reproductive cells that he and Detri had the wisdom and foresight to leave behind, cryogenically preserved.

When Jeff said nothing, Rod continued. “In a broad sense, it was Aximes’s gift to Earth for giving him Detri. He knew Earth might someday need the special kind of defense that only someone like you could provide. Axime feared that the Thallians who stayed behind wouldn’t be enough, and he was right. All Thran tacticians agree we must have at least one pure blood Tahllian of Axime’s direct lineage to defend this planet adequately.”

Rod paused. “You are that Tahllian. Detri’s influence didn’t alter that. You are no of Earth, not even a Thran.”

Rod waited a moment for Jeff to grasp it all, then continued. “When our Intelligence reports indicated new expansion by the RiaZan, we knew that the empire built by Axime and Detri 180 years ago was weakening. It was obviously time for us to get busy.

As Rod turned back to the projection, the years fell away like a veil. For a moment, he relived that glorious event he was about to describe to Jeff. “We were very selective choosing the genes to use to ensure you got the best Axime had to offer. Add the best influencing genes from Detri, and there you were.” Rob couldn’t help but smile at that point. “We watch you grow in the lab for a few days; then you were up into the kind of environment babies like best.

Still, Jeff said nothing. So Rod switched off the screen and turned to give him his full attention. Gwen and I had married a year earlier. We were very young. You can't imagine how surprised and happy we were to be chosen as your parents.”

Again Rod smiled as he remembered. “Gwen wouldn’t hear of you being left in the hab, in an artificial womb, to develop. She carried you herself and gave birth naturally. Scientist though she is, Gwen would scratch the eyes out of anyone who so much as suggested you’re not as much hers as Tesse’s is.”

“Jeff’s intensely blue Thallian eyes studied Rod. “What about you?” he asked cautiously. “Now that I know about this, would you rather I called you by something besides ‘Dad’?”

Rod got to his feet and pulled Jeff to him for a rough hug. “You do, and I’ll personally see you learn that new wrestling hold Tage was talking about the hard way. I’ll be stronger than you for a bit longer anyway.