CHAPTER 1

The Voyage Home

September 20th, 2644

Kelem woke up and remembered where he was. He raised himself,swung his long legs over and sat on the edge of his bunk, his bare feettouching the deck plates of the Kren ship. He could feel the vibrationof the ship's mighty engines through the soles of his feet and wishedthat these vibrations were instead those emitted by the bodies of theDreamers. Behind him to the left of his bunk was a circular portwindow displaying a myriad of stars whizzing by in elongated strips oflight. The spectacle cast a dim shadow play on the opposite bulkheadnext to the pressure door of the cabin. He looked at the time displayon his wrist comp lying on the metallic night table to the right of thebunk, and saw that it was 11:00 AM.

He hadn't worn a wrist comp in the last six years but soon he'dbe re-entering the world of humans where time and schedules werenecessary. He had slumbered for more than twelve hours, much longerthan his usual sleep cycle. For the last week he had taken to sleepingunusually long hours, perhaps because he was depressed and saddenedby his departure from Plantanimus. He felt listless and bored but mostof all, he felt unmotivated. A kind of emotional, mental paralysis hadtaken over his mind and he suddenly wished that his old friend andmentor, Professor Nicholas Alfano, were there to help him out of thisdepressed state of mind. He realized how much he missed Anima, hissoul mate, and the deep psychic connection he had with those mightysentient plants he'd come to know as the Dreamers. His decision to leavePlantanimus and return to the solar system had been made solely onbehalf of his dear friend Ndugu Nabole. Other than himself, Nduguwas the only survivor of the ill-fated Solar Nations expedition. It wasthe first time in history that man had ventured away from his home andinto the cosmos, and tragically, it had all ended in disaster. The loss ofthe rest of the ship's complement, ninety eight crew members in all, stillweighed heavily on his mind.

The two of them had been stranded for six long years on analien planet now known to them as Plantanimus. They had resignedthemselves to spend the remainder of their lives on that world. Butwhen the Kren, a peaceful insectoid species, fortuitously showed up onPlantanimus and offered to return them home, Kelem had to make thepainful decision to accompany Ndugu back to Mars.

Ndugu was the only member of the crew that was of Terran origin,and even though he'd been granted Martian citizenship before the shipleft Mars, Kelem knew that he'd likely be blamed, at least in part, forthe fate of the expedition. Earth and Mars had been on the brink ofwar when the Solar Nations left on its maiden voyage and Kelem knewthat if Ndugu returned to Mars on his own, the shadow of suspicionwould fall on him. Additionally, the Phalanx had a price on his head,so returning to Earth was not an option.

By the time the Solar Nations left Mars six years before, The Phalanxhad pretty much taken over Earth's government and was instrumentalin creating the tension between the two planets that was leading towar. Kelem prayed and hoped that a war between the two planets neverbegan and wondered what had taken place during the past six years.

On Plantanimus, Kelem had found the peace and tranquility thathad eluded him all of his young life. His connection to the Dreamers,and especially Anima, had changed his concept of reality. Anima, whoin time became his soul mate, had been the most difficult for himto leave behind. The Queen Mother, who ruled the Kren hive, hadpromised...