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"I'm afraid so," Daryus confirmed.
"You have been looking for an angle to rid ourselves of the Cryons," Garth argued.
"I have, but the implications… If we had proof, definitive proof of gross misconduct, like the Cryons attempting to extract our DNA, that they experiment on an intelligent species"—he gave me an apologetic look—"then we would have cause to take this to the GTU and might be able to persuade them to force the Cryons to release your planet."
"That will take time though, won't it?" I asked.
Daryus nodded. "Trust me, I'm not immune to your plight—your people's plight—but there is nothing I can do without endangering my empire."
I believed him, but I wasn't ready to give up. "Can't you just pressure the Cryons to give Earth up?Like sanctions or something?"
This time when Daryus looked at me, he truly looked at me. "You are more intelligent than I gave you credit for, my apologies. How advanced is your species?"
I swallowed and recalled parts of my prepared speech, even though the words came out more jumbled than I had intended. "We are advanced enough to have planes. And we were just beginning to explore space. We have robots bringing us data from other planets in our system and—"
"Have you stopped warring among yourselves?" Daryus interrupted.
I lowered my head and shook it. "No."
"Do you speak a unified language?"
Again I shook my head. "No."
"Not very advanced then," he said, but not judgmental, more resigned. "Your people will never amount to anything until they unite as one species and share their ideas and inventions with one another."
He was right. And we were paying the price for it now.
"Even if the emperor talks the GTU into interfering with the Cryons' war on you, I'm afraid Earth would become the price that would be stripped and divided between the races declaring war on the Cryons," Daryus added quietly.
"That doesn't mean it can't be us," a newvoice boomed.
A tall, muscular Pandraxian entered. His cape billowed behind him and he wore the uniform of the Imperial Forces, except his was decorated with gold emblems on his chest and he wore a wide, golden belt around his waist.
Next to him was a human woman, who looked ready to do battle.
"Xandros, when did you return?"
"Just now," the newcomer said, and I gathered that he had to be the head of the Imperial Forces, Commander Xandros Callicapos. Garth had told me about him.
"The slimy bastard slipped through my fingers and I figured he would be on his way here."
The human woman by his side and I exchanged curious glances. She too was dressed in the uniform of the Imperial Forces, but I figured that it was probably because of lack of clothing just like it had been for me.
"They are using human females to extract DNA from men throughout the universe," she spat.
"They tried their tricks on me," Xandros fumed.
Garth clapped him on the shoulder. "Welcome to the club, brother." Only to receive a withering glare from the woman and Xandros.
I burned to ask her if they had used her too, like me, and given her the aphrodisiac, but I kept my tongue in check. This wasn't the place and I didn'teven know her name.
"This is Lieutenant Ashley Whitton," Xandros introduced.
"Why is she wearing an Imperial Forces uniform with imperial insignias?" Daryus demanded in a booming voice.
"Because I offered her a position in the Imperial Forces as a liaison between us and the humans," Xandros replied.
"Why would we need a liaison?" Daryus wanted to know suspiciously.
