Frada Thrak slept lightly in his rocking chair, the warm summer afternoon flies buzzing quietly about his ice-cold rhona. If you were distracted or not thinking clearly, you could easily imagine him passed away, his chair mechanism slowly rocking his lifeless body back and forth. I crept up carefully, hoping to surprise him this time, but as I came within a child arm's length away, his eyes fluttered open and he reached out, grabbing me about my waist.

"Ah-hah! I caught you again my pollo," his smile was infectious and his probing fingers proved he really was a master tickler. I let out a wild squeal of delight as he dropped me into his lap and tortured my tiny ribcage with his dusty old fingers.

He showed me mercy just before I was about to iolla myself on his lap, thankfully. He picked me up from under my arms and turned me around to face his gray, bearded face. I was trying desperately to catch my breath, and it was slowly working. "Prallo," I started between gasps for air, "you promised you would tell me a story today after my utroilu-work was done." I waited anxiously for him to reach for the dusty book he always kept by his side in his chair.

"That I did, little one; that I did," he shifted and magically brought out a gigantic book wrapped in weather-beaten gvoina hide. It was a reddish-orange color and looked ten times older than prallo Frada. He blew off the cover gently before he turned it over in his hands and set it on the arm of his rocking chair so that I might be able to see the pages. I was far too young to read, but my face lit up with excitement anyway.

He gently cleared his throat before he spoke again, "Do you know what this book is little pollo?"

My eyes were wide with wonder; I slowly nodded my head.

He chuckled softly, "I suppose you would. This is the cliente. This has our history within its dusty, worn covers," he paused to flip to the inside of the back cover. The sight of a small holographic keypad within a book as historic as the cliente was quite a shock for me to see. He quickly typed something in the keypad and turned the pages back to the first. "Today I will tell you the story of our people from when we reached the stars," he punctuated that with a tilted head towards the heavens.

"Wow," I exclaimed breathless, not from his tickling, but from wonderment.

"Are you ready for your adventure Drono Thrak?"

I nodded my head eagerly.

"Good, so am I," he grinned and I couldn't help but grin with him.

____

"First there was Levkas, our tiny habitable planet circling our yellow dwarf star Levithyon. We lived here for eons, sometimes in peace, sometimes in war. Then one day we lifted to the heavens colonized our moon, and soon the rest of our planets; well some were not worth the effort, but several were. After several dozens and hundreds of years, we discovered a star system very near ours called Burlon. Thousands of our people left for Burlon to colonize any planets that may be circling that star. That was a great relief to our planet because the population had grown so much everyone was suffering, there was little space and little resources.

"Once our people colonized Burlon, they claimed independence from us and there was really nothing our laws could do with such a great distance between us and them. So they became their own worlds, governing and ruling themselves. However, one good thing that came from this was trade. See their planets didn't have some resources ours did, and ours didn't have some resources theirs did. Great huge trading ships flew between the two systems and both of the peoples flourished in a great era of enlightenment.

"However, some people did not want to spend their resources building such great trade ships, so instead they spent them on smaller, armed ships and used them to raid those vessels. This brought in an era of piracy that to this day has not gone away. In spite of this, more star systems with planets were discovered, and people from our world chased after them all. In fact, the most recent star system we have discovered is Delanneous Sigma Vimptus. Do you know how long ago that was discovered?"

I poked my chest out proudly, "Seventy-five years Prallo." Every child in utroilu knew this by heart.

"That is right little moior, that is right," his gentle chuckle filled my ears and my soul with warmth.

"But there is something you should know," he leaned in close to me with a finger centimeters from my nose.

My eyes were again wide with curiosity. "In seventy five years, do you not think it strange we have not found another star system nearby?"

My mouth gaped open and I could only slowly shake my head.

"I will tell you why Drono. When the last settlers left from Tyre in the Tyran system towards Vimptus, we never heard from them again. In fact, there has been no sign of anything or anyone that has headed towards that system in many years."

I'm sure my face was white as a graoph, what he was saying was fearsome.

"There are rumors of another race of beings who inhabit that area of space," he paused breathlessly. It was quiet as he stared into my eyes to drive what he said home, except for the gentle creaking of his chair moving slowly back and forth. "But these are just rumors, pollo. I do not believe that which I do not see, as should you."

His eyes were stern and I couldn't help but nod my head in agreement. When Frada told you to do something, you did it.

"What really keeps us from further expanding into space is the very piracy and war that exudes our space as we speak. There are warmongers out there who love nothing more than to destroy that which people have worked their lives to create. Because of this savagery and brutality, we have not been able to concentrate ourselves enough to search the heavens and discover new wonders to claim as our own.

"Even back when there was only Levithyon and Burlon, there was a man named Malcolm who was rich and powerful who hated those in Burlon for leaving Levkas. He built several gigantic ships which he sent over to Burlon with the intent on destroying anyone who was there. When he got there, no one could match his power, his bloodthirstiness, or his lust for killing, and soon they were all dead or dying. He came to be known as Malcolm the slayer for a period."

I felt my eyes water at the thought of someone so ruthless; I had witnessed other children who were cruel to the little ophalio that lived in the trees around utroilu and I thought it horrible that they would be so mean. But to think of someone who would kill other people for no real reason...

"I see you do not approve of this moior," the slightest sign of a grin pulled at the edge of his lips as he looked upon my saddened face. "That is good that you do not. But do not be sad for long, for there was hope for those who wished to rise up against Malcolm the Slayer," he saw my face brighten a bit and continued. "For once Malcolm was done in Burlon, he went came back here and continued his killing spree. But the more people he killed, the more rose up against him and destroyed his ships."

I couldn't help but spontaneously clap my hands, which startled Frada. I quickly folded them in my lap again, but I was still beaming.

"But as all good things must come to an end, as did the peaceful period without Malcolm. He rose up again like a powerful storm, a jyiad even, and struck down those that opposed him as far as his ships could fly. Malcolm was ruthless and powerful."

My face dropped again, I felt like he was toying with my emotions. Why if I had lived when Malcolm the Slayer was killing everyone, why I'd-

"But his reign didn't last forever little moior, more good people rose up in revolt against him, and with skill and cunning, they teamed together to bring him down a second time."

Well, that'll teach him, I thought. My reaction was more subdued than the previous; it seemed he wouldn't die so I wanted to measure my excitement.

"Around this time, little pollo, there came great changes to the world as was known. Our people spread to other system like Roth, Ruith, Vjoris, Sybis and Ki, Lexxias and Tyran. And then clans were formed to provide stability and protection to their members. The largest of the clans were called Credit Union, Event Horizon and Nightbane, Principality of Zeon. The latter was the largest, but the Credit Union was the most progressive, and very peaceful. It promoted peace among the people of our system and others."

I couldn't help but blurt it out, "Did they kill Malcolm?" I was ashamed as soon as I said it, but it was too late now.

Frada looked at me with a slight shade of disappointment, "Drono, it is well you don't approve of Malcolm's actions, but he is just a person. You should always treat others as you would have them treat you."

His words stung, that was as reprimanding as Frada ever was, and it hurt my pride a little.

"To answer your question, Malcolm rose to power again, but this time his hatred was honed by Nightbane to assassinate the leader of Credit Union, Cobalt. You see, with its forward-thinking and peaceful nature, Credit Union surpassed Nightbane as the largest fleet, and with that came jealousy and hatred."

My face scrunched up with frustration. It made sense to me to kill someone for the good of others, why didn't prallo understand that?

"It was not an easy task for Malcolm, Cobalt had extremely strong ships, well defended and well respected, but Malcolm was Malcolm the Slayer after all. If he couldn't dispose of one person after killing hundreds earlier in life, he wouldn't be able to live up to his name."

I hoped prallo's next words would be that Malcolm failed, but there was no Credit Union clan, so I knew this was its fate.

"Malcolm succeeded in destroying not only Cobalt's ships, but he killed the man himself and the Credit Union was lost, disbanded, direction-less without the guidance from its leader. With this, Nightbane had no equal, and although that clan caused the destruction of another, relative peace ensued for a handful of years. In Levithyon anyway."

Little Drono heard his mother's voice calling softly from inside the house. He knew it was time to his chores, even Frada couldn't rescue him from that. He looked pleadingly at Frada who smiled gently and winked. With the wink the pages of the book went blank as a clear morning sky.

"I will read you more when you are ready little prollo. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but soon. Now go help your mother like a good man would."

Those words set deep in my soul. If helping my mother made me a good man in Frada's eyes, I would go, no question about it. He always had a way of making my frets seem trivial with respect to the bigger picture.