Explanation

"I don't understand it at ALL..." Shildy muttered as she stared at her meal tray.

"What don't you understand?"

The voice startled her out of her thoughts, as she looked up to gaze at the lavender-haired teenager who wore the uniform of a Communications Tech. "Oh - hi, Catty. Have a seat and join me?"

"Thank you." Catty said as she set her tray on the table and slid into a chair opposite Shildy. "So what is it that you don't understand?"

Shildy toyed with her food as she responded. "That thing we have in the Isolation Ward. It says that it's not a Paranoid spy, but it won't answer simple questions about why it looks the way it does. It claims that there were two million people inhabiting the inner planets before we used the System-Destroyer, but there are no records of any Solnoid colonies being established here. And it seemed to actually get upset over the loss of that many in battle – it's as if it doesn't realize that we're in a war for our very survival here, and that losses are necessary to ensure that we prevail!" She chose to keep the part about how those statements had affected her own resolve to herself.

Catty broke eye contact with Shildy for a moment, her golden eyes darting to one side. "That... does sound rather odd. Would you mind if I tried talking to it? I know it's not my department, but I'd like to see if I can expand my skills to include dealing with prisoners." She lied.

Shildy considered the request for a moment. "Well... I guess that there's no harm in trying. Just be careful in how you deal with it, because it can be somewhat," she paused as she sought for the appropriate word, "disconcerting."

Catty smiled at Shildy. "Thank you. I'll be sure to stay on my toes."

Marcus sat on the floor of the room he was in, legs crossed and eyes closed, when he heard the door behind him slide open. "I told you before, I'm not going to answer any of your questions." He noted without moving.

"Excuse me, may I come in?"

The politeness of that simple inquiry compelled Marcus to open his eyes and turn his head to the speaker – a teenager with purple hair cut to shoulder-length. "Isn't that a rather odd request to make, given that I'm your captive?" He observed with a cocked eyebrow.

"Perhaps it would be, if I thought of you as a prisoner." The girl replied as she walked over to a panel on the wall and pressed a series of controls. "We can talk freely now – I've locked the door and shut off the monitors. My name is Catty, by the way."

Confused by this turn of events, Marcus decided to see where this went. "Nice to meet you, Catty. My name is Marcus."

Cattys' eyes widened at his statement. "You... you have a NAME?" she blurted, "How can you have a name?"

"Well... yes, I have a name. My parents gave it to me when I was born."

Catty shook her head. "But, I don't understand – did you somehow manage to retain the memory of your past after the contact point was implanted? That wasn't supposed to happen! According to the Plan..."

"Hold on a moment." Marcus suggested. He noticed that her knees were shaky, so he pulled a couple of chairs out from the wall and set them so they faced each other. "Have a seat, and tell me about this 'Plan' you just mentioned."

Catty slumped into the chair with a sigh as Marcus sat down opposite her. "The Species Unification Plan – it was devised years ago as a way to combine our two races into a more peaceful third race. So far, though, there has been only one successful combination – and it was only partly so. When I heard about you, I began to hope that you might be the success we were trying to attain, but it seems that I was mistaken. The contact was supposed to eliminate any past memory, so the new form could start fresh. Now, it seems that the entire effort is doomed to fail, and we'll lose everything!" She covered her face with her hands.

Marcus grew more confused as she explained all of this... but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel sorry for the young girl before him. He leaned forward as he used one hand to pull hers away from her face, while lifting her chin with the other. "Take it easy, and slow down," he said in his most reassuring voice. "What do you mean, you will lose everything?"

"This war has taken so much from us," she told him. "With these new System-Destroyer weapons, it's only a matter of time before both our races are wiped out. We wanted to try and preserve some part of ourselves – something that would carry on after we were gone – and this plan was our last hope. But with nothing to show for it but failure after failure, it's going to be abandoned."

"But... how could it have gotten this far?" Marcus wondered. "Surely you've tried negotiating a settlement by now, haven't you?"

"I... I don't understand," Catty stammered. "What is that?"

"My people have had their differences in the past, and that sometimes led to conflicts. But we learned that most of the problems arise from a lack of understanding on the part of those involved. If you take the time to actually talk to one another, you can figure out what's causing the conflict and work out how to deal with it. This approach has gotten us to the point where we haven't had an armed altercation for hundreds of generations."

Catty beamed as she considered what Marcus had just told her. "Oh, what a WONDERFUL idea! I don't know WHY someone hasn't thought of this before!" She jumped out of her chair and turned towards the door. "I can't WAIT to tell the others that you're going to help us put an end to the war!"

Marcus stopped her before she could take a step towards the door. "Now, hang on a minute there! I'm a scout-ship pilot, not a mediator – I don't have the kind of training that task requires. I wouldn't even know where to START!"

Cattys' look of hope quickly became one of despair at his words. Marcus noticed this, and an idea came to him. "But I DO know how to reach those who WOULD. We need to get to my ship so that I can send a message to my people – they can SEND mediators and get things started."

Her hopeful smile returned at his suggestion. "Come with me," she said as she offered him her hand, "we should have a clear path to the landing bay." She pressed some buttons on the control panel and the door slid open. "We'll have you to... SHILDY!"

The exclamation startled Marcus, who was pushed back into the room as Catty backed away from the trio at the door – Shildy, the one who had tried to interrogate him earlier, Amy the flustered med-tech, and another girl with rust-coloured hair.

Shildy glared at Catty. "What do you think you're doing, locking the door? And just WHERE were you going to take this creature?"

"Ummm... well... you see, I..." Catty stammered, but could not continue.

Marcus put his hand on her shoulder. He smiled as she looked at him worriedly. "It's okay, I think it's time I explained what's going on." He turned back into the room and motioned the group to follow. "Come in, and I'll tell you my story." Once the trio entered the room, Catty closed and once again locked the door.

"My name is Marcus," he began, "And I'm not one of you..."