They made their way to the elevator and got on. Linda said,

"This thing is huge."Denise replied,

"When Pogo and I were looking around we found treatment rooms for beings that are 3 or 4 meters tall as well as wide."Aleerin moved to the control panel and spoke,

"Question: Which floor/level do we go/descend to?" Christine said,

"Sub-level 13, that is where the experiment took place." The elevator took no time at all. The doors opened and they looked into pitch blackness. As soon as someone walked off the elevator, the lights came on. It was hard to tell where the light was coming from. The walls were crystal and just seemed to give off a pleasant glow. Once there was light they could see a double door in front of them and a couple of smaller doors off to their right. Denise lead the group up to the double doors and they opened with an ominous swishing sound.

Yalp said,

"It is amazing that all these things still work after all this time." Denise thought about that and wondered if Union of Sol technology or any of the other stellar ring nations technology would work. The thought quickly passed as they walked into what seemed to be a large reception area.

Most of the group did not even realize that behind the desk was a window into another room. That room was full of black rock with gold veins running through it. The shocking thing was the size of the area. It was probably at least ten times as large as the one on Penates. It had more protrusions and the floor was uneven; with holes in some sections. Aleerin said,

"Statement: this is/must be the super computer." Looking around the room they could see there was no way in. Denise looked around, but all that was in the room was a table and a chair, and some benches. She said,

"Let's try those other doors."

They moved out of the reception area and down to the first door. It was locked. Denise motioned for Aleerin to see if he could open it. His fiber optic hair made it's way into the panel. Denise noticed a great deal of concentration on his face, but the door slid open. Denise looked at Aleerin and said,

"Are you all right?"

"Statement: yes/affirmative. The security/protective measures are much better/stronger here." Denise looked at the young Mechalus and realized she knew nothing about what he was doing. She asked,

"Is that dangerous?"

"Statement: yes/affirmative. If I/myself do not get control/dominate computer, it could be reversed/turned around."

"And the computer could dominate you." Denise said. Aleerin nodded his head yes. Denise then said,

"Well, I don't want you doing that anymore." Pogo intervened at this point.

"Denise, you cannot ask that of a Mechalus. It would kill him."

"OK then you monitor him every time he interacts with a machine." Pogo smiled at the Mechalus, then nodded to Denise.

Denise was the last one into the room and to her surprise, it was empty. The room was a sterile white and that was it. There were no doors or furniture. She turned around to leave but there was no door there. She asked,

"Ok people, check all the walls and see if we can find another way out." They turned back around to do it only to find the inside wall was now gone and they were in with the super computer again. They all moved towards it. Pogo had a hold of Aleerin's hand and Denise could see he was comforting the boy. Moving around was difficult as there was protrusions and depressions everywhere. Eventually the group made it to what looked like the middle of the room.

Once they were there they all started looking around but all they could see was the black rock with the gold veins running through it. Denise turned to Aleerin and gave him a nod. The small Mechalus walked over to a protruding section of rock and let all his filaments flow out and into the rock. Denise then looked at Pogo and saw he was watching the young boy very carefully. Allerin seemed to lose himself in his thoughts. He even closed his eyes so as not to be distracted by any movement. They watched him this way for almost an hour and then, the golden veins began pulsing. Denise looked at Pogo again but he was still smiling. After about 10 minutes there was a flash of light that caused everyone to close their eyes. When Denise opened her eyes again, there, in the middle of the group, was a being. She had never seen anything like it before. It was tall, about 3 meters, but very thin looking. It had two long legs, two long arms and a very short body. It's skin colour was that of a new leaf on a plant; that brilliant green colour. It had no hair on its body and its skin looked as smooth and soft as the finest silk. Looking into its small black eyes gave you the feeling it had the knowledge of the universe. Instead of a nose it had two small holes above its eyes and its mouth was a small slit with two small shovel like appendages coming from either side.

Denise moved towards it and it turned to face her. It looked her up and down as if examining a new find. Then, with a not displeased look in its face, it spoke.

"You are not from the federation, but I also do not think you are from the Empire?" It then turned and looked at Aleerin as if it were communicating with him on some other level. Then, turning back to Denise, it said,

"Ah, I see. You are from one of the outer arms of the galaxy. You traveled here through the gate." Denise finally got her voice back and said,

"Who are you?"

"My name in your tongue would be ... Professor Vergus. I was working on a special project here on Tacagel II. We were just finishing testing when word came of an Empire Ship approaching. You see, we were in the middle of a civil war. A race called the Mind Ravagers had tried to take control of the federation planets. They were an evil, war-like race with very powerful mind powers." He paused briefly, as if to think.

"We must have decided to transfer my soul into the machine or I would not be here talking to you. Now I have question. How long have I been dormant?" Denise looked around to the others before replying.

"We are not sure. Have you not been helping the others who came through the gate?"

"No. You just activated me now. So how long has it been?" Linda stepped forward and said,

"We think you have been dormant for at least a million years, but with your help I am sure we could give you a better answer than that."

Everything in the room just stopped.