Part Five: the conclusion
By me, Leah
"You are going to ransom her off to the Empire? What if they refuse to pay? Her parents may indeed be dead..."
"How would you know?" a STARDOG officer named James Cody asked.
"I didn't see them when we escaped. I'm telling you, they may be dead."
"She's still the daughter of a terribly important warlord. They're the Empire. They'll pay."
Elmira was there the whole time. She was taking a nap, oblivious to the people who were busy trying to decide what was going to be in her future.
The remaining three of the Shank family, Bea, Caroline, and Warlord Shank, were sitting in the escape pod, sending out signals asking for help on a Spung frequency.
Then something came in on an Earther frequency. Shank chose to receive it.
An Earther's face came on the screen.
"Hello, Warlord Shank and family. We are pleased to inform you that Sorola Elmira has been retreived from your killcruiser right before it blew up. We'll give her back . . . for a price. Over."
The man disappeared. Bea hugged Caroline and started crying.
They headed toward the outpost.
Elmira was sitting on a little chair, watching the frightened refugees who fled from their planets go past. They had varying colors of skin and hair.
A young Mercurian couple stopped and looked at the young Spung girl out of curiousity.
TJ gave them a Look, hoping they wouldn't hurt the little "Ellie."
The Mercurian woman sat down by Elmira. "Hello, there. My name is Dalia Ianni. Who are you?"
"Me Sorola Ellie. You are pink. Baby in you."
It was true. Mrs. Ianni was indeed pregnant. [Author's note: If you can't follow this, get a brain. Think along the line of little pink people.]
"You're a very sweet child. Good luck to you in the future," Dalia Ianni said right before she and her husband left.
Elmira smiled at them as they left.
Another STARDOG came up with Cody and looked at the Spung.
"Goddard, see? I'm telling you, she looks just like the picture. She's not an impostor Spung princess."
Goddard leaned forward and looked at Elmira. "I'm Seth. What's your name?"
"My name is Sorola Ellie. I am 3." She held up a hand to show how old she was. "Daddy coming for me!"
"How do you know?"
"Just do. In my head. Daddy and Mommy and Carrie almost here."
Cody's eyes widened. "It's true. That's what the technicians said a few minutes ago! The girl must be a psychic!"
Goddard nodded.
"Hey, guy. Pale guy. Daddy here. Can I have candy? My Daddy here. There Daddy!"
A group of guards were leading Shank, Bea, and Caroline. Bea screamed, cried, and ran to her daughter who had been feared to be dead. Elmira smiled and calmly said, "Hi Mommy."
The Shanks paid the "bail" and left.
Once they got another killcruiser, the family was off toward the "residency," which was the code name for the Hatchlings held Hostage, the Andromedan eggs.
Warlord Shank was terribly proud of his nasty work; separating the people from their eggs was his sick little idea. Bea thought it was horrible, but she never said that herself.
It was the girls' first time there. They were completely new to all of the white round things.
One of the Spung officers ran up to Shank as they were looking around at the eggs. "Sir, the Andromedans, they're going crazy. They're rebelling. We're going to have to evacuate soon."
Shank took the microphone from the officer's hand. It lead to speakers all over the ship.
"Attention, disgusting little Andromedans. Calm down right this instant, or your babies are going to be extinguished one by one. Let me start right now. One for every minute."
Shank picked up one of the eggs and smashed it to the ground.
"Now, did you hear that? It was one of your wretched little unborn brats. Calm down, or I'll just happen to . . . oops . . . drop this one."
Shank slammed another to the ground. Little skeleton-like rat things were in there. Unborn Andromedans.
Another officer came in. "They're calming down considerably. They care very deeply about their next generation."
Elmira was looking at the eggs. She stared at one with a very close, inspecting look.
"Look, Caroline," she whispered to her twin sister, "this one's special."
Caroline picked it up with all of her young-child strength. "Let me do what Daddy did. Let it fall and turn into pieces. Cool."
Elmira immediately grabbed it from her twin sister, who frowned. "Bad, Caroline. Don't hurt..." she struggled to read its title. "...R - A - D - U."
Caroline went to whine about it to her mother, who whispered in her ear, "Those are babies in those little white things. You don't want to hurt the little babies, do you Caroline?"
"I am a baby, right Mommy? Your baby?"
"Yes, Carrie. Other mommies are off worrying about their babies right now. You don't want to hurt the other babies. That would make the mommies sad."
"Why did Daddy hurt the babies, then?"
"I don't know."
Suddenly, Shank and a whole lot of other Spung charged into the room.
"We've got to go. The Earthers have found this place and the Andromedans found out the coordinates of this room. We've got to get out now."
He picked up Elmira, and Caroline was picked up by Bea. Elmira whispered, as they were leaving, "Bye-bye, R-A-D-U. I'll see you later."