FSE

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This is the personal Journal of Tseeq as edited by the original author to be used as a teaching aid in history lessons for Sky Island Colony students. Text considered by the author to be unnecessary to accurately and completely convey the events described in this journal has been removed for clarity and brevity. Such edited passages are noted in the text. The full journal record is available in the historic archives under "Tseeq's Journal". Note that Day 1 is the first day after being released from the hospital after Tseeq was banished to the underworld.

Day 1. Write. I write. I write well. I write better. I write every day better. I write to learn. Voice say learn. Voice say learn new words. Voice make write. Voice make write every day ... [Remainder of journal entry deleted by author for brevity.]

[Author' note: days 2 through 4 removed by author for brevity.]

Day 5. I can write. I can now write a sentence well. My writing is better every day. Voice teaches me writing. My name is Tseeq. I obey Voice and practice writing every day. I must learn to read. Voice helps and teaches the words. Writing helps me learn to read. Reading helps me learn to write. Voice says I am fast at learning to read and write. Priest training to serve the Great Mother taught me picture writing. Voice says letter and words are similar ... [Remainder of journal entry deleted by author for brevity.]

Day 6. I am dead. Voice says I am not dead, but I am dead. This is underworld. Voice agrees this is underworld. Underworld is Faoi. Faoi is for the dead. I must be dead. I was put in water pit. Water pit leads to Faoi. Faoi is for rule breakers. I am a rule breaker. I am dead in Faoi. Voice makes me write every day as punishment for breaking rules. I write all day. Voice say Faoi is not a word. This is Faoi.

I beak rules by loving Xoshta. She is a daughter of chief. Loving her was gwahardt. Voice says must define new words. Gwahardt means do not do. I do gwahardt. I break rules. I must die by word of Chief. Chief say I must die even after I reach puhakoda. Puhakoda means safe place. I did reach safe place. I should live. Chief break rules of puhakoda and put me in water pit. I die. Now I toil in underworld for all time.

Voice still says I not die. Voice does not know Faoi. How can voice be ruler of Faoi and not know the name. Voice say punctuation needs work and use of possessives and articles. I must practice basics more.

I am dead. This is Faoi ... [Remainder of journal entry deleted by author for brevity.]

Day 7. Voice says that I did not die and showed me where I was found and where I was mended. Dog found me. Voice says Dog is not alive. I say Dog moves around and must be alive if I am alive. Voice says that is not so. I learn more new words. Dog is a machine. Dog is a robot. Voice says Voice is a machine but not a robot. Voice is a computer. I do not understand. Voice says Dog and Voice and everything in our world including the world we live on and the sun were all made by tesserax. Voice says I am tesserax. I told voice that I did not make the world or the sky or the sun. These things were given to the people by the Great Mother of us all who gave us life. Voice said there is an embryonic lab that may be what I think is the Great Mother. Voice will show me Mother tomorrow if I am good and practice my reading and writing all day. I will write and read more ... [Remainder of journal entry deleted by author for brevity.]

Day 8. Voice led me deep in the underworld. I thought Great Mother cannot be here. Great Mother is in the sky or on the sun or anywhere but here. Voice did not answer. Voice just led me through Faoi by making underworld have light in front of me and dark behind me. I had to go where Voice showed or I would be lost in the dark. I feared my soul would be trapped in the dark forever. I feared Voice was the deceiver.

Voice did not trap me, but what it showed me could not be Mother. The place I saw was filled with things that Voice had to name. I do not understand these words. Cryogenics. Embryos. Artificial womb. Accelerated growth media. Glass. Incubator. There were many more words Voice made me learn. There were live things growing in the glass in the growth media. Could this place be Mother? Voice says yes. I say no. We argued. Voice took me back to the writing room to learn more.

Voice doesn't know but on trip to Mother is another room with yellow sunlight, not white like underworld light. I will skip lessons tomorrow to go investigate if I can find my back through the dark.

[Author's note: there were no journal entries for Days 8 and 9.]

Day 10. Voice is mad at me. Voice sounds the same as always, but it is mad. I found the outside beyond the underworld and saw the sun and sky. A door opened for me so I could go out. I felt the real air. It was good. I think I believe Voice. I think I am alive. Dead people should not feel so happy to see the real world. Outside was all smooth metal, as Voice names it, like inside of underworld. Beyond the metal was sky, clouds and sun, just like what is past the edge of the world above. In the far distance I could see the faint shapes of some of the other lesser worlds. In the real world above, you cannot go past the edge of the world. The air pushes back if you try. From the underworld, I could reach out past the door and fall into the sky if I was not careful. There was rope made from an underworld material with yellow and black threads with yellow straps that I could loop about my arms, legs and waist. I put it on. I thought I could climb up the side of the world to escape the underworld, but when I went out the door I floated. I did not fall. There was no up or down, I drifted like a bird out away from the world with only the rope to keep me from being carried away on the light wind.

I should have been alert for dragons. We see them in the skies over the world. They never land on our world but they fly above it sometimes. The same push from the edge of the world that we feel must keep them out. That push was gone in underworld. I was saved by the shadow of the dragon on the side of the world. I pulled on the rope before it hit me. It still hit me, and tore into me with its claws and teeth. The rope pulled me and the dragon inside. The dragon did not like the inside and left. I was hurt bad. I was sure that this time I would die for real.

I woke up in the hospital, as voice calls it, again. Voice tells me I should not do again what I did. I must listen and learn and not find danger. There is much danger in the underworld. I am sure now that I am alive and not in Faoi. I felt great pain and there was blood. The dead do not bleed. That is known.

Voice says Mother, the bioincubation lab, is growing a dragon for me. When it is ready, I will fly to the other worlds to find pieces for Voice to make Voice whole again. The thought of having my own dragon made me happy. I promised Voice I would not go outside again until I have a dragon. Voice says I need weapons too and will show me how to use weapons tomorrow.

Day 11. Voice had me train with weapons. I thought weapons would be like the people's weapons. With weapons like Voice's I could rule the world. A stream of liquid fire comes out of the long stick, plasma rifle as Voice calls it, when a small dimple is pressed. The ballistic pistol throws balls of metal that put holes in things. Voice says both weapons will kill dragons. I believe Voice. I tell Voice I will practice with weapons every day. Voice approves. I am happy.

[Author's note: days 12 - 15 removed for brevity.]

Day 16. Voice says I must write about things to get better at writing, read about things to get better at reading and train with weapons less. Much of what I read I do not understand. Voice says I will. Until then, I write about myself and my people for practice. Voice says I am tesserax and must call myself tesserax. Fine. I am tesserax. We live on the surface, above the underworld. There are many of us. Too many, and there is not always enough food. We have strict rules about making kits so there won't be too many to feed. We call our rules gwahardt. The Chief and the priests decide who will be paired and have kits. Males and females are kept apart to prevent mating unless paired. Males may do mating acts with other males and females may do mating acts with other females if not paired. This is allowed and encouraged. I do not like doing mating act with males, so I broke gwahardt and mated with a daughter of the Chief. The Chief has many kits and can mate any time with anyone. I was caught because Xoshta and I made kits. Xoshta is female and is now fat with kits. I am male, so when kits are born, I will carry them in my pouch and nurse them until they are weaned.

Breaking gwahardt means death always unless you reach the safe place called puhakoda before you are caught, then the Great Mother forgives you. I ran and made it to puhakoda, but the Chief was so mad at me for making Xostha with kits that I was put down the water hole anyway. Most water on the surface flows into lakes, but some streams flow down bottomless holes to the underworld. Water falls through, but people cannot unless lowered very slowly. That is what they did to me. I was lowered slowly past the barrier, then they let me go. I fell far, hit something and woke up in hospital where Voice says that Dog dragged me.

Thinking of Xostha and the kits makes me sad and worried. My pouch is getting more ready for the kits every day. My nipples are beginning to swell. I asked Voice to let me go to the surface to bring Xostha to underworld. There is food down here, and we can raise kits here. I miss Xostha and want to see her again. Voice says no.

[Authors note: there were no journal entries for days 17 through 21.]

Day 22. Voice is mad at me again. I took food and water and hid for several days where Voice could not talk to me. Voice sent Dog, but Dog cannot talk. Dog tried to push me back, but I climbed up out of reach and Dog just stared at me. I cried. I cried for Xoshta and the kits. I only came back when I ran out of food and water.

I yelled at Voice for keeping me here, away from my family. Voice says I cannot go to the surface and it is not Voice's fault. The controls for access are broken and Voice does not have the power to fix them. I asked how the people and animals got from the Great Mother to the surface. Voice says that happened automatically when radiation levels became acceptable. Voice could not stop the Bioincubation lab from making life and sending it to the surface. I worried that my dragon will go to the surface. Voice says now that I am here. I can stop that. I have hands and can learn to use controls and change the programming and processes. I can do what Dog cannot. Voice says that I am a tesserax so I must become master of this world and act like tesserax.

I must fix the world if I want to go to the surface. I don't know how to fix the world. Voice says it will teach me, and that I must keep learning so I can fix the world. I will fix the world if that is what I must do to have Xoshta with me and have our kits in my pouch. I promised Voice I would be good and learn.

[Author's note: entries for days 23 through 28 deleted for brevity.]

Day 29. Voice took me to the ghost room. Voice said ghosts are holograms. Voice admitted they are not alive, so what is the difference? They are people who are not alive. That makes them ghosts. Voice said they are my ancestors. They are tesseraxes. The ghosts look like my people. They have fur, and pointy snouts with large ears on top of their heads and long, furry prehensile tails. The ghosts have fur of many colors. One who talks about how dragons are made looks like me with large green eyes, a black face mask, light gray fur and a ringed tail. He is older than me. Where I am only seventeen seasons, he had gray on his muzzle and may have been forty or fifty seasons. I wondered if that was how I would look when I am older. He said his name was Daffyd, and he showed me his pouch kits. They were beautiful. That made me cry again.

My ghost ancestors wear things that cover much of their bodies and hide their fur. I am naked. Voice never gave me back my loin cloth after I was in hospital the first time. I asked Voice if I can wear what my ancestors wore. Voice said yes, I may wear clothes when I am ready for the mission.

The ghosts talked to me and told me the true history of my people. It was different than the story the priests tell. I like the story of my people. Voice says for practice and to remember, I need to re-write the story in my journal, so here it is with many words that the ghosts used that I don't understand.

The teseraxes built the bubble colony to travel and explore the galaxy. Galaxy is all of the stars. Not all exactly, some things that look like stars are other galaxies. Our world is one of four hundred islands spread equidistant from each other around a central fusion reaction that my people call the sun. The tesseraxes learned to harness gravity. Voice and I argued over what gravity is. Voice says it is not just what makes you fall down, but that is how I think of it. Gravity exists on the islands to keep us on the ground. Gravity holds the sun and the air in their places. Night is simulated by the night disks that circle the sun and move in and out from between the sun and the island worlds.

Nearly 10,000 years ago, a star exploded near our world not long after the bubble colony had left to explore the galaxy. They called it a supernova. To try to save this bubble world, our ancestors moved all of the night disks to surround this one island from the radiation, which is bad light. It worked somewhat. All life on the surface of all islands was destroyed. Voice was badly damaged and does not have the power to repair itself. The bioincubation lab was fortunately shielded enough, that it could make new life from seed stored there. The people, us tesserax, were created from that seed and released to the surface with other animals for food when the bad light had gone away.

Voice said the sun needs to be refueled. This has not been done for 10,000 years. If not done soon, the sun will fail and our bubble colony will die forever. Voice says that it is fortunate that I was put down the water hole in the recycle system and lived. Voice's robots do not function except for Dog, and Dog cannot do what needs to be done. Only I can, says voice. I must learn more about how to repair Voice and the machinery that makes other machines. I am studying quantum circuits, voltage, current, logic controllers, and other strange words and ideas so that I can find and fix what Voice needs. When Voice is whole again, Voice can repair the world, refuel the sun, and the people can be free to expand to all the islands. There will be no more hunger and no more rules about how many kits we can have. We will be able to be tesserax again and explore the stars

I would like for Xostha, the kits and I to have our own island away from the chief and priests and their rules. I swear an oath to Voice that I will obey Voice, learn, and train and save the world. I will not break this oath no matter what. It is the only way I can save my family.

[Author's note: entries 30 through 44 are primarily technical notes and study exercises and were deleted for brevity.]

Day 45. My training continues. Voice said that I could read, write and comprehend well enough that I do not have to maintain this journal anymore. I will maintain this journal anyway as a record for my family if I survive and save the world. I have less time for writing because Voice is teaching me all of the knowledge that I must have when I go to the other worlds to find the needed hardware that will make Voice whole again.

[Author's note: entries 46 through 61 are brief and recount mundane activities and were deleted for brevity.]

Day 62. I have learned much about operating this world that my people built. I know what Voice needs to become whole again and how to fix the parts if they are lightly damaged. I have fixed some of Voice's functions already. Voice can now see the surface and so can I. Voice has eyes, called cameras, everywhere. I saw Xostha. That made me cry tears of happiness. She is getting big and looks like she will have kits in a couple of months. I have to be there when the kits are born, or they will be given to someone else to father. If that happens, I will lose them forever. Voice says the mission is on schedule. If I am successful, I should be back in time before the kits are born. This news gives me hope to go on.

My dragon is to be hatched on journal entry day 85. I have seen it growing in the glass incubator. It is beautiful. When it emerges, Voice assures me that it will bond to me and not attack like wild dragons. I am continuing to learn about the hardware Voice needs and how to test its functionality with the tools Voice has given me.

[Author's note: for entries 63 through 80, same as previous author's note; no journal entries for days 81 through 83.]

Day 84. Voice told me days ago that I had learned all I needed to know to be successful on the mission. I have been exploring the underworld to learn my way around its many hallways and rooms. After I save the world, I will be a true tresserax. I will have to know how to navigate this world that I, and my people will rule. I also wandered so I would not watch the video feeds of Xostha growing bigger without me. Watching her makes my pouch ache. I spent a lot of time looking out the window where I was attacked by the dragon. Voice told me this is where I will launch my mission on my dragon. I like to look for the other islands, which are faint dots in the distance. They show up better at night when the stars come out. Night is especially beautiful. Voice gave me new names for features in the night sky that explain their origin. The colorful clouds are nebulae where stars are born in swirling clouds of gas. The great egg shaped disk that we use to mark the turning of each year is a neighboring galaxy, which is another island of stars like the one we are traveling in. Understanding the true nature of everything is exciting. I am going to enjoy being a tesserax.

Day 85. This was the best day of my life only to be eclipsed when my kits are born and delivered to my pouch. My dragon was freed from the birthing chamber fully grown. I made sure I was the first thing it saw when it opened its eyes. I named it Quick Feather because I hoped it would be the fastest of all the dragons. Voice said this should be so, since it is genetically perfect and unharmed by the radiation. It was designed by the tesserax for speed and endurance. The wild dragons are mutants birthed from radiation damaged embryos on other islands according to Voice. My dragon is not a mutant. My dragon is beautiful. She has huge membranous wings and gleaming silver and copper scales. Feathers that shimmer and glow with every iridescent hue cover her head, neck and down her spine and tail. When she licked me affectionately with her long black tongue, I knew she was mine.

Voice said it will take about two days for her wings to dry and harden enough for her to fly. Voice's command to spend all of that time in her company to bond with her is a command I will gladly follow.

[Author's note: entries 86 through 87 were deleted for brevity.]

Day 88. I took Swift Feather to a special room at the very bottom of the world below the gravity generation field. Dragons were designed and bred by the tesserax to fly in the zero-G environment beyond the islands. They can land and take off from the edge of the islands, but are not strong enough to do more than glide in the gravity field above the islands. In the zero-G bubble beneath my island, we could practice flying safely together. Voice told me where to find a special harness and a flight suit to wear while flying on her back.

I have no words to describe the experience of soaring, banking, diving and the aerial acrobatics that we performed. With the flight suit on, I looked just like the ghost tesserax who taught me about dragons. I believe now that I am truly a tesserax. Swift Feather and I fly like one, learning how to communicate with our bodies and subtle touches. I can only compare my intimacy with Swift Feather to what I felt with Xostha when we mated. I can write nothing more on this subject. It makes me melancholy.

[Author's note: entries 89 through 96 were deleted for brevity.]

Day 97. Today, Swift Feather and I leave Island 47 as Voice calls my home. I have the equipment for testing circuits, robot motors, factory logic controllers, and everything on the list that Voice needs. Voice warned me that we will likely have to search many islands to find everything to complete our mission. We have food and water for the trip. It will take dragon a little more than a day to make the entire distance of nearly 350 miles that separates all of the islands from their nearest neighbors. It will be the same when we continue on to neighboring islands.

Voice gave me a portable computer to keep my journal. It also has maps and other information on the nearby islands, and everything I need to know to complete my mission in case I forget any of my training. I want to fly over my world so Xostha can see me on my dragon, but Voice says there is no time. I agree with Voice. I cannot be selfish. The kits and all my people are dependent upon me.

[Author's note: Entry 98 deleted for brevity; there were no entries for days 99 through 101.]

Day 102. Voice was right. It took Swift Feather nearly two days to reach the first island. We were attacked by a flock of dragons as we tried to land. I shot as many as I could with the plasma rifle. Hitting a moving dragon while riding on a moving dragon is hard. The training that Voice gave me helped. I managed to kill several and wounded a few more, but the rest overwhelmed us. Swift Feather was badly injured in the fight and we had to land on the surface of the island, and we came to rest in a tree. It was easier to aim the rifle while stationary in the tree, and I managed to kill or drive off the rest.

Swift Feather stayed in the tree. I don't know if she will survive. I treated her wounds as best I could with the medical supplies Voice gave me. I climbed down to begin searching for an entrance to the underworld using the map Voice supplied. It would have been easier coming in from below the same way we had left my home island. I could have avoided the bad people.

They attacked me as I was walking along a stream that the maps showed would lead me to a water pit. All the other entrances would be shut with doors too thick and strong for even my plasma rifle to penetrate. The water pit was my only way to the underworld without my dragon. I doubt that with her I could get below without being attacked again by wild dragons, and Swift Feather was not fit to fly again for a while; if ever.

Voice had warned me of the possibility there might be people, but I was still not ready. They were like tesserax except that they were hideously deformed. The disfigurements and abnormalities were too numerous to mention and in some cases too horrible for me to recall without becoming ill. The milder deformities consisted of extra vestigial limbs, or missing limbs, asymmetric faces, dwarfism, gigantism, hunchbacks, and club feet. I refuse to describe or dwell on the worse aspects of their differences.

I killed many. They were determined and I had to run away or be overwhelmed. By running I escaped, but fell off a ledge and twisted my ankle. It was too sore for me to walk on, so I crawled into a densely vegetated hollow to hide.

A deformed boy found me. He was naked so I knew he was a boy. His deformities were mild. His tail was just a stub. He had three fingers and a thumb on each hand instead of four fingers and a thumb. He did not have a pouch. I tried to shoot him, but the rifle was empty. When I tried to get the pistol out of my pack, he disappeared. I couldn't move away. I was exhausted from the long dragon flight and running from the bad people. I could not stay awake forever and eventually passed out, fully expecting to be murdered in my sleep. To my surprise, I awoke, and I was not in Faoi. The boy was back. He had brought me food and water. I felt both gratitude and pity towards him so I did not try to kill him again.

[Author's note: days 103 and 104 deleted for brevity.]

Day 105. Boy learns quickly, and I have taught him the rudiments of our language. He indicated his name is Pik. At least that is the sound he makes when I point at him. For all I know, it just his way of saying 'boy'. My ankle is now well enough that I can walk again. Boy seems to understand what I am looking for, and is eager to lead me there even though I already know the way. He led me by a different and longer path. I suspect he had me avoid something unpleasant or dangerous. I am grateful for his assistance if that is so.

The water pit was where the computer map showed it would be. I had plenty of the special underworld rope to make the long descent down the smooth shaft. I secured it at the surface as Voice taught me by drilling a hole in the surrounding concrete and sealing it in place with a quick drying epoxy. I attached the rope to the harness and connected the safety fall arrestors as Voice had taught me. When I began to descend through the hole I, was surprised by boy jumping on my back. I can't explain why I risked the mission by letting him come with me. I think some paternal instinct compelled me. My pouch was ready for my kits, and he seemed very small and helpless.

[Author's note: no journal entries for days 106 and 107.]

Day 108. I spent two days exploring the underworld of island 73 and testing parts and components that might be of use to repair Voice. I had some success, but voice had been right about needing to explore other islands. I became despondent. My dragon is lame or dead. Even if it could fly, it would take too long at this rate to find all of the things that I needed and get back in time to fix Voice and see my kits born. I did not cry, because I am not giving up. I swore to Voice that I would complete the mission, and I am determined to do it no matter long it takes.

I have to admit that the joyful solution to my problem was not found by me. The mutant boy did it. Pik stayed close to me during my exploration and testing of parts. I think the underworld scared him, at least at first. He would wander about on his own, though, when I spent hours running diagnostics on circuits and other components. It was during one of these long testing sessions that I heard a roar and a loud crash from far across the large room in which I was working. I turned off my potable light so that I could see the dim glow of Pik's light in the distance. I was angry that he might be damaging valuable parts and was ready to reprimand him until I saw what he had found. It was a skycycle. Voice had many of these, but none of them worked. That is why Voice made the dragon. This one by some miracle of the Great Mother worked. Pik probably thought I was trying to kill him when I hugged him tightly and kissed him on the snout. I was happier than I had been since Swift Feather hatched.

The computer told me that a skycycle could cover the distance between islands in two hours. The machine was in disrepair but I had the tools to fix it. The diagnostics showed me that its energy levels were drained. It was solar powered, so Pik's light had given it enough energy to lurch forward from under the pile of debris where it had been mostly buried.

[Author's note: no journal entries for days 109 and 110.]

Day 111. I found everything of use that this island has to offer. I am still missing about half of the parts on my mission list, so I will need to visit more islands. I am confident with the repaired skycycle I can complete the mission in time to return, make Voice whole and be reunited with Xostha before the kits are born. I decided that I am going back for Swift Feather no matter the risk. She has become a part of me the way Xostha, the kits and even Pik has. I feel that we are all a family. I blame the quickening of my pouch as the cause of this foolish sentimentality, but I see no point in saving the world if I can't save its worthy inhabitants.

The skycycle has weapons, and I was able to recharge the plasma rifle by scavenging from this islands energy systems. I spent all day yesterday training Pik to alternately fly the cycle and practice with the weapons system. He was much better than me with the weapons, so I will be the pilot when we depart today. I was careful to show him a picture of Swift Feather that I had taken with the computer before we began our mission. He understood that she is a friend. We also found a trailer for the skycycle that will hold all the mission essential hardware I found and Swift Feather.

Day 112. Pik was a natural with the skycycle's plasma cannons. None of the wild dragons were able to get within ten wingspans of us without him turning them into a writhing, flaming meteor. I was so preoccupied with piloting the cycle and searching for Swift Feather, that I did not count how many were killed and how many flew away. I suspect there are very few dragons left on that island. I was overjoyed to find Swift Feather alive where I had left her. She licked my fur when I hugged her. Pik was frightened at first, but let her lick him, too, after he saw that she was not eating me.

Voice was upset that I wasted time rescuing Swift Feather, but was happy that I had a working skycycle. I should explain that the sound of Voice never changed when it was angry or happy. These may just be emotions that I assigned to Voice out of my own desperate need for tesserax companionship. What Voice actually said was, "It was not advantageous to use time to recover the dragon. Another dragon can be hatched from the Embryonic Lab if necessary. The recovery of a working skycycle makes the dragon unnecessary. You did well to repair the cycle and to bring the mutant boy. He can be put to work and trained to begin repairs while you recover the rest of the needed hardware." I see now that I have written Voice's words down, that there is no emotion in them at all.

Nevertheless, Voice and I argued over many things. I insisted that dragon be healed in the hospital, though Voice wanted her destroyed to not waste resources. I was not going to leave Pik behind and face more dragons without him at the weapons controls. I only relented because Voice was able to show me how to make the weapons work automatically and assured me that this automated system would be better than Pik.

[Author's note: journal entries for days 113 through 132 deleted for brevity.]

Day 133. I have completed the material gathering part of the mission. Pik has been busy while I was gone, and is nearly as proficient as me at diagnostics and repairs. All of the hardware form island 73 was in place and functional before I returned. Voice estimates it will take eight days for the two of us to repair and install the remaining hardware.

Swift Feather is fully healed. After a pointless argument with Voice, dragon and I flew outside for a few hours and even circled high over my island. With the telescopic flight goggles, I was able to see Xostha, though I am sure the barrier that kept me out made me too far away for her to see us as anything other than a dragon. She was very fat with the kits. My heart soared believing that I still had time.

[Author's note: journal entries for days 132 through 140 deleted for brevity.]

Day 141. Voice was correct again. All hardware is in place and functional. The automated manufacturing facility is working. Raw materials are being converted to parts for assembly to make robots that are necessary for repair tasks that Pik and I cannot do, primarily for safety reasons. Voice will have control over access to the surface in three days. Access from underground and control of the island edge barrier are linked and will be restored at the same time.

I explained to Voice that I am going to the surface on Swift Feather's back. Voice disagreed, saying that I should go among my people on foot from below so as not to startle them. I told Voice that I am tesserax, and that Voice will do what I tell it. I told Voice to shut up, and it did. I am truly a tesserax now.

[Author's note: journal entries for days 142 through 143 deleted for brevity.]

Day 144. I landed in the Chief's village on Swift Feather. Pik flew the skycycle to cover me in case there was trouble. Everyone scattered and hid at my appearance, including Xostha. I was afraid that Voice had been correct, and I had done the wrong thing. When Xostha saw me and ran into my arms as I shouted her name, I knew that I was right. What does Voice know about tesserax?

The Chief was not happy that I had returned, especially now that I was more powerful than her. She tried to have her warriors kill me, but Pik fired the plasma cannons at them, being sure to kill no one as I had ordered. That display and Swift Feather's deafening roar, drove them all away to hide like little girls.

I explained what I could to all who would listen regarding the true nature of our world. The priests were aghast and urged the people not to listen to my heresy. I used the broadcast system on the skycycle to make my voice louder than anyone else, and drowned the priests out. I offered anyone who wanted to leave the Chief and her rules a chance to come with me to a new island. Most were too frightened, but some got in the skycycle trailer and left with my family; my complete family.

Day 159. This is my last journal entry. My kits, one male and one female, were born and placed into my pouch today. This is the happiest day of my life. We have made island 73 our home. Xostha is the chief of all of the people who came from our home island and the mutant tesseraxes that could be tamed. Voice is training tesseraxes from our old home to repair the other islands and sending them with parts and robots to make them all ready for habitation again. It is nice to be rid of the restrictions on mating on our island. Xostha and I are already working on making our next set of kits. We shall repair this world, Xostha, I and the other tesserax. As I write this last entry, I look up at the night sky knowing that our race will not perish and our kits and their descendants will complete the original plan for our kind and explore the galaxy.

[END OF STORY]