Josephine was out of breath when she crested the small hill. From her vantage point, she could see huge metal pieces coming down a conveyor belt on the bottom of the Pura's spaceship. Other parts already littered the ground. Tiny little robots, the size of a child's toy car and resembling them in appearance, scurried between them. Their mechanical arms screwed in the bolts, joining the puzzle pieces to make a battlebot. Urim was telling the truth. Ixia was preparing for war. Josephine was furious. He had promised just yesterday to give the Milisarians more time to think things over. Now he was breaking that promise.

Josephine wound her way through the metal pieces in search of Ixia. He had some explaining to do. She would find a way to block his trance-inducing tones from her head. Maybe her anger would override the soothing tone, or she could make him too angry to use it in the first place. She could not let him dupe her into believing his falsehoods again.

Ixia was supervising the unloading inside the ship. It took four of the fragile Pura to drag each piece of the battlebot to the conveyor belt. This was the most actual physical labor Josephine had ever seen them perform. She imagined that their underdeveloped muscles were going to ache after this. Too bad Ixia wasn't doing any of the work. He deserved a little muscle discomfort for telling lies.

Ixia noticed her standing beside the conveyor and said, "You should not be in here. You could be injured. The conveyor has been known to speed up and fling parts into the air. You have other work to do. The injured are complaining that the stitches are itching and pulling at their skin. They fear that the threads will tear the unharmed skin. You must fix this problem."

"It's not a big problem. It means they are healing. I’ll see to them in a minute. What you're doing here is a problem. You made me a promise. You said you would give the Milisarians time to think, but you're assembling the battlebots for war. You lied to me again. I can't trust you anymore." Josephine's voice rose as she spoke. "Do you deny it?"

"There is nothing to deny," Ixia proclaimed. "I did not lie. I am keeping my promise. It will take time to assemble the battlebots, and when they are finished, they will just be guarding our encampment against invasion. We are not attacking at this time. We must protect ourselves in case the Milisarians make the decision to attack."

Josephine understood the logic in his words, but she didn't have to like it. It reminded her of the Earth's history she had studied in school. All of the larger countries had nuclear weapons ready to fire on each other. They claimed it wasn't to threaten each other, but to protect themselves from those who might attack. In other words, if one set off its missiles the other one would as well. Everyone would die. The only choices were a stalemate or planetary destruction. Ixia's plan was just as ridiculous and destructive. Sadly, she bet Urim had gone back to his ship and begun the same type of failsafe plan. How was she supposed to stop two stubborn, war-oriented males? Neither listened to reason. If they fought, would the planet even remain habitable? What kind of damage would battlebots and explosives do to it?

"Ixia, why can't you share the planet with the Milisarians? If you promise not to attack them, they might agree to stay on the other side of this world. It's big enough for both of you."

"We need every inch of the planet. If they cultivate the other half and we cultivate this one, the energy will be depleted much faster, and there will be no parts left untouched for us to use while the depleted portions regenerate. We also cannot bring our children to a world full of warriors. One false move and there would be a war, this time killing innocent women and children." Ixia was excellent at making his arguments sound logical. His intelligence was overwhelming at times.

Josephine had one more question. It might or might not make Ixia hesitate with his plans. "What about the planet itself? If there is a war between the Pura and the Milisarians, will the planet survive? Think about it. If you destroy it, where will your people go? You said it was difficult and had taken a lot of time to find this one. You're running out of energy on your homeworld. Could you find another habitable planet in time?"

Ixia replied, "I see your point. It is a regrettable chance we would be taking. However, I believe that the odds are against complete destruction of the planet. The damaged parts can regenerate while we use the rest. If we go to war, I intend to make it short and with the least effect on our new homeworld as possible. Our weapons will only target the enemy, not the land.”

"What about the Milisarian weapons? We don't know what kind of weapons they possess. They may damage the land." Josephine thought she made a valid argument.

Ixia had an answer for that as well. "It is in their best interests to preserve the planet. After all, they are here to terraform it for their use just as we are. Why would they destroy it?"

That was a good question. Josephine pondered it as she made her way through the winding hallways of the spacecraft. She found her patients scratching at their tender skin. "You need to stop scratching before you tear out the stitches or cause an infection."

"We cannot help it. The itching is driving us crazy. It feels like tiny bugs constantly biting us. Help us."

Josephine moved their hands away from the wounds and examined the skin. It was red and inflamed. There was a rash spreading outward from the stitches. "It appears you are allergic to the material I used for the stitches. I should have used a different product. Did you know you were allergic?"

The patients replied in unison, "No. We have never needed such large repairs before. Small cuts close themselves. Ones this deep are always lethal. We were prepared to die."

"I'm glad you didn't have to. It's my job to keep you alive. I can trade out the stitches for metal staples, or I can use a skin glue. You will have to be more careful if I use the glue, but it will be more comfortable and pull less."

They asked, "Will it itch?"

Josephine smiled. "There will be a little itching as the wound heals. It won't be anything compared to what you are feeling now. I will give you a medication to stop the allergic reaction. It will ease the itching tremendously."

She gathered supplies and began on her first patient. She numbed and cleansed the area before removing the stitches. She cleansed it a second time and applied the glue. A shot was given to stop the allergic reaction, and then she turned to the second patient.

It must have been too quiet for them, because they began asking questions. "What is happening outside? No one comes in except Ixia. He will not tell us anything. He claims we need to heal and not think of other things. Yet, it is us who first faced the enemy."

"They might not have become your enemy if you hadn't used the terrabots to run over their equipment. You should be ashamed of causing such needless destruction." Josephine put her hands on her hips and waited for an apology.

"It was their fault for arguing. Besides, the leader tried to kill us. It was punishment enough," they argued.

"Your companions told me that the warrior did not strike at you. He was trying to knock the controllers from your hands in order to stop the destruction. Hitting you was an accident. He is very sorry for your injuries.” She tried to soothe their fear.

"How do you know that he is sorry?"

"I went to speak to him," she replied. "I wished to negotiate a truce or get them to leave. It didn't work. Both the Milisarian and Ixia are too stubborn to listen. Neither will give up the planet nor agree to share it."

"Our leader would have Ixia imprisoned if he gave up this planet. It is too difficult to find ones that are useful and not inhabited."

Josephine was surprised. "I thought Ixia was your leader."

They answered, "He is the leader of our expedition, not of our planet. As long as we are here, we must obey him. He was given complete authority to take over this planet."

"You said he was to take over the planet. So, that means your leader knew it was claimed by another species. Why did he set his sights on a planet claimed by someone else?" she asked.

The pair looked at her like she was an ignorant child. In this matter, she guessed it was the truth. They answered, "All uninhabited planets are claimed by someone. If you need it, you must fight for control. Sometimes, you can take it over by settling there before the true owners find out. Then they usually let it go without a fight."

Josephine stated, "This time you came prepared to fight. Ixia is assembling the battlebots now. How many does he have?"

"Only four or five. They are too heavy for the ship to carry more when there are terrabots aboard. It is all we will need."

"You believe that four or five battlebots can overcome the Milisarian Knights?" Josephine wasn't so sure. "The knights are powerful warriors. They have conquered many worlds and now hold them under their domain. What makes your species any different?"

Only one patient answered, "The battlebots are not our best weapon. We have another."

"What is it? What will it do? Is it on board the ship now?" Only silence filled her head. They refused to answer and betray their leader's secret.

Worry followed Josephine from the infirmary. What terrible weapon was Ixia hiding? What damage would it do? He was always so calm and confident of winning. It must be an impressive weapon if he wasn't worried about the mighty Milisarian warriors. Should she warn Urim? Could she? She certainly wouldn't be able to steal another hovercraft. Ixia was always watching her now. Hopefully, he was still spying on the Pura and would see this new weapon in time. If it was frightening enough, he might take his warriors home to spare their lives.

The ship was empty. All the Pura were outside assembling the battlebots. Josephine decided to search the ship for clues to the weapon. If she could gain access to their communication center, there was a small chance she could reach out for help. She opened doors to sleeping chambers, food storage, and a conference room. She had a hard time understanding why it was needed. They could access each other’s minds from anywhere and block out the ones they didn't want listening. So far, there were no clues to the weapon. The next door was locked. Due to its location, she imagined it was Ixia's chamber. She tried to override the computer lock, but it was impossible. The only other room on this level was the main control room she entered each day. She would have liked to search the lower levels but had not found a way to reach them. There were no stairs, ramps, or elevators in sight. She took her only option and entered the control room.

It was still an awesome sight. The room appeared to be carved out of one piece. Even the electronics seemed to grow from the walls. It all gave the impression that the spaceship was alive, and the computers were its organs. The seats and consoles would be its arms and legs. Josephine couldn't resist trying out the seat that obviously belonged to Ixia. It stood in the center of the room and had controls on each armrest. She ran her fingers across the controls, hoping for a response. Nothing happened. She pushed every button. The screens remained blank. Oh well, it was time to try the other stations. She went through every one of them. No controls responded, and she found nothing that indicated a weapon powerful enough to destroy the knights.

Outside, she discovered that two of the battlebots were complete and stood as sentries by the waterway. Ixia confronted her, "You were inside a very long time. Are the patients getting better?"

Josephine replied, "They are healing. There was a rash. It seems they were allergic to the stitching materials. I removed them and used a skin glue instead. They will be more comfortable now."

He asked, "Did you enjoy your exploration of the ship? The control room is quite impressive. My seat is very comfortable." Seeing confusion on her face, he added, "You must understand that you cannot hide from me. You have no secrets that I will not uncover. I assume that you did not find whatever you were looking for and the ship did not respond to your human touch. That is as it should be. Go now. Find something else to occupy your time." He dismissed her with the wave of a hand.