"There's only two people on the whole planet who are not Uz'En, and both of them are on the council," Dustin said, sitting back in thought.
"Then what are you going to do?" asked Olivia.
"I think I'm going to send in a formal proposal for planetary relocation. I've moved two planets by now, so I think I would probably count as a professional in that regards, and it would place them really close to the home world for them to have access to the other Uz'En for breeding purposes."
"I would say you were a professional in it! I don't think the Quog even attempted it!" exclaimed Granny, entering the room as he was talking. She held several snack cakes that must have come from the kitchens, and were munching them, wrapping and all.
Kitteral went to grab one, and she snatched it out of his reach.
"If you want some, go get them!" she grumbled.
"Oh, no, I don't really need to eat anymore, I'm good," he said, leaning back into his chair and clicking a button as his video resumed.
Dustin frowned. This man was nothing like the father he remembered.
"What happened to you? Why are you such a lazy, good-for-nothing, slob? The man I remember was tall and proud, and not afraid of work and sweat."
"That man died when your mother died. I've spent the last two hundred years hiding from a murderous program that wanted to dissect me to see how I work, so it could use that knowledge to kill the rest of my people."
"If you weren't paying attention, it was killing your people while you hid. You could have done something to try and help them all, instead of the crap you were doing!" scowled Olivia.
"It seems to me, that the man I remember must have been nothing more than for show. You must have been glad when you thought mom and I were dead, so you didn't have to pretend anymore…is that why you faked your death?" asked Dustin, trying to get his words to come out as cruel as he could.
His father turned his gaze towards him slowly, and they all waited for him to react in anger, to do something other than laze about and half-heartedly do anything, but he responded in a soft voice instead.
"If you want to think that, then go ahead. I don't see where I can help any of you in any way with what you are doing. My time as a leader is long gone. There's nothing for me anymore, and everything I wanted to accomplish has already come about. I thought about killing myself a long time ago, but I'm glad I didn't because I was able to save you when you most needed me. The visions that I used to have of the future and past, have stopped coming, and the only one that hasn't come to pass, I'm not sure it will anymore. But just in case, I'm waiting around to be able to help out that one last time."
"That's a load of shit! You're just lazy, manipulative, a jerk, and now you're making yourself out to be some hero? I don't think so. Why don't you go to sleep in your bed and not wake up? I'm tired of listening to your crap." Dustin turned back to his monitor, too angry to say anything else.
Kitteral watched the back of his head for a few moments, the calm look on his face still there, before turning back to his video, and clicking a button to resume it. Olivia rolled her eyes, but threw a worried look at Dustin. Granny sat down in her chair, having finished her snack cakes while they argued, and was now finishing the plate she had brought the snack in on. She didn't seem fazed at all by their snipping back and forth at each other.
Sitting up, Dustin began to type his proposal, then sent it to the lady that had met with them just a couple hours earlier. He had to retype it a couple of times before he was satisfied with the wording. Once he was done and had sent it, he dived back in so he could spy on the reactions of everyone when they got it.
"Is this guy serious?" asked the chancellor. She reread the proposal several times, tapping her fingers on her desk in aggravation, before finally opening a communications channel with one of the council members.
"What? Has that off-worlder finally finished with his testing? I warn you, if this gets out…"
"No, it hasn't gotten out, but he claims that everyone on the planet is Uz'En, like his people. I figured that was what he was going to claim, but the reason I'm contacting you personally, is because of his solution to our inbreeding problem."
"Chancellor, I've already told you that the inbreeding problem you keep harping about, isn't as much of a problem as you think! Every child that has been born in the past twenty years hasn't had a single genetic issue of any kind, regardless of who their parents were. If we really are Uz'En, instead of human, then maybe we don't need to worry about inbreeding at all."
"Council member Lilius, I have done extensive research and am certain that we have only just been fortunate up to this point. If we don't address this issue before it explodes in our face, then we will have an issue we can't contain by the time it appears."
"Then what is this person's proposal?" asked the council member with exhaustion in her voice.
"He wishes to propose a planetary relocation. He sent me an official document, that looks to be real, that requests we allow him to move our entire planet to another solar system, where the rest of his Uz'En people are already residing on his home world of Haven."
"WHAT? That's…that's preposterous! How could he even think to recommend that? There's no way in hell that would ever be approved in the council!"
"He goes on to explain exactly how he would do it, along with the assurance that he's done this several times before, with no side affects to the planet at all. In fact, he says the people on our world probably won't even notice the move, other then a moment of haze, as if from cloud cover."
"Chancellor, you can't be seriously considering this. Do you know how many strings I would have to pull, in order to get the council to agree with this?"
"But you are capable of doing it, and if we are closer to other Uz'En, away from this space where so many alien races have tried to attack us, we would be safer, and would have other people who we could breed with to ensure continuation of our race. No where does it say that we would have to change our way of life, or accept the rule of their leaders."
"My god, you're serious about this, aren't you?"
"The more I think about it, the more I like it. We could even initiate trade with these other Uz'En to improve the trade sectors. We've struggled with them every since we enacted the total closure of all space trade."
The council woman was quiet as she thought over the proposal, and finally, she said, "Send me the document. I warn you, if this doesn't work, I will be kicked off the council for good. If this does work, and anything bad comes of it, then I am placing the blame straight on you."
"And if nothing bad happens, I'm sure your prestige will grow, along with your ratings."
"I won't be owing you anything after this! I can't believe I'm even agreeing to this insanity!"
The communications cut off, as the chancellor woman forwarded his proposal, and Dustin followed it, excited to see the next step.