Resilient - Evolution

Chapter 9: Almost a Vacation

There wasn't any follow-on attack in the old Titan II facility. They fully expected one and tried to prepare for one, but it didn't come. In the end, everybody was tagged when the swarm arrived. Nina directed the drones to leave Lucho alone. His natural abilities would cancel out the drones anyway. He had to go through Rena for any contact with the system, but other people could handle things on that end better. He still wanted to stay with the group, though, even after everything that had happened.

They decided to move back into the facility for the time being. They were familiar with the area, and it was like home to them now. With the troublemakers gone, they had a chance to actually do something different with their lives, and they were going to help anyone they could find.

Eric and Nina headed to the Falkland Islands to check out another lead. There was also something about somebody running their toes in the sand. It was on the way ... why not?

Nina said, "Carlos, back there in the base. Who do you think it was that those guys were hooked up with? Was it the Slaramin again?"

"That group sent a team to harass a facility dealing directly with the Slaramin," he said. "That leads me to believe that it was someone that doesn't like the Slaramin very much."

Eric said, "I've heard of the Cossig, the Glaxis, and the Slaramin. Who else is hanging out around Earth these days?"

"The Griennakk were the race that fired on the Bielnaza when the Tollix first came to Earth," Carlos said. "They've been observing on and off for a long time."

"Wait a minute," Eric said. "I read something about the Bielnaza. They're the bunch we've always called the Grays, right?"

"Their original name was similar. In their own language, it was the Biel. The Bielnaza literally means the children of the Biel. Yes, they are the ones you call the Grays."

"So, who's the Griennakk?" Nina asked.

"Throughout your history, there have been many stories of different reptilian creatures. Humans have had movies and stories ... you even had cartoons about them. Their story has popped up in your culture many times."

"They are a race with reptilian ancestry. They come from a planetary system destroyed by another race ... not the Glaxis this time. They are the source of UFO reports whenever a dark triangular ship is involved."

"What's their issue with the Slaramin?" Nina asked.

Carlos said, "Both of their peoples have been in competition for a million years. They both claim the same system worlds, but the Griennakk take the lands and the Slaramin take the waters. It's like close neighbors. Even in many Human societies, close neighbors don't get along very well."

"Yeah," Nina said. "Look what happened just between us and that Fort Smith group."

"Well, if they're a million years into all this," Eric said, "How are we able to beat anything that they have as far as technology?"

"There are two things that they don't have," Carlos said. "You have the genetic ability to evolve faster than any race in existence through your Resilient genes, and you can communicate directly with the Tollix."

"What do you mean, 'evolve faster'?" Eric asked.

"Eric, let's just take the Slaramin for an example," Carlos said. "It took almost three hundred thousand years just for them to be able to leave their solar system. This is the fourth time that Humans have been at that point. This time, it only took you about six thousand years. That's six thousand years from the Stone Age to space travel."

"Even still," Eric said. "A million years? Surely, they could have advanced way beyond us in all that time."

"Unlike Humans," Carlos said, "all of the other races seem to reach a point of technological advancement where they can't go any farther. With most species, technological advancement is usually tied to evolutionary advancement. It requires evolution to change the biological construct, to allow for a different pattern of thought and technological advancement."