Family Reunions

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Danny sat in stunned silence, eyes roving over the Halphas. There were about fifteen of them. They looked healthy, well fed, well rested. They were looking at him almost as strangely as he was looking at them.

Vlad smiled at the shocked expressions on everyone's faces.

"I know this is a new development for all of you. We didn't know any other Halphas were still around except for these few. Sorry to spring it on you like this. I just couldn't resist the dramatic effect."

Danny was speechless. 

"Where did he come from?" a young boy asked, peering out from behind one of the taller kids. 

"Space Corps found him before I did. I got him out last night."

"What's your name?" an older Halpha girl asked kindly. They were all looking at him like he was a wounded animal. Danny realized why as he remembered that the scars on his arms were still clearly visible.

"Danny," he managed. 

They all looked at him curiously.

"Is that your given name? It doesn't sound very Halpha," Vlad commented. 

Danny cast his mind back to the memories Space Corps had dragged out of him. A name that he had been born with. A name he hadn't been called in years. 

"Ummm... I think my name before was... D'any'a?"

A visible ripple of shock went through the group of Halphas. A boy, about his same age, stepped forward, eyes roving over Danny's face.

"D'any'a? Are you telling the truth?"

Danny nodded uncertainly. 

"You... we all thought you died when the pod... how-" he stuttered.

A wave of shock crashed over Danny as he realized who these people were. A small group, all relatively young. Just children when their planet was destroyed. Children who had been jettisoned in an escape pod for their survival. 

"You're all from that ship? From the escape pod?" Danny gasped.

"What? You know each other?" Vlad asked, looking confused by this development.

The group began to mutter excitedly. The younger children looked confused, the older ones thrilled. A single girl stepped forward from the group. She looked no older than 12, one of the youngest there. She stared at Danny with wide eyes. 

"You're D'any'a?" she asked quietly. 

She began to move toward him. The closer she got, the more Danny realized how familiar she looked. The same face shape as him, the same nose, the same unruly dark hair. A quiet hope began to grow inside of him. Could this really be who he thought it was?

She came right up next to him. The chatter of the group quieted in the background. 

"You're my brother?" she whispered.

Danny looked at her. The unfamiliar face that somehow seemed so familiar. 

"And you're my sister," he agreed. They held each other's gaze for a long moment. Her lips parted as if she wanted to say something. There was a long moment of total silence. 

Then she flung herself at him in a hug. A strangled, ecstatic laugh escaped Danny as he hugged his little sister for the first time in over 9 years. 

Laughs and excited chatter filled the room as the Halphas surrounded Danny's bed. He couldn't distinguish their questions and comments in the babble. He just held his sister tight, letting himself feel happy for the first time in days. 

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