HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

One Shot

"Mother," Galaxina said soon after the Metarex had destroyed their refugee ship. "You said the Seedrians had a great destiny ahead of them. But the only living Seedrian now is little Cosmo. What destiny can await her? Our species must die now with her."

"Would you prefer for it to do so?" her mother asked softly. The others had already moved on. Were exploring their new home. A home that they would have forever. But she had asked her eldest to stay with her. For there was much they had to discuss. And much they had to see. "Do you not want our line to survive in some way?"

"There are no males," Galaxina said, shrugging. "I can not see how it would be possible. I know there are vegetable life forms elsewhere, but wouldn't it be beneath a Seedrian to wed one?"

"Why do you say that?" Hertia asked. "Have you ever considered that perhaps that very pride we have always felt for our species may have been what led us to where we are now?"

"Well, I…" Galaxina realized she could not answer.

"You were never able to have a normal life, my dear," Hertia said, "and I regret that deeply."

"You knew, didn't you, who the Metarex were? Why they were after us?" Galaxina said it like a challenge. Her mother sighed.

"I suspected," the former ruler of the planet Greengate said. "Did I know for certain? Only earlier today. He came to me a short time ago. Your father. He has lost his mind completely now. And with his knowledge of how to tap the vast power of the planet eggs, I fear he may be unstoppable."

"Then the galaxy is lost," Galaxina said. "And perhaps even more than our own. Perhaps all shall eventually join us here!"

"All must one day come here, but new life replaces old, and perhaps that shall continue to be so," Hertia said. "Lucas, in his pride, has told Cosmo where to find the one being that might challenge him. That might be able to destroy him."

"There is such a one?" Galaxina said. She gasped. "Not the one with three eyes…?" She shuddered at the memory of that one. With the floating fourth eye. That promised to bring peace and prosperity, but brought only war and madness.

"I do not think he will act until it is too late," Hertia said. "He thinks himself a god, but he is just another madman. No, Lucas is about to forge a permanent bond with Cosmo, one that can be shattered only when one or the other perishes. But I bonded myself to each of my children on the ship. If he dies, Cosmo will be able to break the bond. But she will not want to break her bond with me. What Cosmo sees and hears, so will Lucas, but so will I as well."
She pointed. "Look."

Galaxina looked. Somehow, in a way she could not understand, she could see Cosmo. As well as a figure in dark purple armor.

"Do you wish to live, Cosmo?" the figure demanded.

"Yes!" Cosmo sobbed. "Please, I don't want to die!"

"Take my hand."

"But…"

"If you wish to live, then take my hand."

Cosmo sobbed, but reached out to him.

"Cosmo! NO!" Galaxina cried. But neither her sister nor the one she had once called father could hear her. Could see the look of horror on her face, as Cosmo took her never before seen father's hand.

"It is done!" Dark Oak intoned. "Your eyes shall be my eyes! Your ears shall be my ears! You will be my White Seed! Forever!"

Galaxina looked away. "Why, Mother? What is he going to do to her?"

Hertia sighed. "He is preparing to send Cosmo to the one that can stop him. When she is with him, she was see his power, hear his plans for attack…and so will Lucas!"

"Then…all is lost after all!" Galaxina said.

"Do you remember, when Cosmo was born, that I told you and your sisters that she was very special? That she would be our hope for the future? I see much sorrow ahead for her. Much pain. But she is so much stronger than she believes. Your father does not realize that the one he plans to send her to needs her help. That by bringing them together, he seals his own fate."

"But what powers can little Cosmo possess?" Galaxina asked. "I have never seen her accomplish anything. True, she's an excellent gardener, and everything she plants grows, but…"

"Lucas calls her his White Seed," Hertia said. "But she is our white seed as well." She smiled sadly. "Watch, my dear. Watch and see what your little sister grows into."

And Galaxina watched. And saw Cosmo crash onto a world so much like Greengate had once been.

"Animals!" she cried. "The great hero is an animal? But Mother…the flesh and blood creatures are what destroyed our world and caused the horror that has brought us here to where we are now! They were taller, and much less hairy, but their vital fluids were red, and warm, while ours is green and cool. Cascadians, weren't they called?"

"But why were the Cascadians attacking us?" her mother asked. "Did you know that Lucas took one alive once? That he asked him that very question?"

"And he said…?"

"He asked the same question. Why were we attacking them?"

"But that's makes no sense!" Galaxina said. "And the three-eyed one…" Her eyes grew wide. "He played us against one another! Is that what you're saying? He make us destroy each other! But why? What could he hope to gain?"

"Perhaps it was a test," Hertia suggested. "Perhaps he wishes for only the strongest to survive."

"For what, Mother?" Galaxina demanded. "What does he want?"
"The soldiers he sent down? The Black Arms?" Hertia said softly. "Lucas gave them any Cascadians they could capture. They consumed them."

"They ate their victims?!?" Galaxina cried, looking sick, even though where they were now could have no sickness or injury.

"And, now and then, a few of our own people would simply…vanish at that time," Hertia said.

"They fed on us and our enemies!" Galaxina said. "Indiscriminately!" She shut her eyes. "But they were few, and they were all killed."

"But there were many more with him," Hertia said. "He said Lucas would need only a few."

"And the Cascadians?" Galaxina asked. "Do you think they were also given a few?"

"Perhaps," her mother said. "I cannot say. But look! Your sister returns to space with the hero!"
"The yellow furry little creature with two tails?" Galaxina asked. "Or the blue one with the spines? Or one of the others?"

"The blue," her mother said. "Gaze closely at him, and open your mind. Can you not feel the dormant power that sleeps within him, waiting to be awakened?"

"I…yes, I do!" Galaxina said. "Then the one that can stop the madness is an animal, not a plant?!?"

"Lucas told you much about animals," Hertia said sadly. "And all negative. And I was too frightened and too angry when our people died to correct you or the others. And you passed that negativity onto Cosmo. But she never saw an animal. And she is a child. And children have open minds."

"Then to bring peace to the universe, you are saying that plant and animal must overcome their distrust for one another and work together?" Galaxina asked. She sighed. "I will try to accept that, Mother." She squinted. "But the others all have powers as well, I see, although weaker. Well, not that one that looks like a Cascadian. Is he one? Mother, has Cosmo been betrayed?!"

"No, he is not a Cascadian," her mother reassured her. "But you are quite correct otherwise. I sense a brilliant mind, but no potential for anything else. No special abilities. But look at them all. They are animals, yet they accept a plant among them. They call your sister friend."

"When I was little," Galaxina said wistfully, "I wondered what it would be like to have an animal as a friend. But I was told that I was foolish." She looked at her mother. "By Father. And by you."

"I never pretended to know everything," her mother admitted. "I have been wrong. Sometimes dreadfully wrong. But I am capable of learning from my mistakes. And I know that you can as well. Now, look, daughter. Look at the little yellow one. Do you see?"

"His powers are weak. Nearly nonexistent," Galaxina said. "But there is something about him. Yes. He has potential, but he has come nowhere near to finding it within himself." She gasped as Cosmo suddenly looked at the furry yellow animal and smiled. She gasped again as the animal turned to Cosmo. As Cosmo turned away in embarrassment, and blushed. "Mother, no! Please tell me Cosmo will not give her heart to a thing of flesh and blood!"

"And if she does?" her mother asked her. "And if she does? Will you reject her? Will you turn away from her, and no longer call her sister?"

"You know I could never do that, Mother!" Galaxina swore. "But…Cosmo and an animal? It boggles the mind!" She took a deep breath. "But I will stand by my sister, no matter what choices she may make. Even if they break my heart…or hers."

"Then watch, my dear," Hertia said. "For there will be times I cannot, and someone needs to watch over Cosmo until the moment of her destiny arrives. I ask you because you are the most responsible. Your sisters would not understand."

"I do not understand, Mother!" Galaxina pointed out. "I do not even begin to understand!"

"But you wish to try," Hertia said. "And that is all I ask."

"But the way you talk, Mother," Galaxina said, afraid to finish stating what she was thinking. "Are you suggesting that Cosmo may not survive her destiny?"

"We can only watch and listen and wait," Hertia said softly. "And pray for her."

And so mother and daughter watched and listened and waited and prayed. As little Cosmo, the last of the Seedrians, headed towards the fulfillment of her destiny.

THE END