Castaway Found
By Thomas Mc

Epilog

Joe and Catherine glanced surreptitiously at each other and tried not to let their amusement show. The family that they were interviewing while investigating a child pornography ring was Bulgarian and conversed among themselves in their native language. Unnoticed on Joe's and Catherine's lapels were little silver disks which meant that Joe and Catherine had already gleaned a lot of very useful information that the family thought had been secret. With the information the family had unwittingly divulged, Catherine figured that they would be able to wrap this case up very quickly.

On several occasions the translator buttons given to them by Alex rogan had proven invaluable when dealing with people that had tried to hide behind some foreign language.

Catherine and Joe finished up the interview as soon as they had what they needed. The members of the crooked family were happy, believing that they had put one over on their interrogators. By tomorrow they would learn differently.

Catherine got home earlier than normal and spent the extra time with baby Charles while waiting for Vincent and the twins to get home. She had some exciting and slightly scary news to pass on to Vincent. She had gotten word from Alex Rogan that Zadoranis and Talfeena were coming back to Earth for a visit in two weeks. The most important part of the message was that they were bringing the parent's and two brothers of Vincent's mother, Zoria, with them. The next two weeks would be very busy as she got ready for the visit.

~ x x x x x ~

Zadoranis was sitting in his office back on Rylos contemplating all that had happened over thr recent past. It had been nearly five Earth years since his and Talfeena's first visit to the planet Earth. Since that first visit Zadoranis and Talfeena had been back to Earth three more times. Since that first visit Zadoranis had been working tirelessly in secret behind the scenes on a very personal project. His final goal was to change the laws so that Vincent's descendants would be able to live and travel within the planets of the Star League.

His first action after his first visit to Earth had been to quietly introduce a few minor revisions to the rules regarding protected developing planets that would more securely insure the safety of Vincent's family on Earth. He had also began quietly sponsoring groups that were questioning the prohibitions against pairings between members of different alien races.

Also over the last five years Zadoranis and Talfeena had learned the English language well enough that they could converse without the use of the translators and made a point of only speaking English when they were visiting Earth.

Zadoranis was getting old and he knew that he would not live to see his projects come to fruition so he had enlisted a select group of co-conspirators into the project. His first recruit had been his friend in the Planetary College of Genetics. Soon after that he had taken the parents and two brothers of Zoria to Earth to introduce them to Vincent and his family after swearing them to secrecy. They had quickly fallen to the charm of Catherine and the twins as well as the new baby boy that they had named Charles. Talfeena called him Zacharleis. The family of Zoria also started to used those modified names after they heard Talfeena use them.

Vincent and Catherine knew about the Cutahnianizing of their family's names by Talfeena and Zoria's family and actually found it amusing. They just treated them like any other pet names.

Zadoranis and Talfeena had also brought Zoria's family with them on their most recent visit to Earth about a little over an Earth month ago. They had all been enchanted by the three rapidly growing children of Vincent and Catherine. But even more enchanting had been the celebration that they had all been privileged to attend. By a happy chance, their visit had coincided with a celebration peculiar to the underground community called Winterfest. All six of the Cutahnian visitors had been blown away by the spectacular setting and the magical quality of the festivities. The event had left an indelible mark on all of those in attendance.

~ x x x x x ~

Ambassador Zadoranis was back on Cutahni for a short visit on government business. He and his mate Talfeena settled into their parlor to watch the premiere of a new video show. It got Zadoranis to thinking about how many similarities there were between Cutahnian culture and Human culture. One thing they had in common was the concept of episodic video shows that were shown on a regular repeating schedule. The new show that was about to premier was to be the most visible result yet of the various efforts his conspiracy was involved in. The pilot episode and the show's bible had both been written by Zadoranis under an unrelated pen name and one of Zoria's brothers was one of the show's producers.

The story was about a Cutahnian child born and raised on an alien planet. It started with a pregnant Cutahnian female who's emergency escape capsule crashes on a small primitive alien planet. Just before she dies from her injuries she gives birth to a baby boy. The child is taken in by a very reclusive group and raised by them. The pilot episode would end with the grown Cutahnian male finding a badly injured female of the local race and saving her life. The title of the show was 'The Alien' and it was basically a fictionalized account of the relationship between Vincent and Catherine. It was hoped that by the time the two main characters in the show finally became a couple, the audience would be rooting for them. This show and other efforts of the conspiracy were intended to shift the perceptions and sympathies of the general population.

It would take time but there was hope.

The show began and with Talfeena snuggled into his arms they quickly became engrossed in the show.

The End

'Beauty and the Beast' and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures.
'The Last Starfighter' and its characters are owned by Universal Pictures and Lorimar Film Entertainment.

No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.