That quiet comment by Perki was as loud as a shout.   It completely unsettled me since I was wondering why she was almost whispering.   And there were undertones of horror and fascination that also sent shivers all over my body.   Almost afraid to look, still I did as she suggested.   And was glad that I did while at the same wincing at the scene I viewed.

   On the screen I saw the holos still battling it out with the Annunaki.   But that wasn't the most horrible part.   (The only answers I really wanted to believe was (in this order) that my tinkering with the illusion field had somehow corrupted some file or the other in a way I had not intended it to.   OR that in some bizarre way the holo's story was coming true and that the madness was somehow spreading!   I did not really want to consider the only other viable alternative.   That would be too bizarre.   So instead I will just tell you what I saw and then I will tell you what my FIRST impression was and let YOU decide.) Some of the Annunaki were becoming (or so it appeared!) mutant versions of themselves -- just like the holos were mutant versions of us!   Those Annunaki who had not (apparently!) changed were seemingly going crazy with fear at what was happening to their kin.   In a subdued voice full of horror and pathos Perki reported some of the screamed comments.     Some, she said, were simply screaming for help.   Some were simply asking what was happening.   Some wanted to know who these invaders were and how they had gotten on board their ship.   But the most chilling question being raised was this: "Why is this happening to us?   We don't even know why we are here where we are, so -- WHAT COULD we have done to have fallen into this?   HOW? -- HOW?! did this happen?"

   Now.   Let me tell you what I first thought when I saw that scene of madness on the little wrist screen.   Just for one fleeting moment I thought that surely there WAS a god and that he was punishing the Annunaki for playing with the minds of lesser creatures.   That couldn't be -- could it?   Of course it WOULD be poetic justice.   But it would also be too good to be true.   In any case the up side was that the Annunaki ship -- with whoever was at the helm -- was quickly and more quickly accelerating out of the system.   Soon they were out of range of the little wrist screen's pickup area.   I turned it off, thinking that at the very least Kalana and Roliti and Litja and the rest of the people on their world would not see the Annunaki again.   But that didn't completely console me.   I knew somewhere down through the star lanes that Perki, Weslee and I WOULD see them again.   But first we had a new world, a free world to visit.   We had to take our passengers to that new world.

   To that end I turned to Perki and told her to set us down.   That's when the biggest surprise of them all began to take shape.

   I wasn't sure that I was seeing anything at first.   Then when I was becoming convinced that I WAS seeing something it was hard to tell what it was.   The effect kept fading in and out.   I wondered then if I was maybe going crazy -- or if maybe the illusion field hadn't been turned off at all and was instead effecting me in a different way all together.   But finally I could see clearly and could tell that I was neither going crazy nor was the illusion field effecting me at all.   What I was seeing instead was the truth!   The way Kalana and Roliti REALLY looked.   The way they REALLY were!

   I turned to Perki to see what her reaction was.   she was just sitting there at her control console gaping in huge surprise!   It took Weslee to voice it.   (Of course! When it came to the social niceities I could trust Weslee to trample all over them. He can be SO lazy sometimes!) "Doc!   They've got wings!   And pointy ears!   Crikey, Doc!   They're faeries!"

   It was so!   Like caterpillars emerging from their chrysallises, Kalana, Roliti and Litja had been revealed as very wonderful creatures indeed!   Of course Weslee, being his usual lazy self had neglected to mention a pertinent fact or three.   The Peachtrees had grass green hair, skin of the palest, softest mauve and they were all naked and completely unaffected in that nakedness.   I could not quite get comfortable with it right at first since many thoughts and impressions about what this meant were cascading through my mind.   To wit:   All the time that Kalana was so ashamed about being naked, in her natural state it would not have bothered her.   What was the point of that artificial repression from the Annunaki viewpoint?   Faeries were creature of magic.   Religion is just another form of magic -- but one that doesn't work as well as faery magic.   What was the point of exchanging greater magic for lesser magic from the Annunaki's viewpoint? Faeries have a more natural social order.   The Victorian social order was stilted, repressed and artificial to the extreme.   What was the point of exchanging a natural social order for one that was so pointless and, well, plastic from the Annunaki's viewpoint?   What did they hope to gain by all this substitution?   I finally decided that there was no telling with the Annunaki!   I also decided that I was glad it was over and that I liked the Peachtrees just fine they way they were.

   I got my next to final surprise when Kalana spoke.   I could not understand a word she said, but it was the most beautiful, mellifluous language I had ever heard.   It was like crystal clear water tinkling over the multi-colored pebbles in a pellucid stream.   It was like the trilling of angels.   It was like a rainbow in a deep blue sky!   It was like a chuckling lullabye sang by some eldritch god!

   I turned again to Perki.   She had finally snapped out of it upon hearing them speak in the faery language.   She frowned for a moment and then said to me, "I never thought I would hear this language really spoken, Doc!   I thought that the person who taught it to me was just making up the stories he told.   But they seemed so wonderful that I learned it anyway -- just in case I ever did come across any real faeries!   Now let me see if I am getting it right." She said something to Kalana and waited for a response.   And I waited to see what the efect would be I couldn't help thinking, "Sure Shakespearean English was certainly elegant, but why substitute that for a language that might be spoken in Heaven itself?"   What was point of that from the Annunaki's viewpoint?   Again, who knew?

   Kalana, who'd seemed frustrated that we all of a sudden didn't understand her, brightened when Perki spoke in response employing the same soaring language that Kalana had spoken to us in.   They conversed for several seconds.   Then Perki turned to me and said, "As soon as we get to Edgar I am going to get him to replicate translators for you and Weslee and program them myself.   We can't have you guys out of the loop like this!   Besides, I want you to hear what she said," she chuckled in delight and fine great humor.   As Kalana stood there beaming at me, I was pretty sure what she had said to me -- more or less -- but I wanted to hear it all.   I couldn't wait until we got back to Edgar!

   The last surprise came when we landed and saw who was waiting there for us --amongst others!

   It was Father Logis!   But not the Father Logis we had last seen!   This Father Logis was too a faery!   We knew it was him, however.   There was no mistaking that face.   There was one great exception, though.   Instead of being dour, he was full of great joy, and love and was beaming happily at us, his smile easily the equal of the one the Peachtree's were still wearing.   While Litja and Tibbi Peachtree were happily -- to say the least! -- reuniting, we quickly ducked into Edgar.

   When we came back out of Edgar -- Weslee and I equipped with translators -- Kalana and Roliti, seeing us, came over to stand near us.   Without preamble Kalana began, after flapping her gossamer wings a time or two, experimentally, "I'll have to learn to fly again, alas!   But the good news is that I now CAN again." She stepped forward suddenly, hugged me and planted a kiss right on my mouth!"   As she stepped back, after one last fierce hug, she shouted in exultant joy, "THANK YOU, Doc!   Thank you, so much!   I am me again!" She whirled away, doing a little pirouetting dance.   Flapping her wings as she danced, she managed to rise a few feet into the air.   I had no doubt that soon she would fly free and high as she wanted above her world reborn!

   Then it was Roliti's turn.   He too embraced me and offered profuse thanks before he went off to join Kalana in trying out his wings in the sweet sunshine.

   And last came Father Logis.   He looked Weslee square in the eye as he shook that big hairy hand, "Lad, I am so sorry that I ever doubted that you were a man.   But of course you realize that it was the Annunaki who made me do it?" he chuckled at his own joke.   Weslee stood there beaming at him and bobbing his head like an idiot!   "Wait!   There's more!   I am not so sure anymore if there is such a thing as a soul, but if there is, then you Weslee, have a fine, big one --" waving a hand expansively to include us all, he went on. "Yes!   All of you are fine people!   As fine as any to be found!"   He stood there a moment longer beaming at us, then went to join the impromptu festival that was building in size!

   I had no doubt that they would invite us to stay.   In fact I was sure they were simply assuming we would.   Father Logis and Kalana and Roliti were not suddenly callus and casual and ungrateful.   But our work here was done.   We were happy for them and that was good enough!   And besides we didn't want to stay and provide them with a reminder of the bad times just past.   And besides all that we had some dancing on the sun to do.   So we just got into Edgar and sailed away.   But as we did I couldn't help noticing that Weslee had changed his T shirt again.   This one read: "I survived Faery well in Faery Land!"