"Nice to meet you," Number One said. "But we still don't know who and what you are."
"We are from the planet of the gods," the female said. "We are even more ancient than they are."
The collective reeled from what she said. "What planet of the gods?"
She rolled her eyes. "The gods, your ancestors. Don't you know anything about your own history?"
They didn't know enough, that was for sure. "We know that we are the immortal descendants of the gods, but we didn't know that they came from a different planet."
"You have a lot to learn," Yamanu said. "But don't feel bad about your lack of knowledge. We didn't know where the gods came from either until not too long ago. And since we have long hours of digging here, we might as well answer some of your questions regarding Kra-ell." He cast the female a glance. "Is that okay with you?"
She shrugged. "Not the best environment for a history lesson. Are you sure you want them to know about us?"
Yamanu let out a breath. "The cat is already out of the bag, so to speak, and it's too late to put it back in. Might as well answer their questions."
"Fine." She glared at Number One. "Ask your questions."
"You are a compeller."
"Yes, and?"
"But Pavel is not."
"So?"
"So, are many of your people compellers?"
"No."
She wasn't very forthcoming with information, and the collective didn't feel like squeezing it out of her drop by drop. The male wasn't saying much either, and the other two of their kind were in charge of hauling debris away from the excavation site and were not around to answer questions.
It was better to focus their inquiry on the marvel of technology that the cyborgs represented.
"What about those two?" Number One nodded toward the two human-looking, part-machine, part-biological beings, who were repositioning a shoring timber as if it were a table leg.
"Those are the Odus," Anandur said. "Okidu and Onidu. And before you ask, yes, they're part machines, and no, the clan didn't build them. They were built by the gods on their planet." He smiled affectionately at the two. "They usually function as butlers, but since they are super strong, we brought them along to help with the extraction, and it's good that we did. If not for them, there would have been many more injured than poor Brody, who had both his legs smashed."
The collective tried to absorb the information, which tied into what the female had said about the origin of her people. Planet of the gods sounded like a movie or a novel, not something real where real people and hybrid creatures that were part machine and part people came from.
Did Lord Navuh know about that, and had he been keeping the knowledge from the Brotherhood?
"How did they get here?" Number One asked.
"That's a long story," Anandur said. "And it needs to be told over a glass of whiskey and a cigar, not while digging. Do you smoke?"
The abrupt change in topic signaled that the commander didn't want any more questions about his strange teammates. Not now anyway, and the collective could understand that. Once they were away from the island, the Guardians might be more open about the origins of the Kra-ell and the cyborgs.
"We don't," Number One said. "We don't drink whiskey or any other alcohol either."
Anandur looked disappointed. "You are no fun."
"That is true," Number One said. "We are cerebral more than anything else."
Anandur frowned. "Does that mean you like to think a lot?"
"Yes."
He shook his head. "Once we get out of this hellhole, I need to take you under my wing and teach you how to enjoy life."
