T’mari wakes to find herself alone in bed for once, a trail of sharpie-scrawled notes guiding her to breakfast—and a truth she already suspects. Down in the medical bay, her mother T’monn confirms the first hybrid V’ren pregnancy in history, with blunt precision only a physician-mother could deliver.
At the Marmaduke homestead, Matt juggles venison, wine, and family as T’mari teases, Angelina laughs, and T’monn arrives to a table already full.
In a rare private audience, High Lord Matt Marmaduke counsels T’monn and L’tani on trust, alliances, and the power of perception in their new world.
T’monn stared out the window, the Missouri night rolling past in streaks of dark and light.
“If you told them to leave,” she said, “they would. But most would rather stay.”
Matt didn’t answer right away. The red demon called Pickup growled beneath them, chasing its own headlights through the gravel dark.
“They’re not going anywhere,” he said. “This is home now.”
At noon local time, V’ren medics announced two new vaccines—one for their crew, one for humans. Matt Marmaduke took the first dose personally. A public Q&A is scheduled for later this evening.
With wounded V’ren in need of urgent care, Matt Marmaduke turns diplomacy into action. Clinics are opened, quarantine zones established, and medical teams coordinated between species. Trust is built in real time as Missouri’s infrastructure shifts into high gear—fast enough to impress even the alien doctors.