Providence Station
Kentauran Central DataBase

Record Created 15 October 2146 by Ambassador Nephryl
Record Last Accessed 15 October 2146

Col. Thomas Devenson and Terran news archives speak of a genetically created race known as "the Altered," most of whom left Terra in a mass exodus about 20 years ago. Colonel Devenson's father, Col. Tim Devenson, fought alongside the Altered against renegade elements of the Terran Defense Force, and he gave his son detailed accounts of his experiences. At one point, Thomas used another name for the Altered, a name which they had bestowed upon themselves after their internment in camps on Luna. So completely did it shock me to hear the name that I asked Thomas to repeat it.

"They called themselves the Al'Tari," he repeated for my benefit.

Al'Tari. The name brings to my mind fascination and wonder. I have encountered a race that called themselves "Al'Tari" once before. I was much younger then than I am now, and our homeworld had come under a massive Na'Tari assault. The Al'Tari descended upon our attackers with lethal fury and demolished them. For the next 1,300 years we maintained friendly, if sporadic, contact with Al'Tari colonies established in the local star systems.

The Na'Tari waited more than 800 years before they dared attack our homeworld again. They struck at the Al'Tari, destroyed a Kentauran colony, and exterminated another race with whom we had made contact, the Ak'Khara. The Al'Tari, fearing that the Na'Tari would wipe out every habitable world, withdrew in hopes of luring away the Na'Tari attackers.

A living Al'Tari starship.

I can only speculate whether the Al'Tari I once knew are in fact the same race with whom Thomas' father had experience. But if they are indeed the same race, I am at a loss to explain how. A race created less than a century ago cannot have existed 2,000 years ago ... could it?

Could the Al'Tari have programmed their own self-awareness into the DNA of animals and humans -- a low-level directive that would have ensured the recent creation of the "new" Al'Tari? Did today's Al'Tari travel back in time thousands or millions of years? Or are the similarities nothing more than coincidence? Of all the possible explanations, I believe coincidence to be the least likely.