They were lucky, of course, that they had not only a hugely competent pilot but also a ship which could effectively cloak itself from those attacking them. What remained of Bolygo fled the UCSS Destiny on Sohonnai, landing on this distant continent of Notosia far away from the initial settlement of the rest of humanity. Ilonara's piloting skills and the Sohonnai's cloaking allowed them to remain completely undetected, even after their one daring raid on the growing settlement of Landing for lab and workshop equipment.
Despite all the investigation of their derelict small settlement that has been undertaken since it was found last decade, the Sohonnai has never been discovered. It is possible, of course, that it was accidentally destroyed, but it is more likely abandoned somewhere with the cloaking system still switched on. This author abhors the lack of rigour of those investigators who chose to speculate that it is still out there, flying around, visiting settlements in the night to steal anything valuable. Folk suspicions have no place in anthropomorphic science.
- “An Analysis of the writings of Dr Gal Tzalul,” 2168. Chapter One, 'Bolygo's Initial Settlement'.
One thing which can be gleaned from amongst the enthusiasm with which Dr Tzalul regarded her pet 'genoplague' project is that she always intended to infect everyone with it, right from the start - her colleagues in Bolygo being no exception. Her notes mention that Ilonara never had a problem with this, however. Within a day of their landing on Terra Libre, Ilonara had apparently decided that life back on the surface of a planet was dull, and went off for a swim in the sea to try out her new gills. It seems that there she found something of the freedom of spaceflight, and thereafter split her time equally between repairing the Sohonnai so she could take to the skies once more and developing underwater living accommodation where she could swim freely.
As Dr Tzalul furthered the 'Amphiman' project and created other, modified types of swimming creature, it seems probable that many of them joined Ilonara in her subsea homes - indeed, Tzalul reports once happening upon Ms Korica frolicking in a bay with one of the dolphin-type mermen. It is probable, therefore, that Ilonara's legacy (or maybe Ilonara herself: she was young at the time of the Exodus, of course) lives on in the deeps of the southern oceans which even our most technologically advanced ships cannot penetrate.
- “An Analysis of the writings of Dr Gal Tzalul,” 2168. Chapter Three, 'Merpeople and the Southern Ocean'.
Around and around the mermaid goes,
Where she surfaces, nobody knows
Snap! go the teeth and Splash! goes the tail
All you will see is the blood in her trail.
- nursery rhyme, 2211