Author: Saxon Andrew
Date: 2012-04-10T18:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Science Fiction
Description: Dr. Christopher Connor has discovered a way to view the past. His invention collects light and focuses it such that events that occurred on Earth years ago can be viewed. All one need do is travel one light year away and one can see what was happening on the planet a year earlier by capturing and focusing the reflected light that left Earth a year ago. There’s only one problem: no ship exists that can travel faster than the speed of light, so his device cannot be conclusively demonstrated to function as advertised. That’s fine with Christopher, who would much rather party and have a good time
Publisher: Saxon Andrew Publishing

The Pyramid Builders

Lens of Time-Book One

Contents

Introduction

Chapter One • Chapter Two • Chapter Three • Chapter Four • Chapter Five • Chapter Six • Chapter Seven • Chapter Eight • Chapter Nine • Chapter Ten • Chapter Eleven • Chapter Twelve • Chapter Thirteen • Chapter Fourteen • Chapter Fifteen • Chapter Sixteen

Excerpt From Planet Predators

Books by Saxon Andrew

About Saxon Andrew

Introduction

Dr. Christopher Connor has discovered a way to view the past. His invention collects light and focuses it such that events that occurred on Earth years ago can be viewed. All one need do is travel one light year away and one can see what was happening on the planet a year earlier by capturing and focusing the reflected light that left Earth a year ago. There’s only one problem: no ship exists that can travel faster than the speed of light, so his device cannot be conclusively demonstrated to function as advertised. That’s fine with Christopher, who would much rather party and have a good time rather than defend his creation against critics and governmental bureaucrats. Besides, who would pay to view the past anyway?

Jillian Gordon, an Egyptologist with a PhD in Quantum Physics, has discovered that the survival of Earth depends on viewing what happened at the building of the Great Pyramid of Khufu five thousand years in the past. Christopher’s device would allow her to do just that and she intends to draft him into the project. Christopher is about to discover that the organization Jillian works for has engineered a starship with a faster-than-light drive, which will now allow his device to be field tested. The stardrive for that ship was developed from diagrams carved on the back of an ancient stone tablet excavated at the site of the Great Pyramid.

Life for Christopher is about to make a radical departure from his party, happy-go-lucky lifestyle. Getting Christopher to focus on what needs to be done is a problem Jillian hadn’t counted on in her quest to save humanity. The predicted destruction of Earth, which is carved on the front of the tablet, doesn’t leave her much time and Christopher isn’t cooperating.

What neither of them know is that the answer to survival is more than sixty five million light years away in light that left Earth just before the mass extinction of the dinosaurs.

Chapter One

Christopher Connor sighed heavily and looked at his attorney sitting to his immediate right. They had been sitting on the most uncomfortable bench he had ever encountered. His backside was past pain, and he knew nerve damage was not far away. He squirmed and tried to change position, but nothing worked. He was close to just walking out and forgetting about getting a patent for his invention. He wished he had more padding on his rear. He looked out from under his deep-set green eyes at the seven members of the Patent Board and saw they had padded chairs. Life just wasn’t fair.

They were discussing his invention and he thought they would never make a decision. He looked up at the round clock above the gallery and saw that only ten minutes had elapsed since they started their discussion. It felt like ten hours. The second hand seemed to take forever between each jerk to the next one. Chris stood up for a moment, which brought a disapproving glare from the Chairman of the Patent Board, so he quickly sat back down. He wished he weighed two hundred and fifty pounds instead of a hundred and eighty. He desperately needed more padding. He glanced at John and saw he wasn’t doing much better than he was. It didn’t help matters that he had worn a coat and tie for the first time in years, and his neck was uncomfortable from a collar that was a half inch too small. He looked around and saw one of his bound proposals on the corner of the table. He picked it up and sat down on it. Ahhhhh, now that’s better.

John Southerlin, Chris’ attorney and lifelong friend, shrugged and shook his head. Christopher wondered why there couldn’t be an attorney that had a background in physics or at least an understanding of some basic concepts. John was trying, but just didn’t understand the principles of his device. Chris looked back at the panel of patent directors and figured that being a successful attorney required a different skill set than what was required of a physicist. Chris looked at John, “I’ve tried to explain in basic layman’s terms what my device does.”

John whispered, “I don’t think they get it.”

Chairman Johnson Layfield turned from the board’s discussions and looked over his reading glasses, “Doctor Connor, we don’t see anything different in your device than an ordinary camera.”

Christopher stood and went to an easel and flipped the pages back to a clean sheet. “Let me try to explain this another way then. Are any of you curious about how a city was built on top of a mountain in South America, using blocks of granite weighing more than twenty tons? Those blocks were quarried more than fifty miles from the site of the city and were somehow lifted up a sheer cliff to the top of that mountain. Another interesting piece of information is the city was built before the local population had discovered metals.” Christopher paused to allow the board to consider the thought and then continued, “Also consider Puma Punku in Bolivia where stones weighing more than four hundred tons were cut and moved ten miles uphill from a quarry. Even today, we have no way to duplicate what they did. I know you must wonder how the Great Pyramid in Egypt was built.”

Johnson looked at the other seven members of the panel and said, “Of course we’d like to know. However, I don’t see how your device relates to those questions.”

Christopher took a black magic marker and drew a small circle in the center of the sheet, “All right, this is the planet Earth. Every day the sun shines on the planet and light from the sun is reflected back into space. Are we together so far?”

Johnson nodded.

“Well that reflected light leaves Earth at a speed of 186,282 miles per second. In one year’s time that light will be one light year away.” Christopher looked at Johnson with raised eyebrows and he nodded he understood. “My device, if it is taken one light year away from Earth, will collect that light and focus it into an image. You can actually view events that happened on Earth one year earlier.”

Christopher paused and said, “Every night when you look up at the stars you are viewing ancient history. The last supernova that was seen two months ago actually exploded more than two million years ago, but it took that long for the light to arrive here. We see it and think it’s happening at this moment, but the cold hard truth is that star exploded when the first humans were starting to walk erect. Yet, we see it and analyze it with our devices. We even show the progress of the explosion though it happened millions of years ago. Our most advanced telescopes can see it quite clearly as if was happening now.”

“Doctor Connor, surely by that distance the light from Earth will have been so scattered and weakened that it would be impossible to get any kind of detail in whatever you manage to collect. It also begs the question, just how are you going to get one light year away from here before the reflected light arrives?”

“Actually, the fields I use to collect the light are extremely sensitive and it is my belief that the images can be quite clear. If the weather is clear, I can even focus right down to the surface of the planet and view individual humans. As far as getting there, I’ll have to wait for future technology to develop a means of faster than light travel. However, I have experiments that confirm the device works as I’ve described.”

Johnson looked at the other seven board members and then looked back at Chris, “So for the foreseeable future, your device has no practical use?”

Chris shrugged, “Neither did the first telephone. You had to have two before it would work. Now look were we are in 2085. We communicate with implants that allow us to contact anyone on the planet. We are exploring our solar system and have colonies on Mars and the moons of Saturn. My device will answer many questions that have baffled the scientific community for centuries, but it will require the invention of a faster than light starship.”

The seven patent board members put their heads together and after ten minutes Johnson turned to Chris, “We are going to issue you a patent on your device.” Chris smiled then Johnson said, “But only as a device that can view history.”

Christopher’s smile fell faster than a bad stock market. He said, “There is also the use of the fields as a scanner to collect electronic images. That is something that it can do now.”

“You have your patent. Apply later if you want one for another use.”

Christopher started to tell the patent board what they could do with their patent but John stood and took him by the arm, “Thank you, your Honor. We appreciate your accepting Doctor Connor’s device.” He then said under his breath, “Don’t blow this. Let’s get out of here!”

Chris took a deep breath, gathered his papers, and put them in his briefcase. He glanced back at the patent board and saw Johnson talking on his communicator. He was staring directly at him, and Chris wondered what was being discussed. He sensed that Johnson’s communication was about him, but what could he do? It had taken a year just to get the viewer before the board. The long line of bureaucrats that had to be navigated to get to the board was ridiculous. Now they had rejected discussing its use as a detection device. Then he had a thought. Chris raised his hand and Johnson said, “Yes, Doctor Connor?”

“I was wondering if I could get the name of the company that made this bench.”

Johnson smiled and asked, “Why?”

“I’m going to use it in my classes for students that aren’t putting forth the effort they should. I think it will have outstanding results in getting them to change their behavior.” Johnson just smiled at Chris. Chris smiled, tilted his head, and started shaking his finger at the Chairman, “I’ll bet you have a patent on this bench. Am I right?”

Johnson chuckled and said, “Some people don’t really want a patent. They’re here to waste our time.”

“Well, twenty minutes on that bench will certainly thin the herd.”

Johnson laughed, “You can get the number of the manufacturer from our stenographer.” Chris nodded and hoped he would get the stenographer’s number as well. She was a cutie.

Thirty minutes later, Chris turned from the stenographer’s table and walked out with John. Fighting to convince dumb politicians that his device was revolutionary was getting old. He had also struck out with the cutie at the table. He sighed and called Dolly. It was Thursday and he needed to let off some steam.

The stenographer glanced as Chris left and put his number into her communicator. Tall, short brown hair, beautiful, deep set, green eyes, quick smile; yes, she would call him later. Couldn’t let the board think she was easy.

“Well, what do you think?”

An old man sitting in the gallery turned and said, “Jillian, do you really think that device will do what he says?”

“I don’t know, Arnold. But he has been considered three times for a Nobel Prize in physics and high energy fields.”

“Why didn’t he win?”

“He had an affair with a member of the selection committee’s wife during the first interview. It seems our physicist has something of a wild streak. The committee just couldn’t run the risk of him being drunk and hanging on an almost naked woman when he made his acceptance speech.”

Arnold watched the young man leave the room and took a deep breath, “If we agree to your plan, you know how much it will cost us to move forward?”

“You’ve read the tablet. Do you have a better idea?”

“I’m almost inclined to not believe what it says.”

“Everything else has proven true.”

“That’s the only thing that makes me say almost. If it’s true, the price will be irrelevant. I’m hoping that the tablet will be proven wrong.”

“There’s only one way to do that.”

Arnold paused, “Do you think he’ll agree to participate?”

“Who knows? He might have to be compelled to join us.”

“He’s no good to us if he won’t cooperate.”

“Are you willing to buy his help?”

“If it comes to that, but only if he, and you, is successful.”

“Fair enough.”

Arnold smiled and looked at Jillian, “From what I’ve just seen, he may be more than you can handle.”

“We’ll see, Dad.”

“I guess we will.”

Later that evening, Jillian exited her military skimmer and walked into a bar that was posing as a restaurant. She could feel the music from the street and saw a large crowd waiting to enter. She walked to the front of the line and flashed her badge to the doorman. He took one look and waved her in. Jillian walked into the huge room working her way through the standing room only crowd and looked around. She was wearing military camouflage fatigues and stood out like a nudist in church. She noticed that the majority weren’t wearing much at all.

She had just left Dr. Connor’s home and was told by a neighbor he would be at this bar every Thursday night. She slowly shook her head as she looked around. Most of the people present were college age or old age. Some even looked underage. The music was loud and the bright flashing lights lit up the dance floor and made the building a beacon next to the shore line. Jillian decided that the huge crowd was drawn to the establishment like insects to a bright light. As she looked around her toe was unconsciously moving to the beat of the music.

A man standing at a table talking to a group of students saw her enter and did a double take. Women that beautiful just don’t appear very often in real life. He looked her over and judged her to be just under six feet tall with a figure that most movie goddesses would die to have. Even the fatigues she was wearing couldn’t hide it. Her long black hair hung to the small of her back and her blue eyes were bright. Her face and complexion were perfect. She was late twenties or early thirties. What was someone like her doing in the military? Perhaps, she was on leave and was looking for a hot night on the town. If so, he was just the one to give it to her. He decided to make his move quickly before the rest of the herd saw her and moved in.

He started pushing through the crowd just as two Alpha Agents stepped through the entrance and stood directly behind her. They had on their camouflage armor and were carrying their guns. Their face lens was down and he knew they were scanning the crowd. He changed his route slightly, looked away, and continued walking past the trio and out the front door. He immediately saw that the crowd waiting to enter had disappeared along with the doorman. Once outside he turned right and jogged away. The presence of fully armored Alphas meant something was going down and he wasn’t hanging around to find out what it was. That lady was here on military business and someone was probably going to get hurt. He wasn’t going to let it be him. He felt sorry for whoever they were looking for.

One of the Agents glanced at him as he passed and had his identity confirmed in the special lens he was wearing, “Jamal Lundquist, possible drug dealer, no arrests, and Class D security risk.” He thought about detaining the departing man but decided his current commander wouldn’t like him to be distracted from their assignment. He glanced at his partner and saw he had also seen the report, but was not going to respond to it. He nodded and they both began surveying the room. Now where was Dr. Connor? He set his search for the file picture in his scanner and started looking around the room.

Jillian stood there and waited. She looked around the room for the young man she had seen earlier at the Patent Board, but couldn’t see him. There were just too many people to see much of anything. She waited for one of the Alphas to find him. Their systems were designed to find someone in crowded places. After a minute she heard Jeff say on her communicator over the noise, “He’s on the far end of dance floor, Sir.”

Jillian looked across the huge dance floor, and after a few moments said, “Which one is he?”

Jeff nodded toward the far back corner, “He’s the one being held up by the blonde with her back to us. He’s hard to see because he’s slumped over and she’s standing taller than he is.”

Jillian moved to her right, pushed a drunk to the side, and saw him. A well endowed blonde in a micro bikini was holding Christopher up as he slumped against her shoulder while attempting to move his feet. The blonde was a real looker, and most of the men at the bar were turned around in their chairs staring at the slow moving couple. The music they were dancing to boomed out a moderately fast beat, but he looked like he was only capable of moving no faster than a funeral dirge. Without the support of the blonde, he would have probably been on the floor. The blonde was about five feet ten inches tall, and was quite a sight. Her hair was tied in a pony tail on the left side of her head that hung just below her shoulders, and she looked like a vision from an underwear fashion show. She felt disgust. Obviously the Professor took advantage of his students.

Jillian shook her head and sighed, “Let’s go see if I can get him to leave quietly.” Jeff nodded and moved to the right of the bar while Bob moved left. As they circled around the bar and out on the dance floor, everyone saw them pass and beat a hasty retreat out of the establishment. Like Jamal, they all knew armed Alphas in full armor meant trouble. It looked a flash flood of humanity flowing out of the building as they moved through the crowd.

Jillian moved through the crush of humanity surrounding the bar and walked out toward the dance floor. She forced her way onto the crowded floor and had already told six men, “No!” as they asked her to dance. She pushed her way up to the blonde and tapped her on the shoulder, “Do you mind if I cut in?”

The blonde’s bikini had less material than three napkins on the bar, and she was quite oblivious to the stares directed toward her. There wasn’t much left to one’s imagination, and she was pressed up tight to Doctor Connor. The blonde looked at Jillian, smiled, and said sweetly, “Back off, honey. This one’s mine. Go find your own.”

The young man she had seen earlier that day looked up and said, “Yeth, this one is herzzz.” He squinted and looked at Jillian and said, “Why arth the two of youz staring at, at ,at me?”

Jillian walked around and took out her badge, then put it in front of the blonde’s face where she could see it, “Are you sure you aren’t going to let me cut in?”

The blonde glanced quickly past Jillian and saw the two armored Alpha Agents walking up in full combat gear staring at her. She also noticed both the dance floor and the bar were now empty. She and Dr. Connor and the loud playing music were the only ones remaining besides the three that had just walked up. She decided it was time to disappear along with everyone else, including the three bartenders that had already lifted in their skimmers. She lifted Christopher’s arms off her shoulders and Jillian stepped in and caught him before he hit the floor. The blonde stared at the Alphas as she moved slowly past them. They briefly glanced at her, as she ran out the front door. Jeff listened to his readout, “Dolly Sierra, doctorate, ancient languages, chemistry, physics and Citizen of Australia.” He glanced over his shoulder at the blonde as she left. Wow, who would have thought it? He stepped up next to Jillian and the Professor.

Christopher watched his former dance partner moving quickly toward the exit and then looked at Jillian, “Was ith somethin I said?”

Jillian smelled the alcohol and leaned back, shaking her head, “No, she probably didn’t want to risk being incinerated if you had breathed on one of those tiki-lanterns.”

He looked at the lantern and laughed, “She would…wouldn….wouldn’t. I tried it already.” Then he laughed out loud.

“Are you Christopher Connor?”

“I think I am. Who’s askin?”

Jillian smiled and said, “Will you come with me? I have something I want to show you.”

Christopher leaned back and looked at Jillian, “Well…look at you. You must be burning up in all those clo, cloot, cloothes. I’d love to see more but, No! I don’t want to miss my dance. Do you mind if I lead?”

Jillian leaned back again and shook her head and sighed, “Ok, have it your way.” She nodded to Jeff, and the two Alpha Agents came forward on each side of Christopher, taking his arms off Jillian, and held him upright.

Jeff said, “Say good-night.”

Christopher smiled and said, “Is it bedtime?”

Bob shot him with a stunner and said, “Yes.”

The two agents held on to the unconscious young man to prevent his fall, and carried him out of the building. Jillian followed, and hoped Doctor Connor was not a drunk. That’s all she freaking needed. There were already too many problems to solve on the project and a drunk wasn’t something she wanted to deal with. She pulled her remote and looked at the unconscious Professor with disgust on her face, “Take him to the center and put him in the clinic. See if Ben can sober him up.”

Jeff and Bob carried the Professor outside and lowered the unconscious young man into a large military vehicle that had just dropped to the street, “Yes, Sir. We’ll take him in the carrier.”

“Notify me as soon as he’s alert.”

Jeff nodded, saluted, and moved forward and sat in the pilot’s seat. Bob strapped Dr. Connor in and Jillian watched as the carrier lifted, rotated, and accelerated over the buildings lining the street. She sighed and punched her remote control.

The Blonde stood on the other side of the street in the shadows and watched the Alphas leave. She immediately turned on her communicator and began talking.

Jillian moved back as her military skimmer lowered from five thousand feet above the street. She looked around and saw that the huge crowd waiting to get in had disappeared. Alphas were always bad for business. She sighed and knew the owners were going to sue for the loss of revenue. The project would probably have to pay it because they were not there apprehending a criminal or preventing a crime. She climbed in the skimmer and said, “Take me to the port.” The small craft lifted and flew in the opposite direction from the two Alpha Agents. She didn’t want to take the Alphas but now she was glad she did. The Professor was too inebriated to discuss anything rationally. The meeting was scheduled and she needed him present to answer questions. She would just have to handle the money demanded by the bar through Arnold. Jillian hoped she was not placing false hopes in Doctor Connor because of her desperation. She knew, at this moment, he was her only chance of success. She shook her head and decided to worry about it later.

The skimmer climbed through the heavy traffic overhead and rose above it to twenty thousand feet. It was a cloudless night and the city was beautiful below and sprawled as far as she could see. The street lights looked like thousands of campfires on the ground and the heavy traffic between her and the streets reminded her of fireflies chasing each other across the sky.

The skimmer banked right and she saw the spaceport ahead. She took the car off auto and slowed to two hundred miles per hour. She was heading toward a giant building located at the far end of the field. As she moved lower she saw a space shuttle lift from the far end of the space port lighting up the night as it left to deliver supplies for the colony on Mars. Another shuttle was landing on the far runway and she heard the sonic boom as it approached. She sighed and wondered if all of this was still going to be here in ten years.

Christopher refused to open his eyes anticipating the excruciating pain that’s usually associated with one of his major drinking binges. He gritted his teeth, slowly opened one eye and then both eyes and squinted at the lights overhead and waited for the on rush of pain, but felt normal. Wait a minute, he didn’t have ceiling lights!

“You’re wondering about the hangover?”

Chris turned his head to his right and saw a man in a white jacket sitting beside him on a stool. He had salt and pepper hair and looked to be fortyish. He was also built like an athlete. “Actually, I was realizing I don’t have lights on my ceiling. If you’re a doctor, I must have really tied one on last night. I’m not at home.”

“Well, yes, yes, and no.”

“You’re a doctor, I tied one on, and I’m not at home?”

“Yes, you did. I’m Doctor Ben Keenan, and I’ve been charged with getting you back to normal as quickly as possible. I think you’ll find your motor functions are working properly. Why don’t you try to stand up?”

Chris sat up and put his legs on the floor. He saw he had been lying on a gurney in an area that’s normally found inside an emergency room. He looked around and noticed the blood pressure module on the wall as well as the various needles and sponges on the table next to the doctor. He stood and felt fine. He smiled, “How long have I been here, Doc.?”

“About six hours.”

Chris lowered his head and stared at the Doctor, “There’s no way I could have metabolized all that alcohol that quickly.”

“You didn’t; I gave you a shot to remove it from your system. I’ve already received a thank you card from your heart and liver. They requested I have a long talk with you about your drinking habits.”

Chris smiled, “I have got to have some of whatever you gave me for medicinal purposes. I know of numerous occasions I could have partied a lot longer if I had something like that. It’s hard to party from the floor.”

“Sorry, it’s reserved only for the military.”

Chris tensed up. He quickly looked around and noticed through the curtain around his gurney that soldiers were passing outside the cubicle, “Is this a military facility?”

“Relax, you’re a civilian.”

“But is it military?”

“Yes, it is.”

“How did I get here?”

“Two Alpha Agents stunned you and brought you here. It seems you wanted to dance some more, even though you just really weren’t up to the task. Gravity was about to claim you.”

Chris thought hard and tried to remember what happened. “The last thing I remember was dancing with Dolly.” Chris looked at Ben and smiled, “You should see Dolly.”

“I have. One of the Agents shared his recording and you’re right; she’s something to behold.”

“You have no idea, Doc. She’s also a Suma Cum Laude graduate of Cal Tech.”

“What’s she doing with you?”

Chris shook his head, “I have no idea.”

“Is she one of your students?”

Chris smiled, “Perhaps.”

“Well, there you go. It seems things haven’t changed much since medical school. The professors always did better with women than us peons.”

Chris smiled, “No, no, Doctor! You have it all wrong. She likes me for my cooking.”

Ben’s eyes narrowed and he leaned in with a small smile, “Now Mr. Connor, you know as well as I do that you don’t even have a stove in your home.”

Chris’ smile disappeared and he stared at the Doctor, “How do you know that?”

“The Agent’s video. They went there to fetch you before going to the bar.”

Chris looked around and began to feel nervous, “Am I free to go?”

“Well, not really. We have someone who wants to discuss some issues with you, and they won’t arrive for another hour. Why don’t we go to the cafeteria and you can cook us something while we wait?”

Chris chuckled, “She really just likes me for my looks.”

Ben laughed, “Now that I might believe. However, most twenty-somethings that look like her don’t line up for men in their mid-thirties. You look ok, Dr. Connor, but she could pretty much have much prettier men than you.”

“How did you know I was that old?”

“I looked at your teeth.”

“Oh! And?”

“You take good care of them, which is surprising considering what you’re doing to the rest of your body. It appears you’re on a mission to die young and you take it seriously. It wasn’t only alcohol we found in your system. But let’s not talk about that. We’ll just keep that to ourselves, shall we?”

Chris sighed and said, “Where is this cafeteria, and I’m beginning to think something is rotten in Denmark.”

Ben stepped back with mock horror on his face, “Of course it is, the King abdicated last year to his mother.” Ben leaned in close and said, “I’ve been worried about that family for years.”

Chris shook his head and suddenly noticed the Special Forces troops that were moving around the building were stopping and saluting the Doctor. That was not good. He tapped his communicator and it didn’t even turn on.

Ben leaned back in, “The field around this facility blocks all electronic devices. Sorry.”

Chris looked at Ben and said, “What’s your rank, Doctor?”

Ben smiled, “I’m a Major General, why do you ask?”

“I just wanted to see how deep the crap is I’ve stumbled into. I thought I was up to my neck but now I know it’s over my head.”

Ben laughed and slapped him on the back, “You’re a very funny guy.”

Chris almost fell over, caught himself, and again noticed all the Special Forces stopping to salute as they passed. This was not good in a very big way. He wished he could call John, but even he might not be able to extract him from this situation.

Arnold looked at Jillian, “Ben tells me our boy is awake and conscious.”

“Notify everyone that I’m on my way.”

“Good luck.”

Chris looked at Ben as they sat down at a table in the cafeteria, “Why are you personally here with me?”

Ben smiled, “What do you mean?”

“Come on, Ben. If you’re a Major General, there’s absolutely no way I could ever get the attention of anyone with that rank. If I remember, Major Generals are usually one of the Joint Chiefs aren’t they?”

“You have a good memory.”

Chris stared at Ben. Finally Ben said, “You are going to be asked to take part in an exercise, and I wanted to see for myself what kind of person you are. I decided to see to your recovery from last night’s binge personally.”

“Are you going to have to approve this, uh, exercise?”

“No, the decision has already been made by higher authorities.”

“Higher than a Major General?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Then why are you wasting your time?”

Ben looked across the cafeteria at the troops eating their meals and said, “You see those young men?”

Chris looked at the soldiers and nodded.

“I want them to have babies and grow up with their families. I’ve read the report on you, and it seems to me that you’re only concerned with partying or having a good time.”

Chris didn’t say anything.

“I had to confirm for myself that there was more to you than a raging libido coupled to drug and alcohol addiction.”

“And?”

“The jury is still out. You at least don’t panic easily. Most people in your current situation would be exhibiting a great deal more nervousness than you’re showing. I’m not sure if it’s courage or just stupidity.”

Chris tilted his head to the left and said, “You know, Ben. You really don’t have to sugarcoat it. You can tell me what you really think.”

Ben laughed out loud, “Maybe there’s more to you than I think.” Ben suddenly got a faraway look and stood up, “Looks like the cafeteria food will have to wait. We need to go now. The group has arrived.”

“What group?”

“You’ll see.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that. Can you give me a clue?

“No.”

“Have I met with them before?”

“No.”

“Do they have a sense of humor?”

Ben had started walking out of the cafeteria and suddenly stopped and looked at Chris, “Now that is a question I didn’t anticipate.” He turned and continued to walk.

Chris followed the General out of the cafeteria and watched as every soldier saluted him as they passed. How do I get out of this? Chris thought a moment, how the heck did I get into this?

Ben continued to walk.

Chapter Two

They arrived at a door with two Alpha Agents on each side. They opened the door and Ben motioned Christopher to enter. He stepped in and froze in the entrance. There were three people at a table in the center of the room, and he immediately recognized two of them; Chen Suh, the current World President and James Carlyle, the President of the United States. Ben gave him a push from behind and he stumbled into the room. The Two Alpha Agents stepped in behind him and locked the door.

Chris noticed that the third person at the table was a striking woman. She was beautiful and he felt like he had seen her somewhere before. She was staring at him with obvious distaste. Well, she just didn’t know him. If she did she wouldn’t be acting like that. He saw Chen stand, indicate a chair in front of him, and say, “Please come in and join us, Doctor Connor.”

Chris thanked the stars he was sober. This was much more serious than he thought. He collected himself, walked forward to the chair, and sat down. Chen took his seat and said, “I apologize for bringing you here without a formal invitation, but I want to keep this meeting out of public view. I hope you’ll use discretion in talking about anything we discuss here.”

Chris nodded and glanced at the woman who was still staring bullets. He looked back at Chen and said, “Why all the secrecy, Mr. President?”

“We have been informed that you have created a device that is capable of viewing events that happened in Earth’s past. Is there any truth to that?”

Christopher shrugged and leaned back in the chair, “I received a patent on it yesterday and yes, it is capable of viewing past events. However, there’ll be no way to trial it until someone develops a faster-than-light ship.”

Chen looked at President Carlyle and turned back to Chris, “If such a ship was developed, how far back in the past could you view events?”

Chris just stared at Chen and wondered what was going on. The woman said, “You were asked a question!”

Chris looked at her and said, “I don’t know if that scowl is your normal feature, but he asked it; not you. I’ve been trying to make a quick determination and without a calculator it takes a few moments to figure out. Why don’t you behave yourself and not show such discourtesy to the President by interrupting our conversation. He was talking to me.”

Jillian turned red and Chris saw her anger. Good. She didn’t know who she was fooling with.

Chen looked at Jillian with a stern expression and she sat back fuming. “Do you need us to bring you a calculator, Doctor Connor?”

“No, Mr. President. I find that question difficult to answer.”

“Why?”

“Well, it depends on which direction you chose to take to view the light that left Earth. There are stars, planets, quasar dust, and other objects that could block it out if you chose the wrong path to follow.”

Chen smiled, “Just a rough guess would be fine. Could you see a hundred years ago?”

Chris smiled, “Well, if you went took a path out into empty space to view it, you could go back more than a million years. I’ve theoretically proven that the absolute limit is about a billion years.”

Even the woman was stunned. All three looked at each other and Chen continued, “Tell me, Doctor Connor, how you would be able to capture only the reflected light that came from our planet? Surely there would be much more than just the light from Earth?”

“Yes there would be, however, the light leaving Earth is reflected through an atmosphere composed of eighty percent nitrogen and twenty percent oxygen. Of course there are other trace gasses, and taken as a whole they would make that light different from other light sources. The frequency of that reflected light would fall into a very specific range, and only Earth’s light reflection would be on that frequency. The sensors of the system would scan for and capture only light on that waveband.”

President Carlyle said, “You say you can focus that light such that you can see individuals on the planet’s surface?”

Chris furrowed his brow and looked at the three intently staring at him, “Yes, but why are you so interested in the device? It’s worthless unless you can travel faster-than-light.” Chris paused, looked at the woman, and then he knew, “You’ve discovered a way to do it?”

Chen smiled, “Yes, we have, Dr. Connor, and we need you to trial your device.”

“Does that mean leaving Earth and going out into space?”

Chen and James looked at each other and Chen said, “Yes, it does.”

“Well count me out. I have no desire to leave the planet. Have you trialed this stardrive?”

Chen stared at Chris and said, “Yes, for a short jump out to Neptune.”

Chris began shaking his head, “I have absolutely no desire to jump on board a ship made with brand new technology and give it a trial. I’ll teach someone else how to use my device and they can go trial it.”

“Is it simple to use?”

“Well, no. But give me a year and I can bring someone up to speed on how to make the adjustments and calibrations.”

Chen said, “What if we pay you to make the trip?”

“Sorry, you can’t spend money if you’re dead. I’m quite comfortable with my life exactly as it is.”

Jillian looked at Chris and said, “You just haven’t run out of Dollys to exploit yet, have you?”

Chris felt his temper flare. He looked angrily at the black haired woman and said, “You can say what you want about me, but the next time you make a derogatory remark about one of the finest people I’ve ever known, this meeting will be over and my device will not be used for anything. I’ll destroy it first.”

Jillian saw Chris’ anger and wondered about his defense of the blonde.

Ben Keenan said from the back of the room, “You need to let him see it.”

Chris turned around and saw Ben staring at him. “See what?”

Chen looked at Ben, and then turned to Jillian, “Take him to the site.”

Jillian said, “I was wrong to suggest we use Dr. Connor. We should try to find another way. He’s a waste of time.”

“Doctor Gordon, this is not a request. You will take him there immediately.”

Chris’ ears perked up. She was a Doctor? Doctor of what? Then he remembered, “Are you Doctor J.N. Gordon?”

Jillian looked at Chris and nodded.

“You’ve won a Nobel Prize.”

“You would have too if you could control yourself. It’s becoming clear that’s something you’re just not capable of doing.”

Chris smiled and tipped an imaginary hat, “Ya gotta have your priorities.”

Jillian was furious but looked back at Chen and saw him getting angry. She looked at Chris and said, “Come with me.”

Chris leaned back in his chair, “What if I don’t choose to go?”

James Carlyle smiled at Chris and said, “Then you will sit in jail for the next ten years under political protection. You will go with her.”

Chris jerked his head around and saw Carlyle was serious. He looked back at Jillian and said, “Lead the way, Dr. Gordon.”

Jillian stood and walked out of the room. Chris had to hustle to keep up with her, and planned to contact John to come save him as soon as he was clear of the facility. He heard a noise and turned. He saw the two Alpha Agents were following right behind him. Drat, now his plan to escape wouldn’t work. Even he wasn’t stupid enough to try and escape an Alpha. Jeff said, “Uh, I’m sorry Dr. Connor, but we have temporally disabled your communicator. We’re going to a top security site and no communications will be allowed until after your visit.”

Chris wondered how he was going to get out of the fix he found himself in. He started running trying to keep up with Dr. Gordon.

Jillian was furious and wanted to teach this pompous professor a thing or two. Well, let’s get this over with.

Jeff and Bob looked at each other and took bets on how long it would take Jillian to deck this meatball. Two hours was their longest guess. Jeff even bet on how many times he’d bounce when he hit the floor. Bob said that if it was concrete, he’d not bounce at all. Jeff thought about it and had to agree.

Chen looked at James and said, “The President of the university started calling before our meeting demanding that we return his professor. He’s threatening to go to the Human Rights Council.”

“We can just pay him off with a new library.”

“I don’t think so. It seems some students witnessed the agents taking him away and informed the student body of what they saw. More than eight thousand have started demonstrations for his return and more are arriving by the moment. The riot police have been called out at our local embassy.”

Carlyle stared at Chen, “I find that hard to believe. Who in their right mind would want someone that shallow returned?”

Chen smiled, “It’s those demonstrations that convinced me to allow him to see the tablet. Remember, he’s been nominated three times for a Nobel Prize. There’s something more than what we see in this professor. He’s obviously had an impact on a large number of people at the university, and that speaks volumes to me. Let’s see what happens.”

“Jillian might now be the problem. I can’t see her working with him.”

Chen smiled, “Let’s wait and see. If there’s something to this professor, she’ll see it as well. She’s a smart woman”

Chris was taking deep breaths, and finally bent over with his hands on his knees and said, “Look, if you want to run a marathon, go ahead. I’ll just go home from here and then we’ll all be happy. However, I am not chasing you anymore.”

Jillian turned around and sneered, “What’s the matter, the tough old college professor can’t keep up with a girl.”

Chris looked at her, looked up at the sky, and said, “Like, no!”

The Alphas tried not to smile and Jeff nearly bit his lip off refraining for showing any emotion. Jillian stood there scowling with her hands on her hips and wondered what it would take to get a rise out of this scoundrel. She looked at the two Alphas and said, “I’ll go get the carrier and come back for ole wheezy here. You might want to get him a walker.”

Chris said between his heavy breathing, “Take your time. A year or two works great for me.”

Bob looked up at the sky and Jeff bent down to tie his boot. Jillian knew they were trying hard not to laugh. That made her even angrier, and she stormed off. Chris watched her leave, “Gee whiz, I’ve see pit bulls with a better disposition.”

Jeff smiled and said, “Dr. Connor, I’d be careful with Dr. Gordon.”

“Why, for God’s sake?”

“Well, you know how well Alpha Agents are trained in hand-to-hand combat.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, she’s the trainer.”

Chris turned and watched Jillian get smaller as she moved away, and he said to Jeff, “Well, tell her to pick on somebody her own size.”

Jeff smiled and said, “Doctor, you are her size.”

“Not if you include that oversized ego of hers.”

Bob burst out laughing, and Jeff finally laughed with him. Jeff decided that this was going to be fun until Jillian blew her top. He looked at Chris and felt sorry for the professor.

Chris sat down and thought about a woman that was a Doctor of Quantum Physics and a hand-to-hand combat instructor. How did that happen? She was quite likely the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and obviously multi-talented. Why did she hate him? He examined his feelings and quickly determined he really didn’t have any attraction toward her. Usually a woman this beautiful would be high on his party-on meter. He thought about it some more, and determined that he was somewhat intimidated by her. The article she had written dealt with the dimensional variances of time distortion in an energy wave was above his understanding, and that bothered him. Could it possibly be that he was only attracted to females that were not as smart?

He looked up into an azure blue sky and took a deep breath. It was a really a beautiful day, and worrying about what was happening wouldn’t change anything. He was following their instructions so they probably wouldn’t send him to jail. What was this exercise that Ben mentioned?

He forced himself to relax. He moved to the curb on the sidewalk and thought about Jillian Gordon. It boiled down to control. He always controlled his relationships, what few he had been in, because of his brilliance. He knew there was no possibility of controlling Jillian. That was not a good thing. Manipulating her was just not going to happen. He looked up and saw a large military craft descending from traffic overhead. It landed and the port opened. Chris sighed, so she was a pilot as well. The Agents escorted Chris inside and led him to a seat next to the front bulkhead.

Jeff said, “Buckle up Doctor and pull the straps tight. I suspect Jillian might want to use a little extra oomph in take off.”

Chris pulled the straps, “Picking on me again, huh?”

Jeff smiled and nodded.

“Well, at least I’m glad Ben and I didn’t have time to eat.” Then Chris was slammed back into his seat and felt his stomach go into his throat.

Bob smiled and said under his breath, “Never let em see you sweat, Doctor.”

Chris had his eyes closed and tried to hold on the straps, “Easy for you to say; you’re not seeing your intestines wrap around your eyeballs.”

Bob and Jeff both howled their laughter, which only made Jillian furious. What was so frapping funny?

An hour later the carrier landed smoothly at the spaceport. Even Jillian couldn’t violate the flight protocols around that facility. Chris had a chance to compose himself and get over the dizziness assaulting him. He knew his shoulders were bruised from the brutal flight. Jillian stepped out of the cockpit and Chris said, “Can we please do that again? I want to be able to fully describe this fun ride to my twelve year old nephews.”

Jillian stared at Chris and said stiffly, “Follow me. You two can wait here.”

Bob said, “Yes Sir.”

Jillian walked toward the port, and Jeff held a thumbs-up to Chris. Chris nodded and said, “Are we going to another marathon? I need to change my shoes if we are.”

Jillian stopped just outside the port and put her hand on Chris’ chest to stop him. “Doctor Connor, I apologize for taking my frustration out on you. Quite frankly, you represent everything I detest about the male species. I blame myself for asking for you help. However, I’ll stop badgering you if you will agree to pay attention for a few minutes so we can get this over with. I’m just as impatient as you are to send you home and get you away from me.”

Chris smiled, “You have my undivided attention.” Jillian turned and started walking toward a huge building. “What are we going to see, Dr. Gordon?”

Jillian said, “The future as seen from the past.”

Chris was startled by the response, “My device sees the past from the future.”

“Then you should find this somewhat entertaining. I find it very frightening.”

Chris wondered what could possibly frighten Jillian. He wasn’t at all certain if he wanted to find out. He followed her through multiple security check points and arrived at a giant door that had a DNA scanner. Jillian breathed into the device and the huge locks slid silently out of their channels. The door smoothly swung inward, and Chris followed Jillian into a huge room that was almost a half mile long. He saw search lights in the ceiling of the building were shining down on a tall object in the center of the room. As he focused on it, he saw ten individuals at the base of the object staring up at it and writing on small computer tablets. As he drew closer, he saw the object was a huge tablet-shaped stone. It had to be twenty feet tall, five feet thick, and must have weighed more than a hundred tons.

Jillian said, “This tablet was excavated at the Great Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt. It was deliberately buried more than a hundred feet down at the time the Great Pyramid was completed.” She turned to Chris and said, “You remember the stardrive President Chen mentioned?”

Chris nodded. He stared up at the massive stone block as they arrived at the base.

“We developed that drive from diagrams carved on the back of this tablet.”

Chris stopped dead in his tracks and looked at Jillian with shock on his face.

She looked up at the tablet and said, “The front of the tablet tells us that Earth is going to be destroyed within the next five to ten years. Nothing will survive.”

Chris looked at her with shock and amazement. Jillian saw his expression, smiled ruefully, and said, “Welcome to my world, Dr. Connor.”

Chapter Three

Chris stared at Jillian, looked up at the tablet, and said, “You’re not kidding?”

“No, I’m not. This tablet was buried under a chamber that appeared to be uncompleted in the base of the pyramid. We discovered it two years ago and we moved it here to do further work on it.”

Chris stared up at the giant tablet and saw row after row of strange symbols. “May I see the back?”

“Why, you’re not going to be a part of this project? Your fear is obvious and you need to go attend your next party.”

Chris looked at Jillian and then back at the tablet. He remained silent and Jillian wondered what he was thinking. “You’re certain when it was buried?”

“Absolutely. A body was buried with it that allowed us to carbon date it.” Chris continued to stare at the tablet and Jillian said, “You’ve seen enough. Let’s take you back to your college.”

Chris said without looking at her, “I think President Suh sent me here for a reason. I also think he might question me later regarding what my thoughts are about this tablet.” Chris looked at her, “Do you want me to tell him you showed it to me and then made me leave without answering any of my questions?” Chris stared at Jillian and saw her impatience. He felt his anger grow and then he exploded, “Frankly, I’m over your holier-than-thou attitude. I wouldn’t want to work on anything with someone as shallow as you are. Perhaps you should take me back.” Chris turned and started walking back to the entrance.

Jillian felt her anger but then realized that Suh was angry at her for her behavior during the meeting. It was possible she could be taken off the project. She ran after Chris and said, “You’re right. I agreed to stop badgering you and I didn’t. The truth is that without your help, my project is doomed to failure. I need you to help us. I’m sorry. Let’s try this again.” She stuck out her hand.

Chris stared at her, and after a moment shook it. He turned to the giant stone, “I don’t recognize those symbols on the tablet. It’s not any language I’ve ever seen. It certainly didn’t come from the Egyptians.”

Jillian was surprised, “How many languages are you familiar with?”

“I’ve studied all of the ancient languages and this comes from that period, if what you say is true about its age. If it was carved in ancient Egypt, I didn’t see any hieroglyphics on it.”

“That’s because they’re on the top five feet of the tablet. Whoever carved it put a row of hieroglyphics above a row of this new language. They deliberately created a Rosetta Stone so that whoever found the tablet would have a key to decipher it.”

Chris stared at Jillian and she tilted her head toward the right side of the tablet, “Want to see the back?” He followed her around the tablet and saw the back. This was absolutely impossible.

Jillian sighed, “Those diagrams appear to be made by someone who is an excellent engineer. The plans for a modern spaceship are less detailed than these carvings.”

“Is that a generator?”

“Yes, it is, and the material that powers it is a combination of eight different elements heated to 1,500 degrees and put together in a specified order and quantity. When put together at that temperature, the elements combine into a substance that will produce an energy field when electricity is passed through it. That field is what allows the stardrive to work. We combined this material with our nuclear fuel and it is a hundred times more powerful than the reactor carved on the tablet or our modern reactors.”

Chris looked at Jillian, “How could this have happened?”

Jillian looked up at the tablet and shook her head, “I don’t know, but we do know that this was carved by one of the human pyramid builders.”

“Are you saying that non-humans took part in the construction?”

“Yes, but the only way to know for certain is to take your device and go see what actually took place. I know you’ve got to be curious about the Pyramid’s construction.”

Chris looked at Jillian, “I’ve always wondered about the pyramids. There are other buildings that are impossible, but the Great Pyramid is the one that has fascinated me the most. That’s why I built the device.”

Jillian suddenly looked at Chris and said, “Yes, Mr. President; he’s here.”

Chris looked at her and watched as she listened to her communicator. She looked at him and continued to listen. After a few moments Jillian said, “I’ll tell him.”

Chris looked at her, “Tell me what?”

“It seems there are riots breaking out at your university. The students have marched on the World Government Embassy and are demanding your return.”

Chris shook his head, “Has to be Dolly’s doing.”

“Why?”

“She holds me in rather high esteem.” Chris furrowed his brow, “I don’t remember much of what happened at the bar, but did you say anything to her?”

“I showed her my badge and sent her packing.”

“Well, I’m sure she didn’t go very far and she probably saw you take me away.” Chris thought a moment and said, “Is there any way to turn on my communicator?”

“What are you planning to do?”

“Tell her that I’m fine and that I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Are you? Fine, I mean.”

“Well, you tell me. However, I don’t want to see my students injured by the riot police. I’ve been threatened with being sent to jail but I must make sure my students are not harmed. I’ll not use them to protect me.”

“I’ll connect you to her through my communicator.”

“Better do it quick.”

Dolly Sierra was at the front of the mass of students crowding the police line at the government center screaming at the top of her voice. She heard her communicator and activated it. She immediately saw it was Christopher, “Are you all right?”

“I am now. Is this demonstration your doing?”

“I had some help. The word spread quickly and the Tutors all showed up immediately.”

“That figures, they are somewhat more idealistic.”

“Tell me what’s happening!”

“I will, but first patch me in to the general university frequency so I can speak with everyone.”

Dolly thought about the frequency and activated it, “You’re on the air.”

Chris looked at Jillian and said, “I hope none of you have been injured or harmed in your efforts to help me.”

The thousands at the center abruptly stopped and listened to Dr. Connor. Even the riot police tuned in to the frequency. After three hours of bedlam, the silence was deafening. “I know you’ve heard that I was kidnapped by the government and taken away. However, I was scheduled to take part in a meeting with some very high ranking government officials and guess who forgot to put it on his calendar? Not only that, I went ahead and went to a dance.”

Jillian listening in on the frequency heard a loud moan from the gathered students. Everyone knew about Dr. Connor’s Thursday night dances. “I know, I know. But sometimes you just have to dance.” Christopher paused and heard the crowd laugh. He continued, “Those Agents were there to protect the woman who came to fetch me, but you all know how much I hate to leave a dance. I refused to go, so they assisted me in keeping my commitment. I’m fine and I’ll be back shortly. I also apologize for the concern I caused all of you. Please, please, go back to class and I’ll see all of you at next week’s dance.”

The students roared their laughter again and began dispersing. Jillian listened in and heard Dolly said, “That story might wash with everyone else, but I know better; you’re in deep trouble aren’t you?”

“No, not now. Dolly, how long did it take you to learn Portuguese?”

“That was a tough language, Doc.”

“How long?”

“Shoot; at least three hours.”

Jillian was shocked as she listened in.

“Didn’t you also learn hieroglyphics?”

“That was easy as well, although it did take a couple of days. There were just so many pictures to memorize. You should spend more time on the carvings at Alexandria.”

“Dolly, I wonder if you could help me with some translating that involves hieroglyphics.”

“Chris, you know I start Grad School again in four weeks?”

“Yes. Why are you going to get another doctorate? Aren’t three enough?”

“Well, a lady has to support herself.”

Chris looked Jillian in the eyes and said, “I’d like to hire you for four weeks for four million dollars if you can decipher a language.”

Jillian waited and didn’t hear anything. Chris said, “Dolly, are you still there?”

“You’re in danger, aren’t you Doctor Connor.”

“No, Dolly, I’m serious. I don’t know anyone that has your understanding of languages. This is a language that is totally new. It was recently discovered.”

“Well, that would be almost impossible. You would need some reference point to start translating from.”

“What if we have two hundred lines of hieroglyphics that match up with the language word-for-word?”

“That makes it very possible.”

“Dolly, I’ll call you back. Keep your line open.”

“Only for you.”

Jillian looked at Chris, “Just what do you think you’re doing?”

“Making your life a lot easier; you haven’t finished translating the tablet and you’re having difficulty with what remains.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because those people working on the front side are still copying symbols onto their pads to be transferred to your main computer, which tells me you are having trouble with it.”

Jillian sighed, “You’re right. We have translated a lot of it, but not the pieces we really need.”

“Then tell me, Jillian; how much would you pay to have it accurately translated?”

“I’d pay ten million if it could be done quickly. However, what are you doing offering Blondie four million?”

“Sorry, I’m offering her ten million now. Blonde, as you call her, has the highest IQ in the history of my university. She received her first PhD in chemistry when she was thirteen. She speaks fifty languages fluently. She is currently going to work on her second PhD in high energy physics and it was her that helped me design my device. Trust me on this, she can translate that tablet. Her language skills are unequalled. Do you want the help or not?”

Jillian put her hands on her hips, “Why the half naked look at the bar? That’s not the behavior of someone as intelligent as you say.”

“She really wants to be appreciated for her body.”

Jillian looked skeptical.

“I’m serious. Everyone at the university is intimidated by her intelligence. She likes being appreciated for her appearance.”

Jillian looked at the ceiling, “What is the world coming to?”

“Do you want her?”

“I’ll tell you what. I’ll pay her the ten million if she can translate the front of the tablet within six weeks.”

“Call her and make the offer.”

“Can she be trusted to keep this secret?”

“You didn’t know she was brilliant. Obviously, she can hide things.”

“If you say so. However, you need to make the call. She might not believe you’re really safe if I make it.”

“You’re right. Connect me again.”

“What’s going on, Chris?”

“Dolly, I want you to consider an offer. These people I have been meeting with are having difficulty translating a document. I’ve been told to offer you ten million dollars if you can do it in six weeks; nothing if you can’t. Are you up to the challenge?”

“You know how I love challenges. Do you think it would hold my interest?”

“Like nothing you’ve ever seen before.”

“This is starting to get me excited. How do we do this?”

“You know our dancing place?”

“Sure.”

“Pack a bag and the people I left with will come to get you there in three hours.”

“I’ll be there.”

“Oh, and Dolly?”

“I know, I know, dress appropriately.”

Jillian felt the disconnect, “What were you going to say to her?”

“Dress appropriately. She does like to show off.”

“Am I sensing that you’re changing your mind about joining my project?”

“No, not really. I don’t want to give up my dance days. However, I’m going to wait and see what Dolly finds out. If the planet is in real danger, then I might consider it.”

“Why?”

“I can’t allow those students under my care to come to harm if I can do anything to prevent it. That’s the only thing that would make me go.”

Jillian shook her head. She could not understand this crazy professor.

Dolly waited at the bar and watched the crowded dance floor. She was amazed at the couples dancing, and wondered what could have possibly mixed and matched them. Most of them just didn’t seem to fit together. The six foot three inch girl dancing with a five foot five inch man…well, perhaps she could understand that one. Jamal Lundquist walked up and said, “What happened to your dance partner?”

Dolly turned around and said, “Hi, Jamal. He was late for a meeting.”

“So what else is new?”

“No, he’s never late. He says he was this time, but has he ever been late to the center?”

Jamal thought a moment, “No. He’s usually early. Those children he’s tutoring would be heartbroken if he didn’t show.”

“I know. That makes me believe that something else is going on.”

“Sure there is. Did you see those Alpha Agents? Why have you packed a bag?”

“I’m going to check on him. The ones that took him are coming to get me.”

Jamal looked worried, “Dolly, don’t put yourself in danger.”

“I’ve got to go, Jamal. It’s the only way to make sure he’s ok. He’s told me some fantasy about a job but I still have to go and see. However, if you don’t hear from me or him in a week, tell the Tutors.”

“I will. Just be careful.”

“As much as I can, you know I will. You better get out of here. I think those Alphas are coming back.”

Jamal looked around quickly and moved out into the crowd surrounding the dance floor where he could keep an eye on Dolly.

Dolly turned back to the dance floor examining the crowd. She lost track of time until she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see a handsome young man standing behind her, “Excuse me, Miss Sierra, but I’m here to pick you up.”

Dolly stared at him a moment, then recognized him, “You look different out of uniform.”

“My commander felt that dressing in civilian clothes would be more appropriate this time.”

Dolly tilted her head and said, “Well, you do dress up well. You should do it more often.”

Jeff smiled, “You also look beautiful tonight. Black is your color.”

Dolly smiled as Jeff lifted her suitcase, “You don’t have to lie; I’ll go with you willingly.”

Jeff looked Dolly in the eyes and said, “I don’t lie. Ever. You are more beautiful tonight than the first time I saw you. You were just gorgeous then.”

Dolly smiled and put her arm in his elbow, “Lead on brave warrior.”

Jeff felt a foot taller and was envious of Dr. Connor. This was one remarkably beautiful woman.

Jamal watched them leave, and also recognized the Alpha Agent; he never forgot a face. He set his timer as he watched them disappear through the entrance. “One week, Dolly. No more, no less.”

Dolly was lead through the multiple security check points and wondered what Dr. Connor had gotten himself into. This facility was a top secret government facility. She finally made it through the last giant portal and saw the woman that had confronted her at the dance club, “Welcome, Miss Sierra. I appreciate your coming to help us.”

“Just call me, Dolly. I actually came to check on Dr. Connor. However, all this security had piqued my curiosity. You must have something happening to have this level of security.”

Jillian stared at Dolly and wondered exactly what about Connor would engender this kind of loyalty. “He told me you were good with languages. Was that not true?”

Dolly waved her hand, “I’ve dabbled with languages. What’s the problem?”

Jillian wasn’t sure if she wanted to take Dolly any closer to the tablet if she wasn’t what she was advertised to be. She started feeling like she had been misled by the wacky Professor. She saw one of the translation team leaving for a break and said, “Dr. Leven, may I see your pad for a moment?”

“Sure.” Leven handed Jillian his computer tablet. Jillian scrolled through the data and arrived at the first six lines of the tablet with their translations. She handed it to Dolly and said, “Does this make sense to you?”

Dolly looked at the six lines and read the translations in less than ten seconds, “This translation is wrong. The fourth line is a negative not a positive. The writer was saying they hated to be bringing such bad news, not that they had news. I also see that the language under it is not from this planet.”

Jillian was shocked, “Why do you say that?”

“The breaks in the thoughts are at different intervals than the way humans think. Whoever wrote the lines under the hieroglyphics was really just giving definitions to individual terms.” Dolly handed the tablet back and looked at Jillian, “You’ve discovered aliens.”

Jeff watched Dolly give her opinion and was amazed and intimidated by what he was seeing in the young woman. Dolly looked at him and saw his expression, “Now there you go wondering how you’re ever going to stand a chance with someone like me, aren’t you?”

Jeff looked at her and nodded, “Miss Sierra, you have just added about ten more levels of beauty to what I have already seen. I am amazed by your brilliance.”

Dolly smiled, leaned over, and kissed him on the cheek, “Don’t give up so fast, Jeffie, you also interest me.” Dolly turned back to Jillian and said, “You need Dr. Connor to go and see if there were aliens when these hieroglyphics were written. That tells me you must have developed some kind of mechanism that will allow faster-than-light speeds.”

Jillian slowly shook her head and smiled, “Come with me, Dolly. I have something to show you.”

“Do you mind if Jeff goes with us? I don’t want him to stray too far. Someone else might ask him to dance and you know how I hate competition.”

Jillian frowned, “I thought you had a thing for Dr. Connor.”

Dolly’s expression said it all, “Get real. I tried but he’s not available. The only thing I have for him is that I would give my life to make sure he’s safe. Too many people depend on him.”

Jeff looked at Dolly and wondered if he did have a chance. Dolly smiled at him and nodded. “Sure you do.” Oh, boy. She could read his expression. That’s fine. I don’t have anything to hide.

Jillian shook her head, “Well, let’s go see the good Doctor. He’s been waiting for you.” She nodded at Jeff and he followed them.

Five days had passed and Dr. Connor had left and come back. He didn’t explain why he had to leave, but President Carlyle insisted that he be allowed the freedom to set his own schedule. He had spent most of his time with Dolly, working on her computer with her translations. He had surprised her again when she learned he was also an authority on ancient languages. Dolly was beyond anyone she had ever encountered. The translation team had confronted her after she had challenged their work and they discovered rather quickly that they were wrong every time. This young woman shredded their arguments and corrected most of what they had done. They realized that they were now in a supporting role and, unbelievably, there was no anger toward her. Her openness, sincerity, and ready smile were impossible to be angry with for very long. Dr. Mustaf actually welcomed the opportunity to learn details of the ancient Egyptian language. Jillian watched as Dr. Connor stood and left the building again. Jillian walked up and sat down beside Dolly, “How’s it going?”

Dolly looked at Jillian and her face had a worried expression, “Jillian, this is scary.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll give you the entire translation shortly. I expect just a week or two will complete it, but I guess you already knew the tablet predicts the destruction of Earth.”

“Yes, we had already determined that before you came.”

“Jillian, the writer is saying that Earth will be shattered. All life on the planet will die.”

Jillian felt a cold wind blow over her soul, “Does he say how?”

“No, at least not to this point. I’ve not shared this with the team. I’m concerned that they might decide to do something irrational. This is not information that should get out. I think we are going to be attacked by someone.”

“Does it say when, Dolly?”

“Yes.”

Jillian was struck dumb. No one had been able to give a time for the event. “When!?!”

“It will happen between four and six years from now.”

Jillian stared at Dolly and said, “Do you believe it?”

“Yes.”

“Where did Dr. Connor go?”

“He went to resign his position at the university.”

“Why?!?”

Dolly took a deep breath and said, “You don’t like Chris, do you?”

Jillian nodded, “No, I don’t.”

“You think he’s just a happy go lucky, party hard, womanizing, alcoholic.”

“Isn’t he? It was that behavior that caused him to lose the Nobel Prize.”

Dolly just stared at Jillian.

“Dolly, a reporter that covered the incident is a close friend of mine. She said he didn’t even deny the accusations.”

“Jillian, you are such a thunk.”

“A what?”

“A thunk. You only believe what you see on the surface. You miss reality.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Dr. Connor didn’t have an affair with that woman. He spent the night at a hospital in Paris with one of our exchange students that had fallen deathly ill with a mersa infection. Chris was called by his girlfriend and asked if he could go help. He told the wife of that committee member where he was going and she asked if she could use the key to his room to go to the potty. He gave it to her and told her to leave it at the front desk. That man the hotel security video showed leaving in the morning was one of the selection committee’s members. Chris came back and discovered he was being accused of something he didn’t do. The woman came and begged him not to tell the truth. She said it would destroy the committee. Chris agreed to take the blame.”

Jillian didn’t know what to think.

“Do you know where he is right now?”

“No.”

“He has been tutoring children in the projects for years. He also started a program at the university to help struggling students. He would note those students in his classes that had exceptional performance. He asked them if they would be willing to help other students that were struggling. He not only did it in his discipline, but sought out students from all departments and set up a schedule for them to teach students that were having difficulty. The list of tutors has grown to more than fifteen hundred over a three year period. Those fifteen hundred are known as The Tutors and they are the most highly respected students in the school. To be selected to join their ranks is an honor that everyone holds in higher esteem than graduating with high honors. The student body would follow their lead on any issue. Their acknowledged leader is Dr. Connor.”

Jillian lowered her head and thought about what Dolly was saying.

“Jillian, he is going to resign his position today to try and do all he can to save those students that have given their lives to helping others. That is the only thing that would make him stop helping those kids in the project and our university students. There is going to be a huge heartbreak at his leaving.”

Jillian didn’t respond.

“One more thing, Jillian.”

She looked up at Dolly, “Every woman in the university has thrown themselves at Dr. Connor, and that includes me. He has told every one of us that we are better than that. He told me he expected more than that out of me. He told me that if I didn’t value myself, no one else ever would. He shamed me, but he also made me realize that he was right. He made me a better person for it.”

Jillian saw she was being honest.

“You wonder about the dancing.”

Jillian nodded.

“His Mother, Father, and older brother were killed in a skimmer accident when he was twelve years old. They were going to a convention in California. He was forced to stay home and attend a dancing class that his parents had enrolled him in. They insisted that no one should miss class or an appointment. To do so was evidence of a weak person. They died on a Thursday night. Chris goes to dance every Thursday and has not missed a night as long as I’ve known him. I’m sure if he’s out of town and it’s a Thursday, he will be dancing somewhere. He dances to remember them and he drinks to forget his sorrow.”

“How do you know this?”

“I learned while being his dancing partner. He allowed me to go with him while we were working on his invention. He talks to them when he really gets drunk. I looked up his father’s name in the University’s Library and found the details of the accident. He doesn’t know that I know. Jillian, I love him like a brother.” Dolly stared Jillian in the eyes and she saw something hard to describe. “I’m telling you this because Jeff tells me you were his hand-to-hand combat instructor. Trust me on this one, Jillian. You don’t ever want to even think about hurting him.”

Jillian looked at Dolly, and could see the menace in her eyes. “Is combat one of the things you’ve learned?”

Dolly moved faster than Jillian could react. She held her hand out and Jillian saw both of her earrings. She hadn’t even felt them being removed. “No. Why would you ask that?”

Jillian knew she had no chance against someone that moved as fast as Dolly had just demonstrated, “Maybe you should be the Alphas instructor.”

“No, I don’t have any desire to hurt anyone or teach anyone how to do it. At least I can’t think of anyone I’d ever want to hurt. Yet.”

Jillian understood the veiled threat. “Look, Dolly, I have no intention of hurting anyone. I thought you were just a cupcake initially, but you’ve proven to me that you are so much more. Regardless of what I think about Dr. Connor, I like you. I’ll not hurt him because of that.”

“That’s good enough for me.” Dolly hugged Jillian, smiled, and said, “I need to get back to work. I’ll let you know if anything turns up.”

“Fair enough.” Jillian stood and walked back toward the Tablet.

She had trouble sleeping that night. Jillian finally decided, looked at her clock, and called Kim. “Hello, Jillian, it’s been a long time.”

“Hi, Kim, yes it has. Do you have a minute?”

“Sure.”

“Do you remember the incident in Oslo involving a Doctor Christopher Connor?”

Jillian heard her voice change immediately, “Why do you ask?”

“What’s wrong, Kim.”

Jillian heard her sigh, “Of all the articles I’ve written, that one has troubled me the most.”

“Why?”

“Jillian all he had to do was deny it. He wouldn’t, so I had to assume he was guilty.”

“Then why are you being so defensive?”

Kim sighed, “I called one of our field reporters that covered his university. I figured that if I could dig up some more dirt on the professor, my story would be picked up by all the news agencies.”

“I think they all ran with it anyway.”

“They did, but my field reporter told me to drop the story.”

“Did he say why?”

“Yes, he did. He told me not to believe he was guilty. He said that Dr. Connor would have never done what he was charged with.”

Jillian didn’t say anything.

“Jillian, he told me that the professor could have any female at the university and he had never stepped out of line once. When the students heard about the charges, every one of them laughed at them. They knew they were ridiculous. I just couldn’t let the story go. I wrote it anyway but I’ve always wondered what really happened.”

“Kim, he was in Paris that night with a sick exchange student. It wasn’t him.”

“Then why didn’t he tell us?”

“I can’t say. But you can check his story. See who signed for the student at the hospital in Paris that night.”

“Jillian, that was five years ago. The damage has been done.”

“Do you want to feel better?”

There was a long silence and then Kim said, “I guess I do. I’ll look into it.”

“Thanks, Kim.”

“No, thank you for letting me know. It should be easy to verify.”

Jillian hung up and wondered what the real truth about Doctor Christopher Connor was. She just didn’t know anymore.

Arnold Gordon said, “It appears Dr. Connor is joining the project. He resigned from the university this morning.”

President Suh looked at Carlyle and then said, “Why did he do that?”

“It appears a linguist that he brought in to help with the translation is certain that the danger to Earth is real and is going to happen within four to six years. She is of the opinion that we will be attacked.”

“How far along are you with the ship? Will it be completed in time?”

“It’s pretty much done. We need some help with the anti-gravity modules. Surprisingly, that linguist has provided the schematics to produce the device. She also holds a Doctorate in High Energy Physics.”

“This linguist sounds like someone we can use.”

“I’ve planned to offer her a job, if it meets with your approval.”

“For how much?”

“At least fifty million a year and trust me, that will be a bargain. We need her for ship building and weapon development. If we are going to be attacked, we can’t delay any longer. We must build a fleet and hope it will be effective against whoever the attacker might be.”

“They’ll be thousands of years ahead of us on the technology front.”

“I suspect it will be even more than that. However, we must do what we can.”

“You have your funding. Go make it happen.”

“Thank you.”

Chris entered the chamber and walked to the tablet, feeling real sorrow over his resignation. There was still so much to do, but it was all for nothing if the doom predicted by the ancient writer was real. He came in and sat down beside Dolly. She looked at him, then reached over and gave him a big hug. “I know what you’re feeling, but you’re doing the right thing, Chris.”

“I know, but that doesn’t make it any easier.”

“Chris, I’ve been offered a job.”

“You have, really? Do you want to take it?”

“No, but like you, it’s the right thing to do. I’ve been asked to help develop weapons that might be effective against the coming attack.”

Chris shook his head, “Oh, Dolly! I know how that must really hurt.”

“Yes, but I’ve got to do it.”

“How are we going to develop anything against aliens that have thousands of years of a technological edge over us?”

“I have an idea that will use the technology from the tablet. It might give us a chance. By the way, you didn’t ask what I was going to be paid.”

“Does it matter?”

“It will if we survive.”

“How much?”

“Eighty million a year.”

Chris just stared at her.

“Hey, I’m putting off my education.”

“You mean your entertainment. You don’t need any more education.”

“Samething.”

“Well, perhaps we can go dancing tomorrow night.”

“Sorry, I’m up against a deadline, and Jillian is not having any of my taking time off. However, she has agreed to go with you.”

Chris just stared at her over a lowered brow.

“She doesn’t want you away too long, either. She can provide the transportation to get you back. She also has one of those shots that Dr. Keenan gave you to help you recover.”

“Dr. Connor.” Chris turned around and saw Jillian. “I’ve volunteered to take Dolly’s place tomorrow. I’ll try to refrain from interrupting your good time, but I don’t want anyone else outside the project anywhere near you if you’re drinking and it can be avoided. Will you accept?”

Chris sighed and said, “I’m going to be quite intoxicated. I know how much you hate that.”

“Even so.”

“Ok. Let’s plan to leave around seven.”

“That’s fine. Now will you come with me and help with the placement of your device’s emitters on the ship?”

Chris looked at Dolly, then stood up and followed Jillian out of the building.

Jeff came over and sat down beside Dolly. “It’s a shame his life has been so disrupted by all of this.”

“That’s true, Jeff. However, tomorrow night you and I are going to dance here.”

Jeff smiled and said, “What are we going to do for music?”

“You’re leaving now to go get some for us.” Jeff leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “Jeff?”

“Yes, Dolly.”

“Bring a lot of slow music. I need you to hold me.”

Jeff smiled and headed toward the door. He also needed to hold her as well. It was so hard to believe this fabulous woman was attracted to him. It probably wouldn’t last but he was going to enjoy her for as long as she put up with him. He knew he wasn’t smart enough to keep her but he felt his heart beating faster as he thought about dancing with her. He had to forget the future and focus on these precious moments with her. She was so amazing.

The next evening, Chris walked out of the huge metal building and looked around. He heard a noise, looked up, and saw a small sports skimmer coming down. It was a new Corvette, and it was emerald green. This was the model that changed color. The passenger door rose and he entered to find Jillian in the driver’s seat. Her hair was pinned up, framing her face, and she was extraordinarily beautiful. She had on a long, green, knit coverall that came down to mid-calf. “Ready to go shake a rug?”

Chris smiled and said, “You are so beautiful tonight. What’s the occasion?”

“I decided that I didn’t want to embarrass you, so I dressed up a little.”

Chris pulled his seatbelt over his shoulder and said, “It would be impossible for you to embarrass anyone, even on your worst day.”

Jillian saw he was thinking out loud, but his comment made her glad she had dressed up. “Where to, Dr. Connor?”

“Jillian, just for tonight, call me Chris. You know where you picked me up that first night?” Jillian nodded. “That’s my dancing haven.”

Jillian smiled and smoothly lifted into the lanes of traffic overhead.

They arrived at the bar at seven thirty and Chris came around and opened Jillian’s door. The crowds gathered outside the restaurant sitting at tables and waiting to get in were impressed with the new Corvette. When Chris stepped out most of them began cheering. “Way to go, Dr. Conner. We didn’t think you’d make it.”

Chris laughed and said over his shoulder as the doorman waved him into the entrance, “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He led Jillian in and headed for the bar. Two people stepped away and gave Chris their seats. Jillian looked at him and Chris said, “These chairs are sorta reserved for me on Thursdays.”

Jillian noticed that everyone in the place was staring at them. Most of the students were talking on their communicators, and the older people were staring at her. Chris saw them staring and said, “No offense, but you’re a little older that most of my dance partners.” Jillian smirked and continued looking out at the crowd. “You’re also the most beautiful person in this room.”

Jillian looked back at him and saw him motioning a bartender over. He wasn’t making a pass. She wondered how he could cause such diverse emotions with just two sentences. The bartender came up and said, “The usual, Doctor?”

“Absolutely. What will you have, Jillian?”

“I’ll take a glass of white wine.”

The bartender smiled and said, “Coming right up.” He arrived with a small glass of wine and what looked like a gallon jug filled to the top.”

“What is that?”

Chris turned the jug up and said after a long swallow, “It’s a combination long island ice tea and kamikazes.”

“Are you serious?”

“Well, not really. They also put some Jaeger in it as well.”

Jillian looked at Chris, “This explains a lot.”

Chris took another long drink and smiled, “If you’re going to drink, then drink.”

After forty five minutes Chris turned to Jillian and said, “You know what Jilly, I mean Jeanian, uhhh Jillian; I fear I may embarrass you. You might want to come back later.”

“Does that mean you’re ready to dance?”

“Uhhhh….Yesss.”

Jillian stood and took off her knit coverall revealing an emerald green, silk mini-dress. Chris stared at her with wide eyes and Jillian saw the amazement on his face. “Jillian, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”

He swayed and she reached out and steadied him. “Time to dance, Chris.” She led him to the floor as slow music started and she lifted his arms and put them on her shoulders. She pulled him close and started moving slowly to the rhythm of the song. Chris put his head on her shoulder and she guided him out on the floor. She felt how tense he was, but after a few moments she felt him relax. They danced….and danced. She knew she should feel tired, but she didn’t. She felt moisture on her shoulder and knew he was crying. She could feel it in his arms that had grown weak. She knew Dolly was right. He came to remember and forget his loss.

After a long time she looked up and noticed that the dance floor had cleared and they were the only ones dancing. She looked around and saw a crowd of students surrounding the floor with white lit candles. They all stood silently and watched the couple on the floor. Jillian noticed that most of them were crying. Finally Chris said with closed eyes, “It’s time to go.” Jillian led a staggering Chris toward the door as the bartender came over and placed Jillian’s coverall over her arm. The students parted as she approached and left a path for her to walk outside. Jillian was astounded at the respect and almost reverence they were giving Chris. As they left the building she saw the streets were filled with thousands of students all holding candles. There had to be more than twenty thousand of them gathered.

Jillian realized that Chris cried for the loss of his family. These thousands cried for the loss of Chris. She walked into a large circle where the students had reserved a place for her car to land. She saw all of the ones at the edge of the circle had a small green “T” on a white beret. She knew they must be the Tutors. They stood at attention and Jillian was amazed at the utter silence of the gathered thousands. She lowered her car and two of the Tutors came forward and took Chris from her and helped him into his seat. One of them opened Jillian’s door for her and turned to Jillian and said, “Take care of him, please.”

She nodded and said, “I will.”

She sat down and lifted her car above the crowd. She saw that the gathering was much larger than she thought. She could see lighted candles in every block more than a mile away. She looked at Chris sleeping in the seat beside her and wondered what he could have possibly done to cause such adoration. She felt something move inside her. She knew that his refusal to go initially was due to his commitments to the community he had adopted and not cowardice. She also knew his pain of having to leave that community was more than she thought. She could see that at some level the students were now Chris’ family. She felt the tears come even though she fought hard to stop them. She was a thunk. Dolly had it right. Chris slept and didn’t see her cry all the way back to the port.

Jeff entered the chamber and saw Dolly waiting for him at the Tablet. She had on a strapless black dress that was stunning. Her blonde hair was down to her shoulders and her gold earrings sparked light across the large chamber. Her beauty blinded him to anything else. He walked forward and put the pad down and hit his remote. An ancient song started playing slowly, “Oh, my love, my darling, I’ve hungered for your touch, a long lonely time”. She came forward and put her arms around his neck and held him close. They started moving to the music and Jeff lost himself in her embrace. Dolly looked up into his eyes and said, “The Righteous Brothers. You couldn’t have chosen better.” They continued to dance, and Dolly said with her head on his shoulder, “There’s not much time left for us. I choose to spend it loving you, if you’ll have me.”

“Dolly, I’m so unworthy of you. You are so much more than me.”

“It’s not the brain that’s the most important organ, it’s the heart. I love your courage, and your heart of a warrior. I know I will never have to doubt you.”

Jeff pulled her closer and said, “I’ll be yours forever, Dolly.”

She smiled and leaned back for him to kiss her. He did, and she felt it all the way down to her toes. Now she knew beyond doubt. He was the one she had been waiting to find. They danced….and danced.

Chapter Four

Chris awoke in his room at the space port and squinted, expecting the hangover to come crashing in, but felt nothing. “I have got to get some of that formula!” He looked at the clock and saw it was almost noon. He jerked up and jumped out of bed. Then he noticed that he was naked. “How did that happen?” He thought back to the night before, remembered Jillian in her emerald dress, and sat back down. She was stunning. He didn’t remember anything after he started dancing, but he still saw her in his mind. She was just unbelievably beautiful. He shook his head at the memory. Well, a T-Rex was also beautiful in its own way, and both of them should be given a wide berth when near. Wait a minute! Who put him to bed? He stood up and dressed, then hurried out to go to the Tablet.

He arrived at the Tablet and found Dolly at the computer. “Well, good morning!”

“Sorry, Dolly. My alarm didn’t go off.”

“I know; Jillian shut it off. She felt like you’ve been pushing yourself too hard and needed the extra sleep.”

Chris looked around and said, “Where is the Pit Bull?”

Dolly smiled, “She has Jeff waiting for you at the entrance with a skimmer. She wants you to come and help them with the Cheops.”

“The Cheops?”

“He’s the Pharaoh the Great Pyramid was named after. Cheops was the Greek name given him. I think they’re ready for you to check the connections on your device’s emitters.”

Chris started to leave and turned back, “Dolly, I notice you and Jeff…”

“I’m going to marry him.”

“What?!?”

Dolly turned around and said, “Sit down a minute, Chris.”

Chris sat down next to her at the terminal, and Dolly looked at him, “When you were taken from the bar by Jillian and the two Alpha Agents, I was really scared that you were in big trouble. I noticed that one of the Agents had a name sewed on his uniform that said J. Garcia. I went back to my room after notifying the Tutors what had happened and did a search on that name. I finally found a match in the Marine Corp Special Ops. I dug deeper and was blocked by a highly classified designation.”

“I’m sure that didn’t slow you down.”

“No, it didn’t. I found that after Iran detonated that nuke over Jerusalem, Israel the United States was given twenty four hours to remove their important people before they retaliated. His unit was one of the initial teams to land in Tehran to save the United Nations embassy staff. I had to break through three more blocks, but discovered that his team was attacked and pinned down under heavy crossfire. Seven of them were wounded and lying out in the open. Jeff, ignoring an order from his commanding officer, went out into that devastating fire, and pulled all seven back to safety. He was hit three times; once in the arm and twice in his legs. He still ignored the pleas of his team, and continued to pull his brothers to safety. Five of them lived. Jeff was in intensive care for three months and came out of it ok. You know how good our medical regeneration techniques are now?”

Chris nodded.

“Although our country no longer gives medals for bravery since we joined the world government, he was given the Medal of Honor by former President Williamson. No one knows about the award but those in his unit, and he will quite likely be the last American to ever receive it. He deserved it and a lot more. I viewed a video of the ceremony and Jeff refused to accept the medal, saying that he did nothing more than what they would have done for him. I saw he meant it. He only agreed to it after the five survivors persuaded him that the two that died would insist he accept.”

Chris looked at Dolly and saw something in her eyes he hadn’t seen before, “He’s a true warrior, Chris. His heart is pure, and he understands what it means to fight for a cause. He was promoted to the Alphas and slated for future command. I didn’t know if you were safe, but I knew you were not being mistreated or taken for a bad reason. He wouldn’t have allowed it. I decided at that moment that I had to find him and get to know him. It was fate that sent him to pick me up to bring me here.”

Dolly paused, and then slowly shook her head, “He challenged me about how I knew he was brave and I told him what I had done.” Dolly reached and pulled a chain from inside her top, and Chris saw the Medal hanging on it. “He told me that my courage to come here and tell the truth regardless of consequences was much more courageous than what he did. He insisted that I take this.” Dolly smiled and said, “I have found what I’ve been looking for, Chris. I may have more intelligence, but he has the inner qualities that make him so much more than I could ever hope to be. I will always be safe in his arms. I love him.”

Chris leaned over and gave Dolly a hug, “I’m certain I’ll never have to worry about your safety. I am so happy for you.”

“Thanks. Now you need to go to work.”

Chris gave a heavy sigh, “You’re right. I’ll see you later.”

Dolly yelled as he walked away, “It won’t be that bad!”

“You have no idea.”

Dolly smiled and turned back to the computer terminal.

Jillian looked at the command control panel and shook her head, “Why hasn’t the generator reached full power?”

The head engineer shouted from the other room, “We can’t bring it to full power until the engines are brought on line. We can’t risk a spike in the current that would damage the circuit boards in the primary coil conduits. We’ve given you enough power to test the board, Sir.”

Chris walked in just as Jillian began running a test of the stardrive’s memory board. “Reporting for duty as ordered.”

Jillian looked up and smiled, “Why don’t you come and help me go through this navigation system?”

Chris wondered about the smile, but came over and sat in the second chair next to the panel, “What’s going on?”

“Having a stardrive is fine, but finding your way around our galaxy is not going to be easy. We have to be able to come back to where we started. If we jump out more than a hundred light years, our solar system will just be a point of light among thousands of others, and it will be changing position after we leave. This system will lock in the Earth’s position relative to the Galaxy’s main features and hopefully allow us to make our way home.”

Chris watched the simulation and said, “This is a little scary.”

Jillian frowned, “What do you mean?”

“Those main features will also be changing position at a rate of more than thirty miles a second, and they are not moving at the same rate as our system.”

Jillian furrowed her brow and said, “I see what you mean.”

“And it gets much worse if you go out five thousand light years, as I suspect we’ll have to do to see the building of the Great Pyramid.”

Jillian leaned back in her chair and sighed, “It looks like this is doomed from the start.”

“Not really.”

“Why do you say that?”

Chris looked at the screen and said, “I mentioned earlier that we are going to go out and capture light that left Earth.” Jillian nodded, “Well there is a minute amount of decay in light as it travels through space. My device will capture it and determine how long that light has traveled based on the energy difference between it and what it was when it originally left. It will tell us exactly how many light years, minutes, or seconds it has traveled. That means if we orient the ship perpendicular to that light, we just jump that distance and we’ll be back, or close enough to adjust and get back.” Jillian immediately saw it. “Theoretically, as long as we don’t jump further than the light from Earth has traveled, which is about a billion light years, we should be able to find our way home.”

Jillian slowly shook her head, “Is your device capable of discriminating that difference over the extreme distances we’re talking about?”

“I trialed it with light that traveled from Earth to the moon and it read it exactly. We can jump out to Mars and take a measurement to confirm it, but I know it will accurately read it.”

“Chris, the atmosphere on Earth has changed numerous times during its different ages. The reading you take now won’t match the reading from the time of the pyramid builders. Will that be a problem?”

“I’ve done a huge amount of work on that with Dolly’s help. The main thing that we use to program the sensory program is the bulk gases. Nitrogen and oxygen are the main components of the atmosphere, and those ratios have not changed significantly since before land animals first developed. Carbon levels have changed as well as other trace gases, but the main ratios have been consistent.”

“What if there is another planet with the same makeup as Earth?”

“Dolly did the computations, but she insists that the ratios would differ. Maybe not by much, but it would be enough to distinguish it as being different.” Chris saw Jillian’s nervousness and said, “Tell you what; here’s what we can do to make sure before we make a catastrophic mistake. We’ll jump out two light years to make sure we clear the ort cloud. I don’t want to emerge back into normal space and be hit broadside by a rock flying at thirty kilometers per second. We’ll take a reading and see if it’s accurate. We’ll also do a 360 degree turn and see if there are any other similar wavelengths out there. If there are, we come back and find another way. The sun will be the closest and largest star to our location so I’m sure we’ll be able to get back.”

“Did Dolly say what the probabilities of another planet with identical readings were?”

“Within twenty thousand light years they were six billion to one matching exactly.”

Jillian smiled and said, “I’m going to have the engineering team slave the navigation board into your sensors. Thanks; you’ve helped a lot.”

“You’re welcome. I also want to thank you for going dancing with me last night. I really hope I wasn’t a jerk. I never remember what happened the next day, and I hope I behaved.”

Jillian smiled, “You were the perfect gentleman.”

“Good. I was worried about that. I also want to say that you were devastatingly beautiful last night. Your dress was gorgeous, and it made me feel great to see all the envious looks from the regulars. I sincerely appreciate your putting up with me on my dance night.” Chris saw her nod, and then turned to go check the status of his emitters in the main landing bay.

Jillian watched him go and began to understand why he was admired by his students. She knew she was beautiful; she had been fighting off men for as long as she could remember. Her interest in hand-to-hand combat was originally inspired by the overzealous efforts of some of her suitors. Dr. Connor had not made a pass and had been professional in his dealings with her. He had also just corrected a major part of her planning by suggesting a different means of navigating the galaxy. He hadn’t made her feel bad at not seeing the obvious, and had made the suggestion in a way that allowed her to still be the decision maker. He didn’t challenge her authority, and she knew after the way she had been treating him he could have very easily delivered his punches via sarcasms.

They should be ready to leave in a couple of weeks. She actually hoped they would go dancing again in a week. She also noted that Dr. Connor had a very athletic body. But she wasn’t going to tell him how she knew. It surprised her that he was gentleman enough not to question how he was put to bed. She smiled, and then decided that Dr. Morris could handle the change in the navigation system. She left to go work on the Ninja. She hoped she wouldn’t have to use it, but one never knew what would happen. Everything could be lost if she did.

“Have you found out what is being done in that building?”

The large heavyset man lowered his head, “No, Iman. We have not been able to penetrate their security.”

“What readings have been taken?”

“There are radioactive emissions. The building’s walls blocks most of them, but enough are escaping to allow us to see that the substance is highly enriched.”

“What does that mean?”

“Either they have a very powerful bomb or a powerful reactor. The particles leaving are very excited.”

“Ummmm. If it’s a bomb, we could use that for our vengeance.”

“Even if it’s a reactor, we could explode it and do massive damage to the port and the city next to it.”

“Before I send the Mujahedeen to die, I must know for certain that what we need to make the infidels pay for their attack on the Holy Places is there. Get someone inside.”

The large man bowed and said, “Iman, the facility is guarded by Alphas.”

The Iman took a quick breath. He knew that no one could get close to the building unless they passed the Alpha’s scan. If they scanned someone that didn’t show up in their database, they were killed instantly. This was not something he had counted on. However, the only reason that Alphas were there was because whatever was in that building was considered extremely important. This gave credence to Kahale’s readings. “Do we have the necessary weapons to get in?”

“I have gathered our best armor and weapons. This will probably be our last chance to make them pay for the Jews dropping those nuclear bombs on Tehran, Mecca, and Medina.”

“They won’t be dropping anymore.”

“No, but the faith has lost so much, Iman. Not only our holy sites, but the other ten cities that had a billion of the faithful. Who could have known they had so many nuclear warheads? Now many of the faithful hold us to blame for that loss.”

“We will see each other in heaven. This will be our last act, and we will die doing what we know to be right. I will be joining you in the attack.”

Kahale smiled, “I never thought you wouldn’t.”

Chris looked over at Jillian and furrowed his brow, “Jillian, why is this landing bay so large? We could do this with a much smaller ship.”

“I’m taking a smaller ship with us.”

“Why?”

“Against the possibility that something breaks and we need another way to get home.”

Chris thought about it and shrugged, “Ok. I just wondered. How are we going to get this thing into orbit?”

Jillian said, “We’re going to reduce the ship’s mass with the anti-gravity device.”

“What anti-gravity device?”

Jillian stood and said, “Come with me.”

Chris followed her out of the ship’s construction facility to the building holding the tablet. They walked up to the tablet and stopped directly in front of it. Dolly looked down at them from her terminal, and Jillian said, “Would you do the honors?”

Dolly smiled and picked up a small device that looked like a water gun. She aimed it at the tablet and pulled the trigger. Chris watched and didn’t see anything happen. He looked at Jillian with raised eyebrows. Jillian smiled, “Have you ever wondered how the ancient Egyptians were able to build the Great Pyramid?”

Chris nodded, “It has held my curiosity since I was five years old. Why do you ask?”

Jillian placed her hand on the huge tablet, “How much do you think this tablet weighs, Dr. Connor?”

“At least ninety tons.”

Jillian grabbed a small handle on the side of the tablet, lifted it off the floor, and moved it three feet to the right and put it back down. She did it with only one arm.

Chris’ eyes were wide and he sat down on the floor. Jillian said, “Now you know how they did it.”

“How long will it remain at that weight?”

“Until Dolly hits it with the neutral setting on that gun. That is how we are going to lift the ship. A small helicopter or carrier can do the trick.”

Dolly said, “Personally, I’d just attach a couple of weather balloons and let them take it into the upper atmosphere.”

Jillian smiled, “You’re absolutely right. That’s exactly how we’ll do it.”

“I guess if there was any doubt, that device proves that advanced aliens were responsible for the pyramid’s construction.”

“Maybe.”

Chris looked at Jillian, “What do you mean by that?”

“Well, we have the stories of an advanced civilization beyond the pillars of Hercules. It was called Atlantis. How do we know this anti-gravity device didn’t originate there?”

Chris just looked at Jillian through his eyebrows. Jillian continued, “We have too many clues that there was an advanced civilization during that time in history. We can’t just assume it’s not true. Especially in light of what we’ve seen here.”

Chris looked at the tablet, walked over, and moved it back to its original position. It weighed less than a pair of his boots. “Has anyone tried this with an aircraft to see how fast it would fly with little or no weight?”

Jillian tilted her head, “Yes, we tried it with my old Corvette.”

“And?”

“Well, Arnold insisted that we put the car on remote and just send it straight up into the atmosphere. We assumed we could just bring it back down. We set the weight at less than a tenth of an ounce and then fired the thrusters.”

Dolly said, “I’ve got it on video if you want to see it.”

Chris looked at Dolly, and then said to Jillian, “Just tell me what happened.”

“It disappeared. It ran out of the range of the remote control in less than a tenth of a second; that’s why I had to buy a new one. According to our satellite systems it was approaching the speed of light as it flew by the moon in less than eight seconds. The last we saw of it was when it hit Jupiter. There wasn’t much of an explosion because the skimmer’s mass was so small.”

Chris pulled out his calculator and began entering numbers. Dolly said from the raised terminal, “You don’t need to do that. I’ve already run the calculation.”

Jillian looked up at Dolly frowning, “What calculation?”

“Well, if you assume that Vette weighed less than an ounce but was traveling close to light speed, it penetrated Jupiter’s atmosphere so fast that it wouldn’t leave any trace. However, even though it only weighed an ounce, it was twenty eight feet long. At that velocity, it probably left a crater on Jupiter’s surface more than two hundred miles across. We just didn’t see it because of the thickness of Jupiter’s atmosphere.”

Jillian looked at Chris and he nodded. Chris then said, “If we can reduce our mass to less than an ounce, the engines on the Cheops should push us to light speed almost instantly. Reverse thrusters will also stop us just as fast.”

Jillian said, “Well, that’s a good thing.”

Chris shook his head, “Yes and no. You haven’t thought it through. How do we fly a hundred miles or just a mile?”

Jillian thought about it and said, “You’re right.” She looked at Dolly and saw her smiling. “Ok, you’ve thought of something.”

“Am I that transparent?”

Chris said, “Oh yes.”

Dolly stuck her tongue out at him and held up the small gun, “You just put a rheostat on the anti-gravity drive. You set the speed you want to fly and the weight of the ship will be adjusted to the engine’s thrust. The faster you want to go, the lower the weight of the ship. The slower, let’s say a hundred miles an hour instead of a hundred miles a second, you just add weight. I’ve already written the modifications that need to be done to the system and sent them to Dr. Morrison.”

Jillian stared at Dolly and saw Jeff shaking his head next to her. “Dolly, we don’t pay you enough.”

“I know. However, I’m charging you an extra twenty million for the diagram.”

Chris burst out laughing, and Jillian shook her head, “Send the bill to Arnold. I’m sure he’ll be more than willing to pay it.”

“I will, but you’ll need to be careful if you use that device to go light speed for an extended time.”

“Why?”

“Jillian, you know Einstein’s relativity factor and what happens when you get too close to the absolute speed of light.”

Jillian’s face suddenly had a troubled expression, “Time dilation.”

“Exactly. You go really close to light speed and more than a hundred years could pass in less than a minute on board the ship. If you get extremely close to light speed, more than a million years could pass.”

Chris looked at Dolly and said, “That degree of dilation would only happen when you get within a hundred miles a second of light speed.”

“I know. I’ve designed the control on the rheostat to only take the ship up to three quarters light speed. You would have to manually change the settings to go faster.”

“Why would we want to go faster?”

Dolly shook her head, “Someone or something is going to attack us. I don’t want to limit you with the tools you have to use to escape them.”

“If we have to go that fast, we’ll not get back until centuries after the attack happens.”

“True, but you’ll at least arrive alive.”

Jillian didn’t like hearing that, and she noticed Chris felt the same.

Thursday arrived, and Jillian watched as Chris worked on the Cheops’s navigation system. She waited a few moments and said, “Is tonight your dance night?”

Chris stopped working and sighed, “Yes, but I’m not going.”

“Why not?”

“I can’t bear seeing those I’m leaving. I won’t be able to dance out there,” He nodded at the ceiling, “so I might as well get used to it.”

Jillian stared at him and said, “Then it looks like you’ll have to do it here.”

“What?”

“I’ve ordered your special blend and Bob will have it here by tonight. You really shouldn’t stop a longstanding tradition. It could lead to bad luck.”

Chris stared at her saying nothing.

“Yes, I’ll be your partner again.”

“Why, Jillian? I know you don’t like me or anything that I represent.”

Jillian smiled, “That’s true but…” she paused as Chris furrowed his brow, “…you are a great dancer.”

Chris started laughing and said, “Thank you, but tonight I won’t need the brew.” Jillian stared at him. “I don’t want to miss just how beautiful you are.” Chris turned back to the board and continued his work. Jillian felt something warm in her heart, and also went back to work.

Dolly looked at the translation she had completed and shook her head. She had hoped that she would find something in it that would offer some hope of survival, but it only scared her more. She put the document into a super-point display and hit her communicator, “I have completed the translation and I was wondering if those of you involved in the project might want to view it before I send it to the government.”

Jillian looked at Chris and saw him nod at her, “Yes, I know we do. When will you be ready?”

“It’s ready now, Jillian.”

“Contact Arnold Gordon and let him know what’s going on. We’ll finish up here and be there in about an hour with the ship’s engineers.”

“What about the rest of the team?”

“I would rather share it with the command team first. Unless you think there’s nothing in it that would cause a problem.”

“Better make it just the Command Team.”

Jillian looked at Chris and saw his sudden tension, “That doesn’t sound good.”

Jillian shook her head, “No, it doesn’t. Let’s hope for the best.”

Chris turned back to the control board and just shook his head saying nothing. If Dolly was concerned, there was real trouble.

Everyone arrived at the tablet, and Dolly motioned everyone to a row of chairs set up in front of a screen that was up against the tablet. Jeff was sitting with Dolly at the terminal and was wearing full armor. Jillian raised her eyebrows and Jeff shrugged. Something had him spooked. Arnold arrived and Jillian rose and greeted him after she gave him a hug.

“What do you know?”

“No more than you. We’ll see it together.”

Arnold nodded and took a seat in the middle of the row. Dr.’s Levin and Morrison were also present. Dolly said, “What I’ve done is record the translation and set up the screen to highlight the text on the tablet as the voice speaks. The one that wrote the tablet is named Hemiunu the Younger, and he was also responsible for the construction of the Great Pyramid. Is every one ready?” Dolly saw Jillian nod and she started the recording.

Chapter Five

Greetings, and welcome to my little building project. I’m saddened that I have to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s important that I share it with you. I actually don’t know if anyone is going to ever discover my tablet before the Moet attack, but I pray each day that someone will. I am also going to assume that if you have translated my writings that you are probably advanced enough to understand the diagrams I carved on the reverse side. I put those there in hopes that you might build enough starships to save enough of our species to ensure our survival. Our world is going to be destroyed in approximately four thousand seven hundred and fifty four years from now. I know this statement is probably met with some skepticism, but it is true. I’ll explain why later. I am the one who led the construction of the pyramid where you found my tablet. I was able to build it with the help of a species from another world.

The Sheera arrived in the fifth year of the Great Khufu’s reign. They arrived in a strange flying chariot shaped like the head of a javelin, which landed just outside my village. We were all terrified, and knew that the Gods had come down to the desert. We worried that it was to punish us for not worshiping them properly. Many of us that doubted the existence of Gods were terrified of what was going to happen to us. Everyone was prostrate on the sand as they emerged from their craft and approached, but I figured that we were doomed anyway so I stood and went to greet them. Perhaps they would take my life as a sacrifice and spare my village. I’ll always remember that night, how the stars looked like diamonds in the clear sky as I approached them. The night air was cold and it felt like it was a beautiful night to die.

The Gods smiled at me, took my hand, and led me into their flying spear. The flying craft had bright blue lights in the walls and the air was warm. They led me to a chair and put some kind of golden band over my head. One of them turned on a device, and I passed out.

When I awoke, I found that the visitors had inserted a vast amount of knowledge about the universe in my mind. I now knew that their flying device was a small lander from a starship that had traveled an immense distance to my world. I also knew that my world is a round planet that circles the star in the center of the solar system. I understood how their ship operated, as well as who they were and why they had come. I was given a working knowledge of their technology, and a full understanding of their language. It took me two days to get a grip on all of the information in my mind and correlate it such that I could think coherently. The Sheera were patient, and waited for me to gather my wits. They had come to my world to build a device that would protect it from a species that were destroyers of worlds. The Moet had killed many planets, and the Sheera were convinced that they were going to come back and finish what they had started. They were sure that my world had already been attacked once.

The Sheera had detected a reading of a residual energy from a ship that was once used by a now extinct species known as the Jenze as they were traveling past our solar system. The Jenze were an advanced civilization that had once lived in our galaxy, but had disappeared millions of years ago. Their ships were indestructible, and nothing could stand up to their weapons. The Sheera were convinced that one of their ships had somehow been destroyed on my planet. They even showed me on a map where that ship was when it was killed. We were putting the first stone on the fifth level of the pyramid when Yelt showed me. It was on the other side of the world from my location, but the energy readings he shared with me were real. It wasn’t far from the other building project. I asked him how an indestructible ship could be destroyed. He said he’d discuss it later, but told me that we had to hurry and complete the pyramid first. Once it was operational he would explain all that I needed to know.

I’m sure you’re curious about how we built the pyramid. We completed it in less than a year and I know future historians are really going to have great difficulty determining how we did it. It’s not hard to build something like this if you have anti-gravity and beams that cut perfect building blocks. I have left one of the anti-gravity devices in the top section of this tablet inside a carved out niche. You’ll need this device to control the gravity of the ships you’ll build to escape. Just aim it at the ship you want to be weightless, and it will stay that way until the neutralizing beam is used. The adverse effects that gravity has on fast-moving objects will be minimized by the removal of the effects of inertia.

According to Yelt, the Moet will leave no survivors when they return, and this time they will shatter our planet. I’ve looked at the history of the Sheera, and it appears that they are a member of large alliance that has been fighting the Moet for thousands of years. Unfortunately, the Moet are millions of years older than most civilizations in our galaxy and have technological superiority over the worlds in the alliance. The only defense they have is a screen that can be generated around a planet that the Moet have not found a way to penetrate. They discovered this screen in a Jenze artifact. Unfortunately, this screen requires such huge generators that their ships can’t use them and are thus vulnerable to the Moet.

The Sheera look very much like us except for a rather large, round, hairless head. They’re our height, but their limbs are not as big. The ten of them that arrived were scouts that traveled the galaxy looking for new civilizations. The energy reading from the Jenze’s ship is what led them to us. Once we completed the Pyramid, they were going to contact their home world and transport the generators necessary to place the energy field around us.

I asked Yelt where the other five Sheera were since there were only five of them assisting us in our building project. He told me they were at another building site. He further stated that several sites were needed to make the energy field function and that the second site was starting to show progress.

I have saved a video of the building of the pyramid in the bottom of the tablet. It is in another cutout near the center. I still marvel at the long line of stone blocks being pulled by a small ship over the desert. They were tied together and looked like giant centipedes moving across the sands. My village and three hundred other volunteers did most of the work placing the blocks. Even our small children could easily move the giant stone blocks around, and it went up quickly. The casting took somewhat longer than the actual building but at the conclusion, it was a truly beautiful structure. It was then that disaster struck.

I remember the day when Yelt came running to me and said that his main ship had been destroyed by the Moet in the outer system. The Sheera had sent the ship to the outer solar system to keep watch for any approaching danger, but the Moet managed to catch them by surprise and destroy their ship. Yelt told me as he watched the giant grey Moet ship on his display in the lander that my world was going to die in four thousand seven hundred and fifty six years. He said that he and his crew were going to flee away from the planet but since their lander didn’t have a stardrive, they would probably be unable to escape the Moet ship. I asked if there was any way he could contact his home world and have the generators sent to us. He said that communications were impossible after the destruction of the main ship, but that he was certain the Moet would leave a device to warn them if any of his ships entered our system. There was no way to move them here and get them installed before they were destroyed. He was really sad that we were doomed, but he was impatient to leave quickly and attempt an escape to save his crew. When he wasn’t looking, I took one of the anti-gravity devices and slipped it in my robe. He left immediately after I stepped off his ship and I assume he went to the other site to pick up the other five Sheera.

I stayed here at the pyramid for ten days wondering about what I could do. It was then that the Great Khufu’s troops arrived. I told the Pharaoh’s General, who appeared to be afraid of me, that we had built it as a burial monument to Khufu. Khufu’s officials never come to my village, but word had arrived at his court that a huge structure was being built in the desert. He didn’t believe it but I guess enough travelers finally got his attention. He was amazed at the structure and rewarded me with a title and a commission to build two more.

I decided to carve this tablet and bury it in hopes that it would eventually be discovered when humans had advanced enough to use the information. I know that to try and move my primitive society into modern technology was doomed to failure. All of the advanced tools left with the Sheera. It took two years to complete the tablet using the old methods of carving stone, and three months to bury it under the Great Pyramid. I placed the body of one of our workers that died with the tablet. I know about carbon dating, and you should be able to determine from that body how much longer before destruction arrives.

I’ve puzzled over what would take so long, but I finally gave up on it. Whatever it is, it will come. I’m also sure the Moet will arrive with it. May the Gods help you survive, and I pray this tablet will make a difference. I will be working on the other pyramids, but I know without the stone cutting beams they will take years to complete. I refuse to use the anti-gravity beam and risk having Pharaoh take it. I guess you’ll know how my project turns out if there are two more pyramids here. If not, then I failed. Either way, I’ve done what I can to save us.

Dolly looked at the group and said, “You’ll notice that the message is located in the middle of the tablet. All the other writing is simple phrases in the Sheera’s language to assist in learning its structure. I have those phrases on a printout for you to read, and their location on the tablet.” She paused, “Do you have any questions?”

Jillian looked at her and said, “What does he mean by, ‘finish what they started,’?”

Dolly sighed and shook her head, “I’m not sure. I think that when the Jenze’s ship was destroyed, the Moet also tried to destroy the planet but failed. I don’t know for certain, but that’s what I suspect happened.”

Chris looked at Jillian, “You want to see where the other building site was, and where that ship was destroyed?”

Jillian looked at Arnold and said, “Yes, I do. If there was another engineer that had been trained by the Sheera at the other site, I want to see if he was able to leave other advanced devices behind for us to find. I would also like to see the design of the ship the Moet destroyed. I’m hoping your invention will allow us to see.”

Suddenly Jeff stood up and said, “I need all of you to go the room behind the tablet and lock the door.”

Dolly looked at him, “What’s going on?”

“Bob and I have been monitoring traffic around the port for the last week and we’ve seen a pattern that has bothered us. We can now see that there are more than fifty skimmers that have been flying a seemingly random holding pattern around the city and space port such that all fifty will arrive at our perimeter in less than four minutes. This can’t be random and we believe we are about to be attacked. Now go into that armored room and lock it. I’ve called for help, but those skimmers will arrive before they can arrive. Now go!!”

Chris grabbed Jillian’s hand and pulled her toward the room. Arnold and the two engineers followed them. Dolly stayed in her chair and Jeff said as he slammed a magazine into his handgun and put it back in his holster, “Dolly, go with them!”

Dolly looked him in the eye, “I will not leave without you with me. Wherever you go, that’s where I’m going to be.”

“Dolly, don’t make me…”

Dolly interrupted, “You’re wasting time and your breath. I know that if the attackers get through you, I’ll die in that room. The safest place to be is near you. Lead the way.”

Jeff was angry, but really didn’t want her out of his sight. He took her hand, ran across the facility, and exited a door out into the street that was next to the building. He took Dolly and hid behind a huge ship lifter that was parked on the other side of the street. He looked over the building and saw that the extreme pitch of the roof would prevent the incoming skimmers from landing on it. Any missiles fired at the roof would be deflected. The Spaceport barrier was a hundred yards behind him, so he knew the attackers would have to come down the street to arrive at the door into the facility. The walls were armored, and Jeff knew that the only real place to enter was at the entrance. He pressed a button on his helmet. His faceplate lowered and started showing data. He extended his arm and a large handgun appeared in his hand. “Dolly, Stay behind this lifter. Do you know how to fire a gun?”

“Yes, you know that’s something I would learn early.”

Jeff smiled, reached into his back pack, and pulled out a duplicate of his handgun. “The magazine has two hundred rounds. You won’t have the aiming helmet to assist you, but just point and shoot. Anything with a heat source will appear in the sight. You have about an effective range of about two hundred yards.”

“The first position on the selector is for explosive rounds, right?”

Jeff shook his head, “Yes, they are effective against aircraft. How did you know that?”

“I’m pretty good at getting into government websites.”

“Well, make them count. Here they come.”

Dolly hunkered down behind the huge lifter and asked, “Are you Alpha Agents as good as advertised?”

“We better hope so. Keep your head down.” Jeff raised his hand and shot three skimmers as they passed overhead. All three blew up in huge explosions, showering the street with debris. Dolly kept her eye on the barrier behind them and fired at two skimmers that came roaring over the top of it. Both exploded and showered the street with hot metal. Dolly heard numerous pings on the blade of the lifter over her head. Another skimmer came screaming up the street toward them, and Jeff raised his left arm and released a small self-propelled missile. It ejected from an arm band and ignited three feet away. It shot away at supersonic speed hitting the incoming skimmer on the nose and blowing it apart. The pieces skidded by them, and two large pieces were stopped by the wheels on the lifter. Jeff hit his communicator, “Alpha Two, what’s your status?”

“Barely holding on, One. Fifteen skimmers have landed, and a hundred ground troops are moving my way.”

“Hold out, help will be here soon.”

Dolly looked up the street and saw one of the larger skimmers had landed at the end of the building. The occupants stepped out and were setting up a tripod. “Dolly, they’re out of my range. We’ll have to move quickly.”

“Jeff, remove your magazine and let me hit it with the anti-gravity gun.”

Jeff furrowed his brown, but popped the magazine and Dolly flashed it with the small gun. “Try it now.”

Jeff popped the magazine back in place, allowed his gun to find the tripod in it scanner, and fired an explosive round at the distant missile launcher. The round left so fast that it broke the sound barrier a hundred feet out and hit the launcher in less than a second. The round hit the tripod and exploded the missile being loaded into its barrel. The eight man crew was blown in all directions, and body parts rained down on the street. Jeff looked at Dolly, “What did you do?”

“The rounds in the magazine are now pretty much weightless. They won’t drop. Just fire them at anything and they should stay on the line. Be careful not to miss.”

Jeff smiled and read the targets being picked up by his helmet’s scanners. He raised his handgun, slaved his gun to the helmet’s scanner, and began firing at the designated targets. Attackers began falling at a huge rate. He hit six more skimmers coming in more than a mile from the port. Debris was falling around the spaceport, and the city just outside the fence. Suddenly more than a hundred and fifty of the attackers rushed down the street toward their location, laying down a heavy covering fire. The rounds hitting the lifter sounded like heavy rain on a tin roof. Hundreds were hitting, and the volume of fire was so high Jeff couldn’t return their fire. Jeff was forced to stay behind the lifter and saw they were going to be on top of them quickly. “I’m sorry, Dolly.”

Dolly saw his face and turned the control on the anti-gravity gun to full and stuck it out around the edge of the lifter and pulled the trigger. She swept it across the width of the street, and Jeff saw attackers flying up into the sky at a prodigious rate. He stuck his head out and saw that all of them were flailing their arms as they rose quickly into the clear sky overhead. Even the debris on the street lifted with them and headed into the blue sky. Jeff watched them disappear and grabbed Dolly’ hand. They ran to the end of the building, turned the corner, and headed to the eastern side of the huge facility. They arrived at the other end and Jeff looked around the corner. He saw more than two hundred attackers advancing on Bob’s position. Dolly raised the gun and swept it across the ones out to the side of Bob’s position. Jeff and Dolly raised their guns and fired on those that were between them and the pinned down Alpha Agent.

The attackers lifted and flew into the sky so fast they were hard to follow. One of the attackers was flailing his arms attempting to get his balance to detonate a device he was carrying. He managed to set it off but he was so far up in the sky that the explosion only killed the hundreds of attackers around him. No body parts showered the streets. Everything continued to lift higher and faster into the atmosphere.

Jeff continued to advanced on the rear of the attackers between them and Bob, and they fell before they realized they were in danger from their rear. Forty attackers lay on the street, and Jeff watched them for any movement.

Then there was silence. Jeff rushed forward and found Bob with a hole in his left chest, grimacing in pain. He pulled a med-pack and bandaged it to stop the bleeding. Dolly listened and heard a loud roar as fifty military craft came charging in and landed in the streets. Four hundred Alpha Agents rushed out and took control, removing the wounded attackers that were scattered around their landing site for later questioning. Any that offered resistance were shot.

Kahale and the Iman watched as the spaceport grew smaller below them. Everything was going according to plan until they were suddenly lifted off the ground and hurled rapidly into the sky. Kahale looked at the Iman as the temperature grew colder and said, “Even Allah has turned his back on us. We have lost our way.” Kahale flailed his arms to face toward the East and offered his last prayer.

The Iman tried to think of how to answer Kahale, but now the air was so thin his vocal cords wouldn’t function. Thirty seconds later they left the atmosphere and their bodies exploded in the emptiness of space. Their remains continued to fly away from the planet. Four days later they passed the moon, and were pushed even faster on their way to the far reaches of the solar system.

Dolly walked up to Jeff, put her arms around him, and held on tight as she started trembling from the adrenaline rushing through her body. She saw Jeff looking at the sky and she said, “What are you thinking?”

“The ones that attacked us were brave warriors and were fighting for what they thought was right. I admire their bravery and their willingness to die for their beliefs. That kind of bravery is a rare thing. I hope they have peace in the afterlife. They deserve it.”

Dolly put her head on his shoulder and felt her love for the man who respected those that would try to kill him. A heart like this was also rare, and she loved him even more for it. Jeff continued to stare at the sky, saying a prayer for those that had died.

General Thompson walked up to Jeff and he saluted, “What do you think happened here Colonel?”

“I’m sorry, General, I’m a Captain.”

“Not any more. Tell me what you know?”

“Robert Owen’s scanners picked up an anomaly in the traffic pattern four days ago. He showed me that the same skimmers were passing the port at the same time every day. We both started looking at the pattern, but nothing conclusive presented itself. This afternoon we saw that fifty skimmers were going to pass close to the spaceport all within ten seconds of each other. I called for help and sent the staff into the armored room. That’s when the skimmers attacked.”

The General looked over the damaged skimmers and said, “I looked over your data, and it appears that the Iman that launched the nuclear warhead on Jerusalem was the leader of this attack.”

Jeff looked up in the sky and then back at General Thompson, “How was he able to get into our country?”

“That’s a question that we will get to the bottom of shortly. Tracing how they acquired these skimmers will start us in the right direction.” The General looked up and said, “I’m curious about how you were able to send those attackers into the atmosphere.”

“Sir, I’m bound by project security to keep silent on what is being done here. I’m sure Arnold Gordon would be glad to tell you. He’s inside, and I’ll gladly bring him to you.”

General Thompson shook his head, “No, No, that won’t be necessary. I’ll contact you if we need to debrief you any further.” He looked at Dolly and said, “Thank you, Miss. You helped a lot.”

Dolly smiled, “I just hid behind Jeff.”

Thompson smiled and said, “Good work, Soldier.”

Jeff saluted, and watched the General go take charge of the cleanup. He went over to the medivac and looked for Bob. “Are you ok?”

Bob smiled and took a deep breath, “The drugs go a long way toward making everything righteous but I guess you already know about those.”

Jeff smiled, “I don’t remember much about them but I know they’ll take good care of you at the clinic. Tell Dr. Keenan hello for me.”

“I will. Be easy on your new partner.”

“And spoil all my fun. I’ll keep him on his toes until you’re able to come back.” Jeff put his hand on Bob’s shoulder and nodded at the pilot, “Take care of him.”

“I will, sir.”

Bob looked Jeff in the eye and Dolly saw the mutual respect they had for each other. Dolly held on to Jeff as they watched the medivac lift and head toward the west.

“You two have been quite the busy pair.”

Jeff and Dolly turned around and saw Jillian and Chris standing behind them.

Dolly smiled, “Jeff wanted to dance with these strangers and you know how jealous I am. I told them he’s mine and to go find another one.”

Jillian laughed and Chris said, “Dolly, tell me what you did to the anti-gravity device?”

Jillian looked at Dolly with a furrowed brow and Dolly looked guilty, “Uhh, what do you mean?”

Jillian looked at Chris also wondering what he was talking about.

“We had scanners in the room and we saw the attackers being pushed into the sky. It had to be done with anti-gravity. I’ve studied that device and the most it could do was make something weightless. You made it operate at a high positive gravity setting. What did you do?”

Dolly smiled and looked at Jillian as she said; “Now Chris, you know we have been forbidden to do anything to the device. I could be imprisoned for making any changes to it.”

Jillian started giggling, though she was trying to control herself. Chris watched her struggle to keep a straight face and started smiling. Dolly looked at Jeff and said, “You know how I follow instructions.”

Jeff burst out laughing, and Jillian lost it as well. Chris was smiling and shaking his head. Dolly took a deep breath, “Putting something like that in front of me is like a bowl of ice cream in front of a Rottweiler; something is going to get eaten. Just don’t let it be your hand trying to remove it.”

Chris said, “Dollllllly?”

“All right, I just connected it to the original settings the Sheera had on it.”

Jillian stopped laughing, “What do you mean the original settings?”

“I took a good look at the device and thought about what I would do with a similar device being used by a primitive society. I would make sure they couldn’t hurt themselves with it. I started thinking about how could someone get hurt with anti-gravity and it occurred to me that if the device could actually negate gravity; why couldn’t it use gravity?”

Chris tilted his head, “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Well, what if it truly was an anti-gravity device where anything hit with it was pushed away from anything with a gravity field. The stronger the anti-gravity field, the harder the push away from anything with gravity.”

“What did you do?”

“Well, Jillian, I removed the cover over the control and saw that there was an equal amount of movement beyond the setting on the handle. So, I modified the handle to allow me to trial it.”

Chris smiled, “What was the result?”

“Wellllll, I took one of the control modules from a weather balloon and put it on the ground and hit it with the beam at noon.”

“Why at noon?”

“Chris, you should know the answer to that: so that if it did work, the module would head toward the sun and not endanger any ships in the solar system. We don’t have any ships operating toward the inner planets, so I felt it shouldn’t cause any trouble.”

“And?”

“According to my monitors, it left the planet at a hundred thousand miles an hour and was picking up speed. However, I made a mistake.”

Jeff looked at her, “What was that?”

Jillian said, “What has the largest gravity field in the solar system?”

Jeff furrowed his brow, and then knew, “The Sun.”

Dolly laughed, “It left Earth and got as far as two hundred thousand miles away, then reversed course and came back at us at eighty miles a second. As it approached Earth, it was pushed off to the right and then accelerated out toward the orbit of Neptune.”

Jeff smiled and said, “Looks like you won’t need the weather balloons to lift the ship.”

Chris nodded, “You’re right. Dolly, is there a limit to the size of object the field can move?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, could it affect Earth’s orbit if many large objects are made weightless?”

Dolly got a far-a-way look and then frowned, “This is not a device that we want to build a society around. It just might have an effect if used on a large scale. This should be engineered to be used only on starships outside Earth’s gravity well.”

Jillian smiled, “Dolly, you have free reign to work on any device in this project.”

Dolly smiled and said, “I was hoping you would let me play. This is going to be fun.”

Jillian smiled and then looked at Chris, “I guess we need to put the dance off. We have a lot to do.”

Dolly laughed, “Go ahead and get at it, but Jeff and I are going to dance, dance, dance.”

Chris smiled and said, “Not without us.”

Jillian looked at Chris and he said, “Like you said, it could cause bad luck if we miss a day.”

Jeff looked at Dolly and she winked at him. Jeff was constantly amazed at the free spirit he had chosen to love. Now he knew she was brave, almost fearless, and he felt his heart beat faster as he thought about holding her close. Dolly looked at the tablet and said, “The video on how they built it can wait until tomorrow.”

Chris smiled and said, “I’ll see you back here at eight.”

Jillian looked uncomfortable, but nodded.

Jeff took Dolly in his arms and lifted her for a kiss. Jillian watched them and left for her quarters. She was worried about the project and didn’t want to lose time getting the ship ready. She sighed, and thought that luck had been with them today. The ship could have been destroyed, but fortunately Dolly came through again.

Jillian thought about the young couple and wondered how Dolly could be so attracted to a man that was not nearly as brilliant as her. But she was. She looked back at them as she reached for the door and saw Jeff hold Dolly under his left arm as they stared up at the tablet. Then she knew. She knew why Dolly had followed Jeff into the teeth of the attack. She felt safe in his arms. In an unsafe world, Dolly had found her haven. She had looked at Jeff’s personnel file and saw that he had an IQ of 160. He was no Einstein, but he was smarter than ninety eight percent of the rest of the planet. If Dolly waited for someone as smart as she was she would probably end up alone. She looked again and saw Dolly looking up at Jeff with love in her eyes, and Jillian felt envy. She opened the door and left the building.

It was eight thirty and Jillian had not appeared. Dolly looked at Jeff and saw he was feeling bad for Chris. So was she. She thought Jillian was making progress, but she began to realize that the closer Jillian got to anyone, the faster she would run away. Oh well, that’s a burden of loneliness she would always bear.

Chris looked at Dolly and Jeff and said, “Well, what would you like to hear first?” He stepped up to the terminal and punched up the sound system. He adjusted the searchlights and had them shine on Dolly and Jeff. He lowered the other lights in the building and said, “I’ll pick one for you.”

Dolly did a curtsey and said, “Surprise us, oh master of the music.”

Chris connected his computer pad to the sound system and pulled up a song, “This is a song that was done by Gene Pitney back in 1963. Let’s see how you like it.” The song started and Dolly moved into Jeff’s arms.

“If I didn’t have a dime and I didn’t take the time to play the juke box, ohhhh Saturday night would have been a sad and lonely night for me……”

Chris watched them dance and thought about his family. He had lost so much when they died, but he had been given so much in life. He realized, for the first time, that he wouldn’t change his life if given the opportunity. He knew he had made a difference in a lot of students’ lives, and that made him feel fulfilled. He knew his family would be proud of him. He glanced at the jug of booze next to him, but felt no desire to drink. He leaned back in his chair, took a deep breath, looked up at the ceiling, and said, “Thank You.”

He felt a tap on his shoulder, and there was Jillian in a bright red two piece outfit. The top was tight on her, and very revealing. The short red mini-dress was amazing. “Who were you giving thanks to?”

Chris stared at her, and she saw his appreciation of her appearance, “I was thanking God for giving me such a wonderful life. Seeing you like this is the icing on the cake. You are so beautiful, Jillian. You don’t have to dance with me if you don’t want to.”

Jillian looked him in the eyes and said, “There is nothing in this universe that I would rather do than dance with you tonight.” She smiled and said, “I’ll even let you lead.”

Chris stood, stepped down from the terminal, and gave Jillian his arm. She stepped down and they moved to the dance floor as the song continued, “...now with every sweet caress, oh my darling how I bless that little jukebox. Ohhh, love songs that they sing wouldn’t mean a single thing, if you weren’t standing there…..”

Jillian moved into Chris’ arms and pulled him close to her. He stared into her eyes, amazed by the beauty of this strong, intelligent woman. He closed his eyes and they danced and danced.

Dolly saw Jillian come in and sit by Chris, and she was astounded at just how beautiful she was. She glanced at Jeff, expecting him to be staring at Jillian, but he glanced at her and turned his eyes back to her. Dolly smiled. This was proof he loved her. She danced and saw that Jillian was not as tense as she normally appeared. Maybe she was learning to relax.

Chris lost himself in Jillian’s embrace. He floated over the floor and became a part of the music. He had no fears, he had no worries, and the Moet did not exist anymore. There was only the beautiful woman in his arms. He felt his soul heal.

Jillian was also lost. Her heart was hammering in her chest, and desire for Chris flooded her consciousness. He was being the perfect gentleman, but she wished he wouldn’t. She had no idea what was happening to her. Finally the music stopped, and Chris stepped back. Jillian saw something in his eyes.

“Jillian, I was thinking about my life before you came in, and was realizing that I have been blessed. I was feeling that I wouldn’t change anything if it meant changing all that has happened. Dancing with you tonight has made me certain, even if I could bring my family back to life. If it meant that tonight wouldn’t happen, I’d change nothing. Thank you.”

Jillian felt her heart in her throat. He wasn’t coming on to her. He was truly thankful for her time. He leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the cheek, then turned and went to turn the lights back on. She turned and ran from the room.

Chris watched her leave and turned to Dolly, “Was it something I said?”

Dolly smiled, knowing that Jillian could run from Chris, but not from herself, “Probably, but don’t worry about it. She most likely had to go to the ladies room.”

Chris stared at the door she had exited and shrugged, “She must have really had to go.”

Dolly looked at Jeff and smiled, “Looks like it.” She knew that once Jillian and Chris were on board the Cheops, there was nowhere Jillian could run.

Chapter Six

The dark grey being saw an alarm go off on his control board. It focused one of its eye stalks on the readout while watching a message from a ship that had fought off six attackers in the central region. The secondary part of his brain analyzed the data from the alarm as his left arm pulled up the original history of the event. The primary part of his brain was deciding whether or not to send four ships to assist the one being attacked although it didn’t appear the ship would need any help.

Simultaneously, the secondary brain examined a reminder alarm showing the destruction of the Sheera Cruiser long ago in a distant star system out in the galaxy’s periphery. It quickly downloaded data from the remote scanner still there and saw that the Sheera had not returned after the cruiser’s destruction. It reflected a moment and decided that they must not have gotten off a distress signal.

As the secondary part of the brain analyzed the data, the primary brain decided to send two more ships to make sure none of the attackers escaped. It focused on another screen and saw the ships that were available to go. It began sending the information to them.

The secondary brain checked on the timetable for the third planet’s destruction and saw there were still two rotations before it arrived. Perhaps if the primary brain had not been preoccupied, it would have scanned the third planet and realized that it had achieved space travel. However, it was the secondary brain that received the alarm and it set a schedule for a reminder alarm to send a ship to arrive in one rotation to assist the device. Secondary brains are good, but not as good as the primary. Another alarm went off, and it turned its attention to the new issue.

The primary brain had heard the first alarm and was going to see what it was about, but ran into trouble with one of the two ships not being able to assist the ship being attacked. It had to go back to the list and choose another. It knew that the first alarm was simply a scheduled reminder and not something serious, so it forgot about looking into it. The Moet Watcher missed seeing the rapid development of a primitive planet. This would not be forgiven once discovered by a Master.

Chris and Dolly were adjusting the gravity control on the Cheops’s flight board, and Chris was arguing with her about the control, “Dolly, why do you have the beam focused in on the ship and not out?”

“Chris, the field produced by the stardrive may be affected by the gravity field. If it’s focused inward, it will not interfere with it.”

“Do you know for a fact it will interfere?”

“NO, Chris! However, if it does, it will require you to come back and rebuild the system. Why don’t you tell me what bothers you about this?”

Chris sighed, “The field focusing in on the ship will affect the gravity inside the ship. If we go weightless, we’ll be forced to work in a difficult environment.”

Dolly put her hands on her hips, “Chris, you’ll have a personal gravity device that will allow you to set your weight. However, you will want to remain weightless during high acceleration.”

Chris thought about it and decided that she was probably right. He took a deep breath and said, “All right, we’ll do it your way.”

Dolly smiled, “Trust me, I’m a scientist.”

Chris laughed, and then said on a serious note, “Dolly, are you ever going home?”

Dolly’s smile disappeared, “I doubt it.”

“Why not? You love Australia. I can still hear the accent in your voice. It’s such a large part of your upbringing.”

Dolly sighed, “I choose to keep the accent. I can turn it off if I want.”

“I’ve seen you do it.”

“Chris, if the prediction is true, there’s not much time left. I can do more here than there. Besides, my Mum has never forgiven me for leaving to attend Cal Poly. I don’t want to fight with her about it.”

Chris stared at her, not saying anything.

“It’s not about my father.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, he died a year ago from cirrhosis of the liver. His drinking finally did him in. He tried to sober up, but it was a fight he was doomed to lose.”

“You can’t blame yourself for what happened.”

Dolly sighed, “I don’t anymore, but I’ll always wonder if my pent up anger at him caused me to use more force than necessary when he attacked Mum.”

‘No one could have anticipated he would land like he did on that step.”

“Well, even so, fifteen years in a wheelchair is more than I would have wanted him to endure. Mum still loved him, even after all of his abuses. I know in my heart she doesn’t blame me, but I can see it in her face.”

“If we survive this, I want you to promise me you’ll go home. Family is important, never forget that.”

Dolly smiled, “I promise; besides I need to take Jeff to meet her.”

“Oh boy; that should prove interesting.”

“She’s not that bad…is she?”

“She gave me the what for when she came here. I’ll wish him luck.”

“Don’t you dare; I want it to be a surprise.”

“I could tell him and it would still be a surprise. Let’s go over the control panel again. I need to get a feel for how to regulate our speed.”

“I’ve made it simple. Just turn the dial to how fast you want to go.”

“I notice the display is digital.”

“It has to be. Your speed can go from a crawl to light speed. No dial could have that many numbers on it. If you want to stop, just turn the dial back to zero.”

“What about steering?”

“That is controlled with the steering wheel on the board. The gravity on the nose of the ship will raise the weight of the nose slightly and the gravity field will go negative and push that weight in the direction you want to go. Trust me; you’ll have the ability to turn a hundred and eighty degrees almost instantaneously. We’ll trial it so you can get a feel for it once we launch, but that will be the easiest thing to master. It’ll be like driving a high performance skimmer.”

“When is launch?”

“In five days. We have to get the Ninja updated, and then we’ll be ready to go.”

Chris frowned and said, “What’s going on with the Ninja?”

Dolly shook her head, “I really don’t know. That ship is being built by Lockheed, and I’ve not seen any of its plans. I do know it’s not very big and should fit in the landing bay.” Dolly looked around and asked, “Where’s Jillian?”

Chris tilted his head and looked around before answering, “She’s avoided me like the plague since last Thursday. I don’t know what I did that ticked her off, but it must have been serious.”

Dolly looked around again and said where only Chris could hear, “I don’t think it’s you.”

“What do you mean?”

Dolly got up and went to the port and looked down the corridor, “I looked her up in the government’s data base.”

Chris sat back, “Which one?”

“The one that deals with security clearances. Did you know that Jillian has a PhD in Egyptology?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“It was her first one. She and her fiancé did their field study in Egypt. He was murdered in Giza near the pyramids. She would have also died, but he held the attackers off long enough for her to escape. The extremists took every opportunity to kill westerners back then. They shouldn’t have gone.”

“Well how can you get a PhD in Egyptology without going to Egypt?”

“They were dumb. They went out without taking a security team. They should have known better.”

Chris smiled, “When you’re young, you think you’re ten feet tall and indestructible.”

Chris thought about what Dolly was saying. Then she said something that jerked him back to the conversation, “I suspect she is starting to fall for you, and it reopens wounds that she doesn’t want to deal with. I also suspect that she thinks that to care for anyone else would be a betrayal to her lost love. Like you, she still mourns his death.”

Chris shook his head, “That explains a lot, Dolly. I’ll honor her distance. I understand what losing a loved one means.”

“If you want to act that stupid, go right ahead.”

Chris did a double take.

“Chris, what do you think that leads to? It leads to a life of loneliness. If you really care about her, you’ll try to rescue her from that nightmare. Do you really care about her?”

Chris lowered his head, “I don’t know, Dolly.”

“That’s because both of you live in splendid isolation. You’re so strong and can handle everything alone. You need rescuing as much as she does and I’m amazed that neither of you see it.” Dolly looked at her watch and said, “Oops gotta go. Jeff and I have a lunch engagement and I don’t want to miss the kissing. See ya.” Dolly stood and left leaving Chris without having the last word. This time he didn’t mind; he didn’t know what to say.

Dolly stuck her head back in the room and said, “If I were you; I’d go to Romeo’s bar and dance tonight. Some of the Tutors have asked if they were ever going to see you again.”

Chris raised his hand to respond, but she was gone. He thought about it, and had almost decided not to go when Dolly stuck her head back in and said, “You don’t need a dance partner. The ladies will be lined up to dance with you. Now go and have a good time.”

Chris raised his hand again, but she was gone. He stood and walked over to the corridor, but this time she really was gone. He started smiling, “Why not?”

That evening Dolly and Jeff were sitting at the terminal staring at the tablet when Jillian walked in and saw them, “Oh, I didn’t know anyone was here. I left my computer tablet.”

Dolly picked it up off the console and handed it to her, “I was going to bring it to you later.”

“Thanks, but I need some of the data on it.” Jillian looked around and said, “Is Dr. Connor around?”

Dolly smiled sweetly and said, “Noooo, I suggested he go to Romeo’s tonight and do some serious dancing. It’s his last night before launch and I know a lot of the coeds who want to have a last chance to dance with him. Several called and asked if I could get him to go tonight.”

Jillian stared at her and Jeff and asked, “When did he leave?”

Dolly looked at her watch, “About an hour ago; he borrowed one of the military skimmers to get there. I must say he looked really handsome in his v-neck silk shirt.” Jeff nodded.

“He shouldn’t be drinking this close to liftoff.”

Dolly smiled and said, “He doesn’t drink anymore. I thought he told you that he has come to terms with his life. He’s finally seen that he’s made a huge difference in so many student’s lives, that where he is now is worth all the pain he endured over the loss of his family. He now can remember them without the pain. I’m quite sure he’s sober and enjoying himself. You know how he likes a good party and this one should be a doooooozy.” Dolly lowered her head and said with a wink, “You know how those coeds are…”

Jillian turned and ran out of the building.

Jeff looked at Dolly and raised his eyebrows. Dolly said, “Sometimes you have to give a little push.”

“How did you know it’d work?”

“A woman always wants what another woman has. It’s how we’re made. Right now she’s visualizing Chris in some young coed’s arms. I don’t care how brilliant you are, that’s bound to get your attention.”

Jeff smiled at her and Dolly shook her finger in front of his face, “Don’t even think about going there. You don’t need to do anything to have me. All you’d do is make me angry if you tried it.”

Jeff tilted his head to the right, “And it wouldn’t be good to make Dolly angry.”

She smiled and kissed him, “Who says you’re not trainable?”

Jeff laughed, and kissed her again.

Chris arrived at Romeo’s and was greeted by the crowd. There were numerous slaps on the back, and Jamal escorted him to his usual place at the bar to order a drink. Chris looked at the bartender and said, “I’ll just have a diet Pepsi.”

Jamal looked at Chris with shock on his face, “Are you sick?”

“No, Jamal, I’m fine. How are things at the center?”

Jamal smiled, “They’re great. The Tutors stepped in and have made a huge difference. The children do miss you, though.”

“I miss them, too. Some of them are going to make a difference in the future.”

A young coed dressed in a micro-minidress tapped him on the shoulder, “Dr. Connor, will you dance with me?”

Chris smiled, “I’m sorry, dear, I don’t dance with my students.”

She smiled at him and said, “You are no longer an employee of the university.”

Chris looked at Jamal, then back at the young woman and said, “You’re right. I’m not.”

“Well, what are you waiting on?”

Chris started to stand up, but then sat back down. “I’m sorry. I’m just not up to dancing tonight. Thank you for asking.”

Jamal watched her walk away and did a slow whistle, “How could you say no to her? She is hot! Someone turn up the AC.”

Chris took a deep breath, “I just don’t want to remember my last dance happening here.”

Jamal looked at him, “Last dance? Are you going somewhere?”

“You might say I’m being reassigned.”

A young man walked up with four others behind him and slapped Chris on the back. He turned around and jumped up to hug James Logan, “Jimmy, it’s so good to see you.”

“Are you coming back, Dr. Connor?”

“I hope so, but it may be a while. Tell me how things are going.”

The four Tutors started telling him all the things they had done in his absence. Chris was excited by the initiative they had shown to take up the slack at the project center.

Jillian arrived at Romeo’s and walked quickly inside. She had to use her badge to get by the doorman. The place was standing room only. She had on her knit green coverall, and worked her way around the bar until she was standing next to the dance floor. She searched, but couldn’t find Chris. She stopped a young coed as she left the floor, “Have you seen Dr. Connor?”

The young woman smiled, “You’re wasting your time.”

“Why is that?”

“He’s not dancing with anyone tonight.”

“Why not?”

“Rumor has it that he wants to remember a dance he had with someone else as his last dance. We’ve all tried, but he says no. You might as well go home or find another partner.”

Jillian felt the tears, but wiped them away. If he wasn’t on the dance floor, she knew where he’d be. She turned and worked her way through the crowd toward his place at the bar. She broke through the crowd and saw him surrounded by students with white berets that were listening to him. She heard, “I’m not going to be here for a while. I need all of you to give back to our community what you’ve been given. You may not believe this, but it’s giving that makes your life worthwhile. I’m proud of the way you’ve taken on my responsibility with the children at the center, and I don’t know how I can ever thank you enough.”

A young man said, “I think their smiles are reward enough.”

Chris smiled and hugged the young man.

Jillian stepped forward and tapped Chris on the shoulder, “Will you dance with me?”

Chris turned and said, “I’m sorry, but…..” then he saw Jillian and stopped talking. The students saw his expression, and then they looked at Jillian. Chris smiled and said, “I’d love to dance with you.”

Jillian took off her coverall and the students were stunned. Jillian had on a strapless, black mini-dress that fit her like a second skin. A number of the coeds elbowed their partners that were staring open-mouthed at the woman with Dr. Connor. Jillian took his hand, and he led her to the dance floor. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s Thursday.”

Chris smiled, “Yes, it is.”

Jillian came into his arms and she said, “That’s not the real reason I’m here.”

“Oh?”

“I didn’t want you dancing with anyone else but me.”

Chris looked into her eyes and smiled, “You should know by now that I never will.”

She looked up, and he saw her tears, “Why?”

Chris pulled her close and whispered in her ear, “It was in your arms that I was healed. I’m alive again.”

Jillian put her head on his shoulder and held him tight. He could feel her tears through his shirt, and they danced and danced.

Dolly, Jeff, Arnold Gordon, Ben Keenan, and President Carlyle were on the bridge of the Cheops giving Jillian and Christopher a sendoff. President Carlyle said, “We have another guest. He’s here for you, Miss Sierra.”

Dolly turned around and said, “Me? Who?”

Prime Minister Christen walked on the bridge and Dolly’s mouth fell open. “Dolly? You don’t mind if I call you Dolly?” Dolly shook her head, “I understand that you have played an important role in making this vessel space worthy. We Aussies are proud of you, and want you to know that we expect you to come home and celebrate with your mates when this is over. You are one of our daughters for which we are righteously proud.”

Dolly jerked her head around and looked at Chris, who appeared to be focused on the control board. She looked back at the Prime Minister and said, “You may count on it, Sir.”

James Carlyle turned and said to the attendees, “Our world is counting on you to find what we need to survive. We are currently building ships to take colonists out to other worlds so that if the worst happens, humanity will continue. We hope to launch three of them within a year. With the help of Dr. Connor’s invention, they will scan the light in our galaxy looking for planets similar to our own. Perhaps it’s not as hopeless as one might think.” He turned to Chris and Jillian, “We need you to succeed. All of humanity is counting on you.”

Jillian looked at Chris and said, “We are going to give it all we have, Mr. President.”

“Well, good luck. We’ll be watching liftoff and praying for your success.”

Arnold walked up to Jillian and gave her a hug, “I need you to come back.”

“I’ll do my best, Dad.”

Dolly walked over and wrapped her arms around Chris’ neck and whispered in his ear, “I told you I would go.”

Chris smiled, “You can never ask enough to get you to do what must be done.”

Dolly hugged his neck tightly and said, “I’d do it because you asked. That carries more weight with me than anyone, including the Prime Minister.”

“I love you, Dolly. Hold the fort while we’re gone.”

“I love you too. I won’t let them take the North Wall.”

“Now that you’re the project manager, I’m not as worried.”

Dolly laughed, “Who would have ever thought I would be a bureaucrat?” Dolly looked at Jeff and said, “Guess who reports to me?”

Jeff smiled and said, “I’ve always reported to you. I do it now for the benefits.”

Chris and Dolly both laughed out loud, attracting the attention of the President, “What’s so funny?”

Dolly smiled and said, “Chris is already missing us.”

James Carlyle smiled, “I can understand why. Miss Sierra? I would like a short meeting with you to go over your plans.”

Dolly sighed, “This is not a benefit,” she whispered to Chris, then said louder, “I’ll be ready right after liftoff, Mr. President.”

Ben Keenan walked up to Chris and smiled, “I guess there was more to you than I thought.”

“You think?”

“I’ve done some investigating and learned about your Tutors and the learning center in the projects. I’ve also read Kim Newland’s article about what happened in Oslo at the Nobel Prize. I’m not as worried about my troops as I was when we first met. Good luck, Dr. Connor.”

“Thank you, General.”

Ben came to attention and saluted Chris. “No; thank you.”

Dr. Morrison stuck his head in the door and said, “It’s time to leave the ship.”

Everyone shook hands and then moved off the bridge, leaving Chris and Jillian alone. Chris looked at Jillian in the command chair and saw her nervousness, “Are you all right?”

Jillian stood and said, “I’m not afraid of the mission.” She walked over to the view port and looked out at the spaceport.

Chris stood and walked over beside her and said, “Then what’s bothering you?”

She turned and looked into his eyes and said, “This.” She put her arms around his neck and kissed him. Chris was surprised, but then pulled her close and kissed her. When they broke the kiss, Jillian said, “I’ve wanted to do that for weeks.”

“You should have told me.”

“I couldn’t tell myself, much less, you.”

Chris held her tight and then said, “I guess we need to get underway.” He looked into her eyes and said, “Thank you, Jillian. Thank you for all you’ve done.”

Jillian smiled and said, “You are very welcome. Let’s go visit a pyramid.”

Dolly hit the toggle and said, “Cheops, are you ready for liftoff?”

Jillian said, “Standing by for building clearance.”

“Roof lift in two minutes.”

The huge sloped roof over the ship began lifting, moving ninety degrees. The Cheops only had open sky above it, “You’re clear for liftoff.”

Jillian looked at Chris, and he turned a knob on his console. The ship lifted a foot off the ground and hovered. Jillian nodded and Chris activated the positive gravity field on the bottom of the ship. The Cheops began rising, clearing the building. “Hang on, Jillian.” Chris pulled the steering wheel back and the nose of the ship lifted as it continued to rise. “We’re going weightless; minimal thrust on the engines.”

The starship was now pointed at the horizon, and a brief flash of the thrusters sent the ship roaring toward the sunrise. Chris pulled back on the steering wheel and the nose of the ship went vertical. The Cheops flashed into the upper atmosphere. Chris kept his eye on the scanner to make sure there were no ships or satellites near them.

Dolly looked at her board and said, “You are approaching six thousand miles per hour and will clear the atmosphere in two minutes.”

Chris looked at Jillian and smiled. He spoke into the communicator, “We are engaging engines, and will take a path below the plane of the planets. We’ll see you later.”

Jillian looked at Chris with a puzzled look.

“I’m not going to leave our system passing the planets. Remember that the Sheera’s main ship was destroyed by a Moet in the outer solar system. I believe it was above our planet, out near the Ort Cloud.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Both of the Sheera’s building projects were in the northern hemisphere. I believe they came to our planet from above the plane of the ecliptic. I don’t want to use the stardrive anywhere near our planet without something to block its view in case the Moet still have a device watching Earth.”

“I didn’t think of that.”

“We are going to go below the ecliptic plane, then turn around and energize the stardrive such that we will be passing Earth toward a clear area of space above the planet. We should be in Earth’s shadow for anything looking at it from above the ecliptic plane. There are no stars on the route I’ve chosen for more than ten thousand light years. We should be able to find what we need on that line. Right now I’m going to go to near light speed and get us away from Earth. I’ll then turn and accelerate back. I’m hoping the planet will block any probe from seeing us when we jump away. Are you ready with the stardrive?”

“I am. Remember to factor in about three seconds for the drive to surround the ship and reach the energy level needed.”

Chris stared out the view port and saw the stars gleaming brightly against the black veil of space. Jillian saw him staring and walked over and looked with him. “I’ve never seen so many, Jilly.”

“The atmosphere blocks most of them. They are beautiful aren’t they?”

“It’s so hard to believe they hold such danger. Something this beautiful shouldn’t be a threat.” Chris turned and shook his head, “But they are. Let’s get underway.”

Jillian hugged him and went to her command chair.

“I’ll move away for a minute, and then turn around. Get ready; turning on half thrusters.”

Jillian looked at her display and saw the Earth getting smaller. Suddenly, it disappeared so fast she thought it had just turned invisible. “How fast are we going?”

“A hundred thousand miles per second.”

“What if we hit something going that fast?”

“We have a strong positive gravity beam in front of us that will push anything in our path out of the way.”

Jillian watched the planets above them on her wide scan as they moved below the plane. After a minute, Chris said, “We’re coming around and preparing to jump. Initiate the stardrive on my mark. Ready……mark!”

Jillian hit the button and they saw a light green energy field begin to form around them. Jillian watched the dials and said, “Field is not complete. It should come on instantly after this initial charging. I’m energizing stardrive in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Now!” Jillian pulled back the blue handle on the control panel and the Cheops disappeared.

Dolly and the President watched the Cheops over the satellites’ scanning system, and James was amazed at how fast the Cheops disappeared. Dolly continued watching the defense radars and saw it turn and zoom back toward the planet. Dolly knew what was going to happen, but was still amazed at the approach speed. The radars produced a blip of the approaching ship that was getting larger fast…then it was gone.

James Carlyle shook his head, “How fast was that ship going?”

“Three quarters light speed.”

He looked back at the now empty display and said, “That tablet has changed things a lot.”

Dolly smiled, “More than you know.”

An alarm went off and the Moet turned and hit the system search switch. The monitor showed a solar system with a gas giant and nine planets. He turned his whole brain on the readout. A stardrive was used. He turned the scanner to full power and immediately saw that the third planet had developed space travel. That was not good; especially a system contaminated by the Sheera. He turned the recording back and fast forwarded through it.

The civilization was moving out into the planets, but they did not have stardrive capability. He increased the power again and searched the system for any Alliance Ships. Nothing. He adjusted the program to search for the residue of a stardrive and again came up empty. Ummmm, could this be a sensor malfunction? He checked on the device and saw it was still two rotations out. Should he attempt to speed it up? Noooo; probably not. The adjustments would be numerous and would tie up a ship for a rotation. The fleet was busy chasing real threats to the Dynasty and this primitive civilization was not a threat.

He turned to the alarm and made a notation in the system to send three ships when it arrived to destroy the outposts scattered in the solar system. He almost changed his mind, but then another alarm went off. He glanced at his board and saw another attack on a ship. These Alliance planets were starting to become worrisome. He decided the stardrive alarm was a false reading. He turned to his board and watched the Moet ship being attacked. It didn’t need any help. He watched as it destroyed seven ships. The false read bothered him, but another alarm went off and he put it out of his mind. Twenty minutes later the Earth passed where the Cheops jumped and the residual energy was now where it could be seen. But no one was looking. A week later it disappeared.

Chris looked at the display and saw the Cheops was surrounded by a universe that was green and black. They were sitting still next to a small black bulge in space next to them. “Jillian, I thought we entered here at a high velocity.”

“We did, but speed doesn’t exist here.”

What are all these black bulges around us?”

“The closest one is the sun and the planets in our solar system.”

“But they’re bunched up almost together.”

“This space is not part of our universe. Our solar system is no larger than a basketball here.”

“How do we move on the line I was taking?”

“The ship is still pointed on that line. I just need to set how far we want to go and push the execute button.” Jillian entered 5,500 into her console and said, “The funny thing about this drive is that no matter how far you want to go, it will take almost no time to arrive. The time doesn’t vary whether it’s one or a million light years.”

“Before you push that button, I want to try something.”

“What is that?”

“I’m going to use my scanner and take a reading on the area around us. I’m going to lock that reading into the system’s memory.”

“Why?”

“Perhaps my device will be able to see this reading wherever we go in this place.”

“Ummmm. If it does, we can always come home.”

“Exactly. Let’s do this. Jump two light years and check to see if it works before we make our long jump.”

Jillian adjusted the setting and looked at Chris, “Ready?”

“I’m with you.” Jillian pushed the button.

The Cheops emerged from green space and shot forward at high velocity. Chris turned the gravity dial to zero and the ship came to an immediate stop. Chris shook his head, “Dolly was right. This thing stops us instantly. We need to make doubly sure we’re weightless whenever we’re moving at high speed. If we have any weight, we could be slammed through the bulkhead.”

“Dolly set the ships gravity to automatically go weightless if the ship is moving.”

“Give me a moment. Let’s trial the device and see if we can get a picture of Earth.”

Jillian shrugged as Chris turned the ship. “Extending sensor fields.” Eight emitters began sending an energy field out from the Cheops. It expanded at light speed and grew at a huge rate. Chris set the frequency of the light from Earth and waited. After three minutes he got a ping on his board, “Got it.” Jillian stood up and came around to look at the display. “Is there anything you want to see in particular?”

Jillian saw Earth on Chris’ display. She thought a minute and said, “The Great Pyramid.”

“Good call, and fortunately that side of the planet is in view.”

“What if it wasn’t?”

“Well, we would have to wait until it came around toward us. We can’t see what is on the other side of the planet from this angle. We took a line that light would take when it’s reflected.”Chris turned three dials and the planet grew larger. The view zoomed in until they were looking down on the Mediterranean Sea. He moved the view East over Egypt where the Nile emptied into the sea. In less than four more minutes they were looking down on the three pyramids in the complex.

“Try to get closer to the entrance to the Great Pyramid.”

The view moved over to the largest of the three pyramids and Jillian said, “Stop it there.” She stared at the display and said, “See that large green lifter?”

“Yes.”

“Move it in closer and see if you can identify anyone around it.”

The view flickered momentarily and Chris said, “Something moved through the light. It cleared up and Chris moved the view closer until he saw Jillian and her Father standing next to the truck. There was a third person hiding behind the lifter he didn’t recognize. “Who is that?”

“I don’t know. This light left in June two years ago. I know it was June because that was the only time my father visited the site. I wish I knew who that is behind the lifter. They saw the man look up at the sky and then turn away from the lifter. “Is there any way to speed this up?”

Chris smiled, “I’m glad you asked. We’ll just move forward as we collect the light and it will speed the video up.”

“You’re recording this?”

“Absolutely. Let’s see if we can see where this person goes.”

Chris nudged the thrusters and everything began moving faster. The man behind the lifter snuck away and moved through the complex to a jeep that was parked behind the Temple of the Pharaohs. They followed him until he arrived at a house in Giza. “What’s that in his hand?”

Chris froze the picture and moved in closer to the man. He was putting something in his jacket pocket. They stared as the focus began to fail, but then they saw it. Jillian took a quick breath and Chris was stunned. It was the anti-gravity device found in the tablet. “We should go back.”

“Jillian, he might be gone now. We would also have to use the stardrive in the system, and I’m worried about doing that. Let’s finish what we started and we’ll go find him later. He obviously hasn’t done anything to jeopardize the project. This was two years ago and he’s not been around.”

She shook her head, then nodded, “You’re right. I’m amazed at your invention. I would have thought the light would have been scattered as it left Earth.”

“Think about that. If light scattered from its source, then the stars at night would just be a huge glare. The vacuum of space keeps it coherent.”

“I know that, but the light from stars does not come through an atmosphere. This light does. I think what you’ve done here is miraculous.”

Chris leaned back in his chair and looked at Jillian, “What is the real reason you want to see the Pyramid being built? We already know how it was done. What are you hoping to find?”

Jillian stared at Chris for a long moment and said, “This is top security clearance. Only two people know this.”

Chris nodded.

“I want to see where the other building site was located. I believe that there was another person taught by the Sheera and that they might have also left us a message.”

“There’s got to be more than that.”

“I also want to see where the Jenze ship was destroyed. I want to see the design of that vessel.”

“How are you going to learn anything from just seeing it?”

“I’ll tell you if we find it. But until we do, I can’t.”

Chris stared at her and said, “Fair enough. Are you ready to jump to the light from five thousand years ago?”

“Yes, I am.” Jillian paused, then said, “Chris, I don’t want to give you the wrong impression, but I’m not ready for any kind of close personal relationship. I do like you a lot; I hope you understand.”

Chris took a deep breath, “You know I’ll honor your wishes. I’ll keep my distance.”

Jillian forced a smile and said, “Thank you.”

Chris turned back to his board and Jillian fought the emotions that were trying to overwhelm her. She went and sat in her command chair and looked out the viewport. Billions of stars were shining, and she knew one of them was her home. “Oh, Daniel, I miss you so much.” She saw her fiancé’s face again, then realized this kind of sorrow must be what Chris has been drinking to forget. She looked at Chris entering the data. How could he have overcome the sorrow? She looked at the stars again, but only saw Daniel’s face.

The Cheops entered the green colored space and Chris said, “Just a moment before you move.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Look in the rearview display. Do you see that line behind us?”

Jillian stared and said, “Yes, I do. What is that?”

“Give me a moment to take a reading.” Chris turned his sensors on the line and read the results. “Jillian, I think when we move through this space, we leave a trail behind us. According to my readings it is decaying and will be gone in about a week. This is good and bad news.”

“Why do you say that?”

Chris looked out at the green space surrounding them and said, “It’s good because we have a way to go back to where we started. It’s bad because we can be followed. If we see it, the Moet can see it.”

“So as long as we go back within a week, we should have a trail to follow.”

“Looks that way. Let me check one other thing.” Chris extended his scanners and waited while they collected data. “Jillian, there are green trails all through this space. Some are rather large and according to my scanners they are not decaying.”

“What do you think about that?”

“I suspect that if the same trail is used a lot, it becomes much more durable. It could also be that the trails are not visible normally, but show up in my device. There are so many things we don’t know about this place. What are we going to call it?”

Jillian thought a moment, “Most of the sci fy writers have called it things like hyperspace, null space, warp space, and so on. Let’s call it Sierra.”

Chris smiled, “That’s a great choice. I can see Dolly’s face now.” Chris pulled in his sensors and punched his board, “Ready to go?”

“We aren’t really sure of the exact date, so let’s go out six thousand light years and work our way back.”

“You’re the boss, field engagement in ten seconds.” The Cheops hung in space as Jillian checked her board and pulled the blue handle. The green field instantly appeared around the Cheops and then it disappeared. Chris saw Sierra space around them and said, “Hit it.” Jillian pushed the yellow button and the Cheops moved through the green dimensionless space. Two seconds later the Cheops broke back into normal space and Chris turned the ship a hundred and eighty degrees. “Let’s see what we’ve got.”

Jillian looked at her display, “We’re in open space here. There’s not a star near us.”

“I’m extending the screens. Let’s hope we have something.” Chris watched his display and nothing appeared. He waited as the screens expanded away from the Cheops at light speed but nothing came up on the display.

“What’s happening?”

“I’m not sure. It may be that the light was blocked by something that moved in front of it at some time in the past.”

“Do you think we’ve come too far for your machine to work?”

Chris stared at his display and shook his head, “Let’s try moving a light near perpendicular to our current position.”

Jillian shrugged and set up the board, “Do you think we can find our way back from here?”

“As long as the green trail persists, we can. Let’s jump and see what we get.”

They ended up jumping four times before the display pinged, “Got it.”

Jillian jumped out of her chair and rushed over to see the display. Earth was shining in the center of it. Chris started adjusting the knobs, and after five minutes the surface was in focus. “We’re on the wrong side of the planet. We’ll need to wait eight hours for Egypt to come around.”

“What happens then?”

“If the pyramid is there, nothing. We’ll do our recordings from here. If not, we’ll jump a hundred light years toward the light coming to us and take another look.”

“Chris, I’m concerned about finding our way back home.”

“As long as we can receive the light from Earth, we can find our way back home. If we lose it we’ll just retrace the trail in Sierra Space.”

Jillian tilted her head to the left, “I hope you’re right.”

Chris smiled, “Trust me, I’m a scientist.”

“Those are the hardest to trust.”

“Tell that to Dolly.” Chris stood and started moving toward the passageway.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to get some sleep. I don’t know how much I’ll get later.”

“You can sleep at a time like this?”

“I can sleep even when I’m awake. There’s only one thing I like more than sleeping.”

“What is that?”

Chris winked, “Sorry, that’s a secret. I’ll let you know when the situation warrants it.”

Jillian threw a ball of paper at him as he disappeared from the bridge. She walked over and picked the paper up, then looked out the view port at stars that were different from any she had seen before. After a moment she saw Chris’ face. She shook her head and the stars returned. Why Chris’ face and not Daniel’s? She sat down in her chair and leaned back. She closed her eyes and saw Chris winking at her as he left the bridge. She smiled, and after a few moments, fell asleep.

Ship Commander L’grae looked at his status board and linked to the other five ships in his squadron. He was nervous but couldn’t allow his crew to see how he felt. His sensor officer had found the track of a Moet ship in green space and it was a new track. His squadron was ordered to find a Moet ship and attack it with a new weapon that had been recently developed. The power of the new beam was hundreds of times more powerful than those used in the past, and there was hope it could destroy their target.

L’grae knew that every attack so far had ended with the Moet killing most of the attacking ships. Everything they tried failed, and he wondered what would make this attack any different. He looked around the bridge of his main battleship and saw his crew’s fear. The six ships in the squadron were following the trail of the Moet ship, and he knew in less than ten dias they would be emerging into normal space where it had traveled. He said a quick prayer to the gods of his family and looked at his status board. All sections reported in ready, and he knew his other six ships were also at station. He looked around and announced over the ship’s speakers, “Less than ten dias to normal space. As soon as we emerge, we will scan for the Moet and begin our attack. Make your shots count. Hit it and hold it in your beams. I know you’ll make me proud.”

The weapon officers set their beams to the frequency of a Moet ship and charged the dispersal tank. This beam was different, in that it focused the charge into a very narrow tight beam that was estimated to approach the heat of a star. The battleship had fifty of the new beams, and the ship was programmed to automatically rotate and bring beams to fire as the first beams exhausted their charges. It would take fifteen dias to recharge, so there should be a constant firing of beams at the Moet. Time moved slowly for the squadron, but most of the crewmembers wished it would move even slower. They all prepared to die in the best way they could. Most were praying prior to the engagement; some were focusing on their duties. All were expecting the worst.

The Master of the Moet ship looked around the space in which his ship had just emerged. His ship had found a trail through green space that had come from a planet that was scheduled for destruction. He had followed the trail for two light years and didn’t find the ship he was searching for. He continued to follow the trail to six thousand light years, and again found nothing. This was problematic. He turned to order his ship to go back into green space when six ships suddenly appeared and roared in on his vessel. He wondered when these creatures would learn that attacking Moet ships was an exercise in futility and would only lead to their death. He hit the alarm and his weapons activated. Then things went bad. He saw more than sixty beams hit his force fields, and the screen failure alarm began sounding. He yelled at his drive officer, “Get us out of here!”

The Moet started firing at the six ships and two of them exploded, but the remaining four continued to pour fire into the grey ship. The Moet ship began moving, but suddenly a beam penetrated its screen and punctured its hull. Once the hull lost integrity the force fields collapsed and forty beams burned through the Moet ship.

L’grae saw one of his beams punch through the Moet’s force field and he stood up. This had never happened before, “Pour it on. Don’t let them escape.”

The Moet was hit eighty times before one of the beams hit one of their reactors. The huge grey ship exploded, breaking into three pieces. L’grae heard his crew cheering and knew more Moet ships were on the way. “Scatter and get back. Tell the Leaders we now have a weapon that works.”

The four survivors went into green space and scattered in different directions, doing a zigzag pattern through green space. They doubled back on their trails and turned circles. The green trails were jumbled and it would be impossible to follow them. The huge green cloud expanded and filled the green space around the attack. The Moet ships arriving at the scene of the attack could not find a trail coherent enough to follow. This was not a good thing. The enemy had finally found a way to destroy their ships and had escaped with the information. The Masters would have to decide how to handle this new situation. They remained at the site and waited for instructions. After four days, they were ordered to return to their base with the data they had collected. The trail for the Cheops to follow home had been erased.

Chapter Seven

Chris walked through the door to the bridge and saw Jillian asleep in her chair. He quietly moved to his chair and looked at his display. Egypt was in view and he moved the picture closer to the Giza plateau. He saw there were no pyramids. Ok, now they had to move closer. He pushed the toggle that transferred Jillian’s board to his and jumped twelve hundred light years forward.

The ship broke into normal space, and he saw his sensors were still picking up the images from Earth. Ummm, Khufu’s reign was generally thought to have occurred 2,600 years BC. The current year was 2085. So almost forty seven hundred years ago. He knew they were now looking at light from forty eight hundred years ago. He moved the focus closer and saw Egypt was about to move around the planet. He hurriedly focused in and saw that there were no pyramids at Giza. He knew he had to be getting close, so he jumped thirty years and still found no pyramids. He jumped fifty years and waited as Egypt came around. While he was waiting, Jillian yawned, stretched her arms, and opened her eyes, “What are you doing?”

“I’m jumping forward to find the pyramids. We’re at forty six hundred twenty years. Egypt should be visible in ten minutes.”

Jillian walked around to watch the display and leaned over Chris’s shoulder. He felt her face next to his and felt his heart beat faster. He took a breath and said, “Here it comes.” Egypt appeared at the left horizon and Chris focused in on the Nile. He moved to the area where Giza was located and saw the Great Pyramid in its completed form. It was beautiful. He also saw a second pyramid being constructed close by. “We’ve gone too far. Judging from the construction on the second pyramid, we are probably four years from the start of the Khufu Pyramid.” Chris adjusted the drive and set the jump for four years. They completed the jump and Chris saw that Egypt was in the center of the view. He brought the view in and didn’t see a pyramid. “We’re close. Let’s move in a year.” They jumped again and after bringing the view closer they saw the base of the Great Pyramid had been started.

Jillian shouted and hugged Chris’ neck, “We’re there!”

Chris made a mock choking sound and Jillian jumped back, “Scared ya didn’t I?”

Jillian slapped him on the shoulder and Chris said, “We aren’t there yet.”

“Why not?”

“Remember the map was shown when the first block of the fifth level was being installed.”

“Can’t we just move forward and fast forward to the right moment?”

“And what if we lose the trail we made getting here by moving from this place in normal space to another?”

“I didn’t think about that.”

Chris thought a moment and said, “I am not willing to just sit here for a few weeks or months for the fifth level to go up.”

Jillian looked at the drive board and said, “Let’s jump three weeks forward.” Chris furrowed his brow and Jillian said, “We know the pyramid was completed in about seven months according to the tablet. The levels that took the longest were the bottom layers because they were so much larger than the ones on top. Let’s try three weeks and see how it looks.”

Chris shrugged and said, “You’re the physicist.” He set the drive board and prepared to jump.

“Oh, so now you’re using titles and getting all formal on me?”

Chris looked at Jillian, smiled a huge grin, and said, “Yep!” Chris turned back to his board and Jillian stuck her tongue out at him. Chris saw her do it in the reflection off the viewport and said as he pushed the jump button, “I’ve heard of tongue lashings, but you could kill someone with that one.”

Jillian did a double take, wondering how he had seen her standing behind him. Chris smiled and let her worry about it. Two seconds later the Cheops broke back into normal space and Chris focused the beams. Jillian looked over his shoulder again and saw that the fourth layer was half done. Chris hit a button and a green light came on.

“What is that?”

Chris smiled, “I have wondered about the Great Pyramid my entire life. I knew that something had to have happened completely outside the human experience, and I’m going to record how they built it. It should take about two or three days to complete the layer before they bring the first block for the fifth level. As long as the Pyramid is in daylight, I’m going to record their activities.”

“Can you keep a view of the entire project and have another close-up view of the individuals around it?”

“Sure, hang on a moment.” Chris flipped a switch and the display split in half. He began adjusting the view and the display moved in close to the ground in front of the huge structure.

“Look, there’s one of the Sheera.”

Chris saw the alien was smaller than the Egyptians, who were small themselves compared to modern humans. They averaged between four feet six inches and five feet three inches tall. The Sheera appeared to be a little less than five feet tall. The big round hairless head was the most distinguishing feature. “I’m setting the boards to record as long as the plateau is in daylight and pause at night.”

“I hope the Sheera don’t show that map at nighttime.”

Chris shook his head, “The Egyptians don’t work at night, and I’m sure it had to be during daylight because they were installing the first block on the fifth level. We need to plan our sleep around their schedule.”

Jillian nodded and continued to watch the giant blocks being easily pushed into place by one or two workers. Once they were in place, a Sheera would hit the blocks with the gravity gun and return them to full weight. Jillian watched the display over Chris’ shoulder and after an hour came around and sat down on his lap. Chris looked her in the eyes and she said, “I hope you don’t mind.”

Chris took a deep breath and remembered what Dolly said, “If you really care about her, you will try to rescue her from that nightmare.” Chris found he did care about Jillian, and he leaned the chair slightly back and put his arms around her shoulders, “We should have brought some popcorn. This is going to be an once-in-a-lifetime show.”

Jillian felt safe. In his arms, for the first time in many years, she felt secure and unafraid of what the world held for her. She sighed and said, “Them or us?”

Chris smiled, “Both.”

Jillian leaned back and put her face next to his and relaxed. As Egypt passed into the shadow of night time, Chris and Jillian slept together in the command chair. Neither was visited by nightmares, and time ceased to exist.

They were awoken by a small buzzer going off on the control board. Chris opened his eyes and saw that Egypt was going to be back in daylight in an hour. He looked at Jillian asleep in his lap with a serene face. He had never seen her as beautiful. She seemed to always be under pressure and worried. He raised his hand, touched her cheek, and turned her face to him. She opened her eyes and saw him staring at her. She smiled and he kissed her deeply. She turned and put her arms around his neck and returned his kiss. After what seemed like a moment Chris leaned away and said, “We have an hour to get ready. I wanted to do that for weeks. Now we’re even.”

Jillian smiled and stood-up. Chris said, “I’ll see you in the kitchen in about forty minutes.”

Jillian nodded and Chris left to shower and clean up. Jillian watched him leave and tried to think about Daniel, but the thoughts wouldn’t come. All she could see was Chris’ arms around her. She knew she should be troubled, but felt strangely at peace. She left the bridge for her quarters humming the Jukebox song.

Chris arrived in the kitchen and found a hot meal waiting on him. A note next to the plate said, “I’m on the bridge. Couldn’t wait. I’m so excited. Today could be the day!” She signed it “J”.

Chris smiled, ate his breakfast, and thought about what was ahead. There was something she wasn’t telling him, and he worried that it was something significant. He finished, put the dishes away, and left for the bridge. He found Jillian in his chair staring at the display, and she said excitedly as he entered, “They are moving a staggering number of blocks today.”

Chris came over and saw three small flyers pulling hundreds of blocks behind them. He backed the view out and moved it toward the quarry where the blocks were being cut. Chris and Jillian both were shocked by what they saw. “I didn’t see those yesterday.”

Chris said, “Let’s back the video up and see if you’re right.” The video went grey for a moment and then showed the original view as they moved in on the plateau. Chris moved the view away from the pyramid and toward the quarry. “You’re right. There weren’t many blocks there.”

Jillian looked at Chris and said, “The Sheera must have cut all those blocks last night. That’s when they do their cutting for the next day’s construction. Chris, that is stunning. There have to be more than a hundred thousand blocks ready for movement.”

Chris shook his head, “You’re right. And they are all precision cut. Notice there is a symbol on top of each one. I’m sure that’s where they go on the master plan. This kind of engineering is staggering.”

Jillian looked at Chris and he saw her fear. Chris said, “I know, if the Sheera stood no chance against the Moet, what chance do we have?”

Jillian nodded and turned back to the display, “Take us back to the pyramid. The fourth layer may be done today.”

Chris looked at the blocks moving over the desert, “It probably will.”

They waited, and about mid-afternoon the last two blocks of the fourth layer went into place. Chris moved the view outside the pyramid in close and found a Sheera walking toward an Egyptian standing next to a table. “Get closer, Chris. We need to see that map.” Chris moved the view in as the Sheera placed a large document on top of the table. They were unable to see what they were saying, but they saw the map clearly. The Sheera pointed to a place on the map, and then appeared to be listening to the Egyptian. He then pointed to another place on the map. Chris saw something, but didn’t want to believe it. They continued to watch, but the Sheera picked up the map and moved back toward his ship.

“Can you download that map?”

“It’s already in the computer, Jillian.” They walked over to the huge display on the wall and Jillian pulled the map up on the screen. Chris said, “That’s the Gulf of Mexico and that first place he pointed to is somewhere in Bolivia.”

Jillian said, “Has to be Puma Punku.”

“You’re probably right. However, the second place he pointed to is offshore from Mexico.”

Jillian furrowed her brow and said, “Could they be building underwater, and the ship was at the first location?”

“Let’s see.” Chris overlaid a modern map of South America and the first place was at the exact location of Puma Punku.

Jillian slowly shook her head and said, “Why would that Jenze ship be underwater?”

Chris stared at the site and suddenly knew the answer. Jillian saw his expression and knew he knew something. She also saw his fear. Chris went to his chair and sat down. Jillian came over and kneeled in front of him, “Tell me!”

Chris looked up at the map and said, “I understand what’s going to happen.” Jillian leaned forward and took his hands. Chris nodded toward the map and said, “The second site is where the asteroid struck sixty five million years ago causing a mass extinction of the dinosaurs. The Moet dropped a nine mile wide asteroid traveling at seven thousand miles an hour on the Jenze ship. That’s what destroyed an indestructible ship. A small piece of land must have been jutting out into the gulf before the strike.” Chris looked into Jillian’s eyes and said, “That’s what’s going to happen again within four years, but this time the asteroid will be considerably larger.” Jillian’s eyes widened and Chris said, “The Moet found one in the Ort Cloud and nudged it out of orbit on a trajectory to hit Earth. That’s why it has taken so long for it to arrive. I’m certain the Moet will escort it in to us.”

Jillian looked back at the map, and knew Chris was right. “We need to get back.”

Chris said, “There’s more, Jillian.” Chris worked the controls and two screens appeared on the wall. Chris moved the view in on the Egyptian standing next to the Sheera at the table. The Sheera pointed at the block going in on the fifth layer and the Egyptian looked up at it. Chris froze the frame. Chris then pulled up the picture of the man that had been hiding behind the green loader and froze his face as he looked up at the loader. The two pictures were then placed side by side and Jillian said, “Oh, my God.” It was the same man. “How is this possible?”

“Well, I suspect the Sheera didn’t want to have to replace their translator often. When they downloaded their information, they also extended his life. Hemiunu has survived since the Sheera left.”

“Why didn’t he warn us much earlier? Why didn’t he let us know what was coming?”

Chris smiled, “Ok Jillian, I walk up to you and tell you I’m five thousand years old and that aliens are going to destroy the Earth. What would you do?”

Jillian stared at Chris and shook her head, “I’d have you committed.”

“Exactly, but I suspect there was more than just that reason.”

“What else could there be?”

“He could have always gone to visit an engineer or physicist and showed them the plans for the stardrive. He also had the anti-gravity gun. He could have proven who he was.”

“Then why hide?”

“Because I’m sure he did not want to release an aggressive species into the cosmos that would be no better than the Moet. It was only in the last fifteen years that Earth has come to terms with the value of peace and cooperation. He may have finally decided to release the tablet. By the way, how was it found?”

Jillian thought a few moments and said, “It was discovered when a television crew in the Great Pyramid found a small cave-in at the bottom. The government was called in and I was asked to investigate the collapse.” Jillian looked at Chris, “He caused the cave in.”

“Yes, he did, and I suspect he was there at the excavation to make sure the right people were finding it. Once he made that determination, his job was done.”

“We need to go home.”

“I agree, but don’t you want to see the other building project at Puma Punku?”

“No, now that I know where it is, I know where to look if there’s a message.”

Chris stared at her and tilted his head, “Where?”

“On the bottom of the largest stone object; it won’t be hard to find.”

“All right, let’s head back. I’ll move the ship into green space and follow the trail back. Then we’ll move back to our departure line to get here.”

The Cheops moved back along the trail until it veered hard right. They oriented the ship to the trail and Chris set the distance to five light years. The Cheops entered Sierra space and moved forward. Jillian was studying the recordings of the great pyramid and Chris was reading about Puma Punku when he glanced up and saw that the Cheops had entered a huge green cloud. “Jillian, get over here!”

Jillian stood and walked over and saw the green featureless cloud they were in, “What happened?”

“I don’t know. I looked up and we were in this cloud. The trail is gone and I don’t know what direction we’re moving.”

Jillian stared at the screen and said, “We can’t change direction. We know we flew five light years on the line we’re currently following. At least, when we emerge, we’ll be where we started looking for light from Earth.”

Chris started thinking and said, “What could have muddied the trail this much?”

Jillian shook her head, “I have no idea.”

Chris looked at her and said, “It had to be done by something that also makes trails. I’m not certain about this.” Chris stared at the display and then decided, “If there are starships present when we break into normal space, I want an immediate jump programmed ready to happen. We’ll continue on this line two light years, then reverse our course seven years to take us back to where we found Earth’s light.”

Jillian nodded and began entering the data into the jump board. The Cheops board started flashing, indicating normal space entry, and then they were back in normal space. Chris held his hand over his jump button but saw the giant grey ship in front of him broken into three pieces. He also saw two more ships off to the right of their location that had been destroyed. Jillian stood and walked up to the wall display and stared at the carnage. Chris continued to rapidly read his scanning fields for any indication of other ships. Finally, he sat back and said, “We’re alone, for now.” Chris reached up, rubbed the stubble on his chin, and narrowed his eyes as he stared at the giant grey ship. “We were followed, Jillian.”

Jillian jerked her head around, and then looked back at the ships, “How do you know that?”

“That grey ship is a Moet Ship. It must have picked up our trail as we moved here and followed it. There’s no other way that it could have arrived here unless it was following us.” Chris stood and walked up beside her, staring at the display, “Once it arrived it here…” Chris paused and stared at the screen.

“It was followed and attacked here.”

Chris nodded, “Evidently, the attackers have found a weapon that can kill a Moet Ship. We need to take one of those smaller ships back with us if we can.” Chris looked at Jillian, “Can we?”

Jillian stared at the display and slowly nodded her head at the ship that had its nose shot off, “We can hit it with our gravity beam and make it weightless to remove its mass. We’ll fire a cable into the opening at the front and hook it like a fish. It might take several shots but we should be able to hook it up.”

“How far does our jump screen extend?”

“It will cover our two ships. The thing that concerns me is that both parties in this battle left ships here. Do we want to take part of the Moet ship instead?”

“I’m worried that they will be able to detect it if we take it home.”

Jillian looked at Chris and started shaking her head, “Chris, how can we go home if we know we’ll be followed? We could cause Earth’s destruction if we lead a Moet fleet there.”

“I’m going to try something Jillian. I’m going to use the rear negative gravity emitter and have it hit the trail being left behind us. These ships muddied up the trails by running rapidly through them. This also tells me that we don’t have to program a distance in the stardrive. We can just find a trail and follow it however long it goes and emerge into normal space there.” Chris looked at the ship and said, “Let’s get moving. You set up the cable hook and I’ll take the rear of the Cheops over in front of that ship.”

Jillian moved toward the exit, “What do you think is going to happen if you hit our trail with positive gravity?”

‘I’m not sure, but it should have some kind of effect. We’ll try negative gravity if the positive doesn’t do anything. We need to find a way to erase our trail.”

Jillian nodded and left the bridge. Chris used the thrusters and backed the Cheops up to the blown away bridge on the silver ship. “Jillian, what do I need to do?”

“Nothing, you’re fine. I’m aligning the air compressor with the opening and lubricating the spool for the cable. Just hold it right here.” Jillian inserted the tri-hook into the chamber and attached the cable coming out of the chamber’s wall. The clip snapped into place and Jillian closed the chamber. She looked out of the viewport and saw they were very close to the damaged ship. The compression chamber appeared lined up on the bridge of the damaged ship.

She turned the firing knob two clicks right and pulled it out, “I’m firing the cable.” She pushed the knob in, and the cable and tri-hook shot out of the chamber and entered the other ship’s bridge. Jillian put the chamber on safe, then pulled the retract lever. She watched as the cable began winding into the chamber and the loops being pulled out. The cable finally tightened, and the Cheops started moving toward the damaged ship. Jillian immediately fired the gravity beam at other ship and it remained stationary as the Cheops moved in on it.

“Chris, ease us forward.”

The cable had developed slack as the Cheops moved toward the damaged ship but as Chris used the thrusters, the Cheops moved slowly away and the cable went taut. Then the other ship turned and followed the Cheops as it moved away. Jillian adjusted the gravity beam from weightless to slightly negative. The small positive gravity pushed the damaged ship away from the Cheops and kept the cable tight. Jillian shook her head at the ship that moved as easily as a small rubber ball. Chris announced over the PA, “I’m aligning the ship on the star we used to view Earth. I want you to extend the bottom control arm and spray the trail behind us with positive gravity.”

Jillian hit the announce button and said, “Why positive?”

“I’m hoping it will cause the trail to collapse in on itself. Obviously, how gravity works in this space is a mystery, but I think it’s worth the risk to see.”

“Let me know when we’re leaving.”

Christopher dropped the ship into Sierra Space and hit the intercom, “Starting our move now.”

Jillian extended the control arm below the ship being dragged behind the Cheops and fired the gravity beam. The trail that had started to form behind them seemed to whip madly in several directions and then fall apart. “It’s working, Chris! The trail is being erased!”

Chris heard Jillian and sighed. Good, now he had to find a way back home. There was no way they could find the trail from Earth that had taken them to the site of the battle. He worried that his scanner would not find the way back home. He sighed and then remembered that he had taken a scan of their solar system when they were in Sierra Space. He pulled up the scan in his computer and saw the frequency he had recorded. He extended his scan fields and set the frequency to match. He closed his eyes and pushed the button. His display beeped and a small black ball appeared off to the left of the Cheops. Chris couldn’t believe it. The frequencies matched. Surely it wasn’t going to be this easy. “Jillian, will you come to the bridge for a moment?” He stopped the forward motion of the Cheops and waited for Jillian.

She came running in the door, “What’s wrong?”

Chris explained what he had done and she looked at the small black ball off to the left of the ship. “Can that be our solar system?”

Chris tilted his head and nodded toward the dot on the display, “You remember that all the planets, moons, sun, and everything else was in that black mass outside our ship. I took a frequency reading of that mass and that object on the display matches that frequency. I just don’t see any other solar system matching that frequency.”

Jillian thought and suggested, “Why don’t you just scan and see how many different frequencies you can find, and see if any of them match?”

Chris leaned back, “Great idea. I should have thought of that.” He removed the frequency and scanned again. Frequencies began filling the display and began running off the screen. “We’re at a million and still counting.”

“Stop and see if any of them match.”

“Let’s get several million. It won’t take much longer.” After ten minutes Chris froze the scan and typed in a query. After fifteen minutes the computer printed on the screen, “No Matches.”

Chris reentered the frequency and said, “That’s got to be home. I’m taking manual control and fly us there.”

Jillian went to her chair, “What happens if it’s not?”

“We go looking for light from Earth. It may take quite a while to find it, since we won’t know where it is.”

Jillian shook her head and said, “Just do it. I don’t want to think about it.”

Chris took the steering wheel, turned the ship hard left, and aligned the nose on the black dot in the display. He pushed the speed control forward and the Cheops, followed by the damaged ship, began moving rapidly forward. Chris steered around the black places in Sierra Space, but kept his direction toward the designated frequency. Jillian looked out of the viewport and said, “I notice that the black places are much more numerous off to the starboard side.”

“That makes sense if you think about it. The center of the galaxy is overcrowded with stars. I suspect that is the direction of the galactic core. Remember, we left on a path toward empty space.”

Jillian sat back and watched as Chris flew the Cheops. The black places were starting to increase in number, but Chris maintained speed and moved smoothly between them. After two hours the black space they were flying toward grew larger. Chris saw it directly ahead, slowed the Cheops, and then stopped.

“What are you doing?”

“Remember, there is probably a Moet scanner above the solar system’s plane. I want to exit Sierra Space under the sun and I’m trying to determine where that would be.”

“Scan that black ball and see if any details are visible.”

Chris scanned the ball, and then increased the power. Suddenly he saw the solar system in miniature. He saw the planets moving counter clockwise and he brought Earth into a tighter focus and saw the small icecap, “We’re on the wrong side; we’re looking down on the North Pole. We need to go around it.” Chris moved the ships around, scanned again, and saw the much larger continent of Antarctica, “Are you ready?”

“What exactly is your plan?”

“I was foolish taking the Cheops into Sierra Space with only the Earth blocking our jump. I’m going to jump directly below the sun and move into normal space there. I don’t care how good the Moet are, I don’t believe they can scan through a star. Once we arrive in normal space, I’m contacting Dolly to find us a place to take this ship on the Southern Hemisphere.”

“Won’t they be able to see you take the ship to Earth?”

“I’m going to hit our thrusters and arrive at Earth in less than seven minutes. I believe we’ll be traveling too fast to be seen as anything more than a light wave. We’ll come to an immediate stop when we arrive under the planet. I need you to use the gravity gun to make sure that ship stays pushed away from us when we stop.”

Jillian grabbed the arms of her chair and nodded. “Chris pushed the jump control and the Cheops emerged into normal space. They looked at their display and Chris saw Earth off to the right of the sun. “We’re home.”

Jillian jumped up and came into his arms and hugged him tight. He held her and felt her adrenaline causing her to shake. “You and your wonderful invention. You should be the Nobel Winner.”

“I did ok, Jill. I ended up being with you. That’s a much bigger prize.”

Jillian smiled and kissed him. The PA system started blaring, “Hey, you two! What are you doing back?”

Jillian smiled and yelled, “We brought you a present to work on. We need a facility big enough to hold it on the Southern Hemisphere.”

“What is it?”

Chris smiled, “Well, Dolly. We have a ship that was damaged in a battle against a Moet ship. I don’t know how many ships were involved in the fight, but the Moet was destroyed. The ship is 2,800 feet long.

“Stand by.” Chris waited and Dolly came back on, “Bring it to the space port in Sydney. There’s a military building on the north side of the port. We’ll have the lid open for you.”

“You’re probably going to need something to pull it down.”

“Already handled, you just get it over the opening. And welcome back, I was worried about you. I’m immediately moving the command team to Sydney to start work on that ship. We’ll meet you there on your arrival.

“We need to see you as quickly as possible, and you might want to bring Arnold with you.” Dolly looked out of her monitor saying nothing. “I know how they’re going to hit us, Dolly.”

Her eyes narrowed and she said, “We’ll meet you in Sydney.”

“She’s looking a lot more serious than I remember, Chris.”

“I know she’s taking her work seriously, and time is getting short. I hope she’s up to handling the pressure.”

“Why would you say that?”

“I’ll explain later. Help me get the ship moving toward Earth. Go to the rear and keep that ship from hitting us when we stop.”

Jillian smiled, “You need not worry. I’m a scientist.”

Chris smiled at Jillian for a moment and then started shaking his head, “You are so right. Hold on, we’re going home.” Chris grabbed the steering wheel and turned the thrusters up to ten percent. The Earth was getting visibly larger and in less than nine minutes they were flying over Australia. Chris turned the nose toward the ground and slowly entered the upper levels of the atmosphere. The ship dropped slowly, and after two hours it was a mile above the Sydney Spaceport. “Jillian, you might want to go put some slack in the cable once the ship is taken down.”

Jillian’s eyes got wide and she jumped up running from the bridge. Chris watched a strange looking craft emerge from the huge building below them and move to the top of the captured ship. It extended four legs that attached to the ship’s hull, then it began pushing the ship down. Chris didn’t see any kind of thrusters on it, but it moved smoothly and had the ship in the facility quickly. Chris noticed that Jillian had released the cable. It fell with the ship. Chris hit the communications board, “Sydney Control Tower, we need a place to put down.”

“Roger that Cheops, you may put down next to the facility you are currently hovering over. You will be contacted shortly. Welcome home.”

“Thanks, it’s good to be back.” Chris moved the ship over using the horizontal thrusters, and then lowered it to the ground as he added weight. The four landing gears lowered, and the Cheops settled down. Chris shut down the engines, leaned back in his chair, took a deep breath, and smiled, “I got you back.”

Jillian ran and jumped in his lap, “Yes, you did! Here’s how I say thank you.” They were still kissing when Dolly arrived later.

Chapter Eight

The Moet Watcher completed the data download and saw that the cruiser had been punctured multiple times by energy beams that were incredibly hot. As it analyzed the data, the secondary brain broke away and looked at the video of the ships involved in the fight. It saw that two of them were killed. It also saw the cruiser was floating in three parts. It stopped a moment and sent a message to the primary brain, “What is going to happen to our ship that was destroyed? Are we going to just leave it there?”

The Watcher’s primary brain heard the question and considered it. Then it felt fear. One of their ships was available to be studied by the enemy. The Watcher hit the alarm on his panel and directed eight ships to the site of the battle. He waited, hoping for the best. It would not be a good thing to have their technology available for the enemy to study. He should have thought about this when the follow-up ships arrived but he didn’t have any experience to guide him. No Moet ship had ever been destroyed during his long lifetime. Both brains merged and the Watcher stared at his display. He knew he could lose his life over this incident. Finally the display activated and he saw the three pieces of the dead ship were still there. But where was the larger of the two destroyed enemies? One of the enemies’ ships was missing.

“Scan for the missing ship. Look for a trail.”

“Watcher, the space has been greatly disturbed.”

“Then go completely around the disturbance and find a trail leaving it.”

“That could take an extended time.”

“You will do it until you are needed elsewhere.”

“I will do as you direct.”

The Watcher thought about why someone would take an enemy ship and not one of the sections of their destroyed ship. The missing ship was actually larger than any of the three sections. Something wasn’t right. He checked his board and called in eight more ships to scan for a trail. He also directed them to destroy the three sections before they started their search. He reluctantly went back to his boards, but he kept his secondary brain focused on the site. He remembered the last time he felt this nervous and it wasn’t a good memory.

The five people sitting around the conference table were silent. Chris and Jillian had filled them in on all that had happened and Dolly, Jeff, and Arnold were digesting what they heard. Finally Arnold said, “So you were followed.”

Chris nodded, “That’s the only thing that makes sense. There must be continuous war between the Moet and the group the Sheera is a part of. Not only were we followed, but that Moet was also followed and attacked. Without that intervention, the Moet would have followed our trail to our location. We were lucky.”

“Do you think they will follow you here?”

“No, Father. We discovered that if we fire a beam of positive gravity behind the ship, it collapses the trail left in Sierra Space.”

Dolly looked up, “Sierra Space?”

Jillian and Chris smiled, “We decided to name it after someone famous.”

Jeff smiled and said, “Do tell.”

Dolly hit him on the arm and said, “Hey, a little respect for your boss.”

Jeff saluted and started snickering. Chris couldn’t stop himself and joined in. Dolly leaned back and said, “Well, thank you. I’m curious about the man that appears to be the one that built the Great Pyramid still being alive.”

Dolly turned to Jeff, “Do you think you can assign a team of Alpha’s to find him? We have a picture that might help.” Jeff nodded and left the room. Dolly watched him leave and said, “Whoever it is, they’re as good as caught. Those Alphas are tenacious.”

Chris looked at Dolly, “What’s got you bothered?”

Dolly sighed and shook her head, “I haven’t come up with a good weapon to use against the participants in this war.”

“Why do you say participants?”

“Why are the Moet attacking us? It’s because they see us as allies of the Jenze initially and the Sheera later. Besides, do we really know what the purpose of the Great Pyramid really was? Until we make that determination, we need to stay out of this conflict if we can, but it’s not easy to do that when you’re standing in the middle of a gunfight and all you’re holding is a small stick.” Dolly looked at her computer pad and said, “They just found the asteroid coming our way.” Everyone sat up straighter and looked at each other. “Hemon was right.”

Arnold asked, “Who’s Hemon?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Hemon is the Greek name for Hemiunu. He said they were going to destroy the planet this time, and it looks like he had it right. The asteroid coming our way is a three hundred mile wide rock traveling at 90,000 miles per hour. If it hits, it will probably break the planet apart. Even if the planet survives the impact, nothing bigger than bacteria will be left alive.”

“How long until it arrives?”

“If its approach speed doesn’t change, it should hit in two years, six months, Jillian.”

“Why don’t we go out and divert it with the Cheops?”

“Chris, put yourself in the place of the Moet. They are watching this projectile with a scanner. If we go out and attempt to stop it, they will immediately jump in ships to stop us. They will then accelerate the comet and follow it in. Before we go making the attempt, I would like to have some form of defensive and offensive weapons to use against them. Right now we have nothing.”

Chris tilted his head and nodded at the display on the wall, “We have a ship that took part in killing one of their ships.”

“How many ships did it take?” Chris shrugged and shook his head. “If it was a hundred ships to just kill one of theirs, we aren’t even close to being in the ballgame.” Dolly looked at the display and said, “But you’re right. We know that the weapons on that ship are effective. If we can make them a hundred times stronger, then we only need one ship.”

Arnold looked at her, “Can we do that?”

“I don’t know. We’re just beginning to open the technology of that ship and it will tell us how far behind we are in this game. We’ll set a deadline of two years before we go and intercept that asteroid. What are you two going to do?”

Jillian looked up at the display and turned back, “We are going to Puma Punku to see if the builder there tried to leave a message. Then we are going to go and see the Jenze ship that was destroyed on our planet.”

Dolly stared at Jillian and then looked at Chris, “That’s more than 65 million years ago. You’ll have to leave our galaxy to find that light.”

Chris looked at Jillian and shrugged.

Dolly looked at Jillian and stared at her. “So you’re going to try it?”

Jillian jerked in surprise and looked quickly at Chris. She looked back at Dolly and nodded.

Chris looked at Jillian, then at Dolly, “Try what?”

Dolly stared at Jillian for a moment, then turned to Chris, “She intends to go and bring us back one of the Jenze ships or weapons.”

“What?!?”

“Chris, I think she can do it. Whether she should is another issue all together. Didn’t you read her paper that won her the Nobel Prize?”

Chris was staring at Jillian and saw her guilty expression, “Yes, but I didn’t really understand what she was saying.”

Dolly saw Jillian’s expression and said, “He should know what you’re doing. He’s risking his life and he has the right to know. If you aren’t going to tell him, I am.” Dolly looked at Chris and said, “Your device needed a stardrive in order for it to work. Jillian’s invention needed your invention in order for it to work”

Chris looked at Jillian and said, “What does your invention do?”

Jillian sighed and said, “It will allow the Ninja to travel back in time.”

Chris was silent, “So the pyramid wasn’t what you were looking for. You were looking for the site of the Jenze ship?”

Jillian took a deep breath and nodded.

Chris leaned back and said, “Jillian, the Jenze are not going to allow you to just walk up, knock on their door, and take their ship. I’m certain that ship has defenses that will prevent you from getting close. There is also the problem of an asteroid hitting that ship and destroying it along with every animal on the planet larger than forty pounds. I’m going to make a guess here and suggest that maybe the Jenze were unable to move it for some unknown reason, but you’ll be going into an area that is going to be obliterated. You are also looking at a time when there was T-Rex in abundance along with a variety of carnivores that were the deadliest animals in our planet’s history. You can’t do this!”

Jillian looked at Chris and said, “I won’t if you come up with a weapon to defend ourselves before that comet hits. Can you do that?”

Chris stared at her and shook his head.

“I have to do this, Chris. If you won’t go, I’ll do it alone.”

Chris started shaking his head, “You know you could never find what you need without my help. That threat holds no water.”

Jillian came over, knelt beside his chair, and looked into his deep set green eyes, “Chris, if we don’t exhaust every possible means of defending our planet, all of the Tutors, the children in the center, and every other life form are going to die. We have to try.”

Chris knew he couldn’t stop her. She would make the effort without him if he forced the issue. She stared at him and saw that he knew her desperation. “Have you considered the possible effects of going back and changing what happens in our current timeline? If you take that Jenze ship causing that energy signature to not be left behind for those Sheera to discover….”

“I know, I know. Everything changes.”

“Jillian, our world as we know it will cease to exist. We may not even be in it. This is something that is too dangerous to even consider.”

“I know I can’t take the ship, but I may be able to steal something that would help us. If we don’t see a way to do it safely, we won’t try. But we must go and see.”

Dolly looked at them shaking her head, “I don’t like the idea, but nothing near that ship will have any impact on future events. Everything around it for three thousand miles is going to be burned. That comet strike caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, and it was only nine miles wide. The current comet is three hundred miles wide and traveling nearly twice as fast. It’s still your call, but I felt you should know.”

Chris looked at Jillian, “When were you planning to tell me?”

Jillian looked at the floor, “At the last moment. I know you would try to stop me from doing anything dangerous.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because you love me.” Chris took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. Jillian took his hands and said, “And I love you, too.”

Chris looked up at the ceiling, sighed heavily, and stared at Jillian. Finally he said, “Then I have no choice but to go with you. It’s the only way I can do everything possible to make sure you survive the attempt.” Jillian leaned forward and hugged his neck and she felt her relief.

Dolly looked at them and felt sorrow. Their chances weren’t good. Love chooses such funny times to find life.

L’grae sat in front of the Leaders of the Alliance. They had viewed his recording of the action and were talking among themselves. Tenah looked over at L’grae and said, “How many ships have we been able to arm with this new beam?”

“We have fifteen ready.”

“We need to make sure it’s effective. We need to hit them again.”

Pject leaned forward and said, “I’m sure some of their ships are still at the site of the attack.”

Tenah looked at Lgrae and waited. L’grae said, “We had six-to-one odds, and still lost two ships. If they have more than three ships, we may not be successful.”

Pject asked, “How far away were you when you opened fire?”

L’grae was nervous, but answered truthfully, “Twenty five kens.”

“So if you rushed in to five kens, your beams could be focused much hotter.”

L’grae could do nothing but nod.

Tenah looked at L’grae, then at the other leaders who were nodding, “Take those ships and set up an ambush. I want confirmation these new beams will work.”

L’grae stood, bowed to the ten beings, and left the room. This was not good. Surprise was on his side before, but this time the Moet would be ready. He shook his head; this was not good.

Tenah looked at Pject, “Keep me informed of what happens here.”

Pject lowered his head, “I will.”

Hemon stepped out of his home and started walking up the street. He saw Sasha working in her yard next door and nodded to her. She smiled at him and waved as he moved further up the street. She was so beautiful and had the most wonderful smile. He shook his head and thought about having to move again. Sasha was starting make moves to become a part of his life and he knew he had to avoid any possible relationships. She was just such a nice person….and beautiful.

He looked up at the clear sky and decided that today he was not going to give in to worry. He needed some bread and it was a beautiful day in Giza. He thought about all the places he had chosen to live over the centuries but had always returned to the place of his birth. So many things had changed over the thousands of years and some days he missed the ancient way of life. But not today, He looked up at the sky again and wondered how many days were left. Ooops, There I go worrying again.

He stopped at a street vendor and noticed someone behind him ducking behind a building. His internal alarms went off. He talked with the vendor and casually looked around. After five thousand years his senses were tuned to anything out of the ordinary, and he immediately noticed that there weren’t as many people in the market as there normally were at this time of day. Something was happening. He turned to look around for an escape route and Jeff shot him with a stunner. Hemon hit the pavement and Jeff stepped out of the booth. His dark skin helped him fool Hemon into thinking he was a local. He realized that Hemon had sensed he was being followed. Now, let’s get him to Sydney and have him meet Dolly. Jeff looked down at Hemon and wondered at all he had seen. He looked forward to meeting him. He looked up and saw the carrier coming down as two Alphas grabbed Hemon, lifted him, and moved him toward the carrier. Jeff started to join them but saw a pretty Egyptian woman charging the two Alphas holding Hemon.

Hemon opened his eyes and saw the lights in the ceiling. That vendor had stunned him. Whoever had set up his capture was good. “Are you feeling all right?”

Hemon looked to his right and saw a man in a white jacket. “Yes, I think so. How did you find me?”

“Why don’t you sit up and get your bearings. You’re scheduled for a meeting, and I want to make sure you’re ok.”

Hemon sat up and looked around. “I wasn’t ignoring you, by the way. A couple of our group saw you hiding behind the heavy lifter in Giza and matched your face up with the builder of the Pyramid.”

Hemon frowned, “Why didn’t they arrest me two years ago?”

“They only saw you five days ago.”

“How did they get a picture of the Pyramid’s builder?”

“They also got that picture five days ago.”

Hemon stared at Ben and didn’t say anything. Ben smiled and said, “We looked at the light that left Earth two years ago and saw you. We then looked at the light from five thousand years ago and also saw you. That’s what allowed us to find you.”

Hemon smiled, “Well, it’s been a nice run.”

“You don’t need to worry. My superiors tell me that they want to talk with you and then you will be free to go. If you choose not to meet with them, I will take you back home now.”

Hemon stared at him and finally said, “You’re serious?”

“Absolutely. It’s because of you and that tablet you carved that we have a chance against the Moet, although it’s not a great chance at this point. We’re indebted for what you’ve done.”

Hemon stood and said, “So I’m free to go?”

“If that’s what you want.”

“Then take me home.”

Ben raised his communicator and said, “Lieutenant Johansen, please come and take our guest home.”

The door opened and a young Special Forces Officer came in, “If you’ll follow me, Sir.”

Hemon looked at Ben, “Where did this couple see that light?”

Ben smiled, “Five thousand light years away. While they were there, they found a Moet ship that was following them destroyed. We have one of the ships that were involved in its destruction. You might also be interested in knowing that we are planning to go back in time and hijack a Jenze ship. Please enjoy your life.”

Hemon looked at the young officer and said, “Never mind.” The Lieutenant saluted Ben and left the room. “When am I going to have this meeting?”

Ben looked at his watch and said, “Well, the ones you’re meeting with are currently dancing. I’ll take you there and you can talk with them when they finish.”

Hemon smiled, “You’re serious?”

“Follow me.” Hemon followed Ben out of the room.

They arrived in a huge hangar and found music wafting across the building. “Well, they’ve already started.”

“Started what?”

“Why dancing, of course. As they moved closer Hemon saw his tablet standing in the center of the room with searchlights shining on it. Then he heard Ben say, “We’ve also brought you a dance partner so you can join in.”

Hemon looked at Ben with a deeply furrowed brow; then he saw Sasha stand and come toward him. Hemon stopped and his mouth fell open. Sasha was wearing a black dress that was gorgeous and her hair was hanging to her waist in curls. She was stunning.

“Hello, Hemon.”

He looked at her and said, “You’re beautiful. How did your Father ever allow you to come here?”

“I asked if I could come and they paid him fifty thousand dollars. He wants me to come more often.”

Hemon shook his head, “Why would you want to come here?”

Sasha lowered her head, “Because you were here.” She walked forward and took his hand, then led him to the dance floor and put her arms around his neck. Hemon heard a slow song and started dancing with her. He saw two young couples dancing and he joined them, moving to the music. This was just not what he expected. He knew he should run but as Sasha held him tighter, he closed his eyes and lost himself in the moment. They danced and danced.

After what seemed like a few moments the lights in the building illuminated. Hemon raised his head and Sasha took her arms from around his neck and wrapped them around his chest. He looked down and saw she still had her eyes closed, “I think it’s over, Sasha.”

“I don’t want this moment to ever end. I’ve dreamed of this for so long.” He stared at her and she continued, “I’ve loved you for so long, Hemon.”

Hemon looked at her and softly said, “This is the fastest time has ever moved for me. Thank you, but we can’t do this.”

“No, I can do this. You mean you can’t do this.”

Hemon looked at her and took a quick breath and exhaled quickly, “No, we can’t do this. I won’t allow you to be put in danger.”

A beautiful young woman with blonde hair walked up and said, “We finally meet. You are so much like I thought you’d be.”

Sasha released him and turned with him to face her. Hemon looked at the blonde woman’s dance partner and recognized him as the one who stunned him. Jeff smiled and said, “I’m sorry about stunning you, Hemon.”

He looked at Sasha and smiled, “If it meant I could dance with Sasha for one more moment, you can stun me as many times as you want.” Sasha turned and hugged him again. “

“Why did you bring her here? It’s not safe for her to be with me.”

The blonde said, “She followed you to the market and we had to stop her from coming to your defense. It became clear rather quickly that she has feelings for you. We told her she could come and make sure we treated you well. Let me introduce everyone. My name is Dolly Sierra and my partner is Jeff Garcia.” Hemon shook their hands, and then Dolly said, “This is Christopher Connor and Jillian Gordon...”

Hemon interrupted, “Ah, Nobel Prize winners.”

Chris said, “I didn’t win.”

“You should have.”

Dolly continued, “It was Dr. Connor’s invention that allowed us to discover you were still alive. We were hoping you would talk with us.”

Hemon looked down at Sasha, “How much do you know?”

Sasha shook her head, “They have told me nothing.”

Hemon stared at her for a long moment and decided, “Sasha, I’m old enough to be your great grandfather.”

“I don’t care if you’re older than the Pyramid. I know what a good person you are.”

“What if I told you I was older than the Pyramid?”

Sasha stared at him and smiled, “You can’t buy experience, and it only makes you more attractive. You can teach me.”

“I’m being serious.”

“So am I.”

Jillian looked at Dolly and said, “Hemon, we can talk in the morning. If you would like some time with Sasha, we’ll just leave you to have your discussion.” Hemon started to say something, but the black haired woman continued, “It’s obvious she loves you. She deserves to know everything if you truly care about her.”

Hemon stared at Jillian, then looked at Sasha staring at him. He took a deep breath and smiled, “We’ll see you in the morning.”

Jeff stepped forward and said, “Follow me to the cafeteria, you can have a bite to eat, and then I’ll show you where you’re staying.” Hemon and Sasha turned to follow him, and Sasha took Hemon’s hand.

L’grae had his fleet positioned in green space watching the Moet ships jumping in and out of the cloud his ships had created at the battle. He knew they were looking for a trail to follow. There were at least twelve Moet ships searching, and he knew his fleet had no chance against that many. How to improve his odds? He continued to watch and waited. Surely one of them would go out alone. But how long would it take? He watched and waited.

The Watcher saw that he was not going to be able to keep the ships searching for a trail at their task much longer. His secondary brain thought about it and then made a suggestion to the primary. The primary brain mulled it over and said, “Put it in motion.”

L’grae continued to watch, and then saw something happening. Two ships emerged into normal space, as the other ten Moet ships went in ten different directions from the center of the green swirling cloud. The cloud was far over the head of his fleet and he watched as the Moet ships fanned out. There are two in normal space. He used his lights to signal the other fourteen ships and divided them into two groups. He watched them organize and them the fleet began moving upward toward the two ships being held in reserve to support any ship that found a target. L’grae set the closest ship for his squadron and watched as they approached the location where the Moet ships had entered normal space.

L’grae said, “Start the countdown.”

Ten lights on his hull started going out one at a time until the last one disappeared. The fifteen ships emerged into normal space and L’grae’s ships were less than four kens from the Moet battleship. All eight ships fired simultaneously. It appeared nothing was happening for a moment, but then eight beams penetrated the huge ship’s force field and it exploded violently. The second Moet battleship had a few moments more and it saw the ships coming. It turned its heavy beams on the seven rushing toward it. This was not a cruiser and it targeted each of the seven ships with ten beam projectors. All seven ships exploded more than ten kens from the giant grey vessel. The Moet turned and started moving toward L’grae’s squadron and he ordered, “Jump and scatter now!”

The eight ships disappeared as seventy beams ripped through the space they had just occupied. The eight ships entered green space and crisscrossed each other’s paths twice before they fled. The crisscrossing caused a huge green cloud as the eight ships ran. The Moet sent a distress call and the Watcher turned his full attention to the attack. He slammed one of his six arms on the console and ordered twenty more ships to assist in the chase. He notified the Masters what had happened, and fifty more ships were sent to the scene.

L’grae knew that he had to make a fast exit and headed straight toward a huge black ball. As he drew closer he saw the trail behind him was being pushed away in another direction by the gravity of the ball. “Exit now.”

His ship emerged in a solar system with a giant star. He flew in and landed on a small asteroid that was on a parabolic orbit moving away from the sun toward the outer solar system. He turned off his systems and left only his passive scanners active. He waited, knowing what was coming. It was just a matter of time until they showed up. His crew knew to keep all systems ready for instant power. They waited and listened, hoping that luck was on their side. L’grae was glad he had his ships scout out a place to hide before the attack. He hoped that his squadron would survive. He turned to his navigator, “Do you have the other hiding location locked on your board?”

The navigator nervously nodded, and kept his hand on the jump control. L’grae hoped it wouldn’t be needed.

The Watcher was furious, and he recalled the three ships assigned to escort a comet into a primitive system back to assist the chase. The danger to the Dynasty took precedence over defensive actions.

Hemon and Sasha walked into the building the next morning holding hands. Sasha was blushing and smiling. Christopher watched them approach and smiled. He glanced at Jillian and saw her smiling as well. Dolly stood, “Good morning! I hope you had a restful evening.”

Hemon slowly shook his head, “Not really, I tried to tell her I’m too old for her, but she won’t take no for an answer.” Hemon looked at her and smiled, “I’m glad she didn’t.” Hemon looked at Dolly, Chris, and Jillian, “I think you brought me here to assist you in your plans against the Moet. I will agree to help you on one condition.” Dolly looked at Chris and raised her eyebrows. “You must persuade her father to allow her to marry me. If you can do that, I’ll help you.”

Dolly looked to her right and Jeff stepped up to the table, “Do you think you can make that happen?”

“I’ll just tell him that a very rich man wants her as a wife.”

Hemon looked at Jeff, “That’s not true. I am not a wealthy man.”

Dolly looked back and said, “You are now. You’ve just been given ten million dollars to plan your wedding. If you need more, let me know.”

Hemon and Sasha stared at Dolly, “Are you serious?”

“Yes, I am. I need you to give us your complete loyalty and attention on this effort. I think you will help us immensely.” Dolly turned back to Jeff, “Give her father three hundred thousand to prepare his family, and anyone else he cares to bring, for travel to Sydney.”

“Better make it five hundred thousand.”

Dolly shook her head, “Make it an even million. Use my account to pay for it.” She looked at Hemon and Sasha, “You can use the ten million for the wedding.”

Jeff laughed and turned to leave.

Hemon looked at Sasha and saw her amazement. He smiled and said, “Ok, what is it you want to know?”

Jillian looked across the table at Hemon, “We have been discussing the best way to handle the Moet threat and we’re considering going to the planets that are fighting them for help.”

“You’re talking about approaching the Sheera or their allies?”

“Yes. We’re also going to go to the other construction site in Bolivia at Puma Punku and see if the one trained by the Sheera there left something for us like you did.”

Hemon smirked, “I don’t think you’ll find anything there and I wouldn’t count on the Sheera or their allies for help.”

Jillian looked at Chris and Dolly then said, “Why not?”

Hemon took a deep breath and shook his head, “I chose not to mention this on the tablet because I didn’t know if the Sheera would ever return. It’s also the reason I’ve always refused to have a relationship with anyone since they left.” He looked at Sasha and then turned to Jillian, “The night the Sheera left, I managed to take two gravity guns. You have one of them. I left their ship and went to my tent to hide them, but found my younger brother in the tent sleeping. I made him leave the construction activities in the afternoon complaining of a very upset stomach. He was really sick and I didn’t want to wake him, so I went and slept in his tent.

The Sheera had left during the late afternoon in one of their small runabouts to gather their cutting tools from the quarry. Later that evening they returned to load them on board their ship. I snuck outside my tent to see what they were doing; I stayed on the ground so they wouldn’t see me. Just before they lifted, Yelt left their ship and came over and stood outside my tent, raised a hand weapon, and fired a bright beam at my brother thinking it was me. My brother and the tent burst into a very hot blue flame, and in less than ten seconds nothing was left but a scorched place on the sand. Yelt entered his ship and they left. I don’t know for certain, but I suspect the other assistant at Puma Punku wasn’t as lucky as I was.”

No one said anything while they considered what Hemon said.

“I was initially outraged at what they did. Later, I thought about what happened and there are several things that really bothered me. First, why did they take the time to go retrieve the cutting tools if they had to rush to escape the Moet? Second, why would they kill the ones that they trained? Third, just what was the Pyramid really intended to do?”

Dolly leaned forward in her chair, “They didn’t want us to advance too quickly.”

Hemon tilted his head and gave Dolly a salute, “That’s how I see it, and that doesn’t make sense if they were there to protect us. I’m not at all sure just who the bad guys are here. Both parties have demonstrated a total disregard for our survival.”

Christopher scratched his chin and said, “So you don’t think we can receive help from either one? We’re alone on this one?”

“How could you see it any other way? If they did help us, what would the price be? The Sheera must have had an agenda that they didn’t share. I now suspect that so called screen would have made our planet a prison.”

Jillian turned her head and looked out the window for a moment, then said, “Why did you wait so long before you made your tablet known?”

“I kept hoping that humanity would give up its warlike ways. How can I give that kind of technology to a nation that would then conquer the planet? It was after the last nuclear exchange when the world formed a government, that I felt safe enough to reveal it. Even then I’ve been worried, but time is short. I decided it was now or never.”

Dolly looked at Chris and Jillian and they nodded, “Come with me, Hemon. I want to show you something.” Dolly stood, and the group followed her out of the building and boarded a transport. She lifted and flew across the Sydney spaceport, landing next to a giant steel building. Hemon could hear the construction noise coming from inside more than a hundred yards away. He followed Dolly through a heavily guarded door and entered a giant room. He looked across the room and saw a huge starship. He stopped and immediately saw the front third of it was burned away. He looked at Dolly, “This is not a Moet ship.”

“How do you know that?”

“Their ships are grey.”

“You’re right. This ship was killed in a battle where a Moet ship was also destroyed. We’ve been taking it apart and examining it for anything we can use in our defense.”

“What have you found?”

“If the Sheera are part of the Alliance that this ship comes from, they are not very smart.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because they have the gravity guns and this ship doesn’t use gravity to propel it. Their reactors are nowhere near as powerful as ours, and their force fields are a hundredth the power of what one would be using our reactors.”

Hemon smiled, “That explains them training an assistant. Someone had to tell humans how to use their tools.” Hemon turned to look at Dolly, “What about the weapons?”

“They have fifty high powered beams on that ship. It appears, according to Dr. Morrison, our Chief Engineer, that the beam could only fire for four seconds and then the ship would rotate and fire another set of beams. It was those beams that killed the Moet.”

“And?”

“We can power them fifty times stronger and for a full minute.”

“It still might not be enough.”

“Why do you say that?”

“You say this ship was killed. How many actually attacked?”

Dolly looked at Jillian and Chris, “Well, we don’t know. So you could be right.”

“I also suspect that the gravity guns were not developed by the Sheera. Nowhere in their transfer of information to me was any detail on their operation. I think they were discovered and used but they were never really analyzed to understand their operation.”

Jeff said, “They might be a Jenze artifact.”

Hemon nodded slowly, “You’re probably right. However, it appears to me that you have begun using this technology; am I right?”

“Yes, you are. It really wasn’t that difficult to discover its properties.”

“Then what does that say about the technological development of this so called Alliance. It appears they are functioning on technology they know nothing about. There must be a reason for that.”

Chris looked at Hemon, “They built that ship. They must know something.”

Hemon looked up at the giant silver ship and said, “When the Sheera showed me their technical information, I saw a combination of elements that would make a substance for a reactor. None of the elements were radioactive. They suggested that the substance had the possibility of being tremendously stronger, but they had not been able to find the elements or process needed to create it. I assume you used the eight elements that I carved on the tablet?”

“Is that the process they were referring to?”

“Yes, but like the Sheera, I have no idea what other elements would be needed, nor how to get them to combine. It would take someone much smarter than I am to even know where to start. It would necessitate the ability to actually visualize how the molecular pattern would combine.”

Dolly stared at the floor and didn’t say anything. Chris watched her and started shaking his head, “You’re not going to ask him, are you?” Jillian saw a sadness in Dolly that she had never seen before. She looked at Chris as he continued, “You will only hurt yourself. He can’t help us.”

Hemon looked between Dolly and Chris, “Who are you talking about?”

Dolly sighed heavily, “My brother, George.”

Jillian said, “Who?”

Dolly stood straighter, “My brother George is as much smarter than me than I am to a chimp.”

Chris shook his head, “But he lives in another world. His mind isn’t present.”

“That may be true, but if anyone on this planet can see the answer, it would have to be him.” Dolly turned to Hemon and smiled, “You and I are going to see him while Jillian and Chris oversee the arming of the Cheops.”

“The Cheops?”

“That’s the ship they used to see the light that told us about you.”

“I’ll go, but Sasha goes with me.”

Dolly smiled, “Great. Get some things together for a trip to the outback.”

“Dolly, don’t do this.”

“Chris, I’ll keep control. You take care of the Cheops.”

Dolly looked at Hemon and Sasha, “Come with me.”

Chris watched them leave and Jillian asked, “What’s so wrong with her going to see him?”

“George is so brilliant that his intellect has sucked his personality and consciousness into it. His body just acts independently of thought. He lives in a shack with a couple of red kangaroos.”

“What’s so dangerous about that?”

Chris turned and looked at Jillian, “Dolly is almost smart enough to lose herself in her own intellect. She’s close. Last time she visited George she almost lost herself. We can’t afford to lose her.”

“Do you think you can stop her?”

“No, but I know someone who can.” Chris hit his communicator, “Jeff, you need to get back here now.”

Chapter Nine

L’grae waited, and began hoping that the Moet had lost the trail. It had been two rotations since the destruction of the Moet Battleship and nothing had appeared on the passive scanners. His navigator looked up from his board, “How much longer are we going to stay?”

L’grae shrugged, “I don’t know, but we aren’t leaving today. They’re close.”

“How do you know?”

L’grae shook his head. Six hours later four Moet Main Battleships entered the system close to the star. The Navigator looked at L’grea, and he shook his head and shrugged. “I just felt it. Turn off all systems.”

“What about environmental?”

L’grae said, “All systems but one passive scanner!”

The Moet spread out and began scanning the system. The Ships Master watched his display, “Does anyone detect anything?”

After ten minutes the other three ships replied, “No. There is nothing on our scanners.”

The Ships Master leaned to the right in his command chair and put his chin on two of his hands. Where would I hide if I were here? He looked at his display and saw there were sixteen planets in the giant system. There were also more than two hundred moons around those planets. He thought about the problem and finally ordered, “We’ll take four planets each and begin our search. Make sure you scan the craters on the moons.” The huge ships moved out and began their search.

The Watcher was moving rapidly through the various groups of ships that were looking for the attackers. Two had been found and destroyed, but six were still missing. He checked in on the four ships after ten hours and asked, “Are you sure one of the attackers entered this system?”

The Ships Master turned one of his eyestalks to the communication panel, “No, I’m not certain.”

“Then why did you go there?”

“I’d come here if I were trying to hide.”

“Was there a trail leading to that system?”

“There was a trail not far away.”

“So you don’t even know if a ship is there?”

The Master shrugged, “It’s where I’d go to hide.”

“How long have you been searching?”

“Twelve dais.”

The Watcher was frustrated, “If you don’t find it in three more dais, look elsewhere.”

The Master stared at the Watcher who had never commanded a Ship of the Dynasty and felt his anger. “Is that a command?”

The Master saw the Watcher swell to twice his normal size. He knew he had pushed this one too far, and it was never a good thing to anger a member of the Royalty. He said quickly, “We’ll leave as soon as we scan the last four planets, which should be in two dais.”

The Watcher caught his anger and left the display. The plotter looked at the Ships Master, “We haven’t even started to look at all the asteroids and comets moving through this system.”

“How many are there?”

“More than ten thousand.”

The Ships Master knew that the attacker was probably hiding on one of those rocks. He should have started with them. Now that he thought about it; that is what he would have done. He would have expected the planets and moons to be scanned. Ten thousand scattered all over this huge system would take longer than scanning the planets. He shook his head, “Open a frequency that the attackers use.”

L’grae knew he didn’t have much longer. He was going to be forced to turn on the environmental controls in less than eight dais. Then he heard over the passive scanner, “You’re lucky this time. I am being forced to leave, but next time I will search until I find you. Your time to live is short.”

L’grae watched his display and the four Moet ships gathered and jumped out of the system. “Turn on environmental. If you detect a stardrive, shut it off immediately.” The fans could be heard in the ventilators, and the crew sucked in fresh atmosphere. Some had already lost consciousness, but recovered quickly. After a dais, L’grae said, “Shut them off.”

The systems operator shook his head, but did as ordered. Two dias later a Moet Battleship appeared and scanned the system. It stayed for a few more moments and then jumped away. “Leave them off.”

The system’s operator did as he was ordered.

Dolly landed her skimmer beside an old shack that was obviously in a poor, rundown condition. The shack was on top of a small rise in the outback, and was surrounded by scattered brush and sand. The wind blew dirt devils across the flat landscape that broke up on the brush, and started again after it passed. The dry season had sucked all the color out of the surrounding vegetation and the heat had dried the ground until only fine sand remained. All that was necessary to clear the land was a lightning strike. Dolly looked around and knew that if that happened the ensuing fire could be seen from space.

She walked to the front porch of the ramshackle cabin and saw nothing but the same dreary, hot, landscape for miles in all directions around the hill. The sun was high overhead, and the heat was starting to approach a hundred degrees. She knew that the shack was built above the level of most flashfloods and had been there for more than a hundred years. She jumped as she heard a sonic boom and looked up to see a military speeder zoom by overhead. She smiled; Chris had called in the Calvary. Hemon and Sasha saw the speeder and looked at Dolly. “Give him a minute, he’ll be back.” Dolly walked down to the small clearing at the foot of the hill.

The speeder came floating in overhead and landed next to Dolly’s. Jeff stepped out and walked over to stand next to Dolly. He looked up at the sun and shook his head, “Is it hot enough for you?”

“What are you doing here, Love?”

Jeff smiled, “Haven’t you heard that ninety percent of the world’s most poisonous snakes are in Australia? I’m your local snake charmer. I can see them with my scanners and we wouldn’t want to lose Hemon and Sasha.”

Dolly laughed, “Jeff, I was raised here.”

“Yeah, but big city life can spoil you and snakes are hard to see. Besides, Hemon and Sasha were raised elsewhere.”

“You’re here to stop me.”

“Dolly, no one can stop you when you make your mind up, least of all me. I’m here to support your effort.”

“Jeff, you can stop me if you say no. Chris was right in sending you; you are the only one who could.”

Jeff stared into her eyes and smiled, “You don’t know how much that means to me. Now I know you truly love me. However, I know you know the risk and I can see you feel it must be taken. I won’t stop you; just don’t lose yourself making the effort. Promise me that.”

“It won’t happen this time. Now I have a reason to stay.”

Jeff hugged her, “Well, what we do?”

“We sit down and wait for George.”

“Where is he?”

“He could be ten feet away and you wouldn’t see him.”

“I could scan for him.”

“Go ahead; you still won’t find him.”

“Why?”

“He doesn’t show up on scans.”

Jeff stared at her and saw she was serious. “How does that happen?”

“I have no idea, but we’ve tried before and they never work.”

Sasha asked, “Then how do we find him?”

“We don’t. He’ll find us; or his family will.”

Hemon said, “His family?”

“Yes, they’re two red kangaroos. Keep an eye out for them. If they show up, George won’t be far behind.”

“Maybe I can scan for the Roos?”

Dolly shook her head, “They don’t show up either.”

Jeff snorted, “Really!?!” And turned on his active scanners.

Dolly shook her head, “You’re just too caught up in the technological world, Jeff. You won’t be able to see him.”

He sat down in the shade of the shack, lowered his faceplate, and saw there weren’t any life forms larger than a lizard close by. He sat in the shade and listened while Dolly and Hemon talked about life in ancient Egypt. He wondered about how a human could not be seen on a scan. Maybe the previous scanner was defective. He reached in his backpack, pulled out an energy bar, and opened it. He started to take a bite and noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He slowly turned his head to the right and saw a large, red kangaroo staring at his meal. Jeff checked his scanner and nothing appeared on it. Jeff motioned the energy bar toward the kangaroo, and it leaned back on its back legs and rocked forward. Jeff offered a piece of it, and the Roo took it in its mouth and hopped away. Suddenly he felt a touch on his other shoulder and saw another red kangaroo. He said, “Oh, Dolly.”

Dolly turned around and saw the two large kangaroos. She stood up and walked out into the clearing in front of the cabin. She looked around, took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and lowered her head. She stood there motionless for ten minutes. Jeff started to worry about her getting heat stroke but suddenly an old man appeared next to her. Jeff saw nothing on his scanners. One moment there was nothing, and then he was there. Jeff worried. This was just not possible, but he saw it happen.

Dolly felt her brother close to her. She could hear him walking around her talking softly to himself. Nothing he said made any sense but, as she waited, she could feel his mind. There was a symmetry there that was perfect, and it was calling to her. She waited until he stopped talking. He continued to walk around her, saying nothing.

Dolly kept her eyes closed and began talking to him. She told him about the young man she had fallen in love with, and all that had happened in their developing relationship. She told him about her new friends Hemon and Sasha, and without opening her eyes pointed to them sitting in front of the cabin. She talked about the Sheera and Moet conflict and how Earth was in danger. She told him about the coming asteroid and how all life would be destroyed. George continued to walk around her saying nothing, just looking at the ground. She then told him about the elements Hemon discovered from the Sheera, how to make a reactor fuel, and the process used to make them react. She told him how the addition of other elements would make it more powerful. She spoke to him softly and told him she needed his help to find what elements were missing.

Hemon, Sasha, and Jeff watched the old man walking around Dolly with half open eyes and long dirty hair hanging to his waist. His beard was unkempt and his clothes were filthy. He was bent over slightly from an obvious back problem, and his gait was slow and deliberate. Finally Dolly said, “If we don’t find the answer we will all die. Mum, your kangaroos…” At that point Dolly paused, and then said, “and me.”

The old man stopped walking and continued to stare at the ground. Jeff thought he was just going to stay silent and unmoving. Then he lifted his head and looked at Hemon. Suddenly his eyes cleared and he said in a loud clear voice, “forty percent emeralds, ten percent cobalt, five percent seawater, all heated an additional two hundred degrees with each one added to the mix. Twenty six minutes later freeze it to minus 224 degrees.”

Hemon saw the old man lower his head and start walking into the brush, talking softly to himself. Dolly opened her eyes and watched as he left. Her tears were falling, and Jeff ran up and took her in his arms. The kangaroos joined the old man as the three of them moved away. After twenty steps, he turned around and Dolly saw the brother she loved so much look at her. His eyes cleared for a moment, and said, “I love you, Dolly.” Then his eyes clouded and he disappeared in the brush.

Dolly lowered her head on Jeff’s chest and began to cry in earnest. Jeff stroked her hair and held her close. “I love you, Dolly. I’ll always love you.”

Sasha looked at Hemon and said, “Did you get that?”

“Not all of it.”

“I did.”

Hemon looked at her, “You did?”

Sasha smiled, “I don’t forget what I hear. I just wonder how seawater is going to be added to a mixture that hot.”

Hemon smiled, “It’s probably the things in seawater that are needed. By using seawater, the correct proportion will be done properly. I suspect salt is the main ingredient.” They hugged, and they could hear Dolly cry for her lost brother.

Sasha saw him shaking his head, “What?”

“If what he said works, we have a chance.”

“What do you think about our new friends?”

“I’ve lived more than five thousand years, and I’ve not seen anyone like them.” Hemon then looked in Sasha’s eyes and added, “Or you.”

Sasha smiled and hugged him tightly.

L’grae stood in front of the Leaders and wanted to scream at them. They had challenged him for running from the Moet Main Battle ship, and then for hiding for more than six rotations. Finally he had enough. Tenah looked at him again and demanded, “Why did you run?”

L’grae looked him directly in his eye and said, “My squadron had jumped in less than five kens from the battleship we destroyed. The second squadron jumped in twelve kens from the second battleship. All seven ships in that squadron were vaporized before they could move inside ten kens. Their beams were not breaking through the Moet Ship’s force fields. We were twenty kens from the battleship and it was coming after us. There was no way for us to move inside five kens to do any damage before we were destroyed. If we had not escaped you would not have learned the effective range of the new beam on one of their main battleships. Perhaps you would like to go on our next mission and I’ll be glad to demonstrate what happened?”

Tenah’s anger was immediate. L’grae didn’t care, and Tenah saw he didn’t care. He knew he was not going to intimidate this Commander, so he sat down and stared at L’grae. “So what do we do with this information, Commander?”

L’grae expected to be executed for his bluntness, but he answered quickly, “We set traps for their ships. They’re looking for us; let them find us in numbers large enough to do damage.”

“How would you do that?”

“They have always followed our trails. We send single ships out and have them arrive where we have a fleet. The Moet will jump in at the point of our ships’ emergence and we will be in range to kill it.”

“What do you think they will do about this strategy?”

“There’s not much they can do. If they move past the point where the trail ends, even by a small distance, they will be light years away. They’ll be forced to come out where we’re waiting. I suspect they will eventually start using a much higher number of ships to follow our trails. When that happens, we change our plan. We’ll adapt to what they do.”

Pject said, “You should shoot him for his disrespect.”

Tenah looked at Pject and motioned for a warrior to come forward. L’grae knew his life was over. Tenah looked at the Warrior and said, “Take Pject outside and execute him.”

“What?!? What?!? Why? Why? Wait a moment!”

Tenah looked at Pject and scowled, “This officer comes up with a brilliant plan and you’re asking for us to eliminate one of our effective leaders.” He looked at the warrior and said, “Take this slug out and kill him.”

Pject was screaming as he was dragged out the door by the armored warrior. The ones in the room heard the abrupt end of his screaming by a blaster bolt.

Tenah turned to L’grae and said, “Where were we?”

L’grae said, “Planning attacks.”

“Oh yes. I’ll give you three hundred ships as soon as they are rearmed with the beam. Make good use of them or you’ll be talking with Pject about your next plan.”

L’grae bowed.

Jillian watched as the engineers tore the hull apart on the Cheops. She sighed and Chris looked at her, “What’s the matter?”

“We don’t have time for this. We need to go.”

“I’ve been meaning to talk with you about that. If the new information Dolly has from George works, why do we need to go?”

“Because it’s just a form of the technology that our adversaries are using. They aren’t dumb. It’s just a matter of time before they duplicate what we’ve done. We need something they can’t steal.”

“We should be much stronger than they are now.”

“And what happens when they attack with a million ships? Are we that strong?”

Chris was silent as he thought about that vision. “Well if that’s the case, then we need to take the time to update The Cheops.”

“Why?!?”

Chris took her by the shoulders and made her look at him. “Jillian, what would have happened if that Moet Ship that was following us had not been attacked?”

Jillian shivered. “We’d be dead.”

“Exactly. We have to arm the Cheops and build in a force field to give us time to escape. We are going to leave a very long trail behind us on this next trip.”

“I thought we could erase it.”

“No, we can make it difficult to follow when there are other trails around. This disturbance we’ll be making will be out in open space as we leave our galaxy, and that disturbance will be visible in Sierra Space when there are no other trails or solar systems. Jillian, to see the event you’re looking to view, we will have to go beyond some of the closer galaxies around the Milky Way. The Andromeda Galaxy is 2.4 million light years away. We’re going to have to travel more than thirty times that distance. We’re going further than M87, our cluster’s largest galaxy which is fifty five million light years away. This is not going to be easy.”

“Why?”

Chris looked up and then said, “Picture our galaxy as a clock. Our solar system is on the outer dial, about two thirds out from the center of the galaxy. Keep in mind that our galaxy revolves around its center and it takes about 250 million years to complete one revolution. Are you with me so far?” Jillian nodded. “So let’s say that when the event you’re looking to see happened; our planet was at the twelve o’clock position on the galaxy’s clock. Now 65 million years have passed. Where is Earth now located on the clock?”

Jillian saw it, “We’ve moved to three o’clock.”

Chris smiled, “Very good. It’s more like three fifteen. We’re now moved more than one fourth of the distance around the galaxy’s center. The light with the event in it left when our galaxy was at the 12 o’clock position. We have to go back around the outer edge of the Milky Way to the place where that light left and move away from there.”

“Chris, I should have known this.”

“Jillian, you’re right. However, this is not something easily understood. I have some friends of mine working on the problem.”

“Who?”

“The Members of the Nobel Prize Committee.”

“Why would they help you after what happened?”

“They learned the truth about what happened from that reporter’s article retracting her story. The member’s wife came forward and told them what I did and they respect that I took a hit to protect the Committee’s image. They’re thankful.”

Jillian hung her head, “I believed that story. I was such a thunk. Are they going to award you a Nobel Prize?”

“You’ve been talking to Dolly too much. You could never be a thunk.” Chris smiled, “They are going to announce in three months that I am the winner in Physics.”

Jillian screamed and hugged his neck, “Congratulations! You deserve it!” Then she shook her head, “You’re wrong; I can be a thunk and I was. Thank you for giving me time to see the truth. I believed that story.”

Chris smiled and nodded toward the Cheops, “We need to go see what kind of progress they’re making. You also need to choose.”

“Choose what?”

“One of us will have to fly the ship and the other will be responsible for its defense. One person cannot handle both.”

“You need to fly it. I’ll handle the weapons.”

“Fair enough. Let’s go tell Dr. Leven what we’ve decided so they can start working on our boards. Make sure that both boards can assume control of the other in the event one of us is not at their board. They also need to make one other addition.” Jillian tilted her head and Chris said, “We’ve got to add a self-destruct circuit. We can’t allow the Cheops to be captured by either side of this galactic conflict.” Jillian started shaking her head, “Jillian, you know I’m right.”

Jillian sighed deeply and forced a smile, “I know at some level you’re right. I just can’t get my arms around the possibility of losing you. Lead the way.” She took his hand in hers as they walked toward the now much larger ship.

Hemon watched the new material being placed in a reactor and the cooling container removed. He was troubled that Dolly’s brother made his suggestion going on what he heard without looking directly at the other elements being used. He just didn’t see how this material could possibly work, but as the temperature rose in the reactor the sensors started reporting nuclear fission. Hemon shook his head and then watched as the temperature needle rose past the former peak and continued to rise. Hemon stood up and was thankful this experiment was being done in open space. “Put the rods in now!!”

Four heavy lead rods were inserted in the reactor and the temperature continued to rise. “Add five more!” Finally the temperature slowed its inexorable climb. Hemon looked at the readings with Dolly and shook his head, “That reactor is a hundred times more powerful than the one that was used in the damaged Alliance Ship.”

Dolly had her computer out and was doing quick calculations, “We should use three on each of our ships; one for the force field, one for the weapons, and one for the operation of the ship. We can interlink them so that if we need a more powerful screen, we can bring one of the other reactors on line.”

“We don’t have a lot of time.”

“I know, Hemon, but they won’t be any good to us if they’re destroyed. I’ve also had a request made from Chris.”

“What is that?”

“He wants a beam projector put on top of the Cheops that can be guided by his scanners. He seems to think that he is going to have to hold position and doesn’t want weapons to be unavailable if he is. We’ll make it the popup kind. By the way, where’s Sasha?”

Hemon started laughing, “Planning a wedding. It seems her father is falling all over himself trying to make sure it actually happens. He doesn’t want her to lose this rich suitor.”

Dolly’s expression changed slightly, and she asked in a soft voice, “Have you ever been married before?”

Hemon paused, “I was married when the Sheera landed. She died when their ship flew over my house in the village and hit it with one of their beams as they left. They not only killed my brother but my family as well.”

Dolly took a quick breath, “I didn’t know they did that.”

“I think they wanted to make sure that if I had made any drawings or plans they would be destroyed. My six year old son died with her.”

“You never married again?”

Hemon shook his head, “No, I’ve been concerned that they might return and I never wanted to go through that much pain again. I’m sure they’ll kill anyone close to me if that happens. I’ve warned Sasha but she insists on being with me. I’ve had some women that I’ve lived with, but I never remarried.” He paused and added, “What they did to my family is what made me certain that we could never trust them. I owe them.”

“Why are you going to marry this time?”

“Because I’ve known for more than three years that Sasha loves me. I’ve struggled against letting her get close even though I was greatly attracted to her. But her smile brightens my whole day, and now I want to spend as much time remaining as I can seeing that smile.” Hemon looked at Dolly and said, “How is it possible that your brother broke the code on that new material? I have trouble understanding what happened.”

“George is much smarter than I am, Hemon. His intellect is staggering, and early in his life his personality was absorbed by it. His brilliance is so far ahead of everyone else that no one can match his mental capacity. He probably saw the elements needed to make it work as soon as he glanced at it.”

“That’s just it, Dolly, he didn’t look at the paper you were holding with the elements on it.”

“He didn’t need to. I told him about the elements and he knew that we had a reactor working using the process, so he knew which ones we had to have to make that happen. To him, it was obvious.”

“Why was it dangerous for you to go see him?”

“I almost lost myself the last time I went to see him. I can feel his mind. It’s like a living thing that calls out to me, and I find it almost impossible to resist that call. I nearly lost myself in my own intellect. Thank God my mother was there with a bucket of ice water. I’ve got to tell ya, that ice water will get your attention.

Did you try it with George?”

“It stopped four feet from him. We can’t get anything close to him that would distract him. I sensed how powerful that call of his intellect is.”

“What about this time?”

“Jeff was there, and I felt his love more than my Brother’s mind.” Dolly got a faraway look in her eyes, and said, “I almost think he could stop that asteroid with his intellect, but he wouldn’t be interested enough with what happens in the real world to do it. His body moves around in the real world, but the intellect that directs it is only interested in what’s happening in the inside world of his mind. It only does enough to keep his body and the kangaroos alive.”

Hemon lowered his head, “I’m sorry, Dolly. I wish there was something that could be done to help him.”

“Don’t worry. I’m sure he lives a very full existence in his mind. I was wondering if you and Sasha might want to leave with one of the colony ships.”

“Colony Ships?”

“We are going to send eight of them out into our galaxy looking for a new planet to live on. We’re following your original advice; we want to make sure our species survives.”

“Let me think about that. How long before I have to give you an answer?”

“Anytime up until the moment they leave, which should be within a few months from now.”

“I’ll discuss it with Sasha. What are you and Jeff going to do?”

“We intend to take one of our new warships and go teach the Moet not to trespass. Then, for good measure, we’re going to go find the Sheera and let them know we don’t appreciate their interference.”

“Do you think you stand a chance against them? Our warships are very small ships compared to theirs.”

“Consider this; what if one of the new reactors provides all its power to screen a small ship instead of a large one? Our best estimate is that it will be in an entirely different class of vessel in terms of its weapons and force fields. You know the power goes up squared with the distance reduced in coverage? Our small attack ships will have a separate reactor for weapons as well. We won’t know how effective they’ll be against them until we try. However, I owe them for their callous disregard of life; particularly life on Earth. They’re trying to kill George and my Mum. They’ve made it personal.”

“I think I know how to keep them away from our solar system.”

Dolly sat up straighter, “Oh?”

“I remember seeing in the Sheera databanks that if a high energy discharge happens in the green space used by stardrives, it will disrupt that space so that stardrives won’t work.”

“Forever?”

“No, for about two years. Then another discharge will once again prevent travel.”

“For what distance from our system?”

“That I’m not sure, however, I’m almost certain that it’s less than a light year. I suspect it will only be effective inside the planetary system. Their gravity is what causes the disruption.”

“Why doesn’t the Alliance use this to save themselves?”

“I suspect they don’t want to lose the ability to remain in contact with the rest of their members. I also see that for some reason they don’t use gravity to increase their speed. The top speed of that ship Chris and Jillian brought back is only one third of light speed. It would take them more than twelve hours to fly to Earth from Neptune’s orbit. We can get there in a little over four hours.”

“What if you’re wrong about the distance of the disruption?”

“Then I’m wrong. But…..if I’m right, you can go attack that incoming asteroid and they can’t get a ship into our system to defend it.”

Dolly started smiling, “Then it will be a fight done in normal space, and we’ll see them coming.” Dolly stood up and turned a circle, “This is great. Since we’re building small ships, we should have more than a hundred completed within six months, and the number will be increasing from that point on.” She looked at Hemon with a huge grin, “We’ll do the discharge as soon and Chris and Jillian jump away and after we eliminate the Moet scanner.”

“Do you know where the Moet scanner is located?”

“Oh yes. It’s where the asteroid began its journey toward us.”

“That makes sense.”

“Hemon, I knew you would make a difference in our chances of success.” Hemon shrugged. “You and Sasha can have a warship if you want one.”

“We might just take you up on that offer. I need to see how she feels about it.”

“Did you tell her about your first wife and son?”

“Uhhh, yes. Why do you ask?”

“She’ll want to make them pay for what they did to you. She’ll opt for the warship.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I’ll bet you a dinner at the place of the winner’s choice!”

“You’re on!”

“You’re too easy, Hemon. I’ll take it easy on you.”

“I’ll just persuade her not to choose the destroyer.”

“Now you’ve lost my good will. I’ll make you pay, now.”

“We’ll see.”

Dolly left smiling and singing, “To play the jukebox…oooooh, my meal that night will be a huge delight….”

Chapter Ten

L’grae looked over at his sensor officer, “Anything on the board?”

“Not yet. They may now be reluctant to follow any of our trails.”

L’grae nodded, “I can’t say I blame them, since they’ve lost two hundred ships. I suspect they know by now that even if they chase us with a fleet they will lose their ships as soon as they enter normal space. A hundred ships firing high energy beams continuously as they enter is more than they can handle. They can still only enter the location one at a time.”

“The fleet is waiting with charged weapons, but nothing has shown up on the scanners yet.”

“They’ll come.” The Sensor Officer looked skeptically at him. “They can’t tolerate someone challenging their superiority. Oh; they’ll come.”

L’grae’s ship was three hundred thousand miles from the ships waiting in ambush. Tenah had forbidden him to take part in an attack. Seems he thinks I’m too valuable. L’grae snorted at the idea, but followed orders and kept his ship at a safe distance from the point of emergence. The Sensor Officer said, “Something’s coming through.”

“What do you mean, ‘something’?”

“This drive signature is huge, Sir.”

L’grae looked at his board and saw a ship emerge into normal space that stunned him. It was gigantic. “What is that?”

“I don’t know, Sir. I’ve never seen that class of Moet Ship before.”

The giant grey ship was easily a hundred miles long and sixty miles thick. It has a huge tower in the center that rose more than thirty miles above the body of the ship. It was covered in beam projectors and missile launchers. All hundred Alliance ships were firing nonstop, but nothing was getting through the ship’s force fields. L’grae stood and yelled, “Get them out of there… now!” His Communications Office hit his board, but they had waited too long.

The Moet Dreadnaught Master watched his display as the small ships fired their beams at his force field. He was almost reclining in his command chair. He glanced at his weapons console, “Do you have them targeted?”

“We’ve had them targeted from the moment we cleared no-space. You told us to wait and see if they could penetrate our defenses.”

“It appears they are unable to do that?”

“Their beams are quite strong, but are below the threshold necessary to penetrate.”

The Master was angry that he had been forced to leave the Dynasty’s home system to come deal with this nuisance. He was going to miss several social events. The Dreadnaughts had never before been used to defend the Supreme Master’s Dynasty. He lowered two eyestalks and thought about how enemies always seemed to get stronger and stronger. He looked at his display panel and saw the silver ships continuing to fire their weapons. He casually waved an arm as he took a drink from a goblet and said, “Eliminate them.”

L’grae watched as the behemoth opened fire on his fleet. The speed of the fleet’s destruction was staggering as silver ships began exploding on all sides of the Moet. Missiles homed in and beams struck ships causing huge explosions. Of the hundred attacking ships, only seven managed to make it into stardrive. “Hold our position.” His bridge crew looked at him like he was crazy. “Those ships that escaped need time to hide. If we jump, that monster will be right on their tails. We’ve got to buy them time.”

“That means we won’t have time to hide, Sir.”

L’grae looked at his navigator and shrugged, “I’ve just lost ninety three ships. What do you think will happen to us as a result of that?”

His navigator thought about it and saw that they were probably dead either way. “We will stand by you, sir.”

L’grae smiled and said, “Then let’s play chase. Take us directly away from that ship. Go to full speed.”

The Moet Master put his goblet down and watched the sole remaining ship turn and flee through normal space toward the sun at the system’s center. “How many escaped?”

“Seven, Lord.”

The Master needed to make a decision. If he jumped to chase the seven escapees, this remaining ship would escape. If he chased this ship, the other seven would escape. “How long will it take us to move in to weapons’ range on that ship?”

“Fifteen dais, Lord.”

“Why that long?”

“We are slightly faster, but it can change course much faster than we are capable. We will catch him, but it will be a long chase.” The Master of Navigation then added, “It will now take us eighteen dais.”

The Dreadnaught Master looked at the navigator sharply who then said, “The longer we wait the longer it will take to kill it. It is now twenty dais.”

“What about the ships that escaped?”

“We will probably be lucky to only get one of them if we leave now.”

The Master thought about it and leaned back in his command chair and held his goblet out for a refill. He turned, sighed, and said, “Open one of their frequencies.”

The communications light illuminated on his panel and he pushed it.

L’grae was running at full speed when his Communications Officer pushed a switch, “…have no desire to waste my time chasing your tiny ship. We can eventually catch you and destroy you, but I want you to go and bring more ships to attack me. Set up your next ambush so I can make my time worth the effort. I’ll see you at that time.”

L’grae watched his panel as the giant grey ship disappeared. “Change course, ninety degrees.” L’grae held the arms of his chair as the ship turned. After two hours he said, “Stop all engines.” The small silver ship continued to coast toward the outer system. L’grae’s crew had heard the contempt of the Moet. They, and L’grae, knew they were now back at square one. Nothing they had in their arsenal could defeat that class of Moet Ship. L’grae stared at the behemoth on his display. This was a game changer. He tried to make a decision on what his next decision would be. None of the ships that escaped would know what happened to his ship. If they investigated they would see that only seven trails left the site of the attack. He knew the Leaders had never allowed a Commander and his crew to live if they lost more than twenty ships. They were always executed as an example of what happened to those that failed. He had just lost ninety three. He and his crew knew if they went back they were dead.

He punched the ship’s intercom and said, “I’m struggling with what to do next. You all know that if we go back, we’ll be executed in a very painful display. I’ve lost ninety three ships in this attack, and I’ve never seen our leaders make an exception to executing a Commander and his crew for the loss of more than twenty ships. I sincerely don’t believe they will change that process this time, either. I know many of you have families, but we should consider this: if you go back and are executed as a traitor, they will not be given support by the state. If they think we died in this battle, your families will be supported. I want you to discuss among yourselves what you think we should do, and have one of you prepared to tell me what your desires are. This is not a decision I can force on you. I’ll give you two rotations to discuss this.” L’grae leaned back in his chair and saw his mate in his thoughts. She was now lost to him along with his three children. He stared out the viewport at the unblinking stars and knew that his ship’s chance of survival was not good. He looked at the large planet off the portside of his ship and knew the universe was not a safe place to exist. Life was always tenuous at best. It looked like his luck had run out.

After two rotations, the ship’s crew gathered in the landing bay and L’grae looked around at their somber faces. “What decision have you made?”

His lead Engine Technician stepped forward and looked around, “Sir, we can’t decide what we should do next.” L’grae started shaking his head, but the tech continued, “However, we do know we can’t go back. We’ve decided to follow you wherever you lead us. You’ve saved our lives more times than we can count, and we all feel we’re going to be safer if we just allow you to continue making the decisions on our next courses of action.”

Lgrae looked around and said, “Then here is what we do for now. We will power down and hide until our Leaders send someone to investigate the battle site. They will send someone; they always do. We can’t leave and allow them to suspect we survived. There is so much wreckage at the site of the battle that it’s impossible to know how many ships were destroyed. Once that ship leaves we will wait three more rotations and then see if we can find a place for us to live in this universe. I’m sorry it’s come to this, but such is our fate. We need to cut back on our rations, and I’ll be looking for a planet where we can replenish our stores. We are all in this together, and I’ll do my best to make the best choices for us.” L’grae paused and said, “Dismissed.”

The Moet Watcher observed the destruction of the silver ships. He wanted to yell at the Dreadnaught Master to chase the ships that escaped but, he knew any attempt to tell one of the High Masters what to do was a death sentence. He watched as all of the survivors escaped, pounding his chair’s arm the entire time in frustration. Now the enemy would learn about the Dreadnaught. There was no way to kill all of them now. He couldn’t even call in ships to give chase without overstepping his authority with the High Master. He leaned back in his chair and put his secondary brain on the task of handling the board. The watcher forced himself to calm down. It really wouldn’t matter. The enemy was never going to be able to handle a Dreadnaught. He just wished for just once a competent Master would be given command of them, but he knew that would not happen. Only those of proven loyalty would be given control of a Dreadnaught, which meant the Royal Family. What could he do? He turned his attention to the board and tried to forget the missed opportunity. This would come back to bite them some day. He was right and didn’t know it.

Chris looked at Jillian with a wisp of her sweaty hair hanging in her face. They had finally gotten the emitters aligned properly, and tuned them to get through the force field frequency. It was hot work inside the Cheop’s hull, and both of them needed a bath. “What are you doing later this evening?”

Jillian looked up with furrowed brow, “Is it Thursday?”

“No, it’s Monday. Have you made any plans?”

Jillian thought a moment, “No. What do you have in mind? Do you want to go out with Dolly and Jeff?”

“We can’t. She’s collecting a meal from Hemon. I was wondering if you wanted to go take a look at the other construction site.”

Jillian looked up from the emitter cable she was attaching and frowned, “I thought we had eliminated it as a source of information.”

“We did, but we should at least make sure. The engineers have to close up the hull and apply the clear armor. We have a few days before we leave, and I’ve been thinking about that site.”

“What’s bothering you?”

“Well, it occurs to me that whoever the other Sheera Assistant was, they might have wanted to make sure a message was left in the event something happened. Hemon was suspicious and I suspect the other Assistant was as well. He wouldn’t be able to carve a tablet as a Rosetta stone because his people had not developed a written language. It dawned on me that he might have left notes in the language of the Sheera. I’ve also been studying the structure over the last month, and there’s a block I want to examine. It might be nothing, but I’d like to make sure.”

“Have you been studying the Sheera Language program Dolly made for us?”

“As a matter of fact, I have. I think that it might improve our understanding of it if we communicate in it from this point forward. I think I can now handle most of the terms needed to communicate intelligently.”

Jillian shook her head slightly, “I don’t think I’m there yet.”

“Then there’s even more reason to start.”

Jillian took a deep breath and started talking in the Sheera language, “When do you want to go?”

Chris smiled, “That was good. Why don’t we clean up, grab a gravity gun and take off in an hour? It will be dark here shortly, but it’s still daylight in Bolivia.”

Jillian looked at her watch, “Can we make it before it gets dark?”

“I thought you might want to take the Ninja on a trial flight.”

Jillian thought about it, ““Let’s do it. I’ll meet you back here in an hour. I’ll have Dr. Morrison prepare the Ninja.”

Chris smiled and ran from the room. Jillian watched him go and knew she would never be able to outrun him as easily as the first time they met; he had been training. She grabbed her computer and followed him out of the ship.

Chris watched as Jillian toggled the engine switches on her pilot’s board and listened to the deep thrum of the reactors as they came on line. Jillian looked at the board and saw a new row of controls on the top right corner, “What are these?”

“I’ve had Morrison add my sensors to the Ninja’s hull and tie the weapon’s armaments into them. You won’t have to target anything. The sensors will show you on your display what’s around you, and all you have to do is touch the screen. The weapons will automatically lock on the target. You fire by pushing the red button under the clear cover on you chair arm.”

“You’re worried about me, aren’t you?”

Chris ignored the question and continued, “If you want the system to go full automatic and hit everything around you, just touch the screen in the top right hand corner of the display on the “Auto”, then press and hold the red button down for three seconds.”

“Chris, I’ll be fine.”

“If you say so, but I’m going to try and make sure everything that can insure your survival will be at your disposal.”

“I love you, Chris.”

“I don’t want to lose you, Jilly.”

“You won’t.” Jillian hit her communicator and said, “Dad, will you contact the Bolivian Government and let them know one of our ships will be landing at Puma Punku in ninety minutes or less?”

“Stand by.” Jillian waited and hummed the Jukebox song. Chris smiled as he remembered. “Ok, you’ve been cleared.”

“Thanks, Dad.” Jillian lifted the small white colored ship. It slowly rose a hundred feet, and then accelerated straight up into the atmosphere.

Chris looked at the sensors and said, “How fast do you intend to go?”

“Once we clear the upper atmosphere, I’m setting speed at a hundred miles per second.”

“We should be there in less than five minutes.”

“I know.”

“Why did you say ninety?”

“There are some radical groups still operating in Bolivia, and I didn’t want them planning a reception.”

“Perhaps we should go armed?”

“I never go out without being armed. Your gun and holster is in the slot on the right side of your chair.”

Chris leaned over and pulled a small plastic gun from the holder, “What is this?”

“It’s a ray gun; Flash Gordon style.”

Chris started laughing, “Flash Gordon?”

“You’ve never heard of him?”

“Of course I’ve heard of him. Remember, I love ancient history.”

“Well, Flash is not ancient history, that’s a super powerful ray gun. Be careful where you point it. The button on the right side turns it on and off.”

“Who designed this?”

“Dolly and Dr. Levin.”

“Oh boy, this should be a doozy.”

“It is. Just be careful where you point it.”

“You brought the remote control with you, right?”

Jillian held up the small device and smiled, “I also see where you’ve added a weapons control to it.”

“I did. It will fire on anything that is not within ten yards of that remote. If it moves, it will be hit. So be careful where you point it.”

“Touché’. Hold on, we’re about to land.”

“By the way, the Sheera don’t have touché’ in their language.”

“Yes they do. Look on the eighth page next to last paragraph of translations.”

“I’ll do that when we leave Puma Punku.” Chris suspected she was probably right. She had a memory that was amazing, and he had never seen her forget anything she read.

Jillian landed the Ninja outside the huge blocks of granite at the end of the stone wall that marked the boundary of the ancient temple. They stepped out of the ship, climbed one of the huge granite blocks, and looked around. Off in the distance they could see the Andes Mountains. All around the ancient temple there was nothing but barren plains with scrub grass. The altitude was too high for trees to grow and it was as barren as most deserts. There had always been a mystery about how an ancient civilization had moved stone blocks weighing hundreds of tons without trees to act as rollers. Now they stood and gazed at the massive stone wall before them and knew how it was done.

Chris put his holster on, checked his ray gun, and picked up his tablet before they exited the ship. It was two in the afternoon and the sun was high and bright over the landscape. They looked at the interlocking blocks that formed the huge wall and saw that the blocks were larger and different from the blocks of the Great Pyramid. They were cut exactly to interlock with each other, and it was clear that they must have been cut from a template. They were actually more massive than the largest stone blocks used in the interior of the pyramid. Some of them weighed more than a hundred tons, and a couple of them over 400 tons. Chris looked around and Jillian said, “Do you see anything that might be interesting?”

“All of this is interesting but I know what you mean; where could a message have been left?” Jillian nodded and walked over to the huge stone standing at the entrance. Chris joined her and turned to look back at the wall. He opened the program on his tablet and looked at the particular block he had found in his studies of the site, then he stared at a section of the wall to the south and compared it with images on his display. Jillian noticed he was very quiet. He walked a hundred yards south to the wall and looked at three heads that had been carved on three blocks surrounding a stone plain granite block in the center.

“These heads surround this one block. I think that means something.”

Jillian reached in her backpack and pulled out a gravity gun, “Let’s see if we can move these.” She set the gun on weightless and Chris pushed out on the two blocks beside the plain center block. They moved easily, and he grabbed the center block and pulled on it. It came slowly toward them and they saw that something was dragging on top of the block. “Hold on a minute.” Jillian looked over the block and saw a hollowed out section. She reached inside and felt something. She stretched and pulled out two small round metal discs. Both of them had something written on them in the Sheera language. Jillian looked at one and sat down on the ground.

“What is it?”

“This disc has ‘The History of the Churnau Alliance’ written on it.”

“And the other one?”

“Alliance Maps.”

Chris stared at her, then hit the blocks with a slight weight setting. He climbed the block that had been pulled out and looked inside. He saw something written on the inner walls of the cutout. “Do you have a beam?” Jillian reached in her backpack and handed him a lantern beam. Chris shone the lantern into the cutout and began reading, “I took these from the Gods the day they made me their assistant. I don’t know what possessed me to take them, but take them I did. I have hidden them in this block and marked their place with the three heads of our Gods. I hope to retrieve them one day and see if our benefactors are truly helping us or have another motive. If you find these, then I was not able to retrieve them. I don’t know what that will mean, but perhaps you will know what to do with them.”

Chris climbed down, made the blocks weightless, and they slid them back together again. “You were right. How did you know?”

Chris shook his head, “I’m not sure, but just like Hemon, I know this assistant must have sensed something wasn’t right about the Sheera. I know that if I was in his place, I would have tried to do something to find out. I was thinking that he might have hidden a Sheera weapon, but I know they would have noticed if one went missing.”

“You don’t think they missed these?”

“How many times have you moved?”

Jillian tilted her head back, “Oh, maybe ten times.”

“And each time you moved, have you ever misplaced a map or a book?”

“I guess so.”

“Well, these five Sheera were left here to handle this project, and I’m sure they left things lying around when they first arrived. If their new assistant could read their language now, these two items would have been irresistible. By taking them the first day, the Sheera probably thought the other group had taken them. Once more, luck was on our side.”

Suddenly, Chris’ computer tablet began beeping. Jillian looked at him, “What’s that?”

Chris opened his tablet and looked at his display, “We have ten skimmers coming in from the south. They’ll arrive in less than ninety seconds.”

She stood, began moving back toward the Ninja, and hit her communicator, “Dad, whoever you spoke with in the Bolivian Government is either an insurgent or has their communications tapped. Notify the Bolivian Government not to send any of their military assets here unless they want to lose them.”

“Are you going to be all right?”

“Calm down, I think so, but I don’t want to have to sort out the bad guys from the good. I’ll contact you after this is over.”

A skimmer came roaring in toward them, flying just thirty feet above the ground. It started firing a heavy machine gun as Chris took out his gun and thumbed it on. He pointed it at the Skimmer when it was two hundred yards out, and pulled the trigger. The ray gun fired an intense white beam and the skimmer disintegrated before their eyes. There wasn’t anything left to fall to the ground. “Head for the Ninja!” Chris heard, ran behind her, and looked for more skimmers. A second skimmer flew in from the left and sprayed the ground with heavy machinegun fire. Jillian turned, knelt, and hit it with her gun and they watched it disintegrate.

They sprinted, and Chris pressed his handheld remote just as they cleared the wall. The Ninja’s force field came on and covered them just as five more skimmers flew over them, firing high caliber slugs from Gatling guns. A three foot high pile of slugs collected around the force field as the Gatling Guns continued to fire at an unbelievable rate.

“They want the Ninja.”

Jillian looked at Chris and knew he was right. “Should we just leave?”

“If you were back in Egypt when Daniel was killed, would you just leave?”

Jillian flinched at his words, and he saw her face harden. She lifted the remote and pressed the auto-weapon button. The Ninja’s popup blaster came out of the ship’s hull and started firing multiple beams of varying width. The Ninja looked like it was exploding as it targeted the remaining skimmers and tracked the insurgents that had landed and were moving in on foot. The ship only fired for ten seconds and then grew silent. Nothing was moving around Puma Punku.

Jillian turned to Chris and her expression was hard, “How do you know about Daniel?”

“What is it about me knowing that bothers you?”

Jillian was angry and she attempted to answer him, but couldn’t. Chris said, “I could ask you the same thing about my failed Nobel Prize, but how you know is not important. What’s important is that you know and still love me anyway. Are there things in your life that I am not invited to share? If there are, you need to tell me now. I don’t choose to love pieces of you. It has to be everything.”

Jillian said sternly, “Or nothing?”

Chris looked at her with great sadness, shook his head slowly, and said, “Or nothing.” Then he turned and walked into the Ninja.

Jillian watched him go and relived the loss of Daniel all those many years ago. Then she realized she was about to lose another love. She ran after Chris, catching him just inside the port, turned him around and kissed him hard. “Please don’t leave me. Please don’t ever leave me.”

Chris held her tight and said, “I know your pain. I’ve lost those I’ve loved as well. There are some losses that you have to let go and choose to move forward and live again. Now is the time for you to embrace life and live again.”

She put her head on his shoulder and said, “I was the one that suggested we go to the pyramid without an escort. It’s my fault he died. I caused it.” She began sobbing and shaking in his arms.

“No, you aren’t the only one at fault here; he didn’t have to go. If he loved you he would have never allowed you to put yourself in that kind of danger. You may have suggested it, but both of you were accountable for what happened. You were both young, and unfortunately, the young make bad decisions until they learn wisdom. Notice this time you came prepared. You learned, and now you’re wiser for the experience. It’s time to forgive yourself, Jilly. I’m sure he blamed himself as well.”

Jillian listened to what he said and realized he was right. She had suggested they go, but Daniel had jumped up and started making the preparations. She saw that it was a mistake. That’s why Daniel had sacrificed himself to save her. She continued to cry as Chris led her to the Ninja’s sleeping quarters. He laid her down on the bed and softly stroked her hair. She finally looked up at him with puffy eyes, reached around his neck, and pulled him down to her.

The Project Command Group sat around a table after they had read Dolly’s translation of the two discs Jillian brought back from Puma Punku. The launch of the Cheops had been delayed until Chris and Jillian completed reading the translation. Arnold looked around the table and said, “I’ve briefed the Presidents on what we’ve discovered. They have immediately ordered a massive building campaign, and are going to announce to the world what’s happening in two days. We have selected the colonists for four of the eight ships, and they are being prepared to go out within ten days. The Magellan has already found ten Earth-type planets that are not inhabited by intelligent life, and thanks to Dr. Connor’s device we are certain to find more. Our main concern is that without the screen the Alliance uses to defend their worlds, we will be open to attack. The president wants some suggestions from us on what we should do.”

Dolly looked at Arnold, “Have you trialed the energy discharge in Sierra Space?”

Arnold nodded, “Yes, we have. It was trialed at a solar system without habitable planets.”

“And?”

“It was just like Hemon suggested. It blocked a stardrive from being used within the boundary of the planets.”

“Then we have the means to possibly protect our new planets.”

Arnold looked at Dolly skeptically, “How do you figure that?”

“We know that our ships can get out of the system three times faster than they can come in. We know that from an examination of the captured ship. If a Moet or Alliance fleet enters the system, a ship will be dispatched to come and warn us of the attack. We can get back to the system with a fleet and colony ships to move the population faster than they can reach the planet. We just have to make sure we have a fleet ready at all times to respond to a call for help.”

“What if they send enough ships to overwhelm us?”

“That’s why we’re sending out the colony ships. There will always be a risk to Earth; they know where it is. Finding the colonies will be a different story.”

Hemon said, “I don’t know how you can say that with such certainty.”

“Have you looked at the map of the Alliance?”

“Yes.”

“Then you should see that they have not done any new exploration of habitable planets in ten thousand years. They are fighting to hold on to the status quo. You also should factor in that our cosmologists estimate that there are an average of two and a half planets for every star in our galaxy. That means there are trillions of them. The only way we could find those planets to colonize was through the use of Dr. Connor’s invention. Without it we would probably never find one. Those ten planets will likely be quite safe from discovery.”

“Why do you say likely?”

“Because we haven’t examined a Moet ship, Dr. Morrison. Until we do, we have to wonder how the Moet found the Sheera here five thousand years ago.”

Chris watched Dolly handle the meeting and was amazed at the composure of the brilliant young woman. She’d grown up. Dolly saw him looking at her, stopped talking, and said, “What?”

“I’m amazed at how far you’ve come since we used to be dance partners. I’m very proud of you and what you’ve become.”

Dolly turned red and said, “It’s Jeff’s fault.”

Jeff flinched and said, “Me?”

“Yes, you. You’ve made me focus on making sure we have a future.” Dolly looked at Chris and said, “Make sure the two of you come back. You two are what keep us going. I’ll kill you if you get yourself killed.”

No one said anything until Jeff said, “It would be too late by then.”

Dolly looked at Jeff and said, “Nope, you and I will go back in time and save them.”

Everyone laughed and Dolly said, “I’m not kidding!”

That made everyone laugh even harder, but Jillian caught Dolly’s eye and nodded. That was enough for Dolly.

Arnold said, “So what do we know about the combatants in this galactic war?”

Chris looked around the table and shook his head, “We don’t want anything to do with either of them. The Sheera were telling half-truths when they built the pyramid.”

Arnold leaned back in his chair and nodded for Chris to continue.

“They were building the Great Pyramid and the temple at Puma Punku to install a force field that would surround the planet and prevent the Moet from attacking. What they didn’t say was that once the screen was in place that the planet would be forced to pay the Leaders of the Alliance for their protection. The Alliance would also prohibit any travel outside of our solar system and prevent the development of a stardrive. We would simply become workers providing our captors with raw materials. The Alliance Leaders are a group of tyrants that rule the members of the Alliance with a very heavy hand.”

“What about the Moet?”

“We really don’t know but Alliance History describes them as a monarchy that pretty much destroys any intelligent life they happen to stumble on. I have to believe there is more to it than that. However, without opening a dialogue, there is no way to find out.”

“What are we going to do about that asteroid?”

“We’re going to leave it alone for the moment. However, we’re going to remove their eye in the sky so they won’t see the Cheops or our colony ships depart.”

Arnold looked at Dolly, “How do you intend to do that?”

“We’ll use their methods to do it.” Arnold lowered his head and looked over his reading glasses. Dolly continued, “We have a ship in the inner layer of the ort cloud. They have picked up a large Asteroid and made it weightless. They have installed thrusters on it and it is aimed at that Moet scanner. Once they fire the thrusters, the asteroid will accelerate to one tenth light speed and rush in on the scanner faster than it can react. Just before impact the ship following behind the asteroid will return its mass with a gravity beam. It should be interesting to watch. We’ll be doing that in two days.”

Hemon said, “Why then?”

“Because Jillian and Chris are launching immediately after the destruction of that scanner; we are also firing a high energy device in Sierra Space to block stardrives four hours after they leave. We will then send the forty warships we’ve built out to the asteroid belt to hide and wait for the Moet response to the scanner’s destruction.”

“Then why don’t you remove the killer asteroid after you remove the scanner?”

“Hemon, we’re hoping if they send a ship to investigate that they will see the asteroid is still headed toward Earth and that their scanner was destroyed by an accident. We still want to buy as much time as possible to build up our defenses.”

Hemon shrugged, “I understand.”

Dolly looked at Chris, “Are you ready to go?”

Chris looked at Jillian and said, “We’re as ready as we’ll ever be. I don’t know how we can ever be completely ready.”

Arnold said, “Let’s hope it’s enough. I’m counting on you to bring my daughter back safely.”

“I’ll do it or die trying, Sir.”

Arnold stared at Chris and saw Jillian’s expression as she looked at Chris with love in her eyes, “I believe you.”

Dolly stood and looked around the table, “Well, there is so much to do for those of us that are staying behind but tonight, Thursday night, we are going to Romeo’s and dance. You are all expected to be there.”

Arnold shook his head, “I have to meet with the President. Someone took a photo of the Alliance Starship when it was taken to Sydney. The World Government has been barraged with questions about what it is and has denied everything. However, three more videos have appeared and the insurgents are using them to claim our government is hiding the truth from its citizens. We have to plan how to respond to these questions.”

Dolly smiled, “Oh, so he comes ahead of your daughter now?”

Arnold stared at Dolly and shook his head, “You certainly have the…uhhhh….”

“Don’t say it, Dad. Just be there.”

Arnold looked at Jillian, took a deep breath, and nodded.

Dolly smiled, “You know, you could invite the President to join us.”

“He’d never come.”

“He certainly won’t if he doesn’t know about it.”

Arnold watched the room clear and thought about Dolly’s remark. He decided, why not? He activated his communicator, “Hello, Mr. President, are you doing anything tonight?”

L’grae watched the Alliance ship jump out of the system, turned to his navigator, and asked, “Where should we go to hide from the Alliance and the Moet?”

“We’ll go above the galactic plane and wait until enough time has passed.”

“Plan to leave in two days.”

“I have it plotted, Sir.”

L’grae knew that their chance of finding a habitable planet to replenish their stores was remote, but what else could he do?

The Project Command Team was on a military carrier headed toward the United States from Sydney. Hemon looked out the viewport and said, “What is Romeo’s?”

Dolly smiled, “Just a college restaurant and bar. It has a certain nostalgic feeling for us.”

Sasha smiled, “Perhaps it will now have one for us as well. I love to dance.”

Hemon snorted and smiled. “And I love dancing with you.”

The carrier landed and the group exited into Romeo’s. The regulars saw Chris and Jillian enter and a cheer went up. It was like old home week. Everyone found a place at the bar and ordered drinks. Suddenly the huge screen over the dance floor went blank and the music video disappeared. Everyone saw the Emergency Broadcast network logo appear and the place grew silent. Chris looked at Dolly, “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know.”

Then President Suh appeared on the screen and the silence deepened. The President looked out at the camera and said, “I am saddened to have to bring you some disturbing developments. We have been attempting to work so that we would not have to disturb your day to day lives. However, we are now getting too many questions to continue to hide what we’re doing. I am going to share with you what we learned two years ago, and tell you what we’re doing about it.

Dolly looked at Chris and nodded toward the exit. Chris shook his head. She shrugged and turned back to the screen.

After forty minutes the world knew that the universe had just gotten much smaller. They also learned that much progress had been made toward the planet’s defense, and much of that progress was because of a small group of individuals that had been involved in developing the tools for survival. Everyone in the room turned and looked at the group sitting at the bar. As they stared in silence, they heard a loud voice say, “I thought there was going to be a party here to send off our brave warriors. Am I wrong?” Everyone turned and saw President James Carlyle enter the room with the ten Alpha Agents of his security team.

The room exploded in cheers, and James crossed the floor and sat down at the bar with the Command Team. Word travels fast in the modern communications age. Even before the President arrived, the Tutors had been notified that Chris had returned to his dance haven. They put that information out on the university net and right after President Suh’s remarks, everyone knew where the heroes of humanity were located. There was a rush to the area. It was anticipated, and there were more than twenty thousand security forces already arriving to control the rapidly growing crowd. Jillian looked at Chris and shook her head, “I don’t feel like a hero.” She nodded toward Jeff, “He’s the real hero here.”

Chris smiled, “You risked your life to go five thousand light years away to collect information that might save us. You had no proof that you would make it back, and now you’re going more than 65 million light years. Oh, I think you qualify to be a hero.”

Jillian reached over and hugged him, “As do you, my love.”

Chris shrugged, “Ya gotta have your priorities.”

Jillian remembered the first meeting with the Presidents when Chris said the same thing and laughed out loud, “Yes, you do!”

Within an hour, cameras and video monitors were brought in to show the heroes dancing inside Romeo’s. The streets were cleared for a fifty block area. Loudspeakers were hooked up, and the entire city became one huge dance floor. The party shifted into high gear when President Suh joined the Dancers at Romeo’s. Soon the video was being broadcast on all the world’s news agencies, and people around the world took their monitors outside and started dancing. There was fear, but this day the world was celebrating those that were working hard to save them. Sasha looked into Hemon’s eyes, “Did you ever envision this when you carved your tablet?”

Hemon looked around, “Well, absolutely!”

Sasha punched him on the arm, “You did not!”

“Well, I guess I saw people running around like they were crazy and it wasn’t much different from this.”

Sasha laughed and looked around, “I guess you’re right.”

“Of course, I’m right. I have more experience than anyone else here.” Hemon tried to keep a straight face, but then laughed.

Chris held Jillian tight and smiled, “Are you ready to go?”

“I’m scared about the distance, but it is what it is.”

“The longest distance for us will be how far you are from me. I’m not worried about the other. If we don’t make it back, at least the planet is now on task getting ready.”

Jillian looked seriously at Chris, “Do you think we won’t find our way back?”

Chris put his finger on Jillian’s lips and said, “That’s for tomorrow. Tonight we celebrate”. Jillian nodded and Chris said, “We do have a reason to make sure we do come home.”

Jillian tilted her head, “What is that?”

“I am going to marry you as soon as we land.”

Jillian’s eyes grew wide, and she hugged him tightly. After a moment she leaned back with a mischievous smile and said, “How do you know I will accept?”

Chris looked out over the crowd and said, “Because I won’t dance with you anymore if you don’t. Let me see…who could take your spot on my dance card.”

Jillian punched him in the ribs, “Then I accept. I would never want to lose my dance partner.”

Chris leaned in and kissed her hard. When they separated, he said, “Tell Dolly about our plans for a wedding, and allow her to handle the details.”

Jillian looked over at Dolly dancing with Jeff, “I guess you’re right. We don’t have time to do it since we’re leaving tomorrow. Do you think she’ll have time to prepare?”

Chris restrained his smile and said, “Oh, I think so.”

“We’ll, I’ve always wanted a big wedding. A small one will do.”

Chris looked away and bit his lip to keep from laughing, then danced with her. Dolly never did anything small.

Chapter Eleven

Chris and Jillian looked down on Earth and stared at the beautiful planet. The response to President Suh’s announcement had brought the different populations of the world together like nothing else could. Every group that was involved in insurrection sent announcements that they were joining the effort to defend their planet. Every government began construction of shipbuilding facilities. The movement was massive and growing. The news agencies couldn’t keep up with the support being promised to the new World Government.

Chris keyed the communication panel and said, “Any last words before we leave?”

Dolly said, “Just make sure you come back. Life won’t be the same without you.”

“Did you ever go by and see your Mum like you promised?”

“Yes, I did; and I took Jeff with me.”

Chris tilted his head and Jillian wondered what was going on, “How did that go?”

“Welllll, he’s not in a hurry to go back.”

“Poor boy. How about you?”

“We’re going to visit George next week and see if we can get to him.”

“Is that a good idea?”

“Mum seems to think that the reason he left is because there was nothing to distract his intellect. She insists that this new situation might be enough to get him to focus on the real world.”

“What do you think?”

“I think the idea has merit. If we can get him back into reality he could be a huge help in developing tools for our survival effort. We’ll see how it goes.”

“We’ll miss you and we’ll be careful, as much as we can.”

“See that you do.”

Chris turned off the board and Jillian raised her eyebrows. Chris smiled, “Her mother is just like her children, absolutely brilliant. She’s a handful to deal with.”

“I thought George was a danger to Dolly.”

“He is, but I think her love for Jeff keeps her anchored in reality. Dolly didn’t have much of a challenge when she nearly lost herself with George. She may be right about bringing him back. I hope so.” Chris looked at his navigation board and looked at Jillian, “Are you ready?”

“Where are we going?”

“The Nobel Committee plotted a course for us. You know that the Milky Way is basically a flat galaxy with two major spiral arms?”

“Yes.”

“Well, we are going above the galaxy to the place where Earth was located 65 million years ago. They’ve given me a star chart to guide me there. I’ll be using three of the largest stars in our galaxy to find the right place to leave.”

“Which ones?”

“Herschel’s Garnet, which until recent discoveries was considered the largest star, Betelgeuse, which is the heaviest star in our galaxy, and Ky Cigni, which is now the largest star. I’m going to triangulate on them as the point of our departure. I’ll also use them to get us back to where we started this voyage.”

“You’re the driver. Lead the way!”

Chris began pushing controls on his flight console. He looked over at Jillian and took her hand as he pressed the jump button. The Cheops disappeared.

Dolly sighed and replayed the video of the destruction of the Moet scanner just four hours earlier. She shook her head at the magnitude of the explosion, then she hit her board, “Jeff, it’s time.”

Jeff keyed his board and said, “I’ll be back shortly.”

The UE ship Jukebox disappeared. Dolly knew that now the Moet would have to come in from outside Neptune’s orbit to investigate the destruction of their probe. Sierra Space would now be blocked into the solar system. She looked at her display and prayed that Chris and Jillian would survive their voyage. She also prayed that they wouldn’t destroy Earth’s existence by making a mistake with Jillian’s device. She smiled. Only time would tell. She giggled. Time would tell. Now that’s a good one!

The Cheops broke back into normal space in less than two minutes. Jillian looked at Chris and he saw her confusion, “Did something go wrong?”

“No, I set the drive to take us the necessary distance. If you do that, it’s much faster than finding your way.”

“Wow! What now?”

“I have to take some readings from here to try and make sure we can get back. It shouldn’t take longer than an hour. I’m extending our sensors now.”

Jillian watched the display on her console as Chris began taking frequency readings of surrounding stars. She casually glanced at the secondary board and was shocked, “Chris, there’s an Alliance Battleship ten million miles away!”

Chris looked at the readings from the opposite direction of the galaxy and saw the blip. He focused the light and saw the giant Alliance ship, “What are they doing out here?”

“How should I know? What do we do?”

“I can’t leave until I complete my readings. Keep an eye on them and let me know what they’re doing.”

Jillian focused in on the giant silver ship, then saw it turn and start their way, “They’re coming this way.” Jillian watched the ship closely and said, “They don’t have their force fields on. They are also moving in at half their normal speed.”

“Do you think they want to talk?”

“I don’t know, but it will take them about an hour to arrive. You should complete your readings so we can leave.”

Chris nodded and continued to work on his board.

L’grae heard his Navigator yell, “Ship breaking into normal space!” He jumped up from his chair and went to look at the Navigator’s display.

“Bring all engines on line, ready the jump drive, power up the weapons.”

“Sir, that is not a Moet ship.”

L’grae stared at the image and said, “What kind of ship is that?”

“I’ve never seen anything like it.”

L’grae thought a moment, “Do not bring weapons on line.”

The Navigator looked at him and he said, “If they aren’t a Moet ship, then they may not be aggressive. Take us toward them at half speed.”

L’grae studied the ship and saw that it was smaller than a destroyer class vessel. I wonder if it’s armed. They moved to within five hundred thousand miles and he ordered, “Bring the ship to a stop.”

Jillian watched her monitor and leaned back, “They’re stopping.”

Chris said over his shoulder, “It appears they want to talk. Do you have the frequency used by the ship we captured?”

Jillian looked in her database and said, “Yes.”

“See if they’ll tell you what they’re doing.”

Jillian shrugged and set the communicator to the frequency. She spoke in the language of the Sheera, “I see that you have stopped moving toward us. What is your intention?”

L’grae straightened up and saw his communications officer looking at him with wide eyes. He waved at the officer and said, “I was wondering the same thing about you. I have never seen a ship like yours, so I’m assuming you are not a Moet ship.”

Jillian was surprised, “No, we are not a Moet. However, we are not friends of the Alliance either.”

L’grae looked at his bridge crew and said, “Why not?”

“One of your ships showed up at our planet long ago to build a device to screen us from Moet attacks. We have learned that when the Alliance screens a planet, then the people of that world become little more than slaves to your leaders. We don’t choose to follow that path.”

“How could you know that?”

“We found one of your history books.”

L’grae slowly shook his head, “I can’t say I blame you. However, working for the Alliance might be better than destruction by the Moet.”

“They have already sent an asteroid to destroy my world. We are going to confront them soon and see if we can survive their attack.”

“Do you think you stand a chance against them?”

“Won’t know until we try, but I’d rather die free than a slave to the Alliance.”

L’grae thought about what he was hearing, then looked at his Communications Officer, “Pull up the video of the battle with the giant Moet ship.” He then said, “I’m going to send you a video of a battle we just had with one of their ships. We have never seen this class of ship before, and I think you need to know what you’re facing.” He looked at Communications and he nodded, “I’m sending it now.”

Jillian keyed the record button on her panel as the video started. Chris stopped what he was doing and came over and watched with Jillian, “Oh, my God. Is it that big?”

Chris saw the Alliance ships looked like small insects around the giant grey ship. They watched as the Alliance ships were blown out of existence. “It appears the Moet are stronger than we thought.”

L’grae heard the different voice and keyed his communicator, “We have managed to kill more than two hundred of their ships until this class of vessel showed up. We have nothing that will stand up against it. I lost my fleet to that one ship.”

“Why are you showing us this?”

“To try and get you to understand that none of us like the tyrants of the Alliance, but we endure it to survive. There isn’t much of a choice; slaves or dead.”

Jillian said, “There is always a choice. Why do the Moet attack you?”

L’grae was surprised by the question and he looked around his bridge for a response. Everyone just shrugged, “I really don’t know. They just always have as far back as we’ve recorded history.”

“I think I would ask them. There must be some reason. However, we will not just submit to either of you. Which brings me back to my original question; what are you doing out here?”

“The Alliance has a policy that any Fleet Commander that loses more than twenty ships will be executed along with the crew of his ship.”

Jillian and Chris were stunned, “And you were the Commander of that fleet that was destroyed?”

“Yes, I was. We can’t go home and we can’t go near Moet territory. We’re struggling with what to do. We’re going to have to find a habitable planet so we can replenish our stores or we’re going to die of starvation.”

Jillian looked at Chris and he said to the Alliance ship, “That is a difficult situation.”

“It’s an impossible situation.”

Chris thought a moment and then said, “I will give you the location of three habitable planets. Perhaps one of them will save you.”

“You know where three planets are located?!”

“No, but I’ll take some readings before we leave and I’ll give them to you.”

L’grae shook his head, “You can find them?”

“Yes. Give me another thirty minutes and I’ll send them to you.”

“What are you doing out here?”

Chris looked at Jillian and she nodded, “We intend to find a Jenze weapon to use in our defense.”

L’grae was stunned. Chris waited for a response and after two minutes he heard, “If you can do that, you might actually save yourself. Can we assist you?”

“No. I just can’t bring myself to trust anyone associated with the Alliance. We’ll do this alone.”

“What do you plan to do if you find this weapon?”

“Make sure we’re safe and perhaps go and see if some slaves wish to be freed.”

“You’ll take on the Alliance Leadership?”

“I don’t see it happening any other way. Neither the Moet nor the Alliance will tolerate an independent force. We probably won’t have a choice.”

“Then you must include us in your plans. We will help you anyway we can. I want to see my family again, and I’m sure the rest of my crew feels the same.”

Chris thought a moment and Jillian pressed the button, “Here’s what we’ll do. We’ll give you the location of those three planets and you go and provision your ship. Come back here and wait for us to return and we’ll take you with us.”

“How long will you be gone?”

“If we’re not back in thirty days, then we failed and we’re probably not coming back. Then you’re on your own.”

L’grae looked around and saw hope in his crew’s eyes, “We will wait until we run low on provisions again. You have given us the first ray of hope we’ve seen.”

“Fair enough, we’ll have the locations for you shortly.”

Chris went back to work and Jillian thought about what had just happened. After thirty minutes she turned to Chris, “What are the chances of us running into that ship?”

Chris looked for the frequency of oxygen/nitrogen planets and said, “I’ve thought about that. They’re astronomical. The chance of this happening is so far out of the range of possibility as to be more than a trillion to one. It makes me wonder.”

“Me, too.”

Chris shrugged, “What was the chance of you falling in love with someone who represented everything you detest in the male species?”

Jillian looked at him and started to smile, “Two trillion to one.”

Chris put the locations on his board and said, “Well, there you go. Just goes to show that stranger things have happened.” He hit his communicator and said, “I’ve actually pulled five locations for you to visit. I’m sending them now, and I wish you success in surviving. Thank you for sharing what you know about the Moet.”

L’grae said, “Travel safely and come back. We’ll be waiting.”

Chris oriented the Cheops and pushed the jump button. L’grae watched the ship disappear and hoped that it would come back. If they found a Jenze weapon, that could have huge ramifications on the balance of power. The Alliance would even forgive him if he brought it back with him. He turned to his navigator and said, “Take us to the first planet.”

The Navigator turned to his board, wondering how he could steal the Jenze weapon. Everyone on the bridge thought about the hero’s welcome if they could return home with it. L’grae was not alone in his thoughts.

The Cheops returned to normal space and Jillian saw the Milky Way spread across space in front of them. Chris looked at Jillian and said, “This is the last reading before we make the long jump.”

“How far are we from it?”

“Seventy five light years.”

“It’s so beautiful. The colors are pure and it looks like it’s alive. I’ve never seen the sky more beautiful than now. It’s stunning.”

Chris nodded, “And it holds so much danger.” Chris finished his reading and oriented the Cheops to the line they had to follow. He pressed the jump button and the Cheops dropped into Sierra space. Chris set the controls and looked out of the viewport. He froze. “Jillian, come look at this.”

“What?” Jillian came over and looked out the starboard side viewport and gasped, “What are those?”

“You know what they are and they are being used a lot.” Hundreds of thick trails disappeared into the distance. They went to the port side and saw the trails extending toward the Milky Way. “Someone from another galaxy is going to the Milky Way. It looks like a huge number of ships made those trails.”

“What do you think this means?”

Chris looked at her with an expression of dread, “Invasion.”

Jillian looked out at the trails and said, “We need to get back. Let’s get this done.”

Chris turned on the gravity emitter to erase their trail and jumped away.

Five days later a giant blue ship stopped where they had jumped away. It stayed there for ten hours and then left. The blue ship made the Moet Dreadnaught look tiny.

Jillian watched as the green space around them appeared to be unchanging. Chris joined her at the port, “There’s nothing out here in the space between galaxies to give any indication we’re moving. We are actually going beyond several of the closer galaxies to ours.”

“How long before we get there?”

“Another twenty minutes. I’m taking us out seventy million light years, then we’ll work our way back.”

“How will you know when you’ve reached the right time?”

“There won’t be any more dinosaurs walking around.” Chris took Jillian’s hand and led her to her chair. He sat down in his and looked at her, “Tell me about what Dolly was saying about you going back in time.”

“I need your device to make my invention work. If you can focus on an event, I can charge the Ninja’s fields with a time distortion screen that will send it through your screen back to the time you’re viewing.”

“How do you get back?”

“I fly back through your screen. It’s going to be very important that you keep that event in clear focus until I can get back.”

“Do you really think this will work?”

“I’m as certain about it as you were about your device.”

“Have you considered what would happen if you make a mistake?”

Jillian stared into his eyes and nodded.

“Jillian, I’m serious.”

“I have, but let’s wait and see what happened before we have this discussion.”

Chris stared at her, but nodded begrudgingly, “Fair enough. We need to get some rest before we arrive.”

Jillian smiled, “I love it when you rub my head.”

Chris laughed, “Good. Come on.” They walked off the bridge.

The Moet Watcher was observing the Dreadnaught destroy another Alliance Fleet. This time it destroyed more than two hundred ships. Now things were getting back to normal. He decided he could start to use the regular ships to handle some tasks that had gone unattended.

Suddenly an alarm went off at high volume. He turned his attention to his board and saw that one of his probes had been destroyed. He pulled up the last thing it had recorded and saw an asteroid bearing down on it at a very high velocity. He backed the video up and saw that the probe was programmed to track an asteroid targeted on the third planet. It only changed its view when it detected the asteroid a million miles out. The Watcher ran the video back and saw that the asteroid was still on track and due to strike in a revolution. Still plenty of time before it would need to be escorted in. It was odd that the probe was destroyed. The chances of that happening were too great to calculate. However, with the millions of them out there, it was bound to happen eventually. Ummmm, should I send a ship?

Another alarm went off and the Watcher saw a battle cruiser being attacked by Alliance Ships. He hit the board and five ships jumped away from their locations to assist. His feed from the battle cruiser ended abruptly, and he knew it had died. He looked back at the video from the destroyed probe and decided that he could check on it later when these attacks had been brought under control. The Earth was given a year of uninterrupted time to build a fleet. They were going to need it.

Dolly looked at her Mum and saw her stroking George’s long dirty hair. She was talking to him softly and George didn’t appear to be hearing anything she was saying. Dolly came forward and took George’s right hand and began cleaning out his fingernails. It was almost a hopeless task. There were long and hard and dirt had crusted into their surfaces. His hand just hung limp in her lap. She listened as her mother continued, “George, you need to come back to us. We need you to help save us. There is so much you can do to help us survive the coming attack. Think about it. You’ll be challenged every day.”

Dolly listened and saw that it wasn’t working. He was just too far gone. After another hour passed, her mother looked at her and shook her head. Dolly sighed and started to stand up, but had a thought. She looked at her mother and then said quietly, “George, we know how the Great Pyramid of Khufu was built.” George’s head seemed to twitch. Dolly looked at him and said, “The interesting thing about that is the Chief Builder is still alive and is working with us on the project. His name is Hemon. He was here last time I came to see you.”

Abagale Sierra looked at Dolly with a stunned expression, “That can’t be true.”

“It is, Mum. We know how it was done. We also know how Puma Punku was built.”

George continued to stare at the ground and they heard, “If that’s the case, it was done with the help of Aliens as I’ve suspected all along.”

Dolly’s mouth fell open and she said quickly, “You’re right. The one that led the building stole a gravity gun from them and we’re using it on our new warships.”

George raised his head and looked at Dolly with clear eyes, “Hi, Sis. Where ya been?”

Dolly grabbed George and hugged his neck, “No, where have you been?”

George shrugged, looked around, and smiled, “I’m not sure. But I must meet the Hemon fellow.”

“We need to clean you up first.”

George looked at his hands and saw his hair hanging around his shoulders, “How did this happen?”

“You’re the smart one. You tell us?”

“I must have focused too much on a math problem.”

“Did you find the answer?”

“Not yet.”

Abagale grabbed George by his beard and made him look her in the eyes, “Promise me you won’t go back to that problem. Promise me!!!”

George said, “All right, all right. Don’t get your lips bunched up. Besides, it sounds like there’s a lot more interesting things happening that I’ve missed.”

Dolly smiled, “You have no idea, George. Welcome back to the land of the living. Are you sure you can put that math problem away?”

“Now that I think about it, it was really boring. Where am I going to get cleaned up?”

Abagale said, “You’re going to start at my house with a bath, and then we’re calling in help. We’re going to need it.”

George laughed, “I suppose you’re right, just look at these nails. What have I been doing?”

Abagale smiled, “Trying to come home. Welcome back.”

Dolly activated her communicator, “We’re ready.”

“How did it go?”

“He’s back.”

“What?!?”

“He’s back and it’s like he never left. By the way, if you think my Mum was tough, wait until George starts.”

“Oh my aching head.”

“Get used to it. That’s what love is all about.”

“I prefer a firefight to this. I stand a better chance.”

“Oh come on and get us, you big baby.”

Dolly saw the carrier descending and smiled at how lucky she was to have found Jeff. Now with George back, progress was going to be made.

She heard Abagale say, “George, your sister has decided to marry an Alpha Agent.”

“She what?!?”

“She’s marrying an Alpha Agent.”

“What’s an Alpha Agent?”

“Glorified Special Forces.”

George tilted his head and said, “Good for her, he’ll need the training to handle her.”

Dolly laughed out loud. Trust George to see the truth immediately.

The alarm went off and Chris shut it off with a quick swipe. Jillian was lying on his arm still asleep, and he gently got up and headed for the shower, “I hope you’re not planning to go without me.”

Chris froze in mid-step, then turned and looked at her, “Ya caught me. Well get up and get moving. We’ll be stopping in an hour, and then the work starts.”

Jillian smiled and stretched, “Work?”

“We’re going to find the proverbial needle in a haystack today. It won’t be easy.”

Jillian furrowed her brow, “Are you confident about finding it?”

“I have no experience in this area to make a guess. According to the Nobel Committee, if the light wasn’t blocked, it should be out here. However, out here is a giant area to search. It’s probably going to take some time, and most of it will be spend in boring activities. If you can sleep some more, you should do it.”

“I want to watch. I’m too excited to sleep.”

“Well then, get a move on and let’s cleanup and get something to eat.”

Jillian jumped up and rushed past him to the shower, “You snooze, you lose.” He chased after her, but she beat him and closed the door.

How can she move that fast? I must still be stiff from that Patent Board Bench. He remembered the experience and winced. Jillian was already singing in the shower.

An hour later the Cheops came to a stop and rotated a hundred and eighty degrees. Chris activated his emitters and released the fields. Then he sat back and watched his screen.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m searching for the light from Earth. We’re seventy million light years out and the fields are expanding from our ship at the speed of light. In an hour they will cover a circle more than twenty six million miles across. If nothing is detected we will jump one light year perpendicular to our current position and try again.”

“There’s a lot of distance between these searches.”

“I know, but we have a huge volume of space to cover. This could take awhile.”

Twelve hours and eleven jumps later, Jillian stood and said, “I’m going down to the landing bay and run a pre-flight check on the Ninja. Call me if you find anything.”

“Jillian, this could take weeks. I’ll let you know if anything turns up.”

Eighteen days later, there was still no success. Jillian was bored beyond her wildest imagination and ready just to call it off. Chris was used to long tedious hours doing searches, but he was also getting tired of the process. He saw Jillian shaking her foot, “Let me suggest something to you.”

“What?”

“I have some very old science fiction novels on my tablet. You might enjoy reading some of them.”

“I’ll do anything at this point.” She picked up his tablet and looked at his collection, “Which one do you recommend?”

“There’s a series in there called the Star Crusades by Michael G. Thomas. There’re five books in it and I think you’ll enjoy them, I know I did. The first book is Siege of Titan.”

“All right, see you later.” Jillian went down to the sleeping quarters and stretched out on the bed. She opened the first book and started reading.

Three days later Chris’ board beeped once. He stared at the place the light had been received, but there was nothing on the board now. Ummm, just a nibble. He hit the side thrusters and sent the Cheops moving toward the signal. He watched as the Cheops picked up speed and moved at one third light speed. After an hour he was about to give up when the alarm went off full blast. He brought the Cheops to a dead stop and stared at his board. There was Earth shining in the middle of it. “Jillian, I’ve found it! Get up here.”

“Can it wait a few minutes? I’m on the last book and I hate to put it down.”

Chris looked at his communicator and couldn’t believe what he just heard. “Are you crazy? Get up here!”

“All right. I’m coming.”

Jillian walked in and looked tired, “What’s wrong with you?”

Jillian shook her head, “I’ve been staying up late reading those books.” Chris gave her a look and she said, “It’s your fault.”

“Look what I’ve found.”

Jillian looked at his display and saw Earth. “It’s still beautiful. The continents look different.”

“That’s because they are different. They move about an inch every year. They’ve moved a thousand miles since this light left Earth.” Chris focused his display, and the Earth began moving toward them at a high rate. Chris said as the view moved in, “I’m going to focus on the Yucatan area of Mexico and see what’s going on in that time.” Chris looked at his display and said, “Good, it’s visible.” The view grew closer and closer and then they were a mile above a broad plain looking down on a huge abundance of life. As the view moved in Chris said, “Uh oh.”

“What?”

“Look over in that tree line to the south.”

Jillian looked and saw two giant T-Rex leaning forward in an obvious preparation to charge a group of large herbivores, “I don’t recognize that dinosaur they’re about to charge.”

Chris stared at the screen and said, “I don’t either but those T-Rex are beautiful. The most dangerous predator that ever lived and we’re the first to ever see one alive.”

Suddenly both of the giant carnivores rushed out on either side of the herd and knocked two of them off their feet. The two large creatures were killed quickly. Chris said, “Jillian, look at the color of the T-Rex!”

“What?”

“When they were in the trees they were a dark shade of green. Now look.”

Jillian stared at the display at the two huge carnivores and saw they were bright green and matched the color of the grasses. “They change color.”

“It appears they do.” Chris backed the view up and he saw numerous large carnivores roaming the area. “We need to move forward, this is too early.”

Jillian stared at the display and said, “Give me a moment. I’ve always wondered what the Earth looked like when Dinosaurs ruled the Earth. This is amazing to see.” Chris began punching keys on his terminal and suddenly twenty red circles appeared on the display. “What are those?”

“I programmed the system to search the view for the color of the blood on the T-Rex’s kill. That’s how many dinosaurs are being killed at this very moment.” Chris focused on each of the circles and in every one a carnivore was feeding. Chris watched the display and said, “Jillian, I’m not so sure about you going into that kind of environment. That’s a dangerous place for anything to live.”

“We’ll just have to make sure I’m careful and well defended.”

They stared at the display for an hour seeing how many species they recognized. Chris said, “This is stunning. The Raptors are incredible the way they hunt in packs.”

“Yes they are. Notice that they steer clear of a T-Rex.”

“There’s no need to take one on with the abundance of prey. There are so many giant dinosaurs. This is amazing.”

Jillian sighed, “Let’s go see what happened to the Jenze ship.”

“We need to move forward in time. I’m going to jump a million years forward and take another look.”

They made the jump and found even more life on the plain. Chris jumped the Cheops three more times and on the third jump the view changed dramatically. Jillian grabbed her throat and said, “Oh my God.”

Chris saw the planet was covered with a thick grey cloud cover. Nothing could be seen through it. “We went too far. I’m backing out a thousand years.”

They jumped and the plain was back with a huge abundance of life. “Ok, we move in smaller jumps from here on.” Chris jumped five hundred years, then two hundred, and finally a hundred years. Jillian watched the display and saw that the planet was still not covered with the grey clouds. The view moved in close and Chris stood up, “It just hit.”

“What just hit?”

“The asteroid; look at the area north of the Yucatan.” Jillian looked at the area that would one day be the United States and saw something moving at high speed across the landscape. “That’s the shock wave from the strike.” Chris moved the view in closer and they saw trees being blown down along a five thousand mile front by winds moving faster than three hundred miles per hour. Right behind the shock wave the heat from the strike rushed in and set everything on fire. The huge forested areas were burning, but then Jillian looked behind the shock wave and saw a huge grey wall moving forward. Chris said, “That tsunami has been estimated to have reached as far inland as Illinois. The front of that wave is more than a mile high. Chris backed out and moved back over the Yucatan and Jillian shouted, “Stop!”

Chris stopped the display and stared at what Jillian must have seen. Then he saw it as well. Two large Moet Ships were in stationary orbit over the site of the impact. “Keep them in view and let’s see what they do.” Chris locked the motion control and watched the horror happening on the planet below. The impact site had thrown huge amounts of rock and debris into the atmosphere that was now falling back to the surface. As they fell through the atmosphere, they ignited and burned all the way back to the planet’s surface. The shock wave was moving faster than three thousand miles an hour and had moved over the land masses around the impact, killing everything in its path. Everything was on fire. Smoke covered the whole northern hemisphere and was spreading south, and soon nothing could be seen on the planet’s surface. High above it all, the two Moet Ships sat in orbit.

Chris looked at Jillian and saw her shaking her head, “You know that if this event hadn’t happened, we would not be here. Mammals stood no chance against the dinosaurs. It was this extinction that happened here, which allowed us a chance to become the dominant species.”

Jillian continued shaking her head, “I know, but the devastation just killing everything is stunning and feels wrong. Did you record all that?”

“Anything that is seen by my sensors is recorded.”

“Chris, I need to see how they delivered that asteroid.”

“Why?”

“Because I believe that they don’t use gravity to move heavy objects.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Why would they send an asteroid from the Ort Cloud toward Earth? And why would they have to wait for it to take its normal trajectory to arrive? With our gravity beams we could just go pick one up, accelerate it toward Earth, fine tune its trajectory, and then return its mass. We could do it in less than a week. They didn’t. I suspect it was because they can’t.”

Chris thought about it and said, “Then if you’re right, this asteroid was going to pass very close to Earth and they nudged it enough to make it hit the target, or it was going to hit anyway.”

“I suspect it was going to hit anyway. I’ve wondered why the Jenze would have a ship on Earth, and it makes sense if they were there to study the effects of the strike. This type of event is rare.”

“What happened to the Jenze? If they knew it was coming, they could have lifted and been safe.”

“That’s the important question and what we have to find out.”

“I’m going to back out two weeks and see what’s happening.”

Jillian nodded absently as she watched the two Moet ships. “Chris, what’s that?”

Chris looked at the display and moved it in closer to the Moet ship. A small craft was coming up and entering the landing bay of the ship on the right. “It appears they had small ships on the surface.”

“Then something happened on the planet that prevented the Jenze’s escape. Let’s go see what happened.” Chris set the stardrive and pushed the button.

Chapter Twelve

Hemon looked at George Sierra sitting across the table from him and had great difficulty believing that he was the same person he had seen in the outback of Australia. He was tall, and now well groomed. His blonde hair was tied back in a pony tail that made him look like a GQ model. He and his sister were striking to view. He was dressed in a sharp business suit that looked like an Armani. Knowing Dolly, it probably was. He tried not to, but kept seeing him as he appeared before this transformation.

They had been discussing how he built the Great Pyramid and George seemed to have an insatiable curiosity. For the last hour they had been discussing the Sheera Stardrive and its capabilities. Some of the questions he was unable to answer, but that didn’t slow George down. While he was asking questions he was turning pages extremely fast on a bound book in front of him. Finally he smiled and said, “Thank you; you’ve been a great help.”

Hemon shrugged, “Why do you say that?”

George looked at Dolly and said, “I was wondering how we were going to communicate with our ships that are light years away from us; Hemon has helped me resolve that issue.”

Hemon and Dolly looked at each other, then Dolly said, “I’m not sure I’m following you.”

“We’ll communicate through subspace or whatever you call it.”

“It’s been named Sierra Space.”

George looked at Dolly and tilted his head back, “Why?”

“It was named after me.”

“Why?”

“Because of my contributions to the project.”

“Harrumph.”

“George, don’t be jealous. You have the same last name.”

George stared at her and Hemon said, “You were talking about communications.”

George looked startled and said, “Oh yeah. We’ll communicate through…uhh, Sierra Space using a stardrive as the receiver and transmitter.”

Hemon stared at George, and George said, “It’s obvious isn’t it?”

Hemon shook his head, “I’m afraid I don’t see what you’re talking about.”

George stood and walked over to a blackboard, “Picture this. We’ll build a box with a stardrive generator in the top half of the box that will form a field in the bottom half. We’ll extend an antenna into the bottom half of the box and have it located in the uhhhh…Sierra Space in the bottom half. Now that antenna is always in….Sierra Space. From what you’ve told me, it should be able to communicate instantly with any other antenna that’s in…darn it I just can’t get used to this, any other antenna in subspace.”

Dolly thought a moment and said, “What about communicating through the disruption we’ve caused in our Solar System’s, uhhh subspace.”

“It shouldn’t pose a problem. Try to fly a glider through a hurricane and it will probably be destroyed by the force of the wind and rain. However, you can sit in the middle of a hurricane and listen to fm radio. Energy will go through the disruption in subspace. Physical objects are prevented.”

“What if the ship you’re attempting to communicate with is not in subspace?”

Dolly looked at Hemon, “The ship might not be in subspace but that antenna is, even when the ship isn’t.”

“You understand this?”

“Yes, and it’s a great concept. How do you power the device, George?”

“Dolly, come on, that’s easy. You just hook it up to one of the ship’s reactors and leave it. There’s no reason to ever turn the power off the stardrive unit.”

Dolly took the flat of her hand and hit herself in the forehead, “I just gave myself a blonde high five. I am stupid.”

Hemon looked at the two siblings and shook his head. “How long will it take for you to build this system?”

Dolly and George looked at each other and Dolly said, “Five days.”

George shook his head, “No, four.”

Dolly turned to Hemon, “We’ll have the prototype ready in four days.”

“So let me understand what you’re saying. This communications device will allow instant communications with any of our ships in our galaxy?”

Dolly and George looked at each other and both said, “No.”

“Then, what?”

George looked at Dolly and she nodded. He turned to Hemon and said, “This will allow us to communicate instantly anywhere in the universe.”

Hemon looked at them and put his head in his hands. These two had to be aliens. He had never encountered anyone like them in more than five thousand years. He heard George say to Dolly as he shook his head, “You’ve got to be kidding; Sierra Space?”

“George is jealous, George is jealous. We’ll name the communication device, The George.”

Hemon continued to shake his head. He looked up to his left and saw Jeff leaning against the wall watching him. He shook his head at Hemon and said, “You have to give it time to get used to it. It’s an acquired taste.”

Hemon lowered his head and started laughing. Soon he and Jeff were laughing so hard they could barely breathe. George and Dolly looked at them wondering what was so funny. George looked at Dolly and she shrugged, “I don’t know.”

That dropped Jeff to the floor with his laughter as Hemon was doubled over.

L’gare sat in his command chair and watched his display. “How much longer are you going to wait?”

L’gare continued to stare at the display, “As long as it takes.”

“What are you going to do if they come back?”

L’grae looked away from his display and smiled, “I’m going to acquire a Jenze weapon.”

The Navigator smiled. Good; now the mutiny wasn’t necessary.

The Cheops broke back into normal space and Chris hit the emitters. The display came on and Chris began operating the controls, “I’m going to work my way into the system slowly and see if the Moet Ships are already here. I’m also going to have the sensors evaluate the image for any source of electronics. The view moved in and nothing was detected. “I’m going to back out and look for the asteroid.” Chris reset the sensors for moving objects and began moving the view in closer. “There it is.”

Jillian looked at her display and saw a cursor appear over a bright object. It was coming in from above the planet and Jillian saw it was moving fast. “How big is it, Chris?”

“My sensors put it a ten miles in diameter, and it’s traveling at eight miles a second.” Chris looked over at Jillian and said, “Modern scientists estimate this impact had the explosive force of a billion times the atomic blast that destroyed the Japanese city of Hiroshima. You’ve already seen the result of that event.”

“Where are the Moet?”

Chris worked his controls and then said, “What is that?”

Jillian looked at her display as it moved in on a small object approaching the planet. Jillian looked closer and said, “It looks like a tiny ship.”

Chris moved in closer and said, “That must be the Jenze.”

Jillian shook her head, “I expected it to be a full size ship, not a ….skimmer.”

“Size is not the issue. However, that can only be a one or two person ship.”

“Keep it in view and follow it down to the planet.”

Chris zoomed in on the small ship and followed it as it entered Earth’s atmosphere. The ship stopped, hovered a mile above the Yucatan, and stayed there for an hour. Jillian furrowed her brow and Chris said, “They’re recording the surface before the impact. I’m sure water, land, and air temperatures are being taken as well as an inventory of local life forms. This must be a scientific expedition.”

“I thought the impact happened in water offshore.”

“That stretch of land jutting out into the gulf isn’t there in our time. It’s only six miles wide and the impact will blow it out of existence. The rest of the land mass will have moved two hundred miles by our time. I’m stunned by the animal life on that narrow strip. Even the forest that runs through the middle is loaded with dinosaurs.”

The tiny ship finally moved toward the surface and landed in the clearing on one side of the central forest. All of the dinosaurs on the plain ran out from under the small ship as it landed, and remained at a distance of several hundred yards. They continued to watch, and after another hour, a being stepped out of a small port on the right side of the ship. Chris moved the view in closer and they could see the being was short but very thick. It had two arms and legs but they appeared to have no joints. The head was inside a helmet so the facial features couldn’t be seen. It moved twenty yards from the ship and turned to watch as a giant T-Rex charged from the forest’s edge fifty yards way. The being stood there calmly as the giant carnivore rushed forward at high speed. The speed of the giant reptile was incredible. Suddenly the T-Rex hit the ship’s force field and slammed to a stop. The T-Rex collapsed at the base of the force field, and the Jenze raised a device and pointed it at the stunned reptile.

“He’s recording the event.” Jillian nodded. Chris looked at the shadows from the forest and said, “It’s going to be dark shortly. I don’t think he’ll do anything today. He’ll wait until tomorrow. Let’s back out and see if the Moet are around.”

“We know they have to be arriving soon. You would think that if the Jenze were so advanced he would have been warned of their approach.”

Chris nodded and said, “That’s true, but if the Moet have been at war with them for a long time, they have probably developed a strategy that works. Let’s take a look.”

The view moved out from the planet and passed the moon that was located to the right of their point of view. Jillian said, “Stop!”

“What?”

“Can you move over to the moon? Move the view down to the lower right hand corner just where the edge of light meets the dark edge.”

Chris moved the view in closer and as the surface of the moon grew larger, he saw them. Two Moet ships were in the middle of a crater. Chris looked at Jillian, “How did you see them? There’s no way you could have seen them.”

“I thought about how you avoided the Moet scanner by jumping in with the Earth between you and the scanner’s location. I just looked for a place where they could place an object between themselves and the incoming Jenze ship. Since the Jenze came in from above the planet, they would have to have been on the southern portion of the moon.”

Chris took a deep breath and said, “You are wise beyond your years, grasshopper.”

“Oh, so now you’re using old Kung Fu movies dialogue.”

“You know about them. I thought I was the only one that watched them.”

Jillian giggled, “One of the Alpha Agents used the term when I flipped him, so I looked it up and found those old TV programs. I loved them.”

Chris held up his hand and Jillian high fived him. “Ok, Jillian, do we need to stay here?”

Jillian looked at Chris and said, “I’m here to get a Jenze weapon. I need to see if any opportunity presents itself. We know that whatever is going to happen is going to happen very close to impact. Let’s move forward to the day of the impact and record what happens. If there’s not an opportunity, we’ll go home.”

Chris nodded and began adjusting the stardrive.

Chris and Jillian stared at the display and watched a split screen. The Moet ships had not moved and were still parked on the moon. One half of the screen was focused on the Moets. The other half was focused on the Jenze who was standing next to his ship.

Jillian said, “Something has to start happening. The impact is only an hour out.”

Chris stared at the display and said, “The Jenze is looking for something.” Jillian watched and the Jenze went inside the ship and came out with a flat board that was half again as tall as the Jenze and as wide as its body. The Jenze reached back in the ship and pulled out a device that he slung over his shoulder. Jillian sat up straighter and watched the Jenze as it sat down on the board. It lifted him above the ship. The Jenze pointed his hand at the ship and the port closed. “The Moets are doing something.”

Jillian looked at the bottom half of the display and saw large ports opening in the sides of the grey ships. She looked back and saw the Jenze had flown to the border of the forest at the end of the ridgeline and landed the board. It stepped off the board, took the device from its shoulder, and moved into the edge of the forest. Chris smiled, “The Jenze is going hunting. I bet he wants to bag a T-Rex. That is a Jenze weapon on his shoulder.”

Jillian nodded, looked back at the Moet ships, and saw six small ships zoom out of the ports and head toward the planet, “They’ve been watching the Jenze, waiting for this opportunity.” Chris nodded. They watched as the ships screamed through the atmosphere headed toward the Jenze ship. Jillian stared at the forest where the Jenze had entered and saw it come running out of the tree line. It must have received a warning from its ship that the Moet had been detected. Just as it arrived at the board a Moet attack craft came roaring in and fired at the board, destroying it. The Jenze raised the long device and aimed it at the attack craft as it flew away. A bright red beam shot out, hit the small Moet craft, and disintegrated it. The Jenze began running toward his ship eight hundred yards away. Three of the Moet attack craft came roaring in on the Jenze ship and began firing. Instantly three bright red beams shot out from the small Jenze ship and vaporized the three attackers. The Jenze continued to run, and saw one of the small grey attack craft come zooming toward him. He stopped, raised the weapon, and fired on the ship, destroying it. Chris and Jillian stood up from their chairs. The Jenze was so preoccupied with the attacking craft that he never saw the T-Rex come charging in behind him. The giant carnivore snapped its massive jaws around the Jenze and bit him in half. The T-Rex then shook the dead Jenze and the upper half fell to the ground. The sole remaining Moet attack craft turned and accelerated up into the atmosphere. Chris and Jillian sat down and watched as the ground grew dark. Three minutes later the asteroid hit and the view disappeared in a blinding flash.

Chris looked at Jillian and knew she was going to do something stupid. “You can’t go after that shoulder weapon.”

Jillian looked at him with a sad expression and said, “I have to try. The ship and that weapon both fired the same color beam. They are made from the same technology. I have to try.”

“There’s not enough time. There’s less than a four minute window. There’s no way you can do it.”

“Rewind the video back to the T-Rex attack and slow it down.”

Chris took a deep breath and ran it back. They watched as the Jenze was bitten and Jillian said, “Freeze it there.” They brought the view in closer and they saw the Jenze release the weapon as he was lifted in the jaws that had killed him. They followed the weapon as it fell to the ground next to a yellow colored bush.

“Jillian, there’s not enough time.”

Jillian took Chris’ hands in hers, “What do you think the Moet were doing here?”

“They were attempting to get a Jenze weapon. I can see that, but that flyer was as close as you can get and it broke off because it knew there wasn’t enough time.”

“It was flying away from the Jenze and it didn’t have time to turn around and come back. I can exit the screen as soon as the weapon falls, land close by, and retrieve it. I’ll land the Ninja so it’s pointed back toward the field. Then I’ll set the ship to lift automatically as soon as I step back on board.”

“What about that T-Rex?”

“You saw it go into the forest to finish its meal.” Jillian looked at Chris and said, “This weapon could be the difference between survival for mankind or extinction. You know I’m right. I’ve known I was coming here as soon as I read the tablet saying a Jenze ship was destroyed on our planet. I have to try, and you have to help me.”

Chris looked at her and said, “You know if that Moet attack craft turns and comes back after you and is killed in the process, then everything could be changed in future events.”

Jillian took a deep breath, “I know. It would change history, and being this far back in time, it could have a domino effect into the future. Even so, I have to try.”

“Jillian, I don’t want to lose you.”

“Why, Chris?”

“Because I love you more than my own life.”

Jillian put her arms around his neck and pulled him close. Jillian cried because she knew how much Chris had lost in his life already, and now if she died she knew it would be more than he could bear. She almost said no when she heard him say, “We just have to make damn sure you run as fast as that day you took me to the tablet.”

She knew what it took for him to give in, and she vowed she was not going to die. “We’ll back out twenty four hours and set it up for tomorrow.”

He nodded and she said, “Tonight I want to be with you.” He looked into her eyes and picked her up and walked off the bridge.

Chris sat at his control board and focused on the Jenze as he took the board and weapon out of his ship. “Jillian, we’re fifteen minutes from launch. Are you ready?”

“I have your view on the Ninja’s display. I will be moving forward in ten minutes to the edge of the sensor field.”

“Are you sure you’ll go into the past?”

“Yes, I am. I will open a window that will remain open until you change the view. You must hold position while I’m there or I’ll never make it back.”

“I will. I’ll hold it open until hell freezes over if necessary.”

Jillian smiled, “Don’t worry, Darling. This is going to turn out ok.”

“Just hurry.”

“I will.”

Chris picked up his tablet and looked at the Ninja’s controls. He was glad he had the command protocols downloaded, and he saw that Jillian’s field was now active and surrounding the Ninja. “God, please help her come back to me. Please.” He knew that the Ninja’s force field and weapons were off to prevent the last Moet craft from sensing them. He removed the protocol requiring the three second red button to activate the weapons.

Jillian watched as the Jenze entered the forest’s edge and saw the Moet attack craft as it came roaring in. The yellow bush was directly in front of her ship, no more than a hundred yards away in her display. She set the Ninja’s auto-pilot and moved to the rear port, watching on her tablet. She held the remote in her hand and waited for what she knew was coming.

Chris watched the T-Rex attack the Jenze and turn to go back into the forest. Then he saw the Ninja disappear from beside the Cheops. It reappeared in the clearing, rotated rapidly, and landed. He watched as Jillian emerged from the ship and started searching for the Jenze weapon. He had another display with a wider view of the area Jillian had landed. As she circled the yellow bush, he glanced at the other display and his heart went into his throat. The T-Rex had returned for the top half of the meal it had left behind, and was staring at Jillian. He watched as Jillian found the weapon and turn to run back to the Ninja. She wasn’t going to make it. The T-Rex was moving at full charge and would get to her first. He grabbed his tablet and pushed auto.

Jillian couldn’t find the weapon. She knew it had to be here. She circled the bush and saw it stuck under the bottom in the yellow branches. She wrenched it free and sprinted toward the Ninja. That’s when she saw the T-Rex bearing down on her and knew she wasn’t going to make it. Her first thought was overwhelming sadness at what she had done to Chris. Then she heard a whine and a bright white beam shot out from the Ninja and blew the T-Rex’s head off knocking the body ten yards away. Jillian saw the ground getting darker. She dove into the Ninja’s port and pressed her remote.

Chris watched as the asteroid came screaming in and knew it was going to be close. He hit the weightless button on the tablet and the Ninja shot off the display faster than he could see. He hit the weightless button on the Cheops just as a giant explosion of fire, molten rock, and dust shot out of the screens slamming into the Cheops. He slammed the power button on the screen emitters just as the Cheops was hit by the onrushing explosive material.

Jillian rolled into the Ninja’s entry port and hit her remote. She rolled to the back wall as the Ninja accelerated at high velocity, then she noticed on her remote that the ship had been shifted to weightless. Chris must have enabled the weapons to kill the Tyrannosaurus and put the ship into weightless mode for it to escape. She jumped up, ran to the bridge, and enabled her boards. She brought the Ninja to a full stop and turned it around. The Sensors came on line and she saw a huge black and red cloud expanding a hundred thousand miles in front of her, “Oh no! The explosion followed her through the screen. She scanned for the Cheops and it was not in her scans. “Chris! Chris! Answer me!” Jillian started sobbing uncontrollably. He had saved her, but she had cut it too close. He was right. There just wasn’t enough time. She accelerated forward and scanned the expanding cloud. Nothing. She put her head in her hands and wailed her grief. Chris, oh Chris, I’m so sorry.

“I hope you have some aspirin. My head is killing me.”

“CHRIS!”

“Hey, not so loud. I banged my head on the board.”

“I’m going to kill you. You’ve scared me to death. I thought I had lost you.”

“Look off to your left.”

Jillian extended the sensors and saw the Cheops three hundred thousand miles away. “What happened?”

I had to hold the view until you were clear and the explosion came roaring out behind you. I shut down the emitters, which turned on the force field. The small part of the blast that made it through the screen pushed me out here.”

“Are you ok?”

“No, I have a cut on my forehead that is messy and I’m light headed. Why don’t you come back? I’ll open the landing bay and lay on the floor. I’m really dizzy.”

“Chris! Chris!” Jillian turned the Ninja and accelerated to the Cheops. She took the Ninja through the port and hit the pressurization signal. She stood at the rear port jumping up and down on her toes for what seemed like forever. Finally the buzzer announced the bay had been pressurized, and she raised the port and sprinted through the ship to the bridge. She found Chris unconscious on the floor with blood starting to pool around his head. She tore off her shirt, pressed it on his forehead, and turned him over. She held it tight against his head and rocked with him in her arms. She looked at his calm face and knew she loved him to the depths of her heart. He had to be all right. She couldn’t go on without him. She held him close and kept pressure on his cut as she gently rocked him in her arms.

She held him for what seemed like hours, but it was only fifteen minutes. She was gently swaying and singing the juke box song softly, “….now with every sweet caress, on my darling how I bless, that little jukebox…”

“You look good without a shirt, Dr. Gordon. Is it that hot in here?”

Jillian looked down and saw his eyes were open. She leaned down and tenderly kissed him. “You knew that blast was going to hit you?”

“Yes, but had to do it.” She lifted the edge of her shirt from his forehead and saw the bleeding had stopped. “How does it look?”

“It’s just above your scalp line. We’re going to have to remove the hair and stitch you up.” Chris gave a heavy sigh. “What’s wrong?”

“Now you won’t love me anymore because I’ve lost my overpowering good looks.”

Jillian smiled and said, “You could cut your whole head off and you’d be the most beautiful person in the world to me.” Jillian looked around and said, “Stay here. I’m going to get the Novocain and stitch you up. I don’t want you trying to stand up yet.” Jillian took her pants off, rolled them up, and put them under his head.

Chris looked at her and smiled, “You must be burning up. However, you are just so beautiful.”

Jillian leaned down, kissed him, and ran to the medical storage room. She put on a scrub suit and a mask. She went through the closet and found what she needed, then returned to the bridge. She found Chris sleeping on the floor. She knew one of the symptoms of a concussion was drowsiness. She would have to keep a close eye on him. She prayed it wasn’t serious. She began injecting the Novocain, and slowly used the surgical gun to remove his hair from around the wound. She then stitched the open wound up and covered it with a bandage. She used a gravity gun to make him weightless, then picked him up and took him to the bed. She undressed him and covered him with a blanket. She stayed by the bed waiting for him.

The Moet attack craft was roaring into the atmosphere when the pilot looked in his rearview scanner and saw a small white ship suddenly appear where the Jenze had been killed. “What the..?” He pushed the craft over and tried to level out to go back, but then the asteroid struck so he pulled the nose up and hit full acceleration. The massive cloud of red hot debris shot up into the atmosphere and he saw it was gaining on him. He barely made it out of the atmosphere as the dust from the explosion flew past him. He knew he was dead, but then he saw open space and the two main ships moving toward the planet. “I’m going to send you a recording of something that happened.”

“What is it?”

“I’m not sure. But whatever it was, it’s been destroyed.”

Christopher woke and opened his eyes. He saw Jillian lying on the bed beside him asleep, and he reached up and felt his head. The bandage was there and he knew he must have slept through the stitches. Well, score one for me. His body hurt all over and when he looked up at the ceiling, the room started spinning. He closed his eyes and it stopped. He opened them again and saw Jillian staring at him. “How long have I been out?”

“Only about six hours. You’re coherent, so you must not have had too bad a blow.”

“I feel like my worst hangover ever.”

“Do you want to go to sleep?”

“No, I think I should stay awake. I’m experiencing vertigo, so I don’t think I can stand up.” Jillian looked at him and slowly shook her head. “What?”

“You did all those things to the Cheops and Ninja because you anticipated what would happen. It was the controls on your tablet that saved me. I wondered why you made all of those modifications, but you knew I was going to make the attempt even back on Earth.”

Chris closed his eyes and said, “You do have a way of getting things done your way.”

“That’s true, but you were taking care of me even when I didn’t know it. You saved me.”

“You’re welcome.”

Jillian smiled, “You were also willing to sacrifice yourself as well. I will never question your decisions anymore.”

“Are you saying that if I say no to putting yourself in danger, you’ll listen?”

Jillian smiled, “I will if you will.”

“Hey that’s not fair. You’re one ahead of me. I get at least one to catch up.”

“We’ll see.”

I want to try and stand up.”

“Why?”

“We need to get back. I suppose you retrieved that Jenze blaster?”

Jillian jumped up, “I completely forgot about it. It’s on the Ninja.”

“Hey, where ya going?”

“To bring it to the bridge. I’ll also bring the gravity gun to make sure you don’t fall.”

“That’s a good idea.”

Hemon and Sasha were on board the EG Ship Alexandria headed out toward the orbit of Neptune. They were still thirty minutes away traveling at three quarter light speed, and he was going there to trial the new communications system. “Dolly, we’re approaching the orbit of Neptune. Do you still have a good contact?”

“You’re coming through loud and clear. I’m amazed that you’re almost four light hours from us and we’re communicating with no loss of time.”

“I guess if you trick the universe, there are things that can go faster than light.”

“We still need to know if it will work in Sierra Space. Check in with us before you jump out.”

“I will.” Sasha looked at Hemon and flipped on the force field. “Why did you do that?”

“Because you never know when an enemy ship might show up. Out here there’ll be less warning if they do appear.”

“You’re right. Thanks for being on your toes.” Hemon watched his board and saw that they had crossed the orbit of Neptune by six thousand miles. “Dolly, we’re jumping.”

“Go ahead. As soon as you’re out of normal space, give us a call.”

Hemon hit the jump button and the Alexandria disappeared. Green featureless space surrounded them and Hemon looked back and saw the green space was boiling and turning in on itself. “Dolly, we’re out.”

“Well, it looks like the system works. There is no measureable delay in your transmissions.”

Hemon looked at Sasha and said over the communicator, “We’re going back into normal space and come home.”

“Good idea. Hustle and we’ll meet for dinner.”

“Keep it warm.” Hemon hit the jump button and the small ship disappeared from Sierra Space.

Out in deep space between the galaxies a giant blue ship stopped, spun, and turned a broad dish shaped structure on its surface toward a distant galaxy. It spun again and turned it toward another galaxy. The ship began rotating rapidly searching for the source of the signal it was receiving. Nothing. The giant ship continued to receive the signal intermittently but could not determine the place it originated. It seemed to fill the universe. The huge dish turned back toward a distant galaxy and a message was sent. Somewhere there was a competitor.

Chapter Thirteen

Chris sat in his command chair and held his head for a moment.

“Do you want me to drive?”

“No, I need you on the weapons console.”

Jillian looked up from her board and stared at him, “Why would you want that?”

“I need to know what the heart of the Alliance is really like.”

“That’s why you wanted to tell that Alliance Commander that we were going after a Jenze weapon?”

“Yes, and they may not be cooperative when we return.”

Jillian turned her display back to the recording of the Alliance Battleship, “That’s a huge ship. Can we stand up to it?”

“It appears to have the same beam weapons as the ship we captured. As long as we don’t just sit and allow them to hit us continuously, we should be fine. I know we can outrun them.”

“We could just not go back that way.”

“It would make it much more difficult to get home. I took my readings there from outside the galaxy. We should go back to that place.”

Jillian smiled, “You mean, we must go back to that place?”

“That’s what I said.” Chris looked at his board and looked out the viewport at the cloud of dark gas drifting in open space between galaxies, “Someday someone is going to stumble across this cloud and wonder how it could have gotten out here. It is going to drive them crazy.”

“Kinda like Puma Punku did to us.”

Chris nodded and said, “We’re going straight to the location where I took those readings. Are you ready?”

“Do you want the force field on?”

“No, I don’t want them to know we have one. Just keep your scanners active and if the energy level goes up in their hull, activate it.” Jillian nodded. “All right, jump in 5,4,3,2,1, 0.”

The Cheops disappeared.

Six weeks had passed, and L’grae waited in his chair. He wondered if the strange ship had been destroyed, but decided that it was the only hope for his ship’s salvation. He had to wait; otherwise he and his crew were lost. He wondered several times where the ship was going to get a Jenze weapon. The ship had jumped out toward the open space between galaxies. Could they have found a Jenze ship?

“Sir, we have a ship breaking back into normal space.”

L’grae sat up straight and stared at his display. YES! It was the ship. He nodded toward his communications officer, and then raised his hand to the Weapons Officer to be ready. Both of them nodded. “Welcome back. I was beginning to wonder whether or not you were still alive.”

“You’re still waiting. Did my readings help you?”

“Immensely. We found what we needed at the first location. Did you find what you were searching for?”

“Yes we did. Will you excuse me a moment? I need to take a reading to return home.”

L’grae dropped his hand and the huge silver battleship rushed up close to the small white ship. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to require you to hand the weapon over.”

“Why is that?”

“Because the Alliance will welcome us back as heroes if we bring it to them.”

“You’ll only strengthen their hold over your worlds. You won’t be helping your families.”

“Even so.”

“What will you do if we refuse to give it to you?”

“I don’t want to fire on your ship, but I will.”

“You could destroy the weapon. Then what?”

“Don’t think I won’t do it. We’ll just go back to the civilization you led us to and become the rulers of the planet.”

“What?!?”

“It’s almost funny. What are the odds that the very first set of readings you gave us was to a planet that was civilized? They had rudimentary space flight, but no stardrive. We had to destroy a couple of their cities, but they gave us what we wanted; just like you will if you want to live.” L’grae waited, but there was silence. He knew the being on the other ship was still there; the connection was still solid on his board.

“Sir, a force field has just powered up around that ship.”

L’grae didn’t want to destroy the ship and endanger the Jenze weapon, but he had to stop the ship from jumping, “Weapons, hit the engines.”

A bright beam shot out from the Alliance ship and hit the small white ship in the tail. The beam was stopped. L’grae was shocked that a small ship could have a screen that would stop his most powerful beam. “Hit it with four beams!”

The four beams lashed out, and again were stopped. Then L’grae realized that the small ship could have jumped away by now but didn’t. That scared him, “Fire all weapons.”

Eight beams at a time fired on the small ship as the battleship rotated, and thirty missiles launched at the ship which looked like it was in the middle of a huge explosion. He continued to fire, then heard over his panel, “I’ve been sitting here thinking about just how evil the Alliance must be to have created people like you. I was going to let you go in peace, but after telling me your plans to enslave an innocent civilization, I realize I can’t.”

The bridge crew watched the small ship absorb their fire without any obvious damage. L’grae looked at his Navigator, “Get us out of here!” He reached for his panel but he was too late. A blinding white beam shot out, penetrated their force field, and hit their ship in the tenth deck just above the engines. It went right through the stardrive.

The Navigator yelled, “They’ve hit the stardrive! Now they’ve hit the engines!”

L’grae knew his ship was dead in space. It wasn’t going anywhere. He jumped back on his communicator and yelled, “Can’t we negotiate this?”

L’grae waited, then heard, “Just like you negotiated with the cities you destroyed? I hate what you represent, but most of all I hate you for soiling my soul for having to remove you.”

L’grae watched the bright white beam flash in and knew it was targeted on the reactors and weapon’s storage. His last thought was that at least his family was being cared for by the state.

Chris and Jillian watched the giant silver ship explode and scatter debris out in all directions. Chris said, “I’m so sorry. I thought we could just let them go their way.”

Jillian stared at her display, “You have nothing to be sorry for, my Love. I actually feel better knowing that we have saved a civilization from that scum. I’ll actually sleep better knowing there’s one less monster loose in the galaxy.” Jillian turned to Chris, “How about you? Are you going to be ok?”

Chris shrugged, “Well, putting it that way, I have to agree. At least we now know why the Moet and Alliance are fighting.”

“Why is that?”

“Neither one of them could ever trust the word of the other. I don’t see how there can ever be any peace between us and them.”

Jillian shrugged, “Well, let’s go home.”

“We’ll be there momentarily. Hang on.”

Jillian looked at Chris and saw him struggling to see the controls on his board. Then she saw his face was white. “Chris, lie back in you chair. I’ll take us in from here.”

Chris felt the room start to swim, and he reclined his chair. His head hurt unmercifully, and Jillian could see the pain on his face. After a moment he passed out and Jillian saw his arms fall from the sides of his chair. She ran over and belted him in, then raced back to her board and hit the jump button. Two seconds later the Cheops appeared just outside the disruption in Sierra Space that surrounded Earth’s solar system. She hit the board and the Cheops emerged back into normal space just outside Neptune’s orbit. Immediately a small white ship flashed up and she heard on her speaker, “Welcome back. This is the EG ship Melbourne. I hope your trip was successful.”

“I have an emergency medical situation. I have an injured crew member and I’ve got to get him to a hospital.

“I’ll notify them you’re on your way.”

“How are you going to do that?”

“We can now communicate faster than light. “

“Let them know.” Jillian went weightless, hit full thrusters, and the Cheops instantly approached light speed.

Dolly, George, Hemon, and Sasha were discussing the list of new ships when the communications channel came on. “Fleet control. We have a medical Emergency. I repeat, a medical emergency. The Cheops has arrived and is returning at high speed. Dr. Gordon notified me that one of her crewmembers is injured and will need to be taken to a hospital immediately upon arrival.”

Dolly’s face turned white, “Oh my God, it’s Chris.” She hit the panel and interrupted the call. She yelled, “Attention Melbourne; did Dr. Gordon say what the nature of the emergency was?”

“No Sir, she did not. She sounded like it was serious, and she left at light speed.”

“How fast did you say?”

“My instruments said 92% light speed.”

Dolly hit her communicator, “Ben, Jillian is coming in at light speed from Neptune. She notified our picket that Chris is seriously injured and needs to be taken to a hospital. Get a ship up there to meet her.”

“I’m on it, Dolly.”

Jeff came over and took Dolly in his arms, “He’ll be ok. Just hold on, he’ll be ok.”

George saw his sister’s fear approach panic, so he said, “You need to focus on getting everything ready for him. Don’t lose yourself to your fear.”

Dolly looked at George and nodded. She grabbed Jeff’s hand, and they ran from the room. The three left behind looked at each other, then ran after her.

Jeff lifted the Jukebox and went vertical into the atmosphere. The other four occupants were belted in and saw the atmosphere rushing by the viewports. Hemon yelled at Dolly over the roar of the engines, “Why is Jillian coming in so fast?”

“She’s using relativity to help Chris.” Dolly saw that Hemon was puzzled by her remark. She said, “You know that it takes light four hours to reach the orbit of Neptune?

Hemon nodded.

“Well, that means she will arrive in four hours. General Keenan is lifting the hospital ship Margaret Thatcher into orbit and should have it done within two hours. He’s taking the Thatcher because its landing bay is big enough for the Cheops to dock. The Lady Gabriella is a newer ship, but it’s too small.”

Sasha asked, “Do you always name your hospital ships after heads of state?”

“Yes, we do. Gabriella was a great President and deserving of the having the ship named to honor her memory. However, I was telling you about why she’s coming in at light speed.” Dolly stopped and said, “What?” Jeff said something and she nodded.

Dolly turned back to Hemon, “It appears that she is going over the top of the planetary plane to get here. I’m sure she wants to avoid the asteroid belt. Anyway, for those of us waiting on her, four hours will pass. However, as any physical object approaches light speed, time for anyone traveling at that speed will slow down.”

Sasha furrowed her brow, “You mean it will take them longer.”

“No, it will take them a much shorter period. As the Cheops gets close to light speed, time changes. The trip for those on the ship will only be five minutes instead of four hours. She is seeing Earth getting closer extremely fast. She’s doing it to save Chris. On that ship, only five minutes will pass to make the trip. Out here, four hours will pass. She reduces the time it takes to arrive by using relativity, and thus reduces the time Chris takes to receive medical help.”

Jillian was flying the Cheops using the manual controls. She pulled back on the steering wheel and the Cheops moved over Saturn and roared toward the inner Solar System. She looked at the sensors and saw Jupiter off to the right as she zoomed past its orbit. Ordinarily it would have been impossible to see anything, but Chris’ device gathered the light they were rushing into and focused it into a coherent picture. She looked at her display and pulled up the current locations of the planets, seeing that Earth was ascending toward Mars. She saw Mars pass below her, and she banked the Cheops to the left and set the sensors for Earth. She saw it further to the left and she had to bank away from the sun. She had crossed Earth’s orbit and she pulled back on the steering wheel as she turned the ship. Earth was getting larger by the second, so she pulled back on the speed control and saw her display was adjusting for the radical drop in speed. She slowed to a thousand miles a second and heard on her speaker, “Jillian, this is Dolly. The hospital ship Margaret Thatcher is holding station over the equator. We’ve been notified you are coming in from the west, so look for us over Mexico as you approach. The landing bay is open and a weak force field is maintaining air pressure in the bay.”

“I see you. I’ll be there in a minute.”

The Cheops roared up and Jillian pulled the speed lever back to zero. The Cheops came to a sudden stop. Jillian added mass and started applying thrusters. The Cheops moved into the landing bay, and Jillian deployed the four landing gears. Jillian added more mass, and the Cheops settled to the deck. She hit the port button and the right rear door opened to the eight waiting technicians. They rushed up to the bridge as Jillian was releasing the belts holding Chris in his chair. Right behind them, Dolly and Jeff rushed in and saw Chris with the large bandage on his head. She looked at Jillian and she started crying.

“He was injured saving my life. It’s my fault.”

Dolly came over and gave her a hug, “He’ll be ok. Just hold on; he’ll be ok.”

The technicians placed Chris on a gravity stretcher and rushed out of the bridge. “I’ve got to go with him.” Dolly nodded, and they followed the technicians out of the ship.

Jeff went over to Chris’ command chair and punched in his ID. The board blinked and he pulled up the recordings of what had happened. Jeff remained on the bridge for the next three days making copies of the database. When he saw what Chris had done to save Jillian he knew he had not given Dr. Connor the respect he was due. The sheer bravery of what he had done made Jeff remember his medal. He knew that this action was remarkable, and he knew for certain that Dr. Connor was in love with Dr. Gordon. He knew from viewing the recording that Chris expected to die. He could see it in his eyes as he held the screen in place for Jillian to escape as the huge explosion rushed at him. He was not going to allow her to be harmed, even if it cost him his life. He thought about his love for Dolly and knew what Dr. Connor had been feeling. There weren’t many people that had earned Jeff’s respect, but now Dr. Connor had entered their ranks. He now understood Dolly’s love for the wacky professor, and it made him feel better. He was not a competitor; he was a brother. Jeff smiled and prayed for Chris’ survival.

Ben was outside the operating room in his scrubs talking to Jillian, Dolly and George. “He has a blood clot in his brain and we can’t get to it. We know there is a slow leak somewhere around the clot, but we can’t seal it unless we remove the existing clot.”

Jillian made herself remain calm, “Can you go in and remove it?”

“Not without permanent brain damage. We’ve been able to get a micro needle into the clot but we can’t pull the clot out. It’s just too thick.”

George listened as Jillian and Dolly asked questions and after ten minutes said, “Doctor, I want to try something. How big is the hole through the needle?”

“It’s smaller than a human hair.”

“Give me thirty minutes before you do anything. Can you do that?”

“Not much longer than that. We’ll see permanent damage if we don’t act soon.”

Dolly looked at George, “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t have time to explain.” George ran out of the hallway.

Jillian collapsed to a bench and put her head in her hands. “He stayed alive long enough to get me home. He refused to give in to his pain until he knew I was safe.”

Dolly put her arm on Jillian’s shoulders and hugged her, “If George is going to try something, there’s hope.”

Jillian looked up at Dolly, “I hope he’s as smart as you say he is, Dolly.”

‘Jillian, he’s smarter than you can believe.”

Ben stood over Chris and remembered his first encounter with the professor. His quick wit and courage had impressed him then, and his actions since had gained his admiration. He watched the clot growing incrementally and George had yet to come back. He was going to have to go in to try and save his life. He reached for a bone drill when he heard, “I’m here! I’m here!”

Ben saw George come in holding a long device with a trigger on it, “What is that?”

“I’ll explain later. Can you inject some dye into that clot that will make it glow on an x-ray?”

Ben nodded to his first assistant, and he put a syringe on the needle in Chris’ brain and pushed two cc’s slowly through it. He pulled the scanner over the bed and turned on the discharge element. They looked up at the monitor on the wall and saw the clot.

George brought his device forward and put the tiny end of it into the opening in the needle, “I’m going to hit that clot with a positive gravity beam. It will be set for a minimum spread and I need you to tell me when the clot disappears completely from the monitor.”

Ben nodded, and George pulled the trigger. George focused on keeping the device absolutely still as Ben watched the monitor. After a minute he saw the center of the clot disappear, then the outer edges began dimming. “It’s gone.”

George released the trigger and said, “Turn him over on his side and withdraw the needle.”

“We need that needle to guide us in, George.”

George looked Ben in the eye and said, “Would you want to live with brain damage?”

Ben stared at him, then after a moment shook his head.

“Well, neither would he. Pull the needle.”

Ben almost refused, but then reached forward and pulled the needle out.

“Get a bag and put it over the hole.”

Ben reached and pulled a surgical bag off the table and placed it over the tiny hole. He held it there and wondered what was going on. For five minutes nothing happened, and he knew that Dr. Connor was going to die. Then….something started lifting the bag. He held it down and looked at George.

“Those blood cells are now being pushed by Earth’s gravity field. They are breaking apart into their atoms and attempting to rise.”

Ben felt the bag and felt something in it. Turn on the x-ray.” The display showed the clot was gone. Ben said, “Go in closer to the area at the top.” He looked at the display and saw where the small leak was located. “Hit it now!”

The three assistants aimed their radiation beams at the location, and Ben pressed the button that fired all three simultaneously. The tiny break in the blood vessel fused shut.

George said, “Move him from side to side gently. The cells are moving toward any exit they can find.”

Ben assigned the task of holding the bag to a nurse, and saw the bag was standing straight up on Chris’ head. They held it there for two hours and George said, “Ok, I think that’s long enough.” He took the attachment off the gravity gun, lifted the bag, and fired into it. The bag fell. Ben looked inside and saw a blood clot forming in the bottom. He looked up at George and said, “You have just revolutionized the treatment of concussions.”

George looked at Chris and said, “I’m sorry I didn’t think of it sooner. Is he going to be all right?”

Ben looked at Chris and shook his head, “I don’t really know. We’ll see.” He looked around the room and said, “Get him ready to transfer down to New York.” The staff lifted Chris to a gravity stretcher and began hooking up mobile monitors to him. They lifted the stretcher and began moving him out of the operating room.

Jillian and Dolly jumped up when the door opened, and Jillian saw Chris being taken away. Dolly held her as she tried to rush forward, then they saw Ben and George come out. Jillian looked at Ben with her hand on her throat, unable to say anything.

“We don’t know. The clot is gone. George was magnificent, but I don’t know if any damage was done before we removed it.”

Jillian rushed up to George and hugged him tight. George looked very uncomfortable but lowered his arms and gave her a small hug. “Thank you, thank you.”

“Not yet. I don’t know if it worked?”

“There was no hope, but now there is. Thank you, George!”

George smiled, “You’re welcome.”

Ben nodded up the hall and said, “You may want to go with him.”

Jillian released George and ran up the hall.

Dolly watched her go and looked at Ben. “Dolly, I honestly don’t know. I don’t understand how he stayed conscious as long as he did after the injury. He should have been unconscious with that big a clot in his brain.”

Dolly looked up the hall as Jillian turned the corner, “Love kept him awake long enough to bring her back home, Ben, and love will bring him back.”

George looked at his sister and was surprised. She was right. He looked up the hall and wished he could feel what Chris and Jillian had.

Dolly watched her older brother and saw his thoughts as if they were her own. I’ll have to work on that.

A giant yellow colored creature moved slowly down the hallway and entered a wide round portal in the wall. It moved deliberately with smooth motions as it exited the portal, progressing into a huge room where six other yellow beings were sitting around a large table. It didn’t have legs. Its body was a nine foot tall cylinder that seemed to just glide over the floor. The Cylinder had a large round ball on top that was smooth and featureless. It approached the table and waited. After a week, one of the yellow creatures directed a thought at it, “Why are you here?”

“One of our vessels has detected someone using a vibratory frequency.”

All six beings turned their attention to the Messenger.

“Where did it originate?”

“We don’t know.”

“Why do you not know?”

“It is omidirectional. It is everywhere.”

One of the beings at the table said, “That is an advance of our system.”

“It appears you are right. This is troublesome.”

“Should we delay our plans until we find the source?”

The six linked their thoughts and considered what should be done. The Messenger waited patiently, and a month later it heard, “We will delay momentarily. Put all of our assets into finding the source.”

The tall cylinder turned and glided out of the room. The two million ships preparing to invade were stopped and made to hold their position just outside the Milky Way Galaxy.

Jillian sat beside Chris’ bed and held his hand as the ship dropped through the atmosphere headed toward Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

She gently rubbed his hair as she stared at his face. The ship bucked slightly as it hit turbulence, and she gripped the headboard. “You would think they could fly better than this.”

Jillian jerked and saw Chris looking at her. She screamed and started kissing him all over his face. “Hey, hey, not so hard!” Jillian felt her tears and didn’t care. Chris saw her crying and said, “I was just kidding. You can kiss me all you want.”

The nurse rushed in the room when she heard Jillian scream and heard Chris’ remark. She smiled and gently closed the door.

Chris watched Jillian continue to cry and said, “What’s wrong?”

Jillian looked at him with a huge smile, “Nothing now.”

Chris looked around, “I guess we made it back.”

Jillian leaned forward and gently kissed him. She pulled back a little and smiled, “We have now.” Then she continued her kiss.

Dolly was talking with Ben when he reached up to his ear. She watched as he listened and said, “Keep me informed.” He looked at Dolly and smiled, “He’s conscious and talking.”

Dolly jumped up, grabbed Ben’s neck, and kissed him on the mouth.

“What’s that for?”

“You saved his life. I owe you.”

Ben smiled and went back into the operating room to review the tapes. Dolly turned and sprinted down the hall.

Chapter Fourteen

Chris sat in the hospital room and was ready to leave. He was bored to tears and the food was starting to taste bland. Two weeks was enough and he was itching to get out and back to work. Jillian listened to his complaints and patiently waited until he ran down. “Are you finished?”

Chris looked at her with an expression that said he was over it, and said, “No, I’m Swedish.”

Jillian giggled, “That’s a good one. We have one more person to check you out, and then you can go.”

“Will you please hurry them up? I’m dying for a hamburger. Two weeks is too long. I should have been released five days ago.”

The door opened and Chris saw President Suh enter. He tried to stand up, but the covers had him pinned. “Don’t get up. I just wanted to stop by and see how you were doing.”

“I’m eager to get back to work, Sir.”

Suh smiled and looked at Jillian, “The two of you have made quite an impact on the planet.”

Chris looked at Jillian and she nodded.

“Why do you say that, Sir?”

“We’ve released the recordings of the acquisition of the Jenze weapon. The T-Rex made the recordings the number one viewed on You Tube. The fight with the Alliance Battleship also topped the charts.”

“Why did you release those?”

Suh sat down on a chair and sighed, “Humanity needs to know what we’re up against, and we need everyone working together. Those recordings have done just that. Now I’m going to ask you to do some things for me.”

Chris glanced at Jillian and saw her nod.

“I am drafting you into the Earth Government’s Navy.”

“Sir, I must respectfully decline. I am not the military type.”

Suh looked at Jillian and said, “Oh? I thought you might have wanted to serve on the same ship as Dr. Gordon. I’m sorry I wasted your time.”

“Wait a minute! What do you mean?”

“Only military personnel may serve on our warships, and Jillian is going to be on one of our newer ships. She is already in the military, so it won’t be an issue for her.”

Chris looked at Jillian, “You’re in the military?”

“I never told you?”

Chris shook his head.

“I’m a Commodore in the Navy.”

Chris stared at Jillian and said, “Here I go again.” He looked at Suh and said, “Sign me up. I do hope you’ll allow me to teach again after this is settled.”

Suh smiled and nodded then pulled out a document and said, “Please sign here,” indicating a line at the bottom, and handed Chris a pen. Chris looked up at Jillian who nodded, and he sighed and signed.

“Good. Welcome aboard, Admiral.”

Chris said, “What?”

Jillian smiled and said, “You have been given the overall command of our fleet of warships. You outrank me.”

“Does that mean I can order you around now?”

Jillian smiled, “Absolutely.”

Suh chuckled and said, “I also have a little something for you.” He reached in his pocket, and suddenly fifteen photographers rushed into the room as Suh said, “In recognition of your bravery above and beyond the call of duty, I award you the Solar Sun, our highest award for valor, and thank you on behalf of our citizens for your outstanding contributions to our safety.”

Flashbulbs were firing like strobe lights and Chris was yelling, “I don’t deserve it! Jillian deserves it more than I do!”

Jillian leaned down and pulled a Solar Sun out from her top, “I have my own, thank you.”

Chris saw the medal and started laughing, shaking his head.

Suh asked, “What’s so funny?”

“I never had a chance, did I?”

Suh shook his head, “Of course not. We need you.”

Dolly stuck her head in and said, “Ok, we have two hours until opening ceremonies.”

The photographers rushed out of the room. Chris watched them leave and looked at Jillian, “Opening ceremonies?”

“Yes, I’ve got to go get ready. Jeff, Hemon, and George will be here momentarily to assist you.”

“Assist me do what?”

“You don’t remember?”

“Remember what?!?”

“That blow to the head must have affected your memory; we’re getting married in two hours. You did say as soon as we came back.” Chris stared at her with wide eyes. “You do still want me?”

Chris said, “I do..”

Jillian interrupted, “Just remember those two words. Gotta go.” She left the room just as Jeff came in and said, “All right, get up. We have to get you dressed.”

Chris was stunned at the speed that things were happening. Jeff said, “Come on. We need to hurry.”

Chris got up and followed Jeff out of the room. Jeff glanced at him and said, “You might want to pick up a towel on your way out.”

“Why?”

“Your backside is hanging out of that hospital gown.”

Chris stopped and reached around, “Oh my…” He grabbed two large towels off a cart and followed Jeff out of the hospital and into a waiting limo as he held the towel around him.

The next two hours were a blur. He was rushed to the tailor, then the spa where his hair was done, then he was shaved and bathed. He went back to the tailor to pick up the tux. The whole time Jeff, Hemon, and George were firing questions about the voyage to retrieve the Jenze weapon. Finally he climbed into the Limo and lifted. He was still being barraged by questions, but then he looked down and saw they were landing in Yankee Stadium. “What the…”

“Dolly had trouble finding a place where all those who wanted to attend could fit.”

Chris looked at Jeff with a deeply troubled expression, “I don’t know enough people to fill a large mobile home.”

Jeff smiled, “How about the Tutors?” Chris thought a moment; that was fifteen hundred. “What about your students? And don’t forget your former students. There are also the children at the center you have tutored over the last ten years.”

Chris said, “All right. I didn’t think they would want to attend this far away. It’s costly to travel.”

“Dolly paid for their transportation. All twenty thousand students at your former university are here. They have been given a place of honor on the infield.”

“Then who’s in the stands?”

“Everyone that could get a ticket; most of the world’s leaders are among them.”

“I don’t understand.”

Hemon looked at Chris, “The recording of what you did to save Jillian and how you refused to release the screen before she was safe has been seen by billions. They saw the explosion rushing out of the screen at you, and you did not hit the release. They know how much you loved Jillian in order to sacrifice yourself to save her. They also know you are leading the fight against those who would exterminate us. There are more than a million people gathered around the stadium watching it on monitors. You and Jillian have captured their hearts.”

The Limo landed in the center of the stadium and Chris looked out. “Why have you waited until the last minute to rush me here?” The three looked at each other with a guilty expression. Chris said, “This has Dolly written all over it.”

Jeff sighed and said, “She kept you in the hospital three extra days to get this set up.”

“Why?”

“She was concerned that you might catch an illness.”

“What illness?”

George smiled and said, “Why, cold feet, of course.”

Chris took a deep breath, “I’m starting to feel it now.”

“Then it’s time to get out, Mate, and tell your bride to call it off.”

The limo driver opened the door and Chris stepped out to a huge roar. The three groomsmen joined him and they walked up the steps to the raised platform. Jeff took him to a spot where an X was on the floor, and stood Chris on it. A large luxury limo came down to the head of the path leading through the crowd and landed. Hemon and George left the stage while Jeff stayed at Chris’s side.

“Are you the best man?”

“I begged Dolly for the opportunity.”

“Why, Jeff?”

“I saw what you did, too. I consider it an honor to fulfill this duty. There are few that I would follow into battle, Chris. I will follow you anywhere.”

Chris looked at Jeff and saw he meant it. He held out his hand and Jeff shook it. “I know who you are, Jeff. I couldn’t have chosen anyone better than you.” Chris turned back to the field and saw Sasha come out of the limo and put her hand on Hemon’s arm. They began the walk to the raised platform. Dolly came out next and gave her hand to George. They moved toward the platform. Chris looked at Jeff and said, “Those are two of the most beautiful people I have ever seen.”

Jeff only had eyes for Dolly, “Yes they are.”

Then the ancient music started, and everyone stood. Chris was nervous and wondered if he was ready for this. Marriage, responsibility, loss of freedom, and possibly a family; this was frightening. It was a huge change in his life. Then Jillian stepped out of the limo and his fears evaporated like water on the sun. Her beauty stunned him, and her look toward him melted him. He didn’t want another moment in his life without her in it. Her hair was up and her blue eyes were only on him. The wedding dress was incredible, and fit her perfectly. He was so unbelievably lucky to have her, and he knew his parents would have loved her. Jillian started her walk with her father. Arnold held his daughter’s arm and knew she was going to be taken care of and protected by the brave man on the stage. He felt sadness at realizing she had grown up and was no longer a little girl. But he was proud of the fine young woman she had become.

The newscasters covering the wedding were amazed at how beautiful Jillian was, and millions of the young women watching the ceremony decided they would have that same dress and have their hair done the same way on their wedding day. Her hair became known as the “Jillian Doo.”

Jillian exited the Limo, took her father’s arm, and saw Chris standing on the platform. His expression at seeing her filled her heart, and she couldn’t wait to get to him. She felt her heart grow with every step toward him and knew Daniel would be happy for her this day. She was amazed at how quickly he had taken her heart, even though he had not really tried. He didn’t press her or come on to her. He had simply been himself and allowed her to see him for who he really was. After getting to know him, she understood what so many of the coeds had made passes at him. He was, without trying, the sexiest man she had ever known simply by not trying to be sexy. She felt her heart beat increase and wanted to hurry this ceremony.

As Jillian started up the stairs, Jeff leaned over and whispered in Chris’ ear, “The ring is made from the material on the Jenze weapon. The stone in the engagement ring is from the lens used to focus that weapon.”

Chris realized he had not given Jillian an engagement ring. He looked over at Dolly who was watching him, knowing what Jeff had just told him. He smiled and mouthed, “Thank you.”

Dolly’s smile lit up her face. Thank God the boys had kept him occupied. If he had been given advance notice, he would have bailed. He never liked the idea of losing his independence. Now she saw the plan had worked. She knew if she could just trap him into seeing Jillian, everything would take care of itself. She looked out in the crowd and saw quite a few of the closest women were staring at George. She knew that with the billions that were viewing the ceremony, George would become a household name. His brilliance coupled with his movie star good looks would attract women that sought a partner to compliment them. She would keep the vast majority away to avoid distracting George, but she knew there was someone out there that would defeat George’s and her defenses. She would be the one for George. She will have to be as smart as her to pull it off. She looked at her brother and saw his happiness for Chris and Jillian. It was so good to have him back. She desperately needed someone he could love to keep him back. Perhaps a suitable candidate could be found.

She turned and looked at Jillian as she walked to Chris, and as Arnold gave her hand to him. She had doubted for a few moments that her manipulations would work, but here they were. She smiled at how easy it was to make love happen by simply putting the right people together at just the right time.

Chris took Jillian’s hands in his and looked her in the eyes, “I love you.”

Jillian smiled as he raised her veil, and they turned to the Priest. The ancient yet new words began, “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here together in the presence of God and Man….”

Chris and Jillian found themselves that day. Their lives became more than they ever thought possible as they gave themselves to each other. Chris would never have another doubt about his decision, and Jillian released the demons that haunted her. They became much more than either one of them was alone. The impact of this joining was going to prove to be vital in the struggle that humanity was beginning to face.

Finally Chris kissed his bride, and they turned to the gathered witnesses to their union. The loud speaker announced, “The first dance will now be done by Chris and Jillian.”

They walked down the steps from the platform. The students to the right lifted their chairs and cleared the dance floor they had been sitting on. The announcer said, “According to a very reliable source, this song is the first song the happy couple danced to.”

Jillian looked at Chris and they heard, “If I didn’t have a dime and I didn’t take the time to play the Jukebox….” Jillian’s heart filled, and she wrapped her arms around Chris’ neck as they danced with their eyes closed, both of them lost in the memories of how they had found each other. By the next day, “If I didn’t have a dime,” was the number one hit in ten countries. But for that moment, and for the rest of their lives, it was their favorite song. Jillian could be heard humming the melody by everyone that knew her from that moment on.

George and Hemon were in the lab examining the Jenze blaster. Dolly arrived as they were having an animated discussion. She said, “Hey, hey, hey; what’s going on?”

George looked up and said, “Hemon doesn’t agree with my assessment.”

“Which is?”

“That the Jenze were not that advanced.”

Hemon said, “Dolly, this blaster is stronger than any I’ve seen.”

Dolly looked at George and said, “But….”

“It’s only incrementally stronger than what we’re using now.”

“So?”

“Dolly, this was the most advanced race in the history of our galaxy according to the Sheera. They insisted the Jenze were as far ahead of everyone else as we are to the caveman. It doesn’t make sense.”

“Why do you say that?”

George took a deep breath, “Up until about two years ago we were pretty much primitive to this technology. Then we found the gravity gun and now our ships go at light speed and jump to distant places in the universe. We did all this with just the discovery of a gravity gun and that star drive. If this blaster is the best they had, it’s not enough. And if you look at the current level of the Moet weapons, it’s nowhere near enough.” Hemon and Dolly looked at George in silence. George continued, “We now know that the Alliance ship we captured had beams that would destroy a Moet ship. Right?”

“They nodded.”

“The Moet were around 65 million years ago, the videos prove it, and a beam from an Alliance ship is capable of destroying one of their ships? Come on, let’s get real. This is as far as they’ve been able to advance in millions of years. That’s absurd; our beams destroyed that Alliance Battleship easily and we’ve only just developed them. The Jenze weapon is only slightly stronger than what we currently have and it’ll be far behind us in no time. I refuse to believe that we are that superior to them mentally.”

Dolly said, “Then what did we get from the Jenze?”

“The only thing this Jenze blaster will give us in new knowledge is the material that powers it and the lens that is used to focus the beam.”

Hemon said, “What about the material?”

George leaned back, “Dolly, do you remember when you bought the list of elements for me to see in the Outback?” Dolly nodded. “I gave you three other’s that would increase the power. That made eleven elements that composed the material we use to power our ships and weapons; right?”

“Yes, it is eleven total.”

“Well now I know that there are fourteen elements that are a part of that chain. The Jenze material started at the fourth element we use and went with ten more elements. The first eight elements of their material are the last eight of ours. If we now add the three from their material we are not currently using, then our power will quadruple.”

Dolly and Hemon looked at each other and Hemon said, “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am. The other contribution from this weapon is the method they used to focus the beam and expand it. The actual beam in this gun was no wider than a fine needle, but the lens spread it and maintained its power. It can also be used in our reactors to contain the heat. I’ve analyzed it, and we can produce it on a large scale very quickly. If we update our reactors on the ships we currently have, they will handle any Alliance or Moet ship in my estimation.”

George paused and shook his head, “That is what makes this perplexing.”

“George, I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.”

“Dolly, we have advanced past the Moet and the Alliance in less than three years. Granted, we didn’t have to discover the star drive or the gravity gun and that could have taken a century. Those two discoveries gave us a boost in moving forward. However, we know the Alliance was around five thousand years ago and probably much longer. Is this the best they could do in all that time? And the Moet are millions of years old. They should be so far ahead of where they are now that we could never catch up to their technology. Something had to have slowed them down.”

Dolly looked at Hemon and said, “I’m not sure what you’re leading toward.”

“You saw Chris’ recording of the huge tracks out in open space between our galaxy and Andromeda?

“Yes.”

“I believe that our galaxy has been invaded multiple times in the past and there has been massive destruction of civilizations. You have to ask where the Jenze went if they were the strongest civilization in our galaxy. There’s not a trace of them now. Something happened to cause their disappearance. The current technological level of the Alliance and Moet would support that assumption. Something, or someone, has knocked them back into primitive societies numerous times. The Moet had to have been affected by whatever removed the Jenze.”

Dolly looked at George with a stern expression, “Those massive tracks didn’t appear to be old.”

George looked at her shaking his head, “They weren’t.”

“They’re coming back.”

“Yes, and it won’t be long.”

“How long will it take to update our ships?”

George smiled, “At least a month to get the materials to change the reactors. More than three months for the others. We should have a hundred ships converted within three months.” George paused and said, “We do have one ship that we can prepare almost immediately.”

Dolly said, “The Jukebox.”

“Yes. It’s intended to be the flagship of the fleet, and it hasn’t had its reactors or weapons installed.”

“Are you modifying the weapons as well?”

“We have to, Dolly. Fortunately the new lens and additional power will make a tremendous difference in their effectiveness.”

Hemon leaned back, “How will they make a difference?”

“The current beam that is used by our ships is narrow. It’s only fifty yards wide at fifty miles. It has to be tightly focused to maintain its power. With the new reactors we can now make the beam a mile wide and not lose any power. It should actually be three times more powerful at fifty miles than our current beam. We can make the changes on the Jukebox and have it ready to go in three weeks.”

“Make it happen, George. I suspect things are going to go bad quickly.”

“Just make sure our contractors don’t slow us up.”

Chris looked into Jillian’s eyes and smiled. The sun was setting in New Zealand, and it was deep red as it touched the horizon. “This has been a wonderful honeymoon. I hate for it to end.”

“It never will, Love. It’ll feel just like this wherever we are.”

Chris sighed and reached over to her chair. He took her hand in his and squeezed it gently. He thought about the whirlwind wedding and the time since. He needed the time to get his feet back on the ground. He turned and said, “Dolly says we need to come assist them with the Jukebox. Are you ready to get back to work?”

Jillian smiled, “Perhaps after I finish with you tonight. I’ll be ready to leave in the morning.”

“I wonder if I’ll be able to go.”

“I hope not.”

Chris smiled, life was good.

Chapter Fifteen

They arrived at the construction yard the next morning and walked into their new ship. As they passed the engine room they heard George yell at the top of his voice, “You’ve got to be kidding me. What idiot changed the top chamber on this reactor?”

They heard from the other reactor room, “I did, and who’s asking?”

George stormed out of the reactor room, smiled as he nodded to Chris and Jillian as he went into the other reactor room, then yelled, “What the hell do you think you’re doing? A lot of time went into that design. Now you’ve put us behind schedule.”

A young woman stood up from behind the reactor where she was directing the efforts of six engineers. She had on thick black rimmed safety glasses and an engineer’s coveralls. Her hard hat was resting on the top of her glasses. She was about five foot seven but looked strikingly plain. The oversize hard hat made her look like a child. She looked at George and put her hands on her hips, “I know you’re supposed to be this super smart genius, but you’re not up to date on what makes reactors function optimally. So why don’t you just go back to your drawing board and leave the work to those of us that are.”

George turned red and glared at the woman, biting his tongue. This contractor was going to have to go.

She continued, “Are you aware that the energy collection chamber at the top of the reactor must not be angled greater than thirty degrees for it to send its maximum pressure? With the pressure of these super reactors, that angle really should be less than twenty degrees. Heat would build up during continuous use of weapons if it were more. The one you designed had a curve with a forty degree angle.”

George’s expression underwent several rapid changes. It went from anger to surprise to a faraway look. The woman watched him, wondering what he was thinking. “You’re right. I didn’t follow the charge through the complete cycle. What’s the angle of the new chamber?”

“It’s eight degrees.”

“There will not be resistance to the charge at that angle. How are you delivering the charge to the external beams?”

“I’m following your design.”

“Well, if the principles of energy transfer remain constant, there are several severe changes in direction through the conduits.”

“I noticed that, but my expertise lies in getting the energy out of the reactor.”

George thought a moment and asked, “Right now we’re using one reactor for the weapons and one for the force field. If we changed it so that the reactor on one side of the ship worked the weapons on that side, could we combine the two for the force field and decrease the angle in the top chamber even more?”

“Do you have the diagrams with you?”

“They’re over here. Come take a look.”

The young woman followed George to the other room and said, “By the way, my name is Meisa Adi.”

George stopped and looked at her, “Doctor Meisa Adi?”

“Yes.”

“I read your Nobel Prize winning discovery on fusion. I was highly impressed with your observation about how to control the heat.”

Meisa smiled, “Most of the committee members didn’t understand that part of the paper.”

“I understand why. Keeping the heat away from the sides of the container using force fields is not something easily grasped. Have you considered using gravity to suspend the reaction?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you know we’re using gravity to make our ships faster, right?’

“Yes.”

“Well, if you charged the fuel in the reactor with a positive gravity charge it would push away from anything with mass. Since the walls of the reactor are lined with huge quantities of lead, it should move away from the walls.”

Meisa thought a moment and said, “We need to stop work on these reactors.”

“Why?”

“I’ve got a fusion reactor design that will operate if we can contain the heat away from the walls. We can make these two reactors use fusion, if what you just suggested actually works.”

George yelled at the top of his voice, “Everyone, stop what you’re doing!” The workers all looked up and George said, “You have the day off with pay; report back tomorrow at noon.”

Chris and Jillian stuck their head in the door and George smiled, “It’s so good to see you again. However, we’ve gotta go. See ya later.” George pulled Meisa out by the hand and said, “Where is this reactor?”

“It’s back in Fiji.”

As they moved down the gangplank George asked, “Is it ready to trial?”

“All except for the containment.”

George activated his communicator and yelled, “Dolly, send me a fast ship and a gravity gun now!”

“Why?”

“Meisa may have an entire new energy source for our reactors. Get it moving, Sis.”

Meisa was running as hard as she could to keep up with George but felt her excitement at the possibility of seeing her dream come to life.

Dolly ordered the ship and smiled. George had found Meisa. It had taken her two weeks to find her and get her in the project. Now let’s see what happens.

George jumped in the ship and Meisa followed him. He turned to her and asked, “Is the reactor a full working model?”

“Yes, and the two on the ship are identical.”

“Identical?”

“Well, you know they are going to have to contain a very hot reaction; much hotter than a normal reactor.”

“Yes.”

“Well, your sister felt after reading my paper that my reactor designs should handle the increased heat better than any other design.”

George smiled and said, “Meisa, let’s go make history.”

Meisa removed her large black rimmed safety glasses, took off her hardhat, and let her long black hair tumble down. She smiled and said, “Let’s do just that.”

George took a good look at the woman beside him and noticed her for the first time. She was incredible. His face turned red, and he turned to the ship’s controls. “We’ll be there in ten minutes. Hang on.”

Meisa buckled in and looked at George as he started activating his control board. He wasn’t nearly the stuffed shirt she thought him to be. Most men as good looking as him were full of themselves. He was as excited as she was at the prospect of achieving a fusion reaction. She looked out the window and wondered if he was a good kisser. Perhaps she would find out.

George lifted the ship and looked out the window, but all he saw was the face of an olive skinned beauty with beautiful eyes. He turned red and tried to control his embarrassment. He just didn’t know how to act around women, especially one this pretty.

Jeff sat with Dolly and watched as she went through the messages she received. Jeff watched her smile as she read an update on the Jukebox. “What are you up to, Dolly? I know that smile.”

“Oh, nothing.”

“Dahllllyyyy...”

“Well, the Jukebox’s completion has been delayed ten days. George and Meisa have successfully created a fusion reactor and are going to convert the Jukebox to fusion. This increases the power of the defense systems tenfold.”

“Where did this Meisa come from?”

Dolly looked at Jeff and tilted her head away from him, “Are you accusing me of something?”

“Yes, I am.”

Dolly laughed out loud, “Boy, you’re good!”

“Tell me.”

“I want George to be as happy as we are, so I decided to try and find a good match for him.”

“And?”

“Well, you know she’ll have to be smart, so I went to the Nobel Prize winner’s list and sorted for intelligence and age. I got ten names in the right age group. Meisa topped the list in intelligence. I pulled up a picture of her. Want to see her?”

“I’ve seen her working on the ship. She looks kinda plain and mousey. No one would give her a second look and that includes George.”

“Then you really haven’t seen her. Want another look?”

“What do you mean, I’ve seen her every day in my security checks and I’m the one that processed her file.”

Dolly lifted her tablet and pulled up the photo tab, “She’s really quite adorable.”

Jeff looked at the picture and did a double take, “That’s not the Meisa Aki I’ve seen. Where did you get this picture?”

“I used our defense satellites to take it when she was with her family on the beach in Fiji a few months back. She was working on a reactor at the time, and I followed her to the beach.” Dolly looked at Jeff’s expression and said, “Stop drooling. You’re mine.”

Jeff looked at the picture of a young woman who was beautiful enough to be beauty pageant winner, “You say she’s brilliant.”

“Right up there with the best.”

“Well, she could be a beauty queen if she wanted. She’s incredible. But Dolly, I promise you, that woman in that picture is not the contractor working on the Jukebox. I’ve scanned her with my security system and that’s not the picture on file. Matter of fact, no picture on file looks like that. I suppose she could hide a lot under the baggy coveralls she wears but this is surprising.”

“She’s not like me. She doesn’t like to show off her beauty and goes to great lengths to hide it. She wears those large black rimmed safety glasses and bulky coveralls to hide. She keeps her hair under her hardhat. I think she doesn’t want her beauty to be the reason she’s successful. You ought to have seen the sack she wore to the Nobel Prize acceptance. She is the same person.”

Jeff laughed, “Neither of you have to try to show off. You’re beautiful naturally.”

Dolly kissed him on the nose, “You’re biased.”

“No I’m not, and you know how beautiful you are.”

“I know, but a woman never tires of hearing it. Especially from the man she loves. Meisa just doesn’t enjoy hearing it…yet.”

Ten days later George and Meisa were sitting on the floor in the second reactor room listening to it hum. It was just after midnight and they had gotten it operating two hours earlier, checked it out with the control systems, and saw everything was working perfectly. They both had on their work coveralls, safety glasses, and hardhats. They were tired from the long hard hours put in making the conversion.

George had his back up against the reactor felling the slight vibration and he said, “This one purrs like a kitten. Meisa, you’ll get another Nobel Prize for this.”

“No, George, we will get a Nobel Prize for this. This wouldn’t have happened without you.”

“I’m too tired to argue, but I won’t allow you to include me. This wouldn’t have been a possibility without your taking the initiative to make changes to my plans. You did the hard part, I just fired a gun. This belongs to only you.”

Meisa lowered her head and smiled, “You should get something for what you’ve done.”

George looked at her, “I’ve actually had more fun working on this with you than I’ve had in a very long time. This has been a blast. That’s thanks enough.”

Meisa smiled and took off her hardhat and glasses. She unzipped her coverall and dropped it to the floor. She was wearing a tight pair of cut off jean shorts and a Melbourne Hard Rock tee shirt that looked like it was painted on. She walked over and sat by George, put her arms around his neck, and kissed him hard. He was shocked, but then got into the kiss. Meisa smiled thinking, he is a great kisser.

George felt his heart beat faster than it ever had, and then it came alive. He’d take her kiss over a Nobel Prize any day. The second kiss was even better than the first.

Dolly came in early the next morning and found them asleep at the base of the humming reactor. Meisa was in George’s arms with her head on his shoulder sleeping soundly. George’s face was as relaxed as she had ever seen it. Dolly quietly went out and canceled construction until eleven o’clock. She sat in a chair outside the ship humming, “If I didn’t have a dime….”

Two weeks later, Chris and Jillian boarded the Jukebox and found George and Meisa sitting at temporary consoles on the bridge. The Jukebox was the gem of the fleet, and was twice as large as the Cheops. The front of the bridge had a huge display that could be changed to five different views. At that moment it was a window showing what was in front of the ship. The smaller two displays on each side of the center one showed the ship’s position relative to all nearby objects and the status of the ship’s various systems.

George smiled and stood, “Welcome aboard. Have you finished your training on the systems?”

Jillian came forward and hugged George, “Yes, we have. Are you going with us on the initial trial run?”

“Yes, Meisa and I are going to make sure you’re familiar with all the systems at your disposal. The design of this ship is different from all the other ships you’ve flown.”

Chris looked at his control panel, “What’s the biggest difference, George?”

“Most of the systems are now voice controlled. The computer is keyed to your voices and will recognize when you give it a command.”

“I read about that in the training manuals, but I’m a little concerned that we might say something in error that could cause a problem.”

Meisa smiled and said, “Let’s give it a try. Do this. Say, “I want to turn the force field on.”

Chris stared at her and shrugged, “I want to turn the force field on.”

Meisa looked at the status board and said, “Notice, it did not come on. Now, picture an enemy ship coming toward you and you want the force field on. Just say, “force field.”

Chris envisioned an enemy ship coming at them and he said, “Force field!” The force field immediately came on.

George said, “The computer knows the difference and the longer it hears your conversations the better it will become.” George looked at Jillian and smiled, “We’ve also discovered something else that you’re going to like.”

“What is that?”

“If you jump into Sierra Space with the force field at full power, you will not leave an energy trail. You can’t be followed.”

Chris looked at him and furrowed his brow, “Why is that?”

“The trail that a ship leaves in Sierra Space is actually just the energy that leaks as the ship travels. The force field is now strong enough so that no energy escapes through it. We’ve also discovered that our communication systems cannot be traced. The signal we sent actually fills all Sierra Space instantaneously. We’ve had to put an encryption on each ship with an ID so that all communications are not being received by all ships. You can tune in to the ships which have had their IDs loaded in. All you need do is say, ‘Contact’ and the ship’s name you wish to communicate with.”

Chris looked at Jillian and then turned to the two engineers, “So we can’t be traced back to Earth?”

“We don’t think so.”

“Is the ship fully armed and ready for combat operations?”

Meisa looked up quickly, “Yes, why do you ask?”

“Bear with me just a moment. Tell me about the missiles we are now carrying.”

“The fusion missile is something that Meisa developed. She put a small fusion reactor in the head of each missile. When the missile is launched, a laser will start the fusion reaction and contain it in the warhead. We didn’t need to use heavy shielding because the force field will protect the ship that fires it. However, it will deliver an explosion upon impact that is devastating.”

“Will it get through a force field?”

“Probably not. But it could knock the force field out. We have also slaved the beam computer system to the missile’s guidance system, and the ship can be told to clear the field.”

“What happens then?”

“The beam will target the force field where the missile is going to strike. It will hit a tenth of a second before the missile and knock a hole in it for the missile to fly through.”

“What if the beams are being used to defend the ship?”

Meisa said, “It doesn’t matter. The beams will automatically target any attackers and fire a beam for the missile to penetrate without stopping its defense of the ship. The beams are capable of continuous fire.”

“We have eight beams, right?”

“Yes; two on the top, bottom, and sides.”

Meisa looked at Chris, “You still haven’t told me why you want to know if the systems were live.”

Jillian looked at the main display and punched a control on her board. The main display showed a picture of the huge energy trails out in open space between galaxies, “Have you seen this?”

George and Meisa nodded.

“I want to go a take a closer look at those trails. I think we should do it sooner than later, and I thought it might be a good idea to go with the two of you. We might need your expertise if we run into trouble.”

George smiled, “This sounds exciting. We can drop Meisa off and then go investigate.”

“George, if you think you’re going to take this kind of risk without me, you’re crazier than a house full of monkeys.”

“Meisa, you aren’t in the military; you’re a contractor, and I don’t want to put you in harm’s way.” George thought a moment and said, “And legally we aren’t supposed to take anyone but military personnel into possible armed conflict.”

“George, if you value our relationship you will shut up and quit spouting legalese. I will not leave your side if you are going to put yourself in jeopardy. I mean it.”

Chris looked at Jillian and then said, “George, we are on the initial trial run. Contractors are supposed to assist us during that voyage. If we happen to run into trouble, it’s not a planned attack. She can go if she wants. The question is; are you going to allow her?”

Meisa looked at George and repeated, “I mean it, George. I’ll never speak to you again.”

George looked into Meisa’s eyes and saw she meant it. Then he knew what she was saying without saying it, “You love me.”

“You big, brilliant, idiot; are you just now figuring that out?” She angrily said.

The smile that split George’s face was something to see. “I just never thought I’d stand a chance with you.”

“You’ve got it wrong. No one else but you stands a chance with me and you’re trying hard to blow the opportunity. Now decide!”

Chris said, “George. Using your argument, you can’t go either. You aren’t in the military.”

George looked at Chris, “Son of gun. You’re right. Hold on just a moment.” George pushed a dial on his board and said, “Contact Dolly Sierra.” She appeared on the main display, “Hey, Sis!”

“Hi, George. What’s going on?”

“How much authority have you been given by President Suh?”

“I don’t know. I think I can do whatever I want. Why do you ask?”

“Can you draft people into the military?”

“George, what are you up to?”

“Just answer the question.”

Dolly looked off the screen and they knew she was looking at Jeff. She turned back to the screen and said, “Yes, I can.”

“At what rank?”

“George, tell me what’s going on or I’m going to terminate this conversation.”

“Don’t make me call Mum to come visit you. At what rank?”

“You wouldn’t.”

“At what rank?”

The central display went back to a forward view from the ship. George smiled and pushed a dial on his display. Chris, Jillian, and Meisa stared at him and he said, “Give it a minute.” George leaned back in his chair and whistled a tune. Suddenly the center display came back on with an obviously angry Dolly on the screen, “Darn you, George. You call her back and tell her you made a mistake.”

“You didn’t answer your communicator did you?”

“Of course I didn’t answer it. Jeff swears he’s going to leave and visit the troops in Egypt until she leaves.”

“At what rank, Dolly?”

“What rank would you want and who is it for?”

George looked at Meisa and said, “Do you have a preference?”

“Colonel.”

“Dolly, Meisa wants to be a Colonel and I’ll be satisfied with a Brigadier General.”

“What are you talking about? I’m not letting you join the military. You and Meisa are too valuable to risk in combat.”

George smiled, “I think two months should do it.”

“AHHHHHHHH! Why do you want to join the military?”

“You haven’t thought it through, Dolly. If we don’t win this war, we’re going to have to move as much of our population as we can using our colony ships. You’re going to need commanders of those ships prepared to take care of their passengers as well as making a new world habitable for them. The ones charged with doing that will need the authority to carry out hard decisions. Most combat pilots don’t have the required knowledge to make that happen. The longer you wait to put the right people in command positions, the harder it will be at the last minute.”

“I would also think you would understand that if we try to save our valuable assets until the last moment, then we could lose this conflict. Meisa and I are going with Chris and Jillian to view those trails in open space. They stand a better chance of survival if we go with them. Now when you have the opportunity to sit down and really think this through, get back to me. I’ll call Mum off now.”

Dolly stared at George with a hard expression. She looked off the screen, shook her head, and then nodded. She turned back to the display and said, “General won’t work. Colonel won’t either. You’re both promoted to Rear Admirals in the Colony Fleet. Your paper work will be retroactive to Meisa’s arrival.”

The screen went back to a forward view. Chris said, “She’s going to be angry at you for a long time, George.”

George laughed, “No she won’t. She loves me too much. She can’t stay mad longer than fifteen minutes. It’s just not in her. She’ll be fine, and once she really looks at it, she’ll know I’m right.” George looked at Meisa, “Still mad?”

Meisa stood up and hugged George, “Thank you.”

“You’re quite welcome.” George looked at Chris, “Have you decided how you want to handle this?”

“I thought I would just jump back to the place where we found the trails and take a look.”

“I think that I might try it a different way if it were me taking the one I loved into that place.”

Chris looked at Jillian and asked, “What would you do?”

“You’ve marked the place on your navigation board haven’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Well your device can collect light from that point and focus it. Why not jump six months beyond that coordinate and take a look using your device. You can move in closer if needed.”

Chris stated shaking his head, “I am such an idiot. That is the safest way to do this.”

“I would just line up that coordinate with the center of the galaxy and jump straight out from that point. I would also make sure the force field is on to avoid being followed.”

Jillian looked at her board and said, “We’re jumping out to Neptune’s orbit at light speed. It will only take us three minutes ship time. Does anyone want to make any suggestions before we leave?” Everyone looked at each other and Jillian saw no one say anything. “I have it plotted, Chris. It’s your ship.”

Chris smiled and hit the thrusters. The Jukebox instantly disappeared from Earth’s orbit.

The Messenger walked into the large room and waited. One of the tall cylinders at the table motioned him forward, “What have you found out?”

“We collected enough of the transmissions of whoever is broadcasting to decipher their language; however, the transmissions are now being encrypted.”

“Have you decoded the encryption?”

“No, we have not.”

“Have you found anything that will allow us to find them?”

“Not yet. There was discussion about a fusion power plant before the encryption started.”

“Fusion!?!”

“That’s what our language team says.”

“Do we even know if they are in that galaxy?”

“Yes, they are in the targeted galaxy.”

“How do you know?”

“One of the terms we heard before the communications were blocked was Moet.”

“Are the Moet making those communications?”

“The language team leans toward no. The language is nothing like the Moet.”

“It has been a long time since we were there.”

“Yes, but the structure is radically different.”

“Let me know when you find out more.”

“And the invasion?”

“It will wait until we say different. Don’t ask me again.” The Messenger leaned back showing his sorrow and seeking forgiveness. “Now go!”

The Messenger slid out of the room quickly and decided that the next time the fleet leaders wanted to ask that question, they could come and ask it themselves. He wasn’t going to make that mistake again. The two million ships continued to wait.

The Jukebox entered normal space six light months from the place where the trails had been discovered. Chris hit the emitters, and the fields moved away from the ship at light speed. George watched the field expand on his display and said, “Now that I think about it, how are we going to see anything in normal space if everything is passing through that place in Sierra Space?”

Jillian looked up from her display and said, “If two of our ships were passing each other in Sierra Space, they might go into normal space to communicate.”

George stared at her and Meisa said, “We can communicate in Sierra Space. There would be no need to do that.”

Jillian hit her forehead with her palm, “Duh, you’re right.”

George thought a moment and pulled up the recording of the trails, “Chris, we see what direction those trails are going. Why don’t we jump over to the side of our galaxy where they intersect the outer rim and take our readings from there?”

“Do you know where we need to go?”

“Give me a minute.” George began pushing dials on his board and they watched what he was doing on the left display. The changes to the pictures on the screen were moving too rapidly to comprehend. Meisa said, “You might want to change it so we’re looking slightly away from the galaxy in order that light will be reflected back at us.”

Jillian looked at Meisa and said, “You understand what he’s doing?”

Meisa nodded as she continued to watch the display. “There is a good place.”

George said, “I see it. Let me get the coordinates.”

Chris saw the coordinates appear on his board. He shrugged and entered them into the jump drive. The Jukebox left normal space and jumped. It entered normal space and the four saw the Milky Way hanging below them. It was incredibly beautiful with its two major spiral arms and brightly glowing center. “Where are we, George?”

“We’re about six light months away from the place where those trails approached our galaxy. I’m going to guess that if someone from another galaxy is coming here, they will go into normal space before they jump into the galaxy. I know we do, so it’s not a big leap of faith to assume the same thing for the visitors. Maybe they’re just tourists.”

Chris powered the emitters and said, “I hope you’re right, but somehow I doubt it.”

George shrugged, “Me too; but we can always hope.”

Chris focused the fields and saw the edge of the galaxy, but nothing was detected outside the rim. “I’m going to start moving into the light at one third light speed. It will cause things to move like a fast forwarded video, but it’ll save us time.” Jillian hit the thrusters and the Jukebox moved forward. They watched the center display, and after two hours saw a brief flash on the screen.

“Chris!”

“I saw it, Jillian. I’m going to slow it down and play it on the left display. I’ll also bring it in closer.”

The display moved in on the flash that was frozen on the screen and then they saw it. A giant blue colored ship was hanging in space with ten smaller vessels surrounding it. Chris looked at the ship, “I’m rewinding the recording.”

The display showed empty space, then suddenly the giant ship appeared. As they watched, the ten other ships started appearing around it and docking with it.”

Meisa stared at the ships and said, “I wish we had an idea how big those ships are. It’s impossible to tell without something we can compare it to.”

“My sensors have the capability of measuring them. Hold on; I’ll measure one of the smaller vessels.” Chris read his sensor record and everyone saw his expression go to shock.

Jillian said, “What?”

Chris looked up and said, “The smaller ships are three thousand feet long.”

Everyone looked at the display showing the smaller ships looking like tiny insects buzzing the blue ship. Jillian said, “Oh my God!”

George said, “If that’s accurate, the blue ship is more than nine hundred miles in diameter. It’s also covered with huge beam cannons and missile launchers.” George leaned back in his chair and said, “That must be a main battleship that is replenishing the stores of those smaller ships. The smaller ships must be scouts that are surveying our galaxy for civilized planets.”

Chris said, “I’m moving in faster to see if anything else is happening. “I’m going to stay focused on that area as we move forward.”

They watched the display as the display fast forwarded. There were many small flashes, but suddenly they saw a huge flash happen as they approached seven light weeks from the location. Chris stopped the ship and the four of them stared at the display shocked speechless. Millions of blue ships were hanging in normal space just outside the Milky Way.

George said, “Chris, jump back twenty four light hours and let’s watch this arrival.” Chris made the jump and then expanded the display as the Jukebox viewed the light from seven weeks earlier. Two hours later they watched the giant blue ships start appearing in space by the thousands. Then hundreds of thousands started coming out of Sierra Space and hanging in normal space.

George looked at Chris and asked, “When did this happen”

Chris looked at his meters and said, “Seven weeks, two days ago.”

Meisa saw George’s expression and said, “You suspect something.”

“I know why they stopped.”

Jillian said, “What do you mean, stopped?”

George nodded at the display and said, “Those ships are an invasion fleet and they were going to attack our Galaxy. They stopped because of us.”

Chris tilted his head and said, “Where did you get that conclusion?”

“Exactly seven weeks, two days, and three hours ago we trialed our Sierra Space Communicator; them stopping at that time has to be more than a coincidence.”

Jillian looked at the display, “They heard us.”

George nodded, “Yes they did, and it scared them.” The other three on the bridge thought about what George was saying. He looked away from the display, “They know that it takes a very advanced civilization to be able to use that method of communication, and I’m sure their scouts had not found a civilization that was using it. I’m sure they’ve been preparing for this invasion for an extremely long time. Even if Earth was found by their scouts, it wasn’t developed enough to have that advanced communications system. Their leaders were not going to send their fleet forward with an unknown enemy of indeterminate strength ahead of them. I’m sure they are looking for us as we speak.”

Chris looked at Jillian and she saw his fear. Then George said something that really made them nervous.

“They probably understand our language by now. It’s a good thing we started encrypting our communications three weeks ago. However, there’s no hiding that we are in the Milky Way and not in another galaxy.”

Meisa asked, “Why?”

“Because I know we discussed the Moet, and they know they’re here.”

“How would they know that?”

“Because they have come in the past and wiped out most of the Moet’s civilization. That’s why the Moet are not as advanced as they should be. Those blue ships probably bombed them back into Stone Age cultures.”

“Do you think those ships are still there?”

George shook his head, “I don’t know. If they’ve invaded, then they know where we are. However, I suspect they haven’t discovered us yet.”

Meisa leaned back in her chair, “What makes you so sure about that?”

“Because they will search areas where they did not find a civilization before they go back to look at those they found. We should go closer and see if they are still present.”

Chris looked at Jillian and she shrugged. “I’m going to jump in and take a scan of their ships. We need to know what their capabilities are. We also need a good look at their armament. As soon as I make the scan, I’m jumping away.”

“You better jump away from the Galaxy toward open space. I suspect you might be followed.”

“Didn’t you say we won’t leave a trail if we keep our force field on?”

“Yes, but you don’t need a trail if you can see what you’re following. If one of those ships react fast enough, they will see you leave.”

Chris thought about what to do, then looked at George, “What would you do, George?”

George looked at the display, ran his fingers through his hair, and then said to Meisa. “I wish you hadn’t come. I don’t want to run the risk of seeing you die, especially now, but the reality is that we are going to have to confront one of these ships and see if we can survive it.” He looked at Chris and Jillian and said, “The Jukebox is the strongest ship in our fleet, and if it can’t stand up to them, we’re doomed.”

Meisa got up, came over, and hugged George, “I really wouldn’t want to survive without you. We will live or die together. Either way, you know this will be fun.”

George smiled at her and laughed, “Ahh, you’re a feisty one. I like that.”

Meisa laughed and went back to her board.

Chris looked at Jillian and saw the warrior in her get angry. He knew her choice. He thought about it and said, “Let’s tell Dolly what’s going on and what we’re going to do.”

George shrugged and said, “Just be prepared for direct orders not to do it.”

Chris sighed and said, “Contact Dolly Sierra.”

Dolly was scared more than she had ever been in her life. She saw the recordings from the Jukebox and ordered them not to go near that fleet. Chris and George had both told her she was not thinking clearly. She threaten to send every ship in the fleet if they didn’t follow her orders, but Jeff came over and took her hand, “They have to do it. It’s the only way for us to know what to do about saving as many of our species as possible. To delay invites disaster. We must decide whether to build warships or colony ships. We can’t do both. We will have to find planets in another galaxy if we can’t stand up to those ships and come back after they leave. This changes everything and we don’t know enough to know what to do. If you were out there, what would you do?”

Dolly stared at Jeff, then put her head on his shoulder and cried. George watched her on the display and said, “We are going to keep a channel open, beaming everything that happens. Use this information to guide your next plans.”

Dolly looked at the display and nodded, “I love you, George. I’m so proud to be your sister.”

George smiled, “You are what made me whole again, Dolly. I wouldn’t be here without your love bringing me back. Pray for us.” George looked at Chris and nodded.

Jillian looked at the display, “Weapons status?”

Meisa said, “We’re putting both reactors into the force field. We’re also pulling it in to within four hundred yards. It will quadruple in strength with the smaller area to protect.”

Chris looked at George, “How good are the fusion missiles?”

“If we can get one through their force field, they should have a major impact on them. I don’t care how big they are. We won’t know the strength of their force field until we scan them.”

Chris looked at Jillian and said, “I’m flying the ship. My first plan is escape after we scan their fleet. I will not be able to make decisions while I’m running, so use George and Meisa to help you.”

Jillian came over and kissed Chris. “No matter what happens, I love being here with you.”

George looked at Meisa and smiled, “Would it be inappropriate for me to suggest a wedding when we go home?”

Meisa jumped up, and ran over and jumped into George’s lap, “Absolutely not, and I accept your proposal. Just don’t forget it.”

George looked at her and said, “I could never forget you. Never.”

Meisa kissed him and said, “Well, that settles it. Now we have to get home safe; I have a wedding to attend.” She looked at Jillian, “I’ll control the reactors. You focus on the weapons. I’ll move the energy where we need it. George, you help Chris with the scanners.”

Chris took a deep breath, “All right, things are going to start happening quickly. We will jump in five, four, three, two, one, and now!”

The Jukebox broke into normal space and scanned the huge fleet in front of it. The bright white ship then jumped back into Sierra Space and jumped away, but not before the closest blue ship detected it, fired a huge laser, and followed it into its jump. Three other blue ships detected the strange ship, but didn’t get to the place of the jump in time to join the chase.

Meisa yelled, “That single beam reduced the force field to forty percent. It is now climbing in strength. We should be at full strength in fifteen seconds. If they had hit us with two beams our force field would have collapsed.”

Chris watched his rear sensors and saw the giant ship closing the gap, “I’m going to jump out and hit the thrusters. I want to see if I can open some distance.”

The Jukebox flashed into normal space and flew away at three quarters the speed of light. The Blue ship emerged in time to fire a beam at it just before it disappeared. The alarm went off and George silenced it, “The force field is holding against one of their beams, but it may be quite different if they bring their full inventory to bear. It was reduced to seventy percent by that last shot of their beams.”

The huge ship closed on the Jukebox in Sierra Space and its stardrive field touched the field around the Jukebox and the white ship immediately entered normal space. Chris immediately hit the drive board and reentered Sierra Space just as the blue ship emerged.

George watched his board and shrugged, “That answers one of my unanswered questions.”

Jillian looked over, “What?”

“I tried to figure out how a ship that refused to leave Sierra Space could ever be attacked. You can’t fire an energy weapon without disrupting the green space so there had to be some way to force the ship into normal space. It appears that if two fields touch, they cancel each other and send the ships into normal space.”

Chris jumped back into normal space and hit the thrusters, “I gained a little room on that technique. I don’t think they thought we could get back into Sierra Space that fast.” He looked at his rear scanner and shook his head, “They are closing the gap again.”

Chris was flying the Jukebox like it was a dragonfly, changing directions radically and popping in and out of normal space to Sierra Space. Each time the blue ship was incrementally closer. The chase seemed to go on forever. George watched the display and saw Meisa arm a fusion missile, “What are you doing?”

Meisa yelled, “Chris, four jumps from now I want you to jump into normal space and stop the ship.”

“What?!?”

“Just do it.”

Meisa looked at George and said, “I’m going to turn the force fields off and redirect all of the reactor’s energy into the main beam. Jillian, fire it before that ship appears and keep it firing until that ship emerges. Do you understand?”

“I do. What do you see?”

“There’s no time; just do it.”

The chase had been going on longer than an hour, and Chris was worried about stopping the ship. However, he was going to do what Meisa ordered because he was unable to shake the giant blue ship, knew it was right on top of them, and fatigue was setting in. He was tired and running out of options. “All right, we’re emerging in three, two, one, now!” Chris saw the giant ship was directly behind them in Sierra Space and then the green space disappeared.

Meisa flipped the reactors to weapons and Jillian fired the main beam. Meisa launched the fusion missile and it shot out at incredible speed as the giant blue ship suddenly appeared directly in front of their ship. The main beam hit the giant ship dead center and blew through the force field all the way to the giant ship’s hull. Meisa flipped the reactors back to the force field just as six beams hit the Jukebox. Then an explosion rocked the Jukebox, shoving it violently away. Chris fought the controls and stabilized the ship. The display cleared and they saw a giant rip through the center of the blue ship. It went from one end of the ship to the other and open space could be seen through it before huge fires broke out between the two pieces. George saw that the entire middle was blown away, and there was a gaping hole more than four hundred and fifty miles wide all the way through the giant vessel. They watched as the ship started exploding in ten places, then the two halves fell in on each other and the entire ship blew apart in a giant explosion.

Jillian yelled, “Get us out of here!”

Chris entered Sierra Space and jumped away. He watched the rear sensors for three minutes and didn’t see a blue ship or a trail behind him. He entered normal space and waited.

Jillian looked at Meisa, “What made you decide to try that?”

“I noticed that their force field and beams was weaker whenever they entered normal space and would then grow stronger. Remember that the second time one of their beams hit us it only reduced our force field thirty percent. The six beams that hit us were actually weaker than the one beam that struck us initially. Evidently, they have to use tremendous power to move that large a ship that fast through Sierra Space. Their drive systems had to be drawing power from their force field and weapons.” She looked at her panel and said, “Our force field was reduced to ten percent by those six beams. We will not survive a shoot out with one of those ships if it’s in normal space at full power. Seven beams would have destroyed us.”

“That’s my girl.”

“Yes, I am.”

George started nervously laughing, and Jillian joined in.

George hit the communicator and saw Dolly, “We managed to escape, Sis.”

“Thank, God!”

“We also destroyed one of their ships. We’ll bring the video home, but I need you to invite Mum to come visit.”

“WHY??”

“She’s going to attend a wedding.”

“Whose?”

“Why, yours and mine.”

Dolly stared at the screen and started smiling, “I’ll call her now. Is three days after you arrive too soon?”

Meisa yelled from off screen, “Make it two days!”

George smiled, “I will but Mum can stay home. We’ll do it in Australia.”

Dolly started laughing hard and looked off the screen, “You heard me right. Are you up to it?” They watched as they saw an arm come into the picture and pull Dolly away.

George smiled, “Looks like he is.”

Chris and Jillian smiled.

Three giant blue ships followed the trail through no space that the giant blue ship had left pursuing the small white ship and finally arrived where it ended. They emerged into normal space and saw the remains of one of their main battleships. There wasn’t much left, and no one survived the giant ship’s destruction. They saw explosions still igniting in larger pieces of the debris and wondered what could have done this to one of their newest ships. The destruction of the giant ship prevented them from learning the weakness of their weapon’s system. The ship’s commander started sending a message.

The Messenger entered the room and waited, wishing there was someone else that could deliver his news. One of the six saw him and motioned him forward, “Why are you here?”

“One of our ships has been destroyed.”

The tall yellow creature stared at the Messenger; its anger was clear. “Show me.”

“We were unable to see the actual destruction, but this is what the wreckage looked like.” The Messenger sent the mental image of the derelict.

The leader turned to the other five at the table and the Messenger watched as they stopped what they were doing and looked at him. “Why were you unable to see this event?”

“Only one ship was close enough to chase the ship that scanned our fleet. The three that followed could not keep up with the chase. They were older models and their speed was not sufficient.”

The Yellow being thought about the image, “The ship that was destroyed was one of our newer models, and the ship it was chasing was faster?!?”

The Messenger felt his nervousness but continued, “It was one of our newest models. It was recently completed and had all the new systems on board.”

The messenger saw the anger of the Leader, “Last time you were here you asked about continuing the invasion.”

“I was asked to do so by our fleet leaders.”

The tall being stared at the Messenger and then examined his thoughts, “So it appears you are right. It was wise of you to decide not to ask that question again. Have the fleet leaders report to us here. Recall the fleet and send the scouts out to find the ones that did this. Do not survey, look for this enemy.”

The Messenger leaned back, and slowly backed away from the leaders. The six of them stared at him until he disappeared. “This could be a problem.”

The one that spoke to the Messenger turned, “It was bound to happen eventually. We’ll have to overwhelm this new enemy no matter the price.”

“First we have to find them.”

The Yellow being leaned forward, showing agreement.

The Messenger hurried away, knowing that soon there would be new leaders of the Fleet. It was never wise to ask questions or make suggestions to the Rulers.

Chapter Sixteen

The Moet Watcher heard the alarm reminder go off. He glanced at his board and saw a reminder that a system designated for destruction had lost its probe. He looked at the board, saw a ship that was not on assignment, and ordered it to deliver a new probe. The ship received the location, the crew was recalled, and it left orbit. Ten minutes later it arrived at the system in question and saw that there was a huge disruption in no space immediately around it. The ship’s Master sent a message to the Watcher and waited for a response.

The Watcher was working on another attack and designated its secondary brain to the task of receiving the message. The secondary brain took one look at the disrupted space surrounding the surface of the small black ball in no space and jerked the primary brain away from its task. The Watcher saw the boiling no space and knew that only an extremely high energy discharge could have caused that massive disruption. It assigned the secondary brain to handle the attack and turned its attention to the Moet ship hanging in no-space. “Go into normal space and investigate. Keep your monitors activated.”

The Moet ship broke into normal space and looked into the system. As it made a scan, a small white ship came in at high speed and stopped two miles from the giant grey ship. The Moet looked at the tiny vessel, and the ship’s Master waved a stalk at his weapons master. The Moet hit the small ship with a beam that was fifty times wider than the target. The beam stopped and the small ship was still hanging in space in front of it. The ship’s Master turned his full attention to the ship and waved again. All seventy beams fired on the small ship. The ship master nodded and the beams stopped. The small ship was still hanging there in space. Its communication console activated and a voice said in Alliance, “You will leave our system immediately, or you will be destroyed.”

The Watcher observed the small ship and was amazed. “Fire again.”

The Master looked at his weapons board and said, “Fire again.”

The giant grey ship appeared to explode as it fired all weapons at the small white ship. Suddenly a bright white beam shot out from the small ship and hit the Moet Battleship just behind the bridge, blowing a huge hole through it. Then the white beam started hitting the giant ship so fast that it looked like white tracers were leaving at an incredible rate. Ten seconds later, the giant ship exploded.

The Watcher hit his emergency switch and a Royal Master appeared on his display. “Why are you bothering me?”

“Please observe this recording.” The Watcher sent the recording to the Master and saw the immediate concern on its surface.

“I’ll dispatch a dreadnaught.”

“Thank you, Lord.”

Dolly saw the battle taking place on her monitor and looked at Jeff, “We can destroy the asteroid now. It appears the cat is out of the bag and we can expect a response in force from the Moet.”

President Suh, Arnold Gordon, and Ben Keenan were on the main display at fleet headquarters in Sydney. Dolly looked at the screen and said, “You should order the remaining colony ship launched, Mr. President. We expect a Moet attack in force momentarily, and we don’t know what the outcome will be. We would also recommend that you take the main government leaders on a ship and lift from the planet.”

Suh smiled, “A captain does not abandon his ship. I will not leave those I’m charged with protecting.”

Chris said, “I can understand that, but you might want to save your crew.”

Suh smiled and said, “Yes, I suppose you’re right.” Suh looked at Arnold, “You will go with the others. If something happens to me, you will take my place.”

“But, Sir.”

“No buts. You are the best qualified to do it. You’ve been in on the project from the beginning and I trust you. Protect my people.” Arnold took a deep breath and then nodded.

Suh turned back to the monitor, “Do we have no chance of success?”

Dolly sent a chart to their display and said, “We now have thirty fusion ships. We believe that they can handle more than they take from the Moet and the Alliance, but the numbers could be overwhelming.”

Ben looked at the chart, “How long will it take to build the fleet to numbers that can defend us?”

“Not as long as you think. Now that the factories have the reactors, we can have more than a hundred in two months. The problem is that we keep finding new ways to improve them. The Jukebox has just had three additional reactors added to support the force field and beams, and it will be the model for those that follow. It has also been loaded with the new model of fusion missiles that will blow its own hole in a force field. The ship that destroyed the Moet battleship was an old design with the small beam. We know we can defeat their ships, but if they send a million at us….”

Suh took a deep breath and said, “Is there any possibility of getting them to communicate about our common enemy?”

“Not without a fight.”

Arnold looked at the eight young men and women on the screen and asked, “What are you going to be doing during this fight?”

Jillian smiled, “We each have a ship like the Jukebox, and will be leading the fight.” Arnold stood up and started to object, but Jillian quickly said, “We know these ships better than anyone else. Our best chance of success is with us in our ships.”

Arnold sat back down.

Jillian said, “Dad, know you miss Mom and don’t want to lose me, too, but if we lose this fight, no one on the planet will survive.”

Arnold lowered his head and nodded. Suh looked at the group and said, “We’ll load up the colony ships and send them out to the edge of our solar system. They’ll leave if things go bad.”

Dolly said, “That’s a good idea, Sir. However, they should leave anyway. I suspect we’ll be successful against their first attack but the follow up will be huge. I don’t want to risk our leaders against the chance that the Moet will enter our Solar System where their ship is waiting. The Magellan has found three planets in M87 for colonization and we should get the ships on the way. Even if this turns out well for us, we must send those ships out. We might not be so lucky if the Blue Ships find us.”

Suh looked out of the screen with determination on his face and said, “Win or lose, make them wish they had never come here.”

Chris smiled, “Oh, I think we can do that. They might drop the idea of attacking us faster than a bad habit.”

Suh smiled and said, “Godspeed.”

The display went dark and Dolly looked at the other seven sitting at the table, “Well, go to your ships and let’s go greet our visitors. Remember to be polite and not leave any mess to clean up.”

George said, “Just when I was looking forward to our honeymoon.”

Meisa smiled, “Shut up. You wouldn’t miss this for anything, honeymoon included.

Sasha said, “I’m so glad we got ours out of the way. The moons of Saturn were just beautiful.”

Chris said under his breath, “I hope we don’t have to use them to escape.”

Hemon said, “It’s a great place to escape to.”

Jillian held up an imaginary cigar, shook it, and said, “Easy for you to say. We’re going to have a real blast.”

Dolly looked at her, “You’ve been around him too much.”

Chris said, “What?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

Chris put his arm around Jillian, held up and imaginary cigar, and smiled, “Well, if you believe in the hereafter, you know what I’m here after.” Dolly started shaking her head and left the room. Chris looked at Jillian, “Was it something I said?”

Jillian chuckled, “It always is, love. Now let’s go drop the Moet like a bad transmission.”

Chris looked at Jillian, “Dolly was right.”

“About what?”

“I’ve rubbed off on you.”

Jillian smiled, “I know.”

“Now stop that!”

“Never! Now let’s go play.”

“Now, you know you don’t play well with others.”

“For them, I’ll make an exception.”

“Works for me.”

George watched them leave and smiled, “Are we like that?”

“Well, you’ve kinda rubbed off on me.”

“How?”

“If I have to explain it, it’s no fun.”

“Explain what? I don’t get it.”

Meisa smiled, “Yes, you did.” They left the building and George burst out laughing halfway to their ship.

The Moet Prince looked into his display at the information in the database about the system to which he was taking his fleet. One of his nephews had showed him the video of a small ship destroying a battleship, and he immediately intervened, “You are not going there with one dreadnaught.”

“Why not?”

The Prince stared at the young Moet and sighed, “How many ships did the Alliance have to use to destroy a battleship?”

The young Master thought a moment and said, “Usually two hundred were involved in the attack.”

“Very good. Now how many ships were used to kill the battleship in the system you’re going to attack?”

The young Moet saw it, “One.”

“That doesn’t bother you?”

“You’re right.”

The Prince called together his personal fleet and took command of the exercise. He was probably overreacting but as he read the data, something didn’t seem right. The High Master had forbid him to take part in combat, and he promised to follow her command at a distance. He wasn’t worried; the fifteen dreadnaughts should make short work of the planet…but….something just didn’t feel right. The destruction of the probe had to be deliberate. How could this primitive system have advanced so quickly? The ship that killed the battleship didn’t match up with any Alliance ship in his records. Yet they used Alliance to communicate. He looked at his board and pressed a button. The Watcher appeared on his screen, “You’re the one that has been covering this planet?”

The Watcher was immediately nervous, “Yes, I am, Lord.”

“How do you account for the rapid development of this system?”

“I don’t have an answer. Four rotations ago they did not have a ship with interstellar capability. The scans showed no warships anywhere in the system.”

“So what happened?”

“I don’t know. We know that no Alliance Ships have come into this system for five cycles.”

“Something has happened.”

“I know.”

“I want you to stay on the channel until this is over.”

“I will, Lord.”

Dolly looked at the twenty eight ships gathered at the orbit of Mars. Each of the four main ships had six smaller ships in support. Dolly hit the open frequency and said, “I am turning the command of this exercise over to Admiral Connor. He has the most experience fighting his ship. Admiral, how do you want to handle this?”

“I am going to attack the first Moet ship that moves in-system. I’m going to do it alone.”

Dolly looked at Jeff and said, “I understand why, but would you like to tell the others your reasons?”

“The only way to stop this is to convince the Moet that they stand no chance against us. If we attack with our fleet, they won’t get the message. I believe they will be coming with that huge ship that defeated the Alliance Fleet.”

Hemon said, “That’s all the more reason to use the entire fleet.”

“Not really. You saw what the Jukebox did to the blue ship, which is easily ten times the size of the Moet ship. With the additional reactors and missiles, I think we can prevail against their ships. It’s important that we make that determination now and make sure the Moet know it. Dolly, if we fail, attack with the entire fleet; but don’t do it unless we are not successful.”

“Dolly sighed, “Just don’t wait until it’s too late. I mean it. Send us a feed on your defense systems status so we can see how your systems are holding up.”

“That’s a good idea. Jillian will set it up now.”

Chris looked at his scanners and said, “We shouldn’t have to wait long.”

The Moet Prince saw the disruption in no space ahead of his fleet and ordered a stop. The sixteen giant dreadnaughts hung in no space. He keyed his board, “How large would a blast have to be to cause this much disruption to no space?”

The Watcher consulted his board and said, “We don’t have any record of this large an area being disrupted. It would have had to be a force eight blast according to my board.”

“Force eight?”

“Yes, Lord.”

“Our beams are force twenty. We should have an advantage wouldn’t you say?”

“I don’t have enough information. They may not have used their strongest beam. There’s just no way to know.”

The Prince looked at the disruption and keyed a channel, “Fleet Master, how you choose to make this attack?”

“We will have twelve ships in the forward line with three ships holding station around your ship. You will follow us in after we clear everything in front of our line.”

The Prince was still uneasy, but said, “Begin your attack.”

The Fleet Master punched his board, “We will go to normal space in three dias.”

The Earth Fleet watched their scanners, knowing what was coming. Suddenly, all their alarms sounded, “Ships entering normal space,” Chris announced, and accelerated toward the point of emergence.

The Moet fleet emerged into normal space and the Prince saw a single small white ship accelerating toward his fleet. He saw his communication board activated with a voice speaking Alliance, “We do not desire to attack your ships. We humbly ask that you remove your ships from our home.”

The Prince nodded at his communications Master, “You should know that we won’t do as you ask.”

“Why not?”

The Prince thought a moment and said, “Because we don’t.”

“That doesn’t tell me why. Do you kill and attack any civilization you encounter?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“That really isn’t important. I don’t need to answer you. You’ll be gone momentarily.”

“You might want to rethink that answer.”

The Prince saw the ship was going to arrive in about fifty dias, “Why should I do that?”

“Because after I destroy the ships you brought with you, I’ll probably follow your example and destroy your ship as well.”

The Prince didn’t like that response. The obvious conceit of the small ship angered him, “The Alliance is an ancient enemy of ours and constantly attacks our ships. We are sworn to destroy any member of the Alliance.”

“We’re not a member of the Alliance.”

“You speak their language.”

“They tried to enslave us thousands of years ago and one of your ships prevented them from doing it. We were given a record of their language and learned it. You also speak it. Are you a member of the Alliance?”

The Moet Prince shrugged at that response, “You have been contaminated by their contact. You must be removed.”

“If we had never come into contact with them, would you still try to destroy us?”

“Probably, you represent a threat to the Monarchy.”

“Does every civilized species represent a threat?”

“Primitive societies do not. I don’t know how you could persuade the Alliance you would not join them.”

“We killed one of their battleships to make sure they understand that we will not tolerate their interference with our lives. We will never allow them to force us to their will.”

The Prince saw the ship was getting closer. Then he heard, “We’ll discuss this after I handle your ships. Excuse me for a moment.”

Jillian looked at Chris, “Do you think you can do all that stuff you just said?”

Chris shrugged, “It makes for good Hollywood movies. Are you ready?”

“I’ve targeted four missiles on the ships in the middle of their line. The two ships in the middle I’m going to hit with beams as we fly thorough. One beam will be targeted at the tall tower, and another will be aimed at the long body. The two on either side of them will get the missiles. According to my scans, those ship’s force fields are nowhere near the power of the Blue Ships. George must be right about their stunted development. We might as well let them know they are no longer in the game.”

“We’ll be in range in five seconds.”

The white ship screamed in on the Moet line, then slowed for the attack. Two hundred beams lashed out at the small incoming ship.

“How is the force field holding up?”

Jillian looked at her dials, “We’d be in big trouble if all their ships could fire on us at once. Our force field is down to eighty five percent but it is holding at that level. Fortunately for us, they would hit each other if they all fired. Take us down the middle of the two center ships.”

The Jukebox turned slightly, and flew between two giant grey ships that dwarfed it. Just before moving among the giant grey vessels, four large missiles left the small ship and four huge white beams shot out and struck the two center dreadnaughts. The beams were four miles wide and they blew through the force fields of the two giant ships like they didn’t exist. The two giant ship’s tall towers were cut completely away from the body of the grey ships as another beam sliced down on the long body of the ships cutting the hundred mile long ships in half. The two ships hung in space for a long moment, then exploded.

Simultaneously with the destruction of the two center ships, the four remaining ships in the center of the line saw four the large missiles turn toward them and accelerate. Just before impacting, a brilliant red beam shot out from the missile’s warhead and hit the force fields of the grey ships blowing a hole in them. The four missiles flew through the hole in the force field, slammed into the hull of their intended target, and exploded with a massive explosion. The dreadnaughts’ force fields contained the blast for a brief moment, but then blew away as the giant ships were vaporized.

The Watcher saw the attack and was stunned by what he had witnessed. Six of their largest and most powerful ships ever created were destroyed in one sweeping attack by the small ship. The white ship flew by the Prince’s ship as it made a turn back toward the remaining eight ships in the front line. The three ships protecting the Prince fired on the ships as it passed, but were blown apart by whatever killed the four vaporized ships. The Prince felt his ship shutter and vibrate through its force field. He heard, “Do I need to destroy the rest of your ships, or are you now willing to talk?”

The Prince was stunned. Seven ships were gone faster than he could comprehend. He saw the ship complete a sweeping turn and accelerate toward the remaining ships in the forward line that were now turning to come to his defense. His nephew commanded one of those ships. His sister would never forgive him if he died. He hit his board and yelled, “I’ll talk with you! Call off your attack!”

Dolly and Jeff watched the attack and were stunned at the power of Chris’ ship. Jeff said, “I’m not so sure we can’t win this thing. George is right; they aren’t as advanced as they should be.”

“You’re right, Jeff; but those blue ships are. We were lucky against them and I suspect just one of them could handle all of us if it made it into normal space.”

“Luck is a good thing.”

“You can’t depend on it; it has a way of balancing out and not always in your favor.”

Chris was completing his turn to attack the remaining Moet ships when he heard the Prince, “Abort, Jilly.”

Jillian snatched her hand back from the board just before she launched four more missiles. Chris brought the ship around and stopped directly in front of the surviving dreadnaughts. They came to a halt.

It was almost humorous. A tiny white ship confronting six ships that were all more than a hundred times its size. The Prince looked at that ship and saw twenty seven more holding formation six thousand miles in front of his remaining fleet. He said, “It appears you aren’t as conceited as I first thought. What do you want to discuss?”

“I want you to agree to leave us in peace. We will not attack your ships or endanger any of your people.”

“We have lived millions of years and have had many species promise exactly that same thing, but they always end up breaking it. How can I possibly believe you? You know that winning this battle does not win the war. We’ll just attack with enough ships next time to make sure we finish the job.”

Chris sighed, “Are you a leader with influence among your people?”

“Yes.”

“You’ve seen what we are capable of today. What price do you think you’ll pay to attack us? We are not an enemy of yours. If we weaken you enough, the Alliance will take advantage of your weakness. I don’t know how many of these large ships you have, but we will leave you with thousands less than you started. You will have to fight your way into this system from the outer planets and you will lose your ships at a rate that will make you regret ever having attacked us.”

The Prince thought about what was being said, but then the being talking with him said something that brought paralyzing fear.

“Besides, we and the Alliance are not the enemy you should be worried about. The two million Blue Ships coming to invade our galaxy are what you should be focusing on.”

The Watcher felt fear unimaginable course through him. Were they were coming again?

Chris waited and there was silence. “Did you hear me?”

“What do you mean by Blue Ships?”

“We found a fleet of more than two million of them just outside our galaxy. We had to destroy one of them to escape.”

The Prince and the other Moet Masters couldn’t believe what they heard. “You’re not being truthful.”

Chris heard the fear in the Moet’s voice. He pushed a private channel and said, “Dolly, I’m giving him what we have.”

“It’s the right thing to do. I’ll support your action.”

Chris pushed his communicator, “I’m going to send you what we recorded less than thirty days ago. Are you ready to receive it?”

The Prince said, “Watcher, are you ready?”

“I am, Lord.”

“Send it.”

The Watcher saw the huge fleets gathered and saw the chase of the small white ship. He also saw that the ship being pursued was not as powerful as the one in front of the fleet appeared to be.

“We believe the Blue Ships have not begun their invasion because they have heard our communications in no space and are worried about facing an advanced civilization. The destruction of their ship has confirmed they have something to fear. We’ve looked and the fleet is now gone, but we know they are searching for us. Once they find us they will invade our galaxy. Do you know these ships?”

The Prince didn’t answer the question, “We will not attack you before I come back and communicate with you. If what you say is true, you are the least of our worries.”

“Go look for yourselves. Their energy trails are still there.”

“I will come back to discuss this with you further. I must communicate with my leadership.”

“Only come in one ship.”

“I am forced to come with at least three. My status requires it.”

“Then don’t enter our solar system. Stay out here at the edge and we’ll come to you.”

“I will comply with your request.”

The nine huge grey ships turned, moved away, and then disappeared.

“Well, I hope you don’t hog all the fun in the future.”

Jillian smiled, “Now that you’ve seen how it’s done, you can have the honors next time.”

“Nooooo, I think I’ll pass. But I know Hemon would like a go at them.”

“Dolly, you’re full of…”

“Hemon!”

“…advice. Does that make you happy Sasha?”

“Remember: you’re a gentleman.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

“What?!?”

“You’re right, it’s a gentleman I am. Dolly, you’re a troublemaker.”

“She can’t help it, Hemon. If the world were a pot, she’d be a spoon. She keeps things stirred up.”

“Jeff, now how can you say that about me?”

“Duh! Because it’s true!”

Chris and Jillian looked at each other and smiled. “Never a dull moment.”

“I think from this point forward, until we build more ships we will need to keep our fleet near the planet.”

“Why do you say that, George?”

“Dolly, now that they know we’re stronger than they are, they will come from multiple locations. They know if they can hit Earth that the war will be over. We’ll send the right number of ships to handle whatever they send but we may not have enough. We know we’re faster, so we should be able to hit them outside the orbit of Mars. I’m concerned about the colonies on Saturn’s moons. We’ll need to station one of our newer ships there along with a colony ship to move them. We can protect Mars from Earth. We need to increase the production of fusion missiles. If we have enough of them, we don’t have to worry how many ships they send. The Moet are not an issue.”

Silence ruled the moment. Chris finally said, “You don’t think the Moet will honor their promise about not attacking before communicating?”

“Of course not, that’s not the way things work out there.”

Hemon said, “I agree with you, George.”

“With your prior dealings with the Alliance, I figured you would understand.”

Dolly said, “George, I don’t understand. Why do you say that? He gave his word not to attack first.”

Everyone heard him sigh, “To understand, you need look no further than our own planet. Where’s the most dangerous place on Earth, Dolly?”

Jillian interrupted, “It used to be the Middle East, but that has settled down after the nukes went off. The entire planet is now working together.”

“It’s not on the surface, Jillian. It’s the oceans.”

“Exactly right, Chris. Look at the normal food chain in sea life. Everything, and I do mean everything, is a meal for a bigger and larger predator. Everything! Nothing is safe in our oceans. Every form of life has a predator that’s evolved just to eat it. The top of that chain is the Orca, and even they are killed by humans for their blubber.

The jungles are also dangerous places. Would you take on a lion or tiger or any of the other large cats in their domain without a weapon? Our planet is replete with examples of predator and prey. We are now swimming in the oceans of the universe, and the natural state of affairs is to kill or be killed. The predator-Prey relationship is the normal state out among the stars. The Moet with their millions of years of history bears that out and told us as much.”

Sasha said, “George, that’s an awful vision of creation.”

George sighed, “Years ago, one of the world’s greatest physicists, Stephen Hawking, said that we should avoid attempting to make contact other civilizations out among the stars. He feared they would arrive and conquer us. After meeting the Alliance and the Moet, it appears he was right.”

Jeff said, “Are you saying that we will have to fight any species we encounter?”

“No, not all. Some of them are not aggressive and will want to be left alone. However, I suspect those are the ones you would really want to stay away from. The natural state for those civilizations is to hide from being found and when discovered, remove the one unfortunate enough to have uncovered them. The ones out looking are the ones that are the predators. Those are the ones we’ll have to take on in most every encounter. Again, just look at our planet. There are many herbivores in the jungle that live in peace with the other animals and survive among the predators. Those herbivores are animals the predators go out of their way to avoid. Look at the rhinoceros and hippo; every other animal has learned to avoid them. Come too close and you won’t be walking away.

We are going to have to pattern ourselves after the Rhinoceros. The Rhino is an herbivore, but it has an extremely nasty disposition. Even a lion or tiger won’t take on a Rhino. Two thousand pounds of charging animal with a three foot long horn is not something that even the King of the Jungle would take on. The Rhino can take on any animal that threatens it and usually win. It, however, does not stand a chance against a human with a rifle. The only way we can survive is to have a big enough horn so that no one wants to take us on. Weapon development is crucial to our survival, and developing a nasty disposition comes with it. We have to make sure every aggressive civilization does all it can to stay away from us. We need to make an example of any civilization that chooses to take us on so that no one else even thinks about it.”

No one said anything. Then George made his point real, “The real threat we are now facing is the species that sent the Blue Ships. We know they came from the Andromeda Galaxy, which is about the same size as the Milky Way. Chris, you jumped the Cheops more than sixty five million light years away. How long did it take you to get there?”

“No time at all, really.”

“Well, consider this. Our galaxy is part of the Virgo Super Cluster with five thousand galaxies. Less than fifty five million light years away is M87. That galaxy has more than two trillion stars. It’s more than ten times larger than our galaxy, and many of the stars in it are older. Our galaxy has a hundred and twenty or so super clusters of stars in it; M87 has more than twelve thousand. We know that life eventually develops intelligence as a natural process of evolution. We can assume that galaxy has ten times as many as ours. If the Predator-Prey relationship is also a normal condition, then what does that say about the universe we live in? Think about ten times the number of Moet and Alliance type civilizations fighting there.”

Jillian sighed, “Well, you’re probably right. But think about it. We have always loved a good fight. First we deal with Andromeda, and then we take a page out of their book and go see what lies around us in our neighborhood.”

Hemon joined in, “I’ve heard it said, ‘Blessed are the Peacemakers,’. Perhaps that might be our role.”

George said, “Nothing quiets a room faster than a shotgun chambering a shell.”

“Good point, George. We just have to make sure it’s a big gun and it’s ours.”

Dolly listened and said, “So what happens now?”

“Meisa and I are going to take a honeymoon. I’ll leave the planning for you to handle in my absence.”

“Dolly, how many ships can we produce a month?”

“Chris, we can produce about fifty small attack craft per month, and ten of the Jukebox class. That number will double within three months.”

Chris thought about the number, “Are we going to have crews to man them?”

“That’s the easy part of this. Unlike the Moet and Alliance, our ships don’t require more than one or two people to fly them. We have more than ten thousand undergoing flight training as we speak.”

Jillian replayed the attack on her console and looked up, “Do you see any use for a ship larger than the Jukebox? It appears the Jukebox Class will not stand up to the Blue Ships.”

Hemon said, “We’re investigating that now. Meisa seems to think a reactor as big as the Jukebox would move us into an entirely different magnitude of power generation. I suppose that’s the reason those blue ships are so big. We’ll know more when she and George return.”

Dolly paused, “I notice that you had the Ninja moved back to the Jukebox’s landing bay. Is there a reason for that?”

Jillian smiled, “It’s been updated with a fusion reactor and one never knows when it might be needed. I thought we might want to know what knocked the Moet back into the Stone Age. Was it those Blue Ships or something else? We need to know. There might be another weapon we’ll want to acquire. We should at least try to see what those blue ships are going to do when they invade. We should also take a look at what happened to the Jenze. Were they destroyed or did they evacuate? If they were not destroyed, I suspect their level of development will be much further along than the Moet and Alliance.”

George said, “I’d certainly like to know the answers to those questions. You should make that a priority.”

Dolly sighed, “I guess it’s just a matter of time until it’s used again.”

Chris smiled, “It’s always been a matter of time.”

Dolly shook her head slowly, “For our survival, that’s all there is. Let’s hope we’re given enough of it.”

George had the last word, “Remember that those giant Blue Ships will have their scouts looking for us. We’re going to have to go out and make sure they don’t find us. Things are going to get hot in this galaxy very quickly. Get the smaller ships out now searching for those scouts. We know we can’t stand up to a full barrage from one of those giant ships and that should be what we’re working toward. I can think of two million reasons to hurry and they aren’t far away. They’ll be coming as soon as they find us. Unfortunately, we’re forced to play catch up and time does matter. Let’s make the most of what we have.”

The End

Excerpt From

Planet Predators

Lens of Time – Book Two

Kenny looked up from his panel, “We’ve just been ordered to go into Sierra Space and see if we can find a ship with a specific frequency.”

Arvolo looked over his glasses and raised his eyebrows, “Exactly what type of ship gives off that particular frequency?”

“According to the file attached with the download, it’s a Blue Giant Scout Ship.” Kenny continued to read his panel and said, “It’s about three hundred times our size and heavily armed. I’ve sent a picture to your console.”

“That doesn’t sound good. Does the message tell us what to do if we happen to find one of those ships?”

Kenny continued reading and then looked up slowly, “They want us to pick a fight.”

Arvolo leaned back in his chair and put hands on his large stomach, “They do.”

“Yes.”

“It’s surprising they’re sending us. They know I’m the peaceful sort?”

Kenny was taking a drink from his glass of water and sprayed it out his nose and mouth.

“Hey, I am.”

Kenny shook his head and snorted, “You’re about as peaceful as a tiger that just had his backside sandpapered. You are constantly looking for a fight. I’ve had to stop you more times than I care to remember.”

Arvolo shrugged, “Just checking to see if you were paying attention. Our selection makes sense.”

Kenny snorted again, “Dropping into Sierra Space.”

Arvolo thought about Kenny’s assessment and decided he was only partly right. He didn’t look for a fight on Mondays or Fridays. That’s the days he set aside to recover from the fights he had over the weekend and to rest before the next ones.

“I’ve found four of those frequencies and one of them is pretty close.”

Arvolo sat up straight, “How close?”

“Less than four seconds in Sierra Space from our current position. It just entered normal space.”

“That could be outside the galaxy, how close?”

Kenny looked back at his display, “Fifty light years from Earth.”

“We need to pick one further away to draw them away from this area.

“There’s one five hundred light years away.”

Arvolo tilted his head down and looked through his eyebrows.

Kenny started shaking his head and said, “Switching my board to weapons. You have the ship. Force field and weapons are on line. How do you want to handle this?”

“Let’s be subtle; we’ll enter normal space and hit them with a fusion missile.”

“That is pretty subtle for you. Are you sure we don’t need to kiss them first?”

“I’ll wait while you do the honors. But I want that missile fired before you get their communications number for a future rendezvous.”

“Why only one missile?”

“I’m sure Fleet wants to know what it’s going to take to handle those ships. We need to give them as much information as possible. If the missile doesn’t work, we’ll hit them with a beam. If that doesn’t work, we’ll use both. Make sure a record of this is being sent to fleet.”

Kenny nodded and activated the channel, “Just what do you think that ship is going to be doing while we’re playing around?”

“Why, finishing their kiss with you. We’re jumping in three seconds. Pucker up.”

The Havana jumped into normal space next to the large ship and fired a fusion missile. It hit the three thousand foot long vessel and exploded before reaching the ship. Arvolo applied thrusters and dodged left as a hundred beams ripped through the space the Havana had just left.

Kenny looked at his display and said, “Two of those beams would have killed us at our current field strength.”

Arvolo jerked the Havana hard left and dodged six missiles homing in on them. “I guess you aren’t that great a kisser, Kenny. I guess they expected more” The missiles turned abruptly and homed in on the Havana and hit it on the port side.

Books by Saxon Andrew

The Annihilation Series:

Love Conquers All

The Power of a Queen

A Rose Grows in Weeds

Tommy’s Tale

Searcher

Demon’s Sacrifice

Finding Keepers

Ashes of the Realm:

Juliette’s Dream

Greyson’s Revenge (March 2012)

Lens of Time

The Pyramid Builders

Planet Predators (April 2012)

About Saxon Andrew

Saxon Andrew is the author of the number one bestselling Annihilation Series. All seven books of the series have been a number one bestseller on Amazon’s kindle Science Fiction Series. Ashes of the Realm is the second series created by him and continues the history of the Stars Realm after its destruction. A third series, The Lens of Time, will be published in early 2012.

His books are written so that anyone can enjoy them and not worry about their children picking them up. He lives in Tampa, Florida with his wife and looks forward to each day so he can write the stories that his fans enjoy.

Copyright © 2012 by Saxon Andrew. All rights reserved. Screen Writers Guild no. VQEA3E380432.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.

First Electronic Edition: February 2012