Battle for Time

by Gerry A Saunders

  “Ronin said that after picking you up, it would only be five days jump time to rendezvous with Tamar, Frank,” Gerry ventured.”

  “And we would need to come a few light-years out, to meet Charlotte, then quite a lot further to reach you and Ronin… So, if it was only five days from Ronin to Tamar, then, once we get to the end of this spur, we should be closer to Tamar than we originally thought.”

  “Yes, you’re right. I think Tamar’s group must have jumped a long way to meet us,” Anton put forward.

  “That makes sense… Okay. Charlotte, as agreed, you’re coming with me. So, we need to scan you so that your DNA, and whatever other data the scanner collects, is stored in Ronin’s transmit and assembly unit’s memory buffer,” Frank stated.

  “You could have taken Susanna instead, Frank,” Charlotte pointed out.

  “Yea, At least I could keep them at bay,” Susanna aggressively stated.

  “Sorry Sues. But Charlotte’s much more ruthless than you.”

  “Well, thanks Frank,” Charlotte said, feeling that maybe she’d been a bit mean to Susanna.

  Then, noting that Susanna looked a bit dejected, Frank said, “No, it’s true, Sues. Charlotte won’t be squeamish about scrambling a few minds if she has to.”

  “I suppose you’re right, Frank,” Susanna had to agree.

  Then Frank thought about how he was going to find the right place to confront Tamar… Certainly not with Ronin still there, he decided.

  Anyway, would Tamar still be there? And, what if there had already been some changes in the human timeline from the actions they had already taken?” Frank wondered. Then sighed, knowing it was partly guesswork, anyway. Yet, he still felt that he was doing the right thing.

  “I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m pretty tired now,” Cindy said, standing up. “Come on, Gerry, let’s get some sleep.”

  “Lead the way,” Gerry happily replied and followed Cindy to their cabin.

  The rest, feeling the same way, started to head off to their cabins.

  “One moment, Charlotte. Can we scan you now before you and Anton disappear?” Frank asked, knowing that scanning her now would be far less risky than later.

  “OK, we might as well get it over with… I’ll catch up with you in a minute, Anton.”

  “Oh, Anton, before you go, can you just check that there’s nothing near us?”

  Anton quickly checked that even though they were traveling along the spur, there was nothing in detector range.

  “Nothing as far as the ship’s sensors are concerned, Frank.”

  “Thanks,” Frank said but knew that the spur itself would limit the effectiveness of the ship’s sensor grid.

  “If that’s all, then I’ll see you later, Charlotte,” Anton acknowledged then went off to their cabin.

  Charlotte and Frank crossed over to the dual transmit and assembler unit. That, because of its size, was located at the far end of the communal lounge.

  “Step onto the Transit disc,” Frank prompted Charlotte.

  She did, but the scanner warning light changed to red, and a voice that Frank hadn’t heard before, spoke.

  “No compatible assembler in range,” it stated.

  Frank ignored the warning.

  “Scan and save for later use,” Frank ordered as firmly as he could.

  The scanner warning light changed to green. Then the scanner head moved swiftly down Charlotte’s body. Two seconds later, the warning light extinguished.

  “Scan has been saved, as object Charlotte,” the voice simply informed them.

  “I guess we're done, Frank,” Charlotte said as she stepped off the Transit disc, and headed off to her cabin, while Frank headed off to join Susanna.

  Chapter 34

  Hello, Tamar

  The Time ship exited the time-spur in 2330, in normal space.

  “The matrix has located Ronin’s warp thread, so get seated everyone, we’re about to jump along his thread,” Anton warned.

  As soon as everyone was secure in their Inertia damping seats, Anton hit the execute tab, and the Timeship warped space to create its wormhole, then surged forward into it.

  They all felt the familiar elongating of their surroundings, followed by the yanking sensation that caused their bodies to feel as if they were being stretched and pulled apart. Then, it was over, and the Timeship was traveling towards Ronin’s exit point, to hopefully meet Tamar’s ships.

  During the next five days on board, Frank’s plan was fine-tuned, with both Charlotte and him having to spend a lot of time together, much to the annoyance of Susanna and Anton.

  But it was vital for Frank and Charlotte to cover each other once they were on Tamar’s ship. And both of them had to ensure that Frank’s abilities were protected from Tamar’s mental intrusion. Hopefully, the formation of a mental bolt-hole should satisfy that part of their plan.

  One of the difficulties for Anton and Gerry to overcome in the plan was that although they were in the right year. Anton would have to create a new time-spur, to be able to move Up and Downtime to locate and enter Tamar’s ship, exactly when the original Ronin had just left Tamar with Frank, Gerry, Cindy and Susanna’s counterparts on board.

  With Ronin then heading to Dpav5, where Charlotte and Anton’s counterparts would be waiting with a Timeship, to take them Uptime to Delta’s temporal anchor in 2725.

  Five days later, the Timeship exited its wormhole at the end of Ronin’s warp thread, and everyone quickly recovered from the sensations and cognitive disruption caused when exiting a wormhole.

  Straight away, the Timeship’s information displays updated, with the new data and optical imagery coming from the ship’s sensor grids.

  “Nothing here yet,” Anton informed them. Then partially phased the Timeship into subspace, to minimize the risk of detection.

  “Drone out,” Gerry said as the phasable drone moved into normal space.

  “Come on, Charlotte, let's get ready,” Frank suggested, and they both left to suit up.

  A couple of minutes later, they came back dressed in their white-colored, semi-armored suits, with two medium-power hand weapons holstered on each side of their waist.

  Just then, a contact alarm sounded via the drone’s link. And the drone, now operating in normal space, transmitted the scene back to the Timeship.

  “Tamar’s ships have just warped in, there are eight of them,” Gerry informed everyone while being pleasantly surprised that the timing had been so precise. This almost certainly meant that Ronin would also drop-in any moment now.

  Anton studied the Varon’s silver-colored cylindrical ships and noted that they were basically the same as the ones they had already encountered, with numerous objects protruding from their hulls. While both ends of the vessels were slightly enlarged and held their jump exciter rings.

  At the end of the ship facing the Timeship, four short thick rods surrounded a greyish rectangular-shaped hanger bay.

  One of the ships was larger than the others, so was obviously Tamar’s. And was populated by rows of lit windows that gave the appearance of a luxury liner. But that’s where the similarities ended.

  “They’re pretty ugly,” Cindy muttered out loud.

  “Anton, can you get us within range of Tamar’s ship, so we can use our Transporter?” Frank asked.

  “Yes, I can. But, if I remember correctly, you said that you had to be in normal space for the onboard transporter to work.”

  “Sorry, Anton, you’re right. So, I’m afraid it means you’ll be vulnerable for a couple of minutes while Charlotte and I transfer.”

  “Great,” Anton sharply replied.

  “Anton, you’d better get closer now, before Ronin bumps into us,” Gerry warned him. Then mentally heard himself saying…,

  ‘Bit of a tub.’

  Followed by Ronin’s…,

  ‘Don’t let looks deceive you, Gerry.’

  Gerry realized that these words were exactly what he and Ronin had said before when Ta
mar was telling them what they had to do.

  “Anyone picking up anything that was said from when we were here last?” He asked.

  No-one did, so Gerry pushed it to the back of his mind for now, as he sensed the Timeship moving through subspace, towards Tamar’s ship.

  “Ronin’s arrived,” Anton informed everyone as the drone, still in normal space, recorded the vessel’s arrival.

  “Good, all we have to do is to wait about ten minutes for Ronin to leave,” Cindy remarked.

  “Yes, but Frank and Charlotte both need to be quick in getting over to Tamar’s ship, just in case the Varons decide to jump somewhere else,” Gerry pointed out.

  “Will you two really be ready to cross over to Tamar’s ship when Ronin departs,” Anton asked, wanting assurance.

  “Of course, discs and all,” Frank and Charlotte replied in unison.

  “It’s as if Charlotte and I are going off on holiday together,” Frank added, then wished he hadn’t as Susanna gave him a dirty look.

  “We’ll wait by the transporter, Anton.” Charlotte decided and tugged at Frank’s arm. “Come on Frank.”

  It seemed a long ten minutes before Ronin, with Frank, Susanna, Cindy, and Gerry’s counterparts on board finally warped out on its way to Dpav5.

  “Normal space in six seconds... Now go, Frank,” Anton ordered.

  Frank drew a weapon and stepped on the Transit disc. Then the scanner head moved swiftly down over his body. Two seconds later, Frank was gone. Charlotte quickly did the same and vanished.

  Then Anton quickly shifted the ship to subspace, where it would remain until Charlotte or Frank initiated their return request. The assembler would then automatically bring the Time ship out of subspace to receive the individual transfers of both Frank and Charlotte, from Tamar’s ship.

  Captain Verush, Tamar’s ship’s captain, had just entered the sizeable and cold-looking room where the four humans had been only moments earlier and noted that their holographic seats were still activated.

  “That seems to have gone well, Tamar,” Captain Verush congratulated.

  “It was a brilliant operation. We’ve finally fulfilled our dream, and the Varons will be the Galaxy’s dominant race.”

  “That’s true, Tamar. But if the humans should ever find out what we have done to them, they could still be a threat to us in the future.”

  “Never. The time crystal will be destroyed.”

  “You should never have saved those six humans.”

  “It was the right thing to do. I had to give the humans an incentive.”

  “I hope you are right, Tamar.”

  Tamar sensed a presence behind him. Then both he and Verush turned, to see a being dressed in white, then another being in white, joined the first.

  “Hello, Tamar,” Frank firmly said, addressing him.

  Tamar and Verush’s boyish faces turned from surprise to fear, then almost mockery.

  “Frank Richardson, back so soon,” Tamar mockingly acknowledged. “And who exactly are you?” He asked as he saw Charlotte step out from behind Frank.

  Frank sensed Tamar, as he tried to mentally attack him but was unable to, as Frank and Charlotte raised their mental blocks. While Verush’s hand hovered over a weapon attached to his belt.

  Then Tamar and Verush suddenly understood. The two humans standing in front of them hadn’t come back from Ronin. But were instead, the Predators of death. And the survivors of time, that Captain Verush had just warned Tamar against saving in the first place.

  Chapter 35

  The Terminal Factor

  Then, Frank saw a smile come over Tamar’s face.

  ‘Charlotte, back me up,’ Frank mentally sent as he saw the two reddish lenses brighten and his mental bolt-hole open. Then, his new temporal lobe linked with the source controlling the lenses.

  Captain Verush went for his sidearm but didn’t make it. He screamed as his arm disappeared in a blue haze of gore, from Charlotte’s weapon’s discharge.

  “Stop there,” Frank ordered, with his voice rattling around the room.

  Then Verush slumped to the floor, with his shoulder cauterized.

  Frank glanced at him briefly. “He’ll survive,” he coldly stated.

  “Tamar, Charlotte will kill everyone or anything that tries to enter this room. Make no mistake about it,” Frank warned.

  “Huh. You will never leave here, human,” Tamar stated just as coldly as Frank had.

  “You’re right, Tamar. I won’t.” Frank said and couldn’t help smiling. “But you will.”

  Tamar understood what the Human meant. But he didn’t know why this human was so sure of himself when he couldn’t see anything in the human brain, that… Yet he sensed that something had changed in the last few seconds.

  “That’s right, Tamar.”

  Frank waited a moment until he was sure that his cells were acting in the same way they had when he’d attacked the wreck’s Temporal controller. Before he tried to attack the source behind the red lenses, on Tamar’s ship.

  “No way,” Charlotte suddenly growled as she mentally engaged Varon guards trying to enter the room.

  Then, Tamar suddenly saw it, millions of Seer cells bridging the gap between Frank’s brain and the ship’s organic Temporal controller, which was tucked out of sight behind the red lenses.

  Then Tamar realized that the temporal controller was shriveling under a ferocious attack from Frank’s seemingly Temporal cells.

  “No-no,” Tamar yelled as he finally comprehended what the outcome of this battle would be.

  “Tamar, as I’m sure that you can see, my cells have already reached into all of your ships. So, you have about five minutes by my reckoning, before all of your ship’s controllers here will be infected.

  “So, I see. It seems that I should have listened to Captain Verush when he warned me not to save you… Yet, against all the odds, you have outwitted me just because I showed some compassion.”

  “That is the only reason I’m not going to scramble your brain, Tamar… But you knew all about Time-travel well before you left your homeworld.”

  “I know. We tried to go back to the safety of the past… But that wasn’t practical in the end.”

  “You mean the Time-shaft you developed, failed?”

  “Our portal wouldn’t allow living beings to survive the transit… Delta has the only time crystal that’s capable of generating a true shaft.

  “Then, why couldn’t you have worked with the other races here?”

  “Our older Seers could see into the future, and saw the incompatible ideology of the Crillons and the Garodens, and steered us away from that route… Now the older Seers are all dead anyway.”

  Frank could feel the Temporal buffer around Tamar’s ships weakening. And sensed that Charlotte was beginning to fret about getting back to the Timeship alive.

  “Well, I don’t know where you’ll end up, Tamar. But good luck. You’ll need it. And don’t come back this way again unless you’re going to play nice.”

  Tamar knew that the Seers had all been gathered in one of the starship facilities. And caught a glimpse in Frank’s mind of the two Varon Starship construction facilities being destroyed by Hendrix ships.

  “So, it was you that killed the old Seers and ruined our fighting ability,” Tamar quietly stated, while feeling that they had been misled by their old Seers.

  “Sorry, we didn’t know your Seers were there,” Frank said while not really feeling sorry at all.

  ‘Time to go, Charlotte,’ he mentally sent, then realized that they didn’t know how to, without the transit discs to stand on.

  Then he remembered that they’d had the Varon discs in their pockets all the time. And, that they had already spoken to the unit to set up Charlotte’s info in the buffer’s memory. ‘So, the discs must act as a link,’ Frank convinced himself.

  ‘You go first, Charlotte. Just think, send me back to the Timeship,’ he sent.

  Frank hoped that he was right. Then
breathed a sigh of relief as Charlotte vanished.

  ‘Just in time,’ he thought as Tamar, and his ship started to flicker.

  Then Frank mentally instructed the disc to send him back to the Timeship. And disappeared.

  Frank stepped off the transit disc and straight into Charlotte’s arms.

  She hugged him. “Geeze Frank, that was damn exciting,” she said and kissed him on the cheek.

  Then, thankful to be alive, she turned around and fell into Anton’s arms.

  Chapter36

  Success or Failure

  Susanna hugged Frank and was grateful that he and Charlotte had safely returned, in normal space.

  “It was hard Sues. I think I’m empty,” Frank quietly declared.

  Susanna wasn’t sure what he was referring to until she sensed him trying to look as far ahead as possible into his future. But nothing happened. He couldn’t see the future at all.

  “What is it, Frank?” Gerry queried, seeing his strained expression.

  “It seems that virtually all the new cells that I got from the gland generated from the Varon destroyer group’s Seer, Tarker, have deserted me to destroy the Temporal Lens controllers on Tamar’s ships.”