by Saxon Andrew
“Sprigly has assured me the DECs going with us can compress to less than six-inches. There’s enough room to get them out.”
“Barely!”
“Barely counts. Bong has made it in and out easily.”
“But he’s a young DEC and hasn’t reached his full size yet.”
Eddie smiled, “I understand that those chosen to go will be able to compress to six-inches or less. I’ll leave that detail up to Sprigly and the Queen.”
“Do you need me to meet with them?”
“Not really; why do you ask?”
“I want to make sure the ports for the darts are operating in conjunction with the polarization of the hull.”
“Ok. Keep at it and let me know if there’s any issues.”
“My main concern is the targeting system. I need some target practice with the darts before we leave.”
“After I meet with them, we’ll take it out and take a few shots at an asteroid.”
Cali smiled and hugged him, “I’ll talk with you later, I’m going out to the Knight.” Eddie nodded and watched her walk out of the lab. She was right. He really didn’t know the full power of the dark matter darts and it would be good to trial them. Ummm…he went to his desk and pressed his communicator. Sprigly appeared on the monitor and Eddie smiled, “I’m wondering if you can help me out.”
“What do you need, Doctor?”
“Do you have a Prime with the new more powerful force field available for me to use for target practice?” Sprigly stared at Eddie in silence and Eddie added, “I’ve not trialed the new DM Darts and we probably need to do that before we go out.”
“I do have one Prime that had its hull melted slightly before we determined the proper distance to have the new force field out from the ship.”
“Is the force field capable of the new power levels you’ve developed?”
“It is. Do you honestly think this dart will be able to penetrate it?”
“Sprigly, force fields are developed to stop physical objects and energy from passing through. They are not designed to stop dark matter. At least, I don’t think they are.”
“But you told me the darts will be harder than most of our strongest alloys; they should be stopped if they’re that hard.”
“That’s why we need to do this; to answer that question.”
“I’ll send the Prime out with a remote controller for you to make your trial.”
Eddie smiled, “Thank you. I appreciate it.”
• • •
Eddie and Cali were sitting on the Dark Knight and staring at the Prime Warship fifteen-miles away. Cali targeted the Prime and sighed, “I’m not completely certain the darts will be effective against a moving target.”
“Why do you say that?”
“They only have a small dark energy propulsion system and no tracking systems. It’s like firing a projectile at a moving target; your aim better be good. At the high-speeds of warships in space battles, they’ll only be good from a very short range.”
“Depends on the size of the target.” Eddie muttered.
Cali turned to him, “Why do you say that?”
“Our ship will be moving as fast as a ship chasing us. Our relative speeds will be similar, and targeting should work fine.”
“And if a ship is flying at us head on?”
“Fire it into its path and move aside.”
Cali shook her head and rolled her eyes, “At that speed, I’ll have to launch the dart, and you’ll have to move out of the path of the ship moving toward us instantly. Are we capable of that level of coordination, Eddie?”
“I will use my telepathy to listen to your thoughts and I’ll know the moment you launch. We’ll make it work.”
“Will the darts really cause any damage; they’re really small.”
Eddie smiled slightly, “They’re about four-feet long and weigh close to a ton. Kinetic energy is still a very powerful force to reckon with. Are you ready?”
Cali turned back to her console, “I have it centered in the tracker.”
Eddie smiled, “Well, do the honors.” Cali shrugged and pressed the red button on her control stalk. The Dark Knight didn’t even move when the dart shot out of the tube and disappeared faster than they could follow on the scanner. An instant later, the Prime went up in a massive explosion. Eddie’s eyes flew wide open as he saw the shockwave bearing down on them from the huge blast and he teleported the Knight away.
Eddie looked up, “COMPUTER, REPLAY WHAT JUST HAPPENED!”
The small wall monitor, above their chairs, illuminated and began playing in slow motion. They watched the dart leave the missile port and accelerate away. It flew in on the Prime and the force filed around it didn’t even flash as it blew through and struck the ship in the center. A ten-foot section of the Prime’s hull collapsed in on the interior of the ship and an immediate explosion erupted out into space. “What did the dart hit, computer?”
“It hit directly above the Prime’s reactors,” the computer answered.
“Computer, did you record the dart’s speed?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Incorporate that into the tracking system and adjust the aiming accordingly.”
“Working.”
“What are you doing, Eddie?”
“Cali, the tracking system locks on a target and aims the dart at it. Now, if you lock on a moving ship, the tracking system will automatically adjust the aim point.”
“If the target is changing direction radically, it will probably miss.”
Eddie nodded, “I know. But this is better than what we had. If we’re moving close to the target’s speed, and we’re inside twenty-miles, it shouldn’t miss, even if it is changing direction.”
“I really hope we don’t have to find out if that’s true.”
Eddie turned to her and put his arm over her shoulders, “The words of the day are hide and evade. The dart is just an insurance policy.”
“I assume you mean life insurance and not comprehensive medical.”
Eddie laughed, “I do!”
Cali turned to Eddie, “What do you think about what the Gardners said about there being someone else for you?”
“You mean a compliment?” Cali nodded. “You are my compliment. There will never be anyone else.” Cali smiled, and Eddie turned the Knight around to head back to the Defense Facility. “Tomorrow’s the day.”
“I’ve been looking forward to finally doing this, Eddie. Do we know where they’re located?”
“We know the direction. I have the coordinates where the Yellow Warships stopped moving forward in their search for the Realm. We’ll start from there.”
“Let’s pray all this technology works.”
Eddie shrugged, “That will depend on the level of technology of the OAs. We’ll not take any risks that can be avoided.”
• • •
Eddie listened to the hum coming from the dark energy containers and it sounded steady. It was a little rough at first but smoothed out after a few minutes. Cali sat down in her command chair and began a check of her systems. She looked over her shoulder and asked, “Is everyone ok?”
“We’re fine, Cali. We’re discussing among ourselves how we want to initiate our searches when we find the OA’s universe.”
Eddie continued to stare at his console as he said to the DEC’s behind him, “Make absolutely certain you match the density of the dark energy round you!”
“We know! You’ve told us enough!”
“I’ll be telling you again before we arrive. That is going to be critical to not being detected.” Eddie turned to Cali, “Are you ready?”
“Everything checks out.”
Eddie thought to Sprigly, “We’re leaving. Are the Algeans united with the twins on board hearing everything?”
“They are, Eddie. If you need anything, send me a thought through my twin.”
“I didn’t know he was one of those going?”
“He insisted, and I agree tha
t it might be an asset to have me watching things.”
“Before I release them, I’m going to make sure the Dark Knight can’t be detected.”
“That would be wise.”
Eddie activated the universal drive and entered the coordinates of the target universe. He looked at Cali and smiled, “We’re off!” He pressed the button on the drive and the dark matter warship disappeared from outside the Defense Facility.
• • •
The Knight appeared in normal space and Eddie reset the universal drive. “What are you doing?” Cali asked.
“We know the former Yellow Civilization was terrified of the OAs. I believe they would never get close to their universe. I’m jumping a thousand universes in their direction and take a look around. If nothing shows up, I’ll jump another thousand.”
“You aren’t concerned about jumping past them?”
“We just need to find their ships, Cali. They’ll show us where we need to go.” Eddie pressed the drive-button and the Knight disappeared.
• • •
The Knight entered normal space and Eddie looked over his shoulder, “Bong, do you see anything?”
“No. I can see that there is nowhere near enough intelligent life in this universe. I suspect it was visited by the OAs long ago and is slowly recovering.”
Eddie turned to Cali, “That’s how we’ll know if we’ve passed them. The level of intelligent life will be normal.” Eddie reset the drive, “Jumping again.”
• • •
It took more than a week before Bong announced, “This universe appears to have normal levels of intelligent civilizations. If the OAs attacked it, it would have to of been an extremely long time ago.”
“Remember the Queen told us that the Yellow and Red civilizations were scheduled to be attacked again before the Yellows were destroyed,” Cali interjected. “We don’t know if this universe was attacked long ago or not.”
“Cali, make a scan.”
“Why are you doing that?” Sprigly’s twin asked.
“If they attacked here in the past, they must have left a probe behind. I’m going to scan for the frequency used by the probe that visited the Red Civilization.” Eddie paused. “I’m making the scan with the dark energy scanner. I’d rather have a probe detect it than an OA warship. I’m hoping the scan isn’t detectable but won’t know until we try it. Go ahead, Cali. Make the scan.”
“Are you prepared to run?”
“No. If it’s detected, we’ll change position and wait for an OA warship to show up. We also need to make sure the Dark Knight can’t be detected before we continue looking for them. Start the scan.” The eleven-DECs on board were compressed to their smallest size but they moved forward to see the small monitor above Eddie and Cali’s chairs. After five minutes, the monitor showed nothing was detected.
Eddie stared at the monitor and mumbled, “I’m surprised they’ve not been here.” He began entering new coordinates in the drive, “I’m jumping back one universe at a time in the direction we’ve just come from. Scan each universe we enter, Cali.”
Ten-jumps later, the scanner pinged. A flashing dot appeared far in the distance near a huge galaxy. “Bong, how does this universe compare to the others we’ve seen?”
“It also has a normal level of intelligent civilizations. All of the ones we just passed through are normal. I suspect the OAs don’t leave a probe in every universe they attack but in one of them to keep track of how life is making a comeback.”
“I’m moving in on that probe and see if it detects us.” Eddie teleported a long distance from the OA probe and asked the computer, “Have you detected it transmitting?”
“No. There have been no transmissions. However, there is a silver colored warship not far from the probe.”
“Why didn’t we detect it?”
“You set up the scan to search for the frequency of the probe,” the computer answered.
“The ship has just launched two-missiles at the probe!” Bong shouted.
Cali twisted a dial on her console and the view of the probe zoomed in instantly; they saw two-thruster-trails reaching out from the large silver warship toward the Probe. The missiles hit the force field around the probe and produced two-giant-explosions. “Is the probe transmitting?”
“No, it isn’t,” the computer replied.
“I wonder why that is?” Cali asked.
Eddie shrugged, “They probably don’t respond to attacks from civilizations that aren’t advanced enough to damage their probes. The probes are just programed to ignore them.”
Cali turned to him, “Now might be a good time to try a dart against that probe’s force field.”
Eddie sighed, “And what will happen if the probe is damaged?”
Cali stared at him and Bong spoke up, “It will probably cause the OAs to come and attack this universe and the others close to it.”
“I don’t know that I want to be responsible for that.”
“They’re going to be attacked anyway. They have to be reaching that critical population threshold the OAs have established. We would get to see how they attack and the forces they use to do it,” Sprigly’s twin stated.
“Sprigly.”
“Yes.”
“I’m not going to take that risk. Contact the Queen and see if she disagrees with my decision.”
• • •
Danielle and Tag were going to a meeting of the elected representatives on Ross, when they heard, “Danielle.”
“Yes, Sprigly.”
“We’ve found an OA probe in a universe that the OAs invaded long ago. The universes have recovered and will probably be invaded again in the not too distant future.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I’ve suggested that we could fire a dart at the probe and see how it functions against its force field.”
“Go on.”
“Eddie says that if the dart destroys the probe, the OAs will probably come and start their attack immediately. He refuses to do it without direct orders from you. Danielle, this is a unique opportunity for us to record an OA attack and see what we’re up against.”
“Sprigly, we will not do anything to cause the OAs to attack!” Tag interrupted.
“But, Tag…”
“The answer is no!”
Sprigly was silent for a moment and then said, “I’ll let Eddie know.”
The contact disappeared, and Danielle took Tag’s hand, “Thank you.”
“He’s right about the value of doing it. But…the price is too high.”
“Yes, it is.”
Chapter Twelve
“The Queen agrees with you and says that we will not fire at the probe.”
“Thank you, Sprigly.”
“I do think it would have been a good idea, Eddie.”
“There is another warship approaching the probe,” Cali announced.
“Bong, go out and see if you can hear their thoughts!” Eddie ordered.
“May I go with him?” Sprigly asked.
“All of you go and try to familiarize yourselves with leaving and entering the Knight,” Eddie answered. “KEEP YOUR DENSITY AT THE SAME LEVEL AS THE DARK ENERGY AROUND YOU!!”
Bong chuckled, “We will, Ed.”
Cali’s head turned to Eddie, “Why does Bong call you Ed, when everyone else calls you Eddie?”
“Cali, he called me that the first moment he met me and refuses to call me anything else. I guess it’s his way of saying I’m special.”
“He’s right about that, Ed.”
Eddie turned to her and laughed, “Not you too.”
“Now that I know, yes, me, too.”
Bong flashed in on the two-warships and heard the commander on the latest ship to arrive saying, “…think that this new missile should break through the force field.”
“Are you sure about that?” the first-warship’s-commander responded.
“We’ve been working on it long enough. You’ll need to back off and
put some distance between your ship and the probe.”
“Before you fire it, how does it work?”
“We’ve managed to collect the energy that keeps universes separated and put it in the nose. We think it will open a hole in the force field and allow the remainder of the missile to break through.”
The first-commander nodded, “I’ve heard about that being developed. I’m moving my ship now.”
• • •
Eddie shook his head, “ARE THEY CRAZY!?! THIS COULD PRECIPITATE A WAR WITH THE OAs!”
“They probably don’t realize that, Ed.” Bong replied quickly. “Their civilization was destroyed by the OAs millennia ago and all they see is a powerful probe just outside their galaxy. They probably think it was sent by someone in their universe to spy on them.”
Eddie was shaking his head and Cali asked, “What are you thinking?”
“What are the odds that we would show up at this exact moment to witness this?”
“I’m not sure what you mean?”
“The odds are astronomical that we would arrive at just the moment this new missile arrives on the scene. Something is weird here.”
• • •
Eddie sat in his command chair and watched the second-warship launch a silver colored missile and immediately move away at high-speed. There was a giant orange explosion and the huge probe was rocked. “The probe is transmitting,” the computer announced.
“CALI, FIRE A DART AT IT!” Cali pressed buttons on her console and a dart flew out from the front missile port. It hit the probe so fast it was impossible to follow it to the target.
The Probe went up in a massive explosion and Eddie saw a bright stream of energy leaving the probe and moving toward the Dark Knight at incredible speed. He didn’t have time to lift a hand before it hit the missile port and Cali was blown away from her console. Eddie rushed over to her and saw she had been electrocuted. “BONG!!”
Bong appeared on the bridge and Eddie wailed, “KEEP HER ALIVE!!”
Eddie hit the emergency button on the drive and the Dark Knight flashed away and appeared at the defense facility. He was yelling at the top of his voice as the invisible ship appeared on the main landing bay with the port open. A medical team teleported in, rushed on board the ship, and then teleported Cali to the on-board hospital. Eddie teleported in right behind them and arrived, as they rushed Cali into an operating room. Eddie fell into a chair outside the room and was rocking back and forth. He kept saying over and over, “WHAT HAPPENED?”