by JK Stone
Terrah entered TDS 1 behind Eneria, and Eneria exited the room as her sisters rushed past to embrace her.
“Are you alright? Alise and Calia told us that there were difficulties, and we saw that massive ship firing at yours,” Vellia looked pained as she asked with concern etched on her face.
“Yes, I’m fine, the ship is having difficulties but we’re hopeful that they will be resolved once the ship has a full charge.” Terrah had been examining Vellia as she spoke, and asked her, “How are your migraines?”
Vellia seemed to force a smile and replied, “they’ve been coming and going, but I’ll be alright for now.” Vellia then reached up to the pendant around her neck that she kept some pills in and ran her fingers along it.
Terrah asked, “Have you used the emergency meds yet?”
Vellia shook her head and said, “No, there’s only one dose. I don’t want to waste it in case the migraines get worse.”
Alise came into the engine room a moment later and said, “It is time. We think the three of you should be in on this as well.”
Terrah nodded and taking one of Vellia’s hands in hers and Saleria taking Vellia’s other, they followed Alise down the corridors and into medical.
*****
Alise entered the room with Terrah and her sisters in tow and speaking to Jerren Alise said, “Everyone should be here in a moment. Then we can begin the interrogation.”
Terrah moved around to make room, and watched as Jerren shook his head and stated, “That won’t be necessary—”
“What won’t be necessary?” Jason’s voice sounded from the other side of Alise.
Terrah looked over Alise’s shoulder and saw that Jason and Justin had entered the medical room as well, so Terrah moved tighter into the room so Vellia and Saleria could move over as well, allowing Jason and Justin into the already overcrowded medical bay.
Jerren turned and repeated what he’d just said. “I was saying we won’t have to interrogate Anubisis. With him in stasis, we can look into his head, and I saw what we need to know,” Jerren explained.
Jason asked, “How did you accomplish that?” with an astonished tone.
“It’s rather easy actually. You do it the same as before only this time use a tactile interface,” Jerren replied.
Terrah was confused and wondered what he meant by that, and the others must have had the same expressions because a moment later Jerren chuckled and explained himself.
“When we made it to Abydos, Eneria and I transported a disfigured girl up to the ship and healed her. She began to panic, so I placed my hand on her head, just like I did with Terrah when she awoke. When I touched the girl, I thought I could sense her memories, and I wondered if it would work on Anubisis. So, I tried it and it worked. What you need to do is put your hand on Anubisis’s forehead,” Then Jerren explained how he sifted through the memories.
Now apparently understanding what Jerren was talking about, Jason, Justin, Eneria, Alise, and finally Calia approached Anubisis and apparently read his mind. Calia spoke a few minutes later, “That is much easier than the other way.”
Calia then looked between Terrah, Saleria, and Vellia and said, “I think the three of you should see this too, it is not pleasant, but…” Calia had left her statement open.
Calia walked Saleria and Vellia through the procedure and after each of them was finished Terrah approached and attempted it.
Terrah was having difficulties at first. More than likely, because she really didn’t want to know what was in that sadistic assholes head, but on her third attempt something seemed to snap in her own head, and the next thing she knew she was witnessing some of the most horrifically cruel and sadistic experiments performed by this man.
Terrah sifted through his mind a bit, and something about the man’s memories didn’t feel right, but Terrah attributed it to the fact that she really didn’t want to see them in the first place. So, she forced her way past the seemingly endless experimentations and saw a memory regarding the battleship at the bottom of Area 51, and focused on it. Terrah found that Bias or Anubisis had been able to board the massive battleship for years now, even though he reported to the government that he was unsuccessful.
Terrah attempted to see what was actually on the ship, but there was a haze blocking the rest of the memories. She sifted through his mind a moment longer and could see his most recent memories of torturing her. The older memories were different from the recent memories she was witnessing. They were emotionless and almost felt like she was watching a replay of events.
But these recent memories of her were so intense Terrah had to pull out of his mind after feeling the pleasure he was experiencing at her torture, yet the frustration and anger that he couldn’t get her to cry out in agony. Terrah stepped back and steadied herself against the wall then managed to croak out, “What do we do with someone that sick and twisted?”
Jerren placed a hand on her shoulder and immediately Terrah felt her unease lift. Looking over at her sisters, Terrah noticed Jason and Justin had been doing the same with Saleria and Vellia as well.
“We have orders from Inola,” Jerren said, then he added, “their entire family has been sentenced to death. I really didn’t wish you to see that, but you needed to know why we’re going to do what we have to.”
Terrah nodded and Jerren turned to face Jason. “Do you want me to pronounce?”
“I can’t get close to him at the moment,” Jason nodded grimly as he said that.
Terrah wondered what Jason meant by that at first, but recalling what he’d told her as they made their way around her ship, she realized why he didn’t want to get close to him.
Jerren drew Terrah’s attention when he said, “Bring Anubisis out of stasis.”
Terrah’s eyes shot to Bias U’san or Anubisis as they kept calling him, and she watched as Jerren placed his hand on Anubisis’s head apparently forcing him to remain silent while he recited his crimes and handed down the sentencing.
“Anubisis-Atum-Osiris, you and your family have been found guilty of the following offenses:
“The production of weapons of galactic destruction to ensure the subjugation of less advanced species.
“The deification of selves and other family members to rule supreme as deities over less advanced species.
“The willful and malicious torture and killing of an honorable and faithful steward of Imortum Time Dilation Ship five to gain supremacy.
“The sedition resulting in the genocide of the Lantin people.
“The torture and mutilation of innocents and less advanced species to force the servitude of less advanced species.
“And accessory culpability in the torture and murder of Baelentus, Mara, wife of Elgon, Anteth, son of Elgon, Elgon and Baelin, grandson of the line, as well as the deaths of Atlas, Venisha, and Baelac, commanders of TDS two, three and four.”
Terrah noted that all the time Jerren was speaking; he was using a voice that threatened to send chills down her spine.
“These crimes being so heinous in nature, only one punishment shall be rendered upon you, and your progeny. The sentence is to be death, carried out in the humane technique set forth by the people you once counted as brethren. Do you have any final words before your sentence is carried out?”
Terrah watched as Jerren removed his hand from Anubisis’s head and with a calm and unnervingly cold and callous voice he stated, “When my Aunt finds out what—
Eneria stepped forward and cut Anubisis off, “Enyali has already been found guilty and her sentence has been carried out.”
Anubisis scoffed at Eneria. “Who are you to judge me!? You have no idea who I am. You may look like the Imortum, but they’re all gone and left us in charge… you have no authority here!—
Terrah had been wondering what made them the judge jury and executioner, not that this man didn’t deserve to be put to death for what he did to her alone, but a second later that thought was driven from her mind when she heard.
“I GRANT THE AUTHOR
ITY!” Inola’s voice rang out.
Terrah’s head threatened to burst at Inola’s words and even moments later it still sounded like a gong ringing in her ears.
Jerren seemed to shake his head a moment then stated firmly, “place him back in stasis.”
A moment later Anubisis’s eyes shut and Jerren turned to face Jason and nodded. Another moment later there was a brilliant flash, and Anubisis’s body was gone.
Terrah stood there in complete silence staring at the medical bed that was now empty. She gave an involuntary shudder at the thought that someone could be here one moment then dead and gone the next, then a great feeling of relief overcame her, knowing Bias would never harm anyone ever again. She was pulled out of her thoughts a moment later as Jerren cleared his throat.
“I think we need to move this to the conference room for our meeting and discuss our next steps,” Jerren said as he peered around the room.
The group agreed and they made their way to the second level.
*****
Terrah and her sisters took their seats and a second later Jason asked, “Were the rest of you frozen in place?”
Terrah shook her head and Jerren said, “Inola locked you down, she did the same thing to me with Gebb, Nuit, and Enyali’s executions.”
“Why?” Jason asked.
“I would surmise for the same reason as me, to prevent us from inflicting damage on a condemned prisoner. I know you have every reason to wish to harm him, but it’s over now. At least where Bias U’san is concerned,” Jerren said sounding sympathetic yet irritated.
Jason seemed to relax a little, and then he said, “You’re right.”
Saleria squeezed Terrah’s hand almost painfully as she asked, “Why would you wish to harm him?”
Jason looked down in apparent shame and Jerren answered for him, “When Jason was in the Air Force, he worked in the Office of Special Investigations. He was captured by the enemy in Iraq while on a mission to determine if a terrorist cell had acquired an old Soviet nuclear weapon, and he was subjected to severe torture.
“We had no idea who Bias U’san really was until recently. Aside from being a genocidal maniac, he was also personally responsible for some of the more brutal torture Jason endured.”
Terrah noticed Saleria’s grip loosened at Jerren’s explanation, and she realized that with Saleria’s medical oath, putting someone to death must have weighed heavy on her.
A moment later Jason asked, “Jerren, you said you found what we needed?”
Jerren nodded and said, “Yes, Anubisis and Horuisis built the ship that’s encasing TDS 2. And there’s good news and bad news on that front.
“The bad news is the hull is comprised of a Tungsten alloy hybrid material that’s linking the Imortum technology from some of the dismantled pyramids generators throughout the ship. The Tungsten is like a superconductor, but the Imortum tech reacts like a heat sink, not only with heat but energy as well.”
Justin groaned and said, “That would explain why our weapons couldn’t do anything to damage the ship, what’s the melting point of Tungsten?”
Terrah’s head turned to her sister as Vellia stated, “The normal melting point of Tungsten is three thousand six hundred and ninety-six Kalvin,” While rubbing her eyes and temples.
Terrah noticed the pained expression Vellia had while stating that and was about to ask her brothers to help her, when Jerren asked Vellia, “Are you feeling alright?”
Vellia seemed to force a smile once again and said, “I’ll be fine for now. Since I ate the Ambrose my migraines have returned. They were managed by medications on Earth, but the meds must have been cleared from my system when I ate the Ambrose. The migraines have been coming and going. It’s not very bad at the moment, but everything seems brighter and I’m experiencing a loud ringing in my ears. Even the air and energy in the room almost feels more tangible. I could use some Toradol and Cyclobenzaprine, but I’ll be fine for now.”
Jerren looked over at Jason, and then Jason gave a nod, so Terrah figure Jason was going to see to Vellia’s needs.
Terrah looked back at Jerren when he said, “While I’m impressed with your knowledge of the Tungsten, it doesn’t matter what the melting point is.
“I saw one of Anubisis’s memories where DARPA scientists affixed many types of metals to the hull of TDS 4 and once in direct contact with TDS 4, they couldn’t even produce enough heat to melt lead. The heat transfer was complete,” Jerren stated with a frown.
Jason let out a low groan and asked, “You said there was good news?”
Jerren nodded and replied, “Yes, Anubisis and Horuisis created the armor he was wearing using the same technique as the ship. The flaw I found was in the tensile strength of the Tungsten.
“When Eneria fought Anubisis, the extreme force of the impact shattered the bonds thus exposing him to injury. We noticed the same effect when Justin’s ship rammed the TDS 2 abomination while we were retrieving the dark matter bombs. The impact caused pieces of the ship to fragment off.”
“So, you’re thinking we should go back to the original plan we had and use these ships to carve TDS 2 out of there and destroy the rest of the ship then?” Jason looked hesitant as he asked his question.
Jerren shook his head slightly and said, “That may be possible, but I still think we should leave that as a last resort. We might consider another approach first. Once we have Terrah’s ship charged, we set it up with the Ion pulse generators like we did with these ships. Then we all concentrate our Ion beams at Horuisis’s ship and if we can bombard it with enough Ions we might get enough energy to pass to TDS 2, then we may be able to open the archway and enter TDS 2 from the master control room and breach that ship from within. Our first concern will be righting TDS 4 though.”
Jason sighed and looking between all of them he said, “We need to ensure dark matter weapons are never made on Earth again. Neither Anubisis nor the United States government was aware of the potential destructive power of these weapons.”
Eneria said, “Nobody knew the potential of the weapons; Horuisis had sent that first bomb to the Baeton home world and gave Enyali orders to record the effects to see if they needed to up the yield.”
Jason seemed to shiver and he said, “Up the yield? Damn, as if that blast wasn’t bad enough… with the redirecting beacons around this solar system, Earth wouldn’t have received our warning. Any ideas—
Saleria interrupted Jason asking, “What redirecting beacons?”
Alise drew Terrah’s attention when she said, “In the Earth year nineteen forty-seven, a spacecraft crashed in Roswell New Mexico, after the deaths of the Esulan aboard, their race pushed for the eradication of all human life on Earth. As I told Jason before, cooler heads prevailed and instead of eliminating the humanoid life, they placed redirecting beacons around this solar system to prevent alien signals from reaching the planet, or signals from Earth exiting the solar system. It also warns of the hazards of approaching the planet, but some species still tempt fate.”
“Thank you for explaining that to me,” Saleria said.
Alise nodded. “No problem,” she replied.
Jerren asked, “Would General Green have any information we could use about the events at Area 51?”
Terrah’s heart thudded in her chest and wanting to make sure they knew Pops wasn’t responsible for the happenings at Area 51 she said, “He’s been stuck on that base for just over twenty years now, so he might. He was the base Medical Director but he was forced out of that position five years ago, and given non-command duties.”
Jerren looked troubled as he asked, “Why is he still in the service, he should’ve been retired out years ago.”
Terrah said, “I know it had something to do with the Secretary of Defense. He wanted me to apply for a reassignment before my next promotion, but he wouldn’t tell me why.”
Terrah thought about what she knew of Area 51, not that there would be much of anything left of the research and development level
s after the battleship busted through that section of the base, and added, “I doubt if talking to the base commander of Area 51 would help, because the chain of command there is like nothing I’ve ever seen in the military.
“They compartmentalized the entire base. Special projects are controlled through the Senate Intelligence committee and are funded through a special congressional oversight.
“I was only granted modified clearance to investigate the original incident. You would need to speak with the directors of the NSA, CIA, Speaker of the House and the senate majority leader, and they would have to spread the word across the globe to the other leaders.”
“What about the President?” Saleria had asked her.
Terrah laughed as she looked at her sister’s confused expression, “Contrary to popular belief, the President is not privy to a lot of classified information.” At Saleria’s disbelieving look Terrah added, “Plausible deniability. But if you want awe factor, you could transport him up here as well, but it would be most effective to do it when he’s in public so they will know there’s nothing they can do about it… A lot of people believe the president has power, but he’s actually limited in what he knows or can do.”
Jason appeared to be concentrating, which Terrah now knew that it meant he was communicating either with the ship or telepathically with Alise. Terrah saw Alise was looking around, so she figured Jason was consulting the ship this time.
A moment later Jerren drew Terrah’s attention when he asked, “You said you needed to talk with General Green?”
Terrah felt both of her sisters grasp her hands and she explained, “He was our guardian after our parents died, and he raised us ever since we were nine years old. He is…” Terrah paused looking between her new found brothers and continued, “Was …the closest thing we had to family.”
Jerren looked around the group and said, “After they speak to the general, I think we should issue our warning, and then we should head to Daregon. Are we agreed?”
They all agreed and Jason closed the meeting with a smack of an absurdly large gavel, then they all stood to get ready to leave.