by JK Stone
Terrah had turned her attention back to the void and after performing a scan of the internal surface she let out a whistle and said, “There’s a Dysons sphere surrounding this entire Galaxy, and the sphere is comprised of the same material as these TDS ships.”
“What is a Dyson’s sphere?” Doran asked.
“It’s a theoretical structure that could surround a star to provide limitless power, a scientist on Earth, I think his name was Freeman Dyson had theorized it would be possible, but this sphere is surrounding an entire galaxy,” Terrah explained.
“Well in all the time I have been online, I have never seen anything like this. Being as how this galaxy is within the Answarin void, I would venture to bet this is the Answarin Galaxy. It was one of the many galaxies that were rumored to have been destroyed during the Imortum Nefastus war,” Doran explained.
“I’m going to launch a probe to scan the galaxy, how long should it take?” Terrah asked.
Doran seemed to think it over and said, “I have never scanned an entire galaxy before, but I would think it would take several hundred years to perform outer perimeter and cross-sectional scans. If we launched the probe we would need to time jump to retrieve it, and that could take several hours.”
“Well let’s do it then,” Terrah said, and a moment later Doran launched the probe.
Peering at the galaxy on her display, Terrah asked, “Alright, so why are we here?”
Doran shrugged, and a moment later the ship took off on its own, and within thirty seconds the ship halted again, but this time an object appeared to be drifting toward them.
A few seconds later Terrah realized that the object was a damaged TDS ship, that appeared to have several holes blasted through its hull. Terrah activated a light repulse beam to halt the ships drift, and a moment later Terrah heard her sister’s voice again.
You, and only you need to board the ship and collect the dead for ascension. You will also find a data sphere and a binding disk in the control room, take them, then place four IPG’s in the engine room directed at the engine core with a delayed start, then get out of the ship and out of range before the engine comes back online. Vellia stated firmly, yet sounding very haggard.
Terrah looked upward and asked, “What’s this all about? And what’s an IPG?”
All I can say at the moment is that I’m trying to rectify a serious mistake I made. You’ll have a better understanding once the ascensions are complete. And an IPG is an Ion Pulse Generator. Once you’ve completed these tasks I’ll contact you and let you know when and where to ascend the remains.
Doran had been looking at her oddly while Vellia had explained herself, and Terrah realized that Doran couldn’t hear Vellia speaking despite having the body suit on.
Not knowing if it was alright to tell him yet, Terrah explained what she was told, but didn’t mention who said it.
Doran argued that he wanted to go over to the TDS with her, but Terrah insisted that it had to be her and her alone. In the end, Doran sighed, nodded then stood saying, “Well let’s get this over with then.”
Terrah nodded then she and Doran headed to Decon, created the ion pulse generators she would need, and once she made sure they were working properly she had Doran transport her to the lowest level of the damaged TDS to search out the remains, binding disk, and the data sphere.
*****
Terrah came across the first two victims right away in the control room and placed beacons on them so Doran would be able to target and transport them to the TDS 4 medical bay, and she picked up the data sphere and the binding disk from the mission prep console before being transported to the next corridor.
The process of clearing the ship of remains took almost an hour, owing to the fact that the ship was powerless and had hull breaches in almost every room, which necessitated Terrah having to transport from room to room, then level to level, not to mention there had been thirty-six sets of remains crammed onto the small craft.
The most difficult moment for Terrah had been when she entered one of the rooms on the second level and found the remains of three little girls who had been huddled together and holding each other tightly when they finally died.
Terrah wondered who they were, but she almost instantly realized that if she knew, her task would be all the more difficult. So, detaching herself emotionally, Terrah forced herself not to break down and after placing the beacon on their remains, she returned to her task.
Once the ship had been cleared of remains, Terrah transported back to the engine room and peered upward through the eighteen-inch circular hole in the ceiling that extended through the levels above. That blast had hit the TDS very close to the engine core, and Terrah figured it had probably been that which caused the ship’s engine to destabilize.
Terrah returned her focus to her task and called out for Doran to transport the first of the IPG’s to the engine room, and after situating the generator, she called for the next IPG.
A few minutes later the four generators had been positioned and the cold start sequence initiated, so Terrah said, “I’m done. Get me out of here and move the ship away.”
A second later Terrah was in the decontamination room and she experienced the static zap that indicated she’d been sanitized, and a moment later the temporal blur occurred.
Terrah entered the medical bay archway and finding the room nearly impassable she tried to perform a scan on the remains, but her medical unit shut down before the first scan could complete. Then she jumped a little startled when a hand was placed on her shoulder, and she heard Vellia’s voice from behind her.
Turning on the spot Terrah had thought to lay into her youngest sister for keeping her in the dark about what was happening, but upon seeing Vellia, Terrah almost burst into tears.
Vellia had the appearance of being ravaged by time and scarred by battle, with a massive scar crossing her milky white left eye, and when Terrah reached up to caress Vellia’s face, her hand passed right through her.
“What happened to you?” Terrah asked trying not to show the pain that she felt.
“I’ll be fine for now. I’m not really here; I’m projecting myself through your binding disk at the moment,” Vellia said.
Terrah was about to ask what this was all about, but Vellia shook her head as if she knew what she was about to say, then she continued, “I want you and Doran to review the beginning and the end of that data sphere before telling the others about it, and showing them the Answarin galaxy. Don’t mention the TDS you restarted or the sphere, just tell them your ship was guided to a location and the data uploaded on its own. Everything goes to hell if we don’t know that information before we found out in the prior timeline. I’ve been shown a new path that has promise, but I have a lot of temporal strings to rectify. Now I have to go back and have you rescue Krysali and Braydon—
“You already had me do that,” Terrah stated.
Vellia seemed to examine her, as if calculating her response and said, “Yes, I know, I’ve reset this timeline again to try it this way, but this was my first stop in this timeline, I needed that binding disk you got from the TDS, and you needed the information from the sphere before I go back to have you rescue Krysali and Braydon this time. This is one of those chicken-egg things, try not to let it bother you too much.”
The binding disk Terrah was holding vanished and she was about to ask what to do next but Vellia continued speaking.
“We’re on a razor’s edge here, and one more mistake could be the end of everything again.”
Terrah wondered what Vellia meant by ‘the end of everything again’, but she nodded then looked down at the remains and hoped she wasn’t right in thinking who they were, and she asked, “What do I do with our family, and what do you need the binding disk for?”
Vellia looked pained as she said, “You need to take them to nine years past Baelac’s ascension and ascend them then and there. You’ll find that Earth is being harvested for the natural resources by the consortium, don�
�t engage them at that time.
“Just perform the ascensions, then take your ship to one month and three days after the CEMPS is launched and destroy the consortium scavenger fleet when they arrive at Earth. Inform the final ship that if the consortium still exists within thirty days the rest of their planets and any people associated with the consortium will be removed from existence,” Vellia stated almost coldly.
Terrah was finding it hard to breathe and her heart was pounding furiously in her chest. When Vellia said that, an icy chill swept over her. Terrah never imagined her kindhearted younger sister would be capable of making that kind of statement, but after taking in Vellia’s condition, Terrah realized that she must’ve gone through hell, and there’s no telling what that could do to a person.
Terrah considered what Vellia told her, and she recalled that she knew by joining the military that she might one day be called upon to take someone’s life, and when that day came, the realization of what she did took its toll on her, and now the thought of killing a large number of people had almost shut her down.
“Terrah… focus!” Vellia’s voice snapped out.
Terrah took a deep breath, nodded and concentrated on what Vellia was saying.
“This has to be done; if not there will be no way of halting the scourge that awaits us. There will be a few ships launching from Earth during the attack, you must protect them as long as possible, as well as preventing four of the ships from destroying the lead ship. If any of the ships are destroyed I want you to immediately disengage from combat and engage the Nefastus protocol, then get our family to safety here in the Answarin galaxy before it’s too late.
“I need you to place a tracking probe on each of the ships after they launch, and if all five of the ships make it past the moon, then you can return to finish off the consortium and issue that warning to the final ship. Then you need to get your ship out of there before our brother’s ships arrive.
“I’ve shielded TDS 4 from most of TDS 2’s probe and scanning abilities, as well as the master control room for the time being, so as long as you aren’t in the same phase as them you won’t be detected as you pass them in time. I’ll take care of the debris from the battle, you just make sure you’re gone before our brother’s ships arrive at Earth. Your ship will need a full charge after that, so go to Daregon before contacting Jason. And as for the binding disk, I can’t tell you that at the moment, just trust that I’m looking out for our best interests.”
Terrah had no doubt that Vellia only wanted to help them, so she nodded, then a thought came to her, “If Saleria’s ship is already there, then why do you need me to do this?” Terrah asked.
Vellia sighed and said, “You know Saleria as well as I do. Do you think she’d be willing to do what I asked of you without hesitation just because I told her to?”
Terrah shook her head because Vellia was right.
“I’ve tried having Saleria do this more times than I can count, but the whole ‘do no harm’ doctor thing makes her hesitate too long. I had to reset this timeline after the last failure and our only path that appears to have promise is with you doing this,” Vellia said looking and sounding as if she were about to fade into nothingness.
Terrah was about to ask if she could do anything for Vellia, but Vellia said, “I’ve got to be going, don’t worry about me. If this all works out this time, the timeline will be closer to where it should be,” she said, then a second later Vellia was gone.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Terrah pulled herself together, and after taking a final look at the remains stacked in the medical bay Terrah sighed then made her way down the corridor to the control room.
What she found when she arrived was almost comical, Doran appeared to be frozen in mid-step attempting to get up from his seat. Terrah tried to figure out what had happened to him and then realized it must’ve been Vellia. Calling out to her sister Terrah said, “Vellia, could you remove the quantum bubble?”
Almost a minute later Vellia’s voice sounded. I’m sorry, where I’m trapped time has no meaning for me.
“What do you mean ‘trapped’?” Terrah asked, but her question went unanswered as Doran made it to his feet and collided with her and they both hit the floor.
Doran looked confusedly over at Terrah and said, “I just transported you on the ship, how did you get in here so fast?”
Terrah got back to her feet and extended her hand to help Doran up as she said, “Magic.”
Terrah chuckled at Doran’s expression then added, “I can tell you later, but for now we need to review this data sphere then contact the others.
*****
Reviewing the data sphere took Terrah and Doran almost six hours before Terrah figured they had seen enough, not that she had a choice in the matter really. The moment she finished viewing the last recording, the rest of the data became encrypted the same way as the data that their probe had downloaded at Anukan had been. She thought wryly, Even if I had access to the rest of the information, I could spend the rest of my lifetime analyzing this and still only touch the surface of what’s been stored on it.
Doran chuckled and said, “you know it, I have never seen this much data compiled anywhere.”
Terrah sighed and said, “Well I guess it’s time to show the others where we are, and let them see the information we did access. I’ll be back once I collect them.”
Doran kissed Terrah on the cheek and said, “Okay I will be waiting,” And Then he sat back at his console.
*****
Terrah called for the archway and was happy to see it worked this time. She stepped through and was a little startled to find Saleria, Braun, Jerren, Eneria, Justin, and Calia already in the master control room. And upon seeing her, Saleria let out an audible sigh and rushed to embrace her while speaking a mile a minute, as everyone else was asking where she had been.
Terrah interrupted them, “Slowly. One at a time please, I can barely understand what you’re all saying,” Terrah said.
“I was performing an ascension ritual, and afterward we were told to ascend the Lantins. We were discussing our options, and just after Vellia gave us a path to take she just vanished,” Saleria explained.
The news that Vellia had vanished in front of them didn’t faze Terrah much, she knew Vellia was going to be brought into this at some point, and seeing her, although battered and seriously aged, at least Vellia was alive, unlike the rest of her family and the others in her medical bay.
Terrah peered around and seeing that Jason and Alise were the only ones not present she nodded and activated her communications. “Jason, this is Terrah, we’re in the master control room. Everyone needs to come over to my ship ASAP.”
The group looked at her, and Terrah knew they were wondering what was so important when a moment later Jason and Alise appeared.
“Are all of the ships headed to Earth?” Jason asked.
Justin and Jerren closed their eyes and a moment later they each said yes, and Jason asked, “What do you need to show us?”
“Follow me,” Terrah said as she turned and reentered her ship.
*****
Once they were all crowded in the control room Terrah activated the monitor and pointed out what they were looking at, saying, “That is the Answarin galaxy, and there are a few hundred million solar systems within it. We scanned the closest system for life signs, and found countless worlds are lush with plant and animal life, and we currently have a probe out getting detailed scans.”
“Where are we exactly?” Calia asked, than she said, “I don’t recognize that galaxy.”
“We’re inside of what we on Earth would call a Dyson’s sphere. The sphere is comprised of the same material as these TDS ships. Apparently, the Nefastus tried to attack the sphere and used Dark matter weapons to do it. Our ship is currently sitting in the middle of the Answarin void. Once the dark matter weapons detonated, the Imortum tech protected the galaxy and the void formed around it. We still have a probe out scanning the g
alaxy, there’s a wealth of information to be had here, and I think Doran and I are supposed to collect the information before leaving, so it may take us a while to make it to Earth,” Terrah stated assuredly.
“That is not possible, the Voids are unnavigable, and anything that comes into contact is stuck until it is cut away,” Alise stated, obviously bewildered by what Terrah had told them.
Terrah shook her head and said, “We thought that as well, and believe me when we hit the void it scared the hell out of me, but this ship was performing rapid phase shifting, which allowed us to pass through the void.
“Once we were in here, our navigation came back online and took us to this solar system,” She pointed to a dim area on the celestial chart.
Terrah could feel that Doran was going to question her about that, so she said in mind, I was told to tell them that, I don’t know why.
I was wondering why you said it, Doran replied.
Terrah regained her momentum and said, “Once we were there, the ship performed a data upload, and I launched the probe to scan the galaxy. We were going to come get you at that time, but we couldn’t open the archway.” Terrah left the statement at that.
Terrah looked around and could see that nobody appeared to be a bit surprised at hearing that and she continued, “We looked over the information,” Terrah then looked between Alise, Calia, and Eneria then stated, “This ship is a lot older than you can imagine. You estimated the ships to be at least three million years old due to your programs activation date, but that doesn’t even come close.”
The trio looked at Terrah in obvious stunned disbelief, and Terrah added, “These TDS ships are closer to twelve billion linear years old. And it appears as if it was created to expand the universe.”
“But I thought Inola had created them near the end of the war with the Nefastus?” Saleria asked.
“So did I, but look at this,” Terrah brought up a data packet and opened it.