by Saxon Andrew
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 know
ledge 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 beh
ind 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?”