by Saxon Andrew
Chris smiled, “Yes, it is.”
Jillian came into his arms and she said, “That’s not the real reason I’m here.”
“Oh?”
“I didn’t want you dancing with anyone else but me.”
Chris looked into her eyes and smiled, “You should know by now that I never will.”
She looked up, and he saw her tears, “Why?”
Chris pulled her close and whispered in her ear, “It was in your arms that I was healed. I’m alive again.”
Jillian put her head on his shoulder and held him tight. He could feel her tears through his shirt, and they danced and danced.
Dolly, Jeff, Arnold Gordon, Ben Keenan, and President Carlyle were on the bridge of the Cheops giving Jillian and Christopher a sendoff. President Carlyle said, “We have another guest. He’s here for you, Miss Sierra.”
Dolly turned around and said, “Me? Who?”
Prime Minister Christen walked on the bridge and Dolly’s mouth fell open. “Dolly? You don’t mind if I call you Dolly?” Dolly shook her head, “I understand that you have played an important role in making this vessel space worthy. We Aussies are proud of you, and want you to know that we expect you to come home and celebrate with your mates when this is over. You are one of our daughters for which we are righteously proud.”
Dolly jerked her head around and looked at Chris, who appeared to be focused on the control board. She looked back at the Prime Minister and said, “You may count on it, Sir.”
James Carlyle turned and said to the attendees, “Our world is counting on you to find what we need to survive. We are currently building ships to take colonists out to other worlds so that if the worst happens, humanity will continue. We hope to launch three of them within a year. With the help of Dr. Connor’s invention, they will scan the light in our galaxy looking for planets similar to our own. Perhaps it’s not as hopeless as one might think.” He turned to Chris and Jillian, “We need you to succeed. All of humanity is counting on you.”
Jillian looked at Chris and said, “We are going to give it all we have, Mr. President.”
“Well, good luck. We’ll be watching liftoff and praying for your success.”
Arnold walked up to Jillian and gave her a hug, “I need you to come back.”
“I’ll do my best, Dad.”
Dolly walked over and wrapped her arms around Chris’ neck and whispered in his ear, “I told you I would go.”
Chris smiled, “You can never ask enough to get you to do what must be done.”
Dolly hugged his neck tightly and said, “I’d do it because you asked. That carries more weight with me than anyone, including the Prime Minister.”
“I love you, Dolly. Hold the fort while we’re gone.”
“I love you too. I won’t let them take the North Wall.”
“Now that you’re the project manager, I’m not as worried.”
Dolly laughed, “Who would have ever thought I would be a bureaucrat?” Dolly looked at Jeff and said, “Guess who reports to me?”
Jeff smiled and said, “I’ve always reported to you. I do it now for the benefits.”
Chris and Dolly both laughed out loud, attracting the attention of the President, “What’s so funny?”
Dolly smiled and said, “Chris is already missing us.”
James Carlyle smiled, “I can understand why. Miss Sierra? I would like a short meeting with you to go over your plans.”
Dolly sighed, “This is not a benefit,” she whispered to Chris, then said louder, “I’ll be ready right after liftoff, Mr. President.”
Ben Keenan walked up to Chris and smiled, “I guess there was more to you than I thought.”
“You think?”
“I’ve done some investigating and learned about your Tutors and the learning center in the projects. I’ve also read Kim Newland’s article about what happened in Oslo at the Nobel Prize. I’m not as worried about my troops as I was when we first met. Good luck, Dr. Connor.”
“Thank you, General.”
Ben came to attention and saluted Chris. “No; thank you.”
Dr. Morrison stuck his head in the door and said, “It’s time to leave the ship.”
Everyone shook hands and then moved off the bridge, leaving Chris and Jillian alone. Chris looked at Jillian in the command chair and saw her nervousness, “Are you all right?”
Jillian stood and said, “I’m not afraid of the mission.” She walked over to the view port and looked out at the spaceport.
Chris stood and walked over beside her and said, “Then what’s bothering you?”
She turned and looked into his eyes and said, “This.” She put her arms around his neck and kissed him. Chris was surprised, but then pulled her close and kissed her. When they broke the kiss, Jillian said, “I’ve wanted to do that for weeks.”
“You should have told me.”
“I couldn’t tell myself, much less, you.”
Chris held her tight and then said, “I guess we need to get underway.” He looked into her eyes and said, “Thank you, Jillian. Thank you for all you’ve done.”
Jillian smiled and said, “You are very welcome. Let’s go visit a pyramid.”
Dolly hit the toggle and said, “Cheops, are you ready for liftoff?”
Jillian said, “Standing by for building clearance.”
“Roof lift in two minutes.”
The huge sloped roof over the ship began lifting, moving ninety degrees. The Cheops only had open sky above it, “You’re clear for liftoff.”
Jillian looked at Chris, and he turned a knob on his console. The ship lifted a foot off the ground and hovered. Jillian nodded and Chris activated the positive gravity field on the bottom of the ship. The Cheops began rising, clearing the building. “Hang on, Jillian.” Chris pulled the steering wheel back and the nose of the ship lifted as it continued to rise. “We’re going weightless; minimal thrust on the engines.”
The starship was now pointed at the horizon, and a brief flash of the thrusters sent the ship roaring toward the sunrise. Chris pulled back on the steering wheel and the nose of the ship went vertical. The Cheops flashed into the upper atmosphere. Chris kept his eye on the scanner to make sure there were no ships or satellites near them.
Dolly looked at her board and said, “You are approaching six thousand miles per hour and will clear the atmosphere in two minutes.”
Chris looked at Jillian and smiled. He spoke into the communicator, “We are engaging engines, and will take a path below the plane of the planets. We’ll see you later.”
Jillian looked at Chris with a puzzled look.
“I’m not going to leave our system passing the planets. Remember that the Sheera’s main ship was destroyed by a Moet in the outer solar system. I believe it was above our planet, out near the Ort Cloud.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Both of the Sheera’s building projects were in the northern hemisphere. I believe they came to our planet from above the plane of the ecliptic. I don’t want to use the stardrive anywhere near our planet without something to block its view in case the Moet still have a device watching Earth.”
“I didn’t think of that.”
“We are going to go below the ecliptic plane, then turn around and energize the stardrive such that we will be passing Earth toward a clear area of space above the planet. We should be in Earth’s shadow for anything looking at it from above the ecliptic plane. There are no stars on the route I’ve chosen for more than ten thousand light years. We should be able to find what we need on that line. Right now I’m going to go to near light speed and get us away from Earth. I’ll then turn and accelerate back. I’m hoping the planet will block any probe from seeing us when we jump away. Are you ready with the stardrive?”
“I am. Remember to factor in about three seconds for the drive to surround the ship and reach the energy level needed.”
Chris stared out the view port and saw the stars gleaming brightly against the bla
ck veil of space. Jillian saw him staring and walked over and looked with him. “I’ve never seen so many, Jilly.”
“The atmosphere blocks most of them. They are beautiful aren’t they?”
“It’s so hard to believe they hold such danger. Something this beautiful shouldn’t be a threat.” Chris turned and shook his head, “But they are. Let’s get underway.”
Jillian hugged him and went to her command chair.
“I’ll move away for a minute, and then turn around. Get ready; turning on half thrusters.”
Jillian looked at her display and saw the Earth getting smaller. Suddenly, it disappeared so fast she thought it had just turned invisible. “How fast are we going?”
“A hundred thousand miles per second.”
“What if we hit something going that fast?”
“We have a strong positive gravity beam in front of us that will push anything in our path out of the way.”
Jillian watched the planets above them on her wide scan as they moved below the plane. After a minute, Chris said, “We’re coming around and preparing to jump. Initiate the stardrive on my mark. Ready……mark!”
Jillian hit the button and they saw a light green energy field begin to form around them. Jillian watched the dials and said, “Field is not complete. It should come on instantly after this initial charging. I’m energizing stardrive in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Now!” Jillian pulled back the blue handle on the control panel and the Cheops disappeared.
Dolly and the President watched the Cheops over the satellites’ scanning system, and James was amazed at how fast the Cheops disappeared. Dolly continued watching the defense radars and saw it turn and zoom back toward the planet. Dolly knew what was going to happen, but was still amazed at the approach speed. The radars produced a blip of the approaching ship that was getting larger fast…then it was gone.
James Carlyle shook his head, “How fast was that ship going?”
“Three quarters light speed.”
He looked back at the now empty display and said, “That tablet has changed things a lot.”
Dolly smiled, “More than you know.”
An alarm went off and the Moet turned and hit the system search switch. The monitor showed a solar system with a gas giant and nine planets. He turned his whole brain on the readout. A stardrive was used. He turned the scanner to full power and immediately saw that the third planet had developed space travel. That was not good; especially a system contaminated by the Sheera. He turned the recording back and fast forwarded through it.
The civilization was moving out into the planets, but they did not have stardrive capability. He increased the power again and searched the system for any Alliance Ships. Nothing. He adjusted the program to search for the residue of a stardrive and again came up empty. Ummmm, could this be a sensor malfunction? He checked on the device and saw it was still two rotations out. Should he attempt to speed it up? Noooo; probably not. The adjustments would be numerous and would tie up a ship for a rotation. The fleet was busy chasing real threats to the Dynasty and this primitive civilization was not a threat.
He turned to the alarm and made a notation in the system to send three ships when it arrived to destroy the outposts scattered in the solar system. He almost changed his mind, but then another alarm went off. He glanced at his board and saw another attack on a ship. These Alliance planets were starting to become worrisome. He decided the stardrive alarm was a false reading. He turned to his board and watched the Moet ship being attacked. It didn’t need any help. He watched as it destroyed seven ships. The false read bothered him, but another alarm went off and he put it out of his mind. Twenty minutes later the Earth passed where the Cheops jumped and the residual energy was now where it could be seen. But no one was looking. A week later it disappeared.
Chris looked at the display and saw the Cheops was surrounded by a universe that was green and black. They were sitting still next to a small black bulge in space next to them. “Jillian, I thought we entered here at a high velocity.”
“We did, but speed doesn’t exist here.”
What are all these black bulges around us?”
“The closest one is the sun and the planets in our solar system.”
“But they’re bunched up almost together.”
“This space is not part of our universe. Our solar system is no larger than a basketball here.”
“How do we move on the line I was taking?”
“The ship is still pointed on that line. I just need to set how far we want to go and push the execute button.” Jillian entered 5,500 into her console and said, “The funny thing about this drive is that no matter how far you want to go, it will take almost no time to arrive. The time doesn’t vary whether it’s one or a million light years.”
“Before you push that button, I want to try something.”
“What is that?”
“I’m going to use my scanner and take a reading on the area around us. I’m going to lock that reading into the system’s memory.”
“Why?”
“Perhaps my device will be able to see this reading wherever we go in this place.”
“Ummmm. If it does, we can always come home.”
“Exactly. Let’s do this. Jump two light years and check to see if it works before we make our long jump.”
Jillian adjusted the setting and looked at Chris, “Ready?”
“I’m with you.” Jillian pushed the button.
The Cheops emerged from green space and shot forward at high velocity. Chris turned the gravity dial to zero and the ship came to an immediate stop. Chris shook his head, “Dolly was right. This thing stops us instantly. We need to make doubly sure we’re weightless whenever we’re moving at high speed. If we have any weight, we could be slammed through the bulkhead.”
“Dolly set the ships gravity to automatically go weightless if the ship is moving.”
“Give me a moment. Let’s trial the device and see if we can get a picture of Earth.”
Jillian shrugged as Chris turned the ship. “Extending sensor fields.” Eight emitters began sending an energy field out from the Cheops. It expanded at light speed and grew at a huge rate. Chris set the frequency of the light from Earth and waited. After three minutes he got a ping on his board, “Got it.” Jillian stood up and came around to look at the display. “Is there anything you want to see in particular?”
Jillian saw Earth on Chris’ display. She thought a minute and said, “The Great Pyramid.”
“Good call, and fortunately that side of the planet is in view.”
“What if it wasn’t?”
“Well, we would have to wait until it came around toward us. We can’t see what is on the other side of the planet from this angle. We took a line that light would take when it’s reflected.”Chris turned three dials and the planet grew larger. The view zoomed in until they were looking down on the Mediterranean Sea. He moved the view East over Egypt where the Nile emptied into the sea. In less than four more minutes they were looking down on the three pyramids in the complex.
“Try to get closer to the entrance to the Great Pyramid.”
The view moved over to the largest of the three pyramids and Jillian said, “Stop it there.” She stared at the display and said, “See that large green lifter?”
“Yes.”
“Move it in closer and see if you can identify anyone around it.”
The view flickered momentarily and Chris said, “Something moved through the light. It cleared up and Chris moved the view closer until he saw Jillian and her Father standing next to the truck. There was a third person hiding behind the lifter he didn’t recognize. “Who is that?”
“I don’t know. This light left in June two years ago. I know it was June because that was the only time my father visited the site. I wish I knew who that is behind the lifter. They saw the man look up at the sky and then turn away from the lifter. “Is there any way to speed this up?”
Chris smiled, “I’m glad you aske
d. We’ll just move forward as we collect the light and it will speed the video up.”
“You’re recording this?”
“Absolutely. Let’s see if we can see where this person goes.”
Chris nudged the thrusters and everything began moving faster. The man behind the lifter snuck away and moved through the complex to a jeep that was parked behind the Temple of the Pharaohs. They followed him until he arrived at a house in Giza. “What’s that in his hand?”
Chris froze the picture and moved in closer to the man. He was putting something in his jacket pocket. They stared as the focus began to fail, but then they saw it. Jillian took a quick breath and Chris was stunned. It was the anti-gravity device found in the tablet. “We should go back.”
“Jillian, he might be gone now. We would also have to use the stardrive in the system, and I’m worried about doing that. Let’s finish what we started and we’ll go find him later. He obviously hasn’t done anything to jeopardize the project. This was two years ago and he’s not been around.”
She shook her head, then nodded, “You’re right. I’m amazed at your invention. I would have thought the light would have been scattered as it left Earth.”
“Think about that. If light scattered from its source, then the stars at night would just be a huge glare. The vacuum of space keeps it coherent.”
“I know that, but the light from stars does not come through an atmosphere. This light does. I think what you’ve done here is miraculous.”
Chris leaned back in his chair and looked at Jillian, “What is the real reason you want to see the Pyramid being built? We already know how it was done. What are you hoping to find?”
Jillian stared at Chris for a long moment and said, “This is top security clearance. Only two people know this.”
Chris nodded.
“I want to see where the other building site was located. I believe that there was another person taught by the Sheera and that they might have also left us a message.”
“There’s got to be more than that.”
“I also want to see where the Jenze ship was destroyed. I want to see the design of that vessel.”
“How are you going to learn anything from just seeing it?”