by Saxon Andrew
“And?”
“We can power them fifty times stronger and for a full minute.”
“It still might not be enough.”
“Why do you say that?”
“You say this ship was killed. How many actually attacked?”
Dolly looked at Jillian and Chris, “Well, we don’t know. So you could be right.”
“I also suspect that the gravity guns were not developed by the Sheera. Nowhere in their transfer of information to me was any detail on their operation. I think they were discovered and used but they were never really analyzed to understand their operation.”
Jeff said, “They might be a Jenze artifact.”
Hemon nodded slowly, “You’re probably right. However, it appears to me that you have begun using this technology; am I right?”
“Yes, you are. It really wasn’t that difficult to discover its properties.”
“Then what does that say about the technological development of this so called Alliance. It appears they are functioning on technology they know nothing about. There must be a reason for that.”
Chris looked at Hemon, “They built that ship. They must know something.”
Hemon looked up at the giant silver ship and said, “When the Sheera showed me their technical information, I saw a combination of elements that would make a substance for a reactor. None of the elements were radioactive. They suggested that the substance had the possibility of being tremendously stronger, but they had not been able to find the elements or process needed to create it. I assume you used the eight elements that I carved on the tablet?”
“Is that the process they were referring to?”
“Yes, but like the Sheera, I have no idea what other elements would be needed, nor how to get them to combine. It would take someone much smarter than I am to even know where to start. It would necessitate the ability to actually visualize how the molecular pattern would combine.”
Dolly stared at the floor and didn’t say anything. Chris watched her and started shaking his head, “You’re not going to ask him, are you?” Jillian saw a sadness in Dolly that she had never seen before. She looked at Chris as he continued, “You will only hurt yourself. He can’t help us.”
Hemon looked between Dolly and Chris, “Who are you talking about?”
Dolly sighed heavily, “My brother, George.”
Jillian said, “Who?”
Dolly stood straighter, “My brother George is as much smarter than me than I am to a chimp.”
Chris shook his head, “But he lives in another world. His mind isn’t present.”
“That may be true, but if anyone on this planet can see the answer, it would have to be him.” Dolly turned to Hemon and smiled, “You and I are going to see him while Jillian and Chris oversee the arming of the Cheops.”
“The Cheops?”
“That’s the ship they used to see the light that told us about you.”
“I’ll go, but Sasha goes with me.”
Dolly smiled, “Great. Get some things together for a trip to the outback.”
“Dolly, don’t do this.”
“Chris, I’ll keep control. You take care of the Cheops.”
Dolly looked at Hemon and Sasha, “Come with me.”
Chris watched them leave and Jillian asked, “What’s so wrong with her going to see him?”
“George is so brilliant that his intellect has sucked his personality and consciousness into it. His body just acts independently of thought. He lives in a shack with a couple of red kangaroos.”
“What’s so dangerous about that?”
Chris turned and looked at Jillian, “Dolly is almost smart enough to lose herself in her own intellect. She’s close. Last time she visited George she almost lost herself. We can’t afford to lose her.”
“Do you think you can stop her?”
“No, but I know someone who can.” Chris hit his communicator, “Jeff, you need to get back here now.”
Chapter Nine
L’grae waited, and began hoping that the Moet had lost the trail. It had been two rotations since the destruction of the Moet Battleship and nothing had appeared on the passive scanners. His navigator looked up from his board, “How much longer are we going to stay?”
L’grae shrugged, “I don’t know, but we aren’t leaving today. They’re close.”
“How do you know?”
L’grae shook his head. Six hours later four Moet Main Battleships entered the system close to the star. The Navigator looked at L’grea, and he shook his head and shrugged. “I just felt it. Turn off all systems.”
“What about environmental?”
L’grae said, “All systems but one passive scanner!”
The Moet spread out and began scanning the system. The Ships Master watched his display, “Does anyone detect anything?”
After ten minutes the other three ships replied, “No. There is nothing on our scanners.”
The Ships Master leaned to the right in his command chair and put his chin on two of his hands. Where would I hide if I were here? He looked at his display and saw there were sixteen planets in the giant system. There were also more than two hundred moons around those planets. He thought about the problem and finally ordered, “We’ll take four planets each and begin our search. Make sure you scan the craters on the moons.” The huge ships moved out and began their search.
The Watcher was moving rapidly through the various groups of ships that were looking for the attackers. Two had been found and destroyed, but six were still missing. He checked in on the four ships after ten hours and asked, “Are you sure one of the attackers entered this system?”
The Ships Master turned one of his eyestalks to the communication panel, “No, I’m not certain.”
“Then why did you go there?”
“I’d come here if I were trying to hide.”
“Was there a trail leading to that system?”
“There was a trail not far away.”
“So you don’t even know if a ship is there?”
The Master shrugged, “It’s where I’d go to hide.”
“How long have you been searching?”
“Twelve dais.”
The Watcher was frustrated, “If you don’t find it in three more dais, look elsewhere.”
The Master stared at the Watcher who had never commanded a Ship of the Dynasty and felt his anger. “Is that a command?”
The Master saw the Watcher swell to twice his normal size. He knew he had pushed this one too far, and it was never a good thing to anger a member of the Royalty. He said quickly, “We’ll leave as soon as we scan the last four planets, which should be in two dais.”
The Watcher caught his anger and left the display. The plotter looked at the Ships Master, “We haven’t even started to look at all the asteroids and comets moving through this system.”
“How many are there?”
“More than ten thousand.”
The Ships Master knew that the attacker was probably hiding on one of those rocks. He should have started with them. Now that he thought about it; that is what he would have done. He would have expected the planets and moons to be scanned. Ten thousand scattered all over this huge system would take longer than scanning the planets. He shook his head, “Open a frequency that the attackers use.”
L’grae knew he didn’t have much longer. He was going to be forced to turn on the environmental controls in less than eight dais. Then he heard over the passive scanner, “You’re lucky this time. I am being forced to leave, but next time I will search until I find you. Your time to live is short.”
L’grae watched his display and the four Moet ships gathered and jumped out of the system. “Turn on environmental. If you detect a stardrive, shut it off immediately.” The fans could be heard in the ventilators, and the crew sucked in fresh atmosphere. Some had already lost consciousness, but recovered quickly. After a dais, L’grae said, “Shut them off.”
The systems operator shook his h
ead, but did as ordered. Two dias later a Moet Battleship appeared and scanned the system. It stayed for a few more moments and then jumped away. “Leave them off.”
The system’s operator did as he was ordered.
Dolly landed her skimmer beside an old shack that was obviously in a poor, rundown condition. The shack was on top of a small rise in the outback, and was surrounded by scattered brush and sand. The wind blew dirt devils across the flat landscape that broke up on the brush, and started again after it passed. The dry season had sucked all the color out of the surrounding vegetation and the heat had dried the ground until only fine sand remained. All that was necessary to clear the land was a lightning strike. Dolly looked around and knew that if that happened the ensuing fire could be seen from space.
She walked to the front porch of the ramshackle cabin and saw nothing but the same dreary, hot, landscape for miles in all directions around the hill. The sun was high overhead, and the heat was starting to approach a hundred degrees. She knew that the shack was built above the level of most flashfloods and had been there for more than a hundred years. She jumped as she heard a sonic boom and looked up to see a military speeder zoom by overhead. She smiled; Chris had called in the Calvary. Hemon and Sasha saw the speeder and looked at Dolly. “Give him a minute, he’ll be back.” Dolly walked down to the small clearing at the foot of the hill.
The speeder came floating in overhead and landed next to Dolly’s. Jeff stepped out and walked over to stand next to Dolly. He looked up at the sun and shook his head, “Is it hot enough for you?”
“What are you doing here, Love?”
Jeff smiled, “Haven’t you heard that ninety percent of the world’s most poisonous snakes are in Australia? I’m your local snake charmer. I can see them with my scanners and we wouldn’t want to lose Hemon and Sasha.”
Dolly laughed, “Jeff, I was raised here.”
“Yeah, but big city life can spoil you and snakes are hard to see. Besides, Hemon and Sasha were raised elsewhere.”
“You’re here to stop me.”
“Dolly, no one can stop you when you make your mind up, least of all me. I’m here to support your effort.”
“Jeff, you can stop me if you say no. Chris was right in sending you; you are the only one who could.”
Jeff stared into her eyes and smiled, “You don’t know how much that means to me. Now I know you truly love me. However, I know you know the risk and I can see you feel it must be taken. I won’t stop you; just don’t lose yourself making the effort. Promise me that.”
“It won’t happen this time. Now I have a reason to stay.”
Jeff hugged her, “Well, what we do?”
“We sit down and wait for George.”
“Where is he?”
“He could be ten feet away and you wouldn’t see him.”
“I could scan for him.”
“Go ahead; you still won’t find him.”
“Why?”
“He doesn’t show up on scans.”
Jeff stared at her and saw she was serious. “How does that happen?”
“I have no idea, but we’ve tried before and they never work.”
Sasha asked, “Then how do we find him?”
“We don’t. He’ll find us; or his family will.”
Hemon said, “His family?”
“Yes, they’re two red kangaroos. Keep an eye out for them. If they show up, George won’t be far behind.”
“Maybe I can scan for the Roos?”
Dolly shook her head, “They don’t show up either.”
Jeff snorted, “Really!?!” And turned on his active scanners.
Dolly shook her head, “You’re just too caught up in the technological world, Jeff. You won’t be able to see him.”
He sat down in the shade of the shack, lowered his faceplate, and saw there weren’t any life forms larger than a lizard close by. He sat in the shade and listened while Dolly and Hemon talked about life in ancient Egypt. He wondered about how a human could not be seen on a scan. Maybe the previous scanner was defective. He reached in his backpack, pulled out an energy bar, and opened it. He started to take a bite and noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He slowly turned his head to the right and saw a large, red kangaroo staring at his meal. Jeff checked his scanner and nothing appeared on it. Jeff motioned the energy bar toward the kangaroo, and it leaned back on its back legs and rocked forward. Jeff offered a piece of it, and the Roo took it in its mouth and hopped away. Suddenly he felt a touch on his other shoulder and saw another red kangaroo. He said, “Oh, Dolly.”
Dolly turned around and saw the two large kangaroos. She stood up and walked out into the clearing in front of the cabin. She looked around, took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and lowered her head. She stood there motionless for ten minutes. Jeff started to worry about her getting heat stroke but suddenly an old man appeared next to her. Jeff saw nothing on his scanners. One moment there was nothing, and then he was there. Jeff worried. This was just not possible, but he saw it happen.
Dolly felt her brother close to her. She could hear him walking around her talking softly to himself. Nothing he said made any sense but, as she waited, she could feel his mind. There was a symmetry there that was perfect, and it was calling to her. She waited until he stopped talking. He continued to walk around her, saying nothing.
Dolly kept her eyes closed and began talking to him. She told him about the young man she had fallen in love with, and all that had happened in their developing relationship. She told him about her new friends Hemon and Sasha, and without opening her eyes pointed to them sitting in front of the cabin. She talked about the Sheera and Moet conflict and how Earth was in danger. She told him about the coming asteroid and how all life would be destroyed. George continued to walk around her saying nothing, just looking at the ground. She then told him about the elements Hemon discovered from the Sheera, how to make a reactor fuel, and the process used to make them react. She told him how the addition of other elements would make it more powerful. She spoke to him softly and told him she needed his help to find what elements were missing.
Hemon, Sasha, and Jeff watched the old man walking around Dolly with half open eyes and long dirty hair hanging to his waist. His beard was unkempt and his clothes were filthy. He was bent over slightly from an obvious back problem, and his gait was slow and deliberate. Finally Dolly said, “If we don’t find the answer we will all die. Mum, your kangaroos…” At that point Dolly paused, and then said, “and me.”
The old man stopped walking and continued to stare at the ground. Jeff thought he was just going to stay silent and unmoving. Then he lifted his head and looked at Hemon. Suddenly his eyes cleared and he said in a loud clear voice, “forty percent emeralds, ten percent cobalt, five percent seawater, all heated an additional two hundred degrees with each one added to the mix. Twenty six minutes later freeze it to minus 224 degrees.”
Hemon saw the old man lower his head and start walking into the brush, talking softly to himself. Dolly opened her eyes and watched as he left. Her tears were falling, and Jeff ran up and took her in his arms. The kangaroos joined the old man as the three of them moved away. After twenty steps, he turned around and Dolly saw the brother she loved so much look at her. His eyes cleared for a moment, and said, “I love you, Dolly.” Then his eyes clouded and he disappeared in the brush.
Dolly lowered her head on Jeff’s chest and began to cry in earnest. Jeff stroked her hair and held her close. “I love you, Dolly. I’ll always love you.”
Sasha looked at Hemon and said, “Did you get that?”
“Not all of it.”
“I did.”
Hemon looked at her, “You did?”
Sasha smiled, “I don’t forget what I hear. I just wonder how seawater is going to be added to a mixture that hot.”
Hemon smiled, “It’s probably the things in seawater that are needed. By using seawater, the correct proportion will be done properly. I suspect salt is the main
ingredient.” They hugged, and they could hear Dolly cry for her lost brother.
Sasha saw him shaking his head, “What?”
“If what he said works, we have a chance.”
“What do you think about our new friends?”
“I’ve lived more than five thousand years, and I’ve not seen anyone like them.” Hemon then looked in Sasha’s eyes and added, “Or you.”
Sasha smiled and hugged him tightly.
L’grae stood in front of the Leaders and wanted to scream at them. They had challenged him for running from the Moet Main Battle ship, and then for hiding for more than six rotations. Finally he had enough. Tenah looked at him again and demanded, “Why did you run?”
L’grae looked him directly in his eye and said, “My squadron had jumped in less than five kens from the battleship we destroyed. The second squadron jumped in twelve kens from the second battleship. All seven ships in that squadron were vaporized before they could move inside ten kens. Their beams were not breaking through the Moet Ship’s force fields. We were twenty kens from the battleship and it was coming after us. There was no way for us to move inside five kens to do any damage before we were destroyed. If we had not escaped you would not have learned the effective range of the new beam on one of their main battleships. Perhaps you would like to go on our next mission and I’ll be glad to demonstrate what happened?”
Tenah’s anger was immediate. L’grae didn’t care, and Tenah saw he didn’t care. He knew he was not going to intimidate this Commander, so he sat down and stared at L’grae. “So what do we do with this information, Commander?”
L’grae expected to be executed for his bluntness, but he answered quickly, “We set traps for their ships. They’re looking for us; let them find us in numbers large enough to do damage.”
“How would you do that?”
“They have always followed our trails. We send single ships out and have them arrive where we have a fleet. The Moet will jump in at the point of our ships’ emergence and we will be in range to kill it.”