by Saxon Andrew
They had been discussing how he built the Great Pyramid and George seemed to have an insatiable curiosity. For the last hour they had been discussing the Sheera Stardrive and its capabilities. Some of the questions he was unable to answer, but that didn’t slow George down. While he was asking questions he was turning pages extremely fast on a bound book in front of him. Finally he smiled and said, “Thank you; you’ve been a great help.”
Hemon shrugged, “Why do you say that?”
George looked at Dolly and said, “I was wondering how we were going to communicate with our ships that are light years away from us; Hemon has helped me resolve that issue.”
Hemon and Dolly looked at each other, then Dolly said, “I’m not sure I’m following you.”
“We’ll communicate through subspace or whatever you call it.”
“It’s been named Sierra Space.”
George looked at Dolly and tilted his head back, “Why?”
“It was named after me.”
“Why?”
“Because of my contributions to the project.”
“Harrumph.”
“George, don’t be jealous. You have the same last name.”
George stared at her and Hemon said, “You were talking about communications.”
George looked startled and said, “Oh yeah. We’ll communicate through…uhh, Sierra Space using a stardrive as the receiver and transmitter.”
Hemon stared at George, and George said, “It’s obvious isn’t it?”
Hemon shook his head, “I’m afraid I don’t see what you’re talking about.”
George stood and walked over to a blackboard, “Picture this. We’ll build a box with a stardrive generator in the top half of the box that will form a field in the bottom half. We’ll extend an antenna into the bottom half of the box and have it located in the uhhhh…Sierra Space in the bottom half. Now that antenna is always in….Sierra Space. From what you’ve told me, it should be able to communicate instantly with any other antenna that’s in…darn it I just can’t get used to this, any other antenna in subspace.”
Dolly thought a moment and said, “What about communicating through the disruption we’ve caused in our Solar System’s, uhhh subspace.”
“It shouldn’t pose a problem. Try to fly a glider through a hurricane and it will probably be destroyed by the force of the wind and rain. However, you can sit in the middle of a hurricane and listen to fm radio. Energy will go through the disruption in subspace. Physical objects are prevented.”
“What if the ship you’re attempting to communicate with is not in subspace?”
Dolly looked at Hemon, “The ship might not be in subspace but that antenna is, even when the ship isn’t.”
“You understand this?”
“Yes, and it’s a great concept. How do you power the device, George?”
“Dolly, come on, that’s easy. You just hook it up to one of the ship’s reactors and leave it. There’s no reason to ever turn the power off the stardrive unit.”
Dolly took the flat of her hand and hit herself in the forehead, “I just gave myself a blonde high five. I am stupid.”
Hemon looked at the two siblings and shook his head. “How long will it take for you to build this system?”
Dolly and George looked at each other and Dolly said, “Five days.”
George shook his head, “No, four.”
Dolly turned to Hemon, “We’ll have the prototype ready in four days.”
“So let me understand what you’re saying. This communications device will allow instant communications with any of our ships in our galaxy?”
Dolly and George looked at each other and both said, “No.”
“Then, what?”
George looked at Dolly and she nodded. He turned to Hemon and said, “This will allow us to communicate instantly anywhere in the universe.”
Hemon looked at them and put his head in his hands. These two had to be aliens. He had never encountered anyone like them in more than five thousand years. He heard George say to Dolly as he shook his head, “You’ve got to be kidding; Sierra Space?”
“George is jealous, George is jealous. We’ll name the communication device, The George.”
Hemon continued to shake his head. He looked up to his left and saw Jeff leaning against the wall watching him. He shook his head at Hemon and said, “You have to give it time to get used to it. It’s an acquired taste.”
Hemon lowered his head and started laughing. Soon he and Jeff were laughing so hard they could barely breathe. George and Dolly looked at them wondering what was so funny. George looked at Dolly and she shrugged, “I don’t know.”
That dropped Jeff to the floor with his laughter as Hemon was doubled over.
L’gare sat in his command chair and watched his display. “How much longer are you going to wait?”
L’gare continued to stare at the display, “As long as it takes.”
“What are you going to do if they come back?”
L’grae looked away from his display and smiled, “I’m going to acquire a Jenze weapon.”
The Navigator smiled. Good; now the mutiny wasn’t necessary.
The Cheops broke back into normal space and Chris hit the emitters. The display came on and Chris began operating the controls, “I’m going to work my way into the system slowly and see if the Moet Ships are already here. I’m also going to have the sensors evaluate the image for any source of electronics. The view moved in and nothing was detected. “I’m going to back out and look for the asteroid.” Chris reset the sensors for moving objects and began moving the view in closer. “There it is.”
Jillian looked at her display and saw a cursor appear over a bright object. It was coming in from above the planet and Jillian saw it was moving fast. “How big is it, Chris?”
“My sensors put it a ten miles in diameter, and it’s traveling at eight miles a second.” Chris looked over at Jillian and said, “Modern scientists estimate this impact had the explosive force of a billion times the atomic blast that destroyed the Japanese city of Hiroshima. You’ve already seen the result of that event.”
“Where are the Moet?”
Chris worked his controls and then said, “What is that?”
Jillian looked at her display as it moved in on a small object approaching the planet. Jillian looked closer and said, “It looks like a tiny ship.”
Chris moved in closer and said, “That must be the Jenze.”
Jillian shook her head, “I expected it to be a full size ship, not a ….skimmer.”
“Size is not the issue. However, that can only be a one or two person ship.”
“Keep it in view and follow it down to the planet.”
Chris zoomed in on the small ship and followed it as it entered Earth’s atmosphere. The ship stopped, hovered a mile above the Yucatan, and stayed there for an hour. Jillian furrowed her brow and Chris said, “They’re recording the surface before the impact. I’m sure water, land, and air temperatures are being taken as well as an inventory of local life forms. This must be a scientific expedition.”
“I thought the impact happened in water offshore.”
“That stretch of land jutting out into the gulf isn’t there in our time. It’s only six miles wide and the impact will blow it out of existence. The rest of the land mass will have moved two hundred miles by our time. I’m stunned by the animal life on that narrow strip. Even the forest that runs through the middle is loaded with dinosaurs.”
The tiny ship finally moved toward the surface and landed in the clearing on one side of the central forest. All of the dinosaurs on the plain ran out from under the small ship as it landed, and remained at a distance of several hundred yards. They continued to watch, and after another hour, a being stepped out of a small port on the right side of the ship. Chris moved the view in closer and they could see the being was short but very thick. It had two arms and legs but they appeared to have no joints. The head was inside a helmet so the facial
features couldn’t be seen. It moved twenty yards from the ship and turned to watch as a giant T-Rex charged from the forest’s edge fifty yards way. The being stood there calmly as the giant carnivore rushed forward at high speed. The speed of the giant reptile was incredible. Suddenly the T-Rex hit the ship’s force field and slammed to a stop. The T-Rex collapsed at the base of the force field, and the Jenze raised a device and pointed it at the stunned reptile.
“He’s recording the event.” Jillian nodded. Chris looked at the shadows from the forest and said, “It’s going to be dark shortly. I don’t think he’ll do anything today. He’ll wait until tomorrow. Let’s back out and see if the Moet are around.”
“We know they have to be arriving soon. You would think that if the Jenze were so advanced he would have been warned of their approach.”
Chris nodded and said, “That’s true, but if the Moet have been at war with them for a long time, they have probably developed a strategy that works. Let’s take a look.”
The view moved out from the planet and passed the moon that was located to the right of their point of view. Jillian said, “Stop!”
“What?”
“Can you move over to the moon? Move the view down to the lower right hand corner just where the edge of light meets the dark edge.”
Chris moved the view in closer and as the surface of the moon grew larger, he saw them. Two Moet ships were in the middle of a crater. Chris looked at Jillian, “How did you see them? There’s no way you could have seen them.”
“I thought about how you avoided the Moet scanner by jumping in with the Earth between you and the scanner’s location. I just looked for a place where they could place an object between themselves and the incoming Jenze ship. Since the Jenze came in from above the planet, they would have to have been on the southern portion of the moon.”
Chris took a deep breath and said, “You are wise beyond your years, grasshopper.”
“Oh, so now you’re using old Kung Fu movies dialogue.”
“You know about them. I thought I was the only one that watched them.”
Jillian giggled, “One of the Alpha Agents used the term when I flipped him, so I looked it up and found those old TV programs. I loved them.”
Chris held up his hand and Jillian high fived him. “Ok, Jillian, do we need to stay here?”
Jillian looked at Chris and said, “I’m here to get a Jenze weapon. I need to see if any opportunity presents itself. We know that whatever is going to happen is going to happen very close to impact. Let’s move forward to the day of the impact and record what happens. If there’s not an opportunity, we’ll go home.”
Chris nodded and began adjusting the stardrive.
Chris and Jillian stared at the display and watched a split screen. The Moet ships had not moved and were still parked on the moon. One half of the screen was focused on the Moets. The other half was focused on the Jenze who was standing next to his ship.
Jillian said, “Something has to start happening. The impact is only an hour out.”
Chris stared at the display and said, “The Jenze is looking for something.” Jillian watched and the Jenze went inside the ship and came out with a flat board that was half again as tall as the Jenze and as wide as its body. The Jenze reached back in the ship and pulled out a device that he slung over his shoulder. Jillian sat up straighter and watched the Jenze as it sat down on the board. It lifted him above the ship. The Jenze pointed his hand at the ship and the port closed. “The Moets are doing something.”
Jillian looked at the bottom half of the display and saw large ports opening in the sides of the grey ships. She looked back and saw the Jenze had flown to the border of the forest at the end of the ridgeline and landed the board. It stepped off the board, took the device from its shoulder, and moved into the edge of the forest. Chris smiled, “The Jenze is going hunting. I bet he wants to bag a T-Rex. That is a Jenze weapon on his shoulder.”
Jillian nodded, looked back at the Moet ships, and saw six small ships zoom out of the ports and head toward the planet, “They’ve been watching the Jenze, waiting for this opportunity.” Chris nodded. They watched as the ships screamed through the atmosphere headed toward the Jenze ship. Jillian stared at the forest where the Jenze had entered and saw it come running out of the tree line. It must have received a warning from its ship that the Moet had been detected. Just as it arrived at the board a Moet attack craft came roaring in and fired at the board, destroying it. The Jenze raised the long device and aimed it at the attack craft as it flew away. A bright red beam shot out, hit the small Moet craft, and disintegrated it. The Jenze began running toward his ship eight hundred yards away. Three of the Moet attack craft came roaring in on the Jenze ship and began firing. Instantly three bright red beams shot out from the small Jenze ship and vaporized the three attackers. The Jenze continued to run, and saw one of the small grey attack craft come zooming toward him. He stopped, raised the weapon, and fired on the ship, destroying it. Chris and Jillian stood up from their chairs. The Jenze was so preoccupied with the attacking craft that he never saw the T-Rex come charging in behind him. The giant carnivore snapped its massive jaws around the Jenze and bit him in half. The T-Rex then shook the dead Jenze and the upper half fell to the ground. The sole remaining Moet attack craft turned and accelerated up into the atmosphere. Chris and Jillian sat down and watched as the ground grew dark. Three minutes later the asteroid hit and the view disappeared in a blinding flash.
Chris looked at Jillian and knew she was going to do something stupid. “You can’t go after that shoulder weapon.”
Jillian looked at him with a sad expression and said, “I have to try. The ship and that weapon both fired the same color beam. They are made from the same technology. I have to try.”
“There’s not enough time. There’s less than a four minute window. There’s no way you can do it.”
“Rewind the video back to the T-Rex attack and slow it down.”
Chris took a deep breath and ran it back. They watched as the Jenze was bitten and Jillian said, “Freeze it there.” They brought the view in closer and they saw the Jenze release the weapon as he was lifted in the jaws that had killed him. They followed the weapon as it fell to the ground next to a yellow colored bush.
“Jillian, there’s not enough time.”
Jillian took Chris’ hands in hers, “What do you think the Moet were doing here?”
“They were attempting to get a Jenze weapon. I can see that, but that flyer was as close as you can get and it broke off because it knew there wasn’t enough time.”
“It was flying away from the Jenze and it didn’t have time to turn around and come back. I can exit the screen as soon as the weapon falls, land close by, and retrieve it. I’ll land the Ninja so it’s pointed back toward the field. Then I’ll set the ship to lift automatically as soon as I step back on board.”
“What about that T-Rex?”
“You saw it go into the forest to finish its meal.” Jillian looked at Chris and said, “This weapon could be the difference between survival for mankind or extinction. You know I’m right. I’ve known I was coming here as soon as I read the tablet saying a Jenze ship was destroyed on our planet. I have to try, and you have to help me.”
Chris looked at her and said, “You know if that Moet attack craft turns and comes back after you and is killed in the process, then everything could be changed in future events.”
Jillian took a deep breath, “I know. It would change history, and being this far back in time, it could have a domino effect into the future. Even so, I have to try.”
“Jillian, I don’t want to lose you.”
“Why, Chris?”
“Because I love you more than my own life.”
Jillian put her arms around his neck and pulled him close. Jillian cried because she knew how much Chris had lost in his life already, and now if she died she knew it would be more than he could bear. She almost said no when she heard him say, “We just h
ave to make damn sure you run as fast as that day you took me to the tablet.”
She knew what it took for him to give in, and she vowed she was not going to die. “We’ll back out twenty four hours and set it up for tomorrow.”
He nodded and she said, “Tonight I want to be with you.” He looked into her eyes and picked her up and walked off the bridge.
Chris sat at his control board and focused on the Jenze as he took the board and weapon out of his ship. “Jillian, we’re fifteen minutes from launch. Are you ready?”
“I have your view on the Ninja’s display. I will be moving forward in ten minutes to the edge of the sensor field.”
“Are you sure you’ll go into the past?”
“Yes, I am. I will open a window that will remain open until you change the view. You must hold position while I’m there or I’ll never make it back.”
“I will. I’ll hold it open until hell freezes over if necessary.”
Jillian smiled, “Don’t worry, Darling. This is going to turn out ok.”
“Just hurry.”
“I will.”
Chris picked up his tablet and looked at the Ninja’s controls. He was glad he had the command protocols downloaded, and he saw that Jillian’s field was now active and surrounding the Ninja. “God, please help her come back to me. Please.” He knew that the Ninja’s force field and weapons were off to prevent the last Moet craft from sensing them. He removed the protocol requiring the three second red button to activate the weapons.
Jillian watched as the Jenze entered the forest’s edge and saw the Moet attack craft as it came roaring in. The yellow bush was directly in front of her ship, no more than a hundred yards away in her display. She set the Ninja’s auto-pilot and moved to the rear port, watching on her tablet. She held the remote in her hand and waited for what she knew was coming.
Chris watched the T-Rex attack the Jenze and turn to go back into the forest. Then he saw the Ninja disappear from beside the Cheops. It reappeared in the clearing, rotated rapidly, and landed. He watched as Jillian emerged from the ship and started searching for the Jenze weapon. He had another display with a wider view of the area Jillian had landed. As she circled the yellow bush, he glanced at the other display and his heart went into his throat. The T-Rex had returned for the top half of the meal it had left behind, and was staring at Jillian. He watched as Jillian found the weapon and turn to run back to the Ninja. She wasn’t going to make it. The T-Rex was moving at full charge and would get to her first. He grabbed his tablet and pushed auto.