by Saxon Andrew
Taffy thought and answered, “No. The animal at the outer edge will be moving faster because it’s having to cover more ground than the inner animal.”
“Right. Now, will any of the animals in the row of fifty get ahead or move behind any of the animals in the row?”
“Nooo…they’re all anchored down next to each other in the row.”
“So, even though the inside animals are moving slower than the outside animals, they remained lined up.”
“What does this have to do with the galaxy?” Taffy asked.
“Picture the galaxy like the wheel of animals. It’s all anchored together by gravity and everything moves together. Draw a line from the center of the galaxy out to the outer edge of the galaxy and everything on that line will all be turning together, just like the row of fifty animals.”
Taffy nodded, “I think I understand.”
“The colony ship that settled Britannia flew directly here. It left Earth and probably flew slightly above the plane of the galaxy to avoid stars. However, I believe it flew a straight course to the central core.”
“Why would they only be slightly above the plane of the galaxy.”
“Taffy, they would need to be close enough to the galaxy for its scanners to see a habitable planet as they moved toward the core. Once they found one, they would turn the ship on a large circle course to bring it back to the planet. It would take months to slow the ship down from its high-speed until it could stop at the planet?”
“What if they didn’t find a habitable planet before they arrived at the core?”
Grady tilted his head, “Then they would turn the ship and start moving away from the core on a different course.”
“If they were forced to do that, Grady, would that new course be aligned with Earth?”
Grady was silent a moment and then shook his head, “No, it wouldn’t.”
“So, you really don’t know this course we’re on will be leading us to Earth, do you?”
“Not for sure.” Grady stared at Taffy and shrugged, “But it’s the best bet available to us. If we reach the outer edge of the galaxy and don’t find Earth, we’ll start looking for a habitable planet.”
“And you’ll know you’re on the right course if we encounter images or signals on this course we’re taking, right.”
Grady nodded, “Yes.” They received the first images two-days later.
Chapter Nine
Grady woke up and went to the shower. He shaved, washed his hair, and got out quickly to avoid wasting the hot water. He put on a flight suit and passed Taffy in the corridor, “I’m going to shower and start breakfast.” Grady nodded and continued toward the bridge. He stretched his arms over his head and leaned back and forward a few times before sitting down. He puffed out a breath and put his helmet on, plugged it into the console, and sat back. He pulled the faceplate down and saw it flickering. He sat up straight, stared at the flicker for a moment, and asked, “Computer, what is the flickering on my faceplate?”
“Electronic waves moving through space.”
Grady’s eyes flew open and he slowed the Rabbit to a hundred-light-years per hour. The flickering changed, and he heard what sounded like…voices?”
Taffy arrived on the bridge with two plates and he didn’t see her standing next to him; he was totally focused on his faceplate. She nudged his arm and he flinched, “What has your attention?”
“Taffy, I think I’m hearing voices on my faceplate.” Taffy’s eyes flew open and she placed the plates on the deck between the chairs. She activated her helmet and saw the flickering on her faceplate. She shook her head slightly, “I can’t make anything out of this.” She touched Grady’s arm, “Let’s eat before it gets cold.”
Grady shook his head but raised his faceplate. He took off the helmet and picked up his plate. Taffy was already eating, and he said, “The computer says the flickering is coming from electronic waves moving through space. We’ve traveled fourteen-thousand light years and if Earth is on this course, we should start detecting something about now.”
“Finish your breakfast and we’ll work on this afterwards.” Grady nodded and felt his heart beating faster; was this signal from Earth? He ate quickly, and Taffy took the plates to the kitchen. She returned a few minutes later and put on her helmet. They watched the flickering and Grady asked, “Computer, can you determine the type of electronic waves I’m seeing on my faceplate?”
“They are mixed audio and visual images.”
“Remove the audio and enhance the video images.” Suddenly, they saw images of humans speaking on what appeared to be some kind of news, education, or other type of broadcasts. The images were almost too fast to see and only remained on their faceplates for only an instant. Grady slowed the ship and the images began solidifying but were still flashing by quickly. Grady stopped the ship and the images became clearer. “Add the audio, Computer!” Grady ordered. They saw a middle-aged man say, “The fifth fleet launched today and will be joining Admiral Conover’s fleet in the Orion Nebula. Good-luck, sailors.”
Grady turned to Taffy, “Did you see that?!” Taffy nodded. “This must be coming from Earth!”
“Grady, the language that man used is understandable.”
“Then it has to be coming from Earth. There were a couple of words I had trouble with, but you’re right; I understood what he was saying.
Grady activated the stardrive and the images began flickering again as he increased speed. “Computer, let me know when the power of the electronic waves increases?” Twelve hours later, the computer announced, “The energy waves have increased in power but there are no longer any video waves in them.”
Grady slowed the Rabbit and heard hundreds of voices all talking on top of each other. Taffy asked as she stared at her faceplate, “How far back did we see the video images?”
“About fifteen-hundred light years, why do you ask?”
“Sometime during that time, Earth stopped sending out video waves.” She lifted her faceplate, “Why do you think that happened?”
“I have no idea,” Grady replied.
“We do know that Earth had fleets fifteen-hundred-years ago, right?” Grady nodded. “How far are we from the source of these signals?”
Grady asked, “Computer, are you able to determine how far the source of these waves is from our current position?”
“Between two and three-thousand light years. That is based on the level of degradation of the signal from the first waves detected.”
“So, does that mean that Earth had fleets more than three-thousand years ago?” Taffy asked.
“It appears they did,” Grady answered. He paused and added, “However, remember that the Earth that sent those waves is more than twenty-thousand years older than the colony when it was founded. This must mean that Earth is an advanced civilization; I suspect far more advanced than the Union or Coalition.”
“Why do they need fleets of warships, Grady?”
“I don’t know. The recording we saw is three-thousand years in Earth’s past; they may not have them now.”
“We need to find out,” Taffy replied.
Grady stared at her and stopped the ship. They listened and began hearing individual sentences. An hour later, a strong audio signal was received, “You are cleared to leave Earth orbit, Admiral. Good luck and good hunting.”
Grady lifted his faceplate and said, “That signal was beamed from the planet to a fleet in space. That’s why we hear it so clearly.”
“How far are we from Earth now, Grady?”
“Eight-hundred light years, Taffy.”
“Grady, all I’ve been hearing are sounds like military communications. I’ve not heard any civilian traffic; is that normal?” Grady was silent, and Taffy asked again, “Is that normal?”
“No, it’s not. It appears Earth is deliberately avoiding sending out any civilian communications.”
“You don’t find that troublesome?”
“Taffy, we came here hoping
to find Earth was advanced enough to take on the aliens. We can’t just back out now.”
“Do what you think is best, Grady.” Grady nodded and activated the stardrive. A medium sized star was centered on the course the computer had laid in when they left Britannia. It was the right distance and Grady accelerated toward it. He was apprehensive but what choice did he have?
• • •
Grady went to full-speed and arrived at a planetary system circling a distant star. He activated his scanner and saw a giant planet with a huge red spot on it in the distance. Suddenly, alarms started going off and Grady saw fifty large blips appear on his tactical monitor moving at high speed to intercept him. He shutdown the FTL drive and stopped the Rabbit.
Suddenly, the console monitor illuminated, and they saw a man appear in a military uniform ordering, “YOU WILL REMAIN WHERE YOU ARE, OR YOUR SHIP WILL BE FIRED ON!” Grady looked at the man on the monitor and wondered who was surprised the most. The man’s face showed his shock as he asked, “WHO ARE YOU?!”
“This is the Union Ship Rex Rabbit and I am Colonel Grady Henricks.”
“Did you say Union?”
“Yes.”
“Where is this Union?”
“It’s about sixteen-thousand light years from here toward the center of the galaxy. It’s on Britannia.”
The man reached forward and pressed something off the monitor, as he looked away from Grady. After a moment, he turned back to him, “We have records of a colony vessel by that name that left Earth in the distant past.”
Grady nodded, “That colony ship settled the planet that bears its name. However, Britannia is under attack by an advanced alien civilization and they’ve destroyed all the major cities on the planet. There are large numbers of survivors hiding in the wilderness, but the aliens are returning to finish killing every human on the planet. They’ve sent six-hundred warships to Britannia and they’re holding position out from the planet. I’ve come here hoping that Earth might assist us against them.”
The man leaned forward and said, “All ships, hold your fire unless ordered otherwise.” He leaned back and asked, “Do you have the location of your planet?”
Grady knew that the die was cast and there would be no turning back as he answered, “I have a map of the galaxy with Britannia’s location on it.”
“Send it to me.”
Grady looked at Taffy and saw her looking at him with a concerned expression. He pulled up the map…and sent it on the frequency being used by the man on the monitor. The man looked down and said, “Standby.”
Grady said quietly into his helmet’s microphone, “Computer, what can you tell me about those ships surrounding us?”
“They are heavily armored and armed with numerous large blasters on their hulls along with thirty missile ports that are visible.”
“Speed?”
“They moved in on us at high-speed, but they aren’t as fast as this ship.”
Grady’s head went back slightly, “How did you make that determination?”
“I assumed they were moving at their fastest speed to intercept us. This ship is much faster than the speed they used.”
“Can you determine anything about the power of their blasters?”
“The power feeding them is quite high.”
“Do you think they’re more powerful than the blasters used by the aliens?”
“Possibly. However, the power being fed to them may not be the maximum power used to operate them. They could be much more powerful, but that determination can’t be made until one of them is fired.” Grady thought about what the computer said, and the man reappeared on the monitor, “Did you say there were six-hundred alien warships.”
“Yes,” Grady answered.
“Standby.” The monitor went dark again, and Grady turned to Taffy. He said in his helmet where only she could hear, “These ships aren’t nearly as advanced as I hoped.”
“That could be a good and bad thing,” Taffy replied. Grady tilted his head and she added, “Bad if they’re going to take on the aliens, but good if we’re forced to run.” Grady shrugged and then nodded.
Suddenly, his helmet alarmed, and he saw a huge cloud of blips moving toward them at faster than light speed. Grady asked, “Computer, how many ships are moving this way?”
“Twelve hundred and fifty ships like the ones surrounding us are moving this way.”
Grady almost attempted to flee but a sudden thought stopped him. They didn’t need more than a thousand warships to handle the Rabbit; the fifty surrounding the ship were enough. The man appeared on the monitor again and asked, “Does your planet have any warships to delay the aliens?”
“No, all of them were destroyed when they initially attacked. This small scout ship is the only survivor. Grady swore the man looked relieved but wasn’t sure. The man disappeared from the monitor and he glanced at Taffy and saw no uncertainty on her face. She knew he was relieved.
The man appeared and said, “We are launching a fleet to go and assist your planet against the aliens. Do you have any information about their ships?”
“I’ll send you what I’ve been able to record before I ran.” Grady said quietly, “Computer, send him everything we’re recorded excluding the attack we made on the alien fleet.”
“Sending the data.”
Grady saw the computer was sending the recordings of the alien’s initial attack on the major cities and a view of the six-hundred alien ships in formation. The man said, “Standby while I send this to the fleet.” The monitor went dark and the computer said over his helmet, “We are now being scanned by a powerful beam. They may be able to hear any conversations.”
“Send anything directly to my helmet from now on,” Grady ordered. He looked at Taffy and saw her nod. Good, she heard it as well.
A few minutes later, the man appeared on the monitor and smiled, “We don’t take it lightly when humans are attacked by aliens. I’m Commodore Brian Larson and I’ve been asked to escort you to Earth to meet with my commanding officer. Please follow me.”
Grady smiled and lifted his faceplate, “You don’t know how excited we are to get to see Earth.”
“How did you manage to find Earth?”
Grady kept his smile, “We were really lucky. I took a course directly away from Britannia and scanned for any electronic emissions ahead of us.”
Brian’s eyes narrowed, “Did you find any?”
“About six-thousand light years out from here we ran into some.”
“We’ve tried to stop any electronic emissions long ago. They can be followed to Earth.”
“Well, I can tell you they’re out there. That’s what led us here.”
Brian tilted his head slightly, “Well, they can’t be erased. It’s like the spent arrow, once it leaves the bow, there’s no stopping it.”
“What’s an arrow?” Grady asked.
Brian laughed, “I’ll show you when we arrive on Earth.”
Two of the large warships moved on each side of the Rex Rabbit and Grady moved the ship with them toward the distant star ahead of them. Grady fell behind the ships several times and they slowed for him to catch up. Taffy knew he was deliberately making it appear the Rabbit wasn’t as fast as the two warships escorting them. Grady had turned off the scanner and she activated the optical cameras in the bow of the ship. She put the image on the console’s monitor and Grady’s eyebrows lowered. She whispered where he could barely hear her, “We need to see what we’re moving into.” He nodded and focused on maintaining his position between the ships. They moved in closer to the third planet from the sun and Grady glanced at the display; they were an hour out from the planet and Taffy was recording massive cities covering the planet’s surface. He was amazed at the gleaming, towering skyscrapers and was surprised that there wasn’t much aerial traffic over the cities. There were thousands of small ships but nowhere near the numbers that flew above the cities on Britannia. They must have an extraordinary underground mass transit system.
They eventually arrived in orbit above Earth and Brian appeared on the monitor, “One of our small ships is just below us and will lead you to the space port closest to Admiral Genzen’s office. You will be taken to meet him when you land.”
Grady smiled, “Thank you, Commodore. For assisting my world against the aliens and allowing us to see this incredible world.”
“Enjoy your stay.”
The monitor went dark and Grady focused on the small ship holding position below the Rabbit. He fell in behind it as Taffy began working the optical controls. They moved smoothly into Earth’s atmosphere and Grady saw the giant spaceport ahead of them; it was gigantic. They were five miles above it when Taffy jerked her head to him, “YOU’VE GOT TO GET US OUT OF HERE, GRADY!” Grady turned to her with his eyebrows down. “GRADY, GET US OUT OF HERE NOW!!”
Grady saw her fear and knew something wasn’t right. He knew the two warships were still in orbit above them and he pressed the communicator as he started jerking the thruster controls. “BRIAN!”
“What’s going on?”
“THE SHIP HAS A REACTOR VESSEL BREACH AND RADIATION IS FLOODING THE REAR OF THE SHIP. I’M MOVING THE SHIP BACK INTO ORBIT TO PREVENT HARM TO THE PLANET’S SURFACE. CAN YOU SEND A SHUTTLE OVER TO TAKE US OFF?!”
Brian shut off the sound and looked slightly to his left. Taffy said as Brian moved his lips, “Can we destroy that ship without damaging the city.” Grady’s eyes flew open and Taffy continued speaking as Brian started moving his lips again, “ALL RIGHT! TARGET IT AND OPEN FIRE AS SOON AS IT MOVES INTO ORBIT!”
Grady worked the thruster controls and the Rabbit began jerking left and right as it appeared to be struggling to gain altitude. Grady moved the ship out from under the two warships as he slid it through the air to the left and lost altitude slightly before he straightened out. He crabbed the ship hard right as two more warships came in at high speed and moved directly above the Rabbit. Grady slowly began gaining altitude and he said loudly to Brian, “Where is the shuttle to get us off this ship?!”