by Saxon Andrew
“I still have them visually; they’ve slowed down considerably.”
“They must be fighting the tidal forces coming out of the singularity.”
“They’ve flipped the vessel around and are using the thrusters to push against it.”
The wall speaker said, “I have all of them on the walls and activated.”
“Willow?”
“The cloud is holding right up against the drive field.”
“Move us in and start recording what’s happening.” Audrey moved back into her chair and buckled herself in. “Willow, where did they go?”
“They entered normal space.”
“Turn us around and use the thrusters to keep us in position. Don’t enter normal space, extend an antenna and see what’s going on.”
“The small pod flipped and they heard the thrusters go to full power. Chris kept his eyes on the monitor and saw a flash before the antenna was ripped away. Get us out of here, Willow!!”
“I’m going to switch to full thrusters. Try to get comfortable and hold on; you’re going to feel the gravity.”
Chris leaned back in his chair and reached over and pushed Audrey back in hers a moment before they were pulled back with an incredible force. Chris’s arm snapped as the pod fought the incredible forces at work. After what seemed like hours, the unrelenting gravity began reducing in strength. Chris leaned forward and grabbed his shoulder. Audrey raised her head and saw his arm was dangling from his shoulder. Chris’s expression was pure torment and after a moment he closed his eyes and passed out.
“CHRIS!!”
“I have him unconscious while I use the DNA processor to repair his arm.”
“What happened?”
“He saw you weren’t fully back in your chair. If he hadn’t pushed you back you would have probable shattered your spine. I’m going to put you under as well and check you out.”
“But…” Audrey’s eyes closed and Willow continued to move away from the center of Andromeda.
• • •
Audrey heard a humming noise and she opened her eyes. She saw Chris was still inside a sparking cloud next to her and she said, “How is he?”
“It’s a massive task reworking his right arm and shoulder.”
“Is he going to be ok?”
“Yes. Lukas was hurt much more severely when I originally pushed him toward Earth.”
“I was so stupid.”
“You need to listen and react much faster. I’m surprised he managed to push you back in time.”
“I didn’t see his arm move. I guess he has his father’s speed.”
“He considers Stoney as his father, although he loves Lukas and Salud as well.”
“They’re his godparents.”
“He considers them much more than that. The love of a child is pure, Audrey.”
“But you said yourself that he is not a child.”
“His love is pure. He has no experience in what love is like for an adult. His mind is brilliant but he has much to learn about the higher emotions of humans.”
“Were you able to get anything before the antenna blew away?” The monitor illuminated and Audrey stared at it. She shook her head, “Is that what I think it is?”
“That is a white planet circling a star that is revolving around the black hole at an incredible speed.”
“It would have to be to avoid being sucked into it.”
“That planet appears to made of the same substance that coats the Silver Ships and the scoops used by the Grey Ships.”
Chris opened his eyes and said, “Could one of our battleships using all of its reactors on the gravity suppressors get close?”
“CHRIS!”
Chris winced and looked at Audrey, “I’m ok.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Things got out of hand too fast back there. Don’t blame yourself for what happened.”
Audrey reached over and hugged Chris’s neck, “I’d be lost if something happened to you. Next time, don’t do it; you’re too important.”
Audrey leaned back and Chris sighed, “Let’s just not let there be a next time, shall we. Willow, could they get close?”
“I severely doubt it. The power to overcome the singularity is beyond what our reactors can produce.”
“What if we put a hundred reactors on board?”
“I…don’t…know. It would be close.”
Chris sat in silence and Audrey watched him saying nothing to interrupt his thoughts. “Willow, contact Piper.”
“What is it you want, Chris?”
“I thought you don’t interfere with other civilizations?”
“That is correct. We only intervene if it involves our security.”
“Why did you intervene with the planet of the Grey Ships?”
“What makes you think we did?”
“This is like the question of whether the egg or the chicken came first. There is no way that planet could have approached that white planet without Dark Energy reactors. They had to have the scoops before they could have gone there. You had to provide them.”
“What if we did? What do you intend to do about it?”
“We are going to assist them against the attackers coming to destroy them. However, if you’re going to do that, there’s no reason for us to force ourselves on them to help.” Chris waited for an answer and after three minutes he said, “Piper, did you hear me?”
“I’ve been discussing this issue with my Elders. They have left it up to me to decide what to do.”
“What do you mean?”
“When our planet was going to be destroyed by our star going nova, not everyone wanted to leave living on a planet to live in starships. Many of them left to live on another planet.”
“The planet with the Grey Ships are members of your species.”
“They are. We gave them the scoops to try and insure they would be safe.”
“So why wouldn’t you come to their defense?”
“They wanted us to rejoin them on the planet and we refused. They told us that rejecting them meant that we would never be accepted by them again and to never come into their domain. Their hatred was more than we could understand. However, if we came to their defense, they would attack us ahead of the attackers.”
“Could they harm you?”
“Attacking us would do more harm than you know. They are our brothers and sisters. We promised them to abide by their request. To defend them would mean having to break that oath.”
“Even if it meant they would die if you didn’t?”
“We would become their enemy and they would go out trying to destroy us for violating our promise. My species takes its promises rather strongly.”
“Is it possible they would accept our help?”
“Not if they knew we were associated with it.”
“Then they will just not need to know.”
“They are telepathic, Chris.”
“And they will see that you threatened us when we arrived. Even now we’re still on probation.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because you’re afraid of us and what we could become, am I wrong?”
“No, you aren’t.”
“The Attackers must be stopped. We intend to do that and even if they don’t accept our help, we are going to face them and remove them as a threat.”
“YOU’RE STILL MEDDLING WHERE YOU DON’T BELONG!”
Chris’s head came up and Audrey said “What’s wrong?”
“That’s not coming from a Silver Ship.”
“This is not your affair, Jamus.”
“We have been following you and we are trying to decide what to think about you. It appears our traitors are holding you hostage and that makes us feel better about accepting your assistance. Piper, tell that traitor you sent to keep an eye on them to leave our space.”
“He’s not in your space.”
“His thoughts are and that’s a violation. You can stop thinking this way a
s well.”
Willow said, “The connection has been broken and I no longer sense the other Silver Ship.”
“Open your mind to us.” Chris took a deep breath and felt the being enter into his thoughts.
Audrey stared at Chris and saw his eyes close. She softly whispered, “Willow?”
“Don’t do anything! Just remain silent!”
Audrey reached over and took Chris’s hand in hers. She saw his eyes flutter slightly but she held onto it and waited. She looked at the monitor and saw more than a hundred grey ships surrounding them. She shook her head and wondered if this was where the voyage would end.
• • •
“Jason.”
“Yes Piper.”
“It appears Chris is in danger.”
“WHAT!?”
“Willow is currently surrounded by a hundred and twenty three Grey Ships and their weapons are active.”
“Admiral, Chris is in danger. He surrounded by Grey Ships with active weapons.”
Chad his panel, “Lukas, Piper tells us that Chris is surrounded by more than a hundred Grey Ships with their weapons activated. Should I take the fleet and skip out to save him?”
Lukas felt his heart start beating wildly and he almost said yes. But he hesitated and said, “You would never arrive in time to save him and it would send the wrong message to that civilization. Stay where you are.”
“But SIR!”
“Follow your orders, Admiral!”
Chad fell back in his chair and shook his head. Audrey was also on board.
• • •
Audrey watched Chris for more than two hours and she finally exploded, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HIM?!”
She saw Chris’s eyelids flutter and then she felt something in her mind. She released Chris’s hand and grabbed the sides of her head as she shook it. She panicked and shouted, “Get out of my mind!”
Willow said, “Calm down, Audrey. They are looking in your mind to confirm that what they saw in Chris’s mind is accurate.”
Audrey grabbed the arms of her chair and forced herself to breathe slowly. She regained control of her emotions and after a few more moments, she closed her eyes. “You’ve seen a lot of war.”
“More than I wanted.”
“It appears your efforts went unrewarded. Your planet was attacked.”
“The only reward we got was that there was a lot fewer of them to do it.”
“Point taken. Your companion here seems to think that we are in a similar situation.”
“He’s not my companion, he’s my commanding officer.”
“Ok, if you say so. However, your motives appear to be honest and straightforward. It appears the traitors have been meddling in your affairs.”
“We entered their space without permission. They are entitled to question our motives as well.”
“You entered our space without permission as well.”
“You were in the middle of a space battle. It would have been hard to ask at that particular time. We did ask if we could come back and communicate with you. We also sent what we learned at the Attacker’s planet.”
“What do you think about the Traitors?”
“I’ve not really had a conversation with them. I know one of my fellow officers likes the one named Piper a lot.”
“But what do you think?”
“My species has just recently become a space faring civilization. Twenty years ago, we were all pretty much living on one planet and wondered if life existed away from our world. That was pretty stupid on our part. Now that we’ve left our Solar System we can see there’s intelligent life pretty much wherever you go.”
“I asked you about the Traitors.”
“I’m getting to that. What I’ve seen is that almost every civilization we’ve encountered, and that includes the ones you call Traitors, is severely paranoid.”
“Are you saying we’re paranoid as well?”
“You’ve got my Commander in a trance and have our ship surrounded with a hundred of your warships. Does that sound like a trusting society? Every civilization looks at all the others as potential attackers. Unfortunately, most of the time they’re right. It makes me wonder if the universe is like the oceans on my planet.”
“I’m not clear on what you’re saying.”
“My species evolved from an ancient sea creature. Probably a one-celled organism. In our oceans, everything that lives is part of the food chair and I do mean everything. Many of the sea creatures are solely adapted to feed on another sea creature. This universe feels like our oceans. Every species is either an attacker, a defender, or a combination of both. I would think that being intelligent life would make different species try to live together in peace. Otherwise, are we really intelligent or just smart enough to find a way to kill others?”
“You’re planning to go back and attack the ones that killed those on your home world.”
“We are going to do our best to do exactly that.”
“Then how are you any different than them?”
“They took something that rightfully belongs to us. We will one day take our planet back; however; we have no desire to go and take anything that belongs to them.”
“You’ll have to destroy them where they live to stop them.”
“So be it. If they refuse to stop, they deserve it. But we do not desire to take possession of their planets. We’re quite happy with the one we were on.”
“You’ll have to expand to another planet in the future if your population continued to grow unchecked.”
“The difference between the invaders and us is that we will find a planet that is not currently in use by another species. We will not take one from another intelligent society.”
“Just like you did in my galaxy.”
Audrey shrugged, “Yes, but we were told to leave and we were planning to do that when the civilizations in the nebula agreed to let us stay.” Audrey felt the being leave her mind. She looked at Chris and saw his eyes were open. “Are you ok?” He nodded. “What’s going on, Willow?”
“This species really doesn’t need our help. They have enough ships to defend themselves.”
“Oh.”
“However, they are curious about just how large the civilization is that’s coming to attack. They’re requested we take a look and let them know. In return for our help, they will give us one of the gravity ships they use to go to the white planet.”
“That’s fantastic.”
“First things first. We’re going back to Eden and try to convince Lukas to send our scouts out to take a look at the Attackers.”
“I’m looking forward to going back.”
“Why?”
“I need a good shower.”
Chris stared at her for a moment and said, “You don’t have to come with me again. I’m sure you’ll be allowed to stay.”
“NO WAY!”
Chris tilted his head, “I thought you hated this assignment.”
“I did. But now I see that you are going to be on the pointed end of the spear in everything that happens. I wouldn’t miss that for anything.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“I am.”
“Well, welcome to my little piece of destiny. Willow, skip us back to Eden and see if you can set up a meeting with the Leadership Team.”
“I’ll contact them as soon as we’re on the other side of the black hole.” The Attack Pod left normal space and the hundred plus grey colored ships watched it go.
The Fleet Commander said, “I’ll bet the traitors are chewing their edges over this.” He was right.
• • •
“We can’t allow the humans to acquire the coating.”
“I don’t know that we can stop them now.”
“And why not?”
Piper hesitated but knew he had to say it, “The Brothers gave them the ship to get it and are now linked to them. How are we going to interfere with them now? It would break our agreement.”
; “What?”
“We took an oath to never interfere in their activities, did we not?”
The Elder was silent and another Elder said, “Piper is making a good point. If we try to make them leave or stop them from getting the coating, we would be working against the wishes of our brothers. This agreement is not something we can do anything about.”
“Are both of you suggesting that the humans are no longer within our control?”
“How do you see it differently?”
“They are in our territory.”
“Tell that to someone that believes it. You know that we consider this entire galaxy our territory. The Brothers know that attempting to use that as an excuse to exercise control will be greeted with hostility and will make a future reconciliation impossible.”
The Lead Elder listened to the Second Elder and knew he was right. “We should have sent them away.”
Piper listened to them and said, “If they get the weapons they need to fight their enemies in their home galaxy, they will probably leave on their own. However, the Brothers will know if we work behind the scenes to convince the other civilizations in the nebula to force them to go.”
“Piper, you saw this coming!”
“Elder, what are the chances of a space battle taking place at the Brothers’ planet just when that Human went out? This is an accident and I suspect the Brothers offered the ship to prevent us from, as they call it, meddling where we don’t belong. There is some good news in this.”
“What could that possibly be?”
“The Brothers did an extensive examination of the two humans and found them acceptable. Perhaps we’re judging them incorrectly. They may be exactly what they say they are.”
“And just what is that?”
“A species that desires peace and to be left alone to follow their own destiny. At any rate, they are outside our control now if we intend to one day rejoin our family.”
“Piper is right, Elder. The attack on our Brothers was a fluke. Accidents happen in the universe and this is one of them. We can’t change what happened and now we have to live with the consequences.”
“I can still keep an eye on them. You will continue your assignment, Piper.”
“I can’t do anything to interfere, Elder. I will not be the one that prevents reconciliation.”