by Saxon Andrew
“I’m almost sorry he didn’t.”
“You’re close to talking treason.”
“I know it had to happen. If he didn’t do it, someone else would have eventually. He was a very intelligent being and I hate he had to die.” The Scientist said, “I would recommend jumping a thousand years into the future to really make sure none of them survived. There is a possibility they are hiding from our scans.”
“Do you honestly think that could happen?”
“We gave them the blocking invisible suits. I doubt they survived but it won’t hurt to make sure.” The Commander looked at the pilot and nodded. The ship left the planet and picked up the scout. Ten time-jumps later, the Commander looked around at the crew, “That’s enough. The only way to make certain is to jump back to our time and see. If things haven’t changed, we’ll immediately jump and try again. Does everyone agree?” No one spoke. The Commander looked at the Pilot, “Jump us to our home world.”
The grey circular shaped starship began glowing and disappeared from above Earth and a moment later appeared two hundred thousand miles out from their home world. “Start the scans.”
Suddenly, the giant ship was hit by a brilliant yellow beam. The Pilot yelled, “THERE’S A GIANT VESSEL DIRECTLY ABOVE US!!!”
“GET US OUT OF HERE!”
The Pilot hit his emergency jump button and nothing happened. He looked from the left side of his panel to the right as he pushed the jump button continuously. They he looked up and fell back in his chair, “Commander, it appears that beam they fired on us depleted all the nuclear fuel in our reactors. The fuel is now inert.”
The Commander looked at the wall monitor and saw the ship was operating on backup power. The backup generators only had enough power to keep life support and communications functioning. The monitor showed a giant vessel hanging in space directly above his ship and he saw it was pulling his ship into a cavernous landing bay with a tractor beam. He sat on the command stump and looked at the Second Scientist, “Perhaps I was hasty in saying that being didn’t have an impact on our plan.”
“I’m not so sure you were wrong. That ship doesn’t look like anything the Talen had. I’ve mentioned that changing our future may have even more adverse effects that just leaving it alone.”
“Well whoever it is, they knew we were coming.”
The Time Takers looked at the Pilot and the Commander said, “How do you know?”
“That ship doesn’t have any weapons on its hull and its landing bay is a perfect size for our ship. It fired a beam that killed our reactors and now we’re being pulled into it. Whoever it is, they built that ship with the single purpose of capturing us.”
“Your Pilot is very smart. That’s exactly what we planned.”
The Time Takers looked around and the Second Scientist said, “They’re speaking to us telepathically.”
“Right again.”
“Who are you?”
“I’ll answer all your questions as soon as we have you on board. Please open your bay doors so I can enter.”
The Commander stood up, “Why would I do that?”
“You need to understand that damaging your ship is the last thing I will do. However, I won’t hesitate to kill all of you with a red blaster beam if you don’t follow my directives. You should understand that your world is safe and at peace. If that was what you wanted to accomplish with your journey back in time, you were successful.”
“How do I know you’re being truthful?”
“You don’t. However, your scanner still functions. Before we pull you on board, take a look at your planet.”
The Commander looked at the Pilot and nodded. The huge wall monitor illuminated and the ten members of the crew gasped. Their world was covered with huge metropolitan areas and the space above the planet was filled with tens of thousands of starships. The view disappeared as their ship was pulled into the landing bay. The Second Scientist looked at the Commander, “Open the bay door.” The Commander started to protest but the Pilot had already pushed the button.
He glared at the pilot and he said, “You are no long in authority.”
“THAT’S TREASON!”
“No it’s not. Our ship is no longer operational and it was our government that sent us on our mission. It’s clear to me that they know about this ship and it is our duty to follow their will.”
“I AM IN COMMAND!”
The First Scientist looked at the Commander, “No you’re not. Now sit down and shut up!”
The Commander looked at the nine other Time Takers and saw they no longer supported him. He moved toward the Command Stump but was blocked by the Pilot, “You will sit elsewhere.” The Commander glared at him and the Second Scientist said, “We don’t trust you being in control of the intruder defenses.” He looked at the Pilot, “Will you please disarm them.” The pilot nodded and entered a code in the Command Stump’s panel.
The ten waited on the bridge and after ten minutes two beings walked through the portal. The Second Scientist started shaking his head. The human looked at him and smiled, “He didn’t die before he gave us a plan on how to survive your treachery.”
“But none of you were there after the comet hit!”
“Oh, my ancestors were there but they were hidden in caves cut into the mountains. We heard your thoughts and evacuated before you came back two years later. None of us were there at that time.”
The second being standing beside the human looked at the Commander, “It was my species that you were attempting to kill.”
“How is it that my planet is still alive if your species didn’t die?”
“The humans persuaded us that going out and murdering every civilization we encountered was not the right thing to do. Your planet, along with billions of others, survive today because of that union.” The Regent turned to the Second Scientist, “It was you who decided to take Andy back into the past.” The Second nodded. “You are the one responsible for all that happened afterwards. Billions of planets are waiting to hear of your journey and all of them want to thank you for what you made happen.”
“But…I sent him back fully expecting him and all the other humans to die.”
“The important issue is that when all the others here said no, you prevailed on them to send him.” The Regent looked around the Bridge, “Or am I wrong about that?”
The First Scientist said, “How would you know that?”
“He wrote about his meeting with you and those writings still survive to this day. They are the most priceless artifacts we possess. Which brings me to another question.”
The Second looked at the Regent, “What is that?”
“Is it possible that you recorded that meeting along with other images of the first colonists?”
The Second looked at the First and he nodded, “Yes, we have recordings of all those we moved back in time along with the confrontations they had with each other before we left.” The Second paused and said, “The last thing we recorded was my meeting with the human. The Commander wanted it to remind me of the mistake I made in sending him back if it didn’t work out.”
The human was looking at the floor and the Time Takers saw his tears. “What’s wrong?”
He tried to answer but couldn’t find his voice. The Regent said, “Those recordings are priceless. Every human alive today has been praying that you would have images of those that were taken into the past. Matter of fact, the closest the Dominion has come to a civil war was over which planet would be given your ship.”
“WHAT?”
“Humans and Talens now live on more than a million planets and the newest planet is Earth. It is being rebuilt from your attack on it. History says that allowing you to blast Earth with nuclear weapons was the hardest thing we’ve ever done. But it had to happen in order for everything else to happen. Every Human and Talen planet have laid claim to this ship and some of them were willing to fight to have it.”
The Commander looked at the Regent, “So who gets
it?”
“You do.”
“WHAT?”
“Your people are considered saviors of the universe. Andy and I said that your ship did not belong to Humans or Talen; it belonged to your people and that it would be taken to the planet that sent you on your mission, where it will be taken to a place of honor where every species could come and see it. This was the only solution that our people would accept.”
The Pilot laughed, “If all of you couldn’t possess it; none of you would. That accounts for all the ships around our planet.”
“Well, yes and no. Those ships are building the structures that will house the ship and recordings of what you did. Once the buildings are completed, I suspect your planet will prosper beyond your wildest dreams as the trillions of citizens come to witness history like it was never seen before.”
Andy looked at them and said, “I humbly ask that you give me a copy of your recordings to share with my people.”
The Pilot listened to what was being said and inserted a device in his panel. When Andy made his request, he pulled a clear, rectangular, block out of his board and held it out to him, “I’ve copied everything on this data block. Do you have the ability to open it?”
Andy took the block and shook his head, “If we have to invent the means, we will.”
The Second smiled, “I’ll give you a portable reader.”
Andy looked at them, “You have no idea how much this means to me and my people.”
The Second stared at Andy and after a moment said, “I think I do. I met him.”
Andy’s tears started again and he said, “Will you come to our palace and discuss him with us.”
“I’ll be glad to do so.”
The Regent shook his head, “It won’t be soon. Your people have been waiting on your return for a long time. I suspect they won’t part with you easily.”
The Second looked at Andy, “You remind me of him. I WILL come. On that, you have my promise.”
The Regent looked around the bridge and said, “You have no idea how relieved I am that you’ve finally shown up.”
The Commander said, “Why relief?”
“There was a rebellion long ago and they planned to warn you when you arrived that you failed to kill my species in the hopes that you would disappear and try again. As long as you were in the past, everything we’ve done has been in jeopardy. Now that you’re in the present, the past is fixed and we can go into the future without the fear of everything being changed.”
The pilot looked at the Regent, “What about our ability to travel through time?”
“We’ve removed all traces of that technology from your civilization. We would ordinarily remove it from this ship but the Dominion has decreed more than a thousand years ago that when you returned, nothing will be changed on this ship…nothing.”
The Pilot shrugged, “Well, it won’t matter. With inert reactors, the drive won’t function and I’m going to assume that connecting new reactors will constitute a change that is forbidden.”
Andy looked at the Regent, “I told you he was smart.”
The second laughed, “That’s exactly what I said about Andy.”
The Regent looked at his wrist unit and shook his head, “Well, it appears our trip to your planet is going to take longer than I planned.”
“Why is that?”
“The news agencies on your planet were able to see our ship jump away from where we kept it. They used their scanners and saw your ship arrive. Word has gone out in the Dominion and there has been a massive rush to witness your ship being taken to its final resting place.”
The Regent connected the wall monitor to his wrist unit and the ten Time Takers were shocked silent. The Regent said, “We are going to have to move very slowly to avoid hitting someone by accident.” The space around the planet was filled with starships all the way out to the edge of the solar system and still the ships jumped in.
The Commander said, “Most of them can’t see us.”
Andy shook his head, “Our scanners today are much better than the ones you remember; but even if they can’t, they can tell their children that they were here when you finally came home.
The Pilot looked at the Second Scientist and said, “What are you thinking?”
“He was better than all of us. He knew of our death plan and he changed it into one of redemption and life. We don’t deserve this.”
Andy put his hand on the Second and smiled, “But for you, none of the planets these billions of ships came from to witness this would be there. Oh no, you deserve it. You have no idea how long we’ve waited for you.”
The Second nodded and thought back to the human standing in the forest among the dinosaurs. It was him that deserved the honor. He looked at the monitor and saw ships still appearing by the millions in the distance. He decided that Andy was the reason they were here and the honor they were giving him was richly deserved. He knew he would go down in history as well once the recording of the meeting was viewed. He smiled. That was a good way to be remembered.
The End
Books by Saxon Andrew
The Annihilation Series:
Love Conquers All
The Power of a Queen
A Rose Grows in Weeds
Tommy’s Tale
Searcher
Demon’s Sacrifice
Finding Keepers
Prequel-Psychic Beginnings
Searching for a Hero
Dahlia’s Deception
Ashes of the Realm:
Juliette’s Dream
Greyson’s Revenge
Death of an Empire
The Return of the Realm
Lens of Time:
The Pyramid Builders
Planet Predators
Pray for the Prey
The End of Time
Star Rover-The Worst of Time
Star Rover-Running Out of Time
Lens of Time-Chosen To Die
The Fight for Creation
Life Warrior
Scout Warrior
Ultimate Warrior
Star Chase
The Lost Prince
Nowhere to Run
Nowhere to Hide
Probe Predators
Jesse’s Starship
Mike’s War—
Joshua’s Walls
Nemesis
Revenge is Best Served Hot
The Search for Orion
Trapped in Time
The Time Takers
Taming A Planet
Also an audiobook at Audible.com
Love Conquers All
The Power of a Queen
A Rose Grows in weeds
Tommy’s Tale
The Lost Prince
Copyright © 2015 by Saxon Andrew. All rights reserved. Screen Writers Guild no. VQEA3E380432.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.
First Electronic Edition: February 2015
Table of Contents
Extinction
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Books by Saxon Andrew
Copyright