by Saxon Andrew
The Audon was waving his arm and moving up and down in his chair. Jan saw him and looked at Michael, “I think he should be allowed to speak.”
Michael leaned over and said, “Go ahead.”
“Are you trying to tell me that everything is predetermined?”
“That’s how Einstein explained this.”
“Yes, but are you saying that free will doesn’t exist?”
“If you can prove it does, Einstein’s explanation falls apart.”
“But…OK, let’s say I have a multi-surfaced ball with many behaviors on it. I roll it and it comes up ‘lay on the floor’.”
“Einstein would say it was predetermined that it would come up that way.”
“And if I ignore the first roll, roll it again and it says jump up twice.”
“Einstein would say it was predetermined you would roll it twice.”
“That’s absolutely asinine!”
Michael watched Jan interacting with the Audon and was amazed that the Leader was not at all angered by her. She seemed to disarm him with her smile and gentle delivery.
Jan looked at the scientists sitting in front of her and said, “It really isn’t. Many here today believe exactly that and they possess more information than many of us here.” Many of the scientists nodded.
The Audon snorted, “That’s a circular argument. No matter what happens, you can always say it was predetermined.”
Jan shrugged, “If you can prove free will, the argument falls apart. But so far, no one has come up with an experiment to prove free will.”
Michael smiled and said, “Thank you, Commodore.” Jan nodded, walked around the table, and handed Michael the microphone. He watched her go back to her seat and heard Josey say, “Jan, you make my head hurt!”
Jay kept his eyes on Michael and heard Josey. He saw something in Michael’s eyes as Michael looked at him. Jay closed his eyes and nodded slightly. He opened them and saw Michael smiling. He knew he had a new brother. Michael turned around as Jan said, “If you would just read the material, you’d get it.”
“Forget it; you’re the reader.” Jay winced and knew Michael was listening. Oh well.
The Welken looked at Michael with his head cocked to the side, “What does all this mean, First Commander?”
Michael smiled. The Welken was with him. “I intend to conduct an experiment that will prove we have free will.”
Everyone in the room, and especially the scientists, were surprised by the comment.
“And exactly how do you intend to do that?”
“We’re going to prove that it’s possible to move in normal space faster than in the barrier.”
“Now that I would like to see.”
Michael turned around and looked at Jan, “Which school do you belong to?”
Jan turned from Josey and said, “I don’t believe everything is predestined. I believe those waves and objects are still in some kind of contact.”
“With your permission, I’d like to do something.”
“What is that?”
Michael looked at the Goran High Leader, “I want you to take her thoughts on this subject and share them with all of the scientists in the room. Especially Amanda, Trevor, Budge and Nudge.”
Amanda said, “Hey, I agree with Einstein.”
“Then you won’t mind seeing a different point of view.” Michael looked at Jan and saw her uneasiness. Michael smiled, “Come on, Jan. Averel has invaded your privacy more times than you can count and she’s never revealed what she sees. The High Leader will only share information that relates to the topic you just discussed.”
“Are you certain about that?”
The Goran Leader stood up, “You may be assured that is all that will be shared.”
Jan sighed and tilted her head, “Let’s get this over with.” The Goran stood up and stared at Jan. Every scientist and engineer in the huge room closed their eyes as the information was linked to their minds.
It took longer than Michael expected and at the end the Goran said, “There was a great deal she didn’t mention.”
Jan shrugged, “I didn’t want to sound crazy.”
Michael looked at Nudge and Budge and saw their eyes were looking off in the distance. Many of the scientists had that expression and Amanda said, “OH MY HARD HEAD!”
Trevor smiled, “Looks like old Einstein took the simple route.” Amanda nodded and Michael said, “I’m going to adjourn this meeting for now. The Leaders of the Alliance Members please plan to meet with me tomorrow morning.”
The meeting ended and the attendees rushed up to the front table. Michael listened to those around him but kept his eyes on Jay. Josey started to walk past him and he grabbed her arm and whispered in her ear. Her eyebrows came together and Jay whispered in her ear again. Her eyes widened and she turned and looked at Michael who was staring at her. Josey saw his expression and after a moment, nodded. Michael softly smiled at her and she returned it. She started walking away and Jay took her arm again, “Are you all right?”
“I am. I think I realized when he started discussing relativity that I was out of my league. However, there is one person that I’ve given a lot of thought to and it’s time I did something about it.” Jay’s head went back as she walked down the row on the back wall and stopped in front of Budge, “I have a question I need your help answering.”
Budge smiled, “What is that, Josey?”
“What does it take for a girl to get a man’s attention?”
Budge’s head went back, “Are you talking about yourself?”
“Who else?”
“Well that’s easy; just walk in the room.”
“Then why have you ignored me?” Budge’s mouth fell open and Josey said, “Come on, we’ll discuss it over dinner.” Budge closed his mouth and rushed to catch up with her. She took his hand as they left the room.
Nudge walked up next to Jay, put his arm on his shoulder, and watched them leave. “Now that’s something I didn’t expect.” Jay nodded. “Do you think he’s up to the task?”
Jay started laughing, “Probably not but we won’t tell him.” Nudge laughed and they shook hands.
Michael listened to the exchange and smiled. He looked at Jan, who was surrounded by scientists. She glanced his way and saw him staring at her. She saw something in his eyes and, after a moment, she smiled. She didn’t need telepathy to see what Michael was feeling. She turned back to the scientists and didn’t care if this was predestined or not. Life had just changed.
Chapter Sixteen
Michael looked at Jan sitting at the weapon’s console on their new Attackship and saw she was nervous. “Hey.”
Jan replied in a shaky voice, “Hey.”
Michael stared at her and took a breath. He looked at the floor and then looked up at her, “I need you to try and understand something.”
“Such as?”
Michael blew out the breath he was holding. “I’m certain that you’re aware that I’m attracted to you?” Jan stared at him and then nodded. “The thing is, I’ve never been in a relationship with a woman. I was deprived of that in school and I’m moving through uncharted space here. I don’t know how to act, what to say, or any of the other things a man would do with someone he was attracted toward. If you are frightened of me, we will never look at what this could possibly become. We’ll be stuck in place without moving forward. That frightens me more than I can say. I’m out of my depth here.”
Jan stared at him and saw the trouble behind his eyes. She relaxed and stood up. She walked across the bridge and put a hand on each of his command chair arms. She leaned in and kissed him gently. She backed up and he pulled her in and kissed her again. The kiss lasted much longer and when Michael broke the kiss he saw her huge smile. “What? Did I do it wrong?”
Jan stood up and smiled, “Josey got to kiss you first but you just gave me your first kiss. I think that means something.” She walked across the bridge and sat down in her chair. She looked at him and lower
ed her eyes, “And for your information, there is no such thing as a bad kiss between two people who care about each other.”
Michael smiled, “Are you telling me you’re attracted to me, too?” Jan smiled and nodded. Michael continued to smile as he turned to his console, “Why don’t we see what this ship can do?”
“Lead the way, Sir.”
Michael turned around, “You can use my first name, Jan.”
“Not in professional situations. You are in command and it’s vitally important that you and I know that. If I hesitate to follow your orders, we could die. We should both follow standard protocols that rank dictates.”
Michael thought about her comment and nodded, “I do hope we find times where we’re not in professional situations.”
“I’ll make sure we do, Sir.”
“Angelo, have you and Langley decided on the division of responsibilities?”
“We have. I will work with you and Langley will work with Commodore Keller. Langley will be responsible for detecting thoughts from outside the ship. He has demonstrated a remarkable ability of seeing those telepaths.”
“Everyone should understand that my order to wear thought blockers also applies to this ship. I expect your thought broadcasting modules to be inactive.”
“Already done, Sir.”
Michael put the band around his head and winced. “Are you all right, Sir?”
Michael looked at Jan and saw her concern, “It’s a minor shock for a telepath to lose the ability. I’ll be ok once I get used to it.”
Jan smiled, “Does that mean you can’t hear my thoughts? now” Michael nodded. “Good!”
“Why is that?”
“A lady’s thoughts should not be seen. It might cause her embarrassment.”
Michael smiled, “I’m taking the ship into orbit.”
Jan turned her chair around and began activating her systems, “Where are we going, Sir?”
“I’m going after the Legend Ships that detonated the explosive in our cluster.”
Jan’s expression showed her surprise, “How are you going to be able to find them?”
“Simple geometry, Jan. The ones that did it are not flying the newer model. I know where the device was detonated. Draw a straight line from that point toward the Pandora Cluster and we should run up on them.”
“But that was more than a week ago?”
“There’s an added benefit to these new hulls that Budge just told me about.” Jan tilted her head. “You know the Silver Ships have explored a lot of the Universe?” Jan nodded. “Their speed is far beyond what our lightly coated ships could do. Now that our hulls are larger than theirs, our speed has been greatly increased; we will make the attempt. Contact Jay and Josey and tell them to stay close.”
“Yes Sir.”
Jan sent the message and heard Jay say, “ALLLLL RIIIGHHT!” Jan smiled. Everything was back to normal.
Michael looked out of the main viewport and saw M-87 moving quickly toward them. “Angelo, how does our speed match up with the Battle Pods?”
“I find it hard to fathom how this substance our hull is made of can cause such a wide variance. We’re going to be out of the cluster in about another hour.” Michael shook his head.
Langley’s voice came over the loud speaker, “I’ve given some thought about that.”
Michael looked at the speaker, “And?”
“I believe this substance shouldn’t exist in normal space. I genuinely think it is a substance that should be in the void.”
Jan’s eyebrows went up, “Why do you say that?”
“Because you only find it near a giant black hole. We know that the void is inside a black hole, that’s how we discovered it. I think the really giant black holes suck this material out of the void and it collects in a close orbit around the black hole.”
Michael nodded, “The fact that ships coated with it can fly faster than the speed of light in normal space pretty much tells us that it isn’t restricted by the normal laws of physics.” Michael paused and his eyes narrowed, “Langley, do you know if any of the substance has been found circling the black hole in M-87?”
“I suspect that if there is, we will not be able to use it.”
“Why is that?”
“You know how difficult it was to go in close to the black hole in Andromeda. Imagine getting close to the monster lurking at the center of M-87. Scientists are convinced that it might be the largest black hole in the universe. At our current level of technology, I don’t think we can build a gravity compensator that would allow ships to get close to search for it.” Langley paused and said, “Jay is attempting to communicate with you.”
“Put him on the wall speaker.”
“Uhhh, First Commander, Josey and I have been talking about what we’re doing and we thought we should mention a possible concern.”
Michael looked at Jan and saw her smiling. “What is it Jay?”
“Well, you know, uhhhh.”
“Come on, Jay!”
“Well, you know the battle your father directed to defeat the Legends in M-87 is required reading at the Academy.”
“Yes.”
“Well, the Alliance Leaders made it clear to him that they did not want him participating in combat operations because of his importance. We were kinda wondering if that restriction also applied to you…Sir?” Michael was silent and Jay quickly said, “Josey and I can go in after the ships we’re chasing and you can stay out of it.”
“Jay, before we get into that, you need to understand that I have to depend on all of you to make sure I see everything that might concern you. Do not hesitate to bring any concern to my attention; I need you to be open and honest with me.”
“Ok, then, why are we chasing those ships instead of you sending others to do it?”
Michael looked at Jan and saw she wondered the same thing. “There are several reasons, Jay. My father had fought in numerous battles before he was chosen to be the Alliance’s designated conqueror. He knew the capabilities of the ships used by our forces and what their limitations and strengths were. That knowledge, in large part, is what allowed him to assign the right fleets to the right targets in that final battle. He fought in those ships and it prepared him for command responsibility. I have not done the same. The battle with the Monster Warship outside the Bullet Cluster was the first combat I’ve been involved in and I must say that I am much better prepared to use the Battle Pods in fleet actions. But I need to fight this new ship or I’m going to be guessing about its strengths and limitations. I also need to fight this ship and experience what our pilots are going to face.”
“And what happens if you don’t survive the fight?”
“Then they’ll make Talel the new First Commander and continue without missing a beat.”
Jan said, “Talel?”
“Jan, he is incredibly talented. I’ve seen his mind at work and he can do the job.”
Jan shrugged, “Maybe so, but he’s not you!”
Michael smiled, “Does that answer your concern, Jay?”
“It does. So how do you want to handle it, if we manage to find them?”
“I’ll take the lead and you’ll cover my stern.”
“And if my stern happens to become an issue?”
“We will do a scissor move and turn it on your pursuers.”
“You know about that maneuver?”
“I’ve done a little flying.”
“We’ll keep your stern clear, Sir.”
Angelo announced, “Twenty minutes to clear the disruption.”
“Commander?”
“Yes, Josey?”
“Are you planning to use the heavy rounds in this mission?”
“If I find myself in a situation that calls for it, I am. Why do you ask?”
“I just think that we’re going to have to face millions of those new Legend Warships and I wonder if we’re going to be able to build enough in time. I’m reluctant to waste them.”
Michael looke
d at Jan and she shook her head. “Josey, we need to see how launching one of those rounds affects our ship’s ability to maneuver. Let our manufacturers worry about having enough rounds when we need them. If a heavy round is indicated, fire it. Remember, this is the initial field trial for this class of ship and we need to put it through its paces and use every system if we can.”
“I didn’t think about that, Sir. Thank you for clearing this up.”
“Once we clear the disruption, we’re going into the barrier and skip directly to the Pandora Cluster. Once we arrive at the disruption in that cluster, we will turn around and move back toward our cluster and try to find those ships moving towards us.”
“We’re locked in on your drive field, Sir. We’ll release our ships once you call for battle stations.”
Michael turned his chair around and activated his armor. Jan activated hers and did a quick diagnostic check on her weapon console. The barrier sensor turned blue and Michael activated the barrier field and skipped directly toward the Pandora Cluster.
Ten seconds before they arrived Langley said, “You can stop. We just passed them.” Michael applied the brakes and turned the ship in a wide turn and then moved back on the course it had flown from the Virgo Cluster. He kept the speed down to avoid overrunning the Legend Ships.
“Langley, you heard them while we were moving at full speed?”
“Yes, Jan. There are a lot of them to hear.”
Michael jerked his head around, “What do you mean, ‘a lot’?”
“There are at least fifty warships in that group.”
Michael said into his helmet’s interface, “Shutting down all external systems. Reduce power on the reactor.” Jay heard the orders and began shutting down the systems. “Langley, we’re going to try to get close enough for you to hear them. I need to know how that many ships could make it into the middle of our cluster without being detected before I initiate an attack.”
“Would it make a difference if I told you one of those telepaths is on board one of those ships?”