The Gravity of Anti-Gravity II

by Tim Blagge

  We decided to travel at night to avoid being seen by any Cromwell craft. Fortunately, the light from two of Velador’s three moons allowed us to travel without running lights. After we loaded the few belongings we had brought with us, we got in, buckled up and Rolf carefully had the vehicle rise up and we began our trip to New Pasadena

  During the initial few hours of the trip, most of us took a nap. I was too keyed up to sleep so I kept looking out the window to see what this part of Velador looked like. In the dim light I saw the tropical scenery we left turn slowly into a flat area of what appeared to be farmland. Crops organized neatly below went on for miles. I dozed a little and when I woke up; I looked down and saw what looked like a dense forest.

  “Rolf,” I asked, “is that forest below as big as it looks?”

  “It’s the largest on Velador and because of the rain it gets, it’s considered a rainforest. The vegetation is quite dense down there and there are animal and plant species not found anywhere else on the planet.”

  Our conversation awakened the rest of our travelers and we all began to talk.

  “Rolf,” I questioned. “Do you have any more crews trained to fly the last twelve ships Pops is building? And where do we hide the ships until we need them?”

  “I have eight crews that just finished training.” Rolf answered. “We’ll have to get some of our existing crews to fly a few of the remaining ships to our new storage area and work on training others. Blosh gave me the location of a facility that he believes will house our arsenal of ships until we need them. It’s gigantic cave in a large rock formation in the Utah desert. I visited there on a field trip when I was a child. Its access point and storage capacity are huge. The only problem is that there is only one entrance so if we are ever discovered; we’d be ‘sitting ducks’ as you say on Earth.”

  “Based on the numbers I remember, we have twenty-three new ships plus twelve more coming off the line which will give us a total of thirty-five.” I said. “The Cromwells know about our seventeen older ships so those will need to remain disbursed around the planet. Let’s hope no one on the downed Cromwell airships notified their command about our new vessels. If they are aware of our Big Berthas, they will leave no stone unturned trying to find them.”

  “While you people were sleeping, I have been monitoring the local news feeds.” Rolf said. “It sounds like most of the Cromwell’s ships are gone. There are still a few in our airspace looking for any signs of our resistance. If we are careful, we should be able to continue setting up New Pasadena for now.”

  “Why do you think most of their vessels returned to Cromwell?” I asked the group.

  “Maybe they weren’t ready to execute a full invasion yet.” Jerry offered.

  “They have had time since their last threat so it could be that they were testing the waters on Velador’s capabilities.” I continued. “But if they do have a spy at Prossfell, they would know about our lack of retaliation ability. Stella, how long does a fusion reactor last before it needs refilling or recharging or whatever you do to them to get them working again?”

  “On a full refuel, they should go two years or so. Since the room allocated on a space vessel is limited, that’s the typical length of time before fueling is required.” Stella answered.

  “Is it possible to partially refuel a ship?” I asked. “It would be like putting five bucks in the tank to get you to your friend’s house. I used to do that a lot back in the day.”

  “Yes it is, Bill.” Stella said. “I think you may have hit on something. The Cromwell’s may be working hand to mouth on fissionable material. And they have to fuel their huge freighter ships to transport occupational forces here and material back to Cromwell. That requirement, plus the information that Rolf got on his reconnaissance mission points to the fact that they are now forced to delay their invasion plan until fuel becomes available.”

  “Based on everything we know, here’s the Cromwell’s plan!” I said. “They are going to take over Velador completely. However, to make that move, they will need uranium ore. Since Velador doesn’t have the refining capability to fulfill its own needs and Cromwell’s, they will need to take the raw materials they need back to Cromwell, refine it and get their capabilities adequate to bring all their people here and complete the move.”

  “So phase one will be the occupation and mining of Velador.” I added. “Once the Cromwells have a full complement of energy, they will commence with a full scale invasion. God knows what they plan to do with the Veladorian people. Something tells me that living in harmony is not part of their plan.”

  As the journey continued, we slept a few more hours. When I awoke, it was mid morning, the sun was out and we were only an hour from our destination. After everyone had awakened, Stella turned toward the rest of us from her seat next to Rolf and she was smiling broadly. “I have an announcement! And even though the timing couldn’t be worse, I need to let you all know. I found out two days ago that I am pregnant!”

  As I looked around, a look of mild shock came across everyone’s face and no one said anything; they just looked back and forth between Stella, Rolf and me. Inside I kept thinking, great, another revolting development. Brenda’s going to kill me.

  “Stella laughed a said “Don’t worry, our scientists always test DNA samples before any alien intervention and Bill, you and I are not compatible species.”

  I immediately got that giddy feeling that I assume comes to a condemned man who just got a reprieve from the Governor.

  “Congratulations?” I offered.

  I looked at Brenda who had just let a giant breath of relief pass out between pursed lips. “Yeah, congratulations,” Brenda added.

  Jerry and Joanna also added their best wishes for the unexpected revelation. Where it should have been a happy time, it was more subdued. Everyone knew of my earlier relationship with Stella and were relieved that I wasn’t the father of the first interplanetary illegitimate child.

  “So when are you due?” Brenda asked.

  “In about nine months,” Stella answered. “A Veladorian female’s gestation period is a little longer than a female from Earth – nearly ten months so I am about one month along.”

  Jerry’s mood brightened. “This calls for a celebration! Rolf, pull in at the next 7-11 and we’ll pick up a couple of six packs for the rest of the trip.”

  Rolf’s motions suddenly became more animated and he quickly reduced our speed and lowered the elevation of our transporter to tree top level. He slowed further and ducked down and landed in a small pasture surrounded by trees. As we descended, he yelled, “there’s a Cromwell ship in the area and he’s coming our way!”

  -Chapter 18-

  Rolf told everyone to get out of the transporter, grab our gear and run for the trees. He quickly shut everything down and followed us. “The Cromwell ship must have noticed our movement and determined that we were in a Government transporter. Since they have already tried to kill all the CEO’s,” Rolf said, “the pilot believes we are a target. Let’s spread out and see what they do.”

  The Cromwell ship flew slowly overhead, hovered, located our transporter and landed. The door opened and six Cromwells emerged armed with laser rifles. They ran over to our transporter and peered inside. Just as they realized that our vessel was empty and looked around we heard the ‘click and whoosh’ sound and the Cromwells fell to the ground.

  The door to the Cromwell ship closed, the engine started and it slowly rose to treetop level. A laser cannon shot from the ship destroying our transporter. They continued with several blasts at the area around the pasture knocking down trees with huge explosions. The Cromwell vessel continued to rise as it pummeled the area and soon traveled out of sight and was gone.

  “Is everyone OK?” Jerry called out.

  Everyone said yes except Brenda. “Damn it” she said “Why is it always me that gets hit by random gunfire?”

  I ran up and saw a two inch gash in her shoulder. A falling tree had caused the woun
d. Jerry arrived and began to tend to her injury. Joanna came up and pulled a scarf from her bag and gave it to Jerry who dressed and bandaged the wound.

  We all looked up when we heard a strange sounds coming from the transporter wreckage. It was Rolf and he was testing the downed Cromwell’s laser weapons. From a distance it appeared that some of the rifles still worked and some didn’t. We all walked toward Rolf’s location.

  “My God,” Jerry said. “Not only did they destroy our transporter but they probably killed their own men and then just left the bodies.”

  “The Cromwells probably thought their men were dead when they collapsed.” Rolf said. “When they weren’t sure if we had other weapons that could disable their ship, they started blasting the surrounding area hoping to kill us. I’ve found four laser rifles that still work. We’ll take them with us for protection. By my calculations, we’ve got about a hundred kilometers to walk to get to New Pasadena.”

  “Are any of their people still alive?” I asked.

  “Two,” answered Rolf. “And both of them look like they have no injuries. They are just unconscious from the wave gun.”

  “Since it looks like we may have to have to walk the last hundred kilometers, should we take the two Cromwells with us as hostages?” Jerry asked. “And do we have a translation device with us so we can understand them if they decide to tell us anything?”

  “I do have one,” Rolf answered and asked. “Stella, do you think we should take hostages?”

  “I think we could get valuable information from them.” Stella said. “But I’m not sure waiting around here until they wake up is a good idea. If their friends return before we leave, we could be the ones ending up as hostages.”

  “I agree with Stella,” I said. “I think we should leave them here.”

  “OK then, it’s decided,” Rolf said. “Jerry you collect the laser rifles that still work.”

  Rolf proceeded to show us all how they weapons worked. He took one himself, and handed one to Stella and Jerry. When he began to hand out the fourth and last working weapon I held out my hands to take it. Rolf turned and offered it to Brenda. “Are you alright to handle a weapon, Brenda?”

  “I can shoot it but with my shoulder, I’ll have Bill carry it for me,” Brenda answered.

  “Bill,” Rolf added. “I’m sorry but Brenda has three solid weeks in weapons training so I’d like to have her handle the gun if it’s needed.”

  Great, I thought; another blow to my masculinity and Jerry’s next smart ass comment added insult to injury.

  “Great Bill, now you’re a gun bearer for Bwana Brenda, Great White Huntress. We’ll have to find you a necklace of animal teeth or bones to wear so you’ll be sporting the proper attire.”

  Everyone laughed but me so I decided to change the subject. “How do we get to New Pasadena and do we have a navigation device to direct us? And what is the terrain like between here and there?”

  “It’s mostly hilly and densely forested but there is a small town about thirty kilometers from here.” Rolf answered. “We might as well rest there and see if we can hitch a ride the rest of the way.”

  We all began walking in the direction of the town. It was early afternoon so we decided to hike about three hours to put distance between us and our encounter with the Cromwell ship.

  As I swung the Cromwell gun over my shoulder I looked at Brenda with longing eyes. “Brenda I’m sorry that the second day of our honeymoon ends with a walk in the woods on an alien planet. There are no words in English that can describe the peculiar feelings I’m having right now.”

  “As long as one of those words is horny, I’m okay with it.” Brenda responded with a cute smile. “It’ll give us yet another story to tell our children; that is if we ever are in a position to create any. Now that I think of it, we may already have enough odd stories to fill a volume or two.”

  As we all started walking single file in the direction of the town, I couldn’t resist the temptation to whistle the theme song to ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’. Jerry quickly began whistling too followed by Brenda and Joanna. Stella and Rolf tried to join in but apparently whistling is not a skill the Veladorians have mastered.

  After our three hour walk in the woods, we made a camp in an open area surrounded by trees. Rolf and Jerry decided to look for some game for dinner. Rolf had mentioned a small animal that looked like a small bear but had the disposition of a cornered alligator would make an acceptable meal. After a half hour Jerry and Rolf returned with dinner but I was pretty sure it wasn’t the animal that Rolf had described earlier. It looked more like a small pig but its tail was long, thick and furry and on its face were three eyes instead on two.

  “We were lucky,” Rolf commented. “This animal is delicious but hard to catch. That extra eye gives them a panoramic vision and they are hard to sneak up on.”

  “There’s got to be a joke to follow that comment,” Jerry added, “but right now I’m so hungry I can’t think of any.”

  We cooked the animal on the campfire that Brenda and Stella made after I collected the firewood. Since we hadn’t prepared for an outdoor adventure, we were forced to eat with our hands. The only utensils we had were Jerry’s and Rolf’s knives. After we’d all eaten probably the sloppiest meal of our lives, we all went down to a small steam that was flowing nearby. After we cleaned up as well as possible, we started back to our primitive campsite.

  As we neared our site, Rolf held up his hands motioning us to stop and crouch down. He gave us the universal quiet sign and whispered.

  “There is a Cromwell soldier ahead, sitting and eating what’s left of our dinner. It looks like he is alone.” Rolf said. “Jerry, leave first take up a position on the far side of the clearing. Brenda and Bill go around a quarter of the way to the right and Stella; you do the same to the left. After you are all in position, I’ll approach from the front. If he starts to run, stand in his way and aim your weapon. If he doesn’t stop, kill him. It looks like he’s unarmed but he could have a hand gun on him somewhere so be careful.”

  As quietly as we could, we all took our positions. Rolf walked out with his rifle leveled at the Cromwell soldier. The enemy looked up, saw us and held his hands out from his body, indicating that he was unarmed. As Rolf approached, the man quickly dropped to the ground and rolled. He immediately reached for something behind his back. It was a hand held laser pistol and he fired it at Rolf. Rolf jumped to the side and the shot grazed his clothes and struck the tree behind him. Rolf shot back and hit the Cromwell in his chest and he instantly died.

  I noticed some movement at the opposite end of the clearing. It was Jerry and he was escorting another Cromwell soldier with his left arm wrapped tightly in a strangle hold around the man’s neck and with his right arm had the man’s arm twisted behind his back.

  “I found this man waiting and watching in the woods. He was obviously the back-up for the guy you just shot. Do you have anything to tie him up with?” Jerry said.

  Rolf looked in his bag and found something that resembled a thin roll of duct tape and secured the Cromwell’s hands behind his back.

  “It’s nice to know that some things never become obsolete, like duct tape,” joked Jerry. “Can you communicate with this guy?”

  “Stella took a class in the Cromwell language in school. If she can ask him the questions, my universal translator will let me knew what he says.” Rolf said as he turned and asked Stella. “How much do you remember from that class?”

  “Not much,” Stella answered. “But I’ll give it a try. What do we want to ask him?”

  “See if he was actually looking for us or were they just wandering around looking for food and shelter.” I said.

  After Stella spoke a few words in the Cromwell language, the response could be loosely translated as “screw you!”

  Jerry went up to the man and slapped him hard across the face and aimed his laser rifle at the man’s chest. What I assumed was a surprised and fearful look came across the hos
tage’s face and he began to speak at what sounded like a very rapid rate. Rolf listened intently. When the man stopped speaking, Rolf gave us the gist of what the Cromwell said.

  “First Jerry, you scared the hell out of the guy when you threatened him.” Rolf began. “He was told that the Veladorian race was non-violent and wouldn’t respond to threats. He said he was misinformed but he wants to know who we really are since he can see by our appearance that we aren’t normal looking Veladorians. The orders for him and his cohort were to capture all of us alive and call an airship for pick-up. He and his dead partner were not part of the crew that destroyed our transporter. They were brought in to track us.”

  “He admitted that he had been tracking us using one of our universal tracking devices, known as a UTD, which was secured from our own government.” Rolf added. “It looks like our leaders in Prossfell are working closely with the Cromwells now. Since Stella and I were in charge of the worldwide defense of Velador in the beginning, it was determined that we are a high value target as you would say on Earth.” “How’d they track you?” I asked. “We’ve been walking in the forest for the last three hours and no one could see us from above because of the trees.”

  “At birth, all Veladorians have a chip implanted under their skin. It is used to track all our people if they become lost or injured. Our Guidelines mandate that they are only used in case of an emergency. They are never to be used to spy on anyone or invade their privacy.” Rolf explained.

  “Funny, we have the same thing but only use it on our pets!” Jerry laughed and then got serious. “So the enemy will always know where you are. So how do we keep you and ourselves safe?”